Harry Potter and the Staff of Merlin

HARRY POTTER AND THE STAFF OF MERLIN

CHAPTER 3

"Where will I be staying, sir?"

"Well as you know, its not safe to stay in any magical place for too long other than Hogwarts, because of the, uh, situation. However, I still think that you will be pleased with the place we found for you. You will be staying with the Granger’s until school begins." Harry was silent, thinking about this. He was excited. How could he have forgotten? Hermione was muggle born, so of course he could stay there. All he knew about Hermione’s family was that they were muggles and both her parents were dentists. He had never really met them outside of Diagon Alley once and when they picked up Hermione at the end of the term.

"That will be satisfactory, I hope, Mr. Potter?"

"Of course, Professor. I would love to."

"I thought you would. Hermione’s parents have already agreed to have you. You will go there in two days, when they get back from their vacation. During that time myself and other wizards will be putting up protecting charms on the house, and you will stay at Hogwarts. There is somebody there who will be glad to see you."

"Sirius?"

"That is correct. You will have two days to spend with Mr. Black before you head to Hermione’s."

Harry was ecstatic. Not only would he be staying at Hermione’s house, but also he would have two days of just him and Sirius. He packed all his stuff into his trunk, and using Floo Powder arrived at Hogwarts a few seconds later. His godfather, Sirius Black, helped him out of the fire. Sirius looked much different from when he had seen him last. He was clean-shaven, washed, and had his hair washed and combed. His face was no longer gaunt, but full now and filled with concern as he looked down at Harry.

"Harry, how are you? You had me so scared when you went off like that. I heard what the Dursley’s did to you. I wanted to go right down there and show them a thing or two, but Dumbledore wouldn’t let me."

"It’s okay, I’m all right, really. It didn’t hurt that much."

"It doesn’t matter if it hurt, they shouldn’t have done it."

"It’s okay, really Sirius."

"I guess so. Anyway, I found a new passage to the kitchens from the Gryffindor common room that isn’t on the Marauder’s Map." With that, Sirius pulled Harry off towards the common room.

The next day was reminiscent of that, Sirius pulling Harry all over the castle, showing him all the new stuff he had discovered, raiding the kitchen, playing tricks on Peeves with the invisibility cloak, overall just having fun. By the time it was time for bed, Harry was so tired that he climbed up the tower to his room and fell right asleep. Sirius was going to be sleeping in the common room.

It was the second task. He was in the lake and swimming towards a single person tied up on the bottom of the lake. As he got closer, could see that it was Cedric. Cedric was calling to him: "Help Harry, you have to save me! I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe!"

Harry got to him, but couldn’t untie the heavy ropes that were binding Cedric. He tried and tried, but just couldn’t do it. Finally, he gave up and started back towards the top of the lake. He peered back, and Cedric was looking at him with pleading eyes and yelling, "No Harry, come back and save me!" But he continued to the top of the lake. He could hear Ludo Bagman’s voice; "It’s official folks; Harry Potter his killed Cedric Diggory! Harry Potter killed Cedric Diggory!"

With that, Harry awoke with a start. He was lying on the floor, twisted in blankets. He glanced up at the clock which read "Go back to sleep." With a sigh he got up, knowing that he could not go back to sleep tonight. He didn’t even feel like doing homework, but not wanting to stay in his room until dawn, got up and put on some robes. Deciding to go to the library and read something, he walked out stealthily down the stairs and out of the common room without waking Sirius, and continued on to the library.

When he got there, he started looking for a book to read. Finally, he came across one that would keep him occupied for the next few hours, "1001 Incredibly Long and Complicated Quidditch Plays for the Top Players." Settling back into an easy chair, he began reading. After a few minutes, he heard footsteps outside the door and swiveled around to see who was there. Looking at him from across the room was Sirius.

"Harry, what are you doing here?"

"I couldn’t sleep, that’s all."

" No, that’s not it. Remus told me you did the same thing at his house the other day. You have dark circles under your eyes, and I know that you haven’t been sleeping for a while. Now, why are you not sleeping?"

