Despite the build-up of tiredness and the massive eye-bags plaguing her face, Hermione had a strangely difficult time falling asleep after that peculiar Astronomy class. Tossing and turning more than Marlene's mangy cat, she was unable to fully digest the situation and confused herself with her own words.
"Wouldn't you know, though? You and your eight girls?"
That very sentence kept repeating in her mind, more annoying to her than Horace Slughorn on Hermione's first day. She could've sworn that they came out like word vomit, they did. Was it embarrassment she felt? That gross feeling in the pit of her stomach when she spoke her thoughts without truly thinking them? Or was it—No, not that. Definitely not that.
How was it that this scenario was the one thing keeping her up at night? Not the fact that she has a stop a student spy working for the most blood-thirsty man in the world, let alone Europe? It was all very mind-boggling to her.
It was no shocker that Hermione got no sleep that night. Thankfully, it made her realize her initial priorities and why she was truly here: not to overthink about silly social situations, but to save James and Lily. To destroy Peter, that's was she was here for. And Hermione thought that this holiday posed the perfect opportunity to truly dive deep into what Peter could be hiding.
Unbeknownst to Hermione before her trip to 1977, a Halloween dance was hosted for the seventh-years, and for the seventh-years alone; it must've been kept a secret.
Being only one day before the spooky holiday itself, the girls figured it would be no better time than to spend their Hogsmeade Saturday at Gladrags' Wizardwear in search of the perfect costume. With her roommates, Hermione entered the clothing store and a plethora of costumes were brought to her eyes. Everything from fake blood-covered spooky garments to dazzlingly fancy costume dresses that would turn heads of anyone happened to see. Masks of a range of different animals hung from the wall and not a single accessory went unnoticed. And despite being still physically—and emotionally—drained from the night before, nearly everything in Gladrags' caught Hermione's eye.
Alice already had planned a matching costume with Frank—as the infamous Romeo and Juliet—so she was just tagging along to help the others. It seemed like she was more into the shopping than Marlene was, grabbing everything in Marlene's size and launching it into her arms without warning.
Lily, on the other hand, picked out a stunning costume with the help of the kindhearted cashier, something that Hermione knew James would absolutely drool over. One thing Hermione was particularly excited about being back in this time was to watch her best friend's parents fall in love. Helping James win Lily over was something Hermione couldn't help but be a part of, she just hoped that Lily would finally notice.
Meanwhile, the costume that Hermione pulled from the rack was particularly eye-catching; it was something her normal self would never consider, but, then again, she was Harper now. It was no better time to try something new. In the wise words of Alice Fortescue, the costume she picked out was "absolutely beautiful" and "would look amazing on you." Thankfully, after a trip to the dressing room, it did.
Shopping bags in hand, each of the girls headed to the Three Broomsticks for lunch, meeting James, Sirius, Frank, Remus, and Peter, who had snagged a table for the nine of them. It didn't take very long after the girls sat down for a waiter to come to their service.
"Could we get nine butterbeers?" Sirius asked the waitress politely before Hermione chimed in.
"I'll have ginger in mine, please," she added on, before she caught sight of James, peeking into the shopping bag of the red-head adjacent to him.
"Is that a black dress I see?" he asked in a cheeky tone, his face gaining a rosier color than usual while eyeing Lily.
Lily laughed. "Oh, shut up James," she playfully said. A slight shock made its way around the table; James wasn't the only one who realized that Lily hadn't called him a bloody toerag.
Raising his eyebrows and smirking, Sirius had shot an intriguing look towards Harper that said "James and Lily? Not at each other's throats? Interesting..." without any of the words, of course. The two chuckled nonchalantly, before sipping their beverage that had been brought to the table only moments prior.
And from that interaction, however non-verbal it may have seemed, Hermione felt a little bit more at ease than she was last night. Or at least she thought she did.
Was this really what had been keeping her up at night? It couldn't be.
The grey-eyed boy looking right at her. Him and his eight girls.
Why could she not forget it?
The real question is, what the hell am I thinking?
After all the overthinking she had done only hours before, she didn't want to read into anything. It would only come back to bite her late. For now, she wanted to savor this moment: a moment with a wonderful group of people (well, most of them), all of which she knew her friendships with them had a time limit. As terrible as it sounded to get close to them and then leave within in instant, that was something Hermione would deal with once Peter was taken care of, and that, as of now, was not soon. Not soon at all.
