AN: Thank you for all your kind reviews! In this chapter, we'll see some planning, some manipulation and the first full moon at Hogwarts! xx -F.A.M

Harry woke the next morning with a groan. While sleeping in a cot isn't exactly comfortable, he had gotten used to the rigidness of the canvas that was tightly secured onto the frame. He had found solace in the sturdiness of it, after sleeping on a lumpy mattress for years, the cot had helped his back immensely. As he sat up and began getting ready for the day ahead of him, he couldn't help but think that getting used to the overstuffed mattress of his bed was going to take some getting used to.

Hermione woke with similar thoughts going through her head. She, like Harry, had gotten used to her cot, and rolling out of it, onto her knees, since it was so close to the ground. After waking, she stretched deeply, and rolled off the bed in a practiced fashion. However, instead of the floor being a mere 2 feet from her bed, it was now more than three feet off the ground. She landed on the floor with a resounding thud.

"Hermione, are you ok?" Lily questioned her as she towel dried her hair.

"Yeah, I'm just used to my bed, it isn't quite this high," Hermione replied, getting her clothes from her trunk and heading into the shower room.

Twenty minutes later, she met Harry in the common room before heading off to breakfast with the rest of the first years.

"I miss my cot," she mumbled low enough for only Harry to hear as they sat down. "My bed's too high, I fell out of it this morning."

"I know the feeling, mine's too soft," Harry whispered back. "As much as we hated having to hide, that cot was the best bed I had slept in away from Hogwarts all my life."

Before Hermione could open her mouth to reply, breakfast appeared in front of them, along with the placards from last night. Taking a chance, Hermione asked for wheat toast with apricot marmalade, a boiled egg, and a small fruit salad, accompanied by orange juice and tea. Harry, not being used to his eleven-year-old starving body, ordered a full English breakfast, including a poached egg, bacon rashers, hash browns, toast, sausage, and tea. He finished half of it before his stomach began to protest. "Ugh, Mione, d'you want some of this?" he asked quietly. "I forgot how little I was able to eat the summer before I started Hogwarts the last time and this is too much food."

Smiling knowingly, she wordlessly deposited the rest of his bacon and hash browns onto her plate. "There's a lot we need to get used to, Harry. We need to make some kind of plan about what we're going to do. Room of Requirement tonight, after curfew?"

Harry just nodded, at that moment Professor McGonagall had just walked by, passing Harry and Hermione their timetables.

After a long day of Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, and Charms, Harry and Hermione headed down to dinner, where they were joined by James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily.

"Slughorn was bloody awful, wasn't he?" Sirius sighed. "I mean, how's a bloke to know that Erumpet Horn powder would explode like that if it's mixed with aconite?"

"How about the fact that Professor Slughorn told us not five seconds earlier that we have to dilute the aconite in salamander blood before adding it to the Erumpet Horn in order to avoid an explosion. That and you added the Horn to the aconite, instead of adding the aconite to the Horn then slowly adding it to your cauldron," Lily snorted.

"Well, why didn't you say anything, Lily?" Sirius grumbled. "You were only at the next table."

"Because," she said, taking a helping of Shepherd's Pie, "I was too busy making sure James didn't do the same thing."

Looking at Hermione, Sirius asked the same of her.

"I was watching Harry," she said. "He's rubbish at potions."

Rolling his eyes, Sirus began to dig into his dinner enthusiastically, much like a Weasley.

As everyone around the Hall got their fill and the golden plates were beginning to disappear, the Headmaster stood. As everyone quieted down, he began to speak.

"Many of you have noticed that two of our Slytherins are missing tonight. It is my duty to tell you all that Abraxas Malfoy and his wife, Gwendolyn Rosier Malfoy have sadly passed on. Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black of Slytherin have left the castle to grieve, lay the senior Malfoys to rest, and to unite as husband and wife, since it is the Malfoy family belief that the Head of House, or Lord of the Manor as the case may be, cannot be unwed. They will return in a fortnight. We wish them our heartfelt condolences and best wishes for their lives together."

