Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing except the order these words are in, everything else belongs to JKR.
A/N: In canon, Sirius's birthday is on November 3rd, but I just realized that, and I don't want that to happen yet, so I'm changing his birthday! I don't know when it's going to be, though. I am planning on keeping the other character's birthdays the same, though. If I screw up other dates, I'm sorry lol, there's just a lot to remember and I'm a little too lazy to go look everything up. ALSO there are some spells that I can't find the incantation for, so I just google translat-ed what it did into Latin and used that lol
November 20, 1977
7th Year Gryffindor Girls Dorms – 8:30 am
3rd Person POV:
Hermione sat in front of her mirror, staring at her arm. Well, more specifically, the scars on her arm. D. She had tried everything, but none of it had worked. The scar would never leave her. She had found – through the library (as usual) – that the scar would heal and eventually fade a little bit if it wasn't split open again. Each time it was re-opened, it would take longer to heal.
Of course, this was quite the problem, since every time she grabbed it – with only a small bit of force –, it split open again. After going through it a few times, she had decided to just start glamouring the scars instead of bandaging them. That way, she wasn't constantly reminded of it – other than, of course, the slight sharp pain that came from it whenever she was around some of the Slytherins. She figured that perhaps it was those who had already taken the Mark.
She slowly waved her wand in intricate patterns to set the glamour charms. However, the cursed scar was quite strong, and they would only last until the end of the day – if she was lucky.
Hermione had come to the firm decision to stay away from the Marauders and, well, all the other Gryffindors. She knew too much about them and couldn't risk getting close, lest she let something about the future slip. Yes, it'll work out in the end. Besides, there's less than a year before the school year ends, and then they'll all join the Order, and see that I'm not actually a Death Eater.
She tried to picture herself as a Death Eater, and almost giggled at the thought of having to wear those horrid masks. Hermione knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help the dry, sarcastic, humor that stemmed from those thoughts.
November 29, 1977
Outside the Kitchens – 7:30 pm
3rd Person POV:
It had worked. Well, partially, and only for a week and a half or so. Her avoidance of the other Gryffindors only made them more suspicious.
She had just climbed out of the kitchens after a small dinner and tripped coming out of the painting-door. Hurriedly, she stood up, brushed off her robes, and found herself standing, caught like a deer in the headlights, in front of Sirius and the other Marauders.
Sirius gave her a thin smile, "Hi Hermione."
"Er, hello?" She squeaked, wincing at her own voice before clearing her throat and trying again, "Hi, Sirius, Remus, James," Hermione nodded at each of them in turn and attempted to dodge around him.
"Wait, Hermione!" James called out, pausing when she turned around to look at him, "Er, what were you doing?"
"Eating dinner?"
"Y'know the Great Hall, well, it exists."
"Yes, James," she tried not to sigh, "I do know."
"Why were you eating in the kitchens, then?" Remus spoke up, albeit somewhat quietly.
"Are you avoiding us?" Sirius pressed.
Her eyes darted around for a moment, and all three of them could tell she was lying, "No! Of course not! Why would I do that? I just wanted to spend some time alone."
Sirius narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, "Huh, okay." Hermione was about to leave when he suddenly gasped, "How did you know about the kitchens? You've only been here a couple months – it took us nearly a year to find them!"
She froze, shit, what could she possibly say? "Er," she took a deep breath, "my, uh, mother told me about it. She went here."
"I thought you said you went to Beauxbatons?"
"Yeah, um, my dad is French, and when my parents met, they uh, they staying in France. But my mum told me all about Hogwarts."
"What's her name?" James asked.
"Why is that any of your business?" Hermione shot back.
"Woah, calm down," James held his hands up in front of him, "I was just curious, jeez."
She was about to apologize when Remus said, "What is her name? Just curious, of course." He quickly added at the end.
"Er," Hermione couldn't exactly say Minerva, so she just decided on her birth mother's name, cringing as she said it, "Helen."
"Helen and Hermione, huh? Wasn't she supposed to be pretty? Not exactly living up to that standard." Sirius had no idea why he said that, especially since he knew she was pretty. Sure, that hair could definitely use some taming, but even the wild curls held a certain level of appeal to him.
She stared at him for a moment, what happened to the Sirius she knew from her time? How was he so mean here? Hermione blinked back tears and glared at him spitting out, "If I were you, I wouldn't be talking." She knew it was a lie – Sirius was definitely the nicest looking guy she had probably ever seen (not that she would admit it to herself) – but Hermione couldn't think of anything else to say.
As she stomped away from them, Sirius felt his mouth drop open, "Is she crazy? You've seen me, right, Prongs? Moony? I'm bloody gorgeous! All the girls want me!"
Remus merely rolled his eyes, but James replied, "Oh yes, Sirius!" He simpered, making his voice uncharacteristically high, "God! You're so fucking hot! I want you! No! I need you! Ugh! Please Sirius!" All three of them laughed at James' impression of the girls that were always after Sirius.
