For all of you who was wondering if they were going to Hogwarts in a year: Yes, they will. Next year when they are eight. The reason for this is because they can't go to muggle skool bc they would look weird. Haha.

I have a good feeling about this chapter.

Here's ch. 3.

Chapter Three

Love

Love. A word Harry was unfamiliar with. He was the unloved one. The one who didn't love. It was not because he didn't want to. He didn't know how. He didn't know the first thing about love. What was the point of it? What did it solve? What good did it do? He was full of hate. Hate and darkness. Blood. Beaten. That's what defined him. He was not capable of love.

Or was he?

He could feel through the Bond a feeling he'd never felt before. Hermione seemed to be always feeling it. Was this Love? Was this the feeling of Love? He smiled sometimes when it became strong. It wouldn't get very strong of course. He didn't know why, though.

The next morning, Charlotte and Hermione took him shopping for clothes, Hermione as well, since she had now outgrown of her clothes since the change. They both had to borrow clothes that had belonged to Charlotte and Jacob when they were younger and had kept just for in case. Hermione was having so much fun finding him clothes and the like. She made him try on so many shirts. Blue ones. Yellow ones. Red ones. White ones. Black ones. Harry had never been shopping before, so he wasn't sure what she was doing when she had handed him an armload of shirts and shoved him into the dressing room.

He should have explained to Hermione through the Bond that he didn't know what to do, but he kept his mind shut. He became embarrassed when he walked out confused with all of the shirts on. Hermione laughed and went in with him to help him. "That's not what your supposed to do!" she laughed.

He got red and replied in his mind, 'You never told me what to do. I've never done this before, Hermione.'

Hermione felt guilty. 'I'm sorry, Harry. You should have told me. I would have helped you. I wouldn't have judged you.'

He nodded and took off all of the shirts and left the last one on. It was the red polo. She liked it. They went out to show Charlotte, who liked it as well. Harry told Hermione she could stay out here and that he had gotten the hang of this. She nodded and went to get him a few pairs of jeans for him.

They spent a few hours there. Hermione had gotten her a whole new wardrobe to her happiness. They went to a nice cafe for lunch. Harry wanted to get the least expensive thing on the menu so that Charlotte wouldn't waste money on him. When Hermione saw the price of what he was getting, she mind-thought to him, 'Harry, you can get whatever you want. Get whatever you're hungry for.' He nodded to her and said he was going to get something that was a little more expensive, but it was what he wanted.

Hermione seemed satisified. What he got was a little more healthy and should fill him out a little bit. They had a nice lunch and went home.


Harry still could not get used to being in the Granger household. He kept doing things he was used to. At night, sometimes, he would go under the stairs as to go to his cupboard. But he would remember when he found that there was nothing there. Sometimes, he would forget to go to dinner. One of the Grangers would have to come get him. He would blush and immediately apologize. After dinner, he would stand up and immediately grab random plates to wash them. Charlotte would take them out of his hands and Hermione would tell him he did not have to do that anymore. A few times he had woken up at six and made breakfast. A breakfast for three. When Hermione didn't see that there was enough for him, she gave him her plate and her mother made more breakfast.

Often when the Grangers were asleep, Harry would sit on his bed, his legs against his chest, and his arms around them. And he would cry. Not loudly. He was taught to cry very silently so as to not bother the Durselys. And of course, Charlotte and Jacob did not hear him. But because of the Bond, Hermione did.

After the first few times it happened, she let him be. But this time, she went to him to see what was wrong. She knocked on the door, but he didn't answer. She could hear his heart beating sadly. She went in anyway, opening the door.

Harry's head immediately shot up and looked up at her. He quickly dried his tears, not wanting her to see them. "H-Hey..." he said with a hint of a smile. He refused to look at her. Hermione felt his emotions.

Sad.

Depressed.

Hurt.

Unloved.

The last one broke her heart and a tear dropped down her face. She walked to him and sat on the bed next to him. A comforting hand went to his shoulder. He flinched but did not back away from her touch. She rubbed her hand up into his hair and back of his neck, stroking it and soothing him. "What's wrong, Harry?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" he lied, beginning to give into her touch.

Hermione sighed. "Don't play dumb, Harry. You're not good at it. I can see your tear stains. Your heart is erratic. And I could hear you crying in my room through the Bond. What's wrong?" she asked pleadingly. "Please, tell me."

