Disclaimer: See first chapter

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Like my other HP stories this will disregard most of the sixth and the entire seventh book. I apologize for taking so long to update! Enjoy!

The cool summer night and thousands of stars twinkling overhead did nothing to calm Hermione's temper as she strode down the castle steps. Never in her life had she been as truly angry with anyone as she was at that moment with the entire Order. It wasn't just that Dumbledore had asked her to spy on her friend and the "Savior of the Wizarding World", it was that everyone else had just gone blindly along with it. Harry may be a teenager, but he wasn't stupid and he wasn't overly careless. There were angry tears streaming down her face by the time she reached the gates off the ground. Cori was waiting for her.

Her friend didn't say anything, she didn't need to; all she did was step forward and put her arms around Hermione. When Hermione collapsed onto the ground Cori followed her. She rocked Hermione as her friend let all her thoughts and emotions rush out in one big tirade. When Hermione was done venting she looked at her friend, silently pleading for some comfort, some kind of hope that things could be different.

"Hermione…"

The change of tone was enough for Hermione to pay close attention to her friend's next words. It was Corinth, not Cori, who was speaking to her now.

"I'll need some time to acquire the necessary items, but I have a solution that will give you and your Harry protection from almost anything. Before you thank me I will warn you, the responsibilities that come with this solution will be very trying for you at times and some of the side effects will be permanent. By permanent, I mean eternal. Every life you live, every reincarnation from this life onward, will live with these duties and 'side effects'. Do you still want me to look into it?"

"I would be honored for any assistance you could give me Corinth. Please look into this solution and if the time comes that such a course is the only option I will accept the responsibility for it."

Ancient ebony eyes stared at her from the beloved face of her friend. Corinth blinked once, twice and her eyes were back to their normal green hue.

"All settled then and time to go home!" Cori grinned and raised her hand. "See you soon Hermione!"

She snapped her fingers and the next thing Hermione saw was her front door. Thanks for the lift Cori.

You're welcome. Sweet dreams!

The next morning the sun dawned on a mist covered world. Hermione awoke to the smell of cooking eggs and the sizzle of breakfast meat in the frying pan. She slid her feet into a pair of red slippers near the foot of her bed and made her way downstairs. Force of habit made her check the driveway for her parents' cars- they were both gone. When she entered the kitchen Harry was at the stove flipping pancakes in the skillet while simultaneously scrambling eggs and keeping an eye on the bacon and sausage. She watched, fascinated by the sight of her best friend doing something so ordinary. He looked so innocently happy and she was glad to see him smile because his whole face lit up when he did. Allowing herself to take a step back and looking at him from the perspective of a woman, she admitted to herself that Harry was one of, if not the most, gorgeous men she had ever seen. He was special: handsome, kind, brave, and funny. She loved him for it.

Just then Harry burned his finger and let out a yelp of surprise. He promptly stuck the injured digit in his mouth, looking for all the world like a child who was just scolded for misbehaving. He glared at the frying pan willing it to melt into a blob of iron for daring to burn him. It was all too hilarious and Hermione let out a giggle. Harry spun around, the finger still in his mouth.

"Good morning Harry," Hermione said, still giggling. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing serious. Are you hungry? I made enough for all three of us to have second helpings. Well, I made enough for us to have second helpings and for Ron to have one knowing how he eats."

Hermione let out a full laugh at that and went to get dishes out of the cabinets. She handed the serving plates to Harry and then went to set the table. Harry placed the food in the middle of the table and then poured some juice for the two of them. Ron was still asleep. Hermione tucked her hair behind her ears and sniffed at the food. It smelled better than the food at Hogwarts. She looked up at Harry and smiled.

"Thank you Harry!"

