Why We Fight

Hermione, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter went to the dueling room for Dueling Club. Hermione hadn't been to a Dueling Club since second year and was nervous and excited about the experience. She supposed that, in all technicality, her time with the D.A. could be considered a dueling club...but Hermione counted it as an extracurricular Defense Against the Dark Arts class where she could learn something.

In the dueling room, Slytherins (Hermione was glad to see Severus and not so glad to see Narcissa who still bore the look of challenge from earlier) and Gryffindors milled around waiting for Professor Faust to show up. Mentally, Hermione went over the spells she had learned in the D.A. the year before and almost pitied whoever she ended up dueling. She had learned spells that most seventh years hadn't even learned yet. Lily was late, looking rushed, and her hair was still mussed from sleep. To James, she'd never looked more beautiful, he found himself grinning at the girl. She shot him a death glare. "Go talk to her."

James Potter turned to face the voice's source and Hermione arched a brow and nudged him toward the Head Girl. "No," James's voice came out as a squeak.

"Honestly, James," Hermione sighed. "I don't see how Harry was even born..." Her hand clamped over her mouth and she stared at him.

"What?" James asked, hazel eyes narrowing in confusion.

"Well...Harry was like this...with a girl...and they fell in love," she stammered weakly. "Go talk to her."

"What do I say?"

James Potter is asking me? Hermione wondered. What did I get myself into? "She likes the Beatles," Hermione stated.

"She likes bugs?" James asked.

"No, not beetles. The Beatles: John, Paul, George, and Ringo? Only the greatest rock group ever. Don't tell me that you've never heard of them," Hermione said.

"Fine, I won't," James said cheekily.

"You've got to be kidding me! I expected at least one of them to be a wizard," Hermione groused. "Okay, so Lily told me they weren't, but still...the Beatles!" She shook her head and stopped her rant. "Anyway--can you sing?"

"What?" James asked. Hermione winced, remembering how unfortunate she was to come upon Harry singing once. It made the Merspeech from the second task sound like the sweet sounds of Tchaikovsky or Brahms. "Yes."

"What I meant to say was 'can you sing well?'" Hermione said.

James rolled his eyes. "Yes, I can, I happen to have a great voice," James sniffed.

"In that case," Hermione said. "You might try singing to her. In the Great Hall. During breakfast. You know, make sure she knows that you like her. It's romantic. Later, I'll tell you some of the Beatles' songs and you can choose one."

In walked Faust and Hermione understood why Narcissa was there. Hermione recognized him from the night before, he was the man she'd seen leaving Dumbledore's office. All of the girls (excluding Hermione -- who had learned from her Lockhart experience that looks were highly-overrated) looked at him with barely-disguised lust. "Hello, Professor Faust," Narcissa chirped, grinning as the man nodded at her.

"I understand that we have some new members of the Dueling Club," he said in a crisp, deep voice with a smooth accent. A chorus of sighs filled the room and Hermione rolled her eyes. She felt like she was back at the Quidditch tryouts with the simpering Gryffindor fans.

Faust clapped his hands. "Everyone pair up. Slytherins versus Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs versus Ravenclaws," he stated. Hermione looked around the room and smiled as Sirius walked over.

"Care to duel?" he asked and Hermione nodded. "I promise I'll go easy on you."

"No...I promise to go easy on you, Sirius," Hermione stated. The two faced each other and Sirius winked.

"On three. One, two three..." he stated.

"Expelliarmus!" she cried and Sirius's wand flew from his hand. Sirius's eyes widened and he grabbed his wand.

"Let's try this again," he said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "One, two, three..."

"Silencio!" Hermione said and Sirius's mouth opened but no sound came out. His pride was starting to ache now. He eyed Hermione and with a little smirk, the bushy-haired witch ended the spell with Finite Incantatum.

The two began to circle one another, waiting for the next move. Sirius finally ended the tension. "Rictusempra!" Sirius cried.

It looked as if Sirius was going to finally retrieve some of his pride. Well, that was before Hermione deflected his spell with a cry of "Protego!" Sirius immediately began to laugh uncontrollably. Now, people were pausing their duels to watch Sirius Black, Gryffindor Beater and Marauder, being bested by a slight brunette girl. "Finite Incantatum."

Sirius was annoyed, he became even more so when Hermione cast the Jelly-Legs Jinx on him. Again, Hermione said, "Finite Incantatum." She grinned at him, enjoying the power that she held over the much, much, much older boy. "Had enough, Sirius?"

"Never," he growled, dark eyes narrowing in challenge much like his cousin's had been set earlier. He readied his wand and thought up his next jinx.

