June 2000, England, Great Britain.
In the great city of Cokeworth, there was a very dreary and worn out little house situated at the end of Spinner's End street, this house was located in a very depressing and unpleasant place for the great majority of people, in this place where the houses are made of brick, old wood and mostly deserted with broken lampposts and dirty gray windows where they are barely distinguishable in the dark, is where Severus Snape lived all his life, near this place, there is also a large dirty river and an abandoned mill with a chimney on top.
In this house Severus Snape was currently inside a small living room next to a young woman, where the walls were completely covered with books, most of them bound in black or old brown leather; a frayed sofa, an old armchair, and a rickety table were grouped in a pool of dim light projected by a lamp full of candles hanging from the ceiling. The place had an air of neglect as if it were not habitually inhabited.
In front of a Cauldron and a large circle that gave the idea of a strange ritual, stood Severus Snape at work brewing a potion.
"Professor Snape!" said a female voice.
"What do you want Granger?" said a slightly irritated Severus without even glancing at the young woman who spoke to him.
"I..., well, I still fail to understand why Headmaster Dumbledore didn't tell Harry everything from the very beginning" Hermione brought up again to Snape something she had been wondering in the two years they had been locked in the old professor's house, he never gave her an explanation.
"We already talked about this Miss Granger and I don't have time to repeat myself, as you will see, I'm busy" Snape replied as he continued to look at the cauldron.
"Then...at least tell me why you trusted Dumbledore's plans again if he had already failed you once by not protecting Lily Evans," Hermione said in exasperation, but this seemed to strike Snape as he turned his gaze to her.
"TCH did you not already see my memories Granger, you should be able to draw your own conclusions by now without having to bother me."
"I could only see things in the third person, there are a lot of inconclusive things that I can't come to understand, like what you and Dumbledore were thinking."
"Oh, so you weren't satisfied with just seeing my memories, but now you want to know my thoughts as well," Snape said irritably.
"I..., I didn't mean that professor, I just..." Hermione couldn't finish speaking because Snape interrupted her.
"Look, Miss Granger, it wasn't that I trusted Dumbledore, I just didn't have a choice. I asked him to protect Lily because he was the only wizard capable of standing up to Lord Voldemort, I became his spy for that reason alone, it wasn't because I trusted him, it was because he was my only option and as you said, he failed."
"Now shut up and keep practicing your Occlumency, you know how important and essential it is in the plan" finished Snape turning to look at the cauldron.
Hermione wanted to curse him, and he evaded his question again, but despite her anger, she knew the importance of the potion he was making and didn't want to ruin her last chance to stop Voldemort.
Still, she couldn't help but raise her point.
"Professor, I must remind you that my level of Occlumency is high enough to even prevent Headmaster Dumbledore from seeing inside my mind, thanks to your guidance in these two years I managed to reach a level of Occlumency that is on par with yours," Hermione said confidently.
"May I remind you that that same confidence and carelessness is what ruined all of Dumbledore's plans along with the order."
"That's not true!" said an elated Hermione.
"Oh, are you sure Granger, if I remember correctly if you guys hadn't been so stupid to take on so many death eaters and just followed Dumbledore's plans, we wouldn't be in this situation now!"
Hermione was silent. She knew there was something right in his words.
After Dumbledore's death, Harry knew what he had to do to put an end to Voldemort, but after a while, Ron left Harry and her in a critical situation by throwing a tantrum because of his childish and unfounded jealousy. Harry in his anger was impatient and careless in looking for one of the horrocrux, which led to the two of us facing a large group of death eaters, she did her best to help him, but the two of them alone couldn't face or escape from so many death eaters.
"Maybe with Ron there things would have been different" Hermione kept saying to herself in her head.
But Ron never showed up and Harry finally died at the hands of Lord Voldemort who appeared in person for his execution, she could do nothing to prevent it, she fought with all her strength, but still, she was oppressed and captured, she cried for a long time, but nothing was going to change what had already happened.
She knew that she should have insisted more to Harry or looked for better ways to persuade him, but he was so angry and frustrated, that she could not convince him to do otherwise.
