Summary: Remus and his pals taken on the ride of their lives when a young woman who claims to be from their future appears in the marauder era, ready to change the world as they know it. Will her own past keep her from handling their future? Will she reignite a love she had lost?

Disclaimer: Of course none of this is really mine except the AU bits and the plot of this particular story. It truly belongs to JK Rowling and this disclaimer is meant for all the chapters following.

Please enjoy. I think it's a very interesting idea and I wanted to play with it. What would have happened if they had lost the war. If they'd gone so far, taken so much time to destroy each horcrux but in the end... Harry had failed. Of course my own little HrG/RL imagination ran away with me, but hey, that's who I am and if you searched me using characters, you're in the same boat I am. Review if you please!

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

Remus fell to the ground, tripping over something. He stumbled backwards, and looked down, his eyes widening at the sight of a foot, his eyes traveled up the shabbily-clothed body to see a pale face. She looked horribly beaten and bruised. He wondered what had happened to her. A horrifying thought struck him. Had he…?

"James!" he called, his voice cracking slightly. The terror in his heart became more and more powerful when James didn't answer. "JAMES!" he cried out again, his voice more frantic this time. He saw James run into the clearing.

"She… she was just there. I tripped over her. James what if I… did I?" Remus stuttered.

James jogged to the girl, brushing his friend aside. He touched his fingers to her neck lightly. "She's alive, Remus," James said. "Do you know any awakening spells?"

Remus' eyes were on the girl's innocent face, contorted in an expression of pain. He was shaking terribly. James racked his brain quickly. He couldn't think of anything at the moment, not for this at least.

"Enervate," he said, on the off-chance that it would work, though it generally only worked to counteract stupefy.

To his surprise, the girl sat up quickly, coughing hard and leaning forward. James rubbed her back softly. There was a look of extreme pain on her face now and she jerked away from his hand, before crying out with pain as a visible open wound on her left side, was shocked. Blood soaked her shirt and her face was ashen white, eyes sunken in. Her arm was cradled against the wound, and her breathing erratic, bringing a wince each time she inhaled.

"What happened?" Sirius cried as he came upon them. "Did you…"

"I don't know!" Remus shouted, jumping to his feet and beginning to limp back and forth, pacing as he had never paced before. Tears of frustration welled in his eyes. This could ruin his life, but more importantly this could ruin her life.

"Where am I?" the girl's cracked voice broke through his pacing. She was obviously in extreme pain. The sight of the sheer amount of blood was enough to make Remus queasy in a moment. He may have been a werewolf, but that didn't mean his human side was any less frightened. She looked around at them.

"Harry?" she asked, looking blearily up at James, raising her hand up to his face. She grabbed onto his glasses and suddenly froze. She pushed her feet hard, digging her heels in and half-crawling away, leaning slightly to keep from stretching her injured side. She ran into a pair of legs and looked up to see who she had run into. A small scream left her lips as a sort of recognition flashed when she saw Peter.

"Get away!" she shouted, jumping to her feet and trying to run away, though her injuries wouldn't let her get far. She collided with Sirius, who fell to the ground. She remained on her feet, leaning against a tree, breathing erratically. She snatched a wand that fell from Sirius' hand to the ground.

"Full moon," she mumbled, looking up at the dusky sky. Her eyes fell on Remus and her darting eyes steadied. She stared at him for a long moment, her wand lowering, hand shaking.

"Remus," she whispered, trying to walk to him, but she fell to her knees, halfway. She looked at Sirius and then back at Remus then mumbled, "You're dead." With that, she passed out, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

They all stared at her for a long time. "Dead?" Sirius repeated questioningly.

Remus sat in the room at St. Mungos, staring across at the bed, where James sat, running a nervous hand through his hair. The girl looked smaller even on the bed. She looked a few years their senior, had brown hair that lay in complete disarray. The expression on her pale face was pained. The healers had spent hours with her, before the marauders were allowed into the room.

