Sirius was absolutely frigid as he walked into the house. Remus smirked, ready to tell him not to hiss and spit at everything as McGonagall walked past the staircase. A girl he'd never seen before stopped halfway and called her over.

"Professor," she said with a smile, handing over a file, "I've just finished the paperwork."

"Thank you," McGonagall said as she looked up at the girl, "Any luck?"

She sighed, "None so far, no, but fear not – for I am an optimistic person!" She smiled at the older woman.

Her brown hair fell in thick waves down her back, her eyes a strange shade of brown. She had a few freckles across her nose and some clustered around her elbows on her pale skin. She was dressed in a light grey dress that hung to her knees, her feet bare.

"A good mindset," McGonagall smiled back before turning to the boys, "Miss Granger, this is – "

The girl straightened with a gasp, her eyes wide before she tore back up the staircase with a slight scream. They all blinked at where she'd been before James grinned and called out, "Nice to meet you!"

"Some other time then," McGonagall murmured before shaking her head and looking back at the boys, "Gentlemen, I trust you not to act like you did in Hogwarts while here."

"Can't I just – paint over her?" Sirius questioned, glancing up at the landing of the staircase.

"Actually, she's gone now," McGonagall smiled at his awed look, "The girl that just ran up the stairs did it."

"Bloody brilliant – how?" he asked.

"Absolutely no idea," she shrugged.

"Neat," James grinned over at Remus, shrugging at him as he couldn't find anything else to say. Remus covered his laugh with a cough.

Remus looked up blearily, hissing as he sat up and assessed his injuries.

Yup. He got beaten up.

He sighed, glancing around to see that Sirius was in his dog shape, lying in front of the fire. James was sprawled out on the couch, mouth open as Lily curled in on herself on the other chair.

Remus stood up, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from cursing as he made his way into the kitchen, where he lit a candle and carried it with him to the table. He shifted through cabinets, trying to find something to heal him when he found some aspirin and an ice pack. As this was more for James's pain rather than his, he set it down and sat at the table, rolling kinks out of his back and muttering under his breath. He looked over his arms, frowning at the cuts and scratches.

"Here – let me," a voice whispered to his left, making him look up at the girl from around a week ago. She was holding a bowl of something, one whiff making him realize it was essence of murtlap.

"I thought you were avoiding us?" he asked. It wasn't a mean question, just an honestly curious one. He had a lot of questions for her, come to think of it.

She sat next to him, settling the bowl between them as she took stretches of cloth out of it and started wrapping one around his hand.

"I was," she said quietly, "But then she screwed everything up, so I thought 'what the hell, why not?'"

"Huh?" he asked smartly, making her flush and grin up at him.

"Sorry, I ah – " she shook her head a little, "I'm a time traveler. And I'm rather stuck here now because Bellatrix screwed everything up by not marrying that Lestrange guy."

"Whoa," he said, his interest peaking.

"And you four – five if you count Lily – are tied in with my past…future…ish," she winced before grinning back at him, "You know. So I couldn't really talk to you lot up until I realized that Bellatrix just seems to love torturing me in any way. So – here I am, from now until forever."

"And who are you, by the way?" he smiled, making her wince and flush again.

"Hermione Granger, sorry," she smiled.

"It's alright – I'm Remus," he grinned back before faltering, "How…how much do you know about me?"

"Umm…quite a bit," she smiled back, wrapping the cloth up his arm now, pushing his sleeve out of the way before frowning, "Merlin, how many people fired at you?"

"Feels like five at very close ranges, but I think twenty spread out," he answered before wincing when it felt like somebody repeatedly poking his sore shoulder, "Ahh, no, make that twenty-one."

She half-grinned, half-winced at him, "That's not funny but it is."

He grinned back at her, "It's a gift."

"Pass me that jar, please," she pointed across the counter to it, Lily grabbing it first and stretching to hand it to her. She smiled when she got it, "Thank you." She turned back to her potion, frowning at her hair when it fell in her way. Lily grinned and rolled her eyes, taking a scrunchie off of her wrist and stepping up behind Hermione to braid her hair.

"What are you doing?" she asked, a little frantically, but didn't take her eyes off of the potion.

"Braiding your hair," Lily smiled, "That alright?"

"Oh, yes, thank you," she gave a short laugh, "Last time one of my friends tried that though, my hair was orange and his hand was tangled in it."

"Hey – don't be knocking the orange, Babe," Gideon called from the table, his twin next to him laughing and grinning.

"Oh honestly," she snorted and turned to Lily when she was done, "Thank you."

"Blink, dammit!" Sirius suddenly shouted, startling everybody and making nearly all of them look over at them, except Hermione who refused to look away from her potion.

