A/N: Well, it seems as though very few of you believed me when I said that this would be a Harmony story. Oh well, I expected it after how I deliberately wrote that last chapter, but be assured, everything will be explained soon. As for Sebastian Granger, well, his year will also be explained. Italics will be a flashback scene. Oh, and sorry about the delay, but again the Muses are teaching me that just because I know what I want to happen, it doesn't mean I know how to get there.

Thanks to the Basilisk

Chapter V: The Black Brothers

July 28, 2004

Hermione grinned as she explored the Rue de la Enchantement with her brother, Sebastian. Fortunately for him, as a Muggleborn and Slytherin his year had passed fairly quietly, outside of Hermione being petrified. Being a Muggleborn, he was safe from being proclaimed the Heir, and being a Slytherin he was safe from being attacked by the Heir. He had used the time to follow in his sister's footsteps and became the student with the highest grades in his year. Sebastian had even managed to make several friends during the year, and get a girlfriend over Christmas break, though Astoria was only starting Hogwarts this year. They were on their own on the Rue as their parents had been forced to stay behind in the Muggle world due to the protective enchantments on the Rue.

Once Hermione found a bookstore, she was quick to run into it and start searching the shelves for information on empaths. While she was sure that the Potter and Longbottom libraries had information on them, Hermione knew that Harry would still turn to her for help with Draco. Only now, after a month had passed, could Hermione laugh at their reactions to Draco's statement.

"Well, the truth is . . . Harry is my soul mate!" Draco explained, to the shock of everyone in the compartment. Everyone, that is, except Hermione, who was prepared to hex the living daylights out of the blond Slytherin.

"WHAT?! But I love Hermione, you know that! How could we possibly be soul mates? I don't think of you like that, Draco!" Harry exclaimed.

"HUH? What are you . . . OH! Sorry, my mistake," Draco said, calmly. "Allow me to explain myself. The term soul mate doesn't necessarily mean a romantic one. Although you can only have one soul mate, that relationship is quite simply closer than any other relationship you can have. A soul mate is your other half, but due to the nature of magic, same-sex soul mates are never in a romantic relationship. A good example of this is Arthur and Merlin, the real ones. The two of them were about the same age and Merlin was Arthur's soul mate, but they were never anything more than the best of friends. Arthur told Merlin things that he didn't even share with Guinevere, and trusted him above all others. So stop looking like you want to hex the life out of me, Hermione, because there is no way that I'd ever try to poach your boyfriend. No offence, Harry, but you're just not my type," Draco finished with a smile.

"None taken, you're not exactly my type either," Harry replied with a grin. "After all, you are missing a few critical parts." With that taken care of, everything went back to normal for the group, though it did take Hermione a few more hours before she was completely relaxed with Draco being around Harry.

"Why is it so important that you reveal that I'm your soul mate?" Harry asked as they neared Cambridge.

"You all know that I'm an empath, right? Well, soul mates are special for empaths because of their special ability. An empath can feel everything that their soul mate can, and vice versa, even to the point of telepathic communication, that's how I figured out we were soul mates. So, while I may steal Harry away sometimes, Hermione, it will usually be when you two aren't getting along. He'll be my closest friend, and someone to share the load with, because our connection goes both ways. While I can read his thoughts, I will also be able to push my own emotions to him when my empathy gets too strong for me to deal with."

"Hermione? What are you doing here?" a very familiar voice called out.

Hermione turned and caught one of her friends in a hug. "Robin! I could ask you the same thing!"

"My parents always do their shopping here. Dad has never been comfortable around Muggles, so the ward makes things perfect for him. Besides, he's worried about moving back to England. Speaking of whom, allow me to introduce my parents, Regulus and Marian Black nee Locksley. Mum, Dad, meet Hermione Granger, one of my best friends, and the witch with the best grades at Hogwarts."

"It's very nice to meet you, Ms Granger," Regulus said. He was a fairly handsome man with hair that perfectly fit his last name and silver eyes, much like Draco's own. "Out of curiosity, what's your blood status?"

"I'm a muggleborn, and proud of it," Hermione responded, expecting him to ask because he was a blood purist, even if Robin wasn't.

To her surprise, he just smiled sadly, as if remembering something painful. "Ah, so much like Evans. She too was a muggleborn Gryffindor that was the smartest in Hogwarts, it drove my mother mad. Probably why my brother told her in the first place." Then he started laughing. "Naturally mother only got worse after cousin James started chasing after her!"

"What happened to them, Mr Black?" Hermione asked.

His face fell then. "They were murdered by You-Know-Who himself twelve years ago, and their infant son, Harry. I haven't been able to let myself go back to England since."

Robin and Hermione exchanged looks. "What was James' last name, Dad?"

"Potter, why?"

"Because Harry James Potter is my boyfriend," Hermione explained. "He's absolutely fine, despite his tendency to attract trouble."

"What? But that's not possible!" Regulus claimed.

"Well, when Voldemort attacked the Potters, he killed James and Lily, but when he turned to Harry, something happened that made his attack backfire, leaving only a scar behind as a mark. Harry's a national hero called the Boy-Who-Lived as a result," Hermione explained.

"WHAT? Robin, why didn't you say something?"

"Because I didn't know you would have cared, Dad. The most interest you've had in England was when you mentioned you were surprised that I had muggleborn classmates," Robin explained.

