[part 01|part 02|part 03|part 04|part 05]
[part 06|part 07|part 08|part 09|part 10]
[part 11|part 12|part 13|part 14|part 15]
[part 16|part 17|part 18|part 19|part 20]
[part 21|part 22|part 23|part 24|part 25]
[part 26|part 27]

Part 1:
Evil?

Hermione Granger glowered at her partner. She knew that Severus Snape was cruel...but she'd never considered him evil. No, she hadn't thought he was evil until now. Now, the bushy-haired brunette was convinced of the Potions Master's evilness. She had exceeded everyone's expectations when she'd gotten O's on her O.W.L.s in every class she'd taken (much to Snape's obvious dismay, she'd even gotten an O on her Potions O.W.L.) and had decided to take Advanced Potions for sixth year. She had convinced Ron and Harry (who were hoping to become Aurors) that they needed the class and they had reluctantly agreed. Hermione, Ron, and Harry were the only Gryffindors in Advanced Potions; there were a few Ravenclaws; most of the sixth-year Slytherins; there were no Hufflepuffs in class.

When Snape had found out that Hermione was taking Advanced Potions, Snape had done the most sadistic thing he could thing of. Out of pure malice, Professor Snape had made Draco Malfoy Hermione's partner. It was only the first day of sixth year but the thought of being Draco Malfoy's partner made her stomach twist painfully, she had to study with him, sit by him. Sixth year was going to be the very definition of Hell.

Draco scowled at Hermione and then at the Potions Master. How could he do this to me? A Malfoy? Malfoys don't work with Mudbloods! he thought angrily. He crossed his arms over his chest with annoyance as she meticulously added the ingredients to the cauldron simmering. He frowned thoughtfully. What are we supposed to be making again?

Trying to keep his mind on the task, he looked over his notes and added some ingredients distractedly. He frowned as the potion turned pink instead of green. He glanced over Hermione's notes and noticed the checkmarks by each of the steps. He groaned as he realized he'd added twice as much hellebore and wolfbane as the potion required to the mixture. He glanced at the next step and watched as Hermione's hand moved over the potion with a pinch of thistledown mixed with thyme.

"No!" Draco cried as the thistledown and thyme entered the concoction. It was too late, the potion roiled to the horror of the two, bubbles popping all over the pink surface. Draco and Hermione grabbed their bags to protect themselves from the potion as it exploded all over them.

Hermione dropped her bag. "What did you do to my potion?" Hermione demanded.

"Your potion, Granger?" Draco scowled. "As I remember, it's also my potion."

"And you messed it up," Hermione replied. She frowned as she looked around the dungeon classroom, there wasn't a sign of the potion...or Snape...or any of the other students. The room was darker and dingier than usual and it was completely empty. The ingredients were in their respective places as if they hadn't been moved for a Potions class yet. Draco caught the brunette's curious looks around the room and his silver eyes followed after. "What did you put in that potion?"

"Too much hellebore, too much wolfbane," Draco stated.

"How much more?" Hermione asked.

"Twice as much," Draco frowned.

"And you let me put in the thistledown and thyme?" Hermione demanded.

"I bloody well tried to stop you!" Draco scowled, shoving a strand of pale-blond hair off his brow. He gazed at the table where their cauldron had been and tried to figure out what they had accidentally concocted. Whatever it was, there shouldn't have been such an explosive reaction...and why had everyone disappeared?

The bell rang and Hermione gathered her things. She'd figure this out later; right now she had Advanced Arithmancy. Hermione frowned; she also had Advanced Arithmancy with Draco. Two classes in a row with Malfoy, what could be worse? she wondered.

The two left the dungeon and headed to Professor Vector's classroom. There were students filtering in the halls but none of them were familiar in the slightest. Hermione glanced through the crowds, looking for a glimpse of red or black in the sea of brunettes and blondes. She could tell that Draco was looking for Crabbe, Goyle, and/or Pansy Parkinson. The walked silently to Arithmancy and took their seats across the room from each other. Hermione looked around the classroom, it seemed...different. She couldn't explain how it seemed different but it just was. Out of the corner of her brown eyes, she saw Draco noticing the oddness as well.

Students filtered into the classroom and Hermione almost fell out of her seat when she saw a black-haired boy...he was identical to Harry except he had blue eyes instead of green and he didn't wear glasses. He was flanked by two other boys, a tall well-built dark-haired one with laughing eyes and a smaller, thinner brown-haired one with serious eyes. The Harry-look-alike had a shining "Head Boy" badge on his robes and the sandy-haired boy had a prefect badge on his robes. The badge-less boy was teasing the Head Boy. "Now, now, James, we don't want you to become the bighead boy, now would we?" he taunted.

James rolled his eyes. "Sirius, mate, you're just jealous," he stated.

"You're not going to go all fun-spoiling on us like Remus, are you?" Sirius asked, flicking the prefect's badge. Remus glared at Sirius teasingly.

"Sirius, Sirius, Sirius," Remus sighed, putting an arm on Sirius's shoulder. "Someone has to spoil your fun or you'll get yourself into trouble with all the hearts you break." Hermione did fall out of her seat (right in front of the trio) when she put the names together: James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin.

Sirius smiled teasingly at her. "Need some help there, love?" he asked, offering his hand. Hermione took his hand cautiously and he helped her up.

James smirked. "Someone has to keep him in line...all the girls falling at his feet," James chided to Remus and Remus grinned.

Sirius rolled his eyes even as they shone with mirth. "Don't mind James and Remus, they're idiots," Sirius said. "Are you new? I haven't seen you around before. I'm--"

"Sirius Black," Hermione said, blushing as the boy shook her hand. James and Sirius are dead! And now they're my age? How!? Hermione thought. He looked a lot different than the Sirius Black she had gotten to know the summer before fifth year. His eyes were full of life and mischief, his skin was tanned.

"Your reputation precedes you," James teased, shaking Hermione's hand. "James Potter...and this is our mate, Remus Lupin."

Remus shook Hermione's hand. "H--Hermione," Hermione stammered.

"You have a last name, Hermione?" Remus asked.

"Er...no," Hermione squeaked. James grinned and she could see his son in him.

"Well, Hermione with no last name, it's a pleasure to meet you," Sirius said, winking at her as he and his friends walked to their seats.

Hermione took her seat and the red-haired girl with a Head Girl badge on her robes sitting beside her rolled her eyes. "I see you've met Remus, James, and Sirius," she said. The redhead didn't catch the longing look James sent her before going back to talking to Remus and Sirius.

"Yeah," Hermione said. "They're...interesting."

"They're jerks," the girl said. "I'm Lily Evans."

"L--Lily?" Hermione stammered and the girl nodded slowly as if Hermione was crazy. An elderly man entered the classroom and Draco finally took note of how weird things were. Hermione jumped to her feet. "P--Professor, I suddenly don't feel so well? C--can I visit...er...the nurse?" She wasn't sure if Madam Pomfrey was still here.

"Uh...yes...Miss...?" the professor stated.

"Um...de Lioncourt?" Hermione stammered. She would have given anything to have one of Fred and George's Skiving Snackboxes right now.

"Yes, Miss de Lioncourt, you may," the professor said.

"I'll accompany Miss...de Lioncourt," Draco volunteered. "I don't feel so well either."

"Very well," the professor stated, seeming overwhelmed. Sirius raised his hand and the professor glared at him. "No, you may not go to the nurse, Mr. Black."

Draco and Hermione exited the classroom and as soon as they were clear of the Arithmancy room, Hermione dragged him up the stairs to the empty Astronomy Tower. The Astronomy Tower was hardly ever used except as a rendezvous for couples seeking a quiet getaway. It was well-furnished with soft carpets and a daybed as Professor Sinastra had often fallen asleep during her late-night searches of the sky. It was used as her office every once in a while.

Draco stared at the girl with a cock of his pale brow. "Why, Granger, on the first date?" he taunted.

"Shut up, Malfoy. We need to talk to Professor Dumbledore," Hermione announced.

"I'm not talking to that half-witted old bat, he's off his bloody rocker," Draco scowled.

"Professor Dumbledore is not off his rocker, Malfoy," Hermione said. "He's the only one that can help us out here."

"We don't need any help," Draco replied.

"Did you recognize any of those people in that classroom?" Hermione asked.

"No, but it's Advanced Arithmancy, there's only one class, all of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs are in it," Draco shrugged it off.

"You may not have recognized any of those people but I did," Hermione stated. She reached into her satchel and pulled out a tattered old picture. "All of you that I haven't seen today, please leave the picture." Most of the people left except James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily. She showed the picture to Draco.

"So you have a picture of them," Draco rolled his eyes. "Get to the point, Mudblood."

"That's Lily and James Potter," Hermione said, ignoring Draco's comment and pointing at the happy couple. "They've been dead for fifteen years. You've met Professor Lupin, you know...the only good Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've had...the one that your father had sacked." She pointed at Remus sitting near them and then her finger flew to Sirius Black. "And that's Sirius Black; he died earlier this year because of your father's master." Hermione glared menacingly at him.

Draco scowled at Hermione. "Is there a point to this?"

"Damn it, Malfoy, I've seen dead people! And they were very alive and in their teens," Hermione stated.

"Okay, I admit. Dumbledore's not off his rocker, you are," Draco said.

"You can tell that to your father," Hermione said, looking past Draco. She had finally noticed the blonde that looked remarkably like Draco except his hair was longer and pulled into a ponytail. A blonde woman had unbuttoned his shirt and was now kissing his neck.

"I will," Draco said.

"Well, here's your chance," Hermione stated, turning the blonde around. Draco's jaw dropped as he saw the boy that could be his twin. "Now do you believe me?"

Draco turned around and winced, his face beet-red. "Blimey, Granger, the last thing a bloke wants to see is his father...like that," Draco said with a shudder.

"Care to join us, you two?" Lucius Malfoy's voice came.

"Father?" Draco whimpered as Hermione managed to keep her composure but blushed at the Lucius's comment, more out of embarrassment for Draco than for herself. She had once stumbled upon her parents like this and had been scarred ever since.

"N--no, thank you, we were, uh, just leaving. Going to find ourselves a nice, quiet dungeon or something..." Hermione stated, her face the color of Weasley hair.

"My, my, love, didn't know you were so kinky," Draco said and Hermione hit him upside the head as they exited the Astronomy Tower.

Part 2:
Things That Were...

Snape sat at his desk, glancing around the class, relieved that he had weeded out most of the idiots from the past five years. Merlin, he had finally gotten rid of Neville Longbottom. The thought of ridding the bumbling Gryffindor was almost enough for him to give points to Gryffindors. Almost. He could be relatively relaxed (except for the fact that Crabbe and Goyle had managed to stay in the class) to Snape's annoyance.

His dark eyes took in the classroom; Potter looked about ready to kill Gregory Goyle, Weasley glared at Vincent Crabbe, Granger's hand trembled with suppressed rage as she carefully measured the ingredients for the Animus Potion. A sadistic smile curved Snape's lips...sure the pairs were enjoyable. But they had a purpose as well. Under Dumbledore's orders, the professors had been doing all in their power to create a bond between the Houses. This had led Snape down the path he had chosen in partnering the Slytherins and Gryffindors.

He looked back at the Witch Weekly crossword he had been filling out, thinking of the next day's lesson. Thankfully, he didn't have to keep that close an eye on anyone...excluding Crabbe and Goyle, of course. He paid attention to his class even as he tried to think up a eight-letter word for "horrible mistake," never missing a chance to take House points from the three Gryffindors. So how Draco's mistake got past him was something that Snape never did find out...

There was a loud explosion and Snape looked up, staring at the cauldron as it spewed its contents all over Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. "Granger! What on earth are you doing!?" Professor Snape demanded as the cauldron exploded all over Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. He hadn't expected this from his two best students. He had made it that way so...they would benefit from each other's intelligence. He had rather hoped the two most-likely candidates for Head Boy and Girl would get over their differences.

He walked over to where they had been sitting and noticed that the two had disappeared with their satchels. Severus Snape groaned softly, rubbing his forehead. What did they do to their potion? he thought, examining the pink substance and then it came to him. "Class is dismissed!" he yelled.

There was a murmur of curiosity through the class; there was still a while until the bell rang. "I said, get out!" he growled. The students hurriedly gathered their things. "Potter, Weasley, you stay." Harry Potter and Ron Weasley stopped mid-motion as the class scrambled out. "Get the Headmaster." The two dropped their things.

"Er...professor, what do you want us to tell him?" Ron asked.

"Five points from Gryffindor, each! Just do what I say," Snape stated. The two raced out of the room to avoid any more points being taken from their House. He frowned. "How could they have been so stupid?"

He frowned as shadows of things that were and things that had not yet happened taunted him. If the two ever got back, he wouldn't remember what had happened before...only what they had changed. He swallowed hard as he remembered a bushy-haired brunette and a pale platinum-blonde during his Arithmancy class on the second day of school in his seventh year. He knew exactly where Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy had ended up...

The greasy-haired professor's black eyes turned to his crossword and he immediately knew what the elusive word was: disaster.

Part 3:
Tales and Threats
(Friday, September 2, 1977)

The two walked through the halls of Hogwarts toward Dumbledore's office, each of them milling over their individual thoughts. They stopped in front of the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office. Draco smirked at Hermione. "Do you just happen to know his password?"

Hermione frowned, she hadn't thought of that...but Harry had told her that Professor Dumbledore did have a penchant for sweets. "Lemon drop?" The gargoyle made no movement. "Pepper imps?" Again, no movement. "Cockroach clusters?" No movement. "Sugar quills?" The gargoyle slid out of the way and a spiral staircase twirled upwards. She smiled smugly at Draco. "I just happen to know his password."

The brunette climbed onto the spiral staircase, Draco following close behind. Hermione sighed with relief as Dumbledore's office came into view. It looked much like Harry and Ron had described, the portraits of past Headmasters and Headmistresses snoozed in their frames. Fawkes the phoenix cocked its head and examined the two newcomers and Hermione noted that the phoenix was a beautiful creature with golden, red, and orange feathers. Dumbledore took his seat behind the large desk and examined the two over his half-moon spectacles. He didn't look that different, just about twenty or so years younger. "Hello, professor," Hermione said, "I'm Hermione Granger."

"How may I help you?" the Headmaster asked.

"Well...this is going to sound very odd, but it's the truth, I swear," Hermione said, explaining what had happened while Draco stood in complete silence.

"Is this the truth, Mister...Malfoy?" Dumbledore inquired.

"Er...yes, Professor," Draco stammered. "Granger's telling the truth."

"This is a very interesting predicament you two have gotten yourselves into," Dumbledore stated. "I've never heard of a memory charm backfiring like that."

"There has to be, you know, some...way to get back, right Professor?" Hermione whimpered. "I have to study for my N.E.W.T.s. A--and Harry and Ron'll never pass their classes if I don't help them."

"Get a hold of yourself, Granger," Draco spat. "Potty and the Weasel can fend for themselves."

"Shut up, ferret-boy!" Hermione snapped. Dumbledore smiled warmly, a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, I do hope you'll control yourselves," Dumbledore stated. "I'm not quite certain if there is a way for you to get back to your own time. I'll have Professor Flaherty working on it."

"Professor...Flaherty?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, Professor Flaherty, our Potions Master," Dumbledore replied.

"Oh," Hermione said. "I hope this is just a really, really bad dream."

Draco snorted. "You're not the only one," he stated. "So, professor, what do you suggest we do until a potion is found?"

"I suggest you take the classes that you were supposed to take this year," Dumbledore stated.

"Advanced Potions, Advanced Arithmancy, Advanced Charms, Advanced Transfiguration, Advanced History of Magic, Advanced Care of Magical Creatures, Advanced Ancient Runes, Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts, Advanced Herbology, Advanced Astronomy," Hermione rattled off.

Draco frowned. "Bloody hell, you're in every single class I have," he muttered.

"Of course I am, I made O.W.L.s in all my classes," Hermione replied airily.

"Fantastic idea," Dumbledore said, clapping his hands. "You will go to every class together...that way there is less chance for change."

"What do you mean 'less chance for change'?" Malfoy demanded.

"We're in the past, Malfoy...everything we do changes something. We're not supposed to be here," she murmured softly, fingering the photograph in her pocket. Mad-Eye Moody had given it to her last summer on her request after Harry hadn't wanted it. Whenever she was about to give up, she'd look at the picture of the Order of the Phoenix and find her will and courage. All of those people (excluding Wormtail) had tried to stop Voldemort and many of them had lost. They were her inspiration.

Dumbledore gazed at the girl for a long moment, no sense of mirth or merriment in his blue eyes...simply curiosity. She seemed upset about something out of her control, something that had nothing to do with her ending up back in time. She looked at Draco, her dark eyes unreadable. "We can't change anything...no matter how bad we want to."

Draco eyed Hermione curiously. "Right, then," he stated. "Professor? Where are we supposed to sleep?"

"Excellent question, Mr. Malfoy, I suppose you can share the Head Boy and Girl's dorms," Dumbledore answered. "But first, we will have to change your robes around. There would be some suspicion if a Gryffindor and Slytherin came to Hogwarts for their first year as prefects."

Hermione's eyes widened as she carefully took off the prefect pin and Draco grimaced as he did the same. With a flick of his wand, Dumbledore turned their robes into the standard issue black that they'd had first year before being Sorted.

"Lily and James were nice...they're a lot like Harry," Hermione mused out loud as she tried to take her mind off of the fact that she was no longer a prefect.

"Like Potter?" Draco scowled. "Perfect! I get to spend God knows how long with a Potter duplicate!"

"Actually James is the original, Harry's the duplicate," Hermione corrected.

"Whatever, I'm not spending any time with any Potters!" Draco stated, crossing his arms over his chest petulantly.

"Just shut up!" Hermione growled. Draco stared at the girl in surprise. "I'm sick of your holier-than-thou attitude, Malfoy. If you don't stop it, I'm going to make what happened to you on the train back home for the past two years seem like Heaven!" Hermione growled. "Guess what, Draco." The blonde seemed shocked that Granger had actually used his first name. "It's just you and me...no Harry, no Ron, no Crabbe, no Goyle. We both know that I can hex you so well that you can spend the rest of our time here at St. Mungo's!" A mischievous gleam shone in her golden-brown eyes and Draco felt a shiver of apprehension slide down his spine. "Or, ooh, maybe I can learn how to Transfigure you back into Draco Malfoy the Amazing Bouncing Ferret!"

Blimey, Granger was devious...she'd have made a great Slytherin...well, except for the Mudblood part.

Part 4:
Hermione and the Head Girl
(Friday, September 2, 1977 – Continued...)

Professor Dumbledore led the two to the Head Boy and Girl's quarters. Guarding the entrance was a likeness of Lily Evans and James Potter. Hermione arched a brow as James winked teasingly at her. "The portrait...it changes yearly," Dumbledore explained. "Dragon's Keep."

The painted people nodded and the portrait swung open. Dumbledore ducked and made his way into the Head Boy and Girl's common room. Lily Evans was poring over her notes and the scratch-scratch of her quill mingled with the laughter of James, Sirius, Remus, and a rat-faced chubby boy. Hermione stared at the fourth one with barely-concealed hatred. Peter Pettigrew, Hermione thought, her stomach clenching. Wormtail...Scabbers. He gave Lily and James to Voldemort on a silver platter! And he's the reason that Sirius died. Half of the Marauders are dead because of him!

Draco noted her barely-disguised disgust with curiosity. Even she didn't look at him with that much hate and disgust. James stopped midway through an animated conversation which was obviously a tale of how he bravely rescued the Snitch in a Quidditch match. Peter frowned as James stopped his tale. Obviously not the brightest, that one, Draco mused.

Sirius smirked. "Hermione...what brings you here?" He finally noticed the professor and the blonde boy beside her and frowned slightly.

"Miss de Lioncourt and Mister--" Dumbledore eyed Draco.

"Aquilus," Draco stated with a curt nod.

"Yes, yes. Miss de Lioncourt and Mr. Aquilus will be sharing your quarters," Dumbledore explained. "They just transferred from the Agnitio Academy of Magic." Sirius looked like Christmas had come early.

Sirius winked at Hermione. "I'll make sure to tuck you in," Sirius stated.

"You will do no such thing, Mr. Black," Dumbledore said.

Hermione's eyes left Peter's as she heard Sirius's comment with a blush. Unconsciously, she moved closer to Draco and took his hand in hers. The entire thing was almost worth it, just to see the shocked look cross over the Slytherin's face. He regained his composure and shot a challenging look to Sirius. Sirius arched a dark brow as he examined the pale, thinner boy.

James shook his head slightly as he noticed his friend's behavior. Sirius was smitten with the brunette girl just like he himself was smitten with Lily. James could see why Sirius had become infatuated with her...the girl was a beautiful creature and the best part was that she didn't even notice it. He looked over his shoulder to watch Lily; she hadn't even noticed the Headmaster had entered their common room. She gingerly tucked a strand of her copper hair behind an ear and James felt a tug in his stomach.

"Miss Evans?" came Dumbledore's voice. Lily looked up and darted to her feet.

"Professor Dumbledore," Lily stated, blushing the color of her hair. Hermione smiled, Lily reminded her of Ginny Weasley for some reason. Maybe it was the red hair or the shyness...although; no one could call Ginevra Weasley shy anymore. She had blossomed since she'd first attended Hogwarts and had helped Hermione, Ron, Harry, Luna, and Neville in the siege of the Ministry of Magic last June...Hermione's eyes left Lily to meet Sirius's dark ones. You can't change anything... she told herself, no matter how much you want to. You have to let Wormtail betray James, Lily, and Harry. You have to let Bellatrix Lestrange torture the Longbottoms. You have to let Sirius Black die. She felt tears begin to form in her eyes and she wiped them away on the sleeve of her robe. Sirius frowned as he saw the shimmer of tears in the girl's eyes and looked at his friends, confused.

"Miss Evans, I'd like you to meet Miss Hermione de Lioncourt and Mr. Draco Aquilus," Dumbledore said and Lily smiled at Hermione. Hermione came out of her thoughts and smiled back.

"Hello, Hermione," Lily smiled. "Hello, Draco."

"They will be sharing the Head Boy and Girl quarters," Dumbledore said and Lily nodded.

"We've just transferred here from Agnitio Academy of Magic," Draco stated, taking Dumbledore's story.

Lily frowned and looked curiously at Draco. "Are you veela?" she asked curiously.

Draco blushed and Hermione did a double-take. Oh...my...God, Draco Malfoy just blushed! Hermione thought.

"Part...my great-great grandmother on my father's side was a veela," Draco murmured, shoving a hand through his white-blonde hair.

"I never knew you were a veela," Hermione murmured. "That makes sense."

Draco smirked and arched a brow at Hermione. "You finally realize how much sex appeal I ooze?" he taunted.

Hermione snorted. "Give it up, ferret-boy," she said, crossing her arms over her chest and Sirius smirked at Malfoy in a "she's mine" kind of way. The brunette winced slightly and Malfoy raised an eyebrow toward Hermione in an "it's either him or me" kind of way.

Hermione frowned. It was a lose-lose situation...she could either pretend that Draco the Amazing Bouncing Ferret was her boyfriend or have her best friend's godfather Sirius "I-was-accused-of-killing-fourteen-people-with-one-curse-but-I-didn't-do-it-my-slimy-friend-did-it" Black a.k.a. Padfoot hit on her. What was wrong with these people? She had been hit on twice as many times here as she had back home: she'd even been propositioned with Draco to join his father in a foursome! She shuddered at the memory but couldn't help remembering that Lucius Malfoy's chest was pretty nice. Wonder if Draco's chest is that nice, she thought.

Her eyes went wide as if someone had just poured a bucket of ice water over her head. I just wondered about Dra--Malfoy's chest and thought that Lucius Malfoy was hot?! What the hell is wrong with me? Oh right, they're veelas, those bastards have used their veela charm on me! Or I need sleep, that's it; a good, long nap, Hermione thought. And the hitting on of me? Maybe the extra wolfbane and hellebore made some kind of pheromone toward the opposite sex? Okay, Draco isn't hitting on me but he's being nice...well, as nice as a Malfoy can be...er...correction, as nice as a Malfoy can be without unwanted naughty propositions. Or, hey, maybe it scrambled my brain to think Malfoy's hot?

She frowned. Okay...so I have thought Malfoy was hot before. So nope, it has to be the veela, she admitted to herself. Or maybe this is some weird dream resultant from studying too much. Maybe I just need to go to sleep and I'll wake up finding out that I just fell asleep in Potions? She rather dreaded that confrontation if it were true, could almost hear Severus Snape telling her that she'd just lost fifty points from Gryffindor. And he'd do it too; she had no doubt about that.

"I'm really tired and I'd like to be shown my sleeping area," Hermione stated. Dumbledore nodded toward Lily.

"Miss de Lioncourt and Mr. Aquilus, I leave you in the capable hands of Lily Evans and James Potter," Dumbledore nodded and left the common room.

"Hermione, you know my idiot friends Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. This is Peter Pettigrew," James said, tapping the rat-faced boy's head. "I assume you know Lily Evans."

Lily glared at James and Hermione wondered how they had ever gotten together when they hated each other. Lily nodded toward a door with "Head Girl" carved on a brass plate on it. "Our room is through here," Lily said. She opened the door and Hermione noticed that it was larger than the room that she had shared with the rest of the sixth-year Gryffindor girls and only had two beds decorated in the red and gold of Gryffindor. There were also a great deal of posters of the Beatles covering the walls. A few of them were moving wizard type. "The Beatles were wizards?" she mused, examining one of the moving posters where the Beatles were performing "She Loves You."

"No," Lily smiled. "I charmed a few of the posters to do that. I absolutely love the Beatles."

"How long ago did they break up?" Hermione conversed.

"You're not Muggle-born, are you?" Lily sighed.

Every Muggle-born would know about the Beatles, she realized. "I am...my parents just don't like them," Hermione blushed.

"Seven years ago and I'm still upset about it...Paul McCartney was my first crush after all," Lily stated, eyeing Hermione. So it's 1977. Two years before I was even born... Hermione realized, her mother had been madly in love with the Beatles and the brunette knew a lot about them. Lily nodded toward the bed farthest away from the door. "That's my bed." The redhead gestured toward another door by the door to the common room. "That's the bathroom."

"You share a bathroom with the Head Boy?" Hermione asked, her eyes widening. That means I'll have to share a bathroom with Malfoy, she thought. And it's pretty much a given that Malfoy's going to be Head Boy next year unless the Fates and all the deities are on my side and I'll be shown mercy with Harry or Ron being Head Boy. But judging by how dismal their grades will be since I'm not there to help them, there isn't the slightest chance of that happening.

