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Hermione stared at her hands, at the nails that she'd had painted green for the occasion though now she was starting to wonder if that was a good idea. Would she have been better to have natural coloured nails? Orange red to represent her old Hogwarts house? Was she completely overthinkimg this in the first place?
She could feel her chest constricting and part of her wondered if this was what it felt like to have a panic attack. No-one could blame her if she did have a panic attack - she was about to be reunited with her parents after all and the last time she had seen them she had been as bold as to take away their memories of herself and of magic. After the war, Hermione had used Ministry resources in order to find her parents again and when they had been located in Australia of all places she had sought them out.
Mr and Mrs Granger had had their memories restored a few days ago now but Hermione knew that she had to give them some space so that they could come to terms with what she had done.
It had taken her a while to be able to forgive herself even though she knew we exactly why she had do what she had and why it had been necessary. If Voldemort had won, he would have had her parents tortured for what they knew about Harry, even if what they knew about her best friend had been very little, even back then. Hermione had done her best to keep her muggle and magical lives separate.
That hadn't been because she was any level of ashamed of either of her worlds, it was because she was doing her best to keep her parents safe. In the end, however, she had decided that the best thing to do was to wipe their memories entirely. She knew them, or she had known them, and she knew that if they'd had any idea that something as big as a war was happening in the wizarding world then they would have put themselves at risk in order to attempt to help. Losing them to Australia and knowing that they were at least alive out there somewhere had been better than knowing they were leading a suicide mission.
"Ready?" Harry asked, careful not to touch her, though Hermione partly wanted him to wrap his arms around her and make her feel better about the things that she had done and about the things that she was going to do.
"As I'll ever be." She said quietly as she stood up, her eyes once again glancing around the dimly lit room. At least there was some consistency across tbe different wizarding authorities, she supposed.
Her parents had pretty much lived in thus building since their memories had been restored. The plan had been to ease them back into the life that they'd once lead but they'd struggled to adjust. Hermione knew that she would have struggled to adjust too, but she hated that they had to come to the Australian authorities to be able to meet with her parents when all she wanted to do was take them home.
She and Harry headed through a set of double doors and followed a Ministry employee along the winding corridors which she was sure had been designed so that they confused anyone who tried to break in, but she hadn't been able to make herself read up on the building when she had been thrown into emotional turmoil.
"I'll be right outside the door." The employee told them but Hermione wasn't sure if that was meant as comfort or as a threat. She decided to take it as a bit of both as the door in front of her swung open.And there they were, sitting at a grand table with their hands clasped together, looking every bit as down trodden as she felt. Harry gave her shoulder a squeeze before he took a seat opposite her parents and left Hermione to make her way over in her own time.
She felt sick but she knew that she couldn't allow for her flight response to kick in today. She had to go through with this. They didn't seem angry, at least not yet, so she was taking that as a good sign. They had the right to be angry with her though, because she had violated them and they deserved better than that. She knew now that she should have at least asked their permission or informed them of what she was going to do to them.
"Hermione. Please, sit." Her mother said softly, gesturing towards the chair beside Harry who was doing his best to resend that he was completely at home in this situation, even though it was clear that he was uncomfortable.Hermione swallowed thickly before she nodded and sat down. She felt uncomfortable too, like she shouldn't be here, but she couldn't make herself leave. She couldn't abandon them all over again, especially when this time she couldn't claim that it was for their own good.
"I - uh - thanks for meeting with me." She said quietly, knowing that she was being far too formal but she was unable to snap herself out of this one all that easily.
"You're our daughter." Her father said simply, as if this forgave her of the crimes that she had committed against them, the ones that she would never face repercussions for because she was a war hero. "We wanted to see you sooner."
Hermione dropped her eyes to her lap. She knew that they had tried to reach out to her but she had thought that it was for less than nice reasons and so she had said that she was busy - which was partly true. Hermione had been heavily involved in reforming the Ministry of Magic back in Britain, it seemed that some people believed that she was one of the best for the job. "I'm sorry." She whispered. She could feel herself starting to well up even though she had promised herself that she wouldn't cry. She was sure that she could get through this without breaking down, but the tears were not helping.
A hand was clasped around hers in the next moment, her fingers gripped in a larger hand and she let out a shaky breath as she lifted her head and met her father's gaze."We're just glad you're safe." He said softly. "Even when we were Wendal and Monica, we knew that there was something missing from our lives. We might not have known that something was you, but we knew that there was something." Her father said softly once he had her full attention again. "You're safe and alive and that's what matters."
