Goodbye Hermione

A/N: This is definitely not part of the Professor Muggle series. This story was written as part of the 'I Never' challenge in The Teachers' Lounge. The challenge was a prompt for a pairing/story that I would normally never write. This is the result.

26 May, 2012

The streets of London were crowded, as the day was brilliantly sunny for the first time in a week. People were out and about, going about their lives, doing things that most of the Muggle world did on a mid-morning Saturday. As the throngs moved along the sidewalk two figures could be seen in close conversation, one with red hair and the other with messy black hair. Anyone who was not a Muggle, that is, someone who could wield magic, would have recognized them instantly; Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. Both of their faces had been mainstays in the wizarding press for the last ten-plus years, as they were Order of Merlin winners and Aurors. Potter, of course, had been lauded as the savior of the wizarding world by most, as he had been the key figure in the defeat of the Dark Lord Voldemort. His face had been everywhere for the first few years, but since he'd joined the Auror Corps his public appearances had been limited. His companion was only slightly less notable; Ron had helped his brother George put the joke shop called Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes not only into stability, but profitability and later prominence. His addition to the Auror Corps two years after Potter helped cement the public impression that both he and Potter were something akin to what Muggles would call superheroes. The Daily Prophet had even coined a pet phrase for the two of them that remained firmly entrenched in the public's mind; 'The Young Lions of the Auror Corps.'

If one would return to those early press clippings, though, the ones immediately following Voldemort's defeat, a question would arise. It was a question that had raged through the wizarding press for a few years, but had died down shortly thereafter; where was the third member of all those prominent photographs? In all of the articles one picture had been prominently displayed, as it was the official photo taken at the Order of Merlin ceremony in honor of the young Gryffindors, and in that picture a young woman with unruly hair held hands with Ron Weasley. Hermione Granger. Her disappearance from the wizarding world had sent the press, as well as almost everyone else, into a complete state of shock. For three years after the defeat of Voldemort, Hermione Granger had been seen as a beacon of hope for those on the periphery of the magical world, the house elves, the centaurs, the giants, the goblins, those who had been considered less than equal to witches and wizards. Although only a junior member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Granger commanded quite a lot of ink in the papers, and her utterances carried weight. Her disappearance, then, created quite the uproar.

At first it was thought that those opposed to her equality viewpoints had kidnapped her, as just before she left the public eye legislation that she had championed regarding laws expanding the rights of house elves had just been brought before the Wizangamot. When that avenue of inquiry was shown to be fruitless, all other sorts of wild theories were bandied about, most notably that she'd been killed by the remaining Death Eaters. Another was that she'd run off with Viktor Krum, who Hermione had accompanied to the Tri-Wizard tournament when she had attended Hogwarts. The most popular theory, though, was that she was actually an undercover Auror, a spy, who was infiltrating corrupt magical governments and secretly righting wrongs. This type of wild speculation endured for a few years, surfacing each anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, but eventually the fickle attention of the public turned to other endeavors as she remained missing and Hermione was, unfortunately, forgotten.

Of all the witches and wizards who had undertaken the search for Hermione one had been the most fervent, the most determined, and eventually the most discouraged. Even though he was no longer involved with her Ron was tireless in his search for Hermione. When his Auror shift was over he would often go out alone, searching for something, anything that might give him a hint to her whereabouts. After a series of Muggle letters to her parents in Australia had been returned unopened he even spearheaded the team that travelled there to see if they could find any clues, but like their daughter the Grangers had dropped off the face of the earth. Compounding Ron's mania for finding his former fiancée was the guilt he felt for his new marriage. The engagement to Hermione had been over for over a year when it had happened suddenly, quite out of the blue, and the only thing that tempered his fixation on the largest unsolved case in the Auror Corps was the joy he felt when he returned home. Eventually, though, like the press Ron's attempts to locate Hermione were fewer and fewer until he simply decided that enough was enough. She was gone, and no matter how much he or Harry looked for her, they would never find her.

At least, that's what he thought until that sunny Saturday in London.

-ooo-

"Ow! Watch it, you idiot." Ron turned to look at the man who had clipped his ear with a rolled up umbrella. The man paid no attention and simply wandered off through the throngs of people, unaware that the umbrella on his shoulder had done injury to another person. "Stupid git."

