Written by RGBTheDuckie and xakemii.


Every single plan that Sirius and Remus (well, Sirius in particular) had come up with was, in Hermione's opinion, absolutely ridiculous. And while she'd admit that Sirius was somewhat attractive, she really couldn't understand why on earth any girl, self-respecting or otherwise, would fall for his horrible lines. Did he really think that if James waltzed up to Lily and said, "Hey, do you know the Petrificus Totalus spell? Because you make me stiff", that she wouldn't hex him into oblivion?

"It worked for me," Sirius had groaned.

Hermione, in reply, had raised her eyebrows. "Tell me, Black, how many pick-up lines like that, exactly, has Potter already tried to use on Lily? And how many have worked?"

Unfortunately for her, the night went from her wanting to bang her head against a wall to her feeling the undying need to smash Lily and Marlene's heads together. Alice was obviously used to such petty fights and after a well-planned evening with Frank had disappeared behind her curtains claiming that she was "wiped out". And while the other two girls were continuing to speak somewhat politely to each other, the tension in the room could be cut with knife. And it was driving Hermione bonkers.

"Alice?" she whispered, pulling the curtains open and crawling onto the other girl's bed, ignoring her look of surprise. Pulling her jacket around herself and casting a quick Silencing Spell, Hermione asked quietly, "How long will they keep this up?"

"As long as it takes for Lily to open the envelope."

"Does it matter that much?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "Only because they both want to be right. You see, I... I don't care if I'm smart or not. Lily and Marlene - they've been battling each other since First Year. Lily will open the envelope to prove that's it's just another of James's feeble attempts to woo her. And then, if it is like Lily says, Marlene will laugh it off. And if Marlene is right in saying that it contains something sentimental... well..." She finished with a shrug. "That's what usually happens, anyway."

"Oh."

"And no," Alice said sharply. "Before you ask, I don't know whether Lily fancies him or not. All I know is that James would give the world for her." She kicked the covers off of her, dragging Hermione up with her. Alice opened her curtains and gestured for Hermione to leave. Her eyes softened slightly. "Why are you so curious? I like you, Hermione, but I'd advise that you stay out of this one."

"Alice?" Hermione stared incredulously at her.

The girl sighed. "You know I don't mean it like that. Get some sleep. Good night Marlene, Lily."

"G' night, Alice," the two chorused, scowling slightly after realizing they'd spoke in unison.

Hermione slipped back into her own bed. She pulled the blankets up to her chin. How did things get so out of hand? Somehow she had started to get attached. Attached to the people who were going to be dead in less than ten years time. This was great.

- x -

Even in the first week, teachers were piling on the homework. On the Saturday afternoon Hermione had gotten sick of the noise in the common room. Others may have been content leaving their homework to the last minute, but not her. Bundling up her books she shoved them into her bag. She waved goodbye to Marlene and headed off the library.

Hermione nearly managed to get all the way to the library without incident. But just as she rounded the corner she found herself face to face with Sirius Black.

"Hello Dalkin," he said, smiling widely at her.

"Hello," Hermione said cautiously. She tried to slyly maneuver herself around him. However he quickly caught her arm.

"We need to arrange another meeting. We still haven't settled on a plan."

"Of course we couldn't settle on a plan when all the ones you came up with were completely idiotic."

"I didn't exactly see you coming up with any amazing schemes," Sirius said stubbornly.

"That is because I, unlike you, don't really care about James's love life," Hermione said. She once again tried to sidle past Sirius, but he stepped in front of her.

"You should start to care slightly more if you want to keep your secret safe."

Hermione knew for certain that Sirius had no idea what her secret was. Yet as he said it her heart dropped slightly. She had no choice and hurriedly continued with the conversation that Sirius wanted: "That letter James sent Lily, do you have any idea what's in it?"

"Not a clue Prongs wouldn't tell us. Why don't you ask Lily? She has opened it hasn't she?"

Hermione shook her head.

