Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. All characters, places, descriptions, etc (unless original and created by me) belong to her.
Summary: It was a small pack, of course, just the five of them, but together they were something wild. Hermione finds herself in the Marauders' Era with four new best friends.
A/N: I hope you guys like this chapter. There's a lot here to unpack. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.
Chapter 23: Animus Iocandi*
26 October 1977
Room of Requirement
Tuesday found Hermione once again traipsing off to the Room of Requirement with Regulus. As the full moon loomed closer with each passing hour, Hermione felt her time with Regulus was necessary.
Wednesday was... unbearable. Remus and Hermione slugged through their classes, taking turns nudging each other awake. It had seemed like a good plan until Charms class when they both fell asleep at the same time. Thankfully, they had merely gotten a warning.
"Psst, Hermione," James had whispered in the middle of Transfiguration. "Do you have plans tonight?" Hermione had rolled her eyes.
"Of course not, James."
"Well now you do! Midnight, common room, wear comfortable shoes." He turned back to listen to Professor McGonagall, not giving Hermione any time to argue.
After classes, Remus shuffled back to the tower for a nap and a bar (or two) of chocolate. Hermione was left wandering the corridors in confusion. Remus was a mess, and so was she. But… Remus was exhausted, falling apart, empty. Hermione on the other hand, she was full. Full of anger, energy, sadness, rage, power. Her body ached with the power of a thousand drums. Her skin felt tight and raw. As the familiar itching scattered down her arms, Hermione broke into a run.
She ran to the library, grabbed Regulus, and pulled him all the way to the Room of Requirement. She paced angrily three times. She was breathing heavy. She pushed open the door and waited for Regulus to come in.
He walked in slowly behind her, wary of her crazed state. For a moment, he deeply regretted what he had started. He saw in her eyes the same look he had seen the day they met. But then he noticed something, something deep in the corner of Hermione's left eye.
A crack. It was small and delicate, but a crack nonetheless. And it was so close to splitting open. Just one crack away from falling apart.
"Help me, Regulus," she managed to get out. She ripped off her robes as if they burned her skin. Regulus removed his as well.
And they fought.
Hermione was careful to avoid Regulus' face this time, but truly she didn't come close to hitting him in the face again. She realized he had been going easy on her before. It pained her to think of how Regulus got so good at dodging punches. She pushed the thought to the side. She would worry about Regulus on Friday, after the moon.
She didn't cry this time, which she saw as an improvement. And when they were done, they applied healing salve to the blooming bruises on their shoulders and ribs. Hermione felt a little guilty at the pride she felt when she saw the effects of her strength on Regulus. Just a little guilty.
Looking in the mirror after the Room of Requirement was a bit surreal. Before meeting with Regulus, she had looked crazed, like she was hopped up on some raging caffeine high. But now, now she very much resembled Remus. She looked tired and haggard, weak. But while her outside may have appeared weak, Hermione knew deep down she was strong.
Gryffindor Common Room
She waited until midnight rolled around before descending the stairs. The Marauders were sitting in wait by the fire.
"Hello boys," she smiled. James and Peter looked up at her with smiling faces. She looked at Remus who smiled weakly. Sirius didn't pick his head up from the map.
"It's the last prerequisite, Pup." Hermione thought James' smile couldn't get any bigger. "We're going pranking."
"Huh, and what exactly did you have in mind?"
"The Slytherins have been getting a bit too comfortable for my taste. What do you think, Padfoot?"
"Quite right, Prongs, quite right." Looking at Sirius and James, Hermione was instantly reminded of Fred and George.
"Okay, if we're doing this, we're doing this now." Remus was smiling, but his eyes were tired. Where Sirius and James looked every bit like raven-haired Weasley twins, in the shadows of the fire Remus resembled himself, twenty years in the future. Peter patted him on the shoulder.