Harry adjusted his gait to avoid a woman with a pram and several shopping bags. "Give it a rest, Ron. He didn't know." He adjusted his rimless glasses and increased his pace. "Come on, we've got to get to that shop."

"Figures the wankers would set up business right in the middle of Mug…of London. Trying to sell dark objects…"

"Ron…"

He waved Harry off. "Like anybody's listening. It's a miracle anyone can hear with all the bloody racket."

After looking down at the scrap of parchment in his hand Harry pointed ahead. "Two blocks up, then a right. We're almost there."

"Fucking hate this detail." Ron stuck his hands in his jeans. "Let's get this over with."

The two Aurors continued down their intended path, reached the end of the block and followed the directions on Harry's parchment. After making their way to their destination they turned and began walking down an alley that, even in the brightness of the London sun, was dark and damp. The entry to their eventual destination was hidden well, warded even better, and it took the better part of a half hour for the combined efforts of the Aurors to break the enchantments. Finally, without saying a word, they looked at each other and drew their wands. Ron tapped the rusty doorknob of a door that had appeared out of a wall with his wand, and before the door could fully open he kicked it in.

Instead of finding a thriving, underground dark object mercantile establishment, though, they were greeted with the stillness of a building that had been empty for quite some time. Dust seemed to coat all the surfaces as if it was snow and in the half-light dust motes seemed to fill the air, stirred into action by their entrance.

"Bollocks." Ron shook his head and kicked an overturned stool. "What a waste."

"Dammit, Ron, hold on." Harry extended his wand in front of him. "Did you even read the reports? If the door was that well hidden…"

"Oh. Yeah. Right." Ron extended his wand. "Revelio?"

Harry nodded, extended his wand and with a flourish said 'hominum revelio' in a low voice. As the two looked around the building a small flicker of light could be seen across the room and on the ceiling. After putting a finger to his lips Harry pointed to a stairway and then up.

The years of chasing former Death Eaters and their supporters took over then as the Aurors began their slow, methodical and silent ascent up to the second floor. Once again Harry cast the spell and the faint red light began to pulse, larger and larger, until it indicated a room behind a battered door that had lost its doorknob ages ago. Again they looked at each other, nodded, and rushed into the room, expecting to find one lone purveyor of dark objects that their informant had guaranteed would be there.

There were no dark objects in the room. Instead, some huddled mass of life's leftovers sat hunched in the corner, rags about it in some semblance of clothing, a filthy stocking cap on its head. The tattered remains of Daily Prophets were strewn about the room, some of them crumbling from the walls.

Harry noted the Prophets, glanced at Ron and pointed his wand at the person. "Auror Corps, put your wand on the floor and stand up, hands above your head."

A grimy hand came out of the jumbled clothing, clutching something that glinted in the dim light.

"Dark object!" Ron pointed his wand. "Stupefy!" The spell hit the person and flung it back into the wall where its head hit with a sickening thump.

Harry hit Ron hard on the shoulder. "Bloody hell, Ron! We don't know if it was a dark object!" His eyes flashed with anger. "I'm not covering up for you again, not like Australia. Go sort it out, but be careful."

Ron mentally chastised himself about his over eagerness and walked forward slowly. He bent down and took the tarnished object out of the hand that lay half-covered in dirty clothes. At first he couldn't quite make it out, but somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind the synapses began firing and he knew exactly what it was. "Time-turner."

"What?" Harry stood a few feet back. "What'd you say?"

Ron stuck his wand out and lifted up the battered remains of the shattered artifact. He extended his wand towards his partner. "Time-turner."

"Crap." Harry took a step forward and extended an enchanted evidence bag. "Those have been illegal ever since Malfoy flooded the market a few years ago. Thought we'd rounded all those up."

As Ron dropped the item in the bag he shook his head. "The ones Draco did were silver, this is gold, or at least it was gold at one time. Remember, he couldn't get the spell to work unless it was silver. Even then it didn't work right. What'd it do, kill six people?" A groan arose from the pile of clothing, a distinctly female-sounding groan. Ron whipped his wand back up towards the woman and edged forward carefully. "Let's see who you are, then."

