Ad Vitam

A/N: Hello everyone...this is Time-Turner story, hope the unusual you've read before. As a first chapter you receive 3 in one...I feel generouse today.
For now rating is 'R', but it may change on higher in process. i have a beta , but in the start I guess small mistakes could be found, so if you see some 'major' mistake, feel free to write and I'll correct them.
Main pairing is HG/SS...as well as some HG/SB and HG/RL...but not much.

P.S. in the future chapters there may be found slight references to HP HBP....but not much...

Ad vitam
For Life


Breathing heavily she closed the door and sat on the cold stone floor.Blood covered bodies of her friends and enemies were left behind the oak doors and peace of the cold room surrounded her step by step.

This was too much to take. The pain was crushing her from inside and the only thing she wanted now was just close her eyes and pretend that nothing of this hapened.
Pretend that they were alive, pretend that all of them were safe enough to survive.....at least this night.

Hermione Granger stood up and walked to the table in the dark room to start her search. She had no doubt that it supposed to be here.

„Then the time comes, you will know what to do,Miss Granger. But until when, it will lie here and will wait for you”.- Professor McGonnagal put away the Time Turner inside one of the drawers, when young Hermione gave it back to her after the events of the her third year of education in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

„But Professor...I am not sure I can understand....why?”

„Do not ask the questions now Miss Granger. The asnwers will come with time.- soft smile appeared on the teacher’s face.- Now off with you, go child, or you will miss the express home.”

Professor’s McGonnagal’s study was up in the Gryffindor Tower’s fartherst corner. The Death Eaters were still on the school’s grounds. She had at least fifteen minutes to react.
Frantically opening drawer afrer drawer she finally found what she was looking for. Time Turner....She put it around her neck and already wanted to turn it on when she caught the sight of a book in the bottonm of the drawer. She has never seen it before.It looked like it was at least five or six hundred years old. ‘The Secrets Whithin.....Hogwarts :the Uncut History.”
She could not resist to open the first page and read between the lines.

The four founders.............School of witchcraft and wizardy.............an oreder was formed............ to protect........in the time of need......the special mark on the wrist...........no one will ask no questions......all roads are open......phoenix with open wings.....

„No one will ask no questions...”- she whispered closing the book.

„I was a paranoid once Miss Granger.Maybe even wose whan Alastor.- The Headmaster of Hogwarts,Albus Dumbledore chuckled after asking if Hermione wanted some Lemon Drops.”Believe it or not, I was. After Tom finally became Lord Voldemort and started his attacks on muggle towns more frequently,I saw the danger everythere. That was of coarse, untill the prophecy was found.”

„About Harry,Headmaster?”

„Yes...I couldn’t even trust myself,after all I believed in Tom’s good side untill the end. I was supposed to take care of the students here.Ah...I believe we had even several steps of a work interview.Yes, post of the Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts had always atracted some spectacular personalities to Hogwarts...”


She was supposed to went back in time in order to change the future. Challenging Fate was always a hard thing. She had done it before,she could do it now as well. She heard some distant voices and steps nearing. She had no time and quickly started to turn the Time Turner’s little wheel...


All roads are open...

She would save them all,even with a cost of her own life.

---------------

She was sitting quietly on the chair in the corner of the library which now was being transofmed in to the fighting arena .Kingsley and Ron both stood in the middle of improvised arena.Today particulary was the physical training day-Monday. She never liked Mondays, but since this was one of the Moody’s crazy ideas of trainings ...she just had to be there. If they were going to survive the attacks of the Death Eaters, they were going to learn all the things that learned Aurors in the ministry. Muggle physical training was one of them. Moody did all he could –never letting her to figth his shovinistick seeing of the things didn’t make it easier, but still she needed to participate:special request of professor Dumbledore.

„Girl can fight, but she can’t kill....This is not going to work.”-these were the words ahe was always hearing from him.

Kingsley met Ron in the center of the ring with a left to the body and a left and right to the head. The Auror rushed Roy and peppered him with lightning blows. Kingsley missed a right and redhead caught him with a right to the jaw. They clinched in the center of the ring. Ron was scoring heavily in the infighting. He got over a hard right to the Auror’s jaw and Kingsley held on. Kingsley stung Ron with a left to the jaw, Ron countering with a right to the body. They exchanged body blows in the clinch that followed. Kingsley got over the best blow of the fight, a terrific right to Ron's head which spun the redhead half way around, seconds later causing his falling onto the cold stone floor.

“Enough!”- Remus’s voice rang with an echo.

“Granger! - Snape growled from the other corner of the room. - You’re next.”

“She won’t make it “. - insisted an old Auror.

“A bet?”-inquired the Potion Master

“You’re on, Death Eater.”- Still suspicious Moody shook Snape’s hand. Although Snape was unmasked before Voldemort as a traitor and worked only for the Order of Phoenix, for a while now, Moody still considered him as a traitor and did not trust the man in front of him.

