Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I do not own the places. I don't own anything related to Harry Potter, all I own is the plot. Any resemblance to any other piece of fiction or something is purely coincidental.

- Chapter 3

'James? James Potter?' it shot through her head. 'Not Harry….but James….of course! Evans!'

She looked at the red-haired girl surprised and suddenly asked herself why she hadn't noticed it before. This was Lily Evans. Harry's mother.

"Hi…everyone. I'm Hermione Granger…"

James took her hand and pointed at the others one by one.

"These lovely ladies are Cathy Mullet, Emma Lennox, Lily Evans and Susan Vaughn. The boys over there…aren't really important. But this one, Hermione, is someone you have to meet. Padfoot! Come over here for a sec. Cathy doesn't drop dead the minute you leave her side."

A tall, good looking boy made his way towards them and made a bow with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Sirius Black." He said, introducing himself. "Sirius by name but certainly no-"

"Not by nature, yes we know." James interrupted. "Do you have to introduce yourself like that every time you meet someone new?"

"Well, how about you? Do you have to kiss a girl's hand every time you meet one?" Sirius answered back.

They looked at each other before bursting out in a laughing fit.

"Don't worry." Emma said. "They're always like that. You'll get used to it."

"So…" said Sirius when he had recovered. "I haven't seen you here before. Where are you from?"

Her mind was racing. What could she say? She could hardly go round proclaiming she was from the future. She had been…transported back in time, somehow. Sirius, James, Lily…they were all here. She couldn't possible tell them.

"I, err, I transferred here…because…my school couldn't….give me the education I needed. I was, err, too advanced and my…parents were afraid I wasn't being challenged enough at school." She said, copying McGonagall's words in order to find a plausible lie.

James gave her an inquiring look. "But what school did you go to?"

"…I come from a school…in Ireland…Stone Ridge."

She thanked the books she had read on wizarding schools. She had never expected their knowledge to come in handy in a situation like this.

"Stone Ridge?"

"Yes, that's the one."

"Yeah Potter! If you read more, perhaps you'd actually know some things. There are more schools about than just Hogwarts, you know!"

James snapped up.

"Yeah, alright, Evans. I know I don't read as much as you, but why should I when you're already spewing every bit of knowledge you get from them out at us every time we pas by! If I ever need to know something I'll just ask you!"

Lily opened her mouth to say something but got dragged away by Susan and Emma.

"Come on, you too Hermione." Cathy said. "We'd best not leave you behind with these guys. James and Sirius might seem cute and harmless, but they're really quite the troublemakers."

Cathy took her hand and dragged her off towards the school. Hermione allowed herself to be taken up to the girls' dormitory. It gave her an odd feeling to see the walls covered in posters and photographs that were unknown to her.

Instead of the poster of the Weird Sisters band, the wall was covered in posters of people she didn't recognise, photographs of Lily and Emma at the House table instead of Parvati and Lavender. It hurt her, making her long for home.

"You okay, Hermione? You look a bit pale." Emma said as she let herself fall down on her bed.

"I'm okay, just a bit tired…from the journey." She said difficultly.

Lily got to her feet again. "You're a seventh year, aren't you?"

Hermione nodded.

"Then why didn't they put another bed in here? Why weren't we told?"

Hermione stared around nervously. "I, err... Maybe they forgot."

Lily helped her up. "We'd better go to Dumbledore then. To ask for a fifth bed. You can't sleep on the floor."

Hermione nodded thankfully. Dumbledore. That was the one she needed to see. He'd know what to do, right?

"Yes, thank you Lily. Good idea."

The girl smiled at her, her green eyes sparkling. Those eyes. Harry's eyes. Another wave of homesickness came over her.

"Em, are you coming too?"

"No, I'm helping Susan with her potions. Cathy can go, though." Emma replied.

Cathy muttered something about 'Padfoot' and 'homework'. The others looked at each other, making strange faces.

"Oh well, guess it's just us two, Hermione. Come on then."

"Cor, I can't take much more of his yelling." Sirius stated as he changed into his school robes.

"Well, if you'd just use the tactics Rivers wants you to use he wouldn't have to yell and we'd finish practice earlier." James said. "But then again, you wouldn't be able to show off as much as you do for Cathy if we finished earlier." He added with a grin.

"Look who's talking!" Sirius replied. "Everyone knows you're trying to impress Lily."

