Cold (Hermoine X Draco)

Chapter Seventeen

HERMIONE POV

I blink rapidly, the time travelling having been rather disorientating. I didn't really recall feeling so confused last time I'd used a time turner. Immediately, I hear Aunt Bella's screams.

"Oh, thank Merlin! I thought I'd killed you!"

"Thought you'd--" I begin, utterly confused.

Aunt Bella looks guilty. "It's been four days here. That you've been gone."

My eyes fly open wide in shock. My schoolwork! Oh, the professors are going to kill me!

"Have...have they been marking me absent all this time?" I say slowly.

Bella laughs. "Leave it to you. No, I went and confessed to McGonagall after the first day...I thought you were dead in the past or something! She looked ready to kill me, up until I reminded her I was a ghost." The Slytherin woman laughs to herself. "Then we had tea...well, I hovered while she had tea. It was a very..."

"Memorable? Unique? Bizarre?" I suggest.

"All of the above."

I realize I'm sitting against the wall, and climb to my feet slowly. I feel stiff, as if I've really been sitting here for a week. And maybe I have. Who knows? There's obviously a reason why the Ministry doesn't like messing with time beyond a few months, which I've now learned firsthand.

Bella smiles at me in relief when she sees me stand.

"So did it work?" I ask. "Do you know if Draco's free?"

Bella shakes her head. "I've heard nothing. McGonagall wouldn't tell me, said it was my punishment for killing you. And there's only so many sources a ghost has."

"Well then I'm going to ask Professor McGonagall. I have to at least let her know I'm alive. Why did you think I was dead, exactly?" I throw my hands up and begin to lead the way out of the alcove, laughing slightly at her.

"Well I didn't think it was supposed to take that long...maybe my husband had cursed that Time Turner when I wasn't looking!" Bella defends, although the sparkle in her eyes tells me she knows and is laughing at own stupidity a bit too.

"You were married?"

She shudders and makes a face. "Regrettably. Rodolphus Lestrange---he would have gotten on quite well with Ron Weasley. They share a homicidal streak...and a desire to strangle their wives...and ex girlfriends. I hexed him into a turtle, and then his stupid turtle brain decided to wander out into Muggle London. He was run over by a cab." she says dispassionately.

I snort. Well, that's Aunt Bella for you.

We walk down the main stairs, heading toward the Great Hall and then to McGonagall's office. She, however, has decided to come to us.

Her voice carries down the hallway authoritatively. "Mr. Malfoy! You're not permitted here, I'm afraid, I'll have to call the Aurors."

"Go ahead!" My face lights up at Draco's cheery tone. "They let me off, Minerva."

"Mr. Malfoy!" she scolds.

Bella and I roll our eyes at one another. Minerva, really? I suppose it's too much to ask that he would completely change his Slytherin behavior. And he never could resist irritating her.

He strolls around the corner, McGonagall following in irritation, and stops when he sees us. He breaks into a run, recklessly diving straight through Aunt Bella before quite literally sweeping me off my feet. I squeal in shock while Bella laughs at us, fixing her ghostly dress after he'd attacked it.