Hermione had been captured and Harry Potter, her friend, was dead, and all because of a mistake he had made in his carelessness, a mistake that led to his death and then led to the fall of the Order of the Phoenix along with the death of almost the entire Weasley clan, the members of the Order of the Phoenix and many more who were against Voldemort.
Hermione knew that as a Muggleborn it was likely that she had only been captured to be tortured and used as an example for those who opposed Voldemort's evil regime, so she had sworn to herself that she would die fighting as her friends and loved ones had done.
She was calm knowing that her family was safe somewhere in the world without knowing anything of what was happening, that let her continue fighting calm, she would not only accept her fate, but she would fight until the last breath left her body and, if possible, she would come back to torment all the death eaters, she didn't care about the torture that awaited her, she was determined to fight, but her plans changed when Professor Snape released her from her prison.
"TCH, no response, as expected" growled Snape after seeing Hermione being lost in her own thoughts for a good while.
That used to happen to her and he hated it.
Hermione remained silent, she had seen into Snape's memories, she knew how devastated he was when he heard of Harry's death, she knew he blamed himself for the death of Lily Evans, and then after the death of Lily's son that he had promised to protect, for Snape, it was like failing Lily all over again.
"Professor, could you at least tell me what is going on outside right now, we have been locked in this house for two years with no news from outside, but I know you are still in contact with Voldemort and his followers to keep up your facade of loyal follower, so you must know what the situation is" Hermione decided to change the subject, she knew she would not get the answers she wanted and pressing would only lead to insults from Snape.
"You're such a pain, can't you get an idea on your own?"
"I can, but it's been a year since you've told me anything about what's going on in the magical world so it's hard to know how the situation stands."
"Would it change anything for you to know Granger?"
"No, but I still want to know," Hermione said.
"I thought in these two years you might have matured, looks like I was wrong. Very well, I will satisfy your intrigue Granger" Snape shook his head as he continued "For starters, Voldemort and his followers, the death eaters, have already taken complete control of the magical world in Britain, they now go about the streets beating, cursing and killing anyone who opposes them or thinks differently. They have also taken over different parts of Europe and little by little they are advancing further, perhaps by the end of this year, the European magical community will fall."
"Oh, and you should also know that you are the last living Muggleborn witch in England, congratulations."
She already knew that she must be the only living Muggleborn, it was quite obvious, but knowing Snape, he must have mentioned it to annoy her.
"Are you satisfied now Granger?"
Hermione decided to ignore his words and mocking tone, but when she began to process what he had said she was quite surprised, as she had seen the possibility that in these two years Voldemort could take over some part or another of Europe, but she hadn't expected things to be this bad in the magical community already.
"But... how is that possible, the International Confederation of Wizards should have already intervened to stop him?"
"The International Confederation of Wizards, what a laugh, they're just a bunch of idiot politicians" Snape commented in derision.
"But with the forces and allies the Confederation has they should be able to stop Voldemort, not forever, but at least a few years," Hermione said.
"As I told you Granger, a bunch of idiot politicians."
"But..." started Hermione but was interrupted before she got to say anything.
"Look, Voldemort played his cards right, the Confederation called several meetings to discuss the conflict in Britain, but Voldemort had already taken over the Ministry so he already controlled the British magical community, and then it was easy for him to circumvent the Confederation through different policies and legislation. It was only after a year when Voldemort finally began to advance on other European countries, that the Confederation called an emergency meeting to send a delegation to Europe to address the conflict that was endangering the magical world," Snape explained and interrupted.
"So..."
"Oh, but it was too late, Voldemort had already convinced many families across Europe to join his cause, now Voldemort's army is not something the Confederation can stand up to" explained Snape interrupting Hermione again.
Hermione hadn't thought about that, she knew that Voldemort was powerful and had a big army, but she always thought that if the International Confederation of Wizards took the decision to stop him they could do it for a while, her biggest worry was that Voldemort wouldn't die because of the Horrocrux, so he could continue his plans for many years without dying, but she believed that at least they were going to be able to stop Voldemort from taking other countries, she thought it would be years before Voldemort could defeat the Confederation.
"How... How did they not send a delegation to stop him sooner, they knew he was dangerous, so why?"
