Chapter 9: Crossing Lines

"Where's Remus?" Hermione inquired over breakfast with the boys and Lily.

Sirius' eyes darted up to Hermione, then he looked to James and Peter. "He's sick." The young wizard finally responded. Hermione searched his face, wondering why he had acted so strange.

"Oh, that's too bad," Lily said, focusing on her food, "I hope he gets better."

Then it clicked for Hermione. It was the full moon! How could she have forgotten? She had completely ignored the fact that Remus was a werewolf. She was rather surprised that she had stored that information away in the back of her head. Thinking back, Hermione realized how much she had distanced herself from the memories of the future. She really needed to concentrate more.


Students filed into the potions classroom as Slughorn greeted them. Hermione chewed on her lip, considering if Slughorn would just let her work alone while Remus wasn't there.

"Hmmmm, Mr. Lupin isn't here today?" Slughorn observed, "Ms. Jean, why don't you work with Severus? He usually works alone, but I'm sure the two of you can get along together."

Hermione's eyes darted wide open. She had to work with Snape?

Snape must have given Slughorn and angry look, because the the teacher spoke again, "Oh Severus, it's not that bad, Ms. Jean is quite talented. I'm sure she can keep up with your advanced skills."

Hermione blushed as Snape came over to sit next to her. Well this certainly was awkward.

He completely ignored her as Slughorn assigned them a potion to brew. The young wizard just brewed their potion on his own, not even bothering to ask for help. She was surprised, and a bit angry; if only he'd let her, she could help. It would make it a lot easier.

"Let me help," She said, reaching for the mortal and pestle.

But he snatched it away, "That's alright," he sneered, "I can do it. You just sit around and pretend to be better than everyone like the Gryffindor you are."

Hermione's temper flared, She wanted to scream at him. But no, that was not what would help her get through this double period potions class now. She needed to treat him with kindness, and then maybe he would be kinder to her.

Snape continued working, and Hermione found a way to help him by fetching ingredients before he needed them, so they were already prepared for him. Eventually, she had to talk to him, and knew the perfect thing to say, "So do you know why Remus is sick?" She asked, playing dumb, "I'm concerned about him."

"Shouldn't you already know? You're all buddy-buddy with him and his friends anyway." Snape said coldly, not taking his eyes off of the potion.

"I'm not that good of friends with them. But do you know what's happened to Remus?" She was quite curious if Snape knew his furry little secret yet.

"Yes," he smirked.

So he did know. "Well what is it?"

"Lets just say it's a certain time of the month for him."

Hermione pretended to be confused, but Snape just laughed. She had to admit, he was rather funny. But it was also very kind of Snape to not tell Remus' secret. Hermione half expected him to blab about it to anyone who asked, wanting vengeance on the marauders. But he was kind about it, sure he made fun of Remus, but he never told the secret.

Snape warmed up to Hermione after that. He actually let her add some ingredients to the potion, he seemed to notice that she was at least capable of something. He also chatted with her, about various things, and she enjoyed talking to him.

But Hermione had forgotted her boundaries. Now she was crossing many lines that she had vowed never to cross when she first arrived here.

That was one thing she didn't notice.


"Hogsmeade tomorrow!" James bellowed to the common room. The boys were just walking in after dinner, Hermione was also tagging along, chatting to Remus about what he missed in potions.

A few students in the common room cheered along with James, Sirius, and Peter. And some girls even approached, probably inteding to flirt with Sirius. Hermione realized that it was quite common for girls to hit on Sirius, but she didn't blame them; he was devastatingly handsome. Or at least that's what she was beginning to think.

"You had to work with Snape?" Remus asked Hermione, cringing at the thought.

"Yeah, and it wasn't that bad." Hermione retorted. The group of them moved over to a bunch of armchairs and sat down. Remus and Hermione continued talking potions while James, Sirius, and Peter talked about all the fun things they would do at Hogsmeade.

"Homework?" Remus inquired.

Hermione shook her head, "Slughorn didn't want to give us any because it's a Hogsmeade weekend."

Remus grinned, excited to enjoy his weekend.

"Hi Sirius," a few giggling girls approached them, they seemed younger, probably sixth years.

"Hello, ladies," Sirius gave them a charming grin, it seemed like he enjoyed the way they swooned.

"We were wondering what you'll be doing at Hogsmeade tomorrow." One of them asked, batting her eyelashes,

"He's already got a date." James abruptly butted in.

The girl who asked seemed devastated, "Who?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow and pointed over to Hermione.

Hermione looked at the girls, there were four of them, and they all seemed to be turning green with envy. She wanted to laugh at how petty they were acting; it was just one day at Hogsmeade, it wasn't that significant.

"Peter doesn't have a date," James offered, patting the smaller boy on the back.

All of the girls left, some of them even snickering. It was crazy how mean girls could be.

"Don't worry, Wormtail, you'll get 'em one day." James smiled.

"Hopefully," Peter muttered.

"You will, and when you do, you'll knock 'em dead." Sirius said comfortingly.

Hermione realized the irony in that statement and had to leave. It was too much to think about Peter knocking people dead, literally or figuratively.

"I'm going to bed," Hermione stood up.

"See ya tomorrow," Sirius winked at her. She could feel the blush creeping up her cheeks as she climbed upstairs.

Hermione walked into her dormitory and found Marlene and another girl, chatting there. She was surprised Lily wasn't there, and honestly didn't want to have to chat with them. Marlene intimidated her a bit, and right now she just wanted to go to bed.

"Hey, Hermione." Marlene greeted her kindly.

"Hi," Hermione smiled, looking from Marlene to the other girl she didn't know.

"I'm Ari," the girl intorduced herself.

"Nice to meet you," Hermione said, grabbing some things from her trunk.

"So, I heard you're going to Hogsmeade with Sirius Black." Marlene said quietly.

Hermione clenched her teeth, this was exactly the confrontation she didn't want. "Yeah, I am," she put on a happy smile, and continued rummaging through her trunk.

"You should watch out for Sirius, if any of the rumors are true, he'll want to go pretty far on your first date," Ari said, inspecting her fingernails.

"Well, he didn't go that far with me on my first date." Marlene said, articulating the end of her sentence.

"Well, he's been a nice gentleman so far," Hermione said, desperately trying to end the conversation, "I'm going to change," she motioned to the clothes in her hand, and left for the washroom.

The girls nodded, and delved into some gossip, seeming to forget that Hermione even existed.