13 Chapter 13: The last option

Once Professor Snape managed to convince Voldemort to take custody of Hermione, he proceeded to search for the missing Ron Weasly, but apparently, he had gone into hiding, some reports said he had left the country, but nothing concrete, it was only known that he went into hiding without a trace of his whereabouts, so Snape found nothing useful about his whereabouts and decided to continue with his plans without him, he could not delay any longer, he only had two years.

Hermione was reluctant to listen to him at first, she thought that he was still partly a death eater and more so now that Voldemort had won, she had thought that the man would be faithfully by her side as the other death eaters, but Snape told her the whole truth, a truth that she never imagined or expected and she always considered herself too smart not to have expected anything of what Professor Snape told her that day.

He even let her enter his mind and see everything for herself, everything that had really happened, Dumbledore's plans, the use he had for Snape as a double spy, for Harry as a horrocrux, for the whole order of the phoenix, but she also saw beyond that, she saw Severus Snape's life, the pain, the darkness and the hatred he had for Voldemort and many more, the tortures he went through and suffered for Voldemort just to stay by his side as a spy for Dumbledore, he endured curses of all kinds, unimaginable pain, he risked his life over and over again, he never sought happiness, because he could only think of one person, Lily Potter, and she had been taken from him, he vowed to stop Voldemort and protect Lily's son, and for that, Dumbledore was Snape's best option even though he had already failed him.

Everything that Hermione saw was a great shock for her, everything that Severus Snape had lived and suffered was something incredible to see, she could not believe it, it was almost unthinkable that a person that everyone considered evil, could go through all that and continue to seek to stop Voldemort above all things, most people would rather die than suffer all that pain and if not they would go crazy over time.

But here he was, she had seen everything in his mind without him putting any obstacle and that's why she knew that what she was seeing couldn't be a lie, he didn't hide anything, he had opened himself completely to her as long as she would cooperate in his plans, and after understanding life together with Severus Snape's goals, Hermione was convinced of his loyalties and trusted him.

She didn't have much choice at that point either.

Snape told her his plan to stop Voldemort and apparently for this plan he needed her to be the protagonist, the one who would fight for this small chance he would give her, and she would certainly take it, she had nothing left to lose, she had already cried enough, now she was determined to stop Voldemort and avoid all the losses he caused, she had made her parents forget her so they could live happily without being involved in the war, she also lost her friends, but so it was also for everyone else, most of them lost all their loved ones in this war or died, she was not the only one who suffered, no, it was everyone who opposed and oppose Voldemort who were suffering and if there was a chance however small to avenge them or help them all, she would do it a thousand times more.

That was how she and Severus Snape spent two years locked up in Professor Snape's old house, finalizing the last option left to the British and European magical world, in general, to stop Voldemort and avoid many deaths. She focused on practicing and improving her Occlumency while Snape finalized the last details of the extremely complicated plan he was about to carry out.

As Hermione Granger watched Professor Snape finish the strange position in the cauldron for the ritual that was supposed to take her back in time, she couldn't help but think about the two years she had spent with him and everything that had happened:

—---------Flashback Scene—------------

"You know about time travel Miss Granger don't you, I understand you used to use a time-turner so you must have studied it," Professor Snape said in his typical cold and dry voice after confessing the whole truth to her and letting her into his mind.

"Yes, I know some of the details" Hermione nodded, after all, she had used the time-turner on more than one occasion and made sure she understood well all the workings of it, as well as digging into some or other information she found interesting on the subject.

"Very well, that saves me from explaining to you the restrictions and why they are there when one travels in time."

"Well, I never studied the subject very thoroughly, so I only know the basics professor, plus you don't find much information on that subject in the common books either."

"TCH, what a bother, well, now, as you should well know, when traveling in time one cannot stay permanently in that moment, isn't that right Granger?"

"Yes, when one travels in time one always returns back to the present again after a certain period of time" replied Hermione.

"Well, you should know that that is the biggest problem with traveling many years into the past because when you return to the present you will be affected by the number of years you traveled adding that amount to the present."

"Well, I don't know much, but I did read several cases in which a person traveled to the past and upon returning shortly after ended up dying, this is why time travel was prohibited for more than a certain amount of time."

"Correct, this is because if one traveled 100 years into the past, one's physical body in the present will suffer from a hasty degradation of 100 years or more depending on how long one has traveled, this is why special care is taken in time travel," said Snape.

"I see, that's why there are so many restrictions with the use of time-turners" Hermione understood, that many things used to be unexplained regarding these matters, so now she was beginning to understand everything a little better.

"That's right, but it's also because as Granger should well know, you can alter space/time itself, life and death."

"I read something about that too, when you travel into the past you are forbidden to meet your past self, otherwise it could cause death to yourself or worse for your loved ones in the present" Hermione said.

"It seems McGonagall at least made sure to teach her the restrictions well before giving the time-turner to a little witch. Now Miss Granger, while everything we said is true and these laws are supposedly foolproof when one travels in time, there are loopholes one can work around and approach time travel in other ways."

"Eh? Loopholes? I don't understand professor, what do you mean?"

"Well, let me tell you that after years of research with various ineffable acquaintances in the ministry on this subject for personal issues that you can imagine, I discovered that even though these laws are mostly infallible, there are loopholes that one can work with and that was what I managed to come up with or I hope so."

"So you..." was about to say Hermione but was cut off by Snape.

"That's right Miss Granger, I found the loophole, with the research I carried out for many years, I managed to determine that a person can be sent to the past permanently without them having to return to the present."

