It had been three weeks since the Battle of Hogwarts. Hermione and Ron had spent those last three weeks attending all the funerals of those who had died, giving evidence at the trials of Witches and Wizards who were being charged (the most satisfying day in court, they had agreed, was the trial of Dolores Umbridge, who would now be spending life in the new Azkaban) and spending as much time as they could at The Burrow to do whatever they could for Mrs Weasley.
Now that almost all of the remaining Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters had been caught, Mr Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Percy & George were no longer needed to help track down the criminals they had volunteered to search for and they would be able to be home more, Hermione had decided it was time to go look for her parents in Australia and told Ron that she would be going the next morning.
"Where will we start looking?" he responded. He had no intentions of letting her go without him.
Hermione looked at him, surprised for a moment before leaning over and kissing him, grateful that she would not be taking this trip on her own.
"I'm not sure, to be honest," she said sadly, "I didn't want to give them a specific place when I modified their memories so I wouldn't know. I didn't want to risk them being found if I was caught, I wanted them to be able to continue to live."
Ron saw the tears start to well up in her eyes, so he leaned over, hugged her and gave her a kiss. As he pulled away, he wiped the tears from her face and said "Don't worry, we won't stop looking until we find them."
That night over dinner Hermione told everyone that she and Ron would be leaving the next morning for Australia using a Portkey that she had organised with the ministry that day. Mrs Weasley looked crestfallen; she had just gotten the remainder of her family back together and didn't want one of them to disappear again so soon.
"How long do you think you'll be gone?" She asked, tearfully.
"Well, Mum, we aren't sure where they are, so it could take us awhile to find them, Australia is a big country." Ron told her as gently as possible.
As Mrs Weasley tried to hold back her tears Harry and Mr Weasley both looked at each other at the same time. Arthur gave Harry a slight nod and smiled.
"We might be able to help you there, Hermione," Harry told her, "Dumbledore, before he died, created a number of spells that he knew would be helpful after Riddle's defeat, he left them with Kingsley. One of those spells is designed to be able to track people. We've been using it to track down Death Eaters and other people who've gone on the run."
A look of relief washed over Hermione's face, "What is it?" she asked.
"Well that's the thing, it's not the sort of spell that anyone would want just available to the general population, it could be quite dangerous. We don't know it... Kingsley is the only one who knows it so it can't be used by the wrong people for the wrong reasons."
"Well how's that going to help me?" exploded Hermione, the frustration of her situation finally getting to her, "If we can't use the spell – "
"Wait a minute, Hermione," Mr Weasley gently interrupted "We're not saying you won't be able to use it, why would we suggest it if that was the case?"
"No, that's not what we're saying," Harry agreed, "I was about to say that I'll go with you to the Ministry in the morning and we'll speak to Kingsley, he shouldn't have a problem with it. Not for this situation."
"Oh." Was all a slightly embarrassed Hermione could manage.
"Thanks mate," Ron said, giving harry a grateful look, "Well Mum, it shouldn't take us long at all, we'll be back before you know it."
The next morning Hermione, Ron and Harry all apparated to the Ministry together and walked through the atrium toward the elevators.
"It looks much better now doesn't it?" Hermione commented.
Gone was the statue that had dominated the centre of the atrium, instead, in its place was a large, but simple fountain with plaques memorialising all those who had been lost during Riddle's reign, magical, muggle and non-human names all listed together.
Hermione and Ron were greeted warmly by Kingsley in his office and he listened with interest as Hermione explained her situation.
"I don't see why that should be a problem," Kingsley told her when she finished telling him what she had done to her parents to keep them safe. "I'll just need a photograph of your parents to cast the spell on and when you find your parents, you'll have to return the photo to me to be uncharmed. I'm sure you'll understand that an item of this nature can't be left charmed."
"Of course," Hermione told him as she dug through her purse looking for a photo of her parents that she had taken with her.
She handed the picture over to Kingsley, who momentarily looked concerned.
"What's wrong?" asked Ron.
"I haven't had to put this spell onto a muggle photo yet."
"Will that be a problem?" asked Hermione, concerned.
"I'm sure that it won't." Kingsley replied, with a reassuring look. "Now, I must ask all of you to leave while I perform this spell. I trust you all with my life and it's nothing personal, but we can't risk this spell getting out to the public at all."
As Harry had already told them this would happen, neither Ron nor Hermione were bothered.
"We understand, Minister." Hermione told him as the three of them stood to leave the office.
A minute later, though, Kingsley opened the door and said "Potter, a moment if you could, please?"
Hermione and Ron both gave Harry a confused look as he stood up with a puzzled expression on his face.
He closed the door behind him and looked at Kingsley.
"It won't work on the muggle photograph, will it?" he asked.
"No, I've already sent for Arthur."
Harry had expected this to happen and sat while he waited for Arthur to come up from his office.
He arrived barely five minutes later and as he opened the office door Harry and Kingsley could hear Hermione asking what was going on.
"Nothing to worry about, you two, just having a minor problem with charming the photo, as I've charmed so many muggle items myself, Kingsley has just asked for my assistance momentarily."
