Chapter Text
(France)
Hermione stared at Professor McGonagall with an incredulous look on her face. The professor had just told her that all classes she'd requested the year prior were approved. She would be taking a total of twelve subjects.
She remembered asking Dumbledore about extra classes and hadn't even questioned why he'd agreed so easily, going as far as saying that he'd find a way to get her a time-turner if possible.
Hermione wasn't sure why she had doubted him.
Her mother leaned forward as she observed Professor McGonagall. "My daughter is being permitted a time turner? Isn't that dangerous? She's almost fourteen and mature for the most part. But this sounds like it'd be too much for her."
Hermione didn't turn to look at her mother as her professor fixed her gaze on her mother.
"She is young. But to take all these classes, we had asked the Ministry for a time turner for her to use only for her classes. She is the brightest witch in her year. I trust her to make the right decisions," Professor McGonagall said in a firm voice, "The only danger to her is if she decides to use it for another reason that doesn't have anything to do with her classes."
Her mother nodded as she leaned back in the armchair, silently, wearing a light frown of concern. Hermione leaned forward and grabbed the book on the table.
It was easy to see that it contained regulations on a time-turner.
She glanced up to see Professor McGonagall standing.
Hermione tucked the book under her arm and asked, "When will I receive it?"
Professor McGonagall looked down at her with pride as she answered. "Once you arrive at Hogwarts."
Hermione nodded as she smiled up at her professor.
They said their goodbyes soon after. Professor McGonagall took her leave, and Hermione's mother turned to face her.
"I'm proud of you, Hermione."
The train ride to Hogwarts had scared Hermione. The dementor attack had reminded her of how exactly the last two years had turned out. Harry was okay for the most part, but she knew that he was good at hiding his nerves.
Hermione stuck close to him soon after, ignoring the looks Ron was giving her.
The Great Hall was packed with new and returning students, so it was easy enough to get lost in the chaos.
Hermione sat between Ron and Harry, paying close attention to the front of the Great Hall where all the professors sat.
Dumbledore was introducing the two new teachers when Hermione noticed the look of pure loathing on Snape's face. Hermione followed his gaze, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw the tall figure who had just been introduced.
Remus J. Lupin.
The man that the trio had met on the train ride to Hogwarts.
Hermione stared at Snape in disbelief.
What could Lupin have done to disturb the man already? Hermione couldn't help but question seeing such intense dislike. Although she really shouldn't have, the man was known to dislike quite many people in the Great Hall alone.
All of a sudden, Snape's eyes snapped to hers. She froze. His dark black eyes seemed to bore into hers before he stood up and left the Great Hall.
Hermione took a deep breath as she grabbed herself a bit of food. The man was still as baffling as he was frightening. She took note of the empty plate he'd left on the table.
And the way Remus Lupin stiffened when Snape passed by him.
After the welcoming feast, everybody headed towards their House Common Rooms. Hermione bade the boys goodnight and headed upstairs to her dormitory.
There was much to do.
Lavender and Parvati were still downstairs gossiping with the others, so the room was empty. Hermione grabbed her trunk and pushed it onto the bed. Crookshanks lay on the pillow and licked his paws as he watched her.
She smiled down at him and patted his head. He was such a beautiful animal. She scowled as she remembered what Ron had called him when she had gotten him in Diagon Alley.
His skinny rat was fine. Nothing had happened to it, so Hermione didn't see why he kept coming for her cat.
Crookshanks was a cat, so he was going to go after rats.
Her smile faded as she touched the necklace around her neck. Professor McGonagall had given it to her as soon as they had arrived. Hermione had planned to meet her before or after dinner, but Professor McGonagall had found them right as they'd arrived at Hogwarts.
The train attack had spooked them, and Professor McGonagall had spoken to Harry about the incident.
After talking to all three of them, Hermione was singled out and given the time-turner.
Hermione now stared at the magical object, noting the gold glint from the firelight.
Where a pendant would rest was instead occupied by an hourglass filled with sand. The sand glittered with magic that was almost too faint to see.
