Eternally — A Sirius/Hermione time travel story
Summary: When killed in the final battle, Hermione Granger finds herself in a sort of purgatory. She has three options, become a ghost, rest beyond the veil, or be reincarnated as the twin sister to James Potter in order to stop Voldemort before the Prophecy can be made. Hermione makes her choice and is sent back in time, facing trials she has never seen before; in particular, love.
Notes: This was originally a fic called "Love Thy Brother," but I decided to revamp it and make it a bit less gimmicky.
Warnings: Language, violence, sexual scenes and connotations. — I do not write anything along the lines of noncon or dubcon so no worries on that front
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Chapter One — Prologue
Hermione Granger barely remembered her death. One moment she was fighting off two masked death eaters during the final battle, and the next… well, she remembers the sensation of flying through the air, a sharp pain in her side, and the sickening crack of her skull before everything went black.
She didn't know what to expect from the afterlife. As a child, her parents raised her to be Christian, but as she learned more about science and the natural world, the more skeptical she grew. Once she found out she was a witch, all hope of religion went out the window. She supposed the idea of heaven wouldn't be too bad, but even if it did exist, she didn't know if she'd get in. While yes, she was fighting for the "good" side, she still harmed people, possibly killed. She wasn't exactly sure of the fates of the death eaters she faced during the battle. Naturally she didn't send any killing curses, but some particularly nasty hexes could prove fatal if not tended to.
What Hermione didn't expect, was a waiting room.
When she regained consciousness, Hermione was sitting in a rather large, orange, tartan chair in what looked like a seventies law firm's reception area. Her feet were bare and her toes were engulfed in a soft shag rug. A deep wood panelling lined the walls and an empty desk sat to her right. In front of her, Hermione noticed a closed door.
Standing, she was surprised to see her body wasn't damaged at all. All of the grime was washed away, her wounds nonexistent, and she was back up to a healthy weight. She even noticed her nails were filed into neat ovals, nowhere near the horrid state they were while on the run, cracked and caked with blood and dirt.
Besides her feet being bare, Hermione was clad in white linen pants and a matching camisole. She hadn't felt as clean as she did in that moment since Bill and Fleur's wedding. Hermione figured that if this was the afterlife, she could deal with the outdated decor with zero complaints.
She was about to investigate the door when a feminine voice from behind her interrupted her trek.
"Ah, Miss Granger," The woman said, "Sorry about the wait."
Hermione turned to find a plump woman in a business suit smiling at her. She held a thick file in her hand with runes she didn't recognize printed neatly on a label in the corner.
"Please, follow me." The woman smiled, walking forwards towards the door.
"I'm sorry," Hermione interjected, "But who are you?"
"Oh we don't have names, dear. Everything will be explained to you soon."
The woman kept walking towards the door, ignoring Hermione's gaping. She quickly assessed the situation. Hermione figured she was dead, wandless, and stuck. Really her only logical option was to do as she was told. Sighing, she followed.
"Who exactly am I going to see?" Hermione asked as they walked down a hallway of doors.
"Your Guide, dear."
"My who?"
"Your Guide, she'll explain it all."
Sensing the end of the conversation, Hermione kept quiet and followed her past a few more doors before she stopped outside of one with the same runes that were printed on the file on the door.
The woman handed Hermione the file, "Please deliver this to your Guide." The woman knocked on the door and when a faint acknowledgement came from the other side, she opened the door and stepped aside for Hermione to enter.
Hermione entered and found a kind looking woman sitting behind a desk. If asked later, Hermione would not be able to describe what she looked like. She was very plain with nondescript features that seemed to shift if Hermione took her eyes off of her for a moment. The woman had a warm smile on her face and gestured for Hermione to take a seat in the plush chair on the other side of the desk.
"Hello, Hermione." The woman said with no discernible accent, "I am your Guide. I'm sure you must be very confused. Why don't you tell me the last thing you remember and I will fill in the blanks?"
"Uhm," Hermione stumbled, "I—I was battling death eaters at Hogwarts. A wall, it exploded. Fred and I, we were standing next to each other, both of us were right there… Oh god, is Fred dead, too?"
Her Guide looked pensive for a moment, "Yes, Mr. Weasley did die along with you." Hermione gasped out a jagged sob for the lost twin. Before she could contemplate his death further, her Guide spoke again, "But, I do have a way to reverse these unnecessary casualties."
Hermione looked up, eyes wide and searching this Guide woman's expression to see if she was being tricked, if it was all some sick joke. "How?"
"You see, Hermione, Guides are a sort of guardian assigned to protect the souls of those with great power. I've been watching over your soul for millennia. Every incarnation of your soul has been under my watch. You've been incarnated well over two hundred times, and each and every body your soul has inhabited has gone on to do amazing things.
"Typically, when a body dies, the soul can make a choice; they can either be reincarnated, become a ghost, or rest eternally beyond the veil. As your Guide, we help you make those decisions. There are lower level Guides that assist the less powerful souls en masse make their decisions. If you so choose, we send your soul to a new body, all memories erased. Usually the reincarnated soul will go on to be reborn shortly after the old incarnation has perished, but in some rare cases, we may choose to send the soul back to any time we deem necessary."
Hermione processed this information. If what her Guide said was true, she had seen civilizations rise and fall. She would have been alive when they pyramids were built, when the Romans ruled, when the Americas were 'discovered.' Hermione was blown away by the knowledge she had to have locked away somewhere in her mind.
"Where would you send me?" Hermione asked, "Or I supposed, when?"
