Disclaimer: is not, was not, and never will be mine! All credit to the incredible JK Rowling! I do own the plot and some characters though!

Chapter 12: Potter Manor

Hermione was filled with nervous anticipation as she packed her few belongings into her trunk, ready to leave Hogwarts at 11. It was Thursday, the week after the girls had gone dress shopping and Hermione was sure she had scars from Marlene's nails...

"What is WRONG with you? How can you not like shopping, what are you? Because I'm beginning to think you're not a girl at all. Girls are like yours truly, and we LOVE shopping!" Marlene was practically having a heart attack as she dragged Hermione down the main street of Hogsmead and to the little boutiques at the end. She had been shopping there since first year, when she used to sneak out with her older brother on his Hogsmead weekends.

"Don't worry it's not just you, I hate shopping too... But shh because Marls doesn't know, and I'd appreciate it if it stayed that way since she just went psycho at you. Crazy girl!" Sofia slipped her arm through Hermione's with a smirk, it had taken her 16 years to get used to Marlene, and poor Hermione only had a term to accustom herself with her. Of course, she was her best friend, and at first glance they seemed to be opposites; Marlene was loud and flirty, whereas Sofia was more reserved. However anyone who knew her would know she could be just as loud as Marlene when she wanted (which was frequently). Walking down the street with Hermione, Sofia happened to glance sideways and felt her stomach lurch when she saw him. Benjy Fenwick, her ex boyfriend from the year above. Everyone knew how crazy Sofia was for Benjy, they had been together for most of last year and disregarding what adults said about her being "too young to be in love", she had loved that boy. With his messy dark her and dark blue eyes, he was a labelled bad boy who she thought she could tame. It didn't work, and she was still angry at herself for thinking someone as insignificant as her could change how he was.

"Oi none of that Sof" Hermione's voice snapped her out of her reverie and she smiled weakly at her. "Looks like we're here anyway, hello torture" Sofia snorted with laughter and Marlene dragged all the girls in.

Hermione was still surprised that all five of them had managed to find dresses in the allotted time of the Hogsmead visit, but they had; and they were all perfect. She had also managed to find presents for the entire group. For Marlene she had bought a magical nail-painting kit, which you selected your colours and spoke a code which corresponded to the pattern and then as you painted the nails, the pattern would form. For Evanna she had got a book called "101 ways to invent your own spells" courtesy of learning in her previous time at Hogwarts that Luna's mother had died after experimenting; hopefully with this book, the outcome would be different. Lily had been difficult, but she had managed to find a collection of first edition books of wizarding plays for children, which she knew Lily would love. Sofia had probably been one of the easiest; her love for alternative rock music was no secret. Hermione had spotted a collection of wizard music posters at an old record stall, which she had combined with some muggle band records she thought she would like; ABBA, Earth Wind & Fire, Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd. For James, she had bought a joke box and a "clean easy broom kit set with gloves!" again, an easy one. Remus was the easiest however; she had bought him the biggest collection of chocolate treats she could find from Honeydukes. Sirius was the hardest. In the end, she settled for a joke present, which was a collection of hair products by "Lustrous Locks" a brand popular with witches everywhere. She had also found a magazine of muggle motorbikes she knew he would like; in fact his future bike was inside! For each of them, she had printed an A3 sized wizarding photo of the nine of them making faces at Remus' camera. For Pettigrew, she had regrettably had to buy a present too. She ended up getting him a set of spell-checking quills and some Honeydukes sweets. All in all, she was very pleased with herself.

"Mione get up, we need you for exploding snap!" Sirius shook her mercilessly, a wicked grin on his face. "come on, you're the only one who ever beats Jamsie!" Hermione blinked sleep out of her eyes and glared at the irritating Marauder. She slapped him in the arm before indicating for Remus to deal her a set of cards; everyone whooped. They were on the Hogwarts Express home and James was mercilessly beating everyone, as usual. Pettigrew had lost his eyebrows again and Remus had holes in his sleeves. She settled into the pattern they all had on Friday nights, which consisted of some sort of gaming tournament. Her and James were currently tying at the top, but Remus wasn't far behind thanks to his unbeaten reputation at chess.

