A/N: Okay, so this is the same chapter as before except I edited it some. I also hadn't included a chapter title or my note. So basically, this story is AU (alternate universe) as most of my stories will end up being. The love interest starts out as Hermione and Draco but it ends as Hermione and someone very unexpected, (if you can't deal with it, get off the page.) I also would like to inform you that every few chapters I will ask for a certain ammount of reviews before I post anything else. So, if you favorite then you should tell me why, if you didn't why not? If you added it to your story alerts, tell me what was good, what was bad. I really need the constructive critisizm. But if I get any 'You suck, stop writing!' or harrassment of any kind. I will delete it, I may report it, and if worst comes to worst, I will discontinue the story and possibly delete it all together. So let's be nice, shall we? Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter books, nor the movies. I am not JK Rowling and I am not making any money from my writing at the moment. If I submit this to anyone, it will be my english teacher for some grading and critisizm. Other than that, no. Please do not steal my storyline or I will become very very hurt, because I'm sensitive. And I will go to another fanfiction site to post it there. Okay the, let's dance! -Tweedlebugqueen CHAPTER ONE THE DECISION
She was thoughtful for a moment, what could she do to help him see? She loved him, no matter how much the world hated her for it. "We'll be okay, we'll find a way." she hesitated, "We could go somewhere." she said softly, knowing he would hear it.
He turned to look at her and took hold of her hand, "I want to. . .where do you want to go?" he replied in the same hushed tone.
She replied instantly, "I want to go somewhere where no one can find us or tell us what to do or judge us." she looked into his stormy-gray eyes, "Almost into a whole other time frame."
She watched as he began to smile, his eyes lit up like the sun coming out from behind the clouds, "I have an idea."
That's what started it, that is what he said to her before she got into this whole mess. This is Hermione's story, the story that was never told. The story that was altered to what Harry wanted the world to see or know. No one ever found out about her story, or read about it, or had ever even heard it. No one knew it existed except for her and the people involved in it. But now Hermione realized it was time for her to break the silence and let her story be known to the world, to let them into her mind. This is Hermione's story.
It was a cloudy day when Hermione dug into her trunk of belongings she had brought with her to Hogwarts. She dug past clothes, books, potion ingredients, old journals, and past gifts from her friends and family, until she found what she was looking for in a secret compartment. She smiled as she lifted the gold chain from the velvet bag which held it. She took in all it's glory and laughed as she held the time-turner in her palm. Everything was going to be all right, everything would be okay again and now she and Draco could finally live in peace.
It was Draco himself who had suggested it to her. His exact words had been, "I have an idea. Hermione, what's your opinion on time travel?" and she had replied with a smile, and he had continued, "I think it's about time you got out your old time-turner." She smiled just at the thought of the memory.
As she stood up she placed the time turner around her neck, she hurriedly packed her things, she couldn't wait for her new life to start. No one understood her and Draco, no one ever would but there was a chance that they would fit in with the people who had never met them before, the people who had never set eyes upon them. People they had never even heard of.
She knew where they were going to be in the past though so that saved her packing a little, they would still be in Hogwarts. They would just be there a long time prior to now, she decided upon fifty years ago. So all she had to do was pack the things that weren't already in her trunk. As she finished packing a paper dove flew into her dormitory, Meet me under the beech tree. And when she turned to the window she saw a sleek blonde haired boy flying about forty feet away towards the lake. She smiled and charmed the trunk to shrink to the size of a beetle and she ran out to meet him.
She flew through the halls in a daze, she flew past faces and teachers she knew, but didn't see them. She ran through the corridors smiling and laughing as she went. She ran all the way down to the lake and when she got there she ran into Draco's waiting arms. And they fell into the lake laughing.
Hermione sat up in the shallow water, "That wasn't so smart, I guess." and she glanced over to lock her eyes onto Draco's laughing ones.
He laughed and pecked her cheek, "It was funny none of the less." he replied happily.
