Hermione took a deep breath as she entered the room where her parents sat watching television. She raised her wand and tried to keep her voice from trembling as she cast the spell, "Variate Recordio!"
Hermione had never met a spell that she couldn't master. This one was no different, although her wand hand did shake just the slightest bit as she cast it. She could feel the spell working. Her parents' minds were going blank; their memories were disappearing.
Everyone always said she was the brightest witch of her age. Now her parents' lives depended on her magical proficiency. She hated it, but she knew that she had no other choice. To keep her parents safe from the Death Eaters that were sure to come after them, she had to subtract herself from the equation.
"Goodbye," she whispered. A few tears managed to escape her eyes. She wiped them away. She turned around and walked out of the house, out of her parents' lives.
Monica Wilkins gasped when she awoke.
"It's alright," said her husband, Wendell. He stroked her hair gently.
"I…I had another nightmare," she said. "There was a witch in it. I think…I think she was trying to protect us from something. Yes, she was protecting us from a terrible man with red eyes. She was casting a spell on us to keep us safe. Her name was Hermione."
"That's a nice name. It's interesting," said Wendell.
Monica made a vague murmur of agreement. "That man, Wendell," she said. "He was the most frightening thing I've ever seen."
Wendell made soothing noises and kissed her forehead. Monica knew he'd grown accustomed to this. She'd been having these nightmares often for the past few months. It had started when they'd moved to Australia. It had always been their dream to move, but Monica wondered if the change had affected her more than she'd realized. Perhaps she was a little homesick.
"Hermione is a nice name," said Monica. "If we had a daughter, that's what I'd want to name her."
"It'd be a good name for a little girl," agreed Wendell. "It's an intelligent name. Unique too. Good for an intelligent and unique girl."
"Yes," said Monica. Then a thought occurred to her. "Wendell? Why didn't we ever have kids? We both wanted them."
Wendell was silent for a minute. Then he answered, "I don't know, Jean."
"We should have a kid," said Monica sleepily. "I'd like to have a girl." She closed her eyes, then opened them again in surprise. "Did you just call me 'Jean'?"
Wendell looked surprised. "Did I?"
Hermione searched in her magically enlarged beaded bag for her pajamas. After setting up the tent and casting the protective charms around it, she was exhausted.
Ron and Harry, on the other hand, seemed to have energy to spare. They were eating and joking together, as if they were back at Hogwarts and their biggest worry was their N.E.W.T.s. Hermione wondered how they managed it. Ron was laughing, and it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. She knew where this irritation came from. It was her turn to wear the Horcrux disguised as a locket around her neck. She knew it wasn't Ron's fault, but she couldn't stop herself from marching out to confront him.
"Keep it down!" she snapped. "It's after midnight, and if you don't mind, I'd like to sleep." She immediately felt guilty when she saw her friends' smiles drop.
"I'm sorry," she said. "Don't listen to me; it's the Horcrux talking."
"No, you're right," said Harry. "We should all go to bed."
"Yeah," said Ron. "We're not exactly in the clear, are we?"
"It'd be just our luck that Voldemort would find us groggy and confused," said Harry.
Hermione smiled just before a popping noise startled her. "What was that?"
"It sounded like somebody Apparating," said Ron, already reaching for his wand.
"How did they get past the protective spells?" said Hermione, grabbing her wand as well. She pointed it at Harry. Whoever had just Apparated past the charms couldn't be on their side, and they'd surely recognize Harry straight away. She couldn't let that happen.
When the Stinging Hex hit Harry's face, it swelled enough to hide his scar. It wasn't perfect, but there was a chance it would hide his identity.
Hermione heard voices outside of the tent. She raised her wand and braced herself.
"You can't just go in throwing around curses. We might need them alive, said the first voice
"Whoever they are, I'm sure they're worth just as much dead," said the second. Hermione tensed.
"We don't know-"
"Avada Kedavra!"
The green light of the Killing Curse hit Hermione before she had a chance to react.
The last thing she heard was Ron's scream.
In a small house in Australia, Monica and Wendell Wilkins awoke and sat up in bed, dripping with sweat.
"Jean!" Wendell cried out. "Jean, I remember!"
"Oh my god!" cried Monica Wilkins, or rather, Jean Granger. "Hermione! I saw her!"
"I saw her too. Jean she's-"
"Dead," Jean finished. "She's dead. Our daughter is dead."
From Alexio Warburton's Book of Memory Spells:
While certain spells (Such as Obliviate) work to erase or suppress memories, the Memory Alteration Charm works by replacing memories. It can be more useful than erasing memories in certain circumstances. For example, if one must erase a memory from a long period of time, a replacement memory may need to be made to prevent suspicion due to gaps of unremembered time.
Altering memories is much more difficult than erasing them, and if the caster makes even the slightest mistake (shaky hand, mispronunciation) the results can be disastrous. If miscast, the charm often partially wears off, especially in the case of the caster's death. Some have reported mishaps with the Memory Alteration Charm leading to strange psychic connections between the caster and the person they've charmed, however, the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad has been able to prove these reports. Most experts believe them to be myths.
The caster's mind must be calm when performing this spell, or even the most skilled mage will not succeed. Even Cassiopeia Lockheart, whose numerous memory potions and skill with memory charm reversal is famous, had many unfortunate incidents with the spell.
The incantation for the Memory Alteration Charm is Variate Recordio. The wand movement is rather complex (see image 5A).