Adaptation
Hermione found that being stuck so far back in the past wasn't completely horrible. The Slytherins were more than the stereotypes, and to Hermione's surprise, they weren't all blood status obsessed. She hadn‘t known much about the levels of hierarchy in her original timeline, but she learnt quickly thanks to her pureblooded friends. The House of Black was on top and always would be. The Zabinis were next, and considered to be untouchable like the Blacks. After that, it was a matter of wealth, level of fame, and how many Wizengamot seats they held.
Being friends with four purebloods from some of the most political and well-known families was eye opening. Hermione was subjected to a ridiculous amount of scrutiny to determine whether or not she was 'worthy' of being friends with the Black Heir. Apparently that was Regulus instead of Sirius, which is weird considering Sirius is older, but after being in the timeline for less than a day, it became clear why. Pandora explained it all while she fixed Hermione's disastrous excuse for hair into a tidy braid.
According to Pandora, the Black Family was full of blood supremacists, sexists, child abusers, and tended to kill their slaves (also known as House elves) and hang their heads on the mantelpiece. Hermione was - as far as everyone else thought - a halfblood. She needed to 'prove her worth' or some rubbish to be worthy of the Blacks, a family of incest-approving elitists.
Surprisingly, Sirius Black was apparently the opposite of everything his family stood for. He loved everything muggle, was pro werewolf rights (gee, she wonders why) and vocally opposed his family and their beliefs at every opportunity. He constantly pranked the Slytherins to get back at them for the blood purity nonsense they spilled (rubbish only said by some of the Slytherins, not that it mattered to him). If any of them - or anyone for that matter - said anything negative about a muggleborn, or just muggles in general, they would suffer the full wrath of Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew.
Regulus was the opposite of Sirius. He held the family name with pride, worked hard in curricular, non curricular, and extra curricular work, was patient instead of being brash and outspoken like his older brother. Publicly, Regulus embodied everything 'worthy' of the House of Black, whether he privately agreed with it or not. While publicly, he didn't have any care whether or not his Gryffindor brother lived or died, Regulus cared deeply in private. Hermione didn't understand at first. Was it the interhouse rivalries holding him back? Why did he have to have such a strong act on?
When she found out why, her heart shattered. To say that Regulus’s parents, Orion and Walburga Black, were abusive would be the understatement of the century. Regulus had scars, a lot of them, although he'd learned to hide them with glamor spells. The torture curse, Cruciatus, was the most common, followed by Lacero, which cut open his skin and was the cause of most of Sirius and Regulus's scars. The rest were from the more creative punishments. Regulus had less scars than Sirius. Before Hogwarts, they were all each other had. Whenever Regulus got in trouble, or had done something that his parents wouldn't agree with, Sirius was there. He would argue with their parents or cause a bigger mess to move them away from Regulus. After Hogwarts happened and Regulus was sorted into Slytherin, Sirius's affection dimmed. To Sirius, being sorted into Slytherin was the same as being a Death Eater. To him, Regulus was evil. Sirius would still protect Regulus at home because they needed each other. In those few months of Summer and Christmas-Yule, Sirius and Regulus didn't care about who was in which house. Survival was all that mattered. They just needed to survive the summer, then they could go back to hating each other to their heart's content.
Hermione slightly understand their dynamic. She was an only child, but she'd been friends with Harry Potter long enough to understand how abusive homes worked, even if Harry only shared a tiny bit. She knew enough. And Harry didn't have a Sirius to protect him, or a Regulus to protect. He was alone.
Barty suffered a different kind of situation from his parents. Mental abuse was preferred to physical, although that wasn't to say it was exclusive. His mother loved him, yet she excused and enabled her husband's behavior. Barty used any opportunity to humiliate and tarnish his father's reputation while he's away from him. Pandora said he wilted immediately under his father's gaze, which was very unusual Barty behavior. Barty was very energetic, outgoing, and physically affectionate given how touch starved he was. Barty was the gossip King, always knowing everything as soon as it happened. He didn't know it yet, but he was head over heels for Evan.