Harry watched his partner move a grubby scarf out of the way. Then, after staring wildly at the form of the woman Ron fell back a few steps and quickly lost balance, sliding down the wall. "Ron! What is it?" He moved forward quickly and took him by the arm. "What happened?"

Ron's voice was low and quivering. "No bloody way, can't be, can't be…not her, can't be…"

Realizing that his partner was almost incoherent Harry pointed his wand at the woman and stepped forward slowly. Eventually he was in a position to see what had caused Ron's actions, and he felt his stomach drop away as if he'd done a Wronski Feint. There, in the mass of filth and decay, was Hermione Granger. "Her…Hermione?"

The woman stood up quickly, faster than either the Aurors could have believed, and turned on the spot. She was gone.

-ooo-

Deep inside the workrooms at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes George Weasley tapped the broken time-turner on the table with his wand. "You sure you two didn't hit the firewhiskey over at Pansy's?"

"Like we're going to go see strippers when we're on duty." Ron rolled his eyes and sat back in the chair.

"You did it once." George winked at him.

"Yeah, and since that went so well we decided to do it again. Robards went mental. Don't want to be on the bad end of that again."

"Shut up, Ron." Harry looked over to George. "I'm telling you, it's true. It was Hermione, George. It was hard to tell but when I saw her eyes…"

After exhaling deeply George sat back and tapped his fingers together. "Well, I do have something I've been working on. Might be able to let you two have first crack at it, but you've got to put in a good word for me at the Corps."

Ron leaned forward and stared at his brother. "Fine. Just tell us, George, can you help us?"

George wheeled about in his chair and rolled over to a workbench. "Same principle as the underage magic trace, but with a kicker. Doesn't matter the age of the person. Now where did I put that…ah. Yes." He pulled a box off of the shelf. "Here we are." He placed the box on the table and brought out a black sphere the size of a football covered with runes. After tapping his wand on the top the sphere split into two, revealing a hollow interior. "Just put it in there, I'll close everything up and give it a go."

Harry levitated the broken time-turner into the sphere, and as soon as the small clink of metal indicated that it had settled George waved his wand. The sphere once again became whole and then George began muttering an incantation. The runes on the sphere began to glow, first a blue color and then progressed from green to red. Finally the sphere began to spin, slowly at first, but then rapidly until the runes appeared to be streaks. Without warning the sphere stopped and began to shrink until it was the size of a small pebble. George got up and began rummaging through the items on a workbench until he finally returned with an empty butterbeer bottle and then unceremoniously picked up the sphere and put it in the bottle.

"There." He smiled at the two Aurors who shared identical looks of confusion. "What?"

"Uh, that's great and all, but now what?" Harry gave him a quizzical glance. "How's that help us?"

George snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, the map." He again returned to his workbench and came back with a Muggle map of London. "Best on smaller areas, still haven't got the range down. If she's out of London you're out of luck. Just roll up the map and put it in the bottle, doesn't have to be too far in, and then shake it up. Once the rattling's stopped the Find Me Orb will have imparted its essence on the map. Sort of like the Marauder's Map, but focused on one person, the person who's magical signature is in the orb."

Ron gave Harry a sideways look and then glared at George. "And the time-turner?"

After wincing George shrugged. "One of the drawbacks, you lose the focusing object."

Once they'd finished chewing out George for destroying their only lead the Aurors once again returned to Muggle London, map in hand, and with a glowing red dot firmly located in the seediest part of town.

-ooo-

Night was falling as the two Aurors walked down the street, Harry holding the map as if it was a dowsing rod. He only had eyes for the map and had to be warned by Ron a couple of times about objects in his path, most notably the junkies begging for change. The dot on the map had moved twice in their search, but finally seemed to be settled down for a decent amount of time, causing Harry to stop suddenly.

"We need to have a plan, Ron. Can't just go rushing up to her like we did last time."

"Didn't rush, mate. I stunned her." Ron looked over his shoulder to the women that were calling after him. "Not tonight, ladies."

Harry shook his head. "If she's down here with the prostitutes and junkies it can't be good, Ron."

"Really? Hadn't thought of that." Ron spat on the sidewalk. "Come on, then. Let's do this like we did in Glasgow."

"Right." Harry nodded. "Come on,then."

