Happy Wednesday to all! SO thankful for all my followers, favorite-ers and reviewers! Jeb59, StormWitch 19851, Raven that flies at night, and xXMizz Alec VolturiXx; you all are absolutely wonderful!

Hope you all were ok with the fluffy fluff. Can't wait to see what you all have to say about this Chapter. =)


The Thursday before New Year's Eve, Hermione packed up her ever extending bag with some warm muggle clothes, the two way mirror and a few books she wanted to reread if there were any spare moments at Lily's house. Minerva had been hesitant to agree with the decision of Hermione going to stay with the Evans', but Hermione stressed that she didn't know them in the future and they were planning on doing more muggle activities than anything else.

"I'll see you on Sunday, Aunt Minerva," Hermione hugged the older woman tightly, trying to reassure her that things were going to be fine.

"Have a good time, and make sure you stay safe," McGonagall was obviously still nervous about any exposure that could threaten Hermione's future, but she trusted the girl in front of her to be capable of handling herself appropriately. Mostly… "Will you be staying at the Potter's after the New Year's Party or returning to the Evan's household?"

Hermione's face flooded with warmth; she and Sirius had both received embarrassing lectures from their 'guardians' when they were caught sneaking back from the Room of Requirements. Minerva had been worried sick and had made Hermione feel horribly remorseful for the dread she had caused. Sirius had trouble keeping a straight face as Flora had yelled about improprieties and inappropriate behavior; but in the end Mrs. Potter had also guilted Sirius into feeling badly about leaving without prior notice and giving her an anxiety attack.

"I'm not sure; I think it will be up to Lily and I to decide if we're too exhausted to return to her house or not. Mrs. Potter has offered us each a guest room," Hermione tried to retain a casual air to her voice, but the heat she felt on her face was sure to be giving her embarrassment away.

McGonagall smiled softly at her 'niece.' She had so easily adopted this young woman into her life that sometimes she forgot that they were not actually related. Minerva knew that she really had no authority to criticize Hermione's behavior with a boy; but her instinctive protection over the girl had taken over. The professor was surprised to find that Hermione did not appear to mind her lecture from the night before; but instead seemed to appreciate Minerva's concern.

Hermione stepped forward and hugged the older woman tightly, "I promise I will act responsibly." She chuckled a little at the stern expression that Minerva had shot at her. "Bye, Aunt Minerva."


Lily was ecstatic about Hermione coming to visit her over the break. She had never formed a bond so quickly with another witch before; and the fact that Hermione was 'part' muggle had made her friend even more appealing. Lily had planned a few muggle outings for today and tomorrow morning, but mostly she was just excited about having a friend who understood the difficulty of balancing their magical world with the non-magical one.

Hermione arrived at the Evan's cottage an hour after Lily had eaten an early breakfast. The girls embraced like long lost friends and immediately began chatting about the Potter's New Year's party. Lily had been told by James that it was a very formal affair that his parents hosted every year. There would be family and friends in attendance as well as a few esteemed pillars of the magical community.

At this news, Hermione's face became a bit blanched. She had known that this party was a special event, but the extent of it had not been explained to her.

"Oh, don't worry Mia. James said that he usually has to be there to receive and welcome everyone to the party, but after that we can just mingle with ourselves. There's no pressure to entertain the ministry officials or anything," Lily attempted to soothe the feeling of dread that covered Hermione's features, but these words did little to relieve her worry.

Hermione forced a side smile onto her face and made a mental note to have Sirius or Remus next to her at all times in case she needed to avoid future debacles.


Lily's mother accompanied the girls to London that day to shop for dresses that would be appropriate for a fancy occasion. They visited a few quirky boutiques along Notting Hill; they were small, unique shops with a wide variety of vintage clothing. Lily and Hermione giggled and twirled like small children playing dress up as they tried on a few gowns. Lily's mother smiled and happily offered her opinion on both of the girl's choices. Hermione did find it a bit difficult to find a dress that completely concealed her lighting scars; but Lily was tactful and she and her mother offered appropriate encouragement and suggestions.