Lily looked displeased. "Unfortunately, yes. If it wasn't bad enough being a Gryffindor with him. How on earth he got Head Boy with all the points he's lost us. That...and he disappears for nights at a time," Lily sighed. Hermione knew why this was: it had to be a full moon and James was spending the night as Prongs with Moony, Padfoot, and Wormtail. "As per Head Boy, it was either him or Severus Snape, who's just as bad." Lily's anger was evident on her face and she glared menacingly at the bathroom door. "I tried to help Snape once and he called me a 'Mudblood.' Of course, the whole stupid thing wouldn't have happened if James hadn't hexed him."

Hermione seriously began to doubt that Harry James Potter would ever be born at the one step forward, a million steps back rate that his parents were going at. "Is James really that bad?" Hermione asked.

"Yes...he's a right prat. He's always casting spells on people," Lily stated, frowning as she remembered the display of James using his wand to hold Severus Snape upside down two years ago. "He always looks for trouble."

Hermione smiled softly, Harry Potter was a lot like his father. "I have a couple of friends back home like that. There's Harry and Ron, we've been friends since first year and the two of them are always looking for trouble but they're not that bad. Ron's older brothers are pains, they're good guys, but they're still pains..." she smiled as she remembered the Weasley twins. "James and his friends kind of remind me of them." Lily frowned and began laying out her clothes for bed.

The brunette looked out the window and noticed the moon would soon be full and Hermione decided that if she was still here during the full moon she'd follow the Marauders. She knew it'd be easier said than done because of James's invisibility cloak. Hermione had memorized the bump that would freeze the Whomping Willow and had been magical ways to move the bump. Finally figuring it out after that toad Umbridge had found out about Dumbledore's Army. If she had figured it out earlier, maybe they could have met in the Shrieking Shack like Sirius had suggested. Her eyes turned to Lily and she frowned. I don't have any clothes! she thought wildly.

Part 5:
The First Mission
(Friday, September 2, 1977 – Continued...)

In the common room, Draco, James, Sirius, and Remus were sizing each other up as Peter's eyes bounced from the Marauders to the new boy. Sirius's arms were crossed over his chest and he stood at his full height. He was a little taller than Draco but much beefier. Draco arched a brow. "Problem, mate?" he asked cheekily. My father would kill me if he knew I wasn't attempting to kill Potter's godfather, he thought. But my father also hit on me earlier so I don't think he'll mind that much. I can always hold that over his head when I get back. Draco let a sadistic smile pass over his lips as he thought of that occurrence:

"Where have you been, Draco?" Lucius would say.

"I went back in time with Granger," Draco would reply.

"You were with her (enter x amount of how long he was, would be -- whatever -- with her) and you didn't kill Potter's little Mudblood?" Lucius would say.

Draco would frown. "Of course not, I was emotionally scarred by the fact that my father hit on me when I went back in time," Draco would state.

"I did no such thing!" Lucius would reply hotly.

"You did! Remember? 'Care to join us, you two.' You hit on me...and Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's little Mudblood," Draco would come back.

Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter eyed the devious look on the boy's face. They exchanged a look and James, Sirius, and Peter nodded. Remus adamantly shook his head no. "So, Aquilus, do you like trouble?" James asked.

Draco was pulled out of his reverie and eyed The Boy That Would Be the Boy Who Lived's Father. "Can't get enough of it," Draco stated.

"You see, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I...we're the Marauders and we could always use another troublemaker to make Filch pull out his hair," James offered. "And since this is our last year, we need someone to pass it on to."

They're Animagi, they could teach me. Ha, see if Granger can do that! Draco thought. He let a wicked grin that would rival his father's pass over his lips. "Sounds like a plan to me," Draco said, pushing out the reaction his father and Professor Snape would have if they ever found out that he was making an alliance with Gryffindors; not just any Gryffindors but the future-father and godfather of his future-nemesis, Harry Potter.

"That's not a good idea,” Remus said with a hard edge in his voice. "I still haven’t forgiven you for what Sirius did to Snape.”

"Don't worry, this one's nothing like Snape," Peter said.

"Snape's a tosser. This one has potential," James stated.

"Wh--what about your girlfriend?" Peter stammered.

"My girlfriend?" Draco asked and the four nodded toward the Head Girl's quarters. Draco's eyes widened. They think that that Mudblood is my girlfriend! he thought. It had its quirks...Granger will be absolutely pissed that I told her boyfriend's father that she was indeed my girlfriend. "Oh, Mione? She'll be fine without me...for a while. She's sometimes clingy but she does the most amazing thing..." he trailed off, closing his eyes and pretending to remember something very delightfully naughty.

"Go on..." Peter said.

"Don't mind Peter, he has no sex life," Sirius stated. "But you can go on..."

"She'd kill me...she pretends to be such a goody-goody but when you get her naked...she's anything but," Draco stated, delighting in his torment of the girl.

"Wonder if Lily's like that," James wondered out loud.

"James is smitten with Lily...she doesn't even notice him though," Remus explained and James Potter blushed. He eyed Draco curiously and the platinum-blonde shivered under the boy's gaze.

James frowned and gathered the Marauders in a huddle. "I don't trust him," Remus stated.

"Well, you've got the most to lose if he betrays us," Sirius stated. The "if" sounded a lot like a "when."

"We can put him through tests," James stated. "Each of us will come up with a task for him to complete...and if he passes each of them, we'll let him in. Okay, boys?"

Sirius and Remus took the longest to decide. Peter agreed immediately and Remus gnawed his bottom lip as he contemplated. "Okay...but I'll Obliviate his memory if he even thinks of betraying us," the werewolf stated.

Sirius grudgingly agreed to the thought of letting Draco into the Marauders. "Who's first?" he asked, his dark eyes lighting with mischief as he thought of his task.

"Peter," James said.

"Me?" Peter squeaked. "Oh, I know! He could sneak down to the kitchens and bring us something to eat?"

"Is food all you ever think about?" Sirius sighed.

"It works...if he can sneak to the kitchens undetected; I think he'd make a good Marauder," James said. "We need some kind of reward to get him to go though."

"What about letting him use your cloak?" Peter asked. James bit his bottom lip and nodded.

"Now that that's taken care of," James said. The four left the huddle. "We have a mission for you. If you succeed, you'll have three more tasks and then you can be one of us." "Why--" Draco bit off the rest of his response. Me having to stoop to doing tasks for someone! he thought bitterly. But it's worth it to become an Animagus. "Okay...what's in it for me?" he asked.

The four boys led the blonde into the Head Boy's room. Two four-poster beds were in the large room, both bedecked in scarlet and gold. Bloody Gryffindors, Draco thought in distaste. James opened the trunk at the end of his bed and pulled out a cloak. "You get to use this," James said.

Draco frowned. "A cloak?" he said disdainfully.

"I guess it's time for us to let you in on one of our secrets," James chuckled. "This isn't just any cloak." He threw it on over his shoulders and his head became suspended in midair, no body holding it up.

"An Invisibility Cloak," Draco stated. Of course! I didn't imagine Potter's head floating, he was wearing an Invisibility Cloak, he mused.

"Your mission--" James started.

"Should you choose to accept it," Peter interjected. Sirius, Remus, James, and Draco gave the boy looks.

"Is to get some dinner from the kitchens," James continued.

"Okay, where are the kitchens?" Draco asked.

"That's what you have to find out," James said, tossing Draco the cloak.

"Bloody hell," the blonde muttered. The Marauders grinned at him as he slipped on the cloak and disappeared.

The Head Boy's door to the common room opened and closed. "Do you think he'll make it without being caught?" Peter asked.

"Not a chance," Sirius smirked. "Even with the cloak."

Part 6:
For the Love of Pyjamas
(Friday, September 2, 1977 – Continued...)

Draco exited the Head Boy quarters and found Hermione in the common room. She was pacing and obviously trying to think of something. He found himself hoping that she wasn't trying to figure out how to get back. He leaned against the wall and watched the brunette pace. "Still awake? Figured a goody-goody like you'd either be studying or sleeping."

Hermione jumped. "You're really annoying," she sighed.

"Oh, Granger! You wound me with your insignificant words," Draco said melodramatically.

Hermione frowned and looked around the room. Her eyes widened when she found herself unable to find Draco. "Where are you?"

"I'm right here," Draco smirked. Hermione's eyes narrowed and she headed toward the source of the voice. She reached out an unseeing hand right in front of his face and moving carefully closer. Her fingers brushed some invisible fabric and her hand clenched. She pulled her hand back, full of the cloak and Draco was revealed.

Draco's eyes widened in shock. "How'd you--?" he stammered.

"You stole James's Invisibility Cloak!" the brunette scowled.

"Only a little, he'll have it back tomorrow," he stated, taking it back from her.

"And Slytherins are honest," Hermione muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Why were you pacing anyway?" the blonde demanded.

"I was trying to think of a way to get clothes," Hermione stated. Her eyes widened in triumph. "The Room of Requirement!"

"What?" Draco asked.

"It's a room that turns into whatever you need it for. I'm sure it'll have clothes if we need them badly enough," Hermione answered.

"Okay..." Draco muttered. "Is it anywhere near the kitchens?"

Hermione frowned. "Why do you want to know where the kitchens are?" Hermione asked.

"I'm hungry and I promised I'd get the boys some food," Draco said.

Hermione's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You, Draco Malfoy, are going to get something for someone else? Are you feeling well, do you need to see Madam Pomfrey or whoever the nurse is?" Hermione stated.

"Shut up, Mudblood," Draco scowled.

"In that case, I don't know where the kitchens are," she scowled and started toward the door.

"It's after curfew," the blonde stated with a smirk.

"And I'm a prefect," Hermione stated.

"Were a prefect," Draco drawled.

"What?" she asked.

"You were a prefect...not anymore," the boy said and Hermione reached to touch her uniform where the prefect's badge usually was. "I do have this nifty little Invisibility Cloak though. With more than enough room for two."

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Hermione scowled.

"We go to the Room of Requirement and then you take me to the kitchens," Draco said.

"Fine," Hermione sighed. They slipped under the Invisibility Cloak and headed out of the common room. "Scoot over."

"I am over," Draco hissed.

"Shut up, we're going to get caught," Hermione whispered.

"Stop hogging the cloak, Mud--" he growled. He was cut off as Hermione stomped on his foot. "Ow!"

"Oops, was that your foot?" Hermione asked innocently. They miraculously made it to the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy without being heard by a prefect or Filch.

"Concentrate on what you really need and it should appear," Hermione whispered to Draco. The two concentrated and then Hermione opened the door. She let out a sigh of relief: inside was a wide array of robes and clothes that put Madame Malkin's and Gladrags to shame. That and two trunks. The two filled their trunks with the robes, uniforms, pajamas, and underclothes. Hermione blushed as she realized that Draco Malfoy wore silk boxers. She closed her trunk before he could see her underclothes. She Reduced their trunks into the size of matchbooks and they carefully tucked them into the pockets of their robes that also held their wands.

"Now, the kitchens," Draco said, Hermione sighed and led him down some stone stairs into a brightly-lit corridor decorated with mostly paintings of food. She stopped in front of a painting with a silver bowl full of fruits.

"Tickle the pear," Hermione said.

Draco coughed noisily. "What?" he managed.

"You're disgusting," Hermione scowled, reaching out and tickling the green pear which giggled then turned into a doorknob. She opened the door and they entered the kitchen where hundreds of house-elves bustled about. She shrugged off the Invisibility Cloak, leaving Draco still covered by his portion and the house-elves immediately surrounded her, offering plates of delicious food and frosty mugs of butterbeer.

Her stomach growled mercilessly as she realized that she hadn't eaten since lunch. Draco pulled off the Invisibility Cloak and was also besieged by the house-elves. The two ate their fill silently and then took some back to the common room. Hermione exited to the Head Girl's room and Draco entered the Head Boy's room, still hidden under the cloak.

The four Marauders were playing a game of Exploding Snap on James's bed. In a dramatic gesture, Draco tossed off the cloak. The four boys stared at him in shock as they noticed his hands were full of food.

"That was brilliant," Peter murmured, his beady little eyes full of pleasure. The four ate the food taken from the kitchens.

Remus stretched. "I'd better go, it's almost time for patrol," he said. "It was nice meeting you, Draco."

"You too, Remus," Draco said. Remus led Sirius and Peter from the Head Boy's room and apparently to the Gryffindor tower. James yawned fitfully and changed into his pajamas and went to bed.

Draco put James's Invisibility Cloak in the Head Boy's trunk, changed into a pair of green and silver plaid pajama bottoms and lie down. He was asleep in seconds.

While Draco and his new friends munched on the food that she had helped him nick from the kitchens, Hermione changed into a set of blue pajamas with white crescent moons, suns, and stars dancing over it and crawled into bed.

She simply stared up at the hangings to her bed for what seemed like hours. Her brain just wouldn't shut down. So much had happened that day. She had gone back in time nineteen years. It was a lot even for Hogwarts' biggest brain. There had to be a way to process everything.

She sat up and rifled in her satchel, she withdrew the diary that her parents had gotten her for her birthday last year (they hadn't known about the Tom Riddle disaster). She had never written in it but she felt that she had to now. Maybe a warning for her future-past self? Hermione winced, this time travel was giving her a headache. It was easy with the Time-Turner. A few hours here, a few hours there...no big change. But an entire lifetime? That was a change. She began to write:

September 2, 1977

Love,
Hermione Jane Granger

Hermione glanced over her diary and decided that she'd leave it with Professor Dumbledore just before she returned to her time so Ron and Harry wouldn't worry too much about her. Before she went to sleep she cast a secrecy charm on the book so that only someone she wanted to read it could.

Part 7:
Of Gryffindors and Slytherins
(Saturday, September 3, 1977)

Hermione frowned as she awoke to "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles playing. She looked around the room curiously. Where am I? she wondered. Then it all came back to her. In the past, Lily's room, Beatles posters. The Beatles posters singing had indeed awakened her.

Lily stretched out and yawned. "Thanks for the wake up, boys." She winked at the poster and Ringo winked back. "I love those posters."

Hermione nodded. "They make a good wake-up call," she stated. With a frown, she thought about what she knew about Lily and James. She knew things about them that their own son didn't know. It was sad. Harry never got to know that his mother was mad about the Beatles; he never got to know how entertaining his father was.

She shoved a curl behind her ear and stepped out of bed. She wiggled her toes and headed toward the bathroom. "James is in there," Lily said, flushing.

Hermione arched a brow at her new friend. "Oh?" she asked.

Lily looked mortified. "He didn't lock the door." She grimaced.

"Was he really that bad looking?" Hermione questioned.

"Unfortunately...no," Lily sighed. "But I didn't want to see him naked! He's James Potter after all."

"He's a Seeker, right? Aren't they supposed to have nice bodies?" Hermione said distractedly, inwardly cursing at her derailment of thought. Blame Parvati and Lavender, she told herself.

"He's also my mortal enemy," Lily stated.

"Things change, circumstances arise." Hermione shrugged, blushing.

"An hour." Lily rolled her eyes. "He has to 'artfully' muss his hair. Honestly, I've never met a vainer man."

Hermione snorted. "You've obviously never been that close to Draco Mal--Aquilus," Hermione caught herself. "Draco is so vain."

"It's the veela in him. Veelas are extremely vain," Lily said. "I did an extra credit research project about veelas for History of Magic."

"They're scary when they're angry," Hermione said, shuddering as she remembered the Quidditch World Cup.

"It must take a lot of patience to date one," Lily said, her voice soft with understanding.

"Date--oh, you mean me and Draco?" Hermione asked, wincing at her poor grammar. "Draco and me."

Lily nodded. "So what's the story?" Lily asked.

Hermione sunk onto her bed. "I wish I could tell you...but I'm not even sure," Hermione stated. She wasn't liking this heart-to-heart girl moment. She strode across the room and knocked on the door. "Hurry up in there."

"Wait your turn," came James's voice.

"Men," Lily sighed. "I'm a girl and I don't even spend that much time in the bathroom. It sucks being Head Girl...sometimes." A thoughtful look passed over the redhead's face.

Hermione smiled at Lily. She liked her friend's mum more and more. "Lily and I need to take showers, so get out of there|" She scowled at the door. The shower ended and Hermione heard a door close. Hermione entered the bathroom, making sure to lock both doors. She took a quick shower, Lily following after.

Hermione got dressed in one of the school uniforms she'd found in the Room of Requirement as Lily showered. When the redhead reappeared, she dressed and the two left the Head Girl's room. They were early so Lily let Hermione look over her notes for yesterday's classes. Hermione was impressed by her meticulous note-taking, much like her own. She already knew most of the things in Lily's notes and figuring in the fact that Lily was a year ahead of her, Hermione Granger wasn't going to be behind.

Eventually, Draco and James appeared from the Head Boy's room and the four started out. "I suppose they'll Sort you," Lily stated.

"Sort me?" Hermione asked. "I'm just a...visitor, why would they need to Sort me?" The brunette frowned.

"To tell what House gets your points," Lily replied, shrugging.

Hermione sighed. They didn't sort the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students, so why me? she mused as they entered to the Great Hall. It didn't look much different from the Hogwarts Hermione knew...except the Head Table. Most of the staff was the same: Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout, and Professor Flitwick. Professor Snape wasn't there and there were two professors that Hermione didn't know; Hermione guessed that one of them was Professor Flaherty but she had no clue who the other teacher was.

"I have a special announcement to make," Professor Dumbledore said and the Great Hall was silent. "I would like to introduce Mr. Draco Aquilus and Miss Hermione de Lioncourt; they have transferred to Hogwarts from the Agnitio Academy of Magic in Salisbury. Please welcome them."

The Great Hall was filled with applause and Hermione blushed darkly under the school's scrutiny. "Due to the fact that they were delayed from the Sorting Ceremony, they will be Sorted now," Dumbledore said. Professor McGonagall disappeared and reappeared with the Sorting Hat and a stool.

"Draco Aquilus," Professor McGonagall said and Draco took a seat on the stool. The Sorting Hat was placed on Draco's head.

"Well, how odd," came the Sorting Hat's voice in Draco's head. "You are very ambitious, Mr. Malfoy...but your ambitions have changed greatly recently. Defying both your father and a very powerful wizard is a very brave thing to do...I know just where to put you." Draco stiffened noticeably and Hermione frowned. "GRYFFINDOR!"

Hermione Granger came very near to passing out at the Sorting Hat's proclamation. Draco...Malfoy...was...just...Sorted...into...Gryffindor? Hermione asked herself. The Gryffindors including Lily, James, and the rest of the Marauders clapped enthusiastically. Draco looked sick as he made his way to the Gryffindor table and sitting by Remus. James and Peter clapped him on the shoulder. What happened last night?

"Hermione de Lioncourt," McGonagall said and Hermione made her way to the stool, knees wobbling slightly. She had been nervous last time she'd been Sorted but this...this was much, much worse.

The Hat was placed on Hermione's bushy head and Hermione feared the outcome. "Brave, yes...but your bravery has turned into ambition as of late, Miss Granger," the Hat told her. "SLYTHERIN!"

When the Slytherins cheered, Draco looked as if he was going to fall out of his seat as did Lily, James, and the rest of the Marauders. The brunette's body was numb as she climbed off the stool and walked to the Slytherin table, where she slumped down beside a dark-haired boy who was poring over an ancient tome. She suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore. I'm a Slytherin, how can I be a Slytherin? I'm a Muggle-born for Merlin's sake! she thought anxiously. Then again, Voldemort was half-Muggle.

The boy looked up from his book and stared at the girl who had sat by him in shock. Hermione's eyes widened in disbelief; she knew this boy. The same pale skin that looked as if sunlight had never touched it, greasy black hair, black eyes, and the hooked nose. She had just sat by Professor Snape as a teenager. "S--Snape?" she squeaked.

He frowned and then glared at her. Hermione found herself frightened of that glare even when he was nineteen years younger than he was. She could almost hear him telling her that she'd lost points from Gryffindor. Which couldn't happen now, I'm a Slytherin, she scowled. "How did you know my name?" he asked.

Hermione scoffed. "I was told," she said evasively.

"Who told you?" he scowled.

"It's none of your concern," she stated. Desperate to change the subject she added, "What are you reading?"

"Potion Theory and Application," he said.

"So you like Potions?" Hermione asked. I'm having an almost-civil conversation with Professor Snape. What now, will pigs start flying? Hermione mused.

Snape nodded. "They're more scientific than most magic courses," Snape replied. "You can do so many things with potions."

Hermione nodded. "Yes...you can bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death," she murmured. Snape looked at her in admiration and Hermione froze. Oh sweet Merlin, no! she thought. Not Snape too! If it isn't weird enough with Sirius and Lucius!

But Snape wasn't attracted to her in the "date" way but in the friend way, thankfully enough. The two spent breakfast talking about Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. "You can make a corporeal Patronus?" Snape asked.

Hermione blushed. "Yes...my Patronus is an otter," Hermione stated, flattered. "I learned it last year."

"Wow," Snape said, smiling. Hermione realized that this was the first time that she had seen Severus Snape smile at anyone, even his beloved Slytherins. She was actually surprised that she was finding Snape as entertaining as Ron and Harry.

From the Gryffindor table, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Draco stared in shock as Hermione talked to Snape. "I can't bloody well believe it; your girlfriend's talking with Severus Snape!" Sirius stated.

"Snape?!" Draco demanded, eying the two. Bloody hell, he actually looks young! Draco mused. He felt a strange sensation as he watched. Was that...jealousy? No...not jealousy. Malfoys don't get jealous over Mudbloods. It's just...disgust. I'm disgusted that she's making Snape smile.

James smirked. "Don't worry about your bird, mate...Snivellus doesn't stand a chance with her," the dark-haired boy said.

"I know...I just never expected Hermione to end up a Slytherin," Draco stated with a frown. "I mean, she's a Mu...ggle-born. And I thought Slytherin was all about purebloods."

"More about ambition...but blood's a big thing," Remus replied. "But I wouldn't recommend you telling anyone of her lineage. The last Muggle-born in Slytherin didn't last very long." Draco frowned, curious at the emotion that Remus's words caused to stir in him.

"Slytherins are a bad lot, you know," Sirius stated and Draco chose to ignore that comment.

"They can't all be bad," Lily piped up. "Hermione's nice."

The Marauders ignored Lily and eyed the brunette across the room. "But that's Snivellus!" Sirius whined.

Lily rolled her emerald eyes. "Honestly, if anyone has a reason to dislike Severus Snape, it's me. You've heard what he calls me."

"He's a git, Li--I mean, Evans," James stated.

"Smooth, Potter," Draco muttered under his breath to his newfound friend. The dark-haired boy blushed darkly, mussing his hair nervously. Sirius sighed and Remus rolled his eyes. "Try to be nice to the girl..."

"Is that how you got Hermione?" Peter inquired.

Draco took a sip of the pumpkin juice and sputtered it out all over Peter Pettigrew as he realized what the rat-faced boy had said. "Oh...yes, right," he stated. The four eyed the blonde curiously.

"So...you're not dating her?" Sirius asked, casting a glance at the brunette who was laughing at something Snape had said.

Draco scowled at Sirius. "Sirius, mate, the girl's mine," Draco murmured. He cocked his head curiously as he felt a shiver go up his spine. Since when did I get all possessive about Herm--Granger? Possessive and jealous of Hermione Granger? Bloody hell, I'm going to be disowned, Draco thought. He suppressed a shudder as he watched his fake girlfriend talking to Severus Snape and the scariest part was that Snape was...smiling; really, truly smiling. It was creepy.

Part 8:
Sorting Out the Sorting
(Saturday, September 3, 1977 – Continued...)

To say that Hermione Granger was simply shocked about the day's events was like saying that Earth reversing its orbit around the Sun was just a "little change." Hermione "Know-it-All, Prefect Mudblood" Granger had just been Sorted into Slytherin House. And was making friends with her loathed Potions professor and future Head of Slytherin House, Severus Snape. Hermione was amazed at how wrong she'd been about the sallow-faced, hook-nosed prat of a man. He was actually quite -- perish the thought -- nice. Ron and Harry were going to be having kittens when they read about it in her journal.

"Hermione?" Snape asked as he noticed the secretive grin on her face.

"I was just thinking of my friends," Hermione stated. "They'd never think I'd be...here."

"Here?" Snape asked, arching a black brow curiously.

"In Slytherin," she clarified. "I must have read Hogwarts, A History a hundred times...I'm just not used to the thought of being a Slytherin." She would never add the fact that she was Muggle-born, God knows what the Slytherins would do to her if they found out.

"What's wrong with being a Slytherin?" Snape asked with a smirk.

"Well...I just never thought myself to be that ambitious...other than schoolwork, of course. I'm dead clever; I could've seen myself as a Ravenclaw. I'm a loyal friend; I could've been a Hufflepuff. I guess...I'm brave, I could have been a Gryffindor," she murmured, blushing.

"The Sorting Hat sees inside you. It wouldn't have put you in Slytherin if it didn't think you'd make a good Slytherin," Snape explained.

She nodded. This is totally and completely unbelievable, Hermione thought. I'm having a heart-to-heart with Snape. She shivered off the weird sensation she was getting from this. "I've heard a lot of bad things about Slytherins," the brunette finally admitted.

Snape nodded. "It's understandable," he stated.

Hermione looked at him curiously. "That's all you can say? 'It's understandable'?" she asked.

Across the room, Draco, the Marauders and Lily watched the Slytherins. A few other Gryffindors noticed the way the blonde was watching the new Slytherin and Severus Snape. "Bloody hell, Snivellus is actually talking to a girl," a Gryffindor stated.

Snape hadn't answered Hermione's question, his gaze had settled on the blonde woman that had been making out with Lucius Malfoy the night before. There was a niggling feeling of recognition in the back of her mind. "Who is that?" she asked.

"That's Narcissa Black," Snape said, his voice had a saccharine edge to it. Snape...fancies Draco's mum? Hermione thought, forcing back laughter. Narcissa was a pretty blonde woman, her riotous golden curls framing an angelic face and her bright blue eyes danced as she laughed. Lucius -- no, no, Malfoy Senior -- must have given Draco -- bloody hell, Malfoy -- his eyes, Hermione noted. She frowned as she realized that she'd been paying enough attention to Draco to know his eye color. Hermione shook off that thought and noticed that Narcissa didn't have the look that Hermione had seen on her before: the look of someone that had smelled something rotten. Maybe it had been Lucius's influence?

The blonde looked young and carefree and Hermione felt a wince of sympathy for her. In three years, Narcissa Black would be married to Lucius Malfoy and have that horrible prat of a son named Draco. The brunette scowled across the room at Draco and he smirked in return. She turned to face Severus. "You fancy Narcissa?" Hermione asked.

