Previously:

A first-year walking past the large group wondered why almost everyone there looked thoughtful, and why everyone was quiet.

He realized that he must have been looking too closely when the boy with the long and greasy black hair glared at him.

His stomach did a flip and he walked faster, desperate to get away from the scary fifth-year.

Chapter 3: Family

For the rest of the week, Harry and Hermione slowly got to know the Marauders, Lily, and Snape a bit better. They discovered that this Snape was snarky, but somehow managed to throw insults in such a way that it almost always seemed humorous, and never really hurt the person being insulted.

He seemed like a pretty easy-going person, but Harry and Hermione soon discovered that he could prank pretty viciously if provoked.

Severus Snape walked down the hallway purposefully, heading down to breakfast. As he walked, he noticed that people seemed to avoid him more than usual today. He wasn't sure why but ignored it in favor of his appetite.

Sitting down at his usual seat at the Gryffindor table, he noticed that no-one was sitting near him.

Then, he looked down at his robes and scowled, seeing as they were pitch black, rather than the normal Hogwarts robes. He assumed that they had been transfigured by that oaf, Potter, on his way to breakfast. But then, he smelt the subtle scent of a potion, and sighed, clearly annoyed.

Several seventh-years who had been passing him at the time jumped back in fright, one emitting a pathetic squeak.

There was a potion in his robes, one that made him seem very intimidating. He banged his head on the table and everyone in the hall flinched at the noise.

Snape huffed and resolved to get those two Potters back as soon as possible.

He leaned over and quickly inscribed some runes to the bottom of the cups at the seats that both Potters generally sat at.

Twenty minutes later, Harry and James Potter walked into the Great Hall, animatedly discussing Quidditch.

"Oh. Hi, Snape," Harry said, smirking, "You're looking particularly dashing today."

James disguised a laugh as a cough. Snape ignored them.

Harry looked at James and shrugged. The boy mirrored his expression. They sat down and started gathering some food and drink. Then, they both took sips of pumpkin juice, unfortunately at the same time.

Snape looked up, smirking as Harry and James were slowly transformed into porcupines.

He very carefully stifled a grin. It wouldn't do to get caught this early. This was unexpected. Hmm... apparently he had messed up on one of the runes.

Harry was a male porcupine while James was a female.

To the general amusement and disgust of everyone in the great hall, the two porcupines began snogging.

Snape was intrigued by this turn of events. He didn't know that porcupines could snog.

After a minute of snogging, Snape decided to take mercy on them and nullified the runes. Harry and James turned back to themselves, still locked into an embrace. The two separated instantly and fled the hall, mortified.

The pair passed Hermione as they left, who wiggled her eyebrows at the pair, making Harry blush even more, and making James turn slightly green.

Harry never pranked Snape again.

Harry and Hermione also soon found out why none of the Marauders would dare prank Lily. She was the definition of fiery.

Apparently, her temper was legendary, and the duo's first experience of her temper came later on that day when she caught Snape copying her homework.

"SEVERUS SNAPE!" boomed a loud, female voice. Snape immediately looked terrified and was frozen to his seat while the rest of the students in the common room fled the scene of whatever crime had been perpetrated against the "Fiery Gryffindor Demon," as some called her. Harry, however, did not flee, because he was curious to see what would happen. This was a golden opportunity to get to know his mother's doppelgänger.

Hermione didn't flee either, as she was too terrified. Lily's angry yell reminded her of her mother, Jean Granger when she was on a rampage. Instead of fleeing, she gripped Harry's hand tightly. Noticing her distress, Harry put an arm around her shoulders and she snuggled into him as Lily stalked and stomped into the room.

When she reached Snape, her voice lowered to a deadly whisper. "Severus Snape, have you been copying my arithmancy essay..."

She paused for a second, taking a deep breath as if to fill her lungs with dragon-fire. "...AGAIN?" she boomed.

Hermione's arms snaked around Harry's waist as she was reminded further of her own mother.

Snape shivered in fear and tried to explain himself. "I… I - uh… Youknowyou'rereallygoodatarithmancyandI'mcompletelyshittyatitsoIreallyneededhelpsoIusedyouressaybecauseIthoughtIcoulduseitasanexample?" he blurted eloquently.

