To All the Voices

Ohoho what did we think about that last chapter? A lot of word vomit, eh? Well now I bring you a chapter with a lot more content and more, well, narrative features. In this chapter, we set up some foundation to Nemesis's friends, magical experiences, and current happenings in the Wizarding World and even showcase something about Nemesis you might want to remember for later. There's a few things you might want to look into but there's also things you won't get until maybe a few more chapters in? Yes it's a little hefty, but I love long content.

Also, I know some of you might be wondering about the name "Nemesis" and why Adeline and Nathan named her so. Well, as we know Hermione's name is derived from Greek Origin and before Harry Potter, her name wasn't as popular. So I already wanted Nemesis's name to be of Greek origin, and the name Nemesis is the name of a Greek Goddess - or okay, she's also known as Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia but that'd be difficult for me all to pronounce hence Nemesis. The reason why I chose her name specifically, my reasons, maybe one day I'll tell you all. Plus Nemesis gets cute nicknames like Nems or Sissy. Win-win

So Shout Out to xArchMage who noticed some similarities of Nemesis and Tom Riddle - whether or not they're coincidental, you have to continue reading to find out - but I love hearing what people are thinking and I think some of you might enjoy my own ideas with Nemesis. Also, ah, you pointed out a mistake of mine - I meant to put the year 1990 for when McGonagall visits her, I fixed it now, in case anyone looks back.

Disclaimer: Anything or anyone you recognize, I don't own it - J.K. Rowling does. The only one who belongs to me is Nemesis and kind of the personas of Nathan and Adeline.

Summary: In the books, Hermione Granger was the courageous one, the orderly one, the perfectionist. Now … well, she's practically the same. Except she has a sister, me. And okay, that changed a couple of things for the both of us. SI-OC

Chapter 2: Year 3: In Which We're Off to a Fun Start

July 31st, 1993

"I'm not ready," I yawned, pulling on a pair of jeans, fumbling as I tried to stand upright.

"Sissy, hurry up! I promised I would meet Harry and Ron in Diagon Alley!" Hermione shouted outside my bedroom door as she ran by, her trunk clunking behind her.

Of course she did, it was always about Harry and Ron. I rolled my eyes, pulling my trunk down from my bed. I checked inside one more time to see if there was anything I was missing and then nodded to myself, hauling everything to the door before looking around my bedroom as I put my dark hair up in a ponytail.

"Nemesis, dove," Adeline peeked in, her curls were fighting to free themselves from her ponytail, "you sent Spook to your friend's house, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, last night."

"Oh good," she breathed in relief, reaching down to help me with the trunk. "I was looking all over the house for the ruddy bird. Now, let's get going before your sister convinces your dad to leave us here."

I snorted, helping her lift the trunk and shuffle out of my room. Hermione was waiting with her hands on her hips by the time we got down to the car, Nathan was stuffing Hermione's things into the trunk.

I stuck my tongue out at her with a grin as we piled in and Nathan drove the lot of us to the Leaky Cauldron, with our house disappearing after turning onto a different street.

As far as I could remember, in this life and the last, it always felt strange to leave my childhood home. Back then it was college, now it was for Hogwarts, not that I wasn't already getting used to it.

Hogwarts had been my home for the past three years, starting when McGonagall had come to our door proclaiming Hermione and I to be witches. We had all been excited then, our family had been in a constant state of happiness. Whether it was because they all finally got an explanation for the unexplainable things that happened around Hermione and I or because they all were genuinely thrilled to be part of the magical world, I wasn't sure. I was more thrilled to test multiple magical theories that I had accumulated from my last and current life, and frankly, I was beyond thrilled to get an owl, especially now that I could talk to animals - hence Spook, a dark colored owl who had a penchant for running around rather than flying and witty input here and there.

Stupid owl, I hope he's okay at Margie's….

As for school, I truly did enjoy Hogwarts, my first year went better and worse than I had expected. The sorting hat was a bit snarky but kind-ish and left me with some parting words to think about. "Curious that you would be brought to this world when you weren't here before. I wonder what you will have to offer in RAVENCLAW!"

There, I met my closest friend, Margery "Margie" Walker. It was strange to befriend someone so young, since I was only used to Hermione, but it felt good to make relations of my own in the magical world. She was a bit of a loud one and opinionated, but overall charming, and she really disliked Marietta Edgecomb who unfortunately also roomed with us. Margie and I bonded over her rather shy puffskein that had stowed away in her trunk without her or her parent's notice. She had only realized when we came into the room to see Spook angrily screeching at the furball with eyes to get off my bed.

While I hadn't told her about my abilities, Mémé's words were still fresh in mind, she more or less understood that creatures tended to find and prefer me. She was more thrilled with observing my moods and noticing that I would unknowingly call creatures to me or conjure some creature-like features when anxious - like fur, scales and feathers under my clothes. "You're obviously weird, but bloody amazing, can you show me how to do that? Is it transferable?" She asked and continued to ask me billions of questions for years after.