Within a few hours, both Lily and Hermione had purchased appropriate dresses for the Potter's party. Lily's mother suggested they wander around the eclectic Portobello Road and see if anything interesting could be found to accompany the dresses. The three women spent the rest of the cool morning investigating fruit stands, ceramics booths and assorted music stalls. They decided to take a quick lunch at a little café off of Westbourne Grove and explored that street briefly before venturing over to Harrods department store. Lily's mother insisted on treating the girls to afternoon tea at The Georigan Restaurant before returning home.

When they finally arrived back at the Evan's household, it was only five in the afternoon; but Hermione was spent. Lily suggested that they just settle in her room and relax until supper.

Lily hung up her and Hermione's gowns and took a seat in the middle of her bed as Hermione settled on the little blue sofa chair in the corner of the room.

Hermione was tired, but she found herself actively engaged in the conversation about N.E.W.T.s that Lily had begun. They discussed a few studying tactics before Lily asked Hermione what she wanted to do after Hogwarts.

"I think I might like to stay at Hogwarts and train to become a professor," Hermione had been mulling the idea over in her head since McGonagall had suggested it a few months ago, and she found that the idea had become very appealing. "What about you Lily?"

"I've always thought about becoming a defender in the Wizengamot to work toward equal rights and diminishing prejudice against other magical beings." Lily mused a bit to herself, "I think I would like to travel a bit before I get started on any of that though."

"So you're going to be a lawyer…" Hermione laughed a bit. "Seems a bit muggle of you, Lily."

Lily's cheeks pinked slightly as she tossed on of her pillows at the blonde across the room; but she giggled along with Hermione. "I just… I don't want people like Remus to have a hide away from the world. He shouldn't be denied the chance at a normal life just because people are scared of him once a month."

"I completely agree," Hermione smiled at the caring heart that Lily had; and ultimately the thoughtful heart that Harry came from.


After supper with Lily's parents, the two girls returned to Lily's room and continued their conversations about the future. Hermione had given up on the chair and was now sprawled out on the floor next to Lily's bed; Lily had playfully dropped a pillow on Hermione's head in an attempt to make her more comfortable.

"Mia, can I ask you something personal?" Lily appeared a bit hesitant and sat down on the floor next to Hermione to address her more closely.

"Of course; what is it?" Hermione sat up and leaned her back on Lily's bed and mimicked the redheads own posture.

"Well…" Lily stressed the word carefully, "What do you think the future is going to hold for all of us? I mean with the Deatheaters and Vol…Voldemort? Do you think people like you and I will be safe, with us not being pureblood?"

Hermione's face showed a surprised expression as Lily asked her questions. "I…I'm not sure Lily. The future isn't something that should be taken lightly, especially with so many bad things in the world that we need to be cautious of. But would you really want to know details of the future? Would you want to look over your shoulder waiting for the bad things to happen; or would you want to spoil all the wonderful things that will come into your life?"

Lily's face displayed a small smile; Hermione was unsure if it was happy or simply covering Lily's sadness. "No. I guess I wouldn't want all that. But maybe just a small sign that I'm heading in the right direction; maybe something to tell me that I will contribute something good to the world?"

Hermione's heart began to race; she began to feel light headed and an uncomfortable pressure built up in her ears. There were flashes of images through her mind; they felt like memories but these were moments that Hermione had never experienced. There was a scene where she and Sirius were being attacked by dark hooded figured while riding a motorbike, then Hermione was cradling a little black hair child, another second where Lily handed her a thick envelope of parchment addressed to 'Harry' and then a sudden flash of bright green coming toward Hermione…

"Mia?… Amelia!" Hermione could hear the anxiety increase in Lily's voice as she continued to speak. "Mia, are you alright? Can you hear me?"

"Yes…" Hermione heard her own voice answer, but it sounded so foreign to her ears. "Yes… I'm alright." The fog in her head began to dissipate and Hermione was able to focus her eyes on Lily's bright green ones. "I'm fine. I just… I need some water and Panadol if you have it."

Lily left the dizzy Hermione as she search the house for the painkiller and something to drink. Lily's eyes were a mixture of concern and anger as she returned with the medicine for her friend.

