CHAPTER 4: THE CONSTANT

Lots of paperwork needed to be done if Hermione wanted to begin her assistantship with the Department of Mysteries. McGonagall arranged weekend floo trips to the Ministry itself so she could get a head start on the research. Within two weeks, everything was taken care of and she was anxious to start.

Hermione was gracious for the distraction of work. Already, she had Mrs. Weasley bombarding her with questions about the wedding planning. Hermione never really thought much into details, but as she weighed her options, it was overwhelming. Her parents wanted her to have a traditional style wedding. Molly wanted the embellishments of a wizarding affair.

Hermione at the present moment only wanted to elope.

She knew everyone meant well, but the current plan of a late August wedding seemed too hard to achieve, especially since she was already getting cold feet. Eleven months away, and she already knew she wasn't ready for marriage.

Hermione sighed and she placed the papers she was filling out back into her files and into her satchel. She felt the beginnings of a migraine creeping into her head. She knew it was possible to postpone the wedding without calling off the engagement. Ron would understand, but his family would not. Neither would her friends.

She always imagined that when she would walk down the aisle, the man at the end would be the only man she'd ever think of. True, the likeliness that she would never be attracted to another man other than Ron was slim. But being attracted to someone is not as bad as being obsessed with another man.

Hermione preferred the term 'obsessed,' versus other choice words that dealt with the description of her emotions towards the late Potions Master.

She hated herself for not having enough strength to tell Ron the truth about her feelings for Snape. She had hoped that if the full pardon went through, it would serve as closure between the two of them, or at least for her. She knew for a fact that Snape never saw her more than just an insufferable know-it-all.

But now, in her Gryffindor stubborn splendor, her emotions were still focused on this misunderstood man, and no one wanted to help her exonerate him. She would not give up without a fight. Snape worked too hard, suffered too much, and didn't do all that for nothing. She had to prove it alone.

All she needed was a plan.

Hermione checked her watch and cursed. She was almost late to her appointment with the Head of the Department of Mysteries, Lukas McPherson. Rushing to the grate of her fireplace inside her quarters, she threw in the powder and stepped into the green flames.

Luckily for her, Hermione had her fireplace connected directly with Mr. McPherson's office, so the long drawn out Ministry visitor process could be avoided. She dusted off her robes, thanking fate that the room was still empty. Hermione took a seat across from where Lukas would be addressing her and got ready for the appointment.

Not five minutes later, a short, stout, balding man rushed into the room, looking quite nervous. Within the past few weekends of meeting him, this behavior was a normal activity of his. The job's pressures were slowly getting the best of him. Hermione was sadden at this fact, for he was a very nice man overall.

McPherson looked surprised when he saw Hermione in his office. "Miss Granger! I didn't realize you were coming in today."

Knowing his recent bout of absentmindedness, she didn't take offense. "Sir, it's Saturday."

He sat down at his desk. "So it is. Goodness! Time does sure to fly by when everything else crumbles into a disaster!" he joked, semiseriously.

"Oh dear. Anything that I can assist with?"

Lukas put on a pair of eye glasses and rummaged through the mess of paperwork on his desk. "Not right now, Miss Granger. Unless you can catch the fine tuned miscalculations the Time-turning team managed to miss during their research. Five years! Five bloody years of research for this project, and they still can't explain…"

If there was one thing Hermione was disappointed within her assistantship, it was their vague explanations of events in the department. "Sir, you need to give me more details than that if I am to assist you. That's what I signed up for, and I believe I can be a huge asset if you actually told me exactly what is going on here."

Lukas shook his head. "Of course, Miss Granger. Old habits die hard," he chuckled. "I cannot reveal to you all the activities our department is working on, but perhaps an emphasis on one project will suffice."

Hermione straightened up in her chair, feeling excitement rush at her. Finally, making some progress. "If I may suggest, Mr. McPherson, this Time-Turner project has sparked my interest best. I've had experience with them a few years ago, and I find them fascinating."

McPherson leaned back in his chair, contemplating the risks of allowing Hermione work on such a secretive and sensitive project. He obviously could not find a good enough reason to keep her off the assignment, because he stood up and motioned for her to follow him.

