Sirius Black was not an easily stunned man. When his best friend kissed him back in second year and then continued to drool over Lily Evans. That shocked him. When his other best friend told him he was a werewolf and needed his help – that stunned him. Girls mystically falling out of nowhere, landing on him and knowing his name – that floored him.
"Have we met?"
She looked at him like he had lost his mind, "Of course we….oh! Oh damn, damn, double damn shit!" She climbed off of him and looked around slightly dazed, "What year is it?"
"1976, are you okay?"
"I appear out of thin air, land on you, and you think I am okay? I need to see the Headmaster. Please, will you tell me who that is?"
Sirius was considering this wasn't all some sort of dream with the girl hit his arm and glared at him, "Are you listening to me?"
"Miss – Whoever you are. It is early. I am tired. I am not used to people appearing out of nowhere, landing on me, and then beating me up. Speak slower – in little sentences."
"I. Need. To. See. Your. Headmaster. NOW. Slow and simple enough for you?"
Sirius groaned and rolled out of bed, "This counts as my good deed for at least the next week lady; by the way you need to kiss my arm better. You wounded me, you woke me up, and you know me but damned if I know you."
Hermione looked at him and quirked an eyebrow, "Love hurts Black." And she left the room heading down the stairs. He listened to her footsteps falling on the stairs and followed her pulling on his robe as he went.
"Woman, would you wait up! You do not even know where you are going…"
Sirius looked over at the woman next to him and noticed she didn't look all that much older than him. Her hair was coming out of whatever style it had been in and for some reason he could see silk pajama pants peeking out of the bottom of the white robes she was wearing. Things were just out of place all over the place. This is what he got for not sleeping in his room when James was gone. He got into messes like this.
"Uh, you do know he is sleeping. Like normal people do at this time of the night?"
She snorted, "Like he will care when I tell him what I need to tell him. Just give me the password if you do not want to help me."
He nodded in an exaggerated fashion, as if dealing with a slow person, "Yes, because I always give out the password to the Headmaster's office to stranger people who fall out of nowhere and land on me. You never apologized for that by the way."
"I am sorry for what happened that was in no way my fault. I am sorry it woke you up. Now I know where I am – Good night Mr. Black." And she left him standing there looking after her with his mouth hanging open.
"You don't know the password or where the office is."
"I will ask a painting. They have to be more polite than you."
There was a chuckle and a farmer off to Sirius' right grinned at him, "She has a point boy."
"Shove off, lady wait UP!"
"…so you see I need your help."
"Miss I am sorry I do wish I could help you. But we are not allowed."
"Lady I told you to wait and I would get you in. Would you be a bit more patient?"
"THIS is the one? Dearie, if I had known I would have told you."
Sirius glared at that painting as well, "When the hell did I bloody well piss off every painting in this building?" His blue eyes were flashing at the painting and he was certain in that instant he was the most put upon person known to anyone anywhere. He turned to the statue and bit off, "Acid Pops."
Hermione smiled at him, "Thank you Sirius Black." Just as the statue closed again and he heard the lock slide into place.
"What the bloody hell…"
"So, in your time, the time capsule was removed, opened and the scrolls found. You translated them and here you are…" Dumbledore said, rising from his chair. Hermione nodded and then looked him in the eye.
"Sir, I graduated from here at the top of my class, Head Girl, and have been working for the ministry. I can honestly tell you I do not know how I can get back." Hermione said softly, studying the carpet which suddenly much more interesting than the man in front of her. Dumbledore was having none of it.
"Since you were that clever to graduate with so many honors you must have known what you had. You used it anyway, Miss, that makes you a fool."
"I had to know if it worked! I had to know. There are so many things we could do better with those scrolls." Hermione said defending her foolishness bitterly, "I could not have dealt with myself if I hadn't."
"So what do you expect us to do with you? You cannot be a student, you cannot wander aimlessly, what is it Miss that we can do?"
"I have some education classes under my belt. Maybe I could student teach along with one of your professors 'till we understand what is going on. That way when I find a way back – it won't seem all that odd that I vanished into thin air."
Dumbledore nodded, "That would work out. Actually we did have a Transfiguration student teacher that switched to Charms suddenly. Why don't I put you with our lovely Professor McGonagall? She will be perfect and we can trust her to tell her the truth. For tonight you will sleep on the couch and tomorrow I will find you a room. What house were you in again?"
"I was a Gryffindor." Hermione said proudly, her eyes gleaming in the candlelight, "Thank you sir. I know this is an imposition."
Dumbledore smiled wearily, "I am sorry I was short my dear, I am just very tired and it was a very good dream I woke from. Now please go send Mr. Black back to his dorm and then please feel free to sleep on my couch. We will get everything squared away in the morning."
"Go to bed Sirius." Hermione said sticking her head out of the winding staircase and yawning.
"No,"
"Mr. Black I am politely requesting you return to your dorm."
"Not until someone tells me what is going on around here."
"I will make you if you do not leave. You will find out tomorrow like the rest of the free world. GO to bed."
"No."
"TRANSPORTIS!"
Sirius looked around his dorm room and snorted, "Well, that was annoying."
Sunlight hit her in the eye and she groaned covering her face, "Draco close the damn blinds already…"
"Who is Draco Miss Granger?"
Hermione shot up and looked at the speaker wild eyed, "Headmaster! Draco is …well, he is one of my lovers."
