DISCLAIMER: Deep in the jungle there lies a mountainous tree with millions upon millions of leaves. Every year, one leaf falls off. By the time the last leaf falls, I will still not own Harry Potter.

Summary: Through the barrier and into…a different time? Hermione finds herself in the Marauder's time. In a story of hate, lies, and hurt, Hermione finds something else….love.

Chapter 9:

The Marauder's, Hermione, and Lily made their way to their first class after breakfast. Hermione had decided not to go and ask Dumbledore for any extra classes. She would, however, try to get Divination dropped. Sure, Trewlany wasn't the teacher yet but Hermione didn't believe in that guess work anyways and thought it an extreme waste of time.

She had found out during breakfast that Sirius and James had dropped the class too. They felt the same way about it as her, though they did stay in it for a whole year to torment and distract the class as much as humanly possible which by the sounds of it they had succeeded at their task.

Seeing as they had Divination the first day, they offered to take her to the Headmaster's office after their first class, Potions, and she graciously accepted. Hermione glanced between James and Sirius, though, noticing that Sirius didn't look like he liked the idea of James tagging along with them to see Dumbledore.

Sirius was still in a foul mood with James and the latter seemed well aware of his best friends radiating anger. Hermione wondered why Sirius was mad at James in the first place. James seemed to be trying to figure out the exact same thing as neither could remember him doing anything really.

Hermione was wedged in between James and Sirius on their walk to the Potions classroom which was on the third floor instead of in the dungeons. Lily and Remus walked ahead of them, talking about Arithmancy problems and theories.

Hermione lightly nudged Sirius' arm and motioned for him to slow down a little. Only when they were out of earshot did she speak. "Is there anything wrong?" she asked, watching the emotions that crossed his face closely.

He did his best to try and look innocent. "Wrong?" he repeated, still not looking at her but straight ahead. "Why would anything be wrong?"

Hermione gave him her best 'I don't believe you look' and narrowed her eyes on him as she pulled to a stop, forcing him to do the same. "I don't know, maybe cause you're being a general pain in the arse to James for no reason," she bit out sarcastically.

Sirius rounded on her and glared heatedly down at her. "Why don't you go and ask James if you're so concerned?"

He turned away from her and stared straight ahead, though he did not walk away. Hermione counted to ten in her head, forcing herself to calm down before speaking again and saying something that she would undoubtedly regret later.

"Because I can tell that James has no idea what's wrong," she said finally through clenched teeth.

It was Sirius' turn to be sarcastic as he turned back to her. "I'm sure he doesn't."

That was all it took to snap the thin strand of Hermione's tolerance. "Why don't you pull whatever it is up your arse out and get over it?" she hissed.

"And why don't you just stay out of other people's business?" Sirius growled, leaning down towards her threateningly but she refused to back up even a little.

"Quit treating your best friend like dirt and maybe I would stay out of your business."

Sirius leaned down closer to her, his head only a few inches from hers. "Why don't you just go run and cry to Potter about how mean I am. You two are, after all, best friends," he snarled at her, his black eyes flashing dangerously.

Hermione stared at him, his words racing through her head as she thought about them. "So that's your problem?" she asked after a bit. "My being friends with James?"

"No, my problem is with people who think they know it all and try to fix other people's problems," he barked. "My problem is with people who have got problems of their own and keep them hidden yet think they have the right to preach to others about their problems!"

Sirius knew he was hurting her but he couldn't seem to stop now that he was letting all the feelings he had been keeping bottled up out, though he knew deep down that his hard feelings were not caused by her.

"My problem is with people that don't know when to shut the bloody hell up and butt out!" he finished with a roar, breathing hard as he stared down at her.

For a moment, they just stood their staring at each other. Hermione had tears in her eyes yet refused to let them fall. Sirius' anger flashed in his eyes but soon died when he saw one tiny crystal tear fall down her face.

"Hermione…," he whispered softly, reaching out a finger to wipe the tear away.

She slapped his hand away and started backing from him. "Sod off Sirius," she whispered as she turned away and walked with her chin up to catch up with the others. Her soft sobs echoing off the walls and wrapping around him.

qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp!AMAYA!qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp

A single boy sat in front of the fire and watched as the flames danced a tango with each other, licking at each other. Every one else had already adjourned to breakfast but he had stayed in the common room, not wanting to be around anyone at the present moment.

He was lost in thought, his emerald eyes staring dimly at the fire. His untidy hair was even messier since he had another restless night, tossing and turning without getting an ounce of sleep. Harry's nights had been restless for a while now, his anxiety growing with each passing day.

A number of factors contributed to the 'Boy-who-lived' sleepless nights. Hermione's disappearance, Snape's behavior towards him, the mounting list of duties he was responsible for, the Newt's, and, of course, the ever looming war.

It was just all to much it seemed, and Harry was feeling the effects of the weight he now carried on his shoulders. But, even as he sat there, he realized that he would happily carry all the weight if he could just have Hermione back with him now to help him and to just be there for him, lending her helpful and encouraging words.

"I find that it's better to not dwell on things that cannot be changed," a soft-spoken voice said from behind him, near the portrait.

Harry spun around, his train of thought broken. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he had not even heard the portrait hole opening to allow the familiar face entry. "What are you doing here?" Harry asked, though his voice was not demanding, merely curious.

"Dumbledore is concerned for you," Remus said as he walked forward and took a seat beside of Harry in a chair, "and so is everyone else for that matter. They thought that I might be of some help and so they asked me to come talk to you."

