Everything had gone horribly wrong.

Professor Dumbledore had died.

Professor Snape had died.

Tonks had died.

Professor Lupin had died.

Fred had died.

Voldemort –she was internally proud of herself for being able to say the name and not stumble and stutter over it like many did, even if she had only said it in her mind, –had announced with his creepy version of a Sonorus charm that he had killed Harry Potter.

This just wasn't the way things were supposed to have turned out. She had slipped away from Ron, the rest of the Weasleys and the Heroes of Hogwarts for a private moment. She noted derisively. If things had gone correctly, she was sure that was the term Rita Skeeter or Dempster Wiggleswade would have coined for those who had stayed at Hogwarts with such slim odds at surviving an encounter with Voldemort. She found herself crouched low behind a rather unstable looking, possibly teetering turret. Pulling her wand out of her pocket, used it to draw in the dirt, calculating as best she could. Her plan required a lot of guess-work on her part, but she knew she was bright enough to figure it out.

"Right then," she said aloud to no one in particular, wiping her eyes and nose on the sleeve of her jacket. "This is it."

"You know the law, Miss Granger. You must not be seen..."

Those were the words resounding over and over again in Hermione's head as she pulled the tattered Time-Turner from her beaded bag, which she had stuffed in the waistline of her pants. She could vividly recall the time she had more-or-less, probably less, had practically wrestled Harry outside of Hagrid's hut in their third year to keep him from accosting Scabbers, who had turned out to be Peter Pettigrew.

"This is different though," she told herself. "If Pettigrew hadn't lived, Harry would have surely died in Malfoy Manor. Besides... I... I have to. If I don't, we're all doomed."

She was a brilliant witch. Really. With a pang of sorrow, her eyes clouded momentarily as she remembered the time Remus Lupin had praised her by calling her the brightest witch of her age. Hermione knew the theory behind time travel and what could and could not be accomplished by it. She knew, for instance, that going back could potentially make things emphatically worse. She knew it could make things unbelievably better. She knew, and this was the moment she knew why she had been sorted into Gryffindor rather than Ravenclaw, that going back could be the last thing she ever did.

Hermione snorted again. If it was the last thing she would ever do, then she shouldn't be able to do it now, right, because that would mean that she hadn't made a difference at all. On the other hand, she and Harry had created some sort of temporal loop in their third year, as what had happened had already happened. The things she had planned now though must not have happened. That was unacceptable. Something must have gotten in the way. Things weren't going to go along with the plan she had in her head. If they had, surely she would have recognized signs of her own meddling in the past as she had outside Hagrid's hut, right?

Hermione shook her head clear of the thoughts. Time magic was almost as annoyingly imprecise as Divination. If one managed to actually change the time-line, how would he or she get back to their original time-line to record the results? Would he or she just vanish from existence since at some point, the person would find his or her own self at the point where time magic should have been used but wasn't since things were fixed and there was no need for it?

She shook her head again. If she kept thinking, she would never get on with it. With the tip of her wand, she tapped the runic numbers she had drawn in the dirt before pointing at the small dial on her Time Turner.

"Usquequaque in vicis!"

The moveable part of the device whirred to life seemingly of its own accord, flipping time and time again over itself as Hermione watched. She remembered the small leaflet Professor McGonagall had given her with the Time Turner.

Should you not trust your mind to keep track of the number of

rotations you've rotated the rotating bit of the rotary

to return to the time you rule as requiring revisiting,

remember the spell to speak that will spin the

spinner specifically to the specified and

desired date, dummy.

Hermione smirked to herself, still curious as to who had been daft enough to write that bit of instruction for something so serious.

The Time Turner stopped humming as the hourglass reached what must have been the higher end of it's near eight thousand and some odd number of rotations needed to send Hermione back to the correct time. It would have taken her an eternity to crank the little dial by hand to get to the appropriate number of turns. As she watched the final revolutions of the dial, Hermione pulled herself out of her reverie and quickly cast the strongest Disillusionment charm she could manage upon herself. Just as the feeling of runny egg slid down the small of her back, Hermione watched with wide eyes as the Time Turner began to glow.

She was unsure of if the sensations from using the time turner were so vastly different now because of the enormity of the span time it was covering was so different from the few hours she had rewound in the past, or if it was because the device knew it was being misused. It may have even known it wasn't supposed to exist anymore considering the fact that Ginny had demolished the remaining stock of Time Turners as collateral damage while escaping an angry horde of Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries nearly two years prior . Either way, Hermione felt as though Grawp had yanked her by the nape of her neck as if she were a kitten and hurled her through the air backwards, all the wile the colors of everything in front of her blended together like pigments coming off of a paintbrush in an artist's murky rinse water.

ooo

Hermione swore under her breath. She had weighed her options and come to the conclusion that it would be best for her to await Harry and Dumbledore atop the Astronomy Tower. She had been clear on the other side of the grounds as far as the path to Hogsmeade was concerned. As far as she could tell, it wouldn't be long before Harry and the headmaster alighted the top of previously mentioned tower. It was absolutely vital that she made contact with the duo. Preventing the death of one Albus Dumbledore had been the whole purpose of this stroll down memory lane after all. It wouldn't do any good to have come all this way back in time only to miss her chance.

