Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter.

A/N: Happy 2015! This chapter was longer than I expected but I got it done. I'm not sure when the next one is coming, but it will probably be this month.

Credit to anothergoneagain for the idea for the opening line.

Chapter 4

"Ooh, Mummy, Daddy! I can't believe I didn't think of this before. You need to invest in tech stocks. I recommend Intel, but Microsoft, Apple, IBM, and a lot of others are good, too, at least through 1999."

Hermione Granger's Journal of the Future

First Year: The Philosopher's Stone

I was, needless to say, thrilled when Professor McGonagall told me that magic was real and that I was a witch. We went shopping for school supplies right away, and I bought a bunch of extra books because I wanted to read all I could. In fact, I barely stopped reading from the time day my letter came until the day I got on the Hogwarts Express for the first time. Then, on the train, a boy came around looking for his toad—Neville Longbottom…

22 September 1981

Dear Miss Granger,

The rat has been trapped, the serpent has been trod upon, and the first item has been retrieved and destroyed.

A.P.W.B.D.

Second Year: The Chamber of Secrets

Harry's life was, unfortunately, back to normal that next summer. His alleged relatives were afraid of his magic (they didn't know he wasn't allowed to do it at home), but they otherwise didn't treat him any differently. Then, one night, while Harry's uncle was hosting a client, a house elf appeared out of the blue…

26 September 1981

Dear Miss Granger,

The Bones Family was attacked last night. There were no fatalities on our side.

A.P.W.B.D.

Third Year: The Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry maintained his record of not being able to stand his relatives for a whole summer. Mr. Dursley's highly disagreeable sister came to visit, and she insulted Harry's parents a few too many times. Harry blew her up like a balloon with accidental magic. Fearing he would be expelled after the misunderstanding the previous year, he ran away from home. Unfortunately, Ron and I were both out of the country on holiday at the time, and worse yet, the "notorious murderer" Sirius Black had just broken out of Azkaban. Luckily, Harry was picked up by the Knight Bus…

1 October 1981

Dear Miss Granger,

The second and third items have been retrieved and destroyed. We have successfully passed a law for confiscation of assets. We will go on the offensive shortly.

A.P.W.B.D.

Fourth Year: The Goblet of Fire

Harry actually left his relatives' house legally that summer. He and I went to the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasleys. (Ireland beat Bulgaria 170-160, despite Bulgaria's Seeker, Viktor Krum, catching the Snitch.) However, that night, a gang of Death Eaters attacked the camp. We suspect this was just Lucius Malfoy causing mischief on his own, but that was never proven. We later learnt that Barty Crouch Jr. was also there…

12 October 1981

Dear Miss Granger,

Rabastan is dead. We are putting extra pressure on the other two. Many others are dead or captured. The flower has turned to our side. The fourth item has been retrieved and destroyed.

A.P.W.B.D.

Fifth Year: The Order of the Phoenix

Since the Minister refused to believe that Voldemort had returned, mostly to save his own career, he embarked on a smear campaign in the press against Harry and Dumbledore. Dumbledore was removed from his positions as Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump, and both were widely regarded as liars. However, even this was not enough for the Minister's Senior Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge. She sent two dementors to attack Harry, either to Kiss him outright, or to force him to defend himself with magic so that he could be expelled…

17 October 1981

Dear Miss Granger,

Public support is now solidly on our side. Morale is dramatically up. The enemy's recruiting is down, and many are defecting. For the purposes of the daily lives of most wizards, the war is de facto won. However, many revenge and terror attacks continue in less secure areas. Rodolphus and Bellatrix are still at large.

A.P.W.B.D.

Sixth Year: The Half-Blood Prince

Yes, the title refers to Snape, but we'll get to that later. Dumbledore only made Harry stay at his relatives' house for two weeks that summer, which was good because he was still hurting really badly after Sirius was killed. Dumbledore picked Harry up personally and took him to help recruit a new teacher, Horace Slughorn…

28 October 1981

Dear Miss Granger,

Rodolphus is dead. Bellatrix is still at large. The enemy is becoming desperate, but the remaining core is dug in very hard.

