Why We Fight

Hermione's eyes widened and Draco smirked. Well, Granger, how are you going to get out of this one? he mused. Draco felt a sadistic glee at the pallor the girl had taken on. "Mind if we talk to you for a minute, Hermione?" James asked. His hazel eyes were cold and Hermione looked at Draco for help.

"I think James wants to talk to you, darling," Draco said, nudging the brunette off of his bed. He frowned in thought, how had she ended up sitting on his bed? Hermione gave him a glare that would have killed a lesser man, or at least sent him home crying for his mother. Although, Draco was quite frankly terrified of the gropings he was certain to receive at his mother's hand if he ran home crying to her. How am I supposed to face my parents after they've wanted to make me their cuddle monkey? he wondered. Well, I'll burn that bridge when I come to it. That is one of the Malfoy mottos, is it not: burning bridges when you come to them. He turned his attention to the curly-haired girl that sent him an evil glare that would put a chill in the very bones of Voldemort.

"I hate you," she hissed.

"Now, now, dearest, don't say things like that. Who knows, I may just drop dead and then you'll feel so guilty for wishing me ill," Draco taunted, patting the girl's thigh in what could be conceived as a romantic gesture.

"If you would just drop dead then I'd feel a whole lot better," Hermione said, prying his hand from her thigh. A smile crossed Sirius's face. Had he been a cartoon character, he would have a devil and an angel on either shoulder; the angel would be telling him that it's wrong to want to date your almost-friend's girlfriend, even if she was an ex; the devil would be telling him that he should go for it. But since he wasn't a cartoon character, the angel was nowhere to be seen and the devil was in full control.

The brunette followed the four boys outside of the infirmary. "Er...what can I do for you boys?" Hermione's voice was strangely high as she looked at the four boys, all taller than she was. I hate being short! she raged internally. While she planned her action, she examined the four boys.

The shortest of the four was Peter who was barely a head taller than Hermione, chubby with mousy brown hair in a pudding bowl haircut and beady brown eyes. Remus was over a head taller than Hermione and wiry with shoulder-length sandy brown hair and blue eyes narrowed in distrust. James was about Draco's height and almost a carbon copy of Harry, thin with a shock of messy black hair and hazel eyes. Sirius was the tallest and buffest of the four, he looked like he could be a movie star with his shoulder-length black hair, well-tanned skin, and the mischievous gleam in his unfathomable black eyes even as he stared at her with something akin to anger.

"You seem to know a lot about werewolves," Sirius stated, breaking the silence.

Hermione arched a brow. "I told you, my tutor was a werewolf," she stated. "He was a really nice guy and he taught me about the Wolfsbane potion." Even though Hermione's voice was strong, she could tell that the Marauders didn't believe her.

Peter's eyes narrowed. "How come you were looking at Remus?" he demanded.

Hermione almost smirked at this. "Is there something wrong with me looking at Remus when I was talking about werewolves?" she asked, her eyes meeting the werewolf's. "Anything you want to tell me?"

Remus glared at Peter. "No," he bit out.

Hermione nodded. "My tutor, Professor...er...Professor--" Hermione stammered.

"You don't remember your tutor's name?" James asked.

"I haven't had him for a while," she said defensively. "Er...Professor Longbottom..."

"Professor Longbottom?" Remus asked incredulously. "I know Frank; there haven't been any professors in his family. Let alone werewolf professors."

"Oh...um..." Hermione said, she was about to say that Frank wasn't related to her Professor Longbottom, but she knew that Longbottom wasn't exactly a common name. "Professor Lockhart!"

"Who?" James asked.

"Professor Gilderoy Lockhart was my werewolf professor, he taught Defense Against the Dark Arts. He got bitten by a werewolf when he had been in Romania working with Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback," she explained. "Professor Neville Longbottom was my Potions professor, a very, very, very distant relative of Frank Longbottom." Yeah, about nineteen years distant... she mused. "His cousin's aunt's son's son."

She could tell that they were trying to figure out that she had just gave a long-winded explanation that Frank's son was her Potions master and continued on before they could understand her. "He was an expert in Herbology and became a Potions teacher after his parents were attacked by Dark wizards."

"Probably my relatives," Sirius scowled darkly.

"You wouldn't be wrong," Hermione stated, knowing very well that Neville's parents had been attacked by his cousin Bellatrix, her husband Rodolphus, and her brother-in-law Rastaban. "Well, Nev--Professor Longbottom is very gifted with the Wolfsbane Potion and he made it for...Professor Lockhart because they went to school together." Which wasn't entirely untrue, Lockhart had taught their second year Defense Against the Dark Arts class. "Professor Lockhart was one of my best teachers." Which was a downright lie -- he had been her most attractive teacher but not the best. Although, Hermione Granger had to admit that Professor Lupin had been a very close second. Although that wasn't much considering Professors Quirrel, the Fake Moody, and Umbridge. "Professor Lockhart taught me about all sorts of creatures -- like werewolves -- and was definitely one of the best teachers I ever had." She smiled at Remus. "That's all there is to it. Now if you don't mind, I have a sick boyfriend to attend to."

Draco was sick all right, but it was the mental kind of sick. With that, she flounced back into the infirmary. James gnawed his bottom lip in thought. "Did she say that Professor Longbottom was Frank's cousin's aunt's son's son?" he asked.

"Yeah," Remus said.

"Frank's cousin's aunt would be his mother and his mother's son would be Frank. She just said that Frank's son was her tutor," the hazel-eyed boy stated.

"She was lying," Peter replied.

"It doesn't exactly take a genius to figure that out," Sirius said. "But why?"

"She knows," Remus stated.

"How could she know?" Peter asked.

James's eyes widened. "Snape!" he cried.

"What about Snivellus?" Sirius asked.

"Who's the only person who knows what I am here aside from you three?" Remus asked.

"Professor Dumbledore," Peter said.

"Bloody hell, Peter, did you fall out of the stupid tree?" Sirius demanded.

Peter scowled. "I happen to have an O in Muggle Studies!" he stated.

"And A's and D's in everything else," Sirius replied. "And the only reason you have an O is 'cause Andromeda feels sorry for you."

"Professor Tonks does not feel sorry for me," Peter defended.

"It's a good thing that you only have one more year, Andromeda's retiring after her baby's born," Sirius stated.

"Enough, you two," James sighed. "We need to find out exactly how much Hermione knows."

"How do you intend on doing that?" Remus asked. A slow smile passed over James's lips.

"You'll see..." he stated.