A/N- Hello everyone. Sorry this update took a while. I haven't had much time to write this past week. This will be a longer chapter, and there will be some more Harmony fluff but we'll definitely be getting back into our darker tone. The vengeance will begin. As always reviews are appreciated. Enjoy!

Part 1: The Return

Chapter 2: Vernon learns a lesson

July 5th, 1995

Harry Potter was restless, to say the least.

He was, at that particular moment stretched out on his bed, lounging comfortably with his ankles crossed and one arm resting casually behind his head. At first glance he would appear to be as relaxed as one could be if not for his right arm, which was currently stretched out above him as he twirled his wand around in his palm impatiently. His green eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, unfocused as his mind raced.

Three days. It had been three days since they'd returned to the past, and they'd made no further progress in their mission.

Harry knew full well that it wasn't either of their faults. The first step in their plan had been for them to find each other in this time. Their reunion had served two purposes: firstly, it had allowed them both to verify that what was happening was indeed REAL, and that they'd both managed to arrive without some kind of unforeseen mishap. Time travel was apparently not as exact of a science as they'd thought. Secondly, though neither of them had realized this until after the fact, they were supposed to find each other right away so that they could plant the seeds of their bond.

Death had been quite insistent with them that they find each other immediately upon arrival. Harry had understandably had reservations about this. What if they HAD arrived at different times? What would happen if he'd gone to Hermione and she'd not remembered any of it? If HE hadn't remembered HER? Their entire plot could have come unraveled, but Death had been quite forceful.

"You'll thank me for it." He'd said, when he'd commanded them to go to each other.

He'd been right, of course. Harry would gladly have traded his entire family fortune a thousand times over to be able to relive that moment again. It had felt so right, holding her tightly in his arms. Harry had endured so much pain and so much death in his young life, but now that he had Hermione's love locked away securely in his heart, he felt unstoppable.

Sadly, they'd not been able to enjoy each other's company for long. Not long after their kiss Little Whinging had begun to come to life around them. The sun was nearly up, and it was too risky for them to remain together in public for long right now. They'd quickly decided what to do next, and Hermione had kissed him one last time, her lips a silent promise of many more to come.

"I'll see you soon." She'd whispered, and disapparated without another word. Now here he lay, restless and fighting the urge to throw all caution to the wind and go straight to her. Harry swore under his breath softly. As soon as the next few precautions were in place, he'd never let her out of his sight again. At least, not until this was over. Even then, he'd make sure to keep her close.

Harry sat up with a sigh, raking his fingers through his dark hair absentmindedly. Right now, he needed to focus, and not on Hermione's lips or the way her body had felt against his when they'd kissed. There would be time for that later. For now, he needed to continue to fly under the radar.

Despite his restlessness he'd managed to keep up appearances fairly well, in his opinion. Vernon and Petunia seemed to be none the wiser to the changes in their nephew, and he'd paid close attention to Mundungus Fletcher and Mrs. Figg's movements over the past three days. It amazed him how entirely inept the two were at being stealthy. How he'd never figured out that the two were watching him until the night of the dementor attack was beyond him. Still, it made the task of monitoring his chaperones that much easier.

Dumbledore had the measure of him the last time around. This time, he wasn't the unsuspecting and loyal fourteen-year-old prat who would believe everything he was told. This time, he wasn't weak.

Checking his watch, Harry realized it was nearly time. A furtive glance out the window told him his watchers were gone, likely home for the night. Almost silently Harry slipped from his bedroom and crept down the stairs. Light and soft snoring from the den told him that Vernon had fallen asleep in front of the television again. He was headed for the back door when a loud creak behind him made him freeze in place.

If he hadn't needed to be silent Harry would've cursed. Standing in the threshold of the front door, and being none too quiet about it, was his cousin.

Harry had known Dudley was sneaking out at night, even in the previous timeline. He'd sneak out about an hour after his parents went to sleep, only to return a few hours later. Most likely he was sneaking out to go smoke and act like an idiot with his friends, but Harry briefly wondered if maybe Dudley had a girlfriend he'd never known about. The thought almost made him bark out a laugh.

As of now, the two stood there, staring at each other, Harry nervous and Dudley dumfounded. All it would take to undo all of his careful acting these past few days would be for Dudley to call out for his father. Vernon would fly into a rage and likely beat Harry, which would amuse Dudley to no end. He'd opened his mouth to yell for his father, then closed it stupidly. Harry smirked. Apparently, his cousin wasn't as dim witted as he thought.

