Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. All characters, places, descriptions, etc (unless original and created by me) belong to her.

Summary: It was a small pack, of course, just the five of them, but together they were something wild. Hermione finds herself in the Marauders' Era with four new best friends.

A/N: A bit bittersweet. Also I'm going to go ahead and apologize to Snape fans here. Just remember that at this point Hermione has no idea about Snape's true allegiance or his history with Lily. Okay, that's all.

Oh, and to the guest who had to work two 11hr shifts, I'm glad this story helped you through! Enjoy! And please review!

Chapter 14: Sic Itur Ad Astra

3 September 1977

The Library

The next day Hermione waited in the common room for Remus, but none of the Marauders ever showed. So Hermione, for the first time, went to the library reluctantly. She initially set out to see what Hogwarts had on werewolves at this time, but she ended up sitting in her favorite corner, curled up with a worn copy of Hogwarts: A History. She read for a while, looking at each word, each page with sentiment, but after a while, even her favorite book couldn't keep her worries away.

Hermione was confused. Talking with Remus in the Shack… She'd never met anyone so similar to her, so on par with what she was thinking. They were truly so, so similar. She thought she had been close with Remus before, but now… And this Remus was young. So young. So young and bright and hopeful. And the way he looked at her. Every time she looked in his eyes they were so full of relief. And every time Hermione got angry because Remus had sent her here with no explanation, she would remember that relief and forgive him, every single damn time.

Hermione felt like her emotions were running around unlabeled. She was confused and frustrated and totally unsure of how she felt. She was, after all, a seventeen-year-old girl. Remus was a seventeen-year-old boy. And yes, although she was hesitant to admit it, he was attractive. She couldn't help but admit it. He was ascetically pleasing, and it wasn't her fault that her brain recognized that. It was purely scientific, she told herself, a biological reaction.

But it was strange, looking at this boy and remembering the man. Hermione could tell Remus had been surprised with how quickly she had opened up to him in the Shrieking Shack. They had talked about their childhoods, their parents, basically everything they could talk about that didn't reveal Hermione's secret. Hermione couldn't help but treat Remus with the same respect and understanding that she had always used.

On the other hand…

Sure, she and Sirius had had their spats before. Where Remus always agreed with Hermione, Sirius constantly challenged her. The first time she stayed at Grimmauld Place had certainly not been a vacation. But then he came back—she brought him back, and things had been different. They had both been kinder, more understanding, closer and more caring. But here, Merlin, it was even worse than before.

Every time she caught Sirius' eyes, they were full of suspicion and hesitation and surrounded by walls. He had known her all of two days and couldn't keep her gaze without narrowing his eyes. It tore Hermione up inside, for even as much as Remus got to know her and trust her, she knew she would never be actually accepted by the Marauders until she was accepted by Sirius.

With a huff, Hermione rose from her seat and walked purposefully out of the library, intent on finding Sirius. I must be missing dinner again, she thought as she passed several small waves of students moving to and from the direction of the Great Hall. She cast a quick tempus spell.

19:50:07

3 September 1977

Hermione took a moment to consider where best to confront Sirius and decided that finding him at dinner would be easiest. Plenty of people around to halt an all-out public brawl. Pivoting on the balls of her feet, Hermione turned around and promptly slammed into another body.

"Watch where you're going."

Shivers ran down her spine as a familiar drawl met her ears. Snape. Hermione looked up into the eyes of her future professor and felt small pricks of anger growing from within.

"Still experiencing brain damage, are you?"

Hermione realized she had completely zoned out while staring at Snape. Hermione remembered Harry describing how Snape had appeared in his memory that Harry witnessed, but Hermione wasn't exactly prepared to see it in reality. She thought back to when Snape and Regulus had first found her, and now she couldn't believe that she hadn't recognized her professor sooner.

"Um, no, I'm much better now, thank you."

"I wasn't asking after your well-being," he said matter-of-factly, as if it would be incredulous for him to bother himself to care about another.

"Okay, well fine then." Hermione stepped to the side, eager to part with Snape, and started to walk away before Snape called out to her.

"Good luck with those animals you seem to be becoming friends with. You'll need it. You may not know this yet, but their bite is worse than their bark. At least in Lupin's case."

