Diclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 4

Hermione was right about leaving her a space. When Harry woke up the next morning, he found her curled up next to him. He looked at her strangely. It was odd. He didn't even notice when she snuck into the bed. Deciding to put off the thought, he got up, making sure he didn't disturb, and went down to make breakfast.

It wasn't long when Hermione joined Harry downstairs. Instead of sitting down at the table, waiting patiently for her breakfast, she walked up straight to him.

He looked at her questionably but she didn't give him time to ask as she spoke the reasons for her actions.

"Do you mind if I help you today?" she asked him.

"Um...I'm not sure Hermione. I mean I don't think you can handle it in...your state," he told her.

She then did what Harry thought he would never see her do. Hermione grabbed hold of Harry's arm and pouted looking up at him with pleading eyes. "Pwease," she pleaded.

He couldn't believe his eyes. Hermione had pleaded before but only rarely often of times of concern. It was hard to believe this was his same mature best friend. He understood she wasn't herself at the moment but he couldn't help but be surprised at a new side he was seeing of her.

"Uh..okay," Harry gave in patially, "You can serve the juice."

Hermione pouted again but this time it wasn't a pleading pout. She released Harry and crossed her arms and looked at him seriously. "That's not cooking. Honestly who do you think I am, Ron?"

Harry just gaped at her. For a second he thought Hermione was back to her old self but that fact that she was pouting proved that she was still childish.

He shooked his head. "Um...why don't you help me with lunch instead. Since I already started with breakfast."

She stared at him for a moment but sighed in defeat. "Okay," she sounded a little upset. As she retreated to the table, she started humming again a variety of gradeschool songs.

The rest of the day went pretty much uneventful. Harry didn't know anyway to entertain Hermione as she kept asking him to play with her. Ironically, only a few days ago he was complaining on how much time she spent locked up in her room. Now he wished she would return to that state. Mostly he gave her books to read, which she did but she would still complain about having to do that for hours. Hermione may love books but she was just a kid at this moment.

It was about three hours later after breakfast and since then Hermione had been reading. She wanted to complain, again, but thought better of it. Complaining would not solve anything and she didn't want to be tiresome for Harry. Her head hanged low as she was hunched down with a book in her lap. For the hundredth time, she removed her locks of hair away from her face. They had been getting in the way since she started reading and it was becoming irritating.

"Argh," she grumbled as her hair came forward once more.

This caught the attention of Harry, who had been looking through his picture albums of his mom and dad, and his friends. He noticed a frustrated Hermione, straightening herself as she removed her attention from the book. She was trying to pull her hair back and struggled as she tried braiding it.

"Argh! This is so frustrating," she exclaimed.

Harry chuckled as he came towards her. She turned his direction.

"I guess you didn't know how to style your hair at the age of four, then," he commented to no one.

Hermione still heard him so she nodded and smiled at him. "Hey Harry, you can do it for me right?"

Harry raised his eyebrows as he looked down at her. He gave a sigh as he ran his hand through his hair. "Alright."

She beamed at him. Happily she took out her wand and said, "Accio hairbrush."

Moments later a floating hairbrush made it way towards them. As Harry took hold of the brush, he noticed that there were two bands on the handle, obviously to use to tie her hair.

Hermione then shifted so her back faced him. "Two pigtails, please," she informed him.

Harry sighed once more, as he started brushing her hair and braided it into two braids. "There," he said when he was done.

She then took hold of her two braids, inspecting them. A smile appeared on her face. "Thank you," she said. Then she stood up and pulled him up along with her eargerly.

"Um...what's going on?" Harry asked surprise in her sudden change of mood.

"Lunch time!" she announced.

Harry shooked his head unbelievingly. Of course Hermione would be excited about helping out with lunch since she didn't get the chance at breakfast. Though Harry wasn't too excited about it. He didn't want to find out what trouble Hermione can cause in the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, Hermione turned to Harry and asked, "So what are we making?"

Harry thought for a moment and then something clicked. This time he smiled when he looked at her. "We are making sandwiches."

"Sandwiches?" she questioned.

"Yes," Harry nodded.

A frown appeared on her face. "But that's not even challenging. It's so simple," she complained.

'And safe,' he thought to himself. "Well, if you don't want to help, I can manage by myself."

"No, I'll help," she said sounding a little down.

As she said, Hermione helped. Though she kept silent throughout the whole time that caused Harry to feel a little bad. Even while they were eating she kept silent. It wasn't until Harry started picking up the dishes that she spoke.

"Um...Harry?"

"Yeah?" he said turning to look at her.

"When you're done with what you were doing before, can we start story time?"

"Well I did promise to tell you another story, so of course," he told her.

Hermione smiled again and skipped happily out of the kitchen. Harry couldn't help but chuckle as he watched her.

Once he was done putting away the dishes, Harry decided that he would continue looking through the pictures later and tell Hermione a story at that moment.

She brightened when he told her he was ready to tell her a story. Her choice for today was the story of Thumbelina. When the story was finished, Hermione then asked Harry to read with her. Harry of course wanted to decline but couldn't. Instead he spent two unbearable hours reading with her and answering her questions she asked him. The questions weren't for her to understand but merely to test Harry if he was paying attention and learning the material. It was times like this that Harry believed that the real Hermione was back and she was just playing a joke on him.

Harry yawned as Hermione was reading aloud. She then stopped and turned towards him. He expected her to scowl and snapped at him but she didn't. Instead she yawned in returned. "I think a nap should do us good. What do you think?"

