May 12th, 1976

"Godric, there's another one!"

Hermione was too busy trying to materialise and send daggers out of sheer will at the boy who was glaring at her to acknowledge the newcomer despite recognising his voice and knowing he meant nothing but trouble. Said newcomer wasn't used to being ignored though, and neither were his friends

"Who would have thought Gryffindor Tower would become a hotspot for slytherins?"

"At least this one is pretty."

"Her tie is a little too green for my taste."

"Come on guys, they're clearly in the middle of something."

"Jealous, Moony?"

Hermione didn't have to turn around and watch them, as the yelp that followed the question made obvious Black had been hit.

"Just go back to the library," sneered Snape, still focused solely on her. "These idiots like to talk, you don't want rumours going around about you hanging out in Gryffindor Tower."

"Right, I'll go," sneered Hermione back. "Then you'll have the opportunity to get levicorpused and do something stupid in retaliation all over again."

"You're breaking my heart, Lestrange," mock-complained Black. "We're far too creative to do the same thing twice, we won't do it again."

Hermione finally ended her staring contest with Snape to turn her glare towards the Gryffindor who had theatrically put his hands above his heart and smirked in her direction. Next to him, Potter and Pettegrew bore similar expressions while Remus stood farther from them with a darker look in his eyes.

"Is it that you are comic geniuses or that humiliating someone is only fun when there is a public to show off to? You still have to get detention for what happened on Sunday, don't get on my nerves. I already have to deal with enough idiocy for tonight."

Only Remus had the decency to look remorseful, but the sound of another voice kept her from getting angry at the unapologetic faces of his friends.

"Nobody asked you to come here," muttered Snape behind her, prompting her to turn around once again. "I'm not one of your charity cases."

"As a matter of fact, someone did. Some students are scared to have you standing day and night in front of their common room and asked me to do something about it. Now will you please get up and go back to your dorm or will I have to use my wand to get you there?"

"Now that's something worth staying there to watch," commented Potter.

"Why would a gryffindor come to you if they're scared?" asked Pettegrew at the same time.

"She's a prefect," reminded Remus with a sigh.

"Still a snake, though."

"Maybe because the one causing the problem is also in Slytherin," offered Hermione with as much sarcasm as she could muster. "Or maybe because the Gryffindor prefects did nothing."

The last part was accompanied by a pointed look towards Remus whose prefect badge wasn't pinned to his robes. She didn't leave him any time to say anything though, as she turned back towards Snape. Before he could direct another glare at her, her wand was in her hand and pointed towards him.

"Now, back to the dorm. Don't think I'm above using a body binder and walking back to the common room with your body levitating behind me. Just like I'm not above making sure to walk through the busiest places of the castle to teach you a lesson about getting on my nerves."

The boy took a minute, seemingly calculating his options and the probability of his dignity being left intact by the different scenarios. Eventually, he rose up to his feet and walked towards the stairs, making sure to send his best sneer in the general direction of the Gryffindor boys who were watching him.

"This isn't over," he warned. "We'll see each other tomorrow night."

The four boys' faces darkened at that, which was all Hermione needed to know her troubles were far from over. She let her housemate leave, knowing she wouldn't get anything from him but turned towards the gryffindors as soon as he was out of earshot.

"What's happening tomorrow night?"

The three boys next to the entrance exchanged uneasy glances before settling on Remus who sent a dark glare in answer.

"He said he wanted to curse us," Pettegrew answered hesitantly. "So Sirius here offered him a duel in the Shrieking Shack."

"Pete!"

"What? Everyone who was in the courtyard Sunday already knows anyway. Besides, nothing is going to happen. He's not stupid enough to fight one agaisnt four, he already knows he'll lose. He's just bluffing."

"He is stupid, though. Look what happened with Evans."

"He could ask his friends to come."

"He won't," intervened Hermione. "Ask his friends, that is."

Whilst Hermione wasn't close to anyone in the group Snape had gotten close to during the past year, she knew their relationship wasn't genuine friendship as much as people at the bottom of the Slytherin's food chain collaborating to gain whatever power they could. None of them would put themselves at risk for the others, especially when there was no guarantee of them winning in a fair duel against the gryffindors. Besides, Snape was far too proud to ask anyone for help.

"Well then, it's settled," concluded Potter. "He won't come."

Hermione wasn't as optimistic as them, but chose to say nothing. The boys obviously wouldn't leave their dorm if they didn't think Snape would meet them, so everything was fine. The three boys seemed satisfied with their conclusion, and so they happily went to enter their common room without addressing her a second glance. Remus did look at her as he went to follow his friends though, and the sceptical expression on his face prompted her to look at him. She didn't like what she saw.

Her request to talk to him in private wasn't well received by his friends, but they ended up disappearing behind the portrait of the Fat Lady after a look from Remus Hermione couldn't understand the meaning of.

"I just…" she hesitated once they were alone. "Are you alright?"

She already knew the answer to that question. The boy in front of her was unnaturally pale and looked like every movement he made caused him a great deal of pain. The stretch of the sides of his lips he offered her did nothing to reassure her.

"Just a little tired. It's been going on for two days, but I'm sure it's nothing more than a cold. I'll be fine in no time."

"If you need me to go get you something in the Hospital Wing it would be no trouble," insisted Hermione. "You really don't look well."

The smirk he sent her after hearing her words caught her by surprise.

"Well then, I'll make sure to recover quickly. I wouldn't want you to worry."

His tone was flirty, or as flirty as someone who looked about to faint could do, and Hermione felt her cheeks heating up.

"Well there's no need to worry if it's just a cold, right? I'll just… I should go."

She was gone before he could answer, and the sound of his laughter echoing in the staircase only made her cheeks redden some more.

It was a few hours later, after she had washed up and changed into her pyjamas that a thought crossed her mind. On the next night, there would be a full moon.