A/N: I forgot to put a disclaimer before my last chapter, I apologise for that.

Disclaimer: I in no way own any of the characters of the Harry Potter Series nor any of its scenery, I am merely borrowing it from that wonderful, awe-inspiring lady, J.K Rowling. If you recognize it, it isn't mine.

A/N: I decided on the M rating when I began with this story because I know myself far too well. Please be patient, and should it happen, god forbid, that the characters behave themselves under my influence, I will change the rating.

Chapter Two – Whispers in the Dark and Screams in the Day

Hermione woke with a start and the first thing her not-so-sleepy brain registered was that she was in the bed alone, Harry was gone. Then she heard the whispers. Hermione quickly got up, shivering as she donned her gown and slippers. Why had Kreacher put out the fires? Hermione hurried down the stairs, sure that her best friend was standing before the portraits, whispering words of sorrow and love to Sirius or challenging Dumbledore with riddles of his own. But reaching the ground floor, Hermione realised she was mistaken for no Harry was to be seen. In the larger portrait occupants snoozed, the scenery that of a moon-lit meadow. Lily and James lay curled up beneath a tree, Remus lay not too far away, Tonks stretched across his chest. Hermione's eyes roved across the portrait and settled on Sirius, who was not asleep. Looking at her evenly, Sirius lifted his hand, pointing upwards. Stupidly, Hermione followed his movement and looked up. All she could see was darkness.

'The Drawing Room?' she asked softly, looking back at Sirius, frowning when he nodded silently. Why would Harry be up there? Hermione quickly made her way back up the stairs, unmindful of the whispers, which had become urgent. She did, however, shiver as she walked. Harry had told her, not even two days ago, that he would never go into the Drawing Room after dark, especially not after a nightmare, though he had never explained why and she hadn't pushed for an elaboration.

'Harry?' Hermione winced as her voice cracked over the last note of his name. She pushed the door of the Drawing Room open slowly and peered in.

H sat with his back to her, a strange green glow illuminating his figure in the darkness.

'Harry? Harry, come back to bed, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow,' Harry didn't seem to hear her, his back remained turned. Hermione stepped toward her best friend, taking his arm. Her cry as the skin of his arm crumbled beneath her touch turned to a scream when he turned to her.

Bulging black orbs had replaced his emerald ones and his lips, cracked and bleeding, pulled back to reveal a mass of sharp, foul-smelling, yellow teeth, a strange rasping escaping his throat as he reached for her. Hermione stumbled backwards, trying to get away from the horrid creature as quickly as possible. She froze when a soft chuckle came from behind her. She turned slowly. Her parents stood behind her, leering at her from empty sockets as their rotting hands reached for her.

'We missed you honey.'

Hermione couldn't stop herself. She screamed.

'Hermione! Hermione wake up! Hermione it's just a dream! Hermione, WAKE UP!' Harry bellowed and the girl's eyes snapped open. Harry quickly pulled his friend into his arms as her screams became gasps, muttering soft words of comfort to her as he rocked her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, sobbing into his shoulder.

'Oh Harry! It was horrible!' she sobbed and Harry held her tighter.

'But it wasn't real,' he crooned softly, 'it was all just a dream, everything is okay, it was just a dream.'

Hermione nodded and they sat in silence for a short while, Harry still rocking her gently. Soon Hermione's sobs faded into sniffles.

'Do you want to talk about it?' Harry asked softly. He never spoke about his nightmares, he only needed to have them once, thanks, but he had come to realise that Hermione calmed quickly once she had talked it out, always staying within the comforting confines of her friend's arms and always shaking slightly, but her voice would grow stronger as she spoke and the shaking would stop. To Harry's amazement she shook her head, but he didn't push it.

