(Back in the 70s)

Hermione trudged to dinner one evening to find Remus waiting for her at the door. She had grown especially close to him in the past week or so. He always walked her to classes and kissed her goodnight. She loved him so much!

"Hermione, Lily said to meet her at dinner, she has something important to tell us all. Come on!" he said quickly.

Hermione's heart skipped a beat. It had to be news of her getting home! She could just imagine the looks on Harry and Ron's faces when she walked in; she couldn't wait! Hermione ran into the hall and immediately began searching for Lily.

After a moment of canvassing the room, Hermione saw a flash of bright red hair. Lily! She grabbed Remus' hand and walked over to Lily.

"Lily! Remus said you had some news! What is it?" Hermione was almost jumping up and down of her excitement.

Lily looked over at the giddy Hermione. "Hermione, I am leading the decorations for the St. Patricks Day dance! And I chose all of you to be my crew! Isn't that great?" she asked Hermione.

Hermione couldn't keep her face from falling. She had been so convinced that she was going home! Tears came to her eyes and she ran from the room.

"What was that all about?" Lily asked Remus after she had left.

Remus knew he had to tell the rest of her friends. And well, Lily was a good person to start with!

"Lily, Hermione has been hiding something from all of us. You know how she just ... appeared? Well, she came from the future, in fact, 2005. That is why she seemed kind of different at first, and why she had been so anxious lately. She really wants to get home but has no way of doing it. When I told her you had news for her, I think she assumed that the headmaster had found a way for her to make it home. That is why she is so upset now," he explained."Right now, I am going to go and find her. I am the only other person besides you and Dumbledore that knows and she is feeling pretty low right now."

Remus turned and left the Great Hall. He went and checked the Gryffindor Tower for Hermione but she wasn't there. Where is she? he wondered. Suddenly he realized where Hermione had to be.

Tears slipped down Hermione's cheeks as she looked out of the window in the Astronomy Tower. She remembered how she, Harry, and Ron used to sneak up here and stare at the stars. She had always loved how comforting they were to her. It wasn't just the stars; just being with her friends was great. She missed them so much!

Hermione breathed in the crisp air. Winter was just about over. Her cheeks felt cold, tears had frozen to her eyelashes, and she shivered a bit, but she stayed outside just the same. If she went back inside, she would only be bombarded with her friends wondering what had happened. She couldn't deal with them tossing her out now! They were great! Hermione knew she had lied to them. Her friends were probably going to want her to tell them all about it. That was if Remus hadn't already told them ... but even keeping her secret didn't seem so important anymore.

Hermione's crazy thoughts were interrupted by Remus silently walking in and pulling her into his lap. He had found her. She buried her head in his shoulder as he hugged her tightly.

"Hermione, I had to tell her," he broke in quietly. Hermione knew he had, but now she was almost embarrassed to face them! This made her cry even more.

They sat there like that for a while, with Hermione sobbing all of her stress from the past few months onto Remus. Finally, Hermione looked up. Remus smiled down at her. "You feel better now?" he asked. Hermione almost laughed. She felt so much ... lighter, now that she had gotten it all out.

"Remus, you know that Lily will tell the others. What am I supposed to say to them? I lied to them the whole time!"

"Hermione, they will understand! They are your friends and nothing changes that, no matter where you come from!"

Hermione knew he was right. She allowed him to help her up and together they walked through the darkness to the castle.

"Mimi!" Sirius shouted out as Remus led her into the room. Assembled before her were all of her friends; Lily, James, Sirius, Hanna, and Mandy. Hermione felt herself blush and found that she couldn't quite meet their eyes.

"Hermione, is it all true? I mean, Lily told us what she heard from Remus, but is it really true?" James asked her.

Hermione sighed. "Yes, guys, it is all true. I really am from the future," she admitted, looking at the rich carpet below her feet.

Silence followed. Hermione finally had the nerve to look up. She saw six pairs of eyes staring at her. "What?" she exclaimed.

"Well, aren't you going to tell us the story?" Lily asked as if it was a no brainer.

Hermione had to laugh at that. "Well, I guess it isn't really an exciting story, but if you want to hear about it ... "

A bunch of nodding heads answered her question.

"Well, I came from 2005, so really you are all 30 years older than me. I had just finished my sixth year here at Hogwarts when I went home for the summer. My parents had adopted the cutest little girl Annie, and I guess she is one of the reasons I am here. My two friends had come over for a visit and they brought my time-turner. I had dropped it on my way out of the train station. We were all unpacking and Annie somehow got a hold of my necklace. Before I realized it, she was spinning it. That is what makes it go back in time. I took it from her, hoping I could stop it, but it ended up throwing me back here. Thankfully I ended up at Hogwarts, instead of in some Muggle town! That would have been really hard to explain. But that is why I didn't have anything with me, why I did so well in classes, and why I have been so terribly stressed out. I HAVE to get back home! And I don't even know how," Hermione ended with a sigh.

