30. Chapter 30: No One Came

Chapter 30:

Bruised and dirty, Hermione was thrust forward into the courtroom by armed guards. Her eyes flashed angrily as she stared at the panel before her. There was an empty seat in the middle of the panel.

"You are making a big mistake" she said. "I was not meant to die like this!"

"Are you saying you can see the future, witch?" cried one of the men on the bench. He was a priest, who looked much like Father Lorenzo, but whose eyes were hard. Father Lorenzo was now miles away, in Mildenstowe, while she was all alone here in Essex, where the witch trials were conducted.

"Once again, I ask you what this foul philtrum we found on you is?" said a well-dressed man on the bench, holding up her leather pouch of Reverse Thyme Eliminus.

"Why don't you drink some and see?" she said, wearily.

"The witch tries to murder us!" said someone in the crowd, and several people crossed themselves.

"He is here!" shouted someone. A hush fell upon the crowd as heavy footsteps approached the room.

"My Lord" said a guard, falling back.

Her hands tied behind her back, and her feet chained together, Hermione tried her best to turn around to see who had arrived. A tall, hooded figure in a black cape stepped into the room.

Death Eater was Hermione's first thought. No, but surely not...There was a familiar aura about the figure. The people in the room could feel it as well, children began to cry and some of the women turned away from the sight of him.

The figure lifted a pale hand and held out a royal decree, clearly stamped with the Royal Seal of Henry Tudor.

"My Lord...you have come so swiftly, as usual... we are much obliged. Please, take your seat."

The figure's face was half-obscured by his hood, and the rest of it was in shadow. Calmly, he mounted the raised dais and took his seat on the bench at the centre of the panel. There was a quiet moment as he regarded Hermione from beneath his cloak. She thought she saw him nod imperceptibly, before he began to speak. His voice had a heavy French accent, but despite the heavy accent, there was something in the quality of his voice that was startlingly familiar.

"You, Hermione Granger, are brought before us on charges of witchcraft - sorcellerie. The circumstances are thus...you were found in possession of my seal, which I thought lost for many months, but which you claimed belonged to your late husband... a stableboy. You said his name was Draco Malefoy... cest impossible- le travail du diable!"

"Why is it impossible?" cried Hermione. "It was his ring, it was passed to him by his father!"

The figure gave a soft laugh. "I can confirm that that is not so. You see," the figure paused, "...Draco Malefoy died at birth. I myself felt his heart stop beating and saw his limbs turn blue."

"You?" said Hermione, wildly. "YOU saw him die?"

"Yes" said the figure. "You claim to know about your husband's father? Well, I don't think we've ever met..."

He lifted his hood and glared at her.

Hermione gasped. Before she could help herself, one word escaped her lips: "Lucius!"

There was a murmur around the court room. The man looked taken aback. "What did you say?"

"She said the name of the devil! She called on lucifer!" cried one of the crowd.

"Do you call the devil to your aid, witch?" said the man, coldly. "Do you show your true colours at last?"

Hermione fell silent. Her mind was was working overtime.

"Qui est-ce je suis?" the man said, "I am Antoine Malefoy, Master Witch Hunter in both France and England. The boy you claim to be my son died at birth. I felt his heart stop beating. So do not persist with your lies."

"How do you explain the ring?" Hermione said, staring at it. It was back on Antoine's finger.

"You must explain that to me. One morning in May, I awoke and found that the ring had disappeared. It had been on my finger the night before. In fact, I have documents sealed with it dated the day before to prove that it was with me. My wife and I searched everywhere for it: it was by your sorcery, that you had spirited it away here to England!"

"It is DRACO'S ring" Hermione was getting tired of this. She was beginning to realise that no matter what she said, the people would still be convinced she was a witch. She could have thrown herself on her knees and begun reciting the Lord's Prayer and they would have still convinced themselves she was casting a spell.

"And this potion they found on you....it is made of herbs common to witchery!" said Antoine, holding up the leather pouch and sniffing the potion.

"How do you know that?" said Hermione.

Antoine's face twitched. "I have much experience in these matters of witchcraft."

Hermione had to suppress a bitter smile as she said calmly, "I am sure you do."

