Chapter 1
As Hermione entered the enormous, vast and breathtakingly beautiful room, she was yet again awestruck by its design and contents. The room was known as the Time Room, and it was located on Level Nine of the Ministry of Magic, in the Department of Ministries. From the outside of the room there was just a gold door at the end of a black corridor, with the engraving of Time Room at the front. Upon opening the door however, one quickly realises how unexpectedly large the interior is. The walls and floor were all flat, white surfaces like marble, whilst the ceiling was non-existent. Similarly to Hogwarts, the ceiling was enchanted to display the open universe above them. Hermione always enjoyed gazing at the vast, black openness above, with the bright array of stars and galaxies that shined down upon the Time Room, illuminating it. Along the back wall were shelves of Time-Turners, collected and stored by the Ministry over the years. Scattered around the room were work desks, notice boards with plans pinned all over them, tables with parchments, newspapers and Time-Turners.
This was where the Time-Turner Division worked, and where they went back in time when necessary. Their purpose for going back in time was simple: crime prevention. They had a team of highly trained Aurors, specialists in their unique fields, who worked for the Ministry of Magic. They responded to all kinds of crimes, however their focus was usually on preventing violent crime. While this all sounds simple in theory, in practice altering time and past events can become incomprehensibly complicated and dangerous, and can have unforeseen consequences.
Hermione approached her own desk, and ran her hand across her Time-Turner. A brief smile played across her lips. She was simultaneously nervous and excited, as always: preparing oneself to go back in time to prevent a crime from occurring, whilst risking being stuck back in time or worse, tends to have that affect. Generally speaking, Time-Turners enabled one to go back in time up to five hours, and anything beyond this point could lead to drastic health risks of the traveller and consequences for time itself. A recently invented potion known as the Time Brew could safeguard travellers for longer than five hours, however it was still quite unstable. For this reason, their division were authorised to go back in time for up to forty-eight hours in extreme circumstances, so long as Time Brews are consumed and St. Mungo's is on alert for their return to the present. Luckily for Hermione, they'd never had to go back longer than seven hours, and they'd all remained unscathed by travelling time. All of this meant that if a crime was committed, their division only had a short time-frame to respond.
She heard the door open behind her and turned around to see Malfoy approaching. Her smile faltered. Even though five years had passed since Hogwarts, she still didn't quite trust or like the man, and he made it plainly obvious that he didn't quite give a damn what anyone thought of him. Draco Malfoy was an Auror. More than that, he was a specialist Manipulator. This involved highly advanced skills and knowledge in: Legilimency, Occlumency, Potions, Disillusionment, all of the Unforgiveable Curses, the Dark Arts and more. Certain Aurors with specialist training were authorised to use the Unforgiveable Curses and other dark magic in extreme circumstances, and under strict conditions. The fact that the Ministry was desperate enough to hire an ex-Death Eater like Malfoy irked Hermione. Yet she couldn't deny his usefulness. Draco was often the first to go back in time to the scene of the crime, and he would observe the scene and observe the criminal for hours, to learn everything that they needed to know to stop the criminal. His skills with Legilimency and the Imperius curse enabled him to easily navigate the minds and manipulate the actions of those involved in each crime.
"Granger," Draco greeted her with a curt nod.
"Malfoy," Hermione responded with strained courtesy as she took a seat at her desk.
Hermione was known as a Consultant. She had expert knowledge in all areas of magic: Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, Astronomy, Defence Against the Dark Arts, History, Magical Creatures, Study of Ancient Runes, Alchemy, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Divination, Earth Magic, Study of Time-Alteration, Magic Theory, Metaphysics, Healing, and more. This knowledge made her abundantly useful to the division in almost every scenario.
"Ah," Draco murmured, smirking as he sat down at his own desk, which directly faced hers.
"What?" Hermione demanded, looking up at him in annoyance.
"I see you've been practising Occlumency. Very cute," he said with a chuckle.