He inhaled deeply and let it out slowly, shuddering a bit at her hand at his neck. "I-I-I can't help but think that I'm doing something wrong," he said finally.

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"I don't know how," he said.

Hermione was still confused. What did he mean? How what? She voiced her question.

"...how to be part of a family," he said finally. He looked away from her as the tears came back. Her heart tugged, almost irreplaceable from being broken. She began to sob a bit. A warm hand was put on his cheek and his head was turned to look at her. "Harry..." she started, but he interrupted.

"I'm trying the best I can, but it-it's hard when I was not loved for six years of my life. I haven't even had a birthday party. For six years, I was put in my cupboard, forced to listen and watch Dudley and his friends in the kitchen laughing, eating cake, opening presents, and having fun. I was forced to be quiet so that the parents who came in to drop their children off could not hear me in my cupboard. But I still cried watching through the vent cracks, wanting to laugh with them. To have...fun. When I saw my aunt telling Dudley to make a wish, I used to close my eyes and pretend it was me making the wish. I used to wish that I could be taken away from them and be loved. And it never happened. Aunt Petunia would cut the cake and kissed Dudley's cheek, even though he hated it, every two minutes. I wanted a family like that. I wanted a mother who could kiss my cheek every two minutes. And I wanted to hate it. But I knew if I had one now, I would not want her to stop kissing my cheek."

Hermione didn't say anything for about a minute as she processed what he said through her mind. It sickened her that if he had a mother now he would savor her kisses, instead of wiping them off with a disgusted and embarrassed look like she imagined Dudley did. He hadn't had a mother to love him for six years since he was only one, they were told. She kissed the side of his head. "It's okay, Harry. They're gone. They can't neglect you anymore. You are with people who won't. You are with people who care about you. You are with people who love you."

Harry snapped his head at her at that word. That word. Love. It sickened him. "Love does not exist." He looked at her with an almost angry look.

"Yes, it does, Harry. Love does exist. I swear to you it does," she protested sobbing harder that he did not believe that one of the most precious things in the world did not exist.

"How do you know?" he asked with malice practically dripping from his voice.

She smiled at her answer. "How do you think we met?"

His frown dropped slowly and dramatically as he processed her words. "Love is two hearts beating together as one. And two minds thinking together. Drawing closer and closer together. Calling out to each other. So that they could find each other. They will search forever until they have found each other. It's when you can't live without someone else. You have to live with them by your side. Harry, I love you." Harry gave her a confused look. "I may only be six-years-old, but...I can feel it. I can feel a love for you. Everytime I look at you. Everytime I think about you. Everytime I hear your heartbeat. I love you. Because, Harry, my heart is calling out to yours, telling it that it wants to hear it the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. I can't ignore it." She inhaled deeply like Harry did earlier, and let it out. "I can feel you rejecting it. Like you don't want it. And it hurts me. It kills me to know that you don't want my love."

Harry looked at her with disbelief. He could not believe it. Someone told him they loved him. And it was Hermione. He smiled. "I-I could feel it. I felt your love. I know that now. And I liked it. But at the same time I didn't. The only reason why I kept rejecting it was because I didn't know what it was. I was confused. It made me...happy, I think that's the word for it. And I didn't know what that felt like either. But I won't reject it anymore. I promise. I'll be completely open to your love. And I will try to find deep inside me for love to return back to you. It's the least I can do, for all that you and your family has done for me. I-I j-j-just don't know how to l-love."

Hermione took his hand in hers. "I'll teach you. I'll teach you to love. I'll give you your childhood back." Harry smiled and they embraced. He opened himself up now that he knew what that foreign feeling was in his chest. He opened himself up to let her love in. Letting her love him. He liked the feeling. It felt relieving of all his past troubles. His past flaws. His past doubts. His...past. His past didn't matter. It was like the last six years did not matter in Hermione's arms. The only thing he liked about his past, even though he didn't remember it, was his parents. He knew they had actually loved him. But couldn't stress it for long for they had been murdered. Hermione made him feel happy. Relieved. Forgetful in a good way. Loved.

Hermione eased him down under the covers and scooted under them as well. He smiled at her gesture as she wrapped her arms around him protectingly. He didn't want to fall asleep, afraid she would leave him. She felt this through the Bond. She whispered in his ear, "Go to sleep, Harry. I'll still be here in the morning." With her mind, she thought to him, 'I love you.' Harry nodded and he wanted to repeat it to her, but he still was not sure if he was capable of love. Hermione understood and thought, 'It's okay, Harry. I know what you mean.' With that last thought, they both fell asleep to each other's heartbeats.

