Disclaimer: I own nothing but the order these words are in, everything else belongs to JKR :)
September 12, 1977
3rd Person POV:
Hermione had just gotten dressed the next morning when the four boys ran in.
"'Mione! We have class today, hurry up!" Cried Sirius excitedly.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at the nickname but picked up her schedule and beaded bag, nodding, "Calm down, Sirius, we're not going to be late."
"Yeah, don't mind him," Remus smiled, "he just hasn't had breakfast yet."
"Ok," Hermione laughed, "Anyway, I have to go get my school stuff – Dumbledore said he put them in the dorm." She was about to leave before she remembered that she wasn't supposed to know her way around, "Could you guys show me where that is?"
"Sure," said James, "But how about we go to breakfast first, 'cause Pads over here would probably die of hunger." He grinned, slapping Sirius on the back, "Then, you can meet the girls and they can show you the dorm – boys can't go into the girls' rooms."
"Not anymore, they can't," Sirius grumbled playfully, " 'cause you just had to go up there to try and get Lily to pay attention to you."
"That was one time! You've gone up like a million times!"
"But the teachers don't know, and that, my dear Prongs, is the difference between a bumbling idiot like you and a charming young man like me."
Hermione laughed out loud; they reminded her so much of the Weasley Twins.
The four boys were a little surprised at her laughter, but Remus quickly said, "Okay guys, c'mon we're going to miss breakfast if you keep at it."
"Jeez, Moony," Sirius grinned, "We're going, we're going. See?" He pointed at James who was practically pranced out the door.
As they settled down for breakfast, James turned and hollered down the table, "Lily! Will you come here for a second, please?"
"No, James!" Came the shout from the other end of the table.
"But it's important," he whined.
"Fine!"
With Lily came three other girls: Alice Fortescue, Marlene McKinnon, and Dorcas Meadowes.
"This is Hermione," James nodded at her, "She's new – I was just wondering if you guys could take her to your dorm, 'cause Dumbledore said her stuff was there, but, you know, we can't go in."
Lily smiled, "Sure, we'd love to." She pointed at each girl, introducing them.
Lily was tall, had long, red hair, and bright green eyes. Alice had curly shoulder-length black hair and a soft face, and Hermione suddenly realized that she was looking at Neville's mum. Marlene had choppy blonde hair, winged eyeliner that accented her gray eyes, and bright red lipstick and nails. An unlit cigarette rested between her gleaming teeth. Hermione vaguely remembered that she had died during the First Wizarding War, and her stomach jolted at the thought. Dorcas had soft brown hair and eyes, and a sweet smile – Hermione remembered seeing a picture of her somewhere. Merlin, Hermione thought, this is going to be so weird. I'm going to school with the parents of all my friends.
They finished breakfast quickly and headed towards the Gryffindor dorms. As they went, Alice and Peter pointed out where different classes were. Remus said, "Ex Tempore," as they got to the Fat Lady, "That's the password, by the way."
"I think she can tell," Marlene teased him, as he blushed.
Out of time, Hermione quickly translated the password in her head, that's weird – it's like Hogwarts knows I'm here.
When they entered the common room, Hermione immediately felt at home; the place felt like home – it hadn't changed one bit. She took a deep breath, the familiar smell of cinnamon wafted through the air, mixing with the light scent of parchment, ink, and the dying fire in the hearth. Lily led her up to the dorm and showed Hermione her bed for the year. Hermione quietly thanked her, and Lily, sensing that she needed a moment alone, said, "We'll be waiting downstairs."
Hermione sat down on the familiar bed – it was the same bed that she had slept in during her sixth year, Funny how time works, she thought, her thoughts drifting back to the password. She closed her eyes, remembering all of the memories that had been made in this dorm, 20 years later. After a minute, she stood up and picked up her bag, shoving the books she needed for the day into it. When she went down, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were waiting for her.
"Dorcas, Marlene, and Alice had Divination, which is one the other side of the castle, so they had to go, they said they'll see us later," Sirius explained.
"Okay," Hermione nodded at him, and the six of them headed to their first class of the day, History of Magic.
Hogwarts ~ The Potions Classroom
"That was so boring, I almost fell asleep," complained Remus as they walked to Potions, their next class.
"At least you didn't fall asleep, mate," Sirius laughed, "Prongs over here did, and he drooled!"
"I did not!" Cried an indignant James.
"Yes, you did!"
"No!"
"Look here's the paper!" Sirius pulled a piece of parchment out of his bag.
"Jeez, James, that's gross," said Lily, scrunching up her nose.
"Thanks, dude," James said, rolling his eyes at Sirius.
"No problem, Prongs, I'm always here to help you with your love life."
"More like ruin in, completely," James grumbled.