She had read the book during the summer after her professor had given it to her. Most of it was vague and outdated. There were more warnings than instructions on how to use it. A trip to Diagon Alley had given her no more information.
Hermione tucked it away and began unpacking every item, her mind going numb and calming the rest of her nerves.
Once they were all put away, she grabbed the book on time turners and proceeded to read it all over again.
It wasn't too long until something went wrong.
Draco Malfoy.
Hermione had watched in mute horror as the stupid Slytherin had approached Buckbeak. It all went downhill from then.
She'd debated using the time-turner but hadn't.
Despite the past two years, Hermione still harboured her reservations regarding rule-breaking; she did not anticipate this changing in the foreseeable future.
As it was, Hermione had too much on her hands, and it was no one's fault but her own.
Hermione had been using her time turner so many times that it was getting harder and harder to keep track of the time. During the night, she would add extra hours to get extra work done and still get some sleep.
It was starting to show, and even Ron had noticed it.
Harry and Ron would ask where she kept going from one second to the next. There would be times she would have just finished potions class, and they'd be getting ready to go to lunch in the Great Hall.
It proved true, as Harry kept glancing at her as they made their way to Defence with Professor Lupin.
Hermione ignored Harry's glances and continued walking without looking at him, only wincing once when one of the tomes in her bag jabbed her hip hard. She had also noticed that Snape's glare towards Lupin had only gotten worse, and he had been getting angrier and angrier in class because of that.
Also, having Neville in the class hadn't seemed to help one bit.
The weeks went by with so many things happening. It wasn't until the day everybody had gotten back from Hogsmeade that Sirius Black became the main topic. Hermione had discussed it with Harry and Ron since before the start of the term, but it hadn't felt so real until that moment.
They all stood around as the headmaster transformed sleeping bags from a box of materials in the middle of the Great Hall.
Harry held her hand as he stared at the wall, his face too white to be healthy. Ron stood in front of them, face pinched tight with worry.
Once the headmaster left, everybody started talking at once, but she paid them no mind.
Harry was talking to Ron about it as they grabbed their sleeping bags and set them next to hers. She lay down just as Percy began yelling at everybody to sleep. Harry lay down in front of her while Ron slid in behind her. It would be the first time they went to sleep in the same room. It would be a first for her as well.
Harry reached for her hand, and she grasped it, feeling the tension in his grip. She knew he must be scared since Black was after him.
"It's going to be okay, Harry." She said as she squeezed his hand.
He smiled a bit as he returned the squeeze.
"We won't let anything happen to you," Ron voiced.
A few times during the night, a teacher would come in and make sure the prefects had it all under control and in the wee hours of the morning, the headmaster came in with Snape at his side. Both walked in between sleeping students as they talked in low voices.
Hermione glanced at Harry and was surprised to notice that his eyes were also open. He raised his eyebrows at her as he shifted a bit closer to her. The headmaster stopped near them, and Snape came into her view.
Snape's face looked worn, but his eyes were alert as he glanced around the Great Hall. They both spoke about Sirius Black and where he could be hiding. But something else caught her attention.
Snape said with complete certainty that somebody had to be helping Black.
She looked up a bit and met Snape's eyes. He narrowed his eyes at her, and she pulled the top of the sleeping bag up to cover her face and cursed silently.
"...no dementor will cross the threshold of this castle while I am headmaster," Dumbledore said as he answered Percy's question.
Hermione could faintly hear Snape snort at the stupidity of the question. She pulled the cover down and glanced at Harry, who was fake sleeping, before risking another glance up.
The headmaster was already moving away from them, and she saw the look of total resentment on Snape's face before it went blank. He moved his head almost like he was going to look back down at them when he turned sharply on his heel and left the Great Hall with his robes billowing behind him.
Harry pulled her cover lower as he shifted even closer. She raised the flap so that he could scoot in closer to her. Harry blushed but moved in either way.
It was rare for Harry to ask for comfort from her, so she didn't protest his sudden need to be close to her.
