"So... you know me?"

Hermione bit her lip before responding to Peter. "Yes, well, I do… but I know you more from stories than personally."

"But you know the other boys more? Why?"

"No, I- I barely knew them too. I'd never even met James before I woke up in his house."

Hermione watched Peter's frown relax a little. It had been difficult telling him the truth and trying not to seem selective about it; because there were of course things he couldn't know about. Thanks to the Marauders' terribly illegal spells on the compartment, Hermione knew that no one would overhear their conversation, so therefore that was why she had banished the other three rather than take Peter out instead. She knew that this particular story would be better explained with just her and Peter alone.

"Look, Peter… I'm sorry I made them keep it from you. It was my entire fault; please blame me."

It was important for Hermione to get it into his head that the boys wouldn't willingly exclude him. She watched as Peter shook his head harshly at the floor before looking up at her.

"I get it… you know us… but you don't… so yeah, I get it. I think."

Hermione smiled and opened her mouth to reply, but Peter spoke first.

"But… Remus… why, out of all the people you could have gotten in contact with, you chose him?"

Hermione froze. Why had she chosen to send her Patronus to Remus? She slouched back into the seat. Maybe it was a combination of her pride after being able to conjure the otter and wanting her old DADA teacher to see it. Or maybe it was because she was thinking about Sirius, so had automatically thought of Remus. Or perhaps it had been because he was the member of the Order she was closest to. She didn't know.

"I don't think I know the answer to that…" Hermione mumbled. She suddenly laughed, startling Peter. "But thank you for asking me a question I don't know the answer to."

"Uh… you're welcome?"

Hermione laughed again. "Are we okay now? Because that would make me very happy."

"Yeah, sure, of course." Peter grinned.

Hermione stood up. "Let's get those idiots back in here then."

…

"Are you sure, Hermione? Because we could really go all ou-"

"Yes! Sirius, I am absolutely sure that I do not want any kind of 'entrance'."

"Did you just use air quotations? What are you trying to imply? What, dear Hermione, do you think we would do?"

"Oh, just something horrifically attention-seeking and terribly embarrassing for me no doubt." Hermione rolled her eyes at Sirius and jumped out of the carriage – straight into a muddy puddle. "Drat!" she exclaimed, spitting some of the splatter out of her mouth.

"Drat?" James repeated with a laugh as he dropped down beside her (with an annoying amount of grace). "Oh, you're adorable, Hermione Potter."

Hermione sighed and shook out her arms. She was covered in mud and it had started to rain. She was not going to take this as an omen. "James, you know it's Black, and you really can't go around saying things like that. Keeping the story straight is essential."

A loud, obnoxious laugh broke out suddenly from behind Hermione. She froze, dreading to turn around and face the jibes. "Sirius," she started, with a deadly tone. "You dare, and I'll make it my personal mission to ensure that you don't have a bed to sleep on for the entire term."

Sirius emerged from her left, barely visible through the downpour, with his hands held up. "Okay, fine, I won't say anything." He lowered his hands. "But my, my, don't you suit the drowned rat look, Hermione. No offence, Pete. Moony – help the lady. You know cleaning spells better than me."

"Which isn't particularly surprising," Remus replied dryly, silently appearing at Hermione's side.

"Thanks," she muttered as he began to siphon off the worst of the dirt. He shrugged. "Oh, hold on," Hermione continued. "Impervius!" She'd entirely forgotten that she knew a spell to keep the rain off. Hermione cast it again four more times.

"Neat," James said. "You know, that spell is perfect for Quidditch. Having glasses and all."

"That's what I used to use it for," Hermione muttered.

"But you don't fly," Sirius said.

Hermione shook her head. "No, but my friends did."

"And they had glasses, too?" James said. The group of five began to trudge up to the castle along with the other drenched students.

Hermione nodded. "One of them. He was one of the best players Hogwarts has ever seen," she said with a sad smile.

"Please tell me he was our kid?" Sirius pleaded.

Hermione laughed. "Our?" she repeated.

Sirius shrugged. "Since you won't say from whom the child was borne, I've decided that he belongs to all four of us."

"You don't understand how parenting works, do you?"

"Nah."

"That's definitely not surprising," Hermione replied with a short laugh as she climbed the stone steps into the Entrance Hall. At the top she turned to say something to James, but halted mid-step and it slipped from her mind as she spotted something beyond the doors.

It was difficult to see through the rain and darkened sky, but Hermione could have sworn she could see some kind of horse near to the carriage closest to them. She squinted her eyes in an effort to see whatever it was.

"What is it?" James said, appearing at her side. He mirrored her body language, also in an attempt to see out into the gloom.

