Braving the Past

Chapter 31: Secrets Unveiled

How many times had Snape said that exact same thing to her, Harry and Ron? She snickered at the thought of James' face if she were to tell him he sounded just like Snape.

"Oi, Snivellus! Forget your shampoo again?" Sirius called when they'd entered the Potions classroom. The young Snape already sat behind a cauldron with another Slytherin friend.

Lily stalked by them, shoving Sirius's shoulder in the process. James saw this and whacked Sirius on the other arm. He went and sat by Lily while Sirius rolled his eyes and rubbed his arm.

"He knows it's true," Sirius muttered. "That Slytherin has got to learn some proper etiquette."

Snape had completely ignored them, his eyes following Lily like a hawk. Hermione watched him with narrowed eyes as he watched James take a seat next to her. Why was he so interested in what she did?

It was probably just the fact that both Lily and James were Heads and could take points from him if he spoke back at their friend.

"That doesn't mean you've got to be rude about pointing it out," Hermione said as she took a seat in front of James and Lily. Sirius sat next to her, brooding.

"I swear, he's been going all goody-two-shoes on me now that he thinks he's got a chance with Evans."

The stool Sirius sat on was suddenly kicked forward, and Hermione looked back to see James' foot hiding back underneath his table.

Sirius rounded on his best friend. "You just wait. Tonight's a full moon, and dogs can beat little toe-rags any day."

James raised an eyebrow. "Is that before or after said stag's antlers come into the mix?"

Sirius squinted his eyes. "Touche, Prongs." He turned back around in his seat, seemingly completely over his brooding. Lily eyed the two boys suspiciously.

Hermione gulped. "Tonight's the full moon?" she asked lowly. How had it come up so fast?

"Sure is." He took in her worried face and jumped to reassure her. "But don't worry, we've got a real safe place for Moony. There's no way he's hurting anyone on our watch."

If only that was what she was worried about.

"Good morning, my fellow potioneers," a slightly larger Professor Slughorn greeted cheerfully as he waltzed into the classroom.

Hermione ducked her head slightly as he walked by her table. He was going to notice her sooner or later – she was a new student after all – but she wanted to prolong that moment as much as possible. She just hoped he wouldn't remember her the way Professor Dumbledore had.

As Professor Slughorn went into his usual introduction, Hermione tuned out and thought about the full moon. She figured it coming up so quickly was due to the time change. She may have just been through a transformation in 1945, but in 1977, they were due.

Hermione glanced over at Remus, who was quietly conversing with Peter. Did he realize that in just a few hours, he'd be hiding in the shrieking shack with three animagi as company?

Of course he did. If he was anything like Hermione, he counted down the days the minute the full moon disappeared.

"Miss Potter?"

Hermione jolted out of her reverie and looked up at the Professor with wide eyes.

"It is Potter, isn't it?" Professor Slughorn asked.

"Yes, sir," she replied.

He nodded almost uneasily. "Yes, good, well then...welcome to Hogwarts." He smiled crookedly. "If you should ever find yourself in need of help catching up, there are plenty of Professors and students here who would love to help you. I, myself, am quite busy most of the time, but I'm sure...you won't be lacking in aid, yes?"