She quietly picked at her food, listening in on the conversations going on around her. Apparently Lily Evans had gotten the head girl position (something she remembered Harry telling her at some point.) and there was, therefore, a bed available in the dormitory, which everyone thought was lucky, because where would you find an extra bed?

It took a lot of willpower to not throw Hogwarts A History at them, but she managed. She should have been used to how oblivious people were after hanging out with Harry and Ron for so many years. She just thought after 7 years in Hogwarts Castle wizards and witches should have been used to the magic that permeated the castle.

It was easy enough to avoid talking to people, she had sat far away from everyone, and they were too busy with their own friends. Or they happened to be apprehensive about the mysterious new girl. She feigned shyness when somebody turned a curious eye on her, unwilling to offer more than one word at a time, or shrugging her shoulders.

Of all the people there, she was happiest about not having to deal with Harry's mom, it was strange enough to be in another century, having to deal with familiar faces would take a toll on her. Even if it was only familiar eyes in the face of Lily Evans, or the familiar appearance of features in James Potter.

She would just have to avoid the girl and boy in castles, but this was the year they would fall in love with each other so she figured they'd be busy with that. From what she read, when you fell in love, you only had eyes for each other. James had a reputation for being like that already with her, so if Lily joined in on that, they would both be in a completely different world, just inhabiting the same space.

The ceiling was sparkling with colour as the day came to a close. First years were all sitting in awe of it and the food covering the table. The food she had missed, delicious delicacies smelling wonderful and overwhelming her a little bit. It was almost euphoric just letting the smell waft over her, it had been so long since she had eaten anything besides her pitiful cooking or the occasional pub food from the Leaky Cauldron.

Yet she barely ate anything, knowing what effects starving had on somebody. She would be wrecked if she ate as much as she wanted to. Part of her wondered if Ron had fallen sick when he had abandoned them for his mom. The Weasley matriarch cooking would have been stuffed in his face faster than anything she had ever witnessed at Hogwarts.

The thought made everything real again, and she pushed the barely eaten food away from her, unwilling to face the memory of her best friend who should be sitting across the table stuffing his face as usual.

"Hermione right?" the voice came from behind her. A sweet melodic voice she couldn't ignore, and she turned. Looking into the green brilliant eyes of Lily Evans made the world stop for the second time that day. She had to be her, those eyes were too similar to Harry.

Her mind flashed with her last memory of the boy, panic filling his eyes as he was taken away by Death Eaters, leaving her to torture. Echoes banging against her skull, too much now to stop, all she could do was close down. Her face was blank, she could probably play it off as shyness again, afraid to talk to strangers.

She clutched the arm with the scar as if it was giving away phantom pain as her mind literally screamed at her. The Screams of Harry and Ron mingled with the psychotic laughter of Bellatrix Black.

A shiver ran down her spine, and a strangled noise escaped.

"Hermione?" Lily inquired again.

She blinked, focusing on the present again, breathe, she told herself.

A ceiling pretending to be the sky, a sky she had spent the last half year sleeping under. Food, so much food, enough to keep her fed for years. Wizards and witches laughing, blissful. A castle, not just any castle, but Hogwarts without Death Eaters controlling it, torturing the students.

Safe.

She coughed, covering up the how awkward it had gotten "Yes?"

Lily smiled at her, "I'm Lily Evans, Head girl. McGonagall asked me to help you get settled in. Since we're in the same house and all."

"Thanks." she replied meekly, cursing her luck as her heart kept beating in her ears, slowly draining out the noise of screaming and helping her focus.

She gathered herself and followed Lily to the common room, looking down and only making small noises to indicate she was listening when she felt the head girl pause. They continued like that for a while, getting all the way to the common room before she stopped them.

"You don't say that much do you." Her eyes widened from looking into those eyes again, and she stuttered, taken off guard by her suddenly talking to her again.

The whole having Harry's eyes things might have been horrible for her, but it wasn't just that making it difficult for her to speak. She wasn't sure if interacting with the girl would mean something could change in the future. There was the need for getting to know her for Harry's sake, and the promise to herself.

