World enough, and time

The rain was pounding the tent, tears were pouring down Hermione's face, and the excitement of a few minutes before had vanished as if it had never been, a short-lived firework that had flared and died, leaving everything dark, wet and cold. The sword of Gryffindor was hidden they knew not where, and they were three teenagers in a tent whose only achievement was not, yet, to be dead…

…`I…' She looked anguished. `Yes - yes, I'm staying. Ron, we said we'd go with Harry, we said we'd help-`

`I get it. You choose him.'

`Ron, no-please-come back, come back!'

She was impeded by her own Shield Charm; by the time she had removed it, he had already stormed into the night. Harry stood quite still and silent, listening to her sobbing and calling Ron's name amongst the trees.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows p. 253-254

J.K. Rowling

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I've never been as angry with Ron as I was the moment he walked out of the tent and didn't look back. It's one thing losing it with me, but he's Harry's best friend and he should understand that means sticking together even if he didn't think we were going in the right direction.

I just feel like I want to punch something or break something. I don't know where my own emotions end and the Horcrux begins now. I know it amplifies all the negative emotions we have and picks up on anger and aggression. Ron obviously had so much more trouble controlling his emotions while wearing it than Harry and I did, but then again, Ron's never had to control his emotions or actions, he's had a large understanding family and he's never been the outsider.

I haven't seen Harry in such a foul mood for quite some time. He's obviously completely torn between furious anger at Ron and being hurt that Ron left us, though god knows he could still just be obsessing about the Hallows again instead of thinking about Horcruxes. The only thing to do tonight is to let him stew over things and start afresh in the morning. I still don't feel safe here; it's just something about camping. However many charms we put up we could be surrounded at any time, I'd feel much safer with a solid wall behind us and a web of charms and protections over us as we sleep. We can't stay in this horrid tent forever, it smelt even before we borrowed it and after having Ron's feet in here for so long there's no stay-fresh charm on the planet that can completely remove the smell of stale feet.

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I didn't sleep last night. I just couldn't stop thinking, and I didn't want to burden Harry with the Horcrux after everything. Hopefully a few hours to clear his head will help him focus, and I couldn't have slept with the Horcrux that close to my skin, it gives me the most awful nightmares.

The one thought that stayed with me all night, and seemed to be burned into the walls of the tent as I gazed at them, was that we're running out of time. If only we had more time - uninterrupted time - to research and hunt for the Horcruxes in less danger then we could be ready. Right now it feels like we're at the end of a rapidly unravelling ball of string, Voldemort gets stronger by the day, we get more tired, more disillusioned and more cut off from everyone and any resources as he gets stronger.

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The sun is rising now and I can feel the slow warmth seeping through the canvas of the tent wall. I know now what we must do, I believe it can be done and that it's the only way. I must find a way.

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Chapter One: Travel

Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.
Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.

J.R.R Tolkien

`Ready?'

Hermione somehow managed to bite her lip in nervous concentration even as she asked Harry the question. He nodded once in reply, determined, and not wanting her to delay any further. They'd spent weeks and weeks researching every element of the plan and preparing for so many eventualities that he was desperate to just get on with it. They stood in a small forest clearing, somewhere in the Brecon Beacons; the early summer sunshine was beginning to beat through the leaves as mid-morning approached. As if in one movement they both reached for the others hand and as they wound their fingers together their eyes met for a brief moment and Harry saw his exact emotions mirrored in the eyes of his best friend: fear, excitement, and hope.

At Hermione's nod the two friends carefully spoke the words of the spell they had created, ancient runes drawn carefully onto their faces and hands. Testing the spell had been impossible as they couldn't know accurate their timings would be, they had to rely on trust in their work and in the work they had referenced.

Harry looked up as he spoke the last words of the incantation and saw the treetops above him begin to sway slightly. It seemed as if he was watching in slow motion as they leaned towards one another and suddenly it was as if the whole world was seen through a fisheye camera lens. His head was suddenly light and there was a weight behind his eyes that seemed to be forcing them to close until he could see only black.

A passing deer paused at the small clearing in the forest as the two teenagers stood so seriously together before they fell in one smooth movement to the ground. The doe gently dipped her head to see them lie on the floor but there was nothing remaining other than the imprints of their shoes on the ground.

