Illusions of the Past

Summary: Hermione and Draco accidentally travel back in time, where they try to stop Tom Riddle from opening the Chamber of Secrets. But they soon learn that whoever tries to change history, messes it up instead. And Hermione never reckoned on falling in love either...

AN: This fic is based on a concept that was on one of the television programmes that I used to watch. It's local in Singapore (as in not international) so I doubt that not many people will know about it. Anyway, I credit the producers of this programme, Wok of Life, the concept is really interesting. I don't own the characters, or the basic concept of the story... Only the storyline details.

"I'm serious, why don't you just go for it?"

"I can't just go for it, Ron, it'll be like commiting suicide."

"Harry, you like the girl, just go ahead and tell her that you like her."

"And…?"

"She might just say that she likes you too! Oh, come on, the famous Harry Potter… You've been so popular, which girl wouldn't want to go out with you?"

"I dunno… But what if she doesn't like me?"

"Then…" Ron considered his answer. "You're screwed," he concluded.

Hermione smiled to herself as she listened to Ron and Harry argue as usual, over Harry's crush on Cho. Harry was getting redder and redder by the minute, while Ron was looking quite bewildered at Harry's less-than-encouraging reaction.

"Guys, come on," she said finally. "Let me have a peaceful breakfast, can't you? Plus, we'll be having the O.W.L.S. this year and you guys need to concentrate on your studies as well."

Ron started to say something, but was cut short by the loud fluttering of wings: the post owls had arrived at the Great Hall. A barn owl landed in front of Hermione carrying her copy of the Daily Prophet, while Hedwig came down to Harry, clutching a note in her beak.

"Hey, Hagrid wants us to go down to his place for tea later," Harry announced, reading the note.

"Okay then," Hermione said, paying the owl. Just as the owl took off, a black owl took its place.

"Hey, a black owl," Ron exclaimed. "Those are really rare, you know. What's it carrying?"

The black owl was clutching a small package in its claws. Hermione took it, and the owl flew off at once. Inside was a small red box, with a folded piece of paper. She opened the box first.

"Wow."

It was a necklace, made of a fine silver chain. The pendant was a small pale blue orb that shone and glittered in the light. It was really… well, beautiful.

"Who's that from?" Ron asked, reaching for the note that came with it. "Let me see – Shit!"

Ron had accidentally knocked over his glass of pumpkin juice. The orange spread steadily over the tablecloth – and over the note. Hermione sighed and plucked out the wet parchment from the juice. "Oh, Ron…"

"I'm so sorry…" Ron righted his glass, but the damage was done. "Can you fix it?"

"Yeah, don't worry… Oh, no…" Hermione looked at the note. The parchment was now dry, but stained bright orange. It was impossible to read the writing now. She sighed again. "Don't worry about it, Ron, it doesn't matter. And," she concluded, "we have to get to Potions or risk spending the rest of the year in detention with Snape."

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"That necklace looks really nice on you, Hermione," Ron said, as the three of them walked down the school grounds to Hagrid's. The Whomping Willow swayed its branches threateningly as they passed it.

"Thanks, Ron," Hermione responded, feeling herself go pink. She touched the blue pendant at her neck. "I think it was probably my parents, I just remembered that they were going to Italy, and they promised to get me something from there."

"Well, they have really good taste," Harry said admiringly. "Anyway… Oh, not him again."

Draco Malfoy appeared from behind a tree as they approached Hagrid's hut. "Going to visit that oaf friend of yours?" he sneered.

"That doesn't concern you, Malfoy," Harry snarled. "Now move aside."

"Gits like him can't be spoken to that way, Harry," Ron said, pulling out his wand. "They need to learn the hard way. Now get lost, Malfoy, or I'll hex you."

"I'll take that challenge." Malfoy pulled out his wand too. He shouted out a spell, and a beam of purple light flashed past them, narrowly missing Hermione. Harry shouted angrily, taking out his wand as well.

"You'll pay for that, Malfoy!"

"Oh, I'm sure I will… After I blast you into pieces!"

Hermione sighed inwardly, just as the three boys all shouted out different incantations at the same time. The beams of light from their wands collided in the air, and for a moment everyone froze as the spells formed a violent sphere of blinding light. The sphere spun rapidly, emitting pulses of magic…

"Harry, watch out!"

