The Hall of Past, Present and Future

"I'm not coming down!" The little girl taunted. "Not until Draco says sorry, Mummy!" The blond woman stood at the base of the trunk, her hands on her hips and looked up.

"Ro!" she called. "Come on down, Ro!" There was a little boy that came out. The little girl's bare legs swung in the light, summer air.

"Ro is an idiot!" The little boy stuck his tongue out at her. The girl, Ro, stuck her tongue back out at him. The woman turned around, pushing her hair back from her face.

"Don't tease your sister, Draco," she said. She turned back around. "Ro! Come on down, Love!" The little girl looked down.

"I hate him, Mummy," the little girl said. "I hate him!" The woman held her hair back with one hand and frowned.

"No you don't Ro," she said. "He's your brother. He loves you." Draco grimaced.

"No I don't!" he yelled. The little girl stood up on the thick branch that she was sitting on.

"Ro, be careful!" the woman yelled. The little girl looked down.

"If I fall, I'll die, and you won't miss me!" she said, threatening to slip off. The woman placed a hand to her forehead.

"Ro," she warned. Draco stuck his tongue out at her.

"Why don't you try?" he said, daring her. The woman whirled around to face him.

"Draco," she hissed. "Stop it!" She looked back up. The little girls was walking on the branch, her arms out, as if she was walking a tightrope.

"Come down, Ro, please?" The woman pleaded. The little girl shook her head vigorously and that was what made her lose her balance.

"Mummy!" she screamed as her small body fell through the air. She landed on the ground with a sick thud. The woman screamed.

"Get your father!" she yelled at Draco. Draco did as he was told. He ran inside their summer house.

"Dad!" he yelled. "Dad! Ro, she's...." But Lucius Malfoy was already there.

"What happened?" he asked, walking outside. Draco was crying now. Lucius looked over at the giant oak that stood in the backyard. And the sight chilled him to the bone. There was his daughter, lying on the ground, dead.

~oo0oo~

Draco shook his head. The memory. Why was it coming back now? This was a bad time. He looked down at his hands. They were drenched in ink. "Draco?" said a soft voice. He looked up to see Pansy Parkinson. He smiled. "What's the matter, Draco?" He shook his head.

"Nothing," he replied, wiping his hands on his robes. "It's nothing." Pansy was persistent.

"I'm sure-"

"It's nothing!" Draco growled. Pansy, thankfully, wasn't that persistent. She backed off. Draco sighed and fell into a chair, a more comfortable one and closed his eyes. As soon as he did so, screams filled his head. He jerked his eyelids open. Pansy saw him and decided that if he didn't tell her what was going on, she would go crazy.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked softly, stroking his hand. He pulled his hand away.

"Yes," he said. "I'm fine." Pansy looked hurt but he didn't care. She walked away, scowling. Draco sighed once more and tried to close his eyes, but there they were again. The screams. He blinked furiously and sat straight up, trying to block everything out. He had had that memory so many times before, but each was when they had gone back to that house for the summer. The house where his twin sister, Ambrosia Altair Malfoy, had fallen of a giant tree and died. Draco didn't understand why they even went back to that house. His mother had ordered that the giant oak tree be cut down. And Draco had been forbidden, ever since that fateful summer, to climb another tree ever again. Not that he would have even if he were allowed. Two girls, two second years, were staring at him. But Draco was used to this. He was, after all, a good looking guy, and a Malfoy at that. He didn't care.

"What?" he snapped at them. They looked away, frightened and ran up to their dormitory. He leaned back in his chair. And before he knew it, he was asleep. Dreaming.



