Disclaimer: I don't own or have any rights to Harry Potter
Chapter 6: Fingerprints
Hermione felt her body tense as the sorting hat prepared to shout out her house.
"GRYFFINDOR," was heard throughout the hall.
Tease, she thought, rolling her eyes up to the hat.
The hat chuckled in response. Once a year, my dear - allow me my fun.
Hermione felt a bubble of true laughter reach her heart as she felt the weight of the Sorting Hat lift. She nodded to Professor McGonagall and held out a hand to introduce herself. The older witch, surprised took it.
She smiled at her Professor and back at Dumbledore before heading back down the hall to where her new friends were loudly celebrating.
"I have just a few more things to say," said the headmaster after Hermione had seated herself between Lily and Remus, across from Sirius, James and Peter. "There is to be no wandering the halls after ten, and for the first years - along with those who should know better - the Forbidden Forest is precisely that…forbidden. Dark times are upon us, students or not, you are aware of this. Caution must be taken not to leave the protection of the school.
Murmers flittered around the room as students glanced nervously at each other. Hermione, used to these facts of her life, understood why the Headmaster was saying what he was - scaring the students was not at the top of Dumbledore's list of priorities, but if it kept them in the grounds of the school, that was a sacrifice he would make.
"Remember to report any unusual activity to myself or a teacher, no matter how inconsequential it may seem at the time. These are strange times, times we should not have to face on empty stomachs - and with that out of the way…enjoy."
Dumbledore clapped his hands together and the tables filled with a feast, to which the Marauders took to like starving men.
A girl with blonde hair sitting next to Peter shook her head. "You boys are bottomless pits I swear."
Sirius swallowed the food in his mouth "We're growing boys Marie, besides Moony here needs his food. OW what was that for? Look at you, Mr Stringbean - you need all the food you can get." He glared at Remus who had kicked him under the table.
Remus sent him a warning look before returning to his plate. Hermione glanced between the two and wondered if the Shrieking Shack incident had occured yet.
"Hey Hermione," Lily said grabbing her attention and pointing to the blonde next to Peter, "this here is Marie." Marie offered wave and a smile in greeting. "And this is Louise," she said pointing to the brunette sitting next to Remus. Hermione greeted the two girls before turning her attention back to the boys.
Her gaze drifted to Sirius who was looking at her thoughtfully, it was so intent that Hermione blushed and looked down at her plate.
Sirius spoke up then. "I was just wondering why the sorting hat took so long to place you, it didn't consider Slytherin did it?"
Hermione looked back up to a bevy of curious faces looking back at her.
"Actually it mentioned all four houses." The others looked at her in shock. "It was down to this or Ravenclaw in the end."
"You'd get along with Remus then," remarked James, grinning. "Those were the options the hat had for him. I on the other hand was a Gryffindor all the way."
"Yeah, McGonagall barely put the hat down on your crazy head before it yelled it out," said Sirius.
"What about you?" Hermione asked him.
Sirius scowled as James grinned and slapped him on the back.
"What was it again Paddy?" he asked.
Sirius mumbled something incoherent and Hermione could feel Remus laughing quietly beside her.
"What?" she asked. "Was it Slytherin?"
Sirius shook his head. "Ravenclaw?" she ventured another guess, and again Sirius shook his head.
At this the other Marauders burst out laughing.
Hermione frowned. "What's wrong with Hufflepuff?" she asked, surprised to see that even Lily was laughing.
"Nothing," said Remus. "But once you get to know Sirius you'll understand why its so funny."
Hermione hid her smile. She did know Sirius. Or at least a version of him. A broken and rebuilt man. Hufflepuff did seem like a stretch for the dark haired wizard.
She glanced at Sirius who was now scowling at everyone. She offered him a smile, which seemed to brighten his mood slightly. He smiled back. A charming smile. One she had never seen before. A smile that made her heart skip. Ron-smile skip. Viktor-smile skip.
Oh dear.
After dessert her fellow Gryffindor's led her, and the newly sorted first years, to the common room. Each expertly navigating the staircases as well as Hermione would have done after six years at the school.
"Hungarian Horntail," James said to the Pink Lady who smiled and swung open. Hermione watched wondering why the Pink Lady didn't strike up her usual conversation.
"New portrait," said Sirius who was inches behind her and followed her through. "She's not very talkative, but I'm sure we'll get through to her."
Hermione smiled as they entered the common room. A wave of familiarity came over her. 'I'm home' she thought. 'Or as close to home as I'll get' and she followed the group to the couches in front of the fire.
Sirius and James claimed the two armchairs - slouching with arms and legs everywhere, while Peter sat on one end of the sofa. Remus, always the gentleman, waited to see where the girls sat, but Lily shook her head having had her fill of Marauders for one day.
