A/N: This is actually my first story. All the others intruded while I was writing it, and I had to get them out of the way. I have also been trying to learn how to write better, reading The Red Sneaker Writers Book Series, Story Trumps Structure, the snowflake method, and various Idiot's Guides. As I have learned, I have had to go back and edit and redo extensively, so this has lengthened in some areas (Show, don't tell!) and shortened in others (No narrative summary!). A few twists and turns were added as it seemed that's what the characters would do at the time. The following chapters are nearly all done, I am just doing the final editing, so this will be complete in a few weeks depending on my work schedule.

As many others have noted, Hermione's parents are curious characters in the books. They are never named, rarely seen, and Hermione barely spends time with them over holiday, which seems odd for an only child off to boarding school at age 11. They are also a HUGE loose end at the end of the books. Are they alive? Did the memory charm work? Was it removed successfully? It was after all Hermione's one and only attempt at the spell, who's to say she did it right? It's really not something you want less than perfect. Assuming it worked and was removed, what would their response be once they were back to normal and Hermione explained why they were where they were?

The least likely response I can think of is that they were perfectly okay with their teenage daughter running around the wilds of England with two boys in a tent when she was not in battle with the most evil wizard in the last fifty to one hundred years and his evil army. This is my attempt to tie up that loose end.

I am embarrassed to say I read several fanfics with their names being Dan and Emma before I caught on. I know, I know, what kind of fan am I? All I can say is that I was distracted by the good stories. Second most prevalent amongst my favorites is Bob and Helen, so I went with those.

As always, I do not own the rights to any of the characters from the Harry Potter series, I still find myself a few billion dollars short. And, paraphrasing the epic fanfic author Robst (a comment from him is one of my bucket list items), my thanks to Ms. Rowling for letting us build sandcastles on her beach.

Enjoy.

Hermione is Back!

Prologue

Hermione looked up anxiously as her mum came back into the guest room and sat down on the bed beside her. The butterflies in the pit in her stomach gained momentum. And claws.

"Your father and I have talked again, and our position is the same. We cannot support you going back to Magical England." Hermione's throat tightened and her eyes stung. "If you do go, we'll likely stay here in Adelaide. We've actually made a life for ourselves here in the past year, and have some close friends." She took Hermione's hand in both of hers. "Given what you've told us, we'd much rather prefer that you'd stay here with us, and go to Uni here. You could get the prerequisites out of the way here just as easily as in England. If you want to go back to England and study at a university there, we would be willing to do that too, it will just take a few months to get things sorted at both ends. But no magic, no contact with any of them, no indication that you're back."

"But mum..."

"No, Hermione. We've talked this to death. I know why you thought you had to send us here. Can you guarantee that things will be better now, that we'd be any safer?"

Hermione had to shake her head. Things had seemed to have been getting better, but too much was in flux for her to be able to promise her parents that they, and she, would be safe. That Riddle was a half blood was now out in the open. The predictable tactic that the purebloods who had so wholeheartedly, whether openly or not, supported him would take would be to blame anyone but the purebloods for the whole mess. Attempts at punishment and retribution would certainly have to follow. Kingsley was the Minister, but only temporarily, and it wasn't a sure thing that he'd be elected in permanently.

She hung her head, defeated. There were no good choices. There weren't even any bad choices, they were all terrible. Magic or her parents, England alone or not. "OK mum. No magic. But I want to go back to England. Magic or not, it's my home." Maybe someday they would change their minds. She'd abandoned them once, she couldn't do it again now that she had just found them.

"For us too, dear. For us, too. Yet here we are half way 'round the world." Hermione cringed and started to cry silently again as her mum left the room. Her mum must still be very angry inside for comments like that to come out. She fell over onto her side, hugged a pillow to herself tightly and sobbed into it.

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Hermione was studying at the kitchen table when she heard the post drop though the flap. She stood, stretching. Today was Government and Politics, and she could use a little break. She was studying for five different A levels: Biology, French, English, Math, and Government and Politics. Her schedule allowed for two years of study then sitting for the exams, then attending university for three or four years. After that, she wasn't quite sure yet.