A.P.W.B.D.

Seventh Year: The Deathly Hallows

We didn't go back to Hogwarts that year. We went straight into fighting the war full time. Harry stayed with his relatives until near his birthday for safety while I was at home, getting ready. I could finally use magic that summer, so I was able to make a lot of preparations at home. I, er…convinced my parents to go on an extended holiday to Australia. On the twenty-seventh of July, we moved Harry to the Burrow. It didn't go so well…

2 November 1981

Dear Miss Granger,

We have received a very lucky break. Riddle attacked the Longbottoms with a large force on Halloween night. Sadly, there were casualties on both sides. However, the Longbottoms are all alright. Most importantly, Bellatrix was killed by Augusta Longbottom. The fifth item was confiscated and has been destroyed. I am working with the Ministry on our next move. I ask for a little more time before our meeting.

A.P.W.B.D.

Seventh Year Again: After the War

I'd like to say that Harry and I kissed for the first time in the aftermath of the final battle. It's not true of course, but I still think it would have made a nicer story. A few stolen kisses on the run whilst we were trying to suppress our feelings and just stay alive might appeal to some witches, but they don't really feel like they should count. With the war over, we could finally do it right. It wasn't ideal, though. Harry didn't feel like he could go back to Hogwarts—too many painful memories—and the Aurors offered to let him in without the usual qualifications. I, on the other hand, was looking at jobs in other fields that weren't quite as flexible, and I needed to go back for my N.E.W.T.s, but my heart really wasn't in it…

9 November 1981

Dear Miss Granger,

I hope this letter finds you doing well. I am pleased to report to you that the war is over. Voldemort is dead. You may have already realised this from the large number of owls out in daylight and Dedalus Diggle's fireworks. Using various methods of misdirection, the Order and the Ministry, working together, staged a large-scale assault on Malfoy Manor, where the remaining Death Eaters were headquartered. Voldemort was killed in the resulting battle, and most of the remaining Death Eaters were killed or captured. With a careful interrogation of the survivors, Voldemort's movements since Halloween have been fully accounted for, and there is no evidence that he created a sixth 'item'.

Magical Britain is eternally in your debt, and it is unfortunate that very few people will ever know. However, I hope that you have learnt by now that there are more important things than fame. Your efforts have no doubt saved hundreds of lives and many years of hardship. There should be no legal problems for you so long as you keep your actions a secret. It would not do to have a Death Eater or sympathiser learn that such a thing is possible.

I have, however, taken the liberty of telling the Potters, Longbottoms, and Boneses part of your story, after swearing them to secrecy, and they are eager to meet you if you are willing. I would also speak with you about the personal problem you mentioned, and I have also taken the liberty on contacting Psyche Nimue, a Mind Healer from St. Mungo's, who will join us for the meeting. All of us are at your disposal as soon as you can come back to Hogwarts. Please send a reply with the owl.

Warmest regards,

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

A large contingent of witches and wizards waited at Hogwarts Castle on the evening of the tenth of November: three Potters, five Longbottoms, eight Boneses, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Psyche Nimue, the mind healer—everyone who knew the whole or part of her story. All of them were eager to meet the little girl who had effectively won the war singlehanded.

There would be no "Girl-Who-Won" fame for Hermione, though, and she was just fine with that. She was perfectly happy to let the secret of the time travel ritual die with her. In fact, she wasn't planning on telling anyone else she'd come back in time at all besides the Potters, and maybe Ron later on.

Little Hermione Granger had had a very unusual few weeks. She had now spent close to two months living as a toddler, with all its ups and downs. It was wonderful being so close to her parents. She didn't complain and even encouraged them when they carried her, cuddled on the sofa, or tucked her in and kissed her good night. At the same time, though, it was frustrating and unsettling being so helpless all the time. She could barely dress herself or eat on her own, much less bathe on her own, and forget about reaching bookshelves and light switches. Even though she was mentally mature enough, she just wasn't physically capable of doing much without supervision, if not direct help. With her two-year-old limbic system, it was occasionally enough to send her into tantrums.

