This isn't my first HP fanfic on here, but it's my first in several years and under a new penname. I haven't written anything major since graduating high school and I'm always open to critiques and reviews. This story assumes modern times (2013) and will feature a LOT of OCs! Anything that belongs to JK Rowling does not belong to me. Enjoy!
The bundle of fur in Hermione's lap – otherwise known as Crookshanks- purred contentedly. Cicidas hummed as the New England August sun bathed him and his owner through the window of the Wizarding Taxi, occasionally broken by the shade of several tall trees. Crookshanks' owner, seventeen year old Hermione Granger, stroked his fur occasionally as she anxiously stared out the window, lost in thought as the taxi made its way through the winding Connecticut roads.
Everyone – Harry, Ron, the other Weasleys, her Hogwarts classmates, most of the Order, and even newly appointed Headmistress McGonagall herself – had expected Hermione to go back to Hogwarts to finish her seventh year and take her N.E.W.T. exams. They had been shocked to hear of her next plan, once the dead had been buried, awards had been given (Order of Merlin, First Class to each her, Ron, and Harry, along with several other distinctions and a hefty sum of Galleons), and her parents recovered from Australia and their memories restored.
Dan and Jane Granger had been horrified to learn of their daughter's part in the war; though proud of all she had accomplished, they teetered between grateful and furious towards her decision to modify their memories. When they mentioned the idea of settling in the United States instead of returning back to England – neither they nor their daughter were sure how to explain their disappearance and return to their old clientele – Hermione made the difficult decision to go overseas with them. Magic would serve her parents well when it came to securing visas in a short amount of time, she surmised, and it certainly helped them in obtaining the charming three bedroom colonial in the northern part of the state of Connecticut.
As fragmented as the trust between parents and daughter was, the Grangers wholeheartedly encouraged Hermione to apply to Wizarding Universities in the country – from there, they were willing to settle down in a nearby town to open a new dental practice. She had done her research on the schools and filled out applications between bouts of packing and award dinners and had been accepted by all twelve schools, from the famous Salem Witches' Institute to the Great North Alaskan Center for Higher Wizarding Education. But of course, Hermione Granger would be attending the most prestigious school she had been accepted to.
New Englanders had long been long accustomed to New Haven (and all their other "New" cities), presuming its name had originated from a town their Pilgrim ancestors had inhabited in England. They were surprisingly wrong – Old Haven did indeed exist in the United States, several miles out from the bustling Muggle city, harboring not only a historical magical community but also the Old Haven College for Wizarding Arts. It was the magical equivalent of an Ivy League university, and several Old Haven professors were known to also teach at Yale, given the proximity of the two schools. According to the website, Old Haven managed to host a student enrollment of over twelve thousand witches and wizards from fifty-seven countries and seven continents, one of many facts that enamored Hermione to the College.
Old Haven, Hermione discovered, was not only open to Muggle ideas and technology, but embraced them wholeheartedly – as, perhaps, an American school had to. Their up-to-date, Muggle-friendly website had definitely provided parent-friendly comfort to the Grangers in a world they could hardly be a part of, much less understand. In fact, Hermione realized, computers and smartphones were a crucial part of the college experience, as the American college had found a way to integrate both magic and electricity simultaneously. Perhaps it wasn't just the college; Hermione had observed her cab driver fiddling with the radio and caught snippets of both Wizarding and Muggle music alike. Pictures of the campus had shown her many other Muggle amenities; the sporting complex (decked in navy and gold, the Old Haven colors) hosted not only the campus football team, but also the Quidditch and Quodpot teams as well. Old Haven also required each student to take a number of credits in various Muggle subjects, from American History and Psychology to Physics and Engineering courses. And true to its "typical" American college roots, the campus was filled with towering trees, ivy-covered brick buildings, and grassy quads for students to meet, chat, and study.
All in all, Hermione thought, scratching Crookshanks behind the ears, she believed she made the right choice in going abroad. She knew that as a whole, Americans tended to be a little less involved in foreign affairs. She didn't want to be recognized as a "celebrity" for helping to defeat the Darkest wizard of all time. She didn't want the mixed reactions of awe and pity when people looked at her or learned her name. The more time she spent in Britain at awards dinners and rebuilding efforts, the less she seemed to know who Hermione Granger really was: a seventeen year old who had experienced far more in the past year than many did in a lifetime. This, she could admit to herself, was her real motive for fleeing to the United States: to figure out who she was again without her life hanging in the balance. And if Hermione couldn't do that, at least she could become someone she wanted to be.