This is my first story and... I'm a little nervous as to how it will turn out and if anyone will like it, It takes me a while to write because I'm such a perfectionist so I may post once a week because on top of everything I have 7 and a half hours of school, please bare with me :)

I own nothing except the occasional random background character, everything else belongs to the lovely and talented J.K. Rowling.

.

.

.

She cried her curly mass of hair falling over her soft and tear stained face. In the past twenty-four hours her life had somehow changed so dramatically she didn't even recognize it anymore. As she cried images floated across her tear filled eyes. Harry flying back his eyes faded and glassy, Ron laying on the floor his face bloodied and his hair plastered to his pale and freckled face with the sick redness.

The castle shook with the power and destruction being wrought throughout it. Hogwarts was under attack and no one was safe from the shrapnel of spells hitting the walls, from the ear piercing shrieks of the dying, the tortured, and the spells.

Hermione had avoided any battles herself but ran from one person to the next backing them when the odds seemed out of their reach. She had seen more deaths in the last 15 minutes than any one person should ever see and now, she was faced with the possibility of her own. One of the Death Eaters, she assumed to be woman behind the grotesque mask, leapt in front of her firing curse after curse in so rapid an order that Hermione was having problems throwing up shield fast enough.

When she thought it was her last Dean slipped in front of her backed by Neville and told her to "Run"

Without a moment's hesitation she ran. She took the stairs avoiding various jinxes and curses from both sides and came across Ron's body. It was terrifying to see him, his blood dripping down the stairs like some sick sort of stream. She gagged and kept running trying to push it all behind her and into a locked box in her mind. She was trying to find Harry, as he had disappeared from her sight when the battle began and having seen Ron, she doubled her efforts. She reached a hall whose windows overlooked the battle bellow her and when she glanced down, she saw him, the battle had paused and there were just two lone figures surrounded on all sides by people watching, waiting. Between the two figures was a line green and red, combating each other. With the rebound both bodies went flying. They were dead. It was over. Both bodies lay crumpled surrounded by their followers.

A gentle hand lay across her shoulder brushing some of the hair behind it. "Hermione?" She looked up at the soft worried tone and saw the scarred and age-worn face of her former professor. She lifted her dirt and blood streaked sleeves and tried, futilely to wipe away her tears a hot and vivid flush creeping up her cheeks turning them the same shade of her bloodshot eyes.

She had thought she had been alone. With Sirius and most of the Order dead she had wrongly assumed that no one would come looking for her, at least, not for a few precious hours that she needed severely to gather herself from the terror that threatened to overwhelm her. "I'm alone now…" She whispered softly looking up at Remus' kind and sadden eyes.

Hermione, why don't you come back to Hogwarts with me? We can get you checked over by Poppy." He took her face in his hands looking into her eyes as if that would tell him how to fix this one amazingly strong young woman. "Please, Hermione."

Hermione pulled away with a gut wrenching sob and clutched her heavy heart. "Please, Remus, please don't make me go back there. I-I cannot go back there, not after—. " Another sob wracked her boy making her seem smaller than she ever had. Reminding Remus that this child was in fact still a child, no matter what the war had made her.

Remus' heart broke for the poor girl, she had lost so much to the damn war, not that he hadn't, but in one night, in a short span of hours, she had lost almost everyone that she had ever really cared for. She had lost nearly everything in a battle that they had only won with the barest breadth. "Scourgify" He whispered making her give the barest hint of a smile.

Remus pulled her in deftly in a warm hug and immediately she began crying again clutching to his well worn shirt with tears and sobs that broke his heart all over again. With a heavy sigh he held tight to her and apparated with a crack to just outside the infirmary. With the wards all down except around the infirmary it was easy, McGonagall had managed to get those up for now, as a precaution for the injured.

As soon as Hermione realized they had apparated she pulled away from Remus with such severe anger in her eyes that she reminded him more of a wild animal than the teenage witch he knew her to be. She pulled her wand and he could have sworn he heard her growl." I told you not to bring me back here."

Remus held his hands in front of him palms up in the universal symbol of peace. "Hermione. Stop this. We need to get you checked over."

She threw a jinx at him wordlessly, the purple splash of color not looking very friendly. He could feel his wolf trying to claw its way out and with the moon not far off it seemed a losing battle. His eyes flashed with warning and he saw the recognition cross her face and with that she turned and ran.

It was a matter of seconds before Remus realized she had taken off and proceeded to follow her afraid of what she might try to do if left alone to her own devices. He could hear her pounding footsteps as they moved through the halls just one corner ahead of him and it seemed that no matter how fast he ran she was ahead of him and growing because now he could only faintly hear her even with his werewolf hearing on hyper alert.

