In conjunction with my other two fics I'll also be working on this little number as well. It's a concept I've been playing around with for a little while and I'm sure there are numerous fics with the time travel trope out there and of course, I had to add my own signature to the section. I won't waste everyone's time with a huge author's note here, but I'll thank you for taking a chance on this story and hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, not even a twig of this world and I'm only playing in it for my own amusement. You know the drill.

Chapter One: Into The Void, Or Something Like that Anyway.

They'd lost. Everything he'd suffered through, sacrificed and worked toward had been for nothing. In the end, he'd won. Voldemort had been better prepared than they'd given him credit for, calling what happened a massacre would be too kind. Bodies were strewn everywhere, high and low, with no care for how they were laid. The question of whether or not they'd get a proper burial pressed on the woman's mind, but she could not shake the feeling that it might not be so easy to get that done. This battle was unlike the ones that had come before it. None of them had been since they'd lost him. After Harry's death, it became much more about survival and less about victory itself. Not that she didn't think there was some people like her who'd never give up on freedom but she also knew that some of them would've only kept fighting because it was all they knew what to do in the state of the wizarding world.

For the brightest witch of her age, she'd lost far too much and in far too short a time. She kept fighting because he'd asked her to finish things with his dying breath and it was the only reason she'd pressed forward. A promise to a man that she had fought alongside since she was eleven years old. For all the faults, for all the suffering, he had always been constant-

"You have to do it," he whispered, "I think I'm at my limit now."

The woman shook her head in disbelief, "I c-can't, you were suppose-"

"And when did you start believing in Divination, Hermione?" Harry joked, his voice a little choked up. Hermione wasn't sure, but she thought she could hear the difficulty that he was having breathing. How cruel that Voldemort hadn't even had the mercy to end it quickly. She reached down and clutched his hand, peering down into her companion's eyes and whispered to him.

"I'm not ready to be without you," she said weakly.

"You're far more of a skilled witch than I am," His voice was breaking slightly, but there was a faint amusement on his lips, one that Hermione didn't think she'd ever hear again. The last while had been tough on them, but Harry especially.

"That doesn't mean I don't need you," she said, barely above a whisper.

"You have that wrong you know, it's always been me who needed you. I'd have died a very long time ago if not for you so th-th-"

And just like that, Harry Potter's eyes drifted shut and he faded from this plane forever. Hermione's still teary eyed face glanced down upon the fallen form of her best-friend and she leaned down, placing a kiss on Harry's forehead, "There's so much I wish I could've told you. But I'll honor you by continuing this fight. I'll see it through Harry, I promise."

Hermione pressed her back more firmly against the boulder she was hiding behind, her head craned as close to the space as she could without giving any visibility to herself. She only moved parts of her body not resting on anything, the last thing she wanted to do was generate any noise that might alert her targets that she was listening in. Then, just like that, the sound she was listening out for entered her ear-waves. Her hands tightened on the stone, her eyes narrowed and it took all her strength not to throw herself out from behind the boulder and start attacking. Instead, she held her place firmly.

"Are you certain it's in here?" the voice said.

"No, but this is the tip-off we got. If it's not in here then we go back and torture the pathetic little worm who gave us this information."

"Wouldn't a more fitting punishment be death?"

"Silly fool, if you kill them, they stop suffering. You really have to make them feel what they've done. Sure, you could kill them, but that wouldn't necessarily teach them the lessons they need to learn."

"I think you just enjoy torture, Cadmin."

"We all have our vices, Selwyn. You enjoy killing people."

The two laughed violently then the first, named Cadmin aimed his wand at the boulder in front of them, "Bombarda." it was spoken calmly, without much feeling behind it, but you wouldn't have thought so a second later. A jet of purplish light erupted from the man's wand and hit the cavern wall, dead-center. The rock-face was blasted apart and debris went flying in every direction. Hermione quickly ducked her head down as best as she could, pulling her face into her shoulder with the intention of avoiding the impact of the incoming rocks that had been created by Cadmin.

"Be careful you idiot," Selwyn reprimanded, "What if you hit the wrong spot and caused a collapse or something?"

"I didn't cause one, did I? Besides you know what else causes rock to move and cause cave ins?"

"Oh, please enlighten me."

"Loud noise."

This promptly shut Selwyn's mouth and together, he and Cadmin entered the fresh entry way they'd made, leaving Hermione on her own. She took a deep breath, relief felt in every ounce of what she'd done. She had a feeling they were getting close to what they were looking for now and that meant she was nearing the end of her journey too. She slowly got up from her crouched position and followed behind the two figures in silence, she only advanced a little bit, stepping over the fallen debris of the exploded cliff-face and down into the tunnel Cadmin had created. The cavernous tunnel that she entered was far narrower than Hermione was expecting. The roof was quite low and she had to crouch down a little bit so that she didn't knock her head on the sharp, jagged rock formations above her.

