A/n: this story was all mapped out and mostly written by hand but I can't find my note book so I've gone back to the drawing board and its taking me longer to write than it should. No excuse I'm aware but bare with me.


Hermione woke alone yet again that morning, she laughed it off and got ready for the lunch she had been invited to at the Potters. After preparing her notes and herself of the Order meeting that afternoon she left the flat opting to walk to Lily and James' home. She had made it to the path when she heard Sirius' voice carrying from the backyard. "She knows Prongs, I'm almost sure of it, she called me Paddy. Come on!" "You don't know, plus if she knew wouldn't she have told us." James countered. "She did allude that she wasn't from around here she even told you she's from the future!" "I think she's holding her cards tight, I saw her speaking with Regulus yesterday afternoon. She claims to be on our side but the arse took the dark mark to make our parents happy." She sighed as James continued to try to calm Sirius and he continued to think of excuses why she was untrustworthy. As she made her way to the door she tried to compose herself as if she had heard nothing. She knocked twice before Lily answered rubbing the side of her mouth a little. "Already?" Hermione mumbled, Lily nodded. "Sorry, did I say that out loud?" Lily nodded again. "It's alright, I've done my research, there is no Hermione Graywood, there is however a Hermione Granger who was born just 5 months ago."
"What made you question me?" Hermione asked slightly embarrassed.
"You paid with a coin from 1984." Lily offered ushering the girl into the house.
"I'm sorry, I just didn't want to put my younger self and parents in danger, I had to- I had to obliviate them once for their safety I really was hoping to not have to do it again." Hermione spat out quickly.
"I understand if I could protect my family, I would too. Can you tell me the real reason you're here though, you are an Order member I want to know how to help accomplish what you've come to do?"
"I would too, you have Prongs and Padfoot in an uproar outside," came a voice from the backdoor.
"Remus, this is Hermione Granger, she comes from the future some time in the nineties if my calculations are correct." Hermione nodded at Lily's introduction.
"I am, Dumbledore sent me back from 1998 just after we defeated the Dark Lord." Hermione stated softly, "Perhaps we should call James and Sirius in so I only have explain once, it's not the most pleasant story to tell and if I must break the rules again I'd rather keep my crimes against time travel to a minimum incase a way for me to return home is ever found."
Lily nodded and motioned for Remus to open the door, causing the two men who were supposed to be outside arguing to tumble in.
"I see your eavesdropping skills have not improved James," his wife scolded, both men looked slightly embarrassed.
"Right well perhaps we should sit down this will take awhile." Hermione said calmly.
"Yes, right, I'll serve up lunch and we can all listen while we eat." Lily said ushering the lot of them to the kitchen. Once seated they all tucked in to the lunch she had placed on the table.
"I come from the year 1998, Dumbledore sent me back posthumastly, after the defeat of the Dark Lord. It was shortly after the final battle I received a letter from Phawks, it had his instructions, he gave me the choice of what I wanted to do and I chose to come back."
She started.
"If you had defeated him why did you leave?" Sirius asked, "What did we say surely we wouldn't have let you go on your own."
"Umm well you see."
"You didn't tell us." Sirius said shaking his head.
"It's not that I didn't it's that... I really shouldn't be telling you this."
"She couldn't," Remus said knowingly. "We were no longer with her." Hermione nodded slightly at his statement.
"We had lost so many Order members." She stated softly. "Harry had lost so much."
"Who was Harry?" James asked.
"My best friend, he was chosen by a prophecy to destroy the dark lord. I'll tell you everything." She said, leaving out their roles she continued to tell them the saga of her Hogwarts years leaving out Harry and Ron's last names.
"So you understand why I came back?" She asked as she got up and started to help Lily clear the table. The men nodded, "I know where most the horcruxes are in my time but there is no guarantee that's where they'll be in this time. I was speaking to Regulus yesterday Sirius because he was the one who had replaced the locket in this time with a fake. Kreacher was the one who had it originally in our time, the elf won't even speak to me because I'm muggleborn so I thought if I could convince his master a little earlier than last time to help I would be able to obtain that one easier."
"I can speak to Kreacher, find out if Reg has been tasked with the locket yet." Sirius offered.
"Thank you," she smiled at him.
"Wait I just realised something, this whole time you knew that I was the dog?" he questioned. She smirked one that rivaled a Malfoy smirk and nodded.
"You knew and you let him stay?" James asked.