Harry was surprised at her reaction but nodded as another yawn escaped him. He was extremely bored that a nap seemed like an excellent idea to kill time.

Hermione then settled herself on the medium sized couch and left the longer one to Harry.

Harry laid down facing the ceiling, placing his arms in the back of his head. After a while he glanced sideways to where Hermione was. She was turned facing inwardly into the couch. He could hear her breathing and could make out the rising and falling of her back as she exhaled a deep breaths. Feeling at ease, he then started to drift of to sleep.

It had been almost an hour since she had heard Harry shift to his side as he gave into unconciousness. Slowly she turned around, her eyes still closed. She opened one eye to get a look at Harry. To her relief, Harry was facing the couch and she heard his deep breathing. Quietly, she rised up and made her way out of the living room.

There was only one thing she wanted to do event though it was still a little early for it. She made her way towards the kitchen, careful not to trip or step on creacking floor boards. A sigh escaped her mouth as she made into the kitchen. She took out her wand and instantly placed a silencing spell so she wouldn't wake up Harry. A smile, then spread across her face.

Harry was sleeping soundly when he suddenly turned and...BAM!

He fell flat on his face and a grunt came out of him. "Wha...huh?" he said as he picked himself up, massaging his nose. Thinking that he might have caused Hermione to stir, he looke up only to find her gone. His eyes grew wide as he bolted up on his feet.

POP

He apparated into his room. Hermione wasn't there. Next he went to her room but there was no sign of her. Thinking she might be in the lavatory, he knocked on the door. "Hermione," he called, "Are you there?" There was no answer. He was starting to panick but he calmed himself down as he made his way into the dining area of the kitchen. There was no one at the table when he entered. He was about to leave when he heard a clank coming from the actual kitchen.

"Oh no," he gasped.

In a hurry he went through the doors and stopped. There was a pile of dirty dishes and spilled contents of ingridients surrounding them. He looked to the side and there was Hermione covered in flower. She seemed to be mixing something but suddenly stopped as if she sensed another precense. As if right on queau she turned and dropped the spoon she was holding at the sight of Harry.

"Harry!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Hermione, what happened..." he stopped as an odd smell reached his nostrils. He turned towards the stove to see a pot that was overflowing. "Whoa!" He went and turned off the stove instantly. Carefully he lifted the lid and the odd smell got stronger.

"Oh is the stew, ready?" asked Hermione as she came to stand beside Harry.

"Stew?" Harry questioned as he looke into the pot. he's face crunched up as he looked at the brown thick liquid with chunks of who knows what floating on the surface. 'Is this even edible?' Harry then turned to Hermione who was still waiting for an answer. "Um...bad news...it seems it burned so it's not good eating it. Sorry," he told her.

"Oh," Hermione said. "That's not good. I guess I'll just keep making a cake then."

"Cake?" Harry questioned in concerned comprehending why Hermione was covered in flour. He followed her to where she had the bowl. The batter wasn't well mixed but harry was glad that it at least looked alright.

"Hermione you should have waited for me to help you," Harry told her.

"If I did you would have picked somthing simple to make it easy for me. This way I can make dinner. And really cook something," she argued.

"Well at least a sandwich looks more appetizing," he mumbled under his breath.

"Huh?" Hermione said looking at him.

"Oh nothing...I just...why don't you finish with the cake and I'll try to...I'll jus make dinner."

Harry and Hermione sat at the table eating chicken and potatoes that Harry had cooked up at the last minute, having monitoring Hermione while she was making the cake. Soon it was time for dessert. Hermione placed a piece of cake before the two of them. She waited patiently for Harry to try it first.

"Go on Harry. Give it a try," she told him.

"Um...okay," he said before giving a gulp. With his fork, he lifted a small piece of the white cake with chocolate frosting and placed it in his mouth. It wasn't the best cake he ever tasted but it wasn't bad entirely. He just hoped that this wouldn't make them sick.

"So?" she probed.

"It's good," he told her.

"Thanks," she said as she dug her fork into a the cake and tasted it herself. Her face suddenly fell.

Harry looked at her nervously.

"It's not good enough," she complained. "Not nearly as good as others I tasted. Why?!"

"You just need more practice," Harry assured her.

"But you said it was good," she reminded him.

"Yeah...I did..."

"You weren't lying were you?" she eyed him.

"Um...well...not entirely,"

Hermione then pushed the plate toward him. "Here, then. Enjoy you're dessert. I'm going to bed," she snapped.

Harry just stared after her opened mouthed. "Why me?" he said aloud.

By the time he went upstairs Hermione was already in Ron's bed fast asleep. After she had left the kitchen, Harry had waited a while before going upstairs, thinking it would be better to give her some space.

Since he had taken a nap, Harry wasn't really that tired. Before going to change, he walked over to Hermione to check on her. Something caught his eye at the corner of Hermione's pillow. He leaned in, careful not to wake her, and noticed it was her wand. He sighed and stepped away from her. Walking towards his closet, he turned around suddenly to glance at Hermione. Her chest rised up and down. He shooked his head and went back to what he was doing. It was odd but he thought he hadn't heard Hermione breathing when he had leaned close to her. 'Maybe I was just imagining things.'

A/N Okay guys here's the next update. Thank you for being patient. Or at least I hope you guys were. Sorry if I took a little longer than two weeks. Well I hope you enjoyed it. I'll try to update soon.