A/N: So here's the next chapter. Thank you LionsWing for pointing out the i/I problem. I'm pretty sure I've fixed all the i(s) in this chapter and the previous chapters. That's all for now.

Enjoy.

CHAPTER 4

Walking around, Hermione realized that she had never actually gotten a chance to observe the headmaster's office at length. She knew that Dumbledore surrounded himself with little trinkets and baubles to entertain himself. But was there a purpose to every item kept here.

She looked around curiously. The office was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises made by the various strange looking instruments. She noticed that it was missing its' resident phoenix but Dumbledore must have sent him on some business.

So deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice when they stopped she almost hit her nose against McGonagall's back. There it was, sitting on a shelf behind an enormous claw-footed desk, the Sorting Hat. She waited as Mcgonagall placed the shabby tainted wizards hat on her head.

"Hmm well well what do we have here. A mind that seems familiar but is not. I believe we have met before but perhaps it is the imagination of a senile old hat.

Tell me child I sense a fierce determination along with a darkness that you've kept hidden within you. There is loyalty also. Hmm … it is deeper than it seems and may eventually lead you astray.

But it seems as if you have already decided.

Very well then … GRYFFINDOR!"

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. Even though she knew that she would be sorted in her old house, she did not like to deal with uncertainties. She knew that the hat had said something of importance but it kept slipping away the more she tried to remember it. She decided to ignore it for the time being knowing that such things would come to her when she was not thinking about them.

"Did you see those legs Prongs? They went for miles. She might not have enough in the chest department but she definitely made up for it where it counts huh?"

Sirius wiggled eyes eyebrows suggestively and smirked.

"Whatever padfoot, you know I prefer them more...vivacious."

"Was it just me who noticed that there was something strange about her. First she was in her muggle clothing without any luggage with her. She did not seem to get surprised when we took her to Dumbledor's office. Plus she seemed to know who you were and she did not sound happy."

"Oi what are you saying mooney, you know I have been faithful to my beloved Lily the past two years."

Sirius rolled his eyes while sitting next to Remus.

"Yeah we have all seen you make a fool of yourself in front of Lily Prongs."

"Watch it pads, or you wont get to...enjoy that ravenclaw you were telling us about about last night."

"Ok enough you two. We need to figure out what's the deal with our mysterious stranger." Remus intervened before the argument got physical.

"Our stranger mooney? Methinks that someone has a crush on Miss Granger."

Sirius teased the blushing Remus.

"But mooney is right pads. We do need to figure out whats the deal with her. It is our duty as marauders to know every dirty little secret that Hogwarts is home to."

Receiving the nods of agreement from his fellow marauders, James took a seat near the fireplace and frowned in thought.

"We know that she is not from Hogwarts or Sirius would have remembered her."

Ignoring the proud smirk sent his way, he continued with his list.

"We know that she knows us or at least me and that she is a muggle or a half-blood meaning that she's definitely not one of Voldemort's cronies. And since she seemed to know Dumbledore's password choices, it would mean that she knows the old coot as well."

Ignoring the look of disapproval from Remus, he continued.

"From all this we can figure out that she has some history with professor Dumbledore and will probably be joining Hogwarts soon.

Now if we can just figure out what house she would be in than that would make it easier for us."

"Considering what a spitfire she was, she would probably end up here" Sirius remarked from where he was lounging on the squashy armchair.

"What does our resident werewolf think about this?"

Sirius looked at Remus who was looking at the ember shining from the burnt firewood with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"I think we need to figure out the how first and that if we can trust her or not. These are dark times and while we are safe within the walls of Hogwarts, we don't know how far Voldemort's reach is."

The three wizards sobered and looked at each other each remembering the numerous deaths listed in the Daily Prophet these days.

They turned towards the entrance as they heard the portrait of the fat lady creaking open. Their head of the house accompanied by the person they were just discussing about, knowing that this meant that Hermione Granger was now a Gryffindor.

Hermione meanwhile was following Professor McGonagall as she lead her to the Gryffindor tower. She was worrying about how she would act like everything was new about the place that had become her second home. She was also dreading meeting the marauders and Lily Evans. And she wondered how she would hide her hatred towards the fourth member of the marauders.

"...and the rest of the things will be delivered directly to your bed in the girl's dormitory.

... and that is all miss granger."

She knew it was rude to tune out what professor Mcgonagall was explaining, but she couldn't help it. There was just so much going in her mind that she couldn't be bothered to pay attention to what she already knew even in her sleep.

