Chapter 22
Older Hermione, Doomed

Still Friday, 1st November, afternoon
Still at the Hogwarts courtyard cemetery

Thanatos said to Hermione, "Usually when a mortal calls for me, it's either to ask me to kill them painlessly, or to ask me to bring someone else back to life."

Hermione replied, "No, I'm asking for neither of those."

Hermione took a deep breath and continued, "Harry and I are soulmates; but we can never be equal. He is seventeen in his head, veteran of a war, he fought Voldemort, he fought Death Eaters—he died! And what am I? A twelve-year-old girl whose worst moments were being bullied in primary school and by two witches. Oh, I also killed a troll with magic—but that was a sneak attack; I didn't feel in danger."

Thanatos said, "You see Harry as a man in a boy's body, whilst you see yourself as a child."

"Yes. What I'm asking of you, Thanatos sir: Somehow you give me the memories of Harry's Hermione, the eighteen-year-old me who fought alongside Harry and watched him be killed by Voldemort. Without my older self's memories, I'll always be Harry's cherished younger sister, not his True Love."

Harry said, "One problem with this, 'Mione: You were potioned nonstop beginning the summer after fourth year. Between June 1996 and May 1998, your memories of books, events and most people will be good, but your remembered attitudes towards some people will be wrong. Especially towards Ron Weasley."

Hermione was confused. "Bilious? What attitude did I have towards Bilious?"

Harry looked down. The boy whom Hermione had known always to be bursting with confidence, now had slumped shoulders and showed no confidence at all. "Beginning the summer of 1996, you wanted to marry Ron and to have his babies. And if I hadn't died, I would've let you."

"I don't understand. Even with you telling me I was potioned, I don't understand. How could I want to marry Bilious when you and I were soulmates? How could I kiss you, then want to kiss him?"

"The thing is, in that life, you and I never kissed. We never knew we were soulmates. I loved you, but I never realised I was in love with you. And Dumbledore, Molly, Ron and Ginny made sure that my realisation never happened; or that if I did realise what I felt about you, I'd never speak up. By May of 1998, the message had been pounded into my head, again and again: I didn't deserve any good thing I wanted, and I especially didn't deserve any good thing that my 'best mate' also wanted."

Right now, Harry looked miserable, and completely lacking in confidence. Hermione hugged him, but his mood did not improve.

Thanatos explained to Hermione, "You two have something quite rare and quite beautiful—it's like seeing a cut diamond the size of your palm. But the four evil people that Harry James Potter mentioned, in his previous lifetime, those four people destroyed this rare and beautiful thing. They chopped up the giant diamond to make diamond dust for phonograph needles. Had Harry not died, the evildoers' plan was for each of you to become the devoted spouse of a loathsome redhead."

Then Thanatos said to Hermione, "I cannot give you what you ask—"

Harry said, "Hermione fiercely wants this. Let me sweeten the deal. I'll return the Resurrection Stone and the Elder Wand to you if it means you copying those memories to Hermione."

The male skeleton who was holding the scythe, threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, sweet irony! The one magical person ever to become Master of Death is someone who never sought the post. Hermione Jean Granger, treasure this man. Harry James Potter, your parents died partly because Albus Dumbledore tricked your father into 'loaning' him the Invisibility Cloak, because Albus Dumbledore was so keen to collect the three Deathly Hallows. Yet you would give away the other two Hallows without my even asking—amazing!"

Harry shrugged. "The other two Hallows each are dangerous to a man's soul. Wizardkind is better off without them. Anyway, do we have a deal?"

"You misunderstand me, Harry James Potter. I say that I cannot do what your soulmate wants, not because I'm unwilling, but because I lack those powers. I see a possible way to give Hermione Granger what she asks, but I cannot guarantee success. Do you still offer me two of the three Deathly Hallows?"

"Yes, take them."

Greyclay was summoned, then was sent off to fetch the Gaunt ring, which had the Resurrection Stone mounted on it, and to fetch the Elder Wand. As soon as these two items were handed to Thanatos, they disappeared. Greyclay was sent home.

Harry and Hermione looked at Thanatos expectantly.

One second later

Thanatos spoke in a formal voice: "I call for Chrone," pronounced KROA-nay.

A woman soundlessly appeared next to Thanatos. She was wearing a robe, and a pulled-up cowl rested on her head. In her left hand she held a big hourglass; it was a foot and a half tall.

As Hermione watched, the woman's robe and cowl changed colour: white when she appeared, shifting to pink, then green, then yellow. The yellow clothing shifted to white, and the cycle repeated, again and again.

When Chrone appeared, she had the face and hands of a bride: smooth and unmarked skin on her hands, smooth skin on her face and red hair coloured like the Weasley Twins' hair. Then Chrone swiftly aged: wrinkles appeared, then more wrinkles appeared, as the skin on her face sagged. Her skin turned pale, whilst liver spots appeared on her hands. Red hairs became grey—only a few grey hairs at first, then more and more. At the end, Chrone was a crone. But then the process reversed: liver spots disappeared one by one, wrinkles disappeared, skin tightened up and became ruddier and smoother, whilst grey hairs became red. About a minute after Chrone looked like a crone, she looked like a bride. Then Chrone began to age again.

