Chapter 1 - Hermione

It was yet another long evening in the library for Hermione Granger. Since beginning her sixth year at Hogwarts, she found that in order to stay on top of her classes she needed to spend twice as time there as she used to. She looked over her essay with a frown on her face; the library was shutting soon but she still had so much more to include before she could be satisfied with her work! She asked to borrow Harry's cloak just in case she was going to make it back past the curfew hours, so she hoped that she wouldn't be ushered out just yet.

Unfortunately, Madam Pince was annoyingly diligent and had no intention of letting any student stay longer than permitted. She approached Hermione's table and without a word glared at her to indicate that it was time to leave. The essay was not yet finished! She needed at least another half an hour but there was no point arguing with the librarian. Quietly, she picked up her books and made a point of leaving the library, only to put the Invisibility Cloak back on and re-enter when Madam Pince was checking the other end of the room.

One of the greatest, if not the only, benefits of the Marauder's Map was that it gave away the location of the library's secret study rooms which have been unused for years. It was shocking to her that Harry and Ron didn't care much for this amazing discovery, so she was left to figure out how to get to all three of them on her own. She chose to go for the one nearest to the exist, since it was the easiest entrance to get through without making any noise.

Hermione navigated between two bookcases until she reached the wall at the end, and with a few taps of her wand on the appropriate slabs of stone she soon found herself in the ancient room with not only forgotten and forbidden books on unstable, randomly scattered bookshelves, but a few strange objects in-between them which she never had the time to examine closer. She took off Harry's cloak and looked around. Her mission would have been a success, except for one very unwanted Slytherin who stood still and alert with his wand out opposite her.

'What are you doing here Granger?' Draco Malfoy asked wearily with a scowl on his gaunt face.

Hermione studied him for a moment. It dawned on her that she hasn't actually seen him a lot this year; They were well into November and he hasn't yet made a point of antagonising her or her friends as much as he used to. He mostly kept to himself. As well as his behaviour, his appearance changed too. His face was even more pale now, and he had dark circles under his eyes.

She frowned and responded. 'I came here to…' she started, but her words were cut off by the sound of moving stone which could only mean someone was about to enter. There was just about enough time to hide behind a bookcase and throw the Cloak back on. Malfoy forced himself under as well and cut off her protest by putting a hand over her mouth.

Her heart was pounding as they watched Madam Pince enter the room. Hermione cursed herself for not considering the possibility of the librarian checking even the secret rooms before her shift was over. Neither of them dared to move as she started inspecting the chamber. Hermione could only hope that the Invisibility Cloak was covering them entirely. She tried to look for alternative ways of escaping, but they were backed against a wall between a bookshelf to their left, and a strange object on a pedestal next to the wall on the right. It could only be described as a dusty, golden, yet transparent glass sphere with glistening sand lazily circling inside.

Madam Pince looked around thoroughly and stopped in a few places. Hermione could feel Malfoy's palm grow sweaty on her face as the librarian's hawk like eyes began scanning their corner. She paused for a moment to look at the golden sphere with a slightly puzzled look on her face and turned to leave.

The movement of the slabs of stone indicated that Madam Pince finished her inspection, but they remained still for several moments after. Eventually Malfoy took his hand off her mouth and made a move to leave.

'Well done Granger, you nearly got us caught!' He exclaimed as he anxiously walked to the end of the book case and leaned out to check that the coast was clear.

'I got us caught?!' Hermione hissed in disbelief, not daring to shout. 'If it wasn't for Harry's cloak you would have had a month's worth of detention by now!'

He sharply walked back towards her and pointed his wand at her. He opened his mouth to start his usual string of threats and insults, but he froze and stared at the object next to her with a frown. Hermione followed his line of sight and saw that the sand inside the sphere started flowing in a confusing, frantic way. This seemed to have captured Malfoy's curiosity, because he picked up the orb and shook it. The sand inside behaved as a sand in a container being thrown about would, and when Malfoy placed it back down on the stand, it resumed its lazy swirling motion. If Hermione wasn't still recovering from the close call, she probably would have made a comment. He shrugged his shoulders and apparently decided he was in no mood to argue and left.

