Hermione gave Evanna a small wave as she turned the corner, her robes swung haphazardly over one shoulder and a half-toasted piece of bread in her hand. She hummed to herself as she made her way through the castle's twisting corridors towards the Entrance Hall; the first day of Hogwarts had fallen on a Saturday that year, and she had been stuck inside for the past few days and it had been as good a time as ever to go out onto the grounds.

She finished her toast just as she came to the doors, pulling them open with little difficulty. The bright midday light flooded her vision, but she continued on down the hill as though the sudden beams of sunlight hadn't startled her at all.

"Excuse me!" called a voice behind her, and she whirled around so quickly her curled tresses flew into the girl behind her's face. Hermione apologized hurriedly, her face as pale as it had been before; war had done strange things to her and she refused to start blushing like a school girl.

I am a schoolgirl, thought Hermione as she watched the vaguely familiar redheaded girl recompose herself, a blush staining her cheeks. "I didn't mean to startle you," said the girl, her emerald eyes meeting her cinnamon.

Her eyes widened as she looked into Harry's eyes, looked on Ginny's hair, and watched the familiar mischievous sparkle alight within the girl's eyes. "It does not matter, does it?" said Hermione breathlessly, a small smile tugging at her lips as she looked at her best friend's mother.

"Lily Evans," said the girl, just as breathless as she offered Hermione her hand, a blush still tinting her cheeks as she thought over the startled reaction she had caused the other girl. "I wanted to ask why you weren't sleeping in the dormitories." Hermione shook her hand.

Hermione smiled at Lily, fighting a blush off her own cheeks. "Oh – that's partly my fault. I arrived in the summer and McGonagall wasn't here to reset the password on the Tower, so I slept in an old guest room on the third floor." She glanced down at the Head Girl badge on Lily's robes, a smile tugging at her lips at the similarities of the way she proudly stood and the way Harry had slouched around, almost afraid of people's curious gazes. "But, because of your status, I assumed you would not be sleeping there yourself?"

Lily beamed at Hermione, her badge flashing on her chest; it was rather clear she was proud someone had noticed at all. "Well, this year the Head dorms are being used for something, so Potter and I decided to give up that privilege and go back to the Tower. It would have been better there, anyway, because it wouldn't have felt right."

"I'm Hermione Granger," said Hermione softly, before adding, "But you'd already know that. The whole school would have noticed by now that there is another student among their ranks."

"Yes," Lily paused, seemingly thinking over something before blinking and grinning at Hermione, who grinned back, "the gossip here at Hogwarts spreads like wildfire. They will be curious for a few months, but then you'll mostly be left alone."

She took her hand back, smiling at Lily, who beamed back. "I'll see if I can talk to Professor Dumbledore about moving into the dormitories, if you'd like that."

Lily nodded, looking pleased. "Well…" she trailed off, looking around awkwardly, but Hermione laughed and grabbed her hand and tugged her down the hill. She giggled and let her new friend pull her down mound after mound before they reached the border of the Forbidden Forest. "We can't go in there, we're not allowed!"

But the other witch rolled her eyes. "What does that stop us from doing?" Hermione paused, sending a glance back at Lily, who had planted her feet firmly into the earth and refused to go further. "Besides, we're not going in there."

The redhead blushed and allowed Hermione to pull her over to a nearby rock, which stood a few feet away from a beech tree, which cast shade over them. They were right above the lake and, if they were careful, they could slip down and dip their feet inside.

Hermione swung her legs up atop the rock, her untameable curls flying in her hazel eyes as she did so. She didn't know why, but the kind, motherly nature that radiated off Lily had made her feel as if she was that same schoolgirl who had spent those long summer afternoons with Harry, Ron, and Ginny on those same grounds, rolling in the grass and splashing in the lake.

She then proceeded to make a big show of attempting to pull Lily up onto the rock beside her, which resulted into a blushing redhead and a clan of giggling first years nearby. Lily somehow felt at home beside this new girl and allowed herself to be tugged up beside her new friend, who waved cheekily at her.

