The rest of the winter holiday passed quickly. She sent out her thank you letters, finished all her homework and got started on reading ahead, as well as made 2 dozen more companions. She also made sure to put in her business name Castleview Companions.

All in all, she felt it was a successful break.

She wished the silence had stayed longer though as the Great Hall was back to bent filled with chatter and noise. Everyone was taking about their holiday balls,dinners ,and trips. She did her best to ignore the few consistent stubborn bllies who made sure to speak loud in front of her about being with their families at home with a him cooked meal.

To her amazement, the Weasley twins socked their brother on the back of his head for that one.

It all calmed down some once classes were back in progress. Samuel stopped being her shadow though he was never far from her sight.

It took barely a day for Professors Snape and McGonagall's companions to be noticed. Many students wanted one. They were directed to a display case outside her work room. You couldn't see from the outside of the glass but the back wall of the display was a fake. A magical wall for the companions to enter and exit out of. Hermione made sure to have price tags on the animals. The Enchantments on the case were made by Professor Flitwick. A slot for the coins to go through that appear on her side. The buyer places a hand on the case and ask for the one they are paying for. Winged animals come out of the top to land on their new owners and the non winged ones came out from the bottom.

It was a hit. Professors asked students to keep their companions in their rooms and common rooms unless the companions could behave themselves with proper manners.

By the time of exams, Hermione had to evaluate herself. So she didn't make any friends. Not really. Samuel was nice. And others in the house were rude to her less.

She made plenty of money; she was sure she had enough for half the summer to stay at an inn and to purchase school supplies for next year. She planned to contact Flouish and Blotts about selling some of her companies in a small display much like the one in school.

She heard a couple 4th years in the library talk about camping with their families and the new tents on the market with updated charms to feel more like a house. She decided it might be best to check that out for the 2nd half of summer. If it was like a house, she could live in that instead. She had kept up her wandless magic through the year to get by during the summer.

--

Severus storms out the Headmasters office. It was the last week of school and Albus was obviously upset about something. He had his theories after an encounter with a mirror during the holidays but he hasn't asked. He simply just placed the red stone in a heavily warded box under his bed. It may be gold now but at least it was hidden.

His main concern was Ms Granger. He was positive she either wasn't going home this summer or she wasn't being cared for at home. He knew from Minerva she hadn't expected to Granger house to be a foster home. The girl wasn't shy to deny bring an orphan despite having the Granger name. Though it might have protected her just some. They couldn't confirm she was a muggleborn. Only she could do that.

Either way, he was concerned about her health and safety. But Albus brushed it off. He played with his companion that was a Phoenix with fawkes coloring as he stated he was sure she made money to have some to spend of her own. He admitted enough to understand being in a foster home meant money can be short to spread.

To make matters worse, the old man was obsessing over the boy. He may not react on the outside but he could see in the old man's eyes he was infuriated he couldn't call him Harry Potter.

He himself had had mixed emotions at the beginning of the year. He expected a miniature James , physically and in personality. He had only met him once as a child before his best friend's death to have expected it. Black messy hair, Lily's eyes. Sirius and James adjust had him on a miniature broom laughing as he crashed into everything in the house.

He had learned just days before the first day of school that Albus, Minerva, and Hagrid had taken him to his Aunt Petunia's house. He ranted at the 2 heads for an hour straight on her treatment of Lily growing up and her hatred of Magic. Albus didn't look surprised which made him more angry and Minerva looked guilty.

However, to all of their surprise, the boy who appeared was completely ordinary as a young boy should. While he still had Lily's eyes, he looked like neither parent much. Healthy, quiet and wasn't oblivious about magic.

He had had to go investigate the first open weekend. Vernon and Petunia Dursley had no problems admitting they didn't take the 'freak' in, instead dropping him off at a fire station, claiming found in a park. They knew nothing more and didn't want to know.

The Darlingtons calmed his rage when he went to visit. Harry had some luck for sure. Surviving a killing curse. And getting adopted by a magic family. One of the men at the fire station had adopted him within days of arrival. He was a squib with a witch wife. They didn't know or care if the baby was magic or not, they just wanted a child. They did the proper paperwork with the muggle child protection system first before doing a Blood adoption right at home.

They did make it clear though in his visit that they didn't like it trust Albus Dumbledore. And they gave him written approval to be with Samuel everytime he was requested to meet the Headmaster in hours office. They didn't want him alone with the older man. Ever.

After that meeting, he had no problem calling Harry Samuel Darlington. They had already did their duty of using him to Gringott's to communicate with the Potter Account Manager who had apparently been very upset. Albus had marked himself Harry's magical guardian without permission of anyone. That had since been removed. Samuel wore the heir Potter ring and his mother had control of his vaults until he became of age. All was well in his eyes.

Dumbledore not so much. He had watched as the man jumped to a shelf to look at some weird toys. The man cursed before controlling his face with that damn twinkle in his eyes. Severus was no fool. Since then he's been extra aware of what went on around him in the school.

He wanted to protect his little snakes. They were all just children. If Albus did anything stupid next year, he was having Minerva go to the Board to discuss retirement for Dumbledore.

If anything this summer, he could talk to someone about checking all orphanages and foster home for magic children. They needed to be protected in the wizard world. Not with muggles who could react badly when accidental magic began. Granger was an example of how lucky she is that she hadn't been killed by scared muggles. They thought she was a demonic child before they were told the truth. They only kept her for the money.

Maybe he should check on her this summer as well.