Herbology was not one of Hermione's favorite classes, and so she was already slightly irritable as she was headed to class. Professor Root had decided that today's lesson should take place on the very outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. There were certain plants that only grew wild, and refused domestic cultivation. Today was meant to be rather like a scavenger hunt. They each received a list of possible plants that were wild crafted only, and might grow in the cool temperate region of the forest. They shared Herbology with Slytherin, so Lily and Hermione were going to attempt to approach Severus sometime during class. The girls watched the other groups nervously. Several of the Slytherin boys had cast sly looks their way. Hermione noticed that the boys (James, Sirius, Remus and Peter) had stuck quite close to her and Lily, and she groaned in irritation.

"What?" Lily glanced at her curiously.

"Them. They're hanging around," Hermione replied with a dark glare for her brother. Lily understood immediately.

"Well…I could go. We'll move in just a bit so they can't see us completely, and then I'll sneak over to where Sev is." Lily murmured with her back to the boys. Hermione shrugged.

"I guess we'll have to," she murmured.

Waiting around for other people to do things was not something that Hermione (either one of her) really cared for. She tried to do the scavenger hunt by herself, and she tried to make sure that she stayed slightly out of the line of her brother and his annoying friends. She could overhear Sirius flirting with a couple of girls on the other side and rolled her eyes in irritation. Honestly! The giggling was grating on her nerves when her hand prickled uncomfortably. She gasped and stared at her hand with a frown. Understanding filled her and without even thinking she shifted into her animagus form. With a snarl of rage she took off into the woods.

"Er, guys, did you hear that?" Remus asked with a frown, cocking his head. The others shook their heads in confusion.

"Where are Hermione and Lily?" James asked with a frown. Remus paled and took off for the last spot they'd seen the girls. The other boys followed him without question.

The forest blurred under her paws and she acquired her destination quickly. Lily was being held by two Slytherin boys and there was another boy who was pointing a wand at her. Her clothes looked mussed, torn. Another snarl was ripped from Hermione's throat and she ran at the boy with the wand. He fell to the side and she grabbed his wand in her powerful jaws and snapped it. Then she turned to the two other boys and snarled again. They were staring at her, slack-jawed and one of them had wet himself. They ran, the cowards, and their stupid friend followed. Lily was shaking, it was shock most likely. Hermione purred at her, and head butted her hip. Lily started to gasp and cry. She fell to her knees and sat down. Hermione started to lick her face with her rough, raspy tongue and nuzzle Lily with her nose. Lily eventually put her arms around Hermione's neck and clung to her. She purred as loudly as she could to soothe her sister.

"Merlin's Balls!" Sirius choked out.

"Lily, come here!" James called urgently. The lioness turned her head to the boys and gave a distinct snort. Then she turned her attention back to Lily and head butted her again.

"No," Lily said firmly burying her face in the lioness' fur again. "She saved me. I'm not going to let you hurt her."

"Where's Hermione?" James demanded, looking around for his sister. Lily paled.

"I don't know," she admitted. "We were separated."

"What happened?" Remus asked gently, trying to move closer to Lily. The lioness looked at him with her golden eyes and then looked at Lily.

"It's okay," Lily said with a hiccup sob. "They're okay."

"We promise not to hurt her," James vowed, his face pale. The lioness seemed to think about that. She moved back slightly so that she was sitting up and then yawned showing off all of her very, very sharp teeth.

"Uh, I think she's saying we'd better keep that promise," Peter observed nervously.

"What happened?" Sirius asked Lily very gently, going down on one knee and looking into her pale face.

"It…it was Slytherin…" Lily began, and was backed up by a low snarl. The boys looked at the lioness.

"You don't like them either, eh?" Sirius asked with a grin. The lioness licked Lily's face one more time and then got to her feet. She looked at all of them for a moment and then she was gone, into the depths of the forest.

"I didn't know there was a lioness in the Forbidden Forest," Remus said thoughtfully.

"Well, I for one am particularly glad," Lily said somewhat unsteadily. James immediately came over to support her.

"Where is Hermione?" James asked again, a worried frown on his face.

