Blood Roses and Forget-Me-Nots

By: JAI

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SUMMARY: Hermione's fool-proof plan to travel into the past to save the Wizarding World didn't include Loony Lovegood. Now they are in a race against time and fighting against falling in love and the risk of altering the future.

Disclaimer: We can wish…but sadly…we do not own Harry Potter…

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Prologue

The Daily Prophet

September 26, 2007

Possible Death Mark Sightings?

By: Rita Skeeter

The Wizarding world was plunged into chaos with the emergence of an evil called Lord Voldemort. Or more commonly known as "He-who-must-not-be-named." This horror spread beyond the Wizarding community; going as far as to plague the Muggle world as well. Innocents were tortured and many lives were lost during this reign of terror. Transcending through time and wreaking havoc upon both worlds, he grew powerful through fear and manipulation.

Then two souls emerged with the power to overthrow the Dark Lord. Only one was challenged and in the end emerged victorious. Witches and Wizards alike rejoiced at this news. The Dark Lord's reign was over….however…it was short-lived.

There are rumours of sightings of dark activity still occurring. There has been evidence of disappearances and murders alike. Just as it happened once upon a time. Just as it will happen once again. Will Harry Potter be there to save us all once again, as it is him who claims of Death Eater emergence? Is Harry Potter sick of his short-lived fame or is he possibly….with a miniscule percent of chance…telling the truth?

Perchance…could the notoriously love-struck Harry Potter, be trying to impress his long time friend and secret lover Miss Hermione Granger? Or is it all a hoax? Perhaps, we will never know until we see the Dark Lord for ourselves, but then I suppose it will be too late…

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Chapter 1: Diary of a madman

Hermione sat idly glancing at the novel that Ginny had let her borrow. She was at the point where the bloke had just taken off his shirt and laid next to the fair-haired beauty sprawled on the bed waiting…

Luckily she had chosen the seat in front of the fireplace…the flush on her cheeks could quite simply be blamed on the heat from the dancing flames.

How did Ginny read these things?

"BLOODY HELL!"

Hermione snapped the book shut and glanced up to see a red-faced Harry and a steamed Ron, both glaring at a paper in Harry's hands. "Since when do you two read the Daily Prophet? Trying to broaden your vocabulary?" she inquired.

Both boys scoffed and looked at her incredulously. "Are you daft, 'Mione?" Ron exclaimed. "How long have you known us? And how many times have we…broadened our vocabularies?"

Hermione snorted, "Nevermind…although it might do you some good. Well, what was all the commotion for?"

Harry glanced up with his flushed face and sneered, "Rita Skeeter…she's at it again."

Hermione sighed, "Is she on us again? I thought she learned her lesson the first time!"

Ron sneered, "Since when is she never talking about Harry….and you…"

Hermione walked over, her bushy hair cascading around her smooth face and eventually landing on Harry's shoulder. She glanced at the paper, it has a picture of the two of them embracing at the tri-wizard tournament. The picture was so old…

"I remember that day…" Hermione smiled.

Harry lazily glanced over his shoulder, "I do too. You really came through for me. I could never forget that."

Neither noticed Ron stand up. Neither noticed when he looked back upon the two of them with an unreadable expression upon his face and both his ears equally the same shade of crimson.

Hermione glanced up to see Ron stalking away.

Harry glanced at his retreating back, "Where's he off to?"

"Ron…Maybe you should talk to him Harry?"

"Ok I'll catch up with you later. But you really shouldn't be alone right now, it's dangerous with Voldemort on the loose."

Harry was grateful that his friends didn't cringe everytime he said the Dark Lord's name anymore.

"I'll be fine Harry, I had to meet up with Ginny anyways…it's Ron we should be worried about."

Harry grinned at Hermione. His bright eyes gleaming from the flames dancing in his emerald irises. His black hair tousled even more so as he dashed after his best mate.