"TCH, you don't seem to be listening to me, Miss Granger. The Confederation only intervenes when the conflict affects the entire magical world, for example in the case of Gellert Grindelwald who committed magical riots in front of the Muggle community putting at risk the exposure of the magical world, there if they were willing to intervene immediately, but Voldemort was smart and first took power in Britain, then was recruiting followers from around the world and then take what he wanted little by little without attracting much attention"
"So, if your plan doesn't work Professor, the magical world..." started Hermione but Snape cut her off immediately.
"It will work!" he said effusively.
"I have no doubt that it will work Granger, so you'd better keep waiting a little longer in silence and let me continue with my work, meanwhile, take advantage and use the time you have left to prepare for your future, you only have a few hours left, don't waste them."
Hermione didn't protest and let Severus finish making the potion.
Although she still had many questions to ask him this last day, she decided not to protest and let Professor Snape finish making the potion without further interruptions, she had already tried to get information out of him throughout these two years, but Snape only had ahead for his plan, he did not care about anything else, it was already difficult to make him leave his studies to teach him Occlumency properly if it were not because it was something essential to the plan, likely, he would not have bothered to teach her anything.
But Hermione could understand, she knew that Snape had lost all reason to live and that it was only because he decided not to give up and do something right once and for all that, it was now possible to have a chance to stop Voldemort.
He had a plan and also had the knowledge to carry it out, but it was not possible for him to be the protagonist of the plan, so he had to turn to someone he trusted and that person did not exist, so he could only turn to the only person he knew capable of helping him and that was her, Hermione Granger.
That was why he took her out of prison because she was the only one who could now do something and although Voldemort wanted to torture her, Severus had managed to convince him to give her to him in custody for only two years, with the simple excuse of torturing her on his own by using some new potions he wanted to try in a mudblood. Apparently, it was not difficult to achieve because Voldemort was still convinced of her loyalty all these years and besides, as leader of the death eaters, he had a lot of things to take care of.
Once Professor Snape managed to convince Voldemort to take custody of Hermione, he proceeded to search for the missing Ron Weasly, but apparently, he had gone into hiding, some reports said he had left the country, but nothing concrete, it was only known that he went into hiding without a trace of his whereabouts, so Snape found nothing useful about his whereabouts and decided to continue with his plans without him, he could not delay any longer, he only had two years.
Hermione was reluctant to listen to him at first, she thought that he was still partly a death eater and more so now that Voldemort had won, she had thought that the man would be faithfully by her side as the other death eaters, but Snape told her the whole truth, a truth that she never imagined or expected and she always considered herself too smart not to have expected anything of what Professor Snape told her that day.
He even let her enter his mind and see everything for herself, everything that had really happened, Dumbledore's plans, the use he had for Snape as a double spy, for Harry as a horrocrux, for the whole order of the phoenix, but she also saw beyond that, she saw Severus Snape's life, the pain, the darkness and the hatred he had for Voldemort and many more, the tortures he went through and suffered for Voldemort just to stay by his side as a spy for Dumbledore, he endured curses of all kinds, unimaginable pain, he risked his life over and over again, he never sought happiness, because he could only think of one person, Lily Potter, and she had been taken from him, he vowed to stop Voldemort and protect Lily's son, and for that, Dumbledore was Snape's best option even though he had already failed him.
Everything that Hermione saw was a great shock for her, everything that Severus Snape had lived and suffered was something incredible to see, she could not believe it, it was almost unthinkable that a person that everyone considered evil, could go through all that and continue to seek to stop Voldemort above all things, most people would rather die than suffer all that pain and if not they would go crazy over time.
But here he was, she had seen everything in his mind without him putting any obstacle and that's why she knew that what she was seeing couldn't be a lie, he didn't hide anything, he had opened himself completely to her as long as she would cooperate in his plans, and after understanding life together with Severus Snape's goals, Hermione was convinced of his loyalties and trusted him.
She didn't have much choice at that point either.
Snape told her his plan to stop Voldemort and apparently for this plan he needed her to be the protagonist, the one who would fight for this small chance he would give her, and she would certainly take it, she had nothing left to lose, she had already cried enough, now she was determined to stop Voldemort and avoid all the losses he caused, she had made her parents forget her so they could live happily without being involved in the war, she also lost her friends, but so it was also for everyone else, most of them lost all their loved ones in this war or died, she was not the only one who suffered, no, it was everyone who opposed and oppose Voldemort who were suffering and if there was a chance however small to avenge them or help them all, she would do it a thousand times more.