'Just don't get out of bed tonight please,' Hermione begged him softly and Harry nodded, accepting this plea without argument. Together they lay back down, Harry pulling Hermione close to him. He fell asleep quickly. Hermione lay awake for a few minutes, staring into the fire that blazed in the hearth, thinking about her parents and how going back to Hogwarts would mean she wouldn't be able to find them this year. She sighed and turned slightly, curling up against Harry's chest and falling asleep.

Hermione woke up later, cold. Panic rose in her throat like bile as she realised that she was alone in the large bed but it ebbed away when she realised that soft sunlight lit the room. She twisted around and stared out the drawn curtains for a moment then comprehended what the sun light meant.

'Oh Shit!' she muttered, sitting up quickly. There was a chuckle and Harry appeared from the en suite, wrapped in a towel.

'Relax 'Mione, it's still early,' he told her, pulling muggle clothes from the closet, 'Go have a shower, I'll take our trunks down to the kitchen and get Kreacher to make us some breakfast.'

She nodded. They were going to stay at the Burrow tonight; although Grimmauld Place was in London they both felt that it would only be proper to depart to Hogwarts from the Burrow. Then a different kind of panic rose in Hermione and she scrambled off the bed, hurrying to her trunk.

Harry laughed, 'Go shower 'Mione,' he told, gently pulling her away from her trunk.

'But what if I've forgotten something?' she keened and her best friend laughed again, pushing her to the en suite, 'You checked your trunk three times yesterday, remember?'

He closed the door behind her and she could hear him moving around the room on the other side, the soft swish of fabric as he dressed and the muttered spell he used to lighten their trunks. Then there was silence as he left the room. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Hermione set about getting herself ready.

Hermione gasped, clutching a stitch in her side. Harry grinned at her, tears of mirth running down his face. Ginny was clutching her side much like Hermione, howling with laughter. Ron lay on the floor, of course, roaring with laughter. Even Mrs Weasley was smiling. George was staring at the small child that sat on the kitchen table, stunned. His own face, sporting a pig snout, stared back at him.

'When did he learn to do that?' Hermione asked, gasping for breath as she started laughing again as Teddy pulled a face at George and his eyes bugged comically. Harry could only shrug. Andromeda had brought young Teddy to the Burrow for a day so that Harry could get to know his godson. Teddy had spent the last hour entertaining them with his Metamorphmagus skills.

'Why is he imitating me?' whined George as Teddy made George's hair green. Ginny giggled and Ron lifted himself off the floor, promptly collapsing again when Teddy turned to him, his lips now enlarging into an exaggeration of George's pout.

'It's probably the easiest way for him to learn,' chortled Hermione. Harry swept the toddler into his arms, laughing when Teddy's hair became the raven mop that he sported.

'Thank you,' muttered George as Teddy now began to imitate his godfather, yet without the comic additions. Hermione knew that secretly George was pleased and she was happy to see the grin that lit his face. He had been very down lately, not that it was much of a surprise really.

'When you grow up I'm going to teach you to prank your godfather sensele- Aw come on!' George had cooed at the baby and had once again come face to face with his reflection, this time with one extremely large ear, furry eyebrows and a moustache. Mrs Weasley had to step in and take Teddy from Harry's arms as he collapsed, shaking with silent laughter. Hermione gasped, tears streaming down her face as George turned to glare at her. This promised to be a good year.

Harry grasped Hermione's hand like a frightened child as they faced the barrier. The Weasleys had gone through first at the insistence of Hermione. She glanced over at the raven-haired boy and her heart went out to him. Harry stared at the place where Ginny and Ron had vanished, his face betraying a mixture of excitement and trepidation, yet another emotion darkened his green eyes and Hermione winced when he turned his haunted gaze on her, silently pleading with her to let him go back to Grimmauld Place, but also acknowledging that he had no choice. She squeezed his hand and Harry took a deep breath then nodded and slowly they walked toward the barrier together.

