Disclaimer: Harry Potter places and characters do not belong to me, I'm not that smart. It all belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling, bless her.

A/N: Well, finally there is another chapter up. I'm so incredibly sorry it took this long and I apologise profusely! Thanks, as always to the wonderful Larilaya (See? I remembered your screen name!) for editing and this time actually writing part of the chapter. As I have a very long car trip tomorrow, I promise I will work on the next chapter. Thank you to allycat1186, jasmine-leigh and nightwing27 who all reviewed last chapter. Now, I will end this long a/n so that you can all read the chappy! Please R&R! Oh yes, and the flash back comes from HP:POA.


Chapter 3

"Why do we have to be holed up in class on a day like today? It's perfect flying weather," Sirius whined to James. James just shrugged and continued to make little pieces of parchment fly into the back of Peter Pettigrew's head from the back row. The mousey boy had been late to class, causing him to sit a couple of rows in front of his friends instead of with them.

"Because our education is more important than flying around for the sake of it," said Remus from Sirius' other side. "Or mucking around, for that matter." He added the last sentence with a short glance at James.

The four boys had a strange friendship. Sirius Black and James Potter were always causing mischief, flying, or chatting up girls. The two had been inseparable since they met on the train back in their first year. Remus Lupin, the sensible one of the group, was thought to be the one who kept the others in check. However, generally he just stayed quiet and let them do their own thing. Peter Pettigrew was a quiet, nervous boy. He hung around the others, but often felt like an outsider. To James and Sirius, popularity came easily. They were more often than not the life of Gryffindor tower. Peter wished he could be like his loud, over-the-top friends, but he didn't seem to have the same ease of personality that they did.

Sirius decided to ignore what Remus had said. Transfiguration was, after all, his best subject, much to the surprise of the Hogwarts staff. Looking around at the seventh year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, something stuck Sirius as odd.

"Prongs," he muttered so Remus wouldn't hear him, "Where's Evans?"

James stopped the little ball of parchment just before it hit Peter. Sirius watched him look around the room, searching for Lily. "Dunno, Padfoot." He finally answered. "It's not like her to miss a class."

Strange, thought Sirius, she wasn't at lunch either. He watched his best mate carefully as he mentioned it. He knew of James' crush on Lily and enjoyed making his friend squirm and blush even when she wasn't around. Sirius sat staring at him, as he was clearly thinking hard about something. The scrunched up piece of forgotten parchment began to quiver as a thought struck James.

"I think I know where she is," he muttered. He turned to face Sirius with a mischievous grin, one that Sirius knew all too well.

"Where?"

"Help me sneak out of Transfiguration," James whispered, his face alight with his plan.

"What!?" Sirius hissed, "but, well, it's McGonagall! How by Merlin's name do you sneak out of one of her classes?"

James just grinned and pulled the corner of a silvery cloak out of his book bag allowing only Sirius to see it. Catching on quickly, Sirius soon felt the adrenalin pulse through his veins, neither boy noticed that the quivering ball of parchment was now quaking with the excitement that was building between them. A grin identical to James' etched its way onto Sirius' face.

"What do you want me to do?"

James ran through the corridors to Gryffindor tower, still under his invisibility cloak. It had been difficult to get through the door without being noticed, but now he was home free. A quick visit to the empty hospital wing had confirmed James' suspicions, Hermione had been discharged that morning and Lily was most likely with her.

He clambered through the portrait hole to be greeted by the silent red and gold common room. Suddenly James heard a burst of laughter coming from the Girls Dorms. Well, at least I know where they are, he thought. Now it's just a matter of getting their attention. A little paper crane flew in through the open window and landed in James' hand.

Prongs,

If you're where I think you are, try "offendo foris". It's a door knocking spell.

Padfoot.

James was wary of the spell, as it sounded like Sirius had made it up, but he decided to try it nonetheless.

"Offendo foris" he muttered, his wand pointing up the stairs. James grinned as a giant fist shot out of the end of his wand and solidly knocked upon the door of Lily and Hermione's dorm. The fist then disappeared and James waited.

The sound was colossal. It was as though a giant had decided to knock on their door. Both girls shared a look of confusion and worry. Hermione watched as Lily carefully slid off her bed and crept over to the door. Cracking it open an inch, she tried to see who it was that had knocked. Lily shut the door with a snap and turned to face Hermione, her confusion evident on her pretty face.

"What? What's wrong? Who's there?

"There's. . .there's no one there," Lily answered.

