Hermione had a list of things she needed to do a mile long and only so much time to do it. On top of trying to keep up with lessons, she was doing research on horcruxes and how to destroy them, as they couldn't very well go and kill the basilisk in the chamber of secrets and use its venom. She also was trying to figure out how to approach Regulus Black without being suspicious. She questioned if maybe going through Sirius would be a better pathway, but she didn't want to risk breaking the fragile bond that was their friendship.
This Sirius had only known her for a week, not the years the one she used to know did. She didn't have the bond of saving his life or being entertainment to his captivity in Grimmauld Place here. She didn't want to risk jeopardizing their friendship as she knew it could risk her friendship with all of them, and that wasn't something she could handle.
On top of saving Regulus, she needed to get her hands on the Marauder's Map. While her initial panic of her name showing up as Hermione Granger had passed when Dumbledore had mentioned that the paperwork to officially claim her as a Dumbledore had been discretely filed away within the ministry's birth records, marking her permanently in this time as Hermione Jean Dumbledore, legally and magically, she still had other plans for the map.
Her plan was simple enough. James was made quidditch captain this year. Tryouts were to be held Saturday morning at 10 am, and she knew that the boys would be on the pitch to support him, leaving the dorm empty. Frank was a chaser on the team, so even he would be out of her way.
Hermione thought her plan was foolproof, she was merely going to disillusion herself and slip in with no one noticing. That was, until, James approached her after class on Friday afternoon.
"Hermione," He called, separating from his group, "Are you coming to quidditch try-outs tomorrow?"
She laughed lightly, "You don't want to see me on a broom, James, I promise you that. I'd probably break my neck, if not someone else's."
He laughed with an easy-going smile, starting to walk in pace with her towards the Great Hall. Dinner was to be starting shortly. "Well, if you're not coming to try out, you should still come watch. The guys will be there, and I think Mary and Lily too. And Ali of course, to support Frank."
"Is that so?" Hermione smiles, but internally panicking. She couldn't think of a valid excuse to get out of it and she didn't know of another time she could be sure all of the boys would be out of the dorm without the map in their possession. "I do have to work on my transfigurations essay though."
"Oh, come on," James said, nudging her shoulder, "That isn't due until next Friday. Say you'll come."
Sighing internally but outwardly smiling, Hermione nodded, "Fine, I'll be there."
"Great!" James said, his tanned face lighting up with a smile, "Maybe if you're lucky I can give you some flying lessons after try-outs. It sounds like you need them." He gave her a cheeky wink.
"Don't push it, Potter."
They settled into the Gryffindor table and Hermione took a seat next to Lily who gave her a knowing look. Hermione glanced at her friend in confusion and mouthed, "What?"
"He was flirting with you!" Lily mouthed back.
Hermione's eyes widened, her mind rushing back over her conversation with James. Could he have been? No. There was no way. He merely just wanted his new friend to come watch his first go at being quidditch captain. Nothing more. Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head at Lily.
"You're crazy!"
"Sure I am."
No, James couldn't possibly be flirting with Hermione. He was her best friend's father for Merlin's sake! Well, he could have been her best friend's father in a different timeline. But that was neither here nor there to Hermione. The sentiment remained. And he looked so similar to Harry. The same bright, crooked smile, though James shared his far more frequently. The same deep, tanned skin, though James's was a little darker and shined golden when the sun hit his face. That messy mop of black hair that Hermione had grown so accustomed to, though James had more of a curl to his rather the every-which-way madness his son inherited.
So, while James looked similar to Harry, Hermione supposed that she could recognize the differences that made him his own man. One who stood up for his friends and welcomed her into their circle with open arms. The same man who she knew to face Voldemort wandless to protect his wife and son that fateful Halloween night, though James wasn't aware of that tidbit.
Hermione felt herself gnawing at her cheek, a nervous habit she had developed since the battle in the Department of Mysteries. One that if she did unconsciously enough, she'd start to taste blood. Snapping out of it, she felt her stomach flip. Was James flirting with her? And more importantly, did she want him to be?
