Hermione & The Marauders….oh, and the Twins….
It was Christmas break and the golden trio had opted to stay at Hogwarts this year, seeing as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had decided to go on a mini honeymoon, thanks to their children's prodding. Currently, Hermione Granger was running down a corridor attempting to find her best friend, Harry Potter.
Fred, one of the infamous Weasley twins, had stolen her satchel, and it happened to have her diary in it. She had no intention of allowing him to realize she had a crush on him. Therefore, she was planning on borrowing the Marauders'' map from Harry. If she could find him that is…She turned another corner, colliding with someone. They both stumbled, and Hermione nearly tackled him in a hug once she realized it was in fact the boy she'd been looking for.
"Harry!" she squealed. She handed him back his glasses. "I've been looking for you everywhere." She said breathlessly, as Harry simply looked bemused. Hermione paused suddenly, after catching a glimpse of his eyes. "Harry, did you get contacts, and if so, why are you still wearing your glasses?" he opened his mouth to say something, but she just smiled at him before continuing,
"Harry, if it's because everyone's always telling you that you look exactly like James, but you have Lilly's eyes, don't worry about it. Regardless of how you alter you appearance, people will always look up to you, and find some way to become in awe of you. Besides, Ginny might be a tad upset. You know how much she loves that shade of green." Hermione said laughing.
"Erm…yeah.." he finally managed. Hermione looked at him curiously, because his voice sounded deeper than usual.
"Oh! I'm rambling. Sorry. But I actually had a reason to find you today, I need the map. It's urgent. Fred stole my bag and it's probably his idea of a joke. But I can't find him, and so I figured you wouldn't mind letting me use the map."
"Er….what map?" he asked innocently. Hermione simply raised an eyebrow, in question.
"Did you lose it? The Marauders Map, you know, the one that the twins gave you in third year, that we use all the time." As he continued to feign all knowledge of the map, she finally groaned. "For crying out loud Harry! The map that your dad made! Remember! Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, Wormtail. Must I go on?" she said glaring at him now.
"Oh! Right. Sorry, momentary lapse in memory." He said grinning. She rolled her eyes.
'You've been testing the twins' products again haven't you. However brilliant those two may be, their creations can be rather dangerous. But can I have the map? I need to find those two, and you know the only way is that map. I mean, they know this school better than anyone." She said grinning now.
"What? What about the Marauders?" Harry asked innocently. She rolled her eyes and shrugged.
"Sure, they hold the most detentions, but I doubt that they even knew more than the twins. I mean, the twins don't care about school work at all. Remember, they got three O.W.L.S. a piece, regardless of their brilliance. They spent the time creating pranks and mayhem. I must admit that they are really brilliant." At Harry's raised eyebrow, she added. "Tell anyone I said that and I will hex you and then I'll use the imperious curse to have Ginny use her bat boogey hex on you."
"Er, what house are you in again?" he asked. She rolled her eyes and punched him in the shoulder.
"Hilarious! You know what I mean, Ginny's crazy about you, just as much as you are about her, she'd never hex you willingly. Well, I suppose maybe if you were being a prat. But anyways, I need the map! I don't have a lot of time. If I don't find him, it'll be bad." Harry narrowed his eyes, and nodded.
"Okay, it's in my room. Come on let's go." At that she nodded and they both began hurrying towards Gryffindor tower. Once they got inside, after Hermione had learned that they'd changed the password to hippogriff, they headed up to the dorm room, where three other boys were lounging.
"So, where's Ron?" she asked peering around.
"Erm….dunno?" Harry asked, rather than said. Hermione gave him an odd look before walking to his bed, not realizing that he had locked and silenced the room.
"Oi! Prongsi! What's going on? I thought you were after Red still, why the sudden change in girls?" a boy who sounded vaguely familiar, asked grinning from his bed. Hermione raised an eyebrow at her best friend.
"Is there a reason you're going by the nicknames now? I mean, it's not like you're actually the marauders." She asked, while all the other boys looked up curiously.
"We need to talk." Harry said quickly.
"Come on Harry, I need the bloody map! If he freaking has my bag any longer, it's not going to turn out all that great."
"You told her about the map?" the other black haired boy said sitting up. Hermione turned to glare at him.
"Who are you? Wait a minute." She turned back to Harry, and glared at him. "You're telling the others about the map? Since when? Ron's going to kill you!" she said shaking her head.
"What is she on about? Does she seriously not know who I am?" the other boy said, while the extra two stared at the situation looking rather amused.
"Not only do I not know who you are, but I don't really care." She said thourghly agitated, by the lack of progress she'd made. "Harry, come on. You know how Fred is, he'll blow this entire situation out of proportion and then I'll simply die. I have to stop him, therefore I need the map!" at this the boy stood up.
"I have a few questions." He said looking at her, she didn't bother glancing up at him. "For instance—" but Hermione had cut him off.
"look, I don't know you, are you new? If so, sit back down over there, and let me talk to my friend, who've I known far longer than you." Hermione was seriously growing angry and was completely unaware of the other two boys gaping at her.
"Why do you keep calling him Harry?" the boy aksed loudly. "His name is not Harry."
"Yes it is."
"No it isn't." this came quietly from well…Harry. Hermione stared at him for a moment, before just losing it.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" at her tone all four boys jumped. "If this is some kind of prank, it stops now! I am in no mood for these stupid games, I have to find the twins before they raid my satchel!"
"Okay, now you're closer, just drop the Harry, and you know who he is." The same boy joked. She stared at him.
"What are you on about?" she asked finally. "That is Harry! I've known the guy ever since first year. better yet how do you not know? The Boy Who Lived…ring any bells?" at this they looked even more confused.
"My name isn't Harry." He said quietly. "We simply want to know how you know of the map." She stared at him, her mouth dangling.
"What are you talking about?" she hissed. "Next thing your going to be telling me is that he's Sirius, and that Professor Lupin is going to be running around somewhere!"
"Erm—well, that is Sirius." He said nodding to the loud mouthed boy. In which case Hermione stared at him. "Are you okay?"
