A/N Sorry for the delay with this chapter. Life happened with a funeral and crazy work schedule. That and apparently my muse has decided it really wants to play with the tasks rather than actually getting there first. Bad muse. Also there is mention of abuse at the hands of the Dursleys in this chapter: so heads up.

As always, I own nothing but the sandbox, JK Rowling and Warner Brothers owns the joy that is Harry Potter and his companions.

"I thought you said that no one remembered about this place," Harry said, moving behind Remus and letting Hermione bring up the rear.

"I said not many would think to try this place, there's a difference."

Sirius was staring at the front door, an angry grimace on his face.

"Padfoot, who is it?"

"Dumbledore."

"Are you going to open the door?" Harry practically growled, impressing the werewolf.

"Well, pup, I have the feeling he knows that someone is in here at least. It's up to you and Hermione as to whether or not you show yourselves."

The teens nodded to each other and moved down the steps with Remus, noticing his eyes stayed amber and his wand stayed in his hand.

"Sirius, go ahead and invite the old bastard in. We can always revoke the access when we're ready for him to go. I don't want you two to let him get within touching distance of you. And don't touch anything he might leave behind. It might be a portkey. I wouldn't put kidnapping past him."

Both nodded as Sirius opened the door.

"Ah, Sirius, you're looking healthier. Mr. Lupin, I should have guessed you'd be here as well."

Dumbedore's blue eyes widened in surprise at Harry and Hermione behind Remus, hands joined and wands out.

"Harry, Miss Granger, the two of you have caused quite a stir." He smiled, blue eyes twinkling madly.

"I don't see how. I was told to go home. I doubt anyone would have checked on me or seen if I was still there if Harry hadn't decided that I shouldn't be alone after the Death Eater attack at the World Cup. I simply found alternate accommodations."

"Now, now Miss Granger, that was an unfortunate but isolated incident. Mrs. Weasley had her heart in the right place when she decided to send you home."

"Right place! Right place! She wanted to send an underage witch back to the muggle world with no protection whatsoever! Hermione can't perform magic at home, her parents can't perform magic at all! They don't even know what any of the Death Eaters look like! They could ring the doorbell wearing cloaks and masks and her parents would just open the door thinking they were in some kind of fancy dress. That's if they were even home, which Mrs. Weasley didn't bother to find out!" Harry spat out.

Magic swirled in the air, rustling their hair before Hermione tugged on Harry's hand and brought him back to himself.

Dumbledore frowned and tried to step forward but was blocked by the wards. "I think this is best discussed inside, don't you Sirius?"

Sirius nodded and gestured to the Headmaster allowing him past the wards and motioned for him to follow him to the kitchen. Remus took up behind Dumbledore giving him no choice but to continue after Sirius with Harry and Hermione bringing up the rear. The five were seated at the table and Sirius made no move to bring out refreshments leaving Dumbledore to begin.

"I'm not sure if Harry and Miss Granger should be here for this, Sirius."

It was Hermione that answered. "Why not, Professor? If it concerns Harry or myself I think we should hear it first hand rather than just what is decided for us."

Sighing, Dumbledore rested his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers. "Miss Granger there are forces at work here that you don't understand."

"Well, then explain them to us."

"I wish it was that simple, Miss Granger. What I can tell you both is that Harry is not safe and should be returned to his family or at least to the Weasleys until the start of term. His safety is paramount to -"

"Absolutely not. He will stay here with Remus and myself. Hermione will stay here as well. He is far safer here than at the Burrow or with those Muggles. You, yourself couldn't even get in until I invited you. I had the goblins strengthen the wards right after Harry got here and nothing is bringing them down. Not even a direct attack."

"Be that as it may, Harry should be with his family or at least with his friends…"

"What are we considered? Just because we aren't your first choice in who Harry should be with doesn't mean we are putting Harry in danger." Hermione growled out. "Or are we just not the correct sort of people?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about, Miss Granger." This was not going how he envisioned it would.

"And I'm sure you do," Harry whispered in a flat tone.

