Disclaimer: Still the same as before, it's JK's.
A/N: I must apologise, I promised a reviewer that I would have this up before Christmas and here we are at the end of January. I'm usually a stickler for keeping promises and I'm ashamed to say I didn't keep it. I had it written and everything, I just didn't like it much. So now I've stopped picking and I'm putting it up. My two glorious betas Peanuts107 and Tezgm looked it over and said it fits in with the story. So now I'm handing it over to you all to read. Please please please tell me if something doesn't make sense to you or if something doesn't fit. It's not an exciting chapter, but I had to get these characters in before I could continue. Hope you all enjoy.
Chapter Three
A small stream of sunlight had managed to find its way through a gap in the hangings surrounding the bed that Hermione was sleeping in. Stretching lazily a flurry of activity went through her mind as she remembered the previous day. A dread started to weigh heavily on her stomach while she lay and thought how she was going to get through the day.
She heard the other girls start to wake up and go about their morning rituals while calling out requests to one another for things to be passed to them. "Can I borrow your brush, mine's gone walk-about again," one girl called to another. Pushing her dread to one side, she forced herself to get up and pushing the hangings open. Lily looked up instantly and smiled before getting everyone's attention.
"Girls, this is Hermione Roper," Lily introduced cheerily as all the girls peered at Hermione with intrigue. Hermione waved nervously while Lily continued. "She got here last night and don't bombard her with questions. Now," she smiled reassuringly at Hermione before pointing to a tall dark haired girl with freckles dotted across her nose, "This is Anna."
"Hi," Anna cooed sweetly.
"This is Jaslyn." A blonde girl with dazzling blue eyes and a tiny frame scowled. Lily laughed at her face. "Jaslyn doesn't like her full name. She prefers to be called Jazz."
"My mother couldn't decide between Jasmine and Lyn so this is what I got," she pouted but her eyes continued to dance.
"Then we have Rajni." A small Asian girl smiled shyly as she flicked her plaited waist length hair over her shoulder. "And last but not least, Freya." A plump brown haired girl with laughing green eyes waved a little too enthusiastically.
"Hi," Hermione barely whispered, hoping against hope that they weren't going to ask too many questions. "It's nice to meet you all." But it seemed Lily had read her mind.
"Right, we've got plenty of time to ask Hermione all about her, but right now, I'm looking to have my breakfast before Potter," she spat the name with such venom. The girls laughed before dispersing to continue getting dressed. Lily winked at Hermione before moving away.
Half an hour later Hermione was dressed and not amused. She wasn't vain, truly she wasn't, but even she was ashamed to be going downstairs in the clothes that had been given to her. The blouse, she was sure, had been a patchwork quilt once and the jeans…..there was a stain just above the knee that refused to come out. And this was the best outfit from everything that was given to her.
"At least I have something to wear," she muttered to herself. A gasp from across the room suddenly stopped her from moving away from her bed.
"What on earth are you wearing?" Jazz demanded and reached Hermione in three long strides. Hermione blushed deeply as she nervously fingered the loose thread at the bottom her top. All the girls stopped to look.
"I, erm, had to leave, erm, unexpectedly and this was…er…all Professor Dumbledore could find for me." Hermione cursed herself inwardly but at least it wasn't a lie. Jazz circled her like a lion would its prey while the other girls came to look.
"Luckily it's Hogsmeade tomorrow," Jazz clucked as she lifted Hermione's right arm up and then dropped it. "We'll have to take you to Old Maud."
"I don't have the money….but thank you anyway," Hermione said politely as she tried to sidestep Jazz.
"Oh no…I don't think so, I'm not having a friend of ours looking like that. Everyone, trunks open!" Jazz instructed as the girls all raced to open their trunks for her inspection. Hermione looked to Lily for an explanation.
"Jazz is a fashion fiend…you'll see," Lily whispered to her quickly before Jazz came back from her own trunk carrying some items of clothing over her arm. Hermione watched puzzled as she came to stop in front of Rajni her trunk.
"Rajni, what is your offering?" she demanded of her with her left arm held out.
"Pants I never wear," a pair of dark cream pants went over Jazz's arm, "And a lovely sash, I already have two of this one." The sash went over the arm and the blonde moved on to Freya and her trunk.
