A/N: Hello, welcome to my first ever Harry Potter fanfiction 'Stepping Back'. I've kept away from writing Harry Potter fanfictions because I've felt that there's so many places that they can go wrong if you don't know the world well enough. Anyway, I was sitting on my couch late at night and inspiration struck and I just had to write it down.
This story is very different for me to write, on so many levels, so I want to apologise if there's any information errors, or if I confuse stuff that happened in the books with stuff that happened in the movies. I haven't read the books enough to differentiate completely. However, a part of me was excited to write it for that reason. It gives me a chance to try something new and offers me a way to look at the Harry Potter series differently.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or the wondering wizarding world that it's set in, that right belongs to the wonderful JK Rowling.
CHAPTER ONE: A MEMORY IMPARTED.
Harry filled the conjured flask to the brim with the silvery blue essence that was spilling out of Snape. Once it was full he pushed away from the body of their old Professor and fastened the lid, grabbing his invisibility cloak and heading towards the door where Ron and I were standing.
Ron quickly hid underneath the cloak with Harry and they both turned expectantly to me. I couldn't make my eyes turn away from Snape, the blood pooling out of his neck and onto the wooden floor as he sputtered. Could they really leave him behind while he was suffering and dying?
"Hermione, are you coming?" Harry asked, watching me anxiously from the doorway.
My stomach clenched and twisted as I looked down at the dark haired man who spent the past 6 years as my teacher. I couldn't just leave him here to die alone. It wasn't fair.
"I'll catch up with you guys. I…I just want to wait here for a minute." My voice shook as I took a hesitant step towards Snape, waving Harry and Ron off. They continued to stand in the doorway for a few more seconds, Ron looking as I he was ready to throw me over his shoulder and carry me out of here himself.
Harry managed to pull Ron along and they both disappeared under the cloak, while I knelt down and moved closer, grabbing the clammy hand that was laid at his side. His eyes were shut now, but he was still spluttering.
"Professor, can you hear me? It's Hermione Granger."
His dark eyes snapped open and landed on mine, dilating as he tried to focus on my face. He made another attempt to speak, this time managing a series of unintelligible gurgling, the words not making it past the blood that was filling the back of his throat. He gripped my hand weakly, the strength rapidly leaving his body as death approached.
"Don't try to speak." I squeezed his hand, knowing that this gesture in any other circumstances would be reassuring. "I don't know why I stayed. But, I couldn't just let you die alone."
He continued to stare up at me as if he wasn't quite sure what he was seeing, his expression unchanging. The gurgling sound grew more pronounced as he let his head fall to the side, a pool of blood flowing onto the ground. After most of the blood had pooled out I used the hand that wasn't holding his, to shift his head straight again. I met his eyes as a small silvery blue tear built in the corner of his eyes and slowly travelled down his cheek. I instantly conjured a small vial, wondering what memories he could possibly want to share with me that he hadn't already shared with Harry, letting the tear gently roll into the small glass bottle.
"For…you…no one…else." My brows furrowed as the words pushed past the blood that was already refilling his mouth, spattering some of the scarlet liquid across his lips and down his chin and neck.
"Okay, I'll look at it once I leave." I said, squeezing his hand again. "I'm not going until it's over."
His head shifted in a move that I could only guess was a nod, the grip he had on my hand getting looser. My brained flickered through the possibilities of anything that I could say that might comfort him in his last moments, but nothing came. I couldn't think of anything that would be appropriate. What would Snape want to hear before he died? I mean, knowing that he was approaching death, what is something that he make him relax?
Something struck in my brain and I leant closer, gently clearing my throat as I closed my eyes and rehearse the story I had committed to my brain. "There were once three brothers who were travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across. However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They were halfway across it when…"
I had barely started the story when I felt his hands go slack in mind. I continued to speak as I opened my eyes and looked up at his. Only stopping as the dark piercing eyes, although still just as dark as they'd always been, glazed over as they looked down at me.
Tears welled up in my eyes and I pushed them back down, reluctantly letting his hand go and making my way to my feet. I gave his lifeless body one more look before I cast a Disillusionment charm on myself and rushed through the tunnel that came out under the Whomping Willow.
I made my way through the grounds as fast as my feet would take me, my hand clamped around the small vial. I passed people both injured and dying as I ran through the main halls, up the stairs, and towards the Headmaster's office. I hid myself behind a tall stature that was off to the side of the office door, knowing that Harry was inside there now, looking at whatever Snape had given him.
Snape's last words were to tell me that the memory he had given me was for no one other than me. I didn't know what that could mean, but I wasn't about to disrespect a dead man's wishes.
While I waited for Harry to come back out of the office, I thought over all the possibilities of what the memory could be. Was it something that would help in defeating Voldemort? Something that only I would be able to understand? Some obscure potions discovery that he didn't want to die with him? A memory that involved me? I could be anything.
It took another fifteen minutes before Harry reappeared, wand-in-hand, racing down the hallway in the opposite direction. I took that opportunity and slipped up the stairs, through the door and into the dimly lit office. I took breath in, the familiar smell of smoke and patchouli filled my body. It hadn't changed much in the year that Dumbledore had been gone.
Under the watchful eyes of the portraits that hung on the walls, I located the Pensieve that sat open behind the Headmaster's desk. It glowed an eerie blue, and as I got closer I could see the blue substance swirling around inside like a whirlpool.
