I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to J.K. Rowling.
A/N: Woo! There was a Lunar Eclipse last night! It was awesome. Anyways, thank you guys for the reviews! I had some time after I came home from my friends house so I decided to start typing out this chapter, and throughout the day I've been taking short breaks to get this done. If any of it seems choppy or incomplete, please tell me so I can fix it. I feel that my chapters are incomplete but hey, it could just be me. - Min
Wally4ever: Yay! I'm glad someone likes it. I was skeptical at first, thinking I wouldn't be able to pull it off, but I think I'll be able to do a decent account on their love life. I hope. It's also a good thing that you aren't dumping that factor. -Hint hint, wink wink.-
the-kaiba-heir: Thank you! I try to update every day or every other day. I can type at a good speed and I already have a lot of things down in my head so I know where I'm going with my story; that allows me to update so often. I don't want to only update every week or so, because that's just… well, it just isn't me. It'd also take way too long to finish. That's also why I try to make my chapters a decent length.
Evil Cat Hater: Thank you! I'm glad you understand, I didn't really erm, make a great explanation of it, but more of it will be clarified soon. I also thought that James and Lily would be more of a romantic couple, and I picture Lily being someone who is into the romantic thing… so that letter thing just popped into my head.
Outside, the boys were now sitting on the ground under the tree with Remus. They were eating the chocolate that had fallen on Sirius' head and talking about Quiddich. Remus however, was staring up at the window where Hermione had been sitting previously.
Every so often he could catch a glimpse of someone moving across the room and he suspected that someone else was in there with her. After a while, he heard a high pitched squeal that he knew wasn't hers; it belonged to Lily. Sometimes, he liked having his werewolf hearing, but other times it was annoying. In this case, he wished he could hear more. Something about Hermione intrigued him.
He sighed, thinking about his lycanthropy. No girls he knew would ever date him if they knew what he was, let alone be his friend. He'd heard the girls in the common room talk about how 'scary' and dangerous werewolves were. They would never understand though. Being one was a lonely life, even though he had his Marauder friends with him, it could be highly depressing.
"S'wrong Moony?" Sirius said abruptly, breaking Remus from his thoughts as a crumpled up Chocolate Frog wrapper hit him in the head.
"Just thinking." He murmured.
"Oh, that's not surprising." James grinned. "Moony's the thinker of us all."
"Well, someone has to do the thinking, otherwise you guys would be stuck in trouble all the time." He narrowed his eyes at them, but couldn't help but smile slightly.
"Come off it, Moony. We have brains too you know!" Sirius cried.
"You sure don't use them then." He laughed. "Right Peter?"
Peter nodded slightly. "I can't complain though. I can't do anything right, let alone think."
"That's not true, Wormtail. You've got it in you, you just haven't bloomed yet." James cried out in a dignified voice.
"Bloomed?" Sirius snorted. "James, you really need to learn on how to put things, mate. Honestly, bloomed?"
"Don't make fun of me! I don't have a great vocabulary. Just give me a break." He whined, crawling over to Peter and sat down next to him. "At least Peter here doesn't question my intelligence."
Peter smiled broadly and James laughed. Sirius just tried to scowl at his friends but failed miserably, making him look as if he'd just eaten a wrong type of jelly bean. This only caused James to burst out into guffaws of laughter, which made Sirius fall over laughing because of his friends abrupt mirth, only to succeed in rolling to the side to far and falling into the lake.
There was shocked silence for a few seconds as the boys were taken aback by the sudden splash of water and the disappearance of their friend. When Sirius' head poked out from the water, they all burst out laughing, even Remus.
"Not funny guys!" Sirius whined, pulling himself out of the lake. "That squid could have eaten me!"
"Yeah right." Remus snorted, opening a chocolate frog. Chocolate was his favorite sweet.
"Seriously." Sirius said matter-of-factly, pulling off his dripping wet robe and tossing it to the ground beside him. "I might have died you know. There are things in that lake that no one would ever imagine!"
