A/N: I'm so sorry that this update took so long. I was about to submit it a while ago, but something was bothering me about the chapter. It took some time to figure out what was wrong and then even more time to figure out how to fix it. I think I'm finally happy and thus able to share with you!
This is the last of the chapters that I had previously posted and have now revised. From here on out it is going to be completely new for those of you that have read this story before my changes.
Thank you so much to my wonderful reviewers! I love you all!
Disclaimer: Does this really matter? I obviously don't own anything in J. K. Rowling's wonderful world.
Chapter Ten ~ Flying Teacups, Glowing Muggles, Shrinking Boxes
Hermione, Draco and Carl entered the waiting room of the Wilkin's office. There were eight comfortable looking red chairs arranged along the walls. A coffee table and two end tables were covered in various magazines. A television sat in the corner; it was tuned to a station that played classical music, filling the room with soft, peaceful music.
A middle aged man with brown hair the same shade as Hermione's, heard the chime on the door and walked into the waiting room and said, "Welcome, my name is Dr. Wendell Wilkins and my wife Monica is in the other room. How can we help you today?"
Swallowing hard, Hermione said to her father with a slight waiver in her voice, "Hello Dr. Wilkins. My name is Hermione Jean Granger and this is Draco Malfoy and Carl Featherstone. We're here from England and are hoping we can talk to you and your wife for a few minutes."
Dr. Wilkins twitched slightly when he heard the name Hermione, but did not hesitate in his response. "You came at the perfect time. We're just taking our lunch break and our first afternoon appointments cancelled so we definitely have some time to talk to fellow Brits. We just moved down under a little over a year ago from York. Please follow me to our break room where we can talk comfortably." He gestured for them to follow him as he called out, "Monica, we have some visitors from England, take out three more cups for tea."
Hermione let out the breath that she didn't notice she had been holding and Draco placed his hands on her shoulders and gave them a supportive squeeze as he guided her forward with Carl following them. When she saw her mother, Hermione had to blink back the tears that sprung to her eyes.
"Welcome, it's not often that we meet people from England in our little office. Oh this is so exciting. Please sit down at the table. What brings you to Australia? Oh, where are my manners, please excuse me. My name is Monica and you are?" she asked. As Hermione answered, Monica poured three cups of tea for the guests who sat where she instructed.
"I am Hermione Jean Granger and this is Draco Malfoy and Carl Featherstone. Thank you so much for agreeing to talk with us." Hermione was trying to maintain her composure but it was getting difficult.
"Hermione. Hmm, that name seems familiar. Wendell, do you recall that name?" Monica asked.
"You know, I thought the same thing when she said it the first time. Have you ever been to York, Miss Granger?" Wendell asked.
"Yes, I grew up there with my parents, Jean and Henry Granger. That's actually what I'd like to talk to you about today." Hermione studied her parents for signs of recognition to their real names. She found none.
Wendell replied, "I don't recall those names, but any news from York is always welcome. I'm afraid we haven't kept up on any news since we moved here. What would you like to talk to us about?"
"A lot of what I have to say is going to sound unbelievable, but please hear me out. It's a bit of a confusing story and I know we just met, but I'd like you to hear it," Hermione pleaded with them.
The Wilkins exchanged a glance and then nodded for her to continue. She took a deep breath and began telling her story.
"There's a world of witchcraft and wizardry and most people don't know that it exists." At this opening statement, the older couple's eyes widened, but they said nothing. Hermione continued, "For many years, there was a horrible wizard, called Lord Voldemort, who waged a war to bring about darkness and tried to force his ideals on other witches and wizards. He wanted a world full of pure-blooded witches and wizards and those who opposed him were killed. He killed non-magical people, called Muggles, and those witches and wizards who were born of Muggles."
Her parents looked at her as if she was a bit touched in the head, yet they still said nothing. Hermione did not let their looks deter her from the story. "Some pure-blooded wizards were forced to serve Lord Voldemort whether or not they agreed with his goals. There was a group of witches and wizards, both pure-blooded and Muggle-born who fought to save the Wizarding world and all mankind from Lord Voldemort. In the last few years, Lord Voldemort became extremely powerful and was close to taking over the Wizarding world, which would have led to him taking over the Muggle world eventually. Many Muggles and Muggle-born witches and wizards went into hiding for fear of being killed. A few months ago, Lord Voldemort was defeated and the Wizarding world and the Muggle world are once again safe." Hermione paused to let the Wilkins digest what they had just heard.
