Becoming Mia
As the world regained its light, Hermione noticed that she was lying down on a bed.
She was really grateful for either Harry, Ron or Sirius, who had carried her up to her bed.
Her head was pounding, and as she sat up it took her a while to notice her surroundings. As soon as she saw the periwinkle blue walls, she knew that she was neither in her room or in Grimmauld Place.
She was immediately on high alert and tentatively looked at the room she was in.
Constant vigilance, she thought, while chastising herself for not having noticed where she was sooner. The war was over, but it didn't mean that the ideals that started it were gone, and she knew she was a prime target.
The room was quite nice, actually, with a large bed, big vanity and closet, and even a door that seemed to be a bathroom.
Hermione was so wrapped in the room, that when she looked down to see if she was still in her clothes, she jumped off the bed when she noticed that she was not even in her own body.
Seriously, Hermione? She thought. Mad-eye would be disappointed in you.
She rushed to the mirror on the vanity to examine herself.
She still looked like herself. Sort of.
She seemed to be in a child's body. Her hair was a lot more tamed, with nice curls instead of her usual mess, and a slightly darker shade of brown than what she was used to. Her features were a bit softer than what they were. She was glad to see that her teeth were still the perfect, shrunken-down size that she had picked in her fourth year.
The only other thing that remained truly the same was her whiskey brown eyes, and even those seemed foreign on the body she saw in the mirror.
Hermione started to panic, before she remembered that she was Hermione Granger and that she did not panic, she thought things out instead.
She started looking around the room, trying to find out anything about where she was.
The first thing she noticed was the exits. One door to the outside, one to the bathroom, and two big windows on either side of the bed she woke up on.
What drew her attention, though, were the picture frames on the vanity. They were all wizard pictures, with the people in them moving around and smiling widely at the camera.
It took her a minute to realize that she was there too, this new version of her, mostly smiling beside a little boy that looked exactly like Harry. Same messy black hair, same smile, same facial features. The only thing that was different were the eyes; this boy had hazel eyes instead of green ones.
The memories hit her so hard at that moment that she fell to the ground, clutching her head as if that would keep the pain away.
Mia… Mia Potter. That was her name here.
She was Mia Potter, twin sister to James Potter born on the 27th of March, 1960, to Euphemia and Fleamont Potter.
She didn't know how this was possible. The time-turner she fell on seemed to have taken her back in time - more than it should've been able to - and given her an entirely new life and set of memories.
If Mia's memories were right, she was in the year 1967. She had been thrown over thirty years back in time.
She could remember her last birthday with James - Jamie - and how their house-elf made them a chocolate cake with red and gold stripes.
She could remember how last week, Euphemia - Ma - had taught her a more complex dance, and how at the end she put on some muggle songs for them to dance to.
She could remember how yesterday, Fleamont - Pa - gave her a new book from a muggle author for her to read.
Hermione could remember all of that. All of Mia's memories, and she didn't have the faintest idea of how that was possible.
Her mind started running.
She went back to the bed to search for the time turner, and found it under her pillow, empty of the blue sand that previously occupied its hourglass.
The blue sand… was that what made all of this possible? She had never heard of blue Time Sand before, so maybe that was what caused all of this. But if the sand was gone now, it meant that there was no way she could get back.
Even if she did have the sand, time turners never took one to the future, only to the past.
Should she talk to Dumbledore? Yeah, cause it would not be suspicious for a seven-year-old to want to talk to the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
What should she do then?
Hermione couldn't think of anything that she could do except wait.
She would have to stay in this life and wait a couple of years until she could talk to Dumbledore. He would have the answers. He needed to.
After a quick check of the bed again, she saw that her wand did not make the trip with her. She started cursing herself, until she remembered that she wouldn't be able to perform magic anyways, even if she did know how to do wandless magic, considering that she was now in the body of a seven-year-old and would have the Trace on her.
Considering that she was now a seven-year old.
Her body was a clean slate now. The scars that littered her face from the war were gone. So was the one on her chest she received from Dolohov in her fifth year.
Her hand went to her forearm, where the scar should've been, and found only smooth skin in its place.
She had tried for weeks to remove it after the end of the war, but the curse that had been put on the blade would never allow the scar to leave.
But now it did. Because she was no longer in the body of Hermione Granger.
She was no longer Hermione Granger. Not here.
