A/N I own nothing Harry Potter related. That goes to JK Rowling and Warner Brothers. There should be some movement of the action forward after this chapter. I needed to build up some of the background of what's in my head before I started on the major changes with our players.

"Flipendo!" a doxy fell onto the floor.

"Excellent, pup! You're getting faster!" Sirius smiled as Harry wiped the sweat from his forehead, a small crate of stunned doxies and something that looked like a cross between a garden gnome and a hairball at his feet. They'd made it to Grimmauld Place with little trouble but neither Harry nor Hermione had known what to expect. While Remus' home was small but cozy, the Black ancestral house was huge, dark and had a foreboding air that all four recent residents were trying to dispel.

Sirius had managed to clear three bedrooms, the library and the kitchen of dark objects, dirt, and doxies to the point of feeling comfortable inviting the teens to stay and now the four were spending their time either helping to clean, working on Occlumency training (Remus and Sirius both decided that was the first thing the two needed to learn) or just getting to know Sirius and Remus - and visiting with Buckbeak who had taken up residence in the attic. Remus spent most of his free time in the Black library researching while Hermione had managed to contain herself to half a dozen books that made their way up to their third floor bedroom.

That was a conversation Harry hoped to never have with his godfather ever again. Sirius had started to offer to sleep in the library when they made their way up to the safe bedroom on the third floor but his jaw dropped open when both Harry and Hermione deposited their trunks and bags on the floor. Both eyebrows disappeared into his hair before a lecherous grin broke out. Hermione put a stop to any questions then by threatening not only to neuter Padfoot but to try and find a way to do the same to Moony if either of them even started teasing them. And if she found one prank….

Hermione was a scary witch.

Now, Harry and Sirius were up on the second floor stunning doxies and cleaning out another room while Remus and Hermione were working on her Occlumency shields. Harry was more than sick of the vile little fairy-like creatures who seemed to like his hair almost as much as the ancient curtains. Add to it that the little bastards bite was poisonous and he was NOT having a good time.

"So are you going to share with me what you and Hermione have been getting up to?" Sirius asked, waggling his brows. "You know you can talk to me about anything. You two are getting to that age…"

"Didn't we have this conversation already, old man? Hermione threatened to neuter you."

"Ah, but that was if I said anything in her presence. Since she's not here, my balls will stay where they are."

Harry grinned. "You sure about that? You know how she just knows stuff."

Sirius actually looked scared for a moment before he bent and lifted an edge of the bedskirt - wand ready - and chuckled. Harry sent a stinging hex to the Marauder's backside and laughed when he yelped and knocked his head.

"You won't say anything to her."

Harry shrugged and locked the crate after one last look at the curtains. Next up was the mother of all cleaning charms.

"I don't have to."

Sirius straightened and waved his wand at him. "That. That's what I'm talking about. Having you two here...Merlin, Hermione is so like your mother it's scary. Lilyflower was one scary witch when she was mad and your father seemed to just take those threats in stride. Now if he was the one who ended up jinxed to wear Remus' underwear for a week straight…"

Harry laughed. "She did not!"

"I'm serious! And I really am! We thought it would be a great idea to pull just a little prank, nothing too out there, but we pulled it on Lily. She warned us more than once that she wouldn't take it lying down and boy, did she retaliate. And we couldn't even complain! Everytime we would change clothes things would be fine, the next thing we knew there was a swapping charm on our unmentionables and we'd be wearing each others!"

Harry dropped to the floor laughing. "I don't think Mi will do something like that but I wouldn't put it past her. She has been around the Weasley twins the last three years."

"So, there's really nothing romantic going on with Miss Granger, pup?"

Harry sighed as he got his laughter under control. Why everyone insisted on examining his life was beyond him. "Sirius, we're best friends. There's stuff I haven't told her yet, stuff I haven't told anyone yet, but if and when I decide to, it will be to Hermione first. I don't want you or Remus to be offended by that but I don't trust many adults and I don't trust anyone like I do Hermione. That goes for Ron, too. He's a good bloke, a good friend but Mi will take a secret to the grave if she needs to. Both of us have changed a lot over the past three years. She's not the scared, bossy, friendless girl she was first year and I'm not about to let anyone walk all over me anymore. That's just us. Neither one of us can describe it any differently."

"Are you sure she'd say that, too?"

Harry nodded.

"Well, I'm glad you had someo...HARRY!"

Sirius watched as Harry paled for a moment then his green eyes almost took on a luminescent glow before he darted out of the room and ran downstairs.

"Very good, Hermione. Now I want you to see if you can locate Harry while maintaining the wall you just created in your mind," Remus instructed the young witch sitting on the floor of the living room, eyes closed and legs crossed. They had been working on building mindscapes while waiting for Sirius to contact them. Both teens had taken to the exercises quickly and progressed to the actual "walls" much faster then Remus anticipated. Once settled into Grimmauld place, Remus and Sirius had continued with the teens Occlumency training and hoped to make enough of a dent in removing the dangerous objects from the house to start some further defense training.

A slight scrunching of her dark brows was the only indication that she heard him.

"He's upstairs, second bedroom."

