Notes: One of my all time favorite FF authors (Keira Marcos) just posted the first chapter to a Harry/Hermione story (called Harry Potter & the Soulmate Bond—it's not on this site, so just google it if you're interested) and OMFG it's so good so far. Anyway it inspired me to write this chapter of Granger Danger, because hooray Harry and Hermione are both awesome, so here you go.

Harry woke to a chiming sound. It must have been the alarm Robert had told them about. He noticed the other boys waking to. Yawning, Harry put on his glasses and grabbed a set of trousers, a button-up shirt, and a set of school robes. He headed to the bathroom to change and brush his teeth and hair.

Harry returned more awake and definitely excited. Anthony and Stephen were already dressed, while Michael and Terry had both elected to take morning showers.

"What's this?" Harry asked, pointing to the basket next to his bed.

"For your dirty laundry," Stephen said. "So the house elves can wash it. I don't know if they'll leave it folded on our bed or put it back in our trunks for us."

"Probably on the bed," Anthony said. "I bet some students have wards and things on their trunks."

"What are wards?" Harry asked.

"You know, like protections," Anthony told him. "To keep people from getting to your stuff."

That sounded useful. Harry made a note to look up wards later. He wondered if his parents had put wards around their house before Voldemort attacked them.

"Should we wait for Terry and Michael?" Stephen asked.

Anthony shrugged. "We can wait for them in the common room, right?"

Harry nodded. The three of them headed downstairs. Hermione and Sue were already standing in front of the bulletin board.

"Good morning, Hermione," Harry greeted cheerfully, coming to stand next to his friend. "And Sue."

Sue smiled at him. Harry turned his eyes to the bulletin board. The advisor sheet was up.

"Jordan Gamp," Harry read next to his name. "Isn't that Robert's friend?"

"I think so," Hermione said. "Didn't Robert say not to listen to him? How is he supposed to advise you if you're not supposed to pay attention to what he tells you?"

There was a deep laugh behind them. They turned to see Jordan standing there with the Head Girl next to him.

"Don't worry, Harry," the Head Girl said. "If my little brother gives you trouble, just come talk to me. He's already been warned against pranking the Boy-Who-Lived."

Harry flushed at the name, but didn't comment on it. "You're siblings?"

"I'm Jamie Gamp," the Head Girl introduced herself. "It's nice to see bright new eagles. I hope you have a great first year and if you need help, you can always come to me or Professor Flitwick."

"Thanks, Jamie," Anthony said.

Jamie smiled at him and waved goodbye as she wandered off to the other side of the common room. Jordan stayed. He held out his hand. "I am excited to advise you, Harry," he said. "I'm a halfblood too. Jamie and my father is a pureblood. The Gamps are an Ancient House, like the Potters. Our mum is a muggleborn though and we've taken a couple vacations in the muggle world just to see what it was like, so I shouldn't be too lost if you start talking about the telly or something."

"Cool," Harry said, taking Jordan's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Do you know who Danica Dollop is?" Hermione asked. "She's my advisor."

"Oh, Danica." Jordan looked around the common room. "She's probably already at breakfast. She's an early riser. She likes to dye her hair different colors. It's probably blue, red, yellow, and green right now, in honor of the beginning of the year. She's really smart though. Always has the top marks of our year."

"Do Ravenclaws often get the top marks for the year?" Sue asked.

"Usually, yeah," Jordan said. "Not always, though. A lot of us tend to fall behind on the practical work. That's my biggest advice for you guys: don't forget to actually practice the spells."

"Who's on top for all the years, then?" Anthony asked.

Jordan scratched his chin. "Seventh year, my sister's on top. The Head Boy is a Gryffindor. He's a good guy, but I think he's number five in the ranking. Sixth year is our very own Robert. Fifth year, I just said is Danica. The current fourth year class tends to go back and forth between a Slytherin and one of our eagles. The third year class is actually led by a Hufflepuff, if you can believe it." Jordan shook his head. "Cedric Diggory, that crazy 'Puff seeker," he muttered under his breath. "And the second years… I think was a Slytherin. Though to be honest, we don't really start paying attention to ranks until fourth or fifth year, because that's when you start learning OWLS material."

