Chapter 10

Neville was waiting in the corridor with Lilly and Peter when Hermione'd arrived. Only she and Remus had gone down to meet the newcomers; Hermione to set the wards, and Remus to offer a familiar face to the two. Sirius, and even more so James, had volunteered to go, but it was suggested that Lilly might not have agreed to go with them. Hermione and Remus'd passed Draco in the common room, he'd been eating dinner, and warned him about the new additions to the warding. He'd sneered when they mentioned Pettigrew, but otherwise ignored them. Taking this as a good sign, they'd continued on outside.

Hermione spoke the words of the incantation, and Remus was once again impressed. Lilly seemed nearly awed, even though Hermione, by this time, looked more like thirteen or fourteen. Peter just seemed happy to see his friend, who'd been missing for two days.

"That's you." Hermione signaled Lilly past, but then put out a hand to hold Peter back. "Wait just a second; they have to be set separately."

She incanted another sentence, and the space of wall flashed a mild yellow color. "There, that's you" she added, before waving him through as well.

Remus raised an eyebrow at her. She'd sent them all through as a group, last time.

"Just a warning." Hermione whispered at an inaudible level, knowing Remus' enhanced hearing would let him hear what the others had no chance to. "We agreed to let him in, but there's no such thing as too cautious."

Remus didn't seem particularly happy about it, but couldn't find a specific problem with her logic, either. He merely frowned at her, disapprovingly.

Hermione grinned at him. "Never had that look directed at me, before." He quirked an eyebrow at her, and she responded cheekily "I'm the good one. It was usually Ron you were frowning at." The grin disappeared, and she fell silent. Remus put a hand on her arm, understanding, and gave a gentle squeeze. Hermione relaxed somewhat into the touch, and sighed. She covered his hand with her own, and gave him a weak smile.

"If you two are quite through" Lilly Evans asked. "I, for one, would like to know why we're here." She was standing at the end of the walkway, having turned to watch them with a raised eyebrow, Peter snickering behind her. Neville was leaning against the wall, too lost in his own thoughts to have noticed the exchange between Remus and Hermione.

Hermione regained her composure, and smiled. "This way, please. Neville, if you would come as well" Hermione lead the way up to James' rooms.

The walk was silent, until they passed the silencing charm, which was, apparently, still in place. The moment they crossed through the doorway, their ears filled with the sounds of the three boys laughing. "And then, would you believe it" Sirius was saying, between guffaws"the idiot tries to vanish them /again, and his whole robe turns pink."

James and Harry were laughing so hard they were nearly crying, and didn't even notice the newcomers. Not until Peter said "Are you talking about that prank we pulled on Snivellus" at which point the three burst into fresh laughter, Hermione and Remus looked disapproving, Lily suddenly looked disgusted, and Neville simply looked confused.

Hermione merely cleared her throat. James and Harry both fell silent almost immediately, and Sirius, finding himself the only one laughing, soon followed. Hermione turned to Lilly. "I apologize for /that/." She spat the last word"we really do have a reason for bringing you up here. If you would take a seat, I'll explain."

Sirius moved to join Harry and James on the far couch. Peter and Neville took another, and Remus and Lilly took the third, Lilly looking like this whole thing was against her better judgment. Hermione remained standing, walking over by the fireplace that the U of couches faced. She paced as she explained.

She gave a brief overview of the bond, the risks, and the potential benefits, highly stressing the risks. A carefully edited version of why Lilly and Peter had been brought into this, and what they were asking of them, followed. Hermione was careful to avoid, at this point, any mention of things that were directly in either of the two newcomers' future. She carefully avoided even the use of Harry's last name, despite how obvious it was that he was related to James.

An even more edited version of Harry's importance ended Hermione's statement. "...why we have to find someone for Harry, as soon as possible. From what all of us know of you, Lilly, we think you two might be compatible."

"There's more to this that you aren't telling me, isn't there." Lilly responded.

Hermione sighed. "Yes, there is. If you're compatible, we'll fill you in before you need to know. I know you don't know us, or necessarily trust us, but this really is for the best."

"I trust Dumbledore. And he sent me here, so I'll go along, for now. There's no real risk in checking if it would work, right"

"No." Hermione answered. "Not anything significant."

Lilly raised an eyebrow at this.