With Margie, came her quiet and observant cousin, Terrence Higgs - yes, the original Slytherin Seeker before Draco Malfoy took the position. Terrence was in our year and, of course, in Slytherin House, but seemed to be a bit of an outlier, he didn't form attachments, really, or conform to the pureblood supremacy often found in his house. So Margie dragged him everywhere with us, enough for us to form something akin to a friendship, despite many Slytherins' disapproval - something they were vocal about. As my friend, Terrence reminded me much of Nathan, sarcastic, blunt, and a bit mischievous, it was his greatest weapon against Margery and other Slytherins.

The rest of the year went as well as I could expect, I absolutely delved myself in magic and persistently studied everything I could - I needed to confirm the thousands of theories that I had. I excelled in transfiguration and to some extent, charms. Potions wasn't the worst if I could avoid Snape's disapproval. History of Magic with Binns, no joke, was complete garbage, unfortunately for me because I usually loved history. On the other hand, flying lessons that Margie had roped me into were a pleasant surprise. While on ground I was hopeless with anything active, being in the air was so different. Overall, my first year at Hogwarts was everything I had imagined and more.

Granted, the only real unfortunate circumstance I had to deal with was the Weasley twins.

Don't get me wrong.

While I had loved the duo fiercely in the books and had cried for Fred's death, I couldn't find myself connecting them with the two most obnoxious pranksters from the year above mine. It was like in the first moment they saw me, they just somehow decided, "she's going to be our number one target of pranks." There were only so many pranks where one became the laughingstock that I could take before I was hiding from them or setting owls, cats, and every other beastie after them.

To think I would one day be related to those two. Or, on a lesser scale, have to be in their presence for extended periods of time in the following years.

Year two marked the beginnings of that as Hermione came to Hogwarts and was sorted into Gryffindor. Despite being in different houses, we tried hard to spend a lot of time with each other, and I told off her bullies, even Ron, when I've caught them talking about her on more than one occasion; setting animals on them when they didn't get the hint as I have before. Of course, after Halloween, Hermione had befriended Harry and Ron and she had more of an easier time around her classmates after that. For me, that just meant the Weasley twins sought me out just a bit more because "we have to be best friends if our younger siblings are going to be!".

A lot of that year was spent hiding from the Weasley twins and getting as far away as possible from Quirrell, who, unfortunately for me, Slytherins and Ravenclaws had begun asking me if I was related to him because of my easily-nervous and clumsy tendencies. Most of them woke up to rats at their bedsides.

One of the fortunate things to happen that year was that Margie and Terrence made it onto their respective Quidditch teams on pure talent. They had been talking about joining the teams for ages and had been some of the first to sign up for tryouts, I was there to cheer them on at their respective tryouts. Unfortunately for Terrence, I knew that they would replace him next year with Malfoy; I could only feel guilty, especially after his first game. At least he won the other ones, much to Margie's chagrin.

All in all, the year was quiet for me, I was confident I had become a forgotten side character to the main plot so I didn't mind making my rare appearance (my study sessions with Hermione notwithstanding) to chastise Hermione, and to an extent, Harry and Ron for landing in the hospital wing at the end of the year. That year ended with me running down the stairs in search of Spook … and well, falling down the stairs with a cloud of scales.

As for Year three, last year, I couldn't help but dread many things before it even started.

For obvious reasons, one was the basilisk. I had never tested whether or not my speaking capabilities extended to snakes, only that I could conjure their scales at random moments. I tried willing a snake to me over summer but none came to me so I was just anxious about whether or not I'd sense the basilisk before it attacked me as I was a Muggleborn. I was not eager to test my capabilities with a basilisk even if creatures tended to prefer me.

Two was only two words, Gilderoy Lockhart. Oh I can't even begin to dread the sod enough, my education was going to be crippled because of him and Hermione wasn't going to be on my side for this one. From the letters Margie sent me that summer, I knew she was falling suspect to the charms of the wizard too, much to my dismay. At least Terrence agreed with me that the books were rubbish.

And the third … was Terrence's replacement on the Quidditch team.

Frankly, my third year started out terribly. While I knew the basilisk wasn't terrorizing anyone just yet, as Ginny Weasley was probably beginning to pour her heart and soul out to Tom Riddle, Defense Against the Dark Arts was garbage and Terrence was told he was off the team.

Margie and I had to deal with a very stony and slightly cruel Terrence who had a very sharp tongue for weeks. He wouldn't tell us what they told him, just that he had been kicked off for a "better option" but I noticed he was far more protective of Margie and I after that, even retaliating against some bad mouthing Slytherins and the Weasley Twins when they played a water prank on me after I had left Care of Magical Creatures.

Which, by the way, became my best and favorite class, even if Professor Kettleburn was a bit … exuberant for a guy with so few arms. It was absolutely wonderful to meet so many creatures, and I had come to pleasantly find that magical creatures were far more complex than muggle animals. And while Kettleburn was a capable teacher, I found myself learning more from the little beasties themselves, something Margie benefited from even if she wasn't sure how I knew these things the first few weeks. She and I were often amused when we watched magical creatures try to follow me into the castle after class every day we had it. I did enjoy my other new classes too, Ancient Runes and Arthimancy were very interesting and I was only lucky that they worked out because Kettleburn had a different schedule than Hagrid would next year.

