Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the HP books and/or movies is not mine.

A/N: Sorry about the delay of getting this chapter out. I've been caught up with things and this chapter was a bit hard to write. I'm starting to get dispirited about continuing with my stories, but I think that's because writers block might be coming up on me and also because of some recent news. I hope not though, I'll get frustrated with writers block; also, I do plan on continuing my stories -- I have no intention of abandoning them. ALSO: My story, 'Where are the Children' will be put on temporary hold until I catch up on this story a bit. Everyone's reviews are really helping to keep me up with the story too. Thank you guys so much! Everyone who has stuck with me while I've been writing this, thank you. You guys are wonderful. So.. Here's the story!

Thanks Torri-Chiobie, Katsheswims, LoveroftheTwins326, little mimi, swirlywhirlynutcase, jeez claudine, Bluefirestarlily, LunaLovegoss, poweroflove14, Haley Y., I think i'm drowning, amrawo, wally4ever, Evil Cat Hater, Natural Anthem, FireWatergirl, Emi-Bum, go11um, childoftheorient, Angelic Bladez, amber lock, The Insane Imortal Dragon, Ella, HMWayre, Cissy, Crazy4Cocopuffs, Simple Elegance, and Fire phoenix for the wonderful reviews!

Any questioned involving this story that you ask in your reviews will be replied to in emails due to the new rules of FF dot com

Poll for 'Should Hermione, Severus, and Lucius become to new Golden Trio?'

Yes: 4

No: 5

I'm going to probably wait two more chapters before the final decision is made. Thanks to all who voted!

Seasons Change

By: Min

a.k.a. xScenex

Previous:

"Oh." The girl looked around for a moment, unsure, then a gleeful look appeared on her face. "I've always wanted to get James back for all those times he'd prank me."

Hermione grinned, "So what's the plan?"

Lily looked at Hermione, grinning evilly, "I have the perfect plan…."

(A/N: The prank scene was written by my friend, Heather. I'm not really sure about it, but I let her write it anyways, and I'm going to use the scene, because I couldn't think of anything original after I realized that what I was going to use has been used before.)

And so, the prank was planned.

They had thought for a long time until they came up with the idea of having the boys dream about their most hated enemy or a most feared individual. That was only the beginning of it all. Lily came up with the first and most basic part of the plan, whereas Hermione came up with the more fun part. The boys, dreaming of their most feared or hated person, would have a 'romantic' hallucination about said hated persona.

Hermione and Lily tiptoed over to the door of the dormitory so that they could get a good look at the boys sleeping forms on both beds, and floor. Each girl looked at one another, then nodded in unison before both grinned and pointed their wands towards the boys. Lily got the beds on the right that consisted of Remus and James while Hermione got the beds on the left that belonged to Sirius and Peter. They counted to three, then muttered the spell that would activate the prank.

The girls waited for a few moments, seeing the boys twitch in their sleep at first, then they began to mumble in their slumber. They could barely hold in their laughter as most of the Marauders began talking none to quietly to the people in their dreams. The funniest part was when Sirius started to sing out loud.

The girls, trying their hardest to stay quiet, had to lean against one another to keep from falling over. That proved to be difficult though, because soon, all four of the boys sat up as if they'd been slapped, either screaming or gagging loudly with their eyes wide.

Sirius literally went as far as falling off of his bed, screaming something about 'bloody Snivellus'. James was staring in horror at the wall in front of him, Remus was pretty much in the same state, and Peter was blubbering under his blankets about 'creepy Headmasters'.

The girls, unable to contain their laughter in any longer, let out loud guffaws that made the boys look up at them in confusion and bewilderment.

"W-what?" James asked, eyes wide.

"Huh?" Hermione choked out.

"What're you…. Oh yeah," he seemed to just remember something.

"So, did you four have nice dreams?" Lily giggled, looking pointedly at James who flushed redder than Lily's hair.

"I take that as a yes." Hermione grinned as she tried to catch her breath. "Oh, you should have heard the things you were saying."

"What?" Sirius yelped from the floor, "What did we say?"

"Oh, a lot of things actually," Lily teased.

The boys stared at them in horror. "You've got to be kidding me," Sirius squeaked.

