A/N – Thank you again for all the reviews and everyone who has marked this as a favourite. I'm going to try and keep the updates coming regularly. To darkflamingtiger – Harry may have been a distant cousin of the Black family, but he needed to be Sirius' son by blood in order to inherit the head of house and deny Draco the honour.

Chapter 6 – Mind Your Manor(s) Mr. Potter

Harry and Hermione appeared in a large entrance hall. An elegant staircase was in front of them and led to the second floor. Harry summoned Jeeves and asked him to take them on a tour at around the same time Remus arrived.

Jeeves showed them the main floor that consisted of a library, sitting room, formal dining room, breakfast area and kitchen. The tour was almost over as soon as it had started and Hermione nearly had to be dragged out of the library. Behind the house were a swimming pool and a smaller building that housed a weight room and a training gym.

The second floor of the house consisted mainly of five large guest bedrooms with ensuite washrooms and a very large master bedroom.

Throughout the tour, Harry and Hermione never stopped holding hands – a fact which was not lost on Remus. Sirius and him had spent many a night plotting how to get these two together. Sirius (not to mention James and Lily) would be so overjoyed right now. Harry deserved to be happy and he could not think of a better witch for him to end up with.

Once the tour was finished it was getting near dinnertime. Hermione asked Jeeves if he would deliver a note to her parents explaining whom she was with and that she would be home following dinner. Jeeves waited for her to write the note and then disappeared and reappeared 10 minutes later with a note from her parents indicating their approval.

Dinner was an easy-going affair. Harry's elves outdid themselves for their new Master (which is how they referred to him when he was not around).

Shortly after dinner, Remus excused himself. Before he left Harry asked him, "Hey Moony, can I ask you a favour?"

"Sure pup."

"Well, I had the goblins open up a special vault for me and they moved everything but the money from the Black vault into it and the contents of 12 Grimmauld will be going into it as well. I need someone to check the items for dark curses so that we can deal with them separately. I was hoping you could, I need someone I can trust. I thought maybe when you have spare time…"

Remus replied, "Of course I'll do it for you. I'm glad to see that you are taking precautions. I remember Sirius saying that some of his family "heirlooms" can be quite nasty."

Harry quickly wrote a note to Gringotts and gave it to Remus. "Here this will authorize the goblins to give you a key to the vault. Oh, and can you come back on Friday? We need to plan for the will reading." Harry had a cocky smirk on his face.

Remus noticed the look and recognized that same look on his father years ago. "You really have the Marauder's spirit Harry. I'll be here."

With a pop he was gone.

Harry turned to Hermione. Both teenagers realized that they we alone in a house by themselves and no parents or adults were expected. Harry broke the silence. "Hermione, we need to talk."

She nodded with a worried look on her face. Harry sensed her nervousness and then realized how serious he had just sounded. He smiled at her and took her hand in his. And leaned close and kissed her on the cheek. This seemed to relax her a bit and they went into the sitting room. They sat down together on a large sofa.

Before he could say anything, Hermione said, "Harry is everything OK."

He shook his head, "No, it's not. I mean I should be on top of the world right now. My beautiful best friend is now my girlfriend and I even managed to kiss her today without her bursting into tears."

Hermione's heart soared at the "beautiful" and "girlfriend" remarks.

"My godfather loved me enough to want to become my father and even saw to it so that I was free to now make my own decisions. However …" he paused and looked at the witch in front of him. She was the one person who had stood by him for the past 5 years. The person who cared for him enough to challenge him when she thought he was being reckless. He trusted her with his life. He could trust her with this right now. His mother even suspected that she was one of the people in the prophecy. Telling he this would put her n even more danger.

"Hermione, Sirius and my mom left me information which has left me feeling overwhelmed. I would like to share it with you, but I need you to know that there are people out there who would kill you if they suspected that you knew this."

Hermione smiled, "Harry, one of the things I've realized being your friend is that my life is in danger. I'm already a target for being your friend. I'll be an even bigger target once people know I'm your girlfriend."

Harry started to interrupt. Hermione stopped him by saying, "And don't you get noble on me and try to break this off. I realized that I'd been waiting a long time to express my feelings to you so you can just forget about that." With that she leaned forward and kissed him passionately. When they broke apart she continued, "That is worth all the danger and risk. Harry, think about it. I'm a muggle-born witch. I can either risk my life by your side, or sit around and wait until I'm one day killed by Death Eaters. I choose to fight and stand by the wizard I love."