The familiar noises of owls, cats, excited children and scolding parents greeted then and Hermione heard Harry's breath catch as he laid eyes on the Hogwarts Express but pretended not to notice, searching for the red-headed clan. She knew full-well what had brought this on and while Hermione could drown her memories and fears with the joy of being able to complete her education she knew that Harry could not, not because he didn't care about N.E. but because for him the pain was still too real. She spotted Ron's gangly form and made to walk towards it but found herself anchored to the spot by a motionless Harry.

'Harry?'

His eyes slowly moved to her face and then dropped to the ground.

'I can't do it Hermione, I can't go back there,' he whispered and Hermione was shocked to see tears fall to the ground. She pulled him into a hug and Harry clutched himself to her, shaking.

'You can Harry, you have to. Come on. Are you telling me that the brave Harry Potter, the boy who defeated Voldemort, is afraid of going back to school?'

Harry laughed softly and Hermione stepped back, wiping his eyes gently with her thumbs, 'You're not alone Harry, we're all here for you. Think of it as the school where you learn and get into trouble, not the battlefield where our friends died.'

He looked at her for a long moment then smiled, pulling her into a quick hug.

'Thanks 'Mione,'

'Come on,' said Hermione, smiling at her friend, taking his hand, 'I'm sure Ginny cant wait to get you alone,'

True to her word, Ginny seemed impatient to get on the train, away from the disapproving glare that her mother turned on the pair whenever they showed what she deemed 'inappropriate shows of affection' in public and eventually Harry gave into her insistent tugging and bade Mrs and Mr Weasley farewell.

'Aren't you supposed to go to the prefect's compartment?' Ginny asked her brother pointedly as he made to follow them. Ron scowled and followed a chuckling Hermione, glancing back at them, his scowl deepening when Ginny waved at him, grinning all too innocently.

'C'mon,' she said to Harry once the pair had vanished, 'Let's go find a compartment.' Harry wrapped his arm around her as they made their way down the train and he found himself hoping that they did indeed get a compartment to themselves.

'Heads up,' muttered Ron as he slipped into the compartment. His cryptic warning soon became clear as Hermione stormed into the compartment, pulling the door closed so violently that the glass pane shattered. She, however, seemed not to notice.

'That slimy, impertinent, arrogant, immature, -' Hermione muttered a word so vulgar that Harry, who had thus far been absorbed in yet another letter, looked up, shocked.

'Do you know who the Head Boy is?' Hermione stormed.

'Draco,' muttered Harry, turning his attention back to his letter as if this news were about as important as an announcement that the Gobstones Club had lost a tournament. There was a silence and when Harry looked up it was to find that the shocked gazes that had been given to Hermione when she had cursed were now trained on him.

'What?' he asked, looking slightly uncomfortable.

'How in the name of Merlin did you know that?' Ron asked, giving Harry a quizzical look that Harry decided he didn't like at all.

'It's kind of obvious, given Hermione's choice of language,' he answered, shrugging, thankful when Hermione flushed and Ron turned to tease her. Ginny, however, did not miss the faint blush that coloured Harry's cheeks as he quickly focused on his letter once more but she didn't question him, she was more than happy to simply settle herself more comfortably in his arms, smiling when he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. Harry, more than anyone else, was allowed his secrets, especially after the war; journalists were constantly hounding him and every newspaper and magazine claimed to know his secrets. Ginny knew for a fact that Harry had contacted the editors of two gossip magazines just the week before in a rage after they had posted articles pertaining to Harry's sex life. One article had gone so far as to suggest that Harry batted for both teams. Ginny smiled as she recalled the look on Mrs Weasley's face when she had found the magazine, carelessly left lying on the kitchen table by Fleur.

Yes, thought Ginny, closing her eyes as Harry's one hand began playing with her hair distractedly, Harry deserves to have secrets. And I know that when he's ready he'll share them with me too.

A/N: Well I hope you enjoy this chapter even if it is written in drips and drabs. Please let me know what you think, I appreciate any input! I will update this every week or so but I cant make any promises as yet.