The rest of the summer, Dante made himself a new pen pal with Foster. His owl was called Ness, it was a beautiful barn owl. He had told Dante about how things work in American wizarding culture, including that there wasn't really one big Diagon Alley in America. Almost any mall that you go to would have a section that only wizards can go to. Dante figured the way through must be like Platform 9-3/4 at King's Cross. Not every mall would have everything you would need but they had a good assortment of supplies there. Wand shops were restricted to major cities, the only ones in Ohio were in Columbus and Cincinnati. Incidentally, being from North Canton made the closest city with a wand shop Pittsburgh. There were many wandmakers in America, the most prominent being a man called Rooney. He was fond of making his wands out of Horned Serpent horn, Thunderbird feather and, bizarrely enough, Manticore hair. How Rooney managed to get Manticore hair was beyond Dante, but it was interesting nonetheless. There was some obscure wandmaker in America that also used Thestral hair in his wand cores, claiming that Death himself thought it was a suitable core, and who was he to argue with Death?

He decided to go check out the local mall in North Canton, just to see if he could find some wizarding supplies there. He still didn't know exactly what to look for when he was there, he knew how to get to Platform 9-3/4 only because it was explicitly shown to him. Maybe he would be lucky though. He spent about three hours looking around the mall, trying to see if he could spot someone slipping through a wall. He casually ran his hands along the walls of the mall, feeling for a spot where he might slip through. By the end of his day, he hadn't found any sign of it and was a little suspicious that Foster may have been having him on. He went home and checked his email

"Dante,

I just got the most horrible news! Ron, Fred, and George have rescued Harry from his vile aunt and uncle. He'd been locked in his room with bars on his window! They put a cat-flap in the door to slip food in to him, rather than let him eat with the family! Honestly, I wonder how Professor Dumbledore could think this is an acceptable living arrangement for him. He's obviously mistreated there. I do hope that it isn't anything more physical that they do to him. I've never hated anyone more in my life than them. They wouldn't even let Hedwig out of her cage! It's people like the Dursleys that give muggles a bad name.

At least he is safe now. He's staying with Ron at the moment and a letter came from him saying that a house elf had been intercepting our letters. He hadn't gotten a single one because the elf wanted him to think we'd forgotten him. I expect that the Weasleys will take him to Diagon Alley around the same time as your visit. We could probably meet up with them if you like.

I have been planning on things for us to do while you were here. I thought we might go to a play. There's one called Wicked that I've been really excited to see and it will still be on when you get here. There's also loads of restaurants that I'd love to go to with you. I know you're Italian, so you would probably prefer Italian cuisine. There's plenty of that here. I'm partial to French, myself. Though that is probably because I've been to France so many times and loved every visit. Whatever you prefer, I'd be glad to enjoy it with you.

I hope that the news about Harry doesn't upset you too much, but I wouldn't blame you if it does. It certainly upset me.

Love from Hermione."

Dante reread the first paragraph of Hermione's email several times. Each time, his anger grew stronger. This was absolutely disgusting. There was no other word for it. He wanted the Dursleys to pay for what they've done. His magic was making the air swirl around him violently so he needed to bring himself down. He stormed downstairs and outside. Whenever his temper got the better of him, he would go on a walk to settle himself. He would just walk around the neighborhood, walking to one of the schools that he would have attended if he was a muggle was a common option for him. After about an hour of fuming, he came back home and sulked at the kitchen table. This outburst did not go unnoticed by Megan.

"What's got you so pissed?"

"Found out why Harry didn't show up. God I hate them. I've never even met them and I despise them." He growled.

"Who?"

"Harry's aunt and uncle. Turns out he's been locked in his room for the whole summer. They put a cat-flap on the door to feed him and they put bars on his window."

"What? Why?" Megan asked, aghast.

"They hate magic and hate him. Ron and two of his brothers rescued him."

"Do they… Hit him?" Megan asked apprehensively.

"I don't know. He's always miserable whenever they come up in conversation. I wouldn't put it past those… Those freaks."

"Do you think he'll have to go back there after this year?"

"Not if I can help it." Dante muttered darkly.

The morning of August 24th came and Dante woke up at a quarter after 6. He didn't need nearly that much time to get ready to go to London, but he wasn't prepared to take any chances. In the past week he'd exchanged a few more emails with Hermione, who assured him that Harry was okay now. She had also thought of a few more suggestions for what to look for next time he tried to go to the mall to find the wizarding section. She thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to listen to what people were saying and hope to hear a word that gave away where a wizard was. The same thing he had done with Foster, really.

