A/N- So it's not the ball, but this chapter might be better in terms of answering some of your questions.

Chapter 12: The Other Minister

.oOo.

Saturday, October 16th

1999

.oOo.

"You know, you're really very good at this," Lily said, seated on the cold, damp earth as Ron Weasley tried to stabilize a screeching Peony Parkinson on her broom, which was currently only hovering three feet off the ground.

"Is that so?" he asked, strained, dodging her flailing arms. "You don't think you could give me a hand, could you?"

"Peony," Lily sighed. "Ladies don't screech."

"That'd be a lot more convincing if you hadn't spent all of yesterday afternoon telling me ladies could do whatever they wanted," she replied shrilly, knuckles white on wood, and Ron snorted.

"So you do listen to me, don't you?" Lily asked, smiling when Peony shook her head no. Peony Parkinson was the equally unfortunately named little sister of Pansy Parkinson, who, apparently, for the life of her, could not learn how to fly. Lily suspected it had more to do with the class itself, where the girl was subjected to much more ridicule than a peer might be. Having to navigate a post war world was scary enough for Lily, she couldn't imagine what it was like on the other side. So, behind Draco's back, of course, Lily had made it her business to take Peony under her wing.

"And it is absolutely ridiculous that you'd be expected to learn how to fly side saddle," Lily said, shuddering at the impractical notion that apparently hadn't died within the circles of the elite. "Besides, last week you said you couldn't get off the ground, and now you're up. Why should I believe you this time?"

Peony's little throat bobbed up and down, the girl clearly trying to gain a semblance of control over herself in front of Lily when Ron clicked his tongue exasperatedly and swung his legs over the broom to sit behind her.

"Have a heart, will you 'Mione? She's scared," he said, ignoring the beginnings of Peony's regurgitated diatribe about how her broom was worth more than Ron's entire house in favor of slowly rising them up until they were above Lily's head.

"Come on, Pe," Ron said, extracting himself from her clutch as she had quickly stopped talking in favor of clinging to his shirt. "This isn't so bad."

"It's horrible," she replied, peeking past Ron's arms and waving halfheartedly at Lily who was swinging her arms above her head joyfully. After a few moments, she turned to Ron and glared. "Well we're not going to just stand here, are we?" she asked, and Ron laughed, flying slowly over the grassy knoll until they were almost at the ground, Ron's feet dragging against the grass. Without notice, he carefully slipped off, and Peony continued to fly for a moment before realizing Ron had left, promptly stopping the broom mid-air. Just before she hit the ground, a cushioning charm slowed her down, and she sighed and lay face down.

"I think that's enough for today," Lily said, hoisting her up. "You were doing just fine, you know. You wouldn't have needed his help in the first place if you had just trusted yourself."

"Well I thought you had left me for dead!" Peony exclaimed, throwing her arm towards Ron (which was better than her aiming her wand at his head, which was what had happened first lesson).

"I don't know how many times we have to tell you, Pe," Ron said slowly. "We don't do that here." He looked at the little girl intently for a moment, the kind of look he would give Ginny when he thought she didn't notice, and then laughed. "And besides, you saw me put those charms up, you made me do them twice, you little beast!"

"I'm not a beast, and stop calling me Pe," the girl replied, black ringlets bouncing as she shook her hair over her face to cover a smile. "I'll be going now," she announced, turning to leave. Lily lazily reached an arm out and hooked her by her sweater.

"Thank you, Ronald," the girl sighed exasperatedly, sticking out her hand to shake.

Ron pursed his lips to hide a smile. "You're welcome, Peony," he replied very seriously, shaking his head as she threw on her cloak and trekked back to the castle. "She's a right little terror," Ron sighed, and Lily laughed.

"She's come a long way. Didn't have to catch herself before calling me a Mudblood even once." Lily looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. "You're helping, you know." Despite his initial trepidation of spending any more time with a Parkinson than he had to, her youth had quickly superseded her heritage for him. "You're good with kids. They're the next of everything. I think you're helping a lot."

