The Dark Phoenix

The granger house had a Cotswold Cottage look with a stone front. It seemed as though almost every house on block had a tall old oak tree in their yard next to the sidewalk and street. It was all very green and welcoming.

"Dad, I can help Harry take his trunk up to the guest bedroom. I want to show him the house."

"Oh, okay pumpkin. Your mother and I will be in the kitchen," said her father as he winked at her and she grinned back.

After helping Harry get his trunk up stairs and down the hallway to the guest bedroom Hermione started showing Harry the house. And seemed to be taking great delight in doing so. "We've got four bedrooms. Far more than we need with mum, dad and myself. Mum and dad's is the master bedroom and they have their own bathroom... The main bathroom is here at the top of the stairs. We'll share while you stay. I usually have it all to myself... This bedroom we use mainly for storage. Stuff we don't know what to do with. You know, things you don't want to throw away but don't know where to put."

She took him back down to the end of the hall to the bedroom across from the guest bedroom. "This is my room."

Somehow it struck Harry that it looked just like he thought a girl's room would look. Pastel colors on a fluffy bed cover and lace curtains, picture of her family on a dresser. There were books laying around here and there, all Muggle books. Harry remembered that Hermione liked to keep in step with Muggle studies. He wondered how on earth she managed. He had a hard enough time with wizarding studies. Harry noticed an open wicker basket with a small pillow at the foot of the bed, but Crookshanks was curled up comfortably on the bed.

Upon seeing Hermione Crookshanks got up on all fours and stretched, the front legs and then the back. He looked up at Hermione and purred.

"Hello Crookshanks," Hermione said with affection as she reached out and petted him, "look who's come to stay with us for a few days." Crookshanks lifted his head and looked at Harry with obvious recognition.

"You remember me don't you?" as Harry scratched Crookshanks behind the ears.

"Obviously," Hermione said with satisfaction dropping him back to the bed. "Oh, I've been looking forward to this." Hermione reached behind the mirror of her vanity and pulled out a key. "The only people who ever see my room are my muggle girlfriends. But you are the first to see this," as she put a key in a cabinet lock, "besides my parents."

The cabinet door opened up showing pictures that moved, wizarding pictures. There were cards, like the kind you collect from chocolate frogs, a couple promo cards of the Chudley Canons, the omnioculars Harry got her at the World Cup, a promo picture of the Weird Sisters that played at the Yule Ball, a small picture of Viktor Krum (signed Viktor Krum), a slightly larger picture of Harry playing Quidditch, and the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team with the School Quidditch Cup they won their third year.

But in the middle of all this was a large picture of Hermione with her arms stretched out behind Harry and Ron on either side. Harry and Ron had an arm across Hermione's shoulders and were waving with their free one. All three, the best of friends and grinning mischievously.

Harry remembered when it was taken. Collin Creevey had taken it in their second year. Harry couldn't resist, "Say, now there's a couple of fine fellows but who's the pretty one in the middle?" He surprised himself, he called Hermione pretty.

She smiled and said mockingly, "Humph, as if you didn't know."

They both laughed and Harry said, "We look young there. Maybe we should get Collin to take another one this year."

"Yes, I think we should…I like that idea."

"I noticed Viktor signed his."

"Jealous are we?" Hermione shot back.

"No, no. Just noticed, that's all."

Hermione turned quickly and unlocked her trunk. "Well, we can fix that," as she pulled out a quill and some ink. "Here you go Mr. Potter, sign." But Harry hesitated. Reassuringly she said, "Go on...I want you to."

Harry took the quill and underneath his waving image wrote 'Harry Potter'. The ink was flashing the Gryffindor colors, red and gold.

Hermione held up the photograph surveying the signature. "Hmmm, you know, this could be worth something some day.

Harry snorted and they both laughed.

"Come on, I'll show you the rest of the house. There are still a few more surprises." Hermione seemed anxious as she locked up her cabinet and trunk and they headed downstairs. At the bottom of the steps she waved at a door, "This is the home office that mum and dad use. Directly across is the cloak room." She pointed to another door just down from the cloak room. "That's mum's room. She sews or paints, or whatever."

They both walked just inside the dining area. The dining room table was a dark wood with glass top and matching chairs. Beyond that was a kitchen separated from the dining room by a half bar and stools. David Granger was sitting on one next to a woman with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Harry this is my wife Katherine."

Harry nodded and bowed slightly. "Pleased to meet you."

"Hello, Harry. I must say you're every bit of the handsome young man that Hermione has described."

Hermione stomped her foot, "Mother!"

Katherine ignored her, "We've heard so much about you these past several years. It's a shame we haven't met you sooner."

"Argh! Mother!"

David chuckled and intervened, "So pumpkin, did you show Harry your special cabinet?

Hermione's eyes brightened, "Yes I did, and I even got an authentic Harry Potter signature."

Harry's cheeks and tips of his ears turned slightly pink as David nodded approvingly with a grin and Katherine cooed, "How nice."

Hermione cleared her throat, "Ahem."

"Yes, yes, we've stalled you long enough," said David. "Show him pumpkin."

Hermione turned to Harry beaming; she motioned with a sweep of her arm to Harry's right a large brick fireplace. Painted white, it was large enough to step into. He hadn't even noticed when he first stepped into the room; his attention had been on the Grangers across the room. Aside from it being brick and white it reminded him of the Weasley's fireplace. "Is this a . . ."

Hermione cut him off excitedly, "Yes it is! Now you see how you can get to The Burrow."

"Cool," was all Harry could say, his mind swirling with possibilities.

David and Katherine had walked up beside Hermione, David with his arm around Katherine. Harry noticed that Katherine was only slightly taller than Hermione as David explained about the fireplace.

"At the beginning of summer we had Hermione contact Arthur Weasley about installing this fireplace and the feasibility of putting it on the Floo Network. Katherine and I had toyed with the idea before because of Hermione's desire for wizarding books, and the constant trips to Diagon Alley helped make the decision. Arthur is really a nice fella though a little intimidating at first. He got it approved with the Ministry of Magic as an exception since our Hermione is a witch." He said 'witch' with pride.

"And the top of her class," added Katherine with equal pride.

"Yep, and a good friend as well" said Harry not wanting to be left out on praising Hermione.

She looked at Harry and stammered a little, "Th-thanks." Turned to her parents, "Pleeease," and continued about the new fireplace to Harry. "Mr. Weasley said it would be best if we had a 'muggle' contractor build the fireplace to the necessary specifications so that it wouldn't attract too much attention. It wouldn't be wise to suddenly have a new chimney and fireplace appear overnight in a muggle house in a muggle neighborhood."

David went on, "The contractor we got was abhorred at how we wanted it built, said it was positively medieval, large enough to step into."

"Tried desperately to talk us out of it," interjected Katherine, "but we were quite firm."

"Yes, we were quite firm and in the end he shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Eh, it's your money'. Arthur worked closely with the contractor and was simply fascinated with the tools they used and how they did it." David noticed the questioning look on Harry's face and guessed. "Oh yes, Arthur was dressed muggle style. I even gave him a few pointers. He was most pleased. What fascinated Arthur most was the natural gas starter for the fire. I believe the contractor thought he was a bit touched in the head."

"Well daddy it didn't help that you were standing behind Mr. Weasley pointing at your head and rolling your eyes."

The Grangers were chuckling, and Harry was laughing as well, imagining at how it must have looked.

Still chuckling David said, "Well I had to do something when Arthur didn't have a clue what natural gas was and got all excited about it. Can't have everyone knowing magic really exists, ya know. I had to do my part. Besides the contractor already thought he was daft. I just helped him along."

"After it was completed Arthur did the magic touches so to speak. He made the fireplace look like a regular fireplace. He added a couple of buttons for Katherine and myself plus put the counter spell on us so that we could still see it as it really is."

Hermione went on, "The buttons are for mum and dad Harry, since they are unable to operate a wand. See Harry there are certain safeguards built into the Floo Network, in other words Floo etiquette. There are public and private Floos. The Leaky Cauldron has a public Floo and is accessible 24 hours, but a private Floo must be tapped or you make an appointment."

"Um, what's tapped?"

"You tap the right side of the fireplace with your wand and call out the name of the destination. On the other end there is an announcement of someone calling, like a door chime. An announcement, also called a 'knock', can be anything really, a sound, sparks, etcetera, some people get quite creative. What you see on the other end, after a knock, is a wavy image, but no voice, of who wants to come over. It's like a door viewer."

