Written by RGBTheDuckie and xakemii.


He stood there and stared at her for a while. He was a bit surprised when she didn't turn at the door opening, but then again, she probably hadn't been expecting someone to walk in after her. After all, no one visited Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. James figured that he would have been fine had he been a different bathroom. In truth, he probably should've expected Myrtle to throw a fit as soon as he entered.

And when she did, it was not pretty. Oh, Myrtle was easy enough to handle. With a simple threat of a book through her head, she gave a cry and headed off to do whatever it was that ghosts did. Hermione, on the other hand... it would be an understatement to say that she wasn't pleased.

"I told you not to come in here," James said quickly, well aware of her fist clenching around her wand. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" she seethed, hiding an all too important list of ingredients behind her back. "You're the boy in the girls' bathroom! And you have the nerve to ask what I'm doing here?"

"I warned you not to come here. Or aren't you afraid of ghosts?"

"I'll have you know -" Hermione cut herself off quickly. Best not to mention Volde- You-Know-Who or Fluffy. "You also told me that the boys' toilets were the girls'. Why would I believe you?"

She had a good point, but that didn't stop him from arguing. "And what? Moaning Myrtle wasn't enough to make you leave straight away? Didn't anyone ever tell you that curiosity killed the cat?"

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that satisfaction brought him back?" Hermione snapped back. She paused. "How do you know that Muggle saying, anyway? And why would you follow me into the bathroom - the girls' bathroom?"

He shrugged. "Making sure you were okay?"

"Stalking the new girl, more like."

"I'm not stalking you, I just wanted to know what you were doing," he said, the anger and exasperation showing in his voice. He took a step closer to her. "Remus was right, there's something suspicious about you. Dodging questions, buying potions ingredients, now this. Why didn't you want your friends to know? You made sure they had left before you came in here."

"I don't believe it's any of your business," she snarled, glaring at him.

It couldn't have been going worse. She had lost a place to make the potion. But that was the least of her problems with James asking questions. James couldn't find out about her being from the future. McGonagall had warned her about the dangers of time travel. This was a perfect example of it gone horribly wrong. She couldn't alter that past at all. Which meant if any of them found out, the future would be permanently changed forever. No matter how much she wanted to change it so Harry could have grown up with his parents, she couldn't do anything about it.

"Look," Hermione finally said with a sigh, breaking the tension between the two teenagers. "You've only known me a day. Stop making accusations about me."

"You say that like I'm wrong."

"You haven't said anything true, except for the fact that I've bought a few ingredients. Which, by the way, isn't against Hogwarts rules, so I don't see why you care."

"I'm Head Boy."

She stared at him. "And that gives you the right to be a stalking git, does it?"

James opened his mouth the answer, but was cut off.

"Why are you yelling?" a voice cried from behind them. "Can't I be dead in peace?"

Hermione turned to see the silvery figure of Myrtle floating toward them. She looked exactly the same, dark lanky hair and thick rimmed glasses.

"Go away Myrtle," James said, barely looking away from Hermione.

"Don't' be mean," Hermione snapped, glancing worriedly at Myrtle, afraid she might explode at James rudeness. She scowled, but to Hermione's surprise Myrtle's anger seemed to be directed at her.

"I don't need help, especially from a frizzy haired freak like you."

A pained expression passed across Hermione's face. She hid it quickly, but James didn't miss it; he felt a pang of guilt, it had been his fault. Gritting his teeth, he opened his bag and pulled out a book.

"Leave her alone," he growled. Raising his arm, he aimed at the head of the ghost. Hermione gasped, and grabbed his arm before he had a chance to throw it. But Myrtle had already seen the gesture and assumed what he had planned to do.

"Going to throw a book at me? You wouldn't be the first. Some people have even made a game out of it. Let's all throw things at Myrtle, it's okay she can't feel it, she's dead!" She turned and dove into the nearest cubical, plunging head first into the toilet. The water exploded from it, showering Hermione and James.

Hermione was less than impressed and she glared at James, automatically folding her arms over her chest, despite the thankful fact that she was wearing a jersey over the white school blouse.

"I will find out," James said, unnerved by the sudden drenching and reaching for the door. "And I'll tell everyone when I do find out what crazy stunt you're trying to pull."

She sighed. So much for the sweet, protective James that had materialized just moments ago. "I'm not doing anything wrong, Potter. But if you do insist on stalking me, I assure you that your darling Lily will not be in the dark."

This did the trick and a shadow of annoyance crossed his face and she knew she'd crossed the line. The thought of apologizing quickly vanished though and she glared at him as he turned his back on her and slammed the door as he left. She looked at the now closed door, her breathing slowly returning back to it's normal pace. This wasn't good, she decided, in fact, it was very, very bad.

