Quick note:

I do not have a beta to review this as I post so I will gladly take constructive criticism. Please let me know if you have questions or notice a plot hole. I am also not from the UK so please call me out on terminology that I misuse, and I will do my best to correct it.

The events of this first chapter will be as cannon compliant as I can afford without impacting events that have been planned going forward, but you will notice very quickly when things truly begin to deviate in much bigger ways. There will be major changes. There will be character deaths and violence, and if there are paradoxes (who am I kidding haha?) there will be consequences to them. Remember: bad things happen to those who mess with time. I haven't decided if this should have a "happy ending" yet or not. Fair warning.

Also, as a member of the LGBT community there will be representation within this fic with some of the main characters. I do not care if that ruffles your feathers. Sorry, not sorry.

I will not make a habit of writing these author notes often. If I have to edit anything, I will do so and note at the bottom of the fic what will be changed. Forgive me in the meantime because I haven't written anything for years so this might be a bit rough to start.

Please enjoy reading this as much as I have writing this :)

Disclaimer: I do not own anything about Harry Potter.


Exhilaration. Wild, panicked, breathless, frightening and relieving all at once; a crazed sort of exhilaration.

"It's this way, 'Mione," Ron huffed, tugging at her hand behind him. His eyes only looked ahead. Hermione wished she had time to take in the sight of what so few people had ever seen, head swiveling around in a half-hearted attempt to observe while she was there. Not that it was the greatest sight to see by now, there was a part of Hermione that still begrudgingly admitted that all of it was rather impressive. Ron had hissed something incomprehensible to the giant door depicting what could only be Salazar Slytherin himself before the door rolled out of their path.

Slytherin's Chamber had been filthy. Centuries worth of sludge, bones, basilisk scales, and Merlin knows what else had accumulated beneath Hogwarts. Hermione fleetingly wondered if this was perhaps where the term 'mudblood' had originally derived; from Salazar's attempt to have all muggleborns slayed by his beast, their bodies and bones lost to the basilisk and the Chamber. Nevermore to be seen. Blood mixed with mud.

It was a fitting justice, she thought, to kill a fragment of Salazar Slytherin's own descendant here where his own monster once hid.

Ron had determinedly led the way to the still decaying basilisk, and the stench of it all resulted in his stomach heaving up whatever it could. Hermione couldn't help gagging at it herself. Parts of the basilisk's flesh had concaved into the corpse while various bones stuck out here and there from the giant creature. It was a rather gruesome sight, lit up dimly by their wands as it was. They hadn't eaten much while on the run, thankfully resulting in nothing but bile falling from Ron's mouth as he puked. Hermione had shared a sympathetic look with her friend as her stomach recoiled again before they'd pressed on with their mission. It was disturbing how easy it was to rip the teeth from the rotting creature's slack mouth. Hermione was mindful of the still active venom that found it's home at the tip of those fangs.

Once they'd had a sufficient pile of the teeth pulled (Hermione could almost joke that she was a dentist like her parents for once), Hermione looked to Ron. "I'll do it," she stated, attempting to swallow the lump that sat heavily in her throat. It was a heavy responsibility that sat on their shoulders. It was because of her torture that they found the cup in the first place. Hermione couldn't shake the thought that this horcrux was tied to her. "It's my turn to do it. I'll destroy the cup."

"Are you sure, 'Mione?" Ron asked hoarsely, his gaunt face illuminated by the blue-white light coming from his want. It was a grim expression that he wore, caked with blue-purple scars and blood. Hermione nodded her assent and tore off a piece of fabric from her shirt as Ronald stepped back. The couldn't tell what would happen. She wrapped the fabric around her hand in a meager form of protecting it from the venom, and then picked up one of the basilisk's teeth. The cup was placed there on the floor of Slytherin's Chamber before them, and Hermione braced herself to strike with the fang she held.

Are you certain of what you would do to it, Hermione?

There was a moment, standing before the cup, where Hermione felt doubt. She knew that it needed to be done, that this was essential to taking down their enemies, and yet...

This is one of the last few remaining objects of the founders of Hogwarts. How horrible what has befallen upon it. Wouldn't you like to see what it can do? Have you never imagined taking a sip to drink from its vessel? No one has since the cup was hidden or even before as it had been kept a close secret of the family who held it prior, and no one ever will if you go through with this.