Stunned, Harry leaned over to Hermione, "I didn't know Lucy and Narcissa got married while they were sixth years."

"That would explain why they were so cold to one another though, but why was Draco not born until 1980 if they married in 1971?" she whispered back.

"Something to talk about later," Harry muttered, noticing Sirius eyeing them.

"So...Harry...Hermione...anything to tell us?" Sirius said, smirking.

"No..."

"Actually, yes," Hermione said, blushing. "Harry asked me to be his girlfriend after Transfiguration today. We've known each other since we were kids, so it's only natural we take this step."

While James and Sirius 'whooped' and Lily and Remus calmly congratulated them, Harry glanced around the Hall and noticed a rat-faced Slytherin staring Hermione down. "You'll get yours, Rat," Harry thought to himself before turning his attention back to his friends.

An hour later, the group of Gryffindors found themselves back in the common room. As Remus muttered an excuse to go to the Hospital Wing, Hermione stiffened and pulled her day planner out of her ever-present bag and opened it to the current day. Nudging Harry, she pointed to the symbol at the top of the page, signifying the moon phase of that day. Tonight was the first full moon of Remus' Hogwarts career.

Harry gave Hermione a short nod, letting her know he understood what she was trying to say.

Another hour later, Professor McGonagall again swept into the common room to usher the first years to bed. After waiting for forty-five minutes, Harry snuck out of bed and headed back to the common room to meet Hermione. When she finally joined him, they snuck quietly to the seventh floor, to the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy, and entered the Room of Requirement.

"I feel horrid for Remus right now," she muttered. "If the timeline stays true, he'll be alone at the Shack for another four years before James and Sirius learn how to become Animagus."

"I know, we'll learn with them," Harry said. "And maybe convince them to do it a little sooner, once Da...James and Sirius figure out why Remus disappears every month."

Nodding, she smiled. "Now, onto what we're going to do about Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters in training."

"Malfoy is out of reach right now, and from what I overheard earlier, he's distraught about his father, and marrying Narcissa is his priority right now before the Malfoy family magic rejects him as Head of House and Lord of the Manor," Harry began. "Bellatrix, the Lestrange brothers, Rowle, Avery, Dolohov, Crouch, Goyle, Crabbe, McNair and Mulciber aren't marked yet, I saw all of their forearms at lunch, their year had just come from Potions and apparently there was an accident and they didn't have time to change robes. Snape and Pettigrew obviously aren't marked yet, Regulus is too young still, we need to help him somehow by the way."

"So that leaves the Death Eaters that have already left Hogwarts, Voldemort himself, and the families of known Death Eaters," Hermione said, jotting everything they said down. "What are we going to do about the Rat?"

"We wait until he makes his first move against our friends. Then we can take him down a peg or two. Maybe let him have a potions accident or something, I'll give it more thought later," Harry said absently. "What about Snape? It was his friendship with M...Lily that brought him to the Light side before, what can we do to make that happen now? We can't have someone like Snape firmly in Riddle's corner."

"We have to do something, Harry. He doesn't have to deal with the Marauders picking on him in this timeline since they pretty much only did it to make him leave Lily alone, because they didn't approve of her friendship with a Slytherin. Maybe we could just be nice to him? Offer to let him study with us or something."

After giving Hermione a few moments to write everything down, Harry cast the Tempus charm. "Blimey, Hermione, it's almost one in the morning! We need to get back to the tower before McGonagall realizes we're gone."

Hurrying to Gryffindor Tower, they were almost caught twice, once by the Fat Friar who was patrolling the corridor leading to the staircase, and again by Mrs. Norris, who was down the corridor from the Gryffindor entrance. Finally, they made it safely back into their beds, where they had a restless night, thinking about everything they had discussed, and their friend in the Shrieking Shack.

AN: I exercised my creative freedom with this chapter a bit, as evidenced by the scene where Sirius recounts their potions lesson. The scene acted as a bit of a filler scene, as well as showcasing just how alike Hermione and Lily are.