Last chapter: What if she did like Gideon? Bill said that Gideon made her happy. She clearly needed some happiness. But Remus could make her happy! James looked back at Hermione and Gideon, he noticed that they were quite close, not necessarily romantically but there was something there. Before James could think about it anymore, his mother practically shoved him into the fireplace.
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Remus was headed down to Gambol and Japes to meet the other Marauders as they stocked up on prank supplies before heading off to Hogwarts in a few days. He had just finished his own shopping with his last stop in Flourish and Blotts to pick up his textbooks for the year.
'I wonder what courses Hermione will be taking, maybe we'll be in some classes together.'
As if his thoughts had summoned her, he turned the corner only to crash into the mysterious girl he had met only weeks ago. But she wasn't alone.
"Hi Remus!" she said, with a bright smile on her face that differed greatly from the scowl on the face of her companion.
"Hello…erm…?" he trailed off as if he didn't know her name.
"Oh!" she said, remembering that she didn't get the chance to introduce herself before he ran away when they first met. "I'm Hermione. Hermione Granger. And this is-"
The boy beside her cut her off, "We know each other already. Lupin," he nodded in greeting.
"Snape," Remus nodded back, still confused as to why they were together. Judging by previous experience, being friends with Severus Snape only led to the Marauder's teasing Snape mercilessly. It happened when James was interested in Lily, although it was calming down now that they were no longer friends and James and Lily were becoming closer. Would they do that to him again because of Remus' interest in Hermione? 'Maybe I should warn them not to start all that again, I don't even know if they're actually friends or not…'
"So what brings you to Diagon Alley?" she asked cheerfully.
"Oh, you know, just picking up the last of my things for next year," he said, waving his bag of books slightly.
"So you go to Hogwarts?" He nodded and she continued, "That's great! I'm starting this year and I'm really excited to get to school, I mean I've been to school before but then I took a year out and then-"
She was cut off by a grumbling voice from behind her, "You're rambling again, girl." The man emerged from the doorway and Remus could see that it was an auror. Specifically, it was Auror Alastor Moody that had joined their little group.
"Alastor, don't jump out at me like that it isn't funny!"
"When you stop jumping a mile into the air whenever I do it, then I'll stop. Until then, get used to it. Have you got everything?"
She took a quick look through her bags and looked back at the grouchy auror, "We just have to stop at the apothecary and then that's it."
Snape looked confused, something that hardly ever happened, "But you just went to the apothecary, that's where you kidnapped me-"
"I didn't kidnap you, Severus. I merely…invited you to walk with me."
"Invited?" he said, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Fine, maybe I made you come with me, whatever. I need to go to a different apothecary."
Remus wasn't sure what to make of this exchange. She called him Severus, which would suggest that they were friends. But he said that she 'kidnapped' him and she admitted that she forced him to come with her, which would suggest that they weren't. Unless Snape was being playful, which Remus seriously doubted. That boy didn't have a playful bone in his body.
Moody had had enough and reminded Hermione that they needed to leave, she huffed slightly and said, "Fine, fine. Geez you're grumpy, has anyone ever told you that?"
"No they haven't, generally people are scared of getting hexed. Unfortunately you don't seem to be worried about that so I have to tell you to get a move on. Now get a move on!"
"Ergh. Bye Severus! Bye Remus!" and then she left, sending Remus a heart stopping smile that caused Severus to look on with a disgusted expression.
"Don't bother, wolf," and with that Snape left too, leaving Remus deflated as he remembered just who, and what, he was.
'Stupid Moony'
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"You know," said Hermione, "you really don't have to be so stern all the time. I'm sure that people would still respect you if you smiled."
The auror glared down at her, "What was that?"
"What was what?" she asked innocently as they walked down the street.
"I thought you said that Snape was a Death Eater."
"He was a Death Eater. And an Order Member. Honestly, Alastor, do keep up."
"Listen girly, you need to stop poking fun and start taking this seriously."