Sneaking through the castle proved to be an easy enough task, aside from her having to send a Stunner at that obnoxiously aware Ms. Norris. Merlin, it felt good. Hermione wasn't even one who had gotten into many situations where the pesky cat had foiled her mischief or anything, but she felt required to do so, if not for her own good, but for the DA members she, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna were sneaking around giving a drop of Felix Felicis to. Thinking about it now, she remembered being exceptionally shocked that they had successfully accomplished that particular goal. It was probably best that she had Stunned the cat as really, that cat always did seem to have the uncanny ability to see through Harry's cloak when the three of them had been sneaking about and it was a Horcrux for crying out loud! All Hermione had was her Disillusionment Charm and a mid Notice-Me-Not charm on her person. It was a safety precaution, really.

Coming out of another of her random daydreams, Hermione's heart pounded in her throat. She could see them now. Harry and Dumbledore landed faster than she had expected. This was the part of her plan that needed work. What exactly would she do? What could she do? Jumping out of the shadows with the Dark Mark hovering above the castle with a "Surprise! You're going to die unless you do exactly as I say" speech probably wasn't the best idea. If she waited too long though, Malfoy and the Death Eaters would be there and she wouldn't be of any help at all. Hermione made to move, but she didn't.

She drew in her breath slowly and cried out silently. What was going on? She could look down and see the shimmery outline of her leg just beginning to move. "No!" she cried mentally. Her Time Turner was outside of her shirt, bobbling in slow motion, leaking sand. When had it been damaged?

In the next moment Hermione found herself standing where Harry had been. Malfoy had arrived and was lowering his wand it seemed. Hermione struggled to remember where about Harry had said he had been during this moment and non-verbally cast a "Silencio!" and "Petrificus Totalus!" if only for the fact that Dumbledore looked as though he didn't have the strength to cast either at Harry to keep him safe and prevent him from endangering his own life.

Hermione smacked herself in the forehead. She was a fool. How could she have been so stupid to think that what she did would alter the time-line? Harry had told Ron, the Order, her about the way Dumbledore had cast those same spells on him without moving or even looking at him. It was because he hadn't. She had. She HAD come back. She hadn't made a difference at all. No matter what she did, Dumbledore would die before expected. Hermione felt an overwhelming desire to throw in the towel and just give up. What use could she be? She appeared to be stuck in a slow-down-speed-up loop thanks to her malfunctioning Time Turner. Tears streaked down her face as she realized the futility of her actions. She watched as the Death Eaters appeared and stared blankly into space after Snape blasted Albus Dumbledore off of the top of the Astronomy Tower.

Hermione smacked herself in the forehead. She was a fool. How could she have been so stupid to think that what she did would alter the time-line. Harry had told Ron, the Order, her about the way Dumbledore had cast those same spells on him without moving or even looking at him. It was because he hadn't. She had. She HAD come back. She hadn't made a difference at all. No matter... Hermione blinked the tears out of her eyes. Hadn't she just experienced this? She looked over to the entryway the Death Eaters had come through moments ago and gasped as they appeared as if on cue. Hermione gasped. Before she could even think everything through, she rushed over to Professor Dumbledore at the speed of an iceberg. The Time Turner had slowed her down again. Hermione stood in front of her headmaster daring Snape to use the Killing Curse again. He raised his wand to Dumbledore and fired the number one Unforgivable. At least that was where it ranked in her mind. Hermione blinked slowly and looked down at her chest. The curse had hit the top portion of the hourglass of her Time Turner. It was slowly filtering down with the sand that was slowly leaking out of it still. Hermione knew what she had to do. She spun on her heel and pushed Dumbledore over the ledge, casting "Arresto Momentum!" as they both toppled over the ledge. As the spell flew from her wand, the bottom of the Time Turner had turned completely green. It brushed against her arm and Hermione knew no more.

She spun on her heel and pushed Dumbledore over the ledge, casting "Arresto Momentum!" as they both toppled over the ledge. As the spell flew from her wand, the bottom of the Time Turner had turned completely green. It brushed against her arm and...

She spun on her heel and pushed Dumbledore over the ledge, casting "Arresto Momentum!" as they both toppled over the ledge. As the spell flew from her wand, the bottom of the Time Turner had turned completely green. It brushed against her arm and...

She spun on her heel and pushed Dumbledore over the ledge, casting "Arresto Momentum!" as they both toppled over the ledge. As the spell flew from her wand, the bottom of the Time Turner had turned completely green. It brushed against her arm and...

ooo

A/N: I wanted to tell a different version of Deathly Hallows. One where maybe Harry was given a little more information and maybe Dumbledore was able to share more information and resources. Don't worry though, Harry won't become some crazy super powered anti-Voldemort. Also, I don't have a Beta, so forgive errors and typos. I'll try my best to catch them all the same though. Oh! And don't worry. No more time travel! It makes my brain cry.