Hermione hesitated a bit longer as the bookish side of her rebelled at what she was about to do and the doubt grew. There was so much that was unknown about Hufflepuff's cup, so many magical properties it was rumored but never proven to hold. Surely there had to be a way to safely remove the horcrux without damaging such a historical artifact.

There was a shimmer on the cup as along it's base her own name appeared alone with the words, 'drink me' and an urgency Hermione had not felt before rushed to her in waves. How could she even think of doing this? There had to be another way. At the least, what could it hurt to drink from it at all?

Drink from it, Hermione, just once. Imagine the magical properties it holds. You could find out a small fraction of it from one drink, one swallow. You've been fighting for so long, aren't you thirsty? Don't you want to know what it could do, what it could change? What if you could make all the difference in the war that rages outside? Imagine what this cup could do if only you took one small sip-

Hermione redirected the urgency she felt from doubt into action and she swung down as the Horcrux screamed. A burst of magic from it reached out to the two of them in a ghostly form in one last violent attempt to protect itself, knocking Hermione and Ron to the ground, and then it was done. Helga Hufflepuff's cup was no more. Hermione shuddered as the eerie form faded away, and dropped the tooth that was in her hand as it broke in two.

Ron, exhilarated, attempted to kiss her and Hermione almost let him in her excitement before stepping away. They didn't have the time for this, and she wasn't certain if she felt that way for him anymore or if it had been a passing phase. Ron took it in stride with a promise to return to the conversation at a later time, and they left the Chamber shortly after that. The climb to the surface pulled at their already sore muscles.

Another Horcrux down. Another step closer to the end.

Another step closer to Voldemort.

Running into Harry had been a spot of luck. The Battle of Hogwarts was well under way by this point, and the adrenaline flowing through Hermione's veins made her heart race and her hands shake. She understood the next course of action as they ducked and weaved their way through the battle. Ravenclaw's diadem.

Harry briefly explained how he had figured out its location from discussing it with the Grey Lady as they raced towards the Room of Requirement, and they'd relayed back about the destruction of the cup. There was no time to waste as spells flew passed and bodies fell. The walls of Hogwarts crumbled from the force of it, and the floors shook from the creatures clambering outside. Giants. Acromantulas. Werewolves. Death eaters. Friends.

A stinging hex hit her shoulder, causing Hermione to hiss. Blindly she threw an incarcerus over her shoulder in the direction the hex came from. She did not have an opportunity to waste as they climbed the staircase up. She prayed to whatever gods may exist that whomever cast the spell did not follow them, or was bound by her spell instead.

The Room of Requirement was much the same as they'd last seen it. That being, of course, different with each request. After passing by the Come and Go Room the necessary amount of times, a door appeared that Hermione knew would lead them to the room full of hidden things. Harry opened the door to a mess of magical objects piled in stacks spanning what seemed to be a never-ending space, and a lump again formed in Hermione's throat. How could they find what amounted to be a needle in a haystack? How could they find the diadem in all of this? Time was short and a rumble passed through the castle as the battle waged on.

"Accio diadem," she called loudly out into the room. Hermione cursed quietly after a moment of waiting.

The three of them split up then to search for the diadem. Hermione went to the left, sifting through the mess as quickly as she could, and paid no attention to where Ron and Harry went. Glancing around as she moved, she thought that it couldn't have been buried too far in if Harry had seen it next to the cabinet so easily. She was wrong, but time slipped by her. Find the vanishing cabinet, find the diadem. This was the mantra she repeated in her mind so frantically that she hadn't realized how far into the room of hidden things she's wandered. She'd nearly overlooked it.

The bust of a warlock, and there- sitting on top of its brow- Ravenclaw's diadem. The air left Hermione's lungs as she wordlessly started to reach up, climbing on top of a pile of books to get to it. Harry was marginally taller than her, and the thought hadn't crossed her mind to call for the boys assistance as she moved mechanically to get the diadem. Using 'accio diadem' hadn't worked before to call it to her, so she knew using magic wouldn't help her now. The muggle way was the only way.

Get the diadem, destory the Horcrux, another step closer to Voldemort.

