Hermione explained her plan to Draco at the end of town overlooking the Shrieking Shack, where absolutely no one was hanging about on Valentine's Day weekend. Haunted buildings were generally not considered a particularly romantic location.
"It has some level of risk," Hermione told him, still cagey about what she needed. "We'll need a strong alibi for the time we're doing this." Her eyes met his. "Like being seen in Hogsmeade together the whole time."
Draco nodded, unfazed. "The plan's to use your Time-Turner, then?"
Hermione froze. She whirled around to look at Draco, astounded.
"How did you know I had a Time-Turner?" she demanded.
Her vehemence caught Draco off-guard, his eyes widening.
"Was I not supposed to know?" he asked carefully.
"No!" Hermione said emphatically. "It's supposed to be secret! How did you figure it out?"
"I investigated!" Draco said, incredulous. "Did you think I wouldn't?"
Hermione groaned.
That wasn't unreasonable, she supposed. Blaise had figured out about the Time-Turner too, wanting to know how she'd been getting to all her classes. Blaise had only concluded she was skipping back in time, though - he hadn't known what the device was she did it with. With Draco's connections and his parents both in the Wizengamot, Hermione supposed he had access to information she hadn't considered.
"Of course you investigated," Hermione said, sighing to herself. She shouldn't have been that surprised he'd been able to find out her secret, but it was still kind of aggravating.
"Well, of course," Draco said, shrugging. "You came back to school wearing jewelry after the summer. I had to know whose it was."
Hermione stopped walking. She slowly turned and looked at Draco.
"That's why you figured it out?" she asked, astonished. "You started with the necklace, and you went from there?"
"Yes?" Draco said, not understanding what she was getting at. "I saw you fingering some sort of charm under your robes a couple times. Once I was able to ascertain it wasn't someone's token, but the Time-Turner the Minister had given to you so you could attend the Wizengamot sessions, I had my answers, and I was satisfied."
Hermione stared at him, incredulous.
Blaise had figured out her secret by watching her habits, noting when she was attending her classes, and keeping careful track of her movements to determine she was skipping about through time.
Draco had figured it out because he'd wanted to know about the jewelry she was wearing.
She couldn't help but roll her eyes.
Mentally sighing, Hermione led Draco to a carriage. She told him more about the plan on the way back to the school.
"We'll go back to the Common Room, and Time-Turn from there, back to around breakfast time, I think," she said. "It wouldn't be odd for us to still be in the castle at that point."
"I'm honored that you're trusting me with this," Draco told her seriously. "I realize you're risking a lot and have to trust me here."
"Well, I need your help," Hermione said lightly. "You know a lot about the wizarding world and its inner workings, as well as deeper wizarding culture." She paused. " And I… have a bit of a problem, and I need your help in evaluating my next course of action."
Draco puffed himself up. "Of course, Hermione. Of course."
Draco was much less certain of himself upon arrival into the Chamber of Secrets, rapidly paling upon seeing a known felon casually urinating on one of the standing pillars of the cavern, who half-turned and waved a hand as he finished up.
"You—you've got Sirius Black down here?" Draco demanded, his voice unnaturally high. "Sirius Black?!"
"Yes," said Hermione.
"Sirius Black? The known felon? The one who murdered a dozen muggles with only one curse—"
"Yes, and he doesn't have a wand," Hermione reassured him. "Draco, please. You really don't want to hyperventilate in here. Speaking of which…" She turned to glare at Sirius Black, hands on her hips. "Just what do you think you're doing?" she demanded.
Sirius was closing up his robes, but he glanced up and smirked at her, sunken eyes glinting out. "What did it look like I was doing?"
"You have to live here!" Hermione said, storming over. She brandished her wand, and a Vanishing and Scouring charm hit the rocks at the base of the pillar, leaving an unusually clean spot on the stones. "You can't just be peeing everywhere. That's disgusting."
Sirius smirked.
"It's not like there's a proper loo, is there?" he drawled. "Besides, this is traditional. Until wizards conceded and adopted proper toilets from muggles, they just went where they stood and Vanished it away."
Hermione was horrified.
"That is the most appalling and revolting thing I've ever heard," she said, gagging. "I don't believe you for a second."
"Oh? Because you know so much about traditional wizarding families?" Sirius raised one eyebrow, challenging, yellowed teeth grinning at her in a twisted grin.
"No – but I understand logistics," Hermione snapped. "There's no way that a family is going to let its children just roll around in their own excrement as they play until a parent comes around to Vanish it for them."
Sirius' eyes glinted. "Maybe purebloods are just that disgusting."
"Maybe you're just disgusting, and you're making up gross stories to annoy me," Hermione snapped.
"That's more likely." Hermione turned to see Draco approaching her, looking pale but determined as he joined the conversation. "The first toilet was in the late 16th century. Queen Elizabeth I's godson invented it, and there was one in the palace before she died a few years later."
Sirius Black fixed his eyes on Draco.
"Oh, because you would know?" he sneered.
"My ancestor was courting her, so yes, I would," Draco fired back, though his voice quavered a bit. "The first Lucius Malfoy was an unsuccessful aspirant for the Queen's hand, and that was back in 1596. The Statue of Secrecy wasn't put into place until nearly a century later, in 1692. Wizards always knew of toilets. And outhouses before that." He shuddered. "No one's so crass to just defecate on themself. Not even animals do that."
Sirius barked out a laugh, before looking at Hermione.
