DISCLAIMER. None of the characters used are a creation of mine. They belong solely to JK Rowling.

Now that she had Harry to lean on time had passed away considerably faster despite the gnawing absence of the Marauders from her life. Falling upon them in corridors still never failed to ignite in her the urge to apologise and put everything behind them but the steadily oppressing nature of her role in the war always kept her from it.

As days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months she slowly began to desensitise herself to the moments when her eyes would fall upon one of the boys or Lily. With a little effort she managed to practice such strict restraint that she wouldn't even let her gaze wander over to them anymore. Her eyes would flit away from theirs and she would feel no tremors of guilt wrack her body.

She had trained herself to feel nothing.

Bringing down Voldemort was the only thing mattered. She was made to be a killing machine and that's what she would be.

Her mind riddled with the thoughts of her struggle, she looked out at the rolling countryside outside the windows of the Hogwarts Express on its way to London. She couldn't help but close her eyes and revel in the little bit of peace she had left before she'd be plunged into Death Eater activity for the rest of the summer.

She could hear the steaming engine of the train even as she slept, her mind travelling back to a time where she had spent the train ride immersed in her homework for the summer, coming up with all sorts of ideas as Ron kept trying to pry away the offending pieces of parchment away from her hands and Harry chatted away with the twins who kept stealing sly glances at the bushy haired girl and her kneazle undoubtedly figuring out new ways to add to her troubles.

'We're almost there, Mi,' she heard someone murmur. 'You should get up now.'

Her brows furrowed at the strange nickname, as she swatted away the offender's arm, 'A little while longer, Ronald.'

'Mi? Get up! Just five minutes to go and we'll be rolling in at King's Cross.'

She reluctantly popped her eyes open, groaning softly as reality crashed in on her. She smiled apologetically at the boy beside her, 'I'm sorry, Reggie.. I didn't realise it was you.'

Reggie winked at her, 'It's alright. I didn't really want to wake you up either. It looked like you were having a pretty good dream with the way you kept grinning.'

Hermione chuckled, reminiscent, 'Oh, it was a good dream.. a very good dream. I almost wish I was living my dream. If I could I would never wake up from it.'

He nudged her, his eyes alight with mischief, 'Tell me, who's this Ronald chap? Got yourself a little crush on some bloke, have you? Do I know him?'

Her smile fell as she felt tears well up in her eyes. Suppressing them she mumbled, 'He's just someone I used to know.'

Reggie's cool nature faltered at seeing the sudden switch in her mood, 'He broke your heart? You look upset.'

She shook her head sadly, 'No, he never broke my heart. He mended it time and time again.'

Reggie nodded, a little uncomfortable. 'So what are you doing during the summer?'

She looked at him sharply, 'As if you don't know.'

He looked away.

'If you must know I will be there when your time comes,' she mumbled.

'I see,' he said as he got up on his feet, pulling down his trunk from the overhead hanger the moment the train lurched to a stop.

Hermione gathered her things and offered, 'Let me shrink them for you.'

He nodded and she cast the simple charm, pocketing her own things and following him out to the station that had already begun to mill with students rushing to each other and hugging them and saying their teary goodbyes.

As the pair's eyes fell upon the imposing figure of Orion Black in the distance, Hermione clutched Reggie's hand tightly, 'You can still change your mind but whatever choice you make I will always have your back.'

He looked taken aback. His stormy eyes gauged the sincerity in her words, 'I am glad to have you as a friend. I'll see you soon, Mi.'

She nodded and watched him go. Before she began looking for her brother her eyes wandered over the station seeking out a familiar dark skinned boy.

She made a beeline for the green and silver clad boy standing beside a blond Ravenclaw.

'Kingsley. Lovegood,' she greeted.

Xenophilius wrinkled his nose and frowned, leaving the two Slytherins alone.

Kingsley smiled sadly at her, 'Hermione, I hope you can frogive him for a lack of manners.'

She huffed, 'He has good reason to stay away. I don't mind.'

'I hope you have a good semester next year,' he said sincerely.

'We will see about that, I suppose. The next year will be tremendously trying now that you're leaving.'

'You will find .. suitable company eventually, I'm certain,' he said, not harshly.

She smiled tightly, 'Good luck for your future endeavours. You will make an excellent Auror someday.'

He shook her hand firmly, his eyes burning a hole into her forearm where he knew the Dark Mark rested. He whispered, 'I hope we never have to see each other again.'

Hermione chuckled darkly, 'I do too.'

She had only just turned around when she found herself facing her brother. A huge grin split across her face as she hugged him lightly, 'Rab!'