That was how she and Severus Snape spent two years locked up in Professor Snape's old house, finalizing the last option left to the British and European magical world, in general, to stop Voldemort and avoid many deaths. She focused on practicing and improving her Occlumency while Snape finalized the last details of the extremely complicated plan he was about to carry out.
As Hermione Granger watched Professor Snape finish the strange position in the cauldron for the ritual that was supposed to take her back in time, she couldn't help but think about the two years she had spent with him and everything that had happened:
—-Flashback Scene—-
"You know about time travel Miss Granger don't you, I understand you used to use a time-turner so you must have studied it," Professor Snape said in his typical cold and dry voice after confessing the whole truth to her and letting her into his mind.
"Yes, I know some of the details" Hermione nodded, after all, she had used the time-turner on more than one occasion and made sure she understood well all the workings of it, as well as digging into some or other information she found interesting on the subject.
"Very well, that saves me from explaining to you the restrictions and why they are there when one travels in time."
"Well, I never studied the subject very thoroughly, so I only know the basics professor, plus you don't find much information on that subject in the common books either."
"TCH, what a bother, well, now, as you should well know, when traveling in time one cannot stay permanently in that moment, isn't that right Granger?"
"Yes, when one travels in time one always returns back to the present again after a certain period of time" replied Hermione.
"Well, you should know that that is the biggest problem with traveling many years into the past because when you return to the present you will be affected by the number of years you traveled adding that amount to the present."
"Well, I don't know much, but I did read several cases in which a person traveled to the past and upon returning shortly after ended up dying, this is why time travel was prohibited for more than a certain amount of time."
"Correct, this is because if one traveled 100 years into the past, one's physical body in the present will suffer from a hasty degradation of 100 years or more depending on how long one has traveled, this is why special care is taken in time travel," said Snape.
"I see, that's why there are so many restrictions with the use of time-turners" Hermione understood, that many things used to be unexplained regarding these matters, so now she was beginning to understand everything a little better.
"That's right, but it's also because as Granger should well know, you can alter space/time itself, life and death."
"I read something about that too, when you travel into the past you are forbidden to meet your past self, otherwise it could cause death to yourself or worse for your loved ones in the present" Hermione said.
"It seems McGonagall at least made sure to teach her the restrictions well before giving the time-turner to a little witch. Now Miss Granger, while everything we said is true and these laws are supposedly foolproof when one travels in time, there are loopholes one can work around and approach time travel in other ways."
"Eh? Loopholes? I don't understand professor, what do you mean?"
"Well, let me tell you that after years of research with various ineffable acquaintances in the ministry on this subject for personal issues that you can imagine, I discovered that even though these laws are mostly infallible, there are loopholes that one can work with and that was what I managed to come up with or I hope so."
"So you..." was about to say Hermione but was cut off by Snape.
"That's right Miss Granger, I found the loophole, with the research I carried out for many years, I managed to determine that a person can be sent to the past permanently without them having to return to the present."
"Impossible, no one can time travel and stay there, the books say it's a basic law, one cannot stay for a long period in the past, the magical laws are clear regarding that along with the problematic of meeting your past self" Hermione began to chatter rapidly very exalted.
"TCH, what a bother, didn't I say I found a loophole Granger, after a long time I discovered that this could be achieved through the use of a blood ritual along with a specific and very complex potion that is made from thestral animal body parts and other rather unique plants that will help in this purpose, obviously I already took care of having everything I needed"
"That's dark magic Professor!" retorted Hermione.
"Look Granger, Don't give me moralizing, we have no other options left, now shut up and listen!"
Hermione wanted to continue protesting but she knew Snape was right, now was not the time to think about what was right or wrong, if it could help them stop Voldemort it couldn't be that bad, that didn't mean she thought it was right, a didn't like the idea.
"Back to the topic, while I managed to find this loophole in time travel thanks to the ritual and the potion, I also ran into several problems to address, the first problem is that one cannot determine the exact year they will travel to in the past, one can only make an approximation of a few years and second, the time to which this person travels to has to be before the existence of the person traveling himself, so one cannot travel to his own past, but one must travel to a time before he existed in the world, so he can be unconcerned about meeting his past self until a few years from now."
