In May-June 1998, the United Kingdom did not have a crime on the books called "terroristic homicide." But I invented such a crime because the UK stripped the death penalty from regular homicide in the 1960s. On the other hand, someone convicted in a Queen's Court of treason or of piracy could be sentenced to death, on up till September 1998, so I've added my made-up crime of "terroristic homicide" to the "punishable by death in the UK during June 1998" list.

Chapter 7
Australia

Still Monday, 11th May; morning
Still at Prime Minister Tony Blair's residence, London

Heather Tidwell put the letter from Harry and Hermione back in its envelope, stood up at her desk, and began to walk purposefully toward the prime minister's office—only to be called back.

"Tidwell!" Shirley said, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to deliver this letter to Mr Blair."

"No you're not! You will take that letter to the mailroom, so they can screen it, then you will begin word-processing the report that Gwendolyn assigned you."

Heather shook her head. "Mr Blair should have been handed this letter a week ago. He needs to see it now."

Gwendolyn Warwick, the Department Six office manager, hurried up. "What is all the yelling about?"

Shirley said, "This woman, who has been working with us for only an hour and a half, wants to hand this prank letter to Mr Blair."

Heather said, "It's not a prank letter! It's genuine, and quite serious."

Gwendolyn asked Shirley, "Why is it a prank letter?"

Shirley glared at Heather. "First, it has no stamp. Second, an owl delivered it by flying through the window."

"An owl," Gwendolyn repeated. "An owl brought it."

Gwendolyn held out her hand. Heather handed Harry's and Hermione's letter to Gwendolyn. Gwendolyn removed the letter from the envelope, unfolded it, glanced at it for one second, then reversed the process and jammed the letter back into the envelope. She said, "This looks like it was written with a quill pen on old-fashioned paper. Definitely a prank letter."

Then Gwendolyn said to Shirley, "Return to your desk, Ms Green. I'll handle this."

Gwendolyn grabbed Heather's elbow, and frog-marched Heather back to her desk. Gwendolyn made a show of dropping the letter in the rubbish bin by Heather's desk. Gwendolyn said angrily to Heather, "I don't know what your game is, but you're in risk of being sacked before lunchtime. You have typing to do; I suggest you do it."

Eventually Heather laid Harry Potter's letter onto Mr Blair's desk, but she had to be sneaky about it.

An hour after Heather had been rebuked by Gwendolyn, Heather walked to the ladies' loo. Once inside, Heather drew her wand and cast a Notice-Me-Not Charm on herself. Heather walked back to her desk and cast the Notice-Me-Not Charm on her office desk, her office chair and the Potter letter. Once Heather did this, she removed the letter from the rubbish bin, and walked to where she was just outside the doors to Mr Blair's office.

Heather stood there for almost an hour. Because she was on the other side of closed doors, the magical painting did not see her. Because she had the Notice-Me-Not Charm on her, the office workers who saw her all ignored her.

Finally, the time came when the people who had been meeting with Mr Blair, walked out of his office. Before another group of petitioners could walk in—whilst Mr Blair was alone for the moment—Heather cancelled the Notice-Me-Not Charms on herself and the letter, stowed her wand and hurried into Mr Blair's office.

Mr Blair looked surprised to see her. "Miss Tidwell?"

Heather again placed herself so that she was near to the prime minister and so her back was to the magical painting. As she placed Harry's and Hermione's letter on Mr Blair's desk, she asked lowly, "Do you know who Lord Voldemort is?"

Blair just as quietly replied, "The magical terrorist? I understand he was killed a week ago."

"Indeed he was, and the young man who killed him is who wrote this letter. Potter's girlfriend, who is a genius, also wrote the letter. They both grew up in the nonmagical world, and the solution they suggest is one that Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt would never suggest."

Blair looked at a clock on the wall. "I don't have time to read the letter now; I'll read it later. But you say this young magical man is someone worth listening to?"

"Definitely, Mr Blair." Then Heather said nervously, "Erm, I'm subject to an international magical law that says I can't tell any nonmagical person anything about magic. But you as the prime minister can. Can you read-in Gwendolyn Warwick, please? When she was told that this letter came by owl, she thought I was pranking the office, and she threatened to sack me before lunchtime."

