The first day of term had finally arrived, which brought moving day for Hermione. With a wave of her wand, all of her belongings were packed neatly into her trunk. McGonagall must have been able to sense the moment that she would finish packing, because at that moment she knocked on Hermione's portrait. "Good evening, dear," she greeted her. "The students will be arriving in about an hour. Are your belongings ready to be moved to Gryffindor Tower?" "Yes, Professor. I'd just like to do a quick check to make sure I've got everything first." After a quick sweep of her chambers, she was finished.
With that, she hauled her trunk down to her common room, grabbed a book, and headed down to the Great Hall. She spent several minutes talking with some of the staff, who she had become well-acquainted with during her stay at the castle. Eventually, the teachers had to get ready for the feast, so Hermione went to sit by herself at the Gryffindor table.
On the Hogwarts Express, the four Marauders were sitting together in their compartment. It was dark outside the windows. "Hey, Moony," Sirius said suddenly. "Hmm?" "Whatcha thinking about?" Without realizing it, Remus had been staring out the window silently for half an hour. "Oh, nothing, nothing." He said, blushing slightly. "Hey, Prongs," Sirius elbowed James in the side. "I think our little furry friend is thinking about a certain someone he met in Diagon Alley the other day." "Oh really?" said James with a wide smirk. "Well, this is definitely looking good for our most recent project, don't you agree, Pads?" "Oh, yes, mate, I believe it does." "OH, REMUS!" they exclaimed together, as they both jumped on him and began to shower him with hugs and kisses.
"Guys!" squeaked Peter from the opposite side of the compartment, "we're here!" They had arrived at Hogsmeade station, and everybody was getting off the train. "We'll finish this later, Moony," James promised with a wink.
They quickly jumped onto the platform and walked to where the horseless carriages were waiting.
In the entrance hall, the Marauders quickly spotted Professor McGonagall waiting for the first years. Sirius and James looked at each other, grinning evilly. "MINERVA!" they yelled. "It has been too long!" They rushed over and gave her a massive hug. "You two get off of me and get inside before I take fifty points from Gryffindor!" "Fifty points!" yelled James in mock horror. "See you later, then!" Sirius winked at her, linked arms with James, and together they skipped to the Great Hall.
Remus had watched the whole scene from a distance, laughing quietly to himself. When James and Sirius skipped into the Great Hall, he and Peter followed, grinning. When he spotted the Gryffindor table, he paused. Hermione was sitting by herself, reading a book. "Your perfect woman, eh, Moony?" Sirius had seen her, too. C'mon, let's go introduce her to the gang!"
Hermione felt a presence behind her. She looked up to see one of the most beautiful specimens she had ever laid eyes on. Sirius Black was smirking down at her. "Hello, love. What might your pretty little name be?" he asked. "Um, I'm Hermione." The Sirius she knew had always been a bit of a flirt, but she could see that he was even more so when he was young.
"Is anyone sitting here?" he asked, knowing full well that there wasn't. "No," she responded simply. If he wanted to sit there, she wasn't going to invite him. From what she knew of the future Sirius, he would just do what he wanted anyway. She was proven correct in her theory when he plopped down next to her. Then, on her other side sat- Harry. But it wasn't Harry. His eyes were different; where there should have been bright emerald eyes was a pair of sparkling hazel ones. Other than that, he was a carbon copy of his son.
With the two of them sitting on either side of her, Remus and Peter were left to sit on the other side of the table across from them. This was, of course, their plan. They wanted to be able to see Remus' reactions to the girl's answers to the interrogation that they were planning without her noticing.
"Sooo, Hermione" Sirius began, "what brings you to Hogwarts so late in your career as a student?" "I transferred from the Salem Witches Institute. My parents decided to come back home to England last year when my father's liaison position with the American Ministry was terminated." Thank Merlin for Dumbledore and his detailed cover story. "Interesting. Did you have a boyfriend back in America?" Remus was horrified. Sirius and James were skipping the subtleties altogether! "No" she replied simply, hoping that would stop any questions in that area.
