Disclaimers on chapter one

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Harry sighed in relief when he made it to his room. In the span of several hours, he gone to the Ministry for his hearing only to find that the time and venue had changed and just miraculously made it on time before managing to once again dodge the killing curse, figuratively speaking this time, and getting bombarded by the Weasleys and whoever else was in Grimauld place congratulating him when he got back. And it was not even eleven o'clock in the morning yet.

And now, finally, he was able to have a quiet moment to himself and to have a good think on several key moments on the last three hours. Such as why his trial had gone from a simple interview with Madame Bones to a full-fledged court gathering and why Dumbledore seemed to be giving him the silent treatment. And not just because he is the Boy Who Lived, even though that was part of the story.

No sooner had he sat down on his bed did the bedroom door burst open again as Hermione entered and literally tackled him in a hug to rival one of Mrs Weasley's.

"Jeez, Hermione" Harry groaned as he was sent flat on his back as the bushy haired girl buried her face into his neck. "You trying to send me to Madame Pomfrey before Hogwarts starts?"

"Sorry" Hermione mumbled into Harry's neck before pulling back to get a clear look at her boyfriend's features. "I know you heard me say I was relieved that you were cleared of charges downstairs, but nearly all the other times you worried me nearly to death I was at your side and I just felt like-"

Just like what happened several nights ago, Harry captured Hermione's lips with his own before the girl had a sudden nervous breakdown. Almost instantly, Hermione relaxed in Harry's embrace as if she had suddenly been struck with a mood-swing charm.

"You really have to try and stop yourself from going on one of those rants, you know?" He commented when he pulled away from her.

"That's one of the reasons I have you" Hermione countered before becoming more serious. "But seriously, Harry, if it was not for Professor Dumbledore, I really doubt you would have been cleared"

"How do you figure that out?" Harry inquired a bit puzzled by that last bit.

Hermione bit her lip before reply hoping that Harry did not fly off the handle at her when she told him. "Don't take this the wrong way, Harry, but even though you are a great wizard, you're not good in matters like court cases and such. You're sort of a shoot first ask questions later sort of person, most of the time anyways"

"That's one of the reasons I have you" Harry said mimicking Hermione from earlier.

"Prat" She grumbled good naturedly as she slapped his shoulder lightly.

"On the subject of the hearing though" Harry continued becoming serious himself. "Don't you think a full Wizemgamot is a bit overkill for something like this?"

Hermione remained quiet as she thought over Harry's question. She had indeed been thinking about it the moment Harry and Mr Weasley told them in the kitchen about the hearing and could only come up with one reason. They were using it to further their smear campaign against him and Dumbledore, had they lost, and no doubt it would have been in a special addition of the Daily Prophet by the afternoon.

"They were trying to humiliate you in the worse way possible, hoping that having the trial under the Wizemgamot would take you off guard so that they could easily beat you and do who knows what else to you" She answered finally. "But to something like that, it would mean that someone in the ministry…"

"Ordered the dementors to attack me in Little Whining" Harry finished for her realising where she was going with this.

"Do you think they'll try to do something to you at Hogwarts?" Hermione quickly asked seeing the signs of Harry's temper coming to boil and speaking the first thing that came to mind.

Being caught off guard by the sudden question, Harry allowed his temper to simmer down as he looked back over his hearing. He remembered hearing Dumbledore say something about Hogwarts and its staff and pupils were not part of the Ministry's jurisdiction. Although Dumbledore was only pointing that out, the Minister seemed to take it differently as if he had just been offended.

"We'll soon find out" He told her wrapping the bushy haired girl tightly in his arms to assure her.

Hermione frowned slightly. She had known Harry for over four years now and was able to read him like a book, the real Harry Potter not what the books said about him back when she first learned about the wizarding world. Right now, there was something else bothering the teen other than what the Ministry was trying to do to him.

"What's eating you, Harry?" She asked quietly causing Harry to sigh as he remembered once again that his best friend now girlfriend was and still is the smartest witch of their generation.

"Professor Dumbledore seemed to be…I don't know…ignoring me" Harry said unsure as to how to explain things to her. "At the hearing, he didn't once look at me and when it was finished, he left without a single word"

Hermione's curiosity was piqued. Throughout all their previous years, whenever the three of them seemed to hit a dead end, the headmaster was mysteriously nearby and gave them a subtle, if somewhat confusing, hint that would either put them back on track or put them in the right direction. And each time he did so it was in his grandfather's persona as she had decided to dub it.

Now, or rather ever since Voldemorte's return, Dumbledore became even more mysterious and had now gone from treating Harry like a normal student to ignoring him and even trying to isolate him from his friends; and worse herself. Despite finding out something new about the headmaster, Hermione decided to leave that trail of thought on a backburner until she had found out a little more about why he was doing this to her boyfriend before speculating.

"Let's just wait until school starts before we look into that" She suggested after mulling it over a bit knowing it was not the answer Harry would want. "We, or rather you, have just gained a victory over the Ministry and we should be celebrating rather than pondering their next move"

"Hermione, whilst I agree with you, I'd rather not go back down there right now" Harry said somewhat tiredly causing Hermione to smile coyly.

"Who said anything about going back downstairs?" She asked causing Harry's eyebrows to disappear into his fringe before leaning down and capturing his lips with her own again.

"You know, James and lily didn't do anything like this until their seventh year" The voice of Sirius Black noted from the doorway to the room.

Both teens separated with a start when they realised that the door to the room had been open this whole time allowing anyone to see them being intimate with each other. Getting off the bed in what seemed like record time, Harry actually found himself glaring at his godfather who was leaning against the frame of the door whilst Hermione, who was still sitting on the bed, was looking down so that no one could see her beet red face.

"Whilst I apologies deeply for interrupting your…discussion. I'm here to tell you that Molly wants you two downstairs for a celebratory lunch before you get back to purging my once proud home" Sirius informed them putting as much sarcasm as he could into the last few words. "And as Harry's godfather, I'd advise you to brush up on locking and silencing charms for later rendezvous and discussions"

That last statement even had Harry blushing at its meaning whilst Hermione quickly fled the room towards her own room before she died of embarrassment.

"You do know Hermione's the smartest witch in my year, right?" Harry asked Sirius as he walked over to where his godfather was standing.

"And the prettiest, well to you at least" Sirius corrected himself. "You should be fortunate I came up instead of Ron"

Harry inwardly winced when he realised this was another problem he and Hermione had to worry about. If the way Ron acted at the Yule ball last year was any indication, the red head had some feelings for Hermione. He was actually thankful that Mrs Weasley had kept them busy scourging the house and barely leaving them enough energy for anything afterwards.

"Was my mother scary at any point?" Harry asked out of the blue.

"Only when properly aggravated, which was easy for me and James" Sirius admitted wondering where Harry was going with this.

"Then you better watch your back" Harry advised before leaving his confused godfather alone.

It was only when Harry had disappeared down the stairs did the knut drop and Sirius realised what, or rather who, his godson was talking about.

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Review if possible & 'til next time

Watch this space & peace out!