===September 1 1993===
Harry found himself on the floor of the train car when he came to, the train had started to move while he was out. He looks around and sees Hermione lying next to him. Their friends are all huddled on the seats.
"Are you awake?" Asks a male voice Harry doesn't recognize.
"Yeah." Harry says weakly as he sits up and sees Remus standing there. "What was that thing?"
"A dementor." Remus, the owner of the voice earlier, answers. "They're the guards at Azkaban prison. They were probably looking for Sirius Black."
"Someone should leash those things." Harry says. "That one attacked Hermione."
"Which one?" Remus asks.
"The one I killed."
"You killed one? I didn't even know that they could be killed." Remus looks astonished.
"I killed one, then three more came in. That's when a weird spectral wolf chased them off." Harry explains.
"That was my patronus." Lupin says. "It's the best way to chase them off."
"I'll need to learn that, not sure killing them the way I did was the best idea." Harry says.
Hermione wakes with a groan. "Harry?"
"Here," Harry says. "I killed that one, but more came. Luckily the adult that was in our car was able to cast a patronus to chase the other ones off."
"Remus Lupin." He introduces himself as he pulls a chocolate bar out of his pocket and breaks it in half. He gives half of the bar to each of them. "The chocolate will help with how drained you feel."
They both take the chocolate and bite into it. 'What's that?' Loki asks.
'Chocolate.' Hermione answers back. 'People can have it, but it would make my little kitty sick.'
'Aw, it smells good too.' Loki says.
'I promise I'll get you a special treat as soon as I can.' Hermione says. 'You stay with me during the welcome feast and I'll slip you bits of people food.'
'Okay, Mum.' Loki says.
"Thanks for the chocolate Mister Lupin." Harry says as he finishes his.
"You're very welcome." Remus says. "And I suppose I might as well tell you I'm your new Defense teacher."
"We suspected as much." Hermione says.
"You must be Hermione Granger, I've heard a lot of good things about you." Remus says.
#####
Hours later they are sitting at the Gryffindor table as Dumbledore makes his speech.
"Now I'm sure some of you have noticed the dementors about the castle. The Ministry assures me they are only here for our protection. Don't antagonize them and they should leave you alone. That being said, absolutely no student is allowed to go through the halls alone this year. I know this will cause some inconvenience but it's for your own safety. Now dig in!" Dumbledore claps his hands and the feast appears.
Harry pushes his plate aside without putting any food on it. "Harry?" Hermione asks. "What's wrong?"
"I can't stand the thought of those...creatures possibly hurting another student." Harry answers, obviously disgusted.
Hermione sighs. "Eat something, then we will go write to Lucius." Harry sighs as he pulls his plate back in front of him.
They eat quietly when McGonagall comes to the table. "Miss Granger, my office at your convenience." She starts to walk away. "Go ahead and bring Mister Potter, I know he'd come anyway."
Hermione nods then looks at Harry. "McGonagall then letter?"
Harry nods. "Of course."
They finish the meal. "We'll meet you all back in the common room." Hermione says.
"Stay together, stay away from the dementors." Harry says.
"What about Hannah?" Neville asks.
"And Luna?" Ginny asks.
Harry sighs as he looks at Hermione. "Ideas?"
"Library until curfew?" Hermione suggests. "Until we come up with something better?"
"Not my first choice." Ron says, "but it's one of the few places we can all be together. So let's do it."
"Ron, are you okay?" Hermione asks. "Willingly going to the library on the first day of school?"
Ron blushes. "Friends mean more to me than anything."
Lavender takes Ron's hand. "Come on, you can sit beside me."
Ron smiles slightly. "Thanks..Lav."
Lavender nods as they head to get Hannah and Luna. Harry and Hermione watch. "Remind me to find a way to give Ron some money so he can ask Lavender on a date, will you?"
"Playing matchmaker now are we?" Hermione asks as she takes his hand and they walk towards McGonagall's office.
"I see it more as giving a gentle push." Harry says.
Hermione nods as she knocks on McGonagall's door. "Enter!" McGonagall calls out and Harry and Hermione enter and find her sitting at her desk. "Ah, thank you for coming so quickly, Miss Granger."
"I have something for you." McGonagall says as she pulls a box out from one of the drawers of her desk and hands it to Hermione.
Hermione takes the box and carefully opens it. Inside the box is a small golden hourglass inside of a circle all on a golden chain. "What you have in your hands is a time turner. Once you are wearing it every time you rotate the hourglass you will go back in time one hour. The limit is 4 hours, then you will have to wait until that time is up until you use it again."
"So they approved me to take every elective?" Hermione asks.
"That's right, this is so you can go to those concurrent classes." McGonagall says.
"Now the rules, you can see your past self, but you can't be seen by your past self. Nobody must ever see you and your past self at the same time unless they too are under the effects of the time turner. And of course this must be kept an absolute secret, nobody outside this room can know about it."
"Why do I get to know about it?" Harry asks.
"You two are betrothed, it would be wrong to expect you to keep secrets from each other." McGonagall answers.
"Thank you Professor." Hermione says as she puts on the necklace, carefully tucking it under her blouse.
