It was her 3rd year at Hogwarts when she first started using that blasted time turner. She thought then, as she thought now, that whenever something went wrong she could simply go back in time to fix everything. So far it had worked, but she was gradually spending more and more time in the past, and she knew that wasn't a healthy way to live. She was already losing control over it, and knew that if she kept this up something terrible would happen. Harry had thought that she had given it back, and she debated telling him otherwise. What good would that possibly do?
"No." she thought "I have to do this, after all this was all my fault. I was too harsh on Ron, he ran away because of me. Maybe I can change things. Who even cares about me anyway? The boys, they think that I'm a perfect genius. If they only knew the truth they would never want to see me again." At this point Hermione was nearly in tears, but her heart was resolved. She crept over to Harry's bed and saw him fast asleep.
1…2…3…4…5… Hermione counted the turns to take her back to that fateful moment when Ron had left. Not that she actually had a plan on what she would do when she got there. No, all she could think of was fixing this colossal mistake she had made.
"Hermione?" called Harry. "Oh crap!" Without thinking Hermione went to run away, but she tripped and fell, tearing the time turner from her neck in the process. Harry stood there, at the front of their tent, looking confused and angry as she felt herself slipping away. "Hermione!" Harry shouted "What have you done?" "I'm so sorry Harry, I'll fix it. I know I can." With that she disappeared, Harry's last shouts ringing in her ears.
She felt herself fall. Not some feather light fall, but the comedic kind you see in movies, the kind you realize must hurt a lot in real life. She was no longer sure that this was real life, but she knew that she had broken something by now, multiple somethings likely. Her entire body ached, and she wasn't sure when this would stop. Finally she collided unto the ground painfully. Hermione moaned, then passed out.
When she woke up she was still on the ground. She could hear voices, but she couldn't move. After a few attempts to look around she felt a hand on her shoulder. A girl, about Hermione's age, bent down to prop her up. "Don't move." She whispered. Why were they in a church, and on the stage none the less? She could hear someone preaching about generosity and "the least of these", but was mostly focused on the searing pain she felt. After the church service let out, the girl started talking to her.
"Hi, my name is Eloise." She gently took Hermione's hand "They found you on the street, badly beaten and left to die." Hermione shuddered. "Look here," Eloise said softly "it's all right. You're safe now. Can you tell me anything? What do you remember?" "Not much" Hermione admitted cautiously. "Can you tell me your name?" Hermione had no idea where she was in time right now, and definitely didn't want to screw up the future by giving out her name. "Amelia," she said, remembering her favorite book from years ago "but I go by Mia." She hoped she could remember that, Mia was close enough to Hermione after all. "Nice to meet you Mia." Eloise quickly jolted something down on paper. "Could you tell me your last name? Or perhaps how old you are?" After all the time traveling Hermione didn't know what age she actually was. "17 I think. I don't remember my last name." "That's alright, I just need to finish filling out this form. It's a minor formality really, nobody adopts us at this age. Your best bet is to fall in love with some town boy. Probably wise not to get involved with any of the orphan boys here."
With that Eloise got up to finish the paperwork, leaving Hermione very confused. She was an orphan, not that she actually was, but she realized she would be stuck here for a while as she healed. She needed to remember that she was an orphan named Mia. She still didn't know what year it was, "Hey you." She called to a young boy "Can you get me a paper please?" "Sure thing" In a couple minutes the little boy was back. "Here you go. My name's James, It's nice to see you awake. We didn't think you were gonna make it for 'while." "How long have I been asleep?" "Three/four weeks I recon'." "Thank you James."
1945, I had traveled back in time 52 years! I just kept numbly staring at the paper. I had to go back, no doubt about it, but I couldn't travel like this. First thing first, I thought, I need to heal.
About a week later we stopped in another town. By this time I could limp short distances and stand briefly. Eloise had given me my beaded bag which contained my wand. I had begun to use healing spells, but I didn't have very much magical strength. I didn't know how to get back to my time, but I did know where to start. As soon as I got my strength back I was going to Hogwarts. It was far enough back in time that I shouldn't mess anything up. I recalled the time that Dumbledore mentioned knowing someone very much like me, I wonder if it was me. I suppose I'll find that out soon enough.
