Pause

Hermione pauses every time she uses the Time Turner. It's become instinct, almost ritual. First she checks her bag, making sure that all her books are there. They usually are, since she carries them all with her; she supposes she could always run up to Gryffindor Tower, but that would require using more time from the Time Turner. McGonagall told her, very, clearly, that this was a sacred trust, and she shouldn't use it thoughtlessly. So Hermione always fills her bag to the breaking point.

After she's checked her bag, she pauses to find a secluded place to use the Time Turner. It's harder than you'd think, since an empty corridor at eleven is completely different from a corridor at ten. Hermione learned this the hard way, but most Hogwarts students are self-involved and never notice her sudden appearances. She's taken to turning in a hallway down from the infirmary, where no one goes much.

Once she's sure no one's near, Hermione quickly flips her Time Turner over, once for a regular class, twice for a double session. If no one is around, she runs off to her next class.

By the end of November, Hermione barely pauses anymore, moving through time with impatience and haste. At some point, it occurs to her to calculate the number of extra hours she has added to her life each week. Not taking her eyes off her research for Ancient Runes, Hermione adds and multiplies with half a mind, scrawling numbers on the margins of her Arithmancy equations. An extra twenty hours a week, she estimates, about four extra hours a day. Hermione actually stops reading and focuses her bleary eyes directly at the numbers. She hadn't really thought of the time she spent in class, only the effort she was exerting to do her assignments, to revise for tests, to write three-foot long essays for extra credit. Staring once more at those disloyal numbers, Hermione shakes her head and goes back to her runes.

It's not until after the Christmas holidays that Hermione realizes she doesn't pause anymore. When it comes to using the time turner, it's all hasty routine - stop, check, turn and go. She hardly talks to her friends, unless they're standing right beside her - it's too much of a hassle to find them. Hermione simply doesn't have the time anymore. Besides taking two full schedules of classes, there's homework and revising, working on Buckbeak's trial and the rather awful mess with the firebolt. It's only when her bag splits in the middle of the hallway that Hermione realizes exactly how foolish she's being. Her friends don't seem to care about how many classes she's taking, and since she can't tell them about the Time Turner, there's no way they could know.

Hermione makes a few simple decisions. She lets Ron take over Buckbeak's appeal, storms out of Divination because she simply can't take it anymore, talks to Professor Humphries about dropping Muggle Studies (as if she really needs to learn about plugs and light switches), and tells Professor McGonagall that she won't need the Time Turner next year.

Of course, before she can take a breath, the whole affair with Buckbeak and Sirius Black happens, and Hermione once more turns back time. It's for a good cause, in the end, and despite a sound beating from the Whomping Willow, Hermione feels a lot better than she had all year.

She hands the Time Turner back to McGonagall, carefully coiling the golden chain in her hand, and goes off to enjoy the day, one time through.