"We'll do it tomorrow, though," Harry said when Hermione looked ready to go then and there. She pouted a little, but agreed, and headed towards their bedroom. As soon as she lay down, Harry cast a sleeping spell on her before what happened to her parents could hit her again.

Hermione woke up slightly disoriented from Harry's sleeping spell, not that she knew that. Once she was re-oriented, she wished the disorientation would return as she recalled her mother's letter and tears threatened to overwhelm her. She almost angrily wiped them away, and noticed a slight pulling on her magic. She could tell it was going to Harry, but when she tried to see what he was doing, she ran into a wall of steel around his mind.

Now worried about him, she flipped over, and found him sitting indian-style on the bed, eyes closed and a look of concentration on his face. She didn't know what he was doing, but if he needed to pull on her power, even slightly, it was bad. So she pushed more power into him. It was enough to leave her panting slightly, but she could still get through the day on the energy she had left.

Unfortunately, Harry didn't even twitch, which meant he was very out of touch with his body, or expected it. Somehow, she doubted that he expected it. And the only way she could think of that would leave him out of touch with his body was using his connection to Voldemort-diminished since the battle at the Ministry, but still there.

If her assumption was correct, then there was nothing she could do. Breaking through his shields or distracting him could prove fatal, and she couldn't join him with his shields in place. "Damn it, Harry, we agreed to do this together," she muttered. Of course, knowing him like she did, she figured that he recalled just how dangerous that psychopath's mind was and, in his usual noble, self-sacrificing way, had decided to protect her. Then she frowned. He might try to protect her, but they had agreed to wait until the end of the school year, and there was no reason for him not to do that. He might be frustrated that he had to wait, but she knew that he knew it was better. So what was he doing?

She growled frustratedly, no longer sure about any of her assumptions. Realizing that there was nothing she could do, she left the mental equivalent of a post-it note on his shields to let her know when he was done, and went to take a shower, suddenly anxious to see her daughter. A slight smile formed on her lips as she thought the word, and she moved even quicker to get ready. Within fifteen minutes, she had showered and dressed. Hesitating at the door, she took one last look at Harry, before going to the Great Hall in the hopes that her daughter was there for breakfast.

Part of Hermione's assumptions were correct, and Harry was, in fact, in Voldemort's mind. And he was trying to protect her. Because Harry was searching for information on the Granger's attack, and there was no way in Hell that he was subjecting Hermione to that. He wanted to know how they had done it and why they had done it.

After his last attempt to penetrate Tom's mind had failed so miserably, he decided that brute force would be better than the subtlety he had tried before. But he also knew that it took quite a bit of energy to reach out to him, and that the Dark Bastard was powerful in his own right, and had probably done rituals to make himself stronger. So he took a page out of Hermione's book, and did some research. First, though, he had to find a way to keep it from Hermione. Not because he didn't trust her, but because he knew she would try and help.

While Hermione was sleeping, Harry went through her book on Ancient Runes, since something told him the answer would be in there. And he was correct. He soon found a combination of runes that would enable him to forego sleep. Naturally, he couldn't do this all the time, since the author warned that using runes, spells, or potions to negate the need to do something had serious side effects. Usually insanity.

So, once a week, Harry used the runeset that he had carved into a ring to enable him to go to the library in the middle of the night. Since he was now legally of age, curfew didn't actually apply to him, and he could access the Restricted Section. Which he did.

Surprisingly, it didn't take long (about three sleepless nights) to find that, in ancient times, precious gems had been used to store power. Like a wand, though, each person had a specific gem that would work best for them. To Harry's mild amusement, the spell to reveal which gem would suit him best came up with the result ruby, his own birthstone.

So, on his next sleepless night, as he had taken to calling them, he had snuck out of the castle and apparated to Knockturn Alley, since he knew that Diagon Alley didn't have any shops open that late. Keeping his hood up, he had found a magical jeweler's shop that was still open. Within three hours, he had two armbands big enough to cover half of his forearm made of pure ruby-which was not cheap-and charmed to be invisible. Since then, he had charged them with magic every morning as soon as he woke up.

Now, with the attack of Hermione's parents, Harry used the ring he had made for the first time since going to Knockturn Alley to attack Voldemort's mind. For a few moments, Harry had had the upper hand, enough to quickly find the information he was looking for. But then his stalker had begun to gain power, enough to trap the Boy-Who-Lived in the mind of the sociopathic hypocrite, but not enough to dominate him as had happened last time.

Draining his armbands rapidly, Harry gained enough power to discover that Voldemort was drawing power through the Dark Mark of his followers. To Harry's horror, he realized that Voldemort had far more power to draw on than he did, so, with a quick prayer, he drained his armbands entirely, and attempted to sever the Dork Lord's connection to his followers.

