Smiles

"Remus Lupin," the shy boy said with an uncertain smile. Hermione beamed at him.

Severus and Lily smiled at her and she noticed that Remus smiled at her, too. The rest of the trip was spent explaining to Lily what all the different sweets were. Hermione watched Severus relax and enjoy himself a little bit, and she nodded to herself. This time, she was going to make sure he knew he had friends. This time, he wasn't going to become bitter and jaded. Soon their childish laughter filled the compartment, and Hermione found herself relaxing just a little.

When they reached Hogwarts, the feeling that overcame Hermione was almost painful. She followed along with everyone else. James frantically looked through the crowd for her, and when he had spotted her, he grabbed her and dragged her to the boat he was sharing with Sirius Black and somehow, Remus. Was there no way to keep these boys apart?

"Where did you go, My Own?" James asked quietly as the boat neared Hogwarts. He took a sidelong glance at her. "Are you very mad at me?"

"Oh, Jamie. My greatest problem is that it is almost impossible for me to be mad at you." She said sadly with a shake of her head.

James was starting to get more and more nervous as they approached the castle. He would never admit this to anyone, and he didn't have to admit it to his twin. They knew one another far too well. They followed the instructions of Professor McGonagall, but James found himself clutching at Hermione's hand. Sirius looked at him, but James managed an arrogant shrug. Sirius smirked and then turned his attention back to the waiting. It came as no surprise to Hermione that he was sorted into Gryffindor.

"Potter, Hermione!"

"Miss Potter, it is good to see you back where you truly belong." I do? "Oh, yes, but where to place you this time around…" Don't be silly. You know exactly where I belong. "Very well, let's not waste time then, eh?"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Hermione went and sat next to Lily Evans who was smiling brilliantly at her. The two girls turned back in time to see Potter, James sorted into Gryffindor as well. Hermione knew, with those weird overlapping memories, that her mother and father would be incredibly proud that both of their children had been sorted into Gryffindor. She hugged her brother tightly and then he turned to talk excitedly with Sirius.

HP/HG/HP

No one would have believed it, but Hermione did not study much that first year at Hogwarts. She was struggling to combine her two separate lives. She had all of the memories of that other Hermione—Hermione Granger—superimposed over her own life. At times she felt as though she were suffering from déjà vu and at other times it was almost like a peculiar double vision. For the most part she was merely herself and for that she was grateful. The other times, when she had strange flashes of that other life or dreams that made her jerk awake in the middle of the night with her nightgown soaked through sweat, she carried on the best she could because there wasn't anyone who could really help her.

In a move of self-preservation, she became close with Lily because they were year mates and dorm mates. Both girls offered unstinting friendship to Severus Snape who seemed to blossom under their gentle influence. Hermione hoped that it might be easier for him, if he had more than one friend. He might not be as desperate, or as bitter, if he had a slightly wider circle of friends. Perhaps she also hoped that her friendship might change the outcome of some of her more disturbing dreams. Unfortunately, he was making friends in Slytherin as well, and some of them were not the sorts of people that the old Hermione approved of. The three of them were sitting in the library, studying when they were interrupted.

"Severus, what on earth are you doing with these people?" drawled a bored aristocratic voice that grated on both old and new Hermiones. "Come on; let's go somewhere where it's a little less…dirty."

"What's that supposed to mean?"