Chapter 18:

"Come on Mia!" James shouted over the bustle of the train station.

"I'm coming Jay!" Hermione smiled at his enthusiasm. While her brother was upset to leave her this morning, he was excited to see his friends, and one Lily Evans.

Sirius, who was behind Hermione, grasped one of her hands, his other hand still pulling his trunk. He started to run through the crowd, weaving in and out of the other early morning commuters. Hermione was laughing at his antics. It was still difficult for her to believe that this Sirius and the Sirius she knew before was the same person. There were moments, very few of them, when she was with Harry, at the Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, when this jovial man would shine through. She was so happy to see him like this most of the time, but it still surprised her.

"James!" Sirius yelled across the station, causing a few passer-by's to turn, "slow down!"

James turned, and stopped just short of Platform 9. "Well hurry up you bloody wanker!" He called back.

"James!" Hermione admonished, "that is not appropriate language, especially not in public!"

James just shrugged and held out his left hand, reaching for his sister's free right hand, and pulled both her and Sirius towards the brick wall that separated platforms 9 and 10. Hermione closed her eyes instinctively, she had never gotten used to running through what appeared to be a solid wall.

As soon as they made it to the other side, both James and Sirius let go of her hands. She opened her eyes and saw a very crowded platform. This made Hermione smile sadly; the war was not yet great enough to cause parents to fear sending their children to Hogwarts. That was great; it just reminded Hermione how much loss was going to occur.

"Is that Evans?" Sirius questioned, pointing to the red-head who was waving in their direction. This question caused James to perk up, and automatically run his left hand through his hair.

Hermione saw this and rolled her eyes, returning the wave from the pretty red-head.

"Is she coming over here?" James questioned, watching the girl he fancied maneuvering around the crowd, "what do I do? What do I say to her?"

Hermione rolled her eyes yet again, obviously Harry had gotten his nervousness from James. "Hi Lily." She called over the heads of the few people that separated them.

"That's brilliant!" James started, thinking his sister was talking to him.

"Hey Hermione." Lily said as she reached the Potter's and Sirius, the honorary Potter, and she pulled the younger girl into a hug. "I didn't think you would come to the platform today."

Hermione shrugged, pulling herself from Lily's arms, "I figured I couldn't hide for forever." As she spoke she caught a glimpse of her brother and Sirius' faces, and almost burst out laughing. They were completely in shock, unaware Lily and Hermione were on speaking terms.

"Well, I'm glad you made it!" The red-head smiled prettily at the younger girl. "I have something for you." Lily pulled a rather large stack of parchment from her bag, and handed it to Hermione. "I know you'll be spending a lot of time studying for the O.W.L's, and I thought these might help. There the notes I took last year while I was studying. If you have any questions you can always owl me."

Hermione smiled at the girl in front of her, and whispered a small "thank you" as she began to thumb through the pages. The handwriting was neat, straight, and crammed into every available space, not unlike how her note for the O.W.L's looked.

Lily nodded, "see you later Hermione! Potter, Black." She acknowledged the two boys before walking away.

"What?" James gaped, unable to get his question worded

"How did that happen?" Sirius asked, voicing the question that his best friend couldn't, "you two haven't spoken more than two words to each other."

Hermione just smiled and shrugged, "You two need to get on the train if you want a compartment." And she shoved the two boys towards the scarlet engine. "I'll talk to you soon!" She gave them both a hug from behind, and turned towards the exit. A few steps later she had to dodge a trunk that the owner had lost control of their trolley.

"Regulus, you must watch where you are going!" Spoke a nasally voice, one that Hermione had only heard screaming.

"Yes, ma'am." Regulus muttered, briefly looking up to meet Hermione's eyes, and smiled slightly at her before lowering his head and moving forward.

"And you missy, you should stay out of people's way." Mrs. Black, looking down her nose at Hermione

Hermione raised her eyebrows. No one should be talked to like that, and she had heard that tone much too often before. A tone that made the other person feel lesser than the one who had spoken. "Excuse me ma'am." She responded, trying her hardest to keep her voice polite.

Mrs. Black let her eyes scan Hermione, almost trying to determine if she should waste her time saying something to the young girl. But, Hermione took the choice away from the older lady. She nodded to Regulus and gave the Black matriarch an icy look before saying, in the same tone Mrs. Black had just used on her, "Have a good day ma'am." She pushed past the two Blacks towards the exit.

A/N: My laptop is not charging currently, so I had to type this up on the family computer. I hope you all like it! And sorry for the wait! Leave me a little loving please! It always motivates me to update faster!