When Hermione came over for their morning exercises, Harry decided to tell her about his dream. He smiled and blushed as he said, "Last night, I dreamed I was alone in a library with you."

Her ears turned slightly pink. "D-did you?" He nodded. She seductively asked, "What were we doing in the library?"

He smiled. "You were reading at a table and I sat down across from you. You put down your book, carefully marking your place like you always do, and licked your lips."

"Like this," she practically purred, leaning toward him as her tongue moistened her lips.

"Mmm Hmm," he nodded, licking his own lips and leaning toward hers.

"Then what happened," she asked softly.

"Well, I leaned forward like this, and just before our lips met..." He paused for affect, with his lips less than a centimeter from hers. "...You turned into Wormtail." He burst out laughing at the look of surprise and disgust on her face.

She slapped his arm and said, "That's not funny!"

"The look on your face is," he defended. "But seriously, that wonderful dream was interrupted by a Voldemort nightmare that Sirius thinks was a vision that really happened." He then told her about the nightmare and his scar hurting and Sirius' opinion that Voldemort was gaining strength.

Hermione looked scared. "Well, at least you told him about it and you guys wrote Dumbledore about it."

"Yeah, but the worst part is that I lost a dream that promised to be really great," he said pouting. "Believe me, I'd much rather dream about you."

"I'd guess you would rather dream of anybody but Voldemort," she said grinning at him.

"True," he said with a smirk, "but I'd rather dream of you than anybody else."

"Maybe we can try and figure out what would've happened in your dream," she said as she licked her lips again and leaned toward him."

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The next day after training, Harry and Hermione went to the Burrow with Ginny to spend the night so they could leave early for the Quidditch World Cup. Sirius couldn't go because he was still working on his lesson plans. Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione went. (*for those who've forgotten, Percy's already left the family*)

After they arrived and set up the tents at the World Cup, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron looked around at the souvenirs. Early on in their shopping, Ron spent most of his money on a figurine of Viktor Krum, despite the fact that he was supporting the other team. When they ran across a saleswizard with omnioculars, Harry was gonna buy a pair for all four of them, but Ron said, "No, don't bother."

"Alright," said Harry, and then he looked at the saleswizard. "Make it three pairs."

"What?" exclaimed Ron. "Why are you getting Ginny a pair and not me?"

"Because she wants one," said Harry grinning. "You said you didn't. You haven't changed your mind now, have you?"

As they all stared at Ron, his face turned purple as he thought about what he wanted. "Alright, get me a pair, but you don't have to get me Christmas or birthday presents for the next five years."

"Okay. Make it four pairs."

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Not long after that, they went to the stands to get to their seats. They weren't pleased to find they were seated near the Malfoys, and Harry found himself wondering if he were good enough at dueling now to take out Lucius. He knew any squib could take out Draco, but he'd never seen Mr. Malfoy duel. He figured he probably couldn't beat Lucius yet, but that by this time next year he'd be able to.

Harry enjoyed the leprechaun display that the Irish gave, but when the Bulgarians sent their Veela out to dance, he was entranced by them for a few moments, until he felt someone grab his hand. He came to himself wondering why he'd been standing, and he looked to see Hermione half upset and half amused at him. "What just happened?" he asked, clearly showing his confusion.

"You, you're fine now?" she asked. "The other boys aren't."

He looked around and saw that she most certainly was right. Ginny was fighting with Ron to stop him from jumping after the Veela. He was going to help until he saw Mr. Weasley grab his youngest son. "Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?"

Hermione looked uneasy. "Those are Veela. They have some sort of magical charm that pretty much possesses males, especially teenage ones, to want to do anything to 'earn their love.' The only people pretty much immune to them are either older - at least forty - or in love." She blushed at that statement.

Harry smiled at her. "So when you touched me, I remembered who charmed me without magic - my true love, and the spell was broken."

She looked down blushing. "Er, yeah. That's...that's what happened."

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Harry thought the match was completely awesome. He was blown away by the Irish chasers, and very impressed by Viktor Krum. He couldn't believe that the twins were right about Ireland winning but Krum getting the Snitch. They enjoyed celebrating and talking about the match until Ginny started falling asleep.

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Harry never knew if he'd actually gone to sleep before Mr. Weasley woke him up. Death Eaters had attacked. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron were sent into the forest where Mr. Weasley thought they would be safe. On the way, Ron tripped on a tree root, and Draco Malfoy's drawling voice came from behind them. "I guess with feet that size, it would be hard not to fall."

Harry, Hermione, and Ginny immediately drew their wands and pointed them at Draco. Ron, seeing that they'd drawn their wands, did the same.

Harry shouted, "Why aren't you wearing a mask out there? Didn't your daddy let you join him?"

"If my father were out there, you'd be the last person I'd tell," answered Malfoy, "but I would advise you to get out of here. I'm sure they could spot a mudblood like her a mile away, if only from the sten...Whaaa!" At that moment, he was hit with a bat bogey hex from Ginny's wand, as leg-locker jinx from Harry's wand, and an eat slugs hex from Ron.

Hermione said, "Now was that really necessary?"

"YES!" said her three companions.

She huffed but then said, "Let's go," so they left Draco like that, lying face-first on the ground with bat bogies attacking him as he belched up slugs. Harry could swear he heard Malfoy crying.

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They soon found themselves in a clearing. They heard footsteps stop near them, and a muffled female voice saying something like, "No master!"

Then they heard a male voice shout, "MORSMORDRE!" and a symbol of a skull with a snake crawling out of its mouth shot into the sky.

Before the sign had even reached the sky, Ginny looked horrified and turned her wand toward the direction of the voice. "Stupefy!" She then ran into the forest toward the noise of someone falling. Not knowing what else to do, Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed her, brandishing their wands.

They saw a house elf crying with her arms around what appeared to be nothing. They could see shoes and the bottom of robes that seemed attached to an invisible person. At least he was invisible to Ginny. Harry and Hermione could se him with their contact lenses, but he looked a bit transparent to them. Harry walked forward, pulling the invisibility cloak off of the unconscious man who had dropped a wand next to him. The elf didn't let go soon enough and wound up holding the cloak and shrieked. "NO!!! Winky can't be getting clothes! Winky is a good elf and is staying with master while he is hiding!"

At that moment, there were several small pops nearby and Harry said, "Duck!" as more beams of light shot past them, hitting Winky, who fell stunned.

"Stop! Those are my kids!" shouted Mr. Weasley, who'd been the first to enter the woods. "And who are these?"

"Ginny stupefied the man just after he'd sent up the Dark Mark," said Hermione. Harry was amazed Hermione knew that symbol. He certainly didn't. "And then you shot the house elf. I believe she said her name is Winky and was calling the man master."

"That's Barty Crouch Jr.!" shouted Amos Diggory. He then turned to Ginny. "If I'm not mistaken, there's a reward for capturing him."

Arthur walked up to his daughter. "I'm very proud of what you did, but how did you know His mark? I've never shown it to you."

Ginny looked down and whispered just so that Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Arthur could hear. "Tom already had made that symbol before he was sixteen."

Before they could say anything about it, several ministry wizards had their wands pointed at Crouch Jr. and were standing close by. "We'll take it from here," an auror said, and then looked at Mr. Weasley. "We'll be in touch with you about your daughter's reward by the end of the week." He then put a portkey on the unconscious Crouch and they both disappeared. Soon after, the others left as well, after someone recognized the wand as belonging to Crouch Sr. before his arrest, leaving Harry's group alone with a stunned house elf. The ministry hadn't even noticed the invisibility cloak.

Hermione walked cautiously up to the elf and enervated her. The elf immediately began crying. "W-Winky. Is that your name?"

"Yes." She continued to weep, holding on to the cloak

"Are you all right?"

"No, Winky is not all right! Winky is never being all right again! Winky is getting clothes that the last one to hold was master! Winky isn't being bound to master's family anymore! Not only is Winky being disgraced, but Winky's family is being disgraced by the Ministry of Magic!"

Hermione looked down. "What will you do?"

"Winky isn't knowing. Winky will wander around begging for work like Dobby, but Winky is being properly ashamed and isn't asking for wages."

"Dobby?" asked Harry.

"Yes. You is Harry Potter, and is freeing Dobby, but he isn't finding work." She then started crying louder. "No one is hiring disgraced elves!"

Harry got a thought. "My guardian Sirius Black got rid of his old elf because he never worked. I wonder if he'd hire you. Maybe even Dobby. I feel bad about him not finding work."

She brightened up at the prospect. "You is believing that Sirius Black may be wanting to hire Winky?"

"Maybe. Can you come to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place after I get there? If you can find him, ask Dobby to come too."

"Harry," said Hermione, sounding annoyed. "You are talking about owning slaves."

He turned to his girlfriend and reached his hand to put on her shoulder. She pulled back. "Hermione, I'm talking about helping someone, actually two someones."

"Fine," she said, although it was clear it wasn't fine, "We should be headed back to the campsite. Am I right, Mr. Weasley?"

"Yes, quite right," said Arthur. "I'm going to see if we can leave early, so we'll need whatever sleep we can get."

"Actually Mr. Weasley," said Harry, "We, that is Hermione and I, have emergency portkeys that go to our houses. If you don't mind, could we just get our stuff and take them home. I'd rather get into my bed and sleep without getting woken up. Winky, don't come to the house until after I wake up."

Winky said, "Yes, Harry Potter," timidly.

Arthur looked around to make sure no one was listening. "That sounds brilliant. I wish I had one."

"Actually," said Ginny timidly, "I do. If you want, once we catch up with the twins and get our stuff we can take it home."

Ron and Mr. Weasley were surprised at this announcement, but Arthur simply said, "It wouldn't be a bad idea if all the kids had them."

"They saved our lives once," said Hermione. "Someone, who probably was here tonight, recognized Harry while we were having our first date and tried to kill us, but we escaped with our portkey necklaces."

"Ingenious."

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They walked back to the tents and found the other Weasleys waiting for them. Arthur told the older boys to apparate home and they'd be there in a minute. Ginny took off her necklace and her remaining family members grabbed it at the same time that Harry and Hermione disappeared.

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Hermione, concerned about Dobby and Winky, elected to come to Grimmauld Place after only five hours of sleep, hoping she wasn't too late. She found Sirius in the living room frowning as he stared at a roll of parchment. He looked up and grinned. "Hello Hermione! You're just the witch I wanted to see!"

She grinned back at him. "Really?"

"Yes. I just finished writing out my lesson plans, and I want to make sure I haven't left anything out. Would you mind looking them over for me?"

Hermione beamed at the prospect. "I'd love to!" as she walked toward him. "By the way, is Harry up yet?"

"No," said Sirius, "He's still sleeping soundly. I was surprised to see you here already."

She decided to warn Sirius about Winky and Dobby, so she told the story to him. "...and so now Winky and probably Dobby are going to show up here in hopes of becoming your slaves. You can't accept them, Sirius!"

He chuckled a bit, which caused her to glare at him. "I'm sorry, Hermione. It's just that you don't understand house elves. You yourself admitted how upset Winky was at being freed. If no one takes her on, she'll probably die from depression. Even if they don't actually get wages, they get a roof over their heads, all the food they want, and most importantly a sense of purpose. I know that some wizarding families like the Malfoys mistreat elves, but the trouble is in the treatment, not the ownership of the elves. If we don't hire her, she'll consider this to be the cruelest joke that anyone could possibly pull on her."

Hermione looked sad. "I, I never looked at it that way before."

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About three hours later, Harry walked down the stairs. Before he was halfway down, both Winky and Dobby had appeared with small pops in front of him and were bowing low. Dobby was proudly wearing his one sock and Winky was crying as she still held the invisibility cloak.

"Hello, Winky and Dobby," he said cheerfully. He then noticed Sirius and Hermione waiting for him. "Let's go down the stairs and discuss the situation."

"Hermione told me what happened," said Sirius, "and I would love to take you on Winky, but I'm not sure if I need both you and Dobby."

Winky brightened up immediately. "You-you is wanting Winky?"

"Yes."

Dobby was looking down with his ears drooping. "You, you is needing Dobby to watch over Harry Potter! Dobby was wanting wages but Dobby would be proud to serve Harry Potter without wages."

"You want wages?" asked Hermione with a smile.

"Yes, Dobby is wanting wages from anyone besides the great Harry Potter who is freeing Dobby!"

Sirius looked at Harry. "Maybe you should hire your own elf, Harry. You'll be coming of age in a few years and will eventually want to move away."

"Dobby is wanting very much to be Harry Potter's house elf!" he said eagerly.

Harry looked from Dobby to Sirius to Hermione. "Alright, but I'm paying you. How much would you like to be paid?"

Dobby gleefully jumped for joy. "One knut and one day off per year."

After Harry (with Hermione's help) negotiated it up to a Galleon per week and one day off per month, both Winky and Dobby performed the spell that bound them to their owners. After that was done, Harry asked, "Winky, why are you keeping that cloak?"

She sadly said, "Because house elves that is receiving clothes is having to keep them until their new owner takes it from them."

Harry turned to Sirius. "Could you take that cloak and give it to Hermione?"

Hermione looked shocked. "No, that won't be..."

Sirius grinned at Harry. "Absolutely!" He then took it from Winky, who was happy to be rid of it, and gave it to Hermione.

Harry said, "Look, if you want you can just use it for emergencies, but I want you to have it. Besides, we're starting to get taller, and eventually my cloak will be too short to cover us both."

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The next morning, they decided to continue their training for the next few days before their weekend with Sirius. The elves insisted on cooking all the meals and cleaning up after them. Hermione slowly got used to them, as she spent time there improving upon Sirius' lesson plans so much that he offered to make her a teacher's aide. She would grade papers for the first through third year classes and help him adjust lesson plans. He also wanted to start a dueling club, and asked Harry to help him with that - assisting in demonstrations and teaching younger students, as well as helping plan those lessons (although Hermione insisted she be included in the lesson planning as well).

On Friday afternoon after their dueling practice, Sirius side-along apparated first Harry and then Hermione to the beach house he'd stayed in while he was in hiding.