It was right after they found Severus Snape lying on the floor in the boathouse at the foot of Hogwarts that found Hermione Granger running back into the castle with as much speed as she could. She stormed up to the girls dorm and found a small silver box lying underneath her bed. She opend it and found her timeturner that she had secretly kept, although she has always suspected that Dumbledore knew all along. With one thought she put the chain around her neck ' I must save him, i can't lose the one person i've loved for so long" and turned it 5 times in her hand.
When she opend her eyes, she blinked, the walls were intact, no screaming, no blood, nothing was there that reminded her of the war that was supposed to be going on. As she slid the time-turner underneath her shirt she walked downstairs into the common room of Gryffindor Tower. Looking around she found no-one sitting there.
She thought for a moment, what to do and then went off in a run towards Prof, Dumbledore's Office. Standing outside the office she said the password that she thought he had about a year ago, only it didn't work. she looked puzzled and tried another one but nothing happend.
Just as she was about to turn around she heared someone walking up behind her. She turned around and saw to her shock, Prof. Snape standing there... only, he was way younger than he should've been. He looked like the one she just left behind, only not with the scars from battle or anything else. No, he was standing in front of her as young as she can't remember him.
With a quick look, Severus said " And who are you? I haven't seen you in the castle before". As she didn't answer cause she was still looking at him like he had just grown a pair of horns or whatever Snape got annoyed and in a little hiss he said " Didn't you hear me, WHO are you?"
Hermione regained herserf and looked up at him and saying " I'm sorry Sir, it's just..." as she trailed off, thinking it was best to keep quite. To her displeasure he wanted to know just what she was doing there.
"If you won't tell me who you are then you can answer that question to the Headmaster" And he walked past her, gave the password and went up.
Hermione followed him up and entered the office of Prof. Dumbledore. She looked around and saw Fawkes sitting on his perch. ' Atleast he didn't change a bit' she thought to herself. Then, turning to her left, she saw Prof. Dumbledore looking at her with a twinkle in his eye.
"Well hello there Severus, always good to see you" Dumbledore said happy. Severus grunted and nodded his head to the headmaster as he looked over to Hermione. " And who might this be, if I may ask?". Hermione looked up to Dumbledore and said" Hello Professor, I know you but you don't know me although I would like to explain if I may?".
Dumbledore looked for a moment, rather puzzled and then said" Yes ofcourse Miss" And went to sit down, waiting for Hermione to begin. As she took a seat aswell she looked up to Severus and then said to him " If you don't mind sir, I would like to talk to Prof. Dumbledore in private" and she looked to Dumbledore to see if it was ok. Dumbledore looked from Hermione to Severus and nodded to him saying " I'm sorry my dear friend but it seems that he misses wants to be a bit private, I'm sure you can escort yourself out" and he looked back to Hermione, still having that twinkle in his eye.
As Severus left, he looked one more time to Hermione before nodding his head to her, and gone he was.
"So tell me Miss, who exactly are you?" he asked with a smile. And Hermione began her story, talking about who she was, where she came from and more precisely, what year she came from. To this Dumbledore held his hand up for her to stop speaking for a moment and thought about it. "So you're telling me that you are from the future, where horrific things have happened and that you used your time turner to go back one year but instead ended here, in the year we are now?"
Hermione sighed to herself and said " yes sir that's exactly what I am saying". Dumbledore looked at her, he knew somehow that he could trust her and told her to go on. " Well sir, it might be easier if I showed you" to that, she rose from her seat, walked over to where harry had told her some while ago where the pensieve stood and pulled out memory after memory. She gestured for Dumbledore to take a look when she saw a look of confusion on her face. She smacked herself on the head mentally for he ofcourse could not know where she had this information from.
Without hesitation, Dumbledore put his head in the pensieve and waited for the memories to settle.
When he finally stood at what seemed to be the future Hogwarts, but it was in complete ruin, burning and crumbling. He looked around and saw many people lying on the floor, death or mayorly injured. As he took it all in, he saw Hermione standing in the boathouse with 2 boys he didn't know and a older Severus ( or so he thought since they looked alike a lot). Severus was on the verge of dying and he saw Hermione crying at his side.
After a moment he pulled back and sat back down, needing to absorb and think about what he all just saw.
Finally, after what seemed an hour, he asked Hermione. " And what is it you plan on do young miss?". Hermione looked up, kind of tired and said " Professor sir, I would like to find a way of saving Severus Snape, why, are my own business but all I can tell you is that if I don't find anything, we will lose the one person that has made this whole war that will happen in a couple of years worth it for me to go trough"
Dumbledore looked at her with a final sigh and eventually said. " I believe your actions are for a good cause and reason Hermione, but how do you plan on going back if you can't fix that Time-turner?"
This however, she didn't think about. "Damn it, how could you miss that!" she thought to herself while pacing in Dumbledore's office. After a moment or 2 she asked him " isn't there a teacher or so that would know what to do with it sir?" Dumbledore smiled and said ' as a matter of fact, there is, although he is out of the country now so I think you're stuck here for another 2 months atleast.
"2 Months! But sir, I have to be able to go back faster, if not I won't be able to save him". Looking up she found him smiling down on her " well Hermione, I think that in those 2 months you have enough time to think of a solution to save our beloved Potion Master, don't you?"
Hermione was getting tired, the fight and this trip has been exhausting. " Sir is there any way that you have some extra room for me then? I'm no student and certainly no teacher so I wouldn't know where to stay".
'ofcourse my dear, there are some free rooms in the dungeons, I know it's not perfect but it will be enough for the short time you plan on staying here and there is a fireplace and all so no need to think of getting it cold there. I will make sure that the houselves have put in a nice comphy bed for you and some extra clothes. We will further discuss this tomorrow." After a pause, and a look at her he said " Now off you go Hermione, I bet you are just as tired as you look'
'Yes sir, thank you and goodnight" As she left the office she found a houself waiting for her and it escorted her to the dungeons.
Back in the office, Dumbledore was thinking about it all and said to himself " this sure is going to be intresting to watch". And with that, he strode over to his own quarters.