Chapter 8
Hermione practically flew through the practically abandoned halls of the school. She came to a screeching halt just in front of a portrait of a large bowl of scrumptious looking fruit. She glanced around her to make sure no one was watching her she reached out and tickled a particularly fuzzy looking pear. The portrait swung forward on unseen hinges to admit her into the bustling room beyond.
When Hermione stepped inside the portrait swung closed behind her and a scraggly looking house elf detached himself (or was it herself? It really was hard to tell.) From the crowd of elves that were busily preparing breakfast to come and wait on Hermione.
"May I be helping you Miss?"
"The medi witch has sent me down to deliver this to you. She has given specific instructions to put 5 drops of this potion into each Mr. Potter's, Mr. Black's, Mr. Lupin's, and Mr. Pettigrew's morning juice. She has also requested that you are very discreet about this situation about both the medicine and my visit as the boys do not wish anyone to know about their illness."
"Oh yes Miss. Right away Miss. Is there anything else yous be needing?"
"That will be all thank you."
Hermione turned on her heel and exited the kitchens without cringing at the harsh tones she had used towards the elf. She had long since given up on S.P.E.W but still didn't like being anything other than friendly towards the house elves.
Hermione once again found herself dashing through the halls to make it to breakfast before anyone noticed her absence. She walked over to Gryffindor table and claimed her seat beside Lily hoping no one noticed her late arrival. She grabbed her goblet and took a drink before giving Lily a wink to let her know that she had pulled off the joke.
When Hermione had re-emerged from her goblet she noticed Remus looking in her direction. When she looked into his eyes she noted that they held concern for her. "Are you okay Mione? You're usually the first one here. Did some Slytherins give you a problem.?"
Apparently Sirius had been listening in on their conversation, not that they were in a very private place, because he cracked his knuckle and shot a glare in the direction of the Slytherin table and practically growled "Why those dirty sons-"
Hermione cut him off before he could get in trouble from Lily.
"No, No. I haven't even talked to a Slytherin. I just had to drop a book off at the library."
"Well if you're sure…"
"Yes of course I'm sure."
Hermione felt a small pang of guilt when she thought of what was going to happen to Remus. 'Oh well' she thought. 'It's not like it isn't reversible. Besides it will wear off on its own anyways.'
Hermione watched as the four boys drained their goblets and set them down on the table. She sent a small plea to the gods silently asking that the right goblets were laced with the potion. She didn't have to wait long for the potion to take effect and pretty soon all four boys were sporting different colored skin with tattoos marking their forearms that read various sayings about the pranksters being pranked.
The total effect was hilarious. Hermione had a hard time stopping a smile from spreading. Pretty soon the whole school was pointing and whispering at the four boys who remained oblivious to the situation.
When they finally noticed something was wrong they used clean plates as mirrors. Hermione watched as their previously smiling faces turned into frowns displeasure. They all shared a significant look and silent walked out of the great hall with their backs straight and heads held high.
As soon as they were out of the hall chaos broke loose. All the student were all so busy laughing at the misfortune of the Marauders that no one paused to think about who the culprit was. Even the staff seemed amused as you could see the corners of their mouths' twitching upwards and Dumbledore was even blatantly smiling.
The girls began to get worried when none of the boys showed up for classes. When they missed both lunch and dinner they started to worry as to whether they had gone to far. Hermione, who had never done anything of the sort, was beginning to get very nervous. Lily was busy reassuring Hermione that "Everything was fine" and that "What was the point of being pranksters if they couldn't take a joke themselves?"
It was then that Hermione really opened up to Lily.
"I still think we went too far."
"And I already told you we didn't"
"Yeah I guess."
"Still having second thoughts?"
"It's a little late to be having them now, isn't it? It's just the looks on their faces…well you know. Besides back home I would never do anything like that."
"Really? I can't image you being any other way. What are you like when you are back at home?"
"Typical book worm know-it-all."
"Now that I really can't imagine. I mean I know you're smart, but are you really that bad?"