"I have dreams."

"What kind of dreams?"

"Nightmares," Harry started slowly. "Nightmares about Cedric."

"How long have you had them?"

"Since I got out of the hospital wing at the end of the Tournament."

"Jeez, Harry, why didn’t you tell anyone. It’s been weeks since you had a good nights rest."

"I was going to tell you, I just forgot."

"Yeah, right. Come on, we’ll break into Snape’s office and steal some supplies to make you a sleeping potion. Plus we can leave him a little present…"

Half an hour and a package of Canary Creams later, Harry was back in his room with Sirius ready to take the sleeping potion.

"I made it light because it’s already four in the morning, so you won’t sleep too long. I’ll be sleeping right over here in Ron’s bed, if you need me. Goodnight." Harry drank the potion, which tasted horrible, and immediately felt relaxed. With a quick "goodnight" to Sirius, he lay back on his bed and fell asleep.

"Harry? Harry? Harry!"

With the last "Harry", Harry Potter was blown out of sleep, the first dreamless, full sleep that he had had since the day. The day. But wait. That was a female voice that had woken him up, not Sirius. Opening his eyes, he found himself staring into a pair of hazelnut eyes, a nice face, and a head full of bushy hair. Or, in other words, Hermione. "What are you doing here, Hermione? You weren’t supposed to be here until tomorrow."

"You idiot, it is tomorrow. Sirius said that he might have mixed up the portions of the sleeping potion for a human with that of a buffalo, so you’ve been sleeping since yesterday morning."

Harry finally became fully alert. "No, that can’t be. I still have another day to spend with Sirius. I have to spend another day with him."

"Sirius said that he was really sorry, and that he might visit us at my house."

"Well, I guess it’s all right. Come on, I’m starved, lets go get some breakfast."

"It’s five at night Harry."

"I don’t really care, I’m starved. Go downstairs and tell them I’ll be down in a minute."

"Okay. See you down there."

With that, Hermione jumped up and left. Harry threw off his robes and hopped in the shower. He finished as quickly as he could, then threw on some muggle clothes he hoped were clean and raced down the stairs. In the Gryffindor common room, he found Sirius, Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Hermione, and two people who he assumed were Hermione’s parents.

"Harry," started Hermione, "This is my Mom, Susan, and this is my Dad, Eric."

"So nice to finally meet you, Harry," said Hermione’s mom. "Hermione is always talking about you."

"Yes, trust us, she just doesn’t stop," said her dad. "You can call me Eric, okay."

"Okay, it’s nice to finally meet you," Harry blushed as he said that. Hermione talked about him all the time?

"Oy, Harry, I need a word with you upstairs really quick," said Sirius.

"Okay, um, I’ll be back down in a minute everybody. Nice to meet you."

Once Harry and Sirius were upstairs, Sirius motioned for him to sit on the bed.

"Okay Harry, this is going to be rather difficult, so lets get this over with quickly."

"Get what over with?"

"Dumbledore asked me to talk to you about something."

"About what?"

"I’m getting to it."

"Getting to what?"

"I’m trying to tell you."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Dumbledore asked me to talk to you about…"

"What?"

"Well, you see, you’re getting older now, and seeing as James isn’t here, he asked me to talk to you about…"

"You’re confusing me."

"Just hold on a minute."

"Okay."

"Now, you and Hermione have been friends for a long time."

"Yea?"

"And both of you are getting older now."

"I would think so."

"Now, sometimes when people get older and into their teens, friendships can change."

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, sometimes, er, they want to be more than friends with each other."

"Is this about sex?"

"Bingo. Now be quite so I can finish this."

"Hurry up."

"Okay, and sometimes they want to express what they feel for each other in, um, physical ways."

"Imagine that."

"So seeing as you are staying at Hermione’s house, and you have been friends with her so long, you might want to express your love in a physical way."

"That’s disgusting Sirius."

"Just remember that you both are only fourteen going on fifteen, so think before you act."

