Hello!

Like usual here is this week's update!

I have absolutely no idea what to say now, only that I'm so happy because of the response I got last chapter: It was way bigger than I was expecting! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, subscribed or added this story to their favorites! The only thing I could think of was "Is this for real, or am I just dreaming?"

However not everything is good news (although it's not bad news either), seeing as some people questioned me about the way I ended last chapter. It seems that it created some kind of confusion (and I apologize for that!)seeing as some of you thought that Hermione had gone back to her own time. No, and as you will see in this chapter Hermione is still in 1942 and the dust is just settling in. And for those who asked if last chapter was the end of the story rest assured that there is still a lot to come.

I don's think there is anything else to add, so please enjoy :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter therefore all recognizable characters in this story belong to J. K. Rowling

Chapter Seven

At first, after she apparated, Hermione had thought she had somehow made a mistake. After all she had decided do go home and fetch her things before going to the burrow, where she would first look for Harry and Ron (and where she hoped with all her heart they were).

However the neighborhood she was in looked strange. The houses on her street had always been somewhat old fashioned, being well cared for nonetheless, however Hermione was positive she had never seen them so shiny and well treated. But that wasn't the main reason she had not immediately recognized her own street. Most of the houses were painted in the wrong colors, trees were planted in all the wrong places, and the tall building that had been built three years before wasn't in the end of the street like it was supposed to. Even the cars were strange, all of them looking like they belonged in a completely different decade.

On her front yard sat one of those cars, which she was certain that hadn't been there before.

Feeling dread begin to fill her from the inside she took her keys made to grab the trees from behind the bell, where her family had always kept a spare during the day, in case any of them forgot the keys, only to realize they weren't there.

"Alohomora," she said solving the problem the easiest way she could think of. Something felt very wrong in the air around her and she was afraid to even find out what it was. Her hand was shaking as she pointed the wand in front of her, looking into the unknown surroundings.

The walls, doors and windows were all in the same place, the furniture however was completely wrong. She couldn't recognize one single thing and her heart started beating even faster than it had been beating before. What was going on?

She ventured further into the hall looking at the living room and then the kitchen, her head getting lighter and lighter with every step she took. Nothing was as she had known it and she just couldn't take it anymore. She lowered her wand and leaned against the wall of the kitchen, afraid of the way everything had started to spin around her, feeling sure she would faint any minute. Nothing was in her head except the question that repeated itself multiple times: "what's going on?"

"Oh! Good afternoon! You must be Louise right? I'm Jennifer thank you so much for coming," a woman said scaring Hermione to no end as she emerged from the door in the kitchen Hermione knew led to the backyard, where she had spent many afternoons laying on the grass reading and doing her homework.

"Was the door open?" I'm such an air head! I always forget to close the door when I come home with the groceries." She said laughing at herself, not noticing Hermione's stiff position as she leaned against the wall with all her strength, white as a ghost. "The cleaning supplies are in the cupboard under the stairs, and the keys will be left under the mat for you to be able to come in. You'll start tomorrow morning right?"

Hermione's head was swirling so much as it had been before and she was beginning to be able to think coherent phrases again, but she honestly hadn't felt so confused and lost ever since she was eleven years old and received a letter to a school of magic delivered by a owl.

"Cleaning supplies?"

"Yes of course! How else would you clean the house?"

"Huh… why would I clean the house?"

"Is it not what I hired you for?"

"I think you must be mistaken ma'am. You didn't hire me."

"Of course I did Louise. Are you alright darling?"

"Ma'am my name isn't Louise," Hermione finally answered after a short silence. The woman now looked surprised and just slightly scared. Hermione saw her glancing in the direction of the frying pans hanging from the ceiling during just a tiny second. It meant Hermione was starting to overstay her welcome, but she needed to find out what was wrong in the first place. Was this not supposed to be HER house? Then where was her furniture, her photos, her drawings and notes hanging from the fridge? And was that a calendar hanging on the fridge? She hadn't know the date for a very long time, seeing as she had not brought herself to count the days as they passed, only recognizing it had something around two weeks since the attack.

She walked closer to the door fridge, aware as the woman's eyes (whose name she had already forgotten) followed her like a hawk's.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but isn't your calendar wrong?"

"What are you talking about girl? Of course not," the woman said, looking genuinely upset at the thought of something wrong in her household, even going to the point of trying to erase imaginary creases from her dress. It was only then that Hermione noticed how old fashioned the woman's clothes were.

Hermione quickly did what math she could in her head.

"But isn't it the 4th of July 19 – "

"No my child!" She exclaimed apparently no longer worried that Hermione could be some kind of thief. "Where have you had your head? Today is the 27thJuly 1942!"

Every sound was coming from very far away, as if from the end of a tunnel. Vaguely she realized that the woman was staring at her with a very alarmed expression. Hermione felt something against her cheek and after a few moments realized she had just been slapped softly. She felt that she was floating out of her body.

Hermione fell to the ground finally fainting.

Once again, in the short time span of two weeks Hermione found herself waking up in an unknown environment. She was lying down on what she thought to be a couch and could feel something wet being pressed against her forehead.

"Ugh…" she groaned trying to sit up. The wet cloth fell from her head leaving a spot in her head aching painfully. As she opened her eye the woman's face was right in front of her, with a kind expression on her eyes.

"Careful," she said. "You hit your head on the kitchen table when you fell. Here, drink this, its water and sugar. It'll help."

