Draco watched his other self follow Crookshanks off into the distance, and once again felt a sense of awe at the strangeness of time.
It left him thoroughly bewildered.
"Hermione, have I ever told you that you are very intelligent and a capable person?" Draco said, entirely convinced. "It took me only a short while with this Time-Turner to grow utterly confused; and you have been using it for an entire year."
Hermione finally turned to look at him. A faint smile played on her lips.
She seemed about to say something to Draco, but was interrupted by Harry.
"We have to go now! To the lake!" Harry said gruffly. "My parents will be there in a little while."
"Wait a moment," Draco pointed to the Firebolt leaning against Hagrid's door... it seemed to have been brought there by the first Harry a long while ago, back when he had almost forgotten about it.
"Take your Firebolt. There are far too many dangers out there, werewolves, Dementors, and the rest," Draco said, coming back to himself and speaking to Harry.
"And what about the two of you?" Harry picked up his beloved broomstick and could not help but ask.
Draco smiled at him and waved his wand towards the castle. "Nimbus 2001, Accio!"
The flying broomstick was still on its way, but Draco was confident it was making every effort to reach him.
The three of them quickly ran out of Hagrid's hut and peered across the lake, where the sounds of a werewolf and a black dog fighting could be heard. They could just make out a few figures on the high ground on the other side.
"That is us," Hermione whispered, shivering. "Harry's godfather is trying to protect us; he is fighting Professor Lupin."
Soon after, a pitiful howl from the black dog carried from the far bank.
"Sirius is rolling down the hill! The Dementors are coming!" Harry shouted, and ran to the edge of the lake to get a better look.
"Let us follow them," Draco said to Hermione. She nodded and instinctively caught his sleeve... she had forgotten she was angry with him all over again.
They stumbled along the uneven, leaf-strewn forest path, following Harry as he ran ahead, his eyes fixed on the far bank. As they closed the distance, the full moon gradually came into view, and the figures on the high ground grew clearer.
Now, only one small figure remained there, another Hermione, left alone.
Then another figure appeared... another Draco... standing before her.
The werewolf was closing in on them.
It was a terrible, nightmarish sight. Draco stopped in his tracks and stared across at the far bank.
That is a werewolf, remember.
This level of danger was a risk no Slytherin would willingly take, a murky business no one would want to wade into.
He still felt a lingering fear, but he did not regret it... so long as she had come to no harm.
Besides, they were now standing safely on the far side of the lake, well away from that danger.
A smile played on his lips as he looked at Hermione, perfectly well beside him, and felt a deep satisfaction.
Suddenly, she frowned, abruptly raised a hand to her mouth, and began to howl like a wolf.
"What are you doing?" he asked in shock.
"Saving your life!" Hermione stared intently at the scene across the water, howled a few more times, and said urgently, "You said in the library that howling attracts werewolves, did you not?"
The sound successfully startled the werewolf on the far bank, breaking its stride.
The werewolf abandoned its attack and ran off in another direction.
"Yes. Yes, thank you." Draco could not contain his amazement, suddenly realising who was behind the wolf's howl that had rung out just then.
In the first telling of that night, he had saved her; in the second, she had saved them both in the first.
What a strange paradox, and yet, in this moment, it felt perfectly reasonable.
He sighed for a few seconds.
Then he narrowed his eyes, stared for a moment towards where the werewolf was charging, and said with some alarm, "But Hermione, the werewolf is coming for us now."
Merlin's beard.
The werewolf moved swiftly through the Forbidden Forest. It circled the lake, charging towards them at incredible speed... Draco could already hear the violent rustle of leaves nearby, the sound of the werewolf crashing through the undergrowth.
"Oh, I did not expect that." Through the moonlight filtering between the leaves, he saw Hermione's pale face, her expression full of fear.
They exchanged a glance, then looked together at the trembling trees not far off, where the eyes of the frenzied, gleaming werewolf were fast approaching.
"What do we do?" Hermione asked, her voice trembling.
Just then, the distinctive whoosh of a broomstick cut through the tense air; the sound came from the direction of the castle... the Nimbus 2001 had finally arrived.
Draco thought, in that moment, it was the most beautiful sound in the world.
"Get on, quickly!" Draco grabbed the flying broom as it drew alongside him and let the trembling Hermione climb on first. The werewolf was already close at hand, and he swiftly climbed on behind her.
"Let us go!" he said loudly, catching her about the waist.
Just as the werewolf was about to pounce, the broomstick suddenly leapt up towards the treetops, narrowly dodging the attack, and flew low over the Forbidden Forest through the dense foliage.
The werewolf was enraged. It would not give up the chase. It ran on all fours beneath them, following their flight, occasionally leaping up to see whether it might catch the hem of their robes.