He was in a tunnel, falling. The cold air whipped around him, making his hair fly. He landed with a thud and looked around. He was in some kind of a hall with many, many doors. None of the doors were labeled. He could hear something dripping, like water dripping from a ceiling. The walls were made of stone, and Draco felt the cold chill his bones. He pulled his robes closer to him and stood up. Nothing was heard except for the dripping water. What was going on here? He straightened his shoulders and looked around. There was nothing but doors around him. Nothing but doors. Then, he did whatever made sense to him. He opened a door. Immediately, he entered a large, circular room. It had large, squashy armchairs and a large fire. Above the fire, a huge, gold griffin roared. he must have been in the Gryffindor Common Room. He looked around and saw a single person sitting at a Table. No one could miss that bushy, brown hair. It was Mudblood Granger. "Hey! Granger!" But she didn't look up. She kept on working, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. Draco said it again, but louder. Still, she didn't look up. Then, it hit him. She couldn't see him. Nope, she couldn't even hear him. But this was the present. He knew. Quickly, he went back out of the door and opened another one. There was a huge rally going on. Millions and millions of people, children and seniors stood in front of a stage, holding up signs and screaming. "Hey George Bush, you're a liar! We're gonna set your ass on fire!" a group of protesters screamed. George Bush? Where had he heard that name? Then he remembered. He had been to the White House once with his parents to a party that the President of the United States had hosted. Was this who they were talking about? Then, he saw a sign that said: "Sep. 11th, 2001: Victims Would NOT Have Wanted Death!" Death? Who was dead? 2001? That wasn't until four years later! He exited and opened another door. There was a small, white room there. A small girl and a small boy sat in there. The boy was laughing.

"You look like a monkey, Ro!" the boy crowed. The little girl's face was red.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked. "You're my twin!" The little boy sighed and shook his head.

"I'm a lot prettier than you are!" he said. The little girl laughed.

"Boys aren't pretty!" she giggled.

"Yes they are! Girls are all monkeys! Monkey monkey monkey monkey!" The little girl strode across the room.

"Fine!" she said, flung open the window and climbed out, into a large tree. Draco, the present Draco, had a dry throat and a pounding head. The little boy looked out of the window and opened his eyes wide.

"Muuuuuummy!" he cried, opening the door and running down a magnificent staircase. "Ro's hiding in the tree!" A smiling woman came out.

"What is it?" she asked. The little boy tugged at her sleeve.

"Ro! She's hiding in the tree!" The woman's smile faded.

"Oh, not again!" she cried, running outside.

"Ro, what are you doing up there?" she asked, standing. Ro looked down and scowled.

"I'm not coming down! Not until Draco says sorry, Mummy!" she called. Draco, the one in the doorway, was clutching the sides of the doorframe, his hands white.

"Ro!" the woman called. "Come on down, Ro!" The little boy stuck his tongue out at the top of the tree.

"Ro is an idiot!" he teased. The woman turned and looked down at him.

"Don't tease you sister, Draco! Ro!" she called again. "Come on down, Love!"

"I hate him, Mummy! I hate h-" Present Draco had had enough. He slammed the door shut and stood in front of it, panting hard. His sister's voice echoed in his ears. And he began to run. He ran as fast as he could towards the entrance of the long hall. There was a bright, shining light at the end. He lunged through it, trying to get away from the memory. He could feel himself sliding through a tunnel. He landed on something hard. Rubbing his backside, he stood up and looked around. He was in the Astronomy Tower. He looked behind himself and saw the bright light fading away. Was this the entrance to the hall? Why was he here? Hadn't he fallen asleep in the Common Room? What had happened? Draco wondered as he made his way to his Common Room. He entered the room and flopped down on a large couch. Why were these memories coming back? What was going on? He had all these questions and knew only one person who knew the answers. Mudblood Granger.

~oo0oo~

"What are you doing here?" Hermione Granger snapped. "I thought you had other girls to do your homework for you." Draco sneered at her.

"What makes you think I came up here to see you, Granger?" he asked. "Don't flatter yourself." In fact, he knew that she would be here, reading up on something or just finishing off some of her homework. He walked to the shelf behind her and scanned the shelf, pretending to look for something. He waited till her head was turned to look at the back of her head. Her usually bushy hair was tamed and pulled back into a half ponytail. She wore small clips around the ponytail, securing stray hairs. She was bent over something, obviously an interesting book. She must have felt eyes on her back, because she whirled around in her seat and glared at him. He glared back.

"What?" he snapped. She sighed, turned around and slammed her book shut. She left it on the table and was heading toward the door. No! He couldn't let her get away. He sprinted toward her. She heard footsteps, turned around and was rewarded with a hand clamped on her mouth and another hand gripping her wrist.

