- Author's Note: This story takes place in a setting where Hermione's drive for studying rubbed off on Harry Potter, leaving him more knowledge and as a result, and has developed more of a strategic thought pattern that only impeded by his luck always requiring him to improvise. This is entirely written and checked-over by only me, so I am bound to miss somethings. Any questions or comments about characters, plot, or grammar/problems with how it is written are appreciated. I am working on two stories at the moment, both are Harry Potter stories, and I will be updating whichever I have worked on the most (To allow me to keep some buffer room so that if I hit and writers block I can still release a few chapters while I figure things out.). I expect to post every 7-10 days, earlier if I am on a roll like I currently am with Displacement, the other story about accidental time travel and trying not to change the past.

I prefer three to four thousand word chapters for reading things online and will attempt not to suddenly cut the story off to fit this range. I write with a style that will often change perspectives of characters, sometimes overlapping on an event, with the narration from their active perspective as if the reader is a passenger to their thoughts. Spells that are being cast that are written in bold to represent the power and magic of the words and spell.

- Story Summary: When Harry received a splitting headache and visions of his godfather being tortured, he did more than simply barging into the Department of Mysteries. He came up with a PLAN! Well, he thought of most of one and most of his defense club help refine it. Most of the people he trained with jokingly called themselves Slappers after another of Hermione's poor attempt at an acronyms: Strategic Learning and Preparedness Training. Their plan had worked, Harry was an excellent decoy, so great that the Death Eaters had only attacked him and Hermione, leaving the others to sneak away with the prophecy. While pinned down, the two take accidentally end up twenty eight years in the past and to try not to change anything, as they believe they are already part of the past and any attempt to change the future as they know it would result in terrible consequences.

Displacement

Chapter 1 - Escaping the Trap

The shattering of glass roused the attention of Harry Potter. As his focus went to the bits of glitter and shards of glass, he started to hear a muffled sound. It crescendoed until he realized that the sound was Hermione yelling at him get down behind some cover. He briefly wondered why she was yelling about sheets before the situation snapped to focus and he dove behind a workbench with Hermione. One of the Death Eaters must have stunned him. "Sorry about that. What did I miss?" he said as he blindly launched a few spells over the top of the counter at the encroaching enemies.

Hermione hissed, "Harry! Now is not the time for jokes!" The anger was missing from her eyes, as he had pulled her back from starting to panic.

"I remember, Hermione," he paused to send one of Voldemort's mooks flying with a spell, "Department of Mysteries. Saving Sirius. The prophecy. The trap." He thought for a moment and realized that he didn't know any blanket effect spells, his offense was all point and shoot.

"Damn, wish I had time to train us for this type of situation. Never realized it isn't all one-on-one's and small scale encounters," he mumbled to himself as he peeked over their cover. The blueprints on the counter looked like they were of time turners but they exploded in spell fire before he could be sure. He dropped back down behind the table, "Any clever ideas to get us out of this? I know we said we'd distract them, I just didn't figure all of them would take the bait."

"NOT REALLY! HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM WHEN THERE ARE TEN DEATH EATERS ATTACKING US?" she yelled back as she launched a quick series of stunning and binding curses.

"Nine now," Harry joked has he heard the thud of a body hitting the stone floor hard followed by groans of pain. Hermione snorted at his cavalier attitude before teaming up with Harry to shield him while he attacked.

"GETTING DESPERATE HERE!" Harry yelled as all of his spells were knocked aside by shields in an attempt to force his brain to come up with an idea. He didn't even notice that he stopped swinging his wand about while he was casting spells and was just spewing out magic with a word and a jab. "WHY. WON'T. YOU. JUST. GET. DISARMED?" he cried out, throwing the same spell with each word, ignoring the onslaught of spells flying towards him. Several curses grazed him through Hermione's protection. He trusted her to keep them safe.