Lily took one look at the distraught look on Hermione's face and laughed at her friend.
"Shut up." Hermione grumbled, ignoring the look from the hazel eyes two seats down.
Saturday morning rolled around and the group of Gryffindor sixth years ate breakfast while James buzzed in his seat.
"With Gid and Fab gone, we're going to need beaters. Marls, you're secure as seeker, I'm not even letting anyone try out for it." James said in between bites of eggs. "Frank and I have two chaser spots filled, and Shacklebolt should be fine in keeper again, though I'm still making him tryout, just in case.
"You sure you don't want to come back as keeper, Sirius? You were brilliant at it?" James asked as Sirius preened under the attention.
"Prongsie, you know sweating offends my delicate sensibilities." Sirius explained, flipping his hair dramatically with a sigh, "And as amazing as I was, I'm afraid I was miserable the whole time."
"Sweating offends you?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"Unless you can make it worth my while." He leered with a suggestive brow, only to be thumped over the head with a fork by Remus. "Deserved." Sirius mumbled, rubbing his sore head.
"Twat," Remus muttered, going back to his breakfast. He still looked a little peaky. The full moon had been Wednesday night. Hermione had slept fitfully wishing she could do something to aid him, but she hadn't learned the Wolfsbane potion. Snape had been brewing it for him, so there was no reason for her to learn.
She would have to go through her texts in her bag that she had brought from the future to see if there were any books that mentioned the instructions, as the potion wouldn't be invented until the late eighties, so she couldn't find instruction here.
Hermione watched as Sirius gently rubbed Remus's back and how the two boys seemed to lean into each other a bit. She wondered if there was anything there. She had always thought there was chemistry between them, but they seemed to be reserved after the tragedies of their past. Hermione had noticed the lingering stares and the heated whispers when they thought no one was listening, but then Sirius died, and Remus finally caved and allowed Tonks to love him. She thought the whole thing was rather tragic, and she hoped that her presence could help prevent some of the hardships they went through.
She wasn't sure if they were together yet, or if they even were aware of their natural cadence towards each other, but it was obvious to an outsider that there was something magical between them and she hoped they wouldn't let it slip through their fingers.
Hermione glanced at James who seemed to be noticing the same thing. Sirius's hand gently releasing the tension from Remus's stressed shoulders. She caught his eye and gave him a gentle smile which he returned. Hermione tried to ignore the faint flip of her stomach she was now completely blaming Lily for.
"Ready to head down to the pitch?" James asked the group at large.
"I need to grab a jumper from my dorm quick," Hermione improvised, trying to buy herself some time to at least snag the map. "I'll meet you all down there?"
She watched the group head out of the castle and she hightailed it through the castle. She made a quick pit stop in her dorm to retrieve a cardigan as to not blow her cover but disillusioned herself before descending the stairs and making her way back up towards the boy's dorm. She was forever grateful for the sexist charms in place that allowed her to enter their dorm but not the other way around.
Hermione was cautious when entering their room, not putting it past them to have pranked their trunks or the like, having heard stories and seen evidence of their mad minds when they turned the Slytherin's uniforms red at breakfast the other day. She carefully casted several revealing charms and found that the coast was clear.
She could easily tell whose bed was whose. James had the bed right in the middle of the room, clothes strewn about and Puddlemere posters on the walls. A picture of his family was on framed on the bedside. An older man who looked similar to him, with paler skin and the same bright hazel eyes smiled up at her, and a beautiful woman who looked to be from India that must have been his mother had her arm around him. Next to the two of them were James and Sirius, looking a couple of years younger, but still just as handsome.
Sirius's bed was next to James's, muggle rock posters on the wall and a leather jacket tossed over the edge of the bed. Remus's must have been the next one, neat and tidy with a stack of books on the bedside table and a couple of empty chocolate wrappers on the floor. Hermione smiled at that. Peters was on the other side of James's bed, surprisingly tidy. Nothing identifying it to be his. The only reason Hermione knew it to not be Frank's was that Frank's bed was the last one, a picture of he and Alice on the nightstand, and a Falmouth Falcons poster on the wall.
Hermione needed to quit snooping, feeling guilty enough already and attempted to summon the map, but having a feeling it wouldn't work. They couldn't Accio it when they we're at school, an anti-summoning charm having been placed on it. Her only hope was that it had been Fred and George's addition, but when nothing came flying to her hand, she cursed under her breath and began looking for it.
Hermione hoped like father like son and crept towards James's bed first, knowing she was foolish to be sneaking since no one was there and she was still disillusioned, but doing so anyways and slipped her hand under the mattress and cursing again when nothing was there. She tried under the pillow and again found nothing.
She quickly checked the same spots on Sirius's bed and thought she had struck gold when she felt something under Sirius's pillow but when she pulled it out, her heart broke a little bit. Instead of the map, there in her hand was a faded and creased photo of two young boys, both stoic and standing straight in what looked to be the parlor of Grimmauld Place. Hermione immediately recognized the taller of the two to be Sirius and understood the smaller boy to be Regulus.
Hermione steeled herself in her decision to save Regulus, knowing that even after all this time Sirius still held out hope that his brother would come back to him. He still loved him and still wanted him in his life. Hermione slipped the photo back where she found it and reluctantly tucked her hand under Remus's mattress and found the familiar piece of parchment. Hermione victoriously pulled it out from his bed, and quickly tucked it into her purple bag which she had begun carrying with her when she wasn't in classes, feeling security with it near.
She quickly assessed the room to make sure everything was as she found it and nearly sprinted down the stairs, still disillusioned as she slipped out of the portrait hole, breaking the charm and making her way down to the pitch.
James seemed to have started the first drill already by the time she got there. Hermione quickly took a seat next to Lily and wrapped her cardigan around her as if she wasn't fighting a heat stroke from damn near sprinting down to the pitch to not draw suspicion to herself.
"So," Lily started, "Staying for flying lessons after try-outs Ms. Dumbledore?"
"Shut up, Lily!" Hermione said, burying her head in her hands.
"Hey, I said I wasn't interested, not that he wasn't bloody gorgeous! Have at it."
"I hardly know him," Hermione objected.
"So, get to know him."
"I'm very busy." She persisted.
"Codswallop."
"What are we talking about?" Mary asked, leaning over Remus to get in on the conversation.
"James was flirting with Hermione." Lily said matter-of-factly.
"He was not!" Hermione cried.
"Oh, he definitely was." Remus said.
"Ha!" Lily said, nudging Remus, "See, Remus is on my side."
"You're talking about the flying lessons thing?" He asked, "I heard it all, he was definitely flirting with you, Hermione."
"Do you not want him to flirt with you?" Mary asked, "He's rather fit. Not really my type though."
"Are you lot gossiping without me?" Sirius gasped dramatically, coming over from where he was chatting with Alice, Peter, and a few seventh years. "I'm gone for five minutes. The betrayal."
"Answer the question, Dumbledore." Mary demanded.
"I don't know!" Hermione groaned, "Yes! No! Maybe?"
"I'm taking that as a yes." Lily said smugly.
"Are we talking about Prongs flirting with Baby Dumbledore?" Sirius asked, sitting on the bench in front of Remus and leaning against his legs.
"Does everyone know about this?" Hermione groaned.
"Well James isn't exactly known for his subtlety." Mary surmised. "I think you should take him up on his offer.
"Absolutely not!" Hermione said, "I hate flying. Especially on brooms."
"What else have you flown on?" Lily asked at the same time Mary said, "You baby."
"Aeroplanes. And a thestral." Hermione said, wondering if she'd regret mentioning the thestral but figuring she could blame it on the fake dead mum. "Also shut it, Mary."
"You've been on a muggle aeroplane?" Lily asked, excitedly.
"You've been on a thestral?!" Sirius said in shock.
"My mum took me." Hermione said in explanation to both.
"I don't care about either of those. I care about you getting your arse on a broom with James Potter." Mary said forcefully, crossing her arms.
"I'd listen to her, Hermione." Lily said, "You don't want to see her when Scary Mary comes out."
Hermione laughed at the idea of Mary being called "Scary Mary." She had seemed so kind and innocent when Hermione first met her, but the more comfortable Mary had gotten around Hermione, she quickly saw that Mary was a bit of a spitfire.
"No, Mary. I'm genuinely terrified of brooms." Hermione pleaded.
"You just said you've ridden in a plane and on a giant invisible winged horse than can only be seen if you've witnessed death but you're scared of getting on a broom with a hot boy? I thought you were a Gryffindor! I thought you were a damned Dumbledore! Be brave, Hermione."
"Ugh!" Hermione groaned, hiding her face in her hands. She looked over and glared at Mary who had a smirk on her face, knowing she won.
Hermione looked over to the pitch and caught James's eye who looked at the group in confusion. She smiled at him and waved as he turned back and continued to run his drills.
She supposed it wouldn't be horrible, being on a broom with James of all people. He looked rather sturdy up there. If she had to pick anyone, she supposed it would be him. He didn't seem to be doing all of the stupid and insane tricks and moves that Harry loved to do, and to be frank, the brooms in the 70s were a lot slower than those in the 90s.
Hermione chewed on the inside of her cheek again. She felt guilty, agreeing to do this quasi sort of, kind of, maybe, date with James. She was lying to him, about so much. Starting anything, even a friendship, on so many lies, made her stomach churn in disgust. She knew it was for her own safety and everyone else's, but it didn't mean she had to like it. Hermione considered that maybe one day she would be able to tell someone her secret, perhaps after Voldemort was dead, or if it was necessary for the Order to know, but for now, she needed to keep it to herself.
The less people who knew where she came from, the smaller the target on her back. Hermione already knew she made an enemy of Snape by besting him in the duel in Defense. He tried to hex her in the halls on Thursday. Sirius had been walking with her and Mary to herbology and hit Snape back something nasty.
The rest of the quidditch try-outs went by faster than Hermione would have liked. The quicker they were over, the quicker she would be in the air. She felt her heart start racing as Mary pulled her towards the pitch as the players landed and James gave his wrap up speech, telling them the results would be posted on Monday night in the common room.
The group followed the girls down to the pitch to congratulate James on a job well done on his first go at captain when Mary cleared her throat pushing Hermione forward a bit. Hermione glared at Mary over her shoulder and rolled her eyes as she stuck her tongue out at her.
"Hermione has something she wants to ask you!" Mary said, before pulling the rest of their friends away from them, leaving James and Hermione alone on the pitch.
James looked slightly confused as they seemed to scurry away from them and Hermione found that she had lost her voice. She was looking up at James who was towering over her in a way that Harry never had. He had to be at least six feet tall, and the September sun was shining brightly behind him, making him almost glow. A bead of sweat was dripping off of his brow and she couldn't help but stare at it.
"What can I do for you, Hermione?" James asked, a slightly smug smile starting to grace his face as he became aware of her staring.
"Uh, well, Mary…" Hermione was floundering. Merlin. Two days ago, she wasn't even interested in James. Until Lily pointed out how bloody gorgeous he was and now she couldn't help but appreciate it too. She cleared her throat. "I was wondering if I could take you up on that offer for a flying lesson?"
James's smile got impossibly wider, his eyes crinkling behind his glasses. "Absolutely." He said, leaning against his Cleansweep. "Do you want your own broom, or share with me today?"
"I-I don't think I'm ready to fly solo just yet." Hermione said truthfully. "And not too high either!"
"Not to worry, Dumbledore. I'll take perfect care of you. Wait here for just a tic. I'm going to go rinse off in the locker room quick. Five minutes, tops."
Hermione watched as James jogged away into the locker rooms, longing for the sweaty quidditch soaked uniform to return, even though she knew she would regret it when she got close enough to smell it. But Godric, the look of him.
He wasn't gone long before he came back in a pair of muggle blue jeans and what looked to be one of Remus's oversized jumpers, though it seemed to fit James's slightly more filled out body a bit better than Remus's lanky one.
"Is that Remus's?" Hermione asked, nodding to the jumper.
James rolled his eyes fondly. "No, it's mine. Remus is a thief. My mum knits me jumpers, he steals them, wears them to the bloody rag and bone, and then steals another. I have to fight to have any for myself."
Hermione laughed fondly, thinking of the threadbare jumpers that Remus still wore in her time, stitched over, and patched from many holes. She smiled knowing that they were reminders of James and their friendship.
"Now, enough about the jumper thief." James said, holding his broom out in front of him. "How much do you actually know about flying.
"I know that it's terrifying." Hermione said, ticking her fingers as she went, "I know that quidditch players do a lot of stupid tricks that they shouldn't do like that Wonky Feint that make me nervous that they're going to die. I know you're supposed to say 'up' and the broom is supposed to jump into your hand but it never does for me. And I know that brooms hurt my bum."
She looked at James and narrowed her eyes at him as he was biting back laughter. She crossed her arms, trying to look intimidating, but it just resulted in him actually laughing.
"I believe you mean the 'Wronski Feint,' which yes, it is quite dangerous. But don't worry, usually only seekers try that stunt." He said with a smile, "As for the 'up' thing, that's normally for beginners, and you have to mean it. It sounds like you didn't really want to fly." He eyed her speculatively, "And for your bum… Well, that can easily be fixed with a cushioning charm."
"Well then, if you're such an expert, show me how it's done." Hermione said, gesturing for him to take the lead.
"Oh no, Dumbledore, this is a lesson. You're coming with me." James mounted the broom, sitting a little further back than he normally would. "Hop on." He said, patting the spot in front of him.
Hermione felt her heart drop into her stomach. "Wait, you want me in front?"
"This is a flying lesson, Hermione, not a ride."
"Perhaps I should go for a ride first," She suggested, taking a step back from the broom as if it would bite her, "get more comfortable, you know?"
James laughed, "I promise I won't let you fall."
Hermione hesitated. On one hand, the prospect of cozying up to James sounded quite delightful, but on the other, falling to her death sounded miserable and quite literally defeated the whole purpose of sending her here in the first place.
"Get on the broom, Dumbledore!" A voice yelled from behind them.
Hermione turned to see Mary and Lily peeking their heads out from behind the stands, spying on them.
"Oi!" Yelled back James with a laugh, "Piss off MacDonald! You too, Evans!"
"Sorry James!" Yelled back Lily. "You too, 'Mione!"
Hermione felt her heart pang at Lily's usage of the nickname that Harry and Ron used to call her. Sighing, she decided to be brave and get on the broom. She swung a leg over and situated herself, her back flush with James's chest. She gripped the broom and felt James's hands wrap around her body gripping the handle right under her own.
"Att'a girl!" Yelled Mary.
"Go away!" Yelled back Hermione.
She watched as the two girls ran back to the castled, distracted for a moment and nearly missing the sensation of her feet lifting off of the ground. She gasped as her shoes finally distanced themselves from the last blade of grass.
"Are you okay?" James asked.
"I think so." She nodded.
"Lift the handle up, gently." James guided, his hands sliding from the broom to her own, guiding her with the right amount of pressure she should be using. Hermione's knuckles were white against the wood of the broom, her grip fierce. "Ease up a little. Hold it like you would a quill. Firm enough that it won't slip out of your hand, but not too hard that it'll snap. The broom is sturdy, but if you're too harsh in your grip, your movements won't be as smooth as you want them."
Hermione nodded, allowing her fingers to loosen. Every inch of skin where James's met her own felt like it was on fire and she was having trouble focusing on the task at hand. She stared down at their connected hands, trying not to look past the broom and focus on the height between them and the ground. His hands were so much larger than hers, rough and calloused from years of quidditch, though his nails were neat and tidy which she appreciated.
He placed a little pressure on the underside of her hands signaling for her to move up. She carefully did. James then pressed into the right side of her hands. She leaned her hands and gently rocked her body with his towards the right. Hermione felt like she couldn't breathe.
"You're flying, Hermione."
"Yeah," She whispered, "I am."
