A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who has been reading and reviewing. You're all so sweet and I'm so pleased so many of you have been enjoying this fic. I did fall off the band wagon for a little while there when I fell out of love with the Marauders for a bit, but I'm right back on that ship and there are a number of new chapters coming your way for this one. Those of you reading "Embracing the Madness" will also be pleased to know I've been editing the chapters for that and will have a new chapter for you on it really soon. YAY! I hope you love the new chapter here. I was going to jump right into the holidays at Hermione's place and kind of fast forward through the early years, but it's way too much fun to write their friendships as they develop. Now, fair warning, we see a change in Hermione in this chapter. Just so you know. I hope you love it. I couldn't stop giggling while I wrote this chapter.
Much love! xx-Kitten.
Of Ticking Clocks and Beating Hearts
By Kittenshift17
Chapter 13: Delivering Invitations
Hermione ran on her toes as she raced across the Great Hall and over to the Gryffindor table. She could see James, Sirius and Remus already on their way to get some breakfast for the morning and she meant to ambush them before they could sit down. She had her wad of invitations clutched in her fist and she could still hear Severus grumbling about the idea of having to follow her over to the Gryffindor table where she could see Lily was already sitting with the other Gryffindor girls.
Remus heard her coming long before she reached them, his canine hearing able to pick up the whisper of her feet over the cold stones of the floor and he spun towards her just in time for Hermione to launch herself at him. Instinctively his hands came up to catch her when Hermione leapt right at the wide-eyed werewolf.
"Hermione?" he exclaimed, staggering slightly on impact when Hermione crashed right into him, latching her arms around his neck.
"Good morning!" she crowed cheerfully, loud enough for all of her Gryffindor friends to hear her.
It was one of Remus's good weeks in the middle of the lunar cycle, so crashing into him didn't hurt him. Hermione breathed in his personal scent noticing that as he'd done as an adult, he smelled like loam, pine and werewolf. She couldn't rightly describe the scent of 'werewolf' but it was something along the lines of a doggy time of smell, only wilder somehow.
The poor werewolf never seemed to know quite what to do when she instigated intimate, yet casual touches between them. He had clearly been starved for human contact most of his young life and being touched unnerved him. Hermione knew it unnerved him, but she enjoyed hugging him too much to stop. It was just too much fun and her personal space barrier had all but dissolved. At any given moment she could be found leaning on, hanging off or crawling over any number of her friends. She didn't know why she did it, if she was being honest, but there was something about being flung into the past, De-Aged, and immersed in a life with people who were the parents, godfathers and teachers of her original friends that made her crave physical contact and company.
That, and so many of them weren't accustomed to being touched very much. Remus, as a werewolf with parents who feared him and loathed his condition, had never had anyone so willing to hug him, touch him or comb their fingers through his hair. Sirius was in the same boat. His mother tended to scream at him and she didn't doubt that the woman slapped, hit, kicked and beat him when she got angry enough.
James had clearly been doted on and loved by his parents, but Hermione had trouble resisting the urge to hug and touch him too when he reminded her so very much of Harry both in personality and appearance. Many of her other new friends were in the same boat as Remus and Sirius.
Severus wasn't used to being touched so much. He was only used to being beaten by his father. Rabastan was a wild card, but he rarely complained if she sat in his lap or played with her hair. Lily and the other girls were more tolerant of being touched, but Hermione had found with them that hugs and things were common and even easy. She'd made a number of new friends by instigating all kinds of things to make their lives easier or more fun. She would show them a new charm she'd learned for fixing hair or some potion or salve for their skin. They'd even painted their nails together last week.
More than anyone though, Hermione enjoyed climbing all over Severus, burrowing into him when it would most annoy him. And she adored being affectionate with Remus. He never seemed to quite know what to do about it when she crawled into his lap or hung from his neck. He just kind of stood there awkwardly, unaccustomed to the idea that he ought to hug her back and too polite to shove her off him the way Severus did when he got stroppy with her.
"Well aren't you exuberant this morning?" Sirius laughed while Remus struggled with himself over how to react to being so enthusiastically greeted and so warmly hugged.
"And I haven't even had my breakfast yet," Hermione commented, hanging down Remus's front like a sloth from a branch.
