"Peter!" Sirius yelled, and ran forwards to greet his friend with fervour.

Hermione froze mid-step.

She'd entirely forgotten about him.

After spending the last eleven days in a strange blissful state of carefree mischievousness with James and Sirius, Hermione had successfully managed to forget about completely everything. Well, almost everything. But as the summer holidays were coming to an end, reality was creeping back in, and Hermione had a job to do.

"How was your summer, mate?" James clapped the shorter boy on the shoulder, grinning ear to ear.

Hermione remained stock-still; as if he wouldn't be able to see her if she didn't move. Silly as it was, none of the boys had acknowledged her presence yet – which was a godsend, considering that Hermione was still gaping at them.

It certainly was strange though; seeing Peter Pettigrew as a teenager. The shock of Remus and Sirius wore off a little quicker because they had at least kept some of their looks from their teen years to their adult ones. James was a different matter altogether, mainly due to the fact that Hermione had never met him in her life. The only strangeness there was adjusting herself not to call "Harry!" whenever he walked into a room.

Peter, however, was entirely different to when she had met him briefly two years ago. Adult Pettigrew was a shadow of a man, more animal-like than human after years in his Animagus form. Overweight and crazed, adult Peter was nothing like the bright, smiling, slightly chubby, young man in front of her now.

"Great!" Peter replied. Hermione physically jumped at the sound of his voice, and the three boys finally noticed her.

"Hermione!" Sirius exclaimed. "Come meet Peter!" He walked across the entrance hall to take her by the arm and lead her over to the other two.

"Oh… I…" Hermione tried to protest, but eventually relaxed up in Sirius' manse-like grip on her upper arm. She was sure he didn't mean it, but she was certain it was going to bruise.

"Peter, Hermione! Hermione, Peter!" James gestured between the two. Hermione managed a weak smile and nod, and Peter responded with a nervous smile.

"She's our cousin," Sirius said, and winked conspicuously.

Peter's face fell. "You never told me you had a cousin," he said, suddenly staring at the floor.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. She'd known that Peter's issues stemmed from feeling left out, but she didn't know that it was from everything and that it was self-inflicted. How interesting.

"They didn't know they had a cousin," Hermione said suddenly, plastering a grin on her face. "Me neither, to be honest."

Peter let out a short, quiet laugh and immediately looked better.

This was it. This was the beginning of Hermione's mission. If she could indeed alter the timeline, this was where Hermione was going to start.

…

Peter left soon after dinner, much to Hermione's relief. Yes, he wasn't the same, but his presence still unnerved her. She still had to figure out if it were even possible for her to change the timeline, therefore unless she could, he was untrustworthy. It was a particularly difficult thing to determine because Hermione had no specific event she could try it out on. She wasn't lying when she told the boys she didn't actually know that much about them. That was why she needed Remus.

Hermione and James were sitting across from each other – lounging, really – in the armchairs surrounding the fireplace in the blue room, which Hermione had adopted as her own. After bidding the fourth Marauder farewell and nursing serious food-babies, the three Potter-children (as Dorea frequently liked to remind them they were) had retired to their section of the manor (the second floor of the west wing to be exact). Sirius had mumbled something about "Lying down for a mo'," and had disappeared into his own room hence leaving James and Hermione to their own devices.

"So," Hermione said, breaking the comfortable silence they had established.

James lifted his head and replied with a sleepy, "Mm?"

"When do you think Remus will be back?"

Even through the warm dim light of the room Hermione saw the small sly smile grow on James' face as he sat up. "Why do you ask?" he said.

Hermione suddenly found herself unable to look anywhere in James' direction. Grateful for the warmth of the fire to hide her blush, she too sat up. "Well, it's getting close to the end of the holidays and I'm concerned that he won't have enough time to fully prepare for the return to school." It was a rotten excuse, but Hermione couldn't think of anything better in the moment.

"Bollocks," James said with a snort and a wave of his hand. "If it wasn't for all the outrageous flirting, I would have thought he was your dad in the future 'cause you're so similar. But while it's clearly not that, there's something else, right? It's like you know him. You said you knew all of us, but sometimes it's like you're wary of me and Sirius. And don't think I missed the way you reacted to Peter."