The books beneath Hermione's feet were not stable enough to hold her weight and she felt them shift beneath her. She paused to test them carefully when she felt them start to give, but then she heard the sounds of Ron and Harry across the room. There were then other voices arguing back, distinctly male. Were they arguing with each other? She recognized the sound of Draco's voice and had the stark realization that they'd been found by Death Eaters.

"So how did you get here?" a distant voice asked nervously. It sounded like Harry.

"I virtually lived in the Room of Hidden Things all last year," another replied gruffly. Malfoy. "I know how to get in."

"We was hiding in the corridor outside-" it was a different voice, one that was familiar that she didn't quite recognize.

The distraction was enough for the books beneath Hermione's feet to completely give way, and she fell hard against the statue. The bust of the wizard, ugly as it was, crashed across the ground in her momentum and the diadem slid across the floor well out of sight. Hermione gathered her feet beneath her as she stood, focused solely on finding the diadem, but something caught on her tattered shirt which pulled her down.

"-we can do diss-lusion charms now! And then, you turned up right in front of us and said you was looking for a die-dum."

Hermione's hands distractedly moved to rip whatever had caught in her shirt away as she acknowledged the fight now underway in the room they were in, her eyes scanned herself over to catch a glimpse of a bronze chain as she nearly released the object to the floor. Hermione's thoughts only on the diadem and current situation, it was her reflexes that stilled her from dropping the object in her hands completely. Her eyes had to double back to make sure she hadn't been mistaken in what she'd seen. She wasn't.

"What's a die-dum?"

There, dangling in her hands, was a time turner. It was not unlike the one Professor McGonagall had allowed Hermione to use in her third year. It had tiny bevelled marks along the top and bottom with a couple of small bronze knobs on the side to indicate the desired time wished to travel, and its chain was tightly knotted around it except for the portion caught in her fist, with obsidian sand sluggishly falling within its container. The dark sand within it fell slowly enough that it was nearly suspended within it, frozen. A time turner hidden within the Come and Go room, which just so happened to get caught in her shirt? What were the chances of that? Almost impossible, Hermione thought.

Spells began to crash behind her. Someone yelled out, "Crucio!"

"Stop! The Dark Lord wants them alive!" Draco commanded.

"So? I'm not killing him, am I? But if I can, I will-"

Lost in the piles of other magical items, Hermione wondered to herself what an object like this was doing here? She had thought all of the time turners had been located in the Ministry of Magic when they were destroyed in her fifth year. Clearly that had not been the case if one was swinging on a chain right there before her, resting on top of a tattered copy of Advanced Potion-making and the other books Hermione had been climbing up before. It was as if someone had placed it there for some purpose unknown. There was intent. Did they place it here knowing that no one would think to look for it since the others were destroyed? Or was it placed here before the others broke, and why wouldn't the Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries be looking for it then? Unless, it didn't originate from there. If that was the case, then where did it come from?

(Her brows furrowed as her thoughts then stopped on the Advanced Potion-making book. That couldn't have been the same copy of the book Harry had hidden before... could it? With the Half-Blood Prince?)

"It's that mudblood! Avada Kedavra!"

A green blast whizzing by above her head caused her to refocus on the situation rather than the objects and she rolled out of the way as another spell soon followed. Now was not the time nor place to be distracted by inconsequential things. Kneeling lowly, Hermione jerked the chain away from her shirt before untangling the chain and tossing the turner around her neck. She tucked it beneath her shirt and out of sight as she moved. Hermione stood and began running towards where she'd seen the diadem slide, but then the roar of a fire caught her attention.

Fiendfyre.

The heat of it singed her cheeks as it moved snakelike around the room, the powerful spell destroying everything in its wake as rageful creatures took form in its shape. The fiery snake apparition opened its jaws as if to swallow her whole as another wave of flames began to crash down around her. She was barely able to dive out of the way of the flames, diadem forgotten in her instinct to survive. Subconsciously she knew that the cursed fire would destroy this horcrux anyway, though if they weren't careful then they all might be burned down with it. Harry and Ron grabbed some derelict brooms from a pile of junk not far from where she was. Racing towards them with the fiendfyre hot on her heels, Hermione hopped on the back of Ron's broom as they took off.

