A/N: It was pointed out that the way Hermione acted was out of character and that Hermione would never resort to cursing and violence.
So let me explain why I wrote her that way: Hermione is stuck somewhere that is not her time. As a matter of fact, she doesn't even know whether she's in the past or future. The time-turner she used is broken beyond repair and in addition to that, she's in the presence of two rather hostile gentlemen...
I believe that in an extreme situation like this it would be normal to panic and I believe it is not unusual for someone to act differently than they normally would. I don't think that it is too unrealistic for Hermione to react the way I wrote her. Also, if this was the future, then there might be a good chance that she might not able to be send back, because a new time-turner might be not available (or even in the past getting a time-turner will not be easy).
As for cursing in general... The HP books were first and foremost written for children (hence the Disney-eske epilogue for example), so it would have been a little improper for JKR to have her characters swearing like sailors. But I don't think that anyone can argue that in real life it's actually completely normal for people to swear, especially for teenagers, even the goody-goody ones like Hermione.
I hope this explains things a little bit. :)
I appreciate the feedback, because it helps me to improve the story. Thanks!
Chapter 3: This Is Heavy!
The three former housemates gaped at each other for what seemed like an eternity, not willing to believe their eyes. They were convinced that what they saw before them was just an illusion. They were only snapped out of their stunned state, when Fox decided to speak up again.
"We found her in the Department of Mysteries. She was trying to steal this," he explained and pointed at the time-turner in his co-workers hands.
Harry, who seemed to recover from the shock faster than Dean and Hermione, nodded once and then dismissed both of the Unspeakables. "Yes, thank you. I think we can take it from here."
"Right. Be careful, though. The girl looks all innocent and harmless, but she's got quite a violent streak there," Tannen warned both Aurors, before he and his colleague left the room to let the Harry and Dean deal with 'the Girl' alone.
"Great Scott! HERMIONE!" Harry, who had not once taken his eyes off his friend during this entire encounter, exclaimed. Then within milliseconds, he stood in front of her and was wrapping her in a bone-crushing hug.
"I can't believe this," he murmured repeatedly, before letting her go and looking at her with expression that displayed at least five different emotions at the same time. "25 years. I can't believe it. And now you're standing right before me!"
"25 years?" Hermione repeated stunned, her eyes growing wide.
While it didn't take to be a genius to realize that she ended up more than just a few years in the future, 25 years from her own time was pretty heavy, even for Hermione.
After they all had somewhat managed to collect themselves, Harry began to fill Hermione in about the happenings that had followed 'the incident'.
The disappearance of the war heroine had been a huge scandal and been reported all over the media for months. The Ministry had been under-fire by the outraged public and eventually had been forced to pass a new law, restricting all time-turning devices in Great Britain to a manipulation limit of a 72 hour span, for both going back and forth in time due to this public pressure.
Of course, a grand search for her was started and a team of specialists had worked excessively to find her. The search, however, had proved itself to be very difficult. The main problem had been that nobody knew whether Hermione had ended up in the past or if she was somewhere in the future. In addition to that, the resources for the Ministry to work with had also been fairly limited at that time.
So, after months of intensive researching in old Ministry records, among other things, in hope of finding Hermione Granger recorded there somewhere as a lost time traveller, the Ministry eventually admitted defeat and dropped all investigations after not even finding the slightest clue about her whereabouts.
They had come to the conclusion that she must have ended up somewhere in the future and that pretty much buried all hope in ever finding her again. Had she been somewhere back in time, bringing her back to their present would have been a lot easier as there would have been some points of reference. This way, however, the Ministry didn't even know where to start. True, they had been given a time manipulator by the Irish Ministry, but time travel was, like most manipulation processes, not entirely safe. The further away someone went from their own time, the more unstable the whole time travel process became. Very similarly to Apparition, a person could end up splinching badly. Thus, the Ministry had regarded the case as something that was left to be solved for by the Ministry of Magic of the future.
Her family and friends had tried many times, to get her case reopened, but without any success. The Ministry maintained their ground and regarded the issue as done after they had paid damages of 200 000 galleons to Hermione's family. Her parents had refused to accept the money at first, because no amount of money could compensate for their loss, their beloved daughter, but had taken it in the end and donated the money to a charity for war orphans. Throughout these years, Harry and Ron had remained in contact with the Grangers.
When Hermione heard Harry mentioning her parents, she immediately insisted on being taken to them. Knowing how hard and how upsetting the incident had been for her friends, she couldn't even imagine how devastating the whole mess must have been for her parents. She just hoped her parents would be able to handle this new situation well.
