Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the affiliated stuff. That's JK Rowling's property.

A/N: This is a nice Harry and Hermione interaction chapter not in the story previously. Enjoy!

Harry awoke the next morning with a bright orange cat nuzzling his hand impatiently. "Crookshanks? How did you get in here?" he mumbled sleepily as he began scratching the half-Kneazle's head. Absently, Harry began drifting off to sleep again and was rewarded by Crookshanks biting his hand. He jolted back to life. "Point taken. Why do you want me up so badly?" he asked while cradling his lightly bleeding hand.

It was still pretty early in the morning, only about seven, but Harry decided to get up anyway. Crookshanks sat purring contentedly as Harry got dressed and continued as he sat back down and resumed rubbing Crookshanks's head. "Good morning. You haven't eaten Scabbers yet, have you?" Harry glanced at the closed coverings on Ron's bed. Crookshanks was gazing mischievously at the hangings as well. "Let's go downstairs. Ron will hate to find you in here when he wakes up."

Gathering the fat cat in his arms, Harry started down the stairs, careful to firmly shut the dormitory door behind them. Down in the Common Room, Harry found Hermione sitting in a chair surrounded by open books. He settled in a plushy, scarlet chair next to her with Crookshanks on his lap. "Good morning, Hermione."

Startled, she looked up from the book lying on her lap. "Oh, good morning, Harry. Why are you up so early?" They were alone in the spacious Common Room.

"Your alarm clock came and woke me up," Harry said, pointing to the purring cat.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Bad Crookshanks." The cat just looked at her with his equivalent of a smirk. "I had wondered where he disappeared to."

"It's okay. So how long have you been up?" Harry asked, gesturing to the sea of books surrounding Hermione.

"Just an hour or so. I woke up and remembered I had checked a few books out of the library on dementors. I never got a chance to read them."

"Hermione, I really appreciate you helping me, but you're overworking yourself. You have too much homework as it is." Harry was really touched at how much she was trying to help him, but he was worried about her. It wasn't just that she looked tired; she also looked thinner and unhealthier. Harry was concerned and wondered how long this had been happening and how he had not noticed before.

She smiled that tired smile and put her hand over his on the arm of the chair. "You know I'll do anything to help you. I'm fine," Hermione assured him with all the sincerity she could muster. Harry couldn't help but stare into Hermione's big brown eyes. He felt himself leaning forward slightly until Crookshanks, feeling ignored since Harry had stopped petting him, bit Harry's hand again and jumped off his lap. Crookshanks sauntered off in the direction of the boys' dormitories.

The mood had been killed again, and Hermione turned back to the book in front of her. "I've learned some interesting things about dementors, but there isn't much information available about them."

"Why's that?" Harry asked, only slightly recovered from earlier.

"Not much is known about them. Basically all that we read last night is all that anybody knows. I find that rather odd," she remarked while studying the book.

"Why would the Ministry trust a creature they know nothing about? Especially with guarding Azkaban?" Harry wondered aloud.

Hermione nodded her agreement. "It doesn't make much sense. Dementors sound like dark creatures."

"Yeah. I bet they used to be in league with Voldemort. Maybe they helped Sirius Black escape."

"It's possible. A breakout has never occurred, so it would make sense that he had inside help. I wish I could study them more," Hermione added wistfully.

Harry smiled as he watched her bit her lip with this look of deep contemplation on her face. He and Ron knew that look well and usually left Hermione to her thoughts. "You'll get to one day," Harry reassured her as she broke her reverie. "I don't think Dumbledore can let us kidnap one for your experiments. Though I'm sure he'd love to do it himself."

"Yeah, but I'm sure the Department of Mysteries has been studying them. That's their job," Hermione mused.

"Is the Department of Mysteries part of the Ministry? I've never heard of it."

"Yes. Although we know of it, anyone that works outside of the department isn't supposed to know what goes in it. I've only heard it mentioned in passing, but my guess is that they work on researching, studying, and developing things in magic," Hermione explained as though she had thought about it a lot.

"Sounds like the perfect place for you to work after Hogwarts, Hermione," Harry teased.

"I've considered it, but I don't know if I could."

"Why not? I think you would be perfect for that job"

"Well," she began to blush, "Unspeakables, people who work for the department, can't talk about their work. And…"

"And what?" Harry asked, trying to find out why she was blushing.

"Every time I would make a discovery, I would be dying to tell you about it," she finished while looking down at the book on her lap.

The feeling of being pleased welled up in Harry's chest, though he wasn't quite sure why. "Why just me? Ron listens to you too," Harry asked without much grace.

"Ron doesn't listen though. He may sit there pretending he is, but his mind is usually on Quidditch or food. You always take the time to listen to me, and you try to understand. I'd much rather tell you stuff than Ron," Hermione answered with a lot of feeling. She seemed to realize what she said though and blushed while turning her gaze back to the book.

Harry knew the truth of her words. Ron was usually too caught up on his own life to pay much attention to Hermione. Constantly working to please and help others, Hermione needed someone to discuss her work with. She liked the insights and the additional information other people, especially Harry, could give. Harry realized this and promised himself that he would always try to listen to her. Suddenly, he felt better knowing that he understood Hermione just a little more.

After a few moments of listening to the fire crackle, Hermione gave up pretending to concentrate on the text by shutting the book. "These books aren't giving me any new information. I'm going to return them to the library."

"Let me help with those." Harry helped her collect the dozen or so books scattered around the chair she had just been occupying.

"Thank you, Harry," Hermione said gratefully once both their arms were loaded with books and they were on their way to the library.

Harry looked down at the vast number of books weighing heavily in his arms. "I thought you said there wasn't a lot of information on dementors."

