CHAPTER TWELVE

Hermione woke with a start. She bolted upright in her bed, barely suppressing a scream while bringing her hands to her chest to try and calm her racing heart. The dream had been a common one: The Department of Mysteries had loomed around her. Shouts from friends and enemies filled her ears as she ran from the glass orbs raining down around them in the Prophesy Room. Death Eaters were chasing them, popping up from nowhere at every turn. She was trying to find an escape but couldn't. Just as she had finally reached an exit, a cloaked figure rose up before her, pointing a familiar wand in her face and uttering the words that would end her life. Like every other time she'd had this dream, she woke up with the image of cold, grey eyes burned into her vision. They were the eyes of Lucius Malfoy.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get back to sleep. A quick charm to check the time informed her that it was just past two in the morning. Knowing that there would be no one in the Common Room, Hermione grabbed her Transfiguration texts and parchments before exiting her dorm and making her way up to sit near the fireplace. If she was going to be awake, she figured that she may as well do some revision.

The room was not empty, though. The first thing Hermione noticed was that the fire was still burning quite hot. After that, her eyes were drawn to a pale figure sitting on the sofa nearest the flames, his head resting in his hands. The thought to leave him in peace crossed her mind, but she knew that returning to her room would only lead to frustration. There was no way she would be able to fall asleep. Instead, she decided to approach him.

'Mind if I join you?' she asked. He didn't answer, merely sliding a bit more off to one side so that she could occupy the space to his left. She could tell by his demeanor that this was the only response she was going to get so she sat down and spread her books and papers over the table in front of them and set to work.

Neither spoke. Lucius was lost in his own mind, giving serious contemplation to something or another, while Hermione wrote out an assignment that wasn't due for another week. Every now and then she would sigh deeply before crumbling the parchment she was writing on and sending it flying into the fireplace. After, her hands would brutally thread through her hair and she would set to work on another sheet, earning herself a curious gaze from her silent companion. When she had done this for the fifth time, he finally spoke to her.

'What in Merlin's name are you doing?'

Hermione jumped a bit, having forgotten that he was there with her. Once she had caught her breath a bit and realized where she was, she answered him.

'I'm working on the Transfiguration assignment.'

'By throwing parchment into the fire?' Lucius chuckled at her. 'We've been over this a million times, Hermione. Whatever you've written is more than acceptable. You'll still be right behind me at the top of the class.'

She rolled her eyes at him, knowing what he said was true but refusing to admit as much. They'd had this discussion before and neither was willing to give an inch on their stance: Lucius finding her work exemplary on its first draft and Hermione's need for perfection. Looking back over the six inches she had written on her latest draft, she once again found it lacking. The sound of crumbling parchment filled the air moments before another piece of kindling was added to the fire.

'You know,' Lucius began jokingly, 'the next time I see you do that, I'm going to take you across my knee and spank you.'

'Ooh, scary. The big, bad, Death Eater is threatening me,' she retorted in a mocking tone. 'You don't scare me, Lucius Malfoy. I know you too well now.'

'What did you just say?' he whispered.

Hermione thought for a moment to recall her exact words when the light went on in her head. She had called him a Death Eater. Her suspicions were confirmed with the petrified tone of his whispered response, and she quickly moved to cover her tracks.

'So it's true then?' When he didn't answer, she continued. 'You disappeared during the last Hogsmeade visit. I looked for you all morning hoping that we could go to the Three Broomsticks together, and then all afternoon hoping we could spend some time together, but I never found you. When you finally emerged from your room a few days later, you were pale as a ghost. You're more quiet and secretive than you were before, spending more time with the seventh years than anyone in our year and always talking in hushed tones. We haven't really talked in almost two weeks, Lucius. …you never roll up your sleeves anymore.'

Lucius unconsciously brought his right hand down upon the place where Hermione was now certain the Dark Mark tainted his skin. He stared at the floor, obviously lost to his thoughts and memories. Hermione briefly considered getting up and leaving him there on the sofa when his voice broke the silence between them.

'It's for the best, you know. The Dark Lord promises to bring Purebloods back to the position of authority they've held for a millennium and to preserve our way of life. With this mark on my arm, I'll be able to assist the greatest wizard of all time in his noble pursuit of blood purity. The filth running the Ministry won't stand long against his agenda and we will once again be free from the taint of Muggles in our society.'

'"The taint of Muggles?" Are you serious? Some of the smartest students in this school are Muggleborn and Half-Blood. Are they tainted to you? Is someone really less of a person simply by nature of their birth? You can't help family, Lucius. You've no choice who your parents are, whether Muggle or otherwise.'

'That may be true,' he countered, 'but you can always rise above what you're born into and take control of your life if given the proper opportunities. Muggleborns should be taken from their families and raised by witches and wizards, giving up all their Muggle backgrounds and embracing their Wizarding heritage. Those who choose to remain in contact with their…families… Well, they shouldn't be allowed to be a part of our society. Muggles bring nothing but hatred for our kind. Hatred and ignorance. They are needlessly violent and terribly common, so lost in the delusions of their own grandeur simply because they invented automobiles, aeroplanes, and telephones. We need to be separated from them, don't you see? If they knew of our existence, of our abilities, we would never be free. They would become tyrannical against us, attempting to use us and our magic for their own personal gain!'

'And taking children, young children, from the only homes they've ever known and forcing them to acclimate is better? What about the Half-Blood children? Should their parents be forced to divorce, the Muggle parents' memory erased when they produce magical offspring?' Lucius made to answer, but Hermione charged ahead. 'Besides, you know for a fact that isn't how all this is going to play out. The integration of all magical beings isn't You-Know-Who's ultimate agenda. He's no better than Ado–'

The moment she felt the slight swelling of her tongue, Hermione knew exactly what she had done. Her throat constricted, and she almost immediately fell unconscious at the feet of the man she had been arguing with. Her last thought before the darkness took her was of the Vow she had made back in the Department of Mysteries on the day she had arrived back in this time.

