Disclaimer: I'm not quite exactly sure which entities have the rights to the Harry Potter Universe, but all I know is that it is certainly not me. I am merely playing with J.K. Rowling's work. Some of this chapter (and will be the only one to do so) is direct quotes from the book, therefore, I claim no ownership of anything that is seemingly so. Phrases come from the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix book.
"Silencio!" cried Hermione, and the man's voice was extinguished. He continued to mouth through the hole in his mask, but no sound came out; he was thrust aside by his fellow.
"Petrificus Totalus!" shouted Harry, as the second Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell forward, facedown onto the rug at Harry's feet, stiff as a board and unable to move at all.
Before Hermione could congratulate Harry on his quick-thinking, the Death Eater she had silenced moments previously suddenly began to wave his wand – and with a skip of a heartbeat and a shriek of "Stupefy!" Hermione neatly dodged the beginnings of a purple glow at the end of the opposing wand. The tall Death Eater crashed to the floor with a dull thud.
Breathing heavily, Harry and Hermione slowly turned to look at each other. A slow grin began to grow on her face before she was distracted by the reappearance of Neville from behind the desk.
"Neville! Are you okay?" she asked, moving to help him up.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay… I'm–" but he was cut off by a crash in the doorway, and the arrival of the baby-headed Death Eater. "Stupefy," Neville suddenly yelled. Then the Death Eater with the too-young-face fell to the floor in exactly the same manner as his fellow comrades had moments before.
Hermione let out a deep breath. "I – I'll bind them," she stuttered, having failed to recover a steady heartbeat. The adrenaline was pumping hard in her veins. She waved her wand three times over each motionless Death Eater on the floor and ropes appeared, neatly binding them together.
"We good?" Harry said with his wand still aloft. Hermione picked up the Death Eaters' wands and stuffed them into her jean pocket and nodded once. "Let's go." He walked out the room, leaving Neville and Hermione to follow quickly behind.
The door swung shut behind them, and the walls began to turn again in the dark hall. "The crosses," Harry muttered, as the other two caught up. The scorch marks Hermione had left on all the doors they had entered had all disappeared – leaving them clueless again.
"My crosses are gone," Hermione whispered. "What-" she began to ask, but a door opened on their right swung open and three people fell out, effectively cutting her off. She saw Harry move towards them and made to grab to hold him back, but as he cried "Ron!" she realised who it was.
Staggering and clearly in pain, Ron, Ginny and Luna seemed to be holding each other up. Hermione couldn't tell which one of them was injured, until Ron fell onto Harry. He began to mumble incoherently into his friend's chest and Hermione looked up at Ginny in horror. "What happened to him?" she asked, wary to come any closer.
Ginny attempted to walk towards her, but grunted and half-collapsed to the floor, clutching at her ankle. Hermione immediately ran forward to help her, forgetting about her question.
"Broken, I think," Luna said, referring to Ginny's ankle. Hermione crouched down beside Ginny and gingerly prodded the offending swollen lump. Ginny whimpered. "I heard something crack," Luna continued. Hermione looked up at her. "Four of them chased us into a dark room full of planets, it was a very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark-" Luna was interrupted by Ron.
"Harry, we saw Uranus up close!" he exclaimed, continuing to clutch onto Harry. He then started to mumble again. Hermione stared at him, biting her lip in worry.
"We have to him out of here. Ginny, I can tape up your ankle, but it needs proper attention. I can't believe… I was literally about to start reading up on healing spells this summer…" Hermione shook her head and waved her wand over Ginny's swollen and purple ankle. It was protruding out of her jeans, and as the spell was cast, Hermione saw a white bandage appear over the worst area.
Ginny hissed. "Thanks," she said. Luna leaned down to help pull her up. "We don't know what Ron was hit with," Ginny said, gesturing to her brother, who was giggling madly. The three girls stood up slowly together.
