Chapter eight
'Alright, I can see how nervous you are Hermione, you don't need to be. So why don't you start explaining what's been going on and why you thought you needed to remove and change our memories?' Oscar Granger asked.
'Do you want me to start Hermione? Since it does concern me, then you can take over.'
'Thanks Harry,' Hermione gave him a small smile.
'Okay, our world, the wizarding world just finished the second war with Voldemort, the dark wizard Hermione told you about. The first war ended when he killed my parents and when he tried to kill me as a baby, something happened and he vanished. It's all to do with a very old and rare piece of blood magic. My mother sacrificed herself for me, which kept me protected. Now for thirteen years he was gone, but Dumbledore, our headmaster always believed he would come back. He came back a few years ago, I was taken to a cemetery where one of his men, a death eater they're called, he performed a dark piece of magic using my blood along with other ingredients, Voldemort was reborn you could say. I was able to escape and let Dumbledore know he was back,' Harry took a drink of his tea before showing the Grangers his scar on his arm.
'If you don't mind me asking, but how old are you Harry?'
'Eighteen, a few months younger than Hermione.'
'Sorry to ask, but you look a lot older.' Oscar said staring intensely at Harry
'With everything Harry has been put through, we all understood why he has aged dad.' Hermione squeezed Harry's hand again.
'Oh my, so you were young then, a boy really.'
'Yes, well a teenager,' Harry gave her a small smile, 'It took more than a year before people started to believe he was back. There were a lot of deaths and disappearances, but when some of his worst death eaters escaped from Azkaban, that's our prison, people started to realise and believe he was back.'
Hermione decided to give Harry a break, 'It all started because of a prophecy made about Harry and Voldemort, and that was why he went after Harry as a baby. Harry's closest friends all knew it was going to be Harry that ended our war.'
'Or die trying,' Harry cut in. 'Voldemort started to take over everywhere, Hogwarts, our school, the Ministry as well. Everyone that tried to stop or fight him, died. There is a reason why he was never able to die when he tried to kill me. He made these very evil and dark pieces of magic which kept him alive even if his body was destroyed. They basically kept his soul from moving on. When Dumbledore was killed, I knew I had no choice but to finish the search for these items. They had to be destroyed if anyone was ever going to finish off Voldemort.'
'Harry wanted to go alone, but Ron, another friend and I decided to go with him. The death eaters knew we were friends anyway, so we were already in danger. But you would have been killed if they found you, first they would have let Harry knew he had you so he would try to rescue you or surrender. Even if Harry surrendered, they still would have killed you since they didn't like non magical people. I worked on a lot of plans then I removed me from your memory and made you both think you were Monica and Wendell Wilkins and that you wanted to live in Australia. I wanted to give you both the best chance at survival and doing what I did could ensure that. Our home was raided by death eaters, they wanted to get you in the hopes I would tell them where Harry was.' Hermione took a sip of her tea, so Harry continued.
'The three of us have been away for almost a year. We found the items we needed, one item was hidden at Hogwarts, and one Voldemort kept with him at all times, that was his pet snake. So the three of us headed to Hogwarts, which at the time was under death eaters control. We snuck in through a secret tunnel and with help from some of our friends and the good staff, they sealed the school while we searched for the hidden item. Hermione and Ron destroyed one that we had on us, while I looked for the other one. We ended up in this room where the three students, children of death eaters cornered us. One set something called fiend fyre, cursed fire and very hard to control. Hermione and Ron saved one boy, I saved another, but the one that conjured the fire died. The item was destroyed by that fire as well. So we needed to find the snake,' Harry took another sip.
'Harry was linked to Voldemort and could see through his eyes, so Harry looked inside Voldemort, saw where he was with the snake. During all this there was a fierce battle going on, all of us on one side, all of the death eaters and giants on the other. Voldemort called a halt in the fighting, told Harry to surrender to him or everyone would die and he even blamed Harry for the people that had already died. Ron and I wouldn't let Harry do that, neither would anyone else. But when we went to see Voldemort, to try to get his snake, we saw him kill one of our Professors, then he left. Harry knelt next to Professor Snape, he wasn't dead, but he was dying. He gave Harry memories, which I explained to you once before. When Professor Snape died, we left and went back to the castle. Ron's brother had died during the fighting. Remus, who was one of Harry's father's best friends and his wife Tonks, died. Harry is godfather to their son. Ron and I went in to be with his family, Harry disappeared.' Hermione looked at Harry.
'I went to speak with Dumbledore's portrait because I couldn't face looking at all the people that died. Dumbledore wasn't in his portrait, so I decided to watch the memories and found out there was one more dark item apart from the snake. So I left the castle, told another friend of ours that the snake needed to die, then I went to face Voldemort. He tried to kill me again, but we both ended up being knocked out. When I came to, I stayed still hoping I could get the snake now she was no longer in her enchanted cage. Voldemort was told I was dead even though I wasn't.'
'He tortured Harry for a while, then made Hagrid carry him back to the castle, where all of us were. We all thought Harry was dead,' Hermione squeezed Harry's hand.
