"You still have time to get out of this," she said cautiously, her entire body tense at the feeling of his pressed up against her, his wand poking her throat painfully. The body bind had been removed, but she was still just as stuck. "Antonin doesn't have to know anything if you just let me go."

"I don't give a fuck what he knows," Kastya whispered in her ear. "He should have told us about you, Malyshka."

"And because he didn't, you fucking kidnap me and- what the hell are you doing?"

"Shh," he hushed her, twisting his wand a little. The spell he cast was in Russian, that much she knew, but they were strung together so rapidly and fluidly that she couldn't tell what he was trying to accomplish.

The confusion lifted for a mere moment as he slipped into her mind and the spell continued to, very quickly, work.

When she gasped her eyes open again, she was confused. "Where… who- let go of me!"

"What is the year?" he asked. He made sure to poke her a bit harder with his wand. Cautiously, she answered him.

"1998."

"Your name."

"Penelope Travis."

"Liar! What is your name?"

With a grimace, she answered quietly. "Hermione Granger."

"Ah," he smirked down at her. "There we are. But you're not quite where I thought you'd be. Tell me, how could you have years of memories where I just removed them?"

"What?"

She flinched back as he cast with an irritated look on his face. This time, she passed out. It was to be expected - the spell was very experimental and had certainly never needed to be used twice. As he grabbed the time turner from her pockets he considered the thought that her core was likely already damaged from the spell.

What would the time turner do to it?

Still, to save his family from the horrible state it was currently in, he had to send her back to his cousin. If he could get her back to 1960, back to Feliks when he was 17, then they could change everything.

Kastya stepped back what he assumed was a safe amount and leveled his wand at the witch. After a moment, he cast a simple Diffindo and watched as the Time Turner blew apart into her and she disappeared from the room.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Just because you found the egg-,"

"It would have died out there-,"

"It wasn't even alive yet!"

Salazar sighed and looked at Rowena. "A stroll while they argue?"

"Please."

The two walked arm in arm out of the office and towards the grounds. They were unusually quiet- something felt off that day. Godric had been the first to point it out, as he usually was, saying "something is coming tonight," which none of them found particularly comforting.

The sky was dark, like a storm was coming, but all they felt was the whistling wind blowing by them. When there was finally a crack of thunder and bolt of lightning, both of them stopped in their tracks to stare up at the sky.

"Was it…"

"Golden," Rowena confirmed. "How?"

There was another bolt of lightning, and this one hit the ground a mile away from them. The rain began, and Salazar put up a simple charm to protect them from it. They watched as the golden lightning and thunder cracked in unison, moving closer and closer. Neither of them moved, both too curious for their own good.

Finally, lightning slammed down across the field from them, and a woman fell out of the sky at the same time, hitting the ground hard. As soon as she stilled, the lightning disappeared. All that was left was the pounding rain and the occasional thunder.

Salazar broke into a run before his friend did - while he knew she was bound to freeze up contemplating a situation, he was one to move quickly - and slid on the muddy ground as he dropped down to meet the woman. She was injured further than her fall, that much was clear.

She was bleeding terribly from her stomach so he waved his hand over it. Golden sparks flew out of the injury and he backed up a little bit for a moment. When he'd gathered himself, he looked closer to find pieces of glowing golden glass in the cut.

"Her eyes," Rowena gasped from near the woman's head. He hadn't noticed her arriving, but she'd already lifted the woman's eyelids to check her eyes, which were glowing brightly golden. "Get that out of her. Now."

With a frown of concentration, Salazar leaned down and began to very carefully pluck the magical glass from her stomach. It took a great deal of time, and when he was finished, Rowena had done all she could to stabilize the woman otherwise and was already piecing the glass back together.

"We should wake her."

"We should move her first," Salazar disagreed. "I will take her to the infirmary. You should take that, see what you can learn from it."

"I will join you in half an hour," Rowena promised. "Hurry, she's shivering from the rain."

So, Salazar levitated the woman and hurried her back to the castle. When he got there, he took a sharp left and went up a staircase until he was able to gently set her on a bed. She was dried off with another quick spell and by no time, he was hesitating to wake her.

After a quick search for her wand, he finally sucked in a short breath and twisted his wrist, casting the spell. It hit her shoulder, and she shot upward, waking up. She looked around in alarm, her breathing picking up as she did so. "Who are you? Where's Harry?"

