A/N: Something big happens in this chapter and this is a big cliffie! Back from New Zealand, it was really great, although without a computer for two whole weeks, it's a strech, I can tell you. Thanks so much for all the reviews on this chapter. It's been great.

Chapter 6

'Great to see you again,' Lily said to Hermione. She had quickly changed her hair into a nice plait and put a ribbon she found in her pocket on.

'I love what you did to your hair,' she complimented, Hermione smiled gratefully and went to look for other people to greet.

'Hi Harry,' Lily said to her, unbeknown to her, son.

'Hi Lily,' he said, 'how are you?'

'Can't complain,' she shrugged and then went on to greet Fred and George, Harry went deep into thought and in the distance he could hear, 'hi Ryan and Cameron, how are you?'

Why didn't his mother like him? Why didn't she talk to him that often? Why didn't he have the courage to tell her what happened so she would hug and kiss him, like a real mother?

'Daniel?' Lily asked with a worried look on her face, 'you're standing in the middle of the room with a strange look on your face.'

He looked around him and saw that, just like Lily had said, he was standing in the middle of the Great Hall. 'Sorry, long trip, I must be a bit tired,' he said apologetically and went to sit down with the large group.

Nothing had changed, the group was as normal as ever, no one was dating the people they wanted and everyone wasn't really worried about school work.

'O.W.Ls next year,' Lily said, 'and I am already so nervous.'

'Oh, poor Lily, do you want me to relieve some tension for you?' James asked seductively.

'I think I'd be better off without you,' she said, looking at him with a look of disgust on her face. Sirius, Peter and Remus laughed, Emma comforted Lily and Jess hi fived her for a nice quick comeback.

'Look, there's that new girl from Durmstrang,' Sirius pointed at a girl with thick, long black hair and soft grey eyes. She had been put in Ravenclaw and was in fifth year.

'I think I have someone to get to know,' Sirius said and stood up, looking right at her.

James pulled him back, 'Sirius, you have to let her settle in and let her adjust to the social situation we have here at Hogwarts,' he said.

'You're just trying to let be back off so you can have her!' Sirius shouted, getting a lot of attention from the people around him.

'No, Sirius, sit down,' James said through clenched teeth, 'leave it a few days so she can realise your one of the popular people, then your chances of her saying yes have skyrocketed,' he explained.

'Or,' Remus said, 'you could ask her now and you could see whether she likes you for you and not your status of popularity,' he said.

'I don't want any of that,' Sirius argued, 'I just want a good shag.'

'Go over there and tell her that and see how she reacts,' Emma said coldly.

'Oh, poor Greene is missing out on the love,' he teased Emma.

'Don't call me by my last name, I'll see how you like it, Black,' she warned.

'Actually it's turning me on,' he said in a whisper so only she could hear him.

'Great, that's just what I wanted, Sirius.'

'Are you going to talk to her now or not?' Ellie asked. 'Because if you aren't then I'm going over to introduce myself.'

'You want to date her?' Peter exclaimed.

'No, you prick; I want to be friends with her!'

'Oh,' he chuckled, 'sorry.'

Lessons were a complete disaster. Harry and Ron were having so much trouble understanding what was going on they had multiple detentions and it was only their first night.

Hermione wasn't having trouble, but she wasn't up to her usual standards of being the top of the class. She was a bit stressed that someone would notice all of a sudden she was getting average marks.

Remus stood over her that night watching her do her homework. (A/N: There is not going to be any Remus/Hermione or anything like that, it's a perfectly normal story with a few twists that make the story enjoyable, but nothing of that sort.)

'Hey Remus,' she said uncomfortably, as she was trying very hard to do her potions homework without asking anyone for help.

'What happened while you went back?' he asked.

'What do you mean?'

'Don't tell me you haven't noticed that your marks are going down and you are having trouble in class,' he said, trying to be as nice as possible, but he was afraid it was coming out the wrong way.

'I know!' she cried, 'I'm a failure!'

'I didn't mean that,' he said quickly, 'I was just wondering what happened when you went back to make something like this happen.'

She smiled weakly at him and all of a sudden she wanted to tell him what was going on, she wanted to tell him what she had encountered and done over the past few weeks to fit in, and that's what she did.

'You are from the future?' he said, astounded.

'Yes,' she said, 'I have met the future you. You teach at Hogwarts for a year and then you . . . well I won't tell you, I'll keep the rest a surprise for you,' she said, not wanting to be the bearer of bad news.

'So is Hermione your real name?' he asked after hearing that they weren't using their real names.

'Yes, I'm a muggleborn, so no one would know me here,' she said. 'Now I guess I have to tell you whothe others are,' she said.

'You don't have to tell me,' he offered, 'I would like to not know something's.'

'Well, I'll tell you this, so you never have to worry about it: we all meet you and know you very well in the future,' she said.

'Really?' he asked happily, 'so my future self knows you all. I guess when I meet you I'll know who the others are because they'll be with you,' he said.

'Yeah, I guess. Just one thing: don't tell us until we talk to you, because we won't know what we do for a while,' she said, 'does that make sense?'

'It will in the future.'

'Ok, this year, you have to tell her,' James said to Ron. 'It's been way too long.'

'You're right; this year will be the year. But I'll do it in private,' he said, as if to himself.

'Ok and I know the perfect time, too!' Sirius said and whispered something into his ear.

'So you're going to help me understand my lessons?' Hermione said, so grateful that someone would do something so nice for her.

'Yeah, it's my way of thanking you for being so honest and open with you,' he said and showed her something in a book.

Remus had promised to help Hermione with her studies so she could understand better and teach Harry and Ron too, so they wouldn't fall so far behind.

'So this potion needs honey weed so it contrasts with the irongreen to make the bubbling sensation that you need to make the potion exactly right,' he said. Hermione smiled at him gratefully and thanked him. She was so glad she told Remus, and now he knew a little secret that would make life a little more interesting for him.

Harry ran down to the Great Hall for breakfast on the last morning of their fifth year.

'Ryan! Cameron!' he shouted.

Fred and George looked up from their breakfast; they looked at Harry who was waving frantically for them to come there.

'What is it, Daniel?' Fred asked, emphasizing on "Daniel" so Harry knew he was being good and using their names that meant they couldn't get caught.

'Ron is going to talk to Hermione before we leave and ask her out!'

'No way,' George said.

'Hey! I used Daniel in public, like Hermione told me to, how come you're allowed to use Ron?' Fred asked, annoyed that he had gone to all that trouble to use his imposter name.

'I didn't mean to, it was a mistake,' Harry said. 'Anyway, he's going to ask her out!'

'Finally,' Fred said, 'it's only been four years, actually if you think about it, it's been nine cos we've been here for five years now, sort of, and it's really been four years he's known her!'

George and Harry stared at Fred for a while, letting him know that he was insane.

'Anyway . . . yeah, that's great,' Fred said, he wasn't really that bothered with the whole thing. 'I don't know whether it's a good idea or not.'

'Why?' Harry demanded.

'Because, you think about it, she says yes, and then they break up – how awkward would that be?' he explained.

'Yeah, but what if it doesn't end up like that and they get married?' Harry said.

'Have it your way then.'

'Hermione, there is something I want to talk to you about,' Ron said, nervously. His ears were going pink and his throat felt like it was closing up and he couldn't breathe.

'Yes,' she said.

'I was wondering if. . . you wanted to go out . . . with me sometime?' he asked, pausing every few milliseconds to see if she was comprehending what he was saying.

Hermione was shocked; she hadn't expected this to be his question. She was expecting it to be something stupid like, 'are we going into sixth year?' but this . . . what was she going to do?