Hello! This is cylobaby! I would just like to say I hope you enjoy and PLEASE DO REVIEW! This is my first story! I do not own any of the characters or even some of the plot. They belong to JK Rowlings and her co. and all of the fanfic writers I took really small ideas from. Thanks to you all! Thank you to all my lovely reviewers (Ruby Malfoy and Kaydeek). THANKS!!! On with the chapter. And for those of you who didn't catch it, Pettigrew dropped out of school in 6th year. I hated him to much to write about him.
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
They arrived on the Quidditch Pitch almost a half-hour after sunset. Granger was leading Remus, Sirius and James through the cool grounds. Random gusts of air blew their cloaks around them. James and Sirius were muttering complaints, "Dumbledore makes us hang out with some muggleborn witch who makes us go outside in the cold. Evil…" Sirius was muttering. James didn't sound much better, but due to the bad language the Marauder was using it would be best to leave that out.
"We're here!" Hermione said, not flinching once in the cold night air. "I am going to be working out, so you lot can conjure up some blankets and hot cocoa. See you in a couple of hours!" she said enthusiastically, trying not to show her obvious hopes that they would listen to her.
Sirius stood up, shaking his head, "What you do, we do," he growled emphatically. Granger sighed, knowing she was on the losing side of the argument.
"Alright you can try, but any of you who would like to sit out, please do so now."
No one moved. Remus watched her sigh. "Okay then, please put away your wands." With apprehensive looks, the Marauders stowed away their wands. "Fabriciso Prefiridio," she muttered. Her clothes were immediately changed to her work out clothes. Sirius stared unashamedly. She was in a tight sweat proof tank, skin tight pants and her hair was now slicked back. All of her clothes were scarlet and gold.
Remus raised an eyebrow, but Hermione seemed not to be modest, but she obviously wasn't trying to get attention. That made her all the more beautiful to the Marauders. "Tighter clothes are harder for Death Eaters to grab onto during a Muggle style duel. If your wands are broken or taken away, you need to be able to fight. Use these to practice on," Granger said, conjuring up four identical Death Eater dummies.
"These can be set to 25 different settings. You can go from Young Schoolgirl to Advanced Matrix. (A.N-I know Matrix hadn't come out in their era, but please work with me.) You may find the second half of settings to rough for you," Granger instructed, pointing out the dial on the dummy. "If it becomes too much to handle, please yell 'Stop!' and the Death Eater will shut down."
Sirius raised an eyebrow as if to say I-can-do-this-better-than-anyone-here without words. Hermione rolled her eyes and went on, "I want you to start out on Average Teen. If it is too easy, go higher. You will have many bumps and bruises, so I will give you a Healing Potion at the end. You may watch me to see how it is done. I will show you Advanced Death Eater. Choose your own section of the field and stretch out," With that, Granger strode over to the nearest doll. The boys watched her bend over and switch the knob to 'Advanced Death Eater,' and get into a crouched fighting position.
The dummy moved quickly, giving her a kick in the side of the head. Granger ducked it quickly and lashed out. She struck it hard in the neck, cutting off what would have been the dummy's air. "The doll will react how a real human of this setting would, as you can observe here," Hermione said, voice monotonous. She put all her focus into fighting.
The dummy had jumped up from its back to its feet and was now swiftly advancing. Before it could move, Granger stuck her fingers in its eyes while kicking it in the stomach. She kicked its legs from underneath it and smirked, an insane smile lighting her face. The dummy fell over. Remus stood, mouth hanging open. She gave it a smack on both temples and it shut down as a mechanical voice said, "Death Eater defeated."
Hermione strode over to them. "Now you try," she said. Sirius strode over to the doll, removing his shirt.
"Just in case it could use it against me," Sirius laughed. Granger didn't even bat an eyelid at the abs that most Hogwarts girls would have swooned over. He bent over the dummy and said, "Watch this," he set it to the same setting the witch had. Granger moaned and covered her eyes.
Sirius hit the doll on the nose, but didn't prepare for the doll to do the same. Padfoot fell over, blood spurting from his nose. The doll strode over and put a foot across Sirius's windpipe. "Stop!" Remus yelled, knowing Sirius was too winded to say it himself. The doll shut down just in time and rolled off of the whimpering Marauder.
Hermione rolled her eyes again and walked over. "Now would you like to follow my directions?" Granger asked coldly. Remus stared. She had known that was going to happen. All of the Marauders nodded, scared out of their wits of this girl who could defeat a Death Eater.
Each of the Marauders chose a dummy and separated. Granger instructed them how to stretch properly. At the end, Remus was feeling so limber he could do back flips. Literally. "Begin," Granger said.
Remus turned the knob to Advanced Teen and stepped back. Feeling the need to impress the witch in front of him he began fighting with ease. He kicked the dummy right where it hurts and chopped hard over its bent neck. The doll fell over defeated. "Good job, Remus," Granger praised.
