Chapter 1: Waking in the Past

Hermione woke up to find herself lying on a cold, hard stone floor. Her entire body was aching and she felt as if all of her nerve endings were on fire. Slowly opening her eyes she found herself starring up at the ceiling of the Entrance Hall in Hogwarts. Her head felt as if a white hot poker was stabbing her through the head repeatedly. Raising herself up onto her arms she found Sirius lying unconscious just to her right.

Panic rushed through her as she took in Sirius' limp form. Disregarding her own pain she rushed to his side. Rolling him onto his back she began to attempt to wake him up. Slowly he regained consciousness and grimaced in pain. Opening his eyes Hermione could see that he was confused.

"How did we get here?"

Hermione was still panicking, since she didn't know how long it would be until someone stumbled upon them. "Sirius you have to transform. I don't know how we ended up back at Hogwarts or where the others are, but you can't be seen. The ministry will take you away if someone sees you." Hermione finished, almost pleading.

Sirius' mind seemed to catch up to their current situation and he transformed into Snuffles. Snuffles climbed to his feet and took a hold of Hermione's sleeve to help pull her up. He then began walking towards the grand staircase, looking back to make sure Hermione was following. As she followed Snuffles, Hermione's mind was working on overload. She couldn't figure out how they had gotten back from the ministry. The last thing she remembered was fighting in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic in London. Now they were inside Hogwarts in Scotland. If they were here, where were Harry and her friends? Where was the rest of the Order? Where were the Death Eaters? Did everyone make it? Was anyone seriously injured?

***Through the Veil***

She was brought out of her frantic thoughts by a cold, wet nose pressing against her hand. Looking up she found Snuffles staring at her as they stood outside the stone gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office.

What was the password? What had Harry said about the passwords before? All of the passwords were candy names. She began to recite every candy she could think of. "Pepper Imps…Drouble's Best Blowing Gum…Bertie's Botts Every Flavor Beans…Pumpkin Pasties…Lemon Drops…Blood Pops." The gargoyle swung to the side allowing them to access the revolving staircase behind it. Snuffles was grinning and barked once as they climbed onto the staircase.

At the top of the stairs Hermione knocked on the door using the Gryffin knocker in its center. They entered upon hearing a voice call out to them and came to a stop before Dumbledore's desk. Hermione took in the appearance of the room; she had never actually been in it before. She turned quickly to glance at Snuffles as he let out a low whine. Seeing the anxious look on Snuffle's face she looked up at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore was looking back and forth between Hermione and Snuffles with an odd expression on his face. To Hermione, it was as if Dumbledore didn't know her, but he seemed to have an odd twinkle in his eyes every time they landed on Snuffles. She was startled out of her observation of Dumbledore when Sirius transformed back to human form. If it was possible, the twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes brightened as his eyes took in Sirius' appearance.

"Good afternoon Mr. Black, perhaps you would like to introduce your companion?" Dumbledore let a grin cross his face when he finished. Hermione stood rooted to her spot in shock. She wanted to tell him that he had known her for the last five years, but she couldn't seem to form the words.

"Good afternoon professor. I am Sirius Black and this is Hermione Granger, she has just finished her fifth year in Gryffindor. We need your help." Taking in Hermione's lost expression, Sirius pointed out a calendar hanging to the left of Dumbledore's desk. The calendar depicted a grazing unicorn in a forest with the top proclaiming in large bold blue letters August 1976. Hermione froze before looking back at Sirius.

"We were in a battle in the Department of Mysteries and were cursed through the veil in one of the courtrooms. It was June 1995 when we fell through the veil and we woke up here in the Entrance Hall. We need to get back as soon as possible to help everyone." Sirius finished and Dumbledore regarded them over the top of his glasses.

"I am familiar with the veil in the Department of Mysteries that you are speaking of, as I have previously done research on it in the past. The thing about that veil is that during my research I have found that it is extremely unpredictable. It seems to send anything or anyone that falls through it to a different location and time in the past. The times and locations seem to run on a continuous circular loop, but all times are in the past compared to the time in which the object or person entered the veil. Due to this knowledge, it will be impossible to send you back to your time using the same means as you came here by. If you did, you would only end up further in the past at an unfamiliar location. I will attempt to locate a different means to send you back to your time, but in the mean time we will need to come up with cover stories for both of you."

He waited a couple of minutes to let that sink in before continuing. "I fear what would happen to you if either Lord Voldemort or the Ministry of Magic were to learn the truth of where you came from."

At this Hermione and Sirius looked at each other. Both of them knew exactly what would happen if either of those groups found out about them. "You both would be in serious danger since you have knowledge of future events. It would be safer for both of you if you were to remain at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore turned his attention to Hermione before continuing. "Perhaps Miss Granger could continue her schooling with us. She could be placed into sixth year Gryffindor." At a slight nod from Hermione Dumbledore turned his attention to Sirius.

