Hermione was flustered at breakfast. She had no control over anything. Her juice was spilled all over her plate, the pancakes were cut drastically uneven, and her Transfiguration essay (loosely tucked in her ear) looked as if she had carelessly folded it up, ending up slightly torn. Whenever she talked, she spoke fast. This worried Harry and Ron a bit, but they were suspicious this could have to do with her visit with Professor McGonagall.

To keep it safe, Hermione decided not to say anything about what happened with her visit. But then again, even if it was supposed to be top secret, she would always end up telling her friends anyway. But this time...it could put the wizarding world in danger. And spoil time, possibly make a time paradox. She didn't want to ruin the world until eternity, but Harry and Ron could keep secrets. The trio only kept them between their triangle, and nothing more, nothing less.

But what happened, it was too serious. It could be very hard to tell.

Twelve hours earlier

Hermione shuffled through the hallway. "Sorry...excuse me...out of the way…" she would say apologetically as her puffy brown curls bounced behind her. By the time Hermione got to the Transfiguration classroom, she was out of breath, a trickle of sweat came down her forehead. She took two fingers and gently wiped the clear drop away.

Professor McGonagall was at her desk, grading papers. When she heard Hermione's feet patter into the room, she tilted her glasses up and looked at Hermione, who still looked a bit out of shape. "Ms. Granger, are you alright?"

The fussy seventeen-year-old put her hand on her professor's desk and shifted her weight. "Oh, yes, I'm fine, I just was in a rush. I was going to be late!"

"You were instructed to arrive at eight thirty, it's only a quarter past," McGonagall pointed out.

Hermione laughed a little bit. "Yes, well, I like to arrive fifteen minutes early for everything so I don't have to worry about everything as much.

"In my opinion, that puts a little more worry on your shoulders, don't you think?" joked the professor. Hermione didn't take it that way, so when she didn't laugh, McGonagall continued on. "Well, I suspect you want to know why you're here," she said. "So please, sit."

She stood up and dragged a chair from the corner of the room in front of her desk, where Hermione slowly and steadily sat down, her hands folded in front of her. Her teacher did the same, and spoke loud and clear. "Have you heard about Alastor Moody in the Prophet?" she asked. Hermione shook her head. "Well, I'll tell you then." As she spoke, Hermione listened intently, leaving her questions for the end.

When the story was over, she asked, "But, how could he have that lack of logic? He could just travel back to the same time he left. Unless he…" she trailed off. "Do you think he's...dead?"

McGonagall shook her head. "I don't think so. Moody went into a very safe environment to where he traveled. Or at least he thinks so. But, the time turner will also send a signal to a wand that is connected if the user of the time turner dies. And as far as I know, he isn't. Tonks hasn't said anything, anyway."

"Tonks' wand is connected?" asked Hermione. "Does she have anything to do with it?"

McGonagall sighed. "I'm afraid so. She thinks that because Alastor may have turned the time turner backwards―so he may have ended up in the future and not in the past."

Hermione stuttered, "But that's not possible, professor, time turners aren't built that way!"

"Who told you that? There is no proof," stated McGonagall, who smiled and winked, which Hermione didn't understand since she was the only person in the room.

After what seemed like a long silence, Hermione shifted uncomfortably. "So, why did you bring me here?"

"Oh, yes, that...well, Hermione," she spoke steadily. "in all of the thirty-eight years I have taught at Hogwarts, I have never came across a student except for you that I have let use a time turner. I know that you are responsible enough to handle it...so I want you to go and try to use my time turner and find Moody. Bring him back. Whatever has happened now...it's probably gone wrong. You can even bring a friend if you'd like."

"But I have to study! For everything! My O.W.L.s are coming up! And I won't have a perfect attendance! Why can't you just do it?" Hermione panicked. She didn't like this idea at all.

"I can't do it. I'll be traveling around the Carolinas to find evidence of Moody's movement, and asking some elders if they know anything about Moody coming along. If I can't find anything, he may as well had moved into the future. But it will be easier to have you as a backup, already being in the future. Besides, you can have a time turner with you, and I'll allow you to go back and forth between your classes, just like in you did in your third year."

"Okay, I'll do it," said Hermione. "But didn't Moody already have your time turner?"

As if on queue, McGonagall lifted up a chain with a sphere with rings around it. "It's always nice to have a backup." Hermione smiled. "So, are you willing?" asked the professor. Nod in return. "Good. Meet me in twenty-four hours time with your friend chosen, and we'll be off. I can apparate us to the Carolinas."

Hermione had never been to America before, but she was a little excited to go there. "Thank you, Professor," she said, and left, feeling very confident.

In the end, Hermione decided to tell them. But not now. It wasn't the time.

"Hermione, are you okay?" asked Ron, confused of how strange she had been acting.

"Oh, yeah...I'm fine. I'm just a little flustered from the upcoming O.W.L.s, you know, that stuff…"

Harry spoke up. "Hermione, O.W.L.s aren't for two months. You don't start studying that early, do you?"

"What? No! It's just a little freaky where they're kind of coming up," Hermione insisted weakly. Almost immediately she started poking her fork at her french toast, which was now just the white part, since she ripped off the crust (completely not normal) and looked pretty mutilated while being soaked in syrup.

Her two friends eyed her suspiciously. Usually Hermione seemed pretty open to conversation, but now she seemed like she was hiding something. When she noticed the boys looking at her, Hermione decided to tell them right away. It couldn't hurt anyone anyway, right? One of them was bound to go forward in time with her anyway, so what did it matter?

Hermione took a deep breath. "Okay, well, I'm keeping a secret from you...it hasn't been that long. Only since eight fifteen last night. But...it's very important...so you both can't tell anyone."

"Okay," said Harry and Ron in unison.

She eyed them. "Are you sure?" She tucked her hair behind her ears and leaned in so that nobody could hear their conversation. Now Hermione seemed much more tense than before.

They both nodded. "Okay," said Hermione uneasily. "So...do you two know about the whole time turner business with Moody?"

"Yeah, in the bloody Prophet," said Ron.

"Okay, well, Professor McGonagall called me over for that," she said, taking a deep breath before and afterwards.

"You already told me," said Ron, turning red as soon as he said it. It was pretty pointless, he probably just said it to get Hermione's attention. He did, but she gave him the evil eye. What else would she do in return?

Hermione took another deep breath, as she was scared. She told them about everything McGonagall told her. Harry seemed a little speechless (probably out of jealousy―he was the Chosen One!) and Ron was worried. "So…" she continued, "I'm allowed to bring one friend―"

But she was instantly cut off by both Harry and Ron, the first saying "I'll go!", the other saying, "Take me!" but Hermione couldn't tell right off the bat who said which. It was logical, however, to find out based off of their personalities.

"Well…" she said. Why was she always pausing in the middle of her sentence? "I think I want to take...um...well...Harry, you've already gone...so...Ron? Will you go with me?"

Harry instantly objected. "Hermione, why can't we all just go? I don't want to be all by myself!" Hermione snickered. So did Ron, when he realized why, even though he really didn't understand why he was supporting the idea.

Hermione said teasingly, "Harry, you've got Ginny. She broke up with Dean a few days ago, didn't she?" Then she laughed out loud. "Now she's all yours."

Ron interjected. "But just don't do anything weird, okay? Oh, and yes, Hermione, I'll go with you. But seriously, Harry, please don't do anything suspicious in the Common Room or wherever."

This made Harry turn crimson. "I won't! We don't even have a thing going on, okay?"

At the same time, Hermione and Ron said, "Oh of course you don't." Hermione seemed a little more enthusiastic, Ron was annoyed about the fact that they were trying to leave him single while his younger sister wouldn't be.

"Okay―" Hermione coughed laughter, "Let's get back to the original subject. Harry, is it okay with you if I take Ron? I think that would be fair, you and I went to the past, Ron and I go to the future?"

"I think that's fine, I guess," sighed Harry. "Have fun."

Ron, who was sitting next to Harry, patted him on the back. "Don't be pissed. Remember, we can easily come back at the time we leave...unless you want to spend some alone time with my sister."

Hermione laughed again. She thought this subject was hilarious, and she wasn't usually into drama or anything, but this was very absurd since Harry and Ron were best friends and Ginny was Ron's sister.

"I mean...you don't have to come back right away…" Harry said slowly.

Ron's ears turned pink as Hermione got up and left laughing, probably headed to the bathroom. "I'll be back!" she shouted, choked up in laughing tears. Harry shook his head and placed it on his bent forearm.

"Bloody hell," Ron said, smiling widely. "She must really think you fancy her."

"I swear, it's not that much," said Harry. He looked across the table and noticed Ginny taking a glance at him. Harry instantly moved his focus back to Ron. "She's kinda cute and all, but everyone likes her...and I don't really fancy her as a whole. Plus, she's your sister."

Ron shook his head, and grinned even wider than before. "So you're saying now."

Harry gave Ron a playful punch. "Whatever. I see how you look at Hermione. You fancy her a hell of a lot more than I do towards your sister."

Very red in the face, Ron got up. "I'm going to Charms, okay? I have some extra work for getting a Dreadful on my exam." In reality, being a Saturday, Ron was going to read the Daily Prophet from today and find any more clues or evidence about Moody's time turner business. And he didn't need Harry, even Hermione, to help him this time. No, he was all on his own, just the way he had wanted to do his past 6 years being a student at Hogwarts.

Hermione was in the bathroom, splashing water onto her face. She didn't understand why this dramatic scene was so funny, but she knew that it was always funny to see Harry in love, which he could never be capable of in his tough early life. When she thought about it this way, it seemed very sad, so the tears of laughter turned to tears of sorrow.