"That's okay," Hermione said unconfidently. "We just have to get out and take him back to Hogwarts. Madam Pomfrey will fix him." She chewed her lip. She had no idea what the spell could have been, and Death Eaters used plenty of modified spells, making it even more difficult to determine a cure. Hermione moved so that she was facing the other five teenagers. "Neville – you take Ron and Luna you help Ginny – if she needs it," she hastily amended as the redhead shot her a look. "Since the crosses are gone, we'll have to make do with trial and error again." She looked to Harry, who was beginning to sway on the spot. "Harry!" she said, and made to help him, but he waved her away.
"Was hit on the head," he said lightly. "We'll try this one first." He reached for the knob of the nearest door to him. Then, another door across the hall from them swung open to reveal Bellatrix Lestrange and several other Death Eaters.
"There they are!" she cried, and she shot a spell at the door Harry was at –causing it to light on fire. Immediately, spells then began to fly in both directions.
Harry jumped away from the door and dashed across the room towards a different one. "Come on!" he yelled, casting shield charms left, right and centre to protect his slower friends.
Ginny hobbled along with Luna at a surprisingly fast pace and Neville all but lifted Ron along behind them. Hermione raced after Harry, running at his heels. She ran into one of the rooms behind him, but the door swung shut behind her.
"No!" Hermione shouted, stopping to stare at the closed door. Harry turned at her exclamation and failed to notice the decline of the floor. He yelped and tripped, falling backwards down the stone steps, all the way to the bottom.
At the noise, Hermione turned in just enough time to see her best friend fall backwards. "Harry!" she screamed, and ran forward. She saw him hit the bottom of the pit with a thump, but nonetheless not hurt. She breathed a sigh of relief – but was suddenly grabbed from behind, and she screamed, struggling against them.
"Hermione!" Harry yelled as he stood up, wobbling a little.
Laughter came from all around them, echoing in the cavernous room. A breathy chuckle came from behind Hermione's ear, and she shivered in repulsion. She almost swore under her breath; she'd been captured by a Death Eater. She saw more of them surround Harry down below – how were they going to get out of this?
"Potter, your race is run," drawled Lucius Malfoy, pulling off his mask. "Now hand me the prophecy like a good boy..." He began to stalk towards Harry.
"Let her go," Harry said, looking up to meet Hermione's eyes.
A few of the Death Eaters laughed, but Lucius held up his hand. "No," he said, with a smirk growing on his face. "Let the girl join Mr Potter here. Maybe she can convince him to hand over the prophecy. Greyback." He waved his hand in her direction.
One hand let go of Hermione's arm, but the other began to unceremoniously drag her down the stone steps. This allowed her to get a glimpse of her captor. Glancing sideways, she immediately saw the dire condition of the clothes, the unclean essence of the man, and the bestial look about his face. Fenrir Greyback, she thought venomously. She also got a whiff of his person as she stumbled towards him on the last step. He smelled like dirt and blood and she immediately recoiled away from him.
"Hermione," Harry whispered as she walked to him.
"I'm okay," she said, giving him a small smile. He nodded and refocused his attention on Malfoy Sr.
"Now, Potter, you are in no position to be bargaining," the elder Malfoy began. "Just hand over that little thing in your hand there, and no one will get hurt."
"Like Hell!" Harry yelled. He held out his hand to drop the glass ball.
"No!" Bellatrix shrieked. "Crucio!" she screamed, and suddenly Hermione's world was filled with pain – burning, excruciating pain. She wanted everything to end. She wanted herself to end. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped, leaving Hermione gasping on the floor, wondering how she'd gotten there and why her throat hurt so much.
"Fine!" Harry shouted. "You want it? Here." He thrust out his hand towards Lucius Malfoy.
Hermione shakily sat up, attempting to stop her foot from twitching. She raised her wand. There was no time to be vulnerable around Death Eaters. Standing up slowly, she was level with the dais behind her, barely aware of the presence of 'The Veil' Luna and Harry had claimed 'voices' had come from. What nonsense, she thought, glancing up at it.