Harry exchanged a glance with Hermione. He noticed the determination in her eyes. He grinned. She probably wanted to be the top of their year. He wished her luck. He planned on doing his best, but he didn't want to be the very top. Being the very top would attract attention and he was trying to avoid that as much as possible.

The rest of the first years came down then and joined their group. Jordan took a step back from the ten-person party. "You guys remember how to get to the Great Hall?"

"I think so," Sue said.

Jordan grinned. "Awesome. I'll see you later, Harry!"

"Bye!" Harry said as Jordan left to go join Robert and a few other people headed to breakfast.

The other first years made a note on their advisors and the times and places they were supposed to meet them. Harry was to meet Jordan at nine that night in the library. Hermione was apparently meeting Danica also in the library at nine, so they'd be able to walk together.

"Should we grab our school bags?" Mandy asked.

"We don't know what classes we have today," Terry pointed out. "We'll have to come back and grab the correct textbooks anyway."

They all headed in one group down to breakfast. Harry noticed that Padma and Lisa seemed to be content talking in their own little group. Mandy joined them after a moment. Terry, Stephen, and Michael stuck together as well. Which left Harry, Hermione, Anthony, and Sue.

Breakfast was eggs and sausage, along with hot butter rolls like the night before. It wasn't as extravagant a meal as the Feast had been, but then that was probably apparent in the fact that the night before was the Welcoming Feast.

Flitwick came around at eight thirty with timetables. He handed several stacks to some of the prefects to pass out among the older students, but he passed out the first year timetables himself.

"Ms. Granger," he said in a squeaky voice. He smiled as she held up her hand. "Welcome to Ravenclaw."

He repeated this with all the students, ending with Harry. He smiled even wider. "Very happy to have you amongst the eagles, Mr. Potter. You know, your mother was a Charms prodigy. She was one of my favorite students, even."

"Really?" Harry asked as he took his timetable. "I heard she was really good at Potions too."

Flitwick nodded. "She was, yes, but I attribute that to how much time she spend with Severus."

"Severus?" Terry asked. "As in Severus Snape, our Potions professor?"

They all looked over at the Slytherin table, where a hook-nosed man with greasy black hair was passing out timetables to the students.

"Yes, that Severus," Flitwick said. "He looks mean, but don't worry. He likes us eagles well enough. Maybe not as much as his snakes, but certainly more than the lions." Flitwick laughed a bit to himself.

"So Professor Snape and my mum were friends?" Harry asked.

"They sure were. Lily told me they grew up in the same neighborhood, even." Flitwick nodded enthusiastically. "I'm sure you'll do well in Professor Snape's class, and I expect you to do well in mine as well." He glanced around. It was almost comical, since he was basically as tall as they all were seated—and they were only first years! "I expect you all to do well, but if you're struggling, don't be afraid to come to me. My door is always open for my eagles."

"Thanks, Professor," they all said.

Flitwick left. He joined up with Snape as the man finished passing out his own timetables and together they walked back up to the high table. Harry noticed Snape nod along to something Flitwick was saying and then the Potions professor glanced over at the Ravenclaw table. Their eyes met.

Harry smiled a bit shyly, ducking his head a little. Snape stared at him for what seemed like a very long moment, before he turned away.

Harry turned back to the other first years. They were studying the timetable. "Looks like we have double Potions today," Lisa said. "With the Hufflepuffs."

"And Charms with the Slytherins and History with the Gyffindors tomorrow," Michael said.

Harry studied the timetable. They'd have their first Transfiguration class with the Hufflepuffs on Monday. Herbology was Wednesdays also with the Hufflepuffs, as was Astronomy on Tuesday nights at midnight.

"A lot of our classes are with the Hufflepuffs," Sue noted aloud.

"I heard that Headmaster Dumbledore likes to put the Gryffindors and Slytherins together because they're bitter rivals or something," Stephen said. "Which leaves us the 'Puffs."

Harry saw Padma pull out a fancy clock thing from her pocket. "It's almost nine. We should head back to the Tower to get our Potions books, cauldrons and kits, and everything else."

