I own nothing, I claim nothing. For now... Things in this story you don't recognize either I came up with, or were inspired by other work and changed them to my imagination. For all I know, it could be your work, so I thank all the people who helped me unknowingly write this.
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Hermione sat in the chair calmly listening to what Sirius was telling her. He was telling her softly about what he had collected about Harry's life, about what he had seen in the penseive, memories he hadn't meant to look at, but was glad he had. Across from him, Hermione looked between rage and tears as she spoke softly.
"So they kept him locked in that tiny cabinet?" Sirius nodded. "And they didn't feed him? Tell him about his parents? Tell him anything?" Sirius looked on the verge of tears as well, as he shook his head softly.
Sirius proceeded to fill Hermione in on the most recent events, the girl eventually breaking down and crying softly. However, this went unnoticed as Sirius stood up quickly. His eyes darted around the room, and he seemed to be listening for something.
"Harry." And with this both of them bolted from Hermione's room to the room directly across from it, Harry's room.
Sirius flung the door open and Hermione saw it. Harry was laying across his bed, his body looking as if it was being shocked by the paddles in the hospital, his chest rising off the bed and his back arching, his mouth open in a silent scream. However, this wasn't what was the most shocking thing, or the thing that had lead Sirius here. It was the blood falling down Harry's face, and his eyes open in complete horror. The only thing wrong here was the fact that the eyes that looked to them as they came in the room weren't Harry's, or at least they weren't the eyes they knew.
For Harry Potter lay on the bed, his eyes and the rest of his body glowing golden.
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(A/N: No, don't worry, his eyes will not stay gold, but this factor will be important in the near future.)
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Moments before this, Albus Dumbledore was seated in the living room giving the Grangers some background information on Harry, and basically filling them in on the most recent details with added explanation. However, Albus stopped as words were about to leave his mouth as he felt something, a pang in the pit of his stomach. He rose quickly and suddenly there was a bright light coming down the stairs like elegant smoke. It filled everything around it with the soft glow and everything it touched it fixed.
The broken stair, fixed. The chipped antique table, fixed. Crookshanks' sprained paw, fixed. And as the light finally filled the room, it flashed in bright color just as the clocks in the house beeped at the time, twelve in the morning on a new day. The day of July 31.
Albus Dumbledore sighed heavily and sat back down on the couch. His eyes twinkled brightly suddenly and he reached into his robes and pulled out a small bag filled with red and white disks. "peppermint?" holding the bag out and offering some to the shocked and stunned Grangers.
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Harry's room was left and he was allowed to sleep, but later through the night Hermione snuck in softly and began to clean the blood from Harry's head and face. The warm cloth in her hand pressed lightly and withdrew from his head, and soon Hermione found herself singing to no one in particular. She didn't know what song it was, but she strongly suspected that it was an old lullaby her mother had sang to her as a child.
As she finished, she looked down at her friend, the one who had saved her life on more than one occasion, the one she respected beyond anything else that she knew of. The one she cared for more than she should have.
"Get a hold of yourself Granger, damn. He's your best friend for God's sake." She said to herself and then looked down to his sleeping form again. She leaned down a kissed his scar lightly, brushing his hair away from his face. As she did, her hand came across the jagged scar and she sighed, thinking how something so simple could be so complicated.
And with that though she stood and walked out of the room. Had she stayed a bit longer, she would have seen his eyes open slightly and a small smile creep across his face before they closed once more.
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The next morning Harry awoke to find that Dumbledore and Sirius had had to go while he slept, so now it was just him, Hermione, Daphne, and the parents. he sighed as he sat up and trudged down the stairs. Despite the fact that he had just remembered all of these facts, and had been told about his godfather and headmaster's leave in a note by his bed, he forgot to remember he wasn't at Privet drive anymore. Which might have been why him walking downstairs in a pair of basketball shorts that were much too large and nothing else caused quite a stir.
Hermione had been reading the Prophet and sipping tea while Daphne had been putting on lip gloss, using her spoon as a mirror. As Harry walked down the stairs yawning softly, his black hair hanging just above his shoulders and his eyes partially closed, Hermione's tea ended up the front page news as it came out of her mouth as she looked at Harry in shock.
Daphne had since made a solid line of lip gloss straight across her face and the sparkling pink trail wasn't ending there as it curved down and began a descent to her neck as her hand kept moving as she watched him.
Harry seemed not in the least bit embarrasses as he walked into the kitchen and began to cook the food he had found in the refrigerator. Because of how the kitchen was set up, there was a gap that opened up right before the stove so you could look out of the kitchen, and right at the table where the two girls were sitting.
