Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. All characters, places, descriptions, etc (unless original and created by me) belong to her.

Summary: It was a small pack, of course, just the five of them, but together they were something wild. Hermione finds herself in the Marauders' Era with four new best friends.

Chapter 22: Pulsar, Ululat, Ama Et Clama Ab Absordo*

1 October 1977

Seventh Year Girls Dormitory

When Hermione woke up, she noticed two things. First, her head was throbbing and her mouth felt dry. Second, the lights in the room were too damn bright. Hermione opened one eye and looked around. Someone was rustling around near her bed. She sat up quickly and immediately regretted the decision as a headache crashed into her skull. Lily chuckled.

"Well good morning, sleeping beauty. Or should I say afternoon."

"Ugh, my head. Why does my head hurt so much?"

"That's what you get for not telling me about your birthday and then celebrating with them. I had to find out from James. James, Hermione!"

"Wait, when did you talk to James?" Lily smirked.

"Oh, the boys have been up for hours. The first official quidditch practice with the new team was this morning. Oh, you should have been there, Hermione! James looked so good! I mean, no! The team, the team looked so good."

"Uh huh." This time Hermione smirked.

"Oh hush, I'll have you know Remus had some very interesting things to say about you." Hermione froze.

"What?"

"I seem to recall something about howling at the moon?" Bits and pieces of memory floated back to Hermione. She covered her face but laughed nonetheless.

"Oh, Merlin. I can't believe I did that," she groaned. "I didn't do anything else too embarrassing, did I?" Lily's eyes widened, sparkling with mischief. Hermione remembered seeing the same spark in James' and Harry's eyes.

"You don't remember?" Lily burst out laughing. "Oh, this is so perfect. Oh Merlin, Hermione, this is too good."

"Shut it, Lily. What did I do?"

"Nuh uh, I am not going to be the one to tell you. Consider this karma for not telling me about your birthday." Lily turned to head out of the room. "Hurry up, Hermione. We're going to lunch soon, and I'm sure you don't want to miss it."

Hermione fell back against her pillows with a groan.

She took a quick shower and dressed absentmindedly. She was wracking her brain trying to remember what had happened the night before. She remembered going to Honeydukes and then the Shack. And… and then they had started drinking. Merlin, did she really drink that much?

Hermione brushed her teeth twice.

She leaned forward to spit, and when she picked up her head and looked in the mirror, something came back to her.

Oh shit. No, no, no, no, no, no! Oh Merlin!

They had kissed, she and Sirius. Kissed! He kissed her! Sirius freaking Black. And, oh Merlin, she had been sick. Oh Merlin.

How was she supposed to look at him now?

Hermione cast a quick tempus, gathered all her Gryffindor courage, and shuffled down the stairs, head held high.

"There she is!" Hermione winced at the volume. "The party animal herself!"

"Oh hush, James. Let her get some food first, and then you can make fun of her." Lily smacked James on the arm and walked forward to gather Hermione.

As Lily whisked her from the common room, Hermione took a quick inventory of their group. Yep, whole gang was there. All four Marauders, Hermione, Lily, Marlene, Mary, and Dorcas. Hermione was acutely aware of Sirius looking at her.

She was thankful when they finally sat down in the Great Hall, the food before her giving her a distraction. That is until Sirius sat down next to her.

Hermione froze.

"How you feeling?" Hermione turned to look at Sirius, very much a doe in headlights.

"Sorry?"

"I said, how are you feeling? A bit hungover?" Hermione groaned.

"You could say that." She looked at the other Marauders. "How are you all so awake right now? And Lily said James had quidditch this morning?"

"Practice." Sirius winked. Hermione felt a shiver pass through her spine.

Why was Sirius acting so normal? Maybe, maybe it didn't happen? Maybe she just dreamed that she kissed Sirius. No, that's probably worse. She looked at Sirius as if his face was a puzzle she was trying to solve. He just smiled at her. Hermione managed a smile in return and turned to pile food onto her plate.

"Wotcher, Hermione. Don't get too much food. You don't want to get sick and vomit." Hermione looked up at her betrayer. Remus' eyes were very clear: Sorry, but I had too. With a look around the table at all her giggling friends, Hermione made an exasperated noise and hid her face in her hands.