"I'm going to help Hermione get settled in," she said. "We'll see you in the morning."
The boys all said goodnight, James looking a little disappointed as Lily and Hermione wandered up the girls staircase.
"This is the year guys," said James, his eyes on the empty space Lily had vacated moments ago. "I'll get her this year."
"You say that every year Prongs."
"But Pads this year is different."
"How's that James?" asked Remus. "Besides the fact that she hasn't called you something we learn about in Care of Magical Creatures yet?"
"Well there is that," James said seriously. "And I'll be spending more time with her because of our duties AND," he said cutting off Sirius who had opened his mouth to say something, "she seems keen to hang out with Hermione and Hermione seems to be keen to hang out with us."
At this Sirius and Remus looked at each other and shrugged.
"James does have a good point, Padfoot."
"I'd have to agree Moony, James is quite smitten."
"Obsessed is another word for it."
"Hey guys, James…sitting right here." He said pointing to himself.
"Come on Prongsie," James glared at Sirius for this use of his nickname. "We've classes tomorrow and you know what that means." He said with a mischievous grin.
"Pranks," James replied, eyes sparkling.
"Oh but Jamsie-Poo," mocked Sirius. "You're head boy now, can't do anything like that."
"Oh and James." The boys turned to see Lily at the bottom of the stairs. "Don't you be pulling any pranks on the first day of school, it's time you set a better example for the younger students."
"Lily," said James clutching his chest. "Do you think that I'll get into trouble?"
"Yes I do." She offered once last warning before turning and leaving the room.
James turned back to the others muttering something about mind reading.
"So Prongs, what are you going to do?" Asked a bemused Remus.
"Well Moony, I'm going to do what she said and set a good example."
The others three looked like he'd lost his mind as he stood and made his way to the boys dormitory.
"I'll set a good example of how not to get caught."
Late that night Hermione sat on one of the common room couches in front of the fire, staring into the flames. She'd slipped into a dressing gown and had settled onto the couch with a blanket an hour ago. She was still plagued by nightmares and struggled to get more than a few hours sleep.
The portrait door opened and brought her attention away from the flames. She watched the door close and with no student or teacher in sight she raised her wand in caution, before an idea slipped into her head.
"Accio Invisibility Cloak."
With that James' invisibility cloak flew towards her outstretched hands leaving a guilty looking Sirius standing in the middle of the room, his arms full with food.
"How…uhh…huh?" he asked, speechless.
"I took a wild guess, I knew someone who once had one."
"Well now that I've been caught red handed I might as well share," he said taking the seat next to her and offering some chocolate muffins.
"No thanks, I'm fine."
Sirius nodded, putting his haul on the table in front of him and selecting one. "What are you doing up anyway?"
"I couldn't sleep."
"New place?" he asked, taking a large bite.
She shook her head. "Dreams mostly," she said returning her gaze to the fire.
Sirius studied her, quietly eating, unsure of what to say. She'd obviously been through a lot but he didn't want to upset her by asking too many questions. So he just sat there and watched her face, the flames of the fire reflecting in her hazel eyes.
Soon, Sirius followed her gaze and found himself caught by his own thoughts, the flames dancing in front of him.
A while later he gave a small chuckle as his thoughts led him to what was going to happen to the Slytherin's in the morning. At this break in the silence he winced and turned to make sure he hadn't disturbed Hermione. Instead he saw her curled up next to him eyes closed and breathing even. He smiled and bundled the sleeping girl up in his arms and carried her towards the girl's staircase. At the bottom he kicked a secret panel that would allow him access to the girl's dormitories, and carried Hermione up to her bed.
The sun streaming through the curtains woke Hermione in the morning. Confused as to how she'd fallen asleep in the common room and woken up in bed, she got up and started to get ready for class - Sirius seemed to be the most obvious answer, but how he'd accomplished the task she wasn't sure.
Hermione selected a notebook for her classes, leaving the books until she knew her timetable, and slipped it into her bag.
"Good morning," Lily greeting as she entered the room. "all ready for the first day of classes?"
Hermione held up her satchel and nodded.
"Ok, for some reason the boys are waiting downstairs for us." Lily said, rolling her eyes as she leaned in and whispered. "I think they're good for you, just don't tell them I said that."
Hermione chuckled and followed the redhead downstairs.
Sirius smiled at her as the girls joined the Marauders.
"It was you wasn't it?" she asked quietly.
His smile grew slightly but he didn't reply as the group made their way to the Great Hall. Hermione quickened her stride to match Sirius'.
"Thank you." she said
"You're welcome," he replied, before walking off to goof around with his friends.
Breakfast was proceeding normally for Hermione until she heard shrieks of horror coming from the direction of the Slytherin table. Leaning over Sirius so she could see what the commotion was about, she saw that the majority of the Slytherins had devil horns growing out of their heads.
