A/N: Thank you for your comments on the last chapter. I'm sorry about the long wait, I was working on my oneshot, "Malfoy's Asylum" in between chapters. This chapter is a little confusing, so please read the A/N at the end. Enjoy~

"The Dark Lord knows."

Severus stared into the eyes of the devil, wanting nothing more than to attack him, but there was no wand in his pocket. That was odd; he never went anywhere without his wand. Why had it suddenly disappeared?

"Stupefy!"

In slow motion, he could see Pettigrew lazily block his friend's spell and send a terrible black curse at her in return. It struck her in the face and her frail body fell for what seemed like a lifetime. At last, she struck the ground, not a single hint of life about her…

"Lily!"

Severus jolted awake. His lungs gasped for air and his body was covered in slick, slimy sweat, but he was otherwise alright. It was only a bad dream…or was it?

His entire body ached as he sat up and surveyed the room, which he recognized as the hospital wing: his eyes immediately landed on the bed across from him, where the limp form of a redheaded girl lay.

"Lily!"

He clumsily stumbled out of his bed and crawled over to her. There was no more searing hot pain in his leg; instead it was numb and completely useless, probably from one of Pomfrey's pain-reducing remedies.

"Oh Lily…" he whispered, his voice utterly flat in his devastation. He gently stroked her hand as memories of what had happened hit him like an angry Bludger. The chamber…possessed-Pettigrew…the flash of black light…Lily's screams falling silent as her body hit the ground…

But he had had his wand. Thanks to his Sectumsempra curse actually doing what it was supposed to do, he had gotten out of there alive….but had Lily?

He could see her chest slowly rising up and down; at least she was breathing. She was alive, but he could not tell just how extensive the damage really was. He sincerely wished that she would be perfectly okay, that Pomfrey's healing would work as it always did, but Peter had used a really horrible Dark curse on her, that much he knew for sure.

He gently ran his fingers along her arm, which was badly burned and scarred. Was this permanent? He would accept her either way, but still; her left arm was quite grotesque compared to her other, scratch-free arm.

"Hi Sev!"

Out of nowhere, Lily jumped at him and threw her arms around him. Severus yelled out in shock and lost his balance, tumbling backward and onto the floor, with Lily landing on top of him, looking a little embarrassed.

"Lily! Don't— why did— don't do that!" he spluttered, unable to comprehend how she could go from looking almost dead to wide-awake and cheerful within seconds.

"Sorry," she mumbled as she helped him to his feet. "I was just relieved to see you finally awake."

"I was thinking the same thing about you!"

"Oh…I'm fine. Except this of course," she nonchalantly gestured to her disfigured arm. "Madam Pomfrey says it's probably going to be like this for the rest of my life. She says I must have been hit by a pretty awful curse."

Severus stared at her. How could she not recall that…?

"You were hit in the face," he said quietly. "Don't you remember?"

Lily's smile disappeared at once. "I don't. I've been trying to remember for days, but I can't remember anything except that last conversation I was having with Regulus a week ago."

"A week ago?" Severus asked, puzzled. "How long have we been in here?"

"Madam Pomfrey says six days. School ended on Friday," Lily added. "Today's Monday."

"So everyone's…gone?" Severus choked. How was he going to get Pettigrew now? If school was finished, then he had undoubtedly escaped by now. With Lily not remembering anything from that night, his situation was getting more difficult every minute…

"Actually," Lily's grin returned, "-no."

She pointed in the direction of another room, where Severus could see five distinct shadows. They appeared to be waiting for Pomfrey to allow them inside, and upon closer inspection, Severus saw that three of the shadows belonged to James, Sirius, and Remus. They were giving up some of their summer to remain behind and ensure that he was okay. Severus could not remember a time where he felt more grateful for friends like them.

The other two were Regulus and Narcissa Black. Severus wasn't exactly thrilled to see them, but if Lily wanted them there, then so be it.

He vowed he would do anything to make her happy, because although he had technically saved her life, he still felt tremendously guilty for allowing Lily to get hurt. If he had been a little quicker, he knew he could have stopped her from following Peter into the chamber. He also knew it was somewhat her fault for going along with it, but he still placed all of the blame on his own shoulders. Partially thanks to him, some of her memory was now completely wiped, and her arm was scarred for life. As hard as he tried to convince himself that he was blameless, he simply couldn't do it.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Madam Pomfrey demanded as she entered Severus and Lily's section of the ward and saw them both sitting on the edge of Lily's bed.

