A/U: Hello everyone, I replaced the real chapter with this beta remade one done by Applesfalling. Please review!
Chapter One: The Last Battle
The war raged on around Hermione as she stood there taking it all in. How could it be possible that they were already losing? It had begun so quickly, but things were progressing too fast. Tonks and Lupin were the first ones to go as they saved Ginny from a certain Potions Professor. After he had killed Dumbledore, Snape quickly turned to Lord Voldemort's side without a hint of hesitation. Shooting a nasty dark curse at Snape, they began to duel with no mercy. He shot a spell at her that she did not recognize, and it being too fast to send up a protective barrier, she agilely jumped to the side. The spell passed her in a rush of yellow, sending her hair in a frenzy as she came to a stop. Their eyes met but didn't waver as they cast a non-ending amount of different spells.
Sweat trickled down Hermione's face and wiping it onto her robes sleeve, she cast an Expelliarmus charm just after Snape cried out Sectumsempra. His curse looked as if it was in slow motion as it sped towards her form and it was too late to dodge. Hermione was thrown back from the impact of the spell onto her right shoulder causing something within her arm to crack from the sheer amount of pressure put upon it. She grunted from the pain but quickly thought Ferula, and bandages sprung up and wrapped around her arm. It was a ghetto fix, having no time for she was in the middle of a battle; what else could she have done with everything happening around her? They both ducked as a spell launched itself over their heads, cast by Lestrange, who was currently dueling with Harry. The Boy Who Lived glowered while screaming "Avada Kedavra!" From this war, it was conditioned within them that it was kill or be killed. Lestrange crippled to the dirty ground without saying another single word and Harry didn't even stop to think about it as he started to duel with someone else. The recent wars most definitely taught everyone that there was no mercy when it came to fighting for what they believed in. This was what pushed the Golden Trio to start casting Dark Magic and the Unforgivable spells. They would never pull through if they were outsmarted in any way.
The next thing Hermione knew was that Snape screamed, thrashing around in pain as he tumbled to the floor with finality, the light draining from his eyes. Hermione turned gratefully to see Ron nod at her, a gesture that told her that he had her back. Ron then proceeded to turn and go back to fighting Lucius Malfoy. Over the years, Ron had grown to love Hermione, but things changed for her when her own family had been murdered in front of her. There was no room for any thought of love, not when it could be used against you. Although, she did not love Ron the same way he did her. Don't get her wrong, there is still a deep sense of care for her good friend and she'll never loose that. Yet, that was exactly why it crushed her upon seeing him die.
When Ron turned back to continue fighting, Lucius yelled "Crucio," and Ron had no time to move, falling to the floor in a heap with his screams bouncing off of everything in sight. Ron wailed and screeched upon the ground, withering as every part of his body burning from the inside out. He scratched at his arms, digging his nails into his own skin as though it couldn't be satisfied and he itched with even more fever. Blood eventually tore through the ripped skin, burying underneath his nails as the itch spread throughout his body. It eventually reached his head and Ron grasped his hair and began yanking it like an insane person, but that didn't help minimize his need to relieve himself of the pain, the itching and burning within him.
"No!" Hermione cried out in horror, running towards the contorted body of Ron and thinking, Everte Statum, causing Lucius to be thrown backwards and land upon the ground in a heap. Before she could do a thing for Ron,help him, heal him, he slipped too far out of her reach and slowly died just like the rest of her friends. They're all dead except for a very select few, if that, Hermione thought as she looked across the battlefield. She gazed into Ron's blank eyes and expected a scream to rip from her throat, tear up, or go crazy with the weight that was put upon her shoulders, but nothing happened. Hermione had been battle hardened over the course of having to fight and there was no way she will let things get to her now of all times. Definitely not now when she had to finish the impossible task set upon her group, but that was if Harry failed, and all hopes were that he would annihilate Voldemort at this final battle. For the sake of all those that had given their lives, Hermione begged the gods to shine down on them and allow them to win for one last time.
"Lacarnum Inflamarae Maxima!" A fireball streamed from the tip of her wand and flew into Lucius, being fueled by her rage of one of her friends deaths. He screamed about how dirty mud bloods should all die, but he finally gave his last shuttering breath before giving into the cold embrace of death. It serves him right for torturing Ron, for hurting Ginny, for causing so much pain throughout their lives. Hermione would never be able to tell Ron that she loved him like a brother, that she was glad to have been his friend and she just hoped that she would get the chance to tell Harry before it was too late.
