A/N: Hey guys! Thanks so much for the positive reviews on the last chapter. I bet you're wondering: "Why are your recent updates so close together? It took you a year and a half to post the last chapter!" And my answer to that is that I have so much more free time now! And I also have an outline so that helps a lot. Here's a random fun fact about the story that you probably don't care about but I quite like it so I'm going to say it anyway: the reason I only had there be two girls in Gryffindor was because once Hermione showed up it would make seven people in Gryffindor all together and seven is the magic Harry Potter number. (I know, I know, it's not that cool but oh well!) Anyway… enjoy chapter 13!
Chapter 13 - An Invitation
Sirius was in a particularly good mood lately. His birthday had come and gone with a great bang as the Marauder's threw their usual birthday bash in the common room. This one was particularly great because not only did he finally turn of age, but the party had become so epic that Professor McGonagall had shown up close to midnight in her night clothes screaming that it was still a Wednesday night and that they needed to get to bed. He was still a little disappointed that Rosemerta never snuck him a firewhiskey on their trip to Hogsmeade but Remus pointed out that, as much as she liked him, Rosemerta cared more about her pub than making school boys happy. Moony probably had a point.
He had also woken up on his birthday to a package at the foot of his bed. When he had opened it he found a white box and its contents held a gold watch with a leather band. On the face of the watch were stars and it took a second for him to realize that the stars made up the constellation Canis Major, where the star he was named after was found. He had been truly touched by the gift and it meant even more to him once he figured out that it was the Potters that had sent it to him. After all, it was a tradition to give a wizard a watch when they turned seventeen. Fleamont and Euphemia Potter had been more parents to Sirius in the past few months than his had ever been and this gift proved it. Fondness for the Potters washed over him and Sirius immediately put the watch on.
His good mood continued increasing considerably when Gryffindor won their first Quidditch game of the season. Seeing Slytherin lose always did put him in a cheerful state. But it was strange at first to see his brother as the new Slytherin seeker, but the most surprising part was seeing that he was actually quite decent. Sirius had assumed Regulus had made the team due to his status, not actually from talent, but he had been wrong. Too bad for Regulus though since the combination of James's scoring and Gryffindor catching the snitch, even though he had to admit that it had been very close, made the Lions the ultimate victors. Still, it was weird for Sirius to watch him play because he normally went out of his way to avoid seeing his brother, but there he was seeing him on the Quidditch pitch. Sirius still struggled at times to understand how he and Regulus could be brothers but be in entirely different worlds.
But the match itself was still a blast once he got over the initial shock that he was watching his younger brother play. Yet, he had been slightly bummed that Remus couldn't make the game due to the full moon. Quidditch never was the same when it was just Peter and him cheering James on in the stands. Although now they did have Hermione, but she didn't seem to particularly care much for the sport, nevertheless she still willingly came.
"What on earth are you doing?" Sirius had yelled over the roaring crowd of the game when he spotted Hermione furiously taking notes in the stands. He couldn't believe it, even when they were encouraged to have fun and watch Quidditch, Hermione was still doing bloody coursework!
She had given him a stern look over her notebook but her quill only slowed down slightly. "I'm writing down what's happening for Remus so he can read it when he comes back! He had seemed so excited for the match!" she had yelled back over the crowd, which was cheering as James had scored another goal.
Again, Sirius couldn't believe it. She was at a Quidditch match taking notes! Then again, Remus probably would appreciate it seeing as he was down about not being able to support James during the match.
But other than that, Sirius had noticed that Remus did seem to be in higher spirits lately. He didn't complain as much about his Prefect duties and was more willing to help out with their assignments. The Quidditch notes also put him in a good mood as he stayed in the infirmary after the full moon, which was nice to see since he was usually full of guilt after a transformation.
Remus had had a pretty decent transformation that month, well, as decent as they can go. That's to say he didn't end up tearing open his shoulder like he had done last time, only minor cuts and bruises. The poor bloke was probably getting used to it. A sick part of Sirius did enjoy using Remus's transformation as an excuse to become a dog. So the easier the full moon was on Remus the more fun Sirius usually had, even if he did feel guilty about that. But Remus was even in high spirits as he returned from the Hospital Wing just to immediately disappear again to go over what he missed with Hermione like last time. No one should be as happy as the two of them were when it came to homework and class notes.
