A/N: So, I agree, I'm very, very, very evil. I made a cliffhanger. Even though as a reader I HATE them, but as an author, it was just too perfect. So without wasting anymore of your precious time, onward to part 2!
Chapter 6: Meet the Parents, Part 2
"Harry! She's waking up!"
Rose Granderson... wait... Grand... Grange... Granger... started to stir. Her head was resting on a pillow, her body was stretched out on the couch and she was lying on her left side. She slowly peeled her eyes open. The first thing she saw was a mass of bushy, brown hair. She tried identifying the voice she had just heard, but was having a hard time placing it. She blinked repeatedly, her eyes trying to focus on the person's face that was in front of her. Finally, it registered in her brain just who she was looking at.
"Hermione!" Rose yelled, lunging at her daughter. Throwing her arms around Hermione's neck, she pulled her into a hug and began squeezing her daughter with as much strength as she could muster. "Oh god sweetie! What happened? It's like I remember, but I don't! I love you Hermione! Where's Walter? Where's Harry?" Rose said as she began to cry.
"Mum! Mum! It's okay, calm down, Harry and I will explain everything, I promise! I love you too! Daddy's okay, Harry's with him. He wasn't woken up yet. I missed you so much!" Hermione said, tears flowing freely now that her mother remembered just who she was.
After a few moments, Harry came into the living room to join the Granger women. "Hermione, your dad is starting to come around, and I don't think that I should be the one he sees first, that is if I want to live to see my next birthday."
The Granger women disentangled, and Hermione stood up. She walked over to Harry and placed a tender kiss on his cheek, and went into the spare bedroom where her father was. Harry assumed Hermione's position on the floor next to Rose.
"Mrs. Granger, I want to apologize for what happened earlier, and we'll try and explain everything as best we can. I know this isn't exactly the best way for me to meet my girlfriend's parents, but I hope that you'll forgive Hermione and I in time."
Rose finally sat up on the couch and pulled her legs underneath her. She looked Harry in the eye, and saw what she interpreted as sincerity and remorse. With that, she let out a small grin. "Harry, yes, you two have some explaining to do. But I can see that you didn't want to do whatever it is you did, but that it was necessary.
"As far as the 'you-dating-my-daughter' thing... well... it's not totally unexpected young man. I've listened to so many stories about you that I feel like you should be calling me 'Mum' already. I figured it was just a matter of time before you two realized you had more than friendly feelings for each other. And there will be no more of this Mrs. Granger pish-posh. You were calling me Rose at dinner, and you shall call me Rose from now on. Understand?"
"Yes Mrs. Granger... ma'am... ugh... Rose... sorry..." Harry sputtered out.
Rose could only chuckle at the stuttering young man before her. "It's ok Harry. Now, I should warn you; Walter is a pretty stubborn fellow, so as long as your explanation holds water, I'll be on yours and Hermione's side."
"Thank you, and now I know where Hermione gets her stubbornness from," Harry said as he and Rose shared a laugh at Walter and Hermione's expense. Harry could tell that he was going to get along quite well with Rose. 'It only makes sense. Hermione is so much like her Mum it's scary. I have no doubt that I'll get along with Mrs. Granger, er, Rose. Mr. Granger on the other hand...'
"So tell me Harry, how long have you two been a couple? I've been expecting this for a while now you know. I've heard all about this... what was her name? Cho? Chong? Chang?"
Harry let out a nervous laugh. "That would be two-thirds right, Rose. Her name was Cho Chang. She was a Ravenclaw, a year ahead of us, my first crush, and my first... I guess you could call her a girlfriend. We went on one date, and it was a complete disaster. I was quite naive back then. Trust me, if I could go back and slap myself I would."
"And wasn't there another? I remember Hermione talking about you and a girl named Ginny, and my little girl was fawning over your other friend, Ron right? The one who always made her cry?"
Harry sighed heavily. He knew Ron and Hermione had some legendary spats, but rarely, if ever, had he seen Hermione crying after one. 'She must have cried in her room away from us. I'm a prat. I should have stopped them from fighting so much. I should have seen it. Some best friend I was...'
Rose continued, "I was quite disappointed when she told me she was considering Ron. Every time I heard something about him, it was always something negative. Be it some squabble over homework or the Tri-wizard thing, that Ron character always got on her bad side. Anytime I heard the name Ron I wanted to cringe, because I knew something bad was sure to follow. But when she started on about how she might fancy him, I nearly lost my mind. I didn't say anything, but I wanted to come to that school of yours and lock you and Hermione in a room until I was promised grandchildren. Though I'm happy to say now I won't be forced to do that anymore. Now, would you care to explain to me the entire situation? I get the feeling Hermione wasn't entirely forthcoming."
"Well Rose, that year was just odd. No one acted normal. It was like some bizarro world for a while. Hermione and I were fighting like Ron and she would usually. We were bickering over ridiculous things; mostly over Draco Malfoy and a stupid potions book. To be honest, I thought Hermione would be happy that I was using a book to do well in Potions. But when I started getting praised for my work in class, she basically called me a cheater. I honestly wanted to share it with both her and Ron, but she never wanted any part of it. And Malfoy isn't something we like discussing, it brings up bad memories for both of us.
"Then there was Ginny. Ginny was acting like Hermione a lot, and by that I mean being my best female friend. She stood up for me against Hermione, and I was appreciative of it. It hurt when Hermione treated me that way, and Ginny was the person I turned to. What's funny is that once I started dating Ginny, Hermione and I got along better. Strange now that I think about it. Then on top of that, I was being 'trained' by Dumbledore, but in the end he could have covered everything in the span of a weekend. Like I said, it was just odd.
"As for me and Ginny, we were together less than a month, and I broke up with her at the end of the term. I had a lot going on in my life, and I didn't think having a girlfriend was the best thing at the time. I convinced myself it was only for her protection, but I think subconsciously I knew it was for the best. As for Ron and Hermione? Well, I don't think they were actually ever 'official'. Mutual attraction and all that. She doesn't really talk about it, and I don't ask. I think its better that way. We're both happy now, and that's what matters. And we've been together since a little before Christmas, so about seven months now."
Rose listened intently to Harry's explanation. She was quite pleased at his thorough response. He didn't pull any punches, and was upfront on his feelings about the girls before Hermione. It was clear to her who his heart belonged to.
Just then, Hermione and Walter walked into the room. Neither of them looked happy, but Walter wasn't in a rage, nor for that matter did he look angry. Much like Rose when she awoke, he wanted answers. He walked over to the couch and sat down next to his wife. He wrapped his left arm around her protectively.
"I believe you two owe us an explanation," Walter said sternly.
Hermione brought in two chairs from the dining room, and placed them in front of the couch where her parents were. She sat down in one chair, and Harry sat in the other. They nodded to each other, and with both taking a deep breath, they dove in head first.
"Mum, Dad, I'm the one that owes you the apology. Harry had nothing to do with this. He..."
Harry quickly interrupted her, "Actually, I had everything to do with this. It was because of me she did what she did. If it weren't for her being my best friend, now my girlfriend, you two would not have been in danger."
"Harry, stop that right now! You're not the only one to blame here! So stop being a noble prat about it!" Hermione snapped back at Harry. "We're best friends, and I've chosen to remain your best friend. A troll in first year brought us together, and I was going to be damned if I was going to lose you.
"I said yes to you when you asked me to be your girlfriend because I wanted to. That entails trust, and I trust you more than anyone outside this room. I chose to stand by your side no matter what. It was that choice that put my parents in danger. In fact, being by your side was the best thing for me. Being a muggle-born witch was not exactly the safest thing to be the past year or so. Being by your side, I was able to help put an end to that evil bugger's reign of terror."
Rose and Walter simply sat back and watched the, for lack of a better term, argument, going on between their daughter and her boyfriend. While both were slightly disturbed by what they were hearing, the overwhelming feeling that they felt was that both of them cared deeply for each other. Perhaps even loved each other. Though they hadn't said it in their presence, Rose figured as much. And it was obvious that the pair would walk through hellfire and brimstone to be with one another.
"Hermione, you know that I'd never trade these past seven years for anything, even though it hasn't been all sunshine and candy. I care about you more than you could possibly know, but I believe we're getting a little off topic. I'll accept it's not entirely my fault, but it isn't yours either. You did what you did because of me, but you were they one who decided to do what you did, agreed?"
Hermione nodded reservedly before launching back into her explanation. "Alright... Now, Mum, Dad, this might take awhile..." Hermione and Harry went on to explain everything in detail that had gone on since the end of their fifth year: The prophecy, Voldemort, Horcruxes, Dumbledore's death; all the things leading up to now. Then came the hardest part.
"Ok honey, as much as what you've told me disturbs me to no end, what did you do to us and why did you send us to Australia? I'm certainly not going to complain about the accommodations, but I'd like to know why," Rose asked her daughter.
"Like I said before, Dumbledore told Harry about the Horcruxes. When he died, the task of finding them and destroying them fell onto Harry's shoulders. There was no way I was going to let him do it all by himself. I also knew that what we were going to face would be dangerous, perhaps even deadly. I didn't want you two to be targets, which you would have been simply because you're muggles. But because I'm so close to Harry, you would have been the biggest non-magical target there was."
Hermione had kept her composer through most of their discussion, but now she was succumbing to her emotions. As the tears started to fall, Harry, who had been holding her hand the entire time, pulled her from her chair and brought her into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her as she buried her head into his chest. He gently rocked her like a baby as he rubbed her back, trying to calm her down. After a little while, she was able to turn her head away from Harry and continue.
