I'm not going to spend forever writing apologies, but just know I'm really sorry but I can't really think of any ideas for the story. This'll be either the last chapter, or the second to last. Sorry, but my ideas are dwindling. Thanks to: screwtheperfectlife, Serendipity-England-1922, debarie (thank you soo much for being faithful, and i'm soo sorry!), MiKaYGiRl, amrawo, uk-thai-babe, and chipped-nails (thanks for reviewing my stories like every chapter! You're the greatest!).
Once Hermione was out of eyesight of Sirius, she sprinted up to the Gryffindor Tower, arriving at the Fat Lady, but realized that she didn't know the password. "Damn it!" she said in frustration.
"I'm sorry dear, but that's not it." The portrait said serenely.
She was enjoying this, which infuriated Hermione. "Just please let me in. you know I'm a Gryffindor! I need to get away from this guy that I know things about. He's going to come after me—please?" Hermione pleaded.
The Fat Lady seemed to ponder this. "Just because I like you, honey. But don't tell anyone else about this."
Hermione nearly collapsed in gratitude. "Thank you! I owe you one!"
"Where've you been?" a low voice said from the armchair by the fire.
"Harry's chair!" Hermione thought with a gasp, for sitting in this one was none other than his father.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked innocently.
"Padfoot was going crazy wondering where you were. Well, nevermind that. So you're from the future, are you?" he questioned rhetorically.
"Um—who told you that?"
"Well, Padfoot did, but we all knew it. You are very inept when it comes to hiding things, Granger." James said, smirking.
"Oh be quiet." She noticed James had the same sort of knowing smile that Harry had. She suddenly felt her eyes tearing up. "Oh, James, I don't know what to do!" she cried.
He looked at her oddly, but didn't say anything. Hermione, feeling miserable all of a sudden, walked over to the couch and hugged her knees to her chest. She hadn't noticed James come over and wrap his arm around her. Not in a romantic way, per se, but more in a Harry-type friendship one. She laid her head on his Quidditch-enhanced chest, and he just held her.
"James, I miss them so much." Hermione confided after a few minutes. She didn't know precisely why he seemed so comforting, but she supposed it was just because he was eerily similar to Harry, who also happened to console her when she broke down like this.
"It'll be alright." He said awkwardly. Truth was, he admitted to himself, he wasn't really one to simply comfort girls without 'getting to know them better'. He had just felt so bad for her; she looked terrible, and even though they hadn't known each other long, it felt like they had been friends for a long time.
"No it won't." Hermione said sadly. "I don't know how to get back! I mean, I want to stay here, but I need them!"
"I know. I'll help you find out how, how's that?" he suggested.
She looked up at him through watery eyes, and although she didn't have the heart to smile, her eyes held gratitude. "Thanks, James. You're a real sweetheart when you get down to it, you know. Just like Harry." she added quietly.
"What was it you wanted to find out?" James asked curiously.
Hermione looked down, wondering if what she would tell him would seriously alter the future. "I just needed to warn Sirius about something. And to say I'll really miss you. and so will my best friend. More than you'll ever know. Just remember that he loves you more than anything else and he wishes you could have been in his life for longer." She started to rack into sobs again.
James looked at her in confusion, but didn't press it. However, he did have a horrible sense of foreboding and terror in his stomach, and he didn't like it at all. "Shh. Just tell me what you want me to do." He said reassuringly, kissing her lightly on the top of her head. Unfortunately, someone chose to walk in at just that moment.
"What are you doing!" Sirius exclaimed, letting the portrait crash.
"Sirius?" Hermione asked, looking sadly up at him, but not getting up from the couch.
"Padfoot, seriously, you have to believe me, we weren't doing anything." James said sincerely.
"And that's why you two were making out, right?" Sirius accused.
"Sirius, no! I just have to tell you something! Something important! If you don't listen to me, you could very well die!" Hermione cried desperately.
Something in Sirius's heart broke, and he stared at her, only to see sadness and urgency in her cloudy, almond eyes. "What?"
"James, could you—" Hermione asked.
"Yeah. No problem." James replied, sparing a glance between the two of them and getting up.
