The Hunted

Chapter 2: Attack On The Train

Hermione's eyes fluttered open and she gingerly touched her head in pain. She felt a big lump but couldn't feel any blood, so she groggily sat up and looked ahead of her. Hermione's eyes widened when she saw that five men sat in front of her.

Four of them were about her age and one was older. The first boy was tall, and had his long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. His big brown eyes were staring at her with concern written all over them. The second one was shorter then the first, with strangely familiar messy jet black hair. He was staring at her in shock, as though she had just appeared out of thin air. The third boy was the tallest, his dark blonde hair curled in an adorable way about his face. The fourth was the shortest one there, and in Hermione's opinion, looked slightly like a rat. His white blonde hair was thin and it seemed as though he was going bald, even though he looked no older then 18. The last man was older with a long white beard, familiar half-moon glasses, and a wonderful twinkle in his eyes. Hermione recognized him immediately. "Professor Dumbledore! Thank merlin."

Dumbledore's eyes crinkled into a confused frown, "I'm sorry Miss, but have we met?"

Hermione's eyebrows scrunched up and she bit her tongue. Has he gone mental? Hermione thought about what to say and took another look at the men standing around her and gasped. She yanked at the chain attaching to her time turner until it fell out of her shirt and groaned. The magical instrument must have shattered when she had tripped and fallen; all that was left was a bit of jagged glass.

"Is there something wrong Miss?" Dumbledore asked.

The baffled teen chuckled shakily at his understatement. Suddenly becoming aware of the fact that there were four people in the room staring at her wide eyed. "Professor? Would it be all right if I spoke with you alone for a couple minutes?"

Dumbledore nodded and shooed the boys out of the compartment. Hermione lifted herself up from the floor from were she lay, sprawled across the ground uncomfortably and sat down shakily on the bench seat. Dumbledore sat on the one across from her and cleared his throat, "You gave those boys quite a scare, appearing out of thin air like that."

Hermione looked down at her feet, ashamed, "I'm really sorry Professor. I don't really know how to say any of this.." She trailed off, staring at the door that the boys had just exited from. "May I ask you something, sir?"

Dumbledore inclined his chin and adjusted his glasses.

"The boys that just left.. are their names Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew?"

"Indeed," Dumbledore smiled, as though their names brought him many fond memories, "Where do you know them from?"

Hermione took a deep breath, and let everything spill out, "I know this is going to sound unbelievable Professor, but I'm from the future. Twenty years to be exact."

Dumbledore didn't seem the least bit shattered by the latest information. "My dear," he mused, "how did you get here?"

Hermione sighed, "I have a time turner. You and professor McGonnagall gave it to me when I took on too many classes in my third year. I'm one of your students in the future.." Hermione trailed off a little, "I was walking across the compartment to get a book to read when I fell and bumped my head against the compartment wall. I believe I broke the time turner when I hit the floor. I thought that the jolt I felt meant the train was moving but I guess I hitched a ride into the past instead.." Hermione finished her story and then waited for Dumbledore to say something.

"Well, that's quite a predicament I'll admit." Dumbledore rubbed his temples thoughtfully. "I'm not positive of any way to reverse what you've gotten yourself into. Time turners are very unpredictable devices.. Things can go awry at any moment." Looking out the window, Dumbledore added, "I will do everything in my power to get you back home, Miss-"

"Granger," Hermione smiled, "I'm Hermione Granger."

"Well, Miss Granger, I'm afraid I don't know how long it's going to take to get you back to the future, so I'll suggest that you go through the sorting with the first years. We'll just say that you're an exchange student from another school, if that is all right with you?"

Hermione nodded.

"And I don't think that anyone should know about your current situation. If students, or even staff found out I think you might be overwhelmed with questions about the future. Also, I must ask you to not tamper with the past. There may be some things that you would wish to alter to you're liking, but I highly advise against this. I think that it would be safer for everyone else if you keep any information to yourself."

Hermione nodded again.

"Also, I don't think anyone should know your real name. Is there a specific fake one that you'd like to assume?"

Hermione thought for a minute, "Amaya Richardson?"

Dumbledore inclined his head to her, "Well then Miss Richardson, I don't see that you have any supplies or clothes with you." Hermione looked around. He was right, her trunk hadn't come with her. "So I'm going to give you money to buy new clothes. Your supplies will be brought to you by one of the house elves, and you can just go to Hogsmeade and buy new clothes there. I'm sure there are lots of shoppes that sell clothes." He handed her a sack that was quite heavy and jingled when she shook it.

