[A/N: Thank you to Calamity Owl for beta-reading this chapter!]
Sirius peered out into the light afternoon rain. "Are you sure you don't want to take the floo?" he asked.
"Hermione has been traumatised enough for one day," Harry said. "We'll walk."
"Oh, it's not that bad," Remus said.
"As someone who was not raised by wizards, I beg to differ," Harry said. "I'll tell you what: if, when Hermione finally does try the floo, she thinks it's an easy way to travel, I'll buy you a six-pack of real ale. If not, you buy me one."
"Deal," Remus said. "Wait, though, what if this is just a plan to bribe her with a bottle of the ale so you get the rest?"
"Then you'd better offer me at least three to beat his offer," Hermione said as she pulled on her mackintosh.
Sirius barked out a laugh. "I'll give you four," he said.
"Wait," Harry said, "you're not even a party to this bet."
"I know," Sirius replied. "I'm just willing to give her four ales to see if I can get her drunk. She was hilarious last time."
Hermione blushed. "I won't be drinking that much again."
"That's enough of that," Harry said. "Sirius, Remus, thank you for everything."
"Yes, thank you," Hermione said. "You saved my life twice. I can't even begin to thank you enough."
"Don't worry about it," Remus said. "Your company has been a breath of fresh air in this old house."
"And my parents would have hated you," Sirius said, "which makes it even better."
Hermione blinked. "Oh…um…I'm glad, then. I've enjoyed it here, too."
"Same here," Harry said. "We'll be back for dinner next week, and maybe we can have you over for a muggle-style dinner the following week."
"We'd like that," Remus said.
Harry and Hermione waved one last time and stepped through the front door and out into the cold, rainy London afternoon. "Is it a long walk to your house?" she asked as he led her down the front walk to the square in front of the townhouse.
"It's actually a little less than fifteen minutes," Harry said. He offered her his arm as they walked, which she accepted with a tight-lipped smile that was still warm enough to make him forget about the cold and damp for a bit.
Hermione looked around as they walked. "Are we near my university?" she asked. "This looks vaguely familiar."
"We are, yes," Harry said. "I'm on the other side of the Tube station, closer to Regent's Canal."
"I see." She looked around as they walked at the rain-stained but well-kept brick buildings and tall trees. "This is such a beautiful part of town."
"It really is," Harry said. "I spent most of my Quidditch bonuses to buy this place, and I'm glad I did. It's beautiful, in a relatively quiet part of town, near Sirius and Remus, and has a corner pub."
She laughed. "I like the addition of the pub on the end of that list. It's nice to see that even wizards are still British."
"Very much so." Harry smiled back. "Oh, here's our turn."
Harry waited at the zebra crossing and led them across the street. "This isn't strictly the fastest way to get to my house," he said, "but it's definitely the nicest." Instead of walking up the little cross street, he led them into a little park maybe half a block wide but several blocks long.
"It's lovely," Hermione said. "And the trees have just started to turn."
"This is one of my favourite times to walk around here," Harry said. "Maybe tomorrow we could talk a walk down the canal, too."
"I'd like that," she said, and maybe it was his imagination, but he thought she moulded herself a little closer to him as they walked.
After a block in the park, Harry took a right turn down a residential street lined with brick townhouses and flats, then another left down an even smaller street. A few more houses and he…no, theywere home. "Here we are," he said, and turned into a three-storey (plus basement, the front windows of which were just barely visible from the street) townhouse just like all of the others on the street.
He unlocked the door and then shifted his arm to hold Hermione's hand tightly. "Don't let go of me until we're through the door," he said. "I need to get you in and key you into the wards."
Hermione nodded and gripped his hand just as tightly in her own. He stepped in and gently pulled her over the threshold, then waited a moment as the warm, probing magic of the wards washed over them. "There you go," he said. "You're in now, but let me add you to the ward book before I forget."
Harry hurried through the foyer and into the smaller of the two rooms on the ground floor that he used as the house's floo room and general drawing room. The ward book was right next to the fireplace where most of his magical guests would arrive, and a quick scribble with the self-inking quill he kept next to the book added Hermione as a permanently approved visitor.
"There you go," he said as he returned to her. "You can come and go as you like now."
"Thank you," she said. "Harry, this house is wonderful."
"Oh, thank you." He hadn't had many people over and magicals tended to find it a bit too mundane to compliment, so he didn't quite know how to respond to unqualified praise. (Being British probably didn't help matters on that front, if he was being honest.) The light oak panelling on the walls was a little worn, but it was holding up well for its advanced age and helped lighten the rooms in the gloomy London winters. The living room on the first floor had some comfortable, if worn, chairs and a chesterfield, with a large ottoman taking up much of the centre of the room. A discreet Wizarding Wireless receiver that looked enough like a vintage radio to avoid muggle attention stood in one corner, and a collection of magical reference books protected by muggle Notice-Me-Nots populated the higher shelves bookcases around the fireplace (the lower shelves had muggle novels, reference books, and a small philosophy section Harry had recently added).
