A/N: Shout-out to WH Rutledge for his opinion on one bit of this chapter. And now, on with the show!


Chapter 2

The next day quickly arrived, and the Hogwarts Express was on its way back to London.

Hermione made sure to get a compartment at the very back of the train for her and Harry. That morning, since they both woke up at the same early time, she led them to breakfast as quickly as possible so they could then be one of the first ones to board the train. Beyond the meeting at the beginning of the journey where they went over a timetable of patrols for all the prefects, the two of them hadn't left their compartment. She even, to Harry's astonishment, was willing to do their scheduled patrol of the train by herself so that he wouldn't have to deal with questions from the rest of the students. Her response was that she wanted to give him a quiet and peaceful trip back home. The blush that rose to his face, and his meek thank-you response, was adorable enough to warm her heart.

That's where Hermione was now, on her way back to her and Harry's compartment after having checked on everyone in the train, about two hours into the ride back to London. She had to politely but firmly shut down a few people that tried to pick her brain about Harry. Her response was that if Harry hadn't seen fit to talk to them about certain things, then why would they possibly think she would ever talk about him behind his back?

She shook her head at the thought as she reached the compartment but decided it wasn't worth dwelling on. She knocked on the door six times in quick succession, as she'd previously told Harry she would do in order for him to know it was her on the other side, before entering the compartment and locking the door behind her.

When she turned back around, she couldn't help chuckling when she saw Crookshanks stretched out completely on the seat across from Harry, where she had previously been sitting. It was as though the cat had claimed a new bed, she thought while shaking her head with amusement, as she took a seat beside Harry.

He asked, "What's got you laughing?"

She looked to him with a smile, nudged her head in the direction of the orange cat, and said, "Oh, just Crookshanks acting like he's the king of the compartment over there."

Harry smirked for an instant before he replied, "Yeah, he took your spot over there about five minutes after you left. Guess he got tired of sitting over here with me."

"Or maybe," she teasingly said, "he finally gave me my actual spot back."

She saw a faint blush rise in Harry's face before he turned to look out the compartment window and murmured, "Maybe."

Hermione felt uneasy about his reaction. She thought she just made a light joke. Did she go too far?

After a minute of silence, she had to ask. "What's wrong, Harry? Did I say something out of line?"

He grimaced as though in pain before turning back to her with an apologetic expression. "No, Hermione, you didn't. It's just…"

He trailed off and looked down, like he was afraid of her reaction to whatever he would say. Remembering how he'd opened up last night, she scooted closer to him, leaving barely any space between them, and whispered, "Tell me, please? Whatever it is you want or need to say, no matter how bad you may think it is, I won't get mad at you. I won't think less of you. And I won't leave your side."

He sighed, pulled his head back up, and locked eyes with her. He sadly replied, "That's just it, Hermione. You've always been beside me, haven't you? Even when I'm being an utter git."

Confusion at his statement caused her mind to freeze up for a few seconds. This was enough time for him to turn his head and gaze out the window before he continued. "After you left for patrol, my mind started focusing on your statement about having a peaceful trip, and then I couldn't help but start reminiscing about my actions over the years. Why haven't you given up on me yet? After I always seemed to treat you as second-best to Ron even when you deserved better? And after how I've kept you at arm's length since the end of the war, even if it was a hell of a lot closer than anyone else was allowed to be?"

She let silence hold for two seconds before firmly whispering, "What makes you think I would ever give up on you?"

He turned his head to face her again. "It's what I deserve, isn't it? After I've done all I can to keep people away this year. After never giving you a straight answer whenever you wanted to know what was troubling me. And especially after all the times I never appreciated in earlier years just how much you sacrificed to keep me alive. You, of all people, have every reason to treat me as a lost cause, but you haven't. Why?"

The bafflement in that final word said everything. He truly thought he deserved to be alone. And maybe he was correct in a technical sense. She was the only person to try talking to him about anything personal, no matter how fruitless her endeavors were. Everyone else had learned long ago to either keep any questions to him related to academics or Hogwarts itself, or just avoid him altogether such as the case with Ginny. And how long could a person keep trying when the result was always the same? Logically, the route Harry was suggesting was the more sensible one given prior evidence.

But… since when were matters of the heart ever completely logical?

In fact, Hermione could feel her heart beating so hard that it seemed to be urging her to reveal her feelings at that very moment. But her mind's resistance was still too strong and beat down the temptation. It was too soon, and he already had enough worries in his mind right now. The important thing at the moment was to give him some happiness over the next two weeks. And it appeared that her work was going to start right now.

