DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me! The label clearly says J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 3 – Clumsy Heart
"Remus... I-" Hermione was cut off when Remus placed his hands on her shoulder and slowly leaned in.
In a matter of seconds, Hermione felt warm lips touch her own. Contrary to what she planned on doing, she closed her eyes and placed her hands on Remus' chest. But when she realized what she was doing, she immediately pulled away.
"Remus," Hermione pulled her head away, "I... we ca- I can't do this. I'm sorry."
Without waiting to hear what Remus had to say, Hermione ran up to the girls' dormitories and closed the door quite forcefully, which caused for some of the slumbering girls to glare at Hermione.
Hermione quickly walked over to her bed, ignoring the complaints that her peers were giving her. She fell down on her bed and groaned. While thinking back on what had just happened, the witch's hand snaked up to her face and let her fingers rest on her still tingling lips.
However, Hermione's thoughts were disturbed when Lily prodded her shoulder.
"Hermione," she asked, "what's wrong?"
When the other witch didn't answer, Lily sighed and left.
Meanwhile, after Hermione left him, Remus stood there awkwardly no knowing what to do now. He had told a girl he had feelings for her for the first time. Sure, he had crushes but he never had the courage to pursue anything. But now, Remus felt a pain he never felt before.
Near the fireplace, Sirius was sitting down from shock; he ran his hands through his shaggy hair and looked down at the floor. He realized how Remus must feel from this rejection and felt an immediately surge of sympathy for his best friend.
"Remus," Sirius called out after a few minutes, "we need to talk."
"I don't know what else you can possibly say to me right now, Sirius," Remus responded.
"Look, I'm sorry for earlier," Sirius apologized and then added, "Just come over here."
"Fine," Remus huffed and trudged over to his friend.
Once the teen sat down next to Sirius, he asked in a weary voice, "What do you want."
"It's about Hermione," Sirius muttered.
"Let's not get into this again," the other Gryffindor ran his hand through his hair—a particular trait that all the Marauder's inherited from each other with the exception of Peter since he didn't have long enough hair.
"No, I refuse to let this get between us," Sirius stepped up from the red couch he was sitting on.
"Now you're being the mature one? When did this happen," Remus taunted while narrowing his eyes.
"I'm not throwing away years of friendship just for a girl," Sirius defended himself.
"But what I'm wondering is, do you think she'd give you the time of day when she hears about how you treat other girls?" Remus said.
Sirius couldn't say anything about that because he knew that his reputation at Hogwarts was for being a womanizer.
"Maybe we should just let her decide?" Sirius suggested.
"That's the last thing we want to do to her. She barely knows us and knowing her she'd be afraid to hurt either of our feelings. Maybe we should just not make anything that would make her uncomfortable in any way," Remus said.
"Honestly mate, I don't bloody care what the hell we do, just as long as we stop fighting," Sirius laughed.
Remus grinned, "We should get back upstairs."
In the girls' dormitory, Lily tried to get Hermione to talk once more.
"Lily, you're just going to say 'I told you so' and laugh," Hermione said and quickly put her face into her pillow.
"I promise I won't," Lily quickly replied.
"Fine..." Hermione groaned but didn't get up.
Lily jumped onto her friend's bed, shut the curtains around them, and placed a silencing spell.
"Okay, tell me everything."
Few minutes elapsed.
"So basically, Remus and Sirius think your cute and want to date you."
"Yea," Hermione grumbled, "I guess."
"Although I do loathe Sirius Black sometimes... at least they both are good looking?"
"Lily!" Hermione groaned and shoved her face into her pillow, "you're not helping one bit!"
"I mean, Remus is sophisticated handsome and if you get past Sirius' ridiculous personality and sense of humor, he's got that rugged appearance."
When Hermione looked surprised, Lily immediately added, "Oh, Hermione stop being silly, I'm talking about the way other girls might think of him. And besides, James and Sirius aren't the only guys that those girls outside your curtains talk about. They think Remus is this sexy all around guy since he's a bit athletic, good looking, and has brains."
"You don't understand, he's Remus Lupin."
