Narcissa was normally the first person at breakfast, but the final Sunday in August she was running late as she entered the breakfast room, humming merrily to herself. The elves had already prepared breakfast and Hermione, Draco, Harry and Severus were all sitting eating their breakfast. There was no sign of The Dark Lord as he was busy back in England, and Narcissa had just shared a fond farewell with her husband as he'd also travelled back to England for a few days.
"Someone's happy," Severus remarked as Narcissa greeted everyone brightly and settled down in her usual chair.
"And late," Draco added. "Sleep in, did you?" he chuckled.
"I was in bed, but I was not sleeping," Narcissa replied.
"Mother," Draco hissed as Hermione, Harry and Severus all chuckled at Narcissa's reply. "That really is too much information."
"You asked for it implying that I was being lazy," Narcissa retorted.
"And have you worn Lucius out so much that he can't get out of bed?" Severus asked with a smirk.
"He's gone back to England for a few days," Narcissa answered. "We were just saying goodbye."
"Why has Father gone home?" Draco asked, refusing to let his mind dwell on just how his parents had been saying goodbye to each other.
"You know he likes to keep a close eye on the business," Narcissa replied. "He does as much as he can from here, but sometimes he just has to go and deal with certain matters in person."
"Will he be meeting up with The Dark Lord while he's away?" Severus asked.
"I assume so," Narcissa answered with a slight shrug. "All I really know for sure is that he promised to be back before the children started their lessons."
"Ah yes, it's back to school next week," Severus said.
"Speaking of which, I have the timetables finished," Narcissa said. Flicking her wand, two squares of parchment came floating into the room and landed in her outstretched hand. "Harry, this is your timetable," she said, handing Harry one of the squares before passing the other one over to Hermione. "That's for you and Draco," she told the young witch.
"Why is Harry's different?" Hermione asked, comparing her and Draco's timetable to the one her best friend had been handed.
"He's never done any Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, so we thought the times you and Draco were doing those subjects he could be catching up to you in the others," Severus explained.
"And what happens when he's all caught up?" Draco asked.
"He can either use the time to get ahead with his homework, or practice his practical magic," Narcissa replied. "Don't worry Draco, we know what we're doing."
"You're telling me," Harry muttered, still staring at the timetable which was just as organised as anything he'd ever received at Hogwarts. Each day started at nine o'clock, with the lessons spread between the morning and afternoon with lunch fixed for an hour at midday. "But why are there no lessons listed on Friday?"
"Friday is the day we're going to focus on your practical magic," Severus answered. "The Dark Lord has quite a bit planned for this year. He's going to stretch all three of you to your limits and see if you're tough enough to handle a real battle."
"We're tough enough," Hermione said confidently, eager to find out what her father had in store for them on Fridays.
"We'll see," Severus remarked unconvincingly, his dark eyes landing on Harry.
Well aware that the former Potions Master was implying that he was the weak link, Harry glared back at the older wizard, determined not to be intimidated by him. Everyone else in the room could sense the tension, but as always Narcissa played the peacemaker and rapidly changed the subject by asking what people's plans were for the day.
"I'm going for a hike this morning, then I've got lessons to prepare for next week," Severus replied. "Maybe it's time the children started to think about their studies. It's going to be a tough year."
"We can think about our school work when lessons start next week," Draco replied. "It's starting to warm up, so I thought we could go for a fly."
"I could get the elves to arrange a picnic for you," Narcissa offered. "It'll do you all good to get some fresh air."
"The picnic sounds great, but I don't really fancy flying," Hermione said. "Perhaps I can join you on your hike, Severus."
"If you wish," Severus replied, wondering what ulterior motive Hermione had for choosing to spend the morning with her rather than her boyfriend and best friend.
"And what about us?" Draco asked his girlfriend with a pout.
"I'll see you both at lunchtime," Hermione replied. "Besides, you and Harry can have a much better fly without me. I'm not as good as either of you."
"You're better than you ever used to be," Harry remarked. He'd been rather surprised to learn that Hermione had taken up flying, and despite claiming not to be very good, she could handle a broomstick really well and had the potential to be a really good flyer.
