Disclaimer: I don't own any of J. 's characters or settings. I'm just playing in her world.

Warning: This Chapter has Harry/Hermione in it but this fic will soon be Snarry. If you don't like don't read.

Chapter 1

"Come on Harry! It's time to go to Hermione's house!" Ron Weasley shouted as he ran up the stairs to the room Harry shared with Ron at the Burrow.

Fifteen year old Harry Potter sighed heavily and struggled to pick up his trunk as Ron bounded into the room.

"Hurry up, Harry! What's taking so long?" Ron took in the sight of his small friend struggling to lift his heavy trunk and rushed to assist so as not to reach late at the Grangers' and make a bad first impression on his fiance's family.

Harry and Ron made their way to the living room in silence and was greeted by the sight of Ron's entire family. Mrs. Weasley beamed with pride at her last son. Harry swallowed his sorrow at losing his mate and pasted a fake grin on his face. Hermione was so happy, there was little Harry could do for her anymore. As the submissive creature that he was, he was bound to obey his mate's commands. His mate wanted to be with Ron, and Harry could do nothing but watch from the sidelines and ache as his life-force was diminished every time she embraced another man, each time she was unfaithful.

After almost being squeezed to death by Mrs. Weasley's enthusiastic hug Harry took the floo first to Hermione's house. He was met with a face full of bushy brown hair.

"Hermione..." Harry sighed happily. His Creature absorbing the affection in her touch and the scent of his mate, hoping to be able to sustain himself for awhile on the warmth of a hug alone.

Hermione flung herself away from him as if she had been burnt. Harry's hands reached to her of it's own accord, longing clear in his eyes.

Someone cleared their throat and broke Harry's trance. Harry shook his head to clear his clouded mind.

Hermione's attention had already returned to the fireplace, expecting it to flare green any second. Harry wiped his face into a blank expression and turned to inspect the room they had arrived in. Hermione's living room was larger than the Dursley's by tenfold. It was painted a calming yellow so light it was almost cream, there was a large sofa in front of the fireplace surrounded by armchairs. Harry's perusal of the room stopped there as Hermione's family caught his eye.

They were seated in the aforementioned couches. A tall well built man with peppered brown hair and honey brown eyes with a stern look on his face sat next to a medium height woman with blue eyes, bushy, brown hair like Hermione and a brilliant smile on her face. Harry assumed that these were Hermione's parents as she neglected to introduce him to them.

On the armchair to the right of the sofa sat a pregnant woman who looked to be in her late twenties and had dirty blonde hair, dark brown eyes and a kind smile on her lips. While on the left side of the sofa a man who seemed to be in his early thirties sat with a small frown on his face and light green eyes. Harry didn't know them. No one was looking at him.

A sliver of pain pushed through Harry's heart. Harry glanced at Hermione and saw that she was occupied with dusting soot off of Ron's robe. Harry sighed quietly and moved to stand to the side, out of the way of his mate and her fiance as they moved forward to the empty sofa across from Mr. and Mrs. Granger.

"Ron this is my dad, Jake Granger and my mom, Jane Granger...mom, dad this is Ron, my fiance."

Harry flinched and thanked Merlin that nobody was watching him, their attention was riveted on the redhead.

"Hi." Ron waved at them. Mrs. Granger's smile diminished slightly and a frown made its way onto Mr. Granger's face. Hermione continued with her introduction.

"This is my Aunt Lizzie and my Uncle Richie." Ron nodded to them. Lizzie smiled at him in a welcoming gesture while Richie's expression turned cold.

Harry shook his head slightly at the rudeness of his best friend. The movement caught the attention of Hermione's mother.

"Who's your friend, Hermione?" She asked quietly.

Hermione turned around and glared at Harry for taking the attention away from her fiance. Inwardly, Harry curled into a corner and sobbed at the clear disapproval in his mate's eyes. Outwardly, Harry expression was blank of any emotions as he waited for Hermione to introduce him.

"This is Harry Potter, our best friend." Hermione said through gritted teeth.

Harry bowed respectfully and stepped forward to greet his mate's relatives.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Granger." Harry shook his hand firmly. "Mrs. Granger." Harry brought her hand to his lips and ghosted a kiss over the back of it. He repeated this process with the other adults and stepped back to be at his mate's side.

Hermione stared angrily at him and ordered in an imitation of a gentle voice. "Why don't you go and unpack Harry? The others will be here soon."

Harry nodded in acceptance of his task. "Of course, Hermione. Excuse me." he said to Hermione's relatives. Harry was shown to his room by a maid.

When he was finished unpacking his clothes Harry decided to take a bath. His mate wouldn't want him to be dirty after all. Grinning at the thought of how pleased his mate would be with him, he went in search of the bathroom.

