Disclaimer: All characters in this story are not mine.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed, alerted and favourited this story!

Special thanks to my lovely Beta, lozipozivanillabean.

Again, this chapter is about Hermione's second year (third year for the Marauders). Enjoy!

v.

i want to disappear and just start over

(Hercules by Sara Bareilles)

November 6, 1973

Hogwarts was truly mundane now that she wasn't pulled into various adventures.

Hermione was amazed by how she breezed through her first year without much of a hitch. Sans fighting trolls, three-headed dogs, and an evil Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher with Voldemort's face hidden underneath his smelly turban, she was able to focus on her studies and managed to end the year as top of her class. The yearlong supply of toffee in her trunk—care of Peter—was proof enough of her hard work.

And Hermione should be thankful for all of this because she wasn't fighting for her life or keeping her friends alive, but… but it felt normal, too normal. Hermione Granger grew up not knowing what normal was because as a Muggleborn, she couldn't understand at first why she was the only one who knew how to conjure birds out of thin air. Or, as part of the Golden Trio, she didn't have the luxury of relaxing for a day knowing that a madman was after her best friend.

She wished for this normalcy, craved for this even. After all, this reason was partly why she agreed to Harry's insane idea to drink that stupid potion anyway.

But now that she was able to achieve that normalcy… well…

Hermione sighed and placed her forehead on top of her book, taking in a deep breath to rid her thoughts of such ridiculous things. 'Just be thankful for what you have, Hermione Pettigrew,' a voice admonished inside, strangely sounding like Hermione Granger, and the twelve-year-old felt a little shamefaced.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in the silent library.

"Sorry for what?"

She immediately sat up straight and coloured when Lily and Sev came towards her table. "Hey," Hermione greeted with a smile, ignoring Lily's previous question. "You're here early."

"Not earlier than you, apparently," Lily said with a laugh, settling on the chair beside her.

"Merlin, Pettigrew, have you been sleeping at all?" Severus asked, looking at her bemusedly.

"Of course I have been," Hermione retorted, with a frown. "It's you who hasn't been sleeping properly at all, Sev."

Lily snorted and pointed her wand at the Slytherin. "He's been slaving over his extra merit potions for Professor Slughorn for days now, Hermione, I tell you," she started. "I don't even understand why he's trying to make everything perfect. I mean, he's Severus Snape for Merlin's sake!. Half of the student body knows he's a child prodigy when it comes to potioneering."

"I have to make it perfect," he protested with a glare. "Slughorn expects as much."

"Professor Slughorn," Hermione corrected, prompting him to roll his eyes. "And Lily's right, Sev. You don't have to worry too much about it. It's not even graded, you know. You're just doing him a favour."

"Can we please just stop talking about what I want to do with my free time?" the exasperated Slytherin asked. "I thought you wanted to study with us because you wanted help with your Potions essay."

Hermione and Lily exchanged meaningful glances but silently agreed they should drop this issue. Severus could be really tetchy when it came to Potions. He was often incorrigible, but when they started asking about his unhealthy obsession over brewing the perfect batch of potions, he'd be downright unreasonable.

"Fine," Hermione said after a long-suffering sigh. She then pushed the book she was reading towards him and pointed out a passage. "I have trouble understanding what this means. I tried to read about it more from other books, but so far it has been futile."

As she watched him silently read over the passage, Hermione secretly wondered if twelve-year-old Severus Snape was really as brilliant as what their professors insisted. Of course, she'd known the answer to this question, having gone through advanced potions in the future and retaining top marks. Learning about the basics was tiresome, but of course, it would be mighty suspicious if Hermione Pettigrew knew about things even adult wizards never thought about. Keeping pretences, asking questions she already knew the answers to… all of these were just her cover-up just to let Hogwarts in the 1970's know that Hermione Pettigrew was a brilliant witch – but not that brilliant that she should start taking up advanced classes just to challenge her brain. Being labelled as a genius in this time would be disastrous, like sticking a bright neon green sign on her chest labelled 'Pick Me' for Voldemort to immediately notice.