"So who'd you dream about?" Asked Hermione from where she stood.

"Wh -- Wait a minute! You did something, didn't you?" James cried out.

"Only a prank," the girls replied in unison.

The boys stared at them in horror. James and Sirius looked stunned and confused at first, then they burst out into laughter.

"That's a great one! If I actually dreamt about Snivellus on my own free will, I'd hang myself!" Sirius barked out, rolling around on the floor and causing himself to nearly disappear under his bed.

James shuddered before replying, "I can't believe we've been pranked, Padfoot."

"P-pranked?" Peter squeaked from his bed, now poking his head out from under the red comforter.

"Yeah, Pete, we've been pranked," Sirius choked out, wiping at his eyes, "So who'd you guys dream about?"

Silence greeted him. Hermione shared a knowing look at Lily, "We figured out who three of you were dreaming about."

"Who dreamt of who?"

"Well, as if it isn't obvious, Sirius and James dreamt about Severus, and Peter dreamt about… Dumbledore…" Lily provided, looking slightly disturbed at the thought.

"Who did you dream about Moony?" Three male voices said at once.

Everyone turned to look at the werewolf, who face had turned bright pink. He mumbled something quietly, causing the other boys to whine about how it wasn't fair that he knew about what they dreamt about.

"Leave Remus alone," Hermione laughed after seeing the russet haired boy's expression.

The distraught boy gave Hermione a relieved look and flopped back against his conjured mattress. Sirius was now standing up again, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes while looking around for a shirt to put on. James was doing the same, and Hermione couldn't help but send her friend a knowing grin at Lily, who had been watching the Gryffindor chaser unashamedly.

Lily made a small noise and blushed furiously, then excused herself by saying she needed to go get her things packed before breakfast.

James looked a little put-out by her sudden leave, but didn't say anything. Hermione on the other hand, jumped up onto James bed next to where he was sitting now and flashed him a small smile.

"So, how do you plan on showing her the real you?" She asked out of the blue.

He stopped moving, his head half-way in his shirt and one arm through a sleeve. Murmuring almost to himself, he said, "Show her the real me?"

"Oh, come on James. You know what I'm talking about. All her years here at Hogwarts, all she's seen of you except for recently is the 'bigheaded, egotistic prat' as she likes to call you."

James pulled his shirt down off of his head and stared the girl strait in the eyes, "You know, she never spent this much time around us Marauders until you came around. It seems like you're trying to get us together -- with you dragging her around to hang out with us, you asking me random questions --"

"Do you realize that you're babbling?" She said in exasperation before standing up and heading towards the door with a roll of her eyes, "I'll see you guys down at breakfast."

After gathering his things together, the sixth year werewolf sat on his trunk in front of his bed and watched Sirius, James, and Peter scramble around the room in a comical manner as they looked for lost clothing items.

"Bugger," James cursed. "Where's my winter cloak!"

Sirius stood up and scratched his head, "Didn't you have it yesterday?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm."

Remus rolled his eyes at the sudden, dumbfounded silence, "It's on the hook next to your bed, James."

"Huh? Oh. I swear, things around here have minds of their own…"

And to think -- the morning had just begun. Or, it had a while ago, but there was still a long time to go before it was over. After the chaos that morning with the girls, things had been quite hectic. The boys had to admit though, what the girls did was admirable even if they were embarrassed beyond reasoning.

Leaning back on the trunk, Remus' back rested against his newly made bed. He could faintly smell the lingering scent of Hermione on his sheets. He felt a small flutter in his stomach which made him feel a bit uncomfortable. What were these feelings he was beginning to acquire? Every time Hermione was really close to him, he couldn't breath or think normally, or he'd blush and stutter. Just thinking about her made his mind foggy.

He couldn't remember feeling that way around anyone. The feelings were practically foreign to him. With an inward sigh, Remus folded his arms behind his head and waited for the others to finish. He didn't have to wait long.

"Alright, everything's packed."

"Ready to head down to breakfast then?"

"Yeah. C'mon Moony! Breakfast!"

And so they headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. They met the girls at the Gryffindor table, who all broke out into identical grins when they spotted them. It was obvious that they filled the other two in on what had happened that morning.

