"Mr. Lupin? Miss. Evans?" Minerva McGonagall called as she interceded the class of seventh years heading towards their first lesson for the day.
Surprised but not entirely troubled, the redhead stepped away from her friends and towards the head of her house. Remus on the other hand had a little more trouble getting away thanks to Sirius who grabbed his arm in the last minute.
"Before you go blaming me, just know it was her idea" he said urgently.
"What-?" Remus began to ask but the taller boy had already moved on with the rest of the crowd, leaving Remus behind.
For some strange reason, Remus had a feeling that the 'her' Sirius referred to was not Lily or even professor McGonagall and his suspicion was proved right the minute the senior witch led them in the direction of the hospital wing.
Remus sighed silently, making Lily shoot him a questioning glance. He gave her a small smile in response, wondering internally why he was even surprised. It was very rare that Sirius did not get his own way with something…
A sideway glance told him that Lily had also realised where they were headed and was frowning with confusion. Of course the redhead witch was far too proper to question her professor when she knew she would be given answers soon and Remus wondered exactly what his own reactions were supposed to be.
Surprise. It was definitely genuine surprise when he stepped into the hospital wing to see Hermione waiting for them - in full uniform, with the Hogwarts crest and Gryffindor tie in place. Her hair was pulled back neatly, her robes were perfect and every scar including the gash across her cheek and the faint line on her forehead had disappeared.
She stood up the moment the three of them walked in and Remus saw no trace of insecurity or hesitation in her. If anything she held herself confidently and only her eyes flickering briefly in his direction showed any sign of nervousness.
"Miss. Granger, This is Lily Evans, our current Head girl and Remus Lupin, the head boy. Both of them are in Gryffindor and will be in all your lessons" McGonagall said crisply before turning around to face her two slack jawed students.
"Miss. Granger will be joining you in your final year at Hogwarts and has already been sorted into Gryffindor. Miss. Evans, she will also be in your dorm and I trust the two of you can guide her through everything else?" The head of the house enquired.
When it looked like Lily was too shocked to say anything, Remus spoke for her and offered assurances that they will do as asked, while Hermione fought to keep the smile off her face.
"Additionally, since Miss. Granger was previously privately tutored, she will need to do a quick reassessment of all the prescribed lessons taught at Hogwarts through the seven years before she is eligible to appear for NEWTS. The two of you are to help her with anything she might need assistance with in that"
This time even Remus couldn't bring himself to speak. Reassessment, really? That's – that was as brilliant a cover as any…
"All three of you are expected to head back to your lesson in ten minutes" McGonagall finished before turning her attention solely to Hermione again
"Good Luck Miss. Granger and welcome to Hogwarts" The witch said kindly.
"Thank you professor" Hermione responded with a bright smile.
She still couldn't believe how well this had worked out. When she had slipped out of the infirmary last night with Sirius, she had only hoped for a few hours of fresh air but she had been entirely taken aback when it was him that first broached the topic of her getting out of the hospital wing.
It was obvious that he too had been surprised when she all but jumped at the idea and after that it took them no longer than ten minutes to come up with a convincing enough background and the idea of reassessment as an excuse had been quite the obvious choice.
The only noticeable point of trouble was to convince McGonagall the next day. However when they snuck back into the castle all windswept but happy, they had run directly into the headmaster who was, surprisingly encouraging of the idea.
Now here she was standing in front of Lily and Remus, ready to finally know more about Hogwarts than the stories the Marauders told her.
Flashing Remus a quick smile, she turned her attention to Lily. She had heard James wax poetic about her of course but it looked like the messy haired boy hadn't been exaggerating much. The redhead was truly beautiful.
"Hermione" She said, holding out a hand to the other girl.
"Lily" the redhead answered weakly, trying and failing to recover herself as she took the offered hand
"So our first lesson is charms" Remus said because he simply could not introduce himself to her with a straight face.
"I know. I don't actually have any of the books we need though and I'm still not allowed to practically use magic much for a couple of weeks or madam Pomfrey will skin me, but I did read up on the lesson a bit. It is still vision enhancement charms this week isn't it?"
Hermione was speaking fast and it was all Remus could do to not laugh. Oh, she was definitely nervous alright. Before he could say anything to make her relax though, Lily spoke up.
"You're eighteen? seventeen, whichever. You are as old as us?" She questioned seemingly stunned. Hermione blinked in confusion.
"I'm sorry?" She asked making the headgirl flush.
"I'm sorry, its just - you are - it was you who - I mean, I'm uh-" Lily stuttered.
It wasn't like her to be this flustered but she hadn't expected this. She had mourned the witch a week after the infamous crash and then Black had mentioned she was alive but -
"Yeah, I uh, not exactly the first impression I was hoping for" Hermione managed to say with a slight grimace..
This time Remus chuckled. They had rubbed off on her well.
"In Hogwarts it never is" he grinned before managing to turn the conversation back to their upcoming lesson as they headed to class.
