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 47: Ad Interim*
27 May 1978
The Library
She'd missed lunch again, holed up in her usual spot in the library. She had practically been there since she was released from the hospital wing after Monday's full moon.
Part of her, the part that had been developing and forming since she landed in 1977, wanted to blow off her NEWTs. They wouldn't count, wouldn't be recorded, so who cared? But that part of her that was still a nervous 11-year-old trying to prove she belonged refused to be silenced. So every day Hermione found herself studying and preparing and outlining and reading and researching and transcribing. Dark circles settled under her eyes and splotched of ink littered her hands and fingers.
"Hermione?" Remus approached her with a soft voice. He had already learned that unnecessary interruptions would earn him a jinx and a growl.
Hermione looked up, her lip raising in the pretext of a snarl. Remus narrowed his eyes, trying to channel Moony. To his surprise, Hermione settled. She looked up at him, waiting for him to get over his momentary shock. He shook his head to clear the fog.
"I just wanted to say I'm worried about you." He sat down next to her. "You're killing yourself over studying."
Hermione thought his concern was cute. She had forgotten that the Marauders didn't know her study habits, didn't know how hard she pushed herself this time every year. She smiled. Remus frowned.
"I know you want to do well, Pup, but… Merlin, I hate that you have to deal with this, too. It won't matter. You could have the best scores Hogwarts has ever seen, but it won't change the fact that we're werewolves. It's not worth running yourself into the ground."
Hermione's brows furrowed. She wanted to fight Remus on this, but he had managed to tap into his Alpha abilities, his very presence pulling at her want to rebel. He reminded her of his older self in that moment—worn, tired, unable to see his own worth.
"I'm not doing this to get a job," she started. "Between our furry little problems and this war, I doubt I'd have much time anyway… It's for me. I'm-I'm doing this for me."
"Alright, just get some sleep. Promise?" Remus smiled sadly.
"Yes, Professor."
Remus rolled his eyes, but smiled as he walked away. Hermione fell back into the pages before her.
Footsteps, and then a throat clearing. Hermione didn't bother looking up.
"Forget something?"
"What?"
"Oh sorry, thought you were Remus," Hermione said as she looked up to see Sirius. "He was just here."
"Yeah, saw him on my way in." Sirius pulled out the chair across the table from Hermione and sat down. "He said I should distract you from studying."
"Oh really," Hermione scoffed, smiling. "And just how were you going to do that?"
"Oh believe me, Pup, I've got plenty of ideas."
And then the funniest thing happened. There was no crass remark or laughter. No, in that moment Hermione could have sworn Sirius Black blushed.
"I mean," he stumbled over his words. Hermione raised an eyebrow. He coughed. "I mean, I actually have something I was hoping you could look at."
He shoved some parchment under her nose. Hermione picked it up gingerly as if any sudden movement would frighten Sirius away. She started to read, getting almost halfway down the page before the words really sunk in.
"This is an application for the auror program." She blinked at Sirius. "You're applying?"
"Well, yeah." He motioned at the pages in her hands. "That's why I need you to look it over. Make sure I didn't say anything stupid."
"You're applying for the auror program," Hermione repeated dumbly.
"Yes, Pup," Sirius said slowly while nodding. He cracked a smile. "What'd you expect? For me to just bum around on my family's galleon?"
"Yes." The word was out of her mouth before she could stop it. She clenched her jaw. It wasn't entirely her fault. She couldn't remember Sirius ever having a job or even mentioning having a regular 9-to-5. She winced at the look on Sirius' face. He was never good at hiding his emotions. "Sorry."
"Yeah, well. Can't say it doesn't make sense." He looked down at the table, suddenly interested in running his fingers on the indentations in the wood. Hermione reached out and placed her hand atop his.
"Sirius." She waited until he looked up at her again. "I think you'd be a brilliant auror. I'll look over your application, but if you're really serious about this, I'm sure it's perfect."
"I am serious," he said, wide grey eyes boring into hers. He grimaced. "Wow, never thought I'd hate to make a name pun."
