wo weeks after Umbridge had been arrested was a notable week for Harry Potter. Tuesday he was asked to stay after class by Professor McGonagall. Hermione reluctantly went on to lunch after their teacher assured her that this shouldn't take long. Harry was led from the Transfiguration classroom and into McGonagall's office. He was surprised to see a familiar face waiting for him.
"Mr. Potter. It is good to see you again." Amelia Bones greeted him as he and his Head of House walked in.
"Mada- Minister Bones. The feeling is mutual." Harry answered remembering the proper form of address at the last minute. Minister Bones didn't look particularly bothered by his slip though. "What can I do for you, ma'am?"
"Well, Mr. Potter, I have given my former department the order to bring in anyone who was present in your memory of the events in that graveyard. Unfortunately that information apparently leaked out and we encountered only empty houses. I tell you this so you may be prepared should anything like last year happen. These men just got a lot more dangerous since they have a lot less to loose. We are trying to freeze their assets, but Gringotts isn't interested in cooperation it would seem." Minister Bones paused for a moment to see how Potter was taking this. She was both heartened and disappointed to see his eyes harden. The determination she saw gave her hope that he would survive anything those terrorists threw at him. That she was making that evaluation of a fifteen year-old was what was so disappointing. He should be preparing for his O.W.L.s or a date, not a war.
"There is a positive side to all this bad news. The men who have fled were the same who would have blocked a trial for Sirius Black in the Wizengamot. Black's trial, along with Pettigrew's and Crouch's are scheduled for Thursday. It will not be necessary for you to attend considering the fact that you are still a minor, the memories and testimony you have already provided and the other witnesses available, but the accused must be present to be able to present his defence. I have come to ask you to contact Black and let him know that he must be at the Ministry no later than ten in the morning on that day. If he wishes an auror escort he must be at platform 9¾ at King's Cross Station by nine thirty. It should be empty since the Express isn't scheduled to make the trip to or from Hogsmeade any time soon." Harry nodded his understanding.
"I'll pass on the message, ma'am. Should I let you know his decision?" Harry asked, trying not to show the jig he was dancing inside.
"That will not be necessary. His presence will be answer enough. I will have two aurors waiting at the platform until the appointed time and the ministry security staff have been notified." Minister Bones told him. "One more thing, Mr. Potter. These trials are likely to reveal the resurrection of Tom Riddle. I have no control over what the Prophet does or doesn't print; you may wish to prepare yourself for the public's reaction." Harry nodded grimly in understanding. His experiences with the wizarding public were rarely what he might wish but he appreciated the minister's attempt to give him some advance notice.
"Ma'am, if I might, what's going to happen to Fudge and Umbridge?" Harry asked. Madam Bones gave him a grin that hung somewhere between amused and vicious.
"Dolores was sentenced to life in Azkaban the day before yesterday. My aurors are currently investigating corruption charges against the former minister, but like I said: Gringotts isn't being particularly helpful. We have found some evidence in the record of his executive decisions. Particularly his reduction of human staff at Azkaban after he saw your memory three months ago needed to be quickly rectified." They exchanged a few more pleasantries before Professor McGonagall dismissed Harry so he could get some lunch.
Harry got to the Great Hall with barely any time to spare. This meant that Hermione's interrogation was delayed until Professor Grubbly-Plank had them drawing knarls. She was happy for Harry and Sirius at hearing the news the minister had brought. She knew both men desperately wanted to officially be a family.
The remainder of the day felt like it was going by in slow motion to Harry. After classes he sprinted up to Gryffindor tower and his dorm. Grabbing the mirror Sirius had given him, Harry closed the curtains of his four poster and called his godfather. The two spent half an hour discussing the ways Thursday's trials could resolve. Finally it was Harry who signed off since he still had a pile of homework to do. The workload in fifth really was brutal.
Harry was in a good mood for all of the next day. On Thursday though he was feeling particularly nervous. Judging by the viciousness Snape displayed in Potions class he too knew what was happening that day. Several other professors also noticed that Harry Potter seemed distracted and that his work in their classrooms was not quite at the high standards that they had so quickly come to expect from him.
The reason for Harry's distraction became clear to everyone at dinner that night when Sirius Black strolled into the Great Hall, free as you please, accompanied by Aurors Tonks and Shacklebolt. Several of the older students who had been present two years ago when Sirius Black had been a dangerous criminal who broke into Hogwarts screamed and dove under their tables. Sirius looked around the Hall and grinned when he spotted his target at the Gryffindor table.
