a small deviation from the canon in this chapter: the exams do not take place exactly as in the books
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Hermione
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He was older, maybe seventeen or eighteen. She couldn't see his face very well, because it was blocked by a lock of wet blonde hair, but she could see that he was crying.
The strangled cry she'd made caught Ron's attention, and she feigned a cough. When she looked into the crystal ball again, Malfoy had disappeared.
Hermione was torn between fear and exasperation. Obviously, she didn't believe in the Third Eye of Trelawney nonsense, so she was sure that this crystal ball was made to produce random images, just to impress. She couldn't have actually seen it. To get magic, you had to work at it, hone your skills, not just sit in front of a crystal ball and wait for a vision. But part of her was thinking... What if it were true? What if she really had glimpsed the future?
Professor Trelawney approached their table to discuss what they were seeing. Hermione made the immediate decision not to say what she had seen, or imagined.
"Well, my dears? Have you managed to push aside the veil of clarity?"
Harry sat up abruptly as he heard the voice of the teacher he hadn't seen and who had finished off his drowsiness. The huge eyes magnified by Trelawney's glasses stared at Hermione, who felt compelled to blurt out:
"The Grim, probably?"
There was a murmur in the class, as if the name was bad luck. Hermione rolled her eyes. Trelawney always ended up predicting that for Harry anyway, no matter if it was by the tea leaves or the lines in his hand. The professor raised her eyebrows and said in her most gloomy tone:
"My dear... Since you entered this class, I have known that your mind is as closed as possible to the art of Divination. You do not possess the Third Eye, or rather, you do not want to admit that you possess it. I don't remember ever meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly mundane."
Trelawney moved her hand forward to take Hermione's, presumably to read the lines in her hand, but Hermione pulled it away before she could study it. Partly because she didn't want to be examined like that, but also because she was afraid the professor would find out what she had seen in the crystal ball. She heard Ron mutter a "wow" before she turned fiercely to the teacher:
"All right!" gasped Hermione loudly, startling everyone. "I give up! I'm leaving!"
Hermione stood up, stuffed her book into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Then, in one last burst of anger, she swung her crystal ball, which rolled across the table and fell to the floor. Trelawney was appalled, but made no comment, and left Hermione to find her way out. The crystal ball continued to roll across the wobbly floor to the stairs, which Hermione rushed down, breathing in the fresh air at last.
She dashed towards Professor McGonagall's office, hoping she was in there, and knocked three times on the door.
"Come in."
Hermione opened the door and was pleased to find a much more serious and framed atmosphere.
"I want to leave Divination." she announced firmly, standing in the doorway.
McGonagall looked up from her papers. She was wearing a pointed crimson hat, and her glasses at the end of her nose. She arched an eyebrow and said calmly:
"Good morning to you, Miss Granger. Please close the door and come and sit down."
Hermione obeyed and sat down opposite her Head of House. Now that she was there, she had lost a little of her self-confidence, but she was so focused on stopping this subject that she held McGonagall's gaze.
McGonagall finished signing her letter with her long peacock quill, placed it on her desk and watched Hermione carefully, her lips tight.
"You wish to quit Divination?" she repeated after a long silence.
"Yes."
"Is it to do with the Time Turner?"
"No!" exclaimed Hermione. "Nothing to do with it. I just have no interest in the matter."
"And you've only just noticed?"
"I've been trying to hang on." said Hermione. "But I just can't. It's too inaccurate, it's based on nothing, there aren't even any books to study it! Professor Trelawney keeps making dire predictions to Harry, which I don't believe in at all. I don't think it's a science, I think it's fake."
A very slight smile lit up McGonagall's face for a few seconds, then she returned to her usual stern features:
"I can only agree with you on this point, Miss Granger. I don't believe in the art of Divination either, and I don't think it would be a great loss if you were to abandon that option. Are you sure of yourself?"
"Yes." said Hermione instinctively.