"That isn't possible." She whispered. "The veil."
"Er—what?" he asked.
"Harry, I never thought that you would pull something like this! We're friends, after all we've been through, from Fluffy to Voldemort, seriously," she was too upset to realize all three were staring at her as she said the name.
"Listen, we honestly, don't know any Harry, or Ron. For that matter, we don't even know who the twins are. We simply would like to know how you know about the map." The look alike Harry said. She stared at him.
"move your bangs." She said.
"Er, what?" He asked.
"Move your bangs away from your forehead, or I'll do it." She said glaring at him. Thankfully he complied and she walked closer to him, and then her mouth dropped open.
"Can you explain what that was about?" the annoying prat from the corner asked. She continued to stare at the boy in front of her.
"Your…..scar." she whispered.
"Scar, I don't have a scar." He said confused.
"She's off her rocker." A voice piped up from the background. They all turned to look at a rather mousey boy, Hermione stared at him.
"Oh my god." She whispered, backing into a corner. At this they all stared at her even more. "Oh no. oh no oh no oh no." she floated into a trance, as she began hyperventilating. What on earth was going on?
"Er…are you okay?" the third piped up. Hermione was now clutching onto the nearest bed post, so that she wouldn't launch herself at him. Peter Pettigrew, she'd know anywhere. He was the same rat who she had met during her third year.
"no." she said. "I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore." But before she could do anything, Sirius stopped her.
"No. First, you need to talk to us. How the bloody hell do you know about the map?" he asked. As they all four watched cautiously.
'Erm….that's not important. What is important is that you know I'm not going ot tell anyone." She said quickly.
"Really. How are we supposed to trust you?" he asked warily.
"You don't." she said simply. "Obvioulsy, I'm not going to tell. I mean, if I do, you'll all be arrested and the map will eb confiscated and tehn my world would never be the same, so obviously I'm not going ot tell anyone." She babbled quickly, still trying to wrap her head around this whole situation.
"Why would we be arrested?" Remus asked sharply. She looked up and stared.
"Professor Lupin, er…lupin…."she quickly corrected. "You wouldn't. They would." She said pointing at the other three. "You all know this, why must I explain?" she asked.
"How much do you know?" James asked.
"Um…pretty much everything…and then some." She mumbled. "Listen, to make this short, you're Prongs, Moony, Padfoot….and…Wormtail." she growled the last name. "You three, are unregistered animangi, because Moony is a werewolf." She had them staring at her gaping.
"What else…oh, right, you four love pranks, but Moony, is better at pulling them, and prefers not to get caught. The only reason that you two get caught so often, is because you covering for him." She said, pointedly at Pettigrew.
"You're in love with Lilly Evans, and she is pretending to harbor anger at you. Which I can understand why." At this they were gaping.
"How do you know all of this?" james finally asked.
"I'm the most brilliant witch in my year." she said softly. "or so I've been told. All you have to do is pay attention to the facts." With that she swept out of the room, before any could stop her, unlocking the door and sprinting down the steps. She didn't stop until she was in front of Dumbledore's office, at which she began to rapidly yell out different types of candies. Finally out of frustration and, a certain craving, she yelled, "Sour Gummy Worms."
To her immense surprise it actually worked. Since when did Professor Dumbledore use muggle candy? She asked herself as she climbed the revolving staircase. She knocked rapidly on the door, which swung open immediately and she saw a younger looking Dumbledore.
"Ah, how may I help you?" he asked. She immediately introduced herself and began speaking of how she came to be there. By the time she finished, he was nodding, and simply said, "Well, this is quite interesting. I suggest that you simply join classes, what year were you in?"
"Erm..sixth." she answered quickly.
"How about we set you up in seventh? There's an opening in the dorm room up there, which house Miss Granger?"
"Gryffindor." At this his eyes beamed and nodded.
"Very good very good. If you head back up there, you shall find a trunk full of school things, and clothes. You shall receive your time table in the morning. I assume artihmacy is one of your favorite classes?"
"yes. Thankyou Professor." With that she hurried back up the stairs and into the common room. Thankfully for her, the room was empty of all whom she had met, and would eventually meet, so she was able to reach the dorm wuite easily and soon found her four poster and trunk. She fell asleep rather quickly, grateful at least that it was Christmas break so there wouldn't be a lot of questions from students.
The next morning, she awoke, and immediately transfigured one of school uniforms into a pair of jeans, a zip up hoodie, a tee shirt, and a camisole. Before sliding her chucks on. After she was dressed, she hurried down to breakfast, making sure to grab a book out of her trunk, seeing she had yet to read the entire book. She was rather early to breakfast and so she made sure to sit at the end of the table that was closest to the teachers and began eating as she started speed reading through "A Standard Book of Spells, Grade 7."
One good thing would come of this, at least she would get her seventh year completed regardless of what happened in the fight with Voldemort. She continued eating and reading, in a quiet bliss when a nosy black haired boy sat down across from her. She wouldn't have bothered to look up, had he not started speaking to her.
"So, we never did manage to catch your name yesterday." He said in a voice, that Hermione supposed was deemed as alluring by other girls. "Care to share?"
"Listen Sirius," she said cautiously. "I'm no one of importance. You do not want to know me, nor do your friends."
"Aw, don't be like that darling." Hermione wrinkled her nose.
"Erm. Please don't call me that. It's too weird. But honestly, I'm doing you a favor. If you want one of your friends to die, by all means keep talking to me." At her last sentence his eyes narrowed.
"I'd watch yourself." He growled. "Don't go insulting my friends, just cause you're a girl, doesn't mean I won't hex you." Hermione smirked at him.
"I'd like to see you try to best me in a duel." She said, before muttering, "besides it isn't like you haven't tried to kill him before."
"What was that?" he asked suddenly. Hermione jumped and quickly shook her head, saying nothing. With that she quickly picked up her book and hurried away from the breakfast table. She went straight to the library. She had to be careful, very, very careful.
