A/N: Okay, so everyone hates me because I'm a terrible author and I haven't updated since forever. But I've been writing like mad and I've even got the next chapter written so I can update!!! Whoo!!!!

Gilthas: About bloody time.

Me: Normally I would say something in my defense, but you're entire correct.

Gilthas: Am I ever wrong?

Crickets: chirp

Me: Well....

Gilthas: Oh shut up.

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Chapter 6: The Mother of Invention

"I haven't seen him for days," Sirius said distractedly. "And it's not as though he comes when we want him. He shows up when he wants to show up."

"I know," Hermione said, frowning slightly. "I just have this feeling... Sirius, did he say anything to you before he left?"

"Nothing," Sirius said, running his fingers through his hair as he flipped through a book.

Hermione sighed. "Listen, Sirius, if the Healers couldn't find anything, what makes you think you can?"

"The Healers aren't trying!" Sirius snapped. "You heard that Squib! You heard her! She said that they didn't want to help werewolves!" His eyes continued scanning the page in front of him. "If we only knew what was wrong with him..."

Hermione sat down on the couch behind him. "Sirius, you aren't helping Remus by not eating."

"I'm not hungry," Sirius said vaguely.

Hermione frowned. They had had this conversation before. "Have you eaten a thing since I asked you yesterday?"

Sirius scowled but said nothing.

Hermione stood up sharply and left for the kitchen. Pulling a rather bruised apple out of the fridge, she set it on the counter and waved her wand to get the tea started. She was just adding the tea leaves when a very disheveled Sirius walked into the room. He gave her an apologetic grin and said, "I guess I was hungrier than I thought."

Hermione gave him a sympathetic smile and set a cup of tea in front of him. She went to the counter to grab the apple.

"Sirius," she said firmly. "I want to see you eating more. You know Remus wouldn't want you to suffer for his sake."

"I'm not suffering," Sirius said around a mouthful of apple. "Remus is."

"We don't know that," Hermione said in the same firm tone.

"You can tell!" Sirius snapped. "He's clearly hurting."

Hermione sighed and took a drink of her own tea. She then set it on the table and looked Sirius in the eye. "Sirius Black, I want you to eat at least one meal a day. It isn't asking much, but I want you to promise me that you'll do it. How are we to help Remus if we're too busy looking out for you?"

Sirius frowned, but then reluctantly nodded. "One meal a day then. It's not like I don't want to eat, it's just that I don't think about it."

"Well start," Hermione said. "You've promised me now, and you've always been a man of your word."

"I'll eat!" Sirius said defensively. "No need to tell me twice."

"Good," Hermione said, nodding. "And take a shower. You smell terrible."

Sirius ignored the second comment. "What were you saying about the other Harry? I honestly wasn't paying much attention."

"That was obvious enough," Hermione said with a small smile that turned rather grave. "I haven't seen nor heard anything about him for days. I'm starting to get worried."

Sirius snorted. "If anyone can take care fo themself, that guy can."

"That's what you said about Remus," Hermione said shortly. "And something got him."

"As much as I hate to admit it, Hermione, that other Harry could wrap Remus, Ron, you, me, and half the school around his little finger at the same time."

"I notice you didn't meantion Harry," Hermione said calmly.

"he could wrap Harry around it as well," Sirius said seriously. "Just not at the same time. They may be equal in power, but this Harry knows how to use it."

"I know I shouldn't worry," Hermione said. "But I do. He hasn't disappeared for this long since I found out he was here."

Sirius sighed and downed the last of his tea. "What do you expect to do about it, Hermione? If he doesn't want to be found, no one can find him!"

"What if he does want to be found?" Hermione asked softly.

Sirius gave her a hard look. "Hermione Granger, if there is someone out there who can take down that man, then we have a bigger problem on our hands than we thought. Who do you honestly think can hurt him?"

Hermione frowned worriedly but did not answer. They were quiet for a moment before a knock on the door shattered the silence.

"Hello?" came Ron's voice.

"Come on in," Sirius called.

Ron appeared in the doorway, looking rather releived to see Sirius up and about. "Glad to see you not rotting away," he said cheerfully. Then his nose wrinkled. "Though the smell suggests otherwise."

Sirius frowned and Hermione broke in quickly. "We were just talking about Remus, Ron."

