"Well, well, well! Ickle students out of their dorms! Students out of bed! Students out of bed!" Peeves screamed as loudly as his voice would carry.

"Well, shit," Sirius swore.

"Peeves!" Hermione scolded, doing her best not to appear frightened beyond her wit.

Peeves halted his yelling for a moment and inclined his head. "Peeves, if you do not let us go, I will be forced to tell the Headmaster what you were up to today." Hermione threatened, carefully watching as Peeves eyed her, searching for bluff. "I'm not bluffing. If you do not go downstairs this moment and tell Filch that all of this is simply a false alarm, I will go to the Headmaster."

Peeves considered this briefly, unsure of what exactly to think. "I won't be getting into trouble, not for flooding a bathroom. That happens everyday! They can't tell the difference!" Peeves exclaimed smugly.

"Be that as it may, you flooded the seventh floor bathroom, not Myrtle's bathroom." Hermione countered, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. She turned to Sirius, who was watching on bemusedly. "I think we should be on our way, Sirius." Hermione gathered their things, and they stood, walking straight passed the shocked poltergeist.

The moment that the pair stepped from earshot of Peeves, Sirius burst out into laughter. "Oh, Merlin, that was great! You blackmailed that blackmailer!"

Hermione giggled. "Yes, it was, wasn't it?"

"I must be rubbing off on you," Sirius barked with laughter.

"Why, yes, it does appear that way, doesn't it, Mr. Black?" A voice behind them said, causing Hermione's blood to run cold, and both to stop in their tracks, frozen. The pair stood that way for nearly a minute before the voice spoke once more. "Standing there will not make me go away, Mr. Black, Ms. Granger. Turn around, and accompany me to my office, please." And the couple did just that.

The moment they stepped foot into the Professor's office, Hermione began attempting to explain herself. "Professor, if you'll just let me explain –"

"I think I gathered quite enough; at least enough to know that you were out past curfew. Doing what, I care not, but I must deduct points. I also expect the two of you to complete a full week's worth of detention."

For a moment, it appeared as though Sirius was about to object – the only thing that stopped him was the Headmaster standing in the doorway. "Minerva, that seems a bit harsh, does it not? A week of detention for simply being out past curfew?" The Headmaster turned to Hermione and Sirius, and that damnable twinkle in his eye seemed to be working on overdrive. "I say that we let them off with a warning, just this once. In the spirit of their final days of schooling."

McGonagall scowled, but considered the idea. "I suppose we could do that. Off you two go, now, and don't let me catch you after hours again." McGonagall said sternly, giving pointed looks to both students.

"Actually, Ms. Granger, if you could simply follow me to my office, I have something I'd like to speak to you about." Dumbledore stated, clearly still amused,

This, however, threw Hermione, if only for a moment. "Of course, sir,"

McGonagall quickly ushered Sirius from her office, and turned to face the Headmaster a final time. "Have a good night, Albus, Ms. Granger," with that, the stern professor swept off.

"Come, Ms. Granger, we have much to discuss," Dumbledore gestured to the door, and Hermione swiftly made to follow him.

Mere minutes later, the pair were sitting in the Headmaster's office, each nursing their own cups of tea. "Now, Ms. Granger, I know that I have not spoken to you as much as I should have in the past few weeks, but I wish to speak now. I must ask you first, however, how are things going between yourself and Sirius?"

As she was taken slightly aback by the question, it took Hermione a moment to formulate an answer that was even half coherent. "Err, I-I believe that we are doing quite well. Why do you ask, Professor?"

Dumbledore simply waved her question away. "It is not the why that matters, Ms. Granger," The two sat in a less than comfortable silence, each stewing away in their thoughts. Several long minutes later, the Headmaster spoke once more. "Have you considered how your actions here will be affecting your time line once return?"

Hermione gaped at the wise old man as if he had sprout four snake heads and was breathing fire at her. It took her quite some time to get her wits back. "But-but, sir, you said there was no way for me to go back! You told me it was decided that there was no possible way to go back. That even if I wanted to, I couldn't." Hermione's voice gradually worked its way from a shout to a whisper.

"I'm not going back, Headmaster. I'm never going back to that hell. There is no way that I could. I'm not. I'm not. After that war, I had – no have – nightmares about all the things that I saw. Everyday, I thought I would find relief in sleep. Every night, I thought I would find relief in waking. There was no relief in waking. None in sleep. I found no relief until I came here. Headmaster, I am not going back."

