Chapter 9: Hogsmeade

A/N

I want to say an incredibly sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to review on my last chapter, and to offer their opinion on the POV question. This is my first fanfic so it's a learning experience, and I'm really grateful to you for helping me grow.

Sorry for the significant delay, life decided to kick me while I was down recently. Regular updates will now resume.

September 1973

"James, darling…"

Euphemia Potter reached for her son as the teenager made to bound across Platform 9 ¾, already eager for the start of term. He turned back to his mother with an exasperated grunt echoing in the back of his throat. Euphemia staunchly ignored it.

"Now" she said, reaching and placing her hands on James' shoulders, affectionately stroking him. "Why is it that whenever we say goodbye to you, there's a long list of things we need to cover before I can allow your escape?"

James grinned wickedly at her as his sister laughed beside them both. Hermione leaned on Fleamont and enjoyed a goodbye embrace without the chiding her brother was inevitably about to experience.

"Let's start at the top." Euphemia assumed a put-upon attitude, but her eyes were sparkling with humour that wasn't missed by anyone in the little family. "Can you actually wear your glasses this year? I don't want another owl home from your sister stating you're complaining of headaches because it isn't cool to wear glasses and you're trying to squint at the chalk boards."

James shot a dirty look at his sister, who shrugged unconcernedly. Hermione wasn't above drafting in external help if it meant James would look after himself properly. She had enough to worry about without her brother stumbling around bouncing off suits of armour in the name of looking 'cool'.

Euphemia straightened the frames on James' face and wrinkled her nose at him.

"It might help if you stop being so…rambunctious and then your glasses might not get broken so much."

Hermione snorted at that description. Between Quidditch, with rogue Quaffles and Bludgers likely to smack James in the face at any moment, and his inevitable scuffles with both friends and foe alike, there was little hope for the integrity of James' wire frames. Fleamont bent down and chuckled into his daughter's hair, obviously following a similar train of thought.

"Next item on the agenda," Euphemia continued, as James sighed dramatically and sagged his shoulders.

"Mum, can we hurry this up?" he whined, and she shot him a quelling look.

Hermione turned away from the exchange with a laugh, and narrowly avoided being bowled over by a blur of black rushing past her.

"Mummy P!"

Euphemia's lecture on the number of owls received from Minerva McGonagall was cut off abruptly as Sirius Black collided with her, immediately crushing his arms around the slight woman, and tucking his face into the crook of her neck. He blindly ignored the way his over-summer growth spurt meant he was now significantly larger than the woman in his arms, instead he nuzzled into her silvering curls and held on as though his life depended on it.

"Sirius!" James was delighted both at the sight of his best friend and the rescue from the small amount of telling off he had been receiving, and bounded forward to join in what was now a group hug. Hermione grinned at the enthusiastic reunion. When they had stepped off the train at the end of their second year, Sirius had followed his mother and Regulus to the floo with stooping shoulders. Despite promising to visit over the holiday, they had received no word from him the entire break.

"Mummy P, please don't make me go back there" Sirius said at last, as all three let go, and gave Euphemia space to inspect the boy in front of her. He looked at her with wide, hopeful eyes as Euphemia frowned at him in concern.

"We missed you, darling" she breathed, running her hands through Sirius' fringe to sweep it away from his face, smiling at how he jerked his head back to stop her from making his hair too neat.

"Yes well, a summer of faux-simpering servitude in exchange for the chance to leave the grounds once a week with my pure-blooded friends seems a fair trade doesn't it" he ground out, bitterly. Reaching into his pocket, Sirius pulled out his signed Hogsmeade permission slip and clutched it like it was gold.

"Still, I only need this signed once! Left the old hag a nice surprise in the form of some redecoration in my room…" he grinned at Euphemia, who frowned at him again.

"Now Sirius, I know you don't get on with your family, but it might not be wise to antagonise Walburga quite so" she chided gently.

At the mention of the wider Black family, Hermione looked up and glanced around the platform eagerly in search of the now familiarly coiffed head of black hair. Her letters to Regulus over the summer had gone unanswered as the Potters failed to hear from anyone sequestered away in Grimmauld Place, and she had missed her challenging but loyal younger friend.

Looking around, she found the boy she was looking for, and felt her breath catch. Regulus Black was watching his brother be fussed over by Euphemia with a hungry expression. Next to him, the icy figure of his own mother was determinedly tilting her gaze away from her oldest son, and regarding others on the platform with clear disdain. Regulus' eyes snapped up to Hermione, and she couldn't miss the way his eyebrows briefly drew up as his mouth turned down. Turning sharply from the scene, he kissed his mother on the cheek as she allowed and boarded the train without another glance in her direction.

Hermione jerked away from the scene as Sirius clapped his hands together loudly, making her jump.

"Come on James, look lively! It's not like I died, I've just been imprisoned by my own mother. Much better! And think of it, now we can legally all head to Hogsmeade together" he shot a less-than-sly look at Hermione, who instantly arranged her face into an innocent expression as her mother eyed her suspiciously.

"And at that" she said, sticking her tongue out at Sirius "I'm off to find Marlene now I know you aren't a damsel in need of rescuing, no matter how long your hair is."

Sirius laughed at her words and ran his hand through his long messy black curls. Turning to give her mother a kiss, Hermione noticed her father edging towards James with a package in his hands whilst Euphemia's back was turned. She distinctly thought she heard the words 'to help keep the number of owls down'. Euphemia pulled back and rolled her eyes.

"He thinks I don't know he's passing on his father's blasted invisibility cloak" she whispered to her daughter conspiratorially, and Hermione chuckled.

"Still, it might keep Minerva from discovering them, and what Minerva doesn't know can't hurt her..."

Hermione fumbled down the train carriage, looking for a flash of red or blonde hair indicating the presence of her best friends. The Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station, it's jerking movement causing Hermione to nearly lose her balance several times. At one particularly intense jerk at a track change after Finsbury Park station, she lost her balance entirely, colliding with an 'oof' into the unfortunate student passing her.

"Steady on there Hermione, is Marlene's continuous yoga practise not helping your abysmal balance at all?"

Hermione looked up, blushing, into the grinning face of Adie Macmillan. Her own lips widened into a smile as she unceremonious took large fistfuls of the front of his jumper and hauled herself back into a standing position. Huffing, she reached up a hand to flip a mass of curls out of her face.

"Good summer, Adie?" she asked with a laugh, when she had finally collected herself. Adie laughed along with her, and braced his hands against her shoulders, knowing better than to trust her ability to stay upright until the train had moved out of London and on to straighter tracks.

"It was alright I suppose, but my life is that much sunnier for seeing you here." He flashed another smile at her, and Hermione felt something uncomfortable wriggle in her stomach. She blushed again and distracted herself from the feeling by punching him on the arm.

"Don't tease, Adie" she scowled at him. "Oh! Did you get your Hogsmeade permission slip signed? We should go down together properly this year."

Adie regarded her with a funny look on his face and rubbed where she had punched him on the arm. Hermione supposed that with a brother who was much stronger than her, and rather prone to using his strength to fight her for the last slice of cake, she had developed a bit of a hard punch to ensure she had a fighting chance in their household. She reached up and rubbed Adie's arm apologetically, ignoring the way he grinned when she did so. She especially ignored the beginnings of firm muscle underneath his sleeve. And just when did the boys in her year start getting so tall?

"Speaking of, did you ever tell your brother where you found out about the tunnel behind the one-eyed witch?"

Hermione regarded him with an imperious look and tilted her chin in defiance.

"I don't know what you mean, Macmillan, I heard it from Marlene who heard it from her dad."

Adie laughed loudly at that.

"Right" he said, edging a step closer to her. "And he was OK with the idea that you had absconded from school grounds and headed down to Hogsmeade by yourself?"

"My brother trusts me" Hermione said, with a smirk. Adie tutted gently.

"More fool him, then" he said quietly, returning her slightly wicked look.

"Hermione!"

Hermione jerked her head around, spotting the grinning face of Marlene hanging out of a compartment further down the carriage, waving wildly.

"Marley! I'm coming!"

Hermione stepped around Adie, already focussed on heading to her friends, and asking about their summers. Lily and Marlene had both been away with their families. Hermione hoped Severus was there too, since she worried about him whenever he had to go home for any extended period. Adie laughed as she started to stride off with purpose.

"See you in the library then, Hermione!"

Hermione turned and gave him a non-committal wave and a quick smile, turning away before she could see Adie stood in the corridor watching her leave, shaking his head with a smile on his face.

Barging in to the compartment Marlene had hailed her from, Hermione was dismayed to see only Marlene, Lily, Mary, and Alice sat together. She masked it quickly and greeted them all enthusiastically, before wriggling in to sit next to Marlene, and settling back to hear about their summers. As Mary launched into an enthusiastic description of the best pizza ever in the history of pizza from her holiday in Florence, Hermione whispered quickly into Marlene's ear.

"Have either of you seen Severus yet?"

Marlene shifted uncomfortable, her face darkening.

"Lily asked him to come and sit with us, but he turned to follow after Lestrange, Avery, Mulciber, and Rosier."

Hermione felt her stomach twist uncomfortably. Rodolphus Lestrange and his two lackeys, Marcus Avery and Dorian Mulciber, made her skin crawl. The three seemed to take pride in living up to every negative stereotype of Slytherin her brother so eagerly believed in. Their campaign of nastiness and bullying, hexing younger students in the corridors, was making her job of opening James' mind nigh on impossible. The nastiness seemed to only increase as the three got older, thereby widening the pool of targets, and increasing their spell repertoire. Hermione couldn't decide if it was a saving grace that Evan appeared to consider himself above such low-level bulling of their school peers. She and Regulus had come to an unspoken agreement not to debate issues of magical purity within reach of Evan's intensely assessing gaze, though the older boy had not once expressed an opinion one way or the other in front of her since his vicious use of the term blood traitor to Sirius the year prior. Instead, he had ended her second year with a flourishing goodbye in the library, pressing his lips to the back of her hand before smirking at her and drawling 'don't forget me, ma bichette' as Regulus had looked on, watching with an eyebrow raised.

Marlene watched Hermione's face fall and nodded.

"My reaction, exactly. I just can't understand why he would want to hang out with them. They're bullies, simply put."

Hermione worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

"If he's doing this because my brother and his friends tease him…" she cut herself off with a sigh, unsure as to what was going on in Severus' head. For all her attempts at open mindedness, hanging out with Avery and Mulciber was something she simply couldn't begin to understand. Marlene nudged her.

"You can't feel responsible to for every decision that other people make, Hermione" the blonde said, kindly. "You aren't responsible for your brother, or for Sirius, or for Remus and Peter. You aren't responsible for Severus, or Regulus for that matter. You need to take the weight of the world off your shoulders, Atlas. Merlin knows our friends have enough baggage, you won't cope trying to carry it all."

Marlene wrapped a protective arm around Hermione's shoulder, knowing full well her best friend would ignore everything she had said, and would continue on in her admirable but somewhat naïve view that everything could be fixed with the right logic applied. Luckily, Mary managed to provide enough of a shock at that point that Hermione was instantly startled out of her brooding.

"So did you know, Hogsmeade is basically just a hook up excuse? Loads of couples go as a date, and there's a bit of woods near the Shrieking Shack that's meant to be a make-out hotspot, a fourth year told me about it last year." Mary was fidgeting eagerly on the edge of her seat, perfectly coiffed blonde hair bouncing with her excited movements.

Hermione jerked from Marlene, suddenly choking on thin air.

"Oh Merlin" she gasped, as Marlene whacked her on the back. "I think I just accidentally propositioned Adie Macmillan." Marlene dropped the helping hand slapping on Hermione's back in favour of covering her own mouth as an inadvertent cackle erupted.

"How on earth did you do that?!" she gasped from behind fingers that were trying to hide her smile. Hermione looked traumatised.

"I just asked if he'd got his Hogsmeade permission slip signed! I thought he was looking at me funny…and…" she took a deep breath "and we already sneaked out to Hogsmeade via a passageway together last year" she groaned, dropping her reddening face into her hands.

"Hermione!" Lily shrieked. "This is the kind of information you are meant to share with the girls! I rule you have violated the Girl Code and must divulge all details immediately!"

Hermione scoffed, but didn't pick her face up from her hands. Marlene thought she could see steam rising from her scalp, such was the intensity of her blush.

"I just…Adie's the James of Hufflepuff, OK? A bit of a lovable trouble maker." Lily snorted at that description. "And I wanted to get James something he'd really like for his birthday, so I asked Adie, and Adie knew about the passageway to Hogsmeade, it comes out in Honeydukes cellar, and he said wouldn't it be so much better if when I showed it, I already had something from Honeydukes there to show him that I'd already been." Hermione looked up miserably. "Nothing happened though, we went to Honeydukes on a Hogsmeade weekend, so it wouldn't be suspicious, Adie went and paid for the chocolate, and we sneaked back. I didn't realise there was some sort of implication."

Lily was in fits of giggles at her friend's consternation, and Marlene was patting Hermione's shoulder in a mildly patronising way.

"So, do you actually fancy him then?" Lily demanded, a wide smile on her face as Hermione wrinkled her nose.

"No! I don't know. We're thirteen, elective classes start this year, my friends are complicated enough as it is. Can I have another year to think about it?"

The mood sobered a little at that. Mary and Alice couldn't understand the other girls' attempts to cling to their friendship with Severus Snape, a greasy haired creep as far as they were concerned. And Lily and Marlene were more than wary of Hermione's friendship with Regulus, though for different reasons. Lily couldn't look past the views Regulus had expressed early in the friendship, much as Hermione insisted his thinking had evolved, and Marlene was concerned that Hermione was trying to single-handedly rescue every lost little lamb, despite the impact on her own well-being.

Lily smirked, breaking the tension that had suddenly fallen on the compartment.

"Poor Adie, such mixed signals." Hermione threw her bag at her.

Further down the carriage, Peter slinked back into the compartment with the other boys, grinning slyly.

"James, what would you do if you found out someone was interested in your sister?"

Both Sirius and James' heads snapped up at the question, frowning.

"Why? What have you heard?" James demanded, cracking his knuckles menacingly.

"Overheard something" Peter shrugged, unconcerned. "What's in it for me?"

James scowled and rolled his eyes.

"I'll trade you a chocolate frog for the name of the fucker" he growled, and Peter's grin widened.

"I heard your sister sneaked off school boundaries last year with Adie Macmillan" he announced, triumphantly. "And I heard she asked him to Hogsmeade this term. Now what's that worth?"

James had flushed bright red as Peter spoke, his eyes flashing.

"Took her off grounds? Without speaking to me? I'll kill him."

"I'll help!" growled Sirius, leaping to his feet. Peter's eyes gleamed as James chucked him two chocolate frogs.

Remus looked up from the book he was reading in the corner of the compartment, lazily flicking his wand to seal the compartment door shut before the two boys could escape.

"Lupin! You open this door, I've got a Hufflepuff to murder!" James cried, outraged at the intervention.

"Your sister, as much as you want to protect her against the evils of the world such as boys, is a fully autonomous individual in her own right" Remus said casually, turning his eyes back to the pages in front of him. "I promise you now, if you confront Macmillan like this, she'll string you up by your ankles in the middle of the Great Hall."

James clenched his fists and raised his eyes skyward, counting to ten slowly in the way his sister had been urging him to do before he spoke to any Slytherins.

"Fine" he huffed, throwing himself back to his seat in a sulk. "But when I'm calmer, me and Macmillan are going to have words."

"Fine?!" shrieked Sirius, his mouth agape at James' easy acquiescence. "But it's Hermione we're talking about! And Macmillan! He's not good for her."

Remus turned interested eyes to Sirius, assessing him quietly, and Sirius dropped his gaze at the look.

"OK, fine" he said, throwing himself down inelegantly beside James. "But you know what this means, we need to branch out from Slytherin for our pranks this year."

James perked up considerably at this thought.

October 1973

"Right, spill. What's going on?"

Hermione dumped her bag onto the desk in the library in front of Regulus, regarding the younger boy appraisingly as he scowled up at her. Her Slytherin friend had been avoiding her for weeks and had gotten into a series of increasingly nasty altercations with the so-called "Marauders".

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean" Regulus sniffed dismissively, pushing her bag from where it blocked his parchment, and beginning to scratch away again with his quill.

Hermione pursed her lips, and sat down heavily in the chair opposite, staunchly ignoring Regulus' attempt at a withering glare. She unloaded her books to stack into a neat pile at the side of her and regarded her carefully drawn out list of assignments to wait for Regulus to crack.

The boy put down his quill with a sigh, lowering his head and seeming to count to ten under his breath.

"What do you want?" he asked, and Hermione immediately smiled brightly at him.

"I'm so glad you asked, Reggie! How about we start with why you're avoiding me, and then we move on to why you're so angry with both of our brothers, hmm?"

Regulus regarded her for a moment, clearly mentally calculating just how long he thought he could continue avoiding the stubborn Potter, before growling and giving in. His shoulders slumped, and his mouth turned down in much the same way as when she had seen him on Platform 9 ¾. He began twisting the feathers of his quill in his fingers as Hermione patiently waited for him to begin.

"I had a really good summer" he said finally, his eyes darting up to meet her own. Hermione's forehead furrowed in confusion, and Regulus sighed. "I had my brother back all summer, it was like…like before he came to Hogwarts. Maybe even better, because he didn't pick any fights with Mum for the whole holiday even when she went off about how Gryffindors are blood traitors. He spent time with me again, and we were actually allowed to speak to one another."

The quill was slowly being shredded into pieces, little feathers plucked and falling onto his assignment in front of him. Regulus scowled.

"And then we get to the platform, and he turns to our mother and says it was only to get his permission slip signed, that he hates our family and everything it stands for, and he's off to find his brother."

Hermione's stomach dropped a little. She could see how much it hurt Regulus every time Sirius and James referred to each other as family, knew he felt that Sirius was using James to replace him.

"He never thinks of me when he says things like that!" Regulus burst out suddenly, making Hermione jump. "It's like he forgets that he'll be off in Godric's Hollow come next holiday, and I'll be the one who has to stay behind with them."

"Why do you?" asked Hermione, curiously. "You're friends with me now, why don't you come and stay when Sirius does? Why are you so determined to damage your relationship further?"

Regulus sneered at her.

"And leave my parents all on their own? Turn my back on everything they've ever taught me? I might not agree with everything, and their attempts at discipline might be…intense, but does that really mean that I should walk away from my family? I'm not as selfish as Sirius is.

"And your brother…sometimes the two of you don't know how lucky you are. You have loving parents, and strong friendships. And your brother takes all that and uses it to be a total arsehole!" Regulus was panting by the end of his rant, face flushed uncharacteristically.

Hermione sat quietly, watching as Regulus picked up his wand to banish the remains of his ruined quill, and search his bag for a replacement. She couldn't see an easy way to reach a compromise between the two brothers, she could only resolve to be the best friend she could be to them both, and to be glad that her own family didn't come with such struggles. She reached forward and clasped Regulus' hand for a moment, before leaning back.

"So…Hogsmeade weekend coming up after Halloween, do you want anything from Honeydukes?"

Regulus looked at her gratefully before smirking.

"I'm a Slytherin and you just made me share my feelings. Again, I might add. I think you owe me the biggest bar of chocolate you can find."

Hermione smiled warmly and pulled her first assignment towards herself, settling in for a long session of studying. She took one look at the essay title and began flipping through her assigned textbook.

"And you have a least one strong friendship" she added, without looking up from her book. She took the silence from the other side of the table as acceptance.

November 1973

"FREEDOM!"

Sirius burst through the doors to the Entrance Hall and out into the courtyard, arms held aloft in triumph. Hermione watched as Professor McGonagall pursed her lips in agitation, arm outstretched and waiting for their signed Hogsmeade permission slips. Sirius clutched his signed parchment tightly and gave it a kiss with a loud smacking sound, before slapping it enthusiastically into the hand of his Head of House.

"There you go, Minnie! Thank Merlin I only have to get that signed once."

He grinned up into the scowling face of their professor.

"Five points from Gryffindor for continued cheek, Mister Black, and do try to behave yourself while you're in the village, at least for this first trip down. Maybe Miss Potter can help reign you in."

Hermione placed her own signed permission slip into the professor's hand with a groan.

"Come on, Professor, you're setting me up for a fall" she whined. One look at the almost manic grin on Sirius' face and anyone could see there would be no 'reigning him in' on this trip. Professor McGonagall's lips twitched briefly before she waved the rowdy group on.

Hermione stepped back to link arms with Marlene, as Lily and Alice followed them. Despite the assertions in the train on their way to school for the term, it was only Mary who had decided to use the Hogsmeade weekend trip as an opportunity for a date. She had left the dormitory that morning giggling furiously to meet her new Ravenclaw beau. The rest of the girls, having not been approached by any boys, and Hermione having avoided Adie Macmillan at all costs in her mortification, had decided to treat the weekend as an opportunity for a girl's excursion.

As they headed on the walk down to the village, the girls watched as the 'Marauders' barrelled ahead of them, playfully pushing and shoving each other. More than once, Lily scoffed as James ruffled his hair, messing it up even more than it did so naturally. Hermione tried to ignore Lily's disdain; she knew that James was self-conscious about having to now permanently wear his glasses and was trying to compensate for this with other aspects of his appearance.

"So, who do you think is next for a date, after Mary?" Marlene teased the other girls as they walked through the village. Lily tapped her chin thoughtfully, and then a slow, wicked smile spread across her face.

"I know…" she said slowly.

"Lily, I'm not sure I like that look on your face" Alice said, looking at the girl on her arm with mild alarm.

"Nonsense Alice, I'm full of nothing but good ideas. Tell her, girls" Lily demanded primly, tossing her flaming hair over her shoulder.

"Debatable" muttered Marlene, smiling innocently when Lily glared at her.

"This idea though, definitely a good one" Lily assured them. Hermione followed Lily's eye line, spotting a group of Gryffindors from the year above near the Three Broomsticks. One particular mop of brown hair caught her attention.

"Oh!" Hermione gasped, turning to Lily with a grin.

"No no, now there's two of them. Marlene, there's two of them!" Alice's expression changed from mild alarm to full on panic.

"Relax, darling, just go with the flow…Frank! Off for a drink, are we?"

The boy in question looked up from where he had been laughing with his friends, and grinned at the approaching third years. His eyes fell on Alice, still being firmly dragged along by Lily, and a slight blush suddenly swept across his cheeks.

"Hi girls" he grinned, before waving between the two groups and conducting quick cursory introductions. "We couldn't decide between Honeydukes or a warm drink first, just debating it now."

"Actually, could you do us a favour?" Lily asked, looking up at Frank with wide, innocent eyes, and staunchly ignoring the way Alice was attempting to sink her nails into Lily's arm through her robes. "It's Alice's birthday soon and we've been terrible friends, we need to get her a present and we can't do that while she's with us. Could you keep her occupied for a bit for us, please?"

Hermione was pretty sure it would be possible to cook eggs on the heat now flushing poor Alice's cheeks, but Frank's face lit up like all his Christmases had come at once. His friends behind him laughed and clapped him on the back, quickly departing with the excuse that they wanted Honeydukes first anyway. Hermione grinned, it seemed like this was a good idea of Lily's after all.

"It would be my pleasure, Miss Fawley, if I could take you for a hot chocolate?"

Frank held his arm out to Alice, and she shyly reached forward to take hold of him. Lily beamed as the two made their way into the Three Broomsticks, Frank holding the door open for his new companion to pass through.

"Well, my work here is done. Those two have been making eyes at each other across the common room for the past year, for God's sake." Lily whirled on the other two girls. "Right then, what's the plan, ladies?"

"Please can I go to the bookshop?" begged Hermione, ignoring the roll of Lily's eyes.

"You're so predictable" Marlene said fondly, taking hold of Hermione's arm again and linking her other arm through Lily's as the trio set off through the crisp air.

After they had visited as many places as possible, just so Lily could say they had seen everything at least once ('all the better to organise our next trip properly') the girls were beginning the slow trek back to the castle when Hermione spotted Severus up ahead.

"Hey! Sev!"

They picked up speed to catch up with the lone figure, Lily putting on an extra burst at the end to jump and tackle her absent best friend. Hermione caught the way Severus' face lit up before he caught the little witch in his arms and both went flying back to land with a 'thump!'

Pinned underneath the feisty redhead, Severus raised an eyebrow at his friend's antics.

"Why hello Lils, long time no see" he drawled, smirking a little.

"Yes, and whose fault is that, Severus Snape?" Lily demanded, whacking her friend soundly on the arm before rolling off him and reaching an arm down to pull him to his feet. Severus dusted himself off but hadn't yet lost the almost-genuine smile.

"I'll admit, I have been a little remiss in my friendship duties of late" he said, inclining his head in an apologetic nod. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Is that supposed to be an apology, Sev? Honestly, you Slytherins. It's like you speak a whole different language."

Hermione and Marlene shared a smile at the way their friend had lit up to see Severus. The boy had grown increasingly elusive recently, between his budding friendships with less tolerant Slytherins, and his increasing time spent in the potions practice laboratories. Lily was often torn between being hurt that she was forced to miss her friend so often and being ecstatic for him that he had found something he was both so talented at and so passionate about.

"I'll forgive you" Lily said, tucking her arm through Severus' as they continued their journey back to the school "if you tell me something exciting you've been working on recently."

Severus smiled warmly at her enthusiasm, his delight that Lily was genuinely interested in his extra studies overwhelming his Slytherin tendency to hold his cards close to his chest.

"Well, I've been experimenting with stirring techniques. I've found that adding a counter-clockwise stir every seventh-"

"Oi! What's all this then?"

A loud voice sounded from behind them, causing Severus to flinch and cut off his excited speech to Lily. Instantly Hermione could see his usual guarded shutters closing across his face.

Charging up behind them, James Potter was regarding Severus and Lily's linked arms with a nasty sneer twisting his features.

"What are you doing Snivellus, don't get your grease all over Evans" he spat, nastily.

Hermione growled, stepping forward between her brother and her friends. James and his friends' repeated references to Severus' greasy hair were highly unfair in her opinion. Severus' prolonged amount of time around steamy potion fumes meant he often had issues with residue, and she knew his parents could not afford the luxury of some of the longer acting cleansing shampoos that other students benefitted from. It was a point of pride for Severus that he would also not ask for help, nor borrow anyone else's supplies.

"Back off James, Severus did absolutely nothing to you just then."

"Listen to your keeper, Potter. Run along now, you aren't wanted here" Severus sneered from behind her. He tightened his grip on Lily's arm, and a smug look spread across his face as James' cheeks pinked. Before Hermione could do anything to intervene, her brother had whipped out his wand and aimed a stinging hex at Severus' arm, causing the boy to yelp and jump back from Lily. James grinned vindictively.

"Enough, enough!" Lily screeched, as Severus also drew his wand and brandished it at the younger Potter. "Stop antagonising each other! Potter, get over yourself, you nasty piece of work! Go mess with your hair some more."

With that, Lily span on her heel and marched towards the castle, grabbing a fistful of Severus' robes to pull the boy along with her before the fight could degenerate any further. James watched her go with a frown. Turning to his sister, his eyebrows drew up in concern.

"Oh James" Hermione muttered, shaking her head. "Are you just realising it now?"

James looked dazed and confused, looking from his sister to the retreating form of Lily Evans. The other Marauders emerged suddenly in view, running to catch up and then doubling over panting.

"Merlin James, what was that? One minute you were there, next you were running off!" Remus groaned, clutching a stitch in his side. Hermione rolled her eyes and turned with Marlene to head back to the castle.

"I think our dear little James Potter has finally discovered he's in love with Lily" she tossed back over her shoulder. Turning to Marlene she muttered "and Merlin help us all when Lily realises it too."

A/N

That track change near Finsbury Park has been throwing me into the arms of random commuters for half my life, so it makes a guest appearance here.