Wow! Is that what it took to get a response from all of you? Enter a Doctor Who reference with a tearful confession session ultimately ending in a heartbreaking leave? I guess I'll have to remember that. Multi-fandom tragedies seem to get the party going.

When Hermione awakened, it was to her face being pressed upon a leather bound potions journal. She nearly thought the last couple of years a dream, or that she was still in the past, but deep within her soul, she knew that was inaccurate. She raised her curly head and gazed around the living room.

It was still a mess, torn apart from Ginny's search two years before. With time ruling the game, she was sure it was actually only a few minutes at most from when they had originally left this time behind. She looked around for her friend, who would have been right beside her, and she was gone. For a quick moment, she was afraid that she had left her friend in the beginnings of the 1980's.

Then she looked in the corner and saw Ginny with her back to the wall, her knees to her chin. She was watching Hermione, "I was wondering when you would wake up."

"How long have you been awake?"

"A couple minutes longer than you."

Hermione stood and stretched, still unwilling to process everything that had happened, "I think we need to get this place in order before we begin to discuss any recent events."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ginny stand with a roll of her eyes. Within a minute, everything was put back in its usual meticulous order, for the first time fully meeting Hermione's standard. She collapsed into a nearby chair and put her head in her hands, silence covering them like a thick fog.

"'Mione...we have to talk to them."

She raised her head to look at Ginny, "I know, but...I'm not sure I can face him. Either of them, really. Even Teddy."

Ginny's eyes narrowed into a blazing glare, "Don't you dare turn your back on them, Hermione Jean Granger. We need to talk to them. We can sit here and play 'what if...' all night if we want, but it would be much simpler on everyone if we just go over there and talk to them."

"You're right," Hermione sighed. "Since when are you the smarter one."

"When you're the scared one," Ginny winked. "Lets go."

Hermione nodded and rose to follow her friend out the door, down the familiar but distant stairs, and finally outside where they paused before apparating to just outside Grimmauld Place. They opened the door as quietly as a silencing charm. They could hear the pleasantly low rumble of Remus' and Sirius' voices from what sounded like the dining room.

Walking as if they were on their way to the next Battle of Hogwarts, they made their way over to the kitchen. By this time, the men had realized they weren't alone. When Ginny slipped through the door first and Hermione followed, the raised wands of the two men lowered and their faces softened.

Remus smiled sadly at Hermione, "You know?"

A sob escaped her throat as she ran forward into his waiting arms. They encircled her with warmth and safety as his sweet voice whispered into her ear. She buried her face into his shoulder and listened.

She was vaguely aware of a chair scraping back, Sirius, and two pairs of footsteps walking out of the room, up the stairs, and down the hall to a room where nothing else could be heard. Presumably, his bedroom. No need to guess what was going to end up happening in there. Both Sirius and Ginny were creatures of actions first, words later.

She cried into his shoulder as his rough, age worn hands rubbed her back slowly, comfortingly. After a while, she wasn't sure how long, Hermione looked up at his face and saw only his amber eyes. There were so many emotions playing in them, she wasn't sure which one was dominant.

She reached up with heavy hands and cupped his face, tentatively bringing her mouth closer to his. It was the only invitation he needed.

Remus kissed her long and hard with a passion that was gentler than the night he'd claimed her, but had just as much urgency. Tears met tears as he held on to what he lost and she to what she never wanted to lose. Filled with a relief that nearly blinded her, she realized he didn't hate her. He still loved her.

He reluctantly pulled back, moved a chair out with his foot, and set her in it, "I know you want to know what happened after you left, other than what history told you."

She could only nod, her voice temporarily incapacitated.

"How about we go to the library and I tell you a story?"

He led the way. They sat on the sofa just like when they were seventh years at Hogwarts, him holding her to his chest and her snuggled against his warmth. It was comfortable, familiar, and home.

She put a finger to his open lips, "Before you begin, where's Teddy?"

He smiled, "Sirius and I both remembered explicitly what you both were wearing when you appeared in front of us that day in the Potters' backyard, so we were able to know when everything would happen, hence part of the reason we asked you both over so often. Andromeda has been asking for some extended time with Teddy and who am I to refuse her?"

"A wonderful father," she replied, kissing him once more.

He chuckled as he pulled back, "Do that again, love, and I won't be responsible for my actions."

"Duly noted."

"Back to the story, it starts when neither of you came home for the night..."

Remus paced around the bedroom as he waited for some sign that his Maddie would be home soon. She'd been gone for hours. Oh, how he hoped this wasn't what they'd-no! He couldn't think about that. He'd sworn to himself he'd never think of that.

