So I knew I said this chapter was gonna be Grangers and Hogwarts... But that would be so heavy that I'm splitting them up.

In other news, I found that when I copy my text into ffnet it loses all formatting... So I apologise for bad formatting in the past post. I hope that this will be better! If not, keep telling me in the reviews and I will work on it

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Harry potter is not mine, sadly.

"Hermione!"

"Mum!, Dad!"

The Grangers stood in the middle of the kitchen hugging and crying. Hermione clutched onto her parents, tears in her eyes again. None of them reacted when Lily piped up saying,

"I took the liberty of telling your parents what happened before bringing them here. Figured you wouldn't want to relive it again."

After a lot of 'you're ok's and 'you're safe's, the Grangers separated. Wiping their tears away and turning to Lily and Harry, who, for the last few minutes, stood awkwardly watching the tender scene before them.

"Lily, thank you again for bringing us to see Hermione. It takes a toll on both Emma and I when we can't visit her during her school year. Especially- especially in situations like this. So thank you, it really means a lot."

"It's the least I could do Dan, please, no thanks needed. I was in Hermione's shoes once, and I know what it means to have your parents around." Lily responded kindly to Dan, Hermione's dad, who nodded and turned to Harry who paled at facing the parents of a girl who got hurt because of him.

He figured it would be best to jump right out before they get a chance to scold him, or do anything else they might want to.

"Mr Granger, I'm s-so sorry for putting Hermione in harm's way-" he began, but was cut off by the man.

"Putting her in harm's way? I was lead to believe you saved her," he said quirking an eyebrow at him, giving him a questioning look.

"And he did!" Hermione said, rather vehemently, staring down at her father. "He saved me fr-from those men, and whatever they wanted to do. And he is NOT," the emphasis she put on the word as she turned her glare at Harry made him flinch a little, "to blame himself for what happened. He didn't attack me, those men did, he didn't force me to go with him, I happily went to be by my friend."

"But Hermione, if I didn't invite you-"

"Then I wouldn't have come, and if my parents haven't met then I wouldn't have been born making this, just like your point, completely moot. So drop it and stop blaming yourself for something you didn't cause." Hermione deftly silenced Harry, who shut his mouth without saying another word. He just nodded his head as his shoulders slumped.

"Harry is it?" Harry nodded at Dan's question, "what I actually wanted to say was thank you. For saving our daughter. Your mum, she told us what happened. Also told us that you're blaming yourself. But remember that Hermione is right..."

"Isn't she always" Harry murmured eliciting a laugh from everyone.

"She usually is, but in this case, she definitely is, you're not to blame. You saved our daughter from god knows what. We can't thank you enough." With that Dan clamped his hand on Harry's shoulder giving it a comfortable squeeze before moving out of the way for his wife who immediately gave him a bone crushing hug.

Lily smiled, and decided it would be best to offer everyone a drink and move the conversation to some lighter topics. That is until Hermione's mum derailed her plan completely.

"Those men, I do hope they will end up in jail. Does Hermione need to go down to your police and give some sort of statement? She's got a brilliant memory and I'm sure she could easily ID the men involved."

Before Hermione, could explain that they are actually treating this as if they weren't there to protect Harry. Lily jumped in.

"The men, they're, err, they're dead."

The reaction to those words was instantaneous. Hermione and Emma both gasped loudly and covered their mouths immediately. Dan's gaze narrowed and he became pensive for a brief second before he started turning towards Harry.

Harry… Harry turned white. His face devoid of any colour as the words settled on him. His eyes wide in shock. His hands shaking. He looked to his mum who noticed his reaction and immediately cursed herself.

"Shit, Harry no. You didn't- it wasn't you. You left them unconscious. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have just blurted it out like that. They were killed by… a third party, we're not sure who yet. Not long after we disappeared, but before the aurors showed up at the scene. That's why I was called in so urgently, to show

"That's what they were counting down to Harry. They were just meant to keep you there until- until their handler could take you.

"Though they clearly weren't told, or were aware, of your training. Which points to just mercenaries."

Harry heart stopped beating so frantically as his mum explained what happened. He knows that eventually, he will end up killing someone. But knowing that as an eventuality, and being told that you have actually done it and now you have to live with it is a very different thing. Sirius would often tell him the difficulties of taking a life, and Harry was keenly aware of how truthful he was being.

The Grangers, on the other hand, now looked more frightened. Something like this, for Harry and Lily was a norm. Being on a run since the night James died, they were fully aware of the ugliness of the world they lived in. For the Grangers, talk of death, mercenaries, kidnapping a teenager. That kind of talk belonged in books, and action films.

