Harry woke up the next morning to find that Hedwig had not returned. He listened to the house for a minute, and was able to determine based off of the snores that he was the only person awake in the house. He grabbed some of his baggy clothes he'd gotten from Dudley and took his ten minute (and not one second more, boy!) shower. He then went down the stairs as usual to start cooking breakfast. This time, he mused, they'll complain that breakfast is cold instead of late.

He was just setting the plates on the table when Petunia Dursley came into the kitchen.

"What are you doing, Freak!" shouted Aunt Petunia.

Harry replied calmly, "Making breakfast, Aunt Petunia, like I do every morning."

"Well, Freak, you're not making it anymore. Dudley's school nurse claims that he needs a diet, so now breakfast is going to be grapefruit quarters!"

"Ok," said Harry, making absolutely sure that he didn't smile upon hearing that. "I'll take away Dudley's plate."

"You'll take away all the plates!" snapped Aunt Petunia. "We're all going on the diet!"

"What?" said Harry. "Neither you nor I need a diet! We're both skinny!"

"I have nothing in common with you, Freak!" she screeched, "We're all going on that diet! Now throw away all this food that you've wasted, and don't think you won't have to pay for it with extra chores!"

At that moment, the doorbell rang, and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Dudley and Vernon came down the stairs. Harry was carrying the plates back to the kitchen trying to figure out a way to smuggle the food into his room.

"Hello," said Aunt Petunia politely when she opened the door.

"Hello," said a voice that Harry was very familiar with. He began walking toward the door while the Dursley males were doing the same. "Are you Mrs. Dursley?"

"Yes I am. Is there something I can help you with?"

Harry could now see Hermione, although she wasn't looking at him. She held out her hand to Petunia, who shook it while the brunette teenage girl said politely, "I'm Hermione Granger." She waited a few seconds for affect before saying, "I'm here to see my friend Harry Potter."

"What!" screamed Petunia, Vernon, and Dudley at the same time.

Uncle Vernon shouted at the door Petunia had started closing, "You want to see the freak! YOU'RE ONE OF THOSE FREAKS FROM THAT BLOODY SCHOOL OF HIS, AREN'T YOU!!! GET OUT!!!"

"DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO HERMIONE THAT WAY!" shouted two different voices at the same time. One of the speakers was Harry, who looked, Vernon noted with trepidation, very much the way he did just before he blew up Aunt Marge the year before. The other was a middle aged man with brown hair who just stepped into view, glaring at Vernon.

"My daughter told us you treat Harry like he's a freak because of his abilities, but I didn't believe it! We were just going to pick him up to spend the day with us. I think now we're going to keep him for the summer!"

Harry's face brightened, "Thank you Mr. Granger," he said politely, calling attention to himself for the first time.

He turned to the boy he'd met a few times in Diagon Alley and smiled. "You're welcome. No one should have to put up with people like these! Hurry up and pack, and then we'll go out to breakfast."

"Actually," said Harry boldly, "I cooked breakfast this morning, but Aunt Petunia told me to throw it out just before you came because we're all going on a diet because Dudley's school nurse said he needs to lose weight. The plates are in the kitchen."

Mr. Granger, followed by his daughter, walked into the house, much to the astonishment of the Dursleys, who were eying the wand sticking out of Mr. Granger's pocket. "That sounds perfect. We'll eat and then help you pack."

Harry quickly got the food and they ate while the Dursleys watched in horror (actually Dudley watched in envy). Hermione commented, "You're a very good cook, Harry. I never knew that." Mr. Granger nodded in agreement.

"Well," said Harry slightly blushing (he'd never had his cooking complimented), "I've been doing it since I could reach the stove. Of course, it's never been good enough for the Dursleys." Mr. Granger frowned at this but said nothing.

When they were done, they made their way up the stairs. Mr. Granger was horrified when he saw the bolts on Harry's door. "They haven't used them this year," said Harry. "They're scared my godfather will come if they do," said Harry when he saw what Mr. Granger was staring at.

Hermione's father said with a smile, "Yes, Hermione told me about that." It didn't take long to get Harry packed since he had so few possessions. While they were packing his clothes, Mr. Granger said, "They really do make you wear that whale's hand-me-downs! Don't they buy you any clothes?"

Harry shook his head. "Never have and never will," he said simply. "I've never had any muggle clothing that fits properly."

"And you're a celebrity in the wizarding world?" asked Mr. Granger.

"Yes sir," said Harry, "I guess they all suppose I live in a mansion or something."

"Well," said Mr. Granger, closing Harry's trunk, "Let's go."

❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾

As soon as they were in the car and away from Privet drive, Hermione said, "Dad, can I have my wand back?"

"Sure honey. Here you go," he said, pulling it out of his pocket and handing it to his daughter, who was sitting next to him.

She turned around to speak to Harry. "I thought it would be best if the Dursleys thought dad was a wizard who could turn them all into slugs, and I thought the best way to convince them would be to simply let them see his wand."

"That was brilliant, Hermione!" Harry said, beaming at her pretty face.

"Thanks, Harry!" she said.

"Thank you Hermione and Mr. Granger for letting me stay."

"Call me Adam," said Hermione's dad.

"Thanks. Where's Mrs. Granger? I hope she's not ill."

"No," said Hermione. "She's just shopping."

"Oh," said Harry.

❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾

The Granger residence was a lovely two story home with a two car garage that was actually used for storing cars. They parked inside, leaving room for another vehicle. Mr. Granger said, "Hermione, give Harry a tour while I go inside."

"Sure Daddy," said Hermione. "Harry," she said motioning with her arms, "this is our garage."

"It's a lovely garage," he said sarcastically.

She then grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction of the back yard. He noticed how happy she looked showing him their garden and swimming pool, and even a complex play swing set that included a slide, a pole, and several other things like that. He realized that her whole face glowed when she smiled.

"Wow!" Harry exclaimed, "It's like you have your own park!"

"It's been here since I was a kid. I'm sure Dudley had one," said Hermione.

Harry looked at her strangely. "Does Dudley look like he'd want something like this?"

She frowned, "Er, I guess not."

"I want to go down the slide," Harry declared and began running toward it.

Hermione chuckled, "Aren't you a bit old for that?" she teased.

"Apparently not," he said as he began crawling up the slide. "Come on, Hermione!"

"Oh," she said while giggling, "Alright!"

The two of them played like little kids for at least an hour. After five minutes, Harry turned it into a game of tag that became very competitive as they chased each other across monkey bars, down the slide, and any place else they could find. Eventually, Adam and his wife, Marissa, who'd apparently returned from shopping, came outside and saw the pair of teenagers acting like toddlers. After watching for about a minute, they both laughed, gaining Harry and Hermione's attention. They both straightened up immediately and began pretending to be civilized.

"Hello Mrs. Granger," called Harry, walking up to the woman with bushy blonde hair to shake her hand. "Thanks for having me here."

When he got to her, she ignored his hand and pulled him into a hug. "It's Marissa," she said. "Anyone who can bring out that side of Hermione is always welcome!" Hermione blushed a bit. "Anyway, we came out here to tell you that lunch is ready."

❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾

After lunch, Hermione took him on a small tour of the house, which included of course a small library. Harry had a feeling Hermione would have given up her bedroom and slept outside if there was no other space available for the library. "My non-magical books are showing in there, and my magical ones are hidden. I'll show you where some other time. I want to show you upstairs." She took him by the hand again and about dragged him up the stairs. She pointed at one door and said, "That's the loo. Knock before you open the door in case someone forgets to lock it. And this is my room!" She opened the door proudly and showed him the cleanest, most organized room he'd ever seen. The walls were white and the carpet was pine green. He saw a wooden desk with a computer, along with a small bookshelf with about twenty books on it.

"What's that bookshelf for?" asked Harry. "I thought all your books were downstairs."

"Those are the ones I'm currently studying." He resisted the urge to tease her and looked at her perfectly made bed, which was queen size and had a pine green blanket. Next to the bed was a nightstand that had what appeared to be a muggle photograph of Hermione, Ron, and Harry.

"I thought that was a wizard photograph," said Harry, pointing at it.

"It was," said Hermione grinning. "I took a muggle photograph of the wizarding one so I could display it here without worrying about the wrong person accidentally seeing it. All of my wizarding photos are in an album in my trunk."

Harry smiled. "Hermione, I think you should show Ron that photo, and tell him you think something's wrong with it. He'll probably mourn the deaths of the images almost as much as he'd mourn our deaths."

She giggled. "That would be so cruel. He'd be so confused. We should do that!" Her face suddenly went very serious. "Now, Harry, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Harry's expression changed to serious. "Er, I think it would be best to show you a letter I got from Sirius. It's packed with my stuff."

"Ok, I'll show you the guest room."

They went to the next room over and opened the door to find that Harry's trunk was indeed in there, along with Hedwig's cage, which was empty. Harry then noticed an open window and figured that Adam had let her out when he set her cage on the desk. Harry noticed that the room was decorated with the same colors as Hermione's. He realized in fact, that aside from the lack of a computer on the desk, and the lack of a bookshelf, it looked exactly like Hermione's room. He opened his trunk and retrieved the letters. He handed Hermione the first one. She read it expressionless, until she came to a point where her eyes bulged out and she muttered, "Snape!" When she was finished, he read the contents of the other letter to her once he double-checked that her parents were still downstairs. She listened attentively, and then said quietly, "You should probably burn that letter."

Harry hung his head down. "Er, yeah I will, but, er, what do you think?"

"I, I don't know how Professor Dumbledore can let that man harass you like he does. He belongs in Azkaban, not at Hogwarts! Harry, I know you. You're going to attack Snape the next time you see him, aren't you?" She was beginning to look very worried.

"Hermione..."

"Not that I blame you, Harry. If he was responsible for my parents' deaths, I'd want to kill him too! I don't know how you'll get through potions without trying to kill him right there in the classroom."

"Hermione, calm down. I won't have to. I wrote to Dumbledore just before I wrote you. I threatened to tell the whole story to the press if he didn't fire Snape. Here's his response."

He pulled out another piece of parchment and handed it to Hermione while she mumbled something like, "Blackmail," under her breath. After she read it, she sighed and said, "At least you don't have class with him anymore. It should be easy enough to avoid him." Then she grinned at him. "You've done a huge favor for the whole school."

"Except the Slytherins," Harry said, causing them both to chuckle. "Anyway Hermione, do you think you can come up with some sort of training program for me?"

Hermione smiled, "You mean, 'us,' don't you?"