A/N: This is an AU type story. The character of Dorian was inspired by, but not necessarily the same as, Chris from Charmed. If any of the content of my story is not to your liking, or if a Sirius Hermione pairing will upset you, please refrain from flaming me and just stop reading now. Thank you.

Time-Changer- Cheesy sounding, but go with me here…It is similar to a Time Turner, but it allows you to…Actually, you should keep reading to find out what it does!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other aforementioned characters or television shows. This story is strictly fictional, as are all characters in it. Enjoy.

KCKCKC

Chapter One

'Desperate Measures'

Dorian didn't know where he was running to, only that he had to get somewhere safe to use the Time-Changer (see A/N). He had barely escaped the Museum of Light Artifacts with his life, and he knew that Death Eaters were hot on his tail even as he ran. As he looked back over his shoulder, he saw two of the cloaked figures as he had predicted. Quickly, he dodged into a nearby alleyway. After making sure it was deserted, he began doing the only thing he could think of to save his time. The only thing possible to change his families' future. Carefully, he activated the Time-Changer and held his breath.

DeeDeeDee

"Ugh! I can't do this anymore, Hermione! If I read another page, my brain will explode! Do you want that on your conscience?" Ron said, pushing his chair back from the table in front of him.

Hermione sighed. "That's what you've been saying for the last two hours and it's obvious that your brain is still in one piece."

"According to whom?" Harry asked, smirking at his two best friends. They had been fighting on and off for the last four hours that they'd been in the library studying. This being their seventh and final year, they had lots of studying to do. Hermione had been pushing them since the start of term to get a move on and try to 'care about their futures'. Both boys had been lax until recently when they had finally given in to her constant nagging.

Ron and Hermione answered Harry's sarcasm with sceptical eyes. Ron was too bored to put up a fight, and Hermione was too serious. "What? Four hours is long enough, isn't it?" he asked, receiving a grateful look from the former and a glare from the latter.

Hermione continued to glare, but eventually rolled her eyes. Somehow, she could never say no to Harry. Ron, on the other hand, wasn't so difficult to refuse. Actually, she enjoyed refusing him just to see the way he reacted.

"Fine. Go for tonight. But we'll be at it at the same time tomorrow, alright?" she said, beginning to stack up all the books they had been using.

"Deal." Ron answered, grinning from ear to ear like some kind of child in a candy store. "I think I'd agree to anything to get out of here!"

Hermione smiled. The boys still acted so childish, even at the age of seventeen. However, she loved them both, so she normally didn't allow it to bother her too much.

"We'll see you back at the Common Room later, right Herm?" Harry asked her while snapping the clasp on his back shut and proceeding to sling it over his shoulder.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah. I just have to do my patrolling first, but I should be able to stop in for a goodnight. I won't stay long, though."

Harry and Ron smiled at each other. They both knew that Hermione tended to study each night before she went to bed, so she always tried to be in her rooms at a decent hour. Tried being the key word. Somehow, they always seemed to detain her.

"Alright. See you later." they said, turning and exiting the library.

Hermione vaguely wondered what her two friends were going to go do. Ron she assumed would either go to the kitchens to get some food, or go straight back to the Common Room to play chess with anybody willing to lose nastily. Harry would be going to the Common Room to 'sit by the fire'. This actually meant that he was going to meet Ginny, spontaneously of course, and the two would talk and talk and talk until Ron or Hermione forced them to go to bed. The unfortunate thing was that neither of the two would ever make a move on the other. It was obvious to everyone that they liked each other, but Ginny was too shy and unsure of herself, and Harry was, well, Harry. He was too scared of hurting someone else to even worry whether or not he was hurting himself.

After Hermione finished putting all the books away, she shouldered her bag and exited the library. Nervously, she counted in her head the days left until their exams. Only 14 days. Merely 2 weeks until the deciding moment of their young lives. Hardly enough time to study before undertaking a task such as that!

Sighing again, she said the password to get into her rooms (which she had approached, obviously) and went in. She dropped her bag on a nearby chair, shrugged out of her heavy robes, and exited once more to begin her duties for the night. She had enough time, if she hurried, to study a little bit before she met the boys. Merlin knew she wasn't going to have time enough to study before bed. Those boys always managed to do something to stall her each night.

DeeDeeDee

Smoke engulfed him so that Dorian had to close his eye's to keep them from watering. After a few minutes, he opened them again, half expecting his plan to have failed and for himself to be surrounded by Death Eaters. To his surprise, however, his surroundings were not that of the alleyway he had previously been in. If all the history books he had read and stories he'd heard were true, he was standing in a corridor in none other than the legendary Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His plan had succeeded so far. Gathering his wits about him and standing on feeble legs, he looked about him. He did not know quite where he was, but he was sure that the Headmaster's office couldn't be that hard to find. It was imperative to his plan that he first speak with the great Albus Dumbledore.

