my inner muse has awoken at one AM so i finally finished this chapter :)
i update my story but weirdly, the new chapter only appears on the preview! i don't get it smh
please enjoy & review!
CHAPTER FOUR
HERMIONE'S QUARTERS, 1975
After reading two books, drinking one cup of hot chocolate, and sleeping for what seemed to be a lifetime, Hermione Granger is ready to deal with another day.
She's successfully managed to wake up on time, make her bed, and get prepared for the day.
A sense of routine redeems her, somehow.
Taking a deep breath in, she leaves her room and makes her way down to breakfast. Her insides jitter uneasily as she glances at the passing students, plugging in a reminder that this is not her timeline, this is not her school, these are not her peers. The passing students' gazes linger on her longer than it should, much to her wariness.
The Dining Hall is loud and bright, with yellow sunlight beaming from the ceiling. She tries to assure herself that despite everything else, it's still the same as always. Taking in a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, she surveys the Gryffindor table for a place to sit. She pretends that she doesn't notice the eyes that flicker at her and the low whispering.
She's been through this before.
She finds a seat next to a third-year Gryffindor with long black hair and her nose stuck in a textbook. Hermione smiles almost fondly, before putting pancakes on her plate and propping her own book up, ignoring the stares from the people around her. She begins to read her a book regarding the theories of time travel, hoping that the breakfast goes quietly and she goes unnoticed.
The theory of time travel is one that is-
"Good morning, Hermione," a voice says pleasantly, and Hermione resists the urge to huff in annoyance. She looks up and sees Lily, who grins at her brightly. Her heart nearly stops when she sees the red-headed girl; she'll never get used to seeing her best friend's dead mother. The witch looks stunning in the bright light, with her smiling eyes and cascading red hair. Her eyes are impossibly alike to Harry's. "Mind if I sit here?"
"Sure," Hermione replies, setting her book down and helping herself with a bowl of soup.
"What are you reading?" Lily asks politely, looking at the title of Hermione's book.
"Oh, it's nothing," Hermione says quickly, "Just doing some light reading." She picks up her book to set it in her bag but fails, dropping the book with a loud 'thud.' She blushes and Lily lets out a laugh, shaking her head.
"Light reading, I suppose?" she teases and a small smile blooms on her face. "Well...I know you're new here and it might be difficult to adjust. So I wanted to introduce you to my roommates, if that's okay..."
Hermione opens her mouth to decline, but the red-haired witch is already calling out to her friends, who are trying to act as if they haven't been peering over at her. Three witches head over from the end of the table, looking bashful.
"This is Marlene McKinnon," Lily says, gesturing to the blond girl who raises an eyebrow pointedly. Hermione recognizes her immediately and has the decency to look embarrassed for stealing her bed. "And this is Mary MacDonald." A dark-haired girl with a slender neck and sharp eyes smiles at her. "And Alice Prewett." A heart-faced girl with curly blonde hair waves at her brightly.
The names stir something up in her and she can't help but remember flashes of information. Marlene McKinnon and her family were supposed to be murdered entirely. Alice was supposed to be tortured to insanity. And Mary MacDonald was supposed to be killed in the Order of the Phoenix action.
She forces a smile on her face, ignoring a wave of nausea. "Nice to meet you guys. I'm Hermione Granger."
"We know," Alice giggles, taking a seat next to Lily. "Heard that Sirius Black carried you when you passed out. And you have your own quarters! But is it true about snogging James Potter?"
Hermione turns bright red. "I'd rather not participate and feed into these rumors," she says stiffly, looking down at her soup.
"Alice," Lily reprimands, giving her friend a look.
"Sorry," she giggles, "But the things people are saying...it's really outrageous."
Hermione raises an eyebrow. "Oh really."
Alice opens her mouth but Mary cuts in tactfully. "So I heard you're from the States. What's it like down there?"
She squirms in her seat as she tries to think off the top of her head. "Um...it's practically the same. You know, with-"
"Lily! Good morning, love!" a voice booms, and a arm grabs her, practically sweeping Lily out of her chair.
The three girls snicker at James Potter, who looks delighted to see Lily. His hazel eyes brighten at the sight of her and his smile splits his face. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about Lily. He wraps his arm around the redhead's shoulders, wheedling next to her.
"Oh, can it, Potter," Lily says in exasperation, shaking her head. She slides out of his arm and rolls her eyes, but coy mirth glitters in her green orbs.
