I am rewriting bits of this story. My writing looked like complete crap.I completely apologize for the crap I forced upon you poor people. Unfortunately, even though I am working on this one right now, updates will be few and hard to come by. Life sucks, then you die.
A Time Less Travelled- Chapter One/ Prologue
Harry Potter crouched outside of the extremely intricate runic circle drawn on the floor of the stone cavern they were seeking refuge in. They were preparing a last ditch effort to save their entire people, and, possibly, the entire world.
"You're sure this will work Hermione?" Hermione looked up from her position on the other side of the circle.
"It should. The worst that could happen is it messes up and we end up somewhere other than where we want to be." Harry was only slightly relieved. He did not see the worry in Hermione's eyes.
"I thought that messing up rituals could kill you?" Hermione rolled her eyes. Obviously, this was a sore subject.
"Common misconception perpetuated by ministerial lies." Harry nodded. That was definitely something they had faced in the past.
"Alright, if you're sure, Hermione." She nodded and Harry grimaced. Only that fact that the world was ending had caused them to resort to a ritual like this.
"So all I have to do is pour power into the runes until you tell me to stop?" Hermione nodded when Harry confirmed his duties. She had not looked up and thus, did not see the worry in her dark brown eyes.
"Alright, here goes." Nothing would stop the ritual now. It would finish or it would backfire. Hermione began chanting in what was most likely Latin as Harry channeled raw magic into the carefully drawn runes. The entire cavern was glowing with the pure energy in the air.
"Stop!" Harry broke the flow of his magic as the runes began to spark with uncontrolled magic.
"Hermione?" She looked at him with panicked eyes. This was not going according to plan.
"What went wrong?" Hermione bit her lip, but didn't answer quite at that moment.
"I'm sorry Harry. I don't know what happened but-" She was interrupted by an earthshaking crash. Pieces of the cavern began to fall from the ceiling and they both wished that the ceiling wouldn't fall on them.
"What was that?" They both turned towards the cave's heavily reinforced, airtight door just in time to see a giant hand reach through a newly formed hole in the ceiling and make a grab at Harry.
"Harry!" Hermione lunged forwards and seized Harry's arm, tugging at him until she thought she would break him. A stinging hex later, and the giant released him with a roar. The duo backed away quickly, forgetting about the still charged runes.
Suddenly, the room began to glow brightly and wind began to pick up, blowing random debris about the cavern.
"Hermione?" Hermione held tightly to Harry's arm as strange magic began to swirl around the room among the wind.
"Hermione!" Harry panicked as Hermione's eyes glowed a bright white, her not responding to his frantic calls. As he watched, the magic around the room picked up and a bright flash and a thunderous rumble shook the area.
The giant smashed his hand through the hole, frantic to grab the tasty meal that had been promised, only to pause in confusion.
The two humans were gone.
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Harry gasped as his vision cleared, showing a cloudless blue sky, no toxins in the air poisoning them to death.
"Hermione?" Harry sat up and looked around his new setting, marveling at how pristine the landscape was.
"Hermione!" He spotted his friend lying on her side a few feet away from him. Friends took precedent over everything, especially since they had lost Ron a few years back.
"Hermione, are you okay?" He knelt by her side and tried to check for a pulse, only, his arms seemed shorter than usual and he couldn't move properly.
"Harry? What are you doing?" Harry flinched as Hermione's voice startled him from the confused examination of his hand.
"Hermione! I'm so glad you're okay!" Hermione sat up and looked at him.
"Harry. I'm fine. I think the ritual went wrong though." Harry snorted. Her train of thought was so ridiculously far off from his, he had missed this version of his Hermione.
"You think? I know. This definitely isn't the Dursley's, or Hogwarts. Besides that, I'm short again!" Hermione laughed at his disgruntled expression. He had finally reached a decent height of 5'11" and had ended up taller than many of their old friends.
