The next morning Hermione decided against apparating to the shrine and took the public transportations instead.

When she arrived at the bottom of the stairs she sighed heavily: "I really don't like these stairs!"

Finally reaching the top, she stopped to recover her breath. She looked around the ground only to see that nobody was there. "Great! I could have apparated since the place is deserted. Well, better this way than being seen by someone while appearing out of thin air. And like this, I have a chance to examine the well without being disturbed", she thought.

Hermione made her way to the well house. As she reached the door, she noticed that it was locked. Having looked around again to be sure that nobody could see her, she grabbed her Wand from her arm holster and flicked it at the lock while whispering 'alohomora'. The lock opened with a soft 'klick', and she swiftly put her wand back in the holster and opened the door with a loud creaking sound. Hurrying inside, she closed the door behind her. She was standing on an elevated platform that surrounded the inside of the well house. Before her were a few steps leading farther down to earthy ground where in the middle of the floor was a wooden well. Hermione descended the few steps and approached it. Now she could feel that strange power from yesterday, but it was much stronger. She walked around the well and eyed it without touching it. The wood of the well looked to be very old, at least five hundred years, but it looked like a normal well to her.

"I know first-hand that looks can be deceiving, I shouldn't let that cloud my judgement."

Carefully she stepped closer to the well and peered inside it. The wooden walls went down for quite a bit, before they turned into earth. She took another step to see if she was able to glimpse the bottom of the well. Something was down there. Hermione took another step closer and leaned on the wooden frame, but before she could see what the thing down there was, the well began to glow with an eerie light that became brighter and brighter. She tried to step back, but she couldn't. A force started pulling her towards the bottom of the well and the centre of the light. She tried to resist it with all her might, however, it was futile; she lost her grip on the wood and was sucked in to the strange light.

Everything became white and then turned black as she became unconscious.

HxS

Hermione blinked and groaned as she awoke. Feeling that she was laying on hard earthy ground unbound and hearing only birds chirp and wind rustling some leaves, she opened her eyes to see where she was. As far as she could see she was still in the well, but the view changed immediately as she looked up.

"Oh no, oh no. There should be a ceiling! Why isn't there a ceiling?!", she exclaimed, "And how the bloody hell am I getting out of here?!"

She cursed for a moment and stamped on the ground, and having composed herself again, she looked around. There was no ladder, only earth and vines.

"I suppose I could try and climb out with the vines. If they shouldn't hold, I can strengthen them with my magic."

She tugged slightly at a vine, and when it didn't tear she pulled harder. It still didn't rip or come loose, so she started climbing. Once she reached the top, she stemmed herself on the frame of the well. Swinging her legs out of the well to have solid ground under her feet again, she observed her surroundings. She was on a clearing in a forest.

"Where am I? Where did that strange power take me? Wait, I think I can see the Sacred Tree!"

Hermione got to her feet and started running in that direction. When she came to the tree, she stopped and looked at it. It seemed smaller; the dent was there, but it seemed somehow deeper and bigger. You could probably say fresher? Then she realised what must have happened.

"Oh no, that familiar power, it's the same as my time turners! I must have gone back in time! The Sacred Tree being smaller, and the dent being fresher would also support that theory. But how far to the past did I travel? And how can I go back?"

Pacing back and forth she tried to sort her jumbled thoughts, cursing wildly a few times – something that she had picked up from Ron over the years. After having paced for at least half an hour, she came to the conclusion that she had to go back to the well. Having come through it, she should be able to return with it. Hermione walked to the well and tried touching the wooden frame again. Nothing happened. Frustrated she hit the wood, then kicked it. Still nothing. Desperately she climbed on the frame an jumped down the well. A mistake it would appear, since the only thing that happened was her spraining her left foot. Discouraged she pulled her legs to her chest and began crying silently, hugging herself.

"How will I be able to go home to England? To my friends and family? Will I ever see them again? They will surely miss me and try to find me, but nobody knows where I am. They will never find me and know what happened to me! Oh Merlin, I want to go home!", she sobbed hysterically.

After quite a long time, she began to calm down and tried to clear her thoughts by shaking her head and furiously wiping her tears away.

"I can't give up hope, I have to find a way to see them again! But first I have to get out of here and find out where, or better when I am."

She tried standing up, but putting too much weight on her injured foot, she had to sit down again. Looking at her foot, Hermione realised it had swollen up quite a bit. She wasn't sure if it was broken or only sprained but decided it wouldn't hurt to splint and bandage it. Pulling out her wand and flicking it at her pained foot, she murmured the incantation 'ferula'. With an afterthought she also cast a light cooling charm on her ankle.

This time she made it to a standing position. She grabbed on to the vines and began to pull herself up. It was more difficult this time because she couldn't put too much pressure on her injury. After making it out of the well she had to take a short break.

"How will I be able to reach a nearby village or city with this foot? Hermione, it was stupid to just jump down a well. How could I be so thoughtless?!", she ranted to herself.

"If I want to make it to somewhere, I need something to lean on. Maybe I can find a stick or branch that's strong enough to hold me."

After a while she was able to find a branch she was satisfied with and transfigured it slightly so that it came to her armpit and resembled an ancient crutch.

Hermione looked around and tried to decide which direction she should take. She wanted to reach the nearest village as soon as possible, not wanting to spend the night in a forest even if she had her tent and wand with her. She also realised that she probably wouldn't be able to walk too far.

She didn't hear somebody coming up to her, for she was too occupied with trying to find the right direction.

"Are you lost?", came a voice from behind her.

AN: Thank you for your support! I hope you continue liking the story! I am always thankful for your feedback.

This story is now betaed by Pyo-Kiyo, I am very grateful for her help.

Thanks, and enjoy!