Hermione was concentrating on maintaining the shield as the cornered animal in Harry bucked against its aggressors. She heard one of his spells finally connect with a minion when a grunt of pain and the sound of a body colliding with a wall broke through the casting sounds. What surprised her was the scream of pain and the raucous crash that came from the enemy ranks along with more screaming. Her focus slipped as Harry murmured, "Oops, seven and, ah, maybe, a quarter remaining." Hermione spared a glance around the workbench and saw a crumpled body in one corner that had knocked over a humongous grandfather clock that had a third Death Eater pinned down, crushing his legs. Another one had fallen to his knees and was clutching at his shoulder, screaming in pain and staring at his severed arm in front of him. It had been cut off by a stray spell from one of the downed Death Eaters.

Hermione almost gagged at the sight of the dismembered limb before she steeled herself and saw that the man with the missing wand arm had blood spattered platinum blonde hair hanging out of his torn hood. A feral grin crossed Hermione's face when she remembered everything that that arrogant prick had done to them; she was still angry about missing school her second year.

"Shit!" Harry exclaimed as he ducked behind the surprisingly resilient table when Hermione's shield flickered and then fell, letting the full force of the battle through. It was Hermione's turn to bare her fangs, "Expulso, Reducto, Confringo." The triplet of explosive curses flew with angry intent: the first threw Malfoy back, knocking the legs out from under several mooks, the second reduced the severed appendage into a fine blood mist that blinded the one reaching for the arm, and the third and most deadly of the three whizzed by the blood coated minion into the wall full of clocks, launching shrapnel of glass, wood, and metal hurtling at the backs of the enemies.

Harry noticed the grim satisfaction on Hermione's face. He overcame his amazement at his best friend's power and how he loved that she was able to stand next to him in these situations. Harry took up protecting the pair while Hermione started chanting those three curses like a montra, targeting everything that could disable and maim without killing. Harry's point defense against their attacks managed to redirect spells away from them. He summoned barriers out of debris and pushed spells onto harmless paths.

In moments, there were only three Death Eaters left pressing forward. They had stopped their attempt to capture them without damaging the prophecy that they thought Harry had on his person and started casting all manner of destructive and deadly magics, including unforgivables. Harry didn't know enough about the spells to counter or redirect them, so he switched entirely over to transfiguration and charms to move objects into the way. Some blasting curses mixed in by the attackers left stone shards imbedded in Harry's arms and back when he protected Hermione from her tactic turned against her.

While grimacing from the pain, Harry looked at the last of their enemies. He had started mixing in banished objects to his defensive pattern to keep them away. Both of their pockets grew warm as their D.A. coins let them know that they had changed. The pair grinned at each other, the others had gotten out with the prophecy and were going to try get help, at least, that is what the signal was supposed to mean.

Hermione glanced at the placement of the three enemies and asked Harry a question between spells, "Do you know bowling?"

Harry's hesitation in answering was both due to his confusion as well as the fact that he was transforming as many of the splinters around the Death Eaters into fire ants that he could manage, "A little, Dudley liked it, but Vernon didn't, too american he said."

"Know about a 7-10 split?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Send something heavy at the right side of them."

"Got it," he answered, gathering a large mass of debris, compressing, and changing it into a single mass of misshapen steel before launching it at the Death Eater to the right. The mook jumped to his right to avoid the almost meter wide projectile before it was suddenly flying through him and at the other two Death Eaters. Hermione had cast a massive Expulso at the steel, denting it and sending it viciously into the the duped minions.

When the last three foes crumpled to the ground, Harry grinned at Hermione, "Spare." Another adorable snort came from her as she dug into her pocket for her D.A., it read:

All Outside

Right Now

She hugged him and conveyed the news. They were now both panting from exertion and dripping with blood and sweat. They had managed something that even hardened aurors were lauded for doing: surviving a horde of Voldemort's minions without anyone dying. They checked each other over quickly. The adrenaline was wearing off and Harry's arms and back were throbbing in pain. When Hermione looked him over, she gasped. He could only clench his teeth and smirk to reassure her.

Before either got a chance to tend to their wounds, one of the doors and some of the wall around it was blasted into pieces. The pair dove down behind the workbench, hoping that whoever just burst in might not notice them. The ringing blast caused some of the recently defeated Death Eaters to stir. Hermione used Harry's shoulder to quietly pull herself into a sitting position and then whispered a spell over a small piece of debris. It transformed into a flat metal oval before slowly becoming more reflective with each twirl of her wand until it could function as a mirror.