Rab wrapped an arm around her and led her away from the thrum of the station, 'Feeling good, Mi?'

'I caught up on my sleep during the ride so yes, for a change I do feel incredible.'

He steered her away from the chaos, making small talk, 'Blinky is preparing French cuisine for you today. She's been exploring a lot of areas around the cottage. She's also picked up on some Italian.'

'That's amazing. I wish she could learn a bit of Muggle food too,' she said wistfully. 'Anyway, I've been meaning to ask. How's Melinda?'

'Safe at the moment. She insists on joining the Order again. She claims they'll be able to protect her if the need arose.'

'What are you going to do?', she frowned.

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, 'I can't stop her, Mi. It's her life. I have no authority to tell her what to do. Besides, she would never rest now that she's completely fit thanks to you.'

She nodded thoughtfully and stumbled as she ran into somebody's back.

Her face burned up in embarrassment when she saw Sirius turn around to look at her indfferently. No matter how she'd forced herself to learn to elicit no reaction to such coldness from him it still felt like someone had ripped her heart out from her chest.

Rab smiled politely at the boys before him, 'Sirius, James! How are you?'

The boys shared a look. James nodded at her brother tightly, 'Lestrange. We are well, thank you very much.'

Rab frowned at the apathy in his voice, 'Is everything alright?'

Sirius said, 'As good as it can ever be with the likes of you roaming around the free streets.'

Hermione saw the confusion and hurt in her brother's eyes. She shook her head at him, dragging him away.

Rab looked at her curiously, peeking at the boys who looked on with a subdued rage in their eyes. 'What's going on? Even back when you were in the Hospital Wing all those months ago I saw how none of them even showed up.'

Hermione muttered, 'That's because they know.'

Rab halted in his steps and rubbed a hand against his face, 'Of course.. Damn, I never even realised. Mi, I'm so sorry..'

She placated, 'It's okay, Rab. It was my decision. I let them know. I staged a particularly offensive scene so they'd know I don't want them hanging around me anymore.'

His brows furrowed yet again, 'Why would you do that?'

She looked around themselves and Apparated them away. Walking side by side with him along the gardens of their little cottage on the French border she said, 'I can't have them know I'm a spy. If someone found out the game would be over.'

'But.. they're your best friends,' he echoed.

'Exactly. What do you think would happen if one of them was captured and Voldemort went snooping around their minds? And it's very likely they could be caught since they're joining the Order soon after Hogwarts. The more the number of people that know the greater the danger I put myself in.'

Rab nodded understandingly, 'I just wish you'd let me help you more often. Especially now that you are truly alone.'

She breathed out a sigh of exasperation, 'Rab, you are helping me. You just don't know it. Simply being with you does wonders for me. You keep me grounded to my roots. You give me a reason to fight.'

Something shifted in his gait, 'Hermione, I need to know what you're doing. You have to give me something more to go on with.'

She couldn't take this anymore. Her patience was on the ride down under, 'You're asking me for too much!', she yelled.

She saw him take a step back, sorrow in his eyes, 'You are my sister. You need me. Please. Let me help you.'

'At the risk of your own life?'

'If it means saving yours then yes!', He said. 'I signed up to be a Death Eater only so you didn't have to. But you went and did it anyway. Then you tell me you gave yourself up to be a spy for Dumbledore. What am I supposed to make of all this? And how does that bloke Harry fit into all of this mess? How could you have known him before you'd even met him. And how could you two be so in tune with each other when you haven't known each other for a very long time? Do you have some sort of strange dream .. connection with him or what?'

Hermione shook her head vehemently, 'You promised you wouldn't ask questions unless I was ready to give you the answers.'

He thundered, 'That was before you told me you expected to die doing this crap!'

Hermione's comeback remained stuck in her throat. Rab had never before raised his voice at her. She couldn't help the shameful tears that rolled down her cheeks.

Rab shut his eyes in remorse. He wiped away her tears tiredly, 'Mi, I don't want to hurt you but don't you see how you're causing me so much pain every day? I'm sick with worry for you, love.'

'I don't want to hurt you,' she whispered, her voice hoarse with emotion.

'Then tell me what you're upto. If you want we can still run away and go into hiding. We never have to look back.'

She chuckled wryly, 'And could you live with that? Could you live with the fact that you decided to turn your back on the world to save your own neck like a coward?'

He hung his head low as he muttered, 'As long as it keeps you safe.'

'But that's not what I want. I won't watch the world burn and fall under his reign. I was raised to be better.' Daddy taught me to be brave. 'You raised me to be better.'

'Mi, please..,' he said, broken, 'just tell me why this is so important to you? What are you hiding from me?'

