Twenty-nine days. Twenty-nine chapters. Woot.


August 1995

Hermione Granger was one happy witch. She was curled up with her boyfriend in front of a warm fire and reading a rare book. She had complained about being cooped up under Professor Dumbledore's orders. Rather, Harry was under orders to remain at 12 Grimmauld Place where there was a constant presence of Order of the Phoenix members. Hermione had refused to leave him there with only Ron Weasley as company of the same age. Plus, the rest of the Weasley family was there, including Stalker Girl.

Earlier that evening, Hermione had needed to remind the red headed girl that not only was Harry not interested, Harry's relationship status had a very clear mark in the "taken" column. His agreement with Hermione even explicitly stated that point.

Ginny had not left her room in the hours since Hermione issued the reminder. Hermione speculated that was most likely because the younger girl did not want anyone to see the krup snout that had replaced her lower face. If Ginny wanted to follow Harry around like a lost puppy, Hermione felt it was her duty to help the girl to look the part.

In response to her complaints of being cooped up and her handling of Ginny, Sirius had shown Hermione where a selection of rare tomes were shelved. Hermione had practically vibrated with barely restrained glee at the sight of the publications. Half of them had been out of print for over a century. Others were thought lost by the masses and Hermione had been shown the only known copies in existence.

At Harry's request, she had only grabbed one book. She would forever deny that she had begged and pleaded with him to let her take more than one. Such behaviour was unbecoming of a young lady.

Hermione looked up from her reading, feeling that she deserved a short break after working through three hundred pages of Middle English. Harry was still writing his response to Gabrielle Delacour's letter.

Gabrielle had been a sore point for them for months after Harry had pulled the girl out of the Great Lake during the second task. She was an adorable, happy girl with a permanent smile that could melt the heart of anyone, even Professor Snape, etched into her face. She had followed Harry around, much like Ginny tried, but to much greater success. Somehow, no matter what Hermione tried to do to encourage the eight year old to go back to the Beauxbatons' carriage, she managed to find a way to get Hermione to tolerate her presence for a while longer. It wasn't until nearly May that Hermione accepted the girl just wanted everyone around her to be as happy as she was and play dolls with her. As a token peace offering, Hermione had suggested to Harry they give Gabrielle a doll for her ninth birthday. Hermione was sure ensuing squeal had to have broken some kind of volume or pitch record. She made a mental note to research that.

Since their stay at 12 Grimmauld Place began, Harry had written the little girl almost every week. He even managed to convince Hermione to contribute a few words which caused the girl to respond with five pages specifically for Hermione. There had even been a "Not for Harry" notice written on the outside, though she had written inside that Hermione could share it if she wanted to. After planning on holding out for a few hours, Hermione caved to Harry's pout in twenty seconds.

"How is Gabrielle doing?" Hermione asked her boyfriend.

Without looking up, Harry replied, "She's doing well. Her mare just gave birth to a foal and she can't decide on a name. She asked for a few ideas but knowing her she'll have named him before I even received the letter." Hermione nodded her agreement.

"Anything else?"

"Well, she's down to begging for us to come visit. They're at their Bordeaux estate. She also instructed me to tell you that Fleur would not be there for the next two weeks due to her Gringotts training here in London. Apparently she's sequestered until her training is complete but before the communication ban went into effect Fleur was complaining about some 'pig-headed Curse-Breaker' not leaving her alone."

Hermione grumbled. She did not like hearing about Fleur. They may have come to an understanding over Gabrielle and even a partial one regarding Harry – Harry really was the best candidate either could think of – but Hermione still viewed the older Veela as a threat, however miniscule, to her territory.

Before Harry could continue with Gabrielle's latest updates, a loud screeching voice filled the room. "What are you reading? No respectable witch would be caught dead reading a book like that!"

Hermione glared at the source of the horrendously offensive voice. "Mrs Weasley, what business of yours is it what I read?"

"While you're under my care, it is entirely my business." The red haired harridan reached out to snatch up the book. Hermione jerked the book away, out of the woman's reach.

"We are not under your care. In case you've somehow forgotten, this is Sirius's house. He is considered a respectable adult by society and has been fully acquitted in the public eye for those accusations back in '81. He is responsible for us in every legal sense. He is the one my parents are trusting to look after us. He is Harry's godfather and legal guardian, not you."

Mrs Weasley huffed. "Either way, you shouldn't be reading such things. That book has dark magic in it and no proper witch or wizard should be reading about such things. Give it here."

Hermione snorted. She was never one to subscribe to the head-in-the-sand approach to things. It was why she was able to help Harry during the last four years of Hogwarts. She sought knowledge. She loved learning. And if she happened to use that knowledge to keep overly ambitious witches away from her Harry, who was anyone to complain?

"I think you should go talk to Sirius before you confiscate a book he allowed me to read. He was standing there with me when I picked it out."

"Obviously, I'll have to have a talk with him. He shouldn't have let you even near such a thing. He has no business-"

Hermione sat and watched at Mrs Weasley continued to talk about how poor a guardian she felt Sirius was. After half a minute, Hermione turned away from the older witch and snuggled into Harry's side who had continued to write his letter to Gabrielle, pointedly ignoring the argument between the two witches.

Soaking up Harry's presence, Hermione waited until he finished his letter, sealed it, cooed over Hedwig for several minutes, and sent the owl on her way to France.

"Ready to go to bed, Hermione?" Harry stretched and yawned to play up his exhaustion.

Hermione nodded. The two disentangled themselves and made for the stairs. Sirius, at Hermione's encouragement, had given the two teens adjoining bedrooms as soon as Harry arrived. Hermione's bed had yet to be used since.

As they reached the base of the stairs, Harry looked back. "Are you going to unfreeze Mrs Weasley before we go to bed?"

Hermione glanced at the woman, frozen in mid-tirade. Her eyes were doing their best to burn holes in Hermione, though they were having difficulty looking far enough to her side to still see the teens at the base of the stairs.

"I don't think so." Hermione sleepily replied after a moment. "The spell should fade in a few minutes. I don't want her disturbing our sleep as soon as she gets free."

Hermione giggled to herself thinking about how "a few" usually implied two or three. She idly wondered if Mrs Weasley had used the toilet recently. It would be several hours before the spell actually faded, long enough for Hermione to get in some quality sleepy cuddles with Harry.

Sirius could deal with the annoyance in the morning. The woman was lucky Hermione valued Harry cuddles more than addressing irritants.


There is more in store for the family of redheads.