They arrived in Sydney's small magical community. It didn't take long to find their way to the Muggle area and grab a taxi to take them to the hotel. Severus had expanded their luggage when they first arrived so they didn't look strange checking into a hotel without bags. The room he reserved was a junior suite and had a small sitting room and separate bedroom. It was nicely furnished and Hermione began to unpack immediately. Severus had noticed she was being very quiet. He walked over to where she was putting things away in a dresser and wrapped his arms around her.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing", she said unconvincingly

"Hermione I know there's something on your mind, so what is it?" He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her down onto his lap.

"What if they hate me?" She tried to stem tears that were ready to flow.

Severus sighed, "Hermione you did what you thought was the right thing to do at the time, and as a former death eater I can tell you it was the right choice. You protected them from possible torture and death, they will understand. What I'm more concerned about is their reaction to having their eighteen year old daughter in a relationship with a thirty-eight year old man."

"Please you already know age is not an issue in my family and for thirty-eight you look damn good, especially naked."

"Well you my dear look just as good naked. There is something I've been meaning to ask you though?"

She smiled at the man holding her in his lap, he was making circles on her left buttock right where her…oh he noticed, she thought he didn't see her tattoo since he hadn't mentioned it. He was kissing her neck and definitely taking her mind off of the impending meeting with her parents.

"When did you get the tattoo of the snake?"

She blushed but decided to tell him the truth. "A few days after the final battle the three of us needed to get away for a few days so we went into Muggle London and had a little weekend. We got drunk one night and decided to get tattoos, Ron chickened out but Harry got a tattoo of a phoenix on his shoulder. I got a snake because …"

"Because?"

"Because I wanted to honor you in some way so short of putting your name on my buttocks I got a tattoo of the Slytherin mascot for two reasons."

He raised his eyebrow, "Those reasons would be?"

"Well the Boomslang snake looks nothing like Nagini and it is Slytherin and you are Slytherin Severus, and I also had memories of stealing it's skin from your stores to make polyjuice second year."

"Hah! I knew it; I knew it was one of the three of you. Whatever did you make polyjuice for?" She explained how they thought Draco Malfoy was the heir of Slytherin and Harry and Ron used polyjuice to transform into Crabbe and Golye so they could find out some information. She also told him about her little furry problem when she had taken a cats hair off of Millicent Bulstrodes robe thinking it was the girls hair. He sobered moments after he started laughing when he saw the glare she was giving him.

"So you got a tattoo in honor of me. I noticed it the first morning after we were together but I didn't mention it because I didn't want to embarrass you. However I have to say I am flattered you cared that much when you still believed me to be the greasy git bat of the dungeons."

"I stopped having that impression of you when Sixth year started and I noticed how sexy that git was. Trust me when I tell you I wasn't the only one. You were considered sexy but definitely unattainable. I think it was the scowl, or maybe the restrictive robes you wore, I am sure your voice had something to do with it."

"Someday we're going to have to see how much of an affect my voice truly has on you but for now we better think about how we are going to approach your parents."

Hermione stiffened and her fears returned. She knew she had to face her parents but she still didn't know what to say to them.

Severus looked at her and smiled, "Where is that storied Gryffindor courage? Come on Granger let's get this over with." He pushed her off of his lap and stood up to take her hand. Before she could protest he took her in his arms and apparated to an alley on the street where Hermione's parents lived. Walking out of the alley they made their way to the high rise building where her parents rented an apartment under the names of Wendell and Monica Wilkins.

It wasn't long before they were standing outside the apartment door. Hermione gathered all of her so called Gryffindor courage and rang the doorbell.

When Hermione had modified their memories she had them believe that they had taken an early retirement from their dental practice to enjoy life, deciding to move away from England to sunnier Australia. She had sold the building that housed their practice with her grandfather's help. They had a healthy bank account and were living a comfortable life. Her grandfather promised her if something happened to her that he would make sure they were taken care.

Hermione caught her breath when she saw the woman who answered the door. Her mother was a beautiful woman at the age of forty eight. She was a younger version of Regina Cross. Seeing Hermione on the other side of the door she gasped and pulled the younger woman into an embrace.

"It's about time you came to get us young lady."

"What?" Hermione was stunned as her mother pulled her towards the sofa.

"David! She's finally here."

A man came in from another room and Severus noted her father was a very handsome man for someone pushing sixty. David Granger was nearly as tall as Severus with dark hair and light eyes. He reminded Snape of the American actor Cary Grant.

When he saw his daughter David Granger picked her up and twirled her around, putting her back down and pulling away from her to take a good look at her.

"Mia you look beautiful. We've missed you so much." He saw Severus and motioned for him to have a seat.

