One Last Shot

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters you recognise. They all belong to the wonderful JKR, and I'm not her, am I?

Prologue
'Oh, my life is over!' Hermione cried, burying her head under her quilt. "Ron, I'm so sorry!"

"Hermione. stop! Relax, OK? We're not mad at you; it's not your fault. Just try to breathe,' Ron said, trying to calm the hysterical girl as she coughed and sobbed.

There was a knock on the door, and Harry appeared in the doorway of Hermione's temporary room at the Burrow. "Hermione!' he called loudly over the sound of his friend's tears. 'There's someone here to see you!'

Through the blankets, Hermione's teary and somewhat muffled voice asked, 'Who?'

'Professor Lupin. Should I let him in?'

Hermione's blotchy face emerged from the bed sheets. She ran her fingers shakily through her messy hair and whispered, 'OK,' before she resumed crying. Harry stepped back from the door and Remus Lupin entered the dim room, looking around wearily. Ron stood, greeting his old professor, and joined Harry in the hallway.

'Do you think he can help her?' Harry asked his best friend.

'If anyone can, it'll be him,' the redhead answered quietly before slowly shutting the door.

Remus sat down on the bed beside Hermione and tried to calm her down. He held her in his arms, whispering words of comfort, but Hermione wouldn't quiet down. Growing frustrated, he pulled a vial from his robes and forced the lilac contents down her throat. He understood where she was coming from, but really, her actions were becoming a bit ridiculous.

Hermione coughed, nearly retching, before angrily screaming, 'What the bloody hell was that for?'

Remus decided not to answer her right away. He stared down at a pair of dirty socks on the floor until he heard Hermione's breathing even out. He looked over at her, seeing that the previously distraught girl had slumped against the headboard and was near sleep. 'Calming draught,' he said quietly. 'I thought it might help.'

'I think you gave me too much, Professor,' Hermione slurred as a small stream of saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth.

Remus smiled and replied, 'You'll be fine in a few minutes, Miss Granger.'

'Why did you come?' More saliva slipped between the girl's lips.

'I thought you could use someone to talk to,' Remus answered,' someone who'd been through it already. Do you have anything to ask me?' Hermione shook her head slowly. 'Alright,' Remus continued, 'well, it does take some getting used to, but it's not really that bad. You'll be fine, especially with friends like yours.'

After a minute, Hermione wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, and said, 'It's not quite like that, Professor. I can't help them anymore. Harry and Ron have to go off without me because they can't risk it. And I'll die, Professor, not knowing that they're safe, or even alive. I need to know they're going to be OK; I need to be with them. But no one understands that.'

'I do, Hermione,' Remus told her quietly. 'I understand perfectly.'

'But how can you?' Hermione wondered in the slow, reserved tone brought on by the potion. 'They're my best friends. They could be in serious trouble and I wouldn't be able to help them. How could you possibly understand?'

'How do you think I felt after I found out what happened to James and Lily? After I heard that Peter had been murdered and Sirius was in Azkaban?' Remus shouted angrily, rising to his feet. 'I was powerless, too, Hermione! I couldn't do anything to help my friends and that almost bloody well killed me!'

He leaned against the wall and buried his face in his hands. Hermione dabbed at her eyes with the bed sheet and sniffed loudly. 'I'm sorry Professor. I didn't realize.'

Remus sighed and sat back down on the bed, his energy suddenly spent. 'It's fine, Miss Granger. I just- I know that what you're facing is absolutely terrifying, but you must be strong.'

Hermione looked up at her old professor, then returned her gaze to the patchwork quilt on er bed. The pair sat in awkward silence, each trying to find something to break it, until-

'Remus!' Molly Weasley said urgently, pushing the door open. 'Remus, the Death Eaters are here. They're taking down the wards right now. You have to help us fight them!'

'Alright Molly, I'll be there shortly. Go make sure everyone else is ready.' Molly nodded and hurried out of the room. Remus turned his attention back to Hermione. 'Are you well enough to fight?'

'Yeah, I think so.'

'Then get your wand and let's go.'

