Time lost. ...EPILOGUE UP!

Hermione spent the few days buried up to her nose in her Herbology textbooks. She had found something. Tetrodotoxin can be fatal; in smaller doses, it leads to a near-death state wherein metabolic functions are so depressed that the poisoned person is thought to be dead. It wasn’t magic but

The horrifying upshot of all this was that total body paralysis becomes induced unfortunately the brain stays alert. This was not good news. Hermione shuddered, everything that Voldemort and the other Death Eaters she would be aware of it. Hermione turned ashen and she closed the book. Hermione needed to steal from Professor Lectin. Daunting prospect that it was. Hermione rounded the corner of the library and ran into Lily.

“Oh! There you are Hermione. I was going to ask you, you going to the Halloween Dance?” Lily looked flush with excitement.

Hermione looked at Lily startled. “ I didn’t realize there was a dance at all.”

Lily laughed. “Merlin. Your such a bookworm!”

Hermione shifted the books in her arms. “ Yes well they might just save your life one day.” Hermione’s lips twisted up with irony at her words.

Lily brightens. “You should ask someone to go. It is going to be so much fun. You seem really stressed out lately. Maybe you should ask Severus.”

Hermione blinked the image of Severus pressed against her while dancing to seventies music. A helpless laugh sputters out. “He doesn’t strike me as a passionate dancer. Besides, he doesn’t like me.”

Lily smirked slightly. “Oh yes he does. I can tell. I’ve known him for ages you know.”

Hermione feigned surprise. “Really? Hang on, I thought you liked Severus?” Hermione looked puzzled at her change of mind.

Lily turned red and shrugged. “That’s before I met Frank. He is so rebellious and romantic. Quite unlike how I always imagined him. He’s a really great kisser.”

Hermione inwardly seethed with frustration. She needed to talk to James Potter. Yesterday.


* * *

Draco was being followed. The person never revealed him or herself but it was making him edgy. Frank Longbottom was stupefied indefinitely at the bottom of the lake. Hermione was going to be sacrificed. That he knew because without her death, Voldemort would not have gotten the potion. Obviously, he had because Draco was here suffering from the events of it. He could not have people skulking about and messing with his plan.

The Polyjuice potion had worn off earlier so he traipsed towards the Forbidden Forest. Sitting through all those dull classes again. It was important to make an appearance so the Professors do not suspect. Draco moved to his makeshift shelter in the cave to the North. The cold was keeping the spiders at bay but he still dealt with the occasional werewolf and hinky pink.

Draco crouched low and cast a fire to warm the dark cave. He could see an underground pool of water off in the distance that reflected the light of the fire. Draco reached behind a craggy rock that was near the fire. Turning over the rock, he pulled out a sack hidden beneath the roots. Inside of it, the time turner, a gift from his late father. A necklace that his beautiful mother had worn on the day she received the ‘Kiss’. Narcissa Malfoy was a beautiful woman even in death and he felt a bitter blackness where his heart used to be at the thought of Potter, happy with his wife and children. Not for long, Potter. Draco walked across to the pool and stared into the lake. His own icy eyes shined back at him. Cold, unforgiving and hateful. He shrugged slightly so his pale hair fell forward to cover the scar. His mark of cowardice was stark against his pale flesh and he could not bear to look at it.

“You shouldn’t be here.” A soft female voice spoke from the side. Draco had his wand out and with a sleek movement, he was holding at her throat.

Wordlessly Draco lit the wand to illuminate who had spoken. It was a girl of undeterminable age. Black hair tumbled about her face in soft curls to her shoulders; long bangs framed a heart-shaped face with slanted green eyes, fringed by long dark lashes. Her lips were bowed shaped and she was currently chewing on her bottom lip much to Draco’s disgust. She was startlingly pretty and she looked familiar. He must have seen her at Hogwarts.

“Who are you and why are you here?” Draco’s tone was cold and the pixie shivered from the malice reflected there.

“My name is Anise. I go to Hogwarts sometimes. Although, I am here to see my family.” She spoke very straightforwardly and Draco raised an eyebrow. “Your family lives in a cave?”

“It’s hard to explain. I am supposed to be here. Sometimes I have visions. My aunt says it’s all rot, but my friends believe me.” Draco’s eyes crossed slightly at the girls babbling.

“Listen to me little girl, you need to just go away before you get hurt.” Draco turned his back on her and walked towards the fire to sit down.

Anise recognized the man scowling into the fire across from her. He was Draco Malfoy. Her dad had told her about him. He was a broken man who had lost everything in the fall. Branded a traitor by the Ministry, and a coward by the dark wizards he had fled the Wizarding World. He has not been see in eleven years. She also knew that Draco was not supposed to be in this time. He was a traveler like herself.

Anise never listened to her parents about anything. The man fascinated her and she supposed this was because she had a dream about him. A fascinating dream where he had touched her and set her body on fire. Anise believed in destiny more then anyone else in her family. She knew where the cave was because she was a seer. Beyond that, she knew that Draco Malfoy was making the biggest mistake in his life and she had to save him.

Anise sat across from him and stared at him. Draco looked up and saw the girl staring at him with a rapid fascination. Draco misinterpreted her look and snarled at her, brandishing his wand. “I said, GO! Before I do something you regret.” His voice sounded raw and broken in his rage.

Anise’s heart ached for the beautiful and damaged man in front of her, but self-preservation motivated her to flee. She would come back, once she had a plan. After all, Draco Malfoy was supposed to be her destiny. Potter’s do not run from their destiny. They never have and they never will.




Quick Note: Tetrodotoxin is a real substance that comes from the livers of puffer fish. Check it out for yourself.. Its wickedly disturbing.

Just a warning: This is NOT becoming a DM/OFC plot. This is a side plot that has bearing on my SS/HG plot. Make sense? This is where we slip slightly away from Canon, and begin the slope towards Suspension of Disbelief.






PLEASE, let me know what you think. Its important to me that I make the readers happy. Lemon's coming... angst coming.