That was the only good part about the year - that and Harry's eventual win against Malfoy because it finally made Terrence smile that year. I didn't talk to Harry often, if at all, but I did thank him in passing for it.

Otherwise, the year was terrifying.

I avoided being alone, Margie thought it was just my nerves but would sandwich me between her and Terrence and made sure I carried Spook everywhere.

I avoided the dueling club, which brought the trio to me literally the next day. They came to ask if I could talk to snakes because Hermione decided to tell them I can talk to and understand animals. Oh I was so cross with her for weeks, but I had to admit I hadn't heard any creatures speak outside of the ordinary complaints for food and territory. And it forced me to tell Margie and Terrence about being able to understand animals, something Margie grinned evilly at and Terrence just sighed at.

I even avoided Ginny Weasley just in case, not that it was difficult - I only spoke to her once at Diagon Alley before ultimately hiding behind Nathan from the twins and only saw her in passing every other week.

My routine consisted of sleeping early, only going to breakfast if Margie was going with me, same with lunch and dinner, and only ever went to classes, much to the puzzlement of my friends as I had a tendency of exploring (getting lost). Even going to Hogsmade made me nervous much to their dismay. And after the first two petrifications, I always, always walked around with a little compact mirror. No death for me sir, not again.

And the one time, the one time I decided to not do any of that, I was petrified. Alongside my own sister. Terrence and Margie had opted going to the Quidditch game, which I usually wouldn't miss because they were making me such a fanatic, but I had so many questions regarding tattoo runes versus blood runes that had been eating at me for weeks that I decided to just work up my bloody courage and went to the library - completely forgetting the day and who was playing.

Imagine how terrified I was when I found Hermione in the library, rushing at me with wide and fearful eyes, and a paper with the details of a basilisk on it. "Sissy, sissy - can you understand this creature?" "No- no, I can't- … do you hear that?" I heard the hissing quite clearly, as the voices of creatures were much more pronounced to me than to the regular human, but in a language I couldn't understand. So I never would know it was said when I fearfully pulled out the compact mirror (the only thing I did right) to see the yellow eyes of the basilisk above us.

Months later, I woke up sputtering, spitting out a mouthful of Mandrake potion, with Hermione awake beside me. After being told the details of what happened by Hermione, I made sure to give Harry and Ron a big hug each at the End of Term feast before getting tackled by a crying Margie and Spook, and eventually Terrence. I was so relieved for that year to end.

And now, we were onto the beginnings of my fourth year, and Hermione's third.

We had just returned from visiting Mémé and Pépé in France. At some point in our time abroad, Hermione made a plan with Ron to surprise Harry in Diagon Alley and to shop for our school supplies. I managed to agree to meet with Terrence at the alley, since Margie had gotten in trouble for experimenting with potions and was grounded until she went to school. He didn't need to shop for school supplies, but he did want to fill me in on a couple of things.

Apparently there was such an uproar what with Sirius Black's escape and all. Hee.

When we made it to the Leaky Cauldron, Adeline pulled the two of us aside for her yearly fretful hugs seeing as they wouldn't be staying with us at the Leaky Cauldron or see us off at the Platform. "Remember to be careful girls - Nems, please no more falling down the stairs - the clouds of creature fur was difficult to clean up. And Hermione, dear, please stop putting so many books in your bookbag - magic or not."

"And make more girl fiends," Nathan muttered, eyeing an approaching Terrence as he put our trunks on the curb. "Darling, I'm sure the conference can wait, we can stay with the girls for the night-"

"Oh, shut up." Adeline laughed, winking at Hermione and I. "The girls will be fine, the Weasleys are staying here the night too."

"And I'll be going home after dinner, sir." Terrence added, coming to a stop not too far away from us. He shared a look with me before greeting my parents politely.

Nathan made a face and turned to us. "Alright girls, bring it in."

Hermione and I laughed, hugging him as he subtly (or not) hid us from Terrence.

With a final "behave!" and finger wagging from Nathan, we watched as our parents drove off to their dentistry conference.

"You know, it's almost like he never met Margie." I mused, watching as Terrence took Hermione's trunk for her with a greeting nod and Spook's empty cage. I do hope that terror was alive, Margie did get excitable.

"Have you met her? She's practically a boy herself." Terrence snorted.

"And besides," quipped Hermione, opening the door for us. "Even one boy is one too many for our dad."

She couldn't have been more right.

After we requested a room for the night and put away our belongings in the room, Hermione had taken off in search of her two best friends. Terrence shrugged, turning to me with a grin.

"Firebolt?" Ah, the novelty of the summer, I've been waiting months to finally see it.

"Thought you'd never ask."

As we made our way to Quality Quidditch Supplies, Terrence helped me pick out some school supplies on the way - something I found myself always eager to do - while commenting on items here and there. He seemed more impressed with book selection this year (how was he not a Ravenclaw?), and was even looking forward to our DADA book this year, saying his mother had approved of it.

"She made it onto the Hogwarts Board of Governors, you know," said Terrence. "Ever since Malfoy's dad got booted off for threatening the rest of the board into his favor."

Huh. "Good for her. What does the Board of Governors even do, anyways? Besides suspending headmasters." They hardly did anything in the books, I almost forgot they existed until they told Dumbledore to leave last year.

"Loads of things, really. For one, they have to approve the books professors use, the curriculum taught - mum has been trying to replace Binns for ages after he gave her little brother a dismal grade. They also handle a lot of registrations and permits, the fundings for needy students and muggleborn students - if you want, I can really just ask mum for her work handbook."

I made a face, pushing my glasses up. "No thanks. I just never heard of them except for when Dumbledore got suspended."

"Yeah well, we all know why he got suspended. Sometimes I wonder if Malfoys ever have shame."

"Dunno how to answer that, never met a decent one before. They rather like their high horses, from there they like to look down at everyone, especially us muggleborn."

"That they do…." Terrence murmured, looking off in thought.

I gave him a side eye, curiously, slowly turning to look at window displays. Terrence always did get a bit weird whenever Malfoy was brought up, understandably so - so I didn't question it. Margie and I had to learn to deal with the episodes, one method was just to ignore it.

He finally nudged me with a smirk before walking away. I frowned after him.

"What?"

"Come on, Granger, hurry up!"

I rolled my eyes. Slytherin secretiveness. To think that used to be my house on Pottermore. I sucked at secrets.

He led me to the crowded Quidditch shop, where everyone and their mum were outside the display window blocking me from seeing the very thing we came here to see. Why'd the bloody Firebolt have to be so popular?

We started at it for a long moment before I finally gave Terrence another side-long look and groaned loudly.

"Don't whine, the two of us are actually going in the store. You can see it when we're in there."

"Oh? What are you getting?" Quality Quidditch Supplies only let buying customers in when they made huge releases like this - otherwise it would clog the shop with just window shoppers.

"Not sure yet," he shrugged, looking hesitant. "Figured I could get Troy a broom before he leaves for his apprenticeship again."

Troy was Terrence's older brother, a wandmaker in the making. I had yet to meet him since he was always in one apprenticeship or another, but he always came back to London during summer to spend time with Terrence. They were close despite the age difference, and there was one only thing they didn't meet eye to eye on.

"Trying to get him into Quidditch?" I asked, amused.

Terrence huffed a laugh. "Something like that."

Quidditch Quality Supplies was always a good stop in Diagon Alley, sure it wasn't Magical Menagerie or Flourish and Blotts, but with the way that Terrence and Margie were able to influence me enough to be a fan, it was surely heading that way. I found myself strangely enjoying the smell of the broom polish and all the team flags and colors that were littered around the store were genuinely pleasant to look at. Not to mention the broom displays.

Terrence and I spent a good minute or two debating on brooms after gawking at the Firebolt. It was absolutely gorgeous, just… not so much after Terrence asked for prices. Not that I doubted Terrence could afford it, but neither of us thought it was reasonable for him to spend that bloody much on a broomstick. We sadly moved on to other new models and after a lot of debate, forehead flicking, eventual arguing, more gawking at the Firebolt, and last discussions, we walked out grudgingly satisfied and a packaged broom over Terrence's shoulder.

We barely made it far when we saw Harry and Ron, the latter crouching to reach under a wastepaper bin just outside.

"Harry?"

Harry looked up, his eyes lighting in recognition - and hesitation at the sight of Terrence, one I was used to seeing as the boys were still a bit apprehensive of my Slytherin friend. At least Harry tried more. "Oh hi, Nemesis. Higgs."

"My sister was looking for you, did she ever find you?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I think she's back at the magical creature shop, getting an owl." Harry told me. I only then remembered this was the year where Hermione wouldn't be walking out with an owl, but with Crookshanks in his squished-face glory. Courtesy of our parents not being there for her actual birthday.

Terrance made sure to give me a sharp look before glancing over at Ron who began pulling something out from underneath. "What's Weasley getting on his hands and knees for?"

"Er- his rat."

The three of us watched as Ron stuffed the hideous thing away into his pockets. I had to fight off the shivers at the thought of Peter Pettigrew.

"What was that? Oh hey Nemesis - blimey, I keep forgetting your hair changes color. Higgs."

"It was either a very big cat or quite a small tiger," said Harry as Terrence and I nodded at him, while I subconsciously pushed back a strand of hair.

Then of course they noticed the box that Terrence was carrying on his shoulder, glancing at the shop.

"Wait, Higgs, did you buy-?" Harry's green eyes rounded, as he pointed to the crowded window.

"I thought Malfoy bought your spot on the team!" Said Ron, with no tact whatsoever as he stared at Terrence whose face went a little cold at that.

"It's an Air Wave Gold, Harry, and not all broomsticks are for bloody Hogwarts teams, Ronald." I huffed much to Harry's curiosity and Ron's slight abashedness, pointing them down the street. "Come on, let's go find my sister."

And find her, we did. She walked out of Magical Menagerie - Terrence had to grip my hood -carrying a huge, fat, purring ball of thick orange fluff with a squashed face and bowlegged paws - like the cute kittens I remember in many cat videos from my first life. In short, I was in love.

"He's gorgeous, isn't he? Isn't he, Sissy?" Hermione was glowing.

I bent to Crookshank's eye level and began petting him. "Of course he is, huh? Aren't you absolutely handsome?" His yellow eyes met mine.

"Such kind little witches. Very different from the other witches and wizards that come through the doors," meowed Crookshanks, relishing as Hermione and I scratched the back of his ears..

I gave him a secret wink. "Other witches and wizards just don't know how to respect a handsome cat like you."

"Absolutely mental," said Ron as the three boys watched the display. "That thing nearly scalped me, Hermione!"

"He didn't mean to, did you, Crookshanks?" said Hermione as she hugged him to her.

"And what about Scabbers?" said Ron, pointing at his quivering chest pocket. "He needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to get it with that thing around?"

"Your rat looks like someone just took bones and painted them brown, Weasley." Terrence interjected bluntly, making a face. "Just get a new rat and feed that one to the cat, at least it'd be of some use after death."

Ron spluttered angrily at that. "No one asked you, Higgs! Scabbers has been in my family for-"

"That reminds me, you forgot your rat tonic," Hermione said, juggling Crookshanks in her arms to slap a small red bottle in Ron's hand. "And stop worrying! Crookshanks won't be eating your rat, he'll be sleeping in my dormitory and Scabbers in yours." She instantly turned to me, holding the cat up to my face. "Poor Crookshanks, the witch said he'd been in there for ages, no one wanted him."

"I was pleased to finally be chosen," meowed Crookshanks.

"From the sound of it, he wasn't regarded well by other people either." I told my sister, rubbing behind his ear.

"Wonder why." Ron muttered sarcastically.

"Exhibit A." Harry and Terrence gestured to him immediately as Ron started off in one direction.

I snorted, shoving the two of them after Ron.

At the Leaky Cauldron, we parted ways once we saw Mr. Weasley at the bar, reading the Daily Prophet. Hermione, Harry, and Ron opted to join him; Terrence and I went up to my shared room with Hermione to dump my things before dinner.

"So how long do you get to stay today?" I asked him, falling on my bed with a fwoomp.

"Well," began Terrence on his way to the dresser next to the door. "Dad's working at the Ministry for a few more hours. Figure you're stuck with me till then."

"At least you're good company."

"Am I better than Margie?" I glared at his sly face.

"You are both equally good company. Just not when either of you try to make me pick favorites just to one-up each other."

Terrence smirked at that. "You can't blame me for trying. Since Margie wants both of us to wake up early to help her personal Quidditch practice again, the least we could do to retaliate this time is say I'm the favorite."

I groaned at that. At the end of our second year, Margie and Terrence had begun to informally and somewhat secretly - since Terrence's housemates were prats - practice with and against each other on the pitch, even after Terrence's drop from his team. The two dragged me along so that I can give my two cents and increasingly harsh criticism that they seemed to appreciate. But even if I was used to going to their practices, I hated early morning practices when I wasn't the one flying.

"How early this time?"

"Her new personal training regime starts at six on the dot so both of us should be up by five, I think?"

"Why the bloody he-"

"She wanted more practice time." He shrugged, amused as he gauged my reaction.

I frowned at him from his perch. "Are we even allowed to be out of the castle that early?"

Terrence paused, thinking about it. "Probably not, well, not now anyways. They're probably going to restrict curfews to seven a.m., we'll most likely have to practice in courtyards."

"Wait, they're restricting curfews?" I asked, sitting up. How the bloody hell does he have all this information?

"Remember how I wrote to you about the escape from Azkaban?"

Ah, Sirius Black.

"How could I forget?" I huffed. They had sent me owls everyday to make sure I was aliveI was touched by their devotion even if I knew Sirius was innocent. "You and Margie were begging me to stay indoors the week it happened. What about it?"

"Well, Mum told me the Board is consenting to protective measures as a response to it, like curfews and adult supervision out on grounds, something about castle 're hoping this appeases the ministry enough to avoid some more extreme protective measures since they're getting a bit … creative with them."

Interesting. I wonder if the Board had tried this much in the books. I took off glasses to clean them. "Funny how the Ministry is now trying to put so much effort in protecting the school now when quite literally, the wizard they feared the most has passed through those halls at least twice in the past two years."

"Yeah," agreed Terrence as I slipped my glasses on. "Dad says the Ministry would even deny that the mere essence of the Dark Lord still exists. Now, however, they know there is an unpredictable madman on the loose whose last recorded words in captivity were 'He's at Hogwarts.'"

I gave him a look. Terrence raised an eyebrow back.

"Is your dad even allowed to talk to you about this information? Isn't he a top auror? Sworn to the ministry?" You'd think there'd be something in the contracts.

He snorted. "Sworn oaths don't stop us from sharing the information to their family. Family is one of the words on my family's coat of arms."

I smirked at that. We paused for a moment, before I sighed and hugged my pillow.

"So they think Sirius Black is after Harry Potter."

"They don't think it, they know, Nems. Black was considered one of Dark Lord's biggest supporters, you don't think his biggest supporter would try to retaliate against the one who brought him down?"

Oh bugger, I didn't think it'd be so frustrating to be the one who knows everything but not be able to correct everyone.

"What I think," I started carefully, "is that there is something missing from the bigger picture."

"Like what?" He asked, not unkindly, to which I shrugged. I told myself I wouldn't say anything after all.

"I wonder when she'll put me down. It'd be nice to explore."

That sounded like Crookshanks … I glanced at the door. There were no footsteps outside the door but if that was Crookshanks….

Oh bloody hell, I do hope she didn't hear anything. I had to think of whether or not I said anything incriminating while I felt fur poking around my neck.

With a slightly relieved sigh, I leaned against the headboard. "Maybe I should just let you and Margie practice, I do like sleeping." I said, moving away from the problematic topic.

Terrence rolled his eyes, picking up random things on the dresser. "Margie would give you hell for it. Davies sent her a letter that he's going to be stricter with try-outs now that he's Captain."

"Davies got Captain?" Did that happen in the book? He was such a try-hard. "Try-outs are going to be a pain."

"Do you know anyone who's trying out? For Seeker?" Terrence looked thoughtful, now inspecting a blush container.

Like he didn't know. "Chang. She's been eyeing Jones's spot ever since last year." She loved to talk about it all the bloody time in the dorm.

Terrence just made a non-committal sound before sneezing because of the powder. There was finally a knock at the door.

"Hello?" Hermione peeked her head in nervously, with a bored Crookshanks still in her arms. If I hadn't watched her grow up since birth, I probably wouldn't have noticed how … nervous she looked. Damn it…. "Are the two of you coming down for dinner?"

"Depends," I said, trying to play it cool. "Are the terrors downstairs?"

Terrence chuckled, Hermione gave me a chiding look. "They're not that bad, Sissy. I think if you get to know them, you'd like them."

"Have you met your sister? She has standards." Terrence pointed at me.

"Thank you!"

"Too high of standards."

I gasped. "Nothing is too high!"

"You're so short, everything is too high."

Hermione was giggling by the time I threw a pillow at him. The stupid boy jumped off the dresser and snaked around Hermione to make a dash for it with me running after him.

By the time we got downstairs, I managed to tackle him (okay I fell down and rammed into him) at the last flight of stairs and Hermione was chastising us from a flight or two up. By the time we settled into our seats, at the end of three tables put together, we were sporting two new bruises but at least we were grinning, ready for the five course meal that was coming our way.

Until I realized who was sitting across from us.

"You've got to be joking." I moaned.

"Good evening-"

"-our darling little dove!"

Bloody menaces sat across from me, two identical looking redheads with not-as-boyish features but boyish hairstyles, mischievous smirks, who sat in mirrored poses. I set Terrence a pleading look that he only responded with a dry one.

"How was your summer?" Asked the one.

"Heard you were in France!" Said the other.

"No wonder you didn't write us back any letters!" They said together

"You should've seen Fred here, absolutely heartbroken!"

"George had to pull me together, of course! You should respond to your letters next time!"

"Come off it," said Ron, who sat next to them. "You're making me lose my appetite fawning over her."

"Must you all shout?" I sighed, gesturing for Terrence to get me some potatoes from beside him.

Fred- George- one of the menaces made for the bowl only to be foiled by Terrence's quicker reflexes.

"You're surrounded by Gryffindors," said Terrence. "They're the loudest ones."

"Are not!" Shouted Ron and the twins.

Harry snorted into his cup as I nodded solemnly.

"How come Higgs is here anyways?" The twin that had tried to get the bowl asked, eyeing my friend who met his gaze blandly.

"Because he has every right to be here." Mrs. Weasley chided without missing a beat, handing Ginny a plate of brussel sprouts who turned red as she handed it to Harry across from her.

"Higgs?" Mr. Weasley looked up from a conversation with Percy. "Like Matthew Higgs?"

Terrence nodded. "Yes, sir. My dad is an Auror."

"Ah, he's a good man, Matthew." Mr. Weasley smiled fondly. "Always fair. Any child of his is bound to be."

I held back a grin when Terrence gave the twins a side glance.

"Thank you sir."

"Are you his youngest or oldest? He has two sons, right?" Mr. Weasley asked, engaging Terrence in conversation.

"How was France, Hermione? Nemesis?" Harry asked us.

And dinner continued much the same after that, it was even easygoing, although I did butt heads with the twins on some teasing remarks and flying peas and they even seemed to blatantly ignore Terrence who had no problem with that.

He politely excused himself once he was full, saying his father was planning to pick him up in the alley, and left with the broom to avoid questions before the discussion of how we would get to the Platform. The twins perked up at that to my dismay, my only reassurance the rest of the night was that they were distracted by Percy's Head Boy badge - Percy was easier to annoy. I suppose I was grateful to them for one reason. The nerves (and fur that would prick through my clothes) they caused from worrying of their potential pranks on me kept me from worrying too much about accidentally letting something slip when Hermione had been listening at the door.

I didn't relax or prepare for bed until I heard Harry walk down to get Ron's rat tonic.

Just like in the books.

.

.

"NEMESIS GRANGER!"

I gasped for air as I was grappled into a ridiculously tight hug, nearly falling against the compartment door.

"Hi Margie," I breathed. "How are you-"

"You left me alone with Terrence all summer." She whined. "I was so close to going mad."

"You mean you aren't already?" I asked, nodding to Terrence from where he sat flipping through a Quidditch catalog.

Margie and Terrence were the cousins that did look related, only vaguely. Both had angular features and pin straight hair, but that's where direct similarities ended for Terrence had blond side swept hair and cold grey eyes, and Margie had black long hair with bangs and analytical brown eyes. And of course, very different personalities as one could see, they got on the way cats did - one moment they were best friends, the next hissing at each other.

And I was often in the middle. As per usual.

"It's about time," hooted Spook as he hopped off his perch on Terrence's shoulder. "I'm hoping you bought me treats yesterday?"

I gave him a flat look as we settled down. "I already give you bacon for treats. Go find your own food."

"That's not nice." He said, hopping into my lap with the equivalent of an owl pout, but he gave in to my petting with relish.

"Where'd you leave your sister and her boyfriends?" Margie asked.

"They're not her boyfriends, come off it."

Margie only smirked and stuffed my bag in the carrier. "Wait till she's fifteen and then she'll be interested in one of them"

Oh if only she knew. I still gave her a dry look. "Anyways, she's probably down the corridor looking for a compartment. I said my goodbyes on the platform because I knew you lot would be waiting."

More because I knew that Hermione would follow me to my compartment and drag the boys along, and I actually want to try and keep to canon. Plus I didn't fancy an impending meeting with a dementor. I knew I had a fifty-fifty chance of meeting one regardless in my own compartment because I died, but I didn't want to tempt any by being in the presence of the trio. Dementors would probably ignore me if I was in a (potentially) different car, right? I didn't really have a game plan for this. All this knowledge from the books and I still couldn't plan accordingly.

The nerves were kicking and I felt some fur poking at my ribs.

"Glad you knew your presence was demanded," said Margie, dropping into the seat next to me.

"I'm surprised you're here already. Weren't you grounded?" I asked her.

"Uncle Klaus didn't want to deal with her anymore." Terrence said distractedly, flipping the page.

"I could hardly deal with her. Cabin-fever makes her mad, that one." Added Spook, primly ruffling his feathers.

Margie had a self-satisfied smirk on her face. "Dad basically begged Troy to drop me off when he knew what time he was dropping off Terrence. Said if I wanted to make any more experimental potions, I could go to Hogwarts and blow-up some unused classroom."

I rolled my eyes at that, getting comfortable against the window. "What kind of potion were you working on anyways? Terrence wouldn't tell me."

"For once! He does as I tell him." Margie crowed despite Terrence's flat look. "I was inspired by the Mandrake potion last year. What if rather than having to wait until after petrification, one could avoid petrification by ingesting a potion prior to meeting a basilisk?"

"I've told you that's good and all but Margie, there hasn't been a basilisk since what? The nineteenth century?" Terrence scoffed, handing me the catalog for my leafing. "Only reason there was one around recently was because it was sleeping in the depths of Hogwarts for over hundreds of years."

"Yeah, but who's to say Nems won't see another one?"

"I would rather hope I don't." I'm usually afraid of spiders, but I've come to gain a bit of apprehension to most snakes.

"Nems," Margie started in her factual-Hermione-like voice, "you clearly have the makings of a magizoologist. And since we do have to consider our potential career paths for next year, it wouldn't hurt for me to start preparing to assist you as my chosen career path.."

Shoot, I almost forgot about the Career Talk with our Head of House happens in fifth year.

"Oh really? What's your career path then?" I asked her, opening the catalog.

"Potioneer!" Chirped Margie while Terrence said it in a dismayed tone.

"They wouldn't be making cauldrons fast enough for her." Spook hooted to which I hid my smirk behind the catalog.

"I think I'll enjoy being a fourteen year old while I still can." I said. After all, it was only fitting that in my second life, I got to completely enjoy my youth while I had nothing to worry about.

Terrence grinned. "Which means Quidditch-"

"And boys on the Quidditch team." Margie excitedly interjected, but backtracked at Terrence's expression with an easy grin. "Okay, okay, just Quidditch. So let's talk training regime."

And so ensued a hefty debate (whining) about early morning practice.

As the train went on, our conversations finally lulled. After a few hours Margie had eventually settled for doing crosswords in the Prophet and Terrence had gone off in search of the food trolley witch, while little old me fell asleep with Spook in my arms against the window.

I was having a good dream when a sudden jolt woke me up to darkness and something landed hard on my foot.

"Terrence!" Margie yelped as Terrence groaned from the floor.

"What happened?" I asked, helping him up, my eyes slowly adjusting to the dark.

"I'm not sure, the train stopped and the lights started flickering so I - ow - got up to check but the train jolted." Terrence rasped, sitting back onto his seat.

I froze, processing what he just said.

"Nemesis, the window." Spook hooted uncomfortably. The three of us looked out to watch as the window began to freeze.

"It's September, the weather shouldn't be that cold yet." Margie whispered.

"Even if it was," I murmured, "the train is magicked to prevent freezing."

"Nems," Terrence breathed. "Your hair."

I looked down at my hair. I was confused at first, only seeing my dark hair, until Margie pulled some of my hair to my face. It had begun to light from my roots, slowly turning into a light wheat color, my "Winter Hair" as we began calling it. We all shared a look, turning back to the window as a frost settled on the window.

Apparently the cold of a dementor could change my hair too.

Spook climbed up to hide between my hair and neck with small hoots of discomfort while I waited, holding him to my neck. I vaguely remembered anything that led up to the dementor attack in the books. All I knew was that Hermione was going to be in one of the compartments with Harry, Ron, and Lupin, and that they would come to face a dementor. That Lupin would tell it that they don't have Sirius Black but the dementor would still be interested in the horcrux in Harry's body, unknown to everyone but well me.

That still left me fairly unprotected if one decided to come for me and all my memories of death, pain, and rebirth. I wish I had learned the Patronus charm on my own - I don't fancy the idea of my second chance at life getting snuffed out because of a dementor when I was fourteen.

You'd think that a Ravenclaw would be prepared, common sense and all. Sorry to prove the hat wrong.

"They're here," Terrence grounded out urgently, diving to lock the compartment door as he whipped out his wand. "I saw the cloaks out there."

Margie jumped violently, gripping my arm in fear. "I thought you said the Board fought the Ministry on this!" Margie hissed.

Terrence scowled. "They did, but as you can probably see Fudge is getting desperate."

I stared at his wand. "You never said you knew the Patronus!" What the bloody hell-

"I didn't because I don't," said Terrence. "Dementors bring the cold weather with them wherever they go because they're intolerant of warmth. Troy taught me burning spells just in case this happened." Well … that was more reassuring than no protection. And considerably lucky for me.

"Why didn't you tell me he taught you?" Margie huffed, her breath began to form clouds. "I should've been taught as well! I refuse to standby and be protected!" Glad to see her attitude was dripping back.

"Margie, I swear to Merlin this is not the bloody time-"

The train jolted again. Was this when it entered the train? Was there more than one? I really should've prepared for this moment, I thought with a grimace. I really, genuinely hoped Hermione, Harry, and Ron were with Professor Lupin. I should've gone with them to ensure it. I mentally cursed every word I could think of when I felt the temperature steadily dropping.

"I think it's on the train." I whispered, feeling Margie grip my arm tighter. Terrence sat across from us, tense, with his wand pointed at the door.

And we waited in the dark.

"Troy couldn't teach you the Patronus charm before you left?"

"Margie, I will burn you-"

"Shhhhhut up!" I hissed, staring at the compartment door where there was a shadow beginning to creep along our window.

Have you ever been to an aquarium? Watched a shark emerge from a very blue abyss of water just to slowly swim by the glass. It was like the wizarding world as a wondrous aquarium and the dementors were the sharks - except this one was sliding along outside our window. Black, cloaked, floating along.

Like a molasses.

So much so that for a second, I was sure it stopped right in front of our door. I was almost positive it was because it sensed me and the trauma of death. But it continued moving past our door, slightly picking up the pace until finally it was gone. We all let out a breath, relaxing slightly, but not once did Terrence lower his wand.

"Mangy, muddy, terrible, horrible," Spook hooted angrily, still not moving from his perch at my neck.

I wish I could've relaxed like Margie did, or even Terrence as I saw his shoulders drop a fraction in relief. But all I could think about was Hermione. Her compartment would be the ones to deal with it next. While I was fairly positive she didn't have anything jarring from her past, apart from the bullying that I often combatted, there's no telling what damage a dementor would do.

I should've made sure they went into Lupin's compartment.

I had half the mind to go out and make sure, but what the bloody hell was I supposed to do when I came across a dementor? Scream at it?

Hermione was potentially in danger, though. I wasn't sure how long everything was going to keep to the books, that was a concept I often always worried about. That at some point the plot would steer off of cannon. While I knew the last two years went more or less according to plan, who knew if this year was going to.

So I did something very stupid.

I shot up, ignoring Spook's angry squawks as I tripped over Terrence and Margie and fell against the door.

"Nemesis!"

"Hermione," I said hurried, unlocking the door while I pulled out my wand.

"Wait-"

It was a lot colder out in the corridor than it was in our compartment. For good reason.

Maybe a couple compartments down the way the other one had come from, stood another dementor. It floated, creepily bobbing in mid-air - but rather than charging at me the way I almost expected it to do, it stayed where it was. Almost as though it was surprised I fell out of the compartment the way I did.

The way it didn't move was like it was regarding me warily.

"Nemesis, get back in-" Margie and Terrence had followed after me, stopping instantly at my side the moment they saw what I was staring at.

But it still didn't move. And we didn't feel anything but cold. Not even the despair

Terrence edged himself forward slightly, trying to put himself between the dementor and us.

He didn't need to, almost immediately a bright white-ish blue light blasted past us without us feeling anything but warmth, while it slammed against the dementor, taking it with it down the corridor.

I whipped my head around to see what I assumed Lupin's patronus to be, a bright wolf-like creature, standing another few compartments away the other direction, in front of an opened compartment (okay so our compartment wasn't as far away as I thought).

But it too, didn't move, only regarded me with a bow of its head for a moment before it disappeared.

And just like that, the lights went back on.