"Robin, you need to understand," Mrs Black started. "Your father just barely escaped England with his life due to the Blood War. And when he left, Voldemort was winning, no one who stood up to him survived. Even worse, if Voldemort knew your father was alive, then he would have hunted your father down for betraying him."

"Betraying him?" Hermione and Robin asked in unison.

"I became a Death Eater, one of Voldemort's followers in order to save my brother from being forced to join or die," Regulus explained. "But tell me, what's Harry like? Knowing my brother, I imagine he's quite the mischief maker."

"Your brother? What would your brother have to do with Harry?"

Regulus raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Sirius is Harry's godfather, didn't he raise him?"

Hermione shook her head. "He was dropped off at his aunt and uncle's the night after the attack. He didn't even know he was a wizard until he got his letter. And neither of us have heard of a Sirius Black."

"What? That's not possible! Sirius loved James like a brother, there's no way he would have let that happen! Dear, we're going back to England, today."

Harry was completely depressed. Dumbledore had found out about his plans to stay with the Longbottoms over the summer and had not only warned the Dursleys, but also convinced them to contact the police in order to make certain he went with them! God, but if this kept up, he'd start his own war with the headmaster! Who was he to force him back here? And to make things worse, Hedwig had once again been locked up in her cage. Merlin, why had he bought the blasted thing? Oh, right, he hadn't, Hagrid was the one who talked him into it. And to make things even worse than normal, Large Marge Dursley was visiting, and she always made certain to criticize him and his parents at every opportunity in order to goad him into losing his temper and give her brother an excuse to punish him. Well, at least Dobby wasn't blocking his mail this year, which meant that he was getting his letters, and the last ones from Draco, Neville and the Twins were quite alarmed over his lack of response. If he had any manner of luck at all, one of them would soon be rescuing him, before he lost control of his temper and magic.

Naturally, he didn't. Within hours of her arrival, he had lost his temper so completely that he had blown up her dishes, and inflated her to the point that she was floating out of the house and out of Surrey. Immediately after, he charged out of the house, making certain to swear on his magic that he didn't consider Privet Drive home anymore and that he would never return save for revenge, which meant that Dumbledore now had no excuse to force him back. But what to do now? The Longbottoms hadn't told him about ways that he could get around the wizarding world outside of the flue, portkeys or apparition. True, he could always take the train, but he doubted that there was a train running this late.

He finally stopped to collect his mind just north of Thorpe Park, and that's when he saw the big, scrawny black dog that almost seemed to be staring at him. "Okay, that's not weird at all. You're not dangerous, are you?" he asked, slowly approaching the dog. Fortunately, the dog simply took a sniff. But what he did afterwards made Harry think the dog was crazy, as it started barking excitedly and running around him, happy as it could be. "Whoa, okay, calm down boy! What's up with you?" Naturally the dog didn't answer, but apparently it had decided it liked him, so Harry gave it one of the sandwiches that Neville had sent over the previous day. He quickly gobbled it up before turning to Harry and giving him the biggest, saddest eyes he had ever seen. "Alright, but this is the last one. I need to get to London, and I don't know of a way besides the train." The dog ate the sandwich, then nuzzled Harry's wand. "What, do you want me to play fetch? Not a chance," Harry stated. But to his confusion, the dog shook it's head and nuzzled the wand again. Confused, Harry took the wand out, and just as he did, the dog knocked him over! However, just as he fell, there was a loud bang and a triple-decker purple bus appeared. Harry turned to the dog and asked "Do you know about magic?" The dog wuffed and pulled Harry up to a standing position.

As it turned out, the dog had made Harry summon the Knight Bus, a means of transportation for magicals that didn't involve them using any magic whatsoever, or the fireplace, so it was perfect for underage magicals like Harry. Once he had paid, Harry was shocked to notice a talking shrunken head giving directions to the driver. It was only a few minutes into the crazy ride that the conductor finally asked where he wanted to go. "Longbottom Manor in Lancashire," he answered. What better place to go than that of his best friend, especially since Hermione was in France? On the way, he was shocked to learn that one Sirius Black had escaped the supposedly inescapable Azkaban Prison, a prison guarded by foul creatures called Dementors, and that he was a high ranking Death Eater until just after Voldemort's fall when he was arrested for killing thirteen people.

Upon arriving at Longbottom Manor, he was instantly greeted by a house elf who took him to his room, where he promptly fell asleep, his new dog next to him. The next morning, Neville and Augusta were shocked but pleased to see him. However, at breakfast, Augusta seemed to stare at his dog, and Harry couldn't figure out why. Finally, he asked "Dowager Longbottom, why are you staring at my dog?"

"Harry, when did you get that dog?"

"Last night, why?" Harry asked, completely confused. Why was she so interested in him, and why was Snuffles so worried? (He had named the dog on the Knight Bus after he kept snuffling whenever the bus made a sudden turn or stop, which was constantly.)

"Has it harmed you in any way?"

"No! He made me summon the Knight Bus by knocking me down, but that was the worst! What's going on?" Neville just shrugged, while Augusta stood up and turned her wand on his dog. "What are you doing?!" he demanded.

"Don't worry, Harry. If he is simply a dog, what I'm about to cast will do no harm. If, however, what I suspect is true, then we have a problem." Harry stepped aside, and Augusta quickly cast homenum reverto. To Harry's shock, the dog quickly turned into a gaunt man resembling a vampire, and Harry recognized him as the infamous Sirius Black! "Hello, Sirius," Augusta stated. "It's been a long time." Then, before Black could say anything, she stunned and bound him.