Meet the Parents
Harry saw his breath billow out white in front of him and felt the cold creaking into his bones. His eyes widened in both recognition, fear and partial resignation. "Please don't be dementors," he muttered, not holding much hope. "I'm so sick of dementors."
Susan ran to the window. "I know you don't want to hear this, but it's dementors," she reported. "Wands out now! Run!"
"Run as fast as you can," Bagshot said, "I'll hold them off as best I can!"
"Thank you!" Harry shouted as he ran, subtly ensuring that he was the last in line and therefore had the best chances of protecting his friends from the Dementors chasing them down.
A white owl burst into being, arching out of Bagshot's wand and circling the room. Unfortunately, just as the dementors arrived, it dissipated. Bathilda Bagshot was an old woman even by wizarding standards. Her magic just didn't have the strength to keep such a powerful spell going. The dementors descended upon her and gave her the kiss. The sounds of her screams as her soul was rent from her body and devoured as sustenance for those fowl creatures would haunt the nightmares of the four young heroes for years to come. But now was neither the time to greave nor to falter. All four of them quickly cast their own patronuses to defend themselves. An otter, a stag, a polar bear and a dolphin came out of their wands and flanked them protectively.
"We need to get out of here!" Harry shouted, terrified of what they had just seen. That had nearly happened to him once – more than once really. It had nearly happened to Sirius. It was horrible. It-
"Concentrate, Harry!" Susan ordered. "We can grieve later! Right now we need to get out of here with Bagshot before they get our souls too!"
Harry shook his head, trying to clear it. "Right!"
"Let's go!" Krum said, picking up Bagshot's body and swinging her into his arms.
The heroic quartet quickly ran out of the house, exiting the anti-dissaperation wards set around the town with the dementors hot on their heels. Their patronuses kept the dementors at a safe distance until Hermione could quickly a little known ward known as the anti-dementor ward which she had discovered in their sixth year at Hogwards. When the dementors tried to cross it they shrieked in pain and the darkness of their robes disappeared, allowing heaps of bones to clatter to the ground, covered in black runes and the residue of dark magics. The dementors were dead, never to rise again.
"Why did no one do that back in third year?" Harry wondered. "This is genius."
"Because the people in charge weren't genius, they were idiots," Hermione replied promptly. "They requested that dementors be near schoolchildren!" she hissed, scowling furiously. "And I am not implying that Fudge was an arsehole that didn't know what he was talking about. I am outright stating as an unoquivical fact that the man was a corrupt fool, a menace to our generation, a useless coward and an incompetent!"
"Auntie always said that Fudge and his lackeys had the brains of a flobberworm," Susan piped up, trying to find the humor in the situation despite her limbs still shaking from fear and adrenaline. "She was so mad at him for even thinking of pulling that stunt with the dementors, she yelled at him good."
"Well at least someone in the ministry had common sense at some point," Harry grumbled. He'd been on the tail end of too many of their bad decisions to have any residual good will towards them.
"Ve should get out of here," Krum reminded them. "The vards will hold, but eventually those bones will start piling up if the dementors keep coming at us like this and I don't think we should touch them."
The heroic quartet took hands and dissaperated, taking the body of Bathilda Bagshot with them. They reappeared in the Forest of Dean. They dug a grave using magic and Susan conjured up a gravestone. It was nothing fancy, merely dark granite that was common to the area in a simple shape that read:
Here lies Bathilda Bagshot
Greatest Historian of Our Age
And a Warrior in the Bitter End
The heroic quartet bowed their heads in a moment of silence out of respect for all the knowledge and wisdom that had died with the brave woman who lay down her life for theirs. It remained quiet for some time, up until Harry heard voices in the distance.
"What is that? Is that Death Eaters?" Harry asked. "LET'S RUN!"
"Don't be an idiot, this is a muggle area," Krum said, "even if those vere death eaters how vould they not stand out?"
"Let's go anyway," Susan said. "We need to be careful."
As the voices grew nearer the group packed up their bags and prepared to leave. Just as they were about to set off two muggles stepped into their area.
"Hi are you lost?" the woman asked.
Hermione froze, "Oh no, please don't let that be who I think it is," she said, as the group turned around. When they finished turning around, Hermione and the muggles both gasped. "Mom, Dad? / Hermione?"
"Shit," Harry said, "What are your parents doing here?" he asked in a whisper.