"Yeah… Some merpeople, a squid, a few fish. So harmful." Remus rolled his eyes, taking a bite out of the Chocolate Frog. "If anything's going to kill you, it's the fact that it's forty degree's out here and you're shirtless."
Sirius had discarded his robe, shirt, shoes, and socks. He now sat in only his jeans, his onyx black hair clinging to his slender yet masculine face. Water dripped into his eyes and he blinked it away quickly. "If you're so sure I'm going to die from the cold, hand me your robe, will you?"
Remus sighed halfheartedly and took off his robe. He tossed it to the shirtless boy and leaned back against the tree he was under. He would never get over how his friends acted. He enjoyed their company and was glad that they had accepted him, even when they found out his secret.
There was a comfortable silence that hung around the boys now, each either eating chocolate or just staring off into space, thinking. With the Marauders though, there wasn't always silence for long.
"When's the next Hogsmeade weekend?" James yawned as he fell backwards onto the ground purposely to look up at the clear blue sky.
"I believe it's next week, why?" Remus said through his thoughts.
"Just wondering. I was thinking about asking Lily to go with me." The boy blushed and continued looking up at the sky.
"You really should try to get along with her, Prongs." Sirius said through chattering teeth.
"I know I should, but I just get weird around her. None of you would understand, but it isn't easy being talking to someone that you really, really like. Not just a schoolboy crush and all that, I really have feelings for her." James mumbled to the sky.
"Even if you claim that we don't understand, we know you can do it. Since when did a Marauder become too chicken to do something?" Sirius pointed out with a lopsided grin.
"Yeah, well, Lily is something different. She isn't like all those other girls around here. She's special to me, and I'd do anything for her. She doesn't know that though and I suppose she never will…" James trailed off quietly.
"Hey!" Barked Sirius, his playful manner gone. This shocked James, so he looked over to his friend with wide eyes. "Don't ever say that, James."
"It's true though." He said loudly.
"You don't know that! James, you of all people should know that things aren't always what they seem to be." Sirius growled softly.
"Right…" James was suddenly moody.
"Who wants to play a game of Exploding Snap?" Peter asked nervously as he watched his two friends.
"I do!" Sirius said. Soon, him and Peter were engulfed with their game, so Remus got up from his comfortable position under the tree and sat himself next to James.
"James, I know it bothers you about Lily, but I believe in you. You out of all the people I know can win her over. I've seen how she stares at you in class when she thinks no one is watching, or the way she blushes around you." Remus murmured so that his voice was only audible to the two of them.
"You serious?" James asked incredulously.
"I'm serious, Prongs." Remus nodded, looking up at the sky while he stretched his legs out in front of him while leaning back and placing his palms on the ground behind him for support. "She's got it for you, just as you've got it for her. Give it everything you've got."
"I don't have anything." James snorted loudly.
"James, have you ever thought about doing something special for her?"
"No, not entirely. It's crossed my mind before, but I've been too chicken to even get up the nerve to do anything about it." He blushed again.
"Maybe it's time you changed that and gave it a go." Remus shrugged.
There was a silence for a moment, then James sat up. He turned to his werewolf friend and smiled at him, his shaggy and messy hair falling into his eyes. "Thanks, Moony. I owe you one." With that, the boy jumped up and jogged to the castle.
"What was wrong with him?" Sirius asked abruptly.
"He's realized what he needs to do about Lily." Remus told the boy with a sly smile. "I have a feeling things are going to change with him and her this year."
Lily was walking beside Hermione as they made their way to the Owlery. Lily's face was flushed with excitement and anticipation. Hermione couldn't help but keep the grin off her face as she watched the girl beside her. Lily truly was someone that you could hang around with.
When they reached the Owlery, they shuffled into the small room with its high ceiling. Feathers littered the floor, along with other things that Hermione tried not to step on. Hermione looked up for one of the schools owls to use and located one near them. She beckoned it down to them and it landed on Hermione's outstretched arm with a quiet 'hoot.'
Lily tied the piece of parchment to its leg nervously. "This goes to James Potter." She told it gently, stroking its feathers gently. It merely hooted again in reply and jumped off of Hermione's arm, flying back up to the rafters.
