A/N: This is not a bashing story, so to everyone who's worried about character bashing, don't worry. However, every single character's flaw will be highlighted (even Harry and Daphne are not perfect). They will then work on said flaws, but there won't be any Mary Sue's they'll just grow as characters, still flawed but hopefully less so.

They heard a scream and a crash downstairs "you see! Don't tell me that you're not thinking about food. I'm famished."

They walked into the kitchen to find a harassed looking Molly who was fighting over the frying pan with an irate Kreacher.

"Sirius!" She yelled upon seeing him gesturing with her head towards the elf.

"He'll be cooking from today onwards, there will be no more cleaning or chores either." All the kids looked relieved except Hermione.

"You can't expect him to do it all? He's too old."

"But he'll poison us!"

Both Hermione and Molly said simultaneously.

"He won't poison anyone and don't worry Hermione; the other elves will be doing most of the chores."

"More slaves! That's barbaric!" She exclaimed.

"If you say so, I don't really enjoy doing housework."

"How could you, Sirius? How could you enslave someone and be okay with it?" She pressed on as Molly was now busy staring at Kreacher. "Harry, you can't be okay with this."

"Hermione, I don't appreciate you dragging Harry into a debate that's taking place between us. For your knowledge I didn't enslave them, that's not how it works. They need to want to serve you for the magical bind to take hold."

"Of course, they do because they know nothing better. You have to free them, this instant." She demanded.

Sirius clearly didn't appreciate her tone. "Kreacher, you will not serve a single morsel to Hermione Granger. She will cook her own food, clean up her own dishes, do her own laundry and clean the room and bathroom that she's sharing with Ginny Weasley and if you see someone else doing her chores, spoil whatever it is they are doing for her."

The elf nodded his head vigorously.

"I suggest you start cooking if you want to eat."

Hermione opened and closed her mouth several times "but I don't know how." She eventually said.

"Then I suggest you learn on the job."

"Now Sirius…"

"Molly, my house, my rules. Sit, breakfast is served."

The Weasley matriarch scowled but she saw Harry and immediately narrowed her eyes "and where have you been, young man? Ron said that your bed wasn't slept in."

"Being my godson, this house is his as much as it is mine. He slept in his own room last night. Arthur, any interesting work stories you'd like to share?"

Ginny burst out laughing at that very moment, making everyone turn to look at what had her in such a state; every time Hermione would try to take something from the breakfast that Kreacher had prepared it'd disappear. Scowling at the majority of the table that was now laughing she huffed and left the room.

"So, no cleaning. We could play chess…" Ron said with a grin as his mother tried to talk some sense into Sirius.

"Sorry Ron, I want to tackle the holiday homework and I want to review all our work, it is our OWL year after all." Ron actually stopped eating to gape at Harry.

"That's a fine idea, a book or two won't hurt you either Ron and Ginny." Arthur added. They both made faces at the thought of spending summer studying making Arthur shake his head and mumble something.

Hermione's anti elf tirade continued for the rest of the week, even though the house was finally habitable. Harry carried on spending the mornings and afternoons studying, and spent the evenings with the twins, Ron and Ginny.

Harry had tried to talk to Hermione but she'd simply given him an earful and for some unknown reason kept on giving him strange looks, when she thought he wasn't looking.

It was a week later that an exhausted Hermione plonked down on the kitchen table, her stomach rumbled as the smell of lamb stew overpowered her senses. She looked at her bowl filled with water that had vegetables floating in it and burst out in tears.

Everyone stopped talking "I can't take it any more. All I do is cook and clean all day long." She wailed.

"Hermione, you don't have to do it, just stop trying to free my elves. I was told of them spotting hidden garments in unlikely places. I think you might need new dress robes, the doxies got to them as the elves couldn't clean behind the curtain in the study. Also, you should know that your clothes won't free my elves." Sirius added when she looked up at him clearly surprised.

"But it's not right…"

"Hermione" Harry cut in "have you tried talking to them? They are happy working here…"

"Because they don't know any better."

Sirius sighed before cutting across her "this is not up for debate Hermione. You are so full of yourself that you believe yourself to know all. You obviously cannot be wrong, not in your own eyes, but I'm getting tired of having to put up with a stubborn teenage witch who isn't even my responsibility. You literally came with the Weasley's, why don't you go back to your perfect little Muggle world!"

Harry sat quietly watching his godfather tell Hermione off, he did feel a little guilty believing that he might have been at fault for Sirius' attitude towards her. When reading one of the letters, Sirius had asked Harry what the Shadow was referring to. At the time Harry had told Sirius what he'd written, he had basically told the Shadow that he'd found out that he had family that he could live with but things hadn't worked in his favour.

The glimmer of hope had made going back to Privet Drive that much more difficult. On the train ride back, when he'd been feeling really low Hermione had pointed out that she'd been right about the broom incident, not even stopping to think for a second that unlike her who was going back to a home he was going to a prison.

Hermione eventually ran out of the kitchen in tears.

"Sirius Black!" Molly exclaimed.

"Dobby! Take Winky and go to the Burrow. I want you to throw out everything that is old or broken. You will…"

"What do you think you are doing? That is my house!"

Sirius turned to a red faced Molly with an icy glare "exactly! That is your house and as everyone can see, you wouldn't accept an outsider walking into your home and running it their way. The same applies to me, except for Harry everyone else is an outsider, you all can either learn how guests should behave or you can go back to your own houses."

Molly's anger immediately fizzled away, she turned to Arthur but found him mumbling an apology to Sirius for his family's behaviour.

Ginny had run out after Hermione. The rest of the Weasley brood quickly left the kitchen followed by Harry, shutting the door behind them as Molly Weasley tried to show her husband reason. They were heading up the stairs when they heard raised voices coming out of the girl's room.

"YOU BACKSTABBING WENCH! YOU TOLD ME THAT IF I DATED OTHER BOYS, IT WOULD MAKE HIM JEALOUS AND HE'D WANT TO BE WITH ME! YET ALL THIS TIME YOU WERE PLOTTING TO GET ME OUT OF THE WAY SO YOU COULD HAVE HIM!"

"I - NO! Ginny it isn't like that. I…"

"What's going on?" Harry asked wearily as he, Ron and the twins made their way towards the first floor landing where a seething Ginny was glaring at a tearful Hermione.

"Hermione thinks that you are in love with her. She doesn't understand why you aren't siding with her…"

Harry froze in his tracks, "I - what? No! Hermione?..."

Hermione looked like she'd been slapped, with a fresh flood of tears she ran towards her room locking the door behind her. To Harry's surprise Ron shoved past him, "what just happened?"

"Well, it looks like love is in the air!"

"Hermione seems to be smitten by our boy!"

"But Ronniekins seems to be smitten by her!"

"And little Ginny still seems to be crushing on our hero."

Fred had to duck mid sentence as a scarlet faced Ginny threw a sandal in his direction, before running off herself.

"What's going on?" Harry asked again, utterly bewildered as he turned to look at the grinning twins.

"Dear brother, I believe our Harrykins is all grown up."

"I believe you are right; it is time to give him the talk."

Harry found himself being led to the library "Harry, do you know where babies come from?"

"I don't need the talk!" He said, suddenly feeling the heat rush up his cheeks, as he tried to pry himself out of the twin's grip. "I just don't understand what happened. I thought Ginny was dating Corner and Hermione… and what's wrong with Ron?" He said not being able to form coherent sentences.

"From the looks of it Hermione has a crush on you."

"And Ron has a crush on her."

"Ah, young love!"

Groaning to himself he managed to get away from the twins and went to find Ron.

Ron was sitting on a bed sulking, he scowled when he saw Harry walk in.

"Ron…"

"You always get everything don't you!"

"What? What are you…"

"It wasn't enough that you had the fame, now you get the girl as well. I can see what you are doing, suddenly you are dressed in fancy clothes and are acting like school work is important, you knew I liked her!" Ron snapped.

"What the hell are you going on about?" Harry snapped back.

"Don't think I don't know what you are playing at. You know I always hoped that you'd end up with Ginny but I'm glad that…"

"Why would I want to date your sister?"

"OH! SO, SHE ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE RICH AND FAMOUS HARRY POTTER?"

"I'M NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR SISTER OR HERMIONE! I SEE THEM BOTH AS FAMILY! AND I'M SICK AND TIRED OF YOUR JEALOUSY AND TANTRUMS!"

"AND I'M SICK AND TIRED OF YOUR…"

Ron never got to finish his sentence as he was silenced by a very angry Dobby, "no one being talking to Harry Potter like that, master be asking for his guests to be leaving." With a snap of his fingers all of Ron's items were thrown into his trunk which then disappeared with a pop.

"Dobby what's going on?"

"Arthur has decided that it would be in everyone's best interest if they went back to the Burrow. Good I see that you are packed, please go down to the kitchen, you'll be using the floo. Harry, maybe you should go to your room." Sirius said from the doorway.

Half an hour later Sirius knocked on Harry's door. "Sorry about all that kiddo, it's safe to come out now."

Harry rolled his eyes at Sirius "what happened?"

Sirius grinned "I decided to start acting like an adult which didn't sit well with Molly. She's used to always getting her way, then again, she's never really dealt with anyone who isn't Arthur or her kids. Now what is this love triangle that I hear about?"

Harry groaned "apparently Ginny still has a crush on me, even though she's dating another guy and now Hermione likes me too and Ron got angry for some unknown reason…"

"And do you like either of them?"

"Not in that way" Harry said immediately "I mean, Hermione's really smart and she looked pretty at the Yule Ball, you know different, but… but Padma and Parvati looked beautiful as usual and Fleur looked really beautiful and Cho she was, she looked… I mean it's not that Hermione isn't pretty…"

Sirius burst out laughing "why are you giving me explanations pup, I'm on your side. Besides, I'm glad to see this normal teenage side of yours. Hermione might be smart but she's an average looking witch, maybe ten-fifteen years down the line you could choose a witch based on her inner beauty but at 15-16…"

"So, you think I should date her?"

"I didn't say that…"

"You said inner beauty would be important later…"

"I never said it applied to her."

"So, you are saying that she's a bad person?"

Sirius sighed "I'm not saying that, I hardly know her. I'm just saying that you are too young to choose a witch that you'll spend the rest of your life with now. And it is very natural to be attracted to witches who are physically appealing. Having said that, I should point out that you need to get along with the witch cause not everyone ages gracefully."

"What does that mean?"

Sirius paused a beat, thinking of the best way to phrase his thoughts. "Take Ginevra Weasley, for example. She's a young witch who could be considered attractive, but don't forget that she's Molly and Arthur's daughter. As the years go by, she'll look more and more like them. Look at it this way, today you'll be dating Ginny but twenty years down the line you'll be married to Molly, she has the same temper, right now you might not mind it but when she's no longer young and looks like her mother it would be her personality that would either attract or repel you. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that you need a balance, both outer and inner beauty count. You might find it with the first witch you date or you might have to date several witches till you find the one."

"Padfoot, it's really creepy the way you are talking about girls who haven't even sat for their O.W.L's yet." Remus said with a smirk as he walked into the room. "Are you alright Harry?"

Harry shrugged "I don't know… I mean Ron's my best friend but I'm getting tired of his jealousy and Hermione… I mean, I never. But how am I supposed to talk to her now?"

Sirius and Remus simply squeezed his shoulders "just give it some time, things will sort themselves out." Remus said.

A week later Daphne found herself once again cursing the universe. Dowager Greengrass had passed away in her sleep, forcing the Greengrass sisters to perform a secret funeral. Daphne had managed to convince Astoria to keep it from Draco, reminding her that even the Davis family didn't know.