"Sirius. It will seem very strange to hear this, but please, for your own sake, remember it. There will be a night in the future where you will be participating in a battle of sorts. You will get into a spell fight with someone you know—not one of your friends—and they will hit you with a curse and you will—you will—you wont fair well. Just don't act cocky but defend yourself with all you can. Please, Sirius. It's insanely important that you remember this. Please!" she admitted.
Sirius stared at her in astonishment and fear. "Why—why are you telling me this?"
"Because! I don't want anything to happen to you! Because—I—I think I've fallen in love with you." Hermione said, lowering her eyes.
His eyes widened slightly in shock, but he recovered. He took over James's spot and took her hand. "I love you too, Hermione Granger."
She looked up at him, and kissed him indulgently on the lips, only to find them tasting of some sort of sweetness and apples. He took hold of her back and pulled her closer, intensifying their bond, and he found her pleasantly replying with a force all her own—granted, more forceful than he anticipated.
She broke away harshly, and looked up at him. "But I have to return to my own time, Sirius. I belong there. I can't spend my life with you for risk of changing the future. I'm so sorry, but I can't. but I'll always love you."
Sirius showed no emotion on the outside, but Hermione saw a heart-wrenching emotion appearing terribly in his dark eyes that she could not handle. She looked away in shame, but he tilted her head up so she had no choice. This was her hardest decision, and she couldn't believe she was making it. After all, Sirius was her best friend's godfather, and Hermione and his relationship was wrong on more than one level.
"And I you. Just promise to say the same thing to me in the future. I know it will seem odd, but please? Hopefully I'll remember you. I know we can't have a relationship when you return, but just remind me of how great it was when you came back here. Please?"
"I promise. I have to go make the potion that will return me, Sirius. I will come back to say goodbye. Oh, and I'd watch that rat Pettigrew's future actions if I were you. Just a heads up." She said warningly as she exited the portrait hole.
She arrived at the Library a couple minutes later, and reluctantly pulled the correct book off the Library shelf, brushing the dust and spiderwebs off of its cover. She sighed heavily as she flipped to the corresponding page. Smoothing the crinkled paper out, she read the title: Time Defyer Potion. She stared apprehensively at it, and was surprised to note that it did not have many ingredients—most of them she would be able to find in the Potions stores.
"Professor? May I borrow a few ingredients from you?" Hermione asked hesitatively, standing by the dungeon room door. She was extremely happy that Snape did not teach it yet. Now it was a teacher by the name of Professor Joshua Jacobson. He was a brown, short-haired man, probably in his early 30s Hermione guessed, had a handsome, softly chiseled face, and wore robes of a deep, midnight blue. Overall, he seemed pleasant enough.
He peered down at her from his over 6-foot height. "Oh. Yes, I suppose. Schoolwork, I'm assuming?"
"Oh. Y—Yes." Hermione stuttered. Technically it was schoolwork. Well, sort of. She was learning anyways. "I'll just be quick."
"Very well. Good luck, Ms. Granger, was it?" he asked in his deep voice.
"Yes. Thank you!" she said as she ran out the door.
Running into the fourth floor bathroom (since everyone was at lunch now), she set up her cauldron and the ingredients around her. Shakily, she poured in the teaflies, the crushed Tibetan beetle shells, one small pinch of sopohorous (Hermione assumed this was so the drinker did not get dizzy, but instead feel drowsy), and essence of fluxweed, which the book specified was used in potions of constant change, which of course fit with time travel potions.
She watched eagerly as the liquid bubbled, then with a crack turned a vivid, sparking red, after which a shower of embers floated through the air. It was, Hermione had to confess, very different from the potion to go back in time, but she knew she brewed it correctly, and corked two tablespoons of the solution.
Getting up after Vanishing the cauldron, she ran back to the Library to return the book, and arrived again at the Gryffindor Tower, which, thankfully, a third year boy was just getting out who held it open for her. The Fat Lady was glaring at Hermione with a look of amusement and disappointment, but Hermione sneered right back at her.