Headmaster Dumbledore was outside the room right now, currently raising his voice to a group of Ministry Officials who wanted to arrest Remus for biting the girl. She was indeed a werewolf. The blood tests that they had done had assured them of that. She definitely wasn't a registered werewolf. The ministry couldn't even figure out who she was.

Remus stood up as he saw a ministry official enter the room, flanked by two larger men. The loud sound as the door hit the wall and woke up the girl, who had previously been asleep. Remus' eyes shot to her and their eyes met. Tears filled those hazel orbs before her keen eyes darted around quickly, trying to figure out what was going on. She looked so lost, raising a hand to her head at the pain and groaning softly. He could hear her breaths and the pain behind each and guilt ate at him. Her eyes though... they were so familiar and there was something about her that made him feel like they'd missed something.

The men walking quickly across the room drew his attention after a moment. He lowered his head, standing submissively as they came upon him. He winced as the two larger men grabbed him by the arms roughly. It hurt, but he deserved it. He met the girl's eyes again, through the shade of his dirty bangs. She stared still in confusion. Remus could barely concentrate as the smaller wizard began telling him a rather mechanical list of rights for werewolves. He'd read of his "rights" before, or lack thereof. Something seemed to be pressing on him, but he couldn't quite tell what. Actually, it felt like... he couldn't explain it, but it felt like magic a very raw form of magic pressing down on him heavily.

He tore his eyes away as he was dragged towards the door. "Stop! What are you doing?" a small husky voice halted the ministry officials and gasps drew the attention of the men in the room to that girl. Remus looked at James who was blocking the door, but his eyes were behind him. Remus looked to the girl once more and felt his own breath hitch. She was on her feet, small hand gripping one of the bedposts tightly. She stumbled a bit, but took an even firmer grip, her eyes fluttering for a moment before she became steeled. He'd seen them give her potion after potion. She was on so many medical potions that for her to be able to stand was near impossible especially with the extensive injuries they'd claimed she had.

"What- what has he done?" she demanded, a voice that might have at one time held authority was weak with the drugs and the pain.

"Ma'am, please settle down. You should not defend this monster. This man… he bit you," the man said. The girl gave Remus a bewildered look. He shrunk in shame as her eyes looking from him to the ministry officials and back, as if she didn't comprehend that statement, which no one had told her the most important part of that.

"You're a werewolf," the young Remus Lupin said, his head downcast.

A small, tired smile came to her pale, slightly scarred face. "I, sir," she paused to draw a breath, "have been a werewolf for- three full cycles now, and- if you need me to, I'll show you the scar to prove that," she said, swallowing hard. "He is not the one- that turned me into a werewolf." Remus watched her face wrinkle at the pain and felt a sudden urge to go to her side, to help her. Sirius rushed past James, going to her side and taking her arm. She glanced up at him with a watery smile, her free hand going to cover her injury on her right side.

"If this man was not the monster who turned you, who was? We must apprehend him at once," the ministry member said, sounding very high on himself.

"How can you call- him that when you don't even know him?" she said, a deep sadness in her voice. Surely she didn't expect a response to that. Remus stared at her, exchanging a confused look with James.

"Fenrir Greyback is a bit out of your reach these days, isn't he," the girl said, darkly, her eyes shifting to another form. She was now returning Remus' stare in such a way as to make him shift under the power of it. Her eyes were full of tears, but that was to be expected with the kind of pain she was in.

"Greyback," Remus muttered, voice distant even to his own ears. He shrugged off the ministry official's arms roughly and sat down heavily on a nearby chair, feeling as if a large weight had been lifted.

"I think that means you three have no business here," Dumbledore said. Remus looked to him, trying to stem his own tears as a sob escaped the girl on the other side of the room. Tears began to fall down her face in earnest as she stared into the kind blue eyes looking upon her.

The ministry members looked at each other. One nodded and they all walked out silently, sending hooded glances at her as they went. Sirius supported the girl as her knees buckled. It seemed that she felt she had to keep her dignity with the ministry officials around, but otherwise, she couldn't hold herself up.

"Are you all right?" Sirius asked, after he'd helped her back onto the bed. She sat up on her own, feet off the edge.

