"How" turned out to be through seducing Severus myself, although I swear I honestly hadn't intended that to be the outcome and it didn't make things any easier for me. The breakthrough had come one afternoon when I once again caught Lily winding Severus up before James and Sirius took over with one of their tag-team bullying tactics.

As I said previously, I was pretty pissed off with all of them by this point and I really wasn't in the mood for watching them torture someone I considered to be a friend.

'What do you think you're doing?' I asked angrily as I marched towards James and Severus, who were pointing their wands at each other — a standard interact between them, I had discovered.

'We're just trying to get Snivellus to leave Lily alone once and for all,' Sirius said, trying to stop me from moving towards the fighting boys.

'Maybe you should talk to Lily rather than Severus about it, then,' I suggested coolly. 'After all, she does spend an inordinate amount of time leading him on for someone who isn't interested anymore.'

I completely ignored both Sirius' arm and the filthy look that Lily shot me at my comment and continued to walk towards James and Severus.

'Why haven't you stopped them, Remus?' I asked, trying to sound more sympathetic than disgusted. I'm not sure I succeeded because Remus winced as I spoke to him.

'It's not that easy, Hermione,' he explained. 'You don't understand because you've only just got here; there's long-held enmity between them that can't be got rid of that easily.'

'I know there's a lot of bullying and it always seems to go one way,' I retorted. 'I can only assume it's because you're all jealous of Severus for being a much better wizard than the rest of you.'

I saw Severus smirk at that comment — not his finest moment, I'll admit, because I didn't need him getting cocky — as the others all blustered angrily about how they were actually better than him.

Unfortunately, I had heard enough rubbish from Sirius and James to last a lifetime. Without even thinking about it I gave away a secret from the future, something I should never have known.

'For your information, Severus has more power in his little finger than you two between you,' I told them scornfully. 'One day in the future Severus will be one of the most powerful wizards in the world. He's going to have the power to save or kill hundreds of people — and you lot are going to affect what he does because of the way you act now.'

Fortunately, I managed to stop myself before adding that neither James nor Sirius would still be alive, but the damage was already done. How could I know what Severus was going to be in the future? It wasn't possible unless I was a Seer — and we all know exactly what my feelings are about them.

'Talking bollocks again, Hermione,' Sirius announced sneeringly.

I shrugged, trying to pretend that it was an easy guess. 'Perhaps, but it's not really a difficult prediction to make, is it, Sirius? Severus doesn't spend all his time being a complete prat and mucking around like you and James do. He's a far better student than both of you.'

'He's a Dark wizard, you mean,' James said in disgust.

'Well . . . he thinks he is. They wouldn't want him either,' Sirius answered in a jokey manner.

The pair of them laughed nastily and Severus scowled deeply; his wand twitching.

'He's better than both of you combined,' I told them angrily.

'Perhaps you should have joined Slytherin rather than Gryffindor seeing as you like snakes so much, Hermione,' Sirius said bitterly. 'I suppose you wish that Snivelly was your boyfriend, do you?'

He was obviously still annoyed that I had refused to go out with him again and was using it as a dig at me, although I didn't really care. I realised that everyone was staring at me, waiting avidly for my answer, so I decided to tell the truth.

'I would be honoured to be Severus' girlfriend,' I admitted, smiling at the expression of disgust that crossed Sirius' face at this news. Of course, I couldn't just stop there. 'Although to be honest, Sirius, I'd probably consider going out with the Giant Squid before I'd consider you or any of the rest of your little gang. You may be Gryffindors but you don't act like it, apart from your rashness.

'Maybe if you spent a bit more time getting to know Severus rather than bullying him for not being one of your little clique you might discover that he's a useful person to know, and as Lily knows but tries to keep hidden from you, that he's a really nice person beneath the hard front he has to put up because of tossers like you.

'Of course, I don't expect you to take any notice of anything I say, just as you never take any notice of anyone. Two arseholes from privileged backgrounds who know they're better than everyone else even when they aren't, are never going to bother checking their privilege to see if they might have got it wrong. They'll just blame everyone else, and their friends will do the same because they're too scared to stand up to them.'

I looked around disgustedly at the group of Gryffindors all staring at me in anger, James and Sirius both annoyed at what I had said and the others siding with their friends — of course.

'Look at you, all looking so put out because I've dared to criticise you.' I shook my head in disgust. 'You all deserve each other.'

I walked to Severus and took his hand, lowering his wand arm as I did so. 'Let's go, Severus.'

