Disclaimer to JK Rowling

Chapter Fifteen: Our Work is Done

O, then we awoke with sudden start
From our deep dream, and knew, too late,
How bare the rock, how desolate.

Robert Browning from Wanderers

"There you are," Lacie sighed her as she glided towards Hermione. Hermione lifted her gaze momentarily from the heavy text in front of her, and saw that her friend had a scowl firmly planted on her face. She watched as Lacie scanned the books that were strewn across the desk in front of Hermione, and her scowl deepened.

"I did not know if you went to Hogsmeade or the library," Lacie said gently, when Hermione didn't answer. "I just came back from the library."

Hermione would have been in the library, but when she had lingered there for a moment, it was far too crowded for her liking. She simply borrowed what she needed before slinking off to her own Common Room. If the Common Room also had been crowded, she would have done her work in her dormitory, knowing that it would be empty until the afternoon.

Surprisingly, the Gryffindor Common Room had been quiet before Lacie had flounced over. Aside from small groups of first and second-years, a few studious upper-years, the Common Room had been relatively empty.

It was then when Hermione realised that it had been a Hogsmeade weekend, and it was another thing on a growing list of things she had forgotten. Hermione hadn't seen Lacie that morning, assuming that she had simply another Saturday lesson to attend. It hadn't even crossed her mind that Lacie had chosen not to go to Hogsmeade either.

Hermione, for the first time in weeks, felt awake. She had been so accustomed to wading through fogginess that the sudden clarity shocked her. It was that clarity that allowed her to notice Lacie properly, to notice that there was something different about her friend. Dark circles had returned under her friend's eyes, and there was a nervous quality to her. She looked resigned and exhausted, and Hermione felt a rush of guilt.

She hadn't noticed Lacie for the past few days, aside from when Lacie pulled her out of her walking daydream. She hadn't noticed that her friend could barely sleep, nightmares of Riddle and the Chamber flooding back in the wake of Black's break-in. She hadn't noticed that Lacie was jittery, probably panicked from walking alone in Hogwarts' corridors, just in case Black was hiding and ready to attack. She hadn't realised the small hint of panic that laced her voice, when she was berating Harry about his map, may have been because she was terrified.

Hermione was a rotten friend.

"Tough ballet lesson?" Hermione asked tentatively, lowering her book and leaning forward. Lacie rolled her eyes and huffed at her.

"No, I told you. Miss Belle-Faire is temporarily restricted from coming to Hogwarts. New security measures in the wake of…well, you know."

Hermione didn't remember being told. Another thing she forgot. Another addition to the list.

Hermione was a really rotten friend.

"Tough piano lesson?" Hermione tried again.

She tried not to be too disheartened with herself when Lacie shook her head, "Ced went to Hogsmeade, he invited me out go with him, but…"

Even as Lacie trailed off, Hermione didn't need reminding of Lacie's reticence to go to Hogsmeade. Her friend didn't want yet another reminder of Riddle's torture that came with brushing past the Dementors, even briefly on the carriage ride there.

"I still practised for a few hours though, but I cannot seem to get focused recently," Lacie said, interrupting Hermione's thoughts.

"I know what that feels like," Hermione said softly.

Lacie snorted. She gestured at the plethora of books all over the desk and said, "You are the most focused person I know, Hermione."

Hermione snapped her book shut and put it down before leaning toward Lacie, "Not recently, I haven't. I mean, I'm focused on my studies but I'm all over the place."

"Maybe you should drop something," Lacie suggested with a small smile, and Hermione felt her face drop. Lacie winced at Hermione's reaction and then said, "You are overworked, Hermione, and I am worried about you. You disappear at odd times and appear at Herbology with Ravenclaw, when you know you are supposed to be in Defence with us."

Hermione blinked at her.

Perhaps her friend was right. She looked at the book in her hands and realised that crystal-gazing was a crock of rubbish, that had its basis in blind faith and assumptions. She scanned over her other textbooks and she knew that she didn't need Muggle Studies either. She only tolerated it for Shakespeare, but that was slowly losing its former enticement. She was tired of pretending that she could cope.

