Disclaimer: The characters, settings, etc. of the Harry Potter series are not mine. I just play with them.

Regarding Time Travel
One

Until the Time Travel Research team had begun to actively pursue her for employment, Hermione had never given much thought to the research conducted by the employees of the Ministry that regulated and experimented with the use of time turners. In fact, she hadn't given it any thought at all.

Certainly, Hermione had always been fascinated by time travel. She had been so amazed when, in her second year, she had read about time turners in one of the school library's many volumes on strictly regulated magical instruments. It had been so shocking to her to think that time travel was actually possible. She could hardly believe that it was not simply a muggle fancy, but that it was something that could and did actually happen.

However, after her third year and the discovery that time travel was quite tiring, Hermione's fascination waned. It had been an interesting and educational experience, but she knew that time traveling was not something she no longer wanted to pursue for the time being.

And so, Hermione Granger gave the entire concept no more thought until she received a letter in the week before she graduated from university. A man called Gerald Geoffrey had owled her about a position as a researching assistant that would soon be opening in his department at the Ministry of Magic. After reading the words 'researching assistant,' Hermione had merely skimmed the rest of the letter, noting something about traversing time and space, before she quickly grabbed up a piece of parchment to scribble a response to Mr. Geoffrey. She told him that she was very interested in meeting with him and asked if they could have lunch together at The Leaky Cauldron on the following Wednesday.

The day of their meeting arrived quickly and Hermione met Mr. Geoffrey for lunch. They went over the particulars of working research in this area of the Department of Magical Transportation. Mr. Geoffrey was frank with her, explaining that no matter how groundbreaking her research might be, it would most likely not garner much attention from the public or the media. Her achievements would likely go unrecognized, and Geoffrey explained that he felt it was important to tell her this up front. He had found, in his years of working with this research team, that his brightest and best often left after a few months in order to obtain employment with the other more exciting and renowned departments of the Ministry. Hermione had asked him how people could not find time travel exciting, and Geoffrey had replied quite matter-of-factly that because wizards had been doing it for years, it had lost a good deal of its novelty in the eyes of the public.

Geoffrey explained that this did not mean that there was no room for innovation in the field. He told Hermione that a creative mind like hers was just what the team needed. He told her that she had come with the highest recommendations and that he had been told that she gave everything she could to her research, was not afraid to take risks, and was constantly asking questions in order to learn more. In short, Geoffrey had said, she was just what they were looking for to fill a recently vacated position of researching assistant.

By the time their lunch had been served and they had ordered their second drink, Hermione had accepted the position. She went to work for the team exactly two weeks after she'd graduated from university.

It took her only half a year to work her way up from researching assistant to researcher. And a year and a half after being named a researcher to become head researcher of the team.

After working for there for five years, Hermione had accomplished much through her research. She had refined time turners, making them easier to operate and more practical for every day use. She oversaw numerous research efforts and experimentation in the use of charms in time travel. And most recently, Hermione had began toying with the idea of using Potions as a means to transport a wizard from one point in time to another.

At first, her research had yielded little information. Doubting, though, that her idea could be truly original, Hermione continued her research. She finally, after many months of reading and searching, struck gold. The information she had been looking for had been hidden, buried in the pages of a layman's guide to time travel that the department's library kept in stock for reasons beyond her comprehension.

The book, Understanding Time Travel: A Guide for You and Me, cited one historically documented instance of a wizard using a potion to traverse time periods. Hermione had searched the paragraph for anything that could be useful and found, in the second sentence, a name and a date. Using this information, Hermione continued her research, looking through books, journals, and any other credible source she could get a hold of that might possibly mention time traveling potions created by William Michelson in the year 1608.

It took her months before she found what she was looking for. She had been leafing through the preserved pages of the back copies of the Prophet at the Ministry's library when she found it: the obituary of William Michelson, printed in the paper on the tenth of May, 1608. Hermione had quickly pulled a parchment from the book bag she carried with her, muttered a copying charm, and dragged her wand over the words of the obituary. Once they had been copied to her parchment, she had replaced the copies of the Daily Prophet in their proper receptacles, took up her parchment, and ran to the biography section of the library.

The obituary had been written by a James Scott who, if the note beneath his name was to be believed, was Michelson's friend. James Scott, Hermione had recalled, had been a fairly famous wizard in his time. He had written many controversial articles regarding the enslavement of House Elves (Hermione had used some of his propaganda during her S.P.E.W. campaign), the treatment of Goblins, and had lobbied for the creation of an Ethical Treatment of Magical Creatures Committee within the Ministry's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

Thus, while Hermione's previous search in the biography section for a book on Michelson had proved fruitless, she knew for certain that there would be books on Scott. And perhaps, if she was lucky, within the book on Scott there would be enough information to point her in the right direction to continue her research on Michelson.