Hermione was watching him, wondering why he hadn't seemed like this just the year before. He had some muscle, and his abs were well defined. His facial features were sharp, and his eyes seemed to slant just a little to give you the sense that someone in Harry's family wasn't originally from England, or even Europe. Probably from Asia. Daphne however was giving him an appraising look as she tried to get the lip gloss off of her skin and still not look away from him.
Hermione was so caught up in this that she had forgotten to stop Harry, and he soon came out of the kitchen with two plates, each holding 2 slices of French toast and some eggs, along with 2 pieces of bacon each. He set the plates down in front of the girls and was going in to retrieve the orange juices when Hermione snapped out of it. She followed him into the kitchen and stopped him.
"Harry, you shouldn't have done that." Harry's smiling face suddenly looked solemn and grim.
"I know. I'll be sure to pay your parents back for the things I used. I'm sorry-" Hermione looked in complete shock. So the Dursley' obviously made him feel as though everything was his fault.
"It's not that its just that, well, we should have been cooking for you seeing as how its your birthday and all..." Harry's face looked suddenly in shock.
"Really? I didn't realize. I couldn't make my calendar this year because of everything that happened. Wow, I didn't know..." Hermione looked shocked and then grabbed his arm and physically drug him from the kitchen. She pushed him down in the chair she had been sitting in and pointed to the food he had brought her.
"Eat."
"But it's yours. I made it for-"
"No Harry, eat. And once you're done we are out fo here. Daphne agreed to take up to the mall so I can give you your gift. So hurry up." Harry was going to protest more and then he saw the I-Will-Not-Lose-This-Argument look she got with Ron every time they argued and he sighed and began to eat. All this time, unbeknownst to either of them Daphne stood at the door, smirking to herself and she turned and walked out.
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As they entered the mall, Harry looked around in awe. The Dursleys had never let him go to anyplace remotely this large outside of the zoo that one time, and all of the shops and interesting this were captivating him. Suddenly he looked in though a window and gasped as he saw all the wonderful things within the electronics store. Hermione eventually grabbed him and forcefully drug him to a clothing store at the end of the 1st section of the mall.
Harry looked around in confusion but eventually smiled as she lead him to the men's section. However, she made a turn to the register and spoke to a woman. Soon they were taking measurements of him, and he was loaded with piles of clothing and sent into a small room. Had it nor been for the cupboard under the stairs all those years, he might have been claustrophobic, but he was soon fine as he dressed. However as he heard her order for him to come out, he was nervous.
However, that changed as he saw the look on Hermione's, Daphne's and the register girl, Kamille's face. They all looked shocked and Daphne had a smirk on her face that was making Harry uneasy. She was smiling a bit seductively, or was that just his eyes?
Harry was shown a mirror and he blinked a few times as he looked at himself. He was wearing nice fitting black jeans, not too tight and not too baggy, with a white long-sleeved t-shirt on under a black short-sleeved t-shirt with a logo of some sorts on the front. The black and white made his eyes stand out a lot more, and they seemed to glow, and Harry thought it was funny how something so simple seemed to change so much.
After more time of him trying on clothes he liked, Harry eventually got Hermione to try some on, more so he could rest than for her.
She came out first in casual clothes, but seemed to greatly favor the low-rising jeans that seemed to mold to her hips. This was good enough for Harry, but when she tried on the formalwear, or more specifically a certain black dress, it was too much for him.
She came out in a black dress. It had thin straps holding it to her shoulders and it had almost no back to it, the material eventually coming together right at the small of her back. There were rounded gaps on the sides showing the sides of her waist and the beginning of her hips. The dress ended midway down her calves and the sparkles on the dress shone in the light of the store.
Harry stared. He was speechless and began to hyperventilate. He looked to her, his mouth hanging open and his head falling to the side lightly. Hermione watched him as he tried to regain composure and a bit of his pride and not look at her, as every time he did, he stared again. However, eventually he got his voice just as she was heading back into the room. He obviously though he hadn't heard him, but she had as he finally spoke.
"God-damn. If she doesn't want to get the thing, I'll pay for it, I don't care how much it costs, give her the damn dress." And with that and a bright smile to herself, Hermione went to change.
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Hermione ended up buying several things for herself and him, and found that the dress had "mysteriously" been paid for, and she wondered where Harry got the money for it. At least the muggle money.
As they walked from the store, Harry had to make a turn down a corridor to get to the bathrooms. Hermione stood in the narrow passageway, Daphne going into a store devoted entirely to make-up.
As Hermione waited, a group of guys walked by, eyeing her. It made her shift uncomfortably, and she became worried as they stopped and approached her. The large guy that looked to be the leader smiled and walked right up to her, invading her personal space and spoke to her with breath that smelled nastily of cheap beer and garlic.
"Hey baby. A girl like you shouldn't be here all alone. Why don't you come with us. we'll have a little...fun." Hermione wanted to scream, and as she thought about it, the other guys stood in a casual way, blocking off the entrance to the corridor they were in from the sight of onlookers.