McGonagall opened one of her desk drawers and took out a pink form which she placed in front of her, picked up her peacock quill again and began to write on it:
"Very well. I will inform Professor Trelawney at the end of the day, and you will not be marked for these exams. Do you have another request, Miss Granger?"
Hermione watched McGonagall write for a few seconds, hesitant. Then she began, much more awkwardly than before:
"Erm... Yes... Actually... I wanted to know, can the Divination class be... rigged?"
McGonagall did not look up but raised her eyebrows again:
"Rigged?"
"The crystal balls... are they fake? Magically altered to show something?"
"I don't quite understand what you mean, Miss Granger."
Hermione took a deep breath and began to speak again:
"I thought I saw something in it, just before I left class. Some sort of blurred image. Do you think Professor Trelawney might be tampering with them to make certain students see something and believe they have a gift?"
McGonagall stopped writing on her form for a moment to ask:
"What did you see?"
Hermione swallowed:
"Just... shapes, senseless."
She bit her lip and hoped McGonagall didn't detect her lie. Ron had told her several times that she was terrible at lying, and McGonagall's eyes inspected her so much that she was sure she could see it. But instead she shook her head:
"Hm, no. You may have seen something, after all, Divination has been a subject at Hogwarts for many years, which proves that Dumbledore believes in Sybill Trelawney, and that there may be a gift, or a Third Eye, as she calls it."
"I don't think I have a gift." Hermione said at once, lest she think her a fool. "I was just wondering."
"Surely you must have dozed off, Miss. Granger. It wouldn't be the first time a student took a nap in this classroom, believe me."
And as McGonagall bent down to write again, Hermione tried to convince herself that she was right. But she knew what she'd seen, and she couldn't get the image of Draco Malfoy crying out of her retinas no matter how hard she tried.
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Draco
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"Are you still sulking about the Quidditch match?" asked Theo.
Draco grunted an incomprehensible sentence. Of course he was still disgusted, but Theo had never loved Quidditch enough to understand what it felt like to lose. Especially when it was against Potter. It had been almost a month since Slytherin had lost, but Draco still hadn't come to terms with his defeat. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he preferred to study for the exams, even if he was in a relatively bad mood.
They were both in the library. Blaise hadn't turned up and Draco didn't even know if he'd studied for his exams. As for Pansy, she hadn't been in the library for six months and made a point of not opening a single book. So it was only Theo and Draco who studied assiduously. Theo was always studying in the Library or the Common Room, and Draco was motivated by the idea of making his parents proud with his grades.
In reality, it wasn't all that. He was mainly stimulated by the idea of surpassing Granger in a subject or two, just to piss her off. Ever since she'd slapped him, Draco had hated her even more than before, and if he could beat her somewhere and see her face twist into a grimace of disappointment, then he would. He hadn't been able to beat Potter at the match, so he'd beat Granger in class.
"Pass me the ink, please." Theo challenged without looking up from his parchment.
Draco handed him the pot, impressed that he'd managed to empty his last inkwell so quickly. Theo had the ability to take the ink, unscrew it, stir it, dip his quill in and continue writing without looking at what he was doing. He was writing revision sheets for all the subjects, which he then lent to Pansy. Draco, for his part, was rereading his Potions textbook. He was putting everything into that subject, because he knew it was Granger's weak point.
"Boys, the Library will be closing soon."
Draco looked up from his book and came upon Madam Pince, who had just whispered. He realised that there was no one left in the Library, apart from the two of them, and Granger, sitting a little further back.
"Five more minutes, please, I'm finishing my sentence." said Theo.
The librarian nodded very slightly and went over to Granger to tell her the same thing. If Draco leaned back in his chair, he could see the table she usually occupied, which he did. Her face was hollowed out by the dark circles under her eyes. She was writing frantically, as was Theo, taking occasional sips of tea. When Pince approached, she jumped and looked around like an idiot, as if she'd forgotten where she was for a moment.
Draco heard her say:
"Oh, all right. I'll put my things away, thank you."