Harry was stunned. That was some kiss. He never knew a kiss could be that … WOW. He looked at Hermione. She had finished speaking and was looking at him. What had she said? Oh yeah something about being a target and then … THAT KISS! After the kiss what did she say? Oh, yeah something about fighting beside me instead of waiting to get attacked and … LOVE?? That stunned him all over again.

Hermione looked at Harry and smirked. She saw his eyes had a glazed-over look since she kissed him and watched different waves of realization hit him over and over again. "I think I broke him," she laughed to herself. She leaned forward and kissed him again.

Harry felt the kiss and that brought him back to the world. Actually it was his brain saying to him, "Yo, lover boy. There's another kiss going on. Get back here or you'll miss it!"

When they finally broke apart this time Harry had regained the ability to speak. "Y-You love me? " She nodded. He looked into her eyes and image passed through his brain – The troll, the hunt for the stone, sitting by her bedside for nights on end when she was petrified, riding Buckbeak with her, her being the only person to talk to him before the first task, the feeling when he saw her come down for the Ball, her tending to his hand after detentions last year, her by his side at the DA, at the Ministry… "I love you too." And he kissed her again.

When they broke apart again, Hermione said, "What did you want to tell me?"

"OK, this may take a while and I don't have all the details, and I'll need your help to figure out everything. But first things first, I need you to cast a spell."

"Harry, you know I'm still underage."

Harry thought about this. The spell had to be cast with your own wand. "Jeeves?" The elf appeared. "Jeeves, can the ministry track underage magic here? This place is unplottable right?"

Jeeves nodded, "Your father and his friends used to practice magic over the summers all the time. Since the manor is unplottable all the actions that occur here are unplottable. Tracking charms are useless and you even have to give owls permission to find it. Before you say anything Harry, I found out about Hedwig and have given her permission to find this place. I have even prepared the largest space in the Owlry for her."

"Thank you Jeeves."

"So I can practice magic here?" Hermione looked like a kid in a candy store.

Harry nodded, "Apparently so." Harry grabbed a piece of parchment, "Here, point your wand at this and say 'Ostendo Meus Prosapia'."

Hermione performed the spell and words started filling the parchment. She started reading with Harry. Eventually she got to one section and her eyes went wide "Is this true?"

"Apparently so. My mom wrote about what mine says and it has another one on it."

"Harry do you realize what this means?"

"Yes, more than you do. I have some things for you to read." He pulled the envelopes from Sirius and Lily out of his robes. He gave her the ones for Sirius. "Sirius hid these in my room at Privet Drive on his way to the Ministry that night. You read the first page earlier, it's time you read the rest."

She started reading and after about 15 minutes she looked at him coyly and said, "You know, these are still charmed."

"What! I give Hermione Granger permission to read all the documents. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well the story this time was about me and you and I quite enjoyed it." Her face was beet red. She went back to reading.

It was well over half an hour before Harry recovered this time.

When Hermione finished the last page she was in shock. "We have to include Him? I can't believe it! He thinks I'm nothing but a know-it-all mudblood and he hates you!"

"I know. I'm still trying to deal with this myself." He handed her Lily's letter. "Read my mom's now."

It didn't take Hermione very long to finish it. "So your mother figured that She was part of this too? I would have never seen this coming."

"Hermione, when you think about it she is a very powerful witch in her own right. We need to find some way to contact her. We need to meet. It's Monday today, let's try and meet here Wednesday night."

Hermione nodded, "I can get Her to come. How are we going to get Him to come as well? Are there any others?"

"I'll add Her to the book tonight. Don't worry about Him. I've already got an idea on how to get him to come. As for others, you read my mom's note. She knows there will be more in our core group but the prophecy was vague about who they are. You see the list of possibilities but we were the only four she was sure about."

Hermione glanced at her watch, "Harry it's getting late and my parents are going to start to worry. I should head home."

"I know," he said. He reached over and grabbed the old book he got from his mother, "You've memorized the latest edition of this. This edition is around 200 years old. I want you to read it. It poses more questions."

Hermione took the book and took his offered hand. He walked her to the front foyer and called Jeeves. "Jeeves, how can I get Hermione home?"