"I believe that this war could have ended far earlier. So many unnecessary deaths could have prevented if only someone knew what they were doing the first time around. I believe that if I send you back to the right time, you would be able to destroy Tom Riddle, once and for all, long before any prophecy is cast."
Her Guide opened the folder Hermione had handed her earlier. "I want to send you back to 1971 as eleven year old Hermione Iolanthe Potter. Daughter of Fleamont and Euphemia Potter and younger twin sister of James Henry Potter.
"You will retain all memories of your life as Hermione Granger, but since I wish to send you back as an eleven year old, the early memories of Hermione Potter will also be given to you. With the knowledge of both of these lives, I believe you will be able to destroy the horcruxes and end Tom Riddle once and for all."
Her Guide pulled an image out of the folder Hermione had been given earlier and handed it to Hermione. The picture was of two children around the age of nine or ten. The boy looked nearly identical to a young Harry, but far healthier looking, with hazel eyes and no scar. Hermione immediately recognized this to be James Potter. James' arm was thrown around a girl who looked to be his sister. Upon closer inspection, she saw this girl to be what she would look like, had she been a Potter.
Hermione could see own her face within the young girl's, but there were many little differences that made her look to be a part of the Potter family. For one, her hair fell a bit longer than hers had at that age. It was near jet black instead of warm brown, and the bushy curls were traded in for looser, wilder waves that came down to her waist. Her eyebrows were fuller and darker, framing her face just a bit nicer. Her nose was more angular and harsh, reminiscent of the aristocratic look common in pureblood families.
The biggest difference for Hermione was the teeth. Instead of her large front teeth that she hated so strongly, her smile was straighter and more even than any dentist could achieve with any braces. Hermione strongly suspected that pureblood families altered their children's teeth to keep them so perfect.
"So, that would be me?" Hermione asked, pointing to the girl smiling in the picture.
"Yes," Her Guide nodded, "you would be eleven years old, just about to head off to Hogwarts. And while you would still keep the memories of Hermione Granger, you would be eleven years old, mentally and physically. Your magical ability on the other hand, will be that of the nineteen year old you truly are. The only reason you wouldn't retain the mentality of a nineteen year old is that I believe it would get quite tiresome after a while, being surrounded by children as an adult, especially being treated like one."
"Well at least there's that." Hermione mumbled, "But, if I don't go back, what happens? Does Harry win? Does he survive?"
Her guide sighed, pulling another paper from the file. "If you do not go back, Harry Potter does defeat Tom Riddle, but the costs are high. Besides your death, Fred Weasley died, which causes George to become a shell of a man and Percy to blame himself for the rest of his life. Molly Weasley falls into a deep depression for around five years. Remus Lupin and his wife, Tonks, both die in battle, leaving their son an orphan. Harry and Ginny wed, but are hounded by the press for the rest of their lives, never able to live as normal people.
"Ron Weasley, well, he was the most distraught over your death, besides Harry that is. He claimed he had been in love with you since your third year and then proceeds to sleep his way around England and eventually the continent in attempt to numb the pain of losing you. He accidentally impregnated an American witch and they proceed to get into the custody battle of the decade as she wanted to move back to America and raise the child without Ronald. This causes Molly to fall back into her depression and it takes another two years for her come back out of it. Ron loses the battle and moves back in with his parents until he is almost thirty and George finally takes pity on him and lets him work at the shop and live in the flat above it with him. Then ther—"
"Stop!" Hermione yells, "Please, stop. I don't want to hear anymore. I'll do it. I'll go back, just tell me what I have to do!"
"I am sorry to have to tell you all of this, Hermione." Her Guide said. Her face was sincere and Hermione knew she was telling the truth. "I've watched over you for nearly my entire existence. I've watched you fall in love, get your heart broken, save civilizations, and rule them. I have been with you through it all, and it truly does hurt me to see you hurting, but I'd rather you know all of the facts."
Hermione understood where her Guide was coming from. It took great strength for her not to bombard her Guide with questions about her past lives, but she knew she needed to focus on the here and now. She would be going back and becoming the twin sister to James Potter. She'd attend Hogwarts for the second time, and she would defeat Tom Riddle before he could ruin Harry's life.
Though upon further thought, Hermione realized she would be altering the timeline. She had no way of knowing if Harry would even be born in this life! She'd be changing everything. Anyone she interacted with could potentially be a parent to someone in her lifetime, and her existence could stop theirs from ever coming forth.
"What about Harry?" Hermione asked, slightly frantically. "Will he even be born? Will he still be my Harry?"
"Do not fret, Hermione." Her guide soothed. "I have ways of making sure some things are set into stone. All those born in your time will be born again. Save for you. While your parents will still have a child, her soul will be different from yours. It is unknown if she will even be magical or not."
"My parents," Hermione asked, "What happened to them?"
"They made it to Australia. They were happy."
Knowing this information, Hermione felt more at peace. She had saved her parents and could move on with a little less weight on her shoulders.
"Okay," Hermione nodded, "I'm ready."
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Notes: I hope you all liked it! Old readers, let me know what you think of the changes, and new readers tell me how I did! I love hearing your suggestions in the reviews about where you think this story should go, if I like your idea, I might just put it in! I do have a tentative story line mapped out, but it can be changed!
Also let me know what you think about chapter length. Do you want shorter, more frequent chapters, or longer chapters updated farther apart? I still plan on making the chapters longer than this one, as this was just an introduction, but I will gladly take your suggestions!
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Thank you to everyone who made it this far!