Then she stood up and packed her books into her overstuffed bag. To leave the Library, she had to pass the table shared by Theo and Draco. She gave them an evil, insolent look. Draco noticed that she was wearing a blue jumper with the letter "H" on it, and he wondered if it was hers or Potter's.
Theo finally finished his sentence and they both put their books away before leaving the Library, which Madame Pince locked after they had left. They made their way to the dungeons and passed Potter and Weasley coming out of the Great Hall. As he had suspected, Potter was wearing the same jumper as Granger, but in purple.
When they reached the stone wall of the Common Room, Theo whispered the password and the door appeared. As soon as it opened, thunderous music came clearly to their ears. The Common Room was full of students dancing and drinking all over the place. As they entered, Blaise came out to meet them:
"Last night before exams" he said by way of explanation.
"Shouldn't they be studying instead of dancing?" sighed Theo, slightly annoyed.
"Oh, come on, Theo! Have a drink, it'll relax you!" said Blaise, handing him a green cup.
The latter looked at it as if it contained mud and shook his head:
"No, I'd rather see my Transfiguration properties again. And if you see Pansy, tell her she should do the same, she's behind with her studies."
And he fled towards the dormitories under Blaise's amused gaze.
"Incapable of stopping, that one." he commented. Then he handed Draco the goblet: "And you? Want to stay?"
Draco took the glass and drank half of it in one go. He really needed to relax, too. Between Granger, exams, losing Quidditch and the apprehension of seeing his father again, he was constantly tense. Blaise toasted with him and they approached the sofas.
He hadn't seen her at first, but Pansy was already there. She was lying on the green sofa with a cigarette in her mouth and her legs folded over Daphne's, who was shaking her head to the music.
"Hey! There you are!" she exclaimed as Draco came into view. "We've been waiting for you to play Truth or Shot."
"Huh? Truth or Shot?" repeated Draco as he sat down on the floor opposite the sofa occupied by Pansy and Daphne.
"Yeah, it's like Truth or Dare, but if you don't want to answer a Truth, you have to take a shot." Daphne explained, pointing to her glass.
Pansy burst out laughing for no reason. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was a bit dishevelled. Draco raised an inquisitive eyebrow:
"And you, how many shots have you had already?" he asked.
"A few." replied Pansy distractedly.
"Have you eaten?"
"Oh, Draco! Stop worrying, and start playing."
She took a long drag on her cigarette and spat out the smoke, which turned green as it scattered through the air of the Common Room.
"Draco, are you playing?" asked someone next to the table.
The latter nodded absently. There were only third and fourth years around the table, and they all agreed to play. Blaise was sitting next to Draco, but didn't seem too interested in the game in front of him.
"Okay, I'll start." said Pansy excitedly. "Blaise, who did you sleep with in this room?"
He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly:
"Nobody!"
"Yeah."
"I've only slept with one girl, for your information." he said in a low voice.
"Yeah, sure. Your turn."
Blaise turned haphazardly to a fourth year girl Draco didn't know.
"Which teacher would you sleep with if you had to choose one?"
The girl grimaced, thought for a few seconds, then swallowed the contents of her glass in one gulp. Everyone burst out laughing and started debating who was the best fuck at Hogwarts.
The game lasted a good thirty minutes. Draco wasn't very interested in the discussions the students were having around him, and only did shots when someone asked him a question. He hadn't eaten that evening, being too busy studying in the library, so it only took him three shots to get tipsy. He'd never been drunk before, but it wasn't unpleasant. It stopped the constant stream of thoughts in his head.
"Draco!" called out Tracy Davis, sitting on the edge of the sofa. "Who would you like to kiss at Hogwarts?"
Granger, he thought impulsively. Nonsense, his alcohol-fogged brain was playing tricks on him. He drank another goblet in one gulp, despite the disappointed looks of the assembly around him.
"Nobody." he said curtly.
