Hermione watched as the Headmaster disappeared through a door, presumably to arrange for clothes and books for her. She looked down at the parchment that still had only two lines on it, and sat frustrated.
"Not even a hint?" she asked the parchment. No answer was forth coming, but then she hadn't really been expecting one. "Well, I'm in Gryffindor, so blood doesn't matter." Hermione said to the empty office. "But, it's the dawn of the first war, and I don't know my mission as of yet, so I should probably hedge my bets."
"My thoughts exactly," the eccentric wizard came sweeping back into the office, his purple robes twinkling lightly in the morning sun. "It's most convenient for you to have no relations, and it just so happens a very old wizarding family came to an abrupt end when their only daughter married a muggle about twenty years ago, and hasn't been heard from since. So, I think it best if you choose to be Hermione Gardner. It shouldn't be too hard, the girl was of the Pratchett line, which sadly, is no more."
"And my parents are both dead?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, my dear," Dumbledore confirmed. "I believe it was a car accident, though it is not clear."
"And where have I been at school, up until now?" Hermione knew that it would be all too easy for anyone to check in the European schools, to see if she had attended. "Perhaps the Salem Academy in America."
"That is a good choice, my dear." Dumbledore sat back behind his desk. "I presume you know how to get to Gryffindor Tower?"
"Yes, sir," Hermione collected her potion bottle and parchment back into the box.
"Good," Dumbledore twinkled. "The password is 'Argyle Socks.'" He handed her a list of books. "You'll want to borrow these from the library until we can arrange for you to get a set of your own. Welcome," he said. "To Hogwarts, Ms. Gardener."
At this dismissal, Hermione made her way from the Headmaster's office down to the library. The castle hadn't changed a bit since her time there, twenty years in the future, other than the damage done by the battle, which would never happen, if she was successful. Even Ms. Pince hadn't changed. The librarian looked over Hermione's list with a quizzical eye, before sending Hermione off to gather her books.
Before returning to the desk to check out, she stopped and checked the parchment, just in case. 'Check out Miranda Mallody's Malicious Molds and Fungus.' It said, just under her sorting instructions.
Hermione made a trip to the herbology section, and picked up the recommended book, which itself seemed to be covered in a furry green mold, and then grabbed the latest addition of Hogwarts: A History, just for comparison sake, and went to check out.
Ms. Pince made a disgruntled face at Hermione's little lot, but checked the books out and dismissed Hermione without a word.
The Fat Lady hardly gave her a glance; she figured Dumbledore had warned the Gryffindor gatekeeper of her arrival.
The common room was exactly how she remembered it, save the noise level, and she dropped her books on one of the tables, and finally took in her own appearance. She was caked in dirt and soot and blood; no wonder Pince had looked at her funny. She contemplated trying to figure out the password to the Prefect's bathroom, but decided that standing on a hot shower just sounded like a good idea.
Hermione stood under the hot water and let herself relax for the first time in what had to be a year. She watched as the battle was washed from her body, then took a good look at the clothes she had been wearing, or what was left of them, and let them lay were they were, intent on throwing the lot out as soon as she had a chance, and went to sit by the fire in the seventh year girls dorm, in a bathrobe she found hanging on the back of the door.
Hermione pulled the books out of her back and paged through the contents. It was all familiar to her, since she had done her best to keep up on her reading while they were searching for the Horocuxes. The only book she didn't know was Malicious Molds and Fungus. Hermione neatly stacked the rest of her book on her bedside table and flipped through the Herbology book slowly to see if anything jumped out at her. More than two thirds of the way through the text a meticulously folded piece of parchment fell into her lap. She gently unfolded it, and then folded it again before taking her want to the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," for a moment nothing happened, and Hermione started to chuckle at her silliness, of course the Marauders wouldn't leave their precious map stuck in a book in the library over the summer; but then lines started appearing and Hermione could see the little Dumbledore label making its way down to the Great Hall. Her face broke out in a grin. "Fantastic," she said, before uttering a hasty 'Mischief managed' and tucked the map into her box. "This will be a great advantage." She then settled down for a day of reading about mold, just in case.