Hermione was overcome with gratitude, "Thank you, Professor. Thank you for everything."

"You're very welcome Miss Richardson," Dumbledore smiled reassuringly and left.

Dumbledore had not been gone a second when the boys tumbled back into the room. They all stood there, staring at each other, before Remus extended his hand to her. "Hi, I'm Remus, and these are my friends Sirius, James, and Peter." Hermione smiled to herself, always the polite one.

James shook her hand warmly and Peter also shook her hand but his clammy hands made her grimace. Sirius took one of her hands in his and caught her eye. "What's your name, darlin?"

A sudden jolt went through Hermione, catching her off guard. Hermione felt herself becoming lost in those dark eyes. Sirius flashed a grin at her and she blushed, realizing she had been caught staring. "I'm sorry, how rude of me. My name is Amaya Richardson. It's really nice to meet you all."

James spoke up, "So Amaya, how did you end up just appearing out of thin air? It didn't look like you were apparating.. Most people don't arrive unconscious."

Remus sighed and shook his head. "James, you can't apparate onto the Express."

James look at Sirius and rolled his eyes. "I knew that.."

Hermione giggled a little at their antics then spoke, "This is probably going to sound unbelievable, but I'd appreciate it if you guys could just hear me out before saying anything." Hermione glanced at all of them, shuddering a little when she saw that Peter was hanging on to her every word. Oh gods, they're going to laugh at me.. Without thinking, Hermione blurted out her story. "I'm from the future. Around twenty years from what I can tell. I was in my compartment on the train when I tripped and fell. My time turner broke and it brought me here. Professor Dumbledore is researching ways of returning me to the future. "

All four boys looked at each other wide eyed. Remus opened his mouth as if to say something, but shut it quickly, thinking the better of it.

"What's a time turner?" Peter asked stupidly.

Before Hermione could say anything, Sirius jumped in. "It's a magical instrument to help you travel through time. I've never seen one myself, but supposedly if you turn it once around, you would travel back an hour. Since Amaya's time turner shattered, it must have gone haywire and brought her years into the past."

James gave her a sympathetic look and Peter ooh-ed quietly.

"Good thing you have Dumbledore to help you out," Remus reasoned, obviously trying to look on the brighter side of things.

Hermione smiled gratefully. "Would it be all right if I hung around you guys until Professor Dumbledore fixes my time turner or figures out how to get me home?"

"Absolutely!" James and Sirius chorused.

Hermione giggled a little, but deep inside all she wanted to do was cry. She was a long ways from home and she didn't know if she was ever going to see Harry and Ron again.

Just then, her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a girl. She had long red hair and her pretty green eyes shone when she saw James. "There you all are! I've searched the train up and down for you! Melanie is waiting in the compartment in case you lot showed up, but I was getting impatient so I went looking for you," just then the girl saw Hermione and frowned, "I've never seen you before. Do you go to Hogwarts? What's your name? I'm Lily by the way, Lily Evans."

Hermione opened her mouth, speechless for a moment before answering, "Err, hi. I'm Amaya Richardson. And yes, I just transferred."

Lily grinned broadly, "Its nice to meet you Amaya. Would you like to come sit with us? I'm sure Melanie would loooove to meet you!"

Hermione looked at Sirius, who gave her an encouraging nod, before speaking, "Sure. But there's probably something you should know about me.."

Lily shook her head, "What is it? I love secrets! Oh please tell me!"

James rolled his eyes at Lily's antics. "Don't mind Lilybean. She likes to make a fool of herself."

Sirius prodded Lily's arm and took up Hermione's story for her. Lily's eyes widened and she turned her big sad eye's on the flustered girl. "Darling!" Taking Hermione's arm in hers, Lily lead her out of the compartment and started walking, leaving the boys to run after them. "Who knows all this information? Just me, James, Remus, Sirius, Peter and Dumbledore?"

Hermione nodded, not sure what to make of the bouncy redhead.

Lily smiled, "This is great! If you want I can help you around and stuff."

"That would be fantastic," Hermione sighed relieved. It seemed as though Lily she was a good friend to have around in a crisis.

James loped up besides Lily and linked arms with her. Lily snorted and shook him off, "As if James! Get off of me."