"But I don't understand, why would you need me to travel back in time to stop Voldemort, when it could be you traveling?" Hermione couldn't understand this part, why her and not him, she already knew he didn't like her and was only using her because he had no options left, but why.
"Simple, I would do it for myself but the time to travel would be too long in my case if it has to be before my birth and I am already quite old as you will see, so I wouldn't know all the consequences that could have that, since the ritual along with the potion that would help to perform a permanent time travel would also alter one's body to make the travel possible, one of the consequences is that the body of the one traveling would be rejuvenated a certain amount of years"
"But still, you could have risked the travel yourself, it doesn't make sense for you to give up so easily for consequences you don't know about and rejuvenation I don't think is that big of a problem for you," said a very doubtful Hermione as to the reasons why it wasn't Snape who traveled, even though she might have a better chance being younger, it still didn't make sense that it was just because of probabilities, knowing him, Snape would rather risk going himself and save Lily Evans on his own than give the chance to someone else just because he's not sure what could happen.
"You are wrong Granger, according to studies the human body should only be able to be exposed to physical rejuvenation for a maximum of 6 years, if a person's body is exposed to physical rejuvenation greater than 6 years this would suffer all sorts of untreatable physical and mental problems"
"It still doesn't make sense, if it is as you say, only a child under 6 years old could attempt to travel back in time, neither you nor I could survive," said still confused Hermione.
"Well, if my calculations are accurate Miss Granger, every 6 years that one goes back in time one's body undergoes a physical rejuvenation of one year, so in your case, it would be approximately around only 3 to 4 years of physical regeneration depending on the exact year you reach before your birth, but it shouldn't vary much, that would allow you to survive. But in my case it is not like that, I am over the limit of years, therefore, I can only trust you, Miss Granger, I can only determine that the time you travel will be a few years before your birth and although I do not like you, I know your abilities and I know that you can avoid this future for everyone in Britain, you are the last option and opportunity to help in the past to stop Voldemort."
"But I..." started wanting to say Hermione before being interrupted again.
"There is nothing left to talk about Miss Granger, you are my only option, your dear friend Ron Weasley is not easy to find, so I only have you left, and to tell you the truth I prefer you over that idiot Weasley, he is unreliable."
Hermione didn't know what to think, it was too much information, even for her.
"Now Granger, as you will see, I cannot allow you to refuse, so I hope you do not object, you will begin to study with me occlumency in-depth, we have only two years to prepare you to a level where no person can read your thoughts, to the point where no one in the past can extract information from the future, which would only cause disasters in space/time, life and death."
"As you said before, in case people from the past know that you are from the future, the consequences would be catastrophic for the entire magical world, one can alter and modify the past by finding gaps in time as we are doing and for that, you will have to take great risks, but if one were to let know that you are from the future in the past, the consequences that this could cause in the world are endless, so the thorough study of Occlumency is essential Miss Granger and you must remember that once in the past, you become part of the past permanently, so the past is going to be your present and you must not let anyone know that you are not. You must also understand that what I am asking of you now is not an option, it is a moral obligation to the entire British and European world in general, we will start tomorrow, take the day to calm down, and settle your thoughts" Snape finished.
-Fin flashback scene-
That was how he had told her all his plans, and after that it cost but she started to work together with him. She improved in her occlumency to a level almost comparable to Professor Snape's and she also learned all sorts of useful evasion techniques that he had to use in case he was forced to tell the truth in certain matters that he could not refuse, such as veritaserum or other methods.
She had already prepared herself mentally to go to the past and help the order to finish with Voldemort and the one who would give her this opportunity was none other than Severus Snape, she still remembered the state in which the man was for not having been able to finish the mission to protect Harry, Professor Snape spent a life worse than hell itself, but she still felt some discomfort about many things from his past, there were memories of all kinds, she could tell that Snape was not a good man, but he wasn't bad either, he was just a person with a miserable life who lost his way and let himself be led into darkness as he had nothing else to hold on to.
No doubt he was intelligent, talented, and many more things, but he lacked the strength that those who face the same thing he suffered with a more heroic point of view have, he could not take his problems that way and fell into depression, anger and darkness.
