As dawn broke, Sirius left the Astronomy tower so that he could settle into the dorm room before everyone else started to wake up. He arrived in a better mood than when he left; embracing the good magic thankfully always left Sirius in a better place.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the hall, the Gryffindor girls, most of which were plagued with nasty hangovers from the night before, slowly began to wake up. Fast asleep, Hermione was knee-deep in a dream about what she was missing back home. It had only been one day, of course, but that didn't mean that Hermione didn't miss Harry, Ron, and Ginny. She pondered over what they were doing all the way in 1996, but technically, they were frozen in time. Even though they didn't know it, all they could do was wait for Hermione to return so that life could carry on a usual.

But wait, what was that soft thing she could feel? With fur similar to Crookshanks back home?

And just like that, Hermione was startled awake from her dream about her past and the future, to an unfamiliar feline snuggled up near her legs. A small bit of her confusion faded as Marlene scrambled to the side of Hermione's bed and snatched the cat from it.

"Bloody cat," Marlene cursed, "Doesn't ever sleep in his bed."

"I see you've met Pickles," Alice laughed as she exited the dorm's bathroom, "he's Marlene's."

"He's quite cute," responded Hermione while smiling. The sight of Pickles made her miss Crookshanks and everything else she couldn't bring with her to this timeline.

Within moments Alice had already left, saying that she was going to meet Frank Longbottom for breakfast before the first class of the day. It still continued to amaze Hermione how Neville's parents were alive, sane, and right in front of her at a moment's notice. Maybe if she succeeded in saving James and Lily, it could help the Longbottom's escape their heart-wrenching fate too. Anything to give Neville the opportunity to be raised by two loving parents.

Marlene had already gotten dressed and tended to Pickles while Lily took over the bathroom. Hermione waited her turn; she could get ready fast, with no problem. But starting another year of school in a completely different timeline made it difficult for Hermione to stick to her normal, quick, routine. Back here, she didn't have to be Hermione. She was Harper Slughorn now. And Harper Slughorn had a load of new classes for today, and a lifetime to worry about being Hermione. Those personal demands could wait; there was a great task a hand for her now.

With that said, Hermione knew that it was important now more than ever to bond with Lily, James, and their friends early on. A lack of trust would get her nowhere in the future; finding dirt on Peter could wait until she was closer with them.

So, Hermione stayed with Lily as she went down to the Great Hall with the boys for breakfast. Each boy was dressed in new Gryffindor robes, the only time of the year in which all of them would look somewhat tidy. But just based on the stories she had heard, Hermione had a gut feeling that their tidiness wouldn't last more than a few days. But at breakfast that day, Hermione started to learn more about each of them, more than she could've picked up from the stories she had heard. She even shared a bit about herself, about Harper, of course.

James and Sirius tossed their iconic jokes and comebacks into each conversation like clockwork, while Remus and Lily talked of the upcoming course schedule and Peter added his usual minimalistic tidbit to every few sentences. It was such a sight for Hermione's eyes, seeing them interact on a normal basis. Without dangerous threats, without having to worry about whether one of them would lose their mind, or die within the next week. Hermione hoped that she could rid them of any of those worries, that was the reason for her being here, after all.

Breakfast quickly passed, and it was time for Hermione to experience her first class of the year. It just so happened to be Potions, with the man she had to pretend was her uncle.

Accompanied by Lily and the boys, Hermione walked into the room with eyes wide open. Although she didn't recognize many of the faces, she instantly took notice of the variation in the colors of each students' robes. Some were colored with a golden yellow and a bold red. Others shone silver and dark green hues, marking that this class would be shared with the Slytherin pupils as well.

Professor Slughorn then entered into the Potions classroom through his office door, with his nose shoved into a Potions textbook, and a bag of an unknown ingredient in his hand. He mumbled a few last words to himself before setting down the book and the bag and announcing the class syllabus.

