Hermione felt like her mind was finally put to use working with the Unspeakables down in the depths of the Ministry. Getting the highest grades in Hogwarts was simple enough, but delving into the very mysteries of life itself was a thrill that she couldn't get enough of.
Walking through the halls she stopped at a door and reached for a pocket watch, looking at it. She stood still for precisely two minutes. After that she put the golden object away and opened the door quietly. Hermione looked down the hallway just in time to see a head of bushy brown hair turn the corner. Hermione sighed, it was always a bit of trouble not running into her former selves. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her Time-Clicker, the object she was looking at it before. It was an updated version of the Time-Turner, but it had time travel accurate to minutes, and kept track of other copies of herself.
Just one of the many perks of working in the Department of Mysteries was access to all its, well, mysteries.
"I'll have to trim my hair," she whispered, making a note to herself. A positive about constant time travel was being able to see yourself properly from the back. Quietly walking away, she made her way towards the Death Chamber. Knocking twice on the door, it was opened by a fellow Unspeakable.
"Hey June," asked Hermione. "You wanted me?"
June gave Hermione a bright smile. "You brought it right?" the older woman asked. Hermione nodded and reached her arm into her charmed bag. Putting her whole arm, all the way up to the shoulder, into the seemingly tiny pouch, she deftly pulled out a tiny sealed glass jar from her charmed bag. She held it out to June. Inside the small bell jar was a bright shining current of what seemed like diamond dust, swirling inside.
"Some freshly bottled time, straight from the Time Chamber," Hermione handed over to June's waiting hand and followed her into the room. "So what are you going to use it for? Some temporal charms?"
"Close," said June as she got some papers from another Unspeakable. "But actually we're going to use it for some more testing on the Veil."
"Oh." Hermione looked up towards the centre of the room where the stone arch was.
She still remembered Sirius falling through. The look on Harry's face when his godfather fell through was as painful to remember as it was to watch. Back then she didn't hear any of the voices that were supposed to come out of the veil. Now… now she could hear them, the whispering voices coming out from that always moving veil. They were the voices of the dead whispering from beyond.
She liked June, but she tried to avoid the Death Chamber as much as she could.
"Now, since only those in the Time department can open the bell jars, you're going to have to help. I have to do some testing on this, so I'm going to hand you over to Ron," June pointed to Hermione's favourite redhead who was sitting down at a table which was surrounded by bustling Unspeakable. "Ron, accompany her to the Veil, I'm going to have to go check up on the rest of the team, and we'll tell you when we're ready," and before Hermione could do anything June turned around and walked rather swiftly towards another group of Unspeakables who were around a rather strange dark-grey metal machine.
It was a near perfect cube six meters by six meters by six meters, and had only one distinguishing feature, a small white circle in the front and centre of it.
Hermione glanced at the machine for a second before turning towards Ron. She smiled widely. "So what are you doing down here Ron?"
Ron gave her a smile in return stood up. "Old Robards sent me down here to 'Check on how the weirdos are doing.' It was only a bonus that I got to see my favourite weirdo," he said, his smile somehow become brighter and they started walking towards the Veil. "June met me at the entrance and made me help her out here. Personally, I prefer this over that brain room."
Hermione and Ron were approaching closer to the Veil. They both fell silent, both could feel the energy emanating from it, and the unmistakable feeling of death. They reached in front of the Veil and stopped. After a bit more of that thick silence, with only the sounds of Unspeakables walking around behind them. Ron decided to speak up.
"Um, we're not actually going to be near it when June does… whatever she's going to do, right?"
"I'm not sure actually," replied Hermione.
Ron turned around and shouted towards June. "Oi! June! How close do we have to be?"
June looked at them for a moment. "Just a bit closer! Just go and stand in front of it!"
Hermione sighed. "Of course we'd be right next to it. Is Harry's PLOT still stuck to us or something?"
Hermione came up with a theory quite early after meeting Harry that he carried germs that naturally attracted danger and that people close to him could catch it. She called it 'P.L.O.T.', for Pathogens Luring Omnifarious Terrors, and they were germs that would thrive on certain people, and would warp reality to create danger in their lives. People who weren't normally affected by PLOT would increase the chances of terror entering their life if you were involved with people important to the PLOT.
