Planning

How are you, Hermione?" Remus asked gently, as he sat across from her in the library. She bestowed one of her genuine smiles upon him, and he felt himself smile back at her automatically.

"I haven't seen you lately, Remus," Hermione noted politely, but there was a question in her eyes. Remus ducked his head.

"I've been busy," he murmured softly. Hermione's eyes glinted slightly and she cocked her head to the side.

"Have you been discussing your plans after graduation with the Headmaster?" Hermione asked in that same polite voice. His eyes flew to hers, and his mouth opened slightly. She smirked internally, but she kept her face in a polite mask.

Gryffindors, you are so easy it's not sporting.

Um, hello? You ARE a Gryffindor.

True, but I try not to be so obvious about it.

How on earth were you sorted into my House?

I am brave at heart. For what I'm doing, one must be.

"Er, yes," Remus said carefully, his eyes watching her. She nodded as though that were a completely natural thing, and turned back to her book. She paused and looked up at him.

"Try to keep yourself in one piece," she said mildly. "Your wife shall be quite put out if you are delivered to her less than whole."

"You've mentioned her before," Remus said with a slightly bemused look. "Who is she?"

"Mmm. Try to be patient, Remus. She's a bit younger than you are. You'll have to wait a while before she comes to you," Hermione told him, and patted his hand gently. He stared at her in shock. He could tell that everything she told him was the truth.

"Wait, you know exactly what he wants me to do, don't you?" Remus demanded. He didn't bother to say who 'he' was because both of them already knew. Hermione turned the full force of her eyes on Remus and he shuddered slightly, but he still looked into them.

"Yes," she said flatly. "I know what he has asked of a seventeen year-old boy who has not yet graduated school."

"I'm capable," he said mildly. Hermione nodded slightly.

"I know that you are," she said quietly. He frowned at his hands.

"It will be difficult for me to find work," he said at last. "The Ministry has rules in place to keep out my kind."

"I'm aware," she practically growled. He glanced up at her swiftly. She was angry on his behalf, and the thought made him feel warm inside just as it did when James or Sirius stood up for him.

"Will I be successful?" He asked curiously. Hermione's face tightened.

"That I am not sure of," she said uncertainly. "If that changes I will let you know."

"Thank you," he said softly. She shrugged slightly.

"Just try and be safe," she murmured almost inaudibly. He nodded. She frowned for a moment, and then turned and looked at him. Her face was tight, and Remus could smell the fear on her. "If he is recruiting you now…has he performed Legilimens on you?"

"Er, no…not yet? With werewolves it can be fairly tricky, the wolf is a baser animal and he is more tied to emotions, but it provides a natural shield against Legilimens," Remus explained quietly, glancing around to make sure no one was close enough to them to hear anything.

"He is quite skilled," Hermione was muttering to herself, her eyes on him. She finally turned to him, frowning slightly. "Would you do something for me?"

"Anything," Remus said honestly. She nodded.

"We'll need the other Marauders," she said softly.

"Okay," Remus agreed. "Let's go find them."

The other Marauders? He sneered at them through the bookcases. She hadn't meant him, he knew. She had never liked him, no matter what he'd done. He was fairly certain that somehow she had determined that he was a Death Eater and tipped off his friends. It had been fairly easy to blame her for his shunning. He'd never really liked her either. There was something about her that made him edgy and nervous. That he couldn't determine what that something was only made him angry. His watery eyes narrowed on her black curls as she moved out of the library. He was going to keep a very close eye on her. . No matter what it took, he would find out what was so odd about her.

HP/HG/HP

It should have been painfully obvious to Hermione that once she'd marked Remus with her lion paw marks that both James and Sirius would insist on taking the same oaths that they'd witnessed Lily administer to Remus and receiving the paw prints on their own chests. Her runes moved slightly out of way to make a place for the paw prints on either side of Sirius' collar bone. James and Sirius had watched Lily administer the oath to Remus with practiced ease, and had watched Hermione calmly set her marks on him. They both came to the same startling conclusion. Sirius turned on his girlfriend with a dark gleam in his eye.

"You've done this before," he accused. Hermione smirked like a born and bred Slytherin.

"Of course I have, Sirius," she drawled. He frowned darkly at her.

"Who," he bit out between clenched teeth.

"Severus, of course," Hermione said firmly. James' face went slack.

"That's why you made us swear not to take revenge," James whispered, staring at her like he'd never seen her before—as though she was a stranger.

"He was under orders," Lily said softly. "He just…got carried away."

"Under orders?" Sirius echoed sharply. "From who?"

"Hermione, of course," Lily said mildly. James turned to his sort-of girlfriend.

