Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters, they all belong to J.K. Rowling although I do own the plot of this story.

Summary: A female figure appears in the Marauders' time suddenly with no explanation of how she got there and no background whatsoever…that fits in that time. She appears to them in a batter state of mind and throughout their seventh year, struggles to find a way to her original self and back to her original time. A seventeen year old Sirius Black takes it upon himself to help her.

WARNING: There will be a rape scene in the second chapter and then torture scenes in the later chapters! There will also be sex scenes later on in the chapters too, that is why it is rated R. Just wanted to let you know.

Light the Way

By Fallen Celeste

Prologue

Voices surrounded her, echoing in her mind in time with the steady pulsing that had taken residence in her head. All that they said was garbled to her, nothing more than a mess that she could make no sense of. It was almost as if they spoke in a foreign tongue. All she could see was blackness and her limbs felt sluggish. She couldn't move but she could hear them. All her senses were dead but yet she was still able to hear them and smell them. She was quite aware of a cinnamon smell, a sharp fresh smell that engulfed her sense of smell, blocking all else out.

Suddenly a voice erupted in her head and the girl cringed as it stabbed through her mind painfully. Instantly she was writhing on the floor as the mocking voice of the one she hated most rang in her head, his words teasing and taunting her. "Get out of my head, get out of my head." She muttered the sentence over and over as she gripped her tangled hair in frustration. Her face was screwed into a grimace as if she battled with something.

My little mud blood whore, do you really expect me to leave you alone after everything? I thought you were the most clever witch of your age. Obviously they were wrong. Even though your friends are dead I'll still hunt you down till I have you in my clutches… The voice faded away with one last stab of excruciating pain and Hermione's body arched upward as an ear splitting scream erupted from her frail figure.

The pain that coursed through her felt like that of the Crucatius Curse but worse. It felt as if fired licked at her creamy skin, burning it away slowly. It felt as if acid was coursing through her veins eating her from the inside out. It felt as if she were going to explode…and as quickly as the pain had come it was gone, leaving her panting as she struggled into a sitting position.

Her eyes felt like lead as she struggled to open them and finally after a few minutes of failure, she allowed her head to collapse into her hands. She was still aware of the tangy cinnamon smell and she could now feel a hand caressing her back and several whispering voices surrounded her. Her tongue felt swollen in her mouth as if it were a foreign object and as she turned to where the voices were, they slowly faded. Silence surrounded her and after a moment, her voice came out a crackly whisper as she asked, "Where am I?" After a second of struggling to remain sitting, she felt herself fall backward, her head landing in something soft and she felt a cool hand caress her brow.

She opened her eyes slightly, blinking them several times, before she realized she was staring up into a set of familiar blue gray eyes. Except...these eyes belonged to a shoulder length black haired teen with shining locks. The eyes did not hold the same haunted look as those of the ones she knew and they danced with concern and worry along with curiosity. As she whispered the name she felt her eyes roll back in her head and everything went black.

"Lighten up, Wormtail, we didn't actually mean to hurt you," a seventeen year old Sirius Black said as he boarded the Hogwarts Express. James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew trailed behind him as he made his way down the corridor toward their usual compartment. "Besides, you, my friend, should be used to it by now." A doggish grin spread across his face as he turned back to face the three, stopping in front of the compartment. His gray blue eyes sparkled with laughter as he watched the short pudgy seventh year Gryffindor known as Peter.

The blond haired teenager was sweating profusely as he glanced about him nervously before his light blue eyes came to rest on Sirius. "I know you didn't mean to," he muttered quietly, his ruddy complexion darkening slightly as he dropped his gaze.

James gave a great laugh as he hustled the three into the compartment before entering himself. He ran a hand through his untidy jet black hair, cinnamon brown eyes twinkling. "Come now, Padfoot, lighten up on poor Wormtail." He slapped the trembling Pettigrew on the back as he said, "He started to hang round us fourth year, you should know he isn't used to our pranks." Remus snorted at this but remained quiet as he continued to read the book he was currently involved in.

"But, Prongs, he's the only one who has yet to have a prank pulled on him. I was merely…warming him up for the things to come this year." Sirius grinned sheepishly as he took a seat opposite Moony. "Studying already, Moony? We haven't even left the station." He reached across and grabbed the book from his friend's hands. "Hogwarts: A History," he read before shoving the book at his friend. "Really, Remus, set the book down for a change and relax." Sirius leaned back against the seat, his hands folded behind his head. "It's our final year." The lazy teen looked at Remus through half-closed eyes and Remus gave a grin as he tossed the book aside.