His parents had given him another load of money to take with him. They were planning on doing his school shopping on Saturday when they could meet up with the Weasleys and Harry. After saying his goodbyes, the old skeleton key that was his way to London began to whistle. A bright blue flash and he was standing in front of a house that he'd never seen before. In one of the front windows, he saw a girl's face pressed up against it, looking at him with a grin. He grinned back and walked towards the house and she pulled the door open to greet him with one of her fierce hugs. When she let go, she was still grinning and said. "Hi!"

"Hi, yourself!" Dante smirked. "Are you going to try to break my ribs every time we meet or will that stop happening eventually?"

" 'Oh, I do apologise for being excited to see my best friend!' " She quoted at him with a smirk of her own. She then led him inside and made sure that he took his shoes off at the door on a mat, and he set his trunk down next to the shoe mat. "House rule, sorry. My parents don't like having much dirt in here."

"That's fine, it's the same as my grandma's." Dante said, shrugging then looked around. "Where are they?"

"We're in the kitchen, dear!" A voice called out. Hermione grabbed his hand and pulled him into the kitchen. "Hello, Dante. It's nice to see you again!" Mrs. Granger said with a warm smile.

"Hello, Mrs. Granger, Mr. Granger. Thank you for inviting me to stay for the weekend."

"Oh, no worries, boy!" Mr. Granger chortled. "We were just as excited to meet our daughter's boyfriend as I'm sure your family was to meet her!"

"Just make sure that neither of you are in each other's rooms after dark. You two can stay up and be together later than that down here, just not in the bedroom. We know about you two having this bond but we're not quite ready to be grandparents yet, Dante."

Dante blushed a bit at this. "No, of course not. I, er, apologise in advance if I sleep in a bit. Time zone difference, you see."

"Oh don't worry about that." Mr. Granger chuckled. "It must be, what? 7 in the morning where you came from?" Dante nodded. "Seems like you're an early bird anyway. You probably should start going to bed earlier when you get home, though. It would help to get used to the time change before classes start next week."

"Hermione, why don't you show Dante around the house and where he'll be sleeping?"

She seized his hand again and dragged him to every room in the house, saying what each was. Before going upstairs, Dante picked up his trunk and carried it up to put it in his room. When they got to his room, she let go of his hand and turned to face him. "Just so you know, they know what really happened last year. All of it, the troll, Fluffy, Quirrel. They might ask you some questions about it. I just want to let you know so you don't panic if they ask."

Dante blinked. "Oh, okay. That's fine." He thought about it for a moment. "They're okay with all of it?"

"I lead with our soul bond and they're mostly concerned with keeping me happy. They know that we can't be apart for long so they just told me to be more careful this year and try to get more adults to look into anything that we think is dangerous."

"Do they know about what happened to you when… Quirrel?"

"Yes, I think that was the most disturbing thing for them." Hermione shuddered.

"It definitely bothers me that you were able to feel that. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Least of all, you."

"It's okay, now, Dante. We're okay."

"I know. Now!" His somber expression faded and was replaced by a sly grin. "I need to greet my lovely girlfriend properly!"

" 'Lovely?' " Hermione asked, but was cut off by Dante kissing her.

"Lovely." He said simply.

She smiled. "I missed you. I'm glad it'll only be a week this time."

"Me too." Dante was about to say more, but he was interrupted by Mr. Granger's voice calling up the stairs.

"If you two are finished snogging up there, we'd like to talk a bit more!"

Blushing furiously, the two twelve year olds made their way back downstairs to the smirks of Hermione's parents.

"Oh, look, Emmet! I think they really have been snogging! I've never seen Hermione blush so much!"

"Mum!" Hermione cried. "We weren't! We just… We kissed is all!"

Her parents just cackled in a way that reminded Dante very much of Megan whenever she was laughing at his embarrassment. "Did you hear that, Dani? She and her boyfriend only kissed. It's nothing like snogging at all."

Dante could feel the mortification from Hermione and wanted to try to calm her down but didn't know if it would be appropriate to do so in front of her parents. He argued with himself back and forth and felt more anxiety that he knew was his own. He couldn't decide what to do and the indecision was making him feel lightheaded.

