Ummm…*shrug*

"I missed you!" Sirius exclaimed, running forward and picking her up, twirling Hermione around as she winced.

"I missed you too, put me down," she asked as Remus walked up to them and began to laugh as Sirius only held her tighter.

"Hey, Hermione, good break?" James asked, ruffling up her hair as Peter waved to her.

"Mostly," she shrugged.

"Oh, right, Christina," James hummed, "We'll think of something by lunch, don't worry."

"Might even set it off at dinner," Peter smiled brightly, making Sirius beam happily at the idea of a prank.

"What?" Lily asked skeptically, making Sirius and the other Marauders turn to her, although Sirius was the only one who flung his arms out and happily screamed "Evans!" This was a terrible idea, as he dropped Hermione onto the platform, making her cry out and glare at him as James gaped at him with Remus, Lily and Peter.

"You dropped Hermione!" James accused as Peter hid his face behind his hands, trying not to grin.

"I didn't mean it!" Sirius cried as she stood, dusting off her jeans as she continued to glare at him. "I'm sorry!"

"I'll forgive you if you do it," she smirked as he started to beam again.

"Hermione, what's going on?" Lily asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I'll tell you inside," she waved it away as Remus frowned over at Christina as she whispered to a few Slytherins, who shot scandalized looks over at the group.

"Can't wait for dinner," Remus muttered as James caught the sight as well.

"Who says we've got to wait?" Sirius smirked, pointing his wand at Christina and flicking it before stowing it away. Christina then promptly tripped and fell onto the platform, making Hermione light up with a grin as Lily gaped at him.

"What did you do that for?" she asked loudly as they began to shush her.

"C'mon," Hermione began, starting to tug her away, although she fought, "Lily come on! I'll tell you, Emmeline and Alice when we get away!"

This made the redhead blink and follow, the two grabbing the other girls along the way and towing them along as they squawked inquiries.

Sirius laughed and shook his head, flinging an arm around Remus's shoulders and leaning against him, "Y'know, Moony, I think we're about to have some adventures today."

He grinned, shrugging a little, "We're the Marauders – it's just a regular day for us."

"True!" James laughed.

"So what's supposed to happen and when?" Hermione whispered to Remus, glancing down the table at Christina, trying to ignore the prying gazes of her classmates.

"Watch," he whispered back, patting her hand, smirking as she shot him an irritated frown, "Patience, little one."

Hermione wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at him, which made him laugh and grin at her, reaching out to try and mess up her hair, although she leaned away from him and grabbed his arm to try and deflect it. Remus didn't even jump when he heard the shriek, only turned and tried not to smile as Christina screamed over being turned green.

"Mister Potter! Mister Black!" McGonagall yelled, marching her way over to the table, "Mister Lupin and Mister Pettigrew! What is the meaning of turning Miss Vluent green?"

"What?" James blinked, standing with the other Marauders, "We didn't do it."

"Yeah, Professor," Sirius frowned, "We didn't."

"What would be the point of it?" Remus asked, "We haven't got any grudge against her."

"Not that we know of, of course," Peter shrugged.

"However, if she thinks we've got one against her, I'd love to hear it," James turned to Christina, who was glaring at them.

She growled, clenching her fists, but said nothing.

"Fine," McGonagall pursed her lips, "Miss Vluent, go to Madame Pomfrey to get your skin tone back to normal." She walked back to the professor's table, muttering about the four boys.

"You look very nice as a plant, Christina," Sirius smirked down at her.

She growled low, "You only did this for your little slut of a girlfriend."

"Hermione!" Lily yelped as Hermione stood abruptly, stepping towards Christina with a glare as Sirius and James panicked and moved out of her way, although Remus stepped halfway in the way and looked at her pleadingly, begging her not to do anything stupid.

"I have no idea what your problem is with me, I've never done anything to you," Hermione told the girl, "But if you think for even a second that I'll let you get away with it, you are dead wrong."

"Are you threatening me?" she asked.

"I'm seriously thinking about it," she frowned, hands on her hips as she glared at her.

Christina's eyes flashed before Emmeline and Alice slid up next to Hermione, startling her as they wrapped their arms around her shoulders, making a strange sort of line.