All of the Marauders cram into the table, which is far too packed. The third year huffs angrily and slides out, going somewhere else to read her book. The others barely give her a passing glance and Hermione opens her mouth to apologize but decides against it.
Remus gives her a tired smile in greeting and Peter stares at her, squeaking when she turns to him. He's a chubby, blonde boy with a nervous energy to him. Hermione resists the urge to stab him in the eye with her fork. He had ruined Harry's life, not once, but twice, and risking any more glances would be incredibly dangerous for her temper and his face. Her knuckles turn white, gripping her utensil.
None of this would have happened if it weren't for the bloody rat. She grinds her teeth absentmindedly.
"Good morning, ladies," Sirius Black says, winking at the five witches. A chorus of 'good mornings' echo around the table and everyone watches Lily and James expectantly, as if this is an everyday thing. Curious now, Hermione shoulders her attention to the couple.
"How was your night, love?" James asks eagerly, running a hand through his already messy hair.
"It was fine," Lily says shortly, taking a bite out of her waffles. Hermione is slightly surprised that the witch hasn't begun hexing James into the next life and is managing a polite conversation, and somewhat doubts that stories she's heard about James and Lily. The stories of Lily and her temper, a being by itself, used to be the talk at dinner in Grimmauld's place.
"Well, I had a great night too, thanks for asking," James says cheekily and the group sighs. "But I did stay up late, studying this particular charm."
"Humor me," Lily says blandly, glancing at her friends in amused annoyance. Sirius bounces on his heels, obviously knowing what is about to go down.
"Really, you two," Hermione says sharply, glancing at Sirius and James. "If you guys are planning to-"
"Oh, loosen up, Granger," Sirius says offhandedly, and she scowls. Her gaze flickers to Remus and Peter, who are fighting back the mirth in their faces.
There is an unabated expectancy, blooming at the table.
"Your wish is my command," James says, grinning broadly, before swishing his wand and saying, "Orchideous!" A bouquet of lilies sprout out of his wand, quite underwhelming from what everyone was expecting.
"Real creative with the flowers," Lily says dryly, rolling her eyes.
"Oh bloody hell, wrong movement." James shakes his head, before swishing his wand again. "Orchideous!" There's an instant pop in the entire Dining Hall and a collective gasp. Hermione stares down at her fork, which has been Transfigured into a bouquet of lilies. Her jaw drops at the bountifulness of the flower; there are lilies, everywhere.
Hair pins, book bags, goblets, the breakfast, Professor Dumbledore's hat-
The Dining Hall begins to freak out.
"What is going on?"
"Bloody hell! How is this-"
"Lilies? Oh bloody surprise, we all know who-"
"Our robes!" a particularly nasty looking Slytherin bellows. He's dressed in what seems to be flower petals, and he struggles to keep the flimsy petals from flying off of his body. A particular petal, which was covering a particularly important area, shifts at the sudden movement, revealing a particular appendage.
There's a collective gasp of horror.
Chaos breaks out as students begin to panic.
It doesn't help that Peeves (who barely makes appearances in the mornings) happens to be wide awake and holding a bucket of glitter, dumping it on the students' heads. She's glad that the poltergeist is avoiding the Marauder's vicinity and can't help shake her head at the connection.
Hermione spots a rather amusing Hufflepuff spitting a lily out of her mouth and Peter is red in the face and almost crying with laughter.
She's unsure whether to laugh or reprimand the Marauders. "You guys are going to get in so much trouble," she says, lips twitching.
Right at that moment, Professor McGonagall comes marching to their side of the table. "Mr. Potter!" Professor McGonagall says loudly, her face red and her lips pursed in a white line. Her pointy witch hat has also been subject to the charm, and the lily on her head sways back and forth. "You come back here right this insta-"
James laughs and takes off running in the opposite direction. "I love you, Lily Flower!" Lily fumes, and the witches burst into giggles, but are quickly quelled by Professor McGonagall's look of murder.
"Oye! Mate!" Sirius calls after him, and hastily gets up to follow, but Professor McGonagall grabs him by his collar. "Um...Minny, I think we can talk this-"
Remus and Peter are smart enough to look confused as Professor McGonagall spews threats and drags the boy away.
"Double potions with Slytherin," Marlene moans, "Great way to start off the day, am I right?"
