"But that's awful!" Hermione exclaimed. "How could he leave you with those terrible people and…oh, this is just too much!"
"Sirius thinks it has to do with this spell that my Mum did and some wards she put up at my aunt's." Harry admitted. "He thinks Dumbledore was trying to protect me."
She looked furious for a second before her face froze into mute horror.
"What?" Harry asked.
Hermione sighed heavily and leaned closer to him, lowering her voice. "You don't think…he was Chief Warlock when Sirius was imprisoned and he should have made sure Sirius got a trial. Do you…"
Harry was already shaking his head. "Sirius doesn't think it was deliberate. He says Dumbledore should have checked but that he's pretty sure from the conversation they had in the office when Sirius was captured that Dumbledore honestly thought he was guilty." He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Dumbledore's in Thailand and by the time he gets back I'll be adopted and he won't have a say in it anymore."
"It's just so…unbelievable! He's always seemed so…good and kind and great." Hermione said miserably. "He's Albus Dumbledore! He's not supposed…"
"To make mistakes?" Harry said quietly. "Sirius says nobody is perfect."
"I guess not." Hermione said with a huff. She sighed and changed the subject. "Ron sent a letter with Errol. He's invited us to the Quidditch World Cup. My Mum and Dad are thinking about that too although I'm not really sure I want to go. Have you talked with him yet?"
Harry shook his head. "We've only been back a couple of days and we've been settling into our new house. We're supposed to be seeing them tomorrow evening to give them an invite to the adoption – Ron and his parents, I mean."
She bit her lip again. "You're not inviting Ginny?"
Her question took him aback. He hadn't really had much contact with Ginny over the past year although they'd exchanged small talk in the common room and sat together occasionally at meals. He'd tried to pay her some attention since the previous year had been so horrible for her but he felt awkward around her. He still half-expected her to fall into her butter dish if he was honest. "If I invite Ginny then I have to invite Fred and George, and…I don't really have an issue with it but Sirius wanted to keep it small."
"Would it be so bad?" Hermione asked. "It's just…Ginny and I chatted a bit at the end of the year and she wants to get to know you better. If we want to make more friends like you were saying before – and I actually think that's a good suggestion – we should try and get to know more people. Ginny might be a good place to start."
Harry sighed and confessed the real reason. "Yeah, but I think Ginny has a…"
"Crush on you?" Hermione nodded. "Of course she does."
"Then why…"
"Because, Harry, she wants to get past it and become your friend." Hermione said. "I know it's awkward but the Boy Who Lived was her childhood hero and you saved her life so of course she has a massive crush on you. It's quite a lot for her to get past."
"I helped save your life and you didn't get a crush on me." Harry pointed out, proud of his logic.
Hermione blushed and looked a tad guilty; Harry stared at her speechless as he realised the implication.
"Look, that was me. Obviously I was mature enough not to get a crush on you." Hermione's cheeks reddened even more as she blatantly lied and she made a hand wave as though to dismiss the entire thing. "Ginny…I think all she really wants is a chance to get past her crush and get to know you."
"I'm not promising anything," Harry said deciding they should drop the subject quickly rather than dwell on the fact that Hermione had once had a crush on him, "but I'll talk with Sirius about inviting all the Weasleys."
Hermione smiled at him brightly. "Thank you, Harry." She frowned suddenly. "You know I owe you a life debt for the troll – and Merlin! I owe Ron too!"
"I don't think so," Harry said, "from what Sirius told me you can't owe someone a life debt if they were responsible for placing you in danger in the first place and Ron was the reason why you were in the bathroom." He waved his hand. "As for me, if you ever did owe me anything, you've saved my life since, and besides…saving Sirius paid it back tenfold, Hermione."
Her eyes took on a mischievous glint. "I tell you what; just to make sure there are no debts between us, I'll run interference for you if Ginny gets too crushy."
"That isn't funny!" Harry exclaimed hotly, although he wasn't truly mad at her teasing.
"It's a little funny," Hermione retorted, "and besides you should be happy someone likes you." Her face fell. "I don't think I'm going to have a queue of boys lining up to ask me to Hogsmeade."
Harry felt the same disturbed lurch in his belly as he had earlier but his need to reassure her trounced it. Unfortunately he had no idea how to reassure her and settled for squeezing her arm absently. She smiled at him in appreciation though so maybe it had been the right thing to do.
The sound of a throat being cleared at the head of the table had them both looking up sharply.
Sirius smirked at Harry. His gaze fell pointedly to where Harry was still holding onto Hermione's arm. Harry blushed bright red and let go.
"Your Dad wanted your help." Sirius told Hermione.
She sighed and headed over to the grill. Sirius sat down and grinned at Harry.
"Don't," Harry warned him briskly, "or I'll tell Remus about the time Healer Fay was over when we were swimming and you lost your…"
"We swore we would never speak of that." Sirius reminded him quickly.
He stared at his godfather.
"Fine, no teasing about how cosy you and Hermione were looking." Sirius promised in a grumbling tone.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief and sat up straighter as Hermione returned with a plate of piled high with burgers, steaks and chops.
"I hope you're hungry." Miriam said with a laugh as she and Wallace rejoined them.
The topic of conversation turned to questions over how comfortable Sirius seemed in the muggle world and Harry sat back, content to listen to tales of how his Mum had made sure the Marauders could handle muggle things. He glanced at Hermione and felt his stomach flip-flop again. He was hungry, Harry thought determinedly; that was probably all it was.
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