A/N: Chapter 6 ready to go. You know the drill. Please read and review.

Thanks to Angel From Above Is Here for proofreading.

It was Friday night, the day after the DADA class with the boggart, and Hermione was sitting in the library. Suddenly she was interrupted from reading her book by someone who took a seat opposite her. Looking up, she was surprised to see Lily Evans.

Lily looked a little nervous, as if she didn't know what to say or do. She opened her mouth a few times only to close it again. It was Hermione who broke the silence.

"Lily?" she asked hesitantly in a whisper as to not risk the wrath of Madam Pince.

"Yeah?" Lily whispered back.

"Is something wrong?" Hermione asked a little unsure.

"Not necessarily wrong but…" she left her sentence unfinished.

"Lily, what is it?"

"Why don't you talk to anyone? Did we do something wrong?" she blurted out.

Hermione was taken back. She didn't know how to answer that. Of course they hadn't done anything wrong but she could hardly tell her the reason why she had decided to avoid everyone.

"No, Lily, you didn't do anything wrong. Nobody did."

"But then why won't you talk to us?"

"It's difficult to explain. But I think the main point is because I was scared." Hermione said while looking down at her hands.

"Scared?" Lily asked. "What for?"

"I don't really know. A new place with new people. Scared to forget my friends at home. I guess a little of everything."

"That's no reason to be scared. The people here aren't too bad, except, maybe the marauders. But befriending new people doesn't mean that by that you'll forget the friends that you already have." Lily said in a soft voice while putting one of her hands on top of Hermione's.

"I know that. It was all just a little too much and I guess that I didn't think everything through properly, which is so unlike me." she said the last bit with a small smile on her face.

"Are you still going to avoid everyone?" Lily asked a little worried.

"I'll try not to." Hermione replied with a smile.

"So, now that this is settled, would you like to come with us to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

"Actually, I was planning on not going and staying in the castle for the day." Hermione said in a small voice while looking down. Hearing this, Lily's face fell a little.

"It's not that I don't want to, but you see, I was planning on catching up on my reading while everyone was out. You know, it would be quiet because the last few weeks the marauders hardly left me alone." Hermione said hurriedly as if afraid that she had offended or hurt her. "Also, I think it would be a bit much."

Here Lily had a little questioning look on her face.

"Well, you know. From avoiding everyone to going to Hogsmeade with a whole group of people, people I hardly know."

Hearing her explanation, Lily understood completely.

"Of course, I understand. I didn't think that far ahead. Maybe you could come with us on the next trip?" she asked with a hopeful smile.

"I think I would like that, thank you."

After this, the girls landed into easy conversation, talking about small, insignificant things: what they liked and disliked, how the people were at Hogwarts and so on. Finally, they decided to return to Gryffindor Tower.

Upon arriving in the Gryffindor common room, the girls took a seat at one of the small tables in one of the corners. They were talking about books, seeing that both girls liked to read.

"So what is your favourite book?" Lily asked.

Hermione thought about it for a moment before answering.

"It's hard to pick just one. But if I had to choose, it would be 'Pride and prejudice'."

Lily's smile grew and her eyes widened a bit. "Really?" she said. "Mine too."

This got the girls started about their favourite part of the story, what characters they liked and disliked and what it was about the plot that made it so interesting.

They were so caught up in their conversation that they didn't even notice the marauders entering the common room.

The marauders settled themselves on the two love seats before the fire. They started talking about what supplies, for both food and pranks, they needed to refill. They, especially, needed new prank material for Halloween. After having made their list of what they needed to buy in Hogsmeade, the marauders started talking.

Well, Remus, Peter and James were the ones talking. Sirius was a little quieter than usual and sat there, thinking about something.

"Okay, I've made up my mind." Sirius said after some time, interrupting James.

"About what?" Remus asked.

"About the fact that I'm awesome." Sirius said with a cocky look on his face while smiling.

James laughed and said, " Well, aren't you modest?"

Sirius laughed but then said, "No, just kidding, though I am pretty awesome. What I meant was that I made up my mind about that new girl, Hermione."

"What about her?" Peter asked.

