The Time Turner's Curse

The Time Turner's Curse

Hermione opened her eyes, to once again see the familiar scene from the hill overlooking Hagrid's hut on the grounds of Hogwarts. Looking down at herself, she rolled her eyes when she saw the pink hoodie she'd come to hate over the many years. Placing her hands on her chest, she thought to herself, It's nice to see you girls back where you belong. Once again she was sent back to her third-year at Hogwart's, where she would have to live through life all over again.

Damn! Forty-Three!

Hermione was sixty-five when the curse reset this time, she was getting old, and well, wasn't as perky as she once was. Now she was fourteen years old, standing on the hill. Moments ago she was cursed by Draco for the forty-third time. Or was it forty-four? She shook her head, knowing she was losing count and never really knew whether to count the first life.

She was losing count of how many times she had to watch Ron die. Sometimes they were young, sometimes very old. But always, he would die, and it would rip what was left of her tarnished soul to pieces, she would then end up back here, fourteen again. Fourteen with cramps! Her hands grabbed her lower stomach as she made a sour face. As if this isn't bad enough!

Okay! Let's see, she thought making a mental list of lesson's learned. She needed to get her old life down on parchment quickly before the memories faded in with all the others. Hermione had done this so many times, she was afraid of wasting a life, and an unnecessary heartbreak on something she had already tried. Let's see, if I go after Voldemort, there is nothing I can do to keep Ron from following, so that will never work. Even with us being senior Auror's we could not take him, even in our thirties, so scratch that theory. Perhaps, I can make my stand at Hogwart's our seventh year. Yes, after Harry dies.

Harry always died, this she was used to by now, but no matter what happened she could not stop loving Ron. Her love for Ron was her curse, and his survival was the only thing that might end this reoccurring hell, only Ron. She had seen Harry die too many times to count, and as sorry as she was to admin it, long ago she became numb to his passing. Ron was the one, no matter what she did to prevent or prepare for his death; it tore her to pieces every single time.

Even after I left Hogwart's and went back to a Muggle life, I still loved him. Then, twenty years later, minding my own business in London with my children, Ron walked into that damn coffee shop, to be shot by that stray bullet right in front of me, and in front of my little angel, Hannah.

The thought of Hermione's little girl made her heart crack; oh, how she missed her daughter. It was so many lives ago, but Hannah was always her favorite, of all the children she had. Of all Hermione's children, Hannah was the most like her, and now she didn't exist because of this curse! Hermione's heart sped up thinking of her Muggle husband, Jason, Hannah's father. He was a good man, a better husband, and a great father. Quietly she whispered a Muggle prayer for his happiness, knowing now they would never meet.

Hermione pulled the time-turner from under her shirt and yanked it off her neck. Standing at the edge of the forest she picked up a rock and smashed it, a ritual she repeated with every life.

So let's see, after Harry dies, how can I save Ron? The battle for Hogwart's, think, think! At that point in his life, he's no match for Bellatrix, so he can't engage her, but if I fight Bellatrix? No, that will leave Ron to fight Voldemort, and we know what will happen there. The memories caused a physical shiver in the young girl.

* * *

Time, as always, went painfully slow. She wished she could just fast forward to the point of Ron's death, but she had to live every day in its entirety, never knowing when his death would happen. The passage of the last four years, to the final battle at Hogwart's, was much different than most of the memories she had of it. It made it easier for her to act clueless to the events that took place, as many of the events and memories were new for her. No one was accusing her of being as crazy as Professor Trelawney.

Standing outside the Great Hall avoiding the fleeing students, she went through her plan, one last time.

Get inside; get Bellatrix down before she sees Ron. Stick with her until Ginny dies, then move to Voldemort. If Ron can keep himself occupied with George and Percy on Rodolphus Lestrange, there's a chance this might work. Forty-four lives of magical education, I can handle Bellatrix and Voldemort, and I just have to keep Ron out of it!

Hermione turned to Ron who was still reeling over Harry's death and relayed her instructions to him. He nodded in acknowledgement. She wished she could just curse him, or render him unconscious, but when she took him out of the fight in the past he always ended up dead. It would be better if she could keep him moving, and keep her eye on him.

She gave him a wink and a kiss on the lips that surprised him, but turned into the Great Hall before he could ask her about such an unprecedented display of affection. As she turned the corner, Bellatrix stood before her, dueling Ginny, Luna and Fred Weasley. Hermione engaged.

