Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

AN: I went back and revised this chapter because frankly I was unhappy with it, and looking at the comments- quite a few agreed this chapter was just missing something. Anyway, hope you guys like the changes. To new readers, I'm glad you're only seeing this version of it :)

Time to Turn Back the Years

A Prologue

The floor rolled, like waves on the sea, throwing those not swallowed up into walls, stair cases, suits of armor. She'd lost them when the floor opened up, lost him. The castle shook again, a spell skitted by her head, a cackle- she had to focus.

Hermione dove behind the row of statues, letting them shield her from sight and spells alike. She tried to collect herself, as she crawled along the ground, but the whole castle seemed to be coming down around her ears.

'Breathe, just breathe- find Harry.' she muttered, ducking behind a particularly ugly statue.

"Come out, come out my little Mudblood! Auntie Bellatrix is missing her playmate; I just want to finish my work on your other arm."

Hermione heard the uneven clicking of Bellatrix's heeled gait as she loomed closer.

"You know, make them a matching set... I know you're hiding back here some- REDUCTO!"

Hermione erected a shield to cover her head as stone parts of Ignaticus the Odd rained down on her from the blast. She rolled to the left, out in the open, sending a transfiguration spell to the right of the deranged witch.

"Is that the best you can do Mudblood? I've seen better aim on a firstie! Doesn't matter whose magic you steal if you can't hit the broad side of a banshee." Bellatrix taunted as she lunged towards Hermione. However, the dark witch's laughter turned to a shriek as a now animated suit of armor swung his axe down towards her. She stumbled back to avoid being cleaved, cursing enough to make even Ron color.

Hermione used the distraction to scramble to her feet, shout a blasting curse to the ceiling, and push off around the corner towards the Great Hall as stone and parts of a chandelier came crashing to the floor behind her. She sprinted hard, gasping for breath as she wiped blood from her cheek, weaving her way through the passages and halls. She dodged the bodies littered about the corridors like rag dolls, not stopping long enough to distinguish if the black cloaks signified students or death eaters. It didn't really matter, they were the same now- dead.

She muffled a scream as the floor groaned, grabbing on to the nearest pillar for support. She released a soft sigh when the stone mostly stayed together, steadying herself on her feet as she set off.

She missed the falling wall.

When something registered in her mind again, it was pain and darkness. She felt her lungs gasping for breath, but everything hurt- she couldn't move. She tried to remain calm under the realization she was buried, but knew she would fail at that task soon. She heard a scraping above her and slowly light filtered into her senses from above.

"I found her," a dreamy voice sounded as more debris fell away. Hermione blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to focus her vision as a blonde head of hair appeared with huge bug blue eyes, "You're not where you're suppose to be 'Mione."

"No joke," Hermione coughed out with a groan.

A giggle, "Nope, not at all!" A few more pieces of rubble were lifted away and Hermione felt herself being pulled upward, her lungs gulping in air now that her chest wasn't pinned. She looked up at her savior to see Luna Lovegood, hair held out of her face by the wand tucked in it, face just as disconnected as ever.

Hermione wheezed from the ground, " I don't think I've ever been so glad to see you."

Luna smiled overly bright, "Make sure to keep that in mind over the next few days." She turned to her left, "Professor, I've got her!"

McGonnagall appeared beside Luna, "Oh thank Merlin, she's alive! Come Ms. Lovegood, help me get her up and to Dumbledore's office! Time is of the essence."

Hermione felt her vertigo tilt as she was hauled onto her feet. She held Luna in a vice grip, trying to remain standing, "I think you should go on without me. I'm not sure if I can keep up at the moment."

"Nonsense," McGonnagall scolded, "You are coming with us; it's most urgent."

"Everything is urgent," Hermione grimaced, "The castle won't hold much longer, I lost Ron and Ginny when the floor split open, and Harry is missing! He's the priority; he's who we need."

"It's all a matter of perspective," Luna hummed as they ambled down the hallway, nearing the gargoyle protecting Dumbledore's old office.

"We have a chance Ms Granger, and we're going to take it!" the Professor fixed Hermione with a stern look as they rounded the last corner, "I want you to ignore everything I told you third year."

Hermione blinked up at her head of house bewildered, 'Third year?'

"Time, as it turned out, was already played with. So you don't need to worry about meddling, whatever you end up doing will just set it right!"

Hermione was relieved when the gargoyle finally came into view, she needed to sit down- nothing they were saying was making sense. If she had to guess, she had a concussion, or this was all a very bad dream. Either way she still needed to sit down.

The click of boots and a cane sounded down the corridor behind them. Luna let go of Hermione's side, letting McGonnagall support all the weight.

"I have this professor; go take care of what needs to be done!" She gave Hermione a solemn look, "Say hello to Great Auntie for me." She turned to block the corridor, guarding their backs.

"Luna?" Hermione sputtered as McGonnagall pulled her towards the statue alone, reality of what was about to happen beginning to sink in, "Luna, no!"

"Stand aside girl!" the deatheater sneered, "It's not you I'm after."