"Hermione, he's not that bad!"
"He was my professor!" Hermione blurted and when she realized what she said, she immediately clamped her hand over her mouth. With a muffled tone, she said, "You didn't hear that."
Lily just winked and asked, "So we've got an unrequited love triangle."
Hermione gave her friend an odd expression.
Lily laughed and replied, "Well, its obvious Remus is definitely interested in you as well as Sirius yet you have no interest in them... unless you aren't telling me something."
The other witch blushed furiously, "Stop it Lily, I don't like either of them that way. It's incredibly disturbing to think that I'm falling in love with the men that I knew to be -"
"Very sexy and handsome men," Lily finished the sentence without a huge smile.
"You know I don't know why you're so eager for me to like either of them, especially Sirius," Hermione let out a sigh.
"Why are you singling out Sirius, Hermione? Hm?" Lily joked.
"You're hopeless," Hermione said exasperatedly and threw her hands up in the air.
Lily placed a finger on her lip, and suddenly her eyes filled with mischief, "Did you ever fancy your professor?"
"Wha- I- that's ridiculous. Lily I can't believe- I-" Hermione stuttered out while turning an even brighter shade of red.
"Blush any harder and I think you might just explode from all that blood rushing into your head," Lily teased. "Oh, but what about the irresistible Sirius Black? There was an implication that you knew him. You didn't fancy him, did you?"
Hermione shut out what Lily was saying by placing her hands on her ears and glaring at her friend.
"I can't hear you," Hermione scowled.
"Don't be silly," Lily smiled, "yes you can."
With that, she grabbed both of Hermione's hands and placed them aside.
"What now..." Hermione muttered.
"I just never thought you'd be interested into older guys," Lily shrugged.
"You know, just because I had a crush on Remus when he taught me does not mean that I like older men in general. Sirius Black, on the other hand, was just a friend who was ridiculously immature for his age," Hermione gave up and told Lily a gist.
"I still think you like older men," the other witch stubbornly replied.
"It's not even like that!"
As if Lily didn't hear a word, she continued, "Yeah, okay it's still apparent you had crushes on Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. Well lucky you, you're back in the past which so happened to include younger and more accessible Remus Lupin and Sirius Black.
Hermione just sighed, completely frustrated at her new friend.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The next few days were uneventful until one day during breakfast.
The group all sat like they had the day before with Lily, James, and Peter on one side while Sirius, Hermione, and Remus sat on the other.
Hermione slowly and quietly picked at her breakfast plate while the rest of the other teens were joking around with each other. It was when Lily tried to get her attention did she start talking in a quiet voice.
"Hermione," Lily whispered.
The girl didn't answer.
"Hermione!" the witch said in a louder voice.
This time, Hermione raised her head up slowly.
"What?" she quietly asked.
Lily didn't say anything, but her facial expressions said everything.
"Can I talk to you for a bit?" Lily said.
"Okay..." Hermione looked at her friend expectantly.
"In private?" Lily had to add.
"Oh," Hermione replied and got up from the bench and started to walk out towards the halls with Lily.
"What's with her?" James asked his two friends that were sitting in front of him.
Sirius and Remus glanced at each other fully knowing what was wrong with Hermione Granger.
"Beats me," Sirius mumbled then started to stare in fascination at his food.
"Yeah..." Remus breathed out.
Meanwhile, Lily asked in a frustrated tone, "What's the matter? You've been incredibly quiet for the past four days. So what if Remus and Sirius like you? Besides you don't even like them so you shouldn't act uncomfortably around them. Just be yourself, Hermione."
"Lily, it's just complicated," Hermione responded. "If I act like myself, then I won't be able to leave here. Remus is the only thing here that I have from the future and almost like an anchor, but now that I know he likes me, I just can't seem to act normally around him. Besides, if I ever do like one of them, it would be harder for me to leave and..."
"Wait, Hermione... are you afraid of liking them?" Lily suddenly asked.
Hermione looked at a different direction, and abruptly walked back inside the Great Hall. She turned around to wait for her friend.
"You know, you should probably just make up your mind about them. Either pick one of them or just tell them you're not interested," Lily whispered to Hermione while walking back to the table.
