"Oi Granger!" A voice called from the behind her. Hermione whirled around and came face-to-face with Lucius.

"Yes? What do you want Malfoy?" she asked, clearly annoyed. She was hungry and being stopped by a Slytherin wasn't helping her mood.

"I want to talk to you" he said. Ginny looked worried, while Hermione gave her a reassuring glance, Ginny sloped off to the Great Hall.

Lucius pulled Hermione into a spare classroom, looking flushed. She raised an eyebrow, whilst feeling worried. What was he going to do?

"I saw you with Black the other day" he spat, looking angry. Hermione's temper flared.

"What's it matter to you Malfoy? I can spend my time with whoever I want!"

"Aren't you coming to the Hogs Head with me tomorrow?" He questioned. Hermione froze. She'd spent so much time with Sirius that she'd completely forgot about how she was going to answer him.

"Uh, well, you see, I already promised Sirius I'd go with him" she lied.

"He hasn't asked you! You're lying!"

"Oh and how would you know?" Hermione snapped.

"I-I just know" he stuttered, looking embarrassed. Hermione stared at Lucius in shock. She'd never seen a Malfoy look embarrassed before!

"I saw you and him snogging in the broom closet earlier" he whispered. Hermione's gaze fell to the floor. It was strange to see a Malfoy act like this. Why, it was as if the Malfoy's were human, the way he acted around her.

"Look, if it will make you feel better, I'll spend the morning with you, then meet up with my friends in the afternoon, how's that sound?" Hermione suggested timidly. Lucius glared at her.

"So, I'm not your friend?"

"N-No, you are my friend. I didn't mean it to come out like that!" Lucius smiled slightly and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'll meet you at the entrance of Hogwarts tomorrow morning at nine" he told her and made a brisk exit. Hermione stared after him in shock.

He'd just kissed her on the cheek! As she left the classroom, she shakily made her way to the Great Hall.

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"Hey Gin, Hermione, how are ya?" James asked with a smile on his face.

"Oh, we're fine" Ginny replied absentmindedly.

"Hey Hermione, wanna go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?" Hermione kept her gaze on her plate, where she played with her food. She shifted around guiltily.

"Um, I can't" she admitted. Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Uh, I've already sort of promised someone else I'd go with them" as she reached the end of her sentence, hardly anyone could hear her.

"Sorry, Hermione, could you repeat that? Not even I could make that out and I'm sitting right next to you" Ginny told her matter-of-factly.

Hermione cleared her throat nervously as she repeated what she'd said. Sirius' face darkened.

"Who are you going with?" he asked.

"None of your business" she replied.

"It is my business"

"How so?" she shot back at him "It's not like I'm your girlfriend or anything, is it?" Sirius's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah, you are-"

"No, I'm not. I don't recall you ever asking me"

"Well, I didn't really need to ask you, did I?" Sirius asked, looking worried.

"I'd have preferred it if you'd asked me first" she told him as she stood up and made an abrupt exit out of the Great Hall.

The Marauders shot each other worried glances, while Lily glanced at Ginny, who looked concerned.

"I think we'd better find her and confront her now" Lily whispered to the others. They all stood up and made to leave, but not before Ginny followed them.

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As the Marauders entered the Gryffindor common room, they noticed that Hermione was sitting on the sofa and staring into the fire. No one else was there, apart from the Marauders, Lily and Ginny.

"Hermione?" Ginny asked timidly as she approached her.

"It's not fair" she whispered.

"What's not fair?" Ginny asked. Hermione met her gaze and stared at her meaningfully.

"We know" Remus replied quietly "We know what you're on about"

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him.

"How do you know?"

"Well, maybe this explains it" Lily told her as she pulled out the photo that she'd showed the Marauders. Hermione's and Ginny's eyes widened when they realized what it was.

"Where did you get that?" Hermione breathed.

"Found it" she replied, she expected to get angry reactions from them both, but instead, she found them both looking extremely happy.

"We can just talk about it now. We don't have to worry about what we're going to say!" Ginny told Hermione, looking ecstatic. Hermione grinned.

"Great!"

"So, tell us" James said as they all settled themselves onto the sofas "What's my son like?" Hermione and Ginny exchanged glances as they smiled.

"Well, Harry's one of my best friends-"

"And my boyfriend"

"Yes, alright Gin, anyway, we've been best friends since we were eleven and-"

"I had a crush on him ever since he came to our house when he was twelve!" Ginny interrupted yet again.

"Ginny! Stop interrupting me!" Hermione yelled. Everyone laughed.

"Oh, Harry's a brilliant Quidditch player! He became Seeker in his first year!" Everyone looked stunned at this news.

"Wow" was all James could say.

"He, um, has a knack for getting into trouble and he has a saving people thing" Hermione muttered. Ginny stared at her.

"What do you mean a saving-people-thing?" she asked incredulously. Hermione's face dropped.

"Gin, don't! Harry said the exact same thing when he had the vision of Sirius in the Department of Mysteries and you remember what happened when we got there . . ." she trailed off as her eyes came over all misty. Ginny looked apologetic.

