Before she left his room, she kissed him softly, whispered, "Goodnight, Harry," and tucked him in. She knew he'd never had anyone do this for him before, and decided it was the least she could do for her abused boyfriend. Tomorrow, she thought, we talk.

"Harry, how could you?" Sirius wailed at him. "I haven't even been dead a month! Is it so much to ask that you mourn me a little bit?"

"I'm sorry Sirius," Harry was wailing, "I'm so sorry! I'm not trying to forget you! I swear!"

"Right," Sirius sneered, "that explains your girlfriend!"

Harry had no defense against this, and just curled up and sobbed as Sirius threw angry insults. "Wake up, Harry!" Sirius said. But the voice was different. It was pleading with him. "Wake up!"

Harry woke with a start to Hermione's tearful face. Seeing he was awake, she instantly began to try and comfort him. "Everything's okay, Harry, it was just a nightmare," she said soothingly to him. Harry just continued to sob and let himself be comforted. Eventually exhausted, he fell asleep in her arms.

Hermione looked down at Harry, and sighed. She hated to see him like this. At the same time, his caring nature was what she loved about him. She just wished those bloody relatives of his could give a damn about him! Harry was strong, he didn't need much. One caring word from them, and he would have happily done anything they wanted.

She looked down at Harry, and smiled. He looked so peaceful now. She hoped he would stay that way. She gently pulled away from him, and went back downstairs. She hoped that knowing Harry was resting peacefully at last would allow her to sleep. It wasn't long before she was asleep with a smile.

A few hours later, she bolted upright at the sound of a scream she recognized as Harry's-she'd heard it often enough through the years. She was up the stairs so quickly that she would have thought she had apparated if she hadn't known better. The sight before her enraged her; Dudley was holding a studded belt, tearing Harry apart with it.

Her scream of rage froze Dudley as he pulled back for another swing. She could see from the marks on Harry's back that he'd swung a lot more than just once. Besides that, she knew that Harry could take the Cruciatus without screaming, so it would take a lot more than the single swing of even a studded belt.

If Hermione could have seen herself at that moment, she would have been shocked out of her rage. As it was, she unconsciously gathered her magic to her as she took a step towards Dudley. Even Harry's muggle cousin could feel the magic. He didn't like it.

Hermione couldn't take her eyes off of Harry's back; it was so bloody! Dudley decided to try and take advantage of her distraction and went to knock her out. Hermione was having none of it. She may not know what she was doing, now, but later she would realize that she had used magic to heighten her reflexes and increase her strength. Dudley didn't even have the benefit of anger to lessen the pain. All he knew was that his fist had been flying towards the girl's head, then it was caught in her hand. Her hand couldn't even cover his, but that didn't stop her from crushing all of the bones in it. His scream made Hermione smile.

It wasn't until Harry screamed her name-for the third time-that she recalled her surroundings. She saw that Harry was trying to get up, and released Dudley's hand-or whatever it was now-to help him. "Are you okay, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Don't worry about me," Hermione cried, "what about you?"

"I'll be fine in a little while," Harry said. When he saw her doubtful look, he didn't consider how she would react when he said, "I always have been." He probably would have kept that part to himself had he considered her reaction.

Dudley was still crying on the ground holding his ruined hand when Hermione heard Harry's last sentence. With a scream of rage she turned, and-having unconsciously strengthened herself with magic again-kicked him through the doorway and into the hallway. She was very pleased at the sound of cracking ribs.

"Hermione," Harry gasped, "Please stop. He gets the message."

Hermione whirled back around to face him. "He should have gotten it the first time!" She shouted with a mix of anger and despair. Unable to take the strain of what took just a few short minutes, she collapsed, sobbing, into Harry's arms. She couldn't help but wonder why the house was shaking.

Harry had been able to get himself into a sitting position by this point, and was making gently soothing sounds. "It will be okay Hermione. I'm right here. I won't leave you. Please stop shaking, love, you're scaring me."

Oh, Hermione thought to herself. Of course the house isn't shaking. I am. Using logic helped to calm her down. Soon, she had stopped shaking or crying. She looked up at Harry to thank him, but realized his eyes were closed. He was swaying and barely conscious. Despite what he had said earlier, he had rarely been beaten this badly. After all, it was the first time since he had first gone to Hogwarts that they had gotten him to scream. Also, sitting up made him lose the blood that much faster.

What Hermione wanted to do at the moment was freak out. However, she knew she couldn't. She was the only one in a position to help Harry right now. She had to think quickly.Come on, Granger, what could be doing this to him! It didn't take her long to think of blood loss. She had to slow or stop the bleeding.

She leaped out of his arms to take action. She pulled him off the bed, and put him face down on the ground. She found the shirt he had been beaten in yesterday, put it on the wound, and applied pressure. She had to struggle to control herself when she saw the bloody puddle on his bed. Harry needed her to be in control right now.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Who could that be? Hermione thought to herself, exasperated. The obvious answer came to her in seconds. Her parents were here. They may not have been M.D.s, but they dealt with blood often enough as dentists. Though Harry couldn't hear her, it made Hermione feel better to whisper a quick apology to him for leaving. She then raced down the stairs and flung open the door.

