A/N: I plan on updating this once a month until I am finished with Establishing a Dynasty. I have several chapters prewritten. I will be posting The Smurg on my Tumblr, jessiyl, a day earlier. A bonus, if you will, for checking out my blog.

The Smurg

After refusing to accept devastating losses in the war against Voldemort, Hermione goes back in time to change it all. A different sort of time travel - Hermione/Grindelwald

Chapter One

The war was finally over, and Hermione released a disgruntled sigh. She thought she would feel relieved or safe, but she didn't. The only thing she felt was an overwhelming numbness. Standing in the ruins of the final battle, she watched the few people who were still alive as they milled around, searching for their loved ones. No longer could she see the faces of the dead and her eyes skipped over scenes that had been pushing to the back of her head over the last several hours. Harry's lifeless body was slumped over top of Voldemort's scaly one, both perishing under each other's deadly wand. Ron's body lay mangled and partly masticated, his neck flayed open. Fenrir, lying face up next to him, had entrails spilling from the ravaged cavity, a spell of Hermione's own making. In a small alcove, partially hidden from the direct battle was Rabastian Lestrange's body lay over Luna's, his larger body nearly hiding the petite girl completely.

She was struck by the amount of death that surrounded her. After three years of fighting in the conflict after Dumbledore's death, both sides had suffered severe losses. But, none more catastrophic than at this battle. Even still, the soldiers on both sides were few, numbering in the thirties for either side. Guerrilla warfare left whole villages nothing but ashes in their wake. The blood of innocents running like rivers across the land.

Hermione violently startled as she heard shuffling nearby. Her head whipped in that direction nearly as quickly as her wand, which she now held at the ready. For a moment, it was pointed assuredly at Draco Malfoy as he ignored her presence completely. His mother lay dead at his feet and he knelt next to her, running his hands over her hair, smoothing the wisps away from her lifeless face. Hermione dropped her wand arm to her side. Narcissa had been the first casualty of the second wave. She died a traitor's death from Voldemort's own wand. It was painful and brutal, a flesh-eating spell that destroyed her from the inside out. It was her punishment, Voldemort had yelled, for the lie of Harry's death.

"It wasn't supposed to end like this." He whimpered, just loud enough for Hermione to hear. Hermione stood watching as Malfoy grieved for his mother, feeling neither compassion for his loss nor sorrow for her own.

She dragged her eyes off of Malfoy and looked around at the survivors noticing that most of them were scavengers, those that were too cowardly to take part in the actual battle. She continued to stand rooted to her spot, thinking about all of the things that could have been done, the things she could have changed that would have saved these people. Their deaths were on her hands.

She was the one who started this battle. Having been caught unaware Hermione battled for her life and before long, Harry and Ron, true to form, came to save her. She should never have left their encampment, even if they were starving.

She jumped once more as she felt a strong hand enclose hers, pulling her off the battlefield. Her wand was savagely thrust into the tender side of whoever it was who captured her. Softly murmured words filled her ears and she vaguely registered that Draco Malfoy was not her enemy and hasn't been for years. The Order had given him and his mother sanctuary after the disastrous battle of Hogwarts during that first year on the run. It took them a long time to stop hurling insults at each other, but Malfoy had saved their arses more than once and was firmly on the allies' side of the war. He was hunted just as much as Harry was. Had been. Hermione dropped her arm.

She scrunched her eyes shut refusing to accept that the costly win was any kind of victory at all. Gently, Malfoy pulled her closer to his toned chest, wrapping his long arms around her body. The compression of apparition made her stomach heave and once they landed, Hermione took deep gulps of fresh air. Blinking rapidly against her watering eyes, she tried to focus on something else, anything else. He let her rest a moment before taking her hand again and she passively let herself be led. She didn't care anymore anyway. There was no reason why she should live while everyone else… She closed her eyes again battling another round of nausea and desperately tried to repress those thoughts that seemed to lurk just beneath the surface, just waiting for her to become vulnerable so that it could drown her. At last, she opened her eyes to look around at her new surroundings.

