I've Fallen

Harry Potter PG-13 Romance

What happens when you fall back in time? What are the consequences of forming bonds with people who are different people in your time? What happens if you fall in love? Will things ever be the same?

.

.

.

More Than I Can Handle

It was the day of the Yule Ball and Hermione sat on the large bed in her room. The red and gold bedspread was thrown over her legs, in an attempt to keep warm. She was reading a book to pass the time before the ball. She thought back to the day when she was forced into agreeing to go to the ball.

"But Hermione you have to go. It only happens once a year!" Ron whined.

"It happens once too often if you ask me. Really it's all just a waste of time. I spent hours getting ready last year, and for what? My makeup looked good for a moment before I danced. Then I'm stuck in the most uncomfortable outfit, and hey!" Hermione said as Harry grabbed her paper.

"You have to go. If not for you, then for us. We'll be so sad if you don't go." Harry said, keeping the paper out of Hermione's reach. Hermione huffed and sat back down.

"It's all just to get you to buy stuff. Buy a dress, buy flowers, but shoes. Buy, buy, buy! It's all commercial." Hermione said.

"Please?" Harry said, resorting to begging.

"I won't go, and there's nothing you can say to change my mind." Hermione said, unwilling to budge.

"Please?" the boys whined together, "Pleas, please, please."

"Well," she said smiling, the boys smiled back, "no."

"Hermione, I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no other option." Harry said, and looked her right in the eyes. He held Hermione's gaze. As she looked into his eyes, she could already feel herself giving in. She could never say no when she looked into his eyes. Damn those eyes.

"Fine you win." she said. As the boys congratulated themselves for convincing her to go she mumbled under her breath, "At least you have somebody."

She glanced at her clock. It was now 5:00. The ball was at 7:00, and she was meeting the boys and their dates at a quarter 'till seven. She gathered up her things she needed to prepare for the ball and headed to the bathroom.

As she walked through the bathroom, she couldn't help but laugh at the poor girls. They were falling all over themselves trying to get ready. Some were getting into dresses, while other fixed their hair into elaborate updos. She could see Lavender and Pavarti across the room. They were applying excessive amounts of makeup. She headed to the showers, glad that she arrived late enough that many girls were already in the later parts of their preparation.

She hopped into the shower. She took a long hot shower, and when she stepped out, she felt quite refreshed. She found an open full length mirror, and slipped on her dress. It was the same as last year. She saw no use in buying a new dress for a nonexistent date to admire. She put her hair into a simple updo before exiting. There was about a half hour before she would have to head down, so she headed back to her room to read.

When she arrived, she fell onto her bed, and pulled out her book. Her current choice for literature was a bit of light reading on the history of Hogwarts. It wasn't Hogwarts a History, but one that delved into the more personal life of those who walked the halls of Hogwarts. She flipped to the page where she left off in her light reading, 555.

The chapter she was on now was one of her favorites so far. It was on the history around the fifth year of the marauders. It was good, because she could relate to what she was reading. Both of the sets of students were coming of age in dark times. As if worrying about zits, and who likes who, and who you are isn't enough to deal with, both times had to deal with the rising of an evil overlord.

She started reading and before long, she came upon a snippet about Sirius. These sections always caused her heart to drop a bit. She remembered how much his death had weighed on everybody after the incident at the Department of Mysteries. In honor of Sirius, a funeral of sorts was held. Hermione was amazed by the emotion in that room that day.

Hermione had always grown up believing that boys don't cry, let alone men. That day she had been seated between Remus and Harry. Sirius's death had taken a toll on her, and during Dumbledore's speech she began to cry. Harry put a comforting arm around her, but before long, his brave face fell. No sooner had the tears begun to fall from Harry's face, that she heard Remus weeping on her other side. Sirius was a father substitute for Harry, and he was like a brother to Remus. Hermione wasn't sure if they would be able to recover.

