Unknown to Harry, his relatives were also very busy. Sirius, in his attempt to destroy any chance of Harry going back to Privet Drive, had paid them more than enough to be able to move to a larger house in a better neighbourhood. The Dursleys were currently packing their belongings, ready to move a day later. Also unknown to Harry, Kreacher was hiding nearby, ready to prevent a manipulative old man from interfering. While unable to fight the wizard, the old house-elf knew quite a few tricks to distract and misdirect someone for long enough to make a difference. When told that this was done to save Harry from abusive relatives, Kreacher became committed to the task. Harry and Hermione had become his most adored people since they removed the Horcrux in the locket.
At Hogwarts, Dumbledore was also busy packing. He was going to spend several weeks in Switzerland, at the annual meetings of the ICW. Had he not been distracted, he would have noticed that none of the many instruments on his shelf was spinning or moving in any way, but since he'd seen the Potter boy that morning, he didn't even bother to check, just like he hadn't really looked at any of these since Halloween.
\/\/\/
Harry was content to be settled in the guest room at the Granger house. It was adjacent to Hermione's room, and that made it perfect. He had a very good night, sleeping with no interruptions and waking from a very pleasant dream, although he couldn't remember any details. Hermione knocked on his door even before he was fully dressed, not that any of them really minded. After that time-travel ritual, none of them gave nudity a second thought, and Harry was already dressed, lacking only his shirt.
"Come for breakfast," Hermione told him. "My parents have already left, so it's only the two of us."
Luckily, it was all waiting for them on the table, and both knew how to use the microwave oven to heat whatever needed heating. They ate silently, only glancing at each other occasionally and smiling. For a while, they had no worries.
Hermione was eager to keep this good mood. "The weather is quite nice. Why don't we go swimming in our backyard pool?"
"I didn't bring a swimsuit. I have none, actually," Harry told her.
She shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. I don't have a swimsuit either. My parents usually take me to clothing-optional beaches or clothing-free ones. The only time I really needed a swimsuit was when I was six, when I took a swimming course in the public pool. They wouldn't let children older than three stay nude there."
Harry blushed. "So, you want us to stay naked? What will your parents say?"
She shrugged again. "They'll probably undress and jump into the pool, unless it gets too cold or too rainy to enjoy it."
Harry gave it a thought and decided that it didn't really matter. Currently, they were both too young for sex, and their older selves had already seen each other naked, so it was no news either. "Fine. We'll go naked."
She turned a bit mischievous. "We need to use some sun lotion to prevent sunburns. I'll help you smear on your back and you'll help with mine."
It took him a few moments to understand why she smiled that way. First, Hermione was approaching thirteen and her body was blooming, hinting at the woman she was going to become. Second, after he meticulously covered her back with sun lotion, she also asked him to do the same for her buttocks and her thighs. Luckily, he was not yet affected. He suspected that within a year or so, his reaction would not be so innocent. He still liked touching Hermione wherever she wanted him to touch, and he enjoyed her touching him the same way. It was completely innocent, but it still held a promise for the not-so-distant future.
They spent less than an hour at the pool. "Despite the sun lotion, our skin may not be ready for prolonged exposure to the sun. We should go back inside, or wear some clothes, to protect our skin," Hermione told him.
Harry didn't mind. Hermione chose to go inside and start doing their summer homework, not bothering with clothing. Harry didn't mind either. It turned a bit embarrassing when her mother came home, to take care of lunch for the children. Seeing both naked, she didn't hesitate to join them in the buff. She didn't even seem to mind when Harry scanned her, not very furtively. Actually, using his future memories, Harry realized that Hermione looked very much like her mother, except for her hair. The young woman in his memories was almost an exact copy of the slightly older woman who was busy with lunch.
"Liked what you saw?" Hermione teased him after her mother returned to work.
"Why not? At eighteen, you looked almost exactly like her, and I remember I liked it very much."
She smiled teasingly. "Well, we're too young now, but you have something to look forward to."
Harry didn't mind the teasing. "You know I love you, no matter how you look and what you wear, or not."
She smiled. "I know. I just wish we'd acted on our feelings before returning to these young bodies. It's sometimes quite frustrating to know I have a few more years before I can do what I've been wanting to do for years."
"Really? Was I really so oblivious, not to notice how you felt?"
She sighed. "It was partly my fault. I didn't think you could ever find me interesting as more than a friend, so I kept my feelings well hidden, even from myself."
"This time, we won't let that happen!" Harry said reassuringly.
The weather turned much colder during the afternoon, forcing them to get clothed. They didn't really mind, as they continued working together on their summer homework.
\/\/\/
Harry enjoyed his stay with the Grangers. While the adults worked each day, they still had the evenings to spend with the children. They took them to the cinema and to some restaurants. They even spent a day at a theme park during the weekend. They treated Harry so nicely that he almost felt like he was a part of the family.
As the second week was ending, they started talking about their summer plans. "Sirius said he'd love to join our summer vacation, so you two can stay together. We intend to leave for Spain at the first weekend of August and stay two weeks there, at a clothing-free resort. Hermione has already been with us at similar resorts. Basically, it's like the way you are here when the weather is warm enough – you've seen we all like to stay nude. The weather there is always warm, or even hot, so we're going to stay nude the whole time we spend there. Hopefully, we shall also be able to join some excursions in the region. We'll need to get dressed for those trips. Is that alright with you?"
Harry shrugged. "As long as I'm like everybody else, I don't mind. Does Sirius know about this?"
