Hermione Granger and The Marauders

Dumbledore

During first lesson, which happened to be Potions, the Gryffindors were with the Slytherins. Lily grew more and more curious as to why Hermione had told her and Hermione said with a smile on her face "Well ... because I can trust you to not tell anyone and you're clever. I was hoping you'd be able to help me."

Lily nodded her hed and her cheeks went a colour that almost matched her hair perfectly, "Of course I'll help you." she said adding a plant Hermione had never seen before.

"What are we brewing? I never caught the name of it." Hermione asked, looking over at Fred and George to see them looking very bored and then over to Severus who had decided to work alone. Despite working alone he was doing better than anyone else in the class. Hermione had also noticed that there wasn't much rivalry between the houses and the groups seemed to have a varity of different houses.

"A wound-cleaning potion." Lily said giving the cauldron a big stir and then sitting down, "We have to leave it for a ten minutes." she said and then looked down at the instructions to what was next. A minute or so passed and then Lily picked her head up, looked at Hermione and pushed the parchment away.

"Tell me about the future." she asked Hermione. Hermione was happy to be open with Lily about herself, but she didn't want to say anything about her and James ... or their death.

"I can't. I can't say too much. Sorry, Lily." she apologised but Lily seemed to understand completely.

"Don't apologise! I was just being silly. I can't know too much about the future. But tell me about you. Do you have any pets? What Hogwarts house you're actually in? Are you really in Gryffindor? Do you actually attend Hogwarts?"

Hermione smiled at the questions and didn't know why answering these would being dangerous, "Yes I have a cat called Crookshanks, I do attend Hogwarts and, yes, I am in Gryffindor." she told Lily and the ginger girl's smiled transformed into a look of shock.

"Crookshanks? I have a cat called Crookshanks. A boy?" Lily asked and now Hermione wasn't sure about it answering but did anyway.

"Yes. He's ginger." she said, unsure of what Lily was trying to understand.

"Me too! Do you think it's the same cat?" she asked Hermione and Hermoine shrugged her shoulders and then leant over the cauldron to see if it had changed colour yet but it hadn't.

"Could be." Hermione said finally and then she sat back down on her chair again.

"Well ... if one day I can't find him I'll know he'll have gone to you. That might settle me a little - knowing that you're going to take care of him. So what about your friend ... Henry, was it?" she said straining to remember her own son's name.

"Harry. Harry James P- ... Punter. and Ron Weasley." she ended her sentence and then checked on the brew again to see that it was ready to be stirred. After she had stirred it for a final time the took a small amount of the liquid and poured it into a vile.

The class ended and Hermione and Liliyhad gotten the third highest grades in the class but Hermione was proud of that to say that she had never studied this potion before, a small Slytherin student recieved the second highest score and Severus got highest in the class. As they all made their way out of the room James and Sirius barged past Severus so fast that he was knocked off his feet and hit his head on the floor. Though Hermione knew what kind of wizard Severus would be one day she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"James, that was a little uncalled for. Don't you think?" Hermione asked him sarcastically and then she pulled the Slytherin to his feet. Fred and George went to next period with The Marauders and then Hermione, Lily, Alice and Severus walked along behind. Break came around quickly and the four of them decided to sit out in the sun to relax while Hermione and Lily did their work. Suddenly a small cat crossed the grounds and Hermione recognised its fur instantly.

"Crookshanks?" she asked Lily pointing over to the feline and Lily nodded and she held out her hand for the cat to approach. It was Crookshanks. Hermione was the owner of Lily's cat. Then Hermione realised that the reason Crookshanks was so friendly with her when she first met him was because he recognised her from them meeting in the past ... now... and that ha dbeen Hermione's future.

"I guess he will be your cat." Lily said as she scratched the cat behind the ears.

How old was Crookshanks?

"How old is he?" Hermione asked Lily curiously. Lily had to think for a moment before she had thought of the answer that she was sure of, "About two and a half."

Crookshanks was really getting old. He was about twenty-three but then again he was a magical creature and when Hermione was in her own time Crookshanks seemed as lively as any other cat.

"He hasn't changed ... I mean he's not going to change." Hermione corrected herself and then Lily and Hermione looked up to see Severus and Alice looking incredibly confused.

"It's an ... inside joke." Hermione told them and then she forced out a very believable laugh that seemed to convice the both of them.

"Do you like Quidditch? The first match is in two days if you're interested in going. Gryffinor vs Hufflepuff. James' playing too."

Hermione nodded her head and then they continued with their work and she watched as Crookshanks wandered away from them with his tail held high.

                                                                                *

The next two days went by fast and the day of the Quidditch match arrived. It was strange seeing Hagrid as an apprentice to someone called Ogg but he was still the same size and his beard was still very large and curly. What was also weird was that Lee Jordan wasn't the commentator. James was Chaser for Gryffindor and Hermoine had noticed that Lily was cheering James' name more than anyone else's.

"Are you and James ... you know?" Hermoine giggled at Lily and Lily shook her head vigerously.

"No. He's nice and all but ... we're not. Maybe one day." she said and then went dead quiet from embarressment. Then Hermione realised that she could be the one to get Lily and James together. Without her, maybe Harry would have never been born.

"Promise me you'll ask him. You'd make a great couple." Hermione asked her and Lily thought for no more than a second and then told her that when her confidence grew she'd ask him. Hermione couldn't believe how much of an impact she had actually made on her's and Harry's life. The teams began to make their way out onto the field and they kicked off into the air. Lily screamed and cheered for Gryffindor while Hermione just tried to blend in with the wooden bench she was sat on. The snitch was released and the Seekers shot up into the air. Hermione tried to see what was going on but after a while she just sat down and charted the scores in her head.

"That's ten points for Hufflepuff!" the commentator cried out through the microphone. The Hufflepuffs cried out with happiness and every single Gryffindor screamed "Boo!"

Five minutes later James scored thirty points for Gryffindor and the Gryffindor stands erupted with applause.

"Well done, James!" Lily clapped and then she sat down beside Hermione, "Are you okay?" Lily asked her and Hermione nodded her head, "Yes ... I'm just a little cold. I think I'll go to the library for a bit and meet up with you all in the common room later." Hermione made her way back to the castle. Not only was she cold she really wanted to have a word with Dumbledore. She knew Dumbledore would believe her and what she had to say. She arrived outside his office and stopped. She didn't know the password to gain entrance. She guess for twenty minutes and then she said one of the first things she remembered Dumbledore saying in her first year.

"Nitwit. Blubber. Oddment. Tweak."

The stairs began to form and Hermione ran up then and into his office.

"Proffesor? Are you in here?" Hermione called out into the darkness. Several candles lit up and then Dumbledore's face appeared in the darkness.

"I've been wondering when you'd turn up. You have the Time-Turner, I see." he said in his normal, wise voice.