Mrs. Granger looked up at him and stopped laughing immediately. "Dante, dear, sit down. You look faint." He did as she asked and noticed that he was breathing a little heavily. "I'm sorry, that was rather beastly of us to make fun of you two."

"It's alright. I just, on my own I could handle that kind of teasing. I just could feel it from Hermione as well and…"

"You felt her embarrassment as well?" Mr. Granger asked. He nodded. "Ah, sorry about that, lad. Hermione's mentioned that you two could feel each other's emotions, among other things." He said that last bit with a serious look to Dante. "We heard what happened when you went after this Philosopher's Stone. How have you been coping with that?"

Dante thought about it for a while. "Honestly? I haven't really thought much about what happened to me. I just hate that she could feel it."

"Dante," Mrs. Granger said softly. "We'd heard that you, well, you were almost dead, dear. It's okay for you to be affected by that."

"I know. I don't know why I'm not too bothered by it, I haven't been getting any nightmares or anything, at least no nightmares from my own perspective."

"From your own perspective?"

"I, er, I sometimes have them about running out of the chamber to go help Ron. When I get to him I realise that I'm wearing Hermione's clothes and right after I feel myself choking. A little while after it starts, I see Professor Dumbledore running towards me."

"Dante," Hermione began. "I think we've swapped places in our nightmares."

"What?" Dante spluttered.

"Whenever I have them, I'm you. I see what happened from your point of view. What you just said is exactly what happened for me that night."

"Can't keep secrets, can we?" Dante said with a shy smile.

"From what we heard, Dante," Mr. Granger said. "You were probably seconds away from dying. If that Harry took any longer getting that man off you, you wouldn't be sitting here having this unpleasant conversation with us.

Dante decided to try to lighten the mood a bit. "Hmm, I'm having trouble deciding which I would rather happen. Me dying or spending more time with Hermione." He smirked. "Spending time with her is quite nice, but on the other hand… No unpleasant conversations." He mimed weighing two different objects. "Tricky."

Hermione's parents stared at him them broke out laughing. "Hermione," Mr. Granger started once he regained his composure. "If you don't marry this boy, I will."

Hermione and Dante both choked and spluttered. "Mr. Granger, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. I, er, as they say, don't swing that way."

"You wound me!" He chortled. "Now, Dante, could you come with me? I need to give you the 'Dad Talk.' " He stood up and Dante followed him to the back porch and sat down at a table there. "Dante, I'm angry. I'm furious. Livid, in fact."

Dante blanched "I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?"

"No! That's the problem!" He said angrily. "Hermione is my little girl and that means I am supposed to hate her boyfriends! I just can't bring myself to hate you though! You clearly think the world of my girl. She thinks the same of you, Dante." He looked pensive for a moment. "I know she's told you that she hasn't had friends before going to school with you. I'm eternally grateful for Harry and Ron for saving her life on Halloween, though I know it's because of things that Ron said that she was in that bathroom. You, though, went after her when her feelings were hurt. That means more to me as her father than you can imagine. At least until you have a daughter of your own."

"I just couldn't stand to see her upset."

"Exactly my point! I'm supposed to hate you and there you go saying things like that!" Mr. Granger huffed. "She's mentioned something else about you, I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds when I say I know that you aren't what they call neurotypical."

"Asperger's Syndrome." Dante said.

"I figured. Hermione doesn't know this, yet, and I ask you to let my wife and I tell her. At least try not to tell her. It might be hard for you to keep this information away from her with your bond. When she was young we found out she has it as well."

Dante looked up and stared at him. "She does?"

Mr. Granger nodded. "We found out that she had it when she was 5."

"I was 4."

"I expect that yours is a bit different than hers in how the disorder affects you. She has always been the sort of girl who wants to know everything. And I meant everything."

"I'm a bit more focused in what I like to learn about, I think. Whenever I find something that I'm interested I look into everything that I can get my hands on about it."

"She's told me about some notebooks that you're working on." Mr. Granger said, looking mildly amused. "Listen, I'm still obligated as her father to say this: Don't hurt my little girl."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Mr. Granger. I already said that I couldn't stand to see her upset."

"So you did. How have you gotten on with everyone's accent at school?"

"I've discovered that anyone from north of Glasgow is completely incomprehensible to me."

Mr. Granger roared with laughter. "Having trouble understanding the Scots, are we?"