"I haven't done this in a while," said Hermione an hour later, carefully dipping her toe into the water. She shivered and pulled it out, watching Lily carefully hold up her robes high enough to wade knee-deep in the lake. Their shoes and socks had been discarded under the beech tree a few minutes previously, and the two had busied themselves trying to get over the freezing water the lake doused them with.

Lily looked at her questioningly, letting the corner of her robe fall into the lake. She cursed and lifted it back up and huffed, shrugging the robe over her head and throwing it beside her shoes. "What do you mean?"

Hermione smiled at Lily, pushing her robe behind her on top of the rock and wiggling her toes inside the water as she slipped down ankle-deep. "I haven't done this in a while," she repeated, shivering slightly as she waded toward Lily, anxiously holding up her cloak. "I haven't had this much fun since I was sixteen. And even now that was a few years ago. In a few days I'll be nineteen."

"But… seventh years are all sixteen until they turn seventeen!" protested Lily, her red hair now tickling the top of the water.

"I dropped out of seventh year to help in the war," Hermione sighed, feeling at perfect ease as she let her skirt drop into the water with a giggle.

Lily's eyes widened, suddenly clamping her mouth shut. "You dropped out on your seventh year?" she repeated. Hermione nodded, but her redheaded friend just shook hers. "But you need NEWTs to get somewhere in the world!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Not in the muggle world, though. Some of us actually go back there after our seven years at Hogwarts. I'm muggleborn."

"I am, too," said Lily quietly, pausing for a moment. "It's terrible, isn't it? The way the treat muggleborns is horrific. We have to deal with such ridicule and pain because of our blood…"

Her curls pinned out of her face, Hermione looked up sadly and nodded. "Tell me about it," she said, her voice just as grave and quiet. "What I don't understand is how they expect us to steal their magic, when they think so lowly of us, as if we couldn't do it without the half-bloods and purebloods helping us. Sometimes it's the fact that we have to have everything about the magical world, including its many flaws, explained to us; it's like walking into a whole new world where we are already hated and disliked without them knowing us as we are, not our blood."

Lily sighed and waded back to the water's edge, perching herself on the back and letting her toes trace patterns in the lake. She perked up a second later, watching Hermione intently. "Did you know that most pureblood families aren't actually pureblooded? Most of them just claim they are and forget that they don't have the most pure blood possible and continue on with their lives, fully believing they are better at us."

Hermione's tone became icy, and her eyes dark. "Do you really think they are better than us?" her voice was soft, dangerously cold.

"No!" squealed Lily indignantly, looking dignified as she snapped her head up to meet her friend's eyes defiantly. Then she slapped a hand to her forehead, a frown tugging at her brow. "I don't believe that at all, Hermione. I'm sorry if I made it sound like that. I don't really know how to voice what I feel most of the time, and that came out wrong. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," Hermione replied, her tone much softer as she hauled herself up onto the bank beside her new friend. "I'm just used to the prejudice and I thought… well, I'm sorry."

Lily smiled at her, perking up once more as a smile tugged at her lips. "Do come on, 'Mione!"

"'Mione?" asked Hermione, grinning as her friend pulled on her arm and into the water. She allowed the redheaded witch to pull her back into the lake. And then her eyes were covered and she squealed, waving her arms around blindly.

A laugh was heard behind her as her eyes were uncovered, but was quickly splashed with salty water. Lily grinned and darted out of Hermione's way, who had lunged for her, and both of them tumbled into the water, squealing and giggling once more.

James pulled Sirius behind him, a furious blush on his cheeks as he led them away from the crowd of swooning Ravenclaws behind them. Remus tutted as he followed them, hiding his amused face behind his book as he watched Sirius wink flirtatiously at him, causing the girls to giggle and swoon again.

"You had to do that, didn't you, Padfoot?" said James gruffly as he let go of his friend and hauled himself up onto a nearby rock, frowning. His two best friends situated themselves at the foot of that rock, both looking thoroughly amused as James continued to grumble under his breath. "Merlin help us now... School joke..."

It had been like any other morning when Sirius had woken them up and dragged them onto the grounds. He had pulled them into the Forbidden Forest, where the trio had a bit of a wander. A few hours later, they had appeared on the edge, looking slightly dishevelled and bruised. Remus had stumbled over a tree root and into the gaggle of giggling Ravenclaws, causing them to immediately jump to conclusion; this conclusion happened to be the worst they could have come up with. And now probably half the school was under the impression all three Marauders were gay.

