Chalice had taken them back to muggle London, extremely pleased with how well the cases had gone, and the wonderful publicity her firm would receive. She felt good having helped Potter, for all he had done and all he had lost, and sticking it to the higher up purebloods.

That and the Grangers were excellent clients. They had assured her that the Burmings were officially their lawyers. The Burmings were easy to work with and in the know, it was perfect. Of course the Family had efficient lawyers, some were in the know, however it was different when your lawyer had also grown up in the wizarding world instead of just 'knowing' about them. To know the laws, the archaic ones as well, with a firm grasp and understanding the terms instead of guessing what they could be…

Abagail and Leeroy decided it was better in the long run.

Petunia's bottom lip quivered knowing it would be quite some time before she saw any of them again. Vernon rubbed her shoulder, his mustache bristling with emotion. Dudley looked at all of them forlornly. His touch with the dementors had changed him, and he felt crummy about how he spoke of his cousins.

"Harry, I'm sorry about… the things I said and did," he said flashing a quick look at Hermione hoping he would understand, "I hope you'll keep in touch and… write, yeah?" he said somewhat bashfully.

He shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Just send it to mum or Aunt Abby so they can send it in the post though, secrecy and all that," he said looking at the ground.

Hermione smiled gently at her taller cousin, Harry stared at him for a little bit before pushing his glasses up and nodding before responding, "Yeah, I'll do that. I'm sure Hermione will remind me if I forget."

"Write to us too, please. Or write to Abagail and she can tell me over the phone. I… I want to stay in touch. More than just the occasional Christmas card," Petunia said, her eyes glassy.

She was still somewhat scared of her sister, but she was also somewhat scared of Lily. However with the familial bond she wanted to have a good relationship with her sister. She liked Hermione and she knew Vernon… Vernon never had a daughter and now he had a niece, and he was sweet on her. He had always wanted a son to be proud of, and she had gladly (and proudly) given him one. However she knew secretly he also wanted a girl to dote upon, to protect.

Vernon cleared his throat, his mustache still moving.

"Hermione. Keep up with your grades. Keep the boy out of trouble. And… and give your uncle a hug. I won't be seein' you until either holiday or… or after the war," Vernon said gruffly.

Hermione smiled, her eyes watering, and she moved over and hugged her uncle fiercely. She wanted to hate him, after all he and Petunia did to her brother. However she could tell from the tournament, his protection of her, that she was special to him. He was a cruel man, gruff and reminded her of a walrus, always ready to fight, but at the tournament he was like a different person. He stood up for Harry, he tried to protect them from Mrs. Weasley. He tried. It could have been Harry's last day on Earth and instead of rubbing it in or hoping he died, or something of the like, he tried to make it a good day.

Harry smiled at his sister hugging his walrus of an uncle. The man had given him something before he left the Dursleys. He had done right by Hermione and treated her kindly. He didn't care of he was treated because Vernon didn't treat his sister the same way.

He was right in a way, only they were allowed to cause him misery. Still, at least publicly in the wizarding world, they stood up for him, his sister, his grandparents, and his mum. That was almost good enough to forgive them. Almost wasn't enough though, so he would take a leaf out of Petunia's book and pretend half of it didn't happen.

Abagail was extremely pleased with this turnabout.

"We will keep in touch," she said as she leaned over to hug her sister and nephew, as Vernon was still hugging Hermione and muttering something into her hair.

"Listen to me Hermione, you're smarter than the boy. Please take care of him. We messed him up trying to keep him safe by keeping magic out of his life. We did what we could and we failed. He has magic in his life, he has you. Make sure he does well. If you ever need us for any reason, we're here for you. Just try not to send word with a bloody owl," he chuckled the last part weakly.

Hermione listened keenly and her heart ached for the Dursleys and Harry. They tried to keep magic out of his life to keep him safe. They hurt him to try to beat the magic out of him to keep him alive. They were horrid to him… to keep him alive. Magic took away Harry's parents, Petunia's sister, to them magic wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. It got his family killed. It was better to be cruel and keep him alive rather than send him to his death. It was extremely misguided, but they thought they were trying to do their best by him.

