AN: This story is a combined effort, written by AJ Freas and Elipsa, a mother & daughter collaboration. This story has been completely and there will be 18 chapters. Hope you all enjoy the ride! Total list of characters are: Hermione, Ginny, Severus, Regulus, Stebbins, Avery Jr., Marauders, and Lily.

I lean against the window frame and look out at the backyard. Fred, George, and Ron are de-gnoming the garden. I can't hear what they're saying, but I can see the twins are laughing at Ron's expense. Ron's arms are flailing, and he seems to be rather upset, while his older brothers are gleefully exasperating it. There was a time I'd find their antics amusing, even while reprimanding them for being so childish and immature. After all, Ronald Weasley is my friend and it's my duty to stand by him as he and Harry Potter have done for me on many occasions.

Ron seems to be okay. I was worried when I heard he had been attacked by those strange brains in the Department of Mysteries. I'm curious what lasting effect they may have on him, if any.

I wonder how Harry is doing. He lost his godfather and is now alone at the Dursleys on Dumbledore's orders. Last year Harry witnessed Cedric die, this year Sirius. I truly worry about my friend's emotional state. Maybe I will ignore the headmaster's orders to leave Harry alone and write to him. He's my friend. Harry would reach out to me if I was the one alone and afraid.

There's movement in my peripheral vision and I flinch before I can stop myself. It's Ginny's reflection. She's standing in her doorway, watching me. "Hi."

"Hi."

"I know this is a stupid question," I can't help smiling when Ginny leads her query in such a way, "but are you okay?"

My smile falters and wobbles a bit because, wow, that's a simple question, but not even remotely easy to answer. I watch the boys again. George picks up a sizable dirt clod and tosses it at Ron's head. Am I okay? Maybe? Possibly. My fingers absently brush against my collar bone and I can feel my scarred flesh. The twins are laughing again. Ron is flailing again. I sigh. No, I'm not okay. Not really. But I'm strong. And I will be okay. Eventually. I look at Ginny's reflection and smile at her. A lie is easier to handle. "I'm fine."

Ginny comes into her bedroom and closes the door before making her way to her bed. I watch her progress as she continues to watch me. "Right. You're fine," Ginny repeats as she sits, the bed springs squeaking while she gets comfy. "How about you sit down and try again."

The bedroom is small, made even smaller by adding a second bed for me to use. I wonder if I've ever thanked Ginny for sharing her personal space with me. I have stayed with the Weasley's a few times and each time Molly has put me in here with Ginny. I doubt the girl was even given a choice. I push away from the window and sit on the bed I use when I'm at the Burrow and curl my legs under me. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Yes, but obviously nothing good as you wouldn't be staring out the window looking so glum. Especially as my gormless brother is right there and you would normally be smiling at his antics." I don't respond. The instant blush that heats my cheeks is answer enough. Ginny laughs at me. That's fair. Ginny isn't entirely wrong. Ron is rather gormless. She, like most people, thinks I have a bit of a crush on Ron. Wrong brother, but I'll never correct them. I can only imagine the teasing and razzing I'd get if they knew the truth. Besides, I'm over my crush… mostly. Gaining my attention once more, Ginny prompts, "Now talk."

"I…" How do I explain this?

"Yes?"

"Did something?"

"Are you sure?"

I sigh. Sarcasm. One of Ginny's many talents. "No, actually… I'm not… not entirely."

"Hermione Granger isn't sure of something. This is serious."

"It's off putting, is what it is," I say with a sigh. "In the Department of Mysteries, in the room where I was cursed, the place is filled with all sorts of time pieces. I'm sure you remember the place. Some are clocks: cuckoo clocks, simple winding clocks, grandfather clocks of various sizes both large and small; there are hour glasses, again various sizes; and then there is that big creepy bell," I wave my hands in the air gesturing, "thing with the egg."

Ginny looks contemplative. "I wonder what happened to that Death Eater and his aging / deaging head."

"I don't know." I shudder at the memory and shake my head to clear the mental image of that man's head aging with white hair and wrinkles before it reverses to an infant head on a man's body. It was so creepy. "Anyway, there are other things in that room… something that I used back in my third year." Instinctively my hand reaches for the necklace and I flinch when I feel my scar again, but I ignore it to continue, "Professor McGonnagall had borrowed it from the Department of Mysteries for me so I could take all of the elective classes. I didn't want to pick just a few electives, I wanted to take them all. Some of the classes overlapped so the only way to attend everything was to use one of these."