No, as much as how she hated the monotony of it all, Hermione must lie low and keep her head down if she wanted to live a normal life during this lifetime.

"Merlin, even a Muggle can answer your question, Pettigrew," Severus suddenly snarled with a frown, grabbing onto her spare parchment and scratching words and symbols Hermione was already familiar with.

"Nobody's a genius like you in Potions, you berk," Lily snapped back, hurtling a crumpled parchment his way. Instead of hitting its intended target, the parchment flew overhead and thumped against the window.

"Nice aim, Evans," Severus snorted. "I didn't—OW!"

"SHH!" Madame Pince shrilly called, prompting the three students to freeze in their seats.

"You didn't have to shout so loud," Lily murmured under her breath while trying to bite down a growing smile. Hermione unfortunately, was having a hard time keeping her giggles contained, her shoulders already shaking with the hilarity of it all.

"You didn't have to bloody send a Stinging Hex my way just because I stated the fact that you have poor hand-eye coordination," Severus protested.

Lily's green eyes flickered in challenge as she raised her wand again. "I'll show you my proper hand-eye coordination, Sev. You just—"

"Stop it, you prats," Hermione cried, unable to rein in her laughter. Their eyes comically widened when Madame Pince stomped towards their table and shooed them away for being ridiculously loud in the library.

Shamefaced, the three students crammed their things inside their bags and hastily walked away from the librarian's ire.

"This is all your fault," Lily laughed once they were safely outside the library. "If you weren't being a berk, we could have stayed their longer."

Severus scoffed. "My fault?" he asked with a glare, although the way his lips twitched in amusement was not unnoticed by the two. "How was it my fault?"

"Shut it," Hermione cried, loudly laughing when Lily broke into giggles and Severus gave them both a small smile. "That was the first time I have been kicked out from the library and it's because of you dolts."

Even in her past life, Hermione was never chased away by Madame Pince, even when she was researching with Harry and Ron.

Lily laughed and linked arms with Hermione. "We got kicked out all the time because we bicker a lot," she confessed, reaching for Snape to hook her other arm around his. "It's a wonder why Madame Pince still let us go there."

"I still haven't finished my Potions essay, though," the brunette lamented.

"We can do our homework near the Black Lake," Severus suggested.

The Gryffindor was wholeheartedly nodding her head and started pulling the two enthusiastically towards the Black Lake. Severus was loudly protesting about being manhandled by the petite redhead, and Hermione was unable to stop herself from laughing loudly again.

Although Hogwarts was mundane, she couldn't deny she had found wonderful friends after all.

March 17, 1974

"So, you finally finished it?"

Severus slowly blinked his heavy-lidded eyes and knitted his eyebrows. "I'm sorry?" he asked, stifling a yawn.

"Your extra merit potion," Hermione elaborated, pointing at a small vial filled with amber liquid placed on top of the table.

"Oh, right, yeah," he murmured tiredly, before letting his head fall back on the wooden table in the library.

The Ravenclaw expelled a humongous sigh. "Merlin, Sev, be kinder to yourself," she said, pulling the chair across from him and sitting on it. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Yesterday lunch, I think," he answered, voice slightly muffled.

Hermione's eyes widened. "Sev!" she softly exclaimed. "It's dinnertime already."

He snorted derisively. "Astute observation, Pettigrew," he murmured.

"Bloody hell." She shook her head disapprovingly and started shoving his things inside his backpack. "Where's Lilys?"

"Dunno," he answered. "Said she had to finish some project with McKinnon. I didn't care."

Hermione fought the urge to rub the bridge of her nose. She was aware of how she was an excessive learner, sometimes skipping meals just to stick to her schedule. But, after being on the run with Harry and Ron, starved and exhausted beyond reason, she came to appreciate the importance of eating meals and sleeping enough. It was honestly a luxury for those who were in a raging war.

"Get up," she ordered, pushing the table to stand up. She slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder and grabbed onto Severus'. She made a face, realising it weighed a ton. "What are you carrying in here? Rocks?" She didn't wait for his answer and instead spelt it to be featherweight, before also slinging his strap over her other shoulder.

