Saturday, 2nd May 1998

The fiendfyre was hot against Hermione's back, licking the bristles of the broomstick as she sat behind Ron, speeding as quickly as possible towards the exit of the Room of Requirement.

First it was a slight shudder, one that wouldn't have been unexpected on a broomstick as old as the one they were using. The second shudder was more of a jolt, and was accompanied by a loud CRACK, heard even above the crackling of the enchanted flames.

It all happened so quickly.

As the ancient broomstick snapped under the weight of the two young adults, the fiendfyre engulfed the towers of random junk surrounding the pair, sending scalding hot debris at the teenagers as they fell towards the ground.

Hermione instinctively reached for her wand, screaming a banishing charm at Ron before it was even fully raised, and watched in a mixture of fear and relief as he was flung through the now open doorway after Harry and Malfoy.

It all happened so quickly.

Hermione landed hard, feeling the breath whoosh from her lungs as she hit an old table covered in musty old scarves, ruined books and tarnished costume jewellery.

She raised her hands over her head in a vain attempt to shield herself - not so much from the burning debris falling towards her, but from the now dragon-shaped flames towering above her, around her, below her, surrounding her with the crackling sounds of heat and fire, and the smell of her burning hair and clothes.

It all happened so quickly.

Forgotten wand clenched in one hand, the other open flat - palm up, fingers spread wide, eyes shut so tight it hurt, Hermione didn't see it coming. She didn't see the flame damaged time-turner falling towards her. She didn't see the fragile hourglass shatter in the unbearable heat. She didn't feel the fine grains of sand and shards of glass brush against the skin of her open palm, nor the blistering hot chain wrapping itself around her wrist, scalding her as it melted onto her skin.

It all happened so quickly.

One second she was there, and the next, she was gone.

Hermione cringed at the sudden temperature change.

Blinking dumbly into the now dark room, Hermione was shocked and relieved beyond imagination to see that the cursed flames were gone. It took a second longer than she'd like to admit, to realise that the towering piles of hidden things were not, in fact, charred to a crisp but looked almost exactly as they had less than 10 minutes prior, before Crabbe had opened his big stupid mouth and let loose uncontrollable dark magic. It was only half a second after that, that the painful burning of her palm and wrist drew her attention, eyes immediately overflowing with tears as she instinctively ripped away the melted metal from her skin, barely noticing its unique design as she did.

Delirious with fatigue and pain, Hermione scrambled up off the hard table and towards the exit, absentmindedly shoving the cooling remains of the time-turner into the pocket of her jumper, eager to find Harry and Ron and make sure they were okay.

Stumbling out into the hallway, she leaned against the wall to catch her breath, resting her head against the cool stone wall and not registering the abnormal quiet of the castle. Wand still clenched tightly in her right hand, she glanced down quickly at the blistered skin on her left wrist and palm, debating whether it would be considered a waste to use their dwindling supply of dittany to help with the pain and possible infection. Breathing heavily, Hermione shakily wedged her wand between her teeth, and used her good hand to pry open the small beaded bag still slung around her body.

Elbow deep in the magically extended bag, there was nothing to do but stare, wide eyed, as her moment of respite was interrupted by the echo of footsteps and whispers, followed a split second later by two dark haired boys dressed in Gryffindor robes.

The two boys, one of which held a ratty piece of familiar parchment, stopped abruptly at the end of the corridor, one raising his wand at the strange girl - dirty and injured and definitely not one of their classmates - with her wand in her mouth of all places, and one arm seemingly missing inside a bag much too small to hold anything more than some galleons and a hair comb.

Hermione looked at them. They looked at her.

And then she fainted.

Authors Note:

This is my first real attempt at any kind of (hopefully) passable fanfiction. Constructive criticism is welcome, although I do ask you to be kind. This is a WORK IN PROGRESS. I can't guarantee regular uploads, but I will try my absolute best to keep the wait times as short as possible.

I don't want to give too much of the plot away, as I haven't yet read a story quite like this in all my years of reading HP fanfiction, however as the description states: this is an AU story. There are weird and wonderful character pairings made up from my imagination, and it's just for fun.

Cover art created by me, with the help of Google Images and Photoshop. I take zero credit for the individual images, and in relation to the story itself: anything you recognise is not mine.

I won't be repeating this disclaimer throughout the story, so please take it on board now.

I hope you like it!

Love, A