Dudley had realized, standing there on the porch, that his plan could backfire on him. If he yelled for his father Harry would get in trouble, yes. He'd likely get a beating for it. But there was also no guarantee that his father wouldn't smell the cigarette smoke on Dudley himself. He was closer to the den. Vernon would have to pass him to get to Harry. That combined with the fact that he was fully dressed and standing in the open front door would lead to himself getting punished as well.

For another long moment they stared at each other, before Dudley simply came inside and shut the door as quietly as he could. He locked eyes with Harry again, gave a slight nod, and went upstairs.

Harry released the breath he'd been holding slowly once he heard Dudley's bedroom door close and his uncles snoring continue unhindered. That had been too close. If Vernon had gone up to bed instead of falling asleep in his chair things could've been very different, and he couldn't use magic in the house. At least, not yet.

He'd managed to keep out of his uncle's way for the last three days. Normally, Vernon made a habit of taking his frustrations out on Harry in what could only be described as Harry Hunting at an Olympic level. But for the past few days Harry had acquiesced to all of his so-called family's demands without so much as a sound. Despite his desire to do the opposite, Harry knew he had to wait until Hermione returned before he could take any action against them, intentional or otherwise. As he was now, he wasn't sure he could control his power enough to not lash out accidentally in anger.

Silent as the grave, Harry Potter slipped out of the back door and into the darkness of the night.

Hermione Granger was feeling satisfied, if not a bit tired from the effort.

Sitting at the small desk in her bedroom back in Oxford, she sat back in her chair and grinned.

She'd done it. Sitting on the desk in front of her was what looked like a broken shard of some type of gemstone. Only, this was no ordinary gemstone. It was a loadstone, a magical gem imbued with certain spells and charms, made to fill a specific purpose. In this case it was a clone of another, similar stone currently placed within the wards around a certain bespectacled wizards' home.

Death had warned them about Dumbledore's precautions around Harry's Aunt and Uncle's home before he'd sent them back, and Hermione had known full well it would be difficult to overcome it. Albus had placed the stone there not only to reinforce the wards, but also to monitor whenever anyone with a magical signature came and went from the house, as well as any magic used within. With it in place, Dumbledore would have known if Hermione had entered the boundaries of his wards, or if Harry used magic for any reason.

Mercifully, Dumbledore had placed no such thing at her home, so Hermione had been able to attack this problem head on. With a little help from Death, of course. After all, he was the reason she'd been able to go to Harry three days ago in the first place. One of the multitude of things Death had altered about them before sending them back into the past was the complete removal of the trace from Harry and herself.

Now that she was free to use magic whenever she needed to, Hermione had taken to her task with a fervor that was unmatched. She knew enough about runes and arithmancy to decipher exactly how Dumbledore's stone worked, and how to counter it. That task had taken most of the last two days, and then she'd simply had to create an identical stone to place next to the original. The key difference being that it would only allow the other stone to function when Harry and Hermione wanted it to.

With that removed from the equation, Harry would be free to come and go as he pleased, and Hermione would be able to enter the wards without setting them off.

Hermione's smile twisted into a frown. Dumbledore really did rely too heavily on people's ignorance of his true motives. To anyone looking in, his wards and the loadstone would've seemed like a simple precaution to keep Harry safe, while in truth it was designed to subjugate him.

He would pay for it.

Glancing at the digital clock on her bedside table Hermione started. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning, and she was due to meet Harry at the playground again shortly. She stood from her desk and made her way across the room to her dresser, pulling out fresh clothes.

A simple notice me not charm on her door had prevented her parents from bothering her while she worked her magic, not that they would have anyways. Hermione being up until the early hours of the morning reading would've been nothing new to them, but she wanted to make sure she wouldn't be disturbed until her task was complete. That, and the fact that she couldn't stand to be in the same room as her parents.

After they turned their back on her in the future, Hermione could barely hold a conversation with them, much less feel anything towards them. It wasn't quite anger that she felt. She understood their feelings of betrayal for what she'd done, but she couldn't get over the fact that they'd abandoned her completely, even after she'd begged them, sobbing like a child on her hands and knees to forgive her. What she'd done had been wrong, but she'd done it to protect them. It hadn't mattered.

Thankfully her parents' dental practice was extremely busy at the moment, and they'd only been home in the late evenings for the past few days. That had given her the peace she'd needed in order to complete her task. And now she was ready.

She'd promised Harry after their kiss that she would solve their problem with Dumbledore's wards in three days, and she'd succeeded.

A light blush stained her cheeks as she thought back to that day.

Merlin, his kiss had been everything. Her lips still tingled and warmth coursed through her as she thought of it.

Shaking her head to calm her raging hormones, Hermione changed quickly. Being back in her teenage body was going to more challenging than she thought.

The crack echoed across the dark street as Hermione appeared from thin air just outside the playground. She saw Harry immediately, leaning against the swing set casually as he waited for her.

