A/N: Hello. This is a Hermione and Sirius story. It won't start right away but it'll come gradually. Tell me what you think so I know what to do! I'd be very grateful!

Lots of love!

Disclaimer: I own nothing sadly.

Merlin stood on the smooth surface of the ground, near the edge of the cliff. He remained unmoving, staring out at the distance, the only proof that he was not a statue was the wind blowing through his hair causing it to twist and turn away from his face. His robes were thick and made of a dark blue material, his wizard hat pointy and tall.

"Are you sure, Merlin?" A slightly younger witch with blood red hair inquired, leaning to the side hesitantly as she eyed the older man.

He blinked a few times, his eyes turning back to their usual light blue colour instead of the black orbs they had been moments ago. He scratched his long white beard and grinned at the young lady before him.

"Indeed, I've never been more certain of anything in my life, Hecate," he responded softly.

"But here?" She repeated a question she had asked him on every visit they had undertaken to this very location. "There's nothing here."

"Not yet," he agreed. "But one day there shall be an impressive and powerful building in this very place."

"It's quite a dangerous decision to make, is it not? You yourself state that the future is of a most unstable nature. How can you be sure nothing will change?"

"I cannot," Merlin sighed. "However it is a risk I must take. The magic I place here could ensure the safety of the Wizarding World."

"Or its destruction," the red head shot back, a deep frown on her face.

He nodded, lost in thought. "It is a strong possibility, but I must do what I believe is best."

"It could kill you," Hecate argued back feebly.

"Oh, I am quite certain it will, dear Hecate. I do not fear death; in fact I see it as the next greatest adventure."

"As do many others, that does not mean that your actions are not foolish!" She stated, frustrated.

"I am ready, Hecate," Merlin said, calmly.

"But I am not."

"Have no worries my dear girl, I shall always remain here. Place a landmark on this very spot and ensure it never disappears," he ordered.

"You can do that yourself, Merlin."

"I will not have the strength as you very well know," he murmured. "I will be weak and soon, I will die."

"Not immediately."

"Soon," he repeated. "My time has come."

She sighed, shaking her head tiredly. "Very well," she said, waving her wand at him.

Merlin smiled kindly and pressed the tip of his wand on his chest, a noise escaping him as if he were humming. Hecate raised her wand and closed her eyes as she started reciting the words Merlin had been sure to make her learn by heart.

"Divide, hauriunt et abscondere hoc magicis cor. Tueri intra donec reici."

She watched wide eyed as the powerful wizard winced, holding himself up straight with all his strength, being sure to keep his wand against his heart. Hecate continued her wand movements, her hands motioning from herself to the tall and impressive wizard standing in front of her. Slowly a sort of wisp of gold, red, and silver smoke seemed to be escaping from the wizard. It became gradually bigger, being forced out of Merlin's very soul and body, until the witch stopped.

Hecate moved her hand around the smoke, making it become a beautiful glowing ball of thick smoke. Carefully, so as to not disturb the ball she had created, she levitated a large rock into the air, stopping it just short of touching the globe of light. Merlin was watching her closely, despite the long and drawn out time of practice, nothing could have prepared them for the actual act of removing part of your Magical Core from your soul. Taking a deep breath to steady her hands, Hecate slowly raised the stone higher until it grazed the large orb. Then, just like that, it was no longer in her control. She struggled to hold her wand steady, doing all she could to restrain the magic to the small stone.

The pair of magical beings, watched, entranced as the rock twirled viciously in the air as it absorbed the magic offered to it.

"We've given too much!" Hecate called out to her mentor as the wind roared in her ears and made his hair fly every which way.

He shook his head. "No, we've given just enough!" He hollered back, his eyes sparkling at what he was seeing.

Suddenly, there was a loud crack that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere and echoed all around the pair. The rock released an explosion of blinding bright light as its spinning came slowly to a halt. When Hecate opened her eyes again, she noticed Merlin's eyes had turned back to their dark black as he smiled somewhat serenely.

He picked up the rock and with his wand threw it violently into the air. Hecate lost sight of it as it disappeared into the clouds before finally it started coming back down and crashed into the ground, this time disappearing into the earth. Merlin kept his wand aimed at the hole, placing protective spells and wards around his very essence of power, burying it deep within the ground.