Severus Snape's face flushed crimson and he stammered. "Er...well...I...um," he stuttered.

Hermione giggled. "Oh, so you do fancy her," she stated and Severus gave her a less-practiced version of the scowl that he sent so many Gryffindors -- especially her -- in the future. She was chastised. The brunette instantly stopped her laughter and began to examine the bacon and eggs on her plate like it was the most interesting thing she'd ever seen.

"Sorry. It's...just..." he sighed. Hermione was still caught on the part where Severus Snape had said he was sorry. "My family used to be one of the greatest pureblood wizarding families. Then my father--" his dark eyes hardened to the look that Hermione was most familiar with "--he gambled away our fortunes...and the family name was tarnished. There's no way Narcissa would ever..."

Hermione had the strongest urge to comfort her potions professor. She patted his back and he flinched but he didn't pull away. "She's not good enough for you, Severus," she reassured him, rubbing her hand in comforting circles.

Realization dawned on her about his flinch...she had read in a psychology book that sometimes people that were abused were more likely to pull away from human interaction. Mingling it with the visions that Harry had gotten from Snape during their Occlumency lessons made a picture that Hermione didn't want. Snape's father had abused him. Her jaw clenched and she wanted nothing more than to hit her professor's father good and hard with some kind of nasty hex.

Sirius saw the scowl that Hermione sent Draco's way and the wheels in his head began to turn. The two obviously weren't a couple as Draco had proclaimed the night before. A smirk lifted the corner of his mouth and fell away as he noticed the flush creep over Severus's sallow skin. She laughed at his expression, golden-brown eyes filled with mirth and silvery tears. He sent her a glare and she was instantly serious again.

Sirius fought his urge to beat Severus to a bloody pulp while Draco watched, amused. The blonde frowned as he noticed something. Had Snape been looking at his mother? He blanched as a sudden unwanted vision of Narcissa Malfoy and Severus Snape involved in a clandestine affair made his stomach roil and his hands clench.

Sirius frowned as he noticed the sudden angry/sickened expression that passed over Draco's face and believed it was caused by Hermione's closeness to Snape. He sighed. Apparently, they were involved after all.

Part 9:
The Kiss of the Serpent
(Saturday, September 3, 1977 – Continued...)

Severus bit his bottom lip and looked at Hermione nervously. "T--thanks," he stammered.

"It's the truth, Severus, Narcissa isn't good enough for you," she stated.

The bell rang, Snape hurried to his first class of the day; he was obviously still unnerved by her affectionate back rubs...truth be told, so was Hermione. I wonder what he's going to think in the future... she mused. Maybe he'll stop taking so many points from Gryffindor -- or at least me -- because I remind him of, well, me.

With a shake, Hermione brought herself back and realized that she needed her schedule...and, egads, the password to the Slytherin dungeons. She noticed Draco had already asked Remus Lupin about the Gryffindor password.

She searched the Great Hall for any straggling prefects and her eyes widened as she finally noticed a dark-haired Slytherin prefect with cold gray eyes and a long face. "Oh, hi, what's our password?" the girl asked.

His dark eyes slid down her body speculatively, a smirk playing at his lips. Hermione shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. "Sinister," he murmured.

"Oh, well...that's--that's a very Slytherin password," Hermione murmured. "I'm Hermione de Lioncourt. Sixth year." She held out her hand in greeting.

His lips brushed her knuckles and Hermione jerked her hand away. She suddenly felt dirty. She didn't trust this guy. "Welcome to Slytherin, Hermione. It's certainly the best House. I'm Antonin Dolohov," he stated. "Seventh year."

A shiver danced its cold fingers down her spine as she examined the man that had attacked her at the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries. "I--It was nice to meet you, Antonin," she stammered. By the time her conversation with him was over, most of the Slytherins and Gryffindors had left the Great Hall.

"I suppose you need to find the Slytherin House then?" he asked.

"N--no, I'll manage on my own," she stated. Antonin nodded and exited the Great Hall. Draco Malfoy had obviously told his fellow Gryffindors that he could manage on his own as well. She walked across the Great Hall to the blonde. "Need some help?"

"What? Oh, it's you," the boy drawled. "Of course not."

"So...where's your House located?" Or for that matter, where my House is located, she added mentally. "You know, where our schedule is."

"It's...it's..." Draco stammered.

"Need some help?" the brunette repeated.

"Fine," the blonde scowled. She led him from the Great Hall and up several flights of stairs. On the seventh floor, they finally found the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Password?" the woman asked.

"Valor," Draco sniffed. The portrait swung open and the two entered the Gryffindor common room. Draco immediately noticed how warm and comfortable the room seemed especially when compared to the Slytherin common room. They walked to the posting board where the Gryffindor schedule was. "Advanced Potions first period. It doesn't say anything about Slytherins."

"We have the exact same classes, remember?" Hermione said.

The bell rang signaling the start of the first period. They were late on their first day of school -- well, their first full day of school -- in the past. The two raced through the halls of Hogwarts to the dungeons. The class was already assembled and Professor Flaherty, the balding, gray-haired professor in olive-green robes with hard blue eyes, looked over his wire-rimmed glasses at the two. "Miss de Lioncourt, Mr. Aquilus...they may tolerate tardiness at Agnitio," he sniffed the name as if it was a vile curse word, "but not here at Hogwarts. Twenty points from Gryffindor, twenty from Slytherin."

Right bastard, that one, Draco thought. Even Snape wouldn't take points from Slytherin! He made a disgusted face as he remembered the sappy, puppy-dog look that Snape had given his mother over breakfast. Oh, bloody hell...Snape and my mother...that's just...disgusting.

Hermione's eyes widened as she sunk onto the bench behind the last empty table, Draco slipping beside her. The double Advanced Potions was the longest Potions class Hermione had ever had. Professor Flaherty, the Muggle-born learned, on a good day was worse than Snape had been toward Neville after Neville's boggart combined with Professor Umbridge. If that didn't stir anyone into a right bit of panic, nothing would.

Hermione longed to talk to Draco but after the last disaster in Potions, the two silently checked, double-checked and triple-checked everything to make sure it was right. "So what's the story with you and Snape?" Draco asked.

"There's no story, we were talking about potions," Hermione stated. "Maybe he can help us get back."

Draco smirked. "You looked...awfully close," he said.

"Snape and me? Did you forget the past five years?" she asked. "He made my life miserable even though I was the best--"

"Second best," Draco stated.

"Second best?" Hermione demanded.

"You were the second best student in Potions," he answered. "Remember, I was first?" Hermione opened her mouth to counter his accusation when the beady-eyed professor's thunderous voice boomed out.

"Aquilus, de Lioncourt! Enough with the lover's quarrel, another fifty points from Slytherin and Gryffindor...apiece," Flaherty said.

Hermione eyes widened and she caught her fellow Slytherins (including Narcissa) -- Fellow Slytherins? Hermione wondered -- glare at her. She clenched her hands, blunt nails digging into her palms, to keep from throttling the short man with his bulbous nose. Draco was also fighting his baser homicidal urges toward the professor. Draco only managed to keep himself calm by a slow mantra of breathe in, breathe out.

By the time the class was over, Draco's need to kill the professor had dulled to an almost-bearable niggle in the back of his mind. Forget killing Voldemort, let's kill this shit, Draco thought as he and Hermione turned in their potion. The professor scowled at them and Hermione shivered. As soon as they were out of Flaherty's hearing range, Hurricane Hermione went off. "I CAN'T BELIVE THAT MAN!" she cried. "He thought you and I were having a lover's quarrel?! Honestly, you're a pure-blooded Slytherin snob and I'm just little old Muggle-born Gryffindor me!"

Draco's eyes danced with amusement as he watched her cheeks flush with anger. She was almost...attractive. "I lost seventy points! Seventy points! On my first day, it's a good thing that I'm staying with Lily or the Slytherins would murder me in my sleep!" Hermione raged. "Ooh, I can't wait until I get home and the first thing I'm going to do is give Snape a hug and tell him what a wonderful job he's doing."

"I'm sure you will," Draco stated.

"You're sure I will what?" Hermione asked, confusion marring her brow.

"I'm sure you'll give him a great big hug and a wet, sloppy kiss," Draco smirked.

"You bastard!" Hermione gasped, her hand shooting out and smacking his cheek with a resounding smack. His head was pushed to the side from the force, a scarlet handprint flaming on his cheek; his usually impassive gray eyes stormed with anger.

He grabbed her wrists and shoved her roughly against the nearest stone wall. His grip was bruising on her delicately-boned wrists and he pushed his body against hers. "You got your free shot in third year, Mudblood, you never get another one," he growled.

Hermione's eyes widened in terror, her heart pounding violently. His lips were curled up in an evil sneer and were mere millimeters from her own lips. "Let me go," Hermione whimpered.

There was the echo of footsteps. Students were going through the dungeons to Professor Flaherty's classroom and Draco realized how this would look. So he did the only thing he could think of, he placed his lips to Hermione's. She gasped and Draco took this moment to push his tongue past her lips.

Her blood turned to lava and her nerves danced with electricity. The kiss was brief but it left both parties breathless and applause filled the hallway. Hermione's cheeks flamed as she noticed the collection of Slytherin and Gryffindor first years applauding and cat-calling. She was going to kill Draco Malfoy.

Her eyes scanned the crowd, trying to look anywhere but at the man who had just kissed her so thoroughly. She finally realized that Draco had let her go. She pulled away from him, making her way through the first years and racing to the Transfiguration classroom. Draco watched her go, a look of shock plastered to his face before he too went to the Transfiguration classroom.

Part 10:
Tradition
(Saturday, September 3, 1977 – Continued...)

By the time the class period was through, every single person at Hogwarts knew about the infamous between-class kiss that Draco had given her. Hermione had been mortified; her lips were still swollen and slightly bruised. She had gone to Madam Pomfrey (whom Hermione was glad to see still there) for something to make the well-kissed appearance go away but Madam Pomfrey simply tut-tutted, saying that she wasn't supposed to heal non-magic-inflicted wounds. The Slytherins looked like they would kill her for daring to touch a Gryffindor. Everyone except Narcissa Black, Narcissa looked...to put it simply...jealous?

Even though Hermione had earned back most of the points that Flaherty had taken away earlier and earning the respect of Professor McGonagall. That was a masterful feat for a Slytherin. As she entered the Great Hall for lunch, the Slytherins cast glares at her for daring to appear.

Merlin, is it so horrible that I kissed a Gryffindor? Hermione thought. She frowned as she realized what she had just thought. Honestly! The Gryffindors are the ones that should be upset because a Gryffindor kissed a Slytherin. No, no! I wasn't the one who did the kissing. Draco kissed me...and for that, I am going to turn him into something really...dreadful.

Severus didn't care who she had kissed (well, who had kissed her); he sat beside her at lunch. "I can't believe how--how mean Professor Flaherty is," she whined, trying to think of anything to say except mentioning Draco.

"That's what everyone thinks. Some say he's the Dark Wizard Grindelwald come back," Severus stated.

She frowned. "He can't be as bad as other wizards I've heard of," Hermione stated, shivering as she cast another look at the Marauders and Lily. Draco was involved in deep conversation with James; the handprint (unfortunately) had faded. Hermione wondered what he was up to; she didn't trust Draco as far as she could throw him to use a cliché. Especially after that kiss.

Severus swallowed hard and looked at Hermione. "Er...Hermione," Severus stated. "There's a dance on Halloween for the seventh years and I was wondering if you'd like to be my date?"

"In the friend way?" Hermione asked, eyes widening.

Severus snorted. "Of course in the friend way," he stated. "You're the sweetest girl, but..." his eyes were directed to Narcissa and Hermione suppressed another giggle.

"Why don't you ask Narcissa?" Hermione couldn't stop the words from tumbling from her mouth. Her eyes widened. Severus's face hardened. Note to self, keep far away from any mention of Narcissa Mal--Black, she mused. "I mean, money and power aren't everything, Severus. She might have hidden depths." Very, very, very hidden depths if she's shallow enough to marry Lucius, she mused and again visions of Lucius Malfoy's alabaster chest floated past her mind's eye. This whole trip is really messing up my hormones. I've gone through five entire years of relatively no influx of hormones whatsoever and now I'm drooling over Lucius Malfoy's chest. There is something terribly wrong with me.

Severus didn't seem to notice Hermione's sudden blush. "Even if my father hadn't ruined the Snape name...it's not like I have a chance...she's already betrothed," he said miserably.

"Betrothed? You mean, engaged?" Hermione asked.

"What else would I mean?" Severus asked.

"She's engaged? She's what, sixteen?" Hermione asked, eying the blonde that had ensnared Severus's senses.

"She's been engaged to one of the school governors, Lucius Malfoy, since her birth," Severus said.

"Since her birth?" Hermione frowned. "That's not right."

Severus's eyebrow rose. "It's a tradition to high-ranking pureblood families," he stated.

"And Lucius's and Narcissa's son?" she asked.

"Or daughter," Severus said with an arch of his dark brow. "I've heard that Lucius is already talking of a betrothal between his child and a Parkinson."

"Pansy," Hermione whispered, her eyes widening as she stared at Draco. Suddenly, she felt sorry for Draco (an emotion that she wasn't soon to ever have again): he didn't have a choice; he was already forced to marry that hag, Pansy Parkinson. Pansy wasn't ugly even with her stupid pug-nose; she was a pretty blonde thing with curves that Hermione had even caught Ron and Harry ogling on occasion...but her personality. Hermione shuddered; she had the personality of a troll and a simpering voice (not unlike Umbridge's) that would grate on a banshee's nerves.

"Excuse me?" Severus asked.

"Nothing," Hermione stammered but Severus gave her an odd look and the girl blushed under his scrutiny. "Okay, fine, it reminds me of someone I know. He's a pureblood and he's betrothed to this horrible, horrible girl named Pansy."

Severus seemed to want to ask her some questions but shook his head as his lips thinned. "Fair enough," he finally stated. There was a tense silence and Hermione watched Lily talk to a guy with dark hair that was about Hermione's age. He seemed vaguely familiar to her.

"Who's that?" she asked, nodding toward the black-haired boy.

"Regulus Black," he stated. "Much less annoying than his brother, Sirius." Severus scowled at the mention of Sirius.

Hermione's eyes widened. "He's a Gryffindor," she stated. Severus gave her a look that clearly said "and your point is?" Hermione frowned and decided not to go into depth why she had made the comment about Regulus Black being a Gryffindor. He would be a Death Eater and he was a Gryffindor. She had thought only Slytherins became Death Eaters. Her eyes traveled to Peter who gnawed his fingernails as he concentrated on the book lying before him, obviously doing some very last minute studying on something...Peter would become a Death Eater too. Suddenly, Hermione wasn't hungry anymore.

Part 11:
The Second Mission
(Saturday, September 3, 1977 – Continued...)

"I heard you and Hermione got in a little between-class snog," Sirius murmured teasingly to Draco.

Draco nodded. "Yes," he stated, playing the sappy love-smitten teen perfectly. I am going to have someone Obliviate every memory about Granger when this is over. I can't believe I kissed her, he thought. He licked his lips; he could still taste her. She had kissed him so innocently, so passionately. None of his previous lovers had ever kissed like that. Although, she did taste good...sweet, innocent. Bloody hell, what am I thinking? This is Granger! Know-it-all, beaver-toothed Mudblood Granger!

"Congratulations, already the talk of the school on your first full day," James stated. "Although, we Hogwarts students usually take our...er...shall I say...extra-curricular sessions to the Astronomy Tower."

Draco smiled. "What can I say, Mione's irresistible," Draco said. I can't believe I just said that, he mused.

"We've thought over your second mission," James said. "Got bored in N.E.W.T.-level Transfiguration."

"Okay, what's my second mission?" Draco asked nonchalantly; glad to no longer be discussing Hermione.

"You have to make the Gryffindor Quidditch team," James said.

"That's it?" Draco asked. "What positions are available?"

"Just the Keeper," James said. "And practically every single Gryffindor from second year up is going to be trying out."

"Well, mate, you're on," Draco stated. "You might as well just add me to the roster."

Remus frowned nervously and he and Sirius exchanged a look. Draco and James became involved in their own conversation about Quidditch. "I don't like this, Sirius," the brunette hissed to his black-haired friend. "They're practically giving him acceptance."

"Don't worry, mate, there's no way in hell he'll ever pass my test," Sirius stated as he started to think over the things he could do to Draco in his test as he watched Snape and Hermione talking. A smirk crossed his lips as he realized something. "He'll have to break into the Slytherin House and steal last year's House Cup."

A slow smile curved the werewolf's lips. "With all the hexes and charms Faust has put on it, there's no bloody way," he stated.

After lunch let out, Sirius walked over to Hermione. "Hello, Hermione, Sn...ape," he said amicably.

Snape glared at Sirius. "What do you want, Black?" he scowled.

"Just wanted to talk to Hermione here," Sirius stated. "So are you going to Quidditch tryouts tonight?"

"Why would I go to the Quidditch tryouts?" she asked.

"Your boyfriend's trying out for Keeper," Sirius said.

"He's not..." she trailed off, contemplating the avenues open. If she said that Draco wasn't her boyfriend, Sirius might hit on her; if she said that Draco was her boyfriend, she'd have to put up with Draco. She winced at both prospects, her lips stinging momentarily in reminder of Draco Malfoy kissing her. "Er...I'll see what I can do if I don't have too much homework."

She and Snape walked off, separating for their different classes. Sirius arched a brow in curiosity. She'd taken an awfully long time to answer his question. He was really beginning to wonder if Draco had been lying the night before. He didn't know why the boy would lie about who he dated though.

After much deliberation, Hermione decided to put in a short appearance at the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts. She'd do her homework there and then retreat to the Head common room. It was simple. She sat in the Gryffindor bleachers and piled her books in front of her and half-listened as Professor McGonagall began to list the team's players.

"Welcome to the 1977-1978 Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts," Professor McGonagall's voice came, magically amplified by Sonorous. "Our current team is Seventh Year Captain James Potter, Seeker--" a gaggle of girls sitting in the very first bleacher of the Gryffindor stands began to giggle and sigh, moving closer to the edge to get a better look at James who flew around the pitch.

"Oh, wow, Lily's so lucky! She gets to share a bathroom with James!" a girl gushed. Hermione was reminded of Lavender Brown.

"And that new Gryffindor boy! He is so dreamy!" another girl that reminded her of Padma and Parvati Patil gushed.

"Draco Aquilus," another girl sighed and Hermione made a face. "I can't believe he's dating a Slytherin!"

"What a waste! Ugh, a Slytherin stealing our Gryffindor boys! Don't you agree, Violet?" yet another of the five girls frowned.

"And she's so...blah! She's not even pretty, all that frizzy hair and she's such a know-it-all!" Violet scowled.

Hermione glared at the girls, ignored them, and concentrated on McGonagall. "Sirius Black, Beater." The girls sighed again as Sirius Black flew onto the Pitch. He winked at the girls and one fainted. His eyes fell upon Hermione and he grinned widely at her.

The girls looked behind them to see Hermione. They sent her a cold glare before turning back to look at the Pitch. "Sixth year Owen Abercrombie, Beater," McGonagall said. The girls cheered for him.

"Seventh year David Stebbins, Chaser." Stebbins got a big grin from a girl dressed in Hufflepuff colors. "Fifth year Regulus Black, Chaser." The girls oohed and aahed over Sirius's younger brother flew by. "Seventh year Remus Lupin, Chaser."

Hermione's brows knit as she examined the werewolf. How can he be a Quidditch player with his lycanthropy? she wondered. Guess they don't have games on full moons.

Hermione lost herself in her studies as the game began. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of each Keeper as he struggled vainly against the onslaught of the Quaffle tossed by Regulus, Stebbins, and Remus and each failed horribly. Hermione set her books aside and got absorbed into the game as she watched the three fly around the field. They were very daring, she observed. They did complicated maneuvers that Hermione had never seen before.

She dug her journal from her satchel and began to write down the plays for Harry as he was now the new Gryffindor captain. She charmed the x's and o's to fly around the page in the complicated formations that the three Chasers created. The last Keeper trying out was none other than Draco Malfoy. Hermione leaned forward with the giggling girls as the white-blonde took his place.

Remus gave him a glare that Hermione barely discerned. He nodded toward Regulus and Stebbins, and they nodded back. The three began to lob the Quaffle at Draco much more brutally than they had at the previous Keepers. Draco's silver eyes hardened as they got the first Quaffle past him. I'm not a Weasley, he thought angrily as he missed the second Quaffle.

The three reformed in a v-shape that Hermione recognized from Quidditch Through the Ages as the Hawkshead Attacking Formation. She silently thanked her friendship with Viktor Krum that had ended up with her getting the book for Christmas last year. They tossed the Quaffle to each other and Draco floated in front of all three goals, his eyes never leaving the red ball.

Deftly, Remus tossed the Quaffle to Regulus and he charged Draco. Hermione winced, she was certain that the Quaffle would go through the goal as the others had. Draco swung the broom around, the bristles hitting the ball and sailing across the pitch and through one of the goals. The girls in front of Hermione cheered wildly, and even Hermione was impressed although she hid it.

Stebbins, Remus, and Regulus seemed shocked at the way Draco had defended the goal and scored. The rest of the team watched with interest, James smirking slightly at Sirius.

Hermione frowned as Remus's face hardened even more. The three Chasers rescued the Quaffle and looked even more determined to best the blonde. Draco had composed himself back to his usual aloof and indifferent demeanor although his stormy eyes were hard with anger.

Draco tossed his head back, getting a strand of his pale hair off his sweaty brow. One of the girls in front of Hermione mock-fainted and sent the rest of the girls into a chorus of giggles and sighs. The brunette Gryffindor-turned-Slytherin was sorely tempted to cast Silencio on them. Instead, she settled for a cold glare at the back of their heads.

Remus looked almost feral in the silvery light of the waning gibbous moon. She'd never seen him like this -- correction, she'd seen him like this once -- and it had been when he had turned into a werewolf the night that she and Harry had rescued Sirius and Buckbeak. Hermione had noticed the brutal way the sandy-haired boy was leading the two other Chasers against Draco. She wondered if his obvious aggression had anything to do with the moon's phase.

Before -- or rather, later -- she'd only seen him tired near the full moon. Hermione wondered if his tiredness was because he was older and wasn't energetic enough anymore to get as angry. She made a mental note to do some more research on lycanthropy later.

Draco caught the Quaffle that had narrowly missed knocking his head off. Hermione winced at the near-miss. She didn't know why Remus and the two others were being much harder on Draco than they had on the previous people trying out for Keeper. Her amber eyes widened...unless they had found out their secret. Oh Merlin, I hope not! Hermione thought.

Hermione sincerely hoped not. She had had a hard enough time explaining her -- well, their -- predicament to Professor Dumbledore. She didn't think she'd be able to get through the Marauders' questions without spilling everything that would happen in the next nineteen years and sobbing uncontrollably. She couldn't risk it...she didn't know exactly what had led up to that fateful Halloween that had ended up in the death of Lily and James Potter and Harry's now-infamous scar.

As the brunette pondered over thoughts of the Marauders' interrogation, Draco made another dramatic catch much to the delight of the girls in the front row. If I ever become like them -- I hope someone will kill me, she thought with a disgusted shudder.

James Potter and Sirius Black sat on the sidelines watching the Gryffindor Chasers face-off with Draco. "Well, Padfoot?" James smirked to his friend.

Sirius sighed grudgingly. "I can't believe he's good enough to beat them," he groaned. "Why are you so keen on Aquilus joining us?"

"He's a good player," James said with a shrug.

"Prongs..." Sirius scowled with an edge to his voice.

James's eyes left Sirius to stare at the blonde valiantly defending the three goals from Remus, Regulus and Stebbins. "I don't know...there's just something about him...something familiar...I can't really explain it. He's sneaky...he'd make a good Marauder."

Sirius sniffed. "He'd also make a good Slytherin," he stated.

"I can't see him as a Slytherin," James stated. "I can't believe he's even dating a Slytherin."

Sirius's eyes left James to seek out said Slytherin in the stands. He smiled faintly as he saw the brunette, engrossed in the game and gnawing her bottom lip. "She's not like other Slytherins, Prongs. She's different," Sirius said. "I can see her as a Ravenclaw...but not a Slytherin. Moony told me that she's Muggle-born."

James's eyebrows shot up. "She's a Muggle-born Slytherin. Old Sal must be spinning in his grave," he smirked.

"Or Satan's ice skating," Sirius added.

The next time the Quaffle came at Draco, it hit him hard in the stomach, momentarily taking his breath away. He glared at Regulus who had sent the Quaffle his way before tossing it back just as hard. He hit Regulus where it counted, right between the legs and sent a cold smirk toward the younger boy.

Stebbins smirked at this. "Serves you right, Reggie," he snarked. Regulus obvious didn't like being called "Reggie" and sent the Quaffle none-too-gently at Stebbins, who barely caught it. Stebbins scowled at Regulus, tossing the Quaffle to Remus. Remus rolled his eyes at his fellow Chasers.

Remus sent the Quaffle at Draco, this time Draco was unprepared and the Quaffle hit him in the temple. This caused Draco to lose his balance and he toppled off the broom.

The girls -- Hermione was ashamed to admit that she was one of them -- screamed. Remus's eyes widened in shock and horror as the blonde plummeted toward the Quidditch pitch. Remus, Regulus, and Stebbins flew down to the injured blonde as did the rest of the Gryffindor team.

Hermione raced down the stands and shoved her way through the players to Draco's side. He sat up slowly, breathing hard. He had a nasty bruise on the side of his face where the Quaffle had hit and Hermione wouldn't be surprised if he had broken his arm and a few ribs. She withdrew her wand and pressed it to the bruise. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Draco demanded.

"I'm going to heal that bruise," Hermione stated.

"And what if you screw it up like Lockhart," Draco scowled. "I'd probably end up with you zapping out my brain."

Hermione smirked. "Would that actually be much of a change?" she asked innocently.

"I'll have you know that I'm second in my class," Draco stated.

"Second only because I'm smarter than you. Now shut up, Draco," she said.

"You said my name," Draco said with amusement in his gray eyes.

"It's not going to happen again, I promise," she said. She spoke the healing incantation and the bruise faded to green and yellow then altogether disappeared. "I took a beginners' Healing course over the summer."

"Leave it to you to take courses over the summer," Draco stated.

She was about to do the incantation on his arm as well before Madam Pomfrey pushed through the students and examined Draco. The older woman used her magic to place the blonde on the gurney that had floated behind her.

