"OOF!" Hermione landed hard on what felt like grass. She still couldn't see very well, as Draco's spell coupled with the impact from the fall had caused her vision to go black. Once her vision cleared, she took in her surroundings. "What the…?" She was in the exact place she had been only seconds before: under the tree by the Black Lake. The only differences were that it was warmer and that the grounds were empty except for her.
She quickly went through every spell she had ever learned or heard of in her head, but she could not place the one that Draco had used on her. Based on her surroundings and her most recent reading topic, she figured that Draco had sent her forward a couple of weeks into the summer holidays, so that she was stuck alone on the Hogwarts grounds.
Praying that the rumors were true and that Dumbledore did indeed live at the castle year-round, Hermione began to make her way up to the castle.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, she finally reached the griffin standing guard outside of Dumbledore's office. She was glad that it didn't require a password during the summer holidays, otherwise she would have been there for hours listing every sweet, both muggle and magical, that she could think of.
She ascended the stairs quickly; eager to find Dumbledore and figure out just what Draco had done to her. She had just reached up to knock when she heard a voice from within say "enter". "How does he do that?" she thought to herself as she pushed open the door.
"Ah, good afternoon young lady, how may I be of service to you on this fine afternoon?" Albus Dumbledore asked with his characteristic twinkle. "Well, Sir," she started somewhat hesitantly, "I'm afraid that I've found myself in a bit of a predicament." "Well, what can I do to help you get out of this unfavorable situation, Miss…?" "Sir, it's me, Hermione Granger. You've known me for the past six years!" "I'm afraid that you are sorely mistaken, Miss Granger. I know every student in my school, and you are not one of them."
Hermione sat in a shocked silence for a few moments. "Oh, Merlin, oh Merlin, oh Merlin!" she said over and over in her mind, finally getting an idea as to what was going on. "Sir, what is the date today?" "It is 22nd of August, 1977" he said matter-of-factly. "Sir, what would you say if I told you that less than an hour ago I was in the year 1997?" she asked. "I would be very much surprised, as time travel of that degree is unheard of, but if you are in fact from twenty years in the future, it is very possible that by your time such a thing has been developed" he responded in his usual calm demeanor.
"No, Professor, even in my time it is extremely rare and dangerous to travel in time so many years." Hermione's heart was slowly sinking. Her hope of getting home anytime soon was very, very slight, but if anyone could help her, it was Dumbledore.
Dumbledore smiled kindly at her from behind his desk. "I'm assuming that you had hoped that I could help you return to your time." It was not a question. She responded with a slow, sad nod. "I'm sorry to say that at the moment I cannot help you, but I will put all of my free time and energy into the task of your return." "Thank you, Professor. What shall I do until then? I can work in the library, I'm rather fond of books-" she was stopped by raise of Dumbledore's hand. "What year were you in when you were sent here? From the looks of you, you are still school-aged." "I was a sixth-year, Sir, though I never officially finished, we had just completed our exams the day before I was sent back." "I see. Then you shall be in seventh year. I assume that you can handle jumping into a new year with a very much shortened holiday?" "Yes, Sir. I always enjoyed the school year much more than holidays anyway. My friends always made fun of me for it." At the mention of her friends, Hermione's eyes began to well up.
"Not to worry, my dear. I'm sure we'll get you back to your friends in as little time as possible. Now, we have some things to attend to. Firstly, we must have a story to tell everyone. We certainly can't have you going around telling everyone that you are from twenty years into the future. We can say that you were homeschooled, and that your parents were recently killed by Voldemort. As a result, you decided to come here for protection and to complete your education. Now what about your name?" he asked. "If it's alright with you, Sir, I'd prefer to keep my given name. As for my surname…" she paused to think for a moment. "Bennett" she said finally. "May I ask the origin of the name?" Dumbledore questioned. "It's from one of my favorite books," she said with a blush. "It's a classic muggle novel." This was almost a whisper. "Ah, Pride and Prejudice," he said with a grin. "You've heard of it?" She was shocked, to say the least. "But of course, I've read it," he said. I am quite the fan of classic muggle literature, Miss Granger, or as I shall have to call you from now on, Miss Bennett.
"Alright, now that that is taken care of, you will need some necessary supplies. Would I be correct to believe that you would like to stay in your previous house?" he asked. "Yes, Sir, I would like that very much. I was in Gryffindor, and I can't see myself in any other house, except perhaps Ravenclaw, but I highly respect the Sorting Hat's decision to put me where it did," she replied. "Very well, the school does have funds for situations like this. I will arrange for someone to escort you to Diagon Alley tomorrow morning. For now, we will have to find you some living quarters until the start of term." He rose from his desk, and gestured for her to follow him as he left his office.
They descended the spiral staircase leading up to his office, and then walked down several corridors before stopping in front of a rather large landscape painting of horses grazing on rolling hillsides. It may have been her imagination, but Hermione thought she could see Sir Cadigan's pony within the herd.
"Behind this painting are the chambers that you shall be staying in for the next few days, until you are able to relocate to Gryffindor tower with the rest of the students at the start of term. You may create your own password, and you do not have to give it to anyone else. I have some rather pressing matters to attend to, so I shall leave you to get settled. Simply speak a password to the painting, and it will remember it." With a swish of his robes, he turned and walked back to his office.
Smiling, she remembered the very first password that she had had here at Hogwarts, though it was for a very different painting. "Caput Draconis," she said, and the painting swung forward.
She gasped when she saw what was behind it. It was a miniature of the Gryffindor common room! Where there should have been several overstuffed armchairs, there were only two in front of the fireplace. While there should have been two staircases leading up to the dormitories, there was only one that led up to a solitary door. There was a very well-stocked kitchenette, as well bookshelves stuffed with books. She was almost sad that she would not be able to stay here the entire year.
Ascending the curved staircase to the bedroom, she saw that this was also a miniature of the girls' dormitories. There was one four-poster bed, exactly like the ones in Gryffindor Tower, a balcony, and an enormous bathroom, which had a large bathtub (if it could even be called that).
Deciding that she should give her new bathtub a try, she turned on several of the taps, which produced many different colors of scented water and bubbles (just like the Prefects' bath). She stripped down, grabbed a towel, which she placed next to the edge of the tub, and slowly sunk in. It was absolutely heavenly. The hot water melted all of her physical stresses away, and eased her psychological ones. She sunk under the water to wet her hair, and then did a couple of laps in her pool-like bathtub.
When the water began to get cold, she finally climbed out of the tub, and dried herself off with the towel. She did a charm to shave her legs and armpits, as she wasn't able to find a razor (and this was much easier, anyway), and to her delight, found a set of comfortable looking pajamas laid out on a chair by the bathroom door. She had never been more thankful for House Elves. Though she still felt a little guilty about House Elves, she had finally given up on S.P.E.W., realizing that they really did like their work, and that they were well-treated at Hogwarts.
After combing her hair with a flick of her wand, she put on the pajamas and went downstairs to take a look at her miniature library in her common room. After selecting a book, she sat down in a cushy chair by the fire, and read until she began to get tired. Marking her page, she got up, went upstairs to her dormitory, flopped into bed, and was asleep within moments.
Hopefully this one was long enough for you guys. Luckily, I'm really bored, so I'll probably get another chapter up sometime soon. Hooray!
Lots of love and goat kisses,
Aberforth-goatlover
