Hermione dusted her outfit off in the Room of Requirements and sighed. It was made for just what she needed it to be; a place to mourn on her last day at Hogwarts. She had finished her final year and wanted to say farewell to everyone who was gone. This was the last moment she would be inside these walls for a long time; it was certainly time to bid the past goodbye.

The young woman bent down in front of a select few of the plaques with names of her lost ones. Fred. Lavender. Colin... they all were here as a reminder of the things she had to live with for a whole year. Ghosts of her past finally meeting up with her. Wandering to three plaques closest to together, she frowned deeply.

"Now you all I did not expect in here on such a sad day..." She whispered to the marauders.

Beautifully chiseled in the stone were that of a wolf, a stag, and a dog on each of them. Instead of their names there was their signature pens and Hermione smiled letting loose a large tear. "Always had to have the last laugh I am sure," her voice fell and she placed the white rose down. "Not really something meant for you, gentlemen. The world wasn't ready for the Marauders."

The witch turned and was set on walking out the door when she heard a crash and arguing. "Now, what in the blood hell did you do, Pads! I told you not to play with that!"

She felt her blood run cold as she slowly turned to the source. In front of her was two young men grappling on the floor to stand. "Bugger it, Moony! It just was there, what did you want me to do, stick my cock in it?" They stood up and glanced around. "Oi, where are we?" The darker haired man asked and noticed the woman.

"That is a Hogwarts uniform, so I am assuming it was a bloody portkey." The other man replied and smiled. "Hello, I am Remus, this ingrate is my mate Sirius. Can you tell us how we got here?"

Hermione backed toward the door, clearly, she was having a manic episode. "You- no- never!" She sputtered and gasped shaking her head.

Sirius was looking around and nudged Remus, "look, mate, this is us." He pointed to the plaques and Hermione was still stunned.

Remus turned pale and shook his head, "this is something different. You know this is the Room of Requirements." The werewolf turned to the young witch again. "What is your name? Can you tell us where we are?"

Hermione took hold of her Gryffindor courage and nodded, "it is the year 1999 and we are in Hogwarts."

The Marauders glared at each other and Sirius spoke up first, "no, it is not 1999. You have your facts mixed up there, love. It is the summer of 1981." His words were pointed and Hermione shook her head.

"This is wrong, how did this happen? I cannot recall anything like this in any of my reading..." Hermione left the Marauders to ponder a moment and paced in thought.

"I thought you were bad, Remus. Although I think I would have remembered a witch like her in Gryffindor." Sirius retorted and the werewolf rolled his eyes.

Sirius approached the pacing witch and tilted his head with a lopsided grin, "alright, you have bloody scared us now. Tell us this is some portkey joke you have made up and we can be going. We have important business to be done." His voice was teasing and he raised an eyebrow. "Obviously you heard from the witches in years before you about me and wanted to meet. Very witty, but we must go."

Hermione laughed and shook her head, "you are very much Sirius Black. Remus used to tell me stories of you quick tongue but I never believed until now."

Remus glared at the young witch and shook his head. "I don't think we have ever met before."

Hermione came up with an idea and held up her index finger, "I have proof, marauders." She pulled out a picture of them all the Christmas before Sirius fell through the veil.

Remus walked up to the photograph and analyzed it. "Hey, that's me!" Sirius shouted and they glowered at the picture. "I am so much older! Who did this enchantment?"

Remus chuckled and shook his head, "those are people we have never met. Does that boy look like James to you? That red hair, no mistaking those are Weasley children."

Hermione watched the young wizards closely as they gave each other a hollowed expression. "My name is Hermione Granger. My best friend is Harry Potter."

Sirius gasped and Remus shook his head, "this is all wrong, Sirius. What is going on?"

"The second war finished last year and Lord Voldemort was finally defeated, but at the cost of many lives. Yours included, Remus."

Hermione felt like she said too much as the werewolf handed her the photo and turned fully to their plaques. "You were here grieving us?" He murmured tracing his finger over the wolf.

"How did I bloody die? It doesn't make any sense!" Sirius shouted while running his hand through his hair.

"Does it matter? Sirius, we got thrown into a time not our own. Where is James?" Remus turned to Hermione and asked sharply before softening his gaze.

