It’s entirely possible that this is entirely natural. Hermione beat Draco badly enough to put him in the Hospital Wing; either he’s legitimately near-death, or Lucius blew it out of proportion.
Alternatively, Hermione and Draco actually talked it out and are currently laying a mutual trap to figure out who’s using them both as pawns. I like this option, but it’s also probably the least likely one.
To be honest, she reads more “hysterical and hiding it” then “unworried” to me.
It could be an accident—Hermione hits a chandelier with a cutting cures, etc. It’s a fight, things like that happen.
Agree. Not sure how such a mutual trap would expose their manipulators either.
Whoever’s manipulating them is probably not anticipating a team up. (And if they are, they’re beyond the two’s ability to deal with anyway, so no point in worrying about that option.) So, Hermione apparently gets taken out of the picture, while Draco is free to investigate what’s going on with a manipulator who’s moving ahead with his plan.
… Okay, so that was kind of nonsensical since I was deciding what my opinion was while I wrote it. Let’s try this again:
Hermione and Draco meet, and actually talk it out. They decide to work together against their mysterious puppetmaster by playing along with the plot, as opposed to completely derailing it and then not knowing who was behind it.
Yeah, one way or another Draco is either injured or “injured” (with quotes), but the duel definitely didn’t go off as might be expected.
Presumably, Hermione has just been the subject of a Groundhog Day Attack, and is now believing whatever the mysterious figure wants her to believe. Said figure is presumably new to the concept, as he almost slipped several times. So Hermione thinks Draco is plotting something to exploit her mysterious destiny.
Hermione hasn’t been talking to Harry for awhile, I believe.
Hence, a dead-drop, assuming she thought of it.
So… Quirrel made that near-slip of “time travel” and “I’m going to go back in time and try again” in the Groundhog Day Attack? I’m afraid I’m not really buying it.
Yes, but he wouldn’t have made obvious slip-ups. H&C came within two words of blurting out “Time travel.” No way Quirrel did that, unless he’s playing a nth-level game through the fourth wall. (Which I wouldn’t put past him at this point, but anyway...)
See above. Quirrel wouldn’t have made the slip that alerted the readers to a Groundhog Day Attack.
Now, the imperius… I could believe a confundus, maybe. She’s not mindless enough for an imperius.
Nope. It’s new. Well, aside from the fact that it can be logically induced the moment you see a potion’s effects.
Wait, but it seemed to be fairly clear that it’s time travel from the slip-ups H&C made. (Of course, you’d have to postulate a different form of time travel that allows for paradoxes, so I suppose Obliviation has a point up on that...)
Quirrel wouldn’t have made any near slips. Apparently I don’t know what he was about to say, but Quirrel wouldn’t even have gotten that far.
Doesn’t seem like Quirrel to slip even if he can’t see a way for it to hurt him. He’s too careful for that.
He tried that, a while back. Ontological loops just give him “DO NOT MESS WITH TIME.”
Well, first… I don’t like bringing this up, but Draco brought up rape waaaay back in the first few chapters we see him in. Probably not relevant at this age, but...
Aside from this, Hermione will still be ruined as wizard—wand snapped, remember? And with Lucius back into the picture getting him to release Hermione would be a nightmare.
This is a Harry Potter fic, not a crossover. It’s a Shout Out, not an actual reference.
I admit, however, that if the dates were right I would totally be supporting one of the H&Cs being Heroic Spirit POTTER.
So, possible Wild Guess, but has enough reinforcement that I’m going to throw it out there.
Right now, it seems like Eliezer is pushing to the trial. The chapter implies that Harry has done nothing else of note before Hermione’s trial, meaning he will have limited ability to defend her. Without any sort of evidence to raise reasonable doubt, he’d basically have to manipulate the Wizengamot.
… Which, while beyond Harry’s ability, is not beyond others. In particular: Quirrellmort.
If Quirrell manages to get Hermione acquitted...
1) Quirrell earns lots of Harry points. Regains trust after the Azkaban semi-fiasco.
2) Quirrell emphasizes his role as Harry’s mentor and protector when even Dumbledore is helpless.
3) Meanwhile, this whole fiasco has convinced Harry even more that the wizarding society has issues.
4) Hermione is reinstated as an ally of Harry. If Quirrellmort’s goal is to strengthen Harry, this is also a plus.
5) Draco is now a victim of a plan, and earns pity, not respect, destabilizing Lucius’ power base.
If, simultaneously, Quirrell were to keep Lucius from undoing Harry’s turning...
1) Again, adds another ally, Harry points, etc.
And if both… then we have two heroes of Slytherin and of Ravenclaw who survived an evil plot, and may well garner sympathy for that plot. And remember, Quirrell promised to make Slytherin and Ravenclaw simultaneously win the House Cup...
The “ending at 84” is actually another reason I thought this was likely, because frankly, there’s only so much Harry can do at the trial itself. I’m imagining the next four chapters or so being about the aftermath of the trial, seeing Hermione’s and Draco’s reactions and the ripple effects of the trial.
Still. It’s possible, and it would make sense, depending on how perfect its Legilimency is.
Personally, I’m worried about how Harry will react. He’s not going to take this well, certainly.
Now, the question here is how intelligent Hermione was. If she left the letter somewhere Harry can find it—or would know to look—then Harry would at least know what happened. Probably couldn’t be used as evidence, but it would help.