A/N: Originally posted in 2015. Updated for grammar in 2023. This is inspired by the movie Back to the Future.
Hermione tried to keep her mind clear as jets of light shot by her head and all around her. There was too much going on around her, but if she could just focus for a minute, she was sure she'd be able to figure some way out of this mess. Instead, her thoughts kept coming faster than the curses being hurled her way.
So many things had happened in the past few hours.
Harry, Ron and she had been caught sneaking into Umbridge's office. Hermione had allowed the centaurs to drag their terrible Headmistress off screaming to do Merlin knows what with her! The young witch was a little bit bothered by the fact that she didn't even feel a little bit sorry about it. She didn't have time to wait for whatever horrible thing Umbridge planned to do with them - they had to get to the Ministry. Harry had seen Sirius being hurt and time was of the essence. Only, once they had gotten to the Ministry, they realized it had all been a horrible trap.
Sweet Circe, she'd flown on a bloody thestral!
It had been immediately evident that they were in over their heads and Hermione had agonized, wondering is Snape would call the Order. Thankfully, he had. Dueling with Death Eaters left them more than a little bit out of their depth. This was nothing like fighting a troll in First Year. These were adult wizards and witches, who'd fought duels to the death before multiple times and won. They were ruthless and evil and didn't think twice about the manner of curses that they were perfectly happy to use on children. They didn't bow and follow the rules of a proper wizard's duel.
Then she worried if Dumbledore was going to show up. He'd been rather absent that whole school year, ignoring Harry, and being secretive the summer before. He never explained why they couldn't write to Harry, their best friend. Plus, he'd had to field Umbridge and Ministry's delusions before being ousted from Hogwarts. He had a lot on his plate, but surely he could show up now when they - when Harry - so desperately needed his help.
She thought about the lovely gold locket that Harry had given her at Christmas, with the wizarding picture of her, Harry and Ronald at the Quidditch World Cup. That seemed so long ago now, but she still remembered the way that she felt with her arms around the boys' shoulders, each of them with a megawatt smile. It made her heart clench in some sort of bittersweet longing.
Merlin, she hoped that it wouldn't get ruined by some stray curse.
Oh yes, the fighting. She wasn't sure how it had started exactly, but all that mattered now was that she was running away from the Death Eaters that had appeared in the Department of Mysteries. Hermione quickly found herself separated from her friends with Dolohov chasing after her, sending a barrage of dangerous curses her way. It was clear that he meant to kill her, she quickly realized, making the pit of her stomach clench in fear.
Hermione really didn't want to die. And she knew that she could think a way out of this situation if she could only just have a minute to clear her head.
Turning, she ducked into an open room, only to be momentarily stunning. The room was a cacophony of ticking that was maddening in its volume. Was this some sort of Time Room? There seemed to be millions of clocks and timepieces, each one following their own unique time. It sounded as if they were simultaneously ticking away at different speeds, but at the same time as well. Huge grandfather clocks and pocket watches and cuckoo clocks all adding their insistent tick tocking, reminding her that her own time was running out if she couldn't think of something. Fast.
Shaking her head, Hermione finally spotted something that could help. There was some shelving with rows and rows of time turners on them. She felt her shoulders sag in relief at the sight of the familiar object that had been so useful and so destructive for her in her Third Year. She had, of course, been very responsible with her time turner, only using it for class, aside from the time with she saved Sirius and Buckbeak. But, the device had also left her run down and she managed to add months to her life by going back and taking extra classes.
But now...
Now, she could buy Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix more time. Running over to the shelf, she was so focused that she didn't hear Dolohov enter the room or his purposeful strides towards her. Hermione picked up the first time turner she saw, the golden sand encased in delicate glass. Her hands were shaking so much from nerves and adrenaline that she promptly dropped it, the delicate glass shattering around her feet.
"Fuck," she whispered under her breath.
She picked up another device, only to feel Dolohov's arms wrap tightly around her waist.
"You are coming with me, little mudblood," he whispered dangerously in her ear.
His breath was hot against her ear and made her feel disgusting, a shiver racing down her spine. She needed to get as far away from him as possible.
