PG An accident involving a time-turner causes Hermione to disappear. My response to the many fics based on the same premise.
Disclaimer: I own none of this. The characters and universe belong to J.K. Rowling. Even the premise belongs to some fanfic writer other than me. Alas. Although the solution is mine.
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Affinity with the Future
by MarbleGlove
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"Headmaster! Headmaster! It's Hermione!" Harry and Ron came to a sudden halt right at the entrance to the teachers lounge. Dumbledor was there, but so were McGonagall and Snape, and as worried as they were about their friend, they didn't want to get house points taken away from both of those professors for entering the teachers lounge uninvited.
"Come in, boys." Snape winced at Dumbledor's invitation but did not look up from his book. McGonagall on the other hand was extremely worried about her star student.
"What happened?"
"It's that time-turner. We were just rough housing in the halls and somehow it fell off. And all the sand went everywhere and Hermione just disappeared. Like when she's using it, but we still have the time turner, and now we can't find her anywhere." Harry held out the gold and (now broken) crystal devise.
"That is why we do not allow rough housing in the halls. That will be fifty points for a dangerous lack of maturity." McGonagall could only trust that Albus could find Miss Granger again, and dealt with her worry by punishing the boys.
Severus however placed a finger on his book to mark his place and had finally looked up at the four people standing at that side of the room. "Don't you think that's a trifle easy on a pair of incompetent wizards who manage to push your ... second-favorite student back in time two decades? Ah, but I forget. It was your favorite student who did it. Poor Miss Granger. Her life is apparently worth only fifty house points. Even Moaning Myrtle was worth an expulsion."
"Her life? You means she's dead?"
"You know where she went? How do you know?"
"We didn't mean to do anything!"
"Everyone quiet. Yes. Miss Granger was transported back in time two decades. Both Severus and myself met her at that point. This was before you had become a teacher here, my dear Minerva."
"So you sent her back, right?"
Dumbledor sighed. "When she first appeared, the first war was already building and I was not very trusting of a stranger who could, by all appearances, apparate into Hogwarts. And Miss Granger is a most ethical witch. She would not talk about the future to any of us. The only person to whom she talked really was the previous divination teacher. A most determined woman. It was she who convinced me to allow Miss Granger to remain at Hogwarts at all. She also announced that Miss Granger had a strong affinity with the future. Although I must admit I only worked out what must have happened a few years ago when I re-met Miss Granger for the first time. At the time, Miss Granger spent four months as a student in Slytherin before she disappeared again. I do not know what happened to her."
"She disappeared again? Like with another time-turner?"
"No. It was merely that one night she did not return to her room, and no one could find her when we looked."
"Oh."
"Why was she in Slytherin?" Ron latched onto this inconsistency so that he didn't have to think about the more important problem.
"One of Slytherin's prized traits was the ability to keep a secret. At the time when Miss Granger appeared, she knew many secrets that she dared not tell for fear of causing a time paradox."
"So you don't know what happened to her?"
"No, Mr. Potter. I'm sorry, but I do not."
"Since Slytherins are supposed to be so good at keeping things secret, do you know what happened to her, Professor Snape?"
"Hmph. Of course I do."
"You do? What was it?" Dumbledor was startled - a very unusual experience for him.
"She poisoned herself. Miss Granger said that she wasn't willing to live in a world were she couldn't have any effect on the many tragedies that she knew were to come. She refused to be a Cassandra."
Everyone's face was ashen, except for Snape who looked condescendingly at them.
"She killed herself?"
"She wouldn't do that!"
"Hmm." Albus looked thoughtful. "I do believe Mr. Weasley is right about this. It doesn't seem like something Miss Granger would do."
"Are you doubting me?"
"No, Severus. I believe you're telling the truth, I just don't believe you're telling me the complete truth. What poison did she take?"
"Hmph. BelMort."
"Ah." The twinkle was back in Dumbledor's eye. "Miss Granger really is quite brilliant."
"What?"
"What?"
"Ten points from Gryffendor for being an annoying Greek chorus."
The boys glared at Snape for a second before transferring their gaze to the Headmaster in hopes of an answer.
"BelMort is a potion that was developed several centuries ago. In theory it put the subject into a form of stasis, but in practice it was considered a type of poison. The subject is not effected by the passage of time until the strength wears off. It was frequently applied to the bodies of the recently deceased, especially in hot or humid climates to keep the bodies in good condition for a funeral. It was also used as a method of suicide by the vain, who wanted their body to be in good condition when it was discovered.
"It was only a decade ago that an antidote was discovered. Very few people cared about an antidote until it was proven that the original potion, if drunk by a living person would put that person in a form of stasis from which they could then be brought out of without harm if given the antidote. Without the antidote the person simply stays in perfect condition until the BelMort began to wear off at which point they start to decompose. With the antidote they wake up.
"This discovery was made by a young potions apprentice who focused his studies on poisons and their antidotes. And this discovery earned him his mastery at a very young age." Albus smiled at Severus.
"Severus. You did it to save Miss Granger." McGonagall latched on to the new information with glee and the knowledge that this was a tease-worthy discovery. Snape blushed.
"She asked me to. She looked at me when I was seventeen and saw a potions master. How could I refuse her?"
After a moment of McGonagall smirking at Snape and Snape glaring at McGonagall, Dumbledor decided to intervene.
"I can see how Miss Granger might decide to take that potion knowing that you would later develop the antidote, Severus. However, it has been almost twenty years since then, where did she hide her body?"
"The Room of Requirement."
"But we've used the Room of Requirement!"
"Yeah, and I think we would have noticed if Hermione's body was stored there."
"Given that it's you two, I am not at all surprised that you failed to notice anything."
Upon Dumbledor's gentle insistence, Snape set down his book before he finished the section he was reading and went to his office to retrieve the BelMort antidote, and then proceeded to the Room of Requirement. He sneered at the group of people all waiting there as he walked back and forth in the hallway and then went into the door that appeared.
The room looked remarkably like a potions lab. It was completely empty.
"She's not here."
The look Snape gave Harry made him flush and bite his tongue.
Snape went to a small door that was nearly hidden in a back corner and opened it to reveal a small area that only just fit a large comfortable looking couch with Hermione lying on it. Despite the lack of room, everybody crowded in as Snape administered the antidote.
Hermione blinked a few times trying to get everything in focus. It took her a moment to become aware of her surroundings.
"Hello, Miss Granger."
"Severus."
"Not quite."
"Prof, Professor Snape! I'm back. You did it!" She smiled up at him.
He arched an eyebrow and tried not to look too smug at being able to show his childhood crush that he had risen to her expectations. "Of course I did. And Miss Granger, two hundred points to Slytherin for a well thought out solution to a nearly insoluble situation."
"But she's a Gryffindor!" McGonagall was delighted to see her star pupil alive and well, but these were a lot of points going to the wrong house.
"Not when she was planning this stunt, and she is still wearing my house colors. Slytherin gets the points." Now Snape really did look smug.
"Well. Miss Granger two hundred points to Gryffindor for successfully infiltrating an opposing house!"
"The ability to infiltrate an opposing house is not a very Gryffindor trait now is it? I believe those points should go to Slytherin as well."