All of a sudden they heard an "Ehem?" from the edge of the bank and looked up.
They met the face of Professor McGonnagol and stood up. Minerva McGonnagol wasn't amused by the two's behavior. "Miss Granger, would you refrain from running and parading throughout the hallways laughing at the top of your lungs? It is a distraction and an annoyance to all who are trying to get a good education and actually learn here."
"Yes, Professor McGonnagol." Hermione answered embarassed, Draco snorted. And Professor McGonnagol left with a swift movement of her cloak.
The couple burst out laughing as they lay in the sun to dry off, but things had to get serious before the two could be happy again and they grew silent. Hermione turned to lay on her side and she faced Draco, "I'm ready." she said.
Draco looked at her sadly, "I wish we didn't have to do this I don't want you to give up everything you love for me." and he closed his eyes.
Hermione layed on her back and closed her eyes too, letting the sun lick her eyelids. "I'm not giving anything up other than unhappiness, and I could certainly do without that." she sighed.
"Seriously, I think we should think about this a little more before we make up our minds." he responded.
Hermione was determined as she set her jaw to answer, "We're going back to a time with Dumbledore in it, if we ever wanted to come back we could find a way."
"So you're ready? You're ready to leave this all behind you and fly away with me? To a completely other time?" he asked again.
"Yes."
"Then we'll leave tonight, barely any time will pass too, so when we come back it will be at this exact time."
He stood up and reached for her hand, she opened her eyes and took it. He told her to say goodbye to anything she might miss and that if she changed her mind that she needed to let him know, she agreed and headed up to the castle to find Harry and Ron.
Hermione found them in the common room doing their homework at the last minute, Ron looked at her and began begging, "Hermione, good, Hermione will you help me? Please? I can't get this right, I promise I'll repay you someday, I really do."
Hermione laughed at him and sighed, "No Ron, not tonight, I have to. . .go somewhere."
Harry looked up, "Where are you going?" he sounded concerned.
She looked at him and held back tears, maybe she shouldn't go, maybe it were best if she stayed here for her two best friends. Then she reminded herself why she was leaving, they were among the rudest of all the people when she was with Draco, she couldn't stay, she wanted to be with the man that she loved. So she came up with an excuse, "I'm just going to Hogsmeade, I got permission to go from Dumbledore."
Harry seemed content with this answer and he returned to his work, "Just be careful, wouldn't want you to get into trouble." he muttered.
"Do you think I could possibly go with you? I have some shopping I would like to do." Ron asked her.
"I have to make this trip alone, Ron." she explained very shortly.
Ron looked from his work to her again, "Whatever." he muttered rudely.
"What?" she asked him.
Ron glared at her menacingly, "You're going with Malfoy, I can tell." he snarled.
Hermione suddenly felt a blow hit her hard in the stomach, Ron was the worst one of the people who hated her and Draco's relationship. He was always so depressed and hurt by her decision to be with Malfoy, he had offered to be with her as well but she had declined and had taken Malfoy's offer instead. Ron would never forgive her for that decision, and she knew it as well as anyone else.
Hermione felt tears sting her eyes and ran from the common room feeling rejected, she knew this was the last time she ever even have a chance to see him, why did he have to spoil it by being cold-hearted?
As she ran down the hall she caught sight of Draco walking down the empty hallway to meet her, he was happily walking until he saw her crying and then he ran to her. He held her and brushed the hair away from her face softly, kissed her forehead and he leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Let's get out of here, we don't have to wait. We can go right now if you want."
Hermione breathed deeply in and out a few times before she looked up into his eyes, it comforted her knowing he loved her so much. "Let's go." she whispered, and they ran down the halls together with their shrunken trunks in their pockets.
They ran through the halls, down the stairs, and out the door. They ran across the grounds and past Hagrid's hut, through the pumpkin patch and into the forest edge. Hermione pulled the time-turner from her neck and stretched it for Draco to put his head through. He did it effortlessly and took her hand. She set the turner for fifty years prior and before she turned the knob Draco handed her a jacket, knowing that the weather would be unpredictable. She smiled at him and turned the knob back five times and they were off.