Meanwhile, Thanatos and Chrone were conversing; Hermione could not begin to guess what language they were speaking.

Eventually Chrone looked at Hermione and said, "Thanatos and I together can achieve what you seek."

As Hermione sighed in relief, Chrone said to Harry, "Come here, time-traveller, and lay your hand on top of the hourglass."

When Harry did so, a horizontal blue circle surrounded Thanatos and Chrone, and Harry and Hermione.

Then the sun in the sky began to move eastward.

The sun's movement quickly accelerated, till within a minute (speaking subjectively), the sun was racing across the sky from west to east, and nights lasted less than a minute.

Suddenly the sun's movement slowed. When the sun stopped moving, it was low in the eastern sky.

Chrone announced, "Now the date is 23rd July, 1991, and the time is 6:35 a.m.—this is the beginning of this timeline."

The blue circle that surrounded the four beings, changed colour to purple. Chrone explained, "I have changed timelines—this is the timeline that the time-traveller lived through in his previous lifetime."

Hermione asked, "His 'previous' lifetime, not his 'other' lifetime?"

Thanatos answered, "Harry Potter has died six times previously. He remembers only his sixth lifetime."

Chrone said, "Time-traveller, please remove your hand from the hourglass. Thanatos, please place your hand on the hourglass."

Now the sun moved from east to west, faster and faster. Soon the sun was moving so quickly that it was an east-west yellow, bright band across the sky—a yellow, bright band that moved northward and southward. When the yellow band was most northward, Hermione saw green grass and the trees were full of green leaves. When the yellow band was most southward, the trees were bare and snow covered the ground.

Not quite seven times did the bright band cycle between moving northward and moving southward, then the sun's movement slowed. After a two-minute night, the sun slowly rose; then the sun stopped before it even had cleared the eastern horizon.

Chrone announced, "The date is 2nd May 1998. The time is 37.83659 seconds after 5:26 a.m."

Harry said, "This looks familiar."

Hermione had been so fascinated by the movement of the sun that she had paid no attention to her surroundings. When she looked about, she gasped in horror.

Surrounding the four beings within their purple circle were rubble and corpses. Some of the corpses were children in Hogwarts robes. When Hermione turned about to look at the castle, she saw that the wall facing her had cracks in the wall and showed scorch marks, whilst chunks of the wall were missing.

Yet for all the destruction that Hermione was seeing, she realised that she was hearing no sound at all. She felt no wind.

Chrone asked Hermione, "Are you ready to meet your older self?"

Hermione nodded, too shocked by ruined Hogwarts to speak.

The four beings within the purple circle did not rise up; rather, they stayed in place but the ground dropped from beneath their feet. The four did not fly across the ground; rather, the ground moved underneath them, like a treadmill belt. Then the ground underneath their feet rotated itself. After all this, the ground stopped moving and rose up to meet their feet.

The ground between the Quidditch pitch and the castle had become a battleground.

Two feet outside the purple circle stood Older Hermione, age eighteen. Statue-still Older Hermione was facing the four beings inside the purple circle, but her eyes were looking at something in the distance. Older Hermione was pointing her wand at whomever she was looking at.

Young Hermione looked about, and was horrified. A giant snake, time-frozen, was biting screaming Professor Vector. On the ground, near a crater, a young's man's hand held a ruby-jewelled sword. Ten feet away lay Neville's head; his neck ended in red hamburger.

Hagrid lay on the ground; the right side of his head, and his right shoulder, had been cut away. Hagrid's arms were wrapped around a boy who looked like young Hermione's soulmate—and yet he did not. Dead Harry Potter was older—he had beard-stubble—and had a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead and wore round glasses. Young Hermione was reminded of the covers of those Harry Potter books written by Roy Locke. Older Harry's corpse was unmarked, so young Hermione felt he should be breathing—but he did not breathe, and his eyes stared blankly. Near the corpses of Hagrid and Older Harry, a strip of blackened grass was covered with time-frozen flames.

Bilious's limp body lay crumpled at Older Hermione's feet.

Near Older Hermione, a girl of about seventeen with long blond hair and grey eyes, whom young Hermione did not recognise, was dueling a Death Eater. Oddly, the girl's expression was serene.

Young Hermione turned to look where Older Hermione was looking. Young Hermione saw twenty feet away, a barefoot man wearing black robes. He had no hair, he had black slits in his face instead of a nose, and his eyes were scarlet red. Older Hermione's blue spell was being dispersed by an invisible shield in front of the man; but not waiting, he was shooting a time-frozen green spell back at Older Hermione.