Releasing my tight grip on the vial, I plucked the stopper from the top and let the dingle teardrop fall onto the surface of whatever it was that the Pensieve held. Leaning closer into it, I felt myself begin to get pulled down and I fell deeper and deeper into the memory. Continuing my freefall until I landed in the Hogwarts grounds, right near where I had punched Malfoy in the face in third year, looking down at Hagrid's hut and the Forbidden Forest.
Stalking his way up the stairs was a boy around my age. I knew who it was immediately. Pitch-black, shoulder-length hair, hooked nose, and green-trimmed robes made it blatantly obvious. He looked exactly the same, but completely different at the same time. As he walked closer I realised that there was a nasty purple bruise forming around his eyes and blood was dripping from his nose and down his chin.
Distant laughter could be heard back the way that he had come from and I hurried forward to see who it was. I could see the group down by the edge of the forest, four boys laughing and pointing up at Snape. The Marauder's.
I turned back to Snape, knowing that there was a reason that he wanted to see this memory, and it probably didn't have to do with seeing Harry father and godparents again. He was storming towards the school, head down, his robes billowing behind him. I rushed to catch up as he walked in the direction of a small cluster of trees rather than the school entrance. I had no idea what he was doing, or why he had wanted me to see this.
"Insolent prats!" He said to himself, his voice filled with venom. "Spoilt attention-seeking prats!"
His voice sounded the same as well, holding the same power it had when he was old. A rough baritone that could slice through you with ease if you did something wrong in his potions class. He slowed down as he reached the group of trees. I followed as he made his way through them to the back, pausing as he and I both heard a crashing noise. He looked around, panic in his eyes. Was it the Marauders back to beat him up more? He looked towards me, his eyes narrowing at what he saw. Not in a menacing 'I'm want to hex you' look, but the look you get when you see someone get hurt and you don't know how to help them.
I looked down at myself. Could he see me? He started forward and for a brief moment I expected him to say something to me. But instead he walked directly through me, sending a cold shiver down my spine as if I had just walked through a ghost.
I turned around to see what he was looking at and my breath stopped short. There on the ground, in the shadows of one of the tall trees, was an unconscious body. He and I both walked closer to see who it was. I gasped, my hand coming up to cover my mouth. It wasn't just some random student. It was me.
I was laying on my back, dressed in the same clothes I was wearing now, the same cuts and bruises on my face from the battle that was still raging in the real-world. Snape dropped to the ground, placing his school books beside him as he reached his hand out.
"Oh Merlin!" He shook my arm lightly. "Miss, are you okay? Miss?"
When I didn't wake up he grabbed his wand from his robes and used a shrinking charm on his books, placing them in his pocket, then he reached out and lifted me up into his arms, as if I had weighed nothing. Then he started to run, as fast as he could, towards the school.
"It's going to be okay." He said as he ran passed a group of bewildered students. "I'll take you to the Hospital Wing."
I ran after him, but the scene around me stopped moving and began to blur in and out of focus. I tried to steady myself, closing my eyes to prevent the dizziness that this change was causing.
When I opened my eyes I was standing beside Snape outside the Hospital Wing, the door was cracked open slightly so that we could see what was happening inside, the stale smell of the ward drifting out the door. I was standing at his elbow, my eyes looking through the door to see Madam Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore talking animatedly with…me.
"You are telling us Miss Granger, that you were sent here, to 1977, from the future?" Dumbledore asked, running a hand along his long grey beard.
"Yes. I was sent here by one of the Professors at Hogwarts. I don't know the exact reason why, but I know it's important." The memory of myself gasped to catch her breath as she finished speaking. Did I really sound like that?
"How on Earth do you expect us to believe you are telling the truth?" McGonagall said, stepping forward and looking down at me over the rim of her glasses.
I turned to Dumbledore, looking up at him desperately. "You can perform legilimency on me. I swear I'm telling the truth."
Dumbledore spoke softly to McGonagall, his words lost to us by the sound of Snape's heavy breathing, then he turned to me and said legilimens, catching me by total surprise.
I sat perfectly still, my eyes trained on him, before his own eyes widened slightly at what he was seeing. He shoved his wand, the Elder Wand, into his robes. "She's telling us the truth, Minerva. She will need to remain here at Hogwarts until she finds or does whatever it is that she's here for. We will need to come up with a cover story for her, and then we will place her in classes beginning on Monday. Her memories tell me that she was sorted into Gryffindor, so I think it would be best if she discuss her class with you. For now though, I think it is best to let her rest."
Dumbledore turned towards the door and met eyes with Snape, a knowing smile appearing on his face. Snape gasped quietly and moved back from the door. He stood there a moment before he seemed to remember that he should've been in class, walking down the hall.
I continued to watch Dumbledore as he walked out the door of the infirmary, his eyes trained on me as if he could actually see me.
He pulled a lemon drop out of his pocket and shoved it in his mouth. "I think variation on the luvinziah almatonia will work finely for you, Miss Granger. Don't you think?"
I was pushed out of the Pensieve as the memory came to a stop, stumbling back into the desk. I managed to right myself before I fell flat on my bottom, gasping at what the memory had contained. It was not what I expected. I had to got to the past…or, I had already been in the past but needed to complete the loop by going back again.
But I couldn't leave now. Not when we were in the middle of a battle against the most powerful Dark Wizard in wizarding history. And I didn't even know how to go back that far. A time-turner wouldn't work, and from the theory I had read on the subject there wasn't a way to travel that far. But, what did Dumbledore say at the end? Luvinziahalmatonia.
I stood there for a moment before using my wand to coax the memory from the basin and placing it safely back in the vial, putting the stopper back in and pushing it down tightly. I needed to help Harry and Ron, then I needed to find McGonagall as soon as possible.