"Oh please," he said quietly, despite the blush staining his cheeks. Lily hoped that Ron would continue to be this pleasant when Hermione returned, because based on her journal entries, she was afraid the youngest Weasley boy was going to throw a fit. "You only came to me because you're still not good enough to teach anyone anything."

"Is that so?" Lily asked, hand on her hip. Perhaps she had finally faked her way through enough lessons with Ron to let herself loose on a broom. "First one to the castle gets the-"

"Victory sausage? Oh you're on," Ron replied, shooting into the air before Lily could conjure up a spare broom. She followed him in hot pursuit, screeching in a rather unladylike manner as Ron used his head start to show off, bucking his broom like a bull with his hands outstretched towards Lily.

"Ronald Weasley I will knock you off that broom, Merlin help me!" she said, pausing the moment she had. When was the last time she invoked Merlin's name? It had been too long without SPEW, too easy to revert to old habits when she wasn't brewing all day with Padma and Draco or trying not to throw up or cry with Harry and Neville. Being with Ron was just nice when nothing about this world was supposed to be even tolerable. Her eyes began to blur and her broom wobbled, and within moments, Ron had corralled her out of the sky and back onto the ground.

"Too much for one day?" he asked, smoothing back one of her rogue curls before withdrawing his hand like he had been burned. "You were bloody amazing on that thing, you know," he said quietly, looking intently at a pebble on the ground.

"I told you Ronald," she said, reaching out for one of his hands despite herself. "You're helping. Too much, even. I only wish you could help me with the ball debacle."

"Sorry 'Mione, give me strategy or Quidditch—"

"-or kids,"

"-or kids," he amended, "and I could help. But this…" he trailed off, putting his hands up in a sign of surrender. After a moment of amicable silence, Ron started again. "About the ball, I suppose it's too late to ask you?"

"It is," Lily affirmed.

"Would it be too late to ask you to one of those Muggle projection things? You know, over the break, maybe. We could go into Muggle London, maybe. Make a day of it."

"Are you asking me to a movie, Ronald? A month and a half in advance?"

"Well you like to plan ahead, Mione, I don't know!" he exclaimed, his face turning red as Lily laughed and laughed.

"I'll tell you what," she said finally, wiping away a tear. "Ask me in December, and I'll have an answer for you, alright? In the meantime, I think we have a race I'm about to win," she said before turning on her heel and running towards the Great Hall. That gave her just enough time, she suspected, to get to the plate of sausage before him, and to hopefully get back home to let Hermione deal with him.

.oOo.

Sunday, October 16th

1977

.oOo.

It wasn't that Hermione was unused to dealing with friendship, because really, she wasn't. The predicament was that she was unused to friendship that was not under constant duress. As irritating as Lily's double life seemed to be, it, at the very least, kept her occupied. Now, with the ball fast approaching, all concerns of anything other than strictly adolescent were thrown out the window, and at times, Hermione wasn't quite sure what to do with herself. She became increasingly agitated, waiting for Lily to find the mirrors she had hidden, growing more homesick by the day. Alice seemed to take note of her discomfort, and after announcing that they needed a night off, dragged Hermione away from her rounds and regaled her and Mary into the Head Suite. She cleared the mannequins that Hermione had been working on (Lily, apparently, took it upon herself as a SPEW initiative to make dresses for girls who could not afford them in exchange for good grades) and set up a faux projector, trying to make as Muggle a movie night as was possible in the castle. As the three witches alternated between watching Monty Python and dissolving into gossip, her apprehension melted, and she lay currently, shaking with laughter, her head on Mary's stomach.

"What could you even say to that?" Hermione asked, wiping tears out of her eyes as Alice regaled her latest communications with Lady Longbottom.

"Nothing! I just had to sit there and smile! I swear that woman is horrible," Alice said, throwing herself onto Lily's bed facedown. "I want to be her."

"Don't we all," Hermione replied with a sigh as Mary shoved her off to pick up the forgotten bowl of popcorn that Alice had discarded as decidedly too Muggle-Why is it this color? Butter doesn't look like this!-for her tastes.

"Well she likes you, bet she was real disappointed when Frank brought me 'round for dinner," Alice grumbled into Lily's duvet.

