The next time Hermione woke up it was seven in the morning and the morning light was streaming through the cracks in the curtains. She looked around and noticed that Crookshanks was sleeping, cuddled up next to her, and Sirius was sitting in the chair, looking at her with a sad smile on his face and tear stained cheeks.
"Good morning. How are you feeling?" Sirius asked, trying to sound cheerful but failing to do so.
"Sore, and tired. How are you? What happened?" She replied.
"We found out the truth about Peter. Your father took us to his office and gave us all Veritaserum, he then asked us if we had any idea who did poisoned you, and Peter admitted to it. He told us everything. Then your father made him leave the school. Your parents would be here now but they had to get ready, they can't have a day off, so I told them I'd look after you today. They've given us permission to have the day off classes to heal mentally. And Poppy wants you to stay here today to see if you're okay or not. I'm sure the boys will be down later but I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd come down here." He said, smiling gently.
Hermione smiled back, thankful that Sirius was there with her. In all honesty she had a crush on him, but she didn't think she could admit to that yet. She wanted to get to know him more. He was good looking, and kind, and caring, and fun. But she wanted to know more. He was wearing some black jeans and a dark blue Queen t-shirt. His hair was shoulder-length and combed neatly, his muscles showed beneath his t-shirt.
"Why didn't you tell us? The truth about Peter, I mean. You knew, so why didn't you tell us straight away?" Sirius questioned.
"I wanted you three to trust me more. Before I told you. That way you would have believed me more."
"We would have believed you anyway, you're a seer. If you saw something we would have believed you about it. Also, we trusted you the moment you told us about our futures, the moment you said you knew about Mooney and wouldn't tell anyone. The moment you said you knew we were Animagi and wouldn't tell anyone. We trusted you. What did you see to know that Peter was a Death Eater? You were awfully vague about our futures. All you told us was that James had a son, I was the son's godfather and Remus will be able to take a potion that hasn't been invented yet but will allow him to keep his mind when in wolf form. What else do you know?"
"Well, hopefully, since you're not friends with Peter anymore and he isn't here what I did know won't happen. I made it my job to change the future so that it was better for you all, and James' son. I think I have just succeeded even if it isn't really because of me that you know the truth about Peter. So, hopefully, I have just saved all of your lives."
"What do you mean? Saved our lives? What did Peter do?"
"He hasn't done the thing that ruined your lives yet, and because he is no longer here I seriously doubt he will ever have the chance to do it. So, don't worry, I'm sure everything will turn out okay."
"That doesn't answer my question, Hermione." He almost yelled, she could tell that he was getting frustrated, that he wanted to know what his friend was going to do to them.
"I can't tell you. Unless my parents deem it okay for me to tell you. I will speak to them at lunch and see if I can tell you, okay? But you won't like it."
"Okay. I'm sorry for yelling. You don't deserve that."
"It's okay, Sirius. I understand that you just want to know what your friend is capable of doing. I understand. I'm sorry that Peter isn't the friend you thought he was."
"It's not your fault. You have no need to apologise."
They were silent for a minute before the door opened and James and Remus entered the room. Crookshanks woke up at that moment and Hermione sat up, with the help of Sirius, leaning her back against the wall which James put a pillow against to make it more comfortable for her. They were wearing casual clothes, too, jeans and a t-shirt. Crookshanks moved to sit in Hermione's lap and the boys sat in three chairs around the bed.
"How are you feeling, Hermione?" Remus asked, she could tell he had been crying as well. So had James.
"I'm okay. Sore and tired. But I'll be fine. How are the two of you?"
"We'll be fine." James replied, not knowing what else to say.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth about him sooner. I wanted to, but I wanted you to trust me more first."
"It's okay, Hermione. At least we know now. That is all that matters." Remus told her, smiling sadly at her.
"But, hey, you can be our fourth Marauder now. We just need to wait for you to become an Animagus so we can think of a name for you. Have you still got the leaf in your mouth?" James said cheerfully.
"Yes, it really does taste vile." She said, pulling a face as her tongue ran over the mandrake leaf that was stuck to the roof of her mouth.
"Well, after today you only have twenty-eight days left." James informed her.
"Yay, twenty-eight days of tasting this horrible thing."
They were disturbed by Pinky apparating into the room with a pop. The elf wore a sad smile on her face as she looked at the four friends.
