This chapter is dedicated to my friend Izzy – who always tells it like it is, even if you don't want to hear it.
Disclaimer: I own only the plot and Remus' hexed sweater. But I must say – this story is great when I have to do Science homework.
They were floating, like they were suspended in water that had a sluggish but forceful current. Fred laughed and kicked his legs up, putting his arms behind his head and enjoying the ride. George and Hermione, however, both gasped and tried to find their bearings.
The colors were swirling around them, like they had gotten inside a rainbow that had suddenly decided to have a mind of it's own, twisting and twirling around the three travel companions. A spring green snaked it's way around Hermione's ankle, a deep yet bright blue darting playfully around her hair. Yellow swirls were amusing Fred, while a light pink was fluttering about George.
"What is this?" he asked his twin as he tried to gently wave away the offending feminine color.
"Dunno!" Fred shrugged and grinned at them, his blue eyes twinkling happily. Seeing that once more, after all this time, left the two without an argument. So they all leaned back and enjoyed the entertainment the colors brought.
"So, where do you think we'll be going?" George asked as he wove a dark red in between his fingers.
"I don't know," Fred shrugged as Hermione watched a vibrant orange bounce around her. "Maybe we'll stop Tom Riddle from becoming Voldemort."
"Or maybe we'll give information to the Ministry to bring him down," George grinned.
"But we have to remember," Hermione interrupted, "We're going back into a war." Her voice wavered on the last word, wincing a little as she stared down at a playful turquoise. There was no doubt that she was remembering her parents. Her parents who she'd taken so much care into hiding, then a month after she'd found them again, they'd been killed by a bank robbery shooting. Something so tragically Muggle that it nearly killed her.
"Hermione, we know," Fred said softly, "But you have to remember – you can't keep stressing yourself out, alright?"
"He's right, Mione," George informed her, "Remember how long you slept after it was all over? You slept for days. Please, do us a favor and don't worry yourself to death."
She took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh, a dash of purple flying on its breeze as she slowly nodded her head, "Alright. I'll try."
"Brilliant," the twins smiled at her before pausing and grinning at each other. They were already in sync again! It was like they'd never been split up in the first place.
With a sudden lurch, the group was on their feet, standing in the middle of a crowd of people. Hermione lost her footing on the landing, reaching out to the nearest stable things around her. This happened to be George and some girl, who whirled around at the contact of a stranger and stared at her as Hermione whipped her hand back, embarrassed.
The girl had black hair, bangs framing her face as the rest of her hair was pulled into a half-ponytail, where only part of it was pulled through so it resembled a bun, her eyes a sparkling cobalt. She had on a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, frayed jeans and black Converse. A red and gold tie was just peeking out from her jeans pocket where she'd hastily shoved it in.
"Ahhh – sorry," Hermione said as she bit her lip, "Very, very sorry."
The girl smiled and nodded, "It's alright – no bruises." She looked her and the twins up and down before holding out her hand, "Hullo, I'm Marlene. Marlene McKinnon."
"Hermione Granger," she shook her hand, "And these are – "
"Fred Granger and George Granger," Fred introduced, pointing between him and George to help the poor girl remember who was who, "Hermione's older yet slightly unwilling to be educated brothers."
"Oh, so you're starting Hogwarts this year?" Marlene smiled, looking between the three.
"Ahh, yes," George winced at how unsure he'd seemed, but Marlene didn't seem to notice.
"Oh, that's wonderful!" she clapped before grinning at Hermione, "Where are you coming from?"
"Well, we were born here but our parents sent us to Durmstrang for – ahh – safety reasons," Fred supplied before looking helplessly at Hermione for a fraction of a second.
"These two had no desire to learn anything for their tests – although they're both extremely bright, I assure you – so they left a few years ago and then decided to come back with me to finish our schooling."
"Oh – so why'd you leave Durmstrang then?"
"Mum couldn't take it, not seeing as anymore," George shrugged.
"Oh, well it's wonderful that you'll be joining us and that you're reunited with your family. Speaking of being reunited and feeling so good about it – I see a few of my friends. Sorry, must be off, see you 'round!" and with that and a wave, Marlene McKinnon was gone, disappearing into the crowd.
"Wow," Fred commented, "Close one, huh?"
"Extremely," Hermione sighed, pushing her hand onto her forehead, "C'mon, let's go find an empty compartment to talk."
With a nod from both of the twins, they set off towards the big scarlet train – the very one they thought they'd never see again.
"Alright, so – Hermione is our little sister, we are the older brothers who never gave a crap before but then decided to come back – if we get any closer to anyone, we can say that our mum convinced us to go with her to protect her – our parents are a Muggle and a half-blood, yet George and I had a different dad than you, Hermione, but we were too young to remember him. He left, our mum hooked up with your unknowingly-a-Squib father and had you. Oh, by the way – if you want to change your middle name, now is the time to do it," Fred spewed, not even giving her a place for input before he plowed on again, pacing back and forth in the compartment, "We went to Durmstrang because our parents thought we'd be safer there – you went to the affiliated girls' school which you can't pronounce the name of, although you hated it there and wanted to go home – and you got your chance when Mum finally caved in to her mother-bear instincts and had us come home. We're all seventh years, and just for good measure, I think we should get a little lost every now and again."