"Yeah well, apart from Harry and Ron knowledge is my life."
"Harry and Ron?"
"Best friends back at home."
To Hermione it felt like she had been gone from her time for years. She felt the prickle of tears behind her eyes. It was the first time, since she'd arrived that she had thought about her true home.
Lily noticed the change in Hermione's mood and reached over to give her a hug which she gratefully returned. Hermione blinked rapidly to disperse the tears and checked her watch to see how late it was. Hermione noticed that her watch was still displaying the year from her own time and hastily removed the offending watch and shoved it into her pocket.
"Well I guess I better get to bed. Goodnight Lily."
"Night Hermione."
"Oh and Lily?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Breakfast the next morning was a joyous event as the four boys in their entire splendor showed up. Evidently they had not yet found a way to remove the charm, but not for lack of trying. All of them looked too tired to be bothered by the whispering and giggling going on around them.
Evidently the marauders had given up on finding a counter curse and resigned to their colorful fate. Eventually both the whispers and the colors wore off and life resumed normally. Well, at least as normal as your could get with four pranksters living in a world made of magic.
That night while Hermione was quietly studying, after curfew, in her rooms Remus came to her.
"Hey Mione?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you, uh, wanna go out for a while with me?"
"Sure." Hermione got up and placed all her homework in a neatly arranged stack. She accepted Remus' out held arm and set off from Gryffindor tower. He led her through a couple of passage ways until they came to a set of doors. He pushed them open and led her inside to a blanket that was spread out on the floor.
Hermione sat down opposite a basket and looked up, waiting for Remus to join her. It was then that she realized that they were in the great hall and were afforded a beautiful view of the stars. She stared in awe at the ceiling and wondered how she hadn't thought of this before.
Remus sat down beside her and reclined on a couple of comfortable pillows. Hermione moved to his side and leaned her head on his shoulder and let her hand rest on his stomach. For a while they lay in silence just gazing at the stars. Finally Remus sat up and grabbed the small basket.
He brought out a small bowl of strawberries and whip cream. He silently dipped the strawberry into the whip cream and brought it to Hermione's mouth. She took a small bite, her eyes never leaving her. They took their time each feeding the other some of the fruit.
When they had finished the bowl off they rested gazing at the stars. They started to talk in soft tones and shared a couple of kisses before Remus brought up the subject she had both dreaded and wanted to talk about.
"Hermione, I think we need to talk."
"What about?"
"I really like you. And I was wondering about well exactly how do you feel about me?"
"Well. I really like you too, But lately I've been thinking. I can't really be in this for the long run. I will have to go home at the end of the month."
"We could try a long distance relationship, unless of course you don't want to…"
"Don't get me wrong Remus. I would love to. It's just that we won't be able to talk for about twenty years. We'll be different then. Everything will have changed."
"Twenty years? What do you mean twenty years? I could floo you every once in a while and there's always the post."
"I know there is, but you won't be able to reach me. I won't be able to reach you. And then when we finally can talk, everything will be different."
"But I don't understand. Why wouldn't we be able to talk?"
"Please Remus don't ask me that. I don't think I could lie to you."
"Then why don't you tell me the truth?"
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. It wasn't supposed to turn out this way. Please believe me. I want to tell you I really do, but I can't."
By then tears were starting to stream down Hermione's face.
"So this is it, then isn't it? We can't have a relationship if it's going to be based on secrets." Remus said quietly.
"You know very well that I'm not the only one with secrets in this relationship Remus!" Hermione said. When she realized exactly what he said and what she was referring to she slapped her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide with fear. She saw the look of confusion on his face before she whirled about and blindly ran through the corridors and collapsed onto her bed.
A/N: sorry I've taken so long to update but a tree fell on my car and knocked the power out for a while and then my brother got me a bigger hard drive that didn't work…so my life has been kind of upside down for a little while. I'll try to update faster. Sorry if I make any grammatical errors. I don't actually have a beta. Also if anyone has any ideas they want to contribute I can try and work them into the story. Merry Christmas. Don't forget to review.