Hermione tried to mask the shock on her face. She was having difficulty knowing how to respond to that. Was she really acting differently around all the boys? Because she sure hadn't noticed. Although, it was very likely that what James said was correct. Hermione certainly had spent a lot more time with Lupin (how she had decided to differ between the 70's and 90's Remus Lupins), which would feasibly make it appear that she was closer to Remus here.

"We don't outrageously anything," she mumbled.

James chuckled. "But seriously, Hermione," he said solemnly, "is there anything I should know?"

Images of Sirius Black in his Azkaban uniform pointing a wand at her, Remus Lupin as a werewolf hunting her down through the Forbidden Forest, Peter Pettigrew on the floor, crazed, pleading for his life, and Harry Potter being picked up from Kings Cross by the Dursleys all flew through her mind as she stared James in the face. She gulped.

"James please," she whispered, looking down at the floor.

"Voldemort."

Hermione sharply looked up at him. "What?"

"He's still alive then," James said in a hard tone.

"What do you mean?" Hermione said nervously. Her heartbeat started to quicken.

"If he was dead in your time, you wouldn't have looked so scared when I mentioned him, right?" he replied scathingly.

Damn, Hermione thought. She wasn't used to being outwitted, and she would have been impressed if she weren't so annoyed.

"Look-" she began, but James spoke over her.

"Twenty years… and the bastard still isn't dead," he said, staring into the fire. Hermione didn't know what to say to that, so she stayed silent. James then leaned forward so that his elbows were on his thighs, and looked at Hermione. "We've got to find out if you can change the timeline – we have to," he said pleadingly.

Hermione couldn't do anything but nod mutely at him, because my god was he right; she simply had to figure out what exactly she could do. Then, maybe, Hermione could save them all.

…

It was Sunday night, and the three Potter children were leaving for Hogwarts in the morning. Hermione had, of course, already packed. However, James and Sirius were currently running around the entire manor in an attempt to gather all of their belongings. Needless to say, it wasn't going well and Hermione couldn't handle any more of the chaos, so she had therefore escaped to the gardens for some quiet.

She would never admit it to the boys, but she was nervous about going to Hogwarts. Dorea had organised for her attendance almost immediately after her new identity had been created. Dumbledore had been told the cover story, as they all agreed that as little people knew the better. Hermione knew that he wouldn't believe it for one second, but hoped that he would trust the Potters enough not to push the matter. So far he had not.

The evening after she had met with Dumbledore to be sorted again (still Gryffindor, thank god), Hermione had cried for the first time since arriving. It was the thought of being at Hogwarts without Harry or Ron which had made her sad. She wasn't particularly homesick, but she certainly missed the people. However, James and Sirius had somehow made it at least half better. Hermione didn't know what she would have done if she hadn't had the Potters when she arrived in 1976.

Remus on the other hand, Hermione hadn't seen since the week she had arrived. He'd been on some kind of study trip with his family for a week and was due to arrive sometime that night. Therefore she wouldn't see him until the Hogwarts Express in the morning, and quite frankly she couldn't wait.

The Potter manor gardens were just as stunning as the large house, if not more so. Over the past couple of weeks, Hermione had taken to wandering the vast grounds. Almost immediately she had established a granite bench, hidden in an alcove of rose bushes facing the fountain, as hers. Which was where she had found herself again.

It was a warm evening, and the sky was cloudless, giving view for the full moon. The light cast a bright enough light for Hermione to see perfectly. The only sounds she could hear were the gently tinkling of the fountain and the hush of the wind in the bushes surrounding her. It was a perfect night, but Hermione couldn't help but worry about Remus as she stared up at the moon.

"Wondering how he's doing?" a voice interrupted her thoughts.

Hermione jumped. The Marauders were the loudest boys she'd ever known, but man, could they move quietly. She saw Sirius standing a few feet in front of her to the right, obviously having come from the house.

"Do you spend many full moons apart?" Hermione asked as Sirius sat down next to her.

