Disclaimer: I do not own any content relating to Harry Potter. I am strictly a fan fiction writer and do this only for my own enjoyment. I do not make any money from my writing.

Chapter 2: A New Life

Harry took her other hand and stood her up. Her legs wobbled a bit, and she held Harry's hands for support.

"Ok, here is what I am offering you. I would like for you to come and live with me at my manor." Harry started to continue but Hermione's face suddenly contorted, and she pulled her hands back to her sides. "No, no, you mistake my intentions" he said quickly. Dumbledore smiled and shook his head a little.

"What I mean to say is that you will have a place to live in the magical world while continuing your education through the means of private tutors" he said, growing a little nervous himself.

"Private tutors?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded his head enthusiastically. "I can't afford private tutors, or that is to say that my parents can't afford them."

"Don't worry about that" he said quickly. "I already have private tutors of my own and they will be more than happy to tutor you as well. I never attended Hogwarts myself, due to my…unusual upbringing" he chuckled a little. "It would not be any bother to have you attend my private classes with me".

Hermione thought for a moment and the small hope that she had seemed to grow a bit bigger. "I would like to think about this for a day or two, and I'll need to discuss this with my parents first" she said with a little more joy in her voice. "Would you be willing to give me a couple of days?" she asked nervously. She was afraid that the opportunity would be gone if he wasn't willing to wait for an answer.

"I'll tell you what. Your school term ends today, correct? He asked. Hermione nodded her head. "Then why don't I accompany you back home on the Hogwarts Express and we can talk to your parents together? The train leaves tomorrow at 10'oclock and I can meet you outside the castle steps. Would that work for you Albus?"

"Oh certainly! I would be most appreciative if you would accompany Miss Granger home and see to it that she arrives safely" he nodded. Albus took out a bit of parchment, scribbled a couple of lines and then signed it. He passed the parchment to Harry. "This will give you permission to ride the train Mr. Potter. You are not a full-time student here, but this should clear up and issues that others may have with you riding on the train".

Harry turned back to Hermione. "What do you say?" he asked.

Hermione thought about it for a few moments and then shook her head. "I think that would be fine. However, I should probably write a letter to my parents tonight and give them a heads up. I only worry that the school owl might not arrive in time for them to read it before they come to get me tomorrow."

"That will not be an issue" Harry said with a smile on his face. "Quillby" he said, and a second later, a house elf popped in next to them. "This is Miss Hermione Granger. She will have a letter to her parents that she will need delivered to them shortly. Would you please see to it that it gets to them immediately?"

"Yes Master Harry" the house elf bowed and stood off in the corner of the office to wait.

"Splendid!" Dumbledore said, smiling. "Professor McGonagall, would you please escort Miss Granger back to her dorm and see that she is not disturbed while she writes to her parents?"

"Absolutely!" McGonagall said. "Come Miss Granger. I will see you back to the Gryffindor dorms."

Hermione gave a small smile to Harry and then followed Professor McGonagall and Quillby out of the office. Once she was gone, the headmaster turned to Harry. "That was a very noble thing you did for her Mr. Potter. I had only hoped that you would be able to talk her into staying at Hogwarts. Are you certain that you would not mind having Miss Granger intrude upon your life?"

"I'll admit that it was not my first thought to offer for her to live at Potter Manor, however I saw that she was determined to leave Hogwarts behind, and I thought it may be the only option available to her."

"You say that you saw her determination…" Dumbledore questioned.

Harry nodded his head. "I did use a little legilimency on her but only to see what it was that she wanted to do. I could see her determination to leave Hogwarts, so I thought the only way I could help her was to offer her an alternative".

"Harry! You should not use legilimency on a student at Hogwarts! You know better than that!" Dumbledore said, a little anger in his voice.

"That is only a rule for students and staff at Hogwarts. I am neither a student here nor staff member. Therefore, I am exempt for that rule" Harry smirked at Dumbledore.

"I suppose that is true, however I would ask that you please refrain from doing that again to the students here. I don't want anyone to find out what you really are" Dumbledore winked at Harry.