'I kept putting shield charms around everyone to keep them safe, but at this time I was under my invisibility cloak. Neville, our friend, killed the snake, so all that was left was Voldemort and his death eaters. More fighting started, death eaters were falling under the weight of people.'
'Voldemort used magic to tell everyone Harry was dead and hundreds more people turned up to fight. The death eaters were overwhelmed until there was only one death eater and Voldemort left, some death eaters did run away. Ron's mother killed the last and worst death eater, then Harry pulled off his cloak and faced Voldemort with Harry killing him. The war was over all thanks to Harry,' Hermione gave Harry a small smile, then kissed his cheek.
'Um, well, that is some story, but you killed someone Harry?'
'I would never kill anyone intentionally, even someone like Voldemort who was pure evil and all he wanted was to live forever and rule the world and he was heading that way. There's a lot of magic and wand lore involved, but he used a wand that belonged to me. So when he said the killing curse, I said the disarming charm. The spells met and rebounded onto him, so basically, he killed himself.'
'I knew your world could be dangerous, just like our world, but I never imagined that. But how did it come to be that young people like you were involved in a war?'
'Most supported Harry because they knew it was going to be him who ended the war and bring peace to our world. Harry is now known as the saviour of the wizarding world. He hates the name, he hates all the names given to him.'
'A lot of people helped bring an end to our war, Hermione was a big part of that. But it's finally over, we did lose a lot of people, Ron,' Harry hesitated.
'Ron died not long after the fighting finished. He said he couldn't keep seeing the look on George's face. George and Fred were identical twins, Fred was killed. Ron said he needed some air, not knowing there were some death eaters hiding on the grounds. We found Ron near Hagrid's hut. We lost around fifty people considering he had about fifty death eaters, about a hundred more followers called snatches, werewolves and giants. So put all that together, we got out of it fairly light. They only used things like the killing curse, where most of us used things like stunning spells or binding spells. So since the war is over it was time to find you. For the last couple of months, we've been in Australia trying to find you.'
'After some time, we might be able to show you some photos of what he looked like and what his death eaters were like and I think you will understand why Hermione changed your memories, it was the safest thing for you. Voldemort's people were killing muggles, sorry non magical people. They also killed people like Hermione, muggleborns. They believe that all magic should be kept within all pure blood families, not all pure bloods thought like that, Ron's family never thought that. The scars Hermione has we're caused by Voldemort main death eater, Bellatrix Lestrange, she was just as evil as he was. Ron and I were locked up in the cellar, but I was able to get us out with some help, we rescued Hermione and escaped.'
'Harry's covered in scars, all caused by Voldemort. Harry faced Voldemort the first time at the age of eleven, then again at twelve, then fourteen, then fifteen, then seventeen before he finally faced him at Hogwarts. Everytime, Harry got new scars from being tortured by him. Harry is the hero of our world and saved my life more than once.'
'You saved my life as well Hermione, I'd be snake food if it wasn't for you.'
'Even though I wished you could have told us all this before changing our memories, I do understand darling, you were trying to protect us, but it is normally our job to protect you, not the other way around. But this time, you had what was needed, magic and since it was a magical war, it makes sense,' Oscar gave his daughter a hug before shaking Harry's hand, 'I can't thank you enough for ending this and keeping our daughter safe.'
'I'd do anything for Hermione, but you are both safe now if you want to return to England.'
'I think we would like to return home, but we couldn't straight away. We'd need to sell the surgery, also this house, there's a lot to plan and organise.'
'I know mum, but we'll help in any way we can. So since you said you'd like to come home, I'll have to send a letter to Kingsley, find out if he can have the aurors check the house. We know death eaters went there, but they might have left some dark magic around the place.'
'We can do that when we get back to the hotel love.'
'By the sound of things, you two are serious, am I right?' Oscar asked but looked at Harry.
'Yes we are, we are staying together and I have asked Hermione to live with me when we get back. We can work on getting married in a few years. There's been so much going on in our lives, we both just want some time.'
'Our daughter has a mind of her own and she is an adult, then add the fact that you have saved her and said you would do anything for her. I don't want to stop you being together and I'm sure Hermione would not allow me to either,' he smiled at his daughter.
'But you do not need to stay at the hotel, you can share the spare room here if you like?'
Harry could see the smile on Hermione's face, 'You want to stay here love?'
'If you wouldn't mind Harry, I would like to spend time with my parents.'
'That settles it then, so why don't you both go pack your things and come back here and you can settle in.'
Hermione and Harry stood up, Harry shaking Hermione's father's hand again, 'Thank you, we won't be long.'
Hermione hugged her father, then her mother, before taking Harry's hand and they left her parents and headed back to the hotel to pack. When they finished and paid the bill, they found a quiet spot to apparated straight back to the Grangers home. They unpacked and spent a wonderful evening with the Grangers and even though they did enjoy their time, they did explain a lot more about what they had been doing over the last year and of course more about Voldemort.