- x -

Classes flew by after that and Hermione soon found herself sitting in the common room, forcing herself to listen to Marlene attempt to explain half of her homework to sweet Alice. How someone with the potential to be so clever was so daft at times, Hermione didn't know. But she sat on the couch with a book in her lap happily, pausing to give her tips and offer her notes to Alice occasionally.

"Hermione!" Lily burst into the common room. "Dalkin! Hermione!"

Slamming her book with a sharp intake of breathe, Hermione looked up at the fiery redhead. Had Potter grassed on her already? She didn't say a word, but instead looked expectantly up at her. There was no way she was going to say anything - not until she was sure what Lily was going on about.

"Thank Merlin you're here," Lily continued with a rush, diving onto the couch. "Hide me, please. Potter's just around the corner." She jumped off the couch, making haste towards the girls' staircase. "Fend him off with a good hex or something, will you? And tell him that I've got a date for the Hogsmeade trip - hell, tell him anything that'll get him off my back. And if he asks, I'm not in the dorms."

Hermione raised her eyebrows at the disappearing girl while Marlene laughed at Hermione's shocked face. "No worries, happens everyday. You'll get used to it soon, Hermione."

Hermione looked up as the portrait door swung open to reveal James. He entered the room, eyes wide as he scanned the room for Lily. He shoulders slumped slightly as he came to the realization she wasn't there. His eyes landed momentarily on the stairs up to the girls' dormitory, but he obviously thought better of trying to face those dreaded stairs. Instead, he turned and headed towards the three girls settled in front of the fire. Hermione held her breath, not wanting a repeat of the conversation in the bathroom. But James walked straight past her, not giving her a second glance.

Alice looked up, mildly surprised to find James standing in front of her.

"Can you give this to Lily?" he asked, pulling out an envelope.

Alice eyed it suspiciously. "What's in it?" she said, not trusting the love struck teenager.

"I guess you'll have to ask her." He dropped the envelope in front of Alice and left, disappearing up his own stairs as the three girls gaped at him.

And with a flash, Marlene snatched at the envelope.

"Get off," Alice protested, hiding the envelope behind her back. Fending off her friend with her spare out she said, "He gave it to me to give to Lily. You aren't me and you definitely aren't Lily."

Marlene frowned. "But you know Lily won't show us what it says."

"And she'll hex you if you read it without her permission."

Her frown deepened and she laid back on the couch, glaring at Alice. "Since when did you become so damn reasonable?"

"That's not an insult," Hermione cut in. Smiling, she added, "I think it's good of you to give the letter directly to Lily as Potter asked."

"Oh, shut it," Marlene said, groaning as she watched Alice smile happily at Hermione and then skip up the stairs - letter in hand. Turning to Hermione, she said, "You realize we'll never know what that letter said now? Alice would've given in eventually."

"It's not as if you needed to know. Besides," she added tactfully. "You can easily tell. If he's asking for a date, she'll be yelling at him in no time. If it's an apology of sorts, she'll confront him about it later anyway. If he's asking to meet her, we'll either catch her sneaking out or hear her talk about how dare he ask her such a horrifying thing. You'll know either way."

Though she knew that the new girl had a point, her frown didn't disappear. Instead, she stood, glared some more, and then flounced upstairs, ready to read that damned letter - no matter what it cost her.

Marlene, closely followed by Hermione, flew into the room. She was about to demand to know the contents of the letter, but she was cut off by an unexpected annoucement.

"She won't open it," Alice announced loudly, bounding towards to Marlene.

"What!" Marlene exclaimed, glancing over at Lily. She was sitting cross legged on her bed, the still sealed envelope clutched tightly in her hands.

"Why not?" Hermione asked, sounding more concerned than the others. She saw the look on Lily's face. She looked completely torn on whether or not to open the letter. Hermione could understand this. If she opened it, she would be giving into Potter, something she had refused to do. But then again, natural curiosity must have been eating away at her.

"It's Potter! I wouldn't put it past him to have cursed it." As she spoke, she threw the letter across the room. However she quickly jumped from her bed and scrambled along the floor to retrieve it.

"And what if he didn't?" Marlene said, sitting on the ground beside her friend. "For all you know he could have out one hundred galleons in there. But you'll never know because you were too afraid to open it."

Lily frowned as she shook the envelope. "It's hardly heavy enough to hold one hundred galleons."

"That's the point," Marlene cried, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation. "I have known you since the first day of Hogwarts, Lily Evans, and you have always been the responsible one. You play it safe with everything. How about you take a little risk for once in your life?" She sighed, and put her arm around Lily's shoulders. "It's only a bit of parchment."