"You should try and convince her too. Whatever it was, must be pretty serious if Prongs wouldn't tell us."

Hermione was slightly concerned that she actually agreed with Sirius on this one. "I'll try."

The library was nearly empty when Hermione entered. Only the occasional person was sitting at desks or browsing the shelves. Being the first weekend, most people weren't behind in homework yet and were choosing to ignore it. Settled in a desk in the corner, Hermione spotted Lily. She was hunched over parchment writing, books lying open around her.

Hermione faltered. She was unsure if she should go and talk to her. The past week had been somewhat awkward. From an outsiders perspective, Lily and Marlene appeared to be back to normal, but from where Hermione stood she knew that they weren't. They also would never be until Lily opened the letter.

Hermione made the decision and walked over to Lily. Lily glanced up, looking shocked to see Hermione.

"Do you mind if I sit down?" Hermione asked.

"No, not at all," Lily said, nodding to the chair opposite her. Hermione sat down, dropping her bag down next to her.

"How's your homework going?" Hermione asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"It's fine. I've nearly finished that essay Professor Slughorn set us." Lily paused. Her hand froze above her parchment. "Why don't you just ask? I know you want to."

"Ask what?" Hermione said, trying to appear oblivious.

"About the letter Potter sent."

"I wasn't going to mention it."

Lily laughed and waved her quill at Hermione. "Of course you were. I would if I was you."

"Have you opened it yet?"

Lily shook her head. She reached into her bag and pulled out the slightly crumpled letter. On the side James had neatly printed her name. "Perhaps Marlene is right. Maybe I am scared of opening it."

"No shame in fear," Hermione said gently. She placed her hands over Lily's, pressing the envelope flat against the table. "You don't have to open it, Lily. But what are you really afraid of? It's not going to bite you. And besides, you don't fancy him anyway." She said the last part flippantly - almost testing how Lily would react. The war had sharpened Hermione's ears considerably and the shuffling and shallow breathing a few metres away didn't escape her.

"Well, I sure as hell don't want him to give up on me!"

"Excuse me?"

Lily sighed. "Well, I just... I've been warming up to him a bit. I don't fancy him, mind you."

"Oh, he's not that bad."

"You date him then," Lily teased.

Hermione laughed. "I wouldn't want to deprive you of the joy."

"I don't think you'll have to worry too much about that," she joked, her face straight. "I know that it'll be very hard for me at first, but really, Hermione, he's all yours."

"But I don't want him," Hermione said. "You do."

"No I don't," Lily said instinctively. She paused. "Well, maybe I do." As if she had just caught the words coming out of her mouth, she gasped. "Oh Merlin, Hermione, I don't know."

Distressed, she slumped down into her seat. "There is this boy in our year in Slytherin, Severus. James pulled these really cruel pranks on him. No matter how nice James is to me, no matter what lengths he goes to or romantic gestures he makes, I can't stop thinking about what he did to him."

"Severus Snape?" Hermione blurted before she could help himself.

"Yeah, him. I suppose you've seen him in Potions, haven't you? He's only a Half-Blood himself, but he's just like the rest of those Slytherins now." Lily twirled a piece of her hair with a sigh. "Reckons he's above Mudbloods like me."

The word made her flinch and the rustling from nearby was beginning to make her feel edgy. Hurriedly, Hermione stood, brushing down her skirt.

"I have to go. Think about the envelope though, won't you?"

"I don't think I'll be able to get it off my mind. See you in the dorm."

With that, Hermione scurried out of the library. She walked down the corridor, trying to act as normally as possible, before turning sharply and entering the only convenient room possible - a broom cupboard. Only leaving the door open for a few moments, it was soon slammed angrily.

"What was that for, Dalkin?" Sirius yelped, pealing the cloak from his body and rubbing his bottom. "Could've given me a few more seconds to get it 'ere, eh?"

"I did warn you about using that cloak to spy on me. Honestly! Are you going to listen in on every single conversation I happen to have with Lily?"