"The only real risk is that you are compatible, and choose not to bond within the month. After which you cannot bond. It's not really a risk, as such, more a ... consideration."

Lilly nodded. "Okay. Can we test this now"

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. "We were hoping you'd say that. Harry"

Harry and Lilly both approached Hermione. Hermione drew out the dagger. Lilly went a bit white. "Still sure you're okay with this" Hermione asked her.

"Yeah. It's just "

Hermione smiled reassuringly. "I know. It'll be alright. And this one isn't dark magic, I swear." At Lilly's nod, Hermione began the incantation. The tiny cuts were made, and they pressed their hands together.

The glow was white, and quite bright, but it settled in to yellow. Hermione groaned.

"I take it that wasn't what we were looking for" Lilly asked.

"No. We're hoping for blue. Yellow means you're too alike." Hermione answered.

"I'll try" Peter volunteered. Harry flinched, but covered it well. James didn't cover it half so well, but Peter wasn't looking in his direction at the time.

Hermione tried to smile encouragingly. She was actually almost afraid that Peter would match Harry. Or that they'd come up as "too similar". Either would be a huge blow to Harry. Biting back the urge to snarl at the poor boy, she waved him up. She quickly made the marks, repeating the incantation, and waited with bated breath. She mentally breathed a huge sigh of relief as the color settled at red. She waved Neville up.

The result was yellow. She stared at the boys' clasped hands in shock. Peter and Neville were beaming at each other, as though they'd found their new best friend. Everyone else, aside from Lilly, was staring at Neville in varying levels of horror. That was certainly unexpected. Lilly stepped up in Peters' place, and Hermione numbly recited the incantation again.

The white flash was barely visible, but the color settled at blue. Neville and Lilly both breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone else was caught in inner turmoil.

"But it's just like earlier, there's no guarantee that Neville, that either of them, will turn. Besides, all it means is that they're too similar for the bond. That hardly means they're the /same/." Hermione argued.

"You're the one who put the warning on the entrance, Hermione." Remus reminded.

They were back to just the five of them, tucked away in the little room arguing over things. Peter and Lilly had gone back to the dorms, to avoid suspicion. Neville had decided to Polyjuice himself as Remus and go with them, also ostensibly for the sake of avoiding suspicion. The rest of the group was fairly well convinced, however, that the real reason was that Neville and Peter wanted the chance to get to know each other. The marauders were the only male Gryffindors of their year, so the two, once in the boys' dorm room, could spend time together as themselves quite safely. Lilly only left grudgingly, wanting to know more about the spell. She promised to return on the following day to talk more about the bond, and possibly to complete it.

Whether or not they suggested its' completion was the current topic for debate.

"But if they're bonded, we can't very well include one and not the other. If it had been Neville and Peter, we could have discluded them both. But I'm not about to stand by and let Lilly be ignored by the group. Nor is she dumb enough to let us get away with it." James argued.

"She isn't your wife yet, James" Sirius argued. "She's not even your girlfriend. There's no reason to include her in all this."

"But with the bond, she will be." James retorted. "She'll know, or at least be able to know, if she chooses, all the same things I know." He paused. "And how will you block her memories, like you did mine, if you won't be there" He directed at Hermione.

Hermione sighed. "I, or more likely the Headmaster, probably will be, James. Dumbledore didn't need to be present with us, because I knew what I was doing, and you are a reasonably competent wizard. Lilly, on the other hand " here James made a noise of outrage, but Hermione ignored it. "has never done a bit of blood magic in her life, and Neville is..."

"Incompetent." Harry answered, for her. "He's not lacking in power, and hardly stupid, but he's not confident enough to make his spellwork reliable."

"Exactly." Hermione finished. "So someone, most likely Dumbledore, will be there with them. It's not the ideal, really, as it tends to make the spell a tad less powerful, and there's the added risk of someone being distracted in a crucial moment. But for them, it's better than the alternative."

"That still doesn't answer what we let them in on." Sirius interjected.

"Actually, I don't see why we're having this conversation at all. There's no reason why we have to include Neville if we include Lilly. Just because Hermione and James can communicate telepathically doesn't mean anyone else will be able to. Hermione's a bloody genius, it's no surprise that she figured out something like that in two minutes." Harry said.

