Marlene was furious. All along she'd known that Hermione was from the future, but she hadn't ever wanted to believe that she, Lily, James, or any of the other Order members were to die. She'd wanted to believe that the war had ended or that Hermione had lied about which date she was from or that Hermione hadn't been from the future at all. It hurt to know that she was dead, but the main thing she was worried about was her best friends' lives on the line. She herself had felt slight anger, but she had never acted upon it, had known it was irrational, but the raw emotion that the Marauders were feeling had made them more sensitive and uncertain. Hermione had simply been the one on the receiving end of the backlash of losing Peter.

And she was ready to bite some heads off.

"YOU UTTER IDIOTS – I MEAN, HOW COULD YOU? IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR BRAINS OR SOMETHING? CAN YOU EVEN HEAR ME, YOU DUNDERHEADS? YOU KNEW THAT NONE OF THIS WAS HERMIONE'S FAULT AND YET YOU BLAME IT ON HER BECAUSE SHE DID WHAT SHE DID? OH MY FREAKIN' GOD I AM SO CLOSE TO KILLING YOU RIGHT NOW! YOU ARE LUCKY THAT THE OTHER GIRLS WOULD KILL ME, ALL OF YOU, FOR MURDERING ALL THREE OF YOU…!"

Dorcas was being restrained by Caradoc, struggling, her wand knocked on the floor a few feet away. Her face was a dangerous red, her teeth bared and her forehead wrinkled in anger, her hands grappling for James' tie, as if hoping to grab it and pull it as tight as she could. Marlene silently cheered her on, but she couldn't help but feel a slight sympathy for the boys.

"Dorcas. Stop."

Cassandra was standing in the middle of the room, shaking her head, tears in her eyes as she looked at the boys. Gideon and Fabian were stood behind her, their arms wrapped around her shoulders, but she shrugged them both off, raking her hands through her tawny hair as she looked at the three remaining Marauders in disappointment, betrayal and loathing.

"I know that you're hurt," she said quietly, but everyone immediately silenced upon hearing her dangerously quiet voice. "And I know that all three of you will never be the same. I expected you to lash out, I expected you to go out screaming and kicking and crying and I expected you to blame someone for this. But what I don't understand is why you blame Hermione." She paused, her eyes flickering between the three boys, who were silent and thoughtful. "Look. Peter's death was no one but his fault. You all know that, deep inside. He chose to be a Death Eater over you, he threw himself between Lily and the Killing Curse."

Remus flinched.

"Hermione had nothing to do with the decisions that Peter made," Cassandra spotted Sirius' eyes drift towards the door, and she grabbed his face in her hands, cupping his cheeks and gazed fiercely at him. "You three are going to fix this, one way or another. I have never been so disappointed in you."

Cassandra turned towards the door and nodded to the Headmaster before leaving the room in total silence.

Hermione felt her shoulder be shaken lightly, and she rolled over, coming face-to-face with the last person that she'd wanted to see. She pulled the blanket high over her shoulders, her heart fluttering slightly despite the frown evident on her face. It had been a matter of hours since she'd fallen asleep, only around ten minutes since she'd crashed behind Evanna's portrait for the night, knowing that Lily would be the one to follow her. Despite her beliefs, however, Hermione had fallen asleep after five minutes of waiting, leaving a lukewarm cup of hot chocolate on the coffee table and Lily to tuck her in with a blanket after a two-minute conversation that mainly involved Lily explaining what had happened and Hermione venting on how and why boys were stupid.

Now, James' hazel eyes pleaded with her, desperation clear in their depths. She sighed and turned to him as he extended a hand, letting him pull her into a sitting position, her blanket still wrapped around her shoulders.

"What are you doing here, James?" she said quietly, hurt still lurking in her voice.

"I knew it was a mistake the moment you left the room," said James, pleading deep in his tone. His hair, admittedly, did look more ruffled than usual, and currently his hand was messing it up; his eyes were slightly bloodshot, as though he'd cried and rubbed them free of tears, and deep purple bags rested underneath his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Hermione. First it was the trust. I don't know what made me speak. I couldn't make sense of it afterwards and I can't make sense of it now. All that I know is that I told you that we didn't trust you and – and that's wrong. I think deep down that you know that that was wrong, too. Because we love you, we trust you and you are everything to us."

He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're everything to me, Hermione."

Hermione's breath caught in her throat and she found herself blushing slightly. She hadn't blushed since she was thirteen years old – but of course, leave it to James Potter to have her from a seasoned war hero to a stuttering, love-struck school girl with a click of his fingers.