After a quick glance at the map the two Aurors split up, Harry on the opposite side of the street from Ron. They knew if they held their present course that Ron would make first contact, and Harry would sweep in from the side. Their wands were hidden from Muggle sight in their sleeves, but ready at a moment's notice.

In the end, though, all their preparation was for nought. Harry watched as Ron walked up to the person sitting against the wall that according to the map should be Hermione. Instead of Ron casting a spell, or Hermione Apparating away, Ron simply walked over to her. After what seemed like an eternity to Harry he saw Ron look over at him and wave him in.

When he got there he could see why Ron hadn't done anything. The filthy form of Hermione Granger sat unconscious against the wall, empty bean tin in front of her. A few coins sat in the bottom of the can, barely enough to buy a small bag of crisp from a discount chain. Ron's eyes were full of confusion as he looked up to Harry, pleading with him to do something. Finally, after glancing from Hermione to Ron several times, he reached out with his foot and gently nudged Hermione's leg.

She roused slightly. Her voice was thick and slurred. "Change?"

The shock was too much for Harry so he simply answered with the first thing that popped into his head. "Sorry, no change, just pound notes."

Without opening her eyes Hermione lolled her head back. "Make you feel real good for a tenner."

"Bloody fucking hell." Ron stared in shock at Harry. "It's her, Harry. It's her! What do we do?"

"Get her arm." Harry reached down and took a hold of her. Once they'd managed to get her on her feet Harry took a deep breath. "Grimmauld Place."

-ooo-

Ginny Potter stood outside the door of the loo and tapped her husband on the chest. "I don't care who she is, I'm not having that, that thing in my house. Think of the children, Harry!"

"I am, Ginny. And you haven't even asked me who it is yet. Do you want to know? Really? It's Hermione, Ginny." He watched the shock spread across her features. "That's right. Hmm-mmm. Hermione. Ron and I found her earlier today but she disappeared on us, but you wouldn't believe…"

"Oh Harry." Ginny's pointed finger in anger turned into a calming hand that she placed on her husband's chest. "Is it really her? After all these years?"

"Yeah." He adjusted his glasses. "And I need you to clean her up. I…I can't do it, love. It's her. I don't want to see her like that."

"I'll do it." Ron mounted the last step. "I've seen her starkers a lot of times."

Ginny took her hand away from Harry and opened the door. "I'll help you, Ron."

As brother and sister undertook the task to bring some semblance of humanity back to Hermione, Harry walked downstairs to the sitting room and pulled a bottle of Old Ogden's off of the sideboard. After knocking back one shot he filled his glass almost to the brim. When the glass was almost drained he heard footsteps and looked up to see his wife, her face as pale as he remembered from the Chamber of Secrets. "Gin?"

Ginny walked over, took the glass from Harry's hand and downed it in one. "She's…Merlin, Harry. There are marks all over her body. And her arms, filled with tiny little scars."

"Bloody hell." Harry knew exactly what the scars meant. "She's a junkie. The place where we found her was full of them, heroin most likely." He took a deep steadying breath. "That's not the worst of it, though. When we found her she was begging on the street, literally begging. When she asked me for change and I told her I didn't have any…she…she solicited me."

Her hand flew up to her mouth and Ginny's eyes were wide. "No. Can't be, Harry. Not Hermione."

"Yeah. Hermione."

Ron came down the steps, looking gutted. "She's sleeping now. Kept mumbling the whole time about potions and fixing something. Think she's gone around the bend." He took the bottle off the sideboard, didn't even bother with a glass and took a long pull of the firewhiskey. "Dunno if St. Mungo's can help her at this point. Is that next? What do we do now?"

Both Ron and Ginny looked to Harry for an answer but he could only stare at them vacantly. After a few moments he sighed. "I'll go see Robards. Technically this is still an Auror Corps case, and since he's Head it's his call. Just keep her here until I get back."

Once Harry had left Ginny sat down in a chair, Ron repeating the action in the opposite seat. She looked over to her brother. "How are you holding up? I know this has to be awful for you."

"Yeah. That's an understatement." Ron levitated the firewhiskey bottle off of the sideboard and took another long pull. "Wife's gonna love this one."

"She'll understand. If anyone will understand its Luna."

