Chapter 17

Patch Job

It was still Christmas Eve. This day was meant to be spent with family, but Harry had left the moment he had finished breakfast. There were things that needed to be done, things that couldn't wait.

Harry's first stop of the day was Gringotts. The wizarding bank loomed over him like an imposing goliath, but he ignored its appearance as he marched passed the massive double doors. Since it was Christmas, there weren't many people there. Everyone was spending time with their family. Harry should have been spending time with his family, but his new directive was beyond imperative.

He walked up to a teller, waited until the goblin looked up, and said, "I need to speak with Director Ragnok."

"Do you have an appointment?" asked the goblin.

"I do not, but if you inform him that the Heir of the Potter family has a business proposal for him, he should be willing to make some time."

The goblin frowned. He frowned for so long that Harry wondered if he would ever move. After nearly a second of nothing but frowning, the goblin hopped off his stool and made for the door on the far side.

"Wait here," he said.

Harry closed his eyes and magically enhanced his ears, allowing the sounds of the bank to wash over him. Six meters away, a goblin placed jewels on a scale, the chink chink of shifting jewelery causing his ears to prick. To his left, a wizard paced. The tapping of his feet created a series of staccato echoes that resonated with Harry's state of mind. A door opening with a slow creak made Harry open his eyes again. The goblin had returned.

"Director Ragnok said that he will see you," the goblin said with a sneer. "Follow me."

When Harry entered Director Ragnok's office, it was to find the goblin in charge of Gringotts going over papers. Harry walked up to the desk and sat down.

"It's not like you to demand to meet with me without scheduling an appointment first," Ragnok said. "I take it you have something important to discuss?"

"I'm going to open a restaurant that caters to magical creatures," Harry said without preamble. One did not offer a goblin platitudes unless they wished to have their head removed from their shoulders. "To that end, I would like to buy some real estate. However, due to the nature of the restaurant, it has to be somewhere more discreet than Diagon Alley."

Ragnok stopped reading through papers and looked at him. His shrewd eyes were narrowed as though he was trying to peer into Harry's soul.

"You wish to open a restaurant for magical creatures?"

"Specifically for those creatures who are labeled 'dark' like vampires and werewolves," Harry said. He reached into his robes and pulled out a parchment, which he handed to Director Ragnok. "Either I'll need to buy a building with these specifications, or I'll need to buy land where I can have a building with these specifications built."

Ragnok looked at the parchment, studying the architecture no doubt. His face remained inscrutable.

He looked back at Harry. "And what do you hope to accomplish with this?"

Harry understood enough about goblin culture to read between the lines. Director Ragnok wasn't asking what he was hoping to gain, but rather, what the goblin nation stood to gain for helping Harry with this endeavor.

"Goblins aren't allowed to loiter around places like Diagon Alley or other wizard heavy population centers. While you do have your city under Gringotts bank, not being able to go where you want is rankling. This restaurant, which is also going to second as an inn, will be open to all magical creatures, including goblins. Since this has never been done, it's bound to be a profitable venture, especially if advertised right."

Director Ragnok set the parchment on the desk and frowned at Harry. "If anyone else had come up to me with this proposal, I would have never considered it. However, since it's you, and you've proven to be a highly successful businessman, I'm going to make an exception. We'll find either a building or some real estate in a location that would best suit an inn like this."

"Thank you."

Harry stood up and made for the door. Since there meeting was done, there was no point in staying, and Director Ragnok disliked mingling any longer than necessary.

"Heir Potter," Director Ragnok said as Harry placed his hand on the door.

"Yes?"

"Next time, schedule an appointment."

Harry paused, but it was only for a second. "Yes, sir," he said before leaving.

His goal for coming to Gringotts was a success, albeit, Director Ragnok had given him a warning-which could have been akin to a death sentence in goblin terms. Since he was finished with goal one, he decided to complete the second goal for his coming to Diagon Alley.

CH Potions was still not open for business. Harry had used his connections in the potion ingredients industry to negotiate a deal for quality ingredients at a low price. He'd also contacted Neville and Blaize. Neville owned several greenhouses filled with plants, and Blaize had a more comprehensive knowledge of imports and exports than he let on. While Celestina and Augustus were technically in charge of their business, both had agreed to help out.

Now that Harry and Cassidy had a means of acquiring ingredients, they would be able to open up the shop soon.