Hermione pushed against him as he ran his finger over her stomach. She ran down the corridor, hoping for the exit at the end of the corridor just past the boy's bathroom. She neared it but the guy that had been after her grabbed her shirt and pulled her back. Her shirt tore and she let out a screech. She was too far back in the corridor for it to alarm anyone passing by, and she began to cry.
Her vision blurred as she wondered who would save her. Suddenly her answer came as the bathroom door swung open and Harry walked out. He took one look at her and the man before her and she could feel the anger coming off of him.
"Let. Her. Go." Harry said softly, anger ripping through him. The man holding Hermione tried not to laugh and stood to his full height. The man was about 6 feet tall, while Harry was only about 5' 8", but Hermione never saw Harry look so tall. His eyes glared through the man and then it was over very quickly.
The man had reached to punch Harry and Harry had grabbed his arm. He spun 180 degrees and into the man, his back to the man's front, and there was an evident CRACK! as the man's arm broke. Then Harry elbowed him in the middle and stepped forward and away from the man. Then he kicked back with his leg perfectly straight and he kicked the man back about 5 feet through the air and he slid down the corridor some. His friends rushed to him and gathered him up, and then looked to Harry, but seemed to think twice and ran from the area.
Harry knelt down to Hermione and wiped the tears from her face, smiling some and whispering softly to her. She looked into his eyes and found that they were once again gold. But before her eyes the gold seemed to become electricity over his eyes and seemed to play in reverse of striking his pupils and receded to the light ring around his irises.
High-heel clicking was heard an Daphne was back, fear playing on her face. By all appearances, this scene did not look good, and she helped her sister up. Suddenly Harry pulled his baggy hockey jersey off and handed it to Hermione to put on over her ruined shirt. She looked to him as he smiled at her, readjusting his white t-shirt. Suddenly Hermione became aware of something black in his hand. She pointed and he smiled.
"There was a reason for me using that move. I picked his pocket." Harry said and opened the wallet to find a great deal of money and no ID. Harry had no qualms about keeping the money for himself and Hermione, and for once Hermione didn't lecture him, instead she smiled and hugged him, and with his arm around her shoulders and Daphne smiling behind them, they left the mall.
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Upon opening the door to the Granger's house, there was a shout of SURPRISE! and all of his friends jumped out at him. He smiled brightly and laughed lightly as they all ran over to him. Upon seeing Hermione still close to him, wearing his shirt, and the remains of her shirt in her hand, everyone began asking questions, from a Death Eater attack to a naughty tryst on the way back, ideas began to fly. However, these died down as everyone tried to get Harry to open their gifts.
After gift-time died down and the cake was served and eaten, the party began to die down, but all the while several people noticed that Hermione hadn't left Harry's side for the entire time, and Harry didn't seem to mind at all. It also seemed that Hermione wasn't in the mood for talking too much, and she only spoke and had a full conversation with Harry. Because of this, a few people in the party were getting suspicious, while others jealous. One of the jealous ones happened to be Ron. He approached them as Harry went to take everything he got up to his room, Hermione following, running in, changing shirts and then sitting on his bed while he found places for things.
Harry had just sat down when Hermione fell into his arms and cried to him, telling him everything that had happened before he had saved her. Then how she felt.
Harry hugged her and tried to comfort her, and rubbed her back. Slowly her head pulled back from his and they looked into each other's eyes and soon they were kissing, and in between the kisses explaining how long they had felt for each other, Hermione and Harry both describing the time they knew was in 3rd year with Buckbeak, and it had grown strong when Harry and Ron had their falling out last year.
Soon Harry decided the crying was too much and soon began to tickle her, and she was soon laying back, begging for him to stop. It was at that moment that Ron walked over to the door, and caught sight of Harry lightly straddling Hermione's stomach, lowering her face to her's, her eyes closed and her muttering "stop" with what Ron thought was a pained expression on her face, but was really restrained laughter as he continued to tickle her.
As his lips met hers, Harry soon met the floor and his jaw soon met Ron's fist, and despite him now being physically able to take it, he watched as Ron picked up one of the Beater's clubs from Harry's birthday set of Quidditch balls and he thought to himself as Ron swung the hard club at his head,
"You know, birthdays really suck..."
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(A/N: Stay tuned for the next chapter. Look, know I know that the "coming together" thing was kind of sorry for Harry and Hermione, but I swear, the story and the action picks up a lot. Please review and thanks to everyone who reviewed
I swear on my life Daphne is no Mary Sue, nor will she be. It try to steer clear of making those, because they tend to complicate the story later on, I mean, who can't love a perfect girl? No one. So she's not perfect if not just for the fact of keeping Harry the hell away from her.)