"For you, Hermione Granger…" He breathed, in obvious satisfaction.

"This is where he wishes to do it?" Helga Hufflepuff inquired, peering at the nondescript piece of land.

"He is right Helga, there appears to be a strong magical aura in this very place," Salazar Slytherin muttered, glaring at the spot of dirt, where grass had failed to grow.

"You can sense it then?" Rowena Ravenclaw checked, not having that particular ability.

The tall dark haired man nodded. "It would seem someone has placed a part of their magical core here as well. It is incredibly strong," he informed the two witches.

The two women stared at the ground curiously until a broad shouldered man walked up to them purposefully.

"Are we in agreement that this is where we shall do it, then?" He wondered, eyeing his close friends.

After sharing a brief glance the other three nodded. Just when Godric Gryffindor pulled out his wand and aimed it at the floor, Salazar stepped forward."May I verify something first?"

Godric took a step backwards, motioning his hands at the ground with a warm smile in a 'go-right-ahead' manner. Breathing deeply through his nose, Salazar Slytherin started muttering under his breath, the earth glowing a bright blue as something appeared to attempt to dig its way out. The four warlocks stared at the bright rock that flew up into the air, coming to float in midair, eye level to them.

"Merlin…" Helga breathed, mesmerized by the unbelievably powerful plain stone.

Rowena raised a hand as if to touch it, her hand hovering close but not quite touching it. "Is that… I can feel it!" She claimed, eyes wide as her gaze met Salazar's. "This must mean that the magical heart it contains comes from a very strong warlock."

The dark haired, pale man examined it closely, absorbing its magical signature. "This Magical Core comes from Merlin himself," he informed them.

The light haired man with tan skin grinned broadly at his friends. "I told you this was the place to store our Cores'," his tone slightly smug.

"Can this stone stock even more power or is it saturated?" Helga questioned.

"Merlin's Core will have made it stronger," Rowena spoke.

"It will be able to withstand any addition of magic from us," Godric told her.

They stood silently for a while, simply watching the stone floating calmly in the air. Marveling over the fact that something so small could contain such strength, considering why Merlin himself had chosen this place, this rock to do something as dangerous and unpredictable as dividing and stocking his Magical Core.

"We never could have chosen a better place to do this or build our school," Rowena breathed, the others nodding along to her words.

"Who will go first?" Salazar inquired.

Helga moved towards him. "Salazar if you would be willing to do me?" Salazar smirked at her and set to work.

Soon all four of them had divided their Magical Core and placed it into the stone with Merlin's. They levitated it back into the ground, warding it and grinned when they heard a sort of crack of thunder, the large wooden doors behind them opening. They could hear the stairs start moving and they shook their heads, satisfied at their jobs well done. They had given life to their school, just like they had planned.

Suddenly Rowena glanced at her companions. "Merlin had the gift of sight… Do you believe he placed his Core here because he knew we would build our school?" She asked.

Salazar turned to the school before speaking. "Perhaps, or maybe he saw something else entirely?" He pondered aloud.

"We can only hope that it completes its intended purpose…" Helga added.

"Well, after all this serious work, shall we go get a few drinks?" Godric interrupted their thinking with his loud, jolly voice.

"Where do you suppose we go?"

"There's a little hut a short ways down from here. I'm sure the owners would be happy to serve us. Hogsmeade I believe it was named."

"We should recommend they create a village down there, what with the school opening soon. I'm sure our future students would be grateful for a few stores and bars," Rowena proposed.

"You know, I believe to think that I've started rubbing off on you, Ro'," Godric joked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as the four walked slowly down to the house they had previously crossed.

"Hopefully they have a bit of Firewiskey, it could help me get a bit of strength back. Dividing and removing a part of your Magical Core is horribly tiring. I shan't do it again."

"Helga, if you ever tried doing it again, you'd die," Salazar told her, his voice cold but his eyes gentle.

"Good to know," she nodded at him.

"Reducto!" Hermione exclaimed.

A fierce glare was etched onto her face as she duelled Death Eaters left and right.

"Hermione! Behind you!" Ron yelled, she spun on her heel, sending a Bombarda curse at the man in front of her.

