The first face Harry saw when he woke up was that of Sirius, looking very different after a wash and a shave. He smiled at Harry, who sat up and tried to find his glasses. Sirius waved his hand and they flew into it, before being passed over to Harry.
"You can do wandless magic?" was the first thing Harry said upon waking up.
"Not really, just a spell or two, I mainly learned it to pull off pranks. How are you though?"
"I'm perfectly fine, I'm usually very fatigued for a few days to a week after exerting myself, but I guess my magical core has grown to accommodate that."
"I heard you saved my life, I wanted to thank you and also ask you something I wanted to ask you two days ago. Now that Pettigrew is going to be prosecuted, and the charges on me have been dropped, would you like to come live with me? I understand that I'm a complete stranger, but I'm your Godfather and I've failed at my job. All I'm asking is for the chance to get to know you." Sirius looked hopeful, his eyes never leaving Harry's face.
"I would like to get to know you Sirius, we have the rest of June to begin the process. That being said, I have a family now. I live with Lily's sister, and though she isn't talking to me right now I can't give up on her. Maybe you could eventually be like an uncle to me."
"I'll take that Harry, thank you."
The two talked for hours before Harry's friends came in and Hermione rushed over and gave him a hug, followed by a kiss. When she had pulled away, after a minute of PDA, Harry noticed everyone looking smugly at him.
"What?"
/*** **-** ***/
Harry was lying down in bed, with Hermione sitting beside him, just talking, when Elias woke up and began to panic. It took Madame Pomfrey over five minutes to calm the boy down, having to resort to a Sleeping Potion to settle him. This worried Harry, a worry that was made worse when Hermione told him that it was a stress reaction to trauma and may need a lot of time to heal from. An hour later Harry was dismissed and made a promise to visit Elias as frequently as Dudley had when he was in here.
The two walked through the hallways and ended up going to the Astronomy Tower to enjoy some alone time. Once they finally arrived Hermione conjured a blanket and a basket to have a late night picnic. The two sat in near silence, just enjoying the company, when Harry drew his wand and conjured fireworks that retold the events at Hogwarts, in a stylised manner. An hour into their picnic, after the food was gone, the fireworks ended and the final piece had fallen into place.
/*** **-** ***/
When Harry first asked Dudley to do this he found the very idea funny, not that he admitted it to Harry's face, but now? Now he was fully on board.
Harry had explained that he wanted him to fly around as a Thunderbird and cause a storm, dropping the three vials he had been given into it, creating a beautiful spectacle. The first created music, a song Hermione had mentioned in first year that she loved. The second brought a scent or two to the air, hanging around like a perfume. The third was more complicated according to Harry, who didn't tell him what it did.
Not one to disappoint, Dudley was standing out on the grounds, layered in warming charms, and waiting for the final firework to end before he transformed.
/*** **-** ***/
The fireworks had ended and Hermione noticed that some of the more mundane scenes that had played were some of her favourite. Including one of the two of them studying, in which she saw how Harry saw her.
"Hermione. I know we're both still uncertain about where we're going from now,and I know my life is far from simple, but one thing that I'm certain of is that I care about you. I wanted to show you how I feel."
Before Hermione could reply to his declaration she saw a wonderful sight. A Thunderbird flew right past the Astronomy Tower, right behind Harry, and she had to scramble over to the railing to get a better glimpse of it. As they watched it soar, performing aerial acrobatic stunts, something incredible happened. The magnificent bird began to rise again and once it broke the clouds there was a flash and Hermione could hear the opening lines to her favourite song. She was stunned and had to ask.
"How did you remember that I love Unchained Melody? I must have mentioned it once like two years ago."
Before Harry could respond there was a second flash and the smell of parchment and freshly mown grass filled the air around her. After a minute the smell of cinnamon and Peppermint started to replace them, cycling through them in numerous combinations.
Just as the smells began to dissipate, a third flash went off and brought two things, the first was a smile to Hermione's face and the second was a representation of one of the scenes played out in the fireworks, though this time it wasn't stylised, but photo-realistic.
"Hermione Granger, will you be my girlfriend?"
"Harry, all of this has been amazing, and I know it couldn't have been easy to pull off, but right now I'm really not sure what I'm going to be doing in a few years. This isn't a no, but for now I cannot say yes. I hope you understand."
Harry was hurt, but valued Hermione more than he cared about his wounded pride.
"If that's what you need then I understand."
The two were saved additional awkwardness by the arrival of Professor Sinistra, setting up for the night's Astronomy lesson.
/*** **-** ***/
"How did it go?" Dudley asked Harry immediately upon his arrival in the common room that night.
"She said no, for now anyway."
"Ouch, that's gotta hurt, mate. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it, yeah it hurts, but I understand why she said no. It's just not the right time."
For the rest of the night Harry and his friends played games, talked about nonsense, and generally did whatever they could to enjoy one of their last nights at Hogwarts for the year.
/*** **-** ***/
June had only a single week left and the school year was over. Harry was on the train heading back to London, with all his friends in the compartment as well, but he was conflicted. On the one hand he was nervous about Aunt Petunia's reaction to seeing him, after months of silence, on the other hand, he was excited to spend some time at the Burrow with the Weasleys and his godfather Sirius Black. The man himself was now free, having had all of the charges against him dropped and placed onto Peter Pettigrew, who had his Order of Merlin revoked and to rectify the error, Sirius had been given his own Order of Merlin, as well as a lump sum payment of 13 million Galleons.
The Hogwarts Express had finally stopped at King's Cross Station and, after saying goodbye to his friends and promising to write to them frequently, Harry and Dudley walked over to the spot that Petunia was occupying. The trio immediately carried on to the car, without a word being said between them, and headed for Privet Drive.
/*** **-** ***/