"Sev's finally awake," Lily replied cheerfully as Pomfrey hurriedly pulled Severus back to his own bed against his will and began fussing over him.

"I'm fine!" he snapped at her, swatting her hand away from his face as she examined his eyes and ears.

"Can we come in yet?" James' impatient voice echoed throughout the ward.

Despite his irritation with Pomfrey's obsessive healing procedures, Severus grinned. He owed his life to James, as he surely would have died in that bathroom had his friend not gone to find help.

"Please?" he begged Pomfrey just before she opened her mouth to say 'no.'

She eyed him closely for a moment, then reluctantly conceded.

James and Sirius burst into the room like a pair of Thoroughbreds coming out of the starting gate. Remus followed close behind, and the two Slytherin Blacks held up the rear.

"How are you feeling Sev?"

"It's about time you woke up; you've been out for days!"

"You know, I think you were faking it so I'd have to be around those two more. I've seen more of Regulus in the past week than I did all last year!"

Severus rolled his eyes and pretended to scowl, but deep down, he had missed his friends' quirkiness. To someone who thought he was going to die down there in the chamber, seeing his friends again was the greatest joy he could possibly have.

"Alright Sev, tell us what happened," Lily said as she came over and sat down in the edge of Severus' bed, in between Remus and Sirius. Narcissa and Regulus reluctantly hung back, but came in close enough to hear what Severus was about to say. Everyone wanted to know what had happened, but since Lily couldn't remember anything, Severus was the only person who knew the truth.

"It was Pettigrew," Severus said bluntly. If he was weak in answering this, people would not believe him and start suspecting him all over again. He had had enough of false accusations in the past several months, and it was time to set the record straight.

Behind the Gryffindor boys, Regulus scoffed. "Pettigrew? He can't even spell his own name right."

"Are you saying that I did it?" Severus asked coldly, sparing no kindness for the Slytherin boy.

"No he's not," Lily answered quickly, not wanting to anger either of the boys, both of whom she considered her best friends.

"Why did he drag you into the Chamber of Secrets?" Narcissa asked him, her tone entirely unbiased. Severus stared at her, still not entirely sure if he should like her or loathe her.

"Pettigrew didn't take Sev, he took Evans!" James answered before Severus could. "Sev went in after her and I went to get Dumbledore."

"Why did he want Lily then?" Narcissa shot back. Severus glanced at Lily. She looked completely calm and unruffled; she clearly didn't remember that Pettigrew knew she was Muggleborn.

"Wanted to kill a few halfbloods, I suppose," Severus shrugged, but he could tell that Narcissa didn't exactly believe him. In fact, by the way she was looking at him, he almost wondered if she knew more than what she was letting on…

"He was possessed," Severus continued, pointedly keeping his eyes away from Narcissa's. "He hit Lily with a Dark curse I didn't recognize, then sent the basilisk after me."

"And you escaped completely unharmed?" Regulus asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Why do you think I've been in the hospital wing all week?!" Severus shouted, unable to control himself. He hated Regulus with a burning passion, and his snide comments did nothing to help the situation with Pettigrew.

Severus knew the evidence against him was still rather daunting, but he would prove his innocence…he knew he would…

"Everyone out," Madam Pomfrey came rushing over to his bed after he yelled at Regulus. His three friends protested, saying it was Regulus' fault for upsetting him, but Pomfrey was adamant.

"Not to make you feel worse or anything," James whispered on his way out as he furtively shoved an old Daily Prophet into his hands, "-but I think you should read this."

Severus was puzzled by the way he nodded solemnly on his way out; since when did James Potter take anything seriously?

When everyone was finally gone and Pomfrey had dragged Lily back to her bed, Severus carefully unfolded the paper and stared down at the text. It was from three days ago. The headline read:

CHARGES AGAINST HOGWARTS STUDENT FILED, HEARING SCHEDULED FOR JULY

Horrified, though not entirely surprised, Severus skimmed through the article. His name was plastered all over the place; apparently Umbridge still thought he had killed her daughter. Dumbledore was mentioned as "doing his best" to clear the charges, but Severus honestly didn't expect much from this. Sure, he would try his best, but if Severus was acquitted and he couldn't sufficiently prove it was Pettigrew, Dumbledore would be forced to resign from his post, according to the Prophet. What sane person would give up one of the best jobs in the world in order to protect one measly student? It would be a terrible blow to his 'greater good' ideals to save one and leave the rest of the students at Hogwarts at the mercy of whatever deranged Ministry official that would run the school in his place.

Sighing miserably, Severus threw the paper as far away from him as he could and buried his head into his pillow, frantically wishing for his mind to return to a comatose state for the next three months…

xXxXxXxXx

Two days ago, the school year had finally ended, and Minerva couldn't have been more relieved. Nothing fatal had happened this year; a rarity these days. Not wanting to remain at Hogwarts over the summer holidays, she was currently tidying up her office. Due to The Restrictions, she didn't have quite as many books on her shelves as she did when the previous headmaster was in charge of the school, but she was determined to rebuild her collection this summer.

While she was organizing several stacks of old parchment, a silver Otter Patronus formed in the middle of her office and spoke:

"I'll be joining you shortly. Dementors killed Crookie Jr."

The Patronus vanished, and Minerva felt a pang of sadness for her colleague. What a terrible tragedy indeed…

Twenty minutes later, she was walking down the path to Hogsmeade, where she and her colleague would be Disapparating. The Floo networks had been cut off for years, and Portkey creation was strictly forbidden within the school's property.

"Minerva!"

She stopped and turned to see her bushy-haired friend running down the path with nothing but a wand in one hand and a small handbag— which had been magically transformed to fit more belongings than its size would suggest— in the other.

Her eyes were red and puffy, undoubtedly from the loss of her cat.

"I'm sorry to hear about CJ, Hermione," Minerva said once she had caught up with her.

Hermione muffled a sob. "He was only three years old. Why the Dementors went after him is beyond me."

She tugged her travelling cloak tighter for comfort. After glancing around to ensure they were truly alone, she added: "I don't know how that wretched woman can justify allowing them freely roam the school…I can't believe none of the students have been Kissed yet!"

"Actually, that has happened," Minerva said in a hushed voice. Tears licked at her eyes as she remembered him…all those years ago…

Hermione gasped. "Was it an accident? When did this happen?"

"Darcy denies everything, but I think she ordered them to go after the boy. Surely you remember learning about the Riots of 1973 in History of Magic?"

Hermione nodded and, out of habit, she recited at top speed: "In an effort to banish the newly-instated Headmistress Umbridge, the students revolted, resulting in one death and countless injuries."

"Professor Binns isn't exactly thorough in his information these days, is he?" Minerva frowned. "There's actually much more to it than that."

Hermione's eyes widened. "More?"

Minerva knew her colleague was always interested in learning more, but this subject was particularly painful to speak about.

"The 1972 through 1973 school year is one I very much wish to forget, but it is clearer than ever in my mind," Minerva sighed deeply. "It was such a horrible year…we were just coming away from a year when the Chamber of Secrets had been reopened for the second time—"

"Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione asked, puzzled. "What's that?"

"Home to a terrible monster…according to him, only a Parselmouth could open it—"

"Harry's a Parselmouth!" Hermione exclaimed, looking thoroughly disturbed by this new information from Minerva.

"Let's be grateful he does not abuse this ability, then," Minerva said exasperatedly. Hermione was a wonderful person, but she often interrupted a little more than she should.

"There was a hearing…for a boy named Severus Snape. He was a Gryffindor, but he was accused of being the Heir of Slytherin after Darcy's daughter was found dead with him at the scene of the crime."

"So they…they convicted him?" Hermione asked in a tiny voice.

Minerva's eyebrows rose. "Actually…no. But he couldn't satisfactorily prove it was Peter Pettigrew, so the Ministry—" a single tear slipped down her cheek, "— ousted Albus Dumbledore and…replaced him…with her."

"What was Dumbledore like?"

"He was a brave man. And brilliant. He fought the Ministry and board of governors every single day that August, but come September first…he was forced to resign."

"What happened to him?"

Minerva sighed sorrowfully. "Some say he disappeared, some say he changed his name and appearance, and others say he died."

"What do you think?"

"I think he started looking for ways to defeat He Who Must Not Be Named. He never would have abandoned the Wizarding world entirely…he might still be looking. Potter might have even met up with him by now…they could be looking together."

"I don't think there's any way to defeat him," Hermione muttered pessimistically. "So what happened to Snape?"

"Well, as you can imagine, Darcy was very upset that her daughter's killer was never sent to Azkaban— she said it was Severus Snape, and nobody could change her mind," Minerva added, seeing Hermione's questioning glance. "So she took over the school in place of Albus. She brought in the Dementors and several 'Aurors' that I knew were actually Death Eaters. She was worse back then than she is now, if you can believe it.