Knowing that she had to do anything to free herself, Hermione immediately shoved back against him, trying to propel herself out of his grasp. She grabbed onto the shelving that housed the time turners while he was tugging her towards the door. She tightened her hands around the bars, unwilling to let go, until she heard the sickening crunch of broken glass all around her.
Gasping, Hermione let go of the shelving abruptly. With the sudden loss of force, Dolohov tumbled backwards on his back, bringing her with him. She scrambled away from him and opened her hand in shock.
Bright red blood made shiny by tiny golden flecks of sand dripped between her fingers towards the ground.
And then, she was gone.
"I am telling you, Sirius, this is going to be the year that I finally get Evans to go out with me," James said, smiling at his friend.
James Potter was nothing if not a very confident young man.
Sirius glanced at his friend, unable to stop from groaning. "And just how do you plan on doing it this year, Prongs?" he asked.
Had James grown this summer, Sirius wondered? He was nearly as tall as Sirius was now, although neither of them had caught up to Remus. He must have grown at least a little bit. The two friends had different builds. James was lanky and thin with wild, black hair that stood up in the back. He was constantly running his hands through it, thinking that girls -specifically Lily - would like it better that way. Sirius thought of himself as much more elegant. He was a tall, strapping young wizard with hair as black as his family name and piercing grey eyes that he had heard more than one witch swooning over.
Of course, he left trails of ogling witches in his wake, he thought with a trademark smirk.
"Well, as you know, Evans and I are Head Students this year, and we will be spending a lot of time together," James explained, with a devious look on his face. "I will show her how great of a guy I can be. That's why I asked her to meet me here in Diagon Alley, so we can go over our duties before the train ride up to school."
"How responsible of you, James. Did Remus help you come up with this plan?" Sirius mused, knowing that James wouldn't have thought of that on his own. Seeing the look on his friend's face made him know it was the truth. "I suppose it doesn't hurt that we got to pick up our school supplies," Sirius added with a sigh, though he would have preferred to stay at home if he'd known this was just going to be a surprise date for James and Lily.
"I wonder if she'll be wearing that cream-coloured sweater. I love it when Evans wears the cream-coloured sweater," James said, getting a far away look in his eye that indicated he had devolved into thinking inappropriate thoughts.
Sirius wasn't willing to engage him today. "I doubt it. It's August," he said with a snort.
Both boys were startled from their conversation when they heard a great clattering behind them, coming from the alleyway that they had just passed by.
Nodding to one another, they each drew their wands and started creeping back towards the sound. They knew that they technically shouldn't be performing magic out of school, but a wizard had to protect himself! Especially when he goes looking for trouble.
When they got further down, they noticed a cluster of rubbish bins that had been up-ended. Even more surprising was the girl sitting amongst them with bits of rubbish in her busyh brown hair and a newspaper clutched tightly in her hands. She was cut up and bleeding, but didn't seem to be in any immediate danger.
"It can't be. It can't be," they heard her repeating while looking over the newspaper. She flipped from page to page, glancing at the top right corner of each sheet, before furiously flipping it again, growing more desperate by the second. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no!"
"Um, Miss, do you need any help?" James asked tentatively, announcing their presence to her.
The witch's face snapped up to look at them, startled. She looked between the paper and their faces several times, before her brown eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped over to one side, noisily falling amongst the rubbish bins again.
"I think she fainted," Sirius said, unable to stop himself from smirking. "Probably got overwhelmed by my good looks."
"Be serious, Padfood," Jame scolded him, clearly annoyed that Sirius was making jokes at a time like this.
Sirius smiled and opened his mouth, ready to give his trademark quip, only to have James cut him off with a groan.
"Don't even think about saying it," he hissed. He'd heard the pun enough times to last a lifetime.
Sirius was a little put out at not getting to say it. What was the point of being burdened with a name like Sirius if you didn't get to make a little joke about it now and again?
"Well, what should we do with her?" Sirius wondered aloud, his first serious comment of the afternoon. "We can't just leave her here. Anyone could come along and...take advantage of her."
James frowned, unable to stomach the thought of leaving her amongst the trash either. "Come on, let's take her home," he commanded. "Mother will know what to do."
James picked her up in his arms and the pair walked quickly to the nearest apparition point, heading back to Potter Manor to decide what to do next with the mysterious stranger who had fallen out of thin air and into their lives.