Disclaimer: All original events and characters belong to J. K. Rowling. I only own the non-canon events. I am obviously not making any profit from posting this story.

A/N: This story starts at the start of summer after the fourth year of Hogwarts. While Hermione is home-schooled and therefore not subjected to the normal timeline of summer holidays, all the other kids are.

The old house was blissfully silent when Hermione woke up for the last week of June.

Her quiet life had taken an unexpected turn after one infamous Sirius Black stumbled through the wards a month ago and she appreciated to wake up to the familiar silence of Grimmauld Place. After spending her whole life in the old house with Kreacher and the painting for sole company, she couldn't get used to hearing Black and the occasional friends he brought home. Merlin be blessed, these people never stayed more than an hour or so at a time and never went further than the ground floor, bu Black took back his old bedroom on the first floor and had yet to leave the house since he arrived. He spent his time emptying bottles and screaming at the painting all around the house who either ignored him or screamed even louder, something about asserting dominance according to her great-gran Irma Black's painting. While he seemed miserable while alone in this house, he didn't try to seek her out and spend time with her, something she was grateful for. Having her home invaded by strangers was bad enough, having someone violating her personal space and privacy would be too much for her to handle.

Intent on getting something to eat before locking herself up in the library to study, she had to refrain a sigh when Walburga's painting told her about people occupying the kitchen. Why was Black welcoming people so early in the morning? Squaring her shoulders, she entered the room with a kick "Good Morning" before sitting as far as possible from the two men who had stopped their conversation the minute they saw her. They kept starring in silence while Kreacher started cooking her breakfast and asking question about her night and the book she was currently reading. Finally, when she started eating in silence, the scarred man next to Sirius started to speak.

"So, I take you are Hermy."

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow at the use of the surname.

"Hermy. That's your name isn't it? Sirius told me about you," pressed the man.

"My name is Hermione, not Hermy. And since we don't know each other, refrain from using it."

"I see", responded the man, seemingly taken aback by her mistrusting tone. "Well I'm Remus Lupin. We don't know each other but you can call me Remus."

"Will you stay here long enough for me to have a reason to call you?"

"Has anyone ever told you how much of a delight you are?", interrumpted Black with a smirk, his firsts words to her since his arrival at Grimmauld Place. "A ray of sunshine, really."

She was about to answer when Kreacher appeared on the table, his little fists trembling out of anger.

"Filthy blood-traitor don't talk this way to the little Mistress! Filthy blood-traitor take his beast friend and leave now!"

At the end of the table, Black's face was getting red at the insult. Hermione, however, only widened her eyes.

"Beast friend?" she asked, uncertain. "What are you talking about?"

"He is a werewolf, Little Mistress", answered the house-elf in a quieter tone. "He is dangerous for the Little Mistress. Monsters shouldn't be in the house of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black."

"Shut it, stupid elf", hissed Black. "You don't get to say who's welcome in this place. Remus will stay, end of discussion."

"No need to insult him", said Hermione, her tone as cold as ice. "As for you, Kreacher, there's no need to fight for something you can't do anything about."

If the house-elf was still unhappy about it, he didn't say anything. He nodded in her direction and with a snap of his fingers, her dirty dishes went to the sink to wash themselves. Another snap and Kreacher disappeared. Taking example on him and having enough of human interaction for the day, Hermione stood up and left the kitchen.

She made small talk with the paintings while climbing the stairs, stopping whenever one of them called her as she passed. Walburga, being the closest to the kitchen, had heard Kreacher's screams and word spread like fire between the other paintings, who wanted Hermione to confirm the gossip. Having a werewolf in the house was a first, and obviously being dead didn't do anything to ease the painting's worry. She went like this until the third and last floor, where she was finally alone. Being the only person in the house for so long, most of the rooms stayed unoccupied, except for the kitchen, the library and this floor she labelled as hers where her bedroom, her potion lab and the place she used for spell-related experiments were. The kitchen and the library, she could share. Everyone needed those, and the paintings who took upon themselves to teach her manners and etiquette taught her about being a good host, regardless of the fact her guests weren't exactly welcomed. This floor, however, was hers and would stay untouched, no matter what. She called for Kreacher softly, scared the werewolf could hear her.

"Do you remember the book I was reading the other day?" she asked when he appeared. "Advanced imprisonments and other rituals for your safety, I told you about it after Black appeared here. I need you to bring it to me, please."

The house-elf nodded his head and disappeared. When he reappeared a minute later, he was holding a thick book in his arms.

"Won't Little Mistress study in the library today?" ha asked as she started to turn the pages quickly.

"Later. You were supposed to make sure Black didn't come anywhere near this floor for the last month, but he talked about making his friend stay and you can't watch everyone at the same time. We don't know who will come next and I won't risk it."

"Kreacher thought Little Mistress did not want to make magic around these people."

"I don't. Which is why I'll make it look like I didn't", she replied with a wink. "Some runes should do it. Anyone could carve runes around a door; the secret is safe."

"Kreacher don't understand why Little Mistress's magic should be a secret", grumbled Kreacher. "Little Mistress should be proud of being a witch. Little Mistress should not show weakness in front of blood traitors and monsters."

"It's not about being weak, it's about appearing as such. I don't have a wand and wandless magic is hard, even for adults, but it's the only magic I'm capable of. Black has been drinking all month and his friends never tried to approach me until this morning. None of them will think much of a girl raised by a house-elf who can't do anything besides potions and I'll be a wallflower until I know enough about them to know what to do."

"Little Mistress shouldn't be a spy in her own house but Kreacher understands. Kreacher thinks Little Mistress's parents would be proud of her for being so smart."

Hermione only responded with a beaming smile before getting to work. Once she found the right spell, she took some notes on a piece of parchment to adapt it to wandless magic. Confident in her work, she pressed her hand against her bedroom's door and started sending waves of magic towards the locket while muttering the incantation. She stopped after the handle started changing colour and took the knife Kreacher gave her to draw a few runes. She repeated the process with the other doors and, once she was finally done, headed towards the library.

If she was to coexist with a werewolf, she'd rather know how to prevent any problem.