Shadows of Light

Chapter One


Disclaimer: See prologue.


The habit of looking to the future and thinking that the whole meaning of the present lies in what it will bring forth is a pernicious one. There can be no value in the whole unless there is value in the parts.

BERTRAND RUSSELL, Conquest of Happiness


Dumbledore was every bit as eccentric as she remembered him. The vibrant robes, the unusual hats, the kind and gentle smile gracing his features. He was much younger than she remembered him however, although seeming just as timeless as ever. An unbidden smile tugged at Hermione's lips as she rested her eyes on the one man that could make all the worry and stress seem to evaporate into thin air with the offer of a lemon-drop.

"Headmaster, you have no idea how wonderful it is to see your face once again." She croaked out, the dust of battle still clogging up her lungs. With a few painful coughs, she looked back up to him only to be greeted with a troubled look on his face.

"My dear, I am not the headmaster although it honors me that you would address me as such."

He helped her up into a sitting position before offering her a glass of water that he conjured before them. His eyes took in her appearance briefly, his troubled expression becoming more pronounced.

"What is your name dear."

"My name?..." Her mind ground to a halt for a moment trying to figure out why he didn't remember her, "Hermione Granger sir... I'm a 6th year- well I was a 6th year before the war started. I'm not sure what I am now."

She rubbed a hand over her face, exhaustion threatening to catch up with her. Warmth in her other hand distracted her attention from the confusion that was starting to take over. The stone. It was still in her hand, but its power was no longer tangible. Almost as if throwing Hermione around was all that it could manage and had now turned to a dormant state.

She opened her hand and looked carefully at the stone. "Sir, is this... a resurrection stone? Or something else... The stores never mentioned that it threw you around before it showed you those that you have lost..." She muttered in a distracted voice.

"Miss Granger what year is it." Dumbledore said carefully, his eyes turning piercing in there intensity.

"19...97. Why..."

"Hmm..." He said quietly, getting up from his position of crouching next to her. He moved over to his desk with a distracted look on his face, picking up what looked like a news paper before returning to her side. "I think you will find that you did a bit more than 'being thrown around' as you put it."

Dumbledore handed her the paper, watching her intently. There on the front cover of the daily prophet.. or at least what looked vaguely like the daily prophet, was the year 1944 printed neatly on the cover.

Her brain seemed to shut down as she lifted her gaze from the cover of the news paper and started to take in the environment around her. He was quite right, this was not the headmaster's office at all, but instead one of the many teachers offices that she had visited in the years that she attended Hogwarts. The windows were covered, blocking out any natural light that may have been allowed by the time of day. Instead the room was lit by many different candles stationed around on tables and candelabras. All his small fascinating objects still littered the room in a haphazard manner, reflecting the candle light onto the ancient books that lined the book shelves that covered every inch of the walls.

"Your still a teacher."

"Indeed. Please, come, take a seat and tell me how you found yourself spectacularly thrown on my office floor child."

Hermione tested her legs first, gingerly, before slowly getting up and taking the offered seat in front of his desk. "Professor I'm sorry, I must have given you quite a shock." she winced, rubbing the back of her neck.

"That you did, but it is nothing for you to worry about. Would you like some tea? Lemon drop?"

She smiled to herself, remembering her previous wistfulness for his love for sweets. "Please."

"Now I know that, judging by your current state of appearance, that talking at length to an old man is the last thing that you would want to do but please."

Hermione took a sip of the warm spice tea, letting the liquid heal her parched throat and calming her weary muscles. She looked up from her cup at that young Dumbledore and took a deep breath, vaguely wondering how much of her story she should monitor for fear of how dangerous knowledge of the future could be, even in the hands of someone as well meaning as Dumbledore. Specifics were out, she couldn't give him too much detail but at least a general idea would seem sufficient. She rubbed her forehead wearily with her free hand before starting.

"I went into your old office in search of... something... anything I guess. Hope maybe. There is ... was a war waging and we were... everything was lost. So many were dead. We were desperate. I think I went there in hope that maybe I could find something to stop the eventual slaughter that would have come by nightfall."

"A war?"

"Yes. An extremely powerful Dark Lord had arisen, taking control of nearly all of Britain. There was only Hogwarts left standing and it was on its last legs." She paused for a moment before looking up into Dumbledore's serious yet calm eyes. "This probably sounds completely ridiculous."

"On the contrary dear, time travel is not unheard of." He said gently, some of the twinkle coming back into his eyes at his light joke. Hermione smiled in spite of herself.

"I'm sorry I'm being so vague-"

"No its quite alright, I understand why. How, may I ask, did you manage to find yourself here."

