Summary: Hermione goes back in time and lands up in 1977. There, however much she mingles up with the others, she remains an Outsider, with a terrible little secret of her very own.
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&n bsp; &n bsp; Chapter 1
&nbs p; The Time-Travel
Hermione blinked in the darkness as her eyes tried to adjust to it. The light emanating from the three wands was highly insufficient and did nothing to dispel a gnawing fear. Yet, the fear was not due to their surroundings, which were horrible in their own right. No, all their thoughts and fears were due to the tiny object in Harry Potter's hand. It was a minute pendant, curiously shaped like an eagle, and attached to its silver chain.
"What do you reckon it is, Harry?" asked a groggy Ron Weasley. He had still not completely recovered from the curse which had rendered him unconscious for a full hour (during which time, his two best friends were in despair) until Hermione had awakened him with a variety of spells. Harry did not answer but continued staring at it; his eyes narrowed. Hermione bit her lip anxiously.
"I dunno, but, why a locket again? I'd have thought that Voldemort would have something more unique," Harry said. As Hermione watched her two friends discuss; she couldn't help but be drawn by the little object. Almost involuntarily, she reached out and took the thing from Harry's hand and held it up till it was level with her eyes. Ron looked at her briefly but then he ignored her. Both of them had now seated themselves and were taking out some of the food that they had stolen from The Burrow when they had run away a good two months back. It was lucky that they were magical and could cast the Refilling Charm on the food, which otherwise might not have lasted for more than a fortnight.
Hermione was about ten feet away from them when she touched the eagle's eye just out of curiosity. At once, the world around her started to spin and three voices cried out, one in pain and two in shock. Harry and Ron raced towards her, but even as they reached the spot where she had been standing, Hermione completely vanished from there.
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"What the hell?" she thought looking around in confusion. She looked around, at her surroundings as was amazed to find that she was in the Hogwarts Library, of all places!
"Are you alright?" came a voice from above.
She looked up and almost cried out with relief, "Harry!"
"Harry? Who's that?"
"Oh, sorry. So what is your name then?" she asked him disoriented, wondering whether Harry was playing games with her.
"Seriously, you don't know who I am. I find it shocking that you don't know my name. I'm James Potter, Head Boy (appointed by the greatest wizard, Albus Dumbledore), Quidditch Captain for the Gryffindor House team and" he stopped when he saw the new girl looking at him with a baffled expression on her face.
"WHAT?!"
"Okay Hermione, calm down, don't panic," she told herself. She took some deep breathes, counting to ten. Then she peered at him and studied him just for a moment. Indeed, he did not have Harry's lightning bolt scar and instead of Harry's green eyes, had hazel eyes, she noted miserably.
"James Potter and as I was saying hey where're you going?" he shouted in vain as she pushed past him and ran out of the library, her heart pounding.
"No, this can't be happening!" she thought desperately. Someone must have played a very horrible joke on her. And why did Harry just call himself as his father? And why did he refer to Dumbledore? Dumbledore, who was sadly and painfully for them, dead? She kept on running until she slipped and fell down, almost in tears. She sat up and once again looked around. She had come to the Headmaster's office, guarded by the ugly stone gargoyle. She took a cautious step towards it. Finally she closed her eyes and tried to gather her wits. Somehow, she felt calmed down only after a few seconds.
"Liquorice Wands," she tried the password she knew would open the way to the concealed flight of stairs which led to the office. However the gargoyle did not budge from its place and continued staring at her blankly. She tried a few more passwords, her panic increasing with every new word. Finally when she uttered, "Chocolate Frogs", the gargoyle jumped aside. She rushed up the stairs as fast as she could and reached the door to the office. She knocked cautiously.
"Come in," came the reply. She entered the office and gasped at the man sitting behind the desk, his blue eyes twinkling behind his famous half-moon spectacles. Somehow, after her run in with the Harry look-alike, there had been a feeling inside her. She had a gut feeling that she had, somehow, extra-ordinarily went back in time. However, she couldn't conceal her shock at seeing Dumbledore again, albeit a younger one. The wounds of his death had never healed properly and looking at him now, only made her more miserable. The Dumbledore sitting inside certainly looked much more younger than he had been when he had died, his hair and beard were almost white but there were flecks of grey and black in between. "Good morning and you are?" he asked.
