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"Something's happened," Fred said, turning his head towards Ron and Hermione. They both looked confused but joined Ginny and the twins at the banister.

"Do you know what?" Ron asked.

"Not yet."

They were all silent for a moment while they listened to the extendable ear. Eventually, Dumbledore's voice rang through it.

"Thank you all for coming so quickly. The Advanced Guard has spotted Dementers in Little Whinging."

Hermione and Ron immediately looked at one another, worry crossing both of their faces.

"Is Harry ok?" Sirius said, sounding rather angry.

"That's just it. The Advanced Guard hasn't seen Harry in a few days. Remus told me that Harry went outside a few days ago, but that was the last time they've seen him. I have already ordered them to bring Harry here."

"He should have been here in the first place!" Sirius hissed.

"Sirius-"

"Don't you start with me," he said, and the teenagers were glad they were not in that room right now. "I told you before he even got sent there!"

"He's coming, Sirius. I'm bringing him here."

"You better hope they get here without any problems."

George quickly pulled the ear back up to them right before the door opened and slammed shut. They moved away from the banister into Hermione and Ginny's room, hoping more than anything that Sirius didn't catch them eavesdropping.

"I hope Harry's ok," Ginny said, sitting down on her bed.

"Why hasn't he left the house?" George asked, looking between Ron and Hermione.

"I don't know," Ron said, shaking his head. "Do you, Hermione?"

"No," she said, thinking back to the letters they've been sending each other. She began to tune out the others as she read through the letters in her mind.

A knock on the door broke everyone's attention. It opened a moment later to reveal Mrs. Weasley standing there, looking upset.

"I've got some news," she said, sitting next to Ginny on the bed. "Dementors have been spotted with Harry."

"Is he ok?" Hermione asked, pretending as though she has just heard this. Mrs. Weasley nodded.

"Harry is just fine. Dumbledore has made the decision to bring him here before something happens."

"So, Harry's coming here?"

"He should be here by dinner."

Everyone nodded as she stood up to leave the room. Hermione then let out a sigh of relief. Harry was finally coming.

"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley said, wrapping her arms around him as he entered the house.

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley."

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine. I had no idea they were even there."

"I'm glad you're ok. We have to go to an order meeting. I'll take you upstairs to Ron and Hermione."

He followed Mrs. Weasley upstairs, absorbing everything around him as he did so.

"This is the room you'll be sharing with Ron," she said, giving Harry a small smile.

"Thank you."

"I have to go. Ron and Hermione should be in there."

He nodded and she turned away and walked back down the stairs. He then turned the doorknob and entered the room.

And the next thing he knew he was brought in for a hug.

"Harry!" Hermione cried. He smiled into her hair.

"Hello, Hermione," he said, pulling away from her.

"What happened?"

"I'm really not sure," he said, shaking his head. He then glanced over to Ron. "Hello, mate."

"Hey, mate. I see you've had an interesting break."

"None what-so-ever," Harry replied, moving past Hermione to put his trunk in front of the empty bed. "What were Dementors doing there?"

"We've been asking the same thing," Hermione replied.

"So, why haven't either one of you been telling me what's been going on?" Harry said, and Hermione noted that he sounded rather angry.

"We couldn't," she said, moving to stand in front of him. "Dumbledore forbid us. Trust me I wanted to tell you more than anything."

"He's been very strict since we got here," Ron said, sitting opposite of Harry on his own bed. "The very first night we got here we got lectured about what we could and could not talk about. Over time, though, I thought Hermione was going to cave and tell you."

"He has the right to know," Hermione said sadly.

Harry stared at her, unsure of why he couldn't look away. Everything that he had been feeling all summer had started crashing down on him.

And now he didn't know how to be around her.

"Are you ok?" she asked, watching his expression. He nodded.

"Dumbledore doesn't trust me, does he?"

"What? Of course he does. Why would you think that?"

"BECASE IT'S TRUE, HERMIONE!"

They both took a step backwards, both shocked about Harry's abrupt change of voice.

"That's not true, Harry, and you know it."

"THEN WHY WAS I LEFT IN THE DARK?"

"Stop yelling," Hermione said, walking back up to him. She sat down on her knees in front of him and took ahold of his hand. "There is no need to yell. I do not understand why you are thinking this."

