With her mouth open in shock, Hermione couldn't believe what her headmaster had just asked of her. She would have stood motionless for hours if Dumbledore had not stopped the new silence. He was clearly not the type of man to waste any sort of time, immediately speaking back with, "that's right, Granger. Stopping their murder is exactly what I want you to do."

Hermione couldn't believe her ears. How could she, a sixteen-year-old wizard, stop a rising dark Lord from killing two innocent young parents? A million thoughts ran through her head. Defacing some form of darkness every year since she was eleven years old did not factor into the worry and potential fear that Hermione was experiencing right now. And without Harry and Ron? There was no way she could pull it off.

Without a moment's notice, Hermione started stammering every worrisome thought she had at a fast speed. "I mean, of course, I will do anything to try to save their lives, but how on earth will I be able to stop that? I'm only a sixth year! I may be smart but I'm not that smart!"

Although she instantly regretted the statement about her being not smart enough, every other word she spoke was the truth.

"You are smarter than you know" he replied calmly, knowing exactly how to ease anyone, even Hermione. "You are the top of your class, and quite honestly, there's no one else better fit for this task."

Just trying to understand more, Hermione asked, "but, why?"

"I promise you there are several reasons why you are the best fit, but unfortunately, the night is catching up to us and it's time for you to be back in your dorm soon. But fear not, Hermione, for all of your questions will be answered tomorrow morning," Dumbledore spoke softly.

"O-Okay," Hermione uttered quietly.

"Also, Hermione, thank you for agreeing to help save Lily and James. It takes a strong soul to willingly commit to something of this severity, and I applaud you for that. A task like this is not for everyone."

Hermione nodded while he spoke, and for some reason was in less shock than she was a few minutes ago. Dumbledore continued, "And do not worry, I will explain the pieces this plan to you in further detail and answer all questions that you have tomorrow morning, since it's the only free day you students have before the start of the term. Meet me outside of the entrance to my office at 10:00 am sharp tomorrow."

Hermione thanked him before walking out of his office and down the moving circular stairs like before. Escorted to the Gryffindor common room by Filch and his cat, Hermione was significantly less worried than before. Something about Dumbledore's calmness resulted in her own calmness.

Once Hermione, Filch, and his cat arrived at the Gryffindor common room, Filch said, "have a nice night, Ms. Granger," in his nasty voice.

"Thanks, you too," she replied nervously and whispered the password, thinking more about how disgusting Filch was than her newly discovered time-travel mission.

Once she had made her way up to the girl's dorms, Hermione prepared herself for bed and slid into the newly fresh covers. Although Dumbledore had given Hermione a sense of peace over her time-travel task, nervousness and worries of failure still swam around in her head long after Lavendar and Pavarti went to bed. Sleep didn't come easy for Hermione that night. She couldn't stop thinking of how on earth she could save Lily and James Potter from their gruesome murder.

Morning hit Hermione like a bus. She rose out of bed at 9:00 am with frizzy hair, dirty skin, and eye bags nearly as big as Hagrid's. When Pavarti and Lavendar were dressed and ready, Hermione was still groaning and stretching in her bed.

"Would you like to come to Hogsmeade with me and Lavender?" Pavarti so kindly asked Hermione as she got out of bed, eyes still shut. "Yeah! We want to load up on treats from Honeyduke's to last us all year," added Lavender.

"Actually I can't today, you see," she stuttered, "Harry and Ron want me to help them with some pre-term work." she lied. There was no pre-term work for any classes, even Hermione's advanced ones.

So, the two girls shrugged and left, leaving Hermione alone in the dormitory with less than an hour to get ready and meet Dumbledore again.

Hermione quickly dressed herself, and as soon as she was presentable, scurried through the Gryffindor common in search of Harry, Ron, and Ginny. As soon as she found them, they rushed into the Great Hall and piled massive amounts of food on their plates, ready to eat.

"So, Hermione," Ginny started, "Why did Dumbledore ask you into his office after dinner last night?" The eyes of the boys joined Ginny's and stared down Hermione, curious as to what she would say.

She thought to herself, knowing better than to say anything about Dumbledore's task.

"Oh, just some more information about the advanced classes I'm taking this year," she lied. Hermione felt terrible not telling her best friends. Lying was the one of the only things Hermione didn't excel in.

"Ok," said Ron with suspicion, "So are you coming to Hogsmeade with us today?" he asked.

"Um, yes I will go, after I have my talk with Dumbledore about," she cleared her throat, "advanced classes." Hermione felt absolutely terrible lying to them and started to sense their suspicion.

"Alright then, we'll see you later I guess," Harry said as he cleared his and Ginny's plate, while Ron cleared his own.

Hermione shuffled out of the Great Hall after that quick breakfast, grabbed some parchment and a quill, for note-taking, of course, and quickly walked to Dumbledore's office. She checked the time on her watch, and it read exactly 10:00 am. Passwordless, the door spun open as it did yesterday, and Hermione walked up the circular stairs to find Dumbledore pacing about his office as usual.