Harry and Hermione had been surprised at Sirius' entrance, but independently they each reached the conclusion that the old dog was simply too happy in the spotlight to ever tell them the results of his trial in a letter or mirror call. The first years who were sitting a little way down the table were busily repeating Luna's words to themselves Harry is more than a match for anything strange or dangerous that comes to Hogwarts, so it'll never reach you. This seemed to be borne out when Harry rose from the table to meet the approaching Sirius Black. His words surprised most of the people who heard them.
"So did they find you innocent or did they simply agree that you didn't commit any crimes and leave it at that?" The amusement in Harry's voice while talking to the man who had betrayed his parents came as a shock to those same people. Black theatrically clutching his chest and acting mortally wounded just rounded out the strangeness.
"I cannot believe that my own little godson could say such things!" he declared dramatically. "After all I have suffered to come back to you!"
"If you adopt him, I'm breaking up with you, Harry. He looks like a problem child." Now Hermione Granger was getting in on the act. If anyone in this castle was nearly rabid about keeping Harry Potter safe, she was it.
"Black! What the hell are you doing here?! Aurors, arrest that man! He is a dangerous criminal and there are children here!" Everyone in the Great Hall watched with baited breath as a new player entered the scene. Professor Snape looked absolutely livid. Not even Harry's classmates had ever seen the man this angry and they hadn't though it possible for Snape to display more hatred for anyone than he did for Potter.
"Put a sock in it, Snivellous. You and I both know I never committed any of the crimes I was accused of; or were you hoping that the kids would believe that I walked in here with two aurors who thought I was guilty? Baba Yaga's Baps, man, give them some credit!" The Weasley twins almost had tears of reverence in their eyes when they heard Sirius address the Potions Master by his hated childhood nickname. "Oh, and you should probably expect a hearing about bearing false witness in your near future. Somehow you managed to see a lot of things the night I was almost Kissed, despite being unconscious for most of it and the DMLE is very curious how you managed that." The looming confrontation between one of his professors and a member of his Order forced the headmaster to step in.
"Gentlemen, that is enough. Mr. Black, while you have my congratulations on your exoneration and freedom, I am wondering what caused you to come to Hogwarts before this information was released to the general public." The headmaster was twinkling for all he was worth over his glasses at Sirius.
"Well, Dumbledore, I'm here to inform my godson that I am free, that the rat who betrayed his parents to the dark wizard Tom Riddle is currently rotting in my old cell, and that there was a custody hearing shortly after the criminal trials were done. I'm officially your guardian now, Pup."
"Really?! That's amazing!" Harry's honest joy was plain to see for everyone in the hall. Dumbledore wasn't quite done though.
"Mr. Black, do you not think that you might have waited or chosen a different method to inform Mr. Potter of this?" The headmaster's disapproval was clear in his tone. "You could have done this without disrupting our meal and terrifying the children."
"This isn't really the sort of news that you put in a letter, Headmaster. Besides, I wanted to let Harry know as soon as possible that he finally has a family." Sirius was somehow keeping a straight face as he talked to Dumbledore. "Oh, and I suppose I'm also playing post owl. Here, Pup, Moony sends his best." He handed Harry a clearly shrunken packet. Harry took it and put it in his pocket before thanking his godfather.
"If that was all, Mr. Black, may I suggest that in the future you arrange any visits through the staff like other parents and guardians do?" Dumbledore cut in again.
"Yeah, sure." Sirius said, impatiently waving the headmaster's words away. "Harry, make sure you do well in your classes and don't do anything I wouldn't do. I'll see you at Christmas, okay?" Harry rolled his eyes at his new guardian.
"I'm pretty sure those two things are mutually exclusive, but I'll do my best." He snarked at Sirius while ducking a noogie. "And, yes, I'll be home for Christmas." The two said a quick goodbye and Sirius left the Hall with much waving and calls of goodbye towards his godson who was now shaking his head. When he was gone the Great Hall erupted in a susurration as everyone turned to their neighbour to discuss what had just happened in low tones. The only ones who weren't joining in were Harry, Hermione and Luna, although Luna looked like she wouldn't mind questioning Harry closely over tonight's events.
After dinner the trio disappeared up to the Room of Requirement so Harry could look into the packet that Sirius had delivered. Hermione got excited when she saw Professor Lupin's lesson plans from the year he had spent teaching.
"Oh, Harry, this is marvellous. Now you'll be able to start teaching us." she exclaimed happily. Harry was not quite as excited.
"Let me look through this first, Mi. There's no guarantee I'd be able to teach this well, so let's not get ahead of ourselves." Harry tried to temper his girlfriend's enthusiasm. Hermione just beamed at him.
"That sounds like you've decided to teach us." Harry just gave a defeated sigh and shook his head.
"You were right last time we talked about this. There is a war coming and we are miserably under-prepared. If I can change that, I have to try." Harry said. Hermione looked a little taken aback for a moment before she leaned in and pecked him on the cheek.