"I can do that," Blair said. "Actually, so far as I know, you are the only magical person at Number Ten. There are magical people in MI-5 and MI-6 and the British Army, and I'm going to assign you to liaise with them. Also, I'm going to put you in charge of all post to and from magicals, starting with Mr Potter."

As Heather walked out of Prime Minister Blair's office, she was grinning. It's not even lunchtime yet, and I've been promoted. Smashing, lovely and brilliant!

3:47 p.m

Tony Blair's three o'clock meeting ended early, so he finally had time to read the letter from the two magical people who had written him—

.

3rd May 1998

Mr Blair,

The two people who are writing to you, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, can do magic. We have attended a magical school in Scotland, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In this school, we have learnt not only magic, but magical culture—how the people of Wizarding Britain think and act. Yet both of us spent our first eleven years of life in the nonmagical world, and it is to this world that we are loyal.

Why we are writing now: Harry just has killed the magical terrorist "Lord Voldemort" (original name: Tom Marvolo Riddle), and we have thoughts about what happens next.

Some background—

Voldemort has started two wars in Wizarding Britain.

The first war ended in October 1981 in a strange way: Voldemort tricked his way into Harry's parents' house, then killed both parents with the Avada Kedavra curse, which kills instantly. Then Voldemort cast this same Killing Curse on fifteen-month-old Harry. Nobody is sure what happened next, except that Voldemort was turned into a wraith and toddler Harry lived, but his forehead was marked with a scar that is shaped like a lightning bolt.

Voldemort resurrected himself in June 1995, through a dark-magic ritual in which Harry was an unwilling blood donor. But yesterday (2nd May), Voldemort was killed forever by Harry.

It is about what happened in Wizarding Britain during the two Voldemort Wars that we are writing you. We understand that you have some sort of communication with the Minister for Magic (the head of the Wizarding Britain government), but we are willing to bet our shoes that the MfM has not told you the most unpleasant truths.

During both Voldemort Wars, the Death Eaters (Voldemort's minions) targeted Muggles (nonmagical people) and Muggle-borns (magical people with nonmagical parents; Harry's mother Lily was one, and Hermione is another one). The Death Eaters used the Cruciatus Curse (which causes unimaginable pain) on Muggles and Muggle-borns, then killed them with the Killing Curse. In short, the Death Eaters committed atrocities on helpless noncombatants. So how were the Death Eaters punished?

After the First Voldemort War, the Death Eaters were hardly punished at all. Oh, Voldemort's inner circle of Death Eaters was sentenced to life in Azkaban (wizards' prison) after the first war; but no Death Eater was executed, though the law permitted this sentence. Even worse, some Death Eaters claimed that they had been Imperiused (hypnotised) into becoming Death Eaters, and after claiming this (and also after passing some gold about), they were acquitted.

The Wizengamot (the lawmaking body of Wizarding Britain) acts both like a legislature and like a courtroom (when crimes are tried). Was it any surprise that when Death Eaters were tried after the First War, they were given light sentences, when the Wizengamot seat-holders who were rendering verdicts were the Death Eaters' friends and relatives?

As for the Second Voldemort War, Harry ended it by killing Voldemort in a duel yesterday. In that war, not only was there the killing of random Muggles and Muggle-borns, but Muggle-borns were tried for the "crime" of stealing magic from Squibs (nonmagical children with magical parents). The charge was absurd, but every Muggle-born who was tried was found guilty and was sentenced to Azkaban. Azkaban is a place of horrors, and of the Muggle-borns who were unjustly sentenced to Azkaban, some of them died there. Which makes Dolores Umbridge, the head of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, guilty of murder under the colour of law.

A treaty was signed in 1642 that gave Magical Britain autonomy from Nonmagical Britain. One of the conditions of Magical Britain keeping its autonomy, according to the treaty, is that if magical Britons cause harm to nonmagical Britons, they be punished just as harshly as though they had harmed magical Britons. Hermione believes that this part of the treaty has been violated in a major way, and so it would be legal for Her Majesty to revoke Magical Britain's autonomy.

