6
"Morning," Hermione says as she swings her long legs over the bench and sits beside Sirius.
"Morning," he says, leaning in and kissing her lightly.
"How are you today?" Lily asks, squeezing her hand warmly.
"I'm fine," Hermione says. "How are you all?"
"Ready," Cass says honestly. "Ready to do whatever I can to stop this."
"Good," Hermione says. "Lily, we need to start with you."
"What?" Lily says, bewildered. "What can I do?"
"You can forgive Severus," Hermione says frankly. "Tell him that you forgive him and that you want him back in your life. Anything to bring him back into your confidence, even just a little bit."
"Okay," Lily says nervously. "Now?"
"Now," Hermione says. "I'm going to come with you."
"Hermione, this is a bad idea," James says anxiously. "He's not the same guy he was two years ago – what if he hurts her?"
"He would never," Hermione and Lily say in unison. "James, I understand why you're worried but you have to trust me," Hermione says quietly. "Give me a chance."
"Okay," James says, getting to his feet and hugging Hermione tightly. Then he turns to Lily, cautiously hoping for a hug from her too. For a second, neither of them moves and then Lily throws herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. "Wow," James says as she finally pulls away. "Thanks."
"Shut up, Potter," Lily says, turning an impressive shade of scarlet as she and Hermione walk away from the Gryffindor table.
As luck would have it, Severus is just entering the Great Hall as they reach the doors. "Sev," Lily shouts and he turns around, clearly shocked. "Sev, can I have a word with you? In private?"
"Of…of course," he falters, his eyes flicking between Hermione and Lily nervously. Between the girl he's been in love with since he was 10 and the girl the entire school has a crush on, he clearly feels a bit nervous but he follows them bravely.
"Severus, listen," Lily says as the three of them stand together in a corner of the Entrance Hall. "I've been talking to Hermione about everything that's happened between us and she's made me see that maybe I overreacted a bit. So, I just wanted to say that I forgive you for what you said and if you'd like it, I'd really like us to try and be friends again."
"Are you serious?" Severus gapes, glancing at Hermione, who smiles warmly.
"Yeah," Lily says.
"Wow, okay," Severus says, looking happier than Hermione has ever seen him. "Yes, Lily, I'd…I'd really like that."
"Good," Lily says warmly.
"I'm Hermione, by the way," Hermione says, extending a hand for him to shake.
"Hi," he says. "You're the girl who put Theodore Nott on his arse."
"Yes," Hermione says. "He didn't seem to like that very much."
"No, well who can blame him?" Severus says, cracking a rare smile.
"We should say," Hermione says, glancing at Lily. "I'm sure Lily really wants this friendship to work but it's not going to if you and James and Sirius and Remus are at each other's throats all the time. The boys have agreed to make the effort to be civil if you will."
"Okay," Severus says, his lip curling reluctantly. "I'll try. But if Potter jinxes me again, Lily, I swear-"
"He won't," Lily says sharply. "Listen, Sev, it's a Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday – maybe you could join all of us for lunch? Give you and the boys a chance to clear the air a little bit?"
"Well, I don't know if…" Severus trails off, glancing over his shoulder to the hall and then sighs. "Yeah, okay. I'll see if I can get away for a bit."
"Severus?" Hermione says and he raises an eyebrow. "If you can get Regulus Black to come along, I'd really appreciate it. Tell him I'm just desperate to meet him and I know Sirius would like it."
"Okay," Severus says doubtfully. "I don't think he will but I can ask."
"Great," Hermione says, swooping in, pressing her lips to his cheek and then dancing off back into the hall. Severus stands, stunned, as Lily mimics her actions and then the two girls are gone.
"We need to speak to Professor Dumbledore," Sirius says that evening as the group lounge around the fire. James is in one of the armchairs with a sleepy Alice tucked in beside him. Remus is lying on one of the couches, curved around Cass, with Marlene curled up at their feet. Lily is on the floor at James' feet, scribbling away on a piece of parchment. Peter is on the floor in front of Marlene, biting his nails anxiously. And on the other sofa, Hermione is sitting with Sirius' head in between her legs, playing with his hair.
"About what?" Hermione asks vaguely.
"About us joining the Order, of course," Sirius says, his eyes closed.
"What?!" Hermione says, pulling his hair as she jerks her hand away.
"Ow," Sirius says sharply. "Merlin, Granger, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"You're not joining the Order," she says. "None of you are of age."
