Inviting the Weasleys to his birthday was awkward.

Fred and George was enthusiastic about it, Percy couldn't make it because he was at his new girlfriend's – Penelope Clearwater – house for the rest of the summer. Ginny was ecstatic about being invited and stammered a yes. Ron, however…

Harry didn't think Ron wanted to come, but Fred, George and Ginny assumed he was coming and so did Mr and Mrs Weasley, so Harry got the impression it was the pressure of their expectations that led to him agree to come.

Once it was confirmed they all were coming, Harry went back to the Marauders Mansion. Sirius and Remus would both be working at the ministry until late that night, so the house was empty.

Harry went to the house's library (he was originally in the kitchen until a house elf told him about library) to begin working on his homework. He stayed in the library doing his homework for a few hours, until about six o'clock, when he became hungry.

He ordered a house elf to bring him some dinner in the library while he studied. He ate a few sandwiches for dinner while reading The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 7.

After a few more hours, when his plate of sandwiches kept on refilling, Sirius came into the library and sat beside him.

'Hey Harry, why are you eating sandwiches for dinner in the library?' Sirius asked in confusion

'I'm studying.' Harry shrugged, not taking his eyes off his book.

'Have you done all your homework?' Sirius asked

'Yes.' Harry said

Sirius took the book Harry was reading and put it on a shelf.

'Do you want to go play Quidditch?' Sirius asked

'No.'

'Wizard's chess?'

'No.'

'Exploding snap?'

'No!' Harry snapped, taking his book back from the shelf and continuing to read.

'How did it go? Inviting the Weasley's to your birthday?' Sirius asked, trying to get Harry to talk to him.

'They're coming.' Harry said shortly

'So, Ron's coming?' Sirius asked

'Yes.' Harry said

'I've sent the invitations to everyone.' Sirius said

'That's good.' Harry said tonelessly. 'I'm going to bed.'

'Harry? Are you alright?' Sirius asked worriedly

'I'd be better if my best friend didn't hate me!' Harry snapped angrily, shoving his book in his satchel and storming off.

'What? Harry? Harry, don't leave! I thought Ron agreed to come!' Sirius called after him in confusion.

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Breakfast the next morning was awkward. Remus wasn't there (he was at the ministry for something again) so it was just Harry and Sirius. Neither of them mentioned their not-really-argument-but-close-to-it last night. They just chatted somewhat distantly about what they were planning to do that day, how plans for Hogwarts were going, and of course, the always miserable weather. It was raining that day, so Harry was stuck to doing things inside.

After around an hour of uncomfortable pointless small-talk, Harry finally finished his breakfast and went outside, crossed the street and knocked on number nine. Hermione answered, a book – as always – tucked under her arm. Harry squinted at the book – it was the diary he wrote at the time bubble. Harry also noticed something else – a newspaper. She was also carrying a piece of parchment and an envelope, her name written on it in what was obviously Sirius' handwriting.

'Err, hello?' Hermione asked, seemingly confused.

'Good morning to you too, Granger.' Harry said coolly, walking past and inviting himself in. He had no idea how to act around her, especially after the argument with Ron last week. 'I see you got the invitation to my party on the thirty-first. Are you coming?'

'Yes.' Hermione said, this time looking impatient. 'But, look, listen! Professor Dumbledore-'

'Was sentenced to six months in Azkaban as well as given a very large fine and losing all positions of power. I know, Granger, I was there when he was being sentenced. The losing positions of power and fine thing were my idea.' Harry said irritably

'Is that even legal for you to be there – I thought it was Wizengamot members only?' Hermione asked sceptically

'It is if your godfather is minister of magic.' Harry shrugged

'Uh, okay.' Hermione said, watching as Harry flung himself on the couch and made himself at home. 'Are you hungry, do you want-'

'I've already eaten, thanks, Granger.' Harry said, kicking off his shoes.

'Err, is there a reason you came?' Hermione asked awkwardly

'Yeah, Sirius and Remus are busy at the ministry and it's raining and Ron has fallen out with me and all my other friends live in America – well, except one, he lives in Scotland, I probably could have flooed him if I wanted – so anyway, I'm bored.' Harry complained, speaking very quickly until the word 'bored' in which he stretched out each syllable, making it longer than the original phrase.

Hermione stared at him.

'So, I thought I could hang out with you.' Harry explained after a few minutes of silence of Hermione's end. 'Granger! Are you even listening?'

'H – Harry?' Hermione asked

'Yes, Granger?' Harry demanded impatiently

'Are you alright?' Hermione asked worriedly

'Yeah, fine.' Harry said shortly. 'So, do you want to come over to my house to hang out or not?'

'Sure.' Hermione agreed hesitantly

'Brilliant.' Harry said, putting his shoes back on and heading towards the door.

They crossed the street hastily to try and get of the rain as quickly as possible.

