A/N: New year, new story! Updated weekly with approximately 31 chapters and 100k words: we're in for a ride. Yes, this is a time travel fic. I know, I know… predictable. Hopefully, this story won't be predictable, though. This is mostly a journey of how Severus Snape would be supported during the war if he had someone who cared about him, and how that would change him, or maybe not change him. Read on to find out. Thank you, reader, for being interested in my stories–a big thanks to all of you.

Chapter 1

Hermione Granger, Unspeakable second class, moved through the Ministry to the elevators. She descended to Level 9. Waving her wand in the Atrium, she was permitted access to one of the doors. Looking around at all the clocks on every surface in the room, she smiled. The sparkling light in this room always made her happy and excited.

She passed by the Time Turners. Since they had all been destroyed in her fifth year, Unspeakables had been hard at work to develop more. There was now a decently sized, windowed shelving unit that held the ones that had been created. It wasn't anywhere near as extensive as before, but they were being replenished.

Coming up to the large bell jar at the back of the room, she put her hand on it. The light sparked from it, and she watched the evolution of the hummingbird from egg to adult and back again. She didn't usually take the time to watch this, but she loved hummingbirds, and she was a bit early, so she felt it was okay for her to take the time to do so. She smiled as she put her hand down and walked through the door against the wall on the left.

"Good morning, Mr. McCalister," Hermione greeted.

"Hermione, please call me Warren. I've asked you to do so umpteen times."

"Sorry, sir. I've always had a healthy respect for authority. You being my boss… Well, it's just challenging."

"Would it help if that was an order?"

She grinned at him. "You know it will."

"Great! Glad we got that straightened out. Now, today we are going to examine time's relationship to aging."

Hermione nodded.

"What would happen if time was suspended, but existence continued? Would aging occur?" Warren postulated.

"Fascinating question," Hermione said. "How could anything continue if time stopped?"

"It may not, but then again… it may! Let's head into room 2 and explore this."

They moved into the room and Warren closed the door behind them, sealing it magically so nothing would escape it. Turning to Hermione, he motioned to the table in the middle of the room. There was a tray with a glass cloche over it.

"We will create a timeless environment within the cloche and seal it so nothing can enter or leave. We'll place a mouse within and observe if it ages or not."

"How long will we observe it? I mean, if it's timeless, I would imagine we could watch it forever with no results."

"We will use diagnostics to monitor the mouse constantly. We'll know pretty quickly if the mouse is aging or not."

Hermione nodded.

"What monitoring spell should we use, Hermione?"

"I would try the Metimur spell… Warren." She grinned at him.

"I agree. It should give the best results."

He went over to the closet and extricated a cage with a mouse in it. He pulled it out and lifted the cloche. Placing the mouse on the base, he also added a small dish of food and water before putting the cloche back down. With a wave of his wand, an unbreakable seal secured the lid to the base.

"Okay, Hermione, cast the diagnostic spell on the mouse, then I'll cast the time spell."

Hermione flourished her wand and spoke the spell. "Metimur." A golden light shot from the wand into the mouse. It kept exploring its small habitat, seemingly unharmed.

Warren said the time spell, "Tempus Prohibe."

Nothing seemed to change within the cloche. The mouse still sniffed around.

"How do we know that time has actually stopped within the cloche?" Hermione asked.

Warren flicked his wand and a yellow glow surrounded the experiment.

"Time has stopped," he informed her.

"I don't understand how the mouse can move still. Wouldn't it be frozen?"

"You would think so, but all other variables have remained constant. I wonder if that's how the mouse can be mobile."

"Good question," Hermione mused. "I think when we're done with this study, we should look into just why this mouse is still moving."

"I think that would be a fascinating study," Warren agreed.

"I would imagine that no aging would happen, right? I mean… time has stopped."

Warren nodded. "That is what would be expected, but we've never studied this before. Maybe it will be a surprise."

"How long do we wait?" she asked as she arched a brow at him.

"Let's give it half an hour and come back. We should be able to tell if anything is happening then."

Hermione nodded, and they left to write up their hypothesis while they waited. After half an hour, they returned to the room and Warren cast a diagnostic over the mouse to read the spell. He looked at Hermione, who raised her eyebrows.

"No aging," she said.

"None."

"Should we give it more time?"

"I think we definitely need to do so. Maybe leave it over the weekend?" Warren offered.

"I agree."

Warren nodded. "All right. We have plenty of other things to do for the rest of the day. We'll check on this first thing on Monday morning."

ooo

Hermione knocked on the front door of Grimmauld Place. It magically opened, and she entered, her ponytail waving behind her as she looked around for Harry. She found him in the study with Ron.

"Hey, you two!" she greeted.

"Hermione!" Harry said as he bounded up to hug her.

Ron got up from the sofa, too. "Hermione."

She hugged both of them. "It's good to see you!"

"Yeah," Harry said as he led her to the sofa and deposited her there. The two men sat down as well. "Tell us what's going on with you?"

She shrugged. "Not much. Lots of work, really. Sorry, I haven't been able to come by for a while."