They locked eyes and grinned at one another. This time Hermione walked over to him slowly, memorizing the moment as she went. Harry stood from his resting place and opened his arms. Hermione took the invitation and allowed him to wrap her into a warm embrace, squeezing her tightly to him.

"Hello Hermione." He said quietly, his breath tickling her ear. Summoning her courage Hermione pulled back and looked him in the eyes before closing in to capture his lips. Only parting when they were breathless, Hermione met his gaze once more.

"I'm back." She said softly.

They stood that way for a long moment before the chilly night air made itself known to them again. Hermione shivered, despite her jacket. Harry took her hand in his own and began to lead her down the twisting streets and back to Number 4.

"So you've done it, then?" He asked, breaking the silence they'd fallen into.

"Yes." Hermione said, falling into step beside him. "With this, they won't be able to track our movements." She said quietly. Despite the hour, they couldn't be entirely sure they weren't being watched here.

"You're brilliant, Hermione." Harry said, smiling. Hermione smiled back shyly and the kept walking, enjoying the silence and each other's company.

Arriving back at Number 4, Hermione stopped just short of the ward line. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the loadstone. Already it had started to glow softly, showing they were close to the other stone.

"All you have to do is place it next to the other one." Hermione said confidently. "Then I'll be able to enter the wards, and we'll both be able to do as much magic as we need to."

"Brilliant." Harry said again. He took the small stone from her and made his way across the yard to the old bird bath to the left of the house. It was the only logical place Dumbledore could've put the original loadstone, having been there as long as Harry could remember. With some effort he tilted it slightly, revealing the original stone in a cavity beneath it. It was glowing softly, putting out a dim white light. Carefully he placed Hermione's stone next to it. Both glowed brightly for a brief moment, before they both settled to a soft blue.

"That should do it." He said quietly, looking back at her.

Hermione took a deep breath and stepped into the ward line, her magic tingling slightly as she crossed it. They both waited, wands in hand. The tension made every second feel like an eternity. Out of their entire plan so far, this would be the most dangerous step. If Hermione's stone didn't do its job, Order members would descend on them in moments, and they would have to explain just what they were doing here, together, in the early hours of the morning. They would be undone.

After a few moments, they both exhaled.

It had worked. Step one of their plan was complete.

"Let's head inside." Harry said, holding out his hand for Hermione.

He led her around to the back door of the house, where the entered quietly. They crept up the stairs and into his room. Once the door was closed, Harry pulled out his wand and quickly applied silencing charms to the room so they could talk freely.

As he worked Hermione sat down cross legged on his bed, taking in his room. Hedwig's cage was empty, likely out hunting. The rest of the room was sparsely decorated. His school trunk sat at the end of his bed; a few pieces of parchment were strewn across the desk. Other than the picture of his parents, there was nothing else in the room to give any indication of who lived there. Hermione couldn't help the sadness that she felt. He really did have no home.

She would change that.

"So, what's next?" Harry asked, striding over to his desk and sitting in the chair there.

"Well, from what Death told us, the next thing we should do is work on getting you out of here as soon as possible. Within the next few days, if we can." She said, meeting his gaze. They were both quite for a moment as they thought, before speaking simultaneously.

"Gringotts."

'It's the obvious choice." Hermione said.

"Then we'll head there in the morning." Harry said. "I'll go see the goblins and get my parents will opened. Once that's done, I should be able to accept my inheritance and get access to the Potter holdings, including Potter Manor."

"Once we can go there, we can really get started." Hermione said.

"We still have one other problem." Harry said. Hermione quirked an eyebrow at him in question. "The Order. Don't they come to pick you up soon?" Hermione pondered the question for a moment, chewing her lip slightly.

"Well, yes. We were at Grimmauld Place for several weeks before you came, but I think I have that figured out already." Hermione said after a bit. "Ron invited me to Grimmauld Place to 'keep me safe', or rather, will invite me there in another week or so. That should still leave us some time to make the progress that we need to." She said. "I don't think it's a good idea for us to go there this time. Molly was so overbearing on us that I don't think we'd ever be able to get anything done. Not to mention she'll be trying to potion us both the whole time."

"Agreed." Harry said, raking his fingers through his dark hair. It looked slightly longer; Hermione noticed.

"There's one other thing we'll have to deal with soon, Harry." Hermione said.

"And what would that be?" He asked, glancing at her curiously.

"Our bond." She said softly.

Harry leaned forward, taking her hand in his.

"What about it?"

A blush rose on Hermione's cheeks.

"Harry…" She began, but faltered.

"What is it Hermione?" He asked softly. Summoning her Gryffindor courage, Hermione straightened up and leveled her brown eyes with his.

