The rest of the school year passed by as if in the blink of an eye for Hermione and soon enough it was time for her and Tom to return to Wool's Orphanage for the summer. Needless to say, neither of them were particularly looking forward to it. Hermione did her best to enjoy her last day at Hogwarts, making sure to take her fill of the food and spending as much time as she could in the company of the new friends she had made.

Not much had happened after Dumbledore's interrogation, or at least nothing noteworthy. Dumbledore never bothered her again, or Tom for that matter, so that was good. Classes were still boring for the most part, with the occasional surprise. Professor Renshaw had proven to be most excellent in DADA, much more capable than any of the professors she had in her own time. And as she had expected or rather hoped, the Gryffindors now kept their distance from them. Though, that didn't stop them from throwing the occasional nasty look their way.

All in all, it was a pleasant, stress free year. There was no three headed dog to get past, and no near death experiences. Thank Merlin for that!

Unfortunately, there was no use delaying the inevitable and before long they were back on the Hogwarts Express to London.

Her and Tom were joined in the compartment that they had christened as their own by Abraxas, Druella, Rosaline and Cygnus, even going so far as to jinx the compartment to make sure that no one but them could ever enter. Anyone who tried would find themselves mildly electrocuted and repelled back. That was the result of a joint effort on Cygnus and Tom's part.

Once they were done with that, they settled down for the ride and struck up a conversation over their respective plans for the summer.

"My family and I are going back to France for the summer to visit my aunt and uncle," Druella claimed. "I'm so excited to go back. There is no place better for shopping than the streets of Paris."

"I'll be spending most of the summer with my father at home. My mother is going to stay with my sister and her husband in Ireland to help them prepare for their new baby," Rosaline said. "Perhaps I can convince my father to let me come and visit you in Paris."

"Oh, that would be great!"

"I expect my parents will be hosting their annual summer ball at some point. Other than that, my plans primarily include training up for the Quidditch tryouts next year," said Abraxas.

"My summer will no doubt be consumed by family dinners and wedding plans," Cygnus rolled his eyes. "My sister, Walburga, is set to be getting married on the 28th of August."

That caught Hermione's attention. "Who is she marrying?"

"Our second cousin on our father's side, Orion Black."

She was filled with disgust at the thought of cousins marrying each other, even if they were second cousins. She had always known that there were some pureblood families who practiced inbreeding, but the realization had never hit her quite so hard as this.

Not only were Sirius' parents cousins, but they were getting married straight out of Hogwarts. She made a mental note of the date in which they would be wed, doing the math in her head to get an estimate as to when Sirius would be born. She had never asked him outright when his birthday was, but she knew it was sometime in November and that he had been somewhere in his mid to late thirties when he died. If she had done her calculations correctly then that meant that Sirius wouldn't be born for another twenty years or so.

Clearly Walburga and Orion didn't get along very well. Either that or all the inbreeding had affected their ability to produce children. Both were entirely possible.

She was tempted to make some remark on how disgusting that was, but she thought better of it and kept quiet. No one else seemed to find it all that strange, except for maybe Tom, who had a rather curious expression on his face. She could only assume that he had a similar reaction.

"So, do the two of you have any plans for the summer?" Rosaline asked.

Both of them shook their heads, neither speaking for the first while after that. It was a rather awkward topic, one that they didn't know how to approach. All of their friends came from wealthy pureblood families and went on these lavish holidays. There were times when they forgot about their differences, but there were also moments like these where they were left dreadfully aware.

"Well, we don't exactly have families to go on holidays with and there isn't much to do at the Orphanage," Hermione started hesitantly.

"Yeah, except keeping our heads down and making sure the muggle children don't steal our stuff," Tom added.

Oh yeah... That was definitely something they were going to have to deal with. It was no secret that they now had more possessions than the rest of the kids, and there were sure to be some who would be brave enough to try and steal from them. Perhaps Tom could put a jinx on their suitcases similar to the one he had placed on their compartment. That would surely scare them off.

Their friends looked at them with pity.

"I'm so sorry," Druella apologized. "I'll make sure to write to you as often as possible and I'll even pick up a souvenir for you."