Hermione sighed. Boys…

She rose slowly from the big armchair she had curled up in so many late nights, studying. Her brown hair falling down her back as she stretched her long legs.

"Well…off to find Ginny."

She's probably in the library…messing with that diary again…

Dumbledore and the others never knew, but Ginny had kept Tom Riddle's diary. She said that since the beast was dead now it was safe to keep it. For memorabilia or so she claimed…

Yeah, it was perfectly safe to keep a diary, and have normal conversations with Tom Riddle…The would be Lord Voldemort…

…The would be Lord Voldemort…

So…he wasn't Voldemort yet?

Maybe…he will never be Voldemort if we can stop it before it starts…

Must Find Ginny!!!

Hermione dashed down the halls searching for the flame-haired girl. She wasn't in the library where Hermione thought that she would be. She wasn't in the common rooms, she wasn't in her room, and she wasn't with Seamus or Dean.

Hermione just about gave up. She had an hour before dinner, she would definitely see Ginny there. Hermione walked into the bathroom to wash her face. She wiped off the cloudy mirror and glanced at her flushed face in the mirror. She gasped when Moaning Myrtle suddenly appeared next to her.

"Myrtle?" Hermione spun around, her curly brown hair flying.

"What are you doing?" Myrtle questioned as she floated around the sink.

"I was wiping my face down."

Myrtle glanced at Hermione. Her eyes growing dark behind her cloudy lenses. Her face fell and she burst into tears.

"You've come to make fun of me like everyone else!" she whipped around and floated into the last stall.

Hermione could hear the girl weeping, as she turned to leave.

"Myrtle." She wasn't surprised when she didn't receive an answer.

Hermione stormed over to the stall and whipped the door open.

"What year were you in when Tom Riddle…attacked you?"

Myrtle glanced at Hermione through her now wet lenses. "What does it matter?"

Hermione smiled at Myrtle, "I think I can change what happened if it works. If it doesn't then I die trying."

Myrtle gasped so Hermione continued, "If I can go back and stop Tom Riddle before whatever happened to make him do this to everybody then maybe his reign of terror wouldn't have happened. Maybe I can go back to about a month before he killed you and save you and everybody else that he attacked."

Myrtle took off her glasses and wiped her damp eyelashes before replacing them. "I think you are silly…Hermione Granger."

Myrtle turned her back to Hermione and floated away. "Although…I respect what you are trying to do…I don't know what will happen to me, so if I am dead now I would rather it stay this way. Go stop him after he kills me but let him spare the others."

Hermione was shocked, "But- Myrtle…"

"No!" the ghost whipped around, "I said No. This bathroom has been my safe haven for fifty years, I don't know what to expect from the world…I don't anything else…I don't even remember my family…"

"So, you're sure then."

Myrtle smiled, for the first time since Hermione seen her and said nothing. Hermione smiled back. She gathered her bag and turned to leave, "I suppose I'll be seeing another side of you Myrtle."

"Perhaps…"

Hermione gave one last smile to the ghost as she turned to leave. "I wish you good luck…Hermione Granger."

Hermione dashed off to her room to change for dinner. When she turned the corner she slammed into a hard body and fell to the ground, smacking her bottom on the rough cement tiles.

"10 points from Gryffindor for running, I'm surprised Miss Granger."

Hermione glanced up into the cold black eyes of her Potions professor, Severus Snape.

"I'm sorry P-Professor I was in a rush so that I wouldn't be late for dinner." Hermione stammered.

"I didn't ask you what you were doing." He sneered and stalked away. His robe billowing behind, encasing his torso like a raven's wings would.

Hermione jumped to her feet and smoothed out her clothes. She glanced up to see Draco saunter by with Pansy trailing at his feet. Draco didn't have his trademark smirk on, he actually looked quite upset.

Hermione heard Pansy mumble something about Blaise before Draco turned his attention to Hermione and yelled at her, something about her being a mudblood and one of Potter's lackeys.