November was now more than halfway over and Sirius was lounging back in a chair in the corner of the common room. All the seats by the fireplace had already been taken but Sirius didn't mind, he liked this table due to it being next to one of the large windows showing the clear night sky. Peter sat beside him while they lazily gave orders to his Wizard's Chess board. James was at a late Quidditch practice and Remus was off in the library doing Ancient Runes homework with Hermione. So that left Sirius and Peter to hang out together. Sirius had decided that his Charms essay could easily wait until Hermione and Remus returned.
"Knight to A4," said Sirius, staring intently at the board.
His black knight slowly slid from C3 over to where one of Peter's white rooks stood. He watched with satisfaction as his Knight pulled out its sword and struck the rook through its center, destroying it.
"Come on, Wormtail, you can do better!" said Sirius with a smirk.
But Peter seemed unfazed and smiled right back at Sirius. "Alright, Padfoot. Bishop to A4."
The smile was wiped right off of Sirius's face as he watched Peter's bishop go from in front of his king to crossing the board and destroying his last knight.
"Well, damn. That was well played Pettigrew," said Sirius who was impressed.
Peter grinned and collected the pieces of Sirius's destroyed knight from the board. "Actually Padfoot, do you think we could talk for a minute?
"Can't it wait until after this game?" asked Sirius as he pondered his next move. "Or are you scared that I'm going to win?"
"No it can't actually," said Peter seriously. "I want to talk you before the others come back."
Raising an eyebrow at his friend, Sirius sat up straighter in his chair. Peter wasn't usually one to be so serious, and it was even stranger that he chose a time when Moony and Prongs were gone. "What's the matter, Wormtail?"
Peter hesitated for a moment and Sirius could see how nervous he was. "How do you feel about Hermione?"
That was probably the last thing Sirius had expected Peter to say. How did he about Hermione? What was he on about?
"Blimey, mate, I thought you were going to say you were dying!" laughed Sirius, feeling a sense of relief.
"No, but really," said Peter with wide eyes and Sirius stopped laughed.
"I don't know, Peter," said Sirius feeling confused at the conversation. "If you're asking if I'd date her the answer would be no. She's not much of a looker but she's nice to be around."
Peter frowned. "That's not what I meant…"
"Ah, do you like her then?" grinned Sirius giving Peter a thumbs up.
"Merlin, no! I don't mean how you feel about her like that!" said Peter looking horrified.
"Then what do you mean?" said Sirius, not really following.
"I dunno, I just keep going back to what James had said during our first week," said Peter. "And then she acts all strange now and then."
Peter did have a point. Sirius was pretty sure that Hermione had some sort of secret, but if she wasn't willing to share it with them that wasn't any of his business. It was probably family drama, which Sirius knew all too well about. Overall she seemed like a relatively private person. She never spoke about her past unless she was directly asked, and even then she'd simply give minor details. Sirius could only remember her talking about her old friends or even her family on rare occasions, and she always seemed to be in pain when she did.
Even if she did have a secret how bad could it be? It was probably something personal and they were in no position to judge her, especially since they were all keeping a secret much bigger than whatever Hermione's could have been. In the end, Sirius trusted her. Sometimes he thought it would be easier to tell Hermione about Remus and his furry little problem, but he obviously knew that it was Remus's secret to share. He doubted that Remus would ever tell her, especially since he hadn't even told them, they had found out. It was even worse now that Remus was slightly more on edge about people finding out after the incident with Snape last year. Sirius could feel the guilt from the memory curl back through his stomach.
"Aw come off it, Peter. Prongs was just being a prat and Hermione gave him what was coming to him," said Sirius with a grin. "Don't let that one instance where James was suspicious make you scared, look at him now, he's completely fine with her!"
"I just get nervous when she's around," said Peter with a frown.
Sirius didn't understand why Peter could be nervous around Hermione. Sure should could probably hex the hell out of all of them but he doubted it would ever come to that, unless he really annoyed her. Honestly Sirius liked having Hermione around, and not just because she helped with homework assignments or took over taking Remus's notes in class. Something about her seemed to fit in, like she had known them a lot longer than she had. It was almost scary how comfortable he felt around her and he knew James and Remus felt it too. Hell, he and Hermione would bicker like old friends, she was so fun to mess with. Sometimes he had to remind himself that he's only known her two and a half months and to be careful about what he said around her so he didn't let any of their secrets slip.
