Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I would not be posting little ficlets on a fanfiction site if I did. Do not pester me about this again. Anything that you recognize is most likely Ms. Rowling's. Anything you do not recognize is more probably mine. Good Day.
Okay...I think I've FINALLY found the right bloody document to upload! Oi. Kicking Buckets is, as many of you have already learned, a Hermione-Sirius Time-Turner story. Bear with me, those of you who read the copy that showed you EVERYTHING that I had done...I'm going to post approximately one chapter a week from here on out, even though as you know they're already finished. This gives me the time to work on finishing up the story so that I'm not leaving you guys hanging at the end. Enjoy.
Allison
"Learn from the Past
Live in the Present
Look to the Future" Maya Gurgeon
Kicking Buckets
Prologue
"Sirius Black!" A woman's shriek rang throughout the entirity of Grimmauld Place. "JUST WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING, SCARING US ALL LIKE THAT!"
A large black dog bounded into the kitchen, scaring the four occupants who were sitting there having tea, listening in surprise to Molly Weasley's scream. Ginny Weasley gave a soft cry and ran to hug the dog that rapidly assumed his human form and hugged her back. Ron, her older brother, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger all jumped up and raced to him.
"What happened!" Harry asked. "I saw you die!"
Sirius' smile held no warmth at the memory. "You saw me fall. You did not see me die. By the time I woke up and crawled out from behind the veil...well, you know how it is." He said, softly. His eyes trailed to Hermione, and as he took a better look, he went white, as if he'd seen a ghost.
"R-Remus!" Sirius shouted. "SEVERUS!" The two men in question burst in moments later, wondering where the Death Eater was. "S-s-she l-looks like..." He broke off, unable to go farther.
"Who? I look like who?" Hermione asked, frowning and looking down at herself. As far as she knew, she was just her...just Hermione. Sure...she'd changed...filling out over the summer and managing to tame her hair...but she was still just Hermione! Okay, so maybe there was a tattoo on her ankle and several piercings...but still!
Severus Snape looked at Hermione long and hard before he sat down heavily in a chair. "Maya..." He muttered.
Remus himself was used to her looks, and he simply helped Sirius into his own chair and stood behind the two men for support. "Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny..." The four teenagers, three in their last summer before graduation and one entering her sixth year, turned to find Albus Dumbledore standing there, his eyes twinkling pleasantly. "Would you please go and check on Buckbeak?"
"Yes Professor..." They mumbled, hurrying out of the room.
"Wonder what that was about..." Harry murmured to Ron, as they began to walk up the stairs. It wasn't until they heard Hermione scream that they turned around, watching in slow motion as she fell down the steps. A small gold chain fell out of her shirt, there was the sound of glass shattering, and then Hermione looked up at them, reaching for them as she disappeared.
"Hermione!" Ginny gasped, running back down the stairs with Ron and Harry on her tail.
SCENEBREAKSCENEBREAKSCENEBREAK
"Sirius, you cannot stop things from proceeding as they must." Dumbledore said, the twinkle gone from his eyes now as he watched the animagus stare blankly at the butterbeer in his hand. "It is your past, therefore it cannot be changed...no matter how much you wish it to be."
A broken laugh that was mixed with a sob tore loose from the man's throat. "That night...the night of the raid..." His tears broke loose. "When she told me that one of us was a traitor...when she tried to warn me about Pettigrew..." He closed his eyes. "She promised me that she'd marry me...that when I returned, she'd be waiting to welcome me."
Severus reached forward and rested his hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Sirius...we could not have stopped her. She had to do it. You know it was the only way." He stiffened, awkwardly, as the other, slightly younger, man threw himself into Severus' arms, sobbing against his shoulder. Just as Sirius began to contain himself, Harry, Ron, and Ginny burst into the room.
"Professor Dumbledore!" They shouted in unison. "Hermione's gone!"
SCENEBREAKSCENEBREAKSCENEBREAK
Hermione moaned softly and opened her eyes, looking around at the familiar curtains and beds. "The Hospital Wing? But how...?" She looked up as Albus Dumbledore walked into the room. "Professor Dumbledore! Harry and Ron...I..." She was cut off as he held up a hand.
"Perhaps, we should start at the beginning, Miss...er..."
Hermione, who'd begun to think clearly, reached into her robes and pulled forth...an empty chain. She moaned and fell backwards. "Oh no..." She turned to the headmaster. "Professor, what year is it?"
"1985...of course." Dumbledore said. "My dear, is there something I should know?" He watched as she groaned again and beat her head, cursing every deity he'd ever heard of...and some that he hadn't.
"Professor...I'm from the year 2006."
"Oh dear..." Dumbledore said. "What's your name?"
