Baton Rouge

- 45 -

Hermione opened her eyes and Blaise was gone. At least she didn't have to worry about her past-self, Blaise or Harry seeing her since she was already in the basement of the Ministry. She knew none of them would come down here within the next forty-five minutes.

She leaned against the wall, closed her eyes and, breathing heavily, tried to suppress the images that kept trying to overwhelm her. Draco had received the kiss in the future. But here and now, in the past, Draco was alive and well and was dependent on her getting a fucking grip on herself. She was his only chance.

What raised Hermione's hopes was the fact that she had managed to save someone from the Dementor's Kiss using a time-turner once before. She could still remember the night they had rescued Sirius from the castle tower window with Buckbeak's help as if it had been yesterday. In fact, that had happened almost ten years ago.

Harry's idea was brilliant, of course, and Hermione couldn't help but admire him for not telling her beforehand. Because it definitely had been the right decision not to do so. She probably wouldn't have slept another night if she had known they might have to resort to a time-turner. And her concern for Draco would just have increased even more.

So, for the very first time in her life, Hermione was actually grateful that she had been denied such an important piece of a plan. She wouldn't have trusted herself to behave sensibly if she had known. Harry had made the right choice.

She took another deep breath, finally disciplining herself, and then racked her brains about the route Blaise had taken so naturally through the endless maze of dark, subterranean corridors. At this point, she wanted to curse out loud. She had just stumbled after him in tears and had therefore completely blocked out her surroundings. But she would find the right room somehow, because at least she hadn't forgotten what the Auror, who had been standing guard outside the door, had looked like.

Hermione squared her shoulders, straightened up and raised her new wand. It had proven that it obeyed her - after all, the Stunner had hit the Ministry official with tremendous force.

She touched her head with the tip of the wand. Then, almost inaudibly, she murmured the words she knew so well but hadn't used for so long, finally feeling the familiar sensation of cold liquid trickling down her body as the Disillusionment Charm took effect. Satisfied, Hermione looked down at her hands, which were no longer visible.

Then she turned and slipped out of the depository.

+.+.+

"It's really a shame that this is our very last conversation, Mr. Potter," Umbridge whispered, a hint of genuine regret on her face. "I would have liked to question you about how you've managed to hide from us so successfully over the past few years. Someone must have helped you."

She cocked her head. Draco stared at her in disgust and said nothing.

"But the Dark Lord wishes not to wait any longer. He wants your story to end as soon as possible. And it does, Mr. Potter, right here and now."

She gave Draco one last sweet smile before raising her wand and pointing it at the ceiling.

"Tempus decem," Umbridge said softly.

Then she turned on her heel without looking at him again and closed the door. The room immediately went dark, only a single flickering candle on the wall illuminating the stone floor directly in front of him. Draco felt like throwing up.

He looked at his hands, which were growing larger, slimmer, and paler, and realized that the Polyjuice Potion had stopped working. His vial was empty. But he knew he didn't need another sip anyway. The Dementor Umbridge had banned behind a protective barrier under the high ceiling for another ten minutes wouldn't care whose soul it ended up taking.