Hermione Granger and The Marauders

Hermione confesses ...

She didn't say anything and she didn't move. Snape, her Potions Professor, had said she was pretty. The man who had tortured her for the first three years of Hogwarts. She nodded her head and realised she had been quiet for some time now and Severus and Lily were watching her closely.

"Thank you, Severus" she began slowly, trying to think of something to say back to him, "I like your ... hair"

Hermione grinned and Severus blushed. She had never seen so much colour in his cheeks before and he looked almost completely different. A smile spread across his lips.

Lily smiled and began to speak up, "I knew you two would hit it off. You've got so much in common."

Hermione craned her neck around to look at Lily "We have?" after saying it she realised how sickened she had sounded by Lily's comment and said it again so it sounded like she was agreeing with her statement.

"We have." she nodded at Severus. Hermione turned back around so that she could finish the last bit of her apple crumble, pushed her bowl away and wiped the crumbs away from her mouth. As Hermione was about to stand up and leave Severus had asked if they wanted to go to the library and Hermione couldn't refuse. She had gone through so much today that a book sounded brilliant right now - a way to let off steam and forget everything that's happened, even if it only is for a short while.

"Yes. I didn't bring any of my books and I'd love a good book right about now." she said aloud and wasn't even sure who she was speaking to exactly. The three of them stood up and left the Great Hall and began to make their way to the library. Hermione had almost forget she was meant to be new here and pretended to get lost several times before they arrived outside the library. It hadn't altered. Not a book seemed out of place from when she was last here - or when she would be here.

Hermione ran straight over to the history books and took out Hogwarts: A History from its place on the shelf. It was the older edition but Hermione didn't mind. Lily's shadow appeared over the book and Hermione looked up to find her smiling, "I've read it twelve times. I never get bored of reading it." she told Hermione with a great deal of pride in her voice. Hermione was amazing at how different Lily was from Harry. Personality wasn't genetic but she had imagined that his personality was from either James or Lily. It must have come out of all those years living of living with the Dursleys. That was enough to make anyone as disobedient as Harry was. She loved Harry with all her heart - he was her best friend after all - but she couldn't deny that he was disobedient. James was a little like Harry but there was something a little more sassy about Harry than James.

"This is my nineteenth time." Hermione told her. Lily showed a great amount of amazement in her eyes and then hopped off the table to go and select a book to read. As the sun began to set over the mountains outside Severus, Lily and Hermione decided that is was time to head back to their own common rooms. Lily gave Severus a tight hug and wished him goodnight and then they parted ways. Tomorrow was her first full day as a Hogwarts student in 1974 and Hermione was actually excited to see what it was like. Lily had been only one of two people to be sleeping in her dormitory; a small girl Hermione had never had the pleasure of meeting before - Alice Fortescue. She seemed rather quiet and was very easy to get along with. Hermione and Alice didn't have as much in common as Hermione and Lily did but they did enjoy books.

Hermione wasn't sure what it was about Alice but she could have sworn she'd seen a face like that before but after a while she seemed to let it go and went downstairs to see if Fred and George were back yet. Both the twins and The Marauders were there and were playing Exploding Snap. Hermione beckoned Fred and George closer, "I highly advise that you head to bed. I don't know where you're going to sleep but I'm sure you'll think of something. We've had a long day and we've got a full day of learning ahead of us." she told them with a smile on her face. The twins, however, weren't happy.