All four of the boys blushed a deep scarlet color before they sat down at the table. James and Sirius just muttered their good mornings to the others, then began eating. Peter avoided any eye-contact, but Remus just shrugged everything off. None of them could really do anything to prevent breakfast from being an awkward and quite affair.

Everyone else in the school seemed to be in high spirits though, considering that most of them would be going home for the holidays in less than an hour. Remus and the other Marauders were of course, excited to get out of the old castle, but the werewolf felt somewhat reluctant when he remembered that Hermione was staying behind.

That was to be expected though, since she didn't have any actual family in the present time era. He began to feel sorry for her now, realizing that she would most likely be missing her family and friends.

Just thinking about what it would be like to go through what she was made his heart clench. If he lost his family, his friends, and home, he didn't know what he would do. How could she act as if it didn't bother her? She seemed to just let everything pass as if it was no big deal -- was she keeping her emotions from them?

He made it a point to make sure that she would at least feel cared for during the holidays come Christmas. He had already gotten her a present, and he hoped that she would like it. He hadn't ever had to shop for any girl besides his mum, and she hardly counted for a girl -- she was… well, his mum.

Glancing about while munching on a piece of toast, he caught Hermione glancing over towards one of the other tables. Having his back turned to them, he wasn't sure which table it was, but both Sirius and James caught her glance and followed it; their eyes stopped at the Slytherin table.

Sirius was the first to speak, "Hermione, why the bloody hell do you keep looking over there? Did Snivellus do something to you?"

The girl's head jerked sideways to face him. She scowled deeply, "No, Severus hasn't; and it really isn't any of your business where I am or am not looking."

"When it deals with slimy Slytherin's, then yes, it is," The dark haired boy growled out. "But then again, you seem to be quite taken with Snivellus. Maybe you fancy him?"

Tension suddenly filled the area around them. Remus knew that Sirius had taken it a step too far. Hermione's eyes were flashing dangerously, anger seeming to actually flow from her. Lily actually cowered back away from the furious brunette and the other boys also backed away slightly.

"How dare you! How dare you!" She shrieked, causing silence to ascend around that area of the Gryffindor table, "Don't you ever speak about things you don't know anything about! Especially when it involves me!"

Sirius didn't say anything for a long time. He just glared at Hermione, daring her to keep going. Remus knew that look -- it was the look he always had when he thought he was right about something. What Hermione said next though, didn't help with anything.

"Not all Slytherin's are bad, Sirius. You just have a childish grudge against them because of your family--"

"You don't know anything about my family!" He shouted, causing the Great Hall to practically become silent as more than a hundred heads turned to face them.

Hermione, aware of the now silent hall, bent over and venomously whispered to the boy so quietly that Remus actually had to strain his ears to hear what she said to Sirius, "When I've lived at Grimmauld Place for two summers straight, I think I might know more than you think."

Sirius paled significantly, not bothering to even watch the girl stalk out of the hall. James asked Sirius what she said, whom said boy didn't respond to, Peter looked positively confused, and the others were sharing similar looks of confusion.

Remus caught Sirius' eye and saw regret, anger, fear, and confusion flashing through the large orbs, but before he could sort out why his friend was feeling those things, the dark haired boy stood up and left the Great Hall, numerous eyes following his every move -- including the Headmasters.

Sighing almost dramatically, the sixth year prefect pushed his plate away from him, stood up, and motioned his friends to come along as well. They obliged, following him back to the Gryffindor common room and up the boy's dormitories, where they found Sirius laying moodily on his bed.

The upcoming train ride was going to be one that none of them were looking forward to.

It was quiet now.

Sitting alone in her dorm, Hermione couldn't really think of anything that would make things better for her. She was quickly spiraling into the waters of depression. Now that she was actually alone, memories and thoughts had decided to catch up with her; she couldn't get away from them this time.

What were Ron and Harry doing right now? What about Ginny? What did her parents think of her disappearing? She already knew that things in the future were drastically changed -- she'd already told things about the future to people in this time era and it was almost a definite fact that nothing would be the same.