"What do you have, oh Freya?"
"Two t-shirts and two skirts, they…er…don't fit anymore," Freya blushed as she placed the clothing over Jazz's arm. Jazz smiled sweetly at Freya before coming to halt in front of Anna.
"Anna, queen of the jeans, give me something," Jazz chanted dramatically.
"Jeans, skirt, three shirts and a jumper," Anna threw them over her arm and just when she was about to move, Anna stopped her. "And some underwear, I dread to think what you were given." Hermione went bright red having seen the underwear that had been given to her.
Jazz chuckled and came to the last girl, Lily. "Come on, Red, give it to me."
"A jacket, pair of jeans and a blouse." Lily threw the clothes over Jazz's weighed down arm and all the girls proceeded to gather round Hermione's bed.
Hermione looked at the clothes being placed onto her bed and became overwhelmed. "I really can't accept this, it's too much," she protested as Jazz picked out an outfit from the pile.
"Nonsense," Lily spoke sweetly as she held up a skirt from Anna against her. "Besides, if you wear something that looks as though it is remotely out of fashion then you'll never sleep in this room again." Hermione laughed wiping away the tears at how kind they were being to her.
"I'm not laughing," Jazz teased as she handed her an outfit she was to wear that day. "And tomorrow I'll get you a new pair of shoes….or two because I've no idea where you got those but they haven't been in fashion and never will be." Hermione looked down at the shoes that had come from the future with her, she laughed as she realised she was probably right, but didn't really care.
"But there's a condition on this," Anna spoke with a sly smile on her face. Hermione nodded. "We get to ask one question each about you." She froze at the thought. "It's only natural that we want to know about you. You've come from literally nowhere and we've never had someone join us later in the school year." Hermione mulled it all over and eventually nodded. It was the least she could do after the kindness they were showing her, she'd never been accepted into a group so quickly before. It had taken Harry and Ron a couple of months before they did.
"What school did you go to?" Rajni asked first while fiddling with the end of her plait.
"One exactly like this," Hermione spoke vaguely.
"And?" Rajni demanded.
"And it's not much different," Hermione teased. Rajni eyed her up before smiling widely at her.
"You're good, I like you very much."
"My turn," Anna spoke up, "Why did you leave so quickly?"
"I don't know, it wasn't a decision I had a choice in," Hermione answered honestly. This wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.
"What about your family?" Jazz asked her question then cursed herself for using her question up when she wanted to ask something else.
"They don't know I'm here. They're Muggles and magic always confuses them." Hermione felt a pang in her heart at the thought of what her parents were doing in this time. She quickly did the maths and realised that they were probably about to meet if they already hadn't.
"Why are you being so vague in your answers," Freya asked with an innocent face but her voice held suspicion. Hermione sighed as she sat on the bed.
"I'd be suspicious too if I were you but I can't say much. It's a very confusing story that I'm still trying to work out myself. All I know is that I've left my two best friends, my family and life behind and I don't know if I can go back." Hermione bit her lip not wanting to cry. There was a silence while the girls watched her compose herself and then Lily asked her question.
"How did your parents react when they found out you were a witch?" Lily asked eagerly. "Mine were a little shocked but are now really proud of me. Not so much my sister, she hates it and calls me a freak." Lily frowned as she spoke about her sister, it was almost as if she wanted her sister's respect and couldn't understand why she disliked her so much.
"Oh they weren't sure what to do. They thought someone was playing a practical joke on them. Then the man from the Ministry turned up to explain and they've been fine with it." Hermione smiled as she remembered the man dressed in robes that she hadn't seen before and doing magic for her parents. She was thrilled at the thought of going to a school to learn magic.
"You do realise that Potter will be at breakfast now, Lily," Rajni pointed out to her. Lily scowled and cursed as she stormed out of the room. "He's nothing but a show off that James Potter….Sirius Black too. Try and keep away from them," she advised Hermione before grabbing her book-bag and leaving.
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Hermione nervously made her way downstairs to the common room, hoping that she could just glide out without anyone noticing her. She was intending to skip breakfast and just go straight to her first lesson; Potions. The girls had been so nice to her but she doubted that she would get the same treatment off everyone. They were bound to just ask her very awkward questions about where she had come from and she wasn't ready. She needed to think of some general answers that would suffice most questions.