Hermione gratefully accepted the medication as she cradled her head and rubbed small circles into the sides of her temple. She slowly realized that this head pressure was a familiar feeling; it was the same, if not slightly exasperated, feeling that she had gotten while walking around T&S with Sirius during their first date in Hogsmeade. Hermione had thought that instant had just been a bought of deja vu. But it now seemed like these two instances could be connected in some way. Hermione looked into Lily's alarmed eyes again and came to the realization that she didn't want to accept; she needed to tell Lily where she was from.

"Lily, I have to tell you something... delicate," Hermione tilted her head to the side in an attempt to relieve the building pressure in the back of her cranium while facing the redhead simultaneously.

Hermione was taken aback by Lily's curt voice, "Yes, yes you do."

The gears in Hermione's mind began whiling at top speed, "Oh my God… You… You know already."

"Of course I know! I'm not as oblivious as the Marauders. I've heard rumors from former friends about what's being said about you. They all seem to think you're some kind of seer, but I seem to be the only one who's bothered to actually look into your background and try to figure it out. Everyone else seems perfectly fine with taking the farfetched rumors about you as fact," Lily ranted as she retrieved a small washcloth and rinsed it in cold water. She rang out the excess liquid before placing it over Hermione's forehead; she then forced the blonde girl's palm to hold it the small towel in place.

Hermione's remained in a state of stunned silence.

Lily heaved a great sigh, "I was really hoping that you would have confided in me sooner. I knew that you were obviously not a danger to anyone or McGonagall wouldn't be taking care of you; let alone disguising you as part of her family."

Hermione still could not find her voice.

The harsh glare from those familiar green eyes finally diminished and softened. "Does that feel any better?" Lily motioned to the cool towel.

"… what?... oh, yes. Thank you," Hermione finally choked out.

"Well, would you like to state the obvious and confirm my suspicions so we can move on?" Lily's voice was still stern, but a smile played at the edge of her lips.

Hermione met the redheads gaze and nodded, "Yes… alright. Um… Lily, I'm… a time traveler." Fear began to creep into her voice, "How… how did you know I was from the future?"

"After Remus told me about meeting you over the summer, I did some research on Professor McGonagall's family. Her brother and sister-in-law were killed, as you had described, in a horrible attack by Deatheater's. Though at first I couldn't find any information on their daughter; she appeared to have vanished from the reports." Lily glanced at Hermione to see how the blonde was processing the information. "A few days later, I tried looking up the reports again and all the paperwork appeared to be fixed. You were listed as the sole survivor and it was stated that you were now under the guardianship of Minerva McGonagall. Everything looked in perfect order so I dropped the subject. It was quite a good cover up, don't worry. Majority of people won't think twice about where you're from, trust me."

Hermione released a small relieved sigh, "But what made you change your mind then?"

"It was your eyes actually," Lily chuckled to herself.

Confusion furrowed Hermione's face.

Lily laughed a bit more openly, "The report on McGonagall's niece listed a medical chart from a hospital in France. It had your eye color listed as blue. And following the Diagon Alley trip I realized that there wasn't a sinister bone in your body, but you couldn't be McGonagall's niece."

"The… the hospital chart could have been wrong… maybe it was translated incorrectly?" Hermione was grasping at straws.

The red head shook her head, "I found a picture. There was a copy of the muggle French newspaper from their town in the library in London." Lily noticed that all the blood seemed to have drained from Hermione's face, "It's ok though. I… I altered everything I could get my hands on; the pictures, files, charts, anything that would lead people to believe that it wasn't you should be fixed now. At least in England…"

Hermione felt her mouth drop open, "What… but… why would you do that?"