"You’re talking about Hermione! She’s my friend!"

"Yeah, well things change. Mentally and physically. You know about that too, right?"

"Yes I know!"

"All right, calm down. But if you do decide to express yourselves in a physical way, don’t get caught, because her parents will kill you."

"Sirius!"

"There, all done. Now I remember why I didn’t have kids," Sirius muttered.

"Lets just forget that little conversation, shall we?" asked Harry.

"You better not, because I’m not doing that again. Now come on, lets go downstairs."

When Harry and Sirius returned downstairs, Hermione pulled Harry over to one side and asked him what that had been about, with Harry replying that she didn’t want to hear it.

"Hey, Hermione, I’m hungry, let’s go get something to eat. We can go see Dobby while we’re at it."

"Okay, and after that I want to stop in at the library after. I have to look up something for my Runes homework."

"Works for me." Harry turned to Professor Dumbledore. "Professor, is it all right if we go get something to eat and go to the library?"

"Certainly. We are going to head up to my office, so when you are done head on up there."

"Thank you, Professor." With that, Hermione and Harry turned and went out of the common room. On the way down to the kitchens, Hermione talked about her vacation. She had gone to Algeria, and while she was there she had studied all the famous Moorish and Punic magical sites, returning with the knowledge of all the former wizards and witches, which she was now relating to Harry piecemeal. Harry was only half listening, and it continued like that until they reached the picture with the fruit basket on it. After tickling the pear, they went into the bustling kitchens. He was surprised it was so busy, seeing as it was the summer.

Suddenly, a fast flying object hurdled at Harry, and attached itself around his torso. As he looked down, he saw a very happy-looking Dobby giving him a hug.

"Ah, Harry Potter has come to visit Dobby. And he brought his Herm-o-ninny! Where is Harry’s Weasel?"

"Hi Dobby. Ron is at home, and couldn’t come to see you. You don’t happen to have any extra food around here, do you?"

"Of course we do. Dobby always has food for Harry Potter and his friends." With that Dobby handed him a gigantic tray full of sandwiches and a pitcher of pumpkin juice.

"Where’s Winky, Dobby?" asked Hermione.

"Ah, Winky is up cleaning the rooms with some others. Don’t worry about her, she’s doing much better now."

"I’d love to stay and chat Dobby, but we have to get to the library and then to Dumbledore right away," Harry cut in.

"Of course! Dobby is very sorry for holding you up, Mista Potter and Herm-o-ninny. You can just leave the tray and pitchers in the library and Dobby will be along to pick them up later."

"Thanks Dobby. We’ll see you when school starts again in a few months, okay."

"Bye now." Harry handed Hermione the pitcher of pumpkin juice and they started out of the kitchens, not easy for Harry because of the size of the tray he was carrying.

When they reached the library, Hermione put the pitcher down on a table and ran off to get the book she needed. Harry, not having eaten for a day, dug right into the sandwiches and poured himself a goblet of pumpkin juice. He sat in silence for a few minutes, then Hermione returned.

"Did you find it?"

"Yea, I found it. I only needed an ancient rune that wasn’t on our charts."

"Sounds like fun. Makes me feel sorry I never took runes. Right."

"You be quiet. Runes is a very interesting class."
"I’ll have to take your word for it, because I’m not going to find out."

"Hey, what were you talking to Sirius about back there?"

"Hermione, you don’t want to know. Trust me."

"Fine, if you don’t want to tell me. I just thought that we were friends that could share everything. I never keep anything from you."

"Time-turner."

"I didn’t have a choice."

"If you really want to know, Sirius told me to not have sex with you and if I did to not have your parents catch us!"

"WHAT!"

"I told you you didn’t want to know."

"He said that!"

"I don’t know why he did."

"He thinks that we…"

"I don’t know," said Harry. "He just said it. That’s what you get for not trusting me."

"Sorry. Eeeeeeeeeewwwwwww. Now he got me thinking about that."

"Hey, I’m not that bad."

"Eeeeewwwww."