Severus Snape was no hero, indeed, he had all the qualities of a villain, but just as every hero has his weakness, so did Severus Snape and that was Lily Evans.
Severus Snape undoubtedly remained a villain but he was on the side of the heroes.
Even though Hermione spent most of her time training her Occlumency, she also saw the processes and everything required for the potion and the ritual that Professor Snape planned to do, it was so fascinating and extraordinary, no matter how hard she tried to understand the whole process she couldn't follow Professor Snape.
She had seen almost all of the strange and unpleasant things that were required to carry out the whole process.
Hermione knew that this ritual was very dark, both the potion and the blood ritual involve aspects of the soul and she knew that the soul is the immaterial part of a being that never dies, in many beliefs and cultures it is thought to survive after death, as much as they have sought to discover the nature of the soul, particularly its role in magic, but little is known about it since the mere manipulation of the soul breaks the so-called "deep laws of magic", so it is frowned upon in the magical world to experiment with it and is considered dark and forbidden magic of the most heinous, vulgar and inhuman.
Voldemort is one of the dark wizards who broke these laws by creating the Horcruxes and everyone knows the result of his actions.
Professor Snape spent these two years locked up with her teaching her Occlumency and other necessary techniques, but all his time after that was spent on the potion and the blood ritual.
He only focused on one thing in his mind and that was the potion along with the ritual, she knew he was giving everything into this because he knew nothing else could change things now, she knew he no longer cared about anything but the outcome of this, for him this potion was his only glimmer of hope to stop Voldemort and he would do everything at his disposal to complete it and have her travel back in time with the highest percentage of success possible.
"It's finally finished, there's just one last ingredient missing," Snape said.
Hermione heard him and instantly became nervous, there was no more time, today was the day.
'I can do it, we can't back out now Hermione, we prepared a long time for this day' Hermione started repeating in her head.
"Granger, come over here" Snape called to her.
'Come on Hermione, you're ready' she said to herself again in her head.
"Coming Professor."
When she reached his side, Snape looked at her with his black eyes that seemed to analyze every part of her being.
"I hope you are ready Miss Granger because today we are about to make history, we are going to change the course of time and space. From now on you will have the responsibility to live with the consequences of our actions, do you understand?"
"I..., I'm ready, Professor."
"Mmmmm" Snape gave her a deep, penetrating look again. "So it seems, it's good to know it wasn't all a waste to spend two years teaching you after all."
"I will stop Voldemort even if it costs me my life," Hermione said firmly as she looked him in the eye.
"TCH doesn't be an idiot Granger, dead you are of no use to me, I don't need the Gryffindor brat in you, for this mission you need to be smart and careful, I need you to start being the Ravenclaw in you" snort Snape.
Hermione was a little embarrassed and angry at Snape's comment but nodded without protest.
"Very well, let's not waste any more time, repeat my actions, Granger, no arguing."
Hermione just nodded.
She knew that now only the last ingredient was missing from the long list, she also knew what this last ingredient was about and as much as she didn't like the idea of participating in a dark potion, she was going to do it just to stop Voldemort.
She watched as Snape settled down in front of the cauldron, and then quickly cut his finger, dropping just a drop of blood.
That's right the last ingredient was a single drop of the blood of those involved in the ritual and the potion.
Hermione wasted no time and quickly performed the same action as he did, dropping her drop of blood into the cauldron.
They were both extremely tense and anxious about the final result of the potion.
Seconds passed and they finally managed to see a reaction and change in the potion.
"Th-this...? I... I was expecting a more exaggerated reaction in the completion of the potion to tell you the truth" Hermione muttered a little embarrassed.
"That was very stupid of you Miss Granger. That you thought such a thing makes me doubt your mental state for the completion of this task, you must remember that this is still a potion, after all, so many years considered a girl genius and here you are raving things, typical Gryffindor" commented a tired Snape with his usual cold, dry and direct personality.
Severus Snape went on to put the entire contents of the cauldron in a single dose into a vial and Hermione no doubt saw more than a hint of pride in Professor Snape's black eyes as he looked at his new creation.