"I've seen girls run screaming from Padfoot, but I don't think anyone's actually gotten sick at the sight of him." Hermione glanced at Sirius, but he was laughing along with his friends.

"At least she didn't kiss him back," Lily joined in. "Merlin, then where would we be?" The entire group burst out laughing. Sirius joined in, and after a moment, Hermione did as well. She felt herself relax.

While she appreciated her friends not making a fuss over the matter, Hermione couldn't help but compare their reaction to what Harry, Ron, and Ginny would have done.

Ron would've laughed his head off at her getting so drunk she vomited. He'd wish he were there to see it. He'd chastise her a bit, telling her she's supposed to be the responsible one, but secretly he'd be a little bit proud of her for letting go.

Harry, of course, would have been horrified that she kissed his godfather, but he wouldn't know how to express himself, so he would just avoid being alone with Hermione for a couple of days. After a while, he'd push the memory to the side and carry on as if it had never happened.

And Ginny, Hermione couldn't help but smile thinking of the redhead, Ginny would've been ecstatic that not only did Hermione get drunk, but that she kissed a fit boy. Yes, Hermione admitted, Sirius was definitely fit. No use in denying it.

As the group walked back to Gryffindor Tower, Hermione was hit by a wave of guilt. She hadn't thought about her friends in a while. Her hand drifted to her scarred shoulder.

Oh, she felt awful. Here she was laughing, making friends, having fun, and her friends were Merlin knows where facing Merlin knows what. She should be there. She should be there helping! She shouldn't be here kissing on Siri–

Wait.

Hermione suppressed another groan. If she kissed this Sirius, that meant that the other, older Sirius knew. Hermione felt her cheeks grow warm. For some reason, the whole situation embarrassed her more now that she knew her Sirius knew. No, not my Sirius, just Sirius. I really need to stop thinking of him like that.

"Hermione?" Marlene was speaking to her.

"Oh sorry, I was a bit zoned out."

"No, it's okay. I just, well, I just wanted to tell you to be careful."

"Sorry?"

"With Sirius. Just be careful. I'm sure you've heard, but he's got a bit of a reputation. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"Oh no, Marlene, we're not—I mean, Sirius and I–"

"Listen, it's okay. I just want you to be careful." Marlene nodded at Hermione who was quite speechless and then skipped ahead to catch up with Dorcas.

"What just happened?" Hermione whispered to herself.

"Alright, Pup?" James threw an arm around Hermione.

"Besides being terribly hungover and embarrassed? I'm doing great." James chuckled.

"Don't worry about it, Pup. Embarrassing yourself drunk is just another prerequisite of being a Marauder. You're almost there!"

"Oh really? And what else do I have to do to be an official Marauder?" James thought about it for a second before the matches of mischief relit his eyes.

"You let me worry about that, Pup. Just get your confidence back together." Hermione grimaced. James lowered his voice to a whisper. "Sirius is tougher than you think, Pup. He knows you didn't get sick 'cause of him, but he's confident enough to let us laugh our arses off at him."

Hermione smiled and looked ahead to Sirius who had his arm around Peter's neck and was ruffling his hair. Maybe this wasn't such a big deal after all.

October was going swimmingly. After the initial laughfest over Hermione's drunken blunder, the whole situation seemed to have blown over. Although, Sirius did seem to be making an effort to talk to Hermione more.

The weekend after her birthday celebration was the first weekend the students were allowed to go to Hogsmeade, so Hermione accompanied Lily and the other Gryffindor girls. They had met up with the Marauders at the Three Broomsticks. Hermione, much to the amusement of her friends, refused to go back into Honeydukes that day.

As the days passed, the calm, casual progression of time made her nervous. Hermione often found herself going over the events of the coming years in her head, trying to remember everything she had heard about the war. Once when the girls were flipping through magazines, Hermione caught herself mumbling Voldemort's name. She had looked around quickly, but thankfully none of the other girls had heard her.