Draco squeezed her hand lightly, running his thumb over the back, and led her to a chateau that materialized far in the distance through a light veil of fog. She tensed and nearly panicked when she saw the large house in the distance, nearly unbelieving that he had brought her back to the scene of her torture, Malfoy Manor. After a moment, she realized that the chateau in the distance was as different from the Manor as night from day.

He tugged on their clasped hands to get her moving. It wasn't a pushy, demanding tug, it was the kind where he was asking her to trust him, to remember that he wouldn't hurt her. Her parents, dead. Harry, dead. All the Weasley's, dead. Everyone she knew from the Order, dead. Her classmates, dead. What was left? The wizarding world was in shambles. It was Pompeii after Vesuvius erupted. The wizarding world of Britain basically comprised of the two of them and a handful more. Draco Malfoy was all she had left in the world.

He pulled her through the sprawling mansion, leading her up the stairs and down richly carpeted hallways. She barely noticed the portraits on the walls and they were oddly mute, severe-looking witches and wizards flitting from frame to frame. Following them through the manse like a macabre parade.

Draco stopped in front of a large ivory and gilt door and let her hand go for the first time since the battlefield. Placing his hands on the ornate handles of the double doors, he pushed, unmoving from the threshold, staring into the room. Taking up her hand again, he led her into the soft pink and white room. It was plush and well cared for. The suite of rooms being as ornate as she supposed the rest of the house to be, and the bathroom alone was large enough to fit the entire first floor of her parents' house. Her family hadn't been ridiculously wealthy like his but they were upper scale. Her house had been spacious and well to do in an affluent neighborhood.

"I couldn't stay and look at them anymore, the dead bodies." He murmured, not meeting her eyes. "You and the Order protected my mother and me when we had nowhere else to hide. Things weren't always roses between us, Hermione, but we made our peace with each other, I think. You are my best friend and have been for a while now, and I even got close to..." He stopped, not daring to say the names of her dead. "I didn't know where else to go. The safehouses will all be empty, the Manor is not a good place for either of us, the burrow…" He stopped and cleared his throat, for the first time unsure of the decision he made to bring them to the Chateau. "You can have any room, but this is one of the nicest. I don't want you to feel like you are a guest staying in my home. I want you to feel like you belong here. We only have each other left."

"Okay." Hermione agreed, lifelessly. She could hear the death screams still, a Spector haunting her with her loved one's last moments.

"Okay?" he asked, uncertain if she knew what she was agreeing to. Dropping her hand, he turned to face her, his expression worried and a bit panicky.

The moment Malfoy let go of her hand and began talking, she tuned him out and a plan began to form. Was there any reason to stay in this world if everyone she loved was dead? No, she wasn't suicidal, she was determined. Knowing that the time turners had been destroyed, and understanding their limitations to begin with, Hermione focused on one truth. If there was a will, there was a way. She would go back and change everything.

"Okay?" He repeated, snapping his fingers in front of her face, trying to get his attention. Immediately she focused on Malfoy's face and studied the exhaustion and fear still holding him enthralled. Hermione thought he must have been expecting a fight or had rehearsed a speech to convince her to stay but he didn't need to. Wherever he went, she too would go. And not only because he had one of the most expansive personal libraries at his fingertips but also because he was right, they were friends, and they were all each other had.

"Mmm." She acknowledged, turning her focus to the lovely room, trying to show him how grateful she was that he brought her here, away from the stench of death. She needed a shower, a good meal, and proper sleep. But she wouldn't begin her search until tomorrow. Turning back to her host, Hermione smiled at him and moving swiftly, before she could change her mind, leaned into him and kissed him on the cheek. There were many times over the course of the years that she had done the same with Harry. It was fondness and appreciation, nothing more. He looked shocked, a deer in headlights. "Okay, Draco Malfoy, the ball is in your court, what should we do first? Where would we find the best information about time travel?"

"Time travel?"

"Uh huh."

"I will have to think about that. I was thinking more along the lines of a bath and sleep."

"That sounds nice," Hermione said wistfully, glancing at the door to the bathroom longingly.

