Author's Note: Much, much thanks to everyone reading this story and for the two of you that put it in your alerts. I really appreciate it. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and please review! I would love to know what you guys think about how it is going so far.

Chapter Two: Reunion

Harry and Hermione's trip to Australia was not as bad as Harry thought it would be. It took some quick thinking and Hermione confounding the security guards at each airport so there wouldn't be any questions. Harry knew it would be strange for them to see all of that stuff in Hermione's extremely small bag. He was very glad Hermione was there with him, since he was never very good at coming up with clever ideas on the spot like that.

The plane ride was mostly uneventful, and very boring. The in-flight movies weren't very interesting, and as it was a long flight, they spent most of it asleep or talking. Hermione was extremely worried about how her parents would react and Harry got the impression that she was afraid of being disowned. Harry spent quite a long time reassuring her that everything would be fine before she sighed loudly and proclaimed that she wouldn't talk about it anymore until they got to Australia. She spent the rest of the flight talking about Ron and the rest of the Weasley family and Harry thought that that particular topic might have been even worse than her parents. He was just as worried about the family as Hermione, but unlike Hermione, had a much harder time expressing his feelings about it. Harry felt at some point that Ron had been right. If any one person ever felt the amount of feelings that Hermione talked about the whole flight they would explode.

After they arrived in Australia, Hermione's insecurities doubled. She had no idea where her parents were. When she had charmed them, she didn't specify a place where they wanted to go, other than Australia, so there was no way of knowing where exactly in the country they were.

"Well, I highly doubt they went into the Outback, it's absolutely dreadful out there, so we should start in the larger cities," Hermione said as she walked over to a payphone and picked up the phone book attached to the stand. The back half was ripped out. She sighed, dropped it and walked to the next booth. This one had no phone book. The next phone book was too old to possibly have Hermione's parents in it.

"Don't worry," Harry said as he led her out of the airport and hailed a taxi. "I'm sure someone in this big city has a new phonebook."

Harry told the taxi driver to take them to a hotel, any hotel, and Hermione anxiously chewed on her fingernails and stared out of the window the whole way there. "You've got to calm down, Hermione. We'll find them."

Hermione looked at him and gave him a small smile and took a deep breath. "You're right. I'm just being silly."



When they arrived at a hotel, Hermione rushed inside and went straight to the front desk. She asked the receptionist for a phone book and when Harry walked in the door carrying their bags she looked downright devastated.

"Look at how many there are, Harry."

Harry glanced down at the pages and saw many M. Wilkins and Monica Wilkins, and as Hermione flipped through some pages he saw even more W. Wilkins and Wendell Wilkins. He didn't know how there could be so many Wendell Wilkins' in one city.

"Is there one of these in the rooms?" Harry asked the receptionist.

"Yes," she replied. "Would you like a king, queen, or two doubles?"

"Two doubles."

The woman raised her eyebrows slightly but typed away on her computer. "That will be 107.94. Will you be paying with cash or credit?"

Hermione's eyes looked like they were going to bulge out of her head. "Um, credit," she said as she handed them a card. Harry was shocked, as he didn't know Hermione had a credit card.

"My parents gave it to me in case of an emergency. I didn't think it would do me any good, being a witch, but now I'm glad I have it," she explained in the elevator. "That was a lot of money for just one night."

When they entered their room Hermione threw her bag on the bed and picked up the phone book lying on the nightstand. "We'll start with the W. Wilkins'. At home our phone number was always in my dad's name."

She flipped open the phone book and found the first M. Wilkins at 182 Burbank Ln. "Okay, hold tight to me," she said as she pulled out her wand.

It took almost hundred different tries and when Hermione Apparated them to 99 Alcary Dr. she gasped. Her mother and father were standing at the side of the house and appeared to be having a discussion about their lawnmower.

"Wendell, dear, maybe we should just buy a new one," Mrs. Granger was saying.

"I know how to fix it dear," Mr. Granger replied while he leaned over the lawnmower with a confused look on his face.

"Alright," she replied as she turned around and then started. She had spotted Hermione and Harry. "Can I help you?"

Mr. Granger looked up from his lawnmower at the two young people standing in his yard. "I'm sorry, but do we know you?"



