Chapter 1: And It Begins
Summary: What if Hermione was given a second chance to save the world? What if Lily Potter wasn't the one to protect Harry from the killing curse? It's the time of the first war. It's at its peak and the dark side was winning. But lookout Voldemort because there is someone coming and she is out for your blood.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the rights to the Harry Potter world; that belongs to the legend that is J.K Rowling. I am not making money from this in any way and the only thing that is mine is the plot.
AN: As promised, I have just finished posting the epilogue for 'Marriage Act of 1998' and here we have the first chapter of my new fic.
Hogwarts – Saturday 2nd May 1998
Remus and Tonks were dead. Fred was dead. Percy was dead. Luna Lovegood was dead. Seamus was dead. Snape was dead.
Voldemort was dead.
Harry was dead.
The war had been won but at the cost of many. All Hermione could remember was the clash of two spells and all fighting stopped to watch the outcome of the war. That was it. It all came down to that one spell. But who would win?
The answer... Hermione wasn't sure.
It was a victory for the light as Voldemort crumpled to the floor and turned into ash and it was swept away in the wind. But for Hermione it was a loss. Her best friend, her little brother, the only family she had left... fell to the floor.
Movement surrounded her as Death Eaters fled, as they were being captured and as the wounded was being attended to. Hermione could barely remember moving, but in her lap she cradled the head of a lifeless Harry Potter. He had already died once and this time there were no signs of him coming back.
She screamed her anguish and people approached her to take Harry away from her. She put up wards around them, barricading her and Harry in. She could faintly hear people yelling at her trying to get her attention so she cast a silencing charm around her.
She cried until there were no more tears to fall. When she looked up the sun had long since risen. There was no one outside the wards, she figured they had given up and would wait until she had no choice but to lower the wards. The court yard was free from littered bodies of the dead and injured. All that was left was the rubble of the broken castle. Of the school that had been home to her and Harry, that had been their salvation. Their protection from their abusive families.
Hermione looked down at her right wrist to see that the once beautiful golden band that wrapped around her wrist in intricate roses and vines, now looked to have been burned, with scorch marks marring the design and disfiguring it. She looked to Harry's right wrist to see the same.
That was the only thing she had left tying her to Harry and it was gone.
Only those who were extremely intelligent and knew about bonds would know what those matching marks meant. They meant a sibling bond.
Flashback to 1995...
Hermione had been reading in the library one day in her fifth year, when she came across a text book that spoke of the different bonds that could be found in the wizarding world. They ranged from friendship to love to business. She had come to realise that the book was from the restricted section and had been left on a table. She was interested in the magic that performed the bond and so she read the entire book, front to back in just four days.
That's when she came across the sibling bond and she instantly thought of Harry. They had both been having a bad start to the school year and she thought that the information she had learned would cheer him up.
She immediately took the book to Harry and had him read the passage as they sat in the stairway of the Astronomy Tower. When Harry looked up at her he had a large grin on his face and hope in his eyes and it was the complete opposite of the anger and frustration that he usually wore on his face. Especially after the return of Voldemort, the dementor attack, almost getting expelled from school, being banned from quidditch and the D.A.
"Let's do it" he said with a wide smile.
"Seriously?" she said.
He nodded. "Let's make it official. Brother and sister like we've always been. We're all we have" he said. That was all it took to convince her.
So three days later on a Saturday night during the full moon, Hermione and Harry were in the Room of Requirement. They sat on a rug on either side of a small wooden table. On the table sat a potion Hermione had made two days before. There was a small bowl, four candles in the corner of each table and some parchment and a self inking quill.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Hermione asked.
"More than anything" Harry replied. Hermione nodded and then sighed.
"Okay, let's do this"
She took a deep breath and then she spoke.
"He is my brother but not of blood, he does things I wish I could. We've been like siblings since the day we met, and I will forever be in his debt. So take his life and meld it with mine, so together we may share a blood line. Now siblings we are and siblings we will be, together we will stand for all eternity" she lit two candles with her wand, two diagonally across from each other.
Harry then took a deep breath and spoke.
"She is my sister but not of blood, she does things I wish I could. We've been like siblings since the day we met, and I will forever be in her debt. So take her life and meld it with mine, so together we may share a blood line. Now siblings we are and siblings we will be, together we will stand for all eternity" Harry lit the two remaining candles with his wand.
