A/N: Hey. Been a while since I posted on this story. I know I stress this point way too much but please be easy on me when it comes to the logic of this story and overall storytelling. The entire story was written in about 2 weeks so there isn't much I can do in terms of improving the way the story is told. I also don't want to change it too much because I have a sense of attachment to it and nostalgia from when I first started to write. Anyhow, I hope those who read enjoy : )

Chapter 10

Harry was standing at a large gate which opened the moment he came near. It was as if he was expected to arrive. He walked for what felt like miles until he reached a large square mansion. It was about the size of The Great Hall.

Harry approached the door and as he was about to knock, the door opened by itself.

"Come in…" said a cold and corrupt voice

Harry walked through to a large stone hall which had three staircases. Each leading to a different part of the mansion. He felt as if he had to walk through the one in the middle. As he did so, the place ahead illuminated revealing a huge living room. There was a massive fireplace on the left side of the room and large silver windows on the right. An enormous glass chandelier was hanging from the ceiling. Below It was a hooded figure which appeared to be a person who was kneeling. Harry knew that this person was the reason he came here. He wanted to save them. Suddenly, from a dark corner of the room, Tom Riddle came into Harry's view.

He paced around the kneeling person with a look of disgust on his face. His eyes twitched. He turned to Harry and their eyes met. He smiled.

"I've been expecting you, Harry Potter." He said

"Harry! Wake up, Harry!" Shouted Hermione holding him by the arms, trying to shake him awake.

Harry opened his eyes and saw Hermione's face right in front of him. Her hair was tickling the sides of his cheeks. He was shaking and drenched in sweat. His scar wasn't hurting but he had a painful headache which was slowly leaving him.

"Sorry…" He said. "Nightmare" He explained.

"What was it?" She asked. Ron was standing behind her looking terrified and worried.

"Let him breathe, Hermione." He said as she pulled away from Harry and sat on the couch, looking down at him. Her face was more anxious.

"I… I was at some mansion. It was huge. I entered it and made it in into this room. There was someone kneeling in the middle of it. I couldn't see their face. I couldn't tell who it was." He told them. "And then, Voldemort appeared. He was circling the person until he saw me. That's it" He finished.

Hermione kneeled next to him and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"Harry, you're supposed to block him out, remember?" She said.

"No, but it wasn't the Voldemort we know. It was Tom Riddle. It was him when he still looked normal. He looked young, our age. I think it was just a dream. My scar wasn't hurting. Just my head.

Hermione looked confused but decided to give up on the matter.

"Come on," she grabbed his hand. "You need a shower."

"What time is it?" He asked.

"About five in the morning," Ron told him. "I'll go make us some tea." He told them.

Hermione led Harry upstairs and went with him into the bathroom. She turned on the shower and placed a towel on the toilet seat.

"I'll be right outside," she said.

"You don't have to" Answered Harry "I can manage."

"It's fine. I want to wait for you" She assured him.

Harry tried to be quick with his shower, he didn't want her to wait for him too long. He had a very sudden urge to go outside and ask if she wanted to join him. Something told him she would've done so if he asked her. But he knew he couldn't. We'll enjoy ourselves, once all this is behind us, He told himself.

He left the bathroom a few minutes later, his hair still dripping wet. A towel wrapped around his waist. Revealing his torso.

Hermione wasn't there. He saw that a door nearby was open. He looked inside the room to see Hermione standing in her striped pyjamas. Harry never saw her in pyjamas before until today. It was one size too big for her. She enjoys oversized outfits, He noted to himself.

"Oh, you were quick," she said after noticing him in the doorstep. Her eyes seemed to directly drop to his torso. She was looking at his muscled stomach.

Harry felt that over the summer, he was going to be as productive as possible. He couldn't leave Privet Drive and he couldn't practise casting spells. This left him with little to do in preparation for when they're going to be out there hunting for Horcruxes.

He decided that if he couldn't improve himself in a wizard way, he will do so in a muggle way. For the first time in his life, he knocked on Dudley's door.

"Come in" He heard.

When he opened the door, he saw Dudley's surprised face. This was the first time Harry ever stepped foot inside Dudley's room. It was full of posters of popular wrestlers and athletes. In the corner of the room, there was a rather large amount of weights and a weightlifting bench which Dudley got for his birthday last year.