The game went on and on, until Draco felt a little strange. He felt like he was floating, even though he was sitting cross-legged on the stone floor. What's more, he couldn't even taste the Firewhisky that Blaise was pouring him at every turn. He heard Daphne ask:
"Pansy, who are you in love with?"
Daphne's eyes twinkled with mischief, and Pansy's smile immediately faded from her face. For a moment she looked frightened, then annoyed. She glared at her best friend and withdrew her legs, which she had placed on top of her:
"You're such a bitch, Daphne."
Then she drank the content of her glass and rose furiously from the sofa to return to the dormitories.
"Oops." muttered Daphne with a laugh. "I shouldn't have brought that up... Yann, your turn."
But Draco was staring at the spot where Pansy had been a few seconds earlier. Was she in love? But who was she in love with? She hadn't told him. Maybe that was why she'd been so distant recently, she didn't want to tell Draco who she was in love with... Theories about different guys passed through his mind, but were interrupted by one of the fourth years next to him asking to pass him the bottle of alcohol.
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If he thought Theo was stressed about the exams, it was because he hadn't seen Granger yet. He could watch her from the Slytherin table on the first day of the exams, and she looked completely panicked. She'd get lost in her notes, which she'd scattered across the table with a frown, or read a chapter in one of the books in the pile in front of her. No one in the Gryffindors seemed concerned by this behaviour. They must have considered it a habit with her.
Draco, on the other hand, was in a very bad state. Despite the ten pumpkin juices he'd drunk since this morning, nothing could get rid of his hangover. He was beginning to silently curse Blaise for organising a party the night before the exams when Pansy sat down opposite him. The bench creaked and Blaise took his head in his hands:
"Shhh, too much noise..." he said in a small voice.
"I see some of you had fun last night." replied Pansy in a falsely disapproving tone.
"You're too loud." Draco said indignantly.
He rubbed his temples to try and get rid of the headache. He felt as if his head weighed a ton and the light in the Great Hall was suddenly much brighter than before. Pansy clicked her tongue and pulled her wand from her pocket, pointing it directly at Draco. Theo looked up from his Transfiguration book with wide eyes:
"Wow, what do you want to do, Pansy?"
"Don't worry, I know that spell well."
And before Draco could object, Pansy muttered something and a flash of yellow light briefly illuminated Draco. He wanted to protest, but suddenly felt a wave of coolness and his nausea and headache evaporated immediately. His complaint faded on his tongue and he breathed a sigh of relief instead.
"See?" exclaimed Pansy with a smile.
"Does that really work?" asked Blaise, suddenly very interested.
As Pansy did the same for Blaise, Draco frowned. He was worried that his best friend knew this spell so well. How many times had she been drunk this year? How could she have learnt this charm on her own?
From the look of concern on Theo's face, he wasn't the only one wondering. But Draco didn't have time to think about it, because the exams were starting, and very quickly, all his mind was turned towards them.
He focused like never before, and passed both the Arithmancy and Transfiguration exams. He had wondered if Granger was going to use her Time Turner for the exams too, and from the look on her face, she was. Her hand was shaking as she wrote, in Arithmancy.
Draco was not happy with his Cheering Charm, especially compared to Theo's, who had done it perfectly. That evening, he studied with Theo for Potions, the exam he most wanted to pass. He was convinced that if he could beat Granger anywhere, it would be in Potions. He and Theo recited to each other the notes they had written in the Library, much to the dismay of Pansy, who had to listen too.
The Potions exam turned out to be much easier than they had imagined. Draco passed his potion perfectly, and fifteen minutes early. Snape even grinned at him when he saw it, and scribbled something on his parchment that Draco hoped was an "Outstanding". For the rest of the test, he watched Granger, whose hair had tripled in size in the humidity of the dungeons. She was pouring the ingredients correctly and in the right proportions, but she didn't seem convinced by the colour of her potion. He was banking on Snape's favouritism to get a better grade than her.
Pansy was excellent during Astronomy. She spotted all the stars without the slightest effort, calculated distances with her compass and even added extra information to the map. Draco copied most of her answers from her when Professor Sinistra wasn't looking.