"You are going to be an amazing teacher, Harry Potter. Mum always told me the best teachers are the ones who are doing it for their students." With that Hermione got up and moved away from their study table to give Harry some privacy as he worked through the lesson plans in front of him. She joined Luna on the couch with a book and the two girls shared a celebratory squeal behind a Silencing Charm. The prospect of having a competent Defence Professor merited no less in their opinions.
The reactions were only slightly less enthusiastic in the common rooms that Friday night when certain pieces of parchment appeared on the notice boards. Harry had passed out a schedule and booklist to the various prefects who had shown up to the first meeting of what Harry had thought would be the DA. Harry would tutor one year every day, for an hour and a half, between the end of classes and dinner. There would be no written homework but everyone was expected to put in the work to come prepared to these sessions. The fifth and seventh years were planned in for the weekend and had longer 'classes' to help them prepare for their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. Harry had taken Remus' suggested booklist since he was following the werewolf's lesson plan and had been surprised to learn that the old Marauder had assigned his N.E.W.T. students the same book as Snape had. Still, from what Hermione had said last time through in sixth year, the book fit Harry's teaching style anyway.
:-:-:-:-:
When September 19th rolled around Harry wanted to make sure that it would be a birthday Hermione would remember. His first plan had been to hold it in the Room of Requirements with just Hermione, Luna and himself attending. However he accidentally let slip that he was planning something for Hermione's birthday where some of the younger students could overhear. Harry was inundated with requests from younger students to be allowed to join the celebration. Eventually this meant that word reached the older students as well and the Weasley twins reported for party planning duty. This meant that Harry was mostly trying to slow the two exuberant redheads down. He chose to look at it as the twins' way of letting him know that they had dropped their grudge over what had happened to their younger siblings.
The party itself was set to take place after classes and all the attendees would be eating there. Harry was tasked with getting Hermione to the spare classroom they would be holding it in. He had no trouble getting Hermione to come along with him. Her eager look told him that she was half expecting something from him for her birthday. When he pulled her through the door to the party Hermione didn't even wait for the door to close completely before she grabbed Harry in a heated kiss. An excessively loud throat clearing stopped the pair of them before they could really get going and Hermione's eyes grew huge as she registered the amount of people who had shown up and the tables holding presents and refreshments.
"Tsk, tsk, Ms. Granger. What will these poor impressionable youngsters think?" George said while shaking his head and pointing at the grinning first-years.
"No decorum, I tell you, brother." Fred immediately added on.
"Perhaps she thinks she can get away with that kind of behaviour because it's her birthday?" George suggested. Fred appeared to be thinking it over.
"Can't she?"
"That's enough, you two. Hermione was clearly just inoculating Harry against Wrackspurt infections. Happy Birthday, Hermione!" Luna's interruption knocked even the two inveterate pranksters for a loop and allowed the rest of the party to start coming up to the birthday girl and offering their congratulations. The rest of the evening was lively and thoroughly enjoyed by all those present. The twins managed to recover from their Luna-induced surprise and filled the room with animated balloon animals, confetti that kept flying around and various trick sweets.
Hermione felt wonderful. She had never had this many people gather to celebrate her birthday. She looked over to where Harry was forcing Fred and George to make sure that the first years wouldn't be caught in any untested pranks. A smile spread on her face as she contemplated how much of an impact he had on her life since she had met him and how that impact had grown since they started dating. She decided that overall she couldn't wish for anyone better. She cast her mind back to that morning when Harry had already given her his gift: an extremely rare copy of Al-Nuad's Arithmantic Almanac. She had no idea where he had manged to find it and was looking forward to wheedling that information from him. Giving herself a mental shake she returned her attention to her Arithmancy students who were currently wishing her a happy birthday and offering her their gifts. This was definitely her best birthday ever.
:-:-:-:-:
After the first week of teaching classes on top of completing all his work for his own classes, his studies into curse breaking and three Quidditch practices Harry was dead on his feet. He had even agreed to give Neville some one-on-one tutoring after the fifth year class on Saturdays. The other boy had come up to him after class and requested it. Harry had agreed knowing that Neville was going to be in danger from Riddle's thugs who only knew part of the prophecy and because he remembered what it had done for his friend's confidence last time around. Thankfully Harry had the last period on Mondays free since that had been when the fifth year Gryffindors had Defence with the toad. Harry took the time to catch a quick nap before heading down to the first years' second Defence class of the year. At the end of it Harry at least felt that he was tiring himself out for a worthwhile cause.
After he had dismissed the first years to go to dinner Harry spent some time cleaning up the Defence classroom where he was holding his tutoring sessions. He was just finishing up when the door opened and Hermione stuck her head in.