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Hermione forced her eyes to open and felt a silent gasp escape her throat as she took in the snow covered forest around her. As her senses returned and her mind focused on the task at hand she glanced to her right to see Harry sitting silently beside her, her hand still held tightly in his, his wide eyes taking in the view surrounding them.

`We did it,' we whispered softly, before turning and grabbing her other hand to pull her to her feet, yelling `we did it!' at the top of his lungs before engulfing her in a hug. Hermione laughed happily to see his joy, and felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes as she realised they really had done it, they'd gone back in time without the help of a time-turner, and they'd survived.

This was no time to focus on the problems they now had to face, having no idea what time they had travelled to, what the situation was in that time period, the risk of being discovered or of freezing to death in a welsh forest in winter. This was a time to celebrate that for once things seemed to be going their way and after months of research and preparation, they'd got something right.

She hugged him back and they jumped around the forest clearing like mad fans at a cup final, laughing and smiling.

After a few moments of celebration they sat once more, this time huddled closely together around a small jar of blue flames as they transfigured their clothing to suit the weather and planned their next move.

`So, we'll stick with the original plan and complete the changes in our appearances before going to the village and finding somewhere to move into.' Harry nodded his agreement as he began to rifle through the magically enlarged bag beside him to ensure that the paperwork and backup items for their new IDs had safely made the journey with them.

`We can grab a paper on the way into town and confirm the date, then we can finalise the plan and the dates we need to act.'

`Good thinking Harry,' Hermione smiled and looked across at Harry rummaging through the bags concentrating entirely on the task at hand.

There had been a time she had feared for the outcome of their almost ridiculously daring plan, largely due to Harry's dislike for making a long-term plan and his compulsion to jump into situations with both feet. However, the understanding of Voldemort's growing power combined with the shock of Ron's departure had brought about a change in Harry. It was just the two of them now and they had to rely entirely on each other for company and protection. They were a team and nothing could divide them, Harry had grasped upon her crazy idea right from the outset and it had been a blessing in disguise for focussing his attention so entirely on a new goal free of dead ends and cold, wet nights of camping which made him push the thought of the Deathly Hallows to a corner of his mind as they prepared to risk their lives once again as they spiralled backwards through time and space.

They walked in companionable silence through the beautifully still landscape; the only sounds those of nature, and their shoes crunching lightly on the top layer of snow which blanketed the ground. At first glance even Ron would not have recognised the pair due to their recent changes in appearance. Hermione's soft curls now fell only to her chin, her usually freckly face was as smooth and white as porcelain, and her chestnut eyes a beautiful petrol blue. A delicate pair of glasses with plain glass lenses, combined with her simple jeans, white t shirt and long jacket gave the appearance of being several years older than her seventeen years. They had deliberately avoided using many magic too alter their appearance too much and were relying largely on muggle methods as being more secure against charms designed to reveal truth. Harry's hair had grown longer in the months spent searching and researching and this combined with days worth of growth across his chin transformed his face from one of a teenage boy to one of a man. His scar was concealed magically, but protected by his hair falling loosely across his forehead, like Hermione he also wore coloured contact lenses to hide his distinct green eyes, now a warm brown flecked with topaz.

It took under an hour to reach the main footpath through the forest and begin the 45 minute hike back to the local town. They nodded and smiled casually in greeting to the friendly locals as they passed the pub and strolled hand in hand into a newsagent. Harry felt his fingers might break as Hermione squeezed his hand as they took in the date at the head of the newspaper before them. He lightly squeezed her hand back, and seeing her seemingly frozen before him, gently wrapped an arm around her waist, newspaper in the other hand and guided her to the counter where he paid for the paper.

Harry chattered away about nothing of importance as they crossed the street and entered a coffee bar, Hermione had still not said a word since seeing the date. Once guiding her to a small table in a secluded corner of the coffee shop he picked up two large mugs of tea and some cake he hadn't been able to resist at the counter and made his way back to where she was now relaxed in a comfortable looking brown leather sofa. Placing the items on the table he sank onto the sofa beside her and took a large sip of warm tea before twisting in his seat slightly to look at his best friend face on.

She sipped her tea and dipped her finger in the icing of the chocolate cake and tasted it before turning to face him in a mirror image her eyes sparkling as if diamonds were reflected in their deep blue pools.

`We did it,' she breathed, in an echo of their earlier celebration.

`We really did,' he confirmed happily.

