Hello everyone! Sorry this took so long. I've been so busy with school and everything else. Hope you guys are still interested.

Enjoy!

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Presently

"Brother mine, let me do the honors of introducing a good friend, Ms. Granger" Mycroft smirked and looked absolutely pleased with himself as he sat down in the nearest couch. "she informed me this morning of her transfer in Baker street and I simply couldn't pass up the. . .opportunity"

Two voices answered at the same time at this statement.

"You don't have friends"

"She's moving in our flat?"

Sherlock eyes went wide in horror but before he could say anything else, John asked again. "She's moving in our flat?"

"No Dr. Watson, she's moving to 221C" Mycroft replied, choosing to ignore his brother's comment.

"No no no no no no no no" Sherlock ranted almost hysterically. He ran his fingers through his hair in an aggressive swipe and glared at his brother. "You will not give me a babysitter! Absolutely not!"

John frowned in confusion. "A babysitter? What are you talking abou-"

"Is this because of the so called gas leak earlier?" he continued on his rant, walking across the room back and forth in a dizzying manner. "What do you know that I don't? Tell me Mycroft or I swear to god-"

Mycroft blinked innocently. "You'll what? And what do you mean babysitter? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about"

"Oh don't you act innocent on me Mycroft! You have no friends!" Sherlock exclaimed with an accusing finger.

"I'm hurt brother, comparing me to your level"

"How presumptuous! my level is way beyond you"

"Back to your pitiful delusions, I see"

Sherlock stopped with his tirade and grounded out through gritted teeth. "Enough. Tell me what you know or I'll remove your friend out of this flat with my own hands"

"I'd love to see you try" Hermione who was watching them banter with focused interest, suddenly piped in, smiling sweetly.

The three individuals assessed each other through narrowed looks in a silent challenge to see who would yield first. Seconds passed by and a couple more. And then --

John Watson snapped. "CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON?"

Three pairs of eyes stared at him, suddenly remembering the other company they have.

"I apologise Dr. Watson" Hermione composed herself before the brothers could and went to the man, hands extended for a shake. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm Hermione, and I am indeed moving here in Baker street. Mycroft recommended the place to me"

John, looking a bit wary at her civility, shook her hands slowly. If she really is Mycroft's friend, then there's no telling what kind of person she is. He knows enough not to trust anyone blindly especially those who associate themselves with the Holmes'. "Pleasure is mine" and before he could stop himself, "Are you really Mycroft's friend?"

"Yes" Hermione laughed, genuinely amused. "hard to believe right? But we are, we come a long way back"

At this, Sherlock protested indignantly. "That's a lie! Mycroft has no friends. You are merely here to do whatever he wants to do. And it has to be in connection with the explosion. It's too much to be a coincidence that Baker street blew up and Mycroft appeared with a friend. I'm sure of it".

"Are you Mr. Holmes?" Hermione raised an elegant brow. "because I beg to differ. I'm here all the way from Scotland to do some research in relation to work and I needed a place to stay temporarily. Your brother was so kind to tell me of Baker street" she moved from her spot near the doctor and walked to where Sherlock was, standing directly in front of him. She looked at him straight in the eyes. "He also told me you were here. I asked to be introduced to the infamous Sherlock Holmes and I was very impatient to finally meet you. After all, your brother told me so much about you. So go on, figure me out and tell me if I'm lying. I dare you"

The room went quiet. Mycroft from his couch, was wearing a very manic glint in his eyes, like he was so ecstatic about something. John on the other hand, stood still with mouth open in shock as he witnessed something he never saw before,

For once Sherlock was silent.

It went on for a full minute and no one moved. The only visible movement was Sherlock's eyes rapidly going over through the form of the woman standing in front of him. After what seemed like too short for Mycroft's enjoyment, too long for Hermione's comfort, and too mind blogging for John, Sherlock spoke.

"No. Forgive me Ms. Granger? . ." the man cleared his throat and "I believe you are not lying"

Hermione smiled wanly. "Thank you Mr. Holmes and it's quite alright"

At his vantage point in the couch where he could see everything, Mycroft noticed that Hermione was deliberately putting her hands on her back to hide a twitching finger. At this he could tell something was already wrong and amusement forgotten, he stood up and addressed his brother. "I hope it's settled now Sherlock. You always make a big deal out of everything"

He grabbed his umbrella and offered an arm to Hermione. "But I do have a case for you, that's also why I came. Im going to send it later but for now, we're leaving. If its alright Hermione?"

"Yes please. Thank you Mycroft, I'm quite tired actually. Will we meet the landlady on our way out?" Hermione asked with a smile and took Mycroft's offered arm as they walked out to the door.