"Um..." Hermione paused, weighing the consequences of her words. Sirius' face flashed through her mind and she bristled. He knew. He knew where she was...but after thinking of it for a moment, she relaxed. He would help her...she knew it. "Maya Gurgeon." She replied, making up a name on the spot.
"Am I correct in assuming that that isn't your true name, Miss Gurgeon?" Dumbledore asked, but his question was met with hooded eyes and a vague smile. "Right then..." He looked down at the Head Girl badge pinned to her robes, taking in her Gryffindor robes next. "Well...you seem to know your way around Hogwarts..." He paused, and the twinkle came back to his eyes. "Perhaps you were orphaned over the summer, and came to live here at Hogwarts to escape Voldemort? I'm afraid you cannot have your Head Girl Position, since the spot is already taken...but...perhaps a seventh year prefect position?"
"That would be acceptable." Hermione said, softly...the gravity of the situation was beginning to creep up on her, and she felt as if her insides were being torn apart.
"Good, good...Now, am I correct in assuming that you have no belongings here?" When Hermione nodded, he smiled gently. "Professors McGonagall and Evenstar will take you to Diagon Alley tomorrow. Don't worry about the money..." he continued as she started to speak. "It will all be taken care of...Minerva McGonagall and Richelle Evenstar have already both agreed to be your guardians until we find out just what to do with you. We won't bother with another sorting...as you already seem to be quite comfortable in Gryffindor, but do let me know if you need anything, okay?"
Hermione sighed, straightening her shoulders and taking a long, deep breath. "Okay. And...Professor...Thanks."
Dumbledore smiled gently. "My dear...it is the small kindnesses that we must treasure...for we never know when we ourselves will need them."
Hermione smiled gratefully and lay back in bed to drift off to sleep.
"Albus?" Minerva McGonagall and her rival, Potions Mistress Richelle Evenstar, stepped forward. "Is she...?"
"Rather tired and very unsettled, but otherwise fine, Minerva." Albus said, softly. "She is from a time twenty years in the future...so it is difficult. However, I feel confident that she will be okay. She seems strong."
"Indeed." Richelle said, before taking a deep breath. "Headmaster...the students in my House grow restless...I fear that they may join this new Dark Lord...Voldemort."
"Mmm...continue to watch them. Discreetly. Convince any that you can not to." Dumbledore said, all twinkling gone.
"Of course, Headmaster."
SCENEBREAKSCENEBREAKSCENEBREAK
Hermione bit her lower lip as she looked through the window of a Quidditch shop, staring at the new Nimbus 1001 and thinking of Harry and Ron. She smiled, closing her eyes against tears.
"She's a beaut, ain't she." Hermione whirled around to face the boy standing behind her and her breath caught. Harry! No...on a closer look, she could see that his eyes were chocolate-colored...like her own...and not green.
"Hm?" She said, realizing that he was waiting for an answer. "Oh...yeah..." She looked back at the broom. She had enough for it...and she missed Harry and Ron...even their Quidditch conversations...so much! She sighed and shook her head.
"I'm James, by the way. James Potter." She looked back at the Harry look-alike. Well of course he was James. "And You are?"
Oh, so that's what he wanted. She took his outstretched hand. "Maya...Maya Gurgeon. Nice to meet you."
"The pleasure's all mine..." James purred. Oh yuck. She was going to be sick...he reminded her too much of Harry...who was as good as a brother to her.
"One would think, Potter, that when you're trying to woo one girl, you'll leave others the hell alone." Came an icy feminine voice from behind James. Hermione and James both turned and looked over at the fiery redhead with blazing emerald eyes walking towards them. "So typically you. Moronic and pointless."
"Aw, Evans, you say it but you don't mean it." James smiled. "How about catching a butterbeer at the Leaky Cauldron with me?"
"Only in your wildest dreams, Potter." Lily Evans said, walking up and turning her back to James, holding her hand out to Hermione. "Lily Evans."
"Maya Gurgeon." Hermione replied, automatically, as she shook hands with her best friend's mother.
"Oh, believe me, my dreams with you in them are very, VERY wild." James said, his voice lower than normal, meant to touch things low in girls' stomachs and make them squirm. Lily just closed her eyes and opened them again.
"You're new...I haven't seen you around." She continued, talking to Hermione.
"Transfer Student from Durmstrang. My parents were killed over the summer, so I stayed at Hogwarts for the remainder of the Holiday with my guardians, Richelle Evenstar and Minerva McGonagall. We're here shopping now." Hermione spouted off as if it was an old story. In truth, she'd just come up with it off of the top of her head. "Had to run out on all of my stuff...when they came." She said.
"Ah." Lily nodded. "Well...would you like company? I could show you the best shops for books and stuff."