'We keep coming back to it again and again.'

'Well, then stop going round in circles and be honest.'

She knew he deserved better.

She pinched the bridge of her nose. Seeing no way out of this and making up her mind she turned around and walked to the edge of the property, muttering complex incantations under her breath.

She heard the footfall of Rab's steps, 'What are you doing?'

'Altering the wards,' she answered mechanically.

He raised a brow, 'And how could you possibly know such advanced magic?'

'I'm hiding a lot of secrets from you, Rab.'

He cursed and then questioned her, 'Who are you planning to get accepted into the property?'

'Harry,' she said simply with a casual shrug of her shoulders.

Rab looked struck when she waved her wand and mumbled an indecipherable message to her silver patronus. He marvelled at the beautiful otter that sped away from the Lestrange siblings and into the orange skies.

He looked at her anxiously, 'Can we trust him?'

She sighed and led him inside, 'We can trust him with everything.'

Rab had only just removed his cloak when he heard a faint pop. He whipped out his wand in alarm despite the expected presence of the raven haired man who raised his arms in a sign of surrender.

Hermione lowered Rab's arm gently, her voice sounding almost defeated, 'Don't be so hostile. You wanted answers and you'll get them tonight.'

Harry raised his brows, 'He will?'

Hermione looked at him apologetically, 'It can't go any longer. We have to tell him. We've discussed this before.'

And they had. Hermione had spent countless hours trying to persuade Harry to let her give just a little bit of information to Rab to calm his nerves. He had agreed somewhat reluctantly.

Harry moved around to place his cane againt the wall before he entered the parlour and leaned against the doorframe. 'So soon?'

'Time won't wait for us forever,' she muttered before plopping down on the armchair.

Rab never once let go of his defences. Despite knowing how the man before his eyes had saved his sister's life not very long ago he couldn't just let down his guard when the world was at war.

Rab turned to his sister, 'What's going on, Mi?'

Hermione said calmly, 'Once you know this you can't go back, Rab. This is it. You cannot reveal the knowledge you learn today to anyone outside this room.'

Rab nodded his head tightly.

Harry extended his arm out to him, 'You will have to agree to an Unbreakable Vow.'

Rab's brows shot up, 'It can't possibly be this grave.'

Hermione merely looked away.

Gulping down a nervous sigh, Rab raised his arm, clasping Harry's hand in his and watched as his sister rose on her feet and cast the strongest binding spell on the two.

Harry let go of Rab's hand as soon as the older man had finished chanting his end of the vow. He removed the dragon hide gloves he wore and sat down heavily into a chair beside Hermione.

He held her hand as he said, 'A few years ago a woman prophesized about the role Hermione and I would play in this war.'

Rab looked at the pair incredulously. 'A prophecy about Hermione? Why wasn't I intimidated by the Ministry?'

'Because as soon as it was made I made very sure that no third party would ever find out about it,' Harry explained. 'I destroyed it almost immediately and sent the Seer into hiding. She remains safe in an unplottable location. There's nobody who knows of her other than me.'

Rab took a moment to digest the implications of what Harry had just said. He looked imploringly at Hermione.

Hermione said, 'It's true. The prophecy said There rises the Vanquisher of the Dark Lord once more.. Born under stars older than the time of the final battle.. On his side a woman wrought in a war the world should never again come to see.. To destroy that which the darkest magic quivers before.

Rab shook his head, waving his hand absently, 'Prophecies don't always come true. Youre basing your actions on a prophecy? And how would you even know that it is about you two anyway? And it still doesn't explain why you two knew each other before you'd even met.'

Harry muttered, 'Think again about what the prophecy says.'

Rab frowned as Hermione repeated Trelawney's words. He mulled over the strange sentences in his head over and over again, never once giving in to what he had already realised it meant.

He laughed humourlessly, 'This is ridiculous. Are you trying to fool me? Is this a joke to you, Mi?'

Hermione stood up on her feet, silently taking his hand and stressing, 'Under stars older than the time of the final battle.. wrought in a war the world should never again come to see.'

Rab pulled his hand away from hers, his eyes boring a hole into the wall ahead. He fell down to the ground with a soft thud.

'Stars older than time of the final battle.. a war the world should never come to see again.. stars older than time of the final battle.. a war the world should never come to see again..', he said. 'All those nights you weren't dreaming.. you were.. remembering.. they weren't nightmares,' he looked stricken now, his eyes fervent seeking those of his sister's, 'They were memories..'

Hermione bit her lip, 'They were memories from another war against the same man.'

Rab chuckled darkly and whispered, 'You're from a different time.'