Harry was here for other reasons today.

He knocked on the door and waited, listening as someone squeaked on the other side. Footsteps echoed from behind the door. The sound was muffled, but it grew louder as the person on the other side got close. There was a pause. Harry heard breathing. Then the door opened and a flustered Cassidy peered outside.

"H-Harry?" Cassidy stared at him as if he was an alien entity.

"Good morning. Do you mind if I come in?" asked Harry.

"Oh! Um, erm, ye-yes! Please come in."

Cassidy's cheeks were red as he entered the shop. It was odd to see her so flustered, as she normally kept a pretty calm demeanor when she was working at Flourish and Blotts. He wondered if her new situation, being the owner of a potions shop, was making her nervous.

"How have things been? Are you nearly ready to open up shop?" Harry asked as he glanced around. This was his first time inside.

"Not yet," Cassidy admitted. "I'm still working on making enough potions to sell that I won't run out."

They walked past a shelf lined with vials that were filled with potions. Green, red, yellow, purple. The potions were represented in a myriad of colors. Harry could tell from a combination of the color and viscosity what type of potion each one was. They were all fairly standard. Rejuvenation. Pepper up. Burning salve. Etc.

"Did the ingredients come in okay?"

"Yes, they did. That's actually why I'm here today. They came in and I really needed to stow them in the back room."

Certain potion ingredients expired quickly. While most jars had their own freshening charm to make ingredients last longer, they only worked for a few months. To rectify this, the back room of the shop was placed inside of a stasis charm, which kept everything sealed from the outside world, almost as if they were frozen in time.

Harry nodded several times. "If you want, I can get someone to help you create the potions."

"Really?" Cassidy whirled around on him. Her eyes were shining like two beacons. Harry leaned backwards in a vain attempt to avoid her stare.

"That's right," Harry said. "I was thinking of having my house elf come over and help make potions with you. I figured it would be easier if you had an extra hand who could make the basic potions, which would leave you free to create the more complex ones."

"That would be nice," Cassidy said.

"I'll see what I can do about sending you some help, then." Harry eyed the magical posters on the wall. Each of them contained ingredients on a different potion. As he looked at one of the posters, it quickly changed from displaying a Pepperup Potion to a Wolfsbane Potion.

"Thank you very much," Cassidy said. "I appreciate everything you've done for me."

"You're welcome," Harry said. "Actually, I was hoping you would also be able to help me with something."

"Considering all the help you're giving me, including the shop, potions ingredients, and now this, I'll do whatever I can to help," Cassidy said.

"Then, do you know how to create a Wolfsbane Potion?"

Cassidy blinked. "I know how to make a Wolfsbane Potion, but I've only made it once or twice, so I'm not the best at it."

"That's fine," Harry said with a wave of his hand. "The reason I'm here isn't just to see if you'd do this for me, but also to help you create a Wolfsbane Potion according to my own findings. It's stronger than the normal Wolfsbane. I've brought enough ingredients for us to make six attempts."

"I wouldn't mind practicing. Are we going to do it now?"

"I'd like to get you proficient as soon as possible. Is that okay?"

Frowning for a second, Cassidy eventually nodded. "Yes, that's fine."

"Thank you."

Cassidy turned to him as they wandered to the back of the store. The back was lined with more shelves, and a counter sat in front of the shelves. There was a door situated off to the side. Harry could not see beyond the door, but since this was a two story building, he imagined it would lead to a shop should also have a basement, so it would probably be back there as well.

"Do you have some particular need for Wolfsbane Potion, Harry?" Cassidy finally asked.

"I do," Harry said. "I'll tell you about it as we work, if you want."

"That would be nice," Cassidy said, and with those words, the two of them got to work.

XoX

Harry spent about an hour with Cassidy-until he felt she was proficient in brewing Wolfsbane potion. He also left her with his notes. It was the entire process of creating Wolfesbane potion, along with his reasoning on why he'd made certain changes to the process.

Arriving back home, Harry discovered Professor Lupin, Sirius, and Lisa playing video games in the game room. While the former DADA professor stood back and watched, Lisa and Sirius were screaming at the television.

"Come on! You're supposed to jump onto those floating boxes!"

"Ha! You haven't seen my true skills yet! Eat this-damn it! That stupid goomba killed me again!"