"I…I'm not sure," Lily said with an identical worried frown. "I—I was looking for some golden trillium…"

"Lily?" Hermione's panicked voice could be heard some distance away. "Lily, come on, where are you?"

Relief flooded Lily at those words and she almost collapsed in James' arms. He swung her up gently and carried her carefully toward the sound of his sister's voice. When Hermione saw Lily in James' arms she gasped in horror and flung herself at Lily.

"Oh Lily! What happened to you?" Hermione asked miserably. "I should never have agreed to split up, this is all my fault."

"No! No!" Lily argued, struggling for a second in James' arms until he set her down carefully. Both girls embraced their heads close together and they started talking to one another so quietly that Remus could only pick up snatches of what was said.

"Did you get to talk to him?" He thought he heard Hermione whisper, and he saw Lily shake her head in a very slight motion

Then Remus could have sworn that Hermione started whispering something about Protean Charms, but that couldn't be right because that was a NEWT level spell. He thought that Hermione looked right at him, and frowned slightly and then she whispered something else and all he heard was a faint buzzing noise that irritated his sensitive hearing. He rubbed his head in irritation and moved away from the girls. The girls moved back toward the Herbology group with the boys in a loose honor guard around them.

HP/HG/HP

Hermione and Lily began to haunt the library, hoping to run into Severus. Usually the girls welcomed Remus' quiet company, but they started to avoid him a little and this made him very sad. He liked Hermione and Lily because they were kind, gentle, and caring and because both girls would fight tooth and nail over any perceived injustice. Remus had the strangest feeling sometimes that Hermione knew what he was, and liked him anyway. He ignored that feeling because it was so preposterous. He considered them to be friends, if not quite as close as his fellow marauders. The girls were also incredibly intelligent and had inadvertently helped the marauders pull off pranks by their superior spell knowledge, or a sometimes a random conversation he'd had with them. Remus was fairly certain that Hermione knew what her knowledge was being put to use for, and was amused. Lily most certainly did not. When Hermione suddenly sought him out one day, happiness spread through him and he smiled shyly at her.

"Remus, you're my friend, right?" Hermione asked him carefully in the library one afternoon in October.

"I like to think so," he replied a little stiffly. Being avoided had hurt him more than a fifteen year-old boy might like to admit. Hermione seemed to understand because she caught one of his hands with her own.

"I think of you as my friend," she said firmly. He nodded and his ears turned pink.

"Okay." He agreed quietly.

"Can you keep a secret from my brother?" Hermione asked him with a slight frown. Remus frowned back.

"Uh, Hermione," he began uncertainly. Hermione watched him for a moment, and some sort of understanding flickered there.

"No, no that wouldn't be fair to you, would it. Okay then, I have to do this the hard way. Oh well, never mind then." Hermione said firmly with a nod for emphasis. She stood up abruptly to leave, but she bent and kissed his cheek on her way out of the library. Remus blushed. It was close enough to the full moon that he could smell her determination, along with the clean scent of lavender, and something else that he couldn't quite pinpoint.

HP/HG/HP

"Rumor has it that Amos Diggory wants to ask you to go to Hogsmeade with him," Lily whispered from behind her hand. The girls were sitting at the Gryffindor table eating breakfast.

"If he looks anything like Cedric, I would love to," Hermione muttered to herself.

"What?" Lily stared at her friend. Hermione looked up and flushed lightly.

"Oh! Um, point him out?" Hermione asked curiously. Lily nudged her and pointed out a boy that looked just like Cedric Diggory.

"I think he just might do," Hermione said thoughtfully. Lily giggled.

"Who might do what?" James asked as he sat down to breakfast, his friends right behind him.

"Nothing," Hermione said innocently and took a sip of her pumpkin juice. Lily giggled again. James' eyes narrowed.

"Evans here is not usually the giggly sort," James said with a frown. Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"Right, because you have my sort all figured out, do you?" Lily sneered at him in a sneer worthy of Severus. Hermione raised a brow and toasted her with her pumpkin juice. She must have been practicing in the bathroom with that one.

"Come along Lily," Hermione said airily. She stood and grabbed her bookbag. "We have places to loiter, boys to ravish."

