Hello! Welcome to Vincula Saeculi! Yes, another time travel story, but I will make sure to make it my own and different.
Look, the first thing you should have in mind while reading this story is that Hermione won't be perfect, she will make mistakes, wrong judgements and so on, because she is a human being, which means she has flaws and it's not like a super heroine that can't make mistakes. However she will still be our strong Hermione that put people in their place when needed.
As for the second thing, my mother language isn't English, but I'm trying my best to write everything correctly. I would actually pretty much love a Beta but for now if you see any mistakes, let me know!
The first thing Hermione realized was how quiet everything was once she opened her eyes. No sound could be heard, screams couldn't be heard in any part of the castle. Her mind took quite some time to focus once again on the reality.
She had been having quite some frightening nightmares the last few days. Whenever she closed her eyes, disturbing images she couldn't quite understand came to her mind. She couldn't understand it yet. But she still didn't know that.
She got up from her bed and yawned softly before walking towards the bathroom and looking at her reflection in the mirror. The person that stared at her back hardly looked like the Hermione she was before the battle in the Department of Mysteries. She wasn't the only one that became different after that night. Harry wasn't the same anymore, despite the best efforts Hermione, Ron and Ginny had been putting on making him feeling better, Sirius's death had made Harry miserable. The last piece of family he had known was dead and that was a big shock for him.
"You can do it" She said, as many times before and moved on to get herself ready to another day. After taking a shower and finally getting her hair done and looking acceptable, she left her dorms. Once she walked inside of Gryffindor common room, she saw that her friends weren't awake yet, so she left to have breakfast. Which wasn't exactly a surprise, since she usually was the first one to go down. Besides, Hermione had drifted a bit apart from her friends on the last days; everyone seemed to be dealing with their own pain in their way.
The Great Hall was almost empty. She was probably too early for the rest of the students… As always. She didn't really have the time to settle herself in the table properly and get some food since an owl gracefully landed in front of her. She saw the small piece of parchment tied to its paw. She untied it and quickly recognized the handwritten as Dumbledore's.
Miss Granger,
I write to you with a heavy heart on this moment, but I must ask you to come to my office as quickly as possible.
I will explain everything to you once you arrive. Please come alone.
Enjoy your breakfast and we shall see each other soon.
Albus Dumbledore.
P.S: Don't you love Lemons Drops?
Hermione smiled slightly at the P.S on the end of the letter. That was so much like Dumbledore. However, the rest of the letter got her a bit worried. The urgency on it got her a bit worried. She ate her breakfast quickly and got up, she was really curious about the matter Dumbledore wanted to discuss with her.
When she left the Great Hall, she realized that someone was also walking towards the same direction as her. It was Theodore Nott. Hermione never really talked with him. He was a Slytherin and seemed to be a really quiet guy since she usually saw him in the library reading and occasionally hanging out with a few other Slytherins, but he wasn't one to usually pick on other students as other Slytherins usually did.
She felt a bit nervous when she realized that he actually seemed to be going to the same place as her. It was impossible. He couldn't be going to the Headmaster Office as well.
"I would appreciate if you stopped frowning at me, Granger" She was pulled out of her thoughts when Nott's deep voice could be heard. He was staring at her with a glimpse of amusement on his eyes.
She didn't really have the time to reply since they arrived in front of the gargoyle.
"Lemon Drops" She said. The Gargoyle soon moved and both were able to go up, with Hermione leading the way. Many questions were being made mentally by Hermione but she knew that she would have to wait for the answers coming from Dumbledore.
"Miss Granger, Mr. Nott" Dumbledore greeted them, looking up from papers and putting it down. He could see the questions both had to make, even though Nott seemed to hide his thoughts better. Dumbledore got up from his seat and paced around the room with his hands rested on the back of his body. "I suppose you are wondering why I brought you here." After a few minutes of silence, he finally started talking.
"Sir, does this has anything with Potter and the war that approaches?" Theodore asked, crossing his arms and staring blankly at the Headmaster. Hermione looked at him from the corner of her eyes wondering why that boy would have any knowledge about such things.
"It indeed has. I hate to be the person that brings such bad news but we are certainly doomed to lose this war" Dumbledore said and Hermione stared at him in disbelief.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but what about Harry? How can you say that we are about to lose when he has been gone through so much in his life to win this war?" She asked, feeling somehow outraged by the idea of Harry suffering during all those years only to lose. However she knew in the back of her mind that Dumbledore was right. The dreams kept remembering her about that and Harry's condition was awful.
"You have seen how your friend has been lately. There is no way he could win against You-Know-Who, who is getting stronger and stronger as the time passes by. He already has more followers than you think and as Potter gets weaker, the chances of winning also are reduced" The answer came from Nott, who had his brown with a touch of greenish orbs fixated on Hermione.
"And who are you to say anything here? What is he doing here, Professor?" She asked, arching a brow and mentally counting till 10 so she wouldn't be disrespectful to Professor Dumbledore.
"I'm afraid to say that Mr. Nott is correct, Miss Granger. He has been helping me to keep updated on what is going on within our enemy's plans" He said and Hermione could almost see his eyes glimpsing as they always did. It got her wondering what was coming. She was surprised to hear that Nott was helping The Order, but stopped herself from commenting anything. "For a while, I have been planning a backup plan in case we faced the possibility of loss as we are now. I thought the best solution was to stop the bad at its roots. But somehow, going as far as its real roots, would be too complicated so I thought the best idea was when it was weaker. The second part was finding suitable participants, so it was when I thought on you both, you may not believe it now but you are the perfect combination" Dumbledore said and it took some seconds before the idea of what all of that meant to settle in Hermione's mind. She looked at Dumbledore with wide opened eyes.