"Easier said than done. I don't to make things even more awkward," Hermione answered.
The two split up and walked to the opposite ends and sat where they sat before.
"You okay?" Remus asked Hermione.
The witch smiled, "Yeah I am, why?"
"You just seemed a little tense," Remus gave her a worried look.
"It's just homesickness," Hermione reassured him.
"Do you plan on visiting them during the winter break?"
Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the question because of her situation. She replied, "I can't. My family is going on a um... trip."
"Oh..."
"No matter though, I'll see them soon enough."
Once all six of the Gryffindors finished their breakfast, they headed over to their classes.
"I hate Tuesdays," Sirius whined while walking lazily in the hallway.
"Here, here," James agreed half-heartedly.
"What's wrong with Tuesday?" Hermione queried.
"What's wrong with Tuesday?" Sirius looked as if Hermione had committed blasphemy. "Tuesday is probably the worst day of the week! But the most awful part on Tuesdays is if it's sunny because it shines and blasts ruddy rays light mocking me that I have to go to classes today rather than go outside and play some Quidditch."
"And I'm guessing you'd hate Wednesday since it's right in between the week and it's making fun of you that you only have one more day until Friday," Hermione replied.
Sirius stopped walking and when he realized that what Hermione had said was completely true, he stomped his foot and exclaimed, "I hate Tuesdays and Wednesdays!"
"Pads," the messy haired Gryffindor laid a hand on his friend's shoulder, "it's okay."
"No it is not. I'm dying to go outside and do something fun!"
Lily and Hermione rolled their eyes and walked off, leaving the guys behind them.
This caused for the two boys to look at each other and stop their conversation.
"Sometimes, I really hate it when they just leave like that..." James huffed.
"Maybe it's the way we act?" Peter asked.
The three other Marauders looked at each other and simultaneously disagreed.
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After classes, Hermione immediately headed over to the library. She stepped inside the book haven and smiled to herself; this was practically like her second home. Hermione remembered when her, Harry, and Ron were looking for all the solutions for Harry's problems in here.
She walked into the aisle where there was a huge section about time traveling. The witch had covered most of the books in the past two months, but there were still more to go.
Hermione ran her finger along the leather spines of the worn books that she had already read. It was until her finger hit a book with a red leather cover. She took the book out of the shelf and looked at the title. A Time Traveler's Guide: Time Solstice, What is it? by Gwen McKiflin.
"Finally!" Hermione whispered to herself and greedily opened the book.
"Time solstice is a very mysterious way of time traveling. It is not known to many wizards or witches since only one out of one thousand has the special type of wand for it. The name itself is self explanatory, but if you still don't get it reader, here it is. Solstice is a term used when the sun's rays hit the earth at two certain points of the year. For time solstice, only during the solstice period, can the wand owner travel into the future or the past. There are infinite numbers of small invisible holes around you, now don't look around, because like I said, they are INVISIBLE. The only thing that can actually penetrate through it is a wand, and what type of wand do you ask? Well, that would be a-"
Hermione felt a tap on her shoulder; she immediately turned around with her wand in the face of the person.
"Woah," Sirius pushed away Hermione's wand away from his face, "what's with the hostility?"
Hermione placed a hand above her heart, "You scared me."
"Really? Were you reading naughty books?" Sirius slyly grinned and peered down at the book that Hermione was reading.
"Sirius Black!" Hermione exclaimed while placing her hands on her hips and scowling.
"Don't scrunch up your pretty face like that," Sirius chided.
Hermione rolled her eyes and walked towards the front desk of the library to check out her book selection. Sirius jogged to catch up to her. He could have sprinted, but Madam Pince would probably have a heart attack.
"Not so fast, now," Sirius placed his hand on Hermione's shoulder to stop her from going any further.
The witch turned around to face him, but almost jumped back when she noticed how close Sirius was to her.
"You walk fast, did you know that?" Sirius dramatically exhaled.
Hermione laughed silently, and pushed Sirius's hand from her shoulder, "If you don't mind, I have to go and check this book out."