The details of how this would be done, we leave to you. But we have written to you to point out something—

In the 1940s, both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan had committed atrocities. Had the war criminals been tried, postwar, by their own courts, they would have received only light sentences. There are three reasons this would have happened: 1) corruption in the court system; 2) the defendants, who until recently were powerful men, would have been able to make credible threats against a judge's family; and 3) a belief by the judge, deep down, that what the war criminal had done was not truly all that bad, because the war criminal had done these things only to undesirables.

But instead of war criminals being tried by their countrymen, what happened was that Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan war criminals were tried by the Allies. The people running these trials did not downplay the crimes being put on trial, or excuse the war criminals—instead, the prosecutors made their cases with zeal.

The German newspapers and the Japanese newspapers called the Allies who were running the war-crimes trials, morons and every other kind of nasty name. Still, they sent reporters to cover the trials. When newspaper readers in Germany and Japan learnt, in horrid detail, what their leaders had done, those leaders were discredited forever. In any case, the war criminals were disgraced, then they were hung, which stopped the war criminals from remaining a political force in postwar Germany and Japan.

Wizarding Britain believes a ridiculous idea: that a "Pureblood" magical person who was born to two parents whose respective families have been magical for hundreds of years, is more deserving of respect than is a magical person who has only one parent who can make such a claim; and this "halfblood" wizard is more deserving of respect than is a magical person who has two nonmagical parents; and this Muggle-born wizard is slightly more deserving of respect than are nonmagical Muggles. Truly, all Voldemort did to win followers was to take this widespread belief within Wizarding Britain and to say "Let's kill all the people we do not respect."

The only way that Muggle-borns and nonmagicals who were victims of Death Eater atrocities can hope for justice is not if the Wizengamot tries the surviving Death Eaters, but instead that Nonmagical Britain civilian courts or military courts try the Death Eaters for "terroristic homicide" (war crimes committed by Britons against Britons). Such a move also would discredit the Death Eaters' beliefs, which would prevent another Dark Lord from rising in the United Kingdom in the future.

(signed) Harry James Potter-Black
(signed) Hermione Jean Dagworth-Granger-Potter

.

Tony Blair thought, I think the queen and the royal wizard both need to see this.

Meanwhile in southern France

Harry and Hermione had been on their honeymoon for a week. It was only on their fourth day that they even thought to step out of the chateau. It turned out that Hermione was fluent at French—who knew?

But at the moment, Harry and Hermione were back in the chateau, each "dressed" in white terrycloth bathrobes. They were enjoying a late, late, late breakfast.

Harry said, "Hermione, you know how I implied, back in Ragnok's office, we would take a month-long honeymoon? I never said we'd spend our entire month in France. We could spend the time we have left in the Bahamas. Or in the States. Or Australia."

"You're saying we could spend the next three weeks looking for my parents in Australia?"

"Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner."

"It would take us most of those three weeks to find them. Australia is a big country."

"Or we could go with Plan B. I have 245 million galleons that once belonged to Voldy. I'd be glad to pay Gringotts Sydney to search for your parents, whilst you and I bring fleshly delights to each other's bodies here in France."

Hermione smiled at Harry. "That's a good idea." Hermione walked up close to Harry. "Actually, that's an excellent idea." Hermione placed her hand below Harry's terrycloth belt, on Harry's thigh. She asked huskily, "How can I reward you for thinking up such an excellent idea?"

Six days later (Sunday, 17th May); evening
On a residential street in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

Harry and Hermione were standing in the street, facing a house. Hermione was holding a slip of parchment with a street address written on it.

Hermione chuckled. "This is the correct house, definitely."

Harry said, "How do you know? You haven't even rung the doorbell yet."

Hermione pointed to the driveway, in which two cars were parked. One car had its boot facing the street; the other car had its bonnet facing the street. "Dad parked the car on the left. He hates backing into traffic if he can avoid it."

The Potters opened the front-garden gate and walked up the path to the front door. Hermione hesitated at ringing the doorbell.

Harry said, "No matter what happens, know that I'll always love you."

Hermione squared her shoulders and pressed the doorbell.

Monica Wilkins answered the door. "Can I help you?"