For the first time since coming to Hogwarts, Hermione was thankful for their ability of flight. Hermione had never anticipated Harry and Ron's quidditch skills coming in so handily. She had to bite her lip to keep from saying so as everything burned around them. Everything in the room was consumed by the inferno.

Hermione heard an inhumanly shriek somewhere behind her.

They'd barely escaped on the back of broomsticks regardless of the skill, the five of them. Her and Ron had managed to grab Goyle while Harry had rescued Malfoy from the flames. Crabbe had not gotten so lucky as he was consumed by the very spell that he'd cast. She would never forget the last look she saw of his face or the sounds of his screams. Crabbe was yet another casualty to war, as were the collection of objects that had been hidden in the room throughout its existence. Including, Hermione remembered, the diadem. It was definitely not how she would've considered destroying the Horcrux, having wanted the to see it destroyed with her own two eyes, but what was it to her if it would burn in the flames anyway? As long as it meant another Horcrux down in the end, she would accept it as another win.

The crazed exhilaration returned as the thrum of the time turner burned beneath her neck, the door to the Room of Requirement shutting solidly behind her as the fiendfyre roared. Closer, ever closer, to the end.


"You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your wounded."

Fred's weak laughter still resounded in her mind, the sound of an explosion on repeat, as Hermione stared down at his body in the Great Hall. Then she thought of Snape, and of the other numerous bodies placed across the floor of the Hall. She found both Lupin and Tonks easily, their eyes glassy as they stared lifelessly at the ceiling. Same as Fred. Harry was not able to take in the miserable sight of it all, and Hermione had noticed as he'd quietly slipped away. Hermione had been unable to do the same.

There had been some part of her that needed to be here, that demanded she stay. Honor bound by the losses as she took it in, for what they'd all been fighting for all of this time, for what they'd been dying for, she hardened her resolve. It was nearly done. All that was left was Nagini, and then Voldemort himself.

Hermione could not find it within herself to join the Weasley's in their mourning. She knew that there would be time for that later. Deciding now to follow in Harry's steps, she began to leave the room. Nearly immediately she'd collided with another person.

"Oh! So sorry, Hermione. I wasn't paying attention," Neville apologized. There were heavy bags under his eyes, a bone-deep tiredness that Hermione understood.

Hermione smiled weakly at him, "It's quite alright Neville. I wasn't watching either. I was just on my way to find Harry."

"Harry?" Neville's expression became one of discomfort, his lips twisting into a frown. "Hermione, Harry just left. He warned me about Nagini -that she must be killed- and didn't explain where he was going. He tried to assure me that he wasn't, but I suspect..." Neville gestured towards the doors and a dawning horror immediately hit Hermione as she understood the implications. "I think Harry is going to fight him," Neville finished grimly.

Hermione was already reaching into her beaded bag at this point to pull out a worn piece of parchment. The shocking realization that Harry was going off on his own hit her hard. How could he be so reckless? "You need to tell Ron," she urged Neville. "There's no time- I need to go!" She couldn't leave Harry on his own. She couldn't lose him too. Not like everyone else.

"I understand," Neville nodded as she began to pace away. "And Hermione?" he called after her. She spared a glance over her shoulder back at him against her better judgement. "Stay safe."

"No promises," she joked darkly. By then she'd already pulled out the Marauder's Map and whispered the password to open it. She found Harry's steps paused on the edge of the map, lingering there just by the Forbidden Forest near Hagrid's hut, and a cold feeling washed over her as the steps then began to move. "Oh Harry, no!" She crumpled the map carelessly into her bag and ran as fast as she could. Though she was never particularly athletic, she found herself practically flying across the grounds in her haste.

She passed by sights of the battle that she barely took in. Black scorch marks. Toppled walls. More bodies. Those mourning. Entire patches of the earth that had been torn up that left gaping holes in its wake. Felled trees that she'd climbed over. There was also the overall sensation of residual magic in the air, thick enough that she could nearly feel the thrum of it being carried through her body. Dark enchantments especially, which was sickening. Hermione pushed through it all until she found herself at the edge of the forest close to where Harry had been seen on the map.

