A Life in the Past

"You shall sleep in my chamber this eve," Annabelle told Hermione. "You shall not return to your Ron and Harry."

"Why not?" Hermione asked, putting down her book, 'The Beginning of Hogwarts.'

"I say so," said Annabelle. "Come, let us retire to bed." She stood up and crossed to the library door.

Hermione rolled her eyes and followed. Annabelle was so controlling!

Annabelle's chamber was on the second floor, and was very much like Wilfred's, it too, was scarlet, with a bed and sofa, but Annabelle's chamber had many dolls and other toys around it.

"You shall sleep there," said Annabelle, pointing at the sofa. "Have a good sleep."

Hermione sighed and sat down on the sofa. She'd just wait until Annabelle dropped off to sleep, then she'd head up to the fourth and highest floor to Wilfred's chamber, where she would tell Harry and Ron that they should no longer trust Annabelle.

It seemed so simple. Until Annabelle charmed the door to allow nobody to leave the chamber unless the door was opened from the outside.

Hermione scowled. What was Annabelle up to?

***

Ron re-entered his, or Wilfred's room to find it exactly as he had left it. Hermione had not arrived there. Where was Hermione, anyway?

Ron yawned and lay down on the bed, unaware that his little sister was lying underneath the bed with Draco Malfoy beside her. If he had known, he would have blown Draco to pieces, and then blown up at his sister.

Eventually, Ron nodded off to sleep, and the candle lighting the room also went out.

Under the bed, Draco and Ginny were waiting patiently. When Ron's snores sounded, Draco finally broke the silence.

"Snores loud, doesn't he?" he said.

"Oh yeah," said Ginny. "That's definitely Ron."

"Let's get out of here," said Draco. "We'll find somewhere to sleep, then we can decide what to do in the morning." He slid out from under the bed.

"Why can't we just wake him?" Ginny asked, following Draco.

"It's not safe just yet," he replied.

"When will it be safe?" asked Ginny. "It's never safe. You're throwing away all our chances of getting back!"

"Don't worry about a thing," said Draco. "Tomorrow morning we'll come clean."

"Can we at least sleep in here?" asked Ginny.

"No," said Draco. "If he wakes up before us, he could kill us both."

"Fine," said Ginny. "But let's at least take the wand."

"Obviously," said Draco, picking the wand up from its resting place on the sofa.

Draco and Ginny exited the room and crept down the corridor.

"This is like being at Hogwarts," Draco smirked. "Going back to my dormitory after and evening in the Astronomy Tower."

"This is nothing like that," said Ginny.

"Yeah it is," said Draco. "We don't want to be caught, that's exactly like it is at Hogwarts."

"Yeah, but the fact that it's us," said Ginny. "Nobody would ever even suspect that we'd been in the Astronomy Tower together."

"Don't be so sure," said Draco. "Who'd have ever expected Pansy Parkinson and Neville Longbottom?"

"Urgh, don't remind me," said Ginny disgustedly. "That was disgusting."

"Was it Professor Snape who caught them?" asked Draco amusedly.

"McGonagall," said Ginny.

"Imagine the look on her face," said Draco, laughing a little.

"Yeah," said Ginny. "She was fuming the next day. Don't know why."

"Interhouse relationships are looked down on," said Draco. "Especially Slytherin, Gryffindor."

"Only Gryffindor, Slytherin," said Ginny. "Other than that, it's fine. You can have Gryffindors with Ravenclaws, Ravenclaws with Hufflepuffs... But you probably weren't happy when you found out about Neville and Pansy."

"Why would I care?" asked Draco. "Just because I took her to the Yule Ball doesn't mean anything. I mean, look at the Mudblood and Viktor Krum."

"What about them?" asked Ginny.

"The Mudblood actually wanted your brother, it was obvious," Draco replied. "And then there was you and Longbottom. You really wanted Potter. And then Potter was with Padma Patil, but it was so obvious he'd have rather been with Cho Chang."

"You're observant," said Ginny.

"I share a common room with the gossip queen," said Draco.

"Who?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Blaise Zabini," Draco replied. "Who else?"

They walked, or rather crept in silence for a few minutes after that, down a few flights of stairs, along deserted corridors, until they reached the main entrance of the castle.

"What are we doing here?" asked Ginny.

Draco shrugged.

"Well, there's really no point in being here," said Ginny.

Suddenly, a figure apparated not far from where Ginny and Draco were standing. They held their breath, and noticed very quickly that the figure had his back to them. Draco, who was a quick thinker, pulled Ginny off to the side behind a potted tree of some sort, where they would not be visible to the figure.

"That Malfoy," the figure muttered, probably to himself, as there was nobody else in sight. "What a greedy man. Trying to steal the Weasley fortune, I shall teach him. And what was that he said about holding Wilfred hostage?"

Ginny was about to say something, and Draco, as though he knew, covered her mouth with his hand.

"He doesn't know we're here," Draco whispered, very, very quietly. "Don't say a thing."

Ginny nodded.

"I tell ya," the man continued. "He has another thing coming, Wilfred is safe with us, he has kidnapped the wrong boy!"

Ginny turned her head ever so slightly so that she was facing Draco, whose expression was rather blank. She gave him a questioning look, and he shrugged in reply.