"What are we going to do now?" Astoria asked her sister as the elves brought in their tea.

"Nothing for now, I'm working on something…"

Astoria's eyes lit up "does this have to do with the mysterious boy?"

Daphne froze a second too long.

"I knew it!"

"Have you been eavesdropping on me again?"

Astoria rolled her eyes. "I haven't. I just found a letter when I was looking…"

"How many times have I told you to not go through my stuff!" Daphne snapped.

"Don't flatter yourself! I was looking for extra parchment, you know so I could finish my holiday homework. Anyhow, I was just going to tell you that if you want to get a boy's attention you need to stand out."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that nana dressed sexier than you! All your tops are full sleeved and buttoned up to your neck and all you own are pants…"

"I don't…"

"Did you know that most of the boys in our house including Draco have at some point fantasized about the Weaslette? And it has nothing to do with her brains or her charming personality… I mean clearly her mother hasn't bought her clothes after her fifth birthday seeing how short her skirts are and how tight her tops are, but that's why I changed my wardrobe once I started dating Draco."

"Talk about being superficial…"

"Oh, don't take that high and mighty tone with me. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be attractive." Astoria made to march out of the room.

"Tori." Daphne called out "are you okay? You know, with nana's passing and all…?"

She stopped and nodded "it's not like it was a surprise, in a way it's better. At least we won't have to worry about her when we head back to Hogwarts." She was going to leave but she stopped - her expression softened - biting her lower lip she looked up at Daphne. "Daph… do you think we'll end up like her?"

Daphne sighed; her sister's mood swings could drive anyone crazy. One second, she was seething, the next she was friendly and then there were times that she looked so vulnerable that it scared Daphne.

"I don't know Tori… what goes around comes around I suppose…"

Astoria's face suddenly turned impassive, she simply nodded and left the room; leaving Daphne with her thoughts.

'What goes around comes around' Daphne let the words sink in. Now she couldn't help but wonder what price she'd have to pay. She shook herself out of her morose mood and focused on what Tori had said, there was truth in her words. Daphne needed to stand out.

She sunk back deeper into the love-seat. Tori had obviously been exaggerating but nonetheless she was right. Daphne had noticed over the years that on the weekends the Weasley girl always wore clothes that clung to her figure or showed a little skin. But Daphne couldn't wear revealing muggle clothes, it wasn't considered proper, especially not of a girl of her standing.

She would consult Tracey on the matter, for now she decided to finish her Gringotts meeting. She needed to make sure that their family business carried on running flawlessly till her sixteenth birthday.

Hermione was in complete shock; she'd always known that Molly cared for her children but she'd never realized just how deeply the woman loved them.

As soon as the group had arrived at the Burrow, she'd started barking orders. Everyone except Hermione was to go to their rooms and unpack. She'd then marched Hermione out and side along apparated her to her house. As expected, the house was empty but that didn't stop Molly from entering it and taking a seat on the couch.

"We will wait for your parents to come back."

"But Mrs Weasley, Dumbledore said it wasn't safe…"

"I'm sure he's put up wards to protect your parents. If the death eaters wanted to get to you, they could easily use your parents to do it. Don't worry Hermione, I'm sure everything will be fine."

Hermione had never heard Mrs Weasley sound so eerily calm before. "Mrs Weasley…" she pleaded only for the woman to tap the seat next to her.

"Hermione, I don't have any ill will towards you but you have hurt Ron and Ginny. I will not have my children feeling miserable in their own home, your constant presence over the next few weeks will only make matters worse. I'm sure you can all sort things out when you go back to school but at the moment, they are my priority."

They'd spent the rest of the morning in silence. Thankfully her parents had decided to eat lunch at home and were back at one. Mrs Weasley didn't share the details with her parents, her meeting with them was short and sweet.

Now Hermione sat in her parent's office wondering if she had any friends left.

Remus sighed audibly as he took a seat on the kitchen table. Harry was busy reviewing something which gave him the opportunity to talk to Sirius alone.

