"Mm-ah," Hermione groaned into her pillow, hugging it tighter and grimacing a little, "Get. Off."
"What? Can't a boyfriend do something nice for his girlfriend?" James asked as he pressed his hands further into her shoulder blades, grinning a little as she squirmed in an attempt to get her point across, but let out a huff of air when she realized it was of no use.
"Boyfriends usually give massages to their girlfriends in an attempt to get sex," Hermione pouted a little, kicking her legs up and hitting her heels against his back, as he was sitting on her waist. "It's not happening, Potter."
"Yeesh, I saw you get slammed into a wall, sorry for being nice," James huffed, although he continued to work on her back. The teasing tone left his voice, and worry crept in, "Are you okay though? Does it hurt still?"
Hermione rolled her eyes and laid her head on her arms, smiling a little as she shut her eyes, "James, if you were hurting me, you'd be on the floor."
"Right," the tone came back, along with a smirk, "I forgot, the big bad female Auror." Hermione tensed and her eyes popped open as she sucked in a breath. "My hands cold or warm, Sweetheart?" he grinned as he moved his thumb along her spine while she glared at him.
"Not. Happening," she insisted, fidgeting as he chuckled before he slipped his hands out from under her shirt and leaned down to kiss the side of her head, wrapping his arms around her as she hummed and smiled.
"Padfoot!" two admonishing voices sounded, making Hermione blink and look at the pair of coats and the plate she was holding, Sirius standing beside her and watching her dully.
"I've been wondering if we could do that," he hummed as Lily rolled her eyes and took the coats from her, James reaching up and taking something off of her head, making her blink at the bowl of fruit before she glared at Sirius.
"Sirius, she isn't something to play with – she is our friend, and she can kick your ass," Lily sniffed as Remus chuckled from the doorway of the kitchen.
"Perhaps he needs a demonstration," James grinned as Sirius immediately blanched.
"Granger," Moody said, appearing surprisingly silently to the doorway so the Remus jumped in alarm, "There are a couple of people who want to you to meet them in the living room."
"Do I want to meet them?" she questioned as he pursed his lips.
"Debatable," he stated as Hermione grinned and followed him. Once she was gone and out of earshot, and Moody had gone along with her, James gave a strangled sound before he plummeted face first into the dining table. Lily watched him in alarm, while Sirius only chuckled and Remus patted him sympathetically on the shoulder.
"He was like this when Hermione dated Robert," Remus explained dully before leaning down and frowning at him, "But she's dating you, so that can't be it. So what is it?"
"I almost kissed her," he said pitifully with a pout as Remus slapped a hand over his eyes and groaned, having been close enough to hear, while Sirius and Lily were left glancing at one another in curiosity.
"Oh, James, no," he grimaced as James began to whack his head against the table. "That's bad."
"I know," he whined before humming, "Although I probably wouldn't be freaking out about it so much if I had actually done it."
"Done what?" Sirius and Lily chorused.
"He almost kissed Hermione," Remus offered. There was dead silence for a few seconds, during which Lily's eyebrows furrowed and her lips pursed and she glanced between the Marauders.
"That might've actually helped," she hummed as Remus blinked at her.
"What? Lily, you can't be serious – and don't even think about it, Padfoot." Remus said sternly as Sirius began to open his mouth, shutting it with a pout and the biggest, saddest eyes he could muster.
"Well, if Hermione remembers more about you, then she'll be prone to trust you more, and then you'll be able to get her to remember about everyone else as well," Lily reasoned, "And even if she didn't remember us, she'd at least remember you."
"Is this an excuse to kiss my girlfriend? Because I'll totally take it," James said eagerly, smiling slightly at the redhead.
"No, it isn't," Remus frowned at him before he turned to Lily, "What if she doesn't remember him though, and is only freaked out that he made a pass at her?"
"It's James – we can easily explain it as one of the potions that you lot used to pull all the time in school," Lily snorted.
"What did we do now?"
The group turned and smiled at the new comer, who smiled back and took off his coat before he hung it on a peg with the others by the back door.
"Hey, Peter," Remus said before frowning at Lily again, who frowned back and placed her hands on her hips. Peter grimaced before leaning towards Sirius.
"What's happening?" he whispered.
"James wanted to kiss Hermione and they're debating on whether it would be a good idea or not," Sirius whispered back.
"Why would it be a bad idea?" he whispered once again.
"Hermione doesn't remember, remember?"
"Oh."
"Whatever," James announced loudly, moodily walking to the living room as they blinked after him, "I'll figure it out on my own." He stopped short, his mouth immediately quirking into a grin as Hermione struggled against the grip she was forced into, looking at James pleadingly as Fabian and Gideon hugged her tightly.
"Granger! We really – "
" – missed you when you – "
" – left us! Our new partner is – "
" – boring as hell!" they finished together as she finally escaped their grip, hiding slightly behind James before she looked at him questioningly.
"They worked with you in the Auror department," James supplied, "You were your own team, Moody said you were the only one that could deal with them."
"Why did I leave, exactly?" Hermione asked.
"Because there were a string of attacks targeting women your age and looking somewhat like you that worked at the Ministry," Fabian said before he froze and blinked over at his brother. "Wow, we didn't catch that one, did we?"
"Of course they were after Hermione," Gideon snorted with a small grin before turning back to her, "They nearly had to drag you out kicking and screaming if Lily hadn't come and talked you out of it."
"Speaking of the attractive redhead – where is she?" Fabian asked, grinning brightly when James nodded his head towards the kitchen, waving and walking away as Gideon shook his head after him.
