The last week of the school year passed by quickly as Darius and Mione lazed about together. They had already made plans to meet up later in the summer and they were looking forward to it. Darius did have one worry though. No matter how separated they were from the main family, his mother and him were still a part of it. And he didn’t know if the family was like one of those old families that liked to have the traditional arranged marriages or believed in the purity of blood. One thing he was sure of, things wouldn’t be pretty if they tried to meddle in his romantic life.

The term was finally over, and they all headed down to Hogsmeade to get on the Hogwarts express. Darius and Mione took a cabin for themselves instead of sitting with the whole group like they usually do. Time passed by quickly as they just played cards, discussed books and experimented with Bertie Botts every flavor beans. The train pulled into the London station with a loud whistle and they both alighted, Darius chivalrously carrying Mione’s trunk, it had the featherweight charm on it of course.

As they alighted from the compartment, Darius caught sight of his mother, who was waiting near the end of the platform as usual. He turned to look at his girlfriend and saw her looking at the same direction and then noticed them. A couple was standing pretty close to his mom, the man was well buit and had the same chocolate brown eyes as Mione and the lady had the same bushy hair as her, they were undoubtedly Mione’s parents.

“C’mon, let’s go together, our parents are standing pretty close together.”

“Ok! Do you think I should tell my parents about us?”

“What about us?” Darius said, feigning innocence.

“That we are… um….in a relationship now?”

“It was so cute the way she was feeling nervous and blushing, but Darius decided not to let it keep going on.

“That is entirely up to you Mione. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable. But if you really wanted some advice, I suggest we come clean, they deserve to know the truth after all. I can even accompany you now to let them know.”

“Thanks a lot, Darius. I appreciate the support, but I think I’m going to do this on my own. I’ll let them know when we reach home. Don’t worry, my father won’t come after you with his gun, probably.”

“Hey, that’s not very reassuring, and why was there a ‘probably’ tacked on to the end?”

“Hehe, I was just kidding. He wouldn’t do anything like that, but still try not to provoke him too much. He is very open minded and wouldn’t mind the relationship but no kissing in front of him, that might be just a bit too much for him.”

“As you wish, Mione.”

By this time, they had already reached the parents and split apart to greet them.

“Hi mum, it’s great to see you.”

“It’s great to see you as well, Darius. It’s rather boring without you around.”

“Haha, by the end of the summer you will be eager to see the last of me.”

“Of course, wo who would be able to put up with you the entire summer and not get tired out. Anyways, I saw you getting down with that Hermione girl. I hope you have been treating her well, I quite like that earnest girl.”

“What kind of question is that, of course I have. We have been learning a lot of magic together and even otherwise spend most of our time together.”

“Good for you! But now, let go. We need to get going.”

They set off for home, but not before Darius could give a sneaky goodbye to Mione from behind her father’s back.

Hermione and her parents were on the way home, when her mother spoke up, “So, who was that boy?”

Hermione spluttered in shock and her father had a hard time stopping himself from immediately slamming the breaks.

“W-w-what do you mean?”

“Oh, don’t kid around with me, the boy who secretly waved to you as we were leaving. Your father may not have noticed him, but I saw him out of the corner of my eye.”

“Oh, what’s this I hear? Hermione, are you hiding something from your father?” Her father asked in a deceptively soft tone.

“Eh, not exactly. I was going t tell you when we got home but I guess its out of the bag now. That boy is Darius Icarus, and he asked me to be his girlfriend earlier this year. I accepted.”

But the explosive response she expected didn’t come. Instead she just saw her mother looking at her with concerned eyes.

“And are you happy with him? Is he treating you well?”

“Of course, he is. I would have left him the very second he started acting like the rest of those bigots. He is a gentleman through and through and a great friend even before we started going out.”

He father spoke up. “Judging by your expression, you expected a massive blow-up, didn’t you? Don’t try to deny it. But we only wish for your happiness, Hermione. And that bit has been a pillar of support for you from your very first year, you mentioned him in every single letter since 1st year. We are just happy you have someone to be with. It helps that he also happens to have a intellect on the same level as yours. You would be miserable with anyone else.”

“That’s great! Now I can invite him o- “

“Just a second, missy. Just because we like him somewhat, doesn’t mean you get to go overboard. He is still the rascal who is trying to steal away my little girl. I have got to give him the shovel talk the next time I meet him.”

“Daaaad!”

“Don’t worry, Hermione. I’ll keep him in check so that he doesn’t embarrass you.” Her mother pipped up. “But tell me more about the boy. I only know him a little from the short mentions in your letters.”

“Well, his name is Darius Icarus. He is two years above me academically but only a year apart in age. He has beyond genius level intellect and I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes away with complete ‘O’ grade OWLs this year. He has already created his own spells and his practical knowledge of spells is so far beyond the rest of the students that he teaches other students in a club.

But all that aside, he is a very calm and gentle person. He has been the ideal boyfriend as is not pushy at all. We practice magic together, eat meals together and even spend most of our free time together. I hope we can be together for a long time.”

Hermione didn’t tell him about his blood line and hidden families as that might prove to be a bit too much for them. She was with him for his personality and caring nature, not for his money or family connections. It was like telling her family the guy she was with was from a ducal family. It would just freak them out.

