I am coming back to this story YAY but I have to say I don't really like what I've written so far. So I'm going back to change/update the chapters that already exist. This one is the first. Don't be puzzled if right now, the following chapters don't really "fit in".

Changed: February 8, 2016

Hermione anxiously started at the small vial standing on the table in front of her. How ironic, that such a small object held their future, would decide whether they lived or died. Its label read "Oppositum", the narrow black lines neatly written in a handwriting that Hermione would recognize anywhere. Of course Severus Snape would have been the one to invent and brew a strong potion such as this one - even Harry had admitted that while the man was a snarky bastard, he was a mastermind in potions. The liquid inside was of a dark blue, almost resembling the nightly sky.

"Are you sure about this Hermione? There is still time for you to consider…" Minerva McGonagall had quietly stepped into the room that had once been her office. She was looking at Hermione with sad, worried eyes.

"What is there left to consider, to lose?" Hermione replied, giving her former head of house a grim smile. "Almost everyone I ever cared about is dead, Voldemort is ruling the wizarding world, and Hogwarts is nothing but ruins. No matter what happens - at least we can say that we tried."

The green robed witch only nodded. Over the past 24 hours she had visibly aged, the tall, confident, and powerful woman was nearly broken. Nearly. Nodding her head a second time, she motioned for Hermione to uncork the vial.

Hermione squared her shoulders and carefully pulled the cork from the vial, bringing it to her mouth and quickly draining it in one gulp. The effects started to rush in almost immediately. A weird tingly sensation took hold of her entire body and she felt how her arms thickened, how her shoulders broadened, and her hair grew back into her head until it was barely covering her ears. She felt her hips thinning and her waist widening, felt her breasts disappear until her shirt laid flat on her front. Then she almost shrieked in surprise as she felt her boxers fill out, fill with the growth of something she hadn't possessed before and made her shudder in realization. In bodily appearance and function, she was now a young man.

"Well, how do I look?" she eventually asked once the transformation seemed complete, barely recognizing her own voice for now it was deeper and sounded slightly different. She lifted a brow when her teacher didn't instantly reply and saw a light blush creeping onto McGonagall's face.

"You look dashing, Miss - uh, Mr. Granger," she finally said, eyes still widened in shock at the perfect transformation that had taken place in front of her very own eyes. "But maybe you would like to see it for yourself?" With a flip of her wand, she changed a piece of her old, destroyed desk into a tall mirror, motioning for her protégé to step in front of it.

Hermione gasped when her eyes first fell onto her new form. She wouldn't have recognized herself if not for the eyes. Her eyes were still the same and told her what she needed to know: She was still herself, still Hermione. And once this was over, she would be a Miss again. Hopefully a Miss surrounded by her friends, family, and teachers.

"Are you ready Miss Granger?" Minerva asked, holding out the familiar necklace for her to take, the time turner.

"I am," she replied, her voice sounding more confident than she actually felt. With trembling hands she accepted the time turner and placed it around her neck. Instinctively, she hugged her professor one last time before she carefully started to turn the hourglass backwards until she'd counted to 19. Then, she let go, gave Minerva a weak smile, and closed her eyes, waiting for the strands of time to pull at her body, taking her to when she needed to be.

Hermione opened her eyes to the sound of a woman's surprised shriek. Jumping out of her chair behind the desk, a younger Minerva McGonagall quickly approached her, anger drawing her brows together.

"What is the meaning of this?" McGonagall exclaimed furiously, looking even sterner than usual with her darker hair. "A Slytherin, apparating into my office?"

"Please let me explain, Professor McGonagall," Hermione hurried to say, pulling a slightly crumpled piece of parchment from her robes and holding it out for the witch to take. "Read this. Please."

Seeing a Slytherin plead raised suspicion in the Gryffindor head of house. Nonetheless, Minerva was curious about the boy's sudden appearance - apparating was impossible, should be impossible inside of the castle - which was why she quickly snatched the paper from his hands and settled her reading glasses on top of her nose. She began to read the letter out loud while the young man stood in the corner of her office, nervously fidgeting with his hands, ever so often changing a short glance at her.

"Dear Minerva,

I know you won't want to believe this but trust me when I tell you that this is nothing but the truth. The young Slytherin in front of you is in fact the brightest witch of our age, one of our own Gryffindors."

Minerva looked up from the letter at that, her eyes wandering over the boy in disbelief. A girl? And a Gryffindor at that? Surely this was nothing but a dumb Slytherin joke… Who had written this letter to her though? The handwriting did look oddly familiar...

"Her name is Hermione Granger and she has traveled a far and dangerous way to find you. She - and I - are from 19 years in the future. Check your desk for your time turner if you need the proof."

Don't exactly that, a shocked gasp jumped from her lips. The top drawer was empty! Looking at the young man again, she found that he still wore the time turner - HER time turner - around his neck. Or her neck? Shaking her head, she went on:

"Why did I know you'd check?

Well. Miss Granger and I did not come to this decision easily - in fact, I still have my doubts about our plan - but this is the only way, the only chance there still is for us to defeat Voldemort and save hundreds and thousands of lives. The man you once knew as Tom Riddle is collecting power and followers as we speak. Together with Albus Dumbledore, Hermione and her friends managed to find a way to defeat him. Alas, in our time, we were too late. Voldemort created horcruxes - seven in total - and while we were able to locate 6 and destroy 5 of them, there is still one left we didn't even find. Hermione will do her best to locate and destroy the horcrux. We transformed her into a young man with the aid of a potion - her other task is to gain the trust and friendship of known death eaters, mostly men, and try to lure at least some of them away from the Dark Lord's side. We agreed that she wouldn't come far as a girl.

Please do everything in your power to help and support Miss Granger with her dangerous task. Inform Albus of her true identity but no one else. The success of her mission is if great importance for the survival of the wizarding world as we know it.

Yours, Minerva McGonagall

P.S.: In case you still don't believe: Remember our forth year at Hogwarts? He knew all the time that we sent that Valentine's card… Find someone else; he told me that he thought it a very sweet gesture but that I was the wrong gender. Go figure that one out."

"You sent a Valentine's card to Professor Dumbledore in your fourth year?" Hermione blurted out once Minerva had finished reading the letter, her cheeks now tinged a bright red. "He must've already been at least 50 back then!" When she noticed the expression on the professor's face, she quickly added, "Well, I'm sorry nothing became of it… At least he's got a good reas…"

"Miss Granger, might we speak of something different now? How about how I'll explain your sudden appearance in the middle of the school year?"

"Oh," now it was Hermione's turn to blush. "Sorry, professor. I am to pose as Hermes Granger, your nephew from a distant sister. Until now, I attended Durmstrang, but you made me switch schools to have me closer after my parents died a month ago."

"All right then, I suppose we should go and inform Albus of the situation. Then we'll have to inform Horace of his new student."