A/N Thank you, JSmith25. Your author's note about no Eleven/Hermione in one of your stories actually made me think about that pairing. As for DWduck, you are responsible for my "Hermione and River are the same person" headcanon.
"Run!" He tugs her hand and runs off. She has no choice but to follow him, tripping on her robe. She hasn't had time to take it off. Hermione doesn't know where she's running, why or from whom. She only knows with whom.
They met at Hogwarts a few months ago.
The blue box simply appeared on the Black Lake's bank. No-one noticed it. Except for Hermione Jean Granger. That very evening she was off to search for answers. She didn't find many. But she did find an alien with a strange name, two broken hearts and a strange taste in clothes. And very strange eyes.
He couldn't understand why the TARDIS had brought him there. First the Angels, then Darilium... It all happened too fast. He needed a quiet place, a place where he could be alone. Not a crowded and noisy school . Children running this way and that, adults discussing topics the Doctor couldn't understand. And didn't want to understand. He still didn't know why he didn't leave right then. But he certainly didn't regret it. Especially when a seventeen-year-old girl knocked on the TARDIS door. A girl with clever brown eyes and curly hair. The Doctor knew all too well what to do next.
"What... if... we don't... make it?" She hopes that she can't breathe because of the alien air or because of running too fast, not because of how the Doctor looks when his hair stands on end like that
. "We'll make it, Riv... Hermione," There's the sound of someone, or something, closing in on them, fast. "I promise."
She pulls out her wand and sends back a few spells. He pulls out his screwdriver and sends forward a blast of sonic waves.
"If we don't make it... But we did the right thing, didn't we?"
"We saved the planet, Mione. At least we should get free cream for our hot chocolate in their cafés."
The TARDIS doors open in the nick of time. They just manage to stumble in and collapse in a heap on the floor before the doors close again.
"We made it!" Hermione wasn't hoping to see the console room again, to lean against the wall side to side not with Harry or Ron, but with him.
"I promised that we will make it. Sometimes I keep my promises."
"I only just realized... We blew up the bookshop!"
"And the library. I'm afraid we won't get the cream now. If it wasn't for the sonic's new subroutine..."
"Which I came up with!"
"Right you are, miss Granger. That book you found really came in handy!" "You mean, saved our lives."
He thought that he had lost the Ponds. Forever. But he should've known that his wife wasn't going to disappear and just leave him there. There still was a version of her he was to meet. Younger. No idea about killing him, or helping him fake his own death. Bust just as beautiful, clever and brave. And for her sake, the Doctor wasn't going to give up. Not now.
She would often dream of completing her education at Hogwarts, working for the Ministry of Magic, standing up for the rights of house elves and muggleborns. Now, simply staying alive was good enough. She couldn't understand how she put up with this madness. But she understood why.
They're still running. And they will never stop.