"I don't know, mate," said Sirius shaking his head. "She seems like a decent person so me, and I grew up around loads of bad people and I just don't get that vibe from her."
There was a pause and Peter nodded to himself and Sirius saw him struggling with wanting to agree with him.
"Halloween was just weird," said Peter and Sirius had to agree.
Everything had been going fine. Hogsmeade had been loads of fun and nothing bad had happened. They were all enjoying the food at the feast and getting along when all of a sudden Sirius looked up and Hermione was paler than a ghost. It was if she had gone as stiff as a board and her brown eyes had gotten huge. Tears had started streaming down her face as she just stared at all of them before running out of the Great Hall.
When they got back to the common room and she wasn't there Remus had insisted that they check the map and look for her but James had managed to change Remus's mind by telling him that whatever it was, Hermione probably just needed her space. It was clear that Remus was slightly put off by this at first but he soon came around and agreed to give her some space, so the boys left the map in James's trunk that night.
The next day Hermione's excuse had been a lame one to Sirius. As someone who spent the past five years lying to his parents and also making up excuses for Remus's disappearances, Sirius had gotten pretty good at knowing when someone wasn't being entirely truthful. She had claimed that she had realized she had forgotten an important anniversary for her friend and got emotional out of guilt. That she had run out of the Great Hall to go send an immediate owl to her friend Henry before the day was over. When the four of them had seen Mary and Lily later that day they both claimed Hermione was fine when she had gotten back to the dormitory the night of Halloween so they believed her story. James and Remus were quick to believe her as well and Sirius wasn't about to get suspicious over what was probably nothing. She seemed fine, everything had gone back to normal. But apparently Peter wasn't buying it.
"I just don't understand her. She gets in those moods and then just disappears and becomes distant. Remus was right, we should have looked for her on the map the night of Halloween," said Peter. Suddenly, his eyes lit up with excitement. "We should figure out what she's up to. An adventure for just the four of us, like the good old days!"
Sirius on the other hand, was willing to give Hermione the benefit of the doubt. Sure, maybe she did have to send a letter or maybe she did have a secret, but one thing Sirius knew was that he didn't believe Hermione to be a danger for them and that they should keep an eye on her. And this was Sirius… he loved adventure!
"I see why you're concerned but she hasn't given us any reason not to trust her, Wormtail. James said it perfectly that night, we can't just invade her privacy like that. She's our friend," said Sirius calmly. Although he disagreed with Peter, he didn't want it to seem like he was choosing Hermione over him – because he wasn't. It would always be the Marauders over everyone else. They were his friends for life, but that didn't mean Hermione couldn't be their friend as well.
"She doesn't seem like she wants to be my friend," said Peter bitterly.
A wave of sympathy rushed over Sirius as he looked at his friend, who was now crossing his arms and looking back down at the chess board. There were definitely times when Sirius suspected Hermione had less than friendly feelings towards Peter but he didn't understand why. Peter probably didn't think Hermione was dangerous or hiding anything, if anything he seemed jealous that the rest of his friends hung out with her when he didn't necessarily get along with her. And he had just said he wanted to go on an adventure like the good old days with just the four of them. He was feeling left out.
"Yeah, you don't seem to have the best relationship," agreed Sirius. "Maybe you need to try harder. The only reasons she even started talking to us was because me, James, and Remus put ourselves out there. Hell, we were pretty annoying to be honest! You just need to show her the side of Peter Pettigrew that we all know and love."
Peter seemed to perk up at that and he even smiled again. "You think so?"
"Yeah, why not? It's worth a shot isn't it?" grinned Sirius.
"Alright…" said Peter, not sounding entirely convinced.
"Look, Peter," said Sirius leaning towards him and grinning. "She might be our friend but you're one of us! A Marauder! It will always be Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. To the very end."
"You really mean that?" asked Peter with a smile.
"Absolutely," said Sirius, and he did mean it. He meant every word. "Now let me finish whooping you in Wizard's Chess."
"Deal," grinned Peter.
.:~*~*~*~*~:.
