Hurry Home
Hermione Granger sat at her parents' dinner table at McGonagall Manor . Her father was out at a meeting with minister Kingsley so she was left with only her mother for company, which at this particular moment in time was somewhat lacking. For two weeks now they had been arguing about whether Hermione what Hermione would go to college for. Hermione knew that her talent lay in healing. She knew she was good at it but she didn't want to. She wanted to be a teacher. She wanted to stay at Hogwarts, her home.
"Hermione we have discussed this you…" Minerva McGonagall started.
"No, Mom. You have discussed this. You haven't allowed me to say anything since you decided I should be a healer. I don't want to. I want to teach. I love Hogwarts just as much as you and Daddy do. I don't see why you have such a problem with it." Hermione tried to reason.
"You are talented. You should put that talent to good use and not bottle it away while you sit at a desk grading essays. You will go to university and become a healer. That's…"
At this Hermione tuned her mother out. Thinking back she remembered the day she had come to live with Minerva and Albus. Her parents had been killed just after the return of Voldemort in their 4th year and Hermione had been devastated by the news. Minerva hadn't really known what to do for a grieving child. Albus on the other hand had jumped into action rather quickly, immediately sending messages to the minister and arranging for Hermione to live with them and stay out of the magical foster system. The old wizard and the young woman had grown close. Their relationship was almost as strong as the one Hermione had had with her birth father. She called him daddy much like she had Richard, her real dad. She and Minerva, yes they were close, much like Hermione and Jean, her birth mother had been, but they were too much alike for their own good and got into arguments about things frequently, which Minerva, surprisingly, was always the first to apologize for. She loved both of them but this time her mother was wrong.
"…don't care what you have to say on the matter. That's final." Minerva had yelled her way through Hermione's reminiscing and the young woman had had enough. Standing she grabbed her plate and tossed them in the sink.
"Fine," she snapped at the stubborn woman in front of her. "If I can't go to school for what I want to learn, I won't go at all. Goodnight Mother." That said she slammed the door into her room and Minerva felt the familiar pulse of magic that was Hermione's personal wards going up and knew that is was useless to try and talk to her daughter tonight. With a wave of her wand the dishes began to clean themselves and the older witch walked to the room she shared with her husband. Preparing for bed she decided that she would try and talk some sense into Hermione in the morning, after she apologized for upsetting her.
Minerva rose slightly later than usual the next day. She quickly put on her robe and went to her daughter's door. Knocking she called, "Hermione? Baby, can I come in?" she received no answer. "Sweetheart please? I just want to apologize." She pushed the door open and the sight that greeted her made her blood freeze in their veins. Hermione was not there and most of her things were gone from the room. She had left.
Scrambling back out of the room she ran back to her own and woke Albus. "Albus! Albus, did you check on Hermione when you came in last night?" she demanded frantically.
At the sound of his terrified wife's voice the old man was immediately awake and alert. "Yes, I did. I always check on her when I come in late, Tabby. Why? What's going on?"
"She is not in her room and her things are gone." Minerva answered. Tears were making their way freely down her face and terror coursed through her body.
"WHAT!?" Albus roared. In a blink he was out of bed and running to his daughter's room. Seeing the truth of his wife's words he too, became extremely scared. "Min, even with Voldemort gone, the death eaters are still wreaking havoc. She could get hurt. Send messages to all of her friends and see if they know where she is. I am going to search the grounds and inform the house elves that she has gone missing and see if I can get information from one of them.
They both took off for their respective duties. Albus, while running for the front door, quickly transfigured his pajamas into day robes and took off for the nook in the woods where he and his daughter spent so much time together. Ice flowed through his veins at the thought of something happening to his little girl. It hadn't taken much for Hermione to worm her way into the old wizard's heart. Seeing her broken on the floor of his office after receiving the news about her parents and the look in her eyes when she looked at him had been enough. From then on he had vowed to protect her and now, he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to. That little girl was his life, and right now, he was running for just that.
Both of their quests turned up nothing. None of the Weasleys or Harry had heard anything from her but promised to let them know if they did. Hermione was nowhere on the grounds and none of the elves had seen her leave that morning. Minerva had explained exactly what happened, the argument and everything, which only angered Albus, who supported whatever his daughter chose to do, though he had never told her that. He could only assume that meant that Hermione would believe that he took Minerva's side in this matter. He was a fool to neglect telling her that. If he ever found her, he wouldn't make that mistake again.