Sighing to herself, Hermione glanced out of the window near her bed, then flopped onto her back, staring up at the canopied ceiling of her bed she knew all too well. Her mind drifted off to the night that she had arrived in this new -- or old -- time. She remembered the dance she shared with Ron, the small, simple words that they had passed on to each other, then… the near kiss.

She felt her heart ache at that memory. Ron had almost kissed her, and because of Draco, it had never happened. Was it for the best? What would have happened if he had kissed her? Would she feel even more homesick? How would it affect her feelings about Ron?

Whatever she would have felt, she didn't know if it could be worse than what she was feeling now; and frankly, she didn't want to know. Her heart felt as if it were about to break already. She missed them all, her family, her friends -- hell, she even missed Draco for all that he was worth.

And at any rate, everything wasn't working out how she wanted it to -- though she couldn't have everything her way. Why did the Marauder's have to have such a childish grudge against the Slytherin's? Things never changed, did they? Now, here she was, alone and by herself with no one but herself as company. Sirius and James were mad at her, that much was obvious. She wasn't sure about the others, but at the moment, she wasn't really sure she cared. Maybe it was better if she didn't get too close to them.

By hanging out with Slytherin's, Hermione knew she would cause a rift between her friendship with the Gryffindor's. She just hadn't wanted it to be true.

The girl let out a strangled cry of frustration before she ripped herself away from her bed, grabbing her winter cloak in the process, then fled from her dormitory in anger and confusion. She trudged down the staircase leading into the common room and saw a few first and second years that were the only other Gryffindor's staying that were grouped up in a corner, talking, joking, and doing the things that they do.

In her mind, she saw flashes of her, Harry's, and Ron's first few years at Hogwarts as they would group up in the common room around Christmas. Without even acknowledging the younger years, Hermione hurried out of the room.

The halls of the castle were practically deserted. The paintings were off visiting one another, so most of the canvases lay blank and empty on the stone walls. A few were crowded with the most random variety of people Hermione had ever seen, and they'd call out to her as she passed. The stair cases would groan and creek, the noise sounding louder than usual because of the emptiness of the place.

Having looked at the bulletin board in the common room, she saw how many people were staying behind for Christmas. There were the five other Gryffindor's besides her, three Hufflepuff's, and the five Slytherin's.

Hermione was just turning a corner when she found herself face to face with the stone gargoyle leading to Dumbledore's office. She hadn't realized she'd been walking in that direction, but now, she felt that it was a natural thing to do. Most of her time spent in the Marauders' Era was in Dumbledore's office. Then the girl realized that this was the perfect opportunity for her to talk to the Headmaster about the strange scar on her abdomen.

Telling the gargoyle the password, it jumped aside and she walked up the revolving stairs, not bothering to wait until it took her up to the top landing on its own. She knocked on the door, and heard the old man welcome her into the small office.

"Ah, Hermione, what can I do for you?" Dumbledore asked from behind his desk as he glanced up from wrote in his elegant penmanship on a piece of parchment that looked official.

"Well, sir, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something," she said.

"Take a seat then," he said kindly and finished whatever he had been writing on the parchment.

Hermione obliged, sitting down in one of the armchairs in front of the oak desk. She looked over at Fawkes who lay sleeping on his perch, head tucked under his soft feathers. The Headmaster lay his quill down, then turned his attention to her, blue eyes sparkling that annoying sparkle.

"Well, professor, I um… you remember the day I came here, right?" She asked lamely. He nodded, so she continued, "Well, when I was in the Hospital Wing that first morning, I noticed something."

"What is it that you noticed?"

The girl suddenly felt sheepish about the whole situation, but told him, "I noticed that, where the spell that sent me back here hit me, there's a scar… I wouldn't even be bothered with it if it was a normal scar, but it seems to be formed into a certain pattern."

The old man peered at her for a long time without saying anything, then asked her what it looked like exactly. She asked if she could draw it out on a piece of paper, and he handed her a spare piece of parchment and his discarded quill.

She sat in concentration for a while, sketching out the pattern. She had it memorized in her mind, having seen it many times. Though Hermione had never really thought it looked like anything, she realized that as she sat drawing out the lines, it did indeed seem to take on a familiar shape.