"I'll leave you to it. If you want or need anything, food included, just ask Winky." Draco reminded as he backed out of the room closing the door behind him, leaving her alone for the first time in ages. She briefly thought about asking Winky to bring her food but decided against it. Opting for a bath and sleep first.

Hermione peeled off her clothes as she made her way into the lovely bathroom and filled the Olympic sized marble bathtub with hot water and bubbles. Easing her tired body in, Hermione's mind began to whirl into action.

Even if she had a time turner it wouldn't be helpful. It could only go back 48 hours at the most. Maybe if she modified one… she shook her head. She would have to find the plans and build one. Her head snapped up as an idea overtook her mind. She had access to one of the most prestigious private libraries in the world, Malfoy's. If any time turner research survived, it would be in one of his properties. Not just because of the extensive collection but also because Lucius had been in Voldemort's inner circle. She would bet her wand hand that Tom Riddle had been searching for the very same thing she was. It was a place to start anyway. Malfoy library and Voldemort's personal effects. Now she would just have to put on her big girl knickers and forget that she needed to enter Malfoy Manor. Hermione was great at many things and one of them was compartmentalization. She wasn't finished with the war yet, there was no time to rest.

After bathing, she dragged her tired body to bed, not even taking the time to dress. She slid into the blankets with her towel still wrapped around her body and slid into the arms of Morpheus.

**HG**

Hermione woke bright and early, earlier than the dawn. She had meandered around the chateau hoping for a library, or even just an overflow room from the main branch. That was where Draco found her, hours later wearing only sleeping shorts and a tank, sitting with her legs crisscrossed on the floor with books scattered every which way. Her hair was a horror, a rat's nest of uncombed curls, hastily pinned up with a single spell.

"Hermione? Everything okay?" Draco asked delicately as if she was a wild animal that he was trying not to startle.

"Hmmm?" she said distractedly, not hearing him at all. It was the response that Harry and Ron always got when they bothered her in the library. Had it been them, they would have known immediately to leave her be. But poor Draco didn't have such extensive experience. He wasn't used to such behavior from anyone.

"Hermione?" He repeated louder and more insistently.

"What?" She snapped, glaring at him with two open books on her lap, her finger holding her place on the page.

"I asked if you were okay! Benny was worried when he took your breakfast to your room and you weren't there."

"Benny?"

"My house elf, and before you start lecturing me; I am not offering him clothes, pay, or vacation. I think he would rise up and kill me just for the suggestion. He has served at the Chateau since before I was born and I doubt he would ever leave."

Hermione scoffed, turning back to her books.

"Merlin, why are you so impossible to deal with today?" He muttered. "You aren't the only one who lost family yesterday. Speaking of, we should go back and bury them."

"We didn't lose anyone, not yet, until I am forced to admit that traveling back in time is impossible I will never consider them dead. You can't bury them because I will fix this. I will!" She set her jaw, her eyes narrowed and fierce.

"We did lose them! Everyone we loved died yesterday and even if you save everyone's life by fixing time, they still died and they deserve to be treated as if their lives and sacrifices matter. Even if you change everything, they still died!" He argued just as passionately. "What if it takes us years to find a way? Are you going to let their bodies rot where they lay?"

Hermione looked up into his face and stared open-mouthed. He was nothing like the boy she knew from Hogwarts. This Malfoy cared about other people and he unabashedly showed it. Malfoy had grown up, matured, and was a better person than she ever thought he would have been capable when they attended Hogwarts together. Knowing that she really should stop comparing him to his younger self, Hermione looked back at the book in her lap. He was right of course, those that fell during the battle should be buried but she just couldn't do it. Not yet.

She felt a niggle of self-doubt and insecurity. What if she wasn't able to find a way to change anything? What if she lived for the rest of her life, trapped in the Chateau with Draco, just the two of them? She shuddered at the thought. She liked him well enough, not romantically, but in the same way she liked Harry.

