Ch.
3
AN: Sorry it took so long to get this out. Hope you enjoy it. I've finally decided on a ship, but I'm not gonna tell you yet. You'll get some hints in Ch. 4...
The entryway to the girls' dormitory swung open and in walked a girl with vivid red hair. Hermione glanced up from her toothbrush to get a better look. She was a petite witch wearing a shiny head girl badge. The girl regarded Hermione curiously.
"Hello there. Who are you?" she asked.
Hermione held up one finger and spit out her toothpaste before answering.
"Sorry 'bout that. I'm Hermione Gr-Garret. I've only just transferred here."
"Oh! You must be that girl James was talking about. I'm Lily Evans. It's nice to meet you, Hermione," she said offering a hand which Hermione shook. Lily continued, "Anyway, you'll love Hogwarts. It's really great here."
"Thanks. Are there- er- any other girls in our dorm?"
"Nope, I've had the dorm to myself since I was thirteen. It'll make a nice change having some one around to talk to. Of course, there are other younger Gryffindor girls I can confide in and the boys, but it isn't quite the same," she added regretfully.
"So what are boys like? I think I met a few of them briefly," Hermione prodded.
She couldn't help herself; she was dead curious about the boys who would one day grow up to become legends to her. Plus, if she ever got home-- No, when she got home, she corrected herself, Harry would be dying to know anything she could tell him about his parents and their friends.
Lily
smiled. "Strange to say, but they are probably my best friends.
There are four guys in our year: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus
Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.
James is the most infuriating git you will ever meet, but sometimes when he lets his guard down he can be really sweet. Unfortunately, he seems to be suffering from a permanent ego-trip. Some people say he is entitled to it with his good looks and Quidditch skills," she paused blushing slightly.
Hermione raised an eyebrow inquiringly.
Lily raced on, "And Sirius, what a nut case! He is constantly getting into trouble with his quick temper. He is a Gryffindor beater and quite good-looking himself. Probably the most eligible guy in the school. Even the Slytherins are after him," said Lily with a giggle.
"Then, we have Remus. He is a doll. Definitely the quietest of the group, even though he has a great sense of humor too. He studies a lot and kind of keeps to himself. I hear he is excellent at DADA too; though I don't think he'd hurt a fly.
Last,
we have Peter. He is the group tagalong. Not nearly as talented as
the other three magic wise. And very unsure of himself. If it weren't
for the fact that he really gets on my nerves, I would feel sorry for
him," she finished.
"Well, I can't wait to be properly introduced to all of them. I just
hope they don't think badly of me because of tonight's events. I was
rather- disoriented," Hermione said uneasily.
Heck, Hermione just hoped they didn't think she was a nutter. She knew she had come off sounding pretty crazy.
"What exactly did happen? I only
heard James mumbled version," Lily questioned.
"Long story, I'll try to abbreviate. I was looking for the Potions Mistress so we could discuss my class placement, but I couldn't find her. Just as I was about to give up, I slipped and cracked my head on the floor. I blacked out, and when I woke I was suffering from acute head trauma. I was conscious only long enough to run into James. No telling what I said to him. Then, I blacked out again. Sirius caught me and took me to Dumbledore's office. I think the boys were rather suspicious of me at first."
Lily gasped. "You poor thing. You're suffering from head trauma, and I've been blithering on. That's it, you need your rest."
With that, Lily whipped out her wand. She flicked once, and Hermione's bed clothes folded themselves down. Hermione smiled gratefully. She really could use the rest, she thought, climbing under the covers. With another flick, the lights went out.
"Goodnight Hermione."
"Goodnight Lily," Hermione responded automatically.
Lily left the room silently, shutting the door quietly behind her.
Hermione lay her head against the soft pillow and sighed. She hadn't realized how tired she was.
Suddenly, Hermione found she was no longer in her dormitory, but in a small graveyard surrounded by a low cobblestone wall. The sun was slowly beginning to set, and the sky was a plethora of beautiful colors.
A few headstones away from her, a small figure was knelt in front of a worn gravestone murmuring quietly. She was tempted by a morbid curiosity to listen in on the little boy. He didn't seem to notice her so she slipped behind him.
"Mummy, I miss you. I just wish I had a mommy and daddy liek everyone else. It isn't fair! I don't want to be here all alone," he said, tears welling in his eyes.
Hermione didn't know who the little boy was but her heart went out to him. He was so young and vulnerable. Obviously, life had not been kind to him. She reached out a comforting hand, but it went through him. Hermione stared at her hand. What was going on here?
Suddenly, a voice rang throughout the
empty graveyard interrupting Hermione's thoughts. A pack of boys came
striding towards her. The small boy striaghtened.
"Don't tell me you're out here again? Do you miss your mummy?" the tallest of the bunch taunted the small boy.
"N-no," he said unconvincingly.
"Cry baby! Cry baby!" the boys chanted scathingly.
"I'm-I'm not a crybaby."
"Then why are there tears in your eyes, crybaby?"
He pushed his dark brown hair out of his face and wiped at his eyes violently.
Hermione stood up and proceeded to tell the boys off. Her voice reverberated around the graveyard, but no one seemed to take any notice. They continued to bully the boy until they finally tired of it and began to walk away.
The boy lay in a crumpled heap on the ground crying inconsolably. A crash reverberated throughout the graveyard. Had a headstone fallen over?