"What else would Sirius talk about?" Ron asked, pulling up a chair and sitting down. Something about his attitude made Hermione look at him sideways, but his height said he was still Ron and she could see worry mixed with relief in his eyes. Not Harry. This really was Ron.

"I don't smell that bad," Sirius said frowning.

Ron raised his eyebrows. "Tkae a shower, Sirius."

Despite himself, Sirius smiled slightly.

"So, any new leads?" Ron asked, wiping the smile from Sirius's face as neatly as a rag wipes up a spill.

"Nothing," Hermione said. "And unless we can get Remus to tell us what hit him, we're pretty much out of luck." Suddenly she froze, her eyes widening. "That's it," she whispered. "I've just figured out how we can help Remus."

"Will he even show up?" Sirius asked nervously, running his hands through his messy hair.

"He has to," Hermione said firmly. "I'm not powerful enough to perform the spell myself."

"What if you have to?" Sirius asked.

Hermione looked at him firmly. "Then I will. But I hope Harry show up some time. I do not fancy performing this myself."

"I'll do it if he doesn't show up," Sirius muttered.

Hermione said nothing, but inside she was sure that if that future Harry didn't show up again, she would not let Sirius do it. He had not read about this spell. It could kill you as much as save Remus and you had to go in with a calm head.

"I will be his guide," Hermione muttered.

"What?" Sirius asked.

Hermione blinked out of her thoughts and looked at Sirius. "His guide. A person has to be in the room with him when he performs the spell. They will act as his guide. That's all it says and I can't find anything else about it."

"I can do that," Sirius said.

Hermione looked him firmly in the eye and shook her head. "I know more about this than you, Sirius. If you want to help Remus, you're going to have to trust me."

Sirius frowned. "It sounds like not even you know that much about it. You just found this in the library one day?"

Hermione sighed. "I've had this book for ages, Sirius. I've read it twice and I've read other books like it. I know everything I can about it...except for what it entails. I can perform it to perfection, but as to what happens exactly," she shrugged uncomfortably. "All it says about that is, 'each experience is different, but one must have a guide to lead them through it.'. I would doubtlessly be the best guide."

"I know Remus better," Sirius argued.

"There are no qualifications for the guide. They can be anyone. I know the most about the spell so it has to be me."

Sirius muttered something that Hermione did not catch. He raised his voice. "What if he does not show up?"

"We just went through that, Sirius," Hermione said patiently.

Sirius blinked. "Oh, right."

"He will show up, Sirius. Knowing him, he'll already know what's going on and have everything we need in place."

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

Messy black hair and bright green eyes looked in at her. It took Hermione a moment (and a cring that it was true) to realize that it was not the person she wanted to see. She smiled anyway and carelessly closed her book, mentally wincing that she would have to re-find her page.

"Hey, Harry! This is a surprise. What brings you to Sirius's house?"

"Came to see him," Harry said, looking suspiciously at Hermione and Sirius, who was looking far too innocent. "Did I walk in on something I shouldn't have?"

"The usual," Hermione said with a reassuring grin. "Sirius doesn't want to put his books down. I finally managed to get him something to eat and the next second he wants to go back to his books." Sirius scowled at her. She was not about to tell her friend, however. Sirius could scowl all he wanted to, but he had not been there that night. He had not seen the elation in Harry's eyes when he realized that Voldemort was dead, that he wouldn't have to fight anymore. She wasn't going to break that now.

Harry seemed put at ease at that. "I come bearing food," he said pulling something out of his pocket. It was a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. "It's not much, but I figured if I could slip out into Sirius's tea, he might wake up a bit."

Hermione laughed and even Sirius smiled a bit. As nonchalauntly as she could, she placed her book on Sirius's shelf and turned back to Harry.

"Come on then, I haven't had any in ages. I don't let my students eat them so I don't have any at school."

"Tragic," Harry said. He dropped them on the table. "I heard they had a new flavour, too."

"What's that?" Hermione asked, reaching into the bag to pull one out.

"No idea," Harry said shrugging. "I just heard about it." He sighed as he popped one into his own mouth. "Sausage. I just had sausage for breakfast."

Hermione smiled. Sirius had just opened his mouth to tell them which one he had just eaten when the door opened and Ron came in yelling, "I've got the herbs you asked me to get Hermione! Not sure what I need--" He dropped off when he saw Harry. Hermione was horrified to see that he assumed the guiltiest expression on his face.

