Hermione hugged Lupin goodbye that morning. Her eyes brimmed with tears and she warred with herself to get her arms to release the towering professor. He gave her a sad smile and gripped her upper arms tightly, reminding her to not underestimate herself. She was meant for this mission. She nodded and wiped her eyes and smiled before apparating away in a swirl of air, leaving the werewolf alone, once again.

She appeared in front of large iron gates that swung open for her when she neared them, revealing the grounds of Hogwarts. She trudged up the steep grounds through the deep snow of the highlands towards the snow-covered castle. The early morning sun glittered off the snow prettily, but the trek made her out of winded. She was reminded that she was out of shape, once again. However, this time, it didn’t result in her jumper being singed by one of Lupin’s hexes.

She quickly made her way through Hogwarts, using the secret corridors that she and boys had discovered in previous years. Twice, she had to press herself into the shadows and pray that she went unnoticed by a straggler who was hurrying somewhere, out of bed before curfew was lifted.

She heard the sharp steps of her head of house clicking purposefully down the hall and her heart jumped. She was nearly to the griffin which protected Dumbledore’s entrance when she heard the witch approaching. There was no where to hide, she had already been spotted.

“Miss Granger?” Her brisk, brogue rang out in the quiet corridor.

Hermione turned around to face Minerva McGonagall, “Good morning, professor.” She said with a small smile.

“What are doing out of bed, Granger?” Her lips drawn into a thin line of disapproval.

Hermione looked wildly for an excuse to be at the headmaster’s door until she leveled her gaze with the professor, “I was just doing my head girl rounds and I saw Peeve’s had made an awful mess in the astronomy tower. I cleaned it up, but I was going to talk to Professor Dumbledore about it, since this is the third time this month he has done this. I’ve tried talking to him, professor, but he-“

“I will talk to Peeves, Miss Granger. Professor Dumbledore has enough on his plate right now.”

“Is there something going on, Professor?”

McGonagall’s features hardened into strict lines, “That is none of your concern. Now, off you go, Granger. I’ll have a word with Peeves.”

Hermione nodded and turned down the hall and headed back to a corridor she knew she wouldn’t be seen readily from. She slid down the rough stone walls and sat on the cold stone and waited. McGonagall had gone into Dumbledore’s office what seemed like forever ago. Her back was stiff and her butt was asleep. She felt pins and needles in her legs and when she finally heard her professor’s clipped footsteps coming from Dumbledore’s office, she felt like she could barely stand. Her hip clicked as she stood up, but she quickly hurried up the spiral staircase to Dumbledore’s office.

“I’m sorry I’m late, sir, I ran into Professor McGonagall.”

Dumbledore smiled at her and gestured for her to have a seat in front of him at his desk. He offered her a glistening bowl of brightly colored wrapped candies that she politely refused before taking his own and popping it into his mouth.

“I had to kind of…lie to her. So Peeves may be in a bit of undeserved trouble because of me.” Hermione looked guiltily down at her hands fidgeting in her lap.

Dumbledore chuckled, “I think that is the first time someone has said ‘Peeves’ and ‘undeserved’ in the same breath, Miss Granger. I will straighten it out, not to worry.” He said with a wave of his graceful hand. “I hear from Remus that I have some congratulating to do! You did very well on both your OWL’s and NEWT’s. I had every confidence that you would do so, Miss Granger.”

Dumbledore handed her an already opened parchment that had been officially stamped by the ministry. Hermione’s eyes quickly skimmed over the pages as she took in the scores that she had worked on so tirelessly for the past several months. Her face lit up with relief and she held the papers to her chest and let out a sigh of contentment. Dumbledore laughed at her reaction, “It seems Remus was unable to wait to see what scores you received. He wants you to know how proud he is and that he never doubted you for a minute.”

Hermione smiled and laughed, thinking about Remus excitedly opening her scores when they arrived to the shack this morning while she was probably waiting for McGonagall to come out of this very office. He had worked just as hard for these scores, of course he was excited to see her results. Her first thought was that she couldn’t wait to tell her parents, however, her heart sank when she realized she wouldn’t get that opportunity for another 2 and half years.

