Eventually she settled back down on her chair and Lupin explained. The time turner lay on his desk. He started by a question. The best plans always start with a question.
'When did you get this time turner?'
'The start of the year.' She sniffed. 'Professor McGonagall gave it to me.'
'So you knew that you had it when you started to plan this… shambles?'
'Yeah.'
'Hmm…' Professor Lupin looked deep in thought as he calculated how many turns to take to go back to that time.
'63…' He muttered, picking up the time turner off his desk.
'Excuse me?'
'Get up, please Hermione.'
She obliged. No arguing with him. He knew what he was doing. He was also a teacher.
He draped the chain around her neck again. '63 turns will get you back to where this all began. Being that you already knew about time travel, it will be not as much as a surprise to you if you see yourself, than if you didn't understand. You may even cause damage to yourself.'
Lupin flicked his wand around to the door, then to a piece to parchment. A long letter appeared on the parchment. 'Come and find me in the past. Give me this. I will understand.' He handed her the letter, and she folded it and slipped it into her robe pocket.
'One last thing.'
'Yes?'
The Professor flicked his wand a something appeared in mid air. Said thing was silvery, flowing and velvety. Harry's invisibility cloak. 'Won't he notice it's gone?' She asked, worried. 'I'll explain everything.' Lupin smiled reassuringly, pushing it into her hands. 'Harry and I are becoming good friends over the course of the year.'
Lupin stepped forward and hugged her close briefly. 'We will see each other again. Good luck.' They parted.
She looked at the time turner. The last thing she heard was Lupin whisper: 'We will work this out together.'
It took a while, but the time got close.
((I'm good at countdowns lol))
60…
Adrenalin drove her.
61…
She was going to fix this mess!
62…
She was going back…
63!
She let go. The world started spinning. Professor Lupin seemed to reverse. In and out he would come. After a while time seemed to slow down, and then she was in the past. She looked around. Lupin's office had certain things about it that were different. For one, he wasn't there anymore. The chest she had noticed before was not there, and it was cold. She looked out the window and gasped. It was snowing! She had done it!
Her eyes dropped and stared at a copy of the daily Prophet that lay on her Professors desk. She eyed the date. November 7th. Exactly right.
She shoved the invisibility cloak into her pocket and tugged open the door. She found Lupin, or more accurately, Lupin found her.
'Hermione?'
She was stunned. She hadn't expected him to be right there. Oh, this was rikilus! ((Sorry for the pun, but I just had to! Lol))
'Um… I was just… Looking for you, Professor.'
'You were?'
'Yes.'
He waited. She said nothing, so he prompted her.
'Why?'
Oh my god, I'm so stupid! Honestly! She thought. She had just remembered why she wanted to see the professor. She pulled out the roughly folded note.
'This is for you.'
She handed him the letter. As he began to read, she sighed. Saved by the man standing in front of her. In the future.
On second thought, it was kind of creepy. She shuddered.
He finished reading. 'Lets see it.' Lupin said, holding out his hand.
'Huh?'
'The time turner.'
'Oh!' Her eyes grew wide and she handed him the necklace.
He studied it closely.
'Extraordinary.' He muttered.
'Sorry?'
'Nothing, I suggest that you go and catch yourself in the act. According to this,' He pulled out the Marauders map 'You are in Moaning Myrtles bathroom. How convenient. Do you mind if I keep this for a while?' He held up the time turner.
'No, that's ok. I'll come and pick it up when I'm done.'
'Thank you. Good luck.'
'Thanks.'
She turned towards the door, wondering how much professor Lupin had changed. He was no longer the kind, friendly, encouraging face that she had been looking into only a couple of minutes ago. Or was it months ago?
'Oh, and Hermione!'
She turned.
'Don't forget the invisibility cloak.' He winked, with a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Maybe she was wrong. He hadn't changed.
She ran along the hall, trying to make as little noise as possible. Sprinting down the steps, the cloak hanging off her. She had to get to that bathroom and trash everything as fast as possible. Who knew what time her past self would leave.
In a way, she hated this. She could not expose herself, it was the law. But she had to. It was bad for everybody if she didn't. Especially her.
She burst into the bathroom, slamming the door shut. She pulled the cloak off herself, looking flustered and making her hair go frizzy.
