Bugger all, this is exhausting! Take a bloody break, Hermione! Hermione internally yelled to herself as she braced herself against a nearby wall. The multiple apparitions to Australia were not without a great deal of effort, and Hermione was feeling the effects of using so much magic in such a short period of time.
She thought it would be best to take a break, making her way through the streets of a small town in China that she had previously visited before. She settled herself into a small inn for the night, giving herself a good night's rest before trekking on the next day to her destination.
Australia was already starting to turn pretty hot in temperature for the month of May. Hermione had made her way to the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia in the mid-afternoon the next day.
She knew at the time she had obliviated her parents what the goal for them would be: seeking a home in the Melbourne area to open up their own dental practice there. It was most likely going to be tedious and take some time for her to eventually find them, let alone attempt to restore their memory, but she had to start somewhere.
There was a boutique hotel in downtown Melbourne that she made herself comfortable in. Once she was settled, she extracted her wand to retrieve her quill, ink and parchment from her beaded bag, eager to owl Severus.
She sat down at the small desk provided in her room, dipping her quill into the special ink.
With a big sigh she finished the letter, allowing it to be whisked away by the owl, then she retired to the bed, absolutely knackered from her travels. She curled up under the covers with one of her many books, eventually drifting off to sleep with the book still in hand.
Severus was discharged from St. Mungos just a couple days later and ordered to stay on bed rest-aside from his eventual hearing with the Wizengamot coming up the next week. Severus had no issue whatsoever staying quiet and cooped up in Spinner's End, knowing some of the Death Eaters that were still on the run and not yet captured would be out for his blood.
He was enjoying the roaring fire in his living room when he heard a light pecking at the window. He scowled, glancing over to see the tawny owl at his window. Flinging the window open with a flick of his wand, the owl swooped in, dropping the letter onto his lap. He conjured one of Eeylops premium owl treats and flicked it towards the bird that graciously caught it in his mouth, making its way across the room and out the window.
She is already so eager to bother me, I see...
He opened the letter, casting Accio to bring her revealer flying across the room to his hand. He dragged the eraser look-alike over his page, revealing Hermione's clean and crisp handwriting. He scanned it over with a grunt when he saw how she addressed it.
She truly can't help herself...must I get used to this insufferable woman calling me by my name?
Severus,
I made it safely to Australia. The multiple apparations certainly took a toll on me physically and magically. I made a stop in China before I finally made it here to Melbourne.
I won't dwell on all of the unnecessary details for your sake, I can already picture you rolling your eyes as you read this.
Severus let out an all-too-rare chuckle, and of course, a small eye roll did make its way to his face just before reading that sentence.
Cheeky witch... He thought as the faintest smile crept to his lips.
I hope to hear from you as soon as you're able, I don't mean to press the matter too much with your state of health and no doubt the issues you may be facing with the trial, but I'm at a crossroads with how to initially go about this reversal when...if...I do find my parents.
The lack of confidence in that sentence troubled Severus, the girl was going to have to believe in her efforts much more than that for this to succeed. It was nearly similar to conjuring your patronus, you had to put a lot of positive magic and energy behind recovering a loved one's memories. He glanced back down to finish her letter.
In the meantime, I'm going to do some sightseeing while I'm here, at least, and when I return I'd love to be able to relay my trip to you. I look forward to receiving your letter in response.
Your friend,
Hermione.
Severus tucked the letter away with another grunt.
Friend? Since when would she consider me a friend? The silly girl...
Face it Severus, you should take what you're going to be able to get when it comes to people on your side, you're going to have a lot of people against you in the coming weeks...
Severus had responded to Hermione quicker than she had anticipated, expressing to her his own expertise and advice on the process; all the while trying to go about chastising her for still attempting to refer to him by his given name, and it only made her chuckle.
She had replied, matching his snarkiness with her sassiness, and the exchange continued for weeks upon weeks. Hermione was thankful to hear that Severus had been acquitted of all charges, surprisingly thanks to Harry and several other members of the order coming to his defence.
I told you so, you miserable sod! Hermione thought to herself as she chuckled and read the letter, but it warmed her heart to know that she was not the only one who felt that Severus was a hero and not someone who should've been thrown into Azkaban with all of Voldemort's pitiful followers.
The letters throughout the rest of that time had been more than pleasant for Hermione, conversing with him and seeing over the course of each letter that he was growing more and more comfortable with speaking to her. They both had exchanged stories and history in regards to what they had gone through and endured over the course of the years, and it made Hermione's heart flutter to see him finally opening up the way he did.
She had mentioned in their most recent letter that she was eager to return, hoping that both of them could possibly get together in private to talk more in person, and she had been baffled when he- -with some reluctance- -agreed, but he made it clear that he was not to make any promises that he would do or say just anything that Hermione wanted to discuss or pursue.
I'll take what I can get, perhaps...
Hermione hadn't found her parents during those several weeks, and she began to get discouraged that she wasn't going to find them. She didn't allow it to get to her too much in the beginning, but each passing day made it more and more difficult to come to think that she would succeed in her efforts.
After weeks of effort she was able to locate the practice that her parents opened up in the surrounding area. With the weekend approaching in just a couple days, she decided to visit their home when their practice was closed to make her attempt to retrieve their memories.
She was taking a stroll around some magical shops in the Melbourne area the day before her plan when she stopped dead in her tracks. She was shocked to see two of her fellow classmates, her best friend one of them for that matter, hand in hand as they browsed around a quidditch shop.
Angelina Johnson and Harry Potter were just ahead, and Hermione felt herself smiling brightly at the sight of them.
"Harry! Angelina! Over here!" she called out, waving her hand vigorously amongst the people passing by.
