Morning dawned bright and early for Hermione. The night ended quickly after Lily realized that the line of questions was starting to distress Hermione to the point of tears. Sun was shining brightly on her face but she was too comfortable to get up. With a wave of her wand she closed the curtains.

She stretched her arms above her head. It was only then that she realized she was sore from the battle. It was a familiar kind of sore. One that made her feel just a little bit more at home. Her arms had small scratches on them, ones that she didn't notice yesterday. It was probably from all the broken glasses that had been flying in all directions.

"Hermione?" A knock on the door made her jump and stop the catalogue of her body. Lily's voice was different. It wasn't the strong and confident witch that she had come to know at school and it wasn't the timid voice from the questioning in the kitchen at night. It was one that Hermione recognized. It was the same voice she used when she got home to her own muggle parents house. A comfortable sort of voice that showed she was back in her own element.

"Come in, Lils." Hermione saw a curtain of red hair before she saw her face. When she did, she saw that there was a smile on her face, last night not forgotten but able to be put away just for now. She had on jean shorts and a tank top.

"Up and at 'em! I want to show you around." Hermione smiled and complied. She didn't have many muggle clothes, only what she had been able to scavenge from the thrift shop in Hogsmeade. However, Lily gave her full run of her closet and she dressed in a similar fashion. The comfort the clothes gave her was something that Hermione hadn't expected.

Both of Lily's parents were at work by the time Hermione got downstairs. Lily was at the kitchen island with a plate of pancakes and cup of orange juice. Hermione noticed that there was a stack for her as well. She walked to the plate and sat down next to her friend. Lily bumped her shoulder lightly as a show of tenseness forgotten.

"What is on the agenda for today?" Hermione asked, putting a bite in her mouth. Lily swallowed.

"I figured this morning I could show you around. We don't live in a very big area so we could go for a quick drive. There's a river down the end of the road that we swim in. It's supposed to be a nice day so we can do that this afternoon. Tonight we are having family dinner. Mom bought a roast." The look on Lily's face made Hermione laugh.

"What's with the face?" Lily tried to school her features.

"You're going to meet my sister and her fiancée." The word was spat from her mouth with venom. Hermione tried to keep her features neutral. She hated the Dursley's with a passion and she had never even met them.

"That terrible?" Lily nodded emphatically.

"We used to be close but then I got my Hogwarts letter and Severus…" she trailed off looking suddenly uncomfortable.

"Snape?"

"Yeah," Lily said, suddenly looking like she was ready to confess everything that had ever weighed on her chest. "He lives just down the road. We used to be close but with everything that's happened. Well… you saw." Hermione did but Hermione also knew the future - so there.

"Doesn't mean he isn't sorry or can't be saved." She didn't know why she said it. It was the murder of the Potters, the creation of the prophecy, that started his salvation.

"Doesn't mean he wants to be." Lily countered and that was a fair point. "But anyway, me and Tuney haven't gotten along since. The wedding is going to be a disaster. I'm so happy that you are going to be here." Hermione smiled and reached her hand out to squeeze her friend's.

"And Marlene and Alice." That made Lily laugh.

"Petunia is going to faint if Marlene shows up. She doesn't want anyone to be more beautiful than her and Marlene isn't going to dull her shine for anyone or any occasion." Hermione snorted. That was the truth. "What about Remus? Are you going to have him come?" Hermione was a little surprised by the question for a few reasons. One: she didn't think she was invited herself let alone to invite her own guest. Two: she would have said yes immediately 24 hours ago but that wasn't the case anymore. Three: Lily was direct.

"I don't know," Hermione said with a sigh. Lily took a drink of her orange juice.

"Why not?"

"I don't think he wants to see me. He didn't even say goodbye." Lily put the dishes in the sink looking contemplative.

"Well, you dropped quite the information bomb on us, Hermione. Just give him some time and if that fails, we go and drag him by his collar. Sirius and James too." Hermione didn't miss the slip up.

"Petunia is going to murder you." Hermione told her. Lily shrugged.

"Mom told me that even though it is Petunia's day, I shouldn't have to suffer so invite some school friends. She said that if Petunia had any magic, all of Britain would have exploded." Lily and Hermione both laughed, getting up and getting their shoes on to start their days adventure.