"This must be a dream… or a nightmare," she mumbled. Remus looked up at her, agreeing with the second part of that. This had been his worst nightmare realized.

"Why is that my dear?" Dumbledore asked. She raised her hand to her chest, wincing in pain.

"You're all dead," she said, softly, not breaking eye contact with him.

"I believe that this means that you have a story to tell us?" Dumbledore said. The girl didn't speak, eyes locked on Peter Pettigrew who had finally come into the room.

"Not with all these people," she said, eyes narrowing on the bedspread.

"None of us are allied with you-know-who," Sirius said, his brow furrowing.

"Perhaps Mr. Black, we shall concede to this young lady's wishes. We all must agree that she has indeed been through a lot," Dumbledore said.

"How, how do you know our names though?" James asked, frustrated. Remus stood, walking to the door, but paused to look back at the girl. He could feel her eyes on him which they were, but she didn't respond to the question or address him.

"James," Dumbledore said, warningly. James took a seat and shut his mouth as Sirius, Remus and Peter all left. Peter looked relieved to be told to go. That girl did look at him strangely.

"What is your name?" Dumbledore asked, when the door closed behind the fearsome foursome. She watched as they took seats out in the hall, could see them through a large window. She wasn't in the main part of St. Mungos that was for sure. They didn't have locks on the doors of windows to observe there. She was a threat and they were making sure she wasn't able to harm anyone.

"I am Hermione um- Hermione Granger," the girl said. Dumbledore's brow furrowed at the stutter but he didn't say a word. She glanced at the marauders on the other side of the wall. She then lowered her head. "I knew all of them and you. I knew you well," the girl looked at Dumbledore sadly.

"You use the past tense?" Dumbledore asked.

"I don't know what happened. It was some kind of spell I think or a worm hole. I've been sent back nearly two decades in time," Hermione said. He stared at her, as her mind practically whirled before him. Her hazel eyes were very expressive, but he resisted his natural urge to look through them and simply find the answers he sought. No. He had to do what was right and that was ask and get answers. "Perhaps I'm here to help the future, change it," she added softly.

"Changing time is a serious issue Miss… Granger," Dumbledore told her, a sharpness entering his eyes as he looked upon the girl.

"If only you knew what happened, headmaster," she said. The window that showed her the four sitting out in the hall had her full attention. She stared at one intently, unabashed when the others noticed her gaze. He followed those eyes to Remus, but it wasn't the time to ask on that.

"What did happen, child?" Dumbledore asked, pulling a seat up to sit before her, where she sat on the bed, watching her tenderly.

"Harry and I, we couldn't fight him off. Voldemort killed Harry, he killed- Ron, and he… he- he killed- Remus. Ginny and I… we were the only ones left until…" she trailed off, looking down as tears streamed down her cheeks. She looked out through the window once again at Remus who was bent over, cradling his head in his hands. He watched as a look of pain crossed her delicate face and her fists clenched on the bedspread at her sides.

"Everyone is dead. I think the only reason I'm alive is because I'm a werewolf. Fenrir Greyback bit me, and Voldemort kept me around to see if he could get any entertainment when I changed and was locked in a cage with Ginny… I don't know how I got here, but some magic must have sent me. There isn't anything left in the future. Nothing… no order members, Voldemort controls Hogwarts as well as the Ministry, and... there's no Harry Potter," she said. Miss Granger's rant ended, the room fell into silence.

"Harry Potter?" Dumbledore asked, quietly after trying to digest the information.

"James Potter's son. He was my best friend," she whispered, tears continuing to fall silently down her face, solemn and slow.

"We lose?" Dumbledore asked, quietly, feeling himself waver.

"We won't," Hermione said.

"But we did?" Dumbledore pressed, looking at her sharply.

"NO! We will not lose, because I know everything that led up to…" she began, trailing off.

"Our loss," Dumbledore finished.

"I can change it," she said.

"Changing time is not something you can do on a whim. You could alter things that…" Dumbledore found himself cut off by the girl's soft voice.

"Things that shape a terrible future, the death of most of the good people of the wizarding world… the death of all who were true, honest, and caring?" she whispered.