"You can do that tomorrow, we can go for now"

"Alright" she turned back as a last greeting and smiled. "Gentlemen, I'll see you around"

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August 1996

"Sherlock"

"You don't look well"

"Sherlock"

"I see so many things on you right now Hermione but I need to hear what you've been up to these past few months from your yourself"

"Sherlock-"

"And also tell me why my brother is here"

Mycroft listened silently behind the kitchen door, only a wall away from the two people in the living room next to him. He imagined this moment for a very long time, worked hard just as long to see it happen, for the sweet moment where he would finally witness Hermione Granger walking away from their lives forever. He hated her the moment they met. He hated her so much he wanted her gone and it was finally happening now. He should be happy. He should be beyond ecstatic.

Instead, Mycroft just felt lost.

"Sherlock, I missed you" there was a sound of footsteps moving and a short silence afterwards. Mycroft could sense it was Hermione who moved to hug his brother. Silly physical affections, he always thought. It was one of the main reasons he hated her so much. She always influenced Sherlock to participate in those frivolous activities. Sentiment makes you weak. She makes him weak.

It angered him so much every time he sees her doing these things, but now Mycroft only felt lost.

"I missed you too" was a voice Mycroft could recognise as Sherlock but could never fathom how it sounded so. . .human. Then in a flash it was once again, not. "Your skin, your eyes and everything else tells me you haven't slept in days. Pale as a bloody ghost. Looking at the state of your hair, your stress level right now must be a ten. Your lips. Cracked. Parched. I haven't heard from you for months. Tell me, are you going through adolescence or are you killing yourself?"

There was a scoff and then a sudden yelp. Mycroft could sense once again that Hermione must've landed one of her head smacks. He hated that part of her too. Always so violent and undignified. "Astute observation as always but you still lack the ability to flatter women"

"I don't see the need too"

"Whatever. Come here"

"You still haven't told me what you've been up to"

"Just come here"

It was silent again for a long moment.

"Hermione, can you let go now? My arms are becoming stiff"

There was a mumbled response that Mycroft couldn't quite catch and then —

"Obliviate"

There was a soft thud and a knock a few seconds later at the kitchen door Mycroft was currently leaning on for support. He opened it and expected to find Hermione in tears. It was also one of the things he hated most about her. She was so emotionally fragile it seems she would cry at anything. He hated how Sherlock seemed to tolerate it. He hated her for making Sherlock tolerate it. Tears make you weak. It does not solve your problems. It's only a waste of time.

Yet, Hermione wasn't crying at all.

Her eyes were dull, lifeless, and her voice became something that sounds like him.

"It's done. I'll leave the rest to you"

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Presently

"It's done. I'll leave the rest to you"

"Who was that?"

"My secretary" Hermione Granger replied with a sigh. "I asked her to arrange some things for me, sent her access to my files so she could clear everything up for the mean time. . ."

She paused and bit her lip. Mycroft could obviously see something was bothering her with the way she was sitting so frigidly besides him at the backseat of his car. They were on their way to Grimmauld Place per her request. He asked her where she would be staying for the night and she told him it would at Harry Potter's house.

Mycroft would've offered his home in the first place, but he felt it would be too much for her to take considering what she just agreed to do for him hours ago. In any case, it relieved him to know who this Harry Potter is. After all, everyone important knows who Harry Potter is. It's just a bonus that he also happens to be the best friend of the woman sitting next to Mycroft.

"Mycroft do I really have to do this?" Hermione turned to face him with a worried frown.

He replied calmly. "Yes. Soon enough you'll understand why. I'll pick you up tomorrow at 8 in the morning"

"But-" she sighed again and finally giving in to the temptation of the luxury of Mycroft's cushion leather seats, she slumped and rested her head in the car window. "Do you have any idea what I just did a while ago? That encounter did not go well at all."

"You mean other than holding up pretty well under Sherlock's incessant suspicions?"

Hermione huffed out a laugh at that. "He's still the same Mycroft. I expected him to change a little at the least but he's still the same. That's why I'm so worried he let that conversation go so easily"

Mycroft was worried too, he understood exactly what she meant but nonetheless he asked, "what do you mean?"

"Did you see that look in his eyes? It meant he saw me as a challenge, or more like a puzzle. A puzzle for him to solve! Goodness, I'm barely processing the fact that we've finally spoken after so long and now I have to manage dealing with him and keeping him safe at the same time"

"Again, you seemed to handle it pretty well"

"It's because I have magic Mycroft" she replied so forlornly that the man next to him almost flinched. "I have occlumency. I could hide away everything — thoughts, feelings and so on but he's going to notice that too because occlumency is too perfect an act for him not to notice"

At this Mycroft frowned and finally turned to look at her with a questioning brow. "I don't understand what you mean"

"It means he can't read anything on me. He won't know if I'm lying or telling the truth because occlumency hides away literally everything to the point that the act is perfect. Too perfect for Sherlock not to be suspicious about. Now he's going to breathe down my neck until he figures out everything"

"You're exaggerating"

Hermione only shook her head in resignation. "Trust me, I'm not"

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For the first time in John Watson's life, even if it pained him to admit, he was bothered to see Sherlock Holmes so quiet.