"Chin up, Moony, you could use a spot of fun. Laughter is the best medicine." Hermione followed the Marauders out of the common room. James had his nose stuck in the map. Remus was holding the cloak, looking very much like he would pull it over himself and sink to the ground at any moment.
"So, is anyone going to explain to me what exactly we're doing?"
"Patience, Pup." James looked up from the map for a split second before ducking down again. "Okay, we've got about a two minute window to get down three flights of stairs and across seven corridors. Then we can take the Harpy Passageway, and we're basically in the clear. Ready, let's go."
The pack of five moved swiftly through the castle. Peter had transformed and scurried ahead. He gave out paced squeaks to let them know the coast was still clear. Hermione and Sirius were awkwardly huddled under the invisibility cloak. The two eighteen-year-olds were much too big to be sharing the cloak, not to mention the strange tension hanging over them. Remus and James walked beside them. As a prefect and head boy, they had a bit of leniency and were more likely to escape without a detention.
Once they reached the Harpy Passageway, Sirius practically ripped off the invisibility cloak to get away from Hermione. Hermione looked down, hurt, unsure as to if she was imagining this new icy wall between herself and Sirius or not.
"Okay, now to the good part," James started walking backwards, leading the pack down the passageway like a tour guide. "This one's got a couple parts to it, so we each get a task. Moony, you're going down to the kitchens to talk to the house elves. Start with Lido, you know she loves you. Peter, you and I are going to the Slytherin Dungeon. We've got to set up some timed wards and that'll take a while. Pup, you and Padfoot are going to the Great Hall. Set up a timed transfiguration spell. Padfoot fill Hermione in on your way down there.
"Okay, we've got a small window to do this. Peter set up a couple of dung bombs in the library earlier, so once they go off, we've got about an hour to get this all done."
They arrived at the exit of the passageway. James cast a tempus charm, and the pack watched as the seconds ticked by.
"Okay… and… go!"
The Great Hall
Sirius was being quiet. Too quiet. Yes, they were technically supposed to be quiet, but this was different. As they snuck down the hallway toward the Great Hall, Hermione stole a look at Sirius. But he avoided her glare and busied himself with the Map. James had let Sirius and Hermione take the Map since neither had the authority to walk around the halls of Hogwarts after curfew.
"So, um, what exactly are we doing?" Sirius sighed quite dramatically.
"We're going to set up a timed transfiguration spell."
"Yes, James said that already."
"It's a clothing transfiguration spell. James and Peter are setting up spells to delay the Slytherins to breakfast tomorrow so that they pass through these doors at the right time. Then once they walk through, their clothes will transform."
"And Remus' part?" Sirius' eyes twinkled.
"You'll have to wait and see."
As they started to set up the spell, Hermione was in awe of Sirius. The complexity and intricacy of the work was incredible, but Sirius had scoffed when she tried to compliment him on it. The hour was almost up when they finally finished. They stepped back away from the door with matching smiles of pride. The hinges of the doorway shimmered slightly with the waiting spells.
"Did you see someone, my pet? Where did they go? Students out of bed..." The pair whipped around at the sound of Filch, panic flooding their systems. Hermione and Sirius looked at each other; there was nowhere to run. Hermione looked tired, worn-down, and definitely not ready for a chase.
"Hide," whispered Sirius. "I'll distract him. Just hide until he's gone."
"No, Sirius, wait!"
"Hermione, just hide." And then he was off, the Map in his fist leading the way like a race baton. The Map. An itch of a memory in Hermione's head. Something about the Map.
"Fred and George gave it to me. Said they nicked it from Filtch."
"Harry, my boy, go grab the Map. Merlin, I never thought I'd miss a piece of parchment so much."
"Honestly Padfoot, you can't imagine my surprise when I found out Harry had managed to get ahold of it. I thought it was lost to Filtch forever."
Oh no. Was this it? The moment the boys lost the map? The last time someone would swear they were up to no good for twelve years?