“Well, he certainly sounds like a nice chap, but I want to meet him personally at least once.”

“Yes, father. You will get your chance but please try not to scare him away. You have no idea how many girls are waiting in the wings to take my spot.”

“What do you mean?” her mother asked in a concerned voice.

“Well, with all that I have told you, don’t you think that there will be a ton of girls who are after him. Don’t worry, he doesn’t pay any attention to them at all, in fact, I’m the only girl he has ever taken out on a date but that doesn’t man any of those vixens wouldn’t take the chance if I stepped aside.”

“My, my, it certainly seems like you got yourself a good catch there.”

“Well, I did. I was lucky to. One thing you should know is that witches and wizards mature earlier than non-magicals. We become aware of the opposite sex, our feelings and desires are stronger and so one. So, I got really lucky to get him before the others could sink their claws into him. Though, he always counters that by saying that he was the lucky one to get me.”

“At least he got that right.” Her father said with a booming laugh. “Any guy who ends up with my daughter is a lucky chap.”

They had reached their street by this point and pulled into the driveway of their house.

“I just want to tell you that though we will not restrict you too much, we are still your parents and care about you a lot. You are our only daughter and we want you to lead a happy life. Unfortunately, both your father and I don’t exactly have the power to protect you in the world you have stepped into. So, please take care of yourself well.”

Hermione could clearly feel the care her parents held for her and the helplessness they had to bear. They were very accepting of her differences from her childhood. While other children played and ran about he had her head stuck in a book. When the letter for Hogwarts came, they didn’t overreact like many other non-magicals would have and still treated her the same. And yet, they couldn’t do a damn thing to help her in the magical world. It must have been so vexing for them.

“Don’t worry, mother! I will have no problems. I have a great set of friends who have got my back. Because of the DA club, I know students across the houses and of different years. This would never have been possible before.”

“I know, dear. But it is still a parent’s duty to worry about their children. At least that Darius guy seems nice enough.”

“Don’t worry about him, mother. He would be the last person to hurt me. You can trust my judgement, he would never try to harm me.”

“Very well, let’s go in now.”

Harry was so excited about the summer break. For the first time since he joined Hogwarts, he would not be returning to the dratted Dursleys for the summer. Sirius had picked him up at the station and they had apparated right to the doorsteps of the Grimmauld manor.

As they were opening the door, Sirius said “I’ve been remodeling the house since last summer. You already know that I didn’t really like my family and I hated living here. So, I decided to refurbish the whole damn place. Kreacher has been a whole lot better since we destroyed the horcrux in the locket and-“

“WOAH! This place looks awesome, way better than before.” Harry burst out.

“Thanks a lot. I put a lot of effort into it. Darius even lent Dobby’s help and he and Kreacher worked all over the year. And both of them were only to eager to do so. In fact, they seemed almost disappointed when the work was over. Haha!”

And the house did look amazing. Instead of the dark and dreary look from before, it was furnished in warm colors with a predominant beige finish. It was much brighter and welcoming. The dark artifacts in the rooms had all been stuffed in a single small room on the topmost floor, along with the weird furniture, the elf heads and the Black family objects. The small room also housed the portraits of all the Blacks that Sirius disliked including Walburga Black. It was made into some kind of Black Family shrine by Kreacher and Sirius did not mind at all, as long as that crap stayed away from the rest of the house.

Sirius also showed Harry Buckbeak. Of course, Harry was already familiar with the Hippogriff and knew about its miraculous escape just before the execution, but he had had no clue that it had come here. The two of them spent some time with the hippogriff before touring the rest of the house.

The black library was particularly impressive. It was close to half the size of the Hogwarts library but most of the books were very old and rare works, some of them thought to be no longer existing. But one thing that was clear even to a novice wizard like Harry was the dark quality of the books. The whole library was shrouded with a strong oppressive pressure from all the dark magic in there.

Sirius had also found the reason for Kreacher behaving the way he did. One of the books in there were about sentient magical creatures, which had included house elves. This information even predated the formation of the Black family and was only hearsay written down by the early Blacks. House elves, originally wild elves, had always been magically powerful, but that was also a curse for them. They were not able to easily use magic without devastating effects and their numbers were dwindling with every passing century. In desperation, they contracted with the strongest wizarding families of the day to serve them in return for acting as magical limiters. The wizards accepted eagerly, and the elves came to be known as house elves. Their magic bound to a large extent, their population flourished again, and their race was no longer in danger of wiped away. To this day, they are able to effortlessly use strong natural or wandless magic without any focus. Though it came at a price and the elves were bound forever. They had a sympathetic loop of magic with the master and that affected them as well. Dark families, such as the Blacks, had so much black magic running through their veins that it even begun affecting the elves. Kreacher, having lived by feeding of the dark energies in the house, was corrupted almost beyond return but Sirius, the only Black to not dabble in the Dark arts was the only person who could help him regain his sanity. The elf changing a lot over the past few months was not only due to the destruction of the Horcrux, Sirius’ presence had also slowly changed things for the better.

Harry got his own room of course, and it was right across the landing from Sirius’ room. He settled in for the night, a wide smile on his face. He looked forward to the rest of the summer and what other pleasant surprises it may bring.