HEY there!
427 followers. What. Again, I'm constantly blown away by you guys. Thank you so much.
First of all, the beginning bit of this chapter I got from my Christmas drabbles series, I thought it would be nice to show the early bits of this specific day. I got a bit of help with pranks from lovely persons on tumblr. The main one being hogwartsaheadcanon, you should totally follow her blog. It's brilliant. The other person who helped was M1sch1efManaged, and she has her own fics on ffnet, check them out if you like! They're gooood.
For everyone that's wanted to see more of Riley, she will be in the next chapter, as well as us skipping a bit of time and heading into October! I really hope you all like the prank.
My tumblr: indiebluecrown. tumblr. com
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, and only the story line and any OC's belong to me.
Wednesday, 19th September, 1973
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Hermione Potter's Real Birthday
"Happy Birthday Hermione," Draco whispered in her ear, chin coming to rest on her shoulder from behind.
"Thanks, Draco," Hermione moved her hand backwards until it bumped into his ans she gently grabbed a hold of it.
"We doing anything special, or you sneaking off into the forest by yourself again this year?" Draco quirked an eyebrow knowingly, even if she couldn't see his face.
"Special like what?"
"What do you want to do?"
"Really I just want to practice more on trying to become an animagus," Hermione confessed.
"How about we go for a picnic?" Draco grinned broadly, shifting so he was in front of her, their hands still linked.
"In the middle of the night? Where? The forbidden forest?"
"It has a certain ambiance at night, wouldn't you say?" Draco smirked.
"Which is why you ran screaming from it, the first time we were eleven?" Hermione smiled crookedly.
"I did not run screaming," Draco scowled, unconsciously squeezing her hand momentarily in frustration. Hermione giggled at that, and then began to think about what she actually wanted to do.
"I think I just want to spend the evening in the Room of Requirement, you can join me if you like," Hermione offered.
"What are you going to do in there?" Draco asked curiously.
"I would say we find the diadem and destroy it...but then who knows what would happen," Hermione grumbled in irritation.
"We could still destroy them all, leave and-"
"Then what, Draco?" Hermione hissed. "We've already affected the time line by being here, who knows what's going to happen if we just decide to up and go."
"Memory charms?"
"Draco," Hermione shook her head, "I'm staying. If you want to go off gallivanting trying to kill off all the horcruxes go ahead, need I remind you that you only know about where some of them are located. You can't even be sure if they are there right now."
Draco was silent after that, and Hermione felt guilty for going off on him like that, not to mention telling him to go off on his own. They promised each other that they would stick together in this time. Once only a promise of convenience; was now so, so much more. Hermione glanced down at their hands, sad at how limp Draco's was in hers.
"I'm sorry." Hermione murmured, closing some of the distance between them, letting go of his hand and then wrapping her arms around his neck.
She was scared that she had actually gone too far when he didn't respond to her hug; sighing softly in relief when his arms tentatively encircled her waist.
"We're going to stay together," Draco said quietly, kissing the top of her head.
"I'm sorry I told you to go, I know how frustrating this all is," Hermione responded.
"Mione?"
"Yes, Dray?"
"No matter what happens...we're still Potters." Hermione frowned slightly, she heard the way his breath caught in his throat before he continued. That's not what he was going to say.
"How is that going to work when we get back? Are we going to go back to using our birth names?"
"I honestly don't know how to answer that, I'm the only Malfoy there is to carry on our family name." Draco sighed.
"True," Hermione said thoughtfully, she knew he was probably thinking about how hard it was for his parents to conceive children. Narcissa was no longer just his Mother, now she was Cissa, his friend.
"I'm probably going to keep the Potter name. I'm not Hermione Granger anymore, I'm more than just Harry Potter's muggleborn friend, part of the 'Golden Trio'." Hermione pulled away from Draco slightly, hands on his shoulders, fingers playing with the fabric there. "I've spent two years growing up in a Wizarding family, learning things about Pureblood traditions even if we aren't your conventional Pureblood family." Draco however could tell how conflicted she was by the deep frown on her face.
