Before It's Too Late

A/N:This just came to me the other night, and I had to write it out. It's kind of short, I'll try to make other chapters longer. Read, review and tell me what you think, please and thank you.

Full Summary:
The magical world's in total chaos, and when all hope is lost, Hermione goes to the Room of Requirements for answers andfor sanctuary. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect to be transported back to the time of Tom Riddle, or into the host body of Odessa Todd. Enterred in an interscholastic dueling competition against her will, it's time for her to show her skills. Now Hermione must find a way to change the future,or doom time to repeat itself before anyone finds out she's not who they think she is- or her own heart gets in the way... before it's too late.Later TR/HG


Chapter 1- The End

Hermione let out a shriek of despair. Everything was going so wrong, so horribly wrong. Dumbledore was dead, there was chaos in the magic world, and it wouldn't be long until it spread as far as the muggle world. You couldn't be sure who was friend, and who was foe. The person who had smiled at you one day could be the one muttering the incantation to cause your death the next.

And the very worst part about it was that she, Head GirlHermione Jane Granger, did not know what to do. She, who had always had the ideas, always knew where to go for help, didn't know what to do next. And no matter how much she wished it, this problem could not be solved by a simple trip to the library. No book could tell her what to do when evil was overcoming everything in the world that was good, and pure, taking away everything that you loved, and everyone that you loved.

And, though a scene of people surrounded her, they could not help her tocope . They tried to comfort her, to ease her pain and the sorrow that was slowly consuming her.

They didn't know what it was like, to feel as she did. To have a feeling of hopelessness, to feel as if anything they tried or did to save the world would fail. And the hardest part about it was that they needed her to be strong, and she knew it. For her to lose herself to her despair would only makematters worse for the cause she had once so strongly believed would prevail. She wondered though, how anything could possibly get worse.

"Hermione, did you hear what I just said?" asked Neville quietly. She nodded.

Hermione hadn't heard him, actually, but she didn't need to. All the physical proof lay in her arms. Ron's body lay in her arms, cold and dead. He and Harry had gone out on a mission with some of the others in the D.A. to hold off Lord Voldemort as he tried to penetrate Hogwarts. Hermione hadn't been allowed to go, as she was sick and in the Hospital Wing. Now Ron and many others were dead, still more were injured. And worst of all, Harry, their leader,was missing.

"W-What are our plans for rescuing Harry?" she asked, sitting up in her bed in the Hospital Wing, Ron's lifeless body still cradled in her arms. She was afraid to let him go. It was like if she let him go, then he would be lost to her forever. And with Dumbledore dead, students dying like flies, her parents caught in crossfire at Platform 9¾, Ginny slowly dying from a side effect of Riddle's memory, and now Harry missing, she didn't know who to turn to.

"We can't do anything," Neville said sadly. Hermione looked around the room, as people were being brought in on stretchers, many covered in carnage and blood. She had never seen a battle so horrible. Her eyes widened in horror, what had gone on down there? Tears started to form on her eyelashes, slowly falling down her face.

He put his hand on hers and continued, "We can't risk anymore lives. Harry will be alright. You know as well as anyone that he has a habit of getting out of risky business like this."

Hermione stared up at Neville. Ever since he had gotten a wand of his own, he had been so different. Not that the wand changed him directly, no. But now that he had a wand that had chosen him specifically, he had greatly improved with his spells and charms.

And that had given him confidence he never had before. No, she corrected herself; he had had it in him all along. He just didn't know it until he had become successful with his new wand. But she smiled at him sadly. Because, although Harry had barely scraped by before and made it, the feeling of dread at the pit of her stomach told her that this time would be different.

Hermione winced as she heard the sound of a small voice cry out for his mother. What was the world coming to? She needed to get away, far, far away from this mess. She needed a moment alone, a moment of peace so that she could think about things. S

he wished Luna was here, because although she was so loony, she always seemed to be able to reassure everyone that things would be alright. Her zany ways and crazier ideas had become sort of a comfort since the war started. But Luna had gone back home when her father had died to sort things out, and to manage the Quibble. Hermione had no idea when she would be coming back.

There was just so many things that Hermione wished she could have changed, things she needed to do… needed, she needed a place to go to… why hadn't she thought of it before? The Room of Requirements held exactly what she needed. What that was exactly, she didn't know herself. But she'd know when she was there, and that was all that mattered.

"Hermione- where are you going?" called Neville as she got out of bed and ran by. She paid his calls no heed. Darting past people as swiftly as she could, she ran with all her might. No one and nothing was going to stop her, not even the pain all over her body from her illness. She knew what she was going to do- and she had to do it.

There were just so many questions to be answered, and so little time. She hoped no one else was seeking salvation in the Room of Requirements; she hadn't any time to lose. She was a faster runner than Neville, but he had a wand, and she didn't. If he was in close enough to her, he could send a hex to stop her, and she wouldn't be able to defend herself.

Hermione climbed a flight of stairs in great haste, and then on and into another. It seemed as if they were just waiting for her to get on, as if they knew something she didn't. With all it had seen throughout the ages, Hermione had always felt that way about all of Hogwarts. And that was what intrigued her most when she learned about magic, that there were all those banks of knowledge out there just waiting for her to learn.

There was only one more flight of stairs for her to climb, but before she could get on it, it started to change, moving further and further away from the floor.

"No," she muttered, tears still flowing from her eyes. That staircase was her only chance- who knew when they next one would come? With a running jump, she threw herself onto the staircase. She let out a cry of pain upon impact, and crawled up the rest of the stairs. Lucky for Hermione, there were no trick steps on this one, and it took her directly to the seventh floor. She crawled off the stairs, and lifted herself onto her feet. With a slight limp, Hermione passed the tapestry of Barnabas the Balmy trying to teach trolls ballet and walked up to the blank wall opposite it.

'I need… I need a way to stop all this from happening, to save everyone from this evil. I need to save my friends from this terror we're living in. I need to get back to fighting, and I need a cure for Ginny. I need this all fast. I just wish I had… I need time, a whole lot of time.' She concentrated hard as she paced back and forth in front of the blank wall three times, when a door appeared.

A voice called out in protest, but there was no looking back for Head Girl Hermione Jane Granger. She opened the door, and walked in, leaving the madness behind her.