They reached the all too familiar circular room of the Department of Mysteries. Hermione brushed off the shiver that ran down her spine as she recollected the events that happened there at the end of her fifth year. The trip wasn't as eventful as last time, for Lukas knew which room the time turners were located.

Lukas kept moving past where the time turners stood on the shelf and into a small room that Hermione never noticed when she was fighting the gang of Death Eaters. Inside, Hermione found four long tables strewn with paperwork and seven cauldrons simmering simultaneously. Three wizards were bending over papers and scratching their quills on parchments, observing the bubbling potions meticulously.

Hermione's interest in the project increased ten fold. Her fingers were itching to reach for one of the parchments sitting on the black counter. Potions for Hermione was one of her favorite subjects, for it involved the more mental and physical effort than magical abilities. Like Kingsley said at the ceremony, Hermione was not one to constantly rely on her magic.

The room obviously did not bring Lukas as much joy for him as it did for the young woman standing next to him. He pulled out a stool and motioned Hermione to sit next to him, gathering some of the parchment on the table into a pile.

"We are developing a new type of time travel, Miss Granger. You are probably familiar with the hour glass method. It has been very efficient in turning back at the most a few hours, but we are trying to stretch our limits and travel back weeks, months, maybe years! It's been in research for ages, but for the past five years, we've began brewing. However, we've reached a stand still."

Hermione was concentrating on the list of notes in front of her. "So, you think the enchanted minerals in the hourglass won't have enough power to transport you that far back in time?"

Lukas shrugged his shoulders. "Well, it does, but you need a large proportional amount. Our team here estimates we'll need an hourglass that's the size of a full grown hippogriff to travel back two weeks. The initial problem for us was that the grains did not slip quickly enough to transport the entire body through the time barrier. It would end up like a splinching gone badly, except the parts you left behind would be in different time periods."

"So you needed something that would be quick enough to be able to transport you back decades but in one piece," she summarized.

He nodded. "Yes. So, if turning an hourglass around your neck wouldn't be fast enough, then what could be done in place of that? What is the fastest way of getting a substance completely throughout the body?"

Hermione furrowed her brow and looked around the room. "Well, judging by the numerous amounts of cauldrons in this room, I'd say ingestion. And since it would be complicated to ingest powder and minerals, you have to turn that into a potion."

"Brilliant, Miss Granger. Our conclusion exactly. However, there is a quicker way."

Hermione nodded. "Of course! If you ingest a potion, it will take longer for it to get into your bloodstream because it has to be absorbed by your stomach. So, the quickest way is to inject it directly into the bloodstream."

Lukas pulled out a parchment in the pile of research in front of him that contained the formula. "Exactly. Now, the formula we created was simple. It's a liquid version of the enchanted minerals inside the old hourglass necklace, except it's concentrated to allow a further breach into the time barrier. Now comes the tricky part."

Hermione read over the formula and the process it took to create the potency of the elixir. "You aren't sure how much you need to administer in order to go back a certain allotted amount of time." McPherson started to read over her shoulder while Hermione continued. "I'm going to think out loud on this one, but honestly I believe it's a simple chemical equation. A standard time turner transports you back one hour with one turn. How much of this liquid can do the same?"

Lukas started pacing. "I believe we have it reduced so that one milliliter of our formula is equal to twelve rotations."

Hermione started to calculate the math on a spare bit of parchment. So, two milliliters is one day, 14 milliliters for a week, 56 for a month, and that gives us 672 milliliters for an entire year's transport." Hermione shook her head. "But then again, if you are centering on a specific day of the year, you will need 730 milliliters. Sir, either way that is way too much for a person to inject into their bloodstream if we are dealing with transportation beyond 365 days. We need to increase the potency somehow."

Lukas cursed. "That's what we discovered, unfortunately. But we are afraid the potion will explode if tampered with further. The risks are too great."

