Without another word, Hermione dashed after the boy. It was obvious he knew the halls and secret passages just as well as her. It was important to find him at all costs. According to Time Stepping: A Dangerous Game?, the first and most important rule is to be seen and not seen, even Dumbledore had mentioned it and within the first minute, that rule was broken. The boy that was following her had seen both her past and future selves.
"Where are you?" she said under her breath as she walked hurriedly through the corridor under the watchful eye of the house prefects. They were stationed throughout the school to watch for children acting out of line. It was the first day of school and the excitement of all the students gathering for the first time was usually overwhelming. A red haired prefect was craning his neck around a corner, shouting a command to a student, it was Percy Weasley.
"Hey there, slow down, this is not a running course!"
"Percy!" Hermione surprised him.
"Hermione, aren't you supp..."
"Percy not now..." her dire look silenced him, "did you see a boy with a green jacket come this way, about..." she holds her hand up to Percy's shoulder, "this tall with black hair?"
"Yes" he said slightly shocked, "just ran this way, I told him to slow down. If you know this boy you..." Hermione ran past him in the direction of his pointing finger. "Hermione! No ru.." Percy decided it was useless, she was not listening to him either.
II
She saw the student running up the stairs toward the clock tower, the same place she had been not too long ago. Knowing there was no place else to run, she took out her wand and followed slowly after.
"Is there someone there?" Hermione called out. "I am a friend, please, I just have a couple of questions."
Standing in the center of the floor, looking East, was the young man that had been following her. He seemed to be noting the current time position like Professor McGonagall had instructed her to do just earlier. The hands on the clock face outside read ten minutes to noontime, the very time she was supposed to meet with the professor for Time Turner lessons. Things were not going smoothly at all and seemed to be getting much worse.
"Who are you?" Hermione asked politely, not wishing to startle the boy.
"My name is Caidoz."
"Wait..." she said, her face wrinkled in concentration. He seemed to be reading her mind and merely smiled. "You're the time wizard that bested Noiro!"
"A very long time ago, yes." He smiles.
"But... you're just... a boy. I mean... you are very young."
"How old do you think I am?"
"Well... since you asked, I would have to say, no more than..." Hermione looked at his pale, smooth skin and dark brown eyes. His hands were young too, "fourteen" she guessed.
"Fourteen?" He laughed. For some reason, it stung to hear his laughter, it seemed cruel. "I am over seventeen thousand years old."
"How could that be?"
"We are spirits living in the world of the living, all of us. My people learned this long ago."
"Your people?"
"Have you ever heard of Rekat Emit?"
"The lost city of wizards, Rekat Emit, was a place many wizards went in search of but were lost. Hundreds of wizards spent their lives fortunes and time looking for it but were never seen again."
"Yes" Caidoz smiled, "that is where I exist."
"But... why were you following me?"
"You are in danger, the Time Turner belongs to the Time Wizards."
"I don't understand, Dumbledore told me..."
"Dumbledore doesn't know everything. The Turner is a very dangerous device and I must return it to it's proper place." He went to lift the thin gold chain from around her neck but she instinctively backed away.
"But I can't give it to you now, I am currently time-stepping."
"It does not matter."
"What?" Hermione backed away, suddenly very frightened. According to Time Stepping: A Dangerous Game?, what Caidoz wanted to do was fatal.
"Time Wizards will be here soon, they will not be as forgiving."
"Wait.. stop..." A voice shouted from behind. "Do not give him the Time Turner!"
"Forn!" Caidoz shouted.
"You!" A boy roughly the same age with a grey overcoat cautiously stepped forward, "leave her alone, it is over!"
"Wait" Hermione went to step in between them when wand-fire erupted. Spells ricocheted off the wall, picking small chunks of the heavy stone away with every hit. Hermione could see the younger boy Forn, fighting with every effort while Caidoz simply stepped closer. Fright was filling Forn's expression as he was backed into a corner of the clock tower.
"Hermione... please!" He yelled to her. She stood not knowing what to do. She did not know him, yet he called her name. As the shrapnel flew about, Hermione ducked behind a column and decided quickly. She was going to help him.
"Experiamus!" She summoned and Caidoz' wand went flying. She did the same with Forn's. As the two stood unarmed, Hermione emerged from hiding, wand held at chest level with the two boys.
"I want to know what is going on here, I want to know why you are following me."
"This is not Caidoz" Forn warned.
"You liar! Don't believe him Hermione, he is after the Time Turner again."
"No, it is you who told Dumbledore that lie and gave him the Time Turner, you knew that he would keep it safe and while all the Time Wizards went in search for it, they would have never thought to look here at Hogwarts. I see what you did now, you waited for the Time Wizards to give up their search before you retrieved it."
"Stolen... you took the Time Turner?" Hermione asked.
"It is a lie..."
"If it is a lie" Forn countered, "then why are you here except..." Forn was putting together something in his head.
"Hermione, do not listen to him, Forn cannot be trusted. He is insane." Caidoz insisted.
"you need her..." Forn guessed.
"He is crazy Hermione, he tried to kill me."
"You need Hermione to find Rekat Emit." Forn concluded.
"Rekat Emit!?" Caidoz faced Forn.
"Wait a second.." Hermione edged closer, there was something about Caidoz's face that seemed familiar. Images from the book 'The Hidden History of Rekat Emit, City of Lost Wizards' were coming back to her. The old moving black and white photographs from within the pages of the book were becoming more clear in her memory. "Of course.." his face held the telltale cleft chin. "You are not Caidoz, you are the son of Agamus Flinch, the last man to search for the lost city of Rekat Emit."
"No Hermione, you are mistaken, please..." Caidoz pleaded.
"If you had given him the Time Turner Hermione, you would have been trapped like he was. You see, a long time ago, I happened upon this thief in the Time Vault, he had stolen the Turner and was making to escape when I stopped him. He stunned me just as we were time stepping and I nearly lost my life, instead, I lost my mind... for a while. Thanks to the help of the wizards of Rekat Emit, I am better now. In repayment for their help, I vowed to find this thief and return the Turner. When I had all but lost him, a lucky turn brought our paths together and I have been following him ever since. After almost a hundred years of waiting, he finally made his move for the Turner, here to Hogwarts. Entering through the Room of Requirement, he followed you, waiting for the right time to confront you, but you sought him out first."
"Yes, I admit, I have been following you, but not for the reason's this insane lunatic has mentioned."
"Let's hear your story then." Hermione challenged.
"It is complex, I need to show you..." Caidoz reached for the Turner again, but she stepped back, waving the wand threateningly. At that moment Professor McGonagall entered the clock tower. Upon seeing the confrontation, she drew her wand out quickly.
"Explain yourselves!" She shouted.
"Ms. McGonagall, I can explain everything... I think?" Hermione said.
"And who are you?"
"It's me... Hermione Granger."
"Hermione?" McGonagall stepped closer. A look of shock crossed her face. "Oh my."
"You shouldn't have done that." Forn said.
"Why?"
"Because" Caidoz finished, "you do not appear like yourself to people you know when you are time stepping. It is the protection that was added to the Time Turner. Now that she has seen you, her mind will start to unravel."
"Such pretty colors, oh and the singing hedges need to be pruned before they get louder...." McGonagall started to mumble.
"Professor?" Hermione stepped forward then realized, she was making things worse. "What can I do?"
"Nothing." Caidoz said.
"I can help, but you will need to trust me." Forn said. There was something about him, she felt safe with him.