"It's ok James, you never had a chance anyway, drool or no drool," Remus said calmly.
"Yeah," agreed Lily, jokingly.
James looked crestfallen at this, but only Hermione seemed to notice, as the rest of the group continued talking like nothing happened. I'm going to have to make sure that Lily and James get together. Maybe I could talk to James later, and tell him to stop being so obnoxious, Hermione remembered Sirius telling her in her 5th year, that the only reason it took Lily and James so long to get together was because James had been really over-the-top, and Lily wanted him to grow up a little.
As they took their seats in Potions, Professor Slughorn was writing on the board, "I am giving out a new project on the Polyjuice Potion. You must brew it and then write an essay about the ingredients used and how they affect the potion. You will be assigned partners. And, no, before you ask, there will be no trading, okay?"
With a flick of his wand, the board was covered with names. Another flick and they were all in pairs, "Find your partner and get started," Slughorn called out, "It's due in 2 and a half weeks."
Hermione searched for her name on the board, eyes widening as she realized her partner was none other than Severus Snape.
"Who'd you get, 'Mione?" Asked Sirius.
"Severus Snape."
"Oh, damn. If Snivellus gives you any trouble, I'll take care of him, okay?" Despite only knowing Hermione for just over a week, he already felt protective of her – and he knew that Remus and James did, too. It's weird, he thought to himself, it's like we know her already – like we've met before. But I know we haven't. None of us have. I'm sure of it. Huh, Sirius had never felt like this before with anyone.
"I'm sure I'll be fine, Sirius, but thank you."
She made her way over to Snape and calmly introduced herself, "I'm Hermione Granger, we're partners."
He raised an eyebrow, "I've never seen you before."
"I'm the one who fell from the ceiling on the first day of school. I'm a transfer from Beauxbatons." Hermione tried to give a small smile, Maybe I can help him, too. After all, he turned out to be on our side the whole time.
"Is that how transfer students usually enter the school?" He asked sarcastically.
"Oh, yes, of course," Hermione shot back, "We like grand entrances. With lots of blood. And knives are always good, too."
He had the decency to at least look a little ashamed, "Sorry," he muttered.
Hermione gave him a strained smile, "It's okay. Anyway, we should probably get started on this project. It looks interesting."
"I don't want you to screw up this potion."
"I'm not going to."
"Well, most people in this class are idiots. Idiots who are terrible at brewing."
"I've made Polyjuice before."
Snape raised an eyebrow, again.
"I brewed it in my second year." She shot him a light glare, "Successfully."
"Well, then." He paused, "I guess you can help."
"You're damn right I can help. This is my project, too."
"Okay, jeez." He raised his hands in an I surrender position, rolling his eyes.
Hermione tried not to laugh at the thought of her formidable Potions professor saying "jeez."
The rest of potions passed quickly, with Hermione and Snape planning what they were going to do in the next 2 weeks.
Hogwarts ~ The Library
Instead of going to the Great Hall for Lunch after Arithmancy, she said goodbye to Remus (He was the only one in that class) and headed to the library – she needed to research the Destiny Turner. Hermione still hadn't had any flashbacks, but according to the little she'd read about the turner before she was thrown back in time, the few people who had used it got their first flashbacks within a few days of being in the past.
Hermione found a book, Lost in Time, that had a passage on the Destiny Turner. It read:
The Destiny Turner goes one year back for each turn. It works differently for each of its users. Some users find themselves with completely new pasts, with a different family, different friends, and different memories. There have only been two accounts of wizards who have lost their memories of their lives before going back in time. No one knows how many Turners there are, but they are highly sought after. Others only get a few memories of what "happened" in their new past, essentially keeping their original memories, with only enough new memories to cope with their new lives. Most people who have used the Destiny Turner have been sent back accidentally – it is well known that the Turner malfunctions quite easily; if any spell hits it, it will send the wearer back in time. The stronger, darker, or more complex the spell is, the further the wearer goes back. If potions are spilled on it, it will also malfunction – it also depends on the strength, the complexity, and the darkness. Say, if a simple Wingardium Leviosa were performed on it, the wearer might go back only one or two years. If an Unforgivable Curse were performed on it, a person might go back 20 years. The furthest anyone has been known to go back was 107 years – they were sent back with a mixture of a dark potion and a curse. Another way the Destiny Turner would malfunction is if it is destroyed.
Hermione sighed – the book wasn't much help – she knew pretty much everything that was in the passage. It didn't matter anyway, she had to go back to class; Transfiguration was next. She was quite nervous for her next class, since it was taught by Professor McGonagall and she hadn't really seen her in this time, yet (except for when she gave Hermione her schedule, but she hadn't said anything except, "Here's your timetable, Miss Granger.")
