Disclaimer – Everything you recognise belongs to JKR. All the rest is simply me playing in her sandbox.

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Hermione's Book Nook

Chapter 2

A tall, thin man emerged from the wooden door to stand on the front porch of his Crawley house and stretched. One hand fell to rub the back of his neck behind his slightly greying brown hair and, not for the first time in recent weeks, he realised that he was well and truly overdue for a haircut.

He padded down the three steps and across the path that neatly divided the front lawn in two. Small red flowers dotted the deep green hedge just inside the fence right up to the ivy covered arch that bordered the gate. To the left of that gate, his morning paper had been wedged between two palings, as had been the habit of the boy who delivered it for the past couple of years.

As Dan Granger turned to retreat to his house, he allowed the paper to unfurl so that he could read the morning's headlines. But a strange sight took the paper straight out of his mind.

A dark lump lay on the small swing-seat on the extreme left of the porch, almost hidden in the shade of the surrounding bushes. Letting the arm that held the paper drop to his side, Dan slowly walked back up the path, his gaze firmly attached to the unusual sight.

A flash of white caught his attention and he realised that a beautiful white owl was perched protectively on the back of the swing. An owl that he'd come to know well.

"Hedwig?" he muttered.

And then he looked more closely at the lump. A shock of unruly black hair told him that the lump was a person. The skewed glasses perched on the sleeping face of the boy identified him. Dan paused, allowing his gaze to sweep over this person that he'd only ever heard about.

His clothes were old and tattered. The shoes that peeked out from the overly large jeans looked to be more duct-tape than leather. A flash of dried blood on one knuckle had Dan scowling, but for now, he was reserving judgement. And on the ground just under the swing, were a pair of canvas bags and a broomstick.

Slowly, quietly, Dan started walking once more. Stepping back inside the house, he closed the door behind him with a click. After dropping the paper on the sideboard, he sighed and walked towards the staircase.

A bushy-haired girl in purple silk pyjamas, still rubbing the sleep from one eye was descending towards him.

"Morning, Daddy," Hermione yawned.

"Morning, dear," Dan replied and then, "Hermione, I think that there's something of yours out on the porch."

She stopped to look at him, her head cocked quizzically.

"Go on," he said, stepping aside.

He watched as his daughter walked towards the door, looking back at him on every other step, her lip caught between her teeth. A pair of arms reached around him from behind and he leant back.

"Dan?" Emma asked.

Dan sighed once more. "Just wait."

He saw the door pulled open and Hermione stick her head out looking first one way and then the other. And then it came, just as he'd imagined.

"HARRY?" Hermione squealed.

-oOoOo-

"HARRY?"

Hermione's high pitched squeal startled Harry awake. He jerked, causing the swing to move backwards and toppling him awkwardly to the ground. Thankfully, his landing was cushioned by the soft folds of the invisibility cloak that must have fallen off of him sometime during his restless sleep.

A solid thump hit him, knocking him over further before a pair of arms had wrapped themselves around him.

"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"

Nodding into her bushy hair, he wrapped his own arms around her.

"Hey, Hermione."

Hermione pulled back and he saw her chocolaty eyes roaming all over his face. "What are you doing here?"

Harry sighed as he settled his glasses more properly onto his nose. "That's a long story, Hermione."

"Let him up, dear and bring him inside," a deep voice interrupted.

Harry looked up past Hermione's shoulder to see a tall man smiling crookedly at the two of them.

"Oh, of course," Hermione smiled, grabbing hold of Harry's hands and pulling him up with her. "Come on, Harry."

Snatching up his invisibility cloak, which he promptly stuffed into one of the overlarge pockets of Dudley's old jeans, and then his broom, Harry made to follow her. The strange man, who he assumed was Hermione's father, had already picked up his two bags. Hedwig soared past to glide through the open door before them.

A brief flash of white was all that Harry saw of his faithful friend before she disappeared around a nearby corner and through a door deeper into the house that she obviously knew well.

Hermione's insistent tug barely gave him any time to take in much of the entryway that they breezed through. The impression that he got was that Uncle Vernon would approve of the house. The Granger's were obviously well off, with distinctly upmarket types of furnishings evident. There walls were a rich cream colour that made the dark wooded sideboard stand out in the entryway, as well as the ornate mirror and the large oil painting of some sort of countryside.

That elegant feel continued into the living room that Hermione dragged him into, although here, it was softened by the homey qualities of copious amounts of pictures and shelves full of knick-knacks that Harry'd love to examine. Instead, he found himself pushed down onto the dark blue lounge chair, Hermione right beside him.

Hermione's father had followed them in accompanied by Mrs Granger, who he remembered from King's Cross Station.

"Here, Harry, let me take that," Mr Granger said, reaching for his broom.

He watched wide-eyed as it was leant carefully, almost reverentially, against the wall beside his bags.

