Hermione Granger and The Marauders

Hogsmeade

Thursday night changed into Friday morning and Hermione hadn't got a wink of sleep. She had been tossing and turning all night, thinking about how much the future depended on her right now. She couldn't count on Fred and George now that they had befriended their idols. Alice had gotten out of bed about a half an hour before Lily sat up and stretched out her legs over the side of her bed. Hermione pretended as though she was fast asleep when Lily showed signs of waking up. She didn't want Lily to know she had been worrying - Hermione knew Lily would want to know why.

As Hermione listened to Lily getting ready she faked a wake-up stretch and hopped out of bed.

"Good morning" Hermione said with a fake yawn quickly followed.

"You still look tired." Lily said in a somewhat suspicious tone in her voice. Hermione shook her head and Lily soon let her suspicions dissolve away. Hermione could still see she was upset that James wasn't interested in her. Her eyes didn't seem to twinkle like normal and her normal smiling lips were in the frowning position - a position that Lily's lips didn't usually take.

"Cheer up" Hermione told her but Lily shook her head at Hermione and left through the door. She had been here for almost a week and she was beginning to get the idea that she had grown up during the wrong era now. While she attended Hogwarts with Harry and Ron, no-one really seemed to like her but now, while she was here, she had friends and someone even had feelings for her that were more than friendship. It wasn't like she wanted James to feel this way about her but Hermione had never felt desirable before. Ever. Even though Hermione knew it was completely preposterous it was nice to have a boy that liked her.

She wanted to hit her head on the woodwork of her four-poster. What was she thinking? What was this Time-Turner doing to her? It was making her into something she hated. Hermione knew that when the time was right she would find a man and settle down but not like this. She was beginning to think that the seemingly harmless piece of jewellery was not a gift at all. It was a nightmare.

Hermione changed out of the pyjamas Lily had let her wear while she was to stay and back into her own robes. The ones her parents had bought for her. Suddenly a thought occurred to her that hadn't before. Her parents. This baffled Hermione a great deal more than a boy liking her. She had forgotten her parents and hadn't thought about returning back to them. They would never forget her so how could she forget them? It sickened Hermione right to the pit of her stomach.

She attempted to wipe these thoughts from her mind and went down into the common room smiling brightly. Remus and Sirius were there but Peter, James, Fred and George must still have been in bed. Good ... that way James wasn't there and she'd be able to talk to Lily. Alice was talking to her right now and Hermione caught a few lines of their conversation. Alice had mentioned how she liked a fellow Gryffindor student who went by the name of Frank Longbottom.

Suddenly it struck Hermione that this must be Neville's mother. That's where she had seen that lovable baby-face from before. She hadn't had the pleasure of meeting Frank yet but she couldn't wait to get the chance. Hermione approached the two of them and sat beside Lily and listened in closely.

"Oh, hello Hermione. We were just talking about a boy who Alice likes." Lily told her and she caught a quick glance at Alice and noticed how cherry-like her cheeks had gone.

"Frank? You should definitely go and talk to him! I heard he likes you." Hermione lied convincingly. Alice's face seemed to light up but she tried with all her might to keep it looking normal.

"Really? I suppose I should." She told Hermione and got up to look for Frank. Lily looked at Hermione and smiled, "I suppose they're meant to be together?" She asked but Hermione turned her head away. Partly because she didn't want to say but because she also knew that Lily would understand that turning her head was a way of saying yes.