Hermione woke up the next morning to Sirius prodding her with a candy cane. Shooting him a glare, she tried to stretch her legs and arms, only to find out that they were stiff from falling asleep in a sitting position. Wincing, she stood up and rubbed her back.
"Haven't they unlock-" she began, but Sirius cut her off by putting a hand over her mouth.
"Shhh, they're in the front. We have to find some way of reaching the cellar entrance without them seeing us." Looking around, he then whispered, "Quick, follow me."
Hermione allowed him to grab her hand and drag her along after him as he weaved among the shelves and displays of candy. She couldn't help but realize how comical they must have looked if someone had seen them - him with his pockets stuffed full of candy and a giant candy cane in one hand, her with her messy hair, stumbling after him. Finally, they reached the cellar door, and when the storekeeper's back was turned, they quickly hurried through it.
To their relief, there was no one down in the basement. This allowed them to quickly make their way around all the piled-high boxes of sweets to the stone covering the tunnel to Hogwarts. Sirius slid it away, helped Hermione down, then followed her after sliding the stone back closed with a loud thunk.
"Lumos," murmured Hermione, who was leading the way. Her wand lit up and illuminated the narrow earthen passageway ahead of them. With that, the two students began to creep their way back to the Hogwarts school grounds.
Draco woke up to yells and shouts coming from the common room. Rubbing his eyes, he yawned. Memories from the previous night hit him as he scratched the back of his head, and he bit his lower lip. Whatever, he thought with a shake of his head, I'll deal with that later. Grumbling at the commotion, he got up, stretched, and went downstairs to see what everyone was so happy about.
When he got to the bottom step, the object of everyone's delight was made obvious - a sign had been posted on the wall announcing the next Hogsmeade trip to be that weekend. As he shrugged in uninterest and turned around to go back to his warm bed, two 5th year boys walked by him.
"...gonna take Jennifer to Hogsmeade then, Tom?"
"Yeah," the other boy replied with a grin. "Already asked her."
They disappeared around the corner leaving Draco with a slight frown on his face. Who was he going to take to Hogsmeade? Lily's face immediately popped into his mind. She'll probably say no, he thought miserable as he climbed back up the stairs. After what happened last night, she probably hates me.
Once he re-entered the dormitory, which was empty save for one of the boys' pet cat, Draco slipped into Gryffindor - he shivered with disgust at the thought of it, but put them on anyway - robes and grabbed his school bag, which he had taken with him back to the past. After running a hand through his messy hair in an attempt to tame it, he began walking towards the Great Hall.
When Draco arrived there, the Marauders, as well as Hermione and Ginny, were already there. He sat himself down next to Remus, and tuned into their conversation - Hermione and Sirius were relaying, in excited voices, what had happened in Honeydukes.
Throughout their tale, Draco noticed that Remus remained quiet and brooding. Raising an eyebrow slightly, he muttered to the other Gryffindor, "Anything wrong?"
"Nothing really," Remus mumbled back, giving Draco the impression that his answer was about as true as him being from Scotland. He decided not to press it though, and simply nodded in answer.
Once Hermione and Sirius finished talking, everyone applauded. James looked particularly ecstatic as he whistled and proposed a toast.
"Hey Lily," Draco said across the table to the auburn-haired Gryffindor.
She smiled and replied, "Good morning, Draco."
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked.
"Go ahead."
"Well...I mean, in private."
"Okay," she answered giving him a weird look. She stood up and after telling her friends she would be right back, headed out of the Great Hall. Draco followed her, not noticing all the looks of understanding the rest of the Marauders gave each other as he left.
Once him and Lily were alone in the corridor outside of the Great Hall, Draco cleared his throat and said awkwardly, "Erm...so are you going to Hogsmeade with anyone?"
"No. Why do you ask?" she said, knowing perfectly well why he was asking. Her insides squirmed with happiness as she said these words, and a twinkle appeared in her eye.
Draco gulped, and Lily couldn't help but notice how cute he looked when he felt uncomfortable about something. "D'you...well, d'you wanna come to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" There. He had said it. He resisted the urge to close his eyes and pray silently that she wouldn't laugh at him and walk away.
Much to his surprise, she grinned and replied, "Of course!"
"Really?" he said, not bothering to mask his surprise.
"Yeah," said Lily. "I was going to ask you if you didn't ask me so...yeah."
