"Patience is a virtue."

William Langland

"HARRY POTTER IS DEAD!" Voldemort boasted smugly. They could hear Bellatrix's cackle from the back of the Great Hall. Hagrid looked defeated as ever, with tears streaming down his face. Just as much as people paid attention to Hagrid, people paid even more attention to the body that he carried.

"NOOOOOO!" Ginny screamed brokenly. Authur caught her just in time before she ran blindly to the other side. The poor girl collapsed into her father's arms with sobs torn from her body. She was not the only one, however. Many others were also holding back tears from their eyes. Hermione felt defeated, her Harry, her brother in anything but blood! He went to his death without much of a goodbye to her. The question of why filled her head, why would he leave her too suddenly? But it was replaced by the need to get vengeance for her brother.

The feeling of hope swelled in her again when he jumped out of Hagrid's arms, signalled the resume of the battle. Hermione started firing offensive and defensive spells to those Death Eaters coming near her or her friends.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort roared.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Harry yelled back. The two power forces collied together. From somewhere, bright white light erupted from where the two spells met, block the sight of everyone except two. When Hermione woke up, it was the sight of everyone she knew dying around that greeted her. For the first time in her life, the feeling beyond helplessness filled her to the core.

She jerked awake then. It took her a solid minute to realize where she was. She has never had this nightmare before. Most of the time, it was from Malfoy Manor. It must be because she was now back at Hogwarts, the place that held her best and worst memories. She decided to go ahead and get ready for the day. There was no point in going back to sleep now, anyway. Murmured a quiet Silencio at her feet, she made her way to the dorm bathroom. It seemed to be a waste when both Alice Fortescue and Lily Evans still sleep soundly; it was only six o'clock after all. She found herself envying the innocence and the ignorance they have, where she had lost hers years ago. Hermione sighed, forcing herself not to wallow in her self-pity.

Looking at herself in the bathroom's mirror, Elisabeth took a deep breath. She was happy to be back at Hogwarts, but at the same time, it has returned many unpleasant memories, war and not. Some even visited her during her dream last night. If it was not for the silence charms, she might have woke her roommates up. She signed and put up her shield, lest she resolved into a crying mess on the first day of class. "Everything is going to be alright." She told herself. Took a much-needed breath, Elisabeth looked at the mirror the last time and head out of the dorm bathroom.

The Slytherin's Common Room was absent from noise and people. She couldn't blame them when it was still early in the morning. This quietness frankly unnerved her, though. It was just, Elisabeth was so used to seeing upper-classmen lounging around the room studying, back when she was in Ravenclaw. Cast that thought aside, she made her way to the Great Hall. Elisabeth glad that Severus was the only Slytherin here. No one would get suspicious of why she knew the way around the school so well.

Spotting her sisters across the Great Hall, Elisabeth turned her head to a side, questioning in her eyes. Hermione caught her eyes but just shook her head, signalled for later discussion. Elisabeth was worried because Hermione looked paler than last night. Perhaps she had nightmares of Hogwarts too, she mused. Elisabeth wanted to ask, but she knew how stubborn Hermione could be and kept her silence.

Elisabeth took her seat across from Severus but was surprised when he tensed up. She gave him a nervous smile and saw him slowly calmed down and smiled back. Elisabeth was not an expert, but it was easy to see that Severus was in pain. She took some time during breakfast to observe him, making sure. Throughout breakfast, she could see him slightly twitching whenever someone came by. When Snape stood up to leave after receiving his schedule, Elisabeth waited for a while and then took her departure, as well. She subtly notified her whereabouts to her sister through the coin. They wouldn't see each other until Transfiguration.

She found Severus not far away from the Hall. His posture was slightly off when he walked, proven her thesis further.

"Severus, wait for me." She called out. He stiffened but stopped and turned around. "Are you going to History of Magic? Let's go together." Knowing that it would do no good to drag him away, Elisabeth slowly approached the topic while they walked.

"They did something to you last night, didn't they?" She asked quietly. Even though the hallway was practically empty, it didn't hurt being careful. Beside her, Snape's face hardened immediately. His lips almost contorted to the sneer that she knew too well from the future. Before he could get too angry, she explained. "You don't have to tell me, but please, allow me to heal you." His expression changed at that. He halted immediately and turned to her, eyes widened. She gestured to him to follow her to an unused classroom, and he sceptically followed. "I am going to spell the door against unwanted visitors." She cautioned him.

