Author's Note: Thanks to Blossom1098 (lol. Here's the new chap), faithfulwriter (nope this is not H/H though the seem close. Lol), EnchantingFreak (yay! Reviewer since from the start! Thanks a lot), Rane2920072 (Another reviewer from the start! Thanks a bunch!)and BlackPaintedWhite (Glad you decided to stick around even if you had to reread the last chapter) for the feedbacks. Thanks peeps. I'm having an early chapter because I'm having my exams soon. I hope this makes up for how much time I'll miss from writing. Hope to receive some reviews. They help a lot. Thanks again.
Disclaimer: JKR owns the characters and I am not making money out of this.
Summary: When they discovered a supposed murder in Hogwarts some twenty years ago while searching for a link to Sirius, Hermione, plagued by weird dreams, never expected to end up in the past, dealing with many things like prejudice and love. (SiriusHermione)
CHAPTER 4: Take the Plunge
Twelfth of August 1995
"I hope it goes well," Hermione said worriedly, her thoughts spinning around the hearing that would determine whether Harry did violate laws regarding underage sorcery outside school and in a muggle-inhabited place no less.
"You should calm down, Hermione," Ron said. "I'm getting dizzy with your pacing about."
"I'm just worried about Harry." She huffed for a moment. "I think I need to pace somewhere alone." She looked at Ron weakly and then at the other occupants of the room before leaving.
She was just pacing for a few minutes in the kitchen when someone entered. Looking up, she saw that it was Sirius, looking amusedly at her. He walked towards the nearest chair and sat down. They fell into a companionable silence then and Hermione continued pacing.
"Everyone is also worried," Sirius suddenly said, looking intensely at her. "You worry about him relentlessly. It's driving most people crazy."
Hermione stopped her pacing and sank down on the chair across from Sirius. "I know and I'm sorry but it's just…" She sighed and stared at the table as if her life depended on it. "Harry's like a brother to me. He's one of the first people in the strange, new world to have ever been part of my life and…" She looked up. "I know it couldn't be compared to how you must worry for him but…"
He nodded at her even when she trailed off and he was silent for a while. "Do you always worry like this?"
She smiled sheepishly. "When I care a lot for that person, yes."
"And when you don't?"
"Well," she said slowly. But when she noticed that he was practically drowning in waves of amusement, she couldn't help but be defensive. "So I'm a worrywart. It's not like it's a sin."
He laughed then, his voice a rich baritone that set her at ease with a strange feeling of familiarity. "Harry is very lucky indeed."
"Of course he is. He has all of us," she said, her eyes going to the kitchen's door as Lupin entered, eyeing them thoughtfully.
-a-
Present Time
Groaning, she opened her eyes. What happened? She asked herself as she found herself once more in the Hospital Wing. Her eyes blinked again and again. Was everything all a dream? I'm really going insane.
"I see you are finally up and about, Miss Granger."
She tried to sit up but felt as if she was bound to the bed by some invisible ropes.
"I had to bind you," Madam Pomfrey said sternly. "I can't have you slipping out of here and ending up passed out in the corridors again, now can I?"
"Wha–"
"Your friends found you just outside the entrance to the Gryffindor common room again ," the nurse cut off, irritation coming off her in waves. "Gallivanting about in your condition. Really. Children these days ought to know when they are capable and when they are not!"
"That is enough, Poppy."
Hermione didn't know whether to be relieved or be nervous about the appearance of Dumbledore there. But when she saw her ever-antagonizing Potions professor, she didn't think twice but be nervous indeed.
"Professor Dumbledore. Professor Snape."
Dumbledore smiled at her but Snape regarded her coldly as if she was a waste of time and he was just forced to be there. What was he doing there anyway?
"Poppy, please leave us for a moment."
Madam Pomfrey looked at Hermione with a calculating look before leaving. There was silence for some time until Snape seemed to get thoroughly impatient.
"Did you or did you not make the potion?" He asked directly, glaring at her.
Her face must have been written with guilt all over it because Snape seemed to bristle more.
"I told you they were up to no good."
At the comment, she felt her anger surge and before she could really think, she opened her mouth to say the first thing on her mind. "A student got murdered here in Hogwarts and Voldemort is responsible! What would you have us do now that that bastard is acting up again!" She glared at her Potions professor angrily. Merlin! The man was an absolute pain!
Dumbledore regarded them as if there was nothing wrong. "Now Miss Granger, you know that we are only concerned about your well-being. You have been found unconscious thrice and have been unconscious for more than one week at a time. Is there something you need to tell us?"
