A/N - Hello everyone! Here is the next chapter. I gave the other Hermione a nickname in this one to make it easier to distinguish between them (plus I got tired of typing the other Hermione all the time). Hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks so much for reading and reviewing! I love to hear your thoughts!
Chapter 4
29 June 2003
She landed in her flat again but this time there were two other people there; two people that broke off mid-snog and spun to face her. They both pulled their wands, although the other her was quicker than the man. The man who was…Nott?
"What the fuck?" Nott said.
"Who are you?" the other Hermione demanded. Nott tried to push her behind him but she rolled her eyes and stepped back to his side.
"I know this is strange but I'm you," Hermione said, hands raised in front of her, palms facing them. "I'm from another universe and this thing around my neck is a dimensional travel device."
Both of them stared at her, Nott with his mouth hanging open and the other Hermione skeptically. Neither lowered their wands. In fact, her counterpart disarmed her as she'd done the first time. Hermione didn't protest.
"I can prove it," Hermione said. "Ask me whatever you'd like."
The other Hermione's eyes flicked down to Hermione's robes. She'd donned her Unspeakable robes before she'd left the previous universe. A pang of guilt hit her as she imagined Padma finding her note.
"Theo, can you give us a moment?" the other Hermione said.
He looked at her incredulously. "Mi, a random stranger pops into our flat and you want me to leave? Not bloody likely."
Hermione grimaced a bit at the nickname, although she supposed it wasn't that bad as nicknames went; certainly better than the 'Mione' Ron tried to get away with using. And it would probably be easier to refer to her other self by the nickname. It did get a bit confusing in the last universe. But their flat? That was interesting.
"I've got a feeling this probably has something to do with work," the other Hermione, no Mi, said. So, she was an Unspeakable too then, thank Merlin. "Which means-"
"Which means I can't hear it," Theo interrupted, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I get that but, Mi, I'm not leaving you alone with her." He took her free hand and raised it to his lips. "You can Obliviate me later."
Mi made a face. "You know I won't do that."
"Then it's a good thing I'm excellent at keeping secrets, isn't it?" he asked with a smirk.
Mi rolled her eyes but gave him a fond look, similar to the one the Hermione from the first universe had for Fred. Something twisted in Hermione's gut and if she'd had to name it, she probably would have called it jealousy.
Shoving that away, Hermione looked expectantly at her counterpart. Mi studied her for a few seconds before looking back at Theo and sighing. "Fine, stay then."
Hermione's eyes widened in surprise. She had never shared anything about her work with Ron, nor would she even consider it. She took her vows of secrecy seriously. But this iteration of her seemed almost flippant about it. Hermione glanced at Mi's left hand but there was no ring. She and Theo weren't even engaged and she was going to let him listen to what Hermione had to say?
"I don't think-" Hermione began but Mi interrupted her.
"Trust me, don't even bother. He's very stubborn when he sets his mind to it." She gave Theo another of those fond looks and he grinned cheekily at her.
"Yes, but-"
Mi waved her off. "He's only staying until he's satisfied that you are who you say you are. Then, he is leaving." She gave Theo a pointed look.
He smirked again. "Whatever you want, love."
Mi turned her attention back to Hermione. "What happened when I was six that I blamed on Nanna's cat?"
Hermione nearly burst out laughing. It seemed some things were the same no matter the universe. Mi looked at her curiously.
"Sorry, I've been asked that before."
Theo's brows rose to his hairline, obviously assuming that she'd been to other universes besides this one. Shite, she had to be more careful.
Hermione proceeded to answer the question and all the others afterward. Everything that Mi chose to question her about had happened pretty much the same in this universe as in Hermione's, at least through the end of the war. It wasn't until Mi asked her about Theo, that she couldn't answer.
"We aren't together in my world."
Theo looked a bit stricken at that, glancing at Mi. She smiled at him and took his hand, giving it a squeeze. His face relaxed and Hermione saw him squeeze back. She felt a bit like an intruder on a private moment.
"Satisfied, then?" Mi said to Theo.
"I don't know, I'm not sure how anyone couldn't see the absolute brilliance of a relationship with me. Might have to take away that 'Brightest Witch of her Age' title."
Mi rolled her eyes again. "Laying it on a bit thick, aren't we?"
He laughed and pulled her into his arms. "Just don't want you to be swayed when you hear all about your other life."