"Miss, I am not sure I know exactly what we are to do in this matter, but if you have a suggestion that doesn't involve…"

"Headmaster, please let me try. I can't go through your death again, or Harry and- Remus…" the pretty girl trailed off, once again glancing up at him. "Sirius will lead the worst life you could ever think off, James will only reach the age of twenty-one before he's finished off, Remus will wallow in self pity for years, and the other one... he will betray you."

"The other one… Peter?" Dumbledore frowned. He looked to the window. "If you are who you say that you are, then you understand that I cannot trust you right now…"

She was silent for a long while but he could sense that she had something to say. He didn't know what it was yet, but she was thinking. He waited patiently as her mind worked for a few minutes. "Headmaster, in these times who can you trust but those that fly in fire and deny the silver blood," she said in a very quiet voice. His eyes widened and he stared at her. If one word had been off, the statement could not have been authenticated, but she had not stumbled over her words. She'd collected her thoughts and then said it without hesitation. His eyes followed as she shrugged her shirt off of her shoulder. Dumbledore nodded, at the sight of a tattoo. It was a red bird and it bowed its head at him respectfully, a mark that only one of The Order could know that it was real. The only thing was, it wasn't anywhere near the mark that they had these days. No it was much more advanced.

"The fire that burns in all of us allows us the effects that the silver should give, though the effect should live in the hearts of those we love," Dumbledore replied. "You will drink veritaserum?" he questioned, rather gruffly, no longer treating her as a he might a student, more as an adult.

"Without hesitation," Hermione responded. Dumbledore nodded and with that he was gone, disapparated with a loud pop.

Hermione looked down at her side that was protesting at having been in a bent position. She could see red through the pristine white cloth and groaned. The pain was sharp and terrible and made her scrunch her eyes as she felt one wave of intensity.

When she looked up, her eyes met those of James Potter in the hallway. In a second she had covered her shoulder again. He was the only one to see the mark it seemed. Sirius and Peter were both speaking to Remus softly. James placed a hand on his own shoulder, staring at her. She realized that he was probably the only one of the group that had been initiated already.

James nodded his head to her, a sign of respect. She nodded back, and as they connected it seemed the others had vanished to either person's knowledge. That was the connection of The Order. When you were one of them, you would always remain one of them until the day you died. If someone bore the mark that only Dumbledore could give then they were worthy of recognition and fellowship. In that response she had given him, she had conveyed that he could enter and he seemed to know that as he walked in and shut the heavy door behind himself, not allowing his friends to follow.

"They didn't want to fully heal it because they were afraid that you would go into post full-moon frenzy. They wanted you to remain weak, you understand," James said, darkly.

"The first week after you aren't even really human," she said, gruffly.

"Allow me," he said, taking out his wand and pointing to her wound.

The girl nodded, grabbing onto the corner where it was bandaged. She gripped it and pulled it off slowly, to leave her abdomen bare. Looking down at the wound she sighed. James followed her eyes as she glanced at Remus, who was staring in through the window, pain and self-loathing in his eyes. When he saw her looking at him, he looked away sharply, guilty and embarrassed.

"Sorry about that, but in his defense he received quite a few nasty gashes on his right arm and leg," James said, looking back down as he waved his wand. The tip lit up and shot at the wound. It began to close itself up, not even needing anything to help it along.

"Perhaps our wolves don't agree with each other," she murmured softly. He jerked his head as he concentrated on her injury.

"Obviously they already used a potion," she said watching how easily he healed her. "Can I borrow your wand?" she asked, softly when he'd finished with the worst.

James hesitated, before conceding softly, handing it to her. She pointed it at the window which became completely covered. She immediately handed it back to him. "I'm sure you weren't in the room when they treated me, but..." she trailed off. She pulled her legs up beneath her and turned, with a wince. She pulled her shirt up by the collar to show him her back.

James winced as he saw it. There was first a nasty bite-mark on her back that looked horribly infected. It looked like it was very old. She must have been kept alive by magic and the wound reopened more than once. Along with that, there were more gashes, methodical and even as if someone had purposefully.