Ron looked at her strangely. "Erm, Hermione, you know there's no such thing as that… plut thing?"
"It's PLOT Ron, and I've actually found some information down here that points to its existence," Hermione couldn't help but have her voice go back to 'lecture mode'. She always seemed to do that around Ron.
They stood in front of the Veil. There was more thick silence. They were staring at it for what seemed like the longest time. They didn't dare turn around. After all, who would turn their backs to death?
It was up to Ron to break the silence again. "Hermione, I don't like this. When are they going to be done?" He didn't like that she had to be in front of the Veil. He didn't like how she was down here full of dangerous items. Dangerous items like the vat of brains.
Ron gave a shudder.
"I don't know Ron, I'm not part of their department, all of the different departments of the Department of Mysteries don't talk to each other. We're called the Unspeakables for a reason." Honestly, it was like he didn't read 'A History of the Ministry of Magic'.
They came back to that silence and stood quietly. Listening to the voices. It was unnerving to Hermione. Somehow, it was painful to listen to them, the whispers, it made her feel just so sad. Like the grief she felt when her grandfather died, or when she saw all the dead after Death Eater attacks.
Ron turned to look at Hermione and noticed her expression. He reached out and held her hand. She lightly squeezed back.
"Ah, well it's time," said a voice from behind them. They jumped a bit at the sound, letting go of each other's hands. June was holding the bell jar and handed it over to Hermione. "Open it when we say to alright?"
June started to walk away. "Oh and Ron, you can't be there when she does."
Ron stared at the back of her head incredulously. He wasn't going to leave Hermione here!
"Okay, sure," replied Hermione. Ron's stare turned towards Hermione.
Hermione saw Ron's expression, then looked down at the sparkling bell jar in her hands, holding it tightly. She turned to Ron, "You can go Ron."
"But Hermione, you don't know how dangerous it could be." Ron looked worried. "Anything could go wrong."
Hermione gave him a reassuring smile, "I've done lots of things like this before, I'll be fine Ron."
Hermione couldn't tell him that she actually hadn't done this before. This was the first time she was handling pure Time. She was a bit scared, actually, she had no idea what was going to happen, but she didn't want Ron to get hurt if anything went wrong.
"Hermione, I have a bad feeling about this-"
"Ron."
"But-"
"RON."
Ron gave a sound that sounded a bit like a squeak and stopped arguing with her. Hermione gave a bit of a huff. They were rather used to the conversation ending like this.
"Ron, go with June. I'll be okay." Ron paused a bit.
Hermione knew he had more to say. 'It better not be more worrying, or I'm going to have to jinx his freckles off' she thought, her lips pressed together.
"We're still on for tonight?"
Hermione lips loosed and she smiled softly at Ron. "Of course." They were going to a restaurant later, something that she had looked forward to all week. She had it all planned out perfectly, from meeting up to the end of the night kiss (which of course she would only bestow if Ron followed the plan. Ron tended to follow plans better when there was a reward involved).
Ron then gave her a nod and turned around, giving her one last look before he followed June. She led him to the dark-grey machine, which was now giving off weird sounds and grinding noises. Some Unspeakables were using their wands and casting diagnostics spells on it.
"What are you going to do with Hermione, June?" asked Ron, still worried. He had a weird feeling, like a tingling in his head.
"Ron, she just has to open that jar when we need her to," said June. She had a clipboard and was mentally checking things off a list. Cronus Machine primed, June gave quick glance towards the machine, check. Time, she looked over to Hermione, check. Veil connection, another quick look at the magical tube leading from the machine to the stone arch, check. Safety-
"I know but-"
"No buts, we're going to finish up and then you and Hermione will be able to get back to work," interrupted June. Where was she? Ah yes, psychic shields, check.
Hermione stood there, facing the whispering portal in front of her. She turned her head and called out to June. "Hey June, are you ready yet?"
Hermione wanted to get this over and done with. She had research to finish, and wanted to meet with Harry and Ginny for tea before going to dinner with Ron. Maybe even go to Diagon Alley to pick up a few things from the apothecary beforehand.