"Hello, Professor Potter. Ready to get some dinner?" she said with an impish smile on her face. Harry stopped waving his wand and turned to face her with a grimace.
"Remember why we don't refer to Luna as 'Auntie Luna'? Let's put 'Professor Potter' in the same category." he said. Hermione just laughed and came up to Harry.
"But, Professor, I was hoping for some private tuition." She said in an overly girly voice. Harry cocked an eyebrow at her.
"Am I going to have to discipline you Ms. Granger?" Hermione's jaw dropped at that, but she quickly rallied herself.
"Oh, Professor, are you suggesting we do something improper?" The wide-eyed innocence that Hermione managed to project into that last word was ruined by her stomach growling. Harry couldn't keep a straight face any longer.
"I think your entire act may be 'improper', Ms. Granger." He told her before he pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "Let's head down and have dinner before we do anything appropriately inappropriate." Hermione just nodded, looking thoroughly embarrassed at being betrayed by her own body like that.
The couple walked down to the Great Hall in comfortable silence. When they walked through the double doors that gave access to the Hall both of them froze however. Hanging above the Gryffindor table was a sight that they were having trouble processing. It was a large banner with a wizarding picture of Harry sitting in an armchair surrounded by first years and clearly telling them a story or explaining something. Hermione was moving among the first years handing out mugs of hot cocoa. Hedwig was perched on the back of the armchair lending an air of gravity to Harry's words while Crookshanks could occasionally be seen reclining in Abby's lap. Behind the group they could see the Gryffindor common room fireplace roaring. The picture itself wouldn't have been particularly bad if someone had not chosen to add a caption.
Mum and Dad welcome you to the Gryffindor family
"Wha-…How?" Hermione tried to formulate her surprise. Harry was already scanning the Gryffindor table and soon found two self-satisfied looking red-heads.
"My first guess would be the twins." He answered Hermione's half-formed question as he started pulling her towards the table. "Our best bet is probably to just try and ignore it." Hermione shook herself and, while she looked doubtful about the potential success of this strategy, wasn't prepared to let a prank drive her from the Great Hall either. They joined an unhelpfully smiling Luna and ate as quickly as they could without ignoring their manners. The whole experience was terribly uncomfortable for the two. They did notice that there wasn't a lot of outright laughter and the Gryffindor first years were actually beaming with pride at the sight of the banner. Hermione decided that the lack of outright laughter was probably down to the fact that her classmates were aware of the fact that Harry was the only reason that they currently had any Defence classes at all and that enough students didn't want to risk losing that by offending their professor. Even so she could see more than a few snickering behind their hands and that really wasn't any better. Once they had their dinner wolfed down they both left the Hall and headed towards the seventh floor followed by a skipping Luna. They didn't leave the Room until right before curfew in an effort to avoid having to deal with their schoolmates and went straight up to bed.
Two days later the Great Hall was once again in an uproar, this time at lunch. Another banner had been hung over the Gryffindor table. This one was of Professor McGonagall sitting in the common room looking severe. It also had a caption that made the whole thing go from strange to awkward.
Grandma Minnie is watching you
When Professor McGonagall came into the Hall she froze mid-step as she saw the new decoration. Her mouth moved silently as she read the caption before her eyes blazed and roved over the Gryffindor table.
"Mr.'s Weasley! My office! Now!" she snapped out before her lips settled into an impossibly thin line.
"What?!"
"But we didn't..."
"NOW!" As she watched the twins slump out of the Hall in front of their Head of House, Hermione was assaulted by a feeling of deep suspicion and her eyes shot to her side. Harry Potter was sitting there looking like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth and somehow she knew.
"Harry." she hissed under her breath, "Was that really necessary?" Harry spent a moment acting like he didn't know what she was talking about before a crafty grin spread across his face.
"Well, I did owe them both one banner prank. This felt like a two birds, one stone kind of solution." he told her quietly. Hermione just groaned and buried her face in her hands. On her other side she could hear Luna's giggles as she had apparently listened in.
:-:-:-:-:
Over the next month Harry managed to adjust to his gruelling new schedule. People seemed to enjoy his classes and since they were voluntary everyone was diligent about preparing for each session. Harry also adjusted to the workload of the fifth year well. Since he had gotten out of the habit of writing essays on the hunt Harry was grateful that he had had fourth year to readjust. His added knowledge and his time in the Room of Requirement meant that he was still doing the homework in a fraction of the time it had cost him the last time around.
The Quidditch team was also shaping up nicely. Derek was proving himself to be a competent Keeper and a dedicated player. Harry even thought Derek was turning out to be a better Keeper than Weasley had been and was doing his best to keep his feelings about the redhead out of that analysis.