Sirius, on the other hand, had the new girl completely pressing in his mind. He too, after last night's Astronomy class, thought long and hard about the words that had left both his and Harper's mouth. The overthinking certainly went both ways, only Sirius' anxiety was rooted in the fact that Harper was most certainly judging him. Him and his eight girls, what else could it be?
He felt embarrassed. Anxious of what would happen if she brought it up again. Sirius never thought that he'd care so much about what a single girl had thought of him. Whether she judged him or not. Even if he had only known her for two months.
But as for now, he would do what he does best, other than pulling the most epic pranks with James: covering his thoughts with a smile and savoring the moment. Exactly like the new girl was doing now as well.
The rest of the day went as according to plan. Lunch at the Three Broomsticks was scrumptious, as was dinner later on. Thankfully, Hermione was given something else to think about for the night. Something that didn't consider her, but she would certainly love to see happen. And it wasn't even her who brought it up.
While the seventh-year Gryffindor girls were getting ready for bed, Marlene made a questionable note, questionalbe to Lily, at least. It came as no surpise to the rest of the girls.
"You know who I noticed was being a little flirty today?" Marlene dropped on the rest of the girls, out of the blue.
Harper stayed quiet while Lily genuinly asked, "who?" No one knew if she was pretending to be oblivious, or is she was just flat out not good at picking up any sort of signals.
"You really don't know?" added Alice, "I bet even Harper knows," she spoke again, putting Hermione in a but of an awkward situation.
"Well, I may have noticed some—"
"Lils I'm just gonna flat out say it," started Marlene, interupting her with no time to waste, "it's James."
"Really?"
"It's obvious."
"Really? With," she paused, hand to her chest and questioning her words, "with me?"
Lily seemed pleasantly surprised. Emphasis on the plesantly. Every other girl took a mental note of how Lily had reacted: someone who was completely revolted by James would not have reacted in that way at all.
The fact that no one here, not even Lily, could remember the last time she had called James a toerag, certainly didn't go unnoticed.
Hermione tried to focus more on Lily and James, how she could see them fall in love right in front of her eyes. Even though it was only something to distract herself from the scene from last night that kept playing in her mind over and over again, this was something rare. Something that even their son hadn't seen on display.
The unbreakable bond they had was only expressed in stories that she heard and memories that she didn't have. All of it was, not just James and Lily. Sirius' witty comebacks, the pranks that he and James pulled, how Peter slowly betrayed those who loved him the most, it was all unwravelling before her very eyes. The memories were now hers to keep, and it was something she was in awe of every single day.
In less than twenty-four hours, she would be attending a dance with her friends. People that up until early September, she knew only through story.
The Hermione that had put her schoolwork on a pedestal probably wouldn't have looked forward to a Halloween dance as much as she, Harper, did now. And with that she started to thing more about her past. About Harry and Ron and Ginny, and how much she missed being with them, not matter how troublesome they may be. The past year especially had brought them closer, through blood, sweat, and tears. That's how it always had been.
And suddenly it hit her.
Not even a year ago she had watched a much older Sirius Black die in front of her. Her Astronomy partner, someone she was proud to call a close friend now, she had watched die. Life taken by none other than his wretched cousin.
And he was innocent.
As if James and Lily weren't reason enough, Hermione felt much more of a drive to succeed in getting rid of Peter. How could she let a perfectly good now-friend of hers rot away in an Azkaban cell for twelve years, only to be killed by his own family two years later?
It was vital that she succeed.
From then on, she planned how exactly she was going to take advantage of the Halloween dance to spy on the spy himself, instead of re-gaining sleep from the troublesome night before. The rat would be at the dance, so really, was there any better time to search for proof?
A/N: so that's it for this chapter!!! omg it's crazy that it's already chapter 15, i hope you're enjoying the story so far!!! please leave a vote or comments with feedback if you liked it! thanks for 480+ reads!
A/N (8/16/20): ahhhahahaha sorry i took so mf long to update. the chapter before this was kinda a time-jump typa chapter so it was a little difficult to not have writer's block lol. after completely rewritting half of it i scrapped it AGAIN because i hated it. i hope its better now lol. anyways thanks for 137K!!!! that's seriously so much like tHANK YOU. ps: i've mapped out the rest of the story in detail so the rest of the chapters with (probably) be coming out a lot quicker! - callahan