He, too, was now looking up at the moon. "No, not really," he shrugged, and looked sideways at her. "It's still strange to have a stranger know all our secrets."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest but he spoke over her. "You know what I mean," Sirius said with a lopsided grin. "Do we just get old and start telling people all our secrets or something?"

It was said lightly, but Hermione could tell that he genuinely was worried about how she knew. "I'm basically family," she said. "Figuratively adopted, if you may, because I'm Muggle-Born, and it's honestly just myself, Harry and Ron who know this much."

"So we just gave you the cloak and the map?" Sirius said slowly.

"Yes, they were given to us," Hermione said. But not by the Marauders, she thought to herself. "Plus you get drunk and tell us stories," she continued, thinking about last summer in Grimmauld Place and coming across an inebriated Sirius and Lupin in the kitchen.

Sirius let out a burst of laughter. "Yeah, that sounds like us alright."

"Look, Sirius," Hermione began, "I know how close you four boys are, and I don't want to encroach on your space or anything, so when we go back to school, I'm giving you permission to ignore me."

"What are you talking about?" Sirius was now frowning at her.

"You don't need to feel obliged to talk to me just because we live with each other."

Sirius threw his head back and laughed loudly, causing Hermione to frown. "Oh, Hermione," he said smiling. "I hate to break it to you, but you're one of us now."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, still frowning.

"It goes against all my instincts, but I trust you," Sirius replied.

"Uh, thanks?" Hermione couldn't tell if it was an insult or a compliment.

"No, no, I mean that you're right when you say the four of us are really close, like, that's why I was so surprised that we told you all those things about us. And I'm not very good at trusting people, especially new ones. Therefore, how well I have – all of us – taken to you, really is quite the oddity."

"So what are you trying to say?" Hermione asked slowly.

"James and I have agreed on it, and we have no doubt that Remus would also agree, and Peter too, that we would like to add you to our group, Hermione."

Hermione blinked at him.

"Hermione Black nee Granger," Sirius said in a serious tone, "would you give us the honour of becoming the only female Marauder?"

"Oh my god!" Hermione exclaimed. Her hands flew to her mouth. Did he say what she thought he just said?

"Jeez, we just want you to be our friend, it's not like I'm proposing." Sirius was giving her a side-eyed look which clearly told her she was overreacting.

Hermione hit him on the shoulder. "But you don't understand!" she said enthusiastically.

Sirius rubbed his arm dramatically. "I really don't," he mumbled.

Hermione leapt off the bench and twirled in a circle in front of the fountain before turning to face Sirius and his shocked expression. "Prove it," she said suddenly.

"What?" Sirius asked uncertainly.

"Prove that you want me to be a Marauder."

"I… don't… why… like how?"

"Uhm… wait, I know! Put me on the map!" Hermione burst out.

"The map?" Sirius asked warily.

Hermione knew that he was reluctant, but she also knew that if he actually did it, her point would be proven. "Please?" she asked.

Sirius seemed to hear the worry in her tone. "No, no," he said, waving his hands, "It's not that I don't want to have you on it; it's just that you don't have a name."

"A name?" Hermione asked confusedly.

"Yeah, like we can't have 'Messrs, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs and Hermione'," on it, can we?" He laughed. "It would ruin the mystery, you see."

"Oh, oh," Hermione said, blushing with the stupidity of not realising. "No, of course not; that would be silly. Well, my Patronus is an otter, as you all well know, and since Patronuses are most often also reflected in a person's Animagus form, and since I am further not an Animagus, I suppose it would have to be something to do with that."

"Yeah, that would do nicely. What would you like it to be?"

Hermione visualised an otter, trying to identify its most defining characteristics. But after several moments, she simply blurted out: "Whiskers!"

"Nice," Sirius said, and began to dig around in his pocket. "You're lucky I'm awful at packing, otherwise I wouldn't have this on me."

"Wha..." Hermione began, but as Sirius pulled out a yellowed piece of parchment, she immediately realised what was happening.