"I'm telling you now Malfoy if you keep trying to get into my head, I'm going straight to the Minister and I'll have you removed from this division within a matter of days, your usefulness be damned!" Hermione said, struggling to control the anger in her voice. Ever since they had begun working together months ago, Draco had derived great pleasure from pestering her with his mind-reading skills.
"A matter of days? I would expect the prestigiously intellectual Hermione Granger to know of a faster way of having me removed," Draco mocked, knowing how easily he could get under her skin even after all the years since Hogwarts.
"You're very childish, you know that? I don't know how you've managed to become an Auror and be just as immature as you were at Hogwarts. You're only authorised to use Legilimency when it's required, and you're not required to be reading my mind outside of a mission. You're wasting your energy and breaking the law. This isn't funny, it's unprofessional!" Hermione realised that she'd raised her voice, and her cheeks were going red with anger. Draco chuckled in amusement as he leaned back in his chair, his cold grey eyes boring into her own.
"Ah, Granger. They'll never fire me because I'm too good at what I do. I just read your mind for fun, it's a form of mild entertainment, nothing more. It's not like there's much interesting going on up there anyway," said Draco with a casual shrug as he let his chair drop to the ground, and began to sort through his paperwork. He could practically hear her brain ticking away, her emotions a spiral of anger and confusion. Why does he still hate me so much?
"I don't, I just said it's for fun," Draco responded, but he paused when he saw her hurt expression. "What? You didn't just say that?"
"I thought it, you asshole! This is what I mean, you have no right to pry inside my mind!" Hermione said angrily.
"Alright, alright Granger, Merlin, I thought you said it aloud," Draco defended himself.
"That's stupid, that's not how Legilimency works."
"Not for an amateur, perhaps. For me, that is how it sometimes works," Draco snapped in annoyance. Hermione glared at him in disbelief.
"You would've had to actually focus on reading my mind, Malfoy. Otherwise you wouldn't know my thoughts word for word, I'm not an idiot," Hermione said. She'd read all about Legilimency, and she'd learned enough about it from Harry's experience with Voldemort during the war.
"Granger, sometimes I hear thoughts without trying to hear them, that's how advanced Legilimency works," Draco explained. He'd learned from Snape and Voldemort, and what he said was half true. Advanced Legilimency could enable one to hear thoughts without trying to listen in, however only if the thinker is a poor Occlumens. Draco didn't want to deal with the backlash of telling Hermione Granger that she wasn't good at Occlumency, however.
"No, that means you're hearing voices, perhaps you should stop by St. Mungo's," Hermione snarled.
"I heard, 'Why does he still hate me so much?' was that a fake voice or yours?" Draco asked her, his eyes glinting in challenge. Hermione felt her cheeks go red as she shook her head and ignored him, returning to her work. "For the record, I don't hate you."
"You have a funny way of showing it," Hermione snapped.
"Well I don't particularly like you either, and this is a perfectly good example as to why," was Draco's retort, but before either of them could continue bickering, the Time Door had opened and in came Pansy Parkinson.
"Well, well, the nerds are first in the office as usual," came her chirpy greeting as she skipped over to her desk with a coffee in hand. Pansy was the division's Generalist, and her skillset was rather unique in that she could assist in various capacities. She was trained in duelling, healing, acting, communications, psychology, spying and undercover work, surveillance, the Imperius curse, Occlumency, Charms, Potions and more. While Draco was first on the scene to observe and read minds, Pansy arrived shortly after him to act like a bystander, investigate those involved, slip potions into drinks, Imperio key individuals, or duel. She was often in the most danger, however she thrived under pressure.
"Hello to you too Pansy, you sexy thing," Draco greeted his best friend from Hogwarts, purposefully being vulgar and unprofessional to get on Hermione's nerves.
"Oh stop it Draco you'll make me blush," Pansy played along, causing Hermione to roll her eyes.
"Did you two know that we're only the fourth highest paid Auror Division? Kingsley told me the other day. What a joke, we should get danger pay or something for using these blasted Turners," Pansy went on as she took her seat, inspecting her personal Time-Turner.