"Almost!" June called out, before tapping her wand to the white circle on the Chronus Mechana. The machine gave a low hum, pulsating energy towards the Veil through the magical connection set up between it and the stones of the arch. The stone arch began to glow, the Veil itself rustling more in the nonexistent wind. Or rather the existent wind. A whipping gale was suddenly inside the chamber, howling and whipping up papers.
"NOW?" yelled Hermione over the wind. Yes, she definitely needed to get this over and done with. She closed her eyes shut, the wind whipping her hair around her.
There was only the sound of the wind and her eyes squeezed shut. Wait no, she could hear something. Hermione loosened her eyelids to see if she could see anything out of her squinting eyes. The wind seemed like it was all trying all the dust into eyes. No good. She tried to listen.
The whispers of the dead behind her were turning louder, harsher. She strained hard to hear June's voice.
"HER-ON- O—EN -IT!-"
"Right then," Hermione held on the base of the jar twisted the glass bell. "Here we go…"
"NO! HERMIONE! DON'T OPEN IT!" yelled June. Hermione couldn't open that jar. The Veil was overriding the systems, and everything was out of control, and she couldn't do anything about it. Pure Time magic was the last thing needed in this situation.
June turned to Ron. "She can't hear me-" but Ron was already running towards Hermione. June ran after him.
"HERMIONE!" Ron knew this was a bad idea; Hermione should have never joined the Unspeakables. It was too late though, as Hermione had already opened the jar, releasing the pure Time inside.
The wind blew the shining stream around Hermione before the wind suddenly gusted faster and pushed her through the veil. Her scream was cut midway when she fell through and disappeared. The wind stopped.
The Unspeakables and Ron, poor, poor Ron, who was white as a sheet, stared, horrified, at where the bushy haired witch used to be. "Get her back." Ron's shoulders were shaking. Nobody answered him.
He span around and roared at the wizards and witches in the room. "GET HER BACK!" His face was a furious red, his wand already in his hand. Nobody could bear to look him in the eyes.
Eventually June answered him. "We… We can't Ron. She's gone."
June had whispered, but her voice seemed to echo in the chambers. After that, everybody fell silent, but soon the only thing that could be heard was the sound of a person quietly sobbing.
Hermione woke up, bright and early as usual. Time to get to work, she was so close to getting that Loop charm done, just a few more hours of research and she knew she would be able to get it. Her eyes half closed, she groggily reached over to her bedside table for her wand.
After a few seconds of groping Hermione opened her eyes; maybe it rolled off the table? But when she opened her eyes she realized that she was not in her flat in London. She was somewhere else. Panic filled her senses. The witch immediately sat up and looked around rapidly, accessing her situation.
She found after scanning the area that it was definitely her room. However, it was not the one she had bought as an adult, it was the room she stayed in as a child.
Her room was the same as when she was younger; the same green walls, same closet, same bed, but that was strange because she thought her parents changed it into the guest room.
"What?" said Hermione.
She looked down at herself. Dressed in her old pajamas, she saw herself and thought 'Oh, I have a nine-year-old's body.'
"What?" she said again.
She looked at the calendar on the wall. October, 1989. So she wasn't nine. She was ten. She was ten. SHE WAS TEN.
"WHAT?"
There was the sound of someone walking down the hall outside before there was a knock on her door. It was opened by what seemed to be a much younger version of her mother, who had a worried expression on her face. "Hermione, is anything wrong?" Hermione just stared at her mother. "Do you want a cup of milk? I can put some honey in it." Her mother gave her a warm smile.
That was nice, a cup of warm milk was what her mother would always give her if she ever had a nightmare. Wait, no milk, priorities first, she was ten.
She had to use her logic and cleverness to do something. She was the smartest witch of her generation! If anyone could think up something it would be herself.
Hermione promptly gave out a small "eep," and immediately fainted back on her bed.
A/N
Ahhh, started a story finally! Been meaning to, but didn't get to it until now. I hope you all enjoy it. Please review, and tell me what I can work on!
Regarding 'Old Robards', he was the Head of the Aurors office at this time, so far as my research has gone. Even if it's not exactly true, lets just say it's an AU where the Head Auror's position was changed but nothing else did.