Hermione held Harry's hands. Her hands were trembling in nervousness as she bit her lower lip. Looking straight into Harry's eyes, she softly said, "Harry... I want you do to it with me."
Harry's brain went from moving faster than he could control and instantly ground to a dead stop.
"...d-d-do...do it? Do it with you?" He managed to mumble out. His brain started to move again, slowly. Do it with her? Does that mean what I think it means? Isn't kissing supposed to come first? Maybe even some snogging? There's something wrong here. What's she asking for, again? I must have missed something...
"I want you to do the project with me," Hermione said, more firmly this time.
Project? What project? Oohhhhh... The gears in his brain began to put everything together. "Right... sure... but how can I be of any help? I don't know any Runes or Arithmancy."
"You don't have to. I've already researched and planned out what needs to be done, so don't worry. I just want you to be there with me. I don't want to be alone if it doesn't work... or heck, even if it does work. That might actually be worse."
"What do you mean? You're afraid when one of your projects will succeed?"
"Well, you know, if it doesn't work, I have no idea what will happen, but I'd feel more comfortable if you're there with me. And if it does work, I'll be sent back in time, but I don't want to be the only one who 's back, with nobody else to share my life with..." Hermione was quivering in fear at the prospect. Harry saw it, and hugged her.
Whispering into her hear, he said, "Well, of course I'll go back in time with you! I'll never leave you behind, Hermione... as long as you never leave me behind." He released the hug, looking into her eyes and smiled. "Besides, since we're doing this inside the Chamber of Secrets, I'll have to be here to let you in anyways, right?"
Hermione's eyes lit up and a huge smile grew across her face. Gleefully, she started skipping over to the runes on the ground. "Alright, then! I'm going to get everything charged up." She pointed her wand at one rune, muttered a few words, and the rune started glowing lightly. Moving to another rune, she repeated the procedure.
Once she activated all the runes, she sat back with Harry, watching the intricately patterned runes on the floor. "I've turned on the power-tapping runes now. They should be able to take power directly from the leylines to charge up the runes with even greater power."
"How do we know when it's ready?" asked Harry.
"Um... I'm not too sure myself. According to my calculations, once the runes are fully charged, they should somehow 'anchor' themselves to a certain point in time and then it'll become a proper temporal beacon, allowing us to 'find' that exact point in time from anywhere... I mean, anytime."
They watched the runes glow brighter and brighter. They were lighting up the entire chamber with their glow, and the light kept getting stronger. Hermione was watching as her excitement grew and grew- it appeared to be working as planned. Once the glow became unbearably bright, there was a huge flash, and the runes vanished instantly.
Harry and Hermione both fainted in the same instant.
XXXX
Harry woke up first with a dull headache. Looking around, he couldn't see anything at all, being enveloped in total darkness. Trying to resist the urge to panic, he searched his pockets for his wand, and muttered, "Lumos." The wand illuminated his surroundings, and he quickly remembered where he was. The Chamber of Secrets. Right... He was doing something down here, working on some project with Hermione...
Hermione! His eyes darted back and forth across the chamber in search of his friend. Whipping around, he finally saw her laying unconscious behind him. Rushing to her side, Harry knelt beside her, with one hand cradling her head and the other squeezing her hand. "Hermione! Are you alright? Hermione!"
He was getting desperate. He knew he couldn't lose her now. He had spent ages working with Hermione on this project, and he couldn't bear to see her die because of it. He knew they had shared their lives together, spending a good part of a decade at each other's side, keeping each other's secrets... Wait a minute, thought Harry. Where did that thought come from? I only met Hermione less than three years ago. Why does it feel like I've known her for so much longer? And... the project. He scrunched up his face, looking at the now-empty floor of the chamber. Well, it looks like it worked. The runes have anchored themselves into a specific moment in time... wait, how do I know what happened?
In his confusion, he started pacing around the Chamber. Ok, I've got to figure this out. What's happening to me? Oh, forget that, I have to take care of Hermione! She needs to go to the infirmary... He didn't have much time to think about it, however, as Hermione began to stir. Quickly running back to her, he conjured a glass and filled it with water. "Here you go, Hermione. How are you feeling?"
"Thanks, Harry." Taking the cup into her hands, she sipped the water, and immediately spat it into Harry's face. "Harry! Where did you get this water?"
Dripping wet with a thoroughly unamused look on his face, he replied, "I conjured it for you, Hermione. Jeez, did you think I scooped up some of that sewer water from the Chamber or something? Honestly."
"Um... sorry, Harry. That was the first thought that came to mind. I didn't know you learned the Aguamenti spell already."
Looking at her blankly, he began to say, "No, I haven't learned..." but then stopped himself. That was the spell he used. He had learned it ages ago... but when? Aguamenti was a conjuration, albeit one of the simplest ones. But they didn't even begin the simple conjuring spells in Transfiguration class until 4th or 5th year at least. Did Remus teach him that? No, he spent all the extra time mastering the Patronus spell... hm...
"What did you say, Harry?" Hermione looked up at him expectantly.
"I... err... I think I did learn the spell, but I don't remember when," Harry stated. That wasn't even half of it- he didn't just learn it, he had become so comfortable with the spell he performed it without thinking as he was running towards Hermione.
"Hm... that's odd. Well, thanks, anyways. I'm just glad I'm not drinking sewer water." Hermione grinned as she took another sip, clearly swallowing it. "Where'd you find this cup, anyways? It's really nice."
"I... I think I may have conjured that one as well."
"WHAT? Harry, this is a solid conjuration! This has got to be sixth year material!" Hermione held up the glass to her face, studying it while slowly turning it in her hands. "It's not just a simple glass, either. It's really nicely detailed. You've got the base a bit thicker so it balances really well, and there's these ridges around the sides so it's really easy to grip... When did you learn this?"
"I don't remember! Wait, no, I do remember... I think..." Harry strained as he tried to recall when exactly he got his lessons in conjuration, when an image struck him. "Err... Hermione... I think you taught me."
"What? I didn't..." Hermione looked up at Harry as she seemed to remember the same memory that Harry had. She giggled as she remembered Harry's first attempt at conjuration, a simple glass sphere, which ended up being slightly more oblong and squishy than a glass sphere had any right to be. "Oh, wait... I guess I did help you with it... back in sixth year."