Hermione blushed at the compliment. "Harry's right, actually. While we may choose to include Neville in some things, there's no reason that what we decide to let him in on can't be independent of our decisions regarding Lilly. Even if they develop a telepathic link, which I see no reason why they couldn't in time, there is no part of that which would /force/ Lilly to tell him everything. I don't really see the reason to be biased against Neville, but I'm fine with leaving him out of things, at least for now."

"I think Neville's oblivious enough not to notice when we don't include him in things, at least if we're careful. What about Peter, though, will he pick up on it" Harry asked.

"Nah, there's no way he'll notice. He really does seem a lot like your Neville. Though he is a bit daft, as well. And I don't see him having any real magical strength hidden away." Sirius said.

James frowned. "No, actually, he is a lot like Neville. He actually does have the same hidden potential, and he isn't half so stupid as you think."

Sirius just stared at him, like he'd lost his mind entirely.

"The future-memories, Sirius." James responded. "Two days ago I would've agreed with you." James sighed. "We've really never been fair to him." He seemed very bothered by something, staring straight ahead.

Hermione watched him for a moment, and then spoke. "We just need to be careful. We need to watch what we say, and be careful not to slight either of them, or let on that we're leaving them out of something."

"And if we encourage Neville and Peter in their friendship, there's truly little chance that either will notice. Or that they'll feel particularly left out, if they do." Remus added.

Hermione didn't particularly like the solution, but it was acceptable. "Well, that's one thing dealt with. I suggest we all get some sleep, then. Lilly will be back tomorrow, and we'll need to go over potential candidates for bonding with Harry."

With that, she and Harry stood. They caught the exchanged glances of the Marauders, and the two shared a smile as they walked out the door, and into the corridor. Once outside the silencing charm, Hermione spoke. "I thought it best to end early, and give them a bit of time together, or they'll be up all night."

"So, are we taking some time out for a chat tonight as well" Harry grinned. "I suppose I'm not the closest thing you have to a brother anymore. Perhaps we need to discuss our changing relationship." He mocked.

"Oh, you." Hermione swatted at him. Harry ducked easily. "You're still my 'brother'. No need to go getting all despondent."

"So are we chatting, then"

"Nope, brother'o'mine, we're /sleeping/. It's time and past we got some decent sleep in this place. Except... I have to ask... who do /you/ think you'll be compatible with, that's in this time."

Harry groaned. "My luck, it's going to be " He cut himself off, and blanched.

"Who, Harry? If you've thought of someone, even if it's someone you don't like, we should check them first. You would know yourself best..." Hermione questioned.

"No. Refuse to even consider it. Forget it, Hermione. Not going to happen."

"Fine. But, if it comes down to it, will you"

"Yeah. If it's life or death. And if I find someone to bond with, and all goes well, I'll tell you then, too. Since I know you'll bug me for the rest of my life if I don't."

Hermione grinned at her best friend, and they parted ways to get some sleep.

Remus woke to find himself on a couch. On, in fact, the couch in James' room where he'd spent most of yesterday. It was truly odd, how many things had changed this weekend. It was even odder to discover that some things would always be the same. Like the Marauders talking so late into the night that they all passed out on couches, when there was a perfectly good bed not ten steps away.

He guessed it was, perhaps, ten or so in the morning. He was actually rather surprised that they'd all slept so late, what with Hermione's tendency to rise early. Actually, he imagined the only way she was still asleep was if she and Harry'd spent a night similarly to the way the Marauders had, talking till all hours. Remus frowned. That didn't explain why they weren't awake, though, as Lilly was coming over today, and was also a notoriously early riser; she would surely have had them up by now.

He yawned, and stretched, figuring there was no chance of waking his friends for at least another two hours, not on a Sunday. He could try, sure, but it wouldn't do a bit of good. Not even bothering to be quiet, he made his way to the door. He'd deal with showering later, first: breakfast.

As Remus stumbled blearily through the door, however, he found the world quite different than the one he'd left. The change from silence to the activity of a day was surprising, and he realized that the silencing charm was two-way. He was a bit surprised, as that was advanced magic, but he'd spent enough time around Hermione to know that such a charm was hardly a surprise coming from her. The noise level was hardly /loud, but if the charm hadn't been in place, it would surely have awakened him.