But it was somewhat logical for him to feel this way, the potion was extremely complex, to the point where Hermione estimated that the brewing of this potion was infinitely more complex and risky than the brewing of the Felix Felicis elixir, which is known to be extremely complex and dangerous in its brewing along with a preparation time that is an average of 6 months which makes it more laborious by having to constantly follow up on it.
The brewing time for this position that Professor Snape was making had a duration of over 1 year, plus the steps to follow along with the ingredients needed were extremely complex and difficult to obtain, plus it was apparently extremely volatile in its preparation, so it required 100% of Professor Snape's concentration every day that he had to add some ingredient or other things so that there was no mistake, but the most complicated and rare thing for Hermione was the strange ritual required for the preparation process, it was a unique and quite obscure procedure, as Hermione had never seen or heard that a potion that had so many details and so many steps needed, She already knew that the ritual that was used for the elaboration of the potion would be the same that would be used for when she would take the potion, from what she knew of the ritual, it had a malevolent and sinister drawing made of Thestral blood in the middle of the cauldron that was a large circle that has a Pentagon inscribed, and a phoenix inside it and around it there are six pentagrams with six different drawings inside them, a unicorn, a pegasus, a snake, a moon, a triangle and the drawing that scared Hermione the most was one that looked like a Dementor with a black cloak and hood holding a scythe, she had seen that description in several myths and legends, she knew it represented Death.
To Hermione the ritual seemed like a truly macabre work, a truly unique ritual of dark and forbidden magic connected to an equally strange, dark, and unique potion, even though for her this was her first dark ritual, it seemed that for Professor Snape it was nothing so new, she knew that he was quite used to the concept due to his vast studies of dark magic along with the mad rituals of Voldemort himself.
But still, apparently, even for Professor Snape it was difficult to keep everything perfect in the process, as she had seen him constantly be calculating and timing the whole process, she knew that the whole process had to be constantly regulated to be perfectly symmetrical and error-free, so it was only natural that he was proud of his creation.
During these two years, Hermione noticed that every day that passed seemed like an eternity for Professor Snape, his tiredness, drowsiness, anxiety about making a mistake in a single small detail or not arriving at the right time to put the ingredients for that day was agonizing for him, Every day that passed and he managed to do everything right was like a victory, she helped him in everything he allowed her, which was not as much as he expected at first, he was very suspicious, but over time he had to give her tasks, so they spent the next two years almost two years pending the potion.
And now Hermione was more than a little impressed, not only because apparently, Professor Snape had succeeded, but because all those ingredients he had used, all the time and work it took, produced just one dose, it was truly incredible, she noticed how Professor Snape stared with admiration and pride at the seductive liquid colored with a mixture of an almost black red, with some streaks of bright gray that gave a feeling of emptiness when he saw it.
"Mmmm Professor Snape?" Hermione tried to see if he would react.
He seemed to react to her call, turned his head to look at her, stared at her for a while, then sighed and made his way to where the various ritual drawings were without saying anything to her.
Hermione decided not to bother him and see what he intended to do, she thought the process was already finished but then to her surprise, he drew quite a bit of blood from his arm and then used it to remark all the drawings that were around the cauldron used for the brewing of the potion.
"Professor Snape, why are you doing that?" Hermione hadn't seen or read anything about this step for the ritual. Besides, why do it now that he already finished the potion, it was all very strange.
"Look Granger, there are things in this world that few know about and those who know about them don't quite believe them or don't care if others know about them, many wise ones have talked through the ages about time, space, life, and death, many have sought how to evade death, many have found ways to prolong their lives, many have altered space and many have played with time. Each and every one of these has discovered incredible and tenebrous things about all of these aspects, but do you know what unites each of these Miss Granger?"
"Well...this...that there is nothing concise that fully explains any of the four?" replied Hermione a little dubiously.
"A textbook answer as usual Miss Granger, but it's not entirely wrong, as you say, there is nothing that fully explains any of these aspects, but in each of these aspects there is one factor that always plays a unique and essential role that can alter the whole process."
"One factor?" muttered Hermione doubtfully.
"That's right Miss Granger, the blood."
"Eh, the blood?" Hermione couldn't understand what blood had to do with it.
"You must know that blood is one of the most commonly used methods for dark or ancestral rituals of all kinds, right?"