"You know that's not true, Alice," Mary said, rolling her eyes. "Lady L is just harder on you because you might actually bear her an heir-no offense Lils, but everyone could tell Frank was about as hot for you as he is McGonagall."

At the mention of children, Alice groaned, curling into a ball. "Can we not talk about kids? He hasn't even asked me for my hand, for fuck's sake. Can you even imagine what a Longbottom baby would be like?"

"Like any other, I'd imagine, since they wait a few years before they insert the stick up their arses."

"Mary!" Hermione shrieked, and Alice aimed a pillow Mary's head.

"That's what Frank told me, I swear!" Mary said, her hands up. "You know we love the lout."

"You had better, because that stick up his arse turned him into one crafty bastard."

"Yep. One high-society, crafty, virginal bastard, indeed."

"Mary!" Hermione shrieked for the second time, and Alice swung her legs out to box the back of Mary's head, who responded by throwing popcorn.

"What do you think of Philippa for a girl?" Alice asked when she had settled, hands behind her back as she looked up at Lily's ceiling dreamily. So much for not wanting to talk about children, Hermione thought with a smug smile. At least one couple was as in love as they should have been.

"Philippa Augusta Longbottom. It's got a ring to it. Dreadfully regal, so it should pass inspection. Is it still Nicolas for a boy?"

"No!" Hermione interrupted before Alice could reply. Both girls looked at her with identical expressions of confusion.

"Why not?" Alice asked. "You said it was charming last time."

"Yes, well, I changed my mind. There are just so many other names, better names!" Hermione said, sounding a bit desperate even to her own ears. "Neville, for example."

"Neville?" Alice asked doubtfully. "I feel like I'd be setting him up to be teased."

"Nev is kind of cute," Mary said with a shrug. "Neville the Devil. Still like Nicolas better though, Lulu."

"Frank'll hate it. He'd love a Neville," Hermione tried weakly.

"Who gives a fuck about what Frank thinks?" Alice asked. "Let him shove a watermelon out of his arse and then try and tell me what to do."

"Woah kitten," they heard as Hermione's heavy door creaked open. "Didn't need to hear about your kinky sex games," Sirius said, walking in with Butterbeer, Remus, who followed, having confiscated the elven wine he'd nicked from Flitwick's office.

"Oh please Black, everyone knows I'm closer to cobwebs than—"

"Does everyone know the password?" Hermione interrupted, astounded, as Remus and Sirius promptly made themselves at home. Despite having just been adopted into their little crew, Sirius settled in with as much ease as he seemed to do everything else.

"Heard you were having a night," Remus said with a warm smile, sitting down without a moment's hesitation next to Hermione. Sirius shuddered.

"I always knew you two were secretly shagging," he said, and Remus rolled his eyes and put his chin on Hermione's head, silencing her with the crook of his elbow. Based on his level of comfort with Lily, with whom he was a million times smoother than his fumblings with Tonks, Hermione suspected Lily and Remus were strictly platonic. The problem, she thought, looking at the dark shadow that danced across Remus' prickly jaw, was keeping it that way. Thinking of his dead wife and orphaned child often did the trick.

"Haven't you heard? We're to be married, Siri, no secret shagging. I'm her newest project. Or her oldest, actually." Hermione rolled her eyes, but Remus went on. "I'd like to think I'm a little more palatable than Snape, anyways." Sirius squinted his eyes, cogs turning.

"Project? What could she possibly…This is about Werewolf rights, isn't it?" he asked, and Remus nodded. "If you're married to the fucking…of course!" he exclaimed. "But why do you two act like you barely know each other now? Wouldn't it make more sense to build up a cushy romance, or some shite?"

"Sex sells, certainly, but for one," Alice began to answer, but Frank, who had just walked in, cut her off.

"Think it through, Black," he said, passing Lily a box. "For your dress, Lady Lily."

"I guess in case everything goes to shite and somehow people find out? Plus, it's not like he can really help her in terms of status right now, no offense, Rem. Right now you're a liability. The whole werewolf thing would be easiest to slip in when Lily's established and well liked…Sell it like some sort of despite-all-odds love story, maybe?"