Tonight, when they arrived at the castle, Hermione was again carried in her Dad's arms. She was walking more, now, and steadier on her feet now that she was used to her tiny body, but it was easier meeting people if she was on eye level. When Dumbledore led Hermione and her parents into the private dining room off the Great Hall, the whole group turned to face them and began applauding. Hermione rapidly turned red and, child-like, hid her face in Dad's shoulder.

But everyone wanted to meet the family and thank Hermione, and she had to try to face them. The Longbottoms were first. It brought tears to her eyes to see them as a whole and happy family. She had only met Alice Longbottom in St. Mungo's—white haired, barely able to walk, and might as well have been sleepwalking, but now, she was pretty and vivacious, and Frank was much the same. Hermione had never seen Augusta Longbottom as anything but a stern-faced matriarch, and it was unbelievable how easygoing she looked now. She frowned when she saw Neville's grandfather, who looked to already be in poor health, and she remembered he wouldn't live long enough to see his grandson attend Hogwarts, or maybe even perform accidental magic, but even he looked happy, with a bit of a smirk on his face about something. She remembered Neville had described him once as a prankster.

"Thank you, Hermione," Alice said, approaching her first. It only seemed a little weird to the grown-ups talking to a toddler after what Dumbledore had told them. "If it weren't for you, Voldemort would still be hunting us." She held a little toddler in her arms, nearly a year younger than Hermione. "This is my son, Neville."

"I know," Hermione nodded. If it was strange seeing herself in a mirror at two, it was even more surreal seeing her close friend, whom she remembered being a lot bigger than she was, at fifteen months. Neville was a fat baby, even more round-faced than he was in first year, and unusually quiet, staring up at her with a bewildered tilt of his head.

"Of course you do," Alice replied. "You've probably Seen all about him." All of the guests had been told Dumbledore's cover story that Hermione was a very unusual Seer.

"Most of what I Saw was about the war," Hermione said apologetically, "but I might be able to See something about him, if I may."

Alice smiled and stepped a little closer. Hermione laid her hand on Neville's forehead and pretended to read his future. She didn't have to worry about him getting stuck with his Dad's wand, since he was still using it, but his other problems might still crop up. "Neville is full of surprises," she said, imitating a trance. "He'll be a late bloomer, but with the right encouragement, he'll be a very powerful wizard. And though he seems timid, under pressure, he'll stand up for what he believes in and become the toughest Gryffindor you'll ever meet. Teach him to believe in himself. That's the most important thing."

"He sounds a lot like you, Alice," Frank said, joining her with a smile. "And she's right, Miss Granger, we can't possibly repay you for this."

"Believe me, Mr. Longbottom," Hermione said, "Getting rid of Voldemort is more than reward enough."

The Boneses were next: Edgar, his wife, and his two children—Susan's cousins whom she had never known. Edgar shook her little hand so vigorously when he met her that her shoulder was sore. Susan was there, too, with her parents, and her Aunt Amelia, currently the Head Auror, stood beside them. Hermione didn't know Susan that well, but definitely had something to say to Amelia.

"Madam Bones," she squeaked, "the time to clean up the Auror Office is now, before corruption, incompetence, and sloppiness in the judicial process can spread. I know you can do it if you make the effort, and in time, you could do the same for the whole DMLE, and perhaps even the Ministry itself."

Amelia's eyes widened. "Do you mean to say that you See me as Minister, Miss Granger?" she asked.

"I See that you could be Minister. And that you would be a good one. You would serve the people better than most; of that I am sure."

But after them were the Potters, accompanied by Sirius and Remus. Hermione had to hide her face in Dad's shirt for a while to keep from breaking down crying when she saw them. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of James. He and Harry looked so much alike except for the eyes, and nearly the same age in her memory. Remus and Sirius both looked younger and happier than she had ever seen them. And Lily…she was a beautiful woman, and those beautiful green eyes perfectly matched those of the baby in her arms. He looked so cute at this age, she thought. When they came closer, Hermione couldn't help herself.

