Story Title: Making Fools

Author: Anamar

Story Summary: Hermione Granger isn't going to let a little thing like accidentally removing all chance of defeating the Dark Lord stand in her way. Unfortunately, even the best-laid plans can't prevent time from making fools of us once again...

Foreword: I like the idea of time travel in the Potter world- it's canonical and there are so many interesting possibilities one could try to change and imagine the effects that would have on the events as we know them. So imagine my surprise when what I thought was one of the most obvious of all time travel ideas didn't seem to have been written. Now I might have missed something in my search for this type of story, so I er... came up with a very warped plot bunny. So yes, this is a time travel story. Without time turners. Without mysterious new students being taken under Dumbledore's wing. Without a real future to return to. But it is dark. And twisted. And for Hermione... Failure is not an option.

The reason for the title: As you may have already guessed, the title is taken from Albus Dumbledore's comment in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" that "Time is making fools of us again." The taken-completely-out-of-context meaning I'm using it for is that we're often condemned to repeat the same mistakes unless we can somehow move beyond becoming the fools of time.

Chapter Summary: In which things are Very Bad. And Get Worse. And the Sorting Hat bites it.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.

Warning: Rated M for language, violence, mature themes and adult situations. Spoilers up to and including "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince".

Prologue: We've Had Time

"You said to us once before," said Hermione quietly, "that there was time to turn back if we wanted to. We've had time, haven't we?"

-J. K. Rowling, Hermione Granger in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"

"They'll be here within fifteen minutes."

The grimoire drops from my nerveless fingers, landing with a loud thump on the floor. Cho is so calm standing there in the doorway, as if she had just commented on the weather or the tea or the state of Occupied Britain's fashions. I don't dare look at Ginny- even in my shock I can feel her freezing, losing the last threads that have held her together. I think it is only the fact that Jim is on her lap that is keeping her from bursting into hysterical laughter. Since neither Susan nor Hannah have spoken it seems that I have to ask the obvious question.

"How many?"

The tightening of Cho's lips tells me everything that I need to know.

We've been discovered.

Hannah breaks first.

"I told you! I told you we should have gotten a Secret Keep-"

"Shut up!" Susan rounds on her like a rabid dog. "And who would we have gotten exactly? Who was there left we could trust? And how would it have helped? With those new charms He has for detecting excessive and unusual magical activity, it would just have gotten us discovered earlier-"

"Enough." Very briefly I see the exhaustion in Cho's eyes before they fade back to their cool control. I ache for her, but I can't help being grateful that she's here. I don't know what we would have done without her. And now... Now I know that she will help me do what needs to be done. No matter the cost.

She glances at me and I nod slightly. We had hoped for more time, but this will be enough.

It has to be.

"Susan, Hannah- get the initial portkey relays prepared. Ginny- get the emergency bag for yourself and James. Hermione and I will finish the preparations."

And there goes the breakdown I've been waiting for.

There are definitely moments when I wish Ginny didn't have such bugger-awful timing.

"It's not ready! This was suicide to start with and now you're going to send her when it's not even complete! I won't let you! I can't lose her too! I can't!"

She breaks into sobs, Jim's eyes getting wide and scared as she buries her face in his hair.

"Ginny..."

I put my hand on her shoulder, trying to swallow past the lump in my throat. I know that she's being overly dramatic, but she's been through hell and back. I don't know if I could have held it together as long as she has and...

I'll miss her too.

"We don't have time for this."

Cho's voice isn't unkind, but Ginny stiffens and wipes the tears off her face. "You're right. I don't like it, but you are right."

She turns to me and, for an achingly brief moment, I see the fire and determination of the girl I used to know. "You- you are going to kiss your godson and promise him that you will be back to play with him. No matter what happens you are going to come back and look after him."

I look down at Jim, his dark messy hair with those flashes of auburn, and pick him up to give him a noisy kiss. He's still obviously confused, but he hasn't made a sound- just stares at me with those far-too-old eyes.

He deserves so much better.

"You be a good boy for your mum, you hear? Always remember that I love you lots and lots and lots."

Nobody says anything when I hand Jim back to Ginny without the promise. As the last of the spark disappears under her normal dullness, I hate myself even more. But it's enough to get her moving and Hannah and Susan walk Ginny and Jim to the relay station. None of us mention that only Ginny and Jim will be using the portkeys, that Hannah and Susan will destroy them as soon as they've vanished.

Ginny will understand. Maybe someday she'll even forgive us. After all, it's not even that we're protecting her so much as we're protecting Jim.

Because if I fail, he's the only chance we have. And we all understand what that will entail.