He suddenly felt all of his anger leave him when she took ahold of his hand.

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok. You have every right to be mad. We were given orders, Harry. We had to follow them, no matter how much we didn't want to."

Ron nodded in agreement as he sat next on his bed across from Harry's again.

"We heard that you haven't left the Dursley's in a few days. Why did you stay in the house?" he asked, leaning forward to hear. Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"I spent most of my time writing letters or working on my assignments. I just didn't feel like leaving the house, I suppose."

"It's probably a good thing that you didn't," Hermione said, smiling sadly at him. "Who knows what could have happened."

"Yeah," Harry said, dropping his head to avoid looking at her.

'What is going on?'

"Welcome home, mate," George said as he and Fred apparated into the room. "We thought we heard you."

"So, Harry, wanna tell us what happened?"

"As I just told Ron and Hermione, I have no idea. I was in my aunt and uncle's house when they were spotted."

"That's it?"

"That's it," Harry said, shrugging his shoulders.

"You should have seen Sirius, mate," Fred said, sitting down next to Harry. "He was so furious."

"I'm not happy about this either," Harry replied, looking rather furious. "How come all of you got to come here and I got stuck there again?"

"Trust us, mum and Sirius fought with Dumbledore forever. He kept refusing."

"Go figure," Harry said, shaking his head.

"Hello, Harry," Ginny said, walking into the room. "How are you?"

"I'm ok," he said, flashing her a smile.

"Before you ask he knows nothing."

"I wasn't going to ask anyway," she said, giving the twins a look.

"Sure you weren't," they replied together.

"Feel good to finally be here?"

"Anything beats that house," Harry said darkly.

"Is there a meeting going on?"

"Yes, why?" Harry asked.

"We can listen!"

"How?"

"By this," Fred grinned, showing Harry the extendable ear. "We can hear what's going on through the order meetings with this thing."

"Not quite," Ginny said, shaking her head at them. "Tonks told me how to find out if a door has been Imperturbed. Mum's put one on the door."

"Bloody hell," George said.

"Sorry, mate. Doesn't look like we'll be able to."

"How were we able to listen earlier?" Ron asked.

"Maybe mum forgot to put the charm up. It was an emergency meeting, after all."

"Someone's coming," George said, and he and Fred apparated away. The door opened and Mrs. Weasley appeared.

"Dinner is ready."

Everyone in the room nodded and followed her down to the kitchen. Harry noted that they were extremely quiet going down the stairwell, and he wondered why exactly.

They reached the kitchen and found Sirius, Lupin, Tonks and Mundungus waiting for them.

"I'll need help with dinner," Mrs. Weasley said. Tonks and Mr. Weasley went to help her.

"Hello, Harry," Sirius said, and Harry noted that his voice sounded rather dull.

"Hi, Sirius."

"How was your summer?"

"Horrible," Harry said, taking a seat across from Sirius.

"You're home now. That's all that matters."

"Remus, who was the one who noticed the Dementors?"

"I was," he said.

"What were they doing there?"

"We have no idea," he said, leaning forward. "Dementors don't leave Azkaban unless they're ordered to do so."

"Enough!" Mrs. Weasley said, bringing a bowl of food to the table. "Harry, dear, come help with dinner."

"Molly, he just got here. Let him relax."

"I am afraid the two of you will be telling him things he does not need to know."

"Later," Sirius whispered, winking at Harry as Mrs. Weasley disappeared. Harry nodded.

"I can't believe mum and Sirius got into it," Ron said.

"I think they were about to attack each other," Fred said, shaking his head.

There was a knock on the door. Everyone looked up to see Sirius walking into the room, looking rather glum as he did so.

"Harry, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah," Harry said, getting off the bed to follow his godfather. Harry's breath caught in his throat as Sirius took him to his bedroom.

"Surprising you, right? I really need to talk to you, and this is the only place where we can really talk in peace."

He opened the door and led Harry inside. Harry took a look around. It was nothing like the rest of the house.

"We have a lot to talk about," Sirius said, sitting on his bed. Harry sat down next to him.

"Is this about what happened at dinner?"

"Kind of."