"He should get it tomorrow morning." Hermione smiled at the redhead who was nearly jumping around in anticipation.
"I know, I know, but what if he ignores it?" She whined.
"He wont. This is James, a Marauder. He wouldn't just ignore it. He would at least send some type of reply." Hermione said lightly, walking over to one of the thin slits in the walls that were considered windows.
"Yeah, you're right."
Hermione looked down at the grounds and narrowed her eyes slightly. Someone was running towards the castle, and he looked familiar. For a second, Hermione's heart fluttered as she thought it was Harry, but then realized it was James.
"I wonder what he's doing…"
"Huh?" Lily came up beside her, looking out the window next to hers. "Who?"
"James."
"I don't know. Maybe he forgot to do something." She shrugged.
Hermione turned around and looked at the wall across from her and Lily. Shadows were stretched across the stone, up to the ceiling. The outline of owls darted across the walls as the shuffle and whoosh of them flying above her echoed up the tower. The girl could see Lily's shadow from where she stood in front of one of the windows, stretched upwards higher than Lily's actual height. The girl blinked and scanned the wall again. There was something odd.
"Lily, tell me, do you think there's something wrong with these shadows?" She gestured to the ones on the wall in front of her.
Lily turned around a looked for a few minutes. Her face was screwed up in concentration, then a sudden look of dawning appeared on her face. "Hermione! I don't see your shadow!"
Hermione blinked and checked. Sure enough, there was no shadow. She checked to make sure by moving around a bit, but nothing moved in her actions. Her eyes were wide and she looked at Lily who had a look of shock on her own face.
"What do you think?" Lily whispered.
"I.. I don't now." Hermione had always had her shadow, but now… it was gone.
"It might have something to do with… your time travel." Lily spoke quietly still.
"Yeah… I think I should speak to Dumbledore about this. I've always had my shadow until now." This conversation was one of the oddest that Hermione had ever had. Since when did someone lose their shadow? You don't just lose your shadow, Hermione scolded herself. There's got to be a logical explanation to all of this. Dumbledore will know, he always knows.
"Lets get out of here." Hermione said after an awkward pause. "I'm hungry… I think I might make a stop at the kitchens. After missing Breakfast and Lunch, I'm famished."
"You know where the kitchens are?" She stared in awe at the other girl.
"'Course, how could I not? This is, after all, my school. Having Harry and Ron as friends, I know a lot about this place that not too many people know. Shortcuts, hidden passages, the works. Her eyes sparkled with mischief at the memories that flooded through her head.
"Wow. So James and the others aren't the only ones in this school that know where a lot of stuff is." Lily smiled. "Think you could show me some places?"
"Yeah." Hermione grinned. "I can show you lots of places."
Lily squealed loudly and hugged Hermione. She'd become used to the girls abrupt squeals and hugs and she found it comforting.
"C'mon, I'll start showing you around." Hermione grinned and led them out of the Owlery.
On the way to the kitchens, Hermione showed the girl through quite a few hidden shortcuts and passageway. She even mentioned that one day she would show her a secret room that was called The Room of Requirement. She was eager to see the place, though Hermione explained that it only appeared when someone was in need of a place to go and would turn into what the person in need needed.
After a good twenty minutes of showing Lily around the secret shortcuts, they came to the kitchens. Hermione walked up to the painting with the bowl of fruit and tickled the pair. It wiggled for a moment before turning into a doorknob.
Gripping the doorknob, Hermione turned to Lily. "Lily, welcome to the kitchens."
When Hermione opened the door and stepped inside, followed by Lily, they were surrounded by eager house elves. Lily's eyes were as wide as the house elves in front of her greeted her cheerfully, and Hermione only held back a slight frown. She still didn't like the whole unfairness of house elves, but she would have to let it pass for now. She was hungry.
"What can we do for you miss's?" One of the house elves bowed to Hermione and Lily.
"Please, call me Hermione," The brown haired girl said to the bent over elf. "and call her Lily."
