A/N: hey all! thank you so much for the reviews! i hope you like this chapter!
Harry!... James?
"Potter's love redheads!"
A beautiful brown haired girl appeared on the couch. Lily stared in shock, her mouth hanging open. The girl stopped laughing, realizing that wherever she had come from, she wasn't there anymore.
"That was a capital night lads." Remus and James laughed as they caught Sirius before he tumbled backwards down Remus' front steps after losing his balance during a grand gesture meant to impart just how capital the night had been.
"I'll see you tomorrow Prongs." James laughed and nodded to acknowledge his friends parting wave. He grabbed Sirius' arm and slung it around his shoulders to keep the completely pissed birthday boy from slumping down onto the pavement as they walked up the street in Godric's Hollow.
"Prongsie, you're a good mate." Sirius sighed sentimentally. James rolled his eyes. Sirius had different drunk modes, tonight sounded like nostolgia and sentimental drabble.
"Come on Sirius, just a little farther." James shoved the front door open with difficulty, as Sirius had commenced with trying to hug James around the middle while James dragged him along.
"Here Padfoot, drink this." James handed Sirius a sobering potion. He wound up helping a giggling Sirius drink the yellow liquid. James shoved Sirius into a chair before collapsing into his own. He wasn't completely inebriated like his friend, but neither was he totally sober. James took his own dose of potion and waited for it to take effect.
Five minutes later, Sirius, now tired rather than drunk, sat up. He pushed his dark locks out of his eyes and stared blearily at James.
"That was a good night mate." Sirius grinned despite the knowledge of his impending hangover. The yellow sobering potion worked wonders, but it didn't dispel the hangover. Probably the inventors' idea to stop blokes from having a good time. Must have been a woman, Sirius thought ruefully.
"Did you hear that?" James and Sirius looked up toward the front room where they had heard the unmistakable sound of a girl giggling. James frowned, it wasn't Lily's laugh. The laughter cut off abruptly, followed by a gasp. Sirius bounded after James.
Lily heard James' footsteps behind her.
"Harry!" The mysterious girl jumped up from the couch when she saw James.
"Harry?" Lily finally spoke. James moved warily closer to the girl. He had no idea what was going on. Lily continued to stare.
"James!" The girl turned to Lily. "Lily!" Her eyes grew wide. "Oh my, this can't be good." Sirius rounded the corner behind James. This time, she whispered. "Sirius." With that, the girl's eyes rolled back into her head and she crumpled. Sirius rushed forward to catch her. He looked to James and Lily for an explanation.
"Don't look at me mate, I have no idea what's going on." James shrugged in ignorance. Both men looked to Lily.
"Um, it was a spell that didn't turn out how I thought it would." Lily looked sheepish.
"Where did she come from?" James raised one eyebrow in his girlfriend's direction. He had a feeling that she had meddled.
"I don't know. She just appeared."
"James? Can we question her later?" Sirius stood holding the limp girl against his chest.
"I'm not sure if we should let her stay here." James eyed the girl suspiciously.
"Prongs, you can't exactly turn her out on the streets. Look at her," he lifted his left arm and her head lolled lifelessly, "she's in no condition to be out." Lily smiled a little when Sirius sounded protective of the girl cradled in his arms.
"We can put her in the spare bedroom."
Sirius studied the unconscious girl in his arms. Something in him had woken up after years of dormancy. He felt protective of the girl in his arms and was fascinated with her. Sirius wanted more than anything in that particular moment to hold the girl forever, to get to know her, to have her accept him just as he was.
Lily watched Sirius carefully. He had never even spoken to the girl, but he was enchanted. He studied her wild curls and long lashes. He wondered what color her eyes were behind the closed lids. Lily was pleased as she watched his face. Sirius perused the girl's face, unaware of Lily and James.
James looked at Lily suspiciously. He saw the pleased look on her face and knew that wherever the unconscious girl had come from, Lily had something to do with it and it was no accident. He determined to question the redhead when they were alone that night. His narrowed eyes went back to his best mate.
"Padfoot?" Sirius raised his head, startled. He had completely forgotten the other two occupants of the room. His face turned a light shade of pink. "Will you take her to the guest room mate?"
"Yeah. I'll watch her. You two can head to bed." Sirius turned to go and immediately forgot the couple again. James turned on Lily.
"Lily?" Lily fidgeted with her shirt hem and looked everywhere but at James. "Did you have anything to do with that girl appearing in our house?"
"I already told you that a spell didn't go like I thought it would."
"That doesn't really mean that you didn't try to meddle in Sirius' affairs."
"Well, James…" Lily broke off for a moment, studying her boyfriend. "I love you James Potter."
"I love you too Lils, but that's not the point."
"I just want Sirius to be as happy as we are together." Lily walked to the young man before her. She wrapped he arms around him and snuggled close. "I really love you James." James pulled her closer. He knew that he was caving, but he really did love the girl he held in his arms.
"I love you too Lily Evans."
Sirius placed the unconscious girl on top of the guest bed. He pulled the chair in the corner closer and watched her closely. She looked troubled. Her eyes behind her lids were roving restlessly and she kept tossing her head and murmuring. He leaned closer to listen.
"Harry. James. Lily. Harry, Harry, Harry. Gone. Remus. Pettigrew. Past. Cloak. Harry. Ron. Marauders."
At the last word to leave her lips, Sirius felt his eyes grow wide. Not only did the beautiful stranger know their names, but she knew the Marauders. He wondered for not the first time where the girl had come from.
