A/N: OMFG this fic reached 700+ reviews. Thank you so, so much for still reading (and liking) the story huhu.

Special thanks to my Beta, lozipozivanillabean. Enjoy!

xxxix.

we were amateurs at war – part i

(Mars by Sleeping at Last)

January 6, 1979

Hermione felt a wave of déjà vu as their doorbell rang whilst Peter brought her trunk downstairs.

"It's them, isn't it?" she asked, frowning at Peter's hair.

"I didn't invite them," he said with a deep sigh. The doorbell rang once more. "I'll get it."

The brunette tugged her trunk down the last few steps and entered the living room. She weakly smiled in greeting when James, Sirius, and Remus walked inside the house. Seeing that it was a Saturday, none of them were in their work clothes. Sirius was still wearing his beloved leather jacket, while James and Remus were in their casual robes.

"Last term at Hogwarts," was Sirius's greeting. "Excited, Whiskers?"

She swallowed down a retort about it being pointless to go back to Hogwarts now that they were at the peak of war. Instead, she managed to reply with a soft, "Yeah."

James was instantly beside her, his warm hand enclosing around hers.

"We're not taking the car this time," Peter announced, pulling Hermione's trunk away from her.

"We're not?" Sirius looked very disappointed.

"Peter has to help mum with something today," Hermione replied as she walked out of the door, the Marauders closely following behind. "We're going to Apparate."

Seeing that she already had her license to Apparate, Hermione didn't ask for James's permission as she grabbed onto him. They reappeared almost immediately at the Apparation point a few blocks away from King's Cross, hidden from the throngs of bustling commuters, Muggle and Magic alike.

"A little warning next time, Hermione," James complained as their other friends soon materialised.

"Sorry," she quipped. "I'm going to be late."

"It isn't eleven in the morning yet, Hermione," Remus piped in.

"I have a meeting with MacMillan and the Prefects in a few," she said, her lips curling into an annoyed frown. "Something about the Prefect patrol schedule. Honestly a waste of time, if you ask me."

She ignored how they exchanged glances over her shoulders, eyebrows raised up to their hairlines.

Hermione's sour expression softened into petulant resignation. She knew she had been on edge ever since they'd come back from the Potter Manor. Dumbledore had sent her a letter just this morning reminding her again that she should focus on her NEWTs and Head Girl duties for the remaining months. He explicitly emphasised that he was banning her from receiving any news from the Order, lest it would trigger her into another mission that could endanger her life. She wasn't allowed to ask questions - from her brother and the others, effectively leaving her in the dark. Unless, of course, Dumbledore deemed something was important for her to know. Bitterly, she knew Regulus would have more knowledge than her, now that Dumbledore was going to train him in order to become a spy for the Order.

They silently meandered through the busy station and crossed Platform Nine and Three Quarters. There were still a few students around, seeing that they were quite early. She spied the Head Boy climbing inside the train, however. And so, with a quick murmured goodbye to the other four, she snatched her trunk from Peter's grip and pulled her hand away from James.

Her boyfriend didn't let go, tugging her back, until she had no choice but to grumpily glance at the four Marauders. "I'm really going to be late, you know," she pointed out.

She hated how they were all looking at her, like she would do something reckless and get herself killed. She understood their worry, really, because she knew she'd sported that look for Harry Potter in her past life.

"You know that Dumbledore's not purposively leaving you in the dark, yeah?" James asked. When Hermione threw him a scathing glare, he sighed. "All right, so maybe he is purposively leaving you in the dark. But he means well, Hermione. Let us handle this Voldemort shite while you breeze through your last months at Hogwarts and get all O's in your bloody NEWTs. It'll be over soon."

Hermione glanced heavenward and took a deep breath. "You know why the Second Wizarding War dragged on?" she softly asked, piercing them with her blue eyes. They looked mighty uncomfortable at her question. The four had been trying not to broach her past life and time travelling, because she knew they were still confused about everything that had happened. "Well, do you?"

"Why?" Remus asked with a small frown.

"It's because Dumbledore purposively kept us in the dark," she grumbled with a sour glare. "My best friend and I had to constantly decipher all of Dumbledore's riddles, whilst at the same time trying to keep each other alive. If we'd have known about the horcruxes before Dumbledore bloody died, then we may have had a chance at searching for them all and defeating him."

"Dumbledore died?" Sirius yelped.