A Killing Curse blasted Ginny in the chest, which was Hermione's cue to move away. With a flick of her wand, Bellatrix had no defense against the forth Unforgivable Curse - "IMPRACTA QUARA," as it had not been invented yet. The four quarters of what remained of the Lestrange witch fell to the floor freeing Hermione to move on.

She sprinted over to Voldemort, just in time to see him kill Arthur and Bill Weasley with a single snap of his wand. Stepping over Harry's body Hermione screamed inside her head, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" This was the first record of a silent Killing Curse, well, the first in this time.

Voldemort was dead, again.

For the record, that's Hermione twenty-six; Voldemort four, with two draws.

Turning quickly, her worst fears came true. In this life, George and Percy didn't step up to Rodolphus Lestrange and that changed everything. Ron and Rodolphus alone! NO! She sprinted, but it was no use. Ron, engulfed in Avada Kedavra, fell limp before her feet.

Here we go again, bring on the pain. Her heart crumbled, again, as she knelt down beside him. She touched his face, as tears fell from hers. No matter how many times she watched Ron die, her bewitched heart reacted as if it were the first. Each and every time, the pain was new and equally intense.

Her ears began to ring, telling her it was happening. A moment later, she was standing outside, wearing her pink hoodie, again.

Damn. Forty-Five!

Her next four lives were anything but a blur. Still she found herself standing in the forest, depressed. The forty-sixth and forty-seventh lives never made it past their seventh year at school, with Ron falling to Bellatrix in one and him being killed by a misfired Killing Curse from Neville's wand in the other.

The forty-eighth life both she and Ron survived the battle and got married, again. Since Voldemort did not die at Hogwart's, Harry, who lived that one time, led Voldemort into a trap where Dumbledore, Moody, Sirius, Tonks, Kingsley with recent Auror graduates Harry Potter and Hermione Granger all waiting for him. Voldemort may have been the best ever, but there was just too much firepower against him. Dumbledore got the anti-disapporating spells up before he was killed in battle, so Voldemort couldn't escape. Tonks kept him for flying away, which eventually led to her death, but power against Voldemort was still too much. Harry fell in battle to Voldemort, but they killed Voldemort again, well, it was again for Hermione.

She thought for sure she had the curse broken this time. Hermione thought it was over, and even managed to forget about the curse for a while. She and Ron dated and got engaged. Ron again, and as always, fussed about Hermione's lack of interest in their wedding plans, wondering if she was the only woman on the planet immune to the "bride-zilla" gene most get when planning their wedding.

I don't know Ron; maybe I am out of wedding ideas having married you twelve times already.

Well, it didn't work. Ron's death in that life was different than most. After a string of miscarriage's she and Ron divorced for the second time, and as always her curse did not reset. She got the pleasure of living her life for another nineteen years without Ron, before his alcoholism finally took him. Being the last Weasley, unable to have a child, losing Harry, and his marriage was a lot to deal with. Mixed with the fact that he blamed himself for Hermione's miscarriages, it was only a matter of time. Ron's funeral was the hardest death Hermione experienced. With all the others, she was at least with him at the end. The hurt of knowing he died alone caused a wound in her soul she knew even time itself could not fix. This life was the one time she did not reset to fourteen when he died. In a cruel irony, she remained until he was buried.

Her forty-ninth life, the most recent one, sent shivers of nausea through her spine. Three words echoed in her mind making her skin crawl. She had to test the theory and avoided it for at least twenty lives. Three words, she hoped she would forget one day. Hermione was so disgusted she let him touch her, let alone wed him. Just to find out how to break the curse, the price was too high. But she paid it. Three words: Misses Hermione Malfoy.

Thank Merlin it didn't work. Thank Merlin the curse reset when she was thirty-six. Rest in peace Darius and Orion, my babies. Mommy loves you!

Damn, fifty. Seems like five-hundred.

Hermione smashed the time turner on the usual rock, and headed back up towards the castle to prepare for their evening. She needed to brainstorm before they went to the Shrieking Shack and where Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew enter the picture. She needed to practice looking surprised. It was always hard for her to see Sirius like that, so disturbed and angry. Much different than the life long friend of her fifth life. In that life, Sirius escaped from Azkaban after he was recaptured but never did get to tell Harry he was his godfather before Harry was killed. Many years later, when Hermione named her first born son Harry, she asked Sirius if he would take over as his godfather. The friendship of a lifetime started, and Hermione missed the long talks with her dear friend.