"Sorry"

"Harry blames himself for that, y'know" Ginny averted her gaze to the floor.

"What happened?" Lily prompted gently. Hermione started shaking as tears streamed down her face.

"Well, we didn't actually see it happen, b-but" she sniffed as she wiped her eyes with her sleeve "the v-vision he had of Sirius was a trap to lure him to the Department of Mysteries. You see, Harry and Sirius were rather close. Sort of like how you and James are now" she told him "B-but when we got there, all these Death Eaters showed up"

"Malfoy, Lestrange etc"

"Yeah, anyway, there was this prophecy that Harry picked up and the Death Eaters wanted it, but they couldn't just use Accio, in case it smashed" Hermione smiled weakly "He saved our lives with that prophecy, none of the Death Eaters could attack us as long as he had it in his hand"

"Surprising that Pettigrew wasn't there actually" Ginny commented. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Well, we ended up fighting the Death Eaters, then some of the Order showed up" she said "Tonks, Kingsley, Professor Lupin, Sir-i-us" her voice cracked as she said his name. Everyone looked worried.

"Do you want me to tell them?" Ginny asked. Hermione nodded as she buried her face in her hands.

"Well, Bellatrix Lestrange and Sirius dueled. Even when Dumbledore showed up, they were still dueling. Anyway, I heard it. I heard Sirius laugh and yell "Is that the best you can do?" and then I heard his laughter sort of . . . quieten. Turned out that as soon as he said that, Bellatrix had hit him with Avada Kedavra" Everyone stared open-mouthed.

"No!" James cried, looking horrified. Ginny nodded as Hermione's sobs grew louder.

"Harry went ballistic. It was quite scary actually. He attempted to use Crucio on Bellatrix, but it didn't work"

Everyone was quiet, all except for Hermione who sounded like she was becoming hysterical.

"Hermione" Sirius whispered as he walked over to her and put his arms round her.

"Everyone was devastated. Lupin had to hold back Harry to stop him from running to Sirius. I think he thought that seeing Sirius dead would torture his mind"

"Can we change the subject? It's just that I think Hermione needs cheering up" Sirius said, looking grim. Ginny nodded and grinned.

"Oi Hermione!" Hermione took her hands away from her face as she stared up at her friend.

"Do you remember when we were at 12 Grimmauld Place?" she asked. Sirius' face turned to one of horror.

"That hell hole?! What were you doing there?!"

"In our time, it's the Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. Anyways, remember when we mucking around and talking about Sirius and Remus?" Hermione blushed as she nodded. Ginny started giggling.

"This is what we were doing!" Ginny put on a dreamy face as she said "Isn't Professor Lupin hot?" Hermione bit her lip.

"He's such a dream, isn't he? He's so much better looking than Sirius!"

At this point, Hermione stood up and glared at her.

"OI! Not true!"

"Is!"

"Isn't!"

"Is! Professor Lupin is a really good teacher and Sirius is just a dog" Hermione's jaw dropped as she jabbed Ginny in the chest.

"I'll have you know that Sirius has a better sense of humour than Remus!"

"Oi! So not true!"

"Is, so there!" she said, sticking her tongue out at Ginny, before sitting back in her chair. Everyone looked rather amused at this.

"Oh, Hermione, you know that you're my decision maker?" Hermione nodded.

"Yup"

"Well, you're fired" she told her as she smiled smugly at her.

"Yes, well, I make your decisions for you and I say that I'm not fired, so hah!"

"Yeah, well . . ." Ginny trailed off as she sulkily folded her arms over her chest "Damn you!" The Marauders and Lily laughed.

"Yeah, we're from the future and we're cool, man!" Hermione said suddenly as she grinned "You know what this means, don't you?"

Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"We can listen to our music and watch our videos too" Ginny's face brightened.

"Aw, wicked!" she cried.

"Terminator films! Wa-hoo! They rule, even though I'm not normally one for violence" Hermione told them.

"So, in your time, did we know that you liked us?" Remus asked. Ginny shrugged, then she looked curious as she smirked.

"Oh, Hermione?"

"Uh-huh"

"You remember the first night we stayed at the Headquarters?"

"Yeah"

"What did Sirius whisper in your ear?" she questioned. Hermione's head snapped up as she blushed.

"Um, n-nothing, why?" Ginny giggled.

"You can tell me anything. Come on, what did he say?" Hermione muttered something inaudible, while Ginny strained to hear. Sirius grinned.

"That is so true" Sirius said.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, forget it! It's nothing" Hermione cried in exasperation.

"It wasn't something pervy, was it?" Hermione's jaw dropped.

"No! Well, I don't think so anyway, but knowing you, you're gonna say that it is!"

"Well?"

"He said that I had nice legs, alright?" Ginny looked astonished.

"Oh. Oh yeah, that was something else I wanted to ask. Whatever happened to you on the second night of staying at Headquarters? I woke up in the middle of the night to find you gone! I thought you'd gone to the loo, but you didn't come back all night!"

Hermione blushed.

"Well, there was a storm and-"

"Oh yeah, I forgot that you're afraid of them. Where did you go then? Harry and Ron said that they hadn't seen you either"

"Let's just forget it, alright? I'd rather not talk about it"

"Aw, c'mon, tell me! I think I have a right to know!"

