Quintessential

Chapter 4

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"Ahh, there you are Hermoine!" James called out when she walked inside of the common room. He was lounging on the red couch which was facing the fireplace. Sirius was sitting next to him and had his feet on the coffee table. Two other boys were there as well, one with sandy brown sitting in the red lounge chair, another blonde one sitting cross legged on the floor.

"James, you saw me like and hour ago during class. What do you want?"

"Well, we needed to introduce you to Remus and Peter of course." He extended his hand and waved it in a half circle motion pointing at the two boys, as if he was revealing something very important.

"Hello," the blonde one squeaked, "I'm Peter, Peter Pettigrew." He stood at about 5'5, the same height as Hermoine herself. He was a little overweight and he had an awkward haircut, too long to be short and too short to be long enough. His blue eyes didn't stand out against his pale skin, and his nose was quite large.

"And by process of eliminating, I'm Remus," spoke the sandy haired one. Hermoine knew that was him without him having to say it. His face was so similar and he has his long, lanky legs draped over the arm of the chair. It just made sense for it to be her old professor. Not to mention the scars that adorned his face, a product of his lycanthropy.

"Hi, I'm Hermoine. I was just on my way to my room, but nice meeting you two." She began walking to the steps but heard a cry of protest and stopped.

"Waitttt," called a dramatic Sirius, still on his seat on the couch, "you know, if we're going to be your new best friends we have to get to know you, Miss Hermoine Granger."

"And who said I wanted you guys as friends," the girl questioned with a smile.

"Well it was clearly obvious, I mean, who wouldn't?" Sirius remarked sarcastically.

Hermoine walked over and sat down next on the floor across from Peter and next to the red armchair Remus was resting in.

"Why would you guys want to be my friends anyways? You don't anything about me and yet you seem to very keen on us becoming acquainted."

"Why wouldn't we want to be your friend?" James piped up.

"I don't know, maybe the fact that I'm some new girl who just randomly showed up it the girls dormitory, already know my way around the entire castle, and know the material being taught. The list goes on."

"Exactly, you seem cool and mysterious," Remus offered.

"Ahh, that's what it is. I'm another mystery for you Marauders to solve," Hermoine joked.

"Exactly, now you get it," Sirius replied sarcastically.

"Well, I don't think you should get to know all my secrets. I'm sure you guys have plenty of secrets yourself that you don't want my knowing, it's that right, Padfoot, Prongs. Wormtail, and Moony?" The girl asked before smiling smugly and walking away, leaving them shocked, Remus the most pale of all.

"Hermoine!" Called the voice of none other than James Potter.

"Why is that whenever I see one of you, you're always yelling at me?" Hermoine said, sounding annoyed although she found it amusing.

"I don't know, but I need to know what the fuck you were talking about last night."

"James relax. I was just teasing you because Lily told me about your ridiculous nicknames," Hermoine lied. She had realized it probably wasn't very smart to reveal she knew about Remus' condition, they would wonder how she found out before a single full moon had even occurred.

"Oh, right yeah, sorry," James trailed off looking down.

"What did you think I meant?" Hermoine asked, trying to sound curious although she already knew the answer.

"Nothing!" James blurted out.

"Right..." Hermoine trailed off, unconvinced. "Anyways, I have to get to library and study. I'll see you around."

Hermoine walked quickly through the halls when she was stopped by a group of five guys who shoved her up against a wall. One of which was the guy who sat next to Lily in potions, but he was more or less just standing there awkwardly. Another one looked surprisingly like Sirius, Hermoine realized that he was probably Regulus, his brother. It also dawned on her that if these were people Regulus was with, they probably wouldn't like her very much.

"Watch where you're going, mudblood," a blonde one spat out, still holding her against the wall.

"Let go of me. You don't even know who I am," Hermoine replied.

"Oh yeah, and who exactly are you?" He replied.

Hermoine couldn't think of anything.

"Guys leave her alone please, you don't even know her blood status anyways," Regulus spoke up which surprised Hermoine. He was supposed to be on board with Voldemort until years after the Marauders graduated.

"Shut up, we're not going hurt her, just have a little fun. And even if she's not a mudblood, she's been hanging out with those blood traitors," spoke another on who was wearing a devilish grin.

"So does Severus and you never get at mad at him for that," Regulus gestured to the potions-boy and Hermoine finally recognized him. That was Severus Snape.

That seemed to make the blonde relax his grip a little, which in turn let Hermoine kick him in knees and made his legs give out. She quickly grabbed her wand and backed away from the group, who were also withdrawing their wands.

"What is going on here?" Came the Scottish voice of McGonagall, causing all the students to drop their wands.

"That girl attacked us, Professor." Spoke one of the boys, trying to sound distressed.

"Now I find it hard to believe that this one girl tried to take on all 5 of you boys at once. Detention, all of you." The professor spoke, her attention still fixed on the boys.

"That's not fair!" The boys whined.

"What's not fair? You obviously provoked Ms. Granger so I have to give you detention. As far as you, Ms. Granger, you used unnecessary physical force so I much give you detention as well. Please report to my office tonight at 8:00 sharp." And with that the witch turned her heels and walked away.

The teens gathered their things and walked away, but not before muttering insults to both Hermoine and Professor McGonagall.

"See you tonight, mudblood," the blonde one called as he walked away.