"You understand what you are signing up for Granger?" Professor Snape spat, his eyes narrowed on the girl sat across from him. She regarded him with a cool indifference that made his irritation peak.
"I do." She nodded, Albus shook his head, his half-moon spectacles discarded on his desk.
"You are certain, Hermione? If you do this there is no coming back." Harry clutched her hand in his as Dumbledore spoke, Hermione gave a nod.
"I will not be able to return; this timeline will have never existed should I succeed." She swallowed, a dry swallow that left her throat aching. She didn't like the idea, she didn't exactly want to do it. What else could be done? The final Horcrux was lost to them, pushed beyond the veil by Voldemort himself.
"I will not be easily swayed. I was difficult, even as a young man." Snape drawled, his voice harsh against her ears. She shrugged.
"I understand that, Professor. You would not however be at all receptive should Harry or Ron go back and try to persuade you away from, at the very least, revealing to Voldemort the prophecy about Harry. The Order will be able to end him if he doesn't kill the Potters." She paused, her fingers tightened around Harry's hand.
"I will do my best." Her lips were set in a firm line, Harry stuffed down any words he may have wanted to say, any argument he may have had.
To think of a timeline in which his parents survived was enough to shut him up.
He wondered what it would be like, to grow up with his family, not the nasty Dursleys that had raised him.
Hermione recognized the look of pure excitement in his green eyes. Even if he would not remember a time it had ever gone this way.
"This is a bad idea." Snape ground out, his eyes fixed on Dumbledore who looked exhausted.
"There is nothing that can be done for it, Severus." The old, haggard wizard brought his spectacles back to his face and gave Hermione a little nod. "This is truly the only way, and she is correct, there is no one else to be sent back. She will at least garner a modicum of respect from you." Snape sneered.
"I hope you are all correct in this assumption." He glared and Hermione let brown locks fall into her face, she could hear Ron sniffle from somewhere off in the corner and she fought with her very well earned self-control. She would not make a scene, not until she was alone with her friends.
Dumbledore opened his desk with a tut and brought out a small brown bag, his fingers wrapped tightly around it as he held it out in his wrinkled hand.
"The seed of Kronos, it will only work once, dear girl. When you are ready to go, you will swallow the seed whilst thinking of the time you desire to travel to, it will take you there. I must warn you, you need to be clear of mind and completely ready before you do this. It is your only chance." She took the bag from him gently and her fingers grasped it tightly, the knuckles of her hand turned white.
Hermione gave a firm nod, her eyes flicked from Professor Snape to Harry and Ron.
"I won't let you down. Can't, if he wins…" She didn't want to think about it, the repercussions of Voldemort killing Harry, taking over the wizarding world. Slaughtering or enslaving those with her blood status.
"I won't let you down." She stood, thanked the two Professors quietly, and then slipped from the room with Harry's hand still grasped in hers. Her stomach was flipping and turning, her lungs felt like lead in her chest.
"This won't work, Albus…Lily…"
"Your love for the young woman has overshadowed it, has it not?" Severus grunted but said no more, Albus gave a nod.
"Then let us hope she can catch your heart in the past as well."
"I was a stubborn boy." Severus hissed, Albus set a hand on the wizard's shoulder, his eyes twinkled with mirth.
"Severus my boy, you are a stubborn man!" The elder wizard chuckled- quite violently and Severus just massaged the bridge of his nose.
His affections for Hermione Granger in the now would serve her no good in the past.
They only had hope, and hope had gotten him nowhere in life.
SSHG
"You can't do this 'Mi." Ron groaned, he was hugging her to his chest with back breaking strength and she groaned.
"I have to Ronald." She shrugged away from him, massaged her damaged ribs with a playful sparkle in her eyes.
"But, I-"
"Have Lavender and you will be fine." She asserted, her face stern, he backed off, his blue eyes cast downwards, to his feet.
"Right, Lavender." He muttered as he toed the ground.
"I'll miss you, my best friend." Harry sighed as he wrapped her in a much more delicate hug, she smiled into his shoulder and pinched his side.
"I don't think there is a timeline where we three wouldn't be friends." She grinned, brown eyes hid her sadness well. She really would miss them, they were the two most important people in her life for the longest time.
"I hope my mum and dad are nice to you." Harry gave her another hug, lifted her feet from the ground and shook her around a bit, she glanced at Ron when he set her down.