She spent the rest of the break living in the library, even more than she had to at home due to the fact that she had to learn the first semester of seventh year, as well as review the second semester of sixth year. But by the time the first day of school in second term rolled around, she was ready.
Hermione was doing her best to stay out of the spotlight, but the Marauders were making that exceedingly difficult. They were constantly attempting to eat with her, which she would usually avoid by hurrying out of the room and eating in the kitchens. This evening, for dinner, she didn't even bother going to the Great Hall. Instead she turned and went straight to the kitchens. She was still wanting to promote S.P.E.W. but she knew that at the moment it would be completely impossible, so she simply would talk with the house elves while she ate, and made sure to be exceedingly kind to them.
Unfortunately for her, she wasn't the only one with this idea. Halfway through her meal, the portrait swung open and allowed four annoying boys to enter. Once she realized who had walked in, Hermione's appetite had walked out.
"Well, if it isn't our little mysterious friend." James Potter said. Hermione quickly looked back at her plate. It was a bit odd to see exactly how much they looked alike. James and Harry, could pass for twins, just substitute Lilly's eyes for Harry's.
"WE've missed the charming conversations." Sirius added as he sat down next to her. Remus walked in and simply smiled at her, which she returned, and Pettigrew did as well, except, Hermione began twirling her wand under the table.
"We never did get formal introductions." Remus added. Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"I'm sorry to disappoint, but you aren't going to get them." She said smiling at the three marauders. Sirius and James, both seemed to pout.
"Can I have your name at least?" Sirius asked, as he leaned over to breathe into her ear. Honestly, this was getting a bit creepy. He was so much older than her, for crying out loud he was like an uncle to her!
"Erm….no. Sorry. I'll see you all later, bye Remus." But unfortunately for her, Sirius had slipped an arm around her shoulders, forcing her to stay put. This was getting worse all the time.
"So, you have a thing for Remus." James said smiling. Hermione blushed. Eww. Same problem as with Sirius, all though, she doubted that he'd actually pursue it.
"Er…." Hermione began, and without a thought continued. "Yes." She felt Sirius's shoulder's droop, and she continued. "I mean, who wouldn't?" she continued brightly. Remus was a deep pink at this point.
"I'm sorry, about having to tell you in front of your friends, but I'm an exceedingly bad liar, and it's just easier not to try." Nothing else could be said, for a moment later, the portrait swung open once more, with a pair of boys talking loudly.
"Well, we need to find her. I mean, after all, this is a bit of a problem." Hermione's jaw dropped open. She knew that voice. As both boys came into view, they all stared at each other.
"Hermione!" they both yelled excitedly. She however had lost all thought. The only one in her mind was, her purse, which Fred was still carrying over his shoulder. Somehow, with the new adrenaline pumping through her system she was able to knock off Sirius' arm and stand.
"Fred Weasley I'm going to bloody kill you!" she yelled, and that's all Fred needed to turn and run after muttering an "oh, that's not good." George stifled a laugh at the four baffled faces that seemed rather familiar.
"Lover's quirrel." He said simply before following his brother and Hermione out of the door. He hurried up, knowing that if Hermione found Fred, htat would be the end of Fred. She was exceptionally talented, and well, when she was angry, she was scarier than their mum. He finally found them, up on the fourth floor, where Hermione had her wand at Fred's throat, and he was attempting to talk his way out of it. George noticed that Hermione had also captured his wand.
"Accio, Fred and Hermione's wand." George said, at which Hermione turned around glaring at her. Luckily for them, they were standing right in front of a passage, so George nodded to Fred, who immediately wrapped his arms around Hermione, so that she couldn't escape while George went to open the passage.
The only problem with this plan was that well, Hermione didn't want to comply. She immediately began yelling at the two of them, and George finally just looked at Fred, as if to say, can't you shut her up? Seeing as Fred was wandless, he did the only thing that he could think of, he spun her around and kissed her. George simply grinned, leave it to Fred. He opened the passage and Fred began to walk her inside, while still kissing her, seeing as Hermione not only was completely out of it, but she was kissing him back. While they were walking, Hermione's hands were holding onto his shirt, while he was tracing the small of her back.
"Okay, you two." George said once they were all inside. He quickly conjured a few chairs, and Hermione was simply staring at Fred.
"What the bloody hell was that for?" she asked him. Fred simply grinned at her and shrugged.
"How else was I supposed to shut you up?" he asked cheekily. "I mean, you were the one who had taken my wand." She rolled her eyes. There was no way that she was going to actually tell him that she had enjoyed that.
"What is going on?" she finally asked. Once her senses had finally came back to her, she suddenly jumped out of her chair. "How'd you two get here?"
"Erm, well….you see…" Fred began uncomfortabley.
"You sort of drank a potion that wasn't a drink." George said quicky. "We did the same. By the way, where are we exactly?"
"Is this potion by chance, let's see, a joke product?" she growled.
"No. of course not." They both said quickly. While George was quite thankful that he had her wand in his back pocket along with Fred's.
"I'm going to kill both of you." She hissed.
"And then how are you planning on getting home?" they asked.
"Lucky." She growled. "By the way, those boys I was being trapped by, those are the Mauraders." At this both boys grinned fiercely. "But at the moment we need to go speak to Professor Dumbledore." At this, they allowed themselves to be led out of the passage way and back down to the, oh so familiar office.
The next morning, Hermione was hiding in the library, she was avoiding all of the guys she knew in this time period, those including the Weasley twins. Unfortunately for her, one, Remus Lupin had discovered her in here. She rolled her eyes, and reminded herself that they did have the map.
"Erm…Hermione…right?" he asked. She nodded, and noted that he looked extremely uncomfortable. "About yesterday….I'm really sorry, but…" Hermione suddenly erupted into giggles.
"Remus." She said, when she had finally caught her breath. "Don't worry, I don't have any romantic interest in you." He instantly looked relieved.
"But why did you say that you did?" he asked appearing confused. She simply grinned and waved a hand.
"You know Sirius. If he thinks that I'm into one of his friends, he'll back off." She said grinning.
"Erm…actually, it's more if his friend is interested." Remus said grinning. "But I applaud the plan." She groaned.
