Hermione held the Time Turner in her hand, hoping she'd finally found the right number of turns. It was difficult to learn how far back in time you went per twist, and without anyone to help her, it was nearly impossible to figure out. It was half way through her fourth year at Hogwarts and she still had the Time Turner, though she technically wasn't suppose to. McGonagall had never asked for it back, so she figured she'd just keep it for a little while longer. The only problem was that she had almost no clue how to use it. No matter how many times she tried, she just couldn't seem to get the time to twist ratio right. And all the books with information on them had been put in the Restricted Section when a kid eight years before had stolen one and used it to go back in time and cheat on tests. Apparently, the kid learned how to use it through books in the library, so every book pertaining to Time Turners had been moved to the Restricted Section.

All she'd been trying to do was go back one day so that she could find where she'd put her potions notes the day before. She twisted it a few times and landed in what she hoped to be a day earlier. She looked around to make sure she got it right, but before she could take three steps, she'd bumped into someone and knocked their books everywhere. Immediately, she bent down to help pick them up.

"I'm so, so sorry, I wasn't paying attention and-"

"Hey, it's fine don't worry about it." The voice was slightly familiar, which made Hermione finally look at the person she'd bumped into. He wore a Gryffindor robe and tie and looked about her age. He had a cute, lopsided grin, curly black hair, and dark eyes. When they stood up, he was a good bit taller than her and, honestly, he was quite attractive. Everything about him reminded Hermione of someone, but she knew she didn't actually know him, which meant she had gone back way further than she had meant to. He raised his eyebrows at her and she realized that she'd been staring at him, and that she was still holding his books. She blushed and handed them to him. He laughed and said, "I don't think I know you. Have we met? What's your name?"

"No. I, uh, I don't think we have." She stuttered. "I'm Hermione." He grinned again and reached out to shake her hand.

"Well then, Hermione, it's lovely to meet you. I'm Sirius." Hermione gasped as she realized how he looked so familiar.

"Sirius.. Black?" She asked without thinking. He raised his eyebrows again.

"Yes.. How do you know that?"

"Oh, uhm.. I've heard about you is all. You and your friends James and Remus. You call yourselves the Marauders, right?"

"Marauders? Hm, no, never heard that. But I like it. I'll have to run it by the boys." Hermione mentally hit herself for saying that. It wasn't her place to mess with time. Speaking of which, she really needed to be getting back to her own... But in looking at the Time Turner, she realized that she had no idea how to go back to her own time.

"Oh no..." She whispered.

"Oh no is right! We're late for dinner, damn it! C'mon, if we hurry they might have saved us a little." He grabbed her hand and pulled her after him towards the Great Hall.

Hermione had reluctantly sat at the Gryffindor table with Sirius and the rest of them. She didn't know what she would say if one of the teachers realized she wasn't technically a student there, so she kept her head down and tried to stay out of eye-shot. She had no way of getting back to her own time, and really didn't want to deal with an adult getting suspicious of her. Around her sat Sirius, Remus, Peter, and James. It was very strange for Hermione to see these people, her old teacher, the father of her best friend, the accused murderer, and the one who betrayed them all, interacting with eachother. To see them joking around without a care in the world, none of them knowing the horrible things the future held for each of them.

Instead of focusing on that, she picked at some food while she went over in her mind what she needed to do. There was obviously no way she could get back to her time on her own. She would need help, but, as mentioned earlier, she really didn't want to involve a teacher. So, as usual of Hermione, her first instinct was to go to the library. She started to slip away as dinner was ending, but got caught by Sirius when she tried.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked, blocking her path to the door.

"To the library. I need to do some research."

"Well now, I can't let you go alone, can I?"

"Well, you could."

"Oh please, that would be rude. And I am anything but rude." He smiled and linked his arm with hers. "Shall we be off then?" She shook her head, but couldn't keep from laughing.

"So, what is it you're looking for in the library ?" He asked as they walked along the hallway.

"Uhm, I'm trying to learn about Time Turners and how to use them."

"Time Turners? But why would you need to know that, it's not like we're allowed to use them or anything."

"I know. I just find them interesting is all." Hermione walked through the doors to the library and automatically felt more at home.

"Alright," Sirius said. "I don't really come in here often, but I think what you're looking for would be in that direction." He pointed to the section of the library dedicated to magical items. They spent the next two hours looking through countless books, trying to find something about Time Turners. The only problem was that the library didn't seem to be quite as well organized as it was in Hermione's time. The books were scattered about in no order, so it was a lot like looking for a needle in a haystack. The only time they even saw mention of the Time Turner was briefly in a book that told them how it was helpful, not how it worked. They walked back to the common room, Hermione feeling a bit less than hopeful. They'd only gone through one of the tons of rows of books in the library, and they hadn't found anything helpful. She was only half-listening as Sirius talked about their last Quidditch practice and how James was getting really serious about working them. Her mind was too focused on how she was going to find the information she needed. They reached the common room and Hermione again was faced with the problem that this was not her correct time. Sirius looked at her curiously.