One week. That is what she would give herself to find a way to change the fate of the world. If she couldn't go back in time by then, she would go with Draco and bury the dead. She wondered if the house elves could preserve the battlefield for that long. It would be terrible to bury half-rotted corpses that no longer resembled who they were in life. She would call Winky later in the privacy of her room and ask if it was possible.

Hermione smiled grimly at Malfoy and cleared a spot next to her on the floor, patting it in silent invitation. It was Draco's turn to be confused as he slowly sank to the floor where she had indicated. She snorted, he probably didn't understand what an honor it was for her to invite anyone, let alone him to her study session. Harry and Ron would have been shocked. She only studied with them when they needed her help and that was a long time ago.

"I am trying to find all of the information I can on time travel, time turners, and anything else that could be used to manipulate time. But I don't want to go back a day or two. I want to go back seventeen years when Voldemort was destroyed the first time. If I take him out before he kills the Potters, everything will change."

"Focusing on changing time is the path that leads to madness, Granger. You know my father and grandfather had searched the whole world for what you are talking about and it can't be done."

"I won't stop until I make it possible."

"You will give up the rest of our life for this?" He asked incredulously.

"What have I to look forward to? Do you have something better to do with your life?" She challenged.

"Your friends wouldn't want you to waste your life on some impossible task. They would want you to find happiness."

"Harry had an impossible task that he successfully completed. If he could kill the darkest wizard of all time at the age of nineteen, I can do this. Even if I am eighty before I accomplish it."

"I will help you then." He whispered and twined his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. He seemed to draw comfort from holding her hand and she squeezed back, giving as much comfort as she took.

"You will?"

"I will have you know that my grades were right up next to yours." He said disdainfully. "Plus, it's not like I have anything better to do with my life. I doubt you would agree to replenish the wizarding world with my children."

"I tell you what, if we don't find anything by the time we are thirty, I will bear your children. Alright? Now that that is settled, we are searching for a way to send me seventeen years in the past."

"I agree to your terms. No children unless we are still stuck here at thirty." He grinned, no doubt amused at that way she completely brushed off the need to repopulate. "But, if we find a way, we will go together."

"If it is possible, fine."

"See, it's not so hard being my ally."

"When you aren't being your normal arrogant self."

"Hey!"

She chuckled at the insulted look on his face. They both broke down into giggles, their laughter was a little too high pitched to be merely mirth. It was slightly hysterical

"Well, if you want that research, we will have to go to the Manor."

"Yeah I figured but I was really hoping to avoid it."

"I'm sorry… I don't want to go either. I haven't been there since my father was ordered to murder mother and me." He looked down at their entwined hands and smoothed his thumb over her softer, smaller one. She sighed as he refused to meet her eyes. They both had scars.

"Benny," Malfoy summoned his personal elf and bid him pack them up and send everything to the Manor before joining them. "We will travel by floo and will stay there until we have thoroughly searched everywhere. Also, leave the breakfast on the table. We will eat now."

"Yes, Master." He bowed before popping out.

"After you." He murmured before standing and offering Hermione his hand. She looked at him curiously before taking it, allowing herself to be pulled up off the floor.

**HG**

Hermione was visibly trembling as she entered Malfoy Manor. It was surreal as if it wasn't actually happening. Draco was holding her, supporting her, as they walked slowly together through the place that held one of the most traumatizing things about the war for her and even more for Draco. His once safe-haven was defiled, filled with memories of him.

"What do you want to see first?" He asked her, not knowing whether she needed the rest or the busy work.

"The library." She choked out. Where else would she go to feel safe?

He nodded his head and together they wound through the many corridors and hallways that made up the labyrinthine path to the familial library. The pilgrimage seemed to take hours but in reality, it only took a few minutes. Forever, after all, could sometimes be just one moment. *

As they approached, Draco, unwound his arms from around her body and stood before a set of huge double doors. With a small smile, he looked back at her over his shoulder, each hand on a curving handle.

"Close your eyes. No peeking!" He murmured, waiting until she complied before pushing the doors open in one sweeping movement. He grabbed her hand and pulled her through to stand in the center of the room. "Open your eyes."

