Hermione Granger sighed contentedly as she entered the Great Hall between her two best friends.

It was their final year as students at Hogwarts, and they had made a promise between them that they would live this year to its fullest.

Over the summer, the three had changed dramatically, and it was obvious that they were quite different from how they had been when they entered the hall for their first year.

Hermione's bushy hair had transformed into coffee colored ringlets and curls that framed her face beautifully, and her eyes seemed bigger and brighter. As for her choice of clothing, she was of course in her school uniform, but her friends back home had convinced her to bring more feminine muggle clothes including skirts and form fitting tops which she wore outside of classes. She had also come accustomed to a light amount of makeup which made her face glow.

As for the boys, they had obviously spent the majority of their summer playing quidditch, the evidence being toned muscles and tanned skin. Each stood at least 5 inches taller than Hermione; Ron was actually probably about 7 inches taller.

"Feels good to be back, doesn't it?" Hermione asked as they took their seats at the Gryffindor table the morning after they had arrived.

"Absolutely" Harry and Ron agreed simultaneously.

The trio took their time to greet their friends and look at how everyone else had changed. Before long, the headmaster stood before them, smiling as he watched the students converse happily. After a few moments, he cleared his throat and began

"Attention students" Dumbledore's voice rang through the hall,

"You will be getting your timetables shortly. If you have any issues, please don't hesitate to tell your head of house and we will try to accommodate. Have a good year everyone" he finished as pieces of parchment appeared in front of each student with their schedule on it.

The three immediately scanned over them hastily, hoping for the best.

Their schedules were practically identical, to their immense relief, except for the few places where Harry and Ron would separate from Hermione for classes like Divination and Ancient Runes.

"It could be a lot worse, that's for sure" Ron commented, his mouth full of mashed potatoes.

"Ron please, that's disgusting" Hermione scolded lightly, wrinkling her nose.

Her friend swallowed quickly before smiling sheepishly at her.

"Old habits die hard I suppose" he said for an excuse with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

Harry and Hermione simultaneously rolled their eyes; they were used to this sort of behavior by now. Hermione wasn't even sure why she had bothered to comment on his table manners, it wasn't as if the first 300 times she had told him not to talk with his mouth full had had much effect.

"Anyway," she said, changing the subject, "do either of you know who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is?"

"I thought Snape was taking it again, and Slughorn was doing potions," Harry said, referring to the arrangements that had been used last year.

"After all, it was the first year where the DADA teacher wasn't killed off or something, unfortunately" Ron said, adding the last part quietly.

Hermione shook her head, looking up at the staff table,

"I don't think so. I think Snape took his position back and Slughorn just didn't come to Hogwarts this year."

Her eyes scanned across the table before they rested on a new face, "that must be her" she said, keeping her gaze on the new teacher.

It seemed to be a woman of about 30, maybe 35 years old. She had a soft face and light hair. Not intimidating in the least.

"I think we may have lucked out this year" Harry said, following Hermione's gaze and tilting his head slightly as he examined their teacher.

oOoOoOo

For their first day of classes, they spent their time together. They had Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, double Potions with the Slytherins and Defense Against the Dark Arts.

They had been right about the woman being their new teacher. Her name was Professor Blackburn, and she seemed nice enough, at least for now. It would a bit more time for them to be sure, but she hadn't threatened them or anything, so that was always a good start.

They now sat in the common room in front of the roaring fire, each seated in their usual chairs that they pushed together so they could talk.

Hermione sat with her feet curled beneath her, staring blankly in to the flames, her mind filled with everything that had happened their first day back.

"Maybe she's like…a spy or something" Ron thought out loud. Ever since their DADA class, he had been trying hard to think of evil flaws about Professor Blackburn.

"Is it so hard to believe that maybe for once in our life we might actually have a Defense teacher who doesn't want us all dead?" Hermione asked, shaking her head slightly.

"Yes, actually it is. I refuse to believe that someone as nice as her would actually take up a cursed teaching position. There must be something wrong with her." Ron said determinedly.

"Yeah, well don't come crying to us when you find out that she actually is a perfectly nice person and that you've been wrong this entire time" Harry told him, raising one of his eyebrows.

Ron slumped back in his chair, "we'll see Potter, we'll see".

Hermione shook her head as she let out a small laugh. She stood up from her seat and stretched.

"I think I'm going to head over to the library for a bit." The two boys opened their mouths, but she stopped them, "I know, I know. We don't really have any homework or anything, but you know me. I won't be long though, I'll be back in a bit" she told them as she walked towards the portrait hole.

Harry and Ron simply shrugged, having accepted a long time ago that Hermione was a book worm and there was nothing they could do about it.

Once she reached the library, she immediately went to find a book of advanced spells. She had already read through her Book of Spells: Grade 7, and had found that most of them had worked for her. She needed tougher stuff to keep her busy.

She found a suitable book titled "Spells for the Brilliant Minds" and settled herself at one of the more secluded tables.

She thumbed through the pages carefully before stopping at a page that caught her eye, titled Time Travel.

Hermione tilted her head as she read through the instructions. It seemed easy enough, and if she could do it right, she could make it so she only went back a few minutes or so, just to see if it worked.

She pulled out her wand and did the correct movements before muttering the spell,

"Tempusiria" she muttered to herself.

Suddenly she felt as if she were caught in a strong wind. Her hair blew all around her and she found it difficult to keep her eyes open without them stinging immensely from the powerful wind.

When she finally opened her eyes, she was quite confused.

For one, she wasn't even in the library anymore. She found herself standing in one of the hallways, one that she noticed headed towards the Transfiguration classroom.

And for the other, people walked past her in the halls like usual, the only problem was, she didn't recognize a single face.

Sure she didn't know the name of every student in the school, Merlin no, there were hundreds. But she could at least recognize most of their faces. And it was a sure thing that she couldn't tell who any of these people were.

"There's no way we can loose the match next week, not with James as the seeker, everyone knows that. Even the Ravenclaws. You can tell their worried" Hermione heard a girl say as she passed by.

"Excuse me" Hermione said to the girl and her friends, they stopped and turned to look at her, each with a warm smile. She noticed the Gryffindor patches on their robes and became utterly confused. This James wasn't the seeker of the Gryffindor team, Harry was.

"Did you say that the seeker's name was James?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Well yeah, of course. James Potter, he's the best seeker the Gryffindor team's ever seen. Hell, he's the best seeker any team has ever seen"

Hermione couldn't help but stumble a few steps back. James Potter? As in Harry's father? That can't be true, it just can't be. Unless…

"I'm sorry, this is going to seem like a really strange question, but I need you to answer" she started. The girls gave her a strange look, but agreed.

"What year is it?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"1976" the girl answered.

Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat. 1976? Oh no…

She thanked the girls, who walked away giggling. Hermione mentally kicked herself.

She can't believe she had been so stupid. Of course, she had messed up the spell. When she had simply meant to go back a few minutes, she had gone back quite a few years.

Hermione groaned and rubbed her temples. This was just great.

And of course, without the book in front of her, there was no way she would be able to recreate the intricate wand movements.

Her only option at the moment was to go talk to Dumbledore. With any luck, he'd understand and be able to help her.

oOoOoOo

A/N: First chapter, yay! I've been reading a lot of Hermione in the MWPP era fics, and I was interested to write me own, so reviews are always highly appreciated. Please, please no flaming, no one likes flames. But constructive criticism is welcomed.

Reviews!!!

Disclaimer: I only own any unrecognizable characters and the plot to this fan fiction. Everything else belongs to Miss JK Rowling, unless stated otherwise.