While Harry didn't want to let his friend go just yet and wanted to keep her with him a little longer, he understood, wasted no time and brought her to her parents.
To say the reunion with her parents was tearful would have probably been the understatement of the year. Even though the separation had only been a month, and not 25 years, for Hermione, she couldn't stop those the tears when she saw her mother and father and their very emotional reaction towards her.
The three of them were a complete mess, but luckily, they all managed to calm down from their emotional rollercoaster after a while. It was only then, when Hermione finally noticed that there was another person - a young man - in the room with them, carefully observing everything from a corner. One of the first things that caught Hermione's attention was how much resemblance he held to her father - except for his curly hair that reminded Hermione a lot of her mother's. How peculiar…
It turned out that the young man was her 'younger' 20-year-old brother named Robin. Hermione would've been lying if she claimed that she was entirely 'okay' with suddenly having a brother, although she could understand her parents' decision to have another child after losing her.
It was strange and both Granger children weren't sure how to deal with this new situation initially. Suddenly having a sibling was a thing you definitely needed to get used to, and while her brother had always known that he had a sister who had gone missing when she was 18, he sure as hell hadn't expected her to suddenly turn up out of nowhere again – and much less as a still 18-year-old.
It probably goes without saying that both he and Hermione were rather distant and awkward around the other – and even more so when their parents forced some 'quality time' on them, so they would get to know their sibling better and to make them warm up to each other. So after some painfully awkward time, they thankfully learned to accept the new family situation and found that they actually enjoyed having a sibling. Although, of course, both couldn't always help that little twinge of jealousy from time to time, now that they weren't the only child anymore and now had to 'share' their parents.
Hermione and her brother had many similar character traits and also shared a few interests, which helped them in connecting a lot. Robin however, unlike Hermione, was non-magical, but showed great interest in magic. Their parents had never told him about Hermione's magical abilities and the wizarding world. Robin was currently enrolled at university for dentistry. Their parents had planned on letting him take over their practice as they had been considering retirement for some time now, seeing they both were well over 60. Hermione was glad that her parents had someone to continue the 'family business', as she was pretty much out of question for that, since having received a different schooling than her brother. Before attending Hogwarts, it had been her dream to, just like her parents, become a dentist.
Speaking of education - when Hermione announced her plans on going back to Hogwarts to finish her schooling, her parents had been understandingly unhappy and reluctant, considering they had only just gotten their daughter back. However after a long and tiring discussion, in which they kept insisting that Hermione could also be home-schooled, seeing as the family was rather well off, Hermione's parents eventually gave in and tried not make Hermione too guilty about her decision. They made her promise, however, to write them regularly and to come back home for all holidays ("No staying away for Christmas and Easter!").
The reappearance of Hermione Granger was, without a question, a huge spectacle for the wizarding community. The media went absolutely crazy. Dozens of reporters had even come to camp in front of her childhood home, in hope of managing to snap pictures and to get interviews with her. All this was a very exhausting experience for Hermione, and she couldn't help but feel completely overwhelmed by all the unwanted attention - not to mention their poor, irritated neighbors who kept asking them about why those strange people were there.
After spending a couple of 'quiet' days with her family, Hermione received a letter from Harry, who invited her to his home to meet up with him and a couple of their old friends. Fortunately, this reunion was far less emotional than the one with her parents.
Hermione was a little more than surprised that when she rang the doorbell at Grimmauld Place, a brightly dressed and as bubbly as ever, Lavender Brown answered the door. Before Hermione could greet or say anything to her former roommate, Lavender already had her wrapped in a tight hug that made it difficult for her to breathe. Hermione felt that she was getting these kind of hugs a little too often these days, although of course, she was happy to see that she had been missed.
She was then led, or eagerly dragged if you wanted to be specific, to the living room, which was crowded with people: Harry, Ron, Neville, Luna, Dean, Hannah Longbottom (formerly Abbott), Molly, Arthur, George and a couple of children/teenagers between the age of 7 and 18, who she didn't know. Her friends all greeted her warmly, but surprisingly enough gave her enough space. Hermione suspected that Harry must have asked them not to crowd and overwhelm her too much, and for that, she was grateful. She had certainly had enough emotional encounters lately and she certainly couldn't deny how confused she was when instead of going to Ron, Lavender settled next to Harry, who in return went to put his arm around her and gave her a little peck on the cheek.
Even though Hermione knew it was rude to stare, she couldn't help but do just that: she stared unbelievingly at the couple.
Now how on earth did they happen?
While Hermione tried to imagine different scenarios that explained this surprising development, she supposed that her facial expression must have been rather funny, judging by the laughter that erupted from the occupants of the room.