Hermione and Lily shared a glance before turning to glare accusingly at the Marauders.
"What?" they all asked at the same time.
"Come on Lily, when would we have had the time to do that?" James asked "You know the halls a patrolled at night."
With this Hermione aimed her glare at Sirius who just beamed back, he knew he was caught and he knew it. But he was surprised when she didn't rat him out, and only sent him a withering look before returning to her breakfast.
"Boys," came the voice of Professor McGonagall from behind them. They all flinched and turned around to smile at her sweetly. "Your timetables," she said handing them over to the seventh years with a thin lipped frown.
Hermione studied her own and compared it to Lily's, whose, as well as Remus', had turned out to be identical. It was almost the same with Sirius, James and Peter's also except they had Divination when Hermione and the others had Arithmancy.
"Ugh," said Sirius. "Potions first with Slytherin, why?" He asked, "do we always get stuck with the snakes for potions…and Defense" he continued running his fingers down his timetable "and Care of Magical Creatures."
"Padfoot's got a point," said James. "I wonder why they do that."
"Probably to punish you for all your pranks" Lily said
The Marauders looked at each other.
"Nah," said Peter, waving his hand. "It's been like this since first year - there's no way they could have predicted our pranks."
"Pete's right," said Sirius. "It's a conspiracy - I blame Hufflepuff."
Lily just rolled her eyes and turned to Hermione.
"I need to talk to Professor McGonagall, will you be ok with these..." she said gesturing to the boys. Hermione nodded, smiling at the insulted looks on the Marauders faces.
Potions, Hermione found was just as bad now as it was in the future. Why did all potions masters all seem to be sullen men? She warily eyed Professor Sabbath as he made his way around the room.
She had been paired with Lily for the class and both were working on a potion the teacher had set to refresh their memories from sixth year, this was after the twenty minute lecture on their NEWT's and the importance of the class.
Whilst the potion was brewing Hermione looked over to the Slytherins. Behind a familiar blonde head were two large gorilla like heads that looked strangely similar to Crabbe and Goyle. The person sitting next to Malfoy however caught her attention with his greasy black hair, scowling face and large nose.
Lily noticed the direction of her gaze and her expression hardened.
"My advice, stay as far away from them as possible," she said gesturing to the Slytherins.
Hermione nodded in agreement and returned to the potion.
Three class later and Hermione finally had time to make her way to the library with the excuse of researching something she didn't quite understand in Transfiguration. Promising she'd memorised Remus' directions she'd set off from the group, alone for the first time in the younger halls around her.
Upon entering the library however she didn't head for the transfiguration section but the section she had found when researching her time-turner in third year. She piled her arms with books and went to find a table to quietly read at.
Five books later and Hermione hadn't found any reference to the indigo light she had seen prior to being hit. Perhaps a section on charms or curses would be more relevant, and less conspicuous than the stack of books on time travel that sat in front of her. Realising her error she stood picked up the pile, quietly heading back and returning the books to their rightful places on the shelves.
Hermione smiled kindly at the front desk librarian, checking out one book before she left for her Arithmancy class.
As she walked down the corridors the only sound was her own footsteps echoing off the walls as she read while she walked. This was a task she had perfected in her third year and was proud of her ability.
'From current research into time travel, subjects have been successfully sent back in time up to a few hours where they will eventually catch up to themselves…' Hermione was so absorbed in the book she didn't see the two figures step out from around the corner until she had run into them.
She cried out and fell to the floor. "I'm sorry," she said, looking up at who she had walked into. Malfoy and Snape. Great.
"Stupid mudblood." snapped Malfoy. "Bet you're as useless with a wand as a Hufflepuff," he spat.
Hermione got up and glared at him ignoring the disdainful look she was receiving from Snape.
"Firstly, I, walking into you has nothing to do with my magical ability, and secondly I bet most of Hufflepuff could hold their own in the right situation," she said as she moved to walk past them, thinking about her Hufflepuff classmates in Hogsmead at the start of summer.
Malfoy and Snape laughed coldly at this. "That Mudblood, is highly debatable, oh and about your so called magical ability we'll see how you do when set a duel in the Defense class," he sneered as he stalked off with Snape.
Hermione wondered about duels in Defense - while Remus would occasionally get them dueling, it was far and few between. The Werewolf preferred teaching methods that did not risk one student harming another.
That night Hermione again couldn't escape her dreams that prolonged her grief, so she found herself sitting in front of the fire again.
Later movement next to her brought her away from her thoughts on Ron.
Sirius could see the pain in her eyes as he sat down and offered her a smile.
"I can see," he began, "That this may become a regular occurrence."