"We have to have sex."

"Come again?" Harry asked, dumbfounded.

"Our bond gets stronger through emotional attachment and physical intimacy." Hermione blurted out, her cheeks still crimson. "The fastest way to get our bond strong enough for them not to be able to tamper with it would be for us to make love."

Harry sat back and sighed heavily. He thought for a moment before responding.

"Hermione." He began, meeting her gaze again. "I love you. And I know that you love me. I think we should allow things to develop naturally from here, not rush into anything." He said. Hermione's gaze fell. "It's not that I don't want to." Harry said quickly. Hermione looked back to him. "I do want you Hermione, more than you know. But I want this to happen on our terms."

"Oh Harry." Hermione said, throwing herself into his arms and crushing her lips against his.

So engrossed were the two in their kiss that they failed to notice Harry's bedroom door open slightly, nor the eyes that watched them.

A second passed before the door flew open, slamming against the wall. The noise caused Hermione to pull back from Harry, both looking to the doorway with shocked expressions. Standing there, red faced and puffing, eyes narrowed with rage was Vernon Dursley.

"JUST WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING BOY?!" Vernon roared. His gaze shifted to Hermione. "AND WHO IS THIS? IS SHE A FREAK LIKE YOU? WHAT IS THIS HARLOT DOING IN MY HOUSE?" He yelled, surging forward and grabbing Hermione's arm, yanking her off of him.

"LET HER GO!" Harry yelled, standing.

"THIS IS MY HOUSE BOY!" Vernon screamed. Harry saw the light in the hall flip on, followed by the sound of his aunts and cousin's footsteps coming down the hall. Hermione twisted her arm out of Vernon's grip, pulling herself back and away from his bulk. She instinctively went for her wand, which was in the waistband of her jeans but Vernon saw it and brought one large hand down, striking Hermione across the face so hard she lost her balance and fell onto Harry's bed, crying out it pain.

Harry's eyes glowed with power as rage filled him. His magic began to roll off of him in waves so powerful the lights began flickering. The temperature in the room dropped, and the house began to shake. Vernon paled, eyes going wide.

Without so much as a twitch from Harry Vernon rose from the floor, choking as if someone was lifting him by his throat. Petunia's mouth fell open to scream but nothing came out. It was as if the air had been sucked from the room. Harry raised his right hand and Vernon shifted in the air, levitating over the bed. Hermione scrambled out of the way, eyes as wide as Petunia's.

"You disgusting piece of shite." Harry growled. "If you EVER touch her again, I'll END you." Harry said, his voice shaking.

"PUT HIM DOWN!" Dudley yelled from the hall, finally finding his voice. He made to charge into the room but stopped just short as Hermione's wand levelled on him, her eyes fierce as she stepped around to shield Harry.

"My entire life you've beaten me, abused me, and starved me." Harry said. Petunia whimpered from the hall. "All I ever wanted was to be loved. To have a family. I was left on your doorstep and you've done nothing but bring me PAIN." Harry bit out. "Now its your turn to feel pain Vernon. It's your turn to feel helpless!"

Vernon eyes filled with tears as he hung in mid-air, his large body quivering in fear. Suddenly his eyes glazed over, and he started howling in pain. His arms flailed around him as he screamed. For a moment Hermione believed Harry had used the Cruciatus curse on him, until she realized he was swatting at something, as if he were surrounded.

"GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OFF!" He managed to choke out between screams.

"STOP YOU FREAK!" Petunia yelled. Harry glanced at her and she screamed, stepping back into the hallway. Harry raised left arm towards her.

"Crucio." Harry whispered. The red light flew from his hand and struck Petunia, who crumpled to the floor screaming in agony the moment it hit her. Dudley stood in the hall next to his mother as she writhed on the floor, frozen with fear.

Harry turned back to Vernon, who hung limply now, drool running out of his mouth. Whatever force Harry was using to hold him up released when he lowered his arm, allowing Vernon to come crashing down on his bed. He muttered the word to cancel the spell on his aunt, who stopped writhing but remained on the floor, sobbing, and gasping for air. At some point Dudley had wet himself.

Harry locked eyes with him.

"When they come to, tell them I'll be back soon for my things. After that, they'll never see me again." He said darkly. "IF they tell anyone what happened here tonight, my kind or otherwise, I will come back, and I will KILL all you."

Dudley nodded dumbly, gripping the railing for the stairs to hold himself up.

"And Big D?" Harry said, looking Dudley in the eye. Dudley began shaking again. "It won't be slowly. And It WILL hurt."

Harry took Hermione's hand, and they vanished from the house. Only a whiplash crack left behind in their wake.