"Okay, cut it out."

"Fine."

"Not my fault I’m dead sexy."

"Shut up Harry," was Hermione’s reply to that, along with a pillow thrown at him.

When they finished eating, they left the tray, pitcher, and cups on the table and went up to Dumbledore’s office. Everybody was up there already, and Harry’s trunk was in the middle of the room. Also, the owl cage was there with Hedwig residing inside.

"Ah, I see that your owl has found its way back to you. I must say I was a little anxious when I received it. You were lucky to meet Mundungus and Remus when you did," said Dumbledore.

"Huh?" asked Hermione.

"Don’t worry, I’ll tell you what happened later," whispered Harry to the side. "Do you have any information on what Voldemort is up to, Professor?"

"Unfortunately, no. We believe that Voldemort is using his time to gain new supporters and consolidate the newfound power he has. If I hear anything of importance, I will owl it to you immediately."

"Thank you, sir."

"I do believe that you should be off now, Mr. Potter. Are you all set, Susan and Eric?"

"Yes Albus, I do believe that we’ll be fine," replied Susan.

"Okay then. You can travel using my fireplace. You will need to say "Granger Manor" to reach your destination. Harry and Hermione can go first. Good-bye everybody." Harry and Hermione stepped into the fire, shouted Granger Manor, and were off.

When they came down, Harry could see that they were in a large, fancy sitting room with very expensive furniture. The fireplace was gigantic, and he could stand up in it without hitting his head. As he walked out into the middle of the room, he could see more of the walls. They were covered with paintings of rich looking men in suits, some looking like they dated back to the renaissance. As he spun around taking in his new surroundings, Hermione stood of to one side smiling at him.

"So, do you like it?"

"Wow, Hermione, I had no idea…"

"We had rich ancestors with holding in the sugar colonies and seats in the House of Lords. And when your parents are both very successful dentists that own their own business, you have a bit of money."

Just then, Hermione’s parents popped into the fireplace with Hedwig and Harry’s trunk.

"So, Harry," Susan began, "How do you like our home?"

"It’s amazing!"

"I hoped you would like it. Hermi, why don’t you give Harry the grand tour?"

"Mom, don’t call me that!"

"Fine, whatever Hermi, just show Harry around."

Hermione set off to show Harry the house. It was a very large manor home, Hermione said, constructed in the 1700s and remodeled many times. It had so many rooms that Harry couldn’t remember half of them, plus a large estate that had a huge swimming pool, stables, and tennis courts. As Harry stood gawking at the enormity of it all, Hermione stood there laughing at him. He couldn’t believe that this was Hermione’s home. She was rich. She was richer than anyone he had ever known. If only Ron was here to see this, he thought. But she didn’t act rich at all. She acted like any other person, like him and Ron. He had to give that to her, the other rich people he knew were horrible, like Malfoy.

"Harry. Harry. Harry!"

"Huh, what?"

"Wake up! I was just asking you if you had ever been swimming before?"

"Besides the second task, nope. And that was the gillyweed then, not me swimming. I think Dudley tried to drown me once, but that’s it."

"Stupid muggles. Don’t worry, we can go for a swim tomorrow and I can show you how."

"Um, I don’t exactly have anything to swim in."

"Don’t worry about it, we have extras."

"Hermione. I don’t know what to say. Maybe thanks?"

"Don’t say ‘thanks’, you’re my friend and you needed somewhere to stay. It took a little convincing on my dad’s part, but your fine here. It was getting to boring anyway. Come on; let’s go in, it’s getting late. I’ll show you your room."

"Yea, I should probably tell Ron that I’m here so he doesn’t worry."

Hermione walked in silence for a bit, then said "Harry, please don’t tell Ron about my family. It just doesn’t seem right."

"Sure, don’t worry. I won’t mention a thing, I promise."

"Thanks Harry. You’re a good friend."

"You too."

"Come on, this is getting too sentimental for me. Last one in the house gets a beating from a pillow!" Hermione took off, leaving Harry gaping behind her, then, without another word, took off after her.

