Author's Note: -blinks- -tears up- All of these reviews have made me so happy!! –loser- Erm, yeah, moving on. I've got about… Five days left until I start school again. (Yuck.) So once school picks up I might not be able to do this chapter-a-day thing I'm trying to do now. I'll try to not make it be really long in between updates, but there's really no guarantee.
Thank You: Priscilla Ryu, Artemis MoonClaw, Black-rose23, Rane2920072, Lonelyfairy
LZY- 1. Hermione turned the time-turner around two or three times in the hours setting. Then she turned it two times in the decade setting, so she's roughly 20 years and two or three hours in the past. 2. I am a firm believer that Dumbledore is omniscient. (I probably should have mentioned that. X.x) 3. I picture Professor McGonagall to be about fifty or sixty years old, so that'd make her about thirty of forty. I hope that answers your questions! Thank you for the review!
Changing the Course of Destiny
Chapter Two
"Dark clothes." Hermione repeated and a scowl spread across her face. "We're not doing anything… Illegal, are we?"
"Don't worry, Amy. Both James and I assure you that nothing we do will break any of the Ministry's Laws what-so-ever." Sirius replied. Something about the wording of Sirius' answer seemed odd to Hermione though.
"What about school rules?" She asked slyly.
"… Damn, she's smart." James remarked.
"She's a good match for Remus." Sirius said, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes.
"Would you two quit trying to set us up?! I swear. You and James are the world's worst matchmakers!" Remus half-yelled at two of his best friends. "Honestly!"
"Sorry, Remus. I couldn't resist." Sirius yawned widely.
"James, Sirius, don't you think you should do your homework?" Hermione interjected.
"Oh! That stuff? Nah." Sirius brushed it off lightly.
"Padfoot, remember what Moony told us. If we don't do our homework we can't show Amy around the school." James reminded his friend with a heavy sigh and a glance in Moony's direction. He then reluctantly pulled out a roll of parchment, quill, ink, and Transfiguration textbook.
"Aw, Moony, you ruin all of the fun!" Sirius whined, opening his eyes and sliding off his chair to pull out his Potions textbook.
"That's what I'm here for." Remus replied nonchalantly, setting down his essay. "Well, at least I'm done for the night." He sent a half-glare in Sirius and James' direction.
"… You don't have to rub it in, you know." James said and feigned a hurt look and tone. Remus merely laughed.
"Now the question is whether I should retire for the evening and leave Amy with you two nutcases; or stay down here."
"Are you asking us?" James asked, motioning to Sirius and himself. "Because if you are, you know what we'll say."
"Yes, I am asking you. And no, I do not know what you'll say – as it won't be one of the options, will it?" Remus stood up and stretched. Hermione couldn't help but notice how thin he really was. How dare he accuse her of being an anorexic when he probably was thinner?! She set down the book she had been reading, observing the trio.
"Damn, you're good." Sirius said in awe. "Well, you see, I was thinking-"
"We were thinking!" James interjected. Whatever Sirius said to Remus he would back up one hundred percent.
"Right, point taken. Okay, so as I was saying. We," He continued, putting a great deal more emphasis on 'we' than was actually needed. "We were thinking that you'd like to show Amy around the castle. -- You know, the parts where we're actually allowed to go -- before curfew. I mean, it's not like she has any homework yet. And you finished yours."
"As much as I think that you are wrong and I should beat you up-"
"You'll thank me later for this!"
"You mean 'us', Sirius, 'us'!"
"That's what I said!"
"No, you said 'me'!"
"No, I said 'us'-"
"As I was saying," Moony interrupted. "If Amy has no objection to me showing her around, it would be beneficial for her to learn the corridors. So," He started and turned to Amy. "Would you like to learn some of the corridors?"
"Sure." Hermione replied and stood up. She brushed her skirt off and stretched. She followed Remus to the portrait hole and climbed through after him.
"Ah, Miss Granger!" Professor McGonagall called out and ran up to Hermione. "Here is your schedule, dear. The times are written next to the subjects. If you have any questions, please ask me. I will be in my office." With those last words, Professor McGonagall hurried off down another corridor.
Hermione looked down at the schedule and was both surprised and delighted to find out that it was the exact same schedule as she had in the future. A smile spread across her face.
"If you tell me what you have first, I can show you how to get there." Remus offered.
"I have Charms first, but I kno-" You're not supposed to know where any of the corridors are, you idiot! She mentally berated herself and earned her another odd look from Remus. "Well, I sort of know where it is." Hermione finished lamely, uncomfortable.
"Let's make sure you do." Remus replied. "It wouldn't be good to get lost here. There are too many things you could run into that are hazardous. Come on." He offered her his hand.
Now, this one simple gesture presented a huge dilemma for her. If she took his hand it might lead to something more than holding hands over the course of the year. That would not be good, because he was going to be her professor in the third year. However, if she didn't take it, she might loose a potential friend and he'd think she really was a nut job. In the end, she decided that it would be better to have a friend and took his hand and then followed him.
