This story might have a bit of AU because this is my fic and therefore will have a few twists that won't agree with the actual books.
Disclaimer: This applies to all future chapters, I only own the plot. J.K. Rowling is the brilliant founder of all these wonderful characters. I am simply a fan.
Enjoy!
Chapter one: Meet Sirius Black.
"Hermione! Where have you been? What's wrong?" said a surprised redhead by the name of Ginny Weasley. She had found her friend in an abandoned classroom in the dungeons, a very unlikely place for Hermione. Hermione snapped her head up, her eyes, bloodshot from salty tears, were wide as saucers, her breath caught in her throat and she tried to speak.
"Goodbye, Ginny" she breathed, her voice cracking with hiccups and sobs. And she was gone.
"What the Hell! Hermione!" said a thunderstruck Ginny, still standing in the doorway.
A whimper escaped her lips and she slid down the doorframe, slumping to the floor. "Hermione" she moaned "I told you not to" then burying her face in her hands she groaned, her world around her seamed to be falling apart.
After Dumbledore's death the walls started to crumble. First Ron died, killed in the hands of Bellatrix. Then the rest of her family followed, one by one they were destroyed. Everyone wants to survive, but none of us realize how painful it would be to keep living when the people that made you want to live are gone. When there is nothing or no one left to live for, to survive is a curse.
Harry, well, he wasn't dead, but the poor boy was slipping closer towards insanity every minute. Watching friends and loved ones die because of him, because he was unable to stop Voldemort, made him feel so useless, which lead to frustration, then to anger, then to depression. Harry was no longer himself, he seemed detached from this world, no longer sharing its pleasures, it pains.
With a defiant sniff, Ginny stood up. She looked long fully at the place where Hermione disappeared, now she was gone, what was there left to live for? No, Ginny would not think that way. She was a Weasley, a stubborn, good-natured Weasley who would not let anyone or anything drag her down…
She sighed and left the classroom, thinking about Hermione's plans. One could only pray that she'd be successful, she was Ginny's last hope, Harry's last hope, the world's last hope. Ginny only wished she could join her friend, escape from this world and enter the past where things were only just beginning, where people were happily oblivious of the future and the terror it held.
No one knew about Hermione's plans to save the future, no one but Ginny, who, on late winter nights when one had drunk a bit too much butterbeer, merrily conceived ridiculous plans with Hermione about going back in time and fixing the future. Only Hermione, drunk on grief after loosing her parents to Death-Eaters, took these plans seriously and without a second thought grabbed the altered time-turner and disappeared from the year 1997.
30 years in the past
"Oof!" Hermione landed on the hard ground of the dungeon floor, her shaking legs giving out from under her. Afraid to look up just yet, Hermione hid the time-turner carefully in her robs, making sure it was totally secure before standing up again.
Sniffing loudly and rubbing her eyes, Hermione slowly looked up. She was still in the unoccupied classroom, though this one looked slightly more used than the old one. Spotting the door she marched purposefully up to the handle, hesitating for only a moment before thrusting it open.
"OW! FCK!" a male's voice came from around the door.
"Oops! Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Hermione said, quickly stepping out from the classroom to face her victim. Her mouth spread into a large watery smile and her eyes filled with tears at the sight. Sirius Black. Alive. "Oh my God" she whispered.
He looked at her strangely then, grabbing a girl that Hermione hadn't noticed before by the wrist, he set off down the hallway.
"Come on Angela, let's find somewhere else" he said gruffly, glancing back once to look curiously at Hermione before turning around the corner.
Hermione took a deep steadying breath before following him down the hallway to the Great Hall. She stepped into the large dining area, unnerved by how similar it was to her present time, then went to find herself a seat at the Gryffindor table.
"Um, excuse me, is this seat taken?" she asked timidly. The redhead spun around and Hermione had to, once again, take a deep, calming breath before looking back at the other girl, Lily Evans.
