Chapter 3 (1975):
June:
Hermione and Severus had been welcomed into the Evans household. While Petunia didn't truly like Severus and was jealous of Lily, she got along great with Hermione. The two of them were often hanging out together, and Severus and Lily spent a lot of time together as a consequence of that. Hermione began to notice that Severus and Lily could often be caught staring at one another, and she began to wonder when Lily fell in love with James. Deciding that she wouldn't meddle, Hermione ignored their behavior. Hermione had also told Severus about the future, and briefly explained small portions of it to Lily. However, she was careful to never go into any specifics about people, particularly not them.
July:
Hermione had been owling Sirius a lot, and she heard about when he moved out of his house, and into James'. Remus had also been owling Hermione, and they shared intellectual conversations, much like those they had shared at Christmas at Grimmauld Place. One of their conversations was about Werewolves, and whether or not they were monsters. Hermione was adamant that Werewolves were merely misunderstood humans that had a problem once a month, and she suspected Remus would tell her his 'secret' when they returned to school. Severus and Lily began dating near the end of the month, and even though Hermione feared for Harry's existence, they were too perfect for each other for her to get in their way. Severus was happier now than Hermione had ever seen him. Hermione had been successfully telling Petunia about the Wizarding World, and hoped that it would help her make Harry's childhood better, should she fail at keeping Lily and James alive.
August:
"Hey," Hermione walked up to where Lily was standing at the window, watching Severus do his morning routine. Severus was the Seeker on the Slytherin Quidditch team, and he was as good, and sometimes better than James. This lead to, from what Hermione had observed, even more competition between the two boys who were already in opposing Houses, and in love with the same girl. Once Lily broke her gaze away from Severus, Hermione hid a smile and continued, "Are we going to Diagon Alley today?"
"Yes," Lily replied as she gazed out the window looking dreamy, "Mum will drop us off on her way to go shopping for Tuney." Now that Hermione had told Petunia more about the Wizarding World, she was much more accepting of it and her sister. She had even agreed to come to Diagon Alley with them while her mother bought what she would need to work as a shop attendant in a small boutique.
"When are we leaving?"
"As soon as Sev is done," came the dreamy reply, and Hermione rolled her eyes, wondering yet again how it came to pass that they didn't wind up together.
SBHGSBHGSBHG
"Hermione!" Severus, Hermione, Lily and Petunia all turned around to see Sirius Black running down the street looking flushed. Following him were a laughing James Potter, and an amused looking Remus Lupin, but Peter Pettigrew was nowhere in sight, much to Hermione's relief. Sirius was panting when he reached them.
"Is there something you would like to say to my sister?" Severus asked, drawing himself up to his full height (which was slightly taller than Sirius), and looking threatening. Hermione merely laughed, having seen Severus as an adult, nothing he did now would look threatening to her.
"Yes, Sirius?" Hermione asked as she gently pushed Severus out of her way and stood in front of Sirius. Hermione wasn't sure, but she thought that Sirius was blushing. She felt the urge to frown as she recalled Remus' tales of how Sirius was a lady's man and womanizer during his Hogwarts years. If those stories were true, then why would he be blushing on what she could only assume was her account.
"Hi," was all Sirius said before James interrupted him.
"Lily!" James' face lit up when he saw her.
"Hello to you too James," Hermione said wryly as Severus wrapped his arm around Lily in what could only be a sign of claiming her. Seeing this, James' face dropped a bit, but he soon ignored it and went on to greet the others.
"My apologies to the lovely Hermione Snape," he said extravagantly, sweeping a bow and kissing her hand, "I didn't mean to offend such a lovely lady."
"You can stop with the flattery, James," Hermione told him amused, but he just continued as though he hadn't heard her.
"And who is this lovely lady?" he asked turning to Petunia, "James Potter at your service," James repeated the same actions he had used with Hermione, and Petunia blushed at the attention he was attracting.
"Oh," Lily disentangled herself from Severus and walked over to where James and Petunia were standing, "This is Petunia, my sister." James looked at Petunia, and decided that now that Lily was with Snape, if her sister was anything like her, he would love her soon.
Once Remus caught up with them, all seven of them decided to get their stuff together. Throughout the day, James set about learning more about Petunia, and Sirius tried to get close to Hermione while she attempted to brush him of by conversing with Remus about different Charms and their uses in Defense Against the Dark Arts.
