Tempus Magia

Part One

Chapter 4: Back to the Grind

Hermione Granger made a grave error during the final battle that resulted in Remus's death. Working as an unspeakable she spends two years working on a spell using powder from time turners to go back to Remus's greatest hour of need. What if Remus's greatest time of need wasn't in *this* war?

Hermione woke up Thursday morning in a similar fashion to Wednesday. Why she was always so alarmed when she woke up at her desk was a mystery. She barely ever slept in her bed and usually, when she did it was because she was too ill to continue working.

She got dressed and ate her breakfast with enough time to look over her calculations for the charm. She had the wording down pat, but the wand movements were eluding her. She set an alarm on her wand and sat down to research different wand movements that were used by the Ministry in order to seal the Time Chamber.

After the pendant was discovered Hermione subtly convinced Harry to go through his parents home in Godric's Hollow. The home had been put in stasis and while the destruction was mostly contained to the nursery, parts of the home were fine. Harry had given Hermione the task of going through the bookshelves, while he and Ron went through Quidditch gear and kitchen supplies

While putting Harry's childhood books in a box, she found a small indentation in the bookshelf. Thankfully, Harry and Ron were so distracted with 'vintage' Quidditch posters that they completely missed Hermione taking out an entire hidden shelf. Hermione pulled a small leather-bound book out of the shelf.

She immediately hid the book and secreted it away to her home. Upon further research, she realized there were mild compulsion and secrecy charms on it. Remembering what happened to Ginny in her first year, Hermione halted all of her other research and began to delicately and cautiously work on the befuddling book.

Three months of testing and she was ready to open the small book. She was delighted to have discovered a personal Potter family book about time law and theory. She smiled to herself as she carefully flipped through the pages of the book as old as Harry's lineage. She wondered if Harry had more of these books in his Gringotts vault but it wasn't as if she could just ask him.

Her wand alarm went off and Hermione slipped on her shoes and sealed the Project room behind her. She turned off the lights in her house and checked on her slow cook dinner that would be ready when she came home from work. It was nice to be cooking again.

At the door, she checked her reflection. Her hair was braided out of her face and though she wore no makeup her cheeks were rosy. Objectively, she guessed she was passably pretty but mostly just glad that she didn't look a mess. Saul's talk had helped her a great deal. It was hard to take care of yourself when you didn't think you were worthy of clean shoes or neat hair, but she found it easier to work on the Project when her body was taken care of. For now, that was enough. Maybe when she finished with the Project she would see a psychologist. The mind healer that Saul had sent her was woefully inadequate, even though she was the best that the wizarding world had to offer.

Hermione opened the fridge and pulled out her lunch. It was just a turkey sandwich with some cut up vegetables but it was better than take away. She walked to the door and slipped her brown bag into her purse before slinging it over her shoulder. She grabbed her coffee mug that was in stasis by the door and a sweater walked to the apparition point.

She could have used the Floo in her house but she lived in a predominate muggle neighborhood and she knew her neighbors would find it odd that she never left the house. That and she had grown up in this house, she knew all of her neighbors and they knew her. They would find it odd that ambitious Hermione Granger would become a recluse, especially after the amount of private schooling her parents had paid for.

Obnoxious gossiping bitties.

Hermione entered the lift quietly her purse in hand and her coffee still hot. She took a sip, careful not to spill on herself or anyone else in the cramped box as they climbed and dropped through the various levels within the Ministry.

At ten to eight, the department of mysteries was quiet and Hermione was thankful as she slipped into her office. Without the dangerous mountains of books in her office, she was able to see more of the space. The cleanest things in her office were three dying plants in the corner from Neville. She received one every year for her birthday. There was also a broken frame of her, Ron, and Harry that was nestled under a pile of old parchments that needed to be filed and then probably archived at this point.

She spent the next ten minutes meticulously cataloging her office before she started cleaning and organizing. At a quarter to nine, she skipped out of her fresh and clean office. She was proud of the clear surfaces. The only clutter was the happily revived plants, a fixed and hanging picture her, Harry, and Ron on the Hogwarts express at the end of their first year, and the box she was currently holding with indexed paperwork for filing.

She really could have just asked a secretary to file them, but secretaries didn't come in until nine and Hermione wanted her office ready for the day. She was excited to move on to bigger and better things.

With her big 'Potter Pendant' case file closed, she could move onto smaller and easier tasks that she had been putting off. Several weeks prior, the Malfoys had requested several of their books on time travel theory to be returned to their library. After the war, all Death Eater homes were searched and anything the Aurors or the department of mystery representatives deemed threatening was confiscated until they were able to verify otherwise.

They had actually had to build a new archive building because the quantity that came out of the Nott's family home alone. Needless to say, new patrol Aurors were needed badly in the Ministry.

Hermione had sent a reply last week to Narcissa Malfoy and requested additional copies to be made to the Ministry for further study. She had gone through most of the books and while it definitely shouldn't be on the Hogwarts shelves, she didn't see anything wrong with the family keeping the books.

Narcissa's reply had come in while she was on her way to the lift and Hermione was excited at the possibility of getting a copy. She had written notes that she had copies of at home but there were tiny details that she most likely missed out on. She still had three books left to go through and that was her goal for the day and she was excited about it.

Hermione exited the lift on floor ten. While she could have taken the stairs to the official Wizengamot floor, the archives were all the way on the other side of the floor and it was easier to take the lift. Why anyone thought it was a good idea to design the lift that civilians came through near the 'employee only' archives and the stairs where the employees came through near the Wizengamot chambers was beyond Hermione.

Her shoes moved soundlessly on the floor as she walked up to the receiving desk.

