Borrowed Time (Part 1 of the Time Turner Trilogy)
Ch 3 - Borrowing A Few Minutes from Time
GENRE: AU, Darkfic, Unresolved Sexual Tension.
ADT\'L(This Chapter): Nothing much going on yet... so eh.
RATING: PG-13... for now.
SUMMARY: Seventh Year, post Harry-defeats-Voldemort: Harry and Hermione became a couple the summer before their 7th year. Their romance went along well... until they went back to Hogwarts. The first day of class, Hermione was given an ultimatum to go back in time in order to change something that had just happened... and of course, her actions had consequences. Some might consider it bad, but she doesn\'t.
PAIRINGS: Harry/Hermione... then transforms to Draco/Hermione
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
E-MAIL ME: manticorechimera@msn.com
Chapter 3 - Borrowing A Few Minutes from Time (September 1, 1996 continued)
When Hermione clicked on the Time-Turner, she felt like she was being pulled her backwards, as though an invisible hook was piercing into her stomach, as flashes of the events that just happened reminded her what not to do. When the sensation stopped, she found herself back in her room, holding both the Time-Turner and her class schedule on her hand.
“Hermione!” shouted Harry from the staircases. “I want to see your schedule. Come on now!”
Hermione knew where she was and what she had been doing at that exact time right in the past. Instead of casually walking down the stairs, she practically flew down, almost pushing aside any Gryffindor that came in her way.
At the bottom of the flight were Harry and Ron looking up at her, but she paid little attention to either of them. She went straight towards the direction of the Portrait before turning towards her two friends.
“They made a mistake in my schedule. I will be right back, don‘t follow me. I might not see you… I‘m gone!”
Hermione felt like she was trying to run for the Olympics as she ran as fast as she could to the room. She was panting by the time she reached the corner but she did not care. She had a mission and she was going to accomplish it.
She stealthily walked towards the room, making sure not to make any noise at all. When she realized that the piece of cloth she saw before was not there, she sighed in relief. That meant that Draco was not in the room yet.
She then hurriedly ran into the room and hid by the curtains near the door and readied herself for what was to come. Just as Hermione pulled the wand out of her pocket, as if on cue, Draco walked into the room. He was sniffling as he headed towards the window.
“The old moon laughed and sang a song,” he said as he stared out into the moonlit sky. “As they rocked in the wooden shoe. And the wind that sped them all night long ruffled the waves of dew---”
Hermione mouthed the rest of the poem with him, for she also knew this poem by heart.
“Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.”
However, she had accidentally said the last lines loudly, and Draco obviously heard it.
“Who’s there?” he shouted as he walked towards the middle of the room. “Show yourself, NOW! OW!”
Hermione pointed her wand at him as she quickly got out from behind the curtains.
“Granger!” he said in a quite detested voice. “What are you doing here?”
Hermione took a deep breath at the sight of the dagger and the vial of poison that Draco had on either hand. She then stared at his grey eyes, still visible even under the poor lighting of the moonlight.
“Are you deaf? What are you doing here? Never mind. Just get out of here and leave me be, Mudblood.”
Hermione calmly took a few deep breaths in before pointing her wand towards the hand in which he carried the vial with.
“Put the vial down, Malfoy.”
“Just leave!”
“Don’t even think of committing suicide by drinking the Draught of the Living Dead and slashing your wrists, Malfoy. Hand them both over.”
“How did you---”
“I said put it down or I will place you under an Imperio Curse and make you act like a very hyper Chihuahua!”
“You are not allowed to do that! Besides, you don’t have the skills to do that.”
“And I can make sure you twitch whenever I say the word, Draco. Do you dare test me?”
Draco slowly walked towards her and bent down to place the vial on the ground. However, before he could stand up, Hermione gave him another order.
“The dagger beside the vial, please.”
He glared up at her but surrendered the other items anyway. He stood up, took two steps back and glared at angrily.
“You are making such a big mistake.”