And Harry had no nightmares.


The next morning, Charlotte walked into Hermione's room to wake her up. However, she found an empty bed. So, she walked to Harry's room and stumbled upon a familiar sight. She smiled as she saw the two children asleep. Her daughter had her new ward wrapped in her arms comfortingly. 'That poor boy. He's been through so much,' she had thought to herself. Today was Harry's seventh birthday and she wanted to make it special for him. They had been talking about this since the day before. It was Hermione's idea and she had wanted it to be a surprise. Hermione had told her mother how hard it was to keep him out of her thoughts from finding out.

She hated to wake her daughter up, but it was for Harry's benefit. She shook Hermione up. The still six-year-old opened her eyes and blinked confusedly up at her. "Mum?" she asked groggily.

Charlotte nodded. "Come on, remember what we talked about last night?" she asked in fear of Harry being awake.

Hermione thought for a moment and then nodded, it all coming back to her. She looked down at Harry and gently kissed his temple, trying not to wake him. When he didn't she whispered, "Happy birthday, Harry." Then, she eased out of the bed, untangling herself from him and following her mother to the kitchen to make Harry's day the best he's ever had.

She told Charlotte to do something special for Harry when he came down. It was what he had wanted for so long.


An hour later, Harry woke up from the best dream he had ever had. He sat up and looked around. Hermione was gone. He began to feel sad. She had promised to stay the whole night. And to make it worse, it was his birthday. He was now seven in the real world. He got out of the bed and stared at his reflection in the mirror. His new change still amazed him. His older form. His naked face felt so different without his glasses. He barely recognized himself. He had beginning muscles growing on his arms and torso. He had strong legs that made him run even faster. He was filling out more as he was fed more food. He looked pretty good.

He figured he better go make breakfast for the Grangers. 'No, not anymore, remember? They don't make you do that' he reminded himself and walked out of the room, down the stairs, to the kitchen. When he walked in, he heard a loud, "SURPRISE!" He stumbled back slightly as it scared him. He gazed in awe at the what the kitchen held.

On the table was a big plate of a giant stack of round pancakes with black dots in them. Harry had made them plenty of times before, but never with whatever the black dots were. On top of the pancakes were lit candles. Harry didn't know how many there were as he was not taught how to count. He figured there were seven since that was how old he was. All three Grangers were smiling at him. They were the ones who had shouted. Harry was confused. 'Surprise?'

"Happy birthday, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed running to hug him. He was too shocked to respond. He smiled a little as he realized something.

They remembered his birthday.

When she let go of him, Jacob came and hugged him, "Happy birthday, son."

Charlotte's hug had made him cry. She hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Happy birthday, Harry." He figured Hermione would have told her mother about what he had always wanted. He wasn't mad at her for telling. He smiled at her and she smiled back, happy that he was not mad at her.

He wiped the tears from his eyes. He couldn't believe they did this for him. 'I told you, Harry. We love you,' came Hermione's voice in his head. He looked at her. 'Thank you, Hermione.'

"Come on, Harry, come blow out your candles before the pancakes get cold," Jacob said pushing Harry to the plate of pancakes. Harry had never done this before. He stood in front of the plate of pancakes.

"Make a wish, Harry," Hermione said encouragingly.

Harry looked at her and smiled. Make a wish. But his wish had already come true. He had gotten away from the Durselys. He had escaped. He had found a new family to stay with. But this time, it was a real family. Not one that would reject him. Not one that would tell him that his parents hated him and practically left him for dead at his uncle and aunt's house. Not one that would beat him to near death. One that would love him.

He felt as if he didn't need to wish for anything. He had everything he needed right here. But since they had went through all this trouble for him he wished for something anyway. He closed his eyes, inhaled, and blew out his candles. The flames diminished to smoke. He had gotten them all in one blow. He smiled as they clapped. And Hermione hugged him again.

"Alright, let's eat," Jacob said and they sat down at the table. Hermione was across from Harry again. He was served first since it was his birthday. And looking around, he had one more pancake than everyone else had. Looking down at it, he asked, "What are these black things?"

"They are chocolate chips, Harry. They go really well with the pancakes. Try it. You'll like it," Charlotte said.