"Come on, Sev, get up," she said, harshly poking his arm.

He flinched and batted her hand away. "Go away, Hermione," he murmured. "I'm trying to sleep here."

"You can do that after you eat dinner, for Merlin's sake," she insisted, now starting to pull his arm away. "If Lily was here, she'd hex you good just to get you to the Great Hall."

Severus expelled a long-suffering sigh before finally relenting. "You're bloody annoying. Do you know that?" he snarled back, grabbing onto the potion vial and allowing Hermione to pull him out of the library.

"I've been told so many times before I'm not even surprised anymore," she shot back, prompting him to snort.

The corridors were almost empty because most of the student body was in the Great Hall already. Hermione had to keep Severus steady because he kept wobbling in tiredness, almost falling asleep, despite walking.

"Why are you so obsessed with perfecting your bloody potions?" Hermione cried after Sev almost tripped over a foot from a suit of armour.

He tiredly glared down at her. "Why are you so obsessed with being a swot?" he shot back.

Hermione sighed and shook her head. "You really should start taking care of yourself more," she nagged. "Eat on time, sleep enough, Merlin, even shower at least every other day!" She glanced disdainfully at his lanky hair and hazarded that his hygiene habits had never changed even after growing up.

"Piss off, Pettigrew," he said with a light glare.

She pinched his arm very hard, prompting him to hiss in pain. "Lily's such a bad influence to you," he stated, annoyed. "Now, you're resorting to violence too."

"If we have a berk for a best friend, I think violence is acceptable if it means he's going to start taking care of himself more."

He rolled his eyes and was about to retort something in return, but then, the doors of the Great Hall opened. Dread bloomed in her heart when the Gryffindor menaces – fondly christened by Severus Snape himself – strolled out from the Hall, horsing around and shoving each other's shoulders.

They stopped in their tracks when they saw both Hermione and Severus. The brunette tightly squeezed the Slytherin's arm to keep him in place when she felt him tense up.

"All right, Pettigrew?" James asked, briefly throwing a glance towards the Ravenclaw, before resuming his glaring contest with her tired best friend.

"I've been well, thank you," Hermione stiffly said. "Now, if you'll excuse us—"

"What's that?" Sirius suddenly asked.

The brunette knitted her eyebrows. "What's what?"

The Black heir suddenly shot forward and grabbed the potion vial from Snape, a menacing glint in his eyes. "Hey, Remus, do we have an assignment from Old Sluggie about making a potion like this?" he asked.

Remus grabbed the vial from Sirius and examined the sloshing amber liquid inside. "Well… no, I don't think so," he murmured. He observed the liquid for a while and knitted his eyebrows. "I don't recognise it at all, though. It looks like Pepper-Up, but its shade is darker." Snape's breath hitched when Remus removed the stopper and wafted a smell. "It doesn't smell like Pepper Up."

"Give it back," Severus ground out, hands clenched tightly at his sides.

Sirius quirked an eyebrow at his obvious ire. "Or what, Snivellus?" he taunted, grabbing the potion from Remus' hands again. "You'll hex us?"

He mocked him by waving the vial in the air.

"Sirius, quit it," Hermione cried out. "It isn't yours. Give it back."

"Stay out of this, kitten," Sirius said with a disapproving frown. He then looked over his head and glared at Peter. "Your sister's still hanging out with this berk?"

"Give it back!" Severus growled and lunged forward.

Hermione acted quickly and placed both of her hands against his chest to stop his assault. "Sev, come on," she insisted, trying to appease her suddenly furious friend.

Sirius snorted and casually threw the potion vial towards James. She felt Severus stiffen against her when he watched the potion he'd worked so hard on for months sail through the air. He was only able to breathe properly when James caught it deftly with his Quidditch-trained reflexes.

"What does this even do?" James loudly asked, removing the stopper once more to smell its contents. "Ack, it's like I'm sniffing smelly socks."

"Maybe it's to stop Snivellus from having smelly feet," Sirius cried, laughing boisterously at the thought.