"It was comforting to have him there, like a piece of my past was with me. Padfoot is welcome anytime."
"Just Padfoot?" He quirked and eyebrow.
"Yes, just Padfoot, why do you think I changed in the loo," she stated rolling her eyes.
"We have to get going before we're late." Remus stated pointing to the clock.
"We'll keep this between us," James said. "She had a point about protecting her younger self and her parents."
"Not even Peter," Hermione said, Sirius shook his head.
"We don't even know when he is coming back from his mission, plus if what you say is true I'm not sure we should tell him as much as we have been, if he really is the one to betray your friends parents." Sirius stated.
"I don't know," Remus said skeptically feeling like he was loosing something.
"No, she has no reason to lie to us, she's trying to save all of our lives." Sirius stated as if it were final "Now lets floo to Frank and Alice's."
Once the boys had all flooed over Lily grabbed Hermione's hand and pressed it to her abdomen. "Harry James' last name was Potter wasn't it."
Hermione flushed, "How did you know?"
"Harold was my grandfather's name, he passed just before I got my letter from Hogwarts, he told me I was special everyday. I swore if I had a son I would name him after my grandfather." She smiled.
"He will be amazing Lily, and I will keep you and James alive for him. He was my very best friend, like a brother to me." Hermione said getting teary eyed.
"If you really are stuck in this time line, you'll be more than his friend," Lily smiled. "What you're doing for us and him is the bravest thing I've ever heard and I will never forget that."
Hermione smiled, for so long she had thought the same about Lily's own sacrifice that the compliment did not go unappreciated. The two muggleborn witches flooed to the meeting together and the bond they had shared as Harry's saviours solidified in that moment.

The weeks ticked by as Hermione continued her search, for the horcruxes, she learned in that time that Sirius had enjoyed sleeping beside her as much as she had enjoyed having the reminder of her past there though his visits were less frequent. She had successfully recovered the diadem from the room of requirement as well as ring from the Guant shack. She stored all of the horcruxes in a Goblin silver box James had retrieved from his family vault. She had learned the power of them when they had the locket on her.
She was having a particularly hard time trying to obtain the diary as she had left both that and the cup in Sirius' hands. The locket was too much to think of until Sirius had the chance to speak to Regulus. She was able to keep her mind off things by trying to devise a plan to have Severus retrieve the sword of Griffyndor for her, like in her time.
He was still studying for his potions master position and wasn't as far into the Death Eater culture as he would be in a years time. She sighed when she heard a crack of apparition on her doorstep.
"Hermione! Hermione open up," She could hear Remus's voice on the otherside of the door. She was cautious.
"What was the first thing you said to me, upon meeting me at James and Lily's?" She asked through the door.
"I would too, you have Prongs and Padfoot in an uproar outside, now open the door Sirius is hurt." He stated, as soon as she heard Sirius' name she flung the door open.
"What happened?" She asked pulling the two men in as Sirius coughed up blood onto her floor.
"We were in Diagon Alley and he tried to speak to Regulus, things didn't go very well."
"He told me since I loved muggles so much we should fight like them except he threw some nasty body bind hex first." Sirius moaned.
"Hold still," She told him before rushing off to find her bottle of dittany and some hand towels to turn into cold compresses. Sirius groaned as she let droplets of dittany fall onto his open wounds. "What were you thinking Sirius?" She asked softly pressing a cold compress to his face where a bruise was already starting to form.
"He asked for it. Wouldn't listen to reason, told him he didn't have to be like our parents but he decided to answer with his fists."
"Just lay still," She scolded before levitating him over to her bed.
"Mmmm, my favourite spot in this flat." He mumbled.
"I've got our friend here Remus go and let the Order know what happened, Sirius may have just drawn a little too much attention to himself." She instructed. Remus nodded shaking his head at Sirius again.
"What were you thinking?" She asked Sirius pushing potion at him.
"That he would listen, what is this?" He groaned swallowing it before she could answer.
"It's just a pain potion but it will probably make you sleepy. Just relax Sirius." She shook her head at him.
"Lay with me, you aren't the only who likes the feel of a warm body beside them." She complied to his request curling up beside him and fingering his hair.
"I'm glad to know you've always been so reckless and it wasn't something spurred by us." She told him softly.
"Harry is James' son isn't he?" Sirius asked starting to doze off.
"Mmmhmm, your godson," She answered knowing the maurader was asleep.