“The one making the biggest mistake here is you,” she said, still pointing her wand at him. “You should not be trying to commit suicide.”
“How did you know I was heading this way to do that? What are you, some kind of psychic?”
“Just consider me as your guardian angel,” she said as she stepped on the vial, breaking it and leaving the contents s on on the floor. But when she was about to kick the dagger towards the dark side of the room, she noticed something red glimmering at its tip. She looked up at him and noticed that blood was already trickling down his left arm. She hurriedly got up and walked towards him.
“You’re bleeding, Draco. Let’s get you to Madame Pomfrey.”
“Are you serious? I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Are you blind?” he muttered in a panicked voice.
“I can see that you are bleeding---”
“Not that you twat! It‘s…it‘s---”
“It’s because you do not want anyone seeing your Dark Mark?” she answered surely. “Fine, then stay still so I can at least stop the bleeding.”
“Leave me alone! bad bad enough that you foiled my plans for tonight. Forcing me to take help from a Muggleborn like you… OW!”
Hermione, frustrated, took her wand out again and pressed it against his chin.
“If you don’t stay still, I will make you believe you are a five year old girl and have all the Slytherin girls see you with girlish plaits on your hair. Be a good boy and stay still!” Draco nodded and let Hermione tend to him. But as she was about to tie her handkerchief on his cut, she quivered at the thought of how close her hand was to his Dark Mark.
“I could be sent to Azkaban just for having this thing on my arm. I… I don‘t want to---”
It was the first time she ever saw Draco that close to her and it was also the first time she saw him shake in f
“Please don’t tell anyone.”
“You’re a Death Eater, Malfoy. Your kind tried to kill my boyfriend and was successful with a close friend of mine. Why should I do you any favours?”
“I tried to get out of it, I swear! Did you think I have a choice not to become one? I was forced to!”
“I think you’re a filthy liar. You are evil to the core.”
“I think you’re the liar. You do believe me.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you would not have stopped me from killing myself and you would have been more careful with me. If you believed I was naturally evil, you would not have come this close to me knowing that I might have my wand in one of my pockets.”
Hermione just realized her vulnerability at that moment. She did overlook the fact that Draco could have a wand his pocket and she wanted to kick herself for even forgetting about it.
“Don’t worry,” answered Draco. “I left my wand. I thought I had no use for it since I am killing myself.”
“Now, you are not. I will make you a deal, Malfoy, “she said as she leaned by the window sill. “How about you sit here with me, tell my why you planned to do this, and I promise not to tell anyone that you have the Dark Mark?”
“How do I know a Mudblood---” Draco bit his lip and hang his head. “How do I know you would keep your word?”
“For someone asking a favour, you sure were a rude one. You‘re lucky I feel guilty about kicking you in the shins this morning. I‘ll let that slip of the tongue pass and as long as you promise not cause anyone including yourself any harm, I won’t say anything about your Dark Mark.”
Draco looked down on his arm and lightly touched the handkerchief, which was now covering his cut and his Dark Mark.
“Why did you let me call you what I called you and then accept my apology?” he asked emotionally as he looked into Hermione‘s eyes. “Why are keeping the secret? Why did you not just leave me here to bleed to death? Why are you doing these things for me? WHY?”
“To answer your first question, it is because I am a forgiving person. If I were to be mean, I would either leave you as you had imagined I would do or I would have ran to Pomfrey and tell her what you did to yourself.”
“You’re lying.”
“To answer the second of the previous questions, I just think you’re human, just like every single one of us. We all make mistakes, and yours was choosing to be who you are. Why you joined the Death Eaters is beyond me, especially after what happened to your father.”
“You really thought I wanted to be Death Eater, Hermione?” he half-shouted. “You thought I enjoy being me, arrogant as all hell and the pain in everyone‘s butt? Well I don’t! I was trained… no, I was forced to be who I am! I was trained to take my father’s place as His follower if anything were to happen to Him. Father made sure I become his same exact sickening replica. I thought there would be a chance I would not have to become a Death Eater because Voldemort was before our day. But no! He was revived, my father was sent to Azkaban and I had to take my father’s place!