They all quickly finished their breakfasts and did as Padma suggested. Lisa had a map that her older brother, already graduated from Hogwarts, had drawn her. It pointed out the routes to the different classrooms only, but that was all they needed. They followed her as she led them down to the dungeons and to the Potions classroom.

It looked like they were the first to arrive. The desks were arranged as two-person seats so Harry sat next to Hermione in the front row. He was excited and he could tell Hermione was as well. This was the true test on whether they'd done well in all their Potions preparations.

Sue and Anthony sat behind them, Stephen and Terry to their left, Michael and Mandy behind them, and Padma and Lisa behind those two.

The Hufflepuffs filed in soon after and took their own seats. Harry saw Susan sit down with the girl he remembered to be Hannah Abbott, the earliest person in the alphabet in their year. He gave Susan a wave and Susan waved back cheerily.

Harry turned back toward the front just as Snape came sweeping into the room. He walked up to the chalkboard and turned around to face them all. His face was devoid of emotion, though his eyes seemed to spark with something as he met Harry's gaze briefly.

"Wands away," Snape said. "You will not need them in this class unless you miraculously get an O in your OWLS and are able to join my NEWTS class."

O? Oh, right, the grading system was different in the wizarding world. An O was an A, basically, and an E was a B, an A was actually a C. Then a P, D, and T were all failing grades. Harry would probably take a while to get that all straight, but he was sure he'd have it figured out by the time he got to his OWLS.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke softly, but the class was silent enough to hear his every word. "I do not expect you to become Potions masters. If even only one of you learns to appreciate the beautiful art of Potions making as much, I will have done my job. For the rest of you, I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—but to learn you must pay attention. Potions is as dangerous as it is enchanting."

Harry barely dared to breath. Beside him, Hermione was quivering in her seat.

Snape nodded sharply. He rolled out a piece of parchment and began calling names in a roll call.

When he came to Harry's name, he paused at Harry's last name, before saying, "Harry."

"Here, Professor," Harry said softly.

Snape stared at him and then moved on. He finished the roll call and banished the parchment. With a wave of his wand, a Potions formula appeared on the chalkboard. "Ingredients are in the cupboard. Once you have finished your potion, you must bottle it up and bring it to my desk. Begin."

"I'll get the ingredients," Hermione said.

"I'll set up the cauldron," Harry agreed. He put his cauldron up on top of the burner on the table and set it aflame. It looks like he and Hermione would be able to work on the potion together, which made things really easy. The potion was a cure for boils and they were both practiced at that.

Hermione came back with the jars of ingredients. Harry set up chopping the bat tails while Hermione added the thyme.

They got the first couple ingredients in the cauldron. It turned a lovely blue color. Harry grabbed the newt eyes and began grounding them as he and Hermione had figured was best while Hermione stirred the potion three times clockwise.

Snape paced around the room and stopped their table just as Harry put the ground newt eyes in. He watched with them as the potion turned the correct shade of violet.

"Ms. Granger," Snape said. "Are you a muggleborn?"

"Yes, Professor," Hermione said. "Harry and I grew up in the same neighborhood. We didn't know about Hogwarts until we got our letters, but after we did we practiced Potions together because Professor McGonagall said it was okay."

Harry looked up at Snape. Snape frowned at the two of them. It didn't seem nasty, only contemplative. "What potions did you practice?"

"Cure for boils, forgetfulness, and the dancing hair potions, sir," Harry said.

Snape nodded. "Tell me, Mr. Potter, what would you get if you added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood."

Harry scrunched up his nose in thought. "A sleeping potion, I think." He thought harder. "I'm sorry, sir, I don't remember what it is called."

"Draught of Living Death," Hermione said, reminding him.

"Oh, right."

Snape looked between the two of them. "Ms. Granger, what is the difference between monkswood and wolfsbane?"

"They're the same plant, Professor," Hermione said.

"Aconite too," Harry added.

"Correct," Snape said. "What is the purpose of a bezoar, Mr. Potter, and where would you find it, Ms. Granger?"

"It's a stone that cures a lot of poisons," Harry said.

"And you can find it in the stomach of a goat," Hermione said after him.

"Correct. Twenty points each to Ravenclaw." Snape looked at their potion. "Bottle that up and begin working on the forgetfulness potion. You may refer to your text if you do not have the formula memorized."