Here she was Mia and lived in a loving home with her brother, parents and their house-elf, Mipsy.
She faintly heard the door to the room open, and someone rushing to her side.
"Mia! You know Ma told you to stay in bed. Ma! Mia woke up!" The boy said. He started to push her towards the bed.
"Oh, dear. James, did she get out of bed on her own, or did you have something to do with it?" a woman said, as she came rushing into the room.
"I didn't do anything! When I came in here to check on her she was already out of the bed. I just came in to check on her."
"Oh, my sweet Mia, let’s get you back into bed. I'm glad you finally woke up, and after you get some more rest and make sure that your head is ok, I am going to be very mad at you for having fallen down from that tree like that," the woman told her.
She could remember climbing a tree. Jamie had dared her to do it, so obviously she had to. What she didn't know, however, was that one of the branches would snap when she stepped on it for support.
"I'm sorry, Ma. You know that I didn't mean to fall." She didn't know where that came from, it just seemed like the right thing to say.
"It's alright, sweetheart. Merlin, here I was thinking that things were hard when you were six, now with just a few months of you being seven we've had James crashing his broom and you falling off a tree and getting a concussion." Euphemia said, brushing Hermione's hair out of her face.
"I'll go get Mipsy to prepare you some supper. James, can you keep her company while I go, and make sure she doesn't get into any more trouble?"
"Yeah! I can tell her all about the new Quidditch moves that I tried out while she was unconscious!"
Euphemia laughed as she left the room to make her way to the kitchens.
As James crawled onto the bed next to Hermione, she took the time to observe him.
It was eerie how similar he was to Harry. If it weren't for the hazel eyes instead of the bright green, she would've thought she was looking at her best friend.
To Mia though, James was her best friend.
"You really scared us, Mia. I know I was joking earlier, but please never do anything like that ever again. I promise I wouldn't have dared you if I knew you were going to get hurt. I just thought it would be fun. " He looked so vulnerable that it nearly broke her heart.
"Don't worry, Jamie, I feel fine. And I don't plan on dying any time soon, I know you wouldn't be able to handle yourself without me," she said with a teasing tone, brightening up as she saw a smile bloom on his face.
It was so easy, she thought, to interact with a person that was essentially a legend in her time. That was dead in her time. But here he was, right in front of her, looking scared that he had nearly lost his sister.
"Good. Now I have to tell you about the Quidditch moves! If I continue training like this, I will be put on the team in our first year at Hogwarts, guaranteed!"
He settled down under the covers and started telling her all about the new manoeuvres he tried out to distract himself.
"Jamie, you know that first years can't get on the team, right?" She asked.
"It doesn't matter, though. Once they see my obvious skills they will have to give me a spot. Youngest chaser in a century, I tell you." James said, with a huge smile on his face.
Hermione could do nothing more than smile and nod along, happy to see him this happy.
Ma came back with Mipsy, who was carrying a tray with a bowl of soup.
At first, Hermione was startled to see a house-elf, her mind going back to her S.P.E.W. days, but after quickly looking through Mia's memories, she knew that Mipsy was just about a free elf, as she did literally everything that she wanted and no one seemed to argue with her about it.
"Miss Mia needs to eat the entire bowl. If Miss Mia does that then she can have a slice of the chocolate cake that Mispy prepared. Chocolate helps the head," said Mipsy, as she put the tray down in front of Hermione and practically shoved the soup down her throat.
"Hey, what about me?" James cried out.
"Master James already had a slice of cake while his sister was unconscious," Mipsy said, causing James to look down in shame.
That didn't stop him from stealing a bite of his sister's cake later, though, when Mipsy wasn't looking.
They all continued to talk while Hermione ate her soup, and she started remembering more and more about Mia's life. Honestly, she felt a bit lucky that Mia was so young, if she were any older it would be a lot harder to sort through all of the memories.
If it weren't for the very vivid memories of her life there, Hermione wasn't sure if she would believe all of this.
Euphemia started reading a story to them while Hermione ate. She had told them that they wouldn't have lessons for the rest of the week, so that Hermione - or Mia, rather - would have time to properly recover.
While all of it felt a bit strange to Hermione, all of these people doting on her and feeling worried, the memories of Mia inside of her mind made her feel happy. Loved.
Maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to just live, for now, she could talk to Dumbledore when she starts Hogwarts. Again.
In the meanwhile, she could just get used to becoming Mia.