"All right, but I'm not done with you yet," he warned.
"Should I be scared?" Hermione joked and then turned around to walk to the desk.
Sirius didn't respond, but smiled to himself like an idiot.
Once Hermione checked out her book, she walked out of the library to find Sirius leaning against the wall on the other side of the hall.
"Took you long enough," Sirius feigned a scowl.
"Don't scrunch up your pretty face like that," Hermione threw back what Sirius had said earlier.
Sirius looked at her with a mischievous look in his eyes, "So you think I'm pretty?"
"Sirius, do you have to tell me something or did Lily send you?" Hermione blatantly ignored Sirius' question.
He gasped, "I can't just visit you? I'm hurt."
When Hermione didn't say anything but merely look at him, the boy gave up and told her why he came to her.
"I was still wondering if you were up for the guitar lessons that we were talking about the other day."
"Oh! I completely forgot about that," Hermione said while toying with her book. "Well, I suppose I'm still interested."
"Excellent," Sirius smirked and threw his arm around her shoulder.
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Sirius and Hermione came in the Gryffindor Common Room laughing... well Sirius did most of the laughing.
"Okay," Sirius said to himself, "Have to calm down."
This action caused Hermione to look at Sirius incredulously.
"Sirius you're such a-"
"-sexy, deliciously, irresistibly, handsome Gryffindor?" he threw out complimentary adjectives.
"I was going to say weird," Hermione replied but smiled and sat down on one of the couches.
Sirius knelt in front of her and made a puppy face, "I'm hurt."
"Didn't mean to hurt your huge ego," Hermione laughed, "but I speak the truth."
Sirius sighed inwardly in response, looked into Hermione's eyes, and gave her his famous smile. "I guess that's okay."
However, instead of saying something, Hermione's cheeks immediately tinted pink. She bit her lower lip then turned her head to the side to look away.
Sirius shot an eyebrow up and grinned to himself. He quickly gathered her hands together and placed them in between his own. There was a shocked expression on Hermione's face, which had caused Sirius to laugh once more.
"We need to get started on those guitar lessons," he started to get up, pulling Hermione along with him.
"Right now?" Hermione asked hesitantly.
"Well, what's a better time than now? Oh, and the guitar's upstairs. If it doesn't bother you much, we could have our lesson there," Sirius cautiously asked the girl in front of him.
Hermione quickly let go of Sirius' hands, "Do you think that's a good idea? It is the boy's dormitories and well the rules..."
"Are you worried that I might have secret intentions? I'm offended," Sirius placed a hand over his heart.
"Actually, I was just worried about what Lily would say" Hermione lied about not thinking about Sirius' intentions, although now that she thought about it, she was a little worried that Lily would over exaggerate.
"Yea, I guess that could prove to be a problem," Sirius paused and then said, "I guess we'll just have to be really quiet then, hm?"
Giving Hermione a wink, he grabbed her hand and headed upstairs into the boys' dormitories.
Once they were inside, the first thing Hermione could see were unmade beds and a messy floor. However, some beds were made, but that was extremely rare. But for some reason, none of the boys were in the dormitory.
Sirius ran a hand through his hair, "I guess the lack of males in the room will help you to be not caught by Lily?"
"Yea, I would think so," Hermione laughed.
"Well, the guitar is over here," Sirius said while leading her over to the other side of the room.
He reached under his bed and grabbed his guitar.
"You ready?" he asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
"Well," Sirius sat down on his bed and patted the empty space beside him, "come into my chamber of music and sit your pretty self down."
Hermione shook her head while rolling her eyes and gently sad down on the bed leaving a modest distance between her and Sirius.
"I won't bite," Sirius smirked when he noticed how far Hermione was sitting away from him.
The witch shifted slightly closer to him but still leaving a noticeable gap between them.
Sirius sighed and quickly moved closer to Hermione.
"Here," he handed Hermione his guitar.
When Hermione grabbed the guitar, Sirius whined almost like a dog and said, "Be careful.
"I'll be careful," she tried hard not to laugh. "Okay, what now?"