Finally deciding to move, she walked over to the table in the middle of the room and sat down to collect herself. It wasn't three minutes before the entrance opened once again. She jumped up, scared it was another professor, but found that it was Malfoy again. A very dishevelled Malfoy with his face red from exercise.

'Something's wrong,' he said as he paced the room.

'You forgot to thank me for saving your ferret ass?' Hermione snorted but he barely reacted.

'No, something is really, REALLY wrong.' He started pacing even faster. 'I wanted to go back to my common room, but everything in the library has changed! It's definitely not how I saw it when I walked in.'

'Maybe you've been creeping around this secret room for a bit too long Malfoy?' She had a strong suspicion that he was playing some malicious game with her.

'No, I was here an hour at most. Not long enough to change the entire library!'

'The entire library?' She was still sceptical, but his frantic behaviour was rousing her curiosity.

Cautiously, she tiptoed out of the chamber and found that Malfoy was not lying. The interior was more or less the same, yet completely different. The books were arranged oddly, the tables and chairs stood in a different pattern and the decoration was changed.

'Whatever you did Malfoy, it's not funny!' She attacked him and he scoffed.

'Granger, what purpose would I have in rearranging the library?'

Hermione closed her eyes and tried to find an explanation for what was happening.

'It must have been that orb! The one you shook earlier!' She exclaimed.

Malfoy frowned and disappeared back into the secret study room.

'No, wait!' Hermione tried to stop him from doing it again, but before she managed the library began to transform. Everything but the shelves gently disappeared and came back rearranged again. She deduced it must be a relic which used to aid in keeping everything in place, but the charms wore off.

'Well, this was extremely fun! I'm going to go before I get caught and accused of being responsible for this mess.' Hermione said and navigated towards the exit.

As she was making her way through familiar corridors and hallways, just like the in the library, she felt that something was not quite right. She decided to blame it on the weird experience she just had with Malfoy, and ignored her surroundings until she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

'Butterbeer lips' – she said confidently. The Fat Lady gave her a quizzical look.

'Sorry, that's not the password, dear,' she said reluctantly, still frowning.

'Yes, yes, it is! I'm a Prefect and I spoke with the Head Girl just the other day…', Hermione replied. This was getting ridiculous

'One moment please,' she said before appearing in a frame across the corridor. Hermione panicked; she was on her way to inform Professor McGonagall, or, worse yet, Filch. She didn't have time to react because for the third time this evening she was presented with Malfoy.

'I'm guessing your portrait's password has changed too?' He panted. He must have run all the way from the dungeons.

Hermione felt her patience escaping her with every moment. 'Okay, this is seriously unamusing Malfoy. What did you do?'

'I told you, I have no reason to be playing stupid tricks on you Granger!' She almost didn't hear his frustrated response because she began walking away from him.

'Where are you going?' He asked and followed her.

'Something is really not right, so I am going to Professor Dumbledore's office and I'm going to find out.' She said as she confidently strode through the castle expecting Draco to make a remark about her drastic measures. He only responded with a suggestion to put the Invisibility Cloak back on, in case someone spots them. They didn't speak until they reached the entrance to the office.

'The Fat Lady looked very alarmed when she saw me,' Hermione began in a whisper. 'I think she went to either inform Dumbledore himself or someone else who will bring him.'

'Which means that all we have to do is wait for him to either leave or come back,' he said after some consideration.

They stood under Harry's cloak in silence until after what felt like an age, they saw a familiar face. Professor McGonagall who was looking older and more tired, was hurrying towards the Headmaster's office. Hermione decided it was time to intercept her.

'Professor McGonagall! I'm sorry that…' she was interrupted by her teacher's attempt at pushing them towards the staircase. She did not appear surprised to see them.

'Get in here before anyone sees you!' McGonagall urged.

They did as they were told and soon and travelled up the staircase to the Headmasters office. Hermione wasn't a regular visitor, but she noticed it has been altered as well. If it wasn't for these odd circumstances, she would have been really worried about getting into trouble for wandering around the castle after curfew, but the strangeness of the situation unsettled her far more.

'Is Professor Dumbledore away?' She asked in an uncertain tone.

'No,' said Malfoy. 'He's dead.'