Hermione second-guessed for just moment, peering over her shoulder for any sight of Ron. Having seen nothing of him, she adjusted her posture and took her first step into the forest. Alone.

Hermione is a Gryffindor, and she was determined to make her bravery second to none.

There were some tracks in the earth, multiple footsteps that were difficult to follow. Hermione was weary of being found by acromantulas or werewolves or any number of the other dark creatures that Voldemort had coerced to his side. The air was chilly enough that she'd seen the white of her breath, and she knew dementors must not be far from here. She pulled out her wand and held it ready as she walked slowly into through the forest and followed the tracks as carefully as she could through it.

The matter was pressed upon her as she heard someone cackling far ahead, and a flash of green through the trees.

She ran without regards to her safety, giving up any semblance of secrecy. Harry was in danger. She couldn't leave him to die-

-she stumbled through the trees and immediately came upon Death Eaters surrounding her. They took notice of the witch as she fell into their clearing, and wands were abruptly pointed in her direction. Hermione fumbled with the wand she'd stolen from Bellatrix as her eyes wildly roved across their faces, looking for a friendly one and spying Hagrid's bawling figure before continuing to scan the others. She found him then. Harry laid there not far from where she stood. He didn't seem to be breathing. She was too late.

"Harry, no!" she cried out. Spells began to fly towards her as she dived towards his body, narrowly missing her at first, but Hermione didn't get the chance to kneel at Harry's side to see if he was breathing. She sent a blast of magic towards them with a resounding boom! Though the wand she held wasn't too keen to obey, it was so used to dark magic that it leapt from the wand in complete ease. It forced a majority of the Death Eaters back in a momentary delay.

Bellatrix, who had been beside the form of her Dark Lord, stood and pulled a different wand on Hermione. Bellatrix cast silencio and crucio simultaneously as her face twisted into a maddening appearance. Both struck Hermione, one after another, and Hermione hit the ground hard beside Harry's form. She screamed soundlessly as she convulsed in pain, losing her grip on her stolen wand. Hermione was forced to look at the body of the friend she'd once considered her brother as waves of the crucio flowed through her maliciously. She was faced with the impossible truth then: Harry was lost. Tears slipped unbidden from her eyes.

"Filthy mudblood!" Bellatrix thundered, striding towards them. "You dared to come here, just as we've won? What a prize you will be to my Lord when he awakens. The first to fall in the new regime." Bellatrix came beside Hermione and grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling Hermione roughly into the air, noticing her own wand fallen beside Hermione's form.

"Tsk, tsk, mudblood. You dared to take my precious things knowing that they don't belong to you? How dare you defile them with your disgusting mudblood hands?! YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD GO INTO MY VAULT, UNPUNISHED?!" She retook possession of her own wand, now having two on her person, and pressed it sharply enough into Hermione's neck that it pierced the skin and Hermione gasped at the pain. Bellatrix sneered at Hermione again, "Take a look at him. Ittle bitty Potter, the Boy Who Lived."

Bellatrix thrust Hermione towards the body of her friend. Hermione weeped openly at the sight, heaving in breaths in between spasms of pain. Fighting now to grab at the hands holding Hermione's hair resulted only in Bellatrix shaking her. "Look at him!" Bellatrix roared for emphasis, and then cast crucio directly into Hermione's skin again. Bellatrix dropped Hermione onto Harry's body to the sound of the Death Eaters laughing. "Not living anymore, is he? Neither will you, soon enough!" she cackled.

"Leave 'er alone!" Hagrid bellowed, fighting against his captors to no avail. "'Ermione! Run!"

Hermione was bracing herself as another spell began to build on the tip of Bellatrix's wand, throwing her hands up as if that would protect her from the curse.

"He's quite right, Bellatrix," a cold voice interrupted. "That is no way to treat our guest."

The crucio immediately halted, and Hermione was pulled from Harry's body. The wand was pressed firmly into her neck again in a threatening manner as Bellatrix held Hermione's shuddering body. Hermione, captive in Bellatrix's arms, was made to turn to face Voldemort. Voldemort stood slowly from the ground with some assistance. He then slowly looked over the clearing with cold, calculating eyes. Hermione looked away as his eyes stopped upon her, shutting her own firmly. She would not meet them. She would not allow him to see into her thoughts. He could not know what Harry was, or that Nagini was all that he'd have left.