Harry was in his room. It was enormous, with a desk, a closet, a television, and a four-poster bed. It was just past midnight, and he had just said goodnight to Hermione before going into his room. He got out of his muggle clothes and lay on the bed, thinking. He heard scratches at the window, and when Harry opened it he found a letter from Sirius and a goblet with an anti-spill spell on it.

"Dear Harry,

Just thought that you might like some sleeping potion. I’ll send the ingredients to make an entire batch tomorrow, and Hermione can help you mix it. Take this for tonight, and don’t worry because I think I got it right this time. Hope you’re having fun, -Sirius."

Good ole’ Sirius to the rescue, thought Harry. Now he could sleep normally. He hoped that Sirius got it right this time, though. He drank the potion, then lay back on the bed and quickly drifted off to sleep.

HARRY POTTER AND THE STAFF OF MERLIN

CHAPTER 4

Whack!

Harry Potter awoke in his room to find Hermione standing at the side of his bed with a pillow, still in her nightgown.

"Hermione, go away! Harry need sleep now."

"Come on, wake up. It’s nine already. My mum and dad have already left for their office."

"No. Need sleep now!"

Harry, I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but you asked for it." With that, Hermione leapt on Harry’s bed, then started beating him with a pillow. After a minute, he gave up trying to sleep and started to fight back. After a good five-minute battle, a truce was declared without any clear winner.

"Okay Hermione, out now. I have to put some clothes on. I don’t exactly think that your parents would appreciate it if I walked around in my boxers around you."

"Yeah, clothes probably would be a good idea. I’ve got to go feed my Crooky-Shanks. Come down to the kitchen after, and we can attempt to cook breakfast."

Making sure that Hermione had left, Harry hopped out from underneath the blankets and threw on some of his muggle clothes and went downstairs, finding Hermione all ready in the kitchen making toast. After a quick breakfast, Hermione grabbed Harry by his arm and pulled him up from the little table.

"Let’s go for a swim. Nothing will wake you up like a swim in the morning. I’ll go get you something that you can swim in."

"Um, Hermione, you do know that I can’t swim, right?"

Hermione considered this new evidence for a minute. Finally, she said, "That’s okay, I can teach you. Now come on, were losing precious minutes of possible swimming time." Running off into the house, Harry waited in apprehension. He had never been in water before besides the second task, and he didn’t exactly want to go in now. But when Hermione had her mind set on something, there was no changing it. If there was one thing that he learned from having a female best friend, it was that when a girl had her mind set on something, there was no changing it.

Hermione ran back in and tossed Harry a rather small bathing suit, or so Harry thought.

"Go up and change in your room, then come down to the pool. And hurry up!" Not wanting to argue Harry walked up to his room and changed. When he was done, he walked back down to the pool and saw that Hermione was in the pool. Standing by the side for a minute, he watched her swim. She looked pretty good at it, and he once again had second thoughts about this.

"Harry, all you have to do right now is jump in right here and get used to the water. It’s shallow and you can stand up in it." Harry took off his shirt a little sheepishly, then took a running leap into the water. It was nice and warm, and he felt comfortable as he stood in it up to his neck. He splashed around a little bit, and got the feel of the pool as he tried to float. Turning back to Hermione, he could see that she was frowning at something.

"Hermione, what's up?"

"Harry, how did you get that thing on your back?"

"What thing on my back?"

"That big bruise," Hermione said she swam over. "It goes all the way from here to here." As she said this she gingerly poked him on the back of his right shoulder and at the small of his back on the right side. Oh no, Harry thought. That must be from when the Dursley’s threw me into the wall. Well, at least she didn’t notice the bruises on my face.

"And not only that, but you have two big bruises on your face." Well, scratch that one thought Harry. He didn’t want to tell her the how he had gotten them, but he knew that she was going to try.

"Harry, how did you get those." He didn’t answer, but just stared at his feet through the pool.