He closed the door quickly to avoid any more questions.
"Arthur, thank you for coming up so quickly, we'll have to do this fast to avoid any more suspicion." Kingsley told them as he got out his wand. Harry and Arthur both got their wands out as they walked over to the empty portrait behind Kingsley's desk, which swung open after he had tapped it with his wand to reveal a safe with three holes in the face of it.
Kingsley pushed his wand into the top hole, Arthur put his into the middle one and harry used the bottom one. Kingsley then removed his wand and the safe swung open to reveal a plain, wooden box. Harry reached in to pick it up and as he touched it, the lid popped up to reveal the Elder Wand lying at the bottom of the box.
Sparks flew out of the tip as Harry picked it up and turned around, a flash of guilt surging through him at the thought of keeping this huge secret from Ron and Hermione, but he knew that this was the only option to keep it safe.
Kingsley and Arthur both looked at Harry with understanding, as they both felt the same way, but knew that they didn't have to say anything to him.
"The spell you need to use is Vestigare Imago," Kingsley told him, suddenly very businesslike. "And you understand that, as always, I'll be wiping your memory of this spell when we're done."
Kingsley worded this last part as a polite statement rather than a question, but both Harry and Arthur knew that this would happen.
"Of course we do." Arthur told him.
Harry nodded and focused on the photo. "Vestigare Imago."
At once the arms of Hermione's parents started pointing in a south east direction, while the rest of the photo turned black.
"Thank you, Harry." Kingsley said pointing his wand at Harry as he said it. "Minutus Obliviate."
He repeated the spell to Arthur and then told them "We can put the wand back now."
"Have we done the spell already then?" Arthur asked.
Harry didn't need to ask; he could still feel the tingles up his arm that he always got when he used
the Elder Wand.
Harry put the wand back into the wooden box, which sealed itself as he put it down in the safe. Kingsley closed the safe, inserted his wand back into the hole he had removed it from and they could all hear the mechanisms locking again. They each took their wands back out and Kingsley tapped the painting again, making it close back over.
"Who would have thought that by adding Minutus to the Obliviate spell it would only take the previous few moments of your memory." Arthur commented brightly.
"It's a good thing though, isn't it? The fewer people who know about these spells, the better, being able to keep it with just Kingsley knowing them, it keeps everyone safe." Harry added, guilt still niggling at the back of his mind.
Kingsley just smiled politely, he didn't like having to remove the spells from their memories after they used them and never really knew what to say.
"If you have no objections Kingsley, I think we should give this to Hermione and Ron so they can be on their way and we can get back to the day's work." Arthur said, trying to change the mood in the room. Both he and Harry knew how Kingsley felt about removing their memories and it was best not to linger afterwards.
Kingsley nodded and all three of them walked to the door. As he opened it for Arthur and Harry to walk out he said, "Thank you both for your help, I appreciate it. Here you are, Hermione, we just had to make a small adjustment to the photo for the spell to work, it's lucky that Arthur here knows so much about bewitching muggle objects."
"Well I must get to work, you two. Be safe and I'll see you soon." Arthur said to Ron and Hermione. He gave them both a hug and quickly walked to the elevator to avoid any more questions that he couldn't answer.
Hermione looked at Kingsley, about to ask what was going on, but he cut her off before the question could be voiced.
"The photo will now act as a sort of compass, it will point you toward your parents and the colour will change from the black it is now to varying shades of pink and red as you get closer. I truly hope this will make your search much faster and I wish you the best for your journey, but right now I'm required to go to the court room for today's hearing, so if you will please excuse me."
He smiled, shook both their hands and then headed for the elevators also before he turned back towards them and added sternly, "No one must see that photograph, do you understand?"
Hermione and Ron nodded quickly at Kingsley, who gave them a sharp nod and entered the just arrived elevator.
Hermione turned to Harry and said "Will you please tell us what's going on?"
'It's like Kingsley said, it just needed a bit of tweaking before the spell would work." Harry told them lightly, hoping that he could avoid more questions as the guilt washed back over him.
"I thought you said that Kingsley is the only one who knows the spell, but you and Dad were both in there." Ron's tone was slightly accusing.
"Non-verbal spell mate, we didn't hear a thing." Harry responded. "I'll come with you to level six and then I have to head down to the court too."
They all got into the elevator, Hermione and Ron trying to figure out what they had not been told but Harry wouldn't say anything more on the subject, instead telling them about the hearing he was attending today.
A few minutes later Hermione and Ron were standing in the Portkey Office, having said goodbye to Harry in the elevator, happy that they were about to be on their way.
"Granger, Hermione and Weasley, Ronald," Said the ministry wizard, looking at the list in front of him, "Yes, here you are, travelling to Australia. You will arrive at the Ministry of Magic in Sydney. Your Portkey is waiting for you through here."
He led them into a room, where he tapped his wand onto a book labelled England to Australia and said "Portus, there you go, enjoy your trip."
The book glowed blue momentarily and then looking at each other, Hermione and Ron put a hand on it and were sucked into oblivion.