"Great. This is just great." she muttered. "Anything else I should know?" Remus grinned and shrugged. "You know of the lot, most people think you're the really nice, innocent one."
"Yes, what's your point?" he asked grinning.
"You're the most devious." At that he began laughing. "Seriously." She said. "You've got everyone convinced you're this awesome prefect, who is simply one of the sweetest guys in your year." at this Remus was pink again, but still chuckling. "And yet you're the brains behind the Marauders."
"That hurts." A new voice appeared behind Remus. They both looked up grinning to see a pouting Sirius. Hermione simply rolled her eyes.
"It's true." She said with a small smile. "You and James simply do the legwork, okay, so you sometimes come up with devious plans, but normally they're rather reckless, and Remus here has to correct them." Remus was staring at her, as was Sirius.
"Blimey mate." Was all Sirius was able to manage.
"Yep. Got you pegged pretty well," Remus said grinning widely at Sirius' look of indignation.
"Now, if you boys will excuse me, I have to go." Hermione stood, but once more, Sirius interrupted her plans, by draping an arm around her shoulders.
"Ah, don't be like that Mione." At the name she rolled her eyes. "Ah, like it?" he asked.
"nope. I've heard it one two many times." She said grinning. In truth, she loved the name, Sirius was the one who had actually come up with it to begin with. He just randomly created it one day in a letter to her, Ron, and Harry.
"Hermes!" at that nickname, she groaned. As much as she loved the twins, the name they had created, she absolutely loathed. Turning to them, she glared.
"I swear, do you all get together to use the map, and just decide to bug me?" at that Sirius and Remus both jumped up and glared at her.
"You said you wouldn't tell anyone!" Sirius hissed.
"Blimey, Black, Lupin, chill." Fred said. "Let Granger go, we're the ones who told her." At this everyone simply calmed down.
"This is weird." George muttered, as Hermione smirked and nodded.
"How do you two, know about it?" Sirius asked suspiciously.
"Allow me to introduce ourselves, dear Padfoot, and Moony." George began.
"We are Fred," his brother continued.
"And George Weasley, best pranksters"
"That Hogwarts have ever seen." Fred finished, as Hermione grinned at Sirius' look of outrage.
"You two think you can beat us?" he asked smirking. Hermione, at this moment had darted over to the twins, and Sirius was watching her with interest. It was somewhat creeping her out.
"There isn't really much of a competition." George said yawning.
"How about we make it one?" Remus asked. At this everyone looked at him in surprise.
"Excellent." Sirius said. "a little wager among friends?"
"Okay, we can agree to the terms later, but if you win, what do you get?" Fred asked.
"Like you said, we'll agree to the terms later." Sirius said grinning.
"Here, the limits are this," Hermione said, causing all the boys to stare at her in surprise. "Really, you two? You should be ashamed. You know how much trouble Harry, Ron, and I cause." She said admonishing the twins. "Anyways, you prank anyone and everyone, except me."
"Why can't we prank you?" Remus asked grinning. Hermione smirked.
"Do you really want to test me?" she asked returning his grin. When she didn't get an answer, she continued. "With each prank, you get five points. If it's on a slytherin, you get an additional twenty points. As for teachers, you get an additional fifteen points if you can pull one off on them. If you get caught, it doesn't count. You lose everything. But in order for that to happen, you actually have to get detention.
"If you prank an entire house, you get five points, individuals, one." Hermione continued to look thoughtful. "Oh, and if you prank each other, you get six." At this all four boys grinned deviously.
"Oh. You guys cannot rat each other out." She said firmly. "And finally, if you interrupt the other's prank, and make it better, it's considered stealing and you get twenty-five points." All four boys continued grinning.
"Oh. Sirius, I have a little offer for you. The twins win, you leave me alone." She said grinning.
"fine, but when we win, you have to go on a date with me." At this Fred seemed to stiffen. Although Hermione, was sure she imagined it.
"Agreed. We'll set the other terms later on, after classes. Meet in the Room of Requirement?" she offered. All four agreed, and her and the twins, headed out of the library, after Hermione picked up a piece of paper, that she had charmed to write down all of the agreements as she had spoken them.
"This is going to be brilliant." George said gleefully. "Mione, you're on our side….right?" he asked. She rolled her eyes and nodded.
"Why else would I have made that bet?" she asked.
"Do you know how easy this'll be?" Fred asked suddenly grinning from ear to ear. "With your mind, and our talents, ah, this will be heaven." That evening, they spent in the common room planning ideas that they could possibly use.
"What about the joke shop items?" George asked. But Hermione shook her head.
"Someone might take the idea, and then where would you be. If you must use them, use things like Canary Creams, and make sure they think it's a spell." She advised, as the twins' jaws dropped. "Do you think I'm going to screw the future up by alloweing myself to go on a date with Sirius Black?" she asked. They shook their heads quickly.
"Thought so." She said grinning. A few seconds later, a group of giggly girls passed, all of whom were eyeing the twins with great interest. George immediately looked up as one walked towards them. She was rather pretty, with bright red hair.
"Hi." She said shyly. "My name's Molly." At that, the Fred instantly slipped an arm around Hermione's shoulders. "I was wondering if you're related to Arthur Weasley." At that they all visibly relaxed.
"Erm…probably." George said. "I think we're distant cousins. But I dunno, if we've ever met him." He added quickly. At this her face fell and she nodded. "What year are you two in?" he asked.
"Fifth." She said quietly.
"Ah. Give it time." He said reassuring her. "He can't be that blind." At this she perked up immediately and then thanked the three and waltzed off with her friends.
"Wow." Fred said.
"Wow is right. Never thought I'd have to give mum love advice. Oi! You, how could you steal Mione!" Fred feigned innocence. "Right when mum showed up, your arm snaked around her shoulders quicker than Ron, when he smells food."
"Hey, I didn't want mum to hit on me." Fred said holding up his hands in defence.
"Oh, so you leave me to deal with it." George asked.