"It could be a lot more," Alice said quietly. "Honestly, Lily, this could do you good."

"Puh-leaze,," Marlene scoffed, obviously not feeling sympathetic for her friend. "She's just scared she'll read - or see - something she doesn't like. What if it's Potter giving up? Don't look at me like that, Lily. You love it, and you know it. You love knowing he'd do anything for you."

She probably would've continued had it not been for Lily's deathly glare as she stood silently, clutching the unopened envelope to her chest as she stalked out of the room. Alice looked exasperated, and sighed.

"I thought I was meant to be daft one, Marlene. Look what you've done."

"Oh shut up," Marlene snapped. "As if I don't feel bad enough already!" In quieter voice, she said, "She's only mad 'cause it's the truth though."

Hermione, now feeling awkward crept towards the door. "I'll go check -"

"No! I'll do it." To Hermione's great surprise, Alice seemed firm in her decision. "It's only right, no offense. I've known her longer. And besides," she added with a snide look in Marlene's direction, "I'm not that one she's annoyed with at the moment. Seriously, Marlene, you better come up with one hell of an apology for this one."

With Alice gone and Marlene still fuming, Hermione took the opportunity to explore Hogwarts herself. Though she knew that the castle wouldn't be too different, she also knew that even the subtle differences could impact her - especially considering the delicate situation she'd found herself in. Naturally, the library was a must-see. Classrooms, she decided, would also be worth a visit.

She was strolling down a corridor, making her way to what she thought would be the History of Magic room, when she stopped. Back-tracking down a corridors and turning a sharp right, she stared at a wall in faint shock. What if the Room of Requirement was here? She work there and not in the bathroom. Both places, of course, were extremely risky. But she had a feeling that James Potter would be keeping a special eye on Moaning Myrtle, and the Room of Requirement would work just as well - perhaps better.

"What are you looking at the wall for?"

Hermione almost jumped a mile.

"I'm not that frightening, am I?" A cocky Sirius Black, grinned down at her, amused.

Hitting him not-so-lightly on the shoulder, she scowled. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that!"

"You should pay attention to your surroundings."

Touché, not that she'd say that out loud though. Apparently she wasn't alert as she had once been. She'd have to work on that if she was going to keep this charade up. Gulping, she muttered, "What do you want, anyway?"

Sirius's eyes softened. It was the look on his face that Hermione had seen very few times before - usually used when he'd been speaking about Harry when he wasn't in the room at Grimmauld place.

"I wanted to know if Evans got the envelope."

"She got it," Hermione replied, her eyes suddenly glued to the floor.

"What'd she say?"

"Don't know. I didn't see her open it." Keep to the facts, Granger, she chanted in her mind furiously.

He looked long and hard at her for several moments. Then he came to the conclusion: "She didn't open it at all."

"She might've by now."

"Right," Sirius said bluntly, not holding much hope. "See you later."

And with that, he turned on his heel and left her standing in the corridor, once more staring at the wall. Hermione sighed. She hadn't thought that so much drama could occur in such little time. She could only hope that it would clear up soon - preferably with Lily and James getting together. Nothing would make her happier than knowing that her visit hadn't changed a thing and that Harry would still enter the world - with parents or otherwise.

But, for the time being, she had a bigger problem to worry about. Getting home.

Hermione glanced down the corridor, not wanting anyone else to catch her staring at the wall. When she was mildly satisfied that no one was coming, she planted herself firmly in front of the wall. From what she knew, the room appeared for people who were in need of it. There was no doubt about the fact she needed the room, yet no door had appeared.

Closing her eyes, Hermione began chanting to herself:

I need a room to brew a potion.

A quick peak showed no door.

I need a room to brew a potion.

I need a room to brew a potion.

I need a room to brew a potion.

Hermione opened her eyes and was thoroughly disappointed to see the plain surface staring back at her. Remembering what Harry had told her, Hermione started pacing infront of the door.

I need a room to brew a potion.

I need a room to brew a potion.

I need a room to brew a potion.

Agitation crept over Hermione as she saw still no entrance to the place she needed so badly. She slammed her fist against the wall. The pain the shot up her hand only worsened her anger.

"I need a room to brew a potion!" she yelled. Her voice echoed around the lonely hallway as she slumped to the ground in defeat. Her head fell against the wall. She stayed like this for a moment, before a sudden realization hit her. Eyes widening, her hands flew in front of her. A grin formed as her fingers run along the smooth wooden surface.

Who said yelling got you nowhere?


Authors' Note: We are sorry about the wait, but I'm sure that you will have heard about the situation in New Zealand lately. Getting the refinements and such just weren't a happening thing - sorry.