Turning Back Time

by tootsiepop23

When a spell goes awry and Hermione is whisked away into the past, there are many questions to be answered: where will she end up? Who will she meet? How will she make it home? And more importantly: will she want to?

1. 01: Misread

Turning Back Time
Chapter One: Misread

"Ron, I need you to focus," Hermione snapped, brushing her bush of brown hair behind her ear. "The only way we can do this is if you're paying attention!"

She sat down in the cauldron, feeling the cold, mushy liquid encase the lower half of her body. "If I could I would cast this spell on myself but the directions call for someone else."

"Then why not ask Harry to do this? He's better at potions than I am," Ron said, fiddling with the paper in his hands.

"One year of stealing tips from Professor Snape's old textbook doesn't make him a potions master." Hermione spat, still upset that he had so recklessly followed the directions of some mysterious Half Blood Prince, even if it did end up being a Hogwarts professor.

"Yeah, yeah," Ron said, swallowing hard. "But why are you doing this anyway? I've never known you to do spells with a selfish motive."

"I have my reasons. You must know I do. Just read the spell," her reply came.

"Which one, again?"

"The one in the upper right hand corner," she closed her eyes and bent at the waist to conceal her body completely beneath the lip of the oversized cauldron.

"Ready?" he asked, his voice cracking. This was the most difficult spell he had ever been called on to perform. To say he was nervous was an understatement.

"Just read the spell!"

"Temporis reverto!" Ron yelled. As she heard his last word Hermione screamed "No!" Her words reverberated around the room but when Ron peaked inside the cauldron she was nowhere to be found.