Without removing her gaze from his, she shifted her right hand and took hold of his left. As his brow furrowed even more in confusion, she finally responded. "Do you remember that lull in the Battle of Hogwarts, when you found Ron and me after watching the memories from Snape?"

His confusion was instantly replaced by sadness. "How could I forget? You offered to go to the Forbidden Forest with me. And I refused, and begged as a last request that you stay in the castle because there was absolutely no circumstance whatsoever where I would allow you to die like that, after everyone I'd already lost."

Hermione couldn't help but think how, even at a time when she hadn't realized her deeper feelings, she still gave him such importance that she listened to him at that time against all of her instincts. And she now knew how terribly she would have regretted not going with him if he had not miraculously survived. In any case, while she still wouldn't go so far as to reveal everything, she could at least give him the idea of his importance in her life.

"I told you once that I sat down after the battle and reflected on everything, which led me to realizing how much I regretted my actions with Ron. What you don't know, however, is the first epiphany I had which led to my thoughts on Ron."

Seeing the question building in his expression, she answered ahead of him. "It was the realization that he was never going to be more important to me than you." His eyes grew huge with the revelation, but she pushed ahead with her thoughts. "You're right that I've been with you through a lot. The Philosopher's Stone, the basilisk and my petrification, helping Sirius, the Triwizard Tournament, the Department of Mysteries, staying with you on the Horcrux hunt even when everything seemed hopeless. Giving up my family, with no guarantee that they would ever return, to fight beside you. Harry, I offered to die with you even after having kissed Ron not long beforehand. What makes you think anyone else could be more important than you?"

Harry was astonished at the final sentence, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. His next words quickly confirmed her thought. "But Hermione, I've treated you awfully on many occasions. Like the Firebolt, or always forgiving Ron so easily – "

"But you've also been there for me," she interrupted. "You remembered me when the troll was loose in the castle. You visited me every day in the hospital wing after I drank the tainted Polyjuice Potion in second year. You kept studying things for the tournament with me before the first task, even though I knew you disliked how much more you were doing, because you didn't want to disappoint me. You stayed at my side the entire time when we were fighting for our lives against the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. When I made those mushrooms for the first time, I know that you ate every one while Ron only ate a couple of bites, like you didn't want to hurt my feelings over my admittedly terrible attempt at cooking food from the wilderness. And that dance in the tent… you showed me that there could still be hope and happiness in the world, even during the darkest times."

Hermione couldn't stop herself and grabbed his other hand to hold both, just like the previous night. "And I haven't always been there for you, either. Need I remind you of sixth year, where I treated you more awfully than all other years combined, all because I thought Ron was the only choice available to try and get as a boyfriend? Or even before that, with the summer after fourth year. I listened to Dumbledore like a fool and didn't contact you at all, when I should have spat in his face and either visited you at your relatives or brought you to my house, because you should never have had to be alone during that time after what you faced."

Her words must have been working, as even though his astonishment was still obvious, his eyes were beginning to soften. She gave his hands a quick squeeze and continued. "Harry, relationships have their ups and downs. The important part is to be able to work through the valleys so that people can enjoy the peaks. And Harry, you've never done anything that I would consider so bad that the only way forward would be to throw away our friendship, and I doubt you ever will now that you're overly concerned about such things. I want to help you through this valley you've become stuck in, which is why I was adamant about you coming with me today. Because I hope I can give you whatever holiday cheer I can, even if it's just a temporary bit of happiness."

As Hermione finally ended her long speech, Harry's mouth silently opened and closed a few times. He really had no clue of what to say to her. She just kept quiet, eyes locked on his, allowing him time to figure out his next words.

After at least a minute, Harry whispered out, "I… I really don't deserve a friend like you, Hermione."

She smiled at him and said, "Well, maybe sometimes, it's not about what we deserve. Maybe, it's just about what is. And for me, it's about you being so important that I'll never give up on you, Harry. No matter what." In more ways than just friendship, she couldn't help thinking.

He smiled and closed his eyes. When he opened them a few seconds later, she could see the shine of tears within. Then, he replied, "Thank you. For this, and for everything else you've done. I, I can't promise that I'll get over these issues immediately, but I promise I'll try my hardest not to let them overtake things during this break."

She quietly said, "I won't ask for any more than what you're ready to give."

He simply nodded, and their declarations were made. She let go of his hands, but she grew slightly confused when she saw Harry smirk and look behind her. Before she realized what was happening, Crookshanks walked into both of their laps before lying down and stretching out, just like how she'd seen when she walked back into the compartment.

Hermione and Harry looked at each other and burst out laughing at the cat's antics.