She didn't say hello to her parents, there wasn't time. "Mum, Dad, please help Harry," she pleaded, unaware of the tears flowing down her face. Not trusting herself to explain the situation, she grabbed her parents' hands and pulled them up the stairs. When they reached Harry's room, Hermione released their hands, and went to the form on the floor. She removed the shirt from Harry's back so her parents could see, and was whispering through her tears to an unaware Harry. "Harry, you're going to be alright. Mum and Dad are here, and I know they can fix you. I know they can."

Meanwhile, Dan and Emma took in the damage to the young man's back. No amount of professionalism could keep them from holding in their shock that someone could do such damage to a child. They steeled themselves, glanced at each other, and nodded.

"Hermione," Emma interrupted her daughter's whispers, "please go find us some alcohol and a cloth and bring them back to us. When you come back, I'll have more for you to do."

Hermione leaped up and ran from the room, glad someone else was taking charge. It wasn't hard to find the alcohol, no one had bothered to hide it, and there were cloths for cleaning all around. Hermione spitefully took the nicest one she saw before running up the stairs.

"I've got the stuff, Mum," Hermione said as she burst into the room. Emma glanced up at her, then shifted her gaze to the bottle and cloth. She took them both, and Hermione heard her say something about the alcohol 'being strong enough'.

Emma passed the items to her husband. Turning back to Hermione, she said calmly, "Hermione, in the living room I saw a sewing kit. Could you please grab it and bring it up here?"

Hermione struggled not to think of what that meant as she flew down the stairs, spotted the sewing kit, grabbed it, and flew back up the stairs. Emma took the kit from her and said, "Hermione, we need another cloth. Could you please-" Emma stopped as Hermione was already downstairs. Emma had known that another cloth was going to be needed, but she needed Hermione to be kept busy and burn off her nervous energy. When Hermione returned with another cloth, they took it from, soaked it in alcohol, and wiped down Harry's back. The blood flow was slowing, which could have been good or bad at this point.

Hermione couldn't keep her mind off this fact, so she was grateful when her mother asked her to go downstairs for three final items. The first two weren't bad. They were a water bottle and a new cloth. It was the third one that had her worried. A lighter. She struggled not to think about it, but it proved impossible for Hermione to not think. And right at this moment, she was thinking cauterization.

Once Hermione was back upstairs, Emma once again took the items from her. They rinsed Harry's back off with the water, and examined it. They focused on the new marks. They then checked Harry's pulse to make sure he would be able to take the shock. They found his pulse to be surprisingly strong.

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Dan dipped the thread into the alcohol and brushed it against the cuts from today. His hands were shaking, and he was tempted to pass this task to Emma. But he knew her hands would be worse, so he steeled himself until it was done.

He then picked the lighter up off the floor, and told his daughter to go downstairs. She refused. He looked her in the eye, testing her resolve. She wasn't ready for this. But there was no way she was leaving, either. He sighed, and lit the back of one of the bravest young men he had ever met on fire, grateful that the young man was unconscious.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the Grangers, and they gagged at the smell of cooking meat. It wasn't helped by the sizzling sound. Even unconscious, Harry was twitching at the assault on his back.

Across the hall, Dudley had regained consciousness and decided it would be a good idea for him to go to his room. None of the Granger's noticed when his door closed. They all noticed when the adult Dursleys came out, though. It was mostly because Vernon had unfortunately decided to make a comment.

"I don't usually go for pork in the morning," he said obliviously, "but that smells delicious!"

Dan was not in a good mood. And it was never a good idea to piss off someone who used to be in SAS. Normally, Dan had a very easygoing temperament. But after seeing the one man he actually approved of for his daughter in the state he was and then being forced to cauterize him, Dan wanted someone to hurt. Vernon Dursley had made the very unwise decision of making sure he was going to feel the pain. Also, he was unaware that Dudley had been the on to whip Harry and was under the impression it was Vernon.

"You bloody whale!" He screamed at Vernon. "That's you're fucking nephew! I was forced to cauterize almost his entire back after what you did to it!" His fist was raised when Hermione told him that it was, in fact, Dudley, who had done this to Harry.

His fist still raised, Dan demanded, "And where the fuck were you while your son tortured you nephew?" Vernon may not have been the one to raise his hand against Harry this time, but he was the one who taught Dudley it was okay behavior.

"S-sleeping," a now terrified Vernon said.

Dan almost hit the roof. "WHAT?"

"I-I took a pill to h-help me s-sleep," Vernon managed to stutter out. "P-Petunia t-took t-two."

Unfortunately for Vernon, Dan's patience had run out. He was tired of excuses. He hadn't fought in a long time, but he still packed a powerful punch. Vernon collapsed in almost the same spot his son had earlier. "Now it's his son's turn," Dan vowed darkly, after checking that the fire had gone out on Harry's back as it should have.

Harry, with his usual tendency to save people, chose that moment to wake up.