"How come no voice?" asked Harry.

"Well, as I understand from reading about the development of the Floo Network, it was too susceptible from those who have the power of persuasion. That's why we have this dry erase board and rag on the mantle. You can put a short message on it and the person on the other end can decide to let you come over or not. If they do, they will tap on the left side of the fireplace and you get a response called a 'Step in'."

"So that's why there's a button on the left side of the fireplace and another on the right? For your mum and dad?"

Hermione nodded.

"Hermione, lunch will be ready in about fifteen minutes," said Katherine.

"Punkin, be sure and let Ron know Harry will be staying a few days. I think he was expecting Harry to show up twenty minutes ago," said David as he and Katherine went back to the dining room and kitchen.

"But, I've still got one more thing to show Harry," pleaded Hermione just as a dong from an old bell seemed to come from the fireplace and echo through the house. A few seconds later a wavy image of Ron appeared in the fireplace. He was holding a chalkboard with the words, 'Where's Harry? Lunch is almost ready.' written on it. "Drat" was all she said reaching for the dry erase board. As Ron's image faded away Hermione wrote 'We need to talk. Come over. Harry staying.' and pushed the button on the right hand side as she held up the board to the fireplace opening and then pressed the button on the left.

The fireplace suddenly burst into green flame and Ron stepped out with a mix of irritation and good tidings on his face as he looked at his two friends. "Oy, Harry, Hermione what's the problem? Mum's got lunch ready. C'mon Harry, where's your trunk, let's go!"

"Ah, Ron I think I should stay here a couple of da…"

Ron cut him off, "Whaaat? Haaarrrry."

"Harry doesn't have his summer homework done Ron," she paused letting that sink in. "Do you think Harry will be more likely to get it done here or at the Burrow?" as she gave him the 'evil eye' look. "Besides I haven't shown him the library yet. And by the way, do you have all of yours done?"

"Awww, Harry," he said dejectedly looking at Harry. Then he looked at Hermione a little sheepishly, "Ah, no, mine's not completely done either." Then quickly adding, "Almost, though."

"Well Harry hasn't started his. Why don't you come back over after lunch and you can both work on it together."

"Oh, alright," said Ron still looking dejected, "I'll see you after lunch, eh, Harry?" Ron turned back to the fireplace muttering something about "bad as his mother…nose in a book all summer…library …nuts" Ron must have known the look Hermione was giving him as he stepped back into the green flames he turned around with a smirk on his face and said, "The Burrow" and disappeared in a last burst of flame.

"Indeed!" said Hermione with furrowed brows and narrowed eyes looking into the fireplace where Ron had been, watching the flames die away to nothing. She then gave a sideways questioning look to Harry, "I'm not really that bad, am I?"

"No," said Harry shaking his head. "We just like to tease you," they both laughed.

"Lunch is ready," came Katherine's voice from the kitchen.

After lunch Hermione asked her mother, "Need any help cleaning up?"

"No, dear. Go ahead and show Harry the library. I know you've been dying to show him ever since he got here."

"Finally," she said with relief. "Come on Harry," as she led him from the dining room past the new fireplace and into the living room toward the far wall. The far wall was covered with shelves of Muggle books with a single door on the right side. As Hermione went toward the door it occurred to Harry that the door couldn't possibly go anywhere, unless it went to the outside of the house.

"Say, Hermione is your library a magicked room?"

"How very astute of you Mr. Potter," she said grinning while opening the door. As they entered, bewitched floating candles lit up showing a room just as large as the living room. There were chairs with small tables next to them along with one large table in the middle of the room with more chairs around it. There were shelves over all the walls, but only about a third of them were filled with books, they were all wizarding books. Half of the large table in the middle of the room was covered with books and drawings. Hermione flicked a switch next to the door and the room was brighter yet but the light flickered.

"Isn't it wonderful Harry? Someday I hope to have all these shelves filled with wizarding books. The electric light flickers because electricity doesn't work well in a magicked room, but it's not too noticeable with the flickering of the candles," she talked excitedly. "My own library….it used to be such a pain to try and keep all of my magic stuff picked up so that none of our muggle friends would see them."

"I take it that Mr. Weasley magicked the room bigger?"