`I'm sorry we're earlier than planned Harry, I just couldn't make it any more precise without contravening all the arithmancy rules we were bending to get the charms to work in tandem…' Harry cut her off by gently placing a hand on her arm.

`It's just a few months Hermione, and it means a few extra months to work and it takes some of the pressure off to find them immediately.'

Hermione nodded her agreement and smiled at him again, it seemed as if they were the only two people in the world as they shared what no one else could ever understand. The server behind the counter placed her chin in her hand as she gazed wistfully at them as she bemoaned to her colleague that her Darren never looked at her like that.

Harry and Hermione remained oblivious to the sights and sounds around them as they sat and savoured their tea and cake in the warmth, their gazes frequently returning to those few numbers at the top of a flimsy pile of paper, those numbers which would change the world.

Two years, ten months and four days.

They were two years, ten months and four days in the past.

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Chapter Two:

Two years, ten months and two days. It was hard to believe that several hundred miles away, their younger selves were sitting down to lessons at Hogwarts. The two days since their arrival had been packed with activity as they settled themselves into the timeline. They were now renting a ground floor flat in a converted Victorian house with lovely big windows and a small walled garden in a town not far from Godrics Hollow. Or, it would be more accurate to say that Rose and Henry Smith were renting the flat.

Hermione smiled to herself as she remembered the night they had finalised their new identities, sitting in cramped hotel rooms finalising details with repeats of Dr Who on in the background. Harry had become rather addicted to Dr Who as they prepared themselves to become time travellers. It had seemed obvious after weeks of silly jokes between them that they would be Mr and Mrs Smith once they travelled in time, and when Hermione gave in to the fact that she was going to be a blonde Harry had declared that she could only be called Rose. Hermione had laughed along with him and agreed, but a little spark of hope appeared deep down as she thought of the implications of the name he had chosen for her. Henry seemed an obvious choice for him as she didn't know if she could bear to think of Harry as anything other than Harry, and if she slipped up then Harry was a perfectly acceptable contraction of the name Henry.

They had brought a lot of the essentials as shrunken down items in their backpacks and these were now unpacked in the part furnished flat, making the place seem like home. For Harry this was the first place he had ever had the freedom to do with as he pleased and Hermione had subtly encouraged him to do exactly what he wanted with their living space. His choices reflected so much about himself though he was unaware of how Hermione watched sadly as he choose clean bright colours to emphasise the space they now called home. He had for so long lived in cramped conditions with strict rules governing his life, whether they be the rules of Hogwarts, the chaos and lack of privacy in the Burrow, the secrecy and darkness of Grimmauld Place, or his stifled life with the Dursleys.

Some would say that their new flat was rather minimalist with vanilla walls throughout, but there were hints of colour throughout the flat, with neat, colourful stacks of books at intervals in most rooms, warm comforting cushions and blankets draped across the chairs, sofa and bed. There were small hints of home, friends and family hidden in plain sight throughout the flat with a large framed photograph of the Scottish highlands hanging in the hallway, an antique pocket watch displayed simply over the fireplace reminding them both of the time turner that had changed their life so many years before. Photographs of friends and family were too dangerous to have exposed so the few photographs they risked having in the flat were doctored so they appeared as strangers to anyone other than themselves. Any books referring to magic or magical items had mild muggle repelling charms cast over them so that a muggle visitor to the flat would simply glance past the items.

Monday morning found the two of them sitting on opposite sides of the large table they'd squeezed into the kitchen (with the help of a few sneaky charms), books, maps and parchment scribbled with notes spread out before them.

Hermione was currently poring over a large map of the UK where they'd marked all the places they'd already searched in addition to where the other Horcruxes had been discovered and places they needed to search. With the diary and ring destroyed and the locket in their possession there were a number of key locations which could potentially hide a Horcrux. Top of their search lists were the Riddle house, graveyard, a small forest in Albania and the home and bank vault of Bellatrix Lestrange.

Voldemort trusted only his closest circle and Bellatrix was the closest of all. They had to assume that Snape was not part of this inner circle for surely Dumbledore would have discovered it. Malfoy had already betrayed Voldemort by squandering the diary and it seemed that Avery, Goyle and Dolohov were more usually used as hired thugs/hitmen rather than trusted allies.

