But that couldn't convince her, when she realized it was quite possible Dumbledore had placed their house under a spell. And her house was far from magically protected. In the end, Harry convinced her everything was all right and that they were in no danger. And he was right. Nothing happened.

Nothing at all.

"You were right, Harry," she told him, after he had been there for a few days, "It's dull here." A sigh followed as she played with Crookshanks tail.

Harry looked up from his book and grinned. "That's okay, Hermione, anything is better than living with the Dursleys. Besides, it won't be long until we can go to the Burrow. That is, if Ron didn't forget out plans we made at the end of the year."

At that very moment Hedwig appeared in front of the window, as if Harry summoned her. She was carrying a small piece of parchment.

"A letter!" Hermione cheered and opened the door to let Hedwig inside. Harry jumped up and stood behind Hermione as both of them read the letter.

Harry,

I'm sorry I didn't write sooner! Things around here have been mad! Mom is dying to have you here, though, she's been worried sick (ok, so what's new) about you and the Dursleys. Don't worry, as soon as I finish this letter I'm telling dad to pick you up. You must be bored to death! I suppose we can pick Hermione up on our way, too. We can't leave her out, everyone keeps talking about her here, it's getting annoying. Anyway, here's a quick update on what you'll end up with:  Percy's still being a prick and we haven't seen him in weeks, Bill's around though, which is good. Charlie couldn't make it this summer and Mom is bloody angry at George and Fred. She's forcing them to go back to Hogwarts, mate, it's hilarious. I think she'll personally threaten Dumbledore to take them back, and George and Fred don't like it at all! Me neither, to be honest, their shop was doing really great. I'll guess I'll see you soon then!!

Ron

Harry couldn't stop laughing, the Weasly family was exactly the opposite from the Dursleys, they were never dull. He knew Mrs. Weasly would force the twins to go back to school, and expected Percy to be .. well, Percy. As he kept laughing at the letter, a horrible feeling overcame Hermione.

"Harry." she whispered.

"What?"

"Mr. Weasly is coming to pick you up!"

"So? That's excellent!"

"But he's probably on his way already, to the Dursleys!"

Harry's smile disappeared, but after a few seconds, he had to laugh again. Hermione rolled her eyes, grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

"Haa-rry.." she whined. "That's not funny! Poor Mr. Weasly! And how are we supposed to get to the Burrow?"

"Oh come on Hermione, Mr. Weasly loves it at the Dursleys, their house is filled with muggle things. And besides, it will give the Dursleys a scare. That will teach Uncle Vernon to leave me standing in the rain."

"You're awful." Hermione sighed.

"And we can take the Knight Bus to the Burrow."

"I suppose."

"You don't suppose, you start packing!" Harry yelled and grabbed his book from the table.

"Wait!" Hermione said. "Shouldn't we write back?"

Harry looked at Hedwig, who was looking around the room curiously. "I guess Hedwig could take another flight, couldn't you?" he asked the owl. She looked at him with her big eyes and replied with a soft "Hoot."

Harry smiled and gave the letter to Hermione. "You do it, I'll go pack." he said. "You were bored, weren't you?"

She sighed and grabbed a new piece of paper to write on.

Dear Ron,

Harry was staying with me, he escaped the Dursleys and I was home alone. We're both really excited to come to the Burrow! I hope your dad hasn't left yet, though, and in case he has, it will be disaster with the Dursleys. Glad to hear everything at the Burrow is still the same and good news about Fred and George going back to Hogwarts! I knew your mom wouldn't let them get away with it, they belong in school anyway, right?! But we have to hurry, we're taking the Knight Bus to your place so we'll arrive really soon! I have to pack now, bye!

Hermione (and Harry)

Hermione smiled satisfied and gave the letter to Hedwig. "We'll see you at the Burrow, Hedwig." she told the owl. "Thanks!" 

Hedwig took off carrying the letter and Hermione closed the door behind her.

"Right, my stuff!" she mumbled to herself as she ran up the stairs and followed Harry's example.

Hermione's street was almost as perfect as Privet Drive. Except for the occasional peeking neighbors, you could almost call the two streets identical. They were wise enough to leave the house at midnight, because two children, with two enormous trunks, an empty birdcage and a cage carrying a huge orange cat, were far from normal. They stood there, in the middle of the road, a bit helplessly. Hermione placed Crookshanks' cage on her trunk and looked at Harry.

"Well?"

Harry hesitated. "Well what?"

"Well, you're the expert on running away. What do we do now?!?"

"Just stick your wand out like this." Harry said and showed Hermione how to do it. Hermione didn't need to follow his example however, as an enormous purple triple-decker appeared in front of them. Stan Shunpike stepped outside, grinned at the two and showed them the way in.

"Long time no see, Harry Potter!" he said, not taking the foolish grin of his face. Harry laughed a bit uneasy at him and paid him the amount of Sickles he thought was necessary.