"Harry, how did you get those," Hermione repeated. Harry didn’t move, but just then a large barn owl flew in and dropped a package in Hermione’s hands. Harry, thankful for the distraction, bade her open it at once. They waded over to the side of the pool, and she opened it. Inside were a few vials containing materials for what was probably a potion, and also a note. Oh, no, thought Harry. This wasn’t going to be good.

The note said:

Dear Harry,

How is life at Hermione’s? I hope that you’re having fun, but not TOO much fun, if you know what I mean. I hope the sleeping potion last night worked, and I enclosed ingredients for a week’s worth of potion. You and Herm can mix it, or if you’re not going to tell her mix it yourself. Dumbledore told me to only give you enough for a week to give you your strength back, then you have to fight it on your own. Have a lot of fun, and BE RESPONSIBLE.

-Sirius

Hermione was not looking too happy, and dragged herself out of the pool. Drying herself off, she started to walk inside.

"Hermione, where are you going?"

"Dammit Harry! Why didn’t you tell me? I’m supposed to be one of your two best friends, and supposed to help you through your problems. Not have you keep them from me because you don’t trust me!" She turned and ran in the house without a backward glance. This was not what Harry wanted at all, Hermione mad at him while he was at her house. Drying himself off and throwing on a shirt, he went off after her.

He found her lying on her bed in her room and went to sit down next to her. He didn’t really want to do this, but it was better than having Hermione mad at him.

"Hermione." Silence. "Hermi!"

"Don’t call me that! I hate that name!"

"Are you mad at me for something?"

Hermione didn’t answer. She thought to herself over and over again that it wasn’t Harry’s fault that the male race was stupid, and to not explode at him for being so thick.

"I’ll take that as a yes, okay. Hermione, I had a good reason for not telling you about everything, I do."

"This ought to be good." Hermione turned to look at him.

"First, I didn’t tell you about the dreams because I didn’t want you to worry about me. Everyone always does, and I don’t need it."

"Harry I’m your friend! Of course I would worry about you, but I would also help you through it!"

"I know Hermione, I was just stupid!"

"Well, obviously!"

"Well I’m sorry, all right!"

"What about the bruises?" Here Harry stopped and turned away. Turning back, he looked Hermione in the eyes.

"Do you know why I left the Dursley’s?"

"No, why did you leave?"

"Because that’s where I got the bruises." It took a minute for that to sink in, and Harry looked away again.

"Oh, Harry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know."

"It’s okay."

"No it isn’t. I shouldn’t have done the suspicious evil person thing." Hermione looked at Harry closely, trying to gauge what he was thinking. Finally giving up, she got up and sat down on the bed next to him. "It’s okay Harry. It’s just that with You-know-who back and all…"

"Hermione Granger, I order you this moment to forget it. You’re perfectly right to worry about me, because, I mean, just look at what’s happened."

"Let me make it up to you."

"How?"

"Those are Dudley’s old clothes, aren’t they?"

"Yes," replied Harry, looking puzzled.

"My mum’s always complaining about your horrible clothes, so she kind of gave me some money to get you some knew one’s." Hermione, not giving Harry a chance to respond, pulled him out the door by his arm.

Three hours and a lot of money later, Harry and Hermione were walking back to the house along a muggle sidewalk burdened with bags. Hermione pulled him onto a path through the woods, saying that it was a shortcut. They were all alone, but as they went over a small rise they could see two people walking the opposite way hand in hand. As they got closer, they could see that it was a girl about their age scantily clad with a boy who looked about twenty. All of a sudden Hermione gasped and pulled Harry to one side.

"Harry, I know that girl from when I went to muggle school. Do not say hello, do not answer her if she says hello, do not even look at her. If there is one form of life lower than Draco Malfoy, then it’s her." They kept walking, but as they were about to pass the other girl spoke up in a fake nice voice.

"Why is that HERMIONE? Hermione, how are you?"

"Why just fine Alicia. I hope your doing well," replied Hermione in a forced voice.

