Entering the old headmasters office only a day after the war gave Hermione a lot of different feelings that she didn't have time to ponder. It was only yesterday that she and her friends had fought against the darkest wizards Britain had seen in many lifetimes. It was still difficult to look at the building that had such good and bad memories all wrapped into one.
Hermione would not have come here if it wasn't for the strange feeling she got looking around the old office yesterday. She saw something and for some reason she felt she needed to look into it, afraid it was calling her name. Yesterday screams, crying, spells, and death could be seen, heard, and felt all around the school. Still having trauma to uncover, and deal with, Hermione couldn't believe she found herself back in the building.
"So stupid," she muttered to herself angrily. She still had not stepped out of the entryway of the door leading to the office. It had taken her an hour to just make it from the gates to this office. It felt like every corner she turned had held a brutal memory for her to relive. All the rubble and dust made the building not feel like the same place she had grown up in. Not the building she first understood who she really was and where she first fell in love with magic.
"Ahh Miss Granger, what do we owe for the pleasure of your visit. I was not expecting anyone to be making their way to this office after you and your friends left yesterday. What did Harry end up doing with the deathly hallows? Such a large amount of power has not been in the possession of one person since their creation, I wonder if he knows." Hermione looked up from the entryway to see her old Headmaster smiling down at her from his portrait on the wall. It was amazing that the painter of the headmaster was able to paint the sparkle in his eyes, though maybe that was just the essence of the headmaster after all. Looking around it was easy to see that most of the portraits that hung on the wall were abandoned, something that went unnoticed yesterday.
"Hello Professor Dumbledore," Hermione responded, "I was not expecting to see you again so soon but something caught my eye yesterday and I wasn't able to get it out of my mind." Dumbledore got a slightly worried look on his face. It would have been easy to think the headmaster was concerned about his many priceless items. The room was left, mostly, undisturbed from the battle and it was still scattered with the many possessions Dumbledore had collected throughout his long lifetime. Thinking back it should have been easy to note that Snape was a traitor because he didn't throw out or destroy any of his mentors old things. Looking around Hermione believed that he may have even moved some of the portraits around to have a better view of his late mentor while sitting at the desk.
"Surely there is nothing of great importance that can be found in this room. It's just the space of an old man looking for a way to end a war. Nothing to worry about now thanks to you and your friends. Go, you should be with them now more than ever." Dumbledore had always been a smart man and he still was one even now in death. He knew exactly what the young girl had seen yesterday because he was a smart man.
Around the room were trinkets that the old headmaster had picked up from his many journeys. Odds and ends he cherished. However, most of the things around this room were items that had once been helpful to him and his overall goal. Items that helped in large and small ways in ending the war. Most used were ways to destroy the seven horcurx Voldemort had created. Items used to help Harry in his destiny of destroying the Dark Lord, no matter what. However, for Dumbledore was a smart man, he was always trying to find backup plans incase his plan for Harry and the prophecy failed.
That's why in his bookshelf off to the left of his desk next to the showcase that displayed the sorting hat Dumbledore had kept his own journal. Dumbledore had many journals but this black leather lined journal looked similar to Tom's old destroyed journal. It was why he had decided to use it for this particular task in the first place. It was a one hundred page journal he now realized he stupidly titled "Plan B to destroying Riddle". At the time of naming it he thought the title was a funny inside joke with himself. A way to make light of an incredibly dark situation.
"Professor, I do believe you know exactly what I'm here for," Hermione replied both smartly and with respect to the old man. He watched in dread as the young women walked over to the bookshelf and plucked the book right off the shelf. 'Damn it,' he thought, 'I should not have placed that book there when I was alive. Snape should have hid it when he was headmaster. He knew others could have found it. I'll have to talk to with him when his portrait gets here.'
"Dear Hermione you don't need that book anymore. Harry has already defeated Voldemort. There is no reason to relive your trauma. You should be with your friends, trying to move on," he pleaded to her. Hermione, however, did not listen for a second. For she had always thought the headmaster placed to much responsibility on Harry, Ron, and herself. Who put the future of the wizarding world on a bunch of kids using cryptic, non-specific clues?
Book in hand she walked over to the headmasters desk, sat down, and started reading. Opening the book she saw the headmasters handwriting on the table of contents. Reading the journal she saw three ideas he had for saving the wizarding war. It was the third one that caught her eye immediately. Right after the number three there were two words: Hermione Grander followed by a question mark. Immediately skipping ahead to the third written section of the book she read.
Option 3: Hermione Granger?
Notes: This plan is definitely the one that is most likely to work if needed to be executed. It is also the one most likely to go wrong.
Professor Trelawney was given the herb I found in the dessert of Egypt that flowered under the full moon. It was mentioned in one journal found while traveling with Grindelwald. It was a forgotten journal until reminiscing about old times. It was rumored to possibly allow a person to influence a seer in the direction the listener was looking for. When asked for a prophecy about Voldemort, when specifically asking for something not needing Harry, she said this:
The one that wants control
Said to be born without a soul
Has one chance to find the one
But born in that era there were none
When love is found and given
The dark soul is not driven
When no evil plans are made
The chosen one will never need to aid
The journey to find a love that's true
Will not be an easy one to go through
How to ignore blood is a mystery
As well as traveling through history
Both are smart and strong
Both needing to feel they belong
When she travels through the past
A peaceful world will last
I believe that this person may be Hermione Granger. She is best friends with Harry and the love they share is pure. Harry and Tom, though different, are also very similar. And the ways that they are different, besides the anger Tom often feels, Hermione and Tom are similar.
I have created a special time turner that could send someone back to Tom's sixth year. It in turns makes them his age as well, while keeping all their original memories besides the prophecy which I have cursed to be forgotten. They will just know they are there for an important task. I've placed it in the bottom left drawer of my desk. I believe if Harry fails from his final confrontation with Voldemort I will have to tell Hermione that it may be her destiny. I pray this never has to occur for meddling with time can be extremely dangerous.
Hermione looked up from reading the passage. Her angry brown eyes burned with fire when her gaze landed on the portrait. "Hermione, please, don't be mad. I never wanted to tell you and I'm glad you didn't have to use this method. Anyway I only believed it was you, I never knew for sure." Dumbledore pleaded trying to placate the furious witch.
"You had a way to save hundreds of wizard and muggle lives and you didn't use it. You had a way to spare Harry the life you provided him. You had a way from saving him losing his parents. You had a way to save Voldemort's soul and you didn't use it!" Dumbledore looked shocked at hearing her rant. He never would have thought not sending her back would be what made her angry.
"I saved you from a life of living with Tom. You should be thanking me for not making you go back for the greater good. I loved Harry like the son I never had. You think I didn't want to save him. He was the better option. I wasn't even sure this method would work in the first place. Meddling with the time line is never a sure thing." He was angry as well.
Hermione couldn't care less about what he thought. She was angry. He didn't live through the final battle. He had no idea of the people she saw die, the images she saw repeating in her head right now. Without thinking, ignoring Dumbledore's shouts of protest, she goes into the bottom drawer of the desk. She grabs the golden time turner, this one slightly bigger than the one she had in her third year. She put it around her neck and felt the pull behind her navel.
Pain. All she felt was pain. Like she was being squished down a one inch tube one singular cell at a time. It felt like the minutes of horrendous pain were dragging on and would never stop. 'God I wish this would end,' she thought in pain.
Suddenly, she landed hard on stone floor. Disoriented and with residual pain she tried to open her eyes. Fluttering open she looked into the most handsome face she had ever seen.
"Who are you?" She heard the face say dangerously before passing out.