When he moved his wand back to the table the flames turned purple.
Hermione then took a silver ring from her pocket and put it into the bowl. For the ritual to work you had to sacrifice something of great value to you. Hermione had chosen a ring that belonged to her grandmother and she had carried it with her every day since she was seven years old.
Harry took out a head boy badge and put it into the bowl. It had belonged to his father and Remus had given it to him in his third year.
Hermione took a small sip of the potion she had made and then poured some into the bowl and she handed the potion to Harry, who did the same and then put the potion to the side.
Hermione picked up the parchment and ripped it in half. With the quill she wrote her name on one half of the parchment and rolled it up. She handed Harry the other half and the quill and he did the same. When he had rolled up his parchment, they both lifted it to one of the candles and set fire to it, dropping it in the bowl. They then took each other's hands.
"Fratres sumus, fratres sumus, et sta super. Simul et proteget Dominus habitatores terrae" (Siblings we are and siblings we will stand. Together we will protect the people and the land.)
The flames grew larger and the bowl made a hissing sound. There was a loud bang and the candles went out and they could smell smoke. Hermione asked the room for windows and light, and that's what it gave her. Although it was night out, the windows showed the scene of a summer's day and let natural light into the room.
She let go of Harry's hand and she caught the sight of a glimmer. She looked down to her right wrist and her eyes widened. Around her wrist she had a golden band, that had roses, ivy and vines twining together beautifully and in the middle of the band she had a symbol. It was a sun and a crescent moon. Hermione looked up to see Harry beaming widely at the band and he looked up at her.
"It worked" he said and she had never seen him happier.
"It did" she smiled and then she looked into the bowl to see two necklaces and she picked them up. One necklace was gold and there was a sun pendant and the other necklace was silver and there was a crescent moon and the two pendants were combined and glowing. Hermione pulled them apart and the necklaces separated and the pendants stopped glowing.
She handed the sun pendant necklace to Harry and she put on the crescent moon pendant necklace and he did the same tucking his under his t-shirt.
"There are two theories regarding the sun and moon" Hermione explained them and Harry nodded with a smile.
"We have a war to win" he said after she finished her explanation.
"And we will win. We have the power of the sun and moon on our side" Hermione said confidently.
Present time...
Hermione gripped her necklace as she felt a new wave of pain and sadness hit her.
"Siblings we are and siblings we will be. Together we will stand for all eternity" Hermione whispered.
There was a blinding flash of light and Hermione had to shield her eyes. Slowly she opened them when she felt the light dull and she looked up. There was a woman dressed in a white flowing dress and floating in the air surrounded by light. She looked familiar. Hermione could remember seeing her before. She had kind features, shoulder length red hair... and her eyes... her eyes... were Harry's.
"Lily Potter" Hermione said in disbelief and Lily smiled kindly at Hermione.
"And you my dear, are Hermione Granger, I have been watching you for some time. I owe a great deal of gratitude to you; you have taken care of my son very well"
"He's dead, obviously not well enough" she said quietly and looking down.
"That is why I am here" Hermione's head snapped up to look at her. "It was never supposed to end this way. So many dead, so many innocent lives destroyed. This was not the future that I had been shown, and for that I am truly sorry. There is a way dear, a way for you to have a second chance"
"How?" she asked quickly.
"You must understand, if you take the opportunity that I am offering you, you will never be able to return, this life as you know it will never have existed. Only you will have the memories of this war"
"I don't care, if there's a way to change everything I want to do it"
"Always so selfless" she smiled. "You will be sent back in time, to the time of the first war. To the height of the war. It will be your job to lead everyone out of the darkness and into the peace"
"What about future events? Time is not supposed to be messed with"
"In this case dear, you will not be messing with time; you will be changing it completely, but for the better. You may share with those you deem necessary of your true self. You may share the facts of the future and you may keep with you the items which you have in that clever bag of yours. You may keep momentums from the future, when you are sent back they will be protected along with you. It doesn't matter what you divulge because this future will no longer exist, it will be changed as soon as you leave this time frame. I assure you, no harm can be done to the time line" Lily said kindly.
"Can I stop people from dying?"
"That I cannot answer for certain. Some are destined to die and cannot be saved, whereas others died without purpose. You can try and save lives, but if they were meant to die there is nothing you can do for them. Even changing time won't stop death from claiming its victims" Hermione nodded.