I tug the pendant out from within my blouse as Ginny launches to my side of her room to sit with me on my bed. "What's that?"

"It's a Time-Turner." I show her the hourglass and watch as she runs a finger over the runes. "It isn't the same one that I used in third year, that one was shaped slightly differently and the sand had a silvery sheen, where this one is clearly pearl."

"And you only used it for classes?"

"Well yes, for the most part. I'd go back an hour at a time, two if it was a double class, take my lessons, and then catch up with myself again. Other times I went back in order to complete all of the homework I had. It was all rather exhausting, really." I watch as Ginny continues to fiddle with the hourglass. "There are so many rules about time."

"Yes, we know how well you follow rules, especially when the Golden Trio is involved." Ginny doesn't sound convinced. That's fair. She knows who my two best friends are and all the trouble we get into.

I shrug. "I had to keep the Time-Turner a secret from everyone. The boys didn't know I had it."

"Boring."

"Well…"

"Yes?" That mischievous gleam is in her eyes and I can't help smiling at Ginny.

"There was that one time, near the end of the year when I was forced to tell Harry about the Time-Turner. We used it to save Sirius and Buckbeak."

"Now that's a story you need to share. Later, though. What are you planning to do with this?"

"I don't know," I say honestly. "I thought maybe if we have it and need to go back to fix something…"

"Like not going to the Ministry in the first place?"

"Exactly," I admit. "Unfortunately they only go back a few hours and it's been months, so we can't go back to save Sirius a second time."

"Huh," Ginny says and she looks amused with something. What, I have no idea… until she tells me, "So you stole this from the Department of Mysteries?"

"Yes."

"You. Hermione Granger. Stole from the Ministry."

She's right. That does sound absurd and I laugh at my own recklessness. I suppose I truly am a Gryffindor. "I'm surprised I managed it, to be honest. I wasn't exactly coherent at the end. One would think it would have been found before I was removed from the premises. If not there, then at least once I was in the hospital wing. Yet months later, here it is."

"That is odd," Ginny agrees.

I look down in time to see her handling the Time-Turner. I don't think anything of it at first, until I realize Ginny has turned it. I don't think she realizes what she's doing. Ginny is playing with the hourglass. How many times has she turned it? My brain starts to panic. What will happen to Ginny if she's still holding the hour glass and is outside the safety of the chain?

I try desperately not to show my fear and close my hand over Ginny's. Ginny jumps in surprise. "Oh, sorry. Am I not supposed to mess with it? Here." She tries to hand me the Time-Turner.

"Do not release the hour glass," I warn Ginny. "I don't know what will happen to you if you do."

Ginny grasps the hour glass in both hands, trapping mine with the pendant, her eyes are large as she whispers, "What do we do now?"

"Stay close."

Ginny scootches closer to me and is pressing to my side. Pulling the chain over us both is a bit awkward to do when using only one hand. Thankfully the chain stretches, but maneuvering it is not so simple and we both begin to wriggle in an attempt to get Ginny within the loop of the chain. I should probably let go of Ginny's hand. She has a firm grip on the pendant, right? There is a lot of squeaking, squawking, giggling, and cursing by the both of us. At some point, Ginny is helping me and we do manage to somehow get her safely inside the chain. I suppose that is why Ginny believes it is safe to let go of the pendant. Belatedly, I realize that I too have let go. "Oh no!"

The Time-Turner spins quickly. The room is moving faster: people enter the bedroom, leave, move this way or that. It is a nauseating experience. It's even more frantic than I remember and eventually, Ginny is holding on to me as much as I am grasping onto her to keep from vomiting.

The entire episode lasts much too long until we suddenly crash to the floor in a heap of limbs. "Ow." I whimper as Ginny tries to untangle herself from me. I don't honestly think I can move just yet. All of the times I went back for classes, never had it been this traumatic.

"It felt like that every time?"

"No," I admit. "It's never been this bad."

Ginny sits up, rubbing her head, and looks around in confusion. "Where are we? This doesn't look like my bedroom."

I haven't moved yet. I'm still rather sprawled on the floor catching my breath. I look around from my limited vantage point and comment, "It looks like a boy's room."