"I heard what happened. I's sorry." Pinky apologised, looking down at her feet.
"You don't have to apologise, Pinky. You did nothing wrong." Hermione told her.
The elf looked up and smiled brightly at her.
"Mistress Minerva asked me to comes and asks what you all wants for breakfast and brings it to you."
"I will be fine with some strawberry jam on toast with some fruit, and a glass of orange juice. Thank you, Pinky." Hermione told the elf.
The boys ordered scrambled egg on toast with orange juice each and she popped away again. Only to return five minutes later with a tray floating in front of her which contained the food and drinks that were ordered. She gave everyone their plate of food and put the drinks on the bedside tables on either side of the bed and popped away with the tray, after they all said 'thank you' to her.
When they had done eating Poppy checked on Hermione, a sad smile on her face when she saw the friends together.
"You look fine but I would like you to stay here until tonight, that way I'll know if you've had an allergic reaction or something to one of the potions." Poppy said before making the empty plates and glasses pop away to the kitchen with a wave of her wand. "If you need anything give me a shout. I will check up on you every couple of hours." She told them before leaving back to her office.
"So, what's it like having McGonagall as a mum?" James asked with a cheeky look in his eyes.
"How do you know?" Hermione questioned.
"They told us last night when we wondered why she was here as well as Dumbledore." Remus explained. "Don't worry, we won't tell anyone."
"Okay. And she's nice. She's kind and caring, a true mother figure. I have to save her as well." She said.
"Save her from what?" Sirius asked, the other two looked confused.
"Why do you need to save people?" James pondered.
"She had to save us from Peter, but she can't tell us why yet, not until she has spoken to her parents about telling us why. And she thinks she's succeeded as we aren't friends with him anymore. Hermione, continue." Sirius explained to them.
"Well, at some point she may be hit with a curse that destroys her reproductive system and means her and Albus can't have the children they want to have when the war is over. I have to make sure that doesn't happen but either ending the war before it happens, or making sure she doesn't do anything that could get her in that situation during the year it happens."
"Or you could try and make them have a baby before that year just in case it does happen. Then they have you and a child of their own to make them feel better just in case it doesn't work out." Remus suggested.
"Good point. But they don't want to bring a child into this world until the war is over, and I seriously doubt I can change their minds, I understand completely considering I know what can happen if you have a child during a war. And I don't know how long it's going to be before we can find all the things needed to kill Voldemort."
"Why don't you let us help you? We can help you find what you need to find in order to kill him. We can duel. We are relatively clever. We might be able to help." Sirius put forward.
"Because I'm here to save you, I'm not putting you in more danger. Also, you're not part of the secret organisation that my dad has formed to destroy Voldemort and his Death Eaters, so you can't really do much anyway."
"We can ask him if we can join. He knows how good we are. And we can protect ourselves." Sirius retorted.
"I'm sure you can, Sirius. But I don't want your future to be the way it was meant to be. I don't know what's going to happen now that Peter is out of your lives, I may have saved you from that fate but it doesn't mean that you're completely safe. It doesn't mean you'll be happy. And that is what I want you to be, so I am not letting you do anything unless it means no fighting. I can't lose you. I can't let Harry live the same horrible life that he will unless I save you all." She argued.
"Who's Harry?" James asked.
Hermione just stared at James with sad eyes and it took him about a minute to understand.
"Harry is my son?" James whispered. "What happens to him if you don't save us? What do you need to save us from? Why did you need to save us from Peter? What did he do?"
"I can't tell you yet. I need to speak to my parents and ask them if I can tell you the truth. You deserve to know. I will speak to them at lunch. I'm sure they will come and see me then."
They all looked confused, but she paid no mind to it. She knew they deserved to know the truth, the full truth. And she knew she could trust them to not tell anybody. She knew that they would still be her friends. She knew that they deserved to know why she wanted to save them, the truth as to why she wanted to save them.
She felt tears fill her eyes and she didn't bother holding them in, she let them fall. Sirius stood and sat on the edge of the bed, facing her, before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to him in a comforting embrace. She leaned into him, breathing in his scent, which she loved. His scent made her feel safe and protected. It reminded her of home as it was the same scent he wore when they were in Grimmauld Place. It made her feel loved because Sirius cared for everyone, not just Harry. And now she was falling for the boy who wore the scent.