Remus glared at him as he gave a victory shout, "Really? Did you really just do that again?"

"I've been staring at you for fifteen minutes and you didn't blink at all in that time period. It was freaking me out," he grinned.

"Why Padfoot, I didn't know you were so taken with Moony," James grinned at his friend.

Moony sighed, patting his friend's shoulder as he glared at James, "I'm sorry Padfoot, but the feelings aren't returned. I do hope we can still be friends."

Sirius shrugged him off as the others laughed, "Oho, do I need to tell everybody who the feelings are towards?" Remus took to glaring at him now.

"Yes, tell everybody who the feelings are towards," Fabian sat forward in his seat.

"It's – " Sirius stopped, confused as to why his voice stopped working before he glared at Remus, who was smiling and settling back into his chair, his attention focused on his book.

"I love magic," he said simply, making Sirius fume.

"To be honest though, Mate, I always thought you were gay," Gideon told him.

"What?" he asked, his eyes wide as Sirius laughed silently beside him, "I'm not gay! What gave you that idea?"

"You never go on any dates and we never hear you harping on about a bird like those two," he shrugged, nodding to Sirius and James, "I just figured…."

"I'm not gay!"

"Well I know that now."

"Prove it!" Fabian said instead, a massive grin on his face, "Go snog Hermione!"

"What?" the two asked, Hermione finally looking away from her potion to blink at him.

"Sweetheart, you need to be snogged," he leaned back in his chair, "And since you won't let me or Gideon do it, why not Remus?"

"Because - !"

"There are boundaries - !"

"No!" the two finished together, frowning at them as they grinned.

"So it's settled then – Remus is gay and Hermione needs to be snogged by one of us," Gideon grinned before glancing at his brother.

"CALLED IT!" they both shouted at the same time before glaring at each other.

"I'm not gay – I just respect people," Remus frowned, abandoning his book all together as Hermione snorted and went back to her potion, muttering about the two.

"Oh," Gideon blinked before grinning, "Sorry then, Mate."

"So, this room has enough crazy without us in it," James grinned at Lily, "Want to go to Diagon Alley with me and Padfoot?"

"Eh, sure, why not?" she shrugged before turning to Hermione, "Need anything?"

"Ahh – sugar quills and chocolate, please," she grinned at the other girl, "I've got a big sweet tooth."

"You know – " Fabian began before she cut him off, whirling around and pointing her wand at him with narrowed eyes.

"Fabian Prewett, you make one more innuendo around or about me, I will hex you to Mars!" she growled, "And don't think I can't, because I can!" She twirled back to her potion, adding something in as he grumbled to himself. Gideon opened his mouth, but Hermione stopped him without even turning around, "Same to you too, Gideon."

The brothers sighed as Lily and James laughed, Sirius standing and grinning before the three left with a pop. It was silent for a few moments, which made Hermione and Remus smile and go back to what they were doing previously, but made the twins frown at the ceiling or the wall.

"Done," Hermione announced happily, calling the three's attention to her as she slid a cup of it to Remus. He blinked at it and peered inside it.

"What is it, exactly?" he questioned.

"Wolfsbane Potion," she said proudly, tapping her temple, "And I did it all from memory."

"Is it supposed to look like something one of the babies spit up?" Gideon asked, peering dully into the cup.

"I was thinking something from the other end," Fabian grinned.

Hermione huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, and glared at the two as they slid the cup back across the table to Remus and looked at him gleefully.

"What's it supposed to do?" he asked warily.

"Basically – let you keep your head during a full moon," she shrugged.

Remus blinked at her, "This – this is still being thought up."

"Not from where I'm from," she grinned before pouring the rest of the potion in a container and handing it to Remus, "One every day for that week."

Remus watched her walk out of the room, gaping at her until she was out of sight. He looked down at the cup before looking at the twins, who were grinning at him.

"Fabian," Gideon said, repressing laughs.

"Yes, Gideon?"

"I do believe I know who young Remus's feelings are towards."

"Do you now?"

"Indeed. I do believe it's the young girl he wouldn't kiss because he was afraid he'd like it too much."

"Excellent reasoning, brother."

"Thank you, brother."

Remus only frowned and took the potion with a gag.

"This is insane – you aren't doing it," Lily argued as Hermione wandered around the house, looking for something.

"Huh – last time I checked, Lily, I was. Let me check again," Hermione faced her and closed her eyes before opening them again and smiling, "Oh, lookit that, I still am!"

James winced at Remus as Lily fumed behind the girl's back, wanting to hit her for that but knowing that she would only hit back, which would get the two nowhere aside from a catfight that Sirius would enjoy entirely too much.

