Ms Snowflake

by Eve13

Rating: R (because of later chapters)

Setting: during year seven

Pairing: Sirius Black / Hermione Granger

Summary: During one of the last battles with Him-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, a - more or less - well-placed curse smashes Hermiones timeturner and she wakes up in the past - face to face with a worried James Potter and his gang.

Authors Note: I KNOW that those timeturner fics have been done lots of times already, but I wanted to have a try, too.

Disclaimer: HARRY POTTER, characters, names, and all related indicia are trademarks of Warner Bros. © 2001 - 2005

Chapter 1 - Quite a blow

Hermione Granger whined. Way too loudly for her taste (she considered herself to be at least a bit tough there), and then she whined again. The brightness that shone through her closed eyelids was too much for her battered senses and it caused a throbbing headache that got worse with every second. Wait a moment, she thought. Brightness ? The last thing she actually could remember was a rather starry and foggy night out on the Quidditch pitch, with her and dozens of others fighting a group of Voldemorts goonies. From the pain in her chest, she concluded that some curse must have hit her, but... she ignored the thumping in her head and forced her eyes open.

The hospital wing - she was clearly in the hospital wing. So they had won. A sense of joy overcame her and the corners of her mouth were almost tugged upwards to form a smile but then she realized something queery and rubbed her eyes - surely she just wasn't seeing right. But she was. There was no one there but her.

And then her - still a little weary - gaze fell upon the bedside table. There was her wand, her folded robes with the Gryffindor crest and the Prefects' Badge and on top of them something that gave her a faint impression of what had happened. Her timeturner. Smashed. Her mind began to race. How much of the Sands Of Time had it contained ? How far could she have travelled into the past ? She began to calculate, on the one hand trying to find a solution, and on the other hand hoping that she was wrong.

The stream of words uttered under her breath got louder and more anxious every minute. Finally it attracted the head nurse in her office, who instantly came running to find her patient awake and almost well with a confused look on her face, muttering words and figures. She shook her head...no matter who was there on one of the beds, they were all the same. Couldn't they just sleep it off and THEN start to act out ? She arrived to see the girl trying to get up and rushed to her, gently pushing her back onto the bed.

"Dear, dear dear...don't rush or I will have to cast a body bind on you.".

Startled, Hermione looked up and stared into the face of a Poppy Pomfrey in her early thirties. She swallowed. Swallowed hard and fell back on the pillows. Great. Fucking fantastic.

She was so lost that she didn't even hear another person entering and talking to the nurse, not until the curtains around her bed were being closed and a male hand holding a small metallic box came into her view.

"Lemon Drop ?".

A lump started to form in her throat. Merlin...don't let it be him. Not the person they had all missed so greatly over the last months. She closed her eyes and turned her head away. It was unmistakably Dumbledore, and she could practically see him eyeing her over his half-moon glasses although she didn't look at him directly.

"I take it as a negative answer, then.".

Hermione heard the rustling of a cloak. She knew that he would come around at any time to see her face and that she wouldn't be able to do anything about it, but when she finally saw the face of the perhaps greates wizard the world had ever seen, one single tear slid from her eyes. He looked so young and strong (well, not that young, but there was a mighty difference to, well...the Dumbledore she had known), his white hair and beard were only half as long, his face not as wrinkled and his presence gave the young witch a faint impression of what Voldemort had feared so much.

He sat down on a stool next to the bed and looked at her, waving his wand and the tear dried away. Nodding towards the remains of the timeturner, he mused:

"That was quite a nasty accident you had there, Miss Granger.".

For a moment, she wondered how he knew her name - until she realized that her Prefects' Badge pointed it out to everyone more than clearly. Before she could say anything, though, he spoke again, a calm, deep voice that radiated authority with every word.

"How do you feel, dear ?".

She quickly run a check-up. Her hands and feet were numb but okay, her head was a little dizzy (she send a thank you to whomever that the world wasn't spinning around her) and her chest hurt. That was all she told him.

"Your chest ?".

She was, for a moment, confused about his quiet chuckle.

"I expected as much as that, dear. Fact is, you appeared right on the Quidditch pitch during the Gryffindor-Slytherin match yesterday, and seemingly you were standing exactly in James Potters' way. It was quite a blow, to say the least. Now...to change the subject, the smashed timeturner and a complete lack of information about a Hermione Granger in the school records tell me that you are not quite from our time, Miss Granger. I do suggest that you keep quiet about everything you know. And...let's see...".

Dumbledore trailed off for a moment, then got up from his chair and went to the fireplace to speak with someone. When he came back, he smiled warmly.

"As your robes suggest, I just arranged to have you put into the Gryffindor house. I do not know when or even if you will be able to return, so it would probably be the best to have you participating here. Tomorrow before breakfast, Poppy will bring you to my office. Mr. Potter would like to get to know the girl he bumped into, so I believe you will meet him and his er... associates tomorrow, too. At the occasion, you will also receive your timetable and books for the seventh year.".

Hermione was flattered. James Potter. Father of her best friend Harry Potter. She sighed. The term associates could only mean the rest of the Marauders. Sirius...Remus...and the dirty little rat Peter. She slowly moved her arms under the blanket, pinching herself. Wake up, girl. This ain't no funny dream any more. Unfortunately, it was as real as a heart attack and Dumbledore seemed to misinterpret her face.

"Nothing to worry, my dear, nothing to worry. You'll be an exchange student from the United States - from the Salem Institute of Magic. I am going to send you a book about it in a few hours so you'll have some ideas on what to tell the others. Now...before I go...".

He waved his wand a few times. With a pop, several small, bright, purple and golden packages appeared on her bedside table. She dimly recognized the form.

"Chocolate Frog ?".

Hermione grabbed one of the packages he offered her, suddenly noticing her very empty stomach. While she peeled off the wrapper, Dumbledore got up and nodded in her direction, wishing her a good day. When he was gone, she fell back onto the pillows, savoring the chocolate.

Damn, what an optimistic personality. Exactly what she needed in her gloomy state of mind. Fantastic.

Ha ! So far for chapter one. Please leave a review (if you found any grammatical errors and words used in the wrong context, please include them, as English is not my native language) !

Eve13