Chapter One

Amidst The Battle

Ginny Weasley ran over to her companion, ignoring the spells and shouts of the Death Eaters. She smoothly pulled a Pepper-Up potion from her sleeve and forced it down her friend's throat. She could feel a Death Eater coming up behind her, and before he could blink, she had turned around and hit him with a stunner. She glanced at him for a split second before dragging her companion forcefully away from the scene. She ducked behind one of the few statues still standing, and laid her friend's head on her lap. She watched as her friend groggily woke up, unharmed but magically exhausted. If not for the Pepper-Up, it would have been a while until she woke.

"Ginny..." Hermione Granger mumbled, her voice weak and her throat hoarse and scratchy.

"Shh," Ginny shushed, while pulling a Time Turner from her sleeve.

"H-how?" Hermione croaked.

"Shh!" Ginny hissed, and started turning the knobs on the Time Turner. Just as she had turned the last knob, she grabbed onto Hermione's arm with a death grip.

The sounds of the battle slowly faded and were replaced by a forceful wind. The two girls held onto each other, watching greyness swirl around them for a while. It felt as if they were there for an eternity, just the sounds of the wind and the grey around them, until everything turned black. They landed with a painful thump on a hard, dirt ground. Ginny rapidly assessed their surroundings, her eyes narrowed and looking over every detail. Satisfied with where they were, she turned her attention to her companion.

Hermione was still awake, but she was in no better state than she had been before at the battle. Ginny pulled a Pain Killing potion from her sleeve, and she thanked Merlin for making her think of stashing emergency potions. The Time Turner that she had previously used was gone, and there was no trace of it. She forced the potion down Hermione's throat, and she could see Hermione collapse in relief when the pain was relieved. She looked over her injuries with the eyes of a hawk, and started waving her wand above her body, using the healing spells that she was aware of.

Living in a house with brothers who were always getting injuries for some reason or other, she had a surprisingly broad knowledge of healing. She healed the cuts and scratches on her friend, and when she came across a gash on her friend's left shoulder, she pulled out another potion from her sleeve and gently applied it on the gash. Her friend didn't so much as wince, the Pain Killing potion still effective. When she came across MUDBLOOD carved on Hermione's arm, she put a quick concealing charm on it. Those types of cuts were not something that you could heal, and Ginny knew it.

She cast a cushioning charm on the ground underneath her friend and fumbled for her bottle. She groaned frustratedly when she realised that there wasn't much water left, but she sat Hermione up and helped her drink a few sips of water. When she spoke again, her voice was less hoarse.

"Ginny," she said, "where are we, when are we, how do you know so many healing spells, why do you have a stash of potions up your sleeve and since when and HOW IN THE WHOLE BLOODY WORLD DO YOU HAVE A TIME TURNER?!" by the end of the sentence her voice had turned into a croak again, because of her screaming.

Ginny helped her take a few more sips of water and tried to answer the questions to the best of ability.

"We're on the hill a few miles from The Burrow, the date is the first of June 1991, I have lots of brothers who get hurt all the time, I thought that an emergency stash of healing potions might be damn useful in the middle of a war, and that is a very long story."

"But Ginny, how have we travelled seven years in the past? That's theoretically impossible! Especially with a Time Turner, and all of them were destroyed a few years ago!" Hermione said, utterly confused.

Ginny, realizing that Hermione could sit on her own now, stopped helping her. Before answering Hermione's "question" she waved her wand over her own bloated ankle to heal the sprain, healed the various cuts on her, and took her own dose of Pepper-Up. She took a deep breath before attempting to explain their situation to Hermione.

"All of the Time Turners in the Ministry were destroyed, Hermione, but there was an Ancient and Noble house who had their own time turner. That house was, namely, The House Of Black – Hermione gasped – and their Time Turner possessed the ability to send people back multiple years. When we spent the summer at Grimmauld's Place, I found it in a secret nook behind the Black Family Tapestry. I didn't tell anyone about it, because younger me was thrilled to have a secret."

"And so you managed to keep it from being stolen, and then when you pulled me from the battle you decided that it would be a good time to go back in time?" Hermione asked.

Ginny shook her head. "I had been thinking about it for a while, and seeing lots of people I know die, I couldn't just stand there. I needed to do something, and to be able to stop the war before it kills anyone, we had to go back to when it all started."

"Namely, my first year?" Hermione asked.

"Yup."

"Wait-" Hermione said, "how do you not have a trace?"

"Dobby removed it when I was still at Hogwarts," Ginny said. "I also might've learned to apparate."

"How?!" Hermione said.

"Neville taught me," Ginny said. "I asked Dobby to make my apparating untraceable. I might've also asked him to make yours untraceable, and he just might've snuck into the tent while you slept and did it..."

"Ginny!" Hermione scolded her.

"Hermione, you know I had to do it. I couldn't just go around with the trace and if I ever had to apparate, I couldn't do it because I didn't have a license!" Ginny responded.

Hermione sighed resignedly, but went right back to her scolding voice. "Still, it was very irresponsible to go back in time! We could ruin the world! Create a time paradox! It's dangerous, Ginny!"

