A/n: This chapter isn't as in the character's heads as much. Just the way it wrote itself.
Hermione sighed and looked away, then looked back at Harry. "My house was attacked. By Death Eaters, most likely led by Bellatrix Lestrange."
Something in Harry's eyes went cold and hard as he looked out the window. "They can attack me all they want, I don't care. But they will not attack the one...s I love most!" Then his emerald eyes softened as he turned back to Hermione. "What about you? Are you okay? And your parents? Were they--"
"Harry! I'm fine and so are they. But the house isn't safe anymore." Her chocolate eyes filled with tears at the thought of losing her childhood home. "I can't go home Harry."
He could only hold her as she cried. Around ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door, "Hermione, is everything okay?" her dad asked.
"Yeah. Be out there in a few minutes." Turning to Harry, she said "Can you unlock Grimmauld Place for us? You don't have to stay there if you don't want. I just need somewhere safe to stay until McGonagall opens Hogwarts up."
Harry looked at her carefully. "Sure, and if you don't mind, I'd like to stay there too. I know I should stay here until the protections wear off, but they only are at their strongest when I consider this a home. And last I checked, this is as far from a home as anyone, even Malfoy, can get; so the protections are pretty much useless anyways. Just let me pack really quick." And he picked up his Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts and Advanced Potions (Hermione managed to let Professor Slughorn give her a new book, which she switched with the Prince's for Harry since he wanted little else to do with it or it's previous owner, Snape) books and the picture of his parents dancing by a water fountain, and put them all in his trunk, closed it and picked it up. "Let's go. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."
When he opened up the door, he was greeted by two people who could only be Hermione's parents, Roger and Miranda, since they looked exactly like her. Right down to the chocolate brown eyes of her dad, and the bushy brunette hair her mom had pulled back into a clip.
"You must be Harry. Hermione's told us all about you… and Ron. Thanks for keeping her safe during the school years." Her dad said, shaking Harry's hand.
"Actually, it's her keeping us out of trouble more than anything sir." Harry replied, smiling the first true smile Hermione had seen since….before the prophecy and Prince had come between them.
"Well, let's go before the Dursleys get some sort of cowardly courage gathered to call the police." Hermione said as she rolled her eyes at the very notion.
Hermione charmed an old shirt of Dudley's to be a portkey. "Everyone grab a piece. Leaving in 3...2...1."
Once at Grimmauld Place, Harry simply put a hand on the door, getting ready to turn the knob when everyone heard the sound of hundreds of ancient and rusty locks unlocking the house and everything in it. Then opening the door proved to be a bit of a task, seeing as it hadn't been opened in over a year, at least. It took both Harry and Hermione's dad pushing with all their strength to force it open.
After the old door finally gave way, the sight was most certainly a sight for sore eyes. Dust had settled everywhere and in layers. Faintly, Mrs. Black could be heard from the upstairs. Harry pointed his wand at each stair in turn and said "Scourgify!", since walking up them beforehand would leave tracks as if walking in the snow.
Walking up the newly cleaned stairs, Harry and Hermione in front, as the elf heads may be somewhere nearby; lead Hermione's parents to her and Ginny's room, conjured enough clothes for the night and went to Harry's room, since the possibilities of that night's attack left Hermione quite scared, and after voicing these fears to Harry, he insisted she share a room with him until she calmed the fears. So upon entering the room, Harry claimed Ron's bed, and Hermione sat down on the other one. Hermione conjured them both night clothes, they changed, backs turned away from each other, and went to bed.
The next morning, Hermione woken up more refreshed than she had since before she started worrying about Harry after he revealed the prophecy. She had a weird dream, but for the life of her, all she could remember was the color emerald green.
When everyone woke up and was fed (courtesy of Harry; the Dursleys were actually good for something: Harry's cooking skills!), they went to Diagon Alley to get school supplies, some of Harry's money, wizard robes for all four, and pet supplies. Then with the muggle equivalent of Harry's money in tow, (after sending the Wizarding stuff to Grimmauld Place) and the Grangers' promise to pay Harry back as soon as possible, although he wouldn't be the one to remind anyone should they forget, they headed to Muggle London.
In Muggle London, the four of them split themselves and the money up to do everything quicker. Harry and Hermione went off by themselves, since Harry had never actually bought muggle clothes nor got much of a choice of what he owned, he needed help picking out his new wardrobe. The first thing Hermione said as soon as her parents went the other way was "You, my dear, dear friend need a new wardrobe. No not just some of this and that, I'm talking new everything."The load was even, although it looked far unbalanced since her parents had been buying and choosing their own clothing for quite some time now, so they took charge of both their clothing and the food and kitchenware shopping because who knows what kind of cooking dishes were in Grimmauld Place.
The shopping trip proved to be a great success on both parts. There was now enough food to feed a small army, and everyone had plenty of clothing for all occasions.
So after a fulfilling dinner, all four adults sat down and went over everything from the beginning since facts get screwed up or forgotten over time and it helped to have another, pure muggle point of view on things.
Once everyone knew all Harry and Hermione knew, they kicked ideas around until well past midnight and Hermione was fast asleep on Harry's shoulder. Saying "Good Night" to her parents, he carried her up to their room and when he tried to lay her down on her bed and get into his own, she clung to his neck even tighter. 'When did she put her arms around my neck?' When he tried pulling away, she whimpered as though someone was hurting her, so he stopped trying to pull away and she calmed down almost instantly, as Harry laid down next to her. As soon as he stopped moving, she snuggled closer, and all of a sudden a random thought floated through his head. 'This is what defeating Riddle is all about.'
But he was far too sleepy to realize the implications of that particular thought.