They were quiet as they thought about what she had said. "For argument's sake, let's say we believe you so far. What you've just said does seem farfetched, but I've never been one to think that I know everything there is to know about the world. Why have you come here today to tell us this?" Wendell asked.
"What I've said so far directly affects you both. Draco and Carl are both pure-blooded wizards and they did not need to hide from Lord Voldemort. I, however, am a Muggle-born witch and was a key member of the group who destroyed Lord Voldemort. I forced my parents, Henry and Jean Granger, into hiding. I couldn't hide with them as I was part of a pivotal mission which led to his ultimate destruction. I knew my parents would be targets for Lord Voldemort to gain control over me. I didn't want any harm to come to them, so I sent them to Australia." She needed a few more seconds before she revealed to them the whole truth.
Monica was the first to say something this time. "I'm not exactly sure how you think we can help you. We've never met Henry and Jean Granger. How does this all directly affect us?"
Hermione reached into her handbag and pulled out a series of family pictures. The pictures showed the Granger family through the years as Hermione had grown from a toddler, to her first day leaving for Hogwarts and then a picture taken just days before she modified their memories. She held the pictures to her chest so they could not be seen and said, "I have here some pictures of me with my parents. I modified my parents' memories to protect them and they no longer know me or know of me. That's why Carl is with me. He's a Healer, which is a bit like a doctor. After doing a few assessments, he'll be able to tell me what will need to be done to restore their memories. I really hope my parents won't be mad at me. Please forgive me." Hermione turned the pictures around and placed them on the table in front of Wendell and Monica. They both looked at Hermione before looking at the pictures.
Hermione held tightly to Draco's hand while she watched her parents' faces become more and more confused. She bit her lip as her brow crinkled and she tried not to cry. Draco removed his hand from hers and gave her his other hand as he placed his arm around her shoulders. Hermione's mother looked up from the pictures at her and tilted her head to the side as she tried to make sense out of what she was seeing. She shook her head and blinked a few times before saying, "You mean that we're your parents and that we're Henry and Jean Granger? Is this some really elaborate prank? How can we even believe that there are such things as witches and wizards, let alone that you're our daughter we don't remember having?"
Draco whispered in Hermione's ear, "Just take it one step at a time. Prove that you're a witch and then maybe they'll believe you enough for Carl to assess them. If not, he can do it without their permission. Remember, you did the charm so well that they're not supposed to recall who you are. The name Hermione at least sounds familiar to them. It'll be okay." Draco kissed her temple as she nodded.
She took out her wand and transformed the full teacup on the table in front of her mother into a snail. The snail started to slowly move across the table. She watched as her parent's eyes widened. She turned the teacup back to normal and her mother hesitantly picked it up to look at it and noticed that there still was tea in it. She then summoned a magazine from the other room. It landed right in front of her father. He slowly reached out his hand and picked it up, turning it over to see if there was a string or anything on it. Her mother dropped the cup of tea that she was holding in her hand and it broke. Hermione repaired the cup and then cleaned up the mess the spilled tea had made.
Everyone sat quietly as Hermione's parents thought about what they had just heard and seen. "I guess you really are a witch. But I'm sorry Hermione, if we are your parents, we don't remember you at all. All we know is that we're Wendell and Monica Wilkins. We don't know anything about Henry and Jean Granger," her father said relatively calmly.
Hermione nodded and replied, "That was my intention. It was for your protection as well as mine. If you'll allow him to, Carl will assess you and maybe determine if the memory modification can be reversed right now. I'm hoping that you'll come back to England with us."
"Look at her Wendell. She has your ears and hair color and my eyes and curls. She does look like she could be our daughter and I feel like I know her," Monica said as she looked closely at Hermione. Wendell nodded as he noticed the same things.
Wendell continued, "I'm still not sure I believe all of this; but I'm a bit afraid of what you can do with that little stick. So Carl, do what you need to do to assess us and then I think we may need some time to think about all of this."