Dudley used it quite a lot and was now a huge guy. But instead of chubby, more muscly and built. Still managing to be twice the size of Harry.

"I was wondering if you could lend me some of your weights. I don't have much to do and I've decided to work on my physique over the summer."

Dudley looked very confused and even more surprised at first, but after a moment he said: "Sure, take any of them you'd like".

"Thanks!" Said, Harry. Wow, it was easier than I expected, He thought.

"You know, if you'd like, I… I could do it with you. I mean… I could show you how to properly work out and stuff." Said, Dudley

"Sure, why not," Harry answered.

Over the coming month and a half, he and Dudley did almost nothing but workout together. They didn't talk much as there wasn't all that much that they could relate to. listening to music and helping each other get stronger seemed to be the first thing they both liked doing together. For the first time ever, Dudley felt like a cousin.

As the end of July neared. The day came when Harry was going to be packing, preparing to leave. He woke up in the morning and looked in the mirror to see a very good looking six pack covering his stomach. It wasn't anything special. His biceps and chest weren't the biggest in the world. But shirts felt tighter around his torso and for the first time in his life, he felt good in his body.

"Oh uhh, Dudley and I did some working out over the summer. I just wanted to do something productive and since I couldn't practice spells…" he explained

She came close to him and reached out her hands towards his chest. Before they made contact, she asked, "May I?".

"Umm, sure… go ahead" He told her. Harry wasn't exactly sure what it was that Hermione found so exciting about his muscles. That was until he realised that Hermione was never intimate with anyone before him. It also reminded him that neither was he. The only girl he ever had an intimate moment with before Hermione, was Cho in his fifth year when he kissed her in the room of requirement. But that was it. Suddenly, he felt quite nervous.

Hermione pressed her hands against his chest and ran them across down to his abs. Her touch felt extremely pleasant on his skin. He couldn't quite describe the feeling. The friction between his chest and her palms felt electric.

She lifted her hands away from his torso as she stepped up to him. They were almost touching bodies when she leaned over to his ear and said, "You forgot to dry your hair." She had a satisfied look on her face and Harry knew that she enjoyed the experience. She walked past him went to the bathroom to take a shower herself.

Harry went downstairs and grabbed Hermione's handbag. He managed to fish out his rucksack. As he did so, something flew out of the bag. It was two photographs. One was of Hermione smiling at the camera with her parents. The other was a magical photograph. Harry knew this as it moved. It was the picture of Harry and Hermione hugging under the tree. Colin made them two copies just like he promised. Harry smiled at the picture and put it back inside the bag. He studied the picture of Hermione's parents for a while. He only had the occasion of meeting them once before at Flourish and Blotts back in his second year and he didn't even get the chance to introduce himself.

Her father had light brown hair just like her. He had deep blue eyes. Her mother had dark hair and Dark Hazel eyes just like Hermione. He put the picture back inside the bag.

He dressed into any of his clothes he could find. He was pleased to see that Hermione packed clothes which she thought he liked best and even more pleased to see she was right. She packed his favourited hoodies which he wore all the time and comfortable jeans as well as a pair of trainers.

"Satisfied with the wardrobe I picked for you?" She asked

She was standing in front of him with a dressing gown on. Her hair was still wet and dripping water onto the floor.

"Very." He answered, admiring her simple and yet so magnificent beauty. She was beautiful even straight from the shower. Harry found himself to believe that Hermione could make herself look beautiful no matter the circumstances. Or maybe it was just in his mind. Maybe the beauty he saw yesterday at The Burrow threw some form of spell over him. He admired her perfection more than ever before.

"Harry… I'm sorry about what happened upstairs. I know we're trying to keep it on neutral ground. I'm just so –

Harry pressed his finger to her lips. He lowered his head slightly and kissed her on the cheek. He closed in near her ear and whispered "You forgot to dry your hair" as he left the room and headed towards the kitchen.

