They were grumbling and rubbing their eyes as they looked up blearily at an agitated Harry who was pacing in circles in the middle of the Room of the Requirement. Ron yawned tiredly before asking the question that was on the minds of those from the future.

"Why? Why are we awake at four am Harry?" he moaned from his position on the floor.

Harry paused and looked at his three friends before sighing. "It seems that our dear friend Wormtail has finally caught up to Voldemort. It also seems that he overheard us talking about the future..." he trailed off only for his thoughts to be voiced by Hermione.

"...Which means he knows about us. Where we're from, what we know. Don't tell me we have to go on the run again?" she queried, looking at the ground morosely.

Harry slumped onto the arm rest of Ginny's chair and put his head in his hands. "I don't know guys. This time I honestly have no plan. We may have the upper hand, but I'm still stumped as to what we should do."

Ginny placed a comforting hand on her boyfriend's knee before sitting up straight a thought coming to the forefront of her mind. "What if... what if we brought the fight to Voldemort? We've been here for four months? And all it seems to have done is exasperated the timeline in a way that none of us could have predicted. I mean, Voldemort knows about us now, we might as well make our stay worth it." she suggested calmly, her voice getting stronger.

The other three students looked at her slowly, letting the pros and cons of her idea run through their minds. Harry pressed his palms to his eyes as memories of the future and their losses flashed through his mind. Ron stared up at the ceiling blankly, contemplating the impact that this would have on their timeline. Hermione bit her lip contemplating the effects that this would have on time itself, and how they would possibly get past the issues of creating a time paradox and ruining everything that they had ever fought for.

Ron was the first to speak up, "I say we try. What's the point in us being here in the past if we don't at least try to fix the future for the better?"

Harry looked up at that, and shook his head, "What if we change the future for the worse? What if we unintentionally do something that results in one of us not being born? What if we influence time and bring Voldemort's reign forward and help him win? It's something we can't control, what if we fail?" he whispered, leaning his head onto Ginny's bright red hair.

Hermione stood up suddenly. "We won't."

Everyone looked at her in confusion.

"If there's something I learnt from having a time-turner, it's that time is linear. All we have to do is make sure our actions don't change the timeline in any way. We have to do what Regulus did. What we do is leave clues for the future. We don't interfere with any acts that happen during our time here in the past. So anything that happened during the Marauders last year, we don't interfere with at all."

Harry frowned at that. "But we've already started influencing the timeline. James, and Sirius know about us and where we're from. Wormtail's left school and joined Voldemort already. Voldemort knows about us to for that matter."

Hermione grinned suddenly. "We haven't changed anything."

Everyone's eyes snapped to her face at that. "Future Sirius, Orion told me that he didn't remember us turning up at all until he came back to the past - I think we placed really powerful memory charms on everyone who had direct contact with us. And Wormtail had already joined Voldemort in Seventh Year, how else would he be able to betray everyone when you were born?" Hermione powered on, ignoring everyone's flinch at the mention of his betrayal. "I think we're exactly where we're meant to be, and I know what we need to do."

"Where do you reckon they disappeared to?" Sirius hissed to James from under the Invisibility Cloak.

James shrugged, and focussed his wand on the Marauders Map, searching desperately for the names of his son and his friends. "I don't know, all I know is that Harry woke up in a panic, grabbed Ron and left the dorm in a serious hurry."

The two boys crept down a dimly lit corridor looking for any signs of life. "What I really want to know, is why they won't tell us anything. Why they won't let us help. I'm his father for Merlin's sake!"

Sirius rolled his eyes at that. "What do you think happens in the future anyway?"

James stopped in his tracks, causing Sirius to run straight into his back. "We already know. I'm dead." he muttered sourly. Sirius sucked in a deep breath, having forgotten that little tidbit of information.

"Shit, James, I'm sorry. I forgot." he rambled, only stopping when James covered his mouth with his hand and a sad smile.

"It's ok, at least I know you're there with a solid and respected job as a teacher." he grinned lightly.

Sirius groaned, "I can't believe I became a teacher! I always thought that would be Moony's thing." he paused, "but I promise you, I will look after Harry until my dying breath - I solemnly swear that I will bring him up in the way of the Marauder."

"I know you will Sirius. Anyway, we can't find them lets head back and talk to them in the morning." James suggested, spinning around and heading for the stairs at the end of the corridor. As both boys trotted off talking about anything but the future, they failed to notice the glistening eyes of a certain Professor hiding in the shadows watching them.