Through Her Eyes

Chapter 7: Of Cats and Compromises

"My past reputation precedes me. Whatever I did to Sirius, I'm sure it gives him the right to utterly despise me,"

Remus nodded slowly, tapping his knees slightly as a small Brest escaped both their lips. Standing, Hermione gathered up the blanket she had brought down with her,

"Thank you, Remus, as always. I'm glad I have someone to talk too,"

"You too Hermione. Are you going to the Quidditch match tomorrow? Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, it should be a brutal game,"

"Unfortunately. Lily won't stop talking about James and how good a Seeker he is. The bloody girl is mental sometimes-"

"I'll...see you there then?" Remus asked, still standing in his night clothes before the fireplace as Hermione deeply inhaled and smiled,

"Definitely. Goodnight, Mr. Lupin,"

"Same to you, Miss Black,"

As Hermione made her way back into the girls dormitory, she practically floated to her bed and fell on it, stifling a groan with her pillow. What was she thinking! Almost spilling everything to a member of the Marauders,

'But he's just so Remus,' Hermione thought dreamily, flipping over onto her back and staring at the canopy of her bed, slamming the heel of her palm to her face, 'stupid girl. You already have a boyfriend. Ron Weasley, is your boyfriend! Remember him?'

Hermione grunted and pulled the blanket over her shoulder, sniffing as she stared at the limestone wall she was pushed up against. The smile made its way back onto her lips as her mind wandered back to the quiet werewolf she played chess with,

'He's so sweet though...no! It's Lupin. Professor Lupin! A.k.a, already married and with child, Remus Lupin!'

Hermione sighed heavily and dug her palms into her eye sockets before the smile reappeared and stuck there,

'But that's in a different time,'

Satisfied with the compromise her mind had been fighting with, Hermione let her eyes drift shut. It only felt like minutes before a body practically fell on her, causing her eyes to shoot open and her body to twist around to face her attacker. Bleary eyed and drowsy, the startling green eyes immediately made Hermione think 'Harry', but as her vision cleared and red hair fell across her lips, the name Lily Evans came to mind,

"'Mione! Get up or we'll miss the trip!"

"Mm wha?" Hermione blinked lazily  as Lily practically hauled her up by the arms,

"Come on! You said you'd come with me to Hogsmeade!"

"When exactly did I say that?" Hermione questioned, finally blinking the daze from her mind and rubbing the crust from her eyes. Lily appeared guilty for a moment as she summoned a hairbrush with her wand and began to work on Hermione's tangled obsidian locks,

"Well you weren't exactly...awake at the time. But you still said yes which means you have to come!"

"That hardly seems fair..."

"We'll compromise, then. You come to Hogsmeade-"

"And Quidditch," Hermione reminded Lily whom quickly nodded in realization,

"Right, and Quidditch. And I pay for our entire day. We'll have a 'just girls day'! "

Knowing already Hermione couldn't challenge her best friend's mother to a solid compromise, she merely nodded as Lily smiled and finished the long plait she had been working on,

"Great! Now get dressed. I'm absolutely starving!"

Lily was an absolute whirlwind - Hermione decided - as she dressed herself in a warm black woolen sweater, a black skirt, white leggings and worn leather boots. She personally would have preferred a pair of jeans for the outing, but there wasn't much 'muggle' clothing in a Pureblood Witches trunk.
Breakfast itself was a blur as Hermione skipped out on eating for a must needed rest of the eyes. Before resting however, Hermione couldn't help but glance down the table at where the Marauders were sitting. Sirius and James looked to be having some kind of sword fight, while Remus was smiling at Peter who had stabbed two halves of potatoes with two forks and made them tap dance. Smirking, Hermione sighed and rested on her arm. Remus looked extremely pale this morning...and Hermione was unfortunate to know why. Lycanthropy was rough on anyone, especially someone like Remus who had been bitten so young in life...

"Earth to Black?"

Hermione's head snapped up as she pulled away from staring at Remus, instead finding Lily staring at her with a glimmering intensity. It wasn't a malice filled stare, merely a distrustful and half-obsessive curious one,
"Who are you staring at?"

Hermione felt the blush rise onto her cheeks as she shook her head hopelessly,

"Nobody important,"

"Pfft. 'Mione, you're as pale as a sheet normally, and right now your face is the shade of a watermelon. I will find out who you fancy eventually, you know that right?"

"Yeah....I know,"

And before Hermione even knew it, she was soon allowing herself to be pulled about by a very energetic Lily Evans.

'If I ever see Harry again I'll tell him his mom was a bloody nuisance,' Hermione thought to herself, sniggering as she leaned against a building. Across the street, Lily was standing with none other then James Potter, who was explaining the speed and angulation of the broomstick currently on display. Smiling again, Hermione huffed lightly,
'Amazing that she hated his guts a few days ago,'

Just then however, Hermione's attention was drawn by a noise in the alleyway just beside her. Triggering an instinct she didn't know she had, Hermione quickly whipped around,

"Crookshanks?"

The soft mewing happened again, leading the perturbed witch to abandon her position against the wall, searching for her beloved pet. Logically Hermione knew her cat hadn't fallen off the bridge with her upon her arrival, yet even without seeing him, Hermione knew that's what the sound was,
"Crookshanks? Here kitty, kitty,"

Hermione walked farther into the alleyway, spying a small tuft of golden lions fur moving against the wall which made a dead end. Hurrying forward, she reached down, seeing a pair of large reddish yellow eyes peer up at her from a snow pile,

"Crookshanks? My goodness, look at you,"

Hermione grasped her familiar by the body, hoisting him up and smiling slightly. He looked pathetic really, frowny face and matted fur wet with snow. But this Crookshanks was far younger than the one Hermione had left in her own time,
"Pathetic creature," she whispered, wrapping the cat up in one edge of her jumper and stroking his head with a hand. Of course Hermione knew Kneazle's were fairly loyal creatures, but Crookshanks wasn't dumb enough to go jumping off bridges for her, "but how did you get here, little thing?"

Standing fully, Hermione barely had time to turn around before something hard knocked into the back of her head, causing everything to spin before fading completely to black.