Hermione slowly drifted upwards towards consciousness as something hot started to burn the outside of her right thumb, she moved her hand, slowly, and painfully, what-ever had happened during their last jump had hurt, and she was still feeling the after effects, she felt incredibly weak and sluggish.

She opened her eyes and looked around, Snape was unconscious beside her, his head resting on her stomach, whilst Sirius seemed to be passed out across her right arm. She looked down to her hand, the burning sensation she'd felt had come from the time turner which was now loose from the chain that must have broken when the three of them landed in an unconscious heap. The chain was still partially resting over the top of all three of them. The hourglass next to Hermione's thumb started to emit a strange humming noise which was growing louder every second she continued to look at it, worse still, it was now starting to glow a bright red.

Oh, this is so bad, she thought immediately. She dragged her arm from under Sirius and grabbed the time turner, she had to get it away from them.

She knew she had only seconds before the thing exploded, but as the pain from the hot glass seared her hand, she inadvertently tossed it straight up, instead of away from them. It reached the height of four feet before it exploded.

Hermione had fallen backwards and – luckily – closed her eyes as she'd released the device. She felt as though she was being forced into the ground by the pressure from the explosion.

As the contents of the time turner itself blasted straight into them, Hermione came to the realisation that she'd never really knew what real pain was.

It felt as if thousands of red-hot needles were piecing every inch of her skin, while at the same time, her bones were being compressed down to nothing. She could feel her blood flowing through her, and it was as if it had been turned to acid, her inner organs burning in searing agony as it scorched its fiery path through them.

She couldn't move, couldn't scream, and worse of all, she couldn't seem to pass out, and suddenly, just as she had begun to inwardly beg for death, it was over.

There was no lessening of the pain, no gradual withdrawal, it simply stopped, leaving her gasping for breath on the ground.

A low groan reached her ears as Sirius muttered, "what the hell was that?"

This was quickly followed by Snape's harsh shout of, "where are we? What the hell have you done, Granger?"

Hermione felt grimaced at Snape's shouted demand, she felt "odd", she reluctantly opened her eyes and forced herself to sit up. Sitting in front of her, staring at her with wide shocked eyes, were both Sirius and Snape, except they weren't the two men that she had originally put the chain of the time turner around.

No, those two men had gone, and in their place sat what appeared to be two seventeen or eighteen years old boys!

Hermione's eyes widened in shock, she looked down at her own hands and arms, sure enough, any signs of her own aging were now gone, instead, she appeared to be suffering the same affliction as the two men.

"What happened?" She asked in dazed confusion, her eyes traveling from her arms to the two boys/men.

"I was just asking you the exact same question, Granger!" Snape said angrily.

"What on earth have you done to us? Where the hell are we? And more importantly, what the hell have you just done to the timeline we were in?

Hermione slowly and carefully stood up; she was still worried that the incredible pain that had attacked her body would return if she wasn't careful. She looked around, her forehead creasing into a frown as she took in their surroundings.

"I think we're still in the Forest of Dean, but it's different somehow, there's more trees, and it looks, I don't know, different somehow."

"The most important question right now is when are we? If what I heard Snape say before we jumped is true, we must go back Hermione. I have to be the one that goes to the Ministry of Magic and dies, Harry has to see me when he uses the resurrection stone. Saving me isn't worth the risk of changing the future, not when the repercussions are so high risk!"

Hermione shook her head, what have I done? She thought in shock.

Tears formed in her eyes as she looked at the two of them staring at her with accusing eyes.

"We can't go anywhere, the time-turner exploded, I think it was that which caused us to turn back into teenagers. Where-ever we are, we're here for good!"

"First things first, we need to find somewhere safe to hide out while we work out what to do. What about the cave I hid out in when I was watching out for Harry? It's definitely big enough to pitch a tent in, and it's close to both Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, so we can do some exploring and questioning, asked Sirius.

Snape glared at him for a moment, he wanted to berate Hermione some more, but at the moment, protecting themselves from any chance of being discovered – no matter how safe they thought they were- was more important.

He nodded, "can you check it out and come straight back? If it's safe we'll head there immediately."

Sirius nodded and disapparated, leaving Hermione alone with Snape, as he opened his mouth to say something Hermione held up her hand.

"Not another word Severus, please, I'm just not up to arguing with you right now, alright?"

"To bad, Granger, what you have done is unconscionable! And for what? Because you felt unloved and undesirable, so you came back in the hope to get Black to bed your sorry behind, in some kind of pathetic attempt to make you feel like a woman again!" Snape spat venomously.

Hermione's eyes went wide as she turned to face him, seeing that angry smirking face made something snap inside of her; and she hauled off and slugged him as hard as she could, right in the nose.

Snape flew backwards onto the ground, the sound of his nose snapping seeming to fill the air.

"Don't you ever speak to me like that again, Snape. I may have had to put up with that kind of disrespect and cruelty in the past – but NOT TODAY! You try that crap on me again and I'll do more than break your god-damned nose!" she yelled.

Sirius reappeared just as an enraged Snape was getting to his feet, his wand drawn.

"Expelliarmus," he shouted as he quickly pointed his own wand at Snape.

Snape's wand went flying, "what the hell is going on here?" Sirius demanded, his eyes going from an angry Snape to an equally angry Hermione in shock.

"Just a small disagreement, we're fine now," said Hermione giving Snape an angry look before she turned fully to face Sirius.

"So, is the cave going to be okay?"

Sirius was still looking between the two of them as Snape turned around and stalked over to his wand.

He sighed and decided to let it go for the moment, "yes, it's fine and there is no one about, unfortunately, there's a reason for that." He said frowning.

Snape rejoined them, his wand still in his hand as he stared at Sirius.

"What do you mean," he asked.

"There's no village of Hogsmeade." Said Sirius, "it looks as though there's never been anything there as far as I can tell. It was only a quick look from a distance I know, but as far as I can see, it's all just open fields with a few cattle and sheep grazing in them."

"We'd better go and see, it's time to set up the tent anyway," said Snape as he eyed Hermione with narrowed eyes.

Sirius nodded and took hold of the both of them before disapparating all three of them to the entrance of the cave he's once used. They stood looking out over the valley for a moment before following Sirius on a short walk to where they should be able to see the village of Hogsmeade. Sirius was right, there was nothing there – when exactly were they?

Hermione stared out across the valley for a long time before she turned to the others, a panicked look upon her face.

"I think I know why we can't see the town," she said shakily.

Sirius frowned, "why? Where has it gone?" he asked quickly.

Snape's cold voice cut through the fading afternoon light.

"Because Black, it doesn't exist! If I'm guessing right, it hasn't been built yet, has it Granger!"

Sirius turned to Hermione who was, once again, on the edge of tears.

"Tell me he's wrong Hermione. Tell me we haven't travelled back that far?" He said in dawning horror.

Hermione looked at him, "I'm so sorry Sirius, but no Hogsmeade can only mean one thing, we've arrived back sometime before its founding, which means we're at a minimum, the late ninth, or early tenth century." She said with wide eyes.

Sirius turned back and stared out over the valley, his thoughts a chaotic jumble, before he finally summed up everyone's feelings with just two words.

"Oh, shit!"