Wednesday was a disaster, but Draco had expected it. The History of Magic test was a complete fiasco, despite the dozens of scrolls of notes Theo had lent him the day before. Draco even invented the dates of the battles he was asked to name, hoping to get it right. Pansy had written nothing on her paper and was looking out of the window at the trees. Theo was the only one writing, along with Granger. They both finished a minute before the end of the test, almost out of breath, and exchanged a defiant glance. Herbology was almost as easy as Care of Magical Creatures, but Draco let his ego get the better of him and ended up pricking himself with a poisonous plant, which earned him a stern nod from Sprout.
The last exam was Defence Against the Dark Arts on Thursday morning. Pansy, Draco, Theo and Blaise all sat in the classroom a little early, eager to get it over with. Lupin arrived, his clothes more torn than ever and his dark circles almost as deep as Granger's.
When everyone was settled, Lupin explained to the third years how the test would be conducted:
"I'm going to call you two by two, and you'll have to complete an obstacle course. It's up to you to beat them."
Lupin took them all outside, into the park, and called out a few names. Then it was Draco and Pansy's turn. Draco drew his wand and set off, closely followed by his best friend. He managed to get rid of the Grindylows, beat the Red Caps, and escape from the Hinkypunks without any trouble. He could hear Pansy's spells behind him, and she seemed to be doing well.
Draco then entered a tent that represented the final obstacle. The test was split into two parts, one for him and one for Pansy. Lupin was there, in a corner of the tent, bent over a parchment. Draco had to identify several creatures in front of him and give their names, their characteristics and the spell to defeat them. While he was trying to remember which spell to use against Pixies, Pansy arrived next to him and prepared to fight her last obstacle in turn, a large brown trunk. There was a long silence during which Draco tried as best he could to finish his examination, and Pansy waited with her wand pointed in front of her. Then she let out a howl of terror.
It was a Boggart. Draco couldn't see it at first, but he immediately turned his head when he heard her scream. His blood ran cold as he saw the shape the Boggart had taken in front of her.
Pansy's father.
She dropped her wand. She must not have expected to face him, perhaps she hadn't even realised he was a Boggart. Her charcoal eyes were wide, she was livid and recoiled haphazardly. Her father, on the other hand, looked as stern as ever. His eyebrows were furrowed and he was muttering something Draco couldn't hear. Pansy made a strangled sound, the most horrible Draco had heard. The Boggart came closer, closer, closer and reached out an arm towards Pansy, who had suddenly frozen in terror. Then Draco could finally hear what his father was hissing through his teeth: "She's gone. She's not coming back. It's your fault, Pansy. She's gone. She's not coming back. It's your fault, Pansy. She's gone."
Draco raised his wand and pointed it at Pansy's father:
"Riddikulus."
Pansy's father's head swelled and exploded in front of her, but neither Lupin, Draco nor Pansy laughed. Draco rushed over to snap her out of her trance:
"Pans', Pans', it's over. It was just a Boggart."
Pansy's terror-stricken eyes landed on Draco, and she laid her head gently against him, trying to regain normal breathing. With all this, Draco had completely forgotten his own ordeal, but he didn't care. Lupin twirled his wand between his fingers and Draco's creatures and the Boggart disappeared in a screen of smoke.
"Pansy, are you all right?" asked the professor in a worried voice. "Who was that?"
Pansy was hiccupping against Draco's chest, so it was Draco who replied, rather coldly:
"Nobody."
Lupin didn't insist, but wrote something in his parchment anyway with a raised eyebrow. This annoyed Draco even more:
"Do you really think this is a good idea? To confront the students with their greatest fear?"
The professor pursed his lips, but still said nothing. Pansy suddenly pulled away from Draco and wiped her eyes:
"It's all right." she said in a white voice.
She made a defiant wince at Lupin and left the tent. She crossed the grounds, stopped, picked up her small mirror and wiped the traces of make-up that had run down her cheeks. When Draco joined her, she suddenly had a hard, closed face.