“In the middle Granger!”- roared Mad-eye.

Hermione and Kingsley stood in the middle of the arena, She bent her knees a little and lifted her elbows closer to her stomach. In the moment when Kingsley stretched his right hand ready to pepper her, she suddenly sat down stretching her right leg under Auror and hit him in the back of his knees. This move made him fall hard on his back. She stood up quickly again, took her wand from the back pocket of her jeans and pointed it on the Kingsley.

“You’ve lost Moody.-smirked Snape. - Deal with it. Miss Granger, - he added,-Care to explain?”

“Professor, Sir…-she looked directly at him. - He always starts fight with lightning blows… The theory of probability. I had a small chance that he will start the fight differently, however,he did as usual.”

“Still, she can fight…-Moody hadn’t changed his mind.-but she can’t kill, Snape. This is not enough.”

“Her main goal Moody is to stay alive, to survive.-Obsidian eyes of the Potion Mater looking around the room with the hint of victory. - While Potter and Weasley certainly can kill, that does not mean that they shall stay alive. They won’t, but she will….”

Hermione slowly opened her eyes and looked around. Everything was the same as in the moment she turned the time-turner. Nothing changed. Maybe this was only her imagination, and there was no attack? She touched her neck, time-turner was not there, but the book still was in her hands. In that case, what was she doing in the McGonagall’s office? She heard some distant noises and decided better to hide away in the shadows of the room.

“Albus, really…..where do you expect me to find a new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher? We have only two days until the start of term. There are no available Gryffindorfs to take this position.”

“Longbottom?”- He asked carefully.

“Frank is too busy in the ministry, besides he just got married. Do not expect him to leave his young wife and run to help you.”

“Pity…-old headmaster whispered to himself. - He was the best student in DADA in years. I don’t trust them.”-he stated simply.

“Whom Albus? To Ravenclaw, Slytherin or Hufflepuff? Sometimes I think you don’t even trust me.”

“Sometimes I think Minerva, I don’t even trust myself.”

“What should we do?”- said worried Transfiguration professor.

“Wait, Minnie…..we should wait. - He put his hand inside his robes and pulled out a candy. - Lemon drop?”

Their conversation ended. McGonagall took some parchments from her table and both professors walked out of the office.
Hermione let out her breath she never realized she was holding inside. This was he chance…but at first, she opened the book she was still holding close to herself and started to read:

‘Cinis cineris ut cinis cineris , pulvis ut pulvis. Phoenix mos prognatus perpetro task.From totus supremus phasmatis tribuo mihi strengh,to pugna pro lux lucis in caligo dies.’

After this, everything went black…….

(Translation from Latin: ‘Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Phoenix will be born to complete the task. From all above spirit give me strengh, to fight for light in the darkest days.)

-----------------
Hermione tried to open her eyes very slowly at start. Feeling like she had been run over by a hippogriff prevent her from moving further. And then suddenly she realized that she was no longer in Professor McGonagall's office, but....in the Hospital Wing?

"What the...?" she tried getting up, but lightning like pain in her right hand made her drop back onto her pillows. She turned, rolling over onto her right side, her left hand gripping her right wrist in an attempt to lessen the pain.

"Good mornimg child," a familiar voice called from behind her. The middle aged woman came around to Hermione's side and the girl had little problem reconizing her as a younger Poppy Pomfrey.

Hermione gulped. So it hadn't all been a nightmare after all; everyone really was gone and she really had gone back in time to save them. Back to, it seemed, a time when Madam Pomfrey acted as the matron in Hogwarts infirmary.

"Don’t hold your hand so tightly, dear," the nurse told her," elsewise I wont be able to heal it properly."

Gently the older woman pried the girl's hand from its slippery death grip on her other wrist, both hands coated in blood. "Now, what a mess! Scourgify!"

The spell did as it was meant to, quickly vanishing the red mess, but the sticky liqiud was just as fast.

"Strange," muttered the witch, "The bleeding should have stopped by now..."

"Problem Poppy?" Another familiar voice: this one belonging to Albus Dumbledore.

"Oh, Headmaster, I don't understand. The blood should have clotted by now."

The old man made a gesture with his hand. "If you would allow me?"

"Yes, of course. I'll just be in my office if you need me."

He nodded his approval and turned to the stranger on the bed.

Hermione met his gaaze. It was different, odd even, seeing the old man without the twinkle that usually glittered from his eyes. It was a strange absence, but not one she could not condone. He must have been under an awful amount of pressure now, during this first war with Voldemort.

Unlike her, he didn't know that Harry Potter would rid the world of the bastard for six-teen years or so. At this point, Dumbledore hadn't even heard the prophecy.

A softly trilled note called Hermione's attention to the bird that sat on the old man's shoulder.

Alright, so bird was a relative term.

