Hello darlings!

Today has been...interesting to say the least, so despite all of that, I really wanted to finish up this chapter and post it...so I did lol. I do hope you enjoy it!

THANK YOU for all of your lovely reviews, they make me ridiculously happy. I'm sorry I haven't responded to all of them, school has been getting more hectic, my tumblr ask box keeps filling up, and I have yet to answer a bunch of asks that I've been meaning to get to. Seriously, THANK you. You beautiful people you.

Sorry this chapter is quite short, but I think they may be around this length or a little longer for the time being, just so that I can get them out in a timely manner. Like I said perviously (pretty sure I did at least) I should be updated at least once every other week.

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Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, only the story line and any OC's belong to me.

Also, Riley ;P

Saturday, November 8th, 1975

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Black Lake

"When is Hermione coming back?" Sirius asked, voice slightly muffled by the cigarette between his lips. He scrunched up his nose in concentration as he held the small flame that was flickering at the tip of his wand up to the cigarette, and made a noise of triumph once it was properly lit; he proceeded to take a long drag, holding the fag between two fingers on his left hand as he tucked his wand behind his ear with his right.

"Haven't the foggiest, either of you know?" James inquired, running a hand through his messy raven mop whilst taking a drag from his own cigarette, a small silver flask loosely held in his left hand, hanging in between his legs, his bespectacled gaze turning towards their other three companions.

They had re-arranged a few sizeable logs just at the edge of the forest so that they could look out at the Black Lake, but any prying eyes wouldn't notice them immediately.

"Fuck if I know," Draco grumbled, taking a swig from his own flask, refusing to meet any of their curious gazes, forearms braced on his knees as he found great interest in the ground in the space between his feet.

"She said she should be back by Monday," Remus said quietly with a small frown, scratching behind his ear, hazel green eyes locked on the cigarette gently grasped in his right hand, as a tiny ember flew off of it in the cold wind.

Peter opened his mouth as if to say something, but then the sharp snap of a twig behind them immediately had them all at attention, and they waited in silence, each with a hand on their wands. Their heightened hearing meant that whoever it was may be a ways away still. Then they heard the voices and relaxed. The two sets of light footsteps were heading directly in their direction, and James smiled prettily at Sirius once the two girls broke through the last set of trees before you stumbled across the Marauders spot.

"Hello Riley," James called with a bright grin over his shoulder, twisting his body to look at the younger Hufflepuff and her friend.

Draco glanced up in interest, and blinked several times. Pandora Lovegood. Fuck if he remembered what her maiden name was—if he thought about it long enough it would surely come to him—but he was a bit pissed and really didn't have it in him to care.

Until he met her silvery blue gaze, and felt as if she could see straight through him, deep into his twisted soul. Fine features, long and slender limbs, navy blue casual robes that looked speckled in starlight, and pale hair that brushed along her waistline. Luna was practically the spitting image of her Mother, except where Luna looked more ethereal and not all there, Pandora appeared to be sharp, present and almost feral.

She merely shot them all a radiant smile, before grabbing onto Riley's hand and pulling her along. The Hufflepuff barely had time to lift her hand in greeting before the Ravenclaw was dragging her away, all whilst exclaiming giddily that there was adventure and exploring to be done.

Sirius sighed wistfully, bringing his fag to his lips once more, light grey storm clouds staring intently at the Hufflepuff's retreating figure. "Look at her Moony, look how pretty she is. Do you think she still smells like sunshine?"

Remus rolled his eyes, "I will never understand why you don't just ask her out."

Sirius's brow furrowed, but he didn't move his gaze from Riley, and he continued to look even after she was long gone. "I'm just dating right now."

Draco knew that there was a lot unsaid there, things that Sirius didn't wish to bring up or talk about. He could wax poetic for hours about how you ate the last chocolate frog, and what a betrayal it was, but he didn't talk about his feelings, ever. At least not to Draco; he probably talked to Hermione about all his darkest and dustiest corners, like the rest of them. Without her, they were all useless.

Without her, Draco felt useless at least. He didn't know when he had become so reliant on her presence, as a confidant, a friend, a strong shoulder to lean on when things got rough. It wasn't so much that he was dependent on her, as his life was infinitely better with her in it.