"Your ring Harry. It's a portkey that acts similar to the floo. Just say the destination clearly and touch your ring and you will be there. There is a limitation – either your starting point or ending point must be the Manor."

Scene Break

Harry and Hermione popped into existence in her parents' back yard. To the couple it was a lovely July evening. However given their obvious and complete attention on each other, there could have been in a hurricane or a blizzard and they still would have considered it a lovely evening.

Harry walked her to the door and they shared another kiss. As Hermione bade Harry good night and went inside, Harry touched his ring again and headed back to the Manor.

Hermione's parents were sitting in the study reading when she came upstairs. "Hi pumpkin" said her father as he saw her, "have a good evening?"

"Hermione was lost in her own world and just giggled and said dreamily "Yeah. I think I'm going to my room to read a bit before I go to bed. 'Night Daddy."

Dan Granger looked at his wife, "What's up with her? Hermione has never giggled and she's called me Dad or Father since she was eight."

Jane pondered for a moment and then got up. Just as she was leaving the study she remembered her husband and with a similar smile to her daughter's said, "I'll go talk to her."

Jane walked down the hall and knocked on Hermione's door, "'Mione, can I come in?"

"Sure Mom. What's up?"

Jane had a Cheshire-like grin as she walked in and saw her still-smiling daughter curled up in her favourite chair with a rather old book. The snowy white owl perched by the window was a surprise, but Jane was used to things like this after five years with a student witch for a daughter. "So," she said, "who is he?"

Hermione looked up from her reading, "What are you talking about?"

"Give me some credit Hermione. I've known you all your life and I've never seen you this girly. Either you are in love, or you're drunk."

"Mom, I haven't been drinking. I'm too young. You know my feelings about under-age alcohol consumption. Why it's just…"

Jane held up her hand to stop her form getting too far into her rant, "Now that is my daughter. So, I noticed you didn't deny being in love. So I will ask again, who is he?"

Hermione blushed and mumbled something.

"I didn't quite get that."

"Harry."

"Harry? As in the Harry who rescued you from that Ogre in first year?"

"That was a Troll mother. They are completely different things."

"Don't change the subject on me. Harry, as in your best friend for the past 5 years who you swore last summer was more like a brother?"

"Yes, mother – that Harry."

"And how does he feel about this? I'm assuming he knows."

"Of course he knows. We realized we both felt the same way about each other today at the reading of his godfather's will. Oh yes, by the way I'm rich now."

"Rich? Save that one for a bit. You found out at the will reading? How romantic."

"Mother, you don't need to be so sarcastic. Harry's godfather was a prankster and very outspoken. He basically wrote in his will that we should just be honest with each other and finally get around to snogging."

Jane stifled a laugh and said very seriously, "And did you?"

"Yes we did talk about our feelings for each other."

"No, I meant the part about the snogging," Jane could barely keep the stern look on her face.

Hermione turned a deep crimson, "Er … well … about that … Oh hell. Yes we did and I loved it!"

"Hermione Granger," her mother finally smiled, "it's about bloody time. I mean for the past five years all your letters and any talks we've had about school have included Harry Potter. I've known you were falling in love since about halfway through your first term when your letters stopped being miserable little statements of fact to bright colourful letters about the magical world, school, and most importantly your first real friend Harry. I am so happy for you."

Hermione allowed her happiness back out and beamed at her mother. "Thanks, mom."

"Now what's this about being rich?"

Scene Break

When Harry got back to the manor he started planning. He had two weeks until everything started to come out and he had to get his group together and start preparing. Kreacher was set with number 12. The Order was not going to go back into the house until they found out who owned it. Any changes to his status would not be filed with the Ministry until the fourteenth as per his agreement with Ragnok. He would go back to Privet Drive every night and be there in the morning so he was seen at times through the windows sulking.

He looked at the list of people that Lily and Sirius thought were important. Well, I've got Hermione (His thoughts chimed in "In more ways that one."), Hermione would contact the next person on the list and she won't be hard to convince. He looked at the fourth name and furrowed his brow. "How do I get him even to listen to me? It's not like he ever has before."

Slowly an idea came to him. His brow smoothed out and his smile appeared.

He said out loud to no one, "Perfect."

