Harry Potter was excited, he had been able to set his godfather free just days ago with the help of his best friend Hermione. She had the foresight to stun Peter Pettigrew before putting him in ropes – that had been the clincher as Remus had transformed into his werewolf form and dropped Pettigrew, Sirius had transformed into Padfoot to chase him away whilst they made their way to the Headmaster's study with Pettigrew in tow. The headmaster called the head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones, who administered the truth serum therefore hearing the truth for the very first time. She immediately drew up Sirius' pardon and prepared a press announcement for the very next day. Just as she finished announcing these measures, Sirius arrived at the office in his dog form with a few cuts and scrapes, but alive and well.

Next followed a night-long dispute between Sirius, Dumbledore and Madam Bones about where he would live. Dumbledore was adamant that he had to return to the Dursleys so that he would be safe from other death eaters. Sirius was insisting he would be safe in a Potter property as it was unplottable and hidden to anyone not a Potter unless revealed by a Potter. Madam Bones agreed with this and also insisted that the Fidelius be cast as an additional security measure with Dumbledore as the secret keeper. In the end, Dumbledore stepped down and agreed with the others due to the fact that the law was against him. The others had the law on their side, whilst Dumbledore was only relying on goodwill and people's agreement to his plans.

This all leads to Harry's current position: he is sitting in the common room of Gryffindor House waiting for his two best friends to come down so that he can go to breakfast with them and tell them all about his summer plans. Harry had gone over to Gringotts yesterday with Sirius in order to find out what exactly the Potter inheritance entailed. They discovered an immense fortune which had not really surprised Sirius since he knew that the Potters were wealthy, but the extent of the wealth was truly staggering. Moreover, they discovered that there was an estate in southern France that was under a Goblin variation of the Fidelius and this particular property was ideal for what Sirius had in mind for Harry's summer. Harry was broken out of his musings by Hermione and Ron standing in front of him with inquisitive faces. Well Hermione had the inquisitive face as she had seen that Harry was a million miles away, whilst Ron was in his pre-breakfast routine: his eyes were glazed, he was rubbing his stomach and was dreaming of the meal to come.

"Come on Harry, let's go before bottomless pit here starts to leave a trail of drool all the way to the Great Hall."

Harry laughed and got up from the couch and fell in step with the other two listening to Hermione berate Ron for leaving the packing of his trunk to the last minute. As they neared the Great Hall, Ron's pace seemed to pick up as though the scent of the breakfast made him even more anxious to get there. Once they sat down, Harry started to explain what Sirius had in mind for him this summer, it wasn't a lot but it meant the world to Harry.

"Sirius is taking me away for the summer to an estate in southern France that belongs to my family. The Goblins have their own version of a charm that allows me to tell those I trust where the property is and those I haven't told would never be able to find it; it'd basically be invisible to them. Anyway, he's decided two things: first is that twelve years in Azkaban has done him no good so he is looking for sun and exercise to get back into prime 'skirt chasing' shape and he wants me to join. He tells me that I'm too pasty and too small and that would to me good. Secondly, he is going to make sure that I have fun, he remembers going there some summers with my dad and there are loads of activities that can be done."

"Apparently, the house-elves there have been maintaining the estate so that everything is modern and up to date. Now before you start on me Hermione, there is a contract between the House of Potter and the house-elves – as long as there remains an heir to the Potter family, they will continue to maintain the property thanks to a special vault set up by some relative of mine some 250 years or so ago. This contract allows the house-elves to live in peace and tranquillity there, whilst receiving payment for their services. The pay goes to a communal pot that each house-elf has access to within reason so that they may purchase themselves any food or clothes necessary."

"In order to maintain to maintain the estate, one of the house-elves can maintain for up to two hours the appearance of a human being in order to receive goods or deal with other people that are not aware of what house-elves are. My mum taught them how to drive and car and charmed some old 4x4 to be driven by them in their house-elf form so that they could ferry stuff about outside the estate."

Hermione was practically bouncing in her seat, at first, she had been appalled that her best friend's family owned house-elves, but s the explanation carried on, she became more and more excited about the implications of the relative freedom of the house-elves and the presence of a contract.

"Oh, this is wonderful Harry! This is a perfect example of what free house-elves can do…" she trailed off as she saw Harry hold his hand up.

"No Hermione, it is impossible for house-elves to remain alive if they are not bonded, you see, their magic feeds off the family or school with which they bonded. My house-elves, like the ones at Hogwarts, have magical contracts that assure them of the good behaviour of their owners. They are not slaves to humans, but they are slaves to their magic – magic is what keeps them enslaved to others, even Goblins have house-elves. It is an inherent part of their magic, life and being. You cannot break that bond until you dismiss them, which is as good as killing them unless they find another source for their magic. You want to focus on better conditions for house-elves like Dobby, then concentrate your efforts into a group to raise awareness of the contracts, but before you do, let me give you a book that explains the process of the bonding later. I got it out of my family vault."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully, to be truthful, she hadn't expected such a well structured and thought out answer that would stall her argument. Harry, meanwhile, shook his head realising that he had gone off course.

"Now let's get back to what I was saying: Sirius wants me to have fun so I will, but I want you to join in as well, so I've organised for a VIP box at the final of this year's Quidditch World Cup that will be enough to seat you two, Hermione's parents, Sirius, 4 Weasleys, Remus and myself. The game starts on a Saturday afternoon, which means that your parents won't have to take time off if they want to come. I'll arrange transport, well Sirius will, not sure how but he said he could take care of it. So what do you say?"