"Albus, how did you always know where Potter was? Such as in his second year when the Weasley boys took him from his aunt and uncle? Or when you knew exactly where to find Horace when you needed him for potions? Why can't you use that power now to find her and bring her home?" Minerva asked. She was grasping at straws, she knew, but it was the only thing she could think of.
"Harry still had the trace on him then. The ministry informed me as soon as he left their house. As far as Horace goes, it took me that entire summer to track down where he was hiding. I'm afraid, my dear Tabby, that your temper has gotten us into quite a situation. We will simply have to wait until she comes back." Albus sat and put his face in his hands. An idea popped into his head and he glanced at the muggle phone that Hermione had talked them into buying so that she could call them while she was at her summer camps. He stood and walked towards it. Then pressed a button and recorded a new message that would be heard by all when no one answered.
"It doesn't matter what you've done, I still love you. It doesn't matter where you've been, you can still come home. And honey if that's you, we've got a lot of making up to do, and I can't hug you on the phone, so hurry home."
This made Minerva cry again. He strode towards his wife and enveloped her in a tight hug. "We will find her Min. for now though, I have a follow up meeting with Kingsley and you have to get to the school for the board meetings. I will see you tonight." He kissed her, and quickly walked out of the house. Minerva stood and readied herself for work.
That night Albus got home first. The message light was blinking on the phone. He pressed the button to listen to it and was disappointed to hear Harry's voice, instead of Hermione's.
"Ron and I have been searching for her all day. There is no sign of her. I promise you though if we see her we will call. I'm sorry Albus. We'll keep looking."
The old Headmaster satin a chair and put his face in his hands. He cried. Sorrow ripped through him and there was nothing he could do to change this situation. He heard the door open and close and felt a hand on his shoulder. "Still no sign of her, Albus?" his wife's voice rang through his ears and he shook his head and Minerva joined him in tears.
Two months dragged by and Albus refused to take the message off the machine. Harry asked him once why he refused to change it and he answered that one never knew when she might call and he needed her to know, if she did, that he still loved her and wanted her to come back.
School was going to be starting again soon and Albus spent much of his time at Hogwarts getting things ready for the start of session. Minerva was there with him. They spent their days there and their nights at the manor. The days had crawled by without a word from their daughter and both were beginning to worry that she might not be coming back.
It had been a particularly trying day where everything he tried to do ended badly and he was making his way to the transfiguration classroom to visit his wife. Upon arriving he found her asleep at her desk. Since Hermione's disappearance the older witch had been missing out on more and more sleep. Sighing he woke her with a gentle hand on her shoulder." Go home, Tabby. I will join you shortly."
Minerva nodded and left. She didn't bother glancing at the message machine. There hadn't been any sign of her daughter in 2 months. No letters, no phone calls, not even a bloody post card. She dragged herself up 2 flights of stairs and down 4 hallways to her bedroom, but she stopped. Hermione's room was just across from hers. Turning she stepped into the room she hadn't entered since the morning that they had discovered her missing. She sat on the bed and grabbed her daughter's pillow. Softly inhaling her scent, the old woman began to cry. "Oh baby, I'm so, so sorry. Please, just call, come home, something. I promise you can go to whatever school you want, for whatever you want. But please!" the last part ripped from her throat and she sobbed openly. Deep, chest rattling, sobs that the woman hadn't cried in decades.
The haze of sorrow was broken by the ringing of the phone. Standing she scrambled and tried to make it to the door of the room, ending up sprawled on the floor after tripping over the rug. Standing she hurried her way down the stairs but didn't make it in time to answer the phone. The message light blinked on and she heard "Mummy? Daddy? I'm sorry I ran. I'm sorry I didn't call sooner. I was afraid you wouldn't want me after all this. After I stayed away. Daddy I was afraid you wouldn't want me after I left without saying goodbye and, well I guess I didn't say goodbye to you either Mummy. I'm sorry about all of it. The fight, running away, everything, and now that I have called and heard your message, Dad, I'm on my way." Minerva slipped into a chair, tears of relief streaming down her face and Albus, who had walked in just in time to hear her say the last 5 words knelt next to her.
"She is coming home, Tabby." Tears fell from his own eyes, but things were better now. Their daughter, their baby, was coming home.