A/N: I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to update. I had severe writer's block for this story and haven't been able to formulate words. I'll try to update sooner, but I make no promises.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't make money from this fic.
September 14, 1976 Hogwarts, Scotland - Gryffindor Common Room
Hermione plopped down at the table in the corner next to Remus and across from Sirius. It was a Tuesday, the day that Sirius like to call her "Hell Day". Double Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and double Ancient Runes meant she was running around with only lunch as a break. Today was especially bad, as Ancient Runes had run over into dinner and she'd needed to ask Professor Babbling something, and by the time Hermione had gotten to the Great Hall from the sixth floor corridor, dinner was over.
Hermione buried her head in her arms on the table until she felt Sirius prod her.
"You think she's still alive?" He asked in a mock whisper.
"I'm sure she is, however I can't say the same for you if you keep poking her like that." Remus said. For emphasis, Sirius prodded her again.
"Yes, Sirius, I'm alive." She said, looking up at him.
"Oh good, I was hoping you were. I really don't think I can eat this food by myself." He said, pulling a platter of sandwiches, snack crackers, and celery with peanut butter from behind his stack of books. Hermione's eyes widened.
"How-?" she asked.
"We know a few of the house elves. They'd do anything for Sirius, I swear." James said.
"And it's your Hell Day. When I didn't see you at dinner, I knew you probably wouldn't eat tonight if I didn't." Sirius said.
"And Mum would kill us both if she found out we let you go without eating."
"When she found out." Sirius corrected. "Let's face it, there's not much we do that we can hide from your mother." Hermione giggled at that, taking one of the sandwiches from the platter.
"Well, thank you, whatever your motivation." Hermione told them, feeling a little better and relaxing into her seat.
"So do you want to ask her now?" Sirius asked Remus and James. Hermione arched her brow at the question. Remus sighed.
"Well, I suppose we might as well, now." Remus said. "What are you wanting to do for your birthday, Hermione?" Hermione blinked. She'd told James her birthday when he'd asked her about it during Peter's party, but she hadn't expected for him, or any of them, to remember it, nor make a big deal of it. But then, she supposed, they always did the opposite of what she expected.
"I was just going to study some." Hermione shrugged.
"On a Sunday? You're going to study on a Sunday, that also happens to be your birthday?" James asked. Hermione nodded.
"It's what I do every year." She said.
"Did you have no friends in Beauxbatons?" Sirius asked, incredulously. She went quiet. She missed her friends terribly. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, even Luna. She looked down, and Hermione vaguely registered James elbowing Sirius in the side.
"I had a few. None like you lot, though." Hermione said quietly. She meant it. The dynamic James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had was entirely different from what she knew with Ron and Harry. Granted, Harry and Ron had become like brothers to her in the same way that she was beginning to view the boys, but they all had very distinct personality differences. Harry was much softer-spoken than his father, far less rambunctious than Sirius, and far less studious than Remus. He was a lot like his mother. Quiet, opinionated, and held his ground no matter what.
"Besides," Hermione added with a smile, "You lot are family, remember?" Sirius and James shared a grin and Remus chuckled under his breath.
"So if we were to- erm, plan something. Say, a party-?" Sirius asked.
"I'll be there. Just nothing too much, alright? If Remus says no, listen." Hermione said, finishing off one last sandwich and standing. "I'm going to bed. Do try to behave, won't you?" She sighed with a smile.
They bid her goodnight and she trudged up to her bed, quietly.
September 19, 1976 Hogwarts, Scotland - Seventh Floor Corridor
"Just a little further, now." Sirius told her, his hands on her waist. Hermione was trying her hardest not to blush at the contact, even while doing her best not to trip. And she stumbled over her own feet and Sirius caught her for what felt like the millionth time, she huffed impatiently.
"Can I take this blasted thing off yet? I hate not being able to see." Hermione said, moving her hand to the blindfold, which was just Sirius's tie. Sirius cupped his hand over hers before she could rip the blindfold off.
"Not yet." He said, and she could feel his face quite close to hers. His proximity was unnerving and she nearly tripped again.
"Hermione, stop tripping! You're hard enough to guide blind-folded without my having to catch you every other step." He said.
"Remind me why James sent you after me?" She asked.
"Because he and Peter had to finish setting up, and Remus wouldn't keep a secret." he chuckled.
"Remus? Not keep a secret? What?" She asked, puzzledly.
"Yeah, I wouldn't have blindfolded you." she heard Remus's voice. "Merlin, Padfoot, take it off her."
She felt a swift tug at the back of her head, and suddenly, she could see that she was standing in front of the three other boys. She looked around quickly, trying to discover the reason for secrecy. It looked as though they were standing in a small clearing, quite similar to the one she spent the night in with James and Sirius the month before. But Hermione knew they couldn't be outside; they'd gone up too many flights of stairs to be outside. Realization washed over her as she realized that this must be the Room of Requirement.
"How is this-?" Hermione asked, her brows furrowed. "We're not outside. Where are we?"
"One of our many discoveries about the castle. I'm sure we're not the first, nor the last, but we seem to be the only students to know of the room's existence." James said.
"But how can that be? The castle's a big place, surely someone would have stumbled upon the room?" Hermione asked. She sighed internally at how exhausting it was to keep up appearances of being ignorant. James shrugged, and looked to Remus for an answer.
"As far as I've been able to figure, there's strong magic on the room, concealing it until someone needs it." he said.
"So why did we need a forest?" Hermione asked. Sirius smiled.
"We're all more comfortable here." He said. Hermione frowned. "The night you stayed with me and James out in the woods? You didn't struggle in your sleep. Didn't talk, didn't fight. Nothing like what we've heard from you without a Dreamless Sleep potion. You fell asleep and didn't wake up until the next morning."
Hermione thought that over. To be perfectly honest, she thought that was probably due to Sirius and James being there with her, as opposed to the clearing itself having any sort of positive affect. She liked know the boys were right there with her, it made her feel safe. So if this room would give her that feeling of being safe with the boys, she wouldn't argue it.
"So what's that behind you?" She asked James, Remus, and Peter.
"Oh this?" James asked, moving aside to reveal a table laden with food, butterbeer, and a cake. Hermione gasped.
"House elves?" she asked, turning to Sirius.
"They really will do anything for me, it seems." He chuckled. Hermione hugged him suddenly, and it took a second for Sirius to register it before he hugged her back. She could feel him smile though, once he figured out what was going on.
"Oi," James said, "He wasn't the only one in on this, you know. Moony and I slaved over this idea for days." Hermione extracted herself from Sirius and launched herself at James.
"Thank you for being the best cousin ever." She said.
"Hmph. I thought that title belonged to me." Sirius pouted.
"Honestly, I can't make the two of you happy." Hermione said, moving to hug Remus and Peter in turn.
"Sure you can," James said, "Just only one of us at a time." Hermione giggled at that, then grabbed a plate and started to pick out what she wanted to eat.
Hermione and the boys stayed the night in the Room of Requirement. When they got tired, the room supplied hammocks suspended between the trees. Remus, James, and Peter had drifted off one by one, leaving Hermione and Sirius alone, sipping butterbeer beside a fire pit set into the floor of the room. They sat quietly for a long time after Remus finally slipped off to bed. Hermione sat rather close to Sirius, and though she was extremely aware of his proximity, it was a comfortable closeness that both seemed to enjoy.
"Thank you." Hermione said suddenly. "For all this. You and James have been amazing to me since I got here. I really don't know what I would have done without you. And Remus and Peter- I don't know if it's just because they're your friends and I'm your cousin-"
"It's not, love." Sirius said, looking over at her, a small smile on his face. "If Remus didn't like you, you'd know it. Likewise, if James and I didn't like you, you'd know it. It's not because you're our cousin." he chuckled. Hermione smiled a bit, then leaned her head on his shoulder. He slipped an arm around her waist, holding her to him. She sighed.
"I've never been accepted this easily before. At least, not by people who weren't swayed by my family name, and my money. It seems even in France, the Potter and Black names do a lot for status." she said. There, that little fabrication should hold. Hermione thought.
"The Potter and the Black names shouldn't define you. You're nothing like the Blacks, believe me. As for the Potters, well. You seem to be more like Fleamont than Charlus. And for that I'm grateful." He told her. Hermione frowned.
"Why is that a good thing? I don't know much about Granddad. He passed when I was young. Dad never liked to talk about him, much, either." She told him.
"Charlus was known in the Potter line for being a Slytherin. That's how he got to know Dorea. It was the source of many family fights, culminating in Charlus and Dorea fleeing the country when Fleamont was elected to the Wizengamot. The rumor amongst the family is that they were Death Eaters, and Fleamont found out. Charlus took his money and his work with him and they never looked back. Word floated back every now and again, Charlus and Dorea had a son, a new Potter. They'd heard they'd named him Oberon, in accordance to Black family tradition, naming children after celestial beings, but that was all that was known. You weren't even on the family tree, to my knowledge." he said.
"Dad was quite insistent that we needed no part in any family affairs. I'd often ask about his family, but he just told me that Mum and I were his family. We spent quite a lot of time with Mum's family. They're all Muggles, though." she told him.
"I'm quite curious, though." Sirius said, looking her over. "How did they pick your name?" Hermione's eyes lit up. She'd actually come up with this cover story some time ago.
"Mum and Dad were avid theatre fans. Both adored Shakespeare, and it so happened, their names were also characters in Shakespearean plays. I think they felt the need to start their own tradition, so they named me after a character in The Winter's Tale."
"'I think there is not in the world either malice or matter to alter it.' That was quite the play." Sirius told her.
"I've only ever read it. 'Exit, pursued by a bear.' is by far my favorite stage direction of all time." Hermione giggled.
"You've got to see it on a stage." Sirius chuckled. "My favorite Shakespeare is Hamlet." he confided.
"Are you but mad north-north-west?" She giggled, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Aye, but when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw." he chuckled.
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Would you two please go to bed?" Remus called from his hammock. That threw the pair into a fit of giggles. It took them a few minutes to calm down before they were able to stand up to head to their hammocks.
Hermione was suddenly nervous. What if she couldn't sleep? What if she could, and had nightmares all night? She didn't want the boys hearing all her excruciating nightmares. She didn't want them to worry, and, more importantly, she didn't want them to find out.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Sirius slipping something into her hand. She looked down; it was a Dreamless Sleep Potion. She could have kissed him. As if was, she threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back, chuckling softly.
"Sleep well, alright, love?" Sirius said, extracting himself from her embrace and moving to his hammock. Once he was safely in it, Hermione knocked back some of her potion and left it on the table that had been filled with food earlier in the evening. She climbed into her hammock, grateful for an evening full of laughter and light instead of stress and worry.