Hermione could hear the taunting smile in his voice as he spoke, "Bring her to me Bellatrix. Ms. Granger and I have something important to discuss." Bellatrix dragged Hermione across the clearing as Hermione fought against her.

"Idiot," Bellatrix hissed. "You should be bowing at the mercy of our Lord. He's only sparing you for now."

Voldemort called out another direction, "Narcissa! Check the boy. Make sure he's not breathing."

Narcissa, who Hermione now noticed was stood there among the other Death Eaters, moved to replace where Bellatrix and Hermione once were. As Narcissa started to check Harry's body for signs of life, Bellatrix and Hermione reached where the Dark Lord stood. Voldemort grabbed Hermione's chin harshly, twisting her face so that she was forced to look at him. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut as tight as she could, almost painfully. Voldemort mockingly laughed at her before pressing his thumb against her eyelid and forcing it open. She felt the moment he crashed into her mind, knocking her ajar and all of her meticulously constructed walls meant to provide occlumency fell away at his bidding.

She wasn't talented enough to withstand the onslaught of his leglimancy.

"I know what it is that you've been doing you stupid girl," he murmured lowly, nails digging into her skin as he dragged them across her face. His voice was too quiet for anyone except the two of them to hear. "Did you think you could hide your plans from someone as powerful as me?" He continued to sift through her mind and Hermione moaned as her memories swiftly shifted throughout her mind too fast for her to know what information Voldemort was gathering. Whatever it was, and Hermione strongly suspected he was seeking to know their progress in the Horcrux hunt, caused his face to grow further and further enraged. His eyes burning into her own promised violence.

"As it is, it seems I find myself in dire need of another magical object to replace some unfortunately damaged ones." Voldemort's thin lips spread menacingly, "Yes, I need a horcrux. I know you have some expertise with handling them, so don't you find it fitting that you should become one too?"

'No!' Hermione soundlessly screamed, and attempted to twist away from Bellatrix's grip. The silencio was still in effect. Voldemort could not hear her protest against his machinations.

"Bind her!" Voldemort released his grip on Hermione as Bellatrix cast incarcerus, the magical ropes coiling around her and confining her in an uncomfortable position. "How fitting will it be to use the brains of the Golden Trio against them? To use Dumbledore's own disgusting mudblood pet against him, even in his death?" He curled his lips in disgust, "Though you are most unworthy of my soul, Dumbledore's army could never kill their own. Love, you see, is their weakness."

Voldemort nodded towards Harry, "I have already done most everything that I would need in preparation, all that would be left is a death. Harry here should be well enough. Narcissa, what say you about our dear Harry?"

"He is dead!" Narcissa called to them, and the watchers cheered in response. They yelled at their triumph, stamping their feet into the ground, shooting bolts of light into the air like a sickening fireworks display. The forest rumbled with the celebration of their victories. Voldemort had truly won.

Hermione's knees buckled beneath her as the fight began to leave her. What did she have left? There was no future for her with this world that they would create. Harry was dead. Her parents would never remember her. There were so many countless others lost. And, of course, the horrific knowledge of what Voldemort was planning to do to her.

She would become one of his Horcruxes. There was no future here for anyone. It was then that she felt the time turner again burning where it rested, hidden, by her collarbone. Could this be her means of escape? She mustn't look Voldemort in the eyes. He couldn't know of it, he must not have seen it in her thoughts when he'd forced legilimancy upon her. She attempted to build her walls up mentally as much as she was capable of, stronger than she'd ever done even prior to what she'd constructed before. She cleared her mind and pictured the Forest of Dean, filled with fog. Within her mind she pictured throwing the time turner into a creek, and pictured it flowing downstream and out of sight. She forced it to be hidden someplace within her mind that not even she could easily find.

Voldemort's inhumanely smile spread across his face in a wide, slow, grin. "Do you know what I plan to do to you, Ms. Granger?" he asked quietly. It captured her attention once again. "I plan to use not simply your body for my horcrux. No, that would be too simple if you were to die. Clearly, you're too powerless to defend yourself regardless of what little magic you'd stolen."