A knock sounded at the door and for a moment relief swelled in him. Then he remembered that Maddie would just come in. She wouldn't need to knock. She lived there.

He walked through the house and opened the door. There stood a desperate looking Sirius. A pit filled his stomach, "Not Carrie too?"

Sirius welcomed himself into the house and started walking around the furniture, "She left to meet Maddie just before lunch. I haven't heard from here since."

"Nor have I from Maddie."

Sirius' ears perked up, "You don't think that anyone could have taken them or anything?"

"No. They're too smart for that, and before you ask it, I don't believe they're dead either. They would have let us know somehow if they were in trouble. I would know. I have the-"

He cut off. The bond! He could feel if she was in trouble.

He tried to reach out to the side of the bond that had become a warm hum in the back of his mind and found nothing. He tried again. Same result. The bond was...empty. It wasn't gone; it was just empty. Odd.

"You have the what?"

"Oh, Maddie and I...well, I guess you could say we mated," he grinned, his marauder side unable to restrain itself.

Despite his anxious worries, he smiled and laughed for his friend, "So have you heard anything from whatever it was that happened when you two did it?"

"No. Our bond is mysteriously empty. It's not like it has disappeared. It's sort of like I had a glass of milk for a while and while I turned my back to get some cookies to go with the milk, the milk had vanished and there's only the glass left. Does that make sense?"

"In a weird way, I guess it does. What does that mean?"

Remus sighed, collapsing into a rocking chair, "I have no idea. It doesn't feel bad though. For some reason, I don't think we should be this worried yet."

"I have that feeling too, but I just can't help it. I mean, what if-. Never mind. I'm not going to grace that question with a closing," he concluded stubbornly.

Remus smiled at his friend, "Why don't we just wait until tomorrow morning, and then if they're not back, we'll look for some answers, okay?"

"Deal."

Within minutes, both fell into a restless sleep, their dreams contorted by the worries of their true loves. Needless to say, when they awoke the next morning, neither felt very refreshed.

"That's it. I'm going after them," Sirius announced.

Don't bother. Remus thought, remembering Maddie's warning, "We won't find anything."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember Christmas of our seventh year? When I was angry with Carrie and Maddie for a bit?"

Sirius thought about it for a moment and his eyes widened in recognition, "You don't think-"

"Yes," Remus nodded sadly. "I believe they left."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

Something caught Sirius' eye all of a sudden and he walked over to a table in the corner, "Moony, what's this?"

Remus looked at it curiously, "I don't know. It was Maddie's."

Sirius tried to open the intricate box, but failed. Remus took it and looked it over. It was a medium in size and was built with what looked like oak wood. There were delicate floral carvings entered into the lid and around the edges which were a shade lighter than the rest. He took out his wand and touched the tip to the lid, ready to cast a diagnostic spell, but then it unlocked.

He nearly dropped the box in shock, but he managed to keep his hold. After a moment of staring and silence, he lifted the lid. Inside lay what looked like a stack of letters bound with a thin piece of rope, obviously an undetectable extension charm having been applied, and a letter on top with the charm bracelet he'd given her. His heart squeezed at the sight of memories but then focused.

"Why don't I go back to my place and see if Carrie left anything there that could be useful?"

Remus knew he was just leaving to allow him a moment of privacy. Slowly, he sat down on the sofa which had been used for many things over the past months, most involving him and Maddie. The thought that it may never be used for that again made him depressed.

He grabbed the bracelet with shaking fingers, afraid that it might break if he moved too fast or pressed too hard. He set it upon the cushion next to him and just as softly grabbed the lone letter from its position atop the bound stack of letters. With his thumb, he popped the dark red seal and opened the parchment.

Dearest Remus,

If you're reading this, I am most truly sorry. I'm either not with you anymore having had to leave, or you touched this with a wand which has recently cast the Patronus Charm. Knowing you, it could be either, though I hope for your sake it is merely the second.

If it is indeed the first one, which I warned you about once upon a time, you're going to have to trust me some more. I am meddling enough as it is, but I hope that what is contained in this box will help you through the coming years. The unfortunate truth is that you will see me again, but it will not be for a long time.

Like I told you before, if I don't show up, I am gone. Carrie will be with me. It is pointless and a waste to look for me. You will not find anything. I have to tell you that this was not my choice, so while being angry with me would be understandable, it would be misguided. Be angry with fate.