The elf nodded, bowing again. "What can we get you, Miss Hermione, Miss Lily?"
"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd like something for a postponed lunch." Hermione told him with a smile. "And maybe some dessert. Anything will do for me."
"Could you get some treacle tarts?" Lily spoke timidly.
"Of course, Miss Lily!" Squeaked a nearby house elf before hurrying off and was followed by a few more.
Moments later, the elves returned with the food. Hermione thanked them and they bowed to them. Lily did the same and blushed slightly as they bowed. Hermione and Lily sat down on some stools to eat their food and Hermione even spoke to the elves.
"How have you guys been fairing?"
"We've been fairing well, Miss Hermione." The nearest one squeaked.
"That's good to hear." Hermione smiled fondly at the small elf. She didn't want to anger them by asking about wages and whatnot so she kept her mouth shut. It wouldn't do any good to anger them now. "You all do a wonderful job on the meals you serve here at Hogwarts."
The elves beamed at her and thanked her for her kindness. Hermione grinned and Lily smiled warmly at Hermione.
After the two had finished eating, they bid the elves goodbye and they were ushered to the exit.
"Come back soon, Miss Hermione, Miss Lily!" They squeaked as they waved to the two girls.
"Thank you all for the lunch and dessert." Hermione called as she stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her.
"Wow. I had no idea that the kitchens were here, let alone that house elves cooked all the food." Lily said with surprise evident in her voice.
"I know, when I found out, I was horrified. I was always against the behavior towards house elves." Hermione shrugged.
"I know. They come in useful though. I mean, they do enjoy what they do, but I mean… It's not fair with how some people treat them." Lily mused.
"Yeah…" Hermione felt she didn't really want to voice her opinions about House Elf liberations so she didn't continue with the discussion.
They walked in silence until they found themselves leaving the castle. In the courtyard, students stood together in groups chatting to one another happily. Most of them were Ravenclaw's or Hufflepuff's with a few Gryffindor's mixed in. Lily led Hermione away from them and into the grounds where students sat scattered around the vast lawn of Hogwarts.
Hermione's eyes wandered over to the hut that sat near the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid was there. He lived in that hut with Fang. Lily must have noticed her gaze and spoke up.
"I suppose you know Hagrid?"
"Yeah.. He was a good friend of mine." Hermione smiled weakly up at Lily.
"Do you want to go talk to him? Him and I are on good terms. I go down there when I need help with my Care of Magical Creature's essays."
Hermione's mood immediately improved. They strolled to the hut and knocked on the door. From inside, Hermione could hear Fang barking and then footsteps. The door opened and Hermione was staring at a younger version of Hagrid.
He was still the same height as before, his unruly hair and beard a tangled mess and his beady eyes sparkling brightly in the sunlight.
"'Lo, there, Lily." He smiled. "Who's this you've got with you?"
"This is Hermione. Hermione Granger." Lily said with a hint of pride in her voice that Hermione was stunned at.
"Oh, this is Hermione Granger? Dumbledore tol' me 'bout you of course." He said. "Come in if ya' want. I have some tea on the fire righ' now."
Hermione smiled broadly up at the half giant fondly before moving into his house. Everything was like she remembered it. His huge bed, his giant table, everything. Even Fang was exactly as she remembered him.
Fang bounded up to her and jumped up, drooling noticeably on her robes. She just laughed and fought back more tears that threatened to leak from her eyes. "Oh, Fang. Get off me." She whispered halfheartedly, a smile of joy plastered onto her face as her eyes sparkled with tears.
Hagrid watched her with slight amusement. Of course, he'd know what she was and who she was. Dumbledore trusted Hagrid with his life.
"How are you, Hagrid?" Hermione asked as she sat down on his couch with Lily.
"I'm doin' great, s'a matter o' fact." Hagrid said as he took the pot off of the fire. "Dumbledore tol' me everything that was goin' on with you." He gave a sideways glance at Lily.
"Lily already knows, so it's okay to talk about it in front of her." Hermione smiled.