"Obviously the students weren't too happy with her from the start. She took away Quidditch and Muggle Studies. There were no more Hogsmeade weekends, and no fun was allowed on the school grounds. So the students planned and fought back. It wasn't until spring of 1973 that they really started resisting her regime, with the biggest riot of all on May first. That was the day Severus Snape was Kissed by a Dementor. He was only a third year."

Hermione muffled a shriek of horror. "A third year?! She…you think she told them to do it to him?"

Minerva nodded and wiped her eyes. "I know she did. You see, Potter was unique in that he learned how to produce a Patronus in his third year. Severus...wasn't so lucky.

"He was leading the students alongside James, Sirius, and Remus— they were all best friends back in school."

"Harry's dad…and Sirius…and Professor Lupin?! Those two never mentioned it to us," Hermione said quietly.

"I think they don't want to talk about it, to be perfectly honest. They were distraught for weeks.

"Another boy, named Arthur Weasley, was struck by a Blinding Curse in that riot. You see, the 'Aurors' decided they were on Darcy's side instead of the students' and began attacking the very same people they were supposedly hired to protect. Arthur was badly crippled as well, due to his inability to see in the midst of the battle. I was so close to saving him, but that was when…" Minerva trailed off and held back a small sob, "That was when I saw Severus and the Dementors in the distance. I cast a Patronus, but…it was too late by the time they got there. All of the other teachers were so busy fighting off the other dozens of Dementors on the grounds that we didn't even notice as two of them kidnapped Severus…not until after he had been Kissed."

The two women walked on in silence for quite some time. Hermione's mind was whirring, trying to comprehend the severity of the situation from so many years ago, while Minerva was trying to pull herself together.

"In an earlier riot, I believe it was November," Minerva finally began speaking again, "a young fifth year named Molly Prewett was hit by the Killing Curse. It was so chaotic, and the teachers were doing everything we could to protect everyone, but we didn't see this coming: she was killed by another student."

"Who?" Hermione asked, feeling ready to vomit.

"A seventh year Slytherin by the name of Bellatrix Lestrange."

"That's the same person who killed Sirius!" Hermione squeaked. Oh, would her colleague's nightmarish tale never end?!

"Yes, and she did more than just kill," Minerva continued in a heavy voice. "Out of all the injuries and murders, I don't know if anything can compare to what happened to poor Lily Evans."

"My mum's sister?!" Hermione shrieked. Her mother had mentioned her having an aunt once, but aside from the name, she never revealed anything else. All her hopes of it being a different Lily Evans were dashed as Minerva nodded slowly. Hermione wanted for Minerva to stop, but she couldn't help wanting to know everything. It was so frightening and chillingly-horrendous; she couldn't believe that all of this had happened right here at Hogwarts!

"Lily Evans currently resides in St. Mungo's," Minerva whispered as fresh tears sprang to her eyes. "She has been there since her third year, when the Slytherins found out that she had been lying to them about being a halfblood…she was actually a Muggleborn, and she paid a terrible price for her lie."

Tears flowed from Hermione's eyes as she thought about the Slytherins' prejudice against Muggleborns. She personally was Muggleborn, so Lily's story really tugged at her heart.

"Her mind is forever destroyed from their torture. It happened in the middle of the night in the Slytherin dormitory. Only two people tried to stop them from hurting her— Narcissa and Regulus Black."

"Malfoy's mum?" Hermione asked. Minerva nodded sadly.

"Unfortunately, they weren't enough to stop them. By the time the teachers got down there…the damage had been done and the three students that had done this to the poor thing had escaped on brooms. It was very well-thought out, and although they went to Azkaban when the Dark Lord fell…they're currently running free today."

Hermione was crying genuinely now, thinking of the poor aunt she never knew, who, like her, was born a witch to Muggle parents. While the only punishment she had ever gotten was being called a 'Mudblood,' Lily had suffered a far worse fate than she had.

"That was in January," Minerva said gloomily, feeling extremely depressed despite the beautiful summer day before them. "February came, and that poor Ravenclaw boy was thrown in Azkaban for refusing to cancel his publication, which ran articles that didn't exactly agree with the Death Eater ideals.

"His name was Xenophilius Lovegood."

"Harry's uncle?" Hermione asked in disbelief. "They threw him in prison just for that?"

Minerva nodded once more. "We did everything in our power to stop the Ministry from doing this. But The Quibbler was running stories about Lily Evans and Molly Prewett, and they didn't want to grant him freedom after telling the world about things they wanted to keep hushed up."

"Can this possibly get any worse?!" Hermione cried, feeling utterly devastated after hearing about the former students' atrocious fates.

"The last tragedy of that year that I remember was that of Sirius Black…you know what Remus is, obviously?"

