In the room where time dances, nothing is still. Clocks are spilt on every surface, each declaring different hours yet marching on in a confused harmony all the same. But there are always those who will disturb the peace, even with the intention of keeping others quiet.

xxx

"HERMIONE, DUCK!" Harry yelled, sending sparks over their heads, towards the party of Death Eaters that were pursuing them. Panting heavily, the pair tore through the eternal maze that was the Department of Mysteries.

Sirius, dead? How could he have been so stupid? The taunts of Bellatrix Lestrange chimed shrilly in his mind. But there wasn't time to dwell on it now, the Death Eaters were seeing to that. Shooting another jinx behind him, Harry heard a grunt of pain and knew that he had hit his target.

With blood pumping in his ears, he grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her through an open door. Hermione muttered a few choice words under her breath and sealed the doorway behind them.

"That won't keep them out for long," Hermione shivered.

"I need to find Bellatrix." Harry snarled. The desperate hunger to make her suffer which grew in his stomach was unbearable. The cruciatus curse seemed only too easy, it would be much more satisfying to rip her limb from li-

"-Harry?" His thoughts were interrupted. Hermione's look of concern was both heart-breaking and infuriating. Tears ran down her face and mingled with the sweat and blood on her cheeks. "Harry, you can't-"

"SIRIUS IS DEAD!" He roared. "I have to…I need to do this!" Harry held her gaze yet the realisation of the truth struck him like a punch to the gut. Sirius is dead. He crumpled under the weight of his words.

Hermione eyed him somewhat fearfully. For all the years she had known him, for all the books she had read and for the pain that they'd shared, now the right words failed her. It was all she could do to place a hand on his visibly-shaking shoulder and say "We can't stay here."

Harry took a breath and glanced round at their surroundings. The room was long and dark, illuminated only by a series of dancing, sparkling lights. Clocks lined every surface- large and small, grandfather and carriage, pocket and pendulum. They hung in the spaces between the book cases, were draped from empty portrait frames and propped on the desks which ranged the full length of the room. A relentless ticking filled the air like thousands of miniscule, marching footsteps. The sound to bring one to the brink of insanity.

Harry eyed what looked like a collection of pocket watches dangling from a shelf above their heads. They looked strangely familiar.

"Hermione, are those-?"

"HARRY!" Hermione screamed, pushing him to the floor as a jet of green sparks narrowly passed over their heads. The jinx ricocheted off the walls and collided with the time pieces, sending shards of glass raining down upon them. The clocks ticked angrily, almost menacingly at the intrusion.

Harry jumped to his feet and faced his hooded attacker. "Protego!" Harry shouted, as the figure advanced on him, sending more curses in his wake. "Stupify! Expelliarmus! PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Finally, Harry's spell hit its target and the figure buckled. The hood fell back to reveal McNair's frozen face. Harry looked at him with disgust.

"Hermione?" Harry asked the room quietly, to no avail. The room was eerily silent. It took Harry a moment to realise that the clocks had stopped ticking. He crawled over to where she'd been standing. There the Ministry's supply of time-turners lay smashed and cracked, their delicate insides spewed across the floor. One thing was certain.

Hermione was gone.