Return to School

September 1975

"Sev! Lils!" Hermione shrieked and took off, leaving her brother James frowning after her.

"Does she have to be friends with the greasy git, too?" James muttered under his breath.

"James Potter!" Dorea's voice was shocked and a little angry. Sirius and James turned to her in surprise.

"Mum?" James was confused. What had he done?

"You know, I'd like to think you could be even slightly caring about your sister," her voice was scathing in its condemnation. "Do you even think about how hard it is for her to be ignored all summer, and every Christmas vacation? I think it's wonderful that she has some friends. Perhaps he's not someone you care to associate with, and that's fine—for you. You have plenty of friends. The least you could do for Hermione is be gracious to those she cares about."

"But, mum," James couldn't think of anything to say. He'd never really thought about how Hermione might feel when he and Sirius went tearing off to the lake or the woods. Judging from the slightly stricken expression on Sirius' face, neither had he. His mother gave him a firm look and then moved off to join Hermione.

"Hermione, dear?" Dorea called lightly, Hermione turned and smiled at her mother. "Can you please introduce me to your friends?"

"Of course, mother. This is Lily Evans, she's in Gryffindor with me. This is Severus Snape, he's in Slytherin." Hermione gestured to each of her friends. "This is my mother, Dorea Potter."

"Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Potter," Lily said politely with a sweet smile. Severus looked very nervous and he gave a jerky sort of bow.

"It's so nice to meet you both," Dorea said warmly smiling gently at both teenagers. "I hope to see you at Potter Manor soon."

"Okay, we have to go, mum. I love you," Hermione kissed her mother on the cheek and then dragged her friends onto the train with her.

"Good bye, sweetheart! I love you!" Dorea called after her daughter who blushed in mortification and ducked into a compartment, dragging her friends.

"Merlin's tonsils!" Hermione moaned in embarrassment, putting her head in her hands.

"I think it's sort of sweet," Lily said with a sly smile.

"I wish my mother would treat me like that," Severus said sadly, looking out the window. Then he seemed to realize what he'd said and flushed an unattractive red color. Both Hermione and Lily went and sat on either side of him and cuddled next to him on the bench seat in their compartment.

"So I'm supposed to ask if you would like to come to Potter Manor for Christmas," Hermione asked carefully, not daring to look at Severus. He was very touchy about his home life, almost as bad as Sirius, so she usually tried to avoid talking about it, or making him uncomfortable.

"Oh, I'd love too," Lily said with a grin. "I'll have to ask mum and dad, but I don't think they'll mind. Potter Manor? Your parents—are they like lords or ladies or something?"

"Er, not quite the way you're thinking. Technically, I am a member of the ancient and noble house of Potter, but they don't mean noble like muggle nobility. We live in a manor, and our family is really old and well-respected by most of the wizarding world, but there are no Kings or Queens to bestow titles," Hermione said matter-of-factly. Lily nodded, her gaze straying to the silk of Hermione's traveling robes.

"I'd like to as well, my mother will no doubt thank the heavens that I won't be there," Severus said darkly. Hermione's hand clenched momentarily on his arm.

"Hey, you know what Sev and I did this summer?" Lily asked brightly in an obvious attempt to change the subject. Severus' jaw unclenched slightly and his eyes softened. Hermione bounced in her seat.

"No, what?"

HP/HG/HP

"Do you really suppose it bothers her that much?" James asked quietly in their train compartment.

"What bothers whom?" Remus asked curiously, looking up from his book.

"Hermione," Sirius muttered to Remus.

"You did something to upset Hermione?" Remus asked in a shocked voice. James loved Hermione very much. It was obvious how much he cared for her, but no one had the courage to tease him about how he doted on his sister. Remus would have sworn that his friend would have walked on his own lips before doing anything that would hurt Hermione.

"No! Maybe. Well, yeah, I guess," James said uncertainly.

"Mrs. P chewed us both out for complaining about Severus," Sirius said in a low voice, avoiding James' eyes.

"Mum said that because Sirius and I basically ignored her it was nice that she had someone to be her friend," James said sadly.

"Well, I've actually been over for a little during the summers, and I guess I would have to agree," Remus said gently. "You guys are up and out the door and you don't come back till it's dark. You took me with you, and all that, but I could tell that Hermione seemed sort of sad."

"I'm a terrible brother," James muttered putting his head into his hands.

HP/HG/HP

The moon was new, so the grounds of Hogwarts were covered in a velvety blackness. Hermione ran and ran, the pads of her paws hitting the ground at intervals that made her feel almost as though she were flying. She loved this feeling of freedom, of power and she purred as she ran. The boys were not animagi yet, she was fairly certain. They hadn't gone around calling each other by ridiculous nicknames, or she hadn't heard them do so anyway. She knew they had the map already, so how exactly did that work? Maybe they already knew their future forms. The vision quest revealed your form to you, she could attest to that. She certainly didn't need some stupid nickname to throw about in the common area to prove that she was special. She snorted, which sounded sort of like a lion—sneezing. She shook her head and kept running. No one was going to ruin this for her, no one.

HP/HG/HP

"Hermione?"

Hermione sat up abruptly, her wild curls looking even more wild, her hazel eyes blinking rapidly, her full lips parting. Her shirt was slightly unbuttoned, and her tie was loose about her neck. Her skirt had ridden up slightly, exposing a creamy expanse of thigh. She stared sleepily up at the person who'd woken her.

"Sirius?" She stretched like a cat and then yawned delicately. She didn't notice Sirius' eyes darken as he watched her breasts strain against her shirt, or the subtle flush to his cheeks.

"What are you doing here?" He asked with a look of concern on his handsome face. Hermione looked around the commons room and then looked back up at Sirius.

"Why can't I be in the commons room?" she asked curiously.

"You can, of course, it's just that it's 4 a.m.," he explained gently.

Hermione frowned at him, her hazel eyes narrowed. He was in his robes, but they looked sort of thrown on, kind of mussed. His normally perfect hair looked mussed, and his lips looked sort of bruised and full…OH! Bad pictures! Oh, bad, bad, BAD pictures were in her head! Hermione jumped up with a squeak and ran up the stairs of the girl's dormitory almost silently. He stared after her retreating form with a thoughtful frown, shrugged and then headed to his own bed.

Sleep refused to come that night. She laid there staring at the darkness because she could not close her eyes. Every time she did she could see him…doing things…with girls. Her past knowledge handily filled in all the gaps and she was horrified by all the possible permutations. Great Merlin's Mother, how was some of that even possible?

Trust me, sweetheart, with the right partner or partners and a little magic, almost anything is possible.

Partners?

Yes, partners. You remember the Weasley twins, I know you do. Merlin bless them.

Oh…Circe. Those are the red headed boys? Oh…oh, my.

Anyway, wouldn't that be a funny story to tell Harry? 'I remember the night your godfather lost his virginity'. Hee hee. He'd probably spit his pumpkin juice across the Great Hall and then die right there.

Oh, no. I don't think I should have any sort of conversation even remotely like that with anyone ever. Least of all, my future nephew.

He is, isn't he? I keep forgetting that. Sorry, sweetie, he was my very best friend in the world. It's the sort of thing I probably would tease him about. Well, once we were old enough for that sort of ribbing.

Not fifteen then?

Er, no. Sorry, I keep forgetting about that as well. It all sort of blends together sometimes, you know.

I wish some of it would blur together. Right now.

You know, I suppose that makes his animagus make a lot more sense. He was a dog before he was a dog.

It's weird that you can snicker like that inside my head.

Sorry. I just keep thinking about Sirius…

Please, stop. Please. I'm going to need to have the inside of my head scourgified.