Hermione said, "I'm Hermione Granger-Potter and this is my husband, Harry Potter." Monica's expression did not change; clearly she did not recognise the names at all. Hermione asked nervously, "Erm, may we come in?"

Monica asked, "Are you related to us? You have my hair colour and Wendell's bushy hair."

"There's a reason for that," Hermione said. "Please, may we come in and explain?"

Monica let them in, as she called into the house, "Wendell, we have guests."

When all four adults were in the sitting room, Hermione drew her wand. "Please don't be alarmed. I won't hurt you."

Wendell said, "Why would we be alarmed by a cooking chopstick?" Then he paused, looking confused. "But that isn't a cooking chopstick, it's..." Wendell's voice trailed off, as his face looked puzzled.

"Stupefy. Stupefy," Hermione cast. Harry, ready for this, levitated the limp Wilkinses to the sofa.

Hermione now was hyperventilating. "The reverse-false-memories spell is just like Alohomora, but intended for the brain. The spell is easy. I can do this."

Hermione took a breath, then aimed her wand at Wendell Wilkins. "Remember your life, passphrase 'Mary Poppins.' "

Hermione aimed her wand at her mother, then said, "Remember your life, passphrase 'Mary Poppins.' "

Hermione looked at Harry as she said, "Now comes the scary part. Rennervate. Rennervate."

Emma Granger opened her eyes. "Hermione?"

Then she gasped, and sat up straight. "This is the Darwin house, but my daughter Hermione is here. I've two names. Wendell—Dan—has two names. You're Hermione Potter?"

Harry took Hermione's hand. "We were married not quite two weeks ago."

Dan Granger asked, "What's going on? What happened to us? Did someone cast an evil spell on us, and you found out how to reverse it?"

Hermione looked at the carpet. "Not exactly."

"We're waiting, pumpkin."

"It wasn't an evil wizard who did this to you. I did it. I locked up your memories, gave you fake memories, then gave you a compulsion to sell off everything in Crawley and to move to Australia." Hermione looked into her parents' faces. "Sooner or later Voldemort would've killed you both if I hadn't done these things."

Dan Granger scowled. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember discussing this as a family. Am I forgetful, or did you skive off that part, Hermione Jean?"

"I skived it off, yes," Hermione said, staring at the carpet again. "Dad, you used to be in Sport and Social," SAS. "Suppose I'd come to you two and said, 'I want you to sell off everything and move to Australia. But me, I'm staying in Britain with Harry.' Show of hands, who thinks this argument would've sold you?" Hermione's hands both were down, not up.

Emma Granger said, "I think if you'd come to ask us that, we would've replied, 'Fine, we'll leave for Australia. But you're coming with us, dear underage daughter.' "

Hermione shook her head. "I would've refused. I couldn't leave Harry—he's needed me at his side since first year."

Harry nodded. "I'd be dead now if not for Hermione."

Emma snapped, "Still, Hermione Jean Granger-Potter, the fact remains that we weren't asked. We weren't given a choice. You completely changed our life without asking us. How dare you!"

Dan glared at his daughter. "Emma and I are angry now. Go away. Come back tomorrow at seven; by then we'll have calmed down."

Harry looked at Hermione. Hermione looked like she wanted to break out into sobs.

Harry looked at Dan and Emma and said, "Before you throw us out, consider this. Voldemort was quite evil and quite powerful; Hermione and I didn't expect to outlive him. Suppose you'd moved here to Darwin but with your memories intact. When you read in the newspaper that Hermione Granger had been killed, you would've felt gutted. But this way, with your true memories locked up and false memories implanted, if Hermione had never been alive to restore your memories, you would've been happy. Why happy? Because you would've had no reason to mourn one dead British witch."

The next evening (Monday, 18th May), 6:55 p.m

Harry had never seen Hermione so frantic.

She always had been frantic when it had come time to sit her end-of-year exams or her OWLs; each year, Hermione had been convinced she would Troll everything. But after first year, Harry had been able to tell her, "You thought the same thing last year, but you wound up scoring Outstandings on everything."

But now, as Harry and Hermione rode in the back seat of a taxi, she was convinced that she was five minutes away from her parents disowning her. Harry believed that this dire fate would not happen, but it was impossible to convince his wife that when it came to this, his opinion was more realistic than hers. So Hermione fretted, and Harry felt helpless.

