Chapter 10: So irresponsible

Sirius

James had gone too far now. Sirius never expected him to actually give Hermione the potion or to actually let her drink it. Wouldn't this change her life forever? He looked at his friend with eyes that explained exactly how he felt. James smiled back at him and sighed.

"She did have a choice. Believe it or not but I do have a good judgement." He said and looked at the other two for support.

Remus just gaped; he hadn't quite grasped what had happened yet. He looked at James and Sirius and then back at the girl on the floor. Peter was quiet, he seemed a bit scared were he stood.

"Good judgement! Do you call convincing your new classmate to become part animal having good judgement? I didn't think you'd actually do it."

James laughed at Sirius. "You're just worried about her, aren't you?"

Sirius's face turned red. The three of them couldn't decide if it was embarrassment or rage though. He turned away slowly and spoke with a calm voice. "She barely knows us. I know it feels like she knows us better than we know her but that's not really true now is it? I am just saying this was very random AND didn't you hear what she just said?"

"I'm so irresponsible" Remus said quietly. "What if, she didn't really want to drink it but felt pressured to? After all you made it sound like she'd come with us during the full moon…"

James sighed loudly. "Can't you ever trust me when I say I know what I'm doing?"

Sirius glared at him, clearly still not approving of his choice. Peter squeaked and pointed at Hermione. She was starting to change!

She shrank; her clothes did not follow with the transformation this time. They usually didn't the first time, but when she got more used to it they would follow so that she wouldn't have to be naked when she turned back. This was a matter of getting used to the transformation.

When she was done James seemed as if he wanted to say something but Sirius interrupted him.

"So, we need to get her to her dorm now, don't we?" He crossed his arms in irritation.

"I do believe so…" Remus said "The first transformation usually lasts about ten minutes if you're not conscious."

This was bad; since she had fainted she wouldn't be able to go back to her own dorm herself. James smirked at Sirius. "You carry her to her dorm. After all, you carried her last time AND you're the strongest."

Sirius glared at James. "Why do I have to do it? She's not heavy, look at her! Why can't you do it?"

"I can do it." Remus said. This made Sirius shut up and look at him with a "The hell you can" look in his eyes. He then picked her clothes up before taking Hermione's small body in his arms. He snorted at his friends and exited the room quickly.

"I bet you one galleon he won't make it in time." James said and smirked at the others.

"I could have done it, why did he change his mind all of a sudden?" Remus seemed confused.

"Oh but do you seriously not understand that?" James said and laughed.

Peter and Remus looked at each other and then at James. "No, what?" they asked simultaneously, making James sigh and smile secretively.

"I knew he'd do it."

Sirius hurried the best he could down through the common room and up the stairs to the girls' dorms. He was lucky everyone had gone to sleep. He lied her down gently in her bed and pulled the blanket over her. She looked out of place there but he knew she'd be back to normal in no time. He put her clothes in a neat pile beside her bed and rushed out. He had made it.

He sighed heavily while on his way back. This had been some interesting 24 hours.

x-x-x

Hermione

Hermione awoke early the next morning. Her head hurt like crazy and she felt nauseous. She thought back on what had happened yesterday and panicked slightly. WHAT had she done? She looked down and found nothing out of the ordinary. Well except that she was naked. What, NAKED?

She sat up straight in her bed and tried to remember. She had fainted after drinking that potion and then she had awoken naked in her bed. That couldn't have been a dream… Or could it? She got up and wrapped a towel around her, deciding to take a shower before anyone else woke up.

When she came back everyone was still asleep. She sighed and got dressed before hurrying down to the common room. She had to ask them what was going on. When she got there they didn't seem to be around. Either they had gone down to eat breakfast OR they were still sleeping. Hermione guessed the latter and walked up to the boys' dorms quietly.

She opened the door to their dorm slowly and peaked in. Everyone seemed to be asleep. Sirius had his curtains down however so she couldn't be sure. She walked in and closed the door behind her. Remus snored slightly and James seemed to be dreaming something pleasant. Hermione suppressed a giggle and went over to Sirius's bed. He seemed quiet but he might just as well have cast a silencing spell over his bed. She slowly opened the curtains slightly to check if he was awake.