All jaws dropped except those of Hermione and Remus. They all considered for a moment.

"Mimi! Can you tell me what happens to me in the future?" Sirius asked excitedly.

"NO Sirius!" Lily answered for her quickly. "If Hermione tells us our futures, then they won't be as fun for us! And besides, if something bad does happen to us then I don't want to know about it!"

Hermione felt a wave of relief. She would have hated to let them know what was to happen to them!

"Hermione, we'll help you get home! Now that we all know what is going on, we can help you out!" Hanna announced.

"Yeah!" Lily agreed. "You go to bed and we will think of something, ok?"

Hermione realized that she was almost asleep on the couch. Crying had really worn her out.She agreed to get up to bed and slowly got up, almost falling right back over onto the couch. Remus stood up to help her to her room. Hermione realized that the barricade of the girls dormitories must have been put up sometime later, as he had no problem getting into her room.

Hermione was almost asleep by the time she got to her bed. Remus had to help her under the covers and closed the curtains beside her bed. He turned out the light and started to say goodnight, but realized she was fast asleep.

"Aww, the lovebird is back!" Sirius and James exclaimed in unison upon Remus' return.

"You two stop it!" Lily threw a pillow at them. "I think it is sweet of him."

"You would!" James exclaimed.

"All right guys, cut it out! We have to figure out a plan," Remus said, taking control of the group.

"We have to figure out a way to get her home. Hermione is almost sick, she is so worried. Even Dumbledore cannot find a way to get her there!"

"But Remus, once she is home, you won't ever see her again! She'll forget all about you, and you probably won't remember her in 30 years either!" James said.

Remus hadn't thought of that. This complicated things for him. Hermione was the best girlfriend he could want! How could he just say goodbye to it all? Still ... he had to get her back to her rightful home.

They sat in the Common Room until almost dawn. They had finally been able to think of a plan! The six teenagers went to bed with bloodshot eyes and drooping faces, agreeing to tell Hermione later about the plan.

Hermione couldn't stand it anymore. She had been up since 8 waiting to hear about their ideas, and it was almost noon! She decided to wake them all up.

First, she walked into Hanna and Mandy's dorm. They looked so peaceful, sleeping soundly in their beds. Something had to be done about it! Hermione enchanted a barrel of water to float above their heads. She then screamed, "Look out Hanna! Mandy! Watch out!" on the top of her lungs before hightailing it out of the room. Her friends almost jumped out of their skin, just in time to look up and see a wave of water heading for them.

Hermione snuck up to the dorm that the boys shared next. James snored loudly and Peter made a nibbling sort of noice in his sleep. Remus slept silently and soundly. Hermione loved doing this! She was having so much fun! For their room, she put some spello-glue on the floor and set up balloons filled with shaving cream above them. Water barrels were set up to tip over right after the balloons popped. Hermione snuck out of the door before sounding a huge horn. She ran down to the Common Room and prepared to look innocent.

"Where have you all been?" Hermione asked with a straight face as five dripping people trudged down the stairs.

"We've been pranked! Any clues on who did it?" Sirius asked her, not even thinking that it was her.

"No, Sirius. I've been catching up on homework and I wasn't paying attention to the other people. Sorry!" Hermione answered, amazed that she was pulling off being innocent.

"Hey! Has anyone seen Lily?" James asked suddenly.

Hermione almost slapped her head. She had forgotten to wake up Lily!

"No, she must still be sleeping. Let's go get her up!" Hermione suggested with an evil grin.

Lily was awaken by six jumping bodies on her bed. "Guys! Stop it, PLEASE!" she wailed. They quit for a moment, then resumed the jumping. Finally, Lily was wide enough awake to walk down to the Common Room with them all.

"Hermione, we've thought of a plan," Lily started once they had all sat down.

"And we stayed up until dawn thinking, too!" Sirius cut in.

"You guys really know how to get me home? Oh my gosh! Thank you! What is it?"

"Well, Hermione," Remus said, "It really is pretty simple."

AN:

Well, that is it! My longest chapter ever! I had an extra day off of school and decided to write another chapter for you all.

Next time: Hermione is told of the plan to get her home.

Thank you to all my faithful reviewers! You know who you are!

Until next time,

Meg