Her face was skewed unnaturally and the werewolf found it worrisome. "He died too, didn't he? I should have known with his plaque and Lily's not too far from his. Hermione, this is a horrible way to start introductions, my apologies."

Hermione just nodded sympathetically and went to the discarded item on the floor. It was a golden hourglass no bigger than a book. She dared not touch it, but took her wand out and levitated it to eye level. The wizards watched her in silence as she furrowed her brow and took in the object by measure.

"Do you remember what you were doing before you touched it?" She asked and Sirius snorted.

"I was shagging this puff," Sirius said sarcastically and Remus shoved him.

"You are not my type, Sirius Black." Remus retorted and Sirius grinned wolfishly.

"I am everyone's type, Remus."

"You would certainly have to do more to be mine, Sirius Black." Hermione mumbled and turned the hourglass around with her wand.

Remus smirked and nodded, "Oh, I find her company already an improvement."

Hermione casted a few spells and shook her head, "whatever enchantments were placed on it, they are dormant now. I suppose you gentlemen will just have to come with me."

"She called me a gentleman, not all that bad, see?" Sirius snickered and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I should be polite to you because you are my best friend's godfather, but you should know good and well, I will hex your pants if you test me, Sirius Black."

Remus patted the animagus' shoulder and smiled, "we might just get along with her, mate."

They had all marched to the Headmaster's hall and Headmistress McGonagall was just leaving. "Headmistress!" Hermione shouted and ran up to her.

The marauders hung back and watched the girl a moment. "things have changed. What do you think that little witch was doing crying in that room of death?" Sirius whispered and Remus shook his head.

"She looks to be otherworldly. Obviously, this war was difficult. I feel we are entering new territory, mate." Remus breathed and Sirius grunted.

"Just when I thought I had seen the last of you boys... Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin. This might be a question for Albus Dumbledore." McGonagall seemed frazzled, but Sirius smiled at her.

"It is always a pleasure to see you, Professor..." The animagus murmured, strolling up to the older witch.

Remus noticed her aging and knew that the younger witch was telling the truth. Whatever they had done, it has caused this mess. He approached cautiously and watched as the older witch had said the password and they all ascended to the Headmaster's quarters.

"Albus, can I borrow your attention?" She asked an empty painting and both the Marauders grimaced; Albus Dumbledore in this era was dead.

"Always a pleasure, Minerva. What may I be of service to you today?" The wizened man asked as he appeared in the painting.

He caught sight of the young men and clapped, "Oh, wonderful! Is that Remus Lupin and Sirius Black? Quite a refreshing sight."

Minerva frowned and pursed her lips before speaking, "Albus, they should not be here in this time. Miss Granger told me of an hourglass, this hourglass." She held the small golden item out and the late headmaster nodded.

"A trinket of unknown abilities? I have only heard of things in stories." He said with a hint of jest and turned to the marauders. "What were you doing when you came across such a thing?"

Remus cleared his throat and bit the inside of his cheek. "You had sent us on an Order mission, Professor."

His eyes twinkled and he smiled with mirth, "ah, well. I can inquire about this unusual trinket, but as it stands we know not of its abilities passed this."

"What shall we do with them, Albus?" Minerva asked, still unsure about the whole event.

"I can bring them with me," Hermione offered and the young wizards frowned at her. "I can do some research and find out more about the hourglass. In the meantime, I can help them get comfortable."

"Of course, two minds are better than one, I can volunteer as well." Remus spoke up and the wizard was smiling in the painting.

"And I will help... if that means I get to have a fair share of the ale..." Sirius said begrudgingly as Remus nudged him.

Minerva nodded and sighed, "well, we will sort this out."

Dumbledore cleared his throat, "the likelihood of them returning to their time with more questions than answers will be a complexity left for another day. For now, congratulations Miss Granger on graduating." Albus finished and Hermione beamed.

"Thank you, Professor."

"Now off with you all, and Miss Granger, try not to mention it to Harry until he is home from training." Minerva declared and Hermione nodded.

"Of course,"

0o0o

Hermione had brought them to a small flat that screamed bookish. Sirius was glancing around and felt completely awkward, whereas Remus already started to feel welcomed by the many books. Hermione had mumbled about cleaning up before making some food and told them to make themselves at home.

"You have to admit, if we are in this terrible calamity, this witch might be able to help."

