The next morning was a bit of a blur to Hermione. She had stayed up for hours after Sirius had left. Her mind had not let her rest. Every time she had been close to sleep another stray thought wandered into her consciousness. As a result, she had slept for a total of about two hours on and off.
"Couldn't sleep," asked Remus the next morning, taking note of the dark circles under her drooping eyes. Hermione was bringing the few possessions she had to the boy's room. Seeing as she didn't have a trunk, Remus had offered back at Hogwarts to share his with her.
"No, I guess not. How about you?"
"Better than you by the looks of it, though I really didn't get too much sleep. Actually I think James was the only one who got any real sleep. I woke up at about one and Sirius wasn't even in the room."
Hermione didn't say anything, but felt distinctly uncomfortable. She didn't want to think about Sirius or the kiss they had shared. She had spent most of the night pushing that thought out of her head. She felt guilty over what had happened although she wasn't quite sure why. They hadn't done anything wrong. Even so, Sirius had been avoiding her all morning as well.
In truth, she just felt more comfortable with Remus. It might have been because out of all her friends he was the most familiar or the fact that they were so much alike.
Hermione had always liked Professor Lupin very much. She thought he was a good person, but she realized now that she hadn't come close to knowing the real Remus Lupin. The seventeen year old Remus was good, but also kind, loyal, and intelligent, and most importantly he understood her in a way, though it pained her to admit, that Harry and Ron never had. She felt in him a kindred spirit.
"Oy Remus! Could you get down here already? We're ready to go," Sirius called from below. They headed downstairs, dragging the trunk behind them. Mrs. Potter was hugging James and Sirius goodbye. She turned as Remus and Hermione approached and gave them each a hug.
"You be careful now and send me an owl once you get to school."
"I will, mom," said James, kissing her on the cheek. "Tell dad I said bye."
Sirius threw his wand arm out and with a bang the triple-decker purple Knight Bus appeared.
The four of them boarded the bus waving goodbye to Mrs. Potter. The bus was pretty full and they couldn't find four seats together so they were forced to split up. Hermione and Remus took the two front seats and James and Sirius made their way up to the second level where they found a pair of vacant seats. With a bang the bus continued on its way.
Sirius was staring out the window at the passing trees. James looked at him curiously. "What's up, Padfoot?"
"Nothing, Prongs. Why do you ask?"
"Because you've been in a fog all morning, I know something's the matter."
Sirius looked at him intensely. "You won't say anything? I mean not to Moony, Wormtail, or Lily."
"Course not."
He paused, "I um… I kind of kissed Hermione last night," he finished painfully.
"What!?!" exclaimed James. Sirius punched him on the shoulder.
"Sorry," he whispered rubbing his shoulder. "When did that happen?"
"About one in the morning, in her room," said Sirius glumly.
"Why were you in her room at one in the morning?"
"Because I had to ask her a question and it just kind of happened."
"So," prompted James
"So what," returned Sirius?
"Did she kiss you back?"
"I don't know, I mean, I guess she did."
"Wow," said James simply.
"That's all you have to say," Sirius asked disgusted.
"I don't know what else to say. Do you like her?"
"I don't know. She's different."
"How do you mean?"
"I mean she's not like any of the other girls I've ever, you know, dated. She reads like a book a day."
"Yeah and she's from the future."
"That too, plus there's Moony."
James didn't have to ask what he meant by that. They had each felt that Remus was more than a little infatuated with her. "So what are you going to do," James asked?
"I don't know, play it by ear, I guess."
"Maybe you don't have to do anything, you don't really know how you feel about her and you definitely don't know how she feels about you. So just let whatever happens happen."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Course I am. Don't worry. It'll all work out."
"I hope so."
Downstairs, Remus and Hermione were talking animatedly on the absurdity of taking Divination when the alternative was the study of ancient Runes or Arithmancy.
"You're so right," Hermione laughed. "I could never convince Ron or Harry what a waste of time divination was."
"I can't believe you just walked out of class in the middle of the year," Remus said admiringly. "I don't think I'd ever have the guts to do that."
"It's just that our teacher was such an old fraud. I mean she must have told Harry he would die a tragic death at least twice a class. It was such a waste of time."
Remus laughed. "I know, but I still don't agree with you about Arithmancy being better than Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"You would if you had the professors we had."
"Really," said Remus interestedly.
"Yeah, our first year we had a professor who was possessed by Voldemort and in our second year we had this fraud who thought his day wasn't complete until he had signed at least fifty autographs. Then in our fourth year, we had this lunatic who kidnapped the real professor and took Polyjuice Potion all year to pretend to be him and the year after that we had some crackpot power-hungry spy from the Ministry."
"Wait, what about your third year," interrupted Remus. "You skipped that one."
"Actually," grinned Hermione. "Third year was probably the best professor, except for the fact that he disappeared once a month,"
"Disappeared? Why?"
Hermione leaned in and whispered in his ear, "because he was a werewolf."