Hermione could practically feel James roll his eyes. "That would be great, actually!" She smiled and walked off with Lily.
"I'd advise that you stay away from the Marauders...they're not always the best people to be caught around." Lily said.
"Pranksters, huh?"
"Something like that." Lily said. "Have you already been sorted?"
"Yes...I'm in Gryffindor."
"Okay." Their gazes were drawn to a billboard posted. Lily snickered. "So they finally managed to do it."
"What?" Hermione asked, curious.
"The four Mauraders have a band, see. So do some of the Slytherins. They've wanted a battle of the bands since I explained the concept to Remus...but until now, Dumbledore has never agreed." Lily said. "A battle of the bands is..." She began to explain.
Hermione held up a hand. "I know." She studied the poster for a moment before glancing at her new friend. "You play or sing?"
"What, you think we'll actually be able to join? The Marauders will never let a mere girl into their band, believe you me. You're better off just letting it go." Lily said.
"Well...you said yourself. There were other bands." Hermione grinned as Lily's jaw dropped. "Come on, let's go ask James."
"Please, you think he'll give a shit?"
"We'll see." Hermione said. She waved to James, who was talking to three other boys...one with soft, thin brown hair and a tired look on his face, one with shoulder length black hair and laughing brown eyes, and a short pudgy one that looked like the rat he was. Hermione fought not to curse him on sight, remembering that she couldn't change the past. "Hey James!"
"What do you want, Gurgeon?" James asked, turning. Hermione frowned.
"Don't call me that."
"Hey Prongs, who's this hottie?" The other black-haired boy asked.
"Her name is..."
"Maya Gurgeon." Hermione cut in.
"Maya...Gurgeon..." James echoed. "Right...anyway, back to my original question." He continued. "What do you want?"
Hermione gave him a dark, calculating look before she said. "I want to be in your band."
"What?" The man that Hermione assumed must be Sirius asked.
"You're kidding." James said, looking back at the other three before chuckling and turning to her. "Darlin' I'd love to have you in the band, don't take it personally...it's just that the band is called the Marauders. If you're not a Marauder, you can't be in the band. Savvy?"
"And here I thought you were strictly Liberal, Potty." Hermione heard a familiar drawl behind her. She stiffened. It was the drawl that had called her Mudblood for years.
"Malfoy..." She whispered, spinning. What was he doing h...! Oh. She eyed the tall blonde boy in front of her for several long moments before arching one eyebrow. He was definitely Lucius...he looked a lot like Draco, but his hair was longer, pulled back into a tasteful ponytail...and there was no mistaking the smug, superior look that Draco Malfoy had yet to inherit so perfectly.
"Sod off, Malfoy." James said.
"What's the matter, Potty? Tired of consorting with Mudbloods?" Lucius ran his eyes up and down Lily's form in a very violating gaze. Lily gritted her teeth, but said nothing. Hermione herself arched one eyebrow and unconsciously reached for her wand...consequently drawing Lucius' attention to her. "Well, well...what do we have here?" He said.
"Wouldn't you like to know." Hermione said, her eyes on him with a bored, glazed over look in them.
"My name is Lucius Malfoy..."
"King of Slytherins and God's gift to women. We know, Malfoy." Sirius spoke up. "Doesn't that superior smirk ever get old?"
"Doesn't your incessant stupidity, Black?" Lucius shot back.
"Ooh. How it hurts." Sirius grabbed his chest and pretended to fall over dead. James and Pudge laughed. Peter, really, Hermione supposed. But she thought of him more as Pudge. Or Poodoo. Or Shit. Whichever. Remus, for he had to be Remus, just rolled his eyes and sighed, exchanging a glance with Lily.
"Our good friend Maya here..." James put an arm around Hermione's shoulders. "Was just talking to us about a rather foolish matter. Weren't you, Gurgeon?"
"I really don't know where you get your information, Potter." Hermione shrugged his arm off. "But last time I checked, the only foolish matter around here was that which makes up the four of you." She pretended not to notice Remus' surprise or Sirius' hurt look.
Lucius grinned. "Gurgeon, you're all right. If you ever need a favor, come on down to the Dungeons." He turned and walked off. Well...actually...sauntered was a better word. He sauntered off.
Hermione ignored the icy looks that the Marauders were giving her as she turned back to Lily. "Come on, let's go finish shopping."
James grabbed her arm. "Wait a sec, Gurgeon...we dismiss you. Not the other way around." Hermione turned and looked at him. "What was that all about anyway?"
Hermione looked at him. "That was about not being a prick to everyone I meet." She let her eyes show what she thought of his behavior. "Good Day." She turned and walked off with Lily, leaving the four Marauders quite stunned.