"Guess we aren't going anywhere for a while now, are we," she jokingly said, after they both finally got their giggles under control.

"Ah, I can't say I mind too much," he replied, beginning to rub Crookshanks' belly and giving one more chuckle when the cat began purring at the attention. As Harry continued to almost absentmindedly pet Crookshanks, he looked back out of the train window at the moving scenery, though with a small smile on his face this time. Hermione summoned her copy of Hogwarts, A History to pick up where she'd left off, and the two humans and cat all seemed to take comfort in the silence that followed.

The rest of the journey on the Hogwarts Express was just as peaceful as she'd hoped. Harry ended up falling asleep not long after that extensive talk and actually stayed as such for the entire trip. A thought began to prickle in her mind when he was surprised about having slept the whole trip, but now wasn't the time to ask since they needed to get off the train. And before long, the two of them had crossed the platform barrier and were standing on the Muggle side of King's Cross Station.

Pulling them over to the side so that they wouldn't be in the way of the barrier, Hermione began sweeping her gaze all throughout the platform. She stopped when her eyes came to a bench at the other end of the platform, where two people were sitting and appeared to be having a conversation.

"There they are, my parents are here and waiting."

As she turned back to Harry, her concern instantly flared up again upon seeing his face filled with dread. She stepped closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look at her.

"Harry," she gently said, "you don't have to worry so much, remember? I told you how my parents don't hate or even dislike you."

He shook his head for a couple of seconds before responding. "I know you did, Hermione, and you would never lie to me. But I just can't help being afraid. What if seeing my face for the first time since Australia brings up those old feelings for them? Or they're only OK with you wanting to be friends with me but not having me stay over with all of you? Not to mention how intimidating your father can probably be with his height."

Hermione recalled the little bit of chatting that she and Harry had done before he left Australia, and some of it had to do with certain aspects of her parents that startled him upon meeting the two.

With her father, it was a combination of his height and eyes. Harry was already six feet tall, but her father had about four inches on even that. When combining that with his large brown eyes, which Harry had noted looked exactly like Hermione's own chocolate eyes, it cut an intimidating figure whenever her dad would turn a hard glare onto someone. Harry had yet to experience such a glare himself, but she was sure the possibility was rolling around in his mind.

With her mother, it was how much of a resemblance Hermione had to her. The only clear differences were how her mother's eyes were blue, she had her hair cut at the shoulders compared to Hermione's reaching halfway down the back, and she was about an inch taller than Hermione, who was five feet and six inches. Beyond those attributes, the family resemblance was plainly obvious.

But now was not the time for Hermione to lose herself in runaway thoughts of the past. She needed to reassure Harry here and now. She took hold of his hands again, before she responded.

"Then I'll do everything that I can to convince them to allow it. And if they somehow still won't, then I'll pay for some hotel room for you and me, and then we can figure out where to go from there for the rest of the holidays."

Harry's jaw dropped at her statement. He said with awe, "You would really do that?"

Hermione said, "Is it that surprising, Harry? I gave them up once already, didn't I? And while I ultimately am glad that I got to spend the summer and reconnect with them, I've had my time with them. Now, it's your turn, and I refuse to leave you again."

He closed his eyes and then hung his head a bit. She just stood there, not moving her gaze an inch from him, and let him compose himself again. No matter how many times she had to repeat it, she would keep stressing his importance to her. Let him know that she would do anything to help him.

Maybe that would one day give her the courage to finally reveal all of her feelings.

After a minute or so, Harry pulled his head back up and opened his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he said, "OK. You've done so much for me, so I can be brave for you and face this head-on."

She gave him a tender smile and squeezed his hands. "I'm glad to hear that. Now, what do you say we go face my parents now?"

They didn't have to go far at all, as someone behind Hermione cleared their throat.

-O-

Unbeknownst to Harry and Hermione, Miranda Granger had glanced their way and saw them standing not far from the barrier that she and Jack knew led to the Hogwarts train platform. She saw Hermione turning her back to them, and a conversation must have been taking place because she saw Harry start speaking to Hermione.

"Something wrong, honey?"

Turning her attention back to her husband, she nudged her head in the direction behind him and said, "Looks like our daughter's not alone, Jack."

When he looked in the opposite direction, he saw Hermione having some kind of conversation with Harry Potter. And they both appeared to have trunks packed for the holiday break.

Turning back to face his wife, he sighed and gave her a resigned smile. "Looks like we'll be having a second person for the holidays, won't we."

Miranda smirked, "We are, unless you're willing to risk Hermione hating us for the rest of her life. You know how important Harry is to her."