"This is your grand plan to help me?" he said. "Bringing a Malfoy into your fold?"
"Draco Malfoy is your family," Hermione said stubbornly, folding her arms. "If anyone can help you clear your name, it's him."
"Wait, what?" Draco interrupted, goggling at her. "Clear his name? You think Sirius Black is innocent?"
Hermione looked at him, surprised. "Of course. Did you think I'd keep him here if he wasn't?"
"I didn't think you'd keep Sirius Black as your secret prisoner at all!" Draco said, throwing his hands up. "I didn't know what to expect, Hermione!"
"…oh," Hermione said, pausing. "That's fair."
Draco sighed very melodramatically, looking very put-upon, and Sirius snorted.
"The Malfoys, my family?" he scoffed. "As if."
"Narcissa Malfoy is your cousin through your mother on the Black family tree," Hermione snapped. "That makes Draco your first cousin, once removed. That means you're family."
"Haven't you heard?" Sirius said lazily, picking at his fingernails, which were filthy. "My dear old mother disowned me. I got blasted off the family tapestry."
"You might be burned off your family's tapestry, but you're not disowned," Draco offered. "Your mother took you back."
Sirius froze, before slowly turning to look at Draco. Draco looking to be quaking in his boots at Sirius' dark look, but he held himself firm.
"What?" Sirius said softly.
"Walburga Black reinstated you as the Black heir before she died," Draco said, his voice wavering. "Um. Because you'd brought honor back to the Black family."
Sirius's eyes burned like dark fire.
"And how," he demanded, his voice low, "did I bring honor back to the Black family?"
"Um," Draco said faintly. "I-I'm not sure. But if I had to guess..." He swallowed. "It'd be by… by serving the Dark Lord in secret for so long… as a spy… and being thrown in Azkaban for it."
Sirius recoiled, looking horrified and nauseated.
"I don't want to be reinstated, then," he spat, gagging. "Added back because my own mother thought I was a spy – that she was proud, thinking that I betrayed my friends for You-Know-Who, and that it was a good thing—"
Sirius broke off, taking a few steps away and grabbing his stomach, literally retching onto the floor. Hermione held her cloak over her face and tried not to breathe, discreetly Vanishing the small puddle once Sirius was done.
"Sorry," Sirius coughed, coming back over. "I've been starving for so long, I overdo it a bit on the stuff the elves bring me. My stomach's not ready for all I give it yet."
"The elves?" Draco looked at Hermione, horrified. "Hermione, if the elves know, surely Dumbledore—"
"The House Elves have no obligation to tell Dumbledore anything," Hermione told Draco calmly. "Believe me – I checked."
Draco looked very doubtful, but he took her at her word and turned back to the problem at hand.
"So… you didn't betray the Potters and spy for the Dark Lord?" he asked Sirius.
"No," snapped Sirius. "I chased after the one who did betray James and Lily, and I got blamed for his mess when I didn't manage to catch him in time."
Draco looked torn and confused. Finally, he looked at Hermione.
"What exactly do you want from me here?" he asked.
"Your advice," Hermione said promptly. "What needs to happen in order for him to get a trial and be proven innocent?"
Draco blinked.
"…okay, firstly, you need to get him out of the castle," Draco told her. "If you are found harboring a fugitive of the law, innocent or not, your life is over. You would be ruined."
"No one can find him down here," Hermione argued. "It's safest for him here."
"Is that true?" Draco challenged her. "Potter can speak snake language, can't he? If Dumbledore asked him to take him down here, do you think he'd hesitate to obey?"
Hermione hated it, but Draco kind of had a point.
"Where am I supposed to put him, then?" she said, scowling. "To make sure the dementors don't get him?"
"Somewhere nearby, but not too far, I suppose." Draco considered, glancing over at Sirius. "Where was he hiding before this?"
"I was in a cave near Hogsmeade." Sirius grimaced. "I would not recommend it."
"We could break into the Shrieking Shack?" Draco suggested. "It's nearby in Hogsmeade, but it'll have more protection from the elements than a cave."
"Oh, excellent! I know a way in," Sirius interrupted. He grinned. "There's a secret passage into it from the grounds here. That'd make a fine safehouse for me."
Hermione slowly turned to look at Sirius.
"Right," she said flatly. "You would know about that."
She glared at Sirius, who looked surprised for a moment before scowling back at her. Draco looked back and forth from one to the other, confused.
"Am I missing something?" he asked. "Is something going on?"
"No," Hermione and Sirius both said, glowering at each other.
Hermione scoffed at him before turning back to Draco. "Okay. So: get him off school grounds. What else?"
Draco tapped his lips with his finger, thinking.
"In order to call for a trial with this high of a profile, you're going to have to pull some strings," he said. "He never got one the first go-around?"
"No." Sirius spat bitterly on the ground. "Have old Barty Crouch to thank for that. Crotchety old bastard."
Hermione stifled an inappropriate giggle that threatened to bubble up at his cursing.
"I don't really have strings to pull here," she admitted. "I'm only a teenager, and without any family connections."
"Then we'll have to pull his strings," Draco said, nodding to Sirius. "He's a Black. That's worth something."
"Is it?" Sirius sneered. "Everyone thinks I've betrayed my best friend and murdered a dozen muggles. I don't think my last name is going to matter."
Draco sighed.
"It will to my mother," he said. He looked to Hermione. "We'll go and visit her during the Easter break."