Disclaimer: Harry Potter always has and always will belong to JK Rowling

1989

Chapter 2

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut as she hit the stone floor, expecting Malfoy to shoot another spell her way. She was sure he would be extremely angry after what she'd done to him, and figured he would punish her accordingly; unarmed or not.

When a minute went by and she was met with nothing but silence, she finally opened her eyes. Turning onto her backside slowly, she realized that Malfoy was nowhere to be seen. With him gone, she concluded that the time turner must have brought her back to her destination. She breathed a sigh of relief in knowing she was out of harm's way for at least the next few minutes.

After taking a moment to catch her breath and calm down, she realized that she needed to be preparing herself for the inevitable duel that was coming. She stayed very still and held her breath as she listened closely, expecting to hear herself and Malfoy dueling far off in the distance, but eerily the room was completely silent.

She took a good look around the room, and to her confusion realized that not only was Malfoy gone, but the surroundings seemed slightly off as well. She was sure the potted plant she had noticed earlier was much bigger than it was now. And not only that but a grouping of candles had seemed to completely disappear along with a few of the books she'd spotted as well.

With so many items changed or out of place, she was now worried that she had come back in time too far. Hermione grasped the gold chain that adorned her neck to take a peek at the charm. To her horror, she discovered that one of the knobs was now missing, the hourglass shattered, and the spinning circle cracked severely.

"No, no, no, no, no!" She cursed as she realized the time-turner had been damaged in the fall. "What am I going to do now?"

Hermione Granger was stuck. By the looks of things she wasn't still in the same day anymore, let alone only the ten minutes she'd attempted to travel. And with the time-turner now broken she had no hope of returning to her own time.

Alone, wandless, and with nothing but her trusty beaded bag and a broken time-turner, Hermione knew she had no choice but to turn around and go back through the room of hidden things. She would have to get back into the main part of the castle and figure out how far she'd come into the past before there was any hope of reuniting with her friends.

Knowing that messing with any of the items inside could change the past, she made sure not to touch anything on her way back to the front. She even left the broomstick she'd hit Malfoy with earlier alone even though it would make her trip much easier, and walked the long way back to the entrance of the Room of Requirement. Past the fork she had taken earlier. Past the stack of books she'd knocked over onto Malfoy in an attempt to escape. Past the stuffed troll near the entrance. Until finally she reached the door and entered the seventh floor of the school she had come to know so well over the past seven years.

Once she was back inside the castle, she realized she didn't know where to go from here. What if she had only gone back a few months? The castle could be controlled by Snape, and crawling with other death eaters. And if it was, she would be walking into an even worse situation than the one she was just in with Malfoy. In fact, since she didn't even know what year she was in, she had no clue who she might run into once she left this spot.

There were a lot of things Hermione was not sure of, however, what she did know was that the castle would still be laid out the same; no matter the timeline. What she remembered from her six years of school was that not too far from here, there was a large bay window that you could see the entire grounds from. She knew that if she took the hallway to the right and went down one set of moving stairs she would reach it with little risk of running into anyone who might currently be in the castle.

So with that in mind, that is where she headed. If she could see the grounds it might give her at least a hint of what time of day it was. Maybe she'd even see Hagrid on the grounds and could somehow make it down to him. She knew he would be trustworthy whatever time she was in, and it would be nice to have an ally.

When she finally reached the over-sized window, the first thing she realized was that it was early evening. It was dark outside, but she could just make out the sunset far off in the distance. The next thing she noticed gave her the first hint of when she had ended up. She now knew at least what month and day it must be, as the current activity occurring only happened once a year.

Out on the lake she spotted many tiny boats filled with children, and one very very large man with a wild beard crossing to get to the castle. She knew this only happened on September first, as this was the day the students arrived back to school. This was the day the first years would get their first glimpse of the castle by sailing across the lake with the gamekeeper.

The fact that she could see Hagrid made her smile, yet also worried her at the same time. If Hagrid was escorting the first years as was tradition, that meant that Dumbledore was still alive and headmaster. And if Dumbledore was still headmaster, that also meant that it was at least a year and eight months earlier than when she had started the evening. It was even possible her younger self was in the castle somewhere.

She remembered the lecture she had received from McGonagall her third year about the risks of running into one's past self, and nearly slapped herself for not thinking of going to her mentor earlier. As much as she adored Hagrid, McGonagall was the person she needed to see more. Mcgonagall was the better person to go to for this kind of trouble.

Now with a part of a plan, Hermione's first instinct was to run straight to the deputy headmistresses office. However, knowing that the start of term feast was going to be starting any minute now, meant that Mcgonagall would be preoccupied for several more hours.

With plenty of time to spare, she decided to go freshen up in the ladies room; she felt disgusting and knew she probably looked a fright. When she got to the nearest lavatory, she went to the sink and turned on the tap to let the water heat up. She let the still cool water run over her hands as she took the first look at herself in the mirror since she had left Shell Cottage that morning.

She didn't look quite as bad as she thought; her hair was less frizzy than expected, though still a big bushy mess. She was also covered in grime after her little trip to the chamber of secrets with Ron earlier.

'Oh Ron' She thought as she buried her face in her hands. She had finally kissed him after years of dreaming about it, and to her delight he had kissed her back intensely. She finally had confirmation that he liked her too, and now they were separated though both time and space; not knowing if she would ever make it back to him. That kiss seemed like ages ago now, though she knew it had really only been minutes before they'd entered the room of hidden things.

Hermione took her time in the bathroom. She took extra care to thoroughly scrub all the grime and sweat from her face, and slick her bushy hair back down into tamable curls; all the while thinking about her silly crush on her best friend.

There was hardly anything she could do about her clothes without a wand, she still had her trusty beaded bag, but it was running low on supplies after nearly a year on the run. She was still healing from the burns the cups at Gringotts had left, and wished she still had some dittany left to put on them.

When she was finished, she still looked a bit worse for wear than she would have liked, but nevertheless, she left the sixth floor bathroom and trekked her way down to her head of house's office to wait. Like most of the professors, McGonagall's living quarters were attached to her classroom. This made it so that Hermione would not be missed as she headed to bed for the evening.

So alone Hermione sat at her usual desk, pulling out a book to await her favorite teacher's arrival. Alone she sat as she ignored the book and began to think about the crazy events of the past twenty hours. Alone she sat until a stern but familiar voice finally called from behind her.

"Can I help you?"

Hermione stood and turned to face the voice, relieved she could finally start to plan on how to get back to the final battle. "Professor McGonagall. I'm so glad to see you."

Minerva looked at her for a moment in confusion, causing a small silence to form between them. Hermione thought she looked younger than the last time she had seen her, but not by much. "Who are you, and how did you get into Hogwarts without an escort?"

This was not what Hermione had expected. Sure she knew she would look older than whatever age she was in this time, but how far must she have come back if her own head of house didn't know who she was. Surely she would recognize the face of a girl she had seen nearly every day since she was eleven.

"You seem to know me, but you're a bit old to be at this school without having taken Transfiguration at some point. I'd know you if you had. And since I know you were not at the feast just now, I have to ask what it is you are doing in my office at this time of night?"

With wide eyes, Hermione finally answered. "You don't recognize me at all?"

"Should I?" Mcgonagall asked curiously.

"My face doesn't look even a little bit familiar to you?"

Mcgonagall looked even more confused. "No. Should it?"

"Then I have come farther back than I thought." Hermione said, mostly to herself.

"Come back?" McGonagall asked with a raised eyebrow. "You make it sound like you're from the future." She finished with a slight laugh.

The look on Hermione's face gave her away, and McGonagall's laugh, however small, faded instantly. She pulled the time turner out from underneath her shirt collar and showed off the damaged gold charm.

"Oh, dear." Professor McGonagall sighed. "Well… If that's the case we are going to need Albus."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fifteen minutes later, Hermione was in Dumbledore's office, the grey haired wizard sitting silently across from her at his desk. Hermione wanted to be excited that she was in a time when he was still alive, both hands normal instead of one blackened, but she was too worried about her current predicament to show it.

After staring at her for some time, no doubt examining her before his interrogation, Dumbledore finally spoke. "So Minerva tells me you accidentally ended up here because your time-turner broke mid travel."

"That's correct." Hermione confirmed.

"While I do understand that portion of your evening, as these things unfortunately do happen, what I don't understand though, is how you ended up wandless and covered in second degree burns. You look as though you have just come from battle."

He always was spot on in all of his theories.

"Professor Dumbledore sir," Hermione said calmly. "While I understand your curiosity about why I have come from the future, I feel I must remind you that to me this is the past. And what I was taught about time-travel is that releasing even a small amount of information of the future can alter that past. If I am going to get back to my own time and have it unaltered, I will need to be extra careful on how much I reveal."

"Whoever taught you is correct." Dumbledore responded with a small smile and a slight twinkle in his eye. "Spoken just like someone who has had experience with time-turners before now."

"You could say I've had my fair share." Hermione agreed.

"Now without telling me too much, How can I help you miss...?"

"Walters...Jean Walters." Hermione came up with her alias quickly. "At least that is what you can call me while I am here."

"A false identity. I like it." He stated. "It's probably for the best, as I fear you will be here in 1989 much longer than you wish."

Hermione's eyes grew in shock. "1989?"

Dumbledore reached across his desk to grab today's edition of The Daily Prophet, and slid it over to her. In the top corner sat the days date in black ink:

September 1st, 1989

Hermione stared at the year on the paper, panicked over the reality that she was now stuck over eight years in the past. She wondered how the broken time turner had settled on this date specifically to drop her off in for some time before finally pulling herself together.

"So how long do you fear I will be stuck here for?" She asked.

"Miss Walters, you have told me a fact that you know about time travel, now let me tell you a fact that I know." Dumbledore explained. "When using a time-turner you travel to the exact place you are currently standing in."

"Okay." Hermione said, slightly confused.

"And by my estimation you look to be somewhere between the ages of seventeen and nineteen." He continued.

"That's correct." She agreed, not knowing what one thing had to do with the other.

"So the fact that you were standing somewhere in Hogwarts when you used your time-turner, means that you must be a student sometime in the future. Now there is also the fact that neither Professor McGonagall or I recognize you; even as an older version of any student currently here. That tells me that you must not even start here until at least next year. That leads me to believe that even if eleven year old Jean Walters starts here one year from today, and you are now at least seventeen years old, means that you have come from a minimum of seven years in the future to get here."

Hermione answered respectfully, even though she was sure he had been rambling. "Why does how long I've traveled matter sir?"

"Each object that currently exists in this time has a place and a possible future purpose. So naturally you cannot take any items with you to the future that you did not come back with, and vise versa, as you also should not leave anything you've brought from the future when you do eventually leave."

"That sounds fair." She agreed. "But what does that have to do with getting me back to my time?"

"Everything." Dumbledore smiled, clearly enjoying the draw out of the explanation. "If I request a new time turner from the ministry and give it to you so you can return to your time, it no longer exists in ours."

"And if the specific time-turner was supposed to be used by someone else between now and then, I will possibly alter events from my past." Hermione finished for him.

"Precisely." He nodded.

"Okay." She responded in understanding. "So if I can't have a new time-turner, how am I supposed to get back?"

"Luckily, I have a friend who recently retired from The Department of Mysteries at the ministry, and I believe he was quite familiar with the time turners." Dumbledore explained. "I will owl him in the morning to see if he can come take a look at yours. It will probably take him some time if he can fix it, but he owes me a favor and if fixing it is possible I know he will do it. You can't leave it here in your past anyway, so it might as well be the one that gets you home."

Hermione nodded, not happy with the answer, but knowing that it was the only solution to her problem. "What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

"You will have to stay here, using your alias of Jean Walters, and pretend to be a transfer student." He said.

She sighed, but nodded in agreement. "It's better than being in isolation I guess."

"And even though I am not supposed to know too much; which year and house are you in right now?" He asked as if trying to plan out how to integrate her into the school without drawing any attention to her.

"Gryffindor." She answered proudly. "And I was just going into my seventh year." She fibbed slightly, not wanting to reveal that she had skipped what should have been her final year to go horcrux hunting.

Dumbledore smiled again. "Excellent. That's exactly what I told Minerva. I could see your courage the moment I laid eyes on you."

For the first time that night, Hermione smiled back. "Thank you sir,"

"So you have your alias name down, now what about your backstory? Your new fellow students are bound to ask about why you are only just starting at Hogwarts for your seventh year."

"I guess I hadn't really thought about it yet." She shrugged.

"Here's one." He gave her a story. "You are a half blood; witch mother, muggle father who moved your family to America when you were ten for business. After several years away you recently returned. You've attended Ilvermorny until now."

She nodded as he fed her a basic background. "Easy enough to remember."

"There is something else bothering you too." It wasn't a question.

"Honestly, yes there is sir." She admitted.

He made a gesture with his hand to let her know he wanted her to continue.

"If I am going to be here attending classes without looking suspicious, I'll need a wand. Mine was destroyed earlier this evening." She explained. "In fact, my wand getting destroyed is the reason I had to use the time-turner in the first place."

"I see." He said. "Professor McGonagall is off grabbing a prefect who I had planned on having escort you to Gryffindor tower, and giving you the password. Tomorrow, I shall have him escort you to Ollivanders to get a new one as well."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to have anything that came from this time though?"

"I happen to know that Mr. Ollivander has a very specific collection of wands just for this sort of occasion. I will write to him ahead of time, and make sure he is aware of your situation. He will only let you touch wands he is positive will not be sold within the next hundred years or so." He replied with another twinkle in his eye.

"At least that's comforting." She thought out loud.

Dumbledore stood from his chair, wand in hand, and walked to the old chest on the wall behind him. He then pulled an old robe from one of the drawers and transfigured it into a set of school robes; complete with the Gryffindor house colors and tie. With another wave of his wand a large curtain appeared in the corner of the room. "Now if you would change into these like the rest of the students are required to on their first day, I will keep your current clothes safely in my office until it is time for you to return to your own time."

Yawning from exhaustion, Hermione grabbed the freshly transfigured uniform and dipped behind the curtain to do as the headmaster asked.

When she came back into view he handed her a bag for her to put her dirty clothes in; which she took and stuffed the jeans and top into hastily.

"Now Miss Walters there is one more thing I must remind you of, and that is that you should try not to get too close to anyone while you are here. Doing so could have dire consequences for both their futures, and yours."

Hermione nodded, knowing he was absolutely right. "I understand and agree sir. I will keep to myself as much as possible."

"Your escort should be here soon," He informed her. "Would you like me to heal your burns and cuts before he gets here?"

"Please." She consented.

Dumbledore took gentle care of each mark on her visible skin, one by one until a chime rang through the air to alert them that someone was approaching.

"Ah, that should be him." He said, whipping his wand away and taking a step to the door. When a knock sounded from the other side moments later, he opened it to reveal a familiar face.

She couldn't place him at first, as she had only met this particular man a few times before, but the red hair eventually gave his identity away.

"Jean Walters, I'd like you to meet Charlie Weasley."