"I'm Mister Granger, by the way. It's nice to finally meet you, Harry," he said, coming back with a hand outstretched.

"Hi," Harry said nervously, shaking his hand.

"How'd you get here, Harry? Did your family drop you off," Mrs Granger frowned.

Harry shook his head but before he could even start to explain, Hermione gasped in horror.

"You didn't fly here, did you, Harry?"

Harry grinned at her sheepishly. "Yeah, I did."

"But what if you were seen?" she asked, smacking him on the arm.

"Hermione!" Mrs Granger admonished.

"Don't worry, Hermione, I wore my invisibility cloak," Harry reassured his friend.

"Invisibility cloak," Mr Granger piped up, his face lit up with interest. "Cool. Can we see it?"

After a shared look of confusion with Hermione, Harry dug it out of his pocket before throwing it over the two of them.

"That's absolutely amazing!" Mr Granger exclaimed. "Where can I get one of them?"

"They're really rare and really valuable," Hermione explained, pulling the cloak off of her head. "This one belonged to Harry's dad."

"Would you mind making yourselves fully visible again?" Mrs Granger asked.

Harry pulled off the cloak and stuffed it back into his pocket.

"What are you doing here, Harry? Won't your Aunt and Uncle be worried?" Hermione asked.

Harry snorted. "They don't even know I've gone."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "What've you done, Harry?"

Harry eyed both of his best friend's parents nervously before turning to Hermione. He really wasn't sure how much to say. Running away, especially after the damage to the house that he'd caused, was definitely the best decision that he'd ever made. All he needed to do was to find some way to convince Hermione of that. And now her parents as well.

"Things haven't been … good at my Aunt and Uncle's," he began cautiously.

Hermione's eyes were mere slits as she pursed her lips at him. "What do you mean, Harry?"

"They … ah, they found out that I can't do magic at home and then things got … bad. So they decided to … to find a way to stop me from … to stop me from going back to Hogwarts, so I, ah, I ran away," he finished in a near whisper.

"But what about Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione asked. "Wasn't he supposed to go and talk to them?"

Harry snorted. "Yeah, that's what McGonagall said. Didn't happen."

"Professor McGonagall, Harry," Hermione corrected. "But I was sure …"

"Yeah, so was I," Harry agreed. "Either Professor McGonagall lied to me or Dumbledore lied to her!"

"Perhaps Professor Dumbledore simply forgot."

Harry snorted in disbelief again, letting Hermione know his thoughts on that idea.

"What do you mean that things 'got bad'?" Mrs Granger asked suspiciously.

"They gave me extra chores, locked me in my room," he shrugged and then, after a glance at Hermione, he added an extra that he thought might work in his favour. "They took away all my Hogwarts stuff so that I couldn't do my homework."

Beside him, Hermione gasped and it was all that Harry could do to suppress a laugh.

"I assume that your Aunt and Uncle are home right now," Mr Granger asked darkly.

"No. My Aunt Marge, that's Uncle Vernon's sister, had a fall so they've gone off to visit her."

Mr and Mrs Granger shared a look before turning back to Harry.

"How long with they be gone?"

Harry shrugged. "Uncle Vernon wasn't sure. A day or two, probably."

"Harry, you said that your Aunt and Uncle found out that you can't do magic away from Hogwarts. I take it that you didn't tell them?" Hermione asked.

"Of course I didn't, Hermione! They wouldn't come near me when they thought that I could turn them into a toad or something. There was no way that I was going to wreck the good thing I had going!"

"Then how'd they find out?" Hermione persisted.

"It was that demented house-elf, Dobby," he began.

"House-elf?" Mrs Granger asked.

"I think that they're sort of like a servant. Or maybe a slave. Dobby did keep trying to hurt himself for betraying his master," Harry mused.

"That's barbaric!" Hermione scowled.

"Tell me about it," Harry replied. "Anyway, the other night, Dobby turned up and tried to make me promise not to go back to Hogwarts. He'd even been taking all of my mail to try to make me think that I didn't have any friends …"

"Is that why you haven't been writing this summer?" Hermione broke in.

Harry nodded before continuing. "And when I said that nothing was going to stop me from going back, he levitated a cake and dropped it right on the heads of some people my Aunt and Uncle had over. That's when I got a letter about breaking the Decree for Underage Magic."

"But didn't you just say that the house-elf did it?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head. "Yeah, but because I was the only registered magic user in the house, they thought that I did it."

"That's grossly unfair. We'll need to challenge that and get it wiped from your record," Hermione stated firmly.

Harry simply shrugged, not willing just then to tell her that he thought that it was a waste of time.

"And because of that, your relatives have been abusing you?" Mr Granger asked dangerously.

Harry nodded cautiously, not sure where he was going to go with that question.

