So, my NEWTs start tomorrow and I figure I ought to publish one chapter at least before I disappear for the next three months...I may publish one chapter somewhere around this time, but I make no promises. Hopefully, April onwards, I will have some free time.
Peggy77: Thank you for pointing out the mistake! I will take care of it.
Roon0: Your idea is mind-blowing, but she will need a lot of support for that. Plus, I doubt poison would work on old Mouldywarts.
Infernalbooks: thank you so much! I enjoyed writing them as well.
Leonix2009: Thank you! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!
Monnbeam: Thank you! Oh dear, I am not great at killing off characters, especially giving them so much of my time.
ClarieRoss: Here's an update!
On another note, I finally read The Life and Times by Jewels5 and I have fallen in love...is it possible to write Fanfiction of a Fanfiction? I hope so, cause my mind is swirling with ideas. I also re-read Return of the Parents by AutumnBreeze12 and I swear to god I will start writing that fanfiction's Fanfiction as well. I might start changing stuff in this story as well, taking care of some grammatical errors and story continuity. If you find some similarity between the changes to come and my of the stories in my favourite list, well, I am just borrowing stuff.
Without further ado, here we go!
Chapter 28-Beginning of the end
With Marlene's letter mentioning Sirius Black so many times, Hermione should not have been surprised at finding her best friend and the infamous Black lip locked in one of the compartments. Yet, the sight of her friend on 'the' Sirius Black, so passionately kissing and making out in the compartment made Hermione nauseous. She sometimes wondered if there was something wrong with her because she and Remus did not indulge in such activities.
Trying to push the image out of her head, Hermione walked down the corridor trying to find another compartment. Her prayers were answered when she opened a door to find Peter and James.
"Hey Prewett!"
"Hey, Hermione!"
"Hullo, boys!" Hermione smiled, putting down her trunk and bag. "Where is Remus?"
"Prefect meeting." Peter prompted. "Lily Evans is the other prefect, I heard."
James sighed. "I can't believe Remus betrayed us like that. A prefect! Can you believe that?"
"What other choice did poor teachers have?" Hermione asked, raising a suggestive eyebrow. "The other choices were you, Sirius and Peter."
James sat thoughtfully as Peter pulled a face. Hermione wondered if Peter was hoping to become a prefect. Maybe he was, but he never stood a chance. Shaking her head, Hermione pulled out a book and began reading as James and Peter took a nap.
Sometimes during the fourth chapter of the book, the compartment door opened Remus Lupin walked in. James and Peter at once woke up from slumber, James looking around. "Sirius' still making out?"
Hermione grinned pulling Remus in for a kiss. She could feel the smile on his face as James and Peter made gagging noise in the background.
Remus grinned once Hermione pulled away and sat down beside him. "Hey, you."
"Hey, you." Hermione smiled. James groaned.
"Honestly, I am sick with all this romance. Sirius won't shut up about Marlene and I am pretty sure they are making out in the other carriage. You two are being sickly sweet and here I am, alone with Peter. Bachelor, for the rest of my life."
Hermione could not help but roll her eyes. "Give it time Potter. We are only in our fifth year. In fact, I can bet that out of all of us, you would be the first one to settle down."
James sighed, looking dreamily and a wistful smile on his face. "If only certain someone would agree with me to go out."
Hermione shook her head fondly. James seemed to grow an inch over the summer, his hair being messier than usual. Whatever baby fat James must have had was gone, leaving behind the well-kept boy.
Peter, on the other hand, seemed to have gained weight. He was looking more and more like the man Hermione knew. She hoped the similarities ended with appearances between the two.
Remus was just as he always had been. A bit tall, his hair slightly messy and some new scars on his face. He looked a bit more reserved, but Hermione shrugged it off. If Remus wanted to talk, he would talk himself.
"So, how was your summer?" Hermione asked, looking at the trio.
"Brilliant!" Peter grinned. "Mum and Dad took me to different places this summer. We were roaming around all of England and Scotland."
James shrugged. "Lucky you. I was stuck at home all summer. Dad invented some new potion and he was in his lab all summer. Sirius could not come, something regarding his brother. I was bored out of my mind!"
