AN: I own nothing related to Harry Potter. Those rights go to Jo Rowling and Warner Brothers. My work is also unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own.

Harry awoke to bright sunlight on his face and a furry kneazle purring on his chest.

"Crookshanks, get off me," he muttered, reaching out for his glasses. Once he could see without squinting, he noticed Hermione still asleep beside him. She'd rolled onto her stomach and the cat took up a new spot sitting right on her bum. Her wild hair was a mess, tossed over the pillow and blocking her face.

Taking a moment to brush the brown curls off her cheek, Harry tapped on the witch's cheek in an effort to wake her up for the second time that day.

"Hermione? Hey, Hermione, wake up."

Growling, she blinked bleary brown eyes at him in confusion. Harry could tell the moment awareness kicked back in and she sat up.

"Ugh, what time is it?"

"It's...wow, it's actually noon. We slept for almost six hours."

Trying to comb her fingers through the rats nest that was supposed to be hair and rapidly giving up, Hermione replied, "I'm not surprised. Neither one of us really slept last night." At that moment her stomach growled. "Or had anything to eat for that matter." She pulled a hair band off her wrist and tied her hair into a loose bun.

Chuckling, Harry rose and stretched. "Well, it's certainly late enough for everything to be open. Do you want to eat here or see if we can find somewhere else for lunch?"

After a quick lunch the two set off to explore Diagon Alley more leisurely than just rushing around for back to school supplies. Hermione discovered not one but two additional book stores (not that Flourish and Blotts wasn't enough) and proceeded to get lost among the volumes. Harry browsed around at a more sedate pace, looking at the titles and wondering what might help him out during the year.

He was in the middle of checking out a book on spell crafting when Hermione found him.

"What did you find?"

Harry held up the book, Crafting Spells for Stealth and Defence.

"That might be a bit advanced but I think we should buy it. I know I only had a year of Arithmancy and Runes but I think I can figure it out. I found this in the mind arts section." Hermione held up a thin volume. "I think it might help with your...nightmares."

"Occlumency for the Beginner? What exactly is Occlumency and how will it help?"

Hermione slipped into her lecture voice. "Occlumency is the magic of closing one's mind against Legilimency. It is an ancient practice, and has existed since medieval times. It can prevent a Legilimens from accessing one's thoughts and feelings, or influencing them. Some witches and wizards can read minds, that's what Legilimency is. They aren't really reading your mind per say, but it's like skimming off your surface thoughts. Someone can possibly do damage with Legilimency if they try and force their way into your mind. This stops them from it."

"And you think Occlumency is something that I can learn? How will we know it worked?"

Hermione bit her lip. "I think it can be learned, at least the basics from this and a few other books I found on the topic but I don't think we'll know for certain until we run into someone who is proficient in Legilimency. I'm nearly certain Professor Dumbledore is a skilled Legilimens…"

"That makes sense. He always asks questions he seems to already know the answer to. But I don't think I want him trying to see if I blocked my mind successfully."

"I agree but there might be some drawbacks of just the two of us working on it. Or three of us if we want to include Ron. Most likely we will need to learn Legilimency as well, at least well enough to be able to test each other."

Harry snorted. "As much as I like Ron, I don't think he'll want to do anything that seems like extra work but we can ask him. What else do you have? I wouldn't think there'd be a dozen books just on mind reading."

"I was also looking into protective spells. You have to admit it, Harry, you get into a lot of trouble…"

"Hey! I don't go looking for trouble!"

Laughing, Hermione gathered the rest of the books, pausing when Harry took half and added them to his pile. "Thanks, and I know you don't look for trouble but you could use all the help you can get. It's mostly based on Runes and Arithmancy but it can't hurt. Also, I can't get out of my head what you told me about going back to your...relations every summer and Dumbledore saying it's for your protection. I know you don't like to talk about them but if we can do something to keep you from going back...then I'm all for it."

Snorting, Harry dropped his voice, "Right, my protection. As long as it involves me staying out of sight or being locked...anyway if I can avoid the Dursleys from now on that will be a huge relief. Don't know where I'll go, but anywhere has to be better than there." He almost slipped up and mentioned the locks on his door. He knew Hermione caught it, she gave him a look but held her tongue. She was getting better about not prying things out of him but that look was almost enough to get him talking. No one really knew about the Dursleys, not all of it anyway or really any of it if he could avoid it, and he wasn't sure he was ready to talk about it.

Splitting the cost of the books to Hermione's consternation, Harry and Hermione set off with no particular destination in mind. Diagon Alley was bigger than they thought, with nearly two of every type of shop - even Quidditch supplies to Harry's joy. There were actually stores where they could get parchment and quills for half the price of the school recommended stores. Hermione also discovered that her supplies always cost more, very nearly double, of what Harry's did if they purchased from a 'Hogwarts approved' store. If Harry paid, her purchases were discounted, if she paid on her own, some stores added on a surcharge in addition to the higher price. As they sat having ice cream, Hermione reviewed her receipts.

