Disclaimer: Not mine. Hardly anything is mine. A few things actually are, but almost everything is JKR's.
Author's Note: Hmm...I got this done, and forgot to post it. I didn't realize that until I went to type chapter four. Here's the last chapter from a time-traveler's point of view. Hope you like it!
Heart's Desire
Chapter 3
-----Hermione's Point of View-----
We were spinning madly. I was actually about to get sick, and I don't get motion sick easily. We landed with a thump inside the Forbidden Forest.
"Something isn't right," Harry said instantly. He glanced up at the sky, as if trying to read something there. I, personally, thought he had been spending way too much time with the centaurs, no matter how good they were at muggle archery.
"Just what do you hope to find up there, Harry?" I asked, semi-exasperated.
"That," he said, pointing. There, just above the treetops, was the full moon.
"Oh," I said lamely. Harry just smiled.
"Lets get moving," Ron suggested. "There is obviously a chance we'll run into the Marauders tonight, but we might as well get moving. We don't want to get there too late for breakfast."
"Ron, how typical," Ginny laughed. "Honestly, do you ever think of anything but food?"
"Of course I do," Ron said indignantly. They continued to bicker as we started walking through the forest. All of a sudden, we came into a clearing. There, on the opposite side, stood Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.
I know the only thing that kept Moony from charging for so long was the fact that we had appeared suddenly from down wind. Suddenly, he charged. Harry, always the one with the quickest reactions, immediately transformed into a wolf and tackled him mid-air, giving everyone a chance to transform. I stood there, frozen, watching Harry and Remus battle. They were actually pretty evenly matched, Harry's speed somewhat evening out Remus's strength.
"Hermione!" I heard Luna say through the charm. "You have to transform."
"Oh! Right!" I thought hurriedly. Suddenly, I drew a blank. "Luna! I forgot how!"
"Just calm down, and concentrate on your eagle form," Luna said calmly, making me calm down just to hear someone who seemed to be in control of herself. Within seconds, I had calmed down enough to transform. At this point, Moony seemed to realize that Harry wasn't keeping him from humans; he was keeping him from other animals, which he didn't seem to want nearly as much. He stopped to stare at us. I tried to smile apologetically at everyone else, especially at Harry, who seemed to be bleeding from his left shoulder. Prongs approached Harry cautiously.
"Just what are you doing?" he asked. We could all here him, just like if he had spoken out loud.
"Well, we were walking to Hogwarts," Harry responded. "What?" he inquired, as James gave him a funny look.
"Do you attend Hogwarts?" James asked. He and Harry moved a little way away from the main group, still talking. We decided to talk amongst ourselves, too. Ron decided to talk to Remus, figuring he would have the best chance of getting through, seeing as he turned into a magical creature, a salamander, outside of Harry, for who it would be like talking to another animagus, seeing as one of his forms was a wolf and the other was a magical creature. Ginny and I moved to talk to Padfoot, while Neville and Luna talked to Wormtail.
"Why, hello there," I said, semi-shyly.
"Um, hello," Sirius said, slightly doubtful. "You would be?"
"I'm Sapphire. My friend here is Swift," Ginny answered.
"I'm Padfoot," Sirius grinned. "What, exactly, are you doing, roaming the forest during a full moon?"
"Trying to get to Hogwarts," I shrugged. "Are we close?" I noticed Harry and James talking at the edge of the clearing. Harry was scanning all of the forest he could see, as if making sure there was no danger. He was getting to have a pretty good sense for it. He could notice dangers that I would never think of. It really helped when people, mainly Fred and George, tried to play pranks on us.
"Hermione," Harry said urgently through the spell.
"What?" I asked, trying to act as if nothing was happening.
"Could you investigate outside the ring of trees? Something's there, I just don't know what. Something dangerous, so watch out."
"Sure, Harry." With that I took flight. Sirius was the only Marauder who noticed me leave.
I flew as close to the ground as I dared. That is, until I spotted what I was looking for.
"Harry," I said, landing back in the clearing. "There are three full-grown acromantulas out there."
"Alright. Thanks 'Mione. Okay, group. Lets move out. Act suspicious, we don't want these four getting hurt." With that, we all said our good-byes, and started in the direction of Hogwarts. We stopped just out of sight, and listened.
"I think we should follow them." We heard Padfoot say. "Doesn't it strike you a little odd that they just showed up like that?"
"I agree," Prongs replied. "Let's see if we can get Moony to follow them. You have the best luck with that."