Harry stifled a grin watching the normally cool and collected Severus Snape squirm under his friend's angry glare.

Lily grabbed Snape by the ear and dragged him out of the room, cursing under her breath and muttering about lazy fools that she really ought to give a good beating.

By this point, Hermione was practically on Harry's lap she was hugging him so tightly.

Harry was even learning new things about Hermione. Apparently, her Mum had a temper that was downright unpleasant some times, and would often take it out on Hermione.

"Hermione?" Harry asked as Lily dragged Snape away.

"Mhm?" she mumbled into his chest.

"Why were you so unsettled by Lily's temper, if you don't mind me asking?"

She turned her head up to look at him. "My mum," she stated blandly. "She's got a temper too. She'd never physically hurt me, but on bad days, when she and Dad come home from work, she'd tear into me for the smallest slights. Sometimes, she'd be perfectly pleasant, and others, she'd be aggressive, and frankly, quite nasty. I never really knew what to expect. Nice Mum, or angry Mum? Lily's temper just brought up some memories. I'm sorry for bothering you."

She moved to extricate herself from Harry, but he kept his arms around her. "You never bother me," he said firmly and sincerely.

She smiled softly and relaxed into his embrace once more.

When Snape and Lily returned shortly after, Snape looking thoroughly cowed, they exchanged a glance and left quickly and quietly, not wanting to impede on such a private moment.

The rest of the Marauders, Harry discovered, were apparently just like their doppelgängers, except for Peter, who was less inclined to betray his friends.

Sirius was ecstatic to meet his doppelgänger. He had eagerly asked several questions, such as "Did you ever get in a serious relationship?" and "Is Mum just as bad in your dimension?"

Older Sirius had answered with a blush that he had previously been engaged to Amelia Bones before he was thrown in Azkaban. A little more calmly, Sirius answered the second question, stating that his "Mum" was dead, and had been for quite a few years.

At this, Younger Sirius's mouth had flapped, showing his astonishment, and then he collected himself, and asked rather politely if he could go back with Older Sirius, Harry, and Hermione. This indicated that this dimension's Walburga Black was just as bad as the one in the Older Sirius's dimension.

When that desire was articulated, it was Older Sirius's turn to be astonished. He said he'd discuss it with Dumbledore if Younger Sirius was sincere.

During the first week of November, Dumbledore had Horace Slughorn, the Hogwarts potions master, brew the animagus revealing potion.

When Slughorn asked what it was for, Dumbledore shrugged indifferently and said it was "for a project of mine."

During the second week of November, the octet made their way to Dumbledore's office for one of their lessons.

"Acid Pops," Harry said as they approached the office. The gargoyle slid to the side and the group entered.

As they approached Dumbledore, who was sitting at his desk, he conjured a few chairs. They all sat, and Dumbledore gestured to a bowl on his desk, that contained a green potion. "This is the animagus revealing potion. When you drink it, you will enter a trance, where your form will approach you."

He conjured four goblets and filled them with the potion. "For it to work properly, you will each need a strand of your own hair to be placed in your potion," Dumbledore explained.

Harry grinned at Hermione, who began to look confused at Harry's expression, then reached over and yanked a strand of hair off the top of her head. She yelped and glared at him while he politely held out the strand.

"Here you go, my dear lady," Harry said pompously. She struggled not to smile at this display, wanting to appear miffed at him for a time.

She lost her battle to remain stoic when he waved the strand in her face. She snatched it from his hand and grinned at him, then promptly plopped it in her goblet. Then, she remembered that they had an audience, and looked at the wide grins all directed at her.

"What?" she asked exasperatedly. Everyone simultaneously averted their eyes, and Harry snorted.

Hermione chuckled, then reached over and yanked out a strand of Harry's hair in retaliation.

"Hey!" he protested feebly.

"Hypocrite!" she challenged.

He looked at her defiantly and snatched the strand of his hair back, gently placing it in his goblet.

"Ready?" Lily asked impatiently, distracting the couple, who had been staring at each other, eyes narrowed. They each blushed and picked up their goblets in sync.

"Ready," Harry and Hermione asserted in harmony.

"Bottoms up," Snape drawled. They all gulped down the potion.

They all would have complained about the taste but were immersed in a trance.