"It's such a warm, cosy room," Hermione said. "And you have gas lamps, too?"
"Not exactly." Harry glanced at the handful of gas lamps lining the walls. "They're technically gas lamps, but they're enchanted to provide light without needing a constant input of gas. A lot of magical households use them because magic doesn't play well with electricity."
"I see," Hermione said. "Is that why you don't have a telly?"
"Yes, though not for lack of trying. I've had two blow out on me."
She winced, having only recently been on the receiving end of an exploding telly herself. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"I should've quit after the first one," Harry said ruefully. "Would you like to see the rest of the house?"
She nodded eagerly, so he showed her the smaller "floo room" on that floor and the small, but well-kept patio and backyard beyond it. The basement contained a spacious kitchen with an old-style enamelled gas stove and oven, a dining area with a nice view of the walk-out patio, some storage space off the front side and, oddly, the guest bathroom. "I'm sorry," Harry said, "but your bathroom will be down here."
"So it's a bit of a walk," Hermione said. "It's still nicer than my bathroom in my studio. You're going to spoil me."
"I won't spoil you that much," Harry said. "The dishwasher doesn't work, so all dishwashing has to be by hand."
"Oh, well," Hermione said. "That'll definitely be a pain, but I think it's worth living in a stunning Georgian house with vintage fixtures to do the dishes by hand."
"At least we can use magic to speed it up," Harry said. "Well, we can tomorrow."
"I have so much to learn about magic," she said.
"You'll have time," Harry said. "Let me show you the rest of the house now."
The second storey comprised two guest bedrooms, each with a fireplace. The furnishings looked comfortable but bland, and the larger room had a proper dresser and vanity table as well a bed. The third floor contained the master suite, which was the only part of the house that actually looked lived-in even after his weeklong absence. Fortunately, there wasn't too much dirty clothing strewn about the floor, so Harry was willing to call that a 'win.'
Hermione ignored the mess, though, and focused on the terrace. "You have a walk-out terrace up here? That must be fantastic, at least when it's not raining."
"It's nice to just sit up here some nights and look at the stars," Harry said. "With all of the light pollution, I can sometimes see six or seven stars at the same time."
She rolled her eyes. "Don't remind me. I don't even remember the last time I saw a proper starry sky. Regardless, though, you have a lovely house, Harry, and I'm lucky you'll let me take over a whole floor."
He shrugged. "I'm glad you like it. It's too much space for just me, really. I barely see the first or second floors except while passing through on the stairs. Now, let's head back downstairs to the floo room. We might be able to talk with Professor Tonks today."
They made their way back downstairs. "We can travel and talk through the floo system," Harry explained. "It's basically magic fire that doesn't burn you."
"That sounds useful," Hermione said.
"It is, but telephones would be more convenient a lot of the time." Harry took a pinch of floo powder as they arrived at the fireplace. "This is going to look crazy, but I promise you it's safe."
She nodded, so he tossed in the powder, stuck his head into the green flames, and said, "Professor Tonks' office, Hogwarts."
A moment later, a well-appointed dungeon office appeared in front of him, tinged green from the floo fire. Professor Tonks looked up from her desk and smiled. "I thought I might be hearing from you, Mr. Potter. Would you like me to come through?"
"Yes, thank you, Professor," he said. "You're already in the ward book."
He pulled his head out of the fireplace to find Hermione staring at him in horror. "Thatwas floo communication?" she asked.
Harry nodded and stepped back from the fireplace, gently guiding Hermione away, as well. "We're going to have a visitor," he said as green flames leapt to life in the fireplace. A moment later, Andromeda Tonks emerged, poised as ever, and dusted some soot off her emerald robes. Age had thus far been kind to her, and her light brown hair was barely touched with grey. She was a tall, slim woman, with a strong jaw and stern, kind eyes.
"Good afternoon." She inclined her head slightly. "It's good to see you again, Harry. Minerva said you and my cousin had somehow cooked up a plan to simultaneously study intensely and cause mischief, which I admit is terribly intriguing. I don't believe I've had the pleasure of your friend's acquaintance, though."
"We're definitely up to no good, Prof…er…Andi." He still wasn't used to being on a first-name basis with her. "This is my friend Hermione Granger. Hermione, this is Professor Andromeda Tonks, the best Potions instructor Hogwarts has ever had and Sirius's cousin."