As October started to come to a close, Hermione fell into a funk. The end of October marked the arrival of another full moon. And while Hermione wasn't as nervous as she had been before her first time, she was definitely not looking forward to another transformation.

But suddenly once again, the moon was three days away. This month, however, due to the timing of the moon, Hermione couldn't hide in the boys' dormitories. She had to go to class. And in truly un-Hermione-like behavior, she struggled to sit still and focus on her professors. By the end of Monday, she was relying on Lily for her class notes.

But nonetheless, Hermione still made it to the library to see Regulus.

24 October 1977

The Library

"You look like shit."

"Wow, and here I thought they taught all Purebloods manners."

"Doesn't apply to muggleborns." Despite the comment, Hermione knew Regulus was only trying to rile her up. He smirked at her in that childish way that just seemed to scream Regulus.

"Ha ha," Hermione deadpanned.

"No really though, are you okay?" Regulus reached out a hand. Hermione pulled back sharply.

"Sorry, uh, no touching. Not for the next couple of days. Believe me, I'm saving us both the embarrassment." Regulus pulled back his arm. Hermione sat down with a groan. Regulus raised an eyebrow.

"Everything hurts, Regulus. And not in an I'm-tired-I-need-to-sleep-all-day way. It's more like my muscles need to be used and pushed or they're going to explode. And it doesn't help that we had double potions with Slytherin today, no offense. Ugh, just looking at Snape's smug smirk made me what to—ugh, I don't even know."

Regulus was staring at Hermione with amusement in his eyes. He started gathering his things. Hermione panicked.

"Wait, no, Regulus! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you! I'll stop talking about it, I promise." Regulus turned to Hermione, now on the verge of tears.

"Hey, hey, no, you didn't scare me. I just want to show you something. It might help. Grab your stuff." Regulus led Hermione out of the library and started heading down a familiar path through the castle. When they got to the seventh floor corridor, Hermione spoke up.

"Regulus, where are we going?"

"It's a secret. And I mean that literally. I don't know if anyone else knows about this place. I know my brother doesn't, and if they don't know, I doubt anyone else does."

Something clicked in Hermione's brain. She watched Regulus pace in front of an empty wall three times before the etchings of a door started to appear.

She followed Regulus inside, completely unsure of what to expect in the Room of Requirement.

The Room of Requirement

Hermione didn't know whether to be shocked or not by the state of the room. She didn't know what she expected Regulus to dream up, but it sure wasn't what stood before her.

It was a small room. Big enough for plenty of movement, but much smaller than the room they had thought up for DA practice. The rafters were exposed. It smelled like fresh cut wood saturated with sunlight. A window was open near the ceiling. Hermione couldn't see out of it, but light was spilling through in beams. There was a small cupboard against the wall to the right, and in front of it sat a table and three chairs. And that was it.

Hermione followed Regulus as he stepped through the threshold. When they reached the center of the room, he turned to face her.

"This room can turn into anything you want it to," he started to explain. "You only have to think it, and it'll be here."

"What is this room, Regulus?" He shrugged.

"I want to help you. It's not really about what's in the room, just that we have a room away from people. I'm going to help you with your pent up aggression."

Hermione raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"Sorry, what?" Regulus took a step back and shrugged off his bookbag and robes. He kicked them to the side and held his arms out wide.

"Hit me." Hermione's jaw dropped.

"What?"

"Hit me."

"Regulus, I'm not going to hit you. That's barbaric."

"I can take it, Hermione. And I didn't say I wasn't going to fight back."

"Regulus, no, this is crazy!" She shook her finger at him. "You're crazy!"

Hermione turned around to leave, but Regulus ran around her to block the door. He pressed himself up against the door and glared at her.

"Regulus, move. I'm not going to hit you." Regulus' stance softened a bit.

"Okay, how about you hit me once, just once, and I'll let you leave… if you want." Hermione glared back at Regulus.

"Once, and then I can go?" Regulus nodded.

The two moved back to the center of the room. Hermione pulled off her robes and folded them carefully before placing them on the table. She turned back to Regulus who had rolled up his sleeves and taken off his tie. She shook his head at his clothes lying in a heap on the ground.

