Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

There's a poll on my profile, for those who didn't know, to pick the eventual pairing for TRP. Feel free to vote! :) My usual thanks to my readers, followers and reviewers, TheSpringLover and MissMaryLiz(who reviewed the last chapter)!

Chapter 5

-o-O-o-

"Hermione?" a voice on her right asked. The girl in question groaned slightly and pulled her covers over her head. She heard a sweet laugh and decided to take a peek. It was Mary. "You're so lazy it's unbelievably funny." she declared, before starting to giggle madly again.

Hermione sat up, stretching her arms as far as they would go. "What's so important?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. She hadn't slept that well; still slightly giddy when she climbed in her bed, it had taken her a while before she could calm down and sink in deep slumber.

"Have you forgotten already?" Mary asked exasperatedly, shaking her head. She was dressed in a tight blue blouse and a cute black skirt that was too short to belong to the school uniform. "It's the Hogsmeade outing! Your first one, with that too! Aren't you excited?"

Hermione stood up hurriedly. "Crap!" she swore. "I don't know what to wear!" she dashed towards the bathroom and desperately tried to brush her hair, to no avail. She ended up with her brush stuck in her wild curls, when Mary came in.

She gasped. "Hermione!" she ran over to her and slowly detangled the wooden brush from the bird's nest that Hermione called her hair. Once that was done, she asked: "Why don't you try smoothing it down?" Hermione grumbled something. "Sorry, didn't quite catch that." Mary said softly.

"Because nothing works on this." she said, gesturing to her head.

Mary shook her head. "At least one thing works on every hair, Hermione. We just have to find what works on yours."

Hermione thought about it for a while. "Sleekeasy's Hair Potion works. But it takes way too much time to put on."

Mary tapped her chin for a couple of seconds, before smiling suddenly, her eyes sparkling. "Wait here." she said, and she dashed out of the bathroom. Hermione heard a little bit of shuffling, before Mary barged back in a spray in hand. "This," she held the spray up. "Is a recipe o my grandmother's, and it acts just like Sleekeasy's… but it's much easier to apply." She Walked over to Hermione and started spraying the potion all over her hair. When it was covered by a copious amount, she started massaging Hermione's s scalp and hair, as to let it sink in. After a couple of minutes, she stopped and said: "Now, all you need to do is rinse it."

Surprised but happy, Hermione waited for Mary to leave the room before stripping and stepping in the shower. She rinsed the potion which, surprisingly, had an innocent smell of violets. She stepped out and wrapped herself in a towel, while she heard a knock on the door. "Come in." Hermione called out, and Mary stepped inside the steam filled room, some clothes in hand. She stepped back out and Hermione dressed, wrapping a towel around her hair, before going back out. She was wearing a short sleeved white blouse with a navy skirt that came down around half of her thigh. As soon as she was out, Mary bustled over to her, unwrapping Hermione's hair from the towel. She grabbed the discarded hairbrush and began to smooth her hair. Surprisingly, no particular knot offered any resistance whatsoever.

When Hermione's hair was smooth, Mary pulled out her wand and began do dry her hair with magic. When she was done, Hermione's hair was as straight and soft as it had been the day of the Yule Ball. "Wow." she said to no one in particular, catching of piece of her hair and examining it. It was slightly longer than she remembered, almost going to her waist.

"I know right." was Mary's reply. She stared at the other girl for a moment before asking: "Can I braid your hair?"

Hermione was bewildered. "Yeah, sure." she answered. Mary looked positively beaming. She wasted no time in grabbing her hair and twisting it in numerous ways, so that a couple of minutes later, Hermione was left with a French braid, with just a couple of strands escaping to frame her face.

Both girls giggling madly, they left the Common Room to have breakfast. Both of them knew how a lot of people would be surprised by this change. And both of them would enjoy it dearly.

