Chapter 2
Roughly a week later, Hermione was on her way back to the headmasters' office. She had followed through on not sharing the plan with any of her friends. If she was only going to be gone a few minutes, she didn't see a reason to worry them anyway. So she went along with the request after weighing the pros and cons of not doing so. It probably would have been more trouble than it was worth. She had a feeling this was important. She did however, worry about what effects this could have on time.
Messing with time could get….. very messy.
"Welcome, Miss Granger, do come in." Dumbledore greeted her.
She walked rather briskly inside. Head held up.
"Do have a seat, my girl."
"Professor Dumbledore, sir, are you sure about this?"
"Yes, yes, of course dear, I've planned this out." She still felt as if he was holding something back. "Now I have put specific instructions for your return inside this letter."
She could swear she felt him waver a bit at that. But that had to be her imagination surely.
He handed her a letter. Which she placed in a small beaded bag. The headmaster watched this, noticing that it was clearly charmed with extra wizard space.
"Just how much are you bringing with you, Miss Granger?"
"Just some things, sir, Books clothes and things I wish to keep safe. A few handy potions. Just in case sir. I started putting it together due to this war sir."
" A very bright idea indeed, his eyes twinkled, remembering a time that had already passed."
Dumbledore inchanted a spell silently with a swish of his wand.
"What did that do sir?"
He twinkled, "Just a privacy spell, dear, nothing to worry about."
She however did feel very worried indeed.
"Alright, time to put this on I'm afraid," He handed her the time-turner that was laid upon his desk. "And good luck, Miss Granger."
She placed she chain over her head and looked at the headmaster expectantly.
"Right now Miss Granger, you'll want to turn it 20 times counterclockwise this time. This will allow you to go back years instead of hours."
And she did so, She felt the world whirl past her. By the end of it she had seen countless people in this very office. And by the end of it she was feeling a bit dizzy. When it finally stopped she found herself standing in the little changed office a younger Albus Dumbledore. Looking much the same if perhaps a bit less wrinkled.
He looked up at her in surprise.
"I have a letter here for you, Headmaster." She quickly reached into her bag and reached out toward Albus to hand it to him.
She noticed he had grabbed his wand while she hastily retrieved the letter.
Instead of taking the letter he waved his wand and it floated above his desk a bit.
"Just running some detection spells, Miss umm?" Dumbledore stated at her quizzical look.
"Miss Granger, Sir, Hermione Granger."
"Well it seems to be safe although there does seem to be some time release charm to it. Sorry, I just can't be too safe these days, And Tom Riddle would dearly love to do me in."
Hermione smirked, "That hasn't changed from where I just came from, sir."
"Have you read this letter?"
"No sir, an older you just sent me to deliver it. He said there would be instructions for my return as well."
Dumbledore reached out and grabbed the letter from where it floated, and broke a wax seal. A wax seal he strongly suspected would only open for him.
Hermione watched his face, as he read. She observed a slight frown as his eyes danced back and forth reading each line. She noticed it seemed to be of a decent length.
"Thank you dear, may I ask what year you are from?"
"Umm, June of 1996 sir, It's the end of my 5th year here at Hogwarts sir."
"Ahh, and are the students a bit less troublesome, then the ones I have boarding the train here?"
"I suspect not, sir." She hesitated, "We are in the middle of a war, sir."
He took this moment to notice her Gryffindor, uniform. It looked much like the his current students wore. Yet, slightly different.
"May I see your time-turner dear?" He inquired, "So that we may return you to your friends."
She promptly handed it over. Being in this time, made her nervous. She wanted nothing more than to return to her time.
Albus studied the time-turner for a few moments and reached into his desk. All the while Hermione was watching his every move. He pulled out one of the many potions he kept on hand inside his desk. He took a moment to glance up at the young Miss Granger. And saw the curious look upon her face.
"Amplification Potion, the letter recommended I take it." He drank the potion down, and made a face, "It's a rather bitter potion."
He went back to the time turner and fiddled with it a bit, turning it this way and that. Saying a few incantations inbetween the fiddling, too low for Hermione to hear clearly. All the while she wondered which kind of amplification potion it was, she knew of a few different kinds.
Albus looked back up to the girl, "Now dear put this back on, and give it a whirl while I incant these spells one last time. This time it says I must do this step silently."
Hermione eagerly placed it back over her head and gave it a whirl as the Headmaster swished and twirled his wand around and the prettiest bright baby blue light Hermione had ever before seen shot toward her and hit the time turner. The time turner seemed to siphon the light straight into it. It warmed around her neck producing a warm euphoric feeling from inside her body. The room started to spin around her a bit, then stopped abruptly. She looked down and the time turner was gone.
Simultaneously the letter on Albus' desk shot out two additional letter, one shooting toward the headmaster, which hit him in the face. The other shooting toward Miss Granger which she caught from the air.
She looked down at the letter in her hand, then back at the headmaster, then the letter again.
Albus just looked at her, " I think perhaps I should run some detection spells on these too." He gestured for her to lay her letter upon his desk.
Hermione was skeptical of this really needing to be done, but she complied with his request anyway. Really what could it hurt.
After finished up the spells, Albus shrugged. "There doesn't seem to be any further spells on these, Miss Granger." He handed her, her letter back.
She noticed her name on the front in a neat pretty curly calligraphy. She smirked slightly. The Headmaster really did have nice handwriting. No doubt from years of practice writing with a quil. She slowly turned it over and noticed a phoenix in the seal and slipped her thumb underneath to break it. She could feel the magic almost vibrating off it as it broke. She pulled it out of the envelope and read.
My Dear Miss Granger,
First I'm terribly sorry but you will not be coming back to your time. I have known for a long time this day would come. For I experienced this many years ago. As my younger self is now experiencing it. I have informed him that he is to integrate you with next years 6th year students. I would advise you to accept that this is your life now.
Your older self has been here this entire time. Granted she has not gone by Hermione in many years. One day to your discretion she started to go by a different name. I think it will help others from being able to connect the older and younger you. It seems to have worked so far. Very few people know your true name.
Good Luck and I look forward to seeing again one day.
Albus Dumbledore
Hermione sat down heavily in the chair behind her. And sighed.
"Well, Headmaster, it looks like I'm stuck here." She quirked an eyebrow up at him.
He was still reading his own letter.
"Yes, I'm afraid so my dear girl. My counterpart has informed me that in the past, he offered to let you stay here under the care of Professor McGonagall, my transfiguration teacher. However, you ended up living elsewhere at her recommendation."
"Perhaps we should summon her then, Sir?" Her mind went back to her letter. "And I should perhaps change my name to make me less recognizable in the future."
She though upon this further. As Dumbledore started to write out a short missive of summons for the other Professor.
"Professor, perhaps we should come up with a new name for me, something less recognizable as muggleborn."
Albus' own ears perked up at that, suspiciously, "Are you displeased with being a muggleborn?" He sincerely hoped she didn't harbor any such prejudices.
"No, sir, not at all. I just thought it would make me less memorable. And we'll need to think of a story by the time the new term starts."
"I agree dear child." He sent off the missive with Fawkes so that they may await Minerva's arrival to his office.
A/N Thank you for reading. Please review! Next up: Minerva's arrival and they figure out just what to do with our dear Hermione. And I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate flashes to Severus & Company.