Albus Dumbledore climbed the stair from the cellar twenty minutes before three; he was feeling just a little tired and slightly confused. For reasons he could not work out he had felt a sort of echo each time he had used his magic. He had been setting up wards for many years now and he had never once in all that time noticed a secondary surge in the magic surrounding him, shrugging his shoulders in confusion he decided he was too tired at the moment and he would think about it later.
Almost as soon as he entered the kitchen Hermione informed him they were about to leave to visit number four Privet Drive. Not wanting to miss any opportunity to reasert his hold on things he asked if he could accompany them, he offered to make them a portkey so that they could all travel there and back together. All the Grangers eagerly agreed, each one of them looking forward to meeting the Dursley's. Hermione her old memories all but gone and forgotten had one or two things she wondered if she could risk doing, while Richard and Helen had plans of their own.
The scene at number four Privet Drive was like some thing from a comedy movie, several what looked like small men, who were actually Goblins under a glamour charm were carrying furniture out of the house while Vernon and Petunia were trying to take furniture back in to the house, the Dursleys were of course fighting a losing battle.
Quite a few of the neighbours were standing around watching the free performance, while a quite a few more were listening to a young woman who was asking Harry's cousin Dudley questions.
Dudley was having an in depth discussion with the young woman, well as in depth as can be achieved by some one who was as thick as Dudley. With his brain running at full speed he could still actually make a house brick look like a computer, and he was enjoying every moment of his boasting about how they had all treated his cousin Harry. Hermione overheard the last of his remarks, while noticing the woman taking a vast amount of notes.
"And so Dudley when was the last time you saw your cousin Harry?" the woman asked.
"Well last time I saw him was around tea time the day when dad gave him a hiding, punched the doo doo out of him and threw him across the floor for not cooking me enough bacon that morning, dad dragged him to his cupboard threw him inside and I haven't seen him since." Dudley replied to the young woman, it was obvious from his huge grin that he had enjoyed watching his cousin being beaten.
"Really, what cupboard was that?" the woman asked.
"Oh just the little one under the stairs, that's where the freak sleeps, mum told him it was his bedroom when he first arrived. 'course' he gets locked in there for days at a time without food if I can get him into trouble and thats easy, dad loves punishing the little freak. Dad says we should buy a kennel and put the little freak out in the back garden, but if they did that he wouldn't be able to do the cooking and cleaning first thing in the morning. Still I'll miss him if he's run off, I have to wander around the neighbourhood now looking for some one else to beat up." Dudley told her puffing out his chest.
Several of the neighbours gasped as the truth about the small boy they had all shunned and treated so badly came out of Dudley's mouth. There were several women in the crowd who at that moment truly felt sick to their stomachs, as they realised that they had added to the cruelty toward an innocent young child.
It was just then that the young woman spotted an angry looking Hermione, leaving Dudley she made her way across the lawn to Hermione. "Hello, I'm Janet Frobisher, I wonder do you know the young boy who lived here?" she asked.
"Hello I'm Hermione, and if you are asking about Harry, I'm his girlfriend," Hermione replied.
"So Hermione tell me, how do they treat Harry here?"
"You just heard a rather good description of Harry's day to day life with his aunt and uncle from Dudley; I don't think anything I say will be any different. Though I will tell you that the day Dudley was talking about, Harry was pretty severely beaten. He had a perforated eardrum, broken arm and ribs and several previous breaks that needed to be reset." Hermione replied as Harry came around from the back of the house.
Reaching Hermione the first thing Harry did was to take hold of her hand and give her a nervous look, Hermione gave his hand a gentle squeeze.
When Albus joined them the young woman seemed to become some what confused and wandered away from them, pulling out of her pocket a small two way radio she called for police assistance to arrest two on charges of child cruelty. Hermione realising that Dumbledore had just cast a mild silent confundus charm on Miss Frobisher decided to give the old man a little of his own treatment. While everyone was watching the Dursleys she cast a surreptitious Obliviate at the old man and quickly removed the memory of their address from his mind.
Five minutes later all the Dursleys belongings were piled out in the roadway out side number four, three small men were busy changing the locks on the doors of number four. Uncle Vernon noticed Harry had arrived and with a bellow he rushed at the small boy his fist raised yelling that it was all his fault, and he was going to teach him a lesson he would never forget.
Thankfully Vernon never managed to reach Harry as Richard stepped forward and hit Vernon with a brilliant right hook knocking the fat man down. Richards second hit when Vernon rose and came back for more, removed four of Vernon's front teeth and broke his nose. Vernon hit the floor unconscious, meanwhile Petunia had ill advisedly taken a swing with her hand bag at Harry.