We heard them start after us, so we started as well, making sure to stay in sight so they wouldn't decide to do something else, like go back to the clearing. We wove around as long as we could, giving them just enough time to get back to the Shack as we reached Hogwarts. We transformed as we saw them duck under the Whomping Willow.
"Well, lets head to Dumbledore's office," Neville said, snapping back to reality first. We all nodded. We hoped not to encounter anyone, but that didn't happen. The very first person we met was Bellatrix Black.
"Just who are you?" she sneered.
"Transfers. Now, if you will excuse us, we're trying to find the Headmaster's office," Harry said, attempting to push past her. I just hoped Harry and Neville wouldn't lose their tempers. In our time, she had been killed at the battle at Diagon Alley, which had taken place about a month before Christmas.
"Well, I'd be happy to show you the way," she said, smiling coldly. I did not like the look in her eye.
"That's all right. He sent us a letter telling us the location," Harry said, just as coldly. He started walking away just as Bellatrix tried to cast a spell.
"Sectumsempra!" she cried. Harry dove just as she started. He was back up before the spell hit the wall.
"Tartangula," he said calmly, making her legs jerk uncontrollably. "Expeliaramus," he continued. Her wand flew to his hand. With a final shout of "Stupefy!" Bellatrix fell over, stunned, and I don't just mean by the spell. I don't guess anyone had ever beaten her that fast or easily.
"Well, she can't just be lying around here," Ginny said. She and Ron drug Bellatrix to the nearest broom closet, and shoved her inside, making sure a particularly heavy can of Miss Skower's Magical Mess Remover fell on her face.
"Shall we continue?" Luna asked, as if nothing had happened.
Our meeting with Dumbledore went a lot better than it could have. He seemed to thoroughly believe our story, which was good, but made me wonder what other lies had been told to hem. We followed him down to the Great Hall. He was just about to speak when the Marauders snuck in. Well, three of the four, anyway.
We have the pleasure of having six new students join us," Dumbledore said to the silent hall. "They will be sorted now.
McGonagall came forward, Sorting Hat in hand. "Anderson, Laura," she called. Luna stepped forward, and placed the Sorting Hat on her head. It screamed, "Ravenclaw!"
"Granger, Felicia!" I walked forward nervously, and placed the hat on my head.
"Hmm, well, it's quite obvious. Ravenclaw!" the hat said, taking me completely by surprise. I took the hat off, shocked, and walked to the cheering Ravenclaw table as McGonagall called "Granger, Harry!"
Harry walked forward, and sat under the hat for almost longer than I had ever seen. He was arguing with it, and I started to get a sinking feeling. "Slytherin!" the hat yelled, proving it justified. Harry tore the hat off his head, storming angrily to the Slytherin table, which was cheering, although not very loudly. Neville, Ginny, and Ron were all called, and all placed into Gryffindor.
"Rising again, Dumbledore spoke. "Miss and Mr. Granger, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Welker will be joining the sixth year classes, while Miss Welker and Miss Anderson will be joining the fifth years. Now, enjoy your breakfast." With that, the food appeared, and everyone began piling it on their plates.
"So, that's your brother?" a dark haired witch asked, pointing to Harry, who was sulking at the end of the Slytherin table.
"Twin brother, yeah," I answered. "I'm Felicia, by the way. What's your name?"
"I'm Marianna," the girl replied. She was staring at Harry, as if she had never seen anything like him. I rolled my eyes. It looked like Harry was going to have more attention than he wanted, even in the past.
The meal passed silently until Neville ran over.
"Hey, Felicia. We've got some people to show us around school, now," he said. At that moment, the bell rang, signalling the start of class.
"That's great!" I said, faking enthusiasm so the other people in my house wouldn't get suspicious.
"Yes, I've got someone, too," Luna said from beside me. I smiled, and followed Neville towards the Entrance Hall, with Luna following me. She walked off with another fifth year Ravenclaw as we joined Harry and Ron. Just then, Snape walked over.
"Granger!" he yelled at Harry, who didn't look up immediately, but still fast enough for people not to get suspicious. "As a Slytherin sixth year prefect, I'm required to ask if you need shown around."
"Actually," Harry responded cheerfully. "I believe I've got someone to show me to classes, but could you show me to the common room and stuff, after supper, if you don't mind."
"If I minded, I wouldn't have offered. By the way Severus Snape," he said, sticking out his hand.
"Harry Granger," Harry replied, shaking his hand. "See you later tonight." Snape just nodded and headed towards Potions.