George and Hermione were frozen, looking at him before glancing at each other, before looking back at Fred and nodding. How he'd managed to think that up during the ten minutes they'd spent looking for a compartment, they'd never know, mainly to the fact that he now sat down by George, heaving a great sigh as he slumped into the comfy cushions.
"That was brilliant, Gred," George grinned at him. Fred opened an eye and smiled back at him before closing it.
"Thanks, Forge. Means a lot."
The compartment door was flung open and an irritated redhead walked in before freezing, seeing that she was with company, before blushing a little at them. Her red hair was tied back with a dark red bow, although her bangs were somehow perfectly choppy, if that makes any sense. She'd already put on her uniform, her robes slung over her shoulder. But the eyes, the bright green almond shaped eyes that remind them so much of somebody else, held a trace of embarrassment to them.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was taken," Lily Evans said, "I'll just go."
"Oh, nonsense!" Fred said, sitting up in his seat before waving his arm at Hermione, "C'mere, Mione, sit with us."
She rolled her eyes but stood up and walked over to them. She was planning to sit next to Fred, but the twins had other ideas and soon she was in the air, being transferred to lounging across her two new big brothers, who grinned down at her. She huffed and crossed her arms, leaning her head against George's leg and laying her legs across Fred's.
Lily laughed a little and sat down across from them, smiling at the three, "I'm Lily Evans."
"George – " George pointed at himself before pointing to his twin, "Fred, and then there's ickle Hermione." Hermione stuck her tongue out at him, to which he grinned back at before poking her in the nose. "The Grangers."
"Ahh – I see," Lily smiled at them, "Are you new students?"
And so the three replayed their 'tale' to the young woman, Lily giving her own once they were done. She was Muggle-born who had an older sister Petunia – whom she liked to call Tuney – and her parents worked at a library, which Hermione seemed to perk a bit instantly at the mention of a quantity of books – she was in Gryffindor and was currently the new Head Girl – and James Potter was constantly asking her out.
Seeing Lily's wrinkled nose, Hermione arched an eyebrow as she gave George braiding lessons, "What? You don't like him asking you out?"
"No, he's such a – " she started before the compartment door opened, two young men standing there.
One of them had messy black hair, parts of it sticking up in the back, although it certainly didn't help that his hand was running through it at the moment. His hazel eyes were guarded by glasses, and he too was already in uniform. He grinned over at Lily before looking over at the three new persons and smiling over at them.
The second of the two was a light brown haired individual, who was an inch or two shorter than his companion. He had amber eyes that portrayed warmth and knowledge, although he was shrugging on a grey sweater and had forgotten that he was still wearing jeans.
"Hi Lily," the two chorused as the second grunted at his grey clothing.
"Hello Potter, Remus," Lily said before turning to the three, "This is Fred, George, and Hermione."
"Hello, I'm James Potter," James grinned down at them.
"Remus – Lupin," Remus grunted again as the sweater refused to cooperate yet again, "Alright, Prongs, what did you and Padfoot do to my trunk?"
"I actually didn't do anything," James told him, "I swore to Mum I'd try to lay off on the pranks this year."
Remus growled in annoyance before finally chucking the offending thing behind him, accidentally hitting a poor little first year in the face with it, temporarily blinding him. "Sorry!" he yelled behind him as he winced. The sweater went sailing back at him, only when it was supposed to hit him, it swerved and sailed over his head, onto Hermione.
"I'm sorry!" Remus blushed at her as she laughed at took the sweater off of her, handing it back to him as she sat up.
"It's alright," she grinned.
"Are you new students?" James asked.
"Yes – but it's a long story. Promise to tell you later if you're ever interested in it then," Fred said as he slumped even further into his seat, his drooping eyes telling everybody that he really wanted to go back to sleep, which he had been doing previously.
"Do you know anybody though, besides us and Lily?" Remus questioned.
"A girl named Marlene McKinnon, why?" George answered with his own question.
"Well, that certainly won't do," James frowned, "She's a prefect too."
"So?" Fred shrugged.
"We don't want to leave you all alone!" Remus said, as if this was a given.
"You aren't suggesting that they hang around with Black, of all people, are you?" Lily asked as she rose from her seat, looking around for her bag.
"Who else would they be with, my dear Lily?" James asked.
She turned and glared at him, "I am not yours, Potter." And with that, she snatched her notes out of her bag, waved good-bye to the twins and Hermione, and walked out of the compartment.
"Mate, just a little heads up – don't anger a redhead," George told him.
"We're quite nice of course – "
"Yes, very nice, bloody hilarious if you ask me – "
"But Ginny – "
"Oh, Ginny – "
"She's terrible," they finished together. James and Remus stared at them before they finally grinned.
"Can you do that?" Remus asked, turning to Hermione.
"No," she grinned back, "Quite glad I can't though."
The two laughed as Fred and George pretended to be angry with her.
"Well, if you're looking for company, you can head over to our compartment," Remus smiled before he turned and went back into the aisle, still clutching his sweater.
