Chapter Text
Hermione sat up with a gasp. Hand on her chest, she struggled to breathe. Her vision remained hazy as her eyes began to water. She felt as though someone was squeezing her lungs. She couldn't breathe.
"Drink," a soft voice told her as a glass was held up to her lips. Hermione drank.
She choked on the water when she realised she'd listened to Draco Malfoy without questioning it. She screamed as she fell over the arm of the couch in an attempt to scramble away. At least she wasn't choking anymore -- and she could breathe.
Hermione stood up and pointed her wand at him. "What did you put in there?! What -- did you drug me?! Where--" She broke off finding an odd sense of deja vu.
"Off Hogwarts grounds. I had to bring you out here. I couldn't get into the Room and if any of your friends had found me with you, I'd be dead and it would all be to waste."
Hermione's hand shook. "What -- what happened?"
"Well, bad things happen to wizards who meddle with time. We broke the Time-Turner."
"What I saw in there . . . is that what really happens? To me?"
Draco shrugged as he turned and set the glass down on a wooden table. Hermione suddenly realised they were in Hagrid's cottage. "I don't know. All I know is that my future and present self merged. The future is infinite. We won't know until it happens."
"But if you're still the version that came back, shouldn't you know?"
"I don't know what's real and what's not. The future is always changing depending on what happens now. Breaking the Time-Turner could've changed course, shown us what could've happened, what will happen or what might never happen. Nothing is certain."
"I'm leaving. They'll be looking for me."
Draco nodded, not looking at Hermione. "Your jacket is over that chair there. You had shards of glass in your shoulder. I didn't look."
Hermione rolled her left shoulder, wincing when she felt the pain. With her right hand, she lightly rubbed from her collarbone to her shoulder. Her fingers grazed over what felt like welts. In addition, she felt rather short of breath, as she often did when she woke from violent nightmares. "Thank you."
She picked up her jacket and headed towards the door. As she passed by Draco, he grabbed her wrist. "Be careful, Hermione."
She nodded stiffly. "I will."
And without another glance, Hermione left the cottage, feeling a sinking dread, as if something truly devastating was to follow.
"If anyone here has knowledge of Mr Potter's movements this evening," Severus Snape addressed the gathered students, "I invite them to step forward now."
Hermione watched from behind Harry as he stepped forward. In the dead silence of the hall, his footsteps echoed like thunder. "I think I could help with that."
The odd feeling of deja vu brushed over Hermione again as several students' faces lit up with hope. Professor McGonagall looked absolutely delighted. Hermione zoned out as she noticed Draco hiding behind a few taller students. She could not tell which house they were.
"How dare you stand where he stood?!"
Hermione blinked and turned back to see Harry screaming at Snape.
"Tell them how it was that night!" Harry cried, jabbing his wand at the air between him and the professor. "Tell them how you looked him in the eye, a man who trusted you . . . and killed him! TELL THEM!"
The hall was silent. Several hands twitched over their wands, waiting. The student body gasped when Snape drew his wand, but when McGonagall pushed Harry aside and drew her own wand, the students scrambled away, some screaming. In the chaos, Hermione's gaze found Draco again.
Even the Order had split to the sides to give McGonagall the room she needed to duel the man who was once her own student.
Hermione's eyes searched the other side of the hall. She found Ron with Ginny, arms protectively wrapped around his sister. Harry had stumbled into them and Ginny held Harry's hand in her own. Three of Ron's brothers stood with Hermione.
Once again, her gaze landed on Draco. This time, he was watching her. She motioned for him to come towards her. That dream had been awful, flying out a window and dying. It still made her shudder. She made sure to meet Draco between two windows, where the wall would stop her from going down. Nightmares were terrible things.
"What?"
"You called me."
"You were staring at me."
"Uh, you've still got some sand on your face." Draco only meant to point in the general direction, but Hermione turned to see how her professor fared and Draco's fingers brushed her cheekbone. "Sorry."
"Is it gone?" Hermione asked, ignoring everything else. "Who knows what would happen if we still had--"
Children and adults alike screamed as a force blew across the hall, shattering the windows and throwing people off balance. While everyone was preoccupied with Snape vanishing, no one noticed Hermione grab Draco and hide herself between him and the wall.
The students scrambled as the roof caved in at the centre. Wood splintered and flew over their heads as they ducked, as if the sharp pieces had been thrown like javelins. Concrete slammed against the tiles. Empty suits of armour fell to pieces, tossed about in the crumbling building. Screaming students avoided flying swords.
"Hermione. . ."
Hermione couldn't form words. She couldn't see anything past the deep red stain on Draco's shirt, surrounding the tip of the splintered wood in his shoulder.
"No. This isn't what I saw. This isn't what happens. This--"
"Hermione!" Her name echoed across the hall from the lips of her friends. It was only then that she glanced down and noticed the blade pinning both her and Draco to the wall.
"You weren't supposed to die," she told Draco.
"Neither were you."
Hermione sat up with a gasp. Hands pressed to her stomach, she forced her eyes open just as Draco turned around with the glass of water.
"Drink," he said gently, holding the glass out.
She didn't take it. Instead, she stared up at him with her mouth open. Sighing, Draco knelt next to the couch and fed her the water.
"I just died," Hermione whispered as Draco got up to set the empty glass on the table.
He glanced back to see her staring at her hands, almost as if she expected to see them stained red. He scoffed. "You just passed out. Don't be so dramatic."