"Excellent." Remus decided to lightly prod at Hermione's new Occlumency shields and nudged her mind. Her nose crinkled as he was blocked and he continued pushing, trying to get a feel for how much effort would be needed to break through.

He was so concentrated on his task, he didn't notice how much power he was putting behind the Legilimency until he broke through and hit a memory, it was fairly recent if how Hermione looked in the mirror was any indication, and she was surrounded by four other girls. They were taunting her about why she wasn't with her friends when suddenly he was forcibly ejected from her mind and he landed with a thud as the chair he was sitting in crashed to the ground.

A thundering on the stairs was quickly followed by an angry Harry and a confused Sirius.

"What the hell was that, Moony?" The werewolf found himself staring at the business end of Harry's wand. The tip was already glowing white.

"Wait, Harry, that was you? You did that?"

"All I know is I was upstairs talking to Sirius and all the sudden Hermione was upset," He looked at the witch who'd just moved to the couch. "And we will talk about what Remus saw later since you never told me about that."

Hermione grimaced. "Fine but put your wand away. Remus didn't do anything wrong, he was just testing me and broke through."

"Harry, tell me exactly, and use small words because I have one hell of a headache right now, what you felt."

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he paced. "I was talking to Sirius while we were clearing out one of the bedrooms when I just knew Hermione was upset." He held up a hand, "Don't ask, I can't describe it any better than that. I could feel the upset and panic but it wasn't me that was upset. Hermione didn't want you to see her memory but she couldn't stop you by herself, so I helped. She was trying to push you out so that's what I did."

Remus shook his head and grimaced. "That's impossible. I'm beginning to think that's not a word I should use with the two of you but there is no way you should be able to do that, Harry. I was in Hermione's mind, not yours. Even if you have some type of link with her magic, you shouldn't be able to do that!"

Harry glanced over at his too quiet best friend. Not only did the glimpse of memory bother him but the fact that she never told him about that particular confrontation bothered him, too. It had to have taken place when he and Ron weren't speaking with her. But he'd like to think if something bad had happened to her, she would have come to him about it, regardless of him being mad at her at the time.

"Hermione?"

"It's nothing, Harry, really, and I don't want to get into it here." She turned to Remus, "Are we going to have to worry about seeing each other's memories?"

"Hermione, I really don't know what to tell you two. We are in uncharted territory here. Dumbledore may have answers for us if we - "

"NO!" Came the reply from Sirius, Harry and Hermione.

"Moony, Dumbledore doesn't need to know this. I don't trust him after he left me to rot in Azkaban for the past 12 years. Who knows how he might try and use a link to Harry," Sirius growled out, "Let alone what it could do to these two. We don't even know how it works and if Dumbledore starts messing with their heads…"

"What about Voldemort?" Harry whispered.

At this, Hermione rose and stood in front of her best friend. Gripping his upper arms, she looked up into his worried eyes. Harry'd grown just a bit this summer and wasn't quite as thin as he normally was before term started - but the extra food she had been able to send hadn't done as much good as she would have liked. It would take more than the month they had before term started to get Harry looking more himself again.

"Harry, that's why we're working on this. If you can keep from picking up Voldemort's stronger emotions, maybe we can find a way for you to use your link to him and sneak up on him. I don't have a link to Voldemort, apparently I have a link to you. As long as he doesn't figure out his link to you, he shouldn't ever find out about me."

"But - "

"No buts, Harry, Hermione is right. We will do everything we can to keep you safe," Sirius promised.

"No offense Sirius but we can't even keep you out of Azkaban right now. I know who Pettigrew is with but I have no idea how to catch him and get you a trial!" Harry groaned, turning from Hermione to resume pacing the room with his hand on the back of his neck.

"Pup, leave the rat to Moony and me. You and Hermione need to just concentrate on school this year. Though I doubt Moony would object if you tell us more about how the past few years at Hogwarts have gone for the two of you. Might even help to determine what's going on with the both of you. But I suggest we move to the kitchen and get some lunch. While the Black family did have a house elf, I'm afraid 12 years with little more than my dear mother's demented portait for company must have drove him crazier than he already was. He was dead when I found him."

Hermione shuddered. "I still don't know what to think about house elves. It seems like slavery to me. Especially how Dobby was treated."

"Most house elves are treated well by wizarding families. The elves take their magic from their bonded families, so the worse they are treated, the less magic they have," Remus explained as he opened the fridge.

"But Dobby was pretty powerful even when he came to me while working for the Malfoys."

"Dobby is a strange elf. Most elves would be horrified to be set free, you said Dobby was happy?"

"Ecstatic."

Sirius grinned. "You might want to check with the little guy sometime. He might have decided that since you freed him, you were his new master. And he just didn't tell you about it."

Harry laughed. "That sounds like Dobby. And Hermione and I will cook. Sirius, we've suffered through what you call cooking and Remus needs a break."

Evening found Hermione curled up on the bed reading one of the books she 'borrowed' from the Black library. Harry sat across from her and waited until she put the tome down.

"Care to tell me what Moony saw in your memory today?"

"Harry, it's alright. Really. It happened after Christmas this past year and is done with."