"You know, I could probably convince my father to let you both come and stay with us," Abraxas offered. "He usually doesn't mind me inviting friends over."

Their hearts were in the right places, she knew that, but it still didn't make her feel particularly good about herself, as if she was nothing more than a charity case. She didn't quite know how to respond to their offers though, so she turned to Tom, waiting to hear what he would say.

"No thanks, we'll be fine," he said, his lips pressed together in a firm straight line.

The conversation died out after that as they each found ways to keep themselves occupied. Tom and Hermione cracked open a book while Cygnus and Abraxas started up a game of Exploding Snaps. Druella and Rosaline decided to braid each other's hair, which didn't take them long at all. They then decided to take on the monstrous task of taming and braiding Hermione's hair. Hermione let them do as they wished, laughing when one of the commented on how her hands could get lost inside her mane if they weren't careful

Once more the time passed quicker than Hermione would have liked as the train pulled into Kings Cross Station. The usual crowd of wizard parents and younger siblings had gathered on the platform to welcome them back. Rosaline and Druella eagerly ran off to reunite with their families, waving back as they went. Cygnus left not so eagerly.

Abraxas, on the other hand, insisted that he introduce the two of them to his parents as he dragged them along to go in search of them. Darius and Lucille Malfoy were the very epitome of sophistication, draped in the finest robes and furs that money could buy. There wasn't a single finger on Mrs. Malfoy's hand that didn't have a ring on it, and Hermione couldn't help but notice that Mr. Malfoy walked with the exact same snake head cane that Lucius Malfoy would carry in the future.

Clearly it was an heirloom, passed down from generation to generation of Malfoy Men. She had to stop herself from laughing as her mind produced an image of Draco Malfoy strutting around with the cane.

"Mother, Father, I'd like you to meet my good friends, Hermione and Tom," Abraxas introduced them.

Mrs. Malfoy was the first to come forward, extending a ring clad hand to them. "It's so lovely to meet you both," she said with a smile. "Abraxas has told us much about you in his letters home."

Hermione couldn't help but blush at that. She could only imagine the things that Abraxas had written about her. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, ma'am."

Tom shook her hand and gave a slight bow of the head, but said nothing.

"Oh, and so polite as well," gushed Mrs. Malfoy.

"I would expect nothing less from the friends of my son," said Mr. Malfoy. "You shall have to come and visit over the course of the summer, perhaps sometime after our family's annual ball when things have quieted down."

Hermione wasn't sure what to say. It was one thing to refuse an offer made by a twelve-year-old boy, but when the offer came from his powerful and no doubt influential father… well, he seemed like the kind of man who wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Well, I suppose we could…" she started, turning to Tom to see if he had any objections.

He too seemed to be resigned to the idea.

"Why not."

Mrs. Malfoy clapped her hands together in delight, "Wonderful! We shall have Abraxas write to you at a further date with the details."

They nodded their heads in agreement, and after a few more pleasantries, parted their separate ways, the Malfoy's heading towards the giant fireplace that stood at one end of the platform to floo directly home, and Tom and Hermione heading to the other end, clambering through the barrier back into the muggle world.

The moment they stepped through, Hermione felt a pang of sorrow take up residence in her heart. She knew that they would only be gone for a few months, but still she missed Hogwarts. It had never been easy for her to leave all the magic she had experienced behind, and even harder to leave behind her friends.

She pushed away all such thoughts and feelings as they made their way out of the station and out into the darkened city streets. For now, they had to focus on finding their way back to Wool's.

"Do we have enough money to take the bus?" Tom asked.

Digging into her suitcase, she managed to find the small pouch of muggle money that they had procured from the school before they left. Counting out the change in her hand, she nodded her head.

"Just barely, but yes."

Sitting down on the corner of the pavement, they waited with keen eyes for a bus to pass by, pulling their Hogwarts cloaks tight around them to keep out the chilly night air. They waited for what seemed like hours and while lots of buses passed by, none of them stopped for them.

While they waited, she noticed that Tom seemed rather irritated.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Are you mad at Abraxas for inviting us to stay with him?"

