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.

Chapter 16: Lupus Non Mordet Lupum*

15 September 1977

A Broom Cupboard

"Hermione, look at me." She raised her head to look Harry's father in the eyes. Light streaming in from the window glinted off the shiny title letters of the book James had just held. Lycanthropy: The Beast and Being.

"What do you know?"

When Hermione spoke, the full weight of her word was lost on James.

"Everything."

James grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the nearest broom cupboard. He pushed her inside and pulled the door sharply behind them. Hermione tried to get away, but James' grip was too strong.

"James, let go. You're hurting me."

James ignored her, grabbed her other arm and looked directly at her.

"Hermione, what do you know? What do you know about Remus?"

"More than you," Hermione spat back, annoyed that James was being so rough with her.

"This isn't a joke, Hermione. This is my best friend. Tell me right now, what do you know?"

"I know he's a werewolf, alright! Are you happy?" James released Hermione quickly and stepped back. He ran his hands through his hair once, twice, three times, before looking back at her. Hermione shifted on her feet, eager to have this moment over with. She opened her mouth to speak again, but suddenly James was in front of her, his fingers once more clamped around her arms.

"You can't tell anyone. Ever. This isn't some silly game for him. This isn't a way you can get closer to him. This is his life, and you can't tell anyone."

Hermione opened her mouth to speak when the door suddenly opened. Hermione looked past James' shoulder and her muscles immediately lost tension. James noticed the change in her demeanor and turned around.

"Remus."

"Um, what's going on? I've got Sirius in a huff telling me Hermione wants to talk, and you've got her in a broom closet…" His voice trailed off as he noticed the position James and Hermione were in. "Wait, no actually, what the hell is going on?"

James looked down at his hands around Hermione's arms. His fingertips and knuckles were white with pressure. He released Hermione and stepped closer to Remus, shielding him from Hermione. Remus felt a stirring in his chest and before he knew it, he had moved from behind James to shield Hermione.

James looked confused and momentarily hurt by Remus' move. Hermione looked up at Remus, relief flooding her system, as she felt comfortably safe once again. Remus pushed the wolf within aside and raised an eyebrow at Hermione.

"Remus, he knows." Remus' other eyebrow shot up to meet its partner.

"What? He knows?"

"Yes," Hermione chose her words very carefully, her eyes boring into Remus'. "He knows I know about your condition."

Realization swept over Remus' face. "Oh. Oh!"

James turned around to face Remus.

"Wait, you know she knows? How do you know she knows? No, wait, how does she know?"

"I know how to recognize one."

"You've been here two weeks. How did you figure it out so fast?"

"I lived with a werewolf before-before coming here."

"Wait, you lived with him?" This time Remus spoke. Hermione shot him a look that clearly said not now.

"Yes," she said, turning back to James. "He was a mentor to me, and I greatly respected him."

"So you, you lived with a werewolf–"

"Yes, so I understand what Remus is going through, and I don't have a problem with it. I'm not going to tell anyone." She pushed past Remus and James into the warm light of the hallway. She turned back to speak to them before pivoting on her heel and walking away. "Now, I'm going to dinner. You both are welcome to join, though at this point, it's no matter to me."

James and Remus stood looking at each other for a few seconds before Remus shrugged and loped off, following Hermione. James blinked, rubbed his eyes, and furrowed his brow. It was taking his mind a second to catch up with everything that had just transpired. He shook his head and then jogged to catch up with Remus.

Remus was still well behind Hermione when James reached him seconds later. The werewolf nodded but didn't look at James.

"So she knows."

"She knows."

"How long?"

"A while."

"And you're okay with that?" Remus nodded and couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, I'm okay with it. I-I never really thought I'd meet a girl who gets it, but she does."

"She really cares about you, you know. That's what started all of this. I found her crying. She was crying over you, kept going on and on about how she couldn't believe you survived for so long all alone." Remus felt his heart jump at James' words and immediately his face flushed. He glanced at James to see if he had noticed, but he was busy staring at his shoes.

"What she said, I guess I never really thought of it before. I always thought, with us there, well, it made a difference."

"You all do make a difference." James waved a hand to brush off Remus.

"I know we make a difference, but… I dunno. I guess I just forget—I focus on the fun and rebellious side of it, and I forget that you have to deal with it all the time."

"Yeah."

The two boys walked in silence. They reached the Great Hall and stopped just outside the doors. They both watched as Hermione walked confidently down the tables to sit beside Lily. Remus made a move toward the Gryffindor tables, but James grabbed his arm.

"Do you like her, Moony?"

"Hermione? Of course."

"No, I mean do you like her, Remus?" Remus blushed and looked back at Hermione, wondering if she could hear them. He tried not to think about it.