"I do not! Well…only a little. Anyway, perhaps I'm going to stop doing that anyway. Now that there's a new fish in the Hogwarts sea."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "You mean the new girl? Hermione? No way!"

"Why not? She seems alright."

"But…you've been chasing after Evans for over two years! Without much success, but still. And now you're going to give all that up just because a new girl walks by?"

"Listen, you've got no right to judge me on that bit of my life, okay? How about you and Cathy? You two have been dancing around each other for the last two to three years and still nothing has come of it."

Sirius waited a moment before replying.

"…Alright. I'll fix that problem. I'll…ask her to the ball. And…then, yeah sure. I'll ask her if she wants to be my girlfriend. If she accepts the invitation first, mind you."

James patted his friend on the back. "Good decision, Padfoot old friend. Now…what about me…I think I'll ask that Hermione to the ball…to make her feel at home. We wouldn't want her to feel left out."

Sirius snorted. "Yeah right. Whatever. I'm not buying that, Prongs. You just want to see if you've got a shot at her. Just make sure you don't make Lily the one who feels left out, okay?"

James didn't answer. He just smiled his famous smile. The boys laughed and ran back up at the castle.

The corridors, too, seemed different to Hermione. Less old, somehow. She knew this was rubbish, but it did strike her that there was a whole different feel to the place. Maybe it was just seeing all those unknown faces.

Lily stopped in front of a statue of a gargoyle.

"…Chocolate Frog?" she tried.

It didn't budge.

"Err, okay…Sugar Quill."

Still it didn't move. She sighed heavily.

"Pumpkin Pas-"

"Don't exhaust yourself, Evans. You're not bright enough to figure it out without having read it somewhere before. Too bad he didn't write a book about his passwords, eh?"

"Oh, leave it Potter." She snapped back.

James just smiled his dazzling smile and for a moment Hermoine blushed. James noticed and mentally patted himself on his back.

Hermione quickly turned around, faced the gargoyle and named the first sort of candy that jumped to mind.

"Fizzing Whizzbees."

The gargoyle jumped up and stepped aside. Lily smirked at James.

"We got it. Bye James." She said as she stepped inside.

"Nice one, Granger. Didn't think you'd get it, to tell you the truth." He said.

She looked at him briefly.

"That just goes to show you don't know me." She said before she quickly followed Lily inside.

They walked slowly towards the richly decorated office doors. Lily waited before knocking on the door.

"Now to tell you the truth, Dumbledore, our headmaster, is rather old and sometimes he can come across a bit funny. He's a nice old bloke though."

"Thank you for that compliment, miss Evans." A voice said from behind them.

Lily immediately coloured the same shade of red as her hair as she looked up at him embarrassed.

"Do come inside. I believe you're here to see me?" Dumbledore said as he opened the door and let them enter.

He sat down behind his desk and conjured up two comfortable chairs for them to sit down in.

"Now, you have something to discuss with me?" he peered over his half-moon glasses.

"This is Hermione Granger, sir. The transfer student girl from Stone Ridge…" she added, trying to get a look of recognition on Dumbledore's face. "Something must've gone wrong, because there isn't a bed for her in our dormitory."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and examined Hermione. After a moment of silence he cleared his throat.

"Yes, I remember. There has been a misunderstanding. Miss Granger was supposed to arrive next week, not today."

Hermione looked at him surprised but managed to keep her face straight.

"Now, I have some things to discuss with miss Granger here. If you'd please excuse us, miss Evans."

Lily nodded and got up. "I'll wait for you outside."

Dumbledore waited till Lily had closed the door before looking at Hermione intently. She felt really uncomfortable under his gaze. She tried a smile, but felt it wasn't suitable for a situation like this and looked at her hands again.

"I do think there really has been a misunderstanding, miss Granger. Petrus O'Brian, Headmaster at Stone Ridge, is a close friend of mine and, despite my age, I'd know if I had forgotten something like a transfer student. I think I'd know if Petrus had said something like that to me. You're not really from Stone Ridge, are you, miss Granger."

He looked at her.

"You're wearing Gryffindor robes, you've got a Gryffindor badge…Yet you do not seem to belong here. What is your secret, miss Granger."

This was followed by a long silence. Hermione wondered what to say. She could tell Dumbledore the truth, couldn't she? If anyone could help her, it was him.

"I-" she stared. "I've got a problem, Professor. I'm not…how can I put this…I'm not from here…Well, I am, but not quite."