-o-O-o-

As they sat down at Gryffindor table, predictably, most people stopped talking and started staring at them. Sirius was the first to speak. "Blimey Mione," he gasped. "I knew you wanted to impress me, but that is just… Ka Boom! Babe, I never knew you were that gorgeous!"

Hermione looked up at him. "Don't call me 'babe', Sirius. I'm not one of your fawning fan girls."

He grinned. "But you're okay with me calling you Mione, then?" She sighed. "Cool! Hey, you have got to go to Hogsmeade with us! I want to para-"

"Finish that sentence and you're a dead man, Sirius Black." She shook her head. "If sleeking my hair has that kind of effect on you, I might just never want to do it again." she mumbled

"No!" Hermione looked up, but it wasn't Sirius who had spoken. It was Remus. And right now, he was beet red. "I mean, it wouldn't be nice to yourself, now, would it?" he elaborated doubtfully.

James grinned. "Right, Moony, we totally believe your motives." he taunted, earning himself a punch in the arm. Hermione said nothing, just continued sipping her coffee.

Just then, Marlene arrived, grinning from ear to ear. "Hey, Sirius." she purred, plopping herself next to him.

He grinned too. "Hey Marlene." he said. He buttered a toast and handed it to her. "Want one?" he asked, but she just laughed.

"Of course not!" she squeaked. "It's not fat free!" She giggled once more and left, swinging her hips exaggeratingly. Sirius turned back to his toast and shook his head, grinning slightly.

"She's dumb!" Mary accused him.

"Maybe." he said, putting the toast down. "But she's a great shag." Both Mary and Hermione blushed slightly at this, while James took Sirius' toast and stuffed it in his mouth.

Remus cleared his throat, his skin colour having returned to normal. "So, Hermione." he said as she poured herself a second cup of coffee. She was going to need it after a night like this. "If you weren't trying to impress our dear Sirius, what brought this on?" he asked.

"Honestly?" she asked. "I just couldn't brush my hair and Mary meddled. Not that I'm ungrateful, though, not at all!" she added quickly after seeing the murderous glare the other Gryffindor had sent her.

"Right." was all he answered. He suddenly seemed very interested in a fly that was hovering above his bacon. The rest of the breakfast passed peacefully enough, although Hermione could feel Slytherins' glares bore through the back of her head.

-o-O-o-

"Your permission form, Miss Granger." Professor McGonagall asked her. She pulled out the note Professor Dumbledore had given her and handed it to her Head of House. Her eyes skimmed through it for a couple of seconds before she gave her a stiff nod and let her pass.

As soon as they were inside the village, they formed their group back again. The four Marauders were there, as were Alice, Mary, Marlene and Hermione. Sirius was grinning broadly, Marlene hanging on his arm. "So," he started. "Where are we going?"

"Madam Pudifoot's!" Marlene squealed, making everyone cringe.

Sirius turned to her. "Sorry babe, but if we are, they're tagging along too." he said, not sounding sorry at all.

She pulled her bottom lip out, in a poor imitation of a cute pout. Hermione caught James' look, who fake-puked in his hand. Hermione giggled. "Please, Siri-pooh! I want to goooo!" she begged.

Sirius sighed. "Let's go to the Three Broomsticks and then talk about it." The little group started heading in the direction of the bar, Marlene still skipping happily, clinging on Sirius' arm like a leach. Hermione slowed down a little, to walk next to Remus.

"She's such an idiot, I can't understand how Sirius stands her." she whispered in his ear.

He nodded. "I know right. She has an IQ equivalent to my shoe size." he whispered back.

Hermione giggled, as an idea came up in her mind. "Let's play a prank on them." she suggested.

He looked confused. "What kind of prank?" he asked.

She grinned. "Just play along." And without any more information, she took his hand and pulled him to the front of the walk, directly behind Marlene and Sirius. "But Remy-pooh," she started wailing. "I want to go to Madam Pudifoot's so I can snog you senseless and choke you with my tongue!"

Remus was trying hard not to laugh. "I know, babe, but you've got to understand that I don't love you and only enjoy shagging you!" he said dramatically.