Hermione cautiously poked the mirror around the edge of the worktop and angled it around to see who came into the room. "Shit," she cursed barely loud enough for Harry to hear. She never cursed, so Harry knew it must be bad. "It's Voldemort and his favorite rabid lackeys, at least six total," she relayed to him. He grimaced and attempted to think of something to get them out of the now dire situation.

Unfortunately, the two Gryffindors didn't have the time to think. "So you fools let two children, let alone a mudblood and half-blood, get the better of you?" a vile voice spoke. Harry shuddered. He knew exactly who that was and he didn't plan on facing him tonight with only his best friend by his side, despite there being no one else he would rather have next to him while he fought. Groans and screams rose up as Voldemort directed punishment and chastised his minions with vicious words and the Cruciatus curse.

Hermione kept an eye on their enemies while she tried to think of some way to get out of there. They could use the Disillusionment spell but she and Harry hadn't gotten good enough for it to be effective while moving, if only they had his cloak of invisibility. She managed not to avert her eyes when Bellatrix, on the dark lord's order, killed the man pinned under the clock, rather than get him out and heal him. The snake bastard doesn't reward failure.

The shuffle and scrape of a drawer opening brought her attention to Harry, who was rooting around in the drawers of the workbench looking for something to help them out. He was mumbling to himself, "I only got away because of a loose portkey, maybe there is an emergency one in here somewhere."

Harry's luck to survive dire situations would be very useful right now Hermione thought to herself. His mumbling triggered something in the back of her mind. She knew there was a way out of here. Out of this damn room of time turners. "That's it!" she gasped, slamming her hand over her mouth at the volume of her voice. Now whispering, "Harry, help me find a working time turner."

"Did you hear that?" a dull voice spoke up. Harry and Hermione glanced at each other in panic and started casting summoning charms on all the time turners they could see, but all were damaged and placed aside. There was a wordless shout of effort from the group of foes and one of the desks to their left exploded in searing grey flames. The pair could feel the heat of the spell even though it was at least five meters away. Harry pulled the last drawer all the way out and looked through it with both hands while it sat on his lap.

"Got one!" he exclaimed, grabbing Hermione with one hand. He quickly cursed when he realized how loud he was and held the device up to show her. It was different than the one she had had their third year, the hourglass had three bands circling around the outside of it, each with small knob to grab and turn with. Hermione cupped his hand holding the time turner and reached for the outermost handle before changing her mind to the smallest ring and turning it about three quarters of a turn.

The workbench burst into flames as she let go of the knob. The heat of the flame never reached them. Harry and Hermione watched as the fire slowly started to creep backwards, shrinking until it was gone. Everything around them was slowly moving backwards. The time reversal crescendoed, becoming faster and faster until everything was a blur of movement. It started to feel like the world was spinning around them while they could only clutch the device and each other.

It lasted longer than any portkey ride Harry had even been on and was twice as disorienting. Hermione felt she was starting to get used to the sensation when the world's rotation around them went off kilter. The wobbling spinning grew worse until she couldn't tell which way was up or even if they were even in the same area anymore. All she could do is pinch her eyes shut and hug her best friend, who hugged her back, both praying for it to end.

Then, it suddenly did, but like loosing an object spun around by a string, the pair went flying off in an unknown direction. They were both screaming at the unexpected movement. She could barely hear him calling out her name over the roar of the magical vortex that they were in. It all abruptly stopped with a wave of pain and darkness as they both passed out from slamming into something.

It felt like someone stuck her in a washing machine along with a dozen bricks. Hermione wasn't entirely certain which way was up. She tried sitting up but pressed into something. She tried pushing herself off of it but something was keeping her down. She managed to turn her head and look towards the weight on her, it took a moment for her vision to focus and discover a battered Harry with half hugging her and half on top of her. "Harry," she croaked, not realizing how dry her mouth was or how weak she felt, "Harry, please wake up."

He groaned a response before attempting to roll on to his back to allow her to move. The moment his shoulder touched the stone they were on, he yelped and practically threw himself away from the pain on his back and arms. His jump in pain had him bumping back in to Hermione as she turned herself over to get a better look at where they are. Harry ended up face to face with her for a moment before struggling to his feet and helping her to her's.