He didn't know what it was they were doing. It was as if they were teasing themselves back and forth. Was this their way of flirting? 'Whatever it is… it has to stop' thought, Harry. But he just couldn't control himself. Whenever he was near her he could feel his heartbeat start racing. As if something exciting was about to happen. She had such a crazy effect on him and he didn't know what it was. He desired her. And whatever, he did. He knew he couldn't stop it. No matter how hard he tried. But he had to try anyway. It was either that or giving up and allowing his emotions to take the better of him. And he couldn't allow for that. He couldn't risk allowing Voldemort to discover these emotions. He knew that if he did, Voldemort was bound to try and look inside his head. Dumbledore assured him that Harry removed Voldemort from his subconscious by thinking about love and friendship. This drove Voldemort away as the emotions were too powerful for him. But how could Dumbledore be so sure that it was permanent? What if Voldemort decided to reach into Harry's mind right now. What if he found out about Harry's feelings towards Hermione. She would become an even bigger target. Because then, Voldemort would know that hurting her would kill Harry.

"You alright, Harry?" Ron asked.

"I'm fine."

"So, what do we do now?" He asked

"I don't know yet. I need to think. We're going to have a look around the house after breakfast. Maybe we'll find something useful." Said, Harry.

"Yeah, I doubt that. That coward, Mundungus wiped this house clean. If there was anything valuable. It's gone now." Answered Ron

Harry didn't know what to say to this. He didn't know what to do at all. He kept thinking about the locket. 'R.A.B' he thought 'who are you?

Breakfast was quiet. They were very hungry, and they were focused on their food; None of them ate anything since the morning of The Wedding. Hermione was reading a book. She loved doing it; reading a book and eating at the same time. Harry noticed she didn't touch her orange juice.

"Not a fan of orange juice?" He asked

"Not really" she smiled. "I never like it as a child. When I attended Primary school, the dinner lady –

"What's a primary school?" asked Ron.

"It's a school for muggle children. You go there when you're five and leave when you're eleven." Harry explained and looked back at Hermione, "Continue…"

"The dinner lady at my school always forced me to drink it. She said that oranges are very healthy, and all children should drink them. I made a deal with one of my friends; she would always buy apple juice and I would get orange juice. When at the lunch table, we would swap. This way I was never bothered by the dinner lady again." She finished

"Primary schools are weird" Said Ron, as they all laughed.

Harry loved finding stuff out about her. She was like an infinite book which he could always find out a new story from. They talked a lot about childhood when they were back at Hogwarts. Harry missed those days. At first, he would always enjoy them as it gave him an excuse to look at her; to stare into her deep beautiful eyes and enjoy all the enticing details of her cute face. But with time, he also realised that all her stories are filled with exciting events and experiences. These were things that Harry didn't really have in his childhood until the day he met Hagrid. He missed Hagrid. It would be about now when Hagrid would leave his hut and head to his garden to feed Buckbeak. Or maybe to get some interesting yet deadly creatures ready for his next lesson. Harry missed Hogwarts. Although he was inside his house, he felt homesick. Hogwarts was the house he came back to every year for six years of his life. The only thing that kept him happy was that at least he had two of his greatest friends with him. One being the most important person in his life. The other being his closest mate with whom he could share anything knowing that he would receive help and guidance in return. Even in dark times like these, he could still appreciate the good things in life. Things that kept him going,

"Harry are you there?" Asked Ron

"Yes, why?"

"Mate, you looked like you were floating in space or something..." He said.

Harry grabbed hold of Hermione and Ron by their shoulders and pulled them into a tight hug. He realised it must've been quite awkward for a moment, so he spoke…

"I'm happy to have you here. I'm happy you're with me." He smiled. "I could never dream for any better friends than you two. I love you both."

"Bloody hell, is he going mental?" Ron asked Hermione

The Kitchen was once again filled with laughter.

Harry was roaming the upstairs when he reached the final two rooms into which he never stepped inside before. One of them belonged to Sirius. Harry pulled the door handle, but as he predicted, it was locked shut. Harry reached for his wand and thought 'Alohomora' in his head. He heard the lock click open. Once again, he pulled the door handle and opened the door. He stepped into a room which was very unlike the rest of the house. The walls were filled with Gryffindor posters and pictures of girls in bikinis. Harry thought it was rather brave of his godfather to have posters of this sort on his wall. He noticed in the corner of the room, near the bed, there was a huge photograph of four young teenage boys. He instantly recognised one as his father. This gave him a clear idea of who the rest of them were; Sirius, Remus and Peter Pettigrew. Harry tried to remove the photograph from the wall but couldn't. It seemed Sirius stuck the photographs using a permanent sticking charm. It was probably so that the rest of his family couldn't remove them. On his desk, there was a bunch of papers, mostly regarding school homework and drawings. One looked much newer and Harry recognised it as a letter. He picked it up along with a photograph. The photograph showed a very young child flying a couple feet off the ground on a small toy broom. Excitement built up in Harry's chest as he laid his eyes on the letter who was written by none other than his mother…

- The letter is identical to the canon.