"Maybe you're right, Padfoot. Maybe it is time that I relax..." He let his statement travel off as he stretched his legs out in front of him, slouching in his seat. He leaned his head back and upon hearing the silence that followed his proclamation, he was not surprised to see James, Sirius, and Peter staring at him in bewilderment. It was only when he couldn't hold back the laughter any longer did he finally drop the act and burst out laughing, his face beet red as he stared at them all. "You, you fell for i-it." His laughter became roars and it was when he gave an extremely loud laugh that the door to the compartment slid open to reveal Lily Evans, the object of James's affections and the Head Girl. Instantly Remus fell back into his normal state of mind and smiled at Lily politely before saying, "Good morning, Lily."

"Thought this is where you'd be, Remus. I wasn't quite sure. I was actually hoping you had dropped these three but nay, you seem to have not. Good morning to you all and, Remus, although I know you would much rather stay with your friends, we have a Head meeting to attend to." The red head shook back her straight blond streaked hair over her shoulder and watched the Head Boy. Her bright green eyes were sharp and she caught the way James watched her with a wide grin on her face. She gave him a small smile and a nod before turning to leave with Remus in towe.

As the compartment door slid shut behind Remus, Sirius gave a hoot of laughter. "Wow, never before have I seen you tongue tied round Evans, Potter. The expression on your face was priceless." The jet black haired teen gave off loud dog bark like laughs as he gripped his sides, staring at his best friend. His vision was blurred and as he continued to laugh, doubling over and slouching onto the floor, the train lurched forward. As the train slowly began to move, there was a bright flash of white light and Peter and James cringed away from it. When the light was at its brightest, they heard a rather loud "Oompf!" and then all was silent as the light slowly faded away.

James looked around the compartment and saw Peter blinking rapidly to clear his vision of the dots that had appeared with the flash of light. He seemed to be all right and he glanced down at Sirius who had been on the floor and felt his jaw becoming slack. He knew he was gaping but he didn't care for where Sirius had been there was now a bushy haired girl. She seemed to be unconscious and as James stared, he heard a groan beneath her.

Giving a loud groan, Sirius shoved the figure that had fallen on him aside as he sat up in a sitting position. He rubbed his head where it had hit the wall and closed his eyes, trying to clear his vision of the dots that had come with the flash. After a minute he remembered the figure and he opened his eyes to see James staring at him with a skeptical expression on his face before he knelt beside Sirius and the figure. Sirius glanced at them and saw that they appeared to have bushy hair. He reached out and turned them over so that their head was resting in his lap and they were facing upward. The figure was definitely female and Sirius was in shock at the condition she was in.

The left portion of her face had blood running down it from a slash along the top of her head that lay hidden in the tangles of blood matted hair. The blood was beginning to crust over and it ran down the line of her face along her jawline where she sported a rather large fist shaped bruise. Both eyes were bruised and there was a large raw portion of skin along her forehead. Beneath her right eye, there was a small cut and on her cheeks, Sirius could see there were dark purple bruises that looked like they had been caused by fingers.

He stared down in wonder at the girl, his mind reeling at the extent of her injuries and his eyes flickered over her body and he cringed at the thought of what may lye beneath the robes. He lifted his eyes up to meet those of Peter's and James's. None spoke as they sat there staring at one another. It was only when Peter broke the stare to look down at the girl whom Sirius was now brushing away the locks of sweaty hair from her forehead did James speak. "What do we do with her?" he asked.

Sirius shrugged, for the first time at a loss for words as he shifted his gaze down to the beat up girl. Her face was set in a grimace of pain and he could hear James and Peter talking but their voices were becoming fuzzy as he stared down at her. The girl had began to writhe and he could have sworn he heard her muttering, "Get out of my head, get out of my head," over and over. There voices were no longer distinct, they were merely murmurs in the background. But another voice stood out clearly in his mind. My little mud blood whore, do you really expect me to leave you alone after everything? I thought you were the most clever witch of your age. Obviously they were wrong. Even though your friends are dead I'll still hunt you down till I have you in my clutches…

Then he was thrown back into his own body as an ear splitting scream erupted from the girl's frail form. It was not a frightened scream or one of glee. It was one that expressed a sense of anguish, of loss, and one of extreme physical, mental, and emotional pain. Even when the scream had died, it still rang in his ears as the girl clung to him, her whole body trembling. Her breath came in short pants as she struggled to a sitting position and tried to open her eyes but after she failed to do so, she let her head fall into her hands. She was openly crying, tears streaming down her face, leaving dirty trails through the dust that had coated her skin.

Sirius knelt behind her, his hand caressing her back while James and Peter whispered above them. His mind was focusing on the girl but he still managed to catch a few words of what James and Peter were saying. "Where did she come from, James?" Petere glanced at the girl with frightened inquisitive eyes.

James gave a shrug as he glanced at the girl before looking back at Peter who was still staring at the girl. "I don't know, Peter. But something tells me that we should take her to Dumbledore or a professor."