Part 12:
How to Deal
(Monday, September 2, 1996 – Continued...)

Severus Snape paced his office as he waited for Weasley and Potter to return with the Headmaster. With a deep sigh, he slumped into the leather-upholstered chair behind his desk. He took a deep breath and focused on the memories that he'd just glimpsed, pulling them through the past nineteen years. He mulled them about in his mind, working them over as he waited for Hogwarts's illustrious headmaster.

Slowly, Snape's obsidian eyes became focused on the pink mess in the back of the room. A simple Scourgify would take care of it but the potion needed to be tested to see what had gone wrong and what had happened to the two prefects.

Snape chuckled hollowly as he glared at the spilled potion, his long, pallid fingers tapping the battered wood of his desk in his annoyance. He didn't need the potion tested; he knew exactly what had become of Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy.

Snape had seen them in Professor Agnosco's Arithmancy classroom. He had seen Granger talking to the blasted Marauders. Then she and Draco had left, "Miss de Lioncourt" had suddenly felt ill. Black had raised his hand to probably get out of class, staring hungrily after the brunette girl. It was the kind of look that Potter reserved for Evans. Snape smirked, imagine that...Sirius Black in lust with his godson's young friend, Hermione Granger.

His mind left the thoughts of Black's embarrassment when Snape realized that Sirius Black was dead. He focused on the potion again, examining it. How they had gotten to 1977 was an entirely different question and was still a mystery to the Potions professor, however. The potion had been relatively easy for talented students like Draco and Granger; simply a memory-sharing potion.

The person who brewed it would create a link to their memories and anyone who drank it would see a glimpse of the other's memories. It was a useful in times like this. When the Houses were at war but an even bigger war was brewing in the outside world, one that was much more important than whoever got the most House Points, won the most Quidditch games, got the House Cup or the Quidditch Cup. The least that could be done was to have the Hogwarts students work together. The best way to breed a friendship was to share experiences.

That's why he had paired the students with members of opposing Houses. Goyle and Potter, Weasley and Crabbe could share memories, although Snape doubted that Vincent Crabbe or Gregory Goyle would ever produce a usable potion. With a frown, Snape wondered how Crabbe and Goyle had even gotten into Advanced Potions. They must have cheated somehow.

A smirk passed over the potions master's lips as he thought of a way to ensure that no one would ever cheat on his tests again. Granger had been ingenious with that little hex she'd put on the Dumbledore's Army roster. It would work quite well with his tests and he wondered why he'd never thought of it before. He sighed grumpily as he realized that a fifteen-year-old girl had come up with the idea before he had.

The man scowled darkly as his mind left the stupidity of Draco's lackeys and returned to mull over the brown-haired girl and blonde boy from N.E.W.T. Arithmancy. The memories surfaced through the past nineteen years but they felt brand new to him. He could still remember the same day but without Granger and Draco. He had to talk to the headmaster. He wanted to know exactly how everything had happened and why they had ended up in 1977 of all years.

Harry and Ron walked silently through the halls of Hogwarts toward the Headmaster's office. "Did you see Hermione after the cauldron exploded?" Ron asked, breaking the silence.

"No...but she could be in Advanced Arithmancy," Harry said. "She could have left the room before we saw? I would...I mean, she had to partner with Malfoy..." he frowned and then shuddered. "And I had to work with Goyle..." he trailed off. He was still unsatisfied with his idea that Hermione was in Advanced Arithmancy. It didn't seem right...something was off.

Ron frowned thoughtfully. "With all those books, there's no way that Hermione could leave the dungeons so quickly. There's no way she could have gotten to Arithmancy without us seeing her somehow. She'd have had to go this way. The Arithmancy Tower isn't far from Professor Dumbledore's office. Unless there's a shortcut that we didn't think of."

"It would've been listed on the Marauder's Map. I haven't seen any listing of a secret passageway from the dungeons to anywhere near the Arithmancy Tower," Harry sighed.

"Well...maybe the Marauders didn't find all of the passageways?" Ron suggested.

Harry's eyes widened in sudden enlightenment. "The Marauder's Map!" he said.

"Er...what?" Ron asked.

"When we're done visiting Professor Dumbledore's office, we can look at the Marauder's Map and see if Hermione's on it," Harry replied.

Ron let out a relieved breath and they finally reached Dumbledore's office. The gargoyle sprang aside, the spiral staircase going down with the wizened headmaster on it. "Ah, yes, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley. On Professor Snape's order, I presume?" the man asked genially.

Ron nodded slowly. "Yes, sir, something happened in Potions and he wanted us to get you," Harry said.

Dumbledore nodded, momentarily lost in thought. "Yes, yes, you'd best get to your common room, boys. I'm quite certain that you have quite a bit of homework to work on.

The two boys walked to Gryffindor Tower. "Password?" the Fat Lady inquired.

"Veritas," Harry said automatically. The portrait swung open, revealing the opening to the Gryffindor common room. Most of the fifth, sixth, and seventh years were gathered there, studying. Curriculum had gotten harder for everyone this year.

The two boys went to their dorm to find it mercifully empty. Harry opened his trunk and rescued the Marauder's Map. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he said as he tapped his wand to the blank piece of parchment. Ink sprawled over the page forming an intricate map of Hogwarts complete with named dots. Harry saw Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley in the sixth year boys' dorm.

Harry tapped his wand on the far side of the map where the Arithmancy Tower was located. The map zoomed in on the tower and the two Gryffindors could make out several names but there were two conspicuously absent names: Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. The boys knew that Malfoy took Arithmancy because Hermione was always talking about what an insufferable git he was. He was the second in the class, very close to Hermione and it annoyed her greatly.

The zooming in was a trick that Lupin had taught him about the Marauder's Map over the summer. They'd spent a lot of time together talking about Sirius and the Marauders' time at Hogwarts. Harry had grown close to the werewolf as they bonded over memories of good ol' Snuffles. "Hermione isn't there," Ron stated the obvious.

"Locate Hermione Granger," Harry ordered the map, another trick that Lupin had taught him. The map went blank. "It's not working."

"Or she's not at Hogwarts," Ron said. "But...where is she? You can't Apparate on school grounds. There are too many charms." Believe it or not, Ronald Weasley had learned from Hermione's constant preaching of facts from Hogwarts, A History throughout the past five years. Although, he'd never admit it to his friend.

Harry glared at the map in accusation. "Then where is she?" he demanded.

Dumbledore made his way through the halls of Hogwarts. Most of the classes were over by now with the exception of Professor Belinda Vector's Arithmancy and Professor O'Brien's Muggle Studies classes. Luckily enough for Dumbledore, Lupin's classes were done for the day and Dumbledore needed to talk to him and Snape.

After the Ministry admitted that Lord Voldemort was indeed back, there was an outcry from concerned parents for a skilled Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. They didn't care who the teacher was just as long as the teacher knew Defense Against the Dark Arts.

The best choice had clearly been Remus Lupin, the only Defense Against the Dark Arts professor that had taught the students anything of use. The parents no longer cared if Remus was a werewolf as long as he taught their children. With much cajoling from Dumbledore, Lupin had accepted the position.

The wizened wizard glanced at the prematurely grayed man. Lupin's blue eyes were wide as he stared at a corner of the room. "Remus?" the headmaster's voice drew him from his reverie.

"Headmaster," Lupin said with a quick nod.

"I suppose you're having trouble with the new memories you've received?" the man asked.

Lupin's eyes widened and he didn't bother asking how the man knew. Dumbledore seemed to know everything. "I suggest you come with me to see Severus," Dumbledore said.

Lupin swallowed hard. There were many, many different things he'd rather endure than have to spend more time than was absolutely required with the man he had formerly mistreated in his youth. Lupin nodded slowly and followed the headmaster to the dungeons.

When they arrived in Snape's dungeon classroom, Snape was staring absently at a puddle of pink that added a cheerful color to the dank gray of the dungeon. "Severus?" Dumbledore asked.

Snape looked up to see the headmaster and the werewolf. "Albus, Remus," he said with a curt nod and Lupin nodded in return.

"I suppose Potter and Weasley told you about the little incident in class today?" Snape asked.

"Yes, they did," Dumbledore said. "And the strangest thing is that I happen to remember a teenaged girl in her sixth year named Hermione Granger that came to my office with a story of coming from the future...nineteen years ago."

Lupin nodded. "I remember her, N.E.W.T.-level Arithmancy, we met her," Lupin said.

"Did she manage to tell you how it had happened?" Snape inquired.

"A doubled amount of wolfbane and hellebore," Dumbledore said.

Snape's eyes widened. "Hellebore and wolfbane? Twice as much? How could they have been so stupid? I instructed them carefully about hellebore, wolfbane, and thistledown," Snape stated. "It makes the potion unstable, there's no telling how they managed to end up in 1977...or how they'll ever get back."

Lupin's eyes widened at Snape's comment. "They can't stay in the past, Severus!" Lupin cried. "Do you have any idea how much will change? Sirius was practically drooling over the girl. You actually think that she won't try to save Lily and James?"

"I had a discussion with Miss Granger when she was given the Time-Turner in third year, Remus; I don't think it's necessary to worry," Dumbledore said.

"The Time-Turner only goes back a few hours, this is nineteen years, Albus," Lupin said.

"I wouldn't worry about it if I were you," the Headmaster stated.

"I'll worry about it all right," Lupin murmured. Dumbledore didn't hear Lupin's last comment and the two professors watched the headmaster walk off.

After his conversation with Lupin and Dumbledore, Snape retreated to his apartment. Snape's quarters weren't as dark and dank as someone would expect from a sallow-faced man who taught his classes in a dungeon. It was almost homey, recurring colors were shades of green (as expected from a former-Slytherin) and rich, warm wood paneling.

With sufficient dread, the man changed into his nightclothes and fell asleep, wondering what memories the next morning would bring.

Part 13:
Severus Snape's Awful, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
(Tuesday, September 3, 1996)

Severus Snape bolted into a sitting position as he awakened. As his onyx eyes opened, his mind was flooded with memories. It seemed that during his sleep an entire day had passed in his memories. He had been certain that Granger and Draco had disappeared about ten minutes until the bell and it was impossible for him to have so many new memories in about eight hours' time. But they were there, mocking him.

Hermione Granger was a Slytherin. Draco Malfoy was a Gryffindor. Severus Snape had befriended the new Slytherin over Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He had told her about his family and...egads, his infatuation with Draco's future mother. He had invited Hermione Granger to the Halloween Masque, for Salazar's sake!

Snape was seized by panic; he had invited a student to the Halloween Masque. He closed his eyes and pounded the back of his head on his pillow. In twenty-four hours, Hermione Granger had done the impossible and made him open up to her. She had befriended him, he'd just met the girl but he trusted her for some insane reason. All of his life, Snape had never trusted anyone, especially not his family. Then some bushy-haired know-it-all came along and his carefully-constructed walls had crumbled. It was just...he didn't know how to explain it.

He wanted to go back to sleep and pretend that his new memories were just a cruel prank by Gryffindor's Golden Trio. He worked over the memories much like he had the night before, realizing with a soft chuckle that Draco Malfoy had kissed Hermione Granger. He wasn't sure why but a load of Slytherin first years had been talking about seeing the girl in the arms of her Gryffindor suitor. This entire situation was insane on a level that Snape had never thought existed.

Snape had the sudden need to drown himself in a Hagrid-sized vat of firewhisky. Literally or figuratively, it didn't matter to him. He shuddered, hoping that a fix could be found for this mess or he'd soon have memories of dancing with Hermione and Merlin knows what else would happen in the next two months. Bloody hell, this is a total nightmare. In the next two months in 1977? Am I the only one getting a headache from all this? he wondered.

He looked at the clock in the corner of his room and realized that he couldn't procrastinate much longer; he'd slept later than usual. No one would ever think that Severus Snape was a morning person that usually woke up around five in the morning and was usually among one of the first staff members in the Great Hall. It was after eight in the morning and there was about a half hour left until breakfast was over. Just over an hour until Snape would have his first class of the day: first year Hufflepuffs.

His usual sadistic glee in taking points from Hufflepuffs (whom he despised almost as much as the Gryffindors) was dampened greatly by the traumatic memories he'd received in the night. All need for vindication was gone now and he realized that he'd need to muster every bit of mental strength to pass through the rest of the day, battling new old memories.

He stumbled out of bed and threw on his usual black, billowy robe and left his quarters, his mind trying to block out the memories that were sure to assail him soon enough. He entered the Great Hall and there was a sudden silence from the students, followed by excited whispers.

Snape cast a glare at the Gryffindor table. A first year yelped with terror and promptly ducked under the table to the amusement of his fellows. Snape took the only empty seat at the Head Table, beside Lupin. Lupin looked worse for the wear as well, he had barely touched his food and he looked exhausted.

Snape knew that Lupin's appearance had nothing to do with his lycanthropy. The last full moon had been almost a week beforehand. Snape knew why Lupin seemed tired because Snape had experienced the same tiring memories. "Have a good night's sleep?" the Potions professor asked in a cajoling voice.

"What do you think, Severus?" Severus was spoken like a vile curse word. "I had the worst nightmare-slash-memory, I had befriended a snarky blonde Slytherin. You know, the same one who did his damnedest to get me fired during his third year," Lupin stated with a glare at Snape.

Snape chuckled and took a sip of his pumpkin juice. Lupin smiled indulgently, making sure the Slytherin Head of House had a good amount of the orange liquid in his mouth before Lupin continued. "Although, I don't suppose it's any worse than a Slytherin inviting a Gryffindor Muggle-born to the Halloween Masque," Lupin replied.

Snape blanched and choked on the hearty sip of juice he'd taken. "H--how did you know?" Snape sputtered.

"You were sitting near Carpathia White, everyone in the entire school knew," Lupin stated.

Snape groaned. "Even Draco?" he asked.

"No...Draco didn't find out, I don't think. He had other things to think about than the Halloween Masque," Lupin said, his blue eyes shining with mischief.

Snape snorted. "I heard. He gave the first years quite a show, didn't he?" Snape laughed at the absurdity of it all.

At the Gryffindor table, Harry Potter and the two Weasleys were oddly silent. Ron and Harry picked at their food and Ginny stared at the Head Table. The Gryffindor table had been full of "answers" to what had happened to Hermione and Malfoy the day before. Lavender and Parvati were talking about what they knew as the truth. That the Gryffindor and Slytherin had accidentally created a love potion and left for some alone-time.

Compared with the other tales sweeping the Great Hall, theirs seemed to be the most believable...which was really something. Ginny's eyes widened as she stared at Lupin and Snape. "Wow," she murmured.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Look at Professor Lupin and Snape," she said. Harry's jaw dropped, his father's former friend had just made Snape laugh. Things were getting very odd around here.

"This is..." Ron couldn't find the words to explain what it was like to see a former-Gryffindor and a former-Slytherin enjoying themselves over civil conversation.

Part 14:
Poor Ickle Ferret
(Saturday, September 3, 1977 – Continued...)

Fortunately or unfortunately -- depending on how you looked at it -- Draco wasn't seriously injured: he had a minor concussion, a broken arm and a couple of broken ribs. He had to stay in the infirmary until he healed but he'd be back to his not-so-charming self in a couple of days' time. Probably sooner considering the fact that he was a very demanding patient and was driving poor Madam Pomfrey crazy.

With horror, Madam Pomfrey had watched Sirius Black, James Potter, and Remus Lupin enter the infirmary, covered in mud and grass stains from the Quidditch tryouts. They spent as much time in detention and in the infirmary as they did in their classes. She stared from Draco to the three and winced. She was going to be mending a lot of things in the next year, she just knew it.

She started out of the infirmary to talk to Professor Flaherty about brewing some Draught of Living Death in the hopes that it would save her fraying nerves by putting Mr. Aquilus to sleep. Or possibly her. "Oh, hello, Peter," she said as Peter Pettigrew rounded the corner toward the infirmary from Professor Flaherty's room where he'd been serving detention.

"Are my friends in the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey?" Peter asked. He wasn't sure why he had asked, he already knew the answer and the woman affirmed his thought with a nod. Peter sighed and realized that he was actually quite relieved that he hadn't made the Quidditch team when he'd tried out in his second year. Especially since he was quite accident-prone without the added help of broomsticks, Bludgers, Quaffles, and Beaters.

The woman smiled at him and Peter continued on. He arrived just in time to hear his friends talking to Draco about the results of the tryouts. "You did good, mate," James stated. "Welcome to the Gryffindor Quidditch team." He shook Draco's hand enthusiastically.

"I didn't mean..." Remus started. Draco arched a brow at Remus. "Okay, I did mean to do it..."

Draco nodded slowly. "I know you did," he stated. "No hard feelings."

Remus smirked and Peter made his presence known. "You passed your second test," Peter said, grinning widely. Although, it was more of a question than a statement.

"When you're out of the infirmary, we were planning to sneak in some firewhisky and have a party on the pitch. And then you'll get your third task," James stated. He took out a piece of parchment from the satchel slung over his back. "Your second prize."

Draco's eyes narrowed. "I almost died and all I get is a piece of parchment?" he asked.

Sirius smirked. "There's a secret to it...you figure it out and I solemnly swear you'll get your third mission," he stated. Remus frowned, shoving a hand through his light brown hair.

James rolled his eyes and winked at the blonde. "You just have to promise that you're up to no good," he stated.

The four left the infirmary and Remus found himself running into a brunette as she entered the infirmary. She fell onto her butt and ended up in a similar position to the day before: in an ungraceful heap before her future best friend's godfather. "Hermione, nice running into you again," Sirius said, his obsidian eyes full of mirth as he helped her up.

"You too," she stated, dusting herself off. "Is he still awake?"

The mirth left Sirius's eyes but Hermione didn't notice. "He is. You'd better hurry, Madam Pomfrey's about ready to close the infirmary for the night."

Hermione nodded her thanks as she walked past the three Marauders and into the infirmary. Remus let out a low whistle as Sirius watched Hermione brush past. "You've got it bad, Padfoot," he stated.

"Shut up, Moony," he scowled as he, Remus and Peter walked toward the Gryffindor dorms. James taking the other direction to the Head Boy and Girl's dorm.

When Hermione noticed Draco, he was engrossed in a piece of parchment. Wonder if this is like the diary that Father gave the little Weaselette second year, he mused. He rescued a quill and a pot of ink from the satchel that lie haphazardly on the chair by his bed. I am Draco, he wrote. The letters dissolved into the parchment.

Mr. Moony says that Draco has to promise.

Mr. Padfoot thinks that Draco is a moron. He's not getting it write...

Getting it write? Draco mused. Someone needs to work on their grammar skills...

Mr. Prongs disagrees with Mr. Padfoot and thinks Draco is up to too much good.

Mr. Wormtail solemnly agrees with Mr. Prongs.

Mr. Wormtail doesn't seem to have a mind of his own, Draco scowled. Hermione frowned. "Is that what I think it is?" Hermione asked. Draco jumped slightly and let out a little yelp as he aggravated his bruised body.

"Doubt it...it's just a blank piece of parchment," Draco scowled, he tried to hide it but Hermione grabbed it.

Hermione turned away from Draco, placed her wand on the parchment and said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Before her eyes, the blank piece of parchment became a detailed map of Hogwarts. Her eyes widened as she noticed the two dots marked with Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. I definitely need to find a way to fix that, she mused, tapping the map again. "Mischief managed." She turned to face Draco, brandishing the map. "Where did you get this?"

"What is it?" Draco asked, bored.

"Where. Did. You. Get. This?" she repeated.

"James, Sirius, Remus and Peter gave it to me," Draco stated. "I can't believe they'd give this to--to a Slytherin," she cried, spitting the word Slytherin as if it was the worst thing she could ever say to anyone. Draco smirked as his eyes danced to the green and silver tie and the Slytherin seal emblazoned on Hermione's robe.

"You're one too," he replied. Hermione smacked his side where the bandages wrapped around his ribs. He cried out. "Bloody hell, you sadistic bitch!"

"Poor ickle ferret," Hermione patronized and Draco glared at her, holding his injured ribs.

"You are a cruel, callous woman, Granger," he stated.

Hermione's eyebrows rose. "I am? I'm not the one who tried to get our teachers sacked, almost had a poor hippogriff killed...and whose family abuses poor house-elves!" she stated. She said the last as if it was the worst offense that the Malfoy family could have ever committed.

Draco smirked and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm a bad, bad man. Tell me something that I don't already know," he said, his voice deadpan.

Hermione scowled at him. "Why did I come to see you again?" she asked.

"Because I'm so devastatingly handsome," Draco suggested.

"Devastatingly annoying is more like it," Hermione sniffed. "Goodnight, Malfoy."

"G'night, Granger," Draco replied as the brunette walked out. Draco watched the soft sway of her hips as she left and wondered what she'd look like without those bloody robes to hide his view of that tantalizingly short skirt. His eyes widened. Bloody hell! She did mess with my mind... he thought. He frowned as he realized that she had taken the parchment. What the hell was so special about that?

Hermione yawned as she entered the Head common room, Lily was nowhere to be seen but a black-haired boy sat in the corner of the room. Hermione's eyes widened. "Harry?" she asked hopefully.

The boy looked up and Hermione realized that it was just James wearing glasses as he looked over his homework. He quickly pulled off his glasses and put them away. "Er...who's Harry?" he asked.

Hermione frowned. "He's a friend of mine...from Agnitio. You looked a lot like him for a moment," she said.

James smirked. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" he asked.

Hermione smiled. "It's a good thing, believe me. Harry's been my dearest friend since I was eleven. He and Ron...they're the closest thing I have to brothers," she said.

James smiled warmly at her. "Glad to remind you of home," he said.

Hermione took a seat on the scarlet sofa. "It's nice to be reminded of home," she said.

"What about Draco?" he asked.

Hermione bit her bottom lip. "Let's just say that Draco...is, well...he's Draco. That's all there is to describe him," she said. Well, the only way to describe him without using the words "arrogant rat-faced bastard" among others, she added mentally. She yawned. "I'd better get to bed."

James nodded, put his glasses back on and went back to his homework. Hermione grabbed her journal and began to write.

September 3, 1977

Love,
Hermione

Hermione stared at the journal for the longest time before retreating back into the common room. Lily had entered the room from her patrol and had lain out her homework. "Um, Lily, do you have a blank notebook I could borrow?" Hermione asked.

Lily frowned at the Slytherin. "Sure," she said, retrieving a Muggle spiral notebook.

"Thanks, Lily," the brunette said, going back into the Head Girl's room. Lily watched the girl go and stared curiously after her. With a shake of her head, she went back to work on her homework.

Once in the safety of the Head Girl's room, Hermione cast a Protean charm on the two notebooks. In her original notebook, she wrote Hermione Granger on the inside of the cover. In the second book, the same words appeared. Hermione smiled at her handiwork and hid her original journal. She left the Head Girl's room and walked to Dumbledore's office, uttering the password.

The gargoyle moved to the side and Hermione went up the spiral staircase into the Headmaster's office. Inside, Dumbledore talked with a man that seemed very vaguely familiar to her. He was tall with dark hair held back in a ponytail. "Thank you for your concern, Damian," Professor Dumbledore said.

The man turned and Hermione stared at him as he brushed past her like she didn't even notice her. The man was handsome with black hair, a chiseled face, olive skin and dark brown eyes. There was a coldness in his eyes that she'd seen before...in Lucius Malfoy's eyes. She shivered and continued into the office. "Er...Professor, could you save this for my friends, Harry and Ron...they're Gryffindors, sixth years in 1996?" she asked. "They're probably worried about me." She handed the notebook to the man and he nodded.

"Very well, Miss Granger, you'd best be getting to your common room, it's almost curfew," the man said, his blue eyes twinkling. Hermione smiled and exited his office. Dumbledore smiled after the girl and carefully tucked the book in his desk drawer.

Part 15:
Breakfast with the Marauders
(Sunday, September 4, 1977)

Hermione awoke to the sun's pale light streaming through the window. She realized that it was just after dawn and yawned. Between her studies and the constant threat of untimely death at the wand of Voldemort or a Death Eater, Hermione had found that she didn't need much sleep to function well. Now that one of her distractions (Voldemort currently wasn't around and trying to kill her and her friends) had been eliminated, she had more time to work on other things. Like the Marauder's Map.

She had always been interested in the magic of the Marauder's Map, hoping that it would come in handy in her chosen career path of Aurorcy. After much convincing by Ron and Harry, she had decided that she met all the criteria of a successful Auror and the map would come in handy. Since she had first learned about the Marauder's Map, she had been insanely curious about it. What made it work? Had the Marauders explored every single nook and cranny of Hogwarts? Or had they used a complex location spell? If it was the latter, then one could create a highly-detailed map of a place they'd never been before...possibly even listing objects as well as people.

Now, Hermione had a lot of free time. That happens when someone's not out to kill you or your friends every minute of every day, she mused wisely. The past three years had been so incredibly hectic -- she'd been nearly killed numerous times, created S.P.E.W., dated an internationally famous Seeker, been held hostage by merpeople, joined Dumbledore's Army (or rather formed Dumbledore's Army), and raided Britain's Ministry of Magic. Between that, studying for school, the O.W.L.s, and the upcoming N.E.W.T.s, Hermione had absolutely no time to find out the map's secrets.

Hermione pulled the map from her satchel, a picture dropping out. The brunette carefully picked up the moving photograph of a smiling Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Ginny, Percy, Bill, Charlie, and Mr. Weasley. It had been taken at the World Quidditch Cup before things had changed so much. Before Cedric had died, before Sirius had died, before Voldemort had risen again. Hermione swallowed past the emotional constriction in her throat.

To take her mind off her thoughts of the death and destruction that would occur in the future, she got dressed, grabbed her satchel, and left the Head Girl's room for the common room. The brunette pulled her hair into a ponytail and set out her ink pot and parchment. She immediately began working on her homework that wasn't due for another week. She had already finished the work she'd been assigned from the rest of her classes and had been putting off Flaherty's parchment on the mystical properties of bloodroot, which was a strengthening agent in vengeance and healing potions. She lost track of time as she completed two more feet of parchment than had been required.

A loud yawn pulled Hermione from her work. Hermione turned to see James standing in his Gryffindor red pajamas, his hair even more mussed than usual from sleep. "You're up early, Hermione," James murmured. "It's Sunday after all."

"Sunday? But we had classes yesterday," Hermione frowned.

James nodded. "Yes," he stated. "The first week of school was so short that Professor Dumbledore thought we should work on Saturday to make up for it."

"Oh," Hermione said. Hermione was definitely having trouble with the time travel thing. "Well, I got Professor Flaherty's report done." She cast a quick drying spell on the parchment and carefully rolled it up. She stretched out. "And anyway, I've been an early riser since my first year."