"You know, when I read the first few ingredients for this potion I assumed it would smell nicer," said Hermione as she pinched her nose with one hand while using the other to stir the cauldron at her, Lily, and Mary's potions station.
They were in their second half of double potions and to her surprise she was having fun. The longer she was in the 70s, the more she realized that she didn't dislike potions lessons nearly as much during this time as she did her own, she actually enjoyed it. Professor Slughorn encouraged people to work together so there was a very lively atmosphere in the room and instead of putting his students down he would praise people who did well. The praise caused Hermione to thrive in class and do better in potions than she had ever done before.
"Boom berry juice, honeywater, and mint definitely were misleading ingredients," agreed Mary with a grimace as she measured out Horklunk juice into a pint. "Maybe they should have listed sloth brain mucus or billywig sting slime first so my hopes wouldn't have been so high."
Hermione gave a short laugh before quickly closing her mouth so she didn't inhale the smell.
"It sure doesn't smell very pleasant at all," said Lily. She crinkled her nose as she added the crushed chizpurfle fangs to the boiling cauldron in front of them.
"That would probably be the stewed mandrake," said Mary pointing to the soggy wet lump of a plant at their workstation. "I was so excited to learn the Wiggenweld potion too. I've wanted to make it since I was a child."
"Why since you were a child?" asked Hermione as she reread the directions for the potion in her copy of Advanced Potion-Making to make sure everything was perfect. "Did you know someone who had drunken the Draught of Living Death and needed a Wiggenweld potion to wake them up?
"No, silly. Because of the story of the prince who woke the sleeping princess with it," laughed Mary. "It was one of my favorite stories growing up."
"I don't know that one," said Lily as she began to prepare the stewed mandrake with the honeywater.
"Really?" said Mary with wide eyes.
"Neither do I," said Hermione, slightly bothered by the fact that she didn't know the tale. "Lily and I didn't grow up with magical children's stories."
"Sometimes I forget that the both of you were raised by muggles…" said Mary, shaking her head slightly. "It's about an old hag named Leticia Somnolens who was jealous of a king's daughter. So one day she tricked the girl into pricking her finger on a spindle that had been laced with the Draught of Living Death, which obviously sent her into a deep sleep. But then the prince shows up, puts the Wiggenweld potion on his lips, and kisses the princess awake! It's all very romantic."
Hermione saw Lily snickering to herself as Mary waited for their reaction to the story.
"So… Sleeping Beauty?" said Lily with a grin and Hermione laughed.
"What's a sleeping beauty?" asked Mary looking puzzled.
"Oh nothing," grinned Lily and Mary shrugged.
"I don't know anyone who would want to put this on their lips, let alone kiss anyone with it!" said Hermione, adding more ingredients. "It smells absolutely foul and not at all romantic."
Across the room there was commotion and Hermione looked over just in time to see a sloth brain speeding through the air. It struck Mulciber in the back of the head with a sickening squishing sound before dropping to the dungeon floor with a plop. The room erupted into laughter and Mulciber turned around, his eyes like daggers, as he, Avery, and Snape looked for the culprit.
It didn't take long for Mulciber to find out who had thrown it. Sirius was sitting two tables behind him with James and was in a fit of laughter.
"Mister Black!" said Slughorn as he rushed over to Sirius and James's table looking aghast. "How do you expect to finish your Wiggenweld potion when your sloth brain is over at Mister Mulciber's table?"
Sirius flashed an innocent grin. "I got all the mucus I needed from it, sir. I thought I'd help my fellow classmates out since my sloth brain seemed extra mucusy today. You know, spread the wealth."
James was grinning into his fist and looking down at the table, trying not to laugh. At the table next to them Remus and Peter were snickering silently while trying to work on their own potion.
Slughorn sighed and rubbed his temples. "You know what I'm about to say, Mister Black…"
"Yeah yeah," said Sirius. Hermione could see him grinning. "I'll meet you at our usual time for my detention tonight."
"Right," sighed Slughorn, clearly not pleased that he had to hold a detention. He turned to face the three Slytherin boys. "Mister Mulciber, you may want to clean yourself up, you're going to smell downright awful!"