"It was him." Harry eventually said, "wasn't it? He's finally making his move."

Lily nodded, "We think so, yes. Though it wasn't him personally. He wouldn't show up in England yet. Not without a force that could back him. He's still out of the country, but his loyal followers are here."

Harry walked over to the desk and sat down, staring at the table.

"Is this why you sent me to Hogwart's this year?" He asked quietly.

Lily glanced at the Grangers apologetically. Not wanting them caught up in this discussion, while awkwardly standing like voyeurs. She made her way to the table gesturing for them to join as well. Hermione took her seat beside Harry, whilst Lily sat opposite him. Dan and Emma sat between Hermione and Lily around the table.

"Partly, yes. But I also wanted you to enjoy yourself before it all took off. Make some friends. Take a break from the mutt," she added, noticing a slight upturn in Harry's lip. "I also think, it's time to get Dumbledore on board too. As much as I wanted to keep delaying your direct contact with him, he is invaluable."

Harry looked up rapidly, "Does that mean…"

Lily nodded and cut him off, "we'll discuss it in January with him. Before you head back to school after the holidays."

Harry nodded, looking down at the table again. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself.

"Harry, are you ok?" Hermione asked quietly nudging him a little with her hand.

Harry looked up, blinking rapidly. He completely forgot they had company. So wrapped up in his own thoughts that he was.

"Wow, Hermione I'm sorry, Mr and Mrs Granger you too. You didn't have to see that."

"Nonsense Harry, Though I can't say that we're not," Dan paused briefly, having Emma complete his sentence for him.

"Confused, dear. I-would you be able to explain it to us? We know some things of the magic world because of Hermione, but there's only so much she can tell us that she learns at school."

Harry looked around the table, all the Grangers had that same "hungry for knowledge" expression that he started to notice on Hermione. As his gaze travelled to his mum, he sighed and gave her a nod. He didn't want think it would make much sense for them to be lied to. This would impact them too. Hermione was still an unknown unless they questioned the men before killing them. But that didn't matter because in the end, she was still a muggle born.

"Right, I'll get us some drinks first. Dan, Emma, I don't know about you but I'm going to need something stronger than tea for this, whiskey? Wine?"

"That bad ey?" Dan asked with a small grin, though seeing neither Harry nor Lily even smile, he quickly added "ah, whiskey then, thank you."

"Well that's wine for me then."

Harry decided to stick with water and Hermione asked Lily to reheat her hot chocolate.

"Harry's and my life got turned upside down when an evil wizard targeted us for defying him. In our world, he's known as Lord Voldemort. Though most people are too afraid to even say his name. I'm sure you are aware of how, dark and cruel the world was 20 years ago. He was waging war in England. Built on prejudice and stemming from wider issues in the magical community.

"He's name was Tom Riddle, and he didn't take defiance well. He was cruel to everyone, including his followers. Who followed him out of fear I guess, but honestly the motivations are beyond, I could not understand them."

Lily went to take a breath and a sip of her drink.

"Hermione told us about this man." Emma said.

"Mhm, yeah, as evil as he was, he was also brilliant. Magically speaking. Unfortunately he wanted to recruit us, or more specifically James. Which meant that we were targeted.

"James would never have joined him. So we were attacked. The first time we managed to get away, the two of us held him back long enough for Dumbledore to appear.

"Now Dumbledore, he was the only one who had enough power to hold his own against Riddle, and thankfully we were saved.

"This was when Harry was just 6 months old. When we got back to him, we knew that we had to either leave the country, or hide. Hide until the war was over, hoping that it would end in our favour.

"James though," she wiped a tear from her eye, "he would never be able to just hide. He joined Dumbledore's rebellion. He had enough political power with Sirius to hold the government from throwing themselves behind Riddle

"That just made him an even bigger target. He was now personally hunted by him. We thought we were well hidden. We were definitely being smart about it. Moved around often, we always kept watch. But what kind of life was that. We slipped up, twice he found us. We barely got away, this time motivated by keeping Harry alive.

"That's when the universe turned against us too."

She took a deep breath.

"Divination is a woolly subject. Predicting the future from a bunch of riddles. It's ridiculous. It's insane. But so is Tom Riddle.

"A prophecy was recorded. One that spoke of someone ending the reign of the dark lord. Riddle took it to mean him. He dissected the prophecy and came to the conclusion that it pointed-it pointed at my Harry." She cried now, anytime she has to relive this story. She can never get through it without breaking apart. To think they were so close to death. To think that they were still in danger because of it. That her son could not have a normal childhood.