Harry and Angelina both turned when they heard their names, each of their eyes growing wide with shock, which only caused Hermione to smile even bigger and let out a laugh.
"Hermione?!" Angelina called out as she and Harry made their way towards her. "Is that really you?!"
"Yes!" she replied, finally reaching her friends and pulling them into a big hug.
"Bloody hell, 'Mione! We've all been wondering what the hell happened to you! You disappeared after the battle and no one has seen or heard from you since!" Harry exclaimed as he pulled away from her hug.
"We've been worried sick. None of our owls were getting any responses, which now I understand why. What on Earth are you doing in Australia?!" Angelina interjected.
"I could ask you both the same thing," Hermione replied. "I do apologise to you guys, I just had to take a step away from the castle after the battle. I-I made a visit to St. Mungo's to speak with someone before coming here to look for my parents."
The realisation showed on Harry and Angelina's faces. They finally recalled what it was Hermione did to protect her parents from Voldemort and his followers.
"We're sorry, Hermione," Harry said in a softer voice. "I honestly forgot that was a factor in all of this in the last year. I'm so sorry. Do you need any help finding them?"
Hermione shook her head. "I've finally been able to track down their place of work and their home. I'm going to be going there tomorrow to try and restore their memories. Thankfully, with Severus' help I think I'll be able to make it work."
"Hang on a tick," Harry said after a short pause. "Did you say Severus? As in Severus Snape?"
Bugger, shite!
"Umm...I-"
"You've been conversing with Severus, Hermione?" Angelina asked.
There was no use in trying to cover up that accidental outburst. Hermione sighed, reluctantly nodding her head and averting her eyes.
"No wonder the bloke has been in such a better mood than he's ever been!" Harry said with a soft chuckle.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at him as she brought her eyes back up to look at him, intrigued by the amused look on his face.
"What are you talking about?"
"Ever since his trial, he's been fairly civil with Harry," Angelina began, "He privately thanked Harry for his help and support in having the charges dropped against him. Ever since then, he's provided whatever aid he can to the aurors in tracking down Voldemort's followers still in hiding. Harry tried to assure him that he understood if Severus didn't want to help because he knew all of those Death Eaters wouldn't hesitate to harm or kill Severus if given the chance, but Severus insisted he would help."
"He's had an extra pep in his step, 'Mione," Harry interjected. "I think Angelina and I are the only ones that have truly noticed it, but I did come across him at the Auror's office reading a letter he had received with the smallest smirk on his face. The moment he noticed me there it was gone in a flash, but now that I know who it is he has been receiving letters from, it's making a hell of a lot more sense." Harry finished with a smirk.
Hermione blushed at his playful look.
"I honestly don't know what to say, Harry," Hermione replied. "There's been just a strong connection between us even through the letters. I can only imagine what can develop when I return and we can speak more often and in person."
"The poor bloke has been through more than enough in the last several years for goodness sake," Harry said. "He deserves to have happiness in his life, and I think there is no better person than you, "Mione."
"You really think so?"
"I know so." Harry stated, and Angelina agreed with him, giving her a silent nod.
"He's still so reserved, I really think it's going to take quite a bit of time still..." Hermione murmured.
"If anyone is going to have the patience to see that man gets the happiness he deserves, it's you Hermione," Angelina said with a smile.
"I don't deserve to have you two as friends." Hermione replied as she pulled them into another hug.
"However!" she continued, pulling back from the hug after several moments, "I still don't have an explanation for why you two are strolling about Melbourne! And also when you two became an item!" she exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips.
"We started talking after the battle. She has become such a great support through the aftereffects of the battle. It just developed into something a bit quicker than we would have expected, but it's been great. Angelina had a try-out with the Thunderlarra Thunderers!" Harry exclaimed, beaming with pride towards his girlfriend. "She kicked arse out on the field, and we should be hearing something within the next couple of days."
Angelina blushed under the look Harry gave her as he leant over to place a big kiss to her cheek.
"Harry travelled here with the Aurors a few days before I joined him to take down a few of Voldemort's followers on the run," Angelina said. "They were called to search a heavy jungled area in Queensland where some of the Death Eaters were spotted. They issued a lethifold attack on a small secluded village in the area. Thank Merlin, Harry and the rest got there in time before any of those poor people were gravely injured or killed. They managed to capture all of the Death Eaters as well. So don't go bragging about my Quidditch tryouts, Harry Potter, just look at the fantastic work you did as an auror! And at the ripe old age of eighteen on top of that!"
It was Harry's turn to blush under the beaming look he received from his girlfriend and best friend. He rubbed the back of his neck, averting his gaze from the two ladies.
"Oh come off it, you two. I was just doing my job."
"Well you did a bloody brilliant job, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, giving him a small smile.
"I'm glad we ran into you when we did Hermione. There was a big reason we were all trying to get a hold of you. The Ministry and Hogwarts are putting together a memorial ceremony for all of the fallen in the battle. They are also wanting to issue an award to all of the people for their heroic efforts. You, of course, are one of the recipients, and I wanted to make sure you would be there."
Hermione tried her best not to cry. The idea of a memorial had all of those thoughts and memories flooding back as she thought about the amount of people they had lost in the battle. It almost felt selfish of her to accept such an award. Despite not being too keen on the idea of receiving such a thing, she wasn't going to miss her opportunity to honour the fallen with her friends.
"I'm glad you were able to find me as well, Harry. I wouldn't miss it for the world."
They exchanged their goodbyes, giving each other big hugs before they parted. Hermione made her way back to the place she had been staying over the last several weeks, and she began to do all of her final practices and preparations for tomorrow.
Please, for the love of Merlin, let this work for my parents...I just want them back.