Hermione suddenly remembered Harry's neglected childhood and felt the sorrow well up inside of her. She grabbed a big, furry, brown, and slightly worn teddy bear off the head of her bed and gave it to Harry. "Here, Harry. Take Mr. Fuzzybum. He's been my favourite bear ever since I was little. Give him a hug."
Harry gave Mr. Fuzzybum a tight squeeze. The soft, warm fabric of the bear made him very comfortable and relaxed. "I like him, Hermione. He smells like you," said Harry. He didn't notice Hermione blush, as he had closed his eyes to enjoy the sensations the teddy bear was giving him all the more.
Hermione saw how relaxed Harry was when he hugged the bear. In some ways, he was a little childish- no, that wasn't right. He was making up for the childhood he never had. Hermione stepped behind him and squeezed Harry and Mr. Fuzzybum in a tight hug. She gave Harry a quick kiss on the cheek and said to him, "Why don't you sleep with him tonight, Harry? It'll be the closest thing to being with me..." she suggested.
Harry tilted his head back and looked at Hermione. "I... umm... are you sure? I mean..."
"Just say yes, Harry."
"Yes. Thank you, Hermione."
That night, Harry dreamed the most beautiful dreams he ever had. With Hermione's aroma filling every breath, and the teddy bear's fur tickling his skin the way Hermione's hair did, he could honestly say he had never had a happier night's rest.
The next day, the entire family had gathered in the living room. They went over house rules, schedules, and outlined daily chores for the two kids. Harry was rather surprised at the extremely small, and simple, list of chores he had to do compared to what went on at the Dursleys. He could easily finish all of them in less than an hour. At the end of the meeting, however, Emma brought up an unfortunate subject. "Harry, why don't you give your parents a phone call to let them know you're doing alright here?"
Harry drew a sharp breath. Hermione placed her hand on his lap to reassure him. She leaned over and whispered, "I think you should tell them. Don't be afraid, Harry."
Harry nodded, and said, "Um... Well, my parents died when I was a baby... I've been living with my Aunt and Uncle."
Emma gasped, and quickly knelt down in front of Harry. "I'm sorry, Harry. I had no idea!"
Dan, however, furrowed his brow, noticing Harry's attitude change. He seemed to have come to terms with his parents' death long ago... that wasn't the real issue here. He crossed his arms, and asked, "You don't want us to contact them, do you? Are you running away from home?"
Hermione jumped to his defense. "Dad! They're horrible people! They treat Harry like a slave around the house, and they hate him just because he's a wizard! You can't possibly make him go back there!"
Dan had rarely ever seen Hermione become so passionate about anything. In fact, she was always a good girl, following the rules, respecting her elders- but the letter she wrote to them said that Harry had permission to stay over for the summer. For the first time in his memory, Hermione had lied to them. So why did it have to be for the sake of a boy? he thought, sighing. "I'm sorry, honey. They're his legal guardians. They need to know where he is. In fact, they could be calling the police and filing a missing-child report."
Harry almost laughed at that. "I doubt it. They'll be glad I'm gone... the only thing they'll miss about me is that I won't be doing all the work around the house."
Dan was still trying to figure out Harry. He couldn't be running away from home just because of some chores, he thought. Heck, he seemed relieved when we gave him the list of summer chores to do. Hermione says he works pretty hard at school, too. We'll have to get to the bottom of this. He asked Harry, "Well, I'll still have to talk to them. What's the phone number?"
Harry said, meekly, "Um... I don't know." Seeing the doubt in Dan's eyes, he continued. "They never let me use the telephone, and they told me they didn't want to be bothered by me when I was out of the house, so they never let me know the phone number." He could tell that Dan was shocked at the information, but still held some doubt, thinking it might have been a lie to avoid letting him call the Dursleys. Harry told Dan what he knew. "I don't know the whole mailing address, but they live at Number 4, Privet Drive, in Little Whinging, Surrey. Oh, and they're the Dursleys. My uncle is Vernon Dursley."
Dan seemed satisfied with that answer. "I can look up his number with that information. I think I'll make the call now." When he finally found the number, the rest of them listened in to the conversation.
"Hello? My name is Daniel Granger, could I speak to Mr. Dursley please? Yes... mhm... Mr. Dursley, I'm calling to tell you that a boy by the name of Harry Potter is staying over... what did you just call him? No, I don't... my daughter, yes. WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY? If you DARE speak like that to me or my family again, I swear..." He looked at the receiver, then turned around and saw everyone staring at him. "Well, that was easily the most unpleasant man I've ever had the misfortune of talking to. Harry, I'm sorry for doubting you, but you're welcome to stay at our house this summer."
Harry and Hermione both cheered and hugged each other. They never guessed it would have been so easy to get the parents' permission.
They spent most of their days studying together, cuddled in each other's arms while Hermione's parents were at work. As soon as they heard a car pull up, however, they would break apart instantly, and they just acted like good friends for the rest of the day. Neither was sure whether or not the parents suspected, but they had a feeling the jig would be up eventually- possibly before summer ended.
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