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 7

"Miss Granger. I have good news for you. Professor Slughorn has been able to make a potion that will guarantee your safe return to your own time. It just needs to simmer for another few hours." Professor Dumbledore said as he looked at her from his side of his desk.

Hermione's eyes lit up. "Really? That's wonderful! Thank you so much, professor!"

"Yes. We can have you on your way tonight, I think."

She broke into a huge smile at the thought of seeing Harry and Ron again. She wondered what to tell them when they would ask her where she had been all this time.

But she knew she couldn't leave just now. She had something to put right which she suspected had gone wrong only because she had accidentally appeared here.

"Thank you, sir, for putting so much time and effort into helping me as soon as possible. But there is something I must do before I can leave. It's sort of…a mission I have to complete, otherwise my future might end up frightfully different from what I'm used to…"

Dumbledore nodded. "I understand completely, miss Granger. Does this mission, by any chance, involve miss Evans and mister Potter?"

She looked at him surprised, but when she saw that knowing twinkle in his eyes she relaxed again. She smiled.

"It does, sir. It does."

James, Sirius and Remus were leaning against the side of the stairs, waiting for the girls to come down. Steven and Jolyon sat on the first two steps. James gave Steven a cold stare, but he didn't notice.

"Blimey, do they always take this long?" Remus asked exasperated.

At that moment a door at the top of the stairs opened and all five boys snapped up to see who were coming down.

Emma was dressed in pearly white dressrobes. She took Remus' hand and they took off though the portrait hole. Lily followed, wearing ocean blue dressrobes and feathers in her hair.

James looked at her, her appearance even more stunning than usual. But Lily, after giving him just a quick glance, ignored him and walked off through the portrait hole with Steven.

James followed them closely with his eyes as they left, but snapped up when Sirius nudged him in the ribs with his elbow. Hermione stood in front of him wearing deep purple dressrobes she had borrowed from Emma.

"Ready to go?" she asked him.

He smiled, knowing he should have been the one to ask that, not the other way round, and quickly offered her his arm. To his relief Hermione beamed as she took his arm and he smiled at her.

They walked to the great hall. It had been richly decorated and charmed, so it would look as if the hall was crowded even though only the seventh years had been invited. Hermione felt at eas in this relaxed atmosphere.

"Want a drink before we dance?" James asked her.

She nodded and made her way over to a small table where she waited for James to return. Lily sat down next to her.

"Where's your date? Left you already?" She asked casually. "I could have told you he would do that, James can be such-"

"Lily, stop." Hermione said suddenly. "I know you only asked Steven to the ball because you wanted to make James jealous. It's working, you know. He keeps looking at you all the time. Just you wait, he'll ask you to go out with him any moment if you'd just give him the chance."

Lily looked at Hermione. "…You think?"

Hermione nodded. She looked back at Lily and again those emerald eyes made her think about Harry…so many years ahead.

"…I don't think, Lily. I know…" She said softly. "You two are meant to be together."

She had to shake her head to make Harry's face leave her mind.

"Here he comes." Lily whispered suddenly.

James came back with two drinks. "Here you go, Hermione."

He didn't look at Lily as he handed Hermione her drink. But before she could take her glass from him he put both of the glasses down on the table and pulled her up from her seat.

"Come on, let's dance."

Hermione allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor while he ignored Lily's presence completely.

But when they were dancing, Hermione noticed how hard James found it to keep up ignoring Lily. He tried to peek a glance at her whenever he thought Hermione wouldn't notice.

This made Hermione chuckle lightly and she enjoyed dancing with him even more because of it. Again she noticed James' eyes searching for the spot where he had last seen Lily dancing with Steven. She wanted to let out another soft chuckle, but suddenly felt a surge of loneliness.

Lily and James would end up together, no doubt about that. They loved each other. But would there be a happy ending like that for her too? She felt lonely knowing that there was no one waiting for her at home to kiss her and to hold her when she finally returned.

"Hermione? Are you okay?"

"Yes…yes Harry, I'm fine…"

"Harry? You're confusing me with that friend of yours again." James said, looking a bit suspicious.

"Oh…James. James, I'm sorry." She said once she realised what she had said. "But you really do look so much like him."

'More than you can imagine….' She added to herself.

"Listen, don't be so down. I'm sure this Harry guys misses you too. Hey, don't cry…"

James suddenly saw that her eyes were glittering with small tears.

"Come here…" he said bracingly as he wrapped a comforting arm around her.

She threw her arms around him to return the hug. She finally realised exactly how lonely she really felt.

He kissed her cheek and dried her face with the end of his sleeve. "Come, let's sit down for a while, okay?"