"Good morning Flora," she said brightly. Flora, unlike her bitter sister Fauna, was actually pleasant and Hermione felt a pang of regret that she was going through such a hard time with her husband.

"Good morning Unspeakable Granger. Please tell me that's not two years worth of filing for me, I'm literally taking off starting Monday. Any chance you can come back then?" Hermione laughed.

"Yeah, sorry. I'm going to try and be more on top of filing things properly."

"And returning books?"

Hermione winced, "How bad was it?"

"Let's just say that you are not very much liked in the Ministry library right now. They're estimating a solid week to reshelve all of the books. Anyway, I heard that you finished the Harry Potter case. It's really nice that he gets to keep his family heirloom. To be honest, there were rumors that the Minister was going to let him keep it regardless. I mean, he gave up his family for the wizarding world the least we could do is let him keep his mother's charmed pendant."

"I couldn't agree with you more, Flora. That was why it took so long Unspeakable Croaker and I wanted to do the entire thing strictly by the book to ensure no one could take it away from him and the future. It took a ridiculously long time but I'm happy we got to get it back to Harry. He doesn't have anything from his parents."

"Nothing?" Hermione thought of the cloak that they used to hide under at Hogwarts causing mischief and breaking rules.

"Nothing," she smiled.

"Poor boy. Well, at least he'll have something now. You know my mother went to Hogwarts with Lily Evans and she says that Ginny Weasley is quite the doppelganger of the late witch."

Hermione leaned in, "Really? Your mother wouldn't have any pictures, would she? Harry would be ecstatic if he were able to get copies."

Flora leaned over her desk and pulled out a quill and a parchment. "I'll write to her and see if she can send me anything. She's a healer but she's off today so she should get back to me fairly quickly. I'll owl you?"

Hermione nodded. "Thank you and sorry for the work overload. I promise I'll be better."

Flora waved her hand dismissively, "Honestly, it's awfully boring here. I could use something to liven things up!"

Hermione thanked her once more and left the office. She opted to take the stairs, walking was good for digestion and it helped her think. A good ten minutes later, Hermione walked into her office excited about Narcissa's letter.

She sat in her chair and opened the letter scanning the contents quickly. She smiled and opened the Malfoy file in her desk. She set the books out on her desk and placing the letter inside as evidence of their approval for copies. She sent off a reply to Narcissa with her gratitude for the copies and began to work.

Making the copies was exhausting work and took hours. Just making copies took two seconds and Hermione could do it wandlessly, however, the older the book the more enchantments were on it that required bypassing. Every Malfoy book from the Malfoy library had no less than thirty-four charms and fourteen hexes a piece. Most were preserving in fashion, but several were nasty for thieves or creatures that might harm or steal the book.

Hermione was exhausted and thankful for two o'clock when she was ready to break for lunch. There was a break room for the department of mysteries and though she could count on one hand how many times she had been in there, she knew where to find it.

Hermione at her lunch in silence while reading the latest Potions Weekly and catching up on some of her memos. She sent responses but chucked most of them. There were a lot of retirement parties she had missed, she mused.

She finished her lunch, used the loo, and returned to her office. Hermione spent the rest of the day reading one of the Malfoy books she had not read already before Floo calling Narcissa Malfoy to set up a time the next day to pick up the books that had already passed inspection. Hermione reminded her about the paperwork that would need to be filled out and outlined the process so it would be easier for whoever picked the books up.

"Thank you. Draco will be in the Ministry tomorrow. Is it okay if he retrieves the books?"

"Of course, I look forward to seeing him at eleven. I shall let the Welcome witch know of his arrival."

"Thank you, Hermione, dearest. I really appreciate you expediting this."

"Honestly Mrs. Malfoy, it's been three years. I apologize on behalf of my department for the delay. This particular set of books only came to me several months ago, it seems they got lost in the shuffle with the other books."

Mrs. Malfoy waved her concerns away with a dainty wrist. "I appreciate your efforts nonetheless. I do hope the books made for interesting reading."

Hermione brightened. "They were most fascinating and if you haven't already I would suggest reading Fredric Broderdoub's book on Time Theory in the Past, Present, and Future first. It's a real page-turner."

Mrs. Malfoy chuckled. "I'll definitely give it a read. Thank you again, Unspeakable Granger."

"You're very welcome and again I apologize for the delay." Hermione ended the Floo call and glanced at the clock. It was just after five and Hermione was ready for her next challenge of the day.

She hurried home, stopping at the grocery store to pick up some vegetables and chicken for dinner the following night.

While the day held much promise, the night was failure after failure. Her dinner was fine, but that was the only thing that actually worked out for her. She was nowhere nearer to figuring out the wand movements and everything she tried only threw the equation completely off.

After bursting into tears of frustration, Hermione left the Project room and sealed it off for the night at only half past ten. She ate her dinner in the bath, avoiding bubbles and the one random rubber duck that Ron had left in her house. Why the Weasley's were obsessed with rubber ducks was beyond her.

Wrapping herself in a fluffy robe, she got into her bed wishing she was allowed to drink wine. Having your own special set of mental issues came with a lot of side effects, one of them being no alcoholic beverages. It made reunions or dinner's awkward when everyone was drinking and having a jolly old time, while Hermione sat quietly nursing a tea or a fizzy beverage.

The only person who didn't pressure her to drink was Harry and the Weasleys. They knew what Hermione had been through and worried more about her well-being than whether or not she was having fun at a holiday party. Ginny usually kept Hermione company, the witch was just as calm sober as she was drunk and if Hermione was honest she wasn't sure she could tell the difference between drunk Ginny and sober Ginny.

Hermione set her wand alarm before slipping into a deep sleep her mind filled with memories of Ginny beating her at chess even though she was stone drunk.