De-Aged back to being twelve years old, she was extremely short once again, while Remus seemed to have hit his twelve-year-old growth spurt. Hermione would swear he'd shot up almost a foot since they'd begun the term. He was easily approaching five feet already and as such her feet dangled off the ground while she hugged him. Sometimes, when she really wanted to insist on contact she would wrap her legs around his narrow waist, but she thought she better not whilst in the Great Hall at breakfast time. She might get in trouble.
"No one let her have coffee. She'll explode with perkiness," Severus's voice came from behind her, already grumpy again even though she and Bass had managed to cheer him up in bed that morning. Rabastan followed after Severus, wandering over to the Gryffindor table near Lily. Both boys plonked themselves down and began digging into the food already on the table.
The very sight warmed Hermione even more when the girls didn't looked alarmed or put out. Her insistence on being friends with people, no matter the house they were in had initiated a lot of inter-house unity and it wasn't uncommon to find people from all four houses sitting together or walking together in the corridors.
"What have you got there, Hermione?" James wanted to know, tipping to one side to try and read the invitations she clutched upside-down.
"A surprise," Hermione crowed delightedly, wriggling against Remus and waiting for him to put his arms around her. Currently he was trying to maintain his balance and reach the table even though she hung from his neck like an oversized, wriggly necklace.
"What is it? Something good?" Sirius asked, looking intrigued, "Tell me it's the answers to the quiz Slughorn hinted at in Potions yesterday?"
"It's not the answers," Hermione told him.
"Are you going to let me go this morning?" Remus wanted to know when he stopped in front of the table, unsure how to go about sitting on the bench he'd have to climb over when she was still clinging to him.
"I haven't decided yet," Hermione replied, "You're warm."
She burrowed her nose into the side of his neck and breathed him in even deeper.
"Your nose is cold," he complained.
"See? Cold. I told you. But you're warm. I could stay here until I'm warm."
"Sirius is probably warmer than I am, Hermione," Remus tried to argue patiently.
"You think so?" Hermione asked sceptically, talking to his clavicle because she was hugging him so tightly.
"Yes, he only got out of bed a few minutes ago. I've been awake more than an hour. He's still got that bedtime warmth clinging to him," Remus assured her.
"Are you just saying that because you don't want me to cuddle you anymore, Remus?" Hermione asked him suspiciously, having entirely too much fun watching him trying to be polite.
"Of course not," Remus denied quickly, always on the lookout for hurting anyone's feelings.
Severus snorted.
"Yes, he is," Severus informed her, "You're being a pest again, Hermione. Get off him and let him get some breakfast before we all die of boredom watching him try not to hurt your feelings."
"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed again," Rabastan piped up, nudging Severus, who looked even more annoyed.
"Remus, do you think Severus is being a grump because he needs a big cuddle too?" Hermione asked, looking into Remus's eyes and smiling widely.
"I'm sure he does," Remus nodded, clearly willing to take any opportunity to pry her off him.
"I don't know," Hermione mused, "I feel like you're just saying that because you want to get rid of me, Remus."
"No one would want to get rid of you, Hermione," Sirius winked at her over Remus's shoulder.
"Prove it," Hermione demanded of Remus, having entirely too much fun watching the poor boy try to figure out how to get her out of his personal space without hurting her feelings.
"How am I supposed to prove that I don't want to get rid of you?" he asked, baffled.
"Just toss her off you, Lupin," Severus grunted, "She's perky enough today that she'll bounce right back and probably climb into Potter's lap the minute she's up."
"Ignore Severus," Hermione told Remus, "He's being a sour pus because I made him stop cuddling me and get out of bed to come to breakfast."
"I'm not above hexing you, Hermione," Severus warned from behind her, never liking to admit that she crawled into bed with him all the time.
"I'll hex you right back, Sev," Hermione retorted, "But Remus, you can prove you don't want to let me go by squeezing me as tight as you can and then I might be persuaded to release you."
"You're the strangest witch I know," James informed her, chuckling at her bargaining tactics and looking amused by her apparent neediness, "Did you know that?"
"Hush, Jamesy, you're next," Hermione warned the black haired boy who looked so much like Harry.
"Blimey," James chuckled.
"I don't want to squeeze you, Hermione. What if I hurt you?" Remus protested.
