THE TIME-TURNER
by chipped purple nail polish
this update: April 23rd, 2007
a/n: I will try to update after every three-five reviews or so. Thank you for all the reviews so far!
Chapter Two
Hermione wrenched open her bag, spilling its contents onto her bed. The silvery invisibility cloak, which looked as though it was made out of water as opposed to cloth, opened, revealing the tarnished gold of the Time-Turner. Hermione quickly opened her trunk, and pulled everything she believed she would need out of it; her cauldron, basic ingredients for potions, a spell-book, all of the letters she had received for Ron and Harry, and the majority of her clothes. She pulled all of her textbooks, quills, and parchment from her bag and shoved everything inside it, except for the invisibility cloak and the Time-Turner. Closing her bag, Hermione took a deep breath before slinging the cloak across her shoulders. It took a moment for her to realize her hands were shaking.
She recalled Professor McGonagall's warnings from third year, that you cannot be seen or caught by anyone who would suspect anything, and especially not by your own self. But it was the last warning McGonagall had uttered, that had torn at her very heart since she had made her decision. "Never go too far back, Ms. Granger, or you may never catch up with the present. You'll be stuck in the past. By the time you catch up, you will be old and unrecognizable."
Hermione had always been sure not to go too far behind, but she knew now of the terrible risk she was taking. The Time-Turner only escorted her to the past, but it did not take her into the future.
If it was Harry, she thought fiercely, he wouldn't even think about it.
This knowledge in mind, Hermione used a simple charm to make her bag pocket-sized with her wand, and then, wrapping the Time-Turner around her neck, calculated the amount of turns she would need. Noticing a small switch at the top, where it currently pointed away from "h" and "d" and towards "y", Hermione wagered she'd need about fifty turns. Sighing, she began turning and turning and turning, counting under her breath...
12...13...14...
There was no going back now. She had already pulled the trigger...
27...28...29...
What if she died killing Voldemort? Would Harry and Ron know how it happened? Or what if they just thought she had disappeared?
34...35...36...
Would she attend Hogwarts, as a student? What would she tell the headmaster, Armando Dippet that she was transferring from a different school?
45...46...47...
What if the young Lord Voldemort realized she was trying to kill him? How would she kill him, anyway?
51...52...53!!!
And as she finally laid the Time-Turner to rest, she felt a slight tug at the navel, and found herself, quite frankly, traveling through time. She was surrounded by people, hurrying backwards, changing bed sheets backwards, doing homework backwards, leaving backwards...(or, she supposed, entering forwards). Day, night, day, night, day, night. Fall, winter, spring, summer. The colors and items in the room didn't change, however, and finally, the time warp stopped. Hermione found herself standing in the same exact spot she had been before, only this time, she was surrounded by seventh year witches who had forties hairstyles.
Sinking into a place in the room where they would not bump into her, Hermione watched them critically. She knew that by being in here she was bound to hear some gossip.
"Hey, Brenda!" one red-haired witch called from her bed. "Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend with all of us? Voldemort said he'd come along- you know how fun he can be!"
Brenda, a witch with long, black hair, grinned. "Yeah... Only, this time, let's go to the Hog's Head. I can never hear what people are saying at the Three Broomstick's. And anyway, that bartender, Herald, is creepy."
"Yeah..." another witch, a curly blonde one, agreed. "But Voldemort! Oh my goodness... Isn't he just dreamy?"
The others laughed. "Yes," a brunette, over by the window, answered. "But I still prefer Avery."
"Avery? Really? Why, Natasha?" Brenda gasped.
"Well, I'm not supposed to say anything-" Natasha replied.
"Oh, come on!" another blonde witch yelled, sitting in the corner of the room, busy drying her hair with her wand. "Dish!"
"Okay, okay," Natasha sighed, even though she really hadn't really put up much of a fight. "Well, I was walking up to the library yesterday after dinner and as I was going through the fourth corridor, this guy grabbed me and stuck me- in a broom closet!"
"A broom closet?!" the girls cried, utterly delighted.
"It was Avery! He asked me to Hogsmeade this weekend and I really couldn't say no... And then he kissed me!"
"Aw..."
Hermione had heard enough. Carefully maneuvering across the room, she stood next to the door. She couldn't leave until someone else did, which, she hoped, was soon.
Finally, a girl with bright violet hair in the corner stood up, bag on her arm. "See you later, guys, gotta go to the library and catch up on some stuff for Binns."
"Ok," Brenda answered. "See you Gretch."
"Yeah- later, Gretchen!"
Gretchen opened the door broadly and stepped through it. Hermione walked closely behind her, trying not to tread on the hem of the cloak. She followed Gretchen out into the Common Room, which was deserted.
Gretchen suddenly turned around. Hermione skeeted to a stop. Gretchen, a look of suspicion upon her face, shot her hand forward, hitting Hermione square in the shoulder. Hermione couldn't help it- she cried out.
"Ah ha!" Gretchen yelled. She shot her hand forward again, and seized a large handful of the cloak in her hands. Hermione didn't have time to react before the cloak was lifted over her head.
"Who the heck are you?" Gretchen asked. Hermione stared at her. Could she trust this Gretchen? Was it worth trusting her? She hadn't spoken at all in the dorm room; she'd been too busy pouring over her books. She did seem studious- except for her shock of violet hair. Then again, she really didn't have much of a choice to trust her or not.
"My name," Hermione answered, sighing, "is Hermione Granger."
chipped