The five witches grumble their agreements as they make their way down to the Dungeons, munching on bits of toast. Breakfast had been cut short because of the 'Lily Incident', as the girls liked to call it, so the girls had stowed away strawberry cream cheese croissants and flasks of orange juice in their robes. Hermione, who had been invited by Lily to join her roommates, nods agreeably.
"Our teacher, Horace Slughorn, only favors Lily," Mary says, sticking her tongue out at the redhead. Mary had decided to keep her own editions from the Marauders' prank, so she sports two lilies pasted on her cheeks. "He's a true Slytherin, down to the heart. He favors those who would make use to him once graduation." Hermione bites back a 'I know' and nods along with the other girls.
"He's the wide man, am I right?"
The witches burst out in giggles and Lily manages a small laugh, despite being still annoyed at James.
The Potions class is dark and green torches light up the room, just like Hermione remembers it. Students are milling around in their seats, surveying the board for instructions.
"Mary, you can sit next to Hermione," Lily says quickly, shouldering her book bag. Lily petals are still stuck in her hair, but the witch hasn't noticed. Her and the other witches have the decency to not point it out; Lily's patience with James Potter is stretched far enough. "I'm going to partner up with Sev." She offers the girls an apologetic smile as she walks over to Severus, who sits alone. He sulkily glances at them and his eyes dart from side to side. The Gryffindor girls shake their heads.
An animate conversation between Snape and Lily instantly explodes, and with Lily's multiple scoffs, eyeballs, and exclamations, it's obvious who she is talking about. Snape nods vigorously, looking absolutely delighted with the subject.
"Honestly, I don't know what she sees in him," Marlene remarks coolly. "Him and his friends...nasty lot, involved with loads of Dark Magic."
"I'm sure there's a reason why she sticks around," Hermione replies mildly.
"Whatever that can be," Mary replies sourly, "He's absolutely nasty to us."
The conversation dies down as Professor Slughorn enters the classroom.
"Good morning, students! As we can see on the board, today we will be brewing the Invigoration Draught," Slughorn booms, surveying the students with interest, "Who would like to tell me its characteristics?"
Hermione's hand shoots up in the air like instinct. Slughorn's eyes immediately land on her and he smiles.
"And what is your name, miss?" he asks, eyes sparkling with mirth. "Can you perhaps be Ms. Granger?"
"Yes, sir," Hermione says shyly.
"Oh, I've heard all about you," Slughorn says, eyes twinkling, "Very curious, very curious indeed...So Ms. Granger, would you tell the class the characteristics of the Invigoration Draught?"
"The Invigoration Draught should be a pale grayish color when finished," she says quickly, the words leaving her mouth at rapid speed, "and have a mild taste of pomegranate juice, it being the main ingredient in the potion." She takes in a breath.
The class stares at her in stunned silence.
"Oho, xcellent, m'dear," Slughorn says, beaming, "Five points to Gryffindor!"
Her friends stare at her appraisingly and the Slytherin grumble, making snarky remarks beneath their breaths.
Hermione hears Snape mumble far too loudly (and obviously on purpose), "Half the class understood her with her blabbering," and the Slytherins snicker. She bites back a retort and turns her back on them.
"The instructions are on the board, class. You may begin brewing...now!"
Mary and Hermione talk idly, most of their conversation consisting of scrambling for ingredients (Mary) and asking for help (again, Mary).
Hermione works furiously, eager to make a good impression with Slughorn. She double-checks the instructions and makes precise measurements with the ingredients, aiming to make a perfect Invigoration Draught.
"Ms. Granger," Slughorn says, as he stops to watch her work. She looks up from her concentrated stupor and manages a small smile.
"Hello sir."
He peers down at her cauldron and chuckles. "Most excellent, Ms. Granger. It seems as if everything is going in order?"
"Nearly finished, sir," Hermione replies absentmindedly, concentrating on counting the number of clockwise and counterclockwise turns. Slughorn seems pleased as he passes along to Mary, before eyeing her bubbling cauldron and shaking his head.
"And Ms. Evans! Mr. Snape! Always together, I see," Slughorn booms, hurrying over to his favorite student. He rewards Lily with ten points in less than three minutes for 'representing and upholding inter-house relations' for simply sitting next to Snape. Mary clucks her tongue and watches them, miffed.
"I don't understand that man," she whispers, "It's as if- oh no! Bloody hell, I left my cauldron bubbling for far too long!"
