Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine and I'm just writing this story for fun.
Chapter 5
"Too many people grow up. That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don't remember what it's like to be 12 years old." -Walt Disney
Remus entered the boy's dorms after his encounter with Hermione. She was a perplexing girl (not to mention headache inducing) and he felt drained from trying to figure her out. But Sirius of course wouldn't let him rest. He lay out on his bed but Sirius leapt on him.
"The future! I want to ask her about mine so badly!"
"What!" Remus stood up. "You can't!"
Sirius looked at Moony surprised. "Why not? She told Prongs some things today. Pretty exciting stuff."
"She told Prongs the future?" Remus began to shake with anger. "That was incredibly stupid! When?" He felt guilty enough that Hermione had told him he would be a professor.
"He told me about it the second he came back… he's in the bathroom; he'll probably tell you what she said when he gets out."
"Damn it Sirius I don't want to know. You're not supposed to know!" He wanted to pull out his own hair for pushing Hermione for the truth earlier.
Remus began to pace the large dorm room. He sighed and sat back on his bed. He flipped over backwards and put an arm over his face.
I'll just make sure she doesn't spill anymore.
Sirius hoped over to Remus' bed and leaned over him. "Maybe she knows your future." Remus blushed. Sirius winked and got up to put on his pajamas. "Future, huh? She's somethin' ain't she?"
Remus sat up really fast and raised his brows at Sirius this time. Irritation was welling up in him too easily today. "Do you like her?" Remus could scarcely believe it. Padfoot had never liked anyone.
Padfoot stopped and looked over his shoulder at Lupin. "I don't know, what's that feel like anyway?" Remus rolled his eyes and turned over so his back was now to Black. Then Potter came in. Without a word he went to his bed, flipped onto it and didn't look back up. "Jeez, she must have worked him hard!" Black sauntered to the already sleeping James and pulled his hair. He didn't wake up.
"Who?" Remus wasn't interested but...
"Hermione, of course, she's going to give him help with homework." Sirius pulled his robes over his head and began to change into pajama bottoms.
Lupin perked at that. "Isn't that MY job?" Maybe he wouldn't have to help everyone with their homework this year, but he didn't actually help, just gave them the answers.
"She must be pretty good too. James said she's already taken these classes in the future." Sirius smirked. "I'm going to ask her to help me tomorrow."
Lupin couldn't help speculate who this girl was. She was so frustrating and annoyed him but he had snuck glimpses of her, all day he couldn't stop, not during potions, charms, transfiguration and dinner, and now here she was, stealing his friends. "Whatever. Maybe I won't have to put up with you anymore." Moony had never clashed with anyone before Hermione. He couldn't stop thinking about her, especially her cool hand on his burning face before she'd gone to bed. His dreams were dark and mostly featured himself in wolf form running through the Forbidden Forest and being chased and unable to escape.
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During breakfast the next morning Hermione pushed her omelet around her plate. The yellow blob didn't look appealing at all. "Are you going to eat that?" Hermione looked up in surprise to find Sirius sitting very close to her. Inconveniently, she remembered what James had said last night and she pushed the plate over to him.
"No." She picked up her goblet full of pumpkin juice and tried to force herself to drink it. She swirled it until the juice was hitting the rim then slammed it on the table.
Lily, who was sitting across from Hermione, looked up in annoyance. "Less noise please." She went back to her charms essay which she hadn't had time to finish last night. When she had sat next to Hermione that morning she hadn't expected the Marauders to join them and now that they had she was in the worst kind of mood. It wasn't like she could move without looking like she had a big stick up her butt. She was sick of them making her look like a prick every time they annoyed her and she had to storm away or be forced to perform a bat-boogey hex on Potter.
Hermione glanced at James and he gave her a tiny smile before returning to his oatmeal. She was glad he still wanted to be her friend, especially after last night, the embarrassment of it hadn't fully hit her until she was in the shower that morning.
Today she'd attempted to perform an anti-frizz spell she'd picked up from the Patil girl's and it was working well which was making her feel better but not much.
"Look who it is." Peter suddenly announced and everyone looked up to see what he was talking about.
The only thing Hermione could see was a white-blonde girl, who was walking toward them from the Ravenclaw table. "Oh no." She heard Remus mutter and she glanced at his white face.
Sirius laughed cheerfully and waved the girl over. "Oi! Doriana!" The girl waved back and started walking faster toward them.
"Why'd you do that?" Remus was glowering at Sirius. But his eyes shifted to the girl in what Hermione interpreted as fear.
"Who's that?" Hermione whispered to James and he smiled at her.