The Grangers gasped at Lily's last sentence. They all looked to Harry who reached his hands out to take Lily's hands to comfort her. He cleared his throat and took over the story from here.

"So he went after me, and he found us. My parents knew that I was the target now. Tom Riddle's sole purpose was to find me, and neutralise what he perceived to be the only threat to his reign.

"My mum though, she was clever, is! Is clever," he added as Lily squeezed his hand tighter, "she ignored Dumbledore, and used Riddle's power against him. She devised a blood ritual. One that would protect me, but also give others a chance against Riddle by weakening him.

"When he found us, mum immediately started the ritual. My dad run out to meet Riddle in battle on his own, to buy mum more time. No one really witnessed the fight but I always imagine it to be spectacular, mum could hear him taunting Riddle, being all cavalier about it to throw him off balance.

"Dad, he held him off just long enough, mum finished her work and run out to help but was just too late. She-she had to watch him die.

"In a way," he looked to his mum, his eyes sad, older beyond his years for what he had to go through, "his death saved her life. She was so distraught and enraged that when she fired off a curse at Riddle it actually hit him. It was the only time anyone is aware of that Riddle got struck by a curse. The cut opened up his chest and his shoulder, but it wasn't enough to kill him.

"His rage, his sadistic tendencies are what saved me from being an orphan, along with the ritual."

He took a deep breath.

"He bound mum, dragged her into the house, into the room I was in. A mere 2 year old, sitting in a my crib, mum tells me I didn't cry once just stared defiantly back at Riddle.

"He- he told mum that he's going to kill me and make her watch. It was his way of torturing her for what she did. That's when the ritual did a bit more than anyone expected. When he tried to kill me, his curse rebounded straight at him.

"He- he didn't die, there is a reason for it but that's not relevant and possibly too dangerous to share yet. But it was enough to banish him. He left me this scar," he moved his hair out of the way and pointed at it, "along with an enemy who will not stop until either of us is dead. Therefore, we believe, sealing the prophecy."

He stopped there. Letting the Grangers absorb this. They probably told them too much. Probably scared them to death. But they need to know about the threat, that it's back. They still remember Riddle's previous rise to power, even if they didn't know the magical world then. He could seem them both looking at him the way his mum does, admiration but also a sadness. Sadness that he had so much on his shoulders.

Hermione was the first to break the silence. "So, that's why…"

"Why I didn't go Hogwarts? Yeah, it's also why I was trained the way I was. We moved around because Riddle's followers were still at large, though that is partly Dumbledore's fault. He confirmed the story that it was I who bested Tom Riddle, not my mother's ritual. It's why my mum's not, erm, fond of him.

"Though by painting a larger target on me, he painted a smaller one on her. So I can't, and won't complain"

"Harry.." Lily began, her temper clearly rising.

"Mum." He stopped her calmly, "we've had this argument, many. Many times."

Lily narrowed her eyes but acquiesced to him. She then got her wits together and turned to answer any questions the Grangers may have. Mostly how this might impact them. What can they do. Would leaving the country help? Though that option was immediately shut down by Hermione who did not want to run away from the country, especially since who's to say that Riddle will stop at just England.

The conversation went on for a while longer and Harry and Hermione both left the adults to it. An agreement was reached that they will both head back to Hogwarts tomorrow and that Lily will devise an escape plan for the Grangers. The Grangers, however, didn't want to get special treatment and suggested that this plan extend to all the muggleborns and their parents.

Harry took Hermione upstairs after she said her goodbyes to her parents. Lily would be taking them home after a little chat. In the meantime Harry and Hermione found a few bedrooms upstairs and picked one each.

Harry leaned against the wall and sighed.

Hermione smiled, "You sigh a lot Harry."

"It's been a long day you know…"

Her eyes softened, and suddenly she crashed into Harry wrapping her arms around him and pushing him into the wall. "Thank you for saving me." She whispered as he wound his arms around her. They stood like that for what seemed like an eternity. Neither really wanting to let go.

Then slowly they extricated themselves from each other. Both blushing though neither of them pointing it out.

"Good night Hermione, and sleep well."

"Night Harry," and she turned to walk into one of the rooms.

Harry stood there for a little while longer, his last thoughts before he went into his bedroom was simply,

'So this is the feeling that Sirius told me about.'.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next is Hogwarts and some magic stuff