"I know what you're thinking, Dan and while I agree with you wholeheartedly, I'm not sure how much we can do. Remember that we're leaving for France tomorrow," Mrs Granger stated.

Mr Granger frowned and dropped his head, deep in thought.

"Harry, where's your school trunk?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Couldn't fit it on my broom," Harry explained, "so I left it behind and used those bags instead. It was pretty old and banged up anyway. I'll get a new one in Diagon Alley later."

Suddenly, Mr Granger's head came up and pierced Harry with an intense look in his eye.

"Harry, we are going to help you. I promise you that. And if it wasn't for this trip which we can't get out of, then there's a lot that we'd be doing over the next few days. As it is, we'll do what we can today to get the ball rolling, but until we get back, you're either going to have to go back to your Aunt and Uncle's or …"

But Harry didn't wait to hear anything else. He'd already heard enough. He'd been sure that Hermione would help him. How, he had no idea. But this … no. He was up and pacing without even realising it.

"No. I won't go back. And there's no way that they'd take me back anyway. Not after what I did to their house." He ran a hand through his hair, looking wildly around at the room, no longer seeing either Hermione or her parents. "I … I'd rather give up my magic than spend another night at Privet Dive with the Dursleys!"

A blinding flash of light erupted from the wand that he hadn't even realised that he'd taken out of his back pocket.

Harry spun around, wide-eyed. His eyes sought out Hermione's only to see the same horror-stricken face that he imagined was on his own.

"Oh, Harry, what have you done?" Hermione moaned.

"What was that?" Mr Granger asked.

Hermione rose uncertainly to her feet, marched across the room and placed both hands on Harry's shoulders.

"You need to calm down, Harry," she stated, staring intently into his eyes.

Swallowing nervously, Harry nodded.

"What was that, Hermione?" he asked worriedly.

"I think that you just made a wizard's vow," she sighed.

"Oh, hell," Harry muttered.

"Harry! Language!" Hermione admonished.

"Sorry," Harry said, tearing away from her and throwing himself at his bags.

Luck was with him. The first one that he opened was the one that he needed. Snatching out a piece of parchment, a quill and some ink, he spun around and saw the tiny end table. Rushing over, he fell to his knees, unscrewed the lid to the ink bottle and started writing.

Dear Madam Hopkirk,

My name is Harry Potter. You would have detected a wizard's vow being made at the home of Hermione Granger in Crawley at …

Here he swung around to find a clock on a mantle.

ten past seven this morning. This vow was made accidentally by me notby Hermione Granger, at whose house I am currently visiting.

Regards, Harry Potter.

"Hedwig!" he called, rolling up the parchment and sealing it.

A flash of white appeared from around the corner and his owl landed on the arm of the chair in front of him.

"I need you to take this straight to The Ministry of Magic and give it to someone in the department for the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction for Underage Sorcery," he instructed as he tied the parchment to Hedwig's leg.

With a soft hoot and a quick nip of his finger, Hedwig launched herself up and back the way that she'd come.

"Harry? What was that about?" Hermione asked, staring at him.

"I performed magic, Hermione. That means that that it would have been detected in the Ministry," Harry explained. "So I sent a letter explaining that it was me that did it, not you."

"Oh," Hermione replied, understanding dawning. "But that means that you'll get a second letter. How much trouble are you going to be in?"

Harry shook his head. "Dunno."

They were interrupted just then by the arrival of a large eagle owl that swooped around the room before dropping an official looking letter on Hermione's head.

"Looks like you were right," she stated as she opened her letter. "They think that I did it."

"What's going on, you two?" Mrs Granger asked looking between them.

"Harry performed magic and the Ministry of Magic detected it. But because it was performed here, they think that I did it. This," Hermione explained, waving the letter around, "is a warning for breaking the restriction for underage sorcery. But Harry's already fixed it. He sent Hedwig to tell them that it was him and not me."

Harry could see the conflict on his friend's face. Her concern for him was being overshadowed by the smile of pride that was threatening to break through.

"Thank you, Harry, that was a very responsible thing for you to do," Mr Granger said, standing up to clap him on the shoulder.

Harry smiled weakly, somewhat glad for the three owls who suddenly swooped into the room, saving him from replying. Hedwig flew straight to his shoulder, nipping his ear in greeting. One of the eagle owls dropped a second letter on Hermione's head, while the other owl dropped a letter at Harry's feet.

In unison, Harry and Hermione ripped open their letters.

"It's alright," Hermione sighed. "They accepted your letter Harry, I'm not in trouble at all."

Harry grimaced and nodded at her.

"I know," he stated grimly. "But this is my second letter for breaking the Decree for Underage Sorcery. I've been summoned to a hearing on August Twenty-nine. They'll decide whether or not to expel me from Hogwarts then. Or if they should simply snap my wand."