A child's magic manifested more often when they were happy, loved, and felt secure in themselves. It also happened when they were trying to protect themselves (without them knowing). Lily's magic must have always manifested when she was happy… that's why they worked so hard to keep him miserable. It was a shockingly cold, yet warm revelation. They loved Harry, in their own way. They did what they thought was a necessary evil.

"I will, Uncle Vernon. I'll keep Harry as safe as I can," she murmured back.

"You're a good girl, Hermione. Remember to keep in touch, okay?"

With that he smoothed her hair and smiled at her gently. He nodded to his nephew.

Harry nodded back with a quick quirk to his lips.

"Thank you for coming with to the trials," Abagail said, "Now let us pay for your cab back. You can use whatever's left to help cleanup Harry's old room."

Petunia flushed at the barb but nodded. She decided at that moment to make that the guest room and send small apology gifts to Harry throughout the school year. Of what though, she wasn't sure yet. She'd think of something.

After seeing them off, Abagail looked at Harry kindly.

"Now, Harry, I'm not sure what Hermione has or hasn't told you about us, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask and we'll answer appropriately. It all depends on setting, as you're aware of secrecy and such," she chuckled.

Harry smiled and nodded.

"Now I hope you don't think it too forward of me, but I think our next stop is Gringotts. You're a man in the wizarding world now, I think it's time you've seen all of your assets and such, and what is going on with them. If you have any questions about managing them, you can either as us, Chalice, or the Goblins, however you see fit. If you don't want us in the room with you, that's fine as well," she said with a smile.

Harry stood quiet for a moment, looking over to Hermione who was close by, thinking about it. He was perfectly fine with Hermione knowing, he would have told her anyways, but their lawyer was also an amazing witch who knew her stuff. So he wanted her there definitely. Abagail and Leeroy Granger… they raised Hermione. They were a Duke and Duchess, they had to know a fair amount of things he had no inkling about. He didn't want to go in there unprepared and alone. He knew goblins could be greedy and he was sure they would be opportunistic if they saw he didn't know anything.

"I would like all of you there, please. I don't know much of anything and I would feel better having people who knew something about what the goblins might be talking about," he said quietly, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

Hermione walked over and leaned into him, which helped Harry breathe easy.

"Shall we then?" Abagail started.

Chalice walked beside Abagail as they headed toward the Leaky Cauldron, Leeroy was closer to Harry and Hermione.

"So what do you- our parents really do, Hermione?" he asked quietly.

"Well I never lied, Harry. They are dentists, just they have the practice as a hobby. They didn't want to spend all day doing what dad considers, boring things. They're low enough that they don't have any real responsibilities to the family or the public. We put in the occasional appearance, but no one really notices if we show up or not. So it's whatever they feel like doing really," Hermione explained.

"So… like Malfoy is a politician or whatever?" he tried.

"Yes and no. Malfoy makes his money through investments. He's a sleazy palm greaser, but really he doesn't have to do anything, the Malfoys are that wealthy," Hermione said.

Harry didn't question her knowing that she knew more about the wizarding world than he did. Heck she knew more about derogatory slurs than he did and they entered the castle at the same time.

Leeroy listened carefully to what his daughter was telling his son. He had a slight butterfly feeling in his stomach thinking of the term son. It was thrilling.

Harry screwed his face up trying to imagine the Grangers doing political things like the Malfoys and couldn't imagine it.

"Don't think too hard about it, Harry," she teased.

"She's right, son. We're wealthy enough to not have to do anything, but frankly that would be extremely boring. One upon a time, it was grand, but I was as lady killer before I met your mother. After that, I had a bit too much time on my hands realizing that I didn't really have any other hobbies other than chasing skirts," he laughed.

Harry grinned at this information. He sounded a lot like how Remus described Sirius. It was nice, familiar.

"So we took up dentistry. Went to school together and everything. It was challenging enough for your mum, but also lacked the 'ick' factor that comes with dealing with the sick. She's got a bit of a thing about catching someone else's illness. It's quite cute," he said with a smile.