Dumbledore had ruled out the orphanage, and neither Harry or Hermione felt that Voldemort would place a part of himself in a place he had despised so much. It made far more sense that he had placed a portion of his soul in the place he began his rise to power: Hogwarts. Both agreed that it had to be there somewhere and Dumbledore must have missed it, Hogwarts was enormous and the castle was full of secrets, and concealed spots where an item could be concealed.

Now in the past they were free to explore Hogwarts without the risk of being captured by the Death Eaters patrolling the school in their own timeline. The main risk of entering the castle during their fifth year was being seen on the Marauders map by themselves or falling foul of Dolores Umbridge. Their own copy of the Marauders map combined with the Invisibility cloak should allow them to enter the castle through the secret passageways and protect them for long enough to sweep sections of the castle. Knowing that the search of Hogwarts was likely to take a long time they had divided the castle into sections and agreed to only search for a day or two at a time.

It took several weeks to finalise their plans to start searching Hogwarts. Harry was eager to get back to the place he had called home for so many years, and Hermione was understandably more cautious. The risks of being so close to their younger selves were multiplied tenfold from their adventures with the time turner at age thirteen. Accidentally changing even the smallest detail could alter the entire timeline. Harry had now banned her from even saying the words `butterfly effect', and in a fit of pretend rage had found an empty jam jar in the kitchen, rinsed it out and stuck a label on it saying `butterfly effect'. Hermione smiled to think of the jar which was steadily filling up with coins for every instance she couldn't resist reminding him of it. He was no better though, it had been about a week after the jam jar had appeared on the table that they were sitting working and he sighed `honestly' for around the 10^th time in one morning. There were soon two matching jam jars on the table and they were steadily saving up enough coins to have a major night off and order an enormous takeaway.

It probably should have been strange, living together and pretending to be a married couple, but the strange thing was how incredibly easy it was. They continued with the work, their friendship was the same, though it grew deeper and stronger with every day they spent together, but they still joked and laughed about the same things, probably more so than before. They bickered over Harry's habit of leaving dirty socks all over the flat and Hermione's tendency to move bits of paper around. They ate every meal together as they had done nearly every day for many years. The differences in their daily routine and in their relationship were small ones which crept up on them unnoticed over time. Hermione would teasingly ruffle Harry's hair when she walked past him, though over time this became an affectionate greeting. As they walked in the town to go shopping, visit the pub, or just escape the house and make sure people weren't suspicious of them, they held hands. On particularly cold days Hermione would wrap her arm around Harry's waist and his arm would wind around her shoulders, pulling her close to him as they walked.

They learned more so than ever before how to deal with the others moods. Harry now knew when a well timed and honest compliment could change Hermione's mood and when a stupid gift like her favourite childhood sweets from the little sweet shop would pull her out of a funk and make her smile at him. Hermione had always been very attuned to Harry's mood, she'd focused so much of her life around him over the last few years, but she still learnt things every day as her role as one of Harry's best friends evolved into a new role as Harry's only best friend. He no longer had Ron to confide in about boy issues, or things he didn't want to bother Hermione with, and she was relieved that he didn't bother trying to keep things from her anymore. If he had a problem then as long as she waited for him to bring it up, he would.

Their landlords, a retired couple who lived in the house adjoining theirs thought them to be an entirely lovely young couple. Hermione had a soft spot for Mr and Mrs Wright as they reminded her of how her Grandparents had been when she was a child. She baked them a cake for their wedding anniversary and the relationship bloomed and they were often invited for Sunday lunch, Harry would pop over and help around the house and shovel snow from the front path if there had been a heavy flurry.

They had somehow become a part of the community. They were greeted by name in the little shop at the end of the road, they knew the postman and milkman, they knew most of their neighbours and were respected as the lovely young newlywed academics who were both busily working away. It seemed at odds sometimes after an afternoon spent with Mr and Mrs Wright, or a trip to the shops for bread or some other essential that they should return to their plans to destroy the fractured soul of a deranged mass murderer.

It was the perfect cover, and it was the perfect life. As the days approaching their first visit to Hogwarts slipped by, the nerves began to return as the reality of the situation once again began to sink in. The amount of money in the butterfly effect and honestly jars quickly doubled and the pair decided to have their blow out Chinese takeaway the night after their first Hogwarts trip as a reward for their hard work and as an incentive to search quickly, but thoroughly and to return home again.

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