With that, Snape swept off to go look at Terry and Stephen's potion. Harry looked at Hermione. She seemed as stunned as he was.

"Right," Harry said. "I guess we should…."

"Right," Hermione repeated. They bottled up the cure for boils. Harry set his cauldron aside to be cleaned later and Hermione got hers set up while Harry went to get the ingredients he knew were in the forgetfulness potion.

Later, at lunch, the other Ravenclaws congratulated them on being the first of the year to get twenty points for their house. "And in Snape's class too," Robert said once he'd heard the news. "He's not unfair to us eagles, but he's not easy on us. If he gave you both twenty points, then he was really impressed."

"We should read ahead more," Hermione whispered to Harry. "So we're ready if he tests us again."

Harry nodded. He didn't want to disappoint the man that had been friends with his mum, after all.

H.H.

That night, Harry and Hermione headed out early to find their way to the library. They managed to make it there right at nine. Jordan and the girl that had to be Danica were seated together at one of the back tables. Like Jordan had said, Danica's hair was done in multi-colored stripes that actually moved across her head in a sort of wave pattern.

They looked up as Harry and Hermione approached. "Oh look, it's the kids," Jordan said.

Danica snorted. She smiled at Hermione. "Hi, I'm Danica. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Hermione said.

Danica stood. "Come on then, let's find somewhere away from these boys."

Jordan stuck his tongue out, which Danica ignored. Hermione followed her through the library stacks. Harry watched them until they were out of sight and then turned to Jordan.

He was grinning. "So, Harry, how do you feel about pranks?"

"Um… I don't want to get in trouble," Harry said.

"Oh don't worry. A good prankster never gets caught." He patted the chair next to him and Harry gamely sat on it. "See there are these Gryffindors… they're good and all but they need finesse and I'll tell you half of my pranks get pinned on them."

"We knew it!"

Harry turned around to see two red-haired boys a few years older than him come out from behind the nearby stacks. They were identical with freckles all across their faces and arms.

"Oops," Jordan said, wincing. "Hello there, Fred, George."

The twins sat across from Harry and Jordan. "We've been trying to find you for ages," one of them said.

"You hid your tracks well," the other said. "But we suspected after the Squid Incident that it might be you."

Harry could here the capitals. He looked at Jordan, who was smiling behind his hand. He looked back at the twins. "Which one is which?" he asked.

"I'm Fred," the one of the left said.

"And I'm George."

Harry frowned. "I think you're lying to confuse me."

By the widening of their eyes, they hadn't expected to be called out on that. Harry nodded, satisfied. "Okay, nice to meet you, Fred," the one on the right, "and George."

Fred and George exchanged a glance. "Say Gamp," George said. "If you're going to be training little Potter here as a prankster, we want in."

"We know when to bow to a superior prankster," Fred added.

Jordan tapped his chin. "I'm not against it. As long as you show me the map you have."

"What map?" Fred asked innocently.

"I know you have it. The Marauders' Map. My mom was friendly with the Marauders in school. She was a Gryffindor, like them." He looked at Harry. "My dad was a Ravenclaw though."

"You know who they are?" George asked, obviously excited. "We only know their nicknames."

Jordan nodded. "I'll tell you, but you have to show us the map."

Fred pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket and laid it on the table. Harry peered at it curiously, but it was just a blank paper.

George tapped the parchment with his wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Lines of ink appeared on the parchment, spreading and stretching until a full map of Hogwarts was visible. Harry gasped as he noticed the named footprints. Jordan seemed equally as enchanted. "Wow," he said. "My mom said it was a sight to behold, but I didn't realize it was so…."

"We know," Fred said. He pointed to the names at the top. "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs."

"So from what I know, Prongs was Harry's dad."

"Really? My dad made this?"

Jordan nodded as Fred and George looked at Harry in a new light.

"No wonder you sought to train him as a prankster," George said. "A second generation marauder."

Harry blushed, but truthfully he would rather people pay attention to him as the son of a prankster than as the boy-who-lived.

"The other three…." Jordan looked hesitant. "Harry, how much do you know about how your parents, um… you know."