Evan and Pandora had the most reasonable childhood, although Pandora's was better than Evan's. It was an ancient gift for generations for Rosier daughters to have Sight. She spent her childhood learning to piece through the visions, being raised by other Seers who helped her to understand and develop her power. Evan and Pandora were raised half separately, but still spent a considerable amount of time together, although we're educated on certain aspects separately -- Evan studying politics and finances while Pandora studies Arithmancy and Divination (and not the rubbish taught by Sybill Trelawney). The twins both suffered scrutiny, perfection, and extreme parental pressure like a lot of other pureblooded families, especially Evan. The Rosiers didn't agree with domestic violence like the other families, as they found it negatively affected the Sight, and sons need clear minds to focus and be worthy of their House name. The only technique that might be used would be legilimency (mind reading), which would be done at least once a fortnight at random times to test their occlumency shields (mind reading defenses), another common method used by pureblood families. Pandora agreed to teach Hermione as soon as possible. All in all, Pandora and Evan were lucky.
Dorcas had less family luck. Her family wasn't as well known as the others, although still held significant influence. The Meadowes's were seated on the Wizengamot as a Grey Family, meaning they weren’t aligned with 'Dark' or 'Light'. Dorcas was an only child and the Heir to the House of Meadowes, which was rare as most pureblooded families would conceive again for a boy, as Dorcas had all female cousins. Males were commonly the Heirs, which is why Sirius and Regulus got the Heirship title despite their Eldest cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, was eight years older than Sirius. Because Dorcas was female, she was expected to be perfect in every way, which is why Dorcas can play seven instruments, is fluent in seven languages, and has been on a diet since she was born. If expectations were not met, she would be disowned. Dorcas called their bluff, claiming if her parents were too lazy to retry for a boy, they weren't about to disown her and start from scratch, teaching a new Heir everything again.
Pandora wasn't the least bit fazed when Hermione asked about Sirius's friends, which wasn't surprising. Pandora probably knew. Pandora definitely knew. She's Pandora, after all. She knows all. It's probably why she was telling Hermione everything straight up, no dancing around the truth. Hermione appreciated that about her. Brutal honesty was hard to come by, and under appreciated.
James Potter was so different than Harry, yet so similar. Hermione couldn't help comparing the two. Everyone else did it, the comparison was instinct. James and Harry were both Quidditch stars, James being the Chaser instead of Seeker like Harry. When Hermione compared their personalities to their roles, it made sense. James was a team player, a golden retriever. He was a crowd pleaser and worked best as a team. Harry was used to being on his own, and Ron and Hermione had to force him to let them help. Harry had a keen eye for detail. He had to when growing up with the Dursleys. He had spent most of his life on his own, watching and waiting cautiously, key parts of being a Seeker. He knew when to go and when to play safe.
In fact, when Hermione actually thought about their lives in comparison, James and Ron had more in common than James and Harry. The father and son had Quidditch, Gryffindor, and genetics. James and Ron were the friends that basically adopt all their friends. James's house is a safe haven to Sirius. It is a place he can go when things are bad at home (which they always are), and the Potters will always welcome him. Ron is the same to Harry. The Weasleys is as much a home to Harry as Hogwarts is. Sirius and Harry are the same story in a different time. Ron and James are the sunshine friends with the happy life. Harry and Sirius are victims of child abuse. As much as it pains her to admit, Hermione knows more of Sirius's home life than Harry's, but the context clues are there.
She overheard a conversation between Fred and George about how the tiny cupboard under the stairs is set up as a bedroom, with children's drawings on the inside walls. Harry was so skinny and malnourished it's concerning, but no one does anything. Hermione has heard from both Ron and Ginny about how Harry acted the summer before second year -- staying silent unless spoken to, subconsciously flinching, avoiding Molly and Arthur at first, being surprised at being he was treated like family, trying to do cleaning and housework until Molly stopped him, etcetera. Hermione’s seen how little he eats, she's had to force him to eat more before a Quidditch match especially, and Harry reluctantly forced it down. She never pushed any further, because how do you bring that sort of thing up? Hermione tried once, and Harry walked off, disappearing for hours. He only came back because Hermione enlisted the twins to drag him back literally kicking and screaming.
