Somewhere Only We Know
Description: Ginny & Hermione are transported back in time to their second year, before the war. They're main goal is to begin the quest for horcruxes earlier, prevent very important deaths and maybe change an enemy or two. Little do they know that they are stuck reliving their lives until Hermione can find a way out. Romance sparks between two very unlikely people; first friends then something more.
Rating: K+/T
Warnings: Mild language/infrequent horror themes/torture/character death
Pairing: Ginny/Harry Ginny/Blaise Hermione/Draco Harry/Luna Pansy/Draco Ron/Hermione Ron/Lavender
P.o.v.s.: Third Person POV
Hermione blinked back confusion, staring into Ginny's hopeful eyes. What had the ginger just said to her?
"Hermione?"
"Y-yes?"
"So? Can we do it?"
"Do… do what?"
Ginny sighed and threw her arms up in exasperation. She was talking to the smartest girl in Gryffindor, and she had forgotten what they had been talking about! Scratch that- the smartest girl in Hogwarts!
"You're unbelievable sometimes, you know that," Ginny reeled. "I said, are you up to it?"
"Up to what?"
"Hermione!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just thought I heard you wrong. Did you say we were going back to the past?"
"There we are, the Hermione I know!" Ginny smiled.
Hermione's hands shot to her temples and she rubbed them furiously. What had she just gotten into?
"I… Ginny…"
"Please, Hermione. If we go back now, we can get away from all this! We'll be able to see Harry… and Fred… and maybe even Malfoy! Although he's not dead yet. And Luna… I miss them all so terribly… even…. even Blaise," Ginny whispered.
This is crazy, Hermione thought. The time turner could only go so many years before breaking. Had they been able to successfully go back WAY into the past, Hermione and the trio would've gone back to the night Voldemort killed Harry's parents.. They could've prevented all of this from happening.
The war had happened; Hogwarts won, Voldemort didn't. Simple as that. Hundreds of students, first years and seventh years, had died. Teachers even. Poor old Filch had been cruelly killed by a stab to the back by a death eater. Fortunately his old cat had been there, and ripped the man's face off. The cat had won.
Harry had been killed that night. Not by Voldemort; by Draco Malfoy. It had been a big misunderstanding, but it had cost him his life. Harry had killed Narcissa Malfoy on accident, thinking she was someone else. Being Bellatrix LeStrange's sister, she had a big disadvantage. Draco had gone hysterical. He disarmed Harry right away. Draco tortured him, for his "mother's sake", until Hermione and Ron had found them. He knew he was going to die anyway, so he killed Harry too.
Draco had been sentenced to Azkaban until trial. After the trial he was given a choice. Be given a dementor's kiss, or have his wizarding powers taken permanently. Hermione couldn't see why Draco had chose the first. He was to be given the kiss in two weeks. It was all over the Daily Prophet.
It was all so depressing. Honestly.
"I… I'll think about it."
"No Hermione, you need to decide now. Tomorrow is the start of NEWTS and I KNOW you won't want to go whilst you're studying," Ginny smiled weakly.
Hermione sighed deeply. She was right. She did love her studying.
"A-alright. Please, may I have a minute?"
Ginny nodded and got up from the couch. She started towards the door, but then stopped.
"Hermione… I just want to get away from all this… this shit. Everyone's depressed, even the teachers. It's like Umbridge all over again. Hogwarts will never be the same. I just want to see what happened to everyone. We might even be able to save our friends! We might even be able to kill Malfoy before he killed Harry! Please Hermione… I hate this life. I don't want to live anymore without Harry. We… we were going to get married. We were going to be happy. But all that's gone. I'm not happy, and if we don't do this, I'm pretty sure I'll never be happy."
Hermione nodded slowly. She understood Ginny, she really did. But they were strong together. They could get over this- eventually. Besides. They still Neville to talk to.
Ginny closed the door and Hermione jumped. She didn't understand why it was taking herself so long to decide. It was either she went, or she didn't.
If they did go back, Hermione could save Harry.
If they didn't, they'd probably commit suicide.
it wasn't that hard for Hermione to decide. She smiled to herself, and pulled out the time-traveling necklace Professor M. had given her in third year. She ran her finger across the thing, and then slipped it back into her shirt.
"Ginny?" she called. Ginny opened the door, ready for the answer.
"No?"
"No."