"Two boys actually," a gruff voice answers and I squeak in surprise, scrambling to get off the floor. "Now who are you and how did you get in my home?"

"Dad?"

The man blinks at Ginny and corrects her, "You're mistaken, Miss. I don't have any daughters. Who are you?"

"Ginny," I say as I grip her arm, "I don't think he's your dad."

"He looks like my dad, though!"

"Arthur?" A familiar voice calls from downstairs.

I amend my statement with, "Yet."

"I'm okay, Mollywobbles. No need to fret," Arthur calls down from the door. Then he demands from us - politely, yet firmly, "Wands, please."

"But-" Ginny looks as if she's going to pout. I refuse on principle. I have never been in trouble where someone demanded my wand. Besides, we are taught not to just hand over our wands, it could be dangerous!

"Just until the aurors get here and perhaps we can straighten this out."

Aurors? Really? But… "Not Professor Dumbledore?"

Arthur's eyebrows furrow questioningly. "Why would I contact him?"

"He's our headmaster," I respond automatically, "we are students at Hogwarts." Plus there is that whole leader of the light and the Order of the Phoenix thing.

"I'm surprised you didn't raise your hand before answering." Ginny's not entirely wrong. I did nearly raise my hand before responding, but that's not the point and is not nearly helpful, Miss Sarcasm.

"I see. Perhaps it would be wiser to contact the headmaster, then." Arthur holds out his hand, palm up, expectantly, and repeats his demand, "Wands…"

Ginny huffs with a muttered 'fine' and gives her wand to Arthur like the dutiful daughter that she is. I, on the other hand, am much more reluctant to hand over my wand, yet the thought of Professor Dumbledore coming to sort things out makes the prospect of handing over my wand a bit more bearable and eventually I too place my most prized possession into the man's hand. Besides, this is still Ginny's dad. Arthur Weasley is most definitely trustworthy.

Once Arthur has both of our wands, his shoulders ease visibly. Goodness, he must have been truly worried. Arthur motions us towards the door. "Downstairs, the both of you." As we're making our way down the stairs, Arthur calls out once more, "Molly, I need to call Albus Dumbledore. We seem to have a bit of a situation."

We make our way down into the living room. Arthur points at the sofa and we both dutifully take a seat. I sit on my hands to keep from fidgeting. Ginny, on the other hand, is looking around curiously. Things don't make sense. Arthur doesn't recognize Ginny, says he doesn't have a daughter, and looks remarkably younger. But how? Time-Turners only go back a few hours at most.

"Arthur, I…" Molly's voice trails off when she catches sight of us sitting on the sofa. One hand immediately goes to Molly's swollen belly as if to protect her unborn child, the other covers her mouth as if to keep her words from spilling out. Ginny smiles brightly at her mother. I only manage to pinch my leg to keep from blurting out an apology. How can we explain how we got here? I'm not even sure how we got here, not exactly.

There is a flare of light that takes me by surprise. The floo bursts to life and Dumbledore steps out wearing one of his garish robes. Still, it is such a relief to see him that I nearly want to cry. Things are so muddled in my head, but there is one thing that stands out above everything else. We've gone too far back. Much too far back.

Dumbledore looks the same as he always has and he smiles broadly. "Arthur, Molly, so good to see you again. How is the growing family?"

"Good, good…" Arthur says distractedly.

Molly rubs her belly idly and asks, "Would you like some tea, Headmaster?"

"Albus, please… you've graduated, Molly. There's no need for formalities." Dumbledore's gaze flicks over to us as we both stand upon his arrival. "Tea would be lovely, thank you." As Molly scurries to the kitchen, Dumbledore continues, "Shall we speak with the girls here in the living room?"

"Did you want privacy?" The man asks, but Arthur doesn't look sincere in his offer of leaving us alone.

Dumbledore must notice as well because he smiles at Arthur and counters, "This is your home, Arthur; I wouldn't ask you to leave."

Arthur begins with introductions, "Albus this is…" He blinks as his words falter and he apologizes, "I'm sorry, but I didn't get your names."

"Before we get to the names, can we have… privacy…" I use my finger to gesture around the room. Dumbledore cocks an eyebrow in question, and I explain, "I'd do it myself, but Mr. Weasley has our wands."

