A/N: Voting still open. Remus is currently in the lead, and I was surprised to read how many SB/HG supporters picked Remus. Ah well, keep voting and have your say in the story! A few SB/HG moments in this chapter to even everything out.
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Hermione slid in between Sirius and Remus and primly took her seat. It wouldn't do if she was blustering in embarrassment all over the place. One deep breath to calm her down and then she was unpacking her book and parchment, keeping herself busy until class started. Eventually, however, there was nothing left to do and Hermione's gaze settled heavily on the room's bell, willing it to ring.
There was silence on either side of her – shouldn't they be talking about Quidditch? Soap? Anything?! She was shifting anxiously in her seat and she caught herself before it went on. The bell stubbornly refused to ring.
"You're a bit jumpy, pigeon."
Hermione was so startled by the sudden sound she didn't even yell at him to use her proper name. She managed a wane smile and lied, "Yes, well, first day of classes and all that."
Sirius laughed.
"I'm excited too," Remus agreed. "I can't wait to see what classes are like in this time."
"It's not really any different," she mumbled, inking nonsensical doodles along the edges of her parchment to try and avoid conversation. It was a poor tactic, but this whole thing had completely bulldozed her first thing in the morning and her wits weren't quite about her yet.
"You're handcuffed to your books anyway, Moony; what does it matter if class isn't the same?"
"I think you're jealous because you are going to fail," Moony grinned. His wand rapped the top of Sirius' head sharply. "In fact, you're positively green with envy." Remus smirked even as the syrupy feeling slid down Sirius skin.
Hermione glanced at Sirius and immediately sighed. His skin was a vibrant shade of acid green.
"You should know better than to play with fire," Sirius growled sportingly, and with a wave of his wand had Remus sweating profusely, face turning brick red.
"I'm playing fair and square, Padfoot," Remus panted, his collar now loose. A bright orange burst of light shot from the tip of his wand and hit Sirius right in the middle of his forehead. There was a horrendous crunching sound and the green Gryffindor had been transfigured into a body of cubes – looking very much like a box monster out of some kid's dream.
"Remus!" Hermione exclaimed in disbelief; taking one look at Sirius trying to grip his wand with fingers turned to rectangular prisms and forgetting her embarrassment entirely.
"What?!"
"If any of those hit me..." She swore warningly, letting the implied threat hang.
"She must have thought you were some kind of stick in the mud, Moony," Sirius chuckled, and held up his wand. He'd finally gotten a handle on it. Sizzling blue sparks sprayed into the air over the shorter boy and in seconds he was drenched with foul smelling mud.
Hermione had had enough; besides, there was a very real possibility that Remus-the-bog-monster was about to get mud all over her robes. Twirling her wand expertly, she interrupted their little duel with "An eye for an eye!"
There was bright white flash like a camera bulb going off and Sirius and Remus were restored to sorts.
"Bloody hell! I can't see!"
Almost.
Amid James loud guffaws, the bumbling of the pair as they tried to find their wands, and chuckles from the rest of the class, Hermione turned back to her parchment just as the bell finally – mercifully – rang. Knoll stood up and went right into the lesson, completely ignoring Sirius' cries of "I'm blind, I'm blind".
Lily finally took pity on them and, while Knoll was scrawling notes on the chalkboard, performed the countercharm on them both. Sirius shouted something about a "miracle", making the whole room erupt in laughter; Knoll went right on teaching. Sirius turned back to Hermione and was surprised to see a small smile on her face as she worked to copy down the lesson's notes.
"A bird after my own heart," he said suavely, throwing an arm over the back of her chair. She gave him a wry look out of the corner of her eye, but studiously focused on her parchment.
"You've had one all this time?" Remus feigned surprise.
Hermione giggled quietly and Sirius made a face at his friend. "Ha. Ha. Aren't you oh so witty this morning?"
"I cope with change by being charming," Remus replied in a blasé tone. "You cope by screaming a lot."
Hermione coughed into her hand and Sirius had the distinct impression that she was laughing. Oh sure, she smiles at his jokes, but laughed at Remus'? That's a candy bag's worth of fair.
"Hermione thinks my screaming is charming," he shot back smugly. "Right, pigeon?"
She was nibbling on her quill at the time and she stopped long enough to reply. "You scream like a girl," she told him, causing both Remus and the tables around them that had heard to dissolve into another round of laughter. "And learn to use my name properly, or I'll let James hex you."
Black tipped his chair back on its two rear legs, and grinned cheekily at Harry and James' table, arms folded casually behind his head. "I think she's warming up to me."