Harry frowned. "I know Voldemort," all three other boys flinched at the name, "came and killed my dad first and then my mom. And then he tried to kill me." Harry touched his scar. "That's all."

"Well, your parents were under fidelius," Jordan said. "It's a powerful charm that prevents anyone from giving away their location. There's a secret keeper who is the only one that can say where they are."

Harry had a sinking feeling in his stomach. He thought he knew where this was going.

Jordan placed a hand on his shoulder. "The adults probably don't want to tell you this, but I think you deserve the right to know. Your eleven, not five or something, and you'd be able to look this up if you really wanted to anyway."

"My parents' secret keeper betrayed them," Harry murmured.

Jordan nodded.

"And he was one of the marauders?" Fred whispered.

Jordan nodded again. "Padfoot."

Fred and George were both as pale as Harry felt he must be.

"His real name was Sirius Black. He's your godfather."

"What does that mean?"

"He would have been the one to take you and raise you. That's the duty of a godfather or godmother if the parents can't," Jordan explained. "But he's in Azkaban. The wizarding prison."

George shuddered. "He killed twelve muggles."

"And Peter Pettigrew," Jordan said. "Who was Wormtail."

Harry swallowed dryly. "And Moony?"

"Remus Lupin," Jordan said. "I don't know where he is. My mom said he just disappeared after the whole thing happened. Probably still can't get over the fact that one of his best friends betrayed another friend and killed the third. It's… it's not a happy story."

"No," Harry agreed. He looked at the map and then took a deep breath. "But they probably weren't thinking about that when they were at Hogwarts, right? They were just friends and they pranked people. That's… I think my dad wouldn't have wanted me to dwell on that, right?"

"Probably not," Jordan agreed. "You're not James Potter, but you are his son. That's why I thought I'd teach you some pranking skills. So that maybe you might feel a little closer to him."

"Yeah," Harry murmured. "Yeah," he said again, louder. "I want to learn." He looked from Jordan to Fred to George. "We can be the next generation of marauders. And we can do it better."

Fred and George nodded. They still looked somber, but there was a bit of light back in their eyes. "We approve," they said together.

Jordan squeezed Harry's shoulder. "Let's get started then."

H.H.

They were led to their first etiquette lesson by Robert. It was apparently to take place in an empty classroom.

Harry and Hermione stayed close together. He'd told her about the marauders situation yesterday and though she'd been disapproving of the idea of pranking, she'd been definitely sympathetic about Harry's parents' betrayal.

Harry wasn't so sure about pranking in it of itself. He'd always gotten in trouble at primary school because the teachers thought him a prankster and a troublemaker so a lot of things tended to be pinned on him. But he was willing to go along with Jordan, Fred, and George at least for a little while. The map the twins had was made, or partially made, by his dad. He didn't have anything left from his parents except for the gold in his trust vault. That single map was worth all of it.

He wondered if he'd be able to write Remus Lupin as ask about his parents. Maybe Hedwig would be able to find him, wherever he was? He'd have to wait until after the owl got back from the Grangers. He and Hermione had both written letters and sent them with her that morning.

"Okay, first years," Robert said. "Jamie tested the other five earlier this morning and they all passed the basics. Stephen and Michael are going to join you guys for the later lessons this semester as a refresher on the more elite stuff, but as of right now it's just the five of you."

"I'm Penelope Clearwater, but call me Penny," said the female prefect that had walked with them. "All the prefects are going to share the duty of teaching these lessons. For this first one, me and Robert will be working together."

"Now, Mandy, Anthony, and Sue a lot of these earlier lessons are going to be refreshers for you. Bear with it. You never know, you might learn something new anyway," Robert said. "Our first lesson today we're going to talk about the basic state of wizarding governance, house elves, and sports."

"We'll start with explaining the Ministry and how it's set up," Penny said.

Harry settled in to listen. Hermione was taking notes. He thought about joining her, but he was a good listener and if he needed to he knew she'd let him look over her notes.

Two hours later, they'd gone through the difference between the minister and his undersecretaries as well as the different departments and their heads. They'd also brushed on pureblood influence and the wizengamot, but Penny said they'd go into that in more detail in later lessons.

At the very least, Harry had a better idea how the laws were made in the wizarding world, which he supposed was good to know.

