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 Marauder's Era with four new best friends.

A/N: I've started moving PM over to AO3. I'm not pulling it from here, don't worry, but in case you wanted to follow along over there instead, you can find it under the same title and author name. I have about 20 or so chapters already up, but the rest will follow shortly. As always, enjoy and let me know what you think!

Chapter 56: *Respice Adspice Prospice

9 July 1978

The Shelter

"Oh, well this place looks great," Lily smiled as she stepped through the floo. "Really, it seems just perfect for you three."

James tumbled out behind her, steadying himself against the wall before handing a bottle of wine to Sirius. His smile slid halfway.

"Dad's not feeling well enough to floo tonight. I'm sorry, Pads, I know you wanted him to see the place."

"S'alright," Sirius took the wine and hugged his friend. "I'll have to pop round tomorrow to see him."

"Are we the last ones here?" Lily pulled Sirius into her own hug.

"Peter's in the kitchen helping Moony and Pup, but between you and me, none of them have any clue what they're doing in a kitchen."

"Good thing we brought wine."

"And dessert."

Sirius wrapped his arms around the couple. "Remind me again why I'm not living with you two?"

"Because polygamy is frowned upon?" Lily elbowed him in the side.

"No, that's not it."

"Because you don't want to be a third wheel forever?"

"Merlin, if you think I'd be the third wheel in this scenario—"

"Oh shut it, Black."

"Is that jealousy, Lil?" Sirius waggled his eyebrows. "Over me or over Prongs?"

"Oi, that's my soon-to-be wife, thank you very much." James pulled Lily away from Sirius laughing.

"Dinner's ready!" Hermione's voice called from the kitchen.

"Finally!"

"I don't smell any burning, so that's a good sign. Let's go see what they've managed to pull together." Lily started to pull James and Sirius toward the kitchen.

Dinner was—surprisingly—both edible and delicious. The group of friends ate and drank as they basked in the independence of early adulthood. They all sat a little taller, spoke a little clearer, and held their chins aloft with the sort of self-sufficient confidence children could never emulate. It was a mask of course, as it is with all young adults making it up as they go. They sat around the table merely playing at pretend, but it worked. They didn't need anything else at the moment. The six of them around the dining room table, that was enough.

"So wedding planning? How's it all going?" Hermione passed James the wine so he could refill Lily's glass.

"Brilliant, actually." Lily smiled sweetly at James. "I mean it's all being rushed a bit, but everyone's been very helpful. It's all coming together somehow."

"And it'll be small and intimate so nothing too crazy."

"Still at the Manor?" Sirius reached for the wine and refilled his own glass before filling Hermione's as well.

"Plenty of room for it all, isn't there." James nodded. "Lily and her mum will come over that morning and we'll have a big tent set up and everything."

"Is your sister coming?" Peter asked. The table was quiet for a moment as Lily wiped her mouth with her napkin.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Pete." Lily winced. "I've sent her an invitation and I've been trying to invite her in person, but she keeps using her husband—Vernon, who is a real piece of work by the way—as an excuse. I literally stopped by her home at six in the morning on Thursday, and she had the audacity to tell me she couldn't chat because she and Vernon were meeting his boss and his wife for an early morning jog." Lily laughed darkly before stabbing at the leftover on her plate. "It's funnier if you've met them, but they're not that sort."

"I'm sorry, Lily," Remus reached across the table to pat her hand. "But you'll have plenty of family there in attendance."

"Oh," Hermione perked up like a first year in class. "Marauder Rule 15, family is defined by choice not by blood."

Lily smiled and the room grew lighter.

"Anyone else not attending?" Sirius looked to James.

"Well," James smirked. "I did send invitations to Dumbledore and McGonagall. Haven't heard back, but you know Minnie's wouldn't miss her two favorite students—yes, we're obviously her favorites—getting married. And then, well, then there's Snape."

"What? You invited Snivellus to your wedding?"

"Yes, we invited Severus to our wedding," Lily interjected, shooting a disapproving glare at Sirius. "He's my friend—"

"Lily, why?"

"—and you don't need to make a fuss anyway because he's not coming."

"Thank Merlin!" Sirius whooped and lifted his glass up.

"Honestly, Sirius, how old are you?" Hermione laughed and rolled her eyes, before looking more seriously to Lily. "Did he say why he's not coming? I thought you patched things up at the Leaky after graduation."