"Never," Mi said and then kissed him lightly.
Hermione looked away, trying to give them a bit of privacy but also because she didn't want to see the love shining in their eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen that from Ron.
"Sorry about that," Mi said a few seconds later.
Hermione smiled at her. "No worries."
"I'll leave you to talk," Theo said then looked at Hermione gravely. "I have no idea why you're here but know that I'm not leaving the flat. If you try anything-"
"I swear, I'm not going to. I just want to get home."
Theo studied her for a few more moments, then nodded once. He gave Mi a quick kiss then left the room. Hermione heard the quiet snick of a door a few seconds later.
As soon as he'd gone, Mi cast a series of complex privacy wards around the two of them. She turned to Hermione. "What the hell is going on?"
Hermione sighed, then pulled the box for the device from her pocket. She carefully pulled the chain over her head and settled it back into the box, leaving the lid open and setting it on the table in front of the couch. "I take it you don't recognize this?"
"No," Mi said, sitting down on the couch and leaning forward to study it.
"Neither did the Hermione from the other universe."
"How many have you been in?"
"This is the second," Hermione said. She proceeded to explain everything that had happened since Director Croaker had given her the device to study.
"So, you hadn't figured out all the symbols, had no idea how it worked, and decided to try and get back anyway?" Mi asked when Hermione finished.
Hermione's cheeks colored. "I know it was stupid."
"No, sounds about right, actually," Mi said with a smirk.
Hermione couldn't help but laugh. This version of herself was different somehow, a bit more self-confident, more comfortable in her own skin. Hermione wondered if Theo had anything to do with that.
"I just couldn't stand the thought of being kept down in the DOM indefinitely."
"That I can completely understand," Mi said.
"Who's the Head here by the way?"
"Davidson," Mi said.
Hermione made a face of distaste. Mi laughed. "You have no idea."
"Yeah, she's not a fan of me either."
"Who's Head where you're from?" Mi asked.
"Croaker," Hermione said.
"Oh," Mi said, her voice pained.
Hermione looked at her in confusion. Mi took a deep breath. "Croaker died in an accident three years ago."
"What kind of accident?"
"He was working on something new, something the Aurors had found when they finally arrested Rookwood. He'd escaped after the Final Battle and had been on the run. Anyway, Croaker hadn't brought anyone in on it and there was an explosion."
Hermione felt the air leave her lungs. "Are you, are you sure he died?"
Mi's brow furrowed in confusion. "I don't understand what you're asking. I went to the funeral."
"No, I mean, they found his body? He didn't just…disappear?"
"What are you," Mi's eyes widened and she looked back at the device on the table. "You think…no, no that wasn't it."
"How can you be sure?"
"You said there was no Dark residue on this?"
"No," Hermione said.
Mi shook her head. "Whatever Croaker was doing, there was Dark Magic all over it. You could feel it in the room after. It took four cleansing rituals to get rid of the Dark residue. And while there wasn't a body, there were…well, it was an explosion, I'm sure you can figure it out."
Hermione shuddered and she reached over and squeezed Mi's hand. "I'm sorry."
Mi nodded and took a deep breath. "Anyway, whatever it was that he'd been studying had been destroyed as well. Davidson got a list of what had been turned over to the DOM from the Aurors but it didn't really tell us anything."
"And this wasn't in the rest of the items confiscated?" Hermione asked with a nod toward the device.
"Not that I know of," Mi said. "I had only been working there for a little over a year at that point so I wasn't given anything of importance. I think Padma might have assisted on something but nothing like this. That I'm sure of."
"I'm so glad Padma is an Unspeakable here too," Hermione said.
Mi smiled, "You're close in your world then?"
Hermione nodded. "The first one I was in also."
"So, parallel universes?"
"Guess so," Hermione said with a chuckle, which turned into a bit of a sob. She looked up at her counterpart trying to keep her emotions under control. "And I have no idea how to get back to mine."
Mi nodded with determination. "All right, well, I supposed we'd better loop Padma in and get to work then."
Instead of bringing Padma to Mi's flat, they went to hers so Theo could leave the confines of their bedroom. After bringing their friend up to speed, Padma offered the use of her flat for the research, as well as giving her extra room to Hermione. Although Mi had offered the same, it was better for Hermione to stay with Padma. She didn't think she could stand to be around Theo and Mi all the time. They were just so happy, it made her sad. Which was odd, she knew, but she couldn't help it. The other Hermione and Fred had been the same, although Hermione hadn't been privy to their relationship all that much since they'd kept her hidden as best they could.