Dear Padfoot,

Thank you, thank you, for Harry's birthday present! It was his favourite by far. One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself, I'm enclosing a picture so you can see. You know it only rises about two feet off the ground, but he nearly killed the cat and he smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for Christmas (no complaints there). Of course, James thought it was funny, says he's going to be a great Quidditch player, but we've had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure we don't take our eyes off him when he gets going.

We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old Bathilda, who has always been sweet to us, and who dotes on Harry. We were so sorry you couldn't come, but the Order's got to come first, and Harry's not old enough to know it's his birthday anyway! James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell - also, Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much. Wormy was here last weekend, I thought he seemed down, but that was probably the news about the McKinnons; I cried all evening when I heard.

Lots of Love,

Lilly

He re-read the letter a couple of times before finally stopping to think. This was the raw evidence to show that Lilly Potter and James Potter were once alive just as he is now. They were real, and they loved him. The letter was full of his mother's love, of her happiness.

A tear rolled down his cheek. As this happened, Hermione walked into the room.

"Harry!" she said in excitement "have you seen the –

She noticed the tear on his cheek.

"What happened?"

Harry held out the letter with the photograph. She took hold of the letter and read it, smiling and glancing at Harry a couple of times. When she finished it, she focused on the photograph, at the sight of it she smiled in awe, comparing the infant Harry from the picture to the one standing in front of her.

Before Harry knew she was holding him in his arms. Embracing him with the love which he always felt whenever they made contact.

"You write your G's in the same way," said Hermione, smiling.

Harry glanced at the letter, then back at her. She was right. Hermione must've remembered Harry's writing from all the times she marked his homework.

"Did you make all this mess?" She asked him.

"Of course not." He told her

"I thought so, I checked all the other rooms up here already, they all look disturbed." Suddenly she looked like she remembered something important "Harry, did you look at the door opposite this room?" She asked, grabbing his hand and leading him outside to the empty corridor.

"No, I was going to check it out after this one" He answered.

"Look!" She pointed at the door

The door looked the same as all the other apart from a faded sign at the top. It said, 'REGULUS BLACK.' And underneath 'DO NOT ENTER.'

"So, this room belonged to Sirius's brother" Pointed out Harry. "What's so special about it?" He asked.

"Harry, don't you remember? Sirius' father was called Arcturus!" She exclaimed. Hermione always got very passionate when trying to explain something which always made it a bit more difficult to understand. But Harry was used to it; He and Ron endured this whenever Hermione would come back from the library. "Regulus Arcturus Black! R.A.B!" she finished.

"Hermione…" Harry connected the dots and after catching up with her, "You're a genius!" he told her. "Ron! Ron come upstairs! Quickly!" He called.

"What is it?" They heard him ask as he climbed the stairs.

"We found R.A.B" Harry informed

"No way!"

"Right here" Harry pointed at the door.

After searching the room for over three hours, they didn't manage to find anything significant. Defeated and angry, they gave up and went downstairs.

"What a joke!" Ron bellowed as they entered the Kitchen. "So, what does this mean? Do you think he destroyed the Horcrux?" Ron asked.

"Beats me" answered Harry.

"Wait… what about Kreacher? He was here when Regulus lived in this house. Maybe he might know something." Said Hermione

"Kreacher would rather see me choke on my own saliva than talk with me about his old masters." Muttered Harry. Kreacher hated him just like he hates Sirius. He considered them both Blood traitors who brought disgrace to the family of Black.

"Harry, you are his master. He will listen to you and follow your orders. I'm sure he will." She pressed on.

"It's worth a try" added Ron.

"I guess you're right." Said, Harry. "Kreacher?" he said aloud and waited.

Suddenly, with a loud pop, Kreacher appeared in the Kitchen.

"What can I do for you, Master Harry?" the elf asked.