authorsnotes: sorry this took so long! I lit rewrote this chapter about 10x, but I'm finally happy with it and happy how it sets up the next chapter
do enjoy, and do take my apologies!
songrecs: running up that hill - kate bush (for the draaaaama)
Hermione had presumed one of the Marauders would suggest some mad-cap plan, Harry would agree, and she'd be dragged into some kind of improbable scheme that would see them dead, or worse expelled.
But no, to her surprise, as soon as Harry gave her the look and she offered a nod of agreement to work with the four teenagers around them (which was still strange to see them like this, Harry had adapted quicker, simply so glad to have them back, it was taking her a little more time), they didn't make a move to follow Snape or head straight for the dungeons, instead they did move, but closer to home, quickly taking over the big study table in one of the corners of the Common Room, ushering her and Harry over with them.
And then they did something that made Hermione smile.
They planned.
Quickly James unfurled a large piece of parchment (where he'd produced it from, she'd failed to see), spreading it out over the table, all four held wands aloft, and Lupin was the quickest in sketching out a map to the Dungeons; both the Potions Classroom and the Slytherin Common Room from here, complete with hiding spots along the way, and the position of the lights. Pettigrew added the times of the prefect patrols next to the map, and Sirius looked over the whole thing, making adjustments along with James.
It was truly a sight to behold, and one glance at Harry and she saw him positively beaming. This was not some ragtag bunch planning things on the fly, this was clearly how the Marauders had been such legendary pranksters, how they were often regaled as the best in their year, had fought Voldemort for so long. They clearly knew what they were doing.
And Hermione knew they hadn't been just pranksters, they were among the most intelligent in their year, many of them gifted, it was hardly a surprise that carried over to their mischief making, the map alone was evidence of that.
Honestly, Hermione was a bit shocked, though mostly impressed. She also grinned a little to herself, their style of 'mapping' was evident, and she was once again thankful for whatever weird time-travel quirk meant they had their own copy of the map tucked away upstairs, as she doubted they'd have been successful in being able to steal it from them.
Sure, she, Ron and Harry had come up with some plans in their time, had succeeded and failed in equal measure, but this? This was something else.
Still, she knew she had to give her own trio some credit, after all at this point in history the Marauders were just that; pranksters, planning and having fun, but not yet engaged in actual warfare; yet.
If it were up to her and Harry, they never would be.
No, if she and Harry could help it his parents and honorary Uncles would never see any real warfare, not like they had. She had to stop a shiver running up her spine then, they'd had near no time to process the war, the pain, what they had lost (even if turning back the clock meant they could change it all), and for now they would have to delay it further. She tucked her hand into Harry's as she shoved her thoughts of the war to the back of her mind, there was no time for that now.
"So, you want Snivellus's potions book?" Sirius asked but without such a vicious sneer, and Hermione near smiled, Harry would not tolerate bullies and she liked that he made that so clear and was standing up for it, but then she was hardly surprised; Harry didn't back down for anyone, not even his own family.
True Gryffindor bravery. It reminded her of Neville, 'It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to ones enemies, but more to stand up to ones friends'; she felt a pang for Neville then, left behind too … though if they succeeded here they could change his life too, he could grow up with his parents, they wouldn't be tortured into insanity.
So much they could do and change, so much riding on them, Hermione was oddly thankful that the weight of the war and world has rested on their shoulders before, they were used to the sensation, Harry more than anyone.
"Yes" Harry followed up, choosing not to comment on the nickname, he was no fool, Hermione knew, years of hatred and mistrust would not be undone in one afternoon. Especially as he could hardly defend Snape too much when they intended to steal from him.
But they needed that book.
"He usually stays in the Potions lab late on weekdays" Lupin chirped in, and Hermione nodded, that made sense, was likely young Snape's solace place.
Hers being the library, Harry's the Quidditch pitch; she wondered what the Marauders were.
No doubt they'd find out.
"So, we create some kind of potions accident? He runs out we snatch the book?" James asked.
"He'll have the book on him right?" Harry said, and Hermione nodded, she remembered Harry with the book, hiding it in his bag, locked in his trunk, he'd rarely been parted from it, same as the map.
In fact, they'd do the same here, lock everything away when they weren't using it, they couldn't risk them falling into the wrong hands and out of theirs.
Especially with the map, how could they explain their being two if the Marauders found their copy? And would that create some kind of temporal paradox? Ugh, time travel truly gave her a headache, and she decided (to her annoyance) to check some books on the subject out of the library.
It was her go-to, to read up on a subject until it no longer gave her a headache, but she remembered reading up on it during third year, time turner in hand as she'd tried to understand everything about it.