"We need to get to the Burrow in Ottery St. Catchpole, Stan." he told the conductor. Stan counted the Sickles, nodded eagerly and turned to the driver.

"Ed! The Burrow! I s'pose we can go there immediately and then deliver Alberta to Hogsmeade!" he said, pointing two beds further, where a rather large witch was fast asleep.

"Two beds it is, then!" Stan said and showed them two lovely looking bedsteads next to each other.

"Wow!" Hermione gasped as she carefully sat on top of 'her' bed. "Comfy!" she grinned happily.

Stan laughed. "Thought so! Enjoy the ride, you two!" he said loudly and took place next to the driver.

Hermione couldn't stop looking around, as she had never seen the Knight Bus from the inside.

"I've read about it, but .. wow!" she kept repeating. Harry just smiled and laid back, slowly drifting off.

It took the Knight Bus no time at all to reach the Burrow, and they were awoken by Stan himself.

"Wake up! We're there! Knight Bus never fails to deliver!" he said, and laughed at his own joke.

Hermione and Harry left the bus groggily, after thanking Stan and Ed, but before they could even take a look around, they heard two familiar voices.

"Harry!" one of them said.

"Hermione!" the other one said. Fred and George walked up to them smiling broadly. Fred shook Harry's hand firmly, and George placed a kiss on Hermione's, causing her to blush.

"A pleasure to see the both of you!" he grinned and pointed at the Burrow, not far away.

Hermione was expecting to find an enthusiastic Ron, but didn't see him anywhere.

"Where's Ron?" she asked one of the twins. Hermione wasn't sure which one it was, she could never tell. The boy looked at her with a stunning smile, revealing white teeth. Her father would have been proud. The amount of freckles on his face was huge, and it seemed as if he was extremely tanned. She remembered Charlie having that very same trait.

"Ronald, our beloved brother," he grinned at his twin, "has been taken by a most terrifying creature."

"Our mother," the other one shook his head in sadness.

The first one continued. "After we got Hedwigs letter, and might I say, wow Harry, you've got one fast owl, mom grabbed Ginny and Ron and went after Dad, afraid he might stick around at the Dursleys a bit too long. They should be right back."

He told the story with the biggest smile on his face, obviously amused by all of this. Harry couldn't help but grin himself and followed the twins to the Burrow.

"Speaking of the letter," one of them suddenly said and turned to Hermione, "what was that part about us going back to school again?"

Hermione turned red again and tried to laugh. "I told Ron it was a good thing?" she said.

Fred, who had asked the question, shook his head in disappointment and caught up with Harry, but George waited until Hermione walked next to him and narrowed his eyes.

"I recall something about us not being able to run a shop. Hmm?"

"I never said that" Hermione said, feeling slightly uncomfortable. She normally never talked much to the twins. They also seemed to have changed over the summer. She figured it was because they ran a shop now, they were actually 'adults'. George, and Fred too for that matter, seemed different. Opposed to Ron, the two brothers were broadly shouldered, but Hermione suspected that was because of Quidditch. Hermione suppressed a giggle when she realized he was wearing an old t-shirt, probably from one of his older brothers. It was a light blue one, but on the back of the shirt a girl, probably Ginny, had drawn silly pictures and the words: "I am UGLY".

He's far from ugly Hermione thought and giggled, but then realized she was staring at George, but hadn't answered his question yet.

George had raised a brow, but somehow, a smile was still on his lips.

"Hermione?"

"Well, it's true!" she suddenly exclaimed, a bit too hard, causing George to jump back.

"What?"

"Well, you guys are still young and you know.. you should get your N.E.W.T.'s and then see what happens. I mean, only 1 year to go, how hard is that!" she said, still quite red.

Harry and Fred had turned around and were staring at Hermione as well. George studied her for a minute, and then chuckled.

Little Granger has a big mouth, what's new?  he thought. Little might have been the wrong word to describe her, but she wasn't exactly tall. George towered over her. Still, from a skinny eleven year old with bushy brown hair she grew up to a ..

sixteen year old with bushy brown hair. And a good looking one, he had to admit.

George, seriously, you just observed Grangers boobs.

He laughed to himself again and then shook his head.

"Actually, considering our shop was doing great, very hard."

"What?"

"We were making huge profit, Hermione!." Fred said. "And now mom is forcing us to finish last year, when we left Hogwarts in the most spectacular way possible!" Fred seemed really upset about that fact, as he had a frown on his face and the skin under his many freckles reddened.

"Well, that's.." Hermione wanted to say she felt bad for them, but then realized she didn't. "Oh come on! People will be glad to have you back, Hogwarts would be dull without you!"

George grinned. "Even you admit this? I thought you hated our pranks?" he said, with a sly grin.

Hermione sighed and pushed him aside, barely succeeding. "Let's get our things inside Harry." she said and tried to ignore his foolish smile.