Hermione shrugged just as she suddenly noticed an out of place movement by the horse-thing; it's wing. She gasped and reeled backwards, standing on James' foot in the process, earning a yelp from him.

Thestrals.

She could see them… which meant that the Sirius she knew truly was dead.

Hermione felt sick and a tightening in her chest. Then she suddenly felt a hand grasp around her own. Hermione looked up and began to breathe heavily.

"You okay?" Sirius muttered in her ear.

Hermione flinched. Sirius was dead. She had seen him die. But he was here. Holding her hand. Hermione yanked her hand out of his and took another step away. She started to hyperventilate.

"What have we got here?" An unknown voice spoke slowly from behind her. Hermione whipped around and dropped her mouth open in shock. "A female who doesn't appreciate your attentions, Black? The tables certainly have turned." Then, with a look that Hermione wasn't entirely unfamiliar with, Severus Snape sneered at her.

Hermione suddenly felt light-headed and a similar feeling begin to spread through her fingers. "I ca- can't- breathe…" She began to gasp and press her chest. Hermione felt someone grab her arms.

"EVANS!" James yelled somewhere near Hermione's ear. "Evans! Take her up to the dorm. She needs to lie down or something, I don't know! You know medical stuff, right?"

His voice sounded like it was being channelled through water to Hermione, and her head began to swim. What was happening?

"I am not yours to be called upon whenever you need something, Potter! What's going on here? Who is she? What did you do?"

"Enough with the twenty questions, Evans. Help us get her out of here!" Sirius spat.

"Stop it!" Evans yelled. "You're making it worse."

Hermione suddenly saw a figure appear in her line of sight. A redhead.

"Hey," Evans said gently. "It's okay, just breathe. What's your name?"

Hermione blinked a few times to clear her sight, but immediately regretted it as what she saw toppled her over the edge.

"Harry…" Hermione mumbled as the familiar bright green eyes faded into dark and she collapsed.

…

Remus could no longer feel his hands from wringing them so much. He was nervous and had paced the corridor outside the Hospital Wing countless times, back and forth past the other Marauders.

"She's not giving birth or anything, Moony."

Remus halted immediately, his heart beginning to race. "What do you mean?" he stammered out. Had he spoken aloud?

He had been the one to catch Hermione's dead weight, being the closest to her. However, it had also allowed him to hear the last thing she said before going down.

Harry.

She had said the name of the boy they now knew to be the son of a Marauder – while looking at Lily.

And Remus was the Marauder she knew the most, which he worked out could mean only one thing:

Harry was his and Lily's child.

Remus wanted to throw up. Not at the thought of Lily… which had shamefully crossed his mind in the past… but at the thought of James in the future. Were they still friends after his obvious betrayal? If Hermione didn't know the other three boys so well then that must be the case. It must have happened some time after Hogwarts, tearing the Marauders apart. Remus didn't want to be responsible for that, but at the same time he couldn't not let it happen and stop a child from being born. Also, he couldn't suppress the lightness in his heart at the thought of having a son. A son not afflicted with his condition.

But hell, he was way too young to be worrying about whether he was the father of a child or not.

"You're acting real jittery, mate," James replied with a sceptical look in his eyes.

He knows, he knows, Remus thought in a panic to himself.

"I… I…" he started, but the opening of the Hospital Wing doors cut him off.

Madam Pomfrey appeared between the large doors. "Oh, it's you lot," she said, shutting the door behind her. "No visiting tonight. Come along, we're missing the feast."

"Is she alright?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"Miss Black?" Madam Pomfrey turned around to face them. "Oh yes, she's completely fine – exhausted, but fine."

"What happened to her?" Sirius started to follow Madam Pomfrey down the corridor and Remus ran to catch up.

"Major panic attack," she stated. "Has she experienced any kind of trauma recently? A death in the family? A serious break-up? The Cruciatus Curse?"

The casual tone of her voice shocked Remus. His first instinct was to deny all of them, but it judging by the little that Hermione had told them about what had been going on before she left the future, it was actually very likely that it all had happened to her.

"No!" Sirius said.

"Padfoot," Remus muttered under his voice. When Sirius wheeled around to face him, Remus nodded at him, causing Sirius' eyebrows to shoot up his forehead.

"Well… maybe…" Sirius said to Madam Pomfrey with a slight shrug.

"All?" she exclaimed. "Well, luckily, I mixed some potion for the after affects of the Cruciatus Curse in with her Sleeping Potion anyway. That should help heal the muscles, but there's nothing I can do for the brain, I'm afraid."

"The brain?" James exclaimed.