"Do it, or I'm going to hang from you neck all day long," Hermione blackmailed him immediately.
"You're a real piece of work sometimes, did you know that?" Remus asked her before wrapping his arms around her.
He squeezed quite gently and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You can do better than that," she chided him, "How will you ever even warm me up and make me feel loved if you squeeze more gently than you would to hold a butterfly?"
Remus growled very softly before tightening his grip. Hermione returned the fierce hug, squeezing him as tight as she could and pushing him to return the favour. When he crushed her to himself, pressing her tightly to his chest while he arms crushed her so close that her ribs aches and her back cracked, Hermione smiled.
"Yay!" she said before releasing him and dropping to the floor.
"Did I hurt you?" he asked gruffly, eyeing her like she was mental.
"No," Hermione smiled, "I like being cuddled tight. Your cuddles are wonderful."
Remus shook his head at her slowly, clearly doubting her sanity even as he took his seat next to Sirius.
"Are you going to tell us what you've got now?" James asked and Hermione bounded over to where he was sitting, wrapping herself around his back and propping her chin on his right shoulder.
"But I haven't said good morning to everyone yet, Jamesy," Hermione argued with him, stealing a rasher of bacon off his plate and munching on it over his shoulder.
"Are you sure you were put in the right house?" Severus growled, "You're acting like a bloody Hufflepuff."
Hermione blew a raspberry at him as she released James and moved on to Sirius.
"Don't even think about…" Sirius began when Hermione tucked her invitations under her arm before she dug her fingers into his black hair, "Blast it all, woman, you know I don't like having my hair touched!"
"Don't lie, Sirius," Hermione laughed, combing her fingers through the silky black locks and leaning against his back, "We both know that you secretly adore it when I touch you."
"Oh, of course. You've figured out my secret, I protest so much because I actually like having my hard work undone by your villainous hands every bloody day," he replied sarcastically and though she couldn't see his face, Hermione could tell he was rolling his eyes.
"Methinks he doth protest too much," Hermione retorted, quoting even as she ruffled her fingers through the inky black wings of his hair, "Now stop being grumpy and read this, you big sook!"
Hermione scolded him when she wrapped herself around his back the same way she'd done to James before burrowing her nose into his neck and breathing in his scent. He always smelt of diesel and smoke, Hermione noticed as she breathed him in. She dug his invitation out of the pile and presented it to him before snatching a bite of his sausage right off his fork, directing his hand clutching the utensil into her own mouth.
"What is it?" James wanted to know, as curious as ever and reaching for his own invitations when Hermione dug it out of the pile she clutched.
Hermione passed James's to him even as she moved on to Peter. She wasn't as affectionate with Peter as she was with the others, but if she was being honest, the pudgy little blonde boy was currently harmless and actually quite sweet. Hermione carded her fingers through his thick blonde hair and gave him an invitation as well before she hopped right over the table to where Lily, Alice, Molly and Marlene were sitting.
"Good morning Lily," Hermione greeted her friend, wrapping her arms around the red-head from behind and pecking her on the cheek in greeting.
"Having fun, Hermione?" Lily asked, absentmindedly reaching up to pat her cheek affectionately.
"Loads," Hermione told her, "This is for you. Promise me you'll come, alright?"
She gave the witch her invitation before tucking a lock of Lily's hair behind her ear. She continued on with the rest of the girls, passing out invitations to Alice even as she stopped to muss the dark-hair witch's bobbed locks. Molly preened with delight when Hermione paused in her greeting of everyone else to plait her long blonde hair for the girl. Marlene was the most stand-offish of the group, but even she got a cuddle from behind and a ruffle of her brown hair as she was handed her invitation.
"This is why you're so excited?" Remus asked when Hermione hopped right back over the table again and stopped behind him.
She present his invitation to him even as she kissed the top of his head affectionately, her arms wrapped around him.
"Mhmm," Hermione hummed, "Say you'll all come? Pretty please? My Mum and Dad are so excited for the ball and for meeting all my friends."
"They're going to be alright with having pretty much the entire first year class all staying at your place all break?" James asked sceptically.
"Well, I doubt everyone will be able to make it. Most people's folks want to see them at Christmas," Hermione shrugged, "But Mum keeps saying 'the more, the merrier'. We have enough room for everyone, after all."