What was, perhaps, even stranger, was that the cavern seemed particularly well-lit and in somewhat of a relieved sense, Hermione noted she would not have to generate her own light and risk exposing that she was tailing the two men down here. Thanks to the hollow space, Hermione could hear the voices of Cadmin and Selwyn trailing back to her

"Oh, this is brilliant!" Selwyn snapped, "Why in Merlin's name did you insist I come with you? I could be doing ten thousand better things right now, I'll have you know."

"Because, I thought your skills would prove valuable, I didn't account for your whiny voice and shitty attitude evidently."

"Thanks."

Hermione could hear the sarcasm in the man's voice. These two didn't seem like they were your usual run of the mill Death Eaters. Most Death Eaters never felt light-hearted like this, unless you maybe counted Bellatrix Lestrange and even that was a twisted, sadistic abomination of the personality and generated by her crazy rather than genuine happiness. They almost seemed…normal? Minus the talk of torture and murder that was. She had no sympathy or love lost for Death Eaters, but seeing two so laid back was a tiny bit strange.

After a moment's silence, Hermione heard the voices again. This time, Selwyn sounded more in awe than panicked and Cadmin, his voice didn't change all that much so she couldn't tell what he was thinking from his tone.

"It's here," Selwyn murmured, gently stepping out of the tunnel into the open cavern, "Looks like that old man was telling the truth about this place. Looks like the Dark Lord will have quite the powerful gem entering his collection."

"It's odd isn't it?" Cadmin inquired, "the Dark Lord wishing to acquire this rock when he's so powerful himself. Seems a little like a moot point if you think about it."

"Maybe he just likes the thought of it sitting near him or something," Selwyn shrugged, "Who knows? I'm not going to presume to try and figure out what the Dark Lord is thinking. A wiser man would fail to have proper insight into his mind."

"You might be right."

The time for hiding had passed. Hermione pushed herself out of the tunnel, wand already drawn and without hesitation, she spun on the man closest to her, Selwyn, and cried out, "Avada Kedavra!" a jet of green light erupted from the tip of her wand and streaked across the sky. It hit Selwyn squarely in the chest and he fell back from the impact of the spell, dead before he hit the ground.

"You little bitch!" Cadmin roared, his own wand aimed at the new arrival, "Ava-"

"Incacerous!" Hermione spat venomously, ropes launched out of the ground, but instead of being made of string tied together, the binds that came from Hermione's spell were metal and almost chain-like in nature.

Hermione ignored the man's frustrated sounds and the string of curses that he was throwing her way long enough to step over Selwyn's body and cross the threshold of the room. In the center a large stone plinth stood and atop it was the item she'd come all this way for. It was a spherical orb, blue in color and glowing so brightly it illuminated the room they were standing in. Hermione could also assume that this was the reason the tunnel had been lit on the way down.

Her mission was complete. She finally had all the pieces. The next phase of her plan could now begin. This world she found herself in was doomed to its fate, and her answer had not been a simple one. It'd taken several months of research and subscribing to theories most people would pass off as pure insanity. But, in the end, with a lot of effort, talent and much needed help from Professor McGonagall, Hermione had finally pieced together the method she'd need to turn back the clock.

This gem she had claimed was the final piece of the puzzle, and it would act as the main power source for the ritual since even with all the power she had, Hermione's research had informed her that she would be dead before the ritual was completed if she tried to power the ritual with her own magical core. She turned her head and just like that, apparated out of the cavern.

Chapter's End

I'm sorry this is on the short side, I've not really done anyone bar Harry as a main POV before so this was a little nerve-wracking. The story will switch to Harry's by Chapter Four but I wanted to set this up so we have a little backstory on the ritual itself and the world our time-traveller comes from. The other reason I haven't gone too much further than this is I'm sort of stuck on what year we should travel back to? I'm not sure how far back would be best and I'm going to spend some time thinking on that, writing a couple of chapters in the future world gives me not only some much needed backstory for this fic but also the time to piece together how I want the first arc to play out.

Secondly, I'm also stuck on whether this will work like a memory/transferral, older Hermione in a younger body or have them be two separate characters. One just entering the world and the other hardened by years of battle as we saw flashes of in this chapter. Would also appreciate some advice on this because the fic will change exponentially dependant on what route I go.

Thank you so much for giving this a chance, and I hope you'll continue on this journey with me. Until then, please review and flames will be ignored with the addition of flames left by guest reviewers being deleted.

Until Next Time!