The Headmaster's familiar, his phoenix Fawkes, sat upon his shoulder, regarding Hermione most curiously. Then, in a blink of the creature's beetle black eyes, he had landed on Hermione's bed and dipped his head to inspect her bleeding wrist. Apparently finding what he was looking for, another soft note was emmited from his beak before his crystal tears flowed onto the wound, healing the damaged skin.

Headmaster didn’t say a word.

And as the phoenix's tears healed the wound, they washed away the second out-pouring of blood from her veins.

Hermione looked at her newly healed wrist as best she could with Fawkes sitting in front of it. Ruffling his feathers, the bird moved to give her a better view, and Hermione stared in disbelief at the golden tattoo on her arm. It was a small phoenix, wings outstretched, just as it should have been.

Merlin...It really worked....I did it!

Still in awe, she looked to the Headmaster.

"Miss..." he began, staring her straight in the eyes.

Legilimency.. she thought. No doubt about that. Tricky, old man, but not as easy as you thought it was going to be is it? All right, review time. Snape said...

She forced herself to relax despite the tension in her body and imagined creating a wall in her mind, brick by brick. She thought quickly, what to give him? Her known name would be risky, he knew her in the future, but her real name would be less so.

She had just returned to Headquarters from her father's funeral. Though he had died several weeks previously in a plane crash, Frank Ganger's body had just recently been found.

She had gone alone; she hadn't wanted Harry or Ron to accompany her, it was much too dangerous for either to leave teh safety of Grimmuald Place.

A voice starlted her back into reality.

"Hey, Granger, you okay?" asked one Draco Malfoy.

Now that Snape had been exposed as the spy he was, he no longer had any connections to Voldemort or his Death Eaters, Dumbledore had chosen the young Malfoy as the next spy for the Order.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good." He nodded and turned back to the kitchen, limping a little on his left leg.

Hermione watched him until he was out of sight and headed towards the sitting room, where she could hear the boys' voices drifting from.

"Hermione..." began Harry, "How-" and he faltered.He had lost his own parents, yes, but that had been when he was a babe and he had no personal memories of them. Hermione had grown up with her father's constant presence. He tried again.

"H-How is your mother?"

Hermione sighed and sat down on the couch, staring at her hands. "She went home after the service, I didn't have much of a chance to talk to her."

"What?"

The word was a malovlent whisper issued from the dark corner next to the hearth. Seconds later Professor Sanpe's face could be distinguished from the shadows.

"Isolent chit! I was exposed as a spy saving your mother from McNair! Sending her back to the house she was attacked in is equivalent to signing her death warrant. They will attack her again once they find her."

Hermione sighed once more. Snape's reasoning was not unfounded, but it was wrong nonetheless.

"They'll be looking for Callista Granger, but they won't find her..."

"Yes, that would be your mother's name."

"Explain it to us 'Mione?" Harry asked, concern for her sanity in his bright reen eyes.

"I spoke with my grandfather at the funeral today, and... and I told him everything."

"Everything?" asked Ron. "Everything as in..."

"Everything. About magic, about Voldemort," Ron and the professor winced at her casual address of the Dark Lord, only Harry had no reaction."About the war, and about Mum's situation. He came up with a solution.

"My grandfather... he... he was forced to change his name after he ran away from his home."

"He ran away? From where?" Harry asked.

"La Terra Corsa.”

"Corsica?" Snape muttered. "Interesting..."

"Yes. He was born into a respected family in Bastia, but never really shared their views or lifestyle; kind of like Sirius, Harry." The boy's eyes lit up at the mention of his godfather. "Anyway, his family was involved in a few of the independence groups, the ones known to practice extortion and other intimidatory tactics... 'The Fighters for the Freedom of Corsica.'

"Since my grandfather didn't care much for their methods, his family threatened him with death. So he ran.

"When he reached England he changed his name from Alessandro Grimaldi to Alexander Granger. And when he ran, he took his wife and his young son with him. Thus Franco Grimaldi became Frank Granger, my father."

The room stared blankly at her.

Ron was the first to find his voice.

"Have you always known?"

"No," she answered. "Just since Father's death. My grandfather is changing his papers to formally become Alessandro Grimaldi again, thereby changing my mother's name as well. And after Grandfather's death I am to change my name as well, entering the right of succession and become heir to all that is my family's"

"Grimaldi." She finished her name for the Headmaster. "Hermione Grimaldi."

She decided to play innocent.

"And you are...?"

"Forgive me, I must seem very rude; I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He offered her his hand to shake. Hermione absently noted that it was a muggle custom. "Now, Miss Grimaldi, may I inquire as to what brings you to Hogwarts?"

Hermione offered her newly healed hand in return; making sure the phoenix was displayed. "I was under the impression that you were looking for someone to fill the Defense Against the Dark Arts position…"

Just as she had hoped, the magical tattoo had caught the Headmaster's attention and he pulled the sleeve of his right hand up for Hermione to see his matching one.

The twinkle that had been absent during their discussion returned to the man's blue eyes as he smiled at her.

“And, by the looks of it, I believe I've just found one….”




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