As for the Weasleys, they had been keeping their distance. Ron and Lavender were apparently dating since they were once again snogging in the common room. Harry felt slightly nauseated when he saw them and hoped Hermione and he didn't look like that on the occasions where they got carried away and their hands started wandering without input from any higher brain functions.
Ginny could still be caught glaring at Hermione and mooning after Harry from time to time but she never approached the couple. Far from reassuring Harry, this behaviour only worried him more. Ron might be too distracted to care about his former friends but Harry could swear that Ginny was planning something.
Similarly Malfoy's lack of any taunting after nearly two months of school was tearing at Harry's nerves. The last time the little ferret had stopped bothering Harry it had been because he was trying to assassinate Dumbledore and sneak Death Eaters into Hogwarts. Minister Bones' warning about the Death Eaters possibly getting desperate with less to lose was also echoing around his head. It had in fact resulted in another trip into the Hall of Lost Things to make sure that the Vanishing Cabinet was blasted into kindling and spread over as large an area as Harry could manage in a limited time.
Harry shared some of his suspicions with Hermione and Luna. Unlike in their sixth year Hermione was willing to hear him out. She agreed that both Ginny and Malfoy were displaying some uncharacteristic behaviour but that they couldn't do anything about it without knowing what was causing the change. The trio agreed to keep their eyes open and be on guard around both Ginny and Malfoy.
Harry was keeping in touch with Sirius regularly. He had learned from his mistakes in fifth year the last time around and, while he didn't think that a free Sirius would be quite so reckless if faced with a murdering cousin, he was going to keep doing whatever he could to make sure that the Department of Mysteries debacle didn't happen again. He felt it was a good sign that Sirius had bought a home where they could both live that wasn't infested with years of exposure to dark magic.
With all the extracurricular activities he was now engaging in it became harder and harder for Harry and Hermione to find time to spend together and any stolen moments were deeply cherished by both teens. There had only been one Hogsmeade weekend so far and it stood as a shining beacon of normalcy and relaxation in Harry's mind.
There was one major advantage to how busy Harry was these days. It was the morning of October 31st before he realized that the anniversary of his parents deaths had snuck up on him this year. It didn't take long for Harry's usual relationship with that particular date to assert itself. Breakfast in the Great Hall was a strained affair as the Daily Prophet was widely being read and discussed.
Mass Azkaban Escape
The paper that had been so steadfastly silent on the return of Riddle was screaming out the horror of some of his top lieutenants escaping the once inescapable prison. The story presented the escape as the result of the Bones administration's incompetence. This cemented Harry's opinion that a few wealthy Death Eaters were currently dictating what was being printed at the newspaper. Looking across the Great Hall he could see that the children of Death Eaters were looking smug almost to a man.
Classes that day were a subdued affair as everyone considered that the war they had been dreading might be about to start in all seriousness. Harry and Hermione were happy that they were covering Silencing Charms in their class with Professor Flitwick. Both had already mastered the spell and could afford to pay the class less than their full attention. After Transfiguration Professor McGonagall asked Hermione to stay behind. Harry decided to wait in the hallway and was surprised when a worried Hermione emerged with her Head of House.
"I have to go see the Headmaster but Professor McGonagall doesn't know why." she pre-empted her boyfriend's question. She could see that it made his worry jump up a notch.
"Be careful. Don't look him in the eyes." Harry said before drawing her into a hug. "If anything happens call for Dobby or Winky to get you out of there." he whispered so that Professor McGonagall couldn't overhear. He felt Hermione nod into his shoulder and let her go. "I'll see you at lunch or in class then." Hermione nodded again and turned to follow her teacher who had been standing a little ways down the corridor to give the two teens a moment.
After the two women turned the corner and disappeared from sight Harry headed down to the Great Hall unable to shake the feeling that something was very wrong. That feeling didn't change when Hermione did not show up for lunch. It escalated into a full-blown panic when she failed to show up for Care. Harry tried to calm down by telling himself that it was possible that Hermione's discussion with the headmaster had simply run longer than she had expected. Yeah, and Snape is going to start washing his hair.
When Hermione didn't show up for Herbology, Harry was ready to march straight back into the castle and start tearing it apart in his search for his girlfriend. If she's been potioned again I might just do that anywayHarry thought to himself before a shiver ran down his spine as the implications of that thought settled into his mind. Calm down. Weasley is right over there so she isn't being forced into his arms quite yet. It wasn't really much of a reassurance but it was all he had until he could go looking for Hermione. The moment Professor Sprout dismissed the class Harry was out of the greenhouse and sprinting up to the castle. When he got there the corridors were full of students leaving their final classes. As Harry ran past a group of fourth year Ravenclaws something occurred to him.