"We'll start with chords, now place your fingers on the third string. Wait. No, Hermione, not like that."
Hermione let out an exasperated sigh and continued to struggle with her finger placement.
"You just have to- just put-" Sirius tried to explain to Hermione. "You know what, here."
Sirius settled himself behind Hermione and soon wrapped his arms around her while placing his hands on Hermione's own hands. She froze. The feeling of his arms around her felt extremely intimate and incredibly wrong.
However, before Hermione could voice her concern, Sirius leaned into Hermione's ear and whispered instructions to her caused series of tingles to crawl down her back.
"Now," Sirius directed, "place your fingers like this."
Hermione complied. Besides, it wasn't as if she had a choice.
"And then, slowly strum your fingers on this side," Sirius whispered into her ear and smiled when he felt Hermione shiver.
When Hermione, with the help of Sirius, played a chord, he congratulated her.
"Good job," he muttered into her ear.
Sirius smelt the faint aroma of vanilla coming off of Hermione. He nuzzled his head in the crook of her neck, this action made Hermione hitch a breath.
"Sirius..." Hermione stiffly said.
Disregarding Hermione's panicked voice, Sirius mumbled in a low voice, "You smell really good," and enclosed Hermione in his arms tighter.
Hermione turned her face slowly to look at Sirius. He immediately raised his head from his earlier position and looked at her intensely. It was only a matter of seconds that he pressed his lips on hers gently.
The contact made Hermione feel an electrifying shock, which Sirius felt as well. He ran his tongue underneath Hermione's lower lip causing her to gasp in shock. He then slowly started to kiss her passionately.
"I should stop him. I really should- Oh Merlin..." was all Hermione thought.
Sirius broke of the kiss to push the guitar out of Hermione's grasp and laid it down on the floor. He immediately turned back to capture Hermione's lips. He soon guided her down on his bed. Surprisingly for Hermione, she made no attempts to remove herself from him.
The wizard was soon on top of Hermione with one hand cradling her face and the other on the side of them to remove some weight on the girl. Hermione had wrapped her arms around Sirius's neck with her fingers intertwined in Sirius' dark locks. Hermione let out a small moan into his mouth causing for Sirius to kiss her furiously.
Because Sirius and Hermione were so engaged with each other, they didn't hear the three Marauders coming into the dorm; Remus, James and Peter stood in shock.
"What the hell is going on?!" Remus thought angrily.
When James coughed, the two students immediately pulled apart which ultimately caused for Sirius to fall on the floor.
"Oh shit," Sirius looked up at Hermione and then at his friends, but mostly Remus.
Sirius's hair was mussed up from Hermione's fingers and his lips were slightly swollen like Hermione's. The appearance of the two caused for Remus to feel disgust.
Sirius soon realized how angry Remus was when he locked eyes with his friend. Just as soon as he did though, Remus hurtled himself across the room towards him. A resounding crack was heard in the room when Remus punched Sirius squarely on the jaw. Hermione quickly jumped off the bed and grabbed Remus' shoulders and told him to stop.
Remus whipped his head towards the side and briefly looked at Hermione with a hurt expression but said sternly, "Don't get into this."
As Sirius was lying on the ground holding his jaw and in slight pain, he didn't bother to punch Remus back. However, he didn't think that Remus would go at him again...
Remus mustered up all the strength in him and immediately started to hit Sirius. He was stopped mid-punch when James grabbed his fist to prevent him from hitting Sirius.
"Let me go," Remus growled while struggling against James's grasp.
Sirius slowly got up while wiping blood that trickled down from his cut mouth. He looked at Hermione with eyes full of apology. Hermione, however, was frozen on the spot, she wasn't sure what to do now.
"Hermione? I think it's best if you could go to your dorm right now," James grunted while trying to keep Remus from tackling Sirius once more.
As soon as those words came out, Hermione rushed out of the boys' dorm. She ran to her own dorm and sat on her bed.
Hermione sat there thinking about what had just happened with a bewildered expression on her face.
Lily was about to joke about how ridiculous Hermione looked, but when she noticed the witch's swollen lips and heated face, Lily immediately asked, "What happened to you? Was it Remus?"