She came out of her thoughts when she noticed that Professor Mcgonagall had gone silent. She looked to see the professor frowning at her for not paying attention.

Hermione gave her a weak smile , not willing to justify her lack of attention.

"Is there something else bothering you miss granger?"

"No professor, just... I guess I am a little nervous to start the session midway."

McGonagall's eyes softened slightly.

"Relax miss granger. I doubt Albus would have let you join if he didn't think you could handle it."

"I guess you're right professor. I am worrying needlessly about things that are beyond my control."

Hermione straightened and looked towards the portrait of the fat lady. With an inward catch in breath, she remembered all the memories associated with the painting. Despite all the horrible experiences and a few close calls with death, the place behind that door had become a refuge of sorts. She decided now that she would do everything in her power to make everyones life easier in future.

The first thing she noticed after the professor said the password to allow them through the door was that the common room was exactly the same circular room oozing a feeling of comfort with scarlet tapestries depicting witches and wizards, and various animals. Even the armchairs and tables were placed near the big fireplace.

She noticed that it was occupied the three people she was hoping to avoid for a while. Then again it was better she cleared any misunderstandings as early as possible, because if James Potter was anything like harry, then the moment she gave him a slightest hint of opening, he would keep digging until he knew everything and she couldn't have that.

"Just the wizards I was looking for. Tell me Mister Black, how long it took you to find the chocolates you stole."

"It was right in front of me and I couldn't resist it professor, you know how it is"

Sirius grinned sheepishly and threw a wink at their head of the house.

Professor McGonagall pulled her cloak closer and straightened to her full height and glared at the impertinent boy grinning at her wolfishly.

"Mister Black , that's enough from you. I expect you to report to Mr. Filch after your class. You will do so for the rest of the week.

As will Mister Potter and Mister Lupin."

Ignoring the spluttering protests, she turned and walked out from the room with a departing glance at Hermione.

All the while James was staring at Hermione like she was a puzzle to figure out, which was not how Hermione was planning to start her relationship with Harry's father.

"I hope you're not expecting an apology for earlier Granger." James said wryly.

"Now James thats not how you welcome a new member to our hose."

Sirius reached forward to take hermione's hand and kissed the back of her palm lightly. He then bowed and his eyes hidden behind his dark locks winked at her.

"Welcome to our humble aboard Miss Granger. I want you to know that not all of us here are rude like James there."

Hermione blushed slightly. She'd guessed that Sirius was a charming flirt in his Hogwarts days but to be experience it first handedly was something else.

Remus stood at a slight distance and looked at James curiously. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen him being rude to others before. But towards a witch and a stranger to boot was definitely a little strange.

"Now let me introduce you to the coolest gang in Hogwarts. These gentlemen with me form a third of the Marauders. You will be hard pressed to find anyone in Hogwarts who is not aware of us." Sirius proclaimed proudly.

Hermione giggled. God she had missed this. It had been a year since Sirius fell into the veil and the Grimmauld place had felt cold and dreary without his presence to lighten the mood.

In the later months she and sirius had become quite close. He used to treat her as his little sister who would nag him sometimes but only because she cared about him.

She remembered how when she realized that sirius was dead, she'd cried for a whole day and was too depressed to even go to the library for a week.

It felt good to see him again without the worry lines that marked his face after his years in Askaban and hiding as a wanted convict.

Just as Hermione opened her mouth to reply she was interrupted by James.

"Watch it pads, you don't want her to fall for you before she even starts her first official day in Hogwarts." came a mocking voice.

Thats it! Hermione had had enough of James Potter being an utter prat.

"Jealous potter?"

"Of what? You're not exactly my type. I like them more...curvy." James drawled with a challenging look in his eyes.

"It might come as a surprise to you Potter but you are nowhere near what I want right now. Just the thought of liking you in any way is so far beyond my thoughts that I might as well congratulate you on having your future child."

"Well... you...I...woah you sure know how to bring down a guy's ego Granger." James looked a little hurt at her strong refusal. With Evans snubbing him every time he approached her and now the new girl was practically saying that she found him sexless. It was a little to much for a man's ego, James supposed wryly.

Remus finally spoke before the situation could get worse.

"How about we call it a truce for now and let Hermione rest. I'm sure she had a long day."