James smiled at her. "And I thought I was an early riser, it's only eight..." he stated and Hermione smirked. "I guess Lily's still sleeping. Bet it's the only time she sleeps with all the homework she does."

"You like her, don't you?" Hermione asked.

James got a sappy puppy-dog look on his handsome face. "I do," he answered. "She hates me though."

"She doesn't hate you," Hermione insisted. James arched a brow. "She doesn't get along with you...but she doesn't hate you. I promise. Maybe you should try to be nice to her...you know, ask her to Hogsmeade or something." She shrugged.

James frowned, remembering his previous experiences of asking the redhead to Hogsmeade. "She'd never go with me to Hogsmeade, I've asked before," he stated.

"I could help you out a little. You know, spy or something..." she trailed off.

"Slytherins are good at that kind of thing," he stated. "Er...well, you have to have some kind of Slytherin trait. You seem far too nice to be a Slytherin."

Hermione frowned. "I'm not a Slytherin, you know. I'm still Hermione, nothing's changed because I got Sorted into that stupid House," she said.

"What's in a House? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," he stated.

Hermione's eyes widened with glee. "You know Shakespeare?" she asked. "But he's a Muggle!"

James sighed and shook his head. "Why does everyone think that just because he wrote plays for Muggles that he was a Muggle? He went to Hogwarts during his so-called 'lost years,' he was a Ravenclaw," he stated. With a wink, he added, "Everyone knows that Romeo and Juliet was about a romance between a Gryffindor and a Slytherin."

A sudden realization dawned on Hermione. "'Two Houses, both a like in dignity...'" she murmured. "I just...assumed."

James smirked. "Actually, it's 'two households, both alike in dignity.' And you know what they say about assuming, it makes an ass out of--" he started and Hermione smacked his arm playfully. "You're a violent woman, Hermione de Lioncourt." James made a show of rubbing his arm and Hermione chuckled. "She jests at scars that never felt the wound."

"You are something else, James Potter," she said. Her light mood took on a serious edge. "You really do remind me of Harry. The two of you would have been best friends."

"Did you have a lot of friends at Agnitio?" he inquired curiously. Hermione took a seat on the crimson velvet settee and James joined her.

There was a long pause. "I had a fair amount of acquaintances, but my best friends were Harry and Ron. We were inseparable since they saved me from a mountain troll in first year."

"Blimey, a mountain troll?" he asked and Hermione nodded. "In first year? And they survived?"

Hermione nodded on both accounts. "Harry stuck his wand up the troll's nose and Ron used Wingardium Leviosa on the troll's club. The troll was knocked out," she said. James was obviously impressed.

"Do you help your friends on your grand adventures?" James asked and Hermione nodded. "You should join the Dueling Club." His eyes sparkled and Hermione realized that they were hazel, not blue as she had previously thought. "It's the only way you can get away with jinxing other people in front of the teachers. It's mostly Slytherins and Gryffindors...so you get a chance to jinx Slytherins..." he trailed off as Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Er...right...Slytherin. No offense to your House."

"None taken," Hermione stated. "When does it meet?"

James looked at the clock. "In about three hours," he stated. "In the dueling room, I'll take you there."

Hermione smiled. "Sounds like an idea," she stated. Her stomach growled angrily and Hermione realized that she hadn't eaten since supper. "Wanna go get breakfast?"

"I'm meeting Sirius, Remus, and Peter in the Great Hall in about ten minutes, you sure you can stand those prats long enough?" James teased and Hermione grinned at him.

"I'm sure I can manage," Hermione stated with a hint of a grin.

James grinned in return and the two made it through the halls of Hogwarts, chatting about nothing much in particular. When they entered the Great Hall, they found Sirius, Remus, and Peter talking animatedly. "Who's going next?" Peter asked.

"I am," Sirius stated. "Aquilus won't stand a chance when I give him his third mission, so don't worry, Remus."

Hermione frowned and gave James a confused look. James coughed loudly and the three others immediately stopped talking. "Hello, Hermione," Sirius said. "You're going to sit with us today?"

Hermione smiled and took the empty seat by Sirius across from Remus while James took the empty seat on Sirius's other side. Whispers ricocheted through the Great Hall at Hermione's action. It was a well-known fact throughout Hogwarts that on weekends, the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs would mingle with one another, sitting at each other's tables. Slytherins always stuck to their table. In two days, Hermione Granger had broken three of the unwritten laws that the Slytherins adhered to since the days of Salazar Slytherin himself. She was a Muggle-born (of course, she didn't think anyone realized that), she was "dating" a Gryffindor, and now she was sitting at the Gryffindor table. With the Marauders, well-known Slytherin-haters.

There was a long pause, full of awkward silence. Hermione frowned. "If you'd like me to go, I will...sorry to intrude," she stammered, moving to leave the table.

"No," Sirius said, placing a hand on her forearm to still her.

You know, Sirius is rather handsome... the traitorous voice in her head that had her thinking about naked Lucius and Draco started up. The hormonal part of her brain quieted when it seemed to realize that when Hermione had known Sirius before, Sirius Black would be a shadow of his former self, haunted by his time in Azkaban. Then he would be dead, Hermione felt guilty about this.

She had known that Sirius was reckless and she hadn't been very nice to him in the time she'd known him. She'd berated him about Kreacher, only for the house-elf to turn against his master and join with the woman that had tortured Neville's parents to insanity. Her blush faded and was replaced by a thoughtful frown as she extricated her arm from Sirius's.

It was like her blood had turned to ice water as she looked at the four Marauders gathered here. They were all chipper and untroubled by the future. The future that would leave both Sirius and James dead, and Peter a traitor. She swallowed hard and tried to speak but her voice failed her. She took a sip of orange juice and tried again. "So...why were you talking about Draco?" she asked. The Marauders didn't get to answer because at that moment a blonde sat at their table beside Peter.

"Narcissa, what are you doing at our table?" Sirius growled.

"Can't a girl spend some time with her favorite cousin?" Narcissa chirped.

"Not really, considering the fact that I've been disowned and you're the perfect little pureblood, off to marry Malfoy," Sirius stated in a condescending tone.

Narcissa ignored Sirius's comment and her blue eyes immediately left her cousin to examine Hermione. "I hear you're dating a Gryffindor." She grinned. "I can't blame you, that Aquilus boy is awfully handsome. Hell, I'd date him."

Hermione's mind left the fact that Narcissa Black had Farrah hair and looked like she'd just stepped off the disco floor when she realized that Draco's mother had just commented about dating her son. "You'd date Draco?" Hermione repeated numbly.

Narcissa smiled. "He's cute," she said, her nose wrinkling as she grinned. Hermione suppressed a shudder. Well...I knew purebloods had a tendency toward incest...but this is downright...disgusting, Hermione mused.

"Draco's not your type, believe me," Hermione stated.

Narcissa's eyes lit with challenge. "I wouldn't bet on that," Narcissa scoffed, leaving the table. She wants to date Draco? And Draco's father wants to date Draco... she thought. Draco's going to be even more mentally unstable when we get home.

Part 16:
Star-Cross'd Lovers
(Sunday, September 4, 1977 – Continued...)

As soon as Hermione got over the fact that Draco's parents wanted to do him, she actively joined in conversation with the Marauders. Sirius was their rebellious clown, Remus was their sensible side, James was the obvious leader, and Peter hung onto their every word, adding bits to the conversation. Hermione was finding it difficult to understand why Peter, who obviously adored his friends, would turn on them like he did. Unless Peter was a better actor than he seemed.

Or something in the next four years would cause a rift between them. Maybe it had something to do with what Dumbledore had told Harry after the raid. Harry had been different since then and wouldn't tell her or Ron anything. She dwelled on her thoughts, only joining in when she was addressed directly. Eventually, Hermione's monosyllabic responses were called to the front. "Hermione," Sirius drawled.

Hermione's eyes widened as she looked at Sirius, not unlike a deer in headlights. "Um...what?" she asked.

"Tell us about yourself," Sirius stated. Hermione paled considerably.

"Well...um...there's not much to tell actually," Hermione stammered. "I was born September 19, 19...60. I was born in London. Er...I've got a younger sister named Annabel. I started Agnitio in...1972 and that's where I met Draco. We didn't like each other very much in the beginning, he thought I was beneath him..." she trailed off and blushed as Sirius sent her a winning grin at her possible double entendre. "You're horrible, Sirius."

"You don't know how many times a day he hears that from lovely ladies," Remus said with a wink at Hermione.

Sirius sniffed. "Stuff it, Remy," he stated in a mocking tone.

"Very mature, Siri," Remus cajoled, his tone as mocking as his friend's. James grinned; he was thoroughly enjoying his friends' idiotic banter. Remus's blue eyes settled on Hermione and nodded his head in a "go on" motion.

Hermione took a bite of her toast, chewing it thoughtfully as she tried to figure out what she could tell them without telling too much. "Tell 'em about the troll," James said. Good idea, rough sketches, she mused.

"The troll?" Sirius asked.

"Well, in my first year at Agnitio..." she started then relayed the tale of the troll. Sirius, Peter, and Remus stared at her.

"Wow...a troll," Peter murmured. "Was it big?"

"No, Peter, it was little," Sirius stated with a roll of his dark eyes.

"So...second year?" Sirius asked.

"Er...well, really normal, actually," Hermione stated. She wasn't sure how she could explain to them about the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk without mentioning Voldemort or the Boy Who Lived. Especially since the Boy Who Lived had only lived because of his parents' sacrifice.

Sirius didn't seem to believe her response but didn't press the matter. "And third year?" Remus asked.

"I'll tell you...later," she said, paling slightly. Much, much, much later, she mused.

"Fourth year?" Peter asked, he had been enthralled about her tale of the troll and was eager to learn more about the mysterious Slytherin.

Hermione chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Nothing much," Hermione said. "Rather boring, really. Except for the Yule Ball." Hermione decided that now would be a time to supply the tale of her "courtship" with Draco. He had looked at her quite oddly that night and had ignored Pansy. Hermione had almost believed that he was actually jealous. "Well, before fourth year, Draco and I hated each other. Then the Yule Ball came and things changed..." She allowed herself a dreamy grin.

Sirius looked petulant and Remus chuckled softly. Interestingly enough for a girl so smart, Hermione seemed oblivious to Sirius's infatuation with her. "My parents had bought me these beautiful blue dress robes and I had taken Parvati's advice on fixing my hair. Harry and Ron didn't even recognize me. They became slobbering idiots when they saw me."

Hermione could picture the events in her mind. She had hoped that her friends would realize that she was actually a girl. And maybe, just maybe, Harry would look at her; really look at her and fall in love.

She'd had the biggest crush on Harry since they'd first become friends...and had wanted to get back at him for his affections on Cho Chang. That was the main reason that she'd gone with Viktor to the Yule Ball. Viktor had been a really nice guy and Hermione had gotten over Harry because of him. He had proven to her that friends didn't have to end up "together" in the end like the telly and movies preached. And no matter what Ron thought, she and Viktor were just friends. "And...?" Peter interrupted her thoughts. The brunette blushed.

She swallowed hard. "I danced with them for a while and then in came Draco. He wore black velvet dress robes with an ice blue shirt and gray trousers. The ice blue color turned his eyes the color of the sea under a storm, a sort of blue-gray color that I'd never seen before. He looked amazing." Draco had looked amazing at the Yule Ball, she realized. The black velvet dress robes he had worn had reminded her of a song she'd heard her mother singing once. "Black velvet and that little boy smile, black velvet with that slow southern style, a new religion that'll bring ya to your knees, black velvet if you please."

Hermione was lost in her tale, Peter's brown eyes were glued to her as he listened intently. "He saw me, thinking I was some exotic new girl that he'd never seen before. He asked me to dance and I accepted; I figured I could always taunt him about dancing with a Muggle-born later." Hermione was so involved in her storytelling that she didn't realize that she had admitted that she was Muggle-born to the Marauders. "He was the greatest dancer...we talked between dances and he turned out to be incredibly witty and charming--" If only that would happen in real life, Hermione mused. "He kissed me and I saw my future in his eyes. I had fallen in love with Draco Aquilus."

Sirius made a retching sound and Hermione realized that her audience was completely comprised of males, seventeen-year-old males. Although Parvati and Lavender would have loved it, gushing about how romantic it was. Hermione blushed. It was definitely a fanciful yarn. Draco Malfoy would never fall in love with a Muggle-born. Not that Hermione cared, of course...

Part 17:
The Paladin
(Sunday, September 4, 1977 – Continued...)

Hermione, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter went to the dueling room for Dueling Club. Hermione hadn't been to a Dueling Club since second year and was nervous and excited about the experience. She supposed that, in all technicality, her time with the D.A. could be considered a dueling club...but Hermione counted it as an extracurricular Defense Against the Dark Arts class where she could learn something.

In the dueling room, Slytherins (Hermione was glad to see Severus and not so glad to see Narcissa who still bore the look of challenge from earlier) and Gryffindors milled around waiting for Professor Faust to show up. Mentally, Hermione went over the spells she had learned in the D.A. the year before and almost pitied whoever she ended up dueling. She had learned spells that most seventh years hadn't even learned yet. Lily was late, looking rushed, and her hair was still mussed from sleep. To James, she'd never looked more beautiful, he found himself grinning at the girl. She shot him a death glare. "Go talk to her."

James Potter turned to face the voice's source and Hermione arched a brow and nudged him toward the Head Girl. "No," James's voice came out as a squeak.

"Honestly, James," Hermione sighed. "I don't see how Harry was even born..." Her hand clamped over her mouth and she stared at him.

"What?" James asked, hazel eyes narrowing in confusion.

"Well...Harry was like this...with a girl...and they fell in love," she stammered weakly. "Go talk to her."

"What do I say?"

James Potter is asking me? Hermione wondered. What did I get myself into? "She likes the Beatles," Hermione stated.

"She likes bugs?" James asked.

"No, not beetles. The Beatles: John, Paul, George, and Ringo? Only the greatest rock group ever. Don't tell me that you've never heard of them," Hermione said.

"Fine, I won't," James said cheekily.

"You've got to be kidding me! I expected at least one of them to be a wizard," Hermione groused. "Okay, so Lily told me they weren't, but still...the Beatles!" She shook her head and stopped her rant. "Anyway--can you sing?"

"What?" James asked. Hermione winced, remembering how unfortunate she was to come upon Harry singing once. It made the Merspeech from the second task sound like the sweet sounds of Tchaikovsky or Brahms. "Yes."

"What I meant to say was 'can you sing well?'" Hermione said.

James rolled his eyes. "Yes, I can, I happen to have a great voice," James sniffed.

"In that case," Hermione said. "You might try singing to her. In the Great Hall. During breakfast. You know, make sure she knows that you like her. It's romantic. Later, I'll tell you some of the Beatles' songs and you can choose one."

In walked Faust and Hermione understood why Narcissa was there. Hermione recognized him from the night before, he was the man she'd seen leaving Dumbledore's office. All of the girls (excluding Hermione -- who had learned from her Lockhart experience that looks were highly-overrated) looked at him with barely-disguised lust. "Hello, Professor Faust," Narcissa chirped, grinning as the man nodded at her.

"I understand that we have some new members of the Dueling Club," he said in a crisp, deep voice with a smooth accent. A chorus of sighs filled the room and Hermione rolled her eyes. She felt like she was back at the Quidditch tryouts with the simpering Gryffindor fans.

Faust clapped his hands. "Everyone pair up. Slytherins versus Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs versus Ravenclaws," he stated. Hermione looked around the room and smiled as Sirius walked over.

"Care to duel?" he asked and Hermione nodded. "I promise I'll go easy on you."

"No...I promise to go easy on you, Sirius," Hermione stated. The two faced each other and Sirius winked.

"On three. One, two three..." he stated.

"Expelliarmus!" she cried and Sirius's wand flew from his hand. Sirius's eyes widened and he grabbed his wand.

"Let's try this again," he said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "One, two, three..."

"Silencio!" Hermione said and Sirius's mouth opened but no sound came out. His pride was starting to ache now. He eyed Hermione and with a little smirk, the bushy-haired witch ended the spell with Finite Incantatum.

The two began to circle one another, waiting for the next move. Sirius finally ended the tension. "Rictusempra!" Sirius cried.

It looked as if Sirius was going to finally retrieve some of his pride. Well, that was before Hermione deflected his spell with a cry of "Protego!" Sirius immediately began to laugh uncontrollably. Now, people were pausing their duels to watch Sirius Black, Gryffindor Beater and Marauder, being bested by a slight brunette girl. "Finite Incantatum."

Sirius was annoyed, he became even more so when Hermione cast the Jelly-Legs Jinx on him. Again, Hermione said, "Finite Incantatum. She grinned at him, enjoying the power that she held over the older boy. "Had enough, Sirius?"

"Never," he growled, dark eyes narrowing in challenge much like his cousin's had been set earlier. He readied his wand and thought up his next jinx.

But Hermione was quicker. "Infucatum Ostrinus," Hermione said. At that moment, Sirius Black literally turned purple. There was a collective gasp and Peter Pettigrew began to laugh hysterically. James stopped his duel with Severus to stare at his friend and Severus took the opportunity to cast Tarantallegra on him.

James's legs began to move crazily and Hermione put a stop to it with an utterance of, "Finite Incantatum."

"What's so bloody funny?" Sirius growled, glaring openly at the chubby boy laughing at him.

"You're...you're..." Peter gasped between chuckles.

"Spit it out!" Sirius growled menacingly.

"You're...uh...well...you're...purple," Peter finally bit out.

"I can't be purple," Sirius replied.

"He's right, you know. Maybe it's violet," James said to Remus and Peter. Sirius stared at his arm, his dark eyes widening as he took in the unnatural shade his tanned skin had taken. He paled to a lavender color.

"Make it go away," Sirius said, staring at Hermione.

Hermione smiled wickedly at Sirius. "I can't...there's no counter-curse," she stated. Which was true, Fred and George had cast the spell on their Color-Changing Cookies, which turned the eater different colors.

Sirius's jaw dropped. "What?" he squeaked.

"It should fade in a few hours," Hermione stated, grinning cheekily at him.

"SHOULD!?" Sirius cried and Peter doubled-over with howling laughter. This caught Professor Faust's attention and the man walked over. His brown eyes widened as he took in the student's color.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher eyed Sirius with curiosity. "Who cast this spell?" he asked.

"I did," Hermione said. She bit her bottom lip as the teacher's eyes narrowed.

"Very inventive, Miss--?" Faust started.

"Hermione...de Lioncourt," she stated and Faust nodded thoughtfully. Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter winced. None of the Gryffindors with half a brain trusted the Slytherin Head of House, there was something off about him.

"Very inventive..." Hermione grinned and Faust's eyes slitted "...but extremely pointless, Miss de Lioncourt. Five points from Slytherin. If you were in a real duel, coloring your opponent purple would be a simple waste of time that would end up with you most likely attacked by an Unforgivable...or something allowed but no less painful."

Hermione felt a phantom pang go through her at the memory of Dolohov's curse. "I know," she stated, her brown eyes meeting Faust's in challenge. "I'm well aware of that...professor. It's just...I don't know any spells that would be useful in a play-battle."

Faust's sensuous lips curled into a sneer. "Is that so, Miss de Lioncourt?" he asked. "Then what spells do you know that would be useful in a real situation."

Hermione's chin rose in challenge. "Quite a few, professor," she said. She hadn't had many good experiences with Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers and she was beginning to feel the same about Faust.

Faust's full lips turned into a cruel smirk. He clapped his hands and all of the dueling pairs stopped and turned toward the four Gryffindors, two Slytherins, and the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Hermione's eyes widened as she noticed who Narcissa Black dueled. None other than Lucius Malfoy. What is he doing here? she thought.

"Lucius, come here," Faust ordered and Lucius walked over. Hermione's eyes widened as she noticed the way he walked toward her...like a lion stalking its prey. They narrowed as she realized how ridiculous her analogy was. I'm the lion here...he's just the bloody snake, she thought. "Lucius Malfoy, this is Hermione de Lioncourt...she seems to think she's very good at Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Lucius smirked at the girl and Hermione shuddered. He didn't look that much older but she estimated him to be around twenty-two or twenty-three. "Is that so, Damian?" Malfoy said.

"Lucius is one of the school's governors and he was exceptionally good at Defense Against the Dark Arts," Faust stated. "It's a little-known tradition in dueling clubs where two will duel with their Patroni. You'd know this if you were any good at all at Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Hermione nodded, she had read about it. But it was so rare an occurrence because not many people could create a corporeal Patronus. "Then you'll know the rules. A Patronus show how efficient a witch or wizard is at Defense Against the Dark Arts. The more magical abilities one possesses, the stronger his or her Patronus. The Patronus left standing is the winner," Faust stated. "Now, produce your Patroni." He obviously didn't think Hermione could produce one by the way he acted.

"After you, Lucius," Hermione stated.

"Ladies first," Lucius smirked. He agreed with Faust apparently. The Gryffindors and Slytherins rolled their eyes. Their sentiments were with Faust and Lucius.

"No, really, I insist," Hermione said. Severus smirked at this; he really hoped that she had been truthful. He would really love to see Narcissa's fiancé taken down a few notches. The best way for this to happen was for him to be bested by a sixteen-year-old girl.

"As you wish," Lucius stated. "Expecto Patronum!" A blast of silvery vapor left Lucius's wand and formed into a cobra.

The cobra hissed at Hermione and she frowned. Could her otter face off against a cobra? She swallowed hard and incanted, "Expecto Patronum!" Silvery smoke came from her wand and formed into her Patronus.

There were chuckles from her fellow Slytherins mingled with sounds of awe. Faust was surprised that she could create a corporeal Patronus even if it was an otter. Lucius laughed outright. "An otter?" he smirked.

Hermione looked affronted. "An otter is a noble creature," she stated. "Which is more than I can say for a Malfoy." She had decided that the best way to win this was to channel her ire and annoyance at Lucius's future son into her magic. She concentrated all of the times that Draco had made fun of her, Ron, and Harry into the Patronus, mingled with the happiness at the thought of defeating his father.

Slowly, Hermione's Patronus began to grow larger, the silvery light turned golden and Faust stared at it. The otter let out a loud squeak and attacked the cobra. The snake hissed at the otter and retreated toward its master. The otter pounced on it and bit the cobra's head off. Lucius's Patronus dissipated into a wisp silver smoke. The students stared at the golden otter and there was a smattering of applause throughout the room but mostly stunned silence.

Lucius looked angry enough to cast Avada Kedavra on her. "That was...very good, Miss de Lioncourt," Faust stated. "That's all for today. We'll meet next Saturday at one."

"Er...you may go," Hermione murmured and the otter dissipated.

"The Force is strong with this one," Remus stated.

"You've seen Star Wars?" Hermione asked.

"Hasn't everybody?" Remus stated.

"H--how'd you do that?" James stammered as he walked with Hermione and the Marauders.

"I'm not sure, I've never heard about that happening before," Hermione whispered.

Remus stared at her with unveiled respect. "She created a Paladin," he stated.

"A what?" James asked.

"A corporeal Patronus is a Patronus that takes on a form...but a Paladin...they're rarer than Animagi," he stated. The three other Marauders shared a secretive grin. "Paladins require an exceedingly strong amount of magic and emotion. Extremely rare."

"Wow." She took a long moment to think over Remus's statement. "So...so I have enough power to become an Animagus?" Hermione asked, her eyes widening.

James nodded. "An Animagus requires more talent than magic. You've definitely got enough magic for it," he stated.

Hermione grinned. "I've always wanted to be an Animagus...since my third year," she murmured.

"What happened in your third year?" Sirius asked.

She smiled. "I met two Animagi then," Hermione stated. "And a werewolf." She paused for effect, her brown eyes centered on Remus. The werewolf's eyes widened "You know, werewolves aren't as bad as everyone thinks they are. I've even heard of the Wolfsbane Potion, it's supposed to make werewolves as docile as house dogs."

"Wolfsbane?" Remus asked. "Like the herb used in memory potions?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes...well, not quite, the herb used in memory potions is wolfbane, also known as aconite..." she trailed off. "I don't know much about it...the Wolfsbane Potion, I mean...it's supposed to be very difficult. My professor was a werewolf and our Potions professor made the potion for him..." She trailed off, eyes widening. She'd told them way too much.

"A professor made the potion for another professor," Sirius asked, eyes narrowing.

Hermione winced at Sirius's questions. You know, you're supposed to be the smart one, the one who isn't going to fix the future! Hermione berated herself. "H--he did. Agnitio a lot more...er...accepting of people. A--and, as a matter of fact, my werewolf teacher wasn't a teacher...well...he was a teacher, of course, b--but not the school's teacher...a tutor. Yes, a tutor...an independent tutor.

"So your Potions professor made the potion for your tutor," Remus asked. "Why?"

"Er...uh...they knew each other in school..." she stammered. "Um, I--I have to go check on Draco." I, Hermione Jane Granger, am an idiot!

With that, Hermione raced from the dueling room. "She's one odd bird," Peter murmured. The three other Marauders examined the girl with unveiled curiosity.

Hermione groaned loudly as she left the dueling room. She was supposed to be the smart one. She was the most-likely candidate for becoming 1997-1998's Head Girl. She was the one who had gotten them into this mess -- okay, no, she hadn't...idiot Malfoy and his idiot wolfbane and idiot hellebore had. She was supposed to keep Malfoy from changing the future and not change it herself.

How could I have been so stupid? she demanded of herself. It's one thing to talk about the Wolfsbane Potion but an entirely different thing to very nearly say that Severus Snape had brewed Remus Lupin's Wolfsbane Potion! Her eyes narrowed as realization hit. Malfoy probably orchestrated everything under Voldemort's orders...so he could kill James and Lily before Harry was born.

Hermione's brow wrinkled in thought as she remembered The Time Machine. How could someone do that though? Go back in time to stop something from happening? If you were ordered to kill someone in the past in the future...then the person in the past would be dead before the future happened. Then the orders could never have been given. She could feel a migraine sneaking up on her. I hate this time traveling.

But at that moment, she needed to find something out. Purposefully, Hermione wound through the halls of Hogwarts to the infirmary.

Part 18:
Boredom and Bonding
(Sunday, September 4, 1977 – Continued...)

Draco Malfoy was bored. Very bored. Very, very bored. His only joy was tormenting Madam Pomfrey. And now the nurse had gone out, muttering about Gryffindors and their perpetual ability to get hurt. Draco was assuming that she was talking about James and his friends. And Draco was inclined to acquiesce. Since he'd started at Hogwarts, a year hadn't gone by without at least one of the Gryffindors ending up in the infirmary.

