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Walking down Diagon Alley with a third of the Marauders was an experience Hermione would not forget easily. Hermione almost found them to be to much to handle all together. Remus and James were as easy to speak to as Harry and Ron alone, but them all together was overwhelming. Not just because of the fact that she was surrounded by dead people, but they were so enthusiastic about everything they talked about.
The conversation was mostly centered around quidditch, (James and Sirius being on the Gryffindor team), but also pranks they had pulled. Remus and her talked about school, the professors and subjects, when they could but James and Sirius had a habit for steering the conversation away from school.
The time with them seemed to go by quickly, and before Hermione knew it, she was sitting in The Leaky Cauldron, waiting for her lunch to arrive. The four's drinks were being handed out when Sirius and James turned to look at her. Remus, looked at her as well before asking the questions, they all were curious about.
"So Hermione, you have been accepted at Hogwarts?" Remus asked with a friendly smile.
"Yes I have. I had a meeting with Professor Dumbledore not to long ago. He said that I could go." She answered, returning his smile.
"I knew Dumbledore would let you go. He's to nice to not let a person go to Hogwarts if they wanted to." James exclaimed. His enthusiasm at hearing her acceptance made Hermione believe he wasn't completely sure she would be allowed to go. "Have you been sorted yet?"
"Not yet, I will be sorted at the Welcoming Feast after the First Years."
"Hopefully your in Gryffindor. Best house there is. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw aren't that bad, but if your put in Slytherin, the best thing for you to do is drop out."Sirius said, finally joining the conversation. "All bad witches and wizards were in Slytherin."
With that comment, James nodded his head, "Yep, Snivellus is in Slytherin. Greasy Git."
Hermione noticed that Remus had looked away when James and Sirius began talking about Slytherins.
"I have heard that many Slytherins have become dark witches and wizards, but surely not all of them are bad." Hermione defended, she had a few friends who had been in Slytherin House in her time
James chuckled darkly, "Wait till you meet Snivellus. That will prove our point."
"Why are you going to Hogwarts for your seventh and final year Hermione?", Remus asked, changing the subject.
" I was home schooled, like the other magical kids in my town. The town was attacked by Death Eaters a few weeks ago. My parents were killed along with everyone else." Hermione looked away, trying to distract her mind from images of her dead parents. Sh did not need to start crying now.
Minutes dragged by as Remus, James and Sirius thought of something to say, and Hermione avoiding their eyes.
Finally Remus said in a soft voice. "We are sorry to hear about your parents. You lived in Wingleton, didn't you?"
Swallowing Hermione answered. "Yes, I'm surprised you've heard of it. It's pretty small."
"I read about the attack in the Daily Prophet. They didn't write much about it. Most people probably have not heard of it, but I like to know what's going on. Most people want to ignore this problem with these Death Eaters."
"People are imbeciles. I'll bet you those Death Eaters and this Lord of theirs is going to start a war." Sirius added, his eyes turning hard. 'To right you are Sirius', Hermione thought, thinking about all the battles and funerals she had attended in her time. Too many.
"But at the moment we don't have to worry about that. All we have to worry about is our start of year prank, and which house our Hermione will get in." James said, trying to lighten the gloomy mood.
"Yeah, we need to think seriously on our prank. Do you think we can get McGonagall to go as pale as she did last year?", asked Sirius, following James' lead to make the atmosphere as carefree as it was before.
"Mann, remember how thin her lips got?" James practically yelled, his brown eyes glazing over at the memory.
"Yeah, you hardly could see them. That will be our goal this year. To make her lips go even thinner." Sirius said with a grin.
"And to pass our N.E.W.Ts."Remus added, giving James and Sirius stern looks.
Both their shoulders slumped in resignation as they said together in defeated voices, "Fine."
Remus and Hermione smiled at their dramatics, both forgetting the depressing topic they had discussed before. Hermione was tired of remembering so many bad things. She went along with James' change in conversation, glad for the distraction the boys made. She was very glad she seemed to have made friends in them, they were exactly what she needed.
When the boys were finally full, they quartet began walking down the Alley. Remus making sure that James and Sirius did buy everything they needed for their last year at Hogwarts, Hermione stopping James from sending a laughing hex at an old lady, and Sirius flirting with three girls before James dragged them all into Quality Quidditch Supplies. Hermione had come to this store many times with Harry and Ron. She had always complained about how much time they spent looking at the brooms and other equipment. Hermione had thought Harry and Ron were bad, James and Sirius spent 3x the amount of time Ron and Harry ever did. It did not take long for Hermione to get bored. Over years she had grown to like quidditch, but not this much. Yes she spent a lot of time in Flourish and Blotts, but their you read the books, did something interesting. Here you just look at a stick with twigs attached at the end. Looking back Hermione seriously believed she would of killed James or done something equally irrational if Remus wasn't there.
Instead of doing harm to James or the store, Hermione had a wonderful conversation with Remus about the Professors at Hogwarts. The two also conversed more about the different school subjects.
" The best subject would Defence against the Dark Arts. I find it the most interesting, though I'm quite fond of Charms as well. The Defence teacher is different every year though, so we haven't learnt as much as we could of in that class.. They always find a reason not to stay. But were lucky Professor Tarnish left. She didn't know anything about the subject. All we did was read all year. I hope we have someone competent this year." Remus said, looking hopeful that Professor Dumbledore will have someone adequate for the teaching position.
"I bet he has found someone. Anyone would be better then this Professor Tarnish. You can not learn everything from books." Hermione said with a small smile remembering her first year.
"True, true. But less people are volunteering for the Defence against the Dark Arts teaching position." Remus countered, a smile tugging at his own lips.
"Well, why not when you graduate, you try for the position. You seem to love the subject." Hermione said, already knowing the answer. He won't be able to have a teaching position for another sixteen years or so.
" I would love to teach, and I do know a lot about the subject, but I don't think I'll be able to get the job." Remus lost his smile then and Hermione felt bad for saying anything on the subject of him teaching.
Before Hermione had come up with anything to say, Sirius and James came walking up to them, both with purchases in hand. "Ready to go?" Sirius asked.
"Yep," Remus replied, while Hermione only nodded.
As they walked out the of store, James looked over at Remus, "Hey Moony, what time is it?"
"James you have a watch, so look at your own." Remus said.
"I know I have a watch, but I forgot it at home." James replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"It's 5:47 p.m." Remus said, rolling his eyes at his friend's forgetfulness.
"Oh Shit, James we were suppose to be home 17 minutes ago!" Sirius exclaimed, fearing Mrs. Potters reaction to them being late.
"Oh Mann, I hate when Mom's made." James said looking panicked as the two quickly said their goodbyes to Remus and Hermione before running to the closest fireplace, leaving the two werewolves chuckling over their friends' antics.
When James and Sirius were out of sight, Hermione and Remus turned to each other, still smiling. "I guess I should go home too." Remus said, looking a bit apologetic.
" Yeah, I think I should head off to." Hermione replied, sad the day was at an end.
" I'll see you on the train to Hogwarts then", Remus said, beginning to walk backwards to the fireplace James and Sirius just left through.
"Yep, I'll see you on the train." Hermione said waving back at Remus as he stepped into the green flames.
Hermione let out a happy sigh before she apparated home to the Shrieking Shack. As she climbed into her bed, Hermione was content as how her life was going. Her plan was in motion. She would save everyone she loved. Voldemort would not win. Harry would not be the Chosen One. However, these were not the reasons Hermione Granger was content. The reasons were Messrs. James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin