Summary: Hermione wakes up, and nothing is what she remembered.

Chapter 2

Hermione slowly regained consciousness, opening her eyes to see someone staring down at her and looking very worried. The man looked familiar. He looked like Horace Slughorn, but it couldn't be him for a couple of reasons. He wasn't teaching at Hogwarts anymore, and this man looked much younger than Horace.

"Miss… are you all right?" the man asked.

Hermione sat up, causing the man to pull back some as she rose. She looked around and noticed some things that were different in her sitting room. The colors were different, first of all. And instead of a desk, she was lying behind a sofa.

"What's going on?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"Why, I'm not sure. I was reading in my chair over there when you appeared out of nowhere and crashed to the floor."

"What do you mean, your chair? These are my quarters."

"I beg your pardon, miss, but these have been my quarters for years now. I think maybe you hit your head when you fell to the floor!"

She studied the man next to her, her eyes narrowing as she took in his features. Her original assumption that this was not Horace Slughorn seemed to be wrong, as this man not only looked like the Potions Master, he sounded just like him. Fear set within her stomach as she tried to put two and two together.

"Are you Horace Slughorn?" she asked.

"Ah, I see my notoriety has preceded me. I am Horace Slughorn, Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

She grimaced. "And what year is it?"

He sputtered. "It's 1977 of course!"

Hermione's shoulders sagged. "I've traveled through time." She looked down at the necklace in her hand. It must have been some sort of time travel Portkey.

"I beg your pardon, Miss?"

She'd been so absorbed in her thoughts that she almost had forgotten that Slughorn was still there. He actually took her arm and guided her up and over to the sofa.

"Now, tell me who you are and why you think you've traveled through time?" Slughorn urged.

"I have traveled through time. My name is Hermione Granger and you are my Potions professor in 1996." She held out the necklace. "I picked up this and it transported me here."

Slughorn studied her curiously.

"I think we should talk to the Headmaster. Once you are feeling up to it, let's go to his office."

She nodded. "That's probably a good idea. I'm feeling okay now, so let's head over there."

Horace helped her stand, and they moved out of his quarters and up to Dumbledore's office. In a few minutes, they were seated in front of his desk.

"Headmaster, this woman appeared in my quarters about half an hour ago. She says she's from the future."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at her, urging her to tell her story.

"I'm Hermione Granger. I traveled here from 2004. This necklace appeared in my desk, and it transported me here when I picked it up."

"May I see that, Miss Granger?"

"Of course," Hermione said as she handed it to him.

"Hmm." He waved his wand around the necklace and his eyebrows knit together. "There are traces of time magic here, but whatever brought you here is no longer functioning. It's just a necklace now."

"Then how do I get back to my own time?"

"Yes, that's the question, isn't it?"

"Perhaps a Time-Turner, Headmaster?" Slughorn suggested.

"Horace, I think that may be the only way, however, they are closely guarded and I'll need to request an audience with the Minister to see if there's even a Time-Turner that can bring her forward that many years. This will take some time, and there's no guarantee that you can return to your present."

"But… I have a life there. I'm the Potions Mistress. I have friends…"

Dumbledore held his hand up. "I understand. But we'll need to examine our options and see exactly what we can do."

Hermione frowned but nodded. "So, what do I do in the interim?"

"You say you're the Potions Mistress in your time?"

She nodded.

"Horace, would you be all right with team teaching with Professor Granger? How much experience do you have, Professor?"

"You can call me Hermione, Headmaster. I've been teaching for five years, covering all classes myself."

"I'm happy to share classes with Professor Granger, Headmaster. Perhaps she can take the younger classes?"

Hermione looked over at Slughorn, not willing to let him shove all the younger children upon her. "How about we each take one of the year's classes for the pre-N.E.W.T. levels?"

"Hmm, yes, that would be acceptable. And I'll take the N.E.W.T. sixth and seventh years."

Hermione bit her lip as she thought about that. She'd come back to the past as she was speaking with Severus Snape. Perhaps this was a chance to fix the future by changing the past. She looked at Professor Slughorn.

"Could we team teach the seventh-years? You can have the sixth-years to yourself, but I think part of my traveling back has to do with the seventh-year class."

"Can you be more specific, Professor?" Dumbledore asked.

She glanced at him. "I'd rather not," she said with a frown. "I don't want to divulge the future."

"But interacting with students will change the future," Slughorn said.

"Maybe. But I think spewing about what happens in the next twenty-five years or so would be a big mistake."

"You have a point, Professor. We don't want to change the future if we can possibly do so," Dumbledore advised.

"Of course," Slughorn agreed.

"All right," Dumbledore said with a tap of his fingers on the desk. "Hermione will share the classes outlined, and you can determine a teaching schedule for the seventh-years so you both equally cover that class."

They nodded and excused themselves.

"Oh, Hermione?"

She turned back to the Headmaster.

"There are empty living quarters on the third floor down the hall. You may room there."

"Thank you, Headmaster."

"I'll show you to it," Horace offered.

They descended the stairs and Horace chatted as they moved down the spiral staircase. As they exited the staircase, Slughorn offered a compromise for the seventh-year class.

"Let's have us both in class every day. We'll introduce you tomorrow, then you can take the classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I'll do Monday, Wednesday?"

"That sounds fine," Hermione agreed.

They approached her quarters and Slughorn showed her in. She turned to him.

"Thank you, Horace. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Rest well, Hermione."

She entered her quarters and was pleased by how it was set up, with the sofa facing the entryway. The fireplace was to the right of it. She pushed the sofa back a bit and transfigured a desk out of a side table. She angled it to face the fireplace, even though the desk was closer to the front of the room. Moving to the bedroom, she sat on the bed and breathed a huge sigh.

What in the world was she doing here?

She looked down at the necklace which she'd been holding all night. It was the only key to her future. But why had it sent her to the past? And what did Severus know about it?

She thought about the actions that had led up to her transporting to the past. She'd been saying how she'd wished he'd survived. And then he'd asked her if she was willing to change the past. That if someone had gotten to him before he'd taken the Mark, he'd have had a different outcome.

She bit her lip. He wanted her to come back here and… do what? Convince him not to take the Mark? How on earth would she be able to do that?

She wasn't sure, but the first thing she'd need to do was get to know this younger version of Severus Snape. She'd start that tomorrow. Hopefully, he'd open up to her in some way.