Mulciber's eyes flashed and he glared at Sirius again as Slughorn walked away. He mouthed I'll get you for that before walking to the sinks in the back of the stone room. Hermione started to get nervous for Sirius but he didn't seem bothered. He had turned to James and began to mimic Mulciber's threat as soon as he couldn't see them.
Hermione caught James's eye from across the room and he held his palms up as if he were saying "what can you do?" causing her to try to hide her own smirk.
As Hermione was about to look back down at her potion she caught someone else's eye. Peter was staring directly at her but there was something weird going on with his face… Was he smiling at her? Even stranger yet, he gave her a friendly wave and Hermione mechanically waved in return, taken aback at the unusual encounter. Peter and Hermione didn't openly dislike each other… but neither were they particularly friendly to one another either. He had acted strange since her outburst at Halloween and she couldn't blame him, but maybe he had finally bought her story like the others had done so easily. She gave her head a little shake and brought her attention back to her potion.
The Wiggenweld potion wasn't a particularly difficult potion but there were so many steps and ingredients that had to be accounted for which made it easy to make an error. Mary and Lily spent most of the time gathering what they needed while Hermione was carefully following the instructions so she brewed it perfectly. By the time Hermione had finished the potion the smell wasn't nearly as awful as it was when they started. It still didn't smell good, but now it almost smelled like nothing which the three girls greatly preferred.
Hermione was quite proud of the green potion that sat in front of them as Slughorn made his rounds around the room. When he approached Lily, Hermione, and Mary's station he broke into a grin.
"Well done, ladies! I'm sure this Wiggenweld potion would wake someone even in the deepest of sleeps!" beamed Slughorn. He looked at Lily. "Lily, this is easily the best potion of the class, as always, you have beaten my expectations."
"Oh, I can't take credit for it this time, Professor," said Lily with a smile. "Hermione did most of the brewing."
Mary nodded in agreement and Professor Slughorn looked shocked before turning towards Hermione.
"Excellent Miss Dawson! I think that deserves Gryffindor five points," said Slughorn, grinning beneath his great walrus-like mustache. "There must have been a fine instructor over at Beauxbatons!"
As he complimented her, Hermione could feel her face flush with pride. "Thank you very much, sir."
"You are very welcome," said Slughorn. "I am very impressed, you seem to have what it takes to truly be a masterful potion brewer. The three of you ladies make a wonderful team!"
When class ended Hermione hung back as Lily and Mary left so she could talk to the Marauders who were still packing up. Most of the class had already gone except Mulciber, Avery, and Snape who were busy cleaning up the sloth brain that Sirius had thrown at them.
"Nice job with the potion, Hermione," said James as Hermione approached his station. He was grinning as he stuck his copy of Advanced Potion-Making into his bag. "You always do manage to get us more points."
Hermione smiled at the compliment. "Well someone has to make up the points that this one loses."
She pointed at Sirius and he grinned at her as he finished up wiping down his work station.
"If you didn't notice, I didn't actually lose us any points today," said Sirius cheekily, grabbing his books.
Hermione rolled her eyes and snorted. "Oh but landing yourself in your third detention this week is any better? I don't know how you do it."
A shape walked up from behind Hermione and rested their hand on her shoulder. She turned to see a grinning Remus leaning slightly diagonally due the weight of his schoolbag. Peter was trailing behind him.
Hermione grinned up at Remus as he leaned on her.
"It takes a certain talent to get in that much trouble," said Remus with a nod.
"And you lot will never know how exhausting it is to put so much effort into the art of troublemaking," said Sirius. "Now let's get out of here, it still smells like feet."
The five of them exited the potions classroom and entered the long, dark, and stone dungeon corridor. As they were walking towards the staircase to take them out of the dungeon Hermione caught Peter's eye again and he sent her another smile. The smile made Hermione want to curse him but she knew better. So he wanted to be friends now? Hermione forced a smile on her lips to humor him before increasing her pace so she was walking beside Remus and could no longer see Peter.
They hadn't even gotten halfway down the cold corridor when Hermione heard a door slam behind them. It was loud and echoed through the windowless stone hallway and caused Hermione's head to snap backwards.
"BLACK!" yelled Mulciber who was rushing towards them, looking absolutely furious. Snape and Avery were on his tail but further back.