It didn't work.

Instead, Harry found himself accidentally drawing power from the Dark Marks, as well, essentially negating that particular advantage of Mouldywart's. Interestingly enough, Harry discovered that they were near the exact same power level. However, Voldemort had been studying the mind arts for a long time, making him more skilled, and, since it was his own mind, he was also more powerful, as well. This forced Harry to draw a bit on Hermione's power, just enough to prevent himself from being overwhelmed.

What felt like days passed in the minds of the two adversaries, when Harry suddenly felt a burst of power, enough to break free of Voldemort. However, it wasn't enough for him to make it back to his own body, essentially leaving him in a mental limbo until his power recharged. Unfortunately, his power was being drained in an unconscious attempt to bring him back, which Harry didn't have enough energy to prevent, essentially trapping him until someone fed him more power.

Sarah had insisted on sitting as close to the doors as the Gryffindor table allowed so that she could see her parents when they came in. So it didn't surprise Neville or Luna (of course) when Hermione had stepped into the Great Hall and was immediately attacked by a child screaming a battle cry of, "Mummy!"

Hermione didn't hesitate, she swept her daughter into a fierce hug, one returned just as fiercely. "Did you have fun with Uncle Neville and Auntie Luna?" Hermione asked into her hair.

Sarah nodded into Hermione's shoulder. "Mummy?" She whispered hesitantly.

Hermione smiled, as she usually did when Sarah called her that. "Yes, love?" She whispered back just as quietly.

"Do you...do you regret adopting me?" Sarah held her breath, waiting for the answer.

Hermione was shocked by the question. "What? Why would we regret adopting you?" She didn't even think about the use of 'we' instead of 'I', she and Harry were practically one. Sarah didn't answer, so Hermione continued, "No, we don't regret adopting you."

Sarah was silent for a moment. "But...you left me," she whispered, sounding broken.

Hermione groaned internally as she realized how it would look; less than a day after being adopted, she's left with their friends while they leave almost without a backward glance. Realizing that they had stood at the entrance to the Great Hall for the last couple of minutes, Hermione carried Sarah to her original spot as she explained, "I'm sorry about that. Sometimes, me and Daddy are going to need some alone time. Yesterday was just one of those times."

Sarah clung to her tighter as Hermione sat down. "Promise?" She asked, still sounding so fragile.

Hermione squeezed her daughter to her. "I promise that we do not regret adopting you," Hermione swore. Sarah nodded, accepting this, and cuddled into Hermione, making the older girl smile as she began to eat breakfast.

Out of nowhere, Luna reached over and grabbed her hand, and Hermione felt a jolt of power. "Harry needs more power," Luna explained at her quizzical look.

Hermione's eyes widened, and, like earlier, sent Harry a burst of power through the bond. Seconds later, she received, Sorry, love. I couldn't get back.

You were in Voldemort's mind again, she stated.

Yes, Harry replied, though it sounded tired. Need sleep. Seconds later, she felt him fall asleep, which felt very odd.

Hermione was worried, but knew that Harry was okay now. All she had to focus on at that moment was not dropping food on her daughter. She could focus on Harry later, when he was awake. Fortunately, classes started late today, so she could let him sleep for a while.

It was about three hours later that Harry finally woke up, feeling ravenous. Unconsciously, his mind reached out for Hermione and found her sitting on the couch in their common room, presumably with Sarah. After taking a moment to bask in the love that he always felt when connected to Hermione, Harry got out of the bed and headed towards the common room.

Before he could actually step into the common room, he found himself under attack by a little girl screaming "Daddy!"

As soon as she hit him, he scooped her up, giving her a tight hug. "Oh, look, a snack has wandered into my arms," he teased. "You should be careful, I just might eat you."

"DA-DDY!" She tried to whine. It was ruined a bit by her giggles, though.

Harry adopted the expression of pure innocence. "Yes, my dear?"

The precocious little girl adopted a stern expression, and waggled her finger at him. "You aren't allowed to eat people," she informed him sternly. Of course, it was once again ruined by her giggles, which she was unsuccesfully attempting to hide.

Harry played along, mock whining with a playful pout, "Aw, why not?"

Hermione watched the byplay with a smile from the couch. She was, of course, still worried about Harry, but it was nice to see two people who were important to her having fun. It occurred to her that Sarah acted a bit above her age, but then, so did she and Harry, albeit for different reasons.

As long as her family made it through this war, she would be content. Now, she just needed to find a way to keep her parents safe...