Chapter 7: What lies behind
27th of April 1981
Opening up to Dumbledore and the Prewett brothers was harder than Hermione had anticipated. It wasn't that she didn't trust them - she trusted Dumbledore and if he deemed them trustworthy, than that was saying something. But there was also the fact, that somehow her vow towards George had sent her back to them. She didn't know the reason for it, but she assumed that it was to safe them. Somehow those two were important in the whole picture. And Hermione hoped that this also meant they were trustworthy. Fabian and Gideon were Molly's brothers after all and Ron's and George's uncles. That must count for something, right?
"I am a time traveller," she finally started and looked at the three of them with searching eyes. This time the twins and Dumbledore had positioned themselves across from her on the desk. The headmaster looked back at her calmly, whereas the other two stared back at her with wide eyes. But none of them interrupted her. "I am from the year 1999, a time where Voldemort is dead, but it took until 1998 to finally take him down. You can imagine that the price we payed was devastating."
She swallowed heavily and tried to keep herself composed, but it was hard. Everything she had bottled up during the last year, all the grieve, the helplessness and the frustration, were starting to creep on the surface again. "So many people died, I won't tell you any names, but the war has destroyed so many families and my generation suffered."
At that Dumbledore nodded gravely. "I never deemed it possible that this war would drag on for that long," he said and looked at her with sad eyes. "Not when it is already as bad as it is." Fabian and Gideon nodded in agreeance.
"It is… complicated and I am not sure how much about that I should tell you. At least not until I have decided what I should do. You see, I don't know how exactly I was send back. I was visiting George, George Weasley. He is a good friend of mine. His family suffered badly and he… wasn't in a good place," Hermione formulated carefully in the hope she didn't say too much. "I… kind of made a vow to him. I promised that I would help him, well, him and his family. I didn't know how, but at that moment I also didn't care what I had to do. It was all so unfair and I simply couldn't stand back any longer and watch… I don't know what happened afterwards, but the next thing I remember was appearing at your street in this time…" She trailed off insecurely and looked at Fabian and Gideon with wide eyes. "Maybe it is because you are related to him, or maybe it is because of the watch he has given me just moments before…"
"Watch?" Fabian and Gideon asked in unison and looked at her questioningly. Hermione nodded and gently took George's watch from her wrist and gently placed it on the table.
Gideon gasped. "This is mine," he said before carefully touching it with his fingertips. "And you said my nephew gave it to you? Why? Why didn't I have it?"
Hermione swallowed heavily and looked at him with sad eyes. "I can't tell you, sorry."
He nodded grimly. "You don't have to. Dumbledore did so already. He said we owe you a life depth. We… we should have died back there, didn't we?"
But Hermione didn't budge. "Maybe. Maybe not. It's not important." She shrugged. But just as she wanted to continue, Fabian leaped from his chair and stared at her with hard eyes.
"Not important?" he shouted at her. "We are talking about my life here, our life!"
But Hermione stared back at him unflinchingly. "Exactly. We are talking about your life, not death. Because you are alive and it doesn't matter what could have happened, because it didn't. And just to make sure: the two of you don't owe me a thing."
Dumbledore's eyes twitched at that, but he smiled at her kindly. "Very well Miss Granger. Now we know how you stumbled into this world. The big question is: what do you intend to do?"
She sighed heavily. "Seriously? I don't know, yet. I made a vow towards George and I intend to keep it. But for that I'll have to change history and you can imagine that this is a complex and dangerous thing. I know what has to be done, but I don't know how to go about it."
She looked at her professor seriously and he smiled back at her sadly. "I see," he said and took a long sip from his cup. "I understand that your vow to your friend sent you back in time for a certain reason, which is quite remarkable I might add. But know, that it's a dangerous thing to meddle with time. Bad things have happened to people who did."
Hermione nodded with a sad look in her eyes. "I know. But that's a price I am willing to pay. I don't know if you can imagine how bad it was, but no matter what I do, I can't make it much worse. I know how to kill him, Voldemort that is, and I intent to do everything in my power to help bring him down before he destroys the lives of my friends."
"We'll help you," the Prewett twins swore and jumped from their seats. Hermione looked at them with a thankful smile.
Dumbledore sighed and looked at her worriedly. "I understand what you are trying to do Miss Granger, but I can't help being worried about you. I don't doubt that with your help things might turn out much better for our side but I am not sure if you really understand, what fate you are submitting yourself to. There might never be a way back for you, or the world you might find at your return might have changed beyond recognition. You might even erase yourself from time, it's impossible to predict. Are you really willing to risk that?"