Ron nodded. "Least I got that going for me. Going to be fun when I get home tonight. 'How was my day? Oh, you know, the usual, found my ex-fiancée who's been missing for eight years and she's a junkie who propositioned Harry. How were the kids today?' Yeah. Brilliant."

The siblings sat in silence for a long time until Harry returned via Floo with two Healers. Without saying a word to anyone he led the Healers up the stairs. Ron and Ginny looked at each other, but didn't say a word. Eventually the Healers returned, Hermione's unconscious form between them, and left for St. Mungo's.

-ooo-

"Thirty minutes, Auror Potter. That's all I time I'm willing to chance." The elderly Healer looked at Harry across the desk outside the secured, private room. "Clock starts the moment you walk in. I will not have you ruin three months worth of progress."

"I know, I know. Been the same procedure the whole time, you don't need to brief me like I just started."

The Healer shook a bony finger at him. "I don't care if you are one of the young lions, the Boy-Who-Lived or whatever the press is calling you, you will obey my rules. Is that understood?"

Harry shifted in his seat. "Yes, of course. Now can we get on with it?"

With pursed lips and an air of irritation the Healer took out her wand and unlocked the door. Without saying a word Harry got to his feet, took a deep breath and steeled himself for another visit.

After hearing the door lock behind him he took a look at her, and if he was honest she did look slightly better than his visit last week, and in his mind's eye for a brief moment he flashed back to when they'd first brought her to St. Mungo's. Her hair had grown out considerably, still retaining its unruly nature, and she'd put on some weight. The hollow look in her eyes had faded, but she was still nowhere near the brilliant witch of his memory. He watched as she continued to read, unaware of his presence. Finally he looked at his watch and realized that time was ticking by so he cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Harry?" She looked up quickly. "Harry! What are you doing? Have you figured it out yet?" She closed the book, leaned back against the wall and placed the book on the bed that still didn't have any sheets on it. "It's almost here."

It took Harry a moment to realize what she was talking about and then it clicked into place. During his last visit she thought it was still the Tri-Wizard tournament. "It's fine, really. Cedric said to take it in the bath."

"Oh." She cocked her head at him. "I hadn't thought of that." She patted the bed. "Do sit down."

With a weary heart Harry walked over to the bed. He knew that once again he would not get any answers. Once he'd sat down he looked over at her. "What are you reading today?"

"Oh, well, it's a treatise on house elves. It's fascinating, Harry. Did you know that in medieval England that house elves were conscripted…" She stopped suddenly and cocked her head at him. "What's wrong with you? You look very odd. Old, even."

Harry opened his mouth to reply but couldn't get a word out. In the last six months that he'd been visiting her she'd never once realized that they weren't at Hogwarts; all their conversations were about things that had happened up until what would have been their seventh year. He also knew that he had to tread very carefully, as the Healers had been very insistent that she had to be brought along gradually. "We all get older, Hermione."

"Older? You didn't take George and Fred's aging potion, did you?"

"No, no I didn't." All the recounting of past events was finally too much for him and he decided that the Healers could get stuffed. "Hermione, do you know what year it is?"

Her eyes began to glaze over and she shook her head as if trying to knock water out of her ear. When she finally looked at him she squinted and had a puzzled look on her face. "Merlin, Harry, I can't believe how young you are. The last time I spoke to you, well, you were ancient."

"What?" He took off his glasses. "Ancient?"

"You were very old, Harry. I can't believe I'm talking to you. Honestly, Harry, did you take a potion?"

"Godric." Harry covered his face with his hands and slid them down slowly until they rested on his chin. "The year, Hermione. Do you know what year it is?"

She gave him a look that he remembered from when she thought he was being thick. "Of course I know what year it is, it's…um…" She looked around the room but then returned to face him, blinking rapidly. Finally she winced. "No. Sorry."

"It's 2012, Hermione. You've been missing for eight years."

"Missing? I should think not, I'm not missing. I'm right here."

Harry nodded slowly. "Yes, and where is here?"

She tried to say something, but the fact was that she couldn't place exactly where she was. Eventually she moved to the corner of the bed, drew her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. Her voice was very soft when she replied. "I don't know."