"What about spells and potions? I will know spells and potions that won't have been invented yet"
"You will still be able to cast them and make the potions as long as you are careful and don't take credit. Now to make the story more believable take this"
Something floated down and Hermione caught it in her hands.
"Dumbledore's time turner? I lost it during the hunt"
"That's why I retrieved it for you. If there is one thing that will prove you are from the future it will be Albus' time turner"
"I promise I won't let him use Harry this time. The war will be long over before Harry is old enough to be manipulated"
"I know you won't Hermione. That's why you're the perfect woman for the job"
"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to set things right. Do I tell people that you're the one to send me there?"
"No, skirt around it. I will see you when it's all over. Are you ready?"
"Just a minute" Hermione put her wand in her back pocket, put the time turner in her beaded bag and then she leaned down and kissed Harry's forehead. "We'll meet again Harry, I won't let anyone hurt you this time" she slipped her hands to his neck and removed his necklace and she slipped it over her own head and tucked it under her top with her own necklace. Lily smiled when she saw what she had done. "Now I'm ready"
"Be on your guard, I am not entirely sure where I am sending you. All I know is it will be 1981"
Suddenly everything went black.
Godric's Hollow – Saturday 31st October 1981
Hermione woke up on the floor; she sat up quickly and hugged herself as the chilly night air hit her, making goose bumps appear over her skin. She wasn't wearing a coat and she had no way of protecting herself from the cold. She was in the same clothes she had been during the final battle.
White trainers that were covered in mud and blood stains, blue jeans that had rips in and were covered in mud and blood stains, a white vest top that had rips in and was covered in blood and a white thin hooded tracksuit jacket that had plenty of rips in and was covered in blood.
She was sure she looked a right mess too. She had cuts on her face, stomach, arms and legs and that's not even counting the bruises or scars from previous battles over the years. Her hair was mattered and held back from her face with a bobble that had half her hair hanging out and her hands were covered in blood and mud. The most disturbing part was she didn't know whose blood it was. She was positive some of it was hers, and she knew some of it was Harry's, but the rest she couldn't be sure. During the respite periods Voldemort gave them, when she wasn't off looking for Harry or destroying a Horcrux, she was helping cover the bodies of the dead and healing the injured.
She stood on her feet and wobbled as she slowly gained her equilibrium. She looked around and took in her environment.
She looked to be in a small backyard of a cottage. She was trying to figure out where she was. She could see faint lights flickering and so she climbed onto the fence for a better look. The street she was on was decorated with lights and pumpkins with candles lit inside of them. She jumped down when something hit her.
1981. Pumpkins and candles. October. Cottage.
"She didn't" Hermione whispered disbelievingly. She knew where she was. She turned around when she heard shouting, bangs and glass shattering.
"She did" she said and then she rushed forward and pulled her wand from her back pocket. When she reached the door it was locked. She cast charm after charm but nothing would break the locks and in the end she had had enough.
"Bombarda Maxima" she pointed her wand at the door and it was blasted open. "Note to self, don't piss about with unlocking charms" she murmured and then she ran inside.
She ran through the kitchen that had things thrown about the floor and a hole in the wall. She entered the living room to see a very familiar black head of messy hair. Her breath caught, she knew by the time frame that it wasn't Harry so the only other person it could be was James Potter.
She remembered Lily's words. 'You can try and save lives, but if they were meant to die there is nothing you can do to save them'. She thought to herself. But she could try.
She was spotted by Pettigrew and she felt an intense hatred for the little rat. He raised his wand to her.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Your capturer" she smiled sweetly.
He laughed nervously and then shot a spell off, it bounced off the corner of the wall next to Hermione and hit a small table shattering it to pieces. Hermione smirked. 'As useless as he was in my time' she thought.
Hermione lifted her wand and pointed it at him, but she was distracted by glass shattering and he changed into a rat and ran off. But she wasn't worried; she knew where he would be.
The next words she heard had her running towards James.
"Avada Kedavra"
"Impedimenta" she said and she pointed her wand at James' legs. He fell forward and the killing curse whizzed over his head and past Hermione who ducked. Voldemort's eyes went to her.
He didn't look like he had in her time, but he didn't look completely human either. His eyes were a blood red colour, his skin looked pale and waxy and he looked at her with an evil smile and his eyes trailed over her body.