When they pulled into Kings Cross, Hermione's stomach dropped. She wasn't sure if she was ready to see Potter Manor just yet, not when she wouldn't be greeted by Harry and Ginny. she was so used to going there most night for meals or catch ups with Ginny, it was going to be strange seeing it without them, and instead with the Marauders and Mr. And Mrs. Potter. She was going to meet Harry's Grandparents! She had been wracking her brain, trying to see if she had known how they had died, but all she could come up with was that they were both Aurors and members of the Order of the Phoenix. There were still records in the Ministry from her time of Charlus and Dorea Potter, of the feats they had achieved. They were two of the most celebrated and talented Aurors to go through the Ministry. What was strange to Hermione was that Harry's mother was, in fact, a Black. Her brother was Sirius' grandfather! So James and Sirius were related, something they were both teased about; "You purebloods are all disgustingly inbred you know" Lily quipped all the time, aimed at Sirius, James, Evanna and Marlene.

As they got off the train, Sirius glanced at Hermione excitedly. She had heard plenty about his family, but today she would meet his real family, his chosen family. it was a big holiday for him and his brother; both he and James were bringing home the girls they loved at some point over Christmas. He was beyond excited that Hermione would be spending the whole holiday at Potter Manor; they had allocated a room especially for her in the same wing Marlene, Sofia and Evanna normally stayed in for the New Year's Eve Ball. This year there were two freshly made up rooms though; one for Hermione, and one for Lily.

"James, Sirius!" He looked up and spotted his parents waving them over. Grabbing Hermione's hand, he pulled her over. Dorea Potter regarded her second, unplanned son and smiled to herself. He had settled down, calmed his tendencies and found a lovely girl. Sirius recognised the look on his mother's faced and smirked to himself; it was her planning face. Dorea Potter nee Black had the classic Black woman looks with her wild dark curls and dark eyes. The thing that marked her as different was that her dark eyes were filled with warmth, and her curls were usually tamed in a bun. All in all, she was a very homely looking mother. Charlus Potter was tall and thin, but fairly well built. He had straw coloured hair which stuck up just as James' did, twinkling hazel eyes and glasses. Basically he was the James of the future. There was no dispute over which parent James looked like, he was Charlus Potter's double through and through.

"Hello dear, you must be Hermione! I've heard plenty about you from my sons; it's lovely to finally meet you!" Hermione looked at the woman who looked like an older version of Bellatrix, and yet she couldn't bring herself to be afraid of here. There was a kindness that was greatly lacking from Bellatrix and it made all the difference.

"It's lovely to meet you Mr and Mrs Potter, thank you so much for letting me stay with you!"

"Nonsense, we couldn't leave you alone at school! And please, call me Charlus, and this is my wife Dorea" Charlus smiled kindly down at Hermione. "JAMES! Get over here son, we haven't seen you in months and all you can do is stare after Miss Evans!" Hermione grinned; it was clear where James got his sense of humour from.

"Alright, everyone grab hold, Sirius pay attention! Hold my arm, James take my other one! Hermione why don't you go with Dorea?" Side long apparition, haven't done that in a while Hermione thought. She gripped Dorea and felt the familiar tug in her naval, indicating that they had left King's Cross. Opening her eyes, she realised that they had landed just outside the wards of Potter Manor.

She took a look around. Set deep down a path, surrounded by trees on either side forming an arch, lay Potter Manor. Even with all the restoration work Ginny had been working on to get it back to its original state, the Potter Manor she knew didn't hold a leaf to what Potter Manor looked like in this time. Surrounded by forests and fields, Potter Manor glowed in its surroundings, the dark tiles gleamed in the cold sun and the many bay windows gave an outsider a sneak preview into the wonders that lay inside.

Once inside, they were greeted by six house elves, but again Hermione couldn't be angry at that either. Each elf wore gleaming white overalls, with their names embroidered across the front. It was clear this family looked after them. "Mater James!" one elf beamed at James in happiness.

"Hey there Sully, miss me?" James explained to Hermione that each person had their own elf, plus two extras that simply helped out around the house.

"Master Sirius!" A particularly small elf, with abnormally large ears, even for a house elf, and wide brown eyes rushed forward and took Sirius's Luggage for him.

"Twinkle! How are you, wow you've grown!" Sirius regarded the young elf fondly, and Hermione felt her heart warm towards the handsome Black even more.

Hermione felt herself beam with happiness. If she had her way, if her plan worked, this place would look the same for many more generations to come.

A/N

I'M BACK! So sorry, I thought my holidays would be fairly busy, but not this busy!
So we're at the Potter's YAY! these next few chapters are going to be some of my favourites, I'll tell you that much!

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HogwartsPrankster: YOUR NAME IS AWESOME! Thanks so much :D

Love you all, Rads x