Hermione could practically hear the diadem calling out to her and she told Dumbledore that on Friday morning.
"Sir, why can't we just get it. At least we will know that we have one in our possession." Hermione was getting frustrated with the Headmaster's lack of action. It was as if he didn't want to succeed. She was already hesitant to trust him and this was not instilling any sort of confidence.
"Miss Granger, I understand your concerns. However, I believe that for now our best course of action is to focus on maintaining your relationships. Specifically, I think that you need to build trust with the young Pettigrew. If what you tell me is true-"
"It is." He held up a hand.
"Then I think that that is where you should start and I will worry about the Horcruxes." Hermione frowned at him.
"With all due respect sir," and it wasn't much if Hermione was being honest. "This is my future, my friends and family that are on the line. I'm not going to leave it to someone who left my friend to die." The words were harsh but they were the truth. He steepled his fingers as he looked at her over his glasses.
"Hermione, I understand your hesitation." Stop looking in my mind. He smiled. "However, we know where the Horcruxes are and we know how to kill them. We know how to get into the Chamber of Secrets and can use the sword to kill the basilisk. The plan is in motion. If we move to quickly than Voldemort may catch on and change tactics. Our advantage right now is that he doesn't know. We need a rock solid plan and right now we don't have one." Hermione sat silent and hated to admit that he was right.
She was thinking with her heart and not her head.
"They're not going to die." Harry would have his parents. He would get to meet the best people that she knew. He sent her a gentle look.
"We will do everything that we can to make sure that doesn't happen. I just want you to understand that we are not doing nothing. The Order has your information and we are making a plan. Once you are out of school we will be implementing it."
"It needs to happen before the prophecy gets made." He nodded.
"Do you know when that is?" Hermione didn't and shook her head.
"It's when you need a new divination teacher. If you interview Sybill Trewelany then we are too late." He looked at her grimly but conceded.
"I understand. I also want you to tell me that you will be doing everything that you can on your end? Foster relationships, create bonds, make sure that there will be something for these people to fight for." There was steel in Hermione's eyes.
"There will be."
"Then you are dismissed."
Lily and Alice were waiting for her outside the headmaster's office when she came down the steps. Hermione smiled at her in greeting.
"We just wanted to make sure that you were okay?" Alice said gently, grabbing her hand as they walked. Hermione was confused for a moment until she remembered earlier in the week. Jonah Gibbon had been brought to this same office to be told that his little sister had been murdered by Death Eaters.
"Oh, yeah, nothing to worry about." A look of pure relief that washed over their faces.
"Thank God," Lily said. Hermione smiled, noticing how often Lily's muggle heritage came out in times of stress. "Now let's get to class."
The rest of the walk was filled with simple chatter. Frank had invited Alice over to his mother's home after graduation for a formal visit. As Muggleborns, Hermione and Lily didn't know what that meant but apparently it was a big deal. They were still talking about that when they were greeted by the showdown in the entrance hall on the way to Herbology.
It seemed as though the Potions fiasco wasn't forgotten.
Remus and Malfoy were inches apart and apparently ready to attack each other.
Something Hermione did not expect in this time was Remus being so hotheaded - both around the full moon and not so much. Hermione had always been told that her defense professor was the one that got the Marauders out of trouble or kept them from toeing over the line. She wasn't told that should the line need to be crossed for whatever reason, he didn't step over it, he pole-vaulted it.
"Back up." His voice was nothing short of a growl. Hermione swore that when he cracked his neck it was only so he didn't lean over and snap Malfoy's.
"Or what Lupin? Going to hit me like your blood traitor friend over there?" Malfoy's lips were pulled up in a sneer that she had only ever seen perfected on his son's face. Draco's had never seemed to be genuine though. Lucius was entitled, greedy, and malicious.
"Or I will send you back to your Mummy in pieces." Even James and Sirius knew that this was bordering on danger zone. It was just a little too close to the full moon for anyone's comfort, not that all of them knew it consciously. Remus wasn't the old and broken man that she knew before. He was young, strong, and pissed off.
Even Snape knew that Malfoy needed to get the hell out of there and quickly. "Malfoy, let's go," he said, "It isn't worth it." Lucius looked back at him and his eyes flashed in anger. Hermione knew that Snape would probably catch hell for the comment later but Lucius just didn't know how much danger he was in.
"You know what Snape," Lucius said turning back to the Marauders. Remus' hands were balled into fists at his sides. James had one hand wrapped in Remus' robes in case he went for it. "You're right. Let's get out of here before I get any of his half-blood filth on my hands."