There is a truth you need to understand which I can only now safely tell you. I need you to know before I do that everything I felt for you was real, very real. So real, in fact, that I wish with all of my heart that the reality of my true past didn't exist and I could only be with you. As is such with my life, I'm not going to get what I want. I resigned myself to that fate a long time ago.

I am from what you would see now as the future. To me, it is very much the past and present. I can't safely tell you exactly when in the future, but I can tell you that you won't have to look far to find me when the time comes.

I didn't come to your time by either accident or choice. Fate was playing cards I wasn't ready for, and I guess I would never have been ready for them. I feel it will be safe to tell you, and if it isn't I'm sure the ink won't stay legible on this parchment, that my real name isn't Madelynne Berson. nor is Carrie's name really Caroline Mann. My real name is Hermione Granger and hers is Ginevra Weasley, but you must call her Ginny. If you call her Ginevra to her face, you may lose an eye.

We were searching our apartment for something and I stepped on a time-turner when Ginny grabbed onto me. I remember wondering how Merlin's pants that device came to be in our messy home. I later learned with help that it was love, death, time, space, and prophecy working together to get us what we needed to be truly happy. We were then transported right in front of you both and you know the rest.

I cannot safely think of anything else to tell you at this moment, though there is so much I want you to know about me, about us, about yourself. That is where the stack of letters comes in. There are many, many of them and each is labeled with a date. That date is the minimum date on which you can safely (I'm writing that word a lot, huh?) read what is inside without any chances being taken.

There are things coming for you, things you will most assuredly not enjoy, but I'm hoping that if you really loved me, that my letters I've left and the bracelet to remind you of who I am will help to ease some of the pain.

I can understand if you choose to hate me, but keeping that secret was never my choice. It was my responsibility.

Your mate,

Hermione Granger

The letter floated down to the floor like a snowflake on the wind as tears fell from his eyes and he could feel his cries catch in his throat, choking him. Oh, the burden she must have been bearing the whole time, and she couldn't even tell him. She thought he would hate her? How could he with her being so perfect?

Hermione Granger. He thought the name over and over like a mantra. He wondered what her middle name was. He wondered what ancestry belonged to that name. He spoke the name once out loud and enjoyed how it felt on his tongue.

Remus smiled through his tears. She'd mentioned that they would meet again. He would see her again! It didn't matter if it was sixty years from today on his deathbed. He would see his mate again.

Sirius walked back into the house and saw his friend sitting there with a goofy smile and tears on his cheeks, "It's either something really good or something really bad."

"A little of both. Take a look for yourself."

He grabbed the letter from his friend and read it. Then he re-read it just to be sure. Finally, with a tearful smirk he looked back to his werewolf friend, "Her name is Ginevra Weasley. Aren't the Weasley's considered blood traitors? Oh, I love her so much more now."

"I know what you mean."

"Have you looked at the dates on the letters yet?"

Remus shook his head, wiping his tears away, "I hadn't gotten around to it yet. Here it goes!"

Having no doubt that they were in chronological order, he picked the first one off of the pile and held it toward the light, "August 1st, 1981."

They shared a look, "Doesn't seem like we're going to have to wait for the tragedy, does it?"

Both could start to feel the strings of distrust for not only each other, but everyone they held dear as they contemplated what could be happening in the coming months.

"Never did we suspect what was about to happen," Remus concluded, playing with a piece of her brown hair. "You were right though. Your letters did help. I can't tell you how many times I've read them."

Hermione wiped the last remnants of her cries away and looked up at him, "How much did you love Tonks?"

He was thoughtful for a moment, "Our marriage was more a marriage of company and convenience than one of love. She found herself in love with a werewolf who had been killed in a sting by Aurors a few months before. That's when she came to me and asked me where my mate was, recognizing the signs. She knew that when the time came that I'd eventually want to leave her for you and welcomed it. Unfortunately, she was killed before she could spend time with her son."

She smiled, "Teddy is just wonderful. He's really so much like the two of you, it's uncanny."

"How would you feel about becoming his stepmother?"

Her eyes widened with a smile, "Do you mean it?"

"Only if you're accepting."

Her yes was a kiss that continued on for a long time as they rekindled a romance that had never actually stopped burning. It had just had problems starting, and so continued the turns of love, death, and most importantly, time.

And so concludes our journey. It was a fun ride for me and I hope it was for you. Please leave me a parting review telling me if you think the ending was satisfactory or not. It was my first HP fic and I had no idea how to end it without a cheesy epilogue (and I do far too many of those anyway).