But Hermione was quicker. "Infucatum Ostrinus," Hermione said. At that moment, Sirius Black literally turned purple. There was a collective gasp and Peter Pettigrew began to laugh hysterically. James stopped his duel with Severus to stare at his friend and Severus took the opportunity to cast Tarantallegra on him.

James's legs began to move crazily and Hermione put a stop to it with an utterance of "Finite Incantatum."

"What's so bloody funny?" Sirius growled, glaring openly at the chubby boy laughing at him.

"You're...you're..." Peter gasped between chuckles.

"Spit it out!" Sirius growled menacingly.

"You're...uh...well...you're...purple," Peter finally bit out.

"I can't be purple," Sirius replied.

"He's right, you know. Maybe it's violet," James said to Remus and Peter. Sirius stared at his arm, his dark eyes widening as he took in the unnatural shade his tanned skin had taken. He paled to a lavender color.

"Make it go away," Sirius said, staring at Hermione.

Hermione smiled wickedly at Sirius. "I can't...there's no counter-curse," she stated. Which was true, Fred and George had cast the spell on their Color-Changing Cookies, which turned the eater different colors.

Sirius's jaw dropped. "What?" he squeaked.

"It should fade in a few hours," Hermione stated, grinning cheekily at him.

"SHOULD!?" Sirius cried and Peter doubled-over with howling laughter. This caught Professor Faust's attention and the man walked over. His brown eyes widened as he took in the student's color.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher eyed Sirius with curiosity. "Who cast this spell?" he asked.

"I did," Hermione said. She bit her bottom lip as the teacher's eyes narrowed.

"Very inventive, Miss--?" Faust started.

"Hermione...de Lioncourt," she stated and Faust nodded thoughtfully. Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter winced. None of the Gryffindors with half a brain trusted the Slytherin Head of House, there was something off about him.

"Very inventive..." Hermione grinned and Faust's eyes slitted "...but extremely pointless, Miss de Lioncourt. Five points from Slytherin. If you were in a real duel, coloring your opponent purple would be a simple waste of time that would end up with you most likely attacked by an Unforgivable...or something allowed but no less painful."

Hermione felt a phantom pang go through her at the memory of Dolohov's curse. "I know," she stated, her brown eyes meeting Faust's in challenge. "I'm well aware of that...professor. It's just...I don't know any spells that would be useful in a play-battle."

Faust's sensuous lips curled into a sneer. "Is that so, Miss de Lioncourt?" he asked. "Then what spells do you know that would be useful in a real situation."

Hermione's chin rose in challenge. "Quite a few, professor," she said. She hadn't had many good experiences with Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers and she was beginning to feel the same about Faust.

Faust's full lips turned into a cruel smirk. He clapped his hands and all of the dueling pairs stopped and turned toward the four Gryffindors, two Slytherins, and the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Hermione's eyes widened as she noticed who Narcissa Black dueled. None other than Lucius Malfoy. What is he doing here? she thought.

"Lucius, come here," Faust ordered and Lucius walked over. Hermione's eyes widened as she noticed the way he walked toward her...like a lion stalking its prey. They narrowed as she realized how ridiculous her analogy was. I'm the lion here...he's just the bloody snake, she thought. "Lucius Malfoy, this is Hermione de Lioncourt...she seems to think she's very good at Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Lucius smirked at the girl and Hermione shuddered. He didn't look that much older but she estimated him to be around twenty-two or twenty-three. "Is that so, Damian?" Malfoy said.

"Lucius is one of the school's governors and he was exceptionally good at Defense Against the Dark Arts," Faust stated. "It's a little-known tradition in dueling clubs where two will duel with their Patroni. You'd know this if you were any good at all at Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Hermione nodded, she had read about it. But it was so rare an occurrence because not many people could create a corporeal Patronus. "Then you'll know the rules. A Patronus show how efficient a witch or wizard is at Defense Against the Dark Arts. The more magical abilities one possesses, the stronger his or her Patronus. The Patronus left standing is the winner," Faust stated. "Now, produce your Patroni." He obviously didn't think Hermione could produce one by the way he acted.

"After you, Lucius," Hermione stated.

"Ladies first," Lucius smirked. He agreed with Faust apparently. The Gryffindors and Slytherins rolled their eyes. Their sentiments were with Faust and Lucius.

"No, really, I insist," Hermione said. Severus smirked at this; he really hoped that she had been truthful. He would really love to see Narcissa's fiancé taken down a few notches. The best way for this to happen was for him to be bested by a sixteen-year-old girl.

"As you wish," Lucius stated. "Expecto Patronum!" A blast of silvery vapor left Lucius's wand and formed into a cobra.

The cobra hissed at Hermione and she frowned. Could her otter face off against a cobra? She swallowed hard and incanted, "Expecto Patronum!" Silvery smoke came from her wand and formed into her Patronus.

