A few hours later, there was the sound of the doorbell ringing, the door opening, and a voice that cheerfully asked Vernon to see Harry Potter.

Harry didn't hear any of these things. He had recovered from his whipping about an hour ago, but was still in his room. Once more, he had the glass to his wrist. He was about to mark his flesh again when he heard footsteps running up the steps. He had already changed his shirt, so all he had to do was quickly hide the glass, and roll down his sleeves.

Moments later, the door opened, and Harry Potter saw Hermione Granger. He panicked. He was backing up, and already as far as possible from the person he knew hated him. Since he wasn't waking up, he decided to help himself by slamming his head into the wall. "Wake up, damn it, wake up!" He muttered angrily to himself as he slammed his head into the wall over and over.

He heard the Hermione screech, "Harry" and knew it wasn't working. He also heard to new voices muttering in shock, things like "My God", and "The poor child", and "How does he live like this". These didn't matter to him. The fact that Hermione was walking towards him did. He cowered down, into the corner of his bed, and childishly used his pillow as a shield. "Please," Harry sobbed, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for you to get hurt! I'm sorry!"

Hermione was so happy she was going to see her friend. She was just upset she had to see the Dursleys, too. When they got to his house, she was glad her mother had decided to talk to Vernon, because she didn't think she could pretend the cheerfulness her mother had.

However, any joy she had was gone, seeing Harry like this. His words broke her heart. She knew it was what he always did, and she was pretty sure it was because of his horrible relatives, but this was heartbreaking. Hearing him plead like that had her in tears.

She decided to say something on a completely different topic. "Why didn't you answer any of my letters?"

That seemed to get through to him. "L-letters?" He stuttered a little bit. "Hermione?" He asked quietly. "Is it really you? Am I really awake?"

"Yes, Harry, it's me, and you're really awake," she responded quietly. "Why didn't you answer any of my letters?" She had to struggle to keep her voice from breaking. The boy who faced down a fully corporeal Voldemort three times was so guilt-ridden, he was reduced to hiding behind a pillow.

He turned away from her. "I didn't want to see how much you hated me," he whispered. "I knew if I saw the words, it would be more real."

She wasn't sure whether she should be mad at him for blaming himself for everything, or cry that his relatives had done this to him. She decided on trying to simply remain calm. "Harry," she said softly, "will you please come off the bed and talk to me?"

She could see how terrified he was, as he moved slowly from the bed until he stood in front of her with his head down. She could hardly contain herself from hugging him. But she could see how jumpy he was, so she asked first. "Harry, is it alright if I hug you?" She heard what sounded like a couple of sobs, and thought she saw a few drops of moisture fall from his face. In the dark room, it was hard to tell. Finally, he nodded.

She went over to him slowly, before taking him gently into her arms. She gently rubbed his back, and felt him wince. She stopped immediately. "Harry," she said suspiciously, "what happened to your back?"

Harry couldn't believe that Hermione wasn't mad at him. She even hugged him. Then he had screwed it all up by wincing. He couldn't tell her what happened. She would get upset with his relatives, then he would have to explain that he did it on purpose, and he would lose her friendship for real this time.

So he simply said, "Nothing." He should have known better.

"Then take off your shirt and let me see," she challenged him.

Damn! He thought. He knew he had to make up a lie, now. "Really, it's nothing, I just fell on my back and scraped it a little."

"I still want to see it," she said. "Mum, will you please turn on the light?" When her mum helpfully switched the light on, all three Grangers gasped. Harry reminded Hermione of Sirius when he had been released from Azkaban. His cheeks were sunk in, his eyes bloodshot, the massive bags under his eyes, and everything about him screamed bony. If she hadn't been talking to him, she'd think he was dead. After a moment of silence, Mr. Granger said, "I'll be right back, there are some people downstairs on Death's guest list."

"No!" Harry shouted. "Please, I don't want any trouble."

Although Hermione was more than willing to help her father, she knew Harry would be upset, so she looked at her father, and shook her head, despite the rage she was feeling. Turning back to Harry, she said, "Please take off your shirt and turn around." When he hesitated, she added, "For me."

Slowly, he nodded, and took his shirt off, turning as he did so. Nothing could prepare the Grangers for the sight of Harry's back. They just stared in horror at it for a moment as Harry's shirt dropped to the floor. Then the adult Grangers turned from his room, and began to head down the stairs purposefully.

