Summary: Time travel doesn't always work out as planned. Sometimes, things double up, and really; how the hell are you supposed to account for that?
AN: I wish I could write this story fully, properly, but I can't. Maybe one day I'll come back to it, but it's too complicated and way beyond my current abilities.
30th of June, 1995, King's Cross, London
Hermione had just done something she had thought she might never get the courage to do - give her four-year-long crush a kiss on the cheek. It wasn't much, but it was something.
The rumours she had been dating Victor Krum this year were terrible; he asked her to the ball so he didn't go with a simpering fan girl - and all that ended up happening is she gets put under a lake and targeted by all the simpering fan girls.
And it makes her crush think she's interested in other people; she can only hope she's just changed his mind. Not hope much, sadly, he's rather dense, but one does what one must for the boy who leapt atop a troll to save your life. Who slew a basilisk because she was petrified. Who held her as he scattered a hundred soul-sucking demons.
Who out flew a dragon. Survived a dark lord.
Even if the last two weren't done for Hermione, he did them and survived. Even if so few believed he the dark lord was back, she knew he was, Harry said so, and she would believe him. Always.
So as Hermione walked towards her mum, who was waiting for her with a smile on her face as she was contemplating how to help Harry - he needed comfort, he'd so recently seen someone die, been tortured and used in a ritual.
She knew he couldn't come to her; Dumbledore said it wasn't safe, and really, it almost certainly wasn't. Her house was muggle, unwarded, unprotected, if you-know-who attacked her home she couldn't put up of a fight, and neither could her parents.
"So, that's the boy you like, is it? Think he got the message?" The teasing voice of her mum startles out of Hermione out of her thoughts just in time to see the hug coming. Harry's one of the few who knows what Hermione's hugs are like; crushing, emotion-filled hugs meant to show how much she cares, and she gets them from her mum.
As much as it feels right, it's a little off somehow.
"Mum!" Her indignant cry is met with light chuckles as she's released, "Where's dad?"
"He's busy - emergency at the clinic. Couldn't find any parking so we're going to have to walk a bit." Hermione nods at this; finding parking anywhere near King's Cross is a nightmare - it can take hours if they don't arrive early enough.
Trailing after her mother Hermione goes back to her ruminations, her thoughts flickering between Harry, how to fight back against Voldemort, and the uses of the reporter in her pocket, in her literal pocket rather than bribed.
One could almost feel pity for Rita, almost.
While she's distracted she doesn't pay much attention to where she's going beyond following her mum, so when her arm is grabbed and pulled into an alleyway she tries to shriek in alarm - only to find her mother's hand covering her mouth and holding her tight.
Suddenly the world is a straw and she's being pulled through it, as she pops back she tries to take a deep breath -
Only for it to happen again. And again. And again.
After what feels like an eternity, and leaves her heaving onto the ground the world stops. Realising this must have been a kidnapping she pulls out her wand and turns to face her kidnapper - her mum, no, someone polyjuiced as her mum.
"Hello, Hermione," The witch disguised as her mum is pointing her own wand - a very familiar, vinewood wand - at her "my name is... well, let's go with Mia, not my name, but I deserve one I like, considering what happened." The sad smile on her mum's - kidnapper's - face is confusing, as is her relaxed posture.
Confused by her kidnapper or not, however, Hermione is still terrified. She's in a forest clearing, alone with a witch who is obviously older and more powerful than her. "What are you going to d-do to me?"
"Ah, well. Save you, and Harry, I hope. At the very least I'll try."
"How is kidnapping me saving me? What do you want? Where are we?" falling back on old habits, Hermione pushes her nervousness aside with her curiosity - spitting out questions "Why does your wand look like mine? And what on earth do you mean by saving Harry?"
"I mean, saving you, and Harry, from Dumbledore's plots. But first I have to hope this actually works, the temporal mechanics are rather convoluted and technically impossible, but that hasn't stopped me so far." Wands still raised, facing each other down, Hermione unsteady and still tasting bile in her mouth finds herself more and more intimidated, and the next words only make her feel terrified.
"I, Hermione Jane Granger, indicated heir of the House of Potter do claim the life debt owed to the House of Potter by Hermione Jane Granger, created on October thirty first, nineteen-ninety-one."
A brief flash of light flares from both their wands, and a sort of magical weight settles over Hermione from those words. An even greater mental weight settles over her, one of fear - she knew about life debts, of course she did, as soon as she had been rescued she'd read up about them.