She was frustrated - that much was clear. Although she tried to make it sound as if she was annoyed that he was eavesdropping, she was more concerned that he would begin to follow her wherever she went. If he did take to that habit, she'd never finish (or even really begin) her potion. Although, she wasn't above hexing him if need be.

"Wasn't that part of the plan?"

"The plan!" Hermione exclaimed. "What plan, Black? All the ones you came up with were rubbish, to be quite frank. Everything Remus said would be impossible to carry out. And my idea, which was by far the best, by the way, you both shot down."

"They've had six years to work it out themselves. If we just leave them to talk, like you suggested, we'd get nowhere," he argued. "I hate to say it, but we need you. Keep talking to Evans like you were just then."

By now, Sirius had thrown the cloak back over his body and was making his way out of the cramped space, not caring as he knocked over many buckets as he left.

"I will be watching."

The words echoed in Hermione's ears and in a blind rage she leapt forward, hoping to catch even just the corner of that damned cloak. She was a fraction late though and instead ended up spiraling at top speed towards the hard floor, landing with a "Ooph!" as her body slammed against it.

Hermione scrambled up off the floor. Fuming, she grabbed her bag and left the cupboard, slamming the door behind her. What girls saw in Sirius Black was beyond Hermione's comprehension. At that moment all she saw was a slimy git who was trying to make her life as difficult as possible.

Realizing she had done none of her homework, Hermione set off to one room she knew she could find complete peace and quiet. The Room of Requirement. As far as she knew the devious Marauders never discovered it. So for now her room was safe. Hermione had only managed to go back to the room once since she found it. With great difficulty she had managed to transfer all the potions ingredients she had bought. All though it was all quite useless now, the room she had acquired was perfectly equipped.

It was much easier to find the room after the first time. The door practically appeared before her. Quickly, she checked that there no one was passing that could see her. It was rather pointless really. Rare was it to run into anyone here. Nonetheless Sirius had found her there before, so it clearly wasn't impossible.

Hermione dumped her bag on the table, momentarily pushing the homework from her mind. She wandered over to one of the shelves. All the shelves were filled with various potion ingredients. That was except for one, the one which she happened to be standing in front of, which was filled with books. After scanning the spins Hermione concluded that they were all on Potions.

Eventually Hermione finally found the book she needed. The Encyclopedia of Potions Ingredients. With great effort, she pulled it out. Settling down at the table, Hermione opened the book. She had planned to look up the ingredient Ron had added back in the joke shop. But she had found her memory of the ingredient was vague. With not much hope, Hermione started to flick through the book.

In reality she had no other ideas of where to start. Making a potion to take someone back in time was one thing. It had already been done before, even if it was in a completely different way. But even in the Wizarding world, no one had ever managed to travel forwards in time. Technically it should be impossible, because the future had yet to happen. But as she was stuck in the past Hermione tried not to think about the technicalities.

"I think," Hermione said to herself, throwing in a few ingredients into the cauldron, "that everything really was okay until Ron dropped in that eel eye. So if I can get to that point of the potion..."

She worked for hours until it was curfew. In truth, she wasn't looking forward to returning to her room. Marlene was sure to be there. As was Alice. And Lily.

But there was nothing she could do about that, was there? And besides, even those three were better than the Marauders.

- x -

"Oi, Hermione!" Marlene almost knocked her over as she greeted Hermione with a tackle. "I heard that you are the reason that my Lily dearest has agreed to open the letter."

"The letter?" Hermione repeated incredulously. Pushing the over-excited teenager away from her, she looked over to where Lily was perched on the floor. "You're actually going to open it?"

"Well yes! That's what you said I should do!"

Hermione scuttled down to sit next to the girl and Marlene followed soon afterwards. Even Alice, who had been diligently watching the exchange from her bed flopped down to face the three. All eyes were on Lily and her trembling fingers.

"Come on then," Marlene said, rushing her. "Open it."