There were chuckles from her fellow Slytherins mingled with sounds of awe. Faust was surprised that she could create a corporeal Patronus even if it was an otter. Lucius laughed outright. "An otter?" he smirked.

Hermione looked affronted. "An otter is a noble creature," she stated. "Which is more than I can say for a Malfoy." She had decided that the best way to win this was to channel her ire and annoyance at Lucius's future son into her magic. She concentrated all of the times that Draco had made fun of her, Ron, and Harry into the Patronus, mingled with the happiness at the thought of defeating his father.

Slowly, Hermione's Patronus began to grow larger, the silvery light turned golden and Faust stared at it. The otter let out a loud squeak and attacked the cobra. The snake hissed at the otter and retreated toward its master. The otter pounced on it and bit the cobra's head off. Lucius's Patronus dissipated into a wisp silver smoke. The students stared at the golden otter and there was a smattering of applause throughout the room but mostly stunned silence.

Lucius looked angry enough to cast Avada Kedavra on her. "That was...very good, Miss de Lioncourt," Faust stated. "That's all for today. We'll meet next Saturday at one."

"Er...you may go," Hermione murmured and the otter dissipated.

"The Force is strong with this one," Remus stated.

"You've seen Star Wars?" Hermione asked.

"Hasn't everybody?" Remus stated.

"H--how'd you do that?" James stammered as he walked with Hermione and the Marauders.

"I'm not sure, I've never heard about that happening before," Hermione whispered.

Remus stared at her with unveiled respect. "She created a Paladin," he stated.

"A what?" James asked.

"A corporeal Patronus is a Patronus that takes on a form...but a Paladin...they're rarer than Animagi," he stated. The three other Marauders shared a secretive grin. "Paladins require an exceedingly strong amount of magic and emotion. Extremely rare."

"Wow." She took a long moment to think over Remus's statement. "So...so I have enough power to become an Animagus?" Hermione asked, her eyes widening.

James nodded. "An Animagus requires more talent than magic. You've definitely got enough magic for it," he stated.

Hermione grinned. "I've always wanted to be an Animagus...since my third year," she murmured.

"What happened in your third year?" Sirius asked.

She smiled. "I met two Animagi then," Hermione stated. "And a werewolf." She paused for effect, her brown eyes centered on Remus. The werewolf's eyes widened "You know, werewolves aren't as bad as everyone thinks they are. I've even heard of the Wolfsbane Potion, it's supposed to make werewolves as docile as house dogs."

"Wolfsbane?" Remus asked. "Like the herb used in memory potions?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes...well, not quite, the herb used in memory potions is wolfbane, also known as aconite..." she trailed off. "I don't know much about it...the Wolfsbane Potion, I mean...it's supposed to be very difficult. My professor was a werewolf and our Potions professor made the potion for him..." She trailed off, eyes widening. She'd told them way too much.

"A professor made the potion for another professor," Sirius asked, eyes narrowing.

Hermione winced at Sirius's questions. You know, you're supposed to be the smart one, the one who isn't going to fix the future! Hermione berated herself. "H--he did. Agnitio a lot more...er...accepting of people. A--and, as a matter of fact, my werewolf teacher wasn't a teacher...well...he was a teacher, of course, b--but not the school's teacher...a tutor. Yes, a tutor...an independent tutor.

"So your Potions professor made the potion for your tutor," Remus asked. "Why?"

"Er...uh...they knew each other in school..." she stammered. "Um, I--I have to go check on Draco." I, Hermione Jane Granger, am an idiot!

With that, Hermione raced from the dueling room. "She's one odd bird," Peter murmured. The three other Marauders examined the girl with unveiled curiosity.

Hermione groaned loudly as she left the dueling room. She was supposed to be the smart one. She was the most-likely candidate for becoming 1997-1998's Head Girl. She was the one who had gotten them into this mess -- okay, no, she hadn't...idiot Malfoy and his idiot wolfbane and idiot hellebore had. She was supposed to keep Malfoy from changing the future and not change it herself.

How could I have been so stupid? she demanded of herself. It's one thing to talk about the Wolfsbane Potion but an entirely different thing to very nearly say that Severus Snape had brewed Remus Lupin's Wolfsbane Potion! Her eyes narrowed as realization hit. Malfoy probably orchestrated everything under Voldemort's orders...so he could kill James and Lily before Harry was born.

Hermione's brow wrinkled in thought as she remembered The Time Machine. How could someone do that though? Go back in time to stop something from happening? If you were ordered to kill someone in the past in the future...then the person in the past would be dead before the future happened. Then the orders could never have been given. She could feel a migraine sneaking up on her. I hate this time traveling.

But at that moment, she needed to find something out. Purposefully, Hermione wound through the halls of Hogwarts to the infirmary.