Moony grinned. He switched the dummy to Advanced Adult and braced himself. The doll leaped up and moved forward, gliding like a tiger. Using the same moves as before, Remus kicked out. The dummy grabbed his foot and flipped him on his back. The dummy advanced with a deadly intent. "Stop," he croaked.
The dummy froze mid-step. Granger strode over, fury pouring off her in waves. "Good job does not mean advance to the next level," she hissed loudly, "This doll is self-learning. You could stay on the same level for ten years and never see a repeat in strategy. Follow all my directions."
Remus heard the worry in her voice, but chose wisely not to comment on it. He leaned down to switch back the knob, but Granger stayed his hand by touching his shoulder. "Maybe tomorrow. We are going to finish tonight's training in the Room of Requirement." Remus nodded and stepped away from the frozen dummy.
Granger waved her wand and stuck the now paperclip sized dummies in her newly acquired robes. "C'mon," she said smiling happily.
They snuck immediately to the Room of Requirement. Granger walked back and forth three times, focusing hard. An oak door appeared in front of them, the highly polished frame shining in the soft candlelight.
Granger grasped the knob and pulled open the door. Inside the scarlet room were tons of books, pillows and posters that demonstrated defense spells. "We can start with Patronuses. Please focus on a happy memory and say the incantation." Granger began to demonstrate, eyes closed in concentration.
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
Hermione began racking her brains for a happy memory. She landed on one that made her smile broadly. That was a wonderful day.
Flashback
Hagrid began sobbing loudly and strode back to his cabin. The trio away to see Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle standing by the doors. "Look at him blubber! Have you ever seen anything quite so pathetic? And he's supposed to be our teacher!" Malfoy sneered.
Hermione raced over. SMACK! She slapped Malfoy as hard as she could. No one had moved as she raised her hand again. Ron had held her back, but she was happier than anything. She, Hermione, had hit the Prince of Slytherin himself, Draco Malfoy. Stupid purebloods. They had all run off, but never forgot her moment of triumph.
End Flashback
Hermione lifted her wand and yelled, "Expecto Patronum!" A large otter burst out. It gamboled happily around the room, spinning and racing. She turned to see the Marauders standing, awed. The otter disappeared in a puff of silver vapor. "Now you try," she said
The boys raised their wands and yelled the incantation. James and Sirius had blurred figures, that would only last a minute in battle. Remus however had a pure and clear animal. It was, as Hermione had expected, a wolf, but what surprised them all was its wagging tail and lolling tongue.
'I suppose it has to be the mixture of wolf and man that makes a werewolf,' she thought, pleased. The wolf raced sleekly over to where the blurred shapes of James's and Sirius's Patronuses were. As it grew closer, the two shapes formed into clearly defined animals. They were a stag and a dog, obviously.
"Very good!" Hermione encouraged as they watched the silver animals race around the Room of Requirement. "Now let's try disarming each other. Now, you can choose. You three can work together or we can work in partners," she muttered.
James and Sirius moved immediately together, but Remus strode over to Hermione. "Ready?" he asked. She looked at him gratefully and nodded.
"Experlliarmus!" Four voices shouted at once. Remus and Sirius had their wands taken from them. In fact, Remus's flew so far it hit James in the head.
"Sorry!" Hermione called. "You okay?" she added worriedly. She was relieved to see James laughing.
"No worries, this sort of thing always happens to me," he said grinning. Hermione joined in his infectious laughter.
"Accio wands!" she said. James's, Sirius's and Remus's all flew into her hands. Blushing, she returned the wands to the laughing Marauders.
She took them through all of the spells they had learned in the D.A. Dumbledore's Army had continued until three months before 6th year was over. At that point, Dumbledore himself had taken over the job of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Only Snape had objected, but even the greasy professor had quieted when none of the Slytherins had come to class.
Remus was the best with new spells, but James sometimes beat him in Transfiguration spells. Hermione watched the boys jinxing each other carelessly, not even wondering why they were training.
As though they had read her mind, the Marauders walked over to her. Sirius began, "This has been really fun…"
"But we would like to know why we are doing this," James completed.
Hermione sighed, but decided that they should know. "These spells are the best to use when dueling with Death Eaters. I know that even spells such as Expelliarmus can save your life in a battle with Voldemort and his army." All of the Marauders flinched at the Dark Lord's name. "I also know that he is gaining in power, right now, and we must do all we can to stop him." Hermione finished with a deep breath.
All of the Marauders looked amazed, worried, surprised and confused. With new determination, they set to work again.
☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺
Hope you enjoyed it. I would like to say "Hi," to my friends who might be reading this now. Their initials are ED, NG, and maybe even EH. THANKS FOR READING AND I WILL NOT BE UPDATING UNTIL JANUARY DUE TO VACATION. I WILL ADD LOTS AND LOTS WHEN I GET BACK. I PROMISE!!!!!!