"You see? This is why you keep dying!"

"Stuff a sock in it!"

Sirius was playing right now, and it appeared that he and Lisa were arguing on how best to defeat a certain part of the game. They were arguing so much that they were barely paying attention to the game. Sirius had already died once more, which meant Lisa was now playing.

She was a lot better than Sirius.

"You see this? This is how you clear a level."

"N-no way! How did you become so skilled?"

"I've always been talented at video games. Now bow before your master!"

Sighing when Sirius actually did bow to Lisa, Harry walked further into the room. "Are you two having fun?"

"Harry?!" Lisa turned around to face him… and was subsequently killed when Mario leapt into a chasm. "Aw! That's not fair! I was distracted!"

"Distraction or not, we agreed to trade turns once someone dies," Sirius said, making creepy gestures for the controller. "Gimme."

"Fine." Lisa shoved the controller into his hands and stood up. As Sirius began playing again, Lisa went up to Harry. "Did you finish everything you needed?"

"Yeah, it's all done," Harry said.

"Great." Lisa grabbed his hand. "Then let's do something fun."

Harry blinked. "Fun?"

Lisa's idea of fun was, apparently, going to the park. After getting dressed in regular mundane clothes, he and Lisa went to Saint George's Garden. It was a fenced off park surrounded by buildings. Since it was winter, the trees had no leaves, but the grass was still green. It didn't snow often in London, not unless the weather was freezing.

Freezing or not, it was still cold. Lisa had bundled up in a jacket that made her look like a snowman. Harry was wearing a plane leather jacket, which did little to protect him from the cold, but he didn't need to worry about that since he had magic.

"How are you not cold?" Lisa asked.

Mist blew from Harry's mouth as he said, "Warming charm."

"Wha-no fair! Put a warming charm on me too!"

"All right. I can try, though I'm not sure how long it'll last on you."

Harry discreetly placed a wandless warming charm on his friend, who breathed a sigh of relief as the charm activated. "I love magic."

"You've only been introduced to it a few days ago," Harry said.

"And now I love it. Magic is like the most convenient thing in the entire world."

"Well," Harry started, "I won't deny that it's convenient. It is. However, there's a lot more to magic than mere convenience."

"I know that." Lisa pouted.

They wandered through the park, passing by several benches, trees, and various decorations. Numerous graves littered the park. They were large creations, monoliths that served to show who was buried there. Some were larger than others. One even looked like a stake jutting into the sky.

"So… you know that tomorrow is the last day I get to stay here," Lisa said at last.

"I know. Christmas day. Your parents are going to pick you up early in the morning, right? After we open presents?"

"That's right."

Harry hummed. "I'm surprised your father let you stay over at my place for so long."

"I think he was reassured about there being a parental figure around," Lisa confessed, though from the glimmer in her eyes, he knew what she thought of that.

"Yeah. Sirius isn't much of a parental figure."

"No." Lisa giggled. "He isn't."

They spent nearly an hour more outside, until the warming charm on Lisa wore off, and then they traveled back to Grimmauld Place. Sirius would still be playing video games when they arrived.

XoX

Harry woke up later than usual on Christmas day. He'd spent the previous night playing video games with Lisa, Sirius, and Remus. That normally wouldn't have been enough to put him out so thoroughly, but Sirius was a terrible influence. Harry didn't know if Sirius had not thought about the implications, or simply not remembered that his friend wasn't magical, but he'd given Lisa butterbear.

Butterbeer was a wizarding beverage with a mild alcohol content, about 2.8%, if Harry wasn't mistaken. Underage witches and wizards were allowed to drink it because their magic flushed alcohol from their bodies. However, the effects it had on a mundane child were vastly different.

Lisa had gotten drunk after guzzling 3 pints of butterbeer. She'd then come onto him stronger than he could ever remember. To make matters worse, she'd stripped off most of her clothes, claiming she was "hot," which had probably been a side effect of being a mundane child who'd gotten drunk off a wizarding beverage. Afterward, she chased Harry all throughout the house until she passed out in the living room. Harry had then been forced to carry the half naked girl to her room, put her in some pajamas, and then he'd gone to Sirius and lectured the man about responsibility for the next two hours. After which he'd passed out from exhaustion.

It had not been a pleasant night.

