Chapter Three

Hermione ran her fingers over the spines of the old books, the slightly musty smell of the old Black Family Library brought her so much comfort. The house was silent as everyone else was asleep, the witch couldn't bring herself to sleep in her room after her toddler-esque temper tantrum. Instead she chose to spend her night in the library, it wasn't super uncommon for her, at least not to Sirius or Remus. In the several weeks that Hermione had been at Grimmauld Place she had fallen asleep in the library at least 10 times, but who knows how anyone else in the house would react. At least and hour passed and Hermione was settled into the couch reading a book on old healing potions. A loud whoosh and crash sounded from the basement, startling the girl on the couch. She jumped up and readied her wand before stepping out of the library. She slowly walked towards the open door, she looked down the stairs and was slightly surprised to see that the bare bulb that hung from the ceiling was lit. Hermione held her breath as more sounds of struggle traveled up to her, she was just starting to picture tall, cloaked figures with silver masks when a thin, shabby frame tripped into her line of sight. "Harry?" Hermione whisper called down the stairs, the person head snapped up and sure enough, emerald green eyes met brown. A smile spread across Harry's face at the sight of his best friend, he hurried up the stairs and the two met in a hug. "You scared me!" Hermione said as they separated "I'm sorry, Dumbledore told me someone would be waiting for me," Harry explained. Hermione looked him up and down quickly, he had lost a bit of weight but not as much as he normally did. "Are you hungry? There are some leftovers on the counter from dinner." He smiled at her, "That would be great."

The two teens sat at the large table in the kitchen and talked quietly while Harry ate to his heart's content. Hermione always monitored his food when they were together, she wanted to make sure he was eating enough and that they were balanced meals in attempt to combat the malnutrition he suffered at the hands of his family. Harry eagerly devoured the baked chicken and potatoes the Mrs. Weasley had made for dinner. "How bad was it this year?" She asked gently. Harry shrugged before taking a sip of his pumpkin juice. "Uncle Vernon put a lock on the fridge and then did his best to lock me in the house so I couldn't go to Mrs. Fig's." He explained. "Aunt Petunia tried to sneak me something everyday but it typically wasn't much more than one of her yogurts or half a sandwich." Hermione glared at the table. "It's ok, I'm here now and I can eat whenever." He assured her. She relaxed slightly when Harry squeezed her hand. The two finished before saying goodnight and heading into their respective rooms. The next morning Hermione was woken up by someone banging on her door. She groaned into her pillow, she immediately missed the gentle way Sirius would wake her up in the morning. "Let's go girls! Breakfast is ready!" Hermione managed to pull herself out of bed, with Ginny following right after. She stood at her dresser and started measuring out her daily doses of each of her potions. "Want me to wait for you?" Ginny asked, Hermione shook her head. "No go on, I'll be down in a minute." Her friend left the room and she looked down at her chest. Blood was seeping through her bandage again, she bit her lip as she tried to figure out how to ask Remus to help her. She only wanted him to do it. It felt odd when she thought about it but deep down it just made sense, she didn't trust anyone else to do it. Sighing, she downed her potions before making her way downstairs.

The kitchen was loud and crowded. Hermione squeezed in between Tonks and Harry. "Here Hermione, saved you a plate." Sirius said as he passed a plate to her. She thanked him and reached for it, she felt a piece of paper stuck to the bottom of it. She made eye contact with the wizard across from her, he winked quickly. Hermione kept her mouth shut and slipped the paper into her pocket.

Sirius had to admit there was something special about his table being filled with smiles and laughter. It wasn't something he got to experience too often growing up so he enjoyed it as much as he could. He watched the table as everyone interacted with each other. Harry and Ron were talking about the upcoming Quidditch year. Fluer and Mrs. Weasley were quietly arguing about something while Bill and Arthur were discussing some Ministry business. Tonks, Hermione, and Ginny were talking animatedly about the upcoming trip to Diagon Alley. He noticed something as he watched Hermione. That morning Molly had piled Harry's plate high with pancakes, muffins, toast, bacon and eggs. Almost immediately after she sat down Hermione silently and wandlessly vanished Harry's plate before making him a new one. The plate she made was far smaller but it still had a heavy portion of eggs and bacon but this time he had a small serving of oatmeal as well as some fruit. Harry started eating as soon as she finished assembling it. Hermione didn't pause her conversation with the two girls at any point. Sirius glanced around the rest of the table to see if anyone else had watched it happen. The only one who seemed to notice it at all was Ginny and only when Hermione had asked her to pass the pumpkin juice. They were all were sitting at the far end of the table and Ron had tunnel vision when he was eating. Sirius smiled as he watched his godson and the girl silently interact with each other. Harry passed a lemon slice to Hermione while she was making her tea before she asked. Hermione peeling an orange for Harry while talking to Ginny about OWLs. The two kept up this mute ballet the entirety of breakfast.