"I don't think I know you, are you new? I'm Lily Evans, Head Girl. And you are?"
"Um…" Hermione mentally smacked herself for not being prepared for this question
"Hermi- uh… Harry!"
"Harry?"
"No, not Harry, um…Harriet, yes, Harriet! Harriet Graaaa…nt." She finished, blushing slightly.
"Ok, Harriet, er, Graaaaaaant… I-"
"No, just Grant, sorry"
"Ok, I think you'll need to speak with Professor Dumbledore, he's-"
"LILY LOVE! WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME!"
"Piss off, James!"
Hermione whipped around and came face to face with none other than James Potter, the spitting image of Harry, except for the eyes, of course. Remus was right behind him, rolling his eyes at James with Peter tagging along in the back, curiously looking at Hermione.
Hermione had to gulp down the sudden flare of rage that had sprung up inside of her at the sight of the rat. Glaring for only a brief second at Peter (who took half a step backwards, confusion apparent on each line of his face), she sniffed and turned back towards Lily. "Which one is professor Dumbledore?" she asked, Lily stopped glaring at James and looked back up at Hermione.
"Over there in the middle of the table" she said pointing towards the staff table.
Hermione nodded, already on her way. She stepped up to the staff table and felt half a dozen eyes on her. The headmaster was currently having an animated discussion with professor Flitwick about how to decorate the Great Hall for Halloween.
"I was thinking Albus that if you let some of my 7th year students help me, we could even set up an Wackamone pumpkin. I've read about them in a few books and they seem truly intriguing"
"Of course, that's a splendid idea!" the headmaster replied, excitedly clapping his hands together.
"Excuse me" Hermione said timidly. Dumbledore turned around and smiled at her warmly.
"Yes?"
"I'm, er, new here and um, was wondering what house I'm in…" Hermione stated lamely.
"New? But surely I would've heard of you?" replied Dumbledore curiously "What's your name?"
"Harriet Grant, I'm uh, in a bit of a pickle…" think Hermione think! The voices inside her head were yelling furiously at her. Dumbledore leaned forward a tad, indicating for her to continue. "I uh, you see um, I… moved away from home recently because of… family problems, and I didn't have much time to uh, notify you that I would like to attend Hogwarts this year…I have no place to stay, so if there was any room available for me here that would be um… greatly appreciated…" she trailed off at the disapproving look from professor McGonagal who was sitting to the right of the headmaster.
"Can you perform magic?" the headmaster asked, obviously intrigued by this new girl.
"Yes, of course!" said Hermione, taking slight offense to this.
"Then welcome to Hogwarts!" Dumbledore said warmly, opening his arms grandly.
Relief swept through Hermione. She really needed to prepare herself better for these explanations.
"I am afraid, however, that our sorter is currently unavailable, he only speaks to us once a year you see, but I'm sure professor McGonagal and I may find a house suitable for you. You are how old?" Dumbledore asked, McGonagal turned at the sound of her name.
"17" Hermione replied.
"Right then, Minerva, what house do you think this lovely young lady would fit in best?"
McGonagal narrowed her eyes at Hermione, looking her up and down as though scanning every inch of her.
"Hmmm… I would have to say Gryffindor, Albus" she replied.
"Funny, I was thinking Slytherin…" Dumbledore offered. Hermione felt her jaw drop and her eyes widen in disbelief.
"S-Slytherin!"
"Do you have any particular dislike towards this house, Miss Grant?" the headmaster asked her calmly but curiously.
"N-no sir, but the nice girl I met is from Gryffindor I believe, Lily Evans, I would like to be placed with her, if you don't mind" Hermione said quickly to cover up her little slip of the tongue.
"Gryffindor it is then!" he said smiling. Hermione matched the smile, thanked him and joined the Gryffindors.
"You're in Gryffindor then?" Lily asked her.
"Yup!"
"Awesome!"
Hermione turned to her plate and was about to dig in when she heard the familiar voice of Sirius Black.
