Turn back time - Hermione Granger in the Marauders era

Epilogue

In the following summer of 1979, Lily and James Potter were married. They had a joyous chapel wedding surrounded by their friends and family. By this point, Hermione and Remus had started dating again. Remus had never really stopped loving her, and he was sure that he never would. Together, they battled through his doubts of himself and Hermione eventually convinced him that he was good enough for her. They were extremely happy together for the two years that they were together. They got engaged in Spring 1981 and were married on October the 20th, less than two weeks before the death of the Potters.

Sirius and Hermione took many, many months to get over their awkwardness, but they eventually refounded their friendship and stayed firm friends. Sirius' feelings for Hermione took over a year to subside but when he saw how happy she was with Remus, he let her go. After years of playing around with other girls, Sirius and Marlene firmly and happily dated for six months before her death, a week before little Harry's second birthday.

When Harry was born, Sirius was obviously named as Godfather. Harry knew Peter, Remus and Hermione as his auntie and uncles. He was adored in the short time he had in happiness with his family.

Less than a year after Harry's birth, Marlene McKinnon was murdered by Voldemort. Her whole family was wiped out by him. The blow hit the Order Of The Phoenix hard, Lily and Hermione cried for hours when she heard.

The last time Hermione, Remus, Sirius and Peter saw their best friends was the day before their deaths. October the 30th, the day that Dumbledore handed his own Time Turner to Hermione, saying that he couldn't trust himself with it and begging her to take it. At the same time, Sirius begged the Potters to make Peter their Secret Keeper instead, sure that Voldemort would be after him instead and presuming that Remus was the traitor. With only Sirius, Hermione and Dumbledore as witnesses, Peter was made James and Lily's secret keeper.

That night, all of them (including Remus afterwards) spent the night at the Potters, drinking and laughing and having the last good time together that they would ever have. Their last words to each other lost in the happy carelessness of the evening.

The next day, Peter squealed over to his master, boasting of his success. Of course, that evening Voldemort killed Lily and James Potter. He visited their house under the cover of darkness, burst through their home and terrified the couple. Wandless and unprotected, James shouted at Lily to take Harry and run. He shouted that he'd hold Voldemort off. His body was cursed to the floor as the result of his last act of love to his wife and child. Voldemort went after Lily, through to the bedroom, laughing in the face of her love for her son. Lily whispered her last words to Harry, that he'd never remember. Then she begged Voldemort to take her life instead of Harry's. He only laughed, cursing her aside. He moved on to the sobbing child. His killing curse rebounded and the rest is history.

Hermione had been at home when she was sent the news from Dumbledore. She ran out of her home, sobbing, running to the Potter cottage. Seeing its ruin, she collapsed to the floor, the pain of loosing her best friends far too much for her to take. She mustered the strength to keep running, heading to Peters house, overcome with the urge to kill him.On the way there she recognised the sounds of Peter and Sirius screaming at each other.

"You, you!" Sirius screamed.

"Sirius, how could you?" Peter shouted louder.

"How could you betray James and Lily to Voldemort...?" He continued.

Hermione rounded the corner just as there was a loud bang and a flash of light. She was blinded for a second, then she was the state of the street. A mess of bodies sprawled on the floor all around her.

"Sirius! Sirius!" Hermione screamed at him.

But he seemed almost too angry and pained to notice her. He was scanning the floor for a rat; the rat: Peter Pettigrew. But there was nothing to see other than a mass of dead bodies.

"Sirius! Sirius!" Hermione shrieked.

"Hermione! No... Help... Please..." He just seemed to be yelling random words at her.

She ran to him and grabbed him by his shoulders. "We can fix it. We can save them," Tears poured down her cheeks as she said it. "We'll go back, we'll go back to save them."

"The Time Turner?" Sirius asked, hope swelling in his eyes.

Neither of them were thinking straight. The next thing they knew Hermione had her Time Turner around her neck. She could hear the sirens. The police were coming. She twisted the knob rapidly. Back as many hours as she could. Sirius tried to take it of her, insisted that he did it. But still she turned it. One...two...three... Suddenly someone barged into her and landed on top of her. The Time Turner slit across her neck and broke. It shattered to the floor. This was bad, very bad. Hermione felt herself go dizzy. She writhed in pain. She felt as if she was shrinking, then she realised that she was. Hermione saw was the confused and terrified face of the person who had collided into her: Remus Lupin. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she screamed in pain. But her hands were becoming smaller and smaller. When she let go she saw the hands and arms and body of a six year old; her six year old self. But she was still shrinking.

 "Hermione? What the...? No! Stop! Stop!" Remus shouted as he shook her by the shoulders.

She looked up at him, almost straining her kneck. What the...?

"Hermione? What's happened? I don't understand? What's it done to you?" Remus asked desperately.

"Hermione? Hermione? You look like a two year old? What the hell have you done?" Sirius called.

Their voices seemed to merge into one "Hermione...Hermione...Hermione?" She felt the world spin around her. Remus' and Sirius' faces swimmed into her vision, looking bewildered and alarmed. They were the last thing she saw before she blacked out.

Remus stopped the Time Turner by breaking it with a spell before it could take her back so far the she wouldn't exist. By the time it had broken, she had the body and mind of a two year old. After Hermione stopped shrinking, Remus picked her up of the floor, jinxed Sirius (of course, not knowing that Peter was the real traitor) and fled from the scene with baby Hermione in his arms. That night he kept Hermione with him in their house in the spare bed beside him, she fell asleep as easily as any other normal toddler. Remus struggled with his thoughts for the whole night. The next day he found out that Sirius had been sent to Azkaban and Peter was dead. He mourned for the next few days, trying to take care of Hermione. But it was too much and he couldn't cope. He travelled to London and found a Muggle family with the same surname as Hermione. He obliviated them and jinxed them into believing Hermione was their real daughter. He left Hermione with a kiss on her tiny head, and a last goodbye. Obliviating her too, just in case. She grew up to live an almost normal life, as a Muggle Born who grew up to go to Hogwarts. Her memory did not falter and she remained naive of her past.

Remus was forced to organise his three friends' funeral. Two separate ones; one for Peter and the other for James and Lily together. The few remaining relatives they had attended and so did the remainder of the Order of The Phoenix. But Remus attended his friend's funeral alone. After that, he was never the same. His Boggart changed into the full moon by itself, knowing that he would have to face his changes every month alone.

Around eleven years later, Remus taught Defence Against the Dark Arts, mainly just so he could see Hermione again. He was forced to watch a young Hermione, carefree and happy, completely forget him. It took over fifteen years for him to get over her. He loved Nymphadora Tonks to pieces, but never quite as much as he had loved his first wife. But he let Hermione go on, find another love and have another life.

The Wizarding War left all four Marauders for dead. They only lived through half of their lives, and the whole of that short time was overshadowed by destruction, death and war. What would have been depressed, empty lives, they filled with happiness and love wherever they could. They all died for Harry Potter and for the hope of eventual peace in the Wizarding world; and most especially for the sake of their old, old friend Hermione Granger.

AN: And for the last time... thanks for reading! Xxx