She owed one to Harry for saving her from the Troll, and again when they time travelled and his Patronus had driven away the Dementors by the lake. Both she, and Sirius, owed him for that, though her less so.
But debts didn't become real unless claimed, and Harry never would, so she never brought it up. But here she was, staring a someone - some stranger who claimed her debt. Her arm drops on its own, and she starts crying, there's no way she can help Harry now - who ever this is owns her until the debt is fulfilled, and since she was kidnapped it will probably be against Harry.
She had become a liability. So she cried. The boy she had come to love, would hate her forever for betraying him.
Her worries and tears grow greater with each passing moment, until as the polyjuice fades on her captor in front of her eyes she falls into shock.
Her captor had drunk nothing, not taken a different dose of polyjuice, yet their features warped and shifted, not to some stranger, but her own. She was staring herself in the face, a second Hermione, who had started crying herself.
"I, Hermione Jane Granger, call in full the life-debt owed to the House of Potter by Hermione Jane Granger, to fulfil the debt she shall step forward and provide a hug. So mote it be." She had said her name was Mia, but she uses mine for the calling. I didn't notice before Hermione's are sluggish due to shock as she is compelled to walk forward and hug the stranger - her duplicate - as the hug is returned she can tell why her mum's hug felt wrong before.
It was her own hug, imperfect at delivering that comfort she so strives to show, but full of emotion regardless.
Even though she quickly feels the magical compulsion fade, she clings on anyway, unsure of what is happening - she hasn't been enslaved, her kidnapper is herself, her looming life-debt is gone, and she is crying while being held in her own arms.
Considering less than an hour ago she had kissed her dearest crush, this was turning out to be quite the day for highly strung emotions.
A few minutes pass as they hold onto each other, finding comfort in the familiar yet strange embrace, "Come on, up, we can sit and talk in the tent." Hermione finds herself pulled to her feet and dragged into an empty patch of ground - where suddenly a tent pops into existence, a magically expanded one.
"This is where we'll be staying for a while; I need to teach you the basics at least, and then you need to decide what you are going to do. I won't force you, it wouldn't be fair, but right now it's not safe." Her voices continues in a quiet whisper "Not safe at all, even with the debt gone."
"What happened to mum, dad?" Her shock is keeping her from reacting right now; that and a small bit of trust built from the life-debt being cleared by a simple hug. If she was going to be used, that action made no sense at all.
"They're fine; in France at the moment as practise's sale finalises. They'll be in Australia before the end of Summer, safe."
"What? Why!" Hermione shouts, but finds herself silenced and pushed into a chair, with a mug of hot chocolate poured and set in front of her as she is unable to continue demanding answers.
"Because... Because six days from now they would be dead, you would be with the Weasley's, and Molly Weasley would be your new guardian. Which she would then use to claim our inheritance as Dagworth-Granger's descendant, and with help twist our life-debt into being owed to the Mouth - sorry, Ronald." The hatred in Mia's voice is palpable as she mentions Hermione's second friend, to the point she flinches.
"We would even be forced to be nice to Dad's murderer; dear Professor Snape using the attack on us to show his loyalty to his dark-lord. Hard to say if it was his own initiative or not, or if he was even willing, I never got the chance to question him."
With a flick of her wand Mia removes the silencing spell on Hermione, who quickly starts speaking again "I don't - why? Mum, dad, dead? And no one would believe me about Professor Snape?"
"No, they'd believe you - after all Snape would report it himself. But, 'For the Greater Good, Professor Snape's cover must be maintained, even if it means sacrifices'." Mia's voice is caustic, and she looks ill as she finishes speaking. "I hate the greater good and everything it stands for."
"And, after all, just like Mother Molly always says; 'They're just Muggles'" Hermione is finding this incredibly hard to believe - but even so, it doesn't feel like Mia is lying. And... Molly has said exactly that, that she should listen to her over her own parents; because They're just Muggles. Hermione shivers at that thought.
She reaches out for her mug of hot-chocolate, only to find herself receiving a stinging hex to her hand "Ow! Hey!"
"Stupid, stupid, stupid. This is how I got caught the first time; I'm still a stranger, dangerous, not trustworthy, and you would drink something you didn't see prepared? Do you want to be potioned into being a pet for a redheaded pig?" Mia's voice is bitter, and Hermione can't help but feel it's directed at both of them.
