HELLO MY DEARS!

SO I know I posted a chapter yesterday, but I simply had to post another chapter as a birthday gift for my darling Henny! She is always there for me and I love her very, very much.

Your reviews on the last chapter were so lovely! THANK YOU!

Okay, with this chapter we have officially moved into their fifth year, which means a lot more fun! I hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am :D

380 reviews. INSANE. Also two followers away from 780 followers?! Absolutely mental. MENTAL. Thank you all so much, this has been such a journey so far, and it's not even close to finished.

Please leave a review and let me know what you think ;)

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DIsclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, and only the story line and any OC's belong to me.

For Henny xxx Happy birthday my darling. Again, I love you.

Friday, August 8th, 1975

Potter Manor

"James I really don't know what to do about this…" Hermione trailed off, whilst exuberantly gesturing to the tall antlers sticking out from the crown of his head.

"I have a tail, Mione!" James huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

Hermione was currently dealing with some very fragile boys. Fragile because their animagus training was almost complete. They were on the brink of full transformation, and their nerves were like live wires, wholly on edge.

A slight scare and she was convinced that they would shift instantly. Though if they were scared into shifting then it would only end badly. Mainly because they would be in flight or fight mode and wouldn't be able to shift back, not immediately at least.

Their magic was alive, crackling and palpable in the room. Hermione was positive you could feel it humming in the very fabric of the walls.

How Dorea and Charlus hadn't figured out what they were doing yet she had no idea. Though...knowing Mum she already knows and she's decided to not interfere...she knows, Hermione concluded with a large exhale through her nostrils. Of course she knows.

Peter was sitting cross-legged on the floor, palms on his thighs, body relaxed as he mediated.

Sirius was the only one out of the three to successfully shift so far-he'd done it two days ago after Draco had 'crept' up on him, and they spent two hours calming him down.

They were currently in Hermione's room and Draco was sprawled out across Hermione's teal sheets, throwing a snitch between his hands. It was the first snitch he had caught at Hogwarts in this time and he often kept it on his person.

Sirius had just shifted into a big black dog, and was trotting around the room happily, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, dark eyes shining.

James closed his eyes for a moment and then his antlers sank back into his head-disappearing.

"Why can't I do it? Both of you have done it...so has Pads. It's just Pete and I," James groaned, and he began pacing back and forth.

Hermione narrowed her eyes a fraction before stepping right in James's path, effectively halting him in his tracks. She placed her hands on his cheeks and said, "James. Calm down. Being frustrated is only going to hinder any progress. Just take a deep breath, and ground yourself. Focus on what it feels like, give in to your animalistic instincts. If your first instinct as a Stag is to be wary or to run off, feel it. If it's to stand tall then feel it. Be a Stag. Let go."

Hermione could feel the magic radiating off of his skin, it was like a taut ball that would explode any minute. He was close, dangerously close. He couldn't keep walking around with all of this magic building up inside of him, he needed to shift and soon.

She stepped back and watched as James's eyes fluttered closed, his clenched fists unfurled and his shoulders sagged as the tension fled out of him.

Antlers began to sprout from his head, and then it went fairly quickly, his body was shifting and changing. Re-forming and he fell on all fours.

Hermione smiled heartily when not moments later a proud looking Stag stood in front of her. His hooves clipping against the floor as he moved towards her. She reached out her hands, one on either side of his neck. It was warm and his coat was almost velvety under her fingers, she could feel his strong pulse thrumming beneath her fingertips.

"You did it, lovely," Hermione murmured, ducking around his head and then throwing her arms around his neck, hugging him softly.

She could feel him breathing, and she felt his muscles move as he bent his head slightly towards her.

"You can shift back now," Hermione murmured. "Just breathe, focus...remain calm."

She let go of him and witnessed him change back, a broad, toothy smile on his face. Walking forward she threw herself into his arms.

"I did it, Mione! Finally!" James said excitedly straight into her ear. She winced a touch at how loud it was, but she couldn't help but smile.

"You did it, James. You did it."

Squeak. Squeak. Squeaaak. Hermione tiptoed and looked over James's shoulder, her eyes darted about for the source of the noise before she caught sight of the rat sitting on its hind legs a few feet away, nose twitching as it sniffed the air. It looked like they had all done it. They had all become animagi.

Thursday, August 21st, 1975

Full Moon

Potter Manor

The cold mistress looked as radiant as ever in the sky that night. Shining and pouring across everything in sight.

A raven haired wizard was seated on the top step of the back porch of his home. The step had creaked slightly as he sat down, cutting through the dead quiet of night. It was quiet. Too quiet.

Soft footfalls came from behind him, and the door creaked open and closed and then the footsteps were nearing closer. His heightened hearing from being an animagus definitely had its perks. He didn't break his unwavering gaze at the moon even when she sat down.

Lemon, daffodils and spring drifted over him and he sighed softly. He had been expecting a different Potter. He wasn't opposed to her company in the least though; it was more than welcome.

"Mum."

"Hello my darling boy...how are you doing?"