"Just admit it Evans," James said convincingly, his spirits not even a slight bit dampened, "you are completely and utterly in love with me!"

Lily turned to Hermione and the two of them shared a look before bursting into laughter. "I would rather have tea with an angry hippogriff!"

James looked a little put off and muttered to Remus something that sounded like, "That doesn't sound very difficult.."

Hermione let go of Lily's arm when she saw the bathroom. She really wanted to have a minute to herself so she could collect her thoughts and check out how serous the lump on her head looked. "Go on Lily. I want to clean up a bit. I'll catch up with you later." For a second, Hermione thought that Lily was going to insist coming, but she nodded understandingly, "See you in a bit Amaya."

Hermione nodded and slipped inside. She stood in front of the tiny mirror and fixed her gaze upon her now lumpy head. It was big and purple and very ugly. Hermione grimaced and pulled her wand out of her pocket. Doing a quick healing spell, she watched as the lump shrunk into her head and the dark color faded back to her normal skin tone. Hermione rubbed her eyes tiredly. It seemed like it had been days since she'd had any sleep.

Hermione finished up in the bathroom then left. Looking further down the hallway between the compartments, she saw a tall figure lean down to pick something up. It was getting dark so she didn't see the figure clearly, but when it glanced up in her direction she saw a pair of glowing red eyes.

It must have been instinct from hanging around with Harry and Ron for so many years but Hermione didn't hesitate in walking swiftly down the hallway towards the mysterious person. But when Hermione called out to the figure, it jerked into a standing position and rushed into the nearest compartment. Hermione ran towards the door it had disappeared into.

The teen slowed her step as she reached the compartment door. What on earth was she doing? She stopped. What if it was dangerous? And why did it seem like there was no one on the train.. Hermione walked back a few steps and opened another compartment door to see if someone would come with her, but no one was in it. Hermione frowned. That's strange, she thought. Stepping back a few other steps, Hermione checked the next one, but there was no one inside it. Its like this entire part of the train is deserted..

Breath caught in her throat, Hermione flung the sliding door open before she could change her mind. Wand raised, she stepped into an empty dark room. Frowning, Hermione shook her head. She could have sworn she had seen the red eyed man dash in here.

Deciding that it might be possible she was loosing her mind, Hermione turned around to go find Lily and the Marauders, but not before two strong arms grabbed her and pulled her out through the ceiling. Hermione screamed as she was lifted through the trap door and onto the roof of the train.

Looking at the figure that was holding her, Hermione screamed again. It was about seven feet tall with grayish pinkish skin that hung off its body. Its head was long and oval and very bald. Its evil red eyes were narrow little slits and it had no nose and no mouth. Hermione looked at the hands that were wrapped around each arm and saw long claws on the end of each finger.

The frazzled girl didn't have much time to think before the beast dropped her and then picked her up again, but this time by her feet. It started swinging her around and Hermione screamed again. Letting her go in mid-swing, Hermione went flying and landed hard on top of another compartment roof.

Moaning in pain, Hermione rolled over. Realizing she had no time to waste, Hermione jumped to her feet. Telling herself not to looked down, Hermione quickly ran down the train. The sun was just setting, and Hermione held a hand up to shield her eyes from its brightness.

As Hermione was hustling down one of the slightly larger compartments, one of her feet caught on a trap door handle and she tripped. Her wand, which she had been holding tightly in her hand, skittered out of her grasp. Hermione stretched her arms in panic to reach it, but not before a large clawed hand came down on it, snapping the precious wand in half.

Hermione gasped and edged away from the horrible monster that was climbing from the side of the train to the top. Now there was one monster in front of her and one behind her. Hermione started shaking, her brain was now on overdrive. What was she going to do? She was alone and there were two huge monsters that had her cornered and she didn't have her wand.

One of the creatures hands shot out and grabbed her around the neck, choking her. Hermione gasped, trying to take in some air as she was lifted up above the ground.

Her vision started blacking out and Hermione knew if she didn't do something right then, she was a good as dead. Feeling a burst of strength, Hermione brought both fists down on the monsters wrist. Hearing a snap, she knew that the bone was broken. It dropped her and she fell back onto the train roof. Hopping back to her feet, Hermione drew herself back up to her full height and glared at the monster that had nearly just killed her. "Pick on someone your own size!"

