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.

A/N: Almost there folks…check my LJ for snippets from the next chapter, I sometimes like to give them to see who's reading my LJ…

Chapter 12:

Hermione angrily pushed past Sirius and ran after James. What right did he have to ask her what she had done when he was the one that caused all this?

Sirius seemed frozen to the spot after he whispered the words, only being able to stare after his friend. He registered Hermione pushing past him but a million or so thoughts were running through his head.

Hermione followed the sound of James' echoing footsteps down the stairs and through the corridors. She ran as fast as she could, praying that she would catch up with him before he got outside or darted through a secret passage. She had no such luck.

By the time she had reached the front doors, she found them wide open. James was nowhere to be seen.

She stood there in the open doors with a silent wish that everything would somehow work out, but for some reason she doubted it.

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Hermione was sitting in the library later that day when she felt a presence beside of her. She looked up to find James staring down at her intently.

"Hey you," she said sweetly, smiling up warmly at him. She began to clear off a place where he could sit down without her stuff in his way.

He took the seat right next to her and propped his elbow up on the table. "Hey," he said back. He tried his best to smile but it came out looking more fierce than anything. "What are you doing?" he finally asked, giving up the pretense of smiling.

"Oh, just some homework." Hermione stared at his pained face and took a deep breath before going on. "I tried to catch up with you earlier to explain…"

James held up a hand to stop her. "What's there to explain? My best mate was caught snogging with a girl he knew that I liked. No, wait, he snogged a girl that he knew that I've been in love with for years now."

Hermione placed a comforting hand on his hand lying on the table. "I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it," she said soothingly.

James leaped from his seat and started pacing around the small table. "That's just the problem!" he ranted loudly, causing sever people to glance in their direction. "He never means anything by it. He gets himself a girl and moves on very quickly…"

"James," Hermione said, trying to get him to lower his voice.

"Why do you think he got so frustrated with you?" James said, ignoring her and Hermione instantly looked at him and waited for him to go on. "You were new, he wanted you and you resisted!"

Hermione stared at him for a moment or two, digesting his words. "I don't understand," she said slowly, clasping her hands in front of her. "Are you implying that it's my fault that all of this happened and I should of just been another of his easy conquests?"

James stopped mid-pace and thought about his previous words. "Bloody hell no! I didn't mean it that way, Hermione, I swear I didn't. I'm sorry if that's how you took it. I meant…"

"Maybe you should deflate your ego a little bit when you're around her," Hermione said, still angry at him. "Maybe then she wouldn't think you're conceited."

"You caught her snogging Sirius! Sirius Black, Hermione! No one is more conceited than Sirius!" James shouted at her, throwing his hands into the air.

Hermione opened her mouth to argue with him but quickly shut it. He did have a point there; Sirius was very conceited. "Lucius Malfoy is," she countered.

"Big deal!" James said in a huff. "He's a Slytherin. They're bred to think they're the most cleverest and handsome creatures on earth."

Hermione thought back to Lucius' future son and nodded her head in agreement. It did seem that all Slytherins though awful highly of themselves.

"Why are we fighting?" Hermione asked carefully.

"I honestly have no idea," James admitted and laughed uneasily.

He sat down next to her and leaned closer to her, looking around casually to see if anyone was listening in to their private conversation.

"Look, I still love Lily," he whispered seriously, "and judging by your reaction to this whole situation, I'd wager that you care more for Sirius than you'd like to admit."

Hermione opened and closed her mouth like a fish, wanting to deny his words but finding that she couldn't. Something stirred deep inside of her and she could not bring herself to utter a denial.

James laughed. "Don't deny it, Hermione. It's blatantly obvious, except to him of course. I don't know why he doesn't see it though," he muttered, deep in thought.

"Anyways," he said after a moment, "I've got a plan."

Hermione looked at him uneasily. "How come I get the feeling that I'm not going to like this?"

James only smirked in response.

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Hermione and James perfected their scheme over the next week or so. Sirius always looked warily at James whenever he was around. James was, after all, being uncannily nice to him. Lily kept trying to explain things to Hermione, but the time traveler just kept shrugging her off and conveniently found something that "had" to be done.