"Just a warning though – Sirius will eventually turn up, especially if you don't want him," James grinned before shutting the door behind him as he walked away.
"Well – I hope you two understand what we have to do now, don't you?" Hermione asked her remaining companions.
They were quiet for a moment, before George turned to her and said, "Get some sweets?"
A loud groan was heard as Hermione dropped her face into her hands, shaking her head back and forth.
Remus sighed, staring dejectedly down at his uncooperative sweater in his lap. Lily and James – being the new Heads – were bickering as they tried to give out directions to the newest batch of prefects. Those poor little prefects were so confused. He groaned as quietly as he could and slumped lower in his seat, acting like he did not know James Potter or Lily Evans, and he was not Remus John Lupin – he was José de Hablo la Hamiro. …Despite his coloring.
There was a very loud bang coming from the aisle, making Remus jump and stand up, his wand already in his hand as his sweater dropped to the floor. Lily, James and a few of the other prefects were the same way, looking at the door expectantly. When all they heard was shouting outside – not too frantic, just curious – he and the two Heads sighed.
"Sirius."
"Oi, put that out!" Fred ordered, jumping up and scrambling for his wand.
"Not my bloody fault!" Sirius barked as he too looked for his wand. Hermione sighed and hit her head against the back of the seats, lifting her wand and muttering "Aguamenti." Seeing that the offending flames were dosed, they turned to the girl, who was sitting on the floor and twirling her wand in her hands, inspecting its markings.
"And that is why Hermione is called a genius," George announced after a long silence.
"Doesn't take a genius to remember to keep their wands with their person at all times," she grumbled.
Peter nodded, "I have my wand."
"Well then why didn't you use your wand, Pete?" Sirius questioned.
"I panicked," he shrugged.
The compartment door was flung open once more, although this time with a loud 'BANG!' James Potter was glaring at his two friends, Lily and Remus behind him and glaring at them as well.
"Sirius Orion Black…" James started as his eyes narrowed, "We aren't even AT Hogwarts yet, and you've already gone and tried to get us expelled!"
"Now Jamesie – Prongsie – listen, there's no need for the middle names now," Sirius laughed nervously as he backed up and away from his best friend, "I mean, honestly, we were just introducing ourselves and then I tried to show my genius and – "
"What genius, Black?" Lily interrupted, "You have about as much sense as a retarded blind rat."
Peter stiffed and frowned at the redheaded female, "I resent that."
"Why would you?" Lily asked him, making his three friends have horror-stricken expressions for a millisecond before James turned to her and flung an arm around her shoulders, having her stiffen and glare at the offending limb.
"Well, our fair Lily, it's all a very funny story involving a block of cheese, a goose feather pillow and us getting absolutely knackered," he grinned, "Care to hear?"
"No," she frowned, inching away from his immediate area.
"I like how we're just part of the background," George thought aloud, "I mean, we're just here – we don't do anything."
"Sorry – did you say something?" Hermione asked, turning to him and grinning once he mock-glared at her. He flicked one of her curls, making her tug her hair closer to her.
"Dear, ickle Hermione – don't you know not to mess with us?" he grinned down at her, somewhat evilly. She shuddered, pulling her legs up to her chest and pretending to hide from him. He and Fred laughed at her, turning the attention to the three "siblings."
"Sorry – is everybody alright?" Remus asked, already ignoring Sirius. This was usually his punishment whenever McGonagall didn't catch him – he would be shunned from the group until they saw fit or somebody forgot and asked him something.
"Peachy," the twins grinned as Hermione nodded.
"Good," Lily sighed before sending a glare over at Sirius, who was dressed in jeans, a black t-shirt and a black leather jacket, his long black hair framing his rather angular face, "What are you, in a biker gang?"
Sirius perked at this, "Actually, I own a motorbike now, Lily!"
She paled noticeably, "Dear Merlin – who in their right mind would give you a motorbike?"
James snorted and Sirius sent a glare at him, which James dutifully ignored.
"Oh yes – a very long year for us, dear siblings," Fred smirked at the two in front of him.
"Oh yes – quite right you are, dear Gred," George smiled.
"I do say I am, fair Forge!"
Hermione let out a loud sigh, "I wish I had a good nickname. All I've got is 'Mione' – and I don't even like it all that much."
"No nickname, you say?" Sirius turned to her, sitting down next to her on the floor, "Well, we've got the cure for that!"
"Oi, Sirius, get away from her – you'll give her your contagious crazy gene, and I fairly like that family," Remus frowned at him.
"Ooh! Forge – we're included!" Fred grinned at his twin.
"Brilliant, absolutely smashing, Gred!"
"Indeed!"
Hermione then let out a loud groan and dropped her face into her hands, rubbing her temples with her fingertips. Yes, this would be a very long year. Only she had no idea just how long it would be.
Merlin, was she in for a surprise.
I hope you liked that chapter! Yes – I threw in the Marauders and Lily. And do you know how hard it is to give both the Marauders and the twins an equal amount of funny lines?
Reviews are appreciated and very much loved, but then again, so are favorites. They're like cousins that live a few states away – sure, they're there, but they don't get much thought unless there's a segue or something.