Lost in time

Her Arrival

Sitting at the Gryffindor table, the four boys were drained, exhausted after a night of the full moon. James was the only partially attentive boy as he sat in a daze, watching Lily who was sat at the other end of the table surrounded by her friends. Remus had been discharged from the hospital wing earlier that day but he still looked awful. His eyes were underlined with purple bags and his hair was dishevelled. Sirius' hair was perfect as always but a small scar could be seen on his upper arm which Remus had apologised for many times throughout the day. Peter was hurriedly trying to stuff his food into his mouth before reaching out to grab some more.

"Why don't you just be nice to her? Why don't you lay off her for a bit?" Sirius asked James who was too absorbed in memorising Lily's face to notice anybody had said anything.

"He's too obsessed. I'll give him a galleon if Lily ever likes him back" Remus said, immediately regretting saying anything as James turned around, eyes grabbing onto his.

"What about a galleon?"

"Nothing......."

A large crash was heard from the other side of the Great Hall and the floor began to turn a dark red colour. The hall became silent and a pin could be heard dropping.

"Everyone out of the way!" Dumbledore ordered before hurriedly walking up to the lifeless body that lay on the floor. "Minerva. Notify Poppy that a young girl will be in the hospital wing as soon as possible. Tell her to get all the potions to reverse dark magic." With that, Professor McGonagall ran out of the hall, her face a picture of anxiety. Dumbledore conjured a stretcher before floating the girl onto it and began carrying her out of the hall. Sirius stood up on the bench he was previously sat on and saw the brown bushy haired girl whose pale white skin was littered with scars, cuts and blood. She was dirty but Sirius saw the previous beauty that would have been.

As soon as her body had been carried out, mumbles and whispers were heard across the Great Hall, all asking the same questions. Who was she and where had she been?

Flitwick stood up on his chair, deciding to take command now that both the headmaster and deputy headmistress was absent. "Black, get off the table!" For once, he ignored the attention from the adoring girls that looked at him, as he carefully sat back down before Flitwick carried on. "Can I ask everyone to go back to their common rooms and to go to bed. I think an early night will do us all good. I want to hear no talk of this incident that has taken place tonight. Off you go". He clapped his hands twice before getting off his chair.

The four marauders got up from their place at the table before walking back to the common room. They hung at the back of the large crowds of student who were barging past each other, none of them able to speak after what they had just witnessed. They all had shock plaguing their faces which could be seen through their orb like eyes that were glued to the marble floor. They trudged through the common room, headed up to their dorms before climbing into bed. None of them slept but none of them spoke. Their eyes were glued to the plain white ceiling that had captured their attention. Falling into unfitful sleep later in the night, Sirius found himself unable to stop thinking about the poor young girl who had lay in pain on the floor, who had been surrounded by blood.

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Pain wracked through Hermione's body. Her head felt like it could explode, her legs felt like dead weight and her skin stung. Squinting against the light, a familiar voice rung out.

"Turn off the lights! It's hurting her eyes." Hermione again opened her eyes, looking into the face of Madame Pomphrey. She looked younger; her hair was a light brown colour and her face had less wrinkles. Less blemishes.

Looking around the hospital wing, Hermione noticed that the walls were once again intact, the floor was once again clean, spotless almost.

"What year is it?" Hermione managed to croak out.

"1977. Same as yesterday" Madame Pomphrey answered.

Dread filled Hermione as she gulped. Her mind whirled into action and she realised that she had travelled back in time. That she was stuck here. There was no way to get back. She'd never see her fiancé, her best friend or any of the people she had grown to love. She felt alone. More alone than she'd ever felt.

"Can I speak to Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione asked.

Madame Pomphrey's face changed into confusion before she nodded her head.

"Yes. Yes of course. But may I ask.... How do you know Professor Dumbledore?"

She had hit a brick wall. She couldn't tell the nurse in front of her without revealing everything. Not that she expected Pomphrey to believe her.

"I-I-Um...... He's- We're related." Hermione managed to spit out hoping that Pomphrey would overlook her stutters. She just hoped that Dumbledore would go along with her story. The witch in front of her hurried out the hospital wing and Hermione was left alone. Her head ached and she finally let herself adjust to everything. She was stuck here. In the wrong time era. She could mess everything up and not know until the future. Harry and Ron wouldn't last 7 years through Hogwarts without her help.

Hermione took a deep breath as a single tear fell from her glassy brown orbs. It streaked down her face as she pulled up her knees under her chin. Another tear fell, triggering an avalanche of waterworks. Tears began to fall which she made no attempt to wipe away. She'd lost everything and everyone that she held close to her heart and she felt that she needed the time to grieve.

The door to the hospital wing opened, revealing an elderly man dressed in a rich purple cloak and a pair of half-moon shaped spectacles rested on the bridge of his nose. Hastily, Hermione wiped away her tears that had lined her face as the figure slowly made his way over to her. Dumbledore sat at the edge of Hermione's bed before taking a deep breath.

"You wanted to talk to me Miss......?" Dumbledore asked.

"Granger Sir." Hermione added to his question to which Dumbledore nodded happily, telling her to proceed with her story.

"I don't really know where to start Professor...." Hermione trailed off, knowing this conversation was going to be hard for her. The sight of dead bodies lay on the floor whirled through her mind. Colin. Fred. Lavender. Hermione had hated the girl, but the sight of her dead brought tears to her eyes.

"I find the beginning is always a good place to start"

Please comment and tell me what you think of the story so far. I'll take good or bad feedback as I've said before.

I may start writing one shots if people carry on reading this.

Have a fab day wherever you are.

Don't let the muggles get you down,

Grangers_Twin xxx