"Or, maybe stop him from being smelly altogether," Peter offered. He grinned proudly when his other friends laughed loudly at his suggestion. Hermione threw him a disappointed glance, causing his grin to falter. Peter quickly looked away from his sister.

"Oh, Snivellus, haven't you heard?" the bespectacled boy sneered. "The only way to stop yourself from being smelly is by taking a nice, proper shower. Though, I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of a shower before, because, you know, your hair's all greasy and shiny."

Severus struggled to break free from Hermione's grasp. "Get off, Hermione," he growled.

"They're not worth it, Sev, come on," the brunette pleaded. Then, darkly glaring, she craned her neck over her shoulder and snarled, "Give the potion back to him, Potter, or I swear."

"Oooh, feisty kitten," Sirius taunted.

James' hazel eyes glinted. "Or you swear to what?" he challenged. Hermione's eyes narrowed more when the Gryffindor pulled his wand from his sleeves and pointed it at the vial. "Try to finish that sentence, Pettigrew."

"You wouldn't dare," she harshly spat.

"Is that a challenge?" he asked with a gleeful smile. Hermione then watched with horror as James waved his wand and muttered a soft 'Evanesco'. The amber liquid inside the vial completely vanished as Severus stilled against her arms.

Behind him, Remus knitted his eyebrows. "James, mate, I think that wasn't really necess—"

"YOU! I WILL KILL YOU!" Severus thundered and struggled so strongly against Hermione, it was starting to become difficult to hold him back.

James's eyes widened at his sudden rage. "It's just a bloody potion, Snivellus," he muttered under his breath. "What's got your knickers in a twist?"

"Damn it, Potter," Hermione murmured under her breath when Severus finally broke free from her grasp. Quickly, she pulled out her wand and pointed it at Severus' back. "Petrificus Totalus!"

The Slytherin turned into stone and almost toppled backwards. Hermione quickly came to his aid and gently placed him on the floor.

"Thanks, Hermione, I seriously thou—"

James' words died down from his lips as Hermione suddenly whipped at him with lightning speed, her wand threateningly pointed in his direction. "You… you arrogant, loathsome bully!" she screamed, stomping towards James until her wand tip was pointed against his nose.

"Hermione…" her brother tried to appease.

"Stay out of this, Peter," she harshly spat. Her older brother flinched at her tone and cowered away. He'd been living under the same roof with her for twelve years, after all. Seeing Hermione like this always spelt trouble.

"Merlin, calm down," James said, suddenly annoyed. "It's just a bloody potion."

Hermione tilted her head heavenward and swallowed down a scream. "You are, simply put, unbelievable," she snarled, pressing her wand tip harder against his nose. James scowled and tried to bat her hand away, but Hermione didn't budge. "He spent months trying to perfect that potion, you bloody berk. He hasn't slept properly and has skipped meals because of it."

"Hey, hey, all right, calm down," Sirius appeased. "We didn't know. We're sorry."

"Sorry isn't enough," she snapped, eyes glinting dangerously. With a mighty slash of her wand, she snarled an incantation towards James's direction. The boy exclaimed a terrified shout when boogers started zooming out of his nostrils. They soon turned into bats and flapped their wings furiously against his face.

Identical horrified looks appeared on the other three boys. It was Peter who managed to snap out of his horror first. "Hermione!" he loudly cried. "Make it stop!"

Satisfied, she waved her wand and banished the Bat-Boogeys away. James's eyes were wide with mortification as he covered his nostrils.

"If you do not want a repeat performance, stay away," she warned in a low voice. Then, turning to Severus, she hauled him up and removed the spell. He glared darkly down at her but Hermione matched his gaze. "And you, if you try to break away from my grasp again, I'm not going to hesitate to throw the same hex at you."

Severus petulantly looked away and allowed Hermione to drag him away from the other Gryffindors.

"Bloody fucking hell, Peter," Sirius breathed out, eyes still wide as he looked at the horrified boy behind him. "Your sister's terrifying."

Peter's only answer was to hide his face behind his hands.