"I’m just fine." Turning to speak to the boy, Alicia said "Greg, go ahead and wait for me at the ice cream stand." When the boy hesitated, Alicia yelled "NOW!" Greg took off at a fast trot, leaving the three of them alone.

Alicia turned to Hermione and said "So, are you having fun in the freak school that they sent you to?"

"You’re only calling it that because you weren’t smart enough to get in." Hermione was starting to get red.

"And you finally found a little boyfriend for yourself. Is he second hand, with that ugly scratch on him and all? I’m surprised at you, Hermione. With your family you should have been able to buy someone of the first rate."

"He’s not my boyfriend. You’re just mad because I got into a real school and you had to go to public!"

"Well, I can see that you’re still a stuck up bitch!"

"I can see that you still sleep with men ten years older than you!"

"You always hated me because I’m so much more popular than you!"

"You always hated me because I’m so much smarted than you!"

Harry was starting to get scared that it might come to blows, so he stepped between them and tried to quite them down, only to be pushed out by both of the girls.

"BITCH!"

"WHORE!" There was a flash of green light, and suddenly everything was silent.

An onlooker would have thought that the situation was very strange, with Hermione sitting on the ground crying and Harry standing in shock next to a small black donkey. Harry knelt on the ground next to Hermione trying to console her.

"Oh Harry, I’m going to be expelled!" cried Hermione into Harry’s shoulder.

"No you won’t Hermione. All it is is a quick counter spell and a memory charm and everything will be fine and bloody dandy."

"My parents are going to kill me."

"No they won’t."

"But the decree for underage magic-"

"Hermione, listen to me! You are the best student in Hogwarts. There is no way that you are going to be expelled. You didn’t mean to do it, it was an accident." With that said, Harry turned Alicia back into a human and did a quick memory charm on her. She looked rather dazed and confused, but she wandered off down the path in the right direction. Looking back to Hermione, he saw that she was up and walking home. Hurrying to catch up to her quick steps, he took all the bags and followed her.

Walking directly into the living room, they heard noises coming from the little drawing room to the side. Stopping in the doorway, they looked in shock at Hermione’s parents inside the room.

"Come on Eric, they only went a few hours ago. They won’t be home for a while."

"Okay, but if they catch us it’s your fault." That said, they launched into a long and deep kiss. Only about a minute later did they hear the sound of a screaming Hermione run out of the doorway, followed by a red Harry.

Harry didn’t see Hermione until it was time to eat dinner. She was in her room, and seeing as what had happened already today he thought it best to leave her alone for a few hours. He watched the television for a few hours then read one of the many books that were to be found in his room. Knocking on Hermione’s door before he went down to eat, she joined him on the stairs.

Nobody said anything for a few minutes, and then Susan broke the silence.

"So, did you kids have fun shopping?" Harry was silent, so Hermione spoke up.

"No, actually. On the way back I accidentally turned Alicia O’Conner into a goat."

"WHAT!" yelled Hermione’s mother.’

"I accidentally turned her into a goat!"

"How do you accidentally turn somebody into a goat?!"

Harry finally spoke up, saying, "It really wasn’t her fault. Alicia was provoking her and it was involuntary. It didn’t do any damage, really. I turned her right back and put a memory charm on her."

"It doesn’t matter if she didn’t mean it or not, you can’t go around turning people into goats!"

"Mum, please!" Susan was quite for a minute, then spoke up yet again.

"Now, I know that you kids saw me and Eric in the drawing room today, and we need to talk about that. You see, sometimes grownups…"

"No, mum, you are not going to do this NOW!"

"Hermi, be quiet and listen!"

"Mum!"

"Hermi, listen now. Your father and I are a married couple, and it is okay for married couples to express their love physically." By this time Hermione had her head buried in her arms and Harry was blushing bright red.

"I want you two to remember that you are only fourteen, and it is definitely not okay for you to express your love physically, understood?"

"Mum. A, we know not to express our love physically. B, we don’t have any love to express. C, we are friends. Just friends. Why do people not understand this?" Hermione said all of this into her arms.