Hermione Granger was also stubborn, and did not quit. She wouldn't let this break her. She shook her head at her friend, who walked around the table to sit next to her. Lacie, in turn, took in the sheer amount of books on her desk. She sighed at Hermione.

"You need time to breathe," Lacie finally said.

"I need time," Hermione said, rubbing her temples. One of her hands fell to her chest, where she could feel the hourglass underneath her jumper. Lacie's eyes followed Hermione's hand, and her forehead creased, but she didn't say anything. Hermione's hand fell to her lap.

If someone finds out, by accident or on purpose, you haven't broken the terms of the agreement.

Professor Lupin's words echoed in the back of her mind as Hermione asked, "Is there some sort of secret Wizarding secret to manufacturing time?"

Lacie cocked her head, "What do you mean?"

Hermione forced herself to shrug, "If there was a way that I could just make more time, I think that it would help. At least with the reading we have to do."

"You know you would have a lot less reading to do if you did not read the entire textbook, especially for things you already know."

"Or… if there was a way to make more time."

Lacie huffed at her and rolled her eyes at Hermione.

"You cannot make more time," Lacie said with something akin to frustration, "You can travel back in time to make it seem like you have more time, but to create more time…"

"Beyond the scope at Hogwarts?" Hermione finished for her and Lacie nodded.

"…beyond the scope of specialising in Time Magic," Lacie added. "Although, studying time travel is part of a Mastery in Time Magic, but those Masteries are rare."

"Time travel?"

"Well, time travel is possible using Time-Turners that…"

"Turn time?" Hermione interrupted cheekily.

Lacie swatted her. "Why, do Muggles have a fancier alternative?"

Hermione shrugged, "I suppose Muggles have hypothetical time machines and Doctor Who."

"Should I even ask?" Lacie said with a sigh, she gently picked up a book to peruse. Pausing with the book mid-air, she turned to Hermione with a solemn expression. "Although, there are side effects to time travel."

Hermione's hand went to her neck as she nervously ran her fingers along the chain at her neck. Lacie's eyes watched her carefully, but again, didn't say anything.

"W-What side effects?"

"Well, you know that nature has always prioritised balance, magic and electricity and the like," Lacie explained, referencing a conversation that Hermione remembered from the summer. "No one should have the power to alter time, so the more that you manipulate time, the more time will try and manipulate you."

"H-How?"

"I do not know the specifics," Lacie replied airily, having opened the book that she had picked up earlier and was now browsing. "I just remember Theo's father lecturing us on how we should not play with Time Magic."

Hermione looked away from Lacie, in the vain hope that her friend could not see her guilty face. She resisted the urge to touch her Time-Turner, which was now burning under her sweater, in case Lacie would catch her again.

"Hermione?"

Hermione's gaze snapped towards Lacie and saw that she was staring at her. The book lay in her lap, forgotten. Concern was dancing in her tired eyes. A familiar sensation of tugging was slowly seeping up her arm. Hermione's breath hitched for a moment as she realising what was happening again. The haziness that had consumed her was threatening to take her again.

The more that you manipulate time, the more time will try and manipulate you.

"Are you alright? You look like you have just had a fright."

Hermione took a deep breath as the tugging sensation had eased. She smiled at Lacie, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"No, I'm perfectly al -…"

"Just because you didn't have the sense to get an owl instead of that ginger monstrosity, doesn't mean that I have to deliver your letters," a furious voice interrupted her, and she looked up to see Ron, holding an envelope addressed to her. Hermione took it off him, her brows furrowing as she tore it open. Who was sending her letters on a Saturday afternoon?

"I think you will find the only ginger monstrosity here is you."

Hermione forced herself not to smirk at Lacie's scathing comment. She scanned the contents of the letter – or rather, note – and she could feel the colour rushing from her face.