Jack couldn't help the snort that left him before he replied to her. "Don't we both. Not only argued to let our memories be modified so we would forget about her while she fought at his side in a magical war, but also spent hours arguing against us for his sake when we found her sobbing that night in Australia. And was successful in both regards! In fact, I bet that's what they're talking about now. From the things that Hermione was willing to tell us about him during that argument, I'd put money down on the boy being deathly afraid of us seeing him for the first time since the day they found us."

She nodded at him. "I don't doubt it. And she'll definitely be ready to argue with us about Harry coming to stay with the three of us for the holidays, should we refuse him at first. I swear, if that girl hasn't yet wised up to what she really feels about Harry, I'm going to strap her into a chair and tell her myself."

Jack gave her a knowing grin before saying, "You were already trying to do that in our last letter to her, with that line about not needing books to spend time together. You're also not wrong, though, about her needing a realization."

Miranda looked back in the direction of her daughter and said, "Well, given that you're the one that's theoretically supposed to hate any teenage boy our daughter goes near, I do have to ask. What choice will it be, dear?"

He snorted at her again and stood up, holding his hand out to her as she stood with him. "You and I both know this would be the best Christmas gift we could give her, even if she said in her letter not to do a gift exchange because it was enough for her that our family was together. Come on, let's go put them out of their misery."

-O-

When she heard someone clear their throat, Hermione jerked around and tried to stretch herself to be as tall as possible to cover Harry while reaching into her jacket for her wand, a new vine wood and dragon heartstring wand that she'd gotten at Ollivander's during the summer. She stopped before she could pull it out, however, when she realized exactly who had been standing behind her.

Her parents, both with loving smiles on their faces.

Removing her hand from her jacket and moving to stand beside Harry, Hermione took a deep breath to try and calm herself. In the meantime, she used her peripheral vision to take a quick glance at Harry's expression. His anxiety was obvious for all to see.

Realizing what Hermione must have been about to do, Miranda said, "Sorry if we scared you, sweetheart. Just figured we would save you the trip over to the bench, since we saw you standing here."

Hermione shook her head before walking forward and giving each of her parents a big hug, breaking away after about five seconds. "No Mum, it's OK. Old habits die hard, I guess, after last year. It's good to see you both again."

"And we're glad to see you again," Jack replied. "Everything still going well up at the school?"

Hermione's expression became anxious, as she took a deep breath and hesitantly replied. "Mostly, yeah. As for what isn't, well… I suppose that depends on your answer to a question I have."

Miranda quickly interceded. "You want Harry, who's trying his best to shrink away behind you as though he can hide himself, to stay with us over the holidays, correct?"

Hermione felt her jaw drop, and she completely missed Harry doing the same behind her. She snapped out of the slight daze when her parents both chuckled, and she asked, "Were we that obvious?"

"Sweetheart," Miranda responded, "while we may not be quite as smart as you, we do still have a brain cell or two."

"The fact that you were both standing here with separate trunks meant that he probably wasn't just here to see you off for Christmas," Jack added in kind. "Combine that with us overhearing you talking about facing us over something, and the subject matter seems fairly obvious."

Hermione stepped back to stand beside Harry, who had returned to looking as fearful as ever. Her parents' statements worried her, so she began pleading. "I know how unexpected this is, but I only just thought of the idea last night when there was no time to send you a letter, and Harry's never really had a regular Christmas before. After everything that happened last year, I don't want to leave him alone for the holidays – "

"Hermione," Miranda interrupted. "You don't really think that we walked over here just to tell you 'no,' do you?"

Hermione's mind shut down for a couple of seconds, as she'd been mentally preparing for at least some kind of fight and thus didn't know how to respond now. In that small reprieve, her mother turned to an absolutely shocked Harry.

"So, would you like to join us for the Christmas holidays, Harry? Jack and I are both alright with it," the man in question nodding his head at the statement as she continued to talk, "but the final choice is still ultimately yours. What do you say?"

This snapped Hermione out of her stupor, and she turned to Harry, who was in a daze of his own. She couldn't blame him, since he had been fully expecting pushback about him joining them, even after everything she'd mentioned about her parents. All she could do was wait for him to make his decision. She just hoped she'd given him enough reason to stay.

Finally, Harry spoke, so quietly that they would have missed it had they not all been standing close to one another. "Yes, I would like that, Mr. and Mrs. Granger."

Hermione was so elated that she couldn't help herself and immediately slammed into him with a hug. After a couple of seconds, she realized that her parents were still standing there and that they had easily accepted the change in circumstances, so she broke away from Harry and then crashed into her parents, wrapping them up in a hug as much as she could.

