A/N: Hello all! So, this story came out of a tumblr prompt I got maybe like one or two years ago that I never fulfilled. I expected to write about 300 words, but instead, inspiration for a humongous multi-chapter grew instead! I really hope that you are going to like what I have prepared...I am really hoping this won't be your typical time travel as the year is a bit different and Hermione is a bit younger than I've typically seen, too. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions. Huge thank you to kristeristerin for beta reading this chapter for me!

Please let me know what you thought of chapter one and be on the lookout for chapter two in a few days!

August 1967

Hermione Granger, generally considered one of the brightest witches of the century, even before her OWL results were tabulated, found herself in a situation that was both wholly usual and unusual in equal parts. She was sat at the breakfast table, surrounded by a large family of redheads, unable to get a word in edgewise. If she squinted hard enough, she could just imagine that she was at the Burrow.

But the truth of the matter was that the gangly teenage boy giving her doe eyes from across the table was not Ron Weasley, her will-they-won't-they best friend who had been coming to terms with her womanhood for the past two years, but instead his father, Arthur Weasley. Or rather, he would become Ron's father eventually.

Now, though, he was still just a young man, not the slightly balding muggle obsessed Ministry worker, husband to Molly and proud father of seven that she knew. He was set to begin his seventh year at Hogwarts in just a few weeks, and clearly enamored by the new arrival into his household.

Knowing who Arthur Weasley was going to become made any idea of romance between the two of them absolutely out of the question. Even with his similarities to Ron, she still couldn't stomach the thought of kissing the teenager who she'd only just met a week prior.

When Hermione had gone with Harry to fight at the Department of Mysteries, she never imagined the possibility that she would find herself winking into existence back in 1967. She'd been in the middle of a duel with Rabastan Lestrange in the middle of the time room one second, and then the next thing she knew a shelf of time turners was crashing down around her, her hands reaching out to try and catch the priceless artifacts before they smashed into dust around them. To her utter dismay, when she opened her eyes she was met with several confused looking Unspeakables.

She'd been arrested temporarily for trespassing, only to be rescued by Chief Warlock and Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, perhaps called because she was found wearing a Hogwarts uniform. Her relief at seeing the other man must have been palpable, because he was quickly sweeping her out of the holding cell she was kept in to a more secure office to explain her predicament. The words prophecy, Death Eater, Voldemort came spilling from her lips before Dumbledore could get her to quiet down, with a promise that he would get everything sorted.

It seemed in the short term that meant foisting her on the Weasley family with a rather hefty stipend from a Hogwarts fund for needy children. Hermione was surprised that they were willing to take her in, especially considering that she didn't think that Ron's grandparents had ever been associated with the Order.

Then she realized that she didn't actually know anything about Ron's paternal grandparents, despite knowing a lot about Molly's side of the family, including Bilius and Muriel. She wondered if something had happened between the Weasleys and the rest of Arthur's family, especially considering the disparity in wealth between the Weasleys she knew and the Weasleys she was currently living with.

Septimus Weasley was friendly, but not overly warm with her, generally seeing her only at lunch time. Cedrella, his wife, tried very hard to make Hermione feel at home, but she seemed disingenuous, her mouth transformed into a tight line whenever Hermione's muggleborn status would come up. The younger woman wondered if she was trying desperately to shake the reputation of the Black family that she had left when she married Septimus.

The Weasleys had three sons. The eldest was Will, and he'd graduated from Hogwarts two years prior, but had only just returned from a tour abroad to the Far East, and was meant to be looking for a job, as his mother was constantly reminding him. Unfortunately, their son was more concerned with taking witches out on dates and sneaking into the house late at night, having bumped into Hermione the night previous smelling of spilled champagne and humming like a loon.

The youngest son was George, who was set to begin his fifth year at Hogwarts, and seemed to be where Percy got his keen desire to succeed from. He proudly showed off his Gryffindor prefect's badge to Hermione, and promised that he wouldn't take points from her the first month of school while she settled in. She had barely been able to contain a smirk when she complimented him on his magnanimousness - a word that had him turning a bright red shade.

And then in the middle was her new shadow, Arthur. He was painfully obvious in his crush on her, trailing her around under the guise of being helpful. No matter how she tried to discourage his more amorous attentions, he was bloody difficult to shake off. Hermione was unused to having this...level of male attention focused on her, but she supposed she must be the hot new model for the seventeen year old.

Looking up from her scrambled eggs, Hermione made eye contact with Arthur who was staring at her, his hand propping up his face. His soft green eyes were just about the only thing that differentiated him from Ron.

"Hermione?" Cedrella's voice asked from further down the table.

The brunette startled, her head snapping towards the pureblood witch's voice. "I'm sorry, I must have zoned out there," she said, blushing. "Can you repeat the question?"

"I was just telling you about how we will be going to Diagon Alley this weekend to get your things from school. We will have to get you uniforms and some clothes and all your books, of course," Cedrella said with a smile on her face. Hermione got the impression that the woman quite enjoyed dressing Hermione up in all the latest fashions. "Won't you like that?"