"Well would you look at that," Mary said. "He's a natural. All this time I didn't realize you had anything in your brain besides pranks and party tricks."

"Excuse you," Sirius glared, tossing his hair over his shoulder. "I'll have you know I'm a man of many talents." He turned his attention back to Remus and Hermione, looking slightly ill. "Minister Mudblood and her werewolf husband. You scare me, Lilith. You all scare me. Do you two even…" he trailed off.

"If it's deemed necessary for the Greater Good, I think I could manage being half of the most powerful couple in England. Could you?" Remus asked Hermione, eyes twinkling as he released her from his grip, only for her to fall promptly on the ground beneath her.

.oOo.

Sunday, October 17th

1999

.oOo.

"Please get up from the ground, Luna," Lily said gently, watching the curious blonde who was contorted over the edge of the bed and reading off the floor. On Sunday morning, Luna stopped by Lily's room, the two reviewing Divination text. Harry had expressed his incredulity that she was taking such a course, but frankly, Lily could care less. If the woman who foresaw You-Know-Who's downfall was at this school, Lily was going to learn from her, end of discussion.

"Alright," Luna replied, swinging back up to face Lily, her face red from the blood that had rushed to her head. They continued to flip through their notes for a few more minutes before Luna spoke again.

"There's something hidden under the floorboards," Luna disclosed just as serenely as she had commented on tea leaf patterns.

"What?" Lily sputtered. She had been looking for a message from Hermione forever!"How can you tell?"

She tapped her peculiar glasses of her own invention with a grin. "They feed on secrecy, you know." She tossed them towards Lily, who snatched them out of the air in excitement.

"Tell the others I'll be late for breakfast?"

"I can try, but there's no guarantee I can save you any—"

"Sausage, I know, it's fine." She said, rolling her eyes, thinking of Remus and Alice going head to head every Sunday morning for the last bits of meat. Luna smiled at her and floated out of the room.

Tentatively, Lily put the glasses on. Her vision swam for a moment, before coming clear again, she saw everything in a wash of blue.

"What the hell," she murmured, scanning the floor when the faintest wisp of light whizzed by her vision. She crashed onto her hands and knees, trying to follow its path when she finally spotted an entire cluster of the bright little lights, hovering over a floorboard in the corner. She wished she had a hammer.

"Are you a witch or not?" she mumbled to herself, carefully removing the board with her wand. The little lights scattered as she came near, and Lily had to wonder what the little creatures were that she was sharing a room with.

"Well, as long as you don't bite," she said, sitting back on her heels and staring at the small dark space under the floorboards. Without the glasses, all she would have seen was black, but with them on, she saw hundreds of the little light creatures settled around a box the size of a textbook. She pulled it off, blowing the dust and lights off of it before replacing the floorboard.

"Who are you and what is your purpose?" was the small inscription on a metal plate where the keyhole might have been.

"I'm Lily Evans and I'm expecting something from Hermione Granger," she tried, and much to her relief, the box clicked open to reveal…

"A mirror?" Lily asked with a touch of annoyance. She was hoping for a note or a portkey or something. How would this help her contact Hermione?

As she thought the girl's name, one of the vines on the ornately forged compact lit up, snaking its way around the whole mirror. An enchanted mirror, now that made sense. Lily held the object patiently, watching as Hermione Granger's face swirled into blackness, soon to be revealed by her own.

.oOo.

Monday, October 17th

1977

.oOo.

"Lily you must understand," Hermione cried, wondering how this conversation had gone so terribly wrong. "I can't…there's just too much at risk. The sooner things go back to normal for us, the better."

"You expect me to understand that you can singlehandedly save hundreds of lives, including my own, and you're choosing not to?" The first thing Lily asked was where the Horcuxes were hidden, and things immediately went downhill when Hermione realized that Lily wanted her to change the past. You're worried about my friends thinking you're acting strange when you could be saving their lives? Lily had practically screamed. You need to sort out your priorities!

"That's a gross oversimplification and you know it! Haven't you read anything on time travel? I thought you were supposed to be brilliant." It was a weak jab, but Hermione was furious at Lily's accusations.