Her past self was looking at her in amazement. Her wand was out. Guess where it was pointed.
'I mean no harm, honestly. I'm here to help you. To stop you.'
'How-' Her past self looked thoroughly alarmed.
'By the chain hanging around your neck. The time turner. I'm from the future, and you're about to make a huge mistake. The mistake I made.'
She knew her past would believe her. She would.
'Oh. What are you going to do?'
'This.'
She whipped out her own wand and pointed it at the vats full of bubbling love potion. 'Bombarde!' Everything exploded. Both Hermiones were drenched in love potion. She looked down at herself. She was covered in pink slime. On the bright side, at least she smelt good.
'What are you doing?' Her past hissed, staring at her own robes. 'This is awful!'
'You'll thank me –'
But before she could finish, she was hit in the chest with a disarming charm. She flew backwards, landing hard on the stone floor.
'Petricus Totalus!'
It was the oldest trick in the book, but it still had the desired effect. Her past self went rigid and dropped to the floor, mouth clamped shut.
'Good. So long as you're listing, I'm going to give you a head start on the situation. First of all, I forbid you to use the Imperius curse or tell anyone that I am here. If you are to go ahead with your plan, you will destroy your life. You will use the Imperius curse on people close to you, not realising what you have done. Harry, Ron, The twins, even Malfoy and his friends, will all fall in deep love with you. This is very bad. They will not leave you alone, waiting for you all night until you get up in the morning.' She shuddered, remembering.
'I will be here all day if you need me. But I need you to do one thing for me. Apologise to Ron. I will help. Finite!'
Before her past self even got a word out, she shushed her. 'Come on, hide under the cloak. Here's the plan…'
It felt good, to walk freely when you are supposed to be in hiding. It also felt good to realise that she was going to do it right this time. She couldn't have asked for more. When she got back to her own time, she was going to buy all the people she took control of, plus professor Lupin, the biggest amount of sweets she could carry.
Her past self walked beside her, underneath the cloak. They had swapped clothes, and pasts time turner was tucked away, underneath her jumper. They reached the Fat Lady's portrait. But it was not the Fat Lady. It was Sir Cadogan.
'What's the password?' She hissed at what seemed like thin air.
'Fairy Lights.'
She remembered now.
'Fairy Lights!'
'Correct!' Beamed the portrait.
The portrait swung forward on its hinges. The first thing she saw was Ron, sitting by the fire and looking very lonely. When he saw her, he grabbed Quidditich Through the Ages, the closest book he could find, and flicked to a random page.
She came to stand in front of him. She figured that this was the best spot, as Ron could not swivel his chair around to avoid looking at her. She no longer knew where her past self was hiding. She stared at Ron. He did not look up. She knew he would not.
'Ron.'
Grunt.
'Please look at me.'
Another grunt, but eventually he lifted his eyes from the book, of which she was positive he was reading the same sentence repeatedly. Looking into her face, but avoiding her eyes.
'Please close the book.'
It was not a command, it was a request. Slowly but surely, he closed the book. Then looked up at her again, right into her eyes, which were pleading.
'Ron, i'm so sorry about Scabbers. He was a good rat. I should have kept a better eye on Cookshranks!' Tears rolled down her cheeks. 'Will you forgive me?' She asked quietly.
Ron was flabbergasted. He didn't realise she was this upset. He sprang from his seat. 'Yeah, of course i'll forgive you, Hermione.' He replied quickly. 'I never meant to treat you that way, I was just upset about Scabbers. It wasn't your fault.'
'Thank you, Ron!' She sniffed, and flung her arms around his neck and held him close. Bushy brown hair instantly coved his entire line of sight. He was surprised for a second, but then, instead of patting her awkwardly on the back, or holding out his hand to shake, he hugged her back. She stood there for a moment. Just hugging and smiling. She had her friends back.
Then they sat back down. As she lowered herself into her chair, wiping away her last few tears, the boys' dormitory door opened, and Harry walked out, looking extremely tired.
She was now well practiced, and acted perfectly when Harry came to sit down on the chair opposite her.
'Harry, you – you look terrible.'
She had no doubt that somewhere in this room, her past self had her jaw hanging open, her eyes as wide as saucers.