"We're already extremely well paid, what more could you want?" asked Hermione, baffled by the other girls love of galleons.
"To be the highest paid, Granger. Come on, hold yourself to a higher standard," said Pansy.
"I do hold myself to a high standard, but this job is more about saving lives than it is about money," Hermione responded.
"Why can't it be about both?" asked Draco, watching her the way he did when he was concentrating on her thoughts. She thought fuck you several times, and saw him smirk, before speaking aloud her answer.
"Because Aurors who work for money will abandon their mission at the first sign of danger," said Hermione. This time it was her turn to smirk, as this seemed to annoy Draco.
"Are you implying something, Granger? You think because you were in Gryffindor back in school, you have more guts than us now, in the real world?" Draco asked coolly, maintaining a calm composure.
"Not at all, I was just talking about Aurors who work only for money," said Hermione with a shrug. She looked up at him and smiled sweetly at his annoyed expression, and then the Time Door opened yet again. In came Crabbe and Goyle, the two largest wizards that Hermione had ever seen. On their backs they carried huge bags filled with the majority of the groups supplies, and their enormous magically-constructed shields hung from their shoulders. Crabbe and Goyle were Guardians. They specialised in duelling, hand-to-hand combat, advanced defensive magic, defensive Charms and Transfiguration, first aid healing, Self-Regeneration magic, defensive enchantments, and survival skills.
"Big boys are here," Crabbe boomed as they stomped into the room. He grabbed the bag on his back and threw it across the room at Draco, who lazily deflected it towards Hermione with his wand, having read Crabbe's mind from the hallway and knowing what Crabbe was going to do. The bag hit Hermione in the shoulder, causing her to curse and throw it back at Crabbe as she stood up.
"You're all so unprofessional! Why can't you just behave like fucking adults!" Hermione screeched as she stomped towards the Time Room door, ignoring Crabbe and Goyle's chuckling and Draco's apologies for sending the bag at her. The Time Door was abruptly opened before she could even reach it however, and in came Harry, Ginny and Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister for Magic, all with an air of urgency. Harry was in charge of the Time-Turner Division, and functioned as the primary duellist, with specialist training in Defence Against the Dark Arts, the Dark Arts, the Imperius and Cruciatus curses, magical combat strategy, and more.
"All of you take a seat, take a seat, lets go, we have a major emergency," came Kingsley's booming voice. Hermione felt herself bristling with anger as she returned to her seat, ignoring Draco's sly grin. Ginny went and sat at her desk, in between Crabbe and Goyle who immediately started a conversation with her. The trio got along extremely well, given that Ginny was the division's Healer. She specialised in all areas of magical healing, Advanced Potions, muggle Army Medic training, defensive magic, duelling, protective enchantments, and the Sacrificial Arts. Much like the Unforgiveable Curses, the Sacrificial Arts were a dark branch of magic only specialist Healer Aurors were authorised to use. It was ultimately Ginny who made Crabbe and Goyle almost unstoppable when they duelled.
"Alright, everyone here? Good. Two hours ago Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix's husband, conducted a breakout of Azkaban. He didn't just take Death Eaters with him, he recruited internally and several old, dark wizards have escaped with him. The Dementors didn't abandon their post or immediately report the escape to the Ministry, and we're investigating how this could have happened. The Dementors claim that they were confounded by magic somehow. This has never happened before, and we've already lost five good Aurors who were first on the scene. Rodolphus has a sizeable force, we have an estimation of thirty-three escaped prisoners. They could kill hundreds within a matter of days, and even spark another Wizarding War, if they aren't stopped," said Kingsley quickly.
"Do we have backgrounds on all of the escapees? Specifically, the dark wizards who aren't Death Eaters?" asked Draco. He could easily identify any Death Eater and exploit their weaknesses due to being an ex-Death Eater himself. Dark wizards who'd been locked up in a place like Azkaban for an unknown period of time were a whole other beast, however.