Harry took a quick glance at the small window in the door, and as the Healer didn't seem to be observing them directly he decided to try and bring her out of whatever it was all at once. "St. Mungo's. You're in St. Mungo's. Ron and I found you…"

"Ron?" Her voice was angry. "He isn't here, is he?"

Harry noted the hopeful note in her last question. "No, sorry. He isn't. He's working."

She began to rock back and forth slowly. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Harry, she looked up at him. "Eight years?"

"Yeah. Eight years. Not long after you and Ron broke up."

"I…I don't remember that."

After months of blank stares or repeating events that had happened during Hogwarts Harry decided that the moment of clarity was worth pursuing so he plunged ahead. "A lot's happened since you disappeared. Ginny and I have kids now." He pulled out his wallet, extracted a picture and scooted next to her. After giving it to her he pointed to the oldest child. "That's James, he's seven. Albus is next to him, he's six and Ginny is holding Lily. She's four."

Hermione reached up and wiped a tear away. "They're beautiful Harry."

"Yeah." His voice was soft. "Ginny and I make good kids." He watched her slightly bite her bottom lip and knew what was coming next, the moment he'd been dreading.

"And Ron?"

"He's married. Two boys. Ossian, they call him Oz, he's three. Augustus just turned one in July." Mentally he willed her to not ask, to please not ask, but deep down he knew she would, and more than that she had to know eventually.

"Harry?" She turned to him. "Who did he…"

"Luna. He married Luna." He turned to her quickly. "He looked for you for over a year. We even went to Australia to see if we could find your parents, since they decided to stay there, but we couldn't find them either. He didn't plan on it, besides, you'd chucked him. Gave him the ring back. He's blamed himself for years."

The wail began slowly, almost inaudibly, but soon encompassed Hermione's entire being. She rocked back and forth, huge sobs wracking her body, and slapped away the hand that Harry reached out for her. In the midst of the tears and the agony she looked up to Harry and it was at that exact moment he knew. He knew that she was in full command of her faculties, but that it wasn't a blessing. He knew that she remembered everything.

The door opened quietly and Harry watched the Healer come in with two glasses of water and a small potion. She handed the potion to Hermione, waited for her to drink it down, and then sat the glasses down on the small table next to the bed. Without saying a word the Healer walked out of the room. As Harry saw the effects of what must have been a calming draught take hold of Hermione he realized that whatever time limits had been in effect for his visit no longer mattered.

"Harry?" Her voice was tiny and thin. "Harry I'm…I can't believe the things I've done. McGonagall said horrible things happen to people who mess about with time, and I…I didn't listen. I thought I could change things. That I was smarter than that. Did someone find my time-turner?"

"Yeah. We did when we found you the first time, before you Apparated away. How'd you get it? Everyone thought they were all destroyed."

"Well, not all of them. Obviously. I don't think anyone knows exactly what's in the Ministry. So many things lost, misplaced…I just found one. It was just right after I broke up with Ron. Oh Harry, I was a mess."

"Why did you break up with him? He's never told me."

After wiping the tears from her eyes she blinked several times. "It just wasn't going anywhere. It took me a long time, but I finally realized that while I'll always love Ron I wasn't in love with him. We were at war, Harry. All those times in the tent, freezing and hungry, I…" She looked away and stared at her bare feet. "He was everything I thought I wanted. A magical family for generations, never having to wonder if I fit in…"

It clicked almost instantly for Harry. Of all people he knew the longing to truly be a part of the magical world, to be someone to who there would never be reminders that they had grown up differently. Hermione had been accepted because of her abilities and her brains, but unconsciously she'd been searching for one thing; acceptance. Before he could say a word, though, she continued.

"And then the house elf legislation. Oh, he said he agreed, but I knew he didn't really understand. That's when I saw my future, the endless bickering, the sulking, how he would never truly understand and I…I just couldn't take it any longer. After I gave him back the ring I went back to my flat and didn't know what to do, but I knew one thing; I wanted my mum. And the more I thought about it, I wanted it all back. All the time I'd missed with them, all the time I'd been at Hogwarts, with you and Ron looking for Horcruxes, and I realized I could change it."