Hermione stiffened as she felt a cold tip of a wand digging painfully into her neck and heard whom she presumed to be Bellatrix Lestrange's chilling laugh. "Who do we have here? A stupid, pitiful mud blood trying to fight a war she can't win," with another laugh she continued on with her speach, "I'll teach you not to mess with us Pure Bloods."
Then with a harsh order she made Hermione turn to face her before smiling evilly. With her wand helplessly at her side she knew that there would not be enough time to disarm Bellatrix before she was killed.
"Crucio," Lestrange laughed hysterically as she said it. Blinding pain clouded Hermione's mind as she sank to the floor upon her hands and knees. It took all her strength not to give her torturer the pleasure of seeing her scream or beg. Tears fell from her eyes as she began to give up on all hope of ever getting out of this endless numbness. Time seemed to slow down considerably, her heavy breathing was the only thing she could hear and Hermione's nails dug into the palms of her hands, creating half moons in her palm. Ron's face appeared in her mind, and she questioned what he'd say if he found her on the floor crying like a Slytherin.
"That's what you get for killing my husband you Filthy Mud blood." Bellatrix snarled while taking hold of Hermione's arm and shoving one of her sleeves up as far as it could go. The old scar of mud blood stood out painfully upon Hermione's pale skin, causing a pain wrenching feeling at the corners of her heart as her eyes found it once again.
"I'll teach you to mess with me. Dirty blood," Bellatrix snapped before Hermione puckered her lips and spit into her tormenters face. Bellatrix screamed in anger and disgust as she wiped away the spit with pure menace in her eyes. She then whispered a spell and began laughing as the old letters started to appear brighter and looked like they were crawling up and down Hermione's arm like beetles. At this point Hermione couldn't stop herself from screeching in pain, tears sliding down her dirt streaked face as she tried to regain her dignity. Yet the carvings on her arm grew deeper as Bellatrix carved over them again and again. Blood soaked through her sweater and jeans as a puddle began to form around them, but that wasn't what she truly took notice in. There was already the unimaginable pain coming from Bellatrix's wand as she wrote over and over on the same scar, along with adding words on other limbs upon her body ,but that wasn't as bad as what Bellatrix did next.
"Delecaran," she heard coming from her enemy's lips, her wand pressed to Hermione's stomach. Fire seemed to spew from the tip of the wand and into her abdomen as it inched deeper into her skin with every second. As it did so, it felt like her insides were being squished with each and every second that passed, resulting in Hermione not being able to breathe. When Bellatrix withdrew her wand, Hermione felt the pressure and pain ebb away for now and it allowed her to breathe once again. Bellatrix then proceeded to other parts of Hermione's body, putting pressure on her wand in several places of Hermione's body, each time leaving a spot white like a scar with tendrils of white stretching away from it. How big the tendrils were depended on how long she left it there, no matter how many time she felt that piercing gut-wrenching pain it never became easier to take.
With renewed strength that came out of possibly nowhere, she finally saw what she was looking for. With Bellatrix in the ebb of the flow of concentration on the spell she was about to cast, it created an opening to strike. Reacting faster than she thought possible, Hermione's leg that was once close to her chest swept out, kicking Bellatrix to the floor and knocking the breath out of her. If she was going to be called a mudblood, then she might as well fight like one. Who was she to deny her heritage? Hermione was a mudblood and always will be, there was no shame in being one and that's why she was fighting in this war today. Ending discrimination and hate created by Voldemort was something that she needed to end so the good people out there might live a life without all those problems. Though she also knew that without the dark, there wouldn't be light and no matter what the good side did, there will always be someone out there that will disagree with them.
Hermione scrambled on top of Bellatrix with a frenzy and pulling her head up by her long messy black hair, she smashed it into a piece of rubble from Hogwarts. Tumbling off the woman, she began crawling towards the figure that her wand dropped near and yanking the wand up from the ground, she turned and pointed it at Bellatrix before whispering,"Avada Kedavra."
The bright green light shot out of the wand and hit Bellatrix before she could even get the chance to fight back. Hermione moved on as she noticed the mask of pain and hate slide away from her opponents face, there was no time to regret what she had just done. Sanity had decided to leave her a long time ago, after the first time she spoke those words. Once someone leaves the naive world and transitions into one full of evil that curdle ones' blood, there was no turning back. This path was only for the strong of heart, and that was the perfect definition of most Gryffindors. So no, Hermione would not back down, ever. It was not in her to give up, if she even began to think about it, her calm, collected features would falter and she'd go crazy from the guilt.