"Thank you both, for accepting this so easily," she whispered to them.

"You're welcome, Little Worm," they replied for only her to hear.

Hermione broke away from them and looked at Harry, who had remained standing at their trunks and had a somewhat awkward expression on his face. She moved to stand beside him again and gave him a gentle smile. It tickled her heart when he responded with a small smile of his own, no trace of fear or worry in his expression. It made her wish that she had a camera or Pensieve, so that she could always have a means to look back on this moment.

The two of them must have gotten lost in the moment for some time, because they were both startled when they heard a throat clear again. With blushes on their faces, they turned back to her parents, who were both standing there with knowing looks. Her mother even had a clear smirk on her face.

"Well then," Jack said, "since it's already evening, why don't we get a move on? It'll take an hour to reach home, so what do you two say we pick up some takeout? There's a pretty good Chinese place not far from the house."

"Ooh, that sounds good," Hermione happily said, as she and Harry followed her parents to the car. "We can't get that up at Hogwarts." She looked back to Harry and asked, "Are you alright with that?"

He sheepishly said, "Anything is fine with me, really. I won't really know what to get, though, since I've never had it."

Hoping to stem off any deep discussions on this, since her parents were aware about what she knew of the Dursleys' wretched treatment of Harry, she quickly responded, "The chicken and broccoli plate is one of my favorites. Why don't you try that and see what you think?"

He quietly said, "Sure, that works. You've never steered me wrong before, even when I was being stupid and wouldn't listen when I should have."

Since they were bringing up the rear, neither of them could see the knowing glances that Jack and Miranda gave to one another after that statement, as the group continued their way through King's Cross.

After that, the journey to the Granger residence was fairly mundane, beyond Jack and Miranda's never-ending amazement with magic when Hermione shrunk down her and Harry's school trunks to the size of textbooks before placing them in the trunk of their sedan. Miranda did raise a knowing eyebrow when, in the back seat, Hermione put Crookshanks' cat carrier on the left side before buckling up in the middle to sit next to Harry, but said nothing beyond that.

Hermione talked for most of the ride, filling her parents in on almost anything related to her N.E.W.T. classes and how they were going. She took particular pride in telling them about how she was having to actually fight for her top spot now, since Harry was nipping at her heels in all of their shared classes. When her parents' attention then turned to him, he somewhat timidly replied that it wasn't so impressive since he not only had a good example in Hermione but also had only been doing so well for just this year, while Hermione had been the best in their year, if not the best in the school, for the entire time they had been at Hogwarts.

Unseen in the front, Jack and Miranda again gave each other knowing smiles, happy at how Harry and Hermione naturally played up the other person more.

When the four finally arrived at the house with their food, Harry and Hermione left their still-shrunken trunks beside the living room entrance at her parents' request, since that was closest to the front door, while everyone ate dinner in the kitchen. Hermione also let Crookshanks out of his cat carrier so he could finally roam free again.

To Hermione's amusement, Harry's eyes went wide when he took his first bite of Chinese takeout. When she teasingly asked him if it was good, he happily nodded at her, almost like a kid that found a new favorite thing, and she had to cover her mouth with her hand to try and hide her silent giggles at the sight. Miranda was doing the same in trying to hide her own laughter, but Jack did no such thing and openly chuckled before joking about whether they needed to worry about having Chinese every meal for the next two weeks.

Harry sheepishly smiled at them all before apologizing if he got carried away, to which Hermione immediately said that it was good to see him happy, since that's what the holidays were for. The grateful smile he flashed her way warmed her spirit.

After that, the four ate their meals in a comfortable silence at the round table. They had enough room to not be in anyone else's space while eating, but the table was also small enough that they could enjoy the presence of one another. When they finished, Harry jumped up and immediately made to start cleaning all the dishes and putting them away, but Miranda quickly and firmly stopped him by saying that he was a guest in the house and was required to do no such thing. He was about to protest when Hermione spoke up with an idea.

"Harry, why don't you come with me, and I can show you the rest of the house?"

Harry turned to her and quietly said, "OK, sure. Lead the way." Over his shoulder, her mother was giving her a nod at the idea, so Hermione led Harry back down the hallway into the living room.

"Well, you've seen our kitchen. Now you can get a good look in here, since you didn't when we first walked into the house."