"I'm going to make her talk to us and make sure she'll stop avoiding us. And I'll do so within the next week."

Remus looked at his friend, wondering why he couldn't just leave the girl be. Then he looked around the common room to see if he could see Hermione, because if she was here now, Sirius would set his plan in motion, immediately. Looking around, he finally found her. She was sitting at a table together with Lily and it seemed like they were in deep conversation.

He turned back to Sirius with a smirk gracing his face and said, "I'm afraid you're too late, Padfoot."

Sirius looked at him with a questioning look. The only answer he got, however, was Remus pointing his finger to the table where Hermione and Lily were sitting.

Following the direction in which Remus' finger was pointing, Sirius got a slightly shocked look on his face. Seeing this, Peter and James also turned around to see what Sirius was looking at. They, too, didn't believe what they saw.

At the table Remus had pointed to, was Hermione. And not by herself, like usual. She was sitting there with Lily and it looked like they were in deep conversation.

After looking for another few moments, the marauders turned back around.

"Did you guys just see what I saw?" James asked for confirmation.

The other marauders nodded, all except for Remus, with a slightly surprised look on their face.

"What's going on? What happened? Since when did she started to talk to people?" Sirius fired question after question to his friends in hopes of finding an answer, still slightly shocked that he wasn't the one who had gotten her to talk.

They were silent for a few short moments, to let it all sink in. It was Remus who broke the silence.

"Maybe she just needed some time to adjust." he said, always the reasonable one.

"Maybe, but five weeks is a little more than 'some time', don't you think?"

"Not all people adjust quickly to new situations, Padfoot. We're not all like you and James who feel at ease almost everywhere you go."

Sirius knew that Remus had a point and he also knew that this was his chance. Sirius stood up from where he was sitting. Seeing this, Remus had a feeling of what he was about to do but asked anyway, just for confirmation.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to pay them a visit." he said with a smile on his face.

Remus' suspicions were confirmed.

After Sirius had stood up, the others followed. All four of them made their way to the table where the two girls were sitting. Both girls were still too caught up in their conversation to notice them.

"I like Mr Darcy." Hermione said. "Well, not in the beginning because he is very arrogant. But I love how his character develops during the story. I also like how they fall in love gradually and not at first sight."

"I completely understand what you mean." Lily said. "I also like –"

She was interrupted, however, when the marauders reached their table.

"Good evening, ladies." Sirius said while taking a seat next to Hermione.

"Hello my dearest lily-flower. And hello to you too, Hermione."

"Potter. Black." Lily said as stern and cold as ever. "Hi, Remus. Peter." she said in a gentler way. Then she turned back to look at James and Sirius and asked, "What do you guys want?"

"Why should we want anything?" Sirius asked with fake innocence. "We just wanted to talk to you girls for a bit." he said this last part while looking at Hermione.

Lily looked at Remus as if to ask why he didn't stop them. Seeing her look, Remus said, "You know as well as I do that if they get any ideas, you can't talk them out of it."

He, too, took a seat at the table just like the others had done.

"So, what were you ladies talking about?" Sirius asked.

"Books." Lily replied.

"'Pride and prejudice' to be precise." Hermione said.

"And what did you think about the story?" Remus asked.

Hermione knew that Remus liked to read. She knew this from in her own time but she had to admit that she was slightly surprised for him to just join in in the conversation. Then again, in these past few weeks that she had seen him, he looked more confident and carefree than the Remus she had known in her timeline.

"Well, I was just explaining that I liked the development of Mr Darcy and how their love story unfolds gradually." Hermione said.

"I like that too, because now you have a lot of books where the characters meet and it's love at first sight. I think that that's seldom something good in a story. I mean, you have moments or stories where it works but you don't need to overdue it."

"Exactly." Hermione said enthusiastically.

The other three marauders, who seldom looked at a book twice, didn't quite know what they meant. They just looked from the side-lines for a few moments as the conversation between Remus and the two girls grew more intense. They, however, grew tired of not being involved in the conversation.

"So, Hermione." Sirius interrupted them. "How come that you have decided to honour us with your presence on this fine evening?"