Hermione leapt up and kicked it in the stomach. The monster flew back about six feet and landed hard. Hermione rushed at it and grabbed its arm. Holding on tight, the know-it-all quipped, "It is very likely that no one in this general vicinity is your size, so I think its time you get off this train!" Flipping it over her shoulder, Hermione swung it into the other monster. They both landed in a heap together.

Hermione saw a lead pipe sticking out of the top of the roof near the smokestack and snapped it off easily. Her eyes widened. It must be the adrenaline, she reasoned to herself. Swinging the pipe in a figure eight in front of her she commented, "I think this it your stop boys. Err.. girls? Beast.. things."

With that, Hermione started giving them both a good thumping with the pipe. It made a sick, crunching noise every time it hit one of them. One of their hands whipped out and jerked the pipe out of Hermione's hand. It kicked her in the stomach, making her double over in pain. The monster brought its hand back and punched her in the face. Hermione went flying and when she landed, she kept sliding until she skidded to a stop a few inches from the edge of the train.

Hermione took a gasping breath, and got up slowly. "I will put up with stupid dreams, late parents, cranky librarians, and faulty time turners, but I will NOT put up with intensely ugly things trying to kill me!" Hermione ran at one of the monsters, taking an enormous leap, she flipped over the monster and caught him in a roundhouse kick. He went flying off the side of the train and out into the darkness.

Turning to the monster that was still left, Hermione narrowed her eyes. The creature slashed out at Hermione and caught her on the shoulder. Hermione hissed in pain and ran into the beast with all the strength she could muster. The menace stumbled back and tipped over the side of the train.

Hermione was frozen for a couple seconds before she started shaking uncontrollably. What's going on? Why did those monsters attack me? Was is random? Or did someone send them? And how did I live through that? Where did all that strength come from? Hermione collapsed on top of the train. Holding her head in her hands, Hermione wondered what she should do. Should she tell someone? Dumbledore needed to know that the train had been attacked, obviously. But should she let him in on the fact that she had kicked their ungrateful bums off the train and into the night?

Looking up, Hermione saw Hogwarts castle emerging from behind some trees and jumped. She hadn't realized how long she had been gone for. Hurriedly running back towards the trap door that she had been pulled up through, Hermione jumped smoothly through the hole and into the compartment.

Looking down at herself, she realized what a mess she was. Her clothes were tattered and there was blood seeping through her shirt from were she had been cut on the shoulder. Peeking out into the hallway, Hermione didn't see anyone so she hurried to the bathroom. Yanking some napkins out of the holder, Hermione wet them under the faucet then washed her cut out. When Hermione reached into her pocket to pull out her wand, she nearly started crying. Pulling herself together she whispered the advice to herself that she had always told Harry. "The wand is only as good as the wizard."

Pulling her hair over the bruises, Hermione made her way out into the hallway and ran back to the compartment where the boys and Lily were supposed to be. Entering the compartment, Hermione was greeted by six concerned faces.

"Why did you take so long?"

"I thought you went to the bathroom to clean up?"

"Where did you get those scratches?"

Lily walked over and lifted Hermione hair out of her face to reveal the nasty bluish bruises that were forming on her forehead. She gave Hermione a suspicious look, "Where did these come from?" And she pointed at the long scratches on Hermione's arms, "And these…what happened Amaya?"

Hermione leaned in to whisper in Lily's ear, "Can you come with me for a minute?"

"Of course," Lily agreed immediately, following Hermione out into the hall. When the others made to follow, Lily shooed them back. "Hey!" James exclaimed as she shut the door in his face. Lily glanced towards Hermione, "So tell me what's going on! Why do you look like you were beaten up?"

"First, before I tell you what happened, could I borrow some of your clothes, and robes?" Hermione asked.

Lily nodded, "Sure Amaya, no problem, just come with me." Lily led the way to a compartment where here trunk was. After closing the door, she handed Hermione a pair of jeans and a tank top and a big comfy looking wool sweater.

Hermione said a quick thanks before pulling them on. The jeans were a bit small, and the shirt was a bit tight, but it wasn't really all that noticeable when Hermione pulled the sweater on. "Lily, would you mind casting some healing spells for me please? My wand didn't survive my blast to the past." Her lame attempt at turning her lie into a joke even made Hermione cringe.

"Of course 'May," Lily said affectionately. Whipping her wand out of her robes, Lily cast some healing spells for Hermione's bruised face and scratched arms. Her clever green eyes x-raying Hermione the whole time. When she finished, the red head all but pounced on Hermione with questions. "What happened? Where did you get those terrible injuries from?"