Hermione looked up at him. "You died."
Now, Draco laughed. "Being on the run mess with that brain of yours? You only passed out. You must've had a nightmare. Or maybe it was the Time-Turner. What did you see?"
"Bodies," Hermione answered honestly, "too many. It was past dawn."
Draco sat down on the chair at the table. "Yeah?"
"There was . . . there was a battle. A war. So many died. I -- I died."
"I saw that too," Draco said softly. "If that was the future then I guess I owe you my life."
"But I died in the Great Hall."
Draco rolled his eyes. "Now that was probably a nightmare. There is a version of the future where you die and you've had a glimpse into it so maybe that's what brought the nightmare on."
Hermione watched as Draco got up and went to pick up her jacket. He paused, jacket in hand. "How did you die?" he asked, curious.
"Impaled. The ceiling in the hall caved. Those not suits of armour were knocked around. Swords were flying. One of them ran us both through. You got hit by splintered wood too."
"Both of us? What . . . why?"
Hermione shrugged. "I thought I was going to fall out the window. I don't know why. I figured if I stayed between someone and the wall, neither of us would fall out the window and -- well, you were right there."
Draco smirked to deflate the tension. "Why, Granger, I didn't know you dreamt about me."
Hermione rolled her eyes. She stood up and yanked her jacket from Draco. "Thanks. I'll be going now. They'll be looking for me."
"Tale care not to daydream about me."
"Sod off."
Just before she left, Draco caught her wrist. "Be careful, Hermione."
Hermione glanced at his hand around her wrist. "I will," she said, finding his gray eyes full of life. In the doorway of the cottage, she glanced back to see Draco sitting on the couch with his head in his hands.
Hermione left.
Unlike her nightmares, Hermione did not go to Draco, nor did she call him to her, when she noticed him staring. Instead, she raised her eyebrows.
Draco tapped his left cheek.
Hermione brushed her fingers over her left cheek.
Draco gave her a small smile and a nod.
Instinctively, she ducked when Snape made his exit. The windows neither blew out, nor did the ceiling cave. Hermione relaxed as the students cheered Snape's fleeing. The cheers didn't last long. A cold and horrifying voice filled the air.
"I know many of you will want to fight. Some of you may even think this wise. But this is folly."
Voldemort, Hermione's mind told her.
"I wish you no harm. I have great respect for the students of Hogwarts. I was once one myself after all. I ask for but one thing and if granted, no magical blood shall be split."
Hermione's gaze fell on Draco again, but his gaze was fixed on Harry.
"Give me Harry Potter. Do this and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I will leave Hogwarts untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded."
Still unaware of Hermione's gaze on him, Draco slowly shook his head. Slowly, everyone else's gaze fell on Harry. Hermione's never left Draco. Why did it seem as if he knew what was about to happen?
"He's right there!" Pansy Parkinson cried, pointing. "Someone grab him!"
Harry was rather moved at the sight of every Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw stepping between him and the Slytherins, but what truly brought him -- and quite a few others -- to tears was witnessing the first line of defence for Harry be Slytherins themselves. They stood, lined up, wands ready. Most glared at Pansy. Others fixed their gaze on unmoving Slytherins. Hermione watched, transfixed, as Draco pushed through the Slytherins.
Pansy looked thrilled as Draco reached for his wand. Her expression quickly turned terrified when Draco stepped in front of her and the point of his ebony wand found itself tucked under his chin, placing ever so slight pressure on her throat. "Stand down, Parkinson," he warned softly.
Hermione had never seen anyone look so threatening and dangerous -- and she'd fought many a dangerous foe before -- in all her life. Just as she was transfixed by Draco, Pansy could not tear her gaze away. Though, unlike Hermione, Pansy was terrified out of her wits. Several students moved away from Pansy, backing up against each other and the wall.
The doors burst open for Filch. "Students out of bed! Students in the corridors!"
"They're supposed to be out of bed, you blithering idiot!" McGonagall cried.
"Last chance," Draco whispered, raising an eyebrow.
"Sorry," Filch murmured. He turned to leave.
"Wait," Draco called. The sudden increase in volume stunned Pansy. When Draco left to whisper something to McGonagall, Pansy let out the breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding. One student rushed to her side, rubbing soothing circles on her back and holding tightly to her hand.
"Mr Filch," McGonagall said, "as it turns out, your arrival is most opportune. If you would, I'd like you to escort Miss Parkinsoit out of the hall. Any who agree with her may follow right behind."
"Right away," Filch said. He turned to leave. He stopped. "Where exactly is it I'll be leadin' em to?"
Gazes moved from McGonagall to the young man that stood behind her, hand clasped behind his back. He leaned forward and whispered something in the professor's ear.
"I think the dungeons will do nicely," McGonagall said, fighting a smile.
Draco's expression remained blank as McGonagall turned to Harry and Filch herded Pansy and several Slytherins away. He gave them one last look before turning, preparing to stand protectively over his fellow Slytherins in front of everyone else.
Hermione saw Pansy turn back and pull out her wand, aiming for the blond. In her nightmares, Draco had died first. Hermione didn't know if she even liked him, but she knew she didn't hate him. "No!"
"Hermione!" several people cried as Pansy shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"
Hermione fell into Draco, knocking him down. Briefly blinded, everyone covered their eyes.
"Hermione?"
Draco found himself holding on to Hermione's lifeless body, not for the first time.