Then it was lunchtime.

"We asked the house elves to provide lunches for all of us for these Saturdays so we don't have to go down to the Great Hall," Robert said. "And this allows us to move our discussion over to them."

"Hooky!" Penny called.

There was a pop and a small creature appeared next to Robert and Penny. He was only about two and half feet tall with bat-like ears and wide eyes. His skin was wrinkled and he wore what looked like a tea towel bearing the Hogwarts crest.

"Hello young masters and mistresses," Hooky said, bowing. "Yous food is almost ready."

"Thanks, Hooky," Robert said. "We just wanted to show you off. You can just pop the food onto the desks whenever it's ready."

Hooky grinned, showing crooked teeth. "Hooky is always pleased to model for young master Robert." He disappeared with a pop as Penny smothered a laugh.

Penny got a hold of herself and straightened. "House elves are bonded servants. They cook and clean around the castle. Filch, you've all heard of him by now, right?"

They nodded.

"Right well, Filch deals mostly with students after hours and making sure the castle is in order. He's a squib so he can't do magic to clean. Usually when he finds a spot out of order, he'll call a house elf to take care of it."

Hermione raised her hand. Robert nodded to her. "Are house elves able to get other jobs?" she asked. "Other than cooking and cleaning."

"Not usually," Robert said. "In the past, there have been house elves who have fought in wars for their masters, but they usually stick to tending buildings and grounds."

Harry saw Hermione frown deeply.

Penny cleared her throat. "Hermione, my best friend is muggleborn. She had trouble with house elves first too. Thought they were basically slaves. I can't say it's not similar, because there are some homes where house elves are abused, but it's not so black and white."

"House elves can't be freed," Robert said. "Or rather, they can, but they'd die. They exist off the magic of their masters. If they were cut off from that magic, they'd eventually starve to death."

"And there's no way to feed them the magic without making them work?"

"No. That's how they access it. By doing services for their master or mistress, they are able to draw more of the magic. The harder working house elves tend to look the healthiest."

"Hooky, who you just saw, is the head house elf for Hogwarts. He's very old. You saw how wrinkled he looked, didn't you? The older a house elf gets, the harder time they have taking in magic."

"How old is he?" Harry asked.

"Over five hundred years," Penny said. "He's training up the next head."

"I don't really want to talk about that," Robert said, sadness in his eyes. "The house elves at the school mostly do their own thing, but in private homes they work more specifically on their master or mistress' instructions. Anyway, they're nice and I for one do not tolerate abuse toward them." He gave them all a hard stare.

Harry nodded easily. He couldn't imagine abusing another living thing. Beside him, Hermione nodded fervently. He wondered if she'd be looking up more about house elves in the future.

The food took that moment to arrive. Harry smiled at the sandwich on his plate. It was the same he'd had for lunch yesterday. He wondered if the house elves had remembered.

"As soon as we finish eating, we'll move onto sports," Penny said. "Quidditch is the most popular, of course, and there's a culture around it that's important to know."

"But that's after we eat," Robert said, digging into his sandwich.

Harry followed his example with enthusiasm.

H.H.

By the end of his first full week at Hogwarts, a good ten days after he'd first arrived at the castle, Harry knew he was settling in.

He continued to work with Hermione in Snape's class as the man continued to test the both of them. McGonagall was a good teacher and though Hermione was better than him at Transfiguration, he wasn't far behind her. Charms, too, was good if only because Flitwick made sure they were all keeping up.

Herbology and Astronomy were both interesting, though not Harry's favorite subjects. History of Magic had seemed fun, but the teacher was a ghost and his voice was so dull that Harry had a hard time staying awake.

Defense Against the Dark Arts turned out to be one of Harry's least favorite subjects, because every time he was in the presence of the teacher, Professor Quirrell, he developed a nasty headache and had a hard time concentrating. He and Hermione were desperately trying to find a remedy for it before the whole year went by without him learning anything from the stuttering teacher.

Still, he found a home in Hogwarts and with the Ravenclaws. He looked forward to most of his classes, save for the previously mentioned nightmare, and his friendship with Hermione and with Sue and Anthony only continued to grow.

He looked forward to the rest of the year.