Hermione opened her mouth, wanting to tell her everything that had happened on top of the train, but then she thought. What if me telling Lily puts her in danger? And then the monsters come after her? I didn't totally kill them, they might still be alive! I don't know if it was a random attack, or if someone sent those monsters.. I don't know..

Hermione shook her head tensely, "I-I can't. I'm sorry."

"Why not?"

"Because I might put you in danger," Hermione explained. "I'm sorry, but I really don't want to do that. You're my friend and I don't want you getting hurt! Please understand that!"

Lily nodded her head slightly, but Hermione could tell that she wasn't satisfied with the response. "Okay, if you want to talk about it though, just say."

Hermione smiled, glad that Lily was being so nice about the situation. "I will."

Back with Sirius, James, Remus, Peter and Melanie…

The five friends were sitting in silence, waiting for Lily and Hermione to return. No one had said a word since they'd left.

Melanie suddenly spoke up, "So this girl…Amaya. She's from the future?"

All four boys nodded.

"How did she get a time turner? I thought it was against the law for an under aged witch to use one?" Melanie asked.

James shrugged, looking unbothered, "I guess they're not outlawed from where she came from."

They were silent for a few more minutes before Remus spoke up, "She, err, Amaya that is, did anyone else notice that she seemed to recognize us?"

Sirius looked up, his brown eyes creased with worry. He seemed sort of distracted, "I dunno. Maybe she knows us in the future somehow? I'm not sure and I don't really care, I just want to know if she's all right, and what happened to her!"

Melanie smiled at him, "Sirius! You haven't even known her an hour!"

Sirius frowned at her, "Is it not all right for me to be worried about a friend with scratches all over her arms and a bunch of bruises on her head? I'm just worried that's all." Sirius turned away from them grouchily and stared out the window.

James grinned at his best friend and spoke under his breath to Remus, "Padfoot's got it bad."

When he saw Sirius giving him the death stare, James went into a fit of coughs and looked away, attempting to be inconspicuous, but not doing a very good job of it. Just then, Lily and Hermione walked back in. Hermione's long hair was still hanging in front of her face a bit and Sirius immediately ran over and pulled it back, checking for the bruises.

"Hey? What happened to your bruises?" he asked, confused that they were gone.

Hermione gave Sirius a small smile. "It was Lily. She could practically quit school and be a healer already!" Everyone stood around her in a circle and gave the same suspicious look that Lily had given her. Noticing this, Lily rushed over from where she'd been sitting and stood beside Hermione. Grabbing her hand, Lily gave them all furious looks, "Just leave her alone you guys. She doesn't want to be questioned about this, okay?"

Hermione mouthed a small 'thank you' to Lily. Lily smiled at her and nodded.

The marauders were exchanging dubious looks when everyone felt the train pulled to a stop. The four boys and two girls got up and filed out of the compartment to quickly pull their robes on.

Hermione stayed into the compartment and gazed out the window, up at the familiar castle. Its tall stonewalls looked majestic against the dark bluish blackish sky. Dustings of stars dotted the sky and beautiful half moon hung low in the sky. Hermione was so happy to be back at the school; it was like her second home; but at the same time, she was sad. Harry and Ron weren't here to share the beginning of this year with her, as they always had. What if she never saw them again? What if she was stuck in the past forever? Hermione started to cry. Silent tears fell down her face and she covered her face with her hands.

"Amaya?"

The voice startled her and she hastily wiped the tears away from her face, not wanting anyone to see her cry. Turning around, she saw Sirius. He had changed into his school robes. Walking over to her quickly pulled her into a gentle hug. "This must be hard for you. I know that if I was in your place I would be missing my friends and wondering if I would ever see anyone I love again." Realizing that this train of thought probably wasn't helping, Sirius started up on a happier tune. "But Dumbledore will figure things out and you'll be back home in no time. Until then, I promise to protect you."

Hermione was touched that he cared that much. She knew that Sirius was a caring man, but she had no idea that he could make her feel so safe. Maybe everything would be okay.

A/N: Hello everyone! I apologize for the long wait, the computer was down for an outrageously long time, but it's fixed and working again so I have no excuses to put off updates. I hope you all enjoyed chapter two, if you have any questions just review or send me a message! I promise I don't bite.. much!