Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't make money from this fic.
June 29, 1976 Wimbourne, England - The Potter Residence
Hermione sat in the library, having been helped upstairs by Sirius an hour earlier. She was surrounded by several books, some on physics and quantum mechanics, others on the principals of time, and how it correlates to magic. She placed her quill into the ink pot, leaving it there while she scrubbed both hands over her face. She was to meet with the Unspeakables again next week, and she had hoped to have an understanding about what exactly had happened to her by the time she met with them. Having used a time-turner in third year, she already knew more about time and the way it worked than most, but she still didn't fully grasp how what had happened had come to pass.
She heard the door to the library open softly and looked up to see a sandy blonde haired boy walk in, only to stop when he saw Hermione.
"Oh, hello there." She said, sounding tired even to her own ears. "You must be Remus Lupin. James and Sirius said you'd be here this week."
The boy smiled back, seemingly relaxing a bit. "Yeah, I'm Remus. So that must make you Hermione?" She nodded. "That's a fair amount of reading you're doing there, Hermione. Especially since it's the start of summer." He said, moving to sit across from her at the table.
"My parents always insisted that I continue my studies outside of school. Usually during the summer, I'd focus on English, French, Muggle History, and the Sciences. Mum always said it would help me become a well-rounded person, and it gave me something to do." She said, telling a half-truth. She usually did continue her Muggle studies outside of school, mainly due to her own curiosity.
"That's very prudent." He said, with a smile. He lifted one of the books, and read the title out loud.
"Principles of Quantum Mechanics. Woah, you understand this stuff?" he asked, looking back up at her.
"Mostly. There are a couple areas that I don't quite understand. I'll have to read into them more thoroughly." She sighed, looking at the books around her, then down at the notes she'd taken.
"Do you mind if I study with you? I've found Muggle science intriguing since primary school, and I've tried to study some of it myself, but I have had trouble piecing some of it together." He said, his brows furrowed.
"Sure. Science and magic overlap in lots of places, too, so it could only help your studies at Hogwarts." Hermione beamed, "Though you'll probably want to start with something you're familiar with." She shuffled her books and papers around until she found the book she was looking for.
"There. Astronomy and Astrophysics. Surely Hogwarts has an Astronomy class, yeah?" She said, with a smile. She caught the a look of panic in his eye for a second, before it faded with her second remark.
"Yeah, it does. One of my favorite classes, actually." He said with a small smile, accepting the book.
Both children settled in then to read, the silence interrupted every now and again with Remus asking Hermione a question about terminology, or Hermione asking a question about magical theory. Remus was very good at Charms and Transfiguration, and so if something had slipped her mind, she didn't hesitate to ask him. They sat like that most of the afternoon, until Sirius came up to get them for dinner. As they walked down the three flights of stairs to the ground floor, Sirius was careful to stay just a step or two ahead of her, glancing back occasionally. Apparently they hadn't explained Hermione's condition to Remus yet, as he looked at his friend funnily, but shrugged it off. Hermione assumed he'd asked him later. Hermione forgot all about it as soon as they made it into the dining room and dug into the food that was already laid out there.
That Night, Wimbourne, England - Potter Residence
The boys walked Hermione back up to her room after dinner, then ventured down the hallway to their respective rooms. Hermione only heard one door close, so she assumed they'd all gathered in James and Sirius's room. She didn't think anything of that; having spent all last summer at Grimmauld place with Harry, Ron, and the rest of the Weasley clan, she knew what to expect from boys their age.
What Hermione didn't expect was what she heard when she opened her closet. Euphemia had taken her out the week before to replenish her wardrobe. Her walk-in closet included a dresser that she kept her nightclothes in and she had taken to changing in the closet. She knew her bathroom and closet backed up to the wall of Remus's room, so she was surprised when she could hear the boys voices through the wall. She furrowed her eyebrows at that, but shrugged it off. What was it to her which room they congregated in? But then, just as she finished changing into her tank top and shorts, she heard her name from the other side of the wall.
Her curiosity was piqued, and though she knew it wasn't right to eavesdrop on the boys, she couldn't help herself. She moved closer to the wall, pressing her ear against it.
"...seems really smart, you know? She was reading advanced Muggle science books in the library earlier." Remus said.
"Yeah, when we first got back from school, she had three or four books in bed with her. Think she'll be a Ravenclaw, then?" Sirius said.
"Please, this is my gene pool we're talking about, Pads. She'll be a Gryffindor, no contest."
"My gene pool too, Prongs. Actually, it's about a fifty-fifty split. What's to say she's not in Slytherin?"
"She could be in Hufflepuff for all we know," Remus said. "We've only just met her. Who are we to judge her?"
"Moony, you should know by now that we judge everyone. Regardless if we know them." James laughed.
"Besides, it's not like we'll disown her if she's anything other that Gryffindor. Only way that would happen is if she turns into a blood purist Slytherin. But given what happened to her parents, I don't think that's gonna be an issue." Sirius said. The room went quiet, and Hermione could practically hear the tension. Finally, James cleared his throat.
"So, erm, you finally gonna try out for quidditch this year, Pads? Finally a spot open and it's the Prewett's last year."