"In the future you are allowed to have more than one?"
She smiled wryly, "I have ever been a 'follow the rules of society' kind of a person. I love two men, they love me, and they love each other. It all works out rather nicely on most days."
"You wanted to see me Professor Dumbledore?" a crisp clean voice cut through the room and Hermione turned to see a younger McGonagall in the doorway looking at Hermione strangely.
"Minerva! Lovely, please come in. I have a story for you and best of all it's entirely true!"
"Here is your suite. You have a private bath, a sitting area and a bedroom of course. Password is Chocolate Frog. Professor Dumbledore has a sweet tooth. Now we have to go to breakfast for the announcements." McGonagall said, giving Hermione a brief tour and heading for the door once more.
"Um, Professor? I am in pajama pants and old Auror Training Robes. I don't suppose there is another professor around here that is my size?"
Minerva looked embarrassed, "I am afraid not, Miss Granger. However, if we both work at it we should be able to charm them until later. I will personally go with you to Gladrags and we will get you proper attire."
"Thank you. I am so very grateful to be with people who are willing to help."
"However Miss Granger, should you put a student in danger with such a foolish stunt as the one you pulled.…"
"I won't. I was a fully certified witch. I am allowed to pull crazy stunts. These students are nowhere near ready for this as I wasn't!" Hermione said with a dry chuckle and the two women set to work on the clothes."
James ran up the stairs and into the school. He was running late and he just KNEW something had happened while he was gone. Sirius was easily bored and Remus was good at distracting him but had trouble saying 'no'. You had to say 'no' to Sirius. Otherwise BAD things could happen. He was pulling on his robes and looking for his Head Boy Badge when Hermione came running down the hall trying to get to Dumbledore's office and in it before a student saw her with no shoes on. She didn't see the young man and he didn't see her.
THUD!
"Are you okay?"
She found herself looking into Harry's face, a younger but different Harry. She knew who this was.
"Hello, James Potter."
He was not used to getting mowed down in the halls by people other than the Marauders, and then only if someone had been silly enough to give them sugar. Certainly not by young women in pretty robes, with laughing eyes and a kissable mouth…
Kissable mouth?
Then he realized his hand was on her butt, her breasts were pressed against his chest and that his thigh was wedged between hers.
"Hello James Potter."
What the hell?
"Sirius…"
"James you are not going to believe…"
"She ran into…"
"…FELL on…"
Remus whistled shrilly, "ONE at a time. James, sit we will hear Sirius first."
"Why him?"
"He had a late night visitor."
James kissed his boyfriend hello and then pulled away, "What? I though you were staying in my room…"
"I did! I was totally out and then about two am this light flashes and then this woman falls onto of me, knows me somehow, hits me, makes me take her to Dumbledore, then I get charmed all the way back to the dorm with a flick of her wand."
James snorted, "Sounds like mine. I got mowed down in the hall, got groped by a woman who knew me but not the other way around. Then she was gone into Dumbledore's office."
The Marauders looked at each other and then up at the head table where Hermione was chatting with Minerva and Flitwick as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. She didn't see four pairs of eyes narrow. Two of those pairs had a hidden fire in them the possessors didn't even feel yet, but it was simmering very close to the surface.
They jumped when Dumbledore clapped his hands and stood up to make the announcements. Everything went the same as every other year since the dawn of time. Then came the announcement.
"This is Miss Hermione Granger; she is a graduate student in Transfiguration and will be student teaching with Professor McGonagall for the foreseeable future. I hope you will all strive to make her feel welcome in our school. Let the feast begin!"
Sirius and James looked at each other in horror as Remus and Peter laughed. Finally Remus stopped long enough to say, "SO in the less than twelve hours you two have managed to feel up our new professor and insult her. You two are going to have fun now…."
The only thought in their minds was, "Oh shit…"
Remus burst out laughing at the expressions on their faces, "We have double Advanced Transfiguration first too. You two will get to see your lover sooner than you thought!"
"Can it Moony." Sirius bit off with a pointed look at one of his best friends. This simply was not happening to him. He was going to wake up in bed with James and this was all going to be a nightmare brought on by some snack before bed.
"Class, I would like to formally introduce you to Miss Granger. She will be with us for the foreseeable future. Miss Granger would you like to say a few words?" Minerva said as the room full of seventh year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws looked forward expectantly. Hermione closed her eyes and stepped forward with a small smile.
"Hello, everyone. I am very pleased to be here and excited – this is really one of my first times leading a class this large. I hope you will feel free to come and ask me for help at any time." She looked to McGonagall for some kind of a sign and evidently getting it she turned back to the class, "I will also be in charge of the study groups for the N.E.W.T.S. and O.W.L.S. I will have a sign up parchment by tomorrow outside the door at the latest. Any questions?"
Melinda Livingston, a Ravenclaw, spoke up, "Where did you go to school?"
"American Institute of Magic. I graduated the head of my class and Head Girl. I have been attending the International University of Magics in Florence, until now." Hermione said rattling off her university. She had been IN the American Institute – so that counted right?
James and Sirius exchanged a look with raised eyebrows, which still didn't account for how she managed to land on Sirius and to know BOTH of their names. Remus watched them have a silent eye conversation and mentally slammed his head into a wall.
'Don't get us expelled. Don't get us expelled. PLEASE whatever you two drag us into, don't get us expelled.' Ran as a litany through his mind.