The spell that should have landed on the man spot on, making him explode like an overheated meal in a microwave, instead seemed to flow right through him, hitting the wall of Hogwarts on the other side. As blocks of the school went flying in every direction the Death Eater smirked and raised his wand.

"Sectumsempra!" He shouted.

Hermione only had a brief second to curse Snape for teaching the Death Eaters his invention before it hit her. Or well, the shield that appeared around her.

"Impedimenta!" A male voice yelled, making the Death Eater fly backwards off of the Hogwarts cliff.

She turned to thank her saviour, surprised when she noticed the white blond hair. He was fighting, defending her and himself with everything he had. She rejoined the battle, back to back with Malfoy. However, every now and then her spells seemed to disappear into thin air or pass harmlessly through her enemies.

"'Mione!" Ron exclaimed trying to reach her.

"Ron! Find Harry!" She ordered him.

If things kept on like this, she wouldn't last long, not if her magic continued going haywire. Of course, she wasn't aware that her magic was perfectly fine. It was the Universe that was having trouble. It could be considered rather unfortunate that all the magic and spells mixing in an already magic soaked location, with ancient magic running through the very veins of the soil they stood on, was making time and space tremble and shake like an unstable light bulb. This overload of spells, of body magic flowing from the witches and wizards, and from magic as old as Merlin himself in the ground, was creating a time vortex that could easily kill everyone in the Hogwarts courtyard, if not all of Scotland.

"I'm not leaving you!" Ron claimed.

Hermione watched in horror as another one of her spells missed her target and completely destroyed a whole section of a wall. She had to make Ron leave, Malfoy couldn't and wouldn't be able to protect both of them for much longer. If Ron were to see her fail, he would be crushed and possibly become an easy target.

"Harry's the only one who can end this! Voldemort will never stop! Find Harry, he's our only hope!" Ron hesitated for just a moment before turning and racing towards the Great Doors, hurrying up the steps.

"Ron! No!" Hermione screamed, terrified as she saw her friend get hit by a nasty spell and crumble to the floor.

She knew she couldn't attack the offender directly so she decided to levitate the huge blocks of Hogwarts ruins and slam them against the black cloaked man. Hermione frowned when she realized that she could not touch actual people with her magic but that the school was still fully responsive to her magic. This was easily explained by the fact that she was currently standing on the heart of the school's magic, the heart where Merlin himself had placed an ounce of his magical core, and a place where decades later, the Four Founders also each placed an ounce of their magic, hoping to make Hogwarts the most magical building in the world.

Hermione saw the black haired mother shooting spells left and right, her eyes desperately seeking out her son. "Malfoy!" Hermione yelled, to attract his attention.

Pain overwhelmed her senses when her shoulder was ripped apart. She screamed in pain, tears coming to her eyes. He glanced at her over his shoulder, not taking his attention away from his attacker.

"Malfoy, it's your mother!" She told him.

Those seemed to be the only incentive he needed as he quickly took out the man opposite him and ran over to his mother who was not being picky on who she cursed, simply waving her wand at whoever dared sending a spell her way. Now alone, Hermione was practically defenceless. Although, she noticed the world start to slow down. People seemed to be moving in slow motion as Hermione observed a green spell drift by her harmlessly. The moment was a brief reprieve, before everything seemed to move in fast-forward.

"No!" Hermione screamed, turning around in circles, her head spinning left and right.

She tried to make out the people around her but they seemed to be fading in and out of focus. Suddenly Malfoy was by her side again, fighting. That was when Hermione understood that time wasn't moving in fast-forward but backwards. Gradually, everyone around her disappeared, becoming nothing more than moving blobs of colour, until they were no longer even that. It was similar to her time travelling in her third year but in much more extreme, everything was going backwards ten times faster and the only thing she could make out, the only thing that remained was the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was no longer destroyed or burning but standing proud and tall. Hermione noticed that there was snow around her now and gasped as she realized that she was moving much farther back in time than she had ever been.