And no one would ask them what really happened, because they didn't really know themselves.

"Yes, yes I did," said Sirius, smirking as he watched a seventh year Slytherin with dark hair wander across the grounds, her eyes fixed on him and him alone. He grinned at her and she giggled and waved.

Remus rolled his eyes and returned to his book, attempting to read the top of the page - Again! - but a loud shriek startled the trio into leaping to their feet and grabbing their wands, whirling around.

But the shriek, they soon found, was not one of pain or fear; it was of laughter, and it had erupted from a beautiful redhead's mouth as she lunged after a familiar brunette with hazel eyes, who danced out of her way and flicked some water after the redhead. The redhead lunged for her again, but the other girl was too fast and they both tumbled forwards into the lake, squealing as they were doused head-to-toe in freezing water.

The redhead had long, dark red hair that tumbled to her waist in tamed ringlets, her eyes a sparkling emerald. Her form was petite, small, and thin, with her stance one of playful fighting. Her hands darted forward as she sat up, spluttering, and she grabbed the other girl around the wrist and pulled her back down beside her. The other girl, who had stood up and turned to face them, prying her soaked curls from her eyes, was just as gorgeous.

Her dark chocolate hair was wild and untamed, and hung to past her waist and to her hips in beautiful waves that clashed well with her bright, mischievous hazel eyes. Those eyes told of wisdom and war, but also of love and hope, and they seemed to burn with an ever-burning fire that danced in the light. She, like the redhead, was beautiful, her form small yet strong, petite yet powerful.

The Marauders immediately recognised the redhead as Lily Evans, but were shocked by her laid-back, fun nature. Her eyes glistened with mischief as she pulled the other girl under the water, no longer caring about their soaked clothes. The other girl was vaguely familiar, with her mischievous grin and infectious giggle, she was beautiful.

Hermione shrieked as Lily tackled her around the waist, pushing them both back onto the bank. She gasped for air as a tear of mirth trickled down her cheek, holding her hands against her new friend's and wrestling with the redhead. Lily playfully rolled off and lay by her side, and both girls sighed in unison and closed their eyes.

A shadow had fallen over her face when she looked up, and Hermione was once again looking into the bright, intelligent eyes of Remus Lupin. "Hello," she said breathlessly, a smile tugging at her lips as she looked up at him. He grinned at her and offered his hand, which she accepted, and hauled her to her feet. "I'm Hermione Granger."

He took her offered hand, smiling at her. She noticed how his eyes flickered back to Lily frequently, who was still cluelessly sunbathing below them. Hermione let loose a small giggle at his obviousness, to which he had the decency to blush. "Lily, we have visitors."

The redhead sat up very quickly, knocking foreheads with James Potter, who shot back and groaned in pain as his best friend fell into fits of laughter, holding his ribs as he looked between he and the redheaded girl he had fancied since first year. "You... you..." spluttered Sirius, almost hysterically, before bursting out in mirth again.

Hermione winked at Remus and turned to help Lily to her feet, who blushed as she rubbed her forehead. Her emerald eyes fell on Remus, who smiled at her, and she blushed again. Hermione's eyes widened as she spotted their interaction, a twinkle in her eye as she smiled knowingly and turned around to the other two Marauders.

"The name's Hermione Granger," she said, offering her hand to the nearest Marauder, who happened to be the father of her best friend. He looked up at her, did a double take, and used her hand to haul himself to his feet.

"James Potter," he replied cheerily, sending a subtle glare in Sirius' direction. "But you can call me babe."

Hermione rolled her eyes and released his hand, folding her arms and fixing him with a flat stare. "Or pathetic."

Lily giggled and looked at James, who smirked at her as Sirius burst out laughing again.

"We'll get along just fine," gasped out Sirius, patting Hermione's shoulder patronisingly.

So... this was a very, very long, agonisingly long, chapter to write. I haven't been feeling that well, so... well, I gave it my best shot. If it's not up to usual standards, then I apologise.

Love,

Marlene