As the four slumped in their chairs, James turned to Sirius. "Five galleons says Harry and Hermione are a couple by Christmas," he offered.

Sirius looked pensive. "I'll take that bet. I think they'll be together by New Years' day at noon."

"But after Christmas?" James interjected, making sure their bets didn't overlap.

Sirius nodded, and they shook hands. James thought that Sirius was an idiot for making his guess over such a short interval, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Remus shook his head wearily. "You guys are really doing this?" he asked. "Hermione'll be mad when she finds out you have a bet going."

James looked at Remus suspiciously. "Why d'you think she's gonna find out? Don't tell me you're gonna tell her?" he accused.

Remus backpedaled quickly. "No, no. I wouldn't do that," he insisted.

Dumbledore pretended to be invisible, knowing that the humorous interactions would stop once they remembered that he was there.

Harry was cold. Also, he was apparently not wearing any clothing. If he had to guess, this was the animagus trance, though he had no idea what he was supposed to be seeing as everything was pitch black.

Suddenly, his eyes were flooded with light, and he had to blink rapidly before he could see clearly.

He was in some kind of rainforest, though it looked oddly devoid of wildlife. He reckoned that that was because the only animal he would see would be his form.

He decided to walk around a bit to see if he could find his form.

After a few minutes of fruitless walking, he heard a predatory growl from behind him and practically jumped out of his skin.

When he turned to look, he saw a very noble-looking black panther with eyes the same color as Harry's. Though despite the irises of his eyes being green, what would normally be the whites of its eyes looked like they were bathed in shadow. Harry was intrigued as he examined the dark grey swirling around.

"Wow," Harry whispered, "you must be my form."

The panther nodded and crept closer. Harry dropped to his knees and felt the panther's fur.

So soft, he thought. I can't wait 'till I transform.

The panther looked into his eyes again, and his vision faded to black once more.

Hermione was very cold, very naked, and very irritated. As her senses were overwhelmed with light and blistering heat enveloped her, she supposed that maybe she was lucky to not be wearing any clothing.

Once her vision cleared, she looked around and determined that she was in a desert.

She could see nothing but sand and dunes. Since nothing was currently happening, she laid down, resting her hands on her stomach.

A few minutes later, something wet came into contact with her cheek, and she squeaked indignantly and scrambled to get up. She gasped when she saw what had licked her.

A red fox was looking at her inquisitively with its head tilted slightly to the left.

"Wow," she murmured. "Are you my form?"

The fox nodded, and she stepped forward and knelt down next to it to further examine it.

It was beautiful, she decided. Its orangish fur shone in the sun and the white underbelly contrasted brilliantly with the orange. The only disconcerting part was that the eyes looked very human, and appeared to be a replica of her own eyes.

As she stared deeply into the eyes that looked so similar to her own, her vision faded to black once more, and with it, the heat receded as well.

Lily shivered in the cold, and frantically looked around, wondering where she was, but the only thing that she could see was black. Although she couldn't see, she could tell that her body was completely exposed to the world - er - wherever she was now.

With a flash of light, her surroundings made themselves visible. She was standing in the middle of a vast grassland. The tall grass tickled her sides and a light breeze ruffled her hair.

She looked around, turning slowly in a circle, and saw no variation in the environment around her. It was just tall grass as far as she could see.

Wondering how she would possibly find her form here, she took a few hesitant steps forward, pressing the long blades of grass flat on the ground as she stepped on them.

Suddenly, a slight rustling noise reached her ears and she jumped slightly. As she landed back on the ground, she somehow managed to lose her footing and fell down, hitting the grass and dirt with a quiet thump.

Scrambling away from the noise, she looked in the direction of it and noticed a regal-looking tiger. She sighed in relief and started inwardly berating herself for being afraid of something that was literally part of her.

She shifted to a kneeling position and signaled to the tiger to come closer, and it did. She brushed her hand over its fur, reveling in its softness.

Examining it, she determined that it looked similar to most of the pictures of tigers that she had seen at home, and that the only really significant difference was that the part of the fur that was usually orange had a slightly red tint, but it wasn't that noticeable.

Her last thought as she once more lost consciousness was that her form's eyes were as green as hers.

Severus Snape was pissed. Very pissed. All he could figure was that he was in a very cold place, and there was no light.

