Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in the Harry Potter books or movies and am not making a profit off of this story.

"So, basically," Hermione looked at Dumbledore. "We are going back in time to prove Tom Riddle guilty of opening the Chamber of Secrets and killing Myrtle."

Professor Dumbledore nodded as he stroked Fawkes. For the past hour Dumbledore had been explaining his plan to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. It seemed risky, but Hermione was up for anything at the moment. Her fifth year of Hogwarts had not been quite as enjoyable as the past years, and, secretly, she was ready for a bit of adventure. Of course, this request had been a bit out of the ordinary, but she trusted Dumbledore.

Ron, who looked pale underneath his school robes, kept on opening and closing his mouth. Hermione found it quite an ugly habit, but he seemed to do it whenever he was unwilling to say something important.

"Out with it," Harry said as he noticed Ron's problem as well.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore, d...don't you think that it's a bit, well, bloody preposterous to have us, three untrained wizards, going out to defeat dark lords that were gaining power fifty years before now?"

"Actually," Dumbledore contemplated for a moment. "I think it's quite a brilliant idea. You see, it has to be people Tom's own age that get close to him not some adult, and you three make such a splendid team. Mr. Potter can beat off practically any of the dark arts, Miss Granger has knowledge to compete with mine own, and Mr. Weasley…well, let's see…you are very good at supporting Mr. Potter."

Hermione watched Ron turn from white to red in a matter of seconds. He seemed like he was about to explode but knew better of it. Once Hermione started thinking about it, Ron's job tended to be exactly how Dumbledore had said it. Maybe it sometimes shifted to that of comic relief, but Ron really was just a supporter.

Keeping his eyes off of Ron, Harry tried to change the subject.

"Are we going back in time through a time turner?"

"Of course not Harry," Hermione nearly shouted. "A time turner cannot possibly go back more than two days. Otherwise you get into the nasty predicament of losing your memory. That happened to the Magic Chancellor of Norway after he went on a killing spree, and now he's off in bed, completely crazy, though," Hermione paused. "Maybe he was a bit crazy beforehand."

"Miss Granger is correct. A time turner would be out of the question in this scenario. We will be using something a bit rarer, and illegal."

"Illegal?" Ron sputtered out.

"Yes Mr. Weasley. But first, you three need to go pack everything that you own that was invented before the nineteen forties. I will see you in thirty minute's time at this exact spot."

Hermione started towards the door and was immediately followed by Ron and Harry. This had possibly been one of the most interesting conversations that she had ever held with Professor Dumbledore, but she fully understood what needed to be done. Lord Voldemort had gotten out of hand, and this seemed like the only way that the Order of the Phoenix could get him under control. If Voldemort was imprisoned earlier on in his life, then he would never gain the power that he had now.

Beside her, Ron tripped over a bench that was a few centimeters from its usual place.

"Distracted much?" Hermione said as she helped Ron up off the ground.

"Hermione," Ron managed out. "We're going to be changing history big time with this one."

"I know, but at the moment, we need to pack." Hermione turned towards Harry. "I'll be in your room in twenty minutes to check everything you are bringing. Don't waste time."

After saying the password, "Gunpowder, treason and plot", Hermione walked through the empty common room and up the stairs to the girl's dormitory. All of the rooms were empty due to the fact that classes were going on at the time. They had specially been called out of Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was something that Hermione was grateful for. Umbridge was an unneeded hag in her everyday life.

Hermione got to her room and started sifting through her clothes collection to pick out the few things that might not stand out so drastically in the forties. School robes had not changed since the early eighteen hundreds when the material of the robes was made to be nonflammable. The new method was not fool proof, as seen countless times through Neville Longbottom, but it made school life much safer. The method of using quills also helped out in her packing. Ballpoint pens had not made any kind of impression the wizarding world.

Twelve minutes later, Hermione was smiling as she finished packing, but she instantly frowned. She had been distracting herself for the past few minutes with silly thoughts, trying not to think about her future. Dumbledore was planning something that was extremely dangerous to everyone. The three of them would be changing history and along with that, changing lives. People who would originally meet might never make eye contact; some of her colleagues might never even be conceived! What was Dumbledore thinking?

Hermione rushed towards Ron and Harry's dormitory and yanked the door open with all of her strength. Ron was holding onto a pair of holy underwear and Harry looked like he was trying to fit into an old plaid shirt.

"Oy, Hermione," Ron said as he tried to hide his underwear. "Aren't you a bit early? We still have five minutes to pack."

"Harry, Ron, we have to refuse this offer from Professor Dumbledore. It's too risky, and even if we do it correctly, too many lives are at stake."

"No, Hermione. We have to do this. Voldemort is going to kill us all if we don't stop him this way. He has gotten too much power. No one has a chance against him. He used my blood in his resurrection! The power I had over him is gone."

Ron looked back and forth between Harry and Hermione, trying to make a decision. Hermione scowled at him as he walked towards Harry's side.