Harry couldn't let the Grangers do this, not when he'd provoked the Dursleys into doing it in the first place. He turned towards them, throwing his arms out and shouting, "No, stop!"

The adult Grangers weren't prepared to listen to him, however, and only turned back when Hermione made a noise sounding like a strangled sob. She had taken in the bruises on his stomach first, then the cuts that went up and down his wrists. She had grabbed his arms, turning the wrists up to look at them. That was when she had made the strangled sob her parents had heard. The fact that some of them were still bleeding wasn't lost on any of them.

Harry looked away from them, ashamed, and said, "I can't let you punish them. I purposely provoked them into doing it, know what would happen." Despite his shame, he didn't try to pull away from Hermione's grasp.

Hermione made the strangled sob sound again. She wasn't sure her heart could take this. It was like seeing the little boy Harry again. But why? She asked aloud, "Why, Harry?"

His answer broke her heart again. "I deserved it." She wanted to hug him again, and she wouldn't let him go this time. But she remembered his back. Before she could respond to that statement, Harry followed up his answer with, "Besides, it helped me deal with everything." Hermione was shocked to say the least.

"Harry, why couldn't you talk to me instead?" Hermione asked, desperately trying to hold it together.

Still refusing to look at any of them, he whispered, "I thought you hated me." It didn't matter that he whispered, Hermione still heard the pain in his voice.

"Harry," Hermione whispered back, "please look at me." He turned to her, and when his eyes met hers, she gasped at the raw pain she saw in them. Most people who had been through anything similar to what Harry had learned to hide what they felt, but Harry wore his heart on his sleeve. Hermione let go of his arms, and held his face between her hands, preparing to do what she should have done a long time ago.

Harry turned to look at her, and was surprised by the tears he saw in her eyes. When she took his face between her hands, he was surprised that she would want to be in the room with someone who had done to themselves what he had.

But Hermione wasn't done with surprises yet. She whispered to him, "I have never, do not, and will never hate you." He was about to protest, but he suddenly found her lips on his. Any thoughts of protest at that point left his head. She pulled back with a shy smile, but he pulled her back for more! She had time for a surprised gasp before melting into Harry's arms. There last kiss was fleeting and soft, where this one was needy and passionate.

At least, it was until they heard a "hmm hmm" that was reminiscent of Umbridge. They pulled apart blushing, having forgotten Hermione's parents. Harry shot a sheepish glance their way. He was surprised to see that both of her parents were smiling.

"Well, Hermione, it took you long enough," Mrs. Granger teased her daughter.

"You mean you're not upset with me?" Harry asked, completely surprised.

Mr. Granger laughed, and said, "Harry, if we had to hear Hermione say one more thing about you, we would have stuffed our ears with cotton. My wife here, Emma, found her journal once. We didn't read it, of course, but we did see that the front said 'Hermione Potter'!"

The kids' faces turned scarlet, and they both looked down. This, of course, made the adults laugh that much harder.

Just then, Vernon decided to yell up, "Hey, freak, you still need to clean up breakfast!"

The faces of the three Granger's quickly lost their cheerful nature, becoming exceedingly angry at the slavery of Harry and the obvious fact that he'd barely eaten since he got here, judging from the fact that they could definitely count his ribs and they were fairly certain that they could see his organs through the skin of his stomach.

Mr. Granger decided Harry should not have to put up with this and yelled back, "Hey, asshole, clean up your own damn mess!" There was a moment of dead silence downstairs, and Hermione could see that Harry's eyes had become extremely fearful. She suddenly remembered the marks on his back, and could understand why.

Sound suddenly returned to number four Privet Drive, and Vernon came to the bottom of the stairs with a purple face, and shouted up at the male Granger, "Who the fuck do you think you are, telling me what to do in my own house!"

Harry was shaking with fear; there was nothing they could do to the Dursleys, Harry needed them so he could be safe from Voldemort, plus, he was at their mercy for at least a few more weeks, since that was how long he had to be there.

Mr. Granger, however, was not aware of this. He was aware that the fat man with the purple face had tortured a child, and he couldn't stand child abuse. There was no way in hell he was letting this go. "I think I'm Dan Granger, and as far as I'm concerned, you deserve a lot more than being told what to do! I would love to beat the shit out of you right now for what you did to that defenseless boy! Unfortunately, that same boy requested I don't. If not for him, I would have bloody beaten you already! So don't push me if you don't want to see the gates of Hell early!"