Remus ran out the back door, Hermione right behind him. Both had their wands at the ready. Remus ran into the middle of the confusion and began shooting spells, but Hermione, strangely afraid, hung back for a moment and observed.

There weren't even that many people present, Hermione realized. There couldn't have been more than twenty, including herself. She saw Mrs. Weasley fighting one of the Death Eaters, as well as Mr. Weasley, who was dueling two. Tonks was present, as was Remus. Each of the twins was fighting two masked men, while Ron and Ginny were fiercely attacking Wormtail, whose mask had fallen off. Harry was
dueling a masked Death Eater, so Hermione couldn't tell who he was fighting.

'Stupefy!' The shout, louder than the others, caught Hermione's attention and she turned toward George, watching as a jet of red light left his wand and struck one of his opponents.

'Hermione!' he shouted. 'Help Fred!'

Hermione sprang into action and bounded toward George's twin brother. On her way, she shot a quick 'Petrificus Totalus' at one of the Death Eaters, and he fell to the ground. Oh. how she loved that spell. It was so simple and effective, but nobody used it because they'd learned it in their first year. Hermione added a 'Stupefy!' and the Death Eater's face relaxed under his mask as he lost consciousness to the spell.

"Hermione, move!' Fred shouted, and Hermione turned. She saw them coming, three different colours, all aimed at her.

'Pro-' she started , but she was too late. Blasts of red, green and blue hit her before she heard the incantations.

'Stupefy!'

'Avada Kedavra!'

'Reductio Corpus!'

As a last feeble attempt to save her, Fred, who was nearest, shouted 'Protego!' but he knew it was too late.

The white light hit Hermione, and the air around her glowed purple, illuminating her terrified face, before the light expanded and became a bright violet. The light continued to grow, becoming brighter and brighter, until it swallowed the area and blinded everyone present. Hermione screamed, the noise echoing briefly, then there was nothing, only the bright, burning light.

'Hey, where'd Mione go?' Ron asked.

'She disappeared again, Ron,' Harry informed him. 'She's really rubbing in the fact that she's the only one of us that can apparate.'

Ron sat down in the grass, saying, 'O wish she'd tell us before just going off like that. It's just- OW!'

'What's up?'

Ron inspected his hand, finding and pulling out something sharp and clear. 'Bugger. Broken glass.' He looked through the grass where he was assaulted, and pulled up some more glass and a gold chain from the ground. 'Harry, look. It's Mione's Time-Turner. It's- it's broken. I thought she said she'd given it back.'

'What? No, it can't be broken, Ron. Hermione wouldn't be that irresponsible. Besides, if it is broken, where's Hermione?'

Pop!

'Oh, hello Mr. Potter,' Ron said. 'What's up?'

'Is Hermione still here?' The older mas asked in response.

'No Dad; you just missed her,' Harry told his father.

'Oh, thank Merlin," James said in relief, running a hand through his messy mop of black hair.

'Dad, what's going on? What do you know about Hermione?'

'I know she's safe, if that's what's worrying you, Harry. Anything else you should ask her.'

'But how-' Ron started, then he was interrupted by another pop, and someone behind the teenagers nervously cleared their throat. The three men looked toward the sound, and came face to face with a 30-some-year-old Hermione Granger.

She smiled at Ron and Harry briefly before rushing forward and catching both in a tight, desperate hug. 'Hey guys,' she said into their necks. 'I've missed you both so much.'

Harry and Ron didn't say anything, simply hugging her in return, each wondering how the girl had aged so much in such a short time. But they decided to save the question for later, and concentrated instead on the witch crying softly in their arms.

A/N: so there we go, the prologue to my time-fic. just so everyone knows, i realize that the plot is over-used, but i'm trying to make it as original as possible. thanks to my kebob of chicken love, fiona (a.k.a sylvie), for spell-checking this for me. (btw, i still want a review for this)

if anyone is confused about the ending of this (mainly the time-turner, james, etc.), don't worry, it'll be explained later in the fic.

also, don't expect another update until next week sometime. music fest. is coming!

toodles everyone!

Dancing with Pineapples,

Jibs