Ginny's mouth fell open. No? How could she say no? No really, how could she? This situation was perfect! They could save so many lives- even Malfoy's- and she says NO?
"I'm kidding. Yes. Yes, we can."
Ginny's mouth closed and instead wore a smile. The biggest smile Hermione had seen on the girl since the war.
"Really Hermione? Really? Oh my goodness, thank you so much!" Ginny cried, enveloping Hermione into a hug. "I- look at me, I'm crying- I'm so happy… this is going to be brilliant Hermione, I just know it! I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner! We're going to be heroes! Heroes I tell you!"
Hermione laughed. Brilliant, yes. But heroes?
"You're right, Ginny. But we have to remember, we can't be seen or we'll get in big trouble. And while we're in the war, watch out for us. If the past us sees the future us… well, what would you do in that situation?"
"Run screaming to Harry?"
"… Alright. Ready?"
Hermione pulled out her necklace and put it around them both. Ginny was smiling brilliantly, something Hermione had missed. She spun the hourglass back, but it wouldn't budge.
"Uhm… Gin? My necklace isn't working," Hermione said, looking quite taken aback. Well, then again, she hadn't used it since third year.
"Nonsense, Hermione," Ginny said, taking the hourglass from her. She twisted it back until she heard a sickening 'crack', and then handed it back to Hermione. "There you are!"
Hermione gaped at the hourglass. It had indeed started to spin. But what worried Hermione was the amount Ginny had twisted it. Did she twist it back five times? No… she was sure Ginny just twisted it once. Right?
"G-Ginny, I don't think this is-"
Suddenly the room changed. It wasn't like third year; no one had come in or out of the common room. It had just simply changed. it seemed lighter, and newer. Hermione looked around. The furniture was in a different place, and the room seemed much bigger. The ceiling even seemed strange! It was several feet higher!
"Hermione! L-look at me!"
Hermione turned to look at Ginny. But what she saw wasn't what she expected.
Ginny was no longer the seventeen year-old witch with the straight, long hair and make-up'd face. She was much shorter, her hair was cut to her shoulders and her freckles were all over her face. Her teeth were tiny and she was wearing very baggy school robes. Hermione was staring into the eyes of the twelve year-old Ginny Weasley.
"… Oh dear…" Hermione whispered. This was NOT right.
"Oh Hermione, you were so cute when you were thirteen!" Ginny smiled.
Hermione's eyes bulged. She quickly removed the necklace from in between them and ran straight up to the girls' dormitories, Ginny trailing behind her. She ran into a random room and grabbed a mirror that was on one of the trunks. She looked into it, and gasped.
Her hair was once again tangled and frizzy. Her teeth were too big for her mouth, just how she had remembered being teased about them. Her eyes were smaller and the small amour of make-up she had had on before, was now gone. Light freckles framed her cheeks and Hermione reached up to touch them. She blinked and then turned to Ginny.
"What happened?" she asked.
Hermione shrugged. Then she remembered.
"We didn't do it at twelve… and… and you twisted it back… five times!" Hermione cried. "Oh my goodness Ginny, we're in second year!"
Ginny laughed. She went up to Hermione, who was a few inches taller than her and hugged her.
"I know, I know! Isn't it wonderful?"
Hermione shook her head. It was utterly unbelievable! The time turner was not supposed to go back years!
"N-no! It's not! This is second year, Ginny, and we're… we're ourselves! Doesn't that scare you? What if we're stuck like this, what if we can't get out, what if…" Hermione slowly reached up to finger the time turner, which she did often, to find it was not there. Great.
"Ginny! My time turner! It's gone!" Hermione yelled. She ran down to the commons and looked on the ground. She got to her hands and knees and looked underneath the couch. She then looking in the couch, removing the cushions and everything. She was having a panic attack. Had they really been trapped in second year?
"Hermione, relax-"
"I can't relax! It's gone! Ginny, as far as I know, we're stuck here! SOMEBODY HELP-"
"Hermione!"
Hermione finally looked at Ginny. She had light tears on her cheeks. She didn't want to relive her second year, the year when she had been petrified by the basilisk!
"What, Ginny? What?"
Ginny pushed Hermione gently onto the couch. She sat down next to her and looked her in the eyes.
"I'm sorry Hermione, that I got us into this mess, but this is what we've been waiting for! A miracle! Another chance! We know what happens in the future and we can make this whole thing easier for Harry! And Dumbledore! Oh my goodness Hermione, we can save Dumbledore!"