Antoine calmly poured the potion on the floor in front of him where it left a dark stain on the wooden panels. There was a soft hiss and a puff of smoke, as the Reverse Thyme Eliminus disappeared into the planks forever.

"NO!" shouted Hermione, trembling with rage. Antoine smiled at her- the same, condescending, evil, smile that often graced Lucius' lips. Hermione began to understand, and the realisation of why Antoine Malefoy co-operated with muggles to hunt out witches was so disgusting that she felt her stomach heave.

"I'm sure Salazar would have been proud of you."

"Who?" said one of the panel members.

"Salazar Slytherin... Antoine's friend." Hermione said, with a gleam in her eye.

"How do you know this Salazar, witch?" asked another priest on the panel.

Antoint Malefoy stood up abruptly from his chair. "This witch is trying to draw us into a blasphemous argument."

Hermione tried to walk towards the panel, but the binds on her legs made it impossible for her to move more than a few steps.

"What an efficient way of ridding the world of muggleborns and half-bloods" Hermione said, "Shame on you!"

"All you people of God, hear me!" Antoine said, his voice thundered around the room, "Do not listen to the lies of this evil witch! C'est une sorcière dangereuse .... Leave this room at once, and I will make sure her powers are broken!"

The people gasped and there was a collective rush fo the door.

"Antoine Malfoy is a wizard himself! Do not be deceived by him!" Hermione was shouting. But in the babble of voices and shouts to escape, no one was listening to her.

"Be careful, my lord" said one of the priests, "Do you think you can handle her on your own? Had we better not stay to assist?"

Antoine shook his head. "No, I am the Master Witch Hunter, I can break this lowly devil of the servant myself. There has not been a witch who has resisted me yet."

The priests walked out, crossing themselves. As soon as the doors to the courtroom slammed, Hermione screamed at Antoine, "HOW CAN YOU BETRAY YOUR OWN KIND?"

Antoine took out his wand from within his robes. It was a natural and practiced move.

"You are not my "kind"... vous étes sang-de-bourbe... vous êtes repugnant... The daughter of two muggles, should not be allowed to live."

Draco, your ancestors are going to kill me... Hermione thought. Her eyes grew wide with fear as Antoine advanced upon her, his wand outstretched. Lucius...No, "Antoine"...is going to kill me...There is no more potion. It is lost on the floorboards. There is no more Draco, he is gone back to the future. There is no one here at all.

She began to cry.

"Please.... in the future.. this doesn't matter....I love your son...he lives...." Hermione said, incoherently.

"Silencio"

Hermione found her voice silenced. She struggled against her bonds.

"I am not going to kill you, witch. I will leave it to the muggles to do that. Tres droles, don't you think? I am not a witch killer, I am a witch hunter. Whenever I hear of base-born muggles suspected of witchcraft, I come hurrying over...to confirm it. We cannot have our magical world...how do you say it...contaminé.

I was wrong. Hermione thought frantically. I may have saved Lord and Lady Granger so that they could continue the Granger line, but I am going to die here. I will never return to my future parents. To Harry. To Ron. To Draco...I was wrong to think I could handle everything by myself...

"When the muggles return, they will find, like many other witches I have tried, that you will freely admit your guilt. Surprisingly, they will find no mark of torture upon you, and that is what always convinces them that I am a true judge of witchcraft... Imperio"

Hermione screamed, but no sound came from her mouth.

A white hot spark paralysed her mind...this was worse than any Imperius curse she had ever experienced before.

"You will admit to witchcraft. You will say you raised my son from the dead and spirited my ring to you for demonic purposes. You will admit to brewing magical potions with the aid of the devil. And you will not reveal anything about me. Comprendez?"

Hermione nodded.

He looked at her worriedly, she was a particularly powerful common-witch. It had needed every ounce of his magical power to cast the Imperio over her. Before he gave her back her voice, he'd better test to see if she was truly under the power of the Imperius.

"Embrassez-moi" he commanded.

Immediately, Hermione leaned forward and gave him a deep kiss.

"Tres bien" he said, satisfied, and wiped his lips with a handkerchief. He removed the silencio from her. Hermione stood, expressionless, and watched as the rest of the panel returned, together with some of the crowd of onlookers.

"She has already confessed to me, and is ready to confess to you" said Antoine, stepping back. "Ask her what you wish."

"Mistress Hermione, are you a witch?" asked the oldest priest present.

"Yes." said Hermione.

The room gasped.

"How did you get hold of the ring and the potion?"

"I raised Antoine's son from the dead and summoned his ring. I needed them to do the devil's work."

"What else have you done, witch?"

"I brew magical potions with the aid of the devil."

Antoine smiled. Another dirty-blood would burn today. The witch was right ...Salazar Slytherin would have been proud of him.

*********************************

Draco looked ashen as he thrust an old leather-bound book toward Harry. A page was marked with a slim strip of leather.

Harry frowned. "This is from the Museum Library...Draco, you stole this!"

Draco didn't reply. He just kept staring at Harry with that wild, nervous look.

"Draco?" asked Blaise, a chill creeping over her, "Does that book tell us what happened to Hermione?"

"Read it, Harry." said Ron impatiently.

Harry opened the book the page marked by the leather strip and scanned it quickly. The paper was yellowed, and the ink faded, so it was hard to make out. He looked up, hoping to ask Draco for help, but it was clear that Draco was incapable of speech. Draco looked worse and worse. Harry returned his attention to the book before him and squinted at the sprawly hand.

And then he saw it.

"Let it be recorded that in the year of our Lord fourteen hundred and eighty six, on the eighth day of the eleventh month, Lord Granger of Mildenstowe Suffolk had his title removed and his lands confiscated by the Crown when he was found guilty of concealing information about witchcraft in his household. His daughter was tried before the Interrogative Council of the King, chaired by the Master Witch Hunter Antoine Malefoy.

Let it also be recorded that in the year of our Lord fourteen hundred and eighty six, on the eighth day of the eleventh month, Mistress Hermione Granger, the daughter of Lord Granger, was burnt at the stake on charges of witchcraft."

Harry looked up from the page.

"She's .....dead " he said slowly."You... Malfoys... killed... Hermione."

**********************************

The smoke rose in a soft column, billowing black at the base and fading to white at the top. Smoke and cloud appeared the same against the blue of the sky. The pain she was in prevented Hermione from focusing on any particular thought. Images flitted through her mind, fleeting and insubstantial.

It had all happened so fast. One week ago he had been by her side.

"Somebody save me," she prayed. "God... please save me. Draco..."

But no one came.

Ten minutes later, Hermione was dead.

***********************************

Blaise felt her eyes brimming with tears. She had never been close to Hermione, but everyone knew the Head Girl with her bushy chestnut hair and kind heart.

Ron had snatched the book from Harry and was reading it for himself. He looked a nasty shade of grey. For once in his life, he was filled with anger but didn't know who to take it out on. One could hardly blame Draco for what had happened hundreds of years ago.

"Oh my god" said Blaise, beginning to cry for real. "She's dead. N-no wonder you wanted to tell us in p-private....Your ancestors were witch hunters? Y-You mean they sentenced witches to burn at the stake?"

"Not all witches..." Draco said, turning away, "just...just..."

"Muggleborns and half-bloods" said Harry, in a low voice.

"Yes."

"Your ancestors were even greater f**kheads than you!" growled Ron. "You burned our own kind!"

Draco said nothing.

"No wonder Lucius was such a blood-obsessed, murderous..."

"It's true," Draco said dully, "I checked up the Malfoy records in the our own home. It's true. A large part of our fortune was made from witch-hunting in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries."

Blaise gasped.

"I guess things have come full circle" continued Draco, "I cannot think of a worse way of punishing a Malfoy than what my ancestors did to the woman I love."

Ron was speechless again.

Harry re-read the passage. "Hang on, it says here she died on the eighth day of the eleventh month, in the year you got sent back to..."

"Yes. That means..."

"there is still..."

"...time..."

"...to save her..."

"...if you can go back at least 506 years in time."

Harry and Draco stared at each other.

"I already figured that out after I spoke to..."

"But how?" said Blaise despairingly, "No time turner can take you back that far!"

"You have to go the same way you went in the first place" said Ron, suddenly. "You have to take Thyme Eliminus again."

