A/N: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling and her associates. Please support the official release.

4 Privet Drive

Vernon Dursley let out a sigh of satisfaction as he stared out over the blissful neighborhood of Privet Drive, a steaming cup of coffee in his right hand. It was a beautiful Monday morning, and the sun was out, the birds were chirping, and his wretched freak of a nephew was nowhere to be seen. Vernon could hardly believe he had once resisted sending Harry to freak school. The little mutant had been useful for getting chores done around the house, yes, but it hardly outweighed the need to feed and clothe him.

But those days were long gone now. The boy was at that magical little school of his for the majority of the year, and the only time they had to see him was during the summer vacation. Vernon blessed his lucky stars for not having to deal with him any more than that. Their little family was happier without him ruining the peace.

Walking over to the mailbox, Vernon lifted up the lid and stretched his hand inside to grab the days' issue of the newspaper. To his surprise, however, the mailbox wasn't as empty as it usually was. Pulling out his arm, he saw that together with the newspaper, there was also an envelope addressed to him and Petunia. Confused, he ripped it open and put his hand inside, dragging out a brown piece of parchment. On it was written eight simple sentences:

"To Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia:

Dear Aunt and Uncle, I will not be returning for summer this year. I am going to be spending my vacation at a friends' house. I hope this isn't an issue for you. If it is, then please send a letter back with my owl, Hedwig.

Sincerely,

Harry Potter."

Looking up, Vernon immediately spotted the boys' white owl across the street, sitting perched on a branch in a nearby tree, regarding him with curious eyes. Blinking twice, a wide grin soon formed on his face. The little misfit wouldn't be returning? What joyous news! Finally, they wouldn't have to worry about him causing any trouble with that godforsaken magic of his. They could finally have a peaceful summer!

Turning around, Vernon raced back inside to give Petunia the wonderful news. He wouldn't be sending any letters to Harry anytime soon, that much was certain. If the boy wanted to spend his summer elsewhere, then he was more than welcome to. The less Vernon had to see him, the better.

Anywhere but here, please, Vernon smiled to himself as he locked eyes with his wife in the kitchen and started telling her all about the letter.

Headmaster's Office

"Please, Harry, I urge you to reconsider! We cannot guarantee your protection if you choose to stay with Miss Granger over the summer! You'll be putting both her and her family at risk simply by being there!" Albus Dumbledore bellowed, the ever-present twinkle all but gone from his eyes now.

"I'm sorry, Headmaster, but there's no way I'm going back to the Dursleys. Hermione and her family has been kind enough to open their home to me, and I cannot possibly turn them down. And don't worry, Voldemort has no idea where Hermione lives or even who she is. Even if he could muster up the forces to attack me, he will have no idea where I am," Harry replied, his voice even and unbreaking. He would not back down on this, no matter what. He was going to be spending the summer at Hermione's place, no matter what Dumbledore said. Voldemort hadn't shown up this year, and so Harry assumed he was busy licking his wounds and recuperating his strength, meaning he would likely be safe for the time being.

"That may be so, but I still don't particularly enjoy the idea of you being left unprotected for such a large amount of time. At least with the Dursleys, I can watch over you, and keep you safe. I can do no such thing if you choose to stay with Miss Granger."

"You'll just have to trust me, Headmaster."

"…"

Dumbledore went silent for a minute, no doubt contemplating all the possible outcomes of the situation. He really didn't want Harry to do this, but he figured he had little choice in the matter. If he tried to force him to stay with the Dursleys, Albus had a feeling Harry would simply run away again, as he had done last summer.

"If I allow this, you have to promise me you'll be careful, Harry. I don't want you to get hurt unnecessarily."

"Of course," Harry replied, nodding his head as if to confirm that he would be as careful as possible. "I won't go looking for danger this summer, Headmaster."

Letting out a sigh, Albus ran a tired hand through his long, white beard, twirling strands of hair around his finger. Harry sure hadn't been very cooperative this year, refusing to open up to him and share his troubles. Perhaps if he allowed Harry to do this, he would be less resistant in the future. By granting him this wish, maybe Albus could curry some kind of favor with the boy, making it easier for Harry to trust him. He could only hope.