"Telling me Annabelle was against me," the man went on talking to himself. "She is my daughter, she would never try and kill me. That Malfoy, has no clue about a thing. Telling me his son caught my daughter when she has been here with me. Goodness, that Malfoy..."

The man trudged heavily up the stairs, leaving Draco and Ginny in the deserted entrance.

Draco stepped out from behind the tree ever so slowly, bringing Ginny with him. He removed his hand from over her mouth.

"This is all coming together," Ginny whispered slowly. "Come on Malfoy, we need to talk."

"Sleep first," said Draco. "We can talk tomorrow."

"Where do we sleep?" asked Ginny.

Draco took her by the hand and led her up the stairs, opening the first door he saw, which turned out to be a room containing a bed, empty of people.

"Dumb luck," he said, closing the door behind him.

Whether it was because neither wanted to argue, or because neither minded, it was uncertain, but it was certain that they both settled into the bed. Draco fell asleep very quickly, which was expectable, as he had slept the least out of the two. Ginny, on the other hand, lay awake for a few hours, thoughts running through her head. Here she was, the last place she ever would have expected, lying in a bed, beside Draco Malfoy, who she had hated only days ago, but now he was her saviour. Maybe Malfoy wasn't so terrible after all, in fact, she was really beginning to grow fond of him.

***

Hermione rose early, when the sun was just rising. She'd had a terrible night; she'd dreamed that Ginny had been in the past, but she'd been with Draco Malfoy, and Annabelle had tried to murder Ron, and there had been blood, it was terrible.

She rubbed her eyes and looked around. Annabelle was still fast asleep. She looked at the door, still closed.

Until suddenly the door creaked open. Hermione stared in utter disbelief as a familiar blonde head peeked through the crack in the door. Malfoy.

There he was, his white blonde hair a complete mess, looking tired and dirty. But there was someone else, a girl beside him. She too, was tired and dirty looking, with red hair...

Could it be Ginny? Was it possible?

Hermione pinched her arm, expecting to wake up at any moment, and then Draco spoke.

"You aren't dreaming, Mudblood," he said. "It really is me, but this is nothing like one of those dirty little dreams you probably have about me all the time where..."

Ginny slapped the back of Draco's head. "Shut it, Malfoy," she said. She glanced into the room and saw Hermione for the first time. "Hermione!" she cried. "What are you doing here?!"

Hermione stared dumbly at her.

"Maybe she's one of those Annabelle, Elias, Wilfred, Edmund people," said Draco.

Ginny looked startled. "What if she does something to us?" she asked. "Maybe we should go..."

"No! Ginny, don't go," Hermione cried, jumping up. "You can't leave me here with that psychopath." She gestured toward Annabelle. "Get me out of here, and I'll explain everything."

"So many explanations," said Draco, moving out of the way for Hermione. "So little time."

Ginny closed the door behind Hermione and turned to face her friend. "You don't know how happy I am to see you," she said. "I've had to spend the past few days with this idiot." She pointed at Draco.

"I am not and idiot," said Draco. "You're the stupid one."

"You're the one who let Harry get away," said Ginny.

"Who's saved your arse so many times?" asked Draco.

"Don't bring that up now," said Ginny. "It was your fault I was in those situations in the first place."

"How was it?" asked Draco. "It was your own fault."

"It was not," said Ginny. "If you didn't look so much like Elias, I never would have..."

"Shut up," said Draco. "I don't want to hear it."

"You know I'm right," said Ginny. "Admit it."

"I'm not to blame if I look like my ancestor," said Draco.

"Will you two stop fighting, please?" said Hermione. "Goodness, you act like a squabbling couple. How much has gone on these past few days?"

"More than you'd like to know," said Draco.Â

"Harry and Ron are here," said Hermione. "Let's go and find them, then we'll sort all of this out."

"I know where they are," said Ginny. "Or at least where Ron is;Â Draco and I were in the room he went to sleep in. It's on the fourth floor."

"I know the room," said Hermione. "And since when have you two been on a first name basis?"

"You just called me Draco," said Draco.

"Because it's your name, idiot," said Ginny.

"What about Malfoy?" asked Draco.

"That's called a surname," said Ginny.

"Where have I heard that before?" said Draco.

"You two are acting very oddly," said Hermione. "Dare I even ask?"

"Don't mind us," said Ginny. "Let's just go to Ron."

"Where's Harry then?" asked Hermione.

Ginny shrugged. "Ron should know," she said.

The three of them headed up the stairs and found Ron in almost no time at all. He was fast asleep in the room Draco and Ginny had seen him last.

"I think you should hide, Draco," said Ginny. "Remember, it's not safe."

Draco smirked. "Learn fast, don't you?" he said.

"Go outside," said Hermione.

Draco left the room without protest.

"What are you doing with him, Ginny?"Â asked Hermione. "I can't stand him."

"I don't know," said Ginny.

"Ron won't be happy," said Hermione. "I doubt he'll understand your reasoning."

"It's not like we've fallen in love, or anything," said Ginny. "We've just been working together to get here."

"I think you enjoy each other's company," said Hermione. "I'm scared for you Ginny."

"Don't be," said Ginny. "You shouldn't even care."

"It's my duty to care," said Hermione.