Chapter 2:
"I wonder who she was," Sirius said, yet again. James was getting exasperated, all Sirius had talked about since they left the hospital wing was that girl. Had an outside observer been there, they probably would have likened Sirius' reaction to James' reaction to Lily Evans.
"Come on," James said, grabbing Sirius and beginning to drag him back to the hospital wing, he had heard too much about this new girl to be happy, so now he was going to solve the problem.
"Huh?" Sirius asked as he was pulled out of his thoughts of the mystery girl, "What are you doing?"
"Bringing you back to your lady love," James replied, not even bother to turn or slow down.
"Thanks, Sev," they heard as they neared the hospital wing. James frowned, he had heard Lily call Snape that on occasion, but it didn't sound like Lily. They rounded the corner and saw Sirius' mystery girl talking to Severus Snape, their current nemesis. Sirius stopped and stared as the girl continued, "Now go and apologize to Lily," James' eyes widened, he had been so happy when Lily had finally given up on Snape, or so he thought. "I'm sure she'll forgive you," the girl continued. Had James not been quite so irritated that part of his plan to win Lily over hadn't been successful, he would have laughed at Snape's nervousness.
"How do you know?" Snape asked, unsure about his next course of action, "How can you be so sure that she won't throw my mistake in my face?" when Sirius heard the word mistake, his heart felt for Snape, but only until he realized that it was Snape. Quietly Snape continued, "I don't think I could take that." Snape was looking at the floor, in embarrassment. Feeling for him, Hermione got up and gave him a hug.
"I know because from what you've told me of Lily, she is a caring, forgiving person," Hermione was talking in a soothing voice she usually reserved for when Crookshanks was in a bad mood, "And I'd be willing to bet that after you tell her about our parents that she would be more than happy to help."
"And she'll probably celebrate that my father is gone," Severus' lips twitched into what Hermione now recognized as his version of a smile. When Hermione gave him a questioning look he continued, "She was the one who helped me, afterwards," the way he said it reminded Sirius of the torment he was put through at the hands of his family, and this time when he felt remorse, he didn't chase it away. Had he known that Snape had a difficult home life, he probably wouldn't have been quite so mean.
After holding Snape, and comforting him, Hermione gave Snape a smile, and a push towards the door, as she said, "Go."
James dragged Sirius behind the corner. He wanted to have time to mull over what he had just heard. He was unhappy about Snape going and befriending Lily again, but from what he had just seen, he knew that Snape had emotions, and was willing to show them to some people. Meanwhile, Sirius was thinking about what Snape's home life might be like. At the same time, both of them realized that the girl had said our parents, and she must be Snape's sister. Eyes wide with shock, they shared a look and went back to their thoughts.
SBHGSBHGSBHG
"Lily!" Snape called. He had found her by the Black Lake, and she was alone. When he called, for a second her face lit up, then sadness filled her, and as she turned away it looked like she was going to cry. Snape's heart felt as tough it was breaking, to see Lily like this was sad enough, but to know that it was his fault made him want to die.
"What do you want, Snape?" Lily's voice was so could that Lucius Malfoy would have been proud.
"To apologize," Snape said from right behind her. Turning in shock, Lily looked at him, and saw more emotion on his face than she had seen in years, "I know that I was wrong, and I will regret what I said for everyday of my life. But, if you don't forgive me, I might as well die." With this proclamation, tears welled in Lily's eyes, and she began to cry. Seeing this, Snape looked extremely worried, what had he said wrong?
"Oh, Sev," she cried as she flung her arms around him and began to sob into his shoulder.
"Does this mean I'm forgiven?" Severus whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Of course, you're my best friend," Lily said, her voice watery and cracked. Severus' heart broke a little when she said friend, and didn't tell him he was the love of her life, or some such thing.
They stood there for a while, Lily crying into his shoulder, and Severus just happy to have been forgiven.
"Lily," Severus began hesitantly once she had stopped crying. He hated asking people for favors, and showing weakness, but he figured that this was worth it, "My parents died," he said after she mumbled in response.
"Oh Sev," Lily pulled back, and looked at him before embracing him tightly, again.
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"Hello," Sirius said as he walked up to the mystery girl, 'Snape's sister,' he reminded himself. James had gone off somewhere, probably to moon over Lily, so he was doing this alone.
"Oh," Hermione looked up in shock, and she her heart felt heavy as she recognized Sirius, "Hello."
"Sirius Black," he introduced himself with a bow, and took her hand gently to place a kiss on the back of it, "You gave me quite a fright when you appeared out of thin air over the Quidditch field," Hermione looked up in surprise, she hadn't known that Sirius knew anything about her, "And you are?" Sirius asked, startling Hermione out of her thoughts.
"Oh, Hermione Snape," she replied, blushing that she had been caught staring at him.
"Any relation to Severus Snape?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, as if asking her to contradict him.
"He's my brother," Hermione decided to act like a complete newcomer, "Are you one of his friends?" it took all of Hermione's determination not to laugh at the shocked look on Sirius' face, it was probably the first and last time anyone would ask if Severus Snape was his friend.