Helen Granger had taken a leaf from her husbands' book and hit Petunia with a right upper cut followed by a left hook that definitely knocked a few teeth out. Hermione was about as angry as she had ever been and was about to turn Vernon into a rather fat pig, luckily for the uncle two police men turned up in time to save Vernon from Hermione's wrath. After statements from various witnesses both Vernon and Petunia were placed in to a waiting police car and driven away, Dudley was placed into the back seat of Janet Frobisher's car and he too was driven away.
Harry may have been a little young to want revenge on his relatives, but as he watched Mr Granger thump his huge uncle he felt a small sense of pleasure at knowing that there was at last some one to protect him from the beatings he had become so used to. He watched as Mrs Granger laid his aunt out on the lawn and he understood what Hermione had meant when she told him it was wrong to hit a child like him, it was wrong to lock him in a cupboard and to starve him of any affection. Harry now knew that he would never again be without some one who loved him.
The warm glow he felt towards the Grangers he knew now that it was love, he remembered Hermione's words when she said that love was some thing we need to feel in order to know what it was, well he felt that now and he knew it.
There was just the one thing that had him a little confused, his feelings for Hermione were different, warmer some how, more intense, more something else, something he could not yet describe, but he also knew that she felt the same way about him and that made him even happier than watching uncle Vernon have his nose broken.
One of the small men approached Mr Granger and informed them that Mr Griphook had requested Harry's presence in the house. Several form signings later Harry was handed the keys to number four. Hermione asked Griphook about Harry's vault needing to be topped up, and why that was as Harry had never known about the vault. Point taken Mr Griphook vanished to begin the investigation into misapropriated funds, leaving just the Grangers and Dumbledore standing with Harry in the empty living room. Dumbledore had a rather seriously worried frown on his face.
Harry stood looking at the keys in his hand wondering what he was supposed to do with a house. He definitely did not wish to live there and he knew he was to young to actually live there alone anyway. Shrugging his shoulders he handed the keys to Mr Granger with a comment that surprised yet pleased the older man, "There you go dad," Harry said without thinking.
Richard looked down at the keys Harry had just given him and like Harry he too wondered what he was supposed to do with the house.
Albus Dumbledore stood and watched all that had happened, he too had over heard Dudley's boast about Harry's treatment while with the Dursleys. A few small tears ran down into his beard as he finally realised just how bad his judgement had been, how close he had come to creating yet another Voldemort. If it were not for Harry's amazing resilience and eventual rescue by Hermione he may well have grown up to be the next Tom Riddle, unloved and mistreated, living forever filled with anger and hate. Albus knew he owed a great debt of gratitude to the fiery little witch named Hermione Jane Granger, and he agreed with Minerva's assessment. Hermione was going to be the greatest witch of the millennium, the one who would take up the reigns of Rowena Ravenclaw. From now onward he decided he would do all he could to help her in what ever way he could as long as it was for the greater good, if he remained free long enough to help that is.
One of the neighbour's in the crowd must have called the local council because even though it was Christmas day a trash wagon turned up and a team of men began to clear the road, the Dursleys property was thrown into the back of the wagon and crushed.
Using the portkey they all arrived back at the Granger house just two hours after they left. Dumbledore thanked the Grangers for taking Harry from the life he himself had unwittingly placed the boy in, he then asked Harry to find it in his heart to one day forgive an old man his mistakes, that done Albus tried to dissaparate and failed.
Hermione grinned and offered to walk the head master to the gate; she knew that as soon as he left the property he would never be able to find them again unless he was invited, and she could not see that happening. This time around she was not as naive, and did not have her previous trust in authority figures.
As they ate supper Richard Granger mixed them all some eggnog and for the first time he had no qualms about allowing his daughter to have a small glass. As Harry crawled into Hermione's bed some time in the middle of the night she smiled when she heard him whisper,
"I know what love is now Hermione, and I love you."
Hermione pulled him close and fell asleep with Harry wrapped tightly in her arms, she slept better that night than she had ever slept before. Her sleep was filled with beautiful dreams of heaven, children, Harry, and love.
Helen Granger lay in bed and gently rubbed the small swelling that was now growing in her stomach and she thought of that first day when she took Harry shopping.
They had between them selected several vests and underpants for him but she had not been sure about his size, one of the shop assistants offered to help and led them to a small changing area, both she and the assistant had gasped in horror when Harry pulled off his far to big ragged shirt and revealed the multiple scars on his back, Helen stared as the appalled shop assistant asked him how he had got them.
"Oh that was before last week, it's okay though because now I have someone who will look after me and love me," he answered innocently before he turned to Helen and smiled "Hermione's mum and dad are great they saved me, you know."
Helen could not help the tear that she shed when the small beaten boy turned and quite happily told the shop assistant that he wished they would be his new mum and dad now they had rescued him from his uncle Vernon.
Shop assistant and customer sat on the chairs provided in the small changing room and both of them cried for the little boy who so obviously wanted some one to love him. For some reason when Harry said he wished she would be his new mum, Helen remembered how she had felt the first time she had held Hermione, and the first time she had brought her home from the hospital. As Harry took hold of her hand and looked up at her as though amazed that she had not yelled or hit him for holding her hand, she knew she wanted another child. She also knew that from that moment on that Harry was going to be the son they never had.
She rubbed her stomach once more before turning onto her side and whispered "Thank you Harry."
Richard lay awake and wondered what his wife was thinking about, he noticed the small tear that slipped down her cheek as she rubbed her new lump, he too was amazingly happy about the pregnancy and he smiled as he saw the small smile on Helen's face as she turned on to her side and when he heard her whisper he added "Thanks from me too Harry."
Hermione woke early the next morning and as she lay in the bed, with Harry spooning her and an old memory still fresh in her mind, she wondered why on earth she had ever chosen that other boy whathisname instead of Harry. She remembered he had been her first real friend, even though they were supposed to be friends after the troll incident the other boy had not truly accepted her. He spent most of the time they were together picking fault with her, called her mental and very often made her cry. He reminded her of the bullies at her primary school and now as she remembered the things she had seen in heaven she realised how while that prat was making her cry, Harry was showing his love for her. He showed it in so many ways she now wondered how she could have possibly missed it.
Holding Harry's hand that draped across her stomach she made him a silent promise, she would never again break his heart or destroy his future. She would love him for all she was worth for all time. This time she would not bury her feelings for him, this time she would celebrate those feelings, she would make him happy. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze and lifted it slowly so that she could kiss his palm before she rested his hand on her cheek for several moments as those past memories slipped from her grasp.
With the day after christmas almost over Richard suggested that they all take a trip to Diagon Alley where they could buy Harry a wand, and hopefully spend the rest of the day getting to know a little about this new world they had all found them selves a part of.
As Mr Ollivander introduced him self to Harry, Hermione suggested that Harry would be a bird of fire. It was with some surprise when fifteen minutes later Mr Ollivander gave Harry a wand with a Phoenix feather core to try, and the results were a shower of red and gold stars that totally filled the front of the shop. A very happy smiling Harry left Ollivander's shop hand in hand with Hermione, closely followed by Richard and Helen.
After a walk around the Alley looking into shop windows both Hermione and Harry asked to visit the book shop. Hermione found she was rather pleased to find that taken away from the influence of the Dursleys, and others Harry actually liked to read and learn. When she had asked him about his previous primary school and his grades Harry admitted he had been terrified of getting better grades than Dudley because it just meant another beating or at the very least a few days without food.
Having both bought two books each Richard took the family across the road to the ice cream parlour, they sat and enjoyed a rather strange magically warm Ice cream. Richard spent several minutes trying to work out how it could be done, the ice cream was warm and yet it was still ice cream. Lunch time they found a nice little restaurant that was run by a rather odd looking old man and his daughters.
Almost as soon as they arrived home Hermione and Harry made their way down to the cellar that had been shielded by Dumbledore. Hermione checked out the wards before she began to teach Harry his first real magic.
They started out just as Hermione had been doing before; it was not long before Harry was walking around the cellar with a rather large white feather floating along in front of him. Hermione taught him about transfiguration and about how she made the magic work for her. It was not long before Harry was able to transfigure a chair into a table, or a vase into a glass of water, with Hermione teaching describing in detail to him how the magic should feel and how to properly picture exactly what he wanted in his minds eye he was finding magic quite easy. Hermione wondered why he was such a quick learner this time, not realising that it was her and her teaching methods and encouragment that made the huge difference in the speed Harry learned at.
Over the next few weeks and months as soon as they arrived home from school they went down to the cellar until Helen called them up for some food. They began to spend almost every Saturday down in the cellar as well, but Sunday they went to church and spent the rest of the day with Helen and Richard neither put their wands away though, they always had them tucked into one of their pockets just in case.
Both Helen and Richard were fascinated by the magic that the two children could do, and they also spent a lot of time down in the cellar simply watching.
