Disclaimer: I own nothing except the order these words are in, everything else belongs to JKR.
A/N: So. I kind of forgot that October was a thing. Like, in its entirety. If you go back and look at the dates the story takes place in, you'll see a jump from September 29 (I think) to November 1, or so. I'm not going to fix it, though, because I already have chapters (up until 35) planned that are riding on Christmas break being now. If I included October, I would have to push back a bunch of stuff and you would probably just get a filler chapter or two – which I'm not interested in writing, and I'm sure you're not interested in reading. (Once the story's done and I re-edit it – which I'm planning to do – I'll probably add those chapters in.)
Alright. It's been a while, and I'm extremely sorry for my lack of updates. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
December 17, 1977
Gryffindor Common Room, 8:00 pm
3rd Person POV:
"Hermione?"
She yawned as she slowly woke up, someone shaking her, "Remus?"
"Yeah, it's me. You fell asleep."
"Oh." She blushed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to."
"Are you okay?" James asked from the floor, "I mean, you were asleep in the library, and you fell asleep again."
Sirius nodded and added, "Yeah, and it's only eight."
Hermione stifled another yawn, "I'm fine, just tired, that's all."
"Okay."
"Hermione?" James paused.
"Hmm?"
"Do you wanna go to Hogsmeade with us tomorrow? We're just going to do some Christmas shopping and stuff."
She looked surprised, and opened her mouth to respond, but immediately closed it again. After a moment, "I, er, I don't know. I have an essay I'd like to get done."
"Aww, c'mon Hermione! You'll have the whole break to finish it!" Sirius whined, "You'll like Hogsmeade, I promise." Remus and James nodded their agreement.
She still looked skeptical. The little village held more memories than Hermione could count, and she wasn't sure if she was ready to go back, but she swallowed thickly and thought, what harm could it really do? I'll be fine. "Sure. I-I'll go with you guys." After all, she did have to do some Christmas shopping – she intended to buy something for each of the Marauders, Lily, Severus, Minerva, and Albus. Not to mention Sirius' birthday was in a couple days, and she figured she might as well get him something else for that, too.
"Yes!" Crowed Sirius, jumping up and throwing his arms around Hermione, who flinched and tried to pull away for a moment, before relaxing into his arms. "Are you okay?" He murmured into her ear.
"Y-Yeah, I'm good. Just got a little startled, that's all," she muttered.
"'Kay." He rested his chin on her head, and she couldn't help but lean into him.
Both James and Remus rolled their eyes at his pleased expression.
December 18, 1977
7th Year Gryffindor Girls Dorms, 10:00 am
3rd Person POV:
Hermione yawned, and buried her face further into her pillow. She was still exhausted, and if she was being honest, she really didn't want to go to Hogsmeade today. As grateful as she was that the three boys had stayed behind for her, she wanted some time to herself.
She wondered if she could just stay here until they left. A shout came from the common room below, "Where's Hermione?" Probably not. She sighed, sitting up, if Sirius was looking for her, there would be no escaping any of the Marauders.
Hermione stumbled out of bed and to the bathroom, mechanically showering, brushing her teeth, and throwing on some jeans and a Weasley jumper from 2 Christmases ago. Well, not technically two Christmases ago. Actually no, for me, it was two Christmases ago. But, not really, because I'm supposed to be in this time now.
Suddenly, Hermione shot up from her desk, where she was looking for a hair tie. Wasn't she supposed to start getting flashbacks?! From the Destiny Turner?! She was supposed to have had a whole life here?! After hyperventilating and staring at the wall for a good minute or two, she remembered something she had read when she acquired the time turner.
Out loud, she recited the text, "It is believed that the amount of time it takes for a user to gain their memories from the life that they traveled to is highly dependent on their experiences in their past life." She hurriedly fished open a book as attempted to brush her hair at the same time (which was still extremely curly and messy, although it had lost most of its prior bushiness in the past few years).
The book, 'Turning to Destiny' simply read:
If the user has had particularly moving experiences in their first life, it will take longer for them to gain new memories. In fact, two users – Astrid le Fontane (an Italian witch – 1789-1814 and in her 'second' life 1675-1702) and Henry Archibald (an English lord – 1432-1490 and 1411-1423) both recorded never getting memories of their pasts in their second lives. However, both were able to lead perfectly functional lives. Additionally, Astrid le Fontane records having scars that she never remembered getting, apparently from her childhood, her mother (in her new life) had told her. She recorded consciously understanding that she was a completely different person, but she simply never knew what had happened in her life. It seems to have been quite similar to amnesia.
