DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the delightful charries JK Rowling provided our world with (:
It had been a two years since his death. Two years since the world had fallen through.
Hermione Jean Granger, adorned in black, stood by the grave of the fallen Weasley. She dropped her signature blue rose over his little mound of dirt. Why blue, you may ask? He'd loved blue. His eyes had been blue. And it was anything but ordinary, just like him.
Sticking to tradition, Hermione stood there for a few moments. These were the moments that she allowed herself to regret everything. From his death itself to the little moments she spent yelling at him or telling him off. She typically lived by the philosophy of 'Fear is stupid, regrets are too'. Not today.
This second of May was rather drizzly. It fit the mood perfectly. Giving his grave a last look, Hermione slowly turned and walked off, clutching her small black purse and focusing on the soft clicks of her heels against the pavement of the cemetery path. With that, she left Fred Weasley behind, and she would wait patiently for another year when she would repeat this again. The blue rose would have died by then, and she'd replace it with another. She'd live some regret and leave it at that.
Or so she thought.
On her way out of the cemetery, she was apprehended by a very stern looking woman.
"Hello, Professor McGonagall," Hermione greeted her old professor.
"Good afternoon, Miss Granger," McGonagall greeted in return.
Hermione noticed that McGonagall did not appear to be here to mourn a lost family member or friend. "Is there something I can do for you?" she asked cautiously.
"Oh, I think it would be more for yourself," McGonagall said cryptically. "Would you like to walk?"
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"This is mad," Hermione told the elderly witch in a bewildered tone as their walk came to an end. "Are you sure it's even safe?"
"If you wish to save his life..." McGonagall replied somberly.
"Let me get this straight. You're suggesting I use my time-turner, from third year, to go back to the Battle of Hogwarts and save Fred's life?" Hermione inquired.
"Precisely," McGonagall bristled.
"And what do you expect me to do with my body from that time? I can't just come back here, I'll need to do something about-"
"You're a smart lady, Miss Granger. I'm sure you'll figure it out." With those final words, McGonagall swiftly walked through the gates of the cemetery and off into who-knows-where.
Hermione took a deep breath before setting off to her flat she shared with Ginny. If this worked... if this whole THING worked... everything would change.
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Relieved that Ginny was at quidditch practice, Hermione walked swiftly to her room, locking the door behind her. She pulled on a cotton shirt and jeans, grabbing her jean jacket along the way. She needed to look like she was ready for battle, at least, With all the goings on of the night, she doubted anyone would notice he outfit was slightly different.
Pulling her hair into the braid it had been in the night of the battle, she ripped open a few drawers until she found her old time-turner. It was faded, yet she knew it would still work.
Breathing unsteadily, Hermione stood in the middle of her room, looking around. She doubted she'd ever come back to this exact place. If she saved Fred, everything she knew now would be different.
Without further adieu, she began to turn the hourglass of the time-turner.
"One... two... three... four..."
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After a fair bit of turns, Hermione let herself be whipped rapidly back in time, her surrounding crashing and swimming around her until she found herself in an abandoned corridor of the castle, rubble strewn everywhere. She knew where this was, however- she could see the portrait of the man who always warned her about earwigs just a little way off. Hurrying through the halls (and casting a few stunning spells at death eaters, while she was at it), she sprinted to where she knew her past self, Harry, and Ron would be going at any moment.
And she got there just in time.
Following herself and the boys stealthily, she cast a quick, nonverbal stunning spell on herself and ran to take that place. With all the rubble and dust clouding the air, the stunned body would go unnoticed.
Percy and Fred were battling two masked death eaters, looking like they had the situation under control. If only they did.
Hermione, Ron, and Harry joined the fight. Hermione heard Fred over the rumbling and noise say something about Percy making a joke. It was time.
"Stupefy! Petrificus totalus!" she exclaimed at the death eaters, who had stupidly not kept up their guard. Voldemort spent too much time plotting Harry's death, and too little time helping his precious death eaters locate their lost brains.
"Hermione, they're aiming for the kill!" Ron exclaimed somewhat exasperatedly to her, but Hermione paid him no mind. She dashed up to Fred and threw her arms around his neck, clinging to him.
"Granger, what's all this?" Fred asked in an amused tone, hugging her back.
Hermione realized her actions must have seemed somewhat out of character. Indeed, as she quickly stepped away from Fred, she saw semi-shocked expressions on Harry and Ron's faces as well as a surprised expression on Percy's.
"You were about to die," she replied indignantly.
"We all are," Fred warned as two more death eaters came crashing towards them. But the haphazard group of five were ready, and they dueled them spectacularly.
As soon as the group was about to part, a yelp came from around the corner. Following that sound, they saw none other than a lost and confused looking Pansy Parkinson.
Who had just had a bunch of rubble crash over her head.
Looking back at the group, it was Ron who gave them a look asking if he should go see if she was alright, surprisingly.
Hermione gave him an encouraging smile. With that little encouragement, Ron went to her side, clearing off some of the rubble.
"You guys should split up. We need to spread out as much as possible, to help," Harry suggested. Nodding, our little group veered off.
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Later in the Great Hall, when all was finished and Fred was safe, it helped Hermione to see less heartbreak splayed across the Weasley family. There was still some heartbreak, as Tonks and Lupin had still passed. Ron briefly lamented the death of Lavender Brown, though he did seem to be a bit preoccupied with finding out what Pansy Parkinson had been doing.
As it turns out, she'd realized Voldemort's case was all for naught. And she didn't want to be someone who, like a coward, ran from potentially dangerous situations. She snuck back onto the scene, without a clue what to do. It was lucky we'd found her, and Ron had helped her.
The Malfoy family was sitting a little ways off, seeming as if they weren't sure what to do. Hermione looked at Pansy as if expecting her to go over there, but Pansy shook her head. "It's really nice talking to people who... accept me, I suppose," she mumbled.
"Even if it's you guys," she added. Well.
As Ron sat with Pansy and Harry ran to go do god-knows-what with Ginny, Hermione's hand subconsciously slid down Fred's arm and intertwined fingers with his. He gave her and small smile.
"Why the sudden interest in me, Granger? Do you finally see my charm, after all this time?" he asked with a quirky grin.
"Always," Hermione smiled.
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After a while, a sudden memory struck Hermione. Turning away from the Weasley family, she exclaimed, "Be back in a minute!"
Hurrying up to the place where Fred had almost died (and did die, the first time), she found her stunned body under a coat of rubble.
She wasn't exactly sure what to do... she couldn't unleash this one, and she couldn't go back to her own time. Then the idea struck her. It had been McGonagall who told her to come and save Fred, hadn't it?
Swiftly, Hermione transformed her stunned-self into a porcelain figurine of a cat. That would do quite nicely. Tucking it into the inside of her jacket, she walked quickly back down to the Great Hall. All was well.
So... how was it? I adore Fremione, and fun fact of the day, JK almost did put them together, but decided on Ron/Hermione instead. MY OTP ALMOST HAPPENED! Ugh... anyways, drop a review on this long one-shot? Bless you, if you do (: