Yes,

I know what I said about how many chapters I would be releasing, but I was having too much fun typing. I hope that you enjoy the additional chapter and as always, please review!

P.S.

I still don't own Harry Potter, as J.K Rowling will never give it up. All I can do is play with the world that she created for us to enjoy. All OCs are mine thought unless otherwise stated. Thank you, and happy reading!

Chapter 10

Harry's nose began to twitch as something was tickling her face. Still groggy and stiff from sleeping on the uncomfortable chair, Harry tried to sleepily wave off whatever was tickling her nose and cheeks. From the uncoordinated action came giggles and the scent of vanilla, causing Harry to squint and open her eyes.

"Wake up, Harry," Hermione giggled as she once again let her long bushy hair trail across Harry's face.

In a moment of impishness, Harry grabbed ahold of Hermione by the back of her neck and pulled her in for a quick peck on the lips!

"Eep!" Hermione squeaked as she had been caught off guard.

As the girl was frozen in place, Harry laughed and kissed her on the nose before getting up and stretching out her stiff muscles. She nearly tripped on a blanket that someone had tucked her into as she slept before using Hermione to catch herself.

"You have become much bolder in your time away, Mrs. Potter," Hermione laughed as she was nearly crushed under Harry's extra weight.

"That's true enough, Mrs. Potter," Harry agreed with a smirk. "I think I have finally come to realize just how much life has to offer. Calliope told me that I can't hide forever and that if I want to live without regrets, I should face the world without fear. I'm taking small steps, but I am miles from where I was before. I think realizing my feelings for you has pushed me forward once again."

"I think I can see what you mean," Hermione said. "In a way, I'm glad for this new you. You were always so cute and shy, but you never seemed to get the hints that I was dropping to try and get you to notice me. I was beginning to lose hope that you would ever notice me."

"Holy Merlin! Was I that dense?" Harry whined. "Can you imagine what could have been if I continued to only ever see you as a sister? For all I know, we could have ended up with a couple of parasites after your brains and my money! I'm glad we won't need to worry about that anymore!"

"Honestly, Harry!" Hermione groaned. "We aren't that dense! There's no way that could have ever happened. I'm sure that one of our friends would stop us if we ever thought of doing anything that stupid. At the very least, one of our friends would suggest we get checked for compulsions or love potions. It's not like our friends are that oblivious."

"I don't know, Mione," Harry said conspiratorially. "If I hear Mrs. Weasley make another joke about how she had to potion Mr. Weasley to give her the time of day, I may send him off to St. Mungo's myself to make sure!"

"Oh, you!" Hermione laughed and swatted Harry on the shoulder. "Surely she is only joking. Right?

"I hope so," Harry said but didn't sound so sure. "They both have been nothing but kind to me, but Sirius is teaching me to pay attention to the things that people say and do. Mrs. Weasley was giving meaningful glances between Ron and us yesterday, and it was starting to creep me out."

"Well," Hermione sighed. "We are meeting the Weasley out in Diagon Alley this afternoon to purchase our school supplies. Hopefully, we won't notice any more weird looks from Mrs. Weasley or Ronald, because can I say 'yuck'? That will never happen if I can help it!"

Harry couldn't help but laugh at her wife's reaction to being whammied by love potions.

'Wait,' Harry thought. 'Wife? Oh no! We didn't even talk about it yet!'

Tentatively, Harry looked over at Hermione and cleared her throat to catch her "wife's" attention as she had become momentarily distracted by all the books surrounding her.

"Yes, Harry?' Hermione asked, slightly peeved by her ability to be so easily engrossed by the ancient books around her when Harry was so close to her.

"Are you ok with all of this," Harry cautiously asked. "We didn't really get to talk about this last night with you falling asleep on the loveseat. I just wanted to make sure that you were alright."

Understanding and sharing Harry's worries, Hermione did the only thing that she could think of to alleviate her fears. She grabbed Harry's face with both hands and proceeded to snog the life out of her! After several minutes the two finally came up for air before they could pass out from a lack of oxygen.

"Woah," Harry finally stated with a slight moan when she regained the ability to speak coherently. "Are you sure that you're not half dementor? I'm fairly certain that my soul nearly left my body!"

At that statement, Hermione whacked Harry in the face with one of the throw pillows, knocking the teen over the side of the armrest that she was leaning against for support.

"Oi!" Harry shouted in protest as she went over to the side.

"Prat," Hermione smirked before casting a quick tempus. It was nice being in a location where she could cast spells without worry from the ministry. There were so many wards at Grimmauld place that they would never get caught with the use of underage magic!

"We better, Harry!" Hermione shouted. "It's already 10:15 and we are to be at Diagon Alley by noon to meet the Weasleys!"

The two hurriedly ran to their rooms to change and brush their teeth before they headed down the stairs to the kitchen, where the rest of the Blacks were waiting with Remus. They were eating and talking amongst themselves when Harry and Hermione entered the room with shy smiles.

The Tonks and Weasley family had left the night before, after the drama with the soul bond between Harry and Hermione. Each party had been informed of the situation by Sirius and Calliope, and they had decided that they would let the teens rest after such an expenditure of magic. The draining of their magical cores during the bonding was why they had fallen asleep so quickly in the library. They were just so cute lying near each other that Sirius and Calliope allowed them to spend the night in the library. It was Regulus that had wrapped Harry up in the blanket so that she wouldn't catch a chill.

"Good morning, Misses. Potter," Sirius smirked at the two as they entered the kitchen. "I was beginning to wonder if we would need to send out a search party. From the looks on your faces, I imagine all is well in the world?"

The two young ladies blushed even further before Calliope playfully shoved her husband. The old dog was caught off guard by the sudden motion and toppled to the floor. His chair followed along after him for the ride!

"Oi!" Sirius cried out in indignation. " What was that for?"

"You know very well what that was for," Calliope stated as she smiled down at his form on the floor.

"You had that coming there, Pads," Remus exclaimed with a laugh. "Even I know better than to tease the new couple in front of Calliope here. It would benefit you greatly to tone down any teasing of the newest lovebirds when in her presence."

Tap Tap Tap

"Speaking of birds," Calliope remarked. "That beautiful snowy owl seems to want inside. Also, it looks like a ministry owl is about to drop in as well."

"Hedwig!" Harry shouted as she ran to the window to let her familiar into the room. "Where have you been? I thought you were lost."

Hedwig flew to Harry's shoulder before nipping at her ears and barking about the indignation of being unable to find her.

"Sorry, girl," Harry whined. "I was under some pretty heavy wards and was probably impossible to find. You did an excellent job of finding me, Hed. I'm so glad to see you!"

The snowy owl preened at the praise and snuggled up to her mistress. She seemed put off by Harry's longer hair and went about rearranging the wild curls in an effort to straighten them out. She was sadly losing the battle.

By this point, the ministry owl was become quite peeved that no one was taking the letter from its leg. The bird hopped onto the table nearest Harry and began to smack the girl with its wing until Harry removed the letter from the bird's harness. Hedwig was not impressed by the Tawney owl's actions and proceeded to chase it from the house, pecking it as it fled out the window.

"It would appear that news travels fast," Harry sighed as she browsed the contents of the letter. "The ministry has learned of our soul bond and is congratulating us on our marriage. They are reminding us that if we want to legitimize our marriage legally, we will need to be married to a male wizard by the time we complete our education at Hogwarts."

"How dare they presume to tell us how to live our lives!" ranted Hermione in disgust. "Who do they think they are ordering us about?"

"Well, Hermione," Sirius sighed. "They think they are the ruling body of the land. Our laws may be seen as outdated by the standards of many muggle-born and half-blood citizens, but these are the laws we live by. If you truly wish to see change within your lifetime, you need to be the force behind that change. Until you have the political backing to support your views, you should study the laws and gather evidence to support the change you want to make in the world."

Hermione seemed to think over what Sirius had said, and Harry just knew her magically wedded wife would have the two of them spending hours within the library this year to learn more about the laws of the Wizarding World. There was a momentary lull in the conversation until Sirius remembered what he had planned to discuss with his goddaughter.

"Harry," Sirius called to catch her attention. "When I returned to gather your belongings at Privet Drive, before you recovered from your injuries, I found your things locked away in the smallest bedroom of the house. Your trunk was completely destroyed, with the only salvageable item being your photo album. It was clever of you to hide your most precious belongings under that loose floorboard.

"Luckily for you, I was able to detect them and return them to your possession upon your recovery. Sadly, we will need to buy you a new trunk, robes, and uniforms for this year. Minerva was kind enough to drop off the lists for your school supplies, so we won't need to worry about waiting for the school owl to arrive. We can get a head start on the Weasleys and beat the crowds as well! Was there anything else in Surrey that was left behind?"

"No," Harry replied. "I want nothing from that house but to put it behind me."

"I thought as much," Sirius said as he nodded his head. "I just had to be sure. By the way, Harry, those glasses of yours are awfully outdated. While we are out on the town, we can look around for some new glasses unless you would like to see about having your eyesight magically corrected?"

"My eyes can be fixed?!" Harry asked in awe. "That would be great!"

"Fantastic!" Sirius agreed. "I'm surprised Madam Pomphrey hasn't suggested it to you already. Haven't you ever noticed that it's only the really old witches and wizards that wear glasses? The effects of aging are the only thing that magic can't fix. Well, if we have nothing else to wait on, let's get ready to head out!"

"We can even head out to Gladrags and check out their dress robes selection," Calliope commented with a wink at the girls. "Those are on your list of required items for school this year."

"Mum!" Regulus pouted. "Are you sure it's a requirement? Hogwarts hasn't thrown a ball in over a hundred years! It's not like we are attending Beauxbatons."

"Of course, I'm sure, my little feather," his mother chided as she flashed the list before him in triumph. "It's right here in bold. You will be wearing dress robes this year, and that's that. Think of it this way. You'll get the chance to match your robes with these two lovely ladies."

Blushing furiously, the three teens ran from the table and readied themselves by the fireplace, the adults laughing behind them at their expense.

"Those three are going to be the envy of the ball," Calliope whispered to Sirius and Remus.

"Should we tell them," Remus asked his two friends.

"We can't," Sirius shared. "The school board and the Wizengamot made it quite clear that no student was to know about the tournament until Dumbledor's announcement in the great hall after the evening's feast. The old man had better be on his game this year. If anything threatens Harry, he had better be ready to face Lord Black and the entire might of the Black family magic!"

Remus worriedly looked at his friend. He owed Dumbledor a lot for his help over the years. If it wasn't for the old man, then Remus would have been forced to live amongst the rest of the wolf packs of England. He would have to tread very carefully. He had taken several oaths over the years since the deaths of the Potters, and if he wasn't careful, he might find himself in a whole world of trouble. Trapped between his oaths to his friends and to his greatest benefactor was not somewhere that Remus Lupin would like to be.

"Alright, everyone!" Sirius barked from where he stood by the fireplace. "Let's head out!"

With that said, he grabbed a handful of floo powder and tossed it into the roaring flames.

"Diagon Alley!" Sirius declared as he stepped into the fire, and in a flash of green flames, he was gone.