Groaning as he sat up in bed, Harry pressed a hand to his face and circulated some magic through his mind. The headache he'd been feeling slowly faded. However, no amount of magic could keep the disturbing images of last night from entering his mind.

I truly hate having perfect memory sometimes.

Yes, there were occasions when the benefits of perfect memory were not worth the drawbacks. Now he was going to be stuck with images of a half-naked Lisa for the rest of his life. If there had been any shred of brotherly feelings for her left over, any sense of familial love, last night had done an exceedingly smashing job of destroying them.

Definitely not an image I want to have.

Harry needed to take a cold shower to bring his arousal under control. He couldn't allow himself to think about Lisa like that, nor did he want to. After staying in the shower for 15 minutes longer than normal, he got dressed and wandered downstairs, where the scent of breakfast wafted from… the living room?

Are they eating on the carpet?

He rushed into the living room. Not only were Sirius and Lisa eating on the carpet, but Lisa was lying on her stomach as she shoved French toast into her mouth. Sirius was sitting cross-legged by the Christmas tree. However, he was a sloppier eater than Lisa. Harry didn't know how long they'd been eating, but there was already bits of food in his godfather's goatee.

"Why can't you two take Moony's example and at least eat on the couch?" Harry asked, gesturing to Professor Lupin, who was, indeed, sitting on the couch as he carefully ate breakfast.

"Harry!" Sirius greeted cheerfully, completely ignoring everything Harry had just said. "Happy Christmas!"

"Happy Christmas, Harry!" Lisa also greeted.

Harry pressed his palm against his face and turned to Professor Lupin, who merely smiled at him. "Happy Christmas, Harry."

He sighed. "Happy Christmas."

"Grab some breakfast and come join us, Harry," Lisa said. "We're going to open presents soon."

"I can't wait!" Sirius cheered like a child who'd just been given the keys to the car.

Harry sighed again, but he went into the kitchen, grabbed some breakfast, and wandered back into the living room. He sat down next to Lisa. She seemed awfully chipper for someone who'd gotten drunk the previous night. Of course, that was likely because Harry had used magic to clear the alcohol from her system so she wouldn't have a hangover.

"We should at least wait until Lisa's parents arrive," he said.

I still need to give her a lecture on accepting beverages from someone as morally unscrupulous as Sirius Black.

That would be for another time, however. Today was Christmas, and so it wouldn't do if he were to ruin it by giving his best friend a lecture.

While Sirius and Lisa moaned in complaint, Harry remained adamant about waiting for Lisa's parents, who arrived fifteen minutes after everyone had finished eating. Greetings had been subdued. This was mostly because of Mr. Crawft. The man remained gruff even though he was in someone else's house. Harry sighed. At least he was polite.

Once the two Crawfts had arrived, Lisa and Sirius had tore into their Christmas gifts like, well, children. It was almost like watching a couple ravenous beasts tear into a dying animal. Paper and ribbons flew everywhere as though they were guts and blood. Harry could only watch with Remus and Lisa's parents, who seemed astonished to find an adult who acted like such a child.

"Had I realized Sirius Black acted like this, I would not have agreed to let Lisa stay over," Mr. Crawft grunted.

"Now, dear. Lisa has not seen her friend for a long time." Mrs. Crawft smiled. "Would you deny her this time with Harry?"

Mr. Crawft responded with another grunt, but he didn't say anything to dispute his wife.

Outside of his necklace, which he'd given to her before the party, Harry had bought Lisa a number of gifts that ranged in price, from name brand T-shirts to movies and books. His friend had gushed over each one. Her hugs had been like Heracles squeezing a grape between his thumb and forefinger.

For Sirius, he'd bought a brand new outfit for his motorcycle, including chaps, a helmet, and a jacket. Mr. Crawft received a brand new Rolex watch, and Mrs. Crawft had been given several erotic novels, which he knew she liked because she had a secret stash that she hid in the closet. The last person he'd bought presents for was Professor Lupin. For his former professor, Harry had bought a werewolf mug, a brand new suit, and two tickets to a Led Zeppelin concert. The stunned expression on the teacher's face had been reward enough.

Harry wasn't the only one who'd bought presents. Lisa, Sirius, and Professor Lupin had all given him incredible gifts. From Sirius, Harry was given several books on mechanics plus an expensive broom cleaning kit. Remus had bought him a rare book on Charms that Harry had been searching for but hadn't been able to find. The best gift, however, had come from Lisa.