As she clung onto Sirius she didn't notice the boys' worried looks to each other. Each of them worried and wondered about the future, wanting to know what could have happened to them, or what could still happen to them. They wanted to know what James' son had to do with any of this.
Unbeknownst to Hermione, Sirius was falling for her, too. She wasn't like other girls who fawned over him because of his looks. She didn't fawn over him at all. She wanted to get to know him, be his friend, she didn't care about his looks. And that was attractive to him. She was also very pretty. Her hair and eyes were the most beautiful he had ever seen. She has a beautiful personality as well. He wanted to know more about her.
Hermione eventually cried herself to sleep in Sirius' warm arms. He gently helped her to lay down and he sat back in his seat, watching her with a sad look on his face.
"What do you think happens? What do you think she knows?" Remus questioned his friends.
"I don't know. But it doesn't look like it's good. She said she had to save us. From Peter. She had to save Harry. But I don't know what your son has to do with any of this, James. I mean, she's a seer, so she probably knows some stuff about him, but what could your child have to do with anything?" Sirius replied.
"What I want to know is who Harry's mother is, and when he's going to be born. And a lot of other things as well. But, I want to know if I have a shot with Lily. And what happens. And what she meant by saving Harry from his horrible life." James said.
"If you paid attention on the train, she said you have a shot with Lily if you stop pranking Severus and be nice to him." Remus reminded him.
"Maybe we should apologise to him, after what we found out from Peter. I also want to speak to Regulus." Sirius muttered, but they both heard it.
"Well, when we next see Lily we can ask her to bring Severus and Regulus to talk to us, tell her that we want to apologise, tell her what we know. She deserves to know that her best friend was tortured by someone we thought was a friend." James suggested.
Remus and Sirius nodded in reply and they went back to watching their new friend sleep in silence. All three of them pondering what Hermione knew and could tell them. What could possibly be so bad to send her into tears.
At lunch time Minerva and Albus arrived to find the three boys talking silently and Hermione sleeping. They said the boys could go to the Great Hall for lunch and that they would look after her during the hour they had for lunch. They left and the couple sat on either side of the bed, looking down at their daughter. Minerva brushed a stray strand of hair out of her daughters' face and tucked it behind her ear, causing the sleeping girl to wake up.
She smiled sadly up at them and sat up, Albus helped her get comfortable.
"How are you feeling? Sorry we weren't here when you woke up, we had to get ready and work." Minerva spoke in a gentle voice.
"I'm sore and tired, but I'll be okay. Can I ask you something?" Hermione asked.
"Of course, dear. Anything." Albus replied.
"I know I'm not supposed to tell anyone the truth about where I'm from. But I think the Marauders deserve to know. They want to know why I wanted to save them from Peter, and I can't fully explain that without telling them everything. I need them to know so that they know why I want to save them. I'll make sure they don't tell anyone, but I think they need to know so that they can protect themselves, and so that they know what they shouldn't do in order to have a life. I can't stand lying to them, I need them to know so that I don't have to worry about slipping up, so that they understand why I behave the way I do. I need to tell them. Can I?"
"Okay, you can tell them, I think they deserve to know also. But they have to promise not to tell anyone else the truth." Albus answered.
"Okay. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now, are you hungry? We can ask Pinky to bring us some lunch."
Hermione nodded and Minerva called for Pinky, who appeared a second later.
"Yes, Mistress McGonagall. How mays I helps you?"
"Could you bring us up some sandwiches please, Pinky? And three glasses of apple juice."
"Of course, Mistress McGonagall." Then Pinky disappeared again, returning five minutes later with a large plate full of sandwiches and three glasses of apple juice which she left on the bedside table. "Is that all Miss?"
"Yes, thank you, Pinky."
Pinky bowed and popped away again.
They ate in relative silence, Hermione thinking about how she was going to tell her friends the truth, her new parents just wanting her to be alright.
Five minutes before the lunch hour was over the boys returned and her parents left after each of them had kissed her forehead and promised they would see her later that evening. The boys sat in their seats and waited for the doors to close to say anything.
"Are you allowed to tell us?" James asked, he almost sounded desperate.
"Yes. Just promise to keep an open mind, and not to hate me or anything afterwards."
"Why would we hate you?" Remus questioned, confused.