"You're talking about time travel, sir? And as far as that? It's impossible. We would be messing with the whole time and that's forbidden!" Hermione said and Theodore seemed to only understand exactly what was going on after she said that. He gave Dumbledore a worried and puzzled look.
"Times as we live, call for desperate measures. Believe me, I pondered about many other options but somehow they always leaded to this idea. I already have everything prepared in case you accept." He said and that was true. Hermione erased both her parents' memories and they had been living in Australia with no memories of her. As for Theodore, he only had his father that fell sick after his mother's death. And everyone knew about what happened with Nott's parents.
They stayed in silent for quite some time; both students thinking about had been proposed to them. Hermione only thought on everything that she could change if she could go back. She was the first to look at Theodore, who seemed to be as confused as she was. Hermione had seen enough people suffering, principally her friends and people she considered her own family.
"If Nott accepts, I will also be agreeing with it. Since I suppose you need both of us to work, I will leave it up to Nott. I don't have much to lose here anymore. I'm sure I will be more useful back there than here." She said, thinking on where exactly or when would be back there.
"Well, I…" Theodore started but he stopped in a second before sighing and looking up with a determinate look in his eyes "I will go as well. Though I would like to know why exactly you chose both of us and when are we going" He stated and Hermione almost thanked him for actually voicing the questions she also had in mind.
"I will firstly start explaining when you will be and also who you will become" Dumbledore said, sitting back down on his chair. Both students saw the twinkle in his eyes as if he knew way more than he talked. "From now on you will be the twins Hermione and Theodore Fawley, children of Eustace and Alberta Fawley, purebloods." As he talked, Theodore seemed to understand something, which got Hermione frowning once again. "You will be going back to 1970, where you will both go back to having 10 years old."
"We will be going back to the time the Marauders are in the school?" Hermione asked, her voice getting a bit higher than she wished. Theodore looked at her, with an arched eyebrow. "That's not fair! Harry should be the one going; it's his parents there after all!" She said and Dumbledore shook his head.
"My dear, you're going there exactly to make sure he will be able to have a good life, you know a lot of things about them and I'm sure you will never forget your friends here" Dumbledore said, quietly. He could only imagine what those two were feelings. Maybe he was asking too much, after all they were still kids. However, seeing the determination in their eyes, it made him be sure he made the right choice.
"Alright" She said, sighing softly and nodding her head.
"If I may continue now, you will have a lot of time to work on changing everything. I will have to change your looks, though." He said and both Hermione and Theodore looked at each other before nodding. "You must remember that you will still meet people that are alive on this year, so it might be dangerous if you don't change your looks at least a bit. Please keep in mind that once you change, there will be no way to change it back. Now to why I chose you both." Dumbledore said, turning his hand to caress Fawkes's feathers softly. "Miss Granger, you have a lot of knowledge concerning time travel and was the most suitable person for this mission, since you had the necessary involvement but still wasn't too much. As for Mr. Nott, you have showed me that you're trust worthy and have the necessary knowledge of pureblood traditions as well as Voldermort's followers and his ways. You both will work together really well."
Hermione and Theodore sat in silence for a few more seconds before nodding.
"I believe we should work together now to think on details such as our looks and other things." Hermione got up and Theodore followed her.
"Of course. Tomorrow I believe we will be set to send you back. One last thing, please remember that you are working together now. The past doesn't matter now, you're a team and therefore must act like one" Dumbledore said and dismissed the two students. Hermione and Theodore looked at each other before leaving the office.
They spent a few minutes in silence before Theodore finally spoke.
"Granger, do you want to work on that tomorrow or-" He asked but Hermione suddenly shook her head.
"Hermione. Call me Hermione. And I think we better work on it tonight. I know a good place" She said, looking at him and trying to keep her face straight. She wasn't really happy to work with a Slytherin but she had to at least pretend to be close to one for some time before coming back. If they came back.
"Alright, Hermione. Lead the way." He said and Hermione once again started moving, this time with Theodore Nott besides her. If someone had told her yesterday that she would be spending any time with him, she would have laughed her stomach out but somehow it was her reality.
After minutes of silence, they arrived at their destination: the Room of Requirements. Theodore arched a brow at her before he waited the door open. She had imagined a comfortable place where they could work together.
"On what should we focus first?" He asked once they both sat down. Hermione patted her chin softly before shrugging.
"I guess the appearance would be a first good point. After that we should focus a bit on getting to know each other a bit better. We will be twins, so I guess the basic knowledge we should have about the other." She said and Theodore nodded.
"I guess it would be safer if we changed our hair to a color that is between ours, so it won't feel weird whenever we look at the mirror. Maybe honey brown? Besides, since your skin is tanned compared to mine I will get a bit tanner and it will match, I believe. As for our eyes, we can keep it that way" He said, writing down a few things as Hermione smiled slightly at how quickly he made decisions. He was pretty much like herself. She also took some notes on her own.
They discussed a bit more and got into a slightly awkward conversation about each other, but slowly they saw that they weren't the monsters they thought they would be. They actually thought pretty much alike in many situations.
Once they know what they deemed necessary to start, they started to write it down. Probably it was hours later that Hermione fell asleep and also by then that Theodore conjured a blanket and gently placed over Hermione's shoulders before leaving the Room of Requirements.
So, what do you think about my story? I already have a few chapters written, and I will probably update the story every weekend.
I would like to hear your opinions about what I have this chapter, if I should change something or if you liked something very much, I would like to know all of it!
See y'all soon!
- Lunae