Ch 13 Falling Marauders
Hermione woke suddenly to the sound of wood crashing against stone. She heard three curtains being drawn back and someone panting. Her and Remus sat up and began to quietly look for their clothes.
"Merlin Lily what's wrong?" she heard James ask and Hermione froze a tightening beginning in her chest.
"Its Hermione have you seen her? I can't find her anywhere!" she heard Lily pant out as she tried to catch her breath. Hermione relaxed and continued to search for her clothes. She located her knickers and pulled them on and she seen Remus do the same when he found his pants.
"Oh we haven't seen her" she heard Sirius and she could just hear the smirk in his voice. "but we did hear her. Almost all night in fact" Hermione's face turned red in embarrassment and she faced Remus mortified. Remus located his t-shirt and through it to her just as the curtains around his bed were pulled open.
"Hermione!" Lily gasped out. No one moved, eyes just darted back in forth.
"Heh Good morning everyone are we gonna head to breakfast together or shall we meet there shortly?" Hermione said with a slight smile. To her relief they all burst out laughing.
"Remus you old dog. I couldn't believe what I was hearing last night!" James said clapping a half naked Remus on the back. He blushed slightly but smiled nonetheless.
"oh you boys" Lily said smiling herself.
"Cast a silencing charm on it next time. You know Peter here was getting off on hearing all that noise" Sirius said. Peter made and indignant sound and they all laughed again the embarrassment slipping away.
"You know Padfoot I heard similar sounds coming from behind your curtains as well" James said but before Sirius could retaliate Hermione spoke.
"I can't believe you were all getting off on me and Remus… doing that!" she said outraged.
"What do you expect Hermione they're boys" Lily said with a roll of her eyes. Hermione smiled at her redhead friend.
"Let me find my night dress then we'll head back to our dorms." Hermione said. Looking around as the curtains closed around them. Remus found it and tossed it to her. Hermione caught it and through him back his shirt. She took a moment to study him without a shirt. He wasn't half bad to look at. He had a nice stomach and slightly muscled arms. He noticed her looking and smirked in a mischievous way. Before his eyes trailed over her exposed body. She blushed slightly.
"Like what you see?" she said grinning
"Very much" he said and he leaned forward and captured her lips in a hungry kiss. Hermione could hardly stifle her moan.
"Hey guys don't start going at it again or we'll miss breakfast" she heard James call though the curtains. Hermione giggled as Remus pulled away. She put on her night dress and pulled back the scarlet curtains keeping them from view. Sirius wolf whistled at Hermione's scantily clothed body. The dress was very short and almost transparent.
"Damn girl" Sirius said as he walked a circle around her. Remus put an arm protectively around her waist. And Hermione rolled her eyes before she walked out the door with Lily. Once back in the safety of their dorms Lily rounded on Hermione.
"Oh my God Hermione I can't believe you actually had full on sex with Remus! You must love him right?" Lily asked a huge grin plastered on her face.
"I do Lily I really love him" Hermione said with a big smile. She then headed for the showers.
It was cold walking through the stone halls of Hogwarts castle. Hermione and Lily walked along rubbing at their sweater clad arms.
"Goodness what did they do open all the castle windows?" Lily complained as the two girls headed down to the great hall. Thankfully once they entered it was warm and toasty. They both breathed in the delicious smell of freshly prepared food. They spotted the Marauders down at the end of the table and headed in that direction.
"Hello again Ladies" Sirius said before taking a bit of his toast. Lily and Hermione both said hello and they took their seats, Hermione by Remus and Lily reluctantly by James. Hermione smiled at her boyfriend just noticing how tired and worn out he appeared. She wondered if the full moon was near and that's when she remembered he was a werewolf. She wondered if he would confide in her. She decided to test him out.
"Hey Lily the full moon is next week, how about we have a little midnight dance?" she said giving her friend a pointed look letting her know to play along. Lily nodded.
"Yeah of course. Are we going to be naked or clothed?" she said mischievously. This caused all the boys to swallow hard.
"Dunno. Boys are you all going to join us?" she asked.
"Uh… well you see"
"I don't know…"
"We would like to but…" the boys all rushed out muttering.
"Sorry didn't quite catch that." Hermione said.
"Well you see I'm going to go visit my grandmother the day of the full moon. You see she is very sick." Remus said nervously.
"Yes and we usually see him off so we don't come back until late and we're usually very tired" James said and the others nodded feverishly.
"Oh alright then. Well guess it'll just be us than Lily" Hermione said still looking at Remus.
"No! I mean you guys can't go outside at midnight especially on the full moon! Its very dangerous out there." Remus said paling.
"Oh. Well I guess we can stay in. Maybe next time then" Hermione said getting up.
"I'm going to head to the library for a moment I'll meet you all in the common room later on." Hermione said and she left the table heading for the library. A few seconds later she turned to see someone walking in step with her.
