Worried parents

After a short argument, during which he transfigured a large cloth for her from the nearby stool so that she could hide her…

…assets ~cough cough~

No. He should not think about that. She was his aunt.

Not that their relationship made her any less beautiful.

Damn those curves and…

Shut up. Don't think about it.

God this is so messed up.

He clamped down the occlumency on his mind and stopped his thoughts from going in that direction. Or any other direction for that matter.

"I was with my husband." Andromeda said and he thanked the gods that Bitty had not brought her a moment later.

Or those panties and bra might not be there either.

Not that it was a problem. He wouldn't mind…

Oh Merlin, stop thinking already.

Occlumency shields on thoughts once again.

"I'm sorry." He said sincerely "I did not meant to… intrude upon your… oh fuck it. Look, my friend is having a severe headache. And I need your help."

It was only then did Andromeda noticed Hermione in the room and her eyes softened at the sleeping girl's form.

Then the eyes were back on him, filled with suspicion and anger once again as she asked "What did you do?"

And he sighed

This was going to be a long explanation

—————

It was a long explanation in which he made sure that the existence of the Diadem was not revealed to yet another person.

Andromeda had, of course, suspected that he was hiding something from her but had respected his privacy and not asked any additional questions.

Then he diagnosed Hermione and after a few basic medical spells, she went back and brought three other potions from her home.

He recognized the dreamless sleep potion and the calming drought but he had no idea what the last one was.

Regardless, he trusted her and she administered the potions to the girl who looked slightly better after drinking the potion and fell asleep instantly.

He realize that Hermione must be tired from reading all those books. And the only thing keeping her awake was the severe headache she was suffering through.

Maybe he should start keeping a Sleeping potion and a calming drought in his purse for emergencies like this as well.

After making sure the girl was asleep, Andromeda told him to escort her back home before she left.

To her husband.

To…

Don't Fucking Think About It.

Occlumency shield ACTIVATED.

And now he had an unconscious little girl that he needed to escort home.

At 11 pm in the night.

"Selena. I do not survive this, then remember that I want my ashes to be deposited in the Nile river."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I like it. It's long." He paused "Shit, that came out wrong."

—————

When he apparated outside the Granger's house at 11 pm, the lights inside were still lit up which meant that Hermione's parents were still awake.

Not that he had expected any different but he had hoped that they would have gone to sleep and that he wouldn't have to deal with an angry mother and father duo.

Regardless, it was what it was.

So he carried Hermione in his arms and walked forward, this enhanced muscles in his body carrying her weight with ease.

He pressed the bell and could instantly hear hurried footsteps coming from the other side of the door before it opened and Dan and Emma appeared in front of him.

"Hermione. Oh dear." She looked anxiously at him and asked "What happened to her?"

Unlike Emma, Dan looked angry instead of worried "What did you do to her boy?" he thundered and Harry held the urge to groan at the drama.

He then cast a silencing charm and both of them kept moving their mouths for a few more moments before they realized that no sound was coming out.

That ought to teach them not to fuck with him.

No wait! They were Hermione's parents so he should treat them with respect.

"Don't shout." He said slowly but in the silence of the house, his words were clearly heard by both the parents "She's sleeping."

Emma gave a nod but Dan still looked a bit worried before he moved forward and took Hermione from his arms.

Except her arms were still wrapped around his neck and she was not letting go.

And so came the hilarious situation in which the father was trying to take his daughter from the boy but the daughter didn't want to let go and hung on to the boy even tightly.

It was like a tug of war with only one willing player.

Then the situation continued on for a few more moments at which point it just became awkward.

Finally, he took Hermione's legs from Dan to save both of them from this embarrassment and carried her in a princess carry before getting inside their home by pushing both of them aside.

He could almost feel the annoyed look that Emma was giving Dan and the disgruntled look that Dan was giving him.

He knew where Hermione's room was so he carried her up the stairs and deposited the girl in her bed.

Except that the girl was not letting go this time either.

Sigh…

It all seemed so inviting.

He could just sleep with her and hug her all night long like a teddy bear. Her cheeks did have the softness required to be a teddy bear.

Except that Dan was still glaring daggers at his back so all of this was nothing but a wishful thinking.

Not to mention that Hermione would very embarrassed if he treated her like a teddy bear.

Oh well.

Hermione's grip was strong, but not strong enough in the face of his enhanced strength so he easily removed her arms from around his neck and put her to the bed before covering her with the blanket.

He wondered about the wisdom of kissing her goodbye but with Dan standing a few feet behind him and glaring daggers at his back, that seemed like a rather foolish idea so he simply patted the blanket and he switched off the light before they went down the stairs.

—————

"This… is the culprit behind the reason why your daughter arrived 5 hours after her designated time." He said and pointed at the Diadem kept in front of Dan and Emma.

"A tiara?" Emma asked and picked up the artifact before studying it a bit closely while Dan just kept glaring at him.

Seriously, what the hell is it with Fathers, Daughters and Daughters' boyfriend scenario.