He cut into it and took a bite. He smiled. The chocolate chips did make it better. He wondered why he had never heard of this. He made pancakes all the time but they were always plain. He liked this creation.

And the Grangers could see that.


After breakfast, Harry and Hermione took a bath. He was in the guest bathroom and she in her own bathroom. The Bond was beginning to strengthen as they were beginning to get small, tiny glimpses of each other's nakedness. They didn't see anything bad, but they did see a lot of skin.

When they got dressed, they met in the hallway. Both were blushing a bit at what they had seen. Hermione grabbed his hand, "What do you want to do today, Harry?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. I never got asked that question."

"What is something you have always wanted to do?" she asked him.

He thought about this. He didn't know. He just did what the Durselys made him do. Went wherever they went. Did whatever they did. He didn't know any different. "I don't know."

Hermione sighed and pulled him along with her. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"Play," was her only response.

They told the Grangers where they were going and they said that was fine. So Hermione dragged him to the playground. The same playground they had met for the second time a few days ago. Harry smiled when they arrived. He hadn't got to play much when he went last time. He just stayed in the purple tunnel. There was no one there, so they had it all to themselves.

"Come on, Hermione, I'll push you!" he said pulling her to the swings. She ran with him and sat on a swing. Harry got behind her and pushed her. She went high in the air after several pushes. They laughed, having so much fun.

After they got tired of that, they went to the metal merry-go-round. Hermione stepped on it and Harry ran pulling a rail, turning it. When he felt it was going fast enough, he jumped on it. He landed right next to Hermione. She grabbed his hands and they fell from the spinning onto the middle of the contraption. Harry on top of her. They laughed and stared into each other's eyes. It slowed to a stop and they got off of it. They laughed harder when they felt dizzy.

When they regained their composures, they went onto the jungle gym. Harry stopped to look at the tunnel. "That's where I saw you," Hermione said noticing where he was looking.

"Yeah, I was lonely. And then I heard your heartbeat." He looked at her. "It's all in the past now." He took her hand and they went through the tunnel to the slide. Hermione sat first and Harry got behind her and they slid down together laughing.

Harry was having the time of his life. He didn't think he'd ever had so much fun before. He had found someone who heard his heart and whose heart he heard. And they turned out to be magical and Bound. It was a scary world, but he liked it.

He might even...love it.

Hermione could feel it. He felt it. He felt love for the first time. He was loving her. She smiled at the realization.

They stood together at the top of the jungle gym. A breeze came through, flowing through them. Harry held out his arms, closed his eyes, and tilted his head back, feeling at peace. Feeling the rush of wind blow through his hair. Feeling content.


That night as Harry's perfect day was drawing to a close, he lay in his bed with the biggest smile on his face; waiting for Hermione who was getting dressed for bed. He heard a knock and sat up. "Come in!" he called.

Hermione walked in and smiled, closing the door. She walked to him and sat in front of him on the bed. "Did you like today?"

"No, I think I loved it. Thank you so much," he replied with a far-off gaze.

She nodded and smiled, happy that she could give Harry his perfect day. "Are you now okay with all of this? Becoming part of a family?"

He hesitated, but nodded confidently. "You made me feel it. You made me open up and let people in. Let love in. And let love out."

She took his hand, holding it and kissing the back of it. "I love you, Harry."

"I-I love you, too," he said finally. And he meant it. "I love you. I love you," he repeated several times, loving the sound of it.

He was now capable of loving.

She was staring at him with a strange look. He stared back wondering what she was doing. She was so beautiful. Most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. She completed him. His life. She saved him. She loved him.

Then, she looked at his lips. They were so kissable. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, giving him a small, but meaningful and loving kiss. He responded, puckering his lips a bit. There was another golden light as they were surrounded by it for a minute as they kissed.

Harry smiled as they separated.

His wish came true.

TBC...


I think this is my favorite chapter I've ever written in my life. I think it's also the best I've written. I wrote it listening to "Shattered" by Trading Yesterday. A great song that you need to listen to. They say "rejecting your love" which made me think of Harry rejecting Hermione's love.

I swear this chapter almost made me cry. Haha. And I wrote it.

I know they seem too young to be kissing, but their minds have "aged" as well; and it's not snogging, just sweet kisses and pecks, without tongue. But they won't be doing the naughty naughty anytime soon. Haha.

Next chapter: McGonagall visits them.

Pleez review!

DREWHHR