"I'm in firm agreement with King Longshanks about the Scots. 'The trouble with Scotland is that it's full of Scots.' "

He chuckled and said. "Don't let your Professor McGonagall hear you say that!" His expression hardened. "Now, I do want to talk more about what happened to you in those dungeons. Did that Professor Quirrell break anything when he choked you?"

"Madam Pomfrey told me that my hyoid bone was broken. I, er, I felt a horrible crunch when he squeezed my throat."

"Do you know how long he had you?"

"D'you know I didn't check my watch." Dante said wryly and Mr. Granger chuckled. "I don't know. I know I wasn't able to thrash about anymore. I went from kicking around, to weird… spasms, then twitching, then I stopped moving completely. I couldn't see anymore, and I couldn't hear either. I was still awake though, then Harry made him drop me. While it was happening, it was like my mind just turned off. I wasn't Dante anymore, I couldn't think for myself at all. I wasn't able to direct my movements at all, they happened on their own. But even then, I was aware of it. I was sort of detached if that makes sense."

Mr. Granger's face darkened as he heard Dante's story. "Dante, from what you're saying, that… I can't even imagine how you must have felt. And you were still conscious when he dropped you?"

"After I fell, I remember gagging and coughing to try to catch my breath. When I was finally breathing properly, I passed out."

"Damn…" He muttered under his breath. "And yet, as horrible as that was, there's another reason for me to like you."

"How do you mean?"

"Even after you felt that, the first thing you were concerned with was the fact that she could feel it, too. Like I said, I can tell you think the world of Hermione. You're more concerned with how she's doing than yourself. You're the sort of boy that any father dreams of his little girl meeting."

"I never thought of it that way."

"I don't expect you to, lad. Well. I'm satisfied with this conversation. Don't give me grandchildren before you're married, and we'll get along fine." Mr. Granger said before standing up.

"I think I can promise you that." Dante said with a smile and Mr. Granger clapped him on the back.

"Come on, we've kept our ladies waiting long enough."

When he made his way up to Hermione's room, he saw that she was reading. She looked up at him and bid him to sit on her bed with her. "Daddy didn't give you too hard of a time, did he?"

"No, actually. He says that he likes me."

"Really?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"Yeah, he made me promise not to hurt you and not give him grandchildren before we're married."

"I think we can manage to keep those promises."

"Easily." Dante said and Hermione leaned in and kissed him. "So, what's on the agenda for today?"

"We're going to see Wicked in about two hours, so we'll be in central London. I also thought you might like to see Westminster. That's where Parliament and Buckingham Palace are."

"God save the Queen." Dante said cheekily.

Hermione laughed and said, "God save our gracious Queen." She kissed his cheek then seized his hand again. "Come on, let's go!"

The four of them piled into the Granger's saloon car and started to drive. "Where are we, by the way?" Dante asked.

"Epsom." Mr. Granger said. "We'll be in Westminster in a little less than an hour."

"Excellent. I have always wanted to visit London, well, visit it properly. It seemed like an easy international destination for me."

"How do you mean?"

"Well we speak the same language. I'd like to go other places but here I'm not totally lost because I can still communicate with basically everyone."

"We've been to France, of course. It takes some getting used to, being surrounded by people who don't speak your native tongue. Knowing enough French to get by helps."

"I'm not fluent in any other language. I know a bit of Italian and Romanian, but not enough to hold a conversation."

"Romanian is a surprise."

"I'd heard that it's really similar to Italian." He cleared his throat and turned to Hermione. "Buna, meu numele este Dante. Ce faci?"

Hermione mulled over his words. "I think you just said your name is Dante, I don't know what the last part was."

"Correct. The last part was me asking 'how are you?' "

"I think I'll have to teach you French." Hermione said smiling.

"Exactly how many languages will I be speaking now that we're together?"

"A fair few." She chuckled. "You'll teach me Italian and Romanian, and we'll both speak four. It's still surprising that you would learn another language in America. Especially where you are, there really aren't that many Spanish speakers there."

"Hermione says that you're quite close to Pittsburgh, Dante." Mrs. Granger said, turning to face the kids.

"Yeah, I go there sometimes. It's very nice."

"I've seen pictures of the city, it looks lovely there. All the green mountains around it."

"Whenever we go, we go through the Fort Pitt tunnels to get into the city. It would take another hour to get around the mountains."

Mr. Granger shuddered. "Tunnels. I hate driving through them."

