Author's notes: Well, here goes nothing! My name is C, I've been reading HP fan fiction for almost 10 years, and I thought it was time for me to give something back to this site. I'm not a native english speaker, so please bear in mind there WILL be mistakes here. If you like what you read and want to help by beta reading, please say so in a review ^^
The majority of this first chapter is based off an actual scene from Order of the Phoenix, which I have altered (a lot) to suit my story. Also, since I do this for entertainment, most of the things that I claim (such as the order of the rooms in the Department of Mysteries, the dates, or the character's behaviors) haven't been checked and are most likely wrong.
In this story, in the original timeline Hermione is 19 years younger than the Marauders.
Disclaimer: None of the characters depicted here belong to me, and the Harry Potter universe comes from Mrs. Rowling's mastermind.
June, 1993
"Do you remember, Hermione?", he asked, his eyes drilling into hers with an intensity that unsettled her, as if he were expecting something.
Confusion in her voice, she whispered. "Remember? What do you mean?". She saw his gaze drop in disappointment, the realization that she didn't know what he was talking about settling in.
"One day you will understand", he said as he jumped on the hippogriff's back. "See you soon, Kitten". And he flew away.
Two years later...
May, 1995
She could hear the sounds of the battle close to her. The familiar voices of the members of The Order, firing curses and spells after Voldemort's Death Eaters. The steps of people running, the screams of her friends. Feeling overwhelmed with the pain of Dolohov's curse, her vision started to blur.
Bur she couldn't stop fighting. They had managed to retrieve the prophecy, they couldn't fail now.
As she ran through the strange rooms of the Department of Mysteries, searching for Harry's voice, she got that feeling again. The same feeling she had last year, minutes before Harry stumbled out of the maze clutching the Triwizard Cup with one arm and Cedric Diggory's dead body with the other. The feeling that something was about to change, and not for good.
Suddenly, she head his voice, a couple rooms behind. "No - get - off - me... Neville - catch it!". She turned around towards it, running as fast as she could.
She sped through the planet room, dodging what appeared to be Mars, and opened the door to the time room. The familiar shape of the time turners flew past her peripheral vision, but she was too busy focusing on the door on the other side, getting closer and closer.
She pushed it open, and found the only room that seemed out of place here, as strange as the place was. What looked like thousands of stone seats made up an amphiteatre that seemed to belong to Roman times and circled around a small stage, where a dark archway stood. Gazing at it, she felt a chill run down her spine.
Scanning the room, she saw Dumbledore at another door, grabbing the attention of what now was a terrified group of Death Eaters. Harry was trying to help Neville up, stumbling around the seats.
Through the corner of her eye, she spotted a figure entering the room and swiftly moving towards the stage, where she could see Harry's godfather clutching his arm. Running to him as fast as she could, she fired a hex towards Bellatrix, just in time to divert the green beam of light that was coming out of her wand.
"Nearly got you, cousin." Bellatrix said, leaving the shadow of the stone steps and filling the air with her mad cackle. "Once again the mudblood comes to save the day".
With a confused look in her eyes, Hermione jumped into the stage, where Sirius stood, anger filling the look he was giving his relative. "You've lost the prophecy, get out of here".
Her madness filling the room, she chuckled. "Oh, but I've just started having fun, Sirius dear". She pointed her wand towards Hermione, who ducked to the side, and Sirius jumped in front of her, holding her hand with his as he used the other to send curse after curse at Bellatrix.
As they moved across the dais, she could see Dumbledore fighting off the remaining Death Eaters. She saw a red jet of light wheezing past her shoulder, and Sirius started laughing. "Come on, you can do better than that!", he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.
She felt the blow before the pain. It had hit Sirius right in the chest, and went right through him to land on her back. Time seemed to slow down, and she turned around to find him looking at her, with that strange intensity that had always made her feel so uneasy. They were falling backwards, and it was too late when she realized they were going right through the veil.
She could only see his eyes, his deep grey eyes. And then, darkness.