The next morning, Hermione woke up to the sun shining brightly in her eyes. She rolled over and groaned into her pillow. Her thoughts immediately turned to Harry Potter. He was such a mystery, and she didn't know what to make of him. He seemed kind enough, but she knew that she didn't really know much about him and now he was offering for her to move into his house with him. She honestly didn't want to give up her magic, and the offer felt like the perfect opportunity, but what would her parents say about her moving into a house with a boy she didn't even know.

Hermione knew her parents were desperate to find a solution to her problems, however her dad was as strait-laced as anyone who had been in the military would be. She couldn't see him allowing her to go running off with an unknown boy and living with him. Her mum would be far more lenient with her, understanding, and compassionate, but she wasn't sure that would be enough for her.

Rolling over and slipping on her dressing robe, Hermione walked to the loo and got ready for the day. She had already packed away her belongings a week ago, intending on having to leave after her withdrawal. After brushing her wildly bushy hair to a somewhat manageable level and brushing her teeth, Hermione walked back to her dorm room and took one last look around.

Harry Potter apparated to the front gates of Hogwarts and started to walk towards the front doors to the school. He had disillusioned himself, not wanting to draw attention to himself any more than he had to. While most of the school had seem him a couple of times before, they had all been kept away, and he didn't want anyone to approach him now. The storm last night had given way to a bright and sunny day. A lot of students were already descending from the school and loading into the waiting carriages to take them to the train. Others were making use of the last few minutes of freedom, flying around on their broomsticks, or playing games in the courtyard.

After arriving at the front steps, Harry stepped off to one side and kept out of the way of the kids in the area. He waited for Hermione to arrive while casually watching the kids that were all around his own age. They all seemed carefree and happy. It was really an odd feeling for Harry, who had not known what a carefree life was. To him, his life was far from carefree. He has maintained a secret life, away from the eyes of the public for the most part.

Dumbledore strolled out of the front of the school and walked over to lean on a stone wall, just a meter from Harry. "She will be down momentarily" he said to no one in particular.

Harry smirked and whispered, "Thanks again for helping to set this up Albus".

Dumbledore simply nodded his head and strolled back into the castle, saying a few goodbyes to his students that passed by.

A few minutes later, Hermione arrived at the doors, looked around for Harry, but didn't see him. She sighed and started to proceed to the first available carriage. Upon arriving, she climbed in and settled herself. She immediately thought to herself that Harry had changed his mind and wasn't going to follow through on his offer. She was starting to feel tears coming to her eyes and she wiped them away on the sleeve of her robe.

Suddenly, the carriage door opened on its own and then closed again. Hermione thought this was odd but shook her head and started to stare out the window, taking one last look at the castle. The carriage started to move forward, and Hermione started to cry again. This was it; she was going home and never coming back.

Hermione let out a shriek at the sight of Harry Potter suddenly appearing from thin air, sitting directly across from her. "What did you do that for?" she almost screamed at him.

"My apologies, Hermione. I didn't mean to startle you. I had to be disillusioned so as not to draw attention to myself. I'm sure you can imagine the attention I would receive if I simply strolled up to the front doors and waited for you" Harry said.

"Yes, I think I can imagine that", Hermione replied. She thought she sounded stupid to admonish him for taking precautions for himself. He had actually followed through on his promise to meet her and she had started off by yelling at him.

"Well then, just so you are prepared, I will once again have to disillusion myself to get on the train without being bothered. Just head to the very front compartment in the first car on the train and wait for me there. I won't be long. I just must speak with the driver and show him Albus's parchment permission slip" Harry said, looking out the window to see the train arriving in the distance.

The moment the carriage arrived at the train and stopped, Hermione watched Harry disillusion himself and watched the carriage door open. She followed him out, but immediately lost track of where he went. Hermione walked towards the first train car but was stopped by Pansy Parkinson. "Heard you were leaving Hogwarts for good there, Granger. You finally figured out that no one wants you here?" she taunted. "Good riddance!" she added.

Hermione burst into fresh tears and ran for the train car. What she didn't see while running away was Pansy being bound and gagged, disillusioned, and levitated back into the Hogwarts carriage, being returned to the castle against her will. Someone would eventually find her, although she would surely miss the train ride back to London.