"We are going to find out what happened to them, Mione. Your birth parents, I promise." Draco swore, his thumb rubbing a small circle across her lower back.
It felt like such a long time ago now, the last time she saw them. She'd been through a War, she started redoing her NEWTs, she travelled back in time with the last person she would've wanted to, and they were now in their third year.
"I'm not even sure I want to know," Hermione admitted with wide eyes. "I've come to terms with the fact that I may never find them...or that I'll be unable to undo the memory charms. It might be best to leave it-"
"You and I both know you'll always be wondering, what if?"
Hermione was about to respond, when loud footfalls coming from their right, made them both snap their head in the direction of the noise.
"Mione! Dray! There you are!" James came running down the corridor, breathing heavily and holding his sides when he reached them.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked, gently stepping out of Draco's grip. Not noticing the way his jaw ticked or the irate look in his eye.
"The prank may have worked even better than we could have imagined...you need to see this," James said gleefully.
Hermione shook her head in amusement, and then reached out and tugged on Draco's sleeve. "C'mon, Dray. Let's go see our masterpiece."
...
Hermione and Draco had been talking about horcruxes and whether or not they should leave whilst the other Marauders had been hiding and watching their prank begin. It was beautiful.
They knew that Professor McGonagall had a inordinate amount of work to do this morning, so she was going to be late for Breakfast that day. They had also left her a gift outside her quarters bright and early. Essentially they made a rather large litter box and placed it in front of her door. It was probably as tall and as wide as Minerva herself. It was meant to be a bit of a clue. As an extra precaution, they had enlisted Peeves help; the Poltergeist was more than happy to distract the Transfiguration teacher, free of charge. They were lucky that Peeves liked them.
Minerva McGonagall stormed towards the Great Hall, fully intent on asking the Marauders why on Earth would they have left a litter box outside of her door.
When she flung open the doors she was greeted by a strange sight. She saw brown, white, black, and orange; quite a few of them were a mixture of one or more colours. Cats. Cats of all shapes and sizes. Cats with various markings on their faces. Cats lapping up Pumpkin juice. Cats sitting neatly on the tables, benches, on the floor. Cats bounding and stalking about the room. Cats watching their fellow felines play, hiss and interact with each other. Bengal, British Shorthairs, Persian, Siamese, Scottish Fold, Norwegian Forest and other various breeds.
In the thick of it all, sitting on the floor, cats crawling over them were Gideon Prewett and James Thomas. Gideon as always was quick on his feet when he saw McGonagall's accusing stare. Still covered in cats that were licking his face and curling up in his lap he called out to his teacher, "whilst I would love to take credit for this, I unfortunately was not the one who carried out this sheer brilliance."
Just then the Marauders entered the Great Hall, Sirius at the front of the party. All innocent stares, jaws dropped and surprise that would have seemed genuine if McGonagall didn't know better. She was about to scold them, when a pale silvery white cat came up to her and started rubbing against her leg; purring lowly.
"Albus?" Minerva whispered in disbelief, it had dark grey markings on its' face which looked like half moon spectacles.
"It looks like you're going to need a big, litter box for all these kitties. Not to mention a lot of catfood," Sirius said contemplatively, stroking his chin as if in deep thought as he bent down and picked up a black cat with bright blue eyes. McGonagall merely turned a withering stare on the boy, reaching down to pick up Dumbledore and stroke in between his ears.
"Where's Evans do you think?" James asked, looking around.
"I think she's the one glaring at you, James," Remus answered, pointing at a dark red cat in the middle of the Ravenclaw table towards the front of the Great Hall.
James began to immediately made his way to the cat in question. He had wanted to warn her, was highly tempted to do so; however he knew she would have told McGonagall. He just couldn't have that now could he?
