Chapter 1
Prologue: Chapter 1
10 years ago, Hermione and her friends had invaded the Ministry of Magic, now she worked for the ministry, while all of her friends moved on, settled down and grew families, Ginny and Harry and Ginny had gotten married and were talking about having a child, she and Ron had split soon after the battle of Hogwarts, realising they were not truly in love and had just been clinging onto something during all the dark times, he had gotten back together with Lavender brown, the pair expecting a child soon, and Hermione?
Why, she was spending another Friday night at her office, going over another draft of her new spell, trying to find a way to block or stop an Unforgivable, she had been trying for the past 5 years and had yet to succeed, it was reaching midnight, she was surrounded by coffee mugs and crushed drink cans, the bags under her eyes making it seem like someone had taken the night sky and put it there instead of skin, oh the life of being Wizarding Britain's only spell weaver
A tapping on the window broke Hermione from her thoughts, as she turned her bleary eyes to the window, she say a dark grey owl, just barely visible against the night sky
“Oh what now?”
She opens the window and takes the letter on it’s leg, giving it a walnut before it flew off, and she recognised the seal on the front, one she had not seen in a long time
“The Malfoy seal? Why is Draco sending me an owl at this time of night?”
As she opened the letter and began to read it, she had to read it twice, then three times
“Narcissa!? Department of mysteries? What in the world…”
She made a split second decision, that her work can wait this could be very important, she quickly moves to grab her wand and puts on her robes, then quickly makes her way to the elevator, and heads down into the depths of the ministry, to the department of mysteries
“Department of mysteries”
“Ah, Granger, i was beginning to wonder when you would arrive”
“What!? It took me 5 minu- never mind, what do you want Narcissa?”
“You’ll soon find out, first, walk with me”
“Narcissa! Tell me why I’m here!”
“All in due time, now child, how is your life going? It’s been so long since we have last talked”
Hermione's mind immediately wanders to the several past due bills she has gotten, the dark rooms of her apartment from no electricity, how cold it gets from no heating, the two eviction warnings she had ripped up and burned, the many nights spent awake, furiously trying to get things done to be payed soon, even with her paycheck getting lower and power
“It’s going, fine”
She superstitiously pulls her robe sleeves down to cover her arms
“Oh you can’t lie to me child, i know about those eviction notices, those sleepless nights, don’t lie to me child”
“How do you- why am I even surprised anymore?”
The two continued to talk for the next few minutes until they arrived at a room Hermione would never forget
“Why, why are we here? At the Veil?”
“Because you see, young one, I’ve found myself inexplicably drawn to this place, and I’ve been seeing things inside it, visions if you will, of a bushy haired girl with buck teeth, can you guess who that is?”
“...it’s me isn’t it? What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to go into the veil”
“You, what? Why would I do that?”
“Because you see Hermione, you’ve got nothing to lose, haven’t you? You're just about broke, no relationships, your work has run you ragged, and how long has it been since those little friends of yours talked to you? Face it Hermione, this is your only chance of being able to get a better chance at life”
“I, i need to think about this”
“Oh of course my dear, I’ll give until… midnight, tomorrow, I’ll know when you’re here, goodbye Hermione”
Then, with the slightest crack, she was gone, what had this night turned into?
She turned and looked at the veil, the mist in it swirling around, creating strange shapes, swirling around each other, slowly forming into a castle nestled within the mountains, but it wasn't Hogwarts, and then a near perfect image of herself, but looked much, younger.
Suddenly she snapped her vision away from the veil, and left the ministry, all thoughts of her work forgotten, she knew what she had to do, she had to go into the veil
Arriving home, she saw a dreaded piece of paper on her door, the big red writing unmistakable
EVICTED
For a few moments she stood in shock, then pushed the door open, thankfully many of her things were still there, admittedly in boxes
"Fuck, what am I supposed to do now?"
She knew that in 24 hours, or less, she would not be here, but this served as a huge reminder of how badly she had failed in life, she moved to the bathroom and pulled her wand out and pointed it at her arm
"Diffindio"
A large cut opened on her forearm, she adjusted her wands aim
"Diffindio"
And again, and again and again and again, enough times to cover her arm in a dark red, she knew she shouldn't be doing this, but it served as an escape, a distraction from the world, if only for a few minutes, and she loved it.
But soon, she knew it would become dangerous, so she did a quick episkey and went back to her bed, stripped down and climbed under the sheets. Another day wasted, but this time, she would not sleep in this world again, no matter what happens.
"your early Hermione, it's only 9pm"
"let's just get this done Narcissa, don't play your games"
"Well alright then, have everything you need?"
The last of her money, wand, a few clothes, quill and ink, and of course, her ever faithful Crookshanks
"yes I do"
"well, go on ahead"
Hermione walked up to the veil, seeing those same visions from before, gathered Crookshanks in her arms, and walked into the veil.
Suddenly, she felt weightless like a feather, then everything was white, then a black figure appeared with a scythe in hand as it moved towards her
"Hello Hermione, you've arrived nearly 100 years too early"
"Who are you?"
"why, I'm Death, and you, have broken the fates order"
"Sir, I'm, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!"
At that moment, she realised something, Death was short, really, short, if she had to guess, he'd be about 5'2
"Excuse me miss! I am a female, Thank you very much!"
"I'm sorry Miss, I, I just assumed-"
"Of course you did! All you humans are the same! All thinking I'm this giant sized man who kills mercilessly"
Death, Death was a literal child! A young girl specifically, and it left Hermione shocked and speechless
"can, can you please tell me what's happening?"
"oh! That's right, so since you died prematurely to the Fates plan, I need to fix this, I can't send you back, that's Life's job, can't put you back in time, again, Times job, but what I can do, is send you back in time but as a different person, in a different place etc, do you agree?"
"What's the alternative?"
"I take your soul and er have to destroy your whole timeline"
"o, okay then, I'll take your offer"
"great! Oh, and by the way, if you need to learn something immediately, ask for it, and if I deem it important enough, I'll give it to you"
"o, Kay then"
"right then! Goodbye then Hermione, enjoy your new life!"