He strongly disliked the cold. That wasn't helped by the fact that he was completely unclothed, which exposed him to the cold even more.

As his surroundings came into focus, he was displeased to note that it wasn't much brighter here, and the temperature was still annoyingly frigid. Looking around, he scowled.

He was in a cave.

Figures, he thought wryly, Of course, 'Batman' (nickname recently coined by James Charlus Potter and Harry James Potter, with input from Hermione Jean Granger) had to have a form in such a dark and dingy place.

He flinched as he heard a high pitched squeak. Whirling around, he snarled angrily as he saw his form.

Muttering expletives under his breath cursing magic and "that damned potion," he turned away from the bat.

As his vision faded to black, he decided that Harry and James were never going to let him hear the end of this.

"HER?" Remus asked loudly, expressing his disbelief while Dumbledore looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here at the moment.

Sirius blushed and mumbled an affirmative.

"Wow!" Remus said, "Shooting high, Pads!"

"It's just a crush, guys," Sirius said awkwardly.

"I know, Sirius, but you're talking about Jessica Cambridge. She's like one of the most popular girls in our year, and she is actually a decent person!" Peter explained. "Most of the guys in our year have got a crush on her, apart from us, of course. You'll have a lot of competition, dude."

"It's just a crush!" Sirius insisted.

"No, it's not," James said firmly. "I see how you look at her. Harry's noticed it too. He pointed it out to me, and I could see your dreamy expression very clearly."

They all jumped when a voice came from the group of now-conscious individuals who had, until recently, been under the influence of an animagus potion.

"Since when is Harry observant?" Hermione teased.

Harry mock-scowled at her. "Hey! I'm pretty observant!" he insisted half-heartedly.

She patted him on the arm consolingly. "Sure you are," she drawled.

"Well, it was pretty obvious," James piped up. Sirius scowled.

Harry pouted adorably.

"Anyway," Snape drawled. "Let's discuss what we came here for."

James brightened. "Right." He whipped around to face Harry. "What was your form?" he asked excitedly.

Harry smiled fondly. "Some type of panther. It was black, but the only thing that I could find that was abnormal was that the whites of its eyes looked sort of shadowy, almost. It's like the grey was swirling around or something. I dunno what that means, but I thought it was pretty cool."

Hermione gasped. "Harry!" she exclaimed. "That means that you're a shadow panther! Those are really rare magical creatures!"

Harry looked intrigued. "How does that differ from normal panthers?" James asked.

Hermione went into lecture-mode. "The reason that they're called shadow panthers is really only because of their eyes like Harry mentioned, but they have a few different qualities. For example, they're quite a bit faster than normal panthers, and a little stronger, though not much. They're considered magical creatures mainly because Muggles can't see them."

James looked disappointed. "I thought that meant that they could travel through shadows or something. That would be cool," James said.

Hermione scoffed. "That sounds completely ridiculous. How can anything travel through shadow? Shadow is just an absence of light or at least a lesser amount of it. Though I guess with magic you never know."

"Cool," Harry said. "What was your form, Hermione? I bet it was like an owl or something, 'cause you're really smart."

Hermione glared at him. "I am not an owl!" she exclaimed indignantly. "Are my brains my only good quality to you?"

Harry blushed and stuttered out something incoherent before collecting himself and apologizing. "Sorry, 'Mione. I just thought that it made sense, 'cause you are really smart. That doesn't mean that you aren't good in other ways, though. It's just the way that most people instantly think of you."

Hermione was mostly mollified but wanted to get in the last word. "And - did you think about my fear of heights?" she snapped. "You know I hate flying - why on earth would I be an owl?" Then, her voice lowered. "You know how I don't like it when all I'm known for is smarts! Does 'know-it-all bookworm' ring any bells?"

Harry looked properly abashed while the rest of the room's inhabitants looked at Hermione in disbelief. "Sorry," he muttered. "I was just trying to compliment you. I never meant it that way."

Hermione felt quite guilty after that and was about to apologize for her remarks, but James quickly steered the conversation back on track. "So… Hermione, what was actually your form?" he asked hesitantly, unsure if Hermione would be hostile to him as well.

"A red fox," she said in a small voice, though the barest hint of pride crept into her words.

