CHAPTER THREE: WHERE LOYALTIES LIE

~ Potter Cottage 1981

Hermione's eyes fluttered awake to the flickers of the fireplace. The warmth of the cottage was a comfort to her even if she felt like the walking dead. She struggled to sit up, and belatedly realized that James and Lily Potter were sitting across from her, watching her closely. Her heart clenched painfully as she remembered how easily Ron and Harry came to her aid when she struggled before, but now she was alone in a time where no one knew or trusted her.

"Miss Granger," a familiar voice drew her attention.

"Professor Dumbledore.."

"When I was told that the Potters were visited by a Hermione Granger, I could hardly believe it." His eyes twinkled knowingly. "Perhaps you should tell the others who you are."

Hermione inhaled deeply, wincing as she sat up fully. "My name is Hermione Granger, and I was born on September 19, 1979."

There was a pregnant pause as Lily and James watched her blankly, probably debating whether she needed to be sent to St. Mungos. She could see Remus and Sirius slip into the room quietly, both equally caught off guard by her confession.

"The reason I knew all those things about you," she said, looking meaningfully at everyone, "is because my best friend is Harry Potter."

"I have to ask," Dumbledore said, leaning forward. "Was it a time turner?"

"No.. We were in battle, and.. I don't know, our magic just collided and before I knew it, it felt like I was being swept away by a portkey."

"Are we actually supposed to believe this?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"She called me Harry right after she saw me," James said.

Hermione nodded. "Everyone in my time said he looked exactly like you. Except his eyes, he had-"

"Lily's eyes," James finished, looking at her with a small grin.

"Well I assume now we just need to find a way to send you back, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said.

"No." Hermione said too quickly, before realizing what she accidentally gave away. Everyone looked at her in apprehension as she fumbled to fix her mistake. "I mean, It's just-"

"What is the state of the Wizarding world in your time, Miss Granger?"

Hermione met his eyes, her own reflecting the pain and loss she'd suffered.

"Miss Granger, you know how dangerous it is to mess with time."

In that moment, Hermione knew she had a choice. She could somehow try to send herself back to before her, Harry, Ron got caught and finish the war in their favor. But as she looked at the curious eyes of Harry's parents, and the Godfather he'd lost too early, she knew she had a chance to change everything, to save everyone.

"Professor, I really don't think the current timeline is one you want to preserve."

"How do you mean?"

"There's just.. so much death and loss."

"Every war comes with loss, Miss Granger."

"Yes, but what if I can change that? What if I could save a lot of people? And give you a definite way to defeat Voldemort?" Everyone in the room tensed. Hermione took a deep breath before continuing, deciding to put all her cards on the table. "I have all the information you could ever need to finish this once and for all, and prevent countless unnecessary deaths. I can already tell you the future I just came from is bleak, and if you try to send me back to the moment I came from, Voldemort will win."

"What happens, Hermione?" Lily asked softly, her brilliant green eyes covered with a sheen of tears. Hermione looked to Dumbledore, who gave her a subtle nod before she continued.

"Voldemort finds Potter Cottage on Halloween of 1981. Lily, you gave your life to protect your son, which for the time incapacitated Voldemort." Lily looked at her slack jawed, shock overtaking her features.

"That's bullshit," Sirius shouted furiously. "The only way he could ever get in here is if I told him! And I would die before I betray the Potters."

"You didn't," Hermione said with tears in her eyes. "You were all so paranoid about the mole in the Order, you decided to switch secret keepers last minute, without telling anyone else. That's when you get betrayed."

"But your sacrifice, Lily, created a unique bond between Harry and Voldemort, solidifying the Prophecy that made Voldemort target him in the first place. Because of it, Harry was destined to be the only one who could truly end him."

"So what happens," James asked confused. "Does Sirius raise him?"

Hermione looked down, unsure how much to reveal. "Uh.. No. He was sent to Petunia."

"WHY?" Lily cried in horror. "I would never want her to raise my child."

"I'm not sure I understood entirely," Hermione said glancing at Dumbledore. "But I think he was safer from the death eaters with her because she was the most closely related to you and it was the best way to strengthen the protection you left him with."

"So what? Remus and I just let it happen? I don't buy that," Sirius said, shaking his head.

"Harry was hidden away until he joined Hogwarts. Until then, he didn't know about magic at all. But he did learn of you and and Remus afterwards," she assured. Hermione felt a twinge of guilt for leaving out so much of the truth, but if she could save them from their fates, what was the point to telling them about the painful futures they might've lived.

"So what happened? When did things take such a bad turn?" Remus asked inquisitively.

