Times of Trouble
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
'Today I'm sixteen,' Hermione thought in excitement. She impatiently lowered herself onto one of the sofas in the Gryffindor common room, giving up all hope that Harry and Ron would hurry up for once, so that they'd have time to eat breakfast. 'Not even on my birthday they can be on time,' she thought in annoyance.
Suddenly, the Weasley twins' voices pulled her out of her reverie. "Happy Birthday, Hermione," George said, smiling, while Fred held out a sweet to her.
With suspicion, Hermione eyed the sweet that was wrapped in dark blue paper with little golden stars on it. "You don't think that I'm going to digest any of your prank items now, are you?" she asked, glaring at the twins.
"Ah but Hermione..."
"... this is not a prank item..."
"... This is something, which should turn out very useful in class..."
"... especially for your Transfiguration class," the twins explained, driving Hermione crazy by their way of completing each other's sentences.
However, the thought of her Transfiguration class, in which the fifth years were going to get a first introduction into the Animagus transformation, made her curiously eye the gift.
"Very well then, do you have an Antidote in case it doesn't work?" she asked crisply.
"That doesn't need any antidote..."
"... because it's completely harmless," the twins reassured her.
'Oh well, what can happen?' Hermione mused, 'and what would be a better time to do something really stupid than my sixteenth birthday?' Smiling at the twins, she slowly unwrapped what seemed to be a fruit drop and put it into her mouth, rolling her eyes in annoyance at the thought of how her mother would scold her for eating a sweet that probably contained sugar. 'I wonder if they're going to write today.' Completely wrapped in thoughts, she overheard the twins' warning to slowly lick the candy and not bite it, she cracked the sweet's shell with her teeth, only to immediately notice that something was not as it was supposed to be – not at all.
She felt a strange pull all over her body. It was a bit similar to the feeling of a Portkey; however, this was different. She saw the common room zoom away from her sight, before the world turned black.
HP
Only an instant later, the world around her became bright again; however, she suddenly had problems breathing. It was as if something was sitting on her chest pressing against her lungs.
"Can't breathe," she mumbled urgently, not even properly taking in her surroundings.
"Come with me," a female voice, which she couldn't place, although it sounded familiar, penetrated her mind and made her obey automatically.
Hermione felt herself being led into the girls' bathroom, where someone switched on the shower. Gratefully inhaling the hot steam from the shower that allowed her to breathe more easily, she glanced around to assess her company for the first time, nearly chocking upon recognising the three girls. 'McGonagall, Pomfrey and Hooch,' she thought; 'however, they're at least fifty years younger than usual.'
"Feeling better now?" Poppy queried, giving her a sharp look.
"Much better; thank you very much," Hermione replied, gratefully. She still found it difficult to breathe though. 'Strange; I've never had these problems before. It surely was the twins' prank sweet that did this. But did it also take me back in time, or am I hallucinating?'
"Then maybe you can tell us who you are, and how you managed to get into the Gryffindor common room," Minerva said firmly, looking at her with curiosity.
"I'm Hermione, and I'm a fifth year Gryffindor," Hermione replied slowly. "Someone gave me a sweet, but it must have been a prank sweet that brought me back in time. You seem to be fifty years younger than you were in my time."
"We're fifth years as well," Minerva informed her, trailing off when Rolanda interrupted her.
"We what?" Rolanda blurted out, looking at her friends in delight. "You come from the future? And all three of us will be at Hogwarts in fifty years' time? That's amazing."
"Well, that might be, but what are we going to do with Hermione?" Minerva asked, shaking her head in annoyance. "How can we send her back to the future?"
"First of all, I'm going to take her to granny," Poppy said in determination. "I don't like her laboured breathing at all. Hermione, did you have asthma before?"
Hermione looked at the soon to become mediwitch in shock. "Asthma? No, I don't have asthma."
Poppy let out a long sigh. "Well, then maybe it was triggered by whatever you digested that made you time travel. My grandmother is the healer here and will surely be able to help you. Let's go."
Feeling very much reassured by the presence of the three girls, whose older selves she knew so well from her own time, Hermione followed Poppy to the hospital wing, where Theresa Pomfrey was the Mediwitch at that time.
Theresa thoroughly examined Hermione, before she said in a grave voice, "I'm sorry, sweetie, but you're indeed suffering from asthma. Since I don't know what potion you took to come here, I'm not sure if that's what triggered it, but if you didn't have any problems before, it seems most likely." She handed Hermione a spray instructing her to take one shot of it whenever she encountered breathing problems and to come back to her immediately in case the spray did not help. "Poppy, please keep an eye on Hermione," she instructed her granddaughter, before she suggested, "Poppy, Minerva and Rolanda, please accompany Hermione to Professor Dippet. I will excuse you from your morning classes and will also send Professor Dumbledore to the headmaster's office. Maybe they'll have an idea how they can help Hermione to get back to the future."