She blinked rapidly and glanced at the Marauders, noting their shocked, pale faces. "I shouldn't have said that," she mumbled, her fingers already rubbing the bridge of her nose to calm down. "I'm sorry."

Peter was the first one to snap out of his surprise, already pulling Hermione into a comforting hug. "I'll owl you as soon as something huge comes up," he promised. "Fuck what Dumbledore said."

Sirius expelled a mock gasp. "Peter!" he cried, although the corner of his lips was twitching into an amused smile. "I can't believe you just said that!"

Her annoyance melted into mild amusement.

"She deserves to know," Peter said with a soft sigh. "She's just as involved as anyone of us." Then, with a pointed stare at her, he continued, "But if something comes up at Hogwarts, you will tell us immediately, yeah? One thing Dumbledore got right is that you should focus on your studies more, though. He just wants to keep you alive."

"Fine," she breathed out, already melting against her brother's embrace. "I can do that."

"I hope you do," James called. "I'd rather there be no surprise visits in my room in the middle of the night for the next few months, Hermione." Then, a small smirk grew on his face. "Unless, you terribly miss me and you intend to do some delightful activities with me such as—"

"If you finish that sentence, I will hex you, Potter," she snarled whilst her brother's face grew pale with horror.

James's smirk melted into a small, worried smile. "Kidding aside, I really hope there won't be any surprise visits," he seriously said. "Have mercy on me, Hermione."

Hermione sighed as she pulled away from Peter. "I'm sorry about that," she said, already reaching forward to clutch his hand. "I'll make sure that doesn't happen again."

Sirius cleared his throat, getting her attention. He shiftily looked around the train station, nervously fidgeting with the collar of his leather jacket. "Make sure everybody's safe in Hogwarts, kitten," he said. His grey eyes firmly landed on her, his lips pressed into a thin line. "Everybody."

She smiled, knowing full well what Sirius meant. She wasn't privy to what had transpired between the brothers back at the Potter Manor, but one thing she could deduce, was that they'd made up. Sirius had been annoyingly clingy with Regulus, and had whined loudly when his younger brother had bid them goodbye since he was needed back home. Regulus looked more amused than annoyed, though, and Hermione took that as good progress in their relationship.

"I will try," she said. "I'll keep an eye on him and owl you immediately if something comes up. I promise."

Sirius's cheeks turned pink but he gratefully nodded his head in reply.

Her eyes finally landed on the scarred wizard. "Please keep them out of trouble, Remus," she said, reaching forward to give him a brief hug. "You're my only hope."

The werewolf chuckled against her ear and patted her back. "I'm not going to keep any promises, Hermione," he warned. "But I will try."

"That's good enough," she grumbled, already pulling away from him to give Sirius a hug.

"Regulus will be safe," she whispered against his ear. "I promise. I will make sure of it."

He crumpled the back material of her jumper, his stare unwavering. "If something comes up with him, if he's in danger, tell me immediately, Hermione," he demanded in a whisper. "Bloody git reassures me everything will be fine when he's practically defying Voldemort with his reckless behaviour. Seriously, I'm the Gryffindor between us."

"I sometimes think we Sort people too early," she pointed out with a reassuring smile. "And Regulus will be fine. He's already agreed to me checking up on him once in a while."

Sirius sighed and nodded his head. "Please be careful," he whispered. "Both of you."

Hermione smiled and gave him a chaste kiss on his cheek. "Bye, Sirius," she said.

She gave Peter another hug in goodbye before she smiled at James, already beckoning him towards her open arms. His warmth enveloped her completely, prompting her to unknowingly sigh as she placed her head against his shoulder.

"I'm going to miss you the most," she confessed, aware that her cheeks were already warm against his neck.

"Don't do anything reckless, Hermione," he begged. "Please. I need you alive."

She placed a brief kiss at the junction between his neck and shoulder. "I'm not going to die," she teased, pulling away to grin up at him. "I might run away again if things get too hopeless."

He snorted at her terrible joke and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "I love you, Hermione," he whispered in her ear before completely pulling away.

Her reply sat on the tip of her tongue, her heart fluttering at how glittering his hazel eyes were. But before she could stutter out a reply, the train's whistle blew, signalling its impending departure.

"Goodbye," she settled in reply, her blue eyes sweeping from James to the others. "Please be safe. Always."