Five minutes later, in the Wilkins/Granger house

Harry was amused to see that Dan and Emma each had written a list.

Emma looked at Dan. Dan said to Harry and Hermione, "Yesterday, you said there were three choices. One, Emma and I move to Australia whilst Hermione stays in Britain. But Emma and I never would've made this choice; it's cowardly. Two, all three of us Grangers move to Australia. But you insist, Hermione, that you would've refused to do this."

Hermione nodded. "It would've been disloyal to Harry."

Emma said, "Three, you bespell our memories without asking us—which is the choice you wound up making." Both Granger parents frowned.

Dan said, "We looked for a fourth choice, which would've meant that you bespelling our memories without permission was the wrong thing to do. We tried and we tried, but Emma and I couldn't think up a fourth choice."

Emma smiled at Hermione. "Which means you made a tough choice and you did nothing wrong. We forgive you."

Hermione sighed in relief.

Then Hermione looked at her parents' lists. "You've questions?"

Dan read from his list: "Here in Darwin, how much danger are Emma and I in?"

Harry replied, "None. I killed Voldemort; he's dead, dead, dead. Not counting goblins, only one person besides the two of us knows that Hermione's parents are in Australia, and only Hermione and I know you're named Wilkins."

Now it was the Granger parents who sighed in relief.

Emma read aloud, "Hermione, in the last letters we received from you, you fancied your redheaded friend Ron. Why didn't you marry him and you married Harry instead?"

Harry said, "Maybe because Hermione noticed that Ron was lazy, and he insulted her all the time?"

Hermione sighed. "Ron at his best was a fine friend, but this wasn't often. Ron at his worst was a berk, and this was most of the time. Plus Ron did some things that Harry couldn't forgive, and I had to choose whom I would lose as a friend."

Harry laughed. "Aaand there's the whole Life Debt thing. Shortly before dawn on 2nd May, a woman named Narcissa Malfoy saved my life, at great risk of her own. She claimed my Life Debt and listed certain things I must do, or else I lose my magic. One of Narcissa's demands was that I marry Hermione. So I did. Two days after I killed Voldemort, on 4th May, Hermione and I went to see the Registrar and we were married."

Emma snarled, "This woman Narcissa compelled you two to marry?"

Harry said, "Narcissa didn't compel me to marry Hermione. She didn't wave a pocket watch and say, 'You will marry Hermione. You will marry Hermione.' But before Narcissa, I thought Hermione fancied Ron, and I wasn't going to do anything to come between them."

Hermione said, "Meanwhile, I thought that Harry didn't like me in that way, and Ron was better than nothing."

Harry smiled at Hermione. "So what Narcissa did was to cut through all the Angst and romantic melodrama. So yes, she 'made me' marry you, but I'm glad she did."

"So am I," Hermione said. Harry and Hermione kissed.

When the kissing ended, Hermione looked at her parents. "Now that your memories are restored, will you be returning to England?"

"No," Emma said firmly. "Prices are cheaper here, the Aussies are friendly—and in Darwin, it's nice to be warm. However, going to the beach on Christmas Day takes getting used to."

The newlyweds laughed.

"So," said Dan, "is there anything else we need to talk about?"

"Erm," said Hermione, blushing red. "A lot of stuff happened at Hogwarts that I never wrote to you about, because you would've yanked me out of school immediately."

Then Hermione confessed to adventures and terrors, starting with the "rabid dog" that Harry and Ron had saved Hermione from in first year.

By the time that the tale of the Battle of Hogwarts had been told, from Hermione's perspective and from Harry's perspective, an hour had passed. By then the Grangers had set out takeaway meat pies, and the four people had eaten them.

Hermione looked at Harry and asked, "May I speak to you a minute?" But rather than the two of them standing up and walking to another room, Hermione put up a Muffliato Charm at the table. Thus the Potters spoke to each other in privacy, only a few feet away from the Grangers.

What the two Potters decided: That it would be a long time before Hermione's parents were told that not only did Harry have a wife now, but soon he also would have a legally recognised concubine and an adoptive daughter.