It was hours later when she woke to find herself in the Hospital Wing once again. Professor Dumbledore was at her bedside, a twinkle in his eyes behind half-moon spectacles. She sat up a bit and took a drink of water. Madam Pomfrey came around and fussed over her for a bit before allowing her to return to her dorms. The Headmaster agreed to walk her back, in case she would need assistance. As always though, he had ulterior motives.

'I've some news for you, Miss Granger. It would appear that our friends in the Ministry may have found a way to send you home without altering your physical appearance in any way.'

'I beg your pardon?'

'Well,' he explained, 'it seems that the Department of Mysteries finally devised a way to move people forward in time. When they attempted to utilize it, thinking they'd worked out all the bits and bugs… Let's just say it ended poorly. The initial testing seemed to work in small increments of time, but when they tried to bring someone forward more than five years, the physical body reacted with less than desirable results.'

Hermione cringed, thinking about the unfortunate ministry employee who more than likely no longer was of this world. She was silently praying that maybe she was reading too much into the grave tone her professor was using, but she doubted it sincerely.

Dumbledore continued to speak with her about many things and nothing at all while they walked through the main part of the castle, but once they were alone again, he got back on topic. 'They began to toy with stasis charms while utilizing a Time Turner, and initial testing has been exceedingly promising. However, it will be at least a fortnight before they begin to test it more extensively. If everything continues to go according to plan, you could be returning home within a month.'

He spoke some more, but she was unhearing. One thought kept playing inside of her head: home in a month. Back to Harry. Back to Ron. …back to Lucius hating her simply for the manner of her birth.

The next two weeks went by at a snail's pace. Sure, Hermione had her girlfriends to keep her company, and she saw Lucius almost everywhere, but while he was physically close, mentally he was a million miles away. He maintained more close contact with the older boys, and after a while, she all but gave up on talking to him outside of class. She didn't even see him during her regular trips to the common room in the middle of the night. Andromeda could tell that Hermione was becoming depressed and one sunny March afternoon, she attempted to bring some happiness back into Hermione's life.

'You know, Hermione, today is the perfect day to go out onto the grounds and soak up some sun. What do you think?'

'Yeah,' Hermione replied, noncommittally.

'Maybe there's a snowball fight we can get in the middle of!'

Hermione laughed. 'Or start, you mean?'

The two girls walked out onto the grounds and, sure enough, a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were engaged in what appeared to be an epic battle. There were forts constructed clearly by magical means and students from both Houses working together against each other. This surprised Hermione, as in her time, these friendly fights often took place with the Houses going against each other. Perhaps this was a side effect of many years of blood politics?

She didn't have long to think on it, though. A snowball came out of nowhere and hit her in the shoulder. Snickering could be heard from the group nearest to her, so she and Andromeda made a beeline for the fort a few meters away. There they joined the fray and had an amazing time battling it out with the other students. More than a few of the snowballs missed their marks, but she still had fun. After a while, she started to get cold from the snow and she and Andromeda bowed out of the competition. The two witches walked back into the school and made their way down to the kitchens. Absconding with a few mugs of hot cocoa and some biscuits, the girls cast warming charms on themselves and went back outside. A walk around the lake was suggested by Andromeda.

'Ted asked me to Hogsmeade.' So this was why. 'I'm sorry, Hermione, but there's no one else I can talk to about this. If word got out…'

'I can only imagine,' Hermione responded carefully. 'But isn't this what you want? Does he make you happy?'

'More than you'll ever know! He's amazing! If I could only make my family see how good we are together, how smart and kind he is, surely they could accept him. I mean, he's not just loving, but he's so powerful! More powerful than half the purebloods I know! I just…' Andromeda paused, taking a few breaths and seeming to collect her thoughts. 'I know they won't accept him. I know that if I allow this to go past a school fling, they'll blast me off the tapestry and exile me from the family. They will never allow us to be together, but I'm not certain I really care anymore. I'm falling in love with him! I haven't told him yet, but I know I am. I can feel it deep down into the core of my magic that we're meant to be together. We could be so happy…

'Listen to me,' Andromeda chuckled. 'I'm going on like a fool and not letting you get a word in edgewise! How terribly rude of me,' she finished jokingly.

'It's alright. It's really helping to keep my mind off of my own life.'

Andromeda sighed. 'Still haven't really talked to him?'

'No. I'm not even sure what I'd say at this point. I mean, we talk a bit in class, but nothing of any consequence. Last time we had more than a few moments alone, I accused him of being a Death Eater.'

'No!' the other witch gasped, putting a hand to her chest.

'Not my brightest move, I'll give you that. But here's the thing! He didn't deny it! And when I really confronted him about it, I must have gotten myself too worked up because I fainted before we could finish our discussion.'

By this time, the girls had made their way back toward where the snowball fight had been taking place. They expected to find the fight still raging, but there was only silence. A few students were sat near the abandoned forts, holding each other and wiping tears from their cheeks.

'What happened?' Andromeda asked, concern evident in her voice.

'We're not sure,' began a young Ravenclaw girl. 'One minute we were having fun like usual and the next a barrage of snowballs came flying over toward us. It was mad, but they all converged on a Hufflepuff third year. He was bludgeoned so badly. We couldn't stop it. We tried, but we couldn't stop it.'

Tears fell anew from the Ravenclaw's eyes, and the two Slytherin witches made their way back into the castle in silence, neither fully understanding how something like that could have happened.