Really, over the past few months, she'd found an attraction growing between herself and James Potter. What with Lily and Remus in love, she knew that Harry would probably never be born either way, and that she had changed the timeline drastically. Hermione had, at first, thought that it was a stupid crush, that she'd get over it in time and he would be nothing but a friend in a few weeks. But James had, in a way, become more than a crush and she found herself breaking out in sweat whenever he was near, her stomach erupting into butterflies and her heartbeat speeding up drastically. James Potter was a lot more than a crush.

"I – I'm sorry. After that, it was with Peter. I know that Sirius was talking, that he was pointing things out, but I was so grief-stricken and blinded by my hatred for the fighting and the bloodshed that day that I blamed the person that I should have been thanking – because even though Peter was dead and a Death Eater, you still fought for him and protected him and called him a friend. And – we couldn't get there in time to save him and that wasn't enough for me. I kept thinking that if you had done something, that if you'd gotten up and been fine you could have saved him but you didn't…"

"James…" Hermione whispered, brushing her fingertips over the side of his face. His eyes closed and he reached up, his hand closing around her wrist and pressing her hand into the side of his face as her thumb gently stroked away the tears that he'd let through. "Please. Let it all out. I know that it hurts, James. I'm sorry, too."

And then Hermione was sat down on the sofa, James' arms wrapped tightly around her waist, pressing her into his chest as his face buried itself in her hair. She found that she wasn't surprised, and instead fisted her hands in his shirt and pulled him closer, her face pressing into his chest as she found his tears soaking into her hair. Hermione could hear his heart hammering in his chest, his body shaking with the great force of his sobs and his hands shaking where they held her close.

"It's alright, James. I know, I know. It's alright. Really, sweetie, it's alright. Please, James. I know it hurts. Come on, let it all out, sweetie," she hummed in his ear, murmuring sweet nothings that she had heard Harry or Ron whisper to her when she was hurting like this; she had spent the night sandwiched between them in St Mungo's outside Fred's room as they talked to her, keeping her warm and safe and assuring her that everything would be alright.

After a while, James began to calm down. He shuddered once before pulling her into his lap, pressing a kiss to her hair before letting her stand. "Thank you, Hermione."

Hermione gave him a gentle smile as she helped him to his feet. "I've done it before, for many different people," she said, smiling softly and shrugging modestly. "It's nothing new or different for me. You needed help and I could help you, so I did."

"You really are a remarkable person, you know that, don't you?" James shook his head, smiling. Then, his smile vanished and instead a tentative frown appeared on his face. "Hermione… do you forgive me for being such an asshole?"

"I already did," said Hermione, nodding. James' face broke out into a grin and he swung an arm around her shoulder, wrapping the blanket tighter around her shoulders before giving her a pull towards the portrait's cover. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to the Astronomy Tower," explained James. "Tonight's the best night for stargazing. Mum, Dad and I used to climb the hill in the woods and lie in the dark, finding all the shapes and constellations that we could. But tonight it's just you and me. I wanted to make everything up to you."

"You really don't -!"

"Yes, yes I do," said James fiercely as they began walking, his hazel eyes boring into hers, causing her to blush and turn her head away. "Look at me, Hermione." He grabbed her chin and made her look at him, his hazel eyes causing her cinnamon eyes to soften. "I hurt you. I need to make it up to you, if not for you to make myself feel better."

Hermione blushed as he squeezed her shoulders and let go, sliding his fingers through her own and linking them together.

She could feel her heart racing as they begun to ascend the stairs to the Astronomy Tower, becoming darker and darker as they reached the top. When James pushed open the door at the top of the stairs, Hermione found herself bathed in moonlight, her hand releasing James as she walked slowly, enchanted by the night sky, to the middle of the room – sure, she had been up there for Astronomy lessons before, but nothing so amazing as this had happened. And James' presence only added to her racing heart and the butterflies in her stomach were going wild.

"What do you think, Mi?"

"Mi?" she questioned softly, turning around to face him, a pretty blush flittering over her cheeks. James was blushing violently, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, but Hermione could see the small smile on his lips as she came towards him.

"Yeah, well," he cleared his throat. "I thought you needed a nickname. Everyone has one. I mean, Remus is Moony, Sirius is Padfoot, Marlene is Marls or Marley, Dorcas is Cassie, Alice is Ali and Cassandra is Andi – and…" here he cut himself off.

"Forget about Peter for tonight," she whispered. "Forget about how much hurt and pain and grief he caused you. Forget about the Marauders and about the girls. It's just us tonight, James." She grinned. "And I do like the nickname, though."

He blushed fiercely and sat down, pulling her with him. She sat down opposite him, turning so that she lay on her back beside him; he followed and the two stayed in silence for a moment, their hands linked between them as Hermione arranged the blanket around them both and shuffled closer.

