"Hermione!" James said, running out and slinging an arm over her shoulders. She was surprised but realized that she shouldn't be. This just seemed to be how he was. "That was amazing!"
"Brilliant, sweetheart!" Sirius said, putting his arm over her other shoulder, sandwiching her in between them. Hermione didn't have the heart to tell them just why she was so good at it. "Next time you should duel with Malfoy! Teach that blonde piece of sh- Oof!" Marlene leaned over and elbowed him in the stomach.
"Hey now McKinnon, don't break him before practice, please!" James asked her, putting his hands up in a settle down motion.
"We could play without brooms and still beat those Ravenclaw morons this weekend, Captain," Marlene told him. James lit up which made Hermione smile. She had seen that expression before on a similar looking face when talking about Quidditch.
"That's what I like to hear, Marls. Come on I'll buy you dinner." She bumped her hip into his.
"It's free, you prat." He pulled on the end of her blonde curls.
"Then I'll get your breakfast in the morning too." She shoved him again and they ran ahead running down the hall in the opposite direction of the Great Hall. If Hermione didn't know the castle like she did, she wouldn't know they were running in the direction of the kitchens.
"Is it even time for dinner yet?" Hermione asked. Sirius laughed.
"No, they just eat at all hours of the day," Remus told her. "Are you hungry?" Hermione looked up at him, still under Sirius's arm. He was looking at her in a calculating sort of way, his eyebrows pulled together like he was trying to figure something out.
"Not yet, I think I might go to the library for a little while." Sirius audibly groaned from next to her, she felt it vibrate in her bones. Remus however quirked a small smile at her. Her heart quickened a little and she wondered briefly if he could hear it. "Could you show me where that is?"
"Absolutely not," Sirius told her vehemently, "I have a strict policy of not going within fifty feet of that place. Unless of course it's to go to the stacks if that's what you are implying?" He wagged his eyebrows suggestively at her and she shoved him away playfully. She was suddenly really sad. The Sirius in her time was beyond broken.
"I want to read, sir." He put a hand to his heart.
"Oh no, we have another Moony. One is bad enough." Remus leaned over and smacked him upside the head. Sirius reached up immediately and smoothed down his black hair. "How dare you."
"You are exhausting, Padfoot," Remus informed him. Hermione looked at him. He did look tired but not in the way his older self did. The scars on his face were pronounced but not as many. She wondered if they happened before or after the boys started running with him. His eyes were wide, blue, and open but glazed over like he could fall asleep at any moment. She wondered when the next full moon was.
"But you love me anyway." Someone calling his name got his attention. "Ah, my admirers await. Have fun reading nerds." He started off down the hallway, jumping on the back of some unsuspecting seventh year Gryffindor which made the girl next to him scream. Remus laughed and shook his head.
"Is he always like that?" Hermione asked, a small smile on her face. Remus was grinning. He was so … confident. So sure of himself, like a sixteen year old boy should be.
"Always, come on I'll show you to the library." They walked down the halls in polite company. Remus was pointing out the things that he thought would be important for her. Hermione had to remember that this was all supposed to be new to her. She nodded in the right places and tried not to picture the bodies that used to lay where he was pointing. It was making her just a little dizzy.
"Are you okay?" Hermione had to hold onto the wall for just a minute. She had just passed the hallway where she saw Greyback tear into a fifth year Hufflepuff. She remembered hearing her screaming for help until she couldn't anymore. She could have passed out… or thrown up.
"Um… I just, er, I just need a second." He nodded and put his hands in his pockets. There was something strange about this girl. Even though he was telling her all of the places in the castle it was like she already knew them – just like she knew Professor McGonagall's name before anyone said it.
"Take your time." Hermione took a few deep breaths and let the cool stone under her fingers ground her. She was at Hogwarts, she was safe, she had a mission. She wasn't going to let Greyback maul anybody. Her eyes flicked up. Well – anyone else.