"Your hand is freezing. Are you feeling okay?" He stopped walking, pressing the back of his free hand to her forehead. Hermione pushed his hand away lightly. A blush crept across her cheeks and she looked down at her shoes.
"I'm fine." She replied quietly.
"Suit yourself. Come on, it's only an hour until curfew will end." He started walking once more with her following. "Once you come to the end of this hall, you go down the left stair case." Remus led her down the staircase. "Now you walk down the right corridor." He led her down the corridor lit by the torches in the brackets on the walls. Hermione knew that this corridor was lit by sunlight in the day because of the many windows.
"So you go to the end of the corridor leading out of the portrait hole, go down the left staircase, and then take the corridor to the right."
"Precisely. And then you go into the first classroom on the right."
"All the way down, left stair case, right corridor, and then the first classroom on the right." Hermione let go of his hand and leaned against the wall, resting for a second.
"We should go back soon." Remus reminded her after a rough two minutes had passed.
"Yes, I know." She stood up straight again and yawned behind her hand.
"Just to make sure you know how to get here and back, lead the way back."
"Sure thing, Remus. Follow me. I swear I won't get us lost." She grinned at him and then started walking back down the deserted corridor.
He followed her from a couple paces behind and admired how she could find her way back after learning how to reach the Charms class not but ten minutes before. Of course, that wasn't the only thing he was admiring. He was abruptly pulled out of his trance when they reached the place where the corridor was met by several staircases.
"Now, if we took the left one to get here, it would be the right one going back." She started up the right staircase with him following her.
"You're good with directions." He complimented her.
"Thank you." Nah, I've just been down that path loads of times before. When she reached the top of the stairs she continued down the corridor that she was presented with. Hermione stopped in front of the portrait of the fat lady and turned to look at Remus. "And here we are now."
"Yes, here we are. Nice job, Amy." He half-smiled and took several paces closer to her, tempted to kiss her.
"Please don't at me like that." Hermione said quietly, looking him back in the eyes.
"Why not?" He inquired, wondering exactly how he was looking at her. He had never given looking at people much thought before. Was there something terribly wrong looking at her?
"It makes me feel uncomfortable." She replied and her cheeks became tinged with pink again. "Bat boogey." Hermione stated clearly to the Fat Lady and the portrait swung open. Hermione stepped inside, followed by Remus.
"Hello again." James and Sirius told the pair, grinning devilishly.
"Hey."
"I'm going to go up to bed, now." Hermione said, picking up the book she had been reading.
"Good night." Sirius told her with a wink.
"See you later." James replied with another wink.
"I'll see you tomorrow, then, Amy." Remus said, sitting down in the chair he had previously occupied.
"'Night." Hermione yawned and walked over the girls' dormitory's stairs and was about to go up them before she ran back over to the trio. "James, there's a problem. I… I don't own any dark clothes."
"That is a problem…" Sirius nodded, looking over to James for his answer.
"Tomorrow is a trip to Hogsmeade. You can get some then. We'll delay the um… Trip." James answered.
"Okay then. I'm sorry. Good night." Hermione walked back over to the stairs and climbed up them, disappearing.
"So. Remus." Sirius started, looking over to his friend with a smirk on his face. "How'd it go?"
"How did what go?" Remus asked wearily, though he knew exactly what Sirius wanted to know.
"You know. Showing Amy the corridors…" James said slyly, dragging Hermione's old chair over to Remus' chair. Sirius did likewise with another chair.
"… You two are such perverts." Remus sighed, pulling a text book into his lap and opening it.
"What's he talking about, Sirius? He must have a guilty conscience."
"I know what you mean, Prongs. I mean, we were only asking if it was successful and if Amy learned at least where one measly corridor led to." James said, giving off a fake air of innocence.
"All three of us knew what you really meant, so just shut up." Remus snapped.
"I take it that it didn't go very well, did it Moony?" James asked seriously. "What happened?"
"First of all, I hate you. Second of all, I still hate you. But of course you won't leave me alone about this, so I'll tell you anyway." Moony sighed. "I offered her my hand when I was showing her the way to Charms. She paused before taking it-"
"Come off it, Remus. Chicks do that all the time!" Sirius said. "Go on."
"They do?" Prongs hissed in Padfoot's ear.
"Just go with it." Sirius whispered back.
"Her hand was cold, so I thought she might be sick. I put a hand to her forehead and she pushed it away. She was a little warm, though… So then we reached the Charms' classroom. I told her that she should lead the way back so she doesn't forget the way there by tomorrow. She did that. Then, we were in front of the Fat Lady and I was just looking at her and she tells me to not look at her quote like that unquote. I didn't know I was looking at her any differently than I look at everyone else, so I ask 'why not'? Then she tells me it makes her uncomfortable and goes through the portrait hole."
"Wow." James said, looking at Sirius. "He needs some real help with girls."
"Hell yeah." Sirius replied. "We can help him there, right?" He grinned at James and James grinned back.
"Don't worry, Remus. We've got it all under control."
Author's Note: Wow, my hands are all cramped up now. I'm sorry for not letting Hermione and Remus kiss, but I thought it would be a little bit too early.
Reviews and flames appreciated.