Completely Unrelated Song Lyric - "Come into my world, I've got to show, show, show you. Come into my bed, I've got to know, know, know you. I have dreams about orca whales and owls, but I wake up in fear. You will never be my fool, you will never be my fool." – Regina Spektor, "Hotel Song."


After dinner, the four had sneaked away and allowed Remus to lead them to where the Room of Requirement was. The walk was long and awkward, and Remus mentally checked through all of the possible passages that could escape the torture, but that would only draw it out painfully. Sirius coughed and winced, trying to find something to say.

"So, uhh, good Quidditch game," he tried.

Peter snorted, frowning at him, "Speak for yourself. We lost, five to two hundred and fifty. I don't know why Crabbins can't sort himself out and hit the bloody Bludgers."

"Because Crabbins has the mental capacity of a toad," Remus answered, shaking his head as he walked backwards to talk to him, knowing the hallways easily. "I sit by him in Charms, unfortunately, and he always gets 'T's on all of his papers. Plus, we're Ravenclaw – the lot of us know how to hit weaknesses and seek out flaws. We're kind of like Athena, the Greek goddess of war strategy? Plus, her symbol was an owl, that's kind of ironic."

"Why haven't you ever tried out for Quidditch then?" James questioned.

He gave a shrug, turning back around to avoid their eyes, "I'd get knocked off in ten minutes. One of my flaws, I suppose."

"Yeah, but he's got a point about Crabbins," James said, "I think every House knows he's a rubbish Beater. Why don't you guys get a new one, anyway?"

"Because everyone else would be a rubbish Beater," Peter admitted dully. "We kept waiting for the next batch of volunteers to be better, but they were worse than Crabbins. And besides – your Houses get some laughs, so whatever."

"Gotta say that I've never even seen you two until that barmy girl kidnapped us," Sirius shrugged, nodding to Remus and Peter.

"Yeah, I kind of keep to myself," Remus shrugged. He started to slow down, arching an eyebrow at the doors before looking back at them. They all waved for him to try it, to where he winced and began to open it, sticking his head through and blinking. The far wall was covered in bookshelves, a hallway separating them. The right wall had a balcony, which was magically made to look like the weather outside, windows covering the whole wall. There were several couches and cushy chairs, a round hearth in the center of it, a small fire in it. To the left wall, there was a kitchen, although he guessed that there probably wasn't any food in there, as the Room of Requirement didn't provide food, although she'd probably nicked some from the kitchens earlier.

She came striding through the hallway in between the bookshelves as they all stepped through, blinking at the room. She was dressed differently, in shorts and a loose long sleeved shirt, a green apple in her mouth.

"Hey," she greeted, taking the apple out of her mouth, her eyes brightening when she saw them, "Didn't expect you lot to pop in so quick."

Sirius gave a snort, glaring at her, "The sooner I get rid of you, the better."

"It's nice to see you too," she smiled, taking another bite out of the apple before waving them to follow her down the hallway, going past two doors before coming into a circular room at the end, candles protruding from the same stone as from the previous room and the hallway, a large desk with parchment and quills littering its surface, a blackboard with some writing already on it. She sat in an office chair, slinging her legs over the side as she crossed them, conjuring up chairs for them, pausing to chew and swallow before talking, "I suspect you have numerous questions, so let's get this out of the way."

James took a seat first, frowning at her, "What the hell is going on?"

She gave a sigh, looking at him sadly, "I honestly don't know. I go to sleep in my bed at my friend's house, and the next thing I know, I wake up in a field. I wandered around the town and found a calendar with the date. Came here, snuck through passages, and viola."

"Why didn't you go to Dumbledore?" Peter asked, sitting near James.

"Because I was closer – ish – with Dumbledore in my time than you lot," she shrugged, "Actually, I didn't even meet one of you, just stories."

"Why did you think we were friends?" Sirius asked, still standing by the doorway.

She sighed, "Because you are. You were all in Gryffindor, you all became friends, one of you married her and had him and bam! Chain reaction! I just don't understand what's going on. I don't know why I'm here and I don't know why this is happening and I really don't know what's going on." She rubbed her eyes, looking tired and worn out, a frown on her face.

"Welcome to the club," Remus spoke up, standing and looking over the blackboard, "We meet every other Tuesday. Bring snacks." She snorted, standing and walking to his side, biting into the apple.

"I'm surprised you can read this," she admitted after a few moments, "My handwriting is rubbish."

He grinned, "Not that hard, once I figured out your 'r's and 'n's." He looked over at her, "You've got stuff written about war and Death Eaters. Care to share?"

"Nope," she said quickly, popping the 'p' sound in it. She glanced over at him as he frowned, "Not because I don't want you to know, believe me, I'd tell you, I'd just really not have nightmares tonight."

"You were in a war?" Sirius asked, looking over her and thinking that there was no way this petite girl could've fought in anything.

She grinned, "One of the Golden Trio. Everybody thought we'd save the day. Well, we did – I just think it's silly that they call us that. Let's see, Harry was the Chosen One – he let that one get to his head in sixth year, I smacked him out of it – Ron was the Brawny One – had to smack him out of that for months before he stopped calling himself that – and they called me 'the Brightest Witch of My Age,'" she snorted, rolling her eyes, "Rubbish."

"How?" James asked, shrugging, "You seem pretty smart."

"I have no idea how I got twenty years back in time or how to get back," she said pointedly, holding up her index fingers for silence, "Let that sink in for a moment."

