A/N: Welcome to my new story, You've Been Here Before (or YBHB for short). I've been planning this for a while, and today I thought I'd post it. Not sure why, but I am. Hope you enjoy it :p
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" - Unknown
Chapter One
The Written Word
Hermione Granger was in deep, deep trouble.
She was one of the only Muggle-Supporters and Muggle-Borns left alive. The only one of the Golden Trio left in this empty, dying world. And who had made sure of this?
Lord Voldemort.
She hated him. Hated him with every fibre of her being. He had taken this world, twisted it around and destroyed everything she stood for.
It had been weeks now. The survivors who surrendered to Voldemort had been free to leave. Those who had refused, however, had been left at Hogwarts. For days, the people within the castle had been dragged out screaming, taken into the Forbidden Forest, and never seen again. Now there was only three of them left, and she didn't even know their names. One of them spent their time in the Gryffindor common room, and the other down in the dungeons.
Hermione, of course, lived in the library now. She hadn't eaten, hadn't washed, hadn't left the room for about a month. She was dirty and dying, she knew that. She didn't care. Maybe that was what Voldemort wanted? Had he left her to dye because she simply refused to take care of herself?
No. It was more then that. Maybe he had kept her alive for her brains, her magical skill? Or maybe he just hadn't gotten around to killing her yet.
She pulled another book off the shelf. She had read half the books in this Library by now, and was now just taking them off te shelves at random. No book, spell or curse could get her out of this mess.
She opened the book, and to her surprise, an envelope fluttered out. Curiously, she picked it up, and her breath caught in her throat. Her name was written on the front- in Dumbledore's handwriting.
She wrenched it open and read the letter. It wasn't all that long.
Hermione,
If you get this, I assume I am dead and Voldemort had taken over. I also assume you are one of the last of our side alive.
This letter isn't about that.
This letter is about fixing the past.
I'm sending you back to October 1931. Your mission? To befriend Voldemort and stop any of this from happening. If you fail, the world is doomed. But you cannot afford to think of that now.
You must go down to the dungeons and into Snape's storeroom. In there will be three potions: one purple, one green, one scarlet. You must take the purple one first- this will de-age you to five years old, the age Tom Riddle will be at the time I send you back to. Then take the green one. This will activate a slow-release memory charm that will wipe your mind completely when you take the last potion. Finally, the scarlet potion, will send you back to 1931.
Your memories, while wiped from your mind, will not be gone. They will still be in your head, kept in a secret vault that you will not be able to access. This vault will open any time in your fifth, sixth or seventh year, and you will retrieve your memories from this lifetime.
Now, you must hurry. If I am correct, Voldemort is on his way.
Best of luck, Miss Granger, and I bid you farewell.
Albus Dumbledore.
Hermione stared at the letter a moment. Then, her fuggy, sleep-deprived brain kicked into gear. she leapt to her feet and ran out of the library, the doors slamming shut behind her.
She reached the storeroom in ten minutes, and sure enough, the three bottles were lain out in order. She crouched, grabbed the purple one, pulled out the stopper and drank.
The potion exploded on her tongue. It tasted like summer fruits, woodland berries and magic. She swallowed it, and felt the room enlargen around her. She looked down, to find that her dirtied clothes were now clean, and not even her own. Her skin was clean, and soft like a five-year-olds. Her tiny hands reached forwards for the next bottle, and she tipped the liquid into her mouth.
This one tasted like everything she had ever tasted in her life. Strawberries, roast dinner, treacle tart, pumpkin juice, polyjuice potion, butterbeer, mushrooms and starvation. Her mind began to cloud up, and she reached for the last one in panic.
No, no, no! Do not forget what you're doing, Hermione Jean Granger. Do NOT forget. You're doing this for Ron and the Weasleys, you're doing this for Harry... who's Harry?
She couldn't remember. She pulled the stopper from the final bottle and eyed the potion with distaste.
"You better know what you're doing, Dumbledore," she hissed under her breath, and drank.
She barely had time to taste it, swallowing the potion at once.
And then everything vanished.
A/N: Love it? Hate it? Leave a review to tell me what you think!
-Invisi