"You know, Alice, I think it's funny that Christina called our little Hermione a slut," Emmeline laughed.

"Especially since she hasn't been in the dorms since third year!" Alice said brightly – and loudly – giving Hermione a friendly smile before smirking at Christina, whose bright green paled at that.

"And I think it's hilarious how she thinks Hermione can't kick her arse in – oh – anything," Lily shrugged, stepping up to her friends and smirking.

"It's just a bloody riot!" Emmeline laughed, "I mean, Hermione who blushes at the very idea of kissing anybody – "

"Shut up, I do not," Hermione interrupted, her cheeks starting to pink.

" – is a slut?" Emmeline finished.

"What strange universe are we in?" Lily asked, a hand pressed to her cheek as she gaped at Alice, who gaped back at her.

"Look, Sweetheart, I know we've known you longer, but that doesn't mean we like you better," Emmeline frowned, "If you go and hurt our friend again, we certainly won't hold her back."

"Now run along to your little snakies and prim and priss over your scales," Alice waved her along, smiling as she glared and stomped her way out of the Great Hall.

"Oh I love you," Hermione tugged the girls in for a hug, Alice towing Lily into it, "You're all bloody brilliant."

"Hey, us lionesses have to stick together," Alice shrugged, hugging her again, "Oh, Sweetie, I love you too, don't ever let anybody bring you down."

"That was awesome," James finally said, gaping with his hand in his hair. Sirius was beaming, bouncing on the ball of his feet as Peter stared at the girls with wide eyes. Remus chuckled and hid his grin, both at his friends and the girls.

"Hey," Lily shrugged, "If Hermione hadn't had threatened her, we certainly would've."

"You ever wonder if we're like the female equivalent of them?" Emmeline asked, jabbing her thumb at the boys.

The group looked between each other before snorting and shaking their heads, going back to the table to eat.

"Minerva, did you see that?" Pomona asked, turning to her colleague.

"What? Oh, no, I didn't," she blinked, taking a sip of her drink, "My mind had wandered."

Dumbledore chuckled at that, making her glance at him and smile a little. She glanced at the hourglass filled with red and barely whispered, "Five points to Gryffindor for defending others." Slughorn glanced at her and tried to frown, but it ended up a very strange smile as she regained her stern expression and lowered her glass.

"I loved it when she asked if you were threatening her," James grinned as he hung upside down from the chair, "I mean, obviously you were."

Hermione blushed, biting her lip as she nervously pulled her hair back and up on top of her head, tying it into place, "I don't know what I was thinking. Professors and everybody were watching and I just…didn't care."

"She totally deserved it," Alice snorted, shaking her head as she dropped a few pieces of candy into her mouth, "I hate her so much."

"Hey, Hermione!" Scarlett called from across the room, "You're my hero!"

"Go Hermione!" Alexis cheered, making her laugh and grin at the girls, as did a few of the other Gryffindors.

"We need a Hermione Fanclub!" Emmeline yelled at the room.

"We can have a kitten on our flag!" Sirius said excitedly, "What's your favorite color?"

"Blue?" Hermione was laughing while she blushed.

"A kitten on a blue flag, somebody make that," he grinned at her.

"On it! C'mon Olivia!" Alexis yelled, running up the staircase.

"Is she really?" Lily asked, starting to smile, "Oh, is she really?"

"Alexis, don't you dare!" Hermione yelled, running after her as the others began to laugh.

A few hours later, she came down the staircase carefully, tiptoeing down as she gripped her wand tightly, biting her lip.

"Where are you going?" Sirius asked loudly from the couch, making her eyes widen and give a little shriek before she slapped her hands over her mouth, staring at him as he grinned with the other Marauders.

"Hermione?" Remus prompted, "Where are you going?"

She flung her hands behind her back, eyes still wide as she quickly said, "Nowhere."

He arched an eyebrow, looking over her to see that she was in jeans and a hoodie, a beaded bag in her other hand. She bit her lip again, looking between him and James, who looked suspiciously at her as well.

"Hermione," he stood, walking over to her, except she was edging towards the portrait, "What are you planning to do?"