Draco wasn't showing it, but he was highly pleased, it seemed like his potion work had been impeccable. Everyone had successfully been turned into cats. If they don't drink any more of the Pumpkin juice, the effects should wear off in three hours. I still can't believe Hermione grabbed a cat hair thinking it was Bulstrode's, and then used Polyjuice potion to turn herself into a human cat. The story never gets old. Draco laughed silently to himself. He tried not to think about how his heart squeezed around his 'twin', how he just wanted to grab her and snog her senseless. Hold her in his arms and never let her go. He couldn't allow himself to indulge in such wishful fancies.
They couldn't be together in this time. Not now. As much as it pained him, Remus would be good for her. She deserved to be happy and he knew how much the Werewolf meant to her. To both of them. Pack. Family. Friend. Remus deserved to know that he was worth loving, he wasn't a monster or any less of a human because of his condition. Hermione was good at that. She had a huge heart, and he wasn't sure how one person could care so deeply about so many people. Yes. He would keep his feelings to himself. Not let anyone know how he truly felt. Not a soul. He would bury these feelings. Make sure they didn't see the light of day. Plus, even though she'd forgiven him for the past and they were extremely close now, didn't mean she had developed feelings for him. The last thing he wanted to do was make her feel uncomfortable. Yes. I'll keep it to myself.
McGonagall turned to the remaining Marauders, her sharp gaze trying to locate Peter; who was currently hidden behind Draco. A tiny smile on the small boy's face. She knew that Peter would be the most likely to crack.
"What's wrong, Minne? Cat got your t-" Draco started before Hermione elbowed him, hard.
"No, Mister Potter. I was trying to decide how many weeks of detention I am going to give the lot of you," she said in a calm, even tone.
"To be fair, Professor. You can't be certain that we were responsible for this," Remus spoke up, one hand raised slightly as to make sure he had her attention. Unbeknownst to her, this had all been his idea.
"Who else, Mister Lupin, could possibly be responsible?" As if it had been practiced, at that very moment, Snape and his friends entered the Great Hall. Freezing, eyes widening as they saw the cats.
"Perhaps them?" Sirius suggested, Draco subtlety reached over and placed his hand on the small of Hermione's back. That part had been her handiwork and he was letting her know that it had been very well done. Peter had kept watch this morning whilst Hermione snuck into the Slytherin dorms. When she located Snape's, she put a locking charm on the door, so it wouldn't open until they had estimated McGonagall would have entered the Great Hall. It had taken a bit more time than normal locking charms, but it was well worth it.
"We can't be made automatically guilty because we were late to Breakfast. We decided to meet up early this morning and hang out before classes began," Draco reasoned.
"Is that so?" McGonagall quirked an eyebrow.
"It's true, Professor. You need to be absolutely sure, otherwise you would be punishing us for something we did not do," Hermione added, batting her eyelashes innocently.
"Or I could place you all in detention," McGonagall retorted, ignoring the fact that Albus' had begun to lick her cheek.
"Now, now, let's not be hasty, Minnie-" Sirius started.
"Two days of detention, Mister Black. I don't want to hear another peep out of you," Minerva said pointedly.
Sirius opened his mouth as if to say something else, when Minerva spoke again. "Not a peep."
"Now, whilst I can not prove that you did or did not do this, I suggest you all be on your best behaviour from now on. In addition, ten points from Slytherin and ten points from Gryffindor," McGonagall looked at Snape as if she was daring him to even try and challenge her punishment, as the greasy haired boy had squared his shoulders and looked as if he was going to protest.
With a swish of her robes, she walked out of the Great Hall; Professor Dumbledore looking over her shoulder at them, and Hermione could have sworn she saw the silvery act wink.
...
Friday, 21st September, 1973
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Forbidden Forest
"Right, remember what I told you. Don't think too much, just try relax and it should come to you," Hermione said seriously, sitting on the forest ground in front of the boys, facing them. Draco was next to her, leaning on his forearm, his right leg outstretched, the other bent. He was on her left side, and he was twirling some of her curls between his fingers. Watching them bounce and spring upwards when he pulled on a couple of them.
