Hello readers! A little bit of Hermione and Lupin in this chapter and she gets a little bit of time with her friends! Please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Hermione couldn't help but feel a little nervous as she stood next to Professor Lupin, they were in the defense against the dark arts room, and only a target dummy was situated in the middle of the floor. She wrung her gloved hands together and waited for instruction from her eager looking professor.

"Miss Granger, today I just want to see what you can do. Then we will work on developing and containing your spells." Professor Lupin explained.

"Does this mean that you are my mentor as well professor?" Hermione asked, as no one had explained the situation to her yet, and she was admittedly confused.

"no, I am just here to help guide you. I am not a master of defense, but then again I am the best the school can do as of right now." Professor Lupin explained. "Now, do me a favor and cast a few spells against the dummy. If you can do it without a wand, please do so."

Hermione nodded and took a deep breath, she slipped the gloves off from her hands, and placed them on the floor at her feet. Before she could begin her professor called out gently to her.

"Miss Granger, are those gloves charmed?" Professor Lupin asked. Hermione nodded and picked them up from the ground. "They were a gift from Professor Snape."

"May I see them?" He asked, Hermione smiled and handed them to him, and his eyebrows raised in astonishment. "These are quite strong; I don't even think I could summon a single spell with these on!"

"He gave them to me to help prevent my magic from getting out of control." Hermione explained. "I don't think he wants any more flaming lions coming at him in the near future."

"Agreed on that Miss Granger." Professor Lupin placed the gloves down next to him. "Sorry for the distraction, please continue."

"Okay." Hermione smiled politely and started flinging simple spells at the target, with each one she sent she received an encouraging cheer from Professor Lupin, and if she missed or the spell didn't come out right, she received advice.

By the time Professor Lupin let her go for dinner she felt uplifted. Even her friends had noticed as soon as she approached the table and they burst into smiles.

"Having a good day Hermione?" Neville asked, he scooted over and let her sit sandwiched between him and Ron, and across from Harry.

"The best one in a long time." Hermione giggled a little bit and Ron's eyebrows raised dramatically as he stuffed a drumstick into his mouth.

"Did you all hear that?" Ron garbled from his full mouth. "Was that a giggle?"

"I don't think I've heard that come out of you." Harry smiled widely at her, casing Hermione to roll her eyes.

"I've laughed before." She pouted, but Neville nudged her playfully.

"We're just poking fun at you, of course." He gestured at Harry. "But besides your Cheery mood, Harry has some news."

Harry nodded seriously and grinned. "Guess who is going to Hogsmeade this year." He declared.

"Harry, you do know that you need the permission slip signed?" Hermione asked, but she as hushed by Ron.

"Let him tell the story Hermione!" He exclaimed. "It has my brothers in it."

"Thank you, Ron. So, I told Ron's brothers about the whole permission slip issue, and they gave me this." Harry rolled out a tattered piece of parchment and revealed a map of Hogwarts, he pointed at a small portion of it. "I can leave the school through here and meet up with you guys when the coast is clear."

"Is that us?" Hermione pointed at the little labeled feet on the map. "That's quite creepy."

"Well I'm not using it to track you guys, just to sneak to Hogsmeade." Harry explained.

"Who's Peter Pettigrew?" Neville looked at the map in confusion. "I don't think I've heard that name before."

"Nevermind that Neville, probably a first year." Harry then mumbled something under his breath and the map cleared.

"But he was in our room…" Hermione heard Neville whisper, but the other boys ignored him.

"The point is that I can go with all of you to Hogsmeade without getting caught!" Harry exclaimed.

"Isn't there a better way?" Hermione asked.

"I already tried that, Professor McGonagall and Fudge said no." Harry explained. "They're afraid that Sirius Black is out to get me."

"And if he is?" Neville asked.

"I will have this to watch out for him!" Harry waved the map around.

"Does it even work in Hogsmeade?" Hermione crossed her arms and glared at Harry who looked at her in guilt.

"Probably not, but we will be just fine guys!" Harry carefully placed the map amongst his other belongings. "If you all are so against the map, maybe we could try my other method."

"Now this one I like." Ron grinned and put down his food for the first time that night.

"Can someone fill me in on this method?" Hermione felt dread as soon as she asked, because all the boys grinned evilly at her.

"You know how Professor McGonagall can turn into a cat?" Harry started. "What if we could do that too?"

"You want to train to be animagus!" Hermione practically shouted, but the boys shushed her harshly. "Do you understand how much we have to go through to make that happen?" Hermione hissed.

"If we become animagus, we could go wherever we wanted!" Ron gushed.

"Yes, unless you turn into a massive creature of course." Hermione reasoned.

"Well if the map doesn't satisfy your reasoning Hermione, I think we should go for it." Harry said thoughtfully.

"Oh, please, you all were just waiting for an excuse, weren't you?" Hermione scolded them.

"I can get the mandrake leaves." Neville suggested. "We have plenty planted ever since the incident last year."

"And Sirius Black can't kill me if he thinks I'm an animal." Harry grinned.

"But we have to register as soon as we are successful." Hermione pushed.

"Or after we graduate." Ron shrugged and bit into a cookie. "No one has to know, right Hermione?"

"Do I have a choice?" She asked helplessly, they all shook her heads no and she sighed. Though she did feel a little bit excited at the thought of it all. "Well, we have to be thorough. Ideally we'd all make it by next month and there is a full moon tomorrow…" Hermione trailed off and smiled lightly as her friends practically vibrated happiness.

Though she could not help but remember what Professor Snape had said in regard to the subject, and she prayed that she wouldn't end up taking the form of some flaming beast when the time came.

Thoughts on this chapter? Will they be able to handle the requirements to become animagus? And what will they be if they did? Leave a review and let me know!