Draco watched Hermione as her eyes went wide, awe forcing her jaw to land on the floor. Slowly she moved towards the shelves, running her fingers lightly over the exposed spines. She was radiant as she took in her surroundings, breathing deeply the smell of her personal ambrosia. Parchment in various stages of decay, ink, and leather were only some of the scents she knew she would smell in a batch of Armortentia. Her heart thudded rapidly, yearning and nostalgia seeping out of her every pore, memories of better times thrusting the images of her two best friends into the forefront of her mind. She nearly choked on it. Savagely, she pushed it away and focused only on Malfoy and his amazing library.

Hermione swirled on the balls of her feet quicker than he would have ever bet that she could move, and Draco's brows rose in question and surprise. She launched herself into his arms, wrapping them around his neck and pressing an innocent kiss to his clean-shaven jaw. He smirked, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"See what you have been missing your whole life?" He joked both indicating the library and himself.

"This is amazing, Draco!" She breathed, ignoring his poor attempt at humor or flirting or whatever that was.

She was out of his arms as quick as she flung herself into them, leaving Draco dazed. She was like niffler who had caught sight of several pieces of treasure at once. Waving her wand, she summoned the books that she wanted to start with. Draco watched her for a moment longer before doing the same. They studied, side by side long into the night. Draco easily kept up with Hermione's intense study habits. Lucky for them, the house elves returned to the Manor to serve their new and kinder master. The food and drinks were replenished at regular intervals and both Hermione and Draco helped themselves, always with a grateful murmur to the listening elves.

**HG**

After two weeks of searching, they had to admit, that they had already seen everything that the library had to offer on the subject of time travel. Hermione grit her teeth as she decided to finally look through Voldemort's personal possessions, something that she had been putting off ever since Draco showed her the door to the room that Voldemort had used when they first arrived.

She stood in front of the door with a wrinkled nose, wishing that Draco would do this part but he had unequivocally refused. He said that if she wanted to look around, she would have to do it soon or he would torch the whole wing. There were too many bad memories concerning the evil bastard. Hermione had fewer personal memories of him and was therefore elected by Draco and the house elves to go through it. She was out-voted.

She slowly opened the door expecting any manner of unpleasant things to hit her but opened her eyes, one by one, as nothing happened. Her mouth dropped to the floor as she saw rare instruments, a first edition library of rare books, diagrams of complicated wand movements for creating spells, journals of all kinds, and surprisingly an old battered trunk with Slytherin's crest as a latch.

She slowly circled the room casting spells to reveal and dismantle deadly curses and enchantments that were woven into the objects he wished to protect. There was no doubt in Hermione's mind. Tom Riddle was truly brilliant, a gifted and powerful wizard. Too bad he was evil.

She searched the books first and was rewarded with several tomes full of in-depth theory about time travel. In fact, she found several journals that turned out to be step by step manuals on how to build and create time turners. If he had all of this at his fingertips, why wouldn't he employ their use? It's not like he would care about the consequences of traveling back in time.

It took her days more to scour the new resources before she stumbled upon the flaw in the theories. Apparently, there was a good reason why time turners could only go back twenty-four hours' tops. Time turners were only meant to relive moments without interacting with a person's past self. It causes a paradox, the time wizards called it time madness. It was a side effect of cerebral dislocation in time. A time turners' magic was what created the disease, not the time displacement. To go further back than that, caused wizards to revert mentally to the age they were at the point in time they traveled to. Any wizards that tried to travel beyond their conceptions died at the point of arrival, both present and future selves.

Hermione was sure she could improve the time turners to a point where this side effect would be non-existent, but only if she had several hundred years and a way to not die in the process of experimentation. She frowned. She clearly would not be able to use this method.

With this in mind, Hermione began searching through Voldemort's private journals, positive that he had reached the same conclusion as she did. It surprised her that his personal thoughts drew her in like an obsession, forcing her to regret his life's choices and fully wish that she could have apprenticed under him.