"Precisely." At this Hermione erupted into laughter, and was soon joined by the twins.
"alright, I'm off to dinner. I'll see you two in the Room of Requirement tonight?" they both nodded and she slipped out of the common room. At dinner she was strangely joined by only James.
"Hey." He said as he slid across the table from her. "I've been informed of the bet that we're meeting about tonight, and I wanted to ask you about some terms, before we join the others." Hermione looked at him warily.
"Like what?" she asked.
"We win, you help me get a girl." Hermione shook her head, and his face fell.
"I'll do it anyways." At this his eyebrow raised. "Which girl?" she asked.
"Well, don't look, but you see that sixth year, with the gorgeous red-hair?" Hermione smiled.
"Lilly Evans?" she asked, not missing a beat.
"You know her?" James asked incredulously.
"I know of her." Hermione corrected. "But, that can change at any time. I mean, I am a girl afterall. But why do you need help?"
"Well, every time I ask her out, she says no, and on occasion, she'll hex me." He said rather sadly. "I don't know what to do anymore. She just keeps saying no…"
"How often do you ask her out?" Hermione asked, while James turned a bit pink.
"At least once a day…." He said. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"For starters, stop. She's probably just annoyed. Secondly, you're a prankster. Therefore, she probably thinks you're joking." At this his eyes went wide.
"are you sure?" he asked glancing down at her. Hermione nodded.
"James, I hang out with all guys. Even before this year. I am always over looked, and I know what it's like to feel like you're the bunt of the joke a lot of the time. Trust me, she probably thinks you're trying to make fun of her." After a bite of chicken she thoughtfully asked. "How do you normally ask her out?"
"Erm, whenever I see her, so mostly in class." At that Hermione groaned.
"I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that she's not the most public of people." At his blank look, she elaborated. "She's quiet isn't she?" at that he nodded. "Okay, step two, the next time that you do ask her out, do it in private. Most girls don't like a public audience. That way, if they don't feel like dating them, neither party, gets hurt."
"I thought all girls liked that, to have public declarations and such." He said puzzled. But Hermione shook her head.
"Very rarely. Most girls, especially ones like Lilly, prefer things to be in private. You've been reading Witch Weekly haven't you?" she asked as an after thought.
"Er…yeah." Hermione began laughing, rather loudly, so that many, including lilly looked over.
"Do yourself a favor. Don't. That magizene is a load of rubbish." Hermione said. "But honestly, if you want Lilly to date you, simply be her friend. Don't be a prat who rubs embarrassment, or your amazing qualities in her face. Simply be her friend, like we're friends. For instance, what would you do if you saw me crying?"
"Erm…I'd probably ask if you're okay…" he said seeming a bit uncomfortable. Hermione grinned and nodded.
"Good. That's what a friend does. Just be there. Don't worry about dating her for the time being. Just be friends."
"Be friends." James repeated, looking down at his plate.
"Oh, and if she does decide to date, do nothing. Be her friend. Be happy for her. Nothing is worse, than having one of your friends blow up at you for going to a ball with someone else." Hermione added quickly.
"You sound like you have experience, from that." James said, looking at her. Hermione nodded and looked down at her plate.
"Two years ago, we had a ball at my school. I went with someone who asked me, and my friend, one of my best friends, told me that I was betraying our other best friend, because we were in a tournament of sorts, and it was a mess." Hermione took a drink of pumpkin juice.
"He kind of ruined the night for me." She said quietly. "What's worse, he asked me as a last resort date." James nodded, and Hermione took another bite of food.
"Don't worry. He's a blind prat if that's the case. You are obviously a quite talented witch, who happens to be quite good-looking." Hermione felt herself blush. "before you say anything, I'm not just saying that. But I do have eyes for someone else." He said chuckling at the last minute.
"Thanks James. I'm glad that someone thinks so." She said grinning at him.
"You mean, besides Sirius?" Hermione groaned. "What?" James asked.
"You can't do anything to help me out, and tell him I'm off limits….or anything?" she asked.
"Sorry Mione, fraid I can't." she nodded absently before they were joined by the twins, who sat on either side of her.
"Hermes!" they both yelled. She rolled her eyes.
"We know, we know, you don't like the nickname." George said.
"Because it reminds you of our old owl." Fred finished.
"Do they always do that?" James asked grinning. Hermione shrugged.
"On occasion. Annoying isn't it." At this, both boys gave mock hurt looks at her. Before they all began laughing. A minute later, and James headed off to the common room. After a questioning look from Fred, she filled them in on what he wanted to know, and they continued the meal in silence.
At around eleven, the three crept out of Gryffindor Tower, in order to go meet the infamous Marauders. She and the twins still couldn't believe this was happening. Hermione had secretly suspected that this had been a lifelong dream of theirs, to see who was the better prankster of the two groups. Hermione had always thought that it was the twins. All they did was prank. They didn't even bother with schoolwork. The Marauders' actually did their work. at least she thought they did.
"Hello everyone." She said, as she climbed through the door. To her dismay, that included Wormtail. Sirius immediately welcomed her in, which somewhat creeped her out. She couldn't wait to help the twins win this bet. Speaking of which, she quickly pulled out the long roll of parchement and sat down at the head of the table between the two groups, as if to simply appear as a mediator.
"Okay. So the conditions are as follows." And thus they began the meeting. About an hour and a half later, they had finished those, and needed to move on to terms.
"Have all of you thought of what you want?" She asked, forcing herself to look away from Sirius. They all nodded. "Okay, lay it on me."
"Well, we don't want much." George began, as he smirked at Fred.
"Simply all your secrets, as well as you to publicly stand up at dinner and declare that we are the true pranksters and that you cannot beat us,"
"And that you wish that you were half as good as us." George finished. Hermione suppressed a smirk.
"Okay." James said, shooting a glance at Remus, who cleared his throat before beginning to speak.
"We simply want to know the truth about you three." At this, Hermione shot a look at the twins, whose faces remained passive. "What we mean, is we don't believe the whole story that you simply moved from another wizarding school. We want the truth, under Veritaserum." At this, the twins shot Hermione a look.