"I haven't been entirely truthful with you. I'm not a seer. It's what I've had to tell everyone because if people knew the truth about me then I could be in danger. However, I think Voldemort now knows the truth about me, or he knows I know how to destroy him and thinks I'm a seer, so he's after me. Hence the reason Peter poisoned me."
"If you're not a seer then how do you know us, and about our futures?" Sirius pondered.
"Because I'm from the future." She said, and they all looked at her, beyond shocked.
"How are you from the future?" Remus asked.
"I was born on the nineteenth of September, nineteen seventy-nine. I'm a muggleborn. I completed four years at Hogwarts, in Gryffindor house. I started Hogwarts in nineteen ninety-one. I know you all, and your future, or what would have been your future had you still been friends with Peter because I know you all in the future. Actually, I know Sirius, Remus and Peter in the future, but I know of James, and I am best friends with Harry. Dumbledore sent me back to this time to save you three, Minerva, and everyone else who will die, also to destroy Voldemort before he can cause too much damage. I know of the Wolfsbane potion because it is around in my time, and Dumbledore gave me the recipe to bring back here, for Remus. But now that I'm here I will not be able to go back. I won't be born, and my life will continue with yours. So, I won't be best friends with Harry, if you all still want to be friends, I could be considered his aunt. Do you believe me and want me to tell you what happened in my timeline, or do you want me to stop and let you take it all in for a bit?"
They still looked shocked, but they looked like they believed her.
"You're from the future?" Sirius whispered.
"Yes. I am from the future."
"What do you mean by you know of me?" James wondered.
"Well, I assume you are all okay for me to continue?" They all nodded their heads. "Okay, I'm sorry to say that you won't like this in any way, but bear with me. So, you know how Peter is a Death Eater, well, in my timeline you didn't know. He hid it well enough. James and Lily got together in your seventh year, and after Hogwarts you all joined the Order of the Phoenix, the secret organisation I mentioned earlier. James and Lily got married sometime before the autumn of nineteen seventy-nine, I don't know when exactly. And in that autumn Lily got pregnant. But there was also a prophecy made at the time Lily got pregnant, about a boy born at the end of July, to parents who defied Voldemort three times. It said that that boy would be the one to destroy Voldemort, and he would have the power the Dark Lord knew not, and neither of them could live whilst the other survived. Basically, either the boy would kill Voldemort, or Voldemort would kill him. There were two possibilities of who this boy could be. Harry, or Neville, who is Frank and Alice's son. But Voldemort thought it meant Harry. You and Lily went into hiding whilst Lily was pregnant, under the Fidelius charm, with Peter as your secret keeper. It was meant to be Sirius, but he knew someone was betraying you all and figured he would be the obvious choice, he managed to convince you to change to Peter, as no one would suspect him. No one knew you had switched, people still thought it was Sirius, and it was at first. Anyway, your son was born on the thirty-first of July, nineteen eighty. He had your looks and Lily's eyes. He was also exceedingly good at Quidditch. He played Seeker, he was the youngest Seeker in a century. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
A year and three months after Harry was born, on Halloween night, Voldemort came to your home. Peter had told his where you were. James, you died first, and Lily died protecting Harry. Then, when Voldemort tried to kill Harry the killing curse rebounded and hit him instead, Lily's sacrifice protected him. All Harry was left with was a scar, and Voldemort had lost all his powers and became nothing more than a spirit. He wasn't dead, but he was gone. Harry was placed with Lily's sister, her husband and their son. But they were horrible to him. He had to be placed with them because they were his only remaining family, and Lily's sacrifice meant he would be protected from Death Eaters so long as he was with someone who was related through blood to Lily. They made him sleep in the cupboard under the stairs until he got his first Hogwarts letter. They lied to him about how you died, and who he was. They made him do most of the chores. They barely fed him anything compared to his cousin. It was horrible. But anyway, after you died Sirius went after Peter to get revenge. Peter shouted at Sirius, asking why he betrayed Lily and James and killed twelve muggles before cutting off his finger and turning into his Animagus form to escape. Sirius was caught and put into Azkaban without a trial as everyone thought he was guilty of being your secret keeper, and therefore betraying you to Voldemort, then for killing Peter and the twelve muggles.