He stood up and touched his ring, "The Shrieking Shack, Hogsmeade".

Harry appeared in the shack. This was perfect! He looked around and found the right room. Single table, never-snuff candles on both sides (Sirius had told him the Marauders has enchanted and lit them in fifth year – they never figured out how to put them out) and a few chairs. He thought, "This is the perfect meeting place, out of the way but convenient to get to and everyone knows where it is."

He went back to the manor and then to Privet drive. He turned on some lights, walked around past some windows for a while and then packed himself off to bed. About 10 minutes later he snuck back to the manor and used his Patronus to send a message to Him. Hermione had studied Patronus and their uses when he was teaching them to cast them during the DA sessions. They had a use to send messages. The Patronus was untraceable and could deliver a message through any wards. He thought of the message, the recipient and tried to cast the spell. It took three tires since thinking of Him was not exactly conducive to good memories. He glanced at his watch. "OK I have half an hour to get ready."

Harry went to the study and pulled out the vials he got from his mother's envelope. Choosing the number 1 he poured it into the pensieve and entered the memory. Twenty minutes later he emerged, put the memory back into the vial and headed of to his meeting.

Scene break

Harry sat at the table. He held the letter from his mother in his hands. The parchment almost glowed in the light of those silly candles. "Soon, very soon" he thought.

There was a movement and a figure in a billowing black cloak entered the room.

"Potter. Why have you summoned me here? I don't have time for your games."

"But yet you came. You know why you came. I know why you came. You came for answers to the questions I posed to you. You are just as curious as I am about the reason why many of the things that happen around us happen the way they do. You want to know why your life has been manipulated and why you continue to be manipulated to this day. I have some of the answers with me but I these answers I will share will only lead to more questions for now." He handed over the letter. "You remember my mother Lily? Of course you do. She and my godfather dug up some information working as Unspeakables. This just scratches the surface."

The man in black picked up the letter and read. Once he was finished, he looked directly at Harry, "If this is true…"

"It is and, yes, I know what you are thinking about our glorious Headmaster right now. I have one other item I have brought with me here. It is a memory I viewed in a pensieve." He smirked, "If I remember correctly, you dabble in legilimency. After having read what you have and seeing your expression, I am inviting you into my mind to see this memory and this one only. If we are going to work together, we have to get over our past differences and try and trust each other. This is the first test."

Harry looked into his eyes and felt a stirring in his head he brought forth the memory from the pensieve. He knew this one would strike a very personal cord with the man in front of him. As soon as the memory was over the Harry felt him withdraw.

Anger burned in the man's eyes. But for the first time, Harry knew it was not directed at him. "What's the next step Potter?"

The four of us will meet in a safe location Wednesday evening at 8pm. There will only be the four of us plus my house elves.

"Where is this place?"

"If I told you about it now you would not understand or even hear me. It is an unplottable location and I control access. Wednesday I will grant you access and will send you another message via patronus to verify. You will be forced to come alone. Only those with explicit permission can get anywhere near the location. If I remove your access you will forget about the place once more. Dumbledore already doesn't know he used to have access."

"How can I trust you?"

"I think based on our history a better question is how can I trust you? I've already thought of that – watch." Harry raised his wand, "I hereby swear on my magic that there will only be the four people involved and my elf staff at the meeting on Wednesday night should it come to pass. I also swear on my magic that I will not actively cause harm nor seek to cause harm to any of the other three people at the meeting should it come to pass." Harry was surrounded by a glow as the oath took effect. He smirked, "your turn. I will also make sure the other two say the oath before the meeting."

"There will be no others present?"

"The only other person who has permission won't be there. Wednesday is the full moon and you may remember his furry little problem."

The figure looked at him and raised his wand; "I swear on my magic that I will not actively cause harm nor seek to cause harm to any of the other three people at the meeting should it come to pass." He was bathed in a golden glow as his oath took effect.

Harry looked on, "You must really be starting to believe this. That oath was a bit too freely given."

"Potter, I have to admit you have given me something to think about. I await your message on Wednesday. Until then I have things to think about."

With that the figure turned and left the room. With his cape billowing behind him he disappeared from view into the darkness.

Harry let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and smiled inwardly, "That went a lot better than I ever thought it would."

Harry left thinking about the next 48 hours and the work that needed to be done.