"I'm sorry," she told him though she wasn't really sure which thing she was apologizing for. It was a really, really long list.
"It's fine. It seems that you've been through a lot." She nodded and pushed herself up. "Lead the way." The corners of his mouth pulled up and he turned to walk down the familiar hallways. Hermione shook her head to remain in this time, this place, and not see the blood that at one time splattered all along the walls.
"What is your favorite subject?" she asked him suddenly. She needed a distraction – anything to keep her mind busy. Also, she was curious. He was so similar but so different from the R. J. Lupin that she knew. He scratched the top of his head, pushing his sandy hair away from his eyes. Hermione had never realized how tall he was. She wondered if it was because in this time, he was walking with his head up, not slumped over with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"Oh er, well, defense I guess." She smiled.
"Even with all the different teachers?" He nodded.
"Yeah," he shoved his hands back into his pockets. "We've had a couple of bad ones but I think that it's going to be the most useful for us when we get out of here." She sobered up quickly as he held the heavy library doors open for her. "This is the best place in the castle. I come down here when I need a break from the chaos. It's one of the only places that the goons won't follow me."
The smell of old books immediately settled her nerves. The library was her solace too. Harry and Ron didn't come here much. She walked down the aisles running her fingers along the spines, relishing in the way the leather felt under her skin. Remus was watching her. He had never seen anyone else so at peace in a library. When she turned around the sincerity in her smile surprised him.
"It's absolutely beautiful," she breathed out. He smiled.
"I mean, I guess. It has more books than anywhere I've ever been." He grinned at her affronted look. Hermione had never been more offended.
"You guess? It's amazing! Do you know how many lifetimes are written down in here, how many people have dedicated their lives to the knowledge that line these shelves?" She pulled a book down off the shelf and looked at it. 1,000 Magical Herbs and Fungi. Remus raised an eyebrow at the small laugh that escaped her. Hermione ran a hand over the cover fondly, seemingly lost.
"I would probably AK myself if I spent my life studying fungi." Hermione looked up and backhanded him in his stomach before she realized what she did. He shook his head laughing and motioned for her to follow him. She put the book back up on the shelf and tried to forget that she just attacked a teacher – one with hard and corded werewolf muscles.
"Where are we going?" she asked but she had a feeling that she knew. The restricted section was this way. She had flashbacks of first year when she and the boys would break in under Harry's invisibility cloak.
"Just come on," he told her with a small laugh. "You sure are stubborn." She threw a look at him that he ignored and turned the corner. There was a dark grated fence that Hermione knew all too well, separating them from the restricted books.
"What is this?" she asked, keeping up appearances. He was leaning against the metal with his arms crossed over his chest. She tried to ignore the fact that he was studying her. He may be a problem for her in the future, she was going to have to be very careful.
"The restricted section. You usually need a teacher's permission to read the books in here. Very dangerous," he said winking at her. She had to smile. If Sirius was broken in her time, then Remus was absolutely shattered.
"What do you mean usually?" One side of his mouth quirked up and the door opened under his fingers. Her mouth dropped. She hadn't been able to get it open without sneaking in behind someone. "How did you do that?"
"Marauder's secret." She tried not to roll her eyes. If he only knew how many of those secrets she was privy to.
"You all seem to have a lot of those."
"You have no idea," he told her. "Come on." He showed her the rest of the library and they found a table to work on their transfiguration homework. It was unsurprising that he was so intelligent. He bounced some ideas off Hermione, seemingly to gauge how smart she was, not because he really needed the answer to the question. Hermione took it in stride answering each question with the ease of someone who had read half of the books in the library they were currently in.
They didn't realize how long they had been in there until a yell interrupted them.
"GET OUT!"
"Relax, Pincey! We're just getting someone and leaving!" Remus slapped a hand to his forehead and started to quickly gather up his books. Hermione looked over at him with a question on her face. It was answered rather quickly.
"Moony! Moony Junior!"
"This place makes me itchy."
James and Sirius had arrived to escort them to dinner.