"You what?" James' face had turned slightly red and he was glaring at his sister. Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"You are such a prig," Lily huffed at him. "It's Hermione for Merlin's sake. Read the Library for places, and Hogwarts, A History for boys to ravish."

"Oh, I don't know," Hermione said thoughtfully as they left the table, "I think there's a new book I might try."

"You unbelievable hussy, you," Lily said dryly. She turned back to the table and gloried in the looks on all four boys' faces. She smiled sweetly at Remus. "See you later, Remus?"

For the first time in Hermione's life, she wasn't going to the library. She and Lily walked casually to one of the courtyards and sat on the edge of a fountain, talking. They watched groups of students leaving the Great Hall after breakfast, and Hermione sat up straight when she spotted the tall figure of the 6th year student, Amos Diggory. He paused in front of them and shifted uncertainly. Hermione smiled kindly at him.

"Can we help you?" she asked politely. Amos flushed slightly.

"Er, has anyone asked you to go to Hogsmeade, yet?" Amos asked in a rush, his ears turning red. Hermione thought he looked very sweet, but fought down a giggle. She knew that teenage boys did not appreciate being giggled at.

"Why, no," Hermione said thoughtfully. Lily nudged her frantically. It looked like the red-head was holding her breath or something. Hermione frowned at her.

"Would you, uh, go with me then?" The tall Hufflepuff seemed to trip over his words. Hermione smiled brilliantly, which transformed her from pretty to beautiful. Amos goggled at her for a moment.

"I would love to," she told him sincerely. Amos swallowed and nodded.

"Okay then," he muttered and then he escaped. Lily started choking and Hermione had to pound her on the back.

"Lily! Come on, you're going to give up the game before it's begun!" Hermione was hissing at her.

"Oh, but Hermione, the look on your face," Lily was gasping for air. "You looked like one of those girls that's always hanging on Sirius!"

"I did not! You take that back!" Hermione growled. Lily tried to gain control of herself, but she was failing miserably.

"Lily, Hermione!" Severus called to them with pleasure in his voice. Both girls turned to him with warm smiles. Hermione kissed Severus on the cheek.

"We are so glad to see you! We need to talk to you," Hermione took the opportunity to whisper in his ear. He nodded.

HP/HG/HP

"Amos Diggory asked Hermione to go to Hogsmeade with him," Remus said in his quiet way in the boys' dorm room.

"Who?" Peter asked curiously.

"Amos Diggory. He's a Hufflepuff," Remus replied, glancing at James, and very specifically not looking at Sirius who appeared to be murdering his bedclothes.

"Wait, isn't he that sort of good-looking one?" James asked with a frown. Remus snorted in amusement.

"I didn't realize he was your type," he said dryly. James glared at him.

"No, I mean the girls are always sighing over him." James growled in irritation.

"Only if I'm not in the room," Sirius drawled arrogantly. Remus and James looked at one another and rolled their eyes together.

"Well, she said no, of course," Peter suggested with a glance at Remus.

"Uh, no. She seemed thrilled from what I heard," Remus said with a shrug. Sirius face darkened, which Remus politely ignored, and James, poor oblivious fool that he was, didn't notice. Peter frowned slightly, but it was more as though he were thinking about something.

"Anyway, back to that lioness, what do you think she was?" James asked curiously.

"Wait, you're not freaking out that Hermione has a date for Hogsmeade?" Sirius asked sharply. Remus hid a smile. James shrugged.

"He's a Hufflepuff, he's not going to try anything with her." James said airily. Sirius quirked an eyebrow at James who smiled wickedly. "Especially not after we have a little chat with him."

"A chat?" Peter repeated with a confused look on his face.

"Yeah, a cozy chat, real friendly-like," James drawled with a significant look toward Sirius and Remus. Sirius smiled evilly and struck his palm with a fist.

"Excellent," he said with smug satisfaction.

HP/HG/HP

"James Charlus Potter!" The shriek was heard by anyone within a fifty mile radius.

Hermione arrived in the Great Hall, her chest heaving, her black curls trembling, her hazel eyes alight with a golden fire. She advanced on her brother menacingly and he had the grace to look embarrassed. Everyone sat up and paid attention because this was going to be good. No one could recall seeing Hermione Potter quite this furious. Lucius Malfoy was watching with vindictive glee. He hoped his ex-girlfriend gave her idiot brother what for.

