AN:
None of the characters are mine
Trigger warning - Suicide
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On the morning of 17th December, Hermione woke up with a headache.
She had debated all night long if she should go to Malfoy's funeral or not. She even discussed it with her parents. Her parents had suggested that maybe going to his funeral would help get rid of all the guilt she felt. Hermione felt the same.
So that was how she ended up in front of the funeral hall in the Ministry of Magic. With a deep breath, Hermione walked through the doors, instantly regretting it.
There were quite a few people, all no doubt wanting to show their support towards the Malfoy family. Hermione felt a pang in her chest when she saw that there were no students other than Slytherin present. In front, she saw Malfoy's mother standing, crying, with Lucius Malfoy standing beside her, his appearance completely drained. A few Aurors were standing alongside them, and she noticed the cuffs on Lucius.
Hermione decided to stay behind, not wanting to grab any attention, but she failed to do so.
"What are you doing here?!" Pansy screeched at her, bringing attention to them.
"I'm just here to pay my respects, Pansy, that's it," Hermione whispered out, reaching a hand towards her, but Pansy flung it away.
"Do you think I'm daft? Are you here to celebrate? 'Evil Malfoy got what he deserved'?" Pansy took a menacing step towards Hermione who stumbled back.
"No, that's not what-"
"Or are you here to gain sympathy for yourself? 'Hermione Granger is so above everyone, she came to her bully's funeral'. Is that it?"
"Pansy calm down!" Blaise Zabini appeared from behind her, grabbing Pansy and pulling her towards him. Pansy turned into Blaise's chest and sobbed.
"How dare she show up here! Tell her to leave Blaise. Please." Pansy cried.
Hermione saw Zabini give her a tear-filled frown. Hermione shook her head, willing her tears to stay, and rushed away from there.
Hermione sat down on a bench, just outside the room, crying silently. Harry was right, they weren't welcome there. Soon she heard someone call out her name. She turned to find Theodore Nott rushing toward her.
Hermione might've shown her fear on her face because he gave her a small smile. "I'm not here to scream at you, I promise."
Hermione nodded her head and he took a seat beside her. "I truly did not come here to cause any nuisance. I just-" She took a deep breath. "I just can't comprehend that he's gone. I expected to see him in the hallway on Friday making fun of my hair or something about my blood or shit."
He let out a small chuckle. "I know. I'm still convinced he'll show up and probably curse us all for not making his funeral fucking grand. Although, your presence is quite the specialty." Hermione scoffed at him. "No, I'm serious. We once talked about it. Who would attend our funerals." Theo looked off straight ahead of him. "His exact words were 'Granger would probably show up to mine because of her stupid Gryffindorness.' Didn't actually think it would be true."
Hermione looked down at her hands, a tear falling out. Nott sighed and slumped forward. "I have to ask though, you aren't his secret lover or anything, right?"
At that, Hermione snapped her head up at him, seeing his serious face. "Not at all! Why would you think that?"
Nott just continued looking at her. "You didn't have a one-off or anything?" She shook her head. "Did you like him? A small crush or maybe an infatuation?"
Hermione stared at him. "What the fuck Nott?"
Nott raised both his arms in surrender. "I just wanted to know what could've possibly been the reason that you would come here today. I've always thought of giving you all the benefit of the doubt, but maybe you Gryffindors really are stupid."
Hermione just sat in silence, cursing herself for the hundredth time for going.
"It's appreciated though, you know? You showing enough courage to come here. It shows that maybe people knew a bit about the real him and not the cruel him. But I would suggest not to come back inside because I am entirely sure Pansy will create another funeral here."
Hermione smiled at Nott. "Thank you, Theodore."
Nott shuddered. "Just Theo, please. Theodore was my father. And maybe, after the school reopens we could meet up?"
Hermione let out a small laugh. "Are you hitting on me? At your friend's funeral?"
"I'm kind of used to this now. People leaving me. And I can assure you, Draco would've smacked my head for not taking advantage of the situation."
Hermione shook her head in astonishment and left towards the elevator. "Goodbye, Theo."