Hermione Granger was going to be named on the Marauders Map. Right there and then.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Sirius mumbled, tapping the paper with his wand. "You know," he said as the black ink started to swirl around the page, "we hardly use this anymore, but I like to keep it around, just in case."

"Uh-huh," Hermione said absentmindedly as Sirius began to wave his wand intricately over the paper. "What spells are you using?"

Sirius just shrugged. "Dunno," he said. "Moony did most of the charm work on it, and I'm trying them all to see which one'll do it."

Hermione suddenly doubted asking Sirius to do this for her. What if he just messed the whole map up? Or ruined it? Then the other boys would just hate her for destroying something that was so important to them. But just as she was about to voice her doubts aloud, Sirius let out a triumphant: "Ah-ha!"

"Did you get it?" Hermione asked quickly.

"Yup," he said, looking up at her with a grin. "Wanna see?"

Hermione nodded and sat back down next to him on the now cold bench.

"Mischief managed," Sirius mumbled, and the paper cleared. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Hermione had heard that phrase uttered many times in the past few years, but as she heard Sirius say it again that night, she realised that she had never heard it said with so much conviction; as if it were truly what he were there to do. Writing began to materialise on the paper again.

However, as more appeared, Hermione noticed that it was no longer the neat calligraphy as it were before – instead it was now a black scrawl. "The writing's changed," she murmured.

"Yeah, well, if Remus did it before, it would have been his handwriting, and now that I've done it – it's in mine."

"Of course," Hermione said quietly, as the introductory words finally appeared.

"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Whiskers and Prongs are proud to present: The Marauders Map."

Hermione's hands found their way back to her mouth. She was on the map.

"I know messr is for Mr, but I thought what the hell, let's give them a little more mystery. Plus 'miss' would totally throw off the dynamic, sorry," Sirius said with a huge grin on his face.

Hermione felt like she was going to cry, but instead, she leapt off the bench again. "Do you know what this means?" she exclaimed at Sirius.

"Again, no," he replied.

"Put a locking spell on it," Hermione gestured to the paper.

"Okay…" Sirius said before obliging. "There, what now?"

"Now," Hermione said, with a grin growing on her face, "We can change the future."

It was then Sirius' turn to leap off the bench. "What?" he exclaimed excitedly.

"In my time there were only ever four Marauders – and we've just created the fifth!"

"Which means that you can change the timeline!"

"Yes, yes! Oh my goodness, yes!" Hermione ran to hug Sirius, and was engulfed in his long arms. "I can save them all," she mumbled into his chest.

"Yes, you can, and we will," he replied.

Hermione pulled away to look up at his face, to find him grinning as stupidly as she was sure she was at their discovery. Hermione didn't think she had ever felt as happy as she had in that moment. Which was probably the reasoning behind her being the first to lean in.

Not ever, not once in her life, past or present, did Hermione Granger think she'd find herself kissing Sirius Black. Or enjoying it so much.

Yes, she had been the one to lean in first, but once that obstacle had been cleared, Sirius took it upon himself to initiate the actual kissing. There was no caution to it, no initial peck, just crashing mouths and wandering hands.

Hermione could feel her stomach drop as his lips met hers, but in a good way. Her heart felt like it was hammering its way out of her chest, but she was calm. It was a strange paradox she found herself in, but this was what she wanted. Exactly this. She hadn't been kissed many times before, but Hermione was certain that she wouldn't often, if ever, be kissed like this again.

Somehow, her fingers had woven themselves into his silky dark hair, but she found no reason to untangle them – not when it felt so nice. The places in the small of her back where his large hands held her, burned her to the core, which was also a surprisingly good feeling.

Who knows how long it was before they broke apart – certainly not those two – but when they did, the world seemed to have silenced in that time. Even the wind was quiet. The only sounds Hermione could hear was the blood rushing through her ears and their heavy breathing.

Neither knew what to say in the aftermath, therefore an awkward silence appeared. Then, Hermione did as any mature person would in a similar situation; she ran.

A/N: I'm glad to say that the majority guessed correctly what the endgame couple was. Which is great for me, since you won't be disappointed.

Please review! I love to hear what you have to say.

Holly - xo