"You do realize that the use of Veritaserum is an illegal action?" Hermione asked simply. To her dismay Remus simply smirked.
"Not if, beforehand, all participants sign a permission slip of sorts." At this George and Fred sent her a look. "Don't worry, we aren't planning on making it ourselves. We'll simply swipe it from Slughorn's storage. We aren't going to risk poisioning you three."
"Agreed." Fred and George said, as Hermione nodded.
"And the final bet, is between Sirius and myself. All of you know of it, I assume." When James shook his head, she sighed. "Fine. Twins win, he leaves me alone. You four win, I have to go on a date with him." She rolled her eyes at this last statement.
"So now all of us have to sign the parchment." At this, they all raised their eyebrows. "Do you want to be able to hold up the terms or not?" they all began nodding and immediately signed, all but Hermione, and no one realized this.
As Hermione rolled the long piece of parchemtn up, and slid it inot her bag, she pulled out a device, that appeared to be two hourglasses attached to one another.
"This, is our scorekeeper. It's pretty much a miniature version of what keeps the house points. Marauders are the green, and the twins are the red. Luckily for us, it has a digital counter, and well simply tell us the numbers, by counting itself." She set it back in her purse and then looked at them all.
"You have six weeks. Enjoy." At that, the Maruaders left. The twins and Hermione stayed behind, sitting in silence for awhile.
"Okay, on the off chance that they do win, what are we going to do about our end of the deal?" George asked, casuing Hermione smiled grimly.
"We have six weeks. Just enough time to brew the antidote. There are no rules or requirements saying that we can't counteract the potion." At this, both of the twin's jaws dropped.
"This Mione scares me." George whispered loudly to Fred, causing Hermione to roll her eyes. "I mean, I never thought you were that devious." Fred nodded quickly.
"Guys, how many times have I broken rules, and then been rewarded for them?" she asked. They both began counting. "Exactly. It hurts that you haven't been paying attention. Don't you remember how many times Harry, Ron, and I have won the House Cup?"
"But, I know you two are excellent at potions, you have to be, in order to make those products of yours. We can use this room to make the antidote. That way we'll be safe. But we'll also have to make up a lie, or should we just stick with the story that we've been going with?"
"I think we should make up some alternative. We can work on that later. But at the moment, we need to head back or risk being caught." George said. "It's nearly two am."
"Wait." Fred said. Both of them turned to look back at him. "We pretty much just set ourselves up to be pranked." Hermione and George gave him puzzled looks. "They've had plenty of time to tell Filch that we're out of bed, or at least, make enough noise, so that we get caught."
"He's right." Hermione said. "Should we just stay here?" as if in answer to this question, a large mattress appeared out of nowhere, landing on the overly large business table. Dozens of large, fluffy pillows were covering it.
"I suppose so." George said as he climbed onto the table. Hermione paused, thinking, 'I need boy shorts.' A minute later, she found a folded pair on the one end of the table that wasn't covered by a mattress. She quickly grabbed them and pulled them up underneath her skirt, before pulling her skirt off and kicking her shoes off, after unbuttoning her school blouse, so that all she wore was a camisole and boy shorts.
She didn't realize that Fred and George were both staring at her. She simply climbed onto the mattress in the middle, seeing as they had taken both of the sides up.
"Night." She called.
"Night." They chorused back.
The next morning, George awoke, to find that they were all entangled together. Hermione had her face buried into Fred's collar bone, with one of her arms slung around his neck. Fred in turn had both his arms around her waist. Hermione's other arm was holding on to George's hand, and George had his legs entangled with her.
He quickly distangled himself and rolled over to the edge, to go back to sleep. But the moment he was free, he saw that Hermione's hand quickly wrapped itself around Fred's neck where her other one was already at. He grinned at the scene, wishing he had a camera. Surprisingly, when he reached under a pillow he found one. Shaking his head, he snapped shot, and then went to sleep.
Hermione woke up a soon after George, and noted with shocked pleasure that she was wrapped up in Fred Weasley's arms. She knew that she should move, that way they wouldn't be embarrassed when they woke up, but Hermione had wanted to be in the position for quite some time. So she simply snuggled closer to him.
The moment Fred woke up, he was immediately aware fo the gorgeous witch that was in his arms. He simply grinned. He'd been dying to snog her senseless for ages, but of course, he had to be wary of his little brother Ron, not to mention, there was possibly no way that she'd ever want to kiss him. After all, this was Hermione Granger. Smartest witch in her year, gorgeous, could have absolutely anyone she wanted. But for the moment, he wasn't letting her out of his embrace.
Sadly, morning came all too soon for them. Although an upside of it was that it was a Saturday. Hermione however knew that they would have work to do. Lots of work. Especially her. She groggily sat up, at the same time that George did. To her embarrassment, he raised an eyebrow and nodded at the compromising position that her and Fred were in.
"Something you two forgot to mention Mione?" he asked smirking at her. She blushed crimson and began mumbling something incoherent. "I mean, I wish you had told me that you two were shagging, I mean, after all, I am the twin." He said, causing her face to blush further.
"Shut it George." She said, as Fred groaned and pulled her closer to him, which of course just made George grin wider. She began poking Fred in the chest until he finally opened his eyes. "Are you going to get up, or give your brother more material for sexual innuendos?" at that Fred sat up and glared at George behind Hermione's back.
That afternoon, Hermione spent in the library. No surprise. Well, she did have to start looking up the antidote to Veriteserum. It was through her fourth book, in the restricted section, that she realized that she could simply do a repeat of her second year. With that idea, she went down to the James, who was in the kitchen.
"Hey." She said breathlessly. He said hi back, and then she continued, "You owe me a favor." At this he raised an eyebrow. "I gave advice about Lilly."
"Ah. Good point. What can I do for you?" he asked giving her that familiar smirk.
"I need to know who Professor Slughorn's all time favorite student is." At this he started grinning.
"Why? Jealous?" Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Come on. You owe me." At this he sighed and nodded.