"Erm," Sirius cleared his throat, "Not exactly," Hermione was almost enjoying his awkwardness. Now that she knew what he had done to Snape, she loved making him squirm.
"That's okay, I'm sure you two will learn to be great friends," Hermione's smile was so bright and hopeful that all Sirius could do was nod. Anyone who saw him would wonder why he was acting so uncharacteristic around a girl. Usually he would be doing his best to flatter and flirt with her, or ignore her if he didn't like her.
SBHGSBHGSBHG
"Despite how late in the year this is," Hermione could hear Dumbledore talking through the doors of the Great Hall, "We will have a student join us. Her parents just died, so please treat her with kindness and respect. Let's all welcome, Hermione Snape!" as Dumbledore said the last bit, the doors opened, and Hermione nervously walked in. looking over at the Slytherin table she saw Severus give her a small smile, after smiling back, she looked towards the Gryffindor table. Sirius gave her a huge grin, and a thumbs up, which Hermione nervously returned. The people who had noticed these exchanges were slightly shocked that the two people this new girl looked to happened to be bitter enemies. Hermione sat on the stool, and Dumbledore placed the Sorting Hat on her head. He was going to try to convince it to put her in Slytherin with her brother, but he never got the chance.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the Hat shouted almost immediately. There was some cheering, mostly from Sirius, who had jumped up and was walking to greet her. However, most of the hall was slightly shocked that a Snape was in Gryffindor after Severus' problems with Gryffindors.
"Come on, Hermione," Sirius said, grinning widely as he led her to his seat and helped her sit, "You can sit with us."
"Hey Hermione," Lily said as she slid into the seat on Hermione's other side. Severus had told Lily that Hermione was his sister, and to act like she knew her. Lily had questioned this at first, but once Severus told her that it wasn't his secret to tell, she had let up. James looked delighted that Lily had deigned to sit with his group, and began smiling goofily, and running his hands through his hair.
"Hey," Hermione replied, correctly assuming that Severus had told Lily tier predicament. After Lily sat down, Hermione began to unobtrusively try to see what Harry's mum was like.
"Are you excited to be in Gryffindor?" Sirius asked, he was slightly irritated that Hermione was paying more attention to Lily than she was to him.
"Are we going to be introduced?" Remus Lupin asked Sirius, he could see that unless he took matters into his own hands, he would never meet the new girl.
"Oh, Hermione Snape, meet Remus Lupin," Hermione smiled at him, he had always secretly been her favorite teacher, "Peter Pettigrew," it took all of Hermione's will to not kill him, then she decided that she could try and change what he did while she was here, and nodded her head, "and the lovesick puppy sitting across from me is James Potter." Sirius finished with a smirk.
"Hey!" James tried to whack Sirius when he realized that he had been insulted. They all laughed, even Lily, at James' delayed reaction.
SBHGSBHGSBHG
"Good luck," they heard a voice behind them, and Hermione and Lily smiled, but the boys frowned.
"Why would she need luck?" Sirius demanded, barely remembering his promise to himself that he wouldn't curse Snape, at least not in Hermione's presence.
"Because she's sitting next to you," Severus drawled in reply.
"Severus," Hermione tried to look exasperated, but she was fighting a smile, "Don't be so mean," Severus raised an eyebrow, knowing that she knew at least part of how Sirius had treated him in the past, "If either of you wants me to continue to talk to you, you will both get along." Hermione simply turned back to her Chocolate Mousse, emphasizing the point more with her simple statement than any amount of ranting and threatening could. Sirius and Severus both looked a little guilty and chastised by Hermione.
"Sev," Lily interrupted, "Sit down and eat dinner with us." Severus looked about to argue, but he saw the look on Lily's face, and complied, leaving James feeling irritated and angered by his presence.
Once they were done eating, everyone went back to their dorms, and Lily helped Hermione settle in. They had found a new trunk and bed in the room, which Hermione suspected Dumbledore had sent up. Remembering that he had tried to use Occlumency against her earlier, Hermione decided to check against any unwanted objects and spells on the trunk. Hermione did find a charm that would record all conversations held in the vicinity of the trunk, and only the person who had placed the Charm could retrieve them. The spell was very advanced, seventh year level, at least, but it wasn't ever mentioned. The charm was also undetectable to those that knew what he was. Luckily, Hermione had read about it in a book last week, or in twenty years depending how you thought. However, if Hermione remembered correctly, this spell hadn't been invented for a few years. Shrugging, Hermione disabled the charm and went to sleep.
SBHGSBHGSBHG
For the next week, Hermione excelled at her OWLs, and became good friends with Remus, Sirius, James and Lily. She also found herself getting along with her adopted brother much better in this time, and they had been studying together every night. Lily had sent an owl to her parents, and they had agreed to let Hermione and Severus stay with them, but they were curious to meet Hermione. Finally, the last day of school came, and everyone had packed up, and was prepared to go home the next day.
A/N: I really am not that interested in writing this part of the story, so if anyone wants to write up some cool, funny everyday thing that I can include in the story, that would be great. I am going to need stuff for the Marauders, Hermione, Lily and Severus to do for 4ish years, and I don't really know.