Amazingly, he didn't argue but put his wand in his pocket and still holding hands we crossed the hall, ignoring the comments the Marauders were making about us.

'Why did you stand up for me?' he asked once we were well away from the others.

'Because I don't like what they do to you — I don't like what Lily does to you.'

I saw the look of pain in Severus' eyes. 'I sometimes think I deserve it after what I said to her,' he said quietly.

I shook my head. 'You were angry and upset and you accidentally said something you shouldn't have. I understand why it upset her, Sev. It would have upset me, too. But if she had the sort of feelings for you that want her to have, she would have forgiven you when you apologised. Instead, she leads you on and then leaves you hanging, or worse still drops you completely, and then James and Sirius step in and use it as an excuse to bully you.

'That's not love, Sev. It's not even the actions of a friend; not a true friend. I know you don't want to but you have to accept that Lily is in love with James now, and nothing you can ever say or do is going to change that. It's the real thing for them. But as long as you give her the opportunity, Lily is always going to hurt you.'

I could tell that Severus wasn't very happy with my assessment of the situation but at least he didn't storm away or get angry with me. Instead, he just absorbed it as he seemed to do with everything that came his way, whether positive or negative.

'I get the impression you're not keen on Black,' he said after we had walked for a few minutes in silence.

'No. Unfortunately not. I thought they were all going to be great but it turns out they're a bunch of arseholes.'

Severus looked confused and when he spoke again I reminded myself chidingly that I needed to be careful of what I talked about around him. He was exceedingly clever and picked up on everything I said.

'Had you already heard of them before you joined the school, then?' he asked, sounding surprised. 'I thought you were brought up in the Muggle world and didn't know anything about Hogwarts or the people.'

I thought quickly, trying to cover. 'Oh, I didn't know them before I joined but they were all in the common room when Professor McGonagall took me in there to introduce me. They were all really friendly — a real laugh — and as they were good friends of Lily's and I had just been put in her dorm, I thought they were going to be pretty cool so I was quite excited to be friends with them.

'Unfortunately, it didn't take me long to realise what they were really like and they're not the sort of people I particularly want to be friends with. I don't think Sirius is very happy with me because he keeps asking me out and I keep saying no. I think telling him that I'd rather date the Giant Squid might have been the last straw as far as he was concerned.'

Severus smiled at my grin as I said this. He studied me for a minute, then said, 'You told him you'd be honoured to go out with me. I think that would probably be worse than the Giant Squid in Black's eyes.'

I shrugged. 'Sirius thinks far too much of himself.'

'Would you?' Severus asked suddenly. He pulled me to a stop and stared at me so intently I could feel myself beginning to blush although I had no idea why.

'Would I what?' I asked.

'Would you go out with me?' Severus said the words almost hesitantly as if worried I was going to reject him.

I could feel my heart start to thunder in my chest, it was beating so hard, and I was amazed at the strength of the wave of feeling that rushed through me like a tsunami at his words. I knew I liked Severus but I had never realised until that moment just how much I liked him.

I nodded before I spoke as my voice seemed to have disappeared in the excitement.

The yes came out as a weird squeal, followed by an embarrassed cough, then finally I expelled the word so forcefully it was almost enough to knock him off his feet.

With a smile more beautiful than I had ever seen on him in the weeks I had known his younger self, Severus wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly, and he kissed me.

I would like to say that the earth moved or something equally trite, but it didn't, not really, although the kiss was extraordinarily good. To be fair, I wasn't the world's greatest judge of kissing having only ever snogged one other person — the Bulgarian Quidditch player, Viktor Krum, who was pretty magnificent, I had thought at the time. But Severus' kiss was head and shoulders above that of Viktor's. It left a funny tingling feeling in my stomach and on my lips, and as soon as it was over I wanted it to happen again.

Fortunately, it appeared that Severus was as keen on kissing as I was, so several others soon followed, interspersed only by us moving into an alcove so we were away from prying eyes. Although this had never been part of my plan I found it hard to care about the fact that I was so completely changing the past with my actions. I was enjoying being with Severus far too much.

I didn't care in the following weeks either, as our relationship became stronger, particularly in the face of opposition from certain members of Gryffindor who weren't at all happy at my alliance with their most hated enemy. Lily wasn't happy either. Being with me had given Severus what he needed to break away from her and she missed the attention. She may not have been in love with Severus anymore but she sure as hell liked having him around at her beck and call whenever she was in the mood. Now he was my boyfriend he had no time for her, and it was clearly hurting her.