Before Mi left to go back to her own flat for the night, the three sat and talked for a bit.
"Can I ask you something?" Hermione said, biting her lip.
"How did Theo and I end up together?" Mi asked.
"If you don't mind telling me."
"We were partnered on an Arithmancy project when we went back to Hogwarts after the war."
"Theo went back to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, I take it he didn't in your world?"
"No. So, you fell in love over an Arithmancy project?" Hermione smirked.
Mi laughed. "No, we sort of loathed one another, actually. Well, I suppose loath is too strong but we weren't fast friends by any means. Begrudgingly worked together probably describes it better. And definitely nothing romantic. But we did at least converse and he refrained from making comments about my birth.
And it made me less likely to hex him when I saw him again. Which wasn't until he started working with Harry on a big case in the DMLE a couple of years ago. Theo works in the Investigation Department of the DMLE and he was assigned to be Harry's lead investigator.
One day, I was supposed to meet Harry for lunch and he and Theo had been out in the field all morning, both starving according to Harry, so he brought Theo to lunch. Theo was…different than he had been that last year at Hogwarts, not so quiet, happier, even made a few jokes. Anyway, he asked me for a date a couple of weeks later. After Harry vouched for him, I figured, why not? We've been together since. He moved in with me about six months ago."
"You're not with Theo?" Padma asked.
"No," Hermione said. "I don't think I've seen him since the end of the war. He certainly doesn't work at the Ministry. And he's married to Daphne Greengrass."
Mi choked on her drink. "Daphne?"
Hermione glanced at Padma who was clearly trying not to smile. "Yes, why?"
"Harry is dating Daphne. Theo set them up," Mi said.
"Harry's not with Ginny?" Hermione asked in surprise.
Mi's brow furrowed in confusion. "They broke up sixth year."
"Yes, but they didn't get back together after the war?"
"No," Mi said. "I can't believe they did in your universe."
"Why not?"
"Well, Ginny was with Neville for one thing. But even if she hadn't been, Harry wouldn't have pursued her again. We talked about it quite a bit while we were on the run."
Hermione's mouth dropped open. "Why?"
"It was a teenaged romance, first love and all of that. Harry said that he would always have fond feelings for Ginny, but he wasn't really in love with her. It was more the idea of her, of having someone if that makes sense."
Hermione nodded. It did and was similar to how she now felt about Ron now. Still, she never would have thought that Harry would have come to that conclusion before dating Ginny again. Ginny being with Neville wasn't a huge surprise, although in her world, Neville had dated Luna and was now with Hannah Abbott. But he and Ginny, along with Luna, had run Dumbledore's Army while Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been on the run. It made sense they'd gotten close.
"Are Ginny and Neville still together here?"
"No," Mi replied. "Neville is with Hannah Abbott and last I heard Ginny was dating a Quidditch player from France."
Hermione nodded. "What about Ron?"
"He married Lavender last year," Padma said.
"Lavender?" Hermione said in shock.
"We were all a bit surprised when they started dating again," Mi said with a laugh "But she's changed. No more Won-Won, at least in public."
"It's not that it's," Hermione trailed off shaking her head.
"What?" Padma asked.
Hermione swallowed thickly, the sight of Lavender being mauled by Fenrir Greyback still as fresh as it had been the day it happened. "The Final Battle, she didn't make it. She fell from a balcony and then Greyback, he attacked her."
Mi's brow furrowed. "Remus killed Greyback sixth year, after he attacked Bill."
"That didn't happen where I'm from. Remus, is he?" Hermione couldn't finish the sentence.
Mi shook her head sadly. "He and Tonks were both killed in the Final Battle. Dolohov and Bellatrix."
Hermione nodded. Even though plenty seemed to have changed here, some things were still the same, sadly. "What about Fred?"
Mi took a deep breath. "Fred was killed as well. A wall fell on him."
"He was alive in the last universe I was in. Percy died instead."
"Really?" Mi asked, eyes wide.
"The other Hermione was married to him."
Padma's mouth dropped open and she looked at Mi in shock. Obviously, just like the other universe's Padma knew that Hermione belonged with Fred, this one couldn't imagine Mi being with anyone but Theo.