"Yeah, normally you're in the library or in your room. So, what gives?" James asked jokingly.

Seeing that Hermione was a little uncomfortable because of the questions, Lily slapped against James' shoulder.

"Doesn't matter why she's sitting here, just be glad she is. I mean, if it wasn't for Hermione sitting here, I would've left the moment I saw that you came to sit with me. Well, not if it was just you, Remus." Lily said, looking at Remus with a smile on her face while saying the last part.

Hermione smiled gratefully at Lily. Lily just smiled back.

"So, lily-flower, do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?" James asked.

"Stop calling me that and no. I'm already going with Marlene."

"So if you hadn't planned on going with Marlene, you would've said yes to coming with me?" he asked, looking hopeful.

"Of course not. Why would I say yes?" Lily said in a harsh matter-of-fact tone.

James' face fell a little, though he hid it well and the girls didn't see it. The marauders, however, knew better and saw the little change, though it was only for a second.

"What about you?" Sirius asked Hermione. "Are you coming with us?"

"Well, you see, I wasn't planning on going." Hermione admitted.

The marauders, except for Remus, looked at her as if she had grown a second head.

"What do you mean 'not going'? It's a day out of the castle." Sirius said.

"Plus there are all these nice shops." James interjected, both him and Sirius getting enthusiastic.

"I just don't feel like going." she said.

"Guys, let her be, alright? Imagine if you were her. It can be a little overwhelming going to a village with people you hardly know. Especially when you're a new student."

The guys thought about what Lily had said, which wasn't much different to what Remus had told them only a few moments ago. They calmed down a little and let it be.

"Besides, she promised to go next time." Lily said with a smile directed to Hermione, as if to say that she wouldn't forget it and that there was no way out.

"That, I did." Hermione said with a smile while looking at Lily.

It was getting late and Lily wanted to go to bed but she didn't dare leave Hermione on her own with these guys.

"I'm going to bed. What about you?" she asked Hermione.

"Yeah, I'm getting pretty tired myself." she said while getting up from her seat.

"But we just started talking!" Sirius called while the girls were walking towards the stairs that lead to the girls' dormitories.

"There's another chance for conversation, tomorrow." Lily replied without even looking over her shoulder as she and Hermione were ascending the stairs. And then, they were out of sight.

The marauders remained in the common room.

"So what do you think?" Sirius asked them.

"Think about what?" Peter asked.

"About Hermione, of course."

"There isn't much to think about her, really. We didn't really get a chance to speak with her. Well, Remus spoke to her a little." James said.

At this everyone looked at Remus.

"What?" he asked.

"Well?" the other three said.

"Well, what?"

"What do you think about Hermione?" they asked him.

"There isn't much to think yet, is there? I only spoke to her for like five minutes about a book." he said.

"Yeah, but what do you make out of those five minutes?" James asked.

"Well, she obviously likes books. She's smart, judging by what we talked about and her accomplishments in class. She reminds me of Lily in a way, judging by what I've seen and heard so far." Remus said.

"Another Evans?" Sirius asked. "Oh, this is going to be fun." he said sarcastically.

"You don't know that yet. Maybe I'm wrong." Remus said.

"You're hardly ever wrong, Moony." James said.

"If she's a second Evans, maybe Prongs should take a chance on her. Seeing as Evans keeps rejecting you." Sirius said, directing the last part towards James.

James laughed and said, "I won't ever give up on Lily. Maybe Remus will take a liking to her and ask her out."

"Stop it you guys. You know why I can't have a girlfriend." he said, getting a serious and hard look on his face.

"You can and you will, eventually. You just have to find the right girl." James said.

"You never know, maybe Padfoot here, will get a liking to her and go after her. Just like you chase Lily, Prongs." Remus said, losing the hard look on his face and placing Sirius in the spotlight, getting a smile on his face instead.

"Me, falling for someone that reminds you of Evans?" he said while looking at them as if they were going mad. "You must be kidding me."

From here on they started joking around. Saying things that involved Sirius liking Hermione or James finally getting Lily to go out with him. It went on for some time, until they finally decided to go to bed.