It had also been months since she had spoken to another human being, and the scrutiny was hard.

"No." she hugged her book tighter to her chest, hoping Lily would drop it. She smiled at her and told her the password for their house motioning for her to get in.

So many people turned to look at them, one came running towards them, and Hermione jumped back and pulled her wand. She raised it threateningly, unwavering, defiantly.

Having a momentum, it was difficult to stop and he skidded to a halt, almost touching the wand he was so close. "Woah Evans, got yourself a bodyguard?" He had his hands raised in surrender, looking unsurely at the wand that was pointed between his eyes and the girl who was staring him down.

People were staring a lot more now than they were staring before.

Anxiety rushed through her veins, she could feel it pulling at her skin, making her muscles twitch. Her heart was beating against her throat, and she gasped realizing what she had done. She dropped her stance, the wand went back into her hidey-hole and she hid behind Lily, figuring the two enemies about to be lovers would be distracted enough by each other.

Memories intermingled with possible explanations she could use twirling through her brain, making her dizzy. Eyes closed against the world she barely noticed the two quarreling like she had hoped.

When she felt her breathing steadying, she looked up and noticed everyone was paying attention to Potter pleading with Lily as she argued with him.

Clutching her book tighter, she moved to her dormitory. The only one that noticed her walking was Sirius Black, his grey eyes boring into her back as she escaped unnoticed by everyone else who must have been just as curious.

Nobody else was upstairs, and after looking in through a couple of bedrooms, she finally found the one where her trunk had been placed.

She instantly went to bed, casting spell after spell on the curtains around her bed, until she felt safely warded against danger. As safe as you could feel when you were a paranoid war surviving time traveller in uncharted territory.

The next day she managed to slip by most people, sitting at the end of the table with a book as a shield. Who bothers a bookworm after all?

When Sirius Black moved closer, eyes telling her he meant to sit down next to her, she quickly swallowed the rest of her breakfast and moved away before he had a chance to say anything.

Refuge in the library was nice, it was comforting in a way that set her on edge. For how could she be relaxed. She tried to shake the feeling but couldn't, and carried it around until she went to McGonagall's office to set up her classes.

"Hello Miss Granger, please have a seat." she smiled kindly at her, maybe offering to understand for having to start Hogwarts so late.

She sat down uttering a timid "Professor."

"I see you did excellent on your O.W.L.s" she smiled at her again, and Hermione tried to mimic the movement, her muscles unused to anything resembling joy crossing her face.

"Thanks, Professor." in that same timid tired weird voice that felt so unlike her.

"What plans do you have for your future?"

She shrugged, unsure how to answer that.

"Do you know what classes you want to take?"

Hermione handed over a list, including potions, DADA, Arithmancy, and Runes.

"Impressive."

That fake smile again.

"Any questions about Hogwarts?" McGonagall tried, but she just shook her head.

The Professor sighed "How are you settling in?"

"Fine."

She scrunched her brows at her timid answer. The question of why Hermione had been sorted into Gryffindor must have crossed her mind. And Hermione wished she could show how, prove why, but she was so sure that any action taken to be courageous would mean destroying the future.

I've battled or escaped Trolls, Basilisk, Three-Headed Dogs, Giant Chess Pieces, Centaurs, Giants, and Thestrals, but most importantly, I've survived Death Eaters.

Her scar itched again.

"Has Lily helped you get settled in?"

She nodded.

McGonogall waited, probably hoping that the silence would mean Hermione speaking up, saying something, anything.

But after months alone in a forest, the silence was preferable than speaking to old friends who didn't recognize her. Or mentors that had never before looked at her with disappointment, unless it was because of her two best friends.

McGonogall sighed, finally giving up. "You may leave."

"Thank you, Professor." Possibly the most she had said to anyone in this century.

McGonogall seemed disappointed in her newest student and didn't bother to look her way, finding some papers on her desk way more interesting.

It's better this way she told herself.