"… Alright then. I trust you'll be able to take care of yourself this summer. Please be sure to keep an eye out for any signs of danger though, and don't hesitate to contact me if something should happen to go awry."

"I'll be sure to do that, thanks," Harry answered, a slight smile creeping its way onto his face.

"Send my regards to Miss Granger," Albus finished, signaling that the conversation had reached its end. Harry didn't waste any time; only stopping to mutter a quick "thank you" before he left, leaving Albus alone with his thoughts once again.

This sure hasn't been an easy year… he sighed to himself, turning around to look up at the portraits of previous Headmasters that adorned the walls of his office. For one, we still haven't figured out who the perpetrator behind the attack at Hogwarts earlier this year was. With everything that's happened, the Ministry is growing increasingly more anxious by the day, battering me over the head with talk of regulations, safety precautions and anti-terrorist measures. Times are changing, and soon enough, Harry will have to face the Dark Lord for real. I only hope he remains on our side. The Harry that I've interacted with this year… he's colder, more suspicious than ever before. It would be a true tragedy if he turned Dark before he managed to fulfill his part of the prophecy.

Letting out yet another sigh, Albus walked over to where he kept the Pensieve and his memories. Perhaps a trip down memory lane will help me clear my thoughts, and make clear anything I might've overlooked. I need to be prepared for what's to come, after all. Hogwarts won't be safe for much longer.

Ravenclaw Tower

"I'm sorry we didn't get to spend more time together this year, Harry," Luna said with an aloof expression on her face as she watched him pack down his stuff in the common room. "I would've liked to teach you more about Occlumency and the Mind Arts before you left for the summer."

"Be honest, Luna," Harry retorted drily as he placed the last of his books in his trunk. "You're only saying that because you enjoyed the cuddling afterwards."

"Is that a bad thing?" Luna smiled, cocking her head ever so slightly to the right.

"Hmm… No, I suppose not. Anyway, I agree that it would've been nice to get some more practice in, but I guess we always have more time next year."

"Yes, we do. But it would be beneficial for you to get some practice done during the vacation as well, even if you'll be spending it with Hermione."

"... Oi, wait a minute, "even if"? What's that supposed to mean?" he inquired, furrowing his brows in confusion.

"I see how you look at her, Harry, you don't have to hide it. You like her. Don't worry though, I approve of your choice of mate, she is a very beautiful girl," Luna stated casually, seemingly oblivious to the quite hefty implications hiding behind her words.

"Okay, first of all, she's not my "mate", Luna," Harry sighed, shaking his head in exasperation. "She's my friend, and that's it."

"If you say so."

"I am saying so. Secondly, could you please pass me that stack of clothes over there, so I can finish off packing this trunk and get going? Hermione's already waiting for me, and I shudder to think what she'll do to me if I leave her hanging for too long."

"My guess would be something involving incessant reading and studying," Luna smiled, handing him the last of his clothes. "But it could also involve listening to her go off on a very long lecture about the importance of punctuality and being on time."

"Knowing Hermione, you're probably more right than you could imagine… Alright then…"

Closing the lid on his trunk, Harry took a couple of steps back and pulled out his wand. A couple of precise movements later, the previously normal-sized container had shrunk down to a fraction of its original size, allowing him to put it in his pocket for ease of transport.

"Okay, that should be… everything…"

He let his sentence trail off as his eyes scanned the common room, his mind suddenly assaulted by the strong sense that he was forgetting something very important. Taking a moment of think about what he'd brought, he mentally went through the list of everything he'd need for his summer with Hermione. He couldn't think of anything he'd forgotten.

But then, he suddenly remembered, a cold shiver creeping up his back as he did so.

The book.