"Miss Granger, normally I would warn you about misuse of the time turner. Something tells me any age you gain will only help you next year."
Hermione nods. "I understand."
"I also recommend against Mister Potter using it." McGonagall says. "Enough use could technically change how old you are and change your magical birthday."
"Of course." Harry says.
"Now, if there's nothing else please head on to your dorms and I'll see you in class."
"Actually, as you know a couple of our friends are from other houses, and with the dementors they don't like the idea of not being around friends. Do you have a procedure in mind for this?"
"We have not considered this, as you know friendships between the houses are rare." McGonagall says.
"Something that should be commonplace." Harry says.
"I wish they were." McGonagall says.
"Then you'll help us?" Hermione asks.
"Very well, bring me any students from another house that wish to stay in Gryffindor during this crisis." McGonagall says. "I will interview them one at a time, and if I'm satisfied I'll arrange a room for them. Is that fair?"
Hermione nods. "Thank you."
"Is that all?" McGonagall asks.
"Actually just one more detail." Harry says as he pulls out an envelope from his robes and hands it to her. "We'd like to invite you to our wedding."
McGonagall takes the envelope. "I'm honored, but why me?"
"You are like a second mother to me." Hermione says. "Without your advice this might not even be happening."
"We're also going to ask Madam Pomfrey and Hagrid, which could make it really interesting if my uncle and his family show up."
McGonagall laughs. "Then count me in."
Harry opens the door to the library and they walk back to their designated study section. They look and see their friends all looking at their textbooks for this year. All of them except Ron, who is in the middle of a chess game with Madam Pince. The board shows it's a very close game with both of them down several key pieces.
Hermione sits next to Lavender and whispers "What's going on?"
"Mister Weasley wagered he could beat me." Madam Pince says.
"Wagered?" Harry asks.
"I didn't wager money." Ron says. "If I win she lets us come here studying or not, as long as we're quiet and behave."
"If I win, Mister Weasley spends 2 hours everyday here as my assistant for the entire year." Pince says.
"No risk, no reward." Ron says.
Harry nods. "Hannah, Luna you might be able to stay in Gryffindor tower while the Dementors are here. You need to go talk to Professor McGonagall."
"Come on Hannah, I'll take you." Neville says. Then the couple gets up and heads off.
Madam Pince starts clapping. "Congratulations Mister Weasley. It's been years since I lost a game. You are a remarkable player."
"I got lucky." Ron says. "I would like to play you again sometime."
"I'll think about it." Madam Pince says as gets up and walks off.
Hannah and Neville walk back into the room and nod. "Come on Luna." Ginny says as they head off.
Hermione looks at Hannah. "So, all good?"
Hannah nods. "Professor McGonagall just wanted to make sure we were aware of the rules."
"The what is and isn't permissible in the common room speech?" Harry asks and the other couple blushes.
"That's a yes." Hermione laughs.
After a little Ginny and Luna come back and sit with them. "Ginny, can we talk, in private?" Hermione asks, the redhead nods and the two girls go to a corner of the library where Hermione casts the privacy spell. "Now, I need you to be honest with me, do you still have a thing for Harry?"
The younger witch blushes. "I'm honestly not sure, I'm all jumbled after last year."
Hermione nods. "Least you're honest."
"Can we still be friends?" Ginny asks.
"Of course." Hermione says. "Let me know if I can help in any way."
Ginny nods. "I'll do my best."
"Good, cause I have very few female friends and I don't know how many bridesmaids I'm going to need."
"Who's going to be your maid of honor?"
"I want to ask Lavender, since I've known her the longest, and since Harry is going to ask Ron to be his best man. If nothing that guarantees they'll have at least one dance."
Ginny nods. "They need a good push, don't they?"
Hermione nods. "Harry was thinking about giving Ron some money so he could take Lavender out."
"Ron would never take a hand out, especially from Harry."
"We respect that, so I'm trying to come up with a way to trick him."
"Too bad neither of you are as good at chess as he is, since he's obviously willing to bet on that."
Hermione grins. "You're right." She goes to move when she sees movement in Ginny's shirt. "Ginny, um.."
Ginny looks down. "Oh, that's just Scabbers." She pokes her shirt and the rat pokes his head out of her shirt at the neckline then goes back in.
Hermione manages not to tell her friend that her beloved pet is actually an adult molesting her right now. "I thought Scabbers was Ron's pet."
"Ron knows I've always cared for Scabbers so he's letting me help." Ginny says. "He's hoping Mom and Dad will get him a new pet."
"I see, and Scabbers is with you ALL the time?" Hermione asks.
"Of course, he really likes our baths and sleeping together." Ginny says.
"Good to know." Hermione says. This was an unexpected development, she was sure she could get Lavender to have Ron leave the rat in the dorms. Now with Ginny practically gushing over the rat things have changed. 'Loki?' She thinks.
'Yes, mum?' Loki responds.
'Plan A isn't going to work, we need to go with plan B.'
'Remind me what that is?'
'Ginny has the rat. I need you to watch the rat and learn its behavior.'
'Good thing Master Malachi made me this collar that let's me go invisible."