(trope) Time Travel

A/N: Written for the Hogwarts Forum's March-Monthly-Event-Wicked-Bake-athon. The Prompt for this one is Time Travel

Hermione tried to keep track of the time that went by since her capture in that small muggle town, but she only managed to keep track of a month before she came down with the flu. It took nearly a full day of her not eating anything of the food the elves sent up to her rooms for someone to check in on her. By then, it had progressed too far for a standard Pepper Up Potion to work. Falling in and out of unconsciousness due to fever was one thing that she could handle. After all, she grew up Muggle and suffering through these viruses was all she knew instead of the convenience of magic. Having Bellatrix try to mother her back to health was something she was wholly unequipped to deal with.

Thankfully, she slept through most of the week, and by Friday, or what she had assumed was Friday, she was well enough again to eat something more than just broth and toast all while keeping it down. As soon as she was fit again, Hermione removed herself to the library, to surround herself with the scent of parchment and books that have slowly become familiar to her. The day after that, Bellatrix met her in her sanctuary, among the stacks, and finally told her the whole reason why she was here. One simple sentence was able to explain the entire few months she had been here.

"Now that you are healthier and have more meat on your bones-a healthy body leads to a healthier mind, after all-we have a task for you. Not as repayment for the kindness you have been shown so far, but as an incentive to earn your freedom," the older witch started out. "The Dark Lord wishes for you to research Time magicks, and more specifically, Time Travelling." She slid a piece of paper over to her with a list of objectives for this project. Taking the list with slightly shaking hands-she wasn't sure if she was more excited or terrified-Hermione took a quick glance at what she would need to do. One item caught her eye in particular, which piqued her interest immediately.

How can select people keep their memories of the previous timeline once it has been changed and the new timeline overwrites it?

Wards, her mind immediately supplied, and she started to run Arithmetic calculations through her head.

"I-I need more books," Hermione stuttered out, and Bellatrix looked pleased at her response. The brunette leveled the other witch with a look, as she asked the most important question she had. "Do I have a time limit?"

"You have all the time in the world."

After Bellatrix had debriefed her in the library, Hermione had been handed a time turner, and a shrunken box-that Bellatrix so kindly resized for her-that held all of the theories and research about time travel the Death Eaters could find in any British library available to them. If Britain didn't have it, then somewhere else in the world did, and she found that all she had to do was ask and it was procured for her.

Three months flew by, and every time Hermione had an exciting bit of news to share, she was praised and rewarded for her progress. The first time she had earned a reward, Bellatrix had asked her what she wanted, and her mind went blank for a moment. Freedom was the end goal, but what was something she really wanted? She figured a wand was out of the question, but…

"I want a tree out in the garden where I can sit and read and take notes when the weather is nice," Hermione decided on, and Bellatrix looked absolutely delighted. The next day, after breakfast, Hermione was led out to the garden where a black iron wrought tea table was placed on a small brick patio with a few matching chairs, resting underneath a Japanese Maple tree that hadn't been there the previous day.

"What do you think? The Dark Lord had the tree imported, especially for you. Do you like it?" Bellatrix looked eager for her opinion, and Hermione couldn't help but say what was on her mind.

"I love it!" she exclaimed warmly, before looking to the older witch for permission. With a nod, Hermione rushed forward to inspect her new little area.

"We'll have a guard posted nearby, in case visitors see you out here and try to do something. But you'll be safe here. Anyone who tries to harm you, just bring them to me, and I'll set them straight!" Bellatrix vowed. Hermione didn't have to fake the warmth in her voice as she turned to the old witch once more.

"Thank you!"

From there, Hermione used her time more wisely. Since she was now effectively able to spend time in three places, she used the time turner she was supposed to be studying to give her more time. After third year, time traveling for this research project would be easy. She could turn back eight hours at a time, to not only get more hours for her research, but her last turn of the night was always to get a full night's sleep in. Hermione knew that she was pushing herself to her limit very quickly, and she was getting more and more stressed, the more she used the time turner. It didn't take long for Bellatrix to notice something was wrong, and so Hermione didn't notice when the older witch took to watching her in the library The older witch nearly raised the alarm when Hermione suddenly put on the time turner and turned back 8 hours.

As Bellatrix raced to the door of the library, to try to figure out where she went, Hermione strolled in, a book in hand as she made a note with one of the ever-inking quills gifted to her last week.

"What did you do?!" Bellatrix exclaimed as she rushed forward to grab Hermione by the arms to shake her. The younger witch looked up at her with frightened eyes.

"I-I'm using my time more wisely! H-how can I understand time travel if I don't experience time travel?" she asked, and Bellatrix leveled her with a look. "I've only been doing it for about three weeks now!" The look shifted, and Hermione immediately felt like she was six again and being scolded for stealing cookies before dinner. The look was filled with disappointment, and made Hermione feel like the lowest scum in the world. The steel in Bellatrix's voice made a shiver go down her spine, as the older witch ground out an answer through gritted teeth.

"Young lady, do you know what could have happened to you had something gone wrong?! It would be one thing if you were being supervised while you tinkered with time, but instead you could have been running into your past and future selves and caused a paradox! You disappeared right before my eyes, and I didn't know where you were! How can we protect you if something goes wrong if you don't let us know where you even are?" Bellatrix released her tight grip on Hermione's arms before pulling her into a hug. Hermione stayed stiff in the embrace, burying her face into the other woman's curls. "I should discipline you like my mother did me. I really should. But I don't want you ending up like me. You need to do better. Be better," she added, before letting Hermione go.

"I'm sorry," the brunette whispered as she was then held at arm's length so Bellatrix could take a good look at her. "I'm not used to having help with my research. The boys always just let me run off, and trust that I'd be okay."

"Well, we want you to stay safe, and have your work checked. We have minions to try out the scary experiments! It's part of the job description!" Bellatrix retorted, causing Hermione to give a small laugh.

"It's actually kind of...nice, to have someone looking out for me when I'm in research mode. In my second year, I brewed a perfect Polyjuice potion in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and while the boys changed flawlessly, I ended up grabbing the hair of a cat that must have belonged to the girl I was going to impersonate," she admitted. "Professor Snape taught me the spell to verify ingredients after that until I could cast it in my sleep, but that's the closest anyone has gotten to caring about my study habits."

Bellatrix gave her a warm smile at Hermione's vulnerability. "Well then, we'll just have to check on you more often now, won't we?"