He was not even her official boyfriend yet and he was already getting this kind of treatment.

Well, he did came to their home late at night with their daughter's in his arms so he felt that the situation was not that unwarranted but still.

He liked Hermione.

So he would rather like her parents then not.

But was Dan it rather hard to like him with all the glares that he sent his way.

So he just starting ignoring the man.

Two can play this stupid game.

"Not any normal tiara. It is a very ancient artifact belonging to a witch named Rowena Ravenclaw. One of the founder of Hogwarts." He explained and Emma's eyes widened.

He read her mind and realized that she had studied Hogwarts: A history along with Hermione and knew that significance of the four founders.

"Then… is this the Diadem that was said to have been lost a long time ago?" she asked and he nodded.

"Yes. I found this artifact some time after the start of this term. And I've been using it ever since."

"Why didn't you…" she hesitated in asking the question but Harry knew what she wanted to ask without even reading her mind.

Why didn't you give the Diadem back to the authorities.

Like mother, like daughter.

Now how the hell should he explain to them how corrupted their ministry truly is. And that if he gave it to the ministry officials, then it would probably slip out of their hands and into Lucius' pockets within a single day.

"It's a lost and found property." He explained "If a descendant of Ravenclaw was still alive then this would have rightfully belonged to him or her. But since her line died out a long time ago, I could not easily claim this artifact as my own according to the laws."

Emma nodded her head at this but from reading her mind, he knew that she was still a bit suspicious as she didn't knew any of the wizarding laws.

Which was a good thing because if she did, then she would have taken Hermione out of the school and out of the magical world a long time ago.

After all, who would want to send their children to a society which punish the murder of a muggle with three months of time in prison.

Still, Emma was suspicious of him so he had to make sure that she doesn't do something foolish.

Like her daughter.

"Emma. I am putting a lot of trust in you by showing you this Diadem. The last person who owned an artifact belonging to one of the founders' was murdered because of it. So can you not tell anyone else about this?" he asked sincerely and she paled at his words before nodding frantically at him.

His words were not a lie either.

Hepzibah Smith, the last owner of the Helga Hufflepuff's Cup and Salazar Slytherin's locket was killed by Tom Riddle who then stole those artifacts and foolishly turned them into a horcrux.

As if splitting his soul was not foolish enough for him.

"That still doesn't explain was Hermione didn't came home early or why she was in such a deep sleep." Dan interjected from the sides and Harry nodded his head, acknowledging his words.

"The thing about this artifact is that it helps sharpens the mind of anyone who wears it" he explained "Not only that but it also gives the wearer Eidetic memory. You do know what and Eidetic memory is right?" he asked and Emma looked at him with a deadpanned expression and he chuckled.

Then she looked back at the Diadem once again, just that this time, her eyes were full of reverence and longing.

"Can I… can I…" she hesitated and looked at him and he instantly understood her meaning.

"Yes. You can use it for tonight. But I'm not sure if it'll work on a non magical person as such artifacts usually take the magic from the wearer in order to work. But go ahead, give it a try. Who knows whether it'll work or not."

She eyes brightened at his works and she instantly wore the diadem and went to the nearest bookshelf (yes, there were a lot of bookshelves in Hermione's home) and took out a thick medical book from it before she sat down on the chair and started reading it.

But after some time, her expression started to dim and after about five minutes, she despondently shook her head before closing the book and the Diadem back into the table.

"Looks like it really doesn't work on a non magical." She said with a sigh though the longing look in her eyes didn't go away.

She looked so similar to Hermione with that expression that he sighed and said "How about you wear the diadem and I'll keep channeling magic inside it and then we'll see if it works or not."

At his words, her eyes brightened once again and she excitedly put the diadem back on her head and pulled out the book, reading it once again and he went sat beside her and pointed a finger toward the diadem before willing a small part of this magic to start transferring to the artifact.

Surprisingly, it worked.

Unsurprisingly, after wearing the diadem, she finished the whole book within an hour and remembered everything from it.

Also unsurprisingly, she got a mild headache for the diadem for a whole hour non stop.

"That is the reason why your daughter came so late at home." He explained "She over used the Diadem without knowing it's negative side effects and suffered a severe headache. When I woke up, she had already finished a whole bunch of books and was groaning from headache."

"I took her to one of the healers I knew" he lied. Although Andormeda knew a few healing spells that didn't make her a healer. But Emma didn't needed to know that. "And that healer administered her a few headache potions before giving her a sleeping potion which was the reason why she was so out of it when I came here with her."

After his explanation, Emma sobbed a bit at what daughter had to suffer before she crushed him in a hug "Thank you. Thank you for taking care of her. Thank you so much." She sobbed a bit and despite the awkwardness, he patted her back in order to soothe her.

By this point, even Dan didn't look as angry at him as he did before, realizing that the whole situation with Hermione was really his fault. Though he himself did thought that it was partially his fault.

He left Hermione's home at 1 am in the midnight, a bit exhausted because of all the emotions but still excited about working on the Central Magical Tower once again.

Author's Note:- Thanks for reading.

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