She pulled the post out of the basket and sorted it. Bill, bill, advertisement, and at last a thick envelope for her. It had taken her several weeks of convincing before her parents would allow her to send a letter to Kingsley regarding what to do about a secondary school transcript. She'd wanted to write Professor McGonnagal as she was likely still the Headmistress, but her parents viewed her as the beginning of all their troubles and wouldn't allow it. But without a transcript of some sort she couldn't get into university, so at last her parents relented. They had limited what she said to the bare minimum, and had made her say she was planning on going back to Australia. Getting the letter to him had presented a problem as she didn't have an owl, and her parents wouldn't let her go to Diagon Alley to use the owl post. Finally her father went to the Leaky Cauldron himself early on a Sunday morning and dropped off the letter and five pounds with Tom. Apparently it worked.

She opened the envelope, and pulled out several sheets of paper, not parchment. The first was a brief letter.

Dear Ms. Granger,

Please find enclosed the standard transcript and certificate of completion for your 'home school' program. This and the applicable required A Levels usually suffice to allow Hogwarts students entry into a muggle University. The post address on the form can be used for any questions on your or the University's part.

We have had little experience with Universities in Australia, but do not anticipate any difficulties with your enrollment. If you do encounter problems with entry, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely Yours,

Angela Haynes

Department of Educational Records

Ministry of Magic

On the bottom was a separate note:

Hermione,

I'm sorry that you and your family won't be returning to Britain. As we talked about before, if there's anything you need, anything at all, be sure to let me know. We owe you a debt that can never be fully repaid. Safe travels, and I hope to hear from you soon. Once you complete University, we would be very interested in discussing having you join us at the Ministry.

Keep in touch,

Kingsley.

The next few sheets were her new transcript, showing 'P' for pass in all the classes in a typical secondary school curriculum, and a statement that she had successfully completed all the requirements. She shook her head sadly. Six years of hard work to get 'Os,' and nothing to show for it but 'passes' in classes she never took. Now she had two years to learn a whole nonmagical education. She resisted the temptation toss the whole packet in the rubbish bin. It was all she could get; it would have to suffice.

The last page was blank except for the letterhead:

Marauders, Inc.

Password Protected Parchment and Paper

For all your messaging needs

Send your owl to 44 Diagon Alley for pricing on this and our other fine office products.

Since when did official Ministry post include adverts? They couldn't be that broke, could they? Suddenly suspicious, she said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," hoping that she wouldn't need a wand. Words slowly appeared on the page, resolving into brief notes from Ron and Harry.

Dear Hermione,

Kingsley said you were back, but were leaving again. Why can't you stay? I mean you found your parents and undid your memory spell, right? So they're all alright. You're of age, and they're muggles and all, so why aren't you staying? I know you said you weren't ready for a relationship before you left, but now that everything is sorted, I thought you would be my girlfriend.

Did you find someone else while you were in Australia? Is that it? Once I figure out how to get there I could come talk you around, but Kingsley says we can't visit you yet. Is he a muggle or something? Why can't I come visit?

Harry says I should stop pestering you, so I will. I hope you're doing okay, and that you send an owl once you find a place to live.

Ron.

Hermione stared blankly at Ron's letter for a few minutes. She thought she should feel annoyed, or irritated, or even miss him a bit, but she just didn't have the emotional energy to spare. She was oddly relieved at that. Harry's letter followed.

Dear Hermione,

Sorry about Ron. I'll try to explain things to him in a bit. I can understand why your parents might be a little upset about things right now, but family is important and you need to be with them for a while. But they raised you, and you turned out like, well, you, so I know that they love you and will understand why you had to do what you did.