She looked at the Headmaster and was instantly sure that Lupin must have said something. "I don't mean to sound offensive, Professor, but I'm sure you already know everything," she couldn't help but say bitterly.
The Headmaster nodded calmly. "Yes, indeed. However, I was hoping that you would have been more willing to trust us personally. But let that be the past." He looked at her carefully. "You have admitted to having dreams and they have become quite a concern for us."
Her brows furrowed and although her anger was still present, her natural curiosity overrode it. "They don't mean anything, do they?" A knot began forming in her stomach as she remembered the recent one she had.
"It depends, Miss Granger. You see–"
"I don't have any gift in Divination," she protested immediately. Even after performing something that hinted the dreams could be true, she did not want to accept it. No… Harry… Ron…
There was silence again. Snape was still busy glaring at her but now she could detect something different in Dumbledore. She didn't know what or how she even knew, but there was something inside her that told her so. And before she knew it, her eyes began to water over. The stress was really getting into her that her usually collected composure seemed to desert her lately.
"Professor," she said through a choked voice. "They don't mean anything."
Still Dumbledore did not say anything. She looked at him with a desperate plea in her eyes but he simply looked back at her in a sad way that she did not understand.
"No…" Her tears began to fall. "No. No. No! This can't be happening! I'm just going crazy!" She struggled with the invisible ropes dimly aware that Dumbledore did not even more or say anything to make her stop.
Was this how Dumbledore treated Harry after Sirius died – just letting him rage about? Was Dumbledore really going to allow her to be this way till she ran out of strength? Why? Did he know about the dream she had about Harry? Or that what she did in the Room of Requirement mirrored her worst dream?
"Oh Merlin no!" She eventually got tired after a long time of struggling and she lay there shaking. "Professor… I… I saw Harry… he was fighting with… and… and he… he… he… and there were… so many dead…" And her tears flooded full force. She couldn't help it. To hell with pride; she was scared for everyone she loved. "I performed the spell… because… I wanted to see… if-if… it was… r-real."
For a moment, she saw Snape's stricken expression. At any other time, she would've felt triumphant indeed to have caused that reaction, but now, she felt even more terrified.
"You mean to say, Miss Granger," Snape said in a hollow voice. "That you used the spell to see into the future… not the past?"
"I don't need to see the past!" She shouted angrily, her anger giving back her ability to speak coherently. Her tears still violently escaped her eyes. "I don't care about the past! I couldn't change it!" She glared at Snape before directing her angry expression at Dumbledore, who now looked even sadder.
"The past holds everything, Miss Granger…"
She felt her anger surge to further heights. How could he be like that? Hadn't he heard that Harry would die? That his death would mean so many people would die as well?
"Professor," she said sharply, not caring anymore if she got expelled for her behavior. "The past means nothing to me! Harry does! Ron does!" She paused, for a split second hesitating. "They're dead, the people you taught," she spat coldly, feeling an odd sense of satisfaction at the hurt that seemed to emerge strangely from both Dumbledore and Snape. "They're dead," she repeated savagely. "But the people here aren't!"
"They shouldn't be dead, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said sadly. "We understand that now."
"I don't," she retorted coolly. "And I don't care anymore. They're the past. We can't do anything about it."
Snape seemed to lose his sadness and replace it with anger. "We can't."
"And it's my fault?" She asked, rising to the bait. "Whoever you killed that made you change sides, I certainly don't care about."
The color on Snape's face drained at what she said and again, the odd satisfaction rose inside her. She never knew that she would reach this point of disrespect but she didn't care. The entire world could be informed of this but did it matter? In the near future, they'd be dead anyway and there was no way around it. Unless…
"Mister Potter, Mister Weasley!" Madam Pomfrey's voice rose from the entrance of the Hospital Wing.
There were sounds of running and Hermione couldn't even describe her feeling of elation upon seeing her best friends' faces.
"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, rushing to her bedside and ignoring the fact that Dumbledore and Snape were there. "You're awake!"
Harry followed Ron's lead, going to her bedside. But he looked at Dumbledore curiously for a moment before he looked back at her. "What happened?"
"You might want to say goodbye to Miss Granger," Snape cut in, his face back to its normal complexion.
"What?" Ron asked, glaring at Snape openly. He was after all loyal to Hermione and absolutely hated Snape since first year. "She didn't do anything!"
"That's the point, Mister Weasley," Snape returned coldly. "She didn't do anything."
Ron grew angry at that but apparently, Harry was angrier. "You're planning on expelling her for nothing? Aren't we acting clean?" He still wanted to blame Sirius' death on Snape. And now that the spiteful professor was out to expel a very good friend of his, he wouldn't even bother reigning in his anger even with Dumbledore around. "You killed that student, didn't you? You knew her! You want to get rid of us one at a time because we're on to what you did!" He spat angrily.