"Sirius, I'm sure Mrs. Weasley didn't mean it. You've done the best you could."

"No, I haven't. Harry, I've made several mistakes in my life. But the biggest one was losing you."

Sirius sighed as Harry dropped his head. "You don't have to explain anything to me, Sirius."

"Yes, I do. The day you were born was one of the happiest days of my life. I was the first person your father contacted after your mother went into labor. I'm still convinced he contacted me before he even took her to the hospital."

Harry laughed, and Sirius smiled. "After they had you, they called all of us back to see. Remus and Peter didn't stay too long. I stayed for quite a while. After they left, James and Lily told me that they wanted me to be your guardian, shall anything happen to them. James actually said that Lily had chosen me. Surprised all of us.

"I spent a lot of time with you. I tried to be there every moment that I could. Then, your parents had to go into hiding."

"Do you know why?" Harry asked.

"I wish I did, but I don't. They said it was top secret. At the time, I had a major distrust for Remus. I convinced your parents that he wasn't to be trusted. Still one of the biggest mistakes of my life. They went into hiding.

"You know the story with the secret keeper situation. I convinced them to switch it to Peter, and not even a week later that little rat betrayed them. I was at the house the night before. I told your parents that I would be back on Halloween night. By the time I got there, they were already gone.

"Then I found out that you were still alive. Hagrid had you in his arms, ready to take you to the Dursley's. I fought so long with him. You were mine, and they were taking away you away from me. He told me to talk to Dumbledore, because Dumbledore had ordered Hagrid to meet him at the Dursley's house. I was unhappy about the decision, but I lent Hagrid my bike so the two of you could get there safely. I said goodbye to you, and to not worry, because I would be getting you out of that house.

"Dumbledore showed up shortly after that. I screamed at him for I don't even know how long. I said that you were mine. James and Lily left you in my care, and legally you were mine. Dumbledore said that you had to go to the Dursley's, but refused to tell me why. After I knew I wasn't going to win, I went to chase down Peter."

Sirius let out another sigh as he looked up at his godson, who had a completely blank look on his face.

"Harry, I could never explain enough to you that I hate myself for doing this. I should have never went after him. It was completely wrong of me. I should have went after you. But, with the loss of you, your parents and everything else I was feeling that night, I was so angry and I made a bad decision. Peter set me up, and I went to Azkaban.

"I messed up big time, Harry. I know it really means nothing now, and I'm not asking for forgiveness. I don't deserve it. I really did mean what I said back in your third year. If I had gotten cleared, I would have adopted you and we would find a house and live together. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Now, I don't think it ever will. I'm pretty sure I'm never leaving this house again."

"You fought that hard for me?"

"Not hard enough," Sirius replied, looking completely angry.

"If you hadn't gone after Peter, would you have tried to adopt me?"

"I would have."

Harry nodded and dropped his head. Sirius clapped his back.

"I'm so sorry, Harry. I wish I was better godfather than what I am."

"You're not a bad godfather, if that's what you're thinking," Harry said, standing up and facing Sirius, "I mean, look what you just did. You just spent the last ten minutes telling me how much you wanted to adopt me. Yeah, you made some mistakes. We all have. Just be here now, Sirius."

Sirius nodded, stood up and hugged Harry. "You have a good heart, Harry. Don't ever let anyone tell you any differently."

Hermione rolled over in her bed and sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. She sighed quietly and got out of her bed, grabbing her charms book in the process. She then retreated downstairs, hoping to not wake the portrait of Mrs. Black, and walked into the living room.

"Hermione, what are you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same," she replied, sitting down next to Harry. She noticed that he looked extremely tired.

"Couldn't sleep," he replied, staring into the fireplace.

"Have you been sleeping at all, Harry?"

"Sometimes," he nodded, turning to look at her.

"I'm so sorry, Harry."

"Not your fault."

She sighed as she looked into the fireplace.

"Harry, what's the real reason why you didn't leave the house?"

"What?" he asked, turning his head to look at her.

"What's the real reason?"

"I told you, I just didn't feel like going anywhere."

"Harry, I know you better than that. Please tell me."

"I don't have a reason, Hermione."

To Hermione, it seemed like he was lying to her. She, however, decided not to press the subject. Whatever his reason may be, he clearly wanted to keep it to himself.

