Falling into 1976

Potions

Hermione entered her next class ten minutes late, but Slughorn only waved her to the only open seat left after giving her a loud welcome. She took her seat next to Sirius, and gave him a small smile, which he returned. She set to work on the potion he had started in her absence, prepping the shrivelfig that was supposed to be added in next.

"What were you and McGonagall talking about?" He asked, while stirring the potion, which was now a perfect lime green.

"How I was adjusting, and my transfiguration,"

"Which was flawless, by the way," Sirius interjected, "How'd you manage that?"

"Practice," Hermione responded, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. She cleared her throat and changed the topic as she added the shrivelfig to the potion.

"So, what do you do for fun around here?"

Sirius gave a wicked grin, "Ah, that one you'll have to discover for yourself,"

Hermione rolled her eyes and grabbed the sorfigous beans and crushed them with the flat of her blade before adding them into the potion.

"You know we're supposed to cut those, right?" Sirius asked in amusement.

Hermione hummed in agreement but didn't comment further. After several stirs, the potion turned the exact shade it was supposed to be.

"How...?"

"Releasing the excess juice into the potion at this stage and stirring it and additional five times counterclockwise would finish the potion around five minutes faster than adding the juice after stirring it, since you don't have to let it simmer, and I've always found the dungeons quite humid,"

Sirius grinned, ladleing two vials of the potion and set it off to the side for grading.

"So, now that we have that extra five minutes, let's get to know each other,"

"Really?" Hermione said, though she sounded more amused than exasperated.

"Really! Believe it or not, I don't actually know you that well."

"I find it hard to believe since we've known each other for so long," Hermione deadpanned.

"Well despite my extensive knowledge on everything in existence, I seem to be missing some of the more major details,"

"Like?"

"Your favorite color."

"Seriously?"

"That's me!"

Hermione groaned. It was going to be a long five minutes.

"Okay, fine," Sirius said, "I get five questions,"

"Four,"

"What?"

"You already asked one,"

"Well you didn't respond!"

"My favorite color is red," Hermione said quietly, thinking of the Weasley's hair.

"Fine," Sirius huffed, "Four questions,"

"I want four questions too,"

"Fine."

Hermione grinned and thought about her first question.

"Do you have any siblings?" Though she knew the answer, she wanted to see his reaction.

Sirius' face flashed with guilt and anger before settling back on a blank look.

"I have a younger brother, he's in Slytherin though,"

"What's wrong with Slytherin?"

"It's controlled by mostly sixth and seventh years who likely already joined Voldemort, and are making most of the others join him as well. Reggie seems adamant about joining with the rest of the bigots,"

"Can you get him out?"

"He doesn't want out,"

Hermione made a sound of concerned disbelief, but otherwise kept quiet.

"You have one question left,"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Red," Sirius said, smiled at her. "My turn,"

"Did you have any friends back at Beauxbatons?"

"Several, but we've since stopped owling each other,"

"Why?"

"Partly distance, partly because I don't know where to address the owl. They're not at Beauxbatons either, and I don't know if they know where I am,"

"What we're their names?"

"Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna," She said after a second. "We we're all very close, but after I left we couldn't owl each other, and now I don't know where they are in order to owl them,"

"Why are you in your sixth year when you're only fourteen?"

"I did a year of homeschooling after my first two years at Beauxbatons, and I got a little ahead of myself,"

"Two years ahead is frankly insane,"

"Why thank you,"

Sirius smiled and they both stood up as they were dismissed. The two of them turned in their potion and fell in step with the rest of the marauders.

"Hey, where's Pettigrew?" Hermione asked.

"He didn't pass his Potions OWL, so he has a free period right now,"

"What does he do during a free period without y'all?" She asked, wondering if they even cared.

"Who knows what Pete does without us?" Sirius said with a nonchalant shrug.

She had her answer.