"They're game if they're willing to take on twenty kids for the holidays," Sirius piped up.
"The love kids and they've both taken time off work especially so they'll be there while I'm home," Hermione smiled at him, "They're as excited as I am."
"They're clearly delusional," Snape muttered grumpily, "And they passed the defect along."
"Are you calling me defective, Sev?" Hermione chuckled, slanting a smirk at the dark-haired boy.
"Defective and slow, if you've got to ask," he retorted.
"Sev, that's mean!" Lily swatted at him in reprimand.
"Defective this, Sev," Hermione retorted, abandoning Remus and bounding over to where Severus was sitting.
Hermione gripped one of his shoulders tightly, jerked on his body until he was leaning back.
"Oi! Knock it off," he growled, trying to fight her off.
Hermione ignored his words when he began to curse, twisting her body around and plonking down right on his lap.
"Damn it, witch, bugger off!" Severus growled, trying to throw her back off his lap. Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and shuffled across his lap.
"Now who's defective, Sev?" Hermione taunted him, clinging to him tightly and settling herself into his lap cheerfully.
"Still you," Severus retorted, "You're acting like a child."
"Says the boy throwing a tantrum because I made him get out of bed," Hermione replied in a sneer, burrowing her face into his neck and breathing him in.
She was having the time of her life. She had learned since first meeting this wonderful group of people that she wanted to savour every minute. She didn't like to waste time second-guessing happiness or something that might be fun. She spent enough time worrying about how to best convince those destined to be Death Eaters from walking that dark path. She spent countless hours a day debating whether or not something would have a positive or negative effect. And so far the one thing she'd found was that she had the singular ability to overcome house rivalry, blood prejudice and other discrepancies by channelling her inner Hufflepuff and being extra nice to everyone.
Literally everyone. She had befriended everyone in her year. She knew them all by name, house affiliation, and interest. She'd instigated study evenings with the Ravenclaws, encouraging them to help the Hufflepuffs. She had bridged the gap between Slytherins and Gryffindors by being so close with both.
All of the Slytherin boys in her year had no choice by to hang out with the Gryffindors because she hung out with them and she dragged them along. Lily tended to go where Hermione and Severus went, and the other girls tended to follow. As a result, the Marauders followed the girls, Rabastan followed her and Severus. The other boys too, tended to revolve around their group.
In just the short amount of time she'd been at the school, she'd managed to ensure that everyone in her year knew each other and even if they didn't much like each other, Hermione insisted they be polite to one another.
Not as difficult a task as it seemed given that Severus was the least polite of the lot of them and she managed to wrangle him when she had to. Having a six year head-start on her maturity whilst being their 'age-mates' meant she could help them overcome their little spats and silly notions by educating them. When it came from someone they believed to be their own age, they seemed to listen better than they would have were if coming from an older student or a teacher, Hermione was sure.
Professor Dumbledore had been delighted when he'd come across most of their year studying in one of the courtyards last month. Hermione had talked everyone into studying for the exam Professor McGonagall had set for them and she'd bought herself a lot of friends when they all got their grades back and did better than they'd hoped. In fact, there was now a standing study session for all first year students every Wednesday evening, usually led by Hermione, where she insisted they all work on whatever homework they had.
Not everyone attended every week, but Hermione kind of liked running it. It made her feel like she was being helpful to their overall education and it meant she was interacting with everyone. She offered advice on things they had trouble with – once again securing her reputation as a know-it-all – and it meant everyone got their homework done through the week. Since the teachers tended to hand out assignments on Mondays and Tuesdays that were to be submitted on Thursdays and Fridays, Wednesday was the perfect day for study.
Sometime a few people would skive off a week, but as it was Hermione had convinced so many of her friends and her peers to attend that usually those who might've avoided having to do their homework – like the Marauders – attended anyone because it was the place to be every Wednesday night.
Since they were all in different houses, Hermione had resorted to sometimes using the Great Hall or even empty classrooms where they could all lounge around together, help each other and otherwise interact with people outside of their own house. She actually wished she'd been able to do the same thing in her own time with Harry and Ron. It meant that people in her year that she didn't know very well and might never have had the chance to spend time with or to get to know, were suddenly people she called friend. The entire idea resulted in everyone knowing each other and it meant there was very rarely anyone missing out on getting their homework completed if they didn't understand something. No one ever had to walk into a classroom or the Great Hall and worry about sitting alone or having to sit with someone by themselves.