"Mum is a germaphobe without being a germaphobe," Hermione said.

"So like how aunt Petunia wants everything clean all the time because she doesn't like germs, but with people?" Harry asked.

"Exactly," Hermione answered with a grin.

Before they knew it they were in Gringotts. Chalice and Abagail stopped and turned around to look at Harry. The two teens noticed, as they were following them without really paying attention, and Harry's cheerful disposition tempered a bit.

"What do I say?" he asked Abagail, his stomach churning with insecurity.

"Let them know that you would like to speak with your account manager. We're not going to your vault, so you shouldn't need your key," she said.

"I… I don't have my key," Harry said worried.

Abagail looked down at him shocked for a moment before recovering, "We'll take care of that as well," she said offhandedly.

Her nose however flared the way Hermione's did when she was upset with something on the behalf of someone else. It was soothing in a way that he was able to pick out characteristics that he was familiar with. Harry nodded in response out of habit.

He walked up to a teller and waited until the goblin to notice him.

"I'm here to speak with my account manager," the green eyed wizard said calmly.

"Name?"

"Harry Potter."

"Wand?"

Harry held his wand up to the goblin, who looked at it shrewdly.

"Ragnok will be with you in a moment, Mr. Potter," he said his sharp teeth shining in his mouth.

He turned to another teller and started talking in gobbledegook. The other goblin made a noise that was a cross between a bark and a hiss before walking away.

Abagail had to keep herself from baring her teeth at them, knowing it was a threat. However whenever she heard gobbeldegook she always felt her hackles raise. She wasn't sure why, but the language spoken by natives made her aggressive. She didn't want to be seen as weak, but she also didn't want to start a feud or an all-out war.

"Mr. Potter, I'm Ragnok, please follow me," A thin goblin said, bowing at Harry before turning around and walking towards his office without waiting to see if the wizard was following or not.

Harry quickly cottoned on when Hermione started to drag him with her, others followed behind them.

"In here, Mr. Potter. Are these other people with you?" he asked with a steely countenance that bordered hostile.

"Yes! This is my family, they adopted me today, and our lawyer," he said with wide eyes.

Ragnok's face smoothed from hostile to merely grumpy, and opened the door for the party to enter, where he followed quickly behind. He raised his hand and locked the door, before walking over to a filing cabinet and pulling out a large file.

"What is it you came to speak about specifically, Mr. Potter?" He said, his voice sounded like rocks rubbing against each other.

"I would like to see my assets and… uhm… mum?" Harry looked over his shoulder for her.

"As I'm sure you're aware Mr. Ragnok, due to the rules surrounding the Triwizard Tournament and the finality of the Goblet of Fire, Harry is now considered an adult. We would like to see his assets, contracts, statements, everything that you have related to his account," she said, "We would also like to ask for a new key to his vault, or vaults. According to our lawyer, Miss Burming here, his old magical guardian was doing some borderline illegal things pertaining to Harry's care. We would like to rectify anything and everything that we can."

Ragnok turned his head slightly, his lips were parted and let out a low slow growl that sounded more like a purr.

"What you are saying… Miss?"

"Duchess Granger. I'll also answer to Doctor Granger, Mrs. Granger, and ma'am," she said.

The goblin tilted his head the opposite way, looking at the family before him.

"What you are saying is something we take very seriously Duchess Granger."

"I would like to hope so. This is a very serious matter."

"I have to let you know that once money has been withdrawn we usually do not meddle in wizarding affairs. We protect the gold that is entrusted to us here, after that it is usually out of our hands," he said.

"With all due respect Ragnok, I believe this matter is within your sphere. You are aware of who Mr. Potter's wizarding guardian was, of this we have no doubt. What you might not know is that his guardian was never involved in his life personally. Aside from what I'm sure the Potters originally set aside for Hogwarts' tuition, the first time Harry stepped into Gringotts himself is the first time he had ever seen a galleon. Every year after I'm sure he's been taken to his trustee vault that was set aside for other school matters?" Chalice said.