Sirius and Lily were an unofficial couple now but withheld from acting affectionate near James or Hermione . Sirius felt bad for everything and to tell the truth, he really just liked Lily as a friend anyways. He had a distinct feeling that she just liked him as a friend too.

Finally the weekend arrived for the Hogsmeade trip and the day for Hermione and James to put their plan into action. They each dressed carefully that morning, trying to look their absolute best. Since it was close to Christmas and very cold outside, Hermione donned the cloak that James had graciously lent her.

She headed down the stairs to the common room where she was supposed to meet James. She caught site of Lily and Sirius exiting the portrait hole as she was entering the common room. She also saw James staring after them from beside the fire.

"James?"

He shifted his gaze from the hole to her and stood from his seat. "Are you ready to go?"

"We don't have to do this, you know," Hermione told him seriously.

"Yes, we do," James said. "This is the only way."

"Are you sure this is the most logical solution?"

"Yes, I'm sure," James said. "We've worked to hard on this plan to go back on it now."

Hermione sighed, knowing that there was no way that she was going to be able to talk him out of this now. "Okay then, let's go," she said finally, gesturing towards the exit.

They headed towards Hogsmeade together. When they reached the edge of the village, James took a hold of Hermione's hand and smiled reassuringly at her. She gave his hand a light squeeze.

They made their way through Hogsmeade and through the large crowds of adults and students gathered to shop for Christmas. They did all their shopping first, still holding tightly to one another's hands.

Finally they headed to the Three Broomsticks and took a table in plain site of everyone. James left to quickly fetch them two butter beers and sat back down, taking one for himself and handing the other to her. They sipped at their drinks in silence until Hermione just couldn't stand it anymore; she really wasn't one for silences.

"So James," Hermione started, tracing the opened top of her bottle with a finger, "tell me, how did you first develop your fascination with Lily?"

James smiled goofily and took another sip. "What can I say? She had me at the first glance."

"Oh come on," Hermione teased, taking a long drink from her bottle. "There has to be more than that."

"Well, on the train my first year, I saw Lily for the first time. Snivellus and Malfoy were calling her a mudblood and she was letting them have it. She had so much…passion in her," James said, remembering the very day. But then his face fell. "But she didn't see much in me. I tried to help her out by jinxing them and she yelled at me and said that I was just as bad as them. I couldn't, and still can't really, figure out why she despised me so much."

Hermione leaned in closer to him. "I'm sure that she never hated or despised you. She probably just assumed (and knowing Lily she did) that you though that she couldn't handle herself. That hurts a person's pride."

James smiled and leaned in closer still. "Thanks Hermione, but I guess she just hates me. Maybe I'm not what she wants…maybe Sirius is."

Hermione reached up and brushed some of his messy (but irresistibly sexy :P) hair out of his face. "You are a wonderful person, James Potter, and not to bad looking I guess." He laughed at that. "Don't let anyone make you think any differently."

Not thinking anything about it, she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. But as her lips were about to touch his cheek, something over her shoulder caught James' eye and he turned his head. His lips contacted with hers. She gasped and he took full advantage of it by deepening the kiss.

A strangled sob was heard from behind Hermione. She broke the kiss and turned around quickly to see who was standing behind them and found Lily standing there with crystal blue tears filling her eyes.

She quickly turned and sped out of the Three Broomsticks with James hot on her heels. Hermione sat there, alone, wondering what had just happened.

She felt a presence behind her and she turned and met the angry and hurt gaze of Sirius. Not wanting to explain, and not knowing if she could, she leaped up and dashed out the door.

She didn't stop running until she reached the school. By then, a steady flow of tears were pouring down over her cheeks and falling to the ground. She ran towards the lake and quickly collapsed to the ground. But soon, she felt arms around her.

A/N: I PROMISE that there will be some hookin up in the next chapter (and with the right couples). This is NOT a JP/HG/SB fic. I never once considered it one. Remember to check my LJ (link in profile) for snippets. If you read Foreign Affairs when I had it under this name, you can now find it under the lady marauders. That is all.

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!AMAYA!