Chapter Five: Something Different

Although she already knew the castle like the back of her hand, Hermione enjoyed Lily's tour. She had so much fun with the redhead: they explored passages, talked to the portraits, tip toed around Pringle (the groundskeeper who, from the sound of things, was even worse then Filch), and chatted with ghosts; all while giggling and whispering like old friends.

Upon finally retiring to the Gryffindor common room, they met the four Marauders, who were all sprawled on various couches. Lily tried to steer Hermione straight to the girl's dormitory, but Sirius—who had jumped up at their appearance, blocked their path.

Shoving Lily aside, he linked his arm with Hermione's, and led her to a couch. "You know, life is funny sometimes. Take today, for instance. I had no idea when I woke up that I even had a soul mate," he said, his charm working overtime as he stared into her eyes, "But now I am convinced that I have met her today."

At that, Hermione broke out in laugher. Lily joined her, and the other three boys were doing a poor job of hiding their own chuckles. Hermione quickly squirmed her way out of Sirius's grip and ran to Lily. "Goodnight, boys!" they bade in unison as they hurried up the stairs.

Once reaching the room, which only fit two students (Hermione remembered that the Gryffindor dormitories were expanded in '87 to fit five girls each, she had read it in the eighteenth edition of Hogwarts, A History), the girls collapsed on their beds in a fit of giggles. "That's Sirius for you!" cried Lily. They laughed even harder.

Hermione lay on her back, staring at the ceiling. "Is he always that bad?"

Lily sighed. "I swear, he's getting worse, if that's even possible. First year he was actually a decent person, but the more he hangs out with that James Potter, the more he flirts. Those boys feed off each other."

Hermione smiled, now convinced that when she went home she would have to tell Harry all about it. He would have a good laugh, too. "Does he actually expect it to work?"

"I don't know!" giggled Lily, sitting up and extending her hand to Hermione like a microphone. "So tell me, Miss Ranger, how does it feel to be Sirius Black's soul mate?" The girls once again burst into laughter, rolling on their beds.

"I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard!" Hermione cried.

"Me neither," said Lily, pulling herself up again and facing Hermione. The giggles died down, and Lily's voice took on a new tone of seriousness. She looked down at her blankets, as if ashamed. "You know, I don't have many girl friends...in fact, I don't really have any. Sure, I hang out with girls from Gryffindor from time to time, but I'm not close to them or anything."

"Same with me!" exclaimed Hermione, looking at the girl across the room. "Well, unless you can count Harry and Ron, but they're not girls."

"Harry and Ron?" Lily smiled mischievously. "Boyfriends?"

Hermione looked repulsed at the thought. "Oh no! Nothing like that! Gross. No, Harry and Ron are my best friends from back home. We literally do everything together."

Lily smiled, interested. "It's good that you can have guy friends like that. All the guys here are total jerks, as displayed in the Marauders."

Hermione chuckled, "Actually, they're a lot like those guys! They're always looking for trouble, and I always get dragged along. We're ever going off: breaking the rules, saving the world...you know, normal teenage stuff! I've been great friends with them since I was eleven, and they are terrific guys." She smiled at the memories, suddenly missing the pair. But then she looked at Lily and a different feeling filled her. "A girl gets sick of it after awhile, you know? I mean, boys can be so thick. There's no meaningful conversations or deep topics to discuss. It's always Quidditch or monsters or adventure..."

"Here, here!" acknowledged Lily, a huge smile spreading over her face. "I don't have anyone at all who I can seriously confide in." She stuck out her hand just as she had in the hallway. "Friends?" she asked, her green eyes glowing.

Hermione smiled, sticking out her own hand. The two hands met, they grabbed onto each other's wrists, and shook vigorously. "Friends," she affirmed.

Later that night, after all the giggling had been spent, the darkness hid the girls as they lay in their respective beds. Hermione listened to Lily's soft breathing and smiled to herself. Okay, she rationalized to herself, perhaps I've done and said a little too much, for being in the past and all. But a staying here a little while longer won't make much more of a difference. Of course she was planning on finding the Time Turner and going back to her own time. But there was nothing wrong with making some friends and having some fun in the meantime.

Not too far away, Sirius Black was in a position very similar to Hermione's. He was stretched out on his bed with one hand resting behind his head and the other twirling the Time Turner. He lifted it up, dangling it from the chain and watching the gold glimmer in the moonlight. His mind focused on one thing. Hera...wow. "Wow" was the only word that came to his mind. Of course, Sirius usually did have a new love interest every week. But this, in some way, was different. All of the other girls flirted right back with him. But Hera, she was a challenge. She would take a little work, a little breaking into.

Sirius closed his fingers around the Time Turner, and shifted his side, closing his eyes. The last thought that entered his head before drifting to sleep was that he was more than willing to accept the challenge.