Everyone looked proud of her, except for Harry, who kept his gaze fixed to the ground. This only hardened Hermione's resolve to apologize later on and pull him out of his newly constructed shell.

Noticing the tension, Snape put his own irritation to the side and attempted to lighten the conversation. "I'm a bat," he stated matter-of-factly.

James and Sirius howled with laughter, while Hermione gave a fond smile at their antics. Even though they weren't falling off of their chairs, Lily, Remus, and Peter were laughing uproariously. Dumbledore had a fierce twinkle in his eye, and Harry had a slight quirk of the lips, even in his emotional state.

James finally calmed slightly, though he was still chuckling. By that point, the room was once more silent, and everyone was in their seats again.

James grinned. "What should we call him?" he asked.

Snape raised a single eyebrow.

Hermione and Harry both spoke at the same time. "Batman."

They quickly looked at each other, startled, while the rest of the room bar Snape once again dissolved into hysterical laughter.

As Harry refocused his eyes on the ground in front of him, Hermione felt another wave of guilt. James was oblivious to this, however, and looked positively gleeful.

"Yes! Batman is perfect!" he exclaimed.

As the laughter continued to echo around the room, Snape groaned and hid his face in his hands but was satisfied with himself for lightening the mood.

"Right!" Lily called, "Moving along! I'm a tiger!"

James's demeanor shifted drastically. One minute he was laughing, the next minute he was cowering, looking incredibly afraid.

Sirius looked at James sympathetically, understanding his fear. Her temper was already legendary. It didn't need the aid of a tiger.

Remus clasped his hands together excitedly. "Let's do names now that we know everyone's forms," he suggested.

James, who had seemingly made a miraculous recovery from his fright, nodded eagerly and started blurting out random names for Harry.

After about fifteen terrible suggestions, Sirius shook his head disappointedly and voiced his idea. "How about Shadow? I've always wanted to call someone that."

This attracted Harry's attention. "I like that name," he said quietly. Everyone exchanged glances, still surprised at how much Hermione had caused him to withdraw.

After everyone had agreed on Harry's name, there was some spirited debate over Hermione's.

"How about Veda?" Peter suggested. "It means wisdom or knowledge."

Hermione wanted to be annoyed, she really did, but she felt guilty already about snapping at Harry for a somewhat similar remark and knew that Peter meant nothing bad by this.

She really didn't like the name though.

James watched the emotions flash over Hermione's face and suggested another name. "How about Claws? Um - foxes have claws… right?"

Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "I think that it may sound a bit masculine," Hermione mused, "but I like it. I think it sounds cool - and yes James, foxes do have claws, I'm pretty sure."

James nodded.

"Severus is Batman, right?" Sirius asked with a grin. The boy in question groaned.

"Yes," James answered with a gleam in his eye.

"Now," he said, "it's time for Lily! What should we call you?"

"How about Tigger?" Snape suggested with a straight face.

Sirius sniggered while Lily smacked Snape on the arm, who was grinning.

"How about Lyssa?" Hermione said.

"Fitting," James mused, "She is a hot-head."

Lily smiled indulgently while Snape disguised a laugh as a cough. When no objections were heard, James sat up straighter.

"Great! When we get back to the dorms I'll update the map."

Dumbledore coughed. "What map is that, exactly?"

James turned bright red and stuttered through his mortification at forgetting Dumbledore's presence. "N-nothing sir… j-just a… um… just a map… um… of Hogwarts. It - um - just allows us to navigate the school faster, and we like to - um - put our nick-names on it."

Dumbledore looked at him doubtfully but continued anyway. "Well, we had a great lesson today, but I must remind you not to start transforming yet. It can be very dangerous to do it without a responsible animagus around," he said, emphasizing the word responsible.

All of the teens nodded, unsure of what to say.

"Excellent," Dumbledore said. "Dismissed. Sleep well, and come back tomorrow, around the same time."

As they left the office, Harry pushed ahead, just wanting to get to sleep. He didn't want to think about Hermione after the outburst she had.

He knew what he had said was insensitive, and could see why Hermione reacted the way she did. But he just wished that she had trusted him enough to know that he didn't mean it mockingly.

It seemed that she didn't trust him. He could hear her trying to catch up, but only lengthened his stride in response.

"Gryffindor Quidditch!" he gasped, speedily moving into the common room as the portrait swung open.