"I forgot they were planning to take their vacation a week earlier this year," Hermione whispered back in a panic.
Viktor took a step forward, "Good evening Doktors Granger, nice to meet you."
"And who exactly are you, young man?" Dan Granger asked. "And you and my daughter holding hands?"
Viktor and Hermione quickly jumped apart, with Hermione taking a step back and running back to hide behind Harry… for all the good that did. "My name is Viktor Krum," Viktor as Harry and Susan slowly turning around while shielding Hermione from view, and slowly walked away, silently praying that Krum would make an adequate distractions. "The reason I vas holding your daughter's hand is because ve recently rekindled our relationship of several years past. It is good to finally meet you both in person. Your lovely daughter has told me so much about you."
Dan's eyes flashed in recognition. "Krum- I remember that name. Hermione mentioned you before. She was fond of you. Then it was all about that Wetherby boy."
"They broke up," Krum dismissed. "Badly. He was pressuring her into things she was not genuinely ready for, and I intervened. That's how we got back together."
The father's countenance darkened. "That Wetherby boy… is he dead or will I have to hunt him down?"
"He has been permanently incapacitated," Krum assured him firmly. "I've dealt with the situation thoroughly."
"Good," Dan decided, "If he ever comes around again I'm getting my shotgun. I still have it from the service."
Internally, Viktor both applauded the man for wanting to protect Hermione and quailed, not wanting him to turn that protective instinct against him. "Understood sir."
"Dear, don't think I don't see you wandering off with those friends of yours. I taught you that trick. You can't use it against me," Hermione's mother scolded. "Get your tush back here."
Hermione winced. She thought she was far enough away that they wouldn't be able to notice. Hermione pulled out Sirius's portrait and gave it to Harry to give to her mother. "This'll distract her effectively," she strategized quickly. "Give it to Viktor they like him."
Harry passed the portrait to Viktor, who then passed it to Emma aka Evelyn. Emma dropped the portrait in surprise. "Oh my god, how did you get this?"
"Hello. I can hear you Evelyn," Sirius proclaimed.
"Wait a minute, who is this dude and why is calling you by your before name?" Dan asked in a panic.
"I'm her former fiancé, who died protecting your step-daughter," Sirius said.
"Dan, this is Sirius. Sirius, this is Dan," Emma introduced them to each other. "Now, lets have a nice adult conversation," she offered sarcastically, knowing that it was never going to happen.
Eyes narrowed on both sides. "Right," Dan and Sirius said at the same time. Their tones were not compliant to their dear Emma/Evalyn's wishes.
Emma huffed. Then she glared.
Sirius wavered under that glare, just as he always had in life. "Evie," he whined. "Do I have to?" The glare did not abate. Sirius sighed, deflating before squaring his shoulders and pulling up his chin, calling on his half-forgotten pureblood aristocrat lessons and his Gryffindor courage. "Thank you for taking such good care of the two most important woman who have ever entered my life, uh… Dan." Those aristocrat lessons sure didn't get him very far. He'd never liked his mother anyway.
Dan blinked and nodded. "You're not the only one who loves them, you know?" he reminded the dead man. "I do to. I wouldn't accept anything less from myself."
"I'm just glad they had someone, since I couldn't be there. Take-" Sirius swallowed, hating himself, "Take care of my family for me. Since I can never go home."
"Of course," Dan nodded. "And I'm doing this for them, not for you."
Sirius winced. "As long as they're okay. Then I guess that's enough. In the end."
Evelyn looked close to tears. Even so, her mom instinct pinged. "Where's my baby?" she asked, head popping up and swiveling around, searching. "Hermione Jean Granger if you think you can hide from me you are in for a world or trouble!"
"Uh, she's not here anymore," Viktor confessed awkwardly. "Harry and Susan are gone too actually. We need to go. If you wouldn't mind looking after the late lady Bagshot's grave for us whenever you get the chance, we would really appreciate it. Bye."
Krum snatched Sirius's portrait and took off into the woods, leaving a stunned husband and wife duo and a trail of Sirius's barking laughter behind him as he went. By the time the two realized what had happened, he was already gone to rejoin the rest of the Heroic Quartet.
"The things I do for love," Viktor muttered. "Is the black madness contagious?"
"Probably, I mean just look at my godson," Sirius shrugged.
Viktor cursed under his breath in Bulgarian.