Ron and the rest of the Weasleys are recovering slowly, George the slowest. But he has reopened the store and Ron and Ginny are helping out, at least until school starts. Ginny will be going back to school. Ron doesn't want to, and I'm not sure his parents have the energy to make him at this point. Ginny and I aren't going out any more. It's just been too long and too much has changed. We're not the same people we were a year ago, and it was obvious after a few days. We're still friends, and it seems better that way.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. I never really thought about what I would do after defeating Tom. I never really thought there would be an after, to tell the truth. You know how near a thing it was. I thought I wanted to be an Auror, but I'm kind of worn out. I don't really have the skills to do anything else, but I need a break from chasing evil witches and wizards for a while. I'm not sure I'm going back to school either. Kingsley is talking about some private training so I can qualify for the Auror Academy. I might take him up on that. Though if you were going to be at Hogwarts I would come too. Let me know how it all turns out for you.

I'm staying at Sirius' place, well I guess it's my place, now. There are some elves without a current home that are helping clean it up. We're in negotiations on wages etc. I don't seem to be a good negotiator, they keep lowering their wages and increasing their work. But it's what they want, and they seem happy, so I don't feel too bad. Anyway, you're keyed into the wards, so you can visit anytime. The floo address is The Marauders Den (don't tell anyone), and you can apparate into the entry hall. Kingsley helped me get a post box as well, as Number 12 is back under a Fidelius and regular post doesn't get delivered here. Oh, yeah. Harry Potter lives at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. That should do it.

Write me when you get a permanent address. You're my best friend and I miss you. Took me a while to figure that out, but I did. Hope to hear from you soon.

Love, Harry

Marauder's Inc.

M Box 713

London, England

WC1N 3XY

She wasn't able to finish reading and memorizing his address before her vision blurred from the tears forming. He was nice and supportive and understanding. She wished she could be there to help him, he was all alone again, though he seemed to be doing actually quite well. She wondered when he got so good at charms, like the ones on the paper. Her mind began debating whether writing him a letter via regular post to a regular post box, considering he was raised non magical, would be a violation of her promise. She sighed when she decided it would be, but she found that she missed him terribly.

Hermione heard a car pull up in the drive. She sniffed and wiped her eyes and whispered "Mischief managed." The page turned blank again, even the letterhead fading away. She folded it in half and slipped it into her Government and Politics book near the back. The front door opened and she heard her mum call out "Hermione, I'm home."

"In here, mum."

"How was your day, dear?"

"Ugh. Slow. Government and Politics again. Finally got my transcript today." She waved the packed at her mum.

"Hmm," her mum said, reading it. "Best not let your father read the first page else he's liable to rip the whole thing up. And only passes?"

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not too chuffed about it either but it's what we could get. Unless you want to write them back and debate the issue?" Her mum just glared at her. "I didn't think so, so I'll just have to do well on my A levels." She turned back to her studies.

Her mum's face softened. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I know this isn't easy for you either. I'm sure you'll do fine. Any requests for dinner?"

"Anything would be fine, mum. Let me know if you need a hand."

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Hermione made it home from her job as a waitress at the nearest coffee shop. It wasn't much but got her spending money and a way to keep from getting bored since she had completed her A levels and was waiting to hear about her applications.

"Hermione, you're home!"

"What's got you so excited, dad? Hi, mum."

"A letter for you in the post. From Cambridge."

Hermione dropped her bag on the floor and hurriedly hung up her coat and hat. She grabbed the letter from her dad. She squeezed and flexed it experimentally. "It only feels like a few pages. Is that good or bad?"

"Oh, just open it dear," said her mum. "We're sure you got in."

Hermione tore off the end and pulled the letter out. She read the first few lines, and a wide smile appeared on her face. "I'm in! Poly Sci at King's College!"

Her parents grabbed her up in a big hug. "That's wonderful, dear," said her mum as her dad said "Good job, Hermione!" He continued, "We should go out to celebrate. What would you like?"

"Oh, Indian. Can we go to Zari?"

"Zari it is. Get your coat."

Hermione's smile continued as she rode in the car. Finally, she was getting somewhere.