Hermione thought about it carefully. Dumbledore was a great wizard and without a doubt very well educated in a majority of topics. He was the most reliable source of knowledge available to her at the moment and she would have to trust his judgement, which meant, that any of the outcomes he described to her were possible. And they were all rather unsettling. But Hermione Granger was no coward and she loved her friends more than anything else in the world. "I am," she finally said and looked at him proudly. "The question is: are you going to help me? Because I would rather not go against him alone and I definitely don't want you as an enemy."
He looked at her for a long moment. The twinkle in his eyes was long gone. "I will not work against you, Miss Granger, because as much as it pains me seeing you meddle with time, it is your fate and your life that is in line and it is your right to decide if you want to risk it. There might even be things I can help you with, safely. But that depends what we are dealing with. So tell me Miss Granger: what do you intent to do?"
Hermione looked at the three of them with eyes full of determination. "I am going to hunt horcruxes, five of them to be precise."
The professor gasped, whereas the other two looked at her cluelessly. "Horcruxes?" Gideon asked confusedly. "What's that?"
Dumbledore sighed tiredly. "They are the product of the darkest kind of magic. One has to split his soul and store a piece of it in an object of your choosing. This way you make said object a horcrux. As long as the horcrux exists, the person cannot die, even if her body is killed."
Hermione nodded in agreeance. "It's difficult to destroy these objects though. We only found that basilisk venom and fiendfire work for it. Maybe there's more but we haven't found anything else."
Dumbledore nodded. "And he made five you said? That is indeed very dark news."
Hermione smiled darkly. "It depends on the perspective. In my time he's made seven."
"Seven?" Fabian shouted and looked at her with wide eyes. "And you've all destroyed them? Merlin!"
"I had help," she confessed and looked at her professor meaningfully. "But I am positive, that we can deal with some of them much easier this time around, because I know where they are."
Dumbledore nodded in resignation. "Very well Miss Granger. I see you have made up your mind. I can only hope that you won't regret your decision one day."
Hermione nodded. "So do I."
9th of September 1999
This night Hermione was haunted by dreams of the past and when she woke up in the morning she remembered her first meeting with Dumbledore in 1981. The memory left her shaken to the core because the old wizard had been right in his estimation which price she would have to pay. Back then she hadn't considered that she would pay the price for the rest of her life and that it might hurt her every day to do so. What good was it to safe her friends, if they couldn't even remember, who had saved them nor that they had needed saving? Because Hermione Granger was paying the price and she would be doing it in silence.
"Morning sunshine," Fabian greeted her when she finally dragged herself down into the kitchen. He was already busy working behind the kitchen counter and chopping fruit for their breakfast. But Hermione just mumbled a greeting towards him and threw herself on one of the kitchen chairs.
"Bad night?" he asked and after a moment he levitated a cup of hot coffee into her direction. It landed perfectly in front of her on the table.
She groaned. "You can say that. The meeting with Dumbledore yesterday triggered some memories from my time in the past. I remembered our first meeting with Dumbledore."
"I see," he said neutrally and a moment later he lowered himself on the chair to her left, after putting a big plate with sliced fruit in front of them. But Hermione wasn't really hungry, her stomach was still in tight knots.
"He was right, you know?" Hermione said and looked at her cup unhappily. "When he was talking about the possible consequences, I mean."
Fabian sighed, before taking a sip from his own cup. "Do you regret it Hermione? Would you change your decision if you could go back?"
She swallowed heavily. "I don't know Fabian. First I have to see it, I guess. I need to see what I changed, whom I saved. Is there really nobody that can remember me? I mean, George calls me his aunty now, can you imagine how weird this feels?" She groaned in exasperation and finally took a sip from her coffee. Usually she stuck to tea, but as she took a sip from the dark beverage, it was exactly what she needed. It tasted perfect, strong but sweet at the same time.
The man next to her smiled. "I can only imagine how difficult it must be for you. If there is anything I can do for you, just tell me. I am your friend Hermione, even if you might not remember it right now."
At that she smiled and her heart suddenly didn't feel as heavy as it had a moment ago. "That would be great, thank you. I could really use a friend right now." With that she shyly leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed contently. Fabian didn't move or say anything, but he also didn't stiffen or seem uncomfortable, so she guessed he didn't mind.
"Do you think it would be possible to meet some people?" she finally asked him after they had sat contently for a while. "Or to visite some places? Because, no matter if I like it or not, I need to get to know this world I am supposed to be living in now."
He grinned at her boyishly. "That actually sounds like fun. Tell me sunshine, what did you have in mind?"