"Yes, but dad had the contractor build a little narrow walkway behind the bookshelves on the living room side of the wall first. Dad told him that we were going to put in a home entertainment system and wanted the space for wiring. Mr. Weasley magicked the room bigger and put Anti-Muggle charms on the library door, the new fireplace, and my cabinet. I think we'll start studying about Anti-Muggle charms in sixth year and learning to cast them in seventh year." Hermione continued on about the differences and varying degrees of Anti-Muggle charms as Ron walked in with several books under his arm.

"Hey, let's get started shall we?" Ron looked at Hermione, "Your mum let me step in." He looked around the room and then at Harry grinning broadly, "The sooner this is over, the sooner we get to the Burrow….and brooms….and Quidditch." Harry grinned back, glad that he was looking forward to something for a change.

It seemed to Harry that they had just sat down to study in the Grangers wizarding library when he became aware of Ron and Hermione talking.

"That about wraps it up for me, and thanks Hermione your help made it go a lot quicker."

"Let's just say your work is sufficient, it could bear top marks if you wanted to put a little more effort into it."

"What? And show you up? Couldn't bear the thought of it," Ron said as Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Ron, how did you get done so fast? We just got started a few minutes ago."

Ron and Hermione looked at Harry as each one had an opposite eyebrow raised. "It's almost six o'clock Harry," said Hermione. "Dad said he was starting dinner."

"Yeah, Harry I don't know that I've ever seen you so zoned out before. Is Hermione rubbing off on you? Maybe we should send out for a Mediwizard. I'd hate to think it was contagious." Hermione punched Ron in the shoulder. "Ow! Sorry professor….suddenly I feel like Lee Jordan." They all laughed.

Ron pushed the fire starter with his shoe as a flame came to life and he reached into a porcelain bowl on the mantle and took out a pinch of Floo powder. He tossed it in and a green fire burst forth. Before he stepped into the flames he turned to his friends. "Harry, at the rate your going it shouldn't take you but a few days to finish up. Hermione, are you coming over with Harry?"

"Ah, not right away, a few days later maybe. I've still got some shopping to do." Hermione looked up at the ceiling as she said this and then back to Ron. "Do you have your shopping done?"

"As a matter of fact I do Miss Granger. Fancy me being one up on you."

Harry looked perplexed like he ought to know what they're talking about but just shrugged it off.

"Alright, see you in a few Harry, and I'll see you in a few after that, eh, Hermione?" Ron stepped into the green fire, "The Burrow" and disappeared.

"Hermione, I noticed Ron didn't knock before he went home."

"Oh, that's because he's imprinted, magically, with a key to the Burrow. He actually didn't have to say anything, after a couple of seconds he would have automatically gone home. It's just proper Floo etiquette to call out your destination. It's considered a safety feature for small children to automatically take them home."

"This Floo Network is more complicated than I thought. Did you say your dad was cooking dinner?"

"Since dad and mum both work they take turns cooking."

"I think I'll see if your dad needs any help."

Mr. Granger was surprised and grateful for the help as Hermione and her mother set the table. Dinner was pleasant as conversation touched on contrasts between the Muggle and the wizarding world. After dinner Hermione was about to wash the dishes.

"Would you like some help?"

"Ah, sure Harry, but you don't have to."

"What else am I going to do, study? Besides it won't take very long if I help," he said giving her a smile that could make her melt. "Would you like me to wash or dry?"

"I..I can dry and put dishes away since I know where they go."

David and Katherine were still sipping coffee at the dining room table talking about their up coming day at work while watching the two teenagers washing dishes.

"David, our little girl is growing up."

"Yes she is luv. And if some day she were to find a fella like Harry there I don't think she would be doing so bad."

"They're still a bit young dear."

David paused before answering. "Another three years and she will be graduating. It will be here before we know it." He paused again as if something was on his mind, but turned and smiled to his wife and she smiled back.

            Harry was ready to turn in for the night and said goodnight to the Grangers, thanking them again for letting him stay. Hermione followed him up to make sure that he knew where the towels were for a shower or bath in the morning and that he had everything that he needed. Harry said goodnight to Hermione and checked on Hedwig before she flew out for the night. He fell asleep rather quickly, but not all creatures in the Granger house sleep so easily at night.