"That… is Ms. Doriana Trout."
"Trout?" Hermione had never heard of her.
"She has a notorious crush on Remus." Hermione raised her eyebrows and took a better look at the girl. She was closer and Hermione saw that her white-blonde hair almost reached her lower back and she had bright blue eyes. She kind of reminded Hermione of Luna. But this girl's face wasn't vacant at all, she looked intelligent and determined. She was very pretty.
"Why's he acting like that then?" Hermione glanced at Remus again and noted his white face and annoyed expression.
"He's got a phobia of woman." James also looked at Remus but smiled slightly as he said this, Hermione hoped that meant he was mostly joking.
"Hello everyone." Doriana had reached the table and was standing behind Sirius so she was in front of Remus. Remus managed to glance up and give her a small wave before returning to his bacon and eggs.
"Hello Doriana! Would you like to sit with us Gryffindors today?" Sirius shifted closer to Hermione to make room but the girl shook her head. Hermione was hyper aware of Sirius' leg touching her own but she wasn't sure if he'd done it on purpose or not.
"No, I just came to remind Remus we have a prefect meeting today." She stared at Remus long and hard before he finally looked up.
"Thanks Doriana but you didn't have to do that." Remus muttered. Hermione felt kind of bad for the girl but something was bugging her.
"How many times do I have to tell you? You can call me Ana!" She teased him but Remus only gave her a small smile.
"Can I call you Ana?" Sirius said in a voice that was meant to sound sincere.
Doriana laughed. "I didn't think you could keep the names straight with all of the girls you're stringing along Sirius." She poked his shoulder but glanced at Hermione as she said this. Annoyance built up immediately in Hermione but she refused to respond. "What's your name?" Doriana was staring at Hermione but when she went to open her mouth to answer, Sirius jumped in.
"This here is Hermione! She came from… Where did you say you were from?"
"America."
"Right! America! And she's brilliant!" Hermione noticed Doriana's eyes darken and narrow for a second but then she smiled.
"Very nice to meet you Hermione. See you around everyone." She gave Hermione one last glance before smiling at Remus and finally leaving. In embarrassment Hermione realized Sirius' leg was still against her own, she'd forgotten, so she shifted away.
"Come on Remus! You could at least TRY!" Sirius said in exasperation but smiled at Remus' expression. Sirius hadn't seemed to notice her moving away.
"And say what exactly?" Remus glared at Sirius who just laughed. "Hi I'm Remus, I'm a-"
"Git!" Hermione filled in before he could say werewolf. She glanced pointedly at Lily who didn't notice. Everyone else laughed but Remus gave Hermione a grateful smile.
"Yes he is a git isn't he?" Sirius looked Remus up and down. "You need to bulk up or something. You're too skinny. Doesn't your mother ever tell you you're too skinny?" James laughed heartily and even Hermione chuckled.
"Not this again." Remus rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you?" Everyone burst into more laughter when he said this and he blushed, he'd said the exact same thing as Doriana.
There was a slam and everyone looked over in shock at Lily who'd slammed her hands on the table and was standing. "Oh why do you insist on making fun of everyone?" Lily had joined in the conversation, but she was glaring at James angrily. Hermione stopped laughing and watched Lily warily.
"I didn't say anything!" James looked a little taken aback.
Lily walked down the table to sit next to Alice and Frank who didn't even notice her arrival. "Sorry mate." Sirius said gravely as they all looked after Lily.
James growled, "You'd think she'd like me more after I stuck up for her after Snape called her a-a-a-"
"Mudblood?" Hermione supplied and the rest of the table glared at her.
"What have you got against them?" Even Remus looked angry as he said this.
Hermione chuckled. "Nothing. Since I am one! Jeez guys, I'm proud to be a mudblood!" A few people down the table gave Hermione a weird look when she yelled this but went back to their breakfast when they saw the Marauders around her.
"That's excellent! I knew there was a reason I liked you!" Sirius said gleefully and put an arm around her shoulder.
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Hermione sighed, this class was unbelievably easy. It was even easier the first time she'd taken it because the teacher had been way better than this one. She looked up at the Transfiguration teacher, who was dully explaining the finer points of turning a goblet into a rat. "Is there anyone that wants to demonstrate?" Hermione automatically raised her hand, but surprisingly, so did Lupin. The teacher, probably not knowing who Hermione was, picked Lupin.
Moony stood and waved his wand but the goblet didn't turn, Hermione knew it was because he had been holding his hand just slightly wrong.
The professor looked surprised. "Something wrong, Lupin?"
Remus turned bright red then sat back down. "No, sir."