January 31, 1979

Despite her initial annoyance that she had to get through her mundane life as a graduating student at Hogwarts, when surely there were far more important things to focus on (e.g. horcrux hunt, war, etc.), Hermione found herself amusingly distracted by her upcoming NEWTs and Head Girl duties.

Wednesday night found her in the library once more, surrounded by her Ravenclaw roommates, who were all diligently catching up with Hermione's colour-coded schedule.

"Hey, Hermione," Dorothy distractedly asked, her eyes still trained intently on her parchment. "What do you add to an Elixir to Induce Euphoria again, to counterbalance excessive singing and nose-tweaking again?"

"Peppermint."

"Yes! That's the one." Dorothy's writing grew more furious, her Potions notes steadily gaining length.

"Fuck, Hermione," Alex whined. "Can you please state Golpallot's Third Law again? I always forget it."

"The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separate components," Hermione murmured without batting an eyelid.

"You're a lifesaver, Hermione," the blonde girl sighed.

"Who invented Felix Felicis again?" Michelle asked. "Zyg… moid? Zygmount?"

"Zygmunt Budge," the brunette absentmindedly replied.

Michelle excitedly nodded her head and jotted down the answer.

For the remaining hours, that was how the four students studied. Hermione would also ask various questions, which they would correctly answer.

Hermione let the normalcy of it all put her tumultuous mind at peace. For a while, the horcrux hunt and Voldemort were shoved to the farthest recess of her mind, letting her focus on the simpler things. It wasn't what she would have wanted at that moment, but she appreciated the calmness before the raging storm.

"Pettigrew."

She blinked in surprise and glanced up. Dirk Cresswell was standing near their table, a sheepish smile on his face. He was flanked by two other Gryffindors that she only knew by their familiar faces.

"Can I help you?" she asked, absentmindedly cracking her knuckles to relieve her of the pain caused from gripping her quill for so long.

The seventh year Gryffindor cleared his throat. "So… how are you?" he casually asked.

Beside her, Alex snorted in disbelief. "Just get on with it, Cresswell," the blonde sniped. "We're busy."

Hermione shot an amused look at her cranky friend. Alex's immaculate blonde hair looked almost wiry and lacklustre, neglected from hours and hours of unending studying. She made a mental note to suggest a few breaks in the future, knowing full well this was her colour-coded schedule's fault.

"Err," the wizard started, "so remember when we talked last Hogsmeade? With Potter?"

"Go on," she deliberately said, unsure where this conversation was going.

"You said it was fine if the blokes and I study with you for the NEWTs," he deliberately continued. "But you see, we've got a problem, Pettigrew. Huge."

Her eyebrows knitted together, suspicious. "What problem?" she asked.

Dirk awkwardly scratched his chin as a sheepish smile grew on his face. "I'd rather you see it for yourself." He gestured for her to follow him, as he and his other Gryffindor mates turned on their heels and shuffled out of the library.

Hermione exchanged glances with her Ravenclaw friends before reluctantly standing up. Dorothy and the others closely followed, admittedly curious as to what had made the Gryffindor fidgety.

As she peeked outside the library, Hermione's eyes widened in surprise. At least twenty or more students were waiting, mostly Gryffindors, with a few Hufflepuffs - and were all huddled closer together. The brunette wordlessly glanced at Dirk, who was still sporting a sheepish smile on his face.

"You see, the Head Girl's quite infamous for her brains and colour-coded schedules," he started. "NEWTs are bloody hard and we're at our wit's end here. I told my friends that you were willing to tutor us, but I didn't expect my word of mouth to spread like wildfire. So…" He nervously gestured at the group, identical pleas in their eyes as Hermione stared back at them in bewilderment. "I hope you'll tutor us, Hermione Pettigrew."

February 2, 1979

"I'm really sorry it has come to this, Harold," Hermione mumbled, shiftily glancing at the stoic Head Boy standing beside her.

Currently, they were in the common room of their Head's Dormitory, standing in front of a large crowd of eager seventh year students.

After Dirk's visit at the library - revealing that a lot of seventh years wanted to study with Hermione Pettigrew - the Head Girl had no choice but to accept their request. It was, after all, for studying purposes and to pass their NEWTs. Hermione couldn't deny these students who just wanted to study diligently.

However, the fact that she would be tutoring such a large crowd became a problem. Of course, they couldn't study in the library; Hermione could already imagine Madame Pince's horrified expression if she saw rowdy Gryffindors and cheery Hufflepuffs simultaneously asking questions of the Head Girl, disrupting those who wanted to study in peace. Hermione thought of the Room of Requirement too, but she and Regulus still sometimes used it for their duelling sessions.