Hermione wished that one of these days Knoll would run her class more strictly. She rolled her eyes at Sirius to Remus, who smiled in return, and tried to tune out the loud voices around her.
She was saved from the antics by a raspy ribbit. She looked down as an origami frog hopped onto her desk and gave a dry croak. Picking it up into her palm she grinned two desks up at Ron, who was looking back at her. He waved and she laughed softly as the paper frog's throat bulged out and it ribbited again.
"What's that?" Sirius asked, leaning over her shoulder.
"Note from Ron," she replied absently.
She grabbed the frog's leg and pulled gently. With one last crinkling of paper the enchanted parchment unfolded and spread itself out flat in Hermione's palm. There was a warm breath on her cheek and she craned her neck awkwardly to find Remus leaning over her other shoulder. With both of them hovering so close, her face started to feel hot.
"What's the Aureus Prophecy?" Remus asked, curiosity getting the best of him.
"You really shouldn't read other people's things, Remus," Hermione reprimanded, but her heart wasn't in it. She was quickly reading the parchment's contents.
They were given the short explanation. "It's some seventeenth century prophecy we found. Harry and Ron seem to think it's important, but I'm not so sure..." Hermione trailed off, her brow furrowing as she thought about the object of contention, her hand unconsciously inking a reply across the parchment.
Sirius cleared his throat. "You know..." he said slowly. "Divination is one of my better subjects. I could take a look at it, if you'd like?"
Hermione looked at him so suddenly they almost knocked heads. In doing so, she didn't see Remus' frown. Her face was filled with surprise, but it was quickly being filled by a bright smile. "Yes," she enthused. "I would like that. Very much."
He grinned wolfishly down at her, "Anything for you, pigeon."
Hermione frowned at him, but couldn't seem to make it stick and turned quickly back to her notes as another smile formed across her lips.
Sirius was feeling better already.
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The rest of the day passed by with a variety of entertainment.
The Marauders had obviously resigned themselves to the fact that they were stuck here for the time being and had fallen quickly into the swing of things with a resilience that amazed the others.
Just before Charms, Sirius and James set fireworks in all the wall torches that lined the hall and set them off just as a pack of first years were walking through it – much to Flitwick's annoyance.
Hermione had had Arithmancy with Lily and Remus just before lunch and then Astronomy with Sirius and James afterwards, but then they were all back together for Care of Magical Creatures. The last class of the day, Ancient Runes, was the only class where she was alone with Harry and Ron, whom she'd persuaded to take the course in order to speed up their research.
Oh, and apparently Harry and James were twins. Who knew.
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"That memory charm of yours certainly isn't taking a back seat in the bleachers."
Lily and Hermione were talking about the day and the memory alteration over a shared treacle tart at the end of the Gryffindor table. James sat, typically, beside his girlfriend, and Harry was beside Hermione.
"Did you find out anything about you?" Hermione asked in interest, setting down her goblet of strawberry cordial to lean in intently.
"Well," Lily began dramatically, giggling a bit. "Apparently, James and I have been together since second year, when what really happened was I finally broke down to his begging in fifth."
Hermione laughed at this and chased a crumb around on the plate before catching it between the prongs of her fork and sticking it in her mouth.
"What about you?" Lily directed the question back at her. "Anything about you that's different than before?"
Hermione's face flushed light pink and she swallowed quickly. "Um, no, not really."
Lily pouted at this, clearly put out, and ran her fingers idly over a handful of her perfectly straight red hair.
"I'm sure if anything has changed you'll hear about it in the next few days," Hermione hurried out.
Lily seemed to think about this for a moment, and then she nodded resolutely. "You're right." She grinned then. "I'll let you know if I catch any juicy gossip about you."
The boys were having a completely different conversation.
"You know, guys can't do that," Sirius mused aloud, breaking the Quidditch-oriented thread of conversing.
"Do what?" Ron asked distractedly, maneuvering the bowl of mashed potatoes towards his plate.
"Share dessert." He nudged his head in the direction of the two girls, who were at that moment laughing over something one or the other had said. "We can steal food," he said, grabbing a drumstick off of James' plate. "But guys can't share it – it looks weird," he said simply.
"So we're not on for milkshakes after?" Remus feigned tears, sniffing dejectedly and talking in a high falsetto voice. The guys all laughed raucously earning odd looks from the girls before they went back to their own conversation.
Trying to hold in his own laughter, James added his own two cents – lowering his voice to their conversations hush in order for the girls not to overhear. "Sirius is right. Girls can do it, and it's hot. Guys..." He stopped short, using a weird face to finish the sentence.