The teacher smiled kindly then explained, "Well it was your first try." The teacher turned away."Alright, well, anyone else want to try?" The teacher looked around hopefully, but he knew, after Remus had failed no one would want-
Hermione raised her hand.
"Oh...well. Go ahead."
Hermione knew this was bad, she was cheating, after all, she had already taken this class before. Hermione stood and began the spell. She'd done it so many times before she didn't even have to speak the words aloud. She simply tapped the goblet in front of her three times and it instantly turned into a large rat. She set her hand down on its tail before it ran away and turned it back into a cup again. The class remained silent and Hermione felt so awkward. "Um, professor," Hermione said uncertainly. "May I go to the bathroom?" The dumbstruck professor simply nodded and Hermione walked quietly to the door. As soon as she was outside in the hall Hermione headed to Dumbledore's office.
Meanwhile, back in the classroom, it had turned into complete chaos. The teacher didn't really mind, there was nothing to demonstrate so the class was already over. Everyone wanted to know who the transfer student was and how she was so brilliant. Of course the Marauders where once again the center of attention. Since it seemed, that was who Hermione had become friends with. Sirius and James talked animatedly about the girl they barely knew themselves. While Peter sat next to them and nodded constantly like a great fat rat. But Lupin just sat there, incredibly pissed. Hermione was using the fact that she was from the future to her own advantage.
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After Hermione spoke to Dumbledore about getting herself some school supplies and robes sent to Hogwarts, Hermione wandered the hallways aimlessly. She was exhausted from staying up late into the night worrying about what was going to happen to her. She ended up walking right back to the Gryffindor common room and she entered through the Fat Lady's portrait. The Marauders were all sitting around the chairs nearest the fire and Hermione smiled, it was Harry, Ron and her favorite spot as well. She walked up to join them and sat between Sirius and Remus. "What are you guys doing?"
"Trying to figure out how you did that transfiguration spell." Sirius waved his wand but the goblet didn't even waver. He sighed.
Remus rolled his eyes but went back to his potions essay. They'd received it today and it wasn't due for a few more days but he was refusing to practice the goblet spell. It was irritating to him for some reason. The moon wouldn't be full for another five days, he knew this by instinct, but the closer it came the angrier and snappier he was, even to his friends.
"We're going down to dinner. Would you like to come?" James asked but Hermione shook her head.
"No I'm not really hungry. It's kind of early don't you think?"
"Yes but quidditch tryout are today." James said proudly and they all left out the portrait except for Sirius.
Hermione shuffled around some research she'd done for the potions essay. "Aren't you going too Sirius?"
"Well no. I was actually wondering if you could help me." Sirius looked completely serious…Hermione giggled.
"What's so funny?"
"I was just thinking that you looked very serious when you asked me that." Sirius joined in her laughter.
"But Hermione, I'm always serious!" They laughed some more before Hermione picked up Sirius' goblet.
"Alright let's get started so you can go to those tryouts!" Hermione picked up her own wand.
After Hermione had shown him the proper way to hold the wand, she began to teach him the right way to flick it. "No Padfoot, you have to flick your wand. Not wave it."Sirius concentrated for a moment then flicked his wand beautifully, the goblet in front of him shimmered but since he hadn't said the magic word it did nothing else. "That was brilliant!"
Sirius stopped and smiled. "Ya think so?"
"Definitely!" Hermione walked closer and adjusted his wand in his hand a little. "Now try it more like this-"
"Hermione," Sirius no longer looked interested in the new way he was holding his wand. Instead he was looking at her quizzically. "How do you know so much about us? You know our nicknames, or whole names, the Invisibility Cloak-"
"The Marauder's Map?"
Sirius stared at her dumbfounded. "You won't tell-"
"Of course not!" Hermione shook her head. "But I suspect it will be taken away soon by Filch."
"Does he know what it does?" Sirius looked panicked. It was cute the way his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.
"No no. He just thinks it does something bad." Hermione chuckled.
Wasn't that what Fred and George had said?
Sirius leaned back in his chair until it was standing on two legs. "I was thinking of leaving it for later troublemakers." That made Hermione laugh hysterically, if there were any troublemakers it would be Fred and George. "But you avoided my question." He tipped violently forward until he was only an inch from her face. "Well?"
Hermione sighed. "I'm from the future."
"But you know too much. Things we swore to never tell anyone." Hermione felt her face get hot. Sirius really was quite brilliant himself. Then she tried to calm down. He probably wanted to make her feel uncomfortable
She couldn't exactly tell him about Harry, and that Sirius was the one who told Harry everything. "You told me yourself." Hermione said simply.