Dorea Potter never asked meaningless questions, she knew about Remus, she knew how Draco was feeling. She knew why he was out here, she knew it all.

"I wish I could do something to help...I feel useless," Draco's arms were crossed, his hands holding onto the opposite corresponding bicep-he tightened his grasp on his arms, clenching his teeth.

He felt her arms wrap around his shoulders and she scooted closer, she didn't say anything for a long time, they sat there in comfortable silence, no words needed to be said to convey what the other was feeling. She understood him without him needing to say anything at all.

"I think you're all doing enough, you aren't useless Draco. You're the farthest thing from useless, honey," Dorea whispered them, and just as she said it the breeze picked up and the tree branches began to rustle; as if nature itself was agreeing with her proclamation.

"Thanks, Mum," Draco responded, barely audible, and he sagged into her, fully letting all of his weight rest against her bosom-she only embraced him tighter, he could hear her steady heartbeat and her breathing and it made him feel at home. Feel safe.

"I love you, Draco."

"I love you too, Mum."

Sunday, August 31st, 1975

Potter Manor

Gardens

"When you offered to help, I didn't know that meant you would be sitting on the grass next to me and sipping butterbeer," Charlus chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. His face twisted with effort a moment later, and he let out a soft grunt as he pulled another weed from the flower bed.

"I am helping!" Hermione insisted, "I'm providing you with stimulating conversation since we're going back to school tomorrow and I wanted to spend as much time with you as I could before we leave."

"That is a good point, darling," Charlus said, dusting his gardening gloves together to get off some of the dirt, and then he wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his left forearm. Charlus was kneeling in front of the flower bed, pulling out any weeds that had popped up. The gardens were mostly always in bloom because of the spells he had cast, but they still needed constant upkeep.

"Anything interesting happening at work?" Hermione asked innocently, but Charlus saw right through her.

"Sweetheart, you may be getting as cunning as your Mother, but you aren't there yet. You know I can't talk about work."

"Bollocks," Hermione said, and she opened her mouth to apologise, but then she noted that Charlus didn't look the slightest bit upset. Which led her to believe that he understood that she hadn't aimed that at him, but rather at herself for not successfully prying any information from him.

"You ready to go back to school tomorrow, it's your OWL year. It can be fairly brutal and tough, you musn't underestimate the amount of work that you'll need to do-not that I think you will."

"Not as hard as NEWTs," Hermione muttered under her breath. Sixth year had been intense, and the beginning of her NEWT year had been downright nasty. They had earned their name. Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests.

That's right, Hermione remembered suddenly, she was on the verge of a breakdown when she had bumped into Draco on that fateful day-years ago now. I wonder what happened to my bookbag, Hermione mused thougthfully, she'd only had textbooks in it that day, nothing personal. She supposed that was why she hadn't paid it any mind before.

"Pardon?" Charlus frowned, Hermione winced, for a dread-filled moment she thought he had heard her, but she took a second to gauge his reaction and determined that he honestly had not heard her.

"I said, 'I can imagine'," Hermione said.

"You can handle it though, darling, I know you can. You've been getting all outstandings since your first year...please don't stress yourself out though," Charlus said knowingly, angling his head in her direction, his hazel eyes staring intently at her.

He wasn't wearing his glasses, Hermione had originally thought he needed them to see like James, but later discovered that he had an astigmatism so letters that looked similar were indistinguishable from the other ones. He had just gotten used to wearing them so frequently, mainly because of all the paperwork he had to look through at work-only developing his astigmatism in his late twenties-which is why he always wore them. He however never wore his glasses when he was gardening.

"I get a glasses tan for starter's, not to mention they get in the way," Charlus had explained a couple of years ago-his glasses were residing on a small table on the back porch at that very moment.

"I won't Daddy, I promise," Hermione smirked, taking a small swig of her butterbeer, then she shifted forward so that she was kneeling beside him; she gently rested her chin on his shoulder, and leaned her head against his. Charlus halted his weeding and let out a soft exhale, taking his hands out of the dirt.

"Hermione?"

"I'm going to miss you, Daddy," Hermione said softly, abandoning her almost empty butterbeer bottle on the grass beside her, the last dregs still in the bottle-it toppled over onto its side, the liquid settling along the bottom. Hermione wrapped her arms around him as best as she could from the side like this. His gloved hands were covered in dirt, but he placed them on top of hers anyway.

"I'm going to miss you too, my little fox," Charlus responded, squeezing her hands briefly.

Fox...he can't know can he? Hermione's eyes widened.

"Try not to give Minerva too much stress if you can," Charlus continued.

"Trouble? Me? Never."

"I feel like I've heard this before, pretty sure it was before I got numerous letters from your head of house describing several situations where you did indeed get into trouble," Charlus chuckled softly.

"Minnie loves us."

"You lot really are trouble," Charlus smiled broadly, she could partially see the side of his face so she saw his facial muscles tug upwards into a smile-his smile lines forming and framing his face nicely.

"I love you Daddy."

"I love you too, sweetheart."

