She could hear whispering on the second landing, four males to be exact, inching further up the staircase, no noise was made as each of her four paws touched the floor. Reaching the dark and gloomy landing, blending in perfectly with its inky blackness, she notices a sliver of light coming from the second door, the whispering now louder and more distinct. She moves forward crouched low stopping just before the light touches her; two pinpricks of light, the only sign of her silent presence, survey the door. Inwardly she smiled, she recognised the voices, and with that she slowly and quietly edged towards the door, easing it open with her nose just enough for her sleek body to ease through. A loud creak rent through the near silent room, as her long thick tail accidentally bumped into the door.

"AHHHHHHHH." cried a fairly tall boy with flaming red hair by the name of Ron, she had to pull her ears down as the sound seemed to travel to the core of her brain.

"Sweet Merlin 'Mione, I know you don't have much chance to change into your form, but do you have to use us, your loyal and great friends, as your Guinea Pig's? Asked a bewildered black, tousle haired, bespectacled boy, which was none other than the Harry Potter. But before anyone else could react a loud.

"Brilliant!" was sounded by one of the two other occupants of the room; both identical to the last freckle; however Hermione recognised, still in her form that the owner of that voice was Fred.

"Absolutely brilliant 'Mione, considering you used to be such a stick in the mud, and had I been un-aware that only you have this form, I wouldn't have thought you had it in you!" gushed the counter-part of the previous speaker.

Hermione grinned widely at this, true after the downfall of Voldemort she had loosened up a bit, realising that doing something really stupid just for the fun of it might actually make you feel better, and true, she no longer had a birds nest that she had the audacity to call hair, and including the obvious normal changes that occur to didn't really feel she had changed all that much at all.

"I only did it so as not to wake anybody, and besides with Fred and George here I figured it a good time to go sneaking around and see if I overhear anything, to prevent another occurrence like last time" she said, looking over at the twins.

"Aw c'mon 'Mione, it was harmless, and your lucky we improved it, otherwise it would have made your hair fall out" piped up Fred

Hermione felt her jaw drop "Well thankyou, I feel honoured" she said among snickering from all four boys, "But just so you know Messrs Weasley's, my hair still flashes hot pink from time to time" as soon as she said this she wished she hadn't, the four boys, while trying to contain their laughter before, seemed unable to do so now, as they burst out laughing.

"Anyway Hermione" Harry managed after a few minutes of trying to catch his breath. "When did you get here? You were supposed to come at 3:30 this afternoon"

Hermione smiled suddenly as to why she had arrived at 12 Grimmauld Place so late. "Because" she said brightly "I've gotten my Hogwarts letter, AND." she said a little louder realising that the boys were about to speak "I got Head Girl!"

A round of Congratulations was sounded until Harry voiced his question "Yeah, but that doesn't exactly explain why you decide to show at midnight does it?"

"Oh well, my parents decided to invite the family over to celebrate, and it only ended a while ago" she said quickly "I was going to leave it and come tomorrow, but my parents were going to drive up to my aunties early in the morning."

"It's good that you did though" said George "Mum and Sirius were beginning to have kitten" a silence greeted his statement so he continued "You know how mum gets, and Sirius reckoned you got attacked by Death Eaters or something"

"Oh" Hermione said, quite surprised, "But they've apprehended all the Death Eaters last I heard, I mean I would have owled, but its no point when it would've arrived here only a few minutes before myself"

"He's just worried 'Mione" Harry said quietly

Sirius' presence would always be a source of wonderment. After falling through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries in their fifth year, well everyone had thought him dead; the problem was that, not even the ministry itself knew what this Veil was exactly. During the war the studies were intensified on the Veil, and what they found was, that it was more of a holding place than anything else. Time just plainly did not exist. Further studies on it, showed that what ever goes in, can also come out, with the exception that something of equal value replace it.

This information had stunned people, especially Harry, because, if what they were saying was true, Sirius was alive and exactly like he was when he went in. The only problem was, that as a convicted murderer, there was really no point in doing anything, as he would have been arrested.

Hermione remembered those days as one of the worst. She couldn't even begin to comprehend Harry's anger when he was told that for the time being it would be detrimental to Sirius' life if they had him brought back. However six months later, a group of death eaters had been caught, among them was Bellatrix Lestrange and Peter Pettigrew. The news that Pettigrew was alive and caught among death eaters shocked the wizarding world to no end, and after being forced to take Veritaserum and undergo questioning, the Minister of Magic was forced to admit Sirius Black's innocence.