"Wow, you know me in the future?" He was still leaning forward. "I wonder what you've changed by coming here…" Hermione was silent for a while before pushing away from Sirius. Sirius sat silently. He didn't look at her or laugh like he normally did. "Do you know my future?"
Hermione sucked in her breath remembering the night at the Department of Mysteries. "No."
Sirius spun and looked at her in alarm. "You do!"
"Sirius... It's not easy to know the future..."
"TELL ME!" He looked panicked and Hermione wanted to cry.
"Don't you yell at me!" But Hermione's voice wavered and she choked back a sob.
Sirius grabbed Hermione's arms and looked her straight in the face. "Just tell me." He said it gently but this made Hermione begin to cry in earnest.
"I'm so sorry, we were trying to save you…"
"Go on."
"When you died, oh poor Harry. Poor poor Harry." She shook her head and tried to forget Harry's sadness after Sirius was gone.
"How did I die Hermione?" He lightly shook her to get her back on track but she continued to shake her head.
"You died, because you came to protect someone you loved." She thought he would freak. Or yell and say he'd never die. But he smiled instead.
"Thank God." He sat in another chair and covered his face.
Memories flooded her. Harry's pain, Voldemort, the war. But Sirius was satisfied with the way things had turned out, she knew that now. She considered telling him about Azkaban but it might be too much since she'd also have to explain about Peter's betrayal. She couldn't tell him about the people he'd left behind either, how devastated Harry had been. "You're not upset at all?"
"Hermione. Dying for those you love is the best to die." Sirius stood and hugged Hermione who cried into his shoulder for a long time. "Thank you." Hermione could only nod into his shoulder before they pulled away from each other. He brushed some of her hair out of her eyes and smiled at her while she wiped tears from her cheeks. "Your hair looks nice today."
Hermione laughed and swatted his hand away. "You think so?" She couldn't help but feel flattered. "AH! Your quidditch!"
They ran all the way down to the pitch but were still late. Sirius joined the rest of the Gryffindors and Hermione headed to the stands to sit next to Remus. "Where's Peter?" She asked as she sat down and Remus nodded at her.
"He tries out every year. Never makes it." Hermione didn't feel sorry for him at all.
"Why aren't you trying out?"
"Can't stay on a broom for the life of me." They laughed together then Hermione watched as the team flew into the air. "You and Sirius were gone a long time." Hermione looked at Remus in surprise but he was deadly serious.
"Well I guess…" She wasn't sure if Remus would approve of her telling James and Sirius a little bit of their future. She went back to watch the team and pinpointed Sirius in the crowd. James was also flying around there somewhere but she couldn't spot him.
"You shouldn't tell them too much."
Hermione looked at Remus and sighed. "It's not that I want to. But Remus, their futures are so sad…"
"No! Don't tell me!" His eyes were frightened and he was holding his hands up as if he could physically block her from telling him something. But he couldn't help but notice that she'd only said their futures were sad. How could his future be better than his very talented and handsome friends?
Hermione stared at him for a long time then nodded. "You're right. You're completely right. I've ruined everything by coming here!" She was forcing herself not to cry but Remus knew anyways.
"Hey…Don't do that." He whispered but Hermione sniffed. "Here. I have chocolate." He dug around in his pockets until he came up with a chocolate bar. "Take some." Hermione smiled appreciatively and took a small bite.
"I should've known you'd have chocolate."
Remus smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Never leave the house without it." But really he was just glad she wasn't crying.
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Hermione left early but the Marauders walked back to the castle together.
"Come on Remus, it's not like she'll say no! What are you afraid of?" Sirius poked Remus' side but Remus only glowered as they walked.
"Because I don't want to. How is that so hard for you to understand?"
James trudged along next to Sirius and shook his head. Padfoot always pushed Moony's buttons close to the full moon, he wasn't sure why but it just seemed to make Moony harder and harder to calm down from one of his temper tantrums. "You ask Doriana and I'll ask Hermione and we'll go to Hogsmeade together next week, it'll be fun!"
Remus refused to even respond to this. He could feel his shoulders growing tenser; especially when he thought about the prefects meeting he had later.
When they reached the castle, James Sirius and Peter went up to the Gryffindor common room while Remus went to the Great Hall for the prefects meeting.
"See ya!" James called and Remus gave him a feeble wave.
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Hermione felt weary and she had a throbbing headache. But Lily was writing next to her and all Hermione could hear was the scratching of her quill. "Are you still mad?" Lily didn't answer her and Hermione glared at the fire.
Just great. Why is she so stubborn?