Hermione's eyes travelled from the woman's face to the glass of water than back to the woman's face before taking it in her own, weak hands and drinking everything at once. Groaning she fell back on the pillows as the woman exited the living room with the empty cup in her hands.

Looking around Hermione resisted the urge to sob, felling a huge headache forming which wasn't a good feeling when one had n enormous bump on the head.

Whatever hope Hermione could have had about being dreaming had disappeared almost as soon as she had opened her eyes and despair was quickly sinking into Hermione's heart. She didn't understand how she had gone back in time, much less how she had gone back so much as she had. It was unthinkable to even consider such thing possible. Going back fifty something years was something that only happened in muggle movies and fictions. Wizards could time-travel, of course, and her third year was proof enough of it, but she had only been able to go back in time a few hours. Years… that simply was not possible.

Now Hermione knew the reason why nobody had tried to contact her. There was nobody that would try to, fifty years in the past, and there was no one to hear the messages she had so desperately sent through her patronus.

And she had been silly enough to worry about the second effects of apparating when she should have been –

With a sudden epiphany Hermione finally realized exactly how she had been sent to the past. It had been that strange spell she had been hit with, all those days before. But why had a deatheater sent such curse at her? She didn't even know time-travel was possible with a spell but there was no other possibility – she hadn't been carrying a time-turner or anything like that on her person.

Without knowing how to get out of the mess she was in, Hermione laid back dawn once again, her head threatening to explode with each passing second. Tears run down her face in her utterly desperate mood. She had never found herself in such a precarious position, but most of all she realized she had never been so alone. She had always had someone to rely on, first her parents, and later Harry and Ron, but now she had no one. And for that, the tears left her eyes with the speed of a bullet.

"Dear are you feeling alright?" the kind voice of the woman asked, making Hermione look up and clean her tears with her arms.

"Yes I'm fine ma'am. I'm just a little bit shaken that's all. I've been feeling a bit under the weather you see, but I'll be alright."

"If you say do dear"

"I'm sure ma'am."

"Now, don't make yourself tough just because you are in a stranger's house. Be warned that you won't be leaving until I am sure you can walk without fainting again."

Hermione was thankful that the woman hadn't just thrown her, a complete stranger, out of the house. She had absolutely no money and no contacts whatsoever in 1942 and she could use a little help before she ventured back in the world. But what about money? How was she going to survive without it?

And then a wild and not so noble idea popped into her mind. What if? Hadn't the woman mistaken her for a cleaning lady? Some Louise… Maybe, just maybe, she could fall unto that part and put some money together so that she could move easier after. It wasn't like cleaning was that hard, and if she used magic it would be a piece of cake. She even knew every corner of the house…

If she could manage that, than she couldn't hope to be any luckier in the situation she was in.

But luck did not seem to be on her side, for the doorbell rang.

"Oh! It must be Louise. Wait a bit here sweetheart," the woman said heading for the door, Hermione following silently and slowly (for she couldn't risk any fast movements afraid of not having enough strength.

"Good morning. I'm Louise, I'm here for a job interview," a very feminine voice said from the other side of the door.

"Oh yes, I've been waiting for you. My name's Jennifer Martin, do come in dear," the woman – Jennifer – said stepping aside to give room for Louise - the real one – to come in. Jennifer's eyes fell on Hermione.

"Didn't I tell you to wait in the sofa? You shouldn't be up so soon. This is Louise, Louise this is – oh dear… I'm afraid I don't know your name yet!" Jennifer realized her eyes widening as if she had just committed the worst mistake on her. Louise looked between the two of them confused.

Looking Jennifer in the eyes, Hermione finally made up her mind.

"I'm Louise."

"What?" both women in front of her said, looking confused.

"Obliviate," Hermione spoke clearly, pointing her wand first at the real Louise and sending her away and then at Jennifer (whom she had been forced to stun, in case the woman tried anything rash. Changing the woman's memory of that morning wasn't particularly easy – seeing as she had never really practiced the spell unless one counted Louise just a few moments before – but after a few minutes she finally managed it, giving the woman the memory of a perfect and flawless meeting with her new house cleaner.

"Enervate," Hermione finally said, getting her wand back in place before the woman could see it.

"Oh my! What happened?" the woman asked sitting up, looking around her, with a very confused expression on her face.

"You were taking me to the door when you suddenly passed out Mrs. Martin. Are you alright?

"Yes, I'm fine dear. Must be low blood pressure, I'll drink a cup of water and sugar after you leave."

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Hermione asked once again, with the most genuinely worried look she could muster. The woman's eyes softened and Hermione felt incredibly bad.

"Yes I'm sure. Now go on our way. Didn't you say you had a consult at the dentist?"

"Yes ma'am. Thank you for your time"

"You don't have to thank me dear. Don't forget to be here tomorrow at eight o'clock; otherwise you won't have time to clean everything.

After that they finally said their goodbyes and parted ways. Once alone, Mrs. Jennifer Martin went to the kitchen to prepare a glass of water for herself, not quite remembering when she had taken the blue one that sat in the table counter out of the cupboard.

I know there wasn't any Tom/Hermione action in this chapter, and I'm sorry for that (I really am!) but this had to be written and I guess I needed an entire chapter to do it.

Next chapter things are going to progress a bit though, so I hope you don't get too mad at me ;)

Thank you for reading and please review :D

Lady Featherweight