"Well, that's," Mi trailed off, shaking her head as if to clear it. "That's, I just, wow."
Hermione laughed. "I sort of felt the same way but it was obvious the two of them fit."
"Who do you fit with then?" Padma asked. "In your universe?"
"Not the person I'm dating," Hermione said, then clamped her mouth shut for speaking so quickly.
"And that is?" Mi prompted.
Hermione sighed. "Ron."
"Ron, really?" Padma said.
Hermione nodded.
"Huh."
"What does that mean?" Hermione asked.
"Well, you said we're friends in your universe too," Padma said.
Hermione nodded.
"I can't imagine any version of myself thinking you should be with Ron."
"You're not overly fond, no," Hermione laughed. Her Padma rarely said anything but Hermione knew that she didn't think they were a good match.
Mi had been silent during Hermione and Padma's exchange but finally spoke up. "It's not our place to tell you what to do, obviously. We don't really know you or the Ron from your world."
"But you're surprised too," Hermione finished.
"Well, it's just, I mean did I fancy Ron at one point? Yes. But after everything that happened while we were on the run, well that pretty much killed any ideas I had related to dating him."
"Because he left you mean?"
"Not just that, although that was a major part of it. But it was also how he expected me to take care of anything cooking or cleaning related. He was looking for another Molly Weasley and that definitely was not me," Mi said.
"Did you kiss him, during the Final Battle."
"When he asked about the House Elves?"
Hermione nodded.
"I won't lie and say the thought didn't cross my mind but it was gone a second later."
"Thank Merlin," Padma muttered under her breath. She then glanced at Hermione and reddened. "Sorry."
"Don't be," Hermione said with a sigh. "I had pretty much decided before all of this happened that things were over with Ron and I."
"I'm sorry," Mi said.
Hermione huffed a laugh. "It probably doesn't matter anyway. Who knows if I'll ever get back."
"Don't think like that," Padma said, putting a hand on Hermione's arm. "We'll figure this out."
Hermione gave her a small smile. "Your other self told me the exact same thing." She looked at Mi. "Both of you did."
"This time we'll just have to make sure we do figure it out. And no going to Davidson. I'm not going to let you be locked up in the DOM for who knows how long," Mi said. "Just promise us you won't try to leave again."
"I'll try," Hermione said.
Padma glanced at Mi and laughed lightly. "You know as well as I do that's all you're going to get out of her."
Mi stuck her tongue out at Padma and she laughed.
"I'd better get back," Mi said. "Padma I'll see you at work in the morning?"
Padma nodded. "I'll try and get the afternoon off at least to work on this." She turned to Hermione. "Do you remember the resources that you used in the other universe to decode the symbols?"
"The books, yes," Hermione. "But the scrolls weren't titled."
Padma nodded. "We'll make a list tonight and I'll share it with Hermione tomorrow at work. That way we won't waste time bringing home the same books again."
It seemed that Theo was the only one that called this universe's Hermione, Mi. Although she'd given Hermione leave to use it as well.
"All right," Hermione agreed.
Mi stood and moved to the Floo. "Padma's right, you know. We will figure this out."
Hermione smiled. "Thanks."
Mi said good-bye to Padma and then disappeared through the Floo. Hermione could only hope she was right.
1 July 2003
"'Journey' appears the most," Padma said, brow furrowed as she looked down at the parchment in front of her. She had drawn a sketch of the device on a larger scale, putting in the runes and symbols on both the front and back. Hermione wished they would have thought of that in the other universe. It made things much easier to see. They had figured out almost all of the symbols now and were speculating on how the thing actually worked.
Hermione supposed it made sense that journey was the word that appeared the most, both in rune and symbol form. The placement was different on each ring where it appeared, however. And the two sides were not mirror images of each other as Hermione had hoped at first. Because that meant that it was likely even more intricate than they had first thought.
"What are the chances that one of us could interview Rookwood?" Hermione asked.
"We don't know that this universe's Rookwood made anything like this," Padma said.
That was true. After what Mi had told her about Croaker's death, it didn't seem likely that this was the device he'd been working with. Although, there was no way to know for sure. It was possible that this universe's Rookwood had been working on the same thing, just hadn't been successful.
"Besides, there's no way to do that without Davidson finding out," Padma continued.
"What if Harry were the one to request it?" Hermione asked.
Padma shook her head. "He'd still have to give a reason which would mean we would have to tell him what was going on. And the head of the DMLE still might question it."
