That night Hermione had a strange dream and in it she saw herself sitting up in the bed she was sleeping in and staring at a woman. She was dressed in white and was pointing at a panel of the wall near the wardrobe. Then she woke up.

Carefully she lit a candle and made her way to where the woman had pointed at. As she approached something happened. She looked into the mirror and she was that woman. She had become the woman in her dream. She was an older version of herself, much older. She looked down at her hands and they were her own, her youthful hands. She raised her left one to her face whilst looking into the mirror. The hand looked older and it had a diamond ring on the engagement finger, but no wedding ring. So an older version of this Hermione who is engaged but not married, but someone as old as I appear to be in this era would be married young, so I wonder what happened. Betsy said that Harry might be about to propose to me, but that is the Hermione who is about the same age as I am. It's very confusing.

When she got to the panel she felt around a bit to see if there was a secret compartment or something. She found a switch and pressed it. The panel slid down revealing a box. Carefully she picked it out and carried it back to the bed. As she passed the mirror she looked into it again and saw the older Hermione smiling at her. And somehow she knew, she felt that she was on the right track.

She settled herself on the bed, the candle on the bed next to the box. Not knowing what she would find inside the box she lifted the lid. There was another diary inside it and a newspaper sheet. And some drawings, of Harry.

"This is dated the tenth of August 1803. Only two months after the present date. What has happened to make this special?" She read through the news sheet and paused on a small segment where the name Mr Potter caught her eye. " 'This small country town was sent into an uproar of scandal two nights ago as the illustrious Mr Harry Potter eloped with a Miss Roberta Humphries. Miss Humphries, who is a close companion to Mr Potter's fiancé, Miss Hermione Granger, sent a letter to her friend boasting about her plans and Miss Granger tried to prevent the event but was unable to persuade them otherwise. It is unknown whither they have gone. Miss Granger's feelings on the subject are unknown but she is said to be distraught. Our hearts go out to her in this time of distress.' That's why there was no wedding ring next to the engagement ring. Harry never married me. He proposed but didn't marry me. Now what does this diary have to say on the subject? Ah, here is the proposal. And then this happened. I tried to stop them. I caught them leaving. I tried to reason with them and pleaded my love for both my fiancé and my closest friend. They left and I blamed myself for their flight. I vowed I would never forget him and later it says that I never took the engagement ring off my finger and ended a sad old maid. This must be what I have to stop happening. I have to prevent it from occurring. But how? I need help."

Hermione closed the diary and, hugging it close, walked back to the mirror.

"What must I do?" she asked the older Hermione.

"Stop them leaving, Hermione. Prevent the scandal. Your fate is to be with him whatever time frame you happen to be in. There is only one perfect match for every woman, and he is yours. Roberta Humphries is the one who turned his head. You must keep them apart or all hope will be lost. If you keep them apart then he will not leave you for her." The voice seemed to enter her head without her ears hearing the words.

"Won't it change history if I do this?"

"No. maybe if you were a queen it would but you are not. The Hermione in the future is a distant cousin of me and she is reliving the love story all too slowly. You have been placed here so that this fate can be realised before what happened to me happens to you. When the destiny is realised you will be able to go back."

"And what of Ron?"

"Ronald Weasley may complain that he has too many family members but the Ronald Weasley who was my best friend had none because they were all killed in a tragic fire. He wasn't involved in the fire because he was here with you on the farm. Once your Ronald appreciates what he has then he may return. I am hoping that the time he spends here reliving his ancestor's story will reawaken his true feelings for his family. My Ronald also had a large family, and he missed them terribly when they died. I just want your Ronald to feel the same and appreciate the importance of family. When he does he can go home."

"I want to go home. Why have you done this to me?"

"I told you already. You are here to get…"

"I know why we are here. If I do this them can I get back home?"

"Yes."

"Tell me about yourself. Are you a witch? Is the Hermione who is my ancestor, also a witch?"

"Yes. I am not as good as you are, no one is, but I can do magic to some extent. Ronald is terrible, I've tried to teach him but he just won't learn."

"Couldn't you have done something to prevent Harry's elopement? Surely you could have stunned them or something to prevent them from leaving?"

"My dear, those spells didn't exist at this time. All we had were the old Celtic and Latin spells that weren't particularly effective and were intended to be used to make music and to invoke the natural elementals."

"And Harry, was he a wizard?"

"This I do not know, but I do know that my friend Miss Humphries was. She wanted Harry for herself so she invented that love potion you studied and I know that you have several vials of it hidden away. I saw it happen. She brought him a cup of coffee during one of the parties her father held and I noticed her slipping the pink liquid into it. When he took it from her he commented that it smelled like old books and lavender. It was only an offhand comment but it stayed with me. The smell that was always around me was lavender as I always made sure I was wearing some lavender oil on my skin or there was some in my hair and I loved reading almost as much as you do and spent most of my free days in the library which was full of old books. She had used this potion on a lot of our friends who were trying to ensnare husbands and I had noted that the smell was different for each person, usually of the person they were meant to be with. Harry smelled the lavender because I wore it and old books because I read them. He was meant to be with me. That is why I wear his ring. We were engaged and he loved me, otherwise he would not have smelled it. You must prevent that from happening. I have faith in you and I know you can do it. Please, I missed my shot at stopping it, don't you do the same, for both our sakes."

"I shall try."

"I know you can do it. Trust your heart, and you will never go falter. If you do, find me. Find my picture and you will have the answers you seek."

She smiled at Hermione and then as the candle faltered and did she too faded from the mirror. Hermione set down the candle and felt her way back to the bed where she lay awake digesting all she had heard.