"I don't want to talk about," Hermione replied while looking down.
Lily walked towards Hermione's bed and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, "It'll be harder to get through it if you don't say anything, and I'm sure the thing you're talking about isn't so bad."
"Just as long as you promise me you won't say I told you so? Because I'm in no mood to defend myself," Hermione made her friend promise.
"Uh... sure," Lily hesitantly replied.
Hermione sighed and said, "Well, Sirius met up with me at the library and asked if I still wanted to learn the guitar. I told him I didn't mind, so we headed back to his dorm. Everything was going fine, but somehow he ended up kissing me."
"And then..." Lily asked when Hermione paused.
"Um... James, Peter and Remus came in at some point and Remus basically charged at Sirius. It was a one-sided fight though because Sirius didn't fight back. Luckily though, James grabbed a hold of Remus and suggested that I should go back to the girls' dormitory."
"Wow..."
"Yea, you could say that again."
"That's pretty intense, Hermione," Lily said. "Maybe you really should choose or say no to them sooner. This isn't just disappearing on its own."
"Why does this have to happen?" Hermione groaned.
Lily shrugged, "Maybe you should just act like you do around me."
"But I do! That didn't get me anywhere obviously," Hermione said in a frustrated voice.
The other witch sat quietly and thought for a moment then exclaimed, "I have a plan!"
Before waiting for a response, Lily grabbed Hermione's hand and rushed out of their dorms.
Meanwhile, in the boys' dormitories, Remus was glaring at Sirius while he was being contained by James. Sirius couldn't bring himself to look at his friend, so he stared blankly at the carpeted floor.
"Can anyone give me a damn clue what the hell is happening?!" James asked in a frustrated tone.
"Ask Sirius," Remus spat out the name as if it was dirt, "he seems to know what he's doing."
Sirius finally looked up to find Remus looking at him savagely.
"I'm sorry, I-I didn't know what I was doing until now," Sirius apologized, it was half true, being around Hermione caused him to forget about everything which included the hands off Hermione bit.
"You know, this is just a girl we're talking about. We barely know her and you two are acting as if you both like her or something," James said.
Remus sardonically laughed and said, "Maybe it's because we do."
"What?!" James exclaimed. "When did this happen?"
Disregarding James' question, Sirius said to Remus, "Look, I'm serious. I really wasn't aware of what I was doing. It was until I heard someone cough that I realized what was going on."
"Even," Remus muttered.
"What?" Sirius looked at his friend incredulously.
"It's even, I kissed her that one night and you kissed her today. We're even, just as long as you swear to me that if you do something like this one more time-" Remus was cut off.
"I should expect to be murdered in the dead of night," Sirius solemnly said.
"Yea, something like that," Remus smirked.
"Oh god... I'm never going to get this bloody mess. Wait, Moony, you kissed her?!" James ran a hand through his hair in shock. "So what are you two going to do then? Both chase after her or something?"
Ignoring James once more, Sirius announced, "Let's go down to dinner, I'm hungry."
"I think you're always hungry," Remus added while getting up.
"What the hell! Why won't anyone answer my fucking question?" James exclaimed while throwing his hands up in the air.
"Because it's Sirius," Peter replied.
"But Remus?"
"Yea... beats me."
As Sirius and Remus led the way towards the Great Hall, James was still talking to Peter about how ridiculous Sirius and Remus were both being.
"You know, I think it might be a little awkward at dinner," Remus said to Sirius.
"Thought you'd never bring it up," Sirius sighed. "Well, we could just act like our crazy maniacal selves, oh don't look at me like Moony, you know it's true. You're the silent beast that the young females in our school love. And if that doesn't work, we'll just have to try and break the ice."
Remus shook his head side to side and laughed, "You aren't thinking what I'm thinking?"
"IF it so happens to involve a certain Slytherin named Lucius Malfoy, then I am thinking what you are thinking."
Both Gryffindors slyly looked at each other and slapped each other's hands.
"Oy! What are you two up to now?" James yelled.
