Hey guys! thanks for those who reviewed, I honestly didn't expect to even get one so getting two meant a lot to me. Someone was asking me about how I had marked the story as "Romance" but hadn't actually listed what ships I was going to do - I kind of did this on purpose because I'm not sure which ones are really going to be present, though I'll let all of you know now that they're normal ships (GinnyxHarry, HermionexRon, JamesxLily). Like I said, don't know which ones I will actually include in the story yet, I really have no idea where I'm going with this so bare with me! It may be more interesting that way...
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Hermione took a deep breath. The door was so close but the bare grounds made her feel vulnerable. Anything could happen in the twenty seconds it would take her to run across the field. Breath out. Breath in. She coached herself, gripping the tree trunk tightly making her knuckles go white. Breath out. Breath in. Run.
Once she started, she knew should couldn't stop. Her feet thumped across the dry ground in time with her heart. She could hear the Dark Mark still hissing above her head, it rattled about in her mind. The sprint from the trees to the side door felt far longer than it actually was, and when she reached the door she pressed down on the metal handle praying with all her might that it would open with easy. It did.
She slipped inside the door, closing it as quickly as she had opened it, and pressed her back against it. The building shook with another explosion, this one seemed to come from inside. Hermione shivered. The building was dark and silent, unlike the grounds outside. She almost wished she hadn't come in. The candles that normally lined the halls had all gone out. She felt her heart sink as she realized the place she had grown up was not how she had left it.
A shiver ran down her spine once more. Hermione swallowed hard. She knew Voldemort had gained control of the Dementors but she hadn't realized that he had brought them during the attack. She should have known better.
Hermione lifted her wand and muttered, "Expecto Patronum", A silver otter swam from the tip of her wand and glistened by her feet, twisting about. Hermione gave a weak smile, feeling slightly warmer now.
"Lumos". The halls looked as barren as they felt. There didn't seem to be too much evidence of a fight in this area of the castle, but a pile of rubble where a statue had once stood let her know there had been.
Hermione closed her eyes and breathed out slowly. She had to think clearly. She had to think calmly.
Hermione took a step forward, the otter swimming along with as she went slowly walking down the halls, listening intently for any evidence of anyone approaching. She rounded a corner cautiously, holding her wand forward. She cursed quietly, seeing another destroyed statue, one which had activated a secret passage towards the third floor. Anything to get her out of the main halls and somewhere else away from the cold.
She quickly tried fixing the statue but the pieces only picked themselves up and then put themselves down again. It would probably take more complex magic to repair something like that. She moved onward, sliding against the cold stone walls. Another thunderous bang shook the building. There had to be a fight going on somewhere, but where? And should she avoid it or try and find it?
Hermione sighed and shook her head. She pushed open another door, leading her towards the main staircases. She stood in silence as they shifted into place. She then climbed, the otter still drifting around her feet. She stepped onto another staircase and moved further upwards.
Suddenly, there door to the third floor passage burst open and two figures came wrestling through. One tried to throw the other off the edge of the platform that the staircase was slowly approaching. Hermione saw a flash of red hair as the figure shoved the black figure away from him. The second man toppled backwards, grabbing ahold of the redheads leg and pulling him down with him.
"RON!" Hermione screamed running up the rest of the steps. Without thinking, she dove across the gap between the stairs and the platform, slamming into Ron and shoving him back onto the platform. The two scrambled further onto the platform as the Death Eater lost his grasp on Ron's leg and screamed as he plummeted into the darkness.
The two panted laying on the ground for a second before Hermione reached over and latched onto Ron, relief sweeping over her.
"Are you ok?" She asked. Ron groaned.
"'M alright, I'm going to get a bruise from that stunt though." Hermione just shook her head and pulled him back towards her. "Where's Harry?"
Before she could answer, shouts echoed from the passage making both of them look up.
"What's going on in there?" Hermione whispered. "Where are the others?"
"Fred and George are over there." Ron stood up shakily before offering her his hand. "C'mon, we can't leave them alone." They were just about to enter the passage, wands raised and both feeling a bit better now that they weren't fighting alone, when a chilling cackling filled the air.
"It's over Dumbledore." Voldemorts voice made their blood freeze. "Your hero was gone."
Hermione covered her mouth, her eyes growing wide. Ron paled. Their eyes darted to the passage entrance as the twins rushed out of the gloom. They all looked at each other in panic.
"He's lying." Ron said shaking his head. "Harry's fine, he's trying to trick us."
"Where is he?" Fred asked. "Is he safe?"
Hermione lowered her gaze.
"I saw him about fifteen minutes ago." She mumbled, fear making her words barely coherent.
"Where was he?" Ron interrupted impatiently, his voice louder than necessary. "We have to find him, where is he!"
"I-I left him outside. He said he was going to look for anyone else and meet at Dumbledores-"
"C'mon!" Ron shouted, already running past the twins and towards the back staircase. The other three followed close behind.
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Through his eyelids, Harry saw red. Fire. He tried to push open his eyelids but everything was stiff. Had Voldemort paralyzed him? It was hot and uncomfortable. His whole body ached. Progressively, Harry could feel his fingertips against smooth long strands of - grass?
"At least I'm not in Hell." Harry thought. Maybe he hadn't gone anywhere. Maybe Voldemort had left his body behind thinking he was dead and now if he could force his eyes open he would see a broken Hogwarts and the grounds still up in flames.
Harry tightened his grasp on the blades of grass. With much effort, he opened his eyes. Hogwarts. He hadn't gone anywhere. But there were no flames, just a rising sun peaking over the tree tops. In fact, there were no signs of the attack anywhere.
Harry frowned. The fields were not just green, but luscious and perfectly cut. Sculpted bushes framed the doors into the undamaged castle. How long had he been lying on the ground, forgotten?
He continued to slowly gain back strength, working his way up to a kneeling position before shakily getting on his feet, leaning against a tree for support. Harry's eyes darted to one of the side doors of Hogwarts as a figure exited the castle and began walking down the path to the lake. His eyes widened.
Harry quickly moved behind the tree, gripping the bark tightly. He peaked around the tree. He watched himself walk down the dirt path, hands in his pockets. Harry felt a wave of deja vu from third year and his experiences with the Time Turner. What had Voldemort's spell really done? What use was there to sending Harry back a few years? What was his plan?
Harry furrowed his eyebrows in thought as he watched himself crouch down by the lake and open his bag. What had he been doing that day? Was there some kind of herbology assignment that he had forgotten to do involving collecting magical plants? He couldn't remember any such thing.
The water rippled, tentacles slowly creeping up and breaking the surface. Maybe it had something to with Care of Magical Creatures? The squid held out its tentacles expectantly as the second Harry fished around in his bag and pulled out what looked like leftovers from the Great Hall.
Harry watched himself shout something and wait. The squid paused and then disappeared under the water. A few seconds later it shot up into the air and flipped backwards before splashing backwards. The boy threw a plate full of food up towards the outstretched tentacles.
Harry watched the boy laugh and through another plate up into the air. This couldn't be himself, he had no memory of ever training the squid, he was sure of this. Had Voldemort sent him into the future? Was he even alive? Harry pinched his arm uncertainly.
"James!" Harry looked up as another figure appeared at the door. Harry couldn't have heard that correctly.
The boy turned around as well and shouted something back, but Harry couldn't hear what.
"Yeah, yeah that's great, c'mon!" The figure responded. "I've got something even better!"
Harry watched in shock as the boy pulled his bag back onto his shoulder before racing up the hill towards the castle. He turned away. He could hear his hear thumping.
It was his dad.
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There you go guys. Let me know what you think. Review and follow, I'll try to update as much as I can!