March 18, 1974

Lily was pacing furiously in front of the Black Lake, wearing the green grass down as she stomped on it.

Currently, she, Hermione, and Severus were lounging near the banks of the Black Lake. The news that Hermione Pettigrew threw a mean Bat-Boogey Hex had spread like an unforgiving wildfire throughout Hogwarts. Apparently, they were being too loud with their row and some students were able to witness the feisty twelve-year-old Ravenclaw hexing the boogers off James Potter and thereby reduced the rowdy Gryffindors into silence.

When Lily heard about this news the next morning, she immediately pulled her friends towards the Black Lake and started ranting about rude boys and stupid egos relentlessly.

"Lily, just stop. You're giving me a headache," Severus groaned and fell on his back, shielding his face from the bright sunlight with his hand.

"Why are you so nonchalant about this, Sev?" Lily cried, stopping right in front of him. "They ruined your extra merit potion. Those… those bloody berks!" She flew into another raging rant and Hermione, with a sigh, grabbed onto Lily's hand and pulled her down until she was sitting beside her.

"Sev was anything but nonchalant yesterday, Lils, trust me," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes. "Almost tackled Potter down with sheer brute force."

Severus scowled. "You should have let me have a go at that imbecile, Pettigrew," he protested.

"And risk also getting placed under my Bat-Boogey Hex, Sev?" she innocently asked with a toothy grin. When he blushed and turned his face away, her grin widened. "I figured as much."

"I can't believe you can do a wicked Bat-Boogey Hex, Hermione," Lily said, awe in her voice. "Where the hell did you learn that?"

Hermione innocently shrugged. "A friend," was her mysterious answer, thinking about another redhead, in another lifetime, with gleaming bright brown eyes and a mischievous smile on her face.

"That's a difficult spell to master, you know," Sev said, pulling himself into a sitting position. "I didn't know you were capable of throwing such spells."

She froze a bit, before cautiously looking at the Slytherin. "Miranda Goshawk was able to throw a perfect Bat-Boogey Hex at eleven years old, Sev," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Well, yeah, because she was the one who invented it," he shot back with an eye roll.

"Never mind about my magical prowess," Hermione said, eager to change the topic. "What did Slughorn say about your extra merit potion?"

Severus frowned and absentmindedly grazed his fingertips over the grass blades. "He was… understanding, I think," he said. "A bit disappointed, too, I guess, but after properly explaining what had happened, he said he'd be willing to wait a few more months. He said I should take my time, really."

"We can help you," Lily offered. Hermione vigorously nodded her head to concur.

"Don't bother," the Slytherin said with a wrinkled nose. "I'm sure you'll botch it up if I let you both help."

Hermione leaned forward and smacked his arm. "Ungrateful git," she pointed out with a frown.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he said, a little too nonchalantly. "You didn't have to do all those stupid things just to get back at Potter, Hermione."

She smiled, knowing that he was starting to use her first name more, rather than calling her 'Pettigrew'. "'Thank you, Hermione, you've been a wonderful friend'," she started with a low voice as she tried to poorly imitate Severus' voice. "That isn't too hard now, is it?"

"Shut up," Severus said, cheeks tinged red. "But… you know, for the record, that was a wicked Bat-Boogey Hex."

Hermione laughed. "Yeah?"

He solemnly nodded his head. "You can be bloody terrifying if you want to be. Do you know that?" he asked, the corners of his lips twitching into a smile. "I would sell all my fortunes just to see Potter's terrified look again."

"Damn it!" Lily whined. "Why wasn't I there to see it?" She then held both of Hermione's hands and pleaded, "Let me see it again, Hermione. Please. Everybody's talking about it and I'm devastated I wasn't able to see it." She then pointed a finger towards Severus without breaking eye contact. "You can practice on him if you like."

"Thanks, Lily," he growled sarcastically.

Hermione laughed and pulled away from the pleading red-head. "Maybe next time, Lils," she apologised.

"Damn it," the disappointed Gryffindor breathed out once more.

March 25, 1974

"What do you want, Peter?" Hermione asked in annoyance.