"Oh man guys, I just had the worst snogging session of my life" he said, slumping down in a seat beside James and Peter, across from Hermione. "First, Angela kept complaining about how she just wasn't in the mood and then when she finally was somebody barged in and interrupted us. She ended up blowing me off, saying how she just didn't feel comfortable doing this behind her boyfriend's back. Honestly, women and their damn conscience."
"Men can be honest too, you know. I mean, look at Remus here, he feels bad if he steals a cookie from the cookie jar!" James said, at this Remus shot him a glare but didn't counter him.
"Yes, but Remus isn't really a man now is he?"
"Hey!" Remus sent a furious glare down at Sirius.
They broke out in laughter and Sirius turned to face his food, spotting Hermione. "Out of the dungeons, I see" she blushed and turned back to her food. "See James, she's the one that interrupted Angela and me"
"Well, you were breaking school rules" Hermione said before she could stop herself "you're not allowed to show that kind of affection in the school halls" Sirius gaped at her.
"Hey Remus, I think we finally found you a girl!" he shouted down the table.
"Oh hardy har har" Remus retorted. Sirius turned back to Hermione. "How do you know what the rules are anyways, aren't you new?"
"Well, I personally don't think it's appropriate, truly disgusting, actually" Hermione said, again mentally slapping herself for opening her mouth, but there was no stopping it, she was Hermione, she said these things.
Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Have you ever kissed a guy?" he asked.
"What!" she said, looking deeply affronted "I'll have you know that my personal life is none of your business!" she retorted.
"Ah, so you haven't"
"How would you know!"
"So you have?"
"Well I…I…I still don't see how that concerns you!" her face turned the colour of a hot pink Valentine's card as her mouth thinned not unlike the way McGonagall's did when she was angry.
"Here let me show you what it's like" he leaned over the table and kissed her, tongue and all. Her eyes widened in horror and her mouth opened in a silent scream. Pushing him off as though he carried the plague, her face brick red she stood panting, glaring at Sirius.
"Sorry, I didn't catch your name" Sirius said, smirking.
"GAAAAAH!" Hermione yelled, grabbing a fistful of mashed potatoes and hitting Sirius full force in the face. "You…despicable…excuse…for a man!" she said between bombardments of mashed potatoes. Sirius quickly stepped back, wiping some of the mashed potatoes off to reveal a stunned face, before jumping on the table, grabbing a fistful of cranberries and shoving it down Hermione's blouse.
"I think she's fitting in well, don't you?" Dumbledore said to McGonagall, eyes twinkling with delight. McGonagall didn't reply.
"AHHHH! You evil, evil man! Sirius, I'm going to kill you! I don't know how Harry deals with you! You are SO immature!" Hermione yelled. Sirius stopped in the midst of stealing James's pumpkin juice. He looked at Hermione oddly as she clapped a hand to her mouth. "Oh poop" she whispered inaudibly.
"Who's Harry?" James asked.
"And how did you know my name?" Sirius added, placing James's pumpkin juice back on the table and looking down at Hermione.
"Uh… did I say Harry? I meant Lily. She told me your name" she replied lamely, gulping and noticing for the first time that many people had turned to watch the fight.
When nobody replied, Hermione spoke up again. "You know what, I really need to go to the bathroom…" and she ran out.
Slowly Sirius came down from the table, then looking at Lily he asked: "Did you tell her who I was?" Lily, looking just as confused as Sirius, shook her head.
"Hmm… interesting" he said.
"Nice kiss by the way" James said lightly, turning back to his meal.
Sirius smiled, "It wasn't bad…"
Yay! Chapter 1! I'm so proud! I promise the chapters will become more interesting as we go along, tomorrow is the first day of classes which promises to be exciting! Well, you know what to do! Hit that little button on the bottom of the screen and send me a review! Constructive criticism is accepted, but I don't want anybody bad-mouthing me and my story for no apparent reason. It is rather depressing. Tootles:)