At first glance, it was such a normal, everyday item, a book just like any other in the castle. And yet, he couldn't help but shudder as he thought about the feeling it had invoked in him the first time he had opened it and read from its pages. It had been pretty obvious to him back then that the book was very different from anything else he owned, and right now he was reminded that it was still resting comfortably in its hiding spot underneath his bed upstairs. Truth be told though, despite its inherently Dark nature, he was still very curious about what secrets it might contain, and as such could hardly leave it here over the summer for any lucky house elf to find.

Racing up the steps leading to the dormitories, he quickly made his way into his bedroom, making sure no one else was around before popping open the hidden compartment with some precise maneuvering. There it was, laying peacefully in the middle of the compartment, its title partially obscured by a leather cloth. Harry didn't need to read it to remember what it was:

Daemonis Magicka.

Such a cliched title, he thought to himself as he grabbed the dusty old tome, closing the compartment behind him before double-checking to make sure everything was as he had left it earlier. No point in leaving any clues that could lead someone to figure out that he'd kept a Dark Artifact hidden in the boys' dormitory for the majority of the school year.

Going back downstairs, he met Luna's confused look with a smile, holding up the book to show what he had raced off to find. He knew showing it to her wouldn't pose a risk, not with the leather cloth covering it. There was no way she'd be able to read the title like that.

"Just one last thing I wanted to bring," he said as nonchalantly as he could, inwardly hoping she wouldn't inquire more into the nature of the book. To his great relief, she didn't.

"Oh, okay. But you said you had to meet up with Hermione, so you'd better get going now. You've left her waiting for long enough as is," Luna replied with a smile, gesturing towards the door.

"Yeah, I should. Thanks, Luna… For everything. You've been a great teacher this year," Harry said in response, meeting Luna's smile with one of his own.

"Thanks. And you've been a great cuddle-buddy."

"Err… Thanks?"

"No problem. Now get going."

Shaking his head at her antics one last time, he hurried out of the room, heading towards the place he knew Hermione would be waiting for him.

Hogwarts Express

The journey home was mostly uneventful, except for the initial scolding Hermione gave him for being late. The two of them managed to find an empty compartment near the end of the train, and was left mostly on their own as the Hogwarts Express made its way across the Scottish highlands. The reason Luna hadn't joined them when they left was because she was going to be staying behind at Hogwarts for a couple of days before her father would come and pick her up. Harry didn't really know the specifics behind it, but Luna hadn't seemed too eager to share more details, and so he had respected her privacy and decided not to ask.

To be honest though, he was actually a little jealous of her at the moment. The train ride home from Hogwarts to King's Cross Station was estimated to take roughly around 10 hours, which was a soul-crushing amount of time for any 14-year-old who was about to meet his best friends' parents for the first time. He tried to sleep to make the hours go by faster, but it proved elusive, as his thoughts kept looping back around to his imminent meeting with Hermione's parents.

Despite his rational outlook, Harry wasn't exactly what you'd call a "people person", and as such, struggled quite heavily when it came to meeting new people, especially new people he couldn't just ignore or act indifferently towards. Hermione was expecting him to act KINDLY towards her parents (naturally enough), and that meant no snide remarks or ignoble behavior.

Looking over at her, he couldn't help but smile as he noticed that she had fallen asleep with her head in her book. To his great ire, she looked surprisingly cute like that, and he had to fight to suppress the urge to walk over to her and give her a very long, very inappropriate hug.

Harry wasn't quite sure how he felt about Hermione. One part of him wanted to remain best friends forever, keeping her as his equal and his rival in all things magic. But another part of him, a part that had remained largely dormant for the majority of his time at Hogwarts and was only now beginning to wake up, wanted there to be something… more. Something... precious, beautiful and romantic between the two of them. A proper relationship. A girlfriend.

The word alone made him cringe, but his feelings refused to listen to his rational mind. His metaphorical "heart" was dead set on Hermione for some reason, and it was beginning to become a problem. Harry suspected that spending an entire summer with her would only serve to complicate matters further, and make it even more difficult to interact with her normally, but he still hadn't been able to turn down her offer. The part of him that desired her clearly wouldn't let him turn down such an obvious opportunity.