"Even so, I'd only slow the pair of you down," Hermione said. "I'd rather keep my feet on the ground this morning. You two go off and have fun. It'll be a nice bonding activity for the pair of you."
Both Draco and Harry rolled their eyes at the idea of bonding, but neither of them argued. Truth be told a morning flying sounded like heaven, and they were competitive enough to keep pushing each other to the limit and pushing one another to increase their skills on a broomstick.
Over the rest of breakfast, Hermione arranged where to meet Draco and Harry for a picnic lunch, and Narcissa promised to have the elves make it and deliver it. The group then split up for the morning, with Narcissa remaining in the house, Draco and Harry grabbing a pair of broomsticks and heading off for a fly, and Hermione and Severus getting wrapped up before heading off for a walk.
Hermione and Severus walked in silence for a while as they headed towards the lake. Hermione suspected that Severus planned to walk around the entire lake, which usually took a couple of hours. However less than ten minutes into the walk he stopped at one of the benches scattered around the lake and sat himself down.
"This doesn't look much like a hike to me," Hermione remarked as she sat down next to him.
"We can continue when you tell me why you're really here," Severus replied. "And there's no need to make excuses about not wanting to slow the boys down in their flying. You're here for a reason, and I want to know what it is."
"Am I really so obvious?" Hermione asked with a frown. Of course Severus was right and she did have an ulterior motive in joining him on his walk, but she'd hoped that she hadn't been obvious in her desire to get him alone.
"To me," Severus replied. "So tell me Hermione, what do you want?"
"I want to talk about Harry," Hermione said. "I know you've never liked him, and quite honestly I think the feeling is pretty mutual. But he's a part of our family now, and I would like it if the pair of you could learn to get along. It just seems like every time you can, you're throwing snide digs in his direction."
"And what, you want me to play nice with him?" Severus sneered.
"I don't expect you to become best friend with him. I just wanted to try and stop the negativity between the pair of you," Hermione replied. "Please Severus, can't you make an effort for me? I don't want to be torn between the pair of you. I don't want to have to pick between two of the most important people in my life."
"I'll try harder," Severus said with a sigh. "But I'm not promising miracles."
"I don't want miracles. Just your promise to try harder is enough," Hermione replied with a smile. "So should we continue our walk now?"
"I thought you would have been heading off to join the boys now you've said your piece," Severus remarked as he rose to his feet.
"I'd rather have a nice walk with you," Hermione replied, slipping her arm through Severus's as they once again set off around the trail that circled the lake.
For a while the pair walked in contented silence, until Hermione plucked up the courage to ask Severus just why he hated Harry. It had been obvious since the day they'd started Hogwarts that Severus had detested Harry on sight, but what had never been as obvious was the reason for his hatred. Hermione didn't even think it was because Harry was a Gryffindor, because Severus had never treated any of the other Gryffindors with the same dislike he'd treated Harry with.
"The truth is, I don't think I truly hate him," Severus admitted. "I just hated the sight of him."
"But there has to have been a reason," Hermione argued. "You don't just look at an eleven year old boy and decide you hate him, and that seemed to be what you did with Harry."
"The first time I saw Harry, it was like looking at a ghost from my past," Severus replied as once again the pair halted and settled down on one of the benches around the lake. "Not a very pleasant ghost, I might add."
"A ghost?" Hermione frowned in bewilderment until she recalled several incidents in third year. "James Potter," she concluded. "Everyone says Harry looks just like his father, and from what was said in third year, you went to school with James, Sirius and Remus."
"Unfortunately, I did," Severus confirmed with a nod. "And I'm sure as you noticed, I didn't get along with them."
"I had noticed," Hermione said with a nod. It had been quite hard to miss the animosity between Severus and Sirius during her brief stay at Order Headquarters two years ago.
"The bad blood between Black and I, is nothing compared to the hatred there was between Potter and myself," Severus replied. "From the moment Harry's father laid eyes on me, he set out to make my life at Hogwarts a misery."
"Why?"