"That bad, is it?" the girl whispered, distantly.

"Who did this?" he demanded, through gritted teeth. His stomach turned over, as he took in the damage.

"I don't really want to talk about it. Could you just..." she trailed off, her voice weak. He felt a sudden urge to just hold this girl's hand, tell her she'd be al right. She seemed so lost, so tired, and so hurt.

James worked hard to heal the wounds and it took a long time. He could hear her soft sounds of pain every time he performed a spell. His mother had taught him these complicated spells in the past two years and he was good, but this took a lot of concentration and... a lot of spells. She was very badly injured.

When he'd finished with a few there was knocking on the door. He told his friends to wait and warded it. She obviously didn't want them to see and he wasn't going make her go through that if it would cause her any more grief. She obviously gone through a lot for their side. He wouldn't add to it.

"Can I do anything else?" he asked, as he finished the last spell. She glanced at him, her eyes meeting his.

"Is- is there anywhere else I can go? I rather dislike hospitals and the ministry so this is quite easily my least favorite place in the wizarding world right now."

He nodded, "I'm not sure that we can apparate you because of the…"

"… The grade three ingredients in the regeneration paste. Yes, I know. Once that hits the blood stream, that form of transportation is illegal," Hermione said.

"All right then, little know-it-all. Come on," he said, pulling her arm over his shoulder with a chuckle. She was wearing muggle clothes still, though the bottom of her shirt had been magically severed to allow emergency care at St. Mungos when she had arrived, but it didn't seem she minded and the wounds on her back were barely visible. Only a few reached down that far.

She leaned heavily on him, but he held fast, helping her out into the hallway. He knew for a fact she'd not been given a blood-replenishing potion. The door opened ahead of them and Sirius took her other arm over his shoulder. She bit her lip to keep from crying out at the pain that motion caused, but after a moment relaxed.

"Where are we going?" Sirius asked James over the girl's head.

"Home, we're just going home," James said. "We'll take floo from Dad's office."

"All right," Sirius said. "Here Remus and I will take her. You have to go find Lily. She sent an owl. That's why we were knocking," Sirius said, handing him the letter that he shuffled out of his pocket.

"Peter, you can come with me," James said.

"All right," Peter nodded.

Sirius glanced down at the girl when she stiffened. "We'll make sure she gets some rest," he said. "Remus too," he added.

"I bet you'll be good at playing mum Padfoot," James said, smirking which earned him a roll of the eyes, but the mood was anything but light. The other three marauders saw the amount of blood on James's hands and knew that whatever had happened to this girl went beyond a werewolf fight.

Remus limped over and wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her arm onto his shoulders. He frowned, glancing down at her as he felt a strange magic flow through him and make his fingers tingle in an odd way. This magic had been coming off of her. There was no doubt of it now. Dumbledore had always had that flow of magic radiating off of him, but he could practically taste this girl's magic in the air.

James and Peter walked off one way and the three of them started off down the hallway. They weren't stopped by any nurses, who had probably been told to stay away by Dumbledore. That man always seemed to know what would happen before it ever did. Well, he hadn't predicted this. Sirius glanced down at the girl, who seemed to put her full concentration in walking.

"So, do you have a name?" Sirius asked.

"Hermione," she said, not looking up at him. It quieted again as they navigated their way through the ministry.

"Sorry about…" Remus trailed off uncomfortably, breaking the silence.

"'Tis just a scratch," she teased, lightly. His hand tightened around her, trying to convey his seriousness. "I'm all right," she promised. "I'm sorry about hurting you as well," Hermione whispered.

"Any chance you can tell us where you came from?" Sirius asked, leading a bit as he rounded the corner.

"Not now, no," she said. There was silence down the rest of that hall and on the elevator. They got even stranger looks as they walked down the halls towards the senior auror offices. Hermione was feeling more and more lightheaded as they went, familiar faces flashing before her. Suddenly, she couldn't find her feet. As she began to feel all her weight moving forward, the two strong hands on both of her sides tightened and both of her hands were grabbed before they slipped off of the shoulders. A jolt of pain at that brought her to full awareness.