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Lily and Hermione had walked into the Great Hall and were eating their dinner slightly earlier than the usual to avoid the boys.
"What if they show up?" Hermione said while scanning the room.
The other witch shrugged, "You could always just leave."
"Yea, that won't make it any more awkward. What's the plan that you were talking about just a few minutes earlier anyway," Hermione asked.
"It's nothing actually."
"Lily, tell me now," Hermione sternly muttered under her breath.
"Really Hermione, have patience," Lily off-handedly said.
Once Hermione noticed the four teenagers, she began panicking.
"Lily, I really might just leave."
"Hermione, don't you dare!"
Before Hermione could say anything, James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter sat down at the table.
"Hey," James leaned down and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek.
"Sirius, Remus, Peter," Lily nodded to the rest of the boys.
"Lily," they all simultaneously responded.
James, as usual sat next to Lily, while Peter sat next to James. Remus and Sirius looked at each other then Hermione. The two Gryffindor boys cautiously sat down in between the witch. Hermione made no movements, so the both of them sighed.
"Hey Hermione," Remus mumbled.
"Oh, hello Remus," Hermione looked down at her food.
Sirius mumbled a 'hello' as well.
Hermione merely nodded her head in acknowledgment. The witch then kicked Lily in the shins to get her attention. When Lily scowled at Hermione, the teen pleadingly looked at her friend and mouthed 'help'.
"So, er- Hermione, I-" Remus was cut off Lily.
"Oh I completely forgot. Hermione, we've got to get that thing for McGonagall," Lily said while getting up from the bench.
Hermione immediately stood up and replied, "At the library, right?"
"Absolutely," Lily said while she started to head out of the Great Hall.
The two girls quickly walked out to the hallways, leaving four very bewildered boys.
"I wonder what McGonagall wanted," Peter muttered.
"I highly doubt McGonagall needed something," Remus replied.
"That was probably a ruse to get away from us," Sirius sighed.
"Thanks guys," James chastised his two friends. "But now that they are both gone... could you fill me in on what's happening? It's killing me."
Sirius and Remus rolled their eyes.
"We might as well, I mean, we also have to figure out how this is going to work," Sirius said. "James might be able to help."
"I suppose," Remus shrugged.
"Excellent," James rubbed his hands together.
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Hermione and Lily started to walk aimlessly around the castle.
"Don't tell me that was your plan," Hermione said.
"Nope," Lily laughed. "That was half of the plan. The second part is going to the kitchen to finish our dinner because I'm still starving."
"You know, this isn't really helping the situation."
"Yes I'm aware that it isn't, but at the moment it seemed like a good idea."
"It is better than sitting at dinner awkwardly..."
"See, everything's okay for now," Lily smiled brightly.
"Yea, but what's going to happen for the next few days?"
"We'll just have to improvise," Lily shrugged.
"Great."
So that got a little complicated, hm? But Sirius finally made a move on Hermione though. Oh, and so... I realized that Solstice actually occurs during the months of June and December. Sigh... apparently I mistook Solstice for Equinox [months: March/September]. Argh. Rather than going back and changing everything and confusing all of you, let's say that Solstice occurred for Hermione during September.
WELL...Thanks to those who reviewed for Chapter 2! But I would like to specifically thank Mauseengel for giving me an extremely helpful review to improve my writing. I really appreciate it.
As for when Regulus Black will make an appearance: He will! So don't worry classicmovielover, I'm just trying to think of some good situations that would introduce him into the story.
For those who also thought that movie Sirius Black and Remus Lupin weren't what they expected: I'm going to have to say that Michael Vartan is the perfect Remus Lupin and Hugh Jackman for Sirius Black. Okay, before everyone furiously types out to refute my pick for Sirius... google image Hugh Jackman. You see the pictures him with long hair? Yea. Mmm. Most definitely my older Sirius Black.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Hopefully you enjoyed? And if there are any glaring grammatical errors, my apologies. I probably should get a beta-reader. Admittedly, I was an editor for my school newspaper and will be the co-editor in chief next year... but that definitely does NOT mean that I will catch every single thing. So... WANTED: Beta-reader.
-Susie