Her attention was then suddenly captured by the sounds of doors slamming, and she looked up to see what it was; The Order had arrived. Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks and Kingsley were standing above them.
Hermione almost sighed in relief, but was distracted by the sudden crossfire area she was in; the fight had begun. She felt a hand tug on hers and tried to pull away before she realised it was Harry. He started to climb onto the dais and pulled her up with him.
From their new vantage point they were able to see more, and in essence, aim better too. They immediately began casting spells at the Death Eaters that the Order members were duelling. But everything was moving too fast. Hermione took a chance look at her partner and noticed that one of his hands was empty.
"Harry!" she shouted, catching his attention. "Where's the prophecy?"
"Dropped it," he said simply, casting a spell behind her.
"But-" she started before she found herself barrelling towards the stone ground as someone much larger than her had crashed into her.
"Get down!" they shouted as she hit the ground with an oomph. A jet of green light went over their heads. Hermione stared at it in horror, and then up at her saviour.
That jaw line and shock of black hair was always immediately recognisable. She was chest to chest, lying on the ground with Sirius Black.The same Sirius Black who had just saved her life.
"Th – Thank you," she whispered, unable to look him in the eye.
He jumped up and held out his hand to help her up. "Don't mention it," he said with a grin.
Hermione got up and brushed her shirt down, careful to watch for anymore on-coming spells. Sirius made to run off again, but she grabbed him by the arm before he could leave. He turned back towards her with an eyebrow raised at her. Hermione immediately let go of his arm.
"I mean..." she said. "It means more than that. I now owe you a life-debt." She set her jaw and stared at him defiantly.
His eyes grazed over her with an intense scrutiny, causing Hermione's entire face to heat up. He then let out an abrupt laugh, which made her jump. Sirius began to speak, when he was interrupted by Harry's shout.
"Sirius!" Harry yelled, running towards them.
Hermione and Sirius immediately jumped into duelling stances in the direction Harry had indicated. Bellatrix was stalking towards them with a mad gleam in her eye. Hermione looked over her shoulder and saw Tonks lying in a heap at the bottom of the stone steps. She tried not to cringe.
"Crucio!" Bellatrix screamed.
"No!" Hermione shouted, and dived in front of Sirius – receiving the full force of Bellatrix Lestrange's Cruciatus Curse for the second time that night. She screamed and writhed with a force she didn't know she had, and somehow, this time round it was so much worse. So very much worse.
When she came to this time, Hermione felt like vomiting, but a voice murmured her name and her eyes began to refocus on the looming figure above her.
"Didn't expect you to live up to that life debt so quickly," Sirius said in a light tone.
Hermione began to sit up. Her limbs were weak and aching. She could also taste blood in her mouth. "That wouldn't have killed you," she said with a smirk. "The life debt is still intact." She watched his carefree expression fade into something she couldn't quite distinguish. It was almost somewhere between horror and amazement. Her gaze then slipped past him, to the view of Harry duelling Bellatrix.
Hermione gasped as her friend failed to notice the double attack Lestrange had sent at him. "Protego!" she yelled, startling Sirius.
Bellatrix screamed in frustration as Hermione's spell successfully shielded Harry from two particularly gruesome hexes, and turned on the duo sitting on the floor. "You!" she shrieked, and began to stalk towards them again. At that point, Hermione couldn't tell who the woman hated more; the bitch who had thwarted her several times or the blood traitor cousin.
Sharing a quick glance with Sirius, it was obvious that they were both going to fight her, and he quickly yanked her up to a standing duelling position.
Barely seconds passed before Bellatrix was firing spells at them in a quick succession. Hermione started to breathe heavily. The mad woman was relentless and rather erratic with her spell-casting, and it was wearing having to anticipate an attack from literally every direction. It made her so glad that she wasn't alone in this. But glancing to her right, she saw that Sirius was barely breaking a sweat. He actually seemed to be enjoying it, Hermione noticed.
