James cracked his eyes open, blinking deliriously at the mass of untameable curls next to his face. Marlene and Alice were holding pillows on either side of his head, raising them to whack him at any moment. He let out a yell as Hermione's struck his midsection and shot up in bed, glaring at the giggling brunette. "What's with the wake-up, anyway?" his best friend's voice demanded as Sirius dragged his shirt over his head.

Hermione shrugged and threw her pillow back onto his bed, perching on Remus' bed. "It's a school day today," she said, grinning slightly. "Lily decided she'd spent too much time away from the classrooms thanks to my little 'episode' the day before yesterday," she grimaced and Alice patted her arm, "so she woke us up at half-six in the morning and we had breakfast in the kitchens with Frank and Mary. You're lucky we let you sleep two hours longer than we did," she wagged a finger at Remus, who hid a grin. "We could only hold her back for so long…"

"Hermione!" Lily's indignant squeak resounded as she lunged for the other girl, sending them both spiralling onto the floor. "You did not 'hold me back'! I had to restrain you from attacking Marlene when she said that you fancied Gilderoy when we met him in the hallway this morning…" Hermione scowled at her.

She huffed and sat up, detangling Lily's hand from her hair. "I hate Lockhart, Lily, no matter what you and the girls think. He's an idiot," she added, hoping to convince a smirking Alice. "It's true! He's probably going to end up being this man who steals other people's work and takes credit for it! Pretty boy Lockhart," she mocked, putting on a fake falsetto voice.

Lily pouted. "Hermione, I hate your hair. It hates me," she yanked her hand out of her hair and Hermione winced and put a hand to her head, her lips turning down in distaste. "Sorry, I didn't mean for it to hurt." She looked up at Remus, who was pulling his shirt of her his head, and blushed as Dorcas elbowed her, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. "Just – just get ready for school," she barked and looked up at Remus again, who looked back at her with a furrowed brow, before blushing and slipping out of the room.

Hermione stood up and grabbed Alice by the arm, Dorcas by the ear, and smiled at the boys, motioning to the door to Cassandra and Marlene and, frowning at them, she dragged the girls out of the door. "We'll wait in the common room!" called Marlene behind them as Cassandra waved and closed the door.

"How'd they wake you up?" Sirius asked Remus as he buttoned up his trousers, looking around the room for his missing left sock. He grinned as Remus blushed and looked tentatively at James.

James sighed and looked at Remus from his position on his bed, hunting in his pockets for his Gryffindor tie. "If you like Lily, I'm fine with that – she doesn't like me anyway," he said, but Remus bit his lip. "Look, she likes you, too, and if she's happy, I'll be happy – she doesn't see me like that anyway."

Remus nodded, but he didn't look reassured. "Well, Marlene and Dorcas came over and started whispering in my ear. They – they…" he trailed off and blushed deeply, straightening his bag strap awkwardly. "Err, well, then, I'd better get to the common room." He darted out of the room, still blushing profusely, and James sighed as he wrestled with his shoe.

"That was brave of you, mate," said Sirius after a moment, the mischievous sparkle in his eyes replaced with a look of slight awe. "I'd never be able to do that – I mean, give up a girl that I really liked to my best friend. That was brave of you."

"Aw, are you going soft on me?" James cooed, trying to hide his discomfort; Sirius grinned, seemingly fooled, but he put away the conversation in his mind to remember it so that he could corner both Remus and Lily about it. "Let's go to the common room." He pulled his bag over his shoulder and left the room, his best friend following dutifully behind him. "I see no reason to stop my best friend being happy, even if it's with the girl I've been chasing after for years. I'm not going to stop him from anyone who makes him happy with his condition – Merlin knows that many girls would rather fear him than date him."

They found the girls in the common room; Lily was still blushing faintly, dangling her legs over the arm of the sofa she was lying across, Alice was holding hands with Frank, sitting with him on the loveseat, Marlene and Dorcas were dragging a brush through Hermione's hair, who looked miserable as she squeaked in pain whenever the brush yanked on a particularly unwilling knot, Cassandra was reading a magazine and Remus was watching amusedly from besides Lily, blushing whenever she caught his eye.

Hermione jumped up when she saw them and darted behind Sirius, bracing herself against his back and leaning over to hiss to the both of them, "Help me – they want to make my hair cooperate!" She winced as Marlene held up the brush and Dorcas tackled her to the ground, taking the brush and sitting on her stomach happily, dragging the brush through her hair. "Save me!"

Lily jumped up and put her hands on her hips, glaring at them. "Get up, now," she barked in a condescending tone, "we won't make it to Transfiguration if you're busy dragging that damned brush through hair that's very unwilling to cooperate with you." She glared at them as Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, sitting up easily and shoving Dorcas off as if she weighed nothing at all. "Come on!"

Alice and Frank leapt to their feet and saluted. "Yes ma'am," Hermione and Dorcas chorused and Cassandra sighed, putting down her magazine and tucking it in her bag ("I'll need it in Divination"). Marlene linked arms with Lily and dragged her out of the portrait hole.

Hermione grinned mischievously and offered her arm to Cassandra and Dorcas, who both linked arms with her and, on her signal, they jumped out from the portrait hole and began to sing, "We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz," as they went.

James shared an amused glance with the other two Marauders and sighed. "Why is it we always get stuck with the weird ones?" he questioned, and the sound of the girls yelling incredulous insults back at them caused them to laugh as they followed them out of the portrait hole.