The truth was that she and Ron had sort of had a thing. She definitely wouldn't call him her boyfriend, but there was something there. Of course, if she brought that up she knew that she would be questioned into oblivion.
She really did miss Harry and Ron a lot. Although, she thought, it might not be so bad being stuck here, at least for a little while. She glanced up at Lupin, and blushed when she saw him looking at her. She had had a major crush on her professor in her third year, but she didn't dare tell anyone, especially not her two best friends, because they would have tormented her for the rest of her life if they knew. Her infatuation with the man returned in full force seeing him as he was now, when they were the same age, when there was hope that something could happen…
She was snapped out of her train of thought by McGonagall tapping her on the shoulder. She turned around to see that she was not alone; she had a red-haired girl with her. "Miss Bennett, this is Lily Evans, the Head Girl. She will be showing you around, as well as sharing a dormitory with you." With that, she turned and went back up to the staff table. "Hello, I'm Lily," the girl introduced herself. "Hermione; I'm pleased to meet you." If she ever got back, she would have to tell Harry about sharing a dorm with his mother.
"These gits aren't bothering you too much, are they? I can give them detention if you like!" she suggested with a mischievous grin. "No, that's alright. If they get too bad, I can just ignore them" she replied. Lily shoved James aside and sat between him and Hermione, which he didn't seem all that bothered by; any excuse to be close to Lily Evans was welcome.
After Dumbledore's speech, Lily and James had to lead the first years up to Gryffindor Tower, so Hermione went up with Sirius, Peter and Remus. Sirius was at her side with an arm flung casually over her shoulders. Remus was on his other side, shooting him death glares every time he was sure that Hermione wasn't looking. As usual, Peter brought up the rear.
Once inside the common room, Hermione immediately sat down in the chair nearest the fire, and recommenced her reading. Seeing this, Sirius nudged Remus. "Seriously, mate! Go make a bloody move! She's perfect!" Remus just gaped at him. "Fine," Sirius said, "if you're not going to do it, I will!" He began to make his way over, but was hindered by Remus grabbing his arm before he could move two strides. "Then you have to!" He began pushing Remus towards the fire. "I. Don't. Want…" "Yes, you do, Moony, and we both know that. It's for your own good, you know." Before Remus could retaliate, he was shoved into the chair across from Hermione. She glanced up from her book to see what all the commotion was, but looked back down after a moment. Oh, no! She looked down as soon as she saw that it was me! She must think I'm really ugly, or too quiet, or- He continued on with this inner panic for a while. What he didn't know was that what he took for disinterest was really Hermione trying to hide her true feelings for the boy that she had just "met".
Finally, Sirius couldn't stand it anymore, and he broke the silence. "Hermione, did you know that you and Moony here have a lot in common?" "Really? How would you know that?" she questioned. "Well, you're always reading; you both like to read," "That's great. What else do we have in common?" "Well, um…" "So to you, one similar characteristic translates to 'a lot in common'." "Yes" he said after a pause, trying to seem more confident than he felt. He wasn't used to girls disputing something he said; they usually just flirted and swooned. "Alright then," she said before going back to her book.
"Well, I'm going off to bed, then. You two have a nice chat" Sirius said before practically running up the stairs to the boys' dormitories, leaving Hermione and Remus laughing by the fire. "Merlin! I don't think any girl has ever gotten him flustered before!" Remus was laughing so hard at Sirius' absurd exit that he was bent double, gasping for air. "Well, I'm glad that I've provided some amusement for you," she said with a smile.
Sirius had done his job well. His hasty escape had effectively broken the ice between Remus and the new girl. He lay in bed for hours waiting for him to come up to the dorm to tell him about it. The longer he waited, the happier he became. His plan was working.
AN: So, chapter 4. I really don't have anything else to say about that. I would like to take a quick moment to thank all of you who reviewed. If anyone has any suggestions for things that they would like to see in the story, send me a review or a message. Is anyone actually reading this? I could probably write totally random things down here and none of you would even know. Did you know that over 600 house elves die in toilet-related accidents every year? If you didn't, you do now. You're welcome.