Even though she hated it, there was no time to dawdle around, so she just got right back into the fight, leaving the body forgotten next to the love of her life, Ron. Pulling out two evenly matched short blades from sheaths upon her legs, Hermione centered when she felt the blades in her hands. These two blades had been created especially for her, with her core magic, by the help of Dumbledore back in her 6th year at Hogwarts the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. How were they made you might ask?
Dumbledore had taken her in for special training sessions when she was younger for unknown reasons, but her love for information blinded her to the reason's as of why she was doing such violent practices. Although when Voldemort started attacking them, Hermione soon realized what their destinies were; to save the world. Though most of that pressure channeled straight to Harry while she was the one who solved most of the mysteries and such.
They each had their own part to play. Hermione not only learned advanced magic, she also learned physical things such as karate or kick boxing (although they were in the later years). She spun in between fighting wizards and sliced the back part of Dolohov's right knee. Blood squirted down to the ground in a puddle as he screamed and he turned to see Hermione bring her other blade up and strike out, smoothly slicing clean across his neck, ending his life in a gurgle of blood. There were many more just like him that went down, but in some instances, she was forced to use her wand when she wasn't close enough to the Death Eaters.
Just as fast as the fighting began, it came to a stop as Harry and Voldemort circled each other like vultures eying a dead carcase. Voldemort's pale, slimy skin stood out against the darkness that seemed to flow around him. His magic crackling and sparking in the air, highlighting the tension that spun around everyone. The Dark Lord oozed pure power and strength and all hope in winning this war seemed doomed. Yet, Harry stood there with a grim smile on his face, determination set in stone, like a burning candle in the dark that lit ones way.
Harry, braver than she could ever be, stood there taking in every move just as Voldemort did to him. Not only was this a battle; it was a dance to the death. They waved their wands almost like they were mirroring each others movements, black orbs flashing here and there. Several dark spells missed both of them as Harry blocked and attacked. They both started a pattern and continued in that same rhythm for quite a while. The air was tense with stress and many held their breaths as it suddenly changed. Voldemort raised his wand high and screeched, "Avada Kedavra."
Harry's own spell followed a few seconds too late. Hermione's feet had already been moving across the space that was between her and her friend before she could comprehend even doing so. The Unforgivable curse hit its mark, sending Hermione soaring through the air, suspended in time as the green light struck the golden hourglass that was around her neck.
Many things happened at once; everything around Hermione seemed to stop, and the glass burst open, causing the sand to spill out and fly around. The Unforgivable Spell had hit her, just like she intended it to and she flew back and hit an unsuspecting Harry. They both tumbled back and once she hit the ground, she tried to stand up but to no avail.
While on her knees she thought, there's no going back now, the deed was already done. Her death was already set in stone. Harry pulled her close mumbling something along the lines of 'I could have handled it Hermione, don't you leave me now too'. The blackened sky looked eerily beautiful, the black and green clouds flashing pure white with every lightning bolt cast down, an almost serene way to die. Wind whipped through Hermione's hair, sending it in all directions along with caressing her face as she wished her mother would be able to once more. Even time seemed to have slowed down, like it wouldn't be able to affect her anymore, but that was a bit too fanciful for her. It was too late for her to apologize, though she wasn't particularly sorry anyhow, but her eye lids were already closing. The world swayed around Hermione, she took a shaking breath and dropped into unconsciousness. At least she could save one of her friends, she thought, at least one. All thoughts left her as her mind sunk back into itself, away from the pain, and the hate, and the hunger of death.
XXX
The light behind her eyelids was glaringly white as she peeled open her eyes and shot up. Harry, was her immediate thought. Had they survived? How? All of them had given up on hope, the delusion that they would get through the war. Voldemort had grown too powerful, his hold on the world too strong. Even if they had managed to defeat him, which would be no easy task, the war would still go on. Even though someone cuts the head off a snake, it would still squirm before letting go of the world. Once Voldemort was gone, the Death Eaters would still fight, maybe with even more vigor at the death of their master. And Hermione knew that they wouldn't have enough strength to fight on after the last battle. There had been so many losses before she had fallen into darkness and she wondered how many had even survived. What actually didn't make sense was that she couldn't have been the only one hurt, so why was Hermione the only one in the Hospital Wing?