"Daddy, we ride through the tunnel to France almost every summer!"

"Doesn't mean I like it, kitten."

"Fort Pitt isn't anywhere near as long as that. It might be a mile long."

"Have you seen this play we're going to, Dante?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"No, I've heard of it, though. It was on Broadway when I went to New York City."

"Does your family take you to the theater often?"

"Not this sort of theater. They take me to watch movies. I've never been to a play before."

"I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself. We've heard nothing but good things about this one."

"I'm excited for it. My parents made sure to drill into my head that I can't say I don't like something until I try it. I've never seen a play before so I can't have an opinion on it yet."

"What all has that attitude made you try that you wouldn't have otherwise?" Mr. Granger asked.

"Sushi. I didn't think I would like sushi but I love it."

"You like sushi?" Hermione asked incredulously. "I'd have never thought it of you."

"Smelt roe is my favorite. It's just a normal roll without anything in it, but it has a little pile of tiny orange fish eggs on top. Delicious."

Hermione looked like she might be sick at the thought of it. Dante looked to her. "Have you had it before?"

"No."

"Then you don't know if you like it or not." He said with a smug look.

"Pffft." She huffed and crossed her arms.

Dante raised his eyebrows. "That, Hermione, was shockingly ineloquent for you."

The adults in front started chuckling to themselves. "He's got you there, kitten."

The play was excellent in Dante's opinion, though with no other examples to compare it to, he didn't know how to rate it. After, they walked along Abingdon Street and stopped to take pictures by the Palace of Westminster. The Grangers were very eager to get pictures of Dante and Hermione together. They went over to see Buckingham Palace to take more pictures and when the Grangers were satisfied with the normal tourist destinations, they went to get some dinner. For Dante this felt like lunch, but by now it was going on 7 in the evening. Upon hearing about Dante's taste for sushi, Mr. Granger decided to take them to a Japanese restaurant, much to Hermione's dismay.

They ordered their food, Dante managed to convince Hermione to try a rainbow roll, and got his smelt roe along with a few pieces of salmon sashimi. When their food arrived, Dante began to eat with ernest.

Hermione took a tentative bite of a piece of her roll and it fell apart after she bit into it. "You're meant to put the whole piece in your mouth." Dante said smirking at her. "What do you think?"

"It's not bad, actually. I could get used to it." She looked down at her plate and saw in the corner there was a pile of wet pink stuff and a glob of something green. "What are these?"

"The pink stuff is ginger. You eat a piece whenever you change from one kind of sushi to another. It clears the taste of the last piece from your mouth. The green is wasabi. It's spicy and I don't really like it."

"So there are things you don't like." Hermione said cheekily.

"I don't like eel or octopus either, but eel sauce is nice. Octopus is just too chewy for me. It feels like chewing a rubber band. Here, try one of these." He picked up a piece of the smelt roe with his chopsticks and placed it on her plate. "It's delightful."

She eyed the piece skeptically before resigning herself to try it. She popped it in her mouth and grimaced. After swallowing it, she said. "Not for me."

"That's okay, now you know what you don't like."

They ate the rest of their dinner contentedly and on the drive back to Hermione's house, she fell asleep leaning on him. Dante thanked Mr. and Mrs. Granger vigorously for treating him to dinner and taking him to the play. "It's nothing, dear. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." Mrs. Granger said, bidding him goodnight.

He walked upstairs and kissed Hermione goodnight. "Te iubesc, mea fata Britanică."

She laughed and said, "I don't know what that means but it sounds romantic." Before kissing him and going to her room.

When he walked into his room, there was an owl sitting on the windowsill, staring at him with a letter tied to its leg. He crossed the room and took the letter. It was from Professor McGonagall, addressed to him, the guest staying in the guest bedroom.

Opening the letter revealed it to be a list of school supplies that he needed for the year. Looking at the books, he saw that most of them were by a man called Gilderoy Lockhart, and they all had an alliterative name. Year with the Yeti, Voyages with Vampires, Gadding with Ghouls among others. He wondered what sort of teacher would ask their students to buy so many books from this author. Deciding to leave it for tomorrow, he prepared himself for bed and went to sleep.

In the morning, they all made their way to Diagon Alley and after visiting Gringotts Dante found himself with 52 Galleons clinking merrily in his pocket. They quickly found the Weasleys looking around wildly on account of their very noticeable red hair. "Hermione!" One of the Weasley children called out.