"Well if I was stupid I wouldn't have noticed that something is up with them" Lily said
"Yes that was a bit odd. I've noticed too haven't you, that the boys always disappear all night once a month. I didn't realize till now what the particular day signified seeing as it fell on different days and dates. I thought it was just random but it isn't. Its on the full moon that they disappear." Hermione said wanting Lily to discover their secret at the "same" time she did.
"That is odd. Its always been like that. Since when I first met them. Its just never really occurred to me since I never hung around them before. I only started when you came to Hogwarts. Is that why you were going to the library?" Lily said a pensieve look on her face.
"Well no I wanted to get away from Remus cause I knew he was lying but now that were going might as well do a bit of research, huh?" Hermione said smirking inwardly. Neither girl reliezed that a dark haired Slytherin was trailing behind them listening to every word, if they would have they might have caught the smirk and sly look covering his somewhat handsome face. Instead they walked into the quiet library and headed towards the back.
"So what are we going to look for?" Lily asked.
"Dunno lets see how the full moon effects people" Hermione said pulling a couple of books off the shelf and heading to a table. Lily followed suit and they both began to skim through the books.
"Ew did you know that one wizard in America cast a spell on his daughter so every full moon the hair in her nose grew to outrageous lengths!" Lily said laughing Hermione joined her it was pretty funny.
"Well did you know that on the full moon a rare kind of pig can fly? Can you imagine 'Daughter you can have a brand new car when pigs fly' they glance out the window and there it soars across the full moon. 'So can I get that car now?' Goodness if I ever seen something like that can you imagine all the stuff I would have right now?" Hermione said and her and Lily burst out laughing again. They continued this on for about twenty minutes before madam Pince swooped down on them like a hawk and threatened them.
"Merlin that woman is harsh." Lily said rolling her eyes and returning to her book Hermione followed suit and neither girl looked up again until someone set a book on their table. They glanced at the retreating figure of Severus Snape.
"What's this about?" Hermione asked taking the book
"Dark Creatures" Lily read the title. Hermione opened the book.
"Hey look there's a page marked" Lily said pointing. Hermione pulled open the book to the marked page wondering what Severus was up to. It was a page about werewolves. Hermione looked up at Lily and saw her expression of shock mirrored on Lily.
"You don't think?" Hermione asked leaving the question hanging. Lily shrugged and leaned over to read and Hermione followed suit.
"What if one of them is a werewolf? Or what if they all are?" Lily asked.
"I don't know Lily. If they all were then wouldn't they fight instead of being friends, after all male werewolves are territorial. But if just one of them is then what are the others doing? Going out and playing with a werewolf?"
"I don't know its all strange, but if you look at it it does make more sense then Remus going off to visit his gram on the full moon and the other morons just going to see him off"
"Oh my Lily Remus! He's the one who's a werewolf!" Hermione said pretending to be shocked.
"Oh Hermione we don't know that for sure. Come on lets go take a walk" Lily said and she led the way out of the library and down to the cold grounds. They sat by the almost frozen lake in silence.
"Hey Hermione lets say, hypothetically speaking of course, that Remus is a werewolf, would that change your feelings for him at all?" Lily asked her face staring straight towards the lake not giving away her emotions.
"No of course not. Werewolves are the same as anybody else they just have a monthly problem. Kind of like us females only theirs is one night only. I actually used to know a werewolf, I should have seen it before" Hermione said chewing her lip thoughtfully.
"That's good. It doesn't change my views on him either. Remus is too good of a friend to be put through rejection over something he has no control over." Lily said.
"I agree wholeheartedly. We should come up with a plan though cause I want to know for sure." Hermione said.
"Yes but we can't go outside. It will too be dangerous" Lily said and they sat in silence for a while thinking.
"Hey Lily have you ever seen that old piece of parchment the boys carry around sometimes?"
"You mean the one they practically guard with their lives?" Lily asked.
"Yes. Have you ever heard them say something to it like a password maybe?" Hermione pursued.
"Yes! When I approached them once they had the parchment out and I heard them say 'Mischief managed' but when I took the map from them it was still blank."
" So maybe that password wipes it blank. I've heard them use another password but they hid the paper away from me before I got a chance to see anything. They had said ' I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' I think that must be the password to activate it. I heard them talking about it one time. They called it a map." Hermione said
"Yes a map of Hogwarts and the people in it! They've told me that once too. I asked James how he knew where I always was and he said they had a map that told them! If we can get a hold of this map then we can confirm if they do leave Hogwarts grounds or not!" Lily said.
"Exactly and I happen to know that the map is currently in the trunk of one Peter Pettigrew" Hermione said a smirk covering her face as her and Lily worked out a plan to be executed on the full moon the following Saturday.
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