Everything happened so fast. Mulciber whipped out his wand and waved it. There was a flash of light and Sirius let out a startled yelp as he fell hard to the cold stone floor. It was as if an invisible rope had been tied to his feet and then yanked.
Peter went to grab Sirius while James and Remus immediately pulled their wands out to defend their fallen best friend… but Hermione was quicker.
"Obscuro!" she yelled as she pointed her wand directly at Mulciber. She hadn't known why that was the first spell that popped into her head but it seemed to be effective.
A thick dark blindfold appeared and began to wrap itself around Mulciber's head, covering his eyes and leaving him blinded. Hermione saw Sirius clambered back to his feet and watched in shock as Mulciber lost his balance and fell over.
Hermione made a move towards the staircase, hoping the others would follow but changed her mind as she saw Mulciber get back to his feet. It didn't take long for him to rip off the blindfold and change his aim directly to her.
Rage boiled through Hermione as she thought back to the story of Mulciber cursing and almost killing Mary during her previous year. Mulciber was known for dark curses and she wasn't going to let that happen to her or any of her friends.
Mulciber was probably a fair dueler but after a year of being in Dumbledore's Army, Hermione's reaction time was faster so she had the upper hand. She thought back to the lessons Harry had taught and remembered the perfect jinx that he had taught them.
Before Mulciber even opened his mouth, or any of the Marauders could react, Hermione shouted, "Impedimenta!"
A turquoise beam of light shot from her wand and struck Mulciber in his chest. Hermione hadn't meant for the spell to be as strong as it was and Mulciber's body froze and he was thrown backwards through the air. He had been thrown so hard that once he hit the stone floor he slid a few meters before coming to a stop in front of the entrance to the potion's classroom.
Snape and Avery now had their wands out and were rushing towards them. Thinking that maybe she should have just blocked Mulciber, fear took over Hermione's rage as she noticed that the Marauders all had their wands out too. A fight seemed inevitable.
But at that moment the door to the potion's classroom opened up and Professor Slughorn stepped out into the corridor looking alarmed. Hermione had never seen people drop their wands to their sides so quickly.
"My word! What in Merlin's name is going on out here?" said Slughorn sounding astonished.
Avery apparently saw this as the perfect time to run. He darted in the other direction, past Slughorn and Mulciber, with Snape quickly followed suit, as they ran farther into the dungeons, most likely headed towards the Slytherin common room.
Mulciber, who was still on the ground recovering from the jinx, laid his eyes directly on Hermione and pointed in her direction.
Almost immediately, the Marauders jumped to Hermione's defense, and to Hermione's surprise that included Peter. It was chaos as they all spoke at once, but Hermione stayed silent.
"It wasn't Hermione's fault!" said James.
"This was all Mulciber's doing," said Remus.
"Mulciber attacked me when my back was turned!" said Sirius.
"He was going to attack him again," said Peter.
"But Hermione stopped him!" said James.
"He was going to attack Hermione…" said Remus.
"Do you seriously believe Hermione Dawson would just attack someone without a reason?" said Sirius.
"Honestly Professor, it was in self-defense," said Remus.
"You have to believe us!" said James.
Slughorn held up his hand. "Really, now! There's no need for all this ruckus."
The boys quieted down as Slughorn turned to Mulciber who had been wearing a smug look but quickly began to feign injury.
"Mister Mulciber, why don't you head to the infirmary and have Madam Pomfrey patch you up," said Slughorn.
Mulciber slowly got to his feet and began to walk down the long corridor. When he got close to them he sent Hermione and the boys another smug smirk before walking right in between their group to get past them.
"Miss Dawson, can you come into my office please?" said Slughorn.
Hermione turned to look at the boys and they all wore worried looks on their faces. "It's fine, I'll meet you in the common room after," said Hermione with a weary smile.
"Are you sure you don't want us to wait?" asked Remus. "We can explain to Professor Slughorn what happened…"
She shook her head. "Thanks Remus, but I'll be fine. I don't know how long this will take."
"If you're sure…" said Remus, not looking convinced.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione turned her back on her friends and began to walk back down the corridor towards Professor Slughorn. The walk felt like a thousand years and dreadful thoughts popped into Hermione's head.
What if I end up in detention for the rest of the year? What if he tries to write my parents but there's none to write to? What if they expel me for fighting?