Hermione could feel the blush creep up her neck, goosebumps dancing across her skin. She shook her head slightly however and focused on the task at hand. Getting Sirius, James and Peter to figure out their animagus forms.
"This is really hard, Mione. Why aren't you or Dray doing this?" James grumbled, eyes still squeezed shut.
"Since we've figured out what our forms are, and we practice on a regular basis. I can change my eyes so far," Hermione responded, voice laced with irritation. Draco tugged gently on one of her raven curls to gain her attention. She looked at him curiously, brow drawn together. "It's not good enough, Draco," she whispered lowly, answering his unspoken question.
It was still highly confusing, her feelings toward Draco. She knew that practically the entire Wizarding world thought they were siblings, twins in fact; but she had never seen him as that. To her, he was just Draco. Draco used to be a prat Malfoy. The Ferret. Draco was so much more than that now, she had gotten to know him. She had seen different sides of him, and much like herself, he was changing. He was still a Slytherin but he was becoming more reckless as the days went by.
"A dog, a big black dog," Sirius said aloud, still relaxed with his eyes closed. Hermione got up and walked over to him, pecking his cheek gently.
"Brilliant. Now go off and find Riley," Hermione smirked knowingly, Sirius snorted and hazel eyes met grey ones, only for him to roll his at her.
"She doesn't like me, Mione," Sirius whispered somberly with a slight shake of his head.
"She says she thinks you're a bit exuberant, but cute," Hermione told him, squeezing his shoulder in comfort. "Please reconsider going to Hogsmeade with that bimbo in fourth year. I know Riley isn't old enough to go yet, but please. Just don't go with that girl, not for your first trip. Stay with us."
"Fine, but you're buying me Cauldron Cakes."
"Deal."
The entire time they had been conversing, James and Peter had been focusing on figuring out their forms. Peter's forehead was covered in sweat, but he dejectedly whispered, "rat," moments before James blurted out, "Deer."
"Stag," Hermione and Draco said simultaneously.
"I'm going to have antlers? Sweet," James whistled merrily.
"So now we all know what we are, now we just need to work on actually transforming," Draco remarked.
Peter didn't look happy about his form at all, Hermione sensing his sadness, faced him and said. "Don't worry about it, Peter. You'll be able to do things that none of us will." We still haven't figured out why he was crying in the Common Room by himself. It feels wrong reading his letter. Perhaps whatever is happening at home contributes to why he betrays Lily and James. Betrays everyone.
That seemed to soothe the boy's worries somewhat. The corners of his lips turning upwards. It was hard to imagine the boy who laughed and joked about with them being the man she'd seen in the future. Their friend, who looked out for them whilst they carried out pranks; the kind, loving boy, turning on them all.
"Now we need nicknames for you guys as well, you picked Miss Vixen for me...so I pick...Padfoot for you, Sirius," Hermione stated, the two of them standing up.
"Padfoot?" James grinned, "I like it."
"I like it a lot, too...I think for you, Pete, maybe something to do with a tail, tail, tail." Sirius said, snapping his fingers as if it would spark some inspiration.
"Wormtail maybe?" Draco suggested.
"Brilliant, Paws!" Sirius cheered.
"Now all we need is Jamie's." Hermione said, glancing at Sirius when he propped his forearm on her shoulder.
They were all silent as they thought about it. When in a giddy voice, Peter exclaimed, "Prongs!" Hermione and Draco's eyes widened, and Peter looked between them. Less confident than before. "What do you not like it?"
"No, we love it!" Hermione and Draco assured him instantly. Peter turned his wide eyes in James' direction, the raven haired boy had a broad grin splayed across his features. "I love it, Pe-Wormtail."
Thank you all for reading, reviewing and liking my story. Please leave a review and let me know what you think xxx if I haven't responded to anyone's from the last chapter it's because FFnet isn't letting me see them. So sorry about that!
Love you guys,
Indieblue xxx