Disclaimer: No. Sorry.

Chapter1- 1977

Hermione Granger knew the danger of time travel. She'd been warned off and on since third year that meddling with time could kill her, or throw off what should be and create an alternate reality. But how does one know how to be in the past without changing the past? Every roll she ate should have had an entirely different destiny. So how could she not change the future?

She smiled as she stood in her dormitory, in front of the full-length mirror, staring at her reflection. The graduation ceremony and ball had exhausted her, but she'd had a lovely time. The music had been a mixture of muggle and magical— due, no doubt, to the pureblood Head Boy James Potter and the muggleborn Head Girl Lily Evans— and the decorations had been beautiful. It reminded her eerily of the Yule Ball from her own fourth year, and she suddenly wondered just who had been on the decorating committee that year.

And her date. She smiled, remembering the way Severus had held her close as she placed her head on his shoulder and put one hand on his chest. They swayed together, in the shadows away from prying eyes. He wasn't afraid to go public with their relationship— quite the opposite in fact. He'd wasted no time in laying claim over here and scaring away just about any guy who'd looked at her with a look lasting more than a second— but felt that no one deserved to see them dancing. No one needed to know.

She twirled a little, caught up in the memories flowing through her as she stared at her own, very happy reflection. Then the smile dissolved from her face as if someone had sprayed her face with acid. She closed her eyes and looked away. Graduation is over, she realized. Dumbledore had agreed to allow her to stay until after graduation. She was leaving. Soon. That couldn't be helped, she knew. She belonged in her own time, where Voldemort had begun the second war. She belonged with Harry, Ron, Ginny. And no Dumbledore. Or Lily, or James, or Sirius. Or Severus.

She closed her eye and sat on her bed. It'd been the hardest thing she'd ever had to do, facing all of them without allowing the future to influence the way she treated them. Oh, she'd learned during the summer after Dumbledore was killed that it was crucial for it to be done. That he had ordered Snape to do so. He had called on the Life Debt Snape owed him, forcing the young professor to kill him. And that it'd been the hardest thing Snape had ever done.

But Snape still had to run from the Aurors and Harry, who had refused to listen to reason.

She looked at a picture that had been taken of herself, the Marauders, and Lily. She had refused to let herself get close to Peter. Even standing near him, she could feel the sneaky, evil vibes he emitted. She had to wonder how the rest had missed it. In the moments where he thought no one was looking, the rat of a boy glared at his friends. She wanted to tear him apart, limb by limb.

Because of that evil bastard, two of her friends wouldn't be in the future when she got back. All she would have to remember them by was their son, the son he had gladly used to bring his master back to power. She felt a white-hot shot of anger and hatred at the rat flow through her, and she had to clutch her fists to keep herself from breaking anything.

A knock at the door interrupted her musings. "Hermione?" a hesitant voice asked from the doorway, and Hermione smiled.

"Lily!" She stood up and threw her arms around her friend. The girl seemed shocked, but returned the embrace happily, patting her back slowly as Hermione shook a little, fighting tears back.

"Are you okay?" Hermione realized how odd her behavior must seem. After the ball, she'd taken off and run up to her room, insisting that she'd be back down in a moment. She'd claimed that she just needed to freshen up. Then she'd stayed in the room for fifteen minutes. And now she was clutching Lily.

Hermione let go of Lily and looked at the floor. "I'm fine. I just... I can't believe it's over. I mean, I've been at Hogwarts all— All year, and I've been at school for so long. It's just weird to imagine myself with a job and a life outside of school."

"I know what you mean." Lily glanced at the door, casting a quick spell to make sure that no one was listening at the doorway as the boys had a habit of doing, and then pulled a chain from within her chest. On it was a diamond ring on a gold band. Hermione looked at Lily in surprise.

"Is that..."

"James asked tonight, right after the ball. I agreed. We said we'd keep it a secret for a while, but I can't keep any secrets from you."

Hermione smiled. "And I can't keep any secrets from you." Hermione stared at Lily for a second, and then realized that she couldn't. At least, not anymore. They'd gotten too close, and her secret was just too big to keep. She stood up energetically, and then grabbed Lily's hand. "Come on."

Lily looked surprised. "Hermione...?"

"Come on. We have to go see Dumbledore."

Lily dug her feet into the ground, forcing Hermione to turn around. "What's going on, Herm?"

Hermione shook her head. "Come on, I'll explain on the way. But you can't tell Dumbledore you know. Swear?"