"It's Lilly." Hermione grinned and yelled a quick thanks as she darted out of the kitchens and up to the Great Hall, where she had last seen one Lilly Evans. She was sitting by herself reading a book.
"Hi…Lilly right?" Hermione asked as she walked up to the girl. The redhead looked up and nodded, giving her a small smile.
"Yep. I'm Lilly Evans, and you are?" she asked smiling at her.
"Hermione Granger. It's nice to meet you. But I do have a specific reason for coming to find you. Madame Pomfrey needs to see Professor Slughorn, but I was wondering if you could ask him." At this the red head raised an eyebrow.
"Erm..why exactly can you not do this? I'm not trying to be rude." She added quickly. Hermione smiled and waved her off.
"Oh, I know. It's just that, I'm new and all, plus I figured it be more effective to get his favorite student to ask. I mean, I've been informed that he won't deny you anything." At this Lilly blushed.
"Okay, I'll go let him know." Lilly said, as she stood up and began heading out of the Great Hall.
"Thanks!" Hermione called as she continued walking away. She waited a moment, before following her, allowing the professor and Lilly to get out of the dungeouns, so that she could get inside his office. It didn't take her very long, the moment she was inside, she simply summoned the vial of antidote, she thought about taking the Veriteserum as well, but thought better of it. If something went wrong, she didn't want to get caught with something that illegal. She quickly duplicated the antidote, so that Professor Slughorn wouldn't suspect that it was missing, taking the original, just incase.
After her task was completed, she stole out of the office, and quickly hurried to find Fred and George. It took awhile, and in the end, she didn't find them, they found her. She had finally just given up and collapsed onto a couch in the common room after safely stowing the vial in her trunk.
"Mione!" she looked up to see two identical faces grinning at her, with about five girls trailing after them.
"I've been looking for you two everywhere!" she said as they sat down next to her. "I've got news!" they both grinned, and nodded. Hermione looked around the room, and saw that the gaggle of girls were still giggling and looking over at the twins, she quickly muttered, "Muffliato," pointing it at everyone in the room.
"What was that?" Fred asked looking at Mione, in confusion.
"Spell, Harry found in his potions book. It doesn't allow people to hear you."
"Cool." The twins trilled.
"Okay, anyways, we don't have to worry about the antidote." She said, as they both looked at her surprised.
"Wait, did you find away around the contract?" George asked. Hermione quickly shook her head.
"So are you simply willing to let us ruin the future?" Fred asked grinning. Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but of course, George had to comment.
"Why Mione, I'm hurt. Although, we could always ask embarrassing questions…" he said grinning at her.
"Will you both shut it, so that I can explain?" Hermione finally managed. "I've already got it." At this they both gaped at her.
"How?" George finally asked. Hermione grinned and shrugged. "Aw, come on, that's not fair."
"Er, well, remember how I made the polyjuice potion in second year?" at this they gaped further.
"Second year?" they both gaped. Hermione rolled her eyes and nodded. "Wicked."
"Er…well anyways, I stole the ingredients from Snape, while he was watching." At this the twins simply stared. "I thought Ron had told you all of this." Hermione finally said, as she watched the twins simply shake their heads. "Er, well, I simply had Lilly distract him, and I stole them. Oh, don't tell her, she doesn't know."
"Hermione….I must say," George began.
"You are rather brilliant." Fred agreed, as the two of them grinned at her.
"And we feel for old Voldy, when he finally meets you, scary idea mate." George added.
Hermione began laughing as the boys began planning their first prank. They wanted to do something to the Slytherins, of course. But not only that, they wanted to go after ole sluggy, as George called him.
"Well, if we can get into the Slytherin House, we could play a few muggle tricks. I mean, you guys know how much they love muggleborns and all that." She said grinning, as Fred leaned over to George.
"This Mione scares me." He loudly stage whispered.
"Well, have you two ever heard of Duct tape?" Hermione asked grinning at them as they shook their head.
"What is it?" George asked, curiousity getting the better of him. Hermione instantly conjured some, and the twins both hit their forheads.
"You mean 'Duck Tape!" they chorused. "That's what Dad calls it." Hermione began laughing at them and shaking their heads.
"No. It's Duct. Not Duck. Although the brand uses a duck to advertise….anyways, this is some of the strongest tape ever created. Meaning, it's a pain in the rear to get off of things." At this the twins grinned even further.
Hermione grimaced as she thought of the thing she was about to do. This was so wrong on so many levels. But at least she wasn't actually going to do anything. No, she just needed him distracted for a few minutes, but still eww. She shook her head, as if to clear it, as she continued to climb the stairs. This plan had several flaws. She'd pretty much just made it up, and hoped that things would turn out for the best.
"Erm…Sirius?" she called into the room. No one replied, that was when she realized that it was empty. She grinned in relief. No need for the plan then. She quickly pulled out her wand and muttered, "Accio Marauders Map." Within seconds the piece of parchment had zoomed out from the corner and had flown into her open hand. After stowing it in her bag, she turned around and hurried back down the stairs.
That was just too easy. Way too easy. The moment that she had that thought she quickly pulled the parchemnet back out, and checked for authentication. With relief she noted that it was in fact the map, but hten she began laughing as she realized that they'd left it unguarded. As she put the map back in her bag, she grinned merrily as she went down to the kitchens for some pudding.
She found Lilly down in the common room, simply reading a book. The girl was all alone, her two friends that were normally with her, were nowhere to be found.
"Lilly, do you want to go get some food?" Hermione asked. Lilly smiled at her and rolled her eyes.
"Hermione, they're not serving at the moment. Remember." She asked smiling at her. Hermione grinned and nodded.
"I know. But I'm going to the kitchens. You in?" At this Lilly nodded and jumped up from the couch. The two girls walked down to the kitchens, and Hermione showed lilly how to get inside.
"I always wondered how they got food, so late." Lilly mused aloud. Hermione looked up curiously. "Oh, the Marauders. Erm…James Potter and his friends."
"Oh, yeah, I know them. Interesting bunch of fellows." Hermione said shrugging. Lilly looked at her pudding and was silent. "What?" Hermione asked.