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Sirius had warned her last night that she could expect every head in the castle to be turned her way wherever she went but she had not taken it seriously enough. Within the first ten minutes, she found herself trying to disappear behind her books and by the last she wished she could sink through the floor.
The only good thing about her first charms lesson had been James's reaction. The boy had all but fallen off his seat when she had walked in with Lily and Remus and if everyone hadn't been so busy staring at her, they would have noticed Sirius's wink and later his sheepish apologies to his fellow Marauders, which he managed to gasp out through silent laughter.
She supposed Lily's quick support helped too. As soon as the headgirl noticed that Hermione was uncomfortable with all the attention, she had put her own shock in the back burner and gathered herself enough to be sympathetic.
"They'll find something else soon enough" Lily offered as she slid into the seat next to Alice and motioned for Hermione to join her while Remus headed for the last row to join the other Marauders.
Since the lesson had already started, Hermione did not have to go through a round of introductions but she did manage to get a good look at those closest to her and quite easily recognised the people that she had already heard the boys talk about.
The chubby faced, doe eyed girl with dark curls framing her face was Alice Montgomery. She was the Remus amongst the girls, the voice of reason; or at least thats how Sirius described her. The golden haired, blue eyed, gorgeous girl behind her was James's cousin, Marlene McKinnon; not that she saw the slightest resemblance between the two. Which meant the other equally stunning raven haired beauty by her side had to be Cassie Meadows. Their descriptions had been quite accurate.
What she hadn't expected was Wormtail. She honestly had no idea what she expected him to look like but after hearing about a group of four all the time, she was slightly taken aback. Sirius was handsome in all the classic ways, James was charming with his messy hair and dancing eyes and Remus too was attractive with his kind smile and gentle features. The three of them had presence if nothing else.
Peter though...Peter had small watery eyes and an unusually pointed nose on his otherwise round face. It wasn't that she had anything against the boy, if anything she was eager to befriend him after hearing about him for weeks, but there was just something about him that didn't fit the picture. The playful smile, the mischievous glint, the simple warmth exhibited by the other three was just...lacking in Peter...
Her opinion that he was glaringly different from the other three remained when he was introduced to her on the way to the second lesson. His voice had squeaked. Like actually squeaked but she wasn't given the chance to really ponder on that, not when she was almost immediately reintroduced to James and Sirius by an incredibly straight faced Remus.
She also noticed that while she was in Lily's company, any attempt at being friendly with Sirius and James was out of question and it was only by the fourth hour that James and Remus had her cornered for a few seconds, Sirius being dragged in as well.
"You let Sirius talk you into this?" James demanded.
"I don't see why I'm still being blamed" Sirius grouched.
"And reassessment Mione? Honestly?" Remus questioned.
Hermione merely laughed. She wanted to keep the sweeter bits of the time spent with Sirius last night to herself and Lily appearing after her brief talk with professor Vector spared Hermione from actually having to explain.
"You still have detentions in the evening you know?" She asked before quickly slipping past them.
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As it turned out, Hermione was delayed in making it back to the infirmary where the boys still had their 'detentions' while she had her 'check up and medicated rest' with madam Pomfrey.
A very insistent Lily had asked her to take a detour through the dorm for a bit and confused but obliging, Hermione went along. What she hadn't expected was for all four of her roommates to be present.
Do friends you met only earlier in the day hold interventions? Because seeing Marlene and Cassie leaning against the wall and Alice waiting on her bed while Lily walked her in certainly looked like it.
"Ummm is something wrong?" Hermione asked hesitantly, switching her gaze from one girl to the other.
"I told you this was a stupid idea Marls" Alice chided gently even as she offered Hermione an apologetic smile.
"No its not. we're just trying to be honest with you here Hermione" Marlene protested.
"The word you are looking for is blunt, not honest" Alice mumbled but shrugged and patted the spot next to her for Hermione to join in.
"Alright, What is the blunt honesty about?" Hermione questioned as she took the offered seat.
"You actually" Cassie answered making Hermione stiffen instinctively.
"And all of us too" Lily added, glaring at the taller girl. When Hermione did not answer, Alice decided to do the explaining.
"My parents were killed two years ago by death eaters. I live with my boyfriend and his mother. Cassie over there lost her father in an auror mission gone wrong and since he was the only family she had originally had, she's been living with her great uncle for over five years now."
"My dad's an auror too and my uncle is the head of the auror department, which puts my family on the hit list" Marlene added quietly.
The brunette had frozen. She hadn't known about any of that and quite frankly did not know why they were telling her now.
"I'm a muggleborn and my family in the wizarding world includes only the people in this room" Lily put in softly.
"What we are trying to say Hermione is, we've had our loses in the war, we know what its like to be alone in the world" Cassie said blunt as ever.
"You don't have to tell us what happened to you, but if you do want to talk, any one of us are willing to listen. We're family here and you are one of us from the minute you moved into this dorm"
Alice had barely finished her sentence before suddenly finding herself with an armful of the brunette witch.
There was simply nothing else that needed to be said in the dorm that night.
A/N : Thank you for all the lovely reviews :) And Hermione's out so the story can finally start!