Hermione furrowed her brow. They were definitely at a standstill for now. "Perhaps something else is needed for a time travel boost, but not to increase potency." She leafed through the papers quickly, trying to catch something she missed. "Mr. McPherson, I'm going to diligently think this over with your team and I'll report anything we come up with. I know you have a lot more things to look over throughout the department"

For the next eight hours, Hermione discussed the Time Turning Elixir with the rest of the team members. But by the end of the day, they still had no idea how to create a more potent substance, and Hermione had to return back to Hogwarts a bit dismayed. These unproductive results continued into the rest of the month.

One good thing (or perhaps bad thing) about being on the project for Hermione was that it kept her mind off of her dead Potions Masters. However, that meant her plan of exonerating him had halted as well. Everything in her life became that way, though. Ron was starting to worry about his fiancée. On a Hogsmeade weekend in early October, he decided to take her out to a private dinner before she fled back to the Ministry.

"…so Mum feels that's why those place settings would work better than the old ones," Ron said before taking another bite of his meal.

Hermione continued to play with the leftover vegetables on her plate. "Mhmm. The old ones will do, don't worry."

Ron slammed down his fork. "Honestly, 'Mione. I just said the old ones won't work. Can you, for one moment, focus on something other than that bloody secret project of yours?"

Hermione sighed, feeling guilty. It was true she was only focusing on that new Time Turning Elixir. Even her class grades were falling below standards.

"Ron, I'm sorry." She reached across the table for his hand. "I have been a right arse these past few weeks. I'm just so frustrated with this project. This is the first thing I've ever faced that I couldn't solve. I just want one tiny sign of progress before this assistantship is over. That is the only thing I'm focused on right now."

Ron looked down at the small hand holding his. It had the engagement ring he gave her after the ceremony. "Are you sure you want to marry me, Hermione?"

Her face fell, but then she tightened her grip on his hand. "Of course I do, Ronald! It's just…well…wedding plans and details just seem so trivial compared to everything else we've been through. I don't care about what color ribbons we use during the binding vows, or the year the place settings were made. I just care that we will promise to live our lives for one another until the day we die. Why does anything else have to matter?"

Ron shook his head in disbelief. "Out of all the women I could fall in love with, I choose the one who doesn't care about details."

She squeezed his hand again. "Some men would find that a blessing," she teased.

He nodded. "I do, don't get me wrong. My mother, on the other hand, does not. This wedding is going to be the biggest event she's ever thrown, next to Bill and Fleur's nuptials, of course. But that was her first wedding. I know she's going to go mad on this one, and it's only her second."

Hermione snorted. "Well, look on the bright side. You know Ginny's going to get the worst of it when it's her turn. Maybe we should warn her now."

"Agreed! But then again, Ginny's a lot like mum when it comes to details. She would worry about the possibility that the place settings would make her reception look like we went back in time to the 1950s. I personally don't see that as a problem, but apparently the goblins that made the china back then went on strike so it's not good quality."

Hermione rolled her eyes. And then the light bulb went off.

She beamed and her eyes lit up. "Ronald Weasley, YOU ARE A GENIUS!" She jumped up and showered kisses all over his face.

"What did I do?" he stammered, trying to pull her off him before she strangled him in her tight embrace.

She ran back to her chair and grabbed her cloak. "Not to worry, love. But I have to leave and report this to McPherson as soon as possible. Seriously Ron, what would I do without you?" She placed another quick kiss on his cheek. "I'll be back in a few hours!" And she left the pub with a bewildered Ron trying to piece together what just happened.

Hermione was out of breath and her hair even more untamed than ever when she bolted through the doors of the lab in the Department of Mysteries. The team turned to her, having been startled by her sudden entrance.

She managed to gasp out one sentence. "We need a constant!"

One of the researchers looked astounded. "A what?"

Hermione crouched and clutched her knees, motioning to the people in the room that she needed to catch her breath. When she finally calmed down, she was beaming.

"We have been looking for the wrong answer! Listen. A normal time turner works like a dial. You turn it, and slowly it goes back to its original placement. Why does this elixir method have to behave the same way? With a constant factor of the present year and the year you'd like to travel to, all you would have to do is measure our the amount of potion you'd need to stay in that time before being transported back! It's simple!"