It was this single-minded focus that allowed her to find exactly what she was looking for. It was in one of the journals from the time where he and his Knights of Walpurgis traveled the world.

September 6th, 1947

We unintentionally stumbled into a village that treated us as if we carried the plague. They were clearly a primitive group of wizards living in the wilds of Africa. We had recently come down from an exquisite high as the last village we were in taught us how to fly. This village wasn't even on our radar or anyone's for that matter. They clearly don't want visitors. I have to know what they are hiding. A small group of elderly wizards brought us food. They wouldn't even allow us to wander around the huts. Their eyes followed us nervously. I am getting excited at the prospect of this challenge. There couldn't have been a better way to capture my attention than to try to keep me in the dark. I will have to have Abraxas create a distraction so that I can look around.

September 7th

The tribal elders have asked us to leave. Every attempt at subterfuge has come to naught. I don't know whether these wizards are just that good or my knights are incompetent. Their warriors surround our hut as we speak. I flattered and cajoled and yet they refuse to budge. They fear us more now than yesterday. It excites me.

September 8th

They watch me the most and they stopped feeding us. They want us to leave but we are good at what we do. They won't be able to outduel us. We dipped into the supplies that we always carry with us, enabling us to continue to eat like kings. I am determined to find out what they are keeping from us. The more they try to hide, the more I am intrigued. I burn with anticipation of discovery. Whatever they are hiding, I need to acquire it.

September 9th

I finally was able to search the village. What a disappointment. There is only one enclosure in the whole place that exudes magic. Whatever they are hiding must be in that hut. I hope to find out tomorrow.

September 10th

She goes by the name Smurg. She is an old woman with white hair and milky eyes that hosts a dormant magical parasite. In the crudest way, she is a seer but her most incredible function is even more fantastic. The parasite that had taken the woman, chooses a host from among the girls born the year its last host dies. It is an honor to be chosen, the girl is treated like a goddess. She is revered and for good reason. I walked into the hut alone and it was just the two of us as she stared at me with her blind eyes.

"You shouldn't have come." She said.

"I need to know, why are you so well protected?"

"They don't want me to be hunted. I am the last of my kind."

"What can you do that makes you so venerated?" My stomach clenched in anticipation.

"I can do many things but I am jealously guarded because nobody leaves my presence without either a seed or a date."

"What does that mean?"

"If I deem them worthy, I will give them a seed to sow in the world. It will help them in whatever endeavor that they chose. If they are not worthy, I give them the date of their death."

"What will you give me?"

"Two things. This advice; Remorse could save your life someday."

"And the other?"

"You will die on June 14th, 2000."

"I am not worthy in your eyes?"

"I have high standards."

"I am the standard in which all others are measured."

"For the world's sake, let's hope not."

It was clear that she was done talking to me. I was pronounced unworthy and dismissed. I couldn't see why they hid her. There is nothing of import here. Let them rot away in their tiny backwater village. Maybe I will come back when I take over the magical world. I wouldn't be unworthy then.

It took Hermione a while to absorb the entry and her mind whirled with the possibilities. Would it hurt anything to try? No, nothing could stop her at this point. She grabbed all of the maps and journals and lugged them to the dining room where Draco was eating lunch. She plopped them onto the table with a loud smack.

"What's this?" He asked, not pausing from eating his lunch.

"I have something but it may be a long shot. Also, I will have to travel to Africa."

"Okay. When do we leave?" He didn't even look up at her.

"As soon as we are packed."

"Benny!"

"Yes, Master?"

"Pack Hermione and I for an extended travel in Africa. I want to leave tonight."

"Yes, Master."

"You're not even going to ask me what I found?" Hermione asked him curiously as she sat in the chair next to him at the table. She pushed the journal and documents across the table, clearing a small space in which to eat. Winky popped in and set a plate in front of her and draped Hermione's napkin across her lap, before popping out again.

"You can fill me in while you eat. You are hungry, aren't you?" He smirked. Raising his glass of water to his lips, he took a sip before turning his attention to her findings.

*Alice: How long is forever?

White Rabbit: Sometimes, just one second

- Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll