Yours Truly, Hermione

Slip of Emotion | ʀᴇᴍᴜs ʟ. (m)

• Remus Lupin || Time Travel || Marauders Era Hogwarts 
• Rated m for language & explicit sexual content, read at your own discretion!  

 ̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ・☽ ༓ ☾・  ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶  ̶̶̶̶

-- HOGWARTS 1973

Her life was an absolute disaster. 

She'd always been loyal to Harry- she'd do anything for her best friend. She'd fought through a bloody war with him only to come out on the other end victorious but heavily scarred. But even the golden witch felt a little over her head with this. 

It was an unfortunate accident in the Ministry's Department of Mysteries that made her fall back in time. She knew the moment she landed in front of a much younger Professor McGonagall that something had gone seriously wrong. She'd pleaded to be taken to Dumbledore immediately, who only confirmed her worst suspicions. There was no way to send her back. 

When she told him about the future she'd come from, he'd paled at the prospect of the long fight ahead of them. It was only 1973, after all. The birth of Harry Potter was nearly a decade away, and there was no guarantee that Voldemort had even created all of his Horcruxes yet.  

So he offered to de-age her. Part of her knew it would probably be smarter for her not to take that offer; her very presence at Hogwarts while the marauders were there could alter the fabric of time. The smallest action could cause her best friend to never be born. But stranded in the past all by herself, she couldn't help but make that one selfish choice for herself. At least she'd get to see and grow with the marauders- at least from a distance. She took that risky choice with a promise to herself. She wouldn't interfere with the timeline during her time at Hogwarts. She couldn't risk erasing Harry. 

She went about it precisely how Hermione Granger would- systematically and meticulously. Dumbledore insisted on having her sorted, despite her pleading for him to just place her in Hufflepuff. 

Bargaining with the Sorting Hat was not easy- especially in front of the whole school right before the opening feast. The wretched thing refused her Hufflepuff simply because she had the audacity to try and tell it what to do. He almost put her in Gryffindor just to spite her, spouting how only a Gryffindor could be foolhardy enough to demand something from the Sorting Hat. Perhaps it was the paralyzing panic that struck her when the hat suggested such an outcome that changed its mind. There would be no way for her to blend into the background if she were in the same house as the marauders. She could already see their curious faces watching the uncommonly long sorting of the transfer student from the Gryffindor table. The bloody hat finally relented, showing her some mercy as it sorted her into Ravenclaw. 

She snuck a few glances at them throughout the feast that night, watching them laugh together. That was when she made herself a second promise. While she wouldn't interfere during Hogwarts, she would do everything to prevent the dark fates she knew awaited them in adulthood. They deserved that chance.  

 ̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ・☽ ༓ ☾・  ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶  ̶̶̶̶ 

-- 3RD YEAR
 (Hermione's First Year with the Marauders)

Classes were boring, to say the least. Having already done it once, she didn't find it challenging to do the bare minimum for her classes. She didn't risk making any friends, portraying herself as an awkward and quiet girl. She easily blended into the noise of the daily happenings of Hogwarts. Most of her days were spent visiting Hagrid or compiling lists and research for when the war would eventually hit.