The scene that met him, at the bottom of the stairs, was rather odd. It was enough to convince Remus that he was surely still dreaming, and not to ever fall asleep after talking to James and Sirius again. Peter, for once, wasn't following anyone about. Instead, he was sat across from Neville in the quashy chairs of the Hufflepuff section. The two were seated, books spread in front of them on a coffee table, arguing; looking for all the world a pair of scholars, emphatically making some point or another.

The topic had to be Herbology. Remus couldn't think of anything else Peter even remotely excelled in. Still, he'd never seen the shy boy act anything like this. It was like he'd landed in a foreign world. As if that scene weren't odd enough, he turned to find a rather livid currently-seventeen-looking Hermione giving a dressing down to a currently-eleven-looking Malfoy, who was looking guilty and shame-faced. A now more-like-ten-looking Harry watched in amusement, oddly attempting to come to the eleven-year-old Malfoy's defense.

He had to close his eyes, pinch himself, and make an attempt at willing things different before he believed they were really there. He couldn't imagine Hermione hopping mad, nor a Malfoy ashamed, nor Harry defending Draco - not for anything. Yet here they were, and that was exactly what he was seeing. He choked back a laugh.

"It's not a bit funny, you know" spoke a disapproving voice behind him. He whirled. Lilly Evans stood behind him, hands on hips. "They might have done permanent damage."

Remus frowned. "She can just give them a de-aging potion, right? Won't that have the opposite affect"

"If it'd been a simple aging potion that did that, yes. Draco, thinking himself quite the potions master, apparently attempted an alteration of the aging potion. He was so certain it would work, he slipped it into the pumpkin juice. The only change in the potion's effects is, apparently, a sort of partial memory lapse. It's made Draco and Harry lose the majority of their memories." She sighed. "While they looked like children before, now they actually are."

"Idiot children, Lilly. Definitely idiot children." Hermione interrupted. "While they can vaguely remember the events of the past few days, they can't remember a thing of the past four or five years. They both think they've just gotten their Hogwarts' letters, for crying out loud. And Draco can't even come close to telling me what he did to that potion." She collapsed into a nearby couch. "I don't suppose either of you are potions geniuses."

Remus winced. "That's my worst subject. By far. I'm worse than Pete."

Lilly didn't seem any happier. "The only reason I pass is my tutor, Severus Snape."

Hermione shot upright. "Snape? He's /here? Oh, thank God. We're saved."

"You know Sniv, er, Snape" Remus seemed amused. "He must be a real, er... charmer, by your time."

"He's a bitter, sarcastic, spiteful pain in the arse. But he's a bloody /Einstein/ when it comes to potions, so he can be whatever the hell he wants. He invented the /Wolfsbane/ potion, for crying out loud."

"Wolfsbane" Remus asked, sounding a touch queasy. Wolfsbane was a poison for werewolves. "Er, that's not"

"Oh! I haven't told you" Hermione was grinning, though she also seemed to know what had been bothering him. "That potion, the one that Snape invented? It /is/ made with Wolfsbane, but it's not poison." She dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper "it lets you keep your mind when you transform." She dropped the whisper even lower "he's a spy for the light in our time."

Remus sat, stunned, for a moment. Then he let out a whoop. "Bloody potions /genius" He exclaimed. He couldn't stop grinning, right back at her.

Lilly looked at both of them, rather confused at Remus' words. "Er, I thought you hated him. Or, at least, that Black and Potter did."

Hermione sobered a touch. "Will it be a problem, if we have him here" she asked Remus.

Remus shook his head, gently. "No. Not if James" he dropped his voice "knows him for a spy."

"I'll have to refresh his memory on that, for certain. Sirius won't cause a problem" Hermione spoke normally, now, as Lilly was starting to look suspicious at their whispering.

"Not if James won't." Lilly responded. "And, look, I know there's stuff you guys haven't told me. I'm not that fragile, though. You can tell me. I'll keep your secrets, I swear."

She looked rather over-eager. Hermione glanced at Remus, questioning, but he simply signaled "later" in Marauder code, which was a subtle gesture - meant to be unnoticed in the midst of things. Hermione made the equally subtle acknowledgement, and re-directed the conversation. "So, where would Snape be on a Sunday morning"