She nonchalantly warded the door with a notice-me-not and a silence spell. If Severus was surprised, he sure did not show it. Elisabeth turned around and cautiously approached him. "I would have to see it to heal it. May I?" Severus didn't answer her question. He just took a breath and tentatively took off his outer robe and sweater. Bruises marred his arms, and she has to stifle a gasp. She carefully healed each bruise, and Severus seemed to be more at ease after each one was heal.

"Any others?" He looked sheepish and shooked his head, but she knew there were others but let it go. "You should go to Madam Pomfrey if there is more then." If it was possible, Severus's cheeks promptly went red at being caught. Elisabeth chuckled. "Here, if they went at you next time, do this."

"History. Heal Snape. Talk, later?"

Words took turns to appear on her heated coin. Seeing that there was not many Gryffindor around, Hermione looked down at her necklace. Those boys in his dorm bullied him, that, she was sure. Hermione couldn't help and pity him, when later on the Marauders might torment him as well. She signed heavily. Her list of to-do things was getting quite long.

Hermione heard them before she saw them. Despite being an almost replica of her best friend, James's personality was the opposite. While Harry was almost self-conscious, James was confident, bordering arrogant. Then there was young Sirius. Despite not growing up in the best family, it never hindered him from being his carefree self. When they saw her, she timidly waved at them, unsure how they would react after her statement last night. Her worry was unfound, however, when they both waved enthusiastically back.

"Hey, Hermione." Both of them said.

"James, Sirius, hello." She greeted back. As the two went back to their previous conversation, Hermione turned her focus to her book. To most people, it would appear to be the Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling. In truth, it was an old book regarded Fiendfyre. It was too soon, but she knew that they would need it for their future Hoxcruxes' hunt. For this reason, she didn't notice it arrived until she heard the familiar shriek.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK!" Hermione snapped her head up to look at Sirius. Said boy was eyeing the Howler scarily. He looked as if he wanted nothing more than to be elsewhere. Hermione did not doubt that was what he wished, as well. The Great Hall has gone eerily quiet. Everyone was waiting to see how it would play out. "GRYFFINDOR? WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU? YOU ARE SUCH A DISGRACE TO THE FAMILY! I AM SO ASHAMED OF YO-"

Before it could finish the sentence, the Howler exploded with a small puff. Everyone stared at the remainder of the Howler in surprise. Many assumed that Sirius Black has somehow banished it, but Sirius Black himself knew better. He looked at the curly-hair girl opposite from him, who was still staring at the ash on the table. Finally, when he caught her eyes, he nodded in silence thanks, which she nodded back.

Saturday, September 4, 1971

Remus woke up in a dissimilar surrounding around him. His aching body and his pounding headache were the only things that notified him of his transformation yesterday. He could tell it was the worst one, even surpassed his first time. The wolf always has a hard time adjusting to its new cage. Remus wondered how his new friends would react if they found out about his lycanthropy. They would probably recoil in disgust; he could already picture them throwing insults at him. Tears slipped from his eyes unconsciously. He tried to look for Madam Pomfrey, but before he could find her, something caught his eyes.

His eyes widened when he saw it was the fine chocolate bar from Honeydukes. A piece of paper underneath it caught his eyes.

"Feel better soon." It said.

He tried to sniff to see if he could catch any familiar sense. Unfortunately for Remus, the bar of chocolate was already charm with an anti-smell spell, and he would not know who were his givers until many months later. No matter, a big smile was plaster on his face for the whole day, despite his pain.

The first month at Hogwarts passed in a breeze. The Derwent twins soon settled into a routine. They both attended their regular lessons diligently, even though both already surpassed these classes' levels. Since the beginning, they had agreed that they would seize their class participation to the minimum, lest they caught Voldemort's interest earlier than planned. It was all good with Elisabeth since she barely participated in class anyway. However, it was a tough challenge for Hermione in the beginning. She was so used to raising her hands in class that she has to sit with her knees against her hands to prevent raising them.

It was an unspoken thing, but whenever Remus went to the library, he would sit with them. It comforted Elisabeth because that meant he still considered her as his friend, regardless of her house.