"Good morning, Ms. Granger" he politely started as he took a seat.

Greeting back, Hermione spoke a nice "good morning," to the headmaster. She started to grow nervous and uneasy, however. New questions built up in her head, but before she knew it, Dumbledore began to speak.

"Now, Ms. Granger, it is very important to pay attention to details. The concept of time travel leaves little wiggle room for lack of detail, but, of course, you know that already," he said, and Hermione was reminded of her experience with the time turner in her third year.

"Ah, I see you've brought a quill and some parchment," he continued, "smart. It's sometimes difficult to remember loads of detail for a task such as this."

"Using your time turner from your third year, you will travel back in time to early September of 1977, approaching the start of a new term at Hogwarts, and the start of Lily and James' seventh year. Because you are from a completely different timeline, that means everything about you becomes a blank slate. You'll be gifted with a new name, a new background, and new friends. A new personality, however, is entirely up to you."

"My new name? Professor," Hermione gulped, "what would that be?"

"You'll be known as Harper Slughorn, niece of Potions Master Horace Slughorn, and transfer student from Beauxbaton's Academy of Magic. Now, do you remember Mr. Slughorn's introduction from last night's speech?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, I remember," she began confused, but soon put the pieces together. "Oh, he was previously a teacher during the year of 1977, wasn't he?"

"Always correct, Ms. Granger," he said and smiled, knowing that he picked the right person for the job. "You will act as his long-lost niece. He has lost contact with nearly all of his family members, so his questions about your previous whereabouts will be limited."

As she gained more information about her upcoming journey, small bits of the stress began to fade. Hermione thrived off of new information, especially now that it applied to her. She managed to scribble all of this down onto the parchment, writing as fast as her hands could go.

"While you are there, you will act as a seventh year even though you are a sixth year in this timeline, since James and Lily are in their seventh year at the time." he finished.

With the majority of her questions answered, the inital stress was lifted off of Hermione for the most part. But the pressing question still remained. "But, how will I stop Lily and James' death?" she curiously asked, unable to think of a solution.

Dumbledore tsked his tongue to the roof of his mouth, still pacing. "Well, it is vital that you become close friends with James, Lily, and their friends, because severing their ties with Peter Pettigrew will save their lives."

"Huh?" Hermione said suddenly, "How would that change anything?"

"You see, Peter Pettigrew ratted out Lily and James' whereabouts to Voldemort before they were killed, and if you managed to sever all ties with Mr. Pettigrew, he wouldn't know their location, and therefore wouldn't be able to tell Voldemort. Done correctly, this could also prevent Sirius Black from going to Azkaban, and give Harry a normal wizard's life." Dumbledore explained.

"So I don't necessarily have to hurt anyone?"

"Nope."

"No sacrifices or anything?"

"No, Ms. Granger."

"Oh," Hermione said as she let out a sigh of relief. "That's nicer than I thought," she mentioned. "Thank you, but how exactly will I break up their friendship? It's safe to assume they've been inseparable since their first year, and breaking up friendships isn't exactly something I'm too good at."

"That is up to you, Ms. Granger. You could tell them that Peter is connected to the Dark Lord himself, but you'll need evidence to make James, Lily, and the others believe. And Hermione," he added in a reassuring tone, "you're good at everything. There's nothing to worry about."

"Thank you, professor. I promise to do my best while back in 1977."

"I appreciate your flexibility with this task, Ms. Granger, thank you. I believe you have all of the information you need, so you can go for the time being, but tonight I would like you by Hagrid's hut at 11:00 pm, to perform the task of the time turner," he firmly stated. "And as you know, if you travel back here to the correct time, you shouldn't miss any of your sixth-year classes. Your life would pick up just as it was before."

Hermione nodded, but before she left, Dumbledore stopped her. "One last thing, Ms. Granger," he added.

"Yes?"

"Bring along with you your trunk filled with your personal belongings, as well as your textbooks and anything you think you might need while back in 1977," he added. "Not even I know how long this will take you, so come prepared. Now I believe you should go join your friends down in Hogsmeade village since you are prepared, seeing as it is your last day before your sixth-year classes." Dumbledore finished, waving goodbye to her as she stepped out of his office.

Immediately, Hermione ran to the Gryffindor dormitory, shoved some galleons and sickles into her purse, and started walking to Hogsmeade to meet up with Harry and the others.

A/N: thanks so much for reading through this chapter! drop a vote/comment if u liked it! if you didn't like it...well... i promise the plot/storyline will get even better shortly.

A/N UPDATE (6/9/20): i'm back again! the chapter straight up took me two hours to edit, must be all the mistakes lol. it's funny to look back at your old work and see how bad it was. also, like an absurd amount of people came at me for making dumbledore act like an ass so i fixed that. no more ass dumbledore. -callahan