Hermione sighed in frustration, her mind trying to sort through all the relevant and necessary details. "Perhaps it would be easier if I showed you all, there's quite a lot. Professor, may we use your Pensieve?"

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, surprised she knew about it. "Of course, Miss Granger, you're right it might be easier to understand if we just saw it all."

As they all rose to floo to Hogwarts, Hermione felt around her pockets for her wand. Her beaded bag with all her stuff from her previous time was still tucked safely near her hip, hidden by the swell of her coat.

"Where's my wand?"

Remus looked at her guiltily before withdrawing it from his pocket. But before he could hand it to her, Sirius stopped him.

"I still don't know if we can trust her. She could be fabricating this for all we know! A random stranger showing up with all the answers to save everyone and defeat Voldemort? Seems too perfect, don't you think?"

Hermione could feel frustration rise up, coupled with the exhaustion from the past few weeks. "What the bloody hell do you want from me? To send me on my way? I can promise you, you'll regret it if you do."

"We have no way of confirming if you're telling the truth," Sirius said with narrowed eyes.

"Well I can take Veritaserum if that'd help, but I don't know how else to convince you I'm being honest!"

"Actually, I think that'd be enough," James finally spoke up. "If you take Veritaserum to confirm all the memories you show us are true, it'll be enough for me. I'm not willing to risk the future you're talking about, and I don't want my son growing up without his parents."

"Remus, if you'd please return Miss Granger's wand," Dumbledore prompted.

~o~o~o~

They all flood straight to Dumbledore's office in Hogwarts, everyone tense with anticipation. He led Hermione to his Pensieve, instructing her on how to extract her memories. Hermione thought long and hard, withdrawing the specific memories that highlighted their entire journey, trying to work around sensitive information that she didn't think they needed to know, like Sirius's imprisonment or his death, or even Horcruxes. That was a conversation for later, once they trusted her.

They all stepped around the Pensieve once she'd compiled her memories, before they were swept into her future.

First year...

"Gryffindor!"

The visitors watched as a young Harry Potter ran over to the Gryffindor table, joining Hermione. They saw wisps of Quidditch and conversations before settling into a conversation about Voldemort in the Gryffindor common room, right after their detention in the Forbidden Forest.

"He was in the woods, I'm sure of it," Harry stated confidently.

"Bloody hell, You-Know-Who is really back?" Ron asked. "You don't think he'll try to come after you, do you?"

"I think if he had the chance, he would've tonight."

"You're forgetting something," Hermione interrupted. "Who's the one wizard he's always feared? Dumbledore! As long as Dumbledore's around you're safe, Harry. As long as Dumbledore's around, you can't be touched."

The memories whisked them away to Fluffy, the Devil's Snare, the chess game, and right up to Snape's potions riddle. They saw young Ron and Hermione waiting in the hospital wing with an unconscious Harry as Dumbledore explained to them how he faced Voldemort and defeated him for now.

Fourth Year...

"Harry Potter," Dumbledore said in shock, withdrawing his name from the Goblet of Fire. "HARRY POTTER!"

They watched tensely as Harry battled a dragon, Hermione's late nights with him in the library, the Black Lake, the Maze, and Cedric Diggory's death. They watched Harry explain Voldemort's return in the graveyard to her and Ron, all of them frozen with shock and quiet tears running down Lily's face.

Fifth Year...

Hermione included a lot from this year. She showed them the moments Harry and Sirius bonded in Grimauld Place. She showed them the meetings of the Order of Phoenix, and all the planning the adults were doing.

They saw the reign of Dolores Umbridge and the DADA that Harry led. She showed the Potters how brave their son was in leading his classmates. That's when her memories took a darker turn.

They were able to see their excursion to the Department of Mysteries and the struggle for the prophecy, and she was thankful in that moment that she was hit by Dolohov's curse before Sirius died because her memories cut off before they could witness it.

Sixth Year...

Hermione barely included any details from that year; just enough so they gathered Harry was getting private lessons from Dumbledore on how to defeat Voldemort.

By the end of that year, they knew death eaters invaded the castle and Dumbledore was killed.

They were suddenly ejected from the Pensieve, and Hermione looked around the group whose faces were all ashened and horrified.

"That's my memories up to our sixth year. I wanted to give you a moment because the next year is when things really took a dark turn. I'm not going to censor anything, because you need to see how bad it got."

James, Lily, and Remus nodded grimly while Sirius stared at the Pensieve blankly. Dumbledore motioned for her to continue, at which point Hermione extracted the last set of her memories.

Seventh Year...

The scene started with Harry's transport out of Little Whinging, and their ambush, touching on their casualties and injuries.