It had soured our relationship somewhat, although she tried to put up a friendly front when we were with Lianne and Ottily, who were both surprised but quite excited to discover that Severus and I were an item. It also had the knock-on effect of almost completely stopping the bullying by the Marauders. Now Severus wasn't trying to spend time with Lily they had no good excuse to keep on with it without it being obvious that they were being completely petty. This, in turn, made for a much calmer atmosphere, even if Sirius was completely ignoring me now.

I have to admit that I wasn't really bothered what anyone thought of me. I had succeeded in my quest to stop Severus pining over Lily and still suspected that this behaviour had been connected to what had happened later with Voldemort, so I had to have changed something there. While I wasn't confident that I could stop Severus from becoming a Death Eater I could certainly make him think twice about it and that might be enough to stop whatever had happened to set in motion the deaths of Lily and James.

There was still the problem of Pettigrew being a traitor, which I longed to point out to his friends, but I was aware that with the way they felt about me now they would never believe me. Still, I would attempt to sow that seed just before I left.

My work was actually almost done and could have been concluded as soon as I wanted; the problem was, I didn't want to leave Severus. He had turned out to be so warm and caring, in complete contrast to the way he acted and looked in public, and I was falling in love with him.

I have to admit the thought did cross my mind once or twice to stay there with him in 1978 and forget about my life in the future, but that was only ever a pipe dream and I had already messed with time too much to be allowed to follow that dream. I had to force myself to prepare to leave, knowing that however much I didn't want it to, my going would upset Severus and might be enough to set him on the path I had been so keen for him not to tread.

It was because I knew Severus would be upset at my leaving that I decided to have sex with him. I know that sounds pretty contrary, and it was to some extent, but I was desperate to let him know I hadn't left him because I wanted to be away from him but because I had no choice. Although I no longer had any desire to I had to return to the future, and I couldn't tell Severus what was happening or why. Unfortunately, our love story was doomed, destined to be sacrificed for the greater good so Voldemort would no longer terrorise our world and Harry would be free.

Having fallen quite so hard for Severus, it seemed like a massive sacrifice to have to make but although it made me unhappy I knew there was no other choice. So I clung to my boyfriend in those last few days, trying to get as much from the relationship as I could, knowing it had to end soon.

When Severus first suggested spending some time alone in the Room of Requirement, which had very thoughtfully provided us with a bed, I was a little reluctant being that I was still a virgin and knowing that this relationship was truly going nowhere. But this was the way to prove to Severus that I loved him, so we spent first a free afternoon there and then, unknown to everyone but the two of us, we spent a whole night together, sneaking out of our common rooms when the rest of the school was asleep, terrified that we would be caught before we reached our goal.

I am not going to say what we did, as it was a private thing that only we should know about, but I am sure that by the time we sneaked back to our respective Houses the following morning Severus knew I was in love with him every bit as much as I was aware that he was in love with me. It was almost enough to make me change my mind about leaving, but my sense of duty overcame all else so I set my final plans into action — although after that perfect night together we spent as much time alone as we could get away with, which slowed them down a little.

First, I talked to Remus, the only one of the Marauders who would actually converse with me anymore, and tried to drop hints about Peter although that was hard to do without Remus thinking it was just sour grapes on my part because of my declining relationship with them all. I also talked to Lily, trying to make her see that what she had been doing to Severus was unfair and was pushing him towards places she didn't want him to go — like towards becoming a Death Eater.

I was hopeful that I had given her enough to enable her to turn Severus into a friend now that the Marauders had stopped their attacks on him and he might then be persuaded to join the Order of the Phoenix rather than Voldemort. With all my seeds planted and ready to bear fruit, it was time for me to turn the clock forward and see if my work had been successful. As I prepared to leave, meaning to slip away unnoticed, I realised that there was one glaringly obvious thing I had missed that had fallen into place only now. I had to do something about it although at that moment I had no idea what.

While I had been planning the mission I had always known that Severus had been connected to Lily and James and also to the prophecy that had ended up killing them and making Harry the Chosen One, but I had never been able to work out how. Suddenly I understood, although I still have no idea how, that Severus had somehow overheard the prophecy while he was working for Voldemort and had told him about it, not realising that his beloved Lily and her husband James along, with their baby son, Harry, were the subjects of it.

This sudden revelation stunned me. It meant that unless Severus could be guaranteed not to side with Voldemort the events of Harry's past would still play out, albeit slightly differently because of the hints I had sown. It was possible that nothing would change and everything I had been through and the heartbreak I was about to suffer at having to leave Severus would all be for nothing.

There was only one way I could guarantee that Severus wouldn't pass on the prophecy but I couldn't tell him about the time travel and I was aware that spouting still more predictions about prophecies was going to seem like madness. I could only hope that with my imminent departure Severus would understand that I had been trying to help.

I should have crept away during a free period, a letter to Professor Dumbledore explaining that I had left the school and not to worry about me already with an owl, timed to be delivered at the end of the day's classes so that Professor McGonagall would be aware before dinnertime came around and my absence was discovered by the rest of my dorm.

But I wanted to see Severus one last time and the prophecy and his role in what had followed were preying on my mind. I couldn't leave without trying to warn him or without saying goodbye. I waited for him to come out of his last lesson and urged him to follow me to a secluded area where we could talk and kiss and I could say goodbye.

I think he knew something was wrong. I was quite tense as I was already trying to prepare myself for the Time-Turner journey, and I was trying not to cry. He asked me several times what was wrong but I wasn't ready to speak, unable to admit that I was leaving him alone to face the Marauders and Lily and whatever the rest of their life would hold now that I had interfered with it.

We kissed quite a lot and with each one I could feel my resolve draining away. If I stayed I could make sure that Severus didn't side with Voldemort and I could keep him away from the prophecy. But the truth was that I had already been there too long and had already changed far more than I should have. If I kept tinkering, eventually I would go too far and it would all unravel, time bending and twisting to return to its original timeline, and Merlin only knew what would happen to me then.

I had to leave, and soon.

'Please tell me what's the matter, Hermione,' Severus requested anxiously when my silence as I tried to pluck up the courage to tell him I was leaving failed.

I stared at him miserably but still couldn't speak.

'Is it something to do with Black and his cronies? Have they been saying something to upset you?'

'No,' I assured him. 'It's nothing to do with them. It's to do with us.'

I saw Severus' face drop at my words. I could hear he was having trouble keeping his voice steady as he asked, 'You don't want to be my girlfriend any longer?'

I closed my eyes for a moment to give me the strength to do what had to be done, then looked into his black eyes, not hiding the tears that were welling.

'I love you so much but I have to leave,' I told him in a whisper. 'I am so sorry, my love. I wasn't supposed to stay so long but I couldn't help it — I didn't want to leave you. But I have to go. I can't stay any longer, but I had to see you before I went. I didn't want to just disappear without speaking to you first.'

Severus studied me in confusion. I knew I was making no sense whatsoever but I couldn't tell him the truth, and I had to leave before I crumbled completely and made a stupid decision I would later regret. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly, the pain in my heart easing slightly as I felt him hold me back.

'I have to leave you now, but please promise me one thing,' I said quietly as I pulled away from him. 'Don't pass the prophecy on to Voldemort.'

Severus looked at me quizzically. 'What prophecy? And why would I tell He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named about it?' he asked, his voice a little sharper than I had expected. I had obviously hurt him more than I thought. I tried not to wince.

'I know it makes absolutely no sense at the moment but one day you're going to hear a prophecy,' I said, aware that time was fast running out. 'Whatever happens, please don't pass the details on. It's really important that you don't.'

Severus frowned. 'Does this have something to do with what you said before about me being one of the most powerful wizards in the world one day? About all those people dying?'

I nodded, unable to speak for a moment. I knew I had to leave . . . now.

Grabbing Severus' hand, I squeezed it gently.

'I have to go,' I said, aware that my voice had a somewhat desperate quality to it. 'But please, Sev, remember what I've told you.'

Severus held onto my hand for a moment. 'Do you have to go?' His voice was soft but held a note of resignation and for a moment I got the impression that he knew I wasn't from his time.

I nodded again, a lump in my throat making me suddenly unable to speak, and he let go of my hand and stepped back to give me space.

'Take care, Hermione,' he said quietly, and turning, he walked away down the corridor.

I watched him for a moment, hoping that he would turn back to look at me, but he didn't. Now I really had to leave. I turned the corner and raced along the corridor, heading out of the castle to find the spot where I had arrived what seemed like months ago but in reality would only be minutes.

The sun was setting as I pulled the Time-Turner from the pocket of my robes and put it around my neck, then calming myself for a moment so that I could concentrate on the exact number of turns, I sent myself forward to 1997.