Hermione's jaw was still hanging open. "Didn't that…is she alright? Do you have burn cream?"
Andi's eyes narrowed. "Harry, if you just let me break the Statute…"
"No!" Harry said quickly. "She's just never seen floo travel before." He quickly explained Hermione's situation. "So we would appreciate any help you could provide," he concluded.
"Morgana!" Andi said. "That's horrifying! I'd be happy to help. I don't have any classes on Thursday mornings, so I can come over and give you some tutoring to help you get the hang of potioneering."
"Thank you," Hermione said. "I appreciate you giving up some of your prep time during the week to help me."
"I'm happy to," Andi said. "Also, if you'll promise not to use anything in them until I've shown you the basics of safety, I have some books that might help you."
"Of course!" Hermione's eyes lit up at the word 'books.'
Andi disappeared back into the floo and reappeared a minute later with an armful of half a dozen books. "I found these in the back of an ingredients cabinet when I took over my position," she said. "I suspect my predecessor left them, but I can't prove it. In any case, the marginalia are exceptionally useful and often more instructive than the actual text."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Your predecessor? Instructive? I don't think I ever remember him instructing any of us."
She sighed. "I know the two of you didn't get along, but Severus is an exceptionally talented Potions Master. When he bothered to explain himself, he could do so in tremendous detail."
"I'll believe that when I see it," Harry said. "I didn't think any force on Earth could compel that pompous git to actually teach someone."
"No force…currently on Earth," Andi said carefully.
Harry's heart leapt into his throat. "What…do you mean?" he asked. Hermione's concerned look warned him that he probably hadn't kept his feelings out of his voice.
"There are two sets of handwriting in the first four textbooks," Andi said. "I recognize Severus's hand, and while I don't recognize the second hand, I'm pretty sure it's a girl's. She asks questions and comments on the instructions, and Severus responds politely and explains in detail. There are only two girls he'd have been that polite to and the timing is wrong for it to have been Narcissa."
He tried to speak, but couldn't. He could only stare at the books in her hand.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione gently laid a hand on his arm.
"My aunt…" his eyes were going blurry, "she burned all of my mother's schoolwork. I've never seen anything."
She gasped. "I'm so sorry! Let's study it together. I've already heard so much about your mother, so it would be nice to sort of meet her in her notes."
Something about that statement broke the dam in Harry's eyes and he started crying. Hermione immediately pulled him into a tight hug.
Andi put the books down on the coffee table and laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Harry," she said. "I only discovered these a few months ago and I didn't know how important they would be to you."
"Thank you so much," Harry said. "I thought it was all gone."
"I had no idea." She gave Harry's shoulder a squeeze and let her hand fall away. "I'll leave you alone now, but I'll come by at 9:00 sharp on Thursday morning for Hermione's first tutoring session, if that's alright."
Hermione nodded. "That would be great, thank you."
Andi stepped away and disappeared with a whooshof green fire.
As the flames died away, Hermione gently guided Harry to the couch and sat down with him. He was a good six inches or more taller than she was, so pulling him onto her shoulder was a little awkward, but she somehow managed it anyway. It wasn't even very comfortable, but he was so touched by the gesture that he didn't even try to move.
"I'm sorry for losing it there," he said. "I can normally hold it together, but I wasn't expecting that."
"Don't you dare apologise to me," she said. "I will never think any less of you, do you hear me? Not twelve hours ago I watched you slash your palm without even wincing and bet your life on mine. You are a hero, even if I still think you're an idiot, and you can cry whenever you feel like."
He winced inwardly at the 'H'-word, which she somehow caught because she tensed instantly. "Did I say something wrong?" she asked. "I'm sorry."
"No, no," he said sadly, "it's just…I liked being your friend, not your hero."
She paused for a moment and he hoped he hadn't upset her. He was still trying to figure out what else he could say when he spoke up again. "When we were talking on the Tube train, I remember you were sort of bitter about being treated as a superhero, and that's how I knew you were telling me the truth about yourself. You weren't bragging about it; you were just sad." She ran her fingers through his hair slowly as she spoke, almost as if she were massaging his scalp. "I'm sorry people like me keep needing you to be a hero."
"It's not your fault!" he said. "I didn't mean it like that."
"That doesn't make it any less true," she replied.
"That's as may be, but I just…" He sighed. "Let me try that again. A solid majority of Britain's Magicals probably think I'm a hero, but less than two dozen think they're my friend. I…I guess what I was trying to say is that I don't care if anyone else thinks I'm a hero, but I'd love it if you thought I was your friend." He paused. "Which is why you're sitting here on the couch holding me after I was crying."