Hermione whipped around to face Snape, her vision flooding red, but the boy had disappeared in a sea of students.

A thread tightened and flared within Hermione.

How dare he speak to her like that? He didn't even know her. He had no right. And to speak about Remus' secret? Hermione knew of the "prank" Sirius had tried to pull and how James had eventually come to Snape's rescue, but still… telling Remus' secret could get him expelled and shunned from fellow students. It would ruin his life.

Hermione started to run. She couldn't tell exactly where she was going, her vision was clouded with angry red spots. She had felt anger before but not like this, not this strong. The aggression usually tended to come in waves, never staying for long, but it would fade in and out. She couldn't understand exactly where it came from or why. She made a left turn and then a right, opening a door and resting against the frame.

Sirius clearly remembered her from the past, and Remus, too; after all he was the one who basically sent her here. So Professor Snape must remember her, too. Hermione's skin felt like it was on fire. The anger built up from her gut and spread throughout her body, filling her with an overpowering darkness. It stormed within her veins and hardened her gaze as memories dashed before her eyes.

"Insufferable know-it-all."

"I see no difference."

"Professor Flitwick has collapsed. Take care of him—Now, you silly girl! I must help fight the Death Eaters. Stay here with Professor Flitwick. Stay!"

He had terrorized her for years, making her feel preposterous for her interest in learning. He had called her names, as a professor no less. He had killed Dumbledore. He was the reason the greatest hope for the Light was dead. He was a murderer, a Death Eater. He betrayed the Order.

All this aggression, this anger was pent up inside her and she needed to release it. She needed to get rid of it now. Her hands itched and the blood in her veins burned. Anger surged throughout her entire body. She needed to expel this darkness, needed to release it. Hermione, with a firm grip on her wand, turned around looking for something, anything, to obliterate.

A door opened suddenly to her right.

Sirius.

The two looked at each other for an eternity, a pair of deer in headlights. Hermione's face was coated in rage, her jaw tight and eyes wild. Sirius' face, on the other hand, was fallen in defeat, eyes tired and knuckles bloody. His hair was a mess, and Hermione could smell firewhisky on his breath.

"What the hell are you doing here?" It was Sirius who spoke first, and the tone of his voice somehow snapped Hermione away from her emotions, at least a bit.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, what the hell are you doing here?" Each word was forcefully enunciated.

"I heard you the first time. What, am I not allowed here?" Hermione glanced around quickly trying to gage exactly where she was, where her rampage had led her. It took her just a moment to recognize where she was—the Astronomy Tower.

"Not tonight."

"What?"

"Seriously, Granger, back off." Hermione stepped back at the sound of her last name. It hurt her more than she realized that Sirius had used it instead of her first name. Sirius pushed to get past her, and as he moved the light shifted. Hermione could see his tired eyes rimmed in red, his eyelashes wet. Sirius Black had been crying.

Hermione reached out to grab his arm. He was too far away so she grabbed his hand instead. Relief fell across Hermione's shoulders when Sirius didn't immediately pull away.

"Sirius, wait. Please." Slowly, the Marauder turned to face Hermione. "I know that you don't trust me, and I understand, I really do. But I'm-I'm going to prove to you that I can be trusted, I promise." She smiled weakly. Sirius huffed and looked away, his hand starting to slip from Hermione's. Hermione moved closer and tightened her grip.

"Sirius, I know what it's like, a bit. To feel alone. And well, just…" She sighed and looked away from his face, careful not to let her emotions show. "If there's anything you need…"

Hermione fell silent, and a few seconds ticked by before she felt Sirius' hand slip from hers. She stepped back and slid down the wall to sit on the floor as she listened to his footsteps until they completely faded away. Hermione sat there for a while, counting the seconds in her breaths until the last of her anger had ebbed and she was left with an uncomfortable calm.

"It's not your fault." Hermione looked up into the eyes of Regulus Black stepping out from the shadows.

"What?"

"It's not your fault. Not tonight at least. It's his birthday."

"Oh."

