Hello! COMPLETELY beside myself with how many reviews 'Thrown Back' got last chapter. I LOVE YOU ALL! Especially: Jily71102, CauldronWalnut, GhostWriter1864, Jeb59, teachergirl, StormWitch19851, xXMizz Alec VolturiXx, Raven that flies at night, eyleenm4, and loves2readalways.

And of COURSE, can not forget the wonderful people who have favorited and followed. You all rock my socks. =)

Aaaannnnddddddd... away we go!

The Potter's New Year's Party was quite a sight to see.

The grand house was bustling with cheery people and there was enough food and drink to feed a small army battalion. Remus and Peter soon arrived and joined James, Lily, Sirius and Hermione as they mingled with the other guests. Eventually they all slipped away from the formal groups of ministry officials and high members of the wizarding society to just chat and spend time with together.

Lily and Hermione were even able to pull the Marauders into the ballroom to dance along with a few songs played by an invisible band. When Hermione asked Sirius to dance though, he politely refused. He cited that his ribs were still tender from yesterday's motorbike accident. Hermione was a bit dejected, but Remus stepped in and happily twirled around with his best female friend. They discussed the ease of his most recent transformation, which had Hermione grinning so much her cheeks began to ache. She also shared a few dancing with Peter, whose girlfriend was unable to attend due to being on holiday with her family in the south of Spain. He was mostly cheerful but missed Philipa; Hermione was happy that Peter had someone and asked numerous questions to get a feeling for the girl. Hermione even joined James for a quick dance; they laughed almost the entire time, making jokes and reacting to slightly drunken people around the room.

The night was absolutely flawless.

The whole evening seemed to pass in a blur of music and laughter; before Hermione even realized how late it had become, the countdown to midnight began.

"Fifteen minute warning my dears. Please make sure you have a glass of champagne or cider in hand, so we may toast the approaching New Year together," Mrs. Potter announced to the party.

Sirius leaned in and spoke softly into Hermione's ear, "Could we go out to the garden for few minutes; I need some fresh air."

Hermione gave a small wave to the other Marauders and allowed Sirius to lead her outside.

The garden could more accurately be described as a small courtyard with flowering plants covering almost every inch of the stone surfaces. Hermione had been bracing herself for the cold, but there must have been warming spells around the house. The charms that were put in place appeared to keep the 'garden' at an acceptable temperature for the wide variety of plant life that was flourishing even in the middle of winter.

Hermione gently touched a bright purple violet as Sirius wrapped his arms around her from behind. "You look beautiful tonight; I think I may have forgotten to mention that earlier. You know, with silly things like storytelling and the bruised ribs; I got very distracted."

"Very funny, Sirius," Hermione leaned back into his embrace and chuckled lightly. She closed her eyes and silently begged time to stand still; just for a few seconds. Hermione knew that she needed to tell Sirius the consequences of time travel that Lily had discovered. She sighed deeply and attempted to build her courage.

"What's wrong, Hermione?" Sirius whispered into her ear as he brushed his lips over her earlobe.

A smile pulled at the corner of Hermione lips, "It's a bit irritating that you can so easily tell when something is bothering me."

"I thought that's what boyfriends are supposed to do?" Sirius snickered and turned Hermione so that they were facing each other, "If that's wrong, you need to tell me. I'm still very new to this." He wore his Cheshire smile with pride.

Hermione's heart ached; that smile was weakening to her. "Before midnight, I need to tell you something. I want to… I need you to know about this before we go any further with this relationship." Hermione steadily held Sirius' confused gaze, "And I understand if this changes things. If this changes how you feel… I won't… It's okay if you want to walk away. New year; new start."

Sirius grew more concerned than confused as Hermione danced around the subject matter. He pulled her over to a small stone bench and took both of her hands into his own, "What's going on?"

Hermione glanced at her watch; only twelve more minutes of happy bliss…

"Lily figured out where I'm from…" Hermione briefly explained to Sirius how their redheaded friend had investigated 'Amelia McGonagall' and found out the truth about the time traveling and her further assistance in the cover-up.

Seven more minutes…

Hermione went on to describe the illness that Lily had learned about in some of the old folktales of time travelers. She didn't go into depth about the hypothetical how or why, but Hermione emphasized that she had already experienced some of the beginning stages of the sickness and explained that the dizzy spell in the bookstore had been the first sign.

"It was just speculation before, when we spoke about if I was going to leave or stay here in this time. But now, I don't have a choice. I will have to go back." Hermione's bravery faltered and she dropped her eyes from Sirius' gaze, "Lily believes that it will take a few years for the illness to cause any real damage. But before it becomes... unbearable, I will have to return to my time."