He dashed up the stairs to his dorm and pulled the curtains around his bed closed, breathing heavily.

Back down in the common room, tears rolled down Hermione's cheeks as she sadly made her way up to her dorm. She sat down heavily on her bed and wondered why Harry wouldn't speak to her.

She knew the answer, though. She had yelled at him for basically nothing, just because she didn't have the last word.

As the last set of curtains were pulled closed, Hermione crept out of her bed and down the stairs.

She quietly crossed the common room and snuck up the boys' stairs.

Reaching the dorms, she looked for the one with the name H. Potter along with the other Marauders under it. Finding the right room, she gently opened the door and stepped inside. Making sure to be silent, she closed the door and tiptoed over to Harry's bed.

She pulled the curtains back and climbed in. Shutting them behind her, she cast a silencing ward around the bed. She laid down next to him and lightly poked his shoulder.

That seemed to rouse him from his sleep.

"Hermione?" he breathed. "What are you doing here? This is my bed."

He turned over to face her and looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Harry!" she blurted. Harry took one look at her posture and knew her apology wasn't related to her sneaking in.

"I thought you were mad," he said flatly.

This made Hermione even more guilty. She seemed to deflate before him. "I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have said those things. I didn't really mean them. By that point, I had realized that you didn't mean what you said mockingly, but I just had to be an idiot and insist to myself that I get the last word. I know that I ruined your afternoon, and I'm sorry."

Harry sighed. "That's good," he said. When she looked at him incredulously, he expounded. "I thought you didn't trust me enough to realize that I would never mock you."

Hermione felt even more guilty, if possible. "Oh, Harry," she sighed. "I'll always trust you. Especially here. I know that we're quickly making friends with the Marauders, but I know you the best and really trust you the most out of everyone here. You're really the only one I trust here. I'm sorry that I was so irrational today."

"Not Sirius?" he asked.

"What?"

"You don't trust Sirius?" he clarified.

"I know he's innocent, but I don't really know him all that well. He seems nice and definitely loves you, but I can't really trust him as much yet. Trust comes with time, or being saved from a mountain troll."

Harry chuckled at the reference to his and Ron's rescue of her in their first year in Hogwarts, and Hermione decided to give in and hug him.

At first, he stiffened, but he eventually relaxed and returned the hug with the same intensity as his best friend.

"I'm sorry too," Harry mumbled into her hair.

She leaned back slightly so she could see his eyes. "Why?"

"I shouldn't have run away. I should have let you speak. You know, I was going to avoid you tomorrow. I now realize how stupid that would've been. Imagine not talking to each other over a misunderstanding that could be cleared up with a short conversation. Either way, I've known you long enough that I should've realized that you were either feeling strange, or there was an explanation. So, I'm sorry too."

Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. "You're amazing, Harry Potter. Even when I'm very clearly at fault, you apologize too. It's very thoughtful of you to apologize, Harry, but one wasn't needed. You hold little to no blame for any of this."

He adopted a stubborn expression, but Hermione beat him to it. "No, Harry. I know what you're going to say. It's my fault, not yours. Please agree."

Harry nodded hesitantly and she buried her head back in his chest.

"This is nice," she mumbled sleepily.

Then, Harry noticed that she was on top of the covers.

He poked her. "Hermione. Scoot."

She scowled at him but moved so he could hold open the covers. She slid under and resumed her previous position, only without the barrier of the bedsheets.

"Your feet are cold," Harry teased.

She turned her head to the side slightly so she wouldn't lick him and blew a raspberry at him.

He laughed and gripped her tighter.

"You know," he whispered, "this is almost like having a family. Here, with the Marauders and Sirius and Dumbledore. I might not know all of them really well yet, but it almost feels like a family. All the banter, pranking, and everything else just feels right." He shivered. "I don't want to lose this. I know we'll eventually go home and it'll be nice to see everyone, but will it be worth it?"

"I think... I think that no matter what we choose, we'll be happy in the end, right? That's all I've ever wanted for you," she said softly, looking up at him.

Harry smiled, before kissing her forehead, knowing it would be a really obvious pointer towards what he felt. Before he could respond, he felt her breathing even out as she fell asleep. Not having the heart to disturb her, he relaxed into her embrace and slept as well, not caring about the consequences.