"Morag!" The girl whipped around as she heard her Defence Professor call her name. "Morag, can you inform everyone that class is cancelled today? Something's happened to Hermione and I need to find her. I'll make it up to you guys on Saturday morning, okay?" Harry didn't wait for the girl's confirmation but set off again as soon as the words were out of his mouth. When he got to a seldom used secret passage Harry ducked inside and pulled the Marauder's Map out of his schoolbag. He activated it and started frantically scanning it. It took him several minutes to find Hermione and when he did he was confused by her location. What on earth is she doing on top of the Astronomy Tower by herself?
Harry decided that he would figure it out after he made sure that Hermione was alright. It took Harry mere seconds to plan out the fastest route to his girlfriend's location. He had stopped sprinting now that he knew Hermione was at least in the castle but couldn't stop his speed from varying between a brisk jog and speed walking. Opening the door to the top of the Astronomy Tower, Harry carefully stuck his head out. That caution was thrown to the wind when he saw Hermione. She was sitting with her back to the parapets, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms desperately hugging them. She had her head down and Harry couldn't see her face as it was shrouded behind a curtain of hair. He didn't need to see it to know something was extremely wrong though and hurried over to Hermione's side. When he got there he pulled her into a hug and his worry escalated into full blown panic as she didn't respond in the slightest.
"Hermione? Hermione, what's happened?" Harry asked her his beginning desperation making its way into his voice. Hermione didn't respond. Harry gently took a hold of her head and pulled it up so he was looking in her eyes. They were red and puffy and completely empty. "Hermione! Come on, love. Talk to me. Please. You're scaring me." Hermione blinked as though she was just registering that someone else was there. It was the first sign of life Harry had seen from her and he drew as much hope as he could from it.
"That's it, Mi. Come back to me. Please, Mi, let me know what's wrong." He saw a flash of pain in her eyes and it felt like dagger to his own heart.
"Gone." Hermione croaked out in a voice that sounded nothing like the girl he knew.
"What's gone, Mi?" he asked as gently as he could. Those dead eyes looked up at him with tears already leaking out of them again.
"My…parents." Harry's eyes widened. He couldn't have heard that right. "To keep the ministry busy the Death Eaters attacked muggles and did enough damage to keep the aurors and obliviators busy cleaning up after them. They found and killed my parents." Hermione's mouth kept moving after she had finished talking but no sound came out. Suddenly she shuddered and collapsed against Harry; huge sobs wracked her body as she once again felt the loss of her parents now that she had come out of her near catatonia. Her hands grasped at his robes, digging painfully into the flesh below. Harry just held her as best he could while his mind struggled to accept what he was being told. How could this happen? How would the Death Eaters even know where to go? Even if they did find the Grangers, there were wards and Dobby and Winky had orders to evacuate them in case of an attack. Harry felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water down his spine. It quickly turned to rage.
"Dobby! Winky!" Harry snarled out. The two elves popped in looking apprehensive at their master's tone. It had been cold and fierce enough that even Hermione was momentarily shocked out of her crying. "How is it that the Grangers are dead despite your orders to get them out at the first sign of an attack?" Harry hissed out, his eyes narrowing. He didn't do well with grief, but anger he understood; anger was safe. The two elves cringed at their master's cold fury. It was Dobby who found the courage to speak up first.
"We is sorry, Master Harry, but we is not understanding. The Grangers is still alive. They is in Master Harry's hidey tent. Dobby and Winky took them there like Master ordered." The elf's answer threw Harry for a loop. He wasn't the only one.
"My…my parents are still alive?" Hermione's voice was hesitant and her head came up off of Harry's shoulder about an inch as she tried to get a better look at Dobby. Dobby hesitantly nodded.
"Yes, miss. They is well and hidden." he squeaked out. Hermione's eyes flicked between Harry, Dobby and Winky before rolling up into her head. Harry managed to catch her just as she slumped over. He was feeling terrible. He had jumped to conclusions like an idiot and in doing so gone after his elves in a way they didn't deserve.
"Dobby, Winky, I'm sorry. I should have just asked you what had happened rather than yelling at you. I will make it up to you however you like." He said trying to convey his honest regret at the way he had treated them. Dobby and Winky shared a look.
"That is not being necessary, Master." Winky said softly. Harry was already shaking his head.
"Yes, it is." Seeing how uncomfortable the elves looked Harry decided to slightly change tack. "You can think about it if you need to, but I will be making this up to you. In the meantime, would you still be willing to help me with something?" Harry asked them. Both the diminutive beings perked up at the idea that they could be useful again.