A lump formed in her throat at that last thought and she felt a chill tingle down her spine. If she were expelled where would she go? It would ruin everything, she'd have to go into isolation until Dumbledore found a way to send her back to her own time. Maybe he'd let her stay in the Room of Requirements… She had gone back to the room she had created a few times since Halloween to either be alone with her thoughts or have a quiet place to study when the Marauders got too bothersome. It probably wouldn't be so horrible having to live there, especially since it would always accommodate her needs, except for food.
She took another deep breath as she followed Slughorn to a door adjacent to the potions room. Inside was a small, cramped, and windowless office. It resembled a rather large broom cupboard, but a cupboard nonetheless. Slughorn's desk lay squished between shelves of books, potion instruments, and ingredients. Once inside, Slughorn closed the door behind her and wobbled to his chair.
"Take a seat, Miss Dawson," said Slughorn. Hermione swore she saw a twinkle in his eye as he said this.
Silently, Hermione sat in the old armchair that was opposite Slughorn and folded her hands in her lap. She didn't know where to look so she settled on his desk. A serpent hourglass caught her eye and quickly drew in her attention. It was peculiar, there was sand in both the top and bottom glass vessel but none of it was passing through.
"Ah, where to even begin!" mused Slughorn, stroking his great mustache.
At Slughorn's words, Hermione's attention was taken away from the hourglass and she focused on her short and bald professor. She took a third and final deep breath. "Look Professor, I am so sorry about what happened with Mulciber. My actions were completely unacceptable—"
"Sorry?" said Slughorn cutting her off, and to Hermione's confusion he began to laugh. "What on earth do you have to be sorry for?"
Hermione blinked. "I-I'm not sure I'm following, sir…"
She noticed a slight movement from his desk and looked back at the hourglass. The sand had started to move.
"I saw the whole thing from the peephole in the door, Miss Dawson. That was some deeply remarkable wand work!" said Slughorn, drawing her attention back to him. "I have to say, this is now the second time I've been impressed with your skills today."
Hermione was at a loss for words. He was… praising her for attacking another student? And one who was in his house as well! Was this all a joke?
"I've also come to hear that you're at the top of your other classes as well," said Slughorn with a grin.
"Am I in trouble, sir?" asked Hermione. She was deeply confused at why he was complimenting her instead of calling McGonagall or Dumbledore to have her expelled.
"In trouble? Of course not!" said Slughorn with another laugh. "If anything I say you should be rewarded for such savvy spellcasting while protecting yourself and classmates."
"Um… thank you, sir?" blinked Hermione. She didn't want to say anything else and push her luck.
Slughorn sat up straighter in his chair before leaning on his desk and getting closer to Hermione. "Say… how would you feel about coming to my club next week?"
.:~*~*~*~*~:.
"You have to go!" beamed Lily. "We can go to the next one together!"
Hermione was back in the Gryffindor common room. It was nearing dinner time so it was mostly empty which had allowed the Marauder's, Lily, and Mary to secure seats on the couch and armchairs by the roaring fire.
Apparently as soon as Hermione had gone into Slughorn's office the boys had rushed up to Gryffindor tower to tell Lily and Mary what had happened. The six of them had taken it upon themselves to wait for her to return to the common room to hear the verdict.
"The Slug Club is lame," said Sirius and Lily sent him a nasty look. "What? It's true!"
"Says someone who's never been," she retorted.
"Hey, I've been invited to go," said Sirius defensively. "I've just chosen not to."
"Really, Sirius?" asked Hermione, slightly impressed. From what she had heard so far was that Slughorn only asked the best of the best to be a member of what he called "The Slug Club."
"Oh yes, there was something about my last name being Black and having a long historical family background that intrigued him," said Sirius, rolling his eyes. "But I kept ignoring his invitations and once my brother arrived he stopped sending them to me and started sending them to him."
"Slughorn asked me to go too," said James with a smirk.
Now it was Lily's turn to be surprised. "Did he really? Why haven't you gone?"
James shrugged. "I actually went to the first meeting during our first year but it was downright boring so I never went back."
Lily raised an eyebrow. "You were invited straight away? I didn't get asked to join until the end of second year."
"He invited me because he knew my father invented the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion," said James casually. "I bet he thought I would inherit my father's potion making skills but he must have been very disappointed at how unbelievable average I am when it comes to potions."