Hence, the most logical thing she could think of was using the Head's Dormitory. However, she wasn't sure if Harold was on board. Despite working with him for almost a year already, their relationship was purely civil and work-related. The Hufflepuff always wanted to spend his days with his Hufflepuff best friends, which Hermione didn't mind. Which was why it made her a bit nervous, wondering what he'd think about her suggestion.

"Well," Harold started after clearing his throat. "I just have one condition if you really want to do this."

Hermione frowned in worry. "What condition?" she asked.

Harold sheepishly smiled. "Everybody knows about the Head Girl's infamous colour-coded schedules. The Marauders loudly proclaimed how your schedule helped them become Aurors. If you don't mind, maybe you'd like to make one for me too?"

"And us," Dirk Cresswell piped in.

Hermione snorted in disbelief as her eyes scanned the whole crowd. "Blimey, all right," she said, slightly exasperated. "If it means my schoolmates will graduate with flying colours, then I can't really say no to that, can I?"

March 2, 1979

It was rare for the Head Girl to be seen alone nowadays. Hermione was constantly flanked by her tutees everywhere she went, rigorously asking questions and requesting her to explain a difficult concept.

The brunette appreciated the distraction – welcomed it even – especially when she constantly worried about her friends outside Hogwarts and what was happening with the Order and the fight against Voldemort. James and Peter still wrote to her, but their letters had been infrequent. As two of the new and best recruits, James and Sirius were often sent into missions to track down rogue Death Eaters. Peter had been quite busy too, often assigned for stealth missions by Moody since his Animagus form was one of the most useful. Remus had been busy with Order missions too, with Dumbledore sending him to various wolf packs around the continent to rally their support and to snoop to find out about Voldemort's recruitment.

Her best friends weren't any different either. Lily was swamped with Unspeakable work, buried underneath various mysterious artifacts and phenomena that had been suddenly erupting all throughout Europe. Lily rarely spoke about her work, but she had once hinted that because the Dark Magic was used at large by the Death Eaters, magic disruption had been occurring. Sev, on the other hand, continued his rigorous training under Professor Slughorn's mentorship. Hermione had seen him at least twice this term, but he never stayed long enough to converse with her.

Which was why Hermione was glad that she had another difficult task to focus on. At least, tutoring was something she was good at and it would distract her from incessantly worrying for the welfare of her friends.

But sometimes, she missed her solitude. Although these were the times when worry would consume her whole, she still coveted the days when no one would suddenly pop in to pester her about their studies.

Today was one of those blessed days. Hermione was found tucked away in the very back of the library near the Restricted Section. Students rarely ventured to this spot, which was why Hermione loved to hide in this particular nook. The only people she allowed to join her in this coveted place were her best friends. Seeing that both of them had already graduated, Hermione knew no one would be able to find her there.

So far, she had been able to push any dark thoughts about horcruxes and the war to the deepest recesses of her brain, as she concentrated on finishing her Arithmancy coverage for the day.

She didn't know how long she'd stayed in the library. Lost in the endless sea of numbers and computations, the outside world melted into nothingness.

It was only when a shadow loomed over her table, obscuring the words on her Arithmancy textbook, that Hermione finally snapped her eyes away from her book. She blearily blinked at a slightly smirking Severus, whose eyebrows were all the way up to his hairline in amusement.

"Sev?" she asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Searching for you is bloody hard. Do you know that?" he asked. Without waiting for her reply, he grasped her arm and hauled her onto her feet. "Come on."

She dug her heels into the stony floor to stop him from further pulling her away. "What are you doing?" she protested, trying to yank her arm away, but Sev's grip just tightened.

"Knowing you, I'm sure you've been cooped inside the castle for months," he pointed out matter-of-factly. "Come on, Pettigrew. You need some fresh air."

She lightly scowled and glared at the back of his neat hair. But admittedly, he was right; Hermione had been swamped with NEWTs for months - she never really had the chance to get out of the castle and roam around. She had even ditched going to Hogsmeade, finding it pointless now that she didn't have her friends or her boyfriend to accompany her.

"Aren't you busy?" she asked as Sev successfully pulled her out of the library.

"Slughorn gave me some free time today," he answered, briefly glancing at Hermione over his shoulder. "Finally, if you ask me. Old coot's been tiring me like a bloody house-elf."