The day goes along rather quickly, with Hermione acing through her classes which almost seem like review. Her friends, the group of Gryffindor girls, stare at her in a new light. Even Snape almost dropped his cauldron in shock when Slughorn rewarded Hermione with ten points for listing the ingredients to Amortentia as if she were reciting a grocery list.
A pit drops to Hermione's stomach as the day passes along, and she finds herself anxiously glancing at the clock, which seems to be ticking faster and faster by the minute.
Finally, after the last class of Charms, Hermione sets her resolve to go to the library to meet Snape.
Harry, Dumbledore, Ron; they are all relying on her.
She stops the girls on their way to the common-room. "I'll see you guys later," Hermione says dully. "I have some business to attend to."
The girls glance at her, and Marlene raises a perfectly arched eyebrow. "Somewhere to be, Granger?" With Marlene, they have not yet surpassed enough familiarity to refer to one another by their first names.
"Yes," Hermione replies, before flipping her hair and waving to the girls, "I'm off to hell."
Hermione is slightly smug to see that Snape is at the library first, sitting in a corner by himself. He scribbles on a piece of parchment viciously, and the tip of his nose touches the paper.
She walks over quickly and takes a seat, clearing her throat.
Snape doesn't bother to acknowledge her (something she's suspected would happen), and continues to scrawl on his paper.
Hermione sits patiently, refusing to let his detachment irritate her. A few minutes later, she takes out her own piece of paper and begins to work on her Transfiguration essay.
Twenty minutes in, Hermione is too caught up in her essay to hear Snape clearing his throat to get her attention. Annoyed, he shoves his parchment in front of her, nearly knocking over her bottle of ink.
"Hey!" Hermione says shrilly, before slapping a hand over her mouth and looking around wildly. No one has noticed, thankfully. She stares at the parchment, full of scrawled instructions, from how to properly cast a vanishing spell to the instructions to make a shrinking potion. "And what do you expect me to do with this?" Hermione hisses lowly, grabbing her ink bottle protectively.
"I've noticed that you're wandwork is quite shabby and your potion was quite mediocre," Snape replies with equal venom, narrowing his eyes. "Memorize this and practice it by our next meeting."
Hermione reddens, outraged. "Excuse me?" I'll have you know that Professor Slughorn commended me also for having a perfect shrinking solution and that I received full points today in all of my classes."
"Oh please," Snape spits, "Your potion was overstirred, so that's why it won't mature fully. You can tell by the color and it's obvious that Slughorn overlooked it because of pure favoritism. So don't even think that it's because of your talent and skill, because clearly, all you can do is parrot instructions." He sneers and gets up.
Hermione shakes it outrage and ignores the sting of the words. "Oh blood hell, if you think you can just leave now, don't bother trying to stay in Hogwarts." Snape whirls around, and it's clear that she's hit the right spot.
"Don't threaten me," Snape growls, "with expulsion just because you're a Gryffindor. You think Dumbledore can protect you? Trust me, he won't be watching your back every single second."
She doesn't back down on the threat, and instead stares up at his intense gaze. "All I'm trying to say is that if you're going to do this job, do. it. right." She grinds out her words and locks gazes with him poisonously.
He relents first, giving her a sharp scowl, before taking a seat back in front of her. His cloak billows out behind him dramatically every time he moves, something that Hermione might've snickered at, is it wasn't for the mood.
"Alright," she says in a quieter, more reasonable tone. "Thank you." She nearly chokes on the words, but forcibly reminds herself that this will never work out if they continue to go for each other's throats. He ignores her attempt at being polite and continues to glare at her. "Um...I was hoping that we could go over," her face turns red as she says this, feeling ashamed for even asking for help, "...um, the Window Shattering Charm."
Of course I already know how to do it; I've known how to do it since the fourth year but-, Hermione thinks, trying to stabilize her crumbling pride.
"The Window-Shattering Charm?" Snape says snidely, raising an eyebrow. "You won't have to know that until sixth year, or unless you're in advanced Charms, so I doubt teaching you will help."
"I am in Advanced Charms," Hermione says shrilly, with a glued smile on her face. Her fingers grip her quill tightly.
Snape shows more expression on his face than Hermione has ever seen (besides hate, malice, irritation, anger, etc). "Well, who would've known," he remarks, curling his lip.
Her quill snaps to pieces in her palm.
It's when the Gryffindor girls eye her warily that Hermione realizes that she's went to the wrong location. Blind by rage and a destroyed self-esteem, she had accidentally went to the Gryffindor common-room instead of her own, personal quarters, where she could have screamed her lungs out. Two hours of being belittled, taunted, and treated as if she were a child really pushed her to her limit.
