Time and Time Again

A/N: So, this is my first actual fanfiction. I've been meaning to write this one for a while now and I finally got around to outlining the majority of it. I just want to make a few things clear about what is going on. This story starts at the very end of Order of the Phoenix, meaning Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows have not happened yet. That means I feel no guilt changing what happens in those two years because they never happened in the universe I'm creating. Also, everything that has happened in the books up until OotP is completely canon and there are no changes from the original story. You will not find out half way through the story that Draco and Harry are dating, Ron dyes his hair black and joins a punk rock band, or that Ginny is infatuated with Pigwidgeon. No nonsense like that. That being said, I hope you all enjoy reading this and hopefully this story isn't completely awful!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They belong to the one and only J.K. Rowling. But hey, a girl can dream…

It was a trap. This entire mission was a trap! She had a feeling it was all along but, for the first time in her life, Hermione was angry at the fact that she had been right.

Her, Harry, and Neville were now hiding under desks, deep in the Department of Mysteries, as Death Eaters stormed into the room. It was dark and the only light in the room came from a glittering bell jar on the far side. She could just make out the outline of Harry under the desk in front of her but she did not have the faintest idea which one Neville had taken refuge under.

"Check under desks," grunted one of the Death Eaters.

A pair of legs moved in front of her and she trembled. The legs continued until they got to the desk that Harry was under. She aimed her wand and was about to shout a spell when Harry stuck his wand out from under the desk and yelled, "Stupefy!" The form under the black robe crumbled to the floor as the other jumped out of the way. He bumped into her desk and that's when he noticed Hermione.

A gasp escaped her lips as she tried to maneuver herself out from under the desk so she could take aim but she hadn't moved fast enough. The killing curse had barely formed on the Death Eater's tongue when a shape threw itself at the Death Eater's legs and knocked him down. Harry. Hermione was shaken and just stared as Harry and the Death Eater struggled on the ground.

"Expelliarmus!" cried a voice from behind her.

Hermione turned to see Neville standing behind an overturned desk. He had a wild look in his eyes but his expression quickly changed to horrorstruck as both Harry and the Death Eater's wands flew to the opposite side of the room. There was a struggle as the Death Eater scrambled to get his wand with Harry right behind him.

"Get out of the way, Harry!" yelled Neville. Harry dove to the side as Neville yelled another spell. "Stupefy!"

The spell had just missed. The jolt of red light flew past the Death Eater's shoulder and smashed into a cabinet. The glass doors exploded where the spell hit and the cabinet crashed to the ground and shattered. Hermione shielded her eyes as shards of glass flew everywhere.

Realizing it was now or never, Hermione crawled out from under the desk. Harry, who was still wandless, ducked behind a desk as the Death Eater retrieved his wand. As the Death Eater turned to face him his mask slipped down his face and blocked his vision. He blindly tried to shoot a spell at Harry when Hermione stood up and screamed, "Stupefy!"

She watched as the Death Eater froze in place. His wand slipped from his hands and, slowly, his body began to fall towards the bell jar. She expected the bell jar to break when his head hit it but instead it seemed to mold around his head.

It was one of the most horrific scenes Hermione had ever seen. She gave her head a little shake and then raised her wand and yelled, "accio wand!" Harry's wand flew through the air and she caught it in her other hand. She turned to face Harry and threw him the wand.

"Thanks! Right, let's get out of -" began Harry, but he never got to finish.

"Look out!" yelled Neville with an expression of pure horror.

The three of them turned to face the Death Eater with the bell jar on his head. Their wands were raised but they just stood there and stared, open-mouthed, at him. His head shrank into the size of a baby. It then started to grow back and once it reached its normal size, it shrunk again. A shout from a room nearby followed by a crash and scream broke them from their trance.

Harry's head shot up and he yelled, "RON?" He whipped around and faced away from the baby-headed Death Eater, "GINNY? LUNA?"

Hermione, however, had not stopped looking at the horror that was the baby-headed Death Eater. He had finally managed to pull his head out of the jar but it stayed as a baby. "HARRY!" she yelled as he started thrashing towards them. To Hermione's amazement, Harry raised his wand to send a spell at the Death Eater. Appalled, Hermione yelled, "you can't hurt a baby!"

Harry gave her an exasperated look and the three of them started to run from the room. They managed to get into what looked like a small, dark, and cluttered office. They slammed the door behind them and, as Hermione was about to seal it shut, two Death Eaters burst through the door.