"Harry!" she exclaimed in her excited two-year-old voice, and she lunged forward and grabbed the boy she loved in a hug and kissed him on the cheek, much to all the grown-ups' astonishment.

Harry only squirmed and yelped in confusion. Dad immediately stepped back and gave Hermione a scathing look. With the age difference between them, that hadn't been the best move. She quickly lowered her gaze and said, "Sorry, Mrs. Potter."

Then Sirius started laughing: "Better watch out, Lils, this one's staking her claim early."

James joined in, smirking, "You gotta admit, darling, Harry could do worse than the girl who ended the war."

"Well, I suppose not," Lily said. "We owe you the greatest debt of all, Hermione. We still can't believe what that Rat did to us, and ending the war was nothing short of a miracle. I do hope you and Harry can be friends when you get older.

"I'd like to be Harry's friend, too, Mrs. Potter," Hermione said with a smile.

Lily looked up at Mum and Dad. "Mr. and Mrs. Granger," she said, "Seer or no, I cannot believe how intelligent your daughter is at her age."

"Yeah, neither can we," Mum quipped. "She's really been a miracle child the past two months."

"It looks like it. Hermione, you Saw something about Harry that made you react to him like that, didn't you?"

She nodded, fighting back tears as she kept staring at Harry.

"May I ask what you saw?"

Hermione wiped her eyes and began to speak in a trembling voice: "I see Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Will-Never-Have-To-Deal-With-A-Hyphenated-Nickname, a boy with his Daddy's nerve and his Mummy's heart." James and Lily both smiled broadly at that. "He could be at the top of his year in Defence Class if he works hard at it, and that includes me. He would make a good Auror, but he would also make a good teacher."

"A teacher?" Lily said in surprise.

"Oh, yes, he would. But he won't have his Daddy's Quidditch skills, though."

James and Sirius both gasped in horror. But then, Hermione smiled and said, "He'll be better." The two men grinned manically. "He'll be a Seeker, and good enough to play for England."

At that, James and Sirius whooped with joy. "A national player!" James said. "That's my boy!"

Hermione just laughed. She didn't get to interact much more with Harry, which she had to admit was probably for the best. She and her parents mingled after that, with Hermione spending quite a bit of time walking on her own feet and chatting with one person or another. It was strange wandering around and making small talk almost like an adult when she was two foot ten, but no weirder than anything else she'd got up to lately.

Hermione grabbed some hors d'oeuvres that she could manage to eat with her hands and wandered around with Mum following close behind in case there were any problems. She said hello to Professor McGonagall and thanked Professor Dumbledore for ending the war so quickly. She was alarmed to see that Dumbledore has acquired a number of scars. Evidently, his victory over Voldemort had been hard-won. But he assured her that he was alright. Eventually, she made it around to Remus.

"Hello, Mr. Lupin," she said.

Remus looked down and smiled, crouching down in front of her. He looked a lot better than she remembered, although he still had those scars on his face. "Well, hello, little ankle-biter," he said. "You can call me Remus."

Hermione giggled: "Pleased to meet you, Remus. How are you holding up tonight?"

Remus coughed: "W-what did you say?"

"Well, I know tomorrow's the full moon."

His eyes widened in horror.

"It's alright. I know all about your furry little problem. The important thing is not to let it control your life."

"I…I see your Seer talents are still going."

"For now. Incidentally, have you ever considered teaching?"

"Teaching?" he said. "There's no way I could do that."

"Never say never, Remus," she said. She stepped closer and whispered in his ear, "Damocles Belby will discover a partial cure in about three years. When that happened, you should talk to Professor Dumbledore about teaching Defence. You'd be good at it." She stepped back, leaving Remus frozen, wide-eyed in shock. She giggled again and patted him on the head.

"Are you sure it's safe to give them this much information?" Mum asked her.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders: "Eh, the universe hasn't collapsed in a horrible time paradox yet. I think we're good."

She kept going about her work, soon coming back around to Lily, catching her alone at the punch bowl.

"Hello, Mrs. Potter," she called.

"Hello, Hermione," Lily smiled. "Would you like some punch?"

