Hermione bit her lip and mumbled to herself as she carefully read the text in her Potions book, trying very hard to ignore the petulant, blonde-haired, former ferret sitting precariously on the stool next to her. It was bad enough that Gryffindors had to spend Potions with the Slytherins, but being forced to work with the prince of Slytherin himself was uncalled for and frankly, in her opinion, pure cruelty.
“See! I told you, Granger. It has to brew for five hours, not six. Though, I must say, I’m not surprised that a Mudblood like you isn’t able to read a simple text book,” Draco sneered as he crossed his arms over his chest and gave a triumphant smirk.
Hermione gritted her teeth and cursed silently while she read over the neatly printed text again. She looked carefully at the directions and ingredients listed in her book and mulled over the words to find where she had seen the proper brewing time.
Sure enough, there was a neatly written six covering the originally printed five in her book. It was very well done, though, and Hermione could see how she had missed it in the first place. No doubt the work of a Slytherin, she thought.
Draco eyed the disgruntled look on Hermione’s face and chuckled. He loved how easily he was able to get on her nerves.
“Shut up, Malfoy! No one’s interested in what a prat like you has to say!” Hermione retorted. She refused to give any indication that she had fallen for such a silly prank. Instead, she kept her eyes glued to her book, determined to keep Draco from receiving the pleasure of her disappointment.
Draco snickered and folded his hands behind his neck as he leaned back in his stool, supporting his weight on the two carefully balanced legs.
“What’s wrong, Granger? Upset that you’ve been outsmarted?” Draco chided.
Hermione seethed in anger as she tore her eyes from her book and watched Draco close his eyes and display a cocky grin as he leaned back in his stool. She quickly eyed the two wobbly legs that were supporting the full weight of her nemesis and sprouted a small, malicious grin.
Without thinking, Hermione swiftly kicked the legs out from under Draco and he went crashing to the dungeon floor, sprawled out in a heap of blonde hair and black robes. Hermione chuckled as she saw the expression of complete humiliation and shock that registered on Draco’s sharp features.
Upon seeing the great Draco Malfoy take the plunge to the stone floor, the entire class, though mostly the Gryffindors, erupted in roars of laughter and cried praises to Hermione.
Draco, still flustered, forcefully heaved his body up from the ground and glared daggers at Hermione.
“You’ll pay for that, Mudblood!” he spat. Draco took out his wand from his robes and pointed it at Hermione.
“Oh please,” Hermione mused as she whipped out her wand. “What kind of a threat could a ferret boy like you possibly pose?”
Draco’s face reddened and he quickly aimed his wand at Hermione. At the same moment, both Hermione and Draco blurted out the first spell they could think of.
“Expecto Patronum!”
When the two patronuses met, there was a ghastly screeching noise and a bright light exploded from where they had collided, leaving the room in darkness as the light subsided as quickly as it had come.
Hermione found herself clutching her stomach as she felt a swirling sensation take over her body. The sensation that Hermione could only describe as being sucked into a hole grew worse. She continued to ‘fall’ for what seemed like hours, though in reality it could have only been seconds. The bright light abruptly exploded again and the sensation dwindled. Though, this time no darkness followed.
Hermione looked around the room and found herself in the same dungeon classroom as before, but now it was completely empty of students. She glanced to the right and found Draco standing lopsidedly beside her and holding his hand over his stomach. His face wore the same confused expression as hers.
After a few moments of shock, Draco seemed to regain his composure and his expression immediately darkened into a grimace.
“What did you do, you Mudblood?!” Draco accused.
“What did I do?” Hermione cried. “I should be asking you the same question!”
Draco was about to reply with his own retort when there was a loud bang and the door to the classroom slammed open as it allowed students to begin filing in. Hermione studied the faces of the incoming students and frowned when she quickly realized that she recognized none of them. Draco, apparently, noticed this too, for his face had contorted so that his lips were straight and his eyes flickered with annoyance.
“This isn’t right,” Hermione muttered.
“You think?” Draco scoffed.
Hermione shot Draco a patronizing glare before turning on her heal to exit the room.
Hermione knitted her brows together and bit her lip as she tried to think of some explanation for their current situation. Something had happened when their spells had collided, and if there was one person who would know what to do, it would be Professor Dumbledore.
Draco quickly caught up with Hermione, walking beside her, though managing to remain one stride ahead of her.
“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Draco.
“I’m going to see Professor Dumbledore,” Hermione answered in a forced tone.
“Dumbledore?” Draco cried in disgust. “That old crackpot? Why?”
“Because he will know what to do,” Hermione replied with an incredulous glare and walked faster down the winding hallways.
Draco let out an exasperated sigh and grabbed Hermione’s wrist, making her wince from his grip.
“In case you haven’t noticed yet, Granger, we don’t even know what has happened yet!”
“Well then, Dumbledore can tell us what has happened,” Hermione said through gritted teeth as she yanked her wrist from his firm hold. She immediately noticed that his grip had left a red imprint on arm that was now tingling in an uncomfortable fashion.
Hermione continued to head towards the spiraling staircase that she knew would lead her to the Headmaster’s office. Draco followed angrily, grumbling and cursing as he went.
Hermione was about to turn the corner when she heard on oddly familiar voice echoing from behind them.
“I’m telling you, Padfoot, it will be perfect!”
“I don’t know, James. It just seems as though we’ve done that before. We need something new, something fresh!”