"Yeah, I've only been here maybe once a year since I've turned 11. Anything other than that, I didn't have anything to do with," Harry confirmed.

Ragnok opened the file and looked at the group before him piercingly.

"That is a very serious accusation."

"We know," Leeroy said grimly.

"The statements from the last 15 years please?" Hermione asked, holding her hand out.

Ragnok looked at Harry, seeing he was just as curious as the witch next to him, handed the witch the proper papers. The older woman, who Potter called 'mum' also looked over their shoulders with a keen eye and a dark look.

Harry looked at the numbers, a little overwhelmed by the large amount, but looked helplessly at the amount that was withdrawn every month since January following the year his parents died under the term 'Guardian Stipulation'. Additionally to that was 'Allowance'. It wasn't until the year Harry turned 11 that there was an additional change 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy tuition'.

"I've never seen my allowance…" Harry said.

"And my sister never received a stipulation, I can assure you, Harry. We checked," Abagail said with a clipped tone.

"And the trustee vault…?" Abagail said looking at Ragnok carefully.

"The trustee vault is only accessible to Mr. Potter, with his key."

"So that's 5,500 galleons a month, unaccounted for, for the last 14 years," Hermione said softly, "962,500 galleons to date."

"That's nearly 1,000,000 galleons missing," Chalice said.

"And we are certain that none of it went to Mr. Potter, as it was intended?" Ragnok said carefully.

"Positive. I've never had an allowance and I've lived with my uncle's and cousin's castoffs for clothes and other things. They're the muggles who were taking care of me, the ones with the real guardianship."

"We dug deeply to be assured that they weren't misappropriating guardian stipulations and came up empty. They paid for everything they have out of their own accounts," Chalice said.

Ragnok frowned toothily at this new information.

"We apologize Mr. Potter. We were assured by your guardian at the time that the funds were going where they were meant to. The guardian stipulations were meant for the guardian of whose care you were in. It was to help with living costs. As for your allowance, it was asked for as a large monthly sum and hinted at that you were receiving it weekly. We didn't ask for details," Ragnok said, "We will however obtain all missing galleons and return them to you. Should we send the stipulation galleons to your muggle family whose care you were in or your family here?"

Harry was startled for a moment, "Uh… I guess… to the family I was living with. But space it out as every other week please? Converted into muggle pounds please. I've been assured that my current family has enough and I know my uncle and aunt are working class."

Hermione beamed at her brother.

"Your allowance shall be given to you in a full amount then?" Ragnok asked.

Harry's eyes widened, "N-no. That won't be necessary. Just… weekly? Please? Like a real allowance."

"How much per week, Mr. Potter?"

Harry's mouth was gaping like a fish. Hermione twisted her lips and elbowed her brother, pointing at the high amount of galleons kept over the years. In response though he looked at her pleadingly.

"Roughly 2,125 galleons per week until he's evened out, please," Hermione said almost exasperated with him.

The goblin looked at the witch fascinated. She was good with numbers, and quick. Leeroy's lips twitched as he kept himself from laughing at his daughter's exasperation. She still forgot that not everyone could do mental math as quickly as she could. Her mother was a quick second though.

"Will his allowance be released into another vault? Or how does that work?" Hermione asked curiously.

She only ever came in to exchange pounds to galleons, she didn't have a vault of her own so she didn't know how it worked.

"No, Lady Granger. Normally a trusted someone would come in on Mr. Potter's behalf, if he couldn't be here himself, and we would give them his allowance. Another option is for him to have special Gringotts pouch, which we give to our valued customers at a fee, which will automatically fill up with the allotted amount of galleons."

"What if someone else comes into possession of the pouch?" Hermione asked.

"Unless Mr. Potter were to temporarily hand it over, it is impossible for another being to take the pouch or take from the pouch. If someone touches it with the intent to steal from it, it burns the would-be thief with smelting temperatures," he said with a nasty grin, "and for those who would withstand such temperatures, the pouch itself becomes unmovable from its position, unless the owner retrieves it."