"Promise you won't say anything. To anyone." she said curtly.
She raised an inquisitive finger and pointed it at him. Draco was suddenly offended:
"Because you really think I'm going to tell everyone that you're scared of your father?"
"Promise!" she cut in, in a threatening tone.
"Of course I promise, Pans'. Why would I do that?"
She looked a little more relieved, but still didn't lower her finger. They looked at each other for a long time, then she finally relaxed.
"I'm glad it's finally over." she said, suddenly much calmer.
"Yeah, me too."
They set off to join Theo and Blaise. Pansy walked ahead, clearly determined never to speak of what they had just seen again. Draco was mostly bewildered by her reactions, which changed so quickly.
Theo and Blaise were already sitting at the foot of a tree, next to the Black Lake. For once, Theo wasn't holding a book, but rather a blade of grass that he was absent-mindedly cutting up. When Draco and Pansy reached them, Blaise said:
"Finally! What took you so long?"
"Lupin got two names mixed up, which lengthened the test." lied Pansy as she sat down on the grass.
She leaned against the tree trunk and observed the surface of the Black Lake. This way, no one would have noticed that she had just had a panic attack a few seconds earlier. Draco sat down next to Blaise without saying a word. But of course, Theo liked debriefing too much not to ask questions:
"So, how did it go?"
"Good." Draco replied simply.
"Did you see the Boggart at the end?" asked Theo. "What was that to you?"
Draco raised his head slowly to look at Pansy. She would never dare say it was her father, but yet Draco was sure Theo had had the same Boggart.
Pansy coughed a little and replied, still staring straight ahead:
"A spider."
The three of them nodded, and never spoke of the Defence Against the Dark Arts test again.
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Hermione
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Hermione awoke from the abyss of sleep with difficulty. Her throat was dry and her head was on the verge of exploding. For a moment, she thought it was morning and that she had to get to her exams quickly. Her thoughts were so confused that it took her a good ten seconds to realise that the exams were over.
Then the events of the evening suddenly came back to her. Sirius, who was innocent. Lupin, who had explained the whole story and confirmed his status as a werewolf. Peter Pettigrew, who was alive, transformed into a Scabbers all those years ago.
She still had her eyes closed and couldn't hear anything around her, but she recognised the familiar smell of the hospital wing. She had spent enough time in that bed to say for sure. The last thing she remembered was the Dementors, hundreds of them flying overhead, and Harry trying to keep them at bay.
Then an idea popped into his head, eliminating everything else: Ron.
Hermione suddenly opened her eyes and turned her head to try and see something. The hospital wing was pitch black, lit only by the full moon shining through the window into the dark sky. Hermione looked around for Ron, feeling panic slowly creep into every part of her body: he couldn't be...
Luckily, he was there. His leg was in a full cast and he looked like he was asleep. A dozen or so medicines and bottles occupied the small bedside table beside him. Hermione then turned her head towards Harry. He was in a bad shape too. His eyebrow was bleeding and his arm was bandaged. He wasn't wearing his glasses.
She felt the weight of her own injuries only now, as if, having seen that Harry and Ron were all right, she could see her own condition. Her head was throbbing so much that she felt it was almost split in two, she had the feeling that all her limbs were numb, and she was freezing to death. Her lip was open and she could smell the dried blood that had dripped down her chin.
Suddenly, she heard voices from the corridors. She recognised Snape's, then that of the Minister for Magic, Fudge. From what she could vaguely make out, Snape was taking credit for Harry's achievements.
Then she felt a burning in her stomach when she heard Snape say that Sirius was guilty. She felt like standing up for him, now that she knew the whole truth. But her body was too heavy against the mattress.
Suddenly, Harry struggled to open his eyes. Praying that he could see her without his glasses, she told him to be quiet with a wave of her hand. Madam Pomfrey arrived at that moment with a huge piece of chocolate:
"Ah, you're awake, both of you!"