"I did too, but…" Lily shrugged. "No, I mean he did actually respond which is more than I expected honestly, but he's starting his mastery study so he'll be busy." Hermione nodded as Lily's eyes suddenly lit up. "Which means we do have an extra seat."

"Oh, who else will you invite?"

"Well," Lily grinned at James who looked confused and then Hermione. "What about Ben?"

"Ben who?"

"Oh honestly, Hermione, Ben Goldstein." Lily rolled her eyes. "Do you think he'd come?"

Everyone at the table turned to look at Hermione, a subtle blush blooming across her face.

"I don't know, Lily." Hermione looked at James for help. "You'd have to ask him."

"Well, why don't you pass it on for me. I'll leave you with an invitation to give him the next time you see him."

"I don't know when I—"

"Perfect. That'll fill out you all's table then."

Hermione opened her mouth to object, but Peter beat her to it.

"You were going to put Snape at our table?!"

After dinner, they retired to the library. Sirius passed around drinks as the record player spun softly in the corner. James and Lily cuddled in a large armchair while Peter and Remus took over the couch. Hermione sat on the floor in front of Remus as he idly played with her curls.

"Oh cheers, mate" Peter took the offered drink. "Anyway, like I was saying, I've started working at Dad's shop. Just a couple hours a week right now. He still wants me to enjoy the last bit of summer which is nice. And there's a small apartment on the second floor that's just been used for overflow storage that I'll take over too."

"Watch out, Diagon Alley," Remus smirked. "You going all businessman on us, Pete?"

"Nah," Peter chuckled. "I mean, I dunno, I thought I wouldn't like it, but there's something about the place that kind of pulls me in. It's hard to explain."

"So what exactly will you be doing, Peter?" Lily asked, leaning back on James from where they sat sharing one of the large stuffed chairs.

"Mainly cataloguing antiques," he shrugged. "It's interesting, I suppose, a bit like figuring out a puzzle of what things are and where they came from. Actually just worked on this old silver frame that was owned by one of the earliest Malfoys. It passed through the Black family for a bit, too."

"You don't say," Sirius rolled his eyes at the mention of his family. He took a deep drink of his whiskey.

"Yeah, didn't recognize the name though, something like Lycan or Lionel maybe, I dunno…" Peter looked at Sirius and noticed his mood turning. "Er, but next I'm going to try to figure out this like gold chalice that was brought in a few days ago." He lit his voice falter off. In fact, Hermione looked a little off now too, like something he'd said had confused her or reminded her of something.

"That's great, really. I'm glad you're liking what you're doing." Lily smiled.

"And you're actually doing something, which is more than the rest of us can say," James grumbled.

"Oi, speak for yourself, mate!" Remus laughed. "I'll have you lot know I've sent off twenty job applications so far."

"And I've just finalized mine for training at Mungo's." Lily smiled triumphantly.

"Which you'll get, of course."

"Naturally." Lily winked at Remus.

"Buck up, Prongs," Sirius said as he walked to stand by where James sat, clapping him on the shoulder. "We'll hear about our start date soon enough. Enjoy this time while you can. Enjoy your beautiful fiancée. And actually if you want to be worried about something, worry about the fact that you're abandoning your best mates for a week to go galivanting off with said fiancée."

James grinned at Lily before swooping in and snogging her against the background of cheers and hollers. Lily pulled away after a moment and dearly wiped away some smudged lipstick from James' face.

"I'm entirely unapologetic about having him all to myself for a week." She spoke to the room, but her eyes stayed on James. "I have to share him with you lot enough as it is already."

"We had him first for years," Remus smirked. "You can have a week."

Lily turned to smile at Remus before her face changed, something clicking in the back of her mind.

"Oh, but the full moon!"

Remus' face dropped. Hermione felt him start to stir beneath her, but she held him in place.

"Er, what," Remus laughed weakly in the poorest attempt to cover himself. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh honestly, Remus." Lily's green eyes filled with love. "I've known for ages now. You disappear once a month, every month. And the rest of you lot, oh you all were pretty shit about hiding the fact you had mandrake leaves in your mouths for a whole month. With how much you all talk, I couldn't believe you didn't have to start over at least once. Anyway, it wasn't too hard to work out once I noticed the signs."

"But no one notices me."

