Hermione sat on her bed in her bedroom looking at the letter in her hands. She had just arrived back from Australia with her parents, having removed the spell that caused them to flee from the war. She had gone over with Ron following the funerals of those who lost their lives fighting in the war. There had been so many seemingly endless days of mourning and grief, followed by a chaotic adventure around Australia with Ron and Hermione was just now feeling like she could breathe. Only, she couldn't. It felt like all the air had been sucked from her lungs as she stared at the parchment in her hands. The letter was from Hogwarts:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall

Dear Ms. Granger,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for your seventh year. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Headmistress

As she unpacked her belongings from the last 12 months of life on the run, she returned to pick up the letter, read it over and over and put it down again. Hermione had read and reread the letter a thousand times but it still hadn't helped her decide whether she would return or not. Given that it was the last week of July already, she had very little time to think about her decision. The last twelve months had been the most difficult in her young life and she wasn't sure that returning was the right thing for her to do. She somehow felt as though she had grown beyond the teachings of school. Certainly, her desire to earn her NEWTS was a factor in her decision making, however, she couldn't imagine returning to the same dorm she had spent much of her life in, now that things had changed.

She recalled the image of Lavender Brown during the battle and shuddered at the thought of her being savaged by Greyback. Knowing that returning to Hogwarts meant she would have to come face to face with the memories of the ones who would never return – like Lavender, Colin Creevy, the dozens of others who laid down their lives and even Snape. The last two months had been like a holiday. She had almost forgotten what she had been through over the last year but now it had returned full force.

She placed the letter carefully on her dresser again and headed downstairs to where her parents had been unpacking. They hadn't discussed what would happen when they returned home and Hermione knew it was only a matter of time.

"Hi sweetheart, how is your room?" her mother asked.

"It's great, Harry and Ginny did a good job getting the house back in order for us" she said.

It had been only through luck that Ginny had thought to visit Hermione's house while they were away, because death eaters had been through it at some point over the last year, upending everything in sight.

"That's great dear" said her mother.

Hermione paused, wondering how to broach the subject that was going to come up sooner or later.

"Mum, I was wondering if we could talk about what's going to happen next" she asked gingerly.

Mrs Granger stopped unpacking her suitcase and Mr Granger came striding into the kitchen where they stood.

"Well, I thought you might take a gap year before going off to look for work" came her mother's response.

"Well, that was the original idea" she began, "but there's been a new development" she said carefully.

She knew that her parents would hate the idea of her returning to the place they knew nothing about except for the fact that 50 people had died there almost three months ago, but somehow, she felt as though in these brief minutes, she had decided.

"Oh?" her father said.

"I got a letter from Hogwarts. They're inviting me back to complete my 7th year" she said hurriedly.

"Right… Well, you know we appreciate the other world that you belong to, but Hermione, after what you've told us, that school is not exactly the safest place to be. What are Harry and Ron going to do?" Mrs Granger said.

"I don't know what Harry and Ron are going to do. I only just got the letter when I went up to my room. I suspect they've received letters of their own, but they've also both been accepted into the Auror program at the Ministry" Hermione said.

"And you haven't?" her mum asked.

"I don't want to become an Auror. To be honest I don't know what I want to do. Maybe that's where another year of school will be helpful?" she said.

"Hermione, we only just got you back!" her dad said.

"I know, and I feel the same way. But we will still have a month before I'd need to return. I need to send my response by the 31st", she said.

"Well, you're an adult now, in your world and ours, so we can't stop you doing what you want to do" her mother said sadly.

"I don't want it to be like that though, mum, I still need you both... I…"

"You didn't need us so much when you erased our memories and sent us to the other side of the world while you and the boys galivanted all around Great Britain!" her mum said suddenly.

Hermione felt as though she had been slapped. This had been brewing ever since the hours long conversation where Hermione sat them down in Australia and told them everything about the last few years in the magical world.

"And I told you why I had to do that! This house was almost completely destroyed! If I hadn't sent you away you'd both be dead! Why can't you understand that!" Tears were now streaming down her face.

"We can't understand anything anymore Hermione! You went off to that place at the age of 11 and we feel like we haven't known you or understood your world at all since then" her mum said, anger pulsing through every word.

"Well, perhaps I should have left you both in Australia where you seemed perfectly happy!" Hermione yelled through her tears.

There was silence in their house while everyone thought about what had been said. Her mum cleared her throat and turned back to the laundry she was sorting. Hermione wondered if they had wished they could go back to being Wendell and Monica, British dentists living in Australia without a care in the world. No magical daughter causing them stress and heartache, no burden of keeping the secret of the 'other' world they knew of but couldn't tell their friends about.

"That's it, isn't it?" she said softly. "Without my existence, there were no secrets, no magical world to hide from your friends, no worrying about people finding out what your daughter is".

"You had so much potential Hermione. You left primary school with an offer to attend the best high school in the country. You were on track to maybe even becoming Prime Minister someday" her mother said. "Now you have no formal education in our world, no friends, no experiences. I don't know how to relate to you Hermione. How to tell our friends of your talents without giving away what you are" she continued.

