Brief Summary: Hermione uses her broken time turner and is catapulted into a different dimension where she finds out what her life would be like if she was a Greengrass instead of a Granger, had been the one to accompany Draco to the hospital wing when Buckbeak clawed him, was put in Ravenclaw, didn't meet Harry and Ron on the train, and was an excellent Quidditch player.
Hermione sat on the icy marble floor of the astronomy tower in tears. She had wanted to apologize to Ron and Harry and begged them to meet her, but as five minutes past, then ten, then twenty, and soon two hours, it became clear that they were not coming. It wasn't as though she had intended to hurt them, but when they told her that they were planning a prank that would hurt another student, she had to intervene, even if the student in question was Malfoy.
"It won't be funny, guys. This is just dangerous and stupid," she argued as Ron and Harry searched the Marauder's Map.
"He's in the dungeon," said Ron loudly, ignoring her and the fact that the common room was not empty. "Big surprise."
Harry slid his invisibility cloak out of his satchel and unfolded it on the table.
"Alright then, let's get down there before he reaches the Slytherin common room," Harry muttered. They turned to the portrait hole, ignoring Hermione who was jogging to keep up with their long stride.
"But you can't do this!" Hermione said in a sharp whisper. "You'll be breaking at least ten school rules. They were made for our safety, not as a joke!"
"Hermione," Harry said harshly, spinning on his heel to face her, "if you don't want to help, do us all a favor and shut the hell up."
She stepped back in shock. Tears began to swell in Hermione's eyes.
"Fine, go…" she began to say, but Ron and Harry had once again turned to leave her behind.
She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her cloak and stared furiously at the portrait hole where they had exited.
"This is unacceptable," she whispered to herself. Hermione grabbed her bag from the table where she had deposited it over an hour ago and marched through the portrait without another word. She hurried up several flights of stairs and down the main corridor until she reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts tower. The third door to the right belonged to her mentor and head of house, Professor Minerva McGonagall. She knocked firmly and waited for only a few seconds before the door opened on its own accord.
"Miss Granger," the professor stood up from her desk where she had been grading papers, "what are you doing out after hours? This is unprecedented indeed."
Hermione looked at her hands nervously, preparing herself mentally for the act of betrayal that she was about to commit.
"Professor," she began with a deep breath, "'splayedonthemonlyit'snotfunnyit''regoingtogethimkilled!"
"I beg your pardon, Miss Granger," said the professor in a concerned, matronly tone, "but I didn't understand a word of what you just said."
Hermione sighed and began again, "Harry and Ron are on their way to the dungeons, and they are trying to play a prank on Malfoy to get back at him for all the taunting and pranks he's played on them. Only it's not funny, it's dangerous, and they're stupid and they're going to get him killed. Please, Professor, you have to stop them." Hermione was weeping as her heart was torn between her best friends and doing what she knew was the right thing.
"Miss Granger, what are they going to do?" McGonagall asked urgently.
"They're leading him to Fluffy, Hagrid's dog," Hermione said resolutely through her tears.
McGonagall's eyes flashed with realization and shifted into her feline form. She was out the door immediately, charging down the eight flights of stairs that led to the third floor corridor with Hermione on her heels.
"Shut up, Ron," Harry whispered loudly and dramatically from beneath the invisibility cloak as he heard the sound of shoes hitting the stone floor rapidly. He smiled to Ron as he opened the door to Fluffy's dwelling a few inches, and then slammed it shut.
He and Ron adjusted the invisibility cloak to make sure that they were covered and stood silently a few feet from the door.
Draco Malfoy grinned when he rounded the corner and saw that there was only one place that Harry and Ron could have hidden. "I know you're in there, Potter, Weaslebee!" he called teasingly as he pulled out his wand. Aiming the tip at the doorknob, he muttered "Alohamora" under his breath. The lock clicked and he twisted the knob with a smirk and walked through the doorway, shutting the door behind him to ensure that there was no escape for his enemies.
What greeted Draco on the other side of the door was a monstrosity. Potter and Weasley were nowhere to be seen, and before him stood a giant dog whose six eyes were all trained on him, fang-like teeth bared.
Draco screamed and fumbled for the door, shaking the knob with all his might. It had been locked from outside.
The dog's left and right heads barked viciously as it lunged forward and the middle head clamped its vise-like jaws around Draco's left leg.
