Changes

Seventh Year, Fall 1977

Hogwarts and surrounding areas

It was their final year and Remus was suddenly feeling introspective. James and Sirius had seemed edgy on the train all the way to Hogwarts when Peter didn't join them in their compartment. Peter didn't show up to the sorting either, and James and Sirius had exchanged a significant look that confused Remus. He could feel anger and rage coming from them, but no worry…no fear for Peter's well-being. What was going on? This was their last year it was just the three of them. He felt like an arm was missing, or something. They'd all gone up to their dorm room, and Peter's things were at the foot of his bed. James and Sirius looked at one another again, and Remus frowned. What the bloody hell was going on? He'd never seen James or Sirius as angry as they had been when Peter walked into their dorm room with a cheery wave and a smile. James had slammed him against the wall, and Sirius had shoved up his sleeve revealing the Dark Mark. Remus thought he was going to be sick right there in their dorm room. Peter…their friend…was a fucking Death Eater? The other two boys had unceremoniously thrown him out of their dorm room and told him to not come back. Then they turned to Remus, their chests heaving with anger and rage and he had pulled up his own sleeve and shown them his bare arm, in case they were coming after him next.

"No, Remus, my friend, we're not coming after you," James had sighed sadly, and he'd pulled the werewolf in for a back-breaking hug. Remus had cried then, and he wasn't ashamed to admit it. To learn that someone that you thought you knew, that you thought was a friend, was a servant of You-know-who made him cold inside. James had just held him, and Remus thought that maybe Prongs had shed a few tears too.

"How did you know?" Remus had asked in a slightly choked voice. James and Sirius looked at one another and frowned.

"I'll ask and see if we can tell you," James said finally.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Sirius protested, and James frowned at him.

"It's not your decision, Padfoot," James said somewhat coolly. Sirius sulked and went and sat on his bed. "Do you honestly think that Remus is somehow a risk?"

"No," Sirius growled from behind his bed curtains. Remus looked between his friends, frowning.

"What am I missing?" He asked curiously.

"Nothing," Sirius growled from his bed. Remus snorted. He could tell that Sirius was lying about something.

"So we've just lost one of our friends, and no one's going to tell me how or why you two knew?" Remus asked a little stiffly. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Did you two join the Order behind my back?"

"No!" James and Sirius said in unison. Sirius poked his head out of the curtains to glare at James and then turn to Remus.

"You know they won't take anybody who's not graduated already," Sirius said with a disgusted look. Remus didn't blame him there. It seemed beyond stupid when the enemy was recruiting their schoolmates from around them.

"True," Remus agreed.

"We'll tell you, we just have to get it cleared first," James explained, with a quick glance at Sirius, whose expression had turned dark. "Come on, it only makes sense to tell Remus."

"I suppose so," Sirius said at last with a heavy sigh. Remus snorted.

"Thank you so much for that vote of confidence, Padfoot," Remus muttered coolly. James looked apologetic, which made Remus wonder what on earth was going on.

"I'm sorry, Remus, it's not that I doubt you at all," James explained carefully. "It's just that it's not exactly our secret to tell, and we've got to check with the other person first."

"So, any idea yet on whether or not you still have a rampant fangirl problem?" Remus asked curiously. Sirius smirked.

"We shouldn't," he said firmly.

"And, why, pray tell, is that?" Remus asked looking between James and Sirius.

The great prat has officially requested permission to court with intent to offer," James muttered. Sirius smirked a little more and James threw his pillow at him. "Do you have to do that? It's revolting."

"It's just because it's your sister. If it were any other girl, you wouldn't care," Sirius drawled, throwing the pillow back.

"Yeah, I would," James muttered. "Because you'd still be smirking like that, and it's revolting."

"Congratulations, Sirius," Remus offered sincerely. He pulled Sirius into a fierce hug, which Sirius returned. When he pulled back his cheeks were pink.

"Thanks," he said with a bashful smile.

HP/HG/HP

If there's one thing that Gryffindors do well it's being obvious. Hermione spent the first several days of school with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows and waving her hands around a lot. She raised her hand in class more times in those few days than she had in the previous six years she'd attended school. She always used the arm with the bracelet on it, too. Lily was trying not to die laughing, but it was hysterically funny. The first day back to school, the pureblood girls saw it almost immediately and knew exactly what it was because the only boy who came within a ten-foot radius of Hermione was Sirius or her brother. When he walked her to class, his hand was proprietarily on the small of her back or on her elbow. He kissed her cheek when he dropped her off for class, and when he picked her up. All of the pureblood girls immediately adjusted how they behaved around Sirius.

