{12-Houston, I Have So Many Problems}

Hermione was very efficient, and by the time the game rolled around, she was prepared for not only the excitement, but also when the time to erase her friends memories came. 

It was a terrifying thought, but she needed to fix things sooner rather than later. Not only that, but she couldn't spend all of the upcoming Holiday break worrying over what she was going to do. Hermione wouldn't do it until the end of the school-year obviously, she just hoped that nothing terrible would go wrong before then. It couldn't,  she hoped, if Remus knowing she was Hermione Granger, and not Florizel, didn't ruin the fabric of time, then what else could? 

The common room was empty, as Hermione expected. Most people had already been at the pitch for a while she imagined, wanting to get good seats, but if she knew Remus, he'd saved her one. 

So, Hermione began throwing various layers on as she went downstairs, a cluster of students here or there. And then, one lone student she recognized very well. 

"Severus!"

He turned around at the call, and he smiled briefly before it was replaced by a common facade of pleasantness. 

"Zel, how have you been?"

"Busy," Hermione replied as she jogged a tiny bit to catch up with him, he was significantly taller than her at this point, "You?"

"I've been doing a lot of thinking lately."

Hermione looked over at the Slytherin blankly, "What do you mean by that?" 

"I've just been looking back on some life choices these past couple days, is all. Also some self-inspection."

"Sounds very muggle," Hermione replied seriously, pushing the doors open in front of them and holding it for Severus. 

"Funny," he said straightly, "And what about, you, hm? Where have you been? I feel like I haven't actually seen you in ages."

He was sort of right, and Hermione felt bad for letting Dumbledore get in her head, but she didn't want to get kicked out of the school, so her not seeing him was a lose-lose situation. 

"Studying a lot, I suppose."

"Yeah, studying Lupin. You know, there's something weird about him."

"Oh, come off it," she said defensively, "You've never fancied anyone?"

"Not a boy," Severus defended, "Nothing by it, I just haven't been much exposed to it."

Which Hermione had a feeling was code for his father was a right terrible bastard who was also most likely homophobic as was a lot of Britain in those days. 

"Well, it's not all that bad."

She only earned a skeptical look. 

Hermione realized they were halfway to the pitch and that Severus had yet to break off from her. 

"Are you going to the match?"

"Yes," he replied suspiciously, "What of it?" 

"Nothing," Hermione said quickly, shaking her head. He didn't really seem like the sporting type. 

"Are you sitting with anyone?" Severus asked suddenly, not even risking looking at Florizel, though Hermione definitely was looking at him. 

"Yeah, Remus invited me to sit with him and Sirius..." She wasn't sure what else to say. 

"Oh, well, do you care if I join? I won't bother them, I'll sit on your other side."

Had hell frozen over so soon? Was Time finally falling in on her? 

"I... I suppose you can if you... if you want to," she stumbled over her words, but really, who wouldn't in her position? 

Severus shrugged, looking all the boy of seventeen as he did so, "I reckon that's why I asked."

"Right," Hermione said, feeling the cold of the late season start to get to her, "I guess you'll have to cheer for Gryffindor then."

"In your dreams, I will only go so far."

And with that comment, Hermione knew that Time was certainly not collapsing before her eyes. 

So, she weaved through the students and checked behind her as Severus followed along, feeling quite odd as the Gryffindors tossed odd looks at her. Most of the Slytherins usually cheered for Ravenclaw if their team wasn't playing, otherwise they hardly cared. 

When she spotted Remus and Sirius, they were upfront of one of the standing sections, and Hermione was very thankful to see that they hadn't spotted her yet. Their reactions when they found Severus in tow would be... interesting to probably say the least. 

"Hey," Hermione whispered in Remus' ear, watching as he jumped in his spot, grinning when he saw her. 

"Hey..." His face faltered slightly.

So he'd spotted Severus then?

"I'll be over here," the wizard said, seemingly unconcerned, pointing to the empty place on Hermione's left just far enough away from the group for her to squeeze in. 

"He didn't have anyone else to sit with," Hermione said quietly, which wasn't very quiet at all because of all the excited yelling and chanting going on around them. 

"No problem," Remus replied, though he sounded less convinced than she imagined he was trying to be.

"So just us, then?" She wondered, making sure he didn't have any surprises up his sleeves. 

"Well, Lily should be here soon, James told Sirius to look after her."

And Hermione realized how inconvenient this suddenly was for all of them. 

"Brilliant." 

They cozied up to the edge of the pitch as it closed in near the start of the game, and Hermione looked over to see Severus and Sirius making brief eye-contact with one-another before both focusing on the field. It was quite amusing. 

"I almost didn't recognize your voice," Remus said lowly as they waited, "Last we'd spoken you didn't look like this."

Hermione made sure Severus hadn't heard them then looked back at him, "I hear no difference, so I don't think about those kinds of things."

"Weird. You say you made those charms yourself?"

"Yeah," she said with a prideful smile, "I've been very self-sufficient."

"I can see that. Your marks are top-notch," Remus admired. 

Hermione felt very proud of her work and always had, but hearing it from others was also good because she didn't get to hear it too often around her parents because they didn't really understand their O's and E's. 