She swatted his arm, disapprovingly. "You can't talk about professors like that," she admonished.

"You can't smack future professors like that either," he said, prompting her to snort.

"You've only assisted Professor Slughorn in two first year classes. I can hardly call you a professor yet, Sev. Besides, I heard it was disastrous."

She snickered when his cheeks dusted with pink. "It wasn't disastrous," he corrected with a scoff. "The Gryffindor imp just didn't know how to properly brew a Wiggenwald Potion."

"Because it was his first time," she answered. She petulantly tugged at his arm and frowned. "You really shouldn't bully students, Sev."

"I don't bully," he said, although there was an uncertain glint in his eyes.

"Yes you do, you berk," Hermione said with an unladylike snort. "You have to understand that not everybody can grasp the concept of Potions as brilliantly as you do. Lily and I weren't exactly atrocious at Potions either, but when we stumbled a bit, you got so much pleasure pointing it out. We're used to your sourpuss tendencies, but others aren't, Sev."

He rolled his eyes. "People are too sensitive sometimes," he grumbled.

"You're too mean," she corrected. "Honestly, Sev. Be kinder to other people."

He sullenly frowned, but Hermione could there was confusion in his dark eyes. Smiling sadly, she hooked her arm with his, knowing full well that Severus Snape had never been shown kindness as a child and so, had difficulty showing it to others. Hermione was just glad she and Lily had been beside him for years, because despite his awful childhood, at least this version of Snape wasn't blinded by the Dark Arts. He was bloody grumpy, she knew that, but at least, at least he wasn't hanging out with the wrong sort of people.

They finally walked out of the Hogwarts castle and Hermione was momentarily distracted by the cool breeze that caressed her cheeks. Unwittingly, a smile grew on her face as she gazed around the peaceful Hogwarts field. Merlin, when was the last time she had been really outside? It truly felt like ages for the Ravenclaw.

Severus pulled her towards the oak tree they used to hang out at, near the Black Lake. Hermione settled underneath it's comforting shade, shifting on the ground to make room for Sev.

For a moment, they merely basked in the silence, watching amusedly as the Giant Squid swam around with ridiculous strokes.

"Have you been well, Hermione?"

She glanced at Sev out of the corner of her eyes and smiled, noting the worry in his eyes. "Yes," she replied.

"No reckless shenanigans with a specific someone that might cost you your life?"

The corners of her lips twitched at his disapproving frown. "No," she simply said.

His stare was unforgiving. "You hang out too much with Potter and his idiotic friends," he accused. "I honestly think that your reckless behaviour was born out of their ridiculous influence on you."

"And not because I'm a time traveller, War Heroine?" she teased.

Sev snorted and leant against the bark of the humongous oak tree. "Maybe that too," he added with an amused glint in his eyes. "But seriously, Pettigrew. You're not running around and chasing danger, are you?"

"I'm really not, Sev," she earnestly said. "I've been an obedient student, swamped with NEWTs and Head Girl duties. Dumbledore would be proud of me."

He smirked at the sour look on her face. "Ah, so you're not entirely a fan of that old coot," he said.

"Don't talk about him like that," she said, swatting his arm again. "He's still the Headmaster." When he merely quirked an eyebrow, she sighed and slumped forwards. "He was really difficult, where I came from. My best friend trusted him with his life, oblivious that Dumbledore had been keeping secrets from us."

"You don't trust him," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh, I do," Hermione said. "I know that he really, truly wants to get rid of Voldemort to make this world a better place. But, I'm not a fan of how he handles – well – us. I think he believes that in order to protect people, you must keep things to yourself - when in fact, sometimes withholding information may bring more harm than necessary. For example, my best friend's death."

He frowned at her sarcastic snip, his hand unconsciously resting on her arm to relay comfort.

She was marginally mollified, throwing him a small smile. "I'm sorry," she said, expelling a soft sigh. "It's unfair of me to entirely blame Dumbledore for everything that happened in the past. He genuinely cared for my best friend, you know. I just wished he'd trusted us more to handle the truth. Maybe the war wouldn't have stretched on for as long. Maybe my best friend might not have died and we could have won the war."

"Then you wouldn't be here."

Her smile grew forlorn, noting the strain in his voice. "No, I wouldn't be. Most likely," she said, reaching forward to squeeze his hand. "But I'm here now and there's no use in dwelling in the past. 'What ifs' are a huge waste of time."