Hermione had soon discovered that she was extremely lucky. For not only did she find many biographies on Scott, she even found copies of his own diaries. Diaries that, she quickly discovered, held detailed accounts of his friendship with William Michelson.

Scott, she found through her readings, had assisted Michelson with the creation of his time travel potion. He had been present when his friend brewed it, helped him gather the ingredients for it, and stayed with him when Michelson conducted his first and final experiment on the potion.

The diaries told of the morning Michelson took the potion that would transport him to another time, but Hermione carefully noted as she read that it also told, in great detail, of the days leading up to the experiment. Michelson had prepared for his trip. He had created not only a potion that would transport him to another time period, but one that would bring him back to his present time period, as well. Scott wrote that Michelson had packed a small bag to take with him as he traveled, the contents of which included a vial of the potion that would bring him back to 1608.

Michelson drank his potion on the fifth of May. Scott wrote in his diaries that he had watched his friend disappear from the lab in which they were conducting the experiment much in the same way he would have disappeared had he disapparated from the room. Scott recounted that he waited for days for William to return. On the fifth day, Scott knew his friend would not be coming back. Scott wrote that though he could not be completely certain, he did not think his friend's failure to come back was due to a problem with the return potion. Instead, Scott wrote that he knew, in his heart, that Michelson must have decided to remain in the alternate time to which he had traveled for reasons he was sure were valid.

And as she reached the end of Scott's account, Hermione's luck grew steadily stronger, for Scott had included a copy of his friend's notes, including the recipes for both of the potions.

Thanking whatever gods and goddesses that had decided to bless her, Hermione had taken her findings and had hurried off to her labs. The next few months were spent creating the potions and testing them on rats. Before long, Hermione decided that the only way to obtain an accurate collection of data on the potions would be to consume them herself. Thus, one evening near the end of March, Hermione had composed a letter to the board that supervised her experiments, asking for their permission to conduct an experiment in which she would test the potion on herself.

And one week later, on the first of April, Hermione Granger received an answer to her request.

---

The offices of Gerald Geoffrey often reminded Hermione of those of the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Stuffed into every corner and covering available surface in his office were trinkets, baubles, and gadgets. Some of them whirred while others bounced. There were silver ones, some made of gold, other objects were made of glass and placed on high shelves, and some of Geoffrey's toys were even made out of brightly colored plastic.

As Hermione sat in the chair before his desk waiting for her supervisor to appear for the meeting they had scheduled, she spent her time inspecting the object covered shelves. She noted, not for the first time, that Geoffrey did not have a single book on any of his shelves. There was nothing of use in his office, really, save the two quills, two pots of ink, and fresh stack of parchment he kept on top of his desk at all times. In the years that Hermione had known Geoffrey, she had come to the conclusion that he was a rather eccentric individual. He was very kind, though, and he truly loved his work, but he was nevertheless decidedly odd.

"Oh!" a voice exclaimed behind her, pulling her from her reverie. She turned slightly in her seat to see Gerald strolling into his offices, thumbs hooked on the belt loops of his bright red trousers and a grin fixed on his face. "Missed the quaffle release, have I?"

"Only by ten minutes," she replied with a smile as she watched him take a seat behind his desk.

"Well!" Gerald said as he rubbed his hands together. "Could be worse, couldn't it?"

"Certainly," Hermione agreed, giving him a small smile.

"Indeed, indeed, Ms. Granger." he said, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest. "So shall we get to business or would you like to engage in some pleasantries first?"

Hermione gave him a knowing grin. "Well, you are the boss, Gerald. It's hardly my decision to make."

His smile grew. "Right you are, Birdie! I am the boss and it is my decision. So tell me, how's the Ron of yours?"

Hermione felt her cheeks warm as she shrugged. "We've broken up," she said softly. "It was just too difficult. I was always in London and he was always traveling around with quidditch. We didn't see each other often enough."

The smile left Gerald's face as he nodded gravely. "I am sorry, Birdie, but these sorts of things happen. Just give him a few more years and once he's done with that quidditch nonsense he'll be begging you to take him back."

Hermione offered Gerald a smile in response. "We'll see, Gerald."

"And how's your Savior of all Wizardkind doing these days?" he asked.

"Oh, Harry's fine," she replied. "Busy with being an Auror and upholding the law."

Gerald nodded, grinning. "He's a good man, your Harry." He paused as his grin turned slightly wicked looking before he continued. "A good looking man, too. With a stable job that keeps him in London."

"Gerald," Hermione said, sighing. "Harry is my friend and that is all he is. I'm not attracted to Harry in the same way I was attracted to Ron. I have no interest in dating him or pursuing a relationship with him. So for the millionth time, please just drop it!"