"Talking won't change anything," Harry said bitterly.

Remus merely raised an eyebrow. "Won't it?"

Harry sighed and ran his hand over his face. "I'm a mess, aren't I?" he asked softly, not looking at the werewolf as he felt tears burning his eyes.

"No," the lycan said softly, "you are an extraordinary teenager that has more than most on their plates at the moment. So much is being asked of you that I'm surprised you haven't went mental a long time ago."

Harry laughed. "Yeah, that makes two of us."

"So, do you want to talk about what's wrong or would you rather to just sit here?"

Harry thought about what he wanted, did he know? So much was bothering him that he didn't even know if Remus could help him through it all.

An image formed in his mind and Harry instantly knew what to talk about. He took a deep breath and looked up at his former Professor. "What happened to Hermione?"

qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp!AMAYA!qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp

Sirius watched sadly as she walked away from him. He couldn't believe that he had said those mean things to her. And why? Because he was jealous, that's why.

He realized yesterday that Hermione was friendlier to James than to him. They talked like they had been friends for ages instead of one day. He was jealous of that. He wanted to be so much more than a friend to Hermione.

He really screwed up his chances of that happening now. If she ever talked to him again, he would have to beg her forgiveness. He would have to get past his jealousy of Hermione's and James' friendship and pretend that it didn't bother him to see them together.

He couldn't take back his heated words but maybe he could be forgiven for them. He would give her time to cool off and regain her composure. Then he would make it up to her.

qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp!AMAYA!qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp

Hermione slammed her bag down on the back table where James, Remus and Peter were sitting and smiled at Peter sweetly. "Sirius said something about wanting to sit with you today. Maybe you should go to an empty table in the front and save him a seat," she suggested and watched as the pudgy boy eagerly ran towards the front.

Hermione looked back to James and Remus who were watching her intently. She stared right back at them and took the vacated seat between them. "Hello boys."

"Alright, spill," Remus said as he extracted his Potions book from his bag.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," she commented off-handily as she, too, dug through her bag to retrieve the buried Potions book.

"What did Sirius do?" Remus asked exasperatedly.

"Nothing."

James scoffed and rolled his eyes, which she saw as she turned towards him. "What are you scoffing at, James Potter?" she demanded.

"Just that you wouldn't go through such extreme measures to make sure that Sirius was as far away from you as possible if he did 'nothing' so what did he do, Hermione?"

She turned towards him as she saw Sirius enter the room. "First off, I didn't go to 'extreme measures' since Peter was more than willing to sit with him. Second, I'd rather not discuss anything that deals with Sirius at the present moment."

James leaned forward and looked past Hermione to Remus. "It was bad."

Remus nodded in agreement. "Had to be. Padfoot doesn't usually make them this mad."

"No, his charm usually has them thinking that they need his forgiveness."

"So, what do you think he did?"

"Probably…"

"You do know that I'm still sitting here," Hermione bit out through clenched teeth.

James leaned back, his face contorted in shock. "Well, look at that Moony! She is here!"

Hermione tried to fight the smile that was forming on her lips but couldn't. She chuckled at the two teens and smiled. "Okay, maybe it wasn't nothing."

"Ah-hah… Moony, I do believe we may crack her yet!" James cried and Hermione laughed. His face grew serious as he leaned in closer to her. "So what did the nutter do this time?"

Hermione sighed loudly. "Well, I guess I provoked him…a little. You see, I wanted to know why he was mad at you so…I asked."

"Hermione," James said seriously, "you will soon learn that with Sirius you just have to let his anger ride out. If you question him, he'll only get more mad. He'll be over it in a few days."

Hermione frowned. "Well, you see, I don't think he will be over it anytime soon."

"What do you mean?" Remus asked as both him and James leaned closer to him.

Hermione debated over whether to tell them the real reason that Sirius was mad at James. She didn't want to be the cause of any further fighting. "Never mind, I'm sure you're right. Just give him a couple of days and he'll be fine."

Remus frowned at her, looking as if he didn't believe her and was going to question her further. James, on the other hand, was beaming at her. "That's the ticket!"

Hermione was saved from any further comments as the Potions Master walked into the room, instructing them to turn to page three-hundred and twenty-four.

qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp!AMAYA!qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp

As soon as Sirius entered the dungeons, he could tell that Hermione was still fuming at him. She artfully arranged everyone so that the only seat left for him was at the front of the room with Peter. She, herself, sat at the very back between James and Remus.

"Sirius!" Peter cried excitably. "I saved you a seat!"

He cast her once last glance as he took his seat. She was determinedly not looking at him. She was talking amiably to James and turned her head completely away from him.

So that was how she was going to play? Well, two could play that game.

A/N: Well…look at that… I said I would update on Friday and it's Thursday! I did good this time J . Though most of you will probably, like I said before, want to burn me at the stake before the end of this. Happy Thanksgiving to all you Americans out there…. Though I did do a stupid one and asked a person from New Zealand if they celebrated Thanksgiving…not the brightest thing to do.

Okay, Jesus tried to kill me and Blaze today…literally. We were going to Krogers to pick up some pop for Thanksgiving dinner and were driving past this church… Well, the nativity Jesus came flying out of the church and almost hit us. It was funny.

Here's the website for those of you who couldn't get it the last time, just take out the spaces. www. ffaa. bravehost. com

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!

REVIEW! REVIEW!

REVIEW!

REVIEW! REVIEW!

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!

THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME TO READ THIS, IT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!

!AMAYA!