"Excuse you, we're all of age," James says angrily.
"Not by their rules," Hermione snaps. "You have to have left school to join."
"You've left school," Remus says.
"I'm aware," Hermione says icily. "But do you see me running off to join up? No, because the last thing I need is Voldemort made aware of my presence in this time. Think what somebody like me could do to help his cause and I don't know enough Occlumency to stop him taking the knowledge he needs. That's why I need Snape."
"Of course," James says, realisation dawning on his face.
"I don't understand why we can't join though," Sirius says edgily.
"Are you listening?" Hermione sighs. "The second you join, he'll know about it. And we have knowledge that nobody else has. We know where his Horcruxes are and how to destroy them. Think how much we can get done under the radar."
"What's radar?" Sirius asks and Hermione lets out a squeal of exasperation.
"Sirius Black, are you listening to me at all?" she snarls.
"Yes, yes," he yelps. "Under the 'radar', whatever that means."
"Top secret," Hermione says, looking at everyone now. "Nobody can know what we're doing."
"Okay," Cass says. "So where do we start?"
"With the Basilisk," Hermione says. "We need to kill it."
"How the hell are we gonna do that?" Marlene says, frowning.
"We need someone who can speak Parseltongue for one thing," Hermione says. "Which is gonna be really hard."
"I know someone," Lily says, finally looking up from her work. "Mary McDonald said that she was running away from Mulciber and Avery again last week and Avery started hissing at her. She said it sounded like another language but she didn't know what he was saying."
"Hmm," Hermione says. "That might work. Do you think you could point him out to me tomorrow?"
"No way," Sirius says sharply.
"What?" Hermione says. "Why?"
"Lily, you said it yourself," James says urgently. "He's a psycho. Like a full-on freak, he scares the shit out of me. You can't speak to him."
"I'm sure he'll be civil enough," Hermione says bossily. "And in any case, he's the only chance we've got. Unless any of you are keeping a big dark secret." Sirius scowls fiercely but doesn't speak and Hermione nods smugly. "That's settled then. There is something we can do now, if anybody's up for a midnight outing?"
"Definitely," Lupin says. "What is it?"
"We can go and get the diadem," Hermione says, checking her watch. "Lils, what time is curfew?"
"10," Lily says, glancing at her own watch. "So, 15 minutes ago."
"Okay, so we'll need the cloak," Hermione says to James. "Which means only three of us can go and that's at a push. Obviously, I'm going."
"Well I'm coming too," James says sharply. "It's my cloak."
"I'm coming," Sirius says before anybody else can throw their names in. "I'm not arguing about it, Hermione. I'm going."
"Wait, that's not fair," Remus says. "I want to come."
"Well if Remus is going, I'm going too," Cass says.
"Okay, stop," Hermione says. "I'm going to take James and Sirius with me. Remus and Lily, you're going to stay here and do some research on Fiendfyre."
"What?" Lily says, going white as a sheet. "Why?"
"Because it's one of the only substances that can destroy a Horcrux and if our Avery plan falls through, we need a back-up," Hermione says. "Marlene, Cass, Alice, I don't care what you say – you're not fine and I want you to go and rest. I need you at full brilliance, okay?"
"Okay," Cass says, rolling her eyes. Together with Marlene, she helps Alice up off the armchair and guides her up to their dorm.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Hermione says to Remus and Lily. "You two take the Map and get to the library. Sirius, James and I will go straight to the Room. Go and get the stuff, boys." At once, all three boys scamper away, leaving Hermione and Lily alone with Peter. "Can you give us a minute?" she asks Lily in a hushed voice and Lily nods, wandering over to the other side of the common room.
Hermione slides off her seat and kneels in front of Peter. "Are you okay?" she asks quietly.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Peter lies bravely.
"You're lying," Hermione says. "I can't blame you, it must be pretty hard to be friends with such big characters. But you've had some really upsetting news – nobody could fault you for not being alright with it."
"I thought I was better," Peter says eventually. "I honestly believed that these boys…my brothers, I thought they made me better, braver. And to find out that I'm gonna become this guy who…who's capable of that."
"I don't think you are," Hermione says. "I'm going to do everything I can to stop you turning into that person, because I knew you in the future and I can't believe you're the same person. I can't see even a glimmer of him in you, I promise. You are good, Peter, and I believe in you. I trust you."