In fact, the man was so quiet and still he was barely moving at all.

For the first hour he went like this, John only thought he was just in his so called mind palace again so he really didn't think much about it. On the second hour, he noticed Sherlock's eyes were wide open. It was never open during his mind palace escapades. He started getting worried then and by the third hour he was starting to panic.

"uhm. . . Sherlock?" John approached the man sitting in the black leather couch hesitantly. "Are you alright?"

Without moving an inch or even blinking, Sherlock replied. "Yes, I am. Go away"

At this, John's panic turned to outright hysteria. Sherlock never answers. With brute force, he slapped the man on the back. "Okay, that's it! What are you thinking about?"

"That woman, something about her is not right" was the reply, seemingly unperturbed by the sudden violence. This unnerved John too. He expected Sherlock to hit him back or something.

"Who?"

"Hermione Granger"

"What do you mean?"

"It seems you're becoming more of a dunderhead lately" Sherlock retorted with an aggravated roll of his eyes. He then proceeded to stare into nothingness once more. "But I couldn't see a single thing on her"

With force, John swallowed his pride and asked again. "What do you mean?"

"Everything I saw about her doesn't add up. Her teeth—"

"Jesus, you were checking out her teeth?"

"—shows that one or both of her parents are dentists. You'd only see teeth that good if it was maintained from birth. Her skin complexion, hair, and everything else tells that she's living a comfortable life. That connects when she said she does research. Researchers are paid pretty well and more so if she's one under Mycroft and that's how they got to know each other but that's the part where it gets bloody confusing—"

Stopping on his tirade, Sherlock stood up and started pacing back and forth completely ignoring John who was trying to get his attention. "Although going back, if she's really a researcher and I can't tell if she was lying or not and that irritates me more than I'd like to admit but something about her stance, her posture, her stare it reminds me of. .of. . ."

"you" he stopped again at the sudden realization and looked at John with wide eyes.

John raised his brow in confusion. "Me?"

"Yes! Exactly! You! She's a soldier, or used to be. Bloody hell why didn't I see that earlier! But again maybe because it didn't add up. Everything I saw was a mediocre life of a researcher, even the way she talked and moved was too. . .perfect. Yes, that's it. That's the word. I've never seen a human that unnatural. The only time I was certain she was telling the truth was when she said she was friends with Mycroft" Sherlock stopped and was still once again. He turned to look at John with a crazed glint in his eyes.

He walked back to his black leather couch, took his coat and hurriedly wore it before turning his way to the door. Before he could go out, he looked back and smiled. "John, I've said this earlier and I'll say it again. Mycroft doesn't have friends. Yet it seems she is one. All I've seen says so. Yet again, all I've seen has only given me more questions."

"Where are you going?" John replied nervously. He knew though, that the answer was obvious. The smile told him everything.

"Out! I've got a new mystery to solve!"

Then the door was shut with a loud bang.

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"Hermione?"

Harry James Potter could confidently say he only witnessed his best friend like this twice in his life. The first time he saw her looked so lost and helpless was the time she obliviated her parents and the man he knew as Sherlock Holmes. The second time was when Bellatrix Lestrange carved that cursed word on her forearm. Now, he saw it again for the third time, as Hermione Granger stood there in his living room staring blankly at the dying embers of his fireplace.

It was a look that was so unlike Hermione that it scared him.

His best friend was always the person that Harry thought of as the epitome of life. She was always thriving against everything. Against people who ridiculed her, against problems she could only handle. She cried and broke but she proved everyone wrong. Even Voldemort only made her stronger. She was brilliant like that and whatever made her look like this again, Harry was determined to help her out of it.

"Hermione? Are you alright?"

"Wha-" she was startled into attention as Harry placed a comforting hand on her shoulders. "Oh, you're home. Yes, I'm quite alright Harry, thank you"

The boy who lived shook his head patiently. "No. I know that look. What happened at the meeting?"

His best friend gave a long sigh and then sat down at one of the couches. "It wasn't a meeting. I met up with Mycroft Holmes. You remember him?"