"Well, it doesn't mean you're stupid," Peter spoke up as Remus squinted at the chalk.

"Do you have physics theories written on here?" he asked absently, "Complex physics theories, I might add."

"What's a physics?" Sirius asked, tilting his head curiously, "Is that one of those people like Professor Hopper who claims they have 'the Eye' or whatever?"

Hermione snorted, covering her mouth so she wouldn't spit her food out. Remus gave a laugh as well, grinning over at Sirius.

"That's a psychic," he said, "Physics is the study of forces and qualities. It's science."

"What's a science?" he asked blankly.

"The study of life, what we're made up of," Hermione answered. "Atoms, protons, neutrons, Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Plutonium, condensation, precipitation, the three states of matter, that stuff?"

He only frowned at her, "I'm from a strict Pureblood family. If this is all Muggle stuff, it's not my fault. If not, I'm just stupid."

"Muggle stuff," Remus said before James stood and looked over her board too, squinting a few times and tilting his head others.

"Time Turner malfunction – where'd the Turner come from, how'd it malfunction?" James began to read aloud. "Prank – would it be George or a timed one left over from Fred? Death Eaters – I thought we got rid of them, why the hell can't they leave me alone?"

"I can't think of anything," Hermione groaned, flopping back into the office chair and chucking her apple in the bin, "This all appears to be at random. But what I can't figure out is how you're all in different Houses now that I'm here. I mean, if something changed after I showed up, I could understand that, but the Sorting Hat wouldn't have changed its mind six years ago."

"The Sorting What?" they echoed, making her sit up and blink.

"You…didn't get Sorted by the Hat?" she seemed incredibly shocked by this.

"No," Peter blinked. "We send in information when we get our letters, a fingerprint, they send back what House we're Sorted into."

"Although," James began, "I remember my dad saying something about that Hat thing when I was younger."

"Yeah, mine too," Sirius nodded, "Something about tradition and how it's foolish to get rid of tradition."

"Why'd they get rid of it?" she said this loudly, her voice going up a few octaves.

"I dunno, something about a trial run," Sirius shrugged, "It stuck for a while, I heard McGonagall talking to Flitwick about reintroducing it next year."

"What?" she asked shrilly, making Remus wince as Sirius frowned and covered his ears. "What – why would – who started this?"

"Well, if you'd stop shrieking, I'd tell you," Sirius huffed before James answered.

"I remember the names Dolohov and Yaxley," he said before she went pale and slowly sat back down, "Hey, you okay?"

"Those were Death Eaters in my time," she said thickly, "Either they went back in time too, or he had them in this time do – but how – he shouldn't – " She kept cutting herself off, hiding her eyes with her hand, taking deep breaths before popping back up. "Alright. That explains that. They saw your names and gave you Houses you shouldn't have been in. Well, except for James. They made sure you wouldn't be friends. Okay – but why am I here?"

Sirius finally sat down as Remus leaned his head against the wall, looking over at them with a frown. Hermione had her feet up on the desk, staring at her toes as James stared at the ceiling, Peter and Sirius staring at the small coffee table.

"You said you were important in taking them down, right?" Remus asked, making her nod, "Well, maybe they're trying to rise again. Take out the 'Brightest Witch of Her Age' – they've got a better chance."

She hummed, "It seems possible, but we've got – we had every Death Eater in Azkaban. It'd either be spouses or girlfriends or boyfriends or family members or sons or daughters, but even then they wouldn't dare try something, as everyone's still on edge. We'd only had the War a few months ago. And how would they get to me? Potion, spell, charm, curse – and even then, if they could get to me that easily, why not just kill me?"

"You're giving me a headache," Peter complained, clapping his hands over his eyes, "Too much deep thinking. I'm not used to it."

"Me either," Sirius barked a laugh as James chuckled, "I don't think there's anything here we're used to." He looked over at Remus, who was still thinking. "Except maybe you."

"Huh?" he blinked, coming back to reality.

"You are the only other person in this room who knew what physics and science and whatever else was," James shrugged.

"Hah," he smirked, "I think that's the only thing I'm used to. Everything else is very, very new."

Hermione gave a grin and a short bow from her seating position, "Thank you. I'm taking that as a compliment." As they chuckled, she sighed and gave them weary smiles, "You can go, if you want. You have classes tomorrow, right?" At their nods, she waved them away, "Go, go get sleep, do homework you've set aside for the last minute."

As James, Peter and Sirius looked at her curiously, she grinned, "Harry and Ron did the same. Goodnight, goodnight, parting is such sweet sorrow." She then wrinkled her nose as Remus gave her a grin and arched his eyebrow. "I know, I know, Hermione quoting Shakespeare – it's ironic, I get it."

"I don't," Peter announced, furrowing his eyebrow as they filed out through the large doors.

"Hermione is a character in one of Shakespeare's plays," Remus said before she could, "She married Leontes and he killed her because he thought she was cheating on him. She came back at the end of the play as a statue."

"Lovely," James snorted before waving to Hermione, "G'night. See you later."

"Bye," she waved back as they all left. Once the door was shut and silence ensued for several moments, she deflated and flopped onto one of the couches, staring at the fire sadly and playing with her fingers. In all honesty, she was alone and scared as to what would happen to not only her, but also her friends.

It was rough being Hermione. Either of them.


I like making literary references. So sue me. But I doubt you'll get much.