McGonagall leaped into the air as she rounded the corner into the third floor corridor, shape-shifting in mid air. Harry and Ron were nowhere to be seen, but screams of pain and terror could be heard from behind the door the other end of the corridor. She flicked her wand urgently as she charged to the aid of what she knew was a student in danger. Draco fell through the door as it ripped open. He was a bloody heap. McGonagall drug him away from the door as Fluffy, Hagrid's monstrous three-headed dog, snapped at her for stealing its prey. Hermione turned the corner a moment later and waved her wand without delay, shouting, "Clausa et Clausum!"
The door swung closed and the lock clicked.
Hermione knew that Harry and Ron were still there, hiding like cruel cowards. Without a moment of thought, she whispered under her breath, "Accio Invisibility Cloak".
Only yards from McGonagall and Draco, the cloak was ripped off of Ron and Harry. They grasped for it to no avail as it flew across the corridor and landed at Hermione's feet. They were exposed and guilty and furious. She was instantaneously filled with guilt.
McGonagall gestured for Hermione to sit with Draco, then she turned on the boys in a cloud of rage. "How dare you," she said, dangerously calm. "How dare you put the life of another student in danger? I cannot believe that members of my house were capable of such cruelty. You are to report to Professor Dumbledore's office immediately to receive your punishment. Mister Weasley, your parents will be notified of your behavior tonight."
"But…" Harry began to argue.
"Mister Potter, if you say one more word the pair of you will be expelled," McGonagall hissed.
Harry and Ron nodded.
"Go, now," she said, no longer focused on them, but the bleeding boy who lay whimpering beside Hermione.
They exited hastily as McGonagall tossed a button from her pocket on the floor. She waved her wand and it transformed into a stretcher. Hermione reached out to help Draco onto it, but he waved her away and drug himself onto it, wincing in excruciating pain. He was too proud to be helped by her. Again.
"Miss Granger," McGonagall said softly, "please escort Mister Malfoy to the Hospital Wing. I must attend to Mister Potter and Mister Weasley's punishments." With a nod from Hermione, she hunched over and was transformed once again into a tabby cat. She raced out of the room with a flash of gray and brown fur.
"Wingardium Leviosa," Hermione said clearly, swishing and flicking her wand. Draco's stretcher hovered off the floor and followed Hermione as she descended the spiral staircase.
Malfoy was silent. It seems the pain he'd endured was too great and had caused him to black out. Hermione didn't mind the quiet. She was just relieved that he was still alive. Anyway, she seldom had a moment of silence around Harry and Ron.
"Oh, they will never speak to me again," she muttered to herself.
Madam Pomfrey was expecting them. When they arrived she had the double doors propped open magically and a bed prepared with a brilliantly colored selection of medicinal potions on a table beside it. "Just levitate him next to the bed," the mediwitch instructed.
Hermione obediently followed orders, carefully guiding him exactly parallel to the gurney.
"Thank you, dear," Madam Pomfrey said, rather unfocused on Hermione. She waved her wand and Malfoy was lifted off the stretcher slowly and gently deposited on the bed. Despite his unconsciousness, he moaned in his sleep.
Madam Pomfrey sprung into action, muttering spells under her breath like a mad woman. Occasionally she would pause to make concerned clicking noises with her tongue or shake her head at the sorry state of her patient. She nodded when it seem as though she'd finally decided on a course of action. She flourished her wand and quietly, but clearly, she said, "Devesto", leaving Malfoy stark naked and Hermione blushing fiercely.
Hermione stood awkwardly at the foot of the bed as the medic bustled around performing miraculous healing magic that made Draco look exponentially better in just minutes. When Madam Pomfrey had healed him as best she could with magic he looked almost normal.
Madam Pomfrey turned toward Hermione and gasped, grabbing her heart in surprise. "Dear, I didn't realize you were still here!"
Hermione blushed even redder than before. "Of course, sorry, ma'am," she said as she turned to go.
"No…" Draco mumbled in his sleep, now much more restful due to the lessened pain.
Hermione and Madam Pomfrey looked at him, hoping he had regained consciousness.
"Oh well," said the mediwitch cheerfully as she pulled the bed sheet over Draco's nude form. "It's probably best that he gets his sleep."
"Yeah," Hermione agreed. "Speaking of, I should get to bed myself. I have class in the morning."