"Yes, Harry has the profiles of all the escapees, as well as the relevant information for navigating Azkaban. Normally I would have you all time travel as soon as possible, to stay within the five hour safety threshold. Given the complexity of the breakout, the size of Rodolphus' force and the lost Aurors we've already suffered, I can't risk losing you lot by sending you back unprepared. You have until tomorrow night to have a plan ready. Be aware that there may be huge risks with going back in time by up to forty-eight hours, if you're not up to the task, say so now," said Kingsley. Nobody said anything, as they were all aware of the risks of time travel and if they backed out now, they'd lose their job and miss out on their most important mission yet.
"I'll leave you all to it, if you need anything at all, you know where to find me," said Kingsley, before he left the Time Room.
"Alright guys, the basic Patronus Charm you all learnt back in Auror training won't be powerful enough for the Dementors in Azkaban. Before we even consider going back to try and prevent this breakout, every single one of you is going to have to perfect their corporeal Patronus', no exceptions," said Harry firmly, eliciting groans from Crabbe and Goyle.
"Can't we just tell the Dementors to leave until we're done?" asked Pansy in annoyance.
"No, part of the mission is to figure out why the Dementors allowed the prisoners to escape in the first place. If we ask them to leave, we'll never know how Rodolphus got past them, and we'll be vulnerable to the prisoners who will be, at the time we arrive, already on the verge of breaking out," Harry explained, before having a lengthy sip of coffee.
"The Dementors complicate everything, Potter. Their presence will muddle the minds of the prisoners, making it harder to read their minds and figure out how they'll be escaping. If we're allowing the Dementors to stay while we're there, their own minds will also get in the way of me hearing the prisoners," Draco began to drawl, however he stopped when he heard Hermione scoff.
"Legilimency doesn't work on Dementors," she said when Draco glared at her for interrupting.
"Voldemort could communicate with the Dementors better than anyone I know, which suggests to me, Granger, that Legilimency can be used to better understand the Dementors," said Draco coldly.
"The Dementors voluntarily communicated with and joined Voldemort not because of his Legilimency, but because of how evil he was," Hermione retorted.
"That's your opinion, you weren't there and you didn't witness any of it, so how could you possibly know? Can I continue, or will you keep interrupting?" asked Draco venomously. The other Aurors watched tiredly as the two finished bickering and Hermione nodded, crossing her arms in frustration. For the first few months that the division existed, Harry spent the majority of his time as leader trying to stop Hermione and Draco from arguing. He eventually learned that it ended sooner if you let them sort it out.
"In previous missions we worked in public. Pansy could offer a distraction while I had easy access to the criminals' minds, and often the criminals weren't Death Eaters. Unfortunately we can't really distract them in their prison cells, and the Death Eaters in Azkaban will recognise me. Some are trained in Occlumency, Rodolphus was trained by Voldemort himself just like Bellatrix. That, plus the Dementors, will make Legilimency difficult to use. We won't have much time either, so we may be forced to consider other methods of extracting information," Draco suggested, with a weary glance at Hermione who immediately spoke up.
"Other methods of extracting information? What exactly are you implying, Malfoy?" came her angry question.
"You know exactly what I'm implying, and I'm not going to beat around the bush with you Granger. I'm implying that Potter authorise me to use all of the Unforgiveable Curses and Dark Arts, without restriction, from the moment we arrive. We won't have time to argue about it once we're there," said Draco, preparing himself for the heated argument that would no doubt ensue.
"So your grand plan is old fashioned torture? I'm sorry but we aren't Death Eaters, we're Aurors," Hermione snapped. Draco felt himself go red with anger at the mention of them being Death Eaters, and leaned forward in his chair, glaring at the Gryffindor girl before him.
"We're going up against Death Eaters and Death Eaters don't respond to anything but torture. If I can't effectively read their minds and if we're constantly surrounded by and fighting off Dementors, and have only a few hours to prevent the entire breakout, how do you suggest we do it?" he asked.