"Yes, please."

Lily poured a cup and handed it down to her. Hermione took it very carefully with both hands so that she could drink it without spilling. Lily took a moment to look over contentedly to where James was playing was playing with Harry. Hermione thought she caught a flicker of worry when her eyes passed across Sirius and Remus. She tugged on her sleeve.

"You can trust them," she said. Lily looked at her in surprise. "Sirius and Remus. They're both good and loyal friends. Remus is a lot better with kids than he thinks, and Sirius may seem reckless, but he's a lot wiser than he lets on."

Lily smiled sadly. "It's amazing how you sometimes don't really know someone even after knowing them for years," she said. "You're too young to know what it's like to lose a friend, but—"

Hermione gripped Lily's wrist as hard as she could. "I know a lot better than you think, Mrs. Potter," she sniffled. "It hurts worse than anything. But you try to fix it if you can, and if you can't fix it…" She trailed off. She hadn't much experience going down that road. She'd gone the "fix it" route. "Well, I guess you try to move on and make new friends." She glanced at the Longbottoms and the Boneses, then lingered on Sirius and Remus again. "I'll tell you one thing: Sirius and Remus would both benefit a lot from finding a good woman."

"Oh?" Lily said, surprised. "Do you see them with anyone?"

"I see that Sirius is gonna need a lot of work…As for Remus…Actually, I See him with Sirius's cousin, Nymphadora."

"Nymphie? But she's eight years old."

"Which is why you might want to encourage him to find someone else sooner. Predictions don't have to come true."

"Hmm…setting up dates for Sirius and Remus," Lily mused. "Sounds challenging."

"Well, you are the smartest witch of your generation," Hermione said. She giggled and added, "Almost as smart as I am. I'm sure you'll do fine."

Lily gave her a strange look at that comment, but she shook her head, giving up trying to understand.

Hermione took one more look around the room, her eyes coming to rest on a dour young man with long, black hair. "I think Severus has seen the error of his ways by now," she said softly.

Lily glanced at her former friend and sighed. "I wish I could believe that," she said. "I don't think we'll ever really get along again."

Hermione stared at the young potions master and bit her lip. And she glanced around at the other guests briefly. Perhaps she could manage one more good deed tonight. Yes, it was a stretch, but it was worth a try. "Never say never, Mrs. Potter," she said.

She toddled across the room, passing the Healer, Psyche Nimue, along the way and waving to her. Psyche was a slight woman with long, black hair, but bright blue eyes. She looked very young, probably in her early-to-mid-twenties, not far out of Healer's training, but if Dumbledore had recommended her, she must be pretty good. She seemed a quiet and reserved sort of person, unlike a majority of the guests there, but the most interesting thing Hermione had noticed about the woman was how she had sent a few interested glances at none other than Severus Snape.

And so, Hermione walked up to the Potions Master respectfully and said, "Hello, Professor Snape."

"Yes, Miss Granger?" Snape said, raising an eyebrow.

It took an effort for Hermione not to laugh. That seemed so much like the Snape she knew. And yet, he really wasn't. When she had had him as a teacher, even though he was only in his thirties, Snape had always struck her as a bitter old man. But this Snape was young and still clung to a few shreds of idealism. There might still be hope for him.

"I have some advice for you, sir."

"Haven't you already given me enough advice?" Snape said venomously.

She maintained her respectful tone, but it was an effort, she replied: "Take it from someone who's seen the road you could have gone down. Your past doesn't have to define your life. You can't change the choices you've made, but you can make a better future for yourself."

"Do you insist on talking in riddles?"

"I'm only saying, Professor, that you're still young. And alive. And now free. The war ended about the best way it could have for you. You've been given a second chance that few ever get. You should make the most of it. Stop looking backwards and instead see what's right in front of you." Hermione turned to look at the young Healer, prompting Snape to look in the same direction. Psyche glanced up when she noticed his gaze and smiled at him.

The reception was tiring to a little girl like Hermione, but the night was still young, and there was a whole other meeting to be held. Dumbledore dismissed most of the guests and sat Hermione, Mum, Dad, the Potters, and Psyche with him at a round table. Hermione was curled up in Mum's lap, and Harry was already asleep.

