Hogwarts, June of 1994

"HERMIONE?- I`m telling you Harry, girls take ages to pack- COME ON, WE`RE STARVING."

"IN A MINUTE, RONALD!" She shouted down the hall. "Honestly. Boys and their stomachs. Some people like to put things away neatly."

Four trunks were lined up by the door, packed up by the slave labor of house elves that didn`t seem to bother Hermione`s ignorant roommates. Unfortunately, in her attempt to take a stand for civil liberties and elfish equality, Hermione had not taken into account the time it would take to pack unaided, which is why her little corner of the room was currently in a state of controlled chaos, piles everywhere.

As soon as she got home, Hermione resolved, she was going to get herself a proper alarm clock. Dead batteries were not going create problems like this for her again.

"JUST MAGIC IT ALL UP AND COME EAT!"

"BUT THEN I WON`T KNOW WHERE ANYTHING IS!"

Sighing, Hermione supposed she might have to resort to barbaric measures. After all, she still had to go down and meet with Professor McGonagall about her classes. Determined, she plucked the wand off her nightstand. "GO TO BREAKFAST WITHOUT ME, I`LL MEET YOU DOWN THERE."

They didn`t need to be told twice, apparently, and left without another word. Hermione, in a way that made her feel very Mary Poppins, set to charming all the books to fly furiously into her trunk, followed by all of the piles of scrap parchment and leftovers of another successful scholarly year of magic. It made a horrible clatter that she normally wouldn`t have stood for, but as she was running short on time, there was nothing to be done about it. As soon as the last quill was immobile, she snapped the lid shut and dashed down the stairs.

Halfway to Professor McGonagall`s office, Hermione realized she`d forgotten to grab the time turner from atop her "Academic Resources" pile. By the time she ran all the way back to her dorm, the trunks were gone.

When she arrived in the Professor`s office, her hair was twice its usual enormity, and tears hung from the corners of her eyes.

"Professor, I have to hand my time turner in. I`ve decided to drop Muggle Studies. I know it`s a big responsibility and all, but I don`t think I can handle taking all those classes again."

McGonagall was aghast. "Of course you can drop classes. You did manage for an extraordinary long time, and maintained good grades throughout. Naturally, you can pick up classes again if you please later on, but I agree that for now, this might be for the best."

"Thank you…the only problem is, Professor, I haven`t got the time turner with me. It`s in my trunk, which has already-"

"I`m sure you`re responsible enough to owl it back to the school when you find it, Miss Granger?"

Hermione brightened, wiping her eyes. "Yes, Professor."

"Good. Now, I`d suggest you hurry down to breakfast, before Weasley eats your share of eggs."

Hogwarts, June of 1996

"Are you sure you don`t want me to help you look for your stuff?" Harry asked again, not feeling quite as alone as he had just a few moments ago.

Luna smiled, but shook her head, eyes looking past him. Harry wondered if the reason she had that dreamy expression all the time was because she was trying to look past this world and to the one beyond, through the veil.

"Oh no… No, I think I`ll just go down and have some pudding and wait for it all to turn up….It always does in the end…. Well, have a nice holiday, Harry."

"Yeah… yeah, you too."

After watching Luna go and feeling oddly less weighted down, Harry continued to wander around Hogwarts. He walked for hours, through every secret passaged in the school, just in case the ghost of his godfather did happen to appear. Finally, though, after circumnavigating the Hogwartizan halls thrice over, Harry began to accept the fact that Nick might be right; Sirius had gone on.

It was just as Harry was making his way back up to the Gryffindor Tower when he bumped into a very exhausted-looking Hermione.

"Harry!" She greeted softly, "We were wondering where you`d gone. You missed the feast."

"Yeah, I suppose I did."

"Look, Harry…" He could tell she wanted to talk about Sirius. It was right there, grief and concern hidden quite badly in her expression. "Would you mind giving something to Professor McGonagall for me?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, I found it a few weeks ago, been meaning to give it back, but she was in the hospital and all… it`s the time turner we saved Buckbeak with in third year. I could never find it to give it back, but when I was trying to look for Arithmancy note in the bottom of my trunk; I found it tangled on an old S.P.E.W. badge. Anyway…" She gently handed it over. "I figured the Ministry would really need it back now, since all the others got smashed in the battle."

"Yeah," Harry nodded, deep in thought. "See you later, Hermione."

"Alright." She wavered for a moment, as if she could not quite pin down her thoughts. "Goodnight Harry."

As he watched his friend go, Harry though of what Luna had said to him earlier, about things turning up in the end. The last time turner was in his hand, and maybe there was a reason Hermione had happened to remember it now. Maybe Harry was meant to use it.

He could save Sirius.

He could save Cedric.

He could save his parents.

So instead of heading straight to McGonagall`s office and handing over the key to his past, Harry sat down in the secret passage behind the one-eyed witch, and began to flip the hourglass.

It was an awful lot of hours, an awful lot of turns, since 1981. But Harry was not going to give up. Not on his godfather, and not on his parents.

A little after five the next morning, despite his best efforts, Harry finally slipped out of consciousness, glasses askew, and fell asleep somewhere around the 200,000th turn of the little hourglass.