Hermione took off after Sirius, intent on stopping him and completely forgetting Dumbledore's warning.
"Nowhere to hide, now. McGonagall's office, Mr. Black." Hermione rounded the corner just as she heard Filch's voice. Her eyes widened in shock as she literally barreled into Filch.
Filch pushed Hermione off as if she was dust on his shoulder.
"And take your friend with you, Black," he sneered. Sirius was looking at Hermione like she was as dumb as a troll.
Hermione and Sirius started to leave, but Filch stopped Sirius with a hand to his chest.
"And I'll be taking this." Sirius watched in horror as Filch swiped away the Marauders Map. Hermione's heart fell.
Seventh Year Boys Dormitory
"You lost it?!" James was currently losing his mind back in the boys' dormitory. Sirius was sitting on his bed letting James berate him. Hermione stepped in.
"It wasn't his fault, James. It was mine." James turned to face Hermione. "Sirius was going to let himself get caught so I could get away, but I messed up. Filch wouldn't have noticed the Map if I hadn't been there." Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Don't listen to her, Prongs. I had the Map in my hands, didn't even hide it. It's my fault." James thought for a second.
"Sorry, Pup, Padfoot's right. It's his fault." Hermione huffed and threw up her arms. "Detention?"
"He didn't catch us doing anything, just that we were out of bed, so McGonagall just gave us one detention."
"When?"
"Tomorrow." This got Remus' attention.
"Tomorrow?" Hermione turned to Remus.
"We should be done before the moon rises. She kind of hinted at it." Remus nodded in understanding.
"Good," said James. "We'll have to discuss your punishment later, Padfoot, but we'll wait until the moon is over." Sirius nodded in complete understanding. He had broken a rule and must accept his fate. James' hardened face softened and he broke out into a smile.
"But you got the spell work done, right?" Sirius returned the smile.
"Oh yes, yes we did." James did a little dance, earning laughs from the rest. Hermione and Sirius' detention was forgotten as the Marauders talked excitedly about the next morning.
27 October 1977
The Great Hall
The Marauders were early to breakfast, practically the first ones there besides a couple of Hufflepuffs. Other students started to trickle in until the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff tables were full. And yet, the Slytherins were missing. The Marauders and Hermione ate quickly and waited.
A growing grumble sounded from the corridors as the Slytherins neared the Great Hall. Just as the house passed stepped over the threshold, they were hit with Hermione and Sirius' spell work.
Their neat and tidy sliver and green robes were suddenly replaced with simple, rough rags draped across their bodies. With gasps, shouts, and a couple high-pitched screams, the Slytherins started panicking at their new clothes. As they stood grouped around the entrance to the Great Hall, a series of pops were heard.
From around the knees of Slytherins, house elves started to appear.
Dressed in miniature Slytherin robes.
The entire hall, save the Slytherins, burst into laughter as the house elves moved past the shocked Slytherins to the Slytherin table. Hermione snuck a look up to the professors' table and nudged Remus as she saw both Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall trying to hide their smiles.
The Slytherins were frozen in shock. Some were clearly upset. Hermione never know Snape's face could reach that shade of fuschia. But some were taking it in stride, starting to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. The house elves were totally ignoring the rest of the room, talking amongst themselves and eating the food before them. Hermione turned to Remus.
"How did you get them to do this?" She was shocked. Hermione remembered her work with SPEW and her struggle with the house elves of Hogwarts.
"It was easy really. You just have to treat them like your equals. They love their work, but they don't mind a bit of fun. They were excited to be part of the prank." Remus' face turned sheepish. "And I had to promise Lido that I'd bring you back for a meal." Hermione laughed and nudged him with her shoulder.
"Silence, please!" Dumbledore's voice echoed through the hall. The students quieted and looked up to the headmaster. "Just a moment please. My dear house elves, it is so nice to see you this morning, but you must be getting back to the kitchens. The students have class soon."
The Slytherins looked at the house elves expectantly, but the house elves all turned and looked at them.