"You are certain you want to tell them, Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, sir," she said sleepily.

"Tell us what?" James said.

"We haven't been entirely truthful about where I got my knowledge." Hermione said. "You see, I'm not actually a Seer…I'm a time traveller."

"A time traveller?!" Lily gasped. As a muggle-born, she saw the implications at once. "But that's impossible!"

Hermione smirked: "Tell that to the Unspeakables."

"Time travel?" James said. "Like in your muggle books?"

"Yes. It makes perfect sense," Lily said. "That how she could know so many specific things and remember them. I thought the Seer explanation smelled fishy. If she has actual firsthand knowledge of the future, though, it would make things easy."

"So…" James put the pieces together. "So you came from a future where…things went badly?" he said in confusion.

"Very badly, until the very end. I'm nearly your age, mentally. I came bak from the year 1999, or rather I sent my memories back to my younger self." Hermione looked and saw Psyche frantically taking notes. Dumbledore had already told her, but not the details. "From my perspective, I've lived the next eighteen years," Hermione continued, "several of them at war."

"What happened?" Lily breathed.

"Harry became the Chosen One—the child of the prophecy, destined to face Voldemort." James and Lily gasped, and Lily held baby Harry closer. "He won, in the end, but only at the cost of a lot of good people, including almost everyone who was in that reception. I won't worry you about the details because it never has to happen now, but it hurt him—hurt both of us—so badly that I had to do something about it. I worked with the Unspeakables for a year and found a solution. I sent my memories back as far as I could, and the rest you know. I…I'm sorry I couldn't save more people, but I was lucky that even this worked."

Lily was crying softly by now, and everyone gave her and James a minute to collect themselves. After a little while, James got a hopeful look on his face and asked, "And Harry's flying skills?"

Hermione smiled: "I've seen them with my own eyes. I've only ever seen one person better: Viktor Krum of Bulgaria, and he caught the Snitch in the finals of World Cup. With a normal life to train up in, I think Harry could possibly beat him."

James beamed with pride and ruffled his sleeping son's hair: "That's my boy," he said, "future World Cup winner Harry Potter."

Lily just rolled her eyes and asked the obvious question: "Why are you telling us this, Hermione? What do we need to know for? And what are you going to do now?"

Hermione sighed. It was time to get down to business, and she rather doubted anyone involved would particularly like it. "Well, you see, I have a problem…" she said, glancing around at the whole table. "I'm in love with Harry." She fixed her eyes on the little boy's sleeping form, not daring to meet the eyes of any of the grown-ups. "And in my time, he loved me, too. But with the nineteen year age difference…it's just never going to work.

"You loved…well…well, then…what do you want to do?" Lily said nervously, glancing down at Harry.

"What I want…" Hermione said. She glanced up nervously at Mum and Dad. She still hadn't told them her real plan. "I want to live as a little girl again. I want to have a normal—magical—childhood, and a normal time at school where I don't have to worry about almost dying every year. I want to be able to grow up with my friends again and not be a jaded adult trapped in a child's body who can't connect with them anymore…And that's why I wanted to talk to a Mind Healer, Ms. Nimue."

"Okay?" Psyche said. "But I don't really understand what you're planning to do, Miss Granger. You…you don't mean to send your memories forward again, do you?"

Mum got a very worried look on her face. "Hermione," she said, gripping her shoulder. "You can't do that, can you?"

"No, Mummy, I can't do that. Or maybe I could, but it would be a bad idea. I've changed too many things. Who knows what could happen in the meantime? And who knows what it would do to the woman I would become?"

"So what are you planning?" Psyche asked.

"Okay, this may sound crazy, but please hear me out. I've had a lot of time to think about this, and I think I have a solution that will work. Professor Dumbledore, you have a Pensieve. And Healer Nimue, I assume you're very good at memory manipulation or know someone who is. I want to go back to being a little girl again, but I don't want to lose the last eighteen years entirely. That would mean losing everything that makes me who I am. So what I want to do instead is to remove all of my memories back to when I was two and store them somewhere safe so that I can restore them year by year as I grow up."