Madam Pomfrey stood rooted near Snape, seemingly forgetting that she was planning on throwing both boys out. What was going on?
"Harry," Dumbledore began, still with that irritating sadness lurking in his expression. It reminded Harry of how Dumbledore looked after Sirius died and it made him angrier.
"He killed her. We know he did!"
Again, Snape's face paled. And were those guilt and pain in his eyes? "So I did," he said almost in a whisper, so much pain in his voice. "I did, didn't I?" He looked at Dumbledore.
Ron's jaw was hanging open in shock and overwhelming anger. "You-you despicable–" He was sputtering. "Professor!" He looked at Dumbledore. "You knew!"
"He didn't kill her, Mister Weasley," Dumbledore said sadly. "She's not dead."
There was tense silence that settled. She was alive? Where was she?
"Please say goodbye to Miss Granger," Dumbledore said finally. "We shall be back later to speak to her about important things."
"But Professor!" Ron protested, ignoring his friends' shocked silence.
"It is best that she be returned to where she belongs – to the family that I'm sure misses her." Dumbledore turned to Madam Pomfrey. "Give them time, Poppy."
And that was that; Dumbledore, Snape and Madam Pomfrey left them alone to deal with what was happening and what will happen.
Hermione wished her parents were with her at that moment. They would know what to do, would know what to tell her. Not that Ron and Harry didn't, but that was the point. They knew her so well that they would sense she was hiding something more. And what would she tell them? That they would die in the near future? Was that how she would repay their loyalty and comfort? Telling them something so dreadful, so tragic?
"Hermione," Harry said, putting a hand on her arm. "There must be another way."
Ron bristled. "I can't believe this! They'd expel you for nothing!"
She shook her head quietly, closing her eyes. "I… I did something," she whispered. Could she bear to lie to them till the last moment? "I found something in the hidden room."
"So what?" Ron interrupted angrily. "It wasn't like you killed someone!"
"It was a parchment and," she opened her eyes and looked at her friends intently. They might as well know the truth and try to change it before it was too late. It was just a prophecy, wasn't it? "It was about a Dark Art spell used for divination."
Harry looked confused. "You… you used a Dark Art?"
"I had to, Harry. I had to know."
"It's still not enough to expel you!" Harry said before Ron could. No, he wasn't angry at her for using it. He was angry at Dumbledore and Snape. "I'm sure there are a whole lot of the Slytherins using it here!"
"This is bloody crazy!" Ron cut in. "It's just unfair!"
Hermione agreed but there wasn't anything she could do.
"I don't understand Dumbledore at all," Ron continued to rant. "Isn't he even going to give you a chance to defend yourself? He's just expelling you without a second thought!"
"Maybe… maybe he has a reason," she said quietly, not even sure why she felt the sudden need to defend someone who is going to expel her without further considerations.
"There must be a way," Harry repeated, his eyes boring into hers that she had to look away. "You just can't give up!" His voice quivered and rose. "It's my fault anyway! I talked you into this remember?"
It was funny actually. It was almost like the time Ron and Harry were fighting in the common room when Harry, Fred, and George were banned from playing Quidditch. But she was just a bystander then. Harry had been irritated at Ron for blaming himself then. Now, Harry was irritated with her for resigning so easily.
"It's my fault, Hermione!" Harry said almost in a yell. "It's my fault!"
"It's mine, too," Ron said, sounding desperate. "He can't expel you! You're the brightest student in the entire school!"
She listened to them for a while as they argued at whose fault it was until she realized that they were wasting time. She might as well give a last shot at trying to save the Wizarding World before she was asked to leave it forever. At least it would mean that her expulsion was for a good cause.
"Harry, Ron," she said suddenly to startle them out of their pointless argument. "There's something else."
It worked. They immediately ceased talking and looked at her as if the Hermione they knew was back. In a way she was because she sounded determined, not resigned to her fate.
"I used it to see the future. I had been having dreams I couldn't understand. But when I saw something," she looked at them carefully, Harry most of all. "Something that resembled what happened to your… parents, Harry, I was scared because it was followed with you fighting with…"
"Voldemort?" Harry asked.
Ron winced slightly but Hermione had already forced herself to say 'Voldemort' since fifth year.
"You lost, Harry, and Ron was dead. I was dead, too. It scared me into using even a dark art to see if it was true."
"And?" Ron asked with a horror-stricken face.
"It is… We have to change it, no matter what."
Silence. And then, Ron opened his mouth – "How?"