"I believe the question is, who are you?"

"Where's Madame Pomfrey?" she asked. "Why am I- oh my god, Sirius!"

"Serious…?"

"No, Sirius. God. Where is she?"

"I know of no Madame Pomfrey, Miss…?"

She frowned at him. "Granger. Hermione Granger."

"Miss Granger-,"

"Just Hermione."

Nodding once, he continued. "All I know is that we found you outside with a cut directly through your stomach. You fell out of the sky."

Hermione breathed out slowly. She looked exhausted. "It must've been… where's Harry?"

"You were alone."

"Okay. Where is he?"

"There is no 'Harry' at this school. I think you may be lost. Can you tell me how you were injured?"

Hermione finally looked down at herself. When she did, she let out a yelp. "Oh my god! What happened to me?"

"As I said, you fell-,"

"Not that! My body is- I look… older," she grimaced, unsure how to explain the problem gently.

Salazar blinked. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen!"

He shook his head and cast another spell, this one to scan her biological age. "Your body is nineteen...ish. Even my scan is confused."

"That's impossible."

He frowned at her. "Is it possible that someone cursed you and disturbed your memories and that is why you have no memory of this?"

She looked immediately ready to deny it, but instead, she just frowned at her hands. "I suppose it's possible that… God, am I really fourteen in my nineteen-year-old body?"

"I am afraid so," he said apologetically. "I may be able to help, if you're interested."

"I can't get it to stay still," Rowena called as she strode into the infirmary. She looked up from what she was fiddling with and spotted them. "What's wrong?"

"Someone has been in her mind," Salazar said quietly. Rowena's face darkened.

"Is that… bad?" Hermione frowned between them. They both looked surprised at the question, so she sighed. "I'm muggleborn."

Rowena shook her head. "And…?"

"So… I don't know things purebloods do."

"Why?" Salazar questioned. "Did you not go to school?"

"Of course, I did!" she said, offended. "But they don't teach us- this isn't the point. Are you going to tell me why this is a problem, or-,"

"It is dangerous," Salazar interrupted her quietly. "And… invading and changing someone's mind is- it is despicable, it is one of the worst things one can do to a person. It can be irreparable. I am sorry, Hermione."

"That being said," Rowena cut in gently. "Salazar is a master Legilimens. He may be able to help you if you let him."

"I'm sorry, did you say-,"

The doors to the infirmary burst open again, slamming on the walls as a large, redheaded and bearded man strolled in. "There you are! Please, settle this for us. If we kept it, its name would not be Argoway, correct?"

"We are not keeping it!" Rowena snapped. "We have a guest!" She waved at Hermione, who watched the tall man stop short, forcing the small woman behind him to jump out of the way before running into him.

"Oh," the small woman gasped. "She looks injured. Are you injured? Why didn't you two say anything?"

"We are capable," Salazar drawled. "It is her mind that is damaged."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because she believes herself to be fourteen, Ric."

"Ah."

"She looks dazed, did she hit her head?"

"She hit her everything, actually."

"Look," Hermione cut in. "I'm pretty sure I'm hallucinating right now. That being said, I would really like to remember how this happened, and you said you could help me, so please, help me."

"Okay," Salazar put his hand out. "I will touch your temples and cast the spell. Are you ready?"

"...yes?"

"Are you certain?"

"Yes," she said, this time a bit more confidently.

He touched her temples gently and, after a moment, cast the spell. "Legilimens!"

The two slipped into her mind, and he froze, horrified as he looked around. "My Gods…"

"What's wrong with it?" she wondered quietly. "It looks-,"

"Incredibly, indescribably damaged," he told her. "Someone- Gods."

"What is that?"

"What?" he asked, looking back. He could see something flying toward her and tried to knock her out of the way, but instead, it hit both of them and sent them into a memory.

"I thought I told you kids to stay out of here."

"You told Ron the room would eat him alive, and you asked Harry to keep away. Never said anything to me," she replied quietly. Sirius came to stand by her side, staring at the wall. "I can't imagine having such a huge family."

"It's not all it's cracked up to be," he told her seriously. "I found my family. I wasn't born into it."

"But if you could keep one family member aside from the Tonks', who would it be?"