"Well, we should get going!" James said as they approached. I wasn't sure if they had heard the exchange or not, but if they had, they probably weren't thrilled to see anyone associating with Snape willingly. "Peter, you can show Neville to Muggle Studies, and we'll head on to Potions." We all nodded. "I'm James Potter, by the way, and this is Sirius Black. That was Peter Pettigrew." He said this mainly to me and Harry.
"I'm Felicia," I said, smiling.
"I believe you know me best as Midnight," Harry smirked.
"How did you know who we were?" James asked, clearly shocked.
"Well, I could say it was something impressive, like Legilimency," Harry grinned. "But while I'm fairly competent at Occlumency, I suck at Legilimency. The real reason is that I recognized your voice. You sound the same no matter what form you take. James nodded.
"Alright, class," Professor Slughorn said as everyone sat down. "Today, we are getting new partners. In case no one told you," he said to me, Ron, and Harry. "I'm Professor Slughorn, head of Slytherin. We always work with an assigned partner. Every three months, we switch partners. During June, we'll have a competition of sorts, and the people wit the highest average for that month will win points for their house, as well as a 30 galleon gift certificate to the shop of their choice. That is, that's what the top three get. If there is a tie, we use the averages for the rest of the year. I must say, I expect good things from you three, seeing as you all managed O's in the class. There aren't many others who did. Now, for the partners."
After about ten minutes, he had assigned everyone partners. I was with Remus, who was still in the hospital wing, Ron was with Sirius, and Harry was with Snape. Harry and Snape were sitting behind me, with Ron and Sirius behind them. I was working on my potion, and it had just turned the proper shade of blue when, suddenly, there came an explosion from behind me.
"What happened?" Professor Slughorn asked as he strode over to where Lily and James were. The room was deadly silent.
"What did you add?" Lily screeched. James appeared to be drawing a blank.
"I didn't add anything!" he protested, but no one except Sirius, Ron, and Harry seemed to believe him. A closer look at Harry's face proved he was smirking slightly.
"It looks like this went off in their cauldron," he said, walking closer. He pulled out a firework.
"Who put this in their caldron?" Slughorn asked coldly. No one moved. He was still staring when the bell rang. "Class dismissed." Everyone left the room.
"What on earth could have happened?" James was asking Sirius as we left.
"I didn't want you to mess up my Potions grade," Harry smirked.
"How did you know we were planning something?" Sirius asked.
"Don't whisper so loudly. Also, just a tip for future reference, floating fireworks look slightly suspicious, don't you think?" Harry asked smugly.
"Alright, if you think you're so good, we want to challenge you to a prank war," James said. He looked as if he regretted it instantly. Sirius just stared at him.
"Well, I'll have to consult my colleagues first, of course," Harry said. "But there is at least one term to be agreed upon right now."
"And what is that?" Sirius asked cautiously.
"We only prank the ones in the war," Harry said simply. "Lets say Felicia here doesn't want in on it. You can't prank her. Lets say Peter doesn't want in on it. We can't prank him. We can't prank any of the staff, or other students. Is that clear?" They both nodded. "Good. Then I'm in."
"Me too," Ron said, while I nodded.
"Well, you can't very well have a prank war without opponents, now can you?" Sirius asked. "I'm in. So is the idiot over there who's having second thoughts about challenging you."
"Lets go ask Remus, he should be up by now," James said, clearly not taking well to being called an idiot by his best friend and then being laughed at.
"Hi, Remus!" Sirius said excitedly once we got to the hospital wing.
"Hi Sirius, hi James," Remus said wearily. Then he spotted us.
"Hi! We haven't properly met yet, but I'm Harry Granger," Harry grinned, offering his hand to Remus.
"Erm, hello," Remus said hesitantly, shaking his hand. "Remus Lupin."
"This is my twin sister, Felicia, and our friend Ron Welker," Harry continued, ignoring Remus's nervousness at what he knew we knew. "Ron's sister Ginny, and our friend Laura Anderson aren't here right now, seeing as they're in fifth year. Neville will probably be led here soon. He was at Muggle Studies with Peter." Suddenly, there was a bang outside as someone entered the hospital wing. Harry, Ron, and I immediately changed. I turned into my dark brown eagle, Ron turned into a small salamander, and Harry transformed, disappearing from view.
Author's Note: Well, how was that? Now, you are going to be the awesome readers I know you can be and review! Honestly. This is the third chapter, and I've gotten 1 review! I know your reading it because it's gotten quite a few hits. If I don't get at least two reviews, I'm going to take this story down. So, if you want to see anymore, you have to review!