"You're supposed to be, remember? We're eleven again." Harry groaned. Being eleven had sucked.
"I hate being this short!" Hermione smirked at him and stood up. They had more important matters to deal with. It was getting dark and there was definitely not an inn nearby.
"We need to find somewhere to sleep for the night. C'mon Harry." Hermione pulled Harry to his feet and then started to examine the very large field they were in. To their left was a massive lake and a series of cliffs above it, to the right was a massive amount of forest. It was getting too dark to actually see anything properly.
"Harry! Over here!" Hermione was on the far side of the field, close to the forest, waving her arms frantically.
Harry ran over to where she was, afraid of what may have happened, but trusting Hermione.
"Yeah Hermione?" She didn't answer but instead pointed to the small area in front of her.
"And…?" Harry stared at her blankly. It was a circle ringed with stones. It looked very ancient and Harry couldn't make heads nor tails of it. Eventually, he gave up.
"I don't get it. What are you pointing at?" Hermione sighed in exasperation. They didn't have time for this.
"It's a runic circle Harry! That means that it's likely that there is people here!" She had that tone again, the one where she was lecturing on something he should already know.
"Oh… Well now I feel stupid." A noise behind them made them freeze and draw their wands, but something cautioned them not to attack.
"Ahem." They both whirled around to see a massive centaur standing a few feet behind them, half hidden in some of the trees.
"I would appreciate it if you would not point your foci at me." The duo didn't question it and quickly put their wands back into the wrist holsters they were wearing.
"Now, I am Morig, leader of the Northern Island Centaurs. How did you come to be in my meadow?"
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It had taken almost two hours for Harry and Hermione to explain what had happened and why they were there. They had also described in great detail as to why they had been attempting a ritual in the first place.
In that time, they had been led back to the centaur village hidden deep in the forest.
"Oh wow!" Hermione gasped as she caught her first glimpse of the centaur village. In their time, the centaurs had become all but wiped out, people had wanted the territory they had held and had generally not liked the centaurs. Never in living memory had a human been invited into a village without vanishing forever.
"This is amazing!" Morig smiled at their shock. He obviously had not gotten praise for his village in some time.
"Do you like my village?" This was an almost mocking question, but neither of the two cared. The village was just too beautiful. Large, elegantly formed homes wound between the trees in little clusters around fires. The almost seemed to meld with the trees and blended in quite well. Between many of the trees were the dark shadows of more centaurs, probably warriors, watching them.
"I'll take your silence as a yes. Now, follow me please. I will allow you to stay here in the village tonight but tomorrow you will be taken to the human village not too far away. This is not a place to be raising human foals." They both nodded and followed him mutely, not caring that he had just called them children, for that was, at the moment, what they were.
"Is this your entire herd, Morig?" Hermione was watching everything around her, taking in every detail, committing it to memory.
"Yes. My herd is very large. Our village stretches as far as the lake not far yonder." Hermione nodded, deep in thought, while Harry also thought about the information they had been given.
"This lake, is it very large?" Morig stopped.
"Yes. We are at the hut you will use tonight. Please stay inside until one of my herd comes to retrieve you in the morning. Not all of us are favorable towards humans." Apparently they would get no more answers tonight.
Morig watched them enter the hut before turning and heading further into the village.
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"Hermione. I think I know where we are." Hermione gave him a sad smile. They were sitting on the floor of the small hut they were using for the night, unable to sleep after the events of the day.
"Unfortunately, I think I do too. But this means that Hogwarts doesn't even exist yet!" Hermione was almost in tears. The place that they had both considered as their home was not there.
"I thought so. Does this mean the village may be Hogsmeade?" Hermione nodded, deep in her thoughts again.
"I hope so, Harry. I hope so."
Hermione turned and began to make a bed out of a pile of straw in a corner of the room. They had the entire night. Sleep was something they should get while they could, they did't know when they would get the chance again.
"Goodnight, Hermione."
"Goodnight, Harry."