She heard it again, and sat bolt upright. The graveyard faded before her eyes, and she was back in her dormitory. The noise however was not in the graveyard but in the dormitory. It was coming from the window.All thoughts of the dream were ripped from her head as she saw the dormitory window slide slowly upwards.
Hermione
leapt to her feet and slunk behind the curtains as quickly as possible.
She watched the window, expecting whoever had made the window open to
appear, but there was nobody. What if the-whatever it was- had seen her
moving, she thought hurriedly. What if it was a pack of deatheaters
hidden with invisibility charms? Or a lethifold waiting to smother
Lily? She had to do something!
She could hear footsteps, as though
people were walking about. Get a grip, Hermione! she thought.
First, she needed to wake Lily. She was easy prey, lying unawares
like that. Hermione found herself wishing dearly that Harry was here.
He always knew what to do in situations like this. Well, he was always
calm at any rate. Thinking of Harry was painful; so she reverted her
mind back the task at hand.
Now, waking Lily was difficult. She couldn't very well shout 'Oy Lily Deatheaters', as much as she might want to. She would have to be quiet about it. Looking around frantically, her eyes finally landed on a half eaten sugar quill. She whispered 'tonnus' and the sugar quill became heavier. Then, with another flick of her wand, she put a temporary invisibility charm on it and chucked it at Lily's sleeping form.
Hermione was relieved to see Lily stir, but knew she had to get any attention off of Lily and quick. She raised her wand and stepped out from behind the curtains.
"Who is there?"
Silence met her question
"Answer me, or I will hex you!"
There heard a floorboard creek. She took a step towards the direction of the sound. There was no Harry here to save her this time; she would have to do this on her own.
"I kn-know the unforgivables," she threatened, her voice shaking.
She stretched her hands forward attempting to snatch something. To her relief, she felt something sleek. She reacted instantly.
"Accio invisibility cloak," she said clearly.
Two cloaks flew towards her revealing not deatheaters but four disheveled boys. The tallest of the four, James and Sirius, stood side by side near the window. A few feet away facing the opposite direction stood a boy with light brown hair and an apprehensive face. This had to be Remus Lupin. Next to him was a small round boy. Hermione assumed him to be Peter Pettigrew, the bloody traitor.
At this dramatic unveiling, Lily, who had been creeping closer and closer, strode forward.
"You don't have to worry about this scum Hermione. They're all students."
Hermione nodded, looking relieved but shaky.
"Well," Lily prodded, "what ARE you doing here?"
"Well-erm-Remus and Peter...They-er-wanted to meet Hermione," James quaked under Lily's formidable stare.
"Don't you blame this on them, James Potter! I know this is probably all your doing, what with your stupid cloak."
"Li-ly," James whined.
She ignored him. With a sardonic smile she turned to Hermione, "May I introduce James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. The biggest prats in the school. "
"If I didn't know better Prongs, I'd say we aren't welcome here," Sirius said with a grin.
"Officious prick," Lily mumbled.
"What's that Lils?" Sirius prompted.
"I was saying that if you call me Lils again, I will hex you into oblivion."
"Oh, cause it sounded like an undying declaration of love, so I just thought I ought to check," Sirius said with a smirk.
Lily glared at him.
Sirius barreled on, "Of course, I know how you have the hots for James so I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up, aye?"
Lily blushed. Then pulled herself together in time to say, "I have no feelings for James at the moment but animosity."
James pouted, "Not even a little twinge of love?"
"Not a twinge," Lily said stony faced.
"It's okay, Lily. Don't be too hard on them. I don't think their intention was to put as into an early grave," Hermione said, looking as though she wanted nothing more than sleep.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Lily said grudgingly.
"We'll just have to secure our window from now on, won't we? At least they weren't deatheaters," Hermione shivered.
The boys looked slightly surprised, as
though the thought of a deatheater attack had never occurred to them.
"If you lot leave this instant, I won't take any points from Gryffindor," Lily began.
"Well, we'll just be going then," James said.
"Do we have to?" Peter whined.
The other three rolled their eyes. James and Sirius kicked off on their brooms and did loop de loops outside the window.
Remus hovered a few feet off the ground on his broomstick waiting patiently. "Come on, Peter," he said swooping out the window.
Peter rode clumsily after him.
Lily shut the window with finality.
"Jinx it?" she asked.
"Definitely," Hermione agreed.
They raised their wands together and began the process.
A few minutes later, Lily let out a huge yawn and muttered, "I'm going back to bed. We have classes tomorrow after all."
"Yeah me too."
Hermione lay in her four poster,
staring at the ceiling, consumed with thought. She wondered sleepinly if Gryffindor had beaten Slytherin.
Somewhere, in another time, there was a huge celebration taking place in the Gryffindor common room.
Freakiskly Long AN: Sorry for the somewhat abrupt ending, but hopefully all of your questions will be answered in Chapter 4, which will be coming out soon as I have already begun writing it! As always let me know if you see any grammar mistakes or typos! R/R? Please?
Thanks to all the reviewers of the previous chapters! Below are comments to specific reviewers:
S.S. Harry- Thanks for pointing out the through and though mistakes! I can't believe I never noticed those... Typos I guess. * blush *
Captain Oddball- Thanks for pointing out my lack of counting skills(aka problems with the years). I went back and fixed it!
Misailuj- They aren't calling themselves by their nicknames around a lot of people b/c they don't want people to be suspicious esp. about Moony. We'll go into this later in the fic.
Mystical Witch- What is the Grandfather paradox? * blinks cluelessly *
