A.N. Hello all! This has been my passion project for a while now, and I'm really excited to be sharing it! I have read almost every time travel fic involving Hermione and I just wanted to get my own version out into the world. I was alpha'd by the wonderful rotehexe18! Please read and review! I hope you enjoy this fic!

I do not own Harry Potter!

Pulling the duvet closer to her face, Hermione fought against the pull of the living world. The warmth that wrapped around her was too comforting to give up, but the aroma of Harry's famous cinnamon hotcakes enticed her to exit her blanket cocoon. Finally giving up on getting back to her dream, Hermione searched for her wand where she kept it under her pillow.

Feeling the relieving touch of her magic, she wrapped her fingers around the vine wood handle and flicked it. Wordlessly, she summoned her dressing gown and traded the violet and yellow duvet for the scarlet fabric. The constant warming charm she had enchanted on her gown felt like a second skin as it wrapped around her. Pulling the belt and looping it around her, she swung her feet over the side of the bed and felt around for her slippers.

Once Hermione felt satisfactorily protected from the morning chill, she wandered out of her room at Grimmauld Place and down towards the smell of breakfast. A muffled sound grew and expanded into Don't Stop Me Now by Queen, and Hermione smiled. Before even seeing them, she could picture them in her head. Harry with his messy hair (which somehow managed to get even messier in the mornings despite always looking atrocious) would be wearing the apron Ginny had gotten him the Christmas before. Hermione didn't know why he insisted on wearing the awful thing, but Harry got a kick out of its ridiculous phrasing.

Ginny, who would likely have her long red hair pulled up into a messy bun, would no doubt be dancing around the kitchen as Harry cooked. She loved the muggle radio that Hermione had hooked up during the summer and had discovered a love for 70s and 80s music. Hermione had to admit that she had been pleased to find Ginny loved Queen as much as she did. It had comforted her in the early months of her parent's obliviation; making her feel closer to them.

Finally descending the last stair, Hermione turned towards the kitchen to find the scene almost exactly as she imagined it. Harry was holding a spatula in his hand like a microphone and sang the harmonies as Ginny - dressed in one of Harry's old quidditch practice jerseys and a pair of shorts - danced around. There was no shame in their movements, and Hermione smiled as she took in this moment of unadulterated happiness from her friends.

It had been nearly two years since the fall of Voldemort. Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron had all moved into Grimmauld Place after the war, citing a need for freedom and independence. They had fought in a war, and there was no way they could go back to being children, no matter how much Molly desired them to be her babies again.

Ginny had made Harry work for her forgiveness; after all, he had broken up with her for a terrible reason then made her think he was dead. Of course, she couldn't hold that last bit against him since he did go on to defeat one of the most evil dark wizards to ever live. It was amazing what someone could get away with when they save the world. Hermione and Ron had tried for a relationship after the Battle of Hogwarts, but they soon realized that their love was contained within friendship. She loved her boys, that could not be questioned, but she was not in love with Ron.

"Oh...Morning 'Mione!" Harry noticed her first, having the wherewithal to blush in embarrassment. She pulled her lips tight in an attempt to hide her smile, but the laughter that was bubbling in her chest overtook her. The dark-haired wizard was indeed wearing his apron, and Hermione could not contain her mirth at reading 'Mr. Good Lookin' is Cookin'.

"Good morning Harold." The boy's full name was not Harold, but Hermione had taken to calling him that whenever he felt it necessary to use that awful shortened version of her name. She'd long since given up on Ron, but she would not easily allow Harry to call her it. He winced at her name calling and shrugged under her challenging eyebrow tilt.

"Sorry." He mumbled quietly, and Hermione rolled her eyes as he used those emerald green puppy dog eyes on her. Releasing the tension in her shoulders, she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed in exasperation. Ginny, who was still dancing as the last notes of the song faded away, wrapped her arms dramatically around Hermione.

"Harry's making my favorites so there's no being cross with him." Ginny teased before taking a seat at the kitchen table. Her wand, which was tucked into the mess of her bun, was out in a flash and mugs pulled down from the cupboards and filled with hot water.

Hermione rolled her eyes at her friend before grabbing the tea tin from one of the cupboards as well and sitting down next to the witch. "If he insists on referring to me by that awful nickname then I will be cross with him." Plucking a packet of earl grey from the tin, she watched as the clear water diffused with the swirling brown tint of the tea.

Loud steps on the stairs alerted them all to Ron's presence, and Ginny looked to Hermione with an amused smile. Ron did not like waking up, and he often looked rather like a mountain troll before his morning cuppa. Flicking her own wand that was tucked away in the extended pocket of her dressing gown, Hermione summoned another mug and filled it with water before adding a boiling charm. She had just placed a ginger tea bag in the mug when Ron appeared in the doorway.

Misery was probably the closest expression Hermione could describe inhabiting Ron's face, and she pushed the mug towards him without a word. Harry, who was finished with the first round of hotcakes, placed a plate in front of his groggy friend. Hermione and Ginny knew better than to argue with him. It would be safer for them all if the grumpy wizard ate first. Ignoring the sounds that Ron made as he shoved large forkfuls of his breakfast in his mouth, Hermione heard a telltale hoot as an owl appeared in the kitchen window with her Daily Prophet delivery.

"So what's going on in the Wizarding World?" Harry asked, placing a plate and the prophet in front of her. He always served himself last, and Hermione always waited for him to start eating, so she pulled the twine off the newspaper and began to read. The front page was taken almost completely up by the engagement announcement of Draco Malfoy.

"Well I would tell you, but apparently the only thing that matters is Malfoy's engagement. Get a load of this, 'Reformed Death Eater finds love in the arms of Slytherin philanthropist'. I mean I can't say that Astoria isn't lovely, but it hardly requires the full front page." Hermione was vaguely aware of the argument Harry, Ron and Ginny were having about Malfoy, but she just continued to read the news.