"Fine. Sirius heard me crying and told me to go to his room, he thought I'd feel safer there" Ginny looked amused.

"I know that sounded dodgy, but it's not the way your dirty mind thinks"

"Aw. Damn! That sucks"

"Ginny!"

"Damn it! I told you that I've spent too much time with my brothers! They've corrupted me!" Hermione laughed, while everyone else looked amused.

"You know, it sort of wouldn't surprise me if you guys remembered us from now. It's just, in our present time, you did pull me onto your lap a lot" Hermione told Sirius. Sirius blushed.

"Oh"

"What about Professor Lupin? He scared the living daylights out of me!" Ginny exclaimed.

"What did I do?" Remus asked, looking worried.

"Oh, it's nothing to be worried about, in fact, I thought it was quite funny"

"Oh, was it when he-he did that thing at the dinner table?" Hermione asked, stifling a giggle. Ginny nodded.

"What did I do?" Remus repeated.

"Well, it was a week after we'd moved into the Headquarters, you stopped by for dinner and I was mucking around with Hermione, then all of a sudden, you yell "Miss Weasley, come here, I need to punish you" and I'm like, what have I done wrong and you go "Nothing yet, but I'm sure I'll find a reason to", then you take your belt off and you start cracking it and I'm like hehehe, okay, I think I'll just be going now and I sort of ran from the room, screaming. I think you were either a bit drunk at the time or you were seeing if you could scare me, which I must say, worked like a charm" Everyone laughed, while Remus blushed.

"Sorry" he murmured.

"Ah, it's alright. I actually found it quite funny because whenever you called me Ginny, I'd say "It's Miss Weasley to you!" and you'd be like "Ooh sorry!" Hermione giggled.

"Sirius found it amusing"

"I think amusing is an understatement, considering the fact that whenever Professor Lupin and I were in the same room, he'd just burst out laughing"

"Aw, Hermione, do you remember when Sirius taught Harry "the phrase"?" Hermione shook her head.

"Please don't say it! Harry drove me crazy with that goddamn phrase!"

"What you mean "Hey baby, lookin' good"?"

"Argh!" Hermione clapped her hands over her ears and screwed her eyes shut "I HATE that phrase! Harry and Ron kept saying it at every opportunity they got! And Sirius and Professor Lupin kept saying it as well, it didn't help considering they were saying it to us!" Ginny laughed.

"Aw, c'mon, I thought it was funny!"

"Yes, maybe so, but you didn't have Harry and Ron whispering it in your ear in every single class at school!" Sirius snorted with laughter, while James looked highly amused. Lily bit her lip to stop herself shrieking with laughter "And when Professor Lupin came back, he was grinning like a madman whenever he saw me! It was scary!" Ginny burst out laughing.

"Ah, I can see we're gonna have a lot of fun this Christmas!" Sirius and James said in unison. Hermione and Ginny grinned.

"Yep" Hermione's face dropped.

"At school, all the girls in my year try to get in a snog for New Year's. I've never managed it cos there hasn't been a single guy that's gone for me" Remus and Lily looked sympathetic, while Sirius grinned.

"Looks like you're gonna get lucky this year" Hermione blushed, then looked sad.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked "Snogging Sirius can't be that bad, can it?" Sirius shot her a dirty look, before looking at Hermione with a concerned expression on his face.

"No, it's not that, it's just-I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I miss arguing with Ron" Ginny looked astonished.

"Wow, now that's weird, although, you haven't exactly been acting yourself ever since we arrived here, you normally have your nose stuck in a book 24/7 and you would have started revising for the Christmas exams months in advance, but you're leaving it till the last week!" Hermione looked absolutely horrified.

"There are Christmas exams?!" Everyone nodded. She shrieked and leapt up, making her way for the library.
"Um, is someone gonna tell her that there aren't any and it was just a joke?" Lily asked, looking apprehensive.

"I will" Sirius said as he stood up and left.

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"Hey Hermione" Sirius plopped himself in a chair next to Hermione, who was buried in a book about Defense against the Dark Arts.

"You do realize that we were joking, don't you?" Sirius questioned. Hermione looked up and grinned.

"Of course. I was just wondering who'd be brave enough to tell me, seeing as when people joke about stuff like that to me, I normally freak"

"But because I was the one who told you, you thought "Ah, what the hell"" Sirius joked. Hermione smiled seductively as she put her arms around his neck.

"Well, maybe you're right" she grinned.

"Hermione?"

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering would you be my girlfriend?" Sirius asked, looking hopeful. Hermione looked shocked, then she hugged him.

"Yes! I will" Sirius relaxed and snaked his arms around her waist.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're absolutely stunning?" he asked her. Hermione shook her head as she leaned her head on his chest.

"No"

"Hermione?" Sirius swallowed. He didn't even know if what he was about to say was the right thing to say. Hermione pulled away and looked at him with concern.

"What? What is it?"

"I . . . I think I'm in love with you" It sounded so strange coming from the mouth of Sirius Black, yet to Sirius, it sounded so right.