"I'm sorry, it's just hard," Hermione said as she sniffled and wiped away some tears. "I didn't want you to be targets. I didn't want you worrying about me, and since I wouldn't have been able to contact you, I know you would have. The easiest solution to everything seemed to be to just place a memory charm on you and send you away. I know it was wrong on so many different levels, but I couldn't come up with anything else that would accomplish all the things I wanted.
"I knew that there was a good chance I would die. And if you guys didn't know I existed, you couldn't mourn over me. You couldn't be sad at losing a daughter you didn't remember. A lame excuse I know, but it's how I felt."
The two grow-ups listened intently to their eighteen-year-old daughter. They could see how passionate and how resolute she was about her decision. While they didn't necessarily agree with her decision, they certainly couldn't fault her logic. They, as parents, surely understood the feeling she was going through. They would do almost anything to protect their daughter. And here she was, trying to make them understand that she had done the same for them.
"Hermione, I think I speak for your father when I say that we understand, and we forgive you. As parents, we always want our children to be safe. You did what you did to keep us safe. Seeing as you're the one that can do magic, you could do more to protect us that we could do to protect you. And Harry, we don't blame you for what happened earlier. You were helping Hermione, as any good boyfriend should," Rose smiled as she addressed them.
"Looking over the situation, I don't know if I could have come up with anything better in your position, Hermione. You did what you thought was best for your family, and for that I can never be upset. And I certainly can't argue with the result. All four of us are sitting here having this discussion, which means that it turned out ok. That is all that matters now, and I'm happy that I'm able to sit down and discuss this with both of you."
"Harry," Walter spoke up for the first time during the discussion, "When Hermione was in primary school, she didn't have any friends. My little girl was full of life and laughter before she started attending school, and over the years, I saw her retreating into a shell. The other kids shunned her because she was smarter than them, so she dove into her books, hardly ever coming out of them. Then she went to Hogwarts, where she met you. You saved a girl you didn't know because it was the right thing to do. Ever since that day, my Hermione started coming out her shell more and more. Today, I haven't seen her once crawl back into it, and I have you to thank for it.
"While the extenuating circumstances weren't great, we certainly don't blame you for this. The bottom line is that you both wanted to be there for each other, and you wanted to keep us safe. You asked us for our forgiveness. As far as I'm concerned, it's forgiven and forgotten."
After a few seconds, Walter chuckled at his unintended pun. "Well, I guess with you two, we really could forget about, couldn't we?" he joked, and soon everyone joined in on the laughter.
"So, what do you two plan on doing now that the world is no longer in need of a savior?" Rose politely asked.
"Well, I always thought I would end up being an Auror; basically a magical policeman," Harry responded honestly. "I've had to spend all my life surviving evil, I just want to live my life and be happy. As a result, I know that Hermione loves to learn about new places and things, so I was hoping to take her around the world."
Hermione looked at Harry in disbelief. "Oh Harry, do you mean it?"
"Absolutely, I haven't had the opportunity to do anything fun in my life, and I think I'll enjoy it as much as you will, if only because I'll be with you. I think it'd be wonderful for us to go around the world and learn as much as we can about both the muggle world and the magical world. Maybe when we get back home, we can turn the wizarding community on its ear, how about that?" Harry said with a glint in his eye and a mischievous grin on his face.
"That, or becoming a teacher. I really liked running the DA, and you were a magnificent teacher for both me and Ron. With all the stuff we can learn on our trip, I think we can put ourselves in a class of our own, and go back to Hogwarts to spread our knowledge to the next generation in hopes that we never have to face this kind of evil ever again."
Hermione looked at her boyfriend with love in her eyes. He truly knew what she liked, and was willing to make it happen and go with her. "Harry, that sounds brilliant! I'd love too!" She cupped his face with her hands and pulled him into a loving kiss.
With the tension finally broken, the Granger's got up off the couch, pulled Harry and Hermione off the chair, and enveloped them in a massive embrace. The Granger women were shedding tears of joy because of their reunion, and promptly sat down on the couch to have their long overdue 'girl talk'. Walter clapped Harry on the back and led him out to the back porch.
"I believe it's time for a little father-to-daughter's-boyfriend talk Harry."
Harry chuckled nervously. "Actually Walter, I think that's a good idea. I needed to ask you about some things too." Harry walked back into the house and grabbed a couple bottles of pop. When he returned, he handed Walter a bottle, and leaned up against the porch right next to him. The two spent the next hour or so talking about life, love, and daddy's little girl.
A/N: Alright. That's Chapter 6, parts 1 and 2! Lots of plot going on here. The rest of the story is getting set up. Hoorah. Hope you liked it! And a BIG thank you goes out to my new beta, The Oh So Bored One. It's nice to be able to have another pair of eyes reading my story before it hits the web.
