A/N: I'm back from my TP! So here's another chapter and I'll probably post the next chapter around Christmas so look forward to it!

Enjoy!^^

When Hermione and Lily entered the Great Hall the next day for breakfast the marauders were already sitting down.

"Good morning, boys," Hermione said, getting a chorus of 'morning' back. It seemed like they were still half asleep. The brunette took a seat, coincidentally the one next to Sirius, as Lily took a seat across from her.

Hermione sitting next to Sirius after having avoided him for weeks, this was new. Both Lily and the marauders had confused looks on their faces, the marauders already looking more awake than just a moment ago.

"Uhm," Peter started.

"What happened?" Lily asked.

"Hmm?"

"What did we miss?" James asked.

Hermione looked at him, her head titled in question. "I need a little bit more context, James."

"Hermione," Remus got her attention. "You're sitting next to Sirius after avoiding him for weeks. What happened?"

"We finally talked things out. We should've done that much earlier actually, but things are okay now. Right?" she asked the boy in question.

"Right," he said.

"Finally, you have no idea how happy I am to hear that. No more awkwardness, thank Merlin." James was apparently very happy, seldomly had she heard such a relief in his voice.

"Yeah, sorry about all that," the brunette apologized.

"No harm done, I'm just glad it's over."

"You and everyone else here, I imagine," Hermione supplied.

And Hermione kept to her promise, no more avoiding. But that didn't mean they had a lot of time to just casually hang around the castle. Exams were coming up – only a couple of weeks away – which meant she had to study. The quidditch final was coming up – Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw – which meant James and Sirius were spending most of their time training at the quidditch pitch while Remus and Peter joined them in the stands. Apart for a few evenings the group spend together in the common room, they hardly had time for anything.

Then there was the matter that Hermione still wasn't any step closer to getting home and after exams the schoolyear would be over. She had nowhere to go but she couldn't be expected to stay at the castle for two whole months. Right?

But of course, Dumbledore is all-knowing, seeing as she was asked to go to his office one day.

"Ah, Miss Granger. Come, take a seat. Lemon drop?" She declined politely.

"Is there any news, Professor?"

"I'm afraid not. I'm doing what I can but you have to understand that you came from the future. A time where the effects of time and time manipulation were documented better, and where certain things are more advanced. I don't want to cause you any distress but I'm afraid if things stay like this and we find nothing new, you might have to stay in this timeline." His voice was calm, soft. But when had it ever been anything other than that?

There was so much going on inside her head. She might have to stay? Where does she go? Why was that her first thought? What about Harry, Ron and the others? What was going to happen? It was too much to make sense of even one of those thoughts.

"I might have to stay?" Her voice was small, not fully grasping the implication of it yet.

"That is the most probable situation at this point in time, yes."

"But I can't stay here. What about the timeline? Where do I even go if I do stay here? I have no family in this timeline." This just couldn't be happening. This wasn't possible. But what if she did have to stay?

"I'm sorry but I'm afraid that the chance is quite high that you have to stay in this time, whether you can or cannot. If we can't find a solution there is no way for you to go back to your own timeline. As for having nowhere to go, I'm talking to a few members of the Order. I'm sure one of them can accommodate you."

"Someone from the Order?"

"Yes."

"And have you told them I'm not from here? Or will you tell them?"

"That is something you don't have to concern yourself with, my sweet child." She looked at him, confused. How could she not concern herself with it? She was from the future. She had to know who knew and who didn't so she knew what she could and couldn't say, so she knew how to act in certain situations. Of course she would be concerned about that.

But before she could say anything else, he dismissed her. "I will let you know with who you will be staying this summer at a later date. Now, of you go. Exams are near and I'm sure you could spend your time more wisely than talking to an old man such as myself."

He always did that, interrupting before she could even say or do anything and just end the entire conversation. It was so irritating at times. Especially now.

He told her she might have to stay here but said there was no need to worry. Of course there was need to worry. She didn't belong here. She might affect the future. Probably had already with the amount of time she had already spent here. What was going on inside his head? What was he thinking? And she might have to stay here? She was just supposed to accept that possibility? How?

So many questions, so many thoughts. Yet no solutions.

As she made her way back to Gryffindor Tower, she tried to push everything to the back of her mind. It wouldn't do anyone good if they noticed something was wrong. Especially when she couldn't tell them just exactly what was the matter.

By the time she entered the common room, everything was stored in the back of her mind. No one would know a thing. The first thing she saw was the Gryffindor quidditch team standing around still in their filthy uniforms. The training hours had picked up again, the game being that very weekend.

"Mioneeee," Sirius came her way, arms outstretched.

"Sirius, don't you dare," she said sternly. He only wiggled his eyebrows, still approaching her. "I swear I will call you by that name."

"You wouldn't do that to me. Not with all these people around," he told her confidently.

"Do you really wanna find out?" She raised an eyebrow. He stopped in his tracks, faltering.

"Shower first?" he asked almost petulantly.

"Shower first," she confirmed.

"Fine." He trudged up the stairs, the marauders and the quidditch team laughing at the entire display they had just witnessed.

"You guys should also take a shower," she told the team, scrunching her nose a little.

They pulled themselves together and looked at her for a second. Then, as if on cue, they all responded, "Yes, mom." And off they went, laughing.

Hermione looked at Lily but only saw the redhead in a giggle fit of her own.

"Did you see that?"

"Well, they're not exactly wrong you know."

"Like you are any better."

"What can I say? Birds of a feather..."

Hermione took a seat next to the redhead, chuckling. "So, where are Alice and Marlene?"

"They're in the library, studying."

"Still worried about the potions exam?"

"Yes."

Suddenly the brunette was attacked from behind, a yell of surprise leaving her mouth. Arms were wrapped around her, something heavy pushing her down. She was trapped. In a hug of one certain Sirius Black to be precise.

"I guess this means you showered."

"You guessed right." Then he let go of her, taking a seat.

"What are you? A dog?" Lily asked, though there was no real malice behind the words. The other two couldn't help it. They gave one look at the other and just started laughing. "What? Did I say something funny?"

"No, no. Just… uhm… just some inside joke," the brunette was quick to assure her, trying to hold back her laughter. Sirius wasn't trying at all, just clutching his stomach as he kept on laughing.

"What did we miss? What's with Padfoot?" James' voice came as they made their way over to them.

"Oh, nothing. How was practice?" Hermione was quick to deflect.

And he was off, no stopping him now. He was talking about the training hours still needed to get everything perfect, the manoeuvres they would and wouldn't use, the mistakes they needed to leave behind and so on.

"Do you think you'll be fine Saturday?"

"Of course we'll be fine. We beat them once, we can do it again."

"So confident."

"And with good reason," Remus said. "I've seen them practice for the past few weeks and they seem to be in top condition. We have a chance at winning this match."

"Okay, good. If you're so sure than you won't need us there to support. That way we can get some more studying done, right Lily?" Sirius looked absolutely flabbergasted, affronted.

"Right. God knows I can use the extra time," she played along.

"What? Mione, no. You have to be there. Everyone has to be there. It's the final." He almost looked a little upset.

The two witches just started chuckling, which in turn turned into full belly laughter as they saw the boys' faces.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean it. It was just a joke."

"A joke," he said as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Prongs, did they just –?"

"They did." James and Peter were wearing the same look as Sirius. Like they were seeing something new, strange. Remus just had an amused grin on his face.

"So, just to be clear, you will attend the game, right?"

"Yes, Sirius, we will."