Hermione turned around to see two boys, both tall and fairly muscular, walking towards them. The one on the right had unruly, raven black hair and sported a pair of round glasses over his hazel eyes. The other had long, straight, black hair that brushed against his broad shoulders and strong features that would make any girl sigh with pleasure.
Hermione unconsciously grabbed hold of Draco’s shirt.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Draco cried, clearly disgusted by the fact that she was touching him.
Hermione paid no notice to Draco’s obvious disgust as realization slowly dawned on her. She quickly dove into the shadows, pulling Draco with her despite his protests. Hermione waited for the two boys to turn the corner before she emerged from the dark shadows against the walls, still gripping Draco’s shirt.
“I think I know where we are,” Hermione said.
Draco swatted Hermione’s hand away as though it reeked of garbage.
“What the hell do you mean you know where we are? I think it’s kind of obvious where we are, Mudblood!”
Hermione scowled. “I meant what time period!”
Draco put on a mock congratulatory face and stepped closer to Hermione, forcing her backward towards the stone wall.
“Well congratulations, Granger. Once again, you prove yourself to be an even bigger know-it-all. Hey, maybe you should call your slaves, Weasel and Potty, to come grovel at your feet.” Draco’s face was now an inch from Hermione’s, glowering at her with intense grey eyes. He took another step towards Hermione, backing her up against the wall, trapped.
Hermione stood, frozen under his gaze. She didn’t understand. How could Malfoy have this kind of affect on her? No, she thought, Malfoy is just a vile, overconfident excuse for a man. He’s doing this to make me feel vulnerable!
“Move back, Malfoy, before I force you to!” Hermione threatened.
Draco smirked as he placed his hand firmly against the wall next to Hermione’s face and leaned on it, making Hermione gulp. “Oh really? And how, pray tell, do you expect to do that?”
Hermione stood, gawking for a moment. Draco gave his infamous Malfoy smirk, making Hermione’s eyes fill with rage. Quickly, Hermione whipped out her wand and pointed it at Draco’s gut, instantly making him back up a step.
“Well, Malfoy, I must say that I have missed the amazing, bouncing ferret. So much, in fact, that I may just bring him back.”
Draco took another involuntary step back and narrowed his eyes.
After another poke with her wand, Hermione once again charged in the direction of the Headmaster’s office with the intention of putting as much distance between her and Draco as possible.
Draco, of course, followed Hermione down the halls, but remained a good three steps behind her until they finally reached the statue that guarded the spiraling staircase.
“So, Granger, what’s the password?” Malfoy asked. He showed much pleasure at Hermione’s sudden uncertainty.
Hermione bit her lip and studied the statue. She honestly hadn’t thought of what the password could be. Though, she did remember that Dumbledore had a fancy for candy and sweets.
“Lemon drops!” Hermione tried, but the staircase remained unmoving.
Hermione sighed and tried again. “Cockroach clusters! Jelly beans! Sugar quills!”
Draco, amused by Hermione’s exasperation, snickered at each one of her failed attempts.
Hermione glared at Draco. “Would you like to try then?”
“No, no. You seem to be making a fool of yourself quite nicely,” Draco replied.
“You loathsome…” Hermione trailed off when the statue abruptly started to move on its own and revealed the staircase that lead to the Headmaster’s office.
Hermione grinned with pride and leapt onto the staircase while Draco grudgingly followed.
When the staircase finally stopped, they found themselves in a grand room with portraits of every headmaster covering the extensive, long walls. The entire room was filled with gadgets and artifacts of every sort. Hermione was surprised to find that she did not recognize more than half of the objects in the room.
“Ah, yes!” came a familiar voice from behind a large, oak desk. Surprised that they had not seen the old Headmaster earlier, Draco and Hermione jumped at the sudden voice that intruded their thoughts.
“I’ve been expecting you. We have a lot to discuss.”
________________________________________
Snape’s eyes flashed with anger and disbelief as the flash of blinding light subsided. As he had predicted, both Granger and Malfoy were now gone.
Every student in the classroom stared at the now empty space, whispering to each other and pointing to where the two patronuses had collided.
“Class dismissed!” Snape ordered.
“But…”
“You heard me, Potter, class dismissed! Everyone out!”
Snape sighed deeply as the students reluctantly left amid murmurs and forming of gossip.
After the class was empty, Snape slammed the door shut and strode over to the bookshelves that adorned the far end of the dungeon room. He ransacked the shelves as he searched for one book in particular. After minutes of searching, he pulled out a tattered, black book from the shelf. Plumes of dust billowed into the air as he dropped the book on his desk and violently searched through its pages for a particular subject.
Upon finding it, Snape narrowed his eyes and sat down.
“Animus Aduro, soul singer,” Snape muttered under his breath, “a rare, binding tie between two people that connects their souls to each other and time itself.”
Snape clenched his fists in frustration. He didn’t know much about Animus Aduro. It was ancient magic so old it was thought to be a myth. But if he was correct and this was what had caused Hermione and Draco’s disappearance, he would have no idea where they were, let alone when. The only thing that he was positive of was that wherever they were, Animus Aduro had sent them there for a reason.
Just Another Time Traveler's Love Story by social loner
Chapter Notes: Thanks to my wonderful beta, no_day_but_today, for her spectacular work on this. Also, special thanks to my great friend, V, for all the extra help and support. Now, this is not my first fanfiction, but it is my first time posting on mugglenet, so constructive criticism and suggestions are encouraged!