Time travel was a confusing subject, and as one learned more, she swore the headaches and confusion got worse, but she was older now, and they needed to understand as much about what they'd done as they could.
It had been an impulse decision to come back, and a worthwhile one, and though they had plans for ensuring they settled in, stole a legendary book and even some vague thoughts on keeping everyone alive, they needed to understand more about the act of time travel itself.
She'd talk to Harry about it later, for now she tried to focus her mind back on the subject at hand.
"Okay, so potions accident, and then as Snape leaves Hermione bumps into him" Sirius continued, and Hermione smiled at how serious he seemed; it wasn't a common occurrence after all, "James swipes the book"
"I'll use a discreet severing charm if he doesn't drop the bag" Hermione agreed getting back into the flow of the conversation.
"Can you do one non-verbally?" Lupin asked eyebrow raised.
"I'll whisper it" Hermione said with a nod, she could of course cast it non-verbally, but they were meant to be 5th years here, she could hardly reveal that.
God, they had gone back so far, she kind of wished they had come back in the 7th year, but she supposed it was good to have as much time as possible to prepare for war.
Still, even as she wished to be further into this schooling period … three years still seemed awfully short to change the course of the future.
But that was their task.
Starting with a low stakes theft, and as they all nodded and made their way to the Common Room door she smiled at just how low stakes it was relatively.
Surely it would have to off without a hitch.
It didn't.
They hurried over to the potions lab, James and Sirius went first, map in hand, Lupin and Pettigrew next, Harry and Hermione trailed, which allowed Hermione a moment alone with Harry.
"Do we need the book this badly?" Hermione asked, oddly the one who tended to get nerves before any kind of plan, she was a planner and though they had a plan it could never account for all variables, and that made her nervous.
"Yes" Harry said simply, "Not just for class, but you know how much Snape packed into that book, what could be useful"
"I don't want us to get expelled in our first week" She said, knowing she sounded foolish but needing to say it out loud.
"Worse expelled than dead" Harry teased and she shoved him to which he laughed, and somehow that made her feel better; Harry's laughter was often the best remedy for her.
She wasn't sure when she had hitched her happiness so securely to her best friend, perhaps as he'd been one of her first friends, perhaps the years they'd grown together at Hogwarts, or those lonely months just the two of them, huddled in a tent, clutching each other surrounded by despair that would have swallowed them but for each other.
She thought then of Lily accusing them of being a couple, how quickly they'd denied it but how her cheeks had heated…
"Here he comes!" James hissed, and any kind of revelation or even hint of one on her feelings was shoved to one side … for now.
"He's meant to be in the lab!" Sirius hissed back, but no Snape was leaving far too early, there was no time to go in and create an accident to have him leave flustered, instead the first glimpse they caught of Severus Snape, their teacher and once Headmaster, war hero, was as he rounded the corner out of the classroom and came face to face with his worst enemies. "Plan B!"
Hermione panicked then; there was no plan b! And Snape was coming toward them!
She could tell immediately it was him, the same slightly greasy black hair, the same cut of his robes, his eyes wide but betraying far more than he'd allow as an adult. He was younger than her here by a year or two and yet he held himself with some kind of authority, even as he glared around at them and surged forward.
Was this who the man had been before he turned spy? Betrayed his best friend and spent the rest of his life trying to make up for it? In all ways but being able to stand her child, for the man he hated he represented so.
Either way it didn't matter, as he sent a sneer their way and attempted to walk past, Harry next to her tensed, and she knew why.
They'd already been frank with the Marauders they wouldn't tolerate bullying, that it was wrong, and Harry in particular had absolutely no acceptance for picking on people, having been a target far too many times himself, but this? Confronted with a hostile Snape who practically crackled with animosity and lick of power? Stood with the Marauders who already had their backs up?
This couldn't end well.
"Move out of my way" Snape said, and she could hear a flicker of something in his voice, not fear, but something of just wanting to be left alone, she understood that and felt a twang of sympathy for the teenage Snape; had he ever stood a chance?
Perhaps they could make it, so he did.
She tried not to sigh at herself, for picking up another little project in a way, she knew Harry would tease her for it, compare it to SPEW, but if that was what it took? Then that was what she would do, and she knew without asking Harry would stand with her.
He always did.
"Not so fast Snivellus" Sirius sneered, but at Harrys glare he seemed to wilt a touch before he turned defensive again, Hermione understood Harry had forged a quick friendship with the Marauders, quicker than her even, but that didn't mean they would listen to him when confronted with the boy they disliked intensely.