"Think of it this way, Ron. If I do this, if I succeed, George, Fred, Ginny, Neville, Luna, and everyone else he's murdered will be alive. Isn't that worth it?" She raised an eyebrow, Ron's eyes shot to hers.
"You're right, 'Mi, I miss them all so much." He rubbed the back of his head and she smiled softly before they were both wrapped in another warm hug.
"I want to have them back. I miss them, all of them, everyone he's murdered. I'll see you all again, you just won't recognize me." She winked as she pulled away and took a deep breath. She had her extended bag on her shoulder, everything she would need, the things she couldn't be parted with were inside.
She would go, and she would change the course of time, and everything would be okay.
A deep breath, in, and out.
"Miss Granger, I believe you should be going soon." A cold voice cut through the room the trio had met in, her eyes flicked to the brooding Potions Master, he was watching her, an odd look in his black eyes.
"Bye, 'Mi." Ron squeezed her hand and Harry wrapped her in another hug with a kiss to the cheek before they left her, alone in the room with Professor Snape.
"Any advice?" She cocked an eyebrow, a light smile on her face, even if she didn't feel it.
Long legs brought him quickly to stand directly in front of her, black eyes burned into her face and she forced herself not to look away. He'd been acting oddly for several days, since they'd revealed to him what they planned to do.
How they planned to stop Voldemort.
"Be yourself." He ground out, and then his hand caught her jaw and his lips were on hers and she was stunned to stillness, shocked by the action so unlike the Professor she knew.
The little sparks that danced across her skin didn't allow her to be shocked for long and soon her eyes had drifted closed, her fingers fisted in his black robes as she kissed him back with equal fervor.
He pulled away, black eyes drifted open and caught her own, held her, trapped in his gaze. She blinked as his forehead touched on hers, long black hair tickled her cheek and she sighed.
"You have to go, I know that, I just- I couldn't let you leave, not without- I had to show you." He worked the words from his lips, she gave a little nod that jarred her forehead against his, her eyes open, still fixed on his.
"Let's hope you like me so much in the past, yeah?" She smiled, it didn't reach her eyes and he hated it, hated that she had to go back and try to change him, fix his idiotic mistakes.
"Be careful, Hermione." He pecked her lips again and then pulled away, not another glance in her direction as he exited the room. She stood there, unmoving until his footsteps ceased to echo through the hall.
With a soft sigh, she pulled the little bag from her pocket and dropped the small seed into her palm, it glowed a delicate red and looked entirely unappetizing.
"Down the hatch, I suppose." She tipped her head back and swallowed the seed in one smooth motion. She could feel the trail it made down her throat and her eyes pinched closed.
She coughed once, twice, tried to focus on where it was she needed to go. Her stomach cramped and she hit her knees, everything started to spin and the last thing she felt were the sharp pains in her stomach as everything faded away.
SSHG
"Unngh." Hermione groaned as she rolled onto her side, her stomach was still cramping, though mildly, and her eyes flicked open. Her head hurt, most likely from falling to the cold stone floor and it took her eyes a moment to adjust to her surroundings. She was in the middle of a classroom, possibly the same she'd been in before and she sat up, rubbed her head.
"Gods," she groaned, "I hope that was worth it." She rubbed her sore head for another few moments before she pried herself from the floor. She wobbled a bit, righted herself, and stood up completely to stumble from the room.
She knew she needed to find the Headmaster's office and quickly, her head swam as she bobbed her way through the hall and when she came to the familiar gargoyle grinned. Fortune was smiling upon her, thank goodness.
"Lemon Drops." She hissed to the stone statue and the wall began to shift, the gargoyle moved and she stepped onto the stairs and allowed them to raise her to the door. She dug through her bag for a moment from outside the door before she clasped the parchment she sought between her fingers and gave a soft knock.
"Come in?" The voice that answered was confused, but familiar, and she was glad she would be interacting with the same Dumbledore she knew from her time. It would make things easier, she hoped, as she tried to implant herself in this life, in this time.
There was no going back, this was her home now, she could only hope she could achieve what she'd come to do and make it a lifetime worth living.
Otherwise she'd left her friends- and Severus, for nothing.
The door creaked open before her and she mustered all of her Gryffindor courage and wrapped it around her like a cloak. With a polite smile, she stepped into bright office, and her future, which just so happened to be in the past.