Hermione laughed and Sirius finally smiled again.
"Okay, yes, I'll take a look at it."
"You're the best, Pup. You know that? Absolutely stellar."
"Yeah, yeah." She waved him off. "Now get out of here unless you want to study with me."
"Oh please, Pup. If I stayed, we wouldn't get any studying done." And there was that blush again. Sirius stood and stepped away from Hermione. "Er, I'll just leave you to it then."
Hermione shook her head as he walked away. Sirius Black had blushed not once but twice in her presence. Hermione looked down at the application in her hands. She pushed her textbooks and notebooks to the other side of the table and smoothed out the parchment before her. Again, just before the words captured her attention, footsteps approached. Hermione took a deep breath before picking up her head, the smell of the dungeons and potions ingredients washing over her.
"What do you want, Snape?" She didn't bother trying to hide the lupine curl of her lip.
"You should have warned him," Snape sneered. "If you're really his friend, that is."
"What are you on about?"
"The Auror Program? Really? I mean, I knew Black liked his jokes, but really? He wouldn't last a day. And that's if he can even get in."
"Go away, Snape." Hermione turned back to her work. "Actually–" She whipped back around. "Sirius has a lot of talents the Auror Program would be lucky to have."
"Oh, please." Snape laughed. Hermione didn't like it. "The only talent Black has is his pride."
"Pot meet kettle."
"No," Snape looked down his nose at her. "It's not pride if it's earned."
"Oh, yes, your apprenticeship. You never did tell me how much Lucius Malfoy paid for it."
"I earned it," he bit out forcefully, his emotions taking over before his face slid into an eerie calmness. "At least my friends can introduce me to influential people. What can yours do besides spreading stupidity and infectious diseases?"
Hermione growled and Snape smirked.
"Case and point."
They glared at each other for a moment, mentally sizing each other up. And then Snape's eyes passed back over Sirius' application and a wicked grin spread out under his nose.
"Though I suppose, even if he doesn't get it, you should continue sucking up to the dog. Merlin knows you're going to need to be on his good side when your only other option is whoring yourself out in Knockturn Alley." His black eyes assessed her figure. "Then again, I can't imagine actually paying for what you have to offer."
"You're revolting," Hermione spit out. She gathered her things and stood, invading Snape's space and causing him to stumble back.
"You don't intimidate me, Snape. Maybe one day, but now? You're no more impressive than a dormouse. The only reaction you elicit from me is annoyance and disgust, and I for one am thankful your apprenticeship will keep you away for three and a half years."
"Aw Granger, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were going to miss me. Don't worry, I don't plan on taking all three and a half years." Something dark gleamed in his eyes. "I've got more important things to do."
"I'm sure you do." Hermione felt a foreboding chill pass through her. "Now, if you don't mind, I've got more important things to do than talk to you."
And with that she haughtily flipped her hair, making sure some of her wild curls hit Snape in the face, and walked away.
9 June 1978
Defense Against the Dark Arts NEWT
Hermione's confrontation with Snape had the same effect as all the countless confrontations she'd had with him as a professor. It only made her want to work harder, do better, be better, just to spite him. So when the Draught of the Living Dead came up during their Potions NEWT, Hermione had no qualms about grabbing an extra sopophorous bean and turning her blade on its side, crushing the beans rather than cutting them. She only wished she had sat closer to Snape so he could have seen.
The fire Snape had ignited burned in her throughout the first few days of NEWTs, but even Hermione wasn't immune to the nastily exhausting element of the exams. By the time the Defense practical came around on the last day of testing, Hermione was running on steam.
As she worked her way through the obstacle course, she said a mental thank you to Harry. There were several instances where she was saved by instinct alone, instinct that was all due to her best friend's teachings.
She took the time to catch her breath as the path before her split in two. She breathed in, sniffing to focus on the scents around her. To the right… there wasn't anything. Hermione couldn't smell anything besides the normal scents of Hogwarts. Interesting. To the left… the pungent, acrid smell of fear, a strong scent of brunt copper. Hermione would bet anything that a boggart lay just ahead on the path to her left.