"NO!" said Blaise, "It's too risky! Everyone knows how unstable Thyme Eliminus is, how do we know he will go back to exactly the right time to save her? What if Draco gets sent back to the time of the...the...binotaurs or something?"

"Dinosaurs" said Harry.

"I was saying...I already figured it out after speaking to Dumbledore yesterday. I went back to Hogwarts to borrow the equipment to brew a Thyme Eliminus but Dumbledore stopped me. He said what Blaise said...that it was too dangerous."

"But it's our only hope!" said Ron despairingly. "We've got to try! All three of us could take it and each take a chance we end up at the right place!"

Draco shook his head. "No, Dumbledore had a better suggestion."

"What?" said Harry. He was surprised Dumbledore and Draco had been consulting together. It felt a little strange to see someone other than himself being guided by Dumbledore.

"There is only one sample of Thyme Eliminus which we know is guaranteed to bring us back exactly 506 years into the past."

Blaise blew her nose on her handkerchief and nodded. "I know, it's the one Hermione brewed."

"But it's with the Department of Catastrophes." said Ron. "And it's been classified as Highly Dangerous and Unstable... we'll never get them to release it to us. At least, even if we do, it'll take days and involve mountains of red tape!"

"There is only one way to get it" said Draco, "Which is why I returned hastily from Hogwarts hoping to meet up with you all. But before I could contact you, I received the owl about the Zabini's lawsuit and I had to turn up in court. Apparently, someone overheard us in the leaky cauldron and ratted on us to Blaises' dad. But anyway...now that I'm here..."

"HOW DO WE GET THAT POTION?" cried Ron, feeling so agitated that he could hardly sit still.

"There is one person who has can sneaked into the Ministry vaults undetected before..." All eyes turned to Harry, who nodded.

"Potter...H-H-Harry..., please help me." said Draco, turning red.

Ordinarily, Harry might have felt some triumph at hearing Draco beg, but this was no time for such petty feelings.

"All right," said Harry immediately. "We'll need some things...my invisibility cloak, and Sirius' knife that can open all doors..."

Ron and Blaise looked at each other, "We want to help too" they said, at the same time.

Harry shook his head. "No...it's too risky, we've all grown quite a bit since Hogwarts, Ron...I doubt we'd both of us fit under the invisibility cloak any more."

"You're going alone?" asked Draco, surprised. "I'd thought of going with you."

Harry stood up, his green eyes bright. "No, I'm going alone. I know the Ministry like the back of my hand." a soft look came into his face, "Hermione would have said it was far more sensible I went alone."

"Well what are we going to do?" asked Ron, slightly disappointed. "Just sit around and wait for you?"

Draco turned to Ron, "Actually, we have quite a lot of stuff to do...Dumbledore and I figured out why it was that our clothes don't travel with us back or forward in time...apparently, they can't exist in two points in time. Only if things existed in the past do they travel with us to the past, and vice versa. Hence, my wedding ring still exists because precious metals don't decompose after hundreds of years..." Draco held up his left hand and a gold and ruby ring flashed before their eyes. "So I need to find some clothes that existed 506 years ago if not, I'd end up returning nude. Also some wands."

"You need to find?" said Ron, "Don't you mean we need to find?"

Draco was taken aback. "Y-You want to come too?"

"Yes," said Blaise quickly. "Of course we do, don't we Ron?"

"Yeah." said the red head.

Harry headed for the door, "Right, you all get onto that, and I'll see about that potion. Shall we say back here in four hours?"

Everyone nodded.

After Harry left, Ron and Draco stared at each other.

"Well..."

"Actually..."

Both men tried to speak at the same time, then stopped. Blaise watched nervously as the two sized each other up.

"Truce, Weasley?" said Draco at last, extending his hand. "For Hermione?"

"Yeah..." said Ron, shaking Draco's hand. "For Hermione."

"Hurry up!" said Blaise, grinning at the two wizards, "I know just the place we are likely to find 500 year old suits and wands!"

"Where on earth...?"

"Where else does one go when at wits' end?" asked Blaise.

"Hogwarts" said Draco and Ron together.

"Well, come on," Blaise said, taking out her wand to apparate to Hogsmeade.

"Time to change History," said Ron.