A/N: Hope you all like this fic so far. I've been having a hard time getting into it. Also, ask me about the HP Discord server I help run. Enjoy. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't make money from this fic.
August 6, 1976 Wimbourne, England - Potter Residence
Hermione was woke early the next morning by the Aunt Effie, who was holding several letters in her hand and asked her, while yelling at the boys to not run down the stairs, please, to come to the great room for a family meeting. The boys sounded excited, and James even peeked his head in as Aunt Effie was leaving, begging Hermione to hurry. He waited for her to get up and even walked her down the stairs, if impatiently.
"What's all this, then?" Hermione asked him.
"Our O.W.L.s are in! They held them up because yours hadn't been scored yet, but they just arrived this morning!" James told her, excitedly. Hermione understood the urgency now, but she still took her time as to to not fall down the stairs. She was feeling rather shaky and didn't want to push herself. They finally made it into the great room and James took a seat on the couch between Sirius and Remus and Hermione sat in the armchair next to the couch. Aunt Euphemia looked over the letters in her hand and passed them out one by one.
"Remus, your father has written you, too." She said, handing him that letter as well. Hermione received her letter and nervously opened the envelope. She pulled out the parchment and unfolded it, reading carefully. She sighed in relief at first, but then her eyebrows pulled together.
"Oh no." She muttered. "How did I only get an 'E' in Defense?" Sirius, having heard her and already exchanged his scored with James, stood and plucked the paper from her hands.
"Blimey, Hermione, all 'O's and you're worried about an 'E' in Defense?" he muttered. "I mean, we've all got 'O's in Defense, but you've outperformed us in every other subject! You'll give Evans a run for her money!" Hermione smiled a bit at the compliment. She didn't know much about Lily Evans in this time, but Sirius and Remus were smart, and by the looks of it, so was James. She grabbed her paper back, noticing him flinch a little, but then she looked up at Sirius.
"Could I see your scores?" She asked, her voice small. She was rather embarrassed by the way she went off on him the night before, but she hadn't said anything she didn't mean. She knew, though, that she'd rather have Sirius and the others as her friends in this time than as her enemy. His face lit up and he pulled his results out of James's hands, giving the other boy a paper cut in the process.
"Oi! Watch it." James called, but it fell on deaf ears as Sirius was already handing it to Hermione. She studied his results, frowning when she saw his History of Magic grade was a 'P', and his herbology grade, while passing, was not much better.
"Your History of Magic results are- well-" She started
"Shite, we know." James chuckled. "But to be fair, you've never had to sit through a lesson with Professor Binns. Puts the whole class to sleep, he does." Hermione suppressed a chuckle. Binns was known for droning on and on in her time. Seemed he wasn't much better these days.
"The rest are surprisingly good. If I didn't know better, I'd say you're actually pretty smart, Sirius." She chuckled. He frowned a bit, but then shared a smile with her. Her heart warmed a bit at the sight.
"Remus, what did your father say?" Hermione asked. The pale boy looked up, a bit of fear in his eyes, but otherwise he looked calm. He quickly masked the fear and Hermione knew it was because of the presence of James and Sirius. They made her feel safe, and she was sure they had a similar effect on Remus.
"Mum's still sick. Dad wants me to come home for the rest of the summer, so I can help take care of her, and so he can take me to Diagon Alley to shop for supplies." He said. Hermione nodded.
"I hope she gets better, soon." she said, sincerely. "Maybe we can meet up in Diagon Alley for lunch?" She said, turning to Aunt Euphemia, who had retreated to the kitchen to give the children a bit of privacy.
"I'll owl Lyall and see about the dates." Aunt Effie said, smiling. Remus grinned and nodded.
"I'd like that, Mrs. Potter." he beamed. Hermione's heart swelled at the smile on his face.
August 9, 1976, Wimbourne, England - Potter Residence
Hermione lay in bed, listening for the creak of the floorboard at the top of the stairs. Sirius had to go past her room to get to the garden, after all. She'd already done her meditation, and she'd been feigning sleep for the better part of an hour when she heard the creaking her ears had been searching for, along with hushed whispers. She strained her ears.
"Prongs, I need you here, mate. In case anyone starts asking questions." Sirius said.
"You went alone last time. Hermione's been in bed long enough to be out, Mum and Dad are out, too, with a silencing charm on their door. I want to come with you, mate, especially if you don't take the Cloak." He said. Hermione could nearly hear the tension.
"Fine. Come on, then." Sirius muttered, and she heard two sets of feet tread carefully down the steps. She didn't dare move until she heard the door to the gardens close. She got out of bed, dressed in jeans and a tshirt, and slid her shoes on quickly. She grabbed her wand and a light jacket, as the nights had been getting cooler, and she padded down the stairs after the boys.
She made it to the garden in just enough time to see the white tail of a stag disappear down a trail into a wooded area behind the house. She followed them, though not too closely; she knew their animal senses were far superior to hers. Once she made it onto the trail, she was forced to light her wand, but at this point, there was no point trying to hide from the boys. She'd already seen them transform, or at least, she could say she had.
She followed the trail to a small clearing, brightly lit under the full moon. There, looking up and facing away from her, silhouetted in the moonlight, a stag and a large dog sat next to each other, looking up. Hermione lowered her wand.
"Nox." She muttered. She didn't need the light now that she was out in the open. She stood watching the two animals for a moment more in the shadows of the tree line, but when she shifted her weight, a rotten log gave way under her weight, causing her to slip and fall. She let out a short, surprised help before she could stop herself. She looked over to the animals from her spot on the ground and realized both had turned towards her. Hermione got to her feet and dusted herself off, picking up her wand from the ground, before walking out into the field.
The dog, Padfoot, stood, standing between her and Prongs. Prongs just looked at her peacefully, somehow seeming indifferent.
"Hi, Padfoot." She said to the dog when she was close enough. He flattened his ears and tilted his head at Hermione, as though asking how she knew. She smiled at him.
"I saw you sneak out last month from the library. You really need to change in the treeline. Then I overheard you and Prongs there talking with Remus." She said, nodding to Prongs. Padfoot looked over his shoulder at Prongs. The stag dipped his head once and suddenly, James and Sirius were standing in front of her.
"We thought you were asleep. You really shouldn't be out here. It's not safe." Sirius said, looking anxious.
"It's safe enough. You two are out here, right? At the very least, you can keep me safe." She said with a smile. "Besides, I'm a big girl, Sirius. I know my way around a wand."
"How much do you know, Hermione?" James asked, seriously.
"I know about Remus, if that's what you're asking." She said, looking down. "I feel so bad for him, being alone once a month. I assume that's why you became animagi, right?" She looked up at the two, dumbfound expressions plastered on their faces.
"How do -" Sirius started, but Hermione shrugged it off.
"Sometimes, I just… know things. And then there's these nightmares. It's like they're actually happening. I- I don't know how to deal with it." She admitted, hugging herself. James took a step closer, adopting a protective stance. The corner of Hermione's mouth twitched up at that.
"Have you ever thought you might be a Seer, Hermione?" James asked. Her heart leapt. Of course! A Seer was a perfect cover for a Time Traveller. She knew she couldn't be too eager to accept the title, though.
"Maybe? I- I don't know. My head is really messed up." She said, looking to the ground again. She was surprised when she felt warm fingers under her chin, pulling it up. Her eyes met grey, Sirius's eyes looking even brighter in the moonlight.
"You know what I always do when my head is messed up?" Sirius asked. She shook her head. Sirius smiled. "I come out here. Alone or with James, either works. I come out here and I look up" He said, looking up at the sky above them. They were far enough away from the lights of the city that they could see the sky in all its beauty. Hermione looked up at the sky, taking in the vast expanse before her.
"Why do you change when you come out here?" She asked, quietly. He shrugged.
"Feels more personal. Like, we don't need words to communicate, just looks and body language." Sirius murmured.
"That, and if Remus has to become an animal once a month, we don't want him to do it alone. Even if we can't physically be with him." James said.
"If you want to change back, you can. But I'd like to stay with you. At least for tonight." Hermione said.
"For tonight. But once we're back at Hogwarts, full moons are dangerous for you, Hermione." Sirius said. She nodded.
"I promise I won't follow you out on a full moon at school." She said. Accepting her promise, James nodded once before stepping back and returning to his stag form.
Prongs approached the two humans, nudging Sirius with his nose. Sirius giggled.
"Yeah, yeah, gimme a second, Prongs." Sirius said, reaching up and patting the stag on the jaw. Sirius looked back to Hermione. "You know, you're going to have to keep this a secret."
"Of course." Hermione said. "I don't want you numbskulls to end up in Azkaban for not registering your Animagi forms. Besides, without you, I'd feel even worse for Remus."
"We'll have to tell him you know. He's been a nervous wreck since James told us he thought you knew about me." He sighed.
"How bad do you think he'll freak out?" Hermione asked.
"At first? He may go into a panic attack. Once we calm him down, though, he'll likely be fine." Sirius told her. "After all, it's just you."
"What do you mean, just me?" Hermione huffed, reaching over and scratching Prongs behind the ear. She needed the comfort of touching something, and Prongs didn't seem to mind. He closed his eyes and leaned his head into Hermione's hand.
"I mean, you're a Potter. You're family. If you haven't figured it out yet, Remus is pretty much a brother to us."
"Which means he'll end up seeing me as a sister or cousin?" Hermione asked.
"With how much time you two have spent in the library this summer, I'd say you're well on your way to being accepted as his sister." Sirius chuckled. Hermione nodded, a smile on her face. Her mind was at ease for once. She let her hand drop and Prongs trotted back to the spot he'd claimed earlier, lying down and looking up at the sky. Sirius looked Hermione over; for all his talk of her being family, he sure didn't look at her like she was. No, there was something deeper in his eyes, and it made Hermione feel odd. It gave her butterflies in her stomach but also set off alarms in her head. She couldn't do this. Sirius brushed a stray hair off of her face, then turned away from her, changing into Padfoot once more. He trotted happily over to Prongs, leaving a space between them for Hermione. She smiled when Prongs looked back over his shoulder at, as if to say, "Are you coming?"
She padded over to the two animals, plopping down between them, leaning against Prongs' back. Padfoot scooted closer and Hermione's hand found its way into his long black fur.
They sat there like that for most of the night. Hermione ended up dozing off in the wee hours of the morning, only to find herself in her bed the next morning, the smell of grass and wildflowers still clinging to her hair and clothes.