The trio hit the ground hard, and immediately began tumbling. They all desperately clawed at the ground, but there was no grass to grab onto, only dirt and rocks. Eventually they reached the bottom where Ron ended up slamming into an enormous tree trunk and flopping to the side unconscious.

"Ron!" Ginny croaked as she crawled towards him and shook his shoulders. He didn't respond. "Hermione, he's not awake, Hermione!" Ginny turned and saw that Hermione too was unconscious. Panic swept through Ginny as she desperately looked about. They were in the middle of the woods, no where Ginny had been before. Before them was a huge dirt cliff, which was where Hermione had in her haste to leave unfortunately apparated to.

Ginny twisted her head around as she heard a sharp crack of a twig breaking behind her. She sat frozen on the ground, clutching Ron's arm. It wasn't safe to sit in the open where they were. But how could she get anywhere else? She couldn't drag one let alone both Hermione and Ron very far.

Ginny shakily pulled her wand from her pocket and stood slowly, keeping her back bent so she would not be as easily noticed. As quietly as she could she walked a few steps away from Ron and Hermione and glanced around.

Another loud crack caused Ginny to jump and raise her wand in fright. It sounded like someone had apparated. Quickly Ginny rushed back to Ron and Hermione. She grabbed Ron under his shoulders and dragged him a little ways into the woods, where she left him leaning against a tree in-between its thick roots. She then went back and dragged Hermione to Ron. Ginny sat in between the two and reached over into Hermione's enchanted bag, in which she found thick black winter robes.

Her hands shook as she frantically wrapped herself and Ron and Hermione in the robes, hoping it would be enough to hide them for the time being. She pulled the two Gryffindors close to her as she shivered in fear.

o0o0o0o0o0o

"What do you mean you're not going to Hogsmeade!" Sirius cried incredulously, slamming his fist on the breakfast table, almost causing Remus's cup of tea to topple over.

"I don't know, it doesn't interest me much." Harry said with a shrug. "Besides, I have plenty of homewo —"

"Harry, you're always doing 'homework'," James said making air quotes. "We've been talking and even Remus thinks you need to take a break and do something fun. You don't seem to even be interested in Quidditch anymore."

"Blasphemy!" Sirius shouted raising his fork.

It was true though. Harry really wasn't particularly interested in Quidditch anymore. Now he understood what those books meant when they said so many people went insane while time travelling. He had no idea where he was, if what he was experiencing was real or if he was asleep in some dungeon under Voldemort's spell. For all he knew, none of his actions mattered and he was already dead. Though he continued to search for a way home, his research had slowed to a snail's pace and he found himself spending hours trying to make his way through a single page.

"Too be honest, Harry, we're a little concerned." Remus admitted quietly. "We know you've been through a lot, things you may or may not even remember, but you can't dwell on them."

"C'mon, come with us to Hogsmeade, you'll like it." James said with an encouraging grin. "Have you even ever been there before? Do you remember it?"

Harry paused before shaking his head.

"No, I don't remember it." Harry lied. James's grin widened.

"We'll take you! It will be great! Wait until you see Honeydukes, you'll love it there."

After breakfast, the Marauders and Harry headed back up to their room to get ready to go out. Harry couldn't help but notice there was far much more arguing over who was using the mirror and changing of robes.

"Er, are we going somewhere special?" Harry asked.

"No," Sirius said as ruffled his hair for the millionth time in the mirror. "What would make you think that?"

"I don't know, maybe because all of you are acting as if we're going to a formal dinner with the Minister of Magic." Harry said raising an eyebrow.

"Well, we thought maybe it would be nice to ask a few girls to come with us." James said grinning, though Harry could sense he was slightly nervous. "I invited Evans."

"Maria's coming too." Sirius said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"And Georgia Damble from Ravenclaw." Remus said smiling a little.

"I even took the privilege of inviting someone to accompany you on this fine day," Sirius smirked as he tousled his hair again.

"Sirius…" Harry warned.

"Don't worry, she's lovely. Her name is Amabel Bellamy." said Sirius.

"Sirius," Harry groaned. "Why did you do this?"

"We know things haven't been going well with your mystery girl, and it's about time you tried meeting someone else." Sirius said. Harry opened his mouth to protest, but Sirius was hearing none of it. Soon Harry found himself standing in the entrance hall of Hogwarts waiting for all the girls to arrive. Both Lily and Maria were already waiting downstairs by the time they got there, and the group all spoke together. Harry was rather disappointed, however, when Georgia and Amabel arrived, resulting in the group breaking into pairs as they walked towards Hogsmeade.