"I hope I don't die," Harry whispers in her ear as he carefully slings one arm around her.
Hermione couldn't help the grimace at his choice of words. She closed her eyes and swore under her breath that she wouldn't let him get killed.
She'd saved him before and would continue to until the day came when he didn't need her to.
A few days later, everybody stood in the stands in the cold rain as they watched the Quidditch match. Gryffindor was playing against the Hufflepuffs, and they expected to win.
Hermione would have cast charms around herself since it was raining buckets, but Ron kept jumping up and down and shouting that the rain was part of the fun. Not in the cold, it wasn't. Hermione sat down and tried to keep herself as warm as possible. Warming charms wouldn't last long either way.
But at least she wasn't the only one shivering in the cold.
They couldn't see much except for the random flyer here and there. But all of a sudden, it all changed. The wind grew colder. Abnormally cold.
A familiar cold that Hermione recalled all too clearly.
Hermione took a shuddering breath and slowly looked up. She froze when she saw the familiar black rags of the dementors. There seemed to be hundreds of them, but nobody was looking up at the sky but in front of them.
Immediately, she noticed why.
She almost gasped when she saw Harry heading straight up. She quickly left the stand as Ron continued to scream in excitement.
His tone quickly changed to one of fear and confusion.
She was almost at the bottom of the stairs when loud screaming filled the cold air. She ran out to see what it was and couldn't help the sound of horror that escaped her mouth.
Harry was lying on the floor with Dumbledore standing over his prone body in the middle of the field.
Hermione stepped back and bumped into somebody. She turned with a gasp as her eyes met the raven black eyes.
Professor Snape.
He quickly swept past her, his strides eating the distance between him and Dumbledore.
Hermione swallowed hard and followed after him.
She walked briskly towards the entrance of the pit. Hermione walked towards the forest to the left of the Quidditch field.
A small part of her was telling her not to do it. There were too many things that could go wrong. But it was smothered out by fear and desperation to help her best friend.
She pulled out the time-turner and quickly made the correct adjustments just before Harry's fall. A margin of time that shouldn't affect too much.
The time went back an hour.
Hermione blinked several times as the blur of bodies swept past and around her. Once it stopped, she moved back further into the trees as she watched everybody head into the stands.
Hermione waited for the last group of people to trickle in and quickly cast a charm. It only took seconds, but soon enough, her body became invisible.
That done, she headed towards the pitch at a quick gait until she was at the entrance. The rain was hitting the ground hard and making large puddles. She moved so that she was under the wet cloth that had the Gryffindor colours on it and waited for the moment when Harry would fall. After what seemed forever, she saw the figures again and waited until she saw a speck which could only be Harry's form.
His body was falling rapidly, and she jumped forward just as Dumbledore raised his wand to Harry's body.
His spell would hit his body too late.
She raised her wand towards the area Harry's body would hit.
"Maximum Molliare".
She looked away as she heard everybody scream once Harry hit the floor. She looked back in time to see Dumbledore appear near Harry and waited to see him move before letting the charm fall.
She had heard Dumbledore shout Arresto Momentum, so it might also have helped Harry from hitting the floor.
All that mattered was that Harry was alive and well. The rest could wait.
Hermione watched as Snape walked out of the entrance and towards the others. She waited until her other self ran past to get in position. Everything had to be perfect.
She waited a few seconds before dropping the spell on her body. She turned back and noticed Snape stop and turn his head to look at her. She froze and watched him glance down at her legs.
The bottom of her pants was heavy with mud. Which hadn't been there the first time around? She backed away slowly, trying to blend in with the building crowd.
He scowled at her and turned away. Hermione slumped against the wall and tried not to panic.
She'd just broken an important rule.
The time-turner had been given to her to use only for academic reasons.
Hermione bit her lip and closed her eyes.
She knew how quickly one could slip once they had done it, even just once. She would know personally.
Breaking the rules with the boys enough times should have been reason enough for Dumbledore to deny her access to the time-turner.
And yet, here she was, disobeying the rules once again.