"Of course, Master Harry. What is you needing?" Winky said, sounding happy to be back in familiar territory.
"Winky, can you go to my dorm and get the communicating mirror? I'm going to take Hermione inside, so could you please deliver it to the Room?" Winky curtsied and popped away. "Dobby, if you would, please find Sirius. Tell him we need to borrow his communicating mirror and take it to the Grangers. Explain to them how to answer the mirror and that we will be calling them soon. If Sirius asks, tell him I will explain everything later." Dobby nodded and also popped off.
Harry sighed and looked at the unconscious girl he was holding. It took some magic to make it work, but soon Harry was standing with Hermione held carefully in his arms. He quickly headed for the stairs, thankful that it was a short trip across the seventh floor to the Room. The door appeared in the wall across from the dancing trolls before Harry even got there. He silently thanked Hogwarts for her help as the doors swung open at his approach. The Room looked different than it usually did when Harry called it. Specifically it had a bed instead of a training area.
Harry walked over to the bed and gently lowered Hermione onto it. Straightening up he heard a pop behind him and turned around to see that Winky had popped in with the mirror he had asked for.
"Thank you, Winky." Harry said. The elf just curtsied and popped out again. Harry was left alone to wait for Hermione to wake up. He knew he could use an Ennervating Charm, but didn't. He thought that Hermione's mind and body had shut down to process the chance that her parents were still alive and that cutting that short would not be good for her. So he waited patiently. After only a few minutes Dobby popped in to report that the Grangers had received the mirror and were waiting for the call.
For lack of anything better to do Harry took out his homework and started in on that. He hadn't gotten particularly far when he heard a soft groan coming from the bed. He quickly stood up and hurried over. Hermione was indeed waking up and judging by her expression very confused as to where she was.
"Harry?" she asked looking at him as if he might disappear at any moment.
"I'm here, Mi." He answered as he sat on the bed and placed a hand on her knee. Hermione's own hand darted out and grabbed him.
"I think I just had a terrible nightmare. Did I fall asleep doing homework or something?" she asked him. Her tone told Harry that she didn't think this was particularly likely.
"No, Mi." He answered her, trying to be as gentle as he could. "I found you out on the Astronomy Tower after you didn't come to class." He could see that Hermione was starting to pale as she remembered why she was out there in the first place.
"My parents?" she asked sounding terrified of the answer.
"Dobby and Winky managed to get them out in time. I was just waiting for you to wake up so we can call them." Hermione looked at him like he was daft. "Dobby brought them Padfoot's mirror so you should be able to check for yourself that they're okay." Hermione's expression cleared up enormously when she heard that. She shifted over on the bed to give Harry enough room to sit down next to her. Harry held the mirror up to eye-level and said "Sirius Black".
The mirror turned cloudy for a moment before it resolved into the worried faces of a pair of Crawley dentists. Harry could feel Hermione sag against him in relief at this tangible evidence that her parents were unharmed.
"Mum! Dad! You're alive!" Hermione gasped and snatched the mirror out of Harry's hand, looking like she was going to try and climb through it to be with her parents. Harry gave her a quick hug and climbed out of the bed. He put up a Silencing Charm to allow the family some privacy while they reunited.
"Of course we are, baby." Her mother answered Hermione's exclamation. "Those strange little people got us out as well as all of our photos and heirlooms, just like we discussed. Why would you think we weren't?"
"I was called into the headmaster's office at lunch and he told me that last night Death Eaters had overwhelmed the wards he had placed around the house. He said that he and the Order were too late to save anyone and that our house has been burned to the ground and that…that you were dead." Hermione paused for a moment to take in the familiar faces that she wasn't ready to take for granted again. Helen had one hand in front of her mouth as she realized what her daughter must have gone through over the past several hours. Richard had his arm around her and was comforting the only member of his family he could touch. He also took up the narrative.
"Several of those blokes suddenly appeared in the street and started firing spells at the house. Those two little elves were there in a flash telling us we needed to go right away. They took us to Harry's hideaway somehow. Did you know that he lives in a tent the size of a house, on the inside at least? Either way, however we travelled, it felt like being squeezed through a garden hose." He shuddered as he remembered the feeling. "The little chap and his missus had already stashed most of the library somewhere safe even if I don't know where. We had told them what things had sentimental value and they made sure to save those first. We knew the house was somehow destroyed when they stopped popping in with our things." Hermione's prodigious mind was working overtime to assimilate all this information.
"But how did the elves know you were in danger?" Hermione asked. It seemed unlikely to her that Dobby and Winky would have been sitting around her parents' house waiting for it to be attacked.
"They said they did something when they set up those protections." Helen answered. "I don't know exactly how they work but I do know I owe your boyfriend one hell of a thank-you. I was screaming when he collapsed but he may have had a reason to go that far after all."