To her surprise, he considered the question intensely. "Not my mother. You've heard her. My father was a self-interested bastard. Grandfather abandoned us. If I can't choose Andromeda or her daughter, and I assume you'd include James and-, I'd say Dorea. She was born a Black and wasn't even disowned. Dorea was my Mum. Walburga was my Mother."

They fell out of the memory, and Salazar grabbed onto Hermione in concern as she gasped. "Are you alright?"

"I've never- I met him for the first time tonight."

"That's what you remember," he disagreed. "Come. I think the block is nearby."

"Where did that… memory come from?" she wondered, following him toward the dark area before them.

"Memories fade through time. That one was fading, moving," he explained. He ducked another memory and pulled her down to avoid it, too.

She looked directly ahead, trying to see through the thick, black cloud they'd finally reached. He gripped onto her arm to keep her from walking into it. "What is it?"

"That is the magic suppressing your memories," he explained. "I should be able to remove it. When I do, we may be hit by more memories, but we need to stay in your mind to ensure that we've removed all the magic."

She straightened and gave a short nod. "I'm ready."

"Aufero," he whispered sharply. They both watched as the cloud receded, but before long, more memories hit them.

Hermione held a sobbing redhead in her arms. "Your Mum didn't take you to a mind healer?"

"Hermione, how do I tell a mind healer that the Dark Lord possessed me and tried to make me- make me kill- kill students?"

"Okay," Hermione said quietly, stroking Ginny's hair to calm her. "You're right, they won't understand. I can't say I can, but I know I understand better than they would-,"

"-because I'm the reason you were petrified!"

"Oh, Gin," she sighed. "It's not your fault. I got petrified because… well, a lot of reasons, but none of it was you."

"We're kids, Mione. I should've been worried about- about what House I got into, not… if I'd kill my brother and his friends."

There was only a very short moment before the memories changed where Hermione saw the look of horror on Salazar's face. Unable to address it, they shifted memories quickly and were back into it.

They were in the sky. They were flying above the city, and Hermione was gripping tightly onto the Thestral she was on.

"What are you doing?"

Hermione - the real Hermione - looked at him. "Going after Sirius. He's my best friend's godfather, and Harry had a vision of the Dark Lord killing him."

"A Dark Lord," he breathed. "Where?"

"I'm still fairly certain you're a hallucination," she said quietly. "Or a reaction."

"Reaction to what, exactly?"

"No," she gasped, tightening her grip on him as they were tossed to the side and put into another memory - one she knew far too well.

"Where is it?"

"I don't know!" Hermione cried. They both watched as another Crucio hit her and she screamed out, tears rolling down her face. "I don't know about any vault!"

"Who is she?" he asked her, his own voice soft. He was very still, and she barely noticed, unable to look away from the scene before them.

"Bellatrix Lestrange. Sirius's cousin. She thought I'd stolen something, so instead of killing me, she tortured me for hours."

"Hours," he repeated, watching in frozen horror.

The memory went on and on and they both just watched silently until finally, a new memory swallowed them up.

"Are you okay?"

Bill looked up at her with a grimace. "Look a right sight better than Greyback probably does, so I count this as a win."

Hermione smiled at him. "Don't let your mother hear you making jokes."

"She's liable to start sobbing again," he agreed with a slight smile. "How are you doing?"

She shrugged. "Harry's got it pretty rough, you know. Dumbledore was like family to him so-,"

Bill tapped her hand. "You, Hermione. I didn't ask about Harry."

She deflated slightly and came to sit by his side. "Bill, we can't stop. There's so much more we have to do. Harry… he told us. He told us what Dumbledore died for, and it means that we have to keep searching for it. I want to end this war, but I'm a child! I am so tired- I just wanted to come here to learn, not fight. Now that Dumbledore is gone, the minimal protection we had is gone, too. It's just us now, Bill. If you want to know how I'm doing… I'm just terrified. I don't want to die."

The memory faded back, and they were surprised to find themselves standing in front of another wall.

"What?" Hermione asked sharply. "But I remember everything!"

"No, you don't," he sighed. "Are you ready?"

"What more is there to remember? I don't understand."

He nodded. "I know, but if you let me do this, you will understand."

She hesitated. "Fine. Do it."

He cast the spell again, and they both braced themselves. Nothing happened after a minute, so they opened their eyes to find the wall intact, with only a single memory flying at them.

It was over before it began, and all that either of them could comprehend from it was a singular name.

Antonin Dolohov.

OoOoOoOoOoOo