"The time-turner." Harry ran a hand through his hair. "Of all the people…"

"Yes, I should have known better!" She hurtled off the bed and began pacing around the room. "But do you know what? It worked! I had them back, and it was just like I'd never gone to Hogwarts!" Her hands began to gesticulate wildly as she continued to pace. "It was glorious, really, it was. Those few days were amazing, but then…" She stopped and placed her hands on the wall. "But then…"

"It wasn't, was it?" Harry scooted to the edge of the bed and placed his feet on the floor. "So what happened?"

"Instability. Merging of different time streams. I'd explain but I know you'll just throw up your hands like always when I try to explain something. So I kept trying, and trying, and finally they just snapped."

"Snapped?"

"Snapped. I came home one day after going to the shops and I found them on the floor, shaking and twitching." She shivered. "I couldn't bear it."

"Hermione." Harry's voice was stern. "What did you do to your parents? You didn't…"

"No! Of course not. I couldn't do it. I wanted to, I couldn't leave them like that and I couldn't do it, so I took them out to the outback." She turned and faced him. "I just left them there."

"Merlin." Harry put his head in his hands. "You didn't kill them, but you probably did anyway. Merlin." He looked up at her and watched as she sank to the floor. "Hermione?"

Once again she pulled her knees to her chin and began to rock. "What kind of person does that to their parents, Harry? Tell me that. Who does that? I couldn't take it. Who could? So I tried to forget everything."

"Drugs."

"It worked, oh, it worked. But it was expensive, and dealers don't take Galleons so I learned to get by in other ways." She began to laugh, but it wasn't a mirthful sound.

Once again the door opened to reveal the Healer, but this time she didn't have a potion. "Auror Potter, I think it's time."

Harry got up from the bed and walked over to the door. Before leaving he glanced back at the still laughing shell of his friend. "Goodbye, Hermione."

-ooo-

Ron finished his toast and tea, put the dishes in the sink and stood at the kitchen window looking out into his garden for a very long time. Harry's visit the night before still played out in his mind, all of the things that had happened to Hermione, the way she looked when they found her, how she'd propositioned the person she had once thought of as her brother. The recounting of Harry's last visit to her was precise and vivid, especially the part about why she'd broken up with him. A bird flitted across the window and landed on the hedge, drawing attention to the gnomes in the garden.

"You little bastards can wait. I have to do something first."

He turned and walked down the corridor to the bedroom and cracked the door. Inside Luna lay on the bed, their youngest son nestled into her arms, his blonde hair slightly peeking up over the sheet. After closing the door Ron moved to their oldest son's room and saw him completely at rest, one foot sticking off the edge of the bed as usual. Resisting the urge to cover him up Ron quietly closed the door and returned to the kitchen. The note he left was short, but Luna didn't need a lot of details.

Heading into the office then have to run an errand. Back soon.

It didn't take long to get what he needed, and if there was ever a time he was glad that there was some hero worship amongst the younger Aurors it was then. They didn't have him sign in as protocol demanded, he simply chatted with the wizard on duty for a bit, popped into the evidence room and was out in a flash. Feeling the object of his errand safely in the pocket of his Auror robes Ron headed down to the Floo. With a pinch of powder and a distinct 'St. Mungo's' he was gone.

The elderly Healer on duty looked up at him in surprise, as ever since that disastrous first visit with Hermione it had always been Harry that had come to visit her. The list of those approved to see her was quite small, limited only to the Aurors, as Robards wanted to keep things quiet. Ron felt the same need, so he didn't feel bad at all about confunding the Healer. As she headed out to get that cup of tea that Ron had suggested he reached out and opened the door, leaving it open to the hallway.

She was rocking back and forth on the floor. When he sat next to her he could see that whatever lucidity that Harry had described the previous night was long, long gone. She didn't even notice when he sat down next to her.

"Hello 'Mione. Listen, Harry told me. I think I get it, but…I dunno. I'm happy with Luna. Never would have guessed it, but I am. Boys are wonderful, and…crap." He exhaled deeply. "I'll always love you, 'Mione, but my life's different now. Maybe we could have made it work, but I guess we'll never know, huh?" He reached out and took her hand. "I just want you to be happy, too." After a few moments he stood up. "Goodbye. Be happy, Mione."

After he left Hermione rocked for a while until she could feel something different, something next to her skin was cold. She opened her hand and revealed a small, silver time-turner.