Black Butterflies & Deja Vu | Dramione

04

"I was right?" Hermione pushed Draco in the chest excitedly.

"Isn't that sort of your thing?" Draco sneered, "Being right all the time?"

"You must be joking. This is all some elaborate prank you paid the entire school to play on me. I can't be right. Even with magic... this is impossible." The gears in Hermione's mind began to spin.

"You think I could pull something like that off?" Draco balked at her, "So much for being the brightest witch of our age. It's Saturday, Granger. It always has been, and it always will be until the end of time. You might as well accept it now."

"How did this happen?" She demanded to know. Hermione needed answers. There had to be something in an ancient text somewhere that would explain. "I— I woke up three days ago like normal, and it's been repeating ever since. At first I thought I was dreaming, but even for a lucid dream this seems absurd."

"You'll get used to it." Draco seemed unbothered by the entire ordeal. He almost looked bored, quite the opposite of the inquisitive fire that was now brewing behind Hermione's brown hues. "Soon enough you'll forget exactly how long you've been here. There's no real way to keep track. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

Draco pushed past Hermione, abandoning the Gryffindor without a single thought. He should have anticipated that she would follow him. It was in her nature to be persistent. Hermione Granger would work tirelessly to solve any puzzle or problem, no matter the cost. Draco had been like that once, but not in a long, long time. He found her tenacity annoying and abrasive, which wasn't much different than how he thought of her on any given day.

"What are we going to do?" Hermione trailed after Draco. She was struggling to keep up with his long strides.

"We aren't going to do anything." Draco hissed between clenched teeth as he picked up his pace. "You're going to leave me alone, and you're going to go to that stupid quidditch match just like you always do."

"How long have you been here? Repeating today, I mean." Hermione's mind was racing. She had so many questions she didn't know which to ask first. "Are there any others like us?"

"As far as I know it's just you and me." Draco did nothing to hide his disappointment. He looked the Gryffindor up and down with disdain.

"Do you have any theories?" Hermione began to babble as she tried to work through things in her head, "Maybe it was a potion experiment gone wrong. Did you drink anything questionable? The pumpkin juice did taste off, but everyone was drinking pumpkin juice. It wasn't just the two of us. Plus, it always tastes a bit off when pumpkin isn't in season. A curse is more likely, but why would the two of us be affected? Were we targeted? I'm going to have to check the library for—"

"I have already read every single book in that stupid, bloody library, but please waste all of your time there and leave me alone." Draco deadpanned.

"Even the restricted section?" Hermione raised a brow. "There's a particular book on time travel that might be—"

"Terrance Tyler's Time Turner Paradox doesn't apply in this instance." Draco sharp tone cut her off, "We aren't traveling through time forwards or backwards. We are stuck repeating this bullshit day for all of eternity."

"For... eternity?" Hermione repeated quietly as a question. Just how long had Malfoy been here?

"The sooner you accept that this is forever, the better off you will be." Draco's voice clipped. He shook his head angrily. "Gods! This was bad enough when I was alone, but now that you're here I'm convinced that I must have died and entered hell. This has to be some sort of punishment for— never mind."