Hermione and Madam Pomfrey went their separate ways, Hermione to the Gryffindor Tower and Madam Pomfrey to her office, which was adjoined to the hospital wing. Neither of them heard Draco's sleepy voice.
"No, don't leave Hermione."
And no one was there to see that he was wide awake.
The next morning Hermione didn't speak to anyone. She knew that Ron and Harry were furious with her, but they didn't really have a right to be. Still, she missed them, and it quickly became apparent to her that they didn't feel the same way when hundreds of angry Gryffindor eyes glared back at her as she looked for a seat in the Great Hall for lunch. They had gotten to them first.
She took a seat between a group of second years and Lavender Brown. Lavender glared wickedly at her, but the younger students didn't pay her a bit of attention, a welcome reprieve from the piercing eyes of her peers. After a few bites of toast and bacon, Hermione lost her appetite. She looked longingly down the table toward Ron and Harry, but they were ignoring her.
"You know," Lavender said snottily, brushing her long, curly hair over her shoulder, "your little stunt nearly got Harry and my poor Won-won expelled."
"I didn't mean…." Hermione was cut off.
"They had to polish every trophy in the castle AND scrub Snape's cauldrons by hand last night," the chubby girl continued. "They'll be cleaning all the lavatories tonight. I was supposed to be having a romantic stroll around the lake with Ronnie tonight! You are such a bitchy fun ruiner, Granger!"
Hermione was taken aback by Lavender's verbal abuse and slightly infuriated that no one realized that she didn't make the boys perform such a cruel act.
Hermione quickly scrawled a note and whispered, "Charta Avis," tapping the parchment. It transformed itself into a paper bird which flew down the table and landed on Harry's plate of fried eggs and soda bread.
The boys both looked around for the source of the bird, but saw no one but Lavender Brown, Hermione's pudgy roommate and Ron's devoted girlfriend. She blew him a kiss and waved in a way that was probably supposed to look seductive. Harry picked up the note and unfolded it. Scribbled in Hermione's hurried, but neat penmanship was a time, a location, and an apology:
Boys,
Please meet me in the astronomy tower at eleven o'clock tonight. I am sorry that I hurt you and I hope you will forgive me.
I love you both,
Hermione Granger
Hermione stood tearfully to leave at one thirty in the morning. She finally came to the conclusion that her best friends would never forgive her for doing what she felt was right.
As she descended the steps from the astronomy tower, Hermione heard voices echoing up the staircase.
"She won't still be here, Harry," Ron said, tromping loudly up the stairs.
Hermione was overjoyed. She hurried down to meet them, calling out, "No, I'm here! I am so happy you came! I'm so sorry that I got you into so much trouble."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione collided half way between the eighth and ninth floors of the tower. Hermione grinned and reached up to hug them, but was stopped by the force of Harry pushing her away with both hands. She crashed to the floor hard and looked up pleadingly.
"Listen you little bitch," Ron said menacingly as he towered over her, "you nearly got us kick out. Now you're going to pay for it."
Hermione tried to crawl backwards, away from them, but Harry grabbed her ankle roughly and pulled her back down several steps to his and Ron's feet. She pulled as hard as she could, but he wouldn't release her. Ron raised his arm high and brought his flat palm down across her cheek, stinging her skin and bringing tears to her fearful eyes.
"No, please…" she begged, but her words were cut short when Harry dropped her leg and landed a sharp kick to her hip. Hermione cried out in pain and tried to cover herself as best she could with her ex best friends hitting and kicking her mercilessly. Harry got a tight grip around her throat and pinned her to the wall, dragging her to her feet. She groped at his hands uselessly, but just as she was about to lose consciousness, she felt something metallic touch her hand.
Her time turner.
Without a moment's thought, she spun the knobs on both ends as fast as she could. She was enveloped in a golden haze and warmth overtook her.
She blinked rapidly as she gasped for breath. Harry and Ron were nowhere to be seen, and through the stain glass window she could tell that it was daytime, nearly mid day. She glanced at her time turner gratefully, noticing a narrow fracture in the glass just as the blood rushed back to her head causing her to pass out cold.
Note from the author: I hope you like my story so far. I'd love to hear your oppinions, so please review. The next chapter should be up soon and it will introduce you to Hermione's strange new life. Thank you for reading!