I know, I know, I know that I shouldn't be writing this. I have Werewolf Worries, and Begin to Breathe, and You're Brave, and Feet Off, but if I don't start writing it now I'll regret it until the day I die. I will be on my deathbed and my grandkids and my kids will be around me and I'll cough and say "I wish I had wrote that one story" and they'll sigh and go "Grandma, shush, it's the meds talking." And I'll sit up and say something cool and fandom-related but that's beyond the point. Regrets.
PS - it's AU and I don't know how often I'll update it.
Everything started out normal. There was the walk down to breakfast, the usual conversations at the House table, questions about homework, bets on the Quidditch game between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff later, and walks back to the dorms from the library to return books. This was all entirely normal, and he would've thought nothing out of the ordinary if somebody hadn't grabbed his arm and pulled him into a secret passageway.
"Oy, what's the big idea?" Remus asked as the door shut and he blinked at the four other inhabitants of the small room with just enough light. One was a short boy, his hair a light color and his eyes a dull grey, frowning with his arms crossed over his chest. Another was tall, with long black hair and an annoyed frown, hands shoved deep into his pants pockets. The third had short, messy black hair and hazel eyes behind black-rimmed glasses, looking curiously at them. The fourth was a girl his age, who had insanely curly brown hair and big brown eyes, smiling at the four boys that she had obviously pulled into the room.
"Great, now that everybody's here, let's get – hold up," she stopped herself, looking at the short boy, the tallest, and himself curiously, as if something were off. "What's this?"
"Exactly my question," the tallest frowned as Remus finally glared at the girl. "Who the hell are you and what the hell do you want?"
She frowned before stepping up and glaring at him, "Don't you snap at me, Sirius Black, give me a minute and I'll start explaining."
Remus arched an eyebrow over at him. As he didn't have any classes with Slytherins, and never really ran into them (other than their occasional name calling, and then he never really bothered to learn any of their names) he didn't know him. The girl bit her lower lip and her eyes darted over him once more, her eyebrows scrunching down over her eyes.
"Hi, I would very much like to get out of here, thank you," the Gryffindor, James Potter, said, looking at her pointedly, "Claustrophobia and all that, can't stand it."
She sighed and snapped her fingers, the room expanding a little as they jumped and looked around. They'd been at that school for seven years and never once knew about this passageway and that you could snap your fingers and make it bigger. She gave a hum as James frowned at her, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Do you understand claustrophobia? That doesn't really get rid of it," he told her.
"Of course I understand it," she frowned back, "I have it too, so I know it helps. Now explain something – why are you in different Houses? How does that work out?"
"How does what work out?" the short Hufflepuff asked.
She gave a sigh, rolling her eyes as if they were dense, "Oh please. Being friends! Surely, that must be difficult to do if you're in separate Houses."
They all stared at her as if she'd grown an extra head before Sirius spoke up.
"Look, Sweetheart," he began, "Maybe you hit your head, maybe you're on some new medication, but – we're not friends. I've never had a conversation with any of them before. I don't know them – well, I know Potter, but only because we're on Quidditch and we have to listen to "So-and-So scored a point!" and all of that shit. Can't say we're friends anyway."
She stared at him strangely before cursing, clutching her hair and biting her lip, "This is barmy. This is mad. Insane, crazy, ludicrous." She gave a growl and scrunched her hair up, stopping with a huff before arching an eyebrow at them. "You think I'm insane, don't you?"
"Honestly? Hell yeah," James spoke up as Remus nodded with him.
"Fine," she smirked, shrugging before turning to Sirius, pointing at him, "You never wanted to be in Slytherin, and you don't hate 'Mudbloods.'" Sirius immediately went pale and stared at her as she whirled around to the Hufflepuff, "You, Peter, have probably thought about joining the Death Eaters."
"What?" James and Remus asked as Sirius immediately took to glaring at the chubby boy.
"I-I've never!" he argued before her questioning glare sought him out, "I've thought about it, for moments, but I've never actually considered joining those freaks."
"Great, prove me wrong," she demanded before turning to James, "You have a weird birthmark on your left elbow."
"How the hell did you know that?" he asked, covering his elbow, although it couldn't possibly have been seen through his jumper. She gave a grin at him before turning to Remus, whose eyes were wide and skin had gone pale, the few scars on his face feeling as though they were burning and giving his biggest secret away. She stared at him as he stared back, biting her lip before shaking her head.
"Look, my name is Hermione," she said, breaking her gaze away from him. "I was thrown back from the nineties and thought that if there was anybody who could help me, it'd be the Marauders."
"The what?" they all seemed to chorus, although Remus's tongue felt as though it had swollen.
She laughed at herself and grinned, "Never mind. Anyway, that's why I sort of kidnapped you, I thought you were the same people that I knew about. Obviously not, something's changed." She gave an absentminded frown, rubbing a small patch of skin on her wrist. "I'd still really appreciate your help though, if you're willing."
"Yeah," Remus spoke up, shrugging as they looked at him in surprise, "She needs help. I'm not going to refuse it, especially not after she didn't tell you my biggest secret."
"Yeah, what's his?" Sirius asked, obviously miffed that his was blabbed, although it wasn't a big deal.
She frowned at Sirius, "I'm not telling. He can tell you if he wants."
"I'll help too," James shrugged as Peter nodded.
Sirius gave a sigh, rolling his eyes and frowning at her as she frowned back. "I don't like you, but I'll help, if only to get you out of my hair."
She gave a smirk, "Well, if that isn't the spirit of human compassion, I don't know what is." She gave another grin as he gave a glare at her, "You guys know where the Room of Requirement is?"
"Err, yeah," Remus said as the others stared at her blankly.
"Great," she didn't appear to see their dilemma, "You four can pop up there when you've got time, and we can get started." And with that, she stretched her foot out to tap a stone in the wall, opening up the doorway they'd all be pulled out of, before she tapped another stone on the opposite wall and began to walk down a dark hallway, the wall closing up after she'd gone.
The four looked between each other curiously, wondering if she'd been real, before deciding that she probably was, or else they were all due for a room at St. Mungo's.