Hermione listened to the laughter and screams erupting from downstairs. She watched, leaning over the balcony. Her ex-professor was in a bad state, with hot pink hair and tap dancing feet. It seemed Remus had gotten the ex-convict with the Full Body Bind Curse. "Are you fellows going to fight all day?" she asked coolly, yet loudly. She undid all the spells they had put on each other in under a minute and strode down the stairs.
Lupin, who was looking frustrated, said in a clear voice, "My marauding friends, I would like to now tell you that this kind lady has asked us to assist her in her nightly training and Professor D would like us to eat dinner with her every evening."
Hermione flushed with anger as James raised his eyebrows. She opened her mouth to defend her self when Sirius said, "Is she going to hit me again?"
Hermione looked regally down at him over her nose. "Only if you don't hit on me," the witch reassured him smirking. The girl was glad she had left an impression.
☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼ ☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼ ☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼
They gave their order for breakfast to a house-elf named Collybob. Within minutes the food appeared magically on a scarlet wooded table. Sirius and James commenced immediately in a pancake eating contest. Together they cleared about thirty pancakes. James beat Sirius by two pancakes and sat back with his eyes closed as Sirius ran around the table shouting, "Cheater! James cheated!"
Remus laughed and looked over at Hermione and saw her gazing at the playful boys with a look of deep sadness in her eyes.
"Do you miss your friends?" Remus asked quietly. She looked quickly down at her breakfast, which was an orange and a piece of toast and eggs. "Yes." She muttered. Remus nodded, sensing not to pry. The two bookworms watched James fall asleep in his armchair and Sirius get hyper on syrup.
Feeling a sudden urge to get her mind off of her old friends he said, "What are we going to do today?" The girl looked sharply up. "Don't you think you should choose? You lot are, after all, actual students at Hogwarts."
Sirius overheard as he ran by the table in circles. "Good idea, doll. We can show you Hogsmeade!" Padfoot grabbed a chair and flopped in it.
The curly haired witch flinched at the use of the word 'doll' but seemed to decide murder was unhealthy this early on in the morning. She shook her head at his idea. "I can't go into a crowded village. As I'm sure Dumbledore told you, my existence is only known to select teachers and you boys." Seeing their shocked expressions, she gulped, blushed and covered, "Um… never mind." She glared at them, daring them to meddle.
Sirius, not catching the meaning of her glare said, "Oh… So that's why you never talk to anyone. Why doesn't anyone know about you?"
"I find that's none of your business," Granger snarled. "Why not, honey? I just want to know…" Sirius broke off whimpering because Hermione had her wand level to his heart. Remus sighed. He should have shut up while he had a chance. Moony closed his eyes, not wanting to see his friend demolished into a billion pieces. Instead, once he had looked up after Granger's murmured incantation, he found something different. He broke into laughter. Padfoot had been magicked into a fluffy pink dress. His long black hair was twirled in ringlets and sparkly bows.
"Now that," Remus laughed, "is a damsel in distress." Sirius looked confused, so Granger conjured him a mirror. His screams could be heard throughout the castle.
☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼ ☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼ ☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼
Lupin had fixed Black, so Hermione was left empty of laughter again. She had gotten the idea from a prank the Weasley twins had pulled on Malfoy in their sixth year. The only difference was Malfoy's had been complete with a purple bonnet and make-up. Hermione looked fondly back on the memory as she left with the Marauders headed to the library. The boys had finally convinced her to go to library with them. Hermione had protested that the Room of Requirement provided all of the books she needed, but the Marauders couldn't stand being away from the posse for too long.
They had promised not to mention Hermione if she just stayed invisibly in a corner of the library whilst they talked. The witch had complied, only because she could imagine Dumbledore's expression if they had separated during the day. They arrived at the library through her secret passageway in the yearbook section of the library. Hermione sat down at a table and opened her bag to get out her timeline. She needed to work on it and this was the best time. Dire consequences would occur if they found out dates of Death Eater attacks. Especially ones that involved them. She had bewitched the parchment so only she, Professor McGonagall, and Dumbledore could read it. Hermione sighed and racked her brains.
She found a date that was this week and jotted it down in her personal gold and scarlet striped ink. In two days the Pruwitts were supposed to be killed, though not if she could help it. Simply by alerting McGonagall to move them to a safe house, she could save them and change the entire course of their family's lives. She made lists of the dates of death of everybody she could afford to save. Unfortunately, Hermione realized that she could only save the most important people, or else Voldemort would get suspicious. She also knew too much change could cause time to spin out of control. She had to remember the deaths to see if they had led up to anything important, good or bad, happening.
With a feeling of loneliness, she decided to tune into the Marauders conversation. The boys were lounging in a group of drooling girl and jealous boys.
"I've come up with loads of new pranks for this year," Sirius was saying suavely. The girls around him leaned in, wondering what amazing things the Marauder had come up with now. "Okay… Imagine Snape. Now imagine the greasy hair in ringlets and the idiot in a fluffy dress!" Sirius smiled as the group around him burst into laughter. The girls shrieked and the guys guffawed. Only Potter and Lupin kept quiet. They shot a furtive look in Hermione's direction.
She was stunned. Even this mere morning was changing the future. She smiled sadly at the looks on the Weasley twins faces if they heard their idols complimenting their prank ideas. Because of Hermione's little jaunt to the past, the Weasleys may not even exist. Deciding the boys had talked long enough, she sent a Stinging Spell their way. All three jumped simultaneously.
"Time flies, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our leave now. Goodbye," Sirius said, rising smoothly. The other two Marauders looked worried about what Hermione would do to Padfoot when she caught up with them. Indeed, James looked like he was going to run out the door any moment.
☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