I'm not J.K. Rowling, and I don't make money from this.

This story has been revised and updated from its original and is still ongoing. I hope that you enjoy it.

There were a hundred reasons why this camping trip was a bad idea. For starters, Hermione now associated the very idea of camping with running for her life. A couple of years had passed since the end of the war, yet life without the Dark Lord was not the happily ever after she had expected. Maybe it was her naïveté, but Hermione had always assumed that after saving the Wizarding World everything would go back to normal, vacations with her parents, girls' nights with Ginny, good books, and plenty of time for friends. She took to this exact routine, but something went wrong in the real life version.

The sense of ease and accomplishment was not there. Instead, she felt like a totally different person, one who did not enjoy the same things and often suffered from a troubled mind. As time passed she could not help but mourn the loss of her former self, hoping that one day she'd return. It was now reaching the point where that change would have to be accepted. Normal was never coming back.

These days Hermione steered clear of the woods and darkness. She kept her feet glued to sidewalks and orderly city streets. Anything that invoked uncertainty could easily set off a silent panic attack, and packing for this camping trip had definitely awoken old fears. Hermione could tell she was not the only one who felt it, but just as no one ever acknowledged the changes after the war, it was unlikely they would admit to anxiety over the trip. She wished they would. She needed someone to tell her that she wasn't alone, but instead they all chose to pretend they were fine.

Another reason this trip was a bad idea waiting to happen were the boys. They had changed too. While Hermione had become introvert by the war, they had become increasingly extrovert. Harry put on a good show with fake enthusiasm and sarcasm, but Ron had grown cynical. Together they were overbearing, and when you threw Sirius into the mix, it all became too much for Hermione. None of the boys wanted to go camping, but none of them could say no to Luna. So they were going to pretend, and while they continued pretending, they were sure to exasperate Hermione's fragile state of mind.

She really did not want to be the one to ruin this trip for Luna, so Hermione was determined to relax and enjoy it. The entire trip had been organized by Luna Lovegood, which was an unsettling thought in the overly controlling mind of Hermione Granger, but she would not ruin it for Luna. She would force herself to relax.

'Relax and enjoy it,' Hermione repeated the mantra to herself as she paced in the main hall of the town house. 'Relax and enjoy it—even if it kills me' she added, chuckling as she said the words aloud. Then she looked at the clock.

"Boys!" Hermione bellowed up the staircase. "Are you ready yet!"

The unsteady maneuvers of the two 19 year olds getting out of bed could be heard above her.

"Coming mom!" replied a very irritable Ron Weasley.

"Oh don't be a grump," she snapped back as he and the half sleeping form of Harry Potter stumbled down the staircase and threw their packs onto the floor beside the front door.

"What time is it?" Harry asked through a particularly loud yawn.

"7:47. Luna and Neville should be here in like 13 minutes."

"Uhg," Harry whined as he dropped onto the couch. Ron fallowed suit slumping into an armchair.

"You should have woken us up when they got here," he complained.

"And let Luna see how thrilled you are for her trip?"

"I'm just saying I would have liked those extra 13 minutes."

Hermione rolled her eyes. The two boys were never very pleasant this early in the morning.

"Where the hell is Sirius?" Harry asked from under the pillow he was holding over his face.

"Right here," Sirius answered as he jumped down the last four steps throwing his pack on the floor to join the other two.

"Really? You too?" Hermione asked sarcastically, pointing to the unnecessary pile.

"Eh, there's nothing breakable in there," he assured her and then jumped onto the couch with Harry. "Good morning sunshine!"

"Sirius! I swear to god if you don't get off me!" Harry exclaimed and kicked him off the couch.

Sirius fell to the ground with a loud thud and a roar of laughter, in which Ron and Hermione joined.

"Yeah, your laughing now, but wait till you wake up tomorrow morning and your tent is floating down a river."

"Oh please kid," Sirius replied as he sat up, "You don't want to start a war with me."

"We'll see."

"Well at least someone isn't being a complete ass about this weekend," interrupted Hermione.

Sirius laughed at her, "Don't let this happy face fool you love. I can assure you now that I am absolutely, 100 percent, not the least bit excited for this." Then he paused and asked, "Where the hell are we even going?"

"We're going to see the ancient Egyptian Dung Beetle make babies. How could you not remember that Sirius?" Ron answered sarcastically. He was slumped so low in the chair that he was practically upside.

Sirius grimaced. "I really hope that's not right, though with Luna being our guide…"

Hermione sighed, "We're camping in the forest of Chetwood to see the migration of the ancient Arian Nide Whisps back to their mating ground."

Sirius' confused look grew. "Somehow the Dung Beetle sounds more promising, at least they exist. But no matter, we sure as hell can't back out now thanks to the great Harry Potter."