"Anybody seen that file I was reading earlier?" she questioned, ignoring Lily's grumblings and turning to the boys, "I rather need it."

"You wouldn't need it if you weren't going," Lily muttered.

"Lily, I appreciate you caring about me, but if time has already been screwed up I'm just going to have to screw it up for the better," Hermione sighed, "I promise to be extremely careful and give each and every one of you updates on what I'm doing and what's going on, but this has to be done and it has to be me."

She was silent for a few moments before looking completely and utterly drained and nodded, sinking into James's side.

"Can I come?" Sirius questioned, "You need backup, and it seems that you've only got a few good ideas where a few of whatever-they-ares are located. One of them is in Bellatrix's vault, right?" At her nod, he continued, "I can get you in without any suspicion. It's the Black family vault – I'm Sirius Black."

She bit her lip, tempted, "There'll be a lot of running around."

"I'm fit," he grinned.

"We'll have to hide out."

"I'm the master of Hide-n-Seek."

"We might get ourselves captured or killed."

"Name one person who isn't," he said pointedly.

She sighed, running her hands through her hair and tugging at the strands, "Sirius Black, I can't believe I'm saying this, but – get your stuff packed."

"Yes! I won!" he cheered before dashing up the staircase, "I get to get out of this hellhole!"

"No fair!" James and Remus shouted up after him as Lily smiled just a bit, glad somebody was going with her.

"Are you worried?" James questioned Lily and Remus as the three sat in the living room, missing the loudness of Padfoot and the silent smiling presence of Hermione.

"Very," the two seemed to say together in a sigh, Lily pouting at the air as Remus stared at the unoccupied chair.

"There's too much room in here," James continued, following Remus's gaze, "None of us have to sit on the floor."

They smiled weakly at his joke, Remus abandoning his book and running his hands through his hair.

"You think they're okay? We haven't heard from them in a week," Lily bit her lip, fidgeting with her hair before a ghostly form of a cat streaked in.

McGonagall's voice came from it, sounding urgent, "Get yourselves to Hogwarts – the wards are down, a battle is coming."

The three shared a look before they each popped away.

"Hermione Jane Granger is dead! She was running to protect herself!"

Remus froze from healing Sirius's wound when he heard that before tearing out of the Great Hall with Lily, James, McGonagall and even more Order members. Lily turned very pale when she saw that Hermione was hanging limp in Hagrid's arms, gripping onto James's arm as Remus's hand shot to his hair, gripping at the strands as Sirius's breath hitched.

"You liar!" James shouted at once, gripping Lily's hand for a moment before stepping forward from the small group, "She'd never do that to us!"

Remus stepped forward, glaring at the group of Deatheaters as Sirius stepped up beside James and clapped him on the back, bringing Lily up next to him.

Bellatrix laughed, grinning maliciously at them, "Aww, look at all the ickle Mudblood lovers!"

"Don't call her that," Remus growled, Fenrir Greyback straightening himself when he heard.

"But look at her arm, boy – see what's there?" he grinned as Remus's eyes glanced over to her and widened when he could see blood seeping through her white dress shirt from the arm. It read Mudblood.

Lily gaped before glaring, stepping a few steps away from James and glaring at them, "You do realize that we'll only have to keep fighting for her, don't you? You don't realize that little thing we call 'love,' do you? We'll mourn the fact that she's dead, we'll fight for her, and we'll miss her – you don't even care when one's gone, do you? Only if it's a major inconvenience for you."

Bellatrix's mouth twitched into a smile, "I'll enjoy killing you."

"Not if I kill you first, dear cousin," Sirius growled, stepping in front of Lily as James tugged her back and put her behind him.

"There should be no more need for deaths, Bellatrix," Voldemort said, making her look mildly put out, "Surrender, and there will be no more death tonight."

"You don't honestly think we'll believe that, do you?" James questioned, eyebrow arched.

"He doesn't like it, James," Remus smirked at his friend, "He's afraid he'll die tonight. His name means 'flight of death' in French. He just wants to run from the possibility of him dying while his little cronies kill all of the 'Mudbloods.'"

"You'll pay for that, Lupin," Greyback growled before a spell took out somebody behind him. This lead into a frenzy of wands being drawn out again and spells being blasted.

This was all halted a few moments later when a sharp whistle overhead called attention to the figure standing on the broom as if it were a skateboard, her hair starting to slip out of her up-do as she grinned down at them.

"Hermione!" Remus called out happily, feeling himself light up as Greyback merely stared up at her, dumbfounded.

"I wasn't running from you, I was running towards you," she smirked down at Voldemort before frowning again, "And it's Hermione Jean Granger, you blithering twit."