Not like she actually cared about what Malfoy said anyway.

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Dinner rushed by. Ron was still acting funny. He refused to talk to either Harry or Hermione. So Hermione gave up after finishing her salad she stormed out of the dining hall, hair billowing around her head and robes trailing around her ankles. She ran to the common room and collapsed on the couch. She looked up to see Ginny reading a book.

"Oi, Hermione did you finish the one I gave you?" she asked.

"No. I haven't had much time because I've been studying so much." Hermione lied.

Ginny glanced up at her skeptically, "I don't believe you."

"You got me there….it's so hard to read it with Ron and Harry around constantly."

Ginny laughed. Harry had always liked Ginny's laugh. It was light and feathery. That's what he told Hermione once, she swore to never tell Ginny. But what he didn't know couldn't hurt... Hermione laughed to herself, she knew that she would never tell another soul.

Ginny reminded Hermione of a bird, something majestic. She was so carefree and lively, with her fiery red hair. She was like a phoenix. Hermione…she was like an owl, nose always buried in books and all those late night studying.

"Ginny, I've been meaning to ask you why you kept that diary. If it had been me I would have wanted to get rid of it."

"Hermione, that's because you are so traditional… I kept all the stuffed animals that Seamus gave me, even though we broke up. I have all the poems that Tom wrote for me. You don't spend a year being romanced to just throw away everything that shows that it even existed."

"Ginny, you were eleven he was in his seventh year, how was he romancing you?"

Ginny scoffed at Hermione's question, "You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"Tom always told me that I was special and he wanted me to find his diary for a reason. He said I wasn't like the girls at his school, he said that I was different and that he respected me for that. And he wrote me poems. He was a sap. He always told me I was full of life."

Yeah full of life Gin…that's why he possessed you…

"I don't know if it was romance Ginny…"

"Well, one can always pretend…especially a young hopeless romantic like me…I had the biggest crush on Tom. I would have dreams of us snogging…"

"Enough Gin!" Hermione moaned, "It's too much."

Ginny ruffled her short auburn hair, "Oh you're such a prude sometimes Hermione..."

"I am not a prude!" Hermione snapped.

She stood up abruptly and marched off to her room. "See that's what I'm talking about Hermione! It was only a joke." Ginny snapped before dashing out of the common room.

Hermione laid on her bed and pondered what Ginny had told her. This should be easier than what she had expected, according to Ginny he was easy to talk to and a real sap.

Hermione snatched up the gold pendant from her dresser. She slipped it into her pocket and dashed to the library, without a second thought.

Once she was safely in the confines of the Magical Creatures bookshelf, she pulled out the time traveler and placed it around her neck. It was tangled in her curly hair, but she was so anxious that it didn't even bother her. She didn't listen to Myrtle; she would try to save her along with everybody.

Harry deserved a break, and it wouldn't do well for him or Ron to see their parents when they were younger and mess up things. She wished that she didn't have to go alone, but who else could she take?

She gave the time traveler ten spins, just as she was on the final spin a hand touched her shoulder and a light voice said, "Hermione Granger?"

A burst of light surrounded the girl and she felt herself being pulled from multiple directions. Her head was always a little woozy from the time travel, it was a little before, but now it was a lot she had never gone back this far. There was no changing it now, she had already done it.

Hermione cringed…she had done it without Ron or Harry…

She was alone in a new surrounding…if something was to happen?

Nobody would know where she was…

Myrtle would….MYRTLE!

Hermione went to take a step forward when that light voice spoke again.

"Where are we?" Hermione whipped around to see bright blue eyes on a smiling face.

End of Chapter One

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AN: Expect the next chapter in about a week. XD

Next Chapter Title: The Amazing Duo – Loony and Hermy

Sample: Luna noticed the sour look on Hermione's face, but she ignored it. She was used to people looking down on her. It didn't hurt to try and make the best of things seeing as they were stuck here together, it's not like Hermione would take her back would she?