Hermione sighed. In the last universe they hadn't had the choice to talk to Rookwood and here they couldn't without outing her presence.
She could spend the rest of her life jumping from universe to universe and never get back to her own. There were an infinite number of possibilities, just one tiny change could cause another split and a new universe to form. There were probably plenty where she didn't even exist. If her parents had never met or they hadn't decided to try for a baby one last time after all their previous attempts hadn't been successful, there would be no Hermione Granger.
Or maybe she did exist but never made it to adulthood. Merlin knew there were plenty of times they'd almost died while at Hogwarts. Not to mention that auto accident they'd been in when she was just four. The other driver had swerved at the last minute and only given the Granger's vehicle a glancing blow. If he'd hit them head-on though, well, Hermione would have never even made it to Hogwarts. The thought made her stomach churn.
There were so many things that could have happened, that might have been different, it made her dizzy to even think about. She had to stop or she would drive herself mad.
"Hermione?" Padma said.
"Sorry, what?" Hermione replied, looking over at the other woman.
Padma looked at her in concern. "Are you all right?"
Hermione attempted to swallow over the large lump in her throat and eventually shook her head. Padma pulled her into her arms and Hermione let the iron control she'd been maintaining over her emotions slip. Padma rubbed her back and whispered soothing words to her as Hermione broke down.
After a few minutes, she pulled away, wiping her eyes, and looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry."
"Listen to me, you do not apologize. I cannot even imagine how you've been holding it together all this time."
"Occlumency mostly," Hermione said with a self-deprecating laugh.
Padma frowned. "You don't have to do that around me you know. I mean, I know I'm not the Padma from your world but we're still friends there so we are here as well. You can be honest with me about how you feel."
"I know," Hermione said. "You don't know how glad I am that you've been here for me. But me breaking down all the time isn't going to help anything."
"Still, it's not healthy to have your shields up all the time either. It just makes it that much worse when you finally release them."
"I know," Hermione said with a sigh.
"Look, I know this is terrifying. I can't even imagine how I would feel if I were in your place. But we are going to figure this out. There's no way that Rookwood is smarter than any of us, let alone the three of us together."
Hermione chuckled. "Thanks, Padma."
Padma squeezed her hand and then turned back to the parchment in front of her. "Like I was saying there's got to be a reason that 'journey' appears so many times."
Hermione couldn't help but smile at the other woman and went back to studying the drawing.
Hermione was sitting on the couch, sipping a cup of tea, and taking a break from trying to translate for the moment. Padma had gone to run a quick errand for Parvati, who was currently nine months pregnant.
"And then some," Padma had said before she left. "Poor thing is so miserable. This niece of mine had better stop being so stubborn or her mother is going to go mad."
Hermione couldn't help but smile. The Parvati in her world had also been due any day and Padma had made a similar comment the day before Hermione had jumped.
Mi was planning to join them after work but was first going to stop by the library at Nott Manor. After Theo's father had been sent to Azkaban, Theo had left his ancestral home. He had told Mi he wanted nothing more to do with the place, given all the horrors he'd suffered there as a child. The DMLE had gone through it after Thaddeus Nott was sentenced, confiscating any Dark objects or books. Theo rarely went back there but Mi did make use of the library from time to time.
When the Floo activated, Hermione managed to quickly Disillusion herself and sat as still as possible. When Theo's head appeared, she relaxed but didn't remove her charm.
"I know you're there, Granger," he said.
Hermione sighed and tapped herself on the head with her wand so she reappeared.
"Is Padma there?" Theo asked.
"No, she stepped out for a few minutes."
Theo was silent for a moment before he met her gaze again. "I need to come through."
"Mi isn't here either."
"I know."
Hermione frowned. "Then I don't-"
"It's just, look, it's easier to explain in person," Theo interrupted.
Hermione bit her lip. She knew nothing of this Theo except what Mi and Padma had told her. And Harry obviously trusted him or he wouldn't have encouraged Mi to accept a date with him.
"All right," she finally said. She palmed her wand as Theo's head disappeared.
A few seconds later, he stepped into Padma's living room. He no longer looked like the confident, slightly cocky man she'd encountered in the flat. Now he just looked nervous. He had a sheaf of parchment in his hand.
"Before I show you this you have to understand why I never told Mi about it," Theo said.
Hermione looked at him warily.