She smiled as she saw James, Sirius, and Remus looking back at her, all three of them having jumped up from their sitting positions. Her smile immediately faded into a scowl as she noticed Peter, who shrunk into the shadows. She turned to James, whom she gave a friendly, lengthy hug, her eyes already having tears in them. How she would miss him. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, to which she smiled at his obvious joking at having put his hand up to his face in mock surprise.
Remus was next. He held out his hand to shake hers, but she dismissed it and gave him a light hug, causing him to awkwardly do the same. He gave her a knowing, reassuring look, and she could have sworn those were her old Professor's eyes staring back at her.
Last was Sirius. Not wanting to make the goodbye longer than it had to be, she gave him an impetuous kiss full of feeling, sorrow, love, and longing. James made a fake gagging sound, and Remus turned away, probably more for Sirius and Hermione's privacy more than his own sanity. Still, she smiled at James, who returned it. Giving one last loving look to Sirius (and a glaring, hatred-filled one to Pettigrew), she felt tears fall down her cheeks as she uncorked the bottle.
Throwing it down on the ground and watching it shatter as the liquid absorbed into the floor, she thought it didn't work for a second. Then, all of a sudden, a thick cloud of emerald green smoke enveloped her. However, it was not before she saw James waving a sarcastic goodbye to her, though she could see that he would miss her terribly; Remus giving a subtle nod, and Sirius with an impassive look on his face that only made Hermione sadder.
With a rush of cold air, she watched all three boys' faces start to blur, until all she could see was the seemingly corporeal wall of green in front of her. Slowly, images began to pop up into her head: James holding her and compassionately kissing her head, telling her it would be okay; Remus finding her crying in the hallway and giving her sagely advice; Peter cowering; and Sirius caringly making out with her in the Common Room, disregarding any prying eyes.
Abruptly, his head slid out of focus, and a pair of apple-green eyes came rushing into her thoughts, followed by a head of untidy black hair and a grinning, handsome face. Hermione smiled (though she wasn't sure if she really did), as another, red-haired, blue-eyed face came smiling uncertainly into her head.
Suddenly, she was thrown upon the ground, and surprisingly, she was in the Gryffindor Common Room. She looked up at where she and James had sat previously, and there she saw a mess of black hair, who turned around abruptly at the new arrival. Grinning wildly, Hermione ran over to him and hugged him heavily, to which he seemed shocked at her greeting, but hugged her back all the same. He looked at her, surprised to see her glittering, excited eyes.
"Oh, Harry! I missed you so goddamn much!" Hermione squealed as she hugged him again.
"Me too, Hermione, but you weren't gone but a minute and a half. I don't know what you're talking about." Harry said, looking strangely at her.
"Wh—What?" Hermione asked. She couldn't believe it. Had she really changed the future that much? This was horrible! Hermione just about broke into tears again.
"Hermione, calm down. I was just kidding! You've been gone for days. How'd it go? I really was worried about you, you know. What'd you find out?" Harry asked, looking at her stricken face.
She playfully punched him on the arm. "Harry you dork! That wasn't funny! Well, I—" she blushed a fierce crimson as she thought of Sirius. "ImadeoutwithSirius." She mumbled incoherently.
"You WHAT!" Harry exclaimed, jumping up like he had just touched a white-hot iron.
"Sorry, Harry. It just sort of happened. In my defense, I did warn him about the Department of Mysteries! I told him to not be cocky and defend himself against Bellatrix! Well, I didn't say her name, but I told him to be careful. Doesn't that count for anything? Also, it was 17-year-old Sirius, not the older Sirius. But—oh, Harry! I promised I would remind him of our relationship! Oh, Harry, this is horrible!" Hermione realized, breaking down into sobs again.
She had promised him. She had promised him that she would tell Sirius's older counterpart of their feelings, and now he was dead. She didn't know why he didn't take her advice seriously, but all she knew now was that there would always be an empty place in her heart…an empty place where Sirius was supposed to be. She barely felt Harry's reassuring hand on her hair. All she could feel was how she could have stayed behind with him and had a wonderful life.
"Hermione? What are you talking about? Sirius is alive."
"What?"
Okay, last chapter will be shortest, because it'll just be an Epilogue sort of thing. Hope this was okay. And, again, I'm sorry it took so long.