"Impossible, no one can time travel and stay there, the books say it's a basic law, one cannot stay for a long period in the past, the magical laws are clear regarding that along with the problematic of meeting your past self" Hermione began to chatter rapidly very exalted.

"TCH, what a bother, didn't I say I found a loophole Granger, after a long time I discovered that this could be achieved through the use of a blood ritual along with a specific and very complex potion that is made from thestral animal body parts and other rather unique plants that will help in this purpose, obviously I already took care of having everything I needed"

"That's dark magic Professor!" retorted Hermione.

"Look Granger, Don't give me moralizing, we have no other options left, now shut up and listen!"

Hermione wanted to continue protesting but she knew Snape was right, now was not the time to think about what was right or wrong, if it could help them stop Voldemort it couldn't be that bad, that didn't mean she thought it was right, a didn't like the idea.

"Back to the topic, while I managed to find this loophole in time travel thanks to the ritual and the potion, I also ran into several problems to address, the first problem is that one cannot determine the exact year they will travel to in the past, one can only make an approximation of a few years and second, the time to which this person travels to has to be before the existence of the person traveling himself, so one cannot travel to his own past, but one must travel to a time before he existed in the world, so he can be unconcerned about meeting his past self until a few years from now."

"But I don't understand, why would you need me to travel back in time to stop Voldemort, when it could be you traveling?" Hermione couldn't understand this part, why her and not him, she already knew he didn't like her and was only using her because he had no options left, but why.

"Simple, I would do it for myself but the time to travel would be too long in my case if it has to be before my birth and I am already quite old as you will see, so I wouldn't know all the consequences that could have that, since the ritual along with the potion that would help to perform a permanent time travel would also alter one's body to make the travel possible, one of the consequences is that the body of the one traveling would be rejuvenated a certain amount of years"

"But still, you could have risked the travel yourself, it doesn't make sense for you to give up so easily for consequences you don't know about and rejuvenation I don't think is that big of a problem for you," said a very doubtful Hermione as to the reasons why it wasn't Snape who traveled, even though she might have a better chance being younger, it still didn't make sense that it was just because of probabilities, knowing him, Snape would rather risk going himself and save Lily Evans on his own than give the chance to someone else just because he's not sure what could happen.

"You are wrong Granger, according to studies the human body should only be able to be exposed to physical rejuvenation for a maximum of 6 years, if a person's body is exposed to physical rejuvenation greater than 6 years this would suffer all sorts of untreatable physical and mental problems"

"It still doesn't make sense, if it is as you say, only a child under 6 years old could attempt to travel back in time, neither you nor I could survive," said still confused Hermione.

"Well, if my calculations are accurate Miss Granger, every 6 years that one goes back in time one's body undergoes a physical rejuvenation of one year, so in your case, it would be approximately around only 3 to 4 years of physical regeneration depending on the exact year you reach before your birth, but it shouldn't vary much, that would allow you to survive. But in my case it is not like that, I am over the limit of years, therefore, I can only trust you, Miss Granger, I can only determine that the time you travel will be a few years before your birth and although I do not like you, I know your abilities and I know that you can avoid this future for everyone in Britain, you are the last option and opportunity to help in the past to stop Voldemort."

"But I..." started wanting to say Hermione before being interrupted again.

"There is nothing left to talk about Miss Granger, you are my only option, your dear friend Ron Weasley is not easy to find, so I only have you left, and to tell you the truth I prefer you over that idiot Weasley, he is unreliable."

Hermione didn't know what to think, it was too much information, even for her.

"Now Granger, as you will see, I cannot allow you to refuse, so I hope you do not object, you will begin to study with me occlumency in-depth, we have only two years to prepare you to a level where no person can read your thoughts, to the point where no one in the past can extract information from the future, which would only cause disasters in space/time, life and death."

"As you said before, in case people from the past know that you are from the future, the consequences would be catastrophic for the entire magical world, one can alter and modify the past by finding gaps in time as we are doing and for that, you will have to take great risks, but if one were to let know that you are from the future in the past, the consequences that this could cause in the world are endless, so the thorough study of Occlumency is essential Miss Granger and you must remember that once in the past, you become part of the past permanently, so the past is going to be your present and you must not let anyone know that you are not. You must also understand that what I am asking of you now is not an option, it is a moral obligation to the entire British and European world in general, we will start tomorrow, take the day to calm down, and settle your thoughts" Snape finished.

----------Fin flashback scene---------

That was how he had told her all his plans, and after that it cost but she started to work together with him. She improved in her occlumency to a level almost comparable to Professor Snape's and she also learned all sorts of useful evasion techniques that he had to use in case he was forced to tell the truth in certain matters that he could not refuse, such as veritaserum or other methods.

She had already prepared herself mentally to go to the past and help the order to finish with Voldemort and the one who would give her this opportunity was none other than Severus Snape, she still remembered the state in which the man was for not having been able to finish the mission to protect Harry, Professor Snape spent a life worse than hell itself, but she still felt some discomfort about many things from his past, there were memories of all kinds, she could tell that Snape was not a good man, but he wasn't bad either, he was just a person with a miserable life who lost his way and let himself be led into darkness as he had nothing else to hold on to. No doubt he was intelligent, talented, and many more things, but he lacked the strength that those who face the same thing he suffered with a more heroic point of view have, he could not take his problems that way and fell into depression, anger and darkness. Severus Snape was no hero, indeed, he had all the qualities of a villain, but just as every hero has his weakness, so did Severus Snape and that was Lily Evans. Severus Snape undoubtedly remained a villain but he was on the side of the heroes.

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Greetings to all of you, I just want to let you know that tonight is the end of the Oc voting.