Back in Time

Chapter two

Hermione stood still, staring at his retreating back. 

'How can a person be so infuriating!' Hermione furiously stomped down the stairs again, and walked over to the back of the ship. There were a couple of benches and she plopped down on one of them. She decided that Malfoy would not make this situation any better and she would find out what had happened by herself. Something told her that this wasn't a joke, and that this was all very real. Hermione stayed on the deck until she couldn't move her fingers from the cold. She got up and walked back to the stairs that led back inside. The room was empty now, the drunk people had probably gone to bed. Hermione tried to find her way back to the hut she had woken up in. It took her a while, but she finally found a room with the door creaked open, just like she had left it. She lay down on the bottom bunk bed she had been in when she woke up and tried to sleep, but she had too many questions. When the sun started to rise, she finally fell into a restless asleep.

When she woke up again, the sun shone brightly through the window. With fresh determination, she got out of bed. Today, she was going to find out exactly what had happened. She looked down at the thin material of her nightgown. She didn't want to go out of her cabin wearing only a nightgown again, especially not in the middle of the day. She looked around the room, but there seemed to be nothing of her personal stuff. She dropped down and looked under the bed. She could make out a trunk and she pulled it out from under the bed. There were some clothes in it, a pair of worn out shoes and a little notebook. It would do for the time being, she decided. She got dressed and frowned at how moldy and old all of the clothes were. The brown dress she wore even had a couple of tiny holes in it. She shut the case again and tried to push it under the bed again, but something had caught her by surprise. Her name was written on the case.

'That's weird, I don't have a case like this,' she mumbled and let her fingers slide over the letters. 'And these are certainly not my clothes.' She sighed and pushed the case under the bed. She would have her explanation soon. Well, she hoped at least.

She needed to find a newspaper or something, because it would prove to her if she had gone back in time or not. She didn't think it was impossible, since she had had a time turner in her third year and because of the way she was treated last night. She still didn't remember anything, though. She opened the door to the hallway, hoping that maybe she would find some other students. After all, Malfoy had been there as well. This time, the hallway was wasn't deserted. A lot of people were leaving their rooms and making their way towards the room Hermione had found the drunk people in yesterday. She decided to follow them. The room was very crowded, with people laughing and talking and eating their breakfast. A lot of kids were running around and chasing each other. The scene instantly cheered her up a little, everyone seemed to be so cheerful this morning. She grabbed a sandwich from one of the tables and sat down in one of the seats. No one seemed to be reading a newspaper. She frowned and took a bite. There had to be something that could help her. After she finished her breakfast, she maneuvered her way through the crowded room and walked up the stairs again, to get on the deck. It was a nice day, and a lot of people were on the deck, sitting on one of the benches or taking a walk. Again, no one seemed to have a newspaper. She glanced up at the upper deck, where she could make out first class people, chatting softly and taking a stroll around their part of the deck. She wanted to have a look up there, but she knew she wouldn't be able to get on that part of the ship, not with so many people out. She rubbed her head in frustration. She didn't want to ask again, because they would probably laugh again. She was walking aimlessly around the deck, her feet had taken her to the back of the ship again, where she had sat down on a bench the night before. She was staring out at the sea, when she heard the rustling of paper. She immediately turned around and saw an older man on one of the benches open up a newspaper. Her excitement got the best of her and she walked up to the man.

'Excuse me sir, can I borrow that for a second? When your done with it?' The older man looked up in surprise and smiled.

'Sure, I won't take long.'

'Thanks,' Hermione breathed and she sat down next to the man. After a while, the man handed the paper to her.

'You can keep it, dear. One of the first class passengers had left it on the stairs so I took it,' he said with a wink. 'The paragraph on automobiles on the second page is very interesting. It is yesterday's paper though, someone took it on board with them.' He got up from the bench. Hermione smiled politely.

'Thank you, sir. I will definitely read it.' The man smiled and walked away. Of course Hermione didn't care about all that and as soon as the man was out of sight, she closed the paper with trembling fingers and scanned the front page for a date. She took in a harsh breath when she found it in one of the corners. '10-04-1912'. So she did go back in time. This wasn't some sick joke, it was the eleventh day of April, in 1912. Her heart was beating in her chest and she felt sick.

Then she realized something else and a horrible feeling got over her. The ship was going to sink in a couple of days.