She didn't see Remus much, so whenever she got the chance, she wrote letters to him. She didn't want him to feel like he was forgotten. Sirius had been there for him and now that he was gone, he might feel like he had nobody to turn to. Hermione believed that nobody deserved to feel that way. She wasn't sure how much it helped, but it was something.

Harry on the other hand, found solace in another person before she even had time to worry too much. After the funeral, Mrs. Weasly insisted that she move in with Harry at Sirius's old manor. Harry spent a lot of time with the Weasly's the past summer. Ginny and Harry had become close, and at the end of the summer, he finally made it official.

Ron, who had the maturity of a five year old for the longest time, even had a girlfriend. He and Luna had a deeper respect for one another after the incident. They started owling each other and meeting up over the summer. They found that they had a lot of common interests. They could be found most of the summer in some room discussing their odd interests and playing a friendly game of chess. Luna surprised everybody the first time they played. She could give the boy a run for his money. By far the cutest thing that had happened since they started dating at school, was the way Ron followed Luna around. He made sure that she never lost anything anymore.

Hermione was happy that her friends had found somebody. Really, she was, but at times she felt like she had lost her best friends to their girlfriends, and she had nobody to turn to. She had never really formed a bond with any of the other students in her year and with no boyfriend since the fiasco with Krum in fourth year, she spent most of her time with herself.

She finished reading the chapter and set the book down. She stretched out.

"Hermione are you in there?" a boy's voice said, the door opened. "You've been in there all day. Come out or we'll be late!"

Hermione shook her head at the voice. "Ron," she said without even having to look to the doorway, "You shouldn't be flying through the hallways. As a prefect I'm expected to enforce the rules." she said.

"You know it's the only way to get up here, and coming up here is the only way to get you down." Ron said.

"If you are so worried about being late, then go on down without me." She said.

"And give you the opportunity to not come at all? I think not." He said sitting down on her bed, "We were out by the lake all day playing around. Why didn't you come out?" She shook her head, he wasn't going to leave without her, so she gave in.

"I had reading to do." She said.

"That isn't even required reading." he said motioning to her book she had just set down a few minutes ago, "Are you trying to avoid us Hermione? Me and Harry that is."

"Harry and me, Ron." She said, "And yes, I guess I was avoiding you."

"But why 'Mione? We're your best friends." Ron said in a hurt voice.

"Yes," she said, annoyed, "And Ginny and Luna are your girlfriends. Personally I don't want to see happy people, and their happy relationships! Especially not today." She got up and went to her dresser, and grabbed a necklace. She began to try and clip it behind her neck.

"Here let me get that for you." Ron said, coming up behind her and fastening the latch. "Now can we go?" he asked.

"Sure." she said. Ron hopped on his broom and flew down the stairs.

"Ready 'Mione?" Ginny asked. She looked beautiful. She had really gone out of her way to make this a special night.

"Yeah." Hermione said. They headed out of the portrait and down the hall towards the staircase by the Great hall. As they reached the top, Harry held out his are for Ginny. Ron was practically leaping down the stairs to get to Luna. Having no date, Hermione grabbed the banister to help herself get down the stairs.

She was about halfway down the stairs, when somebody came behind her and accidentally knocked her down the stairs. She hit the stairs and rolled down them. As she reached the bottom, she heard a crash. Before she could even reach for the time turner than Ron had helped her secure [never leave home without it she had said], she felt the world begin to blur around her. Everything was going faster. Much faster than she ever remembered a time turner taking her. She had been going for only a few seconds, before she passed out.

In the Great Hall two boys with messy black hair, and glasses would run to the staircase to see what was the matter. Two boys would reach the stairs only to become more confused. One would see only glass and sand, while the other would find a girl in a heap at the bottom of the same staircase. More than Hermione could handle was an understatement.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N I'm back! I've fixed this chapter so it works for the plot that I've found hiding in my mind. The plot bunnies attacked me on vacation [but then again 24 hours in the car will do that]. This is a fun type of story. It leaves more room for interpretation than other types of stories. I hope you enjoy!