Three more minutes…

"And you think that's going to cause me to walk away from you?" Sirius laughed at the ridiculous notion, "Well, you don't seem to have a lot of faith in me then…"

"Sirius, stop it. Please."

Hermione lifted her eyes and pleaded with the black hair boy to stop joking.

"I'm not going anywhere; I'll wait." Sirius tried to contain his laughter and force a stern expression on his face.

"You're going to wait for twenty years?" Hermione found the suggestion absurd. "I cannot ask you to wait two decades for me to come back to you."

"You haven't asked me and I'm not offering it as an option; it's just something that's going to happen." Sirius animated his plan with hand gestures, "If I begin to prepare myself now, I should be able to manage the pain of missing you when you have to go back… forwards... whatever"

Hermione was shocked by his easy going approach to the idea, "You… you're accepting this very easily…"

Sirius placed a hand on Hermione's cheek and cradled her face, "I know it isn't going to be easy; but as long as you promise to stay here as long as possible and find me as quickly as you can when you get back to your time…" He smiled coyly and brought one of Hermione's hands up and laid a kiss across her knuckles, "This... this is what I want."

Ten seconds…

"You're not going to scare me away that easily," Her Marauder appeared completely serious as he spoke.

"Scare you away… That... that's what I am trying to do?" Hermione released the breathe she was unknowingly holding and laughed.

"Yes. You're trying to drive me away because you think you're protecting me; but I don't need protecting," Sirius turned toward the house as a collective cheer erupted from the party goers inside.

"Happy New Year, Sirius."

"Happy New Year, Hermione."

Sirius leaned forward and captured Hermione's lips in a gentle kiss.

"Now, we should probably get back to the party. Flora will probably throw a fit and start lecturing me again about impropriety if she finds us alone together," Sirius stood, straightened his tie and offered his arm to Hermione to led them back into the bustle of the celebration.

The party soon began to die down; guests were growing sluggish with exhaustion and drink. Mr. and Mrs. Potter thanked and gave a hearty goodnight to all their visitors as they parted on their journeys home. Flora also gave tight hugs to Peter and Remus before they left and then closed the doors of the large Potter home with only two select guests still remaining inside with the family.

"Well, I feel like this year was quite a resounding success, don't you dear?" Mrs. Potter took her husband's hand as he helped her settle into one of the plush chairs in the study.

"Wonderfully successful, my love. It may have been your crowning achievement to date," Mr. Potter took the chair directly across from his wife.

"And what do you think of the two charming ladies that our James and Sirius have caught the eyes of?" Mrs. Potter gratefully accepted a cup of warm chamomile tea from one of the house elves.

"Well, they are certainly not damsels in distress; quite capable young witches. Not entirely sure what they're doing with our mischievous boys," Mr. Potter winked at his wife and sipped from his own cup of the soothing tea.

"Oh, you horrible man," Mrs. Potter chuckled as the tea cup warmed her hands. "Lily is exceptional; very bright, kind smile, she seems to be able to rein James in from his antics. And Amelia; such a quick mind, I think she could easily keep up with Sirius and she has very caring eyes on her."

"Yes dear, I'm sure the boys have noticed all of these things." He calmly took a swallow of his tea, "The fact that the young ladies are almost as gorgeous as you are couldn't possibly distract the boys from noticing things like bright minds."

Mrs. Potter's cheeks colored slightly at the slyly sated compliment, "Focus Edmund, we were discussing James and Sirius." But the shadow of a smile on her face was difficult to miss.

"Of course, my dear. Well, in conclusion," Mr. Potter placed his now empty tea cup on the table and waved his wand over it to send it to the kitchen sink, "The girls are lovely; our boys are lucky. Hopefully they won't muck anything up." He chuckled silently as he stood and kissed his wife on the forehead, "I'll see you in bed, Flora."

Mrs. Potter finished her tea and waved the cup into the kitchen with her wand, as her husband had done. She wandered the halls and found James and Lily sitting on the floor of one of the guest rooms. They were talking excitedly about what they wanted to do with their lives after Hogwarts.

Lily spoke about fighting for the equal rights of half-bloods, muggle-borns and any other being that was not pure-blood. She was so passionate it was endearing. And even though Mrs. Potter knew that her son cared little for wizarding politics; he was nodding along, happily agreeing with Lily's statements. Mrs. Potter did not adhere to the pure-blood beliefs, so she was perfectly comfortable with Lily Evans; maybe even excited by the thought of such an intelligent, compassionate witch influencing her son.