“Even now that Voldemort is dead, He is still haunts my dreams, I can‘t sleep! He’s haunts me. His voice, it’s menacing and hearing it repeat the same platitudes night after night is driving me insane. I just… I can’t take it anymore. I can‘t do what he asks me to do. Not anymore!”
A steady teardrop streamed down Draco’s cheek. He turned away from her, as if to hide what had just happened. He tried not to look at her as he held in his tears but Hermione held his chin and made him look at her directly.
“Don’t be ashamed of what you’ve done. You seem to be sorry about your actions and that’s what matters. You do regret your actions, am I right?”
“I do. And I am willing to prove that I can turn a new leaf.”
“If you wanted to prove that, tell me how that is possible if you are to kill yourself? How are you going to ask for salvation if you are dead?”
“I guess I can’t. But people wont accept my change anyway, I know it.”
“Not everyone is against you. People can be forgiving. People can accept the new you. But killing yourself is like passing off a chance.”
He sniffled as he wiped away his tears.
“Thank you for knocking some sense into me.”
“As long as I see some improvement in you in the future, I just might forgive all the things you did and said about me in due time.”
“Thank you very much, Hermione,” he said as offered his hand to her. “My name is Draco Malfoy, by the way. The new Draco Malfoy.”
“Very pleased to meet you, Draco Malfoy,” she said as she smiled at him. “I think we ought to go back now. The boys might worry about me.”
“Sure.” They walked towards the door before he asked, “May I walk you to your dormitory?”
“If you would like, I suppose.”
Like a gentleman, Draco held the door for her and closed it behind them. Silence befell among them as he walked her back to her dormitory. Hermione found the silence awkward, added by the fact that she was walking with a Slytherin.
“Can I ask you one more favour?” he suddenly asked.
“As long as it is not too big for me to handle, I’ll do it for you.”
“Can I talk to you sometimes, like how Ron and Harry talk to you? Can I confide in you?”
“I suppose we can do that.”
“And I will no longer treat you like dirt like I did before. I’ll treat you like I would any person. I meant I would treat you properly, like a g a good-natured person treats another. Not like how I used to be. That was the old me---”
He was obviously rambling nervously.
“I got the idea, Draco. Oh, we‘re here.”
“Oh,” he said weakly. “So this is the Gryffindor Commons.”
“Are you sure you will be alright?” she asked, looking down on his arm. “Can you get back to the Slytherin Commons?”
“If you’re asking if I will go back to the room, take the dagger and bludgeon myself, or look for another vial of poison in my room, you are mistaken. You’ve given me a new reason to live.”
“That’s good,” she said, feeling her ears warming up and her cheeks blushing.
“Thanks again,” he said as he started to take a few steps back. He stopped after a few steps and walked back towards Hermione. He offered his hand again and shook her hand before running off.
Hermione shook her head as she entered the Portrait Hole. She plopped down the couch where Harry was sitting across from Ron and nestled in Harry’s arms.
“Did you get your schedule changed?” he asked as he swiped the hair that was covering her face.
“Yeah,” she said. “But that’s not the only thing that was changed.”
~@~ PLEASE REVIEW!!! Or at least leave some loving. VOTE!!! ~@~
A/N: This fanfic was written for for the Contra Veritas : Dr/Hr Fanfic Challenge AKA Livejournal\'s \"The Enemy\'s Valentine - Dr/Hr Fic Gift Exchange.\" The rules were a bit restricted (I had to include Time-travel, Love triangles and a Happy ending... and NO Harry/Ginny romance) and so was my fanfic. The second/third part of the Trilogy would have a bit more freedom but I\'ll just play it by ear for now, k???
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this fanfic as much I as I enjoyed writing it!
SPECIAL THANKS to Snapeaholic, for betaing my fanfic. Without you, I\'d be drowning in a sea of grammatical mistakes. AYE!!!