Chapter 13: New Identity
Next morning, Hermione awoke to the sound of a baby crying. She could hear Lily trying to soothe Harry.
"James get up!" She was yelling. Hermione got up and dressed, emerging just in time to see a sleepy James coming out of the room at the end of the hallway. His hair was even messier than usual, one side flattened where he had been sleeping. He wore only shorts as he stumbled down the hall yawning.
"What's the matter Lils?" He called.
"Harry needs feeding and I need to make breakfast."
"All right. I got it. Morning 'Mione." James said, noticing Hermione for the first time.
"Good morning James. That's a good look." She grinned. He smirked and puffed out his chest as he made his way into Harry's room. Hermione traipsed downstairs with a yawn and sat at the kitchen table. Lily stood by the oven cooking pancakes and a dishevelled Remus was sat opposite her. He looked ill and she guessed the full moon was coming up. His sandy hair stuff up at all angles, not unlike James'.
"Hi there Remus." She said.
"Morning 'Mione." Remus replied with a smile. James then emerged holding a wriggling Harry. He sat in the only remaining chair and turned to Remus.
"Hey Moony. I wanted to talk to you. 'Mione needs a new name for living here. As she already technically exists in this time, she can't go by her real name. The Potter's are too well known to have a new family member suddenly turn up, so I was thinking she could be a distant Lupin?"
"Wow James. You're smart!" Lily exclaimed in surprise.
"Sometimes." He grinned.
"Sounds like a good plan. My uncle moved to Europe a while ago, Hermione could have moved back from there." Remus suggested.
"Nice. Hermione Lupin. Sounds good to me." Hermione announced.
"Hermione Lupin? I'm gone for one night…" Sirius came into the kitchen. James and Remus laughed.
"It's just a cover name Padfoot. She can't go by Hermione Granger as a younger version of her is already alive." James explained. Sirius looked relieved.
"Good to hear. In that case the name is just fine." He stood behind Hermione looking wistfully over at Lily and the pancakes.
"They are almost ready Black." She sighed, serving some onto a plate and giving it to Hermione. All the boys were watching her jealously, almost drooling as the smell of pancakes filled the small kitchen.
Finally they had all finished eating. Harry was dressed and ready for the day. They agreed that they should go into Diagon Alley first to buy Hermione some of her own things. Lily decided to stay behind with Harry to wait for the professors in case they arrived while they were out. Once everyone was ready, Hermione, James, Sirius and Remus flooed to the Leaky Cauldron.
Hermione was struck by how different Diagon Alley was from her own time. Many of the shop owners had been killed so the shops still hadn't been reopened. George had only just opened Weasley's Wizard Wheezes again after Fred's death. That was now the dominant feature of Diagon Alley, it was strange being back without it there. She suddenly wondered if they would ever open it. The shop had come about because Harry was entered into the Triwizard tournament. In this time he wouldn't be put into it and get the winnings to give to the twins. Hermione was sure she could persuade James to invest in the shop if the twins were serious about it in this time as well.
"I'd better get some money out first." James said. They all headed towards Gringotts and waited outside while James went to the vault. He came out with a bag full of money which he handed to Hermione.
"Thanks a lot James. It's really kind of you."
"Don't mention it." He smiled warmly. "Who fancies an ice cream?" He asked, heading over to Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour. Everyone followed him eagerly. Once they were all eating great big ice creams, the headed to Madam Malkin's robes for all occasions where Hermione picked out some plain black robes and some pretty periwinkle blue dress robes. Talking about their fourth year made Hermione think of the Yule Ball and her robes she had worn then. The only time she had had any use for them, but she was fond of the colour.
"We can stop buy some muggle shops afterwards and grab some muggle clothes for every day where if you like?" Remus offered.
"That would be great." Hermione smiled. "But first, will I need a new wand? The one I have is from my time. My younger self will be destined to pick the same wand and therefore there are currently two identical wands in existence at the same time."
"Honestly, as long as you don't end up duelling yourself, I don't imagine it will have much effect." Sirius said.
"Don't get a new one for now. If Professor Dumbledore thinks you need one we can always come back." Remus said. "Do you need anything else for now?"
"Not at the moment, I don't think. It was mainly clothes. At some point I will need to find a place of my own and things to go in it."
"You're welcome to stay with us as long as you need." James offered.
"Thanks James. You guys have made this so much easier." Hermione said as they made their way down the cobbled street towards the Leaky Cauldron. They went straight through and into the muggle world. James had turned some wizard money into muggle money at Gringotts so Hermione could just go and pick out some clothes for everyday wear.
Once that was done, the flooed straight back to the Potter house as they assumed the Professors would be there waiting for them. When they arrived they saw that Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were sitting in the living room with Lily. They were discussing the story so far when Hermione dropped into the room. She straightened up and was just brushing the dirt off herself when Sirius came hurtling out and knocked straight into her.
"Ow." She complained.
"Oops. Sorry 'Mione." Sirius grinned sheepishly, helping her to her feet. "Hi Professors." He added, nodding to the pair.
