Hermione was panicking. It had been two months since her accident, and she thought she had good plan of laying low in the Muggle world. She still had her beaded bag, thankfully that instinct had never fully escaped her in the years following the war and had managed to rent herself a flat and buy a car. She had even made a few small investments, using her future knowledge; nothing radical but enough to live off while she waited out the war.
Now, she had gotten distracted fiddling with the radio and had potentially killed a man. She was sure the dull thud of the man hitting her bonnet was sure to join the roster of nightmares she dealt with. She stopped the car quickly and rushed out to his side.
"Oh Jesus fuck, I'm so sorry – I didn't see you I swear, Jesus fuck Christ," she rambled at the figure, attempting to take his pulse.
The man moved back as she tried to grab his arm and turned to face her, beginning to sit up and she took in his face.
"Remus Lupin," she breathed.
To say Hermione was shocked was an understatement. The figure she had knocked over was Remus Lupin, her ex professor, father of Harry's godson Teddy and member of the Order. She took in his appearance, it was 1993 which meant he was due to start as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in September. She was pleasantly surprised by how young he looked. Now she wasn't a teenager, she was surprised to see an attractive man in his thirties instead of the old man she had always thought him as. Above all Hermione was just so happy to see a familiar face. Despite having set up a whole life to use whilst hiding in this time period, she was profoundly lonely, and seeing the brave Order member alive made her smile widely at him.
"Who are you?" Remus muttered as he stared at her, bewildered by the Muggle's use of his given name.
"That's not important right now," she replied brusquely. "Let me help you up."
He was still staring at her, suspicion starting to cloud his confused expression.
"How did you know my name?" he repeated.
Fuck, Hermione thought, he clearly couldn't be distracted or bullied off track. Hermione weighed her options. The small voice in her head that had been telling her this was her chance to fix things, to change things and to prevent all the pain and suffering Voldemort brought was screaming now. What exactly did she have to preserve the timeline for? Yes, they defeated Voldemort but it had cost so much. Couldn't she change it? Couldn't she save his life? Why couldn't she save him, Tonks, Fred, Lavender, Moody, Colin and the many muggle borns who had died on the run or in Azkaban. Not to mention the survivors who weren't really surviving, no one had ever really recovered from the losses they had suffered. Her plan of "laying low" until 2012 suddenly seemed incredibly stupid, she would be 50 years old and would have two decades of life experience over her peers, she wouldn't be able to slot in to her old life anyway. How could she explain to Harry's face she had stood by and let it all happen again? She knew before she opened her mouth, that she had made her decision.
"I know your name Remus Lupin, because I'm from the future, and I want you to help me save the Wizarding world."