"Hello, Ron!" She said brightly. "Where's Harry?"

"He should be here with us, we came here by floo powder. He should have come to the same fireplace as us."

"I'm sure he's only gone one grate too far." Said a tall balding man. He looked over at Hermione and smiled. "Ah, you must be Hermione Granger! Ron's told us loads about you. Top of every class, he? Bright future for you." He looked up at Hermione's parents and did a double take. "But you're muggles! Oh excellent, Arthur Weasley, I work at the Ministry of Magic. Oh you must let me treat you to a drink, I find muggle culture fascinating!"

Ron looked apologetically at Hermione and her parents. "Sorry, dad's a bit mental." He muttered.

Just then, they noticed Hagrid striding towards them with Harry struggling to keep up. "Harry! Hagrid!" Hermione beamed.

"Hullo Hermione!" Hagrid said happily.

"Oh, it's so good to see you!" She said.

"It's great to see you, too." Harry stammered.

"What'd you do to your glasses, Harry?" Dante asked, noticing the shattered lenses.

"Fell over." He muttered.

Hermione sighed and pulled out her wand. "Occulus Reparo."

"I definitely need to remember that one." He said gratefully.

"Yeh'll be alrigh' then, Harry? I'd best be off."

After saying goodbye and thanking Hagrid, they all headed into Flourish and Blotts to get their second year books. Upon reaching the storefront, they saw that the place was packed with people. At the front of the store was a sign announcing a book signing by Gilderoy Lockhart as well as the release of his latest work, an autobiography called Magical Me. Dante looked at the picture of Lockhart on the sign and thought that the man looked rather smug. They pushed inside and gathered all of the books on their lists. They made their way to the line for the clerk when they were pushed into the other line for Lockhart's book signing.

"Excuse me, young man!" A photographer said roughly after pushing past them. "This is for the Daily Prophet!"

"Big deal." Ron said, massaging his foot that the photographer had stepped on.

It turned out that Gilderoy heard Ron and looked up at their group. His eyes locked on Harry's scar. "It can't be Harry Potter!" He said softly.

"Harry Potter!" The photographer cried and seized him by the shoulder. He dragged him over to Lockhart and began taking pictures like mad.

"Nice big smile, Harry. Together you and I rate the front page! Ladies and gentlemen, what an extraordinary moment this is!" Lockhart said in a suave tone. "When young Harry stepped into Flourish and Blotts' this morning to get my autobiography, Magical Me, he had no idea… that he would in fact be leaving…" He gestured to a man behind him, who picked up a load of books. "With my entire collective works…" He paused to give a dazzling smile. "Free of charge!"

They stood for a few more pictures before Harry managed to slip away from Lockhart. "Oh, Harry!" Said Mrs. Weasley. "Here, you give me those, and I'll get them signed. All of you wait outside."

They made their way to the front of the store when a drawling voice caught their attention. "Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter? Famous Harry Potter. Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page!"

"Leave him alone." Ginny growled at him.

"Oh look, Potter! You've got yourself a girlfriend!" Draco looked like he was about to say more when he was cut off by what looked like a silver snake bit into his shoulder.

"Now, now, Draco, play nicely." Said a new silky voice. "Mr. Potter," The man said. "Lucius Malfoy. Forgive me," He reached forward and brushed the hair away from Harry's scar. "Your scar is legendary. As of course is the wizard who gave it to you."

"Voldemort killed my parents." Harry growled. "He was nothing more than a murderer."

"Hmm." Lucius mused. "You must be very brave to mention his name. Or very foolish."

"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself." Hermione said.

"Ah and you must be… Miss Granger, and you must be Mr. Monte." Lucius said, looking at the pair of them. "Yes, Draco has told me all about you two. Including your parents." He glanced up at the Grangers who were talking animatedly with Mr. Weasley. "Muggles, aren't they?"

"Yeah. So what? Doesn't stop Hermione and I from being the top in every class." Dante said defiantly.

"Quite." Lucius said, looking rather annoyed. "Let me see here, red hair, vacant expressions, you must be the Weasleys." He sneered.

Just then, Mr. Weasley bustled through to them. "Children, it's mad in here! Let's go outside!"

"Well, well, well, Weasley senior." Lucius sneered.

"Lucius." Arthur said with a strained look on his face.