After the girls had drilled her on her flying date with James, in which Hermione hid every detail possible, merely saying it went well, blushing furiously as she did so, she had tucked herself away in her bed, drawing and locking the curtains. She mumbled a quick muffilato before removing the Marauder's Map from her bag and spread the familiar piece of parchment out on her duvet and said,
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
She watched in satisfaction as the map transformed before her eyes and the whole of Hogwarts began to bloom in front of her. Hermione quickly found the Gryffindor tower and noticed the boys frantically moving about their dorm. Frank was in the common room with Alice, which wasn't surprising, but the way in which the dots for Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and James Potter in their rooms, she wondered if they knew the map was missing yet. Hermione sighed. She had hoped she would have at least a day before they noticed. Her plan was to sneak it back into their dorm at some point, hiding it as if someone had misplaced it, and hope they find it and think it a foolish mistake.
She felt curiosity grow and decided to peruse the map and see what was happening within the walls of Hogwarts. Alice and Frank were tucked in an alcove in the common room, as per usual. She smiled, thinking fondly of the pair. She hadn't had time to speak to the two of them much yet, but she hoped to forge a friendship with Neville's parents.
She spotted Dorcas Meadowes, a Ravenclaw in Hermione's year lingering outside of the common room. She was confused for a moment until she noticed the small dot for Marlene McKinnon joining her as they headed away from Gryffindor. Hermione hadn't heard Marlene mention Dorcas before but chose to not dig further into her friend's private life.
She was about to halt her snooping when she noticed an interesting scene taking place on the fourth floor in what she had thought was an abandoned classroom. The name Peter Pettigrew was standing alongside Thorfinn Rowle and Rabastian Lestrange, the younger Lestrange brother who was a seventh year Slytherin. Hermione felt her stomach drop. This was the beginning. This was when he started to turn his loyalties.
Cursing, Hermione didn't know what to do. She couldn't tell James, Remus, and Sirius. They'd never believe he was there for nefarious reasons. They'd think he was merely being ganged up on or something else explainable. Then she would also have to explain why she had the map in the first place. No. She'd tell Dumbledore and they'd begin their plan to expose Peter for the rat that he truly was. Hopefully.
The weight of knowing that Peter was already going against his friends made Hermione feel sick to her stomach. How could she look him in the eyes and pretend to like him? Pretend to laugh at his jokes and help him study in the library? Hermione felt genuinely queasy at the notion. She at least had the solace of knowing that the rest of the girls didn't like Peter as much as they did the other boys so it wouldn't be too out of character for her to keep him at an arm's length, but to pretend she didn't outright despise him? To think she almost didn't tell Dumbledore about him. To think she thought that she could've saved him.
It was one thing to try and save Regulus Black, someone who knew his choices were wrong and wanted to make amends, but Peter never felt regret for his decisions. He betrayed Lily and James. He got Sirius sent to Azkaban and left Remus all alone for over a decade. He brought Voldemort back to life! Hermione felt bile rise in her throat and it took everything in her to force it down. Peter was not worth her sympathy, and she would not be giving it to him.
Hermione steeled herself and decided to continue on her mission to protect people and the first step was protecting Mary from Peter. She quickly located the sixth-year girls' dorm on the map, pleased to see that her own name read Hermione Dumbledore, not Granger. While she knew it would, it was one thing to know it and another to see it with her own eyes.
She spotted Mary's name next to hers and began to work on her cloaking charms. Hermione didn't have much experience with them, but she had read enough about the theory in some protective books. She was planning on using the same spells when she, Harry, and Ron went on the run to hide their campsite. She used the modified notice-me-not and protective enchantments to hide Mary's name from the map entirely. She watched in satisfaction as the ink melted off of the page, leaving her bed looking empty as if she wasn't there at all.
Hermione poked her head out of her drapes and smiled at Mary who was chatting avidly with Lily about something or other, braiding the redhead's hair into a crown on the top of her head.
Satisfied with her work, Hermione declared her mischief managed and settled in for the night, trying to not let her thoughts of Peter eat away at her.