"Oh, side with her, like you always do!"

"She is my best friend!"

"Some best friend! She hasn't been awake for weeks, and you know as well as I do that she's hiding something and won't tell us what."

"Stop," Hermione said.

"Can you two not talk to each other without arguing? Haven't we already had a tough day?" Harry groaned.

"A tough day breaking the rules with that Merlin be-damned map, Harry?" Lacie hissed.

"Stop," Hermione said with finality, standing up to the surprise of the group around them. The letter was slowly crumpling in her shaking hand.

"What is it?" Lacie asked as she tugged at Hermione's sleeve.

"It's Hagrid," Hermione said carefully, her voice quite uneven. She swallowed, and looked at everyone in turn. "The-The Committee, they've decided to execute Buckbeak."

x-x-x-x-x

Hermione sat in the library, glancing at the unoccupied seat further down the table. Ever since the news broke of Buckbeak's execution, Hermione had been in the library. She sat in the seat that she always sat at, and she would surreptitiously stare at that empty seat, wondering if he would come and fill it, like he always had.

She was fantasising, of course. Draco Malfoy was never going to sit in that seat again. News also broke that Narcissa Malfoy had welcomed the decision of the Committee by embracing her husband in public. An enlightening Witch Weekly article had covered the story, detailing how Lucius Malfoy was so in love with his formerly estranged wife that he would fight tooth-and-nail to get her back. No one wrote that an innocent animal had to die in the process, but that was the way the world worked.

The Malfoy family was respected again.

The thought made Hermione's head hurt.

At least Lacie was equally as disgusted as Hermione was.

"You did all that you could," Lacie tried to pacify her, when she saw Hermione rubbing her head.

"I really thought that he would win," Hermione replied as she reviewed all of her notes again. Intertwined with her handwriting, she saw annotations with Draco's handwriting on them. There was also a stack of his research that he had given to her. She shuffled those papers within her own.

"Sometimes you can have the best argument for a case prepared, but when it comes to presenting it…" Lacie paused. "The last time that Hagrid saw my father was when he was being taken to Azkaban, so it was natural that he might be nervous."

"But - …"

"And you know my father, he may have been slightly downtrodden but he still whispers in the ears of important people."

"That's…"

"Not fair?" Lacie finished, and then snorted derisively as she flicked through a large textbook. "Since when have the rules of the Wizarding World exactly been fair?"

Hermione huffed as skimmed her old notes, trying to see if she had referenced a book that she could look for again. Lacie snapped her book shut and pulled the notes away from Hermione.

"Maybe fresh eyes on this will help?" Lacie asked, despite Hermione's protests. Lacie silenced Hermione with a hand as she read through the differing parchment. Hermione awaited with bated breath for the moment Lacie would reach the stack of notes that Draco had prepared.

Would she recognise the writing? Hermione thought, in half-panic and half-desperation and knew that that train of thought was stupid. Of course she would recognise it, she is his twin!

Would she be angry?

Hermione distracted herself by reading the textbook that Lacie had disregarded. It wasn't a book that she had read before, but Draco had made notes on it. Realising that she was reading the same line over and over again, Hermione stopped. She watched as Lacie nodded at the points made on her notes, sometimes underlining them to stress their importance. Noticing that there was a repetition in the cases, she skimmed the notes quickly, turning page over page over…Then Lacie paused. Her eyes widened at what she was seeing and her gaze snapped up to meet Hermione's.

"Why-Why did Draco write these notes?"

Hermione gulped, but realised that as they were in the library, Lacie could not raise her voice at her. She turned to her friend, knowing that it was time to tell the truth.

"He has been helping me with the trial."

"Why? Didn't he provoke the animal in the first place?"

Hermione shrugged at her friend. In all honesty, Hermione wasn't entirely too sure why Draco had fixated on helping her after his initial reluctance. He had been rather dogged about it, but he never gave a reason for why he was. Hermione had simply chalked it up to him trying to make amends for his behaviour the previous year. He had mentioned something about freedom, but Hermione pushed that thought away. Draco Malfoy was smart, entitled, and seemed to get away with anything, how much more freedom did he want?