"Harry, my boy, you must understand -"

"No, you need to understand. I'm tired of just listening to everyone without question and blindly doing what they say is best for me. It hasn't worked out all that well for me the last three years has it? How many attacks have been attempted on me since I've been staying at the Dursleys?"

Dumbledore looked startled for a moment before his eyes started to twinkle again. This was new. And not a path he needed Harry to look down.

"Now, Harry…"

"Don't. I asked a simple question. How many attacks have there been? You tell me that I have to go there every summer for my own protection. So how many?"

Dumbledore so wanted to rub his hands over his eyes but he couldn't show any signs of weakness or indecision in front of these four. He couldn't fathom what happened in the few short weeks since Harry had left the Weasleys to make him so noncompliant. Harry always did what he was told. And Miss Granger was one to bow to authority without question. Even looked to authority figures for answers and now she was speaking to him with absolute venom in her voice.

"There have been several attacks over the years that have been thwarted by the wards on your family's home."

"That doesn't exactly answer the question, Professor. But maybe you can answer this one. How did the ones attacking find Harry? How did they know where the Dursleys live?"

Albus leaned back, shocked by the question. "What do you mean, Miss Granger?" Damn her perceptive nature. She was ever brighter than he gave her credit for.

"Simple. How did Voldemort's followers know where to find Harry?" Hermione's eyes stayed steady on Dumbledore's and the old wizard struggled not to turn from her angry gaze. Her brown eyes were practically glowing with anger.

"They knew because they knew of Harry's mother."

Harry shook his head. "No. Hermione and I talked about it. No one would have known about the Dursleys. Aunt Petunia was older than my Mum. She never invited my mum to the wedding and my mum never knew where she moved to. There would have been nothing showing where the Dursleys lived. You looked. You knew about the muggle connection. I doubt the Death Eaters even know what a phone book is, let alone how to use one."

"Harry, the wards on your family's home -"

"Okay, you don't want to answer that one, let's try another. Why didn't you ever get a trial for Sirius?"

"Harry!"

"No, Remus, this is something else Hermione and I talked about. What good is it being the Supreme Mugwump and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot if he can't get an innocent man a trial?"

Sirius looked over at Albus and frowned.

"I never questioned why I woke up in Azkaban. I was so lost, so angry after James and Lily were murdered that I thought I deserved to be there. And when Hagrid took Harry -"

"Wait, what? Sirius you were there? When my parents died?"

Dumbledore was desperate to interrupt.

"Now, Sirius, Harry, those were dark times. We didn't know who we could trust and even our closest friends could be enemies."

"I would NEVER betray my brother! And that's what James Potter was. I shouldn't have gone after Pettigrew, true, but Hagrid said he was keeping Harry safe on your orders." Sirius shouted.

Remus growled and got the table's attention. "Dumbledore, you were the one who told us Sirius was the Potters secret keeper. You said he ran from the house. You never said he was there and spoke to Hagrid."

Dumbledore frowned. This was not what he wanted to happen. He needed to get things back under control and he needed to do it quickly. Between Mss Granger and her damnable curiosity and Lupin and Black, Harry would be absolutely impossible to manipulate.

"You must remember how quickly things happened that night. It was confusing and traumatizing for everyone involved. You must believe me when I say that I was unaware that Sirius never had a trial all these years. I had assumed, as others did, that he attacked Peter Pettigrw in a fit of anger and those muggles were murdered in the crossfire. Of course, I can put in a word to have a trial under veritaserum."

Sirius snorted. "You do that. I think we have enough to think about and it's getting late." He rose from the table. "Take this as you will, but this is a one time invitation and we would like you to leave now. You may still see Grimmauld Place but you may not speak of it or enter without one of our permission. It's time for you to leave."

The house magic began to force Albus to his feet and propel him, against his will, to the door.

"But Harry, you really must come with me."

"No, thank you, Professor. I'm quite happy here. And as the Headmaster of my school, I really don't think you should have any say over where I spend my time when I'm outside it."