Theo sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "After my father was sentenced to Azkaban, the DMLE searched the Manor."
Hermione nodded. "Mi told me."
"A couple of days later, one of my house elves brought these to me. They'd been in a box that my father had hidden under the floorboards in one of the outbuildings. He hadn't warded it and there's no Dark Magic on it so it never caught the DMLE's attention."
"Why didn't you turn them over?" Hermione asked.
Theo stood in silence for a few seconds, muscle ticking in his jaw. "Things back then weren't…good. Even though I hadn't taken the Mark, I was still under suspicion from the DMLE. All of the children of Death Eaters were. We were all questioned, multiple times. Aurors randomly showed up at our homes and scanned our wands, searched the houses. No matter how much we cooperated, it didn't stop. It's one of the reasons I went back to Hogwarts, just to escape the constant scrutiny. So, I was afraid they would think I'd purposely hidden this from them."
"If you'd hidden it, why would you then turn it in?"
"I never said I was thinking clearly. I wasn't. But there was no way I was going to give them anything they could question. You don't know what it was like. They had hauled people into the Ministry for questioning for less." Theo sighed and slumped down in an armchair. "They kept Pansy in a holding cell for three days because of what she said about turning Potter over at the Final Battle. And that was two weeks after everything was over."
Hermione was horrified. She knew that the children of Death Eaters had been questioned in her world as well but it hadn't been as invasive as it had here. They hadn't arrested Pansy Parkinson for one thing. And there hadn't been random visits to their homes to check their wands either. How had Kingsley allowed it?
"I'm sorry, Theo," she said quietly. "That's horrible."
"Yes, well," he said. "You can understand why I was afraid to say anything."
Hermione nodded. "So, what is it?"
"Notes that my father made. When Bleeker brought them to me, I scanned them for Dark Magic but they were clean. I looked through them but really couldn't make much sense of anything so I just gave them back to the elf and told him to destroy them."
"He obviously didn't," Hermione said.
Theo shook his head. "My father had apparently told him to keep them safe. Even though my father was in Azkaban, he was still alive so technically, his order trumped mine. Plus, Bleeker never liked me."
"What does all of this have to do with me?"
"To be honest, I'd forgotten all about these. Until I saw you in our flat with that universe hopper around your neck."
"Universe hopper?" She laughed.
Theo shrugged. "What have you been calling it?"
"The device but yours works just as well, I suppose," Hermione said with a smile. Then she thought about what Theo said. "Are you saying you recognized it?"
"Not exactly. Admittedly, I was more concerned with why Mi's duplicate had arrived in our flat than what you were wearing. But the more I thought about it, the more it reminded me of something I'd glimpsed in those notes.
Because Bleeker tried to hide things from the Aurors while they searched the manor and because he'd ignored my orders before, I asked him about them."
"He still had them I take it," Hermione said, glancing at the sheaf of parchment in his hands.
Theo nodded. "I took a closer look at these when Bleeker brought them to me again. And if I'm reading them correctly, I think my father was working on some kind of Time-turner. Or something like it." He held out the parchment to Hermione.
She took it and looked down at the topmost page. It was a series of Arithmantic equations. Without knowing the variables, it was hard to determine what exactly she was looking at but as she flipped through the rest of the pages, she had a strong feeling that Theo was right.
"Look at the drawing on the last page," Theo said.
Hermione turned to the last piece of parchment and her eyes widened. While it wasn't identical to the device that had brought Hermione here by any means, there were definite similarities. She looked up at Theo. "Time-turner or universe hopper?"
"I don't know," Theo said with a sigh, sitting down in an armchair. "To be honest, I had forgotten about these notes all together until I saw that thing around your neck."
"What, exactly, did your father do for Voldemort?" Hermione asked. Her mind was racing. What if the device hadn't been invented by Rookwood but by Thaddeus Nott? Just because it had been found at Rookwood's property didn't mean he was the creator.
"He was part of the inner circle," Theo said. "He did whatever the Dark Lord told him to do."
"Yes, but did he do experiments? Research? Create things?"
"I have no idea. He never really shared specifics with me except that I was expected to take the Mark when I finished Hogwarts. He did close himself up in his study a lot and I wasn't allowed in there. When the Aurors searched the manor they found plenty of Dark objects there." Theo fell silent and Hermione could see the pensive look on his face. She knew this was difficult for him to talk about but she needed to know.
