Happy Leap Day!

I know this chapter is short, but it's just the introduction. Actual chapters will be longer. Please review and let me know what you thought, I'd appreciate it :)

A Second Chance at Happiness
by: 93 Diagon Alley

It was July 20, 1998, and the war had been over for two and a half months already. Hermione Granger was currently living in the Burrow, sharing a room with Ginny, until she was approved for an international portkey to Australia to track down her parents and restore their memories. Since May 2, everything was a mess – while she and the rest of the Wizarding world appreciated the peace, and enjoyed being able to leave their houses without fearing for their lives and the lives of their loved ones, the war had taken a serious toll on its survivors. The Weasley family was heartbroken by the loss of Fred, especially George; there's no words strong enough to describe the pain he was suffering at the loss of his twin. Harry, as usual, felt he was to blame for the deaths of everyone they lost in the final battle, and only taking on the role of godfather to an orphaned Teddy Lupin, and helping Andromeda Tonks raise him, was helping to ease his sorrow and keep his mind occupied. He was struggling through his survivor's guilt, and Hermione didn't expect that to change any time soon. The three of them – Harry, Andromeda, and Teddy - as well as all the surviving members of the Order of the Phoenix, felt the loss of Remus and Tonks deeply. Even if baby Teddy didn't understand the concept of death, he still understood enough to know that his mum and dad were never coming home. Ginny had, aside from her brother, also lost one of her closest friends with the death of Colin Creevey, and was still struggling to come to terms with it. Thankfully, everyone had a family member to support them through their grief – everyone except Hermione, that is. While she was appreciative of all the Weasleys had done for her, and of the relationship she had with them, her real family was half a world away, with no recollection of her existence, making her feel isolated within her adopted magical family.

Despite the joy of finally having a peaceful world, and the relief at winning the war, it could be said that no one in the Wizarding world was truly happy.

-oOo-

"Hey Hermione! What's this necklace?" Ron called from the bedroom she was sharing with Ginny at the Burrow.

"What necklace?" she asked, walking into the room carrying a tray of tea.

"This one, the one that looks like an hourglass," he replied, spinning it between his fingers as she approached. "It's kinda neat..."

Hermione's eyes widened in fear as they went to the object in her best friend's fingers, and she dropped the tea tray on the wooden floor. "Ron, no! What are you doing? How long have you been spinning that?"

He shrugged. "Uh, I dunno, a couple minutes, maybe?"

"Oh Merlin," she moaned, snatching the necklace out of his hands. "Do you have any idea what this thing can do? I've never seen what happens when it's spun more than a few times...this is bad. Floo Harry imm-"

And then she was gone.

-oOo-

"HARRY! HARRY COME QUICK! IT'S HERMIONE!"

Harry bolted down the stairs of Grimmauld Place and spotted his best mate's head sitting in his fire. "Hermione? What's happened?"

"She's gone!" Ron wailed. "I was playing with her necklace, spinning it in my fingers, when she yelled at me, snatched it away, and then disappeared in the middle of telling me to contact you!"

Harry blanched. He had an idea of which necklace Ron might be referring to, but sincerely hoped he was mistaken... "What did it look like?"

"I dunno, um, an hourglass. And it was surrounded by two gold circles."

Harry slapped his hand to his forehead. "Ron! That was a Time-Turner! Come on through, we need to floo to Hogwarts."

Ron's head disappeared for a moment, and then he came through the floo into the house Harry had inherited from his late godfather. "A Time-Turner? You mean she went back in time?"

"That's EXACTLY what I mean, Ron." He tossed a little floo powder in the grate, and shouted, "Hogwarts, Headmistress' office!" Less than a minute later, he pulled his head back out of the fireplace, and motioned to Ron to go through the floo.

"Mr. Potter! Mr. Weasley! Whatever is the matter?" Minerva McGonagall cried, once the boys had flooed into her office.

"It's Hermione, Professor. We believe she's gone back in time, but we don't know how far..."

McGonagall's face froze in a look of horror, but Ron started wailing before she could ask anything else. "She's gone! She's gone and it's all my fault!"

"Explain," she demanded, in a stern voice they knew well from their time as her students.

"I found one of her necklaces in her room, and started spinning it around in my hands, not knowing what it was. By the time she came in and saw what I was doing, I had already been spinning it for a few minutes. She grabbed it, and then disappeared. I didn't find out it was a Time-Turner until I got to Harry's." He hung his head in shame once he had finished speaking.

"If I'm not mistaken, Minerva," Albus Dumbledore's portrait spoke up from behind her desk, "she's gone back to 1980."

"1980!" she exclaimed. "Well, Mr. Weasley," she replied, "I'm sure you're capable of figuring out the consequences of your actions. You may see Miss Granger again, but it's extremely likely that she'll be about 18 years older than you, and living under an assumed name. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens..."

Harry and Ron both groaned, and put their faces in their hands.

Posted: 29 February 2012
Word Count: 947