Hermione smiled at that. When Dumbledore had died, it had broken a large portion of Hermione's heart. He had been like a grandfather to her, and losing him was horrible.
"And… you said you got that time turner in third year, am I correct?"
"Yes, of course. Oh."
Of course! How had she not remembered? Hermione wouldn't have the time turner now! She hadn't been given it till next year.
"If I understand this correctly, we just have to live through second year until you find the time turner. It's alright," Ginny said, patting Hermione on the back.
Hermione shook her hand off and stood up. She looked around, her gaze wondering to the Slytherin flags that were held up high on the ceiling. She remembered that they were in all of the houses. It displayed the current house points. Great, not only were they in the past, their house was losing to Slytherin!
"Hermione, this is wonderful! Everyone is alive! Wait, what time is it?" Ginny asked.
Hermione reached into her pocket to find her second year schedule. All of it's events had been crossed out except for Potions.
"I dunno, but what I do know is that we have Potions right now," she said quickly, grabbing Ginny's hand and running to the girls' dormitories. "We need to make everyone believe nothing happened. If we start acting like we know everything, somebody's bound to question us."
She stopped suddenly, standing directly in front of eight doors. Four of them were for the second years and the other four were for the first years. She forgot that Ginny was one year younger.
"Alright, change and then meet back here," Ginny said, rushing into one of the doors.
"Ginny! I don't remember which door I was in!" Hermione called.
"The third!"
"Thanks!"
Hermione hurriedly opened the door and slammed it shut, not caring if she was being noisy or not. She remembered that Ginny had had the same schedule in second year, thank goodness; they would be late together. No doubt Snape would deduct points, but at this point, she didn't care. She ran to her bed (which was across from Padma and Lavender's) and yanked open her drawers. She pulled out a white polo shirt and a Gryffindor tie. She then pulled out dark black pants. She didn't care if they were muggle clothes, as long as her cloak hid them. She put them on (and marveled at how small her chest was in the shirts, having not been used to being small) and pulled her cloak over. She looked in a mirror on the door and quickly tied her hair into what looked like a pony tail. She would've performed a straightening spell, but that would've taken even more time. Time they honestly didn't have right now.
Hermione met Ginny outside and they both ran through the door. Their wands were in one hand and their books in the other. Several paintings clicked their tongues at them, muttering things about tardiness and forgetting the time. When they reached the classroom, they were shocked to see everyone looking like they had when they were 12/13. They weren't, however, shocked at Professor Snape who had deducted ten points from Ginny for being late and fifteen from Hermione because she was "to set an example for the first years" and had failed. Ginny had not minded and eagerly sat down in between Ron and Harry. She sent Hermione an apologizing look before Hermione turned to see where she was to sit. Right next to none other than the infamous Draco Malfoy. And Luna. Which she was happy about.
"If you two are here late again, do understand that I will, without any hesitation, dock more points from the both of you. Now please, if there are no further interruptions, turn to page three hundred and forty-four in your potions book. Thank. You."
Hermione smiled at Luna, who was, as usual, staring off into space. She had missed her terribly; her nonstop talk about Nargals and such. Something about Luna just made Hermione feel right at home. She frowned at Malfoy, who looked equally happy to sit next to her. Before she turned to the correct page, she pondered about whether Malfoy had bullied her this year. Had he called her Mudblood this year or last year? Hm.
"Miss Granger. Did I not make myself clear? I will deduct points for-"
"Nearly everything I do that is not perfect," she finished for him. She rolled her eyes and nodded. They'd been through this before many times.
Most people immediately turned their heads towards her. Ginny looked at her with wide-eyes and brought her hand up to her throat, making a slicing motion. Hermione realized her mistake and looked down, blushing. Future Hermione was not afraid of Snape, as was past Hermione, but past Hermione would never talk back, unlike future Hermione. She turned to Luna, who was not paying attention and was busy staring at the wall and Malfoy, who had an unusual look plastered onto his face. No one said anything for a while.
"Pardon me, sir, I'm not feeling very… well today," Hermione finally said. She flicked her eyes over to Ginny who gave a weak smile.
Snape slowly nodded and then turned his back from her.
"Five points from Gryffindor."
