CHAPTER ONE
A Time To Seek

Most people think time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time and I can tell you – they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm.

Voldemort withdrew the sword from Harry Potter's body and laughed.

Harry collapsed like a sack of flour flung to the ground.

Behind him Hermione Granger, restrained by two Death Eaters, screamed. Ron Weasley struggled with the Death Eaters holding him, wrestling and yelling things that his mother would not approve of.

"Let them go." Voldemort said to the Death Eaters. "Let them go back to their precious Order of the Phoenix and their cats and old women. Tell them Harry Potter is dead and Lord Voldemort reigns supereme. Tell them I will have the power of which I have always dreamed."

"No!" yelled Ron.

"Yes." laughed Lord Voldemort. "Now go on. Go back and be the heralds of my return. The whole world will tremble before the name of Lord Voldemort! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" he cackled.

Hermione made one last desperate look at Harry's body before Apparating. The crack she heard just before she disappeared meant Ron had done the same.

Hermione Apparated in at the gate of the Hogwarts Grounds to see Ron pelting up the hill towards the castle, his robes flying behind him. She ran after him, desperation and terror egging her on. They burst through the oaken front doors of the castle together, startling several students who happened to be in the Entrance Hall. "Professor McGonagall!" cried Hermione desperately. "Where is she?"

"In her office I think." said one of the students. "Do you need –" but Ron and Hermione were off, dashing up the steps. They were out of breath by the time they reached the seventh floor and the hulking gargoyle that guarded the entrance to McGonagall's office.

"Aberdeenshire." gasped Hermione. The stone gargoyle jumped aside and Hermione and Ron raced up the spiral steps, skipping stairs in their hurry.

The two of them burst through the doors of Professor McGonagall's office. "Professor!" Hermione cried urgently, "oh Professor McGonagall –"

Minerva McGonagall looked up from her desk, half-rising from her seat. "Miss Granger – Mr. Weasley – what has happened?"

"It's Harry." Ron gasped. "He's gone."

"Oh Professor." Hermione said. "Voldemort killed Harry. He's dead."

McGonagall dropped back into her chair, putting a hand on her chest. "Mr. Potter is dead?"

"Voldemort killed him right in front of us." said Ron grimly. "Ran him through with a dirty great sword."

Professor McGonagall turned pale. "Oh dear." she said.

"What do we do Professor?" Hermione wailed. "There's no one to stop Voldemort from taking over now!"

McGonagall pursed her lips and put her hands on the desk. "I suppose ... I suppose now is the time ..."

"Professor?" Hermione asked.

McGonagall paused for a moment. "I suppose I should tell you. I think you're the only ones –" She hesitated, then the words came spilling out of her in a precise clipped tone. "When Albus ... was killed, he left me a ... special sort of Time-Turner. It has ... unusual powers, I've seen them for myself." She pulled her wand out of her robes and tapped the desktop in a complicated sequence. With a click the top of the desk lifted open.

Hermione blinked several times. McGonagall lifted something out of a hollow in the desktop, and then closing the desk, set it on the desk. Hermione blinked a few more times. It was a Pensieve, which looked ordinary enough, and a Time-Turner, but McGonagall was right, this Time-Turner really was special. It had the single hourglass she was used to from her third year, but it had an additional hourglass turning inside the larger hourglass. Hermione opened her eyes and stared.

Professor McGonagall held the Time-Turner out to Hermione and Ron. They looked at each other. "One of you needs to take it." Professor McGonagall said with her usual crispness.

"Should –" Hermione said to Ron.

He was pale. "No, you need to, Hermione. It should be you, you've done this before."

It was true, she had. She reached across the desk and took the Time-Turner from Professor McGonagall. McGonagall pushed the Pensieve toward her. "Instructions from Albus on how to use it. Take the Time-Turner with you when you go in."

Hermione stood. Holding the Time-Turner in her right hand, she leaned down, putting her face into the Pensieve. The surface broke over her face like a veil. The Pensieve took her and she fell, landing on her feet in another version of the headmaster's office. Rain spattered at the windows and a fire burned in the hearth ... and standing before her, with his own version of the Time-Turner that she held, was Albus Dumbledore. A flood of sadness washed over her. It had been nearly a year since Professor Dumbledore's death.

"Professor Dumbledore." Hermione said.

He nodded his head once at her. "Miss Granger."

She raised her eyebrows. "But this is just a memory – so you were –"

"No, Hermione" he said, "I wasn't expecting you ... though perhaps I should have ... what with your cleverness and your proximity to Harry Potter. No, Miss Granger, this is something more than a memory. A piece of myself, enough that I can communicate and make myself understood to whomever enters."

Hermione frowned. "It's not a Horcrux then, is it?"

He chuckled. "No, Miss Granger. More along the lines of a piece of my spirit and memory, just enough to let me remember and respond. But we haven't much time, so let's begin. I see you brought your Time-Turner?"

Hermione held hers up.

"Very good. You are, of course, familiar with how a regular Time-Turner works. This one behaves slightly differently." Dumbledore raised his and pointed at the inner hourglass. "The inner hourglass allows you to actually rewind time ... not merely to travel back in time as you did in your third year, but to go back and live those moments again. I caution you, however, that you cannot go back more than about five minutes. Also –" he paused and smiled. "It does tend to leave those around you when you use it with a slight feeling of deja vu."

Hermione couldn't shake the feeling that originally he had said something else. It teased at the edge of her consciousness, but she couldn't remember what it was. "How do I use it?" she asked.

"Turn the inner hourglass. Time will start to rewind. Then turn it back again when you want to stop. Try it now." Dumbledore said encouragingly.

Hermione peered at the Time-Turner doubtfully, but then flicked the little hourglass over. Around her the world blurred. She saw Dumbledore explaining something and gesturing and heard a shadowy echo of his words. She flipped the hourglass over again and the world snapped back into normal motion. "– deja vu." Dumbledore was saying. He looked expectantly at her. "Do you need instructions on how it works?"

"No." Hermione said reeling. "No, I think I understand. I – thank you, Professor."

"All mine." Dumbledore said pleasantly. "Whatever it is you need this for ... whatever wrong you are working to correct ... good luck, Miss Granger."

She just had time to nod when she felt herself lifting out of the Pensieve. Ron peered at her hopefully. "Well?" he asked. "Does it work? Will it help?"

"I think so." Hermione said faintly.

"Well then." Professor McGonagall said crisply. "You know what you must do, Miss Granger. I expect to see you again when matters are righted." She gave Hermione a solemn look.

"Hermione ..." Ron drew her to him and kissed her. "Come back. When everything's over come back."

"I will." she whispered. "I'll fix things and then I'll come back."

Ron let her go. Hermione stepped away from the desk, turned the Time-Turner and vanished.

Author's Notes: So did you like it? R/R pls! Next chapter: Hermione lands in the past. But who will be there to greet her?