"Tut, tut, off with you then." The Slytherins looked up at Dumbledore and a second round of laughter filled the room. The house elves went back to eating and the confused Slytherins shuffled from the room. The rest of the hall cheered.
Despite the horrendous odor of the potion of the day, Hermione had never had a better potions class. The Slytherins, it seemed, used the prank to their advantage as none of them had showed up for morning classes. Instead, the house elves, in their tiny Slytherin robes, went to classes. The whole morning was quite disruptive, but the students were in such a happy mood, the professors continued to play along.
By lunch time, though, Dumbledore had sorted out the clothing issue with the Slytherins, and order returned to Hogwarts. Hermione's cheeks were sore from smiling.
But the joy from the morning prank faded quickly after lunch. With no more distractions, Remus and Hermione were left to sit and suffer through their pre-moon pain.
When classes finished, Hermione once again parted with Remus and headed to find her Slytherin friend. Regulus was waiting for her outside the library. He hadn't even bothered walking inside. He knew she needed the Room.
It was worse, this time, now they were mere hours from the full moon. Regulus and Hermione didn't talk at all. Their fighting grew more aggressive.
After a while of almost constant fighting, Hermione finally stopped. Taking a step back to catch her breath, Hermione cast a quick tempus.
"Merlin!" She started to gather her things together. "Sorry, Regulus, I have to go. Detention."
"Tonight? But isn't–"
"Yes, but I've still got detention." She waved back at Regulus as she ran from the room. He shouted after her to no avail.
"But your bruises!"
The Trophy Room
Hermione and Sirius were cleaning the trophy room without magic. And it was already going really well. Hermione had come straight from meeting with Regulus and Sirius had yet to talk to her. They cleaned in silence before Hermione couldn't take it anymore.
"Did I do something?"
"What?"
"Was it something I did? Is this because of what happened at the Shack?"
"What are you talking about?" Hermione started to ramble.
"I thought we were okay after it. I didn't think it was a big deal, but now you won't talk to me, and I don't know what I did, and I don't know how to fix it–"
"Just, just stop, okay. Stop talking." Sirius' voice was void of emotion. "It's fine. I'm fine. We're fine. Let's just get this over with." Hermione sulked with defeat. She moved by Sirius and stood on her tiptoes, reaching for a trophy on a higher shelf.
"What the fuck is that!?" Hermione, still reaching, looked at Sirius. His eyes were glued to the portion of her stomach exposed from where her shirt had ridden up. Hermione's arms shot down, and she jumped away from Sirius.
"Nothing."
"That's not nothing, Hermione. What. The. Fuck. Is. That?" Hermione hardened her gaze.
"I said it's nothing, Sirius." He moved closer to Hermione. She stepped away, her back hitting the wall.
"Don't make me ask again. Lift up your shirt." Hermione's eyes widened.
"What? No!"
"Lift up your shirt, or I'll do it for you." Sirius took another step forward.
"Okay, okay," Hermione said defensively. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt for a second before taking a breath and lifting her shirt to show her stomach, folding it and holding it over her chest. She had three large bruises blooming across her ribs. Keeping her eyes downcast, she could smell the rage coming from Sirius.
"Did he do this to you?" He asked through gritted teeth. "Answer me, Hermione."
"Who?" Sirius took another step forward.
"Did my brother do this to you?" Sirius spat out the word.
"No, no, Sirius, you don't understand." Sirius ignored her.
"Is this what you've been doing with him? He's been hurting you?" Hermione dropped her shirt and put her arm out, stopping Sirius from stepping closer.
"Sirius, stop, you don't understand–"
"Like hell I don't! He can't treat you like this, Hermione! I'm going to kill him. No, I'm going to make him wish I've killed him. I–"
"He's not treating me like anything, Sirius! He's helping me!"
"Helping you?" His voice dripped with disgust.