Clearing her throat, Hermione nodded, thinking that the return to Hogwarts would be a comfort in this familiar but different world she had found herself in. "Yes, I...I really enjoy my studies, so it will be wonderful to get all of my school books. I'd like to get a head start on reviewing to make sure that I am not behind the curriculum here," she said cautiously, measured. Dumbledore did not share with the Weasleys the circumstances of her being with him, letting their imaginations run wild at the prior life of the orphan, Hermione Granger.

Septimus set down his fork and toast, making an approving noise in Hermione's direction. "Now, that is exactly the kind of attitude that will get you far in this world, Miss Granger," he said from behind his overlarge, rust colored mustache.

"See, Arthur," Cedrella snapped with a knowing look on her perfectly beautiful, Black family face. "I wish you'd rather go out with someone like Hermione - driven and smart and responsible. Not like that Prewett girl you are always chasing about."

Arthur choked on his pumpkin juice. "What? Mum, I -" he stuttered out, clearly horrified for Hermione to hear that he might be interested in someone else. "Molly and I aren't together, and I am certainly not chasing after her skirts," he said, his blush making his freckles stand out even more. "You really ought to be worried about Will - he's the one liable to get a girl pregnant!"

William was not enthused to hear his little brother giving away his secret midnight romps and smacked Arthur on the backside of his head. Suddenly the table had erupted in chaos, and Hermione was filled with a keen sense of nostalgia, as the Weasleys' home felt more like the Burrow than ever, despite its well-appointed furnishings and plenty of space. She leaned back and giggled, feeling a little bit guilty that it was because of her that everyone was fighting now. Everyone except George of course.

He leaned back in his chair, giving her a sidelong glance. "Don't worry, Hermione," he said with a proud, poncy sort of look on his face. "I'll make sure to take to Flourish and Blotts when we go into Diagon Alley, so you can see all the books they have. It's the best bookstore in the whole Wizarding world, I reckon."

"That would be wonderful, Georgie," she said, knowing how much he detested the nickname that his mother used with him, but doing it anyway. "Are there any bookshops near Hogwarts?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"Afraid not," he answered, looking fairly miserable about it. "Hogsmeade is a really small village. But there is Scrivenshaft's. They sell stationary and quills and the like, but they usually get a small selection of periodicals. It's enough to tide you by. And Hogwarts has the best library, so if you can't find what you are looking for there, it might not even exist."

Hermione sighed, thinking about how wonderful it would be to get back into the Hogwarts library again. She was fairly certain it would be the only place she would feel at home again, until Dumbledore could sort out how to get her back to her proper time of course. The Headmaster had told her that a group of Unspeakables was working on the problem extensively, so she had hope that it wouldn't take too long. And until then, she would just work on her sixth year of schooling, as she would be doing if she was back in 1996 with Harry and Ron.

"Hermione doesn't want to hear you talk about the library, George," Arthur said suddenly, now that his tiff with Will was sorted. "Can't you see you are boring her to sleep? Hermione, do you want to go for a broom ride? It will be fun - I'm an excellent flyer," he offered, sounding so hopeful that it made her heart ache.

Swallowing, she knew that she needed to be doing everything she could to discourage Arthur from this ill advised little crush that he had on her. Looking back down at her half eaten breakfast, she gave him a grimace. "Sorry, Arthur," she said, sounding suitably morose. "I was actually thinking that I might have some time alone this morning. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, getting so close to school starting."

"Oh, oh of course," Arthur said, his face falling at the hint of her mysterious past. It seemed that no one wanted to upset the orphan that they had so generously taken in. "You know, if you ever want to talk about...what happened, you can always count on me," he said, proudly. At least Arthur was different from Ron in this regard - he did not have the emotional capacity of a teaspoon, but actually had quite good emotional intelligence.

"Don't crowd the poor thing, Arthur!" his mother scolded, giving Hermione another one of those looks.

Hermione tried to look suitably upset. "I think I'll just go to my room now, if that's alright," she said, looking to Cedrella for approval.

"Of course, Bunny," Cedrella answered, her black hair perfectly coiffed, waving a hand in Hermione's direction, excusing her from the table.

Rolling her eyes at the nickname the woman had given her, Hermione turned and scurried her way up the staircase, leaving the whole table of Weasleys whispering away at the table about how they needed to be gentle with her feelings.

Once Hermione was safely tucked away in the sumptuous room that had been prepared for her, she laid down on the cream colored bed and stared out the window at rolling green hills out the window. Feeling tears prick at her eyes, she wondered when she would stop crying. Still, she couldn't help it when she was feeling so terribly homesick and out of sorts. The Weasleys were nice, but it wasn't the same. She missed Harry and she missed Ron, and she wondered if they were concerned about her disappearance. Had they even gotten out of the Department of Mysteries alive?

The unknown was overwhelming.