She heard the creak of the door opening as she lay on the couch still wearing the dress James and Sirius had picked out for her to where to Lily's party. She'd hurried home and collapsed there not bothering to do anything else. And now, half an hour later, she still lay there as Natalie came into the house with her date.

Hermione sat up as the lights were turned on and looked over at Natalie.

She was holding the hand of a shorter man, a little taller than Natalie and about the same height as Hermione; he had light brown hair and a kind smile on his face.

"Taylor?" Natalie questioned as she watched her friend with a concerned face, Hermione looked like a mess. She looked over at the man, "Cameron, this is my room mate Taylor, Taylor this is Cameron."

"Hi." Hermione said miserably.

Cameron smiled politely, "Hi."

Natalie looked over at Cameron, "I think that we should probably… end the date." She finished lamely.

Cameron nodded, "Of course. Uh, I'll call you."

"Yeah…" She said with a slightly dreamy smile. He leaned down and quickly kissed her.

"Bye." He turned and walked out the door.

Natalie smiled after him as if in a bit of a trance and then closed the door behind him quietly. She turned to Hermione with a sympathetic look and walked over sitting beside her, "What happened?"

Hermione shook her head, "I don't know. It's just… Sirius."

"Again?" Natalie questioned,

"No." Hermione answered miserably, "He kissed me."

Natalie blinked and sighed, "So, what's the problem? You don't like him?"

"No… I like him, I guess…" Hermione said quietly,

Natalie blinked once more seeming more confused than ever, "What is it?"

"It's complicated." Hermione admitted, "I can't tell you."

Natalie sighed and leaned back into the couch, "Taylor, I don't know how to help you."

Hermione looked over at Natalie and watched her for a very longtime, she was dying to tell someone the truth. Dying to tell Natalie what had happened, what the problem was. But could she? Could she reveal that she was from the future that she knew what was going to happen to the world?

"Are you alright Taylor?" Natalie asked.

No. She couldn't tell Natalie, she couldn't tell anyone.

"Yeah… I just, I need some advice." Hermione said, "What would you do?"

"I'd go for it." Natalie answered honestly, "Sometimes in life you can't keep second guessing, you can't keep wondering what's going to happen, how bad it's going to be. Sometimes, you've just got to jump. You've got to see what happens."

---

Hermione stood quietly outside of Sirius's door. She kept fidgeting as she worried about the outcome of the conversation she was about to have. She hadn't seen Sirius since he kissed her the night before and she had run. She was nervous about what was going to happen, how he would react to her. Would he be mad? Or happy?

She wished she knew this part of the future.

He opened the door and stood silently just watching her for a longtime.

"Can I come in? Please." She said quietly, trying to break the silence.

He stood back and opened the door wider indicating that she could enter. She slipped in and turned around and Sirius closed the door then turned back to her.

"I need to talk to you." She said, "About yesterday."

"Why did you run?" He asked watching her with hurt in his eyes. She felt a sinking feeling inside her, she had hurt him.

She looked down, "I- It's complicated Sirius."

"Why?" Sirius asked his words were harsh, "What is so bloody complicated about it!"

Hermione swallowed, "It just is."

"I don't understand why you didn't stay! Why couldn't you have just told me, 'I'm so sorry Sirius, I don't feel that way.' What is so bloody hard about that?" He growled loudly, showing his anger from being hurt by her.

"I'm sorry." Hermione said, "I really am Sirius."

Sirius shook his head, "I don't care Taylor, I really don't. I just want to know why, not why you would reject me, but why would you run?"

"It's complicated." She said once more.

Sirius slammed his hand down on the nearby table, "I don't bloody care how complicated it is!"

"I can't tell you Sirius!" Hermione said, "Why can't you just accept that?"

"Because I can't stop thinking about you!" Sirius snapped back at her, "You're always in my head, every time I do anything I think of you! It's always you. You have no idea how bloody long I wanted to kiss you! And when I finally do you just take off. You leave. I want to know why you would do that!"

Hermione shook her head, "Sirius…"

"Just tell me." He hissed at her.