"Tea," Sirius said hastily at the same time Hermione said, "New potion I'm trying..."

Harry's mouth opened slightly. Hermione could see hurt in his eyes and she cringed inwardly.

"Listen, Harry," she said calmly. "It's not that--"

"Don't worry about it," Harry said calmly. "Hey, if you want to do stuff without me, I don't care really."

"Harry! It's not like-"

"I said it doesn't bother me," Harry said firmly, standing up from his seat. "I just have some...stuff that I need to finish."

"Don't go!" Ron said hastily. "It's not like it's that important anyway."

Harry waved him off. "I have stuff to do."

Ron opened his mouth to protest, but closed it when Harry brushed by him to the door. He paused before he went out. "It's good to see you doing something, Sirius."

Sirius managed a smile. "You know me."

Harry snorted in laughter, but even from her distance Hermione could tell it was forced. "Too well." He left then leaving a rather oppressive silence.

Finally Hermione cleared her throat. "You have the herbs, Ron?"

Sirius rounded on her. "Why can't we tell Harry?"

Hermione stared back calmly. "He has made it perfectly clear that he has no wish to involve himself with the Death Eaters."

Sirius frowned. "He's starting to come around! We're going to need his help! Especially since Harry hasn't shown up--"

Hermione elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"What?" Ron asked. "That made no sense."

"Slip of the tongue," Sirius grumbled, shooting an annoyed look at Hermione.

Ron might have accepted the lie had it not been for Sirius's sullen tone. "You're keeping something from me, aren't you?" he said incredulously. "What did you mean, 'Harry hasn't shown up'?"

"Nothing, Ron," Hermione said, smiling nicely and trying to divert him. "You say you have the herbs-"

"Not this time," Ron said frowning. "Why would you keep something from me, Hermione?"

Hermione winced. The tone was not accusitory, it was...hurt. She swallowed and looked at Sirius. "It's not that I didn't want to tell you, Ron. It's just not our secret to tell."

The hurt had carried from his voice to his eyes now and Hermione's stomach knotted. "Has Harry been helping or something? Did he not want me to know?"

"No!" Hermione said quickly. Then she grimaced. "And yes, I suppose, but not in the way you mean."

Ron turned his puzzled gaze to Sirius. "So he hasn't been helping and he doesn't want me to know that he's not helping?"

Hermione sighed. "I suppose it's too late to try to cover it up now. Ron, it's not the Harry you think we're talking about that's been helping."

"Someone at Hogwarts?" Ron guessed.

"No," Hermione said, shaking her head. "He's...the Harry from the future."

"What?" Ron asked, looking at her as though he suspected a joke. "Like a Time-Turner?"

"Nothing like that," Hermione said. "He hasn't come from a few hours. He's come from five years. And I suppose 'future' is the wrong word. He's not from this dimension. I mean, he was from this dimension but five years ago he came back to this time and, from what I can tell, accidentally changed it. Then he went back and his own dimension was still unchanged. Then he came again, except now, since his own world is different from this one, it's a different dimension, but while 5 years have passed here, only a few days passed there, so everything that happened five years ago seems like yesterday to him..." Hermione trailed off. Ron was looking at her disbelievingly.

"Are you making this up?"

"She's not," Sirius said resignedly. "He's far more powerful than the Harry you know. Far. He can do things by himself that it would take ten ordinary wizards and witches to do combined. Twenty!"

"Why haven't I heard of him?" Ron asked, flabbergaust. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"We told you!" Sirius said. "It wasn't our secret to tell. Now, if we're done chatting, we have more important things to do, like finding out what's wrong with Remus."

Ron looked like he wanted to say more, but he kept his mouth shut. Hermione guessed by the set of his mouth that he was going to talk to her about it later. She sighed and pulled the book back off the shelf where she had put it. Flipping hurriedly through the pages, she stopped at the one she had lost.

"When can we do this?" Ron asked.

"At midnight when the moon's at half quarter."

"Then we've only got about three nights to do it before Remus gets hurt because of the full moon."

"Exactly," Hermione said firmly. "That means Harry must show up before that time."

"And if he doesn't?" Sirius demanded. "What then?"

"Then," Hermione said in a voice of forced calm. "Then I will do it for him."