"Padfoot, don't you think you were a bit harsh? Especially on Hermione?"

Sirius ignored him. "I'm going to start exercising and I'm going to start taking Harry with me. I've also asked the elves to start serving nutritious meals. I saw him get out of the shower yesterday, I had thought it was the clothes that made him look so tiny but he's all bones Moony."

"That's good. Padfoot…" he tried again "they are his friends, he needs them…"

"Remus" Sirius said in an uncharacteristically cold voice "I may be new to this parenting thing but let me make something very clear. Nothing is more important to me than Harry and if anyone tries to hurt him or come between us, I will not hesitate to cut them out."

Remus stared at his friend's sudden change of mood and the underlying message that he'd just delivered. "Sirius, I care about him too."

Sirius snorted. "You sure have a funny way of showing it."

"You know about my condition…"

Remus jumped as Sirius banged his cup on the table, spilling tea everywhere. "Stop! Just stop Remus! You have hidden behind that excuse long enough; you couldn't care for him when I was locked up but what about when you met him again after 12 years?"

"I tried…" he whispered. "I tried to but how could I when I'd failed him so badly?"

Sirius snarled at him. "You are right. You. Have. Failed. Him." He enunciated each word and watched his friend flinch under his unforgiving gaze. "You had the opportunity to make up for it, instead you repeated your mistakes. Why didn't you stay in touch with him after meeting him? Remus, I'm giving you one last chance, you are my only friend and the only family that Harry and I have left, make your choice. You are either on Harry's side or everyone else's side." He stood up abruptly and walked towards the kitchen door, he stopped with his hand resting on the handle "Moony, if you decide to leave, know that I forgive you and I hope that you can forgive me as well."

Remus sat in the empty kitchen. His friend's words echoing in his ears, standing up he didn't bother getting his stuff. He wouldn't need it anyway, he had a mission to complete, Dumbledore was counting on him. The werewolves didn't care much for material possessions.

He never heard the soft sob that escaped Sirius' lips on the other side of the door as the green flames cackled around him.

Sirius went to his room to mourn the loss of the only friend he had left.

Daphne was sitting in her garden getting irritated at the sound of the chirping birds who were enjoying the fountain. Normally she'd enjoy these little moments of peace, she'd appreciate the beauty that surrounded her and the sweet smells that her blooming garden had to offer. But not today. Potter hadn't written to her for several days now and she knew it was her fault. She'd pushed him to bond with his estranged godfather. It had clearly been a mistake.

Now she was cursing her momentary lapse in judgement, she'd let her heart get the better of her and now she was paying the price. Why would he need her if he'd found someone who he could trust blindly?

She couldn't allow anyone to ruin her plans, she needed to figure something out and fast. Something caught her attention; it was a pretty little wild red flower. She plucked it and went inside, still lost deep in thought.

Entering her room, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, frowning - she went and stood in front of it. For all the nonsense that Astoria spouted one thing was true, the Weasley girl didn't resemble any of her pure blood counterparts. She was thin and lean, she clearly exercised like a peasant. Physical activity was something that the pure bloods considered beneath them.

Daphne studied herself. Her blonde hair was naturally streaked from the sun's rays, her cobalt blue eyes sparkled brightly against her porcelain complexion, but her cheeks suddenly felt chubby. She sucked them in and looked at herself, prodding her high cheekbones. Still frowning, she untied her hair and let it fall around her face, wondering if one of the hairstyles that she'd seen in the magazine would suit her.

She turned sideways and pulled her maxi dress back to better study her figure. She was thin, at least thinner than most of the Slytherin's in her year, but she could see puppy fat. That wouldn't do, not if her plan worked. She'd seen first hand how much attention Potter had gotten during the Yule ball, now if he actually started looking better, she'd have to really stand out. For the first time in her life, she felt a sense of insecurity creeping into the depths of her mind. She looked at the flower lying on her dressing table and decided that it was time to do the necessary. No matter the cost.