Rewrite the past

Chapter 1

Mid- March 2001, New Headquarters, Scotland

Hermione looked down at the time turner hanging around her neck. Sighing, she took it into her hands and before she could decide not to do it, she pressed the small button and took a brief last look at the conference room before everything around her started to get blurry and only moments after that, the whole world turned black around her.

She didn't open her eyes at first, too scared to take a look. She somehow expected to still be in the world dominated by Voldemort. She expected to look up at the sky to find it just as greyish-black as the one she had got used to over the course of the last three years. She expected to still have the feeling of being suffocated each time she took a breath but this feeling didn't come. She took a few deliberating breaths. The air was clean and after taking another few breaths she finally opened her eyes.

Mid- May 1966, Hogwarts grounds, Scotland

She found herself lying on green grass. It was just not as grey as the grass she had got used to these past years. The sky above was blue and nearly cloudless, the sun was shining brightly down on her. 

Hermione cautiously stood up, looking around herself still not really believing that she escaped that nightmare she called her life for 3 years. She walked around a bit, admiring the flowers that were blossoming everywhere, inhaling their sweet scents. 

She felt free again. 

She felt a heavy burden being lifted off of her, a burden she hadn't realized she had been carrying around with her. With a sigh she finally decided to apparate to Hogwarts where she hoped to find a certain headmaster whose help she needed to succeed with her task.

Hogwarts. 

Hermione really had missed the castle and the last time she saw it, it was in ruins with fires burning everywhere sending smoke into the sky. Remembering the castle looking that way made her even more determined to succeed than she was before. She was glad that the security wards weren't as hard to overcome as the ones she was used to. She quickly made her way up to the entrance.

Once there, she came face to face with a man she hadn't seen for more than 4 years now. And to see him alive and that young with a beard that wasn't even half as long as the one he wore in his later years was just surreal for her.

"I wish you a good day, Miss-" He ended on a question to get her to tell her name.

"Hermione Granger, Sir. I'm sorry for entering the castle's security wards but I really need to speak to you."

"Well then, Miss Granger. Let's go to my office."

He eyed her somewhat cautiously before turning and walking away.

++++

"Now, what brings you here, Miss Granger?" 

The bearded old man Hermione often thought fondly of, despite his many deceits, sat down in his chair, resting his face on his folded hands that were resting on the top of his desk and looked at her over the rim of his half-moon spectacles. Hermione felt oddly reminded of her own schooldays when she used to get in trouble with Ron and Harry.

"This really is a rather long story but I knew that it was you who I knew I could trust here. You see, I am from a different time. I used my time turner to get back here because it was our last chance to save us all. I know that it is very dangerous to play with time but it really is necessary to save this world from becoming a total mess, a place where people are randomly murdered."

Hermione looked at him with pleading eyes, and he knew just upon looking at her that she really went through a lot of hardships even though he thought her to be rather young.

"Just how many years did you travel back in time?"

She thought for a moment.

"I came from the year 2001 so basically about 35 years." 

This seemed to really surprise the man seated opposite her.

"Well, why exactly did you go back that far?"

"You see, a professor of mine made some terrible mistakes in his youth because he wasn't treated right, was lonely, had no one care about him — not even his parents and later he just fell in with the wrong people here at Hogwarts. 

Adding to that he got bullied the whole time and at the time he finished his schooling here a certain dark wizard recruited him. I don't really know just how big of a threat Tom Riddle is right now, but he will be the one to end this world if we don't help Severus. 

Everything happened because he realized too late what exactly he had done, and he tried to atone for that one mistake his whole life. We need to stop him from befriending the wrong people and only then we might have a chance at having a world where we don't have to hide to survive. We just have to change his childhood and teenage years because they were the years that drove him to those decisions. I know that this isn't an easy task at all and that's why I'm asking you to help me."

"What did you have in mind?" The headmaster's eyes were twinkling while he sat back in his chair plopping a lemon drop into his mouth.

"Well, we thought that it might be helpful if I were to undertake some preparations and transform into a child again. Preferably I'd live in close proximity to him and befriend him before he meets Lily Evans. It's imperative to try to manipulate him so far that he won't get sorted into Slytherin. That was his ultimate ruin. Other than that we hadn't really planned ahead." 

She looked at the man opposite her trying to figure out what he was plotting while he kept on eating many lemon drops, plopping one after the other into his mouth.

"I do think that would be a good way to start. But just how will we get you into close proximity to him?" Dumbledore started twirling the end of his long beard between his fingers enjoying the last remnants of the lemon drop he had been eating.

"I've got just the idea! I'll be back shortly. Do help yourself with some sweets, Miss Granger."

He jolted up and out of the office leaving the young woman slightly confused.