Sirius looked so peaceful. His facial expression seemed softer than ever to Hermione. He really was handsome. His long black hair looked messier than ever and that made Hermione smile. She wished he'd be more like this even when he was awake. He would have been every girl's dream if only he didn't have to be such an asshole… She sighed and closed the curtain again. Then again, he already was now wasn't he? Most girls seemed to have a thing for him.

Now she wondered how she'd wake them up. She really needed to talk to them…

She decided to wake Remus up first. He was the one who was least likely to scream or attack her if she did. She did consider waking Sirius first, just to be annoying, but she figured he'd probably go for the attack option.

"Remus, it's time to wake up." Hermione whispered in his ear and poked him gently. No response. She repeated the same procedure three more times without any success.

"Reemuuussss, please wake up." Hermione almost hissed and shook him slightly. This seemed to have some effect for he grumbled a bit and turned around to face her. He was still asleep though.

Hermione sighed and decided that gentle wasn't the way to go if you wanted to wake these guys up so she started tickling Remus. Remus yelped loudly and jumped up in the air, away from her. This resulted in him landing on the floor. He looked horrified and confused.

Hermione heard a sound and was just going to turn around and check what it was when a big dog jumped on her from behind. The impact made her fall down on the floor with a shriek, now trapped under the dog's weight she tried to fight him off.

James and Peter had been awoken by this and was now either staring at them in confusion or laughing his ass off.

The dog growled at first but then he seemed to realise who he had just attacked. He quickly jumped off and turned back to that handsome boy Hermione had just seen, except for the facial expression of course. He always looked so hard and cold when he was conscious.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"I'm sorry… I was going to ask you about yesterday… and I tried to wake Remus up." Hermione blushed, she felt ashamed for causing such commotion.

James tried to pull himself together. "Good job there Sirius, you really are one hell of a guard dog!" His own comment made him laugh again.

"I suspected this would happen… actually…" Hermione mumbled.

Sirius smiled slightly, surprisingly. Remus snickered a bit and got up from the floor. "How are you feeling today Hermione?" He asked.

"That's why I'm here… I was going to ask… well no… but did I really, well, become…" Hermione looked down and mumbled. Remus smiled at this.

Sirius turned around and sat down on his bed looking at James. "Oh yes James, tell her exactly what happened yesterday would you?"

James sighed at his friend and smiled up at Hermione. "Yes, you drank the potion. The boys have complained about me being irresponsible but honestly, it's not such a big deal really."

Hermione looked up at him and sighed sadly. "I'm the irresponsible one James, I shouldn't have done it. You couldn't know and if it just wasn't that I… I mean I would've been glad to be unless…"

"Unless what?" Remus asked her, looking concerned.

"I can't tell you. I'm sorry…" Hermione felt how the tears started forming in her eyes. She couldn't tell them about her being from the future. She couldn't tell them anything. She couldn't be here, but could she still go back? "… You're just such nice people all of you." She laughed a bit.

"Is it really that horrible?" James looked overwhelmed. He couldn't understand how it could be such a bad thing to be able to turn into an animal. "Or are you just disappointed in what you got? At least you're not a rat!" James tried to cheer her up.

Hermione laughed a bit at him. He really tried to make her feel better even though he didn't know what was wrong. She decided not to bother them with her troubles. She smiled at them all, even Sirius. "Actually, I have no idea what I am yet." She said looking up at the roof.

"Oh but you are a-mffghh!" Sirius held his hand over Peter's mouth so that he couldn't finish his sentence.

"No telling her before she figures out herself Wormtail!" He said and looked up at Hermione.

"So, are you planning on figuring out at all?" He asked, a bit rudely but Hermione supposed that was just his way of being towards girls in general. She smiled at him just to show him she didn't care.

"I don't know if I dare. Seriously, this is kind of a big thing."

The boys laughed. James and Remus seemed amused while Sirius seemed rather mocking. Such an asshole! Couldn't he just go to sleep and be gorgeous again?

"It's a wonderful feeling Hermione, don't worry. If you don't want to transform yet it's okay you know. Do it when you're ready." James said.