"After Voldemort broke the Death Eaters out of Azkaban, did Rookwood ever visit your father?"
"Rookwood?" Theo questioned. "Why?"
"Did he?" Hermione pressed.
"It's possible," Theo said with a shrug. "My father did have other Death Eaters to the manor from time to time. I avoided them as much as I could. And, obviously, I was gone for most of the year so I have no idea what he was doing then."
Hermione nodded, leafing through the parchment again. "Do you know why your father would be working on something like this?"
"At first, I figured it was some kind of fail-safe in case the Dark Lord lost," Theo said.
"At first?" Hermione questioned.
"I mean, it still could have been that but I remember my father muttering about Potter all the time. If he'd never been born the Dark Lord never would have disappeared in the first place." Theo paused and looked down at his clasped hands. "I think he might have intended to go back and kill Potter's mother before she ever had the chance to give birth to him."
All the air left Hermione's lungs. A world without Harry? She didn't have to imagine it. She was brought back to the Final Battle when she'd though Harry was dead and her heart had shattered in two. She shuddered and concentrated on forcing her heart to slow. Harry was fine. In every universe she'd been in, he was fine.
Theo's brow furrowed in confusion, not seeing her distress. "He also talked about Longbottom sometimes which I never really understood."
Hermione pulled in a deep breath and let it out. Theo looked at her in concern but she ignored it. "The prophecy. It could have been about Neville too but Voldemort picked Harry."
"Longbottom, really?" Theo said in surprise.
Hermione nodded. She glanced down at the parchment in her hand. "You're going to have to tell Mi about this."
Theo sighed and scrubbed a hand down his face. "I know."
"Before she sees them."
Theo nodded but didn't look at all like he relished doing it.
"Look, it's not as if you did it on purpose. You told your House Elf to destroy them." Although, why Theo hadn't just done it himself, Hermione had no idea. Especially if the elf didn't always follow his orders.
"Should have done it myself," Theo said. "That's what Mi will say."
Hermione pressed her lips together to try to hide her smile but Theo caught it. "That's what you're thinking too, isn't it?"
Hermione laughed. "Sorry."
"This is so bloody odd," he said with a shake of his head.
"I know Mi and I are two different people but I honestly think it will be all right. She might be a bit upset at first but she's not going to hold it against you. If things were as bad as you say, she'll understand. And anyway, it might help us now."
Theo nodded but didn't look at her. He sat in the chair with his forearms resting on his thighs, his hands clasped and hanging between his knees.
"She's the best thing that's ever happened to me," he said quietly. "I can't even imagine…I don't want to think about not being with her."
Hermione swallowed over the lump in throat, her eyes misting.
"I never thought she'd say yes when I asked her out. I was even more surprised when she agreed to a second date."
Theo reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a small box. Hermione's breath caught.
"The night that you arrived, I was going to give her this." He opened the box and stared at the diamond ring nestled inside. "Ask her to marry me."
"I'm so sorry I interrupted," Hermione said, putting her hand on his arm and giving it a squeeze. "But she's going to say yes."
Theo looked up at her, looking anxious. "How do you know?" For all his bravado when they had first met, Hermione could tell that he really was afraid she would say no.
"Well, she is sort of me," Hermione said with a small laugh. "But I can tell by the way she looks at you and how she talks about you."
A tiny smile made its way onto Theo's face. "I love her more than anything."
"I know," Hermione said with a smile of her own.
He looked over at her. "Thanks, Granger." He put the ring box back in his pocket.
"Do you want to take these when you tell her?" Hermione asked, gesturing to the notes in front of her.
Theo shook his head. "I'll leave them with you. The sooner you figure it out, the sooner you can get back to your own life, right?"
"Hopefully," Hermione said with a shrug of her shoulders.
Theo put a hand on her shoulder. "Mi is the smartest witch I know, so by extension you are as well. And Padma's no slouch. The three of you will figure this out."
She looked up at him and knew exactly why her other self had fallen in love with him. "Thanks, Theo."
He nodded and patted her shoulder. "I'd better get back so I can explain this to Mi before she comes over here."
"Good luck," Hermione said. "Not that you'll need it."
Theo smiled and moved to the fireplace. He grabbed the Floo powder but turned back to her before he threw it in the grate. "When you get back, get rid of Weasley. He doesn't deserve you." He threw in the powder and was gone before she could respond.