She clutched his arms with both of hers. "No! You told me you were not a selfish bastard who only cares about himself and that you loved me!" she whimpered theatrically, batting her eyelids. The whole group had stopped and was now staring at them, most of them desperately trying to hold in their laughter.

Remus stared at her, before declaring: "I lied."

"Nooooo!" Hermione wailed, falling to the ground, dragging Remus with her. She rolled them over so that she was on top of him. "I feel so stupid!" she declared, mock-wiping tears from her eyes.

"Babe, I have to tell you something." Remus said, cupping her face in his hands. He waited a few moments for the stress to settle in before he told her: "You are stupid."

That was too much for the both of them. They burst out laughing simultaneously, as did most of the people surrounding them. The only quiet ones were Sirius and Marlene. The former as pale as a ghost, while the latter was red with fury. "You're just jealous!" she yelled at them as they helped each other stand back up. "Jealous because MY Siri-pooh loves me and not you!"

"Err… Marlene?" Sirius asked, trying to pry her arm away. "I, err… I might have let that slip in the heat of the moment…"

She stared at him, clearly not understanding the situation. "So…" she whimpered. "So you don't love me?" Tears were starting to show up in her eyes, threatening to spill.

"Err, no." Sirius declared bluntly.

She immediately let go of him. "So you just used me for sex is that it?" she asked, weeping.

"Erm, yeah, I did." Sirius admitted tactlessly.

She slapped him so hard across the cheek that his head snapped sideways. "You bastard!" she bellowed.

"Hey, that's my line!" Hermione interrupted. Marlene said nothing more and simply stormed off. Once more, Hermione and Remus burst into fits of giggles. "You were amazing, Remus, absolutely amazing." she complimented him.

"Me?" he asked. "I was nothing compared to you!" he laughed. "Besides, you're the one who came up with the idea."

"So it's to you that I owe this?" a very annoyed Sirius said, pointing to his very red cheek.

"It would appear so." Hermione told him cheekily, hiding behind Remus.

He seemed to think about it for a while, before simply shrugging. "Then again, I can't make you pay for it, as she was really getting on my nerves." He turned around and headed for the bar.

"By the way, Sirius," Remus called after his best friend. "You really have to learn about a thing called tact. It enables you to keep your girlfriends longer."

The whole group was in hysterics by then, even Mary and Alice who, until then, had been pretty quiet about it. Even Sirius himself was grinning. "Well, dear Moony, when you manage to get yourself a girl, come back and give me advice. But until then, so long, you shy girl!"

Remus' smile faltered. "Take that back!" he shouted after his friend, who started running towards the bar. He sprinted off as well.

He caught up with him just at the entrance, and started ruffling his hair, holding his head in a lock between his arm and chest. Sirius looked positively appalled. "My hair!" he gasped. "Moony, stop, it's not funny! You're screwing my perfect hairstyle!"

"Take it back." Remus repeated, sounding as though he was thoroughly enjoying himself. The others caught up just then.

"Okay! Okay! I give in! Oh, Moony, dear Moony, you very manly man! You've probably got hair all over your chest and legs and-"

"Okay, that's enough." Remus decided, letting go of Sirius, who immediately went to check himself out in a nearby window.

"Sirius, get a hold on yourself." James teased, slapping his friend in the back. Sirius gave a noise between a growl and a groan, and gave up on making his hair look better.

Sulking, he followed the laughing group of friends inside the bar, whispering to Hermione, who was closest to him: "I lied. I've seen Remus naked, and he doesn't have a hair on his whole body."

-o-O-o-

*Sigh* Sirius will be Sirius. Please leave a review, I like those. And you'd better, because I'm not updating this weekend if I don't get more than 2 reviews for this chapter. Still feeling stubborn? See you Monday, then!

The next chapter will have more action in it. I promise. That one was more of a fun filler to prepare you. I'm not saying any more!

Next chapter: The Hogsmeade outing, part 2.