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Stupefy!" she cried out, slipping from her broom and falling with a gasp, narrowly dodging the green spell as she clung to the floating wood.

"We've got you – fall!" Fabian and Gideon shouted, having her scream as she fell into their arms, depositing her on her feet as she dashed back to Voldemort, only to be detoured by Bellatrix as she dodged curses.

"You – stupid – Mudblood – why – won't – you – die?" she gritted through her teeth, hexing her every which way before she finally knocked Hermione out, having her slump against the grass before her eyes got the malicious glint again and she raised her wand.

"Not my friend, you bitch!" Lily growled before sending a green hex shooting her way, not having any time to feel victorious at the woman being gone before she was pulled into another fight with a Deatheater.

Hermione groaned, burrowing her face into whatever the warm thing was when the warm thing shifted and she realized the thing was actually more of a person.

"Please tell me whoever you are that I know you," she murmured, making them sigh in relief and hold her closer to them.

"It's me," she heard Remus say, "How do you feel?"

"Like I got knocked out," she chanced opening her eyes and winced at the light before she realized she'd been moved into the Great Hall, sitting in Remus's lap with her head up on his shoulder as he sat against the wall, methodically running his hands through her hair.

He chuckled, "It's over now. We've won. James killed him."

"Go James," she whispered, closing her eyes and leaning against him, sighing, "You don't mind if I just…sleep against you, do you?"

"Definitely not," he muttered, laying his head on top of hers as she wound her arms around his neck and hugged him closer.

"You remember when I first actually talked to you at Grimmauld Place?" she asked in a whisper.

"Yes – you wrapped up my arms for me."

"You remember how I kept blushing?"

"Mmhmm," he smiled a little, although she couldn't see, when she burrowed her face where his shoulder and neck met.

"It was mostly because I kind of had a crush you."

He stilled for a moment before glancing at the side of her face, "Do you still?"

"Still what?"

"Have a crush on me."

He was almost certain that she was blushing as her arms slipped from his neck and her hands rested over his chest, where she hid her face and squeaked, "Yes."

"You remember when Gideon and Fabian told us to kiss?"

"Mmhmm," she muffled through her hands.

"And I was very adamant about it even though it would prove I wasn't gay – which I'm not."

"Yeah?" she peeked through her fingers up at him, making Remus grin down at her and tug a hand gently away.

"It was because I was afraid I'd like the kiss too much and you wouldn't feel the same," he smiled as she pulled the other away from her face and let it fall on his chest, looking up at him curiously, "Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to kiss you now, and you're just going to have to deal with it, alright?"

She grinned as he leaned closer, "Well, if you say so."

He chuckled before he brushed his lips against hers, both of them smiling.

"Mmn, where's your wand?" he murmured, closing his eyes tighter against the sun and hugging her closer to his bare chest, "Mine's on the dresser."

She sighed, "Nightstand."

"Yours or mine?"

"Yours."

He reluctantly pulled an arm away from her and reached behind him to grab the thin piece of wood, waving it at the blinds and smiling when the light was gone, setting her wand back and kissing her jaw. She smiled and hummed in content as he smoothed his hand down her back before she took his hand and pulled it into her line of sight.

Remus smiled at her as she smiled at his wedding band until he took his hand from her and used it to tilt her chin up to him so he could kiss her. She smiled in the kiss, smoothing her hands up his chest to slip a hand in his hair.

He grinned when they pulled away as she wiggled closer to him and hid her face in his neck, "Hey, who caught the bouquet last night?"

"Mmn – Lily."

"Bet James loved that."

"He was this close to proposing to her last night," he felt her grin. "Sirius had to sit him down and tell him the reasons why he couldn't that night. I'm fairly certain that they're engaged by now."

Remus chuckled, running his hands through her hair, "I love you."

"I love you too," she said after pecking his neck.

Lily frowned as she stared up at the ceiling, twirling her quill around as Hermione slid a cup of coffee towards her and smiled as the heat from her own warmed her hands. Remus pecked his wife on the cheek as he walked into the room, making her smile wider as he looked around in the cabinets for something.

"Hey, Hermione, what happened to your wedding dress?" she questioned, "Would you mind too much if I borrowed it?"

Hermione froze, Remus doing the same behind her as they exchanged looks, eyebrows arched.

"Ahh – you know what, Lily? I don't know – I'll have to look for it," she said, hiding her 'holy-shit-that-was-close' grimace behind her mug as Remus turned back around and tried very hard not to laugh at his wife.

Ahh, that poor torn dress was no match for a werewolf, but it found it's revenge in nearly embarrassing the couple.