He had known she was there the minute she stopped in the doorway. He always knew when she was nearby because she exuded an aura of comfort for him. He'd been thinking about her a lot over the summer while he was at the Burrow. What would he do if Ron actually worked up the guts to tell her how he felt? He was jealous about it and he wasn't afraid to admit it. The two of them getting married would bring them closer together and push him a little bit further away. Hermione had been his friend first really, and she was his guiding star. She was the one who was always there, no matter what happened. He didn't want to lose part of his share in her heart to Ron, best friends though they were.

It was these thoughts that had distracted him and caused him to burn himself. He congratulated himself on making her laugh even though his finger really hurt. He pretended to just notice her as he spun around. It took him less than two seconds to see just how beautiful she looked in the misty morning light. Her hair was hanging lose and her eyes were practically shimmering with contained glee. She was wearing a plain white tank top and gold PJ pants. Her hair had the tousled "fresh from bed" look. She took his breath away. He didn't try to fool himself about his feelings for her. He was in love with her and he had known that since fourth year.

As she set the table he focused on getting the food ready. He liked the feeling of doing something so domestic with her. He felt like he was home. He brought the food to the table and sat down across from her. The table was a small rectangle with two chairs on each side. She was sitting with her back to the wall, facing the windows. Her right leg was bent with her chin resting on her knee as she looked at all the food. Harry was amused by the faces she was making, practically drooling over the warm food. She smiled at him and if he hadn't already been sitting his legs would have given out on him.

"Thank you Harry!"

"You're welcome. I did my best so dig in and if it tastes bad eat it anyway!"

He allowed her first pick of everything. He knew what her favorite foods were after being friends for six years, and he wanted to do something special for her as a thank you for letting them stay at her house. He was reaching for the bacon when he felt her eyes on him. When he glanced at her she had a deep, penetrating look in her eyes. It was the kind of look that meant she was weighing the odds about something. Both he and Ron had stayed up the previous night waiting for her to get back from the meeting. She had told them she didn't want to talk about it right then so they'd let her be and she'd gone up to bed. He was willing to bet 20 galleons that she was thinking about something that happened at the meeting, and from the way she was watching him it probably had something to do with him. He set his food onto his plate then sat back and looked at her.

"What is it Hermione?"

"…Last night at the meeting…" she hesitated, thinking about what to say. "Dumbledore asked me to spy on you. He wanted me to be his little gopher and tell him anything and everything you planned! He doesn't trust you Harry!"

Harry was surprised by the news. Hadn't he done everything that old man had asked him to do? Hadn't he been a faithful and strong warrior in the cause for the light? Why Hermione of all people? Harry didn't need a magnifying glass to see how much the request had hurt Hermione, just like he didn't need one to see how much it hurt her to tell him what had transpired. Now he knew why she hadn't told them last night. Ron would have gone off the deep end and they wouldn't have been able to talk about it. He stood up and walked to the other side of the table. He knelt down in front of her as she turned to follow his movement.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked her. She shook her head. "I'm not going to lie to you, partially because you always seem to know when I do."

She smiled at that. He took her hands in his and looked up at her before continuing. "I cannot think of one reason why he doesn't trust me, and I know you can't either 'Mione. I'm sorry that he doesn't, but I'm angry that he put you in this situation. It isn't fair to you. We'll deal with it though. That's what we do. You and I can get through anything. Right?"

"Right," she replied. She bent down and gave him a hug. "Thanks Harry, for not being mad at me."

"Why would I be mad at you? You didn't do anything wrong. Now cheer up because good food can't be wasted on bad emotions."

Harry stood up and went back to his place. He had just taken his first bite when Ron walked in. Ron was still half asleep, and was clearly being led by his nose. He took a moment to consider seating arrangements before plopping down next to Hermione. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek (Harry tried not to glare) and helped himself to his usual large portions of food. Harry decided it would be prudent to talk about something that would capture Ron's attention and keep it away from Hermione. He insulted the Chudley Cannons latest plan of attack and Ron eagerly leapt to his favorite team's defense (spewing bits of food back onto his plate in the process).