He silently squeezed her hand in return, his gaze once more landing on the Giant Squid.

"How's Lily?" she quipped after a few minutes of serene silence. "I haven't heard from her in a while."

Sev made a face. "She's been spending a lot of time in the Ministry," he grumbled. "I don't see her often either, if you must know. Her brilliant brain's been a huge asset to the department and they've been working her until she can barely walk. She can't even talk about her work!"

In spite of the worry she felt for the redhead, a bemused smile appeared on her face. "Lily must be having a hard time not being able to talk about her day," she teased.

A huff of laughter escaped from Sev's lips. "She swears she's going to go crazy soon," he declared. His eyes turned fond as he thought about his witch. "But she loves being an Unspeakable so much, despite all the difficulties."

"Lily is already a brilliant Unspeakable," she claimed with certainty. Sev smiled and nodded his head.

"Speaking of Lily." He rummaged inside his robes and pulled out a rolled parchment. "She asked me to give this to you."

Hermione gingerly pulled the parchment from his hand. "What's this about?"

He shrugged. "Maybe about the wedding and shite," he said, expelling a tired sigh. When Hermione gave him an amused look, he grimaced. "We've both agreed to keep the wedding as simple as possible, especially with all the financial aspects of the celebration. But it's been tiring with all the planning. I know Lily does most of the planning with the help of her parents, but there's a lot of stupid details I don't care about."

"But Lily does, so you have to care," she teased.

"Of course," he sniffed.

"Do you already have a planned date for the wedding?"

"Yes," he replied. "July 31st."

The smile on Hermione's face fell as her heart almost leapt to her throat. "W-what?" she stuttered.

"July 31st," he repeated, oblivious to the change in Hermione's mood. "Like I said, Lily's swamped with her work so she doesn't really have any free days. She's already bargained the last week of July for some time off, to finally get married to me."

July 31st.

Lily wanted to get married on July 31st.

On Harry Potter's birthday.

Hermione's throat clogged up with sudden, suffocating emotion and she tried to breathe through her nose just to calm herself down.

"It's a terrible year to get married, I told her," Sev continued, his eyes trained at the horizon. "We're in the middle of a bloody war, for Merlin's sake! But Lily insisted, especially since we're both very much involved in this war as Order members." His lips twitched into a sad smile. "She said that if everything went downhill, we might as well get married and spend a few blissful months together. The pinnacle is approaching. Dumbledore said. We don't know what might happen to us in the end and—" He trailed off and thickly swallowed. "If we are not going to survive this war, then might as well spend your last few days with the one you love."

All thoughts about Harry Potter flew out of her mind as she digested Sev's words. Her blue eyes turned to him sharply, an indignant sound escaping from her lips. "No one's going to die," she vehemently proclaimed. "I'll make sure of it!"

He glanced at her in surprise. His dark eyes softened upon seeing the determination in her eyes. "Nothing's certain, Hermione," he said. "Despite your knowledge of Voldemort due to your past, the future isn't set in stone. For all we know, there's a huge possibility the future you've known might not even exist anymore. I mean, you are here, aren't you? You were born as a different person, with a different name, and a different family. That's already a huge change."

Hermione grew deeply bothered at his words. She knew that with her presence here in this timeline, being reborn as a different person, already meant things would change greatly. She fervently wished that she could change the upcoming events – James and Lily's deaths, Peter's ultimate betrayal, Voldemort marking Harry as his equal… And she would make sure those things don't happen at all.

But there was also a part of her that was fearful. Her being in this timeline already meant there would be certain events that would happen which she hadn't foreseen before. A primary example being Lily's marriage to Severus. Another was James Potter confessing he was in love with her.

"Pettigrew?"

She snapped out of her internal panicking and turned to her worried friend. "I'm sorry, I just suddenly had a lot on my mind," she excused. She then brushed her curls away and beamed brightly at Sev, praying that her smile didn't look too rattled. "I'm truly happy for you both, Sev." She threw her arms around him and squeezed him tight. "You and Lily both deserve to be happy."

Sev melted against her embrace and patted her back. "You deserve to be happy, too," he replied.

Her eyes swam with tears, wondering how she would truly achieve that in this timeline.

-ooo-

Later that night, Hermione finally had the chance to read Lily's letter.