Draco had taken up some time thinking about the cases of Gryffindors ending up in the infirmary. First year, Potter. Second year, Potter, Granger, and that annoying boy with the Muggle camera. Third year...well, for once, a Gryffindor hadn't ended up in the infirmary...wait a tick, Harry Potter the Amazing Bouncing Seeker had ended up in the infirmary after the dementors. Fourth year, Hermione had ended up in the infirmary after his Densaugueo had hit her. Fifth year, Weasel, Granger, Weaselette, and Largebottom had ended up in the infirmary after they'd encountered his father and the Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic.

Now, Draco was bored again. He'd decided to count things in paintings. There were exactly four-hundred and fifty-seven flowers in the painting of Lady Bronwyn the Healer, the portrait hanging in front of his bed. Lady Bronwyn was incredibly dull. She would tsk-tsk him whenever he tried to move or speak. "Now, now, young Draco, you shouldn't be exerting yourself," the woman said. She had an annoying mothering tone.

Truth be told, Draco was feeling a lot better. His ribs seemed to have completely healed overnight. But that blasted mother hen Pomfrey refused to let him go. He had to get out of this bloody place before he went insane.

Just as he was about to sneak out, Hermione Granger strode in purposefully. Oh, goodie, a Mudblood to torture! Finally, something to do, he mused as he looked over her.

Hermione put her hands on her hips and stared at Draco, a determined tilt to her chin. "Show me your left arm," she ordered.

"What?" Draco asked.

The bushy-haired brunette stared at him. "Show...me...your...left...arm," she repeated. When Draco didn't get a chance to reply when Hermione pulled up the sleeve of his robe.

"Careful on the goods, love," he stated melodramatically. "I bruise easily." Hermione examined his arm thoroughly and let out a sigh of relief as she realized that he didn't bear the Dark Mark. "Was there a point to that or did you just want to ogle me?"

"You're a bastard," she sighed, shoving a tendril of hair out of her face.

"My parents would both disagree with that," Draco said. Hermione snorted and burst into laughter and Draco arched a brow. When he spoke again, he sounded offended, "Did I say something funny?

"Maybe they would...if they weren't too busy hitting on you," she stated.

Draco's silver eyes narrowed as he glared at the Muggle-born. "That was one time, Granger. And Father was hitting on you as well," Draco defended himself.

"Yeah, but your mum wasn't hitting on me earlier when she started talking about how cute you were," she stated.

"M--my mother?" Draco's voice was strangely high and his skin became translucent as he paled.

Hermione nodded, enjoying his reaction thoroughly. "You know, you're the victim of a reverse Oedipus and Electra complex. You might want to invest in some quality psychiatric help when we get home," she suggested. Draco stared at her for a while. "It's a Muggle thing." She cocked her head and examined his still-bare arm. "You're extremely pale."

"Well, isn't that a bloody brilliant observation, Granger," he scowled. "I don't tan, I burn or...freckle." He shuddered.

"What's wrong with freckling?" she asked defensively, remembering the smattering of freckles that she had.

"It's just not...dignified. Malfoys do not freckle," he sniffed.

"Well, tell that to your melanin," Hermione stated.

"My...what-a-nin?" Draco asked.

"Your melanin," Hermione replied. "Honestly, don't they teach you anything in pre-wizarding school?"

"Pre-wizarding school?" Draco inquired.

"Well, don't purebloods go to school before you end up at Hogwarts, Durmstrang, or Beauxbatons?" she asked.

Draco scowled. "Of course not, we usually have tutors. Or the poor ones end up going to Muggle schools. Horrible," he stated.

"Well, didn't your tutor tell you anything about melanin?" she asked. "Melanin is what gives you a tan or freckles or...well...paleness."

Draco frowned. "How did we get on the subject of melanin?" he asked.

"I said you were very pale," Hermione said.

"Oh," he said. There was a long pause. "Are we having a civilized conversation?"

Hermione frowned. "Oh...wow. We are," she said.

"It's not going to happen again, is it?" Draco asked.

Hermione shook her head in the negative. "No. It isn't ever going to happen again," she said. "It's dead creepy."

It was that time the Marauders burst into the room, seeking answers to Hermione's cryptic comments. "Hello, Hermione, you're going to give us some answers..." Sirius said.

Part 19:
To Tell the Truth?
(Sunday, September 4, 1977 – Continued...)

Hermione's eyes widened and Draco smirked. Well, Granger, how are you going to get out of this one? he mused. Draco felt a sadistic glee at the pallor the girl had taken on. "Mind if we talk to you for a minute, Hermione?" James asked. His hazel eyes were cold and Hermione looked at Draco for help.

"I think James wants to talk to you, darling," Draco said, nudging the brunette off of his bed. He frowned in thought, how had she ended up sitting on his bed? Hermione gave him a glare that would have killed a lesser man, or at least sent him home crying for his mother. Although, Draco was quite frankly terrified of the gropings he was certain to receive at his mother's hand if he ran home crying to her. How am I supposed to face my parents after they've wanted to make me their cuddle monkey? he wondered. Well, I'll burn that bridge when I come to it. That is one of the Malfoy mottos, is it not: burning bridges when you come to them. He turned his attention to the curly-haired girl that sent him an evil glare that would put a chill in the very bones of Voldemort.

"I hate you," she hissed.

"Now, now, dearest, don't say things like that. Who knows, I may just drop dead and then you'll feel so guilty for wishing me ill," Draco taunted, patting the girl's thigh in what could be conceived as a romantic gesture.

"If you would just drop dead then I'd feel a whole lot better," Hermione said, prying his hand from her thigh. A smile crossed Sirius's face. Trouble in paradise then? he wondered. Had he been a cartoon character, he would have a devil and an angel on either shoulder; the angel would be telling him that it's wrong to want to date your almost-friend's girlfriend, even if she was an ex; the devil would be telling him that he should go for it. But since he wasn't a cartoon character, the angel was nowhere to be seen and the devil was in full control.

The brunette followed the four boys outside of the infirmary. "Er...what can I do for you boys?" Hermione's voice was strangely high as she looked at the four boys, all taller than she was. I hate being short! she raged internally. While she planned her action, she examined the four boys.

The shortest of the four was Peter who was barely a head taller than Hermione, chubby with mousy brown hair in a pudding bowl haircut and beady brown eyes. Remus was over a head taller than Hermione and wiry with shoulder-length sandy brown hair and blue eyes narrowed in distrust. James was about Draco's height and almost a carbon copy of Harry, thin with a shock of messy black hair and hazel eyes. Sirius was the tallest and buffest of the four, he looked like he could be a movie star with his shoulder-length black hair, well-tanned skin, and the mischievous gleam in his unfathomable black eyes even as he stared at her with something akin to anger.

"You seem to know a lot about werewolves," Sirius stated, breaking the silence.

Hermione arched a brow. "I told you, my tutor was a werewolf," she stated. "He was a really nice guy and he taught me about the Wolfsbane potion." Even though Hermione's voice was strong, she could tell that the Marauders didn't believe her.

Peter's eyes narrowed. "How come you were looking at Remus?" he demanded.

Hermione almost smirked at this. "Is there something wrong with me looking at Remus when I was talking about werewolves?" she asked, her eyes meeting the werewolf's. "Anything you want to tell me?"

Remus glared at Peter. "No," he bit out.

Hermione nodded. "My tutor, Professor...er...Professor--" Hermione stammered.

"You don't remember your tutor's name?" James asked.

"I haven't had him for a while," she said defensively. "Er...Professor Longbottom..."

"Professor Longbottom?" Remus asked incredulously. "I know Frank; there haven't been any professors in his family. Let alone werewolf professors."

"Oh...um..." Hermione said, she was about to say that Frank wasn't related to her Professor Longbottom, but she knew that Longbottom wasn't exactly a common name. "Professor Lockhart!"

"Who?" James asked.

"Professor Gilderoy Lockhart was my werewolf professor, he taught Defense Against the Dark Arts. He got bitten by a werewolf when he had been in Romania working with Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback," she explained. "Professor Neville Longbottom was my Potions professor, a very, very, very distant relative of Frank Longbottom." Yeah, about nineteen years distant... she mused. "His cousin's aunt's son's son."

She could tell that they were trying to figure out that she had just gave a long-winded explanation that Frank's son was her Potions master and continued on before they could understand her. "He was an expert in Herbology and became a Potions teacher after his parents were attacked by Dark wizards."

"Probably my relatives," Sirius scowled darkly.

"You wouldn't be wrong," Hermione stated, knowing very well that Neville's parents had been attacked by his cousin Bellatrix, her husband Rodolphus, and her brother-in-law Rastaban. "Well, Nev--Professor Longbottom is very gifted with the Wolfsbane Potion and he made it for...Professor Lockhart because they went to school together." Which wasn't entirely untrue, Lockhart had taught their second year Defense Against the Dark Arts class. "Professor Lockhart was one of my best teachers." Which was a downright lie -- he had been her most attractive teacher but not the best. Although, Hermione Granger had to admit that Professor Lupin had been a very close second. Although that wasn't much considering Professors Quirrel, the Fake Moody, and Umbridge. "Professor Lockhart taught me about all sorts of creatures -- like werewolves -- and was definitely one of the best teachers I ever had." She smiled at Remus. "That's all there is to it. Now if you don't mind, I have a sick boyfriend to attend to."

Draco was sick all right, but it was the mental kind of sick. With that, she flounced back into the infirmary. James gnawed his bottom lip in thought. "Did she say that Professor Longbottom was Frank's cousin's aunt's son's son?" he asked.

"Yeah," Remus said.

"Frank's cousin's aunt would be his mother and his mother's son would be Frank. She just said that Frank's son was her tutor," the hazel-eyed boy stated.

"She was lying," Peter replied.

"It doesn't exactly take a genius to figure that out," Sirius said. "But why?"

"She knows," Remus stated.

"How could she know?" Peter asked.

James's eyes widened. "Snape!" he cried.

"What about Snivellus?" Sirius asked.

"Who's the only person who knows what I am here aside from you three?" Remus asked.

"Professor Dumbledore," Peter said.

"Bloody hell, Peter, did you fall out of the stupid tree?" Sirius demanded.

Peter scowled. "I happen to have an O in Muggle Studies!" he stated.

"And A's and D's in everything else," Sirius replied. "And the only reason you have an O is 'cause Andromeda feels sorry for you."

"Professor Tonks does not feel sorry for me," Peter defended.

"It's a good thing that you only have one more year, Andromeda's retiring after her baby's born," Sirius stated.

"Enough, you two," James sighed. "We need to find out exactly how much Hermione knows."

"How do you intend on doing that?" Remus asked. A slow smile passed over James's lips.

"You'll see..." he stated.

Part 20:
Potential
(Sunday, September 4, 1977 – Continued...)

It was an ancient place. Anyone would be able to tell that easily. The walls were lined with torches filled with verdant flames. Every once in a while, the monotonous marble walls would open into great gaping mouths of infinite darkness formed by archways. In the center of the room was a raised dais and on it was a throne of red marble. In the weak light of the torches, the marble shimmered and shifted like a liquid...like blood.

In the throne sat a man with black hair, his temples were graying. He was a handsome, aristocratic man with long fingers. His eyes were a brownish red color like dried blood, cold as death, shining with madness and power. He was a sight to behold. Before him stood eight cloaked figures, and kneeling at his feet was the Dark Lord's ninth Death Eater.

The Dark Lord stood, and the one in front of him shivered. "Severus," the man said in a cold, wheezy voice. Two of his fingers lifted the young man's chin and forced Severus's obsidian gaze to meet his eyes.

"My Lord," Severus murmured.

"My servant Rastaban has told me a great deal about you, young Snape," the man spoke. "You are supposed to be quite powerful."

"I am, My Lord," Severus stated.

The Dark Lord's lips curled into a frigid smile. The piercing maroon eyes left Severus to settle on one of his followers. "Rastaban, come forth," the Dark Lord stated.

A figure stepped from the circle and removed his death's head mask, revealing shoulder-length black hair, a chiseled face, olive skin, and dark brown eyes. "My Lord," Rastaban Lestrange murmured, nodding his head at the Dark Lord.

"Interesting disguise," the Dark Lord stated. "I always knew it would be useful to have a Metamorphmagus as a follower. What is the name you go by at Hogwarts?"

"Damian Faust," Rastaban stated.

"Ah, yes, Damian Faust," the Dark Lord answered. "Do you stand for Severus?"

"I stand, My Lord," Rastaban nodded.

"Do any others stand?" the Dark Lord said.

"I stand, My Lord," a second voice came and a second man stepped forward. He pulled back his hood, revealing brilliant platinum hair in a ponytail with cold and calculating gray eyes.

"Lucius," the Dark Lord murmured. "Do any others stand?"

"I stand," a third voice came.

"Rosier," the Dark Lord spoke. Evan Rosier gave Severus a smile.

"'Salright, old chum, the fun's just beginning," the brown-haired young man said in a Cockney accent.

The Dark Lord silenced Rosier with a glare. "Do any others stand?" he demanded.

"I stand, My Lord," a fourth voice came. Preston Wilkes nodded toward Severus, nervously tucking a strand of his honey-colored hair behind an ear.

"Do any others stand?" the Dark Lord asked.

"I stand," a fifth voice came. A slight figure stepped forward, and removed the death's head mask. Heavy-lidded acid-green eyes met the Dark Lord's. Long black hair framed a pale, angelic, aristocratic face with a coldness that Severus had only seen in the Dark Lord. The seventeen-year-old knew the Black family characteristics by heart and the Dark Lord didn't even need to say the woman's name for Severus to know who she was. She was Bellatrix Black-Lestrange, Narcissa's older sister.

"Bella," the Dark Lord's thin lips formed into a cold smile as he examined the heavy-lidded woman.

"Five stand for you, Severus," the Dark Lord stated, his tone put a chill into Severus's spine and he tore his gaze from Bellatrix. "Five of my loyal Knights of Walpurgis believe that you should become one of us, a Death Eater." He began to circle the sallow-skinned youth. Like a vulture, Severus mused. "If you turn against me, your life is forfeit."

Severus swallowed hard, his dark eyes darting toward the gaping arches surrounding the room, searching for a way out. The Dark Lord placed his hand on Severus's forehead. "Legilimens," he murmured. Visions clouded Severus's sight. He saw himself stepping between his parents as they fought and his father performing the Cruciatius Curse on him for his trouble, zapping flies off the ceiling of his bedroom to try and block out their yelling, being suspended in midair by Potter, Hermione de Lioncourt.

Severus fought the Dark Lord's Imperius Curse, determined not to let him any deeper. "Do not fight me, Severus." Severus broke the link and the Dark Lord seemed amused. "Very well. You may stand."

Severus stood up shakily. "Your left arm," the Dark Lord stated. Severus pulled up the sleeve of his robe, revealing the pallid skin of his arm. The Dark Lord placed his wand to the flesh of Severus's forearm. "Morsmordre." A coldness unlike any that Severus had felt before seeped into his arm before becoming a burn, it was as if the Dark Lord had put a hot poker to his arm. Severus gritted his teeth, determined not to scream at the intense pain. Soon, the Dark Lord removed his wand from Severus's arm.

Severus stared at the red mark on his arm: a snake slithering from a skull's mouth. He had now become a Death Eater. His arm still had twinges of pain but Severus bowed at his new master. "My Lord," he murmured. The Death Eaters: Igor Karakoff, Lucius Malfoy, Rastaban Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix Lestrange, Evan Rosier, Daniel Travers, and Preston Wilkes applauded the newest member.

The Dark Lord extended a hand toward Rastaban. "Rastaban tells me that there is a girl attending Hogwarts with much potential to be a powerful Knight," the Dark Lord stated. "Do you know this girl, Severus?"

A flash of the honey-haired girl in question popped into mind. "Hermione de Lioncourt, Slytherin. She just transferred from Agnitio Academy of Magic, My Lord," Severus stated.

"And she can produce a Paladin," Rastaban added.

"A Paladin, you say?" The Dark Lord smirked. "Hermione de Lioncourt...Hermione of the lion's heart, interesting. A Slytherin with the heart of a lion," he said.

"Are you certain that she is good enough, My Lord? She's dating a Gryffindor," Lucius stated.

"This does not matter," the Dark Lord stated. "I want all those with connections to Hogwarts to keep an eye on this girl. She has great potential."

His cold eyes examined Lucius, annoyed at Lucius's House loyalty. Trivial things such as one's House did not matter in the great scheme of things. Having followers from Gryffindor was a great asset to the Dark Lord. It was almost expected of the ambitious Slytherin, and possibly from the intelligent Ravenclaw...but who would ever expect a loyal Hufflepuff or a brave Gryffindor to follow Lord Voldemort?

And, after all, there had once been a time when the Sorting Hat had been torn between assigning a young Tom Marvolo Riddle to Slytherin or to Gryffindor, and Lord Voldemort had chosen well. Being a Slytherin had tried him in ways that being a Gryffindor could never have. He had proven himself...not as a piteous half-blood, but as a true wizard.

Hermione Granger chewed the end of a sugar quill as she looked over her journal. Her curly hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

September 4, 1977

After a rather blissful day without Potions, Hermione and Draco worked in silence over their homework from that morning's Advanced Arithmancy class. They were interrupted as the head common room's door banged open. "I can't believe this!" Lily Evans proclaimed as she stormed into the head common room. Startled, Hermione dropped her rather large Arithmancy book on Draco's foot. The blonde grabbed his foot, muttering an oath under his breath.

Lily looked mortified as Hermione cautiously picked up her book and checked it over for damages. "Oh, sorry," Lily said meekly as she slumped into the scarlet couch.

"Good, it's fine," the brunette stated.

"Your bloody book is all you're worried about?" Draco demanded.

"Yep," Hermione stated, placing the book on the table. "If the rest of you is as hard as your head, then you should be fine." Her eyes widened as Draco gave her a lascivious grin. "That did not come out right."

Hermione blushed bright red and Draco turned to Lily. "Is there a reason why you decided it would be fun to get my foot broken?" he inquired.

"Don't be such a baby," the Muggle-born Slytherin said, leafing through her book to find the page she was on.

"It's a heavy book!" Draco insisted as he turned his gaze to Lily. "Well?"

"Well what?" Lily asked, retrieving her books from her bag.

"What's your problem?" the blonde asked.

"Severus Snape," Lily spat, "is my problem. Professor Flaherty assigned me to partner with Severus Snape on our class project. It's worth half our final grade."

"Well, that's good," Hermione said, examining the complicated formula on her book. She stopped and furrowed her brow. Had she really just told a Muggle-born Gryffindor that working with a Slytherin (not just any Slytherin, but the future Slytherin Head of House) was a "good" thing? Unbelievable! "He is good at Potions."

"She has a point there. Old Sev is remarkable at Potions," Draco stated with a hint of a smirk.

Hermione glared at him. "So what's the assignment?" she inquired.

"To look up and create a potion not taught in class," Lily said.

"Veritaserum is an interesting concoction," Draco said, leafing through his Arithmancy book.

"And a Ministry-controlled potion," Lily stated.

"You're so good at Potions, you should know that," Hermione shot at Draco. "A friendship potion could be useful. In fact, we were working on a memory-sharing potion before we came here." She glared at Draco. "Just don't let your idiot partner double the quotient of wolfbane and hellebore when mixing it with thistledown and thyme."

Lily laughed. "Of course not, how thick can you get?" Lily said. "It makes the potion unstable. I've even heard of someone who got sent back in time because of it."

Both Hermione and Draco looked at Lily. "What happened?" they both demanded.

Lily frowned at their sudden interest. "She ended up in the Crusades and was burnt at the stake as a witch, ironically enough. Unfortunately, she didn't know the Flame Freezing Charm. Messy death that."

"Oh..." Hermione said, frowning. "Well, a friendship potion could be useful."

"If we could work together long enough to finish the project without killing one another," the redhead answered. "Severus is really into the Dark Arts. I heard he even knows the Killing Curse." She swallowed hard. "I'd hate to die by that. Alive one second and dead the next." The redhead shuddered.

Hermione's stomach dropped to her knees at Lily's off-hand comment. Lily would die by the Killing Curse. There was a pregnant pause in which Hermione paled considerably. "Well anyway, I'd be more worried about your project. You have to do this assignment, also."

"But we're only sixth years," Hermione said, grateful at the change of topic.

"Flaherty makes all years do it," Lily answered.

"Well...we get to choose are partners, right?" Draco asked.

"I'm sure he'll put you and Hermione together. He just loves teaming up opposing Houses. A couple years back, he put Adira Lohman -- a Slytherin -- and Philip Patil -- a Hufflepuff -- together. They did an Invictus Potion. They're getting married April twenty-eighth." Lily paused thoughtfully. "Actually, Professor Flaherty is good at improving inter-House relations."

Hermione wondered if Philip and Adira Patil were Padma and Parvati's parents. James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus chose that moment to enter the room. "Draco, Quidditch practice at five, remember? Better get ready."

"Bloody hell," Draco said, shutting his textbook. Draco gave James a look, James paled and swallowed hard.

James smiled at Lily, pouring on all of the cool and suave he possessed into the simple gesture. "So are you going to cheer us on Friday when we kick Slytherin's ass?" At this, Draco rubbed his forehead and winced.

Lily sniffed in distaste. "Actually, I was planning to cheer for Slytherin. They may be jerks, but at least, they don't deny it..." Lily stated. She gathered her books and pushed past the Marauders.

James watched the redhead go, longing passing over his face. "Ouch," Sirius said. "That must have been painful..."

"Shut up, Sirius," Draco, James, and Remus said in unison. The four Marauders and Draco left the room.

Hermione Granger watched them leave. It was always like this for Slytherins, wasn't it? With a slight frown, she remembered third year's run for the Quidditch Cup. Three-fourths of the school had turned up in Gryffindor colors. Sure, the Slytherins (namely Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle) had pulled a mean trick on Harry, but still...Malfoy wasn't that exceedingly bad when you got to know him...

Hermione's eyes widened in shock. Did she just think that of Draco "I'm Better Than You Because I'm a Rich Pureblood" Malfoy? She had! And she had actually felt sorry for the Slytherins. The Muggle-born's eyes narrowed in thought. She had to talk to Professor Flaherty before things got too much weirder...

Meanwhile, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and James led Draco to the Quidditch Pitch. It was at this moment that Draco realized that there hadn't been a Quidditch practice planned for that night. He examined the Marauders with curiosity under the silvery light cast from the nearly-full moon above them. "I guess you're wondering what we're doing here," James said.

"Well, yeah, actually," Draco said, quirking a brow.

"It's time for your third task," Sirius said with a smirk.

"Oh, goody," Draco said drolly. "What now?" There was a cockiness in his demeanor that was not unlike Sirius's. Remus and Sirius exchanged a glance.

Sirius smirked, a glint entering his eyes. "You're going to steal a little trinket," the dark-haired youth stated.

Draco arched a brow as he examined Sirius. "A trinket?" he asked.

"Not just any trinket, the House Cup," Remus said, examining his nails.

Draco's pale pointed face grew even paler, his silver eyes examining Sirius. He cleared his throat and regained his composure before he asked his next question even though he was pretty certain that he knew the answer. "So, where is it?"

Sirius gave Draco a Cheshire cat grin. "In the Slytherin dungeons," Sirius said.

"So, I have to find the dungeons, get into the dungeons, get past the safeguards that are around the House Cup, and bring it to you?" Draco asked. Sirius nodded with a hint of a smirk on his full lips. "Piece of cake."

Sirius looked shocked at the younger boy's bravado and cockiness. He quickly regained his composure. "Your girl -- I mean, your ex-girlfriend -- doesn't know where the Slytherin dungeons are."

Draco gave Sirius a thin-lipped smile that for some reason reminded Sirius of his father, Octavius Black. It was that creepy "I know something you don't know" smile that always meant that Sirius should run. Inwardly, the dark-haired teen shuddered at the uncanny resemblance. Of course, Draco couldn't be a Black. Blacks never went to Agnitio Academy. Almost every relative he could name were Slytherin graduates from Hogwarts. None of his relatives would lower themselves to enter a public magic academy like Agnitio; they might go for Beauxbatons or Durmstrang, but never Agnitio. Needless to say, the smile did put him a bit on edge.

"So where should I meet you with the cup?" he asked. James smirked at Draco's attitude; the more he got to know Draco, the more he got to like the confident youth. Remus looked a bit unsettled.

"Right here on the Pitch," Sirius said. "By midnight. You've got seven hours. Have fun."

Again, that thin-lipped smile that reminded Sirius so much of his father. "I will," was Draco's reply. With that, Draco made his way back to the castle.

Peter looked at the rest of the group curiously. "Does anyone else think there's something weird about Draco?" he asked.

"You're not the only one," Remus stated. "There is something definitely off about him."

Draco had one stop to make before he ventured on to the Slytherin dungeons. There was a cocky bounce to his step. If these tasks kept coming as easily as they have been, he'd be an Animagus in no time. He couldn't prevent himself from whistling. He entered the head common room still in high spirits. Hermione and Lily were conversing about the potion she should make with Severus. All chatter stopped as the strains of Draco's whistling came to them. Hermione couldn't prevent her jaw from dropping at Draco's good mood.

"Don't you look like the cat that swallowed the canary?" Hermione chided. Draco plopped down beside Hermione and haphazardly threw his arm around her shoulder. Hermione peeled his arm off her shoulder with distaste, letting it drop to his side. "We're not dating anymore, remember?" There was a brightness to her voice. She was still rather annoyed about how much he'd bothered her yesterday. But, mostly, she was annoyed at how much he'd annoyed her. After all these years of putting up with the Prince of Slytherin, why was she suddenly upset about Draco being the true ferret he was? Maybe it had something to do with that kiss.

What kiss!? If you could call that a kiss, she thought with a scoff. Of course, you could call that a kiss! that stupid traitorous voice in her head piped up. Shut up, you, sane-Hermione came back. The voice stilled and Lily watched Draco and Hermione with amusement. "I'll just leave the two of you alone," she said with a bit of smile.

"Lily, don't," Hermione hissed.

"It's perfectly fine, go on ahead, Mione and I have some talking to do," he said. Lily took her books and retreated into the Head Girl's quarters.

"Don't ever call me that again," Hermione stated, scooting her chair further away from the one Draco now occupied.

"What? Mione," Draco said.

"Exactly, don't call me that," she said, slamming her book closed with a huff.

"Why not? Don't Potty and the Weasel call you that?" Draco asked.

"And you're not Ron and you're not Harry, need I remind you? You're not a friend and you're not an acquaintance, you're an enemy who has made the past five years of my life miserable," she said, shoving her books unceremoniously into her satchel.