When Lily came a few minutes later, just as everyone was getting out on the field, it was probably even more awkward than the stare-off Sirius and Severus had had. She seemed utterly disinterested in Hermione who she didn't even acknowledge until she was being pulled over by Sirius, happy to have company who would pay him attention.  

And with a quick glance to Severus, Hermione felt the odd switch of her surroundings. Bringing him here was most likely an awful idea, and she could feel the tension that she alone had created. 

So much for attempting to keep everything squared away. 

"I'm rooting for Ravenclaw," Severus said from her side, "Hopefully your friends don't sacrifice me to the crowd." 

"You're going to get yourself killed," Hermione jested, smiling all the while, hopefully she wouldn't blow the whole thing to pieces by spending too much time with one or the other. 

Luckily enough it seemed, Hermione was able to keep the peace. Lily and Sirius kept to themselves for the most part, so no interfering there, and Severus was trained on the game, watching the players with a blase sort of appeal. Remus, however, was less satiable, as he looked over at her and blushed multiple times, the term coy apparently lacking in his personal dictionary. 

The game was won by Gryffindor, to which Severus gave her a shake of the head and excused himself from the whooping crowd. Lily was gone in an instant with Sirius, both attempting to catch up with James and congratulate him, though assuredly in two very different ways. Or, knowing Sirius well enough at this point, in a very similar fashion. 

Which, of course, left Hermione to Remus. 

"Can I call you Hermione when we're alone?" He wondered as they walked back to the dormitory, no one paying them any mind. 

"Yeah, but if we're around people I'd prefer you keep up Florizel is all. He needs to keep around through school."

"Right," Remus said, looking up at the sky, shaking his head as he caught sight of the moon. 

She could see how he hated the beautiful sight. It wasn't like she understood, it was just that the situation was so very far from her that that deep hatred was hard to command from an inanimate object. 

"I meant it when I said I liked how you look, Hermione. You're quite the pretty girl."

She couldn't keep the laugh back, not for long, If only he'd seen her younger self already. If only he knew about the unruly hair and terrible curls, and the way she'd guessed his secret so quick. What if she told him her guess? Would she lose him? 

"Thanks, I suppose. I never heard that when I was younger."

A questioning look and Hermione regretted saying anything at all. 

"A terrible shame. But then again, if you hadn't, you might not be here."

"You're a complete sap."

Remus chuckled, looking all the handsome Marauder he was. 

"I like you, Hermione. Everything about you, really."

It was the first time he'd said it aloud, and Hermione found that she wasn't opposed to hearing it. All her courage was stuck to the screwing place, and with a few concrete memory charms prepared... why not live her best life? The boys had always harped on her for not having enough fun or being the spoil-sport, but she was whoever she wanted to be now, it didn't matter for a while. Maybe not even for twenty years. Travelling sounded nice, beaches and such, but for now, a fling with a professor sounded rather story-worthy. 

"I have something for you, because I like you too, believe it or not."

"I'm tempted not to after that comment," he said, though looking very curious as she dug through her pockets to find the photograph. 

"Very funny," she replied, holding the photo with both of her palms covering it. "I... well, I wanted to give this to you because you know more about me than anyone, and I feel as though you deserve to have it."

Now he looked concerned until Hermione held out the photo to him with her against the white backdrop in a yellow, flowing dress fit for the most wonderful days of spring. 

"It's wonderful," he said reverently as he gently took the photograph from her, touching the film and smiling dazedly, "You're very pretty."

"Thanks," Hermione said with a giggle. She'd never felt so school-girlish before in her life. 

"This means a lot..." He looked up to her with shining eyes, and she smiled. "You didn't have to share this side with me, I was willing to let you have it, you know. I didn't need to know everything, we barely know each-other."

"I know," she said gently, closing his hand about the photograph, "But here we are, so either keep it or I'll take it back."

"No," he said quickly, shoving it in his pocket, "Definitely mine now." 

"Good."

They stood there, against the castle, not a lot of people passing them now, but enough to make them less nervous of being spotted.

"I want to ask you something," Remus said gently, taking her hand and looking around them anxiously. 

"Sure, of course." 

If he was going to ask her out, it better be soon because there was a small group of people coming up, and she did not want to be redder than a tomato as they passed. She was a boy currently, for Merlin's sake.

"Would you want to be my... girlfriend? Or, whatever it is you'll be, the next level of friend," he said foolishly, but it was an embraced foolishness, and Hermione felt so reckless in allowing this. Still, her memory charms were prepped and ready to go, her heart and lack of experience was ready. 

"Yes," Hermione confirmed, "Very much so."

"Great," Remus said, looking very relieved, then back out to the moon which he glared at, "Wanna get inside? I'm freezing."

"Definitely," she said, taking a quick glance and placing a kiss to his cheek, "I'm in desperate need of blankets."

"Me too."

They wandered back inside, and Hermione had never felt more invigorated in her entire life. 

What fun the next few months would be. 

A/N

And what fun they will be for me to write! 

Hope you're enjoying! Just hang on for some things to unfold before we get sailing on the Sevmione ship, alright? I promise it will happen eventually, or else why title it that at all?