Voldemort leaned in close enough for Hermione to smell the foul stench of his breath, "I plan to use your very bones. I plan to preserve them so that, regardless of if you live or die, when all that remains of you are your bones then my soul will still live on. I will have them prominently displayed in my foyer. Protected. A trophy, even, to remind all of what happened here." And then he was leaning in to whisper in her ear, "Or perhaps I'll make you one of my inferi. Not to fight, no. I'd make you an inferi so that even in death you'd be alive enough to carry my soul and serve me like all others of your kind, for an eternity. You'd have no choice either way once you carry my soul. You should be pleased, mudblood. Even when you die, part of you will live forever with me." Voldemort leaned back and laughed chillingly. "Yes, I think that would be perfect. With Harry's death, all that is left is the spell."

He held out his hand towards Bellatrix and gestured towards where Hermione was bound in the conjured ropes. "Bellatrix, my most loyal lieutenant. I give you the honor. Do not kill her, regardless of the temptation. Cut her down to the bone, and make sure I can hear her scream, while I begin the incantations. You know what to do."

Bellatrix bowed to her Lord and summoned her knife. It was the same cursed blade that was used to carve 'mudblood' into Hermione's arm back at Malfoy Manor. "As you wish, my Lord," she gleefully said. Hermione was thrown to the ground again, arms tied tight to her sides, face down. She regained her voice a breath later and opened her mouth to plea for mercy.

There was no time for it, or for her to prepare herself as suddenly, deep into her calf, Bellatrix began to carve her open and a powerful magic began to stir in the air at Voldemort's command. There was a smog, murky and smelling of rot, the filled the air. As Hermione breathed it in, it felt like sludge choking her lungs and filling every crevice of her very soul. The blade dug into her once more-

-and from there, all she felt was blinding pain as she screamed.


It wasn't long after that Hermione began to come to. Wandless and bound, Fenrir Greyback stood guard over her. They were both still in the clearing. There were no others. Hermione was uncertain how long she'd been unconscious, or when the Death Eaters left. She hoped they wouldn't be returning anytime soon.

There was something else, her mind nagged at her. Hermione couldn't quite pin the feeling, but she knew she'd felt different from the moment she woke up. Her mind was still in tatters from Voldemort's invasion of it earlier, and she knew there was something she was forgetting. What was it? It took her a moment to remember Voldemort's success. The battle won, Harry's death, and finally she remembered what she now was. There was dark magic swirling around inside of her. Chaotic and uncontrolled and absolutely vile. She could feel it in her very bones, promising something she never wanted to collect on. Her leg throbbed heavily at the thought of it. She knew she wasn't alone in her own body.

Greyback was watching her attentively as she awoke. His nose twitched as if smelling her, and he licked his lips. His mouth was covered in blood, as if he'd recently eaten something raw... or bit someone or something that had been still breathing. "Delicious," he muttered with a growl. "Your blood smells divine. How lucky am I to be chosen to watch over a creature such as you? Their mistake."

Hermione cringed away from him as much as she could as Greyback leaned in to take in her scent more thoroughly. He laughed at her motion. "I know what you are girly," he spat. "You think me a monster? I'm nothing close to what you are. Not now that he's done with you..." He tilted his head considerately. "Especially not when I'm done with you. You're lucky I favor monstrous things. You're coming with me, and I'll show you how much of a monster you will be." He bared his teeth at her, his sharp canines dripping with saliva at his bloodthirst.

"V- Voldemort won't let you. If you know what I am," Hermione stuttered, voice straining from her torture. "You know he'd come for me." Hermione was sickened by the truth of it, but she hoped her reasoning would be enough.

"As long as you're returned in one piece, I don't think he'd mind one bit now would he?" Greyback asserted intimidatingly. "He promised to make you a monster anyway. What's one monster over another?" Hermione now noticed that it was all of his teeth that were sharpened to points in his mouth, not only his canines. "Not just that. He's off now fighting the last of 'em at Hogwarts with what wouldn't surrender. I could excuse myself as protecting his property should something happen to him, now can't I? That's why I'm here after all." He growled deeper, his eyes flashing, "Instead of finding other chits to taste like I was promised. Instead of hunting my prey, as I was promised. He failed to provide in our agreement!" He roared as he slammed his fist down on the earth, the strength granted to him through his lycanthropy causing rocks to crack and branches to fall in its wake. He looked up to her, chest heaving in anger and possessiveness to his claim over her. His nose flared as he breathed her in again and licked his lips, "Yes, my sweet, you'll do fine instead."