Ron had actually stopped eating whilst Harry explained about this surprise. "Bloody hell mate! ("Language Ron!") Of course, I'm coming, there's no way I'm missing out on this, oh imagine the quidditch world cup final." Ron stopped talking as his face took on a dreamy quality whilst he thought of seeing his heroes in front of him in the flesh.

"Oh that's wonderful Harry, I'd love to come to see you of course, but I'll be able to show my parents something else of this world. Thank you thank you Harry." As she finished this, she hugged Harry extra hard.

Harry was uncomfortable for two reasons: first, everyone as staring at him as they noticed he was being hugged by his best friend, a girl. He could imagine the rumour mills starting already. Secondly, the hug made him aware that Hermione was nearly a year older than him and that girls started puberty earlier, so he could feel… shapes being pressed into him.

'Don't get me wrong, this is pleasant though. I didn't realise a body could so soft though.' Harry thought to himself as he returned the hug somewhat reluctant to let go of the odd sensations coursing through his teenage body. After letting go of each other, Harry and Hermione returned to their breakfast and started to chat with others around them. All in all, Harry was very excited about this summer. He could picture it already: a quiet summer having fun with someone who loved him, no Dursleys, no worrying at all, no more surprises this summer. Yep! Harry thought this summer is going to go very smoothly!

The rest of the morning went by very quickly, Hermione and Harry had finished packing so decided to sit together watching Ron pack frantically as he tried to make sure he had everything in his trunk. As that was going on, Remus arrived in the dorm to see if Harry needed any help. Seeing that Harry and Hermione were laughing at Ron's pathetic attempts to find everything, Remus pulled his wand out and used the summoning charm for Ron's belongings with a simple Accio Ron's sock or shoe. When that was done, he shrank Harry's trunk so that he could carry out and Sirius would enlarge when they reached Potter's Perpignan hideout.

The trio made their way to the Hogwarts express easily as Remus had cast featherweight charms that were permanent on the other two trunks. He would have shrunk Ron's, but apparently Mrs Weasley believed in hard work. Harry and Hermione couldn't quite work that one out since all wizards and witches used magic to cook, clean and tidy.

The trip went quickly as they weren't bothered by Malfoy at all this time. Harry knew why though; Sirius had disowned his two cousins that were still Blacks, which included Draco's mum and had made Harry his heir, which meant that Harry was now the heir to two Ancient and Noble families. Harry didn't quite understand why that stopped Malfoy only that it did. Apparently, Sirius would teach him the ins and outs of pureblood politics and etiquette so that he could words and not action to stop potential fights with others.

Coming through the barrier, Harry spotted Sirius straightaway, actually it was his bark of a laugh that got his attention. Sirius was standing next to a couple that were obviously muggles from their clothes and the fact they didn't 'feel' magical like Hermione or Sirius did. He approached Sirius who brightened immediately upon seeing his godson as well as Hermione, the girl who had made it possible for him to be free. He had greatly enjoyed speaking to her parents, they were intelligent, level-headed and fun to be around. As Harry came up to him, Sirius hugged him hard and whispered a greeting, letting go, he turned to face Hermione's parents to introduce Harry.

"Mike, Jane, let me introduce Harry, my godson; he's the one that has made everything possible with the help of Hermione."

Harry greeted Hermione's parents with handshakes to both, whilst Jane commented on how much he had grown in a year since they last met. Harry explained that Hermione was just talking to a girlfriend regarding some homework that needed to be done over the summer. Eventually, Hermione arrived and ran over to hug her parents dropping her trunk and Crookshanks behind. Harry smiled and went to pick those items up to bring them to her, which she thanked him for. Sirius and Hermione's parents having already made plans for a get together in France with Harry or Hermione's knowledge decided to make their way to their next destinations: the Grangers back to Oxford and Sirius and Harry to Gringotts. Hermione and Harry hugged goodbye and Hermione shyly slipped a kiss in much to hers and Harry's embarrassment. Sirius had a large grin on his face, whilst Hermione's parents were trying hard not to laugh with Mike also trying to look strict.

"Not a word Sirius, not a word if you know what's good for you." Harry said as he walked away to the taxi rank with as much dignity as he could with a red face. Sirius sniggered to himself as he walked behind Harry. Harry, even through his embarrassment, was worried what the Goblin healers would find within him – he could feel in his gut that there was something very wrong with him and his gut instinct had never let him down before. He could hope to all that was high and mighty that anything they found could be healed or at least sorted out.

A.N: This is the new story. I hope you like the intro, I will try to update at least once a week though I may be able to do more so over the next seven days.

I am going to try and write in a manner that allows for the reader to understand the mood of the protagonists. The story will get darker in the sense that Harry and Hermione's innocence will be stripped away at varying paces. Sirius is aware of the prophecy and its wording and will tell Harry this summer over a bottle of wine.

Hermione's character will be strong and independent; she will become much more self-assured of her abilities and body. The Flamels will make an appearance although there will be no family relation, however, it will become a family –like relationship.

Notes specifically for canoncansodoff and pstibbons: thanks for the comments and I hope you feel that I have taken the opinions on board.

Finally, I welcome all reviews, in fact I insist there be some!!! Please give me feedback – positive or not. Thanks also for the kind words regarding Julien – I am only touched by all this.