A/N: Hey guys! Okay, this chapter took me a while to write. Well, actually, it took me a while to make myself sit down and write it. I don't know, I guess I was just a little apprehensive about my first chapter containing dialogue with characters from the past. I'm not entirely sure I like this chapter or not, I may edit it later, but I just wanted to post since it's been so long. It really shouldn't take too long for me to write chapter five because I already have planned what's gonna happen…and it's gonna be good! I'm really excited that the story is starting to get to the juicy stuff! Anyway, I have more to say at the end of the chapter, but for now, on with the story!
Hermione and Ginny spent the morning of September first wandering around London. The girls had flooed from McGonagall's office to the Leaky Cauldron, and had wandered around London until ten-thirty when they began heading to King's Cross station.
Neither girl spoke very much. Both were engrossed in their thoughts. Hermione knew more about the people in this time than Ginny did, but she was still racking her brains for all the information she had ever heard about Harry's parents and their friends. She knew that Lilly was smart and a prefect and that she was in Gryffindor, but that was all. She knew (and could guess) a lot more about Harry's dad just from what she had heard from Sirius. She also recalled the time during their third year in the Three Broomsticks when she, Harry, and Ron eavesdropped on the conversation of the minister of magic and several of their professors. McGonagall had called James and Sirius the forerunners of the Weasely twins, so she assumed it would be just like being around Fred and George again, which couldn't be too bad.
Ginny knew far less. She had been friends with Harry for the last several years, but she was never a close friend to him like Ron and Hermione, so she was never around when Harry talked about his parents. Last summer, when her family stayed at Grimauld Place, Ginny had heard Sirius occasionally make comments about Harry being just like his father, but she had heard little else.
Their first test, however, was to befriend their new roommates and convince them that their story was true. Girls catch details much more easily than boys, and Hermione and Ginny knew that if anyone saw a defect in their fabricated past, it would be a girl.
Hermione and Ginny wound their way through the crowd of students on Platform 9 and ¾ as everyone greeted their friends who they had not seen over the summer. The girls finally made it onto the scarlet Hogwarts Express and began looking for an empty compartment. As they were nearing the end of the train, they looked into a compartment and saw something familiar: Harry's vivid green eyes. Only they weren't looking out of Harry's face. Rather, they were set like two shining emeralds in the face of a beautiful redheaded girl who was unmistakably Harry's mother.
She looked surprised upon seeing them, but brightened quickly and said, "Hello, I'm Lilly Evans. Are you new? I don't think I've ever seen you before?"
Delighted that they had found someone they knew (well, sort of), the girls introduced themselves.
"Yes, we've both just transferred here from Beauxbatons and we're in our fifth year," said Hermione. "My name is Hermione Granger, and this is my friend Ginny We..Bennett." She added, stumbling slightly to remember Ginny's counterfeit surname.
"It's very nice to meet you both then," replied Lilly genially. "Won't you join us in our compartment?"
Hermione and Ginny gratefully accepted the invitation and entered their compartment. They lifted their trunks onto the luggage rack with some difficulty. Harry and Ron had always helped Hermione lift her trunk, so she wasn't used to putting it up there on her own. She managed with some help from Lilly and once she and Ginny had both finished and sat down, they noticed that there were two other girls sitting in the compartment as well. They sat down and Lilly began the introductions.
"Hermione, Ginny, I'd like you both to meet my two best friends and roommates: Jen Corley and Katya Rollins," said Lilly, indicating the two girls sitting across from Hermione and Ginny.
The two girls smiled and greeted Hermione and Ginny warmly. Jen had dark, shoulder-length hair that framed her heart-shaped face. She had brown eyes splashed with gold and green and a slightly mischievous grin. Her build was athletic and she was tan from what Ginny expected to be hours of playing quidditch during the summer.
Katya had curly, golden hair and eyes the color of forget-me-nots. She had a kind, sweet face with freckles sprinkled all over her fair skin. Although she was sitting, Ginny guessed that she would be rather tall when she stood up.
"So, do you girls know what house you're in?" asked Jen.
"Yeah, we got sorted a few days ago. We're both in Gryffindor," Ginny replied.
"Excellent!" said Katya, "We're in Gryffindor too, so we'll be roommates."
"So tell us, why are you transferring to Hogwarts?" asked Lilly.
Hermione then told her new friends the story that she and Ginny had come up with, praying that the girls wouldn't ask any questions she and Ginny wouldn't know how to answer.
"But," said Lilly once Hermione had finished, "why are you transferring now? I mean, fifth year is a crucial period in your education, what with O.W.L.s and all. It's not exactly the best time to make such a major transition, is it?"
Hermione glanced at Ginny quickly, unsure about how to answer that question, but to her surprise Ginny showed no signs of discomfort and instead lied easily, "That's another reason why we transferred. See, at Beauxbatons, they have their examinations after six years of study, rather than five, but then they have less time to study on a N.E.W.T. level. We weren't sure how exactly their examinations equate with the English ones, so since we're both planning on working in England in the future, we decided that it would be best to go ahead and make the transition."
The three other girls in the compartment all nodded, Ginny's explanation making perfect sense. Hermione realized that Ginny was right, but at first was surprised that Ginny even knew that about Beauxbatons, until she remembered that poor Ginny had endured a summer with Fleur.
As the Hogwarts Express streamed through the countryside, Hermione and Ginny asked the other girls questions about Hogwarts, some of which they already knew the answers to and others that they genuinely wanted to know about. Lilly, Jen, and Katya told them about life at Hogwarts, what the professors and classes were like, and, in Jen's case, all about quidditch. She was the keeper on the Gryffindor team. Hermione, noticing that Ginny was about to start bombarding Jen with questions about the team and not really wanting to hear about quidditch anyway, asked, "Hang on, you girls haven't told us anything about the boys at this school. Are there any good ones in our year?" She was dying to hear all about Harry's parents' romance in school so she could tell him all about it when she got back to the future.
The other three girls traded looks and Lilly said, "I hate to disappoint you, but the boys in our year are all a bunch of prats. The ones in Gryffindor are anyway." She said this with a look of disgust on her face.
Ginny and Hermione exchanged surprised glances at this. They had been expecting Lilly to get a love-struck expression on her face and start telling them about James Potter, but instead it seemed like the thought of him, and Sirius and Remus for that matter, made her sick.
"Oh, come on, Frank's not that bad," said Katya fairly.
"Yeah, but he and Alice kind of have a thing going on, so he doesn't count," replied Lilly sourly.
"Allow me to explain Lilly's severe distaste for the boys in our year. Well, the Gryffindor boys in our year, I should say," began Jen. "You see, the four boys, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, are known throughout the school as "The Marauders." I don't know where they came up with that stupid name, but they think it's brilliant. Everyone in school–"
"–thinks their gods or something," interrupted Lilly, looking quite moody about the whole subject, "honestly, everyone worships them and the boys revel in it. Ugh, it makes me sick. They're arrogant, annoying, they follow no rules, they–"
"You really shouldn't let her get started, or she'll never stop," said Katya, now interrupting Lilly's tirade. "She's always hated them. Potter especially. He never stops asking her out," she added with a slight smirk.
"Yeah, Potter's always had a thing for Lilly, but I can't speak against him too much. He is my captain, and I must respect him," said Jen.
"Please! I really don't see how you can stand playing quidditch with that insufferable boy," fumed Lilly. "And it's impossible to respect him, he is a complete prat with no redeeming qualities."
"Now, I completely agree that he is a prat in every sense of the word. However, I'm very sorry, Lilly, but I have to say he is a beyond brilliant quidditch player who has never let Gryffindor lose a match. That definitely counts as a redeeming quality," responded Jen.
Lilly didn't respond to Jen's comment, but instead said to Hermione and Ginny, "The point is: the Marauders are nothing but four obnoxious boys who do nothing but bully other students and who care about no one but themselves. They are not worth your time or consideration, so take my advice and stay as far away from them as possible."
"You'll find that somewhat difficult seeing as you're going to have all your classes with them," said Katya, "but I wouldn't worry because they probably won't even notice you. They don't really give much thought to anyone but themselves."
Hermione figured they would hear more about the Marauders soon enough, so she decided to steer the conversation away from thoseparticular boys.