"You do?" Peter says disbelievingly.
"Yes," Hermione says honestly. "I do."
As if a huge weight has been lifted off him, Peter exhales heavily. "Thank you," he says, his voice cracking.
"I need you to help Remus and Lily, okay?" Hermione says. "They'll get carried away if they're not careful – get the books you need and bring them straight back here. We can go through them together, all of us."
"Okay," Peter says, squeezing Hermione's hand gratefully. "Hey, Lily!" he shouts, scampering off across the room and the redhead turns to him, smiling warmly.
"He seems to have perked up a bit," Sirius says as he returns to the room. "Thank you for talking to him."
"I have to admit it wasn't entirely selfless," Hermione says. "I have an eternal fear that everything that happens is my fault."
"What do you mean?" Sirius asks quietly.
"I mean that I'm the one who makes Peter betray you because he thinks you don't trust him anyway," Hermione says. "I mean that I'm the one who tips Regulus off about the Horcruxes and I'm the reason he goes there and dies. I mean that I'm the one who pushes Severus even further into the Dark Arts and I'm the one who leads Cass and Marlene to their deaths. I'm terrified."
"None of that is true," Sirius says. "We'll make it better, Hermione – all of us together."
"Yeah," Hermione says, sniffing slightly and then shaking her head as if her ears are full of water. She pulls her hair up into a messy ponytail and waves James over. "Okay, we're doing this without the map, so we're going to have to be extra careful."
"We're not doing it without the map," James says. "Remus said that he and Lily will get the books on Fiendfyre after we get the Horcrux – there's no point in taking unnecessary risks, right?"
"Okay, good idea," Hermione nods. "We have the map, we have the cloak, let's get going."
"Wait, where are we going?" Sirius asks. "What is this Room you're talking about?"
"Oh shit, you don't know," Hermione says, suddenly grinning. "Okay, we're going to the seventh floor – you know the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy?"
"Very well," Sirius nods, grinning.
"That's Sirius's go-to make out spot," James explains.
"I'll have to take you there sometime," Sirius teases, elbowing Hermione in the ribs.
"Shut up," Hermione laughs, shoving him playfully. "Can we just go?"
"Fine," James says, stepping back and gesturing for Hermione to take the lead.
The three of them climb out of the portrait hole and throw the cloak on, instantly checking the map. "Looks pretty clear," Sirius whispers. "Let's just get going." They walk, as fast as they can without dropping the cloak, up to the 7th floor.
"Okay, now what?" James hisses.
"Shut up," Hermione murmurs. "I need to concentrate." She grabs their hands and leads them back and forth in front of an empty wall three times, thinking hard. I need the place where everything is hidden…show me where it's hidden…the place where you can hide anything.
"Oh shit," Sirius says loudly and both James and Hermione punch him hard.
"Quickly," Hermione whispers. "Get in."
They charge into the room, finally pulling off the cloak and staring in wonder at the room in front of them. For a moment, nobody speaks and then Sirius and James both swear colourfully.
"Alright, there's no need for that," Hermione sighs. "We're looking for the diadem, okay? A small tiara thing?"
"I know what a diadem looks like, Hermione," Sirius says scathingly. "Shall we split up?"
"Yeah, we should be okay," Hermione says. "Send up red sparks if you find it, okay?"
"Alright," James nods.
Half an hour later, James and Hermione reconvene by the door. "Anything?" Hermione asks, running her hands through her hair.
"No," James scowls, kicking a chair hard. "This room is so full of crap."
"It is," Hermione agrees, almost vibrating with her frustration. "Where's Sirius?"
"Here," Sirius says, waltzing over.
"Did you find it?" James asks, rubbing his foot.
"Nope," Sirius says, popping the p with a grin. "I did find this beautiful tiara though; do you think it makes me look pretty?"
"You are such a dickhead," Hermione says, swatting him as she reaches out to grab it.
"Don't snatch," Sirius reprimands disapprovingly. "Here you are, gorgeous, I got you a present."
"Thanks, love," she says, taking it from him and immediately shoving it into her purse.
"Is that it?" James asks. "That little crown thing has a piece of his soul in?"
"Yes," Hermione says. "We should get back so we can start doing some research."
"Ugh, boring," Sirius says. "Can't we go make out instead?"
"You're hilarious," Hermione says sarcastically, but she leans in and kisses him as they walk back towards the door.