For research purposes
“Hermione” a voice urged and she rolled over pressing her face into her arms to avoid the sudden light flooding the room.
“Hermione.”
“What” she mumbled, she didn’t want to get up yet, the sleep had been so peaceful. It had been like this a lot, since the war. She used to rise before all of her classmates, used to be up before breakfast was even served in the great hall. Now though she stayed in bed. She slept and slept the day away hoping to evade the demons that chased her in her waking hours, the faces that should have been there, the memories that followed her. When the dreams were pleasant, she often wished that she wouldn’t wake up at all, at least for a little while.
“Mione” they said again, shaking her shoulders and finally she blinked open her heavy eyelids.
“Harry?” she was a little disoriented and his face was too close as he worriedly checked her over.
“Hermione, are you okay?” he asked and she nodded.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” and then the memories came flooding back in, Regulus Black on the doorstep, and she sat up so suddenly that she felt light headed.
“What -” she started to ask and Harry sighed and sat down on the edge of her bed, still looking weary.
“How long have I been out for?” she eventually settled on.
“An hour or so -” Harry started to say but Hermione shrieked, already attempting to climb out of bed.
“Mione, mione” he interrupted, pushing her back down “it’s okay, it's okay we have everything under control.”
“B-but I don’t understand,” she stuttered. “How was I out for an hour? I thought I just fainted?” She blushed slightly as she said that, embarrassed by her dramatic reaction and Harry sighed.
“You did” he explained “and you would have been fine if Mad eye hadn't sent a stunning spell right at Regulus that hit you instead.” He scrubbed a hand across his jaw tiredly “always acting before reacting, that one…”
But Hermione barely heard the rest of his sentence, stuck on one word. ‘Regulus’. So it hadn't been a dream, it was real, Regulus Black was alive. She wanted to think this was some sort of prank, she almost didn’t dare to believe it, but she knew that Harry wouldn’t do that to her.
“How?” She croaked out eventually “How did he get here?”
Harry looked at her cautiously, perhaps wondering how much he should reveal and Hermione scoffed, rolling her eyes. “I'm not fragile Harry, you can tell me.”
He held his hands up defensively “alright alright but you did just faint.”
She didn’t say anything but she secretly thought that Harry would have fainted too if he’d have opened the door and seen the man who was haunting his dreams, a man supposedly dead for twenty years.
“He travelled in time” Harry finally said and Hermione’s eyes widened.
“He can’t have, that’s impossible.”
“Says the girl who spent the majority of her third year doing just that.” Harry said with an eyebrow raised.
She rolled her eyes, “that’s different.” and he looked at her disbelievingly “how’d you figure that one?”
“That was travelling backward” she explained as if it was obvious “but it’s impossible to travel forwards. Don’t you think if we could do that someone would have done so to see if Voldemort would win or not?”
“you’re right,” he sighed, “it was impossible…until today.”
“I-I don’t understand” Hermione stammered. She didn’t like this feeling, the feeling of not knowing or being behind on knowledge. Information was like a safety blanket to her, it made her feel secure.
“We don’t know” Harry sighed “it’s complicated, he didn’t exactly do it on purpose.”
Hermione’s ears perked up at that, it was one thing to travel in time purposefully, it was another entirely to do it accidentally.
“Explain” she finally said “please Harry.”
So he sat at the end of her bed and started to tell her all that they had figured out while she was out. “He came from the cave” he explained “straight from there. He was wearing a time turner. Sirius remembers Walburga giving it to Regulus when they were kids.”
That explained some of it but Hermione knew that time turners only went backwards in time. She was about to bring this up when Harry continued. “It wasn’t a ministry one” he revealed “it was a family heirloom, made by some distant Black relative. Regulus says it had never gone forwards in time before but…”
“It could be a different enchantment” Hermione finished, “one not as limited as the ministry one.”
Harry nodded “we think maybe it mixed with some of the magic in Voldemort's cave, or that the presence of so much magic caused it to go haywire or something. The department of mysteries is still working on the theory.”
Hermione’s mind was working overtime with all of the possibilities. Moving over a million a minute. She was at her best when she had a mystery to solve, something to focus on.
Harry interrupted her train of thought. “He can’t go back,” he said thoughtfully. “Kingsley said something about the laws of time, apparently if Regulus goes back anything could happen.”
“Because he was already here” Hermione's eyes were shining as she digested the information, after all this time magic could still fascinate her. “The laws of time are absolute,” she said, remembering McGonagall's words from her third year. “Regulus never died in 1979, he always came here so he can’t go back now, it could change the whole war.”
Harry nodded, he knew Hermione would grasp the concept quickly. She’d certainly got it faster than he had.
“That's…crazy” she finally said, shock still flooding her system “absolutely mental.”
Harry nodded “I know, it’s…a lot to digest. Sirius hasn’t come out of his room since Regulus arrived.”
“He hasn’t been to see his brother?” Hermione was startled.
Harry shook his head “I don’t think he’s ready yet.”
They sat in silence for a moment before Hermione inquired “hasn’t Regulus asked for him?”
“Actually…” Harry scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, no longer looking her in the eye “he kept asking for you.”
“For me?” Hermione couldn’t hide her shock “why?”
Harry shrugged “he said he wanted to see ‘the pretty witch from the door’ or something like that.”
Pink flushed across Hermione’s cheeks “oh” she said and Harry tried not to smirk at her reaction “well, erm, well i'd like to talk to him too.”
This time he did smirk at her and she glared at him “for research purposes” she said sharply and Harry laughed.
“Of course” he said “naturally” and Hermione hit him with her pillow.