Carl pulled out his wand, muttered a few words and Hermione's parents briefly glowed purple before returning to their normal color. "Hmm, let me try another one," Carl said. He said another spell and they glowed blue and then faded to purple again before returning to normal. Hermione gave Carl a confused glance and he tried another spell. With the third spell, her parents glowed red. Carl looked at Hermione and said, "You cast an extremely strong Memory Modification Charm on them, but I'm detecting other spells as well. Did you do anything else that you can remember?"
"No, I only modified their memories. I made sure not to Obliviate their memories and only modified them with a false memory charm. I've never cast any other charms or spells on them in the past. I suppose I may have done something accidentally before I knew I was a witch, but never since then. Is everything reversible?" she asked worried.
"I'm not able to do it alone. We'll need to bring them to St. Mungo's and until we know all of the spells on them we won't be able to reverse any of them. It's not possible for me to reverse just the Memory Modification Charm you cast, so we'll need to try to determine what else is going on first or it's possible nothing can be fixed. I don't detect anything bad, just that there's more here than we know. The purple color does not often appear and it signifies multiple strong spells or charms; it wasn't exactly what I was expecting since you said you only used one charm. Tell me, did you cast separate charms on them, or was it one charm that hit both?"
Hermione bit her lip and replied, "It was two separate charms. I didn't want to take the chance that it would split unevenly or miss completely."
"Hmmm," Carl muttered. "Well it's possible that they were both hit by both charms and that would explain away the purple. The second spell I used brought out the blue before the purple. The blue signifies that a long-term memory charm has been put into place, which we know you did. But the fact that it was followed by the purple makes me hesitant to try to lift it until I know for sure that it was in fact the same charm used twice. Then there's the red. We need to do a lot more tests to determine what the red means. I've never seen it before and I recommend trying to transport them back to St. Mungo's on Friday morning London time so our memory specialist, Healer Remembrall, the man for whom the Remembrall Ball is named, can try to determine the spells and charms at work here. Will that work for you?" Carl addressed the last question directly to Hermione's parents.
Hermione's parents both looked skeptical. "I think we'll need the night to discuss all of this and to determine how we feel about everything. I'm not sure I completely understand everything about that Lord Voldemort and your reasons for supposedly hiding your parents, er I mean, us. Why don't you come to our house in the morning and we'll let you know our answer then?" Monica asked.
Hermione swallowed hard and answered, "We'll be happy to come to your house. I have a book for each of you to read which will help you better to understand the war and why I felt the need to hide you. Please read it and we'll answer any questions you have in the morning."
She placed her beaded handbag on the table and reached deep inside of it, her arm and head disappearing for a few seconds as she searched for the two accounts of Voldemort's downfall that she had placed inside that morning. Her parents watched in shock, actually taking a moment to each look under the table to see if somehow she was reaching through the solid table. She finally found the books and pulled them out and set them in front of her mother. Monica picked up the hardcover books and turned them over in her hands and tried to bend them. Then she looked at the handbag on the table and back to the books, wondering how they managed to fit inside the bag. She carefully set the books back on the table and closed her eyes.
"We've taken up enough of your time today. Thank you for listening and allowing us to meet with you. We'll see you in the morning; just let us know where we need to be and we'll be there," Hermione said with a small smile for her parents.
After they got the address of the Wilkins' home, they left the office. Draco convinced Hermione to see some of the sights of Brisbane, while Carl had some research he wanted to do. They parted ways as the bus to take Carl back to the Wizarding section of Brisbane arrived. When they got on their own bus that would take them to the South Bank Parklands, Hermione collapsed against Draco. A trip to the beach was just what they needed on the beautiful late July day to relieve some of the stress that had built up in Hermione.
Thursday morning was cloudy and rain was threatening to appear. Hermione had awoken at five and had quietly gotten out of bed so as not to disturb Draco. She was sitting on the couch reading the books she had brought on Healing. She knew that she probably wouldn't find anything in the books that Carl could not or had not been able to tell her but it made her feel more productive. As she read, she found herself often being distracted by Draco's sleeping form. The way his chest raised and lowered with each slow, deep breath he took, the way the sheet sat low on his hips, the way his hair was tousled by sleep and the way he looked completely content and happy with a small smile playing at his lips while he slept, mesmerized Hermione and made her want to watch him forever.