Lily finally put down her quill and sighed. "I know I shouldn't be mad." She brushed her red hair over her shoulder and Hermione admired its softness. "But everything he does infuriates me. I don't know what it is." Hermione smiled, Ron made her feel the same way but they were best friends.
"He didn't even do anything." Hermione had to point this out but Lily just sighed in exasperation.
"Yes but…"Lily shook her head. "You're right. But Sev will be furious if I decide to be nice to James."
Hermione's eyes widened. Sev? Did she mean… "Snape?"
"Yes. What Alice said is true. We're friends." She hesitated on the word friends.
"Oh."
"But lately… I don't know. I don't like who he's hanging out with."
"Who is he hanging out with?" But Hermione could imagine exactly who it was, a bunch of Death Eaters. Well… future Death eaters.
Lily growled. "A bunch of losers." She began to pack away her homework things, slamming everything down into her bag.
Hermione didn't respond to this for a long time and stared into the fire. She hadn't been friends with Lily very long; she didn't feel comfortable telling Lily to stop being friends with someone else. "Maybe he'll figure it out…"
"Not to mention what happened last year!" Tears filled Lily's eyes and Hermione looked on in horror.
She wasn't supposed to know what happened last year, so Hermione had to ask. "Last year?"
"He called me a-a- well he called me something in front of all these people. It was humiliating. We didn't speak for weeks." Lily had finished putting her things away and stared hard at Hermione. "James stuck up for me of course…went about it the wrong way but…" Lily glared at the books in her bag and Hermione nodded.
"Like I said, some boys mature slower than others. But eventually… they all grow up." Lily looked at Hermione for a moment then picked up her things.
"I suppose…Goodnight Hermione." Lily walked away and up the stairs to the girl's room.
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For the next couple of days Doriana continued to join the Marauders and Hermione at the Gryffindor table for meal times, much to Hermione's chagrin. She wasn't sure what it was about her but Doriana didn't seem to like Hermione or Lily very much. Doriana sat next to Remus every time but when she tried to engage in some kind of conversation he would become dark and brooding. Remus was remote until the full moon came and went and after this he became a much pleasanter person. He even managed to be nicer to Doriana which just encouraged her to sit with them.
"The Hogsmeade trip is on the twenty first." Sirius dropped the hint one morning but Remus ignored him.
"Yes I'm very excited to go." Doriana said as she looked longingly at Remus, who became very interested in his toast. "What about you Hermione? It'll be your first time right?" She sighed. "I remember my first time."
Hermione ground her teeth but had to answer in the negative, that she had never been to Hogsmeade.
"I'd love to take you Hermione!" Sirius jumped in and moved closer to Hermione. His knee bumped hers and Hermione was unsure again whether he'd done it on purpose. This sort of thing happened daily and more and more often but Hermione usually just ignored it. Sirius had been bothering Hermione a lot lately about going to Hogsmeade. But she was reluctant for obvious reasons.
James stared down the table at Lily who was sitting with Alice and Frank. She'd been switching between sitting with the two groups and James had been ecstatic. He'd thanked Hermione profusely but she didn't honestly think it was very much progress. Lily had confided in Hermione that 'Sev' was angry with her for sitting with the Marauders at all and Hermione felt sorry for her. Lily seemed very conflicted about the whole thing.
"We'll see." Hermione answered Sirius finally and continued to eat her cereal. "Wait! What's the date?" Hermione looked around the table in a panic.
"The sixteenth." Remus answered automatically and Doriana noticed that he'd answered Hermione right away while he refused to even look at her. She narrowed her eyes at Hermione.
"Oh my gosh! My birthday is in three days." Hermione contemplated this for a while. It wasn't really her birthday since it hadn't been a year since her last one but she was still kind of excited.
"Your birthday!" Sirius looked mock angry. "And you didn't tell your friends?" he shook his head. "How did you expect us to get you presents on such late notice?"
Hermione blushed and waved her hands. "No no no. You can't get me anything!"
James laughed and finally looked away from Lily. "Of course we have to Hermione."
"It's official! I have to take you to Hogsmeade now!" Sirius proclaimed and everyone at the table chuckled, accept for Hermione.
"What?" She asked in confusion.
"I have to take you on the Hogsmeade-best-birthday-spectacular-extravaganza-tour!"
"You can't be serious?" She said and blanched when she realized what she'd said.
"I'm always serious Hermione." Hermione rolled her eyes (this joke had gotten old after the billionth time he'd said it) when he said this and decided to just ignore his shenanigans. Sometimes there was no stopping Sirius when he was on a roll.