Oh, that was so long ago.

* * *

It took nine years in Azkaban for her to die, and reset the curse. Nine years of a life sentence for killing Draco Malfoy her sixth year at Hogwart's. It was a spur of the moment idea, after he killed Dumbledore, but the corrupt Ministry, under intense pressure from his father Lucius, threw the proverbial book at the sixteen year old. Azkaban was ten times worse than she feared. What time she spent out of her chains with the general population was a never ending and futile battle to keep all the wizards hands off the young witches. The physical torment of witches by the male inmate-wizards seemed an acceptable part of her punishment.

After attempting to starve herself to death several times, before being stopped, she finally found a new way to die. She had been stabbed superficially in the stomach, and did not report it. It took six weeks for the infection to run its course. Six weeks letting maggots and rats chew on her dying flesh. Knowing full well she would not get another trip to the general population for two more months, she sat quietly in her cell waiting for death to take her. She bore the pain as best she could, praying to be fourteen again.

Finally she stood atop the hill, doubling over to the welcomed pains in her gut. She forced the more graphic memories of Azkaban from her mind, and repeated her ritual brainstorming.

Damn, fifty-one.

Pulling the time turner from her pink hoodie, she set in on the rock, preparing to smash it. As she raised a second rock her hand halted it over hear head.

The Time Turner! Oh, stupid girl!

She ran for her life across the grounds, trying to get to the library before it closed. After hundreds of years of living she was still not very patient. She needed to do research and no, it could not wait until morning.

After fifteen minutes she found all the information she would need. Yes, time turners are susceptible to curses, but only involuntary ones. You cannot curse a time turner directly, as they are curse proof. However, as most wearers of the turners do so around the neck, a seemingly harmless curse to the chest could have dire consequences. Hermione needed no more research; she knew what she had to do now. She closed the book and heard a noise behind her, but turning to look she saw nothing but books.

Reaching into her shirt she pulled the time turner out, and gave it a one-eighth turn. The world spun around her in rewind as the inner hoop of the time turner spun in a blur. Finally it stopped. Hermione looked desperately around the library for a clock.

Thirty-six minutes, damn! This is gonna be quite a run!

Hermione ran out of the library, avoiding high traffic areas trying desperately to get to where her double was at this very moment. To the other side of the grounds she ran. After a hundred lifetimes, it was now that she had no time. Moving through the woods she approached Ron, Harry, herself, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. Crouching behind a tree she waited where they could not see, her wand at the ready.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement. She broadcast a shocked look on her face as a third Hermione appeared with Harry, also hiding from the original group. Hermione ducked as she watched herself and Harry hide.

Huh? Did they use the time turner too?

Hermione was confused, and lost her concentration on the main group. She stared at the closer version of herself, just twenty meters away. The second Harry stared at the group, waiting for the first, or third Hermione, whichever, to punch Draco. The cursed Hermione needed to act before that happened.

Just as she started to look back to the original trio, her double, the one with Harry turned around and looked right at where she was standing. She gave a blank stare into the woods, a faint wink and a smile. The Hermione standing alone, realized all of the sudden, it was going to work. Turning back to the originals, it was almost her time to act. Draco was spouting off calling her a mud-blood, secretly pulling his wand.

Hermione raised hers from the woods and whispered "Protego!" The timing of her counter-curse was perfect, hitting her double just before Malfoy's curse landed, and just as she spun around and stuck her wand in his face.

Hermione's heart leapt in excitement.

If the curse never happened, if it never hit the time turner, then I don't have to break it!

She felt her emotions begin to swell, but she forced them back. She had just a few minutes to get back to the library.

Hermione ran full steam into the library trying to remember from which alcove she spun the time turner. As she approached her double, her shoulder knocked over a stack of books making a loud racket. As she turned the last corner, she watched herself vanish holding the spinning turner.

Yes! she screamed inside her head.

Hermione pulled the time turner from her shirt planning to smash it with the biggest, heaviest book she could find, but stopped.

Oh, I need this again. Tonight! Tonight?

Hermione gasped realizing she needed to meet up with Harry and Ron immediately. Again she was running through the grounds, before finally catching up with them.

Their day was different, well parts of it were different than she remembered. They did make it to the Shrieking Shack, and saw her old friend Sirius for their first ever meeting. Only this time Professor Lupin was there too. Harry stunned Professor Snape, which never happened before, only this time Peter Pettigrew did escape.