Dumbledore leaned forward over his desk. "I'm afraid I don't quite understand you."

"Yes professor. I mean to say…I'm not from this time. I've met the children of people who walk around here…my best friend is Harry Potter, James Potter's son! I'm not supposed to be here, I- I don't know how to get back, please help me get back!"

She started to sob. Dumbledore looked at her, taking in her broken figure.

"I see…" he said. "That does explain your sudden arrival and your robes…Can you tell me what happened?"

"I- I was late for the last Quidditch match of the season and my two best friends were playing. So…so I was running. But I had my arms full with an extra assignment for school. Books and an hourglass…I saw Harry chasing the Snitch so I cheered and dropped my things. The hourglass broke and next thing I knew I was here."

Dumbledore nodded and muttered something to himself.

"Yes…yes, I see. Tell me about the hourglass."

"It was…it had a silver frame and…it was filled with blue sand. It just broke and the sand was sparkling. I tried to put it back into the hourglass but it stuck to my hands and clothes."

"I think I can solve your problem, miss Granger. I know the type of magic you've been in contact with, but finding a way to get you back is going to take a while. You will join the other seventh year girls from Gryffindor. I'll put you in their classes."

He stood up and cleaned his glasses with a white piece of cloth.

"I will try to get a remedy ready as soon as possible. And…it would be wise not to tell James about that son of his…in fact, it would be better not to tell anyone about this whole situation."

She nodded and got up. "Yes professor. Thank you."

"That's quite alright. You'd better go outside. I believe miss Evans is still waiting for you."

She quickly left the office and joined Lily.

"So, how did it go with Dumbledore. Problem solved?"

She nodded. "Yeah. He said it had been a… a mix-up in the dates. I'm joining you and the girls in your classes."

Lily led the way into the Great Hall. "It's nearly lunchtime so Cathy will be here any minute."

A loud crash made them look up. A group of four boys was at the far end of the Hall. Lily sighed heavily and rolled her eyes.

"Not again…" she said.

She pointed at the boys.

"Hermione, meet the Marauders."

Well, I've just returned from camp and it was great! I really got to know a few people and some of them really really well too! So I feel like I've made a lot of new friends and it feels good to know that there are at least a big bunch of friendly people in this new city I already know.

And I've got a tan for once ;) That's what you get when you're outside constantly for two weeks.

I'm going home today, but I'll be back soon enough to update, even though my college year will start next monday.

Emma Barrows: Thank you! I most certainly will update soon!

Olga de Bont: Hey! Nice to see you're reading this too! Glad you like it!

Tessa: I myself am not a great fan of timetraveling stories, so I don't quite know why I wrote this. But I am glad you like it so much :)

Metamorphusgirl: nn I'll assume that meant you liked it :D

Dead Red Head: Yeah, I don't like fics in which people change who Hermione really is. She was written in a certain way by Rowling and in my opinion you have to keep that hermione the way she is. Glad you like the story.

Kazemar-kaemi: You think so? I thought there were a lot of hermione/james fics out there in which time traveling is used. But if you think it's original, then who am I to argue ;)

Lucerito-del-alma: Glad you like the play between hermione and james. It's really hard to make it convincing. And what you said about different tastes in pairings, well, i prefer hermione/ron above all. But I find it really hard to write it! And I had to use Harry as the object of her affections in this fic because I'd never be able to use james the way I do in this story. But you like the story and that's the most important thing. I'll check out your story too! I am really interested in knowing what Gandalf and Dumbledore are going to talk about :D

IndigoStar12020: Jup, eight it is. Perhaps it might sound a bit short, but it was perfect for what I wanted to tell without going on and on about the same thing for too long.

Mandy: Yes I'll email you. Glad you like it so far.

Kerri: woohoo! You love it? Yeah! Now that's what I like to hear!

Madam Sorceress: Yeah, James is a little charmer, isn't he. And yeah, something does happen, though perhaps not what everyone might expect. I wasn't sure what i was going to let happen when I started to write this fic, but I got it all cleaer now.

Gwynn-Potter: Well, here I am! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Woohoo! I got 12 reviews on just a single chapter! I feel so happy...:D I'll update soon enough.

But now I've got to go. I still need to eat breakfast and pack/unpack my bag before my parents come to pick me up.

See you guys at the next chapter!

Love, raven55