Leeroy nodded impressed with the security of the pouch.

"How much is the fee?" he asked.

"1,000 galleons," Ragnok answered plainly.

"I'll take it," Harry said.

Abagail nodded with approval. It was a bit harsh, but if someone wanted to steal, they would pay a price. If they wanted to steal from her son, better the pouch get to them than her.

"When we're done with this, how much would it be to open a vault here? Or check to see if we already have one?" Leeroy inquired, very happy with how the goblins took care of the gold in their care.

Ragnok looked at the family before him again, taking them in. Even with their lawyer present, the family before him were not like the posh purebloods they dealt with daily. Thus far he had no quarrel with these humans, and they treated him respectfully and with manners.

Abagail lightly hit her husband, an amused smile danced on her lips.

"As for the contracts?" Chalice asked.

Ragnok frowned again, and removed the proper paper before handing them to the witch in front of him. He would have handed it to Potter, however the witch was obviously smarter and quicker on the draw. He noticed that Potter would rather the witch look at things as she was obviously more efficient. He had no trouble explaining things himself to the young wizard, but he would rather this meeting speed along as he had some serious issues to deal with.

Albus Dumbledore came to them under the guise as magical guardian. However what appeared on paper, did not appear in action and duty. All of his transactions needed to be audited.

Hermione looked at the real estate contracts with a raised eyebrow, impressed at the Potter fortune and what they bought. It held the locations to all of them, information on if they were deserted, magically updated on their current condition, it was fascinating.

"Harry, you own real estate in Hogsmead. You rent a cottage out up there," she said interestedly.

"Really?" Harry asked surprised.

"Mhm, look," Hermione said as she passed him properties that she already looked at.

"I own a manor?" Harry said with disbelief.

"You're from an old family Harry, I would be more surprised if you didn't," Hermione said without looking up from a paper.

Abagail was reading over Hermione's shoulder, simply checking matters over. She didn't care what he owned so much as she cared that he wasn't being taken advantage of in any way.

"The property taxes are paid in full?" Abagail asked.

"They are automatically paid dutifully on the second of January," Ragnok said.

Abagail made a 'hm' noise to alert him that she heard.

Hermione had passed along every paper she had read over to her brother to gape over. The last contract however she stopped. It wasn't a real estate contract. It was a marriage contract.

Hermione was in such shock that she stopped breathing before her mother touched her shoulder.

"What. Is. This?" Abagail said, glaring at the contract.

"What's what?" Harry asked, looking over, unsure of what would make both Granger woman react poorly.

"Wait. What?" Harry said, taking the paper from Hermione's hand, "A marriage contract? To Ginny?" He asked high-pitched.

"They warned me about her," Hermione said lowly, "but I didn't think Mrs. Weasley already got you. It's no wonder she feels entitled to you."

Harry looked over at his sister, "Who warned you?"

"Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape. Before we did the bond. They warned me. They told me to watch myself when I'm around her," she said looking into space, "They pointed out that no one other than family stays at the Burrow, no one else has really been inside of the Burrow."

"They consider us family," Harry said.

"That's what I said until Professor Snape prompted me to think about why. They have 7 kids, Harry. And only Ronald has had friends inside. Why would we be allowed inside? Out of all the Weasleys, only Ron has had friends inside."

"They plans for us to be part of the family," Harry said in a whisper.

"She plans for us to be part of the family, Harry. Mr. Weasley is too kind to even think of something like that," she said.

"Harry, I'm going to ask you a personal question, is that okay?" Abagail asked.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Do you like Ginny that way?" she asked calmly.

"No, I see her more as a sister," he replied honestly.

"Do you see yourself being married to her? Do you see yourself being a Weasley?" she asked just as calmly.

"Not really, no," Harry answered.

"Do you care that she's the 7th born? Which makes her a highly sought after witch," Leeroy asked.

"Not really. She's just… well she's just Ginny," Harry said.

"This contract, once completed would be binding. Do you want this contract terminated?" Abagail asked.