"I can't."

"At least tell me why, after that go ahead take off. That's what you're good at right." Sirius told her angrily. Hermione could feel her anger boiling inside.

"What I'm good at?"

"Yeah! You seemed to be pretty good at taking off last night, is that what you did when you came here? Run from Birmingham?"

"I was scared!" Hermione shouted back at him anger seething through her, "I was scared because I shouldn't like you, I shouldn't feel like this about you… but I do."

Sirius stared at her, shocked and confused. They stood in silence for a longtime after Hermione's outburst.

"You feel something for me?" Sirius asked quietly.

Hermione nodded, "yeah." She said her voice cracking a little.

Sirius took a deep breath then walked forward seeming determined and kissed Hermione roughly. She responded quickly and hungrily as if she had been waiting for this the entire time they had been talking. It slowly turned from fierce to soft and slow, and Sirius pulled back his hand resting on the back of Hermione's neck their foreheads were still touching.

"Sirius," Hermione said quietly, "I want to try it."

"Try what love?" Sirius questioned still seeming a bit dazed by the kiss.

Hermione felt her heart beating loudly in her chest, her head telling her not to do this, that it was a foolish move. The only thing that could come from it was pain. "Us." She whispered and leaned into to kiss him again.

---

When she opened the door Ron was a little surprised. Natalie Hood did not look as he expected her to look, he expected someone a little taller and maybe more bookish, the Hermione type. But this woman was very short maybe five foot, she had the type of brown hair that may as well be black, but it was brown and light blue friendly eyes. This woman should be in her mid thirties but to Ron she looked about twenty-five.

"Can I help you?" She asked kindly.

Ron nodded, "Are you Natalie Hood?"

"Well, I used to be." She answered kindly, "I'm married now. I have been for nine years. Who are you?"

"Ron Weasley." He answered.

Natalie blinked, "I've heard of you… didn't you help Harry Potter in the war."

Ron nodded proudly, "Yeah, we're best mates actually."

Natalie nodded and smiled kindly at him, "Well, thank you for helping to defeat You-Know-Who."

"Your welcome." Ron said a little surprised by Natalie's words, "Um.. I need to talk to you about someone I think you may know."

"Oh, well, I guess you should probably come in." She opened the door for him and Ron stepped in, "One second I'll go make a cup of tea." She said and hurried off into the kitchen.

Ron looked around the room it was quite cozy. There was an open arch way to the right where the kitchen was and in the room he stood in was a quite open a spacious place, there as a fireplace with a couch sitting facing it. Above was some muggle thing that Harry and Hermione had told him was a Televiston or something. There were some plants on either side of the fireplace and some paintings on the walls.

Natalie walked back in, "I put the kettle on. Lets sit." She said and sat down on the couch, "So, who was it you wanted to ask me about?"

"Taylor Smith." Ron said calmly but immediately started to regret his words as Natalie's face darkened.

She seemed to be holding back her anger as she said; "What about Taylor?"

"Well," He took a deep breath and then got ready to plunge, "My friend Hermione Granger disappeared a week ago"-

"What does this have to do with Taylor?" Natalie hissed.

"We think that she was sent into the past, and… we think she was Taylor." Ron said and waited for Natalie's reaction.

"Get out." She growled out and stood up pointing at the door, "Get out of my house. I am not going to put up with this! I will not let you pretend that Taylor is this friend of yours!"

"She is!" Ron exclaimed, "Look we talked to Remus Lupin. Do you remember him?"

Natalie nodded her anger seeming to slowly dissipate.

Ron took a deep breath glad to see Natalie starting to listen, "He met Taylor, and he also met Hermione… they're the same person according to him."

Natalie sunk back down to her sit, "Taylor came from the future?"

Ron nodded, "Um, look, I just need to know anything about her that you know."

Natalie looked over at Ron with tears in her eyes, "She used to go to the homeless shelter I volunteered at, we became good friends and when she was looking for a place to live I offered her to live here."

"Here?" Ron questioned looking at Natalie, "Hermione lived here."