"I-I don't know. I think so. Maybe." James nodded.

"Okay, so you like her. Now with that in mind, you really need to think before answering my next question." James had that look of complete seriousness he always got whenever he wanted to show his friends he really cared. He wore this look when he talked to Sirius about his family, or Peter about his grades, or Remus about his lycanthropy.

"Do you trust her?"

There was a long pause. Remus looked again at Hermione. He could have sworn he heard a heartbeat quicken, but he wasn't sure. Merlin, it was probably his. He looked somber and pensive for a few seconds and then answered James.

"Yeah, I really do."

In an instant, James immediately lightened up, clapped Remus on the shoulder, and started to guide him toward the dinner table.

"Well then, I trust you, so I trust her, too."

"Really, that's it?"

"Yes, Moony, that's it. I trust you. If you trust her, it's no question."

"Okay, then."

Gryffindor Common Room

Sirius couldn't believe it. He really couldn't believe it. He had sent Remus to find Hermione, hoping she's have to tell him the truth, and… But now! Now, they looked closer than ever. And James, too. Something had happened between the three of them, something Sirius hadn't planned, and it had completely ruined everything.

The Marauders and Hermione were sitting by the windows in the Common Room. Hermione and Remus were working on a potions essay. James was trying to as well, but he kept getting distracted by the pretty redhead on the other side of the room. Every now and then, Remus would thump James over the head to bring him back down to earth. Sirius stared at Hermione, ignoring Peter who was currently kicking his butt in chess.

It didn't make any sense. Sirius was beside himself confused. Remus should have smelled Regulus on her. I don't have half his senses, and even I can tell she's been with him doing Merlin knows what–

"Sirius!" Sirius blinked twice, his eyes regaining focus. Someone was talking to him.

"Huh?"

"Can you stop staring at me." It was Hermione. Sirius felt himself blush against his will but recovered quickly. He rolled his eyes and turned back to the chess game in front of him. He moved a piece nonchalantly, mentally kicking himself as he watched his knight get clobbered by Peter's piece seconds later. Hermione rolled her eyes and turned back to her essay.

"Um, Hermione?" She picked her head up again, this time turning to James who somehow had managed to look away from Lily.

"Yes, James?"

"Can I talk to you? In, uh, in private?" Hermione closed her textbook and stood up. She and James walked over to a pair of chairs closer to the fire. James looked back at his friends. Both Remus and Sirius were stretching their necks out trying to hear better.

"On second thought maybe we should go for a walk." Hermione followed his gaze to the boys and chuckled, leading James out of the portrait. Hermione followed James through the hallway into a deserted corridor.

"Is it okay that we're out here? I mean it's after curfew." James smiled that mischievous smile of his.

"Head boy, remember? As long as you're with me you'll be fine."

It was moments like these that Hermione really saw Harry in James. Behind his messy hair and glasses, he really was so much like Harry. Or rather, Harry was so much like him.

"Listen, Hermione. I just, well, I wanted to apologize for earlier. I shouldn't have attacked you like that. I'm sorry."

"No, James, it's okay. Really. I would have done the same thing. I'm just glad Remus has friends who care about him that much."

"We're a family. It's a bit complicated, but we're a family."

"I understand. Back-back home, my friends at school were basically my family. I'm muggleborn, and my parents had trouble relating to me after I went off to school. They tried, really hard, but it was difficult, especially with everything I got into at school."

"Why, Hermione? Are you suggesting you're a troublemaker?"

"No, no, more like my best friend was a trouble finder."

"Ha, like what?"

"Do you want to hear about the troll in our first year or the time we broke out of school?"

"Both. Obviously both."

James and Hermione sat in the archway as Hermione recounted some of the finer parts of her Hogwarts career, careful to leave out names and specifics. She told James about the two boys who saved her from a troll and became her best friend. She told him about the time she punched a bully in the face in her third year. She told him breaking out of school on the backs of thestrals.

"Wait? Thestrals?" Hermione stopped talking for a moment, quickly realizing where their conversation was headed. "Winged, bony horses? Only visible to those who have witnessed death?"

"Er, yes."

"So, so you can see them."

"No." Hermione shook her head. "But my best friend, he could, and another friend I had, she could see them as well."

"You keep talking about them in the past, like they're not here anymore." Hermione looked away from James and focused on the cuff of her sweater. James mentally smacked himself and put his arm around Hermione. "Hey, hey, I'm sorry. You don't have to talk about it."

"No, actually I think I should." Hermione took a deep breath, sniffed in, and wiped her eyes. She drew a hand up across her chest and over her shoulder where Remus' bite sat. "Before I came here, I-I didn't think I'd get to attend my seventh year. I was living with my best friends and two of our, um, mentors, I guess."