"Oh..well okay then," Draco said. He smiled back; not only had he just lifted a huge load off of his chest, but he was now going to Hogsmeade with the most beautiful girl in the year. Although a little voice in his head urged him to not get too attached - after all, this was the past; there was no way he could be with Lily in the future because that would just be...well, that would just be wrong - he couldn't help but feel somewhat elated about his luck.
Meanwhile, back at the Gryffindor table, James had just left with Ginny so he could walk her to what he believed was her first class at Hogwarts. Sirius, Remus, and Hermione were now left alone.
"So...where's Wormtail?" Sirius asked Remus to break the silence.
"Probably off somewhere with his girlfriend again," Remus replied with a roll of his eyes, "doing God knows what..."
Sirius snickered. "Well, I'm off to go find Lanelle. We have to finish our summer potions assignment."
"I can't believe you still haven't done your summer homework yet," Remus said with a teasing shake of his head.
"Hey...unlike someone, I have places to go, things to do...or rather, people to do, over the summer," replied his friend with a wink. He then headed off to the Hufflepuff table.
Now Remus and Hermione were left sitting across from each other. "How was your night?" Hermione asked, looking at Remus.
"It was okay," he responded nervously. Every time she looked at him with those eyes he could barely speak, much less think of something intelligent to say.
"Well that's good," she answered brightly. Silence fell between them again as she took a sip of her pumpkin juice and started fidgeting with the table cloth.
"Umm I have a question," Remus blurted out. He nearly slapped himself. Are you seriously going to ask her? he thought, surprised at himself. Hey...there's nothing to lose. If she isn't attracted to you right now, it's not like she's gonna be any less attracted to you after you ask.
"Yes?" asked Hermione, looking up.
"Erm...well y'know there's a Hogsmeade trip coming up this weekend," he started.
"Yes," Hermione said, smiling as she realized what Remus was about to ask her.
"I was just wondering - would you like to come with me?" He inwardly groaned as he said these words. I am such a bloody idiot. Why the hell did I do that?
"I'd love to!"
"W-w-what?" he stuttered, hardly believing his ears.
"Of course I want to go to Hogsmeade with you, Remus," Hermione repeated, slightly amused.
"You're sure?"
"Yes, very sure," she answered with a laugh.
"Okay then," he finally said with a huge grin on his face. "Well I gotta go to class now. I'll see you this weekend?"
"Sure...where do you want to meet?"
"Lets meet at the fountain in the courtyard," he said, voicing the first place that came to mind.
"Sounds good to me. Have fun at class today," Hermione said.
"You too. Good luck finding your classes. It shouldn't be too hard once you get the hang of the moving staircases and such," Remus replied. Then with a final wave to Hermione, he walked away, feeling like the happiest man on earth.
"So what's your first class?" James asked Ginny.
"Potions," she replied, glancing down at the schedule the head of their house, Dumbledore, had given her earlier.
"Oh that's in the dungeons," he answered.
"I know," she responded without thinking. "Erm I mean...potions was in the dungeons at my old school too." Holding her breath, she prayed that James would accept her cover-up.
"Yeah most schools do," he said.
She let it out, and smiled at him. "Thanks for doing this," she said.
"Doing what?"
"Walking me to class. I'd probably get lost in a matter of seconds if it weren't for you."
"It's my pleasure," he answered, returning her smile.
After a few minutes of walking without talk, Ginny said, "So are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend? I've heard about Hogsmeade, it's supposed to be a wonderful place."
"Yeah, it's wicked. And yes, I'm going," replied James. A little voice in his head started nagging at him to say what he wanted to say so badly. Just ask her, you wimp, it scolded. "Bah, fine!" he said out loud.
"Erm...what?" Ginny said, looking at him oddly.
He flushed bright red. "Nothing," he answered, thoroughly embarrassed. "Well actually, there is something I wanted to ask you. I'm not going to Hogsmeade with anyone and I thought...well, would you like to come with me?"
"Sure," she answered with a grin. "That would be fun."
"Great!" he said as he opened the dungeon door for her. She stepped in and turned around to thank him. "Well, I'll see you later, Ginny," he said.
"Bye James. Thanks for walking me here." She gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then walked into her class and sat down. James took one last look at Ginny, and, with her image set in his mind, walked off to start his day with the light of spending the weekend with her on his horizon.