"I would really like to help make sure that everyone in the magical community has equal rights. I know that sounds daft with everything going on right now…" Lily sighed a little sheepishly and locked eyes with the carpet.

"No never… that doesn't sound daft at all. I don't understand why blood status is important to anyone; most of the muggle-borns I know are much better at magic than I am." James laughed at himself, "And you have such a big heart; you love helping others. Why not use your brain to fight to help people?"

Mrs. Potter pressed her hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh. The foolish, star-eyed stare that James gave Lily when she wasn't looking was very familiar; it was the same look that Mrs. Potter had caught Mr. Potter using when he gazed at her on occasion.

"Oh dear," Mrs. Potter murmured to herself, "James is very far gone."

Flora knocked on the door frame to announce her presence, "Just wanted to bid goodnight to you both. Do you need anything else, Lily dear?"

"No ma'am, thank you." Lily had changed into a simple pair of pink sleep pants and a thick grey sweatshirt. Mrs. Potter actually found the redhead even more appealing in this natural state.

"Well, please let the house elves know if you think of anything." She turned to James, "Make sure you don't fall asleep in here, son. Long winded speeches await you if that comes to pass."

James rolled his eyes; he was almost eighteen after all, "Yes mum. We'll see you in the morning."

Flora smiled at them both, "Sleep well."

Mrs. Potter silently made her way downstairs to locate Sirius and his young witch. She found them sitting on the floor of the ballroom, gazing up at the intricately painted ceiling.

"This house is absolutely gorgeous. I never realized James' family was so well off," Hermione sat, still clad in her floor length gown; her arms stretched out behind her body, propping up her arched back as she examined the paintings above her.

Sirius sat next to Hermione; mirroring her position, "Flora and Edmund try not to flaunt their family's money too much. They're above doing something like that."

"That's good. I don't like rich people who insist on brandishing their wealth at any chance they can find."

"Is that why you like me, Blondie?" Sirius smirked as he refocused his gaze to Hermione.

Hermione snorted, "What on earth are you talking about, Black? I ask you to not spend exorbitant amounts of money on me, and what do you do? You buy me two outrageously expensive books!" She glared at Sirius through her peripheral, but couldn't help but smile at his goofy smirk.

"All right, all right; no more absurdly expensive reading materials. What would you rather I do then?"

Hermione took a minute to think of a perfect answer.

"Dance with me." Hermione grinned at Sirius as if she had issued a challenge.

"Done," Sirius got to his feet and offered Hermione his hand to assist her to stand. He took Hermione's left hand and placed it on his right shoulder; he grasped her right hand and extended their arms out to the side with his left hand. Sirius began to hum a little to himself to check the 3/4 tempo in his head before he grasped Hermione's slender waist and began leading her in the simple three step progressions around the room.

Sirius even spun Hermione around once before coming back to the center of the ballroom.

"Wow; I did not know you could dance like that. I thought you couldn't since you refused to dance with me earlier at the party," Hermione's face shown with stunned elation.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders casually, "I don't like dancing in front of people. I hate that my mother forced me to take lessons when I was younger, simply because it was the proper thing to do."

Hermione nodded her head in understanding, "Oh, I'm sorry Sirius."

"But if you insist on dancing instead of pricey gifts… I guess, for you… I'll grin and bear it." Sirius gathered Hermione in his arms again and led her around the room a bit slower this time.

Mrs. Potter smiled and shook her head; she cleared her throat this time to draw attention to herself. "It's getting very late my dears; almost time for bed."

"Of course; thank you so much for the invitation to the party Mrs. Potter. It was wonderful and I had a lovely time." Hermione smiled brightly at James' mother; though she was a bit sad for their dance to be interrupted.

Flora smiled appreciatively, "You're very welcome dear. I'm glad we were finally able to meet." Mrs. Potter turned to address Sirius, "Will you show Amelia to the other guest room when you two are finished waltzing?"

"I will Flora; don't you worry." Sirius agreed with too much enthusiasm.

"And then you will show yourself into your own room?" Mrs. Potter narrowed her eyes a fraction as she analyzed the wide grin on Sirius' face.

The black haired boy chuckled, "Yes, Flora. I will find my way to my room tonight. I swear."

"Wonderful. Sleep well then; I will see you all in the morning." Mrs. Potter made her way up to her and Mr. Potter's bedroom to find some peaceful rest.

Soooooooo, yea... had to throw some doubt in there... and then some fluff. I like fluff. I promise a bit more action and story development to come soon. Please stand by!

Follow, Favorite and Review!

Love,

Misha