Dearest Hermione,

How are you? I hope you are doing well! Knowing you, I'm sure you're already relentlessly studying for your NEWTs. Please, for the love of all good things in this world, take care of yourself. I know Sev's often in Hogwarts with Slughorn, but he can't keep an eye on you due to his schedule. I miss you very, very much and I still wish to see you graduate from Hogwarts alive and breathing.

As for me, I think I'm going to die soon. Slowly and painful, because ruddy hell, Hermione! Who knew becoming an Unspeakable was going to be this rigorous? Professor McGonagall's career orientation hadn't prepared me for this. But, despite it all, I think I'm managing. Despite all the hardships, I really love what I'm currently doing and unfortunately, I might continue doing this for the rest of my life.

So, anyway, I asked Sev to give you this letter because we are currently faced with a predicament – your maid of honour dress! Sev might have already told you we are planning on getting married at the end of July. We must start shopping for your dress soon. I'm going to try and find some free time to shop with you after you graduate. Hopefully, it will be sooner than that.

I miss you, Hermione. I hope to see you soon.

Love,
Lily

Hermione smiled sadly at the letter, also terribly missing her feisty best friend. No one was here to chatter her ear off, talking about the most mundane things about her day, and being generally present.

As she sauntered towards her desk to pen a reply, she heard soft tapping on the window closest to her bed.

She curiously opened the window and let a large, imposing grey owl fly down onto her desk. The owl was unfamiliar, but Hermione deduced someone important probably owned him.

"Who're you from?" she asked, her fingers brushing gently against his feathers. The grey owl hooted and stuck out his leg, waiting for Hermione to untie the letter.

The owl didn't wait for her reply - as soon as the parchment was free from his leg, he hooted his goodbye and swooped out of the window, disappearing into the night sky.

Hermione suspiciously eyed the parchment and slowly unrolled it, her blue eyes already taking in the words.

Horror bloomed in her heart, already sickened by the words on the parchment. It spoke of a great, new world where glory and power would reign. It spoke of ridding the world of those they deemed beneath them – Muggles. It spoke of an invitation, for Hermione to join their cause.

She couldn't finish the unsigned letter, her hand immediately clutching onto her wand. "Incendio," she harshly spat, the wand tip aimed at the offending letter.

She watched in satisfaction as fire licked the paper until it was merely a pile of ash.

The others were right: he had also come for her. Hermione debated whether to tell this to Peter and his friends or not.

'They're too busy,' she firmly told herself, absentmindedly vanishing the ash into thin air. 'Better not to worry them.'

Hermione plopped down onto her bed and stared at her canopy, unseeing. Her heart still raced at the thought she'd been invited to become one of Voldemort's followers. The others had already warned her, but for her to really get his bloody invitation had shaken Hermione to her core.

She'd spectacularly failed at everything she'd planned as Hermione Pettigrew. She planned not to get herself involved too much with people important in this war, but she knew it would be futile the first time she had truly accepted she was Peter Pettigrew's sister. She planned to merely watch at the side-lines and to let everything unfold, but she'd completely botched that up when she decided to help Regulus Black escape Voldemort's clutches. She planned to always keep her head down and not to place too much attention on herself, but she'd managed to become the brightest witch of her age.

Panic started to rise up from the pit of her stomach at the thought - all she'd planned in this lifetime had never come into fruition. Tears prickled in her eyes, afraid that things would turn out for the worst.

She remembered Sev's words, how he'd stated the future was uncertain, especially now that her presence was here. What if, despite all the knowledge she had about the future, she'd still be unable to defeat Voldemort?

'No,' a voice firmly told her, a voice that strangely sounded like Harry. 'No. You will not let that happen. Voldemort must die.'

"Voldemort must die," she shakily echoed, her hands curling into fists. Through her swimming eyes, she darkly glared at her canopy, the promise of ending everyone's misery by defeating Voldemort once and for all taking a strong hold in her resolve.

No matter how much this world would change because of her presence, Voldemort would still be defeated.

She would bloody make sure of it.

A/N: Hi, so I needed this chapter for a breather as transition from the events in the previous chapter to the events after this. Now that everybody knows about most of Hermione's past, the plot will really pick up after Hermione graduates hehe. There will be fluff and more too so yes, please patiently wait!

Next chapter is the last chapter set in Hermione's 7th year. See you tomorrow!

With love,
WickedlyAwesomeMe

P.S. Follow me on tumblr (kimmy-writes).