Hermione lunged forward, her keen eye and instinct seeing what the boys had failed to in their anger. She knocked Harry to the ground, just as a beam of light burst from the ball and hit the exact spot where Harry had been standing. The place where the light had touched burned bright red, then faded away, leaving a circle of blackened grass and dirt.

"Boy, that was close," Harry groaned. "Thanks Hermion – Hermione!"

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Hermione felt a searing pain on her neck, but just as she reached up to to touch the hurting spot, the pain disappeared, replaced by a weird floating sensation. The feeling spread to her whole body, and she felt as if she had been lifted off the ground by some invisible, magical force. Her vision blurred into distorted images, sound became incomprehensible, but she vaguely heard a familiar voice shouting…

Malfoy? She thought in confusion. You there? She tried to shout out, but couldn't even hear her own voice… She couldn't even feel her feet on solid ground anymore. It was as though she was being hurled through the air, but with no sensation of movement, only an odd, floating feeling that just didn't seem right.

Then, as suddenly as it began, it all ended. Hermione felt herself standing on firm ground again, and she gasped as everything around her came back into focus. She felt immensely winded, as though she had been running, but there was no tiredness. Dazed, her knees went weak and she fell down to a kneeling position. She quickly pushed herself up, blinking several times.

As her vision refocused, she saw that Draco Malfoy was standing in front of her, looking equally dazed and confused. He rubbed his forehead, glaring at her. She glared back, but felt her head explode into pain. Apparently whatever that had happened to her, it hadn't done any benefit to her head.

"Harry, Ron, you guys okay? Hey, guys?" Hermione stared around her. Her two friends were nowhere around her. As the matter of fact, she and Malfoy were alone in the grounds. The place was completely deserted.

"What happened?"

Hermione turned to Malfoy. "If I knew what had happened I wouldn't look so confused, Malfoy," she snapped. "Stay here, I'll go to Hagrid's for… help." Her voice trailed off as she realised that the familiar hut that had just been in sight was no longer there. Taken aback, she ran forward, wildly looking around. In the end, she just had no other choice but to conclude that the hut was simply not there.

She whipped around to face Malfoy. She frowned as she observed the Hogwarts landscape behind him. Something very obvious was missing…

"The Whomping Willow," she gasped in shock. "The Whomping Willow… Where is it?"

"What are you talking about, Mudblood?" Malfoy snapped at her. "Are you just plain out of your mind or-"

"Turn around," Hermione insisted. "See that small hill over there? Isn't the Whomping Willow supposed to be there?" She pointed to the spot where she knew the vicious tree was supposed to be growing.

Malfoy stared at the spot for a long time, as if he wasn't really seeing it. Then he slowly turned around on the spot, staring at everything around them. Finally, he turned back to Hermione, an odd look on his face.

"What time is it?"

"What?" Hermione said, annoyed.

"What time is it?" Malfoy repeated in the same maddening tone.

Hermione scowled. She checked her watch, a bright red one with black stripes. "Four," she said, watching as the second hand crept on with a click. Then, suddenly the hand stopped moving altogether, as if it had frozen. "That's funny, I thought I just had a new battery put in during the summer." She shook her hand, trying to get it to move again, but nothing happened.

"Four…" Malfoy looked at something in the distance. "If it's four…"

"Get out of it, will you?" Hermione looked at him irritatably. "What's the matter?" She was starting to seriously get pissed off with his indifferent attitude.

"Look at that." Malfoy pointed at something at one of Hogwart's towers. Hermione stared at it. It was a giant circular clock, with equally large bronze hands. One hand was pointing at a large golden 6, while the shorter one was pointing at the space in between the golden 8 and 9.

"Eight-thirty," Hermione said slowly. "Hey, since when was there a clock on that tower?"

"Good question," Malfoy said, nodding. "I don't remember any clocks on the school towers either."

"I think we had better get back in the castle, we can try to find someone who might be able to clear things up with us." Hermione started to stride to the castle, not even bothering to check if Malfoy was following her. As she walked, she looked around her, and was more and more surprised when she saw that things were different… somehow. There were trees, shrubs and flowers that she had never seen before, while the ones she was familiar with were missing.

"Hey! Hey, Granger, wait up!"

Malfoy fell into step beside her. He was also looking around with the same confused expression. "Where do you think everyone's gone? The place's completely deserted."

"Look, if I knew the answer then I would have said something about it, right?" Hermione snorted.