She knew the teachers were always baffled when they would walk into class and find Hermione sitting with Lily or find Remus sitting by Rabastan. Sirius and James were almost inseperable, but every now and then even they could be split to sit with Ivan or Cornelius or even Joseph. Boys sat with girls, Slytherins sat with Gryffindors and the teachers looked like the world had gone topsy-turvy. Hermione loved watching Professor McGonagall's face twist in confusion when Sirius and Rabastan sat together, both of them causing mischief. More Minerva never seemed to know who to blame or who to take house points from.
"This isn't a tantrum," Sev argued with her, still trying to wrestle her off his lap, "You've never seen me throw a tantrum."
"If you try to tell me some sort of bollocks about how men don't throw tantrums, I'm going to pour juice on you," Hermione warned him, making Lily laugh with her threat.
"If you don't get off me, I'm going to upend my plate right onto your lap," he retorted.
"Food fight?" Sirius piped up, liking the sound of that and always ready to break the rules and instigate food fights.
"NO!" Molly shouted, lunging for Sirius when he made to pick up a nearby savoury muffin like he might throw it at someone.
"See what you've done?" Severus sneered, "Now you're getting everyone in trouble and starting mischief again."
"Me starting mischief?" Hermine scoffed, "I'm the picture of innocence. All I did was invite all my friends to stay with me for the holidays! How is it my fault that Sirius is always wanting to throw food at people?"
"You encourage them with your brattiness," he retorted.
"Do you imagine that I'm above the idea of smearing jam on your eyelids while you're asleep?" Hermione asked him, leaning back in his lap to glare at him threateningly.
"I imagine that, if you try, I'm going to empty a jar of beetle eyes into your socks," Severus retorted, glaring at her, "Now get off me."
"You called me defective," Hermione protested.
"You are defective," he insisted, "You can't even fathom the idea that the entire school might be a few too many people to invite over for the holidays."
"Don't be upset that I'm liked, Sev," Hermione needled him, "It's not like I didn't invite you already. I can't not invite everyone. They'd be hurt."
"I'm not seeing the problem," he deadpanned in return.
Hermione rolled her eyes at him. She could tell that he was actually annoyed that she'd invited everyone. That he'd have preferred to come to her place for the holidays with just the two of them and Lily. He tended to despise everyone else, though he tolerated and even rather liked Rabastan.
"Are you sure your parents won't mind having us, Hermione?" James asked, "I was going to have the boys over to my place for Christmas, but if your folks are happy to have us all, that could be more fun."
"Mum is owling everyone's parents about it today too. And she's sent out invites for the Yule Ball they're intending to throw this year. Even if not everyone can stay for the holidays, you can still come for the ball. Bass has a family affair to attend for Christmas, but he'll be at the Ball."
"It sucks that you'll miss out on the fun of staying over, Bass," Alice offered kindly to the brown-haired boy.
"I'd rather go to Hermione's, to be honest," Bass grumbled, "If I go home I'm going to have to listen to my mother prattling on about my brother's engagement and her stupid hints about needing to arrange my bloody wedding before too long."
"You're twelve," Lily said, her eyes widening, "Why would they talk about you getting married?"
Rabastan glanced at her as though she were thick before recalling that she was a muggleborn and didn't understand how pureblood matches worked.
"I'm a pureblood with a reputation to uphold," he shrugged his shoulders, "It's the done thing to arrange marriages young. Merlin, I wouldn't be surprised if they've already promised me to someone."
"What? Really?" Lily asked, looking alarmed by the idea.
"Purebloods are all interralted, Evans," Sirius rolled his eyes when Rabastan began to look frustrated at her shock, "Our parents arrange our weddings to make sure we don't go marrying the wrong sort or marrying someone too closely related."
"Too closely related?" Lily made a face at the choice of words.
"In some of the pureblood families people as close as second cousins marry, Lily," Hermione muttered to the girl, "It's not really something we discuss…"
"Second cousins?" Lily asked, aghast and not heeding the warning, "What sort of person marries their cousin?"
"Second cousin," Sirius corrected, "My parents are second cousins."