Harry quickly went to speak to the driver, show him Albus's parchment, and then left to find Hermione. He found her in the exact compartment that he told her about, still crying and shaking. He immediately opened the door, went inside and closed the door, sealing it with a charm. He also obscured the window, making it impossible for anyone to see inside.

Hermione looked up to see Harry staring at her, with a smile on his face. She thought this was very odd since she was crying, and here he was simply smiling at her. It wasn't until Harry sat down on the bench beside her and told her of the very unfortunate Miss Parkinson and her sudden need to return to the castle that Hermione understood why he had been smiling and she even started to laugh a little.

The entire length of the train ride to London was spent in near constant conversation with Harry, although Hermione did most of the talking. She spoke of her three terrible years at Hogwarts, constant harassment by her peers, and even some stories of growing up friendless in the muggle world. Harry would occasionally ask her a few pertinent questions, but he mostly allowed Hermione to talk. He could see that sharing her story was beginning to calm her and allow some of the stress to relax away, even if only a little.

"So that is my sad, boring life…" she finally finished. She looked to the ground, suddenly finding her shoes to be the most fascinating thing on the train. Hermione felt a little embarrassed that she had been talking for hours about herself, and yet she had totally forgotten to ask Harry anything about himself. "Would you like to talk about your story?" she asked, still looking at her feet.

"Perhaps I can share more about myself a little later" he said, noticing her head was refusing to lift. "I think we are nearly to London and if I start now, it would be cut awfully short and that would not be fair to you since you were kind enough to tell me your story" he added.

Hermione looked out the window of the train and saw the familiar city of London was indeed close by. She started to unpack her muggle clothes out of her school trunk, intending to get changed, but was instantly mortified when one of her spare bras fell out of the trunk and landed directly in Harry's lap.

"I believe this belongs to you" he said with a chuckle, reaching up to hand Hermione her bra back.

Hermione let out a loud squeak and ripped the bra out of his hand and jammed it back into her trunk. "I'm, uh…sorry about that" she stammered, blushing furiously. "I had better go get changed and I imagine you will want too as well". Harry simply waved his wand over his black robes, and they instantly transfigured into a red polo shirt, blue jeans, and some trainers.

Hermione looked back at him shocked. "We aren't supposed to do magic outside of school!" she shouted, not believing that he would be this careless.

Harry simply laughed. "Let's just say that that particular rule doesn't apply to me anymore. I'll explain it in more detail later" he said. "I'll leave the compartment while you get changed though, that way you won't have to bump into any of the other kids, you know, just in case."

Harry stood, unlocked the door with his wand, and disillusioned himself again before allowing the door to close behind him. Hermione quickly got changed and stowed away her robes in her school trunk. She still was a little mortified about her bra landing in Harry's lap, but he seemed to laugh it off, so she started to let it go. Once she was ready, she knocked twice on the door and sat back down. A moment later, Harry reappeared and sealed the door closed again.

"Well, I guess it's time to meet your parents" he said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them. "What are their names?", he asked.

"Dad is Robert and mum is Emma. They are both dentists. Oh, uh do you know what dentists are?" Hermione asked, not sure if he would know.

Harry laughed "Oh course I do! I was partially raised in the muggle world, but really only for training…" he suddenly stopped and scratched the back of his head with his hand. "Well, that's a story for another time though" he finally said, appearing to be a little nervous.

Hermione wondered what he meant by training but decided to let this go for now.

The train slowed to a stop inside King's Cross station. Hermione started to reach for her trunk, but Harry stopped her. "Perhaps we should wait a bit for the other students to depart first" Harry said, still looking a bit nervous. Hermione nodded and sat back down. She knew it was probably a good thing to wait as she didn't really want to run into anyone that would take the opportunity to harass her one more time.

A few minutes later, Harry stood up and grabbed her trunk down from the luggage rack. He waved his wand over the trunk and shrunk it down to the size of a galleon. He handed her the tiny trunk, and she pocketed it, smiling at Harry appreciatively. Harry unlocked the door once more and they stepped out of the train, ready to meet her parents.