"Oh… wow…" Harry muttered as he tore away the packaging and saw the present hidden inside.

It was a brand new computer. Harry had never owned a computer before, but he'd used enough to understand that this one was an excellent buy-one of the best that a regular citizen could get. It had a 66 MHz P5-based Pentium processor. It came with a Windows NT 3.1 operating system, and there was also a game that had come with it as a package: Doom.

Gaming was a relatively new concept. Video games had technically been around since 1950. However, they were mostly novelties back then. The only people who had played them were programmers who had access to computers, and they were very simple games. Even later on, the games were large and unwieldy, using a vector display system. They simply weren't that good.

Now people could play games on their computer. Again, most of the games were simple. Pong. Frogger. Doom was, according to the instruction manual, being toted as a game with some of the best "graphics" around.

Technology is coming even further than I thought.

"This is amazing," he muttered.

Lisa grinned at him. "Isn't it? I spent a lot of time working to get that for you, so be sure to keep praising me-uwa!"

She was given no chance for a come back when Harry pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank you for this. I'll be sure to treasure it."

Harry felt a pair of hands grab his back. "Y-you'd better."

"She says she worked hard getting that, but it was actually me who bought it," Mr. Crawft grumbled.

"Come on, dear. Don't belittle Lisa's contribution. She's been working several hours every day since last Christmas to get this for Harry," Mrs. Crawft chided her husband, who grunted but said nothing else.

It sounded like Lisa had been working from the moment last Christmas had ended to buy him this gift. The mere thought that Lisa had done this for him caused warmth to spread through his chest. He wished he could capture this feeling in a bottle, so he could save it for whenever he was feeling down. Euphoric did nothing to describe how he felt.

"Thank you," Harry said, giving Lisa the widest, most heartfelt smile he could muster.

Lisa's cheeks turned into a bonfire of red. "Y-you're welcome."

Presents were finished unwrapping and Lisa left with her family. Harry had gotten a lot more presents than he'd ever had before. Aside from Lisa's gift, which had also been a joint gift by the entire Crawft family, Harry had received several books from Daphne on old magic rituals, a fashionable cloak that could be used in place of wizarding robes from Blaize, several different types of Honeydukes candy from Tracey, the newest star chart from Terry, a book on Egyptian magic from Lisa Turpin, sealed plant ingredients from Neville, and an advanced dueling kit from Hannah and Susan. That was on top of all the gifts he'd gotten from Sirius and Professor Lupin.

I think this year is my biggest haul yet.

"So how was it?" Sirius asked. Harry looked up from his place on the floor. Sirius was also sitting on the floor, his face split into a wide yet nervous grin. "Your first Christmas here, I mean. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, I did," Harry admitted. "Thank you, Sirius. This has been one of the best Christmases I've ever celebrated."

Since befriending Lisa, most of his Christmas celebrations had been with her and her family. While they had been fun and exciting, it wasn't quite the same as this year. There was something different. Perhaps it was because Sirius was his godfather, or it could have just been because of the man's exuberant personality. Whatever the case, this Christmas had been a lot of fun.

"Hehe, you're welcome."

Sirius looked quite pleased with himself. His grinning face had the kind of satisfied look that Harry expected to see on a well-fed and lazy cat who was sunbathing.

Harry ended up putting most of his presents in his room. Since there were a lot of books, he transfigured a bookshelf inside of his bedroom and placed the books there. He also took out all of the books that he'd memorized out of his trunk and put them on the shelf as well. There was no sense in lugging around a book that he'd already memorized.

It took nearly an hour to organize his presents. It was lunch time when he finished, and Harry walked into the kitchen, ignoring Walburga's portrait, which seemed to be pouting at having been forced into silence. Sirius and Remus were eating when he entered. He sat down beside them as a plate with a sandwich appeared on it.

"Sirius," Harry said as he stared at his sandwich.

"Hm?" Sirius looked up, his mouth half full.

"There's something I need to discuss with you."

Swallowing his food, Sirius said, "what's with the formal tone?"

"I'm not sure if you know this, but as members of the Founding Five, you and I have seats on the Wizengamot and the House of Lords."