"Yes, but not to worry, Miss Black doesn't show any signs of being overexposed. She will recover fully. However, I will assume that you four are the closest things to friends she has right now, therefore I will advise you to help her adjust to her new life here. Hogwarts is an intimidating place, especially with her starting so late." They had reached the Great Hall doors, and Madam Pomfrey stopped to face them. "Now, I suggest you erase those worried looks from your faces and go in there and stuff yourselves silly. I've asked Miss Evans to escort Miss Black to the dorms in the morning. You four are welcome to assist."

Then with a swift movement, she opened the large doors and swept into the great room, leaving the four boys gaping after her.

"Come on then," Peter said nudging Remus' arm. "She's fine."

Remus nodded and followed his friends into the noisy hall. He felt relieved about Hermione's health, he really did – but thought of a possible son never escaped his mind for the rest of the night. For the first time since Peter, Sirius and James became his friends and accepted his lycanthropy, Remus went to bed feeling hopeful about his future.

…

Hermione was eating breakfast when a visitor appeared at the foot of her bed.

"Hello," Lily Evans said calmly, placing one hand on the metal railing.

The surprise caused Hermione to choke on her pumpkin juice mid-sip. "He... hell…" she tried to reply, but there was now a burning feeling in her throat where the juice had stuck.

Evans smiled at her. "You okay?"

Waking up and remembering the humiliation of the previous night had been enough for Hermione to never want to show her face outside the Hospital Wing ever again. But she had allowed one singular giggle at the irony of rejecting Sirius' offer to give her 'an entrance'. It looked like Hermione had managed that all by herself.

Hermione sighed. "Physically, yes," she said, shuffling to sit up straighter. "But I don't think I'll recover from the embarrassment any time soon."

Lily softly laughed. "If it makes you feel any better, I threw a platter of éclairs at Nearly Headless Nick at the welcome feast in first year. I didn't take the appearance of his face in the middle of my trifle all that well."

Hermione let out a guffaw before clamping her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry," she spluttered as she noticed Lily's raised eyebrows. "That's just so funny."

"You know what the worst part was?" Lily said, with a wave of her hand to show that she was fine with the laugh.

"What?" Hermione bit her lip. Thank god, she thought, the last thing I need is for Harry's mother to hate me.

"The whole Gryffindor table cheered and the Prewett twins lifted me onto their shoulders and carried me up and down the hall."

"No!" Hermione exclaimed out of both shock and humour.

"Dumbledore was too busy clapping along to do anything about it."

Hermione then began to laugh so hard, she could feel the muscles in her stomach beginning to cramp. "I wish I had seen that," she said breathlessly.

"That's what you call an embarrassment."

"I bet James loved that," Hermione said before she could stop herself.

"Potter?" Lily asked, surprised. "Well I don't know anything about that," she said with a shrug. "But speaking of," she continued before Hermione could reply. "I heard that those damn boys were planning on coming to collect you, so we should hurry before they do."

"You're signing me out?"

"Yep. Madam Pomfrey essentially commanded I do so, but I wanted to anyway. We're going to be dorm mates by the look of it."

Hermione threw back the cover and swung her legs out of the bed. "How's that?"

"Well, there's a fifth bed in the Gryffindor girl's dorm that wasn't there before."

Hermione shuffled her shoes on and stood up. "Isn't there always five beds in the dorm?" she asked. Was there a small intake this year or something?

Lily looked at her out of the side of her eye as they stepped away from the bed. "No… four beds in each room in each dorm in each house. Although, I always did wonder how the numbers always matched up exactly in each house every year."

Hermione stopped. "There are only thirty-two students in the whole year?"

"What? No... There's sixty-four. Why the questions?" Lily stopped too, turning to look behind her at Hermione.

"There's four Gryffindor dorms?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah, two for each gender," Lily shrugged. "Come on, time for questions later," she said, taking Hermione's hand and dragging her towards the Hospital Wing door.

Hermione's mind was in shock. The Marauders didn't belong to a small year; they belonged to a large one. But how was there such a large difference? The reason why came to her suddenly as they walked out into the corridor. The students in Lily's year were the ones who fought in the first war, and had died. Hermione had heard the stories, just like everyone else in the future had. The reason her own year was so small was because the previous generation hadn't had the chance to have families of their own.

Wiping the sudden wetness away from her eyes, Hermione gripped onto the hand of a woman she already knew to be dead and followed her to be reintroduced to a place she had already called home for five years.

A/N: I HAVEN'T ABANDONED YOU. Yes, I'm still here, plodding away at my keyboard. But with two long-ass stories and exams and coursework and paperwork for working in the US this summer, it's hellish. For this chapter (and basically all of the future ones) I had particular fun deciding who would be in which year and belong to what house. I so do not have a colour coded mass file of all my plans...

I hope you like where I'm headed! Remember to review! (even if it is just to moan at me to write more)

Holly - xo