Remus did legitimately growl this time and made a move towards Malfoy but Sirius stepped in front of him. This was something that the boys had obviously done more than once. Lucius only laughed and turned away.
"Keep a leash on your pet," Snape drawled before following the rest of the Slytherins down towards the dungeons. Remus' chest was heaving with fury. Sirius sent a curse at Snape's back as he walked away that Snape didn't seem to react to. James' eyebrows wrinkled.
"What did you do to him?"
"He will only be able to talk in Chinese until someone figures out the counter curse," Sirius said simply. Everyone was so surprised that they stopped struggling to hold Remus to look at him.
"Is there one?" Peter asked. Sirius shrugged.
"I don't know." It was so ridiculous that everyone started laughing. "Come on, let's go to Herbology." James let go of Remus, obviously confident that he wasn't going to attack anyone and tried to put an arm around Lily's shoulders. She shrugged him off.
"Not in this lifetime, Potter," she said with a laugh. Sirius moved forward and put his arm around James as consolation as Peter and Alice ran to catch up. Remus hadn't moved, still not having caught his breath fully.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked gently, putting her hand on his arm. It was probably a stupid thing to do since his fists were still clenched, forearm muscles tight. She was barely at his shoulder and had to crane her head up to look at him. The touch seemed to surprise him. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to try to relax. He let the tension in his jaw go first and then his shoulders, his arms, his fists. This was obviously something that happened before.
"Yeah, he just makes me so angry." He opened his eyes and they weren't the ocean blue she was used to seeing but the blue that the sky turned before a tornado, dark, dark, dark.
"I can see that," she told him. He cracked a smile and then all the tension was gone.
Just like that.
"Come on, we're going to be late." He threw an arm around her shoulders and she tentatively put hers around his waist as they caught up to their friends, Marlene having joined them.
"We were wondering how long it was going to take you to get your shit together," Sirius said, messing with the strap of Marlene's bookbag. She slapped him. Remus shrugged and Hermione felt the movement against her side. She knew that he could hear her heartbeat.
"You know how it is," he said, then almost like he didn't realize he was doing it, he started to twirl one of Hermione curls around his finger. Lily raised her eyebrows at her but Hermione just swallowed thickly.
"Are you going to be good to fill in next Saturday? Keates is still suspended," James asked with a dark look. Remus rolled his eyes but Hermione was looking wide eyed at Lily, trying to tell her that she was nearly having heart failure. Lily had to turn her giggle into a cough. James sent her a questioning look but then turned back to his friend and a slow smile spread across his face.
Hermione was having a positively normal teenage experience.
"Yeah, I just have to switch my patrols around so I can get to the pitch for practice," he said. Hermione turned from Lily to look up at him. She accidentally pulled her hair out of his hands and the action made him look down at her. She furrowed her eyebrows at him.
"You play Quidditch?" she asked. Nobody had ever told her that.
"You sound surprised," he said with a grin. Her heart was beating a million miles an hour. He was intelligent and he was going to be wearing a Quidditch uniform – nope. That was a hard negative.
"You shouldn't be," Sirius said, putting some sort of snack into his mouth, "kid is built like a brick shithouse."
"What position?" she asked. This was a side of him … well one of the many sides of him apparently that she didn't know.
"Keeper." That would make sense. He was too big to be a seeker. The two beaters were in front of her. She didn't know the other Chasers.
"He's a keeper in more ways than one, Granger," Sirius said with a wink and Hermione's shade of red made everyone laugh. Marlene hit him again.
"Leave her alone, Sirius," Lily chided but there was a smile on her face as well. Remus was laughing too and she tried to hide her blush in her hands but he grabbed them, leaning close to her ear.
"Hey, he's not wrong." Hermione wanted the ground to swallow her whole.
Thank Merlin, himself, Professor Sprout showed up.
"Good Afternoon class." Hermione was on the verge of dying of embarrassment. "We'll be harvesting tentacula leaves today. Very dangerous and you must be paying attention. Find yourselves a partner and get going!"
To save herself more crushing embarrassment and remembering Dumbledore's words from earlier, Hermione turned to the shortest Marauder.
"Hey, Pete, work with me?" she smirked because she could actually feel the outrage coming from Remus who was still attached to her. Peter smiled but looked up at his friend who rolled his eyes. He wore seventeen well.
"Sure, Mione," he said in a small voice. Hermione smiled at the nickname and unwound herself from Remus' side.
"Wonderful! Let's get going!"