Hermione knew she was ahead of him by a stretch, her tired feet carrying her around rubble and up stairs, around corners and finally up to the seventh floor, to the Room of Requirement. She took a chance and walked across the front of where the door should be three times in rapid and more panicked steps with escape on the brain. She could hear his steps coming up closer behind her and she grabbed the handle of the door now in front of her and threw it open not bothering to look in front of her before she stepped in and closed the door behind her.

Remus could no longer hear her footsteps and that was worse than anything he could think of, losing one of the only people he still cared for, and it was his fault. He reached the hallway with the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach Trolls ballet and collapsed his lungs deadened and his legs numb. He let out a roar and punched his fist into the wall his anger knowing no bounds.

Once Hermione had the door closed the world tumbled away from her. She could feel no ground beneath her feet and her hair and clothes were getting whipped around her with the fury of a tornado that she knew would leave her mass of hair in a horrible state, and then the burning, like when you first sink into a hot bath. A tingling that crept over her whole body and in an instant it was gone and her feet were planted firmly on the ground the door directly in front of her face lit around the edges. It was the only thing that was, everything else was black as night.

With an ear pressed to the door she listened for Remus and when she realized he was not there she opened the door and gasped. The castle had no rubble or dust flying about as it had when she had been it, the pictures were all straight as to be expected, and there were a few missing, but not many. Not only that, but the castle was quiet. No Remus yelling for her.

She took cautious steps away from the door that had vanished behind her. She made her way down to the sixth floor each step making her want to scream as it became clear that this was not the same Hogwarts she'd left behind. It was then that she saw a shock of unruly black hair that made her heart stop as it turned the corner. With speed she didn't realize she had she ran after the figure so familiar to her, like her own face. She quickly caught up with him and grabbed him from behind laughing with pure joy as the boy jumped. Then he pushed away and Hermione looked into his eyes fairly confused. "You're not Harry…" She spoke softly the hazel eyes looking at her wide and confused.

"No," He spoke slowly giving a shake of his head making his hair fly about. "I'm not Harry." He looked at her regular street clothes and his eyes brows knit together, "Who are you?" He took in the jeans and scuffed up tennis shoes as well as the slightly rumpled tee-shirt and jacket. "You don't go here."

Hermione looked down at her clothes and then back at the stranger before her. "I… " She looked into those eyes again behind the squared black rims. "Prongs…" She sighed heavily and looked away. "I need to see Dumbledore."

James stood slightly dumbfounded and narrowed his eyes" How do you know my name?" He asked in a deadly whisper pulling out his wand on her.

She stepped back and shook her head her eyes wide. "Please, you do not want to do that, James. I only want to see Dumbledore."

James put his wand away and gave a heavy sigh, "Fine, as the Head Boy; I don't have much of a choice." With that he led her to the headmaster's office. "Exploding Bonbons" And with that the giant gargoyle leapt aside revealing the spiraling staircase to the office of the headmaster.

Hermione's heart thundered in her chest as she walked beside her best friend's father. It is impossible to think that this man was alive beside her and nearly the same age as well, she gulped as he opened the headmaster's door. A positively cheerful voice erupted from the other side, "Why, hello James, I was not expecting you."

James coughed slightly and turned to face the door giving Hermione a glance and nodding for her to step within sight of the headmaster. "Dumbledore, there is a girl here, who, says she needs to talk to you…"

Hermione stepped into the room and upon looking at the old man recognized the slight twist of the mouth and twinkle in his now calculating eyes."I fear, I do not recognize you, Miss…"

"Gr—acel" Hermione gulped and licked her lips. She hated lying, but recognized the fact that giving her real name could be deadly. "Sir, I need to speak with you, in private if you don't mind. It is of extreme importance." Hermione twisted her fingers in front of her, she hadn't been this nervous in a long time.

With a quick nod from Dumbledore, James made his way out and after closing the door stopped for a moment wondering if he should eaves drop. It was a good opportunity, but he thought better of it and made his way back to the Great hall where dinner was no doubt nearly halfway through.

James couldn't stop thinking about the odd girl even as he made his way into the Great Hall and sat down to eat with his friends who were giving him odd looks. Finally Sirius spoke up, being the boldest of the Marauders. "Prongs, where did you disappear to, mate?"

James sighed and looked around at his friends. "This girl jumped on me as I was making my way down here." Peter went wide eyed and Remus snorted. Sirius just grinned.

"That, Prongs, is how you get over a seven year crush." He smirked crossing his arms on the table and looking smug. He turned to Remus and Peter. "Moony, Wormy, you each owe me a Galleon."

James sputtered, "No-no, that's not," His face darkened in a mean blush, "Not like that, Padfoot. This girl came up behind me and practically tackled me. She thought I was someone else I guess." He shrugged slightly.