Hermione and Emma Granger were staring at Dan, impressed with his dressing down of the abusive bastard. "Go Dad!" Hermione cheered. Dan glanced at her with a hint of amusement, then he saw Harry shaking. Frowning, he started to move towards him.

Vernon, unfortunately, didn't seem to get that he had lost the argument. The momentary shock he received had worn off, and he was shouting back, "That's not a boy, it's a freak! Now get out of my bloody house before I call the police!"

Dan, of course, had no worries about that. "Ha! Go ahead and call the police," he retorted, "try and explain Harry's back to them!" He waited until he saw Vernon's face pale with understanding before turning away this time.

His wife had moved into the room with Harry and Hermione, and the two women were sitting on the bed with Harry between them as they comforted him. Dan saw that he was still shaking. He joined the rest of his family in the room with a frown. He thought he understood why Harry was scared, and said, "Son, don't worry, you can come with us. You don't have to worry about repercussions from them." To his utter shock, Harry broke down.

Hermione was not having the day she had hoped for. She thought she would be able relax with her friend today, but instead she had seen him cry twice today! The only other time she could recall seeing Harry cry was at the end of the third task while holding Cedric's body.

What she couldn't understand was why he was crying this time. The previous time was because he was afraid of losing Hermione, but what was it this time? She was so grateful to her dad for offering to take Harry in. So why was Harry crying?

"Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione asked. "Why are you crying? Don't you want to live with us?" She struggled to keep the hurt out of her voice-and failed miserably.

"It's not that I don't want to live with you guys," Harry said between sobs, "I would love to! You guys are great! But I can't. Dumbledore finally told me why he brought me to the Dursleys." Hermione listened with horror as he explained the prophecy and the blood wards.

"My God," Emma Granger murmured, "I'm so sorry Harry."

Harry shook his head angrily. He didn't want pity. "I don't want your pity," he snapped back. Then he realized he had snapped, burst into tears again, and said, "I'm sorry I snapped." Though this was muffled by his hands holding his face, they knew what he said.

Hermione was thinking. She had finally kissed Harry! But now, because she had come here, his relatives were more of a danger to him than ever. How could she keep him safe? She had an idea, and stood up quickly.

Harry unfortunately took this the wrong way, thinking Hermione was distancing herself from him. Hermione heard his gasp, and whirled to him, saying soothingly, "Relax, Harry, I just want to talk to my dad for a moment." She waited until he acknowledged her, then turned back to her father, gesturing to the now open hallway.

They closed the door behind them, and Dan knew exactly what his daughter was thinking. "Absolutely not," he said.

"Dad, you don't even know what I'm going to say!" Hermione complained.

"You're going to say that you think you should stay her to protect Harry," he said. She seemed surprised he got it right. "If you think I'm going to let you stay at your boyfriend's house with his abusive family, you have another thing coming. I'm not letting my daughter into danger if I can help it."

Hermione hugged her father for his protectiveness. However, she wasn't done yet. "Dad, what would you do if you were in my place and Mum was in Harry's?"

She heard her father sigh. He should have known she wouldn't give up without a fight. "I would do exactly what you're trying to do, young lady. And it wouldn't have worked for me, either."

Well, if he wasn't giving up, she had to fight dirty. She whispered to her father, "Dad, how can you expect me to leave him to those pieces of filth? Especially knowing that we made it worse by coming here?"

"I-I d-don't see h-how that h-has anything to d-do with it," he stuttered.

Hermione smiled. She had him now. "But Daddy," she said, "with me here, I can threaten them with you if they do anything to me or Harry. And Harry's too honorable to do anything with me. If anything, I would have to force him, and I'm not ready for that."

Dan was in a bind. He had made Harry's situation worse, but had the potential to make it better. The problem was, the solution possibly put his daughter at risk. She had defused that potential, and Death Eaters couldn't get here either. In some ways, she was actually safer. Damn, he was going to let his daughter stay. He sighed. "Fine," he said, disgruntled.

Hermione squealed excitedly, and bounced into Harry's room to tell him. She should have guessed his response…