Harry's eyes widened as he thought about being married to Ginny, "Yes, please," he answer his mum before turning to his account manager, "Ragnok, can I please have this marriage contract terminated?" his voice taking on a tinge of panic.

"You can, but if the contract is terminated, the other party will be informed of it," Ragnok said.

Harry looked over to Hermione and his mother, trying to see what they think was best. His heart was filling up with a panic he'd never felt before.

"I don't want to marry Ginny, Hermione. I don't want to marry any girl right now," he whispered to her in panicked tones.

Hermione looked at her brother's green eyes, his pupils were mere dots in his panic. Her heart dropped in panic for him, so she grabbed his hand tightly. She looked over at her mother for guidance.

"We don't want the Weasleys to be informed, but now that Dumbledore is aware that you're of age, it's not uncommon for there to be under-aged brides. All they need is a parent signature. If it's not terminated before they find out, you could be stuck in it," Abagail said, "It would be better to terminate it now instead of getting cornered later," she advised.

"If the Weasleys have anything to say about it, you can send them our way," Leeroy said.

Harry felt a relief flood him. "Terminate the contract, please."

"Then inciendo it," Hermione muttered.

"The contract is fire-proof, Lady Granger. We need the original as proof that it existed, and then was terminated. We can however make a copy for you to set flame too," he said, liking her spirit.

"That would be very much appreciated, Ragnok, thank you," Hermione said.

"Ragnok, if you don't mind my asking, would it be possible to check the Weasley vaults for any deposits by Dumbledore?" Chalice asked.

"It is possible, but that would be classified information that only the Weasley family and the Ministry would be allowed to have. Even then, the Ministry would have to fill out a few forms and provide sufficient reason that they should be allowed such checks," he informed her.

"It's not an easy process I take it?" she asked.

"No," he grinned nastily, "And it needs quite a bit of high clearance."

The lawyer nodded, appreciating the goblin for answering her.

"Even though we can't see it, if the Weasleys were receiving deposits from Dumbledore, can you just… take the money from Dumbledore's vault? I understand that Dumbledore shouldn't have been messing around with my money, and it was most likely with Mrs. Weasley knowing all along, but I can't do that to Mr. Weasley. Chances are he didn't know about – well – any of this."

Hermione nodded understanding Harry's dilemma. Molly was a force by herself, and she kept Arthur out of the loop about many things. He simply went to work, ate, and tinkered with broken muggle electronics.

"That was the last contract?" Harry asked, hoping to just move on.

Hermione nodded, knowing what her brother was doing. The contract was terminated and could be fussed over later with her mother.

"Next would be your assets Mr. Potter," Ragnok said handing the papers over to curly haired witch.

Hermione looked at them bored. Aside from a few small islands in Europe and one in the Caribbean, there were a few mineral mines that he owned. She handed them over to Harry as she had before, this was the only pile that didn't have anything meddled with.

"Oh. Harry you own that empty shop in Diagon Alley. Your last tenants couldn't afford the rent," she said.

"Oh. Well, we'll see what happens. If someone wants to rent or buy it from me, can I have them contact you? It would be better than people knowing that I own it," Harry said.

"Of course, Mr. Potter. As you are of age however, you will have the final say over who rents or buys the shop," he informed the young wizard, "We will owl you details as they come our way."

"Okay. Thanks, that would be nice," he replied nodding, "Is that everything?" he asked.

"We also have a copy of your parents' original will, Mr. Potter. However aside from listing your potential guardians and in which order, the factoids of stipulations and allowances, and it merely states that you are to obtain everything upon reaching adulthood. Everything we've already gone over today," he said candidly.

"Was it hand written by them?" he asked slowly, hopefully.

"No sir, it was written by one of our staff members. It's standard procedure that we don't allow clients to write their own wills. It's either written by a staff member or a lawyer in the presence of a staff member. No witch or wizard is allowed to write their own will, however they are allowed to write letters to go with the will," Ragnok replied.

"Was there a letter attached for me?" he asked, trying not to let his hopes up.