She nodded. "You can be my friend andmy hero, Harry."
He wormed an arm around her waist and pulled her in for a hug. "Thank you. I'm kind of thick sometimes."
"It's OK," Hermione said. "We all get to be thick sometimes."
"I can live with that," he said. "Now, should we see about setting up a dinner party? I think Sue is also off today and Neville is probably free unless one of his plants ate him again."
Hermione froze. "What?"
"Nev is our Herbology prodigy," Harry explained. "His plants frighten the rest of us."
"I'm frightened already."
"Oh, good," he said as he sat up and stretched. "Fear makes it more likely you'll survive Herbology. Most of the injuries I saw were people who weren't scared enough of the plants."
She sighed. "You never miss something like the Health and Safety Executive until it's gone."
"On the plus side," Harry said, "Wizarding restaurants can cook their hamburgers to only Medium."
"I withdraw my complaint," Hermione said, "but only if I can get one of those burgers soon."
"That can be arranged," Harry said. "I'd like to wait until I'm over my magical exhaustion before venturing out into the Wizarding World to pick up food, though."
"Wait…" she sighed. "People want to kill you, don't they?"
"Only a few," he said. "And it's not my fault."
"I know, I know," she said. "It's just…I think I'm starting to get the hang of your life. I just add 'because of the people trying to kill me' onto every explanation you give me and suddenly I have half of the missing context I need to understand you."
"That is…" he paused, "disturbingly accurate. I'm going to floo Sue now and lock you into dinner before you run away screaming."
"As if I could," Hermione said as he threw the powder in the fire. Her tone was strange, almost wistful.
A moment later, Sue wandered into the Bones Manor floo room wearing just a bathrobe.
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Sue, it's nearly four o'clock."
"It's a day off," she said. "You're lucky I answered the floo at all."
"Fair enough. Can you get decent and come over for dinner at five? Something's up."
"Oh, no," she said. "I know that tone. On a scale of 'I want backup to deal with a boggart just in case' to 'Triwizard Tournament,' how bad is this?"
"Tournament," he said without hesitation. "Your aunt is going to blow a gasket when we can finally tell her."
"Damn it, Harry. I need boring friends. See you at five."
He smirked. "You know you love it. See you then." With that, he rose and stretched, cutting the connection.
"That," Hermione said, "is weirdto watch. From my perspective, you're just sticking your head in and then nothing happens. It's like you're slow-roasting yourself in a green fire."
"That's the Wizarding World for you," he said. "You'll run into much stranger things as time goes on. I'm sorry you don't have much to look at, though."
For some reason, Hermione blushed. "No, no," she said quickly, "it's fine."
Harry had no idea what he'd said, so he chalked it up to the inscrutability of women and turned back to the floo. "Hey, Nev!" he said once he'd been connected to Longbottom Manor. "Are you there?"
The Longbottom house elf Spriggy hurried into the floo room. "Good afternoon, Lord Potter," he said. Any house elf of Augusta's was going to have manners…or else. "Master is puttering and pottering right now."
"Could you fetch him, please? It's urgent."
Spriggy bowed and poppedaway. A minute or so later, he poppedback with Neville in tow. Neville was wearing his usual slacks and button-down shirt underneath his apron and elbow-length gardening gloves. That man was the best-dressed gardener Harry had ever met.
"Is everything alright?" Neville asked. "You don't send urgent floo calls…well, ever."
"At the moment, yes," Harry said, "but something's come up and we'll need your help. Susan's coming for dinner at five o'clock and I'll explain then."
"Gran won't like the change of plans on short notice," he said, "but she needs the occasional reminder that I have my own plans. See you at five."
"Thanks, mate," Harry said, fighting a smile. Watching Neville grow into a strong wizard, businessman, and formidable member of the Wizengamot had been one of Harry's genuine pleasures growing up. Augusta still hadn't quite reconciled herself to Neville no longer being a small boy, but they all loved the old lady anyway.
"Neville and Susan will be here at 5:00," he told Hermione after pulling his head out of the floo.
"It's nice of them to come on such short notice," she said. "Oh, we should freshen up, and what about food? You've been gone for so long that everything must have expired."
Harry smiled. "Stasis charms…though I just realised that I shouldn't do the magic necessary to lift them. Bollocks."
"Language," she said, then cringed. "I'm sorry, you're a grown man who can talk however–"
"It's fine," Harry said. "I don't mind you saying it if you don't mind me ignoring you some of the time."
"Deal." She gave him another one of her tight-lipped smiles.
"And regarding dinner, I was going to cook it, but even though I usually cook without magic, I can't operate the kitchen with no magic at all." He scratched the back of his head. "I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to have to bother Dobby."