-x-x-x-x-
As she walked out into Muggle London, Hermione felt herself being followed. She took a few random turns and when she glanced back discreetly, she saw the same man following her turns. She quickly turned into an alley and grabbed her wand out, waiting for him to show up.
"There's no need for that Miss Granger." A male voice called out from behind her. She whirled around in surprise and saw a tall, dark-eyed man leaning against the brick wall, smiling at her. He was wearing a black leather jacket with jeans. He was incredibly pale and lanky as if he had not had a proper meal in quite a while.
"What do you want? And how do you know my name?" She questioned frightenedly.
"It's part of the job I'm afraid. And all I want is to have a talk." The man answered.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and he let out a sigh and grabbed her arm. "Let's go get some coffee, huh? Maybe that will help. Or wait, you like tea, don't you?"
Hermione was astonished by the strength and grip of the man. He pulled her across the street and the passersby just watched as a girl was being dragged against her will.
Soon he dragged her into a cafe and went up to the counter, the girl ignoring the pleading looks Hermione was giving. He ordered a coffee for himself and tea for her, just the way she liked it.
He then dragged her to a booth in the corner of the cafe.
"Sit." The man instructed and when Hermione didn't comply, he shoved her into the booth.
"Who do you think you are?!" She questioned, rubbing her wrist.
"People call me a lot of things. It usually differs from religion to religion. But in simple words, I guess, I am Death." The man said casually, picking up the coffee the waitress had placed in front of him.
"Death?" She questioned, subtly looking for ways to escape the man who had clearly lost his mind.
"Yes." He simply stated. Hermione very unsubtly took in his appearance again and raised a brow at him. "Death looks as if he just walked out of the film 'Grease'?"
The man narrowed his eyes at her. "It takes quite a while for fashion to reach where I am. I'm not always in the form I have been described as in the three-brother story you magic people love so much." He grumbled.
"The what story? And how do you know I'm a witch?" She lowered her voice, still not quite believing the man. Or perhaps she had been the one who lost her mind. Maybe someone had cursed her at the funeral.
The man rolled his eyes. "As I said before, it's a part of my job. And forget the story, I'm here to talk to you about something important."
Hermione discreetly removed her wand from her bag to use against him, when she felt her wand vanish from her grip. The man smirked at her and waved a hand around the cafe. She looked around and was astonished to see everyone frozen in time, except for herself and the man.
She looked towards the man in terror and tried to get up but the man, Death, pulled her hand back, forcing her back onto the booth. "I will not repeat myself, I need to discuss something with you."
Hermione tried to control her breathing. "Am I about to die? Or am I dead? Is that why you've come to visit me?" She questioned.
Death snorted a laugh. "No Hermione, you're not dead, nor will you be dying soon. Don't worry, you still have much chaos to bring to the world."
Hermione frowned at his words. "If not that, then why are you here?"
Death leaned forward and placed both his hands on the table, clasping them together. "You amuse me."
"Excuse me?"
"Would you say Draco Malfoy was a friend of yours?" He questioned.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Not at all. We hated each other."
Death raised an eyebrow. "Do you think he deserved to die?"
Hermione gave him an affronted look. "Just because I hated him doesn't mean I wanted him to die!"
Death just nodded his head. "Do you know how much it hurts to take away a soul earlier than it should've gone?"
Hermione crossed her arms. "So you mean to say, it wasn't fated for him to die?"
"Not for at least another 70-80 years I guess."
She cleared her throat. "I still don't get what this has to do with me."
Death smiled at her. "I'll stop beating around the bush. I am giving you the chance to go 34 days before Draco Malfoy killed himself to try and prevent it."
Hermione looked at him wide eyes and her jaw hung open. Then she started laughing hysterically. "You're joking, aren't you? Go back in time and save him? Me?"
"Why not? As I saw, you were extremely affected by his death." Death tilted his head at her.
Hermione shook her head in astonishment. "That's because I feel guilty. Something that almost any human feels when someone they know commits suicide. Everyone wonders if they could've done something to prevent it."
"And how lucky you are to be getting this opportunity."
"Why me? Why not one of his friends? I bet Pansy would give an arm to go back and save him." She bargained.
Death shook his head. "But she was already there, wasn't she? No, you being there would be a twist in the story."
