Chapter 7: The Old's man pets

After the Twins made the Unbreakable Vow, Tonks and Hermione explained everything to them. When the girls ended their story, Twins' jaws were open and eyes wide.

George first got over the shock and asked "To sum up, Harry was abused, Dumbledore is a little evil and you want to use his new discovered ability to oppose Headmaster and kidnap Harry as a female before he goes to his relatives," He looked at his brother "am I missing something?"

"I think you got it right, brother of mine."

"So what do you think?" Harry asked.

"We are in." Fred and George talked in unison. On that statement everyone else had a smile on their faces. They were happy that Harry and Hermione won't be alone in Hogwarts.

"So," Sirius started "before you went upstairs you call Harry a basilisk slayer. It's true? We didn't know about it. What else dangerous happened in the castle?"

"Hmmm…" Fred was thinking. "I don't recall anything that dangerous."

Harry sight. "I start chronologically. Mountain Troll. Cerberus. Possessed Teacher. Acromantulas. Basilisk. Dementors. I don't talking about creatures in the Triwizard Tournament." After each danger was mentioned, he counted them on his fingers.

"If you mentioned it in that way, it's really scary." George said.

"So at the time when they happened you didn't think of it as something odd?" Hermione ask.

"Maybe a little odd, but things like this happened like ink spill." Fred answered. Tonks instantly turned pale. Sirius looked at her.

"What's wrong?"

"I- I think they were compulsioned to think of those incidents as nothing out of order." Tonks said. Sirius was furious.

"That old bustard! He had no rights!" Sirius shouted.

"What are you talking about, Padfoot?" Harry asked.

"The only person who could do that is Albus Fucking Dumbledore!" Everyone palled on that statement.

"What can we do to prevent him from messing with our heads?" Hermione asked.

Sirius had to calm down a little before he could answer. "Occlumency".

"What?!" Asked all four teenagers.

"Occlumency" Tonks started to explain "Is mind art magic. Mainly is considered as shielding your mind from Legilimency users." She stopped when teenagers didn't recognise the new term "Legilimency is the art of reading and playing with another person's mind. But occlumency can also help with compulsions and obliviations. But to learn how to shield your mind you must allow someone to enter your mind and guide you how to build your shields. Unfortunately I can't do it." Tonks said with a sad expression.

"But, I can" Sirius said.

After that, they wanted some break. Without Molly in HQ someone else must do the dinner. Harry and Hermione volunteered.

Sirius went to the library, Tonks went to the Ministry, Twins went to their room. Hermione and Harry were left alone in the kitchen. Harry started preparing the kitchen to cook dinner. Hermione was watching him, fascinated by how relaxed he looked moving around the kitchen.

"So, what do you want for dinner, Hermione?" Harry asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Er… Whatever you think it would be suitable and not too hard to do, after all I'm not very good at cooking." She said slightly blushing.

"You are not good at something? Who are you and what did you do to Hermione Granger?" Harry laughed. "Ok, so we first need to check what we have." He went to the pantry. "We have some potatoes, onions, beef and carrots. Would you like to eat cottage pie?" Harry asked with a sheepish smile.

"I'd love to" she answered. "But how can I help you?"

"Give me a moment." he put all the ingredients on the counter. "Could you peel potatoes and carrots while I prepare meat?"

"Of course Harry." She grabbed a knife and vegetables and sat at the table. While she was peeling potatoes, she was observing how Harry was doing the rest of the meal. After she finished her task "What else can I do?" she asked.

"Sit and rest, I can finish the rest by myself." He answered.

Hermione sat back down at the table. She was enchanted by how freely and joyfully he moved around the kitchen. To her it was true magic what he was doing there. She didn't understand any of it but it was charming.

"Where did you learn to cook like that?" Hermione asked curiously.

Harry paused for a moment and then he started slowly talking, never looking at her. "Well, the Dursleys forced me to cook their meals… and anything short of perfection ended… you know… with me being accused of wasting ingredients… and typically I got a beating and I have nothing to eat for a few days." on that confession she gasped. "But cooking was only one duty for me that was at least a little pleasurable. I sometimes could pick something up for myself." Then there was silence in the kitchen. Only sound was made by Harry while preparing the meal. After a few minutes the pie was ready to bake.

He put it in the oven and then he felt something strange. Hermione silently came to him and she embraced him in a hug. But it was not like other times when she hugged him with bone-breaking force. This time it was gentle and warm. She put her head on his back and arm around his waist. First what he was aware after the first shock, was her breast pressing against his back. After a mere second he heard quiet sobbing from her. Thoughts of her attribute were quickly dismissed. He didn't know how to react to those actions.

"Hermione, err…" He started not sure what to say or do. "Why are you crying?"

"I- I'm sorry" she said. "I didn't know." she again burst into tears. "If- If only you told me th- this earlier, th- then maybe I could do something more for you." She needed a few seconds to calm down a little. "I care about you! But I didn't know how bad your relatives are."

At these words Harry tried to face Hermione. She let him do that but she didn't let him go. He looked at her wet eyes and started "Her-" but she cut him off. "No Harry, this is not a pity. I'm sorry for you and I'm ashamed of myself for not being a good enough friend of yours to notice how abused you are and that you need help. But that's it! I don't want to neglect you anymore. You are my only real friend and I don't know what I would do if something happened to you." Harry finally hugged her back.

"It's ok." He said. "I don't blame you, Hermione. You are the one I can always count on"

She looked at him. His warm smile calmed her down. After a few minutes she excused herself and went to her room, while Harry stayed to keep an eye on the pie.