In spite of the upsets earlier, we are all well beyond the point of false sentimentality. None of us, Ginny included, will hesitate to use whatever advantage we can to end this. The girl I was five years ago would never have agreed to this plan, much less come up with it in the first place... Though, come to think of it, I still remember that feeling of dark satisfaction when Umbridge went to the centaurs.

Maybe this has always been inside me.

But there's no time for philosophy. Cho and I set the wards, both involuntarily flinching at the surge of magic. It's been so long since we've cast anything powerful without fear of detection, but at this point it won't make any difference. Cho looks over at me before handing me the chalice. I set it down with slightly shaking hands. Four years of preparation narrowed to one small cup.

If this fails...

Cho has the gloves on now, so careful not to let her skin touch the handle or blade as she holds it in front of me.

I take the knife from her, slicing across my hand so that exactly twenty-seven drops land on the sand inside, quickly sealing the skin before the blood can spread. I can almost feel the reaction, the bolt of current arcing between me and the contents. It feels far too wild and uncontrolled for what I need to accomplish.

I hope to hell that I was right about the actual ritual just being window dressing.

I break the tip of the knife into the mix- a few shards of what was left of the Mirror of Erised should be enough, although Cho's twitching at what she sees as my haphazard measurement.

It doesn't stop her from passing me the remaining pieces of the Sorting Hat, both of us now flinching for very different reasons. I've always been grateful that she's never asked how I managed to get ahold of it.

It doesn't matter now though. Anything, anything to end this.

Even so, she hesitates slightly when she hands me the last container. Almost at once, I realize the reason why. "This is the last of them, isn't it?"

She nods slowly and the ache in my chest increases. If I fail there will be no more healing from the hit squad's favourite curses. I hold the last of Fawkes' tears and there is no more Fawkes to grant anymore.

"You won't fail."

Thank you, Cho.

I won't fail.

All I need to do is add the tears and-

"They're here!"

We're out of time.

I hope, I hope that Ginny and Jim got out.

Cho immediately goes into a defensive stance at the edge of the wards, waiting for when Hannah and Susan finally fall.

I can hear Hannah screaming, Susan's howl of anguish, but the world has narrowed to me and the cup in front of me. Just a few more drops, ignore the ache as the first of the wards fall-

"Sectumsempra!"

There's only one person who would know that spell and I feel the last of my hope shrivel and die. If it were just the normal run of hit squad idiots, I might have been able to stall for time, but if he's here, obviously someone's taking us seriously. Poor Cho's writhing on the floor now, although she's somehow keeping herself from screaming. A detached part of my mind notes that it wasn't just the cutting spell he hit her with- it looks like he also got her with a non-verbal internal, since her guts are now leaking out of her stomach.

I can't think about it. I can't. She's been my best friend, my strongest supporter since Remus went and broken Ginny became my last link to my old life. But her pain would be worth nothing if I fall apart. I can't stop now, even as Snape walks towards me, coolly bends over me. Some part of my mind prepares itself for the end.

"You have two minutes, Ms. Granger."

It can't be...

It can't be.

Cho's lying on the floor, dying as her body turns itself inside out from his curse. But... but...

I can't afford to think this over. I need to use this time no matter why it's being given. I add the last of the phoenix tears, watch the solution dissolve into liquid even as more hooded figures remove the last of the wards, even as a familiar shock of pale hair slips out from the hood of one of them. I know that the hit squad is speaking, but the world around me has been reduced to a buzzing, pulsing thrum in my ears. The connection between me and the chalice is nearly complete. I can't help feeling that I'm missing something vital, but I don't have any choice. I'll have to take my chances with what I have.

All that is left-

"From love and from hate. From what is, what was and what will be. Bound to none. Part of all. Not to reverse, but to remake. At this end, the beginning. From this beginning, the end. So it is finished."

A part of me stifles a smile at the way the men in front of me have just frozen. The words aren't really important. Well at least all the notes said that the language wouldn't matter which is a sure indication of redundancy, but they might help focus the spell a bit better. One way or another, hopefully they'll distract my visitors long enough to let me finish.

Plus I'd love to see His face when he tries to decipher them.

It seems to be working- they're all staring at me, but nobody's moved yet. Just enough time to raise the cup to my lips and drink-

"Incendio."

Oh Cho...

She must have known that she'd never leave alive. And the house is like a tinderbox- of the little that's left here there will be no information to find once it stops burning. I have to keep drinking, even as the hit squad starts screaming, even as my robes start burning, even as the room starts fading-

"Avada kedavra."

Well, he did give me my two min-

-Updated 01-26-06-