Chapter 48: Hogsmeade

Draco and Hermione were the first to leave the secret chamber to return to join the other Gryffindors, they didn't want to disappear for too long or they might cause suspicion.

Severus didn't have that problem as he used to spend a lot of time alone and no one would ask him unnecessary questions...

Well... maybe Olivia and Pandora would ask him a question or two out of curiosity, but they wouldn't insist that he tell them anything.

~~~~~~~

Hogwarts, November 1st, 1976.

This morning there was a visit to Hogsmeade, Olivia had the intention of spending some time with Severus to talk about different private things regarding the group they had formed in Slytherin and about the possible negotiations/relationships between the Greengrass family and the Prince.

Severus agreed as having negotiations and a good relationship with the Greengrass who were neutral was beneficial to the Prince and his plans.

Severus had to politely turn down Amelia and some Ravenclaws who invited him for drinks at the Three Broomsticks.

Yes..., all the Ravenclaws in Potions class wanted to have a closer relationship with him, as he was a genius in the class and his instructions were the best.

He could make everyone understand anything to do with potions and he always had an answer to any question they asked him.

But so far only Amelia and Pandora had managed to really get close to him.

Of course, these Ravenclaws would keep trying to win Severus over or get close to him whenever they could, and Hogsmeade was a good way to get to know him better.

Too bad Olivia Greengrass was monopolising Severus this time.

On the other hand, the Gryffindor table was very lively today, full of couples who had made arrangements so far in Hogsmeade.

Lily even told Alice, Marlene, Hermione, and Draco that she was going out with a seventh-year Ravenclaw who had asked her out.

She thought about telling to his good friend Remus as well but Lily knew that the marauders would be able to get the information out of him since it had happened so many times before.

And as much as Lily didn't mind that this usually happened, this time she wanted to have a peaceful day without Potter or Black interfering.

"So that's why you were so excited the other day," Marlene commented with an amused smile.

"Wow, someone finally managed to ask you out," Alice joked.

Marlene smiled broadly and asked: "So, would you like to tell us what your plans are for your date today?"

Lily gasped for a second but quickly cleared her throat.

"We're not exactly dating, it's just hanging out" Lily clarified.

Marlene and Alice smiled broadly and Lily shook her head.

Hermione and Draco had repeatedly shot meaningful glances at Lily as they hadn't expected this to happen without the marauders intervening, but they both assumed that they still didn't know.

"Wait... Remus knows about this already?" asked Marlene suddenly as she frowned slightly as if something was bothering her.

"Hmm, no... not yet, you're the first ones to know," smiled Lily.

"And do you plan to tell him?" asked Alice with a raised eyebrow.

" Yeah..., but later" replied Lily lightly, taking another mouthful of her pudding.

"Oh...so, Potter still doesn't know?...that's convenient" commented Alice with a happy nod.

"Poor soul he''ll go crazy when he finds out, you know how jealous he is," said Marlene jokingly.

"Well..., for once I don't want to worry about him or anyone else, actually I want to just enjoy hanging out peacefully with someone for once and enjoy my day," said Lily, she had been with a lot on her mind lately and what she needed most right now was to clear her mind.

In a normal situation, she wouldn't have accepted this Ravenclaw student's invitation so easily, but now she felt that it might be a good thing to hang out with him, besides he was someone Lily had liked a while ago and now she had the chance to get to know him better.

" Yup, that's my Lily!" Marlene clapped her hands enthusiastically, proud and happy for her friend.

" I see... that's why you haven't told Remus yet" Alice added finally understanding the situation.

"Well... Remus is a good friend but he doesn't seem to have the heart and strength to keep these things from the marauders, he wouldn't dare keep something like that from them" Lily clarified.

This time Lily really managed to hide it until the last day.

'Pretty smart' thought Draco and Hermione as they looked at Lily and then watched from a far out distance as Remus and the other marauders glanced in their direction from time to time as if they wanted to know what they were talking about.

Which was impossible due to the spell Lily always put on when they were talking about private things.