"You too?" He asked cautiously. In answer, Lily undid the front of her robes and unbuttoned her shirt enough that he could see the paw print next to her collarbone. He turned back to his sister. "What the hell are you doing, Hermione?"

"I'm fighting, Jamie. I told you I would," she said softly, her eyes begging him to understand. "Join the Order of the Phoenix; go on whatever harebrained missions Dumbledore comes up with, but because of the oaths you've sworn to me, I won't have to worry about anyone inadvertently revealing my secrets."

"And Severus?" Sirius asked with a dark frown.

"He'll know if Voldemort finds out about me, and he can warn me," Hermione explained. Understanding dawned in all of the Marauders faces. Sirius frowned and pulled Hermione to the side.

"Is he in love with you?" Sirius asked tensely, his jaw tight. Hermione shook her head.

"No, Sirius. He loves me and he's my blood-brother, and he knows how important it is to have eyes on the inside," Hermione explained carefully, watching his eyes. He nodded and bit his lip. Then he turned to her as though something had occurred to him.

"Regulus hangs out with Severus constantly," he said uncertainly, watching her face. She nodded.

"He does," she agreed cautiously.

"He doesn't hang out with you anymore at all," he ventured further, as though he'd just realized that. She nibbled on her lower lip.

"That would no longer be prudent on his part," she said softly, putting one hand on his arm. Sirius' eyes closed and his whole body went rigid.

"When?" he whispered, dreading the answer.

"Last summer," she said so softly that only he heard her, despite Remus' cocked head and intense listening stance.

"Stupid prat," he growled under his breath. Hermione's hand tightened on his arm.

"Sirius," she said uncertainly, "there is a reason that he spends most of his time with Severus."

"Is he, did he, you…but why?" Sirius was drowning in emotions at the moment. He felt fear and anger and sadness, and underlying all of it a sense of sadness and loss for his younger brother. He should have protected him. He should have been there for him, but instead—he'd failed him. He thought he understood what Hermione was saying, but what she was saying was hard to believe.

"I had a vision," Hermione whispered, her eyes shifting slightly so that it was as though you were staring into eternity if you looked into them. "He-who-must-not-be-named had requested a favor, to borrow a house elf. Eager to show his family's support, Regulus leant him Kreacher, but he gave Kreacher strict orders to return to his family when he was done. When Kreacher returned, Regulus questioned the house elf, and learned some very disturbing things about his new master. Determined to stop You-know-who, Regulus made Kreacher take him to the place where You-know-who had taken him. Unfortunately, neither Kreacher nor Regulus was aware of all the…safeguards."

"He died," Sirius whispered, his eyes agonized. Hermione shook her head fiercely.

"You must understand, Sirius. This is not Divination. I am not telling you what will happen. It is more like…arithmancy. Anything is possible. However, certain events are more probable than others. Seers usually See events that have a higher level of probability, but they are not certain. I can have visions of any number of possible futures surrounding a single event. The greater impact the event will have, the more possibilities gain a certain level of probability. Do you understand?" Hermione tried to explain what she herself understood, and what Gloswinda had explained in her journal. Lily and Remus were both nodding, and she hid a smile. Both of them excelled in arithmancy and they understood probability vectors quite well. Sirius and James both shook their heads.

"No, kitten, I don't understand at all," Sirius said with a frown. "So…you're trying to change what you saw, you're trying to save Regulus?"

"Yes," Hermione said firmly. The look that Sirius gave her was filled with emotion, and Hermione swallowed nervously. Would he hate her for this?

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked slowly, and waited for her to explain.

"We only have a couple more months, and then we've graduated. While we're here, in Hogwarts, we're all at a greater risk because there are so many more eyes watching us. It was important that you and James and Remus, too, could treat Severus with genuine dislike. I don't mean to criticize, my love, but a first year Slytherin could read most of your emotions, and they don't even have Remus' talents," Hermione explained carefully. Remus snorted in derision at her description of his affliction as 'talent'. "You've ignored Regulus for most of his school career. If you two suddenly became best friends and hung out together, people would notice and they would inform your mother and You-know-who almost immediately. Then everything would be at risk, and their lives would be endangered. I couldn't risk that. I'm sorry if that makes you angry with me, but I can't apologize—not for trying to protect them."

"I see," Sirius murmured, his brows drawn together. He stood there for several moments, and then turned slightly toward James and Remus who were watching him. He turned back to Hermione, his face inscrutable. Her heart plummeted. "I need time; I need to think about this."

"Of course," she whispered, her eyes wide. The Marauders left Lily and Hermione alone in the room of requirement and Lily held Hermione while she cried.