For now, I'll focus on meeting her parents, and then we'll see what happens after that. No matter what… I want to protect her. Regardless of my feelings, she needs to be safe. Even if it means I have to distance myself from her. If it can guarantee her safety… I'll do anything… Anything at all…

With her head in her book, Hermione kept on sleeping, unaware of Harry's thoughts as the train inched closer and closer to London.

King's Cross Station

"Okay Harry, don't panic. You can do this. They're only my parents, you've faced worse," Hermione said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder as the couple made their way down the busy halls of King's Cross Station. The train from Hogwarts had arrived just on time, and the two of them had disembarked together and started trekking towards where she knew her parents would be waiting for them. The spot was just a couple of minutes away now, and Hermione could feel Harry growing more and more tense by the second. Despite his usually chilly exterior, Hermione knew him well enough to know that situations like this made him very uncomfortable, and so she couldn't help but feel slightly bad for him.

"I know, Hermione, but I gotta say… Right now, Voldemort isn't looking too bad," he breathed in return, eyes darting nervously across the station in an attempt to locate the closest emergency exit.

"Harry, stop looking towards the exits, they can't save you from this," she laughed, shaking her head at the nervousness of her best friend. Harry might not be a people person, but this was beginning to get ridiculous. They were only Muggles, it's not like they could hurt him in any way.

"Just… relax, okay? They're great people, I promise you. You're going to love them."

"Somehow, I highly doubt that," he muttered back.

"Oh, there they are!"

Dragging a reluctant Harry behind her, Hermione made her way towards her parents, who were standing just a couple of meters away in the outskirts of a massive crowd of people. They immediately lit up when they noticed her approach.

"Hermione!"

"My little girl!"

"Mom, dad!"

Jumping in joy, she gave the both of them a couple of very long hugs, before turning around to face Harry once more.

"Mom, Dad... this is Harry," she said, turning their attention towards him.

Mr. and Mrs. Granger looked more or less exactly like Harry had imagined them. Mrs. Granger was a petite woman, only slightly shorter than her husband, and had dark brown hair, green eyes, and pale skin. Mr. Granger mirrored his wife by also having brown hair, only that his was a shade lighter, and much shorter than his wife's. He also had brown eyes rather than green. Both seemed to radiate an aura of intelligence, reliability and propriety.

"H-Hello there…" Harry muttered weakly, struggling to meet their eyes as he greeted them. He hated how powerless he felt in their presence, despite being a talented wizard who had faced even the Dark Lord himself more than once in his life. It was just something about the fact that they were Hermione's parents that put him on edge.

"Hello there, Harry. I'm Jane, and this is Dan. Hermione has told us quite a lot about you over the years, so it's a pleasure to finally meet you," her mother said, sending him a warm smile.

"So… you're the boy who's captured my little girls' heart," her father snickered humorously, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Dad!" Hermione gasped, eyes going wide in shock at her fathers' blatant statement.

"Dan, come on, that's unfair," Jane sighed before Harry had a chance to gather his wits. "He's only just met us, and you're already trying to scare him off."

"Hey, I'm just making sure my little girl is in good hands," he laughed in response, gracefully accepting Hermione's slap across his arm.

"You can't just say things like that, dad!"

"Uhh, yes I can. I'm your dad, remember. I'm supposed to interrogate any guy you bring with you home."

"Yes, but… you can at least try to be subtle about it!"

"That would ruin the fun!"

Shaking her head, Mrs. Granger turned to face Harry once again.

"I apologize for my husbands' behavior, he's just joking around."

"Oh, t-that's… It's okay, Mrs. Granger, I can... I can take it," Harry replied, having mustered up some of his courage. "I'm sure I'd do the same thing for my daughter."

"This guy gets it," Mr. Granger smiled, earning himself yet another slap from Hermione.

"Anyway, I suppose we should start heading towards the car. We're parked just outside, so it's not far," Hermione's mother continued, gesturing towards a nearby exit.

"Let's go then," her father chimed in, leading the group as they ventured outside.