Dumbledore’s face also sobered into seriousness. “Remus also told me that you learned some time sensitive information too early.”

Hermione’s eyes snapped to his clear blue ones. Her brown eyes hard with certainty. “I did. And I was not happy about the news at first. But after giving it some thought…a lot of thought actually, I realized that I have worked too hard to do what the order needs me to do to stop now. If this is what I need to do, then I will marry Snape.”

Dumbledore learned back in his wingback chair, his long fingers steepled together. His eyes seemed to bore into hers as he contemplated something for a long time before he finally said, “I was going to send you to a different place, but seeing as you already know this information, I think I am going to send you back to a different time. But I warn you, Miss Granger, it is imperative that you keep your identity a secret if you go here. No one can know your true identity and you need to keep a physical glamor on or the results could be dire. Do you understand me?”

Hermione nodded tentatively. Dumbledore leaned forward and scribbled something down on a parchment and folded it, sealed it with wax and handed it to her. She stuffed it into the pocket of her hoodie and steeled herself. Dumbledore told her what she would be doing next and it shocked her. She would be studying under Madame Pomphrey, but she would be going extremely far back in time to do it. Pomphrey was not apart of the Order and couldn’t be trusted with information, so she needed to go back to a time when she couldn’t accidentally slip up like she had with Lupin. However, she argued that Snape was really the reason anything was found out. Dumbledore amended her marks to the proper year, so she would continue on as Acacia Cresswell in this timeline.

Dumbledore helped her change her clothes and hair to match the time she would be going back to and Hermione couldn’t help but let out a bark of laughter when she saw what she was wearing. A white knee-length dress that was belted at her waist with long sleeves and a buttoned front and rounded collar. The sleeves were tightly cuffed and the top was cut with vertical darts to the belt. A green patch that had a bone and wand crossed was sewn on the left side of the dress. The patch read St. Mungo’s Healer in Training.

Gone were Hermione’s brown curls, replaced by straight, blonde hair that was fine and silky to the touch. She wasn’t sure how she was going to get it to stay in an elastic. Everything else about her remained the same, thankfully. But the hair was a big enough change that she was shocked by her appearance. Blonde wasn’t as bad of a look on her as she thought it would’ve been.

“Are you ready, Miss Granger?” Dumbledore asked, after she had thoroughly checked every angle of herself out in the mirror of his pensive.

“Hm? Oh! Yes!” She slipped time turner over her head, not used to not having to struggle with getting it out from under her hair and handed it over to him. He pointed his wand at it and she watched as it spun erratically in his hand until finally coming to a stop. He held it out to her and she reached out for it.

“Remember what I said to you, Miss Granger. You have one year. Don’t be late.”

Hermione grabbed the small silver pendant and was immediately sucked through time. She was whipped this way and that, her lungs burning with the pressure of turning back time at such a large interval. She could see images of people moving rapidly around her, too quickly to make any one thing out. Everything was a blur and she was starting to get dizzy. She clenched her eyes shut, willing for the spinning sensation to stop.

After what seemed like forever, the world finally came to a stop and she was still in Dumbledore’s office. Actually, a significantly younger Dumbledore stood in front of her in a smart three piece suit and patent leather shoes. His hair was short and slicked back and his bear was tight to his face. Where was the jewel toned, glittering robes and pointed hat she had grown accustomed to? And when did he decide that was better look?

“Merlin’s beard! Are you alright?” Dumbledore came from behind his desk toward her.

Hermione’s eyebrows pinched together and she staggered forward before falling to her knees in front of the professor and unceremoniously throwing up on his shining, leather shoes. Hermione turned beet red and quickly scrugified his shoes, apologizing profusely as she did so.

Dumbledore helped her up and took the note she handed him. He broke the seal, his eyebrows raised and read through the note he had written himself. After a few moments he took a deep breath and looked at Hermione with and smiled, “Well, welcome back to Hogwarts.”