"I wish I knew," Severus snorted. "By rights, I should have been nothing to Potter and his gang. I was a Slytherin, and a loner Slytherin at that. My life wasn't exactly full of cheer even before Potter set his sights on me."
"What happened?" Hermione asked.
"In short, Potter and his gang made my life at Hogwarts a living hell," Severus replied, his tone bitter even after so many years had passed. "It started as name calling, and in later years it escalated to physical attacks. Once I was almost killed by the Whomping Willow, and only a last minute attack of conscience on Potter's part saved my life. But there were always plenty of curses thrown my way, books knocked out of my hands and trampled on and just general attempts to humiliate me."
"That's disgusting," Hermione hissed, outraged on the behalf of Severus. "I hope they were punished."
"Who was going to punish the golden foursome because they were mean to me?" Severus scoffed with an unamused laugh. "Most people just thought of them as high-spirited. Sure they got into trouble, but never for bullying me. They were always very careful not to target me in front of the Professors."
"What about the other students, didn't they see anything?" Hermione asked. "They could have backed you up."
"I was a loner with virtually no friends. There was nothing to be gained for standing up for me," Severus replied.
"What about doing the right thing?" Hermione asked. "Someone should have stood up for you just to do the right thing."
"And risk being targeted themselves?" Severus questioned as he shook his head. "No-one wanted to face the same humiliation as I did, so people kept quiet."
"I think it's disgusting," Hermione hissed. "If Harry's father was still alive, I'd teach him a thing or two about bullying people weaker than him. Do you think Harry knows what his father was like?" she asked in concern, suddenly wondering if she needed to have a talk with her best friend.
"I doubt it," Severus replied with a shrug. "He'll have heard stories from Black and Lupin about how great his father was. He won't want to hear that he was nothing but a bully."
"Are you saying that I shouldn't tell him?" Hermione asked.
"It won't achieve anything," Severus replied. "James is gone, he can't hurt me or anyone else again. Let Potter keep the image he has of his father. Let him think that he was a good man."
"Okay," Hermione agreed with a nod, even though she wasn't sure if it was right to keep Harry from the truth. "Although I guess I can see now why you struggle so much with Harry. But he's not like his father, Severus. He's not mean and vindictive."
"I know," Severus replied with a small smile. "Truth be told, I've always known. Because he looks so much like James, I let him get under my skin. I used to tell myself he was just like his father, but really I could see that he wasn't. The fact he's stood up for you is just proof that he's nothing like his father. James knew of your kidnapping, and I believe that if he was still alive he would have taken the same viewpoint on you as Sirius."
"He would have wanted me out of the picture," Hermione whispered.
"I think so," Severus said with a nod. "Thankfully his son is made of better stuff. And I know Harry is not James, and I promise to try and remember that. I promise to make more of an effort with him."
"Thank you, Severus," Hermione said, pecking the older wizard on the cheek. "And thank you for telling me all of that, it can't have been easy to share such memories."
"I would appreciate it if you didn't mention it to anyone else," Severus said. "Your father, Lucius and Narcissa all know bits and pieces about my time at Hogwarts, but Draco and Harry have no idea. I would rather no-one else knew just how humiliating my school years were."
"I won't breathe a word," Hermione vowed as she once again linked arms with Severus as they continued on their walk.
For the rest of their walk the topic of James didn't come up again, and as they went their separate ways Hermione knew the subject would never be discussed again. Severus had shared some deeply personal memories, and Hermione felt honoured that he'd trusted her with his deepest secrets. And it was a trust she wasn't going to abuse by talking about it with anyone else. She was also going to trust that Severus kept his word about making more of an effort with Harry. With any luck peace would soon reign over the mansion and all working together they could look to the future and start planning on when they were going to return to Britain and bring about Dumbledore's downfall.
A/N – I just wanted to leave a quick note to let you all know that I'm having trouble with my laptop charger, so if I suddenly vanish and don't post it's because I can't get on the computer. However, a new one is on the way and I will try my best to keep up with the updating in the meantime, and if I do miss an update, I will catch up once my new charger arrives.