Hermione had to think fast as he used his sharpened nails to cut through her binds. He grabbed her arm in a vice grip and pulled her close to him as he pressed his nose into her hair. She slammed her foot down as hard as she could onto his foot, and smashed her head back against his face. There was a crunch as Fenrir's nose broke from the force and he grunted in surprise. She used the distraction to twist out of his arm and scramble away. Her leg ached in agony, and she nearly fell in surprise. She caught herself against a tree before righting herself and running. In the rush of her adrenaline she'd forgotten how injured she was, but she had to shove the worrisome pains away in order to keep moving.

She felt more than heard Greyback move after her and dived away from him. He missed her by centimeters. She ran as hard as she could into the forest with Fenrir not far behind. He was gaining on her as she twisted heedlessly through the trees. She was gasping for breath, and nearly maniacal by this point with all that had happened. Her limp was worsening by the second.

"You're mine girly!" Greyback promised as he laughed in delight. The hunt was fueling the monster within him. "I can't wait to see just how sweet you taste."

Suddenly there were hooves thumping through the forest and Hermione could see centaurs approaching, bows drawn and notched. There was a twing as one was released somewhere behind her, and another as one flew towards her. Hermione flinched back, the arrow missing her by a hair, and the other arrow shot into Greyback before he realized what was happening. Greyback hollered in pain which gave way almost instantly into an incensed, billowing roar. He was warning the centaurs, but more importantly he was diverted momentarily by the surprise attack. Hermione jumped on the chance to hide behind a fallen tree and hoped the centaurs could distract Fenrir further. She could hear the centaurs coming closer and knew that she wasn't safe when another arrow struck the tree next to where she hid. She wasn't safe even from them, and Hermione sobbed at the realization.

Wandless and surrounded, Hermione remembered her plan from before. The time turner, still burning there around her neck. Harry was dead, the war was lost, and if she were to die here in the middle of the forest now knowing what she was then Voldemort may very well live on forever. Who would think that the lost bones of Hermione Granger were the last horcrux needed to finally end the Dark Lord?

Hermione groped for the time turner blindly as a centaur called out to her. "Hermione! Hermione Granger!" She ignored the voice as she raced to grasp the turner. How many turns would she need? The black sand seemed to be falling in reverse in the turner already, before she'd even touched the dials.

The centaur called to her again as the battle between them and the werewolf raged on. "The planets have shown me what will happen Ms. Granger! This world will not remain unaffected if you go back, do not change the flow of the universe!" It was Firenze, but she barely heard him as one of the members of his clan appeared. The centaur notched an arrow on its bow and pointed it at her. She hurriedly started twisting the knobs of the turner.

"I know the darkness within you, human. We will not allow its like to dwell here," the centaur proclaimed. "Nor will we allow this trespass to go without penance. Not anymore."

"Hermione, please!" Firenze called out desperately.

"The girl is MINE!" Greyback snarled, blood splattering her as another centaur was injured.

Hermione could see the centaur before her curl his lips at her, fingers twitching in a way that indicated he would soon let the arrow fly. She had no choice. The future needed to be changed, if only in this small way, for the greater good.

Three turns, she determined. That would be all that she would need. Three hours. Three turns. She clenched her eyes shut in order to block out the world around her as her fingers began to twist the dials of the time turner. She did not wish to see what would happen next.

"Do not change the time!" Firenze proclaimed. "Leave it be!"

It was already too late.

The unknown centaur had then released its arrow as Hermione completed the turns. It shattered the time turner within her hands and pierced her shoulder. The last thing she'd seen was Fenrir ferally launching himself onto the unknown centaurs back and biting into the centaurs neck savagely, blood spraying down across her face. Firenze jumped over the log too little, too late, in an effort to stop Hermione from using the time turner. The world around her was fading away.

By the time Firenze reached the ongoing fight between the werewolf and his clans-mate, Hermione was already gone into another time.