With ringing ears and bloody palms the girl took across the field, cursing and jinxing every Death Eater she could. Time was running low, and if she couldn't make it back to the castle in time, it would all be over; everything they had worked for in the past year would be utterly decimated. Tick Tock, Tick Tock.

She ran even faster. She had to make it. She had to. Distantly she heard a cackle followed shortly by a high pitched scream. Fighting her will to turn, she continued to run straight ahead. Tick Tock.

Reaching up to wipe the gathering sweat from her brow, blood smeared across her forehead, the tick red liquid slowly dripping into her eyes, blinding her. Again the cackle sounded, now significantly closer. Tick Tock.

Risking a glance behind, she saw the object of her worst night terrors. Wild black ringlets, ferocious eyes glinting with madness, and a feral grin greeted her. Shuddering, she whipped her head back around, pumping her arms and legs even faster while muttering prayers under her breath. Tick Tock.

If there was some sort of deity, he certainly wasn't listening to her. The madwoman had caught up with her, and with a simple jinx the madwoman was able to tie down the girl. Tick Tock.

The girl risked a peek at the woman. The mad lady beamed maliciously at the girl, raising her wand. "Crucio". Tick Tock.

Unable to comprehend time through her pain, the girl layed there screaming until her throat could no longer take the strain, and her voice vanished. Her silent screams and the tear tracks that pierced through the thick layer of dirt and blood only incensed the woman. The woman again began her heinous shrieking. Tick Tock.

Finally the spell lifted, and the girl felt relief course through her body, until the madwoman began to raise the girl's sleeve. Her blood was icy as the woman continued to raise the fabric until the entirety of her scarred arm was displayed. The deranged psychopath started at the marred flesh before erupting into a twisted smile. Tick Tock.

Taking a knife concealed in the depths of her robes the woman began to carve into the girl's old wounds, tearing apart the still pink flesh. Her screams anewed, the girl sobbed away, begging for it to stop. Tick Tock.

The lady stepped away to admire her handiwork, her mouth forming an unhinged smirk. The girl only lay there, tears escaping down her face, clutching her bleeding arm. Tick Tock.

Minutes rushed by, one hour, then two. At some point her torturer left her, as for when, she didn't know. Tick Tock.

She had to get moving, she had to. Trembling, she turned her body over and began crawling in the direction she assumed the castle was. Tick Tock.

It was slow work, much to slow. She had to be more careful when navigating all the destruction left by the battle. Dead bodies were everywhere, some she recognized, some she did not. She wanted to mourn for them, but continued her crawl ahead. She must get to Harry. Tick Tock.

It was nearly an hour of her snail speed that she found him. Or rather, his body. Staring glassy eyed at his pale, unmoving corpse, she finally let herself greive. Grieve for Harry, grieve for Ron, for Ginny, for the Weasley family, for Luna, for Neville for everyone she cared about. She cried until the darkness overtook her consciousness and she fell over, exhausted. Tick Tock.

{The Glow of Gold}

Hermione snapped out of her trance. Thinking of the battle never did any good.

A few months had passed since the end of it, and wizarding Britain was trying to rebuild. It was slow work, headed mainly by Kingsley Shacklebolt, one of the few surviving order members, well, one of the few surviving people of the war. Most everyone had died that day.

She herself would have too, if not for McGonagall finding her nearly dead body and nursing her back to health. She was in a fine condition now, however, her newly reopened scars weren't fairing so well. They were still a harsh red, and would, on occasion, still bleed.

But back to the ministry… They were currently rounding up all of the final death eaters they could; not that there were many left, and those were were still alive, weren't powerful enough to start uprising or hold out very long against a small team of decent aurors.

The world was becoming peaceful once more, and the people were beginning to hope again. The funerals for all those that died during the battle were over now, and with those not consuming her time, Hermione began to bore of sitting around, it left too much time to her memories, which would overtake her when given the opportunity.

That boredom it what spurred her to travel. Specifically, to travel to all the the great wizarding libraries in the world. Being heralded as a wartime hero, she was awarded a significant sum of money, enough that she would never need to work again if she chose to do so. That money was now paying for her world tour of libraries.

So far she had visited the 4 great libraries of Britain, and was now making her way through France. Having visited the libraries of Paris, the French Ministry, and Beauxbatons, she was slowly traveling her way down to Italy to start her wanderings there.

However, during a stop in a small French wizarding town, she felt prompted to put off her trip to Italy. After speaking with the locals, she was told of a rumor that there was a library hidden the lush woods of the Alps. Her curiosity spiked, she investigated the rumor before finding the source.

A small unassuming man who had just returned from a vacation in the French Alps had apparently seen the library. He was hiking through the mountains following the trails, but was distracted by a magical creature of some kind. What creature he couldn't say, but he could recall that it was about the size of his palm and glowed a golden hue. He swore that it was beckening to him, enticing him to follow it. Entranced by its beauty, he tore after it, the little creature flying quickly through the thick foliage.

He couldn't say for how long he was running, but when the golden creature stopped, he was in front of a massive set of ruins. Naturally, he went to investigate the strange place, finding it was a massive library. Well, it was a library at one point, at least. He could see the remains of old books, tattered by time, and the decayed wood that was once furniture.