There was silence in the meeting room as all of the grown-ups tried to digest this proposal. Mum and Dad just looked worried. James and Lily looked shocked. Wizards threw out Memory Charms like candy, but messing with memories on that scale was an alien concept to them. Even Dumbledore look surprised; it was a novel idea to him, too.

Psyche Nimue, however, did have some clue what she was saying, even if it seemed crazy. "So let me get this straight," she said, "you want to remove an entire lifetime's worth of memories from your mind?"

"Uh huh," Hermione said.

"And then put them back later?"

"Uh huh."

"In chronological order?"

"Uh huh."

"I see…I take it an ordinary Obliviation wouldn't work, then?"

"No, it wouldn't. I don't want to just wipe them, and it's too messy to undo. We would need to store them in a physical form like you do with a Pensieve, Professor. If I understand it right, that spell can either copy a memory or remove it from one's mind."

"That is true, Hermione," Dumbledore said. "However, it's usually done with individual events. I have never heard of an attempt to collect blanket memories of long periods of time that way."

"Right," Psyche said, "and I'm pretty sure memory modification that extensive has never been done at all in a medical setting, let alone restoring them afterwards. This is uncharted territory."

"I don't think I like this, Hermione," Mum finally spoke up. "It doesn't sound safe. I mean, completely wiping your memory? Even if you're going to put it back, a lot of things could go wrong."

"I know it's drastic, Mummy, but it's all proven principles. It's just a matter of scaling them up."

"Um…I'm not so sure about that, Hermione." To her surprise, it was Lily who spoke up. She stared at the red-haired woman in surprise. "I've been trying to train as an apothecary for the Order, and Albus taught me how to work a Pensieve a while back," she said. "I know a thing or two about mind healing. Wiping memories usually only removes events. Accidental total Obliviations have been known to happen, but the victim still knows how to talk and wave a wand."

"That sounds like amnesia," Dad said. "My wife and I have medical training, too, Mrs. Potter. And she's right, Hermione, if this memory magic works a like that, it'll only act on episodic memory, not semantic or procedural memory. You wouldn't remember life events, but you could remember most of what you learnt in your education. You'd wind up like an amnesia patient instead of a little girl."

Hermione grimaced as she remembered how Lockhart had wound up. And then she smacked her forehead. "Oh, that reminds me, Professor; Gilderoy Lockhart is a fraud who Obliviates dark creature hunters and steals their stories. You should inform the Aurors."

"Um…I—yes, Miss Granger, I will," Dumbledore said, as confused as anyone at the non-sequitur.

"Sorry about that," Hermione said. "I just thought you should know. Anyway, that's a valid issue about memory charms…Sir, can removing Pensieve memories pull out semantic knowledge, muscle memory, emotional memory, that sort of thing?"

"Mm…I'm afraid I have no idea, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said. "I've never heard of a Pensieve being used for that sort of thing. It may be possible, but it is by no means a certainty."

"I'm sorry, Hermione," Lily said, "I don't think this will work. This doesn't sound like something you want to try. We really want to help you, with all you've done for us, but who knows what mucking around with your mind like that could do to you?"

Hermione looked down sullenly, trying to find a way out of her predicament. Being a twenty-year-old with amnesia in a two-year-old's body would be little better than her current situation. Her youthful brain could relearn everything with ease, but she would always be many years more mature than her peers—the age gap would still be there. But slowly, an idea started to form: "What if we could test it, though?"

"Test it?" Mum said.

"Test it?" Psyche repeated.

"Test it how?" asked Lily.

"What if we tried it over a shorter period of time, like a week, to see if it worked?" Hermione said.

"A shorter period?" Lily said in confusion. "But how would you know if it worked?"

"Well, what I'm hoping is that if you remove the entire time period when you learnt to do something—"

"You'd also lose the memory of how to do it," Lily caught on.