"So, Harry," Amabel said in overly honeyed voice. "How are your classes going?" Harry glanced over at the Ravenclaw as they walked. She had curly brown hair and the reminded him a lot of Hermione's, but hers was too tightly curled and full of bows. Also unlike Hermione, her face was overly painted in makeup to the point where Harry could see that her face was several shades more orange than her neck.

"They're going ok," Harry said awkwardly looking away. The two continued to walk in silence, which Harry could tell Anabel was rather annoyed about. As they walked, two of Anabel's friends, Antonia and Henrietta, approached them and began asking them about their date, much to Harry's horror. The three girls chatted over enthusiastically the rest of the way there, making Harry extremely grateful when they finally reached the village and caught up with the rest of the group.

Everyone seemed to agree that they should first go to Honeydukes and then the Three Broomsticks. Anabel whined loudly that she would much rather go to Madam Puddifoot's tea shop, Antonia and Henrietta agreeing and nodding along, their matching curly, bow-filled hair bouncing as they did.

Before anyone else could say anything, Harry began walking away ushering the rest of the group along saying they'd meet up with them later and he hoped they enjoyed their tea. No one argued against his decision to try and escape the girls; as soon as they were out of earshot, Sirius began apologizing for his poor choice in a date ("Next time, mate, I know this really good snog—" Sirius said, earning a sharp jab from Maria and Lily's elbows).

Without Anabel there, the group seemed to decidedly make the outing less like separate dates, as the original idea had been to help Harry anyways. They all spent almost an hour in Honeydukes, sampling all the candies available and purchasing as much as they could carry. Harry was very interested in all the sweets on display, mainly because many were no longer sold in his time or had changed their names and wrappers since he had gone to the shop. James and Sirius led Harry through the whole store, making him try every ridiculous type they could find, though they were not successful in making him eat the more questionable Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

They then walked to the Three Broomsticks, though they had great difficulty keeping Sirius from entering Zonko's ("Blasphemy!" he cried as Remus and James dragged him in the other direction). Once inside the the pub, the group squished together at a small round table and ordered a round of Butterbeers. Harry counted help but smile as he watched the group laugh and talk light heartedly, sharing stories about their year so far and about the classes they couldn't wait to get a break from.

He especially enjoyed watching his parents, who seemed to be becoming closer and closer each time he glanced at them. At one point, Harry could have sworn he saw James's hand resting on top of Lily's, but when he did a double take to check they had both moved their hands off the table and were looking away from each other blushing. There was so much love and happiness at the table, Harry couldn't tell if it was the Butterbeer warming his heart or the great company. If only his own friends could have been there to share it with him.

As the sun began to go down, the group paid for the drinks and food and left the pub. They trudged through newly fallen snow, pulling their cloaks tightly around themselves as the bitter wind tried to pry them off. The weather did not dampen any of their spirits, however. The Butterbeer had left all of them feeling cheerful, and they continued to talk and laugh the rest of the way to the castle.

In the entrance, the group said goodbye to Georgia who headed back to the Ravenclaw tower. There was a fair amount of interrogating of Remus about his feelings towards her on their way to their own tower, though he admitted nothing. After getting into the Common Room, the Gryffindors took off their wet cloaks and laid them in front of the fire. They stayed downstairs for a while, continuing to chat and laugh. James eventually wound up with his arm around Lily's shoulders, who did not object or draw attention to his actions. Sirius and Marie stood in front of the fire, telling wild stories about hilarious pranks they had either witnessed or conducted - also something Lily did not object to. Instead, everyone roared with laughter until their faces went red and tears leaked down their faces.

Eventually, the group began to get tired, and the girls said goodnight and headed up to the girls' dormitories as the boys headed to their own tower. Harry couldn't hold back the permanent grin on his face as the four friends climbed the steps to their room. He had been so stressed and caught up in getting back that he had forgotten what an opportunity he had been given, and though he was right not to get caught up in it and ignore his need to return he also needed to treasure the time he had with these wonderful people. With his family.

Finally, they reached their dormitory, and Harry followed the Marauders into the room and almost immediately froze.

"Hello," Peter squeaked, closing his trunk and standing up. "How was Hogsmeade?"