Author's Note: Wow, I can't believe that this is the seventh chapter… Or eighth, depending on how you want to look at it. Sorry to keep you guys waiting!

Disclaimer: Je ne possède rien sauf l'Harry Potter.

Changing the Course of Destiny

Chapter Seven

Hermione's eyes widened in shock before she closed them and pressed her lips back against Remus'. One of his hands moved to her hair, fingering her soft brown tresses. After what seemed to be hours, he pulled away from the kiss.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." Remus muttered quietly with an apologetic look and disentangled his fingers from her hair. He pulled her up into his arms and set her back down into the chair before leaving the library.

Hermione raised two of her fingers to her lips, touching them. They were tingling slightly from the contact they had had with Remus' lips. …Shit. I'm freaking screwed… The thought crossed her mind, but she pushed it as far away as she could. Which was not as far away as she hoped.

Oh Gods, I just kissed my future Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor! Her eyes grew wide with shock and her hand dropped to her lap. Yeah, shit, I'm freaking screwed.

But, Gods, he is such a wonderful kisser.

Stop. She commanded herself. Stop right there, little miss. You are not going to get involved in any romantic relationship with Remus – Lupin.

As she picked her quill up to resume her work, she couldn't help the thought that trailed across her head. The thought that proclaimed that it was too late.

Several hours passed by with Hermione slaving away on her homework in the library. When she finally looked up at a clock, she realized that it was dinnertime. Quickly, she finished penning the last few sentences of the last essay she had been assigned. Capping the ink bottle, she shoved it, along with the rest of her supplies, into the small bag she had carried with her. Once she had pushed her chair in and made sure that everything appeared exactly the way she had found it, Hermione departed from the Library and headed down the corridors to the Great Hall for dinner.

She was a little apprehensive about seeing Remus after what had happened between them in the Library. A queasy feeling wormed its way into her stomach, making her wonder if it was a sickness or nerves. Deciding on the latter, she took a deep breath, and strode into the Great Hall and over to the Gryffindor table. When she found the Marauders, she sat down in the empty chair next to James; Remus and Sirius sitting across from her.

"Where ya been, Aims?" Sirius asked Hermione while chewing on a mouthful of chicken.

"Oh, I was in the Library working on the essays that we'd been assigned in class." Hermione responded as she pulled a dish of baked potatoes towards her and took one.

"This early?" James protested, looking surprised.

"Today isn't early. In fact, by ordinary people's standards, today would be considered late." Remus interjected his opinion, careful to avoid speaking or looking to Hermione.

"Remus, that hurt." James said, feigning that he was offended. The fake sobs were a dead give away though. "All we ever wanted was for you to accept us the way we are!" He added through his cries and gasps for air.

"Oh, shove it." Remus replied with a roll of his eyes and took a bite of his potato.

"You got burned, Prongs." Sirius smiled at his best friend.

"Why so quiet, Aims? You didn't even crack a smile!" James prodded Hermione in the side. She jumped slightly, in surprise.

"Oh, well, I… My mind was elsewhere." She stuttered out an explanation and kept her eyes lowered to her plate. Remus chanced a glance at her before returning his gaze to his own plate, a faint blush creeping across his cheeks. Sirius and James both exchanged expressions. This would be sorted out later.

"When did you give Amy the name 'Aims', James?" Remus asked as a quick change of the subject.

"We all have nicknames except for her. I thought she might need one… We can change it later, if we find something better."

"Good thinking." Sirius complimented and finished his meal.

"Glad you think so." James replied, flashing a smile, and scraped the last of his meal off his plate. Remus pushed his plate back a minute or so after.

"So what do you all say to going to find Snivellus?" Sirius asked with a smug smile. James nodded in approval and Remus hesitantly agreed also. "You wanna come with, Aims?"

"No, you lot go on, I'm still finishing." Hermione replied, hoping that they would leave her be. Right now she felt that she needed to be alone for a while.

"Okay." Sirius, James, and Remus stood up and strode out of the hall.

Hermione returned her attention to her meal, taking another bite of the baked potato. So, Remus was ignoring the fact that she existed right now. Simply smashing. Although her mind was telling her that it was for the better good – Really, he's your Professor! – she couldn't help the feeling of her heart sinking down to where her stomach resided.

Suddenly, she didn't feel hungry. The potato didn't taste like anything anymore and the weight was hard to swallow. Her hand let go of her fork and it fell to her plate with a loud clatter, but no one noticed. Everyone else was busy talking and arguing with their friends.

Heaving a sigh, Hermione shouldered her bag and strode out of the Great Hall. It crossed her mind that she should probably go to the dormitory to deposit her bag and retire for the evening. But she wasn't ready to sleep yet. She hadn't been ready to actually sleep at all, lately.

Hermione missed Ron and Harry more than words could ever express. It used to annoy her when they didn't do their homework and played Wizard's Chess instead. If it meant that she could see them again, she would be grateful for their company.

She shivered subconsciously and started walking towards the large, oak front doors. It was suffocating in here. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. Before she knew it, she was running towards the doors. Her petite form almost collided with the door before she remembered you had to pull, not push. Shaking, she yanked open the door by its handle and stepped out into the dusk, gasping for air.

Once her lungs were operational, she looked up and scanned the grounds. Her eyes narrowed at the sight a hundred yards away. It was James, Sirius, and Remus. With Snape. It was obvious that they were abusing him; Severus' form doubled over and collapsed.

A fury consumed her that she had only experienced once before. It was the time in her Third Year when she had slapped Draco Malfoy across the face. With determination set on her face, she started running towards the four figures. Even though Professor Snape had been rude to her, there was no way she would let them torture him.