"Exactly!" Hermione said excitedly. "What if one of you teaches me a new skill that I don't know yet—"

Lily figured it out at once, her face brightening: "And then once you've learnt it, we pull out your memory of the entire past week to see if you lose it—"

"And then restore it, of course, to make sure I get it back properly—"

"And then probably some other tests, like seeing if you remember new words or something."

"Yes, it'll be tricky to make sure we're not missing anything, but—"

Suddenly, they were both interrupted as James burst out laughing.

"What?" Hermione and Lily said in unison.

"You two are so much alike," he chortled. "I can see why Harry fell for you, Hermione. It's good to know he's inherited my good taste."

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes: "James, we are not going to force Harry and Hermione together just because that's what happened in one possible future." She turned back to Hermione and said more gently, "I do hope you understand that, Hermione."

"I do, Mrs. Potter. But I do want to be friends with him, at least. Then I can still have the chance."

"Well, I think that can be arranged. Now that the war's over, it'll be easy to arrange play dates and such."

"Er…" Hermione said uncomfortably, "thank you, ma'am, but I think I'd rather not have too much contact with Harry for the next four years—Westermarck Effect and all that."

"The what effect?" Lily and James said together.

Mum blushed as she realised what Hermione was talking about. Dad hesitantly answered, "The Westermarck Effect: children who spend a lot of time together before about age five subconsciously regard each other as siblings and…er, romantically off-limits, even if they're not related." Lily started to blush, too. "It's believed to be an evolutionary adaptation to prevent inbreeding…"

Even James sputtered for a moment at that, and the grown-ups silently agreed that it was time to change the subject. They would sort that out in due time.

"Uh, excuse me," Psyche interrupted. "But there are still a couple of problems with this idea. For one, we don't actually have a spell to extract large time blocks of memory, do we?"

"Professor, is there any chance you could come up with something?" Hermione pleaded.

Dumbledore stroked his beard in thought for a minute. "I believe it could be possible. It would seem to be a simple extension of the existing spells. Lily, if you and Severus would help me, I believe we could have something workable by the time these…tests are ready."

"I…I guess that sounds reasonable, Albus," Lily said. "I mean…it seems like it should work."

"Okay, but even if that works," Psyche said, "it sounds like what you're hoping to do is to completely reset your mind back to an earlier age; is that it, Hermione?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"But if you want to go all the way back to age two, if we want to even have a chance of keeping your memories straight and in chronological order, we'd have to strip them away in reverse chronological order—layer by layer—a month or at most a few months at a time. And if your mind is reset, you're going to think you're your younger self—if I understand it right, you'll basically be your younger self. You'll be scared and won't know what's going on. Before age eleven, you won't even know magic exists. That could be a serious emotional trauma to go through, and we'll have to repeat it dozens of times."

Hermione bit her lip. "I already thought about that part," she said. Truthfully, though, she hadn't really thought about having to repeat it that many times. "I know it'll be hard, but I've been through a lot already. I know I don't look it, but I can be pretty tough when I need to be, even when I was little. I think that if Mummy and Daddy are there with me, I can get through it."

"Aww…" Mum said, hugging her tight. "Hermione, are you really sure you want to do this? Even with those tests, it doesn't sound very safe, and it sounds like it'll hurt a lot. I know it's unusual, but we can still take care of you the way you are."

"Mummy, I have to do this," she said weakly, wiping her eyes on Mum's shirt. "I have to try, anyway. You said you wanted to get your baby girl back. Well, I want to get her back, too, more than anything. These last two months with you and Daddy have been wonderful, and I'll always cherish them—at least once I restore the memories—but I'll never really fit in anywhere the way I am now. I just can't live my whole life like this. And the testing part won't be that dangerous—not with Professor Dumbledore running them. I'm gonna need your help, though," she pleaded tearfully. "It's gonna be hard, and I'm gonna need yours and Daddy's help. Will you please help me do this, Mummy?"

Mum sighed and stared down at her. Hermione thought she had good arguments, but Mum could be just as stubborn as she was. She silently pleaded with her to support her in this. Finally, Mum smiled sadly at her and said, "Oh, how can I say no to a face like that."