Remus' ears perked up. "Well, who was she then? What house?"

James shook his head again and took a bite of his mashed potatoes. "That," he swallowed, "Is an excellent question, Moony, that I plan on getting answered."

Sirius looked slightly confused at this, but Remus spoke faster. "So, what did she look like, maybe I can place her."

James snorted and set down his spoon and began gesturing wildly around his head. "She had big hair, like it had been through a wind tunnel, big and curly and black. She looked about our age, and had….blue eyes I think…" He picked up his spoon again. "But, I could be wrong about the eyes, the hair, you couldn't miss."

Remus picked his brain for a girl of that description. "She wasn't wearing house robes?" he inquired rather confused by that fact.

"Nope, she was wearing muggle clothes by the looks of it, worn out blue trainers and jeans and rumpled tee-shit and jacket." He paused looking around at the boys." She knew my name, both my name and my nickname."

And with that he had the boys' full attention and a barrage of questions that he could not answer came forth. But, fear not, he would get them, one way or another.

Hermione made her way to Gryffindor tower her eyes heavy. She was quite tired. Dumbledore had run through her mind and now knew just about everything there ever was to know about her, including the future. She was stuck here for now, and she would have to lie about just about everything until she could get home. It went against her most basic rules and morals, but she would have no choice if she wanted to survive in this foreign time.

Dumbledore watched James leave before standing up and in a colorful swirl of robes make his way to standing in front of the girl looking down at her through his half-moon glasses. A frown played on his face. "So, what is so important Miss Gracel?"

Hermione took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm from the future. Roughly twenty years give or take based on James' Heady Boy status."

Dumbledore stepped back with a look of shock on his old face, his eyes appearing ready to pop out of his skull behind his glasses."You must have hit your head or something of the like because, my dear, that is impossible."

Hermione shook her head her now black hair falling in front of her face. As she tried to brush it away she gasped, and loudly, it was really more of a scream caught in her throat by surprise, but for all intents and purposes, she gasped. Her hand shook as she pulled the lock of hair tugging at it and holding it up so the light caught on the inky blackness, she was mesmerized, and Dumbledore was stunned into silence by the oddness of her. Finally she looked away from her mane and up at Dumbledore, "Do you have a mirror, sir?"

Dumbledore nodded and pulled out a small and delicate goblin wrought silver hand mirror and held it out to her. She took it with a nod of thanks and looked at herself, her chocolate eyes were now a pale and mild blue, like the winter sky and her skin was peppered with small light freckles across her nose and cheeks. She barely looked like herself, with slightly more pronounced cheekbones and a near perfect smile.

With a small nod and a dazed expression she handed the mirror back to Dumbledore and shook her head. "As I was saying," She started as Dumbledore slid the mirror back into his desk."I'm from the future and somehow I ended up here and I need to get back soon before I alter anything more than I have."

Dumbledore sat and waved his hand for her to do the same. "Well, how did you get here, Miss Gracel."

Hermione thought about it for a minute and chose her words as best she could without giving away too much. "I was running, away from… a well meaning friend. I needed escape, I was panicking and I went into the Room of Requirement and… I ended up here."

Dumbledore nodded, "Hermione, would you be willing to let me look into your mind?"

Hermione was slightly surprised but had expected as much. He had to be sure she wasn't setting him up for a trap or worse. She nodded and with a small sigh, spoke. "I think it would be for the best." As much as her logical brain was screaming that this was a bad idea, somewhere inside her a little voice, that sounded suspiciously of Luna Lovegood, told her she could save everyone, give her friend a good life and she decided that that little voice, was right.

So, Hermione sat still waiting for Dumbledore to pry into her mind, to see everything and she was truly scared. "Legilimens." She heard his whisper and then suddenly images were flashing before her and it was like her whole life was playing in front of her eyes, every memory she had, even a few she had forgotten as she had gotten older erupted in her brain.

She watched everything from receiving her Hogwarts letter when she was 11 to that last second before she closed the Room of Requirement door and when Albus had pulled out of her head she was crying, warm tears slipping down her now unfamiliar face.

"Well, Hermione, I think we should just slip you into Gryffindor and see how it goes. You will tell no one of this and if you must tell someone something, lie." He nodded to himself thinking. "You may want to hurry to the tower, maybe you will be able to avoid most of the people coming back from dinner."

She had made it to the common room with no difficulty, even avoided any possible students as well, but it seemed her luck had run out because in front of her stood the four Marauders and they had spotted her, her muggle clothes and messy hair and all.

"Bloody hell."

.

.

.

Well, let me know what you think, I love criticism if it's helpful. :)