Enigma

Chapter one: I'll never smile again

SMACK!

Ron stumbled across the grass, falling harshly on his ass as Hermione stood with her fist balled up, ready to strike him again as he clutched his nose.

"Hermione, lets just calm down-" Harry began, holding his hands out defensively as slight amusement crossed his features.

"Calm down?" Hermione laughed, feeling slightly deranged. "CALM DOWN?!"

"Look, we'll just figure out-"

"There's nothing to figure out, Harry!" Hermione cut in, waving her arms dramatically. "do you realize what he's done-the MAGNITUDE of this problem?"

"Well..." Harry scratched his head. "we can just go back-"

"WE CAN'T GO BACK!"

"Hermione, please!" Harry shouted, looking apologetic as Hermione panted in a panic. What were they going to do? Oh God, this was bad-Apocalyptic bad.

"What do we do?" Ron spoke up, earning a glare from Hermione, making him flinch.

"I think the more appropriate question is when are we?" she seethed, trying to breath slowly and calm herself down. "we're clearly on Hogwarts grounds...but if we go to Hogwarts and see people dressed like Marie Antoinette -I swear I'll go into cardiac arrest."

"What's cardiac-"

"Shut up, Ronald!" Hermione snapped, stomping her foot.

He flinched away, looking hurt and Hermione felt a pang of guilt through her panicked anger.

"Look, Ron," Hermione sighed, rubbing her temples. "I'm sorry, but I'm terrified. I'm panicking and I don't know what to do. I need you to understand the implications of what happened."

She frowned as he nodded slowly, looking down and muttering an apology.

She sighed, looking around the forest. They seemed to be near the outer edges as Hermione bit her lip in thought. Clearly, they couldn't stay there. Well, they could - it may even be better. But she knew, they would be seen there just like they would anywhere else. Eventually, they'd get caught. The only thing to do is to go to the castle and hope they can find Dumbledore before anyone else sees them.

She had to believe that they hadn't gone THAT far back. Surely they were within the past 100 years or so, though that thought brought her little comfort. Professor Dumbledore was either headmaster or the Transfiguration teacher. He had to be. They wouldn't make much headway at the Headmasters office. Even if Dumbledore WAS the Headmaster, they couldn't get in. The best idea was to go to the Transfiguration classroom. In which case, it would be Professor McGonagall and that wasn't the worst thing that could happen. Even if they did manage to get into the Headmasters office, she didn't want to have a run in with Headmaster Dippet-if they were that far back. But deep down, she knew they were years back. How it had felt...no, it wasn't a small amount of time.

She gripped her wand, looking down at her jeans, running shoes and pink tee shirt. Ron and Harry dressed very similarly. She groaned, knowing there was nothing to do about it. She didn't know what decade they were in and could possibly just end up making them look even more out of place. No-the best option in sight was not to be seen.

Who was she kidding? There was no best option. Every option was bad. Bad, bad, bad. She barely stopped herself from glaring at Ron before she began to speak.

"Okay, there's not much we can do, except try to find Professor Dumbledore." Hermione sighed dejectedly, crossing her arms.

Harry's expression looked pained and she reached out, grabbing his arm with a smile. A mixture of happiness, worry and sadness was mixed on Harry's face. She understood, because she felt the same way. They could see their Headmaster again...