"Yes, helping. With my pre-moon stuff." Sirius took a step back, hurt flashing in his eyes before they hardened again.
"Hermione, we help Remus. We can help you, too. I don't know what you think you're doing, but that doesn't look like help."
"No, it's not that. I-I don't suffer the way Remus does. It's just—it's not the same. He gets weaker and sick, but I…" She blinked and scrunched her nose, feeling the threat of tears. "There's so much anger and violence in my bones, Sirius. I can feel it in my blood. And it hurts. And I have to get it out. And Regulus helps.
"If you think this is bad, you should see him." She tried to crack a smile. Sirius' hardened face melted.
"You're fighting him?" He whispered. Hermione nodded and lowered the volume of her voice as well.
"I have to get it out, Sirius." A single tear fell down her cheek. She looked away, embarrassed.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"It's embarrassing, Sirius. And terrifying." Hermione looked deep into his eyes. "This rage, this-this fire, it scares me. There's so much and I don't—I don't understand where it came from."
Sirius put his hands on Hermione's shoulders. Hermione let the warmth of his hands soothe her, but kept the mental image of her rope, held in place, braid by braid.
"I'm sorry." Sirius sounded sad. He stepped away from her in silence, unsure of what to say or do. Hermione looked at him.
"I'm sorry, too. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, and I'm sorry I went to Regulus." Sirius nodded and turned away, staring at the wall.
"Shit!" He shouted suddenly, turning back to Hermione. "Pup, we're late. We've got to go." Hermione looked at the clock on the wall, her mind spinning from the emotional rollercoaster. They were late. They were supposed to meet Remus, Peter, and James at the Whomping Willow five minutes ago. And they still had to run back to the common room. Hermione looked at Sirius.
"We need to run."
Gryffindor Common Room
"Sirius, what are you doing? I need to go! We need to go!"
"Two seconds, give me two seconds!" Hermione was pacing the common room, her transformation t-shirt in hand. Her skin was starting to itch; the hair on her arms raised. Students in the common room were staring. Hermione ignored them.
"Sirius, if you don't get down here in–"
"Calm down, woman, I'm here." Sirius jumped down the staircase and ran out the door in front of her. "Come on, Pup! We're late!"
The Whomping Willow
As Sirius and Hermione ran down the hill, they could see James standing at the base of the frozen tree.
"We're coming, we're coming! Go ahead!" Sirius shouted to James. James shot up a thumbs up and darted into the passageway. Hermione's eyes widened.
"Sirius…" The Willow was starting to twitch. Sirius noticed as well.
"Shit." Hermione pushed her legs harder, her lycanthropy allowing her to push ahead of Sirius. She looked back in worry.
"Keep going, Pup! I'll make it!"
A few small branches were starting to twitch. Larger branches were swaying with ominous power.
Hermione reached the base of the tree.
"Get down there now!" Sirius shouted before she could look back at him. She ducked into the passageway, hoping Sirius would get there in time.
Hermione crawled forward to give Sirius room to land. She heard the whooshing of branches and winced as the ground shook. She heard Sirius curse and shout in pain.
And then suddenly he was falling down the passage.
"Sirius!" Hermione shouted and lunged for him. He winced and she pulled back, noticing his shoulder was bleeding. She helped him to his feet.
"Why on earth did you take so long?" She gently hit his uninjured shoulder. "What was so important we couldn't have left the common room five seconds earlier?"
Sirius smiled and presented Hermione with a bundle of fabric.
"Whiskey towel."
Hermione threw her arms around Sirius' neck, embracing him. Sirius grunted as pain flashed through his shoulder, but he embraced Hermione back anyway. Hermione clung to him, squeezing him tight before pulling back.
"You stupid boy," she said, smiling up at Sirius. "You stupid, stupid boy." Sirius smiled back at her and flung the red and gold towel over his shoulder.
"Come on, Pup, we've got a moon to catch."
A/N: *Intent to Joke