"Mr Black." McGonagall sighed, rolling her eyes at his entrance.
"Professor Flitwick, this is Hermione Lupin, A.K.A Hermione Granger. 'Mione, I'm sure you know Professor Flitwick." Sirius grinned.
"I do indeed." She smiled at the tiny man.
"Pleasure to meet you Miss Granger." He squeaked. "Professor Dumbledore speaks highly of you. I must say your story is incredible."
"It is." Hermione agreed as James came whizzing out of the fireplace. He nodded to the professors and went over to relieve Lily of Harry. Finally Remus came flying into the room looking disgruntled.
"Hello Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall." He smiled, dusting himself off. Everyone sat down and looked to Hermione.
"Well, we left it as we were arriving at Hogwarts in a storm didn't we?" She asked.
"Yep. That's always the best time to arrive. We had a storm in our first year." James grinned.
"Yeah and you idiots pushed me into the lake." Sirius grumbled. James, Remus and Lily laughed. "The giant squid wasn't a pleasant first thing to see."
"I feel more sorry for the squid." Lily laughed.
"Anyway," Hermione cut across, trying not to laugh herself. "It was quite chaotic because Peeves was throwing water bombs at students. We finally got ready and watched the sorting. One of the first years had fallen into the lake."
"Probably pushed." Sirius muttered. James laughed.
"I'm pretty sure he fell. Excitable little kid. Then Nearly Headless Nick let slip that there were house elves in Hogwarts. After the way I had heard about Dobby being treated, and seen Mr Crouch treat Winky, I was pretty against that treatment. I decided that something should be done about elf rights."
"They like being enslaved." Sirius told her. "You should hear the one at home talk."
"I have." Hermione grimaced, remembering Kreacher.
"Poor you." Sirius sympathised.
"Professor Dumbledore also announced that the Quidditch cup would not be taking place that year."
"WHAT!?" Yelped James. He and Sirius looked horrified.
"It was decided that Hogwarts would be hosting the Triwizard Tournament." There was a sharp intake of breath for both Professors. Sirius and James looked excited but Lily and Remus looked worried..
"As he was making the announcement Professor Moody made his entrance."
"You got taught my Alastor Moody?" Sirius asked, looking impressed. That was his mentor in Auror training and he respected him immensely. Hermione nodded.
"Anyway, that year it had been decided that nobody under the age of seventeen could enter the tournament. Professor Dumbledore was going to draw an age line around the Goblet, which is where you tried to enter. He then gave us a bit of background on the tournament. The Weasley twins wanted to enter and were pretty annoyed when the age limit was introduced. They were a few months too young."
"Shame. It would have been nice for one of them to win it." James sighed.
"Lessons started next day. We had the joy of Bubotubers in Herbology. Hagrid had some new creatures for us to study."
"Oh Lord, what now?" Remus asked in apprehension.
"Blast-Ended Screwts."
"What? Actually, I don't want to know." Lily said.
"We think, Hagrid bred them himself. Or smuggled them illegally. Either way they were disgusting. He wanted us to feed them because he didn't know what they ate. It was awful."
"Oh Hagrid." Flitwick sighed.
"At lunch, Malfoy was winding up Ron because Rita Skeeter had written a horrible article about the incident with Moody before term that made Mr Weasley look bad. She hadn't even spelt his name right. Harry just insulted him right back and when Harry tried to walk away Malfoy tried to curse him from behind."
"That little…"James growled. Lily just looked at him pointedly.
"Not so funny when it's someone you love is it?" She asked him. Although she looked angry with Malfoy, she was also trying to make James understand how his actions in school had been stupid.
"Moody, however, turned Malfoy into a ferret."
"Awesome!" Cheered Sirius, James and Remus fell about laughing. Even Lily was having a hard time not to smile. McGonagall looked scandalised.
"Transfiguration is not a punishment." She said firmly. Hermione laughed. McGonagall raised an eyebrow.
"Thats what you told Moody when you saw him doing it." She explained and McGonagall gave a small smile.
"Some people never change, eh Minerva." Flitwick laughed.
"For good reason Filius." She sniffed.
"A few days later we had our first lesson with Professor Moody. He decided to teach us about unforgivable curses. He even gave us a demonstration."
"He what?" Shrieked McGonagall. "Albus would never allow it."
"He said Professor Dumbledore was with it, but I'm not sure he ever actually asked." Hermione told them.
"Moody does his own thing." Sirius shrugged.
"During the demonstrations Neville looked really freaked out and after the lesson he just stood in a corridor on his own staring into space. We tried to convince him to come with us but Moody took him off to his office. That night I pitched my idea to Harry and Ron about S.P.E.W. The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. Harry also got his reply from Sirius. It said that he was coming back north and Dumbledore was reading signs. That confused us, but Harry was mostly concerned that Sirius was coming back and might get caught."
"It's ok kid. I wouldn't miss helping you for the world." Sirius said, ruffling baby Harry's hair.
"Next morning, Harry wrote back to Sirius to try and convince him he had imagined his scar hurting and to stay away."
"Nice try kid, but it will take more than that." Sirius said.