"Sirius." His name, whispered from her lips brought him back to attention. "Harry I'm so sorry. Sorry. Sirius. Veil. Gone." Sirius pondered what that might mean and who Harry could be. "Sirius." This time his name brought pain to her face. "Why? Oh Sirius. Why did you leave?" Sirius felt his chest constrict. He didn't know this girl, but she obviously knew him and from the sound of it, he had died, and she was very sad. "Teddy. Remus. Tonks. Ginny. Teddy. Gone."
The girl never put a complete sentence together. Sirius, however, was able to put most of the thoughts together into some semblance of order. Those names stumped him though. He knew Remus and Tonks, but Teddy and Ginny were foreign to him. He wondered what one of his best mates and his little cousin had to do with each other, but could find no answer.
He gave up trying to decipher her words and returned to studying her. Her creamy complexion contrasted sharply with the red spots on her cheeks that were the result of her high stress. Her eyelashes brushed her delicate cheekbones, fanning out into a perfect half moon. Sirius smiled at the light dusting of freckles across her nose. They made her look carefree and innocent. He thought about what she might be like when awake and hoped that she was as carefree and innocent as she looked. Her hand came up to her face and Sirius looked at the perfect fingers, delicate but strong.
Sirius had never felt the way he did before from just looking at a girl like he was at the stranger. He never took the time to study them that way. He just found one that looked like she had a good body and wanted to have a good time. Now, he wasn't sure he ever wanted to do that again. With one look at the girl he was sure was the one for him, Sirius Black: Playboy became Sirius Black: husband material.
Abruptly, the girl sat up in the bed, sweat had accumulated on her brow and was running down her cheeks. She was disoriented and looked about in confusion. Sirius finally had a chance to look at her eyes. They were a dark golden brown. Sirius thought they were beautiful as they roved wildly around the room. Then her eyes rested on Sirius.
"Sirius." Again she whispered his name, and then her eyes grew wider. "Sirius!" This time the tone was panicked. She jumped from the bed and ran to the other side of the room. "How, where… Oh my. How old are you?"
"Nineteen." Sirius was puzzled.
"Oh dear. This is not good. Not good at all."
"So you obviously know who I am. Do you mind me asking who you are?"
"No." Sirius waited for her to continue.
"No you don't mind or no you won't tell me?"
"I can't tell you."
"Right. So I guess I'll just call you "the girl who appeared out of nowhere" then." The girl didn't answer him. She just stared at him with eyes wide, breathing heavily in her panicked state.
"Or I could make up a name." Sirius watched her expression, no change. "Mia. Do you like that name?" The girl, Mia Sirius mentally changed, nodded.
"Well then Mia, would you like anything to eat?" The clock read five minutes past one. Hermione could only assume it was one in the morning.
"That would be wonderful."
"You do talk!" Sirius sounded delighted. Hermione mentally sighed in relief. She had been afraid that she had been talking in her sleep, but from the comment, didn't think she had. "Follow me."
Sirius led the way down the familiar yet foreign hall. She looked at the light green walls. They were almost the exact shade that Ginny had picked out the week before… twenty years in the future. Hermione felt her head reeling with the knowledge that she was twenty years in the past and with Harry's parents. And Sirius.
Hermione followed the man she was thinking about down the hallway. She wondered how different he would be now that she was meeting him before the betrayal of one of his closest friends. He seemed less weary and woe ridden then before, which made sense seeing as how he hadn't been betrayed or sent to Azkaban.
Hermione was suddenly hit by the realization that she was with Sirius Black, who was dead, in the same house as James Potter and Lily Evans, who were dead, and she could change the entire future with just one misplaced comment.
Oh, great Merlin. What am I going to do? Shit, this is bad. What if I break up James and Lily? What if I tip them off about Peter? What if I have to meet Peter? Will I give away that I abhor him? They don't know yet, I could ruin everything. Should I go to Dumbledore? Oh my. What if Molly and Arthur see me? Will they recognize me in the future? Will Sirius? Did they already? What if in the future, I've already been
here in the past? If I was, why didn't anyone tell me? This is confusing. I should try to go to Hogwarts and look up time travel in the library.
Ron… Ginny, Harry. They don't know what happened to me. They're probably freaking out. They'll go to Molly, but what will she be able to tell them? Will she remember meeting me? If I'm here that long. What if, in the future, I'm already back? How long was I here, if I was here before? Which I suspect I was. I could be here a very long time. Ron. What will he do?
Hermione felt herself choke up at the thought of the redhead who she thought she might be falling in love with. I guess I'll have to forget him while I'm here. There's nothing that I can do by worrying about things that I can't fix. How did I get here anyway? It must have been Lily. She was the only one there when I got here. Why would she summon me? How did she? It must have been an accident. She didn't exactly look like she was expecting me. Of course, how can one be expecting someone from the future to land in one's living room?
Oh no. How will I explain who I am to them? I need a story. And quick. Sirius already knows that I know them, and that I can't tell them my name. So it has to fit that. I guess I'll just tell them part of the truth. Like that I'm from the future, but not about Harry. I guess I can't do that without screwing up the future. What am I going to do?
Hermione was brought from her thoughts by Sirius asking a question. She knew he was repeating it by the tone of his voice.
"Would you like some juice?" Sirius watched as the girl came out of her thoughts slowly. He could tell that her thoughts were a million miles from the small kitchen they stood in.
"You look like you're a million miles away." He smiled kindly.
"Yes." Well, a few feet… and twenty years.