"Yah, what Harry said," Ron said as he stopped next to Harry.

Hermione scoffed at the two of them and turned around to leave.

"Hermione," Harry said quietly. "We need you to go with us. Remember what Dumbledore said? We're a team, and you're the knowledge. You have to come with us."

Hermione paused for a second in the doorway but then turned around, flaming.

"I will go with you not because you asked me to, but because Professor Dumbledore thinks it is the only way to defeat Lord Voldemort. Though if we come back and our world has turned upside down, I'm blaming you." Hermione stomped her foot and slammed the door with every ounce of strength she had.

Ron looked towards Harry. "I guess she won't help us pack?"

Harry only shook his head as he finished packing up his belongings.

Hermione refused to talk to Ron and Harry as they walked up the staircase to Dumbledore's office. All three of them had their trunks shrunken to the size of a fist in their pockets, but Ron seemed to have had a bit of difficulty managing his spell because every time his trunk banged against his body, it sent out purple sparks. Harry had had a bit more luck with his spell, but it was still obvious that Harry was holding his robes so that the trunk would not hit anything. Served both of them right.

But, what was the right decision? Neither option seemed very good at that moment, but what was she going to do? What was the most logical decision? None of her books had ever prepared her for something like this. All of her scientists, historians, inventors and princes had never once done anything like the thing she was about to do.

Everything was going crazy in Hermione's mind. It was like the Mad Hatter's tea party in her brain had suddenly just gotten a little madder. The tea was boiling over in its tea pot and the dormouse had started sleepwalking. Wait, Alice in Wonderland? She was truly going mad. Might as well just use the time turner; it probably wouldn't do any more damage.

Hermione was too lost in her thoughts to notice that Ron and Harry had paused in the stairway.

"Hermione," Harry said as he stared at her. "You're thinking too much."

Hermione shook herself out her stupor and turned her gaze towards Harry.

"Are you sure that this is the right, logical thing to do?" Hermione asked quietly.

Ron answered this time. "Hermione, nothing is logical at the moment. Don't let your head explode because of it."

Hermione nodded, and the three of them walked into Dumbledore's office together.

"Good. Right on time," Albus Dumbledore smiled warmly at them from behind his desk. "I'll just explain a few details before I send you off. Please, take a seat."

Hermione, Ron and Harry sat down on the couch opposite of Dumbledore's desk, smiling, but trembling as well.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Well, as you three have realized, this is probably the biggest thing the three of you will ever do. Don't expect it to be easy. I will send you back in time through the time revolution." He pulled out a miniature grandfather clock. "You will be received as transfer students who had been homeschooled together. The sorting hat will sort the three of you again; he will understand your situation. Gryffindors following Tom Riddle around would only make him suspicious. Never suspect him of being any less intelligent than myself. Understand?"

The three of them nodded in unison.

"Good. Ron, you will be the halfblood Scott Moning and a Hufflepuff."

"Aw, come on, really?"

Dumbledore looked at Ron sternly. "It will make you seem innocent. Harry, you will be Mark Duane, another halfblood, and a Slytherin. Hermione, you will be Cecelia Bagshawe, a pureblood and a Slytherin. The three of you met when you were young in Ireland, and then moved together to England with your families. The reason for your transfer to Hogwarts is so that you may finish up your studies respectively. We have little time, so I will allow you to memorize what I have told you and adlib what I did not. When you arrive, you will be in the same year as Riddle. Harry and Hermione will need to get as close to Riddle as possible without suspicion, and Ron will need to watch from a distance with a bird's eye view."

Ron mumbled something about always getting the bad jobs as Dumbledore set the clock to 1942 and handed it to Hermione.

"When you arrive, it will be the first day of school. Armando Dippet will be the headmaster. Do not get on his bad side. Well, I guess I have told you everything worth knowing. Any questions?"

Hermione resisted the urge to raise her hand before she asked her question. "How will we explain ourselves to Dippet when there is no record of our new aliases switching schools?"

Dumbledore's face grew darker as she asked her question. "those three went missing before that school year started. I yearn to believe that they just went out to spend the rest of their lives in the Hawaiian Islands sipping coconut smoothies, but I believe that the three of them were killed by their parents before the parents killed themselves."

"That's gruesome. You could have at least told us that!" Ron yelled out.

"No one really went searching for them, besides myself, of course, but their deaths truly have brought fortune upon our own situation right now."

"Please, Miss Granger, link arms with the other two and press the knob on the top of the clock down."

Hermione wrapped her arms around Ron and Harry and pressed down on the knob until she heard a click. There was a bright flash as she thought she heard Dumbledore say "Godspeed" before she found herself in the exact office fifty years before.

"Pretty brilliant if you ask me," Ron said wide-eyed as he looked around the newly arranged office. "Don't know how he got so smart."

"Hermione," Harry said after he searched the office for people. "shrink the clock and don't lose it. It would be a nightmare to be in my sixties while Dudley springs around in his youthful glory."