He shook his head but didn't answer at first as he appeared to be staring down at his own reflection in a puddle. Finally, after a while, he glanced back over at her with an icy intensity in his eyes.

"It's just not fair... We are two of the most powerful witches and wizards at Hogwarts. We can do things that nobody else can even dream of doing, and yet we are pitied and scorned simply because of our circumstances."

Hermione knew exactly how he felt, for she had once felt exactly the same way. She had come to Hogwarts in 1991 eager to prove herself as a highly capable witch, only to be thought less of because of her muggle parentage. It was frustrating to say the least, causing her to work twice as hard as most others her age.

"I know what you mean, but there's not much we can do about it right now," she told him. "We just need to remember that it won't always be this way. Someday, people will realize our full potential and I know they'll be amazed when they do."

He nodded his head to show that he understood, though it didn't seem to better his mood at all.

After a while, she started to grow worried. Without a bus, they would have to walk all the way and that was considerably dangerous. The sky was getting darker by the second and it was only a matter of time before the shady figures of the city came out to play.

That's when she had an idea. Pulling out her wand, she held it out and cast Lumos.

"What are you doing?"

She held up a hand, motioning for him to wait.

Sure enough, a few moments later, a bright blue double decker bus came zooming up to them, seeming to appear out of thin air. Written on the front of the bus in big gold lettering were the words 'Knight Bus'.

A scraggly looking old man stepped out into view, gazing down at them with a toothless yet still kind smile. "Welcome to the Knight Bus; emergency transport for stranded witches and wizards. My name is Jonas Beesbottom and I will be your conductor for the evening."

By now, Tom had grown accustomed to the magical world and was no longer skeptical of things that seemed strange and illogical, and so it didn't take him long to recover from the shock. He got to his feet without hesitation, reaching out a hand to help her up as well, before grabbing his suitcase and climbing aboard.

"Where to?" Jonas asked.

"Wool's Orphanage," Hermione replied as she reached into her suitcase yet again and pulled out a few sickles, thankful that the headmaster had been smart enough to give them a bit of both muggle money and wizard money.

The old conductor glanced at them sympathetically before taking the money and heading up to the front of the bus.

Hermione had never ridden on the Knight Bus before, but she had heard about it from Harry and he had described it as one of the most terrifying bus rides he had ever taken. With that in mind, she sat down on one of the many beds scattered about the inside of the bus, one hand grasping her suitcase and the other gripping tightly to the bed frame.

She had just opened her mouth to warn Tom when the bus suddenly lurched forward and sped off down the street, causing everything in the bus to sway and slide around.

Tom let out a bit of a yelp as he lost his balance and fell forward, landing on top of Hermione on the bed, his face pressed against her flat chest.

"Sorry," he apologized as he pushed himself off of her, grabbing hold of the bed frame before he could fall off.

Squished together on the bed in a rather awkward position, they both did their best to stay firmly in place. Hermione couldn't help but be thankful for the fact that she was only twelve-years old. She never thought she would say this, but she was glad she didn't have boobs yet. It would have only made things more uncomfortable than they already were.

Forcing herself to look away, she waited for the ride to be over.

The bus twisted and turned past countless cars, only narrowly missing muggles crossing the street and even the occasional cat or dog. The crazy driving made her feel as though she was going to be sick, but she did her best to keep it down.

Finally, they came to a stop in front of the painfully familiar orphanage, the bed coming to a screeching halt as Jonas went over to open the door. "Here's your stop," he said.

Untangling their arms from the bed posts, they sat up, taking a moment to get over a dizzy spell before stumbling over to the door and off the bus.

"Feel free to call on us again if you ever need a ride," Jonas called out to them before the door closed promptly behind them and sped once more out of sight.

Yeah… Hermione wasn't sure if she wanted to go through that again… Hopefully they would be able to flag down a regular bus next time.

With a resigned sigh, they turned fully to face the orphanage that they had the displeasure of calling home.

"This isn't permanent," she reminded him. "One day, after we've graduated, we'll leave this place and never come back. Until then, we just need to stick together and try to get through it all."

Tom nodded his head, and slipping their free hands into one another, they started up the steps together.