"Wait. Harry collapsed? What happened?" Hermione was getting more confused by the minute. Her mother gave her an odd sort of look before she told the tale of how Harry had shown up in Crawley looking for Hermione and that he had fed the elves magic to allow them to weave a powerful set of wards. At the end of the story Hermione had taken her eyes off her parents and was looking over at Harry who seemed to be absorbed in an essay he was writing. She heard her mother say something and blushed when she had to ask her to repeat it.
"I said: why do you think Harry wouldn't tell you about what he did?" Helen said patiently. Hermione just snorted.
"It's too much like bragging for starters and he had other things on his mind at the time. You remember what I wrote about being drugged by that boy?" Hermione waited for recognition to dawn in her parents eyes. "One of the potions made me hate Harry and I was being an absolute bitch to him. I would never have given him a chance to talk about it. I imagine that it slipped his mind afterwards." It was momentarily quiet between the Grangers as they each thought about what had happened.
"I still don't understand why Harry felt the need to go that far." Hermione said after a while. "Was it before the headmaster placed his wards?" Her father shrugged at her.
"No idea, sweetheart. We never saw your headmaster place any spells around the house so we have no idea when he may have done it." Hermione felt an ice-cold feeling settling down in the bottom of her gut.
"He didn't. One of the first things you learn about wards is that you need the home-owner's permission if they are going to hold up for any amount of time. If you never saw the headmaster then he can't have placed any wards." Hermione's voice was shaking at the end of her declaration.
"Well, it's a good thing your boyfriend showed up when he did then, isn't it?" Helen tried to bring a positive note back into the conversation. Hermione gave a small smile in response.
"I told you it takes time to appreciate just how special he is, didn't I?" she retorted gently. Helen just bowed her head in acknowledgement. Conversation after that fell squarely into the category 'small talk'. Hermione especially was simply trying to stretch the conversation out so she could spend more time with her parents. In the end it was her stomach rumbling that made her mother demand that Hermione go eat something. Hermione reluctantly agreed and said a long good bye. When she ended the mirror call she leant back against the headboard and closed her eyes for a moment. It had been a long and emotional day and she needed to recover. When she opened her eyes again they fell on Harry, still engrossed in his work. She felt a fond smile tugging at her mouth as she got up and moved over to him.
Harry was surprised when he felt a soft touch at the base of his neck. Looking up he saw a smiling Hermione and felt better than he had for hours. As soon as he straightened up she wiggled her way into his lap and lowered her lips to his. She didn't let more than a few seconds pass before her tongue was demanding entrance to his mouth and her hands were running up and down his body, through his hair and under his shirt. When they came back up for air it took Harry a moment to find his bearings again. Once again a rumble from Hermione's stomach brought the couple's attention back to more mundane matters.
"Winky!" Harry called while Hermione was trying to will her blush away. "Could you bring us something to eat?" As usual, Winky curtsied and popped out. It only took a few moments for her to return with two plates of Shepherd's Pie and disappear again. Harry was surprised when Hermione pulled one of the plates towards herself without making any moves to get out of his lap. He used his wand to make his homework stack itself before he grabbed the other plate. If Hermione wanted to eat in his lap after the day she'd had, Harry was going to let her.
Once they had finished their meals, Hermione still wasn't showing any signs of moving out of Harry's lap. She was biting her lower lip in a way that Harry knew she was debating something with herself.
"Harry?" she asked in a timid voice.
"Yes, Mi?"
"Can we just stay here tonight?" She asked looking apprehensively at him. "I…I don't think I want to be alone tonight." Harry just gave her a hug.
"Of course we can." He said before he picked her up and moved over to the bed. There they settled down together and removed their robes. It was moments like this that they felt grateful that they were both muggle raised and still chose to wear their non-magical clothes under their school uniform. They curled up together in the bed and Harry could feel Hermione pressing herself close. All thoughts of sleep were banished when he felt her start kissing his neck. He couldn't stop a sharp intake of breath when she hit his pulse point.
"Mi?" he asked her, unsure if this was really what she needed. Hermione's mouth left his neck as she shifted up to straddle him. In the dark he could still see the sparkle of her brown eyes.
"Harry, you saved my family today. You were there for me when I thought I had lost them. You….you…" For once in her life Hermione couldn't find the words for what she wanted to say and simply leant forward to capture Harry's lips again. "Please, Harry?" Harry searched her eyes to be sure of what exactly she was asking. When he found it he slipped one hand behind her head and the other up her side and started returning his girlfriend's passion as lovingly as he could.
By the time they fell asleep they were a lot more familiar with each other's bodies and satisfied that there was more left to discover.