"I knew it, I told you he was the reason why Potter and Black always knew so many things," commented Marlene angrily.

"Come on Marlene, don't be mean to Remus, he's just afraid of not being trusted or being seen as a traitor and all that...you know how marauders are," said Lily defending his friend.

" Nonsense, aren't you his friend too, isn't he afraid that that might happen with you Lily?" said Marlene with a frown on her face and clearly disagreeing with her friend's point of view.

Marlene took a deep breath and continued: "Look, I'm aware of Remus' position, he has no close friends apart from the Marauders and you. Most of the students know him and accept him, but for some reason, he always stays away from everyone, and even when he is with you he seems to do it more for the marauders than any other reason, as it is obvious that even with you he feels quite awkward sometimes."

"Marlene is right Lily, I think Remus is only really calm and happy with them" nodded Alice, she had noticed that too, even though Remus was getting closer to Lily as time went on, he still seemed a little uncomfortable for some reason.

"Maybe it is as you say, but Remus knows that those things don't bother me, he's a good friend and besides he always apologizes to me for causing me trouble, it's just impossible to be mad at him," said Lily with a cute smile as she thought of all those situations where poor Remus had to apologize for the marauders or for letting himself be convinced by them.

Alice just sighed and Marlene didn't look convinced, but she knew that Lily was too good and merciful to be able to make her understand that Remus put the marauders way above their relationship.

Draco and Hermione didn't comment as it wasn't their place, but they both knew the truth about Remus's situation and why he couldn't make close friends outside of the Marauders.

They knew that it was very difficult for Remus to be himself with other people who don't know that he is actually a werewolf.

In contrast, the marauders know and accept him as he is, so Remus is happy and relieved about that because with them he can be himself without any fear.

Hermione had tried many times to get close to him, but it was just impossible, he just kept his distance from most of them, and when she spoke to him he would just respond in a way that the conversation couldn't continue, it was as if he didn't want to get too close to anyone else to make new friends as he was perfectly fine with the ones he had.

It was quite sad and disappointing for Hermione as she wanted to be able to help Remus and support him a bit with his situation, but he just wouldn't let her, but stubborn as she was, she would keep trying.

"So, Draco. Hermione, where are you going today? This is your first visit to Hogsmeade, isn't it?" asked Lily trying to change the topic of conversation.

"We're planning on taking a walk together," Hermione answered quickly.

And Draco nodded, of course, they had more plans than just a walk, but there was no need to mention that.

"Hogsmeade isn't small, what if you get lost?" asked Alice kindly.

Draco laughed causing the three of them to look at him with curiosity and confusion.

They didn't understand what caused him to laugh.

"Please Alice, my company is Hermione," said Draco.

"I'm sure she has already memorized the Hogsmeade map from the book," he added with a smirk.

Hermione rolled her eyes at his comment, Alice chuckled and Lily along with Marlene smiled.

Hermione didn't say anything about it but sighed loudly and then glared at Draco and asked with a sly grin, "Oh..., Draco, why don't you tell us about the young lady in Ravenclaw that you usually hang out with?"

Instantly all eyes in the group were on him...

And Draco's eyes went wide as he listened to what she said.

'How the bloody hell does she know that?! I've never told anyone!' thought Draco completely shocked.

"I don't know what you mean," Draco said lightly, but it was too late to try to dodge the question as they all began to insist on him to tell who the young woman was and what their relationship was.

After a few moments of constant insistence, he surrendered and told them that he had started dating a 6th-year Ravenclaw girl with whom he shared a class, but he clarified that it was nothing serious as it was something more superficial...

In his words "just physical attraction"

Marlene gave him a wink in complete agreement while Alice just sighed and shook her head, she was a firm believer that you should only date someone you really liked, not just someone you were attracted to, but she didn't comment on that as her friend Marlene also enjoyed dating attractive men and she accepted that others thought differently, luckily her boyfriend thought the same way as her and they were very happy together.

Lily just smiled and wished him luck, she didn't have a problem with him doing that sort of thing either, although she, like Alice, preferred to date someone she really liked and not just someone she was physically attracted to, but just as she always supported Marlene, she would do the same with Draco.