"I am smart enough at least to know that this has never happened before, Granger, and if it has, we certainly wouldn't know about it! We get to make the rules this time." Lily's expression of fierce determinedness looked foreign on Hermione's facial features. The woman was truly indomitable.

"I understand Lily, believe me, I do, but your son…" Hermione thought of Harry, wringing his hands as he paced back and forth in front of his Gringotts vault, asking what kind of stone Ginny would like the best. Maybe there was a chance she could save them all, but it seemed more likely that she would ruin his life even further. "I can't risk it," she said resolutely.

"My son? My son? Excuse me if it's hard to believe that I'm supposed to have a child with the absolute bane of my existence, and even if I do, why would I ever let him grow up like Harry has? That boy has-"

Hermione had to refrain from tearing out her hair. "You're willing to risk the entire Wizarding World because you're too stubborn to admit you fancy James Potter?" she interrupted incredulously.

"Don't you dare talk to me like I'm a child when you're asking me to sacrifice my life and put my "son" on the Cross, you unfeeling cow."

"Unfeeling cow?" Hermione laughed indignantly. "Maybe, but you're a naive little schoolgirl. If this is about James, Remus will never, ever love you. He has a beautiful bride much younger than you-"

"And they die, don't they? They're going to die and you don't want to do anything about it. Well, let me tell you something, when I get back—" Lily suddenly interrupted by a knock to the door.

"'Mione, come out, will you? Gin's going to drive us all mad if you don't come down to eat," she heard the faraway voice of Ron call into the room. Hermione shuddered, thinking of Remus, who was bound to be at her door saying the same thing about Alice. Of course, Ron was alive and Remus…

"Just a minute!" Lily called before turning her attention back to the mirror.

"Listen here Miss Granger," she said, her voice in a dangerous whisper. "I get it, you were robbed of your Seventh Year and now you want to prance around and play Head Girl, fine. But when I get back I'll find the Horcruxes myself-"

"You'd die sooner," Hermione interrupted.

"Good, because I'd sooner die than marrying Potter and damning my son to lead Harry's wretched life."

"Well then maybe you will," Hermione retorted, "because if you won't do it, then I'll just marry James for you and you'll just have to deal with the consequences."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, I would, Lily. You said you've read about the war, but you don't know the half of what I've done, and there's nothing you can do to stop me. They'd send you straight to St. Mungo's sooner than you could convince anyone to help send you back. Things happen after a war you know, even the brightest minds can crack, they'll say."

Lily sputtered, knowing this was true. Hermione, at least, could prove that she was from the future by revealing choice things to Dumbledore, but there wasn't really anybody Lily could prove her identity to. "Well then I'll just figure it out without you, and in the meantime, I'll just play a bit of matchmaking on my own, shall I? What is your relationship with my son exactly?"

"We are friends," Hermione grit out between her clenched teeth.

"For now, maybe, but I doubt either he or Ginny will want to be on good terms after you ruin their wedding. Unrequited love is so tragic, don't you think?" Lily said, tipping her head.

Hermione sputtered, shocked by the threat. "You...you bitch!"

Ron knocked on the door again, and Lily got up.

"Says the girl who just threatened me a sentence in the Thickney Ward. Anything I should know before I let you dictate my life?" Lily asked venomously.

"No. Anything I should know before you try and ruin mine?"

"No. May the brightest witch win then," Lily said, setting down the mirror and terminating the connection, leaving both girls to scream into their pillows.

.oOo.

A/N- So they finally meet. Is it what you expected, or no? Hope all of you are having a lovely December.

Thank you all for your reviews/follows/favs, you're amazing!

[Beth: Thank you so much! Ginny comes back before the ball, so you won't have to hold on too much longer to see how she's doing. I hope to have two more chapters out within the month, but don't hold me to that...] [Dri Almighty: Sorry for the wait! Unfortunately, this only answered one out of your two questions later, but we'll get back to Sirius (and James) next chapter, I think!] [Ai Yaah: Thank you! And the ball is coming, I swear! Two chapters from now, as it is planned.] [Guest: Hermione's happier, too!]