Hermione's heart dropped. How was this possible? He was just present at yesterday's dinner! She looked at the portraits of the past headmasters and was sorry to find him there. It was almost as startling as finding Snape's likeness next to his! She was beyond confused.

Professor McGonagall motioned for them to sit down.

'I think it's best we get to the bottom of this instantly.' She said as she settled behind the giant desk. 'What date is it today miss Granger?'

This question was enough to give Hermione a good idea of what exactly just happened.

'Twelfth of November, Nineteen Ninety-Six.' She replied steadily.

Professor McGonagall pressed her lips together as she studied them carefully. She seemed to be choosing her wording. Slowly, she began:

'Since you were both amongst the more capable students I taught, I believe you can already gather what I'm about to say.' She paused for a moment and sighed. 'It indeed is Twelfth of November, but the year is Twenty Twenty-Two'.

The Professor fell silent as if to give them time to process what they just her.

Hermione's head was spinning with various thoughts, one more disturbing than the next. How was it possible for them to travel twenty-six years into the future, via some object carelessly discarded in a library room? How were they going to get back to their own time, and when? When she was entrusted with a Time Turner in her third year, she was told all sorts of terrifying stories about what happened to those who meddled with time. She felt horrified. So many things could go wrong, so many outcomes that they could accidentally alter for the worse! There wasn't any known spell to her to immediately bring them back, but she hoped this was only due to her lack of knowledge and that Professor McGonagall had a solution already.

She took a terrified glance at Malfoy. He was still silent, but visibly affected by the situation. He looked even worse than before. After a long silence, the new Headmistress finally spoke.

'Unfortunately I cannot tell you when you would be making your way back,' she said, 'but I can assure you that it will happen.'

Hermione listened to Professor McGonagall continue explaining how she knows both of them as adults, and that whatever occurs during their stay will not affect anything. It was difficult remain rational, but eventually she felt a little bit calmer; if they were still alive and well now, this means they must have been sent back at some point and everything that was about to happen, has already happened and there was nothing to fear.

'Now, you two have to explain how you got here in the first place,' she said.

The events in the library were eagerly retold by Hermione, who was determined to not leave anything out. There were only one or two words from Malfoy, who was unsurprisingly blaming her for the incident. Professor McGonagall listened attentively. She was surprised to hear about the orb's behaviour as she wasn't aware that it ever worked. It was studied by a professor with a transportation obsession over a hundred years ago, but was neglected once this person vanished without a trace. Apparently the strange and eccentric personality of the scholar prevented anyone from believing his disappearance had anything to do with the objects he studied, which have displayed no signs of ever working beforehand. Professor McGonagall promised to closely examine the mysterious sphere, but said that they were most likely going to use an alternative medium because of its temperamental disposition.

Again, they were given a few moments to grasp their situation before the Headmistress continued. She wanted to discuss their options. They were not going to be sent away or isolated; this could only have a negative effect and add to their anxiety.

'You will have a series of charms would be placed to alter your appearance and you will be given new identities. You will continue your education as sixth year transfer students,' she exclaimed. 'When we find a way to send you back I will erase any memory of your time here.'

This did not sit well with Hermione. She felt that it was going to be much more straining to pretend to be someone else instead of being hidden away and working on a solution, but she also trusted Professor McGonagall and felt there was a reason for her decision so she didn't say anything.

Both of them were to be placed in Slytherin, which Hermione knew was because Malfoy could not be trusted on his own. The rest of the night was spent on coming up with their back stories; it was agreed that the most convincing thing to do would be to stick to the truth as much as possible and only omit or change the necessary. They were then placed under numerous charms and spells; most to change their appearance, and others to stop them from being able to speak about who they really are.

The whole process took extremely long. They were shown to their respective guest chambers very late into the night and neither of them could really fall asleep. There were too many anxious thoughts and doubts in Hermione's mind and in the end she only got a couple of hours of very light sleep.

Author's Note: I hope you guys enjoyed this! I've had an idea for this story in my head for over four years now and felt it was finally time to write it all down. I understand that this may not have been the most exciting chapter, but it felt necessary to show what happened to Draco and Hermione, and I can only promise that next ones will be full of interaction between all the characters. I'm really excited to hear your thoughts and criticism, so don't hesitate to leave a comment!