Finally, Hermione had known about this for a while so she didn't comment on it, she didn't have much experience with men so she couldn't speak for herself, but just like Alice and Lily, she hoped she could be with someone she really liked.

"Now, how did you know about that Hermione?" asked Draco staring at her.

"I figured it out for myself. Well, It wasn't hard, just by observing..." Hermione started to explain, but Draco quickly interrupted her.

"Yeah, yeah, you're a genius, we already know that," Draco said, emphasizing the boredom he felt in his voice.

"You're an idiot," snorted Hermione.

"Sure, whatever you say, anything is better than being a know-it-all" commented Draco mockingly.

Hermione frowned and was about to argue but Lily intervened and calmed the fight between the two.

Hermione nodded slowly and reluctantly, then sighed and gave up on continuing the fight.

While Draco just smiled and continued eating happily as if he had won.

Hermione couldn't help but think how she would like to wipe that stupid smile off his face with a spell, she only gave up on continuing the discussion because Lily asked her to.

If this same situation had happened with Severus things would be different, since he would also make them both stop fighting, but unlike Lily, he would always make it clear which of them was right and which one was the idiot...

And most of the time it was Draco who was being a jerk to her, so Hermione always came out on top when they were with Severus.

Severus had a lot of similarities with her, from his studies, tastes, way of making up his mind, and many other things...

The only bad thing was that Severus also had his teasing and annoying side, something that could make anyone who talked to him feel desperate because he could go from joking to acting serious from one second to the next.

He was like a two-sided coin: the first side of the coin was calm, analytical, serious, cold, and reasonable, and the other side was unpredictable, hyperactive, impulsive, teasing but also terrifying when he got mad, warm but cold when needed and a bit unreasonable.

Hermione really preferred Severus to be only the first side of the coin as the second was often too unpredictable and annoying...

Breakfast went smoothly and pleasantly.

Then Draco and Hermione went out with Alice, Marlene, and Lily.

Lily's "date" was waiting in the Entrance Hall.

The 7th-year Ravenclaw student was quite handsome with an athletic body, he wore his hair neatly styled in a clean dark brown and wore a big smile at all times.

He was wearing a high-quality suit along with a white jumper and blue jeans.

As they approached, Lily was the first to greet the Ravenclaw student, and then introduced him to Alice, Marlene, Draco, and Hermione.

Spontaneously they all found this student to be very funny and sociable.

They all laughed along with him as they chatted about some things along the way.

Lily was happy and thought it was good that everyone was getting on well together, she smiled excitedly about her day in Hogsmeade.

Seeing this, Hermione wanted to completely transform this Ravenclaw student into James.

But she knew she couldn't intervene in these things no matter how much she wanted to, it wasn't her place and it wouldn't be right, she had already made up her mind that things would change with their time travel, but she still found it hard to accept all that it entailed.

But she and Draco had promised to live with it for the good of the entire magical and Muggle community.

The six of them walked as a group towards the carriage that would take them to Hogsmeade...

Draco, Hermione, Alice, and Marlene sat together in one carriage and left Lily and her "date" to take another carriage alone.

Many students had not yet left to Hogsmeade, but they took advantage of this to arrive early and enjoy the village when it was not so crowded.

After arriving in Hogsmeade, Lily and her "date" separated from the group and headed to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop.

Alice and Marlene laughed at Lily's denial that she was going out on a date when clearly the place they went to was for a date.

After Lily left, Alice took Marlene to the bookstore in Hogsmeade.

Draco was horrified, thinking that Hermione would do the same, but luckily she was more focused on her plans than her beloved books this time...

Although there was no need to clarify that if they had any time to spare, Hermione would stop by the bookshop the first chance she got.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good day my dear readers,

Before anyone complains about Severus almost not appearing in this chapter, let me make it clear that this chapter was completely necessary for what is to come, so I hope there will be no complaints about this...

I hope you all enjoy this chapter, good luck to all of you.