The car ride to Hermione's place went by mostly in silence, with Harry answering the occasional question from her parents, and Hermione scoffing indignantly every time her father tried to make another dig at him. To Harry's great relief, the Grangers didn't live too far from the station, so it didn't take them long to arrive at their house.

"Alright then, home sweet home," Dan smiled as he pulled up into their driveway. "We're here."

Hermione's house was also rather ordinary, at least as far as houses went. It was three stories high, with a massive front yard full of different trees and bushes. It consisted of six bedrooms (one of which sported a terrace), two bathrooms, an entrance hall, a reception room, a family room, another hall leading out to the garden and a utility room. It was certainly nothing spectacular, but it was still way bigger than the Dursleys' house, and rather tastefully decorated at that.

"I hope it's to your liking," Mrs. Granger inquired as they made their way into the kitchen, a hopeful expression coloring her features.

"Oh, it's great. You have a beautiful home, Mrs. Granger," Harry replied, shooting her an awkward smile.

"Please, call me Jane. I hate how formal "Mrs. Granger" sounds," she laughed, before turning around to open the fridge. "Dinner will be ready in about 20 minutes, so until then, you're free to get situated and do whatever you want. Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything, though."

"Will do, Mrs. Gra… I mean, Jane."

"Come on up, and I'll show you where you'll be sleeping, Harry," Dan called from upstairs, making Harry head towards the staircase. Hermione was nowhere to be found; he suspected she had run off to her room to unpack.

"Here you go, your room for the summer," Hermione's father said as he entered the room, gesturing towards the bed in the corner. The room he had been given was not bad at all, and certainly bigger than his old room back at the Dursleys'. It consisted of a single queen-sized bed, a table with a rocking chair next to it, a bookshelf, a closet and a couple of paintings adorning the walls.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Granger," Harry breathed, taking it all in with wide eyes. He'd never had such a big bed all to himself before, and the thought of sleeping in it made his eyes feel heavy despite the relatively early hour.

"Don't mention it. I bet you would've preferred to stay in Hermione's room, but sadly, I'm not going to allow that just yet," Dan winked, causing Harry to turn a very dark shade of crimson. "Maybe when you get older."

"Uhh… Ehh… Thank… you?" Harry stammered in response, not quite managing to form a coherent sentence.

"Again, don't mention it. I'll tell Hermione you're in here. Oh, and don't forget; dinner's in 20 minutes."

"N-No, I won't forget, thank you."

Heading for the door, Hermione's father shot him one last cheeky wink before closing it shut behind him and leaving him to his own devices. Seeing as he didn't really have anything else to do, Harry subsequently brought out his trunk and started unpacking. Despite the awkwardness he felt around them, he had to admit that Hermione had some pretty alright parents. He could easily imagine this being a very happy home to grow up in, much unlike his experience living with the Dursleys. Maybe if his parents hadn't died to protect him from Voldemort, he might've had a childhood like this too, with parents who actually loved and cared about him.

No matter, I suppose. What's done is done. But if there's one thing I know for sure, it's that this is going to be a very weird summer, he thought to himself as he opened the closet and started unloading his clothes from his trunk. He had no idea just how right he was.

A/N: So this chapter is a little shorter than usual, mostly due to my own time schedule and the fact that it is largely a filler chapter. It's the type of chapter that just has to be written every once in a while, to set up important events and transition characters from one place to another. That's why it only took me a couple of days to write, as it was mostly just filler and exposition for the sake of progressing the story.

You can look at it as a late Christmas present from me to you, if you want. And, speaking of the holidays, I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was pretty alright, if I do have to say so myself. All the snow around here melted a couple of days ago, so it wasn't exactly a "white Christmas", but what can you do. I hope y'all got exactly what you wanted for Christmas, and had the opportunity to spend some time with your friends and family.

But it's late now, and I should be heading to bed. Seeing as this chapter was written in a hurry, there might be some grammar mistakes or other blunders present in it, but to be completely honest, I'm too tired to care at this point so you'll have to leave a review telling me about it.

And as always, if you enjoyed the read, please be sure to leave a review, and I will see you guys in the next chapter!

-Twisted