"Well, since you're such a know-it-all…"

"Malfoy, I'm warning you… Keep your mouth shut!"

"Oh, damn, and here I thought a certain Mudblood here was smart…"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

Hermione whipped around, her wand out. "Why can't you just stop bugging me?"

"I was going to ask you that myself." Malfoy looked quite calm, even with Hermione pointing her wand directly at him. "And I know for sure that you definitely won't kill me or anything so that doesn't scare me."

"And what makes you so sure?" Hermione challenged, feeling her anger rise so high that she felt she was going to explode anytime soon.

"Because, as sad as I am to admit it… You'll need my help going back."

"Going back where?" Hermione snapped, thrusting her wand closer, until its tip was touching Malfoy's neck. Malfoy stepped back with a knowing smirk, pointing at something on the wall.

It was the golden plaque that gave the date and exact time, to tenths of a second, in magical black numbers. Hermione stared at it, feeling as if something very hard had hit her in the back of the head. The time looked okay, but there was something wrong with the date.

They had just travelled back in time – 55 years.

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"Great, so now we're in the past?!" Hermione's voice ended up in a higher pitch in her panic. She knew that the plaque never gave the wrong date and time, and at the moment the date, which listed the year as 1942, said very clearly that they had somehow gone back in time 55 years. "How the heck did that happen?! How on earth are we supposed to get back?!"

"That's a really good question," Malfoy said, his voice losing its usual snide tone. He looked around, frowning slightly. Then, something clicked in his expression and he suddenly started to stride out of Hermione's sight.

"Hey, where are you going?" Hermione demanded. "We have to stay together, in case something happens!" Malfoy didn't answer, instead continuing on his way without a backward glance. Hermione pursed her lips. "Jerk," she muttered darkly. She considered going after him, but she just felt so irritated at his attitude that she wasn't in the mood to deal with him without using any curses or jinxes.

She wondered what to do. Maybe go for help? But who could help her? At the most, she would have to explain that she came from the future, something that would be hard to convince others. What if she was mistaken for a criminal on the run –

"Damn," she mumbled. Then something hit her. Dumbledore! Dumbledore was such a powerful wizard; surely he would have heard of accidental time travel, and would be able to help them get back to their own time. But how could she find him?

This long ago, Dumbledore wasn't Headmaster yet; he was a teacher – the Transfiguration professor! He should be in the Transfiguration classroom, or the staffroom!

Hermione walked slowly into the castle, looking around to make sure that there was no one around. It would have been very hard to explain who she was when she didn't even exist in this time. She didn't meet anyone in the Entrance Hall, or the Great Hall. The place was almost silent, with students all in classes. Hoping that she wouldn't run into a teacher, she ran to the stairs leading to the staffroom.

The double doors of the staffroom was just ahead, flanked by two big stone gargoyles. They yawned and fixed their grey eyes onto Hermione.

"Ooh, student out of class," one gargoyle observed keenly. "What do you want?"

"I need to see Professor Dumbledore," Hermione explained quickly. "It's a really urgent matter, is he in the staffroom?"

"Good question." The second gargoyle smirked annoyingly at her. "What do you think?"

Hermione sighed. She was all too familiar with the unhelpful attitude of most of the Hogwarts ghosts and gargoyles in her own time; it was quite easy to believe that their attitude wasn't anything new, even more than fifty years ago. "Please, this is really urgent. I really need to see Professor Dumbledore now. If he isn't in the staffroom, then just tell me and I'll go look for him myself."

She was cut short when a loud, deep sound of a bell rang throughout the castle, marking the end of a lesson period. The gargoyles considered her for a while, before one finally admitted that Dumbledore was in class. Hermione didn't bother to thank them, and quickly turned away, deciding to head over to the Transfiguration classroom. The only problem was, the classroom was quite a distance away. Getting there would certainly mean that she would definitely meet someone along the way, and the last thing she wanted to do was to change history...

Change history? That's it!

It was the year when Tom Riddle opened up the Chamber of Secrets. If she could somehow stop him... Hermione gritted her teeth. That was it. Whatever she was going to do, she was going to do her best to stop Tom Riddle before she went back - and maybe even stop him from becoming Lord Voldemort!

But... How?

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I don't know if that was a good first chapter. And I'm working on the next chapter of Kindergarten Trouble, don't worry...

R&R