Cold (Hermoine X Draco)

Chapter Sixteen

HERMIONE POV

I wake up suddenly to the sensation of something cold flying through my face. I groan aloud. I'd gotten basically no sleep since Draco was taken, and now someone had to go and ruin it? It sounds pathetic and I know it, but I keep crying. Like a girl in a stupid chick flick. Why did he have to go and kiss me like that anyway? He finally kissed me right when he was being dragged off to Azkaban. And that's when I realize...it's what I was always waiting for. I snap back to the present, pushing away thoughts of the Slytherin I may or may not be in love with.

Bella is hovering over my bed in disapproval. "Did...did you punch me awake?" I demand indignantly.

She shrugs. "It didn't hurt you. Hermione, we've been so stupid!"

I sense this is serious, so I climb out of bed and start getting dressed. "What do you mean?"

"We need Dumbledore...and we can get Dumbledore!"

I blink. "No. Aunt Bella, no. If you think for one second I'm letting you do some creepy Death Eater black magic raise the dead--"

"A Time Turner!" She interrupts my rant.

My mouth falls open stupidly. Then, half dressed, I throw my arms around her...er, through her. It doesn't matter, the feeling's there. "You're a genius!"

Bella smiles. "I know." I hit her cold insubstantial head in response.

"But how are we going to get a Time Turner?"

"I'd get it, but I can't pick it up," Bella pouts. "There's one at the Lestrange Manor. Slightly... Unregistered.... But in working order. Besides, until we can clear Draco's name, none of this can go on record."

"But isn't the old manor locked up? Warded? I mean...it was a Death Eater place." I say the last bit quietly, so I don't offend her.

"You can apparate in. Take me by side-along, I believe it should work even though," Bella wiggles her fingers. "I'm a ghost."

"Do ghosts need sleep? Because you're acting very sleep deprived. Let's go."

"You have class..." Bella protests half-heartedly, trying to seem like a responsible adult.

"I'm skipping. Obviously." I roll my eyes and grab my wand.

"Hermione Granger skipping class?"

"There's a first time for everything!" Then, I shove my hand into her arm and spin on the spot. The dormitory disappears.

Lestrange Manor is exactly how I pictured it...dark. I've apparated us inside the wrought iron gates and before us looms an ivy covered dark building, speaking of wealth but also evil.

Bella gives me the spoken passcode to get inside with a guilty look (it's "pure") and then I push open the dusty doors while she floats through them, giving delicate ghostly sneezes. Then, she waves me forward. "Come on!"

I don't actually get much chance to examine the inside of her home, as she hurries through a few walls and I'm hard pressed to find shortcuts so as not to lose her. Talk about ghost problems.

Bella hovers, waiting for me, outside of a modest wooden door. She tells me how to remove the complex wards, and then floats through first. "'Kay, I'm pretty sure nothing's gonna eat you." She calls.

Puzzled, I open the door. "What are you talking about?"

From what I can tell, it's a room full of assorted junk, not unlike the Room of Requirement. Random and harmless. Bella gives me a look. "They're dark objects. Only touch that." She points to a gold Time Turner sitting on a shelf directly ahead of me.