The Wizengamot was the judicial body through which trials were held. Every person who was placed on trial stood before the Wizengamot as they were either sentenced for their crimes or proven innocent. Meanwhile, the House of Lords was half of the governing body. While the Ministry governed, it was the House of Lords that passed laws, though they still needed approval from the Minister of Magic.

"We do?" Sirius asked.

Harry gave his godfather a blank stare. "Did you not know that?"

"Um… no, but I never really cared for crap like that."

"Well, you're going to have to care now," Harry said adamantly. "I'm not old enough to claim my place on either the Wizengamot or the House of Lords. Currently, both House Black and House Potter's seats are empty. Someone needs to fill those places until I'm old enough to assume them myself."

While Sirius spent most of his time goofing around or working on his motorcycle, he wasn't dumb. He understood the meaning of those words. It was hard not to.

"Oh, no," Sirius said, shaking his head. "No, no, no. Look, Harry, I know you're all gung ho for this political stuff, but I'm not cut out to be a politician. I have no talent for it. Besides, I hate politics to begin with. Half the reason I ran away from my parents was so I wouldn't have to deal with politics."

Harry nodded. "I understand, which is why you won't have to do anything but sit there during meetings. I'm not expecting you to do anything. However, I need someone to take up those two positions and report what's happening to me." Sirius's stubborn expression didn't waver. Harry sighed and leaned forward. "Look, Sirius, considering what happened to Moony, we can't afford to stay in the dark. Lucius Malfoy is a huge threat, and he has a good majority of the dark houses in his pocket. I need you there, so you can gather information on him for me."

Lucius Malfoy had one of the largest block of votes on the Wizengamot and the House of Lords. More than half the dark houses were in his debt, owed him favors, or had entered an alliance with the House of Malfoy. The only dark houses that weren't aligned with him were the fringe families. However, while the fringe families actually make up more than 45% of the governing body, they were a fractured group.

The only solid voting block for the fringe families was Nathaniel Greengrass's. He, and those aligned with him, made up around 30% of the voting blocks for fringe families, making him someone who could swing votes in favor of whoever he deemed fit. He was like that single ingot on a scale. Whenever the light and dark sides were deadlocked, he was the person they had to convince to make their side's law pass.

Sirius scratched his head. "Damn, you know how to hit where it hurts, bringing up that bigot. All right, fine. I'll attend those stupid meetings for you."

"Thank you." Harry shared a quick grin with Professor Lupin.

"But who's going to watch the house while I'm gone?" Sirius asked.

"Why, Sirius, don't you remember saying I could stay here?" asked Professor Lupin, his calm smile holding a hint of mischief. "I would be more than happy to housesit for you while you go and enjoy sitting in meetings for several hours a day."

Sirius slammed his head onto the table and groaned.

"Fuck you, Moony. Fuck you."

XoX

The days passed by more quickly than Harry had expected. Harry had spent his days with Lisa, or Sirius and Moony. He hadn't been able to see his friends from Hogwarts since the party, but that didn't surprise him. They had their own things to do with their families.

It was the last day of the holidays. Tomorrow, Harry would go with Sirius to platform nine and three-quarters. Professor Lupin would not be joining them. Much as it pained Harry to admit, at the moment, it was better for the former Dark Arts professor to lie low. It would be especially bad if he showed up at the platform where a bunch of children were being seen off by their parents.

As Harry showered after his workout, he thought about what steps had been taken to mitigate the damage done by Lucius's scheme. It wasn't much. Professor Lupin had resigned, and Headmaster Dumbledore had not made any comments to the Daily Prophet, other than to let them know that Professor Lupin would no longer be teaching at Hogwarts.

Harry was impressed by the headmaster's ability to repair his damaged reputation without slandering Professor Lupin or claiming ignorance. He'd let the media make up their own minds by not commenting on his thoughts. Even so, all he'd done was seal the cracks. He hadn't actually fixed anything. Those cracks in his defense could be reopened if someone decided to attack him again.

They were fortunate that the headmaster was intelligent enough not to fall prey to Lucius's tactics more than once. So long as Headmaster Dumbledore didn't do something that the Ministry would disapprove of, Lucius would have no ammo to attack further.

After getting out of the shower, Harry donned brand name jeans, a shirt, and his new jacket. He wandered into the game room. Sirius and Professor Lupin were playing Mario again.