"Who is that?" young Hermione asked alive Harry.

"That is 'Lord' Voldemort, also known as Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was resurrected not quite three years ago."

"Green means a death-spell, right? So he's about to kill my older self."

Harry said, "It won't be Voldy who kills you. Look."

Harry pointed at a time-frozen Death Eater, whose wand was pointed at Older Hermione. Three feet away from Older Hermione, a green streak floated, time-frozen, in the air. Older Hermione was so focussed on fighting Voldemort that she seemed unaware of this more immediate danger.

Harry commented, "Older you has about half a second more to live, then she's dead, like everyone here but Luna."

Thanatos said, "Indeed. Normally I don't have authority over a living person; but I've authority over your older self because she's doomed to die. All death is a waste, so I'm glad that her death won't be a waste. Are you ready to receive her memories?"

Young Hermione nodded eagerly.

Thanatos laid his scythe on the ground, within the purple circle. Then one fleshless hand reached over and touched the forehead of Older Hermione, whilst the other hand (fleshless and cold) touched young Hermione's forehead.

Memories poured into young Hermione's brain, from a girl who was almost the same as Hermione herself, but not quite. Minutes passed, as young Hermione was firehosed with Older Hermione's memories.

Some unknown time after the memory-transfer began, young Hermione remembered seeing Harry drop dead after being hit by Voldemort's Avada Kedavra spell, seconds before dawn today. Soon afterwards, young Hermione fainted.

Harry caught suddenly limp Hermione and lowered her to the ground within the purple circle, as Thanatos picked up his scythe.

Harry looked at Thanatos and Chrone. "Do either of you know the immediate future? Just how badly did the Light lose here?"

Thanatos replied, " 'Flight-from-Death' is nine minutes and three seconds from formal victory, when Minerva McGonagall surrenders. However, fourteen seconds after Minerva McGonagall's surrender, this entire battlefield, including Voldemort, his horcruxed snake and Hogwarts Castle, all will be vaporised by a Royal Air Force tactical nuclear missile. The missile will be launched because Queen Elizabeth declared the Treaty of Magical Separation to be broken. Marked Death Eaters, including Cornelius Fudge and Dolores Umbridge, either will die on the battlefield when they are nuked, or will die where they stand when Voldemort is nuked. The British Army will seize the Ministry of Magic. In the weeks after this, unmarked Death Eaters will be tracked down and will be burnt at the stake. Wizarding Britain will stop being separate from nonmagical Britain, and dark-magic wizards will be made to suffer."

Harry said, "And all this death and suffering is my fault."

Four hours later (subjectively) on the time-frozen battlefield

No time had passed on the time-frozen battlefield; Older Hermione still was about a half-second from being hit by that Death Eater's Killing Curse whilst she duelled Voldemort.

Young Hermione had been lying limp in Harry's arms; now she gasped and sat up. She whirled around and stared into Harry's face. "Harry! You're alive! But young? Where's your scar? Wait..."

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

Hermione paused, frowning. "Confused. I met you in Flourish and Blotts, and I met you on the firstie train. The first thing I did after I met you was to repair your glasses—but you've never worn glasses for as long as I've known you. And when I met you, Ron Weasley was already your friend—aggh, that Ronald!"

Harry blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

Hermione was furious. "When we get back, Ron Weasley—Bilious—will get pranked within an inch of his life! After I was potioned, about once a week he'd feel up my boobs! And I let him!"

Then Hermione glanced over at time-frozen Older Hermione. "At least I'll have a nice set when I'm older. I've worried about that."

Chrone said, "It's time for us to leave."

Harry turned to face Older Hermione. "Goodbye, my love. I'm sorry that I never knew my heart well enough to call you this before I died."

Chrone did her inertia-less travel trick and carried herself, Thanatos, Harry and Hermione back to the courtyard cemetery.

Chrone travelled back in time, to 6:35 a.m. on 23 July 1991, then the purple circle round the four beings turned blue. Meaning, Chrone and the other three were back on the new timeline.

More slowly, Chrone moved forward in time, to the afternoon of 1st November 1991. Specifically, so Chrone explained, "I've brought us to a thousandth of a second after we began time-travel. No observers will notice that we four actually disappeared from here, when it was only for a thousandth of a second."

Minutes later, back in the castle

After the two double-memories children spoke their thanks and goodbyes to Thanatos and to Chrone, Hermione all but dragged Harry through the castle and up the stairs to the Room of Requirement.

Once the door was shut, Hermione put her arms around Harry's neck. "You've been blaming yourself for Dolohov hurting me at the Department of Mysteries, haven't you?"

"Oh god, Hermione, I'm so sorry! I was so stupid—"

"Harry," Hermione said gently, "be quiet."

Then she snogged Harry like she meant it. Because she did—she meant all the kisses, every one.

When Hermione broke the last kiss, she said, "In case I wasn't clear, Harry: I forgive you, because I love you."