Pandora described Remus Lupin as a 'hot mysterious oddball/ criminal mastermind'. Pandora described Remus as one of the most sarcastic and sassy people she had ever talked to, and given her friend group, that was a shocker. Apparently you always had to be on your toes with Remus Lupin, because one second he's calmly reading a book, the next he's slammed his neighbor's head into a desk and breaking their nose with little effort (true story. First year Remus Lupin was brutal). Remus’s parents were both dead, and he'd been living in a muggle orphanage since he was five, which turned Remus into a somewhat aggressive boy. He was restrained most of the time, but Barty had photos somewhere of Remus beating Severus Snape (who Hermione was totally not avoiding in the slightest, mhm of course not) to a pulp. Hermione made a mental note to ask to see the photos.
Peter Pettigrew was an interesting one. He was apparently one of the best chess players in the School, and had a habit of playing mind games with random students, causing excessive confusion. He had a wicked sense of humor and never failed to crack someone up. Peter was small and pudgy, just like Madam Rosmerta had described, and hung out with the other Marauders a lot, but there was more to him than what Rosmerta knew (since she was a pub owner and didn't actually know the kids personality. That would be creepy). Pandora spoke very highly of the boy, who was apparently Barty's main source of Gryffindor gossip. Apparently, in the early days of her first year, Pandora was having a really hard time with her magic, and her roommates hadn't been kind about her Sight. Peter had been the one to cheer her up. The day after, all of her roommates apologized, became much more supportive, and stopped being horrible about her Sight. To this day, Pandora still didn't know what Peter had done to them, but they had a small friendship after that. They didn't hang out, but it was more of a mutual support situation.
Every little bit of information Hermione learnt made her more and more sure. There is no way it was Sirius. There is nothing, nothing, that could convince her that 1974 Sirius Black and 1981 Sirius Black are the same person. Sirius stood for everything Voldemort didn't. The Sirius Black Pandora described would never willingly betray everyone like that. Something was off about the whole story Ron, Harry, and Hermione had overheard.
What went wrong? The four were such a tightly knit bunch. If it were true, which Hermione is very much doubting at this point, how would Sirius betray James and Peter like that? How could he? Sirius and James's relationship was like Ron and Harry's, and Hermione could never see those two breaking apart for any reason. They were kindred spirits in that way, platonic soulmates. It wasn't something that could happen.
Hermione didn't interact with her best friend's mother until a week after her arrival, but she recognized the girl immediately. All of the comments that Harry had gotten on his mother's eyes were right - they had the same almond shaped green eyes filled with warmth. Lily had long red hair like Ginny's and a personality that seemed like a mix of Hermione and Ginny (when Harry wasn't in the room). Pandora had been more than willing to tell Hermione all about Lily, a sweet smile spread across her face and a shine in her eyes. Lily Evans had been relentlessly pursued by James Potter for the past four years, much to her chagrin. She was one of the few in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw who didn't worship the ground the four boys walked on. James took this as a challenge and was constantly making obnoxious declarations, which Lily did not appreciate in the slightest. She was a friend of Remus's however, since he was able to read a book for longer than five seconds, something his friends were not capable of.
Lily had two best friends, neither of which had recognizable names. Marlene McKinnon was one of Lily's roommates and was one of the Beaters for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team alongside Sirius Black. Marlene's older brother Danny was a famous Beater for the Chudley Cannons, some English Quidditch team that Hermione remembered Harry and Ron banging on about in one of their many Quidditch debates. Marlene was very outgoing and excitable, a lot like Sirius or Barty without the abusive parents, and not nearly as much trauma. She was very ambitious and competitive, as was clear in her outlandish statements during previous Quidditch matches, which Pandora refused to repeat as to not 'taint childish ears'.