"Uh, Hermione, you're looking lovely this morning," James said weakly. His sister responded with an incoherent shriek of rage. Lily Evans arrived in the Great Hall at a flat-out run, and when she saw Hermione hurried over. She started whispering in Hermione's ear, and Remus tried to eavesdrop. Hermione nodded and then shook off Lily's arm.

"Fine. You're so lucky that Lily likes your face," she hissed at her brother.

"I do not!" Lily shrieked and covered her face with her hands.

"Uh," James said cleverly, completely shocked by his sister's words.

"However, I am owling mum," Hermione hissed at him. James paled.

"Hermione, you wouldn't!" James complained.

"I would and I am," Hermione growled at him. She turned and ran from the Great Hall. Lily glared at him and followed her friend. Across the hall at the Slytherin table Lucius sighed in disappointment. His current girlfriend, Narcissa Black frowned at him.

"Hermione, wait!" Lily called out after her, hurrying to keep up. When Hermione Potter was pissed off, she could move quite fast. "Where are we going?"

"The owlery," Hermione growled. Lily's eyes widened.

"You were serious about that?" Lily asked in surprise. Usually, James and Hermione covered for one another, no matter whether or not they actually approved of what the other was doing. It was like some sort of unwritten code that the twins lived by. Hermione stopped in the corridor and the look on her face was almost comical—Lily could see her warring within herself.

"Augh! Fine, fine, but I am going to prank that boy so hard he won't know what hit him," Hermione growled. She glared at Lily. "Are you in?"

"Are you kidding me? Hell yes, I'm in!" Lily said with a grin. Hermione's eyes widened. "What?"

"I don't think I've ever heard you use that sort of language before," Hermione said primly. Lily snorted.

"We'll need Severus, you know," Lily observed thoughtfully. Hermione nodded.

"Of course."

HP/HG/HP

The Room of Requirement had proved to be the best and easiest place for the three blood siblings to meet. They were currently all cuddled together in a pile of blankets and pillows. Hermione was in the middle, and Severus and Lily were both stroking her hair in an attempt to calm her down. Severus was murmuring things into her hair. Lily wasn't sure, but she was pretty sure it was different ways to kill James, and Merlin knew that Sev had probably fantasized about that pretty extensively.

"This blood bond-thingy is weird, you know?" Lily murmured quietly. She grinned to herself then because she could almost feel Hermione rolling her eyes.

"Blood bond-thingy?" Hermione repeated acidly. "What makes it weird?"

"Well, I love you. I mean I really, really love you." Lily propped her head on her palm and looked down at Hermione who smirked at her.

"I know. I love you, too."

"What about me?" Severus demanded, looking vaguely sulky. Hermione pulled him down and kissed him on the cheek.

"Oh, we love you, too. Silly man," Hermione said fondly.

"That's just it though," Lily said slowly with a slight frown. "I mean, I love Severus. I did before the bond, and I still do, but…I don't want to…you know…with him."

"You know?" Hermione giggled and looked at Severus. "What about you, Sev? Do you want to you know with anybody here?"

"No," Severus said with a shrug. "I love you both, very much, but…no."

"That's just the nature of the bond," Hermione said smugly. She had, of course, deliberately written it that way because it very neatly got rid of the Severus and Lily problem. Hermione was a devious witch.

"Still, it feels so odd to be so close to the both of you," Lily said slowly. "I've never felt this way about anyone before. This sort of closeness, I mean."

"Mmm," Hermione said. She thought about that for a moment, and then decided it was best to tell the truth. "It's because we're actually kindred spirits. It's fairly rare."

"Kindred spirits?" Severus said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," Hermione said simply.

"Well, that explains a lot," he said slowly.

"Now, about my Regulus problem," Hermione said firmly. Severus snorted.

"I think Amos Diggory will take care of that, as long as you cling to him like one of those girls that fawn all over Black the elder." He said dryly. Hermione shuddered.

"Do I have to?" She asked. Lily and Severus nodded.

"You have to. Trust me, after he sees that, it'll be fine," Lily said firmly.