An hour later, Hermione had spent almost as much time watching Draco sleep as she had reading her Healing books. She closed her book and leaned back against the couch and looked toward the bed again. This time, she saw two gorgeous grey eyes staring back at her. "Good morning. I didn't wake you did I?"
"Good morning. No, you didn't wake me. What're you reading?" Draco asked as he got out of bed and walked over to her.
Hermione held up the book on Healing as Draco sat next to her. He took the book from her and looked at it. "You do realize that you probably aren't going to find anything in here that Carl doesn't know, right?"
Looking a bit defeated she said, "I know; but I can't help trying to figure out what is going on with my parents. It also wouldn't be the first time that I discovered something that everyone else overlooked."
Raising one eyebrow he asked, "And have you found something?"
Sighing she replied, "No. Everything I've read has been exactly what he said yesterday or with even less details. I feel like since I did this to them that I should be able to undo it. I'm also hoping that I didn't mess something up so badly that they can't have their memories fixed. I thought I only cast one charm on each of them; but did you see all of those colors? Obviously I did something else or did it wrong." She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
Draco pulled her into his arms and held her head against his chest as he rubbed her back. She closed her eyes while he said, "Don't cry Hermione. We don't know what's going on with them; but you saw them and talked to them yesterday. They're fine. They knew exactly the backstory that you meant them to know which must mean that you did the charm correctly. I don't know why the colors showed up for Carl; but that's what the trip to St. Mungo's will answer. Today we'll convince them to come back with us and tomorrow we'll get them to St. Mungo's."
Opening her eyes and looking into his, she asked, "When did you get so wise? You know exactly the right things to say to make me feel better."
Giving Hermione his famous smirk he replied, "I've always been wise. You didn't realize it before now? I'm shocked! Miss Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of our time doesn't know when she's in the company of her equal? Tsk tsk, what am I going to do with you?" His eyes twinkled with mischief while he retained his smirk.
Hermione began to squirm and tried to get out of his arms. Draco tightened his arms around her waist and said, "Oh no, no, no Miss Granger. Don't think you're going to wiggle your way out of this one. I've not been properly greeted by you this morning."
"Well, I can't allow that, can I? I must remedy my transgression then," she said with a wink as she stopped squirming. She put her arms around his neck and brought their lips together. Once the kiss finished, Draco's smirk returned and he said, "Now that was a proper greeting." With a small kiss on the tip of her nose he said, "Come on, we have to leave for your parent's house within the hour. You can get ready first. I'll look through these books and see if there's anything I can find."
Hermione got ready while Draco read and then she continued reading while he got ready. They met Carl in the lobby and then they traveled the address they had been given.
They arrived at a small two-story blue house with a white picket fence around the yard. They walked up a cobblestone path to the front door where Hermione knocked. Wendell answered the door and said, "Good morning Hermione, Carl. Please come in and sit down for a few minutes." Hermione and Carl walked into the house and when Draco went to follow, he was stopped by Wendell stepping into the doorway.
"You're Draco Malfoy, correct?" he asked with a glare.
Draco nodded, worry crossing his face. Wendell grabbed Draco's left arm and pushed the sleeve of Draco's long-sleeved black shirt up and looked at his forearm. Wendell dropped Draco's arm in disgust.
"We read the books last night; how dare you come anywhere near my daughter after what you and your family did? You're a Death Eater and she was tortured in your house; why are you not in Azkaban? I may not remember being her father, but right now I feel an overwhelming need to protect Hermione. What kind of magic spell or trick did you use on her to be allowed anywhere near her?" Wendell questioned angrily, his eyes narrowed menacingly.
Draco's slightly tanned skin lost all of its glow as he grew pale. He was terrified of the man standing in front of him. Wendell seemed to fill the entire doorway. Draco shook and could only stammer, "Nnnn, nnnn, none sir."
Hermione put her hand on Wendell's shoulder and said, "Please stop, what you read in the book is only part of a very long story; but the extremely short version is, he didn't torture me, he was forced to support Lord Voldemort and he only did it to protect his mother. He's truly a good man and we're dating; he's here to support me." She peeked around Wendell and directed a soft smile toward Draco.