Hermione swallowed thickly, hoping to keep her tears at bay. She glanced at her mother who was already crying and not at all afraid to show it. She didn't look at Harry who was no doubt even more awkward and uncomfortable than he had been before. She hated that he had been caught up in all of this but at the same time she was glad that he was here with her, to hold her hand when she needed it, even if for.the most part she didn't want him to touch her.
"No-one's angry at you, Hermione. I hope you know that." Her father continued, his grip tightening around hers just that little bit more. "We are so unbelievably proud of you." He released her hand then and cleared his throat before turning his head to face Harry. "And you. For not only keeping our girl safe but for saving the world."
Hermione knew that if by some miracle Harry hadn't already been shifting awkwardly in his seat that he would be now, and that he would no doubt also be blushing too. The boy who lived wasn't exactly good at taking compliments.
"I - uh - I was doing my duty." He said quietly and Hermione found herself reaching out to take his hand. She knew how heavily the fate of the world had hung on his shoulders and she knew that he was still slowly coming to terms with the fact that it was all over and that he was now free to live his life as he saw fit. No-one could tell him what he could and couldn't do anymore, and yet she knew that he still sought out that authority.
Thankfully Hermione's dad seemed to pick up on the fact that this wasn't exactly his most favourite conversation to be having and he turned his focus back to Hermione who made sure not to let go of Harry's hand.
"You're both incredible people." Her father said before he paused for a moment. "And where is Ron?"
Hermione blinked a couple of times. Of course they would ask about Ron. It had been Ron's brother's wedding she had last spoken to them about after all. It was crazy to think that it had been five years since that day now, and yet the conversation was so fresh in all of their minds.
"He had to stay back in England." She told him as she chanced a glance at her mother who had managed to somewhat pull herself together. "He's helping with his family's business. They - um - he didn't want to close it." She was sort of glad that Ron hadn't, and that he wasn't here to witness her acting like a complete wuss. It didn't particularly matter to her what other people thought, not for the most part, but Ron was different. Ron still saw her as the strong one and she wasn't ready to take that image away from him just now.
I'm sure we'll see him soon then." Her mother smiled and Hermione had to wonder if her mum knew that she was now with Ron - mums were meant to have some sort of sixth sense about all of that, weren't they? She didn't want to tell them about her relationship yet, anyway, mainlly because she didn't want to overwhelm them with new information when they were still trying to come to terms with the life that she had fabricated for them being a complete lie.
"You're planning to come back to England?" Hermione had honestly thought that they would stay here - they had jobs, friends, dogs. It wasn't as if just upping and leaving was going to be easy, nor would explaining their disappearance to their friends back home. She hadn't even really considered the impact that her parent's disappearance would have on anyone else. She'd tried to wrap up as many loose ends as possible before she'd had to head off to help move Harry from his uncle's to Grimmauld Place, but that had mainly consisted of closing down their business and making sure that the Wilkes got on a plane to some far off land. She had forgotten that people would actually miss them.
"We are. We want to be close to you." Her father nodded, smiling at her though Hermione could see the film of tears that had formed across his eyes. She didn't mean to make him cry but she knew that couldn't exactly be helped either; it was an emotional afternoon and that was okay. "We've gone so long without our beautiful daughter by our side that we don't want to go one moment more without her."
"But what about your home here?" Hermione asked slowly. She didn't want to be the reason that they upped and left a life for the second time. She was still coming to terms with the guilt of what she had done and if she hurt them like that again, she didn't think that her heart could take it.
"Hermione, anywhere with you is home. We want to be there by your side to support you through everything that you do - and we read that you're doing big things." Her mother reassured her but Hermione was left blinking rapidly as she tried to figure out how the Australian authorities had managed to get around the statute of secrecy in order to tell them so much about her. She knew that in a way it was only set to help them - that they already knew about magic because their daughter was a witch, but they now had two sets of memories in their heads and one set of those memories belonged to a set of muggles who had never had any run ins with magic whatsoever.
"You - you'd really move back with me?" Hermione asked slowly, not quite able to make herself believe it but wanting to all the same.
"We'd have to say our goodbyes and make the arrangements, but yes. We want to." Her mother nodded, smiling at her and Hermione couldn't hold herself back any longer. She stood up and moved to wrap her arms around both of her parents, hugging them tightly and making herself breathe deeply so that she wouldn't start hyper-ventilating and/or sobbing hysterically. She had her parents back after all this time and even after everything that she had done to them.