"Busy time at the ministry, all those extra raids. I do hope they're paying you overtime. But judging by the state of this…" He picked up a book from Ginny's cauldron. "I'd say not. Tell me, what is the point of being a disgrace to the name of wizard… if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Arthur's face turned very red. "We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy."

"Clearly." He sneered. He looked back at the Grangers. "Associating with muggles… And I thought your family could sink no lower." He dropped the book back in Ginny's cauldron and glared again at Arthur, who looked ready to pounce. "I'll see you at work. Come, Draco."

Draco stepped in front of Harry again. "See you at school." Then he strode away behind his father.

They spent the a few more hours in Diagon Alley buying the rest of their school supplies when Harry disappeared in the crowd after saying that he would be right back. A moment later, he had a package in his hand that had come from Ollivander's. "Sorry I couldn't come for our birthday, mate. Here's your present." He said, handing the box to Dante.

Dante looked in the box and gasped. It was a wand holster that you could wear on your wrist. A simple flick of the wrist sent the wand into your hand. "Mate, this is brilliant!" He said happily and began digging through his trunk that he'd been using to store all of his shopping. "I have something for you as well," He rummaged some more before extracting a small bag and handing it over. "Here!"

Harry reached in the bag and pulled out a framed picture. It was the four of them on their last day, standing together, laughing. Hagrid had taken the picture of the four friends and it made Dante happy to look at it. He figured Harry would feel the same. Harry stared at the picture then pulled a surprised Dante into a hug. "Thanks, mate."

"Anytime, Harry." Dante said when Harry released him. "I still owe you loads for saving me in June… And October."

"Don't worry about it. I know you would have done the same. Especially since you weren't going to let me go in there alone."

Dante chuckled. "I was loads of help in there, too, wasn't I? Ah, well. I'm still glad to be going back next week."

"It'll be brilliant to be back, won't it?" Harry mused.

Dante laughed. "Let's just try to keep the mortal peril at a minimum this year, yeah?"

After they were done shopping at Diagon Alley, they made their way back to the Granger's house and were bursting at the seams for the next school year to start. Mr. Granger had introduced Dante to Monty Python and he didn't know the last time he laughed so much. Once Monty Python and the Holy Grail had ended, the adults had gone up to bed, leaving Dante and Hermione in the living room.

They sat together on the couch and Hermione leaned into the crook of his arm that wrapped around her. "I've really enjoyed this visit, Hermione." He said, squeezing her tight to him and planting a kiss on the top of her head.

"I'm so happy you could come. I'm really glad my parents like you, too."

"How could they not? I'm the most charming boy ever. Even more charming than Gilderoy Lockhart!"

"Git." She chuckled.

"Witch." He retorted, amused.

She leaned up and kissed him, but this kiss felt different somehow. It was like she was kissing him over and over again without breaking away. He responded in kind and realised that he was snogging Hermione, not just kissing. Snogging her felt amazing to him and he could feel something from her that he could only describe as "serenity." They broke apart for air and looked into each other's eyes. "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you, too, Hermione." He said and they started snogging again. He could get used to this. When they broke apart again, Dante noticed that he was more acutely aware of her feelings. What he felt from her was clearer than ever before.

"You feel that, too, don't you?" She asked.

"Yeah. You feel closer than before."

"I think as our relationship progresses, we'll become more in tune with each other."

"I don't mind taking our time if you want to."

"I certainly didn't mind snogging you."

Dante snorted. "No, I didn't mind either. I might go as far as to say that it was fantastic."

She leaned closer to his face again. "Oh, you would, would you?" She asked before starting to snog him again.

'If this is what I have to look forward to this year, then I don't want it to end at all.' He thought to himself.

A new voice entered his mind. 'No I don't think I want this to end, either.'

Dante's eyes shot open and he broke away from the kiss. "Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"Did we just talk… you know… telepathically?"

"I, er, I think so. Unless it was our imagination."

'Does this seem like the it's in our imagination?' He thought.

'No, I don't reckon it does seem like our imagination. We're talking!'

'Brilliant! This is amazing!'

'I don't know if we'll be able to do this when you go home, Dante, but it is fascinating.'

'I hope we can. It will help with the distance, knowing that you're only a thought away.'

'I always am. And so are you. And right now, we're both knackered. Let's go to bed.'

So they did, and they had quite a long conversation that nobody could hear, from two different rooms. With a familiar sense of giddiness that Dante associated with being close to Hermione, he finally fell asleep.