They all still were gaping like fish. Hermione shook her head. "Okay, let me explain it to you like this. Let's say I want to travel back to my first year of Hogwarts and relive it for about three months. What I have to do is find something from 1991. Anything made or written and the like. Add that into the potion, along with the present year constant. Then, I measure out enough elixir that can keep me in the year 1991 for three months. Once the time limit is reached, it will send me back to the present day!"

"So, it's like a variation of the Polyjuice Potion, only we add samples of time?"

Hermione beamed. "That's a brilliant way to put it!"

"Only one problem," one man chimed in. "How can you pinpoint it to the day you want to go back? And when will you return back to the present day? Will it be the day you left, or the amount of time that has lapsed since you injected the elixir?"

Hermione still smiled. "No idea. But we better start figuring all that out!"

She was in high spirits as they continued to file in more information and theories about the elixir. Some researchers still were skeptical of the results, finding it would add more risk to the people of the past as well as the user. Testing the new potion on lab rats only proved their fears correct.

Lukas didn't seem to mind the complications, despite the seriousness of what could happen. He called Hermione in a few weeks later, congratulating her on the progress of the project.

"Miss Granger, I can't tell you how grateful I am that you have figured all this out with us. This is life changing, and I cannot wait to finally complete this mess. It's been way too long."

Hermione still seemed a bit unsure. "But, sir. I've been arguing with the team about possible complications the elixir can pose to the person and to the past life of everyone he or she contacts. It can threaten present society as we know it if it comes true!

Lukas sat back in his chair. "Do enlighten me on what theories you are coming up with."

Hermione took a deep breath. "Well, we've got the concentration calculated to a T, so I don't think that will be a problem. However, we've come across a period of time that cannot be accounted for. It is dangerous to "rewrite" history, and it's virtually unavoidable to change something from the past. But after testing this on the lab rats, by the time they come back to present day, something still manages to change even though they didn't live through that period again."

McPherson did not follow what Hermione explained. She sighed and sat down, opening up a folder to explain further.

"We injected Gus the rat with the elixir last week, trying to send it back a week and planned for a visit of five days. The day he left, we kept track of how much of food he ate, and which type. Obviously, he wasn't around for seven days, but he just returned an hour ago. However, the strangest thing happened. Just as soon as he reappeared, all of us got a little confused. When Gus ate last week, he chose the dry grains over berries to eat. But then all of the sudden, we rushed up to him and filled his bowl with berries. This obviously means he changed his mind about his diet within the past week, and it changed immediately in our heads."

Lukas furrowed his brow. "I see. And how are all of you feeling now, physically?"

"Well, we've recovered, but it felt like a pillow was thrown in our face rather forcefully." She rubbed the tension out of her face. "If there can be a reaction like this for something as small as a diet change for rats, I can't imagine what kind of pain can be undergone by everyone if a major event of the past is altered, and it is out of our control."

Studying the papers in front of him, Lukas sighed. "Well, from what you all written, the Time of Uncertainty increases the further back in time you go. So, this rat was transported back seven days and stayed for five days. He had about 48 hours of time that the course of history changed because he didn't live through it again. By these standards, a person who would travel back 20 years and stay for three or four months would be possibly changing 236 months of unaccounted time travel."

Hermione nodded. "Exactly. But if you see, sir, if I were to go back 20 years, the most risk is poised after I am born. If I am to encounter someone or something that met me in the past, even though I technically wasn't born yet, they could change their own future, or influence the decisions I make the closer we get to "present day."

Lukas chuckled and shook his head. "Merlin's beard. Time travel is so complicated. Good thing we aren't planning on using this."

Hermione was taken aback. "Excuse me? So we've been working on this and no one is going to benefit from it?"

"Benefit from it! Hermione, you just explained to me what a high risk it will be to go back into the past. You could change not just your past, but the future of the entire wizarding world! Imagine if one would go back only eight or nine months, when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was still alive. Why, it is possible to alter time so much that Harry Potter is the one defeated. We cannot take that risk!"

"But why then bother creating a way to travel back further into time? Isn't it a waste?"