Hermione looked down at the stone that she had placed in her lap when she had rubbed her face and picked it up again to lay it on his desk before him. "I picked that up from one of your many cabinets and it... activated I guess when I closed my hand around it."

"Mm.." he muttered as he looked at it through his half moon spectacles for a moment. "A Moldavite crystal. I must confess that the property's of stones have always fascinated me, seems time didn't change much."

He pulled his wand and muttered a spell under his breath, watching intently as it glowed a soft white. "Dormant now, seems as if your adventure through time has taken all of the magic that was most likely stored in it completely." He rubbed his beard absent minded, as he seemed to sift through his thoughts. "Unfortunately there are no traces of the magic that was used on the stone so I can't determine what was used to change it. Just as well probably." He smiled and handed it back to her. "You can keep it dear, it is merely a trinket now, although a very pretty one."

Hermione picked it up again, the cool smooth service reflecting the light of the candles, revealing its natural beauty.

"I'm afraid I must inform you that while time traveling to the past is indeed not impossible, time travel into the future is, as of this specific time period."

She nodded absentmindedly, refusing to let her mind think about that comment and the emotions that it brought with it.

"It appears as if fate has given you another chance, if you are willing to accept it." He smiled kindly.

"Terrible things happen to those that meddle with time." She said in a empty voice, still not taking her eyes off of the stone.

"Yes that is the case with those that meddle with the intimidate past but this situation is a great deal different. The time gap is so great that you don't risk the chance of seeing yourself. Also any changes that are caused by your actions or presence in this time period will be so distanced from the future that you know, it will almost create, in a matter of speaking, an alternate timeline. I confess that my own studies on time travel are less than extensive but the basic principle is what is important."

Hermione felt as if the past three years of lack of sleep and stress were finally gaining the upper hand when she looked back into the gentle face of Dumbledore. "This isn't my time... I'm alone here... what will I do... I cant-"

"My dear, please be at peace. You can stay here of course, Hogwarts has always offered help to those in need such as yourself. I'm sure, between the two of us, that we can come up with something for you to do and you are never alone. If I understand it correctly, you already have had the pleasure of meeting my aquaitence before fate brought you to my quite dashing rug."

She smiled at him, appreciating his odd since of humor more than he knew.

"I'm afraid I can't quite take you to the hospital wing to get the much needed potions that i'm sure you would be more than happy to except quite yet. We will need to address a sort of cover story, for lack of a better term, for your sudden appearance here. I'm sure you understand why."

She nodded, turning to her tea that she had momentarily forgotten. He was right, there was still so much that they would have to go over before she could go out into the public eye. But the promise of having a plan seemed to give her a solid ground on which to stand. The kind of stability that she had long since lost with the start of the war as it swept over the wizarding world. She clung to it with all the passion of a starving man with the promise of food at last.

"In the mean time please wait here, I will get the potions that I can gather that you might need, and after a good nights rest we will discuss where we will go from here Miss Granger."

She nodded and relaxed back into the comfy chair as she watched him leave the office.

There was something so peaceful about Dumbledore's chronic untidiness that seemed to settle in her very soul, healing the desperation and panic that had been her constant companion for years. Once again, just being in his presence brought with it that feeling that everything was going to be alright. It had been so long since she had been able to relinquish control and let someone who was far wiser than her take care of things. She knew that she would have to face her grief eventually. Face the fact that she had left her friends to die alone without her. That she had abandoned everything in her desperation.

She closed her eyes for a moment, willing the tears away that were threatening to rise up against her.

Later, she told herself. She would have to deal with it later.

She willed herself to focus instead on the faint warmth that all the lit candles radiated, caressing her skin with all the gentleness and comfort of home. It had been so long since she had seen Hogwarts like this. Like it was meant to be. Like it was home.

Taking a deep breath she reopened her eyes and looked over herself. She really did look awful. Like she had been in a fight with a vacuum cleaner bag and lost. Her clothes were covered in the remains of the castle and dust of the battlefield. Not to mention her clothes themselves had seen better days. She really hoped that Dumbledore's hospitality extended to a time appropriate wardrobe. Preferably without holes and rips in them.

Running a grimy hand through her hair she forcefully sifted through her brain trying to remember anything about the 1940's that would help her. Unfortunately most of what she had learned had been in her early schooling before she had ever arrived at Hogwarts. She knew without a doubt that this time was already neck deep in two devastating wars. The muggle world war and her own wizarding worlds war with Gellert Grindelwald. Which put her right in the middle of the kind of environment that she had been trying to escape.

And last but not least, one thing that she was absolutely loath to admit, women were expected to be subservient in there role to men. Hermione sighed. That was one she was going to have to work on if she didn't want to completely blow her cover as being from this time period whether she agreed with it or not. But she grudgingly admitted to herself that it could be so much worse.

So very much.