Chapter One:
The four girls gave each other warm greetings and reunions, and then started climbing on the train. Hermione, with her cousin Aurora, Ginny, and Padma Patil.
"Professor Lupin is coming back to teach!" said Hermione cheerfully. "Aurora, you will love him. He's an awesome teacher!"
Aurora nodded, her green eyes scanning the train. "Ouch!" she cried out when she tripped over nothing. The other girls tripped over her too.
"You alright?" they asked each other, standing up.
They all nodded and walked down the train.
"Look, Professor Lupin's compartment!" said Hermione happily. "Harry's there too; let's say hi. Maybe they saved us a seat."
"Where's Ron?" asked Ginny as they stepped in.
"Who? I've never met a guy named Ron before," stated the Harry look alike. "I'm James, James Potter. It's a pleasure."
Hermione looked ready to fall forward in shock. "Oh." She exchanged glances with Ginny and then said softly, "Jean Grang." She didn't know what else to do. Giving away all their real names could be a bad idea.
"Jenny Wesley," Ginny said.
"Sirius Black."
Both Ginny and Hermione nearly choked. The small boy next to Sirius said, "Peter Pettigrew."
"Remus Lupin," said the last boy, a handsome young man with sandy brown hair.
Aurora choked. "Lupin, as in..."
"Professor Lupin," Hermione said.
Ginny added quickly to the boys shock, "No, it's just we had a professor at, er...Beauxbatons called Professor Lupin."
"Which is kind of weird, you know," stated Padma. "Considering it's not a common last name." She nodded briefly at them. "I'm...Pat Jackson."
Aurora, who was never quick on the spot was still registering that this was not in the least way normal. When everyone looked at her for her name, she just kind of looked back, unable to speak.
"This is my, uh, cousin," Hermione said helpfully, smiling a little weakly. "Ariana Grang. We call her Ari. Sorry, we've got to go."
"Ah, you sure?" Sirius said with a charming smile. "Don't forget to come back!"
"We will, just...hungry," said Ginny, putting her trunks down. "Be right back." They started walking out the doors, and Ginny looked back. "Hey, Black, you look through that trunk and you will lose your arms."
Sirius looked surprised. "How'd you know I was - "
"I have brothers," Ginny replied, shutting the door.
"We are..." Aurora began, her voice trembling.
"In the past," Hermione stated.
Padma looked at her hands. "Where...How do you think?"
"Don't know," said Ginny. "However, we know where we are, relatively. Harry's parents, obviously. Along with Professor Lupin and Sirius."
"So they did know us before we knew them," Hermione said softly. "I wonder how long we'll be here."
"Dumbledore should still be here," Padma said hopefully. "We should be okay."
"Let's just...get to Hogwarts, talk to Dumbledore, and we won't panic," Aurora said, calmly for the first time that evening.
The group walked back in to the compartment. They all took seats as Aurora stood standing.
"So, where're you girls from?" Sirius asked, putting an arm around Ginny.
Ginny took his arm and pulled it off her shoulders. "No, Black. We're from...France."
Great, how well that works. Considering they have British accents and not in the least French. "But we were all originally from Wales," Padma added. "Our families were close family friends. We moved to France and went to the school of Beauxbatons."
Sirius smiled at Ginny warmly, who gave him an even glare back.
Padma sat down next to Peter, who was next to James, who was next to Sirius, who was next to Ginny, who was next to Remus. Hermione sat down next to Padma.
"You're welcome to sit down," offered Remus to Aurora.
Aurora shook her head. "I'm...I'm not comfortable with tight spaces." She leaned against the door.
Remus nodded. "Okay; that's alright. I understand."
Aurora nodded too. The door opened suddenly, and with a yelp of shock, Aurora crashed in to the person who had opened the door, and they both hit the floor.
"Ow, that hurt," groaned the person under Aurora. She moved Aurora easily and stood up, helping her up easily. "New people; huh? I'm Lily Evans."
Aurora had a cut on the side of her forehead that was bleeding. She brought a hand up to her head, wincing a little.
"Sorry, are you alright?" Lily asked, going to sit down next to James.
Aurora shrugged. "I've had worst."
Remus helped Aurora to sit next to him and started a paper towel. "You're really bleeding."
"No, I'm fine," Aurora said, looking a little uncomfortable. She stood up and leaned against the window this time.
James told Lily, "These ladies are from the French school of Beauxbatons. This is...er, Jean, Jenny, Pat, and...Ariana, right?"
They all nodded. "It's a pleasure," Ginny said smiling at Lily.