"Nothing!" she insisted, still going towards the portrait.

"Is it with the Horcrux?"

"Remus!"

"It is!"

"Question!" Sirius raised his hand, waving it a little, "What is a Horcrux?"

"I'll explain on the way – lead on," Remus said, pushing Hermione along with a hand on her back.

"What, no, Remus!" she argued, frowning at him, "You aren't coming."

"Then you aren't going," he frowned back, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You aren't the boss of me!" she glared.

"True, very true, but I'm not about to let you go and get yourself killed," he said, "Hermione, nobody ever says what happens when you destroy one. You could die for all I know."

"I've destroyed these before, remember?" she hissed, "We didn't die."

"Hey, we're confused over here," James interrupted.

"Hermione," Remus said sternly.

"Remus," she mimicked.

"Hermione."

She glared at him before sighing, running a hand through her hair, "Fine. You're telling them though."

He grinned, ruffling up her hair, "Thank you."

"Blagh," she wrinkled her nose at him, waving him off.

"So you want to go into a giant killer snake's pit to kill it and get a tooth from the dead body of the giant killer snake to kill a crown," Sirius said, looking at her blankly as Peter tried to wave off Moaning Myrtle.

"Makes perfect sense!" James exclaimed with a grin.

"That's why I didn't want you lot coming with me," Hermione frowned at Remus, "You can't get hurt."

"And neither can you," he frowned back.

"No, seriously, you can't get hurt," she arched her eyebrows, "I don't care what happens to me, I'm not even supposed to exist, but if you – if any of you – get hurt, then everything will just go…BOOM!" She spread her hands out, still looking at Remus pointedly, "Do you get that?"

"So, killer snake?" he smirked as she growled at him.

"We can't let it out now," she shook her head, "For one thing, I don't know how to open it. Parseltongue opens it."

"He speaks parseltongue?" James exclaimed, eyes wide as she glared at him, "Right, sorry, go on."

"For another, if I open it, it's going to try to kill us all," she sighed, tying her hair up again, "I wanted to see if there were spells to trap it in this bathroom. I've got a load of books in my bag."

"You mean in this thing?" Peter asked incredulously, holding up the bag.

She managed a smile, "Yes, in that. Also, I don't know how I'm going to kill it. Harry did it all on his own, I was stuck up in the Hospital Wing, petrified. I don't really know what happened there, all I know is he killed the basilisk with Godric Gryffindor's sword."

"Awesome," James and Sirius chorused.

"So there are all my bundles of problems, you wasted your time," Hermione turned to Remus and looked at him pointedly.

"You weren't really," he frowned dully at her, "You were going to try and defeat it yourself."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"There's a sword in your bag," Peter pointed out dully.

She blinked at them before growling at Remus, "Oh shut it."

He chuckled, leaning forward and tucking a curl behind her ear, "Deal with it, Hermione, we're helping whether you want it or not."

She sighed, rolling her eyes and smiling fondly at him, "Thank you, I think."

"You're welcome," he smiled back, "C'mon, we'll help you read through the books."

"You don't have to do that," she blinked.

"Hey, who doesn't want to read about spells to trap giant killer snakes in bathrooms?" Sirius shrugged, grinning as he, Remus and Peter walked out of the bathroom, Peter with his face down in the bag.

"Hey, Hermione, can I talk to you for a minute?" James asked, eyebrows furrowed, "I know Harry is my son – he's got to be, but…."

"James?" she prodded, "What is it?"

"Who is his mother?" he winced, "I know you shouldn't really tell me, but…I just…."

"James," she said, "I can't tell you. I'm sorry, but I just…."

"Well…can you talk to Lily, at least? Make her at least consider giving me a go?" he asked as she blinked, "Even if I don't marry her, I'd still like to know what it's like. Being with Lily Evans. I bet it'd be bloody brilliant."

She smiled, "I'll see what I can do, James."

"Thanks," he grinned back before holding the door out for her, both of them quietly making their way down the hall.

(Did this chapter even make any sense to you guys? I'm really tired and have no idea if I even typed it right or if I just repeatedly typed "pink purple polka-dotted penguin.")

Love,

Ava