Hermione wearily followed the three friends to the headmaster's office. Her thoughts were going haywire. 'Maybe I'll be stuck here forever. Thank Merlin I know these three as well as Professor Dumbledore. Otherwise, I'd feel much more alone. Oh well, I must attend classes here and at the same time try to invent a time travel potion. Harry and Ron will be so worried... hopefully the twins, too,' she thought, grimly. 'It's their fault after all.'
HP
Professors Dippet and Dumbledore quietly listened to Hermione's story. "You travelled 55 years into the past?" Dumbledore asked finally, slowly popping a lemon drop into his mouth. When Hermione replied, affirmatively, he asked, "Do I understand it correctly that Sopho, our Sorting Hat, has properly sorted you into Gryffindor?"
"Yes sir," Hermione said, adding pleadingly, "Please Professors, may I stay in Gryffindor instead of being sorted again? I am so happy that I know Minerva, Poppy and Rolanda, and I'd really prefer being in the same house."
"I am sorry, Ms. Granger, but since your Sorting will only take place in the future..." the headmaster began but was interrupted by Professor Dumbledore.
"Ms. Granger, please tell me one thing. Will I still be the Head of Gryffindor in your time?" the white bearded wizard, who looked even old in this time, enquired.
"No sir," Hermione replied, quietly. "You're the headmaster and Professor McGonagall your deputy and the Head of Gryffindor."
"Professor McGonagall," Rolanda blurted out, chuckling. "Well done, Minnie."
"Very well then. Since I am the current Head of Gryffindor, I suggest forgoing a re-sorting. The fact that she has been sorted into my house before shows that she possesses enough traits to be a member of Gryffindor, independently of when Sopho has made or will make his decision."
To her immense relief, Hermione saw the headmaster nod his agreement. "Thank you so much, Professors," she said gratefully, casting the three girls next to her a relieved look.
The headmaster promised to make the house-elves place a bed for Hermione into the fifth-year girls' dormitory and instructed the four young witches to speak with Professor Slughorn, the Slytherin Head and Potions master about a possible invention of a time travel potion. The four girls were just about to leave, when Professor Dumbledore once again addressed Hermione.
"Ms. Granger, do you have any belongings with you?" he asked, gently.
"Oh no," Hermione replied, terrified. "I only have my book bag, my wand, and the clothes that I'm wearing; nothing else, and of course no money either."
"Very well then; the four of you have the permission to go to Hogsmeade and buy everything that you need. Your friends here will be able to assist you. Ms. McGonagall, please tell the shopkeepers to take the money from the Hogwarts account. We have a certain budget for cases like Ms. Granger."
"Well, I don't know about you, Hermione, but the three of us missed breakfast, so I suggest going to the kitchen for breakfast first," Rolanda spoke up when they passed the gargoyle in front of the headmaster's office.
"That would be wonderful," Hermione agreed. "I missed breakfast as well."
The four fifth-years headed to the kitchen, where the house-elves made appear a whole table full of food for them in a blink. Absentmindedly eating her breakfast, Hermione tried to understand her situation. 'So instead of attending Hogwarts in our fifth year, having to endure Umbridge and trying to help Harry fighting Voldemort, now that he is back, I'm in Professor McGonagall's time. I can't believe it. Why would something like that happen to me?' She thoughtfully took a sip from her mug of hot tea and almost chocked, when realisation struck her mind. 'Voldemort! He must be a student here too,' she thought, excitedly. 'This must be about the time when he made his diary. And Hagrid must be here, too.'
Suddenly, Minerva's voice brought her back to reality. "The first morning class will be over in a few minutes. We should go to the Potions classroom and try to speak with Professor Slughorn before the beginning of the next class. That way we'll have enough time to go to Hogsmeade and be back before the beginning of the afternoon classes."
"Let's go to Hogsmeade right away," Hermione said slowly, her thoughts going haywire. 'I mustn't change the past. Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall emphasized that, when they gave me the time turner. But on the other hand, Dumbledore made us change things, when he sent us to save Sirius.' Noticing that the girls were staring at her in apparent curiosity, she hurriedly made a decision. "We don't have to speak with Professor Slughorn. I'm not going to go back to the future. I will stay here in this time."
tbc...?
Are you interested?