Monday, September 1st, 1975

King's Cross Station

Platform Nine and Three Quarters

The platform seemed impossibly more busy than ever before. Hermione couldn't tell if that was because of her heightened senses or what, all she knew was that she deftly avoided all of the bustling wix-that were milling about the platform waving at familiar faces as they saw people they knew.

Hermione was dressed in a simple lavender dress that cut off just below her knees, it came in at her waist and then loosely fell from there, it had a sweetheart neckline, and there were two thin straps on each of her shoulders (occasionally they would twist over each other, which could get annoying, but most of the time she didn't pay them any mind). Her raven curls were flowing freely behind her, and there were black flats on her feet.

She didn't see any of her friends until she spotted dark red hair and greasy, raven hair. Lily. Lily was smiling as she looked at Snape, but her smile fell moments later. Hermione followed Lily's trail of sight and found that the Carrows were strutting across the platform as if they owned it, sneering at anyone that came close to them. Brown hair, brown eyes, almost the same as they had always been-yet something had shifted in them. They looked more dangerous somehow, especially when they grinned toothily upon spotting Lily. It made a ball of dread sink to the pit of Hermione's stomach. Nothing good was going to come from a look like that.

Lily hurriedly said goodbye to Snape and then she clambered onto the train, disappearing around the right corner.

Hermione's attention was drawn away by her cat-flinching when Midnight's claws dug into her shoulder, curious she looked up at her cat, who was openly staring at her. What the…? Hermione wondered to herself but then Midnight was pouncing onto her trolley and simply sat there regally-keeping an eye on everyone around her-so Hermione dismissed it.

Hermione shook her head and then she looked straight ahead, and there he was.

Her stomach flipped upside down, it felt like a herd of buffalo was trampling about in there. Remus.

He had been right, his hair was a lot shorter, and you could see his scalp. It looked incredibly soft and a little spiky all at once, he was laughing with someone, one hand on his trolley and she saw that Frank and Peter were opposite him.

She knew Draco, James, Sirius and their parents were behind her, and she broke out into a run, pushing her trolley along with her. Midnight looked a little panicked, head ducked low, her claws digging into Hermione's trunk, her back arching sharply, her tail extended straight out behind her-dead straight.

She wondered how he had managed to get even better looking. He'd also gotten a lot taller. The boys had all gotten taller, but Remus was now towering over her. His limbs looked a little lanky and like they hadn't quite adjusted to being as long as they were now, but he held himself a lot more confidently than he had when she had first met him-his body language was more open, more inviting. All of the baby fat of youth was gone from his face, leaving behind a much leaner face, not sharp, still somewhat soft, but much harder than it used to be.

She stopped her trolley just short of crashing into him, and she ran around it, flinging herself against him-she felt him sway and catch himself just in time so that they both didn't fall down. He was laughing, heartily, his chest and shoulders shaking and she was clutching his jumper, snuggling into him and desperately taking in lungfuls of his scent. Circe she had missed him so much.

"Hello, sweetheart," Remus said lowly, his arms slipping around her waist.

"Hello, my sweet Moon," Hermione grinned, tilting her head upwards so she could stare into his face.

"I've missed you."

"Godric, I've missed you."

"Not that this isn't adorable and whatnot, but the train is going to leave soon, and you'll be seeing him for the next year," Draco drawled lazily from behind her and she felt him tug on one of her curls before he headed towards the train.

Draco had said goodbye to their parents already, and James was in the middle of kissing Dorea on the cheek.

Hermione reluctantly let go of Remus, but then swirled around and hurried over to her parents, flinging herself into their arms and ending up in a three way hug. She was being engulfed with love and warmth and a sad pang ran through her. She was going to miss them. She had spent as much time with them as she could this summer. Laughing and talking about life in the Sun Room with her Mother. Sitting on the back porch steps with her Father drinking cold butterbeers. Going for swims in the pool with everyone. Laying in the Hammock Charlus had put between two of the trees in the Orchard-a little ways into it-with her Mother; whilst Dorea stroked her hair and told her that she wanted everything in the world for her, to never let anyone stand in the way of what she wanted, to be strong and to be brave. "Be brave my darling, be strong, be cunning. Fight for what you want and don't let anyone make you feel small. You are brilliant and you can move mountains if you only put that spectacular mind to the task."

Lazy afternoons cradled between her parents in their bed as they told her stories about their youth. Dorea constantly teasing Charlus with inside jokes. Feeling loved and happy.

Charlus tracking mud into the Manor after a few hours in the garden, and being scolded by Mipsy and Dorea.

Charlus being tired all the way to his very bones after a particularly trying day at work, but he staying up regardless to spend time with them.

Everything. Just everything.

Five minutes later, she was on the train, next to Remus, across from Draco-watching her parents through the window. She didn't stop waving until they were well out of sight-until they got as small as ants in the distance.

Yes. I'm going to miss everything, Hermione thought as she let her head fall against Remus's arm, her hand finding his and he interlaced their fingers. She had a feeling that this year had a lot in store for them, and she couldn't wait.