"That's not the proper way to greet your brother," he pointed out with a frown on his face.

She lightly glared and plopped down on her chair. "If he's being a rightful git, I think I can greet him any way I want," she snapped back.

Peter expelled a humongous sigh and slumped down on his chair. "Merlin, you're still angry about that?" he incredulously asked. "That's been, I dunno, days, Hermione. Surely you've forgotten about that by now."

Hermione's lips magnetised into a tight frown. "What do you want?" she repeated.

The Gryffindor sighed and scooted closer to his irritated sister. "James is sorry," he insisted. "We're all sorry. We didn't know that potion was important to Snivel— Snape."

"You should have listened to him in the first place when he asked you to give it back," she rebutted, frown still in place. "What James did… it was horrible, Peter. Sev hadn't eaten properly for days and the dark bags under his eyes were growing just because he was obsessed with brewing the perfect potion. He kept on telling Lily and me that he was over it already, that he'd just brew a new batch to pass on to Professor Slughorn, but I can tell he was devastated by the event. He worked really hard to complete it, Peter."

Peter looked properly shamefaced, his cheeks tinging red with embarrassment. "I'm sorry," he whispered once more.

"It isn't me you should be apologising to," she pointed out with a meaningful glance.

Unwittingly, he made a face. "I'm sure James would rather eat a rock than apologise to Sni – Snape," he said, followed by a deep sigh. "He got an earful from Remus afterwards. I know you think Remus lets them get away with all their stupid shenanigans, but he's the most decent of us four. James and Sirius highly respect his opinion and if he said something is stupid, then James and Sirius will believe it is stupid."

"I don't think he tried hard enough to stop James from vanishing that potion," Hermione murmured under her breath. Granted, she remembered that he did try to stop James, but had been a tad too late.

"James has been properly reprimanded," he insisted.

Hermione sighed. "I don't really care what you do with your friends, Merlin," she claimed in exasperation. "Just please, please, please, stay away from Sev. Being a half-blood Slytherin in this bloody school is already hard on him. You dolts don't have to increase his burden."

He merely shrugged, unwilling to speak out a promise they both knew would be broken anyway.

March 27, 1974

Hermione shrieked in surprise when she was suddenly doused with grimy, cold water. Both Lily and Severus, who were walking ahead of her, swivelled around and stared at her in shock. Mercifully, they were spared from the dirty water.

Raucous laughter from above reached her ears and Hermione snapped her neck upwards. Both James and Sirius were bent over, clutching their stomachs, as they continued to shake with uncontrollable laughter.

"Good one, Jamesy-boy!" Sirius said, wiping away some tears that had formed in his eyes. He grinned widely down at the furious brunette. "Sorry, kitten. I promise you, this will be a one-time thing since you're technically off-limits as the sister of one of our mates."

James threw her a lazy grin and leaned down the bannister. "That's payback, Pettigrew," he blurted out.

"Piss off, Potter!" Lily exclaimed whilst Severus threw a rude hand gesture towards their general direction.

Hermione swiped away her dripping hair and darkly glared at the two Gryffindor boys. When she pulled her wand from her robe pocket and saw how they flinched in unison, a smirk grew on her face. Instead of pointing it towards the annoying boys, she charmed herself clean. Her hair had gone fluffier, prompting them to start laughing again, but Hermione merely harrumphed and walked away.

"Nice hair, Pettigrew," Severus drawled.

"Shut up, Snape," she snapped back.

Lily's eyes gleamed. "Ooh, will you throw a Bat-Boogey Hex now?" the redhead excitedly asked.

Severus paled while Hermione laughed. "Not today, Lils."

"Damn it," the redhead disappointedly replied.

A/N: I mean, the books basically said they were bullies, especially to Snape. I just wanted to establish that in this story hahaha bloody berks.

Again, Hermione's second year will only be told in one chapter because I still planned for this year to be pretty uneventful for our favourite Ravenclaw. So, the next chapter will already be in Hermione's third year. I hope I'm not making you all dizzy by my time skips hahaha.

Please drop a review!

With love,
WickedlyAwesomeMe

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