"Ugh, all of the shops we visited for school charged me more if I picked up my things separate from you! How have I never noticed it before? Do you think the discount was just because it was you? You know, a 'boy-who-lived' sort of thing?" Hermione frowned, loose curls bouncing as she tapped her foot under the table.

Taking a bite of his ice cream, Harry swiped the receipts out of Hermione's hands. "Dunno, have you ever looked when your parents picked up your supplies?"

"No, not really. I didn't have anything to compare it to. Maybe if I paid more attention…" She shook her head. "Part of the reason I have extra money right now is because my parents have been having me help at their practice in the summer. They saw this past year that my tuition and supplies were more to go to Hogwarts than to muggle school. I've been filing and cleaning to earn the difference." Frowning, she grabbed the receipts back and looked at Harry's in comparison. "The other shops we found - like Amanuensis Quills - didn't charge any differently. Just the main school supply shops. Now I'm really curious. We still have Madam Milkins to go to right before school. I want to see what happens then, especially since dress robes are on our supply list this year."

"Wait, your parents wouldn't pull you out of Hogwarts would they?" Harry asked, focusing on what he thought was the important bit from the conversation.

Shaking her head, Hermione stole a bit of Harry's sundae. "No, I told them that I have to get through fifth year and OWLS to keep my wand and I have no intention of having it snapped. I think they are just disappointed that I'm gone for 10 months out of the year and they have nothing to show for it."

"They have nothing to show for it? What does that mean?"

Sighing, Hermione licked the peanut butter off her spoon. "Nothing to brag about. They can tell their friends and colleagues I'm first in my year but there's nothing they can show off, awards, certificates….special awards for the school. That sort of thing."

"Is that important to them?"

"Very. I've always been top of my classes and my parents have always been happier than me with my scores. It's important to them to show how intelligent I am. It's one of the reasons they named me Hermione - after Shakespere - it's a presumptuous name."

"Huh, you've never said."

Smiling, Hermione stole another bite - this one covered with whipped cream. "I'm mostly used to it. Besides, I have another reason to work so hard...you and Ron keep getting into trouble and someone has to have the smarts to bail you out." She flicked the whipped cream and had to cover her mouth when it landed in the center of his forehead.

Harry's eyes crossed briefly as he tried to see the glob of whipped cream. That was it for Hermione and she burst out laughing, tossing a napkin at him.

"As if I don't have enough of a problem with people staring at my forehead," he grumbled.

Picking up the ignored napkin, Hermione swiped at the blob but when Harry leaned back away from her it caused her to smear the topping down his nose resulting in another fit of giggles as he glared at her.

"You did that on purpose!"

"Nope! Happy accident." Hermione sipped her milkshake. "Should we venture into Mugge London?"

Nodding, they moved to pick up their packages to drop them in their rooms before leaving on the other side of the Leaky Cauldron and to Muggle London.

~O~O~O~O~O

"Molly, I don't know what to tell you but they aren't there!" Arthur grabbed a cup of tea to try and settle himself. "Are you certain they are supposed to be at the Grangers?"

"Yes! I heard them when they left. They clearly said the Grangers. Are you sure they just weren't home?"

"Very. The house looked closed up and there was no sign of them arriving or leaving."

Molly set down the dish rag she was using. She liked to wipe down the counters the non-magic way. It made them feel cleaner. "Honestly, Arthur, this whole thing could have been avoided if Harry didn't decide to follow Hermione Granger! I only meant for her to go home these next few weeks."

"And I still don't understand why you thought that would be a good idea. We could be missing Ron too if you had timed it any differently. And why would you want to send Hermione back? She's a lovely girl and Ginny likes having a friend here."

"Hmmmm, I'm not sure how good of an influence she is, Arthur. She has some unusual ideas about things and I'm not pleased with the number of muggle things she brings with her."

"Molly, Hermione is muggleborn - she's not expected to give up everything she knows during the school year. I'm sure Harry brings any number of things with him. And Ron told me about their roommate Dean Thomas bringing a muggle game, football I think he called it, with a round ball to school. He and the twins were telling me how Hermione is trying to enchant a few muggle football books so Ron can see them in action."

Snorting, Molly sat down. "Why though? They have the opportunity to do magic, Arthur. Magic. We've managed to keep our children in our world - Bill and Charlie aren't as close to us as I'd like but at least they have magical jobs. When Hermione is here she tells Ginny and Ron about going to muggle school and about muggle degrees. And they listen, Arthur, they listen and are interested! What am I going to do if they decide they want to look at muggle schooling in the future? Harry doesn't do that!"

"Molly, there's nothing wrong with learning about muggle culture. If Ginny or Ron want to explore the muggle world I don't see any problems with it. They twins might be an issue with their pranks but Hermione has a good head on her shoulders…"

"Good head! She took Harry away!"

"I doubt Harry was dragged kicking and screaming, Molly. In fact, after talking to Ron and Ginny it seemed like it would be Harry insisting…"

"That's not true! Harry loves staying here! He's one of the family, Arthur."