Hermione at once looked down, tears flowing down her face. Finally she whispered, "Hermione Granger".
Dumbledore's blue eyes pierced at her. "I don't seem to recollect a student by the name of Hermione Granger," he said peering at her, "yes, I know you are a Hogwarts' student, even though you are not in your uniform," he continued.
"I-I t-think I may've traveled in time," she stuttered, aware that he was using Legilimency.
"I see. What time would that be from?" he questioned.
"Well, the year was 1997."
"Well, Miss Granger, it seems, if my calculation is correct, you have traveled twenty years in to the past". Hermione gasped in shock and could not utter a single word for quite sometime. She had suspected, oh yes she had suspected this, but that did not make it easier for her to accept the truth, when it was lain before her so clearly. "Miss Granger, Hermione, there is nothing to worry about, I'll see to it that you are sent back to your own time," Dumbledore said kindly to her. She gulped.
"I hope so, Professor."
"Take this Hermione," Dumbledore said, handing her a small vial of blue potion, "it will calm you down". She swallowed the potion in one gulp and immediately felt a soothing calmness wash over her. "Now tell me what happened exactly as it occurred," Dumbledore told her. She recounted the events that had occurred during the last half-hour, however making it sound as if they had found the pendant accidentally and not as though they had purposely gone looking for it. Dumbledore listened intently and stroked his beard thoughtfully. When she had finished he said, "You're not giving me the entire truth and yet I don't blame you for that. It will be dangerous for me to know the future, perhaps even more harmful to me than any Dark magic. I will not read your mind again, however, as I am convinced that you are true. As for your situation, I can procure a Time-Turner that will send you twenty years in to the future. However, it will take some time to convince the Ministry as it will need to be a very powerful Time-Turner that will make you to go forward to your time. One turn will be equal to a year in such a Time-Turner. I will try to be as fast as possible."
"How much time?" Hermione asked him.
"I cannot say, it all depends on the Minister. In the meantime, you shall have to continue your education at Hogwarts," he said. Hermione nodded, she had expected as much. "You can either change your complete name or part of it but no one should be able to recognize you."
She searched her memory for a name then she said, "Jane Grayson, Professor. I think I'll have that name."
"I think that will fit in nicely .You can tell the others you are from an obscure wizarding school but moved here due to the fact that Hogwarts is a much larger and useful school. I will give you a set of your text-books which you will use during lessons. What extra subjects were you taking?"
"Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes," she told after a moment. The truth was, she had never been in seventh year.
"And now, I ask your leave to read your mind one last time, I need to ascertain once again, whether you are not a Death-Eater, even though I don't think you are," Dumbledore told her, "and don't worry, I will only touch upon the outer fringes of your mind."
Dumbledore smiled at her, "I need not have worried. You are truly a Hogwarts' student." "Now, as I see, you are placed in Gryffindor, right?" and when she nodded, "alright, then I shall call the Head Boy, James Potter, who you have already met and who is a Gryffindor also. He shall lead you to your common room. Stick with the story I've given you. If you have any problems, I'm sure our current Head Girl, Lily Evans will be happy to help you. "Also, it is very important that you should refrain from telling anyone, and I mean anyone, even me, much about yourself and the future; especially now that Voldemort's Death Eaters are on the loose. Voldemort, no doubt would find your story interesting," he instructed. It was not long before James came into the office. He jumped when he saw Hermione, and then turned to Dumbledore.
"Professor, you wished to see me?" he asked.
"Yes, James, I would like you to meet Jane Grayson who has just recently been transferred to Hogwarts. She accidentally landed in the library where she had a run in with a slightly violent book." James grinned from ear to ear.
"I should have noticed!" he said.
"She has been sorted into Gryffindor, James. You should probably lead her to the Gryffindor common room. Hermione, as today is Sunday, there are no classes. You can relax and get to know Hogwarts and the rest of the students today. I'll inform the other teachers about your arrival," Dumbledore instructed her. Hermione then went along with James down the staircase.
"So, a violent book huh?" James said teasingly.
"Um- I'm sorry about scaring you in the library," she apologized.
"Apology accepted. But you'll have to answer some of my questions." James said. Hermione cringed inwardly. This was going to be a long day....
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