"Are your conversations always this weird?" Ron asked, looking between the three Marauders.
Remus shook his head sadly, "Yes, unfortunately."
"Right now, if a guy tried to get a bite of that tart they'd lose an eye," Sirius was saying, completely ignoring Ron and Remus' sub-conversation.
Harry made a disgusted sound. "And I thought the Marauders were supposed to be ladies men." He gave a disappointed shake of his head.
"We are!" James and Sirius both yelled. Remus gave Harry a silent look of interest.
He pushed back his plate and stood up. The Marauders watched him suspiciously as he came around to the end of the table and crouched down between Lily and Hermione. "Hello ladies."
They both smiled, Hermione immediately giving him her complete attention.
"They're really close, aren't they..." Remus said softly.
Ron nodded a grin of his own settling on his face as he thought of his two best mates. "There have been times where Harry and I have been on our own, but he and Hermione have been through a lot of hard stuff together. They had to go back in time during our third year, and then when..." he stopped and restarted. "Someone Harry knew died during our fifth year, and he was really depressed for the longest time. Hermione was the only one who could bring him out of it – she helped him get through it. I don't know anyone who's closer."
"She sounds like an amazing witch," James told him.
Ron grinned and gave a low chuckle, "Some days I think she's the only thing that keeps us going."
"You give me too much credit, Ron," Hermione spoke up, startling the boys. Harry and Lily were still talking, so she was the only one who'd been listening in. She kissed his cheek. "Harry and I would be lost without you," she told him kindly and a stupid grin filled his face.
"Hermiiiiiiiione."
Everyone, remembering Harry, now turned their avid attention to the table's end.
"Can I have a bite of your tart?"
"Sure," she said, and pulled the fork slowly from between her lips to ensure that it was totally clean and then handed it to him.
He scooped a piece up into his mouth and handed the still crumby utensil back to Hermione. "Fanks, Hermnee," he said, swallowing the tangy dessert.
She smiled, ruffling his perpetually messy hair, and turned back to Ron. "Do you have the prophecy with you?" She asked, sticking the fork back in her mouth, unaware of the stares she was receiving.
He nodded and they both began digging through the redhead's whirlwind of a book bag, while Harry sat back down. They were all gapping at Harry, who merely wiped his mouth with his napkin and ignored them.
Sirius started to laugh. "Now that was hot."
James punched him.
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The seven of them were all lounged in front of the common room's large fireplace long after dinner had ended, talking, playing games, and, in some people's cases, doing their homework.
Remus had finally been persuaded to put aside his Arithmancy for a game of wizard's chess against James, and Lily looked to have fallen asleep with her head upon her Charm's book, but Hermione was still hunched over the table, quill flying furiously across the parchment.
"Hermione!" Ron called. "Put that bloody homework away and come sit with us."
"In a minute."
That minute stretched into five and then into twenty, with no sign of her hand tiring its endless movement down the parchment.
"I shall retrieve the fair maiden," Sirius vowed heroically, and heaved himself up off the floor.
Stuffing his hands deep in the pockets of his robes he strolled across the room to where Hermione was sitting (and Lily was snoozing) and pulled up a chair.
"Mm," she grunted in greeting, looking between two parchments and making a small mark on a third.
"Hello to you too, love," He chuckled.
"Mmm."
"How can I persuade you to come over with us?" He asked, folding his arms across the table and laying his head down upon them, facing her.
"I'm really quite busy, Sirius," she told him, dipping her quill back in the inkwell.
"So you can talk," he teased.
Her lips pursed in a small smile as she worked. "Mm hmm, but I'm still waiting to see if you can be less annoying."
He laughed, taking it all in stride. "You're feisty, you know that?"
"Really..." she responded in a bored sort of tone.
"A regular spitfire," he said, sitting back up.
She wasn't really paying attention anymore. "I'll log that away."
He gave a dramatic sigh, and when she didn't respond he gave another one, turning doleful puppy dog eyes on her.
"What?" she demanded, rather snappily, and looking at him with an annoyed expression.
"You'd rather do your boring homework, than spend quality time with me," he pouted.
She rolled her eyes and turned back to the collage of parchments spread in front of her. "It's not homework."
This perked Sirius' interest. "Then what are you doing?"
"If you must know, I'm outlining mine, Harry, and Ron's training schedules for the term," she resignedly said.