The four watched as a sputtering Dumbledore was forced out of Grimmauld Place by Black Family magic and the door slam shut behind him. He pounded on the door for a few moments before it was quiet.

"Well, that was fun. Anyone up for a drink?" Sirius asked.

oOoOoO

"So, what do you think?"

Harry was leaning against the bed, the book from the Black library on protective rituals open on his lap and Hermione's notes in his hand. It'd been three days since Albus Dumbledore descended on Grimmauld Place and in those three days he'd returned each evening to try and convince each one of them (bar Hermione for some odd reason they couldn't figure out) to let him in for 'Harry's sake'. He hadn't gotten past the front stoop. Sirius was beginning to consider changing the Fidelius charm on the house but was still stuck on who the new secret keeper should be. Both Harry and Hermione volunteered, with Hermione saying she would be the better choice as who would suspect the Black family using a muggle-born as a secret keeper. The old dog was close to caving in.

As usual, Hermione had taken copious notes, outlining the ritual, listing the semi-precious stones she would need along with the rune carvings and chakra points on the body where the additional runes needed to be drawn in blood. There was very little in the way of actual spells to learn, which intrigued Harry.

"We have to do this at the full moon? So less than a week?"

"Well, yes, if you want to be protected before we get back to Hogwarts. We can always sneak away there and complete it. It's not particularly long or complicated but it is Sanguimancy - Blood Magic and the Ministry considers it as Dark Magic. Personally, I think the Ministry just likes the control it gives them."

Harry looked up. "Is it? Dark Magic, I mean."

"No. I don't think it's any worse or better than any other spell we learn as long as the intent behind it is good. Think about the spell used to slice bread. How many slices do you get out of a loaf? 10 plus 2 ends? Put enough power behind it and send that spell at a person. Now the spell is dark. The goblins use blood all the time in banking practices to tie keys to vaults. Granted the Ministry doesn't consider goblins as anything more than magical creatures but their magic is impressive in its own right. It's just different from what we learn. And it's wandless."

"Is it dangerous to you? Casting it or long term? Your blood is going in this spell too right?"

Hermione tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and leaned back on her hands. She was sitting cross legged on the floor across from Harry in her pyjamas.

"No. It's not a dangerous spell casting wise. The only risk I foresee and I don't think there is any way around it, comes from our magic recognizing the other, we might be able to draw power from the other person. In a dire enough situation, one of us could possibly pull all the magic from the other but it would have to be intentional."

"That's a hell of a big risk, Hermione."

"Yes, well, like I said, it would have to be intentional. Magic isn't all that willing to be ripped away from a person."

He huffed and shuffled the notes again.

"Just so I'm sure I have this right, this differs from a blood ward because it's not charged by my magic, it's taking a piece of your magic and protecting me with it. I won't be as vulnerable to potions or mind altering spells or curses unless the same ones are used on the person whose blood protects me?"

Hermione nodded happily. "Yes! For something like the Imperious to work, the caster would have to hit both of us with it. It might freeze you for a bit but you'd be able to shake it off. With the Occlumency shields we're working on, you might not even notice the curse hit you at all. If you were given a love potion, I would have to take it too and be set to the same person. Which could be awkward. It won't work on every spell or potion but the more malignant ones will be slowed or blocked. The most that would happen with potions like that is the person being potioned would get sick."

Harry chuckled. "I know it's not really funny but I could just see the twins...wait...the canary creams….does that mean I can't be turned into a damn bird every time I turn around? I'm tired of ending up half feathered or with feathers for hair while they work out the kinks."

Tilting her head to the side, Hermione pondered the possibility. "I really don't know. When this spell was created by the Black family I don't think they were worried about people turning them into birds or donkeys at the dinner table. Those are pretty harmless potions so I don't know if the magic will recognize them. Be interesting to find out though."

"Can the ritual be done on both people? I mean at the same time?"

Hermione sat up. "Wait. You want me under the protection spell as well?"