It made her pause, the thought of facing a boggart. She hadn't directly done so in quite some time, but she knew her old fear of McGonagall saying she had failed was no longer the type of nightmare that plagued her dreams. A part of her, morbidly curious, wanted to know what would emerge to face her. Would it be Harry and Ron? Dead? Her parents? The Marauders? Or perhaps her boggart would be like Molly Weasley's and shuffle through each one of her loved ones.
No, she decided, the boggart wasn't for her, especially with errant eyes about grading her. So all that was left was the unknown to the right. She took a deep breath and moved forward.
She walked and walked and walked some more, her footsteps slow and light. Constant vigilance. But there was no rustling, no smells emerging.
And then, a table. And a piece of paper. The directions were clear: Conjure a patronus.
Hermione gripped her wand and opened her mouth and paused. She blinked. Would her memory still be strong enough? It was a simple one, a fleeting moment in time, but it had done the job to conjure her playful otter in the past. And now?
Hermione adjusted her footing, held out her wand, and remembered.
It was a Tuesday, the beginning of second year. She, Harry, and Ron were walking down to Hagrid's for tea. They were regaling each other with dramatic retellings of their adventures from the previous year. They worked their way backward starting with Harry's face off with Voldemort and Quirrel and ending with the troll. Hermione had shuddered at the memory. Ron and Harry had shared a look of her head and nudged her, not quite hugging her.
"Don't worry, Hermione. We'll always be here."
"Yeah, what are best friends for."
It was the first time anyone had called her that.
The memory faded and she spoke.
"Expecto Patronum."
Hermione's heart almost broke as silver mist started to pour out of her wand. She hadn't wanted to consider what it would mean if Harry and Ron could no longer help her call her Patronus. For a moment she felt warm and light and home, like her boys were right beside her saying, "Keep going, Hermione. You'll make it back to us, just keep going." She could almost feel their presence around her. She looked at her patronus and big shining eyes stared back at her.
Pup.
Hermione had known, deep down, that she would never see her otter again, but she had not prepared herself for seeing Pup. Hermione studied the wolf and smiled to herself. Yes, she would do. Hermione nodded at Pup and the patronus bowed her head before disappearing into the air. A buzzer sounded, a voice. Hermione had completed the exam.
The Great Hall
At dinner, Hermione sat beside the boys in silence. It was all over. She didn't know what she expected the moment to feel like, but this wasn't it. Maybe she was expecting a sudden change, a definitive shift in self, but she didn't feel a thing.
"How'd Defense go for you, Pup?" Remus asked while piling some food on her plate and giving her a gentle nudge.
"It went well, I think." She paused. "Boggart or patronus?"
"Patronus." Remus smirked and Hermione knew he had also used her lycan senses to avoid facing his fears.
"Same," Sirius chimed in.
"Me as well, thank Merlin."
"What? Don't fancy facing off with a giant cat again, Wormtail?"
"Ha ha, so funny you are, Padfoot."
"Well I had the boggart." Hermione turned to look at James. She had noticed him looking peaky when they sat down, and yet the color still hadn't returned to his face.
"And?"
"It was fine. It turned into that hunter from Bambi." He continued over the laughter of the others and explained for Hermione all about the time Sirius had found the film.
Hermione nodded along, but she didn't for a moment believe James. She watched him until he looked at her and shook his head in the smallest amount. Hermione inclined her head before offering a little smile. James smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes before it fell and he turned to look down the table to Lily.
"And you, Pup?" Remus nudged her again.
"Patronus." She smiled. Then, leaning into Remus, she added, "Does yours look like Moony? I mean, is my patronus what I look like when-when I-"
"Yeah," Remus whispered. "What do you think of that?"
Hermione leaned back and looked between Remus and Sirius who were intently watching for her reaction.
"I think she's perfect."
A/N: *For The Time Being