"You would have done the same thing, and you know it," Ginny said.

Hermione sighed. "Yes, I would've, but not in the middle of a battle. I would have made detailed plans, and done it carefully in a safe area. Oh, AND MAYBE I WOULD HAVE ASKED THE PERSON WHO I WANTED TO BRING IF THEY ACTUALLY WANTED TO GO?!"

Ginny gave her a pointed look, and Hermione knew that she couldn't stay mad at her for long.

"I actually have planned, Hermione. I already have a back story for us, and new identities. We'll be purebloods from Australia, but we were raised by our British Uncle, hence the accent or lack thereof. We come from the house of Nettle. I'm Lily Nettle, and you're Holly Nettle. Our Uncle decided to move back to Britain this year, and he told us about Hogwarts, something that he had heard of from family friends, but he never went there because he was privately tutored. The family's origin is from Australia though, so no one would recognize Nettle, but people wouldn't be prejudiced against us."

"That's surprisingly well thought out, Gin," Hermione said, rather impressed.

"I've already planned on how you're going to look like as well," Ginny said, grinning. She and Hermione stood up and Ginny drew her wand, facing Hermione. She did various glamour charms, and the final result was this:

Holly Nettle had long, wavy, dark brown hair and it was loose over her back, thick waves glimmering in the sunlight. She had dark green eyes, rather similar to Harry's, but still distinctly different so they couldn't be related. Instead of her previous wear, she wore a light blue dress with small black shoes. She had also become a lot shorter, and she now looked rather like an eleven-year-old. Ginny had done her best to conceal the pain in her eyes, and she had done a rather good job, if she may say so herself. She had also made sure that the scar on Hermione's arm had stayed concealed.

Ginny summoned a mirror and held it in front of the new Holly. Holly gasped. She had never been this beautiful before.

"You look wonderful, Holly," Ginny said, smiling.

Holly turned to her with an evil grin, clearly saying that it was her turn now. Ginny gulped and closed her eyes as Holly waved her wand over her. The results Holly received were this:

Lily Nettle had dark, wavy, auburn-coloured hair, darker than Ginny's and as long as Holly's, and it hung loosely over her back. She had the same outfit as Holly, but her dress was a lilac colour instead. She had also grown considerably shorter, and looked like a typical eleven-year-old, if a bit less naïve. The pain had been expertly disguised from her eyes, and despite the name and appearance, she didn't actually look that much like Lily Evans (Potter).

Holly handed the mirror that Lily had given to her before and held it in front of Lily. Lily smiled. "I look absolutely wonderful, and the lilac goes well with the hair."

Holly smiled at her, and the two girls wrapped each other in a hug, seeking warmth and comfort from the other. They had been hurt and torn by war, but they were still going strong and weren't going to give up. They would continue fighting for what they believed in and those they loved until the day they died. Previously Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley were now Holly Nettle and Lily Nettle; and they were ready for the fight. They were ready to stop the war and stop the destruction of everyone they cared about. They would fight forever, until the day they died.

The two girls pulled apart slowly, and they smiled at each other. Holly waved her wand over Lily and transformed her once again, this time into an average, boring person, that looked to be about thirty years old. Lily transformed Holly into something similar, saddened to see the happy eleven-year-old go.

"Should we find a room at the Leaky, then?" Aubree Smith (Holly) asked.

"Sure. The sooner we can go back to being Holly and Lily, the better. But it wouldn't work with our story if we just turned up at the Leaky alone as children," Carla Smith (Lily) sighed wistfully.

They linked hands and apparated in front of the Leaky Cauldron. They went inside, still holding hands, and approached Tom.

"Hello, sir," Aubree Smith said politely, "could we please request a room for 3 months?"

Tom looked surprised. He had never had guests staying for that long before.

"Double bed or separate beds?" Tom asked cheerfully, as it was standard procedure.

"Separate beds, please," Carla Smith said.

Tom nodded. "Your names, please?"

"Aubree and Carla Smith," Aubree said.

"Room 23. You can pay at the end of your visit. Breakfast starts at 6:00 every morning and ends at 9:00. It's included in your stay, but you'll have to order lunch and dinner separately. Have a nice time," Tom said.

The two women nodded and went up the rickety staircase to their new room. Carla's eyes assessed the room, looking for potential hiding or escape spots. Aubree opened a beaded bag and pulled out various magic books, placing them on the bed.

"These are rare now, Lily," Holly said. "They might not even be written yet!"

"Make sure to not read any of them in public, then," Lily said, coming over to Holly. "Personally, I'm tired and I want to go to bed."

The two women relaxed and the toll of the battle came crashing down on them. They were tired and hungry. They both climbed into bed without changing, and snoozed off peacefully, wands never leaving their hands.

Author's Note: I don't own Harry Potter!

If you like this, please tell me! If you don't tell me anyways. Reviews are greatly appreciated!

Any ideas for pairings that won't interfere with the canon ending?

Cheers,

Casssandra.