"Draco, what do we do?" Hermione cried out in panic, trembling in front of him, her hands gripping the broom.
"We have to lure it away from here, Harry is still by the lake!" Draco's voice was as cold as the night wind. He suppressed his fear and glanced down to track the werewolf's movements. "And those others! We cannot let them cross paths with it!"
"Yes!" Hermione cried out into the howling wind, her voice trembling. "But I cannot! Draco, I cannot fly properly..."
"You are a witch, Hermione! You even passed your flying exam! Where has your confidence gone? You learned from the very best!"
Draco put one arm around Hermione's waist and waved his wand with the other, casting spell after spell at the werewolf.
Hermione was on the verge of falling apart in mid-air.
She had never been much good at flying, and now there was someone else on the broom too. The broom itself even seemed to be tormenting her, beginning to shudder inexplicably, as though it looked down on her.
She was truly afraid it would throw them both off.
"Do not be afraid, I am holding onto you! Even if we fall, you will not be hurt!" Draco shouted from behind her, his breath warming her cold neck.
Only then did she realise he was holding her tightly about the waist. His body covered her back completely. In fact, he held the whole of her, tightly and completely, in his arms.
The fact that his fresh scent overwhelmed her made it hard for her to breathe.
Surging feelings, an uncontrollable fondness, and memories she had thought sealed away all roared back to life, coursing through her like an electric current.
And it had been such a short while since she had decided to seal all of it away!
"Draco! It will not obey me!" She trembled, shrinking uncomfortably in his arms, calling his name. His embrace made her feel both heartbroken and remarkably safe.
She remembered his comfort after she had been petrified, his protecting her in the snow outside the Shrieking Shack, his shielding her so firmly before the werewolf.
Goodness, she still liked him so very much.
Perhaps she liked him even more now, she thought frantically, feeling as though she might die of it.
"Hermione Granger, you need to focus! You must control it, not be controlled by it!" he shouted from behind her. "Concentrate! I believe in you!"
His encouragement gave her a surge of confidence.
Yes, she must think only of flying!
She finally remembered the flying lessons he had once given her, step by careful step.
She took a deep breath, made up her mind, gripped the handle with both hands, gritted her teeth, and squeezed the broom... to her surprise, it suddenly grew perfectly obedient... and veered away from the lake.
He had been right; she needed to focus. She banished the tangle of emotions, thoughts, and memories from her mind and concentrated on flying towards the hippogriffs' territory.
He was holding her. Just as she had hoped, he was holding her tightly.
She felt happy and sad all at once, shy and helpless together.
The werewolf was still chasing them. Even though his scent was intoxicating, even though her heart was pounding so hard it felt fit to burst from her chest, she paid it no mind.
Focus! Flying is the only thing to think of just now.
She stared straight ahead, hearing only Draco's steady voice casting spells behind her, and the werewolf's furious howls rising from below.
In the end, the trick worked; they made themselves easy enough targets to draw the enraged werewolf away from the lake.
Harry and the others were safe.
They were both safe now, too.
Under some deliberate guidance, the werewolf below wandered into the territory of the hippogriffs and began fighting those fierce creatures, forgetting Hermione and Draco above entirely.
Draco, watching the commotion below, finally understood what had happened.
Hermione had done it on purpose. She had already known this was hippogriff territory.
Hippogriffs were among the very few creatures fierce enough, tonight, to keep a werewolf at bay.
"Hermione, you are a genius!" Draco's clear voice called out excitedly behind her. "Now I can truly appreciate the beauty of the hippogriff!"
Hermione steadily guided the broom ahead of him, a faint smile playing on her lips.
Suddenly, she realised she no longer disliked flying. She smiled, meaning to turn and tell Draco so, but then she noticed a blinding white light in the distance, lighting up half the unusually dark sky.
"Draco, look!" she exclaimed.
"Someone is casting a Patronus Charm," Draco said, his voice tinged with alarm. "There are Dementors there."
"We must go and see! Harry is over there..." Hermione said, her voice trembling slightly, "we have to go and help him."
"All right." Draco sighed, hesitant, unsure whether he could withstand a horde of Dementors himself... he still had not managed to conjure a full corporeal Patronus.
"Draco, do not worry, I can conjure it," she sensed his hesitation and reassured him, "I shall protect you."
"Yes, whatever would I do without you?" Draco said, his tone rather exaggerated. He did his best to appear nonchalant to mask his inner anxiety. "Let us go and see, then."
"Yes, let us go and see Harry's mum and dad, though I do not really believe it!" Hermione tucked the broom's handle into a turn, cautiously banking, preparing to speed up. "Hold on, do not fall off, I am turning!"
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