"Molly, you sent one of Ron and Harry's closest friends away, after what was a traumatizing night. I'm telling you if Ron would have woken up in time we'd be missing him, too. Now there were no signs that anything bad happened at the Granger house. If they are in muggle London we might not find them until they get on the Express. I still don't know if I'll put an official word to search for them with the Ministry. It'll cause all sorts of questions about how we lost Harry Potter. I'm going to talk to a few aurors that I know and see if they can keep an eye out for them but Molly, make no mistake, if we find them and they don't want to come here, I'm not forcing them. As long as they are safe where they are, that's where they'll stay. Now if you'll excuse me I have some floo calls to make."

~O~O~O~O~O

The first few days passed quickly, Harry and Hermione would have breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron and then either read, or in Harry's case, finally get to do his summer homework without hiding under the blankets with a torch. By lunch they were ready to go out into the August sun and explore. Sometimes they stopped in stores, other times they ventured into the residential area around Diagon Alley. There was a small park not far from the shopping district and both found it was the perfect place to people watch.

And people watching in the magical world was more amazing than the muggle. Some witches and wizards wore robes in various cuts and styles (and it looked to Harry like they were just wearing the robes with nothing else), some tried a combination of magical and muggle styles, with moving decals on tee shirts and some were trying to wear muggle clothing and failing miserably. Galoshes and a rainbow scarf that had to be several feet long on the same person came to mind.

That afternoon found them back at Fortescue's ice cream with a giant strawberry and peanut butter sundae split between them. In just a few days, Florean decided they were his favorite customers (Harry had an addiction to ice cream. He almost never could eat any when with his aunt and uncle so he tended to gorge on it when given the chance) and refused to let them pay after the third visit. He also gave them permission to practice magic at the little table they claimed as theirs as long as they didn't disturb the other customers.

Today they were taking advantage of it. Hermione had their fourth year spell book out and was casting some of the charms they'd learn this year.

"Aguamenti" she flicked her wand in a sort of 'S' gesture and water shot out the tip of her wand to water the plants in front of the outdoor cafe. She grinned.

Harry reached over and grabbed her wand. "Let me try?" checking the spell book to make sure he was copying Hermione correctly, he flicked his wrist and uttered the spell. A stream of water shot out and soaked Hermione's legs.

"Harry Potter! Watch where you're aiming!" Hermione shrieked and jumped up to avoid the water. Harry laughed and flicked the wand towards her legs again, this time on purpose.

"You're wearing shorts and it's not like you can't just charm yourself dry."

"That's not the point! Honestly, can I please have my wand back? I hate getting wet."

Shaking his head, Harry held the wand out of her reach. "I don't think so. If I give you this back and you want payback, I'm not really in a position to run right now."

"Harry - "

"Harry Potter. It's a pleasure to see you again."

Both teens turned at the new voice. Standing behind them was Mr. Ollivander. He looked at the wand in Harry's hand and frowned.

"Mr. Potter, I don't believe that is the wand I sold to you three years ago."

Frowning, Harry passed the wand back to Hermione. "No, I have mine too but since Hermione already had her wand out I just used hers."

Mr. Ollivander moved his eyes to Hermione. She almost flinched at the probing look in his blue eyes.

"Ms. Granger I believe." Hermione nodded. "10 ¾ inches, vinewood and Dragon heartstring if I can remember correctly. And both of you are able to use it? May I look at your wand, Ms. Granger?"

Hermione glanced at Harry and saw he had his wand in his hand, hidden by the table. He nodded to her and she handed over her wand. Mr. Ollivander held it in his hand for a moment and stared hard. He flicked it in the air and blue sparks shot out the tip. Handing it back to Hermione, he then looked at Harry.

"Mr. Potter, would it be possible for me to see your wand?"

"Let Hermione have her's back and I will."

Mr. Ollivander frowned but complied. When he held Harry's wand his frown deepened. When he flicked it, sparks flew but far more impressively than they had with Hermione's.

"Mr. Potter, may I trouble you to try that spell with your own wand?" Ollivander asked, handing the wand back to Harry.

Harry flicked a stream of water at the flower pots.

"Ms. Granger, could I have you repeat your spell using Mr. Potter's wand?"

Hermione did the same and Ollivander frowned again.

"Curious. I find it very unusual that both of you are able to swap, if you will, wands. Wands that do not choose the witch or wizard rarely produce good results."

Shrugging, Hermione passed Harry's wand back. "We've never had any trouble. But then again I've never tried with anyone else's wand. Harry, have you?"

"No, I mean I've grabbed Ron's wand by accident and he sort of flipped out on me. Never did that again."

"Hmmm, very curious indeed. Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger I think I may need to look into this more closely. However both wands are in excellent condition and I foresee no immediate problems. I will leave you both to enjoy your afternoon."

After Ollivander left, the teens decided to visit their park and weren't paying that much attention to the people exiting stores. Someone bumped Hermione's shoulder hard enough to stumble her and Harry grabbed for her, turning as he went to yell at the person who walked into them.

"Hey, can you watch where you're go...Professor Lupin?"

Remus Lupin looked surprised to see them. "Harry, Hermione, there are people looking for you."