Hermione was certain that her expression mirrored that of Lily's. She opened her mouth to say something when the brisk, loud knock sounded again. This time Lily burst out of the room to find the cause of the sound. Hermione joined her in peering over the railing into the common room. At first there was no one there, then a pale skinned boy with messy black hair appeared in the centre of the room below them.

"Harry!"

"James!"

Hermione and Lily cried at the same time. There was a slight pause before both James and Lily burst out laughing, Hermione silently trying to work out what was going on. Lily, seeing the confusion on her friends face, stifled her laughter long enough to speak.

"You called him Harry again!"

Hermione felt herself begin to blush. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. Please, I'm sorry!" Her little outburst caused James and Lily to laugh all the more. It was five minutes before Lily and James had calmed down enough for them all to talk.

James walked over to a seat next to the empty fireplace, still chuckling to himself. Hermione and Lily followed, sitting on the plushy red lounge in front of the fireplace. Once they were all settled, Lily asked the first question.

"Potter, why are you here and not in class?"

Hermione looked over at James and thought she saw him redden a little.

"Well, we have Transfiguration now and when I noticed you weren't there, I. . .well, Iwantedtomakesureyouwereokay."

He mumbled the last part, running all the words together. A glance at Lily proved that she had heard what it was he said though, as now, she too blushed.

Hermione watched both her new friend's faces and tried to stifle a laugh. It was impossible to be mad at James for skipping class and interrupting them when both he and Lily were in such an awkward situation. They sat in the good chairs by the fire, faces matching shades of Gryffindor red as they attempted to avoid each other's eyes. Hermione tactfully decided to help ease their embarrassment.

"Wasn't it hard to sneak out of class? Won't the teacher be angry when you're not there? How did you suddenly appear? Did anyone notice you leaving? Aren't you going to get into trouble?" Without her realising, Hermione's tone had become bossy.

James looked at Hermione in astonishment.

"You may not have a memory but you sure have a tongue." he said, his eyebrows raised. "My friend helped to distract McGonagall, the teacher, long enough for me to put this on," James answered, showing her the invisibility cloak. Now it was Hermione's turn to be astonished. As she touched the silvery cloak, an image took over her vision.

"Go," said a giant fiercely, "It's bad enough without you lot in trouble an' all!"

Hermione knew that they had no choice, and threw the silvery cloak over two boys and herself as they heard voices at the front of the cabin.

She was in what looked to be a round hut made of wood, with over-sized furniture, cups and hearth. A table had milk spilt all over it, and the remains of the unfortunate jug lay on the floor.

"Go quick," the giant said hoarsely. "Don' listen..."

The giant straightened his horrible green tie and let them out what seemed to be a back way. He looked helpless and lost, his eyes red-rimmed as if he'd been weeping.

Slowly, in a kind of horrified trance, Hermione and the two boys set off silently around the house. As they reached the other side, the front door closed with a sharp snap.

"Please, let's hurry," Hermione whispered. "I can't stand it, I can't bear it..."

They started up the sloping lawn towards Hogwarts, the sun sinking fast.

The redheaded boy stopped dead, trying to keep a wriggling shape in his pocket.

"Oh, please," Hermione began.

"It's Scabbers – he won't – stay put –"

The wriggling shape was a rat, squeaking madly, twisting and flailing, trying to sink his teeth into the red-headed boy's hand.

"Scabbers, it's me, you idiot, it's R – "

Hermione didn't catch the boy's name as they heard a door open behind them and men's voices.

"Oh, please let's move, they're going to do it!" Hermione breathed.

"OK – Scabbers, stay put – "

They walked forwards, trying not to listen to the rumble of voices behind them. The red headed boy stopped again.

"I can't hold him – Scabbers, shut up, everyone'll hear us –"

The rat was squealing wildly, but not loudly enough to cover up the sounds drifting from the giant's garden. There was a jumble of indistinct male voices, a silence and then, without warning, the unmistakable swish and thud of an axe.

Hermione swayed on the spot.

"They did it," she whispered to the black haired boy (Harry? James? His name was something like that), "I d-don't believe it – they did it!"

Hermione opened her eyes to find that she was lying on the floor, looking up into two pairs of concerned eyes.

"Hermione, are you ok?" Lily asked, worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Hermione said, sitting up with a hand to her head.

"Maybe we should take her to the hospital wing," James suggested, watching Hermione climb back into her armchair.