Sirius shrugged his jacket off and stretched out on the couch, "she is actually an attractive witch, isn't she? A little bit of a reader, but probably a firecracker in the bedroom."

Remus furrowed his brow and shook his head. "Let's try and not shag the first woman we see in this time period, Pads."

The animagus grinned over at him and tilted his head, "you sweet on the bookworm? She is your type. Smart, a bit aloof, great legs..."

The werewolf shook his head and groaned, "not everything is about shagging, Padfoot. She just graduated Hogwarts... today. All the sudden this fresh out of school witch is babysitting marauders she actually knew when we were older. By the looks of it we knew her pretty well too. Wizards well over her age."

Sirius rolled his eyes and chuckled, "I don't care if I was best friends with her father, I am not an old git."

The werewolf conceded the argument and started to dig through her library. It was not large by most standards and it made Remus home sick for Hogwarts. They should have asked to stay a little longer to check there. He started pulling books out as the animagus flipped through older editions of the paper she had out.

"Bloody hell, did you know that Harry turned out to be an Auror? Him and the Weasley boy. She kept clippings of their articles." Sirius spat as he pulled the different pieces out of a nearby book. "This witch was scrapbooking them. Kind of cute in a wholesome way."

Remus smiled and shook his head, "there are many things I have a feeling we are going to learn in the next few hours, best pace yourself."

Hermione was watching them from her hallway with damp hair. Remus picked up on her scent long before she made herself known, but wanted to give her the chance to decide when she would join them. He secretly was enjoying the whiff of her shower and the scent of her as it drifted from her bathroom into the open space. Sirius was completely oblivious as he shuffled through the pictures she had on the table.

"Look here, she is smiling with Harry. They are going to make some cute little goblins." Sirius remarked and Hermione knew it was the picture of her kissing his cheek.

What he did not know was that was the day Harry proposed to Ginny and Hermione had took that picture right before. "We aren't together, he is actually with the Weasley girl in the next picture." Hermione finally spoke.

"Oh, this one? She reminds me of Lily! Now they are going to make some beautiful little goblins!" Sirius sighed and nodded.

Remus watched the young witch come into the room and noted her sadness. "They are. I was seeing her brother for a quick minute, but we weren't as well matched."

Sirius scowled and held up a picture of Ron to her. "This knobhead? You were dating him? My god, you would suffer from lack of satisfaction in the bedroom." The animagus barked and chuckled.

Hermione blushed deeply and rubbed the back of her neck. "It happened at the close of the war. We wanted to see what it would be like and while it was nice for a while, it wasn't great. Why am I even explaining my love life to you." She snapped and took the picture from him.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders and smiled, "because I am a great listener."

Remus snorted and his voice held sarcasm, "very attentive when you want to get into someone's knickers."

The werewolf wandered next to Sirius and pointed at one of the pictures. "Who is that?"

Hermione rounded them and glanced at the photograph in question. "Oh, that is you, Remus. You were lecturing me on spending too much time in the library on Christmas so I grabbed my camera and snapped a picture. Arthur gave it to me as a gift that holiday so I used it." She said with a smile and he frowned.

"I look quite worn there," he sighed and Sirius patted his shoulder.

"It was a hard year, we lost Sirius only months before." Hermione muttered and Sirius scowled.

"I didn't die in this heroic battle? I died before it?" He asked and Remus shook his head.

"I am not sure we want to know about all of this, Padfoot. What if we find out too much? I honestly don't want to know how I died."

Hermione folded in on herself and sat down in an armchair nearby. Remus noticed the witch crumple up and caught Sirius's attention. They held a silent conversation and frowned. They were trying to catch up on the times, but Hermione clearly was still grappling with the idea of them being here.

"How about this, we have some tea and you can educate us on this time period, Hermione?" Remus offered and the woman snapped back to the present.

"Only if that is what you both wish," she murmured and Sirius waggled his eyebrows.

"I could do with a drink and a shag if we are talking about wishes," the animagus replied and Hermione blushed scarlet.

"You are a trouble maker, Sirius." She teased with a small smile and stood. "Tea for me, hot chocolate for Remus and Dragon Barrel Brandy for you, Padfoot?" When she finished Remus chuckled.

"I will go for some brandy as well, sounds wonderful."

That was the start of how two marauders ended up in 1999.