Though she did note James seemed a touch hesitant, Lupin and Pettigrew skulked at the back, as they no doubt always did. She felt a flicker of annoyance then, weren't they supposed to be Gryffindors? She was only soothed by knowing Lupin had regretted this and tried to remind herself the Marauders were idiot teenagers here.
"Watch it Potter" Snape sneered as he tried to skirt past, "I've no tolerance for this tonight"
"We just want to talk" James said, but Snape had no trust for him, rightly so, and instead shook his head and tried to push past.
"We're trying to be nice about it, Snivellus" James sneered back with derision, and there Hermione saw the man who could be an arse to people, head filled with arrogance, she saw Harry flinch, went to take his hand but he was already moving.
Fuck, it was like he couldn't help himself, yes, she admired him for it, his bravery, but sometimes his recklessness drove her mad. Though the admiration outweighed it.
"Back off" Harry said as he stepped in front of his dad, Lord how weird, but he did, and Hermione felt a burst of pride in her chest; definitely admiration, Harry would always do what was right, no matter the consequences for him personally.
Gryffindor through and through.
"Who are you?" Snape sneered and Hermione winced, he wasn't going to make this easier.
"Harry" He said simply, probably knowing the Potter association would just make things worse, "I'm not your enemy"
"You're with them then you are" Snape replied, and Hermione resisted the urge to step-in … too many cooks.
But then, what could she do? She glanced up and saw Lupin had stepped around the altercation, especially as Sirius began telling Harry to move, James seemed almost protective of the son he didn't know he had and Snape was glaring at them all whilst Harry stood in the middle, Pettigrew remained in the shadows, but Lupin came to her side.
"Do it now!" He said quickly, and Hermione raised an eyebrow, especially as her focus was pulled by Sirius shoving Snape back until Harry stepped in, shoving him back, James looking torn, but she didn't massively pay attention to that, not as Snape was knocked back, and dropped his book bag.
Jesus, this was all a set-up.
She had no idea if Harry knew too, and would thoroughly scold him if he did and hadn't told her, god had she been the last to catch on? Still, she couldn't dwell on that now as she had her opening, Lupin was quicker though, levitated Snapes books over, he almost turned but then James started yelling, diverting his attention again.
"Which one?" He whispered, and Hermione picked up the book, the copy of Advanced Potion Making, just as battered as she remembered it, plucked it up and turned her back into a little alcove, and began conjuring, grabbing the standard copy they'd purchased in Diagon Alley, quickly copying each page across, tapping Snapes copy and then Harrys, copying the text, it wasn't fast but was a better guarantee to get all of the information than doing it in one.
Now Harry was yelling, and she fumed he'd caught on quicker than her, as she quickly continued her casting, Lupin looked impressed at her speed, and the fact she was doing it non-verbally, she'd have to pretend she was whispering and started doing so, she couldn't reveal she and Harry could cast non-verbally, not when they were masquerading as fifth years here.
More yelling now, "They've drawn their wands" Lupin whispered, and she sped up, her hand aching as she swished and swished, Lupin picked his wand up but she shook her head, it would just overcomplicate things and she needed him as look-out.
It seemed to take an agonisingly long time, but as the shouting escalated she was done, clapped the book shut, Lupin swept them back towards Snapes bag (silently, she admired), and she slipped their new copy behind her back.
"Step aside now Potter or I'll hex you aside!" Snape yelled and she was brought back into the potentially fake conflict, though she did note everyone seemed riled up and she had no doubt this fake scenario could turn real at any minute.
"Stop it!" Hermione yelled, stepping forward, even going so far to move inbetween Harry who was still stood defending Snape, pushed him aside and then turned to Snape, "Get out of here, don't let these morons hold you up"
"Who are you?" He sneered.
"Like you care, now go" She said back, her logic seeming to cut through, as Snape non-verbally she noted grabbed his books, and walked past, shoving her hard in the shoulder to which he earned a glare from her.
Only when he was gone and had turned the corridor did Harry break the silence.
"So, did you get it?"
"You knew?!" She screeched, and she hated that the sound of the rest of the group laughing, Harry's delighted grin and the Potions book she produced from behind her back to cheers had her laughing too.
"Fooled you" James said with a grin, and clapped Harry on the shoulder who was grinning from ear to ear. Sirius sneered he should have gotten a jinx in but was laughing to, as was Pettigrew, looking as human as she could remember, Lupin was smiling fondly, and Harry looked overjoyed.
They'd pulled it off and she smiled too.
This was why the Marauders were legends.
aha love the twist?
hermione is always the worst at decision making in the stress of the moment; devils snare anyone? whereas harry thrives on that chaos, so here we go!
more marauders, classes and drama next time!
and I promise next time will be much sooner!