Shaking off those pointless thoughts, she sat in concentration, thinking of what was happening. Even if Harry was to survive, how did she? Hermione had seen the green light that had struck her, so why wasn't she dead in a morgue somewhere by now? Ah, that's it, she thought suddenly. The killing curse hit the hourglass, the time turner, maybe that's why she survived. Thinking about it, she put her hand where the time turner was, but didn't find it. Searching frantically, she felt a distinct burning on her chest when her fingers grazed the place where the time turner had once been. Gasping, her fingers gripped her hospital clothing, digging in tightly as the pain slowly eased away. Hermione then ripped it open to find something she did not expect. Just like the scar Harry has on his forehead, there lay a lightning bolt scar right between her collarbone. That wasn't a good sign, that scar meant she had survived the killing curse so it didn't really help her figure out more on her situation. It wasn't only because of Harry that she knew that, in several books she had read previously there where chapters on the significance of such Dark scars. Plus all down her arms and some on her legs and stomach were degrading words such as mud blood and dirty from the torture Bellatrix put her through. All of it reminded her of Harry and Ron, and she thought of all the good memories they shared together as children, and the ones they wouldn't be able to share.
The scars were not the only damage that she had taken in that fight, where she had previously wrapped her arm, sat a clean bandaged brace wound tightly to give her support. Hermione's arm must have broken along with a couple of her fingers seeing that both her arm and fingers were wrapped up. The Sectumsempra curse's impact must have broken it, because just above the broken arm were several deep cuts slashing from her upper shoulder to the top of her right breast. Her abdomen was covered with cuts and bruises and for some reason, it seemed like nothing on her body didn't go undamaged in some way.
On the desk next to her bed sat her two blades Jinsi and Metsi, plus Hermione's broken wand. She blanched, doing a double take on what exactly happened to her wand. It must have gotten broken when she hit Harry and died or almost died anyways. Speaking of which, what was going to happen now? The doorknob wobbled and she quickly shoved her shirt back over her collarbone to cover up the scar before anyone could see it. A skinny woman with plain, motherly features and warm eyes came in the room and spotting Hermione who was awake now, gently let a smile cross over her face.
"Hello, I'm Madam Gamari. How are you feeling?" Behind the woman, a red-headed younger version of Dumbledore stepped in.
Emotions sprang up along with tears as Hermione took in just how weird it was to see someone that had died already alive and kicking. First, she's the only one wounded, and now Dumbledore has spontaneously come back to life in a younger version? This cannot possibly be happening to her. Hermione's gaze sharpened calculatingly, it was hard enough to keep from gasping, but when the twinkle in Dumbledore's eye died just a little at the horror in her eyes, she let a few tears squeeze out before shaking them away. Crying was nonsense, it got people nowhere. She needed to get herself back together, if she cried now she wouldn't be able to stop so as hard as it was she wiped them away and looked at him again.
Hermione knew she should not give away any information until she understood the situation she was in. Could it possibly be that when the killing curse hit the time turner, it had sent her back in time? That was the only logical explanation for how Dumbledore could now be standing in front of her.
"I'm fine, perfectly fine. Other than my arm of course." Hermione finally answered the nurses question. The nurse nodded, checking a few things, and lingered a little before rushing back into her office. Obviously Madam Gamari had more important things to do if her patient was perfectly fine as of right now.
"My dear, what is your name?" Dumbledore's gaze followed Madam Gamari as she went into her office, then snapped back to Hermione.
"Hermione Jean Bellevue. And yours?" The answer wasn't hesitant at all, during these past years the Golden Trio had learned to lie quite well. What with all the secrecy and death surrounding them, it was pretty important to be able to withhold information when someone's getting tortured for knowledge on the whereabouts of Harry or whoever.
"I am Professor Dumbledore. Miss Bellevue, please do tell how you have come to arrive in Hogwarts with very dark curses lingering on you. Now," seeing that Hermione was going to deny that fact, "I know for a fact that to be true, so no use saying it didn't happen. Was it Grindelwald?" The last sentence sparked Hermione's curiosity, since she knew Grindelwald to be dead. So that meant her time traveling theory was indeed correct. Though she had no idea that a witch could travel so far back in time, because Grindelwald was defeated a long time ago. Yeah, Hermione was smart, but time traveling wasn't exactly her specialty. Dumbledore saw that she was debating whether to tell him or not, so he just left her to her own thoughts.