"No, Hermione. It's a last measure precautionary reason. Just like my last example. If Harry was to fail the first time he met the Dark Lord, we could have a designated Ministry official go back in time and tell him what to do so that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named could be destroyed."

She sighed. "Well, since you put it that way, Mr. McPherson…"

He nodded and stood up, reaching for Hermione's hand for a congratulatory hand shake. "All in all, Miss Granger, you have, literally, created a life changing substance here. You will be in the history books for more than helping defeat the Dark."

"Most certainly, sir," Hermione croaked out, rather unenthusiastically.

When she returned to Hogwarts, Hermione couldn't help but feel disappointed with all that she discovered. Almost six weeks of research for her, and over 20 years for the Ministry was completed, and all it was worthy for was storage.

McPherson was right in thinking the risk to go back now was too high. Voldemort would still be alive, and Harry would have to defeat the Dark Lord all over again, with the chance he wouldn't succeed if they went far enough back in time. Still, Hermione's mind was buzzing with ideas of how much more the world could know if they could travel back. They could find out why certain terrible things happened and how they could prevent them from happening. They could discover why people did the things they did. Why they acted the way they did in present day.

Or…in the past.

Hermione was back in her rooms, changing into more comfortable clothing. After putting her robes away, she approached her mirror and began the struggle of brushing out her curly locks. But as she continued to comb, her thoughts wandered farther from research.

Why did people act the way they do? Why do people feel the way they do? How did Snape end up the man he turned into?

And the fire was ignited. That was it! Snape could be spared! There was no other way but to go back in time, figure him out, befriend him, and ideally convince him to not join the Death Eaters.

She set down her brush and inhaled slowly, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She would be lying if she said the idea of travelling back in time to meet Snape never crossed her mind. But she knew now more than ever it was a part of her future.

The past is part of my future.

True, she'd be risking her own future welfare and good name by doing such things. She would drastically change history as she knew it. If she succeeded, Snape would never become Dumbledore's spy and scape goat. But then it would be possible that he wouldn't have to kill Dumbledore, meaning he wouldn't be involved with the Elder Wand, meaning he would be alive.

But who would then take responsibilities and actions to help bring down Voldemort?

Hermione weighed her options and risks. She decided that Snape was brilliant enough that he would survive the first and second war. No one ever dared to cross him without suffering the consequences. His general irksome disposition wouldn't change, so people wouldn't try to murder him without being provoked by him. And since Snape never picked fights, he would never try to be put in any situation that would jeopardize his life.

Hermione slowly lowered herself onto her bed and rubbed the top of her legs in nervousness. Because the Ministry had no intention of using the elixir, there wasn't any way to get it except to steal the formula, which was a class A felony. Even if she wasn't caught, she would be involved with people in the past who were supposed to meet her in the future, thus creating chaos. Which, in turn, would still leave her in a situation of committing a class A felony, corruption of time tampering. There was no way out.

But there was no other way to prove Snape's innocence, either.

She looked down at her left hand. How was she supposed to break the news to Ron? There was no way she was going to marry him when she returned, unless he wanted to spend their first 25 to 50 years of marriage visiting a cell in Azkaban.

She whimpered, feeling her heart break already. Ron would never forgive her for what she was about to do. He didn't risk his life for Harry and for her just to see his fiancée give up her innocence and her good name for a murderer, even if he did deserve to be exonerated.

Snape deserves to have a good name for himself, and Ronald needs a woman who will love him fully and completely with no complications. I can't give him that.

Hermione didn't realize tears were falling from her eyes. She quickly wiped them away, trying to gain composure. She didn't want Ron to suspect anything, and she was meeting him for dinner in the Great Hall. He was devoted enough to her that he'd visit Hogwarts, even though he, George, and Harry had their own flat in Diagon Alley. Another wave of guilt rushed over her, but she willed herself to ignore it. No, she would worry about telling him later on. She did, after all, have a week until she'd visit the Ministry again. One week to live her life normally, and then she'd head back to the Department of Mysteries with a piece of 1977 and 1998 by her side.