The biggest change was knowing she would use the time turner again. After Sirius bit Ron by accident which landed him in the infirmary, Harry and she used it to change the past. Hermione wondered if she was tempting fate after what she had just went through, but after Professor Dumbledore practically gave them permission to use it, she decided it would be okay.

Hermione and Harry managed to save Sirius and Buckbeak, which was an option she never explored before in her countless lives.

* * *

Sitting alone on her bed in the girl's dormitory in Gryffindor Towel, she held the time turner in her hand. Her fingers trembled around it, as she swore it would never be used again. On the floor, at the foot of her bed, the smoldering ruins of her pink hoodie, cursed and destroyed by her wand.

It had been eight nights of agony since they saved Sirius. Harry and Ron were ecstatic after having another exciting year at Hogwart's. Hermione faked happiness around them, as the trauma of her countless lives lived began to wilt her heart. For some reason she thought she would be returned to her first life, not be forced to live in the last one.

She sucked in one last breath of bravery, stood and walked out off Gryffindor Tower. Walking slowly through the halls of Hogwart's towards the headmaster's office, she recalled every memory she could muster from her lives. Tears began to fall as she remembered her children.

Oh, my babies, my boys! Wherever you are know that mum will love your forever. Darius Lucios, Orion Centauri, Harry James, Ronald Frederick, Ronald Harry, Jason Michael, Ablus James, Aaron Wesley, and David Matthew. And Hannah, my angel, mum loves you all!

As she approached the gargoyle of the headmaster's office she knew she didn't need the current password. Smiling, she whispered the headmaster's codeword, seeing as she was head mistress twice, it made sense. The gargoyle revealed the staircase, and as she knocked quietly on Professor Dumbledore's door, she knew he was awake, even at this hour. When this was her office, she always was.

Walking into Dumbledore's office she sat down, maintaining her composure as Dumbledore looked at her in complete shock.

"Professor," she opened softly. "I am having a problem that only your wisdom and skill with magic can solve. However unorthodox it may be, I ask you to hear me out completely, before you say no. I assure you, you can expel me, arrest me, even use the Cruciatus Curse on me, but I will not leave until you have heard me out entirely."

Dumbledore's face flinched when she mentioned an unforgivable curse, something a third year, even of her magnitude would know nothing about.

Damn, be careful, watch your mouth.

The professor did not speak for several seconds, choosing his words carefully. "Isn't it more appropriate for you to be speaking with Professor McGonagall, Miss Granger?"

"No, only you Professor," she replied sternly.

Dumbledore nodded, taking a seat behind his desk. He gave her a nod to proceed. Taking a deep breath, Hermione spoke.

"I have had a very serious time turner malfunction."

Dumbledore did not speak, nor did his face move for several seconds.

"I need your help to undo what has been done to me."

"How far did you go back, Hermione?"

"I didn't go back, I went forward."

"How far?" he asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"Far enough," she snapped aggressively. "Far enough, to have seen things I should not, and know things I should not. Would you like to duel, for your elder wand, Professor?"

Dumbledore smiled, but as quickly as it arrived, it faded as he absorbed the magnitude of her statement.

Yes, I know of the elder wand, and yes, I think I am strong enough to take it from you. A hundred lifetimes of magic I know, you don't have a chance against me. And yes, I know you are probably using the Legilimens charm on me right now Professor.

Dumbledore's face did not react to her thoughts, which neither confirmed nor denied he was listening in on her mind.

"I am fourteen Professor. A fourteen year old who has had many children and grandchildren. Fourteen who has killed, and been killed more times than can be counted. Fourteen going on fourteen hundred." Hermione was crying now, quietly. "Can you please have Professor Snape erase these memories? Ignoring the emotional damage is one thing, but I know things. Secret things I should not know, things that will get people killed."

"Emotional damage?" he asked, confused.

"Being one of the only witches in Azkaban for almost a decade, makes you the target of much," she paused, searching for the word, "desire."

The headmaster's head snapped back, realizing what she was talking about.

A moment later they were standing in the dungeon staring at a very sleepy and very annoyed Severus Snape. Dumbledore explained vaguely what had happened to Hermione, and after a ten minute argument, Snape agreed to perform the charm on Hermione.

Professor Dumbledore excused himself, and Hermione took a seat in a wooden chair, before jumping up and running out after her head master. She caught up to him in the hall.

"Professor?" she asked in a whisper. "May I tell you one thing, before the memory goes?"