"So," Hermione said as she shut the door, unable to let it go, "we're going to get James to come huh?" Lily turned the same disgusted face on her that made Hermione laugh despite the situation.

"Oh, shut up."

oOoOo

After the girls had spent the afternoon lounging on the edge of the river - books on the laps, sunglasses on their heads, and trying to forget the war going on, they found themselves at a very uncomfortable dinner.

"I thought you were kidding Mum. Lily really did bring another freak home?" Petunia asked viciously as soon as she walked through the door. Hermione raised her eyebrows at Lily who just rolled her eyes.

"Petunia, watch your tone. We are so pleased Lily has brought a guest for the summer." Mrs. Evans said gently. Petunia scoffed and hung herself on the shoulder of a man who resembled some sort of pink land whale.

"Vernon," Mr. Evans said in that overprotective Dad voice Hermione missed so much. He held his hand out but Vernon pretended he didn't see it or was too stupid to realize that he needed to take it.

"Nathan." Hermione's eyes widened. Lily cringed.

"Well!" Mrs. Evans said trying in vain to dispel the tension. "Shall we go to the dining room and have dinner?" Petunia pushed by Lily, literally shoving her into the wall with her bony shoulder and Hermione didn't miss the hurt look that flashed across Lily's face.

It didn't get any better when they were all seated. In fact, if possible, it got worse.

"Vernon was just telling me how he was soon to be promoted to manager! Isn't that wonderful?" Petunia gushed, seemingly unable to tear herself off of Vernon's giant arm. Lily tried to hide her snort in her wine but failed. Petunia sent her a glare that Lily countered with a sweet smile.

"What kind of work do you do Vernon?" Hermione asked sweetly. Lily raised her eyebrows.

"I work for Grunnings," he said, puffing his chest out and moving the table forward just a little, "the largest drill company in Europe."

"Ah, makes sense." He narrowed his already beady eyes on her.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Petunia demanded. Hermione felt all the Evans' eyes on her and she would have felt guilty about her next statement but she believed it completely.

"Drills. You're a tool." Hermione pretended to suck in a breath like she misspoke. "I mean you work with tools." She felt Lily squeeze her leg under the table to stop herself from laughing and in that moment, she knew she made an enemy of the Dursleys but family for life in the rest of the them.

oOoOo

It was easy for the girls to forget about the war when they were in Muggle England. Hermione knew that her meeting with Dumbledore was coming up and she was going to be sucked back into reality shortly but with all this self-sacrifice she was doing it wasn't going to do her any good to run herself into the ground. They spent most of their mornings lounging about or exploring and then the afternoons at the riverside.

They had attracted some attention and made muggle friends. It was more often than not that they were asked if they went to school somewhere else because they were so clueless about current pop culture or music. They just laughed it off saying they went to boarding school.

It wasn't a lie.

There were boys too. More than one had tried to get their attentions. Both of them had their heads in the books for so long they didn't realize that they looked like a snack laying out in their bathing suits, tanned up and laughing. It wasn't hard to deflect their advances, thinking of two Quidditch players back at Hogwarts that hadn't written to them in the three weeks they'd been home. It made their hearts hurt.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" one of them asked Lily one afternoon. He was tall with dark hair and brown eyes. The wrong eyes. They should be hazel.

"Not yet," she said, not realizing that she had encouraged him. He smiled and it was all wrong, symmetrical with no dimples.

"Michael," he told her holding his hand out. She furrowed her eyebrows and Hermione snorted into her book.

"Did I stutter?" Lily asked Hermione who was laughing at this point. Poor Michael.

"I'm sorry. Did you not say that you didn't have a boyfriend yet?" He cocked his head looking down at her with a smile, not at all intimidated or deterred by her attitude.

"I don't but I'm sort of seeing someone... I think. I don't know." This just seemed to egg him on.

"Well then if he can't make a move then why are you waiting around for him?" Michael challenged. Lily sighed but didn't get a chance to answer.

"Who says he hasn't made a move?"

Hermione knew that voice. It wasn't Harry, but gods did it sound a lot like him.