Hermione had no idea what she was doing. She was acting on instinct, and to be honest, it felt good, fulfilling, to be so close to him.

"Do you see that star?"

James was pointing to the star directly above them, and Hermione's breath was taken away. She could see the Gryffindor lion right above her head. "You know, my Dad told me the legend about the lion, Leo, and its relation to Godric Gryffindor."

"Tell me."

He looked at her, grinning.

"Legend says that Godric Gryffindor was in love with Rowena Ravenclaw. But, as legend tells, so was Salazar Slytherin. Ravenclaw was in love with Gryffindor, but Slytherin had talked their fathers into putting an arranged marriage; one night, Gryffindor snuck in through Ravenclaw's window and told her father that, if he could get the stars in the sky to spell out his name, then Ravenclaw would be his to wed. But if he failed, then the marriage between Slytherin and Ravenclaw would marry the next day and Gryffindor would never be allowed to speak to Ravenclaw again.

"That night, Gryffindor spent his time in Ravenclaw's library – Ravenclaw even wore her diadem to help him. But no matter what they did, they couldn't find a spell to help them. But Gryffindor was determined. He found an abandoned castle and began to climb the tower, and when he reached the top, he took out his wand and begged the Gods to move the stars so that they represented him or his House crest. The Gods took pity on Gryffindor and moved the stars to form the lion. The next night, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were married and Salazar and Hufflepuff had joined them as the Founders. The castle that Gryffindor climbed was later turned into Hogwarts, and Gryffindor named the Tower that he had climbed as Ravenclaw Tower. It was claimed that Slytherin left because of the Ravenclaw-Gryffindor marriage and the love they shared, but.. Really, it's all just folks' lore."

"You don't believe in love?" Hermione whispered after a moment of silence, her hand tightening around James' as their faces turned to look at each other.

"I do," said James. "But it's hard to believe that true love will always prevail. I mean, my parents are in love, but they're fighting in this bloody war and… and it's tearing everyone apart and I can't tell if love is really real anymore."

"I promise you, James, that love will always prevail in the end," Hermione shuffled closer, sucking in a deep breath. "Every day, we go out into the world and we use magic that does everything for us – it cleans our every mess and makes us better when we're hurt. But the most beautiful type of magic is the love. Our magic cannot guide us to love. We have to find it ourselves. But when we find that love, we have to do everything to hold onto it, because love is the only way that we will overcome everything. Because even if the world is crashing down around us, we can find solace and hope in the love that we share."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, James."

And then they settled back into silence.

But then Hermione spotted something. Among all of the constant, still stars, there was one, a little orb of light, shining brightly in the depths of blackness, was shooting across the sky. "Starlight, star bright, first star that I see tonight. I wish you may, I wish you might – grant me my wish that I wish tonight," she whispered, but James heard her.

"What was that, Mi?"

"It was something that my parents used to tell me," she told him, squeezing his hand. "If you chant that, and wish on a shooting star, then your wish will come true. It's worked for me before, when I wished for magic to be real as a little girl."

"Can I take it?" asked James, swallowing audibly.

"Of course," she allowed, and repeated the chant for him, knowing that he probably wouldn't remember it.

James nodded and closed his eyes, turning his face back to the sky. "Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish you may, I wish you might, grant me my wish that I wish tonight," he whispered.

The shooting star flickered and then went out, and Hermione smiled as she turned to him. "What was your wish, James?"

He smiled at her, content.

"I wished for love," he told her quietly, and then Hermione was startled by the pair of soft, warm lips that pressed to hers.

There was only one thing for her to do.

She could only kiss him back.

Um... hi? *ducks to avoid the pitchforks, torches and unicorns that are aimed at head* I don't suppose that 'I'm sorry' will cut it? Really, my life has just been hectic lately what with all of the time I've spent between homework, school, homework, hospital, homework, ANNOYING YOUNGER BROTHERS, homework and unicorns.

What? I didn't say unicorns.

COME ON. REVIEW.

YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.

IT'S RIGHT THERE.

JUST SO TEMPTING, ISN'T IT?

REALLY.

YOU WANT TO DO IT.

TO JUST YELL AT ME FOR BEING A TERRIBLE AUTHORESS.

OR MAYBE TO CONGRATULATE ME ON ALL OF MY HOMEWORK.

IT DEPENDS.

JUST REVIEW.

YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.

DO IT.

PLEEEASSSEEE...

Hehe...

Um...

Alrighty then. I'm gonna leave now before someone kills me.

Love,

Marlene

*screams and runs away, waving arms madly*