"No…no, let's dance." She said, biting her lip to force back the sad feeling inside her. "It's a ball, remember. It's supposed to be fun."

She smiled at him.

"Okay, if you want to. Then let's dance." He said smiling, relieved to see that she was okay.

A loud laugh behind them made them look up. Lily and Steven were laughing merrily and danced as a new tune was started by the band. James threw her an angry look but Lily simply looked back at him with the same anger before returning to Steven again.

"James, she really likes you, you know." Hermione said.

But James continued looking angry. "If she did then she wouldn't be flirting with Moore like that."

"May I have your attention please." Dumbledore said suddenly, making everyone in the hall look up.

He smiled at them politely.

"I'd like to wish every one of you a very good night's sleep and a very nice trip to Hogsmeade tomorrow. But first, enjoy this last dance to the fullest!"

Everyone applauded and quickly got to their feet to make the most of the time that was left. James and Hermione also danced and she enjoyed it even more than she had done a few minutes before.

She felt Lily's angry eyes burning in her back, but she didn't feel bad about that. It made her feel satisfied that at last Lily was also realising how she wanted it to be her who was dancing with James.

When the music ended, the hall slowly emptied. Hermione, red in the face from all this dancing, took James' arm again as he escorted her to the common room.

"Thank you for taking me James, I had a lovely time." She said as they reached the portrait hole.

He noticed that she had a smile on her face he hadn't seen before. It really sparkled with happiness.

"Thank you too. I had a great time as well."

"Listen…I'm going back to where I come from, in a few days. Well, tomorrow, really." She said slowly.

"Oh…"

He bit his lip. He liked her, she had the right attitude to become a marauder, though perhaps she was still a bit too set on rules. But he felt sorry that she would leave again so soon, just when she had made friends with everyone.

"Will you come to Hogsmeade with us tomorrow, as a last day with everyone? They'd hate it if you left without telling them. And…I'm sure everyone would like to spend another day with you."

She nodded. "Yes, alright. I'm going to bed now, but I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Sleep well. Goodnight, Hermione."

"I'll take you up to the common room." Steven said as he took Lily's hand and walked with her through the corridors.

They finally reached the portrait hole, but the Fat Lady was asleep. No surprise, they had been the last to leave the great hall. They had done that on purpose. Lily, because she wanted to avoid seeing James kissing Hermione goodnight. Steven, because he had been hoping to spend a little more time with his date.

'Stupid James.' Lily thought angrily.

She recalled a picture of that evening of James kissing Hermione on her cheek. How could he? And she was sure that he and Hermione were doing a lot more than just a kiss on the cheek to say goodnight. The last thing she wanted to witness was those two eating each others' face.

She was so wrapped up in being angry at James that she barely noticed how Steven had taken her hand and was leading her a small way away from the portrait hole.

He looked into her eyes.

"Lily, you look really pretty tonight." He said shyly. "Well, not just tonight, you're always pretty, but tonight especially."

He began to stutter when he realised he was sounding like an idiot. She only noticed he was talking to her when she heard him struggle with his words.

"Huh? Were you saying something, Steven? I'm sorry, I wasn't listening."

He now took her hand in both of his own. "That's alright, Lily. You don't have to listen, because…"

He stepped in, bringing his face closer to hers. He was going to kiss her, she suddenly realised.

"No!" she jumped back.

Steven looked hurt and confused. "What's wrong?"

He looked at her curiously and took her hand again.

"Nothing…it's just…I do like you, Steven. But not that way. You're a really sweet guy, but nothing more than a friend to me. I'm sorry."

He released her hand and stepped back. "Oh…I see…well, goodnight, then."

He woke the Fat Lady and stepped aside to let Lily through. She felt mean about the way she had used Steven. But she was glad to find the common room empty.

Quickly she went up to the girls' dormitory. There, Cathy, Emma and Susan were still up, waiting for her to return. They were discussing that night's events and Cathy looked particularly over the moon with happiness.

"What are you so happy about?" she asked.

Cathy smiled. "Oh, nothing much…I just had a lot of fun dancing, and Sirius asked me to be his girlfriend!"

"Oh my god! Cathy! Congratulations!" Lily hugged her friend tightly.

"How did things go for you tonight, then?" the others asked her.

Lily glanced at Hermione, who was fast asleep in her bed.

"It's okay, she's asleep." Susan assured Lily.

"Well, alright then…I don't think James even noticed me tonight! He looked at Hermione all evening and he kissed her! On her cheek, just like that!"

"But he does that with a lot of girls. You know that, don't you. Remember when you got that letter about Petunia being ill? He comforted you like that too. And when my cat died, he did the same. It's a friendly gesture for when someone feels down." Emma said matter-of-factly.

"She seemed pretty happy to me." Lily said sourly. "And that's not all of it. Steven tried to kiss me just now. He thought I fancied him."

She threw Emma a nasty look as the girl lapsed into a fit of giggles.

"Sorry, Lily. But that's really funny. That's what you get for using a boy like that." Emma retorted, trying to stop giggling.

"I suppose…but what about her, then?" Lily went on, nodding at Hermione. "One minute she assures me James likes me and that he'll ask me out, next minute she allows him to flirt with her. And she threw her arms around him as if he was her only hope in the middle of the dance floor. I saw that, you know."

Susan shook her head. "Lily, you're not a very nice person when jealousy kicks in, you know that? I'm sure Hermione and James are just friends. I mean, it's not like she mentions him in her sleep."

"What?"

Susan laughed softly. "Oh, she keeps mentioning two boys. Some Harry and Ron. But Harry the most, to be honest. We kept count."

Lily laughed quietly.

"You don't suppose she means Harry Stafford, do you?" Emma wondered.

"No, I don't think so…they must be friends back home…" Cathy said.

"I just don't understand James…" Lily started again. "I hate him. How can he be so thoughtless and mean to me?"

"Lily…"

Lily got up. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

And with one determined jerk she closed the hangings of her bed.

Cathy rolled her eyes. "Good god. She's so stubborn."

Susan and Emma nodded agreeing as they crawled under their own sheets.

Ah, there we go. I just had my very first day of college. It was really interesting. It was a course called 'the encyclopedie of the science of law', roughly translated. But then I had to read 48 pages for a different course and it was SO boring...I hope the actuall class tomorrow will be more interesting.

Emma Barrows: Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long ;)

XXRoseDawsonXX: Well, for me there was only one option, you see. To make it all work. I'm not a great fan of fics in which the history of the MWPP era is changed too much, like, for example, one of the chief characters dying or james and lily not falling in love. Unless the story is well written, I won't read it if it's like that. So for me there really only has been one option, to make james and lily get together in the end. I mean, how else would harry ever be born? Anyway, you'll see how it all turns out.

40/16: yeah, I think it's BECAUSE there is still so much we don't know about the marauders that people like me write their own story for them. There's still so much mysetery about them and we have this urge to find out more about them. And seeing as how JK still hasn't told us a whole lot more (though I must say I do like it that way) we make up our own idea of what the marauders were like and what happened in their later years.

KaraLea: Glad you like it :D Hope this met your expectations :)

Kerri: well, it started out as a James/hermione fic partly. But when I was writing it it changed and changed more. And before I knew it it was another idealistic fic about how lily and james mihgt or might not get together.

Randypotter1222: I'm flattered that you think I have portrayed James well. He is a very difficult character and, like 40/16 said, there is a very limited amount of knowledge we can get about the marauders and how they acted. No, I'm not putting in Slytherines. Somehow I didn't really put in any people from other houses. I guess I forgot about them ;)

Olga de Bont: great! I know I'll see you at the next chapter then! Oh, en ik kreeg gisteren een telefoontje van Cees. Ik moet zaterdag 5 november auditie doen voor het HWSO. Ik vertel je de uitslag nog wel als ik die heb :P En hij zei ook dat de pantarini's hoopvol begonnen zijn :D (dus da's een complimentje voor jullie!)

Mercutio: hehe, i couldn't leave dear Slughorn out of this, could I? No, when you asked me if i was going to put any teachers in, I thought 'Shit! I forgot to mention teachers!' so I quickly slipped Slughorn and McGonagall in there. How I could have ever forgotten about them, eh ;) Yes, there were only 2 chapters left, and now there is only one to go. So stay tuned and be warned. The ending might be too fluffy for you to handle. (It even has me on the edge of maybe throwing up) Oh well, all ion due time. Be sure to tell me what you think! See you tonight.

Tessa: Wieeh :D You like Emma, Cathy and Susan? Woohoo! (A triumph!) And i'm going to let you in on a little secret about how I manage ti update so quick with such long chapters: I write them first by hand, then I type every single one of them and THEN I start posting them. I like quick updates myself and I want to update as soon as possible. And i can't have the pressure of needing to finish a chapter in a certain period of time. I feel it takes a lot of potential out of a story. Sometimes I add something to one fo the very first chapters when i'm nearly at the end, just to make sure something is put into the story with credibility. So...first finish the story, typed and all, and then I post. Sneaky, isnt it ;)

Well, only one more chapter to go. Feel the tention! (laughs sarcastically) I'm going to have a quick snack now, 'cause I'm starving and then I will update soon after I've read all of your lovely reviews. So just click-clickity-click on that little blue button at the bottom of the page and let me know what you think! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and see you at the enxt one!

Love, Raven55