"Well, I read something regarding that" Hermione said not entirely sure, she knew it was common, but she never liked reading about those subjects, they were mostly sinister and disgusting.
"Okay, now why the blood?" asked Snape again as he kept remarking with his blood the ritual drawings made earlier with thestral blood.
"I just read that its use could generate greater effectiveness for some ancient rituals and magics" replied Hermione trying to remember everything she knew on the subject.
"Exactly, blood has been used since ancient times to generate a higher percentage of effectiveness. Blood is also known to have great value and power, whether it be for the creation of an item that prolongs life, one with which you can evade death, one with which you can alter space itself, and of course now with the alteration of time it also has such effects."
"Like Voldemort's rituals and his Horcruxes Professor?" asked Hermione.
"That's right Granger, but when the blood is given willingly by one of the people involved in the ritual or magic, it can have unique effects. An example is what happened with Harry Potter, Lily and Voldemort." said Snape with a trace of pain in his voice.
"I heard about that," said Hermione trying to avoid touching further on the subject that obviously affected Snape too much.
"Well, at the moment as you will see, I am applying that same method to make sure that the whole process of your travel to the past is as safe as possible, it may not alter the outcome of whether or not you travel to the past, but it will certainly protect you in case your travel to the past has any kind of problem in the process of your permanent transfer. With this, I make sure that at least you will not arrive dead in the past and you will be able to stay in the past without any problems." after saying that, Snape was already finishing coating the ritual drawings with his blood.
"Now that I have answered your question, please enter the middle circle where the cauldron is, it is time for you to begin your journey into the past and help stop Voldemort before it is too late," said Snape.
"I see" Hermione nodded and went to the center of the ritual where the cauldron was, she had many doubts still, but she could understand the gist of what he said, so she decided to heed Professor Snape and go ahead with what was planned, they couldn't waste any more time, you can never know when Voldemort would come to Severus to demand that he return her to her so he could torture her on his own.
Snape took the cauldron in front of Hermione who was in the center of the ritual and moved it away leaving Hermione alone, then he placed a turntable in each of the 6 circles of the ritual, then handed a turntable to Hermione who was in the center of these.
"The 7 turntables are enchanted so that they all start synchronously at the exact moment that one of them starts spinning, now once you finish reciting the final incantation that activates the ritual, you only have to immediately turn the turntable and take the potion, understood Miss Granger?"
"Yes, I understand Professor Snape."
"Perfect, in that case, don't forget that from now on you will be part of the past and that will be your present, live and integrate as one more and then help to stop Voldemort, I wish you good luck on your journey."
"Thank you..." Before Hermione could say anything else, Severus Snape began the ritual once and for all.
"Ka hoatu e au ōku toto me tōku wairua mo te haumarutanga o tōu!" uttered Snape in a deep, cold voice in a language unfamiliar to Hermione, but it certainly didn't sound like he was saying anything good.
"I tēnei rā e whai ana ahau ki te kanikani i te wā, i te mokowā, i te ora me te mate, ka hoatu e au tōku katoa ki te whakaoti i tēnei whāinga me te whakaoti i te kanikani!" as Snape finished saying his last words, the drawings began to glow.
And at the same time that these began to glow, Severus Snape, who was now sitting in front of Hermione with his head looking at the ground, began to lose the brightness in his black eyes that became gray, his skin began to lose its white color and was taking a grayish hue, his black hair became gray, he was undoubtedly dying little by little and it was something more than just an ordinary physical death, but Hermione could not notice this.
When Hermione heard the last thing Severus said, she knew it was time to spin the small time-turner in her hand, and the moment she did it she saw how everything began to shine, she spun it as she had done so many times before and the moment she spun it, everything around her began to spin around and around, words in a strange language began to spin around her, the drawings seemed to come to life, everything began to spin faster and faster, her body began to contract painfully, she also felt something burning as if she was exposed to fire, this lasted a few seconds that for Hermione seemed like hours, until finally everything stopped and she observed that she was indeed in the same room as before only now it was a mess, Snape was nowhere to be seen and her body was full of burns.
She also noticed that she was undoubtedly smaller than before, a clear proof that she had rejuvenated at least 4 years, so she could assume that she and Snape had made it, she had traveled back in time and had ended up in the same room where they carried out the ritual.