Luna's voice drifted, her eyes losing focus, "Sad, you're filled with sorrow. A void left where your heart was- anger swallowed it up."

"Just like your father, spouting utter nonsense. Now, for the last time step aside, or I will make you!"

"And end your mother's line?" She hummed, "Shall I be the last?"

"You know nothing girl!" His silver eyes bore pure loathing, glaring into her vibrant blue ones, "That mudblood is a thief!"

"Their gold eyes haunt you, but she brought them across lifetimes." Luna's eyes turned sharp as this reality snapped back to the forefront, "Or do you not want to see them again?"

"THAT'S ENOUGH BLOODTRAITOR!"

"Who's the one betraying their own blood?"

Hermione got one last glimpse back as the statue closed behind her and McGonnagall. Luna holding her ground, her empty hands spread wide as a spell shrieked towards her.

Tonks, Remus, Ron, Ginny, and now Luna. She didn't want to even think of who else, she couldn't. This battle would have no winners, just survivors. She could see it in McGonagall's eyes and knew it was in her own - the consuming emptiness.

They stumbled loudly into the office, Professor Trelawney glanced up at the bang of the door against the wall as it rebounded and slammed shut behind Hermione.

"Her!" Trelawney barked in what Hermione had dubbed her mystically grating voice, "You found her- the one out of time!"

Hermione stood flummoxed, looking to McGonagall for answers. Seeing only a guarded expression she turned back to the Divination Professor, "I beg your pardon?"

"You, Hermione." McGonagall said with a pursed looked towards Trelawney, "Are not when you were meant to be."

Hermione stared baldly at her favorite professor who she now knew war had driven off the deep end.

"I'm sorry, you'll have to run that by me again. I must have a concussion-"

"Miss Granger be silent; we haven't the time," McGonagall scolded, her brogue thick with the stress.

Hermione bit her tongue and tapped her foot, waiting for sanity to reign supreme again, at least for McGonagall- Trelawney was a hopeless case from the start as far as Hermione was concerned. She lurched to the side, latching onto a chair as the castle shook again with restless energy.

Trelawney reached for an orb and scroll about to fall while McGonagall grabbed the desk to steady herself through the tremor and motioned Hermione forward. The scroll, Hermione noted, seemed old and much perused over if the different scribbles and notes written into the margins by Dumbledore's hand were any indication.

"This," Trelawney gestured before her "is a theory about a prophecy, written by a seer after the death of a young girl and her mother. The girl's soul, was believed by the seer, to be thrust forward in time to try to correct fate. However, the soul would rejoin the world too late to fix the damage. You see the girl wasn't suppose to die all those years ago- it changed the timeline."

Hermione inched back a step, her mind whirling: prophecies were dangerous and didn't seem to do anyone any good. Harry was a living testament to that fact. Trelawney also had a penchant for grimms, death, and being ridiculous. Nope, she refused to get caught up in this nonsense.

McGonagall jumped in, "Dumbledore hunted for decades for this displaced soul and when Harry's prophecy cropped up he knew the she wouldn't be far behind. Dumbledore studied closely those around Harry, knowing history would try to right itself around the boy. After his death, while you three were on the run, I stumbled upon his research and wanted to hit the man over the head with the scroll. I knew almost immediately who it was. You, Miss Hermione, were not meant to grow up with Harry's generation- you were meant to grow up with his father's." She stared at Hermione as the castle grounds shook again.

"You must be mistaken," Hermione said aloud as her mind sputtered trying to follow along with what they were saying, "I have to find Harry; he needs me. This- whatever it is- can wait."

"No time!" Trelawney proclaimed putting herself between Hermione and the door. She spun the glass orb in her hand quickly once, then tossed it to Hermione "Time to put fate back on course. May death be slow to find you; the grimm not dog your step." Trelawney swung her wand in a complex arch.

Hermione stumbled forward to grasp the orb before it hit the floor, cradling it in her hands. She stared at it in horror as it blazed out like it was on fire. So enraptured, she missed McGonagall lining up on her other side, matching Trelawney's stance. Magic lanced through the two women, rushing towards Hermione in golden swells.

Hermione yelled in alarm as she was overrun by magic, shattering the prophecy at her feet. A voice rose from the remains, chanting in an ageless echo as Hermione felt a tug on her navel.

"Rescue those who strayed deep into the night

Turn back the years to change the tides

Redeem, Rose Daughter, your family's light

Your father's tears your brother cried

Set back to right the paths of fate

Where love prevails and tramples hate

Yellow house rise up you aren't for naught

Bring forth the magic time forgot."

Hermione's vision turned to pure light as the office door burst open and Harry stumbled in clutching a small silver vile to his chest. His green startled eyes met hers- vibrant emerald to honey gold- as the world left her.

"HERMIONE!"

"We have faith in you," murmured McGonagall softly as her favorite student vanished, the other grasping at the empty air where she had just stood. She held firm, back braced, as the backlash erupted from the magical void and rushed back towards them. "Until we meet again, Hermione," she breathed as the timeline as they knew it twinkled out of existence.