James stood up not realising that someone had just saved his life.
"Sectumsempra" Voldemort pointed his wand and Hermione knew what that spell could do.
"Protego" James yelled.
"Protego Totalum" Hermione yelled and cast her shield in James' direction. James turned around with wide eyes to look at the young woman stood behind him casting the most powerful shield known to wizard kind.
The spell hit the shield but James was flung back into a wall and he fell unconscious. Voldemort watched Hermione as he flicked his wand and part of the wall began to fall towards James. Hermione pointed her wand and cast a spell that would slow down the descent of the wall so it wouldn't cause too much damage. She just hoped she had succeeded in saving James Potter. Then Harry wouldn't have to live with the horrid Dursleys.
"I've never seen you before" Voldemort spoke in a confusingly smooth and charming tone. "Who are you?"
"I don't see how that's any of your business" Hermione said gripping her wand tightly and keeping her eyes on him.
"I am Lord Voldemort" he said, his anger beginning to show.
"Don't you mean Riddle Junior" she said smirking. His eyes hardened.
"How do you know me?"
"I know a lot about you, including your dirty little secret. How would your precious purebloods feel if they found out you're a half-blood" a look entered his eyes Hermione could only describe as raw fury.
"How dare you speak to me that way? I demand you tell me who you are?" he hissed.
"Demand all you want; you're not getting anything from me" she said and she slowly began inching her way to the stairs were she could hear a baby crying. Voldemort noticed.
"Trying to protect the child are we? Well I have some business to attend to, I'll deal with you later" he smiled cruelly and it made Hermione shiver.
He threw a spell at her and she blocked it, but the force at which it hit her shield made her stumble and he took the opportunity to hit with another spell and she collapsed to the floor.
"I will know who you are" he said and he stepped over her body and she fell unconscious.
Hermione woke up to shouting.
"WHERE'S JAMES? WHO THE FUCK IS THAT?"
She knew that voice anywhere. Her eyes flew open and she sat up quickly, groaning and immediately she regretted it as she felt dizzy and nauseous. She touched the back of her head and brought her hand in front of her eyes to see blood and she groaned louder. This time drawing the attention of the people in the room.
"Who are you?" she looked up to see Sirius. He was pointing his wand at her with a look of fury on his face.
She wobbled to her feet and gripped the wall before taking a few deep breaths and she stood up straight. He looked far younger than he did in her time; his jet black hair fell to just above his shoulders, his dark eyes bored into hers and he didn't look haunted like he did when he had escaped from Azkaban. He looked exhausted and furious but healthy. Hermione realised that the man she once saw as an uncle was very handsome and the thought shocked her.
He looked her over, he could see her cuts, bruises and her clothes covered in tears, mud and blood. It was obvious this wasn't the first battle she had been in that night as a lot of the blood looked fresh, but dried. She slowly bent down to pick up her wand and he gripped his wand tighter.
"I asked you a fucking question" he said coldly.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Always with the swearing" she muttered. "Some things never change" she stood up with her wand in her hand and turned it around so the tip was pointing her way. "I am not here to hurt anyone, I am here to help"
"I've heard that before" he sneered and it looked so foreign on his face.
"I am not here to hurt you or the Potters. I am here as a protector. Here" she held out her wand and he watched her carefully. "Take it, you know a witch's wand is like her left arm. To show I mean you no harm, take my wand" he slowly reached out in case it was a trap and took it from her hand and slipped it into his back pocket.
"Who are you?" he asked this time without the sneer, but with a guarded look on his face.
"My name is Hermione Granger"
"I don't know that name" he said.
"I'm a muggleborn" she heard a crying and she looked behind Sirius to see Hagrid holding a crying Harry and tears filled her eyes.
"I can't believe he's alive. I can't believe you're alive" she said to herself and Sirius narrowed his eyes at her. Before he could speak Hermione spoke first. "Where's James? Is he at the hospital?"
"We can't find him" Sirius spoke.
Hermione's eyes widened. She rushed forward, past Sirius and grabbed her wand from his pocket. His eyes widened at how fast she was, he turned to cast a spell at her thinking she was going to attack Harry, but she stopped in front of some rubble.
"Evanesco" she said clearly and the rubble disappeared leaving behind James Potter. Sirius rushed forward. Hermione looked at Harry happily and then she fainted.