Gerald chuckled gently. "All right, Birdie, all right. It's dropped. Over. Gone forever." Reaching outwards, he plucked a piece of parchment from his desk. "Down to business then?"

"Yes, please," Hermione said eagerly, leaning forwards toward the desk.

Gerald cleared his throat dramatically. "Against our better judgment, the rest of the supervising board and myself have decided to allow you to conduct this experiment--"

Hermione squeaked as she opened her mouth to thank him, but waving his hand in the air he cut her off.

"However, Birdie, we've decided to add in some conditions. You can conduct this experiment on the condition that you have an expert review your notes and examine your potion beforehand." He cleared his throat handing the piece of parchment he'd been holding across the desk to Hermione. "We've taken the liberty of arranging a meeting with an expert in the field of Potions for you."

"Oh thank you," Hermione said as she looked down at the paper, "that's very kin--" Hermione frowned as she reread the name of the Potions expert on the parchment three times, hoping that her eyes had deceived her. She then looked up to where Gerald sat across from her, grinning brightly.

"I hear he's currently single, you know," he said teasingly. "Bloody brilliant man and a war hero to boot!"

Hermione narrowed her eyes and glared at Gerald. "You arranged a meeting with him, when I could easily have gone to one of the experts within the Ministry, just so you could play match maker!?"

"Oh come on, Hermione!" Gerald said, laughing. "It's just one meeting. I don't honestly expect anything to come of it. And anyway," he continued, "Severus Snape is unsurpassed in his field. He really is a brilliant man, and you should be grateful that he was kind enough to schedule a meeting with you."

Hermione glowered down at the letter Snape had written agreeing to see her. "He probably only did it so he could find flaws in the potions and use them to belittle me."

Gerald shrugged. "Perhaps, but only time will tell, my dear."

She looked up at him and sighed. "Well, anything for the sake of research, I suppose."

"That's the spirit!" he replied. "Just remember, you're no longer his student. He can't punish you for speaking out of turn or anything silly like that."

Hermione raised an eyebrow as she looked at Gerald. "You obviously don't know him very well. Even though he may not be able to give me detention, he could certainly find a way to punish me."

"Well," he said, "it can't be all that bad. It's not like he'd kill you or something."

Hermione sighed, folding up the parchment and placing it in her ever present book bag. She stood from her chair and hoisted the bag's straps onto her shoulders. "There are some fates, Gerald, that are worse than death."

---

Hermione met up with Harry in the Ministry cafeteria a few hours after her meeting with Gerald Geoffrey for lunch. After they had gotten their food and found an empty table, Hermione pulled the letter from her bag and handed it wordlessly over to Harry.

When he finished reading, he looked from the parchment to Hermione before skimming over the letter two more times. Once he'd finished his second read-through, Harry's face fell into a look of shocked disbelief. "You're not seriously going to go see him, are you?" he asked once he was finally able to tear his eyes away from the letter to look at his friend.

Hermione shrugged as she smashed her peas with her fork. "I don't know. The board wants me to see him specifically. They arranged the meeting and everything."

"But," Harry said, "it's Snape. It's going to be awful."

She sighed, stabbing at her peas with a bit more fervor. "You think I haven't realized that?"

"Well," he said, "can't you go over their heads or something? Consult one of the potions people here at the Ministry and then just say you went to see Snape?"

Hermione shot her friend a scandalized look. "Then I would end up having to lie to my bosses, Harry. And seeing as they are not only my bosses, but my friends as well, I just would not feel comfortable doing such a thing," she said, grinding her fork against her peas.

"Will you stop trying to make baby food and talk to me?!" Harry exclaimed. Sighing, Hermione dropped the utensil and looked at her friend. "This will probably end up being the worst meeting of your life," he continued. "For Snape, being given the opportunity to criticize your professional work will probably be an orgasmic experience."

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, blushing slightly at the thought of Snape having an orgasm.

"It's true, Hermione!" her friend said. "He hates us. Hates us with the burning passion of one thousand really hot, really fiery suns. And now you're going to voluntarily walk into what could end up being the most terrible experience of your life." He paused to shake his head in disbelief. "Good luck," he finished, picking up his fork and using it to scoop some peas into his mouth.

Hermione scowled at him. "I thought we were supposed to be brave. We were Gryffindors once, weren't we?"

Harry snorted as he picked up his chicken leg and took a bite. "Yeah," he said, chewing the meat, "whatever."

"Anyway," Hermione began, taking a bite of her mashed peas before she continued. "It's been a few years. He might have changed a bit."

Harry snorted and took another bite of chicken. "And Hagrid and Filch will be marrying next Bank Holiday. Have I told you?"

Hermione grinned despite herself. "Shut up, Potter."

"Will do, Granger," he replied, smiling back.

----
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Until next time!