"Aren't you going to bed? It's late."

"No, I, uhm. I'm gonna stay down here a little while longer. Not really tired."

"Alright, if you say so. I'm gonna go on up. Goodnight, Hermione."

"Goodnight, Sirius." He walked up the stairs to the boys dormitory and left her alone in the common room. When she was sure everyone was asleep, she snuck into the girls dorm and took a shower. She didn't have any other clothes, so these would have to do until she could find something else. She went back to the common room, sat down on the couch in front of the fire and slowly fell into a restless sleep.

The next day was rather confusing for Hermione. It was a normal school day for the rest of the students, so she spent most of the morning trying to avoid everyone while they went to class. Once she was sure everyone had cleared out, she found a quil and a piece of parchment and sat down at a table. She put the Time Turner on the desk and began writing down everything she knew, which wasn't much.

Time Turners are still illegal

There are very few books about Time Turners

I have no way of going home

Hermione put her face in her hands in exasperation and groaned.

"I'm never going to get out of here.." She whispered, just as Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter were coming in after their first class. Sirius, upon hearing this, sat down beside her and asked, "What do you mean?" Hermione stuttered, wishing she had just remained silent.

"I, uh, nothing... I don't know what I'm saying." He looked at her suspiciously. The others took this as their cue to leave.

"Hermione, what's going on? You keep acting like you don't belong here. You don't know anyone besides me and the boys. You aren't going to any of the classes. It's half way through the year and this is the first time I've ever seen you. Who are you? What are you doing here?" Hermione looked down at the table.

"No one." She finally muttered. "I'm no one. Not here, not now at least. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be here..." She bit her nails like she normally did when she was stressed. Sirius was genuinly concerned.

"Hermione, please tell me what's going on. I want to help you." He put his hand over hers and looked straight into her eyes. She chewed on her lip and tried to choose her words carefully. One wrong word, and she would be the girl who completely screwed up time.

"Sirius, I'm... I'm not from here." He rolled his eyes.

"I kind of figured that Hermione. Why don't you start from the beginning?" Hermione chewed her nail for a minute before beginning.

"In my third year, I was given a Time Turner so that I could manage going to all my classes. I was suppose to give it back when the year ended, but one thing led to another where we ended up having to use it to save your... I mean, someone's life. I guess my teacher ended up forgetting that she'd given it to me because she never asked for it back." She choked on her words. "I was just trying to go back one day, just one lousy day. I ended up going back 20 years. I haven't even been born yet, and I won't be for another six years." She put her head in her arm just as she realized how terrible her situation was. Sirius put his hand on her back, trying to comfort her. He didn't know what to make of what she'd just told him, it was all very overwhelming. She sat up suddenly.

"I have to go. I need to figure out how to get back to my time. I can't stay here."

"I'll help."

"No, Sirius, I shouldn't have involved you in this in the first place. It could completely mess up time if we get too involved. I should have just kept to myself."

"Well, I'm already this involved. I'm not letting you do this alone. Like I said yesterday, that would be rude, and I'm anything but rude." He said, winking. She smiled and stood up. Sirius took the rest of the day off to help Hermione look through books in the library. At lunch time, he snuck some sandwhiches from the Great Hall into the library for them to eat. He turned out to be very helpful to Hermione, even though it wasn't hard for him to get distracted. He would sit and wait for her to finish a book then go back and forth between bringing Hermione new books and putting books back. He sat and watched her while she read, noticing her little habits. How she bit her lip when she got to a part that was particularly interesting. And how her eyes lit up when she called him over to tell him about her findings. And how she always treated each book with such care, you'd think she was handling a baby, which he found rather adorable.

By the end of the day, they were both exhausted and Hermione's fingers were covered in ink and paper cuts. But she was satisfied with their progress. It wasn't much, but they were getting somewhere. Around midnight, Sirius was coming back from putting a few books away to find Hermione fast asleep, her head resting on a book, and her arm had knocked over the vial of ink. He smiled at her and cleaned up the spilled ink and put away the rest of the books. He was about to wake her up so they could go back to the common room, but she looked so peaceful that he couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, his picked her up and carried her all the way to the other side of the castle. He wasn't quite sure where to put her, so he quietly slipped into the boys dorm and laid her down in his bed. He pulled the curtains around her and fell asleep in the spare bed next to his own.