Disclaimer: For the last time now; I own nothing connected to Harry Potter or the fascinating world of his, neither do I know anyone who is, in fact I'm in no way connected with him and that's a shame, I think. Plus, I'm not making any money out of it. I'm not a thief!

Review-thank yous:

Rebecca – I didn't freak out. I am completely sane ::jumping up and down with glee and acting not very sane at all:: ;)

Panther's-Princess – Here you go, I updated for you!

Lovablechick213 – Honestly I haven't decided why Dumbledore's dead. Just use your imagination since it probably won't be very necessary. Why that is; you'll actually see in this chapter.

Donroth – I hope your next review are just as nice as this and the previous ones. hint, hint

Angel of Slytherin – About the October-December-thing, you'll see. Just wait (or actually you don't have to wait very much since it shall be explained in this chapter). And yes, I love the movie While you were sleeping. I'm actually planning to do a fic based on that movie when this is finished!

KLLRS – Well yeah, in the world without Harry Hermione's a loner, and Dumbledore is dead (don't ask me how he died. He got killed by the Dark Side or something; however, he's dead.) And… well, the Dark Side is rising, Voldemort never died, and such… that's what happens in 'my' world without Harry.

Monkeystarz – Good you got it eventually. I was kind of afraid people might wouldn't.

Captain Oblivious – You were right in some things (like about what happened to James and also her relation to Ron), about what will happen you will just have to wait and see; some of it is actually cleared up in this chapter. Actually I find it quite amusing when readers are trying to analyze my stories. Keep going!

s.s.Harry – Now I updated. Now you tell me.

Sunni07 – I agree it was quite scary. I almost got scared myself ;) Can she fix it? I don't know! Well that was a heck of a lie, of course I know! But you don't. ::sticks out tongue::

Chapter 8 – A Nightmare

"Alyssa? Wake up, Alyssa, you're having a nightmare."

Hermione opened her eyes. Her view was fuzzy and it was somewhat dark in the room, but after a few seconds she could discern a pair of blue eyes.

"Alyssa, are you okay? You were crying in your sleep, and it took me five minutes to wake you up!"

"Where am I?" Hermione whispered.

"Hogwarts, of course," another voice came from further away, sounding rather irritated. "Would you mind being a little quiet so that I can get some sleep?"

The fuzziness in her view slowly faded away, and she could now see that she was sitting in her dormitory at Hogwarts, Amy bending over her with a concerned look upon her face.

"You had a nightmare, I think," Amy said. "You cried and cried and it woke us up. What were you dreaming?"

"I-" Hermione started but her voice trailed off. "I don't remember," she said simply.

"Try to get some sleep, okay?" Amy gave her a quick hug before returning to her own bed.

Hermione's head sank down into the pillow again. A dream?! It was only a dream, she told herself. Harry does exist, and Ron is not mad at me, Dumbledore is alive...

But then it felt like her heart dropped down into her stomach. This was what would happen if she didn't do what she was supposed to do. This was what would happen if she didn't break up with James immediately and got him and Lily together.

She buried her face into her pillow to not wake anyone up as her cried harder and harder.

Somehow she must have fallen asleep, because suddenly the sun had risen outside, and she had a horrible head ache. She groaned as she sat up in her bed.

"Aren't you feeling well?" one of the twins asked.

"No," Hermione stated. "I've got this awful headache..."

"You should go to the hospital wing," the other twin said. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"I'm just going to get dressed," said Hermione and with another groan, she managed to rise from the bed.

"Now I want you to sip this slowly," Madam Pomfrey said and shoved a bottle into Hermione's hands.

Hermione got a strange feeling of meeting Madam Pomfrey at such a young age – she had probably just started working here like a year ago or something.

However, Hermione sat there, sipping slowly, trying to resist the wish to just spit it all out. Because it tasted exactly as bad as it did in her time.

"Now, lean back and try to get some sleep," Madam Pomfrey said. "I'll check upon you later."

Hermione smiled weakly and leaned back, relaxing. Her eyelids were heavier, and heavier, and heaver...

When she first opened her eyes she felt relieved that the headache was gone. Then she became aware of that someone was holding her hand. She turned her head – still relieved that it didn't hurt – and looked straight into James' hazel eyes. He smiled at her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, whispering.

She nodded. "I had a headache, that's all."

"And a nightmare. Amy told me."

Hermione suddenly remembered the nightmare, and remembered what she had to do. Break up with him...

"I'm glad you're feeling better," he said.

God, Hermione thought with tears in his eyes. This was the most caring and wonderful guy she had ever met, and she had to break up with him. That if something was so unfair!
"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I don't really know how to say this, but..." her voice faded away.

"What?" he said and squeezed her hand harder.

"I can't… I mean we can't… continue… this," she said quickly, staring out through the window in the opposite end of the room.

He dropped her hand in shock. "What?!"

"I'm sorry," she said. She had thought that there wouldn't be any tears left by now, but obviously there was – at least they were streaming down her face.

"But-" he said but interrupted himself. "But why, Alyssa? Why?!"

Hermione kept staring out through the window. James rose from the edge of the bed, where he had been sitting.

"Just tell my why," he said. "I think you owe me that."

James, I'm from the future. No, maybe not. You are supposed to love Lily. If you two don't get together, my best friend won't be born.

"Because... I..." she stammered, when suddenly an idea popped up in her head. "I've got a boyfriend in France."

"You... what?!" he said and rose abruptly from his chair beside the bed.

"We're engaged," she added while nodding somewhat frantically.

"You're nuts, did you know?"

Those were his last words before he span around and rushed out of the room.

"So you're feeling okay now?" Lily asked at dinner.

"Yes," Hermione replied. "Much better."

"You look pale, sure you're okay?"

Hermione never got the time to answer, because she was 'attacked' by Gladys and the twins.

"What have you done?!" Gladys exclaimed.

"What?" Hermione asked softly.

"You know what I mean! You broke up with him; it's out over the whole school."

Hermione didn't reply, but looked miserably down into her goulash soup.

"Leave her alone," Lily said, but neither Gladys, nor the twins seemed to care.

"Rumours say," Emily started, "they say you are... engaged," she finished in a whisper, looking around so that no one would hear, like if it was a big secret.

"What?!" Lily almost fell down on the floor. "You're..."

"Quiet," Gladys whispered. "What I can't understand, though, is why you never told us?!"

"I... I can't really explain," Hermione said. "If you don't mind, I don't really feel for talking about this right now."

"But-"

"I don't feel well, I'm going to bed," Hermione said but pushed away her plate and rose from the table.

She walked out of the great hall, trying to ignore the curious gazes that everyone was throwing on her; except for James who was staring miserable down into his soup. When she had reached the exit, she started to run, and ran all the way to the Gryffindor portrait hole.

"Chocolate Frogs," she said and the portrait swung open and allowed her to enter.

She went straight up to her bed and threw herself onto it, burying her face in the pillow.

Meanwhile, James Potter had left the Great Hall as well, heading for the Head Boy and Girl common room. When finally having reached it and entered as well, he kicked his foot hard into one of the couches.

"Fuck!" he shouted.

In the same time, tears started falling down Hermione's face again.

Author's note: I told you I hadn't gone nuts! Now review, or the evil banana will come and eat you.

Tip of the Day: Me and my friend saw this ad in a newspaper, that we could try on some gym class for free and we did. We went some class that was like a mix of karate, yoga and aerobics and it was so great. Karate is over all really fun and great exercise (I'm going to start this autumn) so if you ever get the chance to try on something similar, go for it!

Sincerely yours,

Megafreak