"Oh you have no idea...!" Hermione muttered under her breath, still surprised at how rude she was to Harry's father. Its just there was something about him that raised all the alarm signals in her head so she wanted to stay as far away from him as possible.

Sirius sat up suddenly from where he was watching the drama unfold in front of him.

"As much fun as it was to watch you both beat down each others ego, I think I'll take my leave now. There's a shy ravenclaw waiting for me to sweep her off her feet." Sirius threw a casual wave as he sauntered out of Gryffindor common room.

Remus looked at the slightly tense forms of hermione and James and hoped that seeing Lily tomorrow would make James feel better.

"uh...I think we all should call it a night. I heard professor say that you have Potions first thing tomorrow." Remus looked at hermione and smiled.

Hermione smiled back and if her face was a little pale she was thankful that Remus did not comment on that.

James looked at hermione one last time before nodding at Remus and turned to go to the boys dormitory.

Remus also with one last glance at Hermione, followed.

Hermione stood there feeling alone and small all of a sudden. What had she gotten herself into. With a sigh she turned and headed towards the girls dormitory. She climbed the steps and saw that McGonagall was true to her word. there was a shining new trunk next to an empty bed.

Stifling a tired yawn she went and unpacked and saw that though the syllabi was a little different, she would have no difficulty in the classes. with that she flopped face up on the bed and looked at the ceiling and thought that harry must be worried sick about her.

And Ron. oh god Ron, she'd forgotten about his injury in the midst of all that had happened today. She sat up suddenly, no longer sleepy.

They had apparated from the Burrow to a quite little coffee place to decide where to go next and for hermione to change. Suddenly there were loud pops all around them. three deatheaters were pointing their wands at them.

Hermione had quickly casted a Bombarda Maxima to create an explosion around her Ron and Harry and prepared to apparated out of there when she heard Ron's scream but by then it was to late and they had already apparated to a quite street in muggle london. She saw that Ron had splinched himself. She quickly found the essence of dittany and applied to the wound. she felt relieved when she saw the wound closing itself but with growing horror she saw that it starting bleeding again.

She casted every healing spell she knew but it just reopened again. She heard harry curse behind her. Then she remembered Ron was hit with some curse just when they were apparating.

She had quickly drawn harry to one side after casting a statis spell on Ron. She explained what happened. After that they had gone to Grimmauled Place hoping to find the answer in the black library. And the rest was... well that was how she ended up in the past.

But hermione hoped that Harry was able to put his worry for her aside and find what they needed. She knew that Ron's injury was not serious then but if it continued to bleed like it was the last time she had seen it, then it could become much worse.

Hermione released a frustrated breath and started a hurried pace frowning. God she felt like pulling at her hair. Shat was she doing here. she should be there helping Ron but she was stuck in the past with no way out.

She froze when she heard a rustle from one of the beds near her. She quietly went to her bed and laid down again. She knew that stressing over that wont help her now. She finally managed to quieten her thoughts a little and tried going to sleep knowing that it was not going to come anytime soon.

Lot of people thought that Sirius Black was just a pretty face who loved to pull pranks and flirt with the ladies. But what only his close friends knew was that he had an extremely sharp mind behind his good looks. And his was extremely loyal to those he deemed worthy.

He knew James Potter since they were kids. He knew that while James was sometimes arrogant, boastful and proud, deep down he was a good person and unfailingly loyal to those he loved. He also knew that it was not in james nature to be impolite to ladies. Mrs potter made sure of that.

This is what made the exchange that happened earlier in the common room even more interesting. He knew there was something off about the new girl. He couldn't place it but something was telling him that she would play a crucial rule in all their future.

"... and then she told me that she saw them together at Honeydukes. That seems a little strange isn't it?

Sirus are you even listening to me? You've been quite for some time now. Is something the matter?"

Sirius was jerked out from his inner musings, looked at the girl next to her and flashed a dazzling smile.

"You know whats on my mind love. Besides I didn't want to trouble you with my problems when we could be discussing something much more interesting..."

Sharon blushed. Her friends would be shrieking like harpies if they knew that she'd gone on a date with the sirius black! She couldn't wait to tell them later.

Sirius then continued to charm her for the rest of their night while still thinking about James and Hermione.

Well one thing was sure. He would be keeping a close eye on miss granger until he could figure everything out.

A/N: From next chapter onwards, the length of each chapter might be longer so might take me longer to update. Anyway, review and let me know what you think.

Cheers:)