Hermione was careful to make it look like she was stretching as she tried to rub the feel of Ron's lips off her cheek. Part of her was glad that he was being a little bit more forward, but a bigger part of her felt it was somehow wrong that he did that. She felt like it wasn't supposed to be Ron kissing her, for some reason it just didn't feel right. It was horribly confusing because she'd always had a little crush on Ron, but it was fading, slowly, into nothing more than friendship.

Besides, she thought to herself, there are more important things to think about right now. Like horcruxes and evil dark lords with no hair.

She glanced at Harry across the table. His mood had been improving before Ron came in, but now it was back to its grumpy phase. He'd also been quick to bring up a conversation that would immediately distract Ron for at least half an hour, if not all day. He obviously wasn't enjoying the conversation all that much, his eyes were giving him away. Ron probably wouldn't notice it at all, but Hermione was the world's greatest expert on Harry Potter. He was irritated by something, but it wasn't about Dumbledore. That much she knew. Breakfast seemed to fly by in a blur of quidditch jargon and friendly banter.

She started clearing the table and was surprised when Harry stood up to help.

"You cooked Harry so you don't clean up. House rule."

"It isn't my house rule and I made the mess so I should help clean it up."

"No."

"Yes."

"NO."

"How about a compromise… we'll both clear the table. You wash and I'll dry. Deal?"

Hermione thought about it. It sounded fair and she knew he would be stubborn about helping so she nodded in agreement. He stuck his tongue out at her and then went back to picking up plates. She merely shook her head. Ron was reclining in his chair and didn't seem to have any intention of moving. She carried her pile of dishes over to the sink and ran the hot water tap. Soon the sink was half full of soapy water and she turned off the tap. They were half way through the dishes when Ron piped up:

"Why don't you just clean them with magic? It would take half as long and then we could do something fun. I'm bored!"

"Doing stuff by yourself is fun sometimes. You could help Ron," Harry suggested. Ron looked horrified at the idea.

"No thanks man! Muggle stuff is Dad's area of expertise!"

Hermione shared a look with Harry and then shrugged at him. They went back to the dishes. She heard the chair scrape and turned her head in time to see Ron walk into the living room. Soon the telly was going (Harry had shown Ron the wonders of cable TV the night before) and Ron was engrossed in a sitcom of some sort. She let out a yelp as Harry took the opportunity to whip her bum with the dish towel he was holding. He'd dried the last dish while she was distracted and now made a desperate dash for his life after she picked up a spatula to swat him with. He ran through the living room with her chasing him. Hermione chased him all over the house and finally cornered him in her room. She was about to exact her revenge when her mother came into the room.

The older woman stopped short at the sight of her daughter brandishing a spatula in the direction of a cowering, yet laughing Harry Potter. She decided it was better she didn't know what had led up to this scenario.

"I was just wondering, would you two like to go shopping for school supplies later? I already asked Ron."

"Sure mum!" Hermione replied. "Oh rats! Harry James Potter come back here!"

Hermione ran past her mother, still weilding her spatula, to chase her escaped prey. By the time she caught up with him, Harry had enlisted Ron as his body guard and they were hiding out in the front yard near a tree.

"He can't save you Harry!" She shouted. "Surrender in the name of Justice!"

"NEVER!!"

Ron looked on confused as his two best friends ran in circles around him. He had no idea what was going on, he just knew Hermione was brandishing some kind of torture device at Harry and that he was supposed to protect his masculine best friend. Hermione didn't think twice about him as she chased Harry down the street. She was entirely focused on smacking him with the spatula.

Her plan was foiled when Ron caught up with her, grabbed her around the midsection and ran the opposite direction of Harry, who was laughing hysterically at her.

Just you wait Harry. I'll dye your hair green and… wait… shopping… ha! I'll make you go clothes shopping with me! HAHAHA Revenge will be sweet!!

I'll do my best to update more often. Read and REVIEW please. Constructive criticism is welcome. No flames.