Midway through breakfast there was a knock at the window. Sirius opened it and Hedwig flew in, dropping four envelopes onto the table. Mrs. Weasley quickly passed them out to the kids. "Well? How did you all do?" Harry and Ron both compared results, the later pouting a bit when Harry received and O in Defense. "What about you Hermione?" Ginny asked, "All Os except in Defense, I only got an E." She huffed, Sirius chuckled before muttering "Well at least some things never change," Hermione gave him a questioning look before going back to her letter. She was going over Ginny's supply list with her and was offering some of her old textbooks when Sirius's concerned voice interrupted her, "What's wrong pup?" He asked Harry. Hermione turned to the wizard next to her. He was staring at a small badge in his hand, "I got Quidditch Captain," Harry said quietly. The table erupted into cheers and Ron and Ginny immediately started asking him questions about his plan for the year. "Why don't we head over to the burrow? We can floo the twins and get a little game going." Bill suggested, the kids all agreed and once the table was cleared everyone went to get dressed.

Hermione got changed in the bathroom, When she took off the old t-shirt she used for pajamas she found that her bandages were bloodier than they were that morning. She sighed and got dressed. When she folded up her pajama pants she felt the folded paper that Sirius had stuck to the bottom of her breakfast plate. She unfolded the note:

Meet me in the drawing room after breakfast and we'll change your bandages- Remus

Hermione left the bathroom and quickly put away her pajamas, "We're heading over, are you coming?" Ginny asked. "Yeah but I'm going to be a bit," She said, Ginny just nodded and made her way downstairs.

Hermione pushed the door open and found Remus sitting next to the fireplace reading a book, he looked relax and she couldn't help but ogle him. Sirius had forced Remus to accept some money so he now wore clothes that weren't stained and threadbare. He was currently wearing a dark brown button up shirt and black pants. He was wearing a pair of dragonhide boots that Sirius had gifted him the year prior. Hermione had always harbored a school girl crush on him, and the summer had done nothing to lessen that.

Remus looked up from his book and smiled slightly, "Ah, you got my note," He said. Hermione closed the door behind her and felt the wards go up. "Yes, how did you know?" She asked him. Remus had started preparing all the potions and salves needed for the change, "I know it's been a few days since the last time we changed them, so I just assumed you would need to have it done soon." He explained. The young witch situated herself on the chaise lounge and Remus started removing the bandages. The two were quiet for a minute while the werewolf quietly applied the salves. "Can I ask you something?" Remus said as he started re-wrapping the gauze. "Of course," Hermione responded while trying not to flinch as he tied off the bandage. "Why do you insist on me changing your bandages?" Hermione swallowed hard. She had overstepped the boundaries and asked him for too much. Remus must have noticed her panicking because he rushed to assure her. "I don't have a problem with doing it, I'm just curious as to why me?" Hermione thought for a minute. In truth she didn't really know, she just felt safer when it was him. "I'm not sure, I guess I could ask anyone else but..." She paused, "But what?" Remus nudged "I don't know, I just feel safer with you." She muttered. His heart clenched and he was thrown into a memory "I feel safe here, with you. It's where I belong. It's home" His eyes burned as he fought back tears. "This will be the last change you'll need before you all head back to Hogwarts, Madame Pomfrey will take over then" He explained "Are you ok with that or would you like me to make trips out there to do it?" Hermione was surprised, she immediately wanted to say yes but she knew that would be asking too much. "I'm fine with Madame Pomfrey taking over, she was the one who healed me in the first place," Hermione could've sworn there was a slight sadness in his eyes. "Alright, well the house is oddly quiet so I take it that means everyone went to the Burrow. You should probably catch up with them." The two said their goodbyes and Remus watched as she left the room. Dumbledore had him leaving to go talk to some outlying packs that evening. He wouldn't be back until after the children returned to school. This would be the last time he would ever see Hermione... and somehow being able to prepare for it made it hurt more than when he didn't know.

Hermione dusted off her clothes as she stepped out of the fireplace. She could see flashes of red hair as they would zip past the windows. Mrs. Weasley was making lunch in the kitchen and said hi as Hermione made her way into the backyard. All the boys plus Tonks and Sirius were in the air. Hermione sat down on one of the benches and pulled out the book she had been reading the

night prior. It wasn't long before she heard someone touch

down next her. Sirius took a seat on the bench. "Not flying with

everyone?" He asked, she shrugged "It's not really my thing, I'd

rather read."

"You don't have to play Quidditch, you can just fly if you'd like."

"Oh I meant flying, I hate it" Sirius looked at her in shock, "You

don't like flying?" Hermione shook her head "I hate it, I barely

passed first year flying lessons then begged Professor

McGonagall to let me have a study period instead during

second year." Sirius was completely dumbfounded "Come on,

I'm sure you'd love it."

"Nope, I'd much rather keep both feet firmly planted on the

ground." She said indignantly. He pressed again "I bet if we got

you on a broom you'd have skill that would rival Harry's,"

Hermione laughed at this "You're delusional." The older wizard

smiled softly "No, just hopeful."

A/N Three chapters in and I'm already hitting ya'll up with a late upload, I'm so sorry. In all honesty I just got busy yesterday and forgot what day it was. But here is chapter 3. On the last chapter someone mentioned that the spacing of my dialogue could use some work and I wanted to thank them for that. I did see your review and I'm totally going to try to fix that I just ask that you bear with me as anything related to dialogue is my biggest struggle. But I hope ya'll like it and I will see you next week!