Born From Madness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

70

Hermione hurried down the stairs with the photo and black box as she turned to the kitchen to see Grandma Elka watching the news on the TV where a picture of a man, with tangled hair and a gaunt appearance, as she was making more candies for Honeydukes. 

"...A special hot line has been set up, and any sighting of Black should be reported immediately..." the warning said before vanishing as another reporter appeared talking about another announcement. 

"Wait! They didn't say where Black escape from? Shouldn't they do that to inform people where he was last seen? I mean for all we know, he could be walking down the street." Hermione pointed out. 

"It's because Muggles won't know about Azkaban Prison, dearie." Grandma Elka confirmed. Hermione jolted. 

"Wizards broadcast things through the Muggle world as well?" Hermione asked while taking a seat right beside Grandma Elka. 

"Hundreds of times, Muggles get informed by things to Especially when weird things have been happening." Grandma Elka informed Hermione while pushing a letter towards her, "By the way, I hope your parents don't mind, but I signed your permission form to go to Hogsmeade." 

"Hogsmeade?" 

"A little village a few miles from Hogwarts. Lovely place to go to. The Three Broomsticks is a wonderful place for Butterbeer, but I'll take a case of Fire Whiskey here and there." Grandma Elka explained, "What's that you go there?" 

Hermione looked down at the box and photo she had been holding before gently pushing it towards Grandma Elka. 

"I found them in the attic." Hermione stated while Grandma Elka opened the box with the necklace. Grandma Elka cooed as she pulled the necklace out, holding it up to the light, mumbling under her breath about how she couldn't believe she had forgotten about it. 

"This is a Time Turner, Hermione. But not just any Time Turner, this one was handcrafted and charmed by Dorothy Zbornak herself. She was very clever during her time one of the most brightest students of Hogwarts." Grandma Elka said while putting it back in the box, "and Time Turners are very tricky things to master... and can be very dangerous. One wrong move and you can ruin the past. Especially if you go back to your own timeline. You and your past selves can't be seen no matter what." 

Suddenly she pushed the box towards Hermione, "But after hearing from Professor McGonagall you're planning on taking almost all the courses for third year, you may need this." 

"Really?" Hermione asked as she held it up, "Oh thank you! Thank you so much!" 

"You're welcome, kiddo, but remember, be extra careful of it... and don't let anyone know about it. There are countless people who would love to get their hands on something like that." Grandma Elka warned while shaking her head. 

A few weeks had passed by which Hermione spent most of her nights reading Rose Nylund's Diary and reading all about her stay at Hogwarts and the things she did with her friends... till Grandma Elka surprised Hermione with going to the Leaky Cauldron and told her they would be staying their for the rest of the summer. She explained that it would do them some good to get their own vacation though Hermione had a feeling that Grandma has suspect her of maybe finding something she didn't want Hermione finding. 

After they were all packed with their things, they proceeded to exit and lock their house up so there was no chance for anyone to even attempt breaking into the house. Just as they turned to go down the driveway, their attention was shifted to the sound of a muffled screaming. She shot her head up towards the sky where she saw something that looked like a blimp of a person floating through the sky. 

"Hermione... you see that right?" Grandma Elka asked while their eyes were still glued on the woman floating away. 

"Yeah," 

"Good, I thought I finally went mental for a moment. Okay, to the Leaky Cauldron we go." Grandma Elka said before strutting down the hallway like they hadn't just seen a person flying across the sky in front of them. They paused at the drive way as Grandma Elka raised up her wand. Hermione wondered what she was doing when suddenly a loud echoing horn caused her to turn her head to find a triple-decker, violently purple bus appearing out of thin air and paused at their driveway with bright gold lettering over the windshield that spelled The Knight Bus. A conductor in a purple uniform leapt out of the bus and spoke in perfect reciting:

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening." 

Grandma Elka and the man traded information about where they were going and then money for their tickets. Grandma Elka allowed Hermione to go first before following behind as Stan took hold of their trunks and Hermione's cat carrier with Crookshanks meowing inside it. Instead of seats, there were half a dozen brass bedsteads with candles burning in brackets beside each bed. 

"You two can have this one," Stan said before pushing their things underneath the bed then informed the driver they were done. With a tremendous bang, the bus took off in a speed Hermione wasn't prepared for. She and her Grandma were waving around like crazy while she was trying to hold onto the bedpost. 

"What did you say her name was?" Stan suddenly asked, Grandma Elka. 

"This is my Granddaughter, Hermione Granger." Grandma Elka told him. Stan suddenly shot his glance towards Hermione before he snapped his fingers. 

"Thought your name sounded familiar. Heard some blokes saying something about you they were-- down at the Hog's Head Inn when I was on my break." Stan suddenly said, causing Hermione to perk her ears up. 

"What were they saying about me?" Hermione asked, curious. 

"Couldn't exactly hear what they were muttering to themselves... but I know not a lot of decent people go down there at the Hog's Head Inn." Stan stated to her. Before Hermione could press further, Grandma Elka suddenly blocked Stan and Hermione from each other with the newspaper and another person was calling for Stan to get them hot chocolate. Hermione glance down at the newspaper to see it was that same prisoner staring up at her. 

"Who exactly is Sirius Black, Grandma?" Hermione asked her, but wasn't surprise if Grandma Elka tried to keep it in the dark as well. 

"Some guy they claimed murdered at least thirteen people and had informed You-Know-Who about the Potters," Grandma Elka said. 

"You don't sound convinced it was him?" 

Grandma Elka peered around, making sure they weren't listened in to before lowering her face towards Hermione's ears. 

"Between you and me, I think he was framed. I went to school with Sirius and he was too loyal to James and Lily to do what they are saying he did. Hell! James was the one who took Sirius in when his whole family disowned him. If he was to be convicted of any kind of murder it would be of his family. They were a bunch of supporters of the whole purebloods-are-better-than-Muggle-Borns crap and Sirius hated their guts. Plus they barely have any evidence to pin-point that Sirius actually did that." Grandma Elka advised Hermione, "But keep that to yourself. The Ministry of Magic hates being proven wrong."  

Hermione opened her mouth to agree when the bus suddenly came to a halt. She overheard Stan giving his speech to another person until he cut off and started asking the person questions: 

"What are you doing down there?" 

"I fell over." 

"What did you fall over for?" 

"I didn't do it on purpose..." 

Hermione knew that voice but it was being a bit muffled by the bus's walls for her to know exactly who it was. 

"What's your name?" Stan asked the person. 

"Neville Longbottom," the person replied. Hermione narrowed her eyes as she shook her head because the voice didn't match Neville's in the slightest. Soon she heard the sound of them walking into the bus. Hermione peered over her shoulder to see who it was that was pretending to be Neville Longbottom... and found it was Harry.