"Well, those are the Gryffindor boys in our year, but what about those in seventh? Or the boys in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff? Surely some of them are worth consideration," she said to the other girls.
"That's the problem, isn't it? All those boys are afraid of the marauders. None of them has enough backbone to stand up to the Marauders, they never go out with girls unless the Marauders are "through" with them," said Jen, disgusted.
In response to Hermione and Ginny's raised eyebrows, Katya explained, "You see, the Marauders, well, mainly Potter and Black, gits that they are, have a sort of competition to see how many girls they can go out with. Mind you, they only bother with pretty girls. And no Slytherins. They hate Slytherins as a rule, but then again, most Gryffindors do." She added as an afterthought.
"And so," said Lilly, finishing up Jen's original point, "no boys will ever ask out any girls that haven't gone out with the Marauders at some point. It's a weird sort of system that all the boys seem to understand. It's like Potter and Black are the "alpha males." By now I'm pretty sure the Marauders have gone out with all the girls in our year and the year below us, so now all the other spineless idiots have a chance."
"Oh, Lilly's just bitter because she had a huge crush on Bertram Aubrey and when Potter found out, he and Black went and used some illegal curse on Aubrey that made the size of his head double," said Jen, smiling apologetically at Lilly, "Aubrey has never come near Lilly since."
"So wait, have none of you ever had a boyfriend before?" asked Ginny.
"Jen and I have," replied Katya, "But then again, Jen went out with Black and I went out with Lupin for a while so we are "available" to other boys, not that there really are any that we like."
"Wait, you willingly went out with them after all that you've just said about them?" asked Hermione.
"Well, we figured we might as well," said Jen. "I mean, for all their horridness, they aren't that bad to look at, and we really didn't go out with them for very long, so it wasn't too bad. And Sirius Black certainly knows how to…" she said with a dreamy expression, then realizing what she was saying shook the silly look off her face and added quickly, "Not that he isn't still a prat. I honestly can't stand him. He's just… well… you know," she finished lamely.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Katya, also with a slightly dreamy look on her face.
"I know what both of you mean, and I don't want to hear about it," declared Lilly, "All the Marauders make me sick!"
Hermione and Ginny, however, weren't entirely sure they knew what the girls meant, they could only guess that the Marauders weren't really as bad as they seemed. They did after all turn out alright in the future. Before they could ask any more questions, the witch with the lunch trolley passed by and all the girls bought some snacks for lunch. Ginny decided that it was best to not continue on the subject of the Marauders, so instead she revisited the topic of quidditch, which she had been dying to hear more about anyway. She hoped to be able to play on the house team, so she wanted to hear about all the details about the team. Jen was thrilled to be back on the subject of her favorite pastime, willingly obliged. Even Lilly and Katya took part in the conversation, because even though they didn't actually play the sport, they enjoyed it as much as any other witch.
Hermione, however, didn't. She would have liked to change the subject again, but the girls were already full into debates on tactics, so she admitted defeat and decided to get a book out of her trunk. She stood on her seat and reached up to look for Hogwarts, A History. Unfortunately, although she hadn't realized it, when she had placed her trunk in the luggage rack earlier, she perched it there rather precariously. So as she tilted it slightly towards herself to look inside, her trunk and all its contents fell onto her and knocked her to the floor, whereupon she hit her head soundly and faded from consciousness...
A/N: Okay, I don't know if that counts as a cliffy or not. Sorry if it does. I'm also sorry the marauders didn't quite make it into this one like I promised, but it's all about them in the next chapter! He he…
To all of you who have asked what my special "spin" on the time-travel genre is, well, it's not really gonna come in for a while. It hasn't been done as far as I know, but I do know that it's gonna be a lot of fun to write! Most of you will like it, but I think some of you (from what you've said in your reviews) are gonna be a little upset with me.
To all who reviewed: Thank you! Special thanks to I Write Sins Not Tragedies and FireChildSlytherin5 for being my most loyal reviewers and reviewing on every chapter! Everyone's reviews have been amazing, they really get me going. I swear I'm inspired to write everytime I read a review!
Please let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always great and really helpful. I want to know what you like and don't like so that I can know how best to please you!
Alrighty, thanks for reading!
Muchas smoochas,
Twinkling Blue Eyes