Below Malfoy's engagement portrait, there was a brief article about escaped Death Eaters and a missing auror, and Hermione felt her heart clench. Ron and Harry had completed auror training over a year ago and had been out in the field ever since. She worried constantly about them, but that was hardly a new feeling; she'd been worrying about them for over a decade now. Glancing up at her friends, she watched with a overwhelming feeling of contentment as Harry launched a piece of hotcake at Ron's face as their argument continued.

They were her family, and she didn't know what she would do if anything ever happened to them. Hermione just had to trust that her friends were incredibly competent wizards and wouldn't put themselves at unnecessary risk. As she was getting lost in her thoughts again, Ginny reached over and snagged the sports section. They had a running understanding that Hermione could have the 'boring newsy bits' of the Prophet and Ginny would take the sports pages which Hermione referred to as 'a waste of ink and parchment'.

Ginny squealed as she shoved the sports page into Hermione's face, and the curly-haired witch laughed boisterously as she caught sight of what Ginny wanted her to see. The middle page was filled with a large portrait of Ginny making a winning shot in the Harpies' game against the Tornados. Hermione has never cared about Quidditch, but she had grown to appreciate just how much it meant to all of her friends. Harry leaned forward and planted a sweet kiss on Ginny's cheek, insisting that he needed to cut out the picture and frame it.

"I just can't wait for you to be more famous than I am. Just imagine it; a little first year comes up to us in Diagon asking me if I'm really dating Ginny Weasley." Ron faux gagged at his friend and sister, but Hermione could see the joy in his eyes.

"Bold of you to assume we'll still be dating. Maybe I'll fall in love with some dashingly handsome foreign seeker." Ginny teased, her lips pulling up in the corners into a smirk.

Harry pulled her chair closer to him and grabbed her hand. "It is bold that we'll still dating because I mean to make you my wife one day witch." Ginny gave up on her ruse of teasing Harry and gave him a kiss on the lips. They were about to move into a full out snog, but Hermione threw a tea bag at them, and they graciously stopped.

Ron stretched out then, seemingly content after consuming what Hermione could only describe as a disgusting quantity. There was a happy moment, and then suddenly everything changed.

The air shifted as Kingsley's patronus swept into the kitchen. The lynx was in a defensive stance, and all the blood in Hermione's body ran cold. In all the time that Harry and Ron had been active aurors, Kingsley had never sent a patronus for them. The last time she'd seen this patronus was during Bill and Fleur's wedding and she began to panic.

"Dolohov and Rowle have been spotted. Be at my office in 10 minutes, we're getting those bastards today." Just as quickly as he had come, the light left. Pain filled Hermione's chest as her breathing slowed and then stopped. Dolohov…she hadn't heard that name in years. The line that crossed her chest seemed to burn as she remembered in vivid detail the demented look in his eyes as he had cursed her. He had meant for her to die, and he had very nearly succeeded.

Hermione was vaguely aware of a set of warm hands on her face, and voices around her. Ron's was the first to come into focus, telling her to follow the rhythm of his breathing. Placing her hand on his chest, she felt the rise and fall and tried to inflate and deflate her own chest to match it. It was not her first panic attack, but it had been a long time since she had last had one. As her hearing began to return and her breathing steadied, the pain in her chest did not fade away.

"Dolohov…" The name spilled out over her lips like a potion boiling over. Ron and Harry shared a look of intense anger while Ginny gnawed on her lower lip. She had never quite learned how to deal with Hermione's attacks, and had to watch helplessly as Ron pulled her out of it.

"We'll get him 'Mione." Ron insisted. Hermione didn't have the energy to chastise him for using the nickname she hated and instead nodding into his chest as he pulled her into a tight hug. Harry, who had already left the kitchen to get dressed, returned moments later. Ron reluctantly released Hermione, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"You don't have to go. There are others." Ginny's words were both quiet and heartbreaking. Hermione's tears were equally silent as she tried to hold back the phantom pain that was cutting into her. St. Mungo's had healed her wound, but she could still feel the anger of his gaze.

"I have to Gin. You know I have to." It was an argument they'd had before, and it was an argument they would no doubt have for the rest of their lives. Harry felt a need to protect others…he always had. He was the boy who lived after all. The Death Eaters were the last remaining followers of the man he'd destroyed, and he felt it was his personal responsibility to track them all down.

Ginny stood so quickly that the chair was thrown to the ground. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, and Hermione turned away from the intimate moment between them. It would never get easier for her to watch him go. Ron walked back into the kitchen with a more serious expression than Hermione had seen on him in a long time. They had been tracking death eaters for a while; ever since the Battle of Hogwarts.

Tracking them had been slow and arduous, but there were only a handful left in hiding. Especially after Draco Malfoy traded information to avoid Azkaban. Hermione took one heavy look at her small found family and wiped her eyes.

As Ginny pulled away from Harry, Hermione pulled Ron and Harry together, wrapping her delicate frame around their waists. She just had to trust in them and Kingsley. Dolohov and Rowle needed to be brought to justice and she was proud that they would play a part in bringing them in.

"Come back to me." Ginny ordered Harry, wiping away the few tears that had managed to escape from her eyes.

"I always do." Harry promised, placing a chaste kiss on her lips. It wasn't a kiss goodbye, but a token of his promise.

"You too then." Hermione warned, rising from her chair and pushing aside the pain in her chest. Ron and Harry had survived so much.

As the boys headed out the floo towards the ministry, Ginny reached for Hermione's hand. Squeezing gently, she turned her sad eyes towards the curly-haired witch. "We can't be sad. Its not like we'll never see them again."