She arrived a couple minutes early – the only other people in the room were a few Hufflepuffs. As she took a seat, Sirius came in and sat next to her, "Where were you during lunch?"
"Library," came the response.
"You need to eat," he chided.
"I did."
"When?"
"During breakfast."
Sirius sighed heavily but let the subject drop.
Professor McGonagall entered the room and gave them their assignment for the day, "Today we will be reviewing some basic concepts from your OWL Year that serve as a gateway to what we will be studying for NEWTS." She handed out a worksheet and said, "Your partners will be who you are sitting with. When you are done, turn in your papers up front."
Hermione and Sirius got to work, filling out the various questions about transfiguring live subjects. They finished faster than everyone else in the class, and Hermione offered to turn in their papers. She quietly stood and walked to the Professor's desk at the front of the classroom, "Here are our papers, Professor."
McGonagall looked up, green eyes sparkling in surprise that they had finished so quickly, "Thank you, Miss Granger." Pausing, she added, "How are you doing?"
"I'm well, thank you. And yourself?"
"I'm well, too." The Deputy Head gave her a rare smile.
Hermione tried to smile but it felt strained; seeing her beloved professor alive and well (quite unlike how she was the last time she saw her) was odd but reassuring to her. When Hermione had been in her third year, the stress of all the classes, plus fighting with Harry and Ron for a large part of the year had made her incredibly stressed. Her parents had never liked magic, and when she was 4 years old, she had her first incident with accidental magic. After this, they became scared of magic and began neglecting Hermione. After they found out she had been petrified during her second year, they became even more scared of her magic and the wizarding world – they didn't say more than a few words to Hermione over the summer. They barely fed her, and she had to do all the chores around the house. When school started again, Hermione felt even more lonely and started to close herself off and distance herself from her friends. Minerva noticed, and had taken Hermione under her wing. However, when asked by Minerva, Albus thought that if the Grangers were brought to court, they would not be convicted since they clothed her, paid for her schooling, and hadn't physically hurt her. Because Hermione couldn't be taken out of their custody, Minerva couldn't take any legal action against the Grangers, but she and Hermione were very close and had developed a mother-daughter relationship over the years. Luckily for Hermione, she spent almost all of her time at Hogwarts, and, after her 3rd year, she stayed with Minerva during the summer and all the other breaks.
And, the truth was, Hermione missed her a lot. Oh well, Hermione thought, shaking her head, there's no use thinking of that anymore.
After Transfiguration, they went to Herbology, and after that, dinner.
Before dinner began, however, Dumbledore stood up, "I'd like to make an announcement." The hall went silent, "We have a transfer student from Beauxbatons. Miss Hermione Granger, please stand up," Hermione awkwardly stood up, looking around nervously, "She is a 7th year and has been sorted into Gryffindor. I expect that you will all treat her with the respect that she deserves. Welcome to Hogwarts, Miss Granger."
"Thank you, Headmaster." Hermione sat down.
Hogwarts ~ The Gryffindor Tower
Dinner was over quickly, and they all went back to their common rooms. After chatting for a few hours (and Sirius and Peter playing Exploding Snap), Hermione stood up, "I'm rather tired, I'm going to go to bed."
"Okay," responded Sirius, his grey eyes sparkling as he watched Peter get covered with soot from the cards' explosion, "Good night, Hermione, see you tomorrow morning."
"Good night, Sirius. Good night guys." She called out to the rest of the group as she left the common room and went to her dorm.
A chorus of goodnights followed her up the stairs, and as she got ready for bed, she began planning how to go about taking down Voldemort.
Hogwarts ~ Gryffindor 7th Year Boys' Dorm
Remus asked, "What the hell do you think happened to her?"
"I've got no idea," Padfoot shook his head, "All I know is that it was awful."
"Well, yeah, no shit," James paused for a moment, "we should be her friends. She's all alone here."
Sirius rolled his eyes, "That's what we're doing. Bit slow, huh, Prongs?"
"No," James exaggerated a sigh, "I meant that we should, like, take care of her."
"Yes, James, I'm sure a fully grown woman will like that," Remus shook his head.
"Ugh! You guys are stupid! I meant as in we should be there for her, and stuff. I dunno."
Remus grinned, "Yeah, Prongs, we know what you mean. We were just pulling your leg."
Sirius nodded, trying and failing (miserably) to keep a straight face, "You're an idiot!"
James rolled his eyes.
Remus shook his head in exasperation.
Sirius ran a hand through his hair, shrugging.
Peter stayed quiet, thinking, if we get close to her, there will be more to report to the Dark Lord.
A/N: How was it? Review pretty please :)
Also, I don't have a beta, so all mistakes are mine.