"That's a beautiful piece," Marlene McKinnon noted politely at breakfast on Friday. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Hermione said with a genuine smile. A couple of the muggleborn girls frowned.

"Why are you congratulating Hermione," asked Carol Pierce finally. Marlene blinked at her and the other muggleborns. She pointed to Hermione's prominently displayed bracelet.

"That's a betrothal piece," Marlene said as though it were completely obvious, and she felt silly for pointing it out. She probably did feel silly, Lily thought. To her, it would sort of be like saying 'the sky is blue' or 'Hogwarts is a big castle'.

"What's a betrothal?" asked Sarah Bennett. Marlene turned and stared at Hermione with a deer in headlights sort of look.

Hermione smiled and was about to speak when the morning owls arrived, essentially interrupting conversation. A beautiful black owl dropped a small package in front of Hermione. A silly smile formed itself on her lips, and she glanced around the hall. Sirius wasn't there yet. She picked up the box and opened it. Lily gasped in surprise. It was a beautiful little lioness brooch that matched her bracelet. Hermione was entranced with it; she took one finger and delicately traced the lines of the brooch.

"You like it?" Sirius' baritone was behind her, his breath on her ear. She nodded. He held out his hand and she laid the box in it. He took the lioness brooch out and pinned it to the front of her collar. He looked into her eyes and smiled at her. "Perfect."

Lily had already scooted down so that Sirius could sit with Hermione, and James sat down across from her with Remus. The boys filled their plates and began eating, and Hermione turned her attention back to Sarah Bennett.

"We use it in the archaic sense that means the drawing up and signing of marriage contracts," Hermione explained carefully. "It is a little different and more binding than the muggle concept of engagement. It would take a team of lawyers and a lot of money to break a wizarding betrothal contract."

"Is that another betrothal piece then?" Carol Pierce asked curiously. She had not been one of Sirius' many, many girls, and so Hermione had no problems answering her curious questions.

"Yes," she said simply. "It is the custom to gift a variety of pieces during the courting process and before the actual betrothal ceremony.

"I plan on showering you with them," Sirius murmured in her ear so that no one else could hear him. She blushed slightly.

"So you're not engaged yet, but you're as good as?" Carol asked carefully, a hint of confusion on her face.

"Yes," Sirius' voice answered her for Hermione, his arm sliding around her waist and pulling her against him. She blushed again.

Several of the faces at their table showed profound disappointment, which made Hermione glad that Sirius had gone a little bit over the top. Apparently they hadn't made it clear enough to some students, while the faculty and the pureblood students had automatically known what her bracelet meant. The pureblood boys were automatically adjusting their behavior near her. They didn't look at her unless it was strictly necessary, and their interactions with her were scrupulously correct. No pureblood boy would dare approach her by himself for the rest of the school year; they would all make sure that she had a female student, her brother, or Sirius with her first.

HP/HG/HP

The Marauders were sitting in the common room when Hermione and Lily came down from the girls' dormitory and stood in front of their couch. Sirius and James were talking about something in low tones so as not to disturb Remus' reading, but every now and then one of them would snicker.

"Remus, would you walk with us?" Hermione asked suddenly. Remus blinked at her in surprise and then turned to his fellow Marauders who had become instantly serious.

"Of course," he said uncertainly, frowning slightly. James and Sirius were tense. Lily was afraid, but Hermione was utterly calm. He wasn't sure if he'd ever seen her so relaxed.

They found an empty classroom, and Hermione sealed and warded it completely silently, with a casual flick of her wand. Remus' eyes widened in surprise. It wasn't often that Hermione made a deliberate show of power. Generally, she seemed to keep her head down, and did her best not to attract attention from professors. She turned to face Remus, and he saw her peel back several of her outer layers. She was watching him, and waiting to see what he thought. There was power there, and something else he couldn't quite name. She was letting all of them see more of her than any of them had ever seen before, except Lily, who seemed calm and relaxed in the face of this Hermione, which told Remus that this was a facet of Hermione that she knew well. James looked resigned, and Sirius looked reluctant.

"I'm the reason that James and Sirius didn't want to talk to you about Pettigrew in the dorm rooms," Hermione said quietly. Remus looked at James and Sirius. They were still worried and tense. He could tell that they wanted to shield her, to protect her, and is bothered them that they couldn't.

"You are?" Remus asked, looking at his friends again.

"I'm a Seer, Remus," Hermione said quietly. "James and Sirius didn't know…they sort of saw me in action so to speak."

"No," Remus said, shaking his head to deny it. Hermione stood there, completely calm, and Lily moved to stand near her.

"Yes," Hermione said firmly.

"But, you can't be," he whispered, turning pale. Hermione frowned.