"No, no, really, I'm fine," Hermione said, sitting down carefully. She remembered the vision, and for some reason, felt an inexplicable sense of loss.

"What happened? Was it another memory?" Lily asked.

"Yes, I. . . I think it was." Hermione said carefully, trying to remember as much details as she could. "We were outside Hogwarts, in the grounds. It was getting dark and we were leaving a wooden hut"

"'We'?" James queried.

"Yes me and two boys." She looked up at James "You were one, the other was a red head boy."

James pulled a face at Hermione. "Me?"

Hermione nodded. "Well, at least I think it was you." She then began to tell them what she had seen, and the two listened in awe.

"So, was something killed?" Lily asked when Hermione finished.

"I don't know, I think so," Hermione answered, "Whatever it was, it was bad."

The three of them paused for a moment, thinking, until James finally broke the silence.

"What was with the rat?"

They all laughed, relieving the tension in the room.

"No, seriously, what was with the rat? Did it have rabies, or something?"

"No idea," Hermione said chuckling. They continued to laugh and Lily changed the subject.

"So you obviously had friends," Lily commented, "Though I don't know any red-heads who are our age. I mean, neither Black, Lupin or Pettigrew have red hair."

"Yeah, the last red head Gryffindor at Hogwarts was Arthur Weasley, and I remember he graduated when we were ickle firsties."

"Black, Loo, Weas. . .who, sorry?" Hermione asked, confused at all the names being mentioned

"Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew are my mates," said James grinning. "You'll probably meet them soon."

"And I hope you can handle a lot of adolescent male idiocy, because this four function solely on stupidity."

Hermione laughed as James squawked in outrage.

"Don't believe her Hermione, we just like to have a little fun once in a while."

"Once in a while?" Lily snorts, "A little fun? James Potter, not a day goes by when you don't play some kind of prank on somebody!"

James grinned evilly, but was stopped from replying as people started pouring through the portrait hole. Class was over for the day.

"What's wrong with that? There's no fun in waiting to play a practical joke," the tallest boy coming towards them said, looking at Hermione with eyes that sparked with pure mischief and messy black hair. Though not as messy as James' hair, she noted.

"I don't believe that I've had the pleasure, mademoiselle. Sirius Black, esquire, at your service." The tall boy bowed to Hermione, flourishing his hand at the same time. He motioned behind him, to the two boys grinning at Sirius' behaviour.

"May I also present Mr Remus Lupin," the taller of the two, with blond-ish hair grinned, "and Mr Peter Pettigrew." The mousey boy nodded nervously, scared that he might have to say something to the stranger.

Hermione couldn't help but smile at Sirius' flamboyant behaviour, her grin widening at Lily's dry remark, "Wonderful! The circus troupe has arrived. I was looking forward to the clown show," looking pointedly at Sirius.

Sirius merely grinned at her and plonked himself into a free armchair beside James, while Remus and Peter pulled up more chairs to join the circle.

"If I wasn't silly, would you recognise me?"

Lily looked thoughtful. "No," she finally answered, "Probably not."

"Well there you have it!. My 'stupidity' has a purpose."

Lily blushed, but met him stare for stare. Sirius finally turned away, and Hermione found his gaze directed at her.

"So, now that you know who we all are, I'm assuming that you already know James, may we have the pleasure of knowing who you are?" Sirius flashed his most dazzling smile at Hermione.

"Oh puh-lease!" Lily rolled her eyes and made a gagging gesture to Hermione, who just smiled.

"My name's Hermione – "

"Well, 'Mione," Sirius adopted the nickname that he didn't even know she had, "it's very nice to meet you. Now, if nobody minds, I'm off to the Great Hall for some dinner. Anyone coming?"

Everyone stood up, mumbling agreements and commenting on how hungry they were. As Lily, Remus, Peter and Hermione headed off, none of them noticed James and Sirius lagging behind.

"Prongs," Sirius whispered, "I think we should welcome dear Hermione with a little prank. What do you say to. . . "


Professor Dumbledore looked thoughtfully at the big book on his desk. Hogwarts, A History was a common book amongst students but this one perplexed him. It looked very new. As far as he knew, no recent copies of the book had been published. As he absent-mindedly stared at the front cover of the book, his mind wandered to the girl to whom the book belonged.

"Hermione G–," He muttered, "what is your story? Where are you from?"

Dumbledore began to idly finger through the first few chapters. It was the same as his copy, he thought, resting his slightly older version next to it on the desk. He blew out his candle, not noticing that the newer book was a couple of chapters thicker.