Twenty minutes later found the three remaining Marauders sitting in the kitchen, around a table piled high with more food than they could possibly eat.
"So," James started, around a mouthful of food, before being cut off by a 'James! Close your mouth. That's disgusting!' from Remus. He rolled his eyes, but finished chewing before opening his mouth again, "So, what are we going to do about Granger?"
"I don't know, mate, but she was clearly avoiding us. I'd say we just keep an even closer eye on her. Y'know, see if she's up to anything. 'Cause I'm pretty damn sure she is. Good or bad, I don't know, but nobody would act like that if they weren't hiding anything."
Remus nodded in agreement at Sirius' words, "You're right. We need to watch out. Especially," he paused, "especially after what happened with Peter."
There was a long silence as the boys sat quietly, all thinking about their friend that had fallen to the dark.
Finally, James spoke up, clearing his throat, "Moony's right. We can't let anything else happen."
December 2, 1977
Charms Class – 3:00 pm
3rd Person POV:
Merlin, this classroom is burning up, thought Hermione, as she shrugged off her robe and rolled up her sleeves, tying her thick hair into a hurried bun.
The 7th year Gryffindors and Slytherins all sat in the Charms classroom, awaiting instructions from Professor Flitwick, Hermione couldn't help but notice that James, Sirius, and Remus weren't there yet. Just as Flitwick began calling roll, the three boys burst in.
"We're here!" Cried Sirius, gasping for breath, "Don't worry! Your favorite students are here!"
"Yep! Not late! Very on time!" James grinned.
Sirius nodded, "Indeed, Prongs, we are very on time!"
Remus simply shook his head, "Sorry about them Professor," and walked to his seat.
Professor Flitwick sighed, "That's fine, boys. Just sit down so we can begin."
James rushed to get a seat next to Lily, leaving Sirius to find the last empty seat, which, just as Hermione's luck would have it, was right next to her. She sighed as he slumped into the chair next to her, shooting her a not-so-discreet glare that he probably thought she didn't catch (she did).
Before either of them could say anything, Professor Flitwick started his lesson on glamours and disillusionment charms.
A few correctly answer questions (on Hermione and Lily's part) later, and Flitwick ordered them to pair up with their desk partner and practice disillusionment charms and then glamours on each other.
This time, Sirius' sigh was quite audible and as he turned to her, she did her best to push down her hurt feelings – this isn't the Sirius that you know. This one's different, Hermione. He hasn't experienced the things that made him who he was. And although she obviously didn't want him to go through Azkaban and then being confined to his own home, Hermione couldn't help but mourn the Sirius from her time – just a little.
"Okay," Hermione started, nervously, "um, do you want to go first?"
"Fine." He avoided eye contact with her. They stood facing each other, and he muttered, "Inmisceo," waving his wand in a circle.
Hermione shivered involuntarily at the feeling of an egg cracking on her head and looked down to find herself shimmering slightly. "Five points to Gryffindor, Mr. Black," Professor Flitwick called, "Now, cancel it."
"Finite. Your turn."
Hermione barely even looked up as she, too, said the incantation and when done successfully, cancelled it.
"Good job, Miss Granger, you two practice glamours now."
Hermione turned to Sirius again and before she could say anything, he snarked, "I don't want to go first."
"O-Okay." She began waving her wand at him, turning his long, black, hair short and blond. His skin became paler, his eyes turned brown, and his eyebrows and lips became just a little bit thinner. Staring at what she had turned Sirius into, she realized he looked quite a bit like Draco Malfoy, and at that rather horrifying revelation, she hurriedly turned him back into Sirius, with a quick 'Finite Incantatem.'
Sirius looked rather surprised at her deer-in-the-headlights look as she spelled him, but he started anyway. As she stood, her hair became short, straight, and black, her brown eyes turned green, her nose thinned, and eyebrows thickened, and she felt herself grow a couple inches. After Flitwick's nod of approval, he removed the glamours on her.
Hermione felt a tingling sensation in her arm and almost gasped when she realized that her scar had also become un-glamoured. Sirius noticed her freeze up, and, narrowing his eyes when he saw her hand go to her left forearm, he caught a glimpse of some sort of marking.
He drew in a sharp breath, No. It can't be a Dark Mark. There's no way. As much as Sirius was suspicious of her, he didn't want her to be a Death Eater, but the chances of that were much higher now. He called out to her as she turned away, rolling down her sleeves, "Granger! What's on your arm?"
She froze and slowly turned around, feigning confusion, "What are you talking about?" She raised both arms, now sleeved, "There's nothing on my arm. On either of my arms."
Before Sirius could respond, Flitwick released them (Finally, the classes were over for the day), and Hermione summoned her things, making a mad dash out of the classroom.
Grabbing his things, he raced after her, followed by the confused and then resigned looks of James and Remus, as they went after their fellow Gryffindors.
Hermione reached the common room and slammed the portrait door shut, only for it to open a few moments later and three boys tumbled in, panting.
"Wait!" Cried Sirius, pointing his wand at Hermione, and muttering something she couldn't quite hear.
