Braving the Past

Chapter 29: To Tell, or Not to Tell

Later that day, once Hermione had gotten her living quarters situated, she went back to retrace her steps. Perhaps if she went back to the spot Tom had disapparated before Dumbledore set the charms back in place, she could try to decipher where he'd gone.

She was sad she hadn't gotten to say goodbye to her friends. Even though Jonathan had been a complete idiot in the end, she still missed his positivity.

"Hermione?" A strong voice called after her. She had just reached the hallway where Peeves had inked her and she'd met Remus. "Is that you?"

Hermione turned around to see Lily approaching with a girl who looked incredibly familiar.

"What are you up to?" Lily asked.

"Just trying to get my bearings," Hermione waved off.

She nodded knowingly, then jumped a little as she suddenly remembered something. "Oh! This is my friend, Alice."

Hermione shook the girl's hand. She had short blonde hair, and was the spitting image of Neville Longbottom.

"Alice, meet Potter's cousin, Hermione."

"You're James' cousin?" Alice wondered. "You two look absolutely nothing alike."

"Yes, I get that a lot." Hermione smiled awkwardly. Why did she have to say her last name was Potter? Out of all the names she could have picked, she chose the one pertaining to the infamous marauder.

"Mind if we joined you?" Lily asked kindly. "I'm willing to bet we're just as bored as you are."

Alice nodded enthusiastically, and Hermione laughed.

"Alright, sure," she said.

They continued their walk down the hall, when something glittering inside an empty classroom at the end of the hallway caught their eyes.

"This has Potter and Black written all over it," Lily muttered as she moved to open the door.

Just as she'd grasped the handle, the four marauders came haphazardly scrambling around the bend that had been just out of Hermione's sight.

"No, don't open - !"

Lily whipped the door open, and they were immediately greeted with Stink Pellets going off in all areas of the classroom. All seven noses were filled with the foulest smell Hermione had ever experienced. Hermione pinched her nose shut, coughing as she and the others lunged away from the room.

"I told you not to open the door!" Sirius whined. "That was going to be a surprise for Professor Binns!"

"You do – realize that Professor Binns – can't smell, right?" Alice coughed out. "He's a ghost!"

"That's the whole point!" Sirius stomped his foot. "He won't know the difference, but his first class will be hanging on by a thread and have no proof on the matter!"

"I KNEW IT!" Lily yelled, pointing at James. "I knew you were up to something! You had that gleeful look in your eye that you get every time you've come up with some new prank."

James held a hand to his heart. "I'm flattered you know the look, Evans."

"Everyone knows the look, Prongs," Remus said. He spelled the door closed and stopped fanning his nose. "You guys really weren't supposed to see that."

"The first day back and you've already planted mischief. What else have you gotten up to, I wonder?"

"We've literally been sitting and eating chocolate around that corner to guard anyone from opening this door," Peter said dejectedly. "All that time wasted when we could have been levitating Professor McGonagall's chairs to the ceiling."