Natalie nodded, "I never had any real reason to move." She took a deep breath trying to hold back tears, "She lived here for a long time until she moved out…"

"Where did she move?" Ron asked curiously.

"She moved in with Sirius." Natalie said, "Before the whole thing with Lily and James…"

Ron stared at her wide-eyed, "She moved in with Sirius… you knew Sirius and Lily and James?"

Natalie nodded, "They were Taylor's friends and after she died… Sirius and I grew a lot closer over the grief."

"So, she did die?" Ron questioned looking at Natalie.

Natalie nodded once more and tears fell from her eyes, "There is no way she could have survived." Natalie wiped some of the tears away, "She was hit with the Killing Curse."

"Lupin said that they never found her body." Ron said trying to get some hope into the older woman.

"They didn't." Natalie answered, "But there were over a dozen witnesses of her being hit… she's dead."

Ron nodded numbly feeling as if all his hopes were dashed, he slowly stood up and smiled kindly at Natalie, "Thank you for your help."

Natalie didn't really acknowledge him, as she was too busy crying for her long lost friend. Ron walked out of her house feeling worse than he ever could. First, for making Natalie cry and second for what he learned while still there.

He walked down the streets his heart aching at the thought of one of his dear friends being dead. He'd never thought it would be Hermione… even in the war, he always thought that she would make it through, that if anyone was going to die it would be him or even Harry. Never Hermione.

After the war ended he had been so relieved that they had all made it, they were all alive. He thought that was nothing that could hurt them now. That they had survived the worst and made it out alive, what could kill them now other than time?

And here she died, but not even in her own time, her body nowhere to be found. He found himself wishing that they could go back and prevent her from ever going.

"Ron!"

Ron turned miserably to see Harry running after him, he shook his head tears in his eyes, "It's too late Harry…"

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked as he slowed to Ron's pace once reaching him.

"There were a dozen witnesses Harry, they all saw the curse hit her." Ron croaked out,

Harry smiled at Ron, "There's something you need to see Ron."

"What? Harry, Hermione is dead."

Harry shook his head, "No she's not."

Ron blinked, "What are you talking about?"

Harry grinned, "Come on, we've got to go to Malfoy Manor."

"What?" Ron growled, "We're going to that slimy piece of scum's house?"

Harry nodded, "Unless you don't want to get Hermione back, alive."

Ron sighed and rolled his eyes, "Fine. But only for Hermione."

---

"Where are they?" Ginny asked as she paced in the Library, "You'd think that they would be here by now."

Draco sighed, "They'll be here soon Gin. Their precious golden trio is down to two, if they don't come to get her back they'll just be the golden blockheads."

Ginny glared at him but had a hint of a smile on her face. "That's mean."

"You thought it was funny." Draco said and noticed Ginny smile then turn away. "They're here." Draco said as he stood up heading for the door.

"What? How do you know?" Ginny asked.

Draco rolled his eyes, "Part of the security measures Gin, I can feel it whenever someone comes on the manor grounds."

"How do you know it's them?" Ginny asked once more, curious to know more about this security measure.

"I don't." Draco answered and continued walking to the front door, "But who else would come here?"

"Good point." Ginny said and they headed up to the door where Ron and Harry were just entering.

Ron glared at Draco, "Alright, what did you want us to see? What is this thing?"

Draco lifted the book and handed it over to Harry and Ron, "Third paragraph on the left page." He said calmly.

Ron and Harry read it carefully, Harry looked up after finishing it as Ron reread it.

"It's.." Harry said seeming bewildered by it.

Ron grinned as he looked from the book, "This is it! This is what happened to Hermione." He let out a small laugh of relief, "We can bring her back."

---

Author's Note: No, I'm not going to tell you how they can bring her back, not for a very long time. Anyways, what did you think about the Hermione/Sirius part? I went over it a couple of times and I'm still not sure if I'm entirely satisfied, but I'll post it anyways. Also, I know that the last chapter was very long and I considered not putting in scenes that were basically the same, but it worked better with them in there.

R&R
Live Fast Die Never