They were whisked away to the Burrow where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were talking in hushed tones about leaving after the wedding to finish the mission Dumbledore left them. Hermione specifically left out the mention of Horcruxes, but made sure the memories portrayed the importance of their work.

Once again, they were taken to Bill and Fleur's wedding. The visitors had briefly relaxed at seeing everyone so happy before the momentary peace was shattered by the attack of death eaters.

The scene panned to their visit to the Ministry and their months of camping. Hermione's selected memories kept skirting around the mention of Horcruxes, which she realized privately was extremely impressive.

Finally they were taken to their visit with Xenophillius Lovegood. Things went downhill fast. They saw the young trio escaping the attack at the Lovegood house. They saw their capture as they were dragged to Malfoy Manor.

They witnessed the boys being dragged to the cellar of Malfoy Manor. Hermione looked away once Bellatrix started in on her interrogation of Hermione. She noticed that Dumbledore had a rare expression of defeat on his face, as if he couldn't believe things had gotten to such a point. Lily and James Potter were clutching at each other like life lines, clearly shaken by their son's difficult life. Remus was pale and watching slack jawed at Bellatrix's cruelty. Sirius on the other hand, was trembling subtly, his fists clenched unforgivingly as he watched the scene unfold before him. Hermione realized belatedly that Bellatrix was his cousin, and watching this was probably hard for him.

Eventually the scene progressed to the boys' escape. Hermione couldn't hold back her tears as she watched Ron and Harry be struck down once again. After all it'd only been a few hours for her since all this happened. As future Hermione was whisked away into the vortex and dropped violently into Potter Cottage, everyone was ejected from the Pensieve.

Everyone was grimly silent after leaving her memories, their eyes trained on the Pensieve as if it were a poisonous snake.

"I can take the Veritiserum now if you'd like," Hermione said.

Dumbledore wordlessly summoned a small vial, adding a drop to a goblet of water. "This dosage should only last about five minutes."

Hermione quickly gulped down the water, feeling her stomach turn. She'd been half starved for weeks and hadn't anticipated how utterly screwed her body was after the last 24 hours of trauma. She swayed unsteadily for a moment before Remus grabbed her arm reassuringly. She shot him a thankful smile.

"What is your name?" Dumbledore asked.

"Hermione Jean Granger."

"Miss Granger, are all the memories you've shown us true?"

"Yes."

"So you really are from the future?" Remus asked in a slightly awed tone.

"Yes."

"What is the full extent of your relationship with our son," Lily asked inquisitively.

"Harry was like my brother," Hermione said soulfully. "He was raised like a Muggle-born, so he understood me in a way many others didn't."

"Where do your loyalties lie?" Dumbledore asked.

"With Harry." Hermione immediately responded.

"Not with the Order?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"Well.. Harry, Ron, and I were never officially part of the Order. By the time Voldemort was back in corporeal form, we were too young to join. Order matters were mainly led by you, Moody, Remus, Sirius, and Professor McGonagall. And by the time we became of age, we had our own separate mission to fulfill that didn't involve the other Order members."

"What did I tell you to do? And why would I trust children rather than seasoned Order members?"

"Well.." Hermione struggled to find a way to honestly answer the question without giving too much away. "Secrecy was of the utmost importance. Harry needed to know because he was the one who would ultimately have to face Voldemort. And Harry always leaned on me and Ron. Voldemort's defeat was a lot more complex then we'd initially anticipated. So you left us with specific instructions on how to take him down once and for all."

Before Dumbledore could ask for more details, Hermione interrupted him. "I swear I will explain to all of you the mission we were on, but that's a conversation that needs to happen with more people. It's.. complicated. There's a few others who should be called before we can get into that."

Dumbledore nodded, reassured by her oath under the influence of Veritiserum.

"What are you trying to do then?" Sirius finally spoke up.

Hermione looked at him blankly for a second. "Change everything I guess. I don't want Harry growing up without his parents or Godfather. He could live such a happy life without the responsibility of saving the Wizarding world put on his shoulders."

"You do realize Miss Granger," Dumbledore began in a concerned voice. "If you change everything now, the future you won't have the same experiences with young Mr. Potter."

She looked at Dumbledore sadly. "I know," she murmured. "But saving all the lives lost in the next year is far more important than preserving my childhood."

She felt soft hands turn her around as she was pulled into the arms of Lily Potter. "Thank you, Hermione. Thank you for giving Harry the future he deserves."

Hermione smiled painfully. "Hopefully it's the future everyone deserves." Her eyes flickered to Sirius, her memories haunted by the very different man she knew who was hardened by years in Azkaban. He stared back intensely, still feeling unsettled by Hermione's story.