Harry it seemed was on his last temper strings, but as it happened Dumbledore proposed that the person who banished Sirius beyond the Veil in the first place should be sufficient in replacing him there, and although moral issues arose, it was settled that it was better to have an innocent man out here rather than living in caution that somebody guilty of some of the worst crimes ever escape yet again. And so it was that Bellatrix had been fronted to replace him.

Hermione didn't really remember the re-union that happened when Sirius got out, it was all too much on everybody involved, it seems just like a blur, but then it hadn't really lasted too long, as the war decided to erupt to its full extent a few days later.

Bringing Hermione out of her revere was a knock on the door, looking around she smiled, it was as if thinking of him had summoned him.

"Hermione, when did you come? I didn't hear you come in or even go up the stairs." Sirius said standing in the door way smiling, he had changed over the months after the war, he finally cut his hair, but still left it stylishly long, and it seemed that freedom suited him just fine, he was always smiling now.

Hermione was about to reply when Ron cut in front of her "She snuck up in her Panther form, nearly gave us a heart attack!" he said, and dramatically placing his hand over his heart.

"Ah" started Sirius with a twinkle in his eyes "the reason for the banshee type screech is answered, I thought it was my mothers portrait again" he finished winking, as Fred, George and Harry tried to stifle they're laughter, causing Ron to go his brilliant shade of red.

"Oh come on Sirius you've gone and embarrassed our 'ickle Ronikins" Hermione couldn't help herself say it, she knew just how much Ron hated people saying that, which again caused him to turn more red, and start grumbling under his breath. She turned back to Sirius and opened her arms wide and said "Are you Mr Black just going to stand in the doorway or are you going to give me a proper welcome?"

For a moment Hermione thought that she saw him pale slightly, before he walk over and gave her a warm hug. "Heard from Dumbledore you made Head Girl, Congratulations 'Mione" he said in her ear. As she made to move away, her long necklace with the pendant under the shirt brushed along Sirius' hand "What's that?" he asked almost instantly.

Hermione figured there was no point in hiding it, she did in third year and the secret was exposed to her friends anyway. "It's my time turner" she stated simply, pulling it out. She heard two groans coming from Harry and Ron.

"Don't tell us you resumed all your classes for N.E.W.T's again, do you want a reminder of what it was like in third year?" Ron said bemused

Although slightly miffed at his statement, Hermione would admit that in her third year things didn't go exactly as planned, but she simply put it down as being way to young for that kind of a responsibility. The thing that miffed her was that Ron seemed to forget that her studies came a close second to her dearest friends. Yes at the age of 17 she was considered one of the pretty girls in school, yes she had dated a few times, but Hermione's studying was a lot more important to think about than all those other things. "Ron, I'm perfectly capable in handling it now, besides I didn't take every subject"

"What? You skipped Divination?" he shot

Ok, well that put her in her place. "" she smiled sheepishly to the round of laughter that sounded.

"OK, everyone to bed, now!" stated Sirius suddenly "Or Molly will have my head if she wakes up" leading them out of the little room steering them towards the stairs. Hermione was trailing her hand along the banister when suddenly someone shouted.

"NO!! Don't touch the ban-." shouted Fred, but before he could finish what he was saying it was too late, there was a loud bang that shook the floors when Hermione got flung and sent tumbling down the stairs case. In all the confusion she felt a crack in her leg, but before she could register what it was she felt the time turner around her neck. Reaching for it so it didn't smash, she neared the bottom of the stairs flinging out her arm to break her fall. Too late did she realise that she was holding the time turner in that hand, and before her head hit the bottom step, she felt a sharp pain in her hand and a heard a tinkling of glass, when everything went black.

The five men who had run down the stairs in hopes to stop her falling all the way had stopped dead in their tracks as they witnessed the girl before them fade to nothing. Looking around frantically, they all wondered what had happened. Then the four boys, looked to Sirius for an answer and all they got was a wide eyed Sirius saying, almost to himself.

"So it really was her"

A/N: Love it? Hate it? Please tell me. If you got any suggestions, they're welcome, constructive criticism welcomed with open plz review!