Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter.

CHAPTER 2

Hermione's head felt as if it had been used for a bludger.

She blinked, coughing harshly. Since when did dreams hurt? Then, she remembered who had caught her fall.

Tom Riddle?

Right.

It must have been an invention of her sleep deprived mind, Hermione concluded as she backed away awkwardly from the person and struggled to keep her eyes open from the strain of the...sun? She felt as if she had been blinded and rubbed her eyes with closed fists and squinted, trying to focus her eyes on the hazy figure in front of her.

"Oh, um, thank you, I'm Hermione Gran..."

She stopped in mid sentence and sniffed the air inquiringly, frowning at the lingering fruity smell she certainly didn't recognize. The stranger who had helped her, smiled slightly and Hermione stared, transfixed at his foreign face and attire.

"Hello, Hermione," He said calmly, smiling just enough to see pearly white teeth a dentist would be proud of. "That was a bad fall. Though I don't blame you, it must been nauseous riding that ship."

Ship?

"This is definitely a very strange dream," Hermione thought idly. She pivoted around to see an endless body of water. Sure enough, there also was a ship; an extremely gallant yet battered looking one. She then noticed a balding man on the deck grinning madly at her, waving a large wine bottle frantically.

"I'm not delusional," Hermione repeated to herself. No. Definitely not delusional...

She blinked rapidly and told herself rather unconfidently that was all a dream, only a dream.

Not too far away from the two students were Professor Dumbledore and Headmaster Dippet whom were standing side by side, conversing rather excitedly while observing. If there were any passerby to hear part of their conversation, they would catch these words: Ah…crazy captain. Gryffindor. Impossible! Head Girl? Her name is Hermione Granger.

Hermione turned away from the ship and scanned the surroundings. As far as she could see, the white, sandy beach seemed to stretch the length of the island, blending into clear water. Every once in awhile, waves roared and crashed down onto the hot beach, sending streams of white foam rushing toward her, before hissing and retreating back into the endless blue of the ocean.

Hermione smiled to herself and thought, "What a lovely dream! Its too bad it won't last long."

"Beautiful place isn't it?" A soft voice asked while the person walked past her.

Hermione jumped in surprise, turning around to see the Tom Riddle person there.

"Er… yes, its lovely." She responded hesitantly as he sat on a large, plaid cloth that had previously been laid out on the beach. Hermione eyed him suspiciously, but reasoned there was no harm in answering imaginary characters. She frowned as she shoved her hands into her cloak pockets; her voice sure sounded real. However, she dismissed the thought almost immediately when she felt something long and smooth in her right pocket.

Her wand.

Odd.

Her eyebrows furrowed, as she felt something else in her pocket, something flat and cold. Hermione choked as she recalled the room with the mirror, she clutched at the wand tightly as panic settled in her heart. Thoughts immediately began to rampage her mind and she shivered, a voice suspiciously like her mother's, spoke calmly in her head, "This is no dream..."

"Ms. Gran," A voice said quietly beside her. Hermione jumped for the second time and whipped around to see a pair of familiar twinkling eyes. "Headmaster Dumbledore?"

"Its professor, Ms. Gran, I teach Transfiguration. I do apologize for the short notice. Headmaster Dippit and I pleased you got here in time though. I hope you enjoyed your ride here and didn't get seasick along the way." He smiled, then turned and nodded to Tom Riddle, "Oh yes, Tom, please go get the others."

Tom Riddle left without a word and Hermione felt even more confusion. Professor Dumbledore? Headmaster Dippit? Tom Riddle?

It was all a bloody conspiracy against her.

She did note vaguely that Dumbledore looked younger...but just as she was about to ask something, Dumbledore glanced at her seriously over his spectacles and said, "Hermione Granger, it's a pleasure meet you. I have no idea how this had happened! From the looks of your cloak and badge, you are a Hogwarts's student. However, I don't believe I've ever seen you before."

"I'm from Hog-the future, professor." Hermione replied, while wringing her hands nervously in front of her, "I, I don't know what happened professor. See, I just touched this mirror and somehow I landed here. Professor... where is this?"

Dumbledore looked startled as he glanced at the mirror Hermione had handed over. He peered into the mirror, arched a brow and answered, "Hmm...the future…most extraordinary! Well, Ms. Granger, I unfortunately can't do anything for you at the moment. Perhaps you were sent here for…why don't you give me this tomorrow and I'll examine it to see what magical properties it may contain. Right now, we are on Hensi Island. Also... ah, Tom, you are back!"

There were still thousands of questions bubbling in Hermione's mind, but she decided it'd have to wait and twisted slightly to see four students her age following closely behind Tom Riddle.

"Now that you are all here, I'd like to introduce someone. This is Hermione Gran, our HeadGirl for this year," Dumbledore stated.

Upon hearing the words HeadGirl, the Slytherin heir scrutinized her in the corner of his eye, his face not showing any thoughts.

One of the girls with alarming red hair (Hermione suspected it wasn't her true hair color) stared at Hermione coldly and sniffed loudly. The other gave Hermione a welcoming, toothy grin and a perky wave. The boys stood behind her. One of them shifted around every few seconds, like a child with attention deficiency disorder, Hermione's eyes widened as she saw the other boy. "Oh. my-" She muttered with surprise. The other boy was about an inch taller than her and resembled...a certain Slytherin, blond ferret.

Her whirlwind of thoughts were interrupted as a grizzled and stern looking man, whom Hermione assumed was Headmaster Dippit, walked briskly over to them and beamed, "As you all know, we are here on Hensi Island to study and explore the area. All of the things you are to do are in these scrolls, which I will hand out. Out of the whole school, only the five of you were chosen. Professor Dumbledore and I expect you all to be mature and work together. Please follow these directions." With that said, he quickly passed out a scroll to everyone.

Hermione stared at the parchment blankly, the wordsswarming in front of her eyes; it seemed too much to take in. She cast her eyes upon the heavens as ifwishing the answer to her questions. The bright blue, endless sky was her only response. Shaking her head, Hermione lowered her head to finish reading.

Next chapter: Hermione gets to know her new fellow students and learns quite a few disturbing things...

A/N: Hello everyone! Unexpected events? As much as I enjoy all the fics going back into the past, I feel like there needs to be more fics where the characters go somewhere else other than only at Hogwarts. So I decided to try something new, what do think?

Thanks to: Tennis Angel, Lady Evanescence, Blueberry-Gurl (lol, your e-mail was very amusing), Cattt, CeruleanShowers, daichi, NeOn, x Raya, Rea, one crimson tie (Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions, they were very helpful.), and liz 1 for reviewing!