"I didn't fawn all over Lucius and he's positively dreamy looking," Hermione huffed indignantly.

"Well, you're not really that type of girl, but Regulus won't know that." Lily said reasonably.

"You and Lucius…that must have driven James crazy," Severus said with a smirk of pleasure.

"Ha! He was positively frothing half the time," Hermione muttered. "It's a good thing I didn't completely pounce poor Lucius or James would have had his bollocks and hung them above his bed."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily asked in confusion. Hermione rolled her eyes at her friend.

"You saw him, did you not? I was a very, very good girl, and he, Merlin bless him, was a complete and utter gentleman." Hermione said finally.

"Too bad," Severus said sadly. A wicked twinkle appeared in his coal-black eyes. "The shock of that might have killed James."

"Oh, you!" Hermione laughed and hit him with a pillow. Pretty soon an all-out pillow fight took place with much shrieking and squealing, and occasionally cursing from Severus when the girls ganged up on him. They collapsed in a pile, laughing when Lily sat up and looked at the both of them.

"We almost forgot! James. You said we were going to prank him, Hermione," Lily reminded her blood-sister.

"Brilliant," breathed Severus who looked as though every dream he'd ever had was about to come true.

"We need your help, Severus. Lily and I would end up chickening out. You think of something really, really horrible and then we'll tone it down just a bit," Hermione explained. Severus pouted when she mentioned toning it down.

"But, my darling, adorable Hermione, however will he learn his lesson?" Severus asked her, his black eyes smoldering at her. Hermione blinked. Wow. That smoldering thing was sort of sexy. Hmmm. Find Severus Snape a woman who is worthy of him.

"Don't you dare try that on me," Hermione told him sharply. "I don't want to kill James. Don't sigh like that! It's disturbing. I just want him to suffer."

Lily and Severus were the two people at Hogwarts who had often daydreamed, or fantasized, about making James Potter suffer, but most of what they suggested was a little over the top. Hermione vetoed most of it. Usually, the marauders were able to do whatever they wanted and they usually got away with it. That was hardly fair, now was it? Old Hermione suggested some of the pranks of the amazing duo of Fred and George Weasley. Hermione Potter smiled an evil smile. Perhaps.

"We can't do it right now, they would guess it was me," Hermione said slowly, thoughtfully.

"You don't want them to know it was you?" Lily asked in surprise. Severus grinned.

"You want them off balance. You want them to lay awake at night wondering who did it," he said with smug satisfaction. Why hadn't she been sorted into Slytherin?

"That's exactly what I want," Hermione said softly.

HP/HG/HP

They waited a week, and by that time James had been lulled into a false sense of security. It had taken Hermione awhile to figure out exactly what she wanted to do, and she started small. When he walked into the Great Hall, his robes and uniform changed to Slytherin green and silver. He didn't notice at first because when he'd put his clothes on in his room, they were regular crimson and gold. The next day, he realized that all the notes he'd taken in Transfiguration were written in Gobbledygook. In fact, all the notes he'd taken all day long were in Gobbledygook. He tried switching quills, but that didn't help. The one he'd snatched out of Sirius' hand scrawled ancient runes across his parchment, but when Sirius used it, it worked fine. The next day, he found himself in the center of a group of Hufflepuffs, serenading Professor McGonagall with the lyric strains of 'Danke Schoen'. No one in this time period knew what a flash mob was, but Old Hermione had given Hermione Potter the memories, and the spells to make it happen. The day after that, it was as though he were the victim of a permanent tripping jinx. He stumbled all through the castle, fell down a flight of stairs, spilled ink all over his Potions essay, and dumped a plate of food on Lily who stared at him in horror, before moving to go sit at the Ravenclaw table. James was so frustrated he wanted to break things, and Hermione decided that…perhaps…he'd learned his lesson.

The pranks stopped just as suddenly as they'd started and she could see James trying to figure out how he'd been pranked, and then—by extension—who had pranked him. She noticed with amusement that he completely discounted her as a possible suspect. She listened to him arguing with Sirius and Remus, and not once was her name mentioned as a possibility, but Lily's was. She rolled her eyes. Stupid boys.