Hermione woke up in a bed, which seemed strangely familiar. She was soaked in her own sweating, gasping for air as it felt like she had not taken a breath for ages.
"Hermione, you alright?" She heard Ginny's voice coming from the other bed.
"Yes, I'm fine" she choked out "turns out it was just a bad dream" she continued. As she let herself relax, she found it strange that she was sharing a room with Ginny. Then realised that it had not been a dream.
She quickly got up from her bed and turned the lights on. Grimmauld's place she noted, that was where she was.
"You look so young" was all she was able to say while staring with big eyes at Ginny. "Hey! I'm not that young, I am fourteen now, for your information» Ginny said, looking a bit offended. "F-f-fourteen?" Hermione said in a high-pitched voice, feeling herself start to hyperventilate. She looked down at her hands, no scars, her arm were smooth and clean with no sign of Bellatrix's torture.
Ginny looked worried, "Hermione, are you alright? Merlin's beard, you are so pale!" her voice seemed distant, like it came through a tube from far away. Hermione's vision became blurred and she felt herself slowly slipping down on the floor, before everything went black.
"What's wrong with her?" a familiar voice said, "I don't know, she just woke up, went around in the room before just fainting". That was Ginny voice, she sounded scared and anxious. "Oh look, it seems like she is waking up!" it was the familiar voice again, but she could not quite remember who's voice it was. As Hermione slowly opened her eyes, she realised that she was lying on the floor, with three redheads staring down at her with worry in their eyes. The twins, wait the twins? There were no twins anymore, just George. However, there in front of her stood Fred, looking at her with a worried frown. Her eyes opened wide before she quickly threw herself at him in a hug. He seemed a little baffled, but returned her hug. "But, but, you're dead" was all she could master to say. He let go of her and smiled "nah, not dead, won't be for a while either". Hermione looked at them with big eyes with tears running down her face, before a realisation hit her. "Which day, no date is it today?" she slowly touched her neck, the necklace was still there, even though her cloths were changed. This was impossible.
"Eeh, Tuesday morning, 2. August 1995" George said. They all looked at her, giving each other some confused looks. Hermione just sat there, staring at Fred with an open mouth, thinking to herself.
"Hermione, what's wrong, you look like you just saw a ghost?" Ginny said, unaware of how true that actually was. Ginny's voice snapped her out of it, she had to act normal. She needed some time alone, to think.
"I'm so sorry guys; I just had a bad dream. Took me some time to snap out of it. We should go back to bed, long day tomorrow", she said while trying to fake a yawn. None of them seemed convinced, "you sure?" Fred said. "Yes, I'm sure, what are you guys doing here anyways?"
She looked at Fred and George who suddenly gave her their well-known mischief smile. "Well, you know us" George said, "always comes to the rescue when there is a damsel in distress" Fred finished. Hermione rolled her eyes at them before she got up from the floor and sat down at the bed. "Well, seems like our work here is done, so we'll head back to our beauty sleep" George said before both apparated away.
"Hermione what was that? You really scared me; you were gone for almost five minutes. Fred and George are just across the hall, so I ran over to them for help since they were closest" Hermione looked into her eyes, and saw honest concern for her. "I'm okay, promise. I only had a bad dream, and was convinced it was true when I woke up. Didn't mean to scare you". Ginny did not look convinced, but slowly she settled back into her bed, giving Hermione some suspicious looks. "Ginny, let's talk tomorrow, but right now I think the best we can do is try to get some sleep" she said with a determined voice. Ginny nodded and mumbled "okay, but we will talk about this tomorrow!"
Listening to Ginny's breath slowly settling down and turning into an even rhythm, Hermione finally allowed herself to think. All her senses told her that this was not possible, but somehow it seemed like it was. She touched the glass-drop again.
After all, it was made from several destroyed timeturners according to George, and each time turner had different magic locked to it. In addition, seven was the strongest magical number. Was it possible that in her attempts to survive the drowning, her soul had travelled with her memories, seven years back on the minute? After all, she was in her fifteen-year-old body, with no scars from the war. What did this mean? Had she been given a second chance, or was she just dead, trapped in a dream.
Was this her chance to change history?
I need to talk to Dumbledore was her last thought before she fell asleep.