As Snape continued to lecture them on and on, Hermione could not help but stare at Harry. He was nervously talking to Ginny, who, in the future, was no longer shy. Ron turned his head back to glance at Hermione. She sent him a warm smile and he returned it. She had missed Harry. It was almost strange to see him alive and happy, unaware of what he would have to go through later on. Her thoughts quickly disappeared when she felt a poke on the left side of her shoulder. She snapped out of it and turned to look at Malfoy, who still had that strange look on his face. She sighed quietly.
"Yes?"
He did his usual smirk and then raised one of his eyebrows.
"That was… pretty brave of you, Mudblood," he said quietly. "What's gotten into you? Thought you were afraid of him. I wouldn't do it again, if I were you, unless you're considering taking muggle study instead."
Hermione winced as he said the M word. So he did call her that in second year. No wonder she always hated him. If he wasn't such a prick, Hermione may have considered him as a… a…. a friend.
"Not as afraid as you are of Hypogrifs," Hermione replied. She watched as his expression turned from entertained to confused. She realized yet another mistake and she shook her head and then turned to focus on Snape. Malfoy probably didn't even know what Hypogrifs were. They weren't introduced to them until third year. No sooner than fifteen seconds, she felt another poke.
She turned and looked at him with an irritated expression. What did he want now?
"Granger."
"What now, ferret?" she said. She growled and slapped a hand to her forehead. Maybe she should stop talking to him. To anyone.
"Ferret? So I'm afraid of Hypo… hypo… Hippos and I'm a ferret? Well, didn't know you could stoop so low, Mud-"
"Shut it, Malfoy. You say that word one more time, I swear, I will hex you into oblivion," Hermione said, pulling out her wand for effect. "And I will not make it enjoyable."
Draco's face fell and he blinked several times. This was not the Granger he was used to. This one was much braver. And more annoying.
"Go ahead," he smirked, spreading his arms out wide. "Be my guest."
Hermione pointed her wand at him and was about to say a spell when Luna interrupted them. She plucked Hermione's wand from her hand and gently set it back onto her desk. She smiled at Hermione, and then a less-enthusiastic smile at Draco.
"You know, I don't see why you two don't get along," she whispered, tilting her head to the side. "it's cute when you fight, really. It's like old people. My grandmum and granddad used to argue a lot, mostly about whether there are such things as-"
"Luna," Neville whispered, nudging her.
"Pardon me," and Luna turned away.
Hermione looked at Malfoy, who was blushing. He tried to hide it and turned to look the other way, making Hermione shrug. Whatever.
"You are, dismissed," Snape hissed.
Everyone started to pack up, and Hermione abruptly got up. She ran over to Ginny, who was giving Harry a hug. Ron laughed and shrugged.
"I think she fancies him-"
"Ron!" Ginny hit her brother on the back of the head.
"What?"
Hermione had tears in her eyes but she quickly rubbed them away. She threw herself into Harry's arms and squeezed him like no tomorrow. She then retreated and smiled. She had not seen his face in what seemed like so long. Although young, she could still see future Harry somewhere in there.
"Honestly, what's with all the hugs?" Harry laughed. Ron shrugged. Ginny gave her brother a hug and Hermione followed suit.
Ron was blushing like a tomato, and he slowly walked to retrieve his books. Ginny started to chat up harry again, and Hermione grabbed her own books. As she and the trio plus Ginny passed Draco, she did not even glance at him. He and his friends, Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson were busy admiring him.
"I guess we just missed you," Hermione smiled. Ron shrugged and murmured something along the lines of, "Girls and their time of the month".
Luna and Neville caught up to them, and Hermione and Ginny could not help but hug their girl friend. Luna of course, did not mind at all and smiled blankly as usual.
"Where were you two?" Neville asked, Hermione smiling to herself about Neville's anxious little self. This was the Neville that had the courage to kill Voldemort's snake. She would have never known.
"We got distracted at the time," Ginny answered. She ignored any further questions about it.
"Well, Hermione, we were thinking about maybe going to-"
"Miss Granger."
Hermione and her friends turned to look at Snape, who was standing by the doorway with his black robes drooped and his eyes cold.
"My office. Now."
He turned and disappeared into the room.
"Oh... well, sorry 'Mione, but we have to go," Harry said, giving her a sympathetic look. Ron and Neville nodded mutely before turning to leave with Harry.
"It's alright, Herm-i-o-ne," Luna smiled crookedly. "I'll go with you. Snape can't bite us when I have garlic!"
Luna pulled out a string of tiny garlics. She looked at Ginny, who nodded. She then pulled the string and it