"Four and a half," he replied.

Hermione looked at him. "Four years and ten months."

"Four years and ten months," he said quietly. There was a pause in which Draco's cocky demeanor returned. "Why, Mione, I didn't know you cared so much."

Hermione sighed huffily. "I don't care. And stop calling me that," she said with a sigh.

"Can't we call a truce?" Draco said. Hermione stared at him as if he was crazy.

"A truce, you and me?" she asked, the idea was so ludicrous she struggled not to burst into a fit of insane giggles.

"Look, we're stuck here for Merlin knows how long, we might as well establish a working relationship," he said.

"What do you want?" she asked.

Damn, am I really that bad at this? he mused. "I need your help."

"You need my help," she said slowly. "I'm not doing your homework."

Draco scoffed. "You'd think I'd let you do my homework?" he asked. "I need to know the password to the Slytherin dungeons."

"Sinister," Hermione said. "Why?"

"I have a little mission," he said.

"Does this have anything to do with the kitchens?" she asked. "Or the Quidditch tryouts?"

Draco scoffed a little too quickly. "Of course not, why would you think that?" he said, his voice a little too bright.

"It has everything to do with it," she surmised. "I'm going with you."

"What? Why?" he asked.

"You're acting incredibly strange. Stranger than usual, I might add," Hermione said. "And I want to know exactly what's going on."

Draco scowled. "Fine then," he said.

"You think he stands a chance?" Peter asked, plucking some grass from the pitch, distractedly.

"Not at all," Sirius stated proudly. He, too, sat on the Pitch, reclining on his arms. James stared at the stars, not really paying attention to the conversation surrounding him.

Remus didn't look so certain. He had to think of something pretty important to keep his secret. For the second time in the nearly seven years he'd known the three other Marauders, he was truly upset with them. Sure, it was less-than-stellar to be an unlicensed Animagus but it was much worse being a werewolf. The less people who knew about the lycanthropy, the better chance he stood of having a semblance of a normal life. Not that a normal life was any sort of possibility for him, it was a nice dream. He had to come up with something good for the final task, something that Draco had no chance with.

"Are we going to watch him on the map?" Peter asked.

"That's actually a good idea," Sirius said.

"We can't," James said. "Draco has the map."

"He can find Slytherin House," Remus said, clenching his jaw.

"He has to get by the Dark Knight first, the Dark Knight only lets in Slytherins," Sirius said. "Draco is not a Slytherin."

"Yeah, but his girlfriend is," Remus said.

"Ex-girlfriend, we mustn't forget that 'ex,' Moony, my boy," Sirius said.

James shook his head. "Give it up, Padfoot," he said.

"Oh, like you're any better when it comes to Lily," Sirius stated. "Pictures of Lily made my life so wonderful / Pictures of Lily helped me sleep at night, / Pictures of Lily solved my childhood problems, / Pictures of Lily helped me feel alright."

"Is that a Beatles' song?" James asked.

Peter sighed and shook his head. "Of course not. The Who," he said. "And it's about a pin-up girl who died in 1929."

"Oh," James said.

"Why?" Sirius asked.

"No reason, just curious," James said, paling slightly.

For the second time, Draco and Hermione were hidden under the Invisibility Cloak. This time, the two managed to resist the ever-present urge to fight each other. Instead they quietly made their way to the dark, dank dungeons. Draco stopped them in front of a painting of a pale, dark-haired man in deep-red armor that looked black. The man gave her the chills. He seemed to see right through her which was ridiculous because, hey, Invisibility Cloak but still his dark gaze was unsettling. "Sir Valmont du Morte, the Dark Knight." Hermione let out a nervous giggle at Draco's comment. "What?"

"There's a comic book -- never mind. Let's get this over with," she said.

The painting's eyes narrowed. "Show yourself," Sir Valmont growled.

"Sinister," Draco stated.

"Not a Slytherin, begone intruder," Sir Valmont growled. The painting's reaction made Hermione realize how Ron and Harry had gotten into the Slytherin dungeons in second year. The painting could see that they looked like Slytherins but not sense that they were actually Gryffindors. This also made Hermione wonder about the Fat Lady. Could she sense that someone wasn't a Gryffindor? She'd let Sirius inside the Gryffindor Tower but he had been a Gryffindor. Hermione's train of thought was derailed when Draco hissed at her.

"I thought you said that 'sinister' was the password," Draco hissed.

"It is," she said. Slowly, she slid out from under the cloak, Sir Valmont examined her curiously.

"Miss de Lioncourt, password," he said, sizing her up. Unconsciously, Hermione crossed her arms over her chest; he had that sliminess like Dolohov.

"Sinister," she said, her voice stronger than she felt. The portrait opened, revealing the stairs down to the Slytherin common room. Slowly, Hermione took the stairs into the mouth of hell, Draco following still hidden under James's Invisibility Cloak.

Hermione wasn't sure what she had been expecting when she entered the Slytherin common room but she wasn't disappointed. The common room was much danker and darker than the comfortable Gryffindor common room or the Head common room. The furniture consisted of ebony and emerald velvet upholstery. The intricately-carved stone fireplace held a raging fire but its warmth didn't sap the cool moisture from the air. The walls were lined with bookcases full of ancient tomes except for a spot opposite the fire where a silver column carved with snakes bearing emerald eyes stood. Atop the column was a big, shiny trophy that Hermione recognized as the House Cup. Covering the Cup was a glass case inscribed with runes that were only visible if the light hit them in a specific way.

Under the Invisibility Cloak, Draco grinned with triumph, moving toward the column. Hermione examined the books with interest, mostly Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts mixed in with books of all subjects except Muggle Studies. She took one of the Potions books and thumbed through it as Draco's hands slid over the glass case protecting the House Cup. Immediately, shots of electricity slammed through him as the nearly-invisible runes began to glow an eerie green color. He struggled to pull his hands free but they were stuck.

Hermione turned to see the Invisibility Cloak slip from Draco's shoulders. Pain flashed on his face. The brown-haired girl dropped the tome and raced over. Her eyes widened as she read the runes flashing on the glass case. She jerked his hands free of the glass case and winced as she saw the burns on his hands. "What're you doing!?" Hermione hissed.

"Getting the House Cup," Draco said.

Hermione stared at him. "For what reason?" she demanded.

"I'll tell you later," he said. "I just need to get it."

The brunette sighed. "You will," she said, a threatening tone in her voice. She looked back at the Cup. "You just grabbed something in Slytherin House?"

"Well, yeah..." Draco said. "It lets Slytherins pick it up or, well, it did."

"You're not a Slytherin, need I remind you? And you didn't even think to check for jinxes?" she asked in disbelief.

"Well, no..." he replied, realizing just how stupid he had been. That seemed to be happening a lot lately. "So are you going to help me?"

"Fine," she stated. "Did you do a revelation spell?"

"A...what?" Draco asked.

"Honestly, haven't you read your books?" she asked. She shook her brown curls and took out her wand. With a motion, she said, "Ostendo." Runes ran over the Cup's surface, blindingly bright. Hermione nodded, seeming to understand what they meant. She said a few words under her breath that Draco couldn't make out and the runes dulled before sinking back into the Cup's surface. "It's perfectly safe to touch now." Carefully, Draco reached out, his muscles tense, his eyes closed. "Honestly." She took the Cup from the pedestal and handed it to Draco.

"What do you guys know about Polyjuice Potion?" James asked suddenly. Remus and Sirius looked at James with curiosity at his sudden comment.

"What about Polyjuice Potion," Remus asked warily.

"Well, I'm thinking about making it for my project," James stated, swallowing hard.

"It changes your appearance," Sirius said. "By adding a bit of whoever you're going to change into." Remus, James, and Peter stared at Sirius. "What? I do know some things."

"You know something!?" James gasped. "Everyone remember this moment! It will go down in history! The day that Padfoot actually knew something."

Remus, Peter, and James chuckled and Sirius looked at the three sullenly. "Oh, right, laugh it up, blokes."

"So who are you going to work with?" Remus asked. "I'm working with Delilah Prognose."

"Antonin Dolohov," James said, making a face.

"I pity you," Sirius said.

Draco grinned triumphantly at the Cup he now held. "Let's get out of here."

"We can't just leave," Hermione said. "Don't you think someone will notice? It's the House Cup, after all. And that..." she shuddered "...painting saw us enter."

"Well, what do you propose we do then?" Draco asked, arching his brows.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You owe me," she stated simply. "Exigo Carbo." In her hand a copy of the House Cup appeared. "It's like a holograph, but it should stand up to scrutiny until you replace it." She set the two-dimensional Cup onto the pedestal and replaced the cover.

"Now. We can leave." Draco was grudgingly impressed. She had saved him and something told him that it wasn't something that she would soon let him forget. "Fine," he said with a bit of a scowl. Hermione grinned at him and the two disappeared under the Invisibility Cloak. Once out of the Slytherin dungeons, Hermione asked. "Why do you need the Cup?"

"I'm going to be a Marauder," he said.

"You're...going to be...a Marauder?" the brunette asked. "Why do you want to become a Marauder?"

"I like hanging out with them, even if Sirius is a prick and Peter's not right in the head," Draco admitted. She didn't have a smart comment to add. He couldn't sound selfless, it wasn't right. "Plus, I want to be an Animagus."

"You make such a lovely ferret," she said. "So, you did know that Sirius was following us last year."

"Of course, Father told me."

"If you become an Animagus, you're going to teach me."

"So...what's a good Beatles' song?" James asked. His three friends looked at him curiously.

"What's with the sudden obsession with the Beatles?" Sirius asked.

"Well, Lily likes the Beatles..." James said.

"Please tell me that you are not going to sing to her," Remus said.

"I'm sure James has a lovely singing voice, after all he is a eunuch," Sirius stated and James smacked him in the back of his head. "Ow."

"Well, 'Something' is a good song," Peter said. "Even though it was written about Patti Boyd who left George for Eric Clapton a couple months ago..." He trailed off at the incredulous looks his friends sent him.

"Depends on the mood you're going for. 'In My Life' is a good one," Sirius put in.

"You could always go for something classic like 'I Want to Hold Your Hand,'" Remus suggested.

A blonde appeared causing the four Marauders to jump. They each sighed with relief when they realized it was just Draco. Remus frowned; he was sure he saw a hint of someone behind Draco but shook it off. Draco casually tossed the House Cup to Sirius. "How do we know it's the real thing?" Sirius asked.

"Ostendo," Remus said. The Cup glowed with runes and Sirius yelped, tossing the Cup to the pitch as the markings burned his hands. Draco watched the spell, impressed. He really needed to learn that one. "You deactivated the spells? How?"

"That's my little secret," he said, plopping down beside James. "So, what now?"

"Well, I guess you can learn our nicknames then," James said, impressed. "Prongs. That's Padfoot." He nodded toward Sirius. "Wormtail." Peter grinned. "And Moony." Remus positively glared at Draco.

"When do I get my nickname?" he asked.

"If you prove yourself," Remus growled.

"'If?' I already have, mate," Draco said with a smirk.

"Don't be so sure," Remus said. "You still have to go through me."

Draco grinned at the werewolf. James broke up the tense moment. "So, Draco, that thing we were talking about, when do we start?" he asked.

"Tomorrow morning," Draco answered, standing up and dusting off his trousers. "But I'd better get to bed." With a sweeping gesture, he disappeared once more under the Invisibility Cloak. This time, Remus was sure he'd seen a peek of someone.

"What was that all about?" Peter asked.

Draco and Hermione silently made their way to the Head Tower. Once safely ensconced behind the portrait of the future Mr. and Mrs. Potter and in the head common room, Hermione turned on Draco. "Why do you always have to provoke people?" she demanded.

"Because it's what I'm good at," he said with a smirk.

"Because you're a jerk," she corrected.

Draco mulled over her comment for a second. "Well, yeah, that too." With that, he cast the Invisibility Cloak of off them, wincing slightly.

"Let me see your hands," Hermione ordered.

"What?" Draco questioned.

"Give me your hands," she said. "I saw the burns. I want to see how bad they are."

Ever-so-reluctantly, Draco gave Hermione his hands palm-up. Gently, Hermione examined them. They were angry and red, blistered with what looked like the runes etched into his skin. Hermione winced. "I'll be right back."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Oh, I can't wait," he muttered as Hermione went into the Head Girl's room and returned with a Muggle first aid kit. "What's that?"

"A first aid kit," she said. "I can't heal them instantly like Madam Pomfrey can, magical wounds and all -- not that Madam Pomfrey would heal you after kicking you out of the infirmary not even twenty-four hours ago -- but I can mostly get rid of them by morning. It'll take a little longer for them to heal completely. Magical wounds are funny that way." She pulled out some gauze and liberally coated the gauze with a paste.

Cautiously Hermione wrapped the gauze around his hands and Draco watched her tenderness with interest. "It's a mixture of aloe vera, witch hazel, and a healing spell," she said. At Draco's look, she continued: "I took some extra credit on healing herbs with Professor Sprout. It'll soothe and heal the burns."

"Is there anything you haven't taken extra credit in?" Draco asked.

Hermione thought about it as she bound his hands. "Potions and Divination," she replied.

She continued with his other hand, very carefully wrapping the gauze around his burns. "Be careful not to disturb the gauze, the mixture reaches full potency in about three hours." Now that she was finished, she realized that she was still holding his pale hand in her small, sun-kissed one. She realized even more that Draco wasn't exactly trying to disengage her hands. With another lingering moment, Hermione pulled away.

"Thanks," Draco said.

Hermione looked startled. "Oh, wow, is Draco Malfoy saying 'thanks'? I never thought this day would come." Draco smirked at her and headed into the Head Boy's quarters. Hermione stared after him with a hint of confusion. What had just happened?

Part 23:
The Girl in Question
(Tuesday, September 6, 1977)

"Did you get it?" Draco asked, examining James as he entered the Head Boy's room.

"Lacewing flies, leeches, bicorn horn, knotgrass, fluxweed picked at the full moon, shredded boomslang skin," James said, depositing the ingredients in front of Draco as he said them. He sat down in front of Draco as the blonde began adding the ingredients.

"The flies need to be stewed for twenty-one days for maximum potency," Draco said.

"Where'd you learn this?" James asked.

"Most Potente Potions," Draco answered.

"Oh, right, never did care much for Potions, Flaherty is not easy to get along with."

"You don't have to tell me that," Draco said distractedly. He did a double-check of Most Potente Potions, making sure that everything was in its proper amount and consistency. "You're certain you've got the proper ingredients?"

James stared at Draco. "Well, the little bottles had these little pieces of paper on them called 'labels.' And the labels had these things called 'words' and the words told me that they were the proper ingredients," James said deadpan. Draco gave James an irritated glare and made a triple-check.

After a half hour of Draco examining the book and quadruple-then-quintuple-then-sextuple-checking the ingredients to make exactly certain they were what they claimed to be. Draco even compared the ingredients' appearance to the images in an encyclopedia of Potions ingredients and, by this time, James was really annoyed. "For the love of Merlin!" James cried, dropping the lacewings into the stewing solution. Draco glared at James. "So, you're sure this will work?"

"Of course," Draco said. "It can fool anyone and, at the Halloween Masque, we can tell Lily the truth."

"What if she hates me?"

"Then you're out of luck," Draco said with a little smile.

"Oh, thanks..." James said. "You're a load of help."

"You want me to build up your ego uselessly. I'm not going to hold your hand and tell you that everything's going to work out right. You have to make Lily like you by yourself," Draco stated.

"Fair enough," James said. They stowed the ingredients and the stewing lacewing flies into a safe corner of the Head Boy's room out of everyone's view.

At breakfast, Hermione stared at her memory-sharing potion notes with a renewed vigor. She had to find out how to fix what had been done. She really didn't want to end up like the girl Lily had told her about. It would be way too confusing to actually meet Harry when he was -- would be born -- born. To be around when she, herself, was -- would be -- born was another thing she wondered about. She winced as she thought of all the possible things that could have changed in the four days she and Draco had lived in the past. Every word she said, every thing she did had an impact on the future. It was like a pebble being thrown into a still pond and the ripples spreading out to where they would never have gone. Guilt wracked her at the thought of all the things she had done that could have changed something.

Severus sat down beside her heavily and Hermione looked up from her pink-splattered notes. "Hello, Hermione," Severus said. The brunette frowned. Severus looked much paler than he had when they'd first met in the past.

"Are you okay, Severus?" she asked. "You look really pale."

Severus stared at the girl, amazed by the worry in her voice. "I'm fine. I guess I just caught a bit of something."

"Maybe you should go to Madame Pomfrey's?" Hermione suggested.

"I'll be fine," he replied. He looked at the pink substance coating her notes. "What happened?"

"Oh," Hermione said. With a quick Scourgify the pink mess was gone. It was interesting that the only things that bore a hint of what had happened to Draco and her were the notes on the potion. "I'm not really sure."

Severus nodded. "You never answered my question," he said.

"I don't know what happened," Hermione repeated.

"Not that one. Do you want to go to the Halloween Masque with me?" he asked.

"I thought I answered that one," she mused.

"You didn't. You started talking about Narcissa," he said.

"Oh," Hermione said with a little blush. "Yes, Severus, I would love to go to the Halloween Masque with you." Severus gave her a smile, a warm friendly smile. It was unnerving to see the grin on her future professor's face.

"Good," he replied. She tucked the notes back into her satchel. Maybe they could wait, after all. At least, until the Halloween Masque.

"Lily told me about the, uh, project in Potions," Hermione said.

Severus scowled and glared moodily at his breakfast. "What about it?"

"Why do you dislike her so much? She's been really nice to me," Hermione said.

"She's a Mudblood," Severus said scathingly.

Hermione glared at him. "And what's so wrong with that? What makes a pureblood better than a half-blood or a Muggle-born, for that matter?" she exploded. "Why is blood so important? Lily is as good at magic as you are, if not better." She suddenly paled as she realized why she was so upset. She was tired of Draco and how he reacted because of her blood. Her eyes widened and she quickly left the Great Hall.

Severus stared after her. Hermione always seemed so mild-mannered and quiet and now this?

Sirius Black noticed Hermione's distress as she made her way out of the Great Hall. He turned to Remus. "I'll be right back," he said, standing up and following after.

"He is never going to give up, is he?" Peter inquired. Remus barely heard Peter's comment. He was too busy trying to figure out who had been helping Draco with his tasks. If he could prove that someone else had been helping, maybe he could end up getting James to reconsider. He suddenly had a realization, sent a look at the Slytherin table to find Snape sitting by himself and looking bewildered.

"Hermione! Wait," Sirius called. Hermione turned around to look at Sirius.

"I don't need this right now," Hermione muttered under her breath. And so he could hear her, "What is it?"

"What happened back there?" he asked.

"Severus and I got into a little discussion," she said.

"Oh, really?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, really," Hermione said.

"I could kill him for you, make it look like an accident," Sirius suggested. Hermione fought back the urge to smile.

"That's really not necessary," Hermione said. "It was just a little misunderstanding. Are all purebloods thick?"

"I'm a pureblood."

Hermione smirked slightly. "So, they are," she said. Sirius looked at her with mock indignation.

"And anyway, Snape's not a pureblood," Sirius said.

"He's not?" Hermione asked.

"No, his mum's old money -- pureblood -- and married an incompetent Muggle-born," he said. "Who might as well have been a Muggle."

"So he's a half-blood. He told me that his family -- the Snapes -- was, you know, an upstanding pureblood family. I thought that..." She trailed off.

"No, that would be the Princes," Sirius said. "His mother's family. Not all Slytherins are purebloods. I mean, you're not a pureblood."

"But I'm not a half-blood either," she admitted. "Truthfully, I can imagine that the Slytherins would kill me in my sleep if they were to find out about my bloodline." She pushed a curl behind her ear. There was a long, pregnant pause.

“So what’s your story anyway?” he asked.

"I told you, remember," Hermione said.

"No, you told me about a mountain troll and a dance with Draco, nothing really about yourself," Sirius said.

"Oh..." Hermione said. "I also told you about my parents and sister."

"Tell me about your friends...um...Harry and Ron, right?"

"Yes. There's really not much to tell about them."

"You're as mysterious as you are pretty," Sirius stated. Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm serious."

"And I'm Hermione," she said. It was Sirius's turn to roll his eyes.

"You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen," he said.

"I bet you tell that to all the girls," she replied.

"Only the ones that really are," Sirius stated. He moved closer and Hermione's eyes widened. Then it happened. Sirius kissed her, barely a brush of the lips but it made her stomach do flips.

"Remember, you have to act like you're my girlfriend," Draco said. "We have to be comfortable with one another."

Lily sighed. "Or we can just hope that Narcissa transfers to Beauxbatons."

Draco looked depressed. "I'm not that lucky," he said. "You have no idea how awkward this is for me."

"For you?" Lily cried.

"And, well, you too," Draco said. He took a deep breath and hoped the entire ordeal would be worth it. Then he saw something he'd never forget. His eyes widened in shock. "Is that...?"

"Hermione," Lily finished, staring at the scene before her. There Sirius Black was kissing Hermione de Lioncourt. At the sound of her name, Hermione shoved Sirius away. Her face was a brilliant red color and Sirius looked startled. Draco bit back a laugh at the expression on her face.

Hermione raced away. "Oh, what a woman," Sirius murmured, grinning stupidly. He headed toward the Great Hall, whistling softly.

Lily looked from Sirius to Hermione's retreating form. "Well, that's just weird," she said.

Hermione slumped into a chair hidden deep in the library and immediately withdrew the notes. Her hands trembled as she tried to make out the words. Even with her immaculate handwriting, Hermione couldn't seem to decipher the words. She was way too confused. Why on earth was this happening? First Lucius, then Sirius, then Draco. Draco Malfoy, the boy who had made her life at Hogwarts miserable. Okay, so her relationship with Draco hadn't always been the way it had become. It was a lot different almost five years ago.

There was a time when they were actually friends. The time that they had been friends had barely lasted two months, but they had been friends once in their first year. She had realized that he was actually her academic equal and the two of them had spent a great deal of time in the library reading books and talking about their classes and what could be done to make them better. Hermione frowned. She hadn't thought about that for a long time. That, once upon a time, she had considered Draco Malfoy her closest friend.

That all ended on Halloween 1991 when Draco received his monthly treats from his mother and a letter that told him Hermione was a Muggle-born and he shouldn't fraternize with her. Of course, Draco immediately called off their friendship and went on to make the rest of the years miserable. That, combined with the hurtful comments from Ron, had sent her to the girls' bathroom when the troll attacked.

She was so deep in thought; she didn't realize that she was no longer alone. "Hermione, can I talk to you for a while?" a voice came. Hermione whipped around to find Remus. She sighed. What now?

"I don't see why not," she replied.

He nodded toward the empty chair across from her. "May I?"

"No one else is." Remus sat down and looked at her with his blue eyes.

"I need to talk to you about Draco," he said.

"What about Draco?"

"I know you've been helping him."

Part 24:
In Which Dumbledore Makes a Decision
(September 9, 1996)

October 10, 1977

Dear Harry and Ron,
I'm sorry I haven't written lately but things have been really busy lately. I've been doing loads of extra credit for Professor Flaherty; he despises me (and I thought Professor Snape was bad). Actually, Severus is really nice. We sit together at meals and talk. We have some amazing conversations about Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He knows so much! I wonder why Professor Dumbledore hasn't chosen him for Defense Against the Dark Arts, not that Remus is bad at it.

Remus and I are in an uneasy truce after a conversation we had in the library that I’d rather not talk about here. He doesn’t really trust me, not that I blame him; I am a Slytherin. Even after all these weeks, it’s still just sinking in. It’s not so bad though; I live with Lily. She’s really great, Harry. Although, you’d probably have a conniption fit if you knew that she’s dating Draco. Yes, Harry, your mum is dating Draco Malfoy and is going to the Halloween Masque with her. I’m trying to fix things. I’m worried about the future. What if Draco prevents you from being born?

If you’re not born, then Voldemort will still be around and very much in power in the future. This means I’m just writing this for the sake of writing this. I probably won’t be around in the future past because Voldemort will destroy the Muggles. I can’t even think about it. The whole ordeal gives me a headache. I’ll do everything possible to make everything right.

Oh, bother, I’ve got to go…James is dragging me to the Quidditch game: Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor. Go, Gryffindor!

Hermione

Albus Dumbledore peered at the yellowing pages of the nineteen-year-old notebook as the tidy obviously-feminine writing appeared fresh. He watched the ink dry and age nearly two decades in a matter of seconds. Hermione and Draco had been in the past for over a month but had only been gone a matter of days. The headmaster took off his half-moon spectacles and rubbed the bridge of his nose. There seemed to be no consistency between the time that passed in the past and the time that passed in the present.

The disappearance of Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy had been weighing heavily on the student body. The students were wary to attend Potions since the students had disappeared in the class as well as Severus's increasingly erratic behavior. Dumbledore had been in possession of Hermione's notebook for some time but had yet to give it to Hermione's friends. For the first time in many years, Albus Dumbledore was at a loss. He had called a staff meeting to occur during the first Hogsmeade weekend of the 1996-1997 schoolyear.

As soon as the students had taken the carriages to Hogsmeade, the professors who had been at the school in 1977 filed into Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore looked at them gravely and Snape, Lupin, McGonagall, Sprout, and Binns met his pale-blue gaze. "I suppose you're wondering why I've called you here." He set the notebook on the table.

Lupin's blue eyes darkened as he slid the book toward him. "Hermione had a notebook like this," the lycanthrope said. Snape snapped to attention.

"What?" the Potions professor demanded, staring at the aged notebook warily.

"She wrote in it all the time, like a diary or a journal," Lupin went on causing Snape to pale noticeably. "Is this the one?"

Dumbledore slid the notebook back as Snape reached to grab it. "Indeed it is," the headmaster stated.

Snape swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing, and fought the urge to demand to see the notebook's contents. His ebon eyes left the notebook and his gaze turned to Dumbledore's. "What does this have to do with us?" he asked.

"Everything," Dumbledore said. "Fizzing Whizbee, anyone?" His comment was met by looks of disbelief painting his staff's faces. Dumbledore smiled faintly and stroked his long beard lovingly like a sleeping pet. "Miss Granger's diary was written to Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley." Lupin and Snape exchanged a wide-eyed glance and then quickly turned their gaze to the headmaster. "I have called you here to discuss whether we should release it or not."

"Of course not!" Snape cried.

"No!" Lupin's voice joined Snape's. Dumbledore's smile widened.

"Why shouldn't we?" Professor Binns inquired.

"You might recall a certain Slytherin Hermione de Lioncourt or, perhaps, one Gryffindor Draco Aquilus," McGonagall said.

