Hermione Granger sat alone in a lone compartment. She had been forcible sent back home for the Christmas holidays, a decision made by the Headmaster, and was irrevocable, like some of his previous decisions regarding her. She thought about how unfair it was that the Headmaster seemed to control her life. She never spared a thought about the fact that said Headmaster had exercised much more control on Harry's life and she had wholeheartedly supported the decision because the Headmaster was "the most powerful wizard of the era" and a "great man" and that "he knew best".

Professor McGonagall had already written to her parents about her "unacceptable behavior" and "distressed mindset" was harmful for her education at Hogwarts and that her parents should try to talk to her about it. She had even mentioned the actual events as mundanely as possible and insisted on delivering any form of help as would be required by the Grangers to help their daughter get over her distress. Unfortunately, the Grangers did not really consider things the same way as the Professor had anticipated. Hermione's father Dr. Dan Granger, a dentist by profession and normally a really pragmatic man by personality, was completely put off by the fact that her daughter, who had been an exemplary student with fantastic records all through her primary school, had suddenly deteriorated to such alarming levels in just two years of her magical education. The fact that they didn't really trust the magical world very much didn't help matters either. Considering everything, they decided that the better idea would be to remove Hermione from the Wizarding world and educate her in the muggle world, a world where her daughter was already recognized as a prodigy.

Hermione knew that her parents would be either completely thrilled or dangerously alarmed at the letters. After all, she never had as much as a single demerit in all her primary school life, and here she had come dangerously close to getting expelled from what was considered one of the premier institutions of Magical education. But she never expected that her parents would be waiting for her to return back, only to try to stop her from returning back to the magical world ever again. Needless to say, with her distressed mind, Hermione did not take things well.

After what followed as a really heated argument that included a set of heated words, a couple of misunderstood arguments, some swear words from an angry father, some compliance from a hurting mother and some shouts full of anger from a rather angry daughter. That was followed by a sudden blasting of one of the windows of the neat and clean Granger home, said blasting caused due to accidental magic caused by a distressed magical child; an angry girl raving and waving her wand to call for a rather dilapidated Bus that was one of the more conventional modes of wizard transport. The bus, commonly known as the Knight Bus transported the angry muggleborn into the outskirts of Diagon Alley.

Hermione was rather pleased that she had saved a certain amount of galleons over the past three years and hoped it would be enough for her to rent a place to live in, at least till the end of summer. She wondered if she could get a job somewhere so as continue earning and living off the wages. She got her first shock when she didn't get rooms at the leaky cauldron, since her savings were not enough. Hence it was a rather frustrated Hermione Granger who went off meandering into one of the shabbier looking rent houses that lined the outskirts of Knockturn Alley. She finally found a good enough place to land in, the room was quite good enough, especially for a hotel whose name was "Hag's home" but nevertheless, she promised to herself that it was only temporary. She idly wondered if she should have contacted the Weasleys but somehow refrained from doing so.

Knockturn Alley, after all was said and done, was not really as spooky as Mrs. Weasley and Hagrid had made out to her, during her visit to Diagon Alley the previous year. How much had things changed in a few months; she idly wondered. After a couple of days, Hermione knew the alley almost like the back of her hand.

There were a lot of shops that sold common day-to-day usable products. Most of the shopkeepers sounded all right, if perhaps a tad snappish. The only shop that looked better than the others was a rather large shop called Borgin and Burkes. The owner, Mr. Borgin, a rather slippery person, or so it seemed to her, seemed very interested in her. After a few days, she had confessed to Mr. Borgin about her condition, and the man seemed to take pit on her. How Hermione hated being pitied upon. She asked if he had a job for her, so that she could work for him and earn some wages. After some thinking, Borgin had hired her for five galleons a day in return of eight hours of her work. She had to do the entire book-keeping for him and organize the contents of the shop when she was not at her desk. Borgin and Burkes, was officially a book shop that sold tomes of a rather... darker shade. Unofficially, the shop was the magical equivalent for the underworld marketplace where magical artifacts, cursed items and precious heirlooms were bought and sold. Being the curious kitten that she was, Hermione was eager to see and observe the different artifacts. At first there was a little hesitation, but then slowly her curiosity won over and she began poring through the darker books. It was on one of her working days, that she was rearranging one of the bookshelves when a rather dusty tome fell out and she had to stop and pick it up.

The tome looked old by all means, a dark green cover on the front, with strange runes drawn all over it. Thanking the Gods above that she had decided to buy a rune guidebook the previous year, she took the tome and placed it on her work table. Noticing that Mr. Borgin was away, she decided that a little bunking on the job time wouldn't matter. She pored over her guidebook, trying to decipher the runes on the cover. After what seemed to be almost an hour, she had finally figured the runes out. It was an unsettled Hermione who stared at the tome in front of her hands as the name registered in her mind. A year ago she would have perhaps run away in the reverse direction as fast as her feet could carry her, but now, her mindset had changed. It was with a smiling face that Hermione Granger opened the first page of the tome. She never noticed the dry smirk on the face of her employer standing in the shadows, as he spotted the name of the tome his employee was so keen on studying.

"Magic moste evile..."