"It was worse at Hogwarts, when he had a regular exposure to her – I'm just glad we were a couple of years ahead and never had classes with you lot," he explained before he got back on track, "Anyway, you were the only decent female Auror the department has ever had. Sure, we've got about a dozen of them, but there's nobody like Hermione." He grinned again and ruffled up her hair, making Hermione smile back up at him. They felt oddly brotherly, and reminded her a great deal of Fred and George. "Hey, there's the famous Granger grin! We miss you, Kiddo." He reached forward and pulled her into a hug, which she accepted and returned this time.
"Maybe I miss you too," she shrugged, making James chuckle as Gideon snorted back at her. She tensed and her eyes widened, which didn't go unnoticed by Gideon or James, as they looked curiously at her before James turned and blinked at Peter, who smiled back at Hermione, unaware of her suspicion.
"'Lo, Hermione," he said, stepping closer as Gideon tightened his grip on her, looking questioningly at James as he shrugged. "I'm Peter, Peter Pettigrew. We were all friends back at Hogwarts, remember?"
"No," she said with a fake smile on her face before she pulled away from Gideon and patted his arm, "I'm going to go find Moody, it was good seeing you. I think." She walked down another hallway, refusing to make eye contact with anyone else in the room.
"I really hope she gets better, James," Peter said earnestly.
"Err, thanks, Peter," he said, shooting a curious glance to Gideon, to which he shrugged back at.
"You want to interrogate the most spineless, cowardly member of the Order – aside from Mungdungus Fletcher – just because of a dream you had?" Moody questioned as Hermione stood her ground, frowning back at him as they stood in the study.
"The solution to Voldemort came from my dream," she stated, "It might be further proof that it will help take him down."
"Granger, that – "
"I'm sorry, sir, but from what I dreamed, that man aided in the murders of my friend's parents and then murdered twelve Muggles and faked his death," Hermione insisted sternly, "If I have even the slightest chance of being right about that, I would rather not take the chance."
Moody stared at her for quite some time before he nodded slowly, making Hermione release the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, nodding curtly back at him, "Thank you, sir."
"I would've done it anyway," he said gruffly, "Whether you remember it or not, you were one of the best Aurors I've ever had, male or female, and I wasn't about to question you."
"Then…then what…?" Hermione questioned innocently.
Moody gave something that resembled a grin, leaning on his cane, "That was the first time you've called what happened to you a dream."
She blinked back at him before wrapping her arms around herself, looking down at a small plastic plant resting on the corner of a desk, "Right now I don't know what I think or what to call anything."
"Understandable," he 'harrumphed' before he marched towards the door, "I'll go get Veritaserum and Pettigrew. And…" he stopped and patted her awkwardly on the shoulder, "It'll be alright, Granger. You'll make sense of it."
Hermione blinked back at him before smiling slightly, watching him leave the room before she took a deep breath and let it out shakily, running her hands through her hair.
"I feel sick," Remus said, gripping his hair and staring down at the tabletop, as James had his forehead pressed on it and Sirius was pressing his face into the corner, trying to get over the anger he felt.
"Dirty rat!" Sirius cried out, punching the wall and startling the few inhabitants of the kitchen, making Hermione wince a little. "I can't believe him! And he had the nerve to go and act like everything was alright! He had the nerve to show up here and act as if we were the best of friends, still, after he went and – "
"Hey, Mate, calm down," Fabian said, reaching forward and grabbing his shoulder, "Hermione caught him before he could cause much harm. It'll be alright"
"Is that how they knew where they were?" James asked, raising his head and looking frighteningly pale, "They knew when I would be on the raid with the Order and they knew when Hermione would be alone because I told him?"
"Hey, there aren't any more moles in the Order," Gideon attempted to soothe before he blinked and looked up at Hermione, "Right?" Everyone turned and looked at her, as it seemed that only Lily, Fabian and Gideon knew she was there.
Hermione pursed her lips and stared down at the floor, "As far as I know, that's right." She looked back up at them and grimaced, "I'm so sorry. I wish I was wrong."
"Don't be sorry," Remus said with a small smile.
"Yeah," Sirius nodded, "That was good. You're good. Good Granger." He pursed his lips as she arched her eyebrows at him, "I might've started drinking when I found out and it might've just kicked in." She quirked a grin back at him as he smiled back.
"James? Are you…okay? Or, rather, will you be okay?"
James picked his arm up from over his eyes, looking over at Hermione as she stood in front of a dying fire in the fireplace, her arms wrapped around her, dressed in a large t-shirt and baggy pajama pants. He'd basically remained stationary once they'd gotten home, his frown dissipating after an hour or two. He'd thought she would've gone to bed, unaware that she'd paced around the bedroom and practically freaked out over the events of the night before she'd finally slipped out and watched him for a few moments before deciding that he wasn't asleep.
"Uhh," he started before sitting up and sighing, rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses, "I think so." He turned his head to her as she sat down next to him, looking at him worriedly before he grinned. "Hey, don't worry about me – you've got enough to worry about already."
She hummed and gave a small smile, picking her knees up and wrapping her arms around them and staring at her kneecaps before glancing back over at him, "James?"
"Yeah?" he asked softly, setting his head in his hand and looking over at her.
"What were you going to do? At the bar?"
He straightened up and blinked at her as she stared at him with very large, innocent eyes. He cleared his throat a few times before he clasped his hands and looked back at her, "You know what I was going to do."
"Yeah," she nodded back.
They were silent for a few moments before he began to smile, "So why did you ask?"
"Just checking," she shrugged before reaching forward and pecking him lightly on the cheek, "Goodnight, James."
He smiled back and watched her stand and go back to her bedroom, "Goodnight, Hermione." He grinned brightly once the door was shut, lying down on the couch and folding his arms behind his head, "It's not much, but I will take it!"