"Can't even dare to fight me on your own, ickle cousin?" Bellatrix sneered, throwing a nasty looking purple hex at Sirius.
He dodged it with ease and grinned maliciously at her. "Oh, I definitely would, but I believe Hermione here has beef to settle with you herself, and you know me – would never get in the way of a cat fight." He laughed and threw another jinx at her.
Bellatrix hissed and Hermione felt her face heat up at Sirius' words. It was strange for her to have someone speak on her behalf like that, but she did feel like she was intruding on something of a personal vendetta between the two Blacks. She shot another disarming spell their opponent. The life debt comes first, she thought fiercely, and I will stay to protect Sirius. Old magic such as life debts were always a big deal in the magical community, much like oaths, and despite being Muggle-Born, Hermione immediately understood the significance of her words after Sirius had saved her. As long as she lived, she would need to attempt to keep him save until the debt was repaid. In times like these, she thought with a wry smile, it shouldn't take long.
A shout briefly disturbed their duel. "Dumbledore!" she heard someone yell on the other side of the room, and she looked up. Right they were, there stood Albus Dumbledore at the entrance to the large room. She suddenly felt elated and hope rise in her chest; they were going to win.
Most people had finished their duels, she noticed as she took a look around the room. Except Sirius and Bellatrix she saw as she turned around again. They were snarling at each other and now throwing as many insults as spells at each other.
"Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, laughing at her as he dodged another hex. Hermione automatically took a step closer to him, but she failed to notice the second jet of light that flew out of Bellatrix's wand and so apparently did he, as it shot Sirius directly in the chest.
"No!" Hermione screamed and she dived forward for his hand as she saw him begin to fall backwards.
She barely heard Bellatrix's triumphant scream and Harry's yell of "Sirius!" as she threw herself at the falling man heading for the ancient archway in the middle of the dais.
Hermione brushed his fingertips as they both began to fall through the archway. "Sirius," she whispered, as she lost sight of him.
But instead of floating through as Sirius had done right in front of her, Hermione felt her body crash against something that felt suspiciously like a wall, and crumpled backwards, out of the archway and onto the stone floor.
"No!" she shouted, scrambling to get back up. "No," she repeated in a much quieter tone as she stood and stared at the empty archway. It was empty. She had failed, and she didn't know what happened to witches and wizards who failed to fulfil a life debt, and she really didn't want to know.
Hermione began to tremble and cry. She hadn't thought she would come to care as much for the reckless Black that had literally crashed into their lives, but she did. Her reaction was telling her that she cared a lot more than she thought she would.
If it weren't for her emotional reaction to her best friend's godfather's disappearance, Hermione would have noticed that she was now entirely alone in the cavernous room a lot sooner...
...
Forcing herself not to panic, Hermione took several deep breaths and began to figure out what had happened.
They left.
Probably thinking that I was... gone... like Sirius.
That's all it is.
I wonder who was victorious.
Of course it must have been us – Dumbledore turned up!
I can't have been in there long – but certainly long enough not to fall straight back out and for the others to think that I wasn't coming back at all.
I'll send a message to one of The Order members to get me, yes that should work.
Hermione shook herself and took one last deep breath in order to calm herself. She had only recently learned how to send a message by Patronus and had yet to teach Harry and Ron how to do so. 'Recently' meaning two nights previously.
I can do this, she thought.
Summoning the happiest thoughts and memories she had, Hermione twirled her wand in a circular motion three times in the air in front of her. "Expecto Patronum," she said with conviction. She was delighted to see her familiar otter appear in front of her, but now came the tricky part.
"I need you to send a message to Remus Lupin," Hermione said kindly – attempting to concentrate hard and get the bright silver animal to understand and listen to her. In theory, getting one's Patronus to send a message for them shouldn't be difficult, as they are the person's familiar, so therefore should have a deep enough connection to them in the first place. It was the concentration that was the most difficult part. It was the attempt to cross a dimension barrier which was a difficult feat for most witches and wizards.
