To you, 30 years from now

Chapter 1 - Backwards in Time

It had happened so fast. Hermione didn't even have the time to react, the time to do anything but fall, when this one stupid spell hit her. It was an expelliarmus charm that had hit her. One fired by the Death Eater Bellatrix. A surprise it was, since no one before had ever seen her fire such a charm. Many of her fellow death eaters were puzzled, but they didn't have much time to question her, they didn't even have time to think - a battle was going on, and during that battle, no one other than Hermione had been hit by that stupid little charm. 

Hermione didn't feel anything but a cold wind, when she stumbled into one of the many doors made out stone. She didn't feel anything but coldness - at first. But after a while, she felt something akin to a hook that pierced into her, one that dragged her across an unknown void, filled with quiet whispers and curses of people long gone. She got dragged across that same void. She tried to scream, but no sound came out of her mouth. And as cold hands dragged her down, she cried silent tears. She wanted to go back, she wanted to help her friends. 

But whatever dragged was dragging her down, didn't care about what she wanted, about how much it hurt her, to be dragged down into the depths of an unknown void. No matter how hard she struggled, it was futile. She got dragged down and down, further and further into a void that had no bottom, no beginning and as it seemed: no end. She tried to scream again and again. But there was never a single sound that escaped her mouth. Nonetheless, she didn't gave up, she tried to struggle, tried to scream and eventually - she succumbed to the tiredness that spread through her mind and body and so she fell. And the invisible force inside that gate, dragged her down, into another time. 

When Hermione came to her senses, she was laying on a field of grass. It was cold. She felt rain pouring down from the sky, pouring into her face and on her, making her clothes wet. She slowly got up and nearly fell on her knees. Her legs felt wobbly, her head hurt and when she looked around, she was confused - she saw Hogwarts. In the distance, she saw the towering castle, where young witches and wizards like here went to go study, to learn and to practice the art of magic. She started to walk towards Hogwarts. As she walked towards the castle, she started to lose memories, memories of what happened, of what had brought her to this place back again. 

"No get it together Hermione", she told herself, "your name is Hermione Granger, you're a witch, and a pretty good one at that."

Her clothes were now soaking wet. She felt tired, she fell down to the ground, but forced herself to stand up, to continue walking towards Hogwarts. That was until she, by a hill, leaned herself against a thick tree. She heard footsteps. Hermione turned around. And she stared into the face of a young woman, about her age. One she had never seen before. She had black wavy hair, a beautiful pale face and full lips. She was wearing a dark shirt, and dark jeans. 

"Who are you?", asked the dark haired teenager curiously. 

"Hermione...", she could have sworn, that the teenager reminded her of someone, but she had already forgotten of whom. "Hermione Granger."

"Hello, Hermione Granger.", said the teenager and mustered her. "What are you doing here? I've never seen you in Hogwarts."

"No, I am from Hogwarts, I go to school there.", Hermione with an afraid look in her eyes paused. 

"Pretty sure, that if you were in Hogwarts, I'd have seen you by now.", replied the dark haired girl. "I think you're confused.", she added. "Maybe you should get out of this rain.", she suggested. 

"I have nowhere to go it seems.", Hermione couldn't bear that she continued to lose memories at a rapid pace. 

"Oh okay", the pale teenager folded her arms, "you can come to the cabin where I'm at, I guess. But don't you dare tell anyone, that I'm there. It's my... well, let's call it 'calm down zone'.", she said and raised her finger to make the point clear. 

"Thank you.", said Hermione. She followed the teenager, as she led the way to a cabin nearby. While they walked towards that cabin, Hermione wanted to know the woman's name. 
"What's your name?", she asked. 

"Bellatrix Lestrange.", answered the teenager without hesitation. Pictures flashed in her mind, pictures of a dark haired woman shouting curses, killing people. She couldn't bear all those pictures and as soon as she had entered the cabin, Hermione lost her consciousness.