Chapter Text
Professor McGonagall experienced her annual relief and electric excitement as the students poured into the school once more. There were squealing voices and whispered conversations again. The woman was delighted—it would last all of a day, she predicted.
She was on her third round of the Gryffindor dormitories, helping new students unpack and keeping the elder students behaved in their return celebrations. Each time she started from the top floor with the pesky seventh-years, so likely to attempt smuggling fire whiskey. Minerva couldn't particularly blame them; that didn't mean she would allow it, either. Rules were rules.
When she made it down to the third-year dormitories she heard her name from a familiar voice.
"Professor McGonagall!" Hermione called. She left her trunk and hurried over to the woman. "I never got to send a response. Harry and Ron have some sort of celebration involving chess planned for the evening. May we meet before tea?"
The professor turned and smiled to her student. "Yes, Ms. Granger, how does half four sound?"
"Half four sounds perfect."
"Good. Enjoy the rest of the afternoon."
~*~
Minerva was sifting through lists of insured belongings when she heard a knock on her office door. She dropped the papers back to her desktop and pulled a stack of books and a parcel from the corner of her desk.
"Come in."
The door cracked open. There was a pause before it was pushed open further. Hermione stepped into the room looking nervous and eager simultaneously. She hurried over and stood by the chair across from Minerva's desk, unsure of whether to sit or stand. McGonagall motioned her hand much the way Dumbledore would.
"Have a seat, Ms. Granger." Minerva pushed the belongings toward the student, the books' spines facing the younger female. "Did you see these books mentioned in your research?"
Hermione inspected the titles and nodded, smiling. "I read through some of the bottom. The others I couldn't find with so little connection to the Wizarding world. My parents are supportive but don't know precisely how to help. I still have a lot to learn about finding other magic folk."
She stopped talking and looked down at her hands, slightly flushed.
The Professor smiled.
"These are my copies. Feel free to read through them in your own time. The parcel is the Time-Turner. Have you seen one before?"
"No, I haven't. I read about them once in..." but she stopped speaking. She took a breath and put her fingers gently to one of the spines. "Thank you!"
Minerva raised her eyebrow but gave a patient smile. "How much information did you find?"
"I found some material from Turner through Time and some other books."
"I would like to instruct you on its use. Is now a good time to give a simple tutorial?" McGonagall unwrapped the Time-Turner from its velvet case and placed the necklace above the material.
Hermione gasped to see it. Her hand twitched, but she did not reach to grab it.
"Yes, it would," she answered softly. "I read that it works with multiple travellers but grows more dangerous with each additional person."
"That is true and good to remember." Minerva hid her amused smile. "Although I doubt anyone would be interested in joining you to sit additional classes each day." She stood and stepped around the desk.
The older female draped the long chain around their necks and angled herself to speak comfortably with her charge. She held up the instrument for the adolescent to see, pointing as she spoke.
"There are three possible turns to be made. The only one you are concerned with is the first, for hours. The other two are for days and years. They are not to be touched. If their close proximity to the hour turn bothers you, I'm sure we can find a way to block their use. Perhaps we should do that anyway."
Minerva frowned. She was disappointed to not have thought of this before. It was her job to think of every possible way to protect students. She shook her head ever so slightly.
"Each turn of the hour knob rotates the innermost circle. That puts you back an hour in time in the same location. It is imperative you use it in a discreet and hidden area, although you should not be tempted to use it in the lavatory. It would be an unpleasant surprise. I would suggest a dark corner. Be sure to be back at that location by the time you were set to leave it."
She paused to sort the order of her spontaneous lecture in her mind. "Ordinarily I would warn harshly against getting caught by yourself. In this case it is little concern: your travelling self will expect a returning presence. Such things only get tricky in grander adventures, which you will not be taking.
"I'm going to turn the hour."
McGonagall rotated the inner circle a quarter turn and they witnessed the two of them taking their seats once more. In one quick motion, Hermione's real-time self reversed out of the room and Minerva went back to her work. The fast flow of time stopped.
The seated Minerva looked up.
"You're not setting a very good example, you know," she said to herself. "Start out with a lecture on not getting caught and catch yourself immediately." She looked down to the Hermione who was still in the room. "Please don't take my example to heart."
The standing Professor coughed lightly—she had forgotten her speech that embarrassed herself so—and turned to the student. "We will wait in the corridor behind the statue holding simple school-related conversation, witness you enter the room and wait until the inner circle is back to its vertical position. Then we can enter the room again and hurry into the place we left."