Wendell looked back and forth between Hermione and Draco a few times. Hermione's eyes were pleading with him to believe her and Draco's were focused on Hermione. His face was full of admiration for her. A sigh from Wendell brought Draco's attention back to him. Draco's eyes were once again full of worry as he looked at the man in front of him.
"Fine, Draco you may come in also. I'd like to hear the long story sometime; but if my daughter trusts you, than I'll follow her lead," Wendell conceded.
Draco entered the house and stayed as close as he could to Hermione as the group moved into the living room. As they sat down, Hermione asked with confusion, "Daughter? You've used that word twice now. Do you really believe me? Yesterday you were so hesitant and I don't blame you. It was probably quite a shock to get all of that information at once. What convinced you?"
"After we read the books last night, Monica and I looked at some things in the house that we never understood before yesterday. We both have very vague recollections of our lives as Monica and Wendell Wilkins before moving here. It's almost as if we have amnesia and there are some things in our house we always were curious about; but we just assumed that when we bought them we had our reasons. We were both content to ignore them; but now we know that they must have been in the house because of you. We have a box full of things we didn't understand in the last year. Every time we found something new we put it in the box." Wendell shook his head while remembering all the times they thought they were a bit crazy when they found an unfamiliar object in the house.
Monica had watched the confrontation with Draco from the kitchen and chose to trust Hermione's judgment of him. She entered the living room carrying the box that Wendell had been describing and said, "Here are all the things we just couldn't explain, but which helped us to believe you. Good morning everyone. Hermione, dear, can you tell us what some of these things are?"
Hermione happily said, "Of course. What would you like to know about first?"
Monica pulled a mass of black cloth from the box and asked, "We first assumed these were costumes, but now I'm guessing they're your school robes?" Hermione nodded and Monica continued, "These were all books that confused us when we saw them so we put them in the box. We had figured they were works of fiction, but we couldn't remember buying them." On the coffee table she placed some books about Quidditch, Diagon Alley and even some books by Gilderoy Lockhart that Hermione had forgotten she owned after realizing how much of a phony Lockhart had been.
Hermione picked up the book on Diagon Alley and said, "Oh, I was looking for this book. It would've been helpful when we broke into Gringott's. I thought I'd left it at the Weasley's house."
Draco looked at the books and picked one up and asked Hermione, "Why do you have this book? I mean, I understand why it was in my house; but why do you have it?"
Hermione took 'The Rise of the Dark Arts' from Draco and looked at it. "I read everything to do with the Dark Arts before our mission. I don't remember buying this book though. I mean I've read it, but it's a bit outdated since the release of 'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts'. I just have too many books to keep track of them all," Hermione said with a slight laugh as she put the book back on the pile. She looked back to Monica and said, "What other things did you find?"
"Well, this appears to be money, but none of the banks knew what it was so we just put it in the box." Wendell handed Hermione a large money bag full of coins. Hermione opened the bag and her eyes grew wide. She said, "You're right, this is money. It is full of Galleons. There must be close to five thousand Galleons in this bag. I never realized you changed so much of your money into Galleons. This is about twenty-five thousand pounds. We can change this back to pounds once we get to London if you want. Is there anything else?"
"Well, we know that these are pictures, obviously, but we didn't know anyone in the pictures so we put them in the box. Maybe you can identify them," Monica inquired.
"This is a picture of Hogwarts, one of Professor Dumbledore, and this is Professor McGonagall. My housemate Colin Creevey used to give me a lot of pictures that he took and I would include them in my letters home. He gave me so many pictures that I hardly looked at them before sending them. I don't remember all of these. Look Draco; you're in the background of this one of the Great Hall and I think that's Harry and Ginny on the other side. This must have been taken in third year," Hermione said as she pointed to one of the pictures.
"Yeah, you're right. Wow, I never realized how much I look like my dad did when he was younger. That's a little creepy. Hey, this looks like part of the Slytherin common room. How would Creevey have gotten a picture of that?" Draco asked as he looked at the picture closer.
"He was trying to get pictures of every part of Hogwarts that he could. I think I sent this one to Mum and Dad to try to describe Slytherin one time. Colin used to ask people from other houses to take pictures for him to capture the rooms he wasn't able to enter. I guess he must have convinced someone in Slytherin to take it for him. " Hermione replied.