…

Hermione tapped her quill against her chin thoughtfully, her eyes fixed with rapt attention on the Professor of Transfiguration as she prowled around the room, correcting mistakes on the summer essay they had been set on the components of Human Transfiguration. She paused at her desk and leaned down to whisper, "Of course, because of your sudden arrival in our time, Miss Granger, you will not have to hand it in until Monday," she smirked, but she beamed up at her Professor. "I see you rather enjoy writing for homework."

"Oh, yes," Hermione's eyes lit up. "And I absolutely love Transfiguration. I was working on becoming an Animagus before I came here, and I was hoping…" She leaned forward, lowering her voice to a whisper so that Marlene, who was sitting beside her, couldn't hear her. "You helped me in the future and I was hoping you would help me again. I didn't really put too much thought into it before, but I would appreciate it if you would…"

"Come and see me after class and we'll see what we can do," she replied briskly, snatching the scrolls from the boys' desks and marching off towards the front of the class, but she spared her a wink. "Now, today we shall be covering something that is completely irrelevant to anyone who does not wish to fight in this war," she said slowly, turning her wand to flick it at the parchment, which gathered themselves up into neat piles on top of her thoroughly polished desk. "This class will occur once a week and is not mandatory to attend, but I recommend that you all stay and hear what I have to say now.

"This lesson will focus on training you, preparing you for the war outside, if you would allow it to be said so. You will be taught spells and wards, hexes and defensive runes, anything that would allow you to protect yourself and your homes." She paused. "Every week there will be a new teacher, from outside the school – to be more specific, these people are publicly opposed to Voldemort and would gladly teach new generations what they know. This first week, we won't be taking lesson – we are here to talk about our new weekly arrangements and who will be willing to attend."

Hermione stood up immediately, her wand in hand and her face solemn. "I would gladly attend, Professor – I have always been opposed to Voldemort and that will not change now."

She could feel the others staring at her back and then Dorcas was suddenly standing up beside her, a small frown furrowing her brow. Mary, Frank, Cassandra, and Marlene were stood up as well, and it was then Hermione remembered that they were in the Order young as well. "We'll be there," said Mary, and the others nodded.

Alice looked at Frank for a moment before standing up, looking pale. "I was thinking about being an Auror," she said shakily, but then she shook herself and stood straighter. "I will attend as long as they continue to do so."

James and Sirius were up next, looking more solemn than they ever had done. Neither felt the need to say more, but instead nodded gravely, their pale faces betraying their slight fear and reluctance slightly more than they appeared to feel. Remus looked up at his friends and, after an encouraging nod from the redhead, he and Lily stood up and nodded gravely at the Professor, who looked pleased as she noted down their names. The Gryffindor crowd sat down slowly and it was then that the other Houses seemed to snap out of their stupor; several Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws stood up and McGonagall noted their names down, while two Slytherins hesitantly nodded.

"We need a name, I think," said McGonagall after a moment; several people snickered, but she fixed them all with a stern glare. "Would you like to be named 'the fifth period Transfiguration lesson', yes?" she snapped, and several recoiled.

"Err… what about the Defence League?" suggested Tina Chang shakily, and McGonagall nodded thoughtfully. Something clicked inside Hermione and she sprang back to her feet, smiling widely at the thought of home.

"Dumbledore's Army, the DA for short," she said, her voice slightly thickened. "It would show where our loyalties lie while showing support for the school and the Headmaster without publicly giving the names or family lines to the Death Eaters or any outsiders who wished to leak information." McGonagall nodded approvingly, while the rest of the class eyed her curiously as she sat back down, both beaming and sniffling. "Just like home."

After class finished, Hermione stood up and wandered over to McGonagall's desk as casually as it was possible with the straggling Slytherins wandering around, wondering how much they could gather from her posture, facial expression, or body language. Luckily, she was skilled enough to push her face into a blank mask, her body still and her arms by her sides, not portraying any emotion. When she reached the desk, McGonagall barked, "Out!" and then they were left alone.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Back home we had a Defence group called Dumbledore's Army because there was a Defence teacher who was working for the Ministry, spying on the school and making sure none of us could cause an uprising against them in the Ministry. We took matters into our own hands and we formed the DA, practicing weekly in the Room of Requirement and learning our spells from Harry Potter or from the books the room provided us with."

McGonagall allowed a smile to pass upon her thin lips. "You are a remarkable young girl, I can only hope you rub off on others." She paused, "I see you wish to train as an Animagus. I would prefer Thursday evenings, for that is when I have no meetings or extra-curricular activities to watch. Meet outside my office at eight o'clock – that gives us a good two hours a week to perfect your training, Miss Granger. I expect you there sharp and ready for intensity."

"Don't ever expect anything else," Hermione replied fiercely, and McGonagall nodded before waving her out of the room, politely dismissing her to her next lesson.

I'd had this planned all along - the DA returning in another timeline, but I wasn't sure about the Animagus training until someone suggested it to me as an anonymous reviewer. I can't believe the reactions to this story and I'm overwhelmed by the responses I get every time I post something and the encouragements I get for posting. Thank you for the support - we have successfully passed the ten chapters mark! Yay!

I hope you love this as much as I love writing it - aka, that is a LOT.

Love,

Marlene