"Stop it!" Hermione shrieked at the seventeen year olds, dropping her bag onto the ground and producing her wand.

Remus jumped and looked at Hermione before lowering his gaze. The other three showed no signs that they had heard her. This angered her even more. She marched up to James, her wand clutched tightly in her hand; her knuckles turning white.

"I said stop!" She hissed at James. He looked down at her with one of his eyebrows raised.

"Why?" He asked flatly.

"You're hurting him!"

"That would be the point." Sirius told her. She glared in his direction and he instantly shut up.

"If you do not desist this moment I will-"

"You'll what? Smack me?"

"No! I'll hex you!" Hermione snapped, pointing her wand at him. "Put away your wand." She stated in a low, venomous voice. James looked rather taken aback at this, but did as he was told. She looked rather pissed off at the moment.

"I don't need some filthy mudblood to help me." A deep voice grunted. She turned around, looking at Severus. Hermione had known this was the reaction that she was most likely going to get.

"Don't you call her a mudblood." A quiet, but vehement Remus stated.

"It doesn't matter." Hermione replied, returning her wand to her robes.

"I'll call her whatever I want." Severus snapped, stalking off towards the castle. Both Sirius and James pulled out their wands, their muscles tensed, ready to attack him.

"Leave him alone." Hermione repeated wearily, feeling a wave of tiredness sweep over her. Perhaps all of her days of lost sleep were beginning to catch up. She walked over to the spot where she had dropped her bag in haste and slung it back over her shoulder.

"He's a bastard! He called you a mudblood!" James seethed. "Why did you stop us!"

"Because it was the right thing to do." She answered firmly. "You should go up to the castle and work on your essays, which I assume you haven't finished yet." James' shoulders slumped in defeat and he headed up to the castle, closely followed by Sirius.

"Amy," Remus started hesitantly, looking unsure.

"Yeah?" Hermione inquired, turning to face him.

"A-about earlier today. I realize th-that you probably don't feel the same way and um," He continued on, stuttering. A faint blush spread across his cheeks. "I w-wanted to say that I'm… I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"You don't need to apologise." Hermione replied softly. "It wasn't as if I didn't do anything to you." She found her eyes had averted to the ground and her cheeks felt warm.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Who are Harry and Ron? You don't have to answer, if you don't want to." He added hastily.

Hermione thought about this for a while. She could be continue being vague and mysterious, reply evasively, or… Or tell him the truth. Partial or whole. Her lungs felt constricted again. She didn't like keeping secrets like this from everyone and telling no one. Remus was nice. He wouldn't tell anyone. I think.

"They… They're my best friends." She started and sat down on the cool grass. Remus sat down in front of her, waiting for more. "Remus… Can you keep a secret for me?" Her eyes glanced up, meeting his. If he was lying, she should be able to see it. But he was honest and it shone in his eyes when he nodded.

"Of course."

"Don't tell anyone. Not even your best friends, Sirius, and James."

"I won't tell anyone, Amy." He assured her.

"My name isn't Amy. It's Hermione. Hermione Granger." Hermione took another breath before continuing. "I'm not a new student. I didn't attend any other Wizarding school than Hogwarts. But you haven't seen me here before now, have you?"

"No." Remus confirmed.

"Exactly. Because I don't belong in this time period. I," Her voice broke for a second. Now was the part where he would deem her to be crazy. "I'm from the future."

"That seems… A bit odd, but it would explain many things." Remus encouraged her to go on with a nod. So he had noticed my slip-ups.

"Harry and Ron and I, along with other students, created a study group in our Fifth Year. Only it was a secret organization. We called ourselves Dumbledore's Army, or the DA for short and when other students could overhear our conversations. The DA was started because our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was unsatisfactory and we weren't learning anything. Voldemort," Remus shuddered, but Hermione ignored it. "Voldemort had come back into power. The Ministry didn't want to hear any of it. So they sent Dolores Umbridge to be our Defense teacher. Only, like I said before, we didn't learn anything. We did book work, read the theories, but never once practiced the magic itself. You know that the Fifth Year has the O.W.L.s, exams, right?"

"Yeah."

"By her theory, if we read enough about conjuring the spells and read up on the theories they had in the textbook, we should be able to produce the spell perfectly on our first try." Hermione finished indignantly.

"That's messed up." Remus muttered.

"Yes, I know. So, naturally, we needed a place where the teachers couldn't find us. A place where, in particular, Dolores Umbridge couldn't find us and figure out what we were doing. Because it was illegal under an Educational Decree she made.

–By Order of –

The High Inquisitor of Hogwarts

All student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded.

An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.

Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge).

No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.

Any student found to have formed, or belong to, an Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four."

Hermione recited perfectly. It had been the one decree that she had memorized. It had been the one that she had tried to find a loophole in. But there had been no loophole in it. So they had been forced to hold it in secret.

"We used the Room of Requirement as our meeting area. I created fake galleons with a protean charm on them that would become hot when the next date was set. The date was engraved where the serial number on a normal galleon is."

"Genius." Remus breathed appreciatively. Hermione blushed at this, but continued on with her story.

"So the Fifth Year came and went. When the Sixth Year rolled around, our reason for the DA changed. It was no longer practicing for the O.W.L.s so we wouldn't fail. Now it was solely about protecting ourselves from Voldemort and his followers. For that same reason we'd been continuing it ever since.

"And that's how I ended up here. We were having a meeting one night, but it was interrupted. One of the Slytherin students had found out about the meetings. He decided to tell the Ministry that we were plotting against them. They ambushed us.

"I was using my Time Turner to travel back in time to alert someone of the attack, but then Draco Malfoy, Lucius' son, spotted me. He startled me and I switched a setting on it. And now… Here I am." Falling in love with my ex-Professor.