"Yeah, you've been avoiding me," Ron said sullenly.

"Oh, I have not."

"Sure you have. You broke it off with me, and you've been scared to come by."

Hermione glared at Ron. "You know what, the world doesn't revolve around you, Ronald Weasley. I've been busy at work, and when I get home I'm too bloody exhausted to do anything, so I haven't been by. This is the first weekend I've had time to stop by."

Ron looked at her seriously. "Are you sure? Because it's been odd that you haven't come by."

She shrugged. "I'll admit I've felt a little awkward, but it hasn't kept me from coming around, I swear."

He nodded. "Good. You know, I thought about what you said, Hermione. You're right. We fight something awful. I understand why you wanted to end it." His cheeks flushed. "And actually, I've gotten together again with Lav."

Hermione's mouth dropped open. "It's been what… Two weeks?"

"Four."

Hermione laughed. "Oh, all right then."

"Are you jealous?" he asked with a grin.

"Oh, of course not. But it seems that you got over me quite easily."

"I thought a lot about what you said. About us not really fitting, you know? The war has been over for a bit, and that cemented us. Now…" he shrugged. "Our interests don't mesh."

Hermione sighed. "I'm glad you understand what I was saying."

He grinned at her. "As usual, you were right."

She cocked her head at him. "I'm glad you can admit that."

He chuckled. "I just don't want you to hex me."

"Don't worry, my wand is in its holster, and it's not moving." She smiled at him. "Believe it or not, I'm glad you're back with Lavender. I hope she makes you happy."

"Thanks, Hermione."

"So, how is Auror work?" she asked the both of them.

"Great! Both Ron and I have gotten noticed for our ability to track people down."

"I think they'll promote us in a little while. Our Supervisor always says how great we're doing," Ron continued.

"That's brilliant," Hermione gushed. "I knew you would do well. You've both got a knack for this kind of thing."

"Thanks, Hermione!" Ron said.

"Ginny is coming by in a bit for lunch. You can stay, yeah?" Harry asked.

"I have all day," Hermione said with a smile.

ooo

Monday came by quickly, and Hermione and Warren headed into the lab to see how their mouse experiment was going. There still was no aging on the mouse.

"All right," Warren said. "Let's take the Time spell off and see what happens."

Hermione nodded and Warren cast the spell. They watched in horror as the mouse shriveled up and died as time was restored.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

Warren studied the cloche. They both cast several spells. "From what I can determine, the addition of Time sped up the mouse's aging exponentially."

"I agree. Can we find a way for that not to happen for future tests?" Hermione said.

"Let's head to the library and study this out," Warren advised.

ooo

They'd come up with a spell that would keep the mouse from dying when Time was restored. They eyed the cloche. The new mouse had been in it for 24 hours without time, not aging at all.

"I'll take off the Time spell while you constantly cast the Transition spell," Warren advised.

Hermione nodded and got ready. She cast first, purple light streaming from her wand and surrounding the mouse. Warren cast his spell and began again within the cloche. The mouse shivered but didn't die. Hermione slowly lessened the spell until it dissipated. The mouse was unharmed and from Warren's diagnostics, aging once again.

"Fascinating," Hermione said.

"Indeed. Let's write this up so we can compare these two experiments."

They retired to the other room where they wrote up the results of the latest experiment for comparison with the other test.

ooo

The next day, Warren and Hermione were comparing the first and second tests, discussing what they'd found that was different. They were engrossed in their observations when a fox Patronus ran in.

"Death Eaters attacking. They're after the Time door! Two defeated, three on their way!"

Hermione and Warren looked at each other with trepidation. They were the only ones in the Time Room. They would have to defend the door with their lives.

The Time Door was just what it sounded like–a doorway through time. It could transport anyone anywhere in time. One only had to imagine where they wanted to go.

"They'll want to save Voldemort," Hermione hissed.

"You're right. Let's go. We must not let them succeed!"

The two headed for the room that held the Door. An arch that was similar to the Veil in the Death Chamber sat in the middle of the room. Inside the arch was a dusky mist so thick it was impossible to see through.

Other than that, the room was nondescript. They took their stances in front of the Time Door with their wands extended, awaiting the onslaught from the Death Eaters. They didn't have to wait long. The three interlopers entered the room, curses flying. Both Warren and Hermione shielded themselves. Hermione sent a stunner at the closest one to her. Warren quickly sent an Incarcerus at him, and he was bound, struggling on the floor. But the other two sent curses at Hermione and Warren. They barely were able to shield themselves, Hermione having to duck and roll to avoid being hit.

The four of them sent hexes and curses at each other, no one able to get the upper hand. Hermione got lucky and was able to petrify the second Death Eater, but with her curse, she left herself open. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the new curse coming and shielded herself but part of the spell caught her, throwing her into the air. She saw Warren send a Killing curse at the Death Eater, felling him as she realized she was going through the Time Door. She could do nothing to stop herself. Suddenly, her surroundings swirled around her like a kaleidoscope and she disappeared.