"These notes," Lacie said, her tone coloured with awe, "are amazing."

"Are they?" Hermione asked as she raised an eyebrow. It was the last bundle of notes that Draco had insisted that she duplicate for Hagrid. Being as busy as she had been and completely in a daze for the past few weeks, she hadn't thoroughly gone through Draco's notes with the same fine-tooth comb she normally would have.

"They go through each member of the Committee, their weaknesses, what they favour in an argument and most importantly, if they are easily influenced by my father."

Hermione blinked and peered over at the notes. "Even then, it may not even help because out of that list, only three will make up the decision committee and all of them could be influenced by your father."

Lacie shook her head, "Draco thought of everything… but why?"

Instead of waiting for answer, Lacie stood up, clutching the notes as she departed the library. Hermione sighed into the open textbook.

Headaches were too common an occurrence recently.

x-x-x-x-x

Lacie sat, much to the amusement of several passing Slytherins, crouched on the floor of the Dungeon corridor. Her knees were pulled up, her arms folded on them, Draco's notes crumpled in her hands. She felt sick, and her head was throbbing as she tried not to shudder at the thin sheen of sweat that was forming all over her strained body.

She had walked to her limit towards the Slytherin Common Room. It had been unpleasant during her first-year with Professor Snape, and it was even more unpleasant now. It was as if the more she embraced the Gryffindor values of her House, the more the corridor had tried to resist her.

She was so warm, so hot, and she wanted nothing more than to retch.

She had searched what seemed like every room at Hogwarts. Draco was nowhere to be found, so she hoped that she would be able to catch Draco as he went to lunch.

She was going to be sick.

Draco, apparently, was going to have a late lunch.

Lacie was going to throw her breakfast up.

No Slytherin so far that had passed her, not that there were many, that were willing to help her find her brother. After one too many scathing looks, she waited until she saw someone she knew to pass before she would ask. For now, she would just sit, head-pounding and resisting the urge to empty her stomach.

"Lace?"

Lacie raised her head, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, and she smiled.

"Theo?"

The boy stuck out a hand, that Lacie gracefully took. At first he smiled at her and asked, "What are you doing here? Has the Sorting Hat changed its mind and decided that you are a Slytherin, after all the hassle?"

He helped to pull her up.

"Have you seen Draco?"

Theo looked at her carefully as she stood up. All she wanted to do was keel over. Salazar Slytherin had really wanted his little snakes isolated to warrant this sort of punishment for wandering so close to the pit. Lacie let out a ragged breath.

Theo's eyebrows knotted together as he asked, "Are you alright? You look awfully pale."

Lacie nodded, and through gritted teeth she said, "I am fine."

"No you are -… Oh, I forgot, Merlin!" Theo pulled her along the corridor, and slowly the awful feeling of dizziness and nausea rolled away. "What on earth possessed you to try to get to the Slytherin Common Room? Did you not know that there were particular deterrents?"

"I needed my brother."

Theo shook his head, "Draco will not leave his bed."

At that, Lacie raised an eyebrow. How unusual. "Why?"

"I think he is unwilling to accept that he will have to take up the responsibilities he has been shirking for the majority of the year."

"Draco does not have any - …"

"He is the scion of the Malfoy family, there are certain… things he has to abide by."

Lacie did not need Theo to say it, but she knew what was lingering at the end of that sentence. As the spare, you are free from such obligations. As the disgrace of the family, you will not be required to represent the Malfoy family. You just do your silly dancing, Lacie, and look pretty enough that a respectable noble of your parents' choosing will want your hand.

Lacie may be the spare, the disgrace, the silly dancer but she was still a Malfoy. She was her mother's daughter, and anyone who knew better ought to be more afraid of Narcissa Malfoy. She drew herself up, took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes at Theo.

