Tempus Viatorum

Chapter 1

Hermione breathed heavily, having run up all the stairs of the astronomy tower. It was an ice cold and windy night, making her breath hurt her trachea with the way she was gulping down air. Frantically she looked around and saw no one. She took another calming breath and quickly opened her eyes again, not daring to keep them closed; if not for the impending danger from the Death Eaters, then for having to watch her friends die over and over again behind her eyelids.

Hermione went up to the parapet and gripped it tightly, glancing down to the chaos that was Hogwarts. Curses were flying everywhere, and more often than not they were green and deadly ones. She watched as more and more of her friends died before her eyes, along with her professors and the few Order members that were still alive and had made it through the carnage.

A few tears escaped her eyes as she watched McGonagall go down in a bright jet of green. She was not the first to fall, nor would she be the last. The Death Eaters were gaining, and the school was losing badly. More jets of green flew in every direction from under her, painting the night sky in a miserable way.

Hermione hated the colour green. Green equaled destruction, green equaled sorrow; green equaled death.

Another shaky breath left her chapped lips before she made up her mind.

With a swift movement she brought forth the chain around her neck and started pulling back the wheel of the time turner. If her calculations were correct, this was the only time she could go back to and actually make a change. The only time she'd have a shot at actually changing the timeline and saving more than hundreds of people.

Just as she was about to release the wheel something tugged at her chain, making her push against a hard body. Her pulse started racing as her mind froze in pure horror, giving the person behind her time to nestle himself under the chain with her. She wanted to fight the intruder, but he was steadfast in the way he had slipped in under the chain and now held her hips in place. In sheer panic, she released the wheel, and oblivion caressed them both.

This wasn't supposed to happen. This was not how she had planned it. Given, everything else had fallen apart, so why shouldn't this as well?

Cursing inwardly, she felt the other body pushed hard against her own. The other body who had roughly dragged her towards him and hijacked a ride into the unknown. She had no idea who it was, nor if it was friend or foe. Hell, she hadn't even seen anyone at the astronomy tower. For all she knew, it could be anyone.

They fell through space and time, the stars shining bright in front of her eyes. It felt like suffocating and finally being able to breathe at the same time, like having your body dipped in ice cold water just to enter a sauna, like she was dying but finally alive. The only persistent feeling was this man's hands on her hips and his broad chest flushed tight against her back.

It was over just as fast as it had begun, and yet she felt like she had been stuck in that loop for more than a few seconds.

They landed in a heap of each other out on the open grounds of Hogwarts, the man's hands still pulling her hard against him. Instantly, she began to struggle to get out of his grip. It took her a few seconds to realise that it no longer was him who held her back, but the chain from the time turner. Afraid to ruin the precious artefact, she calmed down and retrieved it slowly from whoever was behind her. He didn't hold her back, but instead let her repossess it.

As soon as she was free, Hermione leapt up only to twirl around to face her captor with her wand drawn. To no surprise, he had his own wand drawn and was standing as well.

A moment of pure disorientation made her blink dumbly up at the man in front of her.

"Malfoy?" she breathed, confused.