Hogwarts was easy to navigate, and she soon found herself in bed again. Nightmares didn't take her, but waking up in a room full of strangers still made her uneasy, and she quickly escaped.

In Potions Slughorn made her answer a question. Her eyes were big, doe-eyed and waiting for the attack that never came.

"Veritaserum." she supplied, voice breaking over having to suddenly use her voice again.

After class, she grabbed everything quickly, rushing away from the confused eyes of Sirius, the attentive eyes of Lily, and the curious of Evan.

Lily tried to catch up with her, but Hermione knew the castle better. She did close in on her outside the Arithmancy classroom, and class wouldn't start for at least 10 minutes. She tried to hide behind a book again, this tactic would probably make everyone wonder why she was in Gryffindor, not Ravenclaw. Being so timid would make everyone question why she wasn't in Hufflepuff.

"How did you get here so quickly?"

shrug

"What did you think of Potions?"

shrug

"Do you like Arithmancy?"

shrug

"What other classes do you have?"

shrug

"Do you wanna study together after classes?"

shake of her head, looking nervously towards the door.

"What are you reading?"

she lifted the book so she could read the cover.

"Hermione?"

She looked up at her over the book she had tried to hide behind.

"Why don't you like me?"

She sighed, not wanting to lie and say she feared her. Denying it would reap the same ramifications, so she just shrugged again. She could see how infuriated Lily was getting.

"Now you know how it feels."

Potter to the rescue!

When would she be able to escape needing a Potter to rescue her?

Clenching her fingers around her book, she stiffened and tried to read the book once more. But she kept rereading the same sentence over and over again, not noticing what it actually said.

Lily was distracted by James again, to Hermione's pleasure. She was happy that her predictions came through. Soon Lily would forget all about her. She ignored the way her heart seemed to sink at the thought, unwilling to think of why it made her so sad.

Gloating, sad and worried, she missed the green eyes of a Slytherin following her. She didn't even notice him sitting down next to her when they took their seats.

She only looked up from the book when the Professor walked in. Explaining a bunch of stuff, she was enraptured by the Professor, taking copious notes. When they were given an assignment she finally started looking around herself and noticed him sitting next to her.

She gulped.

A Slytherin paying such close attention to her was troublesome.

Especially one who gazed at her with emerald eyes, glinting dangerously. The one that had seen her scar, seen her at Malfoy Manor over Christmas, he had gotten a glimpse of her secrets.

Looking at his chiseled Prince Like features, she thought about Disney movies. Green meant evil, it meant villains, watch out you will be destroyed by them.

He smiled a dangerous smile at her, but he didn't talk.

She wasn't sure she could handle it if he tried to make conversation.

They had looked into each other's eyes for a while, the rest of the class busy with solving the was panicking, but the boy, he was relaxed, amused, Slytherin.

With great strength she turned back down to her papers, continuing to work on the problem for a long time while he stared at her. It was hard to concentrate, he kept staring, leaning back like it was his new hobby.

'Birdwatching'

At times he would glance down at his sheet of paper, scribbling something down, and she would look at him, trying to figure him out.

At the end of the class, she wondered how the boy had managed to get into this class. How could he have gotten good enough grades for N.E.W.T. level classes with the way he worked?

"Rosier! Perfect as usual." The Professor exclaimed behind them, making Hermione jump slightly, her eyes terrified. The Professor's gaze was on the boy next to her.

Rosier, curious name.

He shrugged at the praise, meeting Hermione's eyes instead of answering. She was angry, having struggled with the question, and he just casually did it? He didn't even care about the Professor's praise, something she hungered for. Now more than ever since she had promised herself to not stand out in classes. Strange how avoiding something by your own volition made you crave it more.

His eyes glinted again.

She secretly wished her eyes looked like jewels.

Authors note: yay Update! I've finally figured out a name for this ship, Hevan! It makes me insanely happy to have such a cute ship name.

Thanks to my followers, the people who have favorited and the wonderful reviewers; AliceEnchanted, purple breeze, and the guest reviewer!

Any of those three things is what keeps authors writing here so remember to support people on here that way!

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