The feeling of time travel wasn't a pleasant one, it consisted of having your insides feel as if they were twisting and yanking on each other. It was more of a pressure on them then an actual pain, there wasn't much pain involved. But as you were spinning back decades in time your head began to spin as well, headaches were common when you were going farther back then a few hours in time. Not that Hermione had ever tried it herself, when had she ever needed to go back farther than an hour? With the exception of her third year in which she went back four hours to save Buckbeak the Hippogriff and Sirius Black the alleged mass murderer who was unquestionably innocent.
No, time travel wasn't pleasant.
It seemed like the trip was stretching out over millions and millions of years, maybe it was just her nerves that made her feel that way, Hermione did not know. But in reality the travel time could only have lasted a mere matter of minutes. It was strange how it took so little to go back in time but it took so long to go back from where you came, years and years of it. In fifty years they would be around the same age as Minerva McGonnagol, the teacher who had only just a few hours ago scolded them for wading in the lake. Or they would surpass her in age, it had been Minerva McGonnagol's duty as a woman never to speak of how old she truly was. When Hermione was in her first year she could've sworn the woman was over two hundred years old.
And the trip ended as abruptly as it had begun, the couple were thrown to the forbidden forest floor in a heap. Hermione whimpered as she felt her head hit a considerably large stone in the process of her fall.
Hermione layed in the dirt for a minute trying hard not to throw up, if she had only known how hard the fall would have been maybe she would have tied a pillow to her head or something, but she was in no such luck in that category. A few seconds went by and the nausea passed and she heard Draco sit up.
She opened her eyes and met the happy face of Draco Malfoy to greet her, "Hey hun, looks like we're fifty years in the past. I mean, look at the forest, we aren't at the edge of it anymore."
And when Hermione looked around she saw that Draco was right, the forest was definitely thicker than it had been at home. It seemed like the forest had been chopped away in between the course of fifty years. "Well I suppose fifty Christmases will do that." she laughed.
He looked at her for a moment and then busted out laughing, "Who knew Hermione Granger had a sense of humor?" he chortled.
She looked at him with an innocent smile on her face, "Well, there are some things you only find out about in time, and to tell you the truth, you haven't been my best friend through all my Hogwarts experience." and then she cackled, teasing him like this was fun.
"Now you're going to get it! You had better run!" he yelled as he chased her a good thirty yards to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
She ran from him at full speed for about ten minutes before she got to the very edge of the forest. Then she suddenly stopped, she had just realized something.
How were they going to be able to transfer to Hogwarts if they had no previous school records?
Draco stopped next to her, "Hey, looks like Hagrid's hut isn't there yet!" he exclaimed, though he had never liked Hagrid it was a pretty obvious thing to notice.
Hermione looked at him with a horror-struck expression, "How are we going to enroll into Hogwarts?"
He smirked at her, "The great Hermione Granger, brightest witch of our time, forgot to get legal proof of the magical study in our past? Forgot to procure legal enrollment documents into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" and he pulled out a fat envelope from under his school robes.
She stared at the envelope in shock, how could he have remembered to do this most important thing and she had not? This was unbelievable.
She kissed his cheek, "You're a life saver." she exclaimed.
"I know," he said matter-of-factly, "And there is a forged letter from our present-day McGonagoll explaining that we are time-travelers on a very important top-secret mission to save our future world, of course the idea is mine. And I charmed a quill of McGonagoll's to write it so it got every letter, comma, period, and perenthesis in her correct hand."
Once again, Hermione was shocked to the point she nearly passed out. He had really thought this out before they had left, she would have thought about this more if she hadn't spontaniously told him they needed to leave. She should have thought this out a bit more carefully. But at least he had done it for her, and there was no use in dwelling on how she had messed up. It was done, that was the fact of it and it was time to trudge up the grounds of Hogwarts and enter their new lives together.