Well, thought Hermione, snapping the book shut and heading towards the stairs, none of that should be a problem. Whether or not I get memories won't affect what I'm here to do. Her backstory matched up with what Albus had said happened, and the Hermione Granger of the 70s didn't have any living blood relations to worry about. She was still experiencing tremors, although she wasn't sure if they were from what she had supposedly gone through in this time, or what Bellatrix and Greyback had done to her at Malfoy Manor. Perhaps it's a combination of both. She finished getting dressed and headed down to the common room, where the three boys were waiting for her.
Hermione was quiet as they made their way down to Hogsmeade, still lost in thought from what she had read that morning. Remus walked beside her, occasionally pointing things out as they went, and James and Sirius walked ahead of the two, talking loudly about something Hermione wasn't sure she wanted to know about.
Three hours and five shops later, Hermione and the Marauders were making their way to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. She had finally finished buying all her Christmas gifts; a leather jacket for Sirius, a broom service cleaning kit for James (she remembered how much Harry loved his), and a set of Defense books for Remus. She hoped that he would become the Defense professor in this future, too, and Hermione was also planning to have the Wolfsbane potion ready for the full moon on December 28th – she would give it to him anonymously.
Just as they reached the front of the restaurant, two third year Hufflepuffs banged the door open and raced out, yelling excitedly to each other. Hermione didn't know what they were talking about – she was more preoccupied by James' yelping. Apparently, he had been hit in the face by the door.
"Ow! That bloody hurt!" James cried, clutching his nose, which was bleeding.
Sirius began laughing outright, but Remus at least had the decency to try and hold it in. Boys, thought Hermione, "James, let's take you the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey'll fix you right up."
James looked up in surprise, "What?! No! It's just a bloody nose! Your first Hogsmeade trip shouldn't get ruined!"
It's not my first, Hermione thought, but out loud, she just smiled, "First of all, I don't think it's just a bloody nose – it's probably broken. And, second, it's not a big deal, I've already had a great time!"
"But you haven't tried Rosmerta's butterbeer yet! It's the best!" Sirius whined.
Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but Remus beat her to it, "Alright, I'll take James up to the Hospital Wing, and you two stay here, Sirius, finish showing Hermione around. Okay? Just have lunch, maybe show her Honeydukes – oh! She might be interested in going to Scrivenshafts! And by then, it'll probably be near dinner time, so we'll just meet you up in the Great Hall."
Sirius bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet, "Okay!"
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked James and Remus.
"Yeah!" James nodded, "It's just a broken nose, not a big deal."
"Well, alright, then. Suppose we'll see you two at dinner."
James and Remus nodded, and Sirius grinned, "Bye!"
As they settled into a table at the Three Broomsticks, Sirius asked, "So, what would you like? Obviously the butterbeer – er, you drink butterbeer right?"
"Yeah, it's my favorite," Hermione smiled.
"Okay, well, yeah, the butterbeer, also, I would definitely recommend the shepherd's pie! It's one of my favorites. And, the, uh, fish and chips are fantastic, too."
She thought for a moment, "I'll get the fish and chips and a butterbeer, then."
"Great! I'll have the shepherd's pie, and if you'd like, you can try a couple bites."
Hermione grinned at him, "Sure."
After a few minutes, Rosmerta came over, introducing herself and rolling her eyes when Sirius flirted with her, asking for firewhiskey. Once she and Hermione were introduced, she looked at the younger woman, asking, "How on earth do you put up with this tosser?"
Laughing, Hermione replied, "I don't, I just try to stay as far away from him as possible." Pausing to shoot Sirius a faux glare, she continued, "I got stuck with him for the afternoon."
Ignoring Sirius' indignant 'Hey!', Rosmerta took their orders, returning in a few minutes with the food.
They finished their meal in relative silence, hurrying back to the castle in order to make it before sundown. As they walked through the halls, Sirius took a detour.
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked.
"Well, I don't think you've been down these corridors before, so I thought I'd just show you a detour to the common room."
She stared at him for a moment, confusion flitting across her features, before she gave an imperceptible sigh, "Alright, but we should hurry up, it's almost dinnertime, and we promised James and Remus that we'd be there."
