#time mutable immutable

My contribution to the #potionmaster101 exchange over on Instagram. I was given the Calming Draught assignment, and designed this bind around the ingredients for it, which included mint, lavender, and crocodile heart. It apparently has an orange sheen when completed, hence the spine colour.

I got to send this bind to @trubinds, and packaged it in paper that smelled of lavender, with some mint chocolate goodies and some mint teabags for the full sensory experience. (Of course I didn't take any pictures of that, because I'm useless!) I'm very pleased it arrived safely, and I hope Melissa loves both the bind and the story - I do!

It's my first attempt using soft touch laminate, and my first three piece bradel; also I found a bookmark charm which works like a mood ring, and that made me very happy.

The fic is Time Mutable Immutable, by Grooot, and it's available to read free on AO3. The characterisation of our potions master as a student is wonderful! There is a mint theme throughout the fic, which is just perfect. The cover labels and end papers link into the plot, with significant dates and their handwriting included. I just had so much fun with this!

Summary: Hermione Granger is an Unspeakable with the Department of Mysteries working exclusively within the Time Room. Her investigations into a group that worships the long dead Voldemort leads her back many years in the past.

Time-Travel - [Hermione G., Severus S.], Minerva M., Horace S. - 42 Chapters - Words: 124569 - Rated Teen and up

Read it on AO3

Status: Complete

Review: I was hooked into Time Mutable Immutable from the first chapter. Chapter after chapter flew by in smooth reading and I had no complaints on where the story was taking me. There wasn’t that typical frustration of why Hermione wasn’t doing more to change the past - because the story had already explained and demonstrated the restrictions of time-travel/changing the future.

In the entire story, there are only a handful of characters that actually go through a fully-developed character arc, but this actually worked to help the story maintain its simplicity. The development of Hermione and Severus’s relationship - from acquaintances to mentor/student to the hint of something romantic is done so well that you can’t help yourself in rooting for the unconventional pairing.

That being said, some readers might definitely find themselves not enjoying the story’s portrayal of the marauders and Lily (but I doubt people who like them would really look for Snape focused stories either). I for one, enjoyed how Grooot’s interpretation of the marauders could still have slotted in neatly within the canonical world and therefore had no qualms about the portrayal of the characters.

For a large majority of the story I found myself thinking that this might just be the time-travel story that I’d been looking for. Ultimately though, this story faltered for me when it left the marauders era. The story picking up to where we originally started (about a decade after the final battle of Hogwarts) felt so abrupt that I found myself wondering what was happening with the story. The ending in particular felt like it was wrapped up so neatly and suddenly compared to the pacing of the rest of the story that I had trouble wrapping my head around it.

Overall, I’d say Time Mutable Immutable hit all the right spots for a time-travel fanfiction. It wasn’t perfect, but I very much enjoyed my time reading it.

Rating: 4 / 5

If you like this story, check out:

Something Borrowed - Features both Hermione and Severus Snape time-travelling acidentally to the past

The Butterfly Effect - A Sirius/Hermione, but also features Hermione as a professor