During the second week of July as Helen called Hermione and Harry up from the cellar for dinner on the Wednesday evening, her waters broke and minutes later the family was in the car headed for the local hospital. At four forty two on Thursday morning. Hermione Jane Granger became the proud big sister of little Andrew Terence Granger. Harry was as happy as he could have been if Andrew had been his own brother, especially when Helen introduced Andrew to them.
"Andrew Terence, meet your big sister and brother, Hermione and Harry," Helen said rather tiredly. Having spent a few minutes each holding the new arrival Hermione told Richard that she would take Harry home and that they would see him in the morning, with that said Hermione hugged Harry and then with barely a sound they disappeared.
It was just a few days before Harry's eleventh birthday that Hermione realised she could no longer remember with clarity anything at all about her previous life, the one thing she did remember most of however was her visit to heaven, and what she had seen and been told when she had been there. She had no intention of ever telling anyone about it though, not even Harry. They were her own special memories, memories to be cherished, and preserved, especially the memories of their children.
Both Harry and Hermione loved to sit on the sofa and hold little Andy on their lap. The little boy had invaded and stolen a place in all their hearts before he was even a full day old. Harry especially liked to nurse Andy because it some how reinforced his belief that mum and dad Granger loved and trusted him.
On the Saturday before Harry's birthday Hermione convinced her dad to take her shopping to buy him a gift, and of course a card. She vividly remembered Christmas when he said he had never had a birthday card. She recruited mum dad and Crookshanks in the plot to keep Harry from finding the gift she had bought for him, Crookshanks kept going crazy running around Harry's feet and then jumping up into Harry's arms every time Harry tried to enter the laundry room, luckily together they all managed to keep the present a total secret.
There was a party organised for the week end, several of the Granger family and three friends from the houses opposite were invited. Hermione painted a huge banner wishing Harry a very happy birthday. The party was in full swing when Hermione suggested it was time to give Harry his birthday presents. The gift that she gave him was a lingering kiss on each cheek, and whispering to him that he had to wait a while for his next present.
Helen and Richard gave Harry a small map of the house showing where he could find his presents off them and Hermione, with the instructions that he was not to start searching until there were no Muggles in the house.
As soon as the last guest had left the house Harry began the search for his presents, with the small clues on the map Helen had given him he soon found a broom and then a broom maintenance kit. There was even a small gift from Andy hidden in the kitchen, it was a large tub of ice cream which Harry would share between them all later. All he had left to find now was Hermione's gift; he followed the map into the cellar only to find it empty.
The cellar was one huge room that was the size of the entire house, with three pillars across the middle, at the left of the stairs was what they called the laundry room, it was the small room where the washer and dryer were kept, and oddly enough it was the only room in the house he had never been in. Opening the door slowly he stared into the darkness, then felt around for the light switch, finding the switch Harry quickly pressed it and as the light filled the room Harry saw a beautiful snowy owl sitting on top of a cage with a letter in her beak, the owl Harry named Hedwig, a name from one of the books he had glanced at.
Later as Harry sat nursing Andy on the sofa Hedwig joined them, standing on the arm of the sofa and looking at Andy. Harry introduced his new friend to his little brother, as he did so he got the impression that the owl liked the name he had given her and she was an exceptionally clever bird.
Harry opened a letter he had been sent and found it was to inform him and Hermione that two places were reserved at 'The Irish Contraho of Veneficus.' (Irish college of magic) Term started on September 1st. He and Hermione would be picked up and portkeyed to the school at eight am and returned home via portkey at five thirty pm.
The last present of the day was given to Harry by Richard, a framed copy of the official papers making the Grangers his legal guardians. When they went to bed Hermione pulled Harry into a hug and then she kissed him on his lips for the very first time. The resulting magical glow and the following magical pulse that raced through the house on out into the world outside. Had the two adult Grangers rushing up the stairs in fear, when they opened the bedroom door they were greeted by a room full of golden light, some faint heavenly music was playing and the two young ones were locked in a tight embrace kissing.
Richard tried to talk to them but even to him they were obviously engulfed in some sort of magic. As the kiss went on for quite a few seconds the heavenly music seemed to get louder and louder when it reached an almost deafening crescendo the two children were floating almost a metre above the bed. Suddenly the music ended and Harry and Hermione fell down onto the bed both fast asleep.
It was an extremely happy young boy who woke in Hermione's bed at three in the morning, smiling at the feel of the girl asleep on his chest and his heart full of love for that same girl he checked she was comfortable then fell back asleep knowing he now had a real loving family and he would be with Hermione for ever, of that he was absolutely certain.