She shook her hands by her side and danced on her toes. She stepped toward Regulus and pulled her arm back. The muscles in her arm felt like the string of a bow, tight and ready for release. And release she did. Hermione closed her eyes, awaiting impact.

But it never came.

She cracked one eye opened. Regulus had shifted away, the most annoying smile plastered on his face. Hermione opened both eyes and stood back.

"Okay, I'm leaving."

"No, you're not! You didn't hit me."

"You moved!"

"What did you expect? You were trying to hit me!" Regulus smiled playfully. "Come on, no leaving 'til you land one."

Hermione wrinkled her nose in frustration and rolled her shoulders back. She started to bounce on her toes. This time she didn't wait as long. As soon as she drew her arm back, she released it back at Regulus.

Who dodged it. Again.

"Stop doing that," Hermione growled. A rumbling bubbled in her chest.

"Come on, Hermione. Channel the anger."

She tried to hit him again. And he dodged her again.

"Regulus. If you don't let me hit you–"

"You're going to what?" He was goading her. "Hit me?" Hermione growled again.

She tried a different approach, and Merlin if Regulus didn't dodge her again.

"How do you keep avoiding me?" She tried again. Dodge.

"Practice." Regulus winked. Hermione shivered a bit from anger.

She rolled her head around. Her neck cracked. Hermione stopped bouncing on her toes. She stopped moving all together and just glared at Regulus. Regulus kept moving side to side in anticipation, but after a moment he stopped.

"Hermione, come on," he said softly, moving forward toward her. "It's okay. You don't have to hit me. I was just tryin–"

Regulus and Hermione both cried out at the same time. Regulus clutched his face and Hermione clutched her hand.

"Holy–"

"Oh my–"

"You!" They both shouted at the same time.

"You didn't tell me it was going to hurt me!"

"I didn't think you were going to hit me that hard!"

"I'm a bloody werewolf, Regulus! What did you expect!" They glared at each other again and then burst into laughter.

"I can't believe you hit me."

"I can't believe I hit you."

"How d'you feel?"

"Honestly?" Regulus nodded. "Kind of good. Okay, really good. Better."

Regulus rubbed his left cheek and then stretched his arms.

"Okay. Good. Again." He started bouncing on his toes like before. Hermione looked at him like he was crazy.

"What? Again? I already hit you."

"And you feel better."

"Yeah, but–"

"Just get it out, Hermione; get it all out." Hermione looked at Regulus with a raised eyebrow before shrugging. She bounced on her toes before going at Regulus again.

It took her longer to land a hit this time. Regulus wouldn't be fooled twice. She was sweating. Hermione's muscles were starting to tire. Regulus kept goading her with little taunts. Not terribly mean, they were lighthearted, but with just enough truth that they got her blood boiling. To his credit though, he never used the word mudblood. Not once.

"Come on, Granger. Fight." "Show the Slytherin what a Muggleborn can do." "You ashamed of this anger? Of being a werewolf? Ashamed of what you are?" "Come on, fight me." "You can do better than that, Granger."

When she finally landed a hit, she couldn't stop. She was breaking into tears. She kept launching herself at Regulus, but she couldn't see anymore. All she could hear was herself gasping. She lost form, but it didn't matter. Regulus had moved closer. He was holding her now, despite her relentlessly beating at his chest.

He held her as she struggled, as she cried. He held her until she stopped fighting. And when she did, he pushed her out to arm's length and smiled at her, pride in his eyes.

"How do you feel?" He asked softly. She blinked up at him before whispering.

"Thank you."

Regulus wore the bruise she had given him proudly on his cheek. The cupboard in the corner had been filled with healing supplies, but he had refused to use them on his face. He wanted her to remember every time she saw him. Hermione had to pinch herself to keep from crying again.

She was so happy and empty of rage when she returned to the common room that she didn't notice the stares she received from two of the Marauders. She didn't see how their heads cocked to the side when she walked by. She didn't see them wrinkle their noses and sneeze. She didn't see their faces full of confusion and worry and hurt.

A/N: *Hit, Shed Tears, Love and Cry Out Loud at the Absurdity