"I consider myself a well learned man, but I confess I do not know the spell you speak of."

Really? How can that be? "I learned it in Charms from Professor Flitwick just this past year," and I go on to explain the mechanics, the pronunciation, and exactly what the spell does.

"Fascinating," Dumbledore says before taking out this wand and casting the spell, "Muffliato ."

"Thank you." I relax as soon as the spell is placed. "I'm sorry. I love Mrs. Weasley and all, but she's in a delicate condition and what we have to say may cause your next son to come too soon…"

"I'm having another son?" Arthur asks, stunned at the news.

"Yeah, Dad… but you'll eventually have a girl." Ginny smiles and Arthur sits down on the sofa gaping at his future daughter.

"I… daughter…" Arthur blinks a few times and stares at Ginny before asking, "You?"

"Right," I brace and face Dumbledore, "my name is Hermione Jean Granger, I was born on 19 September 1979. This is Ginevra Molly Weasley, born 11 August 1981. We're obviously from the future." I take the Time-Turner from around my neck as I continue speaking, "We were in a bit of a skirmish at the Ministry on 18 June 1996. We were down in the Department of Mysteries and I took," I allow the pendant to dangle so the adults can see it, "this when we were there. It's a-"

"Time-Turner," Albus finishes. He peers at the artifact. "I suppose you already know that these things only go in reverse."

I flinch. Right. I didn't quite stress that fact with Ginny. Still I answer Dumbledore, "Yes."

"Beg your pardon?" Ginny blinks in confusion. "What do you mean it only goes in reverse? What about going home?"

"Time-Turners only go in reverse. There is no speeding us up to go back to our time. We have to continue our lives here, now… I told you how I'd go to class and wait until I caught up with myself."

Ginny gasps and sits, just as heavily as her dad had, landing next to the man. Arthur pats her leg comfortingly and Ginny leans against him. "I can't go back, Dad."

"We'll figure something out." Arthur looks at Dumbledore. "We have to figure something out. Like what to tell Molly, for a start. She has to be told something. I can't keep something like this from her."

Ginny sits up. "Oh wow."

"What?" I ask.

"This explains why Mum is so overprotective of me. I always thought it was because I'm the only daughter." She looks towards the kitchen as Molly comes through the ward. Ginny jumps up and helps her mother with the tray. "Here, let me help."

Molly smiles at the girl who would one day be her daughter. "Thank you, dear. Can you serve the tea? I need to see to the boys."

"Of course," Ginny agrees immediately.

"Let me know if you need anything else." And with that, Molly leaves the room.

Dumbledore resets the privacy ward without being asked and watches Ginny pour the tea for her father exactly like he wants it then does the same for him; both times Ginny has done so without asking how they prefer their beverage. Dumbledore says, "You really are who you say you are." Dumbledore takes a sip of his tea and looks in his cup in contemplation. "Perfect. Just enough sugar with the right amount of milk and I didn't have to say a thing. I take it we know each other well enough in the future that you are well versed in how I take my tea."

Ginny shrugs. "Mum and Dad join the Order."

"The Order?" Mr. Weasley asks.

"The Order of the Phoenix," I say and only belatedly realize that Mr. Weasley still doesn't understand.

Ginny comes to my rescue when she explains, "You don't join now, Dad. You have little ones. Bill, Charlie, Percy, the twins, Ron… whoever it is that will be born soon."

"Percy," Arthur repeats.

"Percy Ignatius Weasley," Ginny says with a small, pained smile, "born 22 August, 1976."

Arthur's smile drops immediately as does his cup, spilling the tea everywhere. "22 August?" Arthur repeats.

"Yes…" Ginny frowns. "Why?" Arthur jumps up and runs to the kitchen without answering. Ginny whirls on the headmaster and asks a smiling Dumbledore, "What did I say?"

"Today is the 21st day of August 1976."

A/N Ajellah: So I have to warn you. This story has no real plot. We tried several times to come up with one. Neither of us want to do a war again because they're no fun. We even thought to take them back in time to the Founders instead, but that got serious by the second chapter and nope, don't want that either. So we considered a third option to do a timeline that has nothing to do with any timeline that we already know: Founders, Tom, Marauders, or Harry. But ran into the same issue of what is the point? So we decided we don't have a point. We have a bunch of scenes that happen and we're going to keep on until we're out of ideas.