"Are you saying that it's potioned? Why would you tell me if it-"
"It's not, but the food at.. At.. Ugh, Fidelius charms. At Headquarters, is. Loyalty, Love, Will Suppressants, basically everything necessary to make you fall in love with the Mouth." She grimaces and looks down "Just like what happened to me."
"It took months before I started desiring the pig, but I stopped loving Harry long before he actually arrived; stopped caring Mum and Dad were dead because Mother Molly was there to fill in the gap. We were smart, smarter than Dumbledore, so..." She chokes "So she wanted us as a breeding sow for her pig. Dumbledore just wanted us away from Harry, distant, and Molly's plan was convenient. He didn't hate us, we were just in the way."
"I... I don't believe you. I, no, I can't. They wouldn't. Ron wouldn't; he's my friend, Harry's friend..."
"And yet, she did tell you that story about brewing the potions; oh Arthur's not under them, now. He was at the start, but he does love her, and his children. It's why she thinks it's acceptable; 'fake it until it becomes real'. Only, after nine years, it never became real. Not for us, not for Harry." Mia shakes her head.
"That was just a little story! It doesn't mean that she's going to use love potions on me, this is ridiculous!"
"Considering you have a low dose loyalty potion in your system keyed to Ronald and the Headmaster, have done since first year, I don't think you can really say that. Entirely incidental mind; it's a consequence of sitting near Harry at meal times. I don't the Dumbledore even knows Molly doubled up the potion so it works for her son as well as him."
Hermione finds the idea of a loyalty potion keyed to Ronald believable, if only just. But the headmaster... He's Dumbledore. She just can't imagine anyone she knows doing it, but the way both she and Harry forgive him for everything has always been strange. "I still can't believe they would do it. They're not evil."
"Evil, no. Manipulative and unethical, yes. We're just muggleborn, we don't matter; children of animals, they're just doing their duty educating the savages. Don't you remember how Arthur treats Mum and Dad?"
"... Like zoo animals."
"Exactly. It's much like the gentlemen explorers who travelled the world; not evil, some maybe not even cruel, but they thought themselves better, superior. Racist, classist, bigots."
They both just sit there for a while, Mia sipping away at her hot chocolate while they remain silent.
"What's the charm to detect contaminated drinks?"
Mia doesn't answer, but gets up and pulls a book off a shelf and passes it to Hermione, who scans through it, occasionally glancing at Mia.
"I'm underage."
"The wards on the tent block detection; it's not hard to do. According to the ministry I'm underage too; although my wand isn't, which is what matters."
Hermione takes a minute but casts a spell on the drink, then a different one on a hair she plucks form her head. The first doesn't give a result, but there's a faint light blue glow on the hair.
"You miscast the first one, needs a tighter spiral. You should also never rely on a single cast, false negatives can happen."
Repeating the spells twice more, and receiving a nod Hermione finally takes a sip of her hot chocolate, "Alright. I've been potioned, I believe that. But I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt for now."
"Good enough; now six days for you to get the charms down, basic Occulmency and to make a decision."
"What decision?"
"Go to Australia with Mum and Dad to keep you safe and let me take your place to keep Harry safe; or go to headquarters with me, and we come up with some kind of story for why there are suddenly two of us."
Hermione looks baffled for a moment "You're a time traveller, why don't you already have a plan?"
"I was supposed to merge into you, I hardly expected to come back in my own body - albeit a younger version - I've spent the last week rather frantically preparing for this because all my plans had to be adjusted to account for you."
Mia sighs "And, at the end of it, I can't help being sad; even if I succeed in every way possible, one of us is almost certain to get heartbroken." She stares at the ground "Me, preferably, I don't deserve him. Not after what happened."
Hermione doesn't respond and just settles in to study the book she has been given, and then a book on occulmency which is quickly placed on the table. Neither speak until Mia says she's going to bed, and Hermione only gives a short acknowledgement.
In her mind there are a few thoughts of betraying her kidnapper, running to Dumbledore and informing him; but an undercurrent of fear keeps her in the tent, reading the books.
Could it be real? What if she's not lying? There have been so many events over the years, and... They should have helped, but never did.
I'm scared.
When she finally goes to sleep, it's only nightmares of potions and manipulative headmasters that greet her.
AN: I may end up posting all the future-dream bits I have written for this here at some point, but probably not, they don't really go anywhere. This is at least self-contained and stands alone tolerably.
For anyone wondering how Hermione can claim the debt; the story is that Harry snuck out before the first task and made a will, making Hermione the primary beneficiary. That's one of the future-dream sequences I have written, when the will comes out.