The Death Eaters hurtled towards them and shouted, "Impedimenta!" The three of them were blasted off their feet. Hermione flew into a bookshelf with a crash. As she hit the floor, heavy books fell on top of her knocking the wind out of her. She struggled to sit up and saw that Harry and been thrown into the stone wall and Neville was nowhere to be seen. A sharp pain went through Hermione's head as she tried to stand.

Finally, Hermione was able to pull herself off the ground just in time to see a Death Eater attempted to call out their location.

"Silencio!" she yelled, and the Death Eater's voice was cut off mid yell. The other made a growling noise in the back of his throat as he pushed past his fellow Death Eater towards Hermione with his wand raised.

"Petrificus Totalus!" yelled Harry.

The Death Eater's arms snapped together and he fell over like a board.

Hermione turned and beamed at Harry. "Well done, Ha–"

But at that moment, the silenced Death Eater made a sudden movement with his wand and shot out purple flames. The flames hit Hermione square in the chest. As she looked down a tiny "oh!" escaped her lips. She could feel a sensation of falling and blackness was taking over her sight. The last thing she was aware of was Harry screaming her name before darkness engulfed her.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

The next thing Hermione was conscious of were strong arms shaking her.

"Hermione! Hermione, please wake up!" said the voice with a sense of urgency.

With a groan, her eyes fluttered open. Staring down at her was Remus Lupin.

"Hermione… thank God!" He sighed in relief. "We need to get you out of here. Do you think you can stand?"

"I-I don't know…"

He took hold of her and lifted her to her feet. Dizziness overcame her and she fell back into Lupin's arms. After a moment she regained her balance and was able to stand on her own.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" he asked with a strained voice.

She glanced up and saw his face clearly. His usual calm composure was broken. She looked into his eyes and where she expected to see compassion and comfort, she only saw fear and pain. They appeared to be glassy with tears.

"Professor? What's wrong, what happened?" whispered Hermione. She had a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach. Like someone had force fed her polyjuice potion.

He just looked at her and shook his head.

"Just listen to me. You have to get out of here. Find the others and go. I need to go after Harry," replied Lupin and he starts to pull Hermione towards the door.

"Go after Harry? Please, just tell me what's going on. Where is everyone?" asked Hermione as she looked at her unfamiliar surroundings.

He sighed and stopped walking causing Hermione to trip from the sudden stop. He turned to face her and looked her right in the eyes.

"Harry went after Bellatrix. She sent a curse at Sirius which sent him through the veil. He's gone…" Lupin's voice caught on his last word.

Emotion overcame Hermione. No… no… Sirius couldn't be gone… Harry needs him.

"Oh Remus…" whispered Hermione.

The use of his first name seemed to snap him back to reality. He stared at her with such intensity that she thought it might kill her.

Suddenly, a Death Eater stormed into the room.

Before Hermione knew what was happening, Lupin shoved her to the ground and jumped in front of her, sending spells at the Death Eater.

"Hermione go! Run!" he yelled back at her.

She scrambled to her feet and started running to the first door she could see. Once at the threshold she turned back and saw the Death Eater and Lupin in a duel. Both of them were shooting colorful spells at one another. She reached for her wand, desperate to help, and realized it wasn't there.

"Stupefy!" yelled Lupin, and the Death Eater collapsed. He turned to see Hermione staring wide-eyed in the doorway. "Go!" he yelled at her.

At that moment two more Death Eaters came into the room and faced Lupin. Hermione turned and ran through the door and didn't look back.

The hallway in front of her was unfamiliar. Like most hallways in the Department of Mysteries, it was dark and cold. She had absolutely no idea where she was going. Turning a corner, she continued to run down the corridor, trying to open each door as she went. One after another, she found that they were locked. Finally she got to the end of the hallway. She was panting when she stopped in front of a golden door with a black handle.

Hermione yanked at the handle and was surprised when the door flew open. It was pitch black in the room. She took a hesitant step forward and realized, too late, that the room was empty space. There was no floor at all. All she could do was scream as she plummeted into the darkness below her.

A/N: The beginning section of this chapter is paraphrased from Chapter 35: Beyond the Veil in Order of the Phoenix. I just changed it from Harry's perspective to Hermione's and the dialogue is taken directly from the book.