Draco raised one eyebrow and gave her a look that said, 'That's not likely to have happened.' Hermione shrugged her shoulders since she didn't have a better explanation as to the picture.
Hermione levitated the objects back into the box and asked, "Have you decided if you'll come with us to London tomorrow?"
"We've decided that we'll go back with you. We must have lives there that we abandoned by moving here," Monica said simply.
"Moving by tomorrow really doesn't give us enough time to get all of our stuff packed and our patients transferred to other dentists. Will we all be able to get last minute airfare back to London? I suppose we'll return at a later date to move our things back to England. Unless you have a better suggestion," her father said.
Draco nodded his head and replied, "Sir? We'll pack up your house, using magic, today so everything can be brought back to England while you work and get your patients transferred. We'll be traveling by magic so we don't need airfare. You won't have to worry about a thing."
"Well I'm not sure we have nothing to worry about, but we'll trust you for now," Hermione's mother said.
Wendell stood up and said, "We need to get going to the office. We'll work late tonight to see today's patients and to notify our other patients about our move. There are a few dentists that will most likely be able to take our patients. Are you sure you want to try to pack our house today? We can always put things in storage and come get them another time. Luckily we're just renting the house and don't have to worry about selling it. We called the landlord this morning and she wasn't even upset about the short notice we gave of leaving."
Hermione interrupted his rambling, "We'll have everything packed and will return tomorrow to get the things packed that you'll need for tonight and tomorrow morning before we leave. We don't have to leave until the afternoon so we'll have time to finalize any last details. You really don't have to worry about anything."
"The office number is on the counter; please call if you have any questions. There's food in the refrigerator; please help yourselves," Monica said.
Hermione smiled at her mother. Even with a different name and no memories of having a daughter, her mother was still a mother-hen. "Thank you. We'll probably be gone before you get home tonight so we'll see you tomorrow. Enjoy your day at work."
Once her parents had left, Hermione conjured some boxes and said to Carl and Draco, "What we'll do is put everything in these boxes and then I'll put all the boxes in a bag with an Undetectable Extension Charm and then we'll be able to transport everything with us tomorrow. Draco, you can start in the living room and make sure to put an Unbreakable Charm around anything that could break. Carl, you can pack their study and the kitchen. I'll start in the master bedroom and then move to the other bedrooms; if either of you get done before me, please come help upstairs. I also will set aside things that they'll need for tomorrow. Any furniture can be shrunk and then put into a box. I think that covers the inside of the house. Since there could be Muggles around, we'll have to bring everything that's outside into the garage the Muggle-way before we pack it, but we'll do that after the house is packed. Let's get to work."
Over next few hours, Hermione, Draco and Carl were able to pack everything that was inside the house. All of the boxes were shrunk so they would be easier to fit inside the backpack that Hermione had found in a closet. Even with the Undetectable Extension Charm on the backpack, Hermione felt that because there were so many boxes it would just make packing and unpacking less complicated and keep things more organized. She also placed a Featherweight Charm on the boxes so they could be picked up easily if needed.
Hermione and Draco went into the detached garage to pack, while Carl carried yard ornaments to them. Everything fit into a handful of boxes that they placed inside the backpack. It had only taken about six hours to pack everything except for the bed, some clothing, bathroom supplies and some food. Hermione figured the final items would only take a few minutes to pack before they had to leave the next day.
Hermione wrote a note to her parents, saying that they would return at one the next afternoon to finish packing and then to leave, before they locked the house and left to enjoy the rest of the day in Brisbane.
A/N: Since this was the last chapter left to revise, I am wondering if I have any original readers left and if so, have you noticed the changes in the story and have you enjoyed them?
Please take a moment to leave a review…really it will only take a few seconds and it will make me sooooo happy! Simply type one of the following letters in the review box and submit…no other words are necessary, but are definitely appreciated!
A) I would never leave Draco alone in bed to read a book on Healing.
B) I kind of wish Wendell would have punched Draco; it might have been entertaining.
C) Wendell and Monica are idiots for believing Hermione.
D) (Please feel free to leave your own comments)
Thank you all so much for the reviews!