Hermione woke to the feeling of something beating against her cheek. She opened her eyes and saw that she was laying on Harry's shoulder with his arm around her waist. Noticing that he was still asleep, she allowed herself to get lost in her thoughts. 'How did we end up like this?' When she felt a slight stirring, she looked at Harry again, only this time he was awake.
"Morning 'Mione." he said with a slight rasp of sleep that for no apparent reason made her heart beat a bit quicker.
"Morning Harry." she replied, as though they woke up like this on a daily basis. Neither said much for quite some time, and while Harry was lost in his own thoughts, he hadn't realized that he was tracing invisible patterns on the small of Hermione's back, where her shirt had ridden up a tad during the night. Hermione noticed, as it was all she could think about throughout the entire silence.
By the time they went downstairs, Hermione's parents were already there and sitting down to breakfast. At the sight of food, Hermione remembered something. "Harry, no one else knows what happened! We have to owl the Weasleys, Tonks, McGonagall--"
Harry interrupted her. "Mione, we'll do that, I promise. But let's eat first so the owls don't look like Ron wrote them while eating. Okay?" he said putting his hands on her shoulders.
She calmed down and agreed. Unknown to either teen, her parents shared a knowing glance and looked at the two.
Meanwhile, Harry and Hermione had filled their plates and began to eat. The entire time, they discussed what to say in the owls and what was necessary to be left out. Then, after writing them and sending an irate Hedwig out with the letters, the four occupants of 12 Grimmauld House decided that the only course of action they could take at the moment was to sort through the library and decide if it was to be deemed helpful or not. Hermione's parents were grateful as this allowed them to help as well although various things still needed explaining, but made the work go quicker.
Three hours later, and they were no more closer than if they'd read random issues of 'Witch Weekly'. Hermione took one look at Harry and saw he was almost at wit's end with the lack of progress. So she suggested that her parents go make lunch while they continue the work.
As soon as the older two left the room, Hermione turned to Harry and said one word; "Spill."
Harry glared at her as she saw through his façade so easily. Not even Ginny had been able to do such a thing! Then he sighed heavily, and replied "This is frustrating. We've been here all morning and not one bit of information has been helpful. I don't know of any other place to look."
"True, but have you exhausted all your resources?" Hermione asked, thinking. As if on cue, a tawny owl flew through a window nearby and dropped a letter on Harry's lap before flying out the window again. Harry opened it and read it silently at first before Hermione said "What?"
"My parents supposedly left provisions on their will for when I came of age. I have to go to Gringotts to claim everything else and decide what to do with it all."
"When do you want to go?" she asked, gently putting a hand on his arm, as though to give him strength.
"After lunch. Will you come with me? Please? I don't think I can do this alone." he replied, looking more scared than she'd seen him since the night before last.
"Sure. Let's go eat and tell my parents and see if we need anything else while we're there." at his nod, they went and told her parents as they all ate sandwiches.
At Gringotts, Harry walked up to the first empty teller window he saw and said "I'm here to see about claiming some things from a will." They were led to a room with two chairs for them, a table and a chair that could only belong to the goblins as it was tall and had stairs to get in it.
"Name?" the intelligent creature asked.
"Potter. Harry Potter." Harry replied in a strained voice.
"Place your thumb on this piece of parchment, please" the goblin said, not acknowledging that he stood in front of the Boy-Who-Lived; and for that Harry was grateful. He placed his thumb on the parchment, only to jerk it back when it glowed a golden color. Nodding, the goblin added, "Okay, please wait right here while I get the representatives for the wills."
"Wait, I thought that my parents had a joint will. Is something wrong with it?" Harry asked, becoming worried.
"No nothing is wrong with the will your parents left, but it says here that you're also the main beneficiary of an Albus Dumbledore's will." the goblin replied, looking at the parchment in his hands.
"Okay. Thanks for explaining it to us." Hermione spoke for the first time the entire visit. She pulled Harry to sit down in the nearest chair, sitting next to him as the door to the room shut. "Harry? Look at me. This isn't your fault. Yes, you witnessed it and yes you shouldn't have to go through it, but doesn't make you any less worthy of what's happening."
"Yeah, I just thought I'd start getting over all this." he said, as the tears rolled down his cheeks. Hermione could only hold him as he silently cried, as though still at the Dursleys.