The first few weeks or so were…odd, but they ran somewhat smoothly. James and Sirius were trying to make up for what Remus said by being extra kind to Hermione, with charming smiles and such in the hopes that she wouldn't be upset with them as well. She laughed them off, but she and Remus kept their distances, Remus acting much like he had whenever they were incorporeal. Peter was got between either, eventually just giving up and wandering along by himself. The two had hardly spoken to each other, other than a few short questions and answers or commands. She'd often bite the inside of her cheek and frown a little before getting back to work – as there was always work to be done.

She'd been thinking, as she often did. The boys weren't technically students, and therefore wouldn't be allowed up in Gryffindor dorms like they were doing currently. In fact, that would have to stop before the students came in. She'd thought about the Room of Requirement, but that would be far too troublesome, as anybody could get in and things would be lost and it would just be awful. She considered trying to find some unused rooms and change them into dorms, but realized that her easiest way to do that was ashes and was kind of the cause of why she was hunting lodging for the four boys. Not that they knew, of course, they were thinking themselves.

As it often did with the boys, curiosity was killing them. Not so much Remus, as he didn't care, but the others were aching to know what was in Hermione's letters that caused the same reaction every time. Sirius stuck fast to his engagement idea, but James shook his head and said that she would probably have a ring or something. Peter thought that perhaps they should ask her, to which the three rolled their eyes and snorted and told him that if it was that simple, they would've done it. James wasn't about to guess on what was inside them, he would rather get hold of one himself and see what was inside.

Remus spent most of his time in the library. Which, come to think of it, wouldn't be all that odd, if he weren't simultaneously hiding from Hermione and researching different things. It varied from a small group of topics, but he researched all the same. He wondered how long it would take her to realize how adamant he was about escaping her, or if she already guessed. He decided he didn't care either way and went back to his own work.

While James and Sirius – and often Peter – distracted Hermione, he looked up on ways to get back to the seventies and also – and this was futile, he knew this, but he did it anyway – a cure for lycanthropy. After all, they were in the nineties now, shouldn't they at least have made advancements? But he couldn't find anything about a cure. He felt like hitting his head against a table repeatedly every single day this happened before going back and doing the same thing the next day.

"Knock, knock, Professor Granger?"

Hermione lifted her head before grinning and hopping up from her desk, hugging the man tightly as they laughed, "Ooh, you're awful to me! I wrote you weeks ago and you only visit now?"

The man laughed and ruffled up her hair, grinning down at her, freckles covering his cheeks and his red hair messed up from the wind, "Yeah, well, I was in Romania with Charlie, and dragons might've eaten your letter. Whoops. Now who – " Ron promptly stopped talking and stared at James, Sirius, and Peter, who had been hanging out with Hermione when he'd knocked. Hermione looked between the four and bit her lip before glancing back at Ron. "Hermione – "

"I know," she told him.

"Hermione, he's – "

"I know, Ron," she insisted.

"He looks like – holy shit, he looks just like him!"

She gave a laugh, "I know, Ron, I know."

Ron gave a grin and ran a hand through his hair before nodding slowly, "George told me something weird had happened. I just figured he turned your hair green again and this time it wouldn't come out."

"Hah, no, he'd be dead for that," she smiled back as James and Sirius lit up.

"Again?" they echoed before James continued, "So there was a first?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes with a grin, "Yes. And before that it was teal, but the green was the worst. I looked like a Slytherin. Eugh."

"Oh, hey, what House were you in?" Sirius suddenly seemed to remember to ask this question, making Hermione grin a little bit more.

"Daring, nerve and chivalry all the way with Hermione," Ron chuckled as he ruffled up her hair again, making her swat him away before he looked at her worriedly. "Are you going to tell Ha – "

"No," she said rather harshly, a set frown on her face as she dragged him out into the hallway and started to whisper, "He's just been through a war, I'm giving him a bit of a rest before I drop this bombshell on him."

"Hermione, he'd be happy," Ron insisted.

"Oh? Gee, Harry, I know you've been through this major war where you were an influential major part in it, now here's the father you've never met, only he's our age!" Hermione huffed, sending a curl up in the air as Ron held his hands up in defeat.

"Whoa, whoa, alright," he grinned, trying to calm her down, "Yeesh, a few weeks with the Marauders has really wound you up then, huh?"

"You have no idea," she sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Well, I've got to get back to the dragon reserve, only stopped by to see how you were doing and what the weird thing was," Ron said before tugging on a curl and giving her another hug, "Stay sane!"

"Easier said than done!" Hermione called after him as he walked down the hallway, grinning after him before heading back inside, giving a small scream when she was immediately encountered by two curious faces. She huffed and frowned at them, "James, Sirius!"

"And who was he?" James questioned as she walked around them and back to her desk.

"A friend," she stated.

"Just a friend or – "

"Don't even," Hermione warned Sirius, glaring and pointing at him, "I've had the entire Wizarding World speculating and gossiping about us since I was in fourth year, and I will not go through it again! Just because you're friends and you're both single, doesn't mean you're dating, I mean – honestly, that woman," she muttered the last bit to herself, James and Sirius sharing amused glances. "Horrid woman, can't keep her nose out of other peoples' business."

"Moony," James began, staring up at his bed hangings late at night, deep in thought and willing to share now, "Why do you hate Hermione?"

"She's a twat," Remus muttered sleepily back, making a pillow soar over and thump against his back, signifying that Sirius had been the culprit.

"No, really, honest to Merlin, answer that one," James said, sitting up and looking across the way at him as he groaned and sat up as well, hair already disheveled and a tired look in his eye, "I mean, she's really done nothing to you. You even stayed away before she sent us to George."

Remus sat back on his hands and thought about that for a few moments. Now, Remus wasn't too keen on meeting new people that knew things that he didn't, and could obviously use them to their advantages. Plus, before then he was still kind of upset about being dead and in the nineties, and he just really didn't like Hermione. She had a serious air about her, and looked far too stern when she was working, and he just really didn't want to deal with her. Yes, he was the most rational of the group, but there were far too many questions concerning her that he didn't like.

"She's bossy," he settled simply as Sirius got up and retrieved his pillow, sitting up on his bed and lounging on it afterwards.

"She's a professor, what do you expect?" Sirius asked.

"She acts like she's so important – gets on my nerves," he tried again.

"Ahh – gotta disagree with you on that one. She had to literally remind herself that she was a professor and couldn't do – oh shit, what was it?" James was grinning to himself as he tried to remember, "I think I only came in at the tail end of it. When I asked, she kind of grinned and said nothing."

"The world may never know," Peter muffled, eyes shut but a small smile on his face.

"She is rather mischievous," Sirius said, "I think she's not the goody-goody she'd like to have us believe."

"Good luck trying to get an ounce of truth out of her," Remus said as he fell back on his pillow.

"Well, we'll just have to go to another source then, won't we?" James grinned with Sirius when Remus sat up and arched an eyebrow before sighing, rolling his eyes, and flopping against the bed.

"How the hell I put up with you two, I'll never know," he muttered before all was silent once again.