5- A Book Emporium

Both of the adult Grangers were asleep in their bed when they heard a bloodcurdling scream from their daughter. Both of them rushed to her bedroom thinking the worst had happened, that that boy had done something to her. They reached her room both wide awake with panic flipped on the light and saw their precious daughter crying softly into the boy's shoulder.

Hermione was having the worst night of sleep she could remember not that the girl had had many bad memories to compare it to. She was restless the whole night due to the dreams she was having. It had started when she appeared to be about four years old. That first dream had entailed her refusing to weed the garden for a tall and skinny woman that had told him to. The woman just stared at him for a short while before slapping him hard across the face and yelling, "GO TO YOUR CUPBOARD AND DON'T COME OUT UNTIL YOU MAKE DINNER OF WHICH YOU WILL NOT BE HAVING ANY!" Hermione had just stumbled into what was apparently her 'cupboard' when she moved on to the next dream, or more fittingly nightmare. This continued for what seemed to be hours dream after dream of beatings and punishments that got progressively worse over time. The last one she had slept through had been a particularly brutal one that involved a fair amount of kicks and punches from a large and heavy boy whose name turned out to be Dudley, or at least she thought that was what she was saying when screaming for him to stop.

It was at this moment she put it all together. Those hadn't been dreams, they had been memories. Memories of the boy she had just 'bonded' with. That realization caused the small girl to scream in pain as she understood what the poor boy had gone through. She started crying into his soft shoulder before falling back to sleep a half-hour later unaware of either the adults standing in the door frame or the startled boy that had no idea what to do to soothe the crying girl.

The next morning's breakfast was a tense affair in the Granger household. Partially due to the fact that their seven-year-old daughter had to constantly hold hands with a boy they didn't know at all. But more importantly, the fact that something had made their daughter cry harder than she ever had the previous night. Dave couldn't suppress his curiosity any longer and had to ask, "We heard screaming last night, was there a problem?" This earned him a slight slap on the shoulder from his wife but she stayed silent out of her own curiosity. Hermione took a sideways glance at Harry who proceeded to once again have a great interest in something on the ground. Hermione gave a quiet sigh and then burst into explanation mode. She explained to her parents what she had been 'dreaming' and told them all about the horror and abuse she had seen. She then told her inquisitive parents about the correlation she made between the dreams and her new husband and informed them that was when she had screamed. Both of the Granger parents were in shock at the news. While Hermione had given Harry a bone-crushing hug right after she had finished her telling of the story. He had flinched away from it at first but eventually melted into the warm embrace of the first person he knew to care for him.

Even though not much breakfast had been eaten it was clear that everyone had lost their appetite. Harry started to clean up the table when Mrs. Granger insisted that he didn't have to do it. So, he shuffled back over to Hermione who had returned to her chipper self and asked him, "Is there anything you would like to do today?"

The quiet response came, "Aren't there any chores to be done?"

Mr. Granger intervened to answer, "Harry while you are here you will not be doing any sort of household work."

"Okay, Mr. Granger," came the shy voice of Harry.

"Please call me Dave," the man stated.

"Okay, Mr.- Dave."

Since Harry had no answer for Hermione's question they ended up in the library much to the dismay of Jean who told them to go outside and play. A reluctant Hermione led them outside and they played together. It was the first time Harry had ever gotten to do something like this. Between chores and Dudley's bullying, he had never had much time to play. Or for that matter friends to play with. But, soon enough it was time for them to go back to the house they had found Harry in, and have lunch as odd as it was. They walked together in their groups of two Harry still visibly uncomfortable being around the adults and was staying as far away as possible without letting go of Hermione's hand. When they arrived at the door it was Harry who knocked and just a moment later Pinsy opened the door and exclaimed, "Oooh you're here. Come in come in."

As Pinsy motioned them through the door they noticed how extravagant the house looked now that there was light shining through the windows and reflecting off of the magnificent chandelier. She motioned the group of four into the dining room and showed them to their seats. They had all just settled in when with a snap of her fingers Pinsy made the food appear on the table.

As all the food was served Pinsy turned to 'pop' off to the elves' quarters to eat when she heard the voice of Harry say, "Where are you going?"

"To the elves' quarters to eat," came the reply.

"Well, why don't you eat with us?" asked Hermione.

Pinsy snorted, "That isn't how we do things."

"You could bring up the other elves with you so we could meet them too," continued Hermione. Harry nodded his support with her plan. So it was that the elves ate with the wizards.

When lunch was finished Harry asked, "Dumbledore said you could answer some of our questions." Hermione squeezed his hand in anticipation of the response.

"Why yes, we can… well, the library can but, we can help you find your way around the library," responded Pinsy. Much to the excitement of Hermione and in extension Harry.

As they made their way to the library both of the children were awed by the elegant decoration of the house. When they reached the library Hermione thought they should rename it the book emporium and she voiced this idea just as soon as she got her jaw off the floor. Harry just chuckled and said, "I guess my parents liked books." And with that, they set off exploring the library.

Several hours later and they were still in that same room. After getting some direction from Pinsy Harry had picked a couple of childrens books as his reading wasn't very advanced. Hemione, on the other hand, had a stack of at least a dozen next to their couch. It wasn't until the Grangers had made them return home at four-o-clock that they moved from their comfortable position hand in hand on the couch.

A/N

Sorry that this took so long but, I was on vacation and then became disinterested for a while. Please Review!

-Riley

BTW I don't own Harry Potter and company