"'O, in that case, I suppose you knew me in yer time?" He placed three mugs in front of each of them and poured steaming hot tea into them.
"Yeah… me and my two best friends were close to you.. Or, I'll say, will be." She bit onto her bottom lip. "We actually went through a lot together."
"Is that so?" He smiled at her. "Kinda' odd, sittin' here with someone that knows a lot 'bout you but you don't know nothing about them."
Hermione laughed quietly, taking a sip of her tea. "I remember…." Hermione began but didn't finish. She wasn't sure if she should tell him about anything.
"Remember what?" Lily asked beside her.
"Ah, it was just a memory." Hermione grinned. "One year, Hagrid showed his classes a bunch of Hippogriffs and Harry was the first one to volunteer to approach them. He even got to ride on it, and then this Slytherin insulted it and got slightly hurt. Oh, the look on Draco's face was priceless.."
"Classes?" Hagrid asked with interest. "What's that s'pose to mean?"
"Oh!" Hermione breathed in sharply. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you. You'll be a professor for Care of Magical Creatures in the future."
He smiled broadly. "Always knew Dumbledore was a kind man. Never woulda' imagined that tho'."
The brown haired girl smiled into her mug. He was just like he was in her time. She could almost imagine Harry and Ron with her, sitting happily in Hagrid's hut, talking about the summer.
The afternoon passed by and Hermione and Lily stayed with Hagrid for company. He served them his famous rock cakes and they spoke about dragons and other creatures that Hagrid fancied, Lily participating in quite a few of the conversations.
Hermione was happy to see that Hagrid was taking a liking to her. She would have been devastated if he hadn't liked her at all, but he looked at her like he did in her time; warmly and with something that she thought was pride.
It was dark outside by the time he told them they should go up to the castle and eat dinner. Hermione was slightly reluctant to go, but the growling of her stomach told her that dinner would be best at that time.
As the two girls entered the Great Hall, they were greeted by shouts coming from the end of the Gryffindor Table. Lily led them towards the Marauders, where James and Sirius were calling for them. As Hermione passed the Slytherin table, she saw Severus and smiled warmly at him. He nodded to her, and resumed talking to a boy that looked disturbingly familiar to Hermione.
When she settled herself at the table between Peter and Remus, Lily in front of her between Sirius and James, she asked what the boys had been up to that afternoon.
"Oh, just a bit of this and that." Was Sirius' reply, his eyes sparkling in the light of the room.
"If you mean 'oh, I just fell into the lake and spent hours drying off,' then he's right." Remus grinned from behind his napkin.
Hermione choked on the pumpkin juice she had been drinking and coughed. Remus thumped her on the back gently and she turned to him with a smile. "Did he really fall in the lake?"
"Yeah, he also claims that the giant squid tried to kill him." He replied with a wink.
Hermione was taken back by this at first, then she laughed. Her clear, pure laughter echoed lightly around the group of people and a few first and second years around them turned to look at her. The Marauders and Lily just stopped what they were doing and stared at her in awe. Of course, the girl was unaware of any of it. She wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. She hadn't laughed like that in a long time.
She shook her head and smiled at Remus. "Thanks, I needed that."
He grinned at her and turned wide eyed to his friends. They all had similar looks on their faces, staring at Hermione. She didn't notice it though, and just filled her plate with some food and began to eat, feeling cheerful and comfortable sitting with the Marauders and Lily.
Severus sat facing a boy with shoulder length blonde hair. He had the air of importance around him and held himself in a dignified way. His grey eyes were colder than ice, watching the thinner boy across from him.
"I find it quite foolish that Dumbledore lets halfbloods and mudbloods in this school. But that mudblood lover couldn't be more happy with this filth running around Hogwarts. Father thinks it's a shame, and I agree." The boy said coolly.
Sirius stared at the boy. "You couldn't be more right, Malfoy." He spoke quietly, yet his voice was perceptible to the platinum haired boy. Severus though, felt oddly guilty at the fact that he'd said that. He was quite sure that Granger was either a halfblood or a muggleborn.