"My Uncle William was killed by dark wizards, it might have been Grindelwald, but I couldn't see any of their faces." For the sake of acting, Hermione started pulling up horrific images of her past to make her cry. Professor Dumbledore's eyes softened, he knew this was a touchy subject for her, it had happened not too long ago after all. "They came at the dead of night, I was asleep when I heard my Uncle screaming. So I rushed to his bedroom brandishing my wand to find five men standing over his… his mutilated body. I managed to fight them off but before long they got past my defenses and as you can plainly see hurt my right shoulder. Also they sort of mutilated my body and threw me around a bit. Knowing it was time to get out of there I apparated, but at the same time someone threw a dark curse that I didn't recognize. My parents… before they died a while ago, told me all about Hogwarts and how it was the safest place to go when I'm in danger, so that's why I apparated here. I can't necessarily explain how I got to the exact place where you found me Professor, since I don't remember anything after that," she finished the sob story with a sniffle, god she was so good at this kind of stuff that even Dumbledore didn't know if she was lying or not.
"I see… I'm sorry for your losses my dear. And the rest of your family?"
"They're all dead sir. All dead!" Hermione actually started crying now, and she wasn't even faking it this time. Her memories flashed before her eyes, it was all too gruesome for her. How would she get back? Did she even want to? Dumbledore saw her start to shake and patted her left shoulder affectionately.
"Hm. Then you shall have to stay here Miss Bellevue, for the time being. I will have to inform Headmaster Dippet of your situation. Then we will have to sort you, and test you of your magical abilities. Ah, that reminds me, what school did you go to when you lived with your Uncle?" Crap, Hermione thought, she hadn't even thought about that.
"Um, my Uncle taught me when my parents died. He's not my legitimate Uncle though, he just found me after they were killed and sort of adopted me. That's why I'm muggle born." The twinkle in his eye had died down even further than before, death wasn't a particularly fun topic to broach. Dumbledore sighed, sat down on the bed on the edge and patted her shoulder.
"If there's ever anything I can do for you Ms. Bellevue just tell me. Of course, it would have to be within school rules." Being back under Dumbledore's protection made Hermione feel safe again, it was nice to see a good friend. The bad thing was that she knew she couldn't tell him what happened or else it would alter everything in this time which would in exchange make everything in the future different. Wait a minute, she thought, isn't that exactly what I should do? This thought perked her up, she could do something about her friends. Sure, it might change the future, or even she might not be born, but at least the world wouldn't be in a horrifying war against Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
"Dumbledore, I don't think…," hmm actually there was something, "well. Would you mind if you taught me please? I know that's what teachers are for, but I want to learn faster than what they can teach me. Please!" The desperation in her voice must of shown because the next thing she knew was that Dumbledore had given in.
"Alright dear. I will teach you, but, if anything I teach you is used on any other student I will not teach you anymore. Or if it is severe enough I will kick you out of the school, although I'm not the Headmaster I do have certain pull within the school. But, you do not look like that type, so yes I will." She smiled and threw her arms around him lovingly.
"Oh thank you so much Dumbledore!" Hermione was definitely grateful that she could see one of her old friends again, things like this didn't happen every day. This was a once and a lifetime chance and she is definitely going to take it for the better of all mankind. The only thing Hermione knew about time traveling was that in a recent discovery, it said that when sent back in time one is sent into a new dimension, or a mirror of her original world. Though now, whatever she did affected the future, but the bad news is that she won't be able to get back to the future. Once she is put into another time line she can't get out. There was absolutely no way back to her loved ones, but she was making a sacrifice. Yet one can only hope that there was a way back.
"Look dear, you have a few days before the students come, but I bet your story will be like fire throughout the school no matter what I do once you're introduced at the feast. So tomorrow we will start our lessons, I'm thinking every four days we'll get together and have a session. First off though you'll need a new wand, you'll have to go to Diagon Alley today with me after you register in the school with Headmaster Dippet. Now let's go see Headmaster Dippet," he helped her up and handed her new shoes and clothes. Once she had dressed into the plain black shirt and a gray and white skirt with black flats, she followed Dumbledore out into the decorated hallways that Hermione personally knew and memorized by heart.