"Our mother burned him off the tapestry."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Regulus moved to sit beside Hermione. His hand moved and pulled something from his pocket. He pulled back a couple napkin layers and handed a miniature Shepherd's Pie to Hermione. She accepted the food but looked at him questioningly. He shrugged.

"You missed dinner, didn't you?"

She looked at the face of Regulus Black, and her heart hurt. He was just a kid, and yet Hermione could see the faint outline of the Dark Mark through his long sleeve shirt. She turned her eyes away from his arm to look at his face. Regulus looked positively morose.

"Why was he up here? I would have thought he would have been with James and the others."

"I'm sure he was with them earlier, but this has become sort of a ritual for him, I think."

"What, coming to the Astronomy Tower?"

"You know the Blacks are all named after stars? Well, most of us anyway. Sirius, the star, is in Canis Major; it's the brightest star in the sky." He pointed to himself and laughed dryly. "Regulus is in Leo. Ironic, right?"

"So, he comes up here because…?"

"I don't know. He was talking to our uncle Alphard for a while. He died recently, but he and Sirius were close. Then he just sat up here in silence, every now and then punching the wall. I-I think he comes up here to feel connected to the stars. He knows how to pick out every star our family members are named after. I think he looks at them and pretends they're his family."

"That's, that's… that's so sad." Regulus shrugged.

"Anyway, just know it wasn't you who pissed him off today."

"Why were you up here?"

"It's his birthday; I'm his brother. I didn't let him see me, but I just wanted to be there, you know."

"Regulus, how do I get him to trust me? How do I get him to like me?" Regulus smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"If you find out, let me know."

The two sat there without speaking. Hermione ate her Shepherd's Pie, and Regulus picked at a loose thread on his trousers. When Hermione finished eating, the two rose to their feet in silence. They walked out of the tower and started to go their separate ways.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"Something tells me you're going to be good for him."

Gryffindor Common Room

When Hermione returned to the Common Room, the Marauders had finally returned. Hermione started coughing as she approached them, the strong smell of firewhisky assaulting her heightened senses. She raised an eyebrow at Remus, who just flashed a winning smile. She paused, uneasy in her steps, wondering if Sirius would be all right with her presence. The Marauder in question took a deep breath and then whipped his head to glare at Hermione. He then looked between Hermione and Remus before sighing exasperated.

"Really?" He looked at Remus who looked totally confused. Sirius nudged his head toward Hermione and wrinkled his nose. "Really?"

Remus tried to sniff subtly and raised his eyes to Hermione. He then looked at Sirius.

"Is there a problem, mate?"

"You don't have a problem?"

"Should I have a problem?"

Sirius turned away from Remus and looked at Hermione instead.

"Really? Both?" His tone was accusatory, but Hermione was completely baffled. Peter and James were looking between the three, faces scrunched as they tried to make sense of the situation. Sirius sighed again and rose from his chair. He went up the stairs to the boys' dorm, only waving a hand when the others called back for him.

Hermione stared at his empty seat before deciding better and taking the chair next to James. All three Marauders looked at her with questioning eyes. She threw her hands up.

"I have no idea what just happened."

"You have absolutely no idea why he just flipped out like that?" Remus looked at Hermione with his professor face, the one that always made her want to be a truthful and kind person.

"Okay, I may have run into Sirius in the Astronomy Tower a while ago."

The three Marauders looked between each other before collectively relaxing. It seemed Hermione's answer was sufficient enough for them not to worry about Sirius. Hermione looked up at the stairs Sirius had just disappeared through.

"Shouldn't someone go after him?"

"Believe me, we've tried. It's better for all of us this way. None of us get a fist to the nose, and Sirius gets to save face."

"But it's his birthday."

"We know." This time Peter spoke up, smiling with a mischievous grin. "Where do you think we were all day?" The Marauders laughed and the air grew thick again with the spicy scent of firewhisky. Hermione crinkled her nose and stood up.

"Well, I'm off to bed before I happen to get drunk off the fumes." She nodded to the boys and left the room, leaving the slightly tipsy Marauders behind. And as Hermione walked away, what had become a familiar mantra paraded through her mind.

Get on Sirius' good side. Be nice to Regulus.

A/N: *Thus You Shall Go to the Stars