They both stared into the fire. Neither was sure how much time passed until Harry spoke again.

"How's your summer been?"

"Long," she replied, putting her charms book down onto the table. "There's not a lot to do around here. We're restricted upstairs most of the time. Mrs. Weasley has been making us clean the house the rest of the time."

"So, I have that to look forward to?"

She laughed, and he grinned at her.

"Yes. You have that to look forward to."

"Hermione, I'm sorry about yelling at you earlier."

"That isn't like you."

"I know," he said, letting out a breath. "Everything is just frustrating right now."

"I know," she said.

She picked up her charms book and started reading where she left off. He smiled at her.

"Glad to see that some things never change."

She tried to hide her own smile, but found that she couldn't.

"I've missed you, you know."

"I've missed you, too. I never really got to thank you for helping me through…you know."

"You've thanked me."

"Saying thank you in a letter is not thanking you."

"It's what friends do, Harry."

He put his hand on hers and gave it a light squeeze. After a few moments, he felt her head fall onto his shoulder and he began to hear her soft breathing.

"Hermione?" he whispered, hoping that she hadn't fallen asleep. When he didn't get a response back, he sighed, and repositioned her so that she was laying across his lap.

'What am I doing?' he thought, as his hand began to move across her head to gently stroke her hair.

But he didn't stop. He continued to gently stroke her hair, and he was watching her closely as she slept. He felt like it was completely wrong, but he also found that he couldn't stop.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he started dropping his head until he was an inch from her lips. His mind was screaming at him to stop, but he found that he was unable to.

He gently pressed his lips against hers, ever-so-lightly to make sure that he didn't accidently wake her up. He pulled away a second later, shaking his head at his revelation as he did so.

'I like Hermione.'

He threw his head back against the sofa and covered his face in his hands. He then let out a deep breath as the realization came down upon him.

'I can't believe this. She's my best friend. I shouldn't be liking her!'

"Hermione," he said, shaking her awake. She moaned and sat up, looking around the room before finally stopping on Harry.

"I'm sorry. I must have fallen asleep."

"Yeah. Let's get you back to bed," he said, standing up. She looked at him for a moment, her eyes clouded with confusion before she got up as well and followed him back upstairs.

"Goodnight, Harry," she whispered, right before she walked in the shared room with Ginny.

"Goodnight, Hermione."

He watched the door shut before he walked upstairs to his bedroom, quietly closing the door behind him. Ron's snores filled the entire room as Harry walked over to his bed and climbed into it. His mind was working in overdrive as he tried to process what had just happened.

'I like Hermione. I can't turn back from that. She's my best friend. And I like her.'

"Mum, do we really have to clean?" Ginny asked.

"Yes. It will keep you lot out of trouble. This house is filthy and it needs cleaned! Now go!"

Harry set off with Ron towards the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley grabbed Ron's shoulder.

"Go join your sister. She's going to need help."

"She'll be fine, mum."

"Go, or I'll make you clean more by yourself!"

Ron scowled, and followed Ginny upstairs. Harry continued down to the kitchen and found Hermione already down there.

"Hello, Harry."

Harry suddenly froze. Ever since he found out he likes Hermione, he's been steadily avoiding her.

And he knows that she's noticed.

He nodded at her and walked over to the other side of the kitchen. She stared at him, hurt written all across her face as she did so. She threw down the cloth and walked over to him.

"Ok, Harry, what is going on? You have been ignoring me since I fell asleep on you the other night."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! I talk to you and you just nod at me and don't talk back, you've barely left Ron's side and yet you've barely said two words to me in two days. Did I do something to you, Harry?"

"No," he said, putting down his rag. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I'm just trying to get through something right now."

"And it involves me?"

"No!" he said quickly, shaking his head at her.

"Then, why? Why are you talking to everyone but me?"

He dropped his head and sighed. The look on her face was breaking his heart.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why. I'm being rude to you, and I shouldn't be. I'm so sorry."

She nodded. "If you need to talk, Harry, I'm here. You know that."

"I know," he said, nodding his head. "Thank you, Hermione."

"You're welcome," she smiled at him.

Back at the stairwell, the person who was standing there watching the entire scene play out shook their head, smiling.