She placed a piece of chocolate next to Hermione. As soon as she ate it, she felt a warmth spread through her belly and she sat up fully, wide awake.
"How's Ron?" asked Harry and Hermione simultaneously.
"He'll live." said the nurse. "And you two are going to stay here until... Potter, what are you doing?"
Harry had stood up, and Hermione did the same. Her legs were still shaking.
"Potter..." said Madam Pomfrey in a soothing voice. "It's all right, they've captured Black. He's locked up there. The Dementors are going to give him a kiss any moment..."
"What?" shouted Harry.
Cornelius Fudge and Snape burst into the room.
"Harry, Harry, what is it?" said Fudge worriedly, "You need to stay in bed. Has he had his chocolate?" he asked Madam Pomfrey anxiously.
"Minister, listen to me!" exclaimed Harry. "Sirius Black is innocent! Peter Pettigrew faked his own death! We saw him tonight! You can't let the Dementors do this to Sirius, he's..."
But Fudge nodded with a pale smile.
"Harry, Harry, your mind is a bit muddled, you've been through a terrible time. Lie down and rest, we have the situation well under control..."
"YOU DON'T HAVE IT UNDER CONTROL AT ALL!" shouted Harry. "YOU'VE ARRESTED AN INNOCENT MAN!"
"Minister, listen to me, please." said Hermione, looking Fudge in the eye. "I saw it too. It was Ron's rat, he's an Animagus, Pettigrew, I mean, and..."
"You see, Minister?" intervened Snape. They don't know where they stand, either of them... Black did a good job with his Confondus charm..."
As Harry tried to make himself understood, Hermione realised it was too late. Nothing could change Fudge's mind. After all, she wouldn't have believed him either if she'd found herself in his situation. Fortunately, Dumbledore came into the room at that moment. Seeing him, Hermione felt a wave of relief.
"My apologies, Poppy, but I need a word with Mr Potter and Miss Granger." announced Dumbledore, very calmly, "I've just spoken to Sirius Black."
After several protests in all directions, Snape, Fudge and Madam Pomfrey agreed to leave them alone. Hermione listened carefully to what Dumbledore was thinking, and was pleased to see that he believed them and not Snape. However, she didn't see how they could convince the others. Lupin was still transformed, Ron was in a coma, and Snape was determined to blame Sirius. Hermione's mind was racing, desperately trying to find a solution, any solution...
"What we need is a bit more time." Dumbledore said softly.
"But..." began Hermione. Then, suddenly, she understood. "Oh!"
"Now, listen carefully," Dumbledore whispered. "Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. The thirteenth window to the right of the west tower. If all goes well, you may save more than one innocent tonight. But remember this, both of you: you must not be seen. Miss Granger, you know the law, you know what's at stake... You must not be seen."
Hermione was already hastily opening her waistcoat to take the Time Turner in her hand. Dumbledore approached the door and once he had closed the doors, he stuck his head through the opening. He had a big smile on his face.
"Miss Granger, three turns should be enough. Good luck."
And he closed the hospital wing doors again. Hermione slipped the chain around Harry's neck, who had absolutely no idea what was going on.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Why? What are we going to do?" asked Harry in a panicked tone as he stared at the hourglass.
Hermione took a deep breath and spun the Time Turner three times. She'd never turned it more than once, so she was surprised to feel the much faster whirlwind closing in on them. She grabbed Harry's hand and he squeezed it as they spun and spun and spun. Hermione hoped it was the last time she would do this.
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Draco
.
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Pansy hadn't come to dinner the evening after the exams. Draco was beginning to worry about her, so he decided to skip dessert and get up before everyone else to find her. He walked through the cold, empty corridors of the dungeons and found himself in front of the stone wall of the Common Room.
"Cupiditas." he announced.
The door appeared in the wall and he turned the handle to enter. The Common Room was empty, everyone was still at dinner. He glanced at the sofas where Pansy usually sat, but there was nobody there. He walked up and down the room several times, but had to face the facts: she wasn't in the room.
