Hermione took a seat beside Lily near the front of the potion's classroom- a part of her found comfort within the familiar room, but with the eyes staring her down, uneasiness filled her up.

"Severus meet Hermione." Came Lily's voice, effectively capturing her attention. The redhead was smiling as her eyes bounced from the Slytherin to the Gryffindor on either side of her in apprehension. "Nice to meet you." Hermione replied, trying to not let her surprise show. It was unsettling to see 'Severus' as a student and not as her middle-aged professor; she had never imagined him as a teenager. A part of her had to bite back the urge to call him professor or laugh. However, Snape never responded. He merely gave her a glance and waited in silence for Slughorn to begin the class.

Lily huffed suddenly, crossing her arms over her chest. "She's not like them." She mumbled, clearly exasperated. Then she shifted herself so she was angled to Hermione; her hair acting as a wall between herself and Severus.

He looked panicked. "Lily-"

"Now!" Announced Slughorn, clapping his hands together as a dejected Severus turned to the professor, now begrudgingly.

"I was informed of a new student who is joining us today." Slughorn explained, and Hermione stiffened on her stool. Oh, Merlin's beard, she thought, looking around until her eyes landed on the Marauders on the desk behind them, her face flooded pink with embarrassment. They sniggered at her and she glared right back, cursing them.

Slughorn turned to her with a cheery grin, "Stand up my dear." He urged. The stool screeched as she slowly stood up, glancing at Lily to see her covering her mouth, holding back a laugh herself. Subconsciously, Hermione tugged down her sleeve, her mouth suddenly going dry as she dared to let her eyes wander around the classroom- the colour green seemed to swallow all the red. "Why don't you tell us something about yourself." Prompted Slughorn, sitting on the edge of his desk, patiently waiting for a response. "Like what?" She managed to croak out, before clearing her throat anxiously. "What do your parents do for a living?" He inquired, but Hermione felt her chest tighten at the thought of them; at the memory of her last moments with them.

Guilt still gnawed at her insides for what she did; despite knowing it was the only way to keep them safe from the horrors of the wizarding world.

"Dentists." Hermione announced, fighting back the lump in her throat. "They were- are, dentists." she corrected herself, irritated that she had made such a blatant mistake. Remus and the other Marauders shared a look with one another; after all, they hadn't heard much about Hermione personally, and she never felt inclined to share that information. "Sort of like teeth healers." She elaborated, after noticing puzzled looks around the room. "So, you are muggle-born then my dear?" Slughorn asked, leaning forwards slightly out of what seemed to be genuine interest. Hermione paused, before nodding. A part of her felt as if she was committing a crime for admitting to her heritage- but it was nothing for her to be ashamed of, so she attempted to hold her head high when Slughorn responded with, "Well, I'm sure you'll do alright here at Hogwarts."

Heavily, Hermione sat back in her seat, letting out a silent breath of relief as Lily smiled assuringly on her right.

************

Mutters broke out the second she had sat down and Slughorn's back was turned.

"It went fine." Promised Lily, seeing her friend's nervous features until they smoothed into a blank expression. Lily wondered why it was so easy for her to clear herself of emotion. "I hope so." Hermione gave a weak smile in response as she cast her eyes downwards, feeling the glares on her back as Slughorn introduced the lesson. However, she was more occupied with trying to survive the lesson than listening.

All four of the Marauders spotted her uneasiness and shared a mischievous look with one another once the lesson began.

Instead of working on their potion that Slughorn had wanted them to do, Sirius and James began creating a potion to change hair colour whilst Remus and Peter kept the professor occupied. Remus was constantly asking questions about very obscure ingredients and Peter was making obvious mistakes and almost blowing the classroom up multiple times.

"Do you think the potion will penetrate Snivillus' greasy hair?" Asked James with a grin and Sirius smirked. "Not a good enough reason to use the word 'penetrate' mate."

James blushed a little and started laughing whilst adding an ingredient, capturing the attention of one Lily Evans who quickly looked away when he met her eyes. "Like what you see Evans?" He teased, and she scowled, obviously irritated. "Not at all," she growled, "your hair looks like a Hippogriff's arse and even that may be offending a Hippogriff." She spat, and James frowned a little at her comparison. "You love it really." He replied stubbornly. Lily sighed and continued making her potion, calling over her shoulder,

"I do not."

"Do too." James grinned.

"Do... not." she snapped fiercely.

Severus smirked triumphantly at Lily's comment and turned to make amends with his Gryffindor friend. Sirius rolled his eyes at the pair of them and then glanced at Hermione who was working diligently, her head down and her face scrunched up in concentration.

Then he began looking for Professor Slughorn.

He was at Remus' desk again, who was rambling and waving his arms around. Sirius smirked as a remembered one of his first meetings with the werewolf. He had spent one of his first potions lessons rambling about the pros and cons of using Mandrake leaves- he had already read the textbooks back to back. Slughorn had been surprised, and almost fainted when, at the innocent age of 11 Remus announced, "rare as shit" to a professor. He and James and jumped to their feet and applauded. It had been hilarious.

He chuckled a little, before running a hand through his hair and slipping into the store cupboard- Slughorn blissfully unaware.

************

Carefully, he sifted through the various vials placed on the shelves, half the labels rubbed off.

He scowled in annoyance- he didn't want to admit it out loud, but he didn't have the faintest idea of what polyjuice potion looked like. As he held up a vial to the dim light, he felt someone brush his arm and he almost screamed at the top of his lungs as he dropped the bottle.

Instinctively, Hermione clamped her hand over his mouth and caught the bottle in her other hand. It had been her survival instincts kicking in- it felt like a mission, and her missions in the past had always been borderline suicide missions. Cautiously, she glanced into the classroom to see the students ignorant of the two of them in the storeroom. Sirius could practically see the tension drain from her as she dropped her hand and gently hand the bottle back to him, their hands brushing but she barely noticed, unlike Sirius who had become overly aware of her presence now.

"Any polyjuice potion?" She whispered, keeping an eye out for Slughorn, but Remus was still talking animatedly and not allowing the professor to get a word in edge ways.

Hermione finally relaxed and laughed under her breath at her friend before looking at Sirius who was now squinting into a jar. "That's not polyjuice." Hermione said, grimacing at the tar-like substance. He quickly stored it back on the shelf and rubbed his hands on the side of his pants, disgusted. "There." Gasped Hermione, leaning past Sirius- their faces only a few inches apart. He noticed she had a vanilla scent, mixed with old books. He also noted the light graze of a scar on the tip of her nose and one running through her left eyebrow before she pulled back again. "Good job you're not a spy." She whispered with a smile, slipping the vial into her robe sleeve. Sirius watched her and caught a glimpse of the ugly word. He felt his stomach flip.

"Coming?" Hermione asked, her features turning to concern at his lack of speech.

"Oh erm, yeah." He responded, and she nodded hesitantly before ducking out of the room.