"I understand," Hermione said. "Oh, speaking of him, I did promise to bring this up, so even though it's awkward, I suppose I should before we see him again. Have you ever thought about…um…little witches or wizards?"
"I think I'd like some, yes." Harry laughed. "Does that satisfy your honour?"
"Yes," she said. "Let us never speak of that incident again."
He smirked at her rising blush and said, "Dobby?"
The elf poppedup next to him. "Harry Potter sir called Dobby?"
"Yes," Harry said. "Hermione and I will be having Neville and Susan to dinner and we aren't allowed to use our magic until we've rested more. Could I trouble you to make us saffron chicken and rice for four at 5:30? I'll give you a neat sock."
Dobby nodded excitedly. "Dobby would love to make dinner for Harry Potter sir and his Miss My-knee. Oh, and does yous need Miss's things brought to her room from the Old Scary House?"
"Oh, right, thank you," Harry said. "That's not too much at once, is it?"
"Not at all!" Dobby stuck his chest out. "Other Hoggy-warts elves make fun of Dobby because he never gets enough work to be tired out, but he shows them tonight!" Before either of them could respond to that statement, Dobby poppedaway.
"Oh, dear," Hermione said. "I feel like I should feel awful, but he looked so happy."
"House elves are just human enough to make you think you understand them," Harry said, "until they do something to remind you they really, really aren't." He rose, stretched, and helped Hermione up. "I'm going to go find a good sock for him as a reward. He loves weird clothing, especially socks. Why don't you check out the books in the living room while I'm doing that?"
"I admit to incredible curiosity about what's in there." As she spoke, she was clearly trying and failing to keep a huge grin off of her face.
"What's so funny?" Harry asked.
"Oh, it's just that some of us at the market always wondered why you bought a pair of socks every week," she said. "I never would have guessed they were payment for a magical being."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "People talked about my sock purchasing habits?"
She shrugged. "Put yourself in Allison's shoes…Allison being the owner and operator of the sock stall at the Market. Every week, a man comes in wearing clothing worth more than she's going to make that day and buys precisely one pair of hand-knitted socks with cartoon characters or other funny designs on them. You made an impression."
"Oh. I had no idea," Harry said. "Everyone there must think I'm a fop."
"If they've ever really looked at you, they don't," Hermione said. "It'd be like calling a lion a fop because it takes care of its mane. Sure, it may spend more time on hair care than other animals, but it can also rip you to pieces before you can blink."
"You think I can rip people to pieces?" Harry asked.
She arched her eyebrows at him. "Am I wrong?"
"Well…no. You…um…don't seem worried about that."
"If you'd wanted to hurt me," Hermione said, "I wouldn't have survived our first meeting. I'm still here, so I don't see any reason to be concerned."
"Oh, good," Harry said. He'd never had a conversation quite like that before and wasn't sure if he was worried or turned on. "Speaking of our first meeting, Sue was there, too, so I should probably tell you more about that."
"She was?" Hermione asked. "I don't remember seeing anyone with you."
"That was intentional," Harry said. "We didn't know if you were a muggle who was uncommonly good at finding books that weakened the Statute of Secrecy or a magical trying to undermine it, and had you been the latter things might have gotten violent. I handled the initial interaction in your shop and tried to trip you up with references to magic. Had you reacted, I would have attempted to disable you while Sue covered my back in case you had support. You didn't, though, so I just bought the books to get them out of circulation and left peacefully."
Her face fell. "So you never really wanted to eat lunch with me?" She put her face in her hands. "I should have known there was no way a–"
"No!" Harry said. "That's not true at all. I really enjoyed our lunches. The books were just a way to get my boss to give me time off to have lunch with you and subsidise your studies. I figured that if I was buying them, I was getting them off the streets and giving you reasons to convince Mr. Folkes to buy you even more books."
"Oh. Thank you." She slowly removed her face from her hands as she spoke. "Wait, what would have happened if my research had succeeded like…well…it did?"
"To be honest," Harry said, "I hadn't thought that far ahead. I don't think anyone has ever managed to break the Statute with research alone, and I never thought you'd get an actual wand. You shouldn't have been able to notice it. You're just all kinds of impossible."
She grinned impishly. "I should put that on a business card."
"Definitely," Harry said. "First, though, let's get cleaned up."
"Oh, right!" She shot to her feet. "Do you think I've enough time to shower?"
"Yes, but take the long way around the kitchen to get from the stairs to the shower. Dobby may be working invisibly near the stove."
"OK." She paused. "I have never had to worry about that before."
Harry shrugged. "Magic."