He quickly chose a direction and determinedly set off.

DeeDeeDee

Hermione stifled a yawn as she rounded the final corner on her way to Gryffindor tower. That little bit of studying she had managed to complete had taken quite a bit out of her and she was planning to tell the boys that she couldn't stay but a few minutes.

She faintly heard footsteps behind her and turned to tell off whomever it was that was out roaming about at this hour, and was surprised to see her Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

"Oh, hello Professor. What are you doing out and about at this hour?" she asked through another yawn. It wasn't that she was disappointed to see him. She loved every chance she got to see the gorgeous specimen. She was just surprised that's all.

"Hello Hermione. And how many times must I tell you to call me Sirius? All that Professor junk makes me feel more ancient than I am." he paused to flash a brilliant smile at her that made her heart do enough gymnastics to win the Olympics. "I was on my way to have a quick chat with Harry. Why are you out so late?"

She smiled and pointed to the shiny badge pinned to her shirt. "I am an authority figure here, Mr. Black, and therefore have the privilege and excuse to roam the halls in the dead of night. Plus I was heading in the same direction you were." she teased. Actually, flirted would have been a better term for it, but Hermione refused to register that that was what she was doing. Flirting seemed to normally be so beneath her, after all, and this was the only way to except it without being hypocritical.

He smiled again. "Well, shall I escort you then? You know protect you and all that?" he asked with a smirk.

She smiled and almost obliged if it hadn't been for a yawn betraying her. "Actually, I think I'll have to take a rain check on that. But you could tell the boys that I went to bed." she said, smiling at him sweetly like a child trying to get what she wanted.

Of course, it worked, but not for the exact reason Hermione thought. "Sure. See you tomorrow." he said with a wink.

Hermione smiled again. "Thanks. And, goodnight, Sirius."

"Goodnight Hermione." she heard him say as she turned back down the corridor.

She was yawning again, and thinking about Sirius when she bumped into something rather hard and fell to the ground (which itself was rather hard and very painful).

"Oww….." she moaned, sitting up and looking around to see who, or what, she'd run into.

"Sorry. I wasn't expecting to…." the person began, then trailed off as if realising something at the end of his thought. He appeared to be about her age and a little taller than Harry. (The boy of course was still standing.) He had dark brown, nearly black, hair that hung to his shoulders in a messy mop. His eyes were, in a word, stunning and strangely familiar. Their eyes locked for a moment before the boy held out a hand to her.

She took it and allowed him to help her to her feet. Once she finished dusting her bottom off, she looked at him again. He was staring at her with an odd look on his face. When he saw her looking at him, he quickly snapped out of whatever stupor he had been in and smiled at her.

"My name is Dorian. Who are you?" he asked politely.

"Uh…Hermione Granger. Look, Dorian, not that I'm trying to sound grouchy or anything, but I have to ask you what you are doing out here at this time of night. It's sort of my job." she said, supplying him with an apologetic look.

"I was on my way to see the Headmaster. I'm new and was told to report there right away. The only thing is I've been lost for a while now…." he told her.

"Alright. I'll take you there myself so you aren't caught by anyone else. Come on." she said, leading him in the opposite direction from the one in which he had been travelling.

DeeDeeDee

Dorian just couldn't believe his luck. First, he got lost in the maze of corridors. Then, he runs into his mother. Literally.

She was a lot different from the woman she became in his future. She seemed happier and more optimistic that she normally was, if not a little weary from late night studying and patrolling hours. Seeing her this way was something that he definitely had to change for the future. She didn't deserve to go from pleasant and happy to…well….not pleasant and happy.

"Here you are. Good luck." her voice broke into his thoughts. He revelled in the small smile she supplied him and stored it into his memory for future reference.

"Thank you, Hermione." he said, not quite sure what else to say to her.

"See you around." she said, turning on her heel and heading for what he assumed was her warm bed. Suddenly, she stopped and turned back around to face him. "Oh, the password is 'Chocolate Frogs'. Good night."

And she returned to her course up the hall, leaving him to stare at the daunting statue of a gargoyle in confusion. What was he going to say to explain himself?

DeeDeeDee

A/N: Ok. I dropped enough very unsubtle hints as to who Dorian is. Also, can anyone guess his father? Or why he travelled back in time in the first place?

Easy questions! Now please click that little button down there…..NO! Not that one yet. I haven't typed the next chapter yet. The OTHER button…..there you go…….