"Wouldn't have harmed you to work on the new year's curriculum!"
Remus snorted. "Have you met James, Hermione?"
"Hey! I can work when I want to!"
" 'When' being the keyword," Remus offered, making Peter and Hermione break into giggles. James crossed is arms and sat back, pouting.
"What about you Remus? How was France?"
Remus contemplated on how to answer that question. "France was...nice."
"What were you doing there anyway?" Peter asked, leaning over James. "You didn't say a word in your letters."
"I was..." Remus looked at Hermione and then at his friends. "Dad found a few...friendly packs. My transformations were getting harder so he thought it would do some good if I knew more about my...condition."
James immediately sat up. "Well? Was it helpful?"
Remus shrugged. "Wouldn't find out until the nest transformation. Let's see what happens."
The compartment door opened to reveal Marlene and Sirius standing there with messy hair and half open clothes. Sirius' hair had grown, his hair pulled back in a ponytail which looked disheveled. Marlene seemed to have cut her hair but it did not look any better.
"Oh, Merlin! I have been left scarred! My best friend in this condition! Wormtail, do me a favor and poke my eyes out!"
Sirius rolled his eyes before pushing James and sitting down. He flashed a grin to Hermione, who shook her head, gave a nod to Remus and blew a kiss to Marlene before turning to James. "Please, as if you haven't seen worse!"
James slowly poked his head out of Peter's shoulder. "Sure Pads, I have. But we all know you were just trying to seduce me."
"And now you have missed your chance," Sirius huffed. "People would think that James Potter would know when to grab an opportunity but he had four years to go out with Sirius Black, yet here we are!"
Marlene turned to Hermione. "Why are boys so weird?"
"You are the one who is dating the biggest drama queen!"
The rest of the train journey passed with conversation and food. At some point, Marlene challenged Peter to a game of Exploding Snap and Peter almost lost his eyebrows. Hermione and Remus both preferred silence, reading books while holding hands. Sirius and James were busy bickering and planning pranks simultaneously.
The six filtered out of the train, the marauders parting with the girls, Remus running in first to do his Prefect duties. The boys jumped on one of the first carriages as Hermione and Marlene talked, getting on whichever carriage was free.
Hermione was the one who noticed the stare from the other two boys of the carriage. They were Adam Nolan and Liam Harper, fifth year Hufflepuffs, if Hermione's memory served her correctly.
"Hello!" she smiled calmly. When the boys realized they had been staring, both of them got a little red.
"Hullo."
"Is it true that you killed Lestrange?"
Hermione snapped her attention to Harper. Uneasy silence descended in the carriage as it began to move.
"Liam!"
"What?" Liam turned to his friend. "Are you seriously telling me you aren't wondering?"
"It was a duel, and people die in attacks." Hermione answered coldly. "I was defending myself."
Harper looked skeptic. "Lestranges will not sit back just because you were defending yourself. You killed one of them. Honestly, I am surprised Dumbledore even let you in the school this year."
Hermione was slowly losing her patience. A weird mix of guilt and anger crept up her spine and Hermione did not know how to deal with it.
Marlene put a hand on Hermione's shoulder and turned to glare at Harper. "In self defense, accidents happen. If you have a problem, you don't have to talk to us."
Harper huffed, but did not say another word. Hermione and Marlene decided to look out of the carriage, hoping to catch the first glimpse of Castle.
Once the carriages stopped, Hermione did not waste one second in getting off the carriage and moving inside the castle. She ignored the calls from her best friend and did not stop till she had secured a place on the table. En route, Hermione noticed that many people were staring at her. People from the Slytherin table especially were pretty interested in her.
Fiona watched her carefully. "All right there Hermione?"
Hermione gave her a small smile before nodding. Marlene appeared moments later, placing herself beside Hermione. Neither said any words as everyone settled down. The Grand doors opened and Professor McGonagall led several students in the Great Hall.
To Hermione's and multiple others' immense surprise, there were students who clearly were not first years. Some looked old enough to be the seventh year, some ranging between third to fifth years.
Chatter broke out in the hall as all the students lined up in front of the teacher's table. To everybody's shock, Professor Dumbledore stood up before the sorting and clapped his hands, making the Hall fall silent.