I don't know what happened to Remus in those years, I'm guessing you went away somewhere to get away from it all. Peter went into hiding as my other friends' rat. Shortly after your deaths Frank and Alice were tortured into insanity by some Death Eaters, Neville was then raised by his grandmother. But then, in my third year at Hogwarts, Sirius escaped from Azkaban in his Animagus form, you were skinny enough to fit through the bars, and Dementors can't feel the feelings of an animal, so you could escape. And Remus became my Defence teacher, you were the best Defence teacher we ever had, just to let you know. Harry became rather close to you Remus, you were the only one who had told him proper stories of his parents at that time. Towards the end of the year we found out what had really happened that night, that Sirius was innocent. We caught Peter but he escaped, it was a full moon and Remus was out there with us. When we were distracted he slipped away in his rat form again, back to his old master. We managed to help Sirius escape, though, and you went into hiding. Remus had to quit his job because someone told everyone he was a werewolf.
Then, in our next year there was the Triwizard Tournament. Except, Harry's name was put in the Goblet by a Death Eater disguised as Alastor Moody, who was meant to be our Defence teacher. But he was horrible. During the final task, Harry and Cedric, a friend and Harry's fellow Hogwarts champion, both got to the Goblet first. It was turned into a portkey by the Death Eater that was disguised as Moody. It took them to a grave yard, Peter killed Cedric. That was when Voldemort returned to his full power, with the help of Peter. Harry nearly died, too, but he managed to get back to Hogwarts. After that the Order was reformed, you two were part of it, Headquarters was at Twelve Grimmauld Place. I was there for a week before Dumbledore sent me back to help you three and everyone else."
When she had finished, she had tears sliding down her cheeks. She looked up and saw that her friends were crying as well.
"I'm sorry." She whispered. She didn't know what to do now.
Soon she found herself encased in three pairs of arms and she giggled slightly before wrapping her arms around them as best as she could.
"You don't have to be sorry, Hermione. We're not friends with Peter anymore, we should be safe now." James muttered into her hair. "My son will know his parents, I promise."
"I promise I will keep you all safe. Just promise me you won't fight unless it is absolutely necessary. I can't lose you. I can't let Harry grow up without his parents again. I can't let Harry grow up without a proper family, without love and care. They never gave him any presents; his clothes were hand-me-downs that were way too big for him. They called him names. They locked him in his room with bars on the window. I can't let him go through all that again. He doesn't deserve it."
"We promise. I want to raise my son. I don't want him to be raised by those awful people."
"Just promise not to get killed yourself. We need you, too. Harry needs a decent aunt after all. And we need a fourth member of our group." Sirius said.
"Okay, I promise not to die. But you can't tell anyone the truth about me."
"We won't. After all, you're keeping our secrets."
"I can't believe Lily and I get married, and have a child."
"Yeah, but, can you try and get together before your seventh year, it would help me believe that I can actually save you more if I know I am already changing things."
"You have changed things. We know the truth about Peter because of you. You probably just saved our lives." Remus replied.
"That's what I was trying to do." Hermione murmured.
"And we thank you for it. Now, I know you don't want us to fight but we might be able to help you find the things you need to destroy Voldemort. So, what are they?" Remus suggested.
They all pulled away from each other and Hermione told them about the Horcruxes and what Dumbledore thought they could be, as well as where they might be.
"You could ask the Grey Lady about where the diadem is. She is Rowena's daughter, she might know where it is, and possibly what might have happened to it." Remus told her.
"You are a genius." Hermione replied.
"Thank you."
"I might be able to help you get into Malfoy Manor." Sirius claimed. They all looked at him, shocked. "My cousin, Narcissa, she's marrying Lucius in the summer, I could get you in there and we could find the diary. It's probably hidden in the library somewhere. And I happen to know the layout pretty well. I have to go because she's my cousin, whether I like her or not. Do they have a kid in the future?"
"Yes, his name is Draco and he is going to be the same age as Harry, if you have Harry when you did anyway. But he wasn't very nice, completely stuck up, and a wimp. He wouldn't start anything unless his friends Crabbe and Goyle were with him. He called me a 'Mudblood' in our second year. And I punched him in our third year for making fun of someone. It felt good."
"Nice." Sirius cheered, holding his hand up for a high five and she gladly gave him one. Her skin tingled as she felt his palm against hers.
They spent the time until dinner talking about random things, and laughing. All the while, Hermione was hoping that everything would work out in the end, that her new found friends would survive, that Harry would have the family he had always wanted, that Minerva and Albus could have the child they wanted.
And that she might be able to have a good life as well.