Before I could reply to Lily, James piped up. "Hey, Watson! What are you doing here?"
"I'm in class."
"Class? But I've never seen you here before!"
"I'm a transfer, from Beauxbatons,"
"Beauxbatons? But you said-" She cut him off. "I didn't say anything. You thought I was a second year and I didn't have time to explain."
"You had all the time in the world!"
"You didn't let me!" He sighed. "Whatever." and plopped down next to a good looking boy with dark hair and started whispering rapidly to him. Hermione turned back to Lily. She started to talk to her, but the redheaded girl was too busy fuming at the two boys. "You really hate them, don't you?"
"Yes, I do."
"What did they do to you?" She asked. "They didn't do anything to me, but they bully my friend. They're just so...full of themselves!" she burst out, probably a little louder than she should have. James and the other boy looked sharply behind them at Lily. "I know what you mean," Hermione replied. Just then Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "Today we will be learning how too..." she faltered when she passed me. "Who are you?" It was extremely weird having someone you know ask who you were. "Hermione Watson. I'm a transfer student from Beauxbatons," She said. McGonagalls brow furrowed in a very familiar way. "Dumbledore didn't say anything to me about a transfer,"
"Didn't he?" Sweat was beading on Hermione's forehead. What would happen when they got to the bottom of this? "Well, here I am, Professor. He told me to come here for Transfiguration."
"Where are your books? And your parchment? And quills?" It was clear that she was suspicious. "Uhhh, I uhh...I left them in the common room. I forgot. I'm sorry." It pained Hermione to be saying these things. She had never come to class unprepared in her entire life. "Well then you better go get them!" McGonagall said, gesturing for her to go. Hermione got up and left the room. The door closed behind her and she was alone in the hallway again. What am I going to do? She thought. Her best option seemed to be to go to the common room and borrow someone else's stuff. All of the Gryffindor girls were in Transfiguration now, but she could only hope that someone might have a spare book. There was definitely going to be extra parchment, quills, and ink. No one brought all of their stuff to class, in case something got lost, or broken.
Five flights of stairs later, she was in front of the portrait hole again. "You again?" The Fat Lady asked. "Yes. I forgot my stuff for class." The Fat Lady peered closely at her. "I don't think I've ever seen you before."
"I'm a transfer student." She was getting tired of explaining. "Gillywater." The door swung open and Hermione ran back up to the girls dormitory. There was parchment sprawled all over one of the beds and a bottle of ink with a couple quills on the nightstand. She stuffed them all into someone elses bag, along with their Transfiguration book, and ran all the way back down to the classroom. She opened the door, panting. McGonagall was waiting impatiently. "Sit down, Miss Watson. Next time, don't forget your things," she snapped. Hermione slid back into her seat next to Lily. "Smooth," she hissed sarcastically. Hermione glared sideways at her as McGonagall started the lesson. "Today we will be talking about Animagi-" A boy in the front with rather large glasses shot his hand into the air and immediately began speaking. "An animagus is a wizard that can turn into an animal of their choice. They must register with the Ministry of Magic first so they can keep tabs on people in case anything happens." Hermione looked at him, bewildered. She couldn't have explained it better herself. Of course, she always waited until the right time, when the professor asked. This guy seemed like an insufferable know it all.
Apparently, Professor McGonagall was used to this, because she said; "Roland, for the last time, please wait until I finish talking. As I was saying-" The boy with the dark hair next to James raised his hand. McGonagall sighed. "Yes, Sirius?"
"Are there any Animagi that aren't registered?"
"Well, if there are, no one knows about them. Anyways-" she broke off when James raised his hand and blurted out; "How do you become an Animagus?" She gave him the death glare with those dark brown eyes of hers, and it was so hot I was surprised it didn't burn a hole through his robes. James shrank back in his chair, now silent. "Now that everyone's stopped interrupting, Animagi are people who can turn into animals, as Roland said. I'm an animagus myself, for that matter-"
"Can you show us?" asked a girl a couple desks away with two extremely long blond braids. McGonagall sighed, but relented. "Fine, but as long as you stop speaking out of turn." She stepped back, and within seconds a tabby cat with dark markings around its eyes was standing in her place. The whole class gasped, and a lot even began to clap. Hermione didn't, though. She had already seen this. In fact, she had already been in this class, back in the future with Harry and Ron. Lily turned to look at her. "Why aren't you clapping? That was so amazing!" I smiled and nodded. "It was really cool!" I said, trying to sound excited. The professor, who now looked like herself, hurriedly quieted down the class and continued her lecture. Hermione then realized, she had heard a very similar lecture quite a few years after (that didn't make sense), with all the same information that McGonagall was giving them now. So for the first time in her entire life, Hermione let her mind wander during class.
She thought about Harry and Ron, who were probably wondering where she was. She thought about her family, and her Muggle friends back home, and wondered if she was ever going to get back. There had to be a way. Surely things like this had happened before. She would figure it out. She was smart. She was clever. She would think of something.
She stared out the window at the sunny day outside, watching owls soar by the window across the Caribbean blue sky. There were brown ones, gray ones, speckled ones, and even a couple white ones that reminded her of Hedwig, who, of course, reminded her of Harry. She only wished he wasa with her now. Looking over at James, she could almost believe he was. But there was something different about the way James held himself. More of a careless, relaxed posture, while Harry was slightly more serious and solidly straight, as opposed to the loose, lazy slouch of his father.
"Your homework tonight is to pick a famous animagus from the past and research how they used their powers in their daily lives." said Professor McGonagall. "Class dismissed." Hermione stood up, packed her bag (or someone elses bag), and walked out the door with Lily. "We have a free period next. We should probably go to the library and start up on that essay," she said. I nodded. "Good idea."
Five minutes later, the two girls were scouring the shelves for Shapeshifting: A Guide to Animagi, The book Professor McGonagall had recommended to them, but it was nowhere to be found. "Do you think someone else has it?" asked Lily. "Probably. We all got the same homework assignment." So they sank down onto a bench, accepting defeat. Hermione still couldn't get over the fact that she was on the fast lane toward becoming good friends with Harry's mom. Every time she looked in Lily's eyes, she saw Harry, not the cheerful redheaded girl that she had just met a little while ago. Suddenly, those green eyes she was thinking about lit up in excitement. "Sirius! He has the book!"
"What?" Hermione replied quizzically. "Over there," she said motioning to the handsome dark haired boy that she had seen with James when they were in class. "James's friend, Sirius Black." Hermione's eyes widened. "The criminal?" she exclaimed shrilly. When Lily's head snapped to look at her, she realized what she had done. "Criminal? He might as well be. You should see the way he treats my friend. Come on, lets go get that book." Bewildered, she followed Lily after Sirius. Now that she knew, she could see the resemblance between the boy and the man she saw on wanted posters everywhere. Only, the Sirius she was standing before now was better groomed and less wild than on the poster. "Hey! Black!" Lily called. "Can we borrow that book when you're done with it?" He turned, his gray eyes containing a slightly mischevious glint. "No problem. But I might take a while. James, Petger, and Remus need it too."
"Seriously? We asked first!" He smirked. "Sorry. We need it more than you do."
"You do not! We both have the same assignment, for the same teacher! How could you need it more?"
"I'm sorry," he said with a grin. "That's classified information. I'll get back to you." and he left the library, leaving me with a fuming Lily.