The third member of their trio was Mary Macdonald, the muggleborn who was involuntarily friends with Fred and George. She was one of those girly girls who reminded Hermione of Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. In fact, the three girls collectively had the same sort of energy as Ginny (without Harry present), Lavender/Parvati, and Hermione. Mary was one of the most good looking girls in her year, a statement echoed constantly by Sirius. She has one older brother, one older sister, and a younger brother - Isla age eighteen, Robert age sixteen, and Joseph age twelve. She was the only magic child in her family, the rest of her family were squibs. Mary dated Sirius Black last year, although they didn't last, because they were barely teenagers, and those relationships never last.
Surprisingly, the three girls and the twins became fast friends. Hermione had seen them hanging out a lot and decided not to question it. They were the twins, and even if they were in a different time, there was something about them that people couldn't help but love. Even Lily, who hated the four pranksters (except for Remus when he wasn't listening to them), got along amazingly with the two boys, which was surprising considering the four and the twins were practically the same.
The two groups seemed to have been entangled in some sort of prank war and it was all Hermione's fault. Ever since she had yelled at the twins, and Sirius and James had realized they had competition, the sound of either pair shrieking had become such a common occurrence that everyone just tuned it out.
Despite having so many people related to her old life around, Hermione liked being Ravenclaw a lot more. In Gryffindor, her roommates were obsessed with love, and all of her friends were boys that only cared about Quidditch. Now she had roommates that she actually got along with (most of them, she would never like Sybill Trelawney), female friends who thought about more than just homework, and a friend group that cared about their education. As much as she loved her original life, it was nice not to have a crushing fear of death every five minutes.
Out of all of her roommates, excluding Pandora, Hermione liked Eden Makutu the most. Eden was a pureblood from an elite Māori family in New Zealand who immigrated to England five years ago to expand the family name and enhance their wealth. Eden was the older middle child with five siblings - Lavara, who was in Fred and George's year, Lux, who was eleven, Tatum, who was nine, Vaughn, who was seven, and Manaia, who was five. Eden and Hermione were the most studious in their dorm. Eden just sat in the corner researching silently whatever subject she liked. She didn't have many friends, but that was from lack of effort. Hermione could understand why - she knew what sort of chaos occurred in the Weasley household, and that was only with five of the seven children present. She can imagine how nice it would be to not have to socialize. Eden reminded her a bit of Percy, just with a smaller sense of responsibility. It was nice having someone like that.
Sybill Trelawney is still Sybill Trelawney. She's misty and kooky, and it takes all of Hermione's restraint not to punch her. The only thing preventing murder is Pandora's constant reminders about the lack of books in Azkaban. Despite Pandora also being a divination fan, she strongly dislikes Sybill. Doesn't hate her though. it takes a lot to get Pandora to hate you. The only people currently on her hate list are Walburga Black, Orion Black, Barty Crouch Senior, Laurent Meadowes, Michelle Meadowes, and Adolf Hitler.
Emmeline Vance seems like she belonged more in Gryffindor most of the time. She's the Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, although according to Pandora, she only joined as Seeker to flirt with Alice Fortescue, Hufflepuff's Seeker, insult people with Regulus, and gossip with Adelina Savreux, Gryffindor's Seeker. That wasn't to say she wasn't talented, just that they had other priorities. Emmeline was a very talented Seeker and she knew it, but she wasn't a boaster. She was kind and humble, not shaming anyone for losing or winning. She was friendly with everyone, although drifted between friend groups instead of sticking to one.
After the rant on everyone, Hermione asked a question that had been bugging her all day. "What's with the blue robes? None of the other houses have their own coloured robes?"
Pandora paused, sighing in frustration. "Oh I completely forgot! That could've ended horribly. So you know when you're studying and you don't want to be disturbed, but people talk to you anyway?"