Binns's spectral form straightened. "Ah, yes, magnificent students." His translucent brow wrinkled. "Things...changed...after they came. They volunteered to do a report over the Seventy-Second Ogre Revolt! Oh, a fantastic revolt with Blodnot the Flatulent! I don't seem to remember them after October 1977. Ah, well, my old ectoplasm isn't what it used to be. They remind me of Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger. Hmmm…has anyone seen the two lately?"

McGonagall sighed. "Ignatius," she said. "Hermione Granger is Hermione de Lioncourt. Draco Malfoy is Draco Aquilus."

"I knew those two seemed familiar," the ghostly professor said. "How is that possible?"

Sprout shook her head. For an exceedingly intelligent man, the ghost was completely absent-minded. How he remembered all the names, dates, and details of everything he taught was beyond her. Dumbledore cleared his throat, returning the professors' attention to him. "Mr. Potter has a great deal to worry about with Voldemort." Sprout stiffened and sucked in a breath at the Dark Lord's name and Dumbledore took no notice. "Should we pass onto him the worries of yesterday as well?"

Snape and Lupin vehemently shook their heads in the negative. "We should simply inform Harry that Hermione is safe and that is all he needs to know," McGonagall said.

"Where could she be?" Ron asked as he, Ginny, and Harry walked the halls. "And no one will tell us anything."

"Maybe they don't know," Ginny suggested.

"I don't like this," Harry said. "I mean, no one can disappear, right?" At the lack of response from the Weasleys, he continued, "Right?" He sighed at their silence. "I hate magic." Ron and Ginny stared at him. "I mean, not all of the time. Just times like this. In the Muggle world, people don't disappear."

Ginny frowned slightly. "And she's with Malfoy, no less," Ron stated. "Malfoy of all people." He clenched his fists. "If he hurts her, I swear, I'll…"

"You'll do what, Mr. Weasley?" Snape asked from behind the three. They turned around to face the professor. "What will you do?"

"Nothing, Professor Snape," Ron mumbled.

"I wouldn't worry about Mr. Malfoy harming Miss Granger," Snape said, a faraway look on his face. He walked past the trio and headed down toward the Potions classroom. "Miss Granger is perfectly safe." He walked off before the trio could ask questions.

"Is it me or has Snape gotten stranger in the past few days?" Ginny asked.

Ron eyed his younger sister. "And he was always the picture of normalcy?" the redhead stated. Ginny frowned, staring after the professor.

Snape's head was killing him. The memories were making things hard. Sometimes, he'd go days without a single memory, other times, he'd get a sudden flood of memories. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. All it did was leave him with headaches and affection for Hermione Granger. He never knew when the memories would assail him. He'd been fine for a few days and then there was another memory: his assignment from Voldemort.

The part that made things even worse is he had no idea if he'd followed through with the task. He wracked his brain but since it hadn't actually happened yet, he had no idea. Up to a point, everything was the same as it had always been -- no new memories. Snape didn't even know how long Hermione and Draco had been in the past. He sat down at his desk, jerking his hand through his hair.

Hermione had nothing to fear from Draco. All she had to fear was the seventeen-year-old Severus Snape.

"This is going to be the best game ever," Peter proclaimed. He was decked out in scarlet and gold sitting in the Gryffindor stands. Lily and Hermione sat in the very last row, looking over each other's papers and offering suggestions.

Lily looked at Hermione. "You're really good at this," the redhead said. "I've always had loads of trouble with Arithmancy. Professor Agnosco isn't much help either." Hermione beamed at Lily, flushing at the praise.

"It's nothing really," she said. "I've always been good with numbers. Numbers are the only constants I've really noticed between this world and my world."

"The Muggle world?" Lily asked and Hermione nodded slightly. Not just the Muggle world, but my world, the brunette thought. "I've always been terrible with math." Lily wrinkled her nose as she examined the complex equation that Hermione had been helping her with. "I only got eleven O's because of Arithmancy."

"I got nine," she admitted. "And an E in Defense Against the Dark Arts but Severus has been helping me with that." She looked at Lily with realization. "You take all twelve classes? How do manage?"

Lily paled slightly. "Lots of hard work," she murmured.

Draco was nervous...which was a first for the Slytherin-turned-Gryffindor. He paced the locker room, holding the ancient Shooting Star, its bristles dragging on the ground. He wore his scarlet-and-gold uniform (after he'd finally remembered to change out of his school robes and into the uniform). He was, of course, the only nervous one. Remus, Regulus, and Stebbins tossed a Quaffle as Sirius made some adjustments to his padding and examined Draco's pacing. Abercrombie practiced swinging his bat well away from the other boys and James bored a hole into the wall, lost in thought.

Finished with his pads, Sirius turned his full attention to the gray-eyed blonde. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and... "Bloody hell!" Sirius cried suddenly. Regulus dropped the Quaffle and James fell off the bench he sat on, banging his head on the locker behind him. James glared daggers at the larger boy.

Draco, lost in thought, hadn't even noticed Sirius's sudden outburst. "Stop pacing!" he ordered the blonde. The Shooting Star dropped from Draco's hand with a thunk and frowned at the six other boys. James picked himself up off the floor, rubbing the back of his head.

"Don't worry, mate," the hazel-eyed Chaser said. "Remy's on your team now."

Remus looked sheepish. "How long am I gonna be paying for that?" he asked.

James clapped the werewolf on his shoulder. "As long as it's funny, Remy."

McGonagall entered the locker-room. "The match is about to start," she stated and the seven boys filed out onto the Pitch.

In the Gryffindor stands, Hermione, Lily, and Peter watched as the players streamed onto the Pitch. "You know, this is the first Quidditch game I've ever gone to," the older girl said.

Hermione smiled. "I go--went--to every Quidditch game since first year. Harry and Ron are on the team. Ron's sister, Ginny, was going to try out too." Her smile faded as she thought about her friends nearly twenty years in the future, three years away from even being born. She stared off into the distance.

"Cheer up," Lily said. The voice bought her back. "You'll see them again over the holidays." Hermione swallowed thickly as the whistle for the game started. The fourteen figures began flying all over the Pitch and Lily's attention was drawn to the game.

Will I ever see them again? Mum, Dad, Annabel, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Luna, Neville... She looked at the journal that showed a bit from inside her bag. It was the only link she had to her home.

In the Slytherin stands, Severus pretended to study the Quidditch game. He loved Quidditch but had absolutely no talent for it and James had been sure to rub it in when he had tried out in his second year. In the very back row of the stand, Severus gave all impression that his black eyes were studying the game in progress while his mind was elsewhere. His mind was on the Dark Lord's order.

For the past month, Severus had been pushing his initiation into the back of his mind but as the Halloween Masque drew ever near, the subject of Hermione kept popping up. And every time his thoughts returned to that night in the Dark Lord's hold, the skin around the Dark Mark began to crawl and Severus grew nauseous. Lately, there had been nightmares of the open possibility of what the Dark Lord would do if Severus failed his task.

Dark bags had formed under his bloodshot eyes and stubble darkened his chin. The more he slept, the more tired he grew, and he very rarely slept anymore. The past week had been the worst. The nightmares had grown so horrifying that Severus hadn't slept in the better part of four days.

Since the Dark Lord's ultimatum, Severus had been withdrawn, especially around Hermione. The dark-haired girl hadn't seemed to notice. She seemed content with his monosyllabic responses. Before he knew it, the match was over with a score of two-hundred-fifty to zero in favor of Gryffindor. The new Keeper had performed admirably. Severus slowly made his way through the crowd, unaware of Hermione's eyes on him.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team roared, a great cacophony of cheers for the seven boys as the team exchanged high-fives and pats on the back with each other. "We won, Draco!" James cried.

"It was only one game," Draco said bemused.

"Well, we Gryffindors take our games seriously," Sirius stated. "It means a party on the pitch."

"The last time I was promised a party on the pitch, all I got was an assignment to steal the bloody Cup," Draco said with a teasing pout.

Remus examined Draco slightly. "Ah, but this party's not for you, mate. It's for the greatest team in Hogwarts history," Peter said.

Part 26:
Party on the Pitch
(October 10, 1977 – Continued...)

Remus couldn't help but blush as the music blasted from his charmed turntable (charmed so that it would work with all the magic in the air at Hogwarts). Of course, the LP wasn't his; he bet it was Sirius's. Sirius was always listening to Muggle punk to tick off his parents (it had worked and had been one of the many reasons that his mother had finally kicked him out).

The music was loud and Gryffindors danced on the Pitch, a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs mixed in. Some people sat on the sidelines, talking and generally having a good time as the butterbeer keg that James had snuck in was being drained. Remus looked around curiously. Where was James, anyway? Remus could have sworn he'd seen him earlier. Also missing were Sirius, Draco, Lily, and Hermione (even though she was a Slytherin, the bossy brunette had come to be an unofficial Gryffindor in the past month).

Remus's blue eyes gazed into the distance as he thought about his confrontation with Hermione about a month ago.

"I need to talk to you about Draco," he said.

"What about Draco?"

"I know you've been helping him."

Hermione paled for a second and struggled with an answer. Though she despised the idea, playing dumb might just work to her advantage. "Helping him with what?" she asked.

"You know which test, I saw you last night," he said. "With Draco on the Pitch."

"Oh...that test," she said in a small voice. "What does it matter if I help?"

"It's Draco's test," Remus said.

"So he can become--" she trailed off "--one of you."

"Exactly," he said. "I really don't know why I didn't just go to James, Sirius, and Peter first. He doesn't deserve to be one of us."

"Remus, no!" Hermione said. She was taken aback by her sudden outburst. Why should she care about Draco not being accepted as one of the Marauders? She took a deep breath. "Look, this is going to be hard to explain, but I'll try. Draco and I have known each other for years. He's usually an ass, but sometimes...okay, maybe a little less -- make that a lot less -- than 'sometimes'...he can be nice. Draco is the son of a couple of purebloods and is only allowed two friends, both purebloods, both dumber than dirt and incapable of any conversation that consists of more than the occasional grunt or 'yes, Draco' or something as equally mind-numbingly boring."

"What about you?" Remus asked. "You're Muggle-born."

Hermione winced as she remembered her breakfast ramble. "I'm his dirty little secret," Hermione said. "His parents would probably kill us both if they knew -- or, well, just me. We've always been on again, off again." There was a pause as she thought back on first year. "Most of the time, off again. Way off." Her brown eyes met his golden ones. "Draco needs friends, real friends. And that's what I hope you boys are: real friends. Not frienemies."

"'Frienemies'?" Remus asked.

"People you think are friends but will stab you in the back at the first sign of trouble," she replied. "Who knows, maybe having some actual friends will make him less of a prat."

"You actually dated him?" Remus asked.

Hermione smirked. "Sometimes," she stated. "Draco may seem like an utter bastard, but sometimes he can be a good guy." Hermione blinked a couple of times, apparently lost in thought. "Just give him a chance...he may just surprise us both."

Remus had been thinking a lot about his conversation with Hermione in the library. There was something off about her that he just couldn't put his finger on. Anyway, he wasn't really worried. When the time came for Draco's final task, Remus had the perfect idea. A task that made Hercules's tasks seem easy in comparison.

Draco blinked several times as the strains of the song from the pitch reached him while he sat on the floor of the room he shared with James. "Did that song just say 'orgasm addict'?" he inquired. James chuckled.

"The Buzzcocks," he said. Draco stared at him curiously. "That's the band, the Buzzcocks and the song's 'Orgasm Addict.' It's on one of Sirius's LPs." At Draco's blank look, he continued. "Records, long-playing records."

"Records?" Draco asked.

"Um, they're these...black disks, 'bout yea big," James explained, making a gesture of the size of a record. "And they have music on them. You put them on a record player and they play songs."

"Oh," Draco said. Must be a '70s thing, he mused. His attention was drawn back to the concoction before him. He was nervous and with good reason. He was still living with the aftermath of his disastrous memory potion with Granger.

James cocked a brow as he examined the paleness that Draco's skin took on as he examined the potion. "What is it?" he asked.

"Let's just say that someone I knew made a mistake with a potion and I don't know him anymore," Draco stated.

James winced in sympathy. "Well, we did everything in the book," he stated. "So everything will turn out okay." Draco held back the urge to glare at the black-haired boy's optimism. Draco was a pessimist by nature and his trip back in time due to a mess-up with hellebore, thistledown, and thyme only made him more of a pessimist (especially where potions were concerned). While Draco was lost in thought, James added the final ingredients. "Done." Draco stared at the potion with distrust as James carefully ladled out the proper amounts into two cups. "You're not a chicken, are you, Aquilus?"

Draco's eyes flashed at James's chide. "I'm not chicken," he hissed and he quickly downed his portion. It tasted horrible. Draco watched as James downed his portion as well. It didn't take long for the potion to work and, in no time, Draco was staring at a blurry version of himself. "It worked." He cleared his throat as James's voice came out.

James stared at Draco's fingers with amazement. The clarity of his new fingers made him realize just how much he actually needed his stupid glasses. "It did," he said in Draco's voice.

"You have really horrible eyesight," Draco said.

"Er, yeah," James said sheepishly, digging into his trunk and taking out his glasses case. He handed the wire-framed spectacles to Draco and the Slytherin-turned-Gryffindor put them on. Draco caught sight of his new face in the mirror and was startled at just how much James looked like his future son. Give James a lightning-bolt-shaped cut on his forehead and green eyes and they'd be identical. "What?"

James's voice pulled Draco out of his thoughts. "Nothing, you just remind me of someone I used to know," Draco said, adjusting the glasses.

James smirked. "I get that a lot," he said, picking himself off the floor. Draco carefully hid the remaining Polyjuice Potion as the two exited the Head Boy's quarters. In the head common room, Hermione and Lily were finishing up their homework in comfortable silence. "You're not going to the party?" James practically whined.

"We're almost done," Lily sighed. "Then we'll go to your little party." James waited with bated breath for the girls to finish double-checking their answers. They carefully put up their supplies and headed for the door. To Hermione's surprise, Draco-in-James's body crooked his arm like a valiant gentleman for Lily to take it. Lily smiled and took James's arm in hers as Hermione stared at the couple.

Oh, boy, this can't be good, Hermione thought. Her thoughts were sidetracked when she saw her date waiting for her at the door. She smiled, trying not to blush at his returned grin. To Hermione's shock, she was now dating a guy that she had never even thought of in the "date" way before. It was one of the things; she could never find the way to write into her journal. She couldn't seem to put it into words and the only idea she could come up with -- "Dear Harry, I'm dating your godfather" -- just seemed crass. The song changed.

It had started after the kiss and after an entire week of avoiding the dark-haired muscular youth like the plague. He had finally cornered her and reluctantly, she had agreed to go out on a date with him to Hogsmeade (under the condition that if she didn't enjoy herself, he would leave her alone). He was completely different than any guy she'd ever dated before: goofy and cute and carefree with the ability to just have fun. It was a nice change of pace. And Hermione told herself that it wouldn't have any affect on the future.

Sirius, Hermione, James, Lily, and Draco made their way onto the pitch where the party was in full swing. Couples danced and drank and generally enjoyed themselves. The music changed and Sirius led Hermione onto the pitch, not noticing the look that James gave him. Hermione laughed as Sirius began to dance. "C'mon, Hermione," Sirius chided. Blushing, Hermione began to dance as well.

James gave Lily a winning grin. "May I have this dance?" he asked. Before Lily could respond, he also led Lily onto the pitch and began to dance with her. Lily seemed flustered but began to get into actually having fun for once. Draco stood at the opening to the pitch, his eyes glued on Hermione and Sirius seemingly having the times of their life.

It struck Draco that he had never seen Hermione having as much fun as she was having with Sirius. He'd never seen her so free-spirited and it was making him sick. He didn't understand it. Maybe it was the fact that the seventeen-year-old girl was having the time of her life with a man nearly twenty years her senior. Okay, so Sirius and Hermione looked to be the same age and were, in fact, pretty much the same age. No, it didn't have anything to do with the age. It was something entirely different. Something that he couldn't name.

Part 27:
Girls' Day Out(Friday, October 14, 1977)

Hermione sat on her bed, looking over her Potions essay. "So, do you have an outfit for the Halloween Masque?" Lily inquired as she brushed out her long, red hair.

Hermione looked at her roommate. "Er...no..." she admitted.

"Well, tomorrow is a Hogsmeade weekend; would you like to go shopping with me?" Lily asked as she headed toward the bathroom. Hermione heard the water run, and Lily ducked her head into the Head Girl's room, drying her face with a towel. "Well?"

Hermione looked at Lily. "I'm really not good at that girly stuff," she stated.

Lily had retreated back into the bathroom and called back to Hermione over the sound of running water. "It's okay, I'll help."

Hermione winced. "Swell," she mumbled.

"What?" Lily called.

"Sounds great!" Hermione replied.

(Saturday, October 15, 1977)

Hermione finished proofreading her Potions essay and looked toward the Head Girl's room with hope. Maybe Lily had forgotten. Maybe, just maybe -- the door to the Head Girl's room opened and Lily exited -- maybe not. Hermione was unlike most girls her age; she hated shopping...especially for clothes. There had only been one instance of Hermione actually enjoying clothes shopping and that had been when she had been searching for her Yule Ball gown. And that had been because she had wanted to impress Harry. Hermione didn't feel that same need with Sirius or her date for the Halloween Masque, Severus.

It was still mind-boggling to think that she considered Severus Snape a friend. Hermione frowned thoughtfully. She should really spend more time with Severus; she hadn't really been spending much time with him lately. Hermione felt a wave of guilt and made up her mind to spend more time with him. The brunette shook off her thoughts and realized that Lily was humming. Hermione's ears perked as she recognized "Love Me Do."

The dark-haired girl peered at the Head Girl and Lily blushed, stopping. "I'm in a good mood," she defended.

"Er...why?" Hermione asked.

"In Hogsmeade, I have a date with Draco..." Lily said, grinning at her words. Hermione paled noticeably. "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot. He's just so different than any other guy I've ever dated."

There was a long pause in which Hermione devised as many ways as possible she could kill the Slytherin-turned-Gryffindor. She paused her thoughts of homicide and wondered if it was possible to kill someone before they even existed. "I'm sure he is," Hermione said, clenching her jaw. Forget the paradox. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. A lot. I'm going to kill him so well that they'll need dental records... she thought. Lily frowned and Hermione sucked in a calming breath before looking back at Lily. "It's okay. I'm fine." Although Draco Malfoy isn't going to be, she added mentally.

The early morning awkwardness was forgotten on Hermione's part by the time the two girls found themselves exiting the thestral-drawn carriages in downtown Hogsmeade. Overall, the town didn't look too different from the Hogsmeade Hermione knew. Truthfully, it didn't surprise her much. The Wizarding World never changed, just the faces it held. Now, London, she bet that it looked entirely different than the one she was familiar with.

Lily led Hermione through the town and a few people stopped them to chat with Lily. They finally arrived at their destination: a small shop that Hermione had never seen before. All sorts of costumes decorated moving mannequins in the large shop window and every few minutes, the mannequins would wear different outfits. The tiny shop, like most that Hermione had seen in the Wizarding World, looked much bigger on the inside. The shop smelled like pumpkins and was decorated with all sorts of Halloween decorations. Behind the counter was a waif-like woman with pale skin, blood-red lips, and dark hair. Hermione was pretty sure she was a vampire...or at least pretending to be one.

Lily walked up to the counter as the woman was ringing up someone. "Oh, Lily, I have your costume," the woman said with a hint of a lilting French accent.

"Oh, thank you, Delia," Lily said as the woman handed her a long, Grecian gown in an emerald green color. "May I try it on?"

"Go ahead," Delia said as she examined Hermione. Lily went back to the changing rooms and came back wearing the outfit. Hermione's eyes widened. Lily was pretty, but the gown made her look even more so. The emerald color brought out her eyes and pale skin and made her red hair even redder. The gown had a gathered waist that went from just below her breasts to the swell of her hips, a long skirt that brushed the ground, and was sleeveless.

Lily blushed as most of the males that were in the shop turned their gaze to her. "How do I look?" she asked.

Delia clapped her French-manicured hands together as she examined the dress. "Magnifique!" she said.

"So what are you going as?" Hermione asked.

"A nymph," Lily said. "I've got ivy I'm going to put into my hair, around my upper arms, and a pair of sandals." She turned to Delia. "Hermione needs a costume as well."

Delia's perfectly-shaped brows rose with horror. "Mon Dieu! Zee dance ees only two weeks away!" she cried, her French accent making her English sound like Fleur Delacour's. She took a deep breath and continued with the slightly-accented voice she had started with, "Well, I always do appreciate a challenge. Let us see, who do you wish to be?"

"Er...I haven't given it much thought," Hermione stated. Delia's eyes widened and she turned away, letting out a spiel of angry French under her breath.

"The point of Halloween is simple--" Lily started.

"Free candy?" Hermione suggested.

Lily smiled slightly. "It's come as you aren't night," she replied. She examined her reflection in a mirror. "'Man is least himself when he speaks in his own person. Give him a mask and he'll tell you the truth.' Oscar Wilde."

"Being someone you aren't makes you more yourself?" Hermione asked and Lily nodded. "What if you don't know who you are?"

"Then it's the perfect time to find out," Lily stated. After two hours of thinking and looking, Hermione had chosen her costume. Delia agreed to owl it to Hogwarts in time for the Masque. "You're going to look amazing for the Masque." Hermione smiled and blushed at Lily's comment.

After finishing costume shopping, Hermione met with Sirius at their prearranged destination: Honeydukes. The shop was full of Hogwarts students desperate to spend their less-than-hard-earned money and the heady scent of sweets. It didn't take Hermione long to find the Marauders; they were looking at eggs that dissolved into marshmallow birds. Sirius smile at Hermione. "Hello, Hermione," Sirius said, giving her a light peck on the lips.

Draco (who had been living in James's body for over a week now and had adapted to the role quite easily with the exception of startling his professors by actually answering questions) scowled slightly at Sirius. He was still having that strange feeling that was entirely new and annoying; which could in no possible way be jealousy.

Hermione blushed and looked at the rest of the Marauders. "Remus, Peter, James," she said.

"Would you like to go for a walk?" Sirius asked. Hermione nodded and Sirius led her out of the shop.

"What does she see in him anyway?" Draco mumbled.

"You okay there, James?" Peter asked. Draco looked at the Marauders as he realized that he was still in James's body.

Sirius smiled at Hermione as they walked through downtown Hogsmeade. "So, what'd you do today?" he asked.

"Lily dragged me to this shop to get a costume for the Masque," Hermione stated.

"Ooh," Sirius said. "Revealing, hopefully?" She smacked his arm playfully.

"Ow," he said with a mock-pout. Hermione's brown eyes turned to Sirius.

"Tell me about yourself," she said.

"Is that a question or an order?" he asked with a quirk of his dark brow.

"Consider it both," she replied.

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Everything," she said.

"You didn't tell me everything," he reasoned.

"I told you all I'm going to tell you," she replied with a faint smile.

"You're a mysterious woman, Miss de Lioncourt. I find that very attractive..."

"What can I say? I'm a mystery wrapped in an enigma. So, Sirius Black, tell me your darkest secrets."

He grinned, showing off perfect, white teeth. "As you wish," he replied. "Shall we?" He nodded toward a weeping willow beside a small brook. She nodded and he led her underneath the willow's shade. "Well, I'm a pureblood, Sirius Octavian Black," he said. "My brother, Regulus, and I are the only ones in the Black family to ever be in a house other than Slytherin. Well, with the exception of our cousin, Andromeda. Mum had a right fit over that when we came home for Christmas break. She was ranting and raving. She locked herself in her room for a month." He smiled faintly. "One of the best months I ever had. My mum's name is Octavia and dad's Augustus..."

Hermione giggled and Sirius gave her a look. "It reminds me of a book I read."

"What book?"

"It's a Muggle book. I doubt you've ever heard of it: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl."

"You're right there. What's it about?"

"Well, obviously, it's about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Sirius gave her another look. "Charlie Bucket is a poor kid with a loving family, his mum, dad, Grandpas George and Joe, and Grandmas Georgina and Josephine. Willy Wonka is an eccentric candy-maker who owns the world's most famous chocolate factory. He sends out five golden tickets to five lucky children throughout the world who will gain a lifetime's supply of candy. The first golden ticket is found by Augustus Gloop, this boy who won't stop eating."

"And my father's name reminded you of this book?"

"There's a poem too, if you'd like to hear it?"

"I could use some amusement," Sirius stated.

Hermione closed her eyes and pictured the book. She'd read it ages ago but she'd always had a magnificent memory. Slowly, she began:

"Augustus Gloop! Augustus Gloop!
The great big greedy nincompoop!
How long could we allow this beast
To gorge and guzzle, feed and feast
On everything he wanted to?

Great Scott! It simply wouldn't do!
However long this pig might live,
We're positive he'd never give
Even the smallest bit of fun
Or happiness to anyone.

So what we do in cases such
As this, we use the gentle touch,
And carefully we take the brat
And turn him into something that
Will give great pleasure to us all--
A doll, for instance, or a ball,
Or marbles or a rocking horse.

But this revolting boy, of course,
Was so unutterably vile,
So greedy, foul, and infantile
He left a most disgusting taste
Inside our mouths, and so in haste
We chose a thing that, come what may,
Would take the nasty taste away.

'Come on!' we cried, 'The time is ripe
To send him shooting up the pipe!
He has to go! It has to be!'
And very soon, he's going to see
Inside the room to which he's gone
Some funny things are going on.

But don't, dear children, be alarmed;
Augustus Gloop will not be harmed,
Although, of course, we must admit
He will be altered quite a bit.
He'll be quite changed from what he's been,
When he goes through the fudge machine:

Slowly, the wheels go round and round,
The cogs begin to grind and pound;
A hundred knives go slice, slice, slice;
We add some sugar, cream, and spice;
We boil him for a minute more,
Until we're absolutely sure
That all the greed and all the gall
Is boiled away for once and all.

Then out he comes! And now! By grace!
A miracle has taken place!
This boy, who only just before
Was loathed by men from shore to shore,
This greedy brute, this louse's ear,
Is loved by people everywhere!
For who could hate or bear a grudge
Against a luscious bit of fudge?"

By the time, Hermione had finished her recital; Sirius was lying on the ground laughing so hard that tears were springing to his eyes. "Bloody hell, have you met my dad?" he asked.

"No," Hermione said. Sirius's twinkling dark eyes met hers.

"That poem sounds exactly like him," he stated. Hermione grinned. "Know where I can find a copy of the book?"

"Pretty much any Muggle bookstore, I think," she said.