"Is this amusing to you?" She questioned.
"Not at all. It actually hurts me deeply that Draco Malfoy had to go the way he did. You don't know how lucky you are Hermione Granger, to have the chance to change the past."
Hermione hesitated before nodding her head in agreement. She wondered it couldn't be any more difficult than all the dangerous years she had at Hogwarts. Death grinned at her and pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper. Hermione scoffed as he placed it in front of her.
"A contract? Really?" She skimmed through it and shook her head at him. "What's the point of this if it's written in symbols that I can't even read?"
He held out a pen to her. "It's nothing nefarious, don't worry. Remember, I told you that you have a lot of life left."
Hermione took the pen from him and paused before signing her name on the dotted line. "This feels like I'm signing my soul to the Devil."
Death shrugged. "I've heard he's a riot. Never met him though."
"Very funny." She deadpanned as Death smirked at her.
Death handed her wand back to her. "Why only 34 days?" She questioned as she placed her wand back into her holster.
"It depends from person to person. But you get 34 days because it took Draco Malfoy 34 days to first consider ending his life and then finally committing suicide."
Hermione with-held a gasp. It had taken him 34 days to decide and kill himself. How could she manage to stop him in that much time?
Death got up from his seat, grabbing the contract from the table. He paused and glanced at Hermione once again with a sheepish look. "One more thing." Hermione saw his expression and cursed herself for not asking more about the risks involved. "The universe likes to maintain a balance, as I'm sure you've learned in your wizarding school. So, there might be a few obstacles that could try and hinder your progress."
"Why didn't you tell me this before?" She questioned worriedly.
"I forgot." He walked away, parting with a two-fingered salute.
Hermione slumped back in her seat and sighed loudly, wondering what mess she had gotten herself in. Suddenly, everything faded to black.
-x-x-x-x-
"Miss Granger?"
Hermione felt someone nudge her and she suddenly sat up, wide awake. She saw Professor Slughorn looking at her questioningly, as well as the group of students seated around, enjoying their dinner.
"I'm sorry professor, I didn't mean to nod off." She stuttered out, not even remembering coming over for dinner. In fact, she didn't even remember returning to school, or the entirety of the break.
Professor Slughorn just waved his hand. "Oh, it's alright. I hardly doubt the brightest witch of her age gets a proper 8-hour sleep every night. We were just talking about our families and I would like to know about yours. Muggles, right?" He questioned, not offensively.
However, Hermione frowned, as she had already told them all about her parents' profession a while back. She glanced at Harry who was sitting beside her, also looking at her in question.
Hermione cleared her throat. "They are dentists, sir. Healers for teeth."
"Aah, how delightful." Slughorn exclaimed. "How do they manage to do so without magic?"
Hermione fidgeted. "They have special tools which they use."
Slughorn nodded and then moved on to another student. She turned towards Harry. "What's the date?" She questioned.
"Saturday." Harry answered and then directed his gaze toward the other end of the table.
Hermione smacked his hand and received a quiet 'Ow' from him. "Stop staring at Ginny and answer my question, the date, not the day."
"Geez, it's the 9th of November. What's wrong with you?" Harry gazed at her in bewilderment.
Hermione inhaled a sharp breath. "I have to go. Please cover for me if Slughorn asks about me."
She quickly got up from her seat and left the room, ignoring Harry calling out for her. She rushed through the hallways, her mind spinning.
She had to have been dreaming, right? She couldn't have actually gone back into the past, could she? She had done it before, but never this back. She remembered the whole dinner quite clearly. She remembered the days that had followed. She remembered going back home for the holidays and going to the funeral. She remembered it being December 15th. So how was it that she was back on 9th November? She started counting. Draco Malfoy killed himself on the 13th of December. And it was now the 9th of November, apparently. Exactly 34 days before.
Amidst her thoughts, she didn't watch where she was going and suddenly crashed into someone, falling on her back.
"Where the hell do you have to get so quickly?" A snarky voice spoke through. Hermione glanced up at the person she bumped into and couldn't believe her eyes.
Standing in front of her was a very angry, and very alive Draco Malfoy.
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AN:
Draco's alive! Or is he?
Hope you enjoyed it!