"Don't make a sound," Draco hissed, turning her around and grabbing her around the waist, his hand still clamped on her mouth. Hermione didn't hear him though. She let out a scream through his fingers, and he put a slight pressure on her mouth. Quickly, he pulled open the door to a broom closet and shoved her in. He went in himself, lit a light and looked at her. Hermione's eyes showed fear. Draco knew what she thought. He let out a short laugh.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'm not the kind to ravish a woman." Hermione let out a sigh of relief but she still looked suspicious.

"I thought...I just thought that..." She stopped because he was grinning.

"I know what you thought, Granger. I'm telling you, I come from a well-to-do family and if I did rape you, I assure you that I would gain quite a bit of negative publicity." She raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think you would care," she said, raising her chin slightly. He scowled.

"Oh, I assure you Granger, I would care. I would be dead within days. My father would have killed me, and then, I would join you in Heaven and make your life in Heaven a miserable Hell."

"You wouldn't make it into Heaven," she said. "And I don't care what you assure me of. You're still a scummy little slimeball." He felt a twinge inside his stomach but he ignored it.

"I need your help," he said. Hermione threw up her hands.

"This has got to be a joke!" she said, looking at him. He shook his head.

"You're the only person who's read that book on Hogwarts," he said. Hermione glared at him.

"Pansy has," she said. "Don't you think it would be easier to get your information from her, since you've already been inside her robes? Why get inside mine and waste my time?" He glowered at her.

"I will get inside yours if you don't-"

"I think that's a threat," Hermione snarled. "Are you threatening me?" He shrugged.

"It doesn't matter," he mumbled. "Look Granger, if you can't-"

"I have a name," she snapped. "My name is Hermione. If you can't-"

"Okay, okay! Hermione. Can you help me or not?" Hermione smiled slightly.

"That's much better," she said. Then, she looked at him. "I have a feeling that this isn't a sexual conversation?" He shook his head, feeling sickened.

"No way!" he said. "I need...I need some information about some of

the...er...features at Hogwarts." Hermione raised both of her eyebrows.

"Features?" she asked. "What kind of features, exactly?" Draco groped for words. Then, a thought popped into his head.

"Features like the Chamber of Secrets," he said. Hermione looked at him appraisingly and bit her bottom lip.

"I think you already know about the Chamb-"

"There must be other features like that one," Draco said. Hermione smiled suddenly.

"You've read the book then?" she asked. Draco was puzzled.

"What book?"

"Hogwarts, A History of course!" she said. He shook his head.

"No no, I have better things to do," he said, distractedly.

"Hey!" Hermione protested.

"Sorry." Hermione looked surprised.

"Sorry?" she asked. "That's something I don't hear from you everyday." He sneered.

"That'll be the first and the last, Grang- I mean, Hermione." Hermione smiled.

"Thanks," she said. "For using my name." He alsmost smiled, but reprimanded himself fast and his usual scowl came back. He looked at her.

"I had a wierd dream last night," he said. Hermione sat down on an upturned pail. She looked at him.

"Go on," she said. "Explain." He, still standing up, told her about the odd hall and everything in it. Except for about Ro. He told about the rally, about herself, about him entering the Gryffindor Common Room and calling out to her, about her not answering. She started to smile.

"Of course," she muttered. "Of course!" Draco looked annoyed.

"Of course, what?" he asked. Hermione jumped up.

"You've found it!" she said. "You found it!" She pushed past him, opened the door to the broom cupboard and ran out. Draco followed her. She was scanning a shelf, looking for it.

"Halls," she was muttering under her breath. "Oh, God, where is it?" She scanned the shelf for a moment, then looked back at him.

"It must be in the Restricted Section," she said. "You'll have to get a note." He stepped back.

"Me?" he said. "Why should I?" Hermione blinked.

"You are the one who wanted me to look for it, so you get the note," she said. "Get it from Professor Snape. He's the only teacher who likes you. Make absolutely sure that my name is on the paper, and just have him sign it! We need that paper!"