From the entrance to the room, there was a 36-inch television set up on a stand at the left wall, a sofa along the right wall directly across from the TV, a loveseat near the far end of the sofa, and an armchair near the closest end while also being directly across from the loveseat. There were side tables at each end of the sofa such that people in the other chairs could easily reach them, along with a larger coffee table directly in the middle of all the furniture, though the setup was such that there was still enough room to comfortably walk in between all the furniture as well. A four-shelf bookcase next to the TV contained different movies the family had bought over the years on the bottom two shelves, and some stray books on the second shelf from the top.

Set up in the far-left corner of the room, there was a bare Christmas tree. Hermione knew that her parents were probably waiting for her before decorating the tree. They'd done that on the other Christmases where she would come home, once she had started going to Hogwarts. She couldn't help smiling a little in her mind that Harry would get to help decorate a tree for the first time.

Harry hadn't yet said anything, so she prodded him a little. "So, what do you think?"

As he walked further into the room and stood at the back of the armchair, he murmured, "It looks… homey. Like it's set up such that people have enough room to be comfortable but are still close enough that they can easily talk with each other and enjoy their presence." Turning to her with an awkward expression, he said, "If that makes any sense."

"I think it does," she replied, moving to stand beside him. "Almost like what you think an ideal family might have, right?"

He nodded pensively at her interpretation but remained silent, so she continued.

"To be honest, my parents and I have always used the sofa together. The other two pieces are basically if visitors would be here. And after the end of fourth year, when I was starting to drift away from them until everything with Riddle finally ended, it was almost one of the ways we kept together when we would spend time in here."

His expression instantly fell, and she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Don't, Harry," she said with resolution. "It's like I said earlier. I'll always be grateful that I got to spend this summer with my parents and reconnect with them after all was said and done. But now, it's your turn."

While he still looked at her with sadness, in a surprising twist, he actually reached forward and pulled her into a hug. She quickly responded and wrapped him up as tightly as breathing would allow. They silently stood there for a while, with Hermione hoping that he was getting any level of comfort out of this that she was able to give. The two of them were so lost in the moment, they never saw two other faces peek in on the scene and then quietly sneak away back to the kitchen.

At some point, Harry finally began to pull back, so Hermione loosened her own hold. As they stared at one another for a few seconds, he whispered, "Thank you."

She smiled and replied, "Anytime."

Looking up to the clock on the wall above the television, she then said, "Alright then, since it's already nine o'clock, how about we keep going, so I can get to every room?" He simply nodded, so she led them out of the living room, telling him to also grab his shrunken trunk so that they'll have it once they finally reach the guest room where he would stay.

Going down the hallway, they passed the kitchen on the left side, and then Hermione stopped them at a doorway a little bit past it on the right. "Here, we've got one of our bathrooms. We only ever use it for the toilet, though, since my parents have their own bathroom connected to their master bedroom, and there's another one upstairs, before you get to my room and the guest room, that I've always used for baths and showers. Not to mention this one is smaller than both of those." Turning to him, she said, "We really only installed this bathroom to keep visitors from having the chance to snoop around upstairs if they would use that one. But it's at least still useful to have down here whenever there's a sickness emergency or a dire need for a toilet, you know?"

Continuing for a few steps, she pointed into the next door on the left and spoke as he looked inside. "This room is what we call the cleaner room. The washer and dryer are here with their respective supplies, along with a lot of other general cleaning and bathroom supplies within the closet behind the door on the left wall inside. Good to keep in mind, but may not be necessary since Mum has always been pretty insistent about doing my laundry herself whenever I've been home on school holidays. Says she enjoys it because it reminds her that I'm home. While the sentiment wouldn't be the same, don't be surprised if she takes on your laundry, as well, since you are considered a guest in the house."

At the end of the hall by the door to the back yard, they did basically a quick U-turn while entering the alcove on the right to find the stairs that led to the second floor. After reaching the top, she stopped when they came to the first doorway on the left.

As Harry looked inside, she said, "This is my parents' bedroom. While I doubt that you'll have much need to ever really come in here, you'll know where my parents are if you might need them for something late at night." He just shrugged and nodded at her statement.

Before they could move on down the hall, they heard footsteps drawing closer on the stairs, and her parents appeared a few seconds later as Harry moved out of the doorway to stand beside Hermione.

Seeing the two still holding their magically-shrunken trunks under their arms, Jack lightheartedly said, "I see the tour is a bit slow-going, then."

Hermione replied, "I was showing off everything else as we came to it when walking through the house, since our rooms would have been the last part to reach regardless. Anyway, what's up? Are you already turning in for the night?"

Miranda answered, "Even with having taken these two weeks off from work, we were up early this morning in anticipation of you coming home, and you know how we like to try and get our eight hours of sleep."