Minutes passed until she finished, then handed the parchment to the aged Headmaster. She watched as his eyes widened slightly from behind the half-moon spectacles. He cleared his throat then put the sketch down. His gaze drifted from his desk to her, and student and professor locked eyes.

"What is it, sir?"

"Hermione, if this sketch is what it really looks like, then I'm proud to say that you have a magical protector. Whatever spell sent you back was indeed extremely powerful, but it was meant to be, and could have harmed you. I'm not sure why I hadn't realized that something was amiss earlier. The caster of the spell, however, had no intentions of actually harming you, causing the spell to react in a way where it would guard you from all the raw power as you fell through the timeline. This --" Dumbledore motioned to the parchment, "Is the symbol that the founder of magic would use that meant 'protection'.

" Usually, it would be used with old magic to seal important letters from prying eyes, or to keep someone safe in a hiding place if they were in trouble. The magic, being from before even the Founders of Hogwarts, has been long lost to the wizarding world. Look at the drawing, and tell me what you see."

Hermione leaned forward to look once more at the drawing. Nothing seemed to come to her mind at first, but slowly, it seemed as if the drawing took its own form. Seconds later, she was staring at the outline of a wolf.

The design wasn't anything extraordinary, but it was still there. It was only visible if you concentrated on it, otherwise, it just looked like an ensemble of crisscrossed markings.

"A wolf?"

"Yes."

"What does it mean since it's actually on me?"

"That, Hermione, is something I have yet to figure out. Normally, theory has said that the older kin of wizards and witches had tried to make it work on actual people to protect them, but it would never succeed. I've never heard of anything like this."

"Does it mean that I have a limit of protection?" Asked Hermione.

"It could be possible," he nodded, looking thoughtful. "However, we can't be too sure. Anything is possible here in the wizarding world, as you may know."

The girl nodded slowly, allowing silence to ascend upon the duo. Hermione was lost in thought, thinking that she would head to the library before lunch to check up on the spell and magic that she had just learned about.

"If that is all, Miss Granger, I believe you should be on your way," the Headmaster said in his usual cheery voice. Hermione nodded again and stood up. Before turning around though, she decided to ask something that she hadn't really questioned yet.

"Headmaster, I was wondering about something else. You never told me how Remus faired during the full moon with the potion."

"Ah, I must say, things worked out rather admirably," said the old man, eyes twinkling like mad. "He was very grateful for whoever made the potion."

Hermione grinned and said her goodbyes to the old man, then left his office. She felt slightly better than she had previously. Maybe the day wasn't ruined.

The girl made her way through the castle, not seeing anyone on her way to the library. When she entered the vast room full of books, she nodded to the librarian and proceeded towards the books in the 'history of magic' section.

After skimming the volumes of books that lined the many shelves, she pulled out numerous amounts of them and made what looked like a small fort of books on top of one of the circular tables in one of the corners near a window that overlooked the Quidditch field.

She looked through the books, one by one, and jotted down any notes that she dubbed useful on spare pieces of parchment. Hours passed and she missed lunch, and most of the afternoon. She didn't leave the library until almost halfway through dinner, her eyes overly bright with the knowledge of what she had found out about the protection magic. (A/n: I'll go over that in the next chapter.)

She vaguely thought about going to the Great Hall for dinner, but decided to just stop by the kitchens instead to get something small to eat.

The house elves greeted her as normal, seeing that her and Lily had became some of their favorite students to come around. She sat on a stool and munched on a turkey sandwich that had been given to her and she listened to the elves chat about their preparations for the upcoming Christmas feast. Hermione threw in a few comments which the elves were happy to accept, and soon, she found herself sleepy and full.

After bidding the elves goodnight, she left the kitchens and went to Gryffindor tower. The students that were gathered in there were chatting cheerfully with one another, as they had been earlier in the day. Hermione was too tired to acknowledge them and went up to her dormitory that now seemed empty.

Upon lying down on her bed, she vaguely thought about what she would be doing during the upcoming days at Hogwarts, and what the future had planned for her.

A/N: Alright, there it is. I know it's not that great. I also want to say that I might not update for a while -- maybe not until after new years. I'm sorry, but with the holidays coming up, I'm not sure if I'll have the time to do anything dealing with my stories.

Anyways, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! -- Min