"As I know Mr. Black you are an excellent student in DADA and as of right now wish to be an auror." Sirius confirmed that he had been an auror in the future.

"Perhaps you could be the DADA professor for this year, since I have still been unable to procure a replacement for Professor Linatry. It would only be fitting I think." Sirius gave a nod of his head to indicate that he accepted the job and a bashful grin at the reference.

At this indication Dumbledore continued. "I will allow you and Miss Granger to fill in the rest of your cover story as you wish. Just let me know what story you agree upon so that I can help to corroborate it. You can take the quarters for the DADA professor. I am sure you know where it is Mr. Black." The twinkling in Dumbledore's eye became brighter, while Sirius grinned.

"You will need to set the password the first time you step into the quarters. Once you decide upon identities I will set you up with a sign on bonus so that you can purchase necessary personal items that you will need." Sirius thanked Professor Dumbledore and lead Hermione down to their new quarters.

***Through the Veil***

Sirius brought Hermione to stop at the portrait next to the DADA classroom. The portrait depicted a wolf running through the forest under the full moon. When they stopped before the portrait, the wolf walked to the foreground of the portrait and sat down. Sirius studied the wolf for a moment before he grinned. "Let's set the password for pleine lune (full moon in French I think)." Hermione smiled and followed Sirius into the quarters.

The room before them gave off a feeling of warmth and comfort. To the left there was a sitting area before the fireplace that was made up of two red overstuffed armchairs and a comfortable looking couch with a small wooden table in between them. To the right that was a small dining area with a table and four chairs. On the far side of the room there were two doors that presumably lead to bedrooms.

Hermione's inspection broke as Sirius spoke to her. "Go ahead and take the room to the left and I will take the one to the right. They are fairly similar to each other and each has their own bathroom connected inside."

"How do you know so much about these quarters?"

"Let's just say that Professor Linatry had ample reason to leave his post at the end of last year. He seemed to have gotten on the wrong side of the Marauders. So how about we start working on our cover story."

Sirius started to walk over to the sitting area and claimed one of the armchairs. Hermione followed him and claimed the other armchair.

"So we will need to come up with new names, where we lived, why we moved here and other general things," stated Hermione. She was so overwhelmed with everything that she automatically fell back into old habits of laying everything out logically.

Sirius observed Hermione for a moment before he spoke. "Well, we can say that I am your uncle and that I took guardianship of you after your parents died in an accident a short while ago. Maybe we could say that you and your parents lived in Northern France, possibly Lyon and that when they died you came to live with me in England. That would explain why you haven't attended Hogwarts before now."

"That would work pretty well. I am fairly fluent in French, so that story would work. What about names though? We can't very well keep our own." They were both silent with their own thoughts for a couple of minutes before an idea came to Hermione.

"Sirius I never told you. Actually I never told anyone before, but my birth name wasn't Hermione Granger." At Sirius' startled expression Hermione continued.

"Last summer, before I came to Grimmauld Place I had a fight with my parents. I had been looking through my father's desk at home for my birth certificate. I was going to be turning 16 that September and I needed my birth certificate to begin the process to get my driver's license. I wouldn't have been able to take the test till winter holidays, but I could start practicing. Anyway, when I located my birth certificate in the drawer, I found adoption papers with it. After studying the papers, I was stunned when I found my name on them. I came to find out that my parent's had adopted me when I was six months old. The papers stated that my birth name was Isabella Hermione St. Clair. My birthday was written as September 19, 1979. The papers said that my birth parents were Anne St. Clair ne Harrison and Pierre St. Clair. They said that I was put in the orphanage when my parents were killed in an accident in London. I had a fight with my parents that night when they came home about why I hadn't ever been told. I was so angry with them that I packed my trunk that night and the next day I went to Grimmauld Place."

She paused here for a moment to collect her thoughts. "Over the past year at Hogwarts I looked into my history and found that my mother was a half-blood from America and my father was a muggle from Montpellier, France. They had been living in America for five years and were killed in a Death Eater attack while visiting London in early 1980. So we could use my birth name for our identities. I could go by Isabella Hermione St. Clair, saying I prefer to be called by my middle name. I could say that I lived in Lyon, France and was home schooled by my mother until they were recently killed and I came to live with you in England. We could say that you are my Uncle, Orion Sirius Harrison. That way I could still call you Uncle Sirius. You could say that you had been living in London and had just taken the DADA post for this year when I came to live with you."

At this moment Sirius was reminded of why Hermione was called the brightest witch of her age. He was still trying to take in everything that Hermione had just told him. He had to admit that it was a pretty good cover story for them. Sirius agreed with Hermione and said that he would go inform Dumbledore, as long as she was sure about it. At a nod from Hermione he rose to leave their quarters. At that moment, Hermione realized how exhausted she was from the events of the day and bid Sirius goodnight before he left their quarters.