Quintessential

Chapter 3

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"Well hello, Hermoine. Wasn't sure I'd be seeing you again," the voice of Sirius Black called out.

"Hello. I just had to speak with Dumbledoor but I do attend school here, can't get rid of me that easily," she quipped which caused the boy laugh.

"Got it. What classes do you have?"

"Um, here," she replied handing him the slip of paper with her scheduled on it. He scanned it with a smile.

"Bloody, we have all the same classes together but one. That means you also have the majority with James, Lily, and, well you haven't met them yet but still, Remus and Peter. They're also our friends."

Hermoine stood straighter at the mention of their friends. While James had died, she became well aquatinted with Sirius and Remus. Peter, however, not so much given the fact that he was working for Voldemort.

"Right, I'll see you then," Hermoine replied shaking the thoughts of Peter away.

"What do you mean, class starts in 6 minutes, come on now," the boy didn't wait for a reply and grabbed her arm, pulling her towards the Potions classroom.

When they arrived with no time to spare, Sirius took his spot next to James while Hermoine noticed the empty seat next to Lily and decided to sit there. She noticed the redhead was sitting next to a slytherin boy with medium-length black hair. He looked familiar but Hermoine couldn't place where she knew him from. She figured she knew one of his kids.

When she took her seat Lily turned to smile at her, but didn't say anything as the professor cut them off.

"Good morning everyone. Please turn to page 256 in your textbooks." As everyone flipped open their books Hermoine became nervous. She didn't have a textbook.

"Ah, and what is your name Miss?" The professor asked when he registered the girl's unfamiliar face.

"I'm Hermoine Granger. I guess you could say I'm a new student."

"Dumbledoor didn't tell me about any new student in my class..." he trailed off looking back on his attendance sheet, "oh wait, Hermoine Granger. Your name is right here, must've missed it. Welcome. I'm Professor Slughorn, do you have a textbook?"

"No sir."

"Well you will just have to share with Ms. Evans for today then. I will speak to the Headmaster about getting your supplies."

Lily scooted her stool closer to Hermoine and placed her book in between them, shooting her a smile before reading on.

The page was on Polyjuice Potions, which Hermoine was already familiar with from having made it before so she wasn't paying very much attention to Professor Slughorn.

"Now, we cannot make these ourselves because they take 3 months time to brew. We will, however, spend today talking about the aspects of it and how to make it. Now can anyone tell me what the Polyjuice Potions is?"

Lily's hand shot up first so the professor called on her. "It's a potion that can transform you into another person, using a sample of their DNA."

"Correct. Now..." Hermoine didn't hear the rest of what he was saying because she felt something hit her arm. When she looked on the desk there was a crumpled piece of paper.

She looked around to see who through and saw a couple tables back, a laughing Sirius and James. Hermoine rolled her eyes and turned back to the lecture. A moment later she felt another paper hit her arm, causing her swivel around and shoot the boys a glare. Not a moment later she felt another tap on the back of her head.

"I swear to Merlin!" She shouted suddenly causing everyone to look at her with surprise. "Sorry," she squeaked, shrinking in her seat and looking down.

"Well, Ms, Granger, if your so keen on speaking perhaps you would care to tell me one of the rules of the Polyjuice Potion." The unamused professor spoke.

"Oh, right. Well, you have to have a piece of their DNA such as a crushed toenail or piece of hair. Oh! And it only works on people, not animals, so don't try it with, let's say, cat hair."

"Correct, thank you Hermoine. Now please refrain from any more outbursts." Hermoine nodded quickly and shot another glare to the two boys that were still laughing.

"What is wrong with the two of you?" An angry Lily Evans said once they had exited the classroom. "Why were messing with Hermoine?"

"Oh lighten up Lils," replied Sirius, "we were only messing with our new friend." He dramatically swung his arm around Hermoine's shoulder. Hermoine thought back to the several occasions in which Sirius had done this when they were spending the summer at Grimlaud Place. It made her smile.

"Yeah, we were only joking, right Hermoine?" James said turning to the girl.

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't do that again, I could've gotten in trouble."

"But you didn't, that's the thing," Sirius joked to which both Hermoine and Lily rolled their eyes.

"Besides, what wrong with getting in a little trouble? That's the fun part," James cut in.

"Of course you would say that James. You're so predictable," Lily replied shaking her head.

"Oh, you know you love me Evans," James said with a smile.

"I really don't Potter. You're an ignorant arse, and honestly you're annoying as fuck." Hermoine laughed at this, finding the irony of it unbearable. The group took it as her just laughing at Lily's remark and didn't question it. In fact Sirius just smiled at her.

"Sure sure, I'll remember that when you're confessing your love to me soon," James quipped as he walked away in the opposite direction wearing a smile.

Sirius was still with the two girls walking, his arm still draped across Hermoine's shoulders.

"Aren't you going to follow him Black?" Lily asked sarcastically.

"Of course not, I'd much rather spend my time with you, Evans. And of course my new friend Hermoine."

Hermoine and Lily laughed at this as they continued walking to their next class of the day.

"Wait, I thought we had most of our classes with James, is he not in the next one?" Hermoine asked once she registered the situation.

"Oh no, he does," Lily replied as if this was normal.

"Then why'd he walk the other direction?" Hermoine asked confused.

"I reckon he just wanted to make a dramatic exit," Sirius said, nonchalantly. This made both the girls chuckle.

When they reached their next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts, they all took their seats. They waited for James to arrive but he's was cutting it close. When the clock finally hit 10:30, which was when class started, James came bursting through the door.

"Ahh, Mr. Potter. How nice of you to join us," called the professor, "now, care to explain why you're late?"

"Well sir, as you can see, if not late, I'm right on time." The professor didn't look amused. "Ok fine, I took a wrong turn getting here and then when I tried to come back I kind of got stuck on the stairs so I had to run here." With a huff he sat down in his seat.

Hermoine, Sirius, and Lily were all laughing hysterically.