"Ms. Granger, -"

"No. It is not happening," Hermione stood up and turned towards the door. "Now, if that is all, I think I should be leaving."

"Actually, I am not done," Dumbledore said forcefully. "I wanted to warn you to be precise in your actions, in relation to the Horcruxes and Tom Riddle. One incorrect thought could kill thousands, as well as possibly cause us to lose this war. Plan your actions carefully, Ms. Granger." Dumbledore finished, capturing Hermione's attention long enough for her to hear the old man out.

Hermione's eyes softened as she gave the man the answer he was searching for. "I will. You can count on me for that."

"Thank you, Ms. Granger."

"Anything for you, sir."

-HTPWILY-

Mere days had passed since her conversation with Dumbledore, and yet it was already time for Hermione to be going home. Where ever 'home' was in this timeline. Hermione had fret over where she was to go once the term was over on more than one occasion, normally, with Lily, though she did speak to James about it once. And on more than one occasion, Lily offered to allow Hermione to live with her until she was on her feet.

Hermione nearly refused, not wishing to burden her friend.

"Honestly, Hermione, it's not a problem. I've already agreed to allow Marlene to live with me, so why not you, too?"

Marlene? Hermione had never heard of anyone named Marlene before.

"Marlene?" Hermione asked.

"Marlene McKinnon, she's in Gryffindor, has a bed right next to mine, Remus' new girlfriend, long blonde hair, paler than parchment… Ring a bell?" Lily suggested.

Hermione angled her head in recognition. "Actually, yes – I really can't believe I never met her…"

"No matter. Now that it's settled, we really should get going; I think the boats are going to be leaving soon." Lily tugged at Hermione's arm when she raised her eyebrow. "The elves load our luggage onto the train; we don't need to get it, come on!"

Hermione giggled in a very un-Hermione-like fashion, knowing what was to come once they climbed aboard the boats.

-HTPWILY-

"Climb aboar', now! No more 'an two fer a boat!" A booming voice called over the ruckus of students bustling in and out of the school.

James looked around the throng of Seventh-years for Lily. "Lily!" He called once he spotted her.

She turned her head to him and grinned, waving him over. James sidled his way through the other students to Lily.

"James! If it's okay with you, I'm going to sit with Hermione on the boat back to the train."

James gave a thinly veiled look of desperation to Hermione, who looked equally bewildered.

"Well, actually, Lily, I was hoping you'd sit with me on the way up."

"Yeah, its fine, Lily, go sit with James! I'll sit with Sirius, over there!" Hermione pointed to where the black-headed Gryffindor stood next to Remus and Marlene. "Sirius! Sit with me?" Sirius grinned wolfishly and motioned for her to come over to him. "Must be going, you two have fun!" Hermione winked at James and took her opportunity to leave.

"What was that about?" Lily asked absently.

"What? I've no idea. Anyway, we should be getting a boat now, let's go!" James said quickly, lightly pushing Lily in front of him.

Once they were seated, James noticed that Sirius and Hermione were in the boat next to his own, chatting away at something he couldn't follow.

Minutes later, the boats were on their way, if slowly. James reached into his robe pocket with one hand and held Lily's with his other. He gently fingered the smooth satin exterior of the small box that lay in his hand, and slowly drew the box from the confines of his pocket. Seeing Lily look up from this movement, he rose to kneel on the bench of the small boat.

Lily gasped as James opened the small box to reveal a simple silver ring with a small ruby gemstone set between two even smaller diamonds.

Heart pounding in his throat, James began speaking. "Lily… we may have only been dating for but a few months, and you've heard me say this before, and you'll hear me say it countless times in the future, but I love you, and I know that we belong together. Thanks to Miss Know-it-all over there," James smirked at Hermione's flush. "We know what is to come, but that only makes the time we have together all the more special. Lily Evans, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"Yes," Was all she could muster before James slipped the ring onto her finger and trapped her in a searing kiss. The newly to-be-wed couple may well have stayed there forever, if not for the vines…

James just heard Sirius call out to them, "Hey, Prongs!" James smirked into the kiss. "Lily! Prongs!" James stayed as he was. "Well, if they want to get wet…" The moment the words reached his ears, James and Lily were knocked right into the Black Lake by the vines above.

-HTPWILY-

A/N - Oh my God. I am so sorry. I have absolutely NO excuse for this. I simply got lazy and decided to blame Colour Guard. Oh my God. I'll be sending another longer chapter out soon, I hope this is enough to tide you over until then...

Now I shall go perform a Dobby and iron my hands...