Having no intention to do such a thing, she made to run up the stairs to the girls' dorms, only to find that her feet were stuck to the floor, "Sirius! Take it off!"
"No!"
"Fine!" She glared at him, finally pulling her wand out, "Finite."
"Wait!" James called, "Why don't you want to talk to us?"
"Uh," she looked like she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, "It's, uhh, not that I don't want to talk to you. I, er, just have somewhere to be. Yeah! I have somewhere to be! So uh, bye!"
"Not so fast, Hermione," Remus came to stand beside her, "Nobody's up there right now, you can spare a few minutes to talk to us. Or, well, to Sirius. I don't really know what he wants."
Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus' last comment and opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Lily coming through the portrait door, "W-What are you guys doing?" She gasped out, panting for breath.
Sirius stalked towards Hermione, "Show me your left arm."
The other boys' eyes widened as they both realized he had probably seen something.
"Er. Why? Why should I have to show you my arm? Why don't you show me your arm? Hmm? And why the left? My right arm is pretty cool too, you know." Hermione felt ridiculous, but, alas, it was the only thing she could think of.
The other four people stared at her, all thinking the same thing: What the hell?
Remus sighed wearily, "Can you just show him, so he can shut up?"
She took a deep breath and shoved her sleeved, glamoured, left arm at Sirius, "Happy?"
"No! You know what- Oh, what the hell," he muttered as he rolled his eyes, and proceeded to roll up her sleeve.
She flinched involuntarily, and Sirius paused for a moment, looking up at her, and she couldn't help the little gasp that came with the realization of how close they were. When Hermione finally regained her speech, she hurriedly brushed his hand off, "See? Nothing. Merlin, you're so dramatic."
She had turned away when Sirius suddenly grabbed her hand, "Wait. It's shimmering."
Hermione tried to laugh it off, "It's not. I'm not a fucking fairy, Jesus. Let me go."
The others came closer to look at her arm, and James announced, "Nope. Definitely shimmering. That's a glamour!"
"No, it's not."
Remus looked at her, brow furrowed, and said, "Take it off."
"W-What? No!"
"Take. It. Off." Sirius growled, glaring at her, and she couldn't help but flinch.
"N-No."
"So, you are hiding something?" Lily finally spoke up, "Hermione, what is it? We can help you."
"It's a fucking Dark Mark, isn't it?"
"No! It's not. Why the hell would I have a Dark Mark?"
"The same reason other people do! 'Cause you're a Death Eater!"
"Oh, yes! That makes sense! Yes! I'll just join the people who killed my parents! And my friends! Yes, that's a good idea. Oh, yeah, absolutely, Mudbloods are all inferior! I'm going to kiss Voldemort's feet now!"
"How dare you? Evans is better than you in every way and you should remember that! Don't fucking say that word!" James roared.
"No, Potter," she spat, "I have the right to say that word."
"Like hell you do!" Sirius' eyes blazed with fury.
Remus and Lily were both watching with wide eyes as the three continued screaming at each other. They glanced at each other and Remus calmly muttered, "Finite," and pointed his wand at her arm.
They all froze.
Hermione immediately wrenched her hand away from Sirius and made to run away, but he grabbed her forearm. Searing, burning, pain shot through her arm and she couldn't help the scream that came out of her mouth when his nails dug into the wound. Vaguely, she felt the warm blood, and she collapsed onto the floor, clutching her arm to her chest, sobbing in pain.
The other four stared at her, and Sirius pulled away like he had been burned, "Shit! Hermione! I-I didn't mean to-" he stopped speaking when he saw the wound.
MUDBLOOD
Lily gasped and flinched back, James pulling her into his arms, trying to comfort her.
"Hermione! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that! I-"
Once again, he got cut off, this time by Hermione stood up shakily, "Look what you did! Look what you fucking did! It was just getting better! It was j-just get-getting better! W-Why-" she trailed off as another sob made its way out of her throat.
Remus cleared his throat, but only managed to whisper, "I'm sorry. I-I didn't know."
Hermione's arm fell limply to her side, the blood dripping off it, and the word displayed, "No, Remus. It wasn't your fault." She turned her glare on Sirius, who opened his mouth. Hermione, however, beat him to it, and growled, "Save it. I don't care. And thanks a lot, by the way." She turned around and rushed out of the common room. Only one place to go: The Room of Requirement.
When she finally made it into the room (which now resembled the living room at the Burrow) she collapsed onto the couch, looking at her arm.
The word was even more disfigured now, and the blood was still running.
She took a deep breath, steadying herself, and slowly got up to clean it off.
Later collapsing on the couch, she succumbed to sleep, with only the nightmares as company.
A/N: Last time, begging worked, so here goes… Please vote! Vote, vote, vote! And comment! Commenting = good!
Soo, how was it? Good? Bad? Horrible? Great? Suggestions, anyone?
ALSO! I have this story planned for Sirius and Hermione, but if you guys would rather have it be Hermione and someone else (like Severus, Remus, or Regulus, or someone), tell me! I'm open to other ideas!