He hesitantly made his way to his dormitory, but it was empty. Theo's bed was perfectly tidy, Draco's was a mess with Quidditch magazines strewn all over it, and Blaise's duvet was on the floor, but Pansy was nowhere to be seen. Sometimes she sat in the armchair, or took one of their three beds for a nap.
Draco left the dormitory and took the other stairs in the basement, towards the girls' dormitories. He had never been in this part of the dungeons, except in the evenings with Astra. He stopped in front of Pansy's dormitory and knocked three times on the door. A small voice answered:
"Yes?"
He opened the door without answering. There she was, lying on top of the duvet of her bed. Draco had never been in her dormitory, usually it was she who came to his. But lately, she hardly ever came.
Pansy's part of the dormitory was exactly as he'd imagined it. She had hung leaves on the walls and ceiling, creating an incredible wall of greenery, as if each leaf had a golden glow. There were no books on her bedside table, just a black ashtray, two packets of cigarettes and a perfume. Apart from that, there were no decorations, and her clothes were all spread out on the floor, her suitcase overflowing at the foot of the bed.
"What do you want?" she asked, avoiding his gaze.
Draco approached and sat down on the bed. If Pansy was surprised by his intrusion, she didn't show it at all. She took one of the packets from the bedside table, tore open the wrapping, and took out a cigarette.
"You didn't come to dinner." Draco began cautiously.
"Is that a question, or a statement?"
"A statement. I didn't see you there."
"Oh." replied Pansy simply.
She swung all her weight forward to straighten up in her bed. For a moment, Draco thought she wanted him to hold her, but he realised she was actually looking for her wand, tucked away in the pocket of her uniform. Once she had extracted it, Pansy lit the end of it to light her cigarette. The smell of the smoke was foul and quickly filled the small room.
"Pansy, what's going on with you lately?"
Draco's tone was harsh, perhaps a little too urgent. But he needed to know.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, you're... Different."
He still found it hard to explain how he felt. Usually it was her who did it. Now he felt a little uncomfortable, as if he didn't recognise the person in front of him. Pansy looked up at him, her eyes almost blocked by her fringes.
"Are you going to lecture me about smoking too? Nott has already done that. How dangerous it is for your health... I don't care, Draco."
To back up her words, she took a long drag from her cigarette and blew out the smoke, not taking any notice of the fact that she was practically blowing it in his face. Draco continued to speak, still sparing his tone:
"No, I'm not talking about that. Well, yes, a little. You're not like you used to be. You don't sleep in my bed any more, you talk to me less, you're cold, you spend all your time smoking and drinking..."
He saw her dark eyes dart across the bed, trying to avoid looking at him. He knew he was right, and that he hadn't made it up. She was distant. When she answered nothing, he pressed:
"What's up? You're giving me the cold shoulder, aren't you?"
She nodded slowly, still without saying a word.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Draco said impatiently. "You know I'm no good at seeing this. If you'd told me earlier that you were angry with me, we could have sorted this out weeks ago."
Suddenly, her best friend's charcoal gaze met his, furious:
"It hasn't been weeks, Draco. It's been months. And you haven't seen a thing."
"Yes I have!" he protested. "I noticed it, but I figured you'd tell me about it when you were ready!"
She sighed and tapped her cigarette against the rim of the ashtray, which was full. Draco wrinkled his nose, but she didn't notice and continued smoking.
"It's because of what Daphne said, isn't it?" attempted Draco. "About you being in love?"
Pansy hesitated, for a long moment, then said in a whisper:
"Yeah."
"Then who is it? Tell me, I'd never blame you. Unless it's Longbottom." he added, trying to make her laugh.
She gave a little smile mixed with annoyance.
"You really have no idea?" she asked in a small voice.
"Tell me. I promise I won't laugh."
Pansy laughed darkly and stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray. Then she stretched out her legs in the bed and said in a hard voice:
"It's you, Draco."