"You claim to be so good at Legilimency, so I have faith that you'll be able to read their minds. Harry and I will keep the Dementors out of each section, while you and Pansy move from cell to cell, gathering intel. If that's not enough, we'll use Veritaserum," Hermione suggested.
"I'm flattered by your faith in me Granger but I'm telling you, it won't be that simple. Take it from someone who worked with Voldemort, Death Eaters and Dementors: this will not go smoothly like you imagine. Dementors aren't just mindless beasts, if they really did fail to report any escapes or they claimed they weren't aware of what happened, they're lying. The only realistic explanation is that the Dementors have joined Rodolphus, they're playing dumb with the Ministry and the Ministry is buying their 'confounded' story because the Ministry has no one else to guard Azkaban with," Draco explained.
"I'm aware that you worked with Voldemort, which is why I'm inclined to remind you that no matter how complicated the mission is or how limited our window of opportunity is, Aurors don't torture people unless there is absolutely no other way," said Hermione firmly.
"Granger the Ministry hired me because I worked with Voldemort, they hired me because I know the Dark Arts, they hired me because I'm going to do the dirty work that you don't approve of. You act morally righteous, yet you'd allow thousands to die because you're afraid of getting your fucking hands dirty," Draco said furiously.
"Alright, alright, that's enough," said Harry wearily. "You're both right. I can't authorise the Unforgiveables unless there's a valid reason, so we're going to have to take Hermione's approach initially. However, and you're not going to like this, Hermione... if Malfoy's right and we can't get intel with Legilimency like we usually do, then I'll authorise Imperio and Crucio."
"You'll have to authorise all three Unforgiveables for this to work," said Draco.
"Because torture isn't enough for you? What use would the killing curse have? Harry this is ridiculous!" Hermione burst out.
"Power, Granger, that's what the killing curse has. As I've already said numerous times, Death Eaters are not just petty criminals. People in Azkaban have nothing else to lose. Imperio won't work because we won't be able to remove them from their cells, so controlling them will be useless. Crucio will work on some, but not all, same as Veritaserum. Those that resist Crucio, Legilimency and Veritaserum, and who have key information, such as Rodolphus, will need to be threatened with immediate death, or blackmailed. There is no other way with these people," said Draco.
"I'm this close to going and dragging Kingsley back in here, I'd love to see what he thinks of torture, murder and blackmail," said Hermione in disgust.
"Go ahead Granger; honestly I'm sick and tired of you and your high horse. If I need to take one life to save thousands, that's what I'll do. That's why Kingsley hired me, that's why Potter is about to agree with me," said Draco, pointing at Harry who visibly cringed at being pulled back into the argument.
"Harry you're not seriously considering...?" Hermione began.
"They broke out two hours ago and they've already killed five Aurors. Kingsley said this could escalate into another Wizarding War. If all our attempts fail and we only have a limited amount of time left, then I will have no choice but to authorise all forbidden magic: the Unforgiveables, the Dark Arts, the Sacrificial Arts, whatever it takes. In extreme circumstances, we must use extreme measures. Malfoy's right, this is why he was hired," said Harry wearily. At this, Hermione stood up and strode out of the Time Room, muttering unbelievable under her breath as she went.
"What's up her ass?" Pansy snorted once she'd left.
"Watch it Parkinson. Enough chit chat, everyone up, Crabbe and Goyle start practising corporeal Patronus', Ginny can you go and get Veritaserum and anything else you think we'll need..." as Harry rattled off orders and everyone began to spring into action, he glanced at the clock. It'd been two and a half hours since the breakout occurred. Even though they had until the next night, Harry hoped to be ready within the day to go back in time, to prevent the risks of time travelling beyond five hours.
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Thank you for reading! If you liked this chapter, please feel free to review and add to alerts/favourites! :)
Check out my other stories!
Draco and Hermione - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5661111/1/Draco-and-Hermione
The Soul Connection - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9868543/1/The-Soul-Connection
The Time-Turner Division - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12337018/1/The-Time-Turner-Division