"Oh I think I'm ready. I'm curious, am I an otter? That's my patronus you see."

"Go ahead and take a look yourself!" Remus said excitedly.

Hermione laughed but then she realised she had no idea how to transform. She stood still for a little while before asking "Eh… Guys… how do I?"

Sirius snorted an amused snort and made himself comfortable in his bed. Remus and James laughed a bit. "Oh it's simple. Just… well… Uhm." James had to think. It was probably hard to explain. "Just find your inner animal, and BE it. Kind of take a leap out of your own body."

Hermione laughed nervously. "Oh, sounds simple… right?" She closed her eyes and thought "otter" and took a leap in her mind, imagining how she transformed into an otter. She felt her body tingle slightly and suddenly she was standing on all four on the floor.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the boys meeting their eyes looking down at her. She felt how her senses were sharp on. She could see better than ever, hear the student talking down in the common room, yes she could even feel the smell of water and soap from the showers.

James pointed at the full body mirror, gesturing for her to take a look in it. She slowly walked over to it and looked inside. What she saw was absolutely not what she had imagined.

In front of her stood a magnificent looking maine coon brown tabby cat. She had big yellow eyes and fluffy fur. The fur she had around her neck was particularly fluffy just like maine coons usually are. She rolled her eyes; she had just fixed her bushy hair problem. She then sat down and started waving her tail slightly, looking at it as it moved. How funny, she felt like playing with it. This was probably the cat inside of her speaking.

She walked around in a circle taking in her entire appearance. She looked at Remus, he smiled back at her.

"Do you like it?" He asked. She tried to say she did but the only thing that came out of her mouth was "Meow" She looked surprised. This made the boys laugh, Sirius too. They laughed hard at her.

She hissed at them and looked over to the cupboard. She got an idea and tripped over to it. After praying a bit to god she wouldn't die she jumped, higher than ever it felt and landed on the top of it. This thrilled her and she meowed once more at the guys. They laughed even more and clapped their hands.

"See, it's not that bad!" James said happily and walked over to pat her on the head. She purred a bit just because she could. He laughed again.

Sirius seemed to have gotten in a better mood and transformed into the big dog again. He walked over to the cupboard daring her to jump down. She could understand him!

She puffed up her chest and jumped down on his face. This made James laugh even more seeing Padfoot sneeze from getting Hermione's fur in his face. He barked at her. She ran up to Remus and hid behind him.

They were having fun. Peter said he didn't want to transform due to Hermione being a cat and all. She snorted and thought of her cat Crookshank giving Peter/Scabbers a hard time in her third year.

After a while they went down to the common room meeting Lily there. She looked a bit hurt they hadn't told her they were all up there in the boys' room together. She forgot this rather quickly however.

The day went by quickly and soon it was time to sleep again. Tomorrow would be a new day of school and a new day to spend time with her new friends Hermione thought before falling asleep, sleeping better than she had all week.

x-x-x

Sirius

Sirius lay in bed late the same night. He thought back on the day that had just been. Hermione had now officially become closer than anyone else ever had to the four boys. She had infiltrated their little circle of friendship in a week and with her she had brought Lily to some part. This James kept nagging Sirius about, like that would make him like her more.

To Sirius's big surprise he didn't mind her very much anymore. He had had fun today, right? I mean she didn't do anything bad at all. She was really fun to be with, well kind of. She still annoyed him, of course. He didn't want to talk to her, or rather, he couldn't. She made his heart race and his body act weirdly. This Sirius couldn't explain at all, I mean, he didn't like her or anything.

He sighed and rolled around in his bed. He really couldn't stop thinking about her. It sucked! He wished he'd be more like Remus at the moment. He seemed so laid back and calm all the time. He could talk to her casually and be himself around her. She seemed to like him…

Wait, what? Sirius couldn't believe he had thought that. Like he cared if she liked Remus or not! Silly dog, he thought and closed his eyes, determined to fall asleep.

x-x-x

Ohai!

Sirius is warming up to Hermione more and more, or is he?

He doesn't know himself I think.

Hope you're enjoying my story. :O

Please review and tell me what you think!

And by the way, thanks a lot for the reviews I have gotten so far! :D

They make me want to continue.