"The werewolf?"

"Yeah, he was one of our mentors." Hermione sighed. "I didn't really have a choice in leaving, in coming here. I don't even know if they know I'm here… I don't even know if they're okay."

James was in shock. He had heard the occasional story of the darkness rising in the world—his parents had tried to explain to him what was going on—but he had never met anyone who was directly affected.

"Hermione, I had no idea. We had no idea."

"I know. And um, don't tell anyone, okay? I'm not really the type who likes to be worried about."

"Well, you'll just have to get over that." James suddenly perked up. Hermione turned to face him.

"What?"

"You can't just go through seventh year without a family."

"Yes, I can. I don't really have a choice."

"You're right, you don't have a choice. I'm adopting you."

"You're adopting me?"

"Yep, I'm adopting you."

"You can't adopt me. I'm pretty sure I'm older than you."

"Doesn't matter. You're adopted." Hermione narrowed her eyes at James.

"What does that mean exactly." James dropped the act and got serious.

"It means that I'll be there for you, Hermione. It means you've got someone to lean on. I got you. It's what we Potters do; we take care of people." Hermione looked up into Harry's face, at Harry's hair, his smile.

"You have no idea what that means to me."

Seventh Year Girls Dormitory

The second Hermione and James walked back into the common room, Marlene McKinnon made a beeline for Hermione. She smiled sweetly at James before whisking Hermione up the stairs to their shared room. She led Hermione toward Lily's bed where the other seventh year girls had gathered. All four girls were staring at Hermione.

"Um, what's going on?"

"We were going to ask you the same thing." Marlene popped out her hip and crossed her arms. Lily chuckled at her friend.

"Marlene, down girl." She turned to Hermione and gestured to the other three girls. "They saw you with James."

"Okay?"

"They have this stupid thing about him and me."

"It's not stupid, Lil. It's real, and you freaking know it." Lily shot a look at Marlene.

"It is stupid. Anyway, they saw you with him and wanted to know what you were doing."

"Doing?" Hermione asked. This time, Dorcas responded by making kissing noises. Hermione choked on a laugh.

"I'm sorry, what? Is this seriously what you all do all day? You think I like James? James?"

"I told you it was Remus." Hermione looked over at Mary as her eyes bugged out.

"Okay, no, no, no. I'm not doing anything with anybody. Ever! James and I were just talking, that's it."

Lily smiled at Hermione and then looked at her friends.

"See, I told you."

"Oh, hop off it, Lil. We know you were just as worried as us." Lily blushed and the other girls giggled, which only made Lily blush more.

"I don't-I don't care what James Potter does in his free time–" Marlene cut her off.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Lily swatted out a hand at Marlene.

"I don't like him!" Hermione's head was whipping between the two girls.

"Lil. Lil, Lil, Lil. Oh, sweet Lily."

"Marlene."

"You've been fighting this attraction for too long, since the second quidditch match fifth year, I think it was. Honestly, it's time, sweetie." Lily's jaw dropped.

"Wha-How?"

"Sweetie, you're not really smooth about it." Lily's face now matched her hair.

"I'm-I'm not?" Lily sat down in between Mary and Dorcas. Dorcas turned her body to face Lily.

"Well, obviously he can't see it, but we can. Seriously, Lily, it's time for you two to get together. It's seventh year! Who knows if you'll ever have the chance after we leave."

This seemed to resonate with Lily. She paled quite a bit and looked at each girl, before sighing.

"Okay, I like him. Ugh, I like him. A lot. Like a lot a lot." Mary squealed. Dorcas and Marlene cheered. Hermione smiled.

"So," Marlene grinned wickedly. "What are we going to do about it?"

The girls talked late into the night about anything and everything they had ever read about boys. Hermione, who usually was never one for these girly talks, was actually enthralled. After hearing everything about James and Lily, here she was, getting a front row seat to their growing relationship.

As the girls talked, Hermione came to a realization. This wasn't her world. She had been so focused on herself and what was happening to her that she forgot the main thing Dumbledore had told her. Everything that happened here had already happened in her time. This wasn't her time to worry about cause and effect. She knew the causes and the effects. This time belonged to Lily, and Marlene, and Mary, and Dorcas, and the Marauders. All her time spent reading up on time travel and werewolves was a waste. She wasn't going to leave until it was her time to leave. So she decided that she would focus on who actually mattered at this point in time – the people who belonged here.

Hermione grabbed a pillow and tucked it under her chin, smiling as she listened to Marlene repeating what she had heard James telling Peter about Lily.

A/N: *A Wolf Does Not Bite a Wolf