Lily actually fidgeted a bit; she was so enthusiastic about finally relieving her extensive research, she had forgotten the spark that had begun her whole investigation. "I completely trust Remus, and he trusts me. I've kept the secret of him being a werewolf for almost 4 years now. So when I asked him about the discrepancies that I found… he asked me to trust him and be patient. I thought if you had convinced Remus to have so much faith in you, there had to be a good reason. So I waited… and then Remus told me about some experimental potion that McGonagall's colleague was testing…"

Realization began to dawn on Hermione. With Lily's concern over Remus and his painful and dangerous transformations, she probably had been keeping close tabs on any possible cures or remedies. "You know about the Wolfsbane potion." It was a simple statement; no inquiry was needed, but Lily elaborated so that she was positive that Hermione understood.

"I know that the Wolfsbane potion isn't ready for testing yet. So I took the intuitive leap and assumed that you were 'McGonagall's friend,' and began hypothesizing again. There were only two options for all the events that had happened; you are either a genuine seer or you're from the future. And I really dislike Divination, so I guess I was a little bias in my decision."

Hermione covered her face with both hands and took a few deep breathes. "This is completely outrageous… you're as obsessive as Harry…"

The muffled words reached Lily's ears, but she didn't let Hermione know. Lily knew that she was right about Hermione's origins. And truth be told, obsessing over the blonde had been much more interesting and enjoyable then thinking about the disaster that her relationship with her older sister had become.

After a brief moment, Hermione collected herself and turned to face Lily, "Well, what do we do now?"

Lily hesitated, "I… I did a lot of research into time traveling, after I had reached that conclusion about you. There are some concerns I have…"

"Concerns?" Hermione laughed, but the laughter didn't reach her eyes. "Yes, I have many concerns too."

Hermione began staring off into the distance; she became detached from the conversation. Lily was worried her friend wouldn't head her words, "Mia, you need to pay attention to this." The redhead clutched Hermione's forearms and forced her to return to the issue at hand. "You're intelligent, so I'm sure you know that time travel is immensely dangerous. And since you haven't left yet, I'm assuming that you haven't found a way back to your time. Now, all the books I found said that the longest length of time travel that can be undergone safely is five hours. I know you're not within that range…. So how far in the future are you from?"

"Twenty years."

Lily's gasp filled the still air in the bedroom.

Hermione refocused her eyes onto the redhead, "What else did you find out about time travel?"

Lily shook her head and forced herself to concentrate as well, "Well, nothing concrete I'm afraid. It's all hypothetical or simple old wives tales… But... it's not good."

"Lily, what did it say?" Hermione's voice had taken on a strange steadiness.

"There this theory that if time travelers go back too far into the past, there is a possibility of some kind of illness." Lily attempted to form her words calmly and concisely, but her voice had gone up an octave at the word 'illness.' Hermione nodded for her to continue, "There is an old folklore story about a time traveler that stepped on a time turner and was sent back fifty years. The man is said to have experienced sporadic bouts of sickness that eventually lead to his death. And there are many theories about why he passed away; such as his body not fully adapting to the time line, that time was rejecting him somehow, or that his travels made him lose his mind and he…"

Hermione closed her eyes, "He what, Lily?"

Lily was silent for a few heartbeats, "He might have killed himself to escape the pain that was being inflicted onto his body."

Hermione opened her eyes, "So you're afraid that my anxiety attack or deja vu headache event might be caused by this time travel sickness? And it's eventually going to kill me."

"If we don't eventually find a way to get you back to your time… Yes." Lily tried to inject a bit of hope into the devastating conversation, "The stories I read did say that it took a few years for the illness to really take hold though, and it supposedly progressed very gradually. Also, from the wording that was used, he was an older gentleman and not in the best health to begin with. So I'm hoping that if we keep a close eye on your 'headaches' maybe we can manage them and keep anything from happening to you while we find a way to get you home."

Hermione laughed humorlessly at the irony of Lily Evans trying to save her life.


So... What did you all think?!

I was really excited while I wrote this chapter, I hope you all enjoy it. Lots of love and research went into this one; and it's a bit longer then most so: read, be merry and review!

Unfortunately, I will have to take a little break. Being an adult has gotten in the way of my writing again and I need to regroup and catch up. I promise it won't be long though. You'll have a new chapter by the Friday of next week at the LATEST.

PLEASE Follow, Favorite and Review! All reviews welcome and appreciated!

Love,

Misha