"This is going to be really mean, and it's not meant to be, but please tell me you're not another diehard fan." Hermione instantly began giggling and shaking her head. Lilly instantly looked relieved. "Thank goodness. Thought I was the only sane one around here."
"No. I don't have any interest in those, other than that of friendship. I mean, that's a bit…weird." Hermione said.
"Haven't heard it described like that, but yeah. They're a bit immature." Lilly said. Hermione immediately shook her head. "What about the pranks?"
"Well, pranks are split into two groups really." Hermione said grinning. "Those that are funny, goodnatured, stuff like that, and then those that are spiteful. The former are fine, and quite awesome at times. While the former shouldn't be used, of course." At this Lilly grinned.
"Yeah, that's how I am, but those four don't seem to know where to draw the line." She said as she took another bite of pudding. Hermione thought about it for a second.
"Lilly, you've got to think about it like this, number one, they're boys. Secondly, they are sixteen. Not to mention, what some people find spiteful, others don't, I mean, I don't think that they do most of their stunts out of spite."
"Well," lilly thought about it. "How about, for instance, if they keep attacking the same person over and over again?" Hermione nodded.
"That, could show up as spite, however, I take it your talking about Severus Snape." When Lilly nodded, Hermione continued. "This I would say is a special case. You're probably not going to like what I'm about to say, but I'm just asking you to hear me out."
"Of course." Lily said. "Go on."
"Both groups have a common denominator." Hermione said. When lilly didn't get it, she continued. "You. Now before you panic, let me explain. You are a very interesting, caring person, therefore you are a good choice in friend. I'm guessing htat you were either originally friends, with both, or you were friends with one, and the other was jealous." When she nodded, Hermione smiled at her.
"Guys don't think like girls. Obviously. They mature a lot slower too. Therefore, they don't always get the thinking of, 'hey, people can have more than one friend."
"Yeah." Lilly agreed.
"So, it's not to hard to see, why they fight. They both want you on their side. When you say, that James and his friends constantly attack Severus, have you ever considered, that they might not always be attacking, but defending?" at this lilly opened her mouth, to argue, but Hermione held up her hands.
"He's your friend. I understand, but you aren't glued at the hip. Is it possible, that he is as mean to them, as they are to him? If so, he would certainitly be able to hide it well."
"I can't argue with that." Lilly said with a small smile. "I can see your point, even though I don't want to, plus recent events have supported your argument."
"I wish I wasn't right. He must have been a good friend to you." Hermione said with a small smile. Lilly nodded.
"He was, until last year… he called me a mudblood." She said whispering the last word.
"I know it's hard. Ever since I started school, I've had that word following me." Hermione said grinning as she looked up surprised. "I have a sneaking suspicioun that it was also because I was top of the class. But hey, think about it like this, muggleborns, are the best. I mean, we have two worlds for one thing."
"But don't you feel like you just don't belong occasionally?" Lilly asked. Hermione nodded.
"Of course I do. Especially when my best friend is a pureblood with a huge loving family, and all I have is two parents who are dentists. But at the same time, I have both worlds. Anytime I need to leave one, I can go to the other. Not to mention, some muggle things are awesome." Hermione said grinning.
"that is true." Lilly said grinning. At that moment, the portrait opened and several very loud boys entered. "Oh fun." Lilly said rolling her eyes, at Hermione who smirked at her.
"Mione!" they all chorused. Lilly looked a bit shocked. Hermione simply shrugged and shook her head.
"Hey, we need your help." James said, as he watched Lilly warily.
"So do we, and we already called dibs!" George said indignantly.
"We asked first." Sirius countered, as Peter and Remus nodded, James was a bit out of it, seeing as he was watching Lilly.
"We've known her longer." Fred said bluntly. This ensued in a Sirius—Fred staring contest. Lilly and Hermione were both rolling their eyes.
"Does this have to do with our arrangement?" Hermione finally asked.
"Yes." Came from all six boys.
"Great. Fred, George, out, I'll deal with you two second." Hermione said, as they both groaned. "Just go." She said grinning at them, as they both walked out allowing the portrait to swing shut.
"Thanks mione!" Peter said enthusiastically. Hermione glared at him, causing him to shut up.
"Okay, I'm going to clear out." Lilly said standing up.
"Why?" James and Hermione asked.
"Cause you lot are clearly up to no good, and I don't want to have to report you." This caused Sirius and Remus to simply stare, openmouthed. She waved goodbye as Hermione did, and hurried out.
"Mione, what were you two talking about?" James asked incredulously.
"None of your business. She wants to tell you, that fine, but you aren't getting it out of me. What'd you lot need now?" at this there was an outburst of anger.
"Okay, let's rephrase that….Remus, you're a voice of reason, explain what the problem is."
"The twins broke the rules. They stole the map." At this Hermione stifled a laugh.
"Okay, this is your only complaint?" she asked, and they nodded. "Good. Listen closely. There is no violation. There is no rule saying that one can or cannot steal the map. In fact it was never mentioned. What's more, can you guys actually prove that they have the map?" at this, all four boys began mumbling.
"No." Sirius finally said sulking. Hermione nodded.
"Very good. Now, on your way out, could you be so kind and send in the next pair?" James said he would, as they all filed out. But James hung back for a moment.
"Please tell me it's good news." He said looking at her. Hermione sighed and looked up at him.
"I can't go into specifics, but I can tell you that you have a shot at being her friend. Start with that and build off of it." He nodded and pulled her into a hug.
"Thanks Mione!" he said before dashing off and the twins entered a moment later.
"So what was that about?" Fred asked curiously. Hermione grinned and simply shrugged. "Oh, now that's not fair."
"Fine. THey wanted to complain about you two stealing the map." At this George and Fred's jaws dropped.
"But--"
"We didn't!" They exclaimied together. Hermione simply grinned at them.
"I know."
"How?" George asked.
"Because I stole the map." she said pulling it out of her pocket and holding it up. Both twins just sat there, gaping, wordlessly at Hermione.