"I don't understand the memory charm I used…"

"Worked", her father interrupted her. "It worked for a few months than one day I woke up knowing who I was and wondering why I was waking up in a modern apartment in Sydney, Australia. Your mother's memory returned around the same time. At first she thought Wendell had gone insane then things came back to her. We called your grandfather and he came here to explain everything. We were angry with you for about ten minutes then we realized you did what you felt you had to in order to keep us safe. Alec made sure we understood the full extent of what was happening and we decided to stay here until it was truly safe. We've been keeping in touch with him since our memories came back and after the war we decided to stay here until you were ready to come for us."

"He never said anything. Why?"

"We wanted you to be ready to come for us. We knew you would have a lot of guilt over what you did so we wanted you mentally prepared to see us again." Her mother said, "Now when are you going to introduce us to Professor Snape?" She said as she looked at Hermione's companion.

"Oh my God I'm so sorry. Severus these devious people are my parents, mom, dad this is Severus Snape."

Severus stood and offered his hand to David Granger who took it with a smile.

"Ellen's mother called and told us all about you Severus," he looked at Hermione, "yes Mia everything. Were you worried we wouldn't approve? Your mother and I met when she was my student in Dental school."

"You were her teacher?" Severus asked feeling more comfortable by the minute.

David nodded, "She had graduated from university and was in my class her first term. We were attracted to each other right away and after that term I asked her to dinner and well the rest is history. She no longer took any of my classes and we were married within two years."

The Grangers were an amazing couple and Severus thought they would get along well with his aunt and uncle. They wanted to know everything about the war from both Hermione's and Severus's point of view. By the time the whole story was told David Granger looked at his daughter in awe.

"We knew you were in danger Mia but we had no idea to what extent. If that madman was victorious what would our world be like?" This question was addressed to Severus.

"It would have been a world filled with fear I'm afraid, what Voldermort didn't take into account of course was the resourcefulness and genius of muggles. He like so many of his brethren did not and chose not to try to understand the non magical world. Had he won the war he would have attempted to fight a war with muggles not having an understanding of muggle technology and we would have indeed had World War III."

"How could muggles fight magic?"

"You can't fight magic but wizards and witches react the same way to muggle weapons as you do. A gun or bomb kills weather you're magical or not. Only Voldemort would have been immune since he didn't have soul. Innocent witches and wizards would have been killed by muggles, it would have been chaos."

Hermione was thoughtful for a minute, wielding a wand and casting a hex was one thing, would she have been able to shoot a gun? She didn't think so.

"So mom, dad, are you going to return to England with us or are you going to stay where the sun shines more than three weeks out of the year."

Both of her parents laughed. "Honey as much as we love it here we miss England and our family. There's a reason why we are still renters and not homeowners here. We're coming home. It won't take long to pack since your mother has been waiting for this moment for months. The only thing is the furniture and I believe my brilliant daughter and her new beau could use some of that magic they know and help us out. There's no job to worry about so my dear we should be ready to go within the week. No use in rushing things, you may as well enjoy Sydney while you're here."

Hermione and Severus nodded knowing they could have the place packed within the next few hours. They did appreciate the idea of staying for the week and decided the next day would be a good day to explore.

"Well I for one am starving, Ellen what do you say we take these two to our favorite restaurant?"

"That sounds just fine to me David. Why don't you and Severus go get the car form the garage and Hermione and I will meet you downstairs.

David Granger laughed, "Severus in our language that means get lost for a few minutes so we could chat without you listening."

Severus laughed and followed the older man out the door wondering briefly what Hermione's mother wanted to talk to her about.

"Ok mom what is it?"

"Honey I feel that since I missed out on a year with you I never really got to have that talk with you. You know the one all parents try to avoid as much as possible. Are you using protection?"

"Mom! What makes you think we are…"

Ellen laughed, "Mia I'm a woman and one who dated and eventually married a much older man so I know. I know how they make you feel after dating boys, so answer my question."

"Yes we are using protection. There's a spell as well as a potion, and even though we don't really talk about it it's understood. Severus brews the potion himself and always has it ready." She blushed, "I can't believe I'm telling you this."

"I'm your mother, who else would you tell. You do realize I was a teenager in the sixties, my generation is the reason why your generation has sexual freedom." At the look of horror on Hermione's face she laughed and said, "Come on lets go before they come up looking for us."

They had a wonderful dinner and Severus and Hermione said good night after that and went back to their hotel promising to be at the apartment the next day so her parents can show them Sydney.

Later when they were lying in bed sated Severus asked her what her mother wanted to talk to her about.

Instead of telling him she took the vial from the bedside table and held it up to show him.

"Oh, she assumed we were sleeping together."

"Her exact words were that she once dated an older man and she knew how they make a woman feel compared to boys."

His eyes darkened with lust and he whispered in her ear, "How do I make you feel Hermione."

For the second time that might Hermione chose to show him rather than tell him.