'Do you want to go and study in one of the libraries?' Harry asked

'Libraries?' Hermione asked

'Yeah, we have, there's the Potions and Herbology library, that's the third biggest library, goes from floor -2 to the fourth floor, there's loads of books on the subjects as well as cauldrons, potions ingredients and plants. Then there's the Dark Arts and Defence library, that's the second biggest, goes from floor -7 to the second floor, has books on all sorts of studies related to the dark arts, there's all sorts in there, duelling room, dark artefacts, you name it. Then there's the Arithmancy and Magical Languages, has books on Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Mermish, Gobbledegook, Troll, Parseltongue, all sorts, it also has a room designed for carving Runes, once you get to that level, that's the biggest library, in a separate building to the rest of the castle, it's seven stories high. There's about three other libraries, I think, the History of Magic library, Healing library and the Charms and Transfiguration library. All of them are just a little bigger than the Hogwarts library, despite being the smallest libraries.' Harry explained

'Oh. Okay then.' Hermione said, looking rather excited

'What library to you want to study in?' Harry asked

'I don't know!' Hermione exclaimed, looking anxious and excited.

'Do you want to go practise duelling in the duelling chamber, then we can practise spells and battle strategies in the training hall?' Harry asked

'Okay.' Hermione said eagerly

Hermione gasped as they entered the library, striding past countless shelves packed with thick, leather-bound books, couches, tables, fireplaces and grand, spiral staircases. Harry opened a highly-polished door into a room. It seemed to be full of a thick fog, and was huge, but tiny at the same time. Hermione looked confused as Harry closed his eyes, a look of intense concentration on his face. She yelped in surprise as the room looked like a deserted replica of Diagon Alley.

'The room changes to whatever you want it to look like. You can change it to wherever you want, you can choose to populate it with 'people,' they aren't real, of course, but serve every purpose an innocent civilian would in a battle, each has a different reaction to things, the type of reaction depending of difficulty level, and you can have 'people,' again, not real, try to attack you. After the duel is over, the room will change to a room full of healing potions, or if there are 'civilians' you can go around healing them after the duel. Or, if the injuries are serious, you can think about the castle's infirmary and you'll be teleported there for the house elves to heal you.' Harry said

Hermione nodded, looking around the room – or street.

'Okay, duel starts in one… two… three!' Harry yelled, hitting Hermione with a sneezing jinx while she was distracted looking around. Harry hid behind a stall full of potions to stop Hermione from locating him to hex him back or so she knew where he was to dodge his next attack. Hermione grabbed her wand through her constant sneezes, which were beginning to look a little painful, as her eyes scanned the street. Harry peeked out from behind the stall, launching a dancing jinx and a laughing hex in quick succession. Hermione dodged the dancing jinx, but was hit by the laughing jinx. She sent a non-verbal leg-locker curse at Harry, who launched himself at Hermione while she was casting, catching her by surprise as she dropped her wand, then Harry caught her in a headlock, then shoved her to the ground and seized her wand, panting.

'Wow.' Hermione said, getting up off the ground and accepting her wand back off Harry. 'That was great!'

'Thanks.' Harry said, a little breathlessly. 'Training time I guess. I reckon we should just read up on theory for today, then you can come over tomorrow and we can use that in a duel?'

'Alright.' Hermione agreed happily

The pair studied in the library for five hours, eating a lunch of Pumpkin Pasties and Butterbeer, before leaving the library and heading to the informal dining hall, which had been repaired by the house elves since the argument between Harry and Ron. They ate a small dinner of a salad and flavoured water. When they finished, they went back and studied for four more hours, before Hermione announced she had to leave as she had to be home by ten that night. Harry said a sad goodbye to his best friend as she left, then went upstairs to get ready for bed.

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Authors Note

Sorry for taking so long to update; the Nargles stole my laptop, you see.

The next chapter is Harry's birthday party! It will likely be two or more chapters long, thanks to everything I'm planning for it, so you can look forward to that! Please review to deter Nargles from taking my laptop again, thanks!

Also, I've been told that Harry's being a bit mean in this chapter, so I'd just like to explain that if I haven't already shown it adequately in this chapter. Harry has just fallen out with his best friend, and is feeling rather upset and betrayed about it. He argues with Sirius partly because Harry blames him but knows he's being unreasonable, and partly because Sirius interrupted him while he was sulking about it.

As for Hermione, you'll notice that Harry alternates and uses a mixture of being cold, friendly and acting superior to her. Harry spent five years with people from somewhat similar backgrounds to him, but by no means the same personalities. I'm going to explore it more in the next chapter, but I'm imagining that at least one of his friends from the time bubble (not giving away any names) will have a somewhat cold and sarcastic demeanour while still being friendly, and Harry's other friend will have a rather sarcastic sense of humour, so I think they may have rubbed off on Harry a little too. So, Harry is trying to be nice to her, but failing miserably thanks to being stuck in a literal bubble for five years. Poor Harry, falling out with one of his friends and doesn't know how to talk in a friendly manner to the other.

Also, for anyone interested in the next chapter, let's just say Annie has a secret and Lucius Malfoy plays a part, and that the Daily Prophet are probably happy with him for giving them front page news.

Padfootandpuppy