Half an hour later:

Harry toweled his hair dry and returned to the Grangers' living room. It was deserted. Harry frowned.

"Hermione?" Harry called out. There was no answer. Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on his mate's scent. He followed the trail to the back garden.

It was beautiful; different varieties of flowers grew in concentric circles with paths cutting to the center where a long picnic table lay under the branches of an oak tree. But Harry had eyes only for his mate. To him his mate was more precious than all the beautiful things in the universe.

The table was in total chaos, the noise of Ron's babbling was overwhelming. Harry approached silently. There were several new faces around the table, Harry didn't recognize any of them. Harry remembered that Hermione had said that her parents were hosting the Annual Summer Family Vacation.

"Harry! What took you so long?!" Hermione scolded. Harry cringed inwardly.

"Were you waiting for me?"

"Of course we were Harry!" Hermione exclaimed angrily.

"I'm sorry Hermione. I will not keep you waiting again." Harry said as a shock of pain went through his body at making his mate unhappy. Harry concentrated on keeping his distress from appearing on his face.

Hermione sighed impatiently. "Well, sit down and I'll introduce you to my family."

Harry sat in a vacant chair near Hermione's mother and father and turned his attention to the unfamiliar faces.

"Harry, these are my cousins; Gemma, Chris and Rachel." Gemma was a tall, strawberry blonde with blue eyes, Chris was a medium sized, medium built guy with short black hair and mischievous looking blue eyes, while Rachel was a short, black-haired girl with brown eyes.

Everyone smiled and greeted Harry. He nodded his greeting with a happy grin on his face.

Harry served himself some chocolate cake and watched quietly as everyone resumed conversation. Ron hadn't looked up throughout the entire introduction and was busy gobbling down the pastries as fast as he could.

Hermione's mother glanced over at Ron in disgust then leaned over to whisper in Harry's ear.

"Gemma, Chris and Rachel are magical too, Harry. There is no need to be secretive about magic in this house."

"Thank you for informing me, Jane." Harry smiled and nodded his head in understanding.

"So, tell us Hermione, when did you first meet your fiance?" Chris asked curiously.

"I met Ron in my first year at Hogwarts Chris, he saved me from a Troll!" Hermione boasted.

Harry looked up sharply at Hermione's omitting of his name in her rescue. He had after all, jumped onto the back of the fully grown mountain Troll to save her. Hermione prattled on about 'Ron's adventures' at Hogwarts completely oblivious to the hurt stare Harry was sending her way.

This did not go unnoticed by Hermione's mother.

Harry had tears in his eyes, a knife of pain was stabbing into his heart. His mate was ashamed of him. She refused to mention his part in any aspect of her life. Harry turned his gaze to his plate, took a bite of his cake and attempted to keep his tears from falling. The cake tasted like sawdust in his mouth.

Mrs. Granger exchanged bemused glances with Mr. Granger and further down the table Gemma and Rachel raised eyebrows. Chris continued the conversation with Hermione, Lizzie looked at Harry concernedly while her husband looked at Ron's eating habits in disgust.

Harry didn't take note of any of this, as deep in thought as he was about his mate's disappointment in him.

"So, Hermione, what about Harry? How did you meet him?" Gemma asked curiously.

"Oh,Harry was with Ron too, when he saved me from the Troll."

Harry perked his head up at being worthy of being mentioned by his mate and a tiny smile crossed his features which then promptly vanished as Hermione went on to talk about Ron. Harry sighed, at least he was important enough to his mate to be mentioned once during her conversation. It was probably all he could expect from his unfaithful mate.

"So Hermione, when is the wedding?" A voice broke into his thoughts.

Harry looked up slowly and stared at Hermione and Ron intently. Hermione grabbed onto Ron's hand and squeezed it slightly. Her boyfriend finally detached himself from the food to look at her in annoyance. "What?" He asked rudely.

"We were thinking at the end of summer."

Harry's gasp of pain was covered by the sound of the frenzied planning that the females were suddenly engaging in. Hermione beamed at Ron happily and kissed his cheek.

Harry felt nauseous and lightheaded. He stood slowly and the table fell silent as everyone turned to look at him curiously.

"May I please be excused?" Harry asked Hermione's parents politely.

"Of course, Harry." Mrs. Granger answered while Mr. Granger nodded. "Are you alright dear?" She asked concernedly.

"My head hurts, I'm just going to have a lie down." Harry explained, glancing at Hermione to see that she was happily talking to Ron about wanting to see Cherry Blossoms. Pleased that his mate would not be upset at his absence Harry turned back to Mrs. Granger.

"Alright, dear. Please let me know if it worsens okay?"

"Yes ma'am." Harry bowed slightly. "Excuse me."Harry turned and headed into the house, remembering his mate's unhappiness at never having seen a Cherry Blossom before.