"Did you notice that new girl? The one that was sorted into Gryffindor?" Malfoy drawled. Severus stared at the boy coldly and nodded slightly.
"Yes, I noticed her. Why do you ask?"
"She seems different from those other Gryffindor's. I've only seen her a few times, but there's just something about her." He conversed.
"Yeah. I've… spoken to the girl before. She doesn't care about Houses…" He said quietly.
"You've spoken to this girl?" Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "What were you talking about?"
"It was more of an accident. I ran into her in one of the dungeon rooms." He mumbled at his food.
"What was she doing in a room down in the dungeons?" His voice had a hint of suspicion in it.
"She said she had permission from Baker and Dumbledore to be down there. I didn't question her about what she was doing." Severus said slowly, looking up at the older boy.
Malfoy was just quiet and regarded Snape with a smirk before continuing eating his dinner. Severus however, looked over at the Gryffindor Table where the girl was sitting, facing him. Someone had said something and she was choking on her drink and that Lupin boy patted her on the back. He watched as she turned to ask him something and the boy replied causing her to laugh.
Severus could hear her laughter from where he sat. He watched her laugh, the light, lingering sound of her voice echoing through the hall. Malfoy rolled his eyes at the noise and took a drink of his pumpkin juice.
"You seem occupied tonight, Snape." Malfoy said after a moment of watching the dark haired boy.
"I have a lot on my mind."
"Like?"
"That would be none of your business, Malfoy." He smirked slightly, prying his eyes off of the brown haired girl.
"Really? Be that way then." The other boy just drawled again. "You keep your secrets, I'll keep mine."
Severus just stared at Malfoy coldly. This boy was getting on his nerves, but he wouldn't allow him to know that. Malfoy was usually fair, and that's why Severus put up with him but he hated how he acted more superior than himself.
With a slight nod to Malfoy, Severus pushed his plate away from him, stood up and walked out of the Great hall. He headed to the Slytherin common room, his robe whisking around the corners as he turned at each.
The sound of Grangers laughter echoed in his head. For some reason, as Malfoy had said, he felt there was something about her. She didn't seem to belong here, where one house hated the other. She seemed to think them as equals. When he spoke to her that night in the dungeons, he realized that she wasn't selfish in any way and she'd defend someone else before even protecting herself against something.
She was truly something else…
Remus felt his heart lighten considerably during dinner. After Hermione's hearty laughter earlier, everyone seemed lighthearted. Even Peter was talking more, which was an improvement. James was speaking to Lily now without making her mad, and Remus grinned. This was a Polaroid moment.
Hermione was oblivious to the change she had made to the people around her. Of course, she wouldn't have known how it normally was because this was her first time eating with the whole group.
As the russet haired boy ate his potato, he kept looking sideways at the girl next to him. She looked completely different than she had the night before, scared and vulnerable. She was now sitting next to him, talking happily to the boys around her, grinning at Lily and James, and laughing every so often. She seemed to glow with something that Remus couldn't quite figure out.
Hermione turned to look at the boy, and he blushed slightly as he had been staring at her. She smiled at him warmly and tilted her head to the side a bit.
"Something wrong?"
"No, nothings wrong." He smiled back at her. "So, how'd you like your second day here at Hogwarts?"
"Oh, it was great." She breathed. "Lily and I had a great time today."
"I'm glad. So, what was the deal about this afternoon? Did you purposely charm that box of Chocolate Frogs to drop down on Sirius' head like that." He teased.
"Oh, well. I didn't purposely do that. It wasn't meant to… attack anyone. It just happened." She smiled sheepishly.
Remus laughed gently. "It was great. You didn't have to apologize or thank us though."
It was Hermione's time to blush. "I… I know, but I wanted to anyway. You guys have been so great to me, even though you hardly know me." She smiled sadly as she said this. "You guys don't know how much it meant to me when you guys put up with me."