"No, sir. However they did leave a few pictures for you in the event that they died. They were left strictly for you and were not written in the will, so your guardians wouldn't know about them. Considering what has transpired I supposed that was a good thing," he said handing over the last few items in the folder.

These he handed to Harry specifically, and he took them gently.

Looking at the pictures he saw his mum and dad. A few had Sirius and Remus. A thinner and cleaner Pettigrew. There were two of their animagus forms that he touched reverently. There was a picture of all of them together, his dad was holding him up. There was a picture of him, his mum, and a cat. They were all pictures he didn't have in his photo album Hagrid made him. They were more intimate. He loved them.

"Can… can I have copies of these please?" he asked quietly.

"Of course, Mr. Potter," Ragnok said.

As they were leaving Chalice politely detached herself from the party and wished them the best, reminding them that they knew how to get in touch with her.

Harry was glad that it was over, and was pleased with the turnabout of the day.

Hermione was glad that things had turned out the way they did. It illuminated the darker sides of Mrs. Weasley and Dumbledore without her family having to point them out to Harry. She didn't want her family to be the ones to cast stones at two people who had appeared to do their best for Harry. The truth had a way of showing up, and they had left a paper trail all.

Harry would be in shock later, but for now he was okay. Tomorrow was another story as he'd have time to let it stew and think about it properly.

"How about we stop by the book shop before we leave?" Hermione suggested.

Harry's lips twitched at the predictability of his sister and her love of books.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, dear," Abagail said, "You and Harry can pick out 5 each."

Leeroy made a face of loving exasperation, "Go get your books Harry, then we can get some broom polish and whatnot for Quidditch. I'm sure you can use a new set of gloves, yeah?"

Harry grinned at Leeroy, "Yeah."

Hermione grabbed his arm and dragged him into the bookstore with their parents following behind them at a sedate pace.

"I think we should each grab a book on defense. We don't know who we're getting this year. We've had two years of decent professors, even if one was an imposter, he was still good at teaching. I don't think we'll get lucky a third time in a row. After Lockhart, I think we'd do well with some independent study since it's OWLS year," Hermione said quietly.

Harry wanted to groan, but agreed with Hermione's sound logic. OWLS were important and their DADA professors always had something wrong with them, one way or another.

Remus was fine, the best they had even, but he had resigned because he was a werewolf. He would never hold it against Remus, but the mass population considered his lycanthropy a serious issue. After being in the wrong place that one missed potion, he partially understood why. He shouldn't have been in the shrieking shack to begin with, as it was Remus' designated transformation area, so potion or no he would have been fine.

He stayed close by Hermione as she was picking her defense book, and was hoping that she would pick his too. Like magic she handed him a defense book that seemed perfect and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Thanks, Hermione," he said with relief.

With that out of the way he browsed the bookshelves with interested looking at different titles that stood out to him. Some of them were interesting, but not as thick as the books Hermione was looking at. He pulled out another defense book, two animagi books, and a book on meditation (which he was sure would help with becoming an animagus).

Aside from the extremely thick and heavy Defense book she had picked out, Hermione also grabbed a book on transfiguration theory, an advance book on spells, an archaic book of spells, a book of housekeeping spells, and book on advance potions.

After everything tonight, she refused to forget about her private lessons with Professor Snape. She was thrilled to be getting private one-on-one lessons with him. She wouldn't have to wait for the rest of the class to catch up and hopefully he would teach her some advance techniques. She didn't know how she would let him know that she wouldn't be at her house for the summer, she would speak with her mother about that concern when they boarded the plane.

They didn't tell Harry that they would be leaving the country tomorrow evening. It was a safety precaution, and after the recent dementor event, it seemed as though it was for the best.

Before they left though they had to celebrate with Sirius on his new freedom. He had done his waiting… they could at least spend the afternoon with him, openly enjoying his freedom. She also still had to teach Skeeter a lesson. At the moment the pesky witch was in her home, being watched over by Elara, who had already pecked the glass, pretending as though she wanted to eat Rita. It was quiet funny, and she praised Elara for it.

Rita Skeeter would remember for the rest of her life not to get on Hermione Granger's bad side.