𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑 ❧ sirius black

IX - Astronomy at Midnight

With more pep in her step than usual, Hermione joined Lily and the boys for breakfast as the sky bore less clouds than usual. It was growing to be a beautiful Friday morning, perfect for Hermione's first midnight Astronomy class. Her second week back in 1977 was almost complete; she had made tremendous development in getting to know Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. She could confidently say that she knew more information than their stories could ever hold, and wouldn't want to trade her new friendships for nearly anything else.

Hermione began to let down her guard with each of them more than she anticipated. Even though she wasn't Hermione, and certainly didn't have to be back in 1977, she tried to show her true colors while pretending to be Harper around the clock. Hermione not wanting lies to become a part of her agenda rooted this belief.

But Hermione's fear of the unknown would always remain present in her mind. After all, she wasn't back in this time period to strengthen her studies and become a better student. She was here to find something that no one had ever found. It was outside of her comfort zone, of course, and becoming okay with that was something that Hermione struggled with underneath Harper's new persona. But her studies would still reign high up on Hermione's list of important things.

This whole experience was like jumping off of the deep end for Hermione when she was expecting to ease her way in. Fortunately, the presence of her future Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher helped more than she had anticipated. Hermione discovered the not-so-subtle bookworm in Remus, and her personality as Hermione was drawn to him more than she would have initially liked. To Hermione, Remus helped facilitate the jumping feeling.

And nearly two weeks in, she found herself getting nervous around him, feeling the need to impress him with her intelligence. Her face would grow pink at the very thought of Remus. The only person that Hermione had truly ever thought of in this way was Viktor Krum, and that was well over a year ago. It had been a while; Hermione wasn't used to this and didn't know how to stop it.

This is your teacher, Hermione kept telling herself, stop before you do something stupid, she warned. But on only the second Friday of the term, Hermione found herself looking over at the brown-eyed boy more than she should have, while he failed to truly notice.

"You know we've got a surprise for you this weekend, Harper," Sirius spoke, interrupting Hermione's thoughts. Sirius stared at the girl he hoped was good as a somewhat confused smile rose upon her face. She tilted her head.

"Is that so?" Hermione added as Lily nodded.

"Yeah, you're gonna go bonkers," Peter added, "It's a-"

"Zip it, Wormy, we wouldn't want to ruin the surprise," James spoke dramatically, getting a laugh out of Sirius and Lily.

"Well, I'm excited," said Hermione with an anxious look on her face. Anything that was unknown to Hermione was something to be feared, especially back in this time. Although Hermione had a gut feeling that whatever her weekend surprise was wouldn't be dark in any way, she still feared any sort of information getting loose. It wasn't something she could afford.

"You're in for a real treat," Remus finished as the six of them started to clear their empty breakfast plates, bringing out a subtle smile from Hermione's face.

Off to their first class of the day the six of them went, Defense Against the Dark Arts to be specific. And for that class, Professor Karasu brought a warm welcome to the seventh-year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws sharing it together. She reminded Hermione of Hagrid in a way. They both were incredibly selfless and modest people, eager to help whenever they could.

Hermione took her seat in the back row of desks next to James, while Professor Karasu started class.

"So, Harper," James started, whispering into Hermione's ear while she began to take notes, "when were you going to tell me that you've got the eye for Remus?"