"Well, yeah, why not? You're usually with me most of the time. Look what happened last year with Lupin turning into a werewolf or second year with you getting petrified. If there was some way of blocking some of that or even giving you some protection from Malfoy and his stupid spells, then I'm all for it."

"Harry...you do realize that the runes have to be drawn on bare skin. It's a bigger deal for me to be sitting in the ritual circle topless than you."

"It might not be." Harry replied so quietly Hermione almost missed it.

"What do you mean, Harry?"

He rubbed his hands over his face and groaned. "I was going to tell you, honest. One day. Maybe when all this craziness was over." He looked up and his green eyes were bright but steady on her.

"You've met Uncle Vernon at King's Cross. You've seen how he acts when there's people around. It doesn't stop him from yelling or calling me a freak. I actually didn't know my name was Harry until I went to school, I thought it was boy or freak. That's all he or Aunt Petunia called me. They don't ever talk to me in a normal tone of voice at their house. The bars on the window are gone so Hedwig can at least get out but I have seven locks on the outside of my door and a cat flap at the bottom that Aunt Petunia passes cold soup through."

Hermione moved so she was sitting by Harry, close enough so she was touching him from shoulder to thigh as he continued.

"From the time I was big enough to run the vacuum and hold the mop, I was cleaning. Aunt Petunia oversaw everything at first, then I took over. I still do all the housework and all the gardening when I'm back on breaks. The door to my room is always locked from the outside. When I could read and reach the stove I was cooking. My cousin and his friends have a game they like to call Harry Hunting. Usually they hang out in the park now so I just avoid that area if I ever have any free time but when I was in muggle school I had to walk past there on my way to and from school. They would jump me and take turns beating me up."

He took a deep breath and grabbed Hermione's hand. "Uncle Veron hates magic. He hates anything not 'normal'. So if anything went wrong in the house, a vase got broken, a fuse got blown, anything, I got hit. The worst was when I was eight. I can't even remember what happened but he broke my arm some time during the beating. He has a belt with studs on it and used...used…"

"Harry, it's okay." Hermione pulled him into a hug. He wasn't crying but he was shaking. She was furious. She knew things were bad for Harry but how did she miss the signs? Every year on the express Harry was thinner, down right emaciated looking and by the time classes started she'd forget all about it. Why did she forget?

"You are NOT going back to those...those...creatures again. I don't know how but I'll think of something. I don't care what Dumbledore says. Have you ever told anyone?"

Not moving from Hermione's embrace, Harry nodded. "A few times when I was little I mentioned it to teachers, ones that noticed, but it always got back to Uncle Vernon and that made it so much worse. I was locked in the cupboard under the stairs - that's where I lived until I got my Hogwarts letter - for days without food after a teacher came to their house. Once...once I was tied to the banister and Uncle Vernon, he whipped...he…"

Hermione went still. Harry glanced up and he could practically feel the witches' anger like a living thing. Her magic felt almost warm around him but he could also feel it crackling in the air like static electricity.

"Hermione?"

"I have never...never wanted to hurt someone like I want to hurt your...relations, Harry. And the idea that Dumbledore would send you back there...he HAD to know…" She pulled away from him slightly so she could look at his face. "Harry, will you show me? What your Uncle did?"

Harry looked down at his lap where their hands were joined. "It's not pretty, Hermione. There are burn scars too, from Aunt Petunia. She shaved my head one time because she was so sick of my hair being unruly. She only left my fringe to cover my scar. I was so embarrassed that I wished and wished my hair would grow back. When I woke up, it was back to normal. She threw a pot of hot water at me."

Gripping his chin so he would look at her, Hermione smiled softly. "Harry, nothing will change how I feel about you. Nothing will change how I treat you. You are my best friend. I might want to kill your relatives but you will alway be just Harry Potter to me."

Nodding, Harry pulled away and turned so his back was to Hermione. If they were going to go through with the protection ritual it was better to get this reveal over with beforehand rather than distract her when she should be concentrating. He tugged his tee shirt over his head and closed his eyes at her intake of breath. A moment later he felt her cool fingers on the scald scars on his shoulders.