Hermione listened for a bit longer, once she was sure that they were truly just talking about quidditch, she turned away, moving to her bed and crawling in, thinking about what she'd heard.
It was nice that the boys were so invested in which house she'd be in, but it worried her how invested they were after just a few days. She shook her head, trying to clear it as she reached over and clicked off her lamp. Dumbledore was coming to get her tomorrow for a few more tests at the Ministry. He told her that these tests would determine whether or not she should begin preparing to stay for a long period of time. Hermione had a horrid feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her she probably wasn't going home any time soon.
June 30, 1976 London, England - Ministry of Magic, Department of Mysteries
Hermione looked around the room, anxiously. She knew that she was safe, Dumbledore was standing right beside her, but she couldn't help glancing over her shoulder, regardless. She had been the way the last time she'd visited the Department of Mysteries, as well. She couldn't shake the feeling that Death Eaters were still chasing her. She was startled back into the present by a gentle hand on her shoulder that nonetheless caused her to jump. Blue eyes peered down at her, knowingly.
"Are you alright, Hermione?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yeah," She said weakly. "I just have a- feeling. I don't how to describe it." She looked around, spotting the glass case containing the time-turners. She walked over to the case, tilting her head. It looked different than she remembered, but she wasn't surprised by that; this was twenty years prior to her experience with the Ministry. No, what surprised her was the sudden wave of vertigo. As she looked up to the place where the hourglass that fell on her should have been, she saw the outline of it, but as she tried to look harder, she felt herself falling and her vision going black. She spun on her heels, counting to ten and taking deep breaths as she walked away from the case.
When she looked up, Dumbledore, along with one of the Unspeakables, an older woman named Henrietta, were watching her carefully, seeming ready to catch her should she fall. She glanced back at the case, looking away when her vision faltered again.
"I can't look at it. Every time I try, my vision goes black. I know roughly where the hourglass that hit me was located, but I can't look directly at it without passing out." She said.
"That's okay, dear girl." Dumbledore said, wrapping an arm around her and leading her away from the case, towards one of the desks. "Let's see if you can try to draw the time-turner, and the ones around it. That will help the Unspeakables pinpoint the one in question and study it. After you are finished with that, I'll take you home so that you can rest." he said. Hermione nodded, settling herself into a chair and focusing on her task. It was easier to draw the object than it was to look at it, though it did give her a headache. As she focused on the lines before her, her vision swam a bit, and she heard disembodied voices. She looked around and was shocked to see three ghost-like images around her. She knew they weren't really there, but nonetheless, it unnerved her that two of them wore the masks that she had come to associate with Death Eaters.
"What was it you needed to show me, Rookwood?" she heard a cold drawl from the only man not wearing a mask.
"My Lord, I was informed by another Unspeakable just this morning that there was a disturbance in the space-time continuum in this very room. It's powerful magic, indeed. I'm not sure who or what is behind the anomaly, but I will keep you updated about it when the information becomes available." Her vision swam again and the figures faded away, replaced by the looming figure of Dumbledore, hunched over and peering into her eyes concernedly.
"Professor," She said, brows furrowed. "Who is Rookwood?" she asked. Dumbledore's eyes shot up.
"He's an Unspeakable who works in the Death Chamber." he told her. "How do you know that name, Hermione?" he asked, worriedly.
"Just now I- saw something. Three men, two wearing masks. They were here, in this room. One man- the one not wearing a mask- I think he was Voldemort. He addressed another as Rookwood. They know there was a disturbance in space-time, but not what caused it, as of yet."
"So you had a vision of this? Do you know when this occurred?" Dumbledore asked her. She shook her head.
"Hermione, you must tell me if you see anything like this again. This could be a valuable asset to the Order." He said, blue eyes boring into brown. She nodded, realizing she'd seen this same sort of behavior from Dumbledore before, with Harry. It was then she grasped the significance of what she'd told him. She groaned inwardly, realizing that this would put her, once again, at the forefront of a war, a pawn in a grand game of chess between Voldemort and Dumbledore.
"Let's get you home, dear. I've had the Deputy Headmistress gather some textbooks for you to look over, they'll be owled to you at the Potters'. You were in fifth year in your time, yes?" Dumbledore asked as they walked through the Time Room, weaving through the corridors and heading for the golden lifts that would take them back to the Atrium.
"Yes, sir." She said.
"I would like you to study up on what you missed, as I've arranged for you to take your O. two weeks from now. You'll need the results to be admitted to N.E.W.T level courses. On the final day of the exams, you'll also be reSorted. I expect Mr. Lupin, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Black will be able to help you in your studies, should you need it." He told her.
Hermione suddenly felt very anxious. She'd been pouring over how she was going to get home, and in that time, she'd completely forgotten about school work. She knew, as she and Dumbledore ascended towards to Atrium, that the next two weeks would be filled with tireless studying, and she'd definitely be asking Remus for help, quizzing her. She sighed, thinking about how similar her situation in this time was to her own. She tried to ease her mind, trying to just live in the moment. There wasn't anything she could do about her situtation at the moment, anyway.