"Bring him to me."

"I -…"

"You bring my pathetic brother to me, or my father will hear about this."

Shock rippled through his blue eyes, and he blinked at her. He nodded and briskly walked in the direction of the Slytherin Common Room. Lacie slumped, letting out a sigh of relief. If only she had the courage to do that to all the Slytherins who had smirked at her as she sat uncomfortably on the floor.

Or my father will hear about this, Lacie mused to herself. Draco threw that insult all the time to get his own way, and for the most part, Lacie had never resorted to such childish tactics. It did not bode well for someone who was constantly running to their parents to solve all of their problems.

But is that not the nature of a Pureblood? Relying on the family name?

Before Lacie could follow that train of thought, Theo returned, dragging her brother with him. Theo had not allowed Draco to change, instead dragging him by the velvet dressing gown along the corridor. It seemed that he was not even allowed to wear slippers, as Lacie eyed his bare feet. He cast Theo an insolent look before glaring at Lacie.

"What?"

She would not allow him to speak to her in that tone. She waited patiently until his annoyance had abated, and then he stuck his lower lip out before letting out a soft whine. "What?"

Lacie thrust the bundle of parchment into his hands and answered with, "Explain."

Draco's forehead creased as he looked at the parchment. He unfurled what Lacie had subconsciously rolled up and his mouth fell open.

"How did you get this?"

"I told you to explain."

Lacie did not know where she was getting her courage from, but as her gaze flickered over to Theo, she felt a small bit of satisfaction. No one could doubt that she was an heir in her own right. She channelled Lucius Malfoy with such ease, she worried herself, but this was not the time for doubt.

"I asked Granger to be my study partner, and she dragged me into this mess."

Lacie rolled her eyes. "Do you expect me to believe that you were dragged into this? You wanted to help."

"Fine," Draco snapped, and then he gave a cursory glance at Theo – who remained expressionless – and looked back at Lacie. "I felt bad that the animal was going to die because I was a dunderhead."

Theo coughed, with a noise that sounded a lot like, 'Hufflepuff'.

Lacie smirked, and wondered how much longer Draco was going to lie to her. She swished the words around her mouth, pondering how long she should draw it out, before her lips drew up into a smile.

"No, what you wanted was to punish Father for what he did to you over the summer," Lacie said. "He forced you to remember and memorise all those people and their weaknesses, and you wanted to get back at him for doing it."

"That is childish."

"Then explain this," Lacie hissed, gesturing at the notes. "Explain the level of detail into each Committee member, almost knowing what steps Father would take to win the trial, because aside from that explanation, I really cannot think of anything else."

Theo had moved so that he was beside Draco and was peering over his arm.

"What did you think you were doing?" Theo asked, a rough edge to his voice, "I told you to stay away from Granger."

"You knew?"

Theo turned to her with a sneer on his face. "Draco was careless in his approach, although it did take me the better part of a year to find out. Did you run to Granger with all these notes after our little chat? Did you really think that it would have changed anything?"

Draco's gaze snapped up to meet Lacie, and he said, rather tonelessly, "Fine, Lace, you solved it. I wanted to see if I could play our father at his own game, but clearly it did not work, happy?"

Lie.

Theo may have taken the lie with a curt nod, but Lacie would not. There was no reason for Draco to keep lying, not when Lacie had detailed a plausible plan out for him, unless it had not been his plan all along. What else was there? Lacie would have done it for the same reasons had she not treated the case dismissively. It was a reason why a Malfoy would have done it, and Lacie was considered the lesser Malfoy, so where was this reticence coming from?

Unless of course, there were other reasons. Other reasons that Lacie could not simply learn from her twin without Theo's looming presence around them. She turned to Theo, "I need to speak to him alone."

With that, she grabbed Draco's arm. At first, he looked at her with mortification and resisted, spluttering, "W-Wait, I do not even have shoes on."