Then everything stopped. Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. For an indiscernable moment in time nothing existed, not even Hermione herself if it even made sense. It did to Hermione. She glanced down at her body, gasping when she couldn't make out where it started and where it ended. Of course, she could see it but her fingers seemed to mix into the darkness and she couldn't feel anything below her knees. She could feel magic flowing through her and though she didn't know where she was she knew the flow of power was starting at her feet and spreading all over her body, her muscles soaking it up, her brain stocking it and her heart absorbing it. She could hear her heart pounding a mile a minute; she could feel the pumping of magic coming from the ground. For just a moment she was one with the earth, unknowingly swallowing the magic the earth was offering her. The magic of five of the greatest wizards in the world. Then everything stopped. Hermione could see Hogwarts again, she could see the brilliant moon shining in the pitch black sky and she saw the couple standing under an arch way, staring at her in shock before the whole world went black.

"Shall we take a stroll, Minerva?" Albus offered with a smile.

"If you insist," Minerva sighed, as if his request were a chore.

Linking arms the pair wandered through Hogwarts and up to the Great Doors. They paused at the top of the stairs and Dumbledore glanced up at the moon.

"It will be a full moon in three weeks."

"You have prepared everything for the boy, yes?" McGonagall checked.

He nodded. "The small shack, just outside of Hogsmeade is ready for his arrival. He'll be able to get there through the Whomping Willow that I planted at the beginning of the summer. It has already grown."

"Do you think it wise to make him have to go through such a dangerous tree?"

"You know there is a safe way to get past the tree. The tree will protect him during the full-moons. As well as others," Albus said.

McGonagall smiled, following him as they started down the steps.

"BOMBARDA!" A female voice shouted.

The pair stumbled at the sudden shake when the wall beside them exploded. Dumbledore was quick to cast a shield, making blocks of rubble bounce off it harmlessly. Both stood, wands at the ready, searching for the attacker. However the courtyard was empty. Not a soul was present. They stayed in a ready position, wary to let their guard down.

"Impedimenta!" A male voice yelled, much quieter, as if he were farther away.

It was silent for a few seconds before the girl spoke again.

"Ron! Find Harry!" It said.

Albus and Minerva glanced at each other, curious. Neither had ever experienced anything like this. The girl must have sent a curse because half the wall on their left exploded. Minerva's eyebrows flew up. The girl must be a very capable witch to be able to perform such spells nonverbally.

"I'm not leaving without you!" Someone claimed, this one sounding even more distant as if he were on the other side of the cliff.

"Harry's the only one who can end this! Voldemort will never stop! Find Harry, he's our only hope!" The couple gasped at her words looking around in horror.

What they were witnessing - or hearing they should say - was due to Voldemort? How terrible had things truly become? Whispers of his terror had not yet even begun, Minerva thought.

"Ron! No!" Minerva almost felt tears gather in her eyes at the absolute terror and pain in those two words.

Ruins beside them lifted off the ground and with incredible speed slammed to the left, crashing into the outdoor corridor. Dumbledore took hold of his colleague's arm, realizing that they were standing in the invisible woman's attack range and were at risk of being hit by one of her curses.

"Malfoy!" She hollered, frustration and anger in her voice.

The couple gasped, knowing how close that family was to the dark arts. Did this mean that the family would side with the Dark Lord? Dumbledore had suspected it. She screamed in pain, obviously having been hit, before speaking again.

"Malfoy, it's your mother!"

Unexpectedly, a figure appeared in the middle of the court yard. Well, not a figure exactly but more of a shadow. Barely there, only visible if you were looking right at it with the intent of seeing it, which was currently the case of the older wizards.

"No!" The figure screamed, turning around and around in panic.

Minerva looked at the Headmaster, at a loss for what was happening. She felt fear peak in her when she noticed that he was quite in the same situation as her. Then, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, a girl appeared in the middle of the courtyard. She was covered in blood from head to toe, both dry and fresh, some visibly hers, some from others. Her clothes were ripped and covered in dirt and mud, her hair was in complete disarray and sticking to her face and head. She had an unimaginable amount of wounds and bruises and her eyes were wild with fear, anger, disbelief and sadness. Her eyes met theirs and not a moment later she was unconscious on the ground, in a puddle of her own blood. After a half second of shock they hurried to her side, Minerva falling to her knees and casting a few healing charms while Dumbledore summoned Poppy.

"Wingardium Leviosa," he murmured.