Hermione silently nodded at the statement, as her mother continued. "Now, I'm sure you both saw the empty tree standing in the living room. With you finally arriving home, how about we spend time tomorrow afternoon to make it look pretty?"

While Hermione's first instinct was to immediately agree given her earlier thought in the living room, she still wanted Harry to have a choice about things. Looking to him on her left, she asked, "What do you say? Does that sound good to you?"

He shook his head and timidly answered, "It doesn't matter, I don't mind doing whatever you all want."

Jack replied, "Hermione has a point, Harry. You still get a choice in the matter, since you're a part of this household for the next couple of weeks."

Harry looked from Hermione's parents back to her. She gave him what she hoped was a comforting smile, and saw some of the nervousness in his eyes wash away. Not removing his gaze from her, he said, "OK then, yeah. That sounds good to me."

"Then it's a plan," Jack said. "With that, we'll leave you both to your devices. Good night, you two."

"Night Mum, night Dad," Hermione said.

Harry answered in turn, "Good night, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. And thank you again for being willing to let me stay."

Miranda replied, "You're quite welcome, Harry. And don't feel obligated to be formal the whole time. You can call us Miranda and Jack if you so desire." Jack nodded his own agreement.

Harry's sheepish response was, "Alright, I'll try to keep that in mind."

With that, the parents entered their bedroom and closed the door.

Looking back to Harry now that the two of them were alone again, Hermione placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "See? It's not been nearly as bad as you were dreading, has it?"

"That's an understatement if there ever was one," he quietly answered.

Not wanting to dwell too much on negative thoughts, she said, "Well, how about we check out these last few rooms so that we can call it a night, too? We've probably been up just as long as my parents, since we both woke up early this morning."

He just nodded, so she led him farther down the hall and stopped at the next door on the right. "Here's the bathroom I was telling you about earlier. It's a lot bigger than the one on the first floor, which is why that one downstairs is typically used strictly for the toilet. Admittedly though, that is less often than you may think since walking up the stairs does at least count as a very mild form of exercise."

He let out a soft chuckle at her ending statement but said nothing more, so she continued. "So, this will probably be the bathroom you use, too. We always leave the door open when we're through so that others know there's nobody inside, so if you come in here and shut the door, we'll know not to walk in and disturb you."

At that point, Harry actually asked a question. "Do you have times you typically take for occupying the bathroom? I don't want to put you off any routine you have, if I can help it."

Hermione shook her head. "No, don't worry about that at all. It's a first-come first-serve basis, so if something happens like you already taking a shower when I wake up in the morning, that's alright."

"OK, if you're sure."

"I am, Harry. Really." He didn't respond with something else, and so she nudged them along to the end of the hall, where the final two rooms awaited, sitting directly opposite one another. Pointing him to the one on the left, he was surprised when she entered and then beckoned him to come in. She moved to the end of the bed and placed her trunk down on the floor, while he took a couple of steps inside but then stopped, his eyes going wide as he appeared to realize where they were.

"Welcome to my room," she said as she pulled out her wand and undid the Shrinking Charm, her trunk returning to its normal size in less than a second. She then sat on the bed and looked back to Harry. "Though you probably already realized that from the bookcases that are filled to the brim."

From the perspective of someone looking inside from the doorway, her bed was parallel with the opposite wall, with its head positioned at the corner of the opposite and right walls. A dresser, about five feet tall and with four drawers, was placed along the right wall a few feet away from the bed, and it had a couple of framed pictures sitting on top. There was a desk positioned at the center of the left wall. Looking from it further to the left, there was a smaller, two-drawer dresser parallel to the wall with the doorway, but that dresser had an attached mirror that was at least four feet high. To the right of the entrance was her closet door. There were also other pictures scattered about each wall, though none were directly above the bed.

The most striking pieces, though, were the two bookcases lined up next to each other starting at the corner of the left and opposite walls. They were over six feet in height, had five shelves each, and all but one shelf on each bookcase was filled as completely as possible with books. This was what made Harry stop and stare. Hermione couldn't help the giggle that left her at his expression, which caused him to immediately turn back to her. She patted the bed, to which he took the hint and sat down on her left side, dropping his shrunken trunk at his feet.

"Yeah, I have a lot of books," she teased. "That's not even all of them. I've got a couple of boxes in my closet with some older books that I didn't want to get rid of, and Mum and Dad have a couple of boxes in their closet with my youngest childhood books to have as sort of keepsakes."

"Can't say I'm surprised that there are even more," he said with a smile. She stuck her tongue out at him, which only caused his smile to grow a little bit. Then, the mentions about her childhood made her think of some specific memories.