Lily looked like she didn't know if she ought to be disgusted, repentant or just outright embarrassed.
"Muggleborns," Bass muttered on Hermione's far side, one of his fists clenching in annoyance. Hermione had discovered that while most purebloods in Slytherin did still value the importance of blood purity, there were some – like Rabastan – who found the inbreeding part of maintaining that purity to be unsettling and downright icky. Not that she blamed him.
Sirius himself didn't look at all put out by Lily's shock. Rabastan clearly didn't like it, however. Not that Hermione blamed either of them. She'd been horrified herself when she'd learned that the pureblood families were so closely related.
"But you… they…" Lily spluttered, clearly knowing she'd stuck her foot in her mouth.
"You see why I don't hold to their blood supremacist ideals?" Sirius smirked at her, winking lasciviously, "If you marry a pureblood from one of the older families, you're likely marrying someone inbred. Me and James are actually cousins. What is it, James, first cousins, once removed?"
"My Mum is your Great Aunt," James nodded, shrugging.
"Me and Bass are related too. What are we Bass?"
"Third cousins, twice removed, and that connection's by marriage, not blood. It's why my brother is marrying your cousin."
"Rod got stuck with Bella, eh?" Sirius smirked, "Poor bastard. That bitch is barmy."
"That's what I said," Rabastan chuckled.
There had been some awkwardness between the two of them when Hermione had insisted they spend time in the same circle given Rabastan's proclivity for blood purity and Sirius's outspoken arguments against it. Indeed, Bass had been on the receiving end of a furious letter from his father when it had been discovered they were currently friends. Sirius was on the outs with his family in a big way, though he refused to discuss it.
"But that means you're…" Lily was still having some trouble grasping the idea. She was staring at Sirius with her mouth open.
"Inbred?" Sirius supplied, smirking, "It wasn't just luck that got me these good looks, Evans."
Sirius's clear dismissal of the idea as taboo or uncomfortable seemed to stump Lily completely.
"Good looks?" James scoffed, ruffling his own hair and rolling his eyes at Sirius, "I think you better take another look in the mirror, mate. If that's what pureblood breeding gets you, I'm marrying a muggleborn. Care to help me out with that Evans?"
Lily blushed pink at the question but before she could respond, she was interrupted by Sirius.
"Shove it, Potter," Sirius retorted flipping James the bird.
"Bite me, Black," James replied, throwing the forks at Sirius.
"Are you going to get off me?" Severus asked when a spat broke out between the best friends and everyone was sufficiently distracted when James and Sirius began to wrestle while Sirius tried to smear scrambled eggs into James' hair.
He still sounded grumpy and Hermione smiled to herself at his bad mood.
"No, I like it here," she told him, twisting slightly until she was sitting on his right thigh, her legs between both of his and one of her arms around his neck.
He glared at her while she perched on his lap like she belonged there.
"You're always so warm," Hermione told him, burrowing her face into his neck again and pressing her cool skin against his warm flesh.
"You're always so insufferable," he told her in the same patronising tone and in spite of herself, Hermione laughed at his rudeness.
She knew he was only being sullen because he didn't want to share her friendship or Lily's with the rest of the people she was inviting over for the holidays.
Tilting her head, Hermione pressed her mouth to his ear before she whispered, "You know I love you best, Sev. I'll take or leave the rest of them, but I'm spending Christmas with you."
He didn't say anything in response to her words. In fact, he didn't seem to react to them at all but for the way his arm around her waist pressed her to his chest a little more firmly. He forked another mouthful of his eggs into his mouth without speaking.
When Hermione leaned back away from his ear, still sitting on his lap and not having any intention of moving any time soon, Hermione caught the way his mouth was twisted in the way she'd noticed only happened when he was trying really hard not to smile at her and when he was trying to stay mad at her, but couldn't. She pretended not to see it as she made to reach for some breakfast for herself, intended to eat off Sev's plate too since he was almost finished.
She smirked when he stopped her by offering her a bite of his bacon, holding the fork up to her face. Hermione practically purred as she ate right off the fork, noticing that he didn't bother wiping it or using a cleaning charm on it before continuing to feed himself. She didn't even move from his lap when a food fight broke out between Sirius and James and every started throwing muffins at one another. The best part was, she didn't even think Sev minded.