"I'm heading out," he told them. "I'm going to meet some people. I don't know how long I'll be gone."

Sirius was not in charge of the controller right then, and he frowned at Harry. "Where are you going?"

"I'm… going to visit Hermione's parents."

Sirius remained silent for a moment. Professor Lupin was still playing, and he was surprisingly good, having cleared a level while he and Sirius spoke. When his godfather did speak, he sounded like he was being cautious in picking his words. "Do you want me to go with you?"

Harry shook his head. "Thank you, but no. I'd like to do this myself."

Nodding, Sirius said, "okay. I'll let you do this, but be sure to come back before it gets dark. Oh! And don't just bottle everything up. I'm serious. If you feel angry or sad or whatever, then be sure to talk to me."

"Will do," Harry said.

"You should also be careful when you go out," Professor Lupin added. "There've been people disappearing around London. I know that Hermione's parents don't live near where the disappearances are happening, but you can never be too careful."

"I know," Harry said. "Don't worry. I'll be careful."

The Grangers lived in a cul-de-sac much like the Crawfts. All of the houses were uniform, one-story buildings with the same colored roofs and walls. As he moved down the walkway, he looked at the numbers on the houses. The Grangers' house was number 204.

It turned out the house was at the end of the cul-de-sac, in a small dead end. Harry stood in front of the door. His hands shook. He knew what he had to do, but now that he was here, standing before the house of his friend's parents, all of his nerve had fled him. What would they say when they saw him? How would they feel?

When Hermione had died, Harry had felt like something had swallowed him. He'd become lost in darkness. Part of that was because he blamed himself for not being proactive. If only he'd done more, if only he'd solved the mystery behind the Chamber of Secrets. If only if only if only. He'd kept thinking about all the things he could have done, should have done, and it had consumed him.

These were Hermione's parents. Harry had been hit hard when she died, but he was just a friend. How much harder had her death hit the Grangers? How could he even face them knowing that he was the cause of their suffering?

It was while he stared at the door in indecision that a light clicking echoed from the other side. Harry's eyes widened as the door opened. The woman on the other end, easily recognizable by her brown hair and eyes, stared at him in shock.

"Harry?" she said, as though she was having trouble believing he was there.

"Mrs. Granger." Harry swallowed. His mouth felt dry. "I'm here to-"

Words fled when Harry was suddenly engulfed in an unexpected hug. Harry froze. His body felt like it had been dunked into ice cold water. He had no idea what to do, no clue as to how he should respond.

Mrs. Granger pulled back and smiled. It was a smile laced with sadness, which could be seen through her tired eyes and the weariness of her posture. "It's very good to see you, Harry. Won't you come inside for a bit?"

His reason for being here had simply been to apologize. However, faced with this woman's smile and the motherly aura coming off her, he could do nothing but agree.

"Um, yes. I'd like that."

Mrs. Granger lead him inside, and Harry looked at the many pictures lining the walls. All of them featured Hermione. There was a young Hermione holding an award of academic excellent, another smiling into a camera with her two large front teeth showing. And there were still more of Hermione at various stages of her life, including a magical one of Hermione after getting her wand.

Mrs. Granger's voice interrupted his inspection. "Come on into the kitchen. You're just in time for a spot a tea."

The wooden floor shifted into tiles. Harry glanced around. The kitchen and living room shared the same space, with a small carpeted section marking where the living room began. A man was sitting on a couch, watching the news, which was discussing another disappearance that had happened. Harry recognized Mr. Granger.

"William? Look who's come for a visit," Mrs. Granger said.

William Granger shifted and turned his head. He stared at Harry for a second, nodded, and went back to the TV. It was like he hadn't even seen Harry.

Mrs. Granger gave him a pained smile. "I'm sorry. I'm afraid William hasn't been the same since…" she trailed off. Harry forced back the lump in his throat.

"I understand. You don't need to say anymore."

"Thank you."

Tea was served on the back porch, which sat next to a small but lovely garden. Harry recognized the myriad of flowers. Looking at all the different varieties made him wonder how the one's he'd cultivated at the Dursley's were doing.

They've probably died off. Petunia doesn't know how to garden.

"I want to thank you for coming, Harry," Mrs. Granger said. She and he sat at a round, glass table. "I've wanted to speak with you for some time, but we could never get in touch. I'm afraid muggles can't use owl posts."