Harry looked at Hermione for help. She had pulled out her wand and her parents looked at her apprehensively. In a few moments they had a blank look on their face and Harry wondered what spell Hermione had put on them. After a few seconds they began to shake their heads like they had just been dizzy. When Hermione and Harry came into focus, they looked shocked.

"Hermione? What's going on? What happened? Where are we?" her father demanded. Hermione ran forward and hugged them to her fiercely, tears rolling down her cheeks. Harry turned away, feeling like he was intruding on something personal.

Hermione led them inside their house and sat them down to explain everything to them. They stayed silent the whole time with their expressions changing from shock, to anger, to disbelief. When Hermione finished, they didn't say anything for a moment, but when they did speak, you could tell that they were very upset.

Hermione listened with her head down and tears in her eyes while her parents scolded her. It was very strange for Harry to see Hermione in trouble and it was completely opposite from how Mrs. Weasley handled things when she was upset. The Grangers reminded Harry of Dumbledore. He would rather hear them scream their heads off than use the tone of voice and look at him with as much disappointment as they were at Hermione right then. Hermione looked like she was going to cry any minute.

Hermione's parents only spoke for a few minutes before they stopped and just sat in silence. Harry told Hermione that he would be going back to their hotel room, and he would leave her alone with them. She nodded her head in agreement and Harry Disapparated.

When he returned the next day, he found a much happier Mr. and Mrs. Granger and an extremely happy Hermione. The Grangers didn't speak much to Harry on the way to the airport, or on the flight home, and he suspected that they somewhat blamed him for their enchantment, but he didn't mind.

When their flight landed, Harry thought for the first time about where he would go. He knew that he would always be welcome at the Burrow no matter what happened during the war, but he didn't know if he could bring himself to look at Mrs. Weasley every day, and most likely not even the rest of the family. He couldn't help but feel like it was his fault that Fred was dead, and even though in the back of his mind he knew that it wasn't, he still felt responsible, like there was something he could have done to prevent it.

Harry spoke briefly with Hermione about what plans they would have. Hermione had decided that she was going to stay with her parents for quite some time before venturing back into the wizard world. She hadn't seen them in a year, and although they were still very upset with her, she was going to spend all the time with them that they needed.

Harry was concerned with the possibility that Death Eaters would find her house, since she was so closely connected to him. Hermione laughed shortly and said she had already taken care of that, but would not go into further detail. Harry assumed that she had placed the same charms around her house that she had placed around their campsites every day. He wished her good luck with her parents and 

hugged her goodbye at the airport doors. He didn't miss Mr. Granger's raised eyebrow, but smiled to himself, as he knew that Mr. Granger had nothing to worry about, not from him anyway.

Harry hailed a taxi, wisely thinking it would be inconspicuous for him to Disapparate in the middle of an airport. He told driver to take him to the only place in London he could think of, the book store that was next to the Leaky Cauldron. When he arrived, he took a deep breath as he stood near the door, hardening himself for what he knew was to come, but also knew it was necessary.

As he walked into the room, there was complete silence. Every eye in the pub was looking his way, and Harry felt uncomfortable even though he was accustomed to people starring at him. He took a step forward and the noise was horrendous compared to the silence that hit him when he had first opened the door. Every chair in the pub scraped against the floor as people hurried out of their seats and forward to meet him.

"Such an honor, sir! I never thought I would see the day that You-Know-Who would be conquered!"

"Harry Potter! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Oh, sir, it is such an honor to meet you. We could never thank you enough!"

Harry heard this and much more as people scrambled to shake his hand. Many shook his hand twice, even three times before it was over and Harry found himself hard pressed to make it through to the other side of the pub to get to Diagon Alley. When he finally made it and shut the back door behind him it was to the sound of hands clapping. Harry sighed heavily and leaned against the door. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go into Diagon Alley just yet. He thought about what he would do, not wanting to face the scene he knew would be before him, when an idea jumped into his head, and he wondered why he had not thought of it sooner.

He would go to Grimmauld Place. After all, Voldemort was gone, and his Death Eaters were arrested, so why not? He pulled out his wand and turned on the spot, apparating to the front step of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. As soon as the door came into view he felt something hit him in the head. He fell backwards down the stairs and all he saw was a pair of old, scuffed shoes before everything went black.