"Welcome to all the new students and welcome back old students!" he said happily, "I hope all of you had good summer. Now I am sure you are wondering about the population increase in our student body."
"Yes we are!" someone shouted and nobody had to wonder who it was.
"As you are well aware, last year Hogsmeade was attacked. One of our own students managed to hold the maniac known as Lord Voldemort."
Everyone tried to glance at Hermione and she really wished she had Potter's invisibility cloak then and there.
"His attacks have not been limited to just villages. Many of you are well aware that there are small schools all over England that offer education to many others. Many children are home-educated. However, taking in account the present condition of the wizarding world, Hogwarts has opened its door to many more students."
Whisper broke out in across the tables.
"More students?" Lily Evans turned to look at Fiona and Joyce. "Clearly we don't have the space!"
"Hogwarts' dorms can change size," Remus murmured, "One year there were sixteen boys in Hufflepuff, I believe." However, he did not seem very pleased with the fact either.
Once the chatter died down, Dumbledore continued. "I believe the change would be difficult for all of you. But I believe all you would happily welcome our new students. Let the sorting begin!"
The sorting hat sang another song and everyone clapped as the first years were sorted. Hermione could see that each house waited patiently for the new addition in their years.
The sorting lasted very long, but by the time it started for the fifth year, only ten students remained.
"Hedgeson, Anthony."
A tall boy sat down the stool. As soon as the hat touched its head, it screamed, "Ravenclaw!"
The Ravenclaw table broke into cheers and the boy happily walked down the table.
Owen Jones went to Hufflepuff as Christina Jacob joined Ravenclaw. Adele Kings became the first Gryffindor from the lot.
"Oh joy, another girl!" Joyce rolled her eyes. "Wonder what she is like."
Lily huffed. "Don't be mean, Joyce! We don't know what the poor girl must have been through!"
A few more were sorted before Professor McGonagall called, "Shaklebolt, Kingsley."
Hermione's hand snapped at once. Indeed, on the stool sat her old friend, nervous as a school boy. He didn't look much different from when Hermione remembered him.
But...how? She had never given a thought to Kingsley's age and though he had been close to Remus, Hermione never thought he was in James' year.
Or maybe he wasn't. Maybe this was a change from her timeline.
"Gryffindor!"
The Marauders' eye widened as the boy happily made his way towards the Gryffindor table. Their long monopoly would soon end and oh bother, what would happen to the pranks?
"Travers, Jonathan!"
"Gryffindor!"
"Merlin!" Sirius held his head. "Why does Fate hate us? Two new additions?"
Remus took a deep breath. "We will manage."
Hermione noticed as Remus began to pale. Oh dear, two new roommates. How would he hide his condition?
That was the last of fifth years. The two sixth years were sorted in Hufflepuff and the only Seventh year went to Ravenclaw.
Once everybody had settled down, Professor Dumbledore rose once again. "Now, I do not wish to keep you hungry for long, but a few announcements are important."
"First of all, I would like to welcome Professor Lester Abbot as our new Defense against the Dark Arts Teacher!"
Hermione watched the lanky man who seemed nice enough. Maybe DADA won't be too bad this year
"Second, I would like to warn you all. Times are changing. The new students here are a proof of that. Voldemort is but a wizard, yet he is a powerful wizard. One of our own has been repeatedly attacked by him and his followers. Rumor has it that there are people inside this very school who wish to join him."
Nasty glares were thrown at Slytherin table. Many scowled at others while others tried to hide themselves.
"There will be no pointing fingers, but I must warn everyone that fraternizing with terrorists is not what we teach here. Serious action will be taken towards anyone who is known to meet or join his movement. While students of Hogwarts, you are expected to behave as students."
The anger and resentment was clear at some of the Slytherin's faces, yet Hermione could not help but feel sick. If warnings like this were already been given, how bad was the war outside? What did she not know?
"Now, that we are done, all of you kindly enjoy your meal!"
Food appeared on the table, but the excitement had died down for everyone. While there was excited chatter all around, the new students being introduced and included, Hermione couldn't help but feel dread.
Indeed, times were changing. And she had to do something soon.