"Oh, Harry. I'm so very sorry." She breathed out. Slowly, gently, she began tracing the lines of his scars, starting with the ones Aunt Petunia inflicted on his shoulders with the scalding water and moving down his back. Her fingers glided over the belt marks, lingered over the burn scars and puncture marks from his cousin and his gang before coming to rest back on his shoulders. He heard a sniffle and turned back to see Hermione with her eyes closed and tears running silently down her face. Without thinking, Harry wrapped her in a hug.

"Harry, you are the most wonderful, kind, caring person I know. I can't believe that you grew up with creatures like that and turned out how you did," Hermione whispered.

"Yeah, well I'm still pretty messed up in the head from them, you have to admit."

"Not as messed up as you could be." She pulled back a bit to look in his eyes. "Harry, how did Madam Pomfrey never notice this? Or Professor McGonagall?"

He squeezed her just a bit tighter. "Madam Pomfrey did...does...every year she says something to me. Gives me a bunch of potions to take since I come back so thin from not eating over the summer. But when I go back after the potions are done, she doesn't remember giving me anything. Doesn't remember asking me to come in. Nothing. Same with McGonagall."

Hermione was still, her eyes got the far away look in them that Harry knew meant she was deep in thought. Her bottom lip disappeared under her top teeth as she worried at it for a moment.

"Dumbledore."

"What?"

"It has to be Dumbledore. Harry, think about it. He's the one that insists you go back to them every summer. He's the one who decides when you get to leave in the summer. Do you choose to go to the Weasleys?"

Harry shook his head. "No. Usually Ron sends me a letter saying that Dumbledore gave permission for me to go and stay with them. Sometimes he says that you were invited like this year but usually not. Actually Dumbledore never mentions you. Just Ron and the Weasleys."

"It might be because Ron is a boy and your best friend and the twins are there…"

"He assumes Ron is my best friend. And before this year that might have been true but Ron has been acting odd this past year. Now that we're not at Hogwarts and I have a chance to look back at things it's almost like Ron was acting possessive of me."

Hermione gave a sad smile. "Harry, Ron IS possessive of you. He hates when you have to spend time with anyone else. You saw how he was when you got partnered with Neville and me for the Herbology project. He almost never wanted you to work with us outside of class."

"That doesn't explain Madame Pomfrey though."

"I think...I think Dumbledore made her forget."

Harry pulled back. "WHAT!?"

"Harry, I've been wracking my brain trying to think of why I haven't said anything to the Professors about how thin you are at the beginning of each year. I've noticed it and then I've forgotten about it. Why would I forget about something like that. Now that you've told me Madam Pomfrey not only noticed but treated you and then forgot...Harry, it makes sense. Dumbledore insists you go back to those people. He would have to make us forget what we saw or else it would never work."

"But why would he do that? Just to make me grateful to get out of there every year?"

"Maybe so that you would think you owe him something? Something big? So that when he asks for it you would do it no matter what."

Leaning back against the bed, Harry shook his head. "No. Not happening. Especially after him showing up here and what he put Sirius though. We'll need a way to deal with him when we get back."

"I agree. I don't think either of us should go to his office alone, we need to go together or with one of the Professors like McGonagall or Flitwick. This spell will also make it more difficult to cast memory charms on us. So will the Occlumency. We need to ask Sirius and Remus if there is any way to test us for memory charms."

She tossed Harry's shirt back to him and grinned. "So, if you agree, we perform the ritual on the full moon..."

"On both of us."

"On both of us," Hermione relented, "I'd like to collect our memories of Peter Pettigrew's escape, from all four of us, providing different perspectives since Professor Dumbledore seems to be offering an olive branch in the form of getting Sirius a trial. I don't trust him anymore, and I think he'll want a favor from us if Sirius is exonerated. And I'd like to see if there's a way Sirius or Remus can check to see if my memories have been altered at all. I don't like the idea of someone messing with my head."

"And then we head back to Hogwarts the next week."

"And then we head back to Hogwarts."