"Are you all there? I can't quite tell about myself," he asked. He winced when he tried to pat himself down for anything serious, realizing his right arm felt like it was grinding in pain. It was probably broken somewhere in his forearm. His concern suddenly turned towards Hermione when she didn't seem to notice the blood dripping from a wet patch in her hair. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, picking up his wand with his left hand and grabbed her shoulders while squatting down so he could look in her eyes. A quick Episkey to seal it and a Tergeo to let him check his work. She flinched at the pain in her skull and suddenly realized how close they were.

She quickly took control of the situation when she saw all the blood on Harry. She spun him around as forcibly as she dared with his injuries. His shirt was quickly vanished to allow for inspection. Hermione summoned a piece of the stone shrapnel. She drew an 'm' in the air and underlined it before at tapping the stone saying, "Quasi Attrahit," and then hovering her wand horizontally ten centimeters above his arm. She concentrated as she moved her wand over all his shrapnel wounds. As her wand passed over each one, all the shards of stone flew out and joined the first piece of shrapnel that she had set to the side.

Once finished with his arms and back, she hesitantly waved her wand over his rear before checking the rest of him and proceeding to heal him and vanish the blood. He clenched as the spell forcibly knitted his punctured skin back together leaving dozens of small round bruises on his back, from just below his belt to into his hairline.

"Thanks, I think I can managed to do the same for you. Quasi Attrahit," and then he tapped one of the shards pulled from him. As he passed his wand over his body, Harry did his best to keep focused on the spell. It only drew out a few small shards near the base of her neck and the debris stuck in her hair. A few quick Episkey spells and an apology about the pain had Hermione fixed up. He started in on cleaning and repairing her clothes when she noticed the swelling starting in his forearm.

"Goodness! What is wrong with you Harry?" she shouted, "why didn't you tell me it swelled up like this?" He winced as he felt one of her rants winding up.

"Sana Lenire. You should have let me take care of that sooner, sit down and let me see what I can do to help you."

Hermione all but shoved him into a chair and took his arm in her hand as she knelt in front of him. A few twists of her wand had an image of Harry's broken bone above his arm. "I know episkey can heal a broken nose, but it is the hammer of healing spells and I think this requires something more like a scalpel," she informed quietly as she bobbed her head around to get a better look at the fracture from different perspectives, "I don't think I can take care of this, so we need to find ourselves a real healer, and to do that, we need to find out where we are."

She canceled her imaging spell and cast a numbing spell to help ease his pain. He sighed at the relief, "You're amazing, Hermione, that is much better." She smiled brightly at her best friend and hugged him. When she did, he groaned a bit, "Too tight, you have to be more gentle with me." The mirth in his eyes relieved the tension as she stood up and went to move away but saw that Harry had not budged.

"Alright mister, that is enough playing around, you're coming right now or I am going to do something drastic," she chided him with her commanding voice and glare, which Harry was sure she picked up from Professor McGonagall. He groaned an unintelligent complaint that had Hermione's hands on her hips as she upped the intensity of her glare.

He grumbled, still playing the petulant part, "Alright, here I come, no need to throttle me."

The complete mood reversal from the deadly position they were in just a moment earlier caused the friends to break out laughing. All of their tension and adrenaline suddenly dropping away caused their laugh to turn almost maniacal. A solid minute of this had them like that before they started to taper off and catch their breath. "Damn, I needed that," panted Harry.

Hermione nodded in agreement before adding, "That release felt incredible but I don't think I could handle that again," she paused to briefly dust herself off, "Well, let's see where are." She quickly trapsed past the furniture to the nearest of the two doors and threw it open while Harry's back was still turned, examining the room. It was a casual lounge with some desks, two leather couches and chairs in front of a fireplace, and a plush, soft brown rug covering everything but the last meter or so away from the walls.

Behind the door was a closet with two petrified beet faced Hogwarts students looking back at her, who had only been minding their own business hiding from a certain unfriendly caretaker for coloring her beloved pet like a Dr. Seuss creature. "I could use you over here," she called out over her shoulder.