Sirius' eyebrows raised and he picked her arm up right off the parchment she was scribbling on and leaned over to look closer. Three of the parchments were the three class schedules; another was the Gryffindor Quidditch schedule. Among those were a few torn pieces that looked like scratch paper, and a list of school events.
Hermione looked pointedly down at him, lips quirked in a frown, but he didn't drop her arm and her quill dangled in the air from her fingertips, threatening to drip ink onto the pile of papers.
"Things really are bad in this time..." he looked up at her, his joking face gone serious. "Aren't they?"
Hermione nodded. "Everyone knows it, but most of the students haven't done anything to prepare."
She looked towards the fireplace, and Sirius followed her gaze to Harry. "I think they're all hoping that Harry will save them."
"Him?" Sirius was confused.
"He's gone up against Voldemort six times; five in the last six years," she told him, looking back at the Marauder. "He's the only one to have done that and survived."
Sirius looked back at the eighteen year old boy in amaze. He was playing Exploding Snap with Ron, sleeves rolled up and his tie knotted around his head. "He's just a kid!" Sirius exclaimed.
"That's why Ron and I aren't going to let him do this alone," Hermione said, nodding. "Every day we train might make the difference between living and dying."
They stared at each other without speaking, disbelief and a thousand thoughts running through Sirius' brain. Then, a determined look came onto his face and he set Hermione's arm back down and pushed back his chair.
"I'll be right back."
She watched him curiously as he walked away and crossed back over to where everyone was sitting around the fire. One of the arm chairs blocked her line of view and she craned her neck trying to see what he was up to. After a minute or two he started walking back around to her and Hermione quickly went back to working on the training schedule.
She felt him stop beside her chair and then there was a muted slam as he hand hit the table. Slowly, she looked up to his hand, pressing a pile of new parchments to the table in front of her, and then up to his face, her face crumbling into a mask of confusion.
"What—"
"Count us in."
She gave him a stern look. "Sirius, this isn't a joke."
"Neither was that spell you did," he countered. "You've got four new warriors – so train us Oh Mighty Training One."
She stared him down, face completely blank. But he was grinning, and all too soon Hermione found herself doing the same.
"You do know this will take even longer to organize now, don't you?" She tried to sound annoyed, but the wide smile on her face rather defeated the purpose.
"Nonsense, pigeon."
Her eyes narrowed as he began lining the schedules out beside one another. "Don't make me call James..." she threatened.
Pulling his wand out with a flourish that made Hermione laugh, despite herself, he tapped each of the nine schedules and said, "Consensio!"
They all jumped up and started chattering in some indecipherable language, while Hermione's quill leapt from her hand and began inking out the training schedule in her precise cursive script. When it was finished the papers said another indecipherable sort of goodbye and fell back down onto the table along with her quill.
Lying in front of Hermione was the group's finished schedule, words glistening with still wet ink.
Sirius blew on the end of his wand like some sort of Western cowboy, and smirked down at her. "Did I mention Charms was my best subject?"
Hermione laughed, cheeks dimpling and the corners of her eyes crinkling. "So now I suppose you want me to go back with you?"
"If Milady would be so kind," he said charmingly, executing a dramatic bow and earning another bout of laughter from Hermione.
With her head still on her Charm's book and eyes still closed, Lily's lips curved into a smile.
Hermione waved the parchments back into her satchel with her wand and stood up from the desk, stretching her arms gratefully over her head. When her back gave a satisfied pop after being hunched over for so long she sighed happily and straightened her uniform back out.
Sirius, throwing an arm over her shoulder, pulled her next to him. "See, guys!" Sirius called over to the boys hanging out around the fire. "I told you she was warming up to me."
Harry coughed loudly while the others laughed, and gave Hermione a pointed look. Her cheeks flamed pink and she stuck out her tongue at him.
"Nice face, pigeon."
She elbowed him painfully in the ribs. "James!" Hermione shouted.
James leapt up from his chair, wand in hand, and puffed out his chest impressively. "I shall avenge your name, kind maiden!" He vowed in an extravagant voice, while Remus wisely dragged Hermione to safety. "On guard!" He yelled, waving his wand like a sword.
Sirius drew his as well, and both boys grabbed couch pillows to use as shields. Sirius gave a ridiculous battle cry and they both leapt at each other, knocking over one of the armchairs as they dueled with their wands. Hermione crouched under the coffee table for protection, while the rest of the boys joined in the absurd looking fight.
A few minutes later, Lily crawled in beside Hermione and the two females of the group cheered on the men until, finally exhausted, they all headed up to their respective dormitories to sleep.
