*James POV*

I yawned, smothering the sound with the palm with my hand.

"Keep it down, would you? The last thing we need to do is get caught out of bed after curfew let alone in Professor Dumbledore's office." Sirius gibed, continuing to rifle through the paper documented in the pale yellow file cabinets.

"We've triple checked his records, mate, there's no Ron Weasley, a Granger or even a Potts. This is hopeless," I sighed out, plumping down onto the stone flooring in resignation, giving up on the thought of reuniting Lilah with her old friends.

"You can't give up yet, Prongs! Only because Dumbledore doesn't have records of them doesn't mean that there isn't any in the world! We've got to be smart about this, mate." He waved the Muggle light nicked from Remus' trunk around wildly as he protested, sliding silently along the floor in his black ankle socks because apparently 'shoes are for Muggles'.

"What are you doing, Padfoot? We've already checked those cabinets," I scratched my nose, attempting to keep another yawn at bay.

We'd been at this for hours now because someone refused to use magic and instead wanted to do it muggle style. It was a bloody wretched idea if you ask me.

"Prongs mate, we don't have her friends files-"

"No shit," I mumbled under my breath.

"-But, we do have hers." He finished smugly, pulling out the documents from the dark blue filing cabinet labelled 'L'.

My eyes lit up as I released where he was headed, a grin splitting my lips at the thought of soon going back to bed.

He dropped the cream folder onto the desk, riffling through its contents. "Well this is odd," he mumbled, pushing the dark curls out of his face as it scrunched up in confusion.

"What is?"

"There are no records of Lilah before September 1st this year – that day we found her by the lake. It's like she didn't exist."

My eyes scanned the few pages that there was, noticing that the only personal information other than her name was a date – October the 11th, 1980.

"But it's only 1976? I don't get it." Pads whispered.

"And didn't she say that she transferred from Beauxbatons? That should've been listed in her transcript and y'know also her parents, their contact details and y'know actual bloody information!"

"Do you- do you think that maybe it could be her date of birth?" Pads breathed out, shock lacing his words as if he couldn't believe that he was even suggesting it.

"No way! That's just not possible!" I whisper shouted, clutching at my hair tightly.

"Prongs mate-"

"Dumbledore probably just made a typo," I ground out forcefully, not willing to entertain the idea of my girlfriend being from the future.

"Now that was a stupid suggestion," he chuckled, shoving the loose pages back into the folder.

--

I sat on my bed, half-heartedly tying my tie as I fought off sleep as Padfoot bounded towards me, clutching a piece of paper tightly between his hands.

"Okay so I have a compilation of all the possible reasons as to why Lilah had patches in her records," he leapt onto the bed next to me, adjusting the yellow Muggle pencil behind his ear, waiting for my nod before continuing. "Okay, so number five is that she is a pirate on the run and couldn't risk everyone finding out so she stole some of her records-"

I coughed loudly, failing at concealing my laughter. "Maybe not," I grinned, gesturing for the next idea.

"Number four is that she's in witness protection and three is that she's an undercover agent and can't risk anyone blowing her cover."

"Possibly," I nodded my head, mulling over the ideas, "but that doesn't explain the date."

"Just wait! My favourite is number two and that's that she's secretly a mermaid!" He grinned enthusiastically, bouncing on the bed excitedly.

"Probably not," I pursed my lips, not sure whether or not to take this seriously.

He shrugged, having already accepted the unlikeliness. "Lastly is that she's a time traveller from the future."

"No," I shook my head, knowing that she would've told me if she was, "no way."

"Think about it, Prongs! This is the most likely – it explains the date because that's her birth date, it explains why Remus didn't think that they were truly cousins because they aren't. It explains the lack of information on her record and why we found her by the lake that day – because she had just arrived! She looked like hell mate, and she always used to talk about a war-"

"What war?" I interrupted sharply, not liking how much Sirius knew about my girlfriend.

"You're acting like I haven't been best friends with Lilah since pretty much the start of school, only because she doesn't confide in you doesn't mean that she doesn't confide in me. I was the one to help her through her night terrors, James, hell I still do! Stop acting like a jealous git and get over it," he growled, rolling his eyes before stalking out the room.

"I swear everyone knows more about her than I do," I sighed sadly, realising that I just majorly fucked up with Pads. "Far out."