Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Time of the Essence
Prologue
The smell of blood was thick in the summer air. The sound of pained screams surrounded the small figure kneeling down by the body of a dark-haired boy. She did not acknowledge the presents of others as she cried over her friend's dead body while she cried out for him to not leave her, knowing he was already gone. She did not feel the pain of her numerous wounds as her blood flowed and dampened the grass of the Hogwarts grounds. She just sat there, wishing to change all that had happened.
What had caused things to go so wrong? Things were not suppose to happen this way.
Why was Harry dead?
Why is The Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived dead?
Why was Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Mr and Mrs Weasley dead?
Why did Neville, Luna, Dean, Seamus, Justin, Jordan and many others have to die so young?
Why couldn't she have saved Kingsley, Sirius, Remus, Professor McGonagall Dumbledore, the rest of the Order?
She had fought along side Ron Weasley and Harry Potter since that fateful Halloween in their first year. When they should have been going through their seventh year, they instead had joined the Order of the Phoenix and fought against Voldemort. Yet that did not do any good. She had gone through so much; finding her parents brutally murdered in their living room, being captured and tortured by Death Eaters, watching as Ron, one of her best friends was killed 3 months ago.
Even after his death she still had hope that the Light would win the war. But that hope had remained because of the corpse lying in front of her.
What should she do?
What could she do?
When will the Death Eaters come back?
What will they do to those they know oppose the Dark Arts?
What will they do to her if they get theirs hands on her?
Was their anything worth fighting for anymore? Yes there was. She would stop these thoughts now.
"Oh, Harry, what do I do?"she asked out loud wishing he could answer her. She had to come up with a plan.
She heard movement behind her. Coming out of her daze, the sounds and smells hit her hard, making her gage. She saw Dobby come towards her, his hands covering a wound on his side, dragging something behind him.
"Dobby?"
"Miss, Dobby was told to come find you." said Dobby, his eyes darting around, afraid more Death eaters were near.
"What is it Dobby? Are you alright?" Hermione asked, wishing the house elf would leave her be.
"Dumbledore wishes to speak to Miss, and he asked Dobby to bring his portrait to Miss."As he said this, he picked the portrait he was dragging up, making the portrait displaying Dumbledore to face Hermione.
"Miss Granger, you need to fix this." Dumbledore spoke solemnly. His eyes not showing their usual twinkle.
"What can I do Professor? Everyone is dead, Voldemort is still gaining more followers than ever and I am all alone." Hermione cried, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Why is it that there is no hope for the Light to be the victors in this war?"
"Because Harry is dead!"exclaimed Hermione."Without him, we can not kill Voldemort, meaning we can never win!"
"Why is it Miss Granger that Mr. Potter is the only one capable of killing Voldemort?"
Hermione was beginning to become frustrated. "Because of the Prophecy."
"I see, and what if the prophecy never was fulfilled in the beginning?"
She had no clue what Dumbledore was talking about, tried to amuse him stated, " Then anyone could destroy him."
"Precisely." Dumbledore exclaimed, his customary twinkle returning.
The Greatest Headmaster Hogwarts had ever had and the Brightest Witch of the Century stared at one another for what seemed like hours. Hermione not knowing what to do any better than before this conversation. "What can I do?" she repeated. "The only way to have the Prophecy never fulfilled would be to go back in time over 16 years. That is impossible. And even if I could go back, no one would trust me enough to let me help and stopping the prophecy coming true would cause the war to continue."
"Miss Granger, there is a way to go back that far, further. In my office is a book titled 'Time of the Essence'. This book holds the spell you will need to begin your mission. It is very important that no one knows from where you originally came from. I trust you know what precautions you must take. I believe the year you must go back to is 1976. You should also complete your education. You should go now, the Death Eaters will come back shortly. Remember Miss Granger, no one can know you are from the future. Good Luck."
"I will try not to disappoint you Professor Dumbledore. Goodbye." With that Hermione turned away and ran to the castle, ignoring the sun rising to the east, the squid making an appearance in the Lake, the bodies on the ground. She did not want to see who else was killed for what she now dubbed a pointless battle, that took the last of those she loved. She did not want to see the few survivors mourn over their lost ones. She couldn't. She wouldn't. She had a job to do. She was going to stop this from every happening. With that thought in mind she ran, not paying attention to her aching limbs, or her wounds reopening. She could deal with her wounds later.
Before she reached the steps leading to the Entrance Hall, she heard a commotion behind her. Turning around she saw the Death Eaters had returned as Dumbledore had said. Realizing her time here was shorter then she first believed she turned around and continued running, faster then before.
Hermione ran through the great doors, into the the Entrance hall, up the stairs, down the second floor corridor to the Gargoyle statue, or what was left of it. It had pieces shattered off of it when it fell forward. She jumped over it and up the stairs to Dumbledore's office, hearing running footsteps behind her. Once inside, Hermione closed and locked the door, ran to his bookshelf, quickly glancing over the spines till she found the book Dumbledore told her she needed. Pulling 'Time of the Essence' from the shelf, Hermione searched the table of contents. 'Time Travel pages 123-129'. Turning to the directed pages she read what she needed to do. As she pulled out her wand she heard a 'thump' on the door. She ignored the her surroundings and recited, "Lost vicis est nunquam instituo iterum, "while thinking the year she wanted to go back to and where she wanted to arrive in that time. When the last word was said, Hermione was blinded by a bright blue light.