"No, Hermione, you may not."

"At the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament," she spoke anyway, "if Harry tells you something impossible, please believe him. The alternative is rather unpleasant, because everything he will tell you will be true." In one life, Dumbledore did not believe him; that Lord Voldemort returned. Once Voldemort recruited Harry as his number one death eater, together they brought forth an unfathomable apocalypse.

Dumbledore stared at her, wondering how she knew about the unannounced Tri-Wizard Tournament scheduled secretly for next year. Hermione smiled and rubbed her left arm, where her dark mark was once burned into her skin by Voldemort himself. With a polite nod, she returned to Professor Snape's office.

Snape paced around her, attempting to grasp the magnitude of the situation.

"Is there anything you wish to remember, Granger?" Snape asked, with a condescending tone of dislike and annoyance.

"No, take it all. The good and the bad. Take everything."

"I will need to see, so I know how far to go," he stated with a bite in his tone of extreme hate.

"I understand, Professor." Hermione spoke with as much respect for her hero as she could force out. She knew in a matter of minutes she would hate him again.

Snape raised his wand and entered her mind. She felt memories being accessed as fast as a computer could process data. One life, to another, to another, and yet another. He poured through her loves, her pain, and even intimate moments with her lovers. Snape showed no restraint accessing everything he could, as she expected him to do.

Dumbledore could have wiped her memory, but she wanted Snape. It had to be Snape; he needed to know what she knew. Albus Dumbledore was smart enough to be able to make it through anything, but Severus Snape needed to see what she had seen.

After a few painful minutes he released his grip on her mind, stumbling backwards to his desk and wearing a look of pure horror.

"S-So, so it's true. He comes back."

"Yes," Hermione whispered sadly.

"And I--,"

"Yes," she smiled at him.

"It works?" he gasped.

"Sometimes, yes it does."

Hermione offered the most sincere and affectionate smile to her mentor, hoping to console him. It was no use though, in this life, she was fourteen, and he hated her. As he stood to his feet, she quickly ran through a few memories she wished she could keep. Memories of Hannah, her only daughter, and of Ronald. The Ron that she fell in love with, and the happy times they spent married before Harry murdered them both.

She knew things may not end like they had in her countless lives, but there was still a chance.

With glossy eyes, Snape stepped forward towards Hermione and raised his wand. From the arm of her chair, Hermione raised her index finger to halt him briefly.

"You are a good man, Severus. The world will see it before the end. We will make sure of it."

Holding his wand out straight her words caught him, and his head snapped away from her gaze hiding his face. A moment later, a composed straight look turned back to face her, fresh tear tracks on his skin.

"ENDOCUTEN!" he commanded, and with a flash of light Hermione went limp in the chair.

Hermione raised her head and opened her eyes. She was confused and disorientated. Blinking the light into focus, she saw she was in Professor Snape's office sitting in a chair. Her wand was in her right hand. She looked around the room and spotted the Slytherin with his back turned to her.

"Professor?" she asked quietly.

"Ah, Granger," he snorted with his usual nasal voice. He did not turn to face her. "Fifty points from Gryffindor, for your snot mouth, and another fifty for inappropriate conduct towards an instructor. Your headache and patched memory the result of my fantastic protection counter curse."

"What?!" Hermione gasped in protest.

"If you ever attempt to curse me again, Muggle-born, you will do well to know that the only reason you are alive now is because I am a teacher. If you ever raise your wand to me again, I will gladly give up my post to end you. Do you understand me?"

"Professor, I -"

"You are dismissed, Granger, now get out before I change my mind about that Killing Curse. Be thankful I don't have you expelled."

Hermione stood with a wobble, and exited the office more confused than she had ever been in her life.

Severus Snape stood with his back turned to her, so she could not see. Tears streaked his white cheeks, his chin, quivering. As soon as she shut the door to his office, his legs gave out collapsing him to the floor in a flood of emotion.

Four Years Later

Hermione couldn't sleep. Yes, it had been an incredible day. Voldemort was dead! They did it! Harry, Ron and she got all the horcruxes, engaged Voldemort at Hogwart's and even Neville killed the snake Nagini. She had so much to be thankful for, and so much to be excited about. Hermione even kissed Ron earlier that day, for the first time, and it was about time. She smiled, but still couldn't sleep. Something else was plaguing her, something out of place gnawed at her gut.

Harry is alive, why does that seem so odd?