Dave smiled. "Sirius thought it was just a prank, at first. When we managed to explain that this was a way of life for some, he was eager to try it. I'm still not sure how well he may fit in."
Harry chuckled. "He'll fit in, alright," yet his thoughts went in a different direction.
Sirius came home a few days later and quickly brought them their Hogwarts letters. When comparing their grades, they could hardly find a difference. Both excelled in all the subjects. Harry was marginally better at DADA and Hermione surpassed him slightly in Herbology, but that was just nitpicking. Harry suspected that Ron's grades were much lower.
They now had the task of convincing Sirius to help them find the Gaunt ring – another Horcrux. They knew it was very dangerous, as evidenced by it almost killing Dumbledore in the sixth year of their future selves. They would make sure not to touch it at all.
"You know, we were considering other hiding places of Voldemort's Horcruxes," Harry told Sirius. "Hermione and I think that one is probably hidden under the Gaunt residence. Well, it's actually a shack, as far as we know. We've found the address. We will probably need your Auror expertise to bypass its protections and to keep us safe."
Sirius frowned. Tackling an object that was readily accessible was one thing, Searching for such a dark object in an unknown place with uncharted dangers was something else completely. He didn't want to expose Harry to such a danger.
"I don't think you should go near that place. It may be too dangerous. I think I'll ask Moony to help me with that. Once we find that object, you can destroy it. What do you suspect it to be?"
"We think it would be a ring from his Gaunt ancestry, but it's almost sure to be protected by parselmagic, since Voldemort thought he was the only Parselmouth."
Sirius frowned some more. "Where can I find a Parselmouth? They are extremely rare, you know."
Harry smiled at him. "Don't you remember what I've told you? I could speak with a snake at the zoo. I can probably speak to others too, making me a Parselmouth." That was one thing he'd checked as soon as he could after the removal of the Horcrux in his head.
Sirius sighed. "Alright, you may come with us, but Hermione should stay safe."
"We can leave her close to the place and use some muggle communication device called Walkie-talkie to keep her informed and to get her advice. She's extremely smart, you know."
Sirius needed some explanations about that device and then had another idea. "Your father and I had a similar communication device built using magic. Of course, we needed Moony to do most of the detailed design, but it worked really well even at Hogwarts. I'll see if we still have some or if we need to build one or two."
With Kreacher taking care of the transportation, Harry and Hermione spent practically every day together. They would spend the day at the Granger pool when the weather allowed, or enjoy Sirius's larger home and library when the weather was less cooperative. Moony was brought into the plan and he checked everything once again, just the way Hermione used to do. They had their program ready a few days before the chosen date, with alternate plans for each and every step, along with two full contingency plans. Moony also scouted the area several times, taking photographs and drawing maps. They were as ready as they could be.
The morning they chose for their operation turned to be very nice. Sirius and Remus used side-along apparition to take the two children to a secluded place, just a short walk from the outer wards on the Gaunt shack. Hermione climbed a tree and hid between its branches, unseen by passers-by but able to view the scene with no obstacles. They checked the communication mirrors and started to work. Sirius had no problem dismantling the outer ward, only to find out that it was connected to another. Luckily, he was quick enough to duck out of the way of a magical blast that could have flung him to the top of the nearby trees, or just break all his bones.
"I don't think we need to be delicate with these wards," Harry spoke through the mirrors. "Use the safest way to remove them, even if it may trigger some alarms. He can't do anything right now, and if we succeed, he will be conquered completely before he could get a body or create any more such objects."
Sirius and Remus accepted his idea, blasting away each layer of wards. Once they removed these wards they had to confront a bunch of snakes. Harry was quick to notice that these snakes were simply hungry, probably due to the wards preventing most prey animals from coming there. "$Your imprisonment is over. You no longer need to stay here. You can go wherever you can find enough prey.$" Harry told them.
The snakes hesitated. They still remembered the orders of the other speaker and his promises, which proved to be lies. This one didn't demand anything and didn't promise anything except freedom. One of them moved away, easily passing the limit of the inner wards and moving forward. "$The blocking is really gone! We can leave now!$" it told the others.
In a matter of seconds, all the snakes slithered away. This didn't mean that the shack was left unprotected. Harry could sense a lot of dark magic around the door and the window. He suspected it was also parselmagic, but he didn't think he should check this. "Do you see any way in without going through the door or the window?" he asked Hermione.
"None, but you can make your own entrance by breaking an opening through the wall, I think, or just dismantle the shack by levitating away its roof and then the ceiling and the walls and even the floor. There may still be some curses even on the ground, but you don't need the shack."
While blasting a hole in a wall was quicker, Sirius didn't want to take the risk of some curses being in the ceiling or on the floor. Along with Remus, he dismantled the shack piece by piece. When something couldn't be removed easily enough, they just blasted it away. Harry knew that he and Hermione already had the knowledge and the power to help the two men, but didn't want it revealed yet.
After a while, only a few broken floorboards stayed there, along with a stone-lined hole. Remus checked to make sure that they had at least one area that was curse-free, so that they could safely approach the hole and later leave just as safely. He then approached cautiously, with Sirius ready to levitate him away in case of danger. Remus found a box in the hole. It wasn't cursed, but it reeked of dark magic. Sirius passed him a magic suppressing bag and Remus levitated the box into the bag and tied its end as securely as he could.
They didn't want to risk staying near that place any longer than strictly necessary. With the dark object secured, the two adults moved quickly away. The children were waiting for them where expected. They each hugged a child and apparated to Grimmauld place.