Lily nodded.
The train finally stopped. Each of the girls hurriedly grabbed their trunks and, sticking together, rushed to the carriages, in to the castle, and then in a hurried mission to find Professor Dumbledore.
Professor Dumbledore was easily found, walking to the Great Hall.
"Headmaster," gasped Ginny, happy to have found him.
"We need to talk to you," Hermione said.
"You aren't students here," Professor Dumbledore stated.
"We're from 1997," Padma whispered helpfully.
"But this is 1977, dear," Dumbledore said, looking both delighted and puzzled at the same time. "How neat! You traveled back in time!"
"We need to get home," Aurora said, desperation on her face.
Dumbledore asked, "How'd you get here?"
"We don't know," Padma said, looking dismayed.
Dumbledore frowned. "Well, I'll get to work on it. If you remember anything, then tell me. For now, you can pretend to be students here and now. What are your real names?"
"Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Padma Patil, and Aurora Collins," said Hermione. "But we saw Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Lily Pot...um, Lily Evans on the train and introduced ourselves differently."
"Lily does marry James?" asked Dumbledore, looking interested. "What am I like? Was I in the future?"
"Yes, you were the Headmaster," Ginny replied. "Lily and James married and had a son named Harry Potter. Lily and James..." She looked at the others and then added softly, "Died. Killed by...You-Know-Who."
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, looking disappointed. "Oh, how terrible." He paused, and then said, "What'd you introduce yourselves as? You can be sorted in to different Houses. What year?"
"Sixth," said Ginny. "Aurora and I are in sixth. Hermione and Padma are seventh years."
"We introduced ourselves as Ariana Grang, Jean Grang, Jenny Wesley, and Pat Jackson," Padma said softly.
"Okay. Just go with the flow. I'll let you know if I get any leads on how to get you home."
They walked in to the Great Hall and stood behind the first years. The speech was quick, and so was the Sorting.
"We have four students who moved here from the French Academy, Beauxbatons. They will be sorted tonight," announced Professor Dumbledore. "First is Grang, Ariana."
Aurora, looking surprised and a little nervous at being chosen first, walked up and sat on the stool. She looked like a first year, the hat still covering her eyes.
Oh, a time traveler, are you?
It was the first time the hat had ever talked to her. Last time, it had been silent. She replied, Yes, I am. I'm not from here.
I understand. You have a pure heart. You are quiet and shy and reserved. I don't see any darkness in you, Aurora. You should be sorted in to Ravenclaw with your intelligence, or Hufflepuff with your pure-heartedness. Yet, I see a string of bravery in you. Bravery outshines all the rest. You will stand for what you believe. That's what's most important, so accordingly...
Everyone had started exchanging glances. This girl was taking a while. The hat opened its flap and shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
There was a round of polite clapping as Aurora took off the hat and walked over to the Gyrffindor table.
"Welcome to Gryffindor, pretty girl," Sirius said with a grin.
Aurora rolled her eyes at him. "Thanks, Sirius." She sat down next to Remus.
"Grang, Jean."
Hermione walked up and sat down, looking completely calm, unlike Aurora before her.
Ahh, here's where we wonder, Ravenclaw or Gryffindor? But the bravery, despite the intelligence, stands out much more. To Gryffindor you go, brave girl.
"GRYIFFINDOR!"
"Jackson, Pat."
Padma walked up, an air of calmness to her face. She looked even more relaxed than Hermione, which made Aurora look like a shy, nervous first year. She sat down and thought, Ravenclaw.
You always know what you want, don't you? Yes, your intelligence, my time traveler, will send you straight there.
"RAVENCLAW!"
Smiling, Padma set down the hat and left her friends for the Ravenclaw table.
"Wesley, Jenny."
Ginny walked up and pulled the hat on her head.
Another Weasley. How many of you will I get? And after that, your siblings. You and your siblings children. List goes so on and so forth. So, as every one of them, you will go into...
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Grinning, Ginny skipped over to the Gryffindor table.
"Congratulations!" Professor Dumbledore said warmly. "Now, enjoy your feast!"
Aurora, Hermione, and Ginny glanced towards Padma, who was in a conversation they didn't recognize, and then they each dug in to their meals, just realizing how hungry they were.
"I wish Harry and Ron were here," Hermione said softly, looking at her plate.
"Thizfoodizzogooood," said Sirius, his mouth full of food.
He reminded her so much of Ron it nearly made Hermione cry. "I'm glad," she told him.
They exchanged looks, thinking, this is going to be a long year. Especially if they didn't get home.