"Hey 'Mione," Lily says carefully, eyeing the girl's red face and her low mumbles.
"Hello," Hermione says shortly, trying to muster a even tone. She looks around the common-room, which looked as though she hadn't went back in time. She blinks. "Oh bloody hell, I didn't even go to the right place because of that stupid slug," she mumbles furiously, I hope he gets mauled to death by a Hippogriff, oh, screw Dumbledore and his stupid plans." Mary stares at her with wide eyes and Marlene gives a off-handed shrug in response.
"Is everything okay?" Alice asks, her brow creasing.
"Yes, everything is perfectly fine," she says sarcastically, throwing herself in a cushy chair and closing her eyes. "Oh, what's the point of going back to my quarters anyways? All I'm going to do there is mope and cry because I'm on this impossible mission, when I can be with Harry and Ron, stuffing our faces with p-peach pie-"
Her voice catches and the rage suddenly turns to angry tears. She's helpless to the unexpected flashbacks to the time where she had friends to laugh with, a family to send letters to, a place to stay, a life where she could just be. Tears blind her vision and she blinks furiously, covering her hands with her face.
She gets up from her seat and blindly moves to the exit, unable to deal with it anymore, when she bumps into someone.
"I'm sorry," she mumbles, hurrying to get past them, but someone catches her arm. She looks up and sees James staring down at her, his gaze soft.
"Are you alright?" he says, and the warmth behind his words has her walls collapsing.
Tears stream down her face and she hastily reaches to wipe them roughly with the palm of her hand. "I-I'm alright," she hiccups, almost groaning at how desperate she sounds. She misses the urgent, 'help-me!' stare that he gives to the Marauders' and Lily, and awkwardly places his hand on her back. "Um...there, there."
"Why don't you come sit, love," Alice says softly, pulling Hermione by the hand, glaring furiously at the fourth-year Gryffindors who were trying to enter and ended up making fun of Hermione. She guides her to the sofa and Hermione takes a seat.
"Alright everyone!" Lily says authoritatively, "Up to your rooms. It's too late for you all to be loitering in the Common Room. Up, up, go!"
"It's only six!" a fourth year moans.
"Mind you," Remus says sternly, "Listen to your prefects and go up."
The younger Gryffindors grumble as they make their way up to their rooms but oblige anyways, and soon, the common-room is empty besides the Marauders' and Mary, Marlene, Alice, and Lily.
Hermione dabs her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. "Oh please, I'm so sorry. I-I should be out of your way now and-"
"Stop it," Lily says gently, reaching out to hold Hermione's hand. "You can't get rid of us that easily."
"What's wrong with Granger?" Sirius whispers to Mary, who shakes her head.
"She went somewhere but came back all stressed out," Marlene informs quietly, "and she started crying about some mission and these blokes named Harry and Ron." Sirius looks miffed but doesn't push it any further.
"Don't worry," he whispers loudly, "I got this." The boy steps up and opens his arms widely. "Oh Granger," Sirius says loudly, wrapping the girl in a big hug. Hermione stiffens and awkwardly falls into his grasp. "Don't cry over Robert and Henry, or whatever mission you're on. I'm sure it'll all work out positively fine in the end!"
"Sirius," Remus hisses, narrowing his eyes, "Not exactly helping."
"Well I'm sorry, but I think I have far more experience than you," Sirius says haughtily, ignoring the puddle of tears accumlating on his dress-shirt. He pats her on the back in a soothing rhythm. "It's going to be alright love, ignore the others."
"Five points from Gryffindor for being absolutely crass, Mr. Black," Remus says warningly, and the girls burst out into giggles. Sirius's grasp on Hermione slackens, and the corner of Hermione's lips twitch. Their absolutely ridiculous jokes brighten the grey clouds over her head.
"You bloody prat! I'm in your house!"
"I know that!" Remus says indignantly.
Sirius growls, absentmindedly letting go of the girl as he reaches for his wand. He looks down at Hermione before wrapping his arms around her quickly, as if remembering the mess he holds in his arms. "We'll discuss this later," Sirius says darkly to Remus, patting Hermione's on the back absentmindedly. "I have business to attend to."
"Oh!" Hermione cries out, wriggling out of Sirius's grasp. "Even James was better than this!"
The room bursts into giggles and loud laughs and Sirius finally surrenders his stubborn pout.