"Yes," Hermione whispered in a small voice.

"Well, Sirius and James somehow found out around March or April. James had the brains not to go snooping around, but Sirius wanted a solid confirmation. Reckless boy…such a fool…he followed Remus one night and saw the transformation. He wasn't scared as most people would have been; he thought it was rather exciting. Foolish boy…he didn't run until Remus was chasing after him. Remus obviously couldn't control his actions in that state of mind, but mind you, a werewolf is much faster than a human, and…Sirius got the bite."

"He never told us that," Hermione said in a hushed tone. "I mean, I knew he and Remus were werewolves, but I always assumed he had gotten it from Greyback!"

Minerva shook her head. "Ghastly scars, he had. Remus was a wreck for months."

"And then in May…that's when Severus Snape was…Kissed?"

"Yes…he was such a brilliant boy. He was very much like you, Hermione. If he had survived…I think you would be out of a job."

"So, he was good at Potions?" Hermione asked softly, imagining a man with light brown hair and handsome glasses standing over a simmering cauldron.

At last, they had passed the Apparition boundary.

Just before Disapparating, Minerva wistfully glanced back at Hogwarts one last time, trying to remember the good times she had once had there. That had been many years ago…before Dumbledore had left…things just weren't the same anymore…

xXxXxXxXx

Four days after she and Minerva had gone their separate ways, Hermione was hunched over in a Muggle pub, listening to the frantic conversations of the people sitting around her. None of them knew that the latest disasters had been caused by Voldemort's followers, but they did know that what was happening was not normal.

"—all of 'em dead, tha's wot I heard. No' a single scratch on 'em though…qui' odd, wouldn' you say?"

Hermione worried for these Muggles. One day they're perfectly fine, the next day, their dead in their beds. Death Eaters were growing more ruthless everyday, and if it weren't for her being the only decent potioneer out there to teach incoming students, she would have had her wand snapped and be left to starve on the streets like most of the other Muggleborns.

She was sitting by herself in the corner table tonight, not wanting to attract any attention as she read through the Evening Prophet.

"These are certainly troubling times, aren't they?" a quiet voice came from in front of her. Hermione quickly folded the paper down and looked up at the intruder. It was an old man with a long white beard and twinkling blue eyes behind his half-moon spectacles.

"May I sit here?" he asked, smiling at her as she gawked at his appearance.

Hermione, unsure of what else to do or say, nodded.

"Who are you?" she asked casually, knowing from his appearance that he was a wizard, but she didn't exactly recognize him. She felt as though she'd seen the face before, perhaps in a book or old newspaper, but the name was drawing a blank.

"I'm here to help you," he said calmly, ignoring her question. "You teach Potions at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, am I correct?"

"Yes sir," she said, unsure of why she was calling a stranger 'sir.'

The old man beamed. His wizened face was covered in scars and his nose looked as though it had been broken a few times, but he still had an air of confidence about him.

He pulled out a strange-looking necklace and held it up to the light for her to see. It appeared to be an hourglass hanging from a faint golden chain.

"A Time Turner," she breathed, feeling in awe of the man until she realized that the entire supply of Time Turners had been smashed at the Ministry ten years ago, when she had been in her fifth year. "Where did you get one?"

"I have my ways," he replied mysteriously. "Would you like to have it?"

"Is it cursed?" she asked suspiciously, wondering if this man was a Death Eater in disguise.

To her surprise, he laughed. "I should think not. I've been using it rather extensively lately and haven't been cursed thus far."

"What do you want me to do with it?" she asked, wondering if she could trust this man. Going back to fix some things sounded highly tempting, but that would be breaking nearly every rule of Time there was!

"It is not a question of what I want, but what you want," he said quietly. He placed it in her hand and got to his feet. "Vicis tergum ought to do the trick."

"But what about the Laws of Time?" Hermione called out to him as he began walking away. It had been one of the strangest encounters she had ever been in, and the man was so vague it was maddening.

He paused and smiled at her. "I am familiar with the Laws of Time, Miss Granger. I wish you the best of luck."

How this stranger knew her name, she couldn't say. But if it would change this awful future…

Then the means justified the end.

"Vicis tergum."

A/N: Vicis tergum is Latin for "time back." In this future, Petunia is Hermione's mother *shiver* because Petunia ended up marrying her current boyfriend, Daniel Granger. As for Harry's uncle Xeno, in this future, James married Muse Lovegood *lol*

Yes, this will be a Time Travel year. Hooray. I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, and I do love reviews ;)