Hermione's jaw dropped. "Your father is the one who invented Sleekeazy's Hair Potion?" asked Hermione in astonishment. She thought back to how she managed to make her hair so straight and lovely for the Yule ball in her fourth year. "I've used that!"
James gave a humble grin. "That would be thanks to my dad."
"You'd think the son of a man who created a potion to control unruly hair would at least have nice hair," said Sirius with a snort. He reached over and messed James's hair up even more that it already had been. "But nope, it always looks like a tornado hit his head."
A laugh came from Remus next to her on the couch and Hermione grinned as well. Sirius certainly had a point.
"But getting back to the Slug Club," said Lily, ignoring the boys. "You really should go. In the past, the people he's chosen to be in his club have all gone on to do great things!"
"I still can't believe you jinxed Mulciber," said Mary, smiling and shaking her head, completely oblivious to the conversation that was already happening. "Brilliant."
"You should have seen it, Mary," said Peter, his eyes almost popping out of his head from thinking about the exciting memory. "He must have flown back twenty feet!"
"No way!"
"Where did you even learn to duel like that," said James, looking intrigued.
"I was in a Defense club last year," said Hermione simply, not wanting to go further into Dumbledore's Army. Obviously she couldn't tell him that his future son had taught her and many others in an illegal organization.
But James just accepted that and grinned. "Cool."
Lily didn't seem to want the subject changed. "Pretty please, Hermione?" she said and she gave Hermione her sweetest smile.
"I don't know, Lily…" said Hermione as she ignored the conversation about the altercation after class that Peter and Mary had started on the side. She didn't really want to talk about the Mulciber incident because she felt bad, she shouldn't have let her anger get the best of her like that. She needed to have better control if she had to stay here.
"I'd really rather not go alone," said Lily. The smile fell from her face and her green eyes were pleading. "I blew off last month's meeting because I didn't want to have to face Severus alone… he goes, you know. It would mean a lot to me if you went. I really love the meetings, I'm sure you will too!"
Hermione scrunched up her face as she thought about it. What could be the harm of going?
"I think you should go, Hermione," said Remus kindly. "It could be a great experience and Lily is right, lots of influential people started out in Slughorn's club while at Hogwarts. If you don't like it you don't have to go back. But then again the decision is entirely up to you, don't just go because I said that."
He gave her a crooked smile and Hermione couldn't help but trust his judgement agree with him
"Alright, I'll go," said Hermione to Lily with a smile.
"Yay!" squealed Lily and she clapped her hands together and beamed. "This will be so much fun!"
"Not to cut this celebration short," said Sirius, who was looking down at his watch, "but we should probably head to dinner before it ends. I'm starved, and let's not forget, I have a date with old Sluggy after dinner."
"Alright let's go," said James and he stood up for the armchair he had been sitting in. He started to pat his stomach. "I really worked up an appetite watching Hermione absolutely destroy Mulciber earlier."
There was scattered laughter and Hermione gave a weak smile. The group began to get up and starting making their way to the portrait hole.
As Hermione made her way to follow the rest, Remus stopped her and held her back.
"That was really cool what you did for Sirius," said Remus. There was a slight twinkle in his eye as he smiled at her. "He really owes you now."
"Sirius always owes me, especially since I constantly help him with assignments," laughed Hermione. "I am surprised though that you aren't telling me not to fight students, you are a prefect after all."
She grinned up at him and he laughed. "I've never been the best at being a prefect in the past, why bother to start now?"
Hermione playfully hit his arm. "Oh stop it," she said, rolling her eyes. "But you are right, Sirius definitely owes me."
The portrait hole swung open and the head of Sirius appeared. "Come on you two, we're starving here!"
His head disappeared again and Remus chuckled. "That's our cue."
Remus walked over to the entrance to the common room and crawled through the portrait. Hermione was right behind him, ready to go to dinner with her friends.
A/N: Let me know in the reviews what you liked/disliked! What do you think is going to happen next? What do you want to see happen in the upcoming chapters? It would truly mean a lot to me if you took the time to write a review. They really do influence the story. A big part of the last chapter was actually written because someone had left me a comment on this story in AO3, so reviews really are important to me. Thanks for reading!
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