Just as she rounded the corner of the corridor to walk down the stairs Hermione walked straight into someone and was instantly knocked down flat on her bottom. "Does no one watch where they're walking in this school? Honestly, is it too much to ask?" a familiar cold voice spoke and Hermione couldn't place it, but then she looked up to find a face she knew very well. Her eyes held his firmly as he stared down at her.
"Fresh blood?" Lucius Malfoy stated rather than asked. This Lucius wasn't as old as she remembered and his hair was barely past his shoulders. "Are you going to sit there all day?" Hermione scowled at him before standing up. "Tell me, what's the scowl for? How've I come to displease you?" She eyed him wearily while he tapped his foot impatiently.
"Like you care," Hermione hissed as she dusted herself up and picked up her bag.
"I see not all of us are raised with manners," he spoke with disdain with his arms firmly crossed on his chest. "But I will tell you this; you'll do well not to make an enemy of me and it isn't very often I hand out an offer of friendship." Hermione frowned before looking round to see if she was having some kind of prank pulled on her.
"Why would you want to be friends with me?" she asked and then almost slapped herself silly. What was she doing? He didn't know what he'll do in the future. Granted he's probably on his merry way to being the Lucius she knew, but he wasn't there yet.
Lucius walked round her once before stopping and looking her up and down. "I like you, you've got attitude. Could be a silly thing to have, but not many can walk away having to spoken to me like that." He suddenly held a hand out to her. "Lucius Malfoy at your service." Hermione glanced at it before nervously placing her own in it. It was going against her grain, but she couldn't afford to raise any hairs here.
"Hermione Gr….Roper." She shook his hand firmly just as a shout could be heard from down the corridor. There was no way on this earth that Hermione was going to get to Potions inconspicuously and she resigned herself to lying should she be quizzed.
She groaned when she saw James bounding towards her with a sandy haired boy in tow. "Malfoy, I hope you're playing nice," James teased with an arm being flung round Hermione's shoulders.
"I'm always nice, Potter," Lucius told him with feigned innocence before swaggering down the corridor. Hermione quickly shrugged off James' arm and proceeded to walk down the stairs without so much as a hello to James and his friend.
"See, Remus, she wants me, it's all in her eyes." Hermione faltered a little and nearly missed her step when she heard the name Remus. She bit her lip and continued to walk down the stairs and fought not turn to look at the boy who would become a teacher to her and a good friend. "Hermione, wait!" She stopped on the bottom step and waited for them.
"James, I don't want you, really I don't, so please stop now before I'm forced to hurt you," Hermione told him sweetly as she turned to face the two young men. She turned to find James about to put his arm round her again and Remus smiling cheekily. She wished with all her heart she could avoid meeting him, she dread to think the damage she was doing to her future.
"Yes, James, your amazing charm and wit wins you over with the ladies again," Remus teased before holding out a hand to Hermione. "Remus Lupin, sadly friend to this weirdo." He nodded in the direction of a confused looking James.
"Hermione," she replied as she shook his hand. An awkward silence descended upon them as Hermione nervously looked between the two boys. James went to say something as his arm started to inch up again. "Trust me when I say I will hurt you," he pulled a face not understanding why she was refusing him so when quite clearly she was falling for him, "James, you don't want me, you never will. Besides-" she caught herself about to mention Harry and couldn't believe how careless she was being.
"Besides what?" James questioned with curiosity while Remus watched with intrigue.
"I have my N.E.W.T.s to concentrate on," she mumbled before walking away that could almost be mistaken for running away. She heard him shout that they were only at the beginning of February as she silently promised herself that she was going to keep silent even if it killed her. No answering questions in class and drawing attention to herself. No interacting with people, especially ones that she knew in the future. And what's more, she was going to avoid James Potter at all cost. If she continued to let his silliness carry on it could stop her best friend ever existing.
James and Remus watched her disappear confused by her behaviour. "I just knew there was a female version of you around, Moony," James teased. Remus faked a laugh before walking off. "Only she's better looking."