Since Hermione had left, James apparently hexed a group of third year boys because they had said indecent things about her, and he and Sirius had chased after some fourth year Ravenclaws that had been teasing Mary. Peter busied himself by spending more time with Lily and the other Gryffindor girls, and Remus was sulking. The werewolf occasionally read aloud to Sirius from one of the books his nose was buried in every free stretch of time he could find—that is if the raven haired boy bothered him enough. They were just all off-kilter.

Draco had spent his time researching time travel, and learning as much as he could about Time-Turners and how they worked. They still had no clue how they had gotten here, and they wouldn't be able to exist when they were born. It was such a strange concept. They also needed to figure out how to alter practically the entire British Wizarding community's memory, or at least make sure that they wouldn't remember Draco and Hermione Potter until they went back in time.

Draco was lost in deep thought when a sudden burst of speech rushed out of James, his cheeks growing red, "I think I like Mary MacDonald."

What else is new? Draco asked himself mentally, pursing his lips and taking a small sip from his flask.

"'Bout fucking time you admitted it," Draco said with a raised eyebrow, angling his face at his brother to see his ears flush bright pink. "What about Evans?"

James's face fell, his lips pressed together and he exhaled slowly, "I still really like her...it's just, it's really frustrating telling someone you like them all the time and them just shooting you down, and hexing you because you asked her out in a 'obnoxious' way."

"Sometimes, it is pretty obnoxious," Peter piped up honestly, and James shot him a withering stare.

"Whatever, the point is...Mary is really nice, and she seems to like me, and my heart may not squeeze the way it does with Lily, but I feel really warm…" James trailed off and he lowered his gaze, not looking at any of them.

After a long beat of silence, Draco said, "I think that's perfectly fine. Most people date when they're growing up, just cause you're going to date Mary now, doesn't mean you won't date Evans later, or who knows, maybe you'll even marry Evans." Another swig of his Firewhisky. "Take a page out of Sirius's book, he's been living by that mentality for a while now."

"Wanker," Sirius scowled, playfully pushing Draco and blowing a stream of smoke in his direction.

"But if you like Lily, how can you like Mary? Doesn't that mean that maybe you never really liked Lily at all?" Peter asked with a deep frown as he tried to work out the logistics of the entire situation.

"Codswallop-" Sirius said with an adamant shake of his head, "-Pete, do you love your Mother and Father?" Sirius didn't even wait for an answer, he just kept charging onwards. "Granted it's not romantic love with either, but love is love. Like is like. You can't help who you fall in love with, and I believe that everything happens when it needs to."

Sirius's eyes darted in the direction that Riley had gone for a brief moment.

Peter made a light humming noise, "I guess. Plus we're only fifteen. Except for Sirius, I still can't believe your birthday was almost a month ago already."

"Yea, that night was fun wasn't it?" Sirius asked wistfully, a dreamy smile on his face.

"You mean the part when you got shit faced and started dry humping James?" Remus grinned crookedly, hazel eyes shining in amusement.

"Sod off Moony," Sirius said, at the exact same time James grumbled, "we said we'd never speak of that again."

James tapped off the end of his cigarette, letting the ashes fall onto the dirt, and his forehead wrinkled as the memories from that night played through his mind.

"Lily wasn't too happy with us getting Frank wasted," Draco said with a small smile.

"Neither was Alice if I recall-" Remus shrugged, tapping an absent beat out onto the top of his thigh "-and Kira threw her toast at Sirius in disapproval."

The boys were surrounded by companionable silence for a good while after that, just drinking in the moment as they watched the clouds lazily drift past. Sirius dropped his finished cigarette onto the ground, and crushed it with the heel of his boot, reaching into his front pocket—struggling for a few moments since his leather trousers were so tight—and pulled out a box in search of a new one.

They were so lost in quiet contemplation, that they didn't hear the gentle footsteps behind them, but her presence was sudden, sharp, intense, blinding. The invisible ties that connected them together grew warm, their magic began to thrum happily, and when they turned around, they were greeted with a hesitant looking Hermione.

Hermione was chewing on her bottom lip, her raven curls were thrown up into a wild, messy bun, and she was wearing an oversized maroon jumper, black culottes and a simple pair of black shoes. She gave them a small, shy wave, and said softly, her voice trembling, "miss me?"