Side chapter - One secret revealed.

The halls of Hogwarts were unusually quiet. No students were talking, no stairs moving, no wind blowing. It seemed as if everything had just stopped and did not dare to stir due to anticipation of what will happen in a couple of hours. Hermione Granger was the only one who moved. More precisely, she was the only one who could move.

The young, gaunt woman looked nothing like the twelve-year-old girl who was worried about her friend while standing in the forbidden corridor on the third floor. Her face was skinny, her once lively eyes shone with grim determination. She looked like an animated corpse in its last days. But the biggest change was her hair.

Once bushy brown hair was paler than bone and more fragile than dry straws. If someone called her the Wicked Witch of the West, they would not be far from the truth.

After Harry disappeared - she refused to believe that he was dead as everyone else had said - Hermione began to study harder than ever before. Runes, Numerology, Time Magic, Spatial Magic, Dark Magic, Blood Magic, even Deviation! She excelled in everything. All to get her first friend back.

Dumbledore even provided access to his personal library to help - although the man secretly did not even hope for success, he already had a replacement for the Boy-Who-Lived.

So Hermione studied and experimented and tried and tried and tried. . . But nothing could bring Harry Potter back to her side. Each time it was as if Magic itself refused to work for her and it frustrated the woman to no end.

Oh, that she just hasn't tried in the last nine years. How many rituals exploded in her face, how many rare materials were gone forever, how many years of her life she lost.

The only person who supported her in recent days was her husband, Thomas Granger - he hated his family and took her last name after their wedding. He knew perfectly well about the Wizarding World and about her desire to find her brother in everything except blood. Thomas couldn't help her or truly understand her, but he could support her in this impossible quest.

They had a beautiful baby girl just two years ago and Hermione put her research on hold to look after their child. But recently she started working again on getting Harry back, she couldn't just quit. So with an arguably clear mind, she Teleported - Apparation was so old-fashioned nowadays - to the empty castle and decided to perform another ritual. Only this time she decided to step up her game a little.

Dumbledore was used to the Brightest Witch of her generation visiting the Hogwarts library, which gave her unlimited access. The old fool will never know how big a mistake he made.

Hermione finished drawing the huge ritual circle in the Great Hall and nodded in satisfaction. For this ritual, she does not need much, only access to seven Ley-lines on which the ancient castle stood. She took a deep breath and began to chant.

The ritual itself was not difficult, really, it was more difficult to fulfill its conditions. And one must be crazy enough to use it. It used the Magic of the universe itself and guided it through the planet to fulfill one of the innermost desires of the caster. The problem was that this ritual was changing the Magic of the world. Twisted it beyond recognition and could create horrors that will haunt your nightmares until the end of time. But Hermione didn't care.

She knew perfectly well that this obsession was harmful to her health, both mental and physical, but who will stop her?

Minerva became the shell of the woman she once was and quit her job after Luna Lovegood's death in Hermione's fourth year.

Filius returned as Master Duelist and began competing in countless Tournaments. The half-goblin died from a heart attack after his twenty-first consecutive victory.

Pomona was heartbroken when she heard about Harry's disappearance, but pushed forward. She was a strong woman and ended up dealing with the loss of her student alone.

Snape. . . Snape was the strangest of them all. Hermione thought that when the bitter man finds out about the disappearance of his hated student, he will sneer and continue to live as if nothing had happened. She did not expect to see the man crying hysterically right in the Great Hall in front of his students.

The Weasleys were torn in half. According to rumors, Percy, Ginny, and Molly had their own plans for the Potter boy and the rest of the family didn't like it. So the three redheads took the surname Prewitt and left Britain.

So no one would stop her from performing the ritual today, Hermione was sure of that.

Finally, the ritual circle began to glow, filling Hermione's heart with joy. She felt a huge amount of Magic pouring into the core of the earth and pulling out the old Magic, replacing it with something new, unknown. Then she felt her magic come into contact with the ritual and the world trembled.

Hermione closed her eyes and let a lonely tear roll down her cheek.

"Please let him be alive." She whispered.

The magic of the universe continued to flow through the planet and resonate with all living things. Each Magical creature felt the changes that took place in the atmosphere and shuddered with fear. This was only the beginning of the end of the current Magic, new manifestations will appear only in a couple of hundred years, and none of the Wizards will live to see the changes - but this is a story for another time.

Hermione broke down and cried when nothing happened. This was her last chance. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she just had no other options. Harry was dead. She could never bring him back. Her brother was dead.

Unknown to her, Hermione Granger's deepest wish was granted. Only not in the time that she wanted.