"It had better Padfoot. But do not get yourself caught." James told him.
"Me? Never." Sirius grinned.
"Moody then wanted to try putting the Imperius curse on students to teach us to throw it off."
"WHAT?!" McGonagall screeched again. "He put an unforgivable curse on fourteen year old students?" She asked, looking murderous.
"Yes. Harry was the only one able to even fight it first time."
"That's my boy." James grinned, hugging baby Harry.
"After the third time, Harry could throw it off completely. At Halloween the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would be arriving. We all watched them arrive and then had the awesome Halloween feast. The students then had 24 hours to enter their names in the Goblet of Fire if they wished to enter. Sirius also wrote back to Harry saying nice try he was coming back anyway."
"Thanks Padfoot." James smiled gratefully.
"Fred and George tried ageing potion to try and get over the line but it made them sprout great white beards."
The Marauders all fell about laughing. "NIce." James said through his laughter.
"Hagrid developed a crush on the headmistress of Beauxbatons who was also a half giant. Then the champions were selected. Viktor Krum was the Durmstrang champion."
"The Bulgarian international seeker is still in school?" James asked in amazement. Hermione nodded with a smile.
"Fleur Delacour was the Beauxbatons champion. She was part veela. Cedric Diggory was selected as the Hogwarts champion." Lily heaved a sigh of relief.
"There are only three school so three champions?" She asked.
"Normally. But then Harry got selected as a fourth champion."
"Oh no!" Remus gasped.
"Of course he did." Groaned Sirius.
"My poor boy." Lily said, staring at Hermione wide-eyed.
"But the age line?" McGonagall whispered.
"Someone had put Harry's name in the cup. Due to tournament rules, Harry then had to participate. Binding magical contract as Mr Crouch put it. Everyone was really confused and the other school champions were really annoyed that Hogwarts got two champions. Professor Dumbledore was convinced that Harry couldn't have done it himself, but almost everyone in the school thought he had. They thought he had got around the age line in an attempt to get more attention."
"That's ridiculous." Lily cried. "His father, maybe, but Harry wouldn't."
"Oi." James cried indignantly. Lily grinned over at him.
"Just telling it like it is dear." She laughed.
"Even Ron refused to talk to him."
"What? Some friend." James scowled.
"Deep down, he knew Harry hadn't entered. But being overshadowed his whole life by his brothers and now by his best friend, it was all a bit much for him. This was one straw too many."
"So. It's not like Harry is asking for the attention. He didn't ask for us to be killed and Voldemort to be hunting him down." James fumed.
"I know James. Ron knew that too, he was just being childish. Harry argued that same point to me and I agreed. I knew Harry hadn't entered himself."
"At least he had one good friend." Sirius smiled. "And me of course."
"I tried to explain that Ron was jealous but Harry just got angry, so I gave up trying to make the two of them talk. I knew they would work it out sooner or later. I made him write and tell Sirius what had happened."
"Good. I want to know these things." Sirius said.
"From then on Harry had an unpleasant time. The Slytherins were worse than usual. The HUfflepuffs were angry because they rarely get glory and they thought Harry had stolen Cedric's glory. The Ravenclaws just thought he wanted more attention."
"Now really." Flitwick cried, clearly disappointed in his house. "I would have thought they would know better."
Hagrid believed him as well. The Gryffindors were nice to him but they all still thought he had entered himself."
"Well really. How would a fourteen year old boy get past an age line set by Albus Dumbledore?" McGonagall huffed angrily.
"There was an incident outside potions where Malfoy called me a mudblood so Harry drew his wand. They both sent curses. Malfoy's hit mine and Harry's hit grew large boils and my teeth started to grow to a ridiculous size. Snape came out and sent Goyle to the hospital wing, took point of Gryffindor and said he saw no difference in me."
"Blatant favouritism!" Sirius growled loudly.
"Oh Sev." Lily sighed quietly. "Why?"
"Harry and Ron got detention for yelling abuse at Snape for being unfair."
"Well fair enough, but I don't blame them." Remus sighed.
"Colin Creevey came into potions to say Harry had to leave early for a wand weighing ceremony. It was basically to make sure their wands were working properly. Mr Ollivander was there to do it. Before it started Rita dragged Harry away for an interview. Whatever he said she ended up twisting his words into a very nasty article that didn't help what was happening in the school."
"I really dislike this woman." James growled.
"Everyone did." Hermione snorted.
"Professor Dumbledore came to rescue Harry and take him back to the ceremony. Ollivander checked all the wands and they were all in perfect order. Then they had photographs done. When he got back to the dormitory Sirius' reply was there. He wanted to talk in the fireplace at 1 in the morning on a certain day."
"Good man Padfoot." James smiled.
"Thank you Sirius." Lily said.
"Shall we take a break?" Hermione asked and everyone nodded.
(A/N I'm back! Got some writing done on hol so I could update as soon as I got back. I noticed I've been summarising GoF much quicker than the previous three so I hope you guys are ok with that. Let me know if you think I'm skipping too much or if this pace is ok. )