"Hermi, you know we just care about you two, and don’t want anything bad to happen to the two of you." Hermione didn’t say anything, but just ran upstairs to her room. Harry finished the rest of his meal silently, then left as soon as possible.

Walking up to Hermione’s room, he stopped at the door and pondered whether to go in or not. Finally deciding to go in, he opened the door and found Hermione lying on the bed with her head in a pillow.

"Hermione, are you okay?"

"NO, I’m obviously very much not! When my parents do that to me it’s kind of hard to be okay!"

"They just care about you, that’s all."

"If they cared about me then they would trust me. Oh, by the way, do you want to shag right now?"

"WHAT?"

"See, were not going to do anything. That just proved it right there."

"Now Hermione, I know that I am incredibly hot, but you just can’t go around asking a guy if he wants to have sex all the time."

"Shut up Harry."

"Hermione, give up the that pretense, we both know that no female could possibly resist me."

"Shut up Harry."

"Hermione, you can’t deny that I’m dead sexy." The only answer he received to that was a pillow in the face. Getting up, he walked back to his own room and started reading again.

Not much happened in the next week. Hermione’s parents didn’t question lecture them anymore, no more people were turned into donkey’s, and there were no events from the wizarding world. Harry was finally able to sleep late, wake up and have whatever he wanted for breakfast at any time, do whatever he wanted at any given time, and overall just having fun with Hermione. After fourteen years of the Dursley’s and then four years of the Hogwarts regime, he was enjoying his vacation from it all very much. He had clothes that fit, a huge room, light to do his homework by, and a large and comfortable bed that he was thoroughly enjoying. He was learning how to swim, and most importantly was getting dreamless sleep every night. Finally the day came at the end of June when he had to give up the sleeping potion. He did this rather reluctantly, but when it came time for bed he went right to sleep.

"You stupid wizard, I’m gonna’ teach you a lesson you’ll never forget!" Harry could feel the pain coursing through him as Uncle Vernon hit him. Over and over again he hit Harry, first slapping him hard then punching him. He threw Harry on the bed, ripped off Harry’s shirt, and took off his belt. All that Harry could see or feel was the intense pain as Vernon hit him. Suddenly, Harry felt the blows stop. He turned and saw that Hermione was in the room, and Uncle Vernon was staring at her. She went over to Harry and pulled him into a hug, making all the pain disappear from his body. Hermione turned back and cursed Vernon, pushing him out the door. Then he came back in the door, but it wasn’t Vernon, but Voldemort! Harry then saw that Hermione had turned into Cedric, and knew what was going to happen. There was a flash of light, the words "Avada Kedavra" and Cedric fell dead.

Harry woke up and realized that he was screaming, and quickly stopped. He felt his back and there was nothing there but smooth skin. Realizing it was a dream; he lay back down and thought about what had happened, only to be interrupted by Hermione coming in the door in a nightgown.

"Harry, what happened? I heard you screaming, and I thought that…" she trailed off.

"Don’t worry Hermione, it was only a dream."

"But Harry, I heard you screaming."

"Hermione, listen, it was only a bad dream."

Hermione sat down at the edge of the bed. "Tell me about it."

Harry looked away. "I don’t want to," he said softly.

"Harry, look at me." When he didn’t respond, she repeated, "Harry, look at me NOW." Harry looked up slowly, finally coming to her face. "Harry, you’ll never get through this if you keep it just to yourself," shivering as she said this. "Now push over and start talking, understood?" Hermione pushed Harry aside almost onto the floor and slipped under the blankets with him. By the time Harry finished it had been almost a half an hour because he had to stop every few sentences to collect himself.

"Okay Harry, what you are going to do is go back to sleep, understood?"

"But I can’t."

"Oh, but I can’t," Hermione mocked him. "Harry, I’m not going back into my room and my nice warm bed until you go to sleep."

Harry decided not to argue, instead resting his eyes. Next thing he knew, it was light out and he was lying next to Hermione when he was awoken by the loud voice of Hermione’s dad.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!"