"Remus, my love, I've always noticed you." Lily smiled sweetly before winking. "And you clearly never knew what girls at Hogwarts talked about if you think no one noticed you."

Remus blushed as the other laughed. Hermione squeezed Remus' legs and he looked down at her.

"I'm guessing she knows about you, too?"

"Yeah well, we lived together and I was a baby werewolf. Pretty hard to hide that."

"Although," Lily interrupted. "Mary and Dorcas and Marlene don't know. At least, they've never brought it up to me before."

"Small victories, I suppose."

"But now I'm rethinking the whole thing. Should James and I stay here? You'll need him for the moon, right?"

"Lil," Hermione chimed in. "Go on your honeymoon. Enjoy yourselves. We'll be fine."

Lily looked around the room at the Marauders, each of them smiling at her in turn. She nodded finally, though a bit of worry lingered at her mouth. James wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

"Thanks you lot. Glad I have your permission to go on my own honeymoon." He prodded at Sirius who still stood beside him.

"Alright, alright." Sirius prodded him back. "Enough of the wedding talk. Has anyone heard any more from Dumbledore?"

Hermione pulled her arms back from Remus, shifting forward to lean on the coffee table. She took a long drink from her wine glass as the conversation continued to fill the air above her.

"Nothing since that first letter," Remus leaned forward. His professorial aura was already in the process of developing. "But he's clearly planning something. He'll let us know when we need to know."

"And we've only just graduated," Lily looked at Sirius. "We may be talking about marriage and jobs and what not, but we're all still basically children. Professor Dumbledore is a good man. He doesn't want to see children fight."

Hermione drained her glass.

"We're old enough, Lil," James said. "Old enough to know this Death Eater business is wrong. We're old enough to fight."

"Yeah, but what could we even do? How could we help?"

"Pete's right," Remus nodded. "We just need to wait for Dumbledore. It's not our time yet."

The conversation continued, James clearly itching to be involved. It was enough for Hermione. She'd had enough of this. She excused herself to the kitchen under the guise of retrieving more wine, trying desperately not to draw too much attention, though two sets of eyes followed her nonetheless.

Once safely hidden away in the kitchen, Hermione just stood there, arms loose and defeated, leaning against the counter with her eyes closed. The evening had started off so well.

It hadn't been long since she'd seen everyone else, but moving in with Remus and Sirius had isolated them a bit as they got settled. The customary catch-up had been wonderful, hearing about what everyone was planning for their post-Hogwarts lives. And then Peter had spoken.

Something about what he'd said had triggered something in Hermione's mind. Something she needed to know, to remember, to… find? She'd tried to chase the thought, but the conversation had turned before she knew just what to follow.

Mention of the war.

Oh, the burden of knowledge was heavy indeed.

The longer Hermione spent in the past, the more she started to realize about her future and specifically Dumbledore's part in it.

He doesn't want to see children fight.

Lily had said that. Lily Potter. The woman who would die at the age of 21. The mother of the Boy Who Lived, the Boy Who Lost Everything, the Boy Who Had to Fight Again and Again and Again and Again and Again and Again and Again.

Hermione's eyes opened as footsteps drew closer.

As if called by her thoughts, Lily walked into the kitchen, immediately pouring another glass of wine each for the two of them. She handed one to Hermione silently and waited as they sipped once and then a second time and then a third before she spoke.

"This is going to get worse before it gets better, isn't it?" she whispered. Hermione was silent. She couldn't meet Lily's eyes. "I'm scared, Hermione, I really am. I just want to get married and live out my life with James without worrying that the world around us is falling apart."

Hermione set down her wineglass, took Lily's from her and pulled her friend into a tight hug. Her throat clenched and her eyes stung with tears and her heart filled with such a deep longing that Hermione clung to Lily as her anchor to this time.

They held each other for a long time, buoyed together against the oncoming storm.

When they pulled away, they wiped at each other's faces, clearing away tears and tucking back the pain before they would return to the Marauders. As they started to move forward from this moment in time, Hermione reached for Lily's hand, looking deeply into the eyes of her best friend.

"Do you ever regret it?" she whispered. "Do you ever wish you stayed away from this world?"

Lily squeezed Hermione's hand. She didn't answer right away but thought about the question sincerely. After a moment, she blinked away from her memories and answered.

"No matter what's happened or will, I wouldn't change a thing."

A/N: *Look Behind, Look Here, Look Ahead