I have completely rewritten this chapter. I came back to this story to continue it and cringed all through this chapter.

Please enjoy and feel free to pick apart my grammar and plotline.

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to anything in the Harry Potter universe.

Chapter Two: The Time Vortex and Ruff Landings

Harry's POV – Unknown, Time Misplaced

The first thing I was aware of was falling. It was a little disorientating to be dead on the ground, but then suddenly falling at an alarming pace. My stomach felt like it was dropping out the bottom of my feet followed by a wave of nausea soon after. Then I was tumbling; head over feet down the void. Then, color blasted around me, alternating between piercing bright light and sickening color mixtures.

I open my eyes to a tie-dye mixture of colors; the most prominent being warm reds and dark, muddy browns. The colors mix in strange combinations, separate to a point of almost being an image, then mix into some new creation. That in combination with the odd, cool wind blowing across my face made my eyes start to water. I noticed my hair flapping around my ears and into my mouth and eyes.

Randomly, the falling would slow down, almost like going through partially cooled gelatin, before speeding up again.

The next thing I recognized was the smell followed closely by completely different tastes. Pumpkin, mint, and blueberries paired with old books, burning flesh and moldy cloth were just a few I could pick out from the many unidentified scents and tastes. When coupled with everything else, it felt like all my senses were being overwhelmed by the number of things thrown at them, painfully so. I could barely think beyond registering my surroundings.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I felt my body hit a cold, stone floor. I could feel my head fall hard onto the stone beneath me, knocking me, blissfully, unconscious.

Hermione's POV – Abandoned Classroom, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, October 1995

"But, Harry, he isn't a good friend. He never has been.", I argued vehemently. I love Harry, I really do, but he is always so blind to the jealously and childishness that Ron has always shown. I thought after fourth year with the way Ron behaved after Harry's name came out of the cup, he would have been more aware of it. He isn't nearly as close to Ron as he had been in the past, but I still think he trusts and forgives him too easily. I look at Ron and see a selfish child growing into a greedy and selfish adult.

"I don't know how you can keep forgiving him. He just…", midway through her rant, Harry's face lost all of its color and he swayed as though he had finished being spun very quickly. He then fell, face first, straight onto the floor.

"Harry!" I rushed forward to catch him, doing so just after he hit his head on the ground. I just started checking his vitals, running my hands over his head to check for bumps.

His face looked so calm. In that moment, he shed the normal broody expression. He looked so much younger; not at all like the weight of so many was resting solely on him.

It was breath-taking. Harry had always meant a lot to me. He was the first person at Hogwarts to become my friend. As we got older, my feelings started to shift. My heart would flutter each morning when we'd meet in the common room. I loved those mornings. When he would come down early enough for us to go down to breakfast together, before most of the school had woken up.

My contemplation was interrupted by a startled gasp. Looking down at him I could see his eyes open and staring at me.

They were completely different from when he was staring intensely into mine just moments before. Before there was so much anger and fear. This past year had been hard on him; in ways no one seemed to understand.

Now they looked harder, older even. These eyes had seen Hell and death and destruction. The shred of innocence was gone and it made me sad. Whatever had occurred in the few minutes of unconsciousness had changed him, and, it seemed, not for the better.

"Hermione?", Harry whispered, then leaned up and enveloped me in a hug.

Harry's POV - Abandoned Classroom, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, October 1995

Waking up was weird. When you were so sure of death, experienced the life and breath leave you, the feeling of breathing, of opening your eyes, blinking, standing, moving, anything that was not being dead felt foreign.

What had woken me was the pair of cool hands gently stoking my face, almost in a soothing motion.

I open my eyes to see Hermione. Not quite the same one I had left, but still amazingly, brilliantly, beautifully Hermione. I felt my breath catch at the intense joy I felt at seeing her.

She looked at me then; the sun catching her eyes at just the right angle that the gold in her eyes shined brightly.

"Hermione?"

The joy I felt was accompanied by relief. I had done it. I had made it back. She was alive, not dead. I had to touch her, to hold her, just to make sure she was real. I hugged her closely. I never wanted to let go. Not ever again.