Lacie stopped and turned to face Theo, a cat-like smile growing wider on her face. Theo spluttered for a moment, a red flush spotting his pale cheeks and then huffed. He bent down to undo his shoelaces and slowly took his shoes off. He walked in his socks, his shoes dangling off his fingers and thrust them at Lacie.

"If he stretches them, you are buying me new ones out of your own pocket money, and I assure you, they are not cheap."

"Thank you, Theo," Lacie said in a slight singsong voice. She took the shoes and passed them to Draco. Draco gave her a contemptuous look before dropping them onto the floor and shoving his feet in them. He smirked at her and strolled out of the Dungeons.

"Thirty Galleons, Malfoy," Theo hummed back.

"That is barely a dent in my personal vault," Lacie hissed, rounding onto him, "also, why are you wearing the equivalent of a month's salary on your feet?"

Theo gave her an odd look, before turning around and walking in the direction of the Slytherin Common Room. It was a look that simply said, because I can, because people like the Notts could afford such extravagant luxuries that the simple person could not.

Not that, if one considered her scathing response to Theo, meant that she was any better.

Lacie turned away and followed where her brother had gone, stepping into the Entrance Hall. He was waiting for her by the stairs leading up to the Main Staircase, leaning against the marble wall. When he saw her, he raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"I hope you have good reason for dragging me out in my pyjamas, because if anyone saw me like this, I would never hear the end of it."

"Is it any worse than having mud splattered all over your face?"

A flash of irritation appeared on his face, but was gone as soon as it had appeared. The corner of Lacie's mouth quirked upward at his reaction. It seemed that Draco's pride was still bruised by Harry's – rather small – prank. If she wanted to get the answers that she wanted, she would do better if she avoided mentioning Harry. Lacie did not have enough patience to stroke his ego, to flatter him so that he would be so smug that he would accidentally reveal himself. Draco had always been betrayed by his need for compliments, and had yet to master the art of being coy.

She simply had to rely on being innately to read Draco like a book to know what was really going on.

"You may have fooled Theo, but did you honestly think that you could fool me? Your twin?"

Draco stared back. There was nothing in his features that gave anything away. Lacie tried to reach into that connection she shared with Draco, that link that almost betrayed every emotion but that was strangely still.

What is so bad that Draco is hiding something from me?

Then it dawned on Lacie, with a crescendo of someone slamming their hands upon the keys of a piano. How had she not seen it? Draco really did not have a reason to be nice to Hermione at Hogwarts, in fact, he had actively sought out her friend. From Theo's reaction, he had sought out Hermione's companionship under the nose of his Slytherin friends.

"You care for her."

Draco huffed at her.

"I do not."

Draco's may have seemed blasé but his demeanour had given it away. Lacie's mouth broke into a toothy grin, "You helped her because she has become a friend of sorts to you and you care for her."

Draco rounded on her, narrowing his eyes and gave her such a venomous look that Lacie took a step backwards at his reaction.

"I would not lower myself to do something so filthy as that, I pity her. I pity her lack of knowledge, so I thought I would school her in what it was truly like to be a Pureblood. She is a joke, with her lofty ideals about shattering the perception that she amounts to more than dirt. Had you been Sorted into Slytherin, you would have laughed about it, how she thinks that she will be some sort of revolutionary, when she will never amount to anything more than a secretary of another secretary because I have, as have the rest of my Housemates."

"I'm glad she was Sorted into Gryffindor then."

Draco and Lacie turned around to see Hermione leaning over the bannister of stairs leading to the Entrance Hall. Lacie felt the colour drain out of her face, and a soft tugging in her chest that was not entirely hers. She turned to her brother, and saw the face behind the mask.

Oh, Draco. You do care for her.

A/N: It's been a while, and this was another chapter that when I first wrote, I really didn't like the direction it went in and it got to 10k words long and full of things that didn't really serve the purpose of the story and *huff*. I am so indecisive.

As always, happy reading.

CSxo