"You never told me about anyone bothering you."

Hermione sighed. "We weren't exactly speaking then, remember? And Ron was downright hostile if I tried to talk to you in his presence. Lavender and Parvati are gossips and the fight we had over the Firebolt wasn't exactly quiet. The whole school found out within hours of coming back from the holidays. Those girls...well they were a year above us and weren't happy that I took away Gryffindor's best chance at winning the Quidditch Cup. It didn't get physical - I don't think they were brave enough to go up against me with a wand…"

"I wouldn't be," Harry interrupted.

"But they made several comments about how it was better that you saw what kind of a person I was now before I ruined anything else for you."

"Hermione. Mi, you know they were just saying that because they were jealous, right? If they were a year above us the only person they might know that's even remotely close to me is Katie Bell and she reamed me out more than once about how I reacted over that stupid broom."

"Harry, it's not a stupid broom and you know it. And I went behind your back. You've said again and again that you hate when people manipulate you and what did I do? The exact thing that you hate."

Harry shook his head. "No, you told me where you thought the broom came from. You told me the reason you wanted to go to McGonagall. Hell, I think at one point you even threatened to take the broom yourself to her office. I knew it was coming, I just got carried away by Ron, who was more interested in test flying the damn thing than even I was!"

Harry reached out and gripped her shoulder. "It's water under the bridge, Mi. You know to talk to me first and I know not to be a giant arse."

She finally smiled. "I know how difficult that has to be for you. Always being right and all."

"Hey!" Harry poked her in the ribs and Hermione burst out laughing, trying to escape his tickling fingers. The bed wasn't quite large enough to accommodate the flailing limbs of an epic tickle fight and her book dropped to the ground.

"Wait, Harry stop! That's a really old book and Sirius may kill me if it's damaged!"

Harry reached down to grab the book. "That's if he even remembers it's there. What's it about anyway?"

"It's Black family magic. I think I can get the spell to work for you since you are Sirius's heir. It's a type of protection spell. You said that Dumbledore wants you to go back to the Dursleys because of your aunt and mum sharing blood, right?"

"That's what he told me."

"I can't quite figure out what he means by that. Harry, blood magic is frowned upon by the Ministry. It's old magic. Very powerful and usually limited to ancient family lines now. If your aunt and your mum didn't get along, I don't see how that sort of spell could have been cast. And for Dumbledore to have put up blood wards...Harry they would have been tied to you as a baby. Directly to your magical core. That would have been illegal. So illegal it wouldn't have landed him in Azkaban, it would have seen him kissed by a Dementor."

"Wait, so I haven't been saved from Voldemort's attacks over the years?"

"Harry, I don't think there have been attacks over the years. Think about it. Your mum and your aunt stopped getting along when they were still children. Your mum didn't attend your aunt's wedding and vice versa. How would Voldemort even know where to look for you? How would he know who the Dursleys were? I doubt someone like Lucius Malfoy knows how to use a phone directory."

Harry just stared for a moment lost in thought. All the toture, the beatings, the abuse, starvation, was for nothing at all? Could it be that the Death Eaters never knew about where he lived?

"But why," he whispered.

Hermione grabbed his hands. "Harry, how did you feel when you found out you were a wizard? That you were going to Hogwarts?"

He swallowed a few times. "Shocked. I didn't think Hagrid had the right person. How could I be magic? I was nobody. Nothing. Hogwarts was amazing. Even after everything with Quirrell and the stone, Hogwarts was home. My first home."

Hermione nodded. "So you felt like you were in debt to Dumbledore?"

"I...yeah." She watched as his green eyes hardened. "He wanted me to feel like that didn't he? Like I owed him?"

"I think so, Harry."

"No more. I'm done. I've come closer to dying under Dumbledore's 'protection' than I ever have even with ten full years living with the Dursleys. I've almost lost you and Ron. I almost never got to know my godfather." He sat up straighter and gestured towards the ancient book.

"What do we have to do for this to work?"

Hermione grinned. "It's a fairly straightforward ritual that is strongest when tied to the full moon. Unlike blood wards that are tied to only one person's blood, this particular protection involves two people's blood. It would be mine and yours. So no one would be able to directly influence you through blood magic, certain potions, or certain spells without performing the same magic on me as well."

"Isn't that dangerous for you?"

She shrugged. "Not really. Only if someone were to figure out the spell I cast and since it is family magic they would have to have access to Grimmauld place to even find the book. The only reason I can even read it is because Sirius granted me full access to everything in the Black library."

"When is the full moon?"

"A week."

A loud chime echoed through the house startling them. Hermione glanced at the windup clock on the night table. It was getting late.

"What was that?" She asked drawing her wand along with Harry and heading into the hallway. Remus was on the landing below them.

"That was the signal that someone tried to apparate into the house," the werewolf growled, his eyes flashing to amber.

"I thought you said that no one remembered about this place," Harry said, moving behind Remus and letting Hermione bring up the rear.

"I said not many would think to try this place, there's a difference."

Sirius was staring at the front door, an angry grimace on his face.

"Padfoot, who is it?"

"Dumbledore."