Hope For A Better Future

Chapter One: Hero of War

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Hermione sat in a chair directly in front of the headmaster's desk, the one she had to remind herself no longer belonged to the man she had once trusted above all others. Reminding herself that Dumbledore was gone like so many others, like her best friend, she tried to push past the guilt that she should be down there continuing the fight like the others. She couldn't ignore this feeling though, not anymore. She now understood that her fight wasn't here, not in this time. Looking up into the twinkling blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore she took in a deep shaky breath. He stared at her knowingly from where he sat in his portrait behind the headmaster's chair.

"Do you know why I'm here, Sir?" she asked him.

He held his steepled hands under his chin and nodded.

"I believe I do. Some time ago, after I realized the extent of what Harry would have to do to bring an end to this war, I started on a Plan B," He said, his blue eyes shining merrily as if this was a perfectly normal circumstance.

Hermione sniffed in disgust, offended by his ever jolly attitude. Of course, he had a Plan B, one he never shared with them as per the usual. Dumbledore leaned forward in his portrait and smiled as if he could sense her disgruntled thoughts. He lifted a long wrinkled finger and pointed to Hermione's left.

"The fourth shelf from the top, my dear," he said, gesturing towards the large bookshelf that sat against the wall on her left.

She stood shakily and slowly walked to the bookshelf he indicated, something that once would have filled her with excitement but now left her with dread pooling in her empty stomach. Hermione looked over her shoulder at him with a questioning look on her ash-covered face.

"What exactly am I looking for, Sir?" she asked with her brow raised.

He smiled warmly and simply gestured with his hands for her to continue forward. Hermione huffed her annoyance and let her eyes glance at the different colored spines of each book, hoping something would jump out at her. There were several D.A.D.A books and some on Potions, but of course, one book, in particular, called out to her. Its familiar title bringing memories to the forefront of her mind and tears to her exhausted eyes; The Winter's Tale. She touched the worn black leather spine and gently pulled it from the shelf. From the corner of her eye, she could see Dumbledore leaning back in his chair. His fingers were once again steepled under his chin, eyes shining brightly, however, she chose to ignore him in favor of the heavy book in her hands. She knew it as she knew herself; it was one of the first she ever read. She was named after its female lead, after all. She carried the book back to her seat and sat down, placing the book firmly in her lap.

"Open it," Dumbledore said, inclining his head towards the book in her lap.

She tucked a loose curl behind her ear and looked down at the book that seemed to be emanating magic, although it appeared to be nothing but a normal book. She carefully lifted the cover of the book to reveal the first page. In a familiar black script, a small passage read: "To Hermione, with hope for a better future". Hermione's head snapped up to greet the piercing eyes of her former Headmaster, who had somehow known for an indeterminable amount of time that she was going to come to him for help.

"How...how could you know?" she asked in utter shock.

Her chocolate eyes stared up at him in what could be mistaken for horror, but after years of teaching her, he knew it was just her thirst for knowledge. "Ms. Granger, as you are well aware, dabbling with the past can have dangerous outcomes for the perceived future. That is if the wrong person is doing the altering. However, if a smart capable witch with all the right knowledge of time and the future were to go back..." Dumbledore said, trailing off at the end.