Hermione whirled around in front of him and stopped, she paused to cast notice-me-not and silencing charms around them before turning to Moody. All playfulness had disappeared and she looked at the older man almost menacingly, "I'm taking this all very seriously. If you think that I'm not, then you're wrong. And you can zip it with the 'girl', my name is Hermione. Call me that or Granger. I don't care, but don't condescend to me. I respect you because of what you've taught me in the future, but since you haven't done that yet, you don't get to act like you know more about this. I am the best asset that the Order has right now, seeing as I've lived to see the end of Voldemort and his groupies. If you don't want to help me then fine, I didn't ask for a babysitter. I'll go to the sodding apothecary myself, it's none of your concern anyway." She cancelled the charms and left, stepping into the apothecary that was only yards away. The auror was left stunned, no one ever spoke to him like that. But she was right.
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Remus finally found James and Sirius, Peter was visiting with his family somewhere up north but said that he'd meet them on the train back to school. They spotted Remus and Sirius left James at the till to pay for their supplies as he caught up to their werewolf friend.
"What's up Moony?"
"I'm a werewolf."
"What?! How can this be? You've never told me before!" Sirius cried dramatically, clutching his hand to his heart in feigned shock, "Now what's this about then?"
"That's it. There's no point. I'm a…thing…"
"Remus, come on. What's brought this on?" he said, leading the other boy to the bench outside the shop window. The alley was getting quieter which meant that they could talk about Remus' furry little problem out in the open without the use of silencing charms.
Remus raised an eyebrow at him before sighing, "What do you think it is?"
"Ah, girl problems. I've been there, my friend."
"I doubt it."
"Ok, maybe not the same kind of girl problems, but I've had them all the same. Now tell Uncle Sirius all about it," he said with a small smile.
"I don't even know her, I'm definitely overthinking it. It's just, I was talking to her, sort of, and she's such a…warm person."
"You mean she's hot?"
"What? No. Well, yes she is, but that's not what I meant."
James exited the shop and made his way over to the others, "What's going on?"
"Moony's sad because of his 'furry little problem'."
"Sorry mate," James said, looking sympathetically at Remus, "I thought you were moving on?"
"Moving on?" Remus asked.
James shook his head before clarifying, "Not 'moving on' moving on, but 'moving on' like looking on the bright side. There are so many other days of the month where you have a normal amount of hair and don't drool all over the place. What's brought this on?"
"Remus spoke to the hot girl," Sirius answered.
"Which hot girl?"
"The mysterious one from your house."
"Oh, I saw her the other night. Sorry I forgot to mention it."
"You saw her?" both Sirius and Remus asked, sliding forward in their seats as they focused on James fully.
"Calm down. And yes, I did, only for a little bit. She was babysitting the Weasley kids and my mum went over, I just tagged along to do some covert spying."
"And what information did you collect, Mr Prongs?" Sirius asked.
"Not much really. Bill said that she's sad and-"
"Wait a minute," Remus interrupted, "so your source of information on a mystery Order member is a little kid? How old is Bill? Six?"
"He's almost seven actually, and he's quite perceptive." The other two boys scoffed at this and James continued, "Like I said, she's sad. I know that we figured as much from what went on at the meeting but now it's confirmed. Something happened to her. He said that Gideon makes her happy, so she's got people that cheer her up. That'll stop at Hogwarts, which is where we step in."
"Marauder's to the rescue!" Sirius shouted as he leapt up from his seat beside Remus and waved an imaginary sword at James, who responded in kind. The two had an imaginary sword fight for a few moments, probably longer than two teenagers that were in their last year of school should do, before turning back to Remus.
"Anyway," James said, "it looks like you've got competition."
"Her and Gideon?" Remus questioned.
"Nah, mate. It's Bill you want to watch out for. Little guy's crushing on her in a major way. And he's got the cute looks and the charming personality to woo any fair maiden he sets his heart on."
"He's six."
"The kid knows what he wants. You do too. A little fur shouldn't stop you from at least trying."