𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘛𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳~ 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦

Prolog

I sank back into my desk chair. I didn't expect that headline.

The End of the Death Eaters

At 7:45 this morning, Draco Lucius Malfoy was sentenced to death for his ties to Voldemort and for being an accessory to the Wizengamot's murder of Albus Dumbledore. The verdict was carried out immediately. With him the era of the Death Eaters comes to an end.

Draco was dead. Was the verdict fair? My gut feeling said no. Draco had been a Death Eater, yes. But in the end he hadn't really harmed anyone. Until recently, it had looked as if the Malfoys would be able to escape a sentence in Azkaban. Because Draco had thrown his wand at Harry after Harry's revealed that he hadn't died after all, he was proving his allegiance to the chosen one after all. Did the Supreme Court ignore that?

Why was I even defending him? Actually, I couldn't care less. Malfoy had never been nice to me, I could remember the countless times he had called me a mudblood. He'd stood by when Bellatrix scribed that exact word on my arm. Mudblood. He hadn't done anything about it. In his eyes, I was inferior. The nightmares have haunted me ever since what happened at Malfoy Manor. Again and again I lay on the floor, feeling the stabbing pain, seeing Bellatrix's ugly grin and reading the horrible word. I slowly ran my finger over the scar on my arm and held my breath. Calm down Hermione. She is gone. She can't hurt you anymore. Nobody will ever hurt you again.

As I so often lay in my bed at the Weasleys' Burrow, I couldn't fall asleep. I was afraid to close my eyes because I feared the nightmares, which usually came immediately. But that night, the thought of Malfoy also kept me awake. I couldn't help but see his death as unfair. If you didn't have it for life I could live with that. He just didn't deserve to die, even if he was such an asshole. I didn't think he was really capable of atrocities. After all, he was just a coward who had joined Voldemort out of fear for his life and, I guess, for his father too. If only he had at least stayed on our side when Voldemort called for them to join him. Perhaps his sentence would then have been mild, or perhaps he would not have been sentenced at all because he would then have fought on our side. All these thoughts made me brood for a long time, until at some point tiredly, closed my eyelids. I had no nightmares that night. I dreamed about one of my adventures with Harry and Ron in third year, when we used the Time-Turner to save Buckbeak from dying...

I woke up with a start. The sun hadn't risen yet, but the birds could already be heard singing outside. I had a mad stupid idea that could probably get me in a lot of trouble, but still I had already made up my mind. There might be a way to save Draco Malfoy.
Hermione, why are you bothering? He treated you like dirt, have you forgotten that?
No, I didn't. I just didn't condone injustice, and I would even help out a little and give my former self a hint. I got out of bed and went to my closet, which Mrs. Weasley had cleared for me to put my belongings in. I was eternally grateful to the Weasleys for taking me in. Eventually, I couldn't go back home as my parents saw me as just a stranger which would leave a wound inside me forever. I rummaged around in a large box until I found what I was looking for: the long necklace with a small silver hourglass on it - the time turner. I actually wanted to give it back after the third year because I had reduced my timetable to a level that I couldn't use it for needed more to be able to attend all lessons. Luckily I kept it. Now all that was missing was the message for my former self. And I had to choose a good time to return. Since I couldn't think of anything better, I chose the evening before the first day of my sixth year. During that school year, Draco had become a Death Eater. I grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and hastily wrote a few words on it. Then I folded the paper and wrote my name on it, then put the note in the pocket of my pajama bottoms. I put the time turner around my neck and turned the clock. My bedroom swam before my eyes.

Shortly thereafter, the room came into focus again and looked almost the same as before, only the closet seemed newer and the floor creaked under my feet. That was because I wasn't in the present anymore and the Burrow hadn't been destroyed by Death Eaters yet. The Weasleys had painstakingly rebuilt their home after the fire using magic. I wish I could have saved them that trouble, but that's not why I was here. I heard soft voices approaching the door of the room. I had to hurry, nobody was allowed to see me. I pulled the sheet of paper out of my pocket and placed it on the bed my former self slept on and the one I still sleep on in the present. The voices grew louder. I thought I heard my own.

Go away, Hermione.
I grabbed the hourglass on my chain and twisted it.
My surroundings blurred.

I had no influence on anything else. I could only hope that it was enough.