Lily nodded, and Hermione held her pinky out, something that she knew Lily would understand as a muggleborn. Lily linked pinkies, and Hermione grabbed her hand again and pulled her out the door toward Dumbledore's office.

Lily paused right in front of Dumbledore's door. "Wow." Hermione nodded. "But why couldn't you tell us? I mean, it's a bit of a shock, but..."

Hermione gripped Lily's shoulders. "No!" She gave the girl a little shake. "You don't understand. I couldn't tell you. In fact, I should have told you now. I could have just changed the course of the future, just by saying what little I said. And I just told you my story. Could you imagine if I'd told you in the beginning and I'd told you everything through the course of the year? The future would be shot!"

"Wow," Lily said again.

"Lily, you can't tell anyone what I told you, okay? I just... I couldn't take it anymore. You have to understand, I had to pretend my entire life hadn't happened for an entire year. I hate lying to you guys. I didn't want to, but I knew that I had to." Hermione's eyes had somehow filled with tears, and she knew that it had more to do with what she had to say next more than what she had already said.

"Hermione, it's okay."

"No it's not! I have to leave today."

Lily froze, looking at Hermione. "What?"

"Dumbledore... he found out how to send me back in the middle of the year. But in my own time, I wasn't going to be able to do my seventh year. I wanted... I wanted to stay. I wanted to learn and be with you guys."

Lily put her hands on Hermione's shoulders. "Herimione, calm down." She pulled the girl to her. "I love you, chicky, and I'll see you when I'm older. I'll be really, really old, but I'll see you." She smiled at Hermione, who began fidgeting. "I will see you, won't I?"

Hermione nodded. She wanted to tell Lily. She really did. It was on the tip of her tongue. "Yeah. You'll see me. But, it's like you said. You're really old and it won't be the same."

Lily laughed and hugged Hermione. "It's fine." She looked at the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office. "Is that... is that why you're here? To go back?" Hermione nodded. "And you're not going to say goodbye to anyone? To Snape?"

"No," Hermione said, looking at her feet. "If I tell them goodbye, I'll have to explain things. I... can't."

Lily sighed and Hermione said the password to Dumbledore's office. Heading into the office, she turned around and beckoned Lily to follow her. Lily did, hesitantly, and Hermione walked up the staircase to Dumbledore's office, preparing herself to leave.

"Hermione, wait." Hermione paused at the top of the staircase, turning around to face Lily. "Maybe... maybe you should talk to the boys before you go. They'll be upset if you don't..." she trailed off, wringing her hands nervously.

"I... I wrote notes to them. They're in my trunk. C-can you give them out for me? You can have everything in the trunk. There's nothing super important. I gave everything I want to keep to Dumbledore already."

Lily nodded, still looking unsure, but the two of them went into Dumbledore's office. Expecting to see Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, she was surprised to see a note and a potion sitting on the old man's desk.

Miss Granger,

There was a bit of an uprising. I fear that what we talked about will be beginning soon. The potion is ready, and all you have to do is spread it on a wall. It will create a portal. It's been keyed to your own time already. Good luck, Miss Granger. And thank you.

Albus Dumbledore

Hermione sighed and looked at Lily. "Well, here goes nothing."

She closed her eyes and put the silver potion on her hand. It was less of a liquid and more of a gel, and felt worse than it smelled, but she put her palm on the wall and spread it on the surface.

"Ew." Lily sneered behind her, catching a whiff of the concoction. Hermione gave her a wry smile as the wall began to morph and shift, and soon, a dark green, swirling portal stood in front of them. "Slytherin colors." Lily sounded amused, but Hermione got the idea that she was sad to see her friend leaving. She turned around.

"Lily..." she began, looking at the girl.

"Don't be stupid. You don't know how long the portal's going to last."

"I know, but..."

"Go!"

"Lily..."

"Go!"

Hermione turned around, closing her eyes and not believing what she was about to do. "Lily, I lied to you and I lied to Dumbledore. I don't know you and James in the future. You're dead. Peter sold you out to Voldemort. He's a Death Eater, don't trust him, please!" And with that, Hermione jumped into the closing portal and practically felt the time stream changing paths around her.

A/N: Okay, I tried to make that a cliffy, and I guess it's okay comparatively. But whatever. I got eight reviews for the prologue. So I'm going to ask for the same for this chapter before you get chapter 2.

Eight reviews. I love you all!