"Mrs. Granger, I-"

"Oh, that's right! I have something I wanted to show you." Mrs. Granger stood up. "Wait here for just one moment, please."

Harry could do nothing as Mrs. Granger went back inside, presumably to grab something that she wanted to show him. Frowning, he turned back to the garden. Had Hermione been into gardening? He didn't know. The thought made his chest sting. There had been so much about Hermione that he didn't know, and now he would never know except through second hand information.

The door opened and Mrs. Granger walked back outside. She was carrying a box underneath her arm, which she set on the table. It was a simple box shaped like a small chest. There was a lock on the front. Mrs. Granger unlocked it with a key, and then opened the chest, revealing its contents to Harry.

"These are…"

"The letters that you and everyone else sent her," Mrs. Granger said, her sad smile back in full force. "Hermione never had any friends before you and the others came along. Thanks to her intelligence, none of her peers wanted to spend time with her. She found solace in books and the praise of her teachers. It's why she always tried so hard at school."

Harry knew that much from his conversations with Hermione. She'd shared a lot about her past with him, how the other students had made fun of her for getting good grades, how she'd kept her loneliness at bay by reading books, the names the students used to call her thanks to her teeth. Still, he let Mrs. Granger talk. The woman probably knew that he knew this, but she wanted to reminisce.

"That's why I'm really grateful to you." Mrs. Granger smiled at him. Harry thought it would have been better if she'd stabbed him through the chest. "After she befriended you, you were all she ever talked about. She would go on and on about you and the others, about how much fun she was having, and how she couldn't wait to see you all again."

"Why?" Harry whispered.

Mrs. Granger frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Why are you… being so nice to me? Why don't you hate me?"

A perplexed expression overcame Mrs. Granger's features. "I'm afraid I don't understand. Why would I hate you?"

"Because," Harry choked. "Your daughter only died because I failed to protect her. I'm supposed to be the Boy-Who-Lived, the wizarding genius who can do anything when he sets his mind to it. But I couldn't protect one of my friends. I couldn't protect Hermione. I let her die. I was negligent, and my negligence is what killed her."

"Now that's ridiculous," Mrs. Granger said.

"It's not! I'm Harry Potter! I'm supposed to be strong and capable! I'm supposed to be a leader! Yet I let Hermione die! I could have saved her if I'd been more proactive! If I'd worked on solving the mystery from the start, if I'd done more, I know I could have saved her!"

Harry's breathing was a heavy rasp. His chest ached from shouting. His eyesight was blurring-which explained why he didn't see Mrs. Granger until her arms were already wrapped around his head.

He froze.

"It's just as I thought," she said.

"Wha… what…?"

"Out of all the people Hermione told me about, you're the one she talked about the most," Mrs. Granger continued. "She said that you always tried to make everyone think you were perfect, but that you took everything that went wrong as a personal failure on your part."

"That… that's not…"

"It's hard, isn't it?" her words silenced him. "Trying to be perfect all the time, trying to take all the responsibilities onto your shoulders, that has to be difficult. But you know what, Harry? You might be mature beyond your years, but you're still only twelve. No twelve year old is perfect, not even if they are The-Boy-Who-Lived."

The fight was leaving him. Harry felt weak, tired, defeated. He hated this feeling, but he couldn't seem to gather his strength.

"You don't understand. I have to be perfect."

"Not even adults are perfect," Mrs. Granger said. "There were plenty of adults involved in what happened, but not even they were able to save my daughter. If they couldn't, what makes you think you could?"

Against such logic, Harry had nothing to say.

Mrs. Granger continued. "You've been holding onto this guilt for so long. It's okay to let it go. You shouldn't feel guilty about what happened."

Harry tried to hold it in. He really did. However, her words were like the key that unlocked the floodgates. There was no way to stop the avalanche of emotions that poured from him.

Harry's eyes burned as he cried out all of his guilt.

This is the last time you'll be seeing Hermione's death crop up as a major plot device to have Harry shed some tears. I wanted to bring this chapter of the story some closure by having Harry confront Hermione's parents. Now that this is done, I feel like it's time to say my final farewells.

To everyone who's been reading this story. Thank you. I hope you enjoy the rest of Ties that Bind. I'm expecting it to be between 8 and 12 more chapters.