He then slapped the bottom of Harry's foot and ran like hell. Harry wailed out in pain and threw the pillow to hit the back of Sirius's head right before he would have been out of harms way. The next thing Hermione knew, all three 'boys' were wrestling on the living room floor.

"Honestly! Can't you three behave for one weekend?"

Hermione was just about to stun them when the doorbell rang. She repeated her mantra 'relax and enjoy it' as she answered the door. To her surprise it wasn't Luna and Neville standing on the stoop of number 12 Grimmauld Place as she had expected. In fact, it was probably the last person she ever expected to see: Remus Lupin.

"Remus!" Hermione exclaimed as she threw her arms around the older mans neck, surprising him a bit. "It's so good to see you!"

"It's great to see you too," he replied as he responded to the embrace, hugging the young witch a little closer and a second longer than he would any of his other friends.

"What are you doing here?" She asked just as she noticed the pack on his back. "Are you coming with us?"

"I am," he beamed. Her enthusiasm was contagious. "I ran into Luna in Diagon Alley the other day and she told me about your trip. I mentioned that I had written a paper on the Whisps back at Hogwarts and she insisted that I come along."

"Oh thank god!" Hermione gushed. "This is honestly the greatest news. I don't know how I would have survived with these three stupid—"

"Is that Remus I hear?" Sirius interrupted as he swung around the corner. "Holy shit am I seeing a ghost?" he exclaimed, his face lighting up with disbelief and excitement as he pulled his best friend into the living room, clapping him on the back.

"Hey Sirius, Harry, Ron," Remus greeted them as if they had all just been together yesterday, but Sirius wasn't having it.

"What the hell Mooney? You don't call me in who knows how fucking long and then you just show up on my doorstep for a chummy weekend of hunting fictitious creatures?"

Remus laughed it off, but Sirius was right; he had been gone for a long while. "Well maybe if you started acting like an old man like me we could smoke and play cards some time."

Sirius was not about to listen to that either. "Oh save it you self centered lycan. I know your condition is hard on you, but that's no excuse! You left me here alone to fend for myself against these overconfident kids," Sirius tossed a hand in the direction of Harry and Ron. "You can't just declare yourself an old man before you actually are. And look at you! Look at your arms! You're all jacked up! What the hell have you been doing?"

"I've just been taking care of myself," Remus answered as he pulled at his snug fitting t-shirt, looking a little embarrassed to be the center of attention.

"Well that's good to hear because you and me are teaming up this weekend," Sirius declared. "We're going to show the kids why the marauders were so famous for marauding."

"Hah, and I was under the impression that we were just going camping," Remus answered him coolly.

"Yeah well think back to all the times we tried to just go camping at Hogwarts."

"Very true," Remus agreed as a nostalgic smile spread across on his face. "Though I doubt Snivellus will be lurking along behind us this time."

"Eh, you never know. I mean, what else does he really have to do these days?"

Everyone laughed at Sirius' joke. Then there was another ring of the doorbell.

"I'm so sorry that we're late," Luna apologized in her usual breathy voice. "Oh hello Remus, I'm so glad you could come."

"I'm glad you invited me," he answered her.

"We were looking in every magical creatures store on the way here for some Crescent Moon spray that would attract the Whisps, but oddly enough none of the stores carried it and all the shopkeepers said they've never heard of it."

"They must have not been quality shops," Sirius replied barley hiding his sarcasm.

But Luna didn't notice, "Yes that's probably right, but we really should be fine without it. The migration tonight is scheduled to be the largest in history."

"Well then what are we waiting for?" enthused Ron, who then turned to roll his eyes at Harry.

"My thoughts exactly," replied Luna.

"We set up a port key in the woods behind your house," explained Neville. "It's not very far in, just deep enough to stay hidden."

"Well then too the back door!" commanded Sirius as he threw his pack over his shoulders and led the way.

"Oh goodie! I've been waiting for this trip for weeks now," Luna cheered as she fallowed in his direction.

Hermione shot a dispirited look at Remus who returned it. "I really hope they don't ruin this for her."

"Don't worry, Luna has happy innocence about her. She won't pick up on their false enthusiasm and the three of them will figure out someway to keep themselves occupied."

His reply was exactly what Hermione needed to hear and she was instantly grateful that he had finally returned. She might even forgive him for staying away for so long.

"I really hope your right," she replied.

"I hope her source about the Whisps was right."

"Oh God," Hermione groaned as she threw her hands up to cover her face, this trip was such a disaster.

Remus just laughed at her, "Come on, we'll make the best of it—even if it kills us."

Hermione's heart fluttered as those last words left his lips, 'even if it kills us'. It had been their shared motto during the war. A sardonic ode to the precarious position they found themselves in and evidence that they were actually a lot alike. Hermione often pretended that she did not have a huge crush on Remus (an older man, her former professor, and arguably her greatest friend) but during times like right now, she could not lie to herself.