"Speaking of books and childhood…" She hesitated for a second but then remembered that she could trust Harry. "Promise you won't tell anyone what I'm about to say?"

He replied seriously, "I promise. Although, if it's something that you're afraid of others knowing, you don't even have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, it's OK. I trust you, Harry." His eyes went a bit softer at her declaration, but he didn't give a response, so she kept talking. "I started reading as early as toddlers are capable of starting. With as many books as my parents would get for me, Dad eventually started calling me 'Little Worm' as a nickname, since I always had a book with me, and it stuck ever since, at least in private among my parents and myself. While it's probably a silly nickname, it's always been affectionate coming from them, since Mum and Dad have been as proud as parents could be with my accomplishments going back to childhood. But…"

When she trailed off, Harry quietly asked, "Did something happen?"

Hermione gave him a sad smile and replied, "Well, let's just say that people in school that called me 'bookworm' when I was growing up weren't nearly as affectionate."

Harry looked away at the floor, as though he wasn't sure what to say. But then, he surprised her for the second time that night. He actually took hold of her left hand in his right before pulling his head up. When his eyes were locked onto hers again, he whispered, "I'm sorry you had to go through that. And I'm sorry I didn't stand up for you against Ron when he did the same thing to you in first year."

"I've never blamed you for what happened back then," she whispered right back. "And… answer me this one question about the troll incident, Harry. Did Ron remember me on his own, or did he only come because you remembered me?"

He was silent for a few seconds, but he never once moved his gaze from her. Then, with no small amount of sadness in his tone, he said, "The latter."

She squeezed his hand a bit tighter and nodded. "That's what I thought." The two of them just sat in silence for a little bit afterward, never letting go of each other's hand, as the memory of that time swept through their minds.

Eventually, Hermione looked at the clock hanging on her closet door. Seeing that it was almost nine-thirty already, she looked at Harry and said, "We've still got one final room left. What do you say we head there?"

He just stared at her for a second before nodding his acquiescence and letting go of her hand. Once he picked up his trunk, they both stood up before she led them across the hallway into the guest room. This one was a lot sparser, with only a bed lined up along the right wall, a three-drawer dresser on the left side of the opposite wall, and a clock on the closet door that was beside the room entrance.

Stepping out of his way, she said, "Well, welcome to your new abode for the next two weeks. I know it's pretty bare, but it's basically only ever used when an extended family member occasionally comes to stay, and they're never here more than a few days. Will this be alright?"

He mimicked her actions by dropping his trunk at the foot of the bed and undoing the Shrinking Charm. Then, as he moved to stand with her, he replied, "It'll be perfect, Hermione. Don't worry."

While she was still a bit anxious in her mind, she would take him at his word. She quietly said, "Alright, well… I guess I'll leave you to unpack how you like. Make yourself at home. And if you need anything… I'm right across the hall. Don't hesitate to come and wake me up if need be."

"Thank you, I appreciate that. And… thank you for everything you've done, Hermione. With this break, the war, and all that came before."

His words put her heart on cloud nine. Unable to resist the temptation filling her head, she leaned in and gave him a soft, lingering kiss on his left cheek. When she parted, his expression was full of surprise, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. As he touched his hand to the spot she'd kissed and held it there, she merely whispered, "Sleep well, Harry."

As she turned to exit the room, the last words she heard were a quiet, "You too, Hermione." She just kept walking to her room, knowing that she would never make it if she stopped and turned around to look at him, and shut the door.

However long it ended up being for her to keep holding out and resist telling him her true feelings, assuming he didn't manage to figure them out on his own, she knew there was no way she was going to last more than the two weeks of the holiday break.


A/N: Hopefully, the little world-building I did with the Granger residence comes off as sensible. I can see images of the descriptions I wrote in my head, but I obviously can't guarantee that others may feel the same. A lot of that was based on what I've seen and known throughout my life. I like and can handle conversations and character interactions (I slogged through Mass Effect 3 specifically because of the romance arc with Shepard and Garrus, for anyone familiar with that game), but world-building is decidedly not my forte.

For the record, the bit I mentioned getting Rutledge's opinion on before the start of the chapter was where Hermione talks about how things sometimes aren't about what people deserve. I wanted to see if someone else would like it as I did, since it could seem a bit cheesy or corny (and I'm a real sucker for cheese and/or corn lol).

Thanks to all of you following this story from the outset of Chapter 1! It's nice to already see some repeat readers from the last story I wrote. And for all of you that made it this far, thank you for reading, and I hope you stay tuned for more!