When Hermione heard it was an ancient, dead, library, she was disappointed. There would be nothing of value to her there. But the little man had one more thing to add before the end of his tale.

Apparently, at the very front of the library, there was a plaque that glowed the same gold as the creature that led him there. Upon closer inspection, there were ancient runes engraved upon it. Being no expert in runes, he couldn't decipher it, and thought to go locate an expert for assistance. So he left the library, and contacted an old friend of his who was an expert in runes, and together they set off to locate the library again. However, they never did, even after nearly 3 years of searching.

The diminutive man wrote it off as a hallucination on his part, and returned to this quiet village to tell his story to anyone who would listen.

Hermione knew better than to go chasing a simple myth, but something about his story called to her. She couldn't quite place it, but she wanted to try and find the ruins of the library, if they even existed. So after much deliberation, she gathered enough supplies for a year long trip through the wilderness, and took off for the Alps.

This brings the story to the present point. She had been searching for three months now, and is currently sitting in her tent, going over the meticulous notes she had gotten from the man.

She was frustrated and about to her wits end with searching for this library. She had been outside for a continuous three months now, and had had no avail in finding the library. Granted, she had packed for a year, but she didn't actually think that she would be searching for a year to find the stupid place.

She sighed, "I wonder if the place truly exists. It isn't really seeming so." Her quiet vocalization echoed throughout the magically enlarged tent. She was beginning to think it was time to give up. It had been three months after all.

Resigned to head back to the village tomorrow morning, she stepped outside to clear hear mind. What she saw scared her out her skin. Right in front of her tent flap was a little golden glow. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she lurched forward to get a closer look at the creature.

Upon closer examination, she could make out little human features, and a pair of delicate golden wings. With a little gasp she realized it was a Faerie. Feeling a little tug at her mind, she heard a tinkling hum. Concentrating on that she was able to hear a tiny voice with startling clarity.

"Oh my, aren't you a powerful one… You can actually hear me speak to you. That is better than the last man I met." The voice was lilted and airy.

Hermione was shocked, standing before her was a magical creature that had not been seen since the beginning of Wizard History, and even then, sightings of Faeries were rare. Of course there were close relatives of the faeries, Cornish Pixies and such, but never the real thing. Even the greatest minds of the wizarding world thought them to be extinct several hundred years ago.

The voice laughed at Hermione's awe. "You had better pack up your supplies, I believe you are looking for the library, no?" The impish grin that followed on the Faeries face spurred Hermione into action, her camping sight cleaned up shortly thereafter.

The little light lazily began to fly through the thick forestry, hermione stumbling in tow. They traveled through the forest for a span of nearly 3 days, with only short breaks for Hermione to rest and eat before trudging onwards. It was on the third day they finally saw the ruins.

The sight that greeted them however, was not ruins, like Hermione was expecting. Rather, she found a building that was glowing with magical energy. Tall, white pillars of marble greeted her at the entrance, and a grand staircase of stone led up to the large wooden doors of the chateau-like building.

Noticing Hermione's expression, the faerie said, "It's quite grand, is it not? Although not what you were expecting…" The faerie flew up to the doors of the library and gave them a gentle push, exposing the book filled shelves of a room. "Welcome to the Library of the Lady, I am the protector of this place, Aria." The Faerie smiled again and beckoned Hermione inside.

Finding her voice for the first time in three days, Hermione began to ramble. "What is this place? Why did you appear to me? What is going on? How exactly did you find me? Aren't Faeries supposed to be extinct?"

Laughing again, the Faerie responded, "I cannot answer all of you questions, you must find them for yourself. However," she paused looking thoughtful, "I can tell you that Fairies are not extinct."

Aria glanced at Hermione, "Why don't you take a look around. I am going to go and rest and eat to get my strength back. You are free to go anywhere that will allow you to enter." She winked at Hermione and flew through the library before disappearing behind a bookshelf.

Tentatively, Hermione began to walk into the library. Resting directly in front of her was the glowing plaque the man had told her was there. Taking a look at it, she couldn't decipher the meaning. It wasn't anything she had ever seen before. Looking at it for only a moment more, she continued her exploration.

A little further ahead was a map suspended on a large marble slate. Delicately, she touched a room on the map labeled in more runes she couldn't understand. A bright golden light erupted next to her, making a trail through the maze of book shelves. Curious as to where it went, Hermione followed the trail to a door. Turing the brass door knob revealed a bedroom.

Stepping inside, Hermione got the impression she should unpack her stuff here, and rest from her long journey. Not wanting to argue with the magic, and too tired to care, Hermione took out some pajamas, and got herself ready to sleep. Slumping onto the bed, she quickly succumbed to her exhaustion.

{The Glow of Gold}

Just a brief author's note: Thank You very much for reading this to the end of the chapter! This will be a time travel fanfiction, however, I need the first few chapters to set it up so Hermione will very much be in her original time for awhile yet. NOt to worry, she will be traveling to the past soon enough. I am hoping for this story to be on the somewhat longer side, so be aware that this might run for a long course. From the start, I don't know what the update schedule will be, however you can expect a chapter or so every week or two. As the story progresses, I am aiming to be able to update weekly on Fridays, but this is still T.B.A. Thank you again for reading!

Sincerely,

Miss of the Manor