"Yes! It's so irritating," Hermione sighed. She gets that people want help or to chat, but she just wants to study in peace.
"That's what the blue robes are for. If you do not want to be bothered by anyone for any reason, you wear the blue robe, and everyone knows to stay away. Slytherin does it as well but with green. If you want help and they're wearing black robes, you can go ask them."'
"That's such a smart system!" Hermione's eyes widened.
"It's been around since... maybe 1862, I think. The Head Girl, Florence Pucey, charmed her robes blue with DO NOT DISTURB in big white block letters. We've been using the robe system ever since," Pandora explained. "Her name is on the statue now."
"What?"
"The giant Rowena Ravenclaw statue. If someone comes up with a genius idea to make life easier, you vote whether or not they are worthy of having their name on the statue. There have only been about twenty or so names engraved on the statue."
"But what's stopping someone from just engraving their own name?" Hermione pointed out.
"Frédrick Kelley, 1136. Engraved his own name and it was gone in a few hours. The statue didn't find him worthy," Pandora yawned. "Can we sleep now? I'm exhausted."
Hermione agreed, but she spent the rest of the night staring at the ceiling. She hadn't slept much since she'd gotten to this timeline. Guilt, paranoia, and fear all swarmed her. She'd been running on adrenaline, willpower, and an unhealthy amount of caffeine.
"You just need to chill, Mione," Fred said when she pulled him aside and confessed her insomnia.
"Fred, you are fully aware that all of your 'besties' over there-" Hermione gestured to where Lily, Mary, and Marlene were hovering out of earshot, "-will be dead or worse in seven years!" Fred's jaw hardened.
"I'm aware of that, but what can we actually do right now?" he hissed.
"We can go to Professor McGonagall-"
"And say what, exactly?" George scoffed. "Hermione, in our experience, telling a teacher never ends up well-"
"telling a teacher? George, there are lives at stake! Our lives, Harry's life! This isn't like your rubbish experience. You may be willing to, but I am not going to sit around and watch it happen. I'm not going to sit back and watch as everyone dies! I won't - I won't do it!" Hermione was almost shouting at the end. The students loitering around nearby snapped to attention, watching carefully.
"Hermione, of course we're going to try, but we can't be stupid-"
"Since when do you care about that?" Hermione interrupted. "For once in your lives, can you take something seriously? This is war, George. Half of the people here will be dead or suffering a fate worse than that by the end of 1981. I'm not about to stand by and let it happen!" She stormed away from the insufferable twins. Screw them. crew the twins and their stupid, carefree attitude.
She had to solve this. Figure out a timeline of events. The first thing she needed to figure out is how Voldemort managed to survive in the first place. Why did the killing curse rebound? Why was Quirrell burnt? How did that diary work?
To do list
- timeline of deaths and events
- research Tom Marvolo Riddle
- research ways to cheat death
- notable Death Eaters
- how did the curse rebound?
- what happened between Sirius, Peter, and James?
- Get Barty and Evan together
For Voldemort to be able to avoid death, he would've needed to use dark magic. There wouldn't be much of it, but it was worth a look. If she can't find anything, she can ask Regulus. The Black Family is the darkest in Britain. Their library should have the answer. Regulus can look for her during the summer. Convincing him will be a later problem.
In the meantime, Hermione can focus on creating a timeline, starting when Tom Riddle Junior is born and ending on the eighteenth November 1993, the last day she spent in the nineties. Hopefully she can remember it all. Luckily, Hermione had literally all of her books with her, including her History book. Hopefully there's something that can help her.
The Rebound Curse will be difficult, but if she mentions it at the right moment, phrased in a non-suspicious way, her friends might be able to help. Sirius, Peter, Remus, and James will require observation to answer the 'whys'. As for the last point... Hermione will need her friends' help for that.
She can do this. How hard can it be for a thirteen year old to remove immortality, kill a terrorist, keep a friend group together and play matchmaker with oblivious boys all before the thirty-first of October 1981. She's got seven years. She can do this.