Remus watched her face sadden as she spoke. He felt guilt surge through his body at the memory of the conversation they had after she'd left to talk to Dumbledore the previous night. It wasn't exactly him that he was ashamed of, he hadn't said anything about her, but she was speaking about them in a plural tense and Peter had accused her of things.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked him, concern evident in her chocolate colored eyes.
"Nothing." Remus smiled again at her. "I was just remembering something."
"Oh." She sighed. "Anything you'd like to talk about?"
The werewolf watch her with slight surprise. She was different form the girls he had been acquainted to. Remus just shook his head.
"Well, if you want to talk, I'm here." She smiled warmly at him, then unexpectedly, she leaned over and hugged him tightly.
He was so shocked that he couldn't comprehend that there was a girl hugging him at first. After he realized this though, he hugged her back, though awkwardly. Sirius was grinning from ear to ear when he saw this, and James actually laughed, though covered his mouth with his hands when Lily shot him a warning glance.
When the girl pulled away from Remus, she was smiling broadly. "Sorry."
Remus shook his head. "It's fine. I was just shocked."
Hermione laughed quietly. "That's what Harry and Ron would say."
"Who're they?" He asked suddenly.
"Oh, they're my best friends from where I come from." The girl shrugged her slender shoulders.
"Oh."
Remus felt something pull at his stomach from the inside. He was feeling something that he'd never felt before. He pondered for a moment, and his mind settled on the conclusion, 'jealousy.' That isn't right. Why would I be jealous of her friends from where she came from? He shook his head and took a drink of his pumpkin juice.
He was just feeling odd from the hug. It wasn't any big deal but his mind screamed that it was. He'd never been hugged by a girl before. He blushed, knowing his friends would have something to tease him about now.
It was after dinner and everyone was sitting in the common room. The Marauders were sitting in the chairs closest to the fire that everyone seemed to leave for them. Hermione was sitting in a window seat, cushioned by numerous pillows. She had a throw blanket draped over her legs and she was reading a book she'd borrowed from Lily.
Lily was sitting on the floor under Hermione with her back against the wall, writing the last three inches of her potions essay. James sat in the chair across from the redhead, facing her. He kept glancing at her as he joked with Sirius, and the other boy would ruffle his hair up every time he looked. Remus and Peter were having a conversation about Defense Against the Dark Arts and boggarts.
Hermione's mind kept drifting away from the book she was reading. She couldn't concentrate on the words printed on the yellow pages. Looking to her right, she peered out of the window beside her.
The moon was beginning its waning cycle. The white glow of the silvery orb left shadows on the ground and Hermione shivered slightly. She was racking her mind trying to figure out what her not having a shadow meant. It was odd, but so were a lot of other things that were happening lately.
With a sigh, Hermione shut the book she had been reading with a snap. Shifting uncomfortably in her window seat, she looked down at Lily. The girl was absorbed in her work, mumbling things to herself as she wrote something out of the textbook to her right. Hermione let her eyes wander around the room now.
They settled on James for a moment, seeing him glimpse over at Lily. His face flushed slightly when he saw Hermione watching him and hurriedly looked away. The girl grinned slightly and leaned over so she could whisper to Lily.
"You do realize that James keeps looking at you, don't you?"
Lily jumped almost a foot in the air, not realizing Hermione had lent over. "Jeez Hermione, you scared me! And yes, I know he's been looking over at me. It's hard not to notice."
Hermione laughed lightly. "What do you think he'll do tomorrow morning when the mail comes?"
"I don't know." Lily squeaked a bit louder than she planned, earning a look from Remus and Peter. "I'm just nervous, really."
"That's understandable. Well, I'm going to head to bed, Lily. I'm tired."
"Alright, I'll be there soon. I just need to finish this last inch and I'll be done." Lily replied, turning back to her work.
Hermione hopped down off of the window seat, avoiding stepping on Lily's things then made her way up to the girls dormitory. That night she had no problem going to sleep and was soon immersed in dreams of Ron and Harry in their first year at Hogwarts….
A/N: So what did you guys think? Some of it might be confusing right now… but everything will be sorted out soon. Thank you for taking your time reading this! You all are great!