Harry clenched his fists that his knuckles were very white. "Some hero I am," he said bitterly.
"It's not your fault!" Hermione exclaimed, growing angry again. "There must've been a reason for it! Stop feeling sorry and start thinking of how we can change this!"
Harry's green eyes flashed. "How do you suggest we do this? Change the past! We can't even get over the problem of you being expelled!"
They glared at each other but Ron seemed to be distant for a while.
"You know what, mate? You've got the perfect idea." Ron said slowly. "We could change the past."
The two looked at him incredulously.
"I know… I know," the redhead added hastily. "But we'd only change some things. Maybe fourth year? Prevent You-Know-Who from having a body?"
They continued to look at Ron in silence and the redhead fidgeted uncomfortably.
"Brilliant," Hermione finally said. "I can go."
"What?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"I'll be expelled anyway so breaking anything wouldn't matter," she said. "It's the perfect plan."
"Maybe I should go," Ron said. "You two got to go when we were in third year. It's my turn to do something."
"Don't be silly, Ron," Hermione admonished. "You could get expelled for this!" She turned to Harry. "They'd be here later. Maybe you can get me a time-turner in the Room of Requirement and give it to me before I'm expelled." She suddenly remembered Harry's invisibility cloak. "Oh my–"
"We found the cloak, don't worry," Harry assured. "But this plan…"
"Is brilliant," she argued stubbornly. "You two should go now before I get expelled."
Ron's mouth dropped in surprise. "You mean you're okay with getting expelled?"
"Well," she said airily. "It's not like it can be helped. We might as well do something about it while we're at it."
Moments passed and there wasn't any reaction at all, until Harry smiled slightly.
"That bravery is Hermione's although getting expelled is something she'd never really get over before," he said softly, giving her arm a squeeze before walking away.
Ron sighed and smiled slightly, also squeezing her arm. "I reckon Harry just about agreed to your plan."
"Don't worry, Ron. Maybe changing things in fourth year would change things leading up to this event."
He nodded and looked at her for a while, looking as if he was trying to memorize her reassuring face before he left. She sighed then. Time traveling up to two years? It would be very dangerous especially given her fainting spells lately. Thinking about it, she never really traveled so far back in time. When she did it to attend two classes at the same time, it was very different because she wasn't traveling years back.
I guess I'd just have to pull through for everyone's sake. She thought before she fell asleep, intending to rest first before she attempted to change everything.
-a-
When she opened her eyes, she heard whispering.
"Harry? Ron?" She whispered into the dark. Did I really sleep that long? It was just morning...
Out of nowhere, her best friends appeared, immediately handing her a Time Turner.
"Hurry," Harry urged. "They're coming."
Before he could say more, they heard footsteps outside and her best friends looked at her with worried expressions before they dived back under the Invisibility Cloak's protective stealth. She was just about to use the Time Turner when she realized that Snape was looking at her from afar. Quickly, she stuffed it under the blanket and tried her best not to look guilty.
"Miss Granger," Dumbledore said as he came closer. "I trust that you have said your goodbyes."
She nodded slowly, concentrating on Snape from the corner of her eyes. He was looking at her with unreadable eyes that seemed so familiar somehow; not familiar in the way that she had seen it for six years but familiar someway else.
"Trust your instincts," Snape said suddenly, before turning his back and exiting the Hospital Wing.
She couldn't imagine how shocked she looked because Dumbledore chuckled even when he was about to expel her.
"You should listen to your professor, Miss Granger," he said. "Good luck then. I'll see you soon."
Her eyes widened. "I don't understand, Professor." Does he know? Does he know? Her mind repeated nervously.
He chuckled. "You always did have a very brilliant mind, Miss Granger," he said in a somewhat wistful tone.
She suddenly felt the impulse to say something, anything. "It's something I need to do. I'm sorry, Professor."
"You shouldn't be." He walked closer to her and handed her a rope that she soon realized was tied down to her trunk at the bottom of the bed. "I have taken the liberty of having your things returned to you. Some of them, I trust, would be of familiarity to you. After all, they are yours, or more precisely, they belong to your family. Use them well and make everything the way it should be." He smiled benignly at her.
She looked uncertainly and wondered how Dumbledore ever found out that they were planning on meddling with time.
"Ah yes, it nearly slipped my mind." His smile never left his face as he reached under her blanket and pulled her Time Turner from her. Her impending protests were postponed when he handed her a small box.
With confusion, she opened it and got a good surprise. "Another Time Turner? I don't understand, Professor. I mean–"
Before she could finish her questions, the Time Turner glowed and engulfed her. Then, she realized that she was traveling through time.