Aurelian (Dramione)

Chapter 7: Chasing a memory

Hermione had hardly registered the feel of the liquid when she was pulled into the memory contained within the Pensieve. No sooner had her feet touched the floor than she felt herself pulled through the memory. She recognized her surroundings immediately. She was on level two of the Ministry of Magic, the floor where her, Ron, and Harry's offices were located. Just as quickly as she identified her location, she recognized the person she was meant to follow. She jogged to catch up so that she would no longer be pulled by the limits of the memory.

"What… what are we…?" Draco stuttered as he arrived and immediately started toward Hermione.

"We're following me, of course." Hermione pointed at the woman in front of them and answered his unfinished question. Draco did a double take as he looked from the woman beside him to the woman in front. Except for their clothing, they were an exact copy of each other. The woman in front wore a professional outfit much like the present Hermione had worn the day before.

"Just as we thought we would," Harry agreed with Hermione. "Which means, they're Hermione's own memories from the future."

"Yes, but what are we supp-" Draco's question was cut short when they rounded the corner and stopped.

"Malfoy?" the memory Hermione said in surprise. The future Malfoy stopped in his tracks and stared at the woman who called his name. "C-can I help you with something?" she asked uncertainly as she warily started toward him. She could not be blamed for her caution for the man looked rather jumpy.

"What?" Malfoy asked, still surprised to see her there.

She gave him a suspicious stare and repeated, "I asked if you needed help with something. I'm sort of assuming you do as you were just pacing outside my office."

Malfoy looked up at the door as though surprised to see it there. He glanced again at her and back at the floor as he thought. "No. No, I don't need anything."

"Wait!" Hermione called and reached out toward him as he turned away to walk down the hall. He only made it a few steps before a different door opened. Draco stepped back in surprise as he stood eye to eye with Harry Potter.

"Malfoy?" he asked in surprise.

Draco turned from Harry to the woman that stood behind him. He felt trapped and it showed on his face.

"Did you need something, Malfoy?" Harry asked curiously.

The internal battle that raged inside showed on his face.

"Malfoy…?" Hermione said tentatively. "Is something wrong? You know we-"

Draco turned away from Hermione quickly, stood straight and stared hard at Harry. It seemed that Hermione's patronizing tone had made up his mind. He would not accept that kind of treatment and so turned to the man that would never dream of taking that tone with him.

"I need to talk," he stated flatly.

"We can talk in my office," Harry offered in a business-like voice. Hermione stood uncertainly in the hall until Harry jerked his head in invitation. She nodded and walked through.

"Keep up," the visiting Harry instructed as he followed after the memories. Hermione and Draco followed after, both slightly jarred to have walked straight through the closed door that had been open only a moment before.

"What's this? The interrogation room?" the memory Draco asked sourly. This was obviously not what he had hoped for.

Memory Harry took the same chair he'd taken the day before in their reality. "Relax. This is just the best place to talk if we don't want to be overheard," Harry informed him. As he finished, Hermione set up wards for privacy. Draco glanced at her and back at Harry. "I assure you, it's not personal. I conduct more business here than I do at my desk. You can have a seat if you'd like."