Chapter 2

Ginny knocked politely on the gargoyle, as Lily had left them without a password.

"What are we gonna do? Wait until Dumbledore comes out?" Ginny asked, worried.

"Nah." Hermione said, pulling a ruffed up piece of parchment out of her pocket. "Good thing I borrowed this before we… er… left."

Hermione held up the Marauder's Map in her hands, and lay the tip of her wand on top of the gargoyle that marked Professor Dumbledore's office. A bubble appared, forming the words, "Pen and Ink." A strange password, but whatever worked!

Hermione looked the gargoyle in the eye, and said commandingly, "Pen and Ink!" The gargoyle sprung to life, moving with agility not expected with a stone statue.

Hermione led the way up the winding steps, with Ginny following. Both were very anxious what the Professor would do. Could he send them back?

Hermione was about to knock, when Dumbledore called from within.

"Come in, Hermione, come in, Ginny."

Hermione and Ginny's eyes widened, Dumbledore was very strange…

"You're lucky I was practicing Legilimens, girls." Dumbledore said as Hermione and Ginny came in. "It means you don't have to explain a thing."

Hermione sighed happily, while Ginny just stared uncomfortable and confusedly.

"Legilimens?" she asked, inquiringly.

"The art of, say, reading minds." Dumbledore said. "You broke a Time Turner, it brought you here, and you want my help. Correct?"

"Yeah, basically." Hermione said, nodding.

"Ok then." Dumbledore said, and he turned around, searching through books.

"Much research will have to be done, you're not an isolated case of a Time Turner breaking, but usually the travelers will only go an hour or so in the past or future. 20 years in the past is quite a new development in Time Turner science. It's never been tried!" Dumbledore stated matter-of-factly.

"So… You can't just send us back now?" Ginny said, disappointedly.

"Nope." Dumbledore said, cheerfully.

"Crap." Ginny muttered, sitting down heavily.

"Well, what are we going to do?" Hermione said, frowning thoughtfully.

"Create a cover story, stay in the past, or, for me, the present, and when I have fished my research and am able to return you to future, I shall do so. Until then, have fun!"

Hermione nodded glumly, and Ginny just sat there in shock.

As they stood to leave, Dumbledore called back to them, saying, "Might you have the Time Turner that broke?"

Hermione nodded, and withdrew the half-shattered Time Turner from her pocket.

They finally turned to go, and Hermione was a little heartened by the time they reached the Gryffindor common room.

"We'll be okay. Dumbledore will help us get back, and until then, we can… hang out?" Hermione said, putting her arm comfortingly around Ginny's shoulders.

"Yeah." Ginny said, smiling. "Let's save the future!"

"Eh?" Hermione said, confused by Ginny's words.

"Hello? Did you see Lily and James? They going at it like cats and dogs! Fighting, that is."

Hermione nodded. "And when they're not together, they're wasting precious moments that they could be spending getting toward the point where they marry AND have Harry."

Hermione realized how serious it was. "Without Harry, Voldemort comes to power even faster. But, if we help Lily and James…"

"We can stop them from dying in the first place!" Ginny cried enthusiastically. But Hermione had bad news.

"But then Voldemort would still come to power. This is bad, real bad."

"Don't worry, we'll think of something…" Ginny said, smiling cheerily.

"Mhhmm.." Hermione said, pulling out the Marauders Map, and grinning happily.

"Check Mate." Hermione said, and Ginny and Hermione walked into the Gryffindor common room, 20 years in the past.

Hermione expected something different, you know, different chairs, different book cases, something. But it was almost identical to her common room, but a few chairs were in different places.

As if it mattered.

"Ooh! You guys are in Gryffindor?" A girl from the other side of the common room jumped up, and hurried over to where Ginny and Hermione stood.

"Yeah, we made it." Hermione said, grinning happily.

"Awesome!" Lily said, and she motioned to where she had been sitting.

"I suppose you'll be in my dorm, Hermione?" Lily asked, smiling.

"Uhh, yeah, I guess." Hermione said, grinning faultily.

"But what about me?" Ginny said, and Lily smiled.

"You'll be in the 6th year dorm, don't worry, they're all nice enough." Lily smiled cheeringly, and Hermione nodded.

"Sooo… Do you have a boyfriend?" Ginny asked unabashedly.

"Yeah, I do… Alex Davies, quite a nice boy, if a bit short." Hermione bit her lip at these words, and she glanced around the common room, looking for the Davies boy.

"He's right… over… there! Let's go introduce you two, shall we?" Hermione and Ginny found themselves being dragged over to a tall, oaken bookshelf, where a short, blonde, and skinny boy sat, reading quite intently.

Lily bent over, and looked in his face, her hand covering his book.

"Hey Alex, meet my new friends!"

"Yeah… uhh… I was in the middle of a chapter, and uh…. Nice to meet you." And with that cheery exchange, Alex went back to his book.

Lily led them away, and sighed sadly.

"Well, he's a bundle of fun." Ginny said sarcastically, winking at Hermione. Hermione knew what she was doing, and jumped right in.

"Yeah, are you dating him for the long, intelligent discussion, or did his great height and dashing looks draw you in?" Hermione was joking, grinning madly.

Lily frowned angrily. "I'm the one dating him, and you don't even know him! He's just… shy… and…" Hermione could sense that Lily had doubts about her relationship with Alex, and Ginny smiled sympathetically.

"We come from an all girl school. We can tell you and him aren't really that… compatible. You're too full of life. Alex… well, he's stuck in his books."

Lily nodded, sadly, and said, "But he's so nice at times. Grr, why can't he just be a horrible jerk so I wouldn't feel bad about dumping him?"

"But, he is! Does he pay attention to you?"

"No…"

"Does he even tlak to you?"

"Sometimes…"

And so on went the conversation, until Lily promised to dump Alex.

Easier said than done, really. Lily was quite the flake when it came to relationships (more when it came to ending them, actually) and Hermione could barely get her over to speak with Alex.

Lily took a deep breath, and…

Walked away quickly, freaking out.