Ron snickered and Hermione smiled for the first time in a while. Hermione pointed her wand at the clock and said "reducio" to make it shrink. Everything was going to be okay. She knew it.

Harry, Ron and Hermione all turned together as Headmaster Dippet entered the office. He looked a bit younger than his portrait which had been in Professor Dumbledore's office, but Dippet was still slightly balding and a tad bit overweight.

"Cecelia, Mark and Scott," Dippet said smiling. "How pleasant of you three to join us. I don't have much time to spend with you, but I decided that you might as well be sorted here. No need to be embarrassed like the first years." Dippet chuckled to himself and raised the sorting hat out of his desk. "Don't be shy now; I promise you it won't bite. Scott, why don't you try it first?"

There was a moment of silence before Ron finally realized that it was he who Dippet was talking to. After close to a minute, Ron had been placed into Hufflepuff and Harry had been placed into Slytherin. Hermione slowly walked towards the hat and then allowed Headmaster Dippet to place it on her head.

Hmm, quite fascinating. Quite fascinating indeed. You have an interesting mission, Hermione, so I will do what is right for you. "Slytherin"

"Very good. Now, if you would excuse me, I need to head off, but I will have a Slytherin prefect and a Hufflepuff prefect show you three the way to your dormitories before the opening feast. Please wait here for them to come."

Headmaster Dippet scurried out of the office in a rush leaving the three of them alone for a few minutes.

"Well, that was a good welcoming party," Ron stated.

"Don't be sarcastic Ron; Headmaster Dippet probably has a whole load of things he has to be doing right now."

Harry nodded to Hermione's statement but remained quiet.

After several moments of silence, an attractive female wearing the Hufflepuff colors and a boy wearing the Slytherin colors, Hermione assumed by Harry's expression that it was Riddle, entered the Headmaster's office. The girl introduced herself as Mary Tipster and led a blushing Ron out of the office, leaving Harry, Hermione and Tom Riddle alone together.

Tom Riddle was a lot more attractive than she had once imagined. His jet black hair and dark eyes set him apart, but he truly could only be described as handsome. How could dark magic make such a beautiful being into something as ugly as Lord Voldemort?

"Well," Riddle said politely. "We haven't got all day. If you would follow me Cecelia." He smiled at her and Hermione almost got lost in his eyes before she remembered her mission. "And, of course, you too Mr. Duane."

Hermione followed Tom Riddle as he talked about the history of the school, mostly aiming the conversation towards her in a charming manner. Suddenly, she realized what Dumbledore had meant when he had told her to get 'as close to Riddle as possible'. She needed to become his girlfriend. A bit ridiculous, but that was going to be the only way. She was going to play herself up for Lord Voldemort. This could turn out to be a pretty interesting mission.

The Hogwarts that was fifty years before her time seemed to be cleaner, morally and literally, than that of her own. The walls were scrubbed to the point of shining. As for the morality, Hermione was embarrassed to find that her skirt, which came up only two inches above her knees, was five inches shorter than any other girl's that she had seen so far. No wonder Tom Riddle was being so charming to her.

Tom Riddle began talking about the password system as they entered the dungeons and headed towards the Slytherin dormitories. The password was 'Immortal Death', and Riddle allowed her to practice saying it to the bare wall that was the entrance to the Slytherin dormitories.

The common room was a long, dungeon-styled room themed with the colors of green and silver. Tom showed Harry up to his dormitory first, and then walked Hermione towards the stairs that would lead her down to the fifth year girl's dormitory.

"I hope that you become easily accustomed to our lifestyle at Hogwarts," Tom Riddle said to her.

Hermione smiled and nodded not wanting to say anything wrong.

"I will happily allow you to stay with me throughout the day to make things easier for yourself."

Hermione tried to forget that Tom Riddle would end up killing hundreds of people as she responded back to him. "Nothing would make me happier."

"Well, this is where I will see you off. Even as a prefect, I am not allowed even touch the girl's staircase without being thrown across the room. The feast begins at seven, but I will have to arrive in the Great Hall at six. Do you believe you can make it there without an escort?"

"I believe so. Thank you for helping me."

"It was my pleasure."

Hermione nodded towards him and had to use all of her might to keep herself from running down the stairs to get as far away from Riddle as possible. He was a charmer, but the thought of what was going on in his mind only made her want to run as far away from him as possible.

It was five thirty, meaning Hermione had another hour before she would be heading off towards the great hall. She would have to meet up with Harry to discuss things, but at that moment, she only wanted to unpack and relax before she had to discuss anything.

As Hermione entered the bedroom, she realized that an extra bed had already been made up for her next to three others that were already laden with trunks and bags. Hermione sat down on the empty bed and tried to rationalize how she had gotten herself into such a mess.

A/N: Well, it's been awhile. This is a new story that was filling up my mind. It's the first time I've written something with the golden three, but hey, it looks like it will be fun. Hope you like the new story!