"Are we still friends?" Elisabeth asked shyly, not long after Remus sat down with them in the library.

"Of course, Elisabeth!" He answered, surprised at her question. He should have been the one to ask her that, not the other way around. Remus mused to himself. He was glad for this, though, since this meant that his fear was unfound.

Whenever Lily and Severus came, just like Remus, they would sit with the twins. However, Remus would not sit with them if Lily and Severus were there, and vice versa. Hermione has hoped they could form a study group together, but it seemed like it has to wait. The feud between Gryffindor and Slytherin has been ongoing for centuries, and it was no surprise when the other first years caught on quickly. James and Sirius already showed signs of their mischievous in those pranks they did. The Slytherins were not bad themselves; they gave as good as they received.

Luckily, the twins were spare from the notion, especially after the first one James and Sirius pulled on them.

Both were walking back from their DADA lesson. If it has not because of how engrossed they were in their discussion, they would have seen it coming. However, they were not, which resulted in both twins soak in water just a second later. When Hermione regained her sight, she could see James and Sirius laughing their heads off not far away. Hermione could feel her magic flared up in response. She turned and glared up at the culprits. She must have looked terrifying because James shut up immediately, and Sirius recoiled at once. To escape the witch's ire, both boys started running back to the Common Room.

When they were out of sight, Hermione let out a suffering sigh. Glanced at her sister, Hermione was surprised to see the murderous look on her face. Elisabeth was usually calm and didn't show much of her emotion at school. However, one look at the tome she carried, and Hermione understood why.

"I will see you tonight, Ellie. I have two pranksters to deal with first."

"Good luck, 'Mione. Don't go too hard on them." Elisabeth answered with a chuckled. Hermione did not do just that, however. The next day, what all the first-year Gryffindors(and Elisabeth) could talk about was Hermione Derwent's encounter with James Potter and Sirius Black the night before.

It was a quiet night in the Common Room, an unusual occurrence for the Gryffindors. Until James Potter and Sirius Black burst in, panting, followed soon by Hermione Derwent. A witness recounted that after Hermione finished yelling and even shot two perfect Jelly-Leg cursed at the boys, she calmly sat down to enjoy her book, completely ignored the Black heir attempted to put his head on her lap to apologize. She didn't give in until near curfew, they said. Unsurprisingly, James Potter and Sirius Black didn't attempt to mess with either Hermione or Elisabeth after that.

Precisely like last time, it only took the Marauders a week to stick tightly together, albeit their future group's name. Hermione usually saw them huddled together in a corner and conspiring their newest prank, much to her annoyance. Hermione sighed quietly and went to her dorm. Once everyone has asleep, she disillusioned herself and went up to the Room of Requirement. Every night after curfew, she and Elisabeth would meet there and practice their duelling skills. Sometimes, they would attempt wandless and non-verbal magic, and those were progressing nicely as well.

They were duelling when Elisabeth brought it up.

"I have the most interesting tutor session today."

"Yeah?" Hermione answered while ducking a Stupefy from her sister. The mirror behind her cracked because of the spell.

"Yes. Do you want to guess who I tutor today, 'Mione?" Elisabeth asked. A Protego form from the tipped of her wand, protect her against Hermione's explosion spell.

"Who?" Hermione asked from the back of the sofa she hid.

"Peter Pettigrew in Potion."

"What?" Hermione asked, stunned. For that, Elisabeth was able to disarm her. "Hey!" Hermione protested.

"Sorry. Here." Elisabeth chuckled. "But yes, I saw him struggle in Potion, so I decided to help him."

"Oh..." Hermione replied lamely, unsure of how to react. Sure, she has tried to be polite to Pettigrew, but she never went out of her way to befriend him as she did to others.

"Hermione, I know it is hard for you to forgive what his older self has done in the future. I would be the same if he hurt my family." Elisabeth said. "But, let's give his younger self a chance, yeah? Let's help him to be a better person like we help others." Elisabeth pled gently, with a hand reached to her twin. Hermione grasped her hand and gave her sister a weak smile.

"Are you up for another duel sister?"

Author Note: I am trying to have 2 to 3 chapters for each year, perhaps more for the later years. It is hard to summarize everything together in a section while making sure that I didn't miss any detail from said year. So please, forgive me if the update is later than usual, yeah? Thank you all :)