She was soon informed that after an Auror assignment gone wrong, Harry had to be taken to St. Mungo's for the treatment of his injuries. Lavender, who had just started working at St. Mungo's back then, had been his assigned nurse. Since life sometimes had its funny ways of working, the Nightingale Effect struck both of them and Harry and Lavender fell in love. However, the two hid their relationship for almost a year, afraid of people's (mainly Ron's) reactions. To their immense surprise and relief, Ron didn't mind them as a couple at all, but then that was only due to the fact that Ron had been sneaking around with Harry's ex Gabrielle, Fleur's little sister, behind their backs as well. Both couples were now married and with children.
Harry and Lavender had two: Sirius, who was 18 and had just graduated left school last summer, and Lily, who was 15 and in her 5th year at Hogwarts.
Ron and Gabrielle, on the other hand, had two girls: A daughter, who would be Hermione's year, named Rose and a two years younger one, named Clémentine – both of whom Ron was very, very protective of. Dean and Luna's unlucky teenage son had already been victim to his wrath. According to Ron he had only reacted that way because the boy tried to 'seduce' his eldest daughter.
Hermione also learned that while Harry had pursued his dream of becoming an Auror, Ron had chosen to be a professional Quidditch player. However in his fifth season as keeper for the Appleby Arrows, he had been forced to a break of seven months due to a severe sports injury. So during that time, being bored and frustrated because he couldn't play, Ron tried for new hobbies. It was then when Ron discovered a new passion. Namely: the joy of cooking! Much to everyone's surprise it turned out to be his true calling.
It wasn't until another two seasons later before Ron eventually decided for another career path and was determined to become a chef - for which he actually went to France for a year to get some basic training and where he also got together with Gabrielle. He now had a fancy restaurant called 'Le vif d'or' (The Golden Snitch).
Of course, when Hermione heard that story, she started to laugh uncontrollably, believing that Ron was making one of his famous jokes. As it soon turned out, however, Ron hadn't, so Hermione stopped laughing immediately and quickly apologized. She noted that Ron had perfected the 'Ron-death-glare' over the years she had been gone.
Ron's restaurant was located in Diagon Alley, and business was doing very well, according to him. Hermione didn't have a hard time believing that, since she couldn't deny that Ron seemed to have become a fantastic cook. The dinner he had prepared was absolutely delicious.
She then also learned that Ginny was now living in Romania with her husband, who was a dragon tamer, and her two children. She was now expecting again and therefore couldn't travel, but was sending her love to Hermione.
Dean had married Luna, who had taken over 'The Quibbler' after her father's retirement, and both had a 17-year-old son named Michael (who was still very nervous around Ron) together.
Neville, now Herbology Professor at Hogwarts, was happily married to Hannah Abbott, the new owner of the Leaky Cauldron. He was still feeling very guilty about what had happened at the Ministry, and was pretty much apologizing every time he addressed Hermione. He and Hannah had two boys who hadn't started at Hogwarts yet.
George had eloped with Angelina Johnson and had a son, who was working with him at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Hermione's boyfriend Viktor ("Now, ex-boyfriend," she reminded herself with a heavy heart), she was told by Harry, was currently coaching the Falmouth Falcons and his children were enrolled at Hogwarts as well.
So much had happened and changed after she had disappeared and Hermione knew that it was definitely going to take a while for her to get used to all this, but she was happy to say that she felt more calm and relaxed now. While it indeed felt strange to be around her friends, who were now so much older than her, she was relieved that they still treated her same way they used to – although perhaps a tad more appreciatively, but not overly annoyingly so.
While the dinner with her friends had been nice, one thing that Hermione could have lived without, were Lavender's not so subtle attempts to try and set Hermione up with her son. ("Don't you think Hermione looks nice in this dress, Sirius? ...Hermione, could you get that? Sirius will help you, of course ...No, no, you're sitting next to Hermione, Sirius.") Hermione hit off with Harry's eldest, a sandy blond version of said person, minus the glasses, right away, but didn't appreciate Lavender's matchmaking attempts at all. In fact, they made her and Sirius both quite uncomfortable. It seemed, however, that everyone else found the squirming couple funny as they kept chuckling whenever Lavender would say something to try and bring the two closer together.
Apart from that Hermione had a good time and now felt a lot more at ease with her new situation, knowing that she had friends and family to support her. She was grateful that she was blessed with so many great people in her life. She was a lot more ready for the things that were to come now.
A/N: Next chapter will be at Hogwarts.
This chapter was betaed by Being A Wallflower (formerly 'Hermione's Evil Twin').
