Yesterday is Tomorrow (Everything is Connected)

Four: Choose a Path

Yesterday is Tomorrow (everything is connected)

IV

*

John Rittenhouse: My father says peasants are like the hands of a clock, round and round they go.

Lucy Preston: What does that mean?

John: A peasant is no more capable of choosing his own path than the hands of a clock.

Lucy: Who chooses the path for them?

John: The clockmaker, of course.

- Timeless, 01x10, "The Capture of Benedict Arnold"

*

"Now, don't be afraid," cautioned Lily, directing Hermione through the throng of Hogwarts students and their parents seeing their children off for the school year. Hermione indulgently allowed Lily to maneuver her away from certain students and between school trunks on trolleys, unaware that Hermione had far more experience of the pre-Hogwarts rush than she did.

"I'm not afraid," said Hermione in response, her voice strong and confident.

"Good," her elder sister grinned. They shared a warm glance between two siblings, and then her green eyes had strayed. "Oh, look, there's Sev!"

Hermione swallowed thickly. Severus Snape remained a sore point for her; her knowledge of the bitter man he would become was stymied by the information she had on all that he did and the life he gave up to be a spy. Even Snape at twelve was snarky and had a mean streak that rivaled Petunia's. However, Hermione would never forgive him for his thoughtless comment of "I see no difference."

Even if it was yet to happen.

Or wouldn't happen - she shook her head. Time travel and verb tenses were hellish.

Hermione allowed Lily to shuffle her onto the train and into a compartment that she and Severus had commandeered for the trip. Hermione eased onto the plush red of the seat, and curiously looked through the window to the sea of students as they finished their goodbyes and eagerly found their friends. An explosion further down the train and loud laughter made Hermione's lips twitch in remembrance of Fred and George, but Severus, sitting across from her, groaned and slouched down the seat.

She glanced at him and then Lily, her eyebrows raised in curiosity.

Lily scowled. "It's that stupid James Potter and Sirius Black."

"Your housemates?" asked Hermione, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, troublemakers, the lot of them!" the redhead huffed. "They tease and bully everyone! And absolutely hate the Slytherins."

Hermione turned to Severus, whose scowl was reaching his future self's epic proportions. "Like you, Severus?" she inquired innocently.

He slouched further, two blots of red high on his pale cheeks.

"You'll want to stay out of their way, Hermione," lectured Lily. "They don't prank me as badly as the others, but it's a free-for-all with those boys. Honestly! I don't know why Remus goes along with it."

Because he's afraid they'll abandon him, answered Hermione mentally, turning away from Lily as she and Severus began discussing the upcoming school year and their classes, including which electives they would choose for their third year.

Hermione tuned it out. She accepted that she was somehow stuck in the past; that somehow, she had been reborn into the Evans family. Over the years, once she had pushed past the horrible denial that something like this could happen to her, she began to come to terms with her situation and even grew to love her new family. Leo and Rose had far more time for their daughters than Hermione's own original birth parents Richard and Miranda had; Leo and Rose were happy with whatever their children decided, whether it was Petunia excelling in home economics or Lily and Hermione being witches.