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Hermione watched as Harry went silent for a while. She told him what had happened during her day and recounting it surely made it even more real. Everything still felt like a dream somehow, or maybe more like a nightmare. She didn't know. She was lost enough as it is. No one prepared her for this day, not even herself. She already thought it was a lost cause, already given up what was too painful for her to dwell on.

It seems ghosts do haunt us after all. She thought sadly. Atleast the war already taught her that much.

"Mione, I didn't ask before because it would only be silly. But didn't you try undoing the charm?" Harry asked hopefully. That's the thing about Harry, he's always hopeful. It made her smile a little albeit sadly.

"I can't"

"What do you mean?"

She looked away and was again lost in her thoughts. "He's different. His mind is more complex than most. It's more built than any master occlumens. I'll bet it's even more complex than mine. Undoing it would risk damaging his mind and I can't afford that"

"But how? He's just a muggle"

Hermione's only response was to smile again.

"He may be a muggle but he's got more magic than most wizards Harry"

"Well then, what are you going to do about it?" Harry asked calmly.

"I don't know" she looked down. And it was the truth, Hermione Granger didn't know. She couldn't bring herself to think straight. She was too lost in her melancholy to even bring herself to organise her thoughts. Harry didn't say anything for a while and she expected it atleast. After all, Harry and Ron didn't even meet Sherlock personally. They only ever knew of him from her stories. They only know him as her childhood friend. Only her parents could comprehend how much Sherlock meant to him, and maybe Mycroft too, but her parents stayed in Australia after getting back their memories and hasn't returned since and Mycroft would only cause more confusion to her already trouble head.

She was ready to drown herself even more with her thoughts but that was when Harry spoke.

He looked at her seriously. "That's not the Hermione I know at all"

This put her out of her reverie. "What are you talking about?"

"Well. . ." Harry stood up and gathered his coat and things. "for starters, the Hermione I know doesn't sit around and wait for things to go her way"

He went to where she was sitting and placed a light kiss on her forehead. "She also doesn't mope like this. She only mopes for a minute and then starts bossing life around and doing things her way" he laughed teasingly and walked away. "Goodnight Mione"

The next morning, Hermione woke up with a new resolve. She was determined to stop brooding anymore. Whatever happens, happens. What Harry said last night really put some sense into her and she was thankful for that. Now she only felt silly with the way she was acting yesterday. It seemed her Gryffindor courage was nowhere to be found when it concerns Sherlock but she was damned if she let it stay that way.

Breakfast was a loud event, with Harry's children running about and Ginny screaming her lungs out to keep order but it only helped lift her spirits. She heartily ate and laughed along the table when Albus Severus Potter did something silly with his food.

"Mione, are you going to stay longer? I could ask mum to watch the kids so we could hang out. Your visits are rare these days you know" Ginny asked while they were cleaning up after breakfast.

She smiled warmly at the woman who has grown to be like a sister. "I'm sorry Gin, but Hogwarts still feels like a different world somehow that I forget I could just apparate anytime, but don't worry. I'm staying in London for a while. I can visit more frequently and actually—" she checked her muggle watch for the time and gasped. "shit! I've got to prepare! somebody's picking me up in an hour"

Ginny only shook her head in fond exasperation. Mycroft arrived excactly an hour later to pick her up and both were quiet during the whole ride. She noticed he looked more severe than usual and decided to leave him to his thoughts. They arrived at Baker street in a while and just before she was about to go out Mycroft handed her a brown envelope.

"Pass this on to Sherlock will you. It's an important case. I've also already arranged everything with the landlady for you so you've got nothing to worry about except settling in. And oh, Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"Welcome home"

Hermione's heart swelled with warmth and she almost could feel the tears at the corner of her eyes. Almost. It was still Mycroft after all and she knew he hated any signs of sentiment and whatnot. The stubborn man. So instead she gave him a genuine smile and walked her way to Baker Street with determinstion. If she was to be part of Sherlock's life once more then she will do it right this time. It was after all, only a matter of perspective. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she thinks.

Just as she was about to go down the hall to find Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson appeared at the top of the stairs.

Staying true to her resolve and occlumency safely in place - she's not quite at that level of confidence just yet - she greeted both gentlemen as brightly and as normal as she could.

"Good morning gentlemen, where are you heading so early in the morning?"

Sherlock ignored her and went straight to the door. John was the one who answered with a charming albeit still a little bit wary smile. "Scotland Yard. We've got a call from a detective"

"That sounds fun!"

"Quite, if you're Sherlock" John chuckled. "You moving in today?"

"Yes, but I've got to talk to Mrs. Hudson first. See you guys later!" She called out to both and resumed walking on her way but Sherlock spoke at last.

"Miss Granger?"

Hesitantly, she looked back. "Yes?"

Sherlock smirked mischievously. "Welcome back"