Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I would think that would be obvious.

Author's notes: First off, this is starts off in the summer between four and fifth year. Please remember that! Because of this, I'm not going to stick to the timeline of the fifth and sixth book unless the events can happen the way they did in the books without Hermione there. So, for the most part, disregard those two books as far as Hermione's character development goes. Secondly, I have no idea where I got the idea for this… So yeah. Tell me if things are transparent and stuff like that. Hmm, I think that's it. Oh, and if you have any ideas for chapter titles I'd love to hear them! Enjoy and don't forget to review!

Citadel of Time
Chapter One: Catalyst

She had always been considerably more curious than she should have been. She realizes now that this was what had truly brought about her now quickly approaching death. Blood trickled from her pale lips as she doubled over from pain, more of the red liquid seeped and ran from cuts marring her body. The dead bodies of her parents laid no more than four feet from her. She collapsed to her knees; her vision swimming. The ones who had killed her parents and sliced her to ribbons – 'they hadn't even checked if their spell had hit' she mused – had left a while ago. All this had happened because she had been curious, because she had wanted to know more. That letter… That stupid, damning letter had changed everything for her. That letter had guided her to a place where she thought she would find acceptance, where she thought she could be happy. But things like that just don't happen, not for her.

'If only things had been different. If only I hadn't…' She fell forwards, colliding with the ground, eyes once again locking with the bodies of her parents. "If only…" She closed her eyes.

"If only what?" A velvety female voice questioned her. She opened her eyes and moved to look above her as much as she could without tempting her blood to gush from any wounds more than it already was. The face of a pale woman stared down at her. Power seemed to radiate off of her in smooth, deadly waves. "If only you had laughed off the letter, thought of it as a joke? You couldn't of even if you had wanted to, that was fate. If only you hadn't become friends with the ones you are friends with now? Would that really have changed things? If only what?" She stared at the woman's eyes, wondering how someone could have eyes like that.

"Who…? How…?" The woman smiled at her in a way that reminder her of someone she knew she should remember but couldn't.

"My name isn't important. I came here because you have a wish. A wish that I can grant if you're willing to pay the price."

'A wish?' She couldn't think of any wish that she might have. 'I have wonderful friends and loving parents…' Tears welled up in her eyes. Her parents were dead and she argued so much with her friends… The woman continued to smile down at her, though her smile became gentler than it had been.

"You have one. But if you keep hesitating, you'll run out of time." She frowned wondering why the woman had put such an odd emphasize on the word time.

'Wait, time…' "Time… I want to go to Hogwarts in a time where it's…" She stopped, not knowing how to faze the rest of her wish and not knowing she was speaking out loud. "Where I'm meant to be there. Where I need to be there. I want, no, need to go to Hogwarts in the time where I'm meant to go there." She paused again thinking further for something, what she wasn't sure. Her eyes narrowed lightly as she thought.

"Is that your wish?"

"It… It is my wish." She closed her eyes again. 'Why didn't I notice it before?' She wasn't needed in this time at Hogwarts. She could only hope she was needed in another. Her eyelids grew heavy and slowly she fell asleep, never noticing that the woman standing next to her contemplated that price that sleeping girl would have to pay.

"I won't take all my payment now… I will wait until you are ready to pay the rest, Hermione Granger. And believe me, you will be ready. But for now sleep knowing that you will be where you need to be soon."

It was a cold night, colder than it had been for a long while. The air hummed a tune only the creatures of the forest could hear as it passed by. Everything was silent and as it should be as he walked through the dense trees, wondering idly why the centaurs had sent for his presence. The aged man stepped into a moon lit clearing where two centaurs stood, gazing at the stars to unravel the secrets they held. The man stopped at the edge, waiting patiently for the two to finish their divinations. The younger turned away from the sky, fixing his onyx eyes on the wizard coolly.

"Lady Urd will send the Lost One here soon. Perhaps you should prepare, Dippet?" A nervous gleam entered the old Headmaster's eyes as he watched the elder centaur level his gaze with his kin.

"The Lost One will come sooner than the time it would take to prepare for the child's arrival. But…" the half-horse creature trailed off as he turned his head to the frail human before him. "It would be best to have means of healing ready. The Lost One will not be in good health when she arrives." The fair-haired centaur turned to the closet edge of the clearing and left with the younger soon following. Dippet sighed and began his trek back to castle at the edge of the forest he had come from. He sighed again as his Deputy Headmaster met him at the doors of the Entrance Hall.

"Well?"

"The child will come here soon, Albus. However," the old man glanced at the younger auburn haired man beside him, "she will need medical attention of some sort." Albus nodded in understanding before a thought struck him.

'The child is a girl?' his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. 'Lady Urd never mentioned that when I spoke to her… Hmm.' Neither of them noticed a tall figure lurking behind a near by suit of armor. The dark haired and eyed student frowned at the vagueness of the two professors' conversation. The professors rounded a corner at the far end of the hall, heading away from the dungeons. The student stepped out from behind the armor and into the faint light of a torch. He frowned lightly.

'It'd been far more risky to visit the Chamber tonight, with them heading in the same direction. It seems I'll have to wait.' He nodded to himself and began his way back to the Slytherin dormitories; his hand tugging at a loose stitch in his sleeve as he went. He had a feeling it was going to be a long day tomorrow.

The sun rose the next day without fail, as it always did. It rises to bring new beginnings and hope. But this time, it brought something else as it rose into the cloudy morning sky. It brought a pale, bloodied girl to the grounds of Hogwarts. A girl that was meant to be there but somehow, had never came when it was her time to. Oh, she would have come to this place, but it wouldn't have been the right time.

'Yes, the right time…' But now, as the sun rises, things can begin to fall into place, to become what was meant. Urd smiled slightly as she watched what was to come in the stirring deeps of her tea as she sat at her customary sit in a small, half hidden tea shop a street away from the Hog's Head. 'I hope you enjoy your wish, little viska.' The woman laughed lightly. "Yes, that's what I'll call you." Urd's smile dropped and she sighed sadly as she turned to look out the window next to her. 'Will you really be able to pay the price though?' The wish granter fixed her eyes back on her tea as she watched her unknowing clients' first meeting with each other. She laughed lightly. She watched until she was sure that she didn't need to approach her second client.

Urd paid the tea master and left. As she turned a corner the wind blew viciously, forcing anyone near her to cover their eyes. If there had been anyone there, when they looked back they would have found her gone. Her destination? Hogwarts, obviously.

It was an hour after the attack on the Granger home before any of the Order found out about the incident. It was another hour before anyone aside from the Ministry was allowed to be at the site. Remus grimaced as the stench of blood assaulted his senses when he stepped into the house. He pulled his collar up and over his mouth and nose in hopes of blocking some of the scent out. It didn't work. The werewolf followed Dumbledore further in until they the living room. The room had blood almost everywhere. Grimly he counted the bodies; gagging silently when he noticed Hermione's wand impaled into her mother's throat. There were only two. The wizards turned to each other, the same question on their minds.

'Where is Hermione?'

'And,' the werewolf mused, 'who's going to tell Harry and Ron?'