Remus whipped his head around and starred at Hermione's broad grin. Then he laughed. "I was wondering."
"Wondering what," she asked?
"How you knew me in your former life. How you knew about my uh… condition."
"Well, now you know. You were my professor."
Remus smiled. "It's good to know."
"What is," asked Hermione?
"That people become more accepting about difference in the future."
Hermione's smile faded.
"Things must be better if I can be open about who I am."
"Not exactly, Remus," she said sadly. "Nobody else really knew until the end of the year. But even after people found out the students all said you were the best Defense teacher we ever had. Well, except the Slytherins, but you know how they are."
Remus smiled again, but this time it was a little sadder. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Remus said in a very serious voice, "you do realize you have to call me Professor Lupin now."
Hermione grinned, then said seriously, "yes, sir."
When they arrived at Hogwarts the butterflies began circling in Hermione's stomach. She wasn't sure how Dumbledore was going to react.
"Let's not dawdle," James said. "Let's just go see Dumbledore now."
The others agreed and made their way to his office, but before they arrived they met the very person they were looking for.
"Hello," he said. "You're all back early."
"Yes, sir," said James. "We have something important we need to speak to you about."
"I gathered, seeing as you're back a whole two weeks early. We can speak in my office."
They assembled around the desk in his office and the boys all looked at Hermione. She took a deep breath and began. "We wanted to talk to you about the Order of the Phoenix."
Dumbledore looked at Hermione with a hard penetrating stare. Hermione nearly lost her nerve to continue. Then she felt a hand reach out and entwine itself around hers. She looked to her left to see Remus's smiling face. The smile and continued pressure from his hand gave her the courage to plow forward.
"We need to start the work of the Order now. We can't wait."
Dumbledore maintained his penetrating gaze on her. "I suppose I don't have to ask how you know about this, although I am saddened that the Orders services will be necessary twenty years from now."
"They're needed more than ever in my time. Which is why we've come to see you, sir, I think I can ensure that we can stop Voldemort once and for all."
"Miss Granger," Dumbledore began, raising his hand to interrupt her. "I appreciate your desire to help, but it would be irresponsible to use your knowledge of the future to try and affect the outcome of the war."
"Why," asked Hermione?
"For one thing," explained Dumbledore, "changing the future in any way could endanger your life."
"That's a risk I'm willing to take."
"I surmised that, but it is not a risk you have the right to take for others."
"Professor, I'm sorry, but I can't agree with that. We're losing the war and we're losing people and you're going to find the price for ignoring the information I have is too high."
Dumbledore said nothing.
"I couldn't live with myself if I let it happen all over again. I can't stand by and do nothing again."
"Again," Dumbledore asked?
Hermione nodded. "This isn't the first time I've jumped into the past." Hermione could feel the three boy's eyes on her and even Dumbledore regarded her with curiosity. "In my third year I was given special permission to use a time turner to attend multiple classes at the same time. At the end of the year something happened or rather was about to happen and you sent James's son Harry and I back three hours to prevent it. During that jump Harry and I had the opportunity to change something else and I wouldn't let him do it. Because I was so intent on following rules instead of doing what was right, Voldemort came back." She paused. "If you ignore me now, you'll know all too well the weight of responsibility that hangs on my shoulders, but it will be too late."
"Miss Granger, believe me I understand your desire to save lives But, what you're talking about doing, even though it comes from a desire to save lives, could have tragic consequences, consequences you cannot foresee."
"You sent us back to save Sirius's life," she said flatly. "I want to use my circumstances to save James. I don't see how our situations are any different. The only real difference is that while we could only save one person then, I can save dozens now, the Potters, the Blacks, the Crouch's, the Diggory's, the Bones's. I could go on. You'll be hard pressed to find a wizarding family in my time that hasn't lost somebody to Voldemort. Please," she begged. "Let me help you give them a chance."
The room was silent.
"Professor," began James, but Dumbledore raised his hand to silence him.
"I will give the matter very serious thought, Miss Granger."
"Thank you," she breathed relaxing into her seat.
"I must urge you, however, to think long about this as well."
"I will sir."
"And please, all of you, for Miss Granger's own safety, do not repeat any of what you have learned to anybody else." He turned to Hermione. "I realize you had your reasons for disclosing certain things to your new friends, but if someone less trustworthy should discover your secret, your life would be in very grave danger."
They could all sense the meeting was over and stood. The boys made their way to the door, but Hermione hung back.
"Sir," she began hesitatingly. "I just wanted you to know that I have always respected you immensely and would never defy you. I want you to know that I do trust you and I hope in time that you will come to feel the trust in me that you do twenty years from now."
"I will be proud, regardless of my decision, to have you fight beside me, Hermione," he said smiling kindly at her. "Your courage and loyalty make me proud to know you."
"Thank you, sir," she said and left his office.
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A/N: Just a quick thank you to all my reviewers, you're the best. Hope you liked this chapter.