Hermione nodded and ducked out of the necklace when Professor McGonagall held it up. The woman tucked it into her pocket and led the younger female from the room. They slipped into one of the passages behind a nearby statue and waited, both keeping an eye on McGonagall's door to see when the other Hermione entered the office.
They spoke of mundane school topics, primarily Hermione's sated schedule. The Professor smiled to hear her student's enthusiasm.
"Do you have to use the Turner for Transfiguration?" the woman inquired. "I can't recall your timetable presently."
"I don't. I have to use the Turner to get from Transfiguration to Runes."
Minerva nodded her head and asked what subject Hermione was least excited for. The woman chuckled when she heard 'Divinations' with reasonable speed. That sent them quickly into conversation.
Hermione pointed when she saw herself enter the office. The remaining Gryffindor student whispered, "I've gone in, but I don't remember when we used the turner. Does the loop really go back to its original position when the time is through?"
"It does," Minerva confirmed. She gazed down at the object again, which she had removed when her tutee had pointed. "In this case it is easy to tell because we did not make more than one Turn. If we had set it for two hours, for example, it would change temperature and seem to hum slightly when the inner loop returned to the dormant state. You will get used to determining when it is just marking another hour and when it is telling you that the time cycle is complete."
They looked down at the object. The circle was moving very close to vertical. Minerva led them out from behind the statue and took a long gaze around. The corridor was blissfully empty. The necklace glowed slightly and hummed against the woman's palm; she pressed it to Hermione's hand, then pushed the door open and hurried to the spot in the middle of the room. Hermione followed.
"That is how it's done, for the most part. You won't find it much more difficult. Your main difficulty, I predict, will be keeping it secret from your two highly involved friends and not getting caught moving from class to class. I have every faith in you."
"Thank you, Professor McGonagall. Thank you for helping me take the courses I'm interested in."
McGonagall nodded and gave a tight smile. She gathered the books for her student and held them out. "These should cover you for technique, history, rules, regulations and just about anything else. This was a very simple tutorial. When are you best able to commit to another meeting?"
"My schedule is mostly tight except for Saturdays. I am trying to keep Sundays free for work and recreation. May we meet again on a Saturday?"
"Saturday works fine. Is another evening meeting preferable?" The Transfigurations Professor held up her hand to offer back the Time-Turner. Hermione took it slowly, as if too in awe of the powerful artefact to ever grab it without care. Minerva felt the corner of her lip twitch. That was only appropriate. It was a powerful artefact.
"Half four seems best." The girl looked to the clock above and behind the Deputy Headmistress' desk. "Oh! It's nearly time for the feast. You are coming as well, aren't you? Would you like to walk with me?"
The Professor did smile at this. Hermione had always been polite and amicable with her. Minerva turned to look at the clock as well.
"I would, but it would require a detour."
"An adventure? Being friends with Harry and Ron, adventures are pretty dull to me now..." Hermione smiled up. She appeared to realise she had made such a joke with a Professor and her eyes widened. A light blush tinged her cheeks. Minerva merely laughed.
"Quite so. I'm sure there's not much left in Hogwarts that could so excite you as finding the Chamber of Secrets." Minerva picked up a long parchment from the side of her desk and walked toward the door, gesturing Hermione to come. The girl followed.
"I heard it was all bones and snake skin, and that I should be relieved I was petrified. I'm not sure I'll ever share the sentiment, personally." Hermione walked from the room. It was nice to see her smile despite that she spoke of terrible incidents the school should never have faced.
"It was. We had to pay a Parselmouth a small fortune to get us down there. I volunteered to join her. Terrible place. We have sealed it forever. But this is depressing talk for your first evening back!" Minerva exclaimed—her version of exclaimed, in a slightly louder voice—and led the way to Dumbledore's office.
Hermione had been there before, so McGonagall had no fear of bringing her again. Given she was now the holder of a Time-Turner, she would probably find herself in his office many more times, especially as a friend of Harry and Ron. The Professor kindly asked Hermione to carry the stool, more to make her feel useful than anything else. They made their way to the Great Hall.
"Thank you for the assistance, Ms. Granger," the teacher said as she took the stool back from her student. "I imagine Harry and Ron will be happy to see you once more. Hurry along now."
Hermione nodded, smiled and jogged off to meet her friends. Ron greeted her with an over-enthusiastic thump on the back and immediately blushed as she winced.
The danger of friendship with young males, the Professor mused as she went to round up the first years.