"Welcome to your last year of Potions, with me," Slughorn said, clearing his throat, "as most of you know, I am Professor Horace Slughorn. It has been brought to my attention that we have a new student from the Gryffindor house joining us this year," he said, motioning Hermione to stand up. Her nerves were pressing, but not nearly as prominent as Sirius' drunken introduction from the night before.

"This is Harper Slughorn," he said as Hermione waved to the other students, a soft smile shown on her lips. "Not only is she a new student, but she is also my niece," he excitedly shouted before lowering his voice and mumbling, "and I had no idea because my own brother wouldn't tell me." Slughorn's voice faded as she awkwardly stood up from her wobbly seat, feeling the entire room of Gryffindors and Slytherins staring directly at her. It was horribly embarrassing for Hermione.

She sat down as quickly as she could without drawing even more attention to herself, and was met with snickers from Lily, James, and Sirius.

"I'll be assigning your seats shortly," Slughorn mumbled as Hermione could have sworn she heard one of the boys mumble something along the lines of, "Sluggy Squared."

"After you find your seat, feel free to grab one of the textbooks from the back cupboard," Slughorn started before pulling a sheet of parchment with the partner assignments into his view. Hermione hoped she wouldn't be paired with anyone she didn't already know. She didn't need to meet more people than she already had.

Slughorn made his way to the back corner as he started to point at a group of desks.

"Tony Abbott, Holly Dayly," he said.

"James Potter, Emma Vanity."

"Alice Fortescue, Peter Pettigrew."

"Lucinda Talkalot, Frank Longbottom."

"Severus Snape, Lily Evans."

Snape? Hermione had almost forgotten about him. Being her least favorite teacher, Hermione was certainly not happy to see him. His straight black hair was the same, and neither would the frown perched on his face. Hermione grew distracted by seeing another one of her teachers back in this time, that she almost tuned out the calling of her own alias.

"Harper Slughorn, Sirius Black."

Well, she was thankful. At least she got to sit next to someone she relatively knew. Sirius was also thankful that get got more time to get to know Harper. He wanted to see if she was good. Of course, he wanted her to be good, but only time would tell him.

Slughorn finished with, "Marlene McKinnon, Remus Lupin," and within moments, everyone had taken their seats with a textbook in front of them.

"Flip to page ninety-two," Slughorn stated, "and read about the Draught of Living Death potion. We will be making this next class, and your homework is to write a two-foot paper about this potion's properties." He said.

Hermione, now in her seat next to Sirius, flipped open the textbook and started educating herself about the Draught of Living Death. After a few moments had passed, Hermione heard a soft whisper in her ear.

"Little Sluggy, I'm having trouble understanding this, could you help me?"

"Little Sluggy?" Hermione turned her nose.

"Just a harmless little nickname I've come up with."

"Since when?"

"Since now," he said with a smirk on his face, and Hermione laughed. Even though Sirius had asked for help, it seemed like he didn't need it. Throughout the class, Sirius' answers and statements showed Hermione that he was much smart that he, and the stories, let on. He answered his own questions with ease, and Hermione was left puzzled.

At least she wasn't in Lily's position. Having Severus Snape as a Potions partner would make Hermione want to travel backward--or forward--to a time where she wouldn't have to deal with him. As a result, she was thankful for Sirius as her partner today; he proved to be smarter than most, even if he didn't like to show it. He left Hermione both puzzled and intrigued after the day's Potions lesson.

A/N: thanks for much for reading! i hope you enjoyed the eigth chapter! thanks for 170+ views in ten days!

A/N UPDATE (6/16/20): this chapter had so many problems before, my goodness. hopefully they're fixed now. are they? i'd love some feedback on how these rewritten chapters are compared to beforehand. i rly hope you're enjoying them! ik i am. my goal is to have all of these chapters completely rewritten by the end of the summer so stay tuned! i'll be changing some things in future chapters soon too! ilysmmm <3333 - callahan