"There isn't. I checked out any books that mentioned dementors. Most just named them, and the others had really small sections on them that all said the same thing. This is only half of the books I originally looked at."

Harry just laughed and shook his head. "What?" Hermione choked out once his laughter had become contagious.

Smiling at her once his chuckles had subsided, he replied, "You really are amazing, Hermione. Did you know that?"

Her face turned red, but her smile was huge. "Thanks, but I don't know why a trip to library makes you feel that way."

"You are always helping people, even if they don't know. You have so much to do every day, but you always take the time out to help someone. How do you do it?" Harry thought about all the times Hermione had helped him with his adventures. The times she helped Ron and him with their homework, and when she assisted Neville during practically all of his classes.

She took a second to think about her answer and stopped walking. "I don't know. I like to help people, and I have just as much extra time as I've ever had."

That statement confused Harry. "How? You are taking twice as many classes as any of us."

Hermione seemed to have regained her senses and resumed walking. "Better time management," she said stiffly, and it was clearly the only answer she was willing to give. Harry knew she was lying but didn't press the issue. They walked in silence the rest of the way to the library. Madam Pince looked relieved to get her precious books back.

On the way out, Harry glanced at his watch, "Breakfast is about to start. I imagine Ron and everyone else will be getting up soon."

"I suppose so. I like how quiet it is in there when no one's up. It's peaceful, and I can get work done."

"Yeah, it's hard to do anything in the Common Room with everyone in there," Harry commented while wondering about her previous statement. He never knew she stayed up so late or got up so early. No wonder she looked so tired. "Hermione, are you sure you're okay?"

Sighing, she answered this question wearily, "Yes, Harry. I appreciate your concern, but I'll be okay. I just haven't been sleeping well."

"Are you sure that you aren't taking too many classes? I only ever see you working anymore," Harry pointed out, hoping that Hermione would come to reason.

"Harry, I'm fine! I am getting all of the work done, and I'll be okay!" she half-yelled in frustration. By this time, they had stopped walking and were turned towards each other. Almost as soon as her anger had come, it disappeared. "Oh, Harry. I'm so sorry!" Hermione choked out as tears started flowing down her cheeks. She started sobbing, and instinctually, Harry wrapped his arms around her shaking frame.

Looking around them, he noticed an unused classroom. "Come on," he said as he pulled he into the room. He locked the door with a flick of his wand, and Hermione cried fervently into his shoulder. Not sure how to comfort her, he rubbed her arms and hair. There conveniently was a couch that he again directed her to. They were settling in as her tears started to run out. Gradually, silence crept in around them until Hermione was barely hiccupping. All the while, Harry tried to put as much warmth in his embrace as he could, hoping it would help.

"Oh, I'm sorry Harry," Hermione said once she was calm again.

"Talk to me, Hermione. What's wrong?"

She took a deep breath and began, "I'm overwhelmed by everything. You're right. I'm taking too many classes, and I have too much homework. Then I'm constantly worrying about you. McGonagall worked so hard for me, so I can't tell her it's too much for me to handle…"

Harry interrupted her jumble of thoughts at that. "What did McGonagall do for you?"

Hermione sat up and looked in his eyes. "Can I tell you a secret? No one else can know."

"I won't tell anyone, not even Ron," Harry promised.

"Okay, well you know how I have a couple classes at the exact same?"

"Yeah. You said it was a mistake when Ron pointed that out at the beginning of the year," Harry remembered.

"I had to lie. You see, to get to all of my classes, I needed this," and she extracted a long gold chain with an hourglass at the end from under her jumper. "It's called a Time Turner. You use it to go back in time."

She placed the hourglass part in his hand, and he examined closely. "Is that why you would pop up out of nowhere?"

"Yes. McGonagall had to write a lot of letters to the Ministry to get me one of these."

"I've never heard of them. If I had…" Harry thought wistfully of the day his parents died.

Hermione seemed to follow his line of thinking. "I'm sorry, Harry. These are closely regulated by the Ministry because time travel can be very dangerous. People sometimes end up killing themselves or drastically changing the future."

"I guess there would have to be a good reason. Otherwise, we would already be rid of Voldemort." He thought for a second. "Why haven't you been sleeping then? You could just go back in time and get more."

She shook her head. "No. The number one rule is that you can't be seen, least of all by your other self."

"Why don't you drop some classes then? I'm sure there's a few you don't like," Harry offered up as a solution.

"I've thought about dropping Divination, but that would still leave me a load of classes."

"At least quit Divination then. Trelawney gives a lot of homework."

"I think I will. I don't like the old bat or her subject anyway." The laughter dispelled much of the earlier mood.

"Just let me know if I can help you with any of your work. I'll try to get Ron to do his own homework too," Harry suggested very willingly.

"Harry, you don't have to do that," Hermione began to protest.

"Hermione, I want to. You've done so much for Ron and me, especially me. Without you, I wouldn't have made it to the stone in time, and I wouldn't have been able to save Ginny from the chamber. You've also been helping me with my homework and listening to me about Black and the dementors."

"I'm always willing to help you whether you want me to or not." She smiled softly to show Harry how sincere her offer was.

He returned it and replied, "Thank you, Hermione. I couldn't have a better friend." She settled back against the coach and put her arms around his neck. He had one arm around her back and was clutching her close to his own body. Sighing contentedly, Hermione laid her cheek on Harry's now dry shoulder. Her eyes got heavier and heavier until she finally fell into much needed and deserved sleep. Feeling Hermione's breathing slow, Harry decided to not disturb her and drifted off himself.

A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter out. I love you guys thought. Before I took the last 11 or 12 chapters off, I had almost 21,000 hits! You guys are amazing, and I hope you like the story so far!