He grinned at her, "Of course, but we just ate, and I don't know about you, but I'm stuffed – we'll just make a quick stop in the common room because I want to change really quick." Hermione simply nodded and let Sirius lead her down the hall. He continued talking excitedly, "So, there's this portrait I'd like you to meet – he's on the way – anyway, he's gonna drive you totally crazy, but he's pretty funny, too."
"Okay," she laughed.
"His name's Sir Cadogan, and don't forget about the 'sir', okay? He gets really offended if you don't say it."
Hermione groaned internally, but externally, she just nodded.
After a few more minutes of them walking, and Sirius talking excitedly about, well, everything they saw, the pair had made it to Sir Cadogan's portrait.
"Hello!" The knight cried, excitedly, beginning to talk rapidly. Hermione was vaguely aware of Sirius introducing her to the painting, but Hermione was distracted.
She stared down to the end of the hallway, memories of the final battle bombarding her mind. The young woman had quickly realized that this was where it happened. This corridor was where Bellatrix had stabbed her. It was where both her and her mother were tortured. Hermione felt her breathing become rapid and it was like she was back in 1998 once again. The walls seemed to collapse in on her, but she could only focus on the Minerva her imagination had concocted up, lying on the floor, in a pool of blood. Bellatrix stood over her once again cackling madly, and Hermione was suddenly aware of Sirius calling her name.
Gasping for air, she turned to look at him, tears streaming down her face. She became only somewhat conscious of her nails pressing into her palms – if she had looked at her hands, Hermione would have seen four bloody crescents marring each of her palms. Instead, she looked at Sirius, trying to ground herself in his silver eyes.
Sobs ripped themselves out of her throat, and she slumped to the floor, overcome with emotion, finally realizing what it meant to be in this time. To be thrown 20 years into the past, with no way home. To have the power to change everything, and to never see her friends or family again. Never see her mother again. As kind as Minerva was in the seventies, she was not Minerva, Hermione's mother. Hermione would never have that again. She would never again feel Harry's familiar embrace after not seeing her the whole summer. She would never see Ron's guilty grin when he had done something he wasn't supposed to.
She would never be able to run down to her Uncle Severus' labs to help make potions. Any time she spent in the Hospital Wing from now on wouldn't be spent with her Aunt Poppy, but with Madame Pomfrey.
As the realizations hit Hermione, she curled into a ball on the floor, next to a frantic Sirius, and cried.
After a while, she stopped crying and slowly sat up, to see Sirius watching her with wide eyes, "A-Are you okay, Hermione?" He whispered, before quickly saying, "No, sorry, that-that's a stupid question, I mean, um, do you want to go to the Hospital Wing? Or, somewhere else? Do you wanna talk about it? Um, I…" He trailed off, not quite sure what to say.
Hermione did her best to smile at the grey eyed Marauder, "I don't need to go to the Hospital Wing, the common room is just fine, and, uh, it's okay, I don't really want to talk about it that much."
Sirius nodded, helping her up, "Alright let's go," he said, and continued helping her down the corridor.
Hermione screwed her eyes shut, not caring if Sirius thought she was crazy – she was not going to see that hallway again.
If the Black heir was confused, he didn't say anything, just guided her back to Gryffindor tower. Once inside, they settled on the couch, and Hermione couldn't help the tears falling down her cheeks again, as she remembered all the memories she had made here – in the nineties.
Instead of saying anything, Sirius simply wrapped his arms around her, and let Hermione cuddle into him. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, somewhat surprised at the scent of parchment, ink, and lavender that seemed to radiate off her.
December 18, 1977
Gryffindor Common Room, 9:00 pm
3rd Person POV:
A few hours later, the two Gryffindors were still curled up on the couch – asleep – as the two remaining Marauders made their way into the common room, stopping short at the sight of their best friend asleep with the young woman who they had come to consider as an extremely close friend.
James grinned, "They look cute, don't they?"
Remus chuckled quietly, "I'm going to go get the camera."
A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates! It seems that my muse has been on vacation. Anyways (pls read), I need to come up with a new name for this story. Well, I don't need to, but I just don't like the name 'This Time Around'. Suggestions anyone? Please, please, please, have suggestions!
Ok, well, don't forget to vote, comment, review, leave kudos, etc.!