"Whoa, are we all right here boys?" a slightly older fellow asked. A light of recognition flashed in the girl's eyes when she made eye contact and she answered before either of the boys could.

"Just trying to keep pushing forward, one step at a time, left right left right," she said, wondering how she could be so lucky that that comment would fit so well into the situation.

"As long as we have strength and determination, we find our way then don't we, young lady?" he replied. Sirius and Remus both looked terribly confused at their odd manner of speaking.

"Right... Mr. Potter, James sent us. We're going to take Herm- uh…" Sirius had already forgotten Hermione's name, but Remus was quick to finish the sentence.

"We were going to take Hermione to your house if that's all right. We were wondering if we could use your fireplace sir," Remus said.

"Certainly, where's James?" Mr. Potter asked.

"He had to go find Lily, something about school," Sirius replied. "Head Boy stuff probably."

"I see, well go ahead, the missus isn't home, so just take her up to the guest room, all right?" he asked.

"Yes sir," Remus nodded. "Ready?" he asked, looking to Hermione for an answer.

Hermione stared up at him for a moment, as if she hadn't even comprehended his speaking, but after a moment it clicked. "Yes, I'll be all right," Hermione replied, looking down.

They made it to Mr. Potter's office all right and Sirius opened the door, turning on the light as the shuffled in sideways as they couldn't all fit in the doorway of course. Sirius left Remus supporting Hermione as he conjured a magical fire and pulled out a small box of floo powder.

"I'll take her," Sirius said.

"Not a chance. You'll probably end up in France for all we know. You're terrible with floo," Remus said, irately.

"Well you're injured," Sirius pointed out.

"I can handle it," Remus said. Sirius turned away huffily and stepped into the fireplace that had expanded for him. "24 Rose Place, Godric Hollow," he said clearly and was engulfed by flames.

"All right. We're going to go together, so we'll have to stay close okay. Be sure to keep your elbows in as I'm sure you know," Remus mumbled, a bit embarrassed by the situation. He threw in a liberal amount of floo powder and helped her into the flames. She shivered as the flames tickled her legs and glanced at him. His face reddened as he squeezed in behind her holding her arms in, covered by his, in case they met with one of those rough fireplaces that seemed to jump out just so they could hit you.

"24 Rose Place, Godric Hollow," he stated. He tightened his arms around her as the fireplaces began whirling by. He frowned as she pressed back against him, probably because the closeness of the fit. He stood as steady as possible so he didn't get thrown back and out onto the wrong mantel. He wondered if she even realized that but realized himself that she was on a lot of medication, a few of which were sure to make her nervous and edgy despite the variety of calming drafts used. The back of her head hit his shoulder and she stopped pushing just turned her cheek to move further from the fireplaces. The fireplace they were headed to had a kick to it which Remus remembered well. They were suddenly thrown out of the fireplace, but Sirius was there. He caught her and Remus stumbled a bit keeping himself on his feet.

The sweet smell of peppermint and gingerbread hit him like a wave and the warmth of the Potter residence washed over him, immediately making him feel safe. It was as if it was straight out of a book of Christmas Stories. A small sigh left Hermione as the same smells hit her. He looked over his shoulder to see her visibly relax as if she were tasting the very magical aura of this place.

Sirius watched as Remus sat down tiredly on the sofa wincing and gripping his leg. "Come on," Sirius said to the girl. "I'll take you upstairs. You need to rest." Hermione nodded; moving toward the stairs reluctantly, with a concerned glance back at Remus, but she accepted his help through a small kitchen then up a set of stairs onto the second level. They went into the first room on the right at the top of the stairs and Sirius left her there after seeing her suitably settled in the guest bed.

Well. There we go. For those of you who read my other stories, relax. I have 140-some pages written. All I have to do is edit here and there then post them. Trust me, you'll love it. There won't be HG/RL action for a while for obvious reasons (ie. they just met, but the plot definitely thickens in my next chapter). Review and I'll update within the next two days!