A very jovial Harry Potter had returned back from Hogwarts via the Hogwarts Express. The entire journey was a very different one, but no less jolly than any other. It was quite a contrast to his previous experience on the Express. The normal compartment was expanded using spatial expansion charms, and the entire gang seemed to fit inside the single compartment quite well. For the first time he was travelling without Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Also, it was for the first time that he had travelled by the train without a customary visit from that inbred scion of Malfoy. Said inbred scion was presently sitting in the comfortable Slytherin Common room, with Ron Weasley and a couple of his... allies. Said allies consisted of the two muscular followers named Crabbe and Goyle respectively, along with his betrothed Pansy Parkinson and a couple of students from the second and fourth years, who trembled at the Malfoy name. The group was discussing on ways by which they could make life difficult for Potter and his mindless followers.

Harry and Daphne got down with their friends at Kings Cross, and found the station to be slightly less crowded than normal. Wishing each other goodbye, Tracy and Theo went off to the Floo counter to Floo back to their respective residences. Neville and Susan were busy chatting about something when a rather heavy voice called out Neville's name. Said voice belonged to a rather intimidating lady who stood in a rather regal dress robe with a large hat on her head. The peculiarity about the hat was that there was a stuffed...vulture on top of it. Harry wondered if that was what the pinnacle of wizarding fashion for elders was like for a moment, before getting distracted by Neville's shout.

"Gran!" Neville called out, pulling Harry with him as he approached the rather intimidating woman.

So this must be the Lady LongBottom!

Rushing forward, Harry stepped in front of her and gestured in an appropriate pureblood manner. The grand lady recognized his gesture and forwarded her hand as Harry kissed her knuckles softly. Raising his head, he calmly looked into her eyes and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you Lady LongBottom."

Her eyebrows raised at recognizing who it was in front of her, the lady smiled. "It was a pleasure seeing you too, Lord Potter."

"Not Lord yet Madame, just the formal Head", Harry countered with a smile.

"Ah! Well I think this is the second time I am seeing you ever since you were born. Your father and my son Frank were... good friends. They were Aurors, working in the same regiment."

"Oh... I didn't know that Ma'am. Neville never told me that his parents were ...also..."

"They are not dead", the Lady LongBottom interrupted, "they are just... permanently incapacitated."

"They are residents of Saint Mungo's permanent Spell damage ward." Neville said aloud, numbly.

Noticing her grandson's behavior, her eyes narrowed. "You should not be ashamed of them Neville. They were heroes. You should strive to be like them."

"As if I could ever be anything more than a squib", Neville mumbled to himself rather harshly.

Harry noticed the sudden change in his friend's behavior, but decided to hold back for the moment. "I hope we can meet again in the near future Madame. Neville has been a great friend to me this year."

"Well he should. You are god-brothers after all. You should have been friends, if not family since your first year."

At Harry's gob smacked expression, she continued, "I take it that you were ignorant of the fact. Your mother was Neville's Godmother, and my daughter-in-law was yours."

"i... didn't know" Harry mumbled out.

"Naturally, although I surely wonder why Neville kept this away from you." She added, adding a furious glance at Neville.

"I didn't think you would want to do anything with me... I was hopeless in everything... still am in a lot of things... anyway." Neville added, his tone bitter.

"You and I need to sort out a lot of things Nev."

"You are invited to celebrate the Christmas holidays with us Mr. Potter, if you so desire. And please, call me Augusta."

"Thank you madam... err... Augusta. But I'm already invited at the Greengrasses and I have had accepted it prior to this conversation."

"I see... well...in case you are free during the remaining of the holidays, do come for a day or something. If not, there is always Summer."

"Sure thing Augusta."

Daphne Greengrass stood watching silently as her betrothed went off and approached the intimidating lady LongBottom, who was well known in the Pureblood social circles. The regal woman was notorious for her intimidating aura and appearance, not to forget the political power she wielded at the Wizengamot. Although the LongBottoms were a Light Family, the lady had often voted in favor for the neutral blocks whenever something sensible was passed by them. While notorious for her demanding of proper pureblood etiquette to be followed, she was a fierce opponent for the likes of Malfoy family and their associates. She watched Harry display a perfect manner of pureblood mannerisms.

Where are Snape and Malfoy right now? They should watch the boy now, and see if he is really the brash Gryffindor they claim he is...

Hearing her name called out from a part of the now busy platform, she turned to her left to see her family waving towards her. Astoria had already reached out to her parents and was now waving at Daphne together with her family. Daphne smiled inwardly, and strode towards them.

"I notice your betrothed has already begun establishing alliances." Cyrus Greengrass commented.

"He is something else, isn't he? "Victoria commented in general.

"Yes. He is." Daphne mumbled to herself.

Harry left the LongBottoms to find Daphne, already with her family, looking at him. He darted off towards them and shook Cyrus's hand strongly, eliciting a soft smile in his face. Victoria reached over and gave him a soft hug. Harry could not help but compare it with the bone-breaking hugs that Mrs. Weasley and Hermione used to give him. The hug was soft and enjoyable, and he was now sure that Daphne had got the same traits from her mother. Smiling back in return, he joined the Greengrasses as they flooed back to their manor.