The otter twitched its nose and perked up a little at her voice. Hermione smiled in relief; it was listening. "Tell him this word for word," she said, taking care to pronounce her words properly. "I am at the Ministry. I do not know what happened since Sirius fell through The Veil, but I need your help in getting back to Hogwarts. I will wait by the fountain in the auditorium." She flicked her wand again and the otter soared through the room and out of one of the closed doors.
Hermione stood up straight and took a look down at herself. Grimacing, she saw that her lilac woollen jumper and blue jeans were covered in dirt and had gashes all over. She dreaded to think what her hair and face look like. Quickly casting cleaning and repairing spells, Hermione felt a little more confident in walking through the Ministry not looking like something the Aurors had dragged in during the night. Surely workers would be beginning their day by now?
She began walking as she felt her hair lift and flatten with the cleaning charm she'd used on it and made her way out of the room she was beginning to hate so much.
Fortunately, as she entered the circular black hall, the walls had spun and stopped with an open door in front of her, leading to the main building of the Ministry. She was fascinated by its ease of exit when it had been so difficult in the opposite direction. A defence mechanism, she thought suddenly. But what for?
She found herself standing in front of the golden grilled lift within moments, and when inside pressed the button saying: Auditorium. She barely jumped when it began to move.
...
Finally reaching the main entrance area of the Ministry of Magic, Hermione discovered that people had indeed started their working day. She found herself feeling almost aghast at the thought of all of these people being ignorant to what had happened a mere few floors beneath them.
Hermione made her way over to the cheerfully gurgling fountain and perched on the edge. It indeed was a peaceful place, but she couldn't help but feel a little out of place. A niggling feeling began to creep up her neck. What is it? she thought, staring out at the crowds. What am I missing?
The Ministry workers looked perfectly average to her. Witches and wizards dressed in robes bustling around trying to start their day. Scanning the room, she tried to see past that to what was making her feel... wrong.
On her third sweep, she saw the man with the cart selling the day's Daily Prophet, which was a further example of the day's average nature, but she knew that it was that which had captured her attention. Knowing Remus would be a while yet, she stood up and made her way through the throngs of workers to the newspaper cart.
Luckily, she had brought her moneybag with her and handed the man a few sickles for a copy of the day's paper. Smiling in farewell, Hermione made her way back to the fountain and opened out the paper.
The headlines weren't anything surprising; more attacks and gruesome deaths of innocents. She shook her head mildly at the injustice of it all. But then, something in the byline caught her attention. Hermione blinked several times and even attempted holding the newspaper further away from her, and closer again in an attempt to correct what she was seeing.
But she simply couldn't be reading it right.
It was impossible.
The date was wrong.
There was no fathomable or simply possible way for today to have been 17th August 1976.
Hermione's heart started to race and she began to breathe erratically. Not possible, not possible, not possible, not possible, she thought repeatedly.
"Uh... Hello?"
Hermione's head shot up and she gasped. She stood up, still clutching the newspaper between her hands.
"Are... are you the one who sent the otter?" the voice continued, clearly confused.
Hermione was speechless. There, in front of her was indeed Remus Lupin, but a teenage version. With the same kind face, and patched too-large clothing, he was immediately recognisable. But he was a little shorter, a lot thinner and a lot less scarred. It was the hair and the eyes that unnerved Hermione. There were no grey streaks in the messy dark blonde mop and his eyes... his eyes no longer held that haunted look she had grown to know.
"Ye... Yes... That was me," she found herself saying before she felt her extremities go numb, her mind black out, and she fell to the floor, unconscious.
A/N: Well, it's hello to another story! I know I shouldn't start one while I'm still at the beginning of another - but I just couldn't get this plot out of my head! Yes, yes, yes, another time-travel fic - HOWEVER I think that this is a little bit of a different take on the concept. Well, at least I hope so. Hope you enjoy it!
Holly - xo