Back in Time

Chapter three

Hermione wanted to stay calm, she had to. If she didn't, she would probably cause a panic or she would not be taken seriously. Both options would not be very practical on a ship she knew was going to sink. She put the paper down and started to walk along the deck, racking her brain on everything she knew about the titanic. She knew its voyage had started on the tenth and that the ship sunk on the fourteenth at night. It was the eleventh today, so that meant she had about four days to do something about it. If she didn't she would soon be at the bottom of the Atlantic. She came to a deserted part of the deck, where the engines were very loud. She sat down against the rail.

'Who was the guy that caused all of it... the one who told the captain that he should pick up the speed...' Hermione was mumbling to herself, trying to remember his name. If she could somehow convince him otherwise, they would have a much better chance of going around he icebergs. While Hermione was going through everything she knew and had read about the Titanic, she caught a whiff of platinum blonde hair. She looked up to the upper deck, where she could see him standing arguing with another first class passenger. The other man had a mustache almost as big as his face and he was was so tall he towered over Malfoy, but that didn't seem to intimidate him. Hermione got a bit closer so she could hear what they were saying.

'You heard me, take off that hideous mustache and stop all off this nonsense,' He hissed. He still didn't believe it then. Hermione rolled her eyes and folded her arms. Other people were watching them too, the first class passengers giving them disapproving looks.

'What on earth is wrong with you,' sputtered the man. 'If you don't stop following me, I'll have someone take you away!' The man briskly walked away, leaving a furious Malfoy behind. For a minute it did look like Malfoy was going to follow him anyway, but he decided against it. He looked lost for a moment. Hermione knew now how she could prove it to him. She quickly walked back to the back of the ship and grabbed the newspaper from the bench on which she had left it. She walked back towards the upper deck, but Malfoy was nowhere to be seen. She growled in frustration. How would she find him now, with him being in first class? She rolled her eyes at how typical it was, her being in steerage and his arrogant face was in first class. She decided to go back to her room and write everything she knew down in the little notebook she had found in the trunk.

Once she was back in her cabin, she got the notebook and a pencil out of her trunk. She plopped down on her bed and opened the notebook. She was surprised to see it had some writing in it, some short poems and such. Her curiosity got the best of her and she started to read. After a while, she had turned onto her stomach and had lost track of time. The poems were beautiful, and she felt like she had read them somewhere before. When she had gone through them all, she flipped the last page to reveal a blanc one.

She wrote: 'Today is the eleventh day of April, 1912. The newspaper is yesterday's, and the date says 10-04-1912. The Titanic sunk on the 14th, at night. That means I have about 4 days left before the ship will sink, today included.'

She nibbled on the end of the pencil while she thought of the man who had played a huge role in the sinking of the ship.

'Ah! His name was Bruce Ismay!' she quickly wrote down his name.

'Bruce Ismay - first class passenger. He convinced the captain of the ship to increase speed to make more headlines.' 'Well, it worked,' Hermione mumbled grimly. Hermione also saw the problem in this. As a first class passenger, Hermione did not know how she would be able to get near him, to make sure he would not talk to the captain. She wasn't allowed on their part of the ship and she knew that he wouldn't voluntarily come down to her part of the ship. She bit her lip and wrote down another sentence.

'I will need Malfoy's help to prevent Ismay talking to the captain, or change his mind.' She knew that that would be a problem, since he apparently still didn't believe that this was real and an even bigger problem was that even if he would believe it, he probably wouldn't want to help, even if their lives depended on it. Hermione decided she had to try anyway and would take the notebook with her. She folded the newspaper and put it inside the notebook. She left her cabin again and prayed that Malfoy would be somewhere where it wouldn't be too hard to talk to him. If he will even talk to me, that is, Hermione thought bitterly. Hermione made her way to the deck again. Since a lot of people were eating their lunch now, the deck wasn't as crowded as it was in the morning. She glanced up at the upper deck, but Malfoy wasn't there. Hermione knew that she had to get up there. She had to find Malfoy and get his help and if that didn't work, she had to stop Ismay by herself. She looked around the deck. There were still too many people outside, so she couldn't sneak onto the upper deck. If she could just borrow clothes from one of the first class passengers... but she had no idea how. she sighed. She didn't know how long she had until Ismay would tell the captain to increase speed, so she had to find a way to get on the upper deck, fast.

'Think, Hermione,' she mumbled to herself. There had to be something... she wished she still had her wand. It would have definitely made this situation a bit easier. More people started to come onto the deck again. Lunch would probably be over soon. 

Defeated, Hermione got back inside and grabbed something to eat before lunch was over. She sat down in one of the chairs and made her decision. She would try and get on the upper deck at night, since the deck had been deserted the night before. She had to get some clothes, so that would be her first mission: to change into something else, so she could pass for a first class passenger. It would be a hard task, surely none of the first class passengers would just leave their clothes laying around. If she could find Malfoy and convince him to stop Ismay, it would be a lot easier than her having to do it, it would not take long for people to find out that she actually is a third class passenger.

When she finished her lunch, Hermione wandered around the corridors. In one of them, a little girl with long brown girls was sitting in front of a door that led to one of the cabins. She was crying. Hermione frowned and looked for her parents, but apart from her and the little girl, there was no one there. She crouched down next to the girl.

'Hello there, are you alright?' Hermione asked her. The little girl looked up in surprise, tears rolling down her cheeks.

'I c-can't find m-my parents,' the little girl sobbed. Hermione immediately forgot about the fact that she had to keep looking for ways to survive this journey and put a hand on her little shoulder.

'I'm sure they're here somewhere, how about I help you find them?' Hermione smiled at her. 'There are only so many places they can be on this ship.' She stood up and hold her hand out for the girl.

The little girl gave her a watery smile and took her hand.

'I'm Hermione. What's your name?'

'I'm Rosie,' she said, wiping away her tears.

'That's a pretty name,' Hermione smiled at her while they walked around the corridors. 'Did your parents mention where they were going?'

'We were walking together to the big room and then we got split up.'

Hermione knew what she meant with 'big room', the common room where everyone ate and where the stairs to the deck were.

'Let's check the big room first then, okay?'

Rosie nodded, still holding onto Hermione's hand. when they got there, the room was not as crowded, since lunch was over and Rosie immediately found her parents.

'Mum!' She screamed and ran into her mother's arms.

Hermione smiled at how relieved her mother looked. They must have been so worried, Hermione thought, remembering how she had lost her mother in the store one time when she was little and how her mother had hugged her when she found her, telling her to never walk off like that again. Hermione was pulled from her thoughts when Rosie and her parents came towards her.

'Thank you so much for returning her, I was so worried,' her mother said.

'You're welcome,' Hermione smiled at them.

'We thought she might have gone up to the first class deck, because she kept asking us to take her there,' her father told Hermione with a small smile.

'The first class deck?' Hermione asked in surprise.

'Yes, she discovered the stairs the staff use over there,' he said pointing at a door with 'staff' written on it. 'She hasn't stopped talking about it ever since.'

'Ah, well, I don't think you want to go there Rosie, the people there are a bit silly,' Hermione told Rosie with a wink. Rosie giggled and her parents thanked her again before they went back to their cabin again. Hermione could hardly contain her excitement. This is it! She thought. This was exactly what she needed. She could go to the first class deck without people noticing her. She only had to wait at night until the common room was empty and then just use the staff stairs to get to first class. She wouldn't have to worry about people being on the deck. Hermione went back to her cabin, with an excited smile on her face.