"We could..." Peter's voice trailed off and Sirius realized that the girl had turned her head in their direction, following the sound of their voices. Her eyes remained shut and they all remained silent, staring at her apprehensively. Sirius knew that James had stiffened at seeing her movement and now sat at the ready if she were to do anything. Sirius's hand had paused on her back and it twitched slightly as he watched her. Peter was trembling uncontrollably as he awaited for the girl's next move. When she opened her lips, they cracked and began to bleed, but that didn't stop her from whispering in a crackly voice, "Where am I?" But before any of them could answer her question, her body spasmed and she fell backward in exhaustion.

Her body shook from the exhertion of sitting up for so long and her breath came in short gasps. Sweat beaded on her forehead and Sirius absent-mindedly began to stroke the sweat ridden russet locks away from her forehead. He did not turn away when she opened her eyes and blinked them several times before meeting his gaze head on. His hand paused as he watched her, his own gray blue eyes becoming lost in her cinnamon hazel brown gold-flecked eyes. They held a sense of absolute loss, a haunted shadow falling over them, hiding any emotion that might have been there. But as they stared at one another, he did not miss the flicker of recognition that ignited in her eyes and burned there for a moment before disappearing as quickly as it had come.

Somewhere in the background he heard James say that he was going to get the headmaster and he heard the squeal of the compartment door sliding open. He heard Peter call out he was coming too and then the compartment door slid shut once more. They sat like that for who knows how long, just staring at one another. The flicker of recognition could be seen dancing in her eyes once and again but it always dashed away. That flicker made it seem to him as if he had known her his whole life, longer than that even.

It was only the sound of the compartment door sliding open that caused him to break their stare and although he heard the name that fell from her lips, he did not hear it distinctly and he glanced down at her in surprise upon hearing her voice once more. He watched as her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell unconscious once more. He didn't draw his gaze away from her face even when James clapped him on the back and said his name. Only once did he remove his gaze from her face and that was when Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft of Wizardry, kneeled beside him.

The wizened old wizard studied the girl's face silently and occasionally reached out to touch a wound gently, causing the girl to wince in pain. Finally, after a long stretch of silence in which the three Marauders had watched his every move intently, he gave a sigh and stood. Sirius looked up at the headmaster and was startled to see his normaly dancing light blue eyes dim and serious. His waist length silver beard and hair no longer seem to shine in the light but seemed lanky and lusterless. The headmaster seemed to stoop with age as he turned to James. He began to speak and all three moved restlessly at his words.

"The girl is in a worse state then you described to me. She has fallen into a coma because of the extent of her injuries and even as we speak, she dreams horrible dreams. I was unable to see her dreams or to feel the pain that her mind is in because there is a barrier blocking my entrance but it is obvious that this girl is not from our time. I shall be forming a portkey that will take myself and her back to Hogwarts. You three are to remain here and not speak a word of this to anyone. When the train arrives at Hogsmeade Station, you are to immediately head to the front carriage and then from there, you shall report to the Hospital Wing. Do you understand?" The three nodded and Dumbledore turned back to look down at the girl. Sirius shifted his gaze to look down at her and at the hand on his shoulder, he carefully moved away from her. Dumbledore picked her up as if she weighed nothing and lay her down on the compartment seat. Sirius sat opposite of her and James, Peter, and him watched the girl intently as Dumbledore pulled from his pocket a napkin and muttered a word beneath his breath.

He set the napkin down and gently grabbed the girl's wrist before reached out and touching the napkin. After a minute had passed they suddenly disappeared with a loud pop and flash. The three sat in silence, staring at the spot where Dumbledore had once stood holding the girl's wrist. They shared a glance once but none spoke as the train billowed smoke and continued onto the destination. All three held the same question in his mind: Who was the girl and where did she come from?

Hours passed and slowly James and Peter began to whisper back and forth about what had happened. Sirius tuned them out as he took a seat and stared out the window. His thoughts consumed him and the normally outgoing boy sat in a brooding manner. The others did not bother him leaving him to dwell on when the girl had said a name before passing out. He tried to remember but he could not. As he turned it over and over in his mind, a steady throbbing began to pulse through his head. With a frustrated sigh, he leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes. Exhaustion swooped over him and he felt himself drifting away, the steady rhythmic sound of the train lulling him into a trance like state of mind. It was only once he was on the brink of sleep did he remember the name and he murmured the name as he slipped into sleep.

'Sirius.'

A/N: Whoo hoo! My first ever Harry Potter story now officially has a prologue. I never thought that I'd actually take the time to write this story down on paper and then type it up but I did and I am so happy about that! Booya! Okay, now that that's over I'm going to say that criticism, praise, flames, all of it is welcome because it will all just make me strive to do better. Ci hee hee! Anyway, now on to write the first chapter! Don't forget to click the review button my pretties!