"Fine. That's fine. I understand" she said as she reached into her pocket to take out her wand, ideas of obliviating them permanently, coursing through her mind.

"Hermione, your mother is upset. We've had a lot to take in over the last few weeks. She doesn't mean it… Do you Gene?" her father said.

Her mum just sighed and walked away. Hermione's dad pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. He was barely taller than her now. Hermione fell into his embrace and sobbed into his shoulder.

"I don't want to lose you both again, but if that's how she feels, then I can make it all go away. You can both go back to your lives in Australia. You were happy there, weren't you?" she asked.

"We were happy, yes, but we both knew something was missing. We didn't know we had a daughter but we knew something wasn't right. Hermione, we will not go back to a life where we forget about you again. We can't. We love you. Your mum is just scared you'll get hurt. She wants more than anything to tell our friends all about our amazing daughter who saved the wizarding world, but we can't. As far as they know, you attend boarding school in Europe and are doing well in your studies. They have no idea that you're the brightest witch of your generation and everyone loves you". He said. She pulled away and wiped her tears on her sleeve.

"I think I will go back to school" she said with finality and she turned and headed back to her room.

"Did she really say that?" asked Harry quietly as he sat down on her bed. It had been a day since the conversation with her parents.

She nodded.

"I was going to obliviate them again there and then. I was so angry" she said.

"Really?"

"Yep. Reached for my wand and everything. I just thought, well, what if they were truly happier without me?" she said.

"They couldn't be, Hermione" he said.

"No, I know, my dad said that they knew something was missing. I know that sending them back to that life wouldn't work because they would never really be happy. I just thought that after I found them, everything would be ok again". She said, getting up and taking her Hogwarts letter from her dresser.

"Did you get one of these?" she asked him, handing him the parchment.

"I'm not going Hermione. I can't. It's not my home anymore" he said.

"That's what I thought. What about Ron? Has he thought about it?" she asked, testing out the waters with Ron.

"He's going to help George in the shop. Percy was doing his best but Ron is actually really good at it" Harry said.

"I thought he would" she said.

"He hasn't spoken about what happened in Australia" Harry said after a pause.

"And neither will I" Hermione said.

"Come on Hermione, if you can't talk to me, who can you talk to?" he said.

"No one. It's not a big deal Harry. We still care about each other, we just have to figure out what we want from life before we rush into a complicated relationship" she said, although she knew he could see straight through her.

The truth was, the relationship with Ron had been perfect. He was the perfect gentleman in Australia, kind, considerate and very caring. Hermione had fallen head over heels in love with Ron during their time away. They spend night after night in their motel room strategizing about finding her parents and brainstorming about how to reverse the spell. He had supported her through her tears as she came across dead end after dead end in the search and comforted her when they found her parents happily living a life without her. Despite all this, Hermione had been left devastated on their last night as she had attempted to move their relationship forward, physically, and Ron said he wasn't ready. She took the rejection to heart and Ron shut down completely. She went to confront her parents the following day and Ron returned home. They hadn't had contact since.

"Well, Ron is miserable too, just so you know" he said.

"Right, well, he knows where I live" she snapped. There was silence in the room while she calmed herself.

"Are you going? Back to school I mean" Harry asked her after a while.

"I am. I wasn't sure at first, but I need to finish properly. I have no idea what I want to do with my life at the moment and I think that the best place for me is back at Hogwarts" she said. "What are you going to do? Are you accepting the position in the Auror office?" she asked.

"I sent my acceptance yesterday" he said, a smile on his face. "It's what I was born to do, Merlin, it's the only thing I know how to do well!".

"Oh, I know" she said with a small laugh. She clapped her hand over her mouth and glanced towards the door. Her parents didn't know Harry had apparated into her bedroom just over an hour ago. She wondered briefly how they'd react to it. "So, Harry, how are you finding living in the adult world, now you're free to apparate anywhere and are no longer undesirable number one?"

"It's actually really great. I took Ginny to the muggle zoo the other day and we went to the cinema last night. The look on her face was priceless" he said, eyes full of young love.

"I bet she loved it" she said.

They both froze as they heard footsteps on the stairs and Harry threw his cloak over himself just as Hermione's dad entered the room.

"Tea's ready sweat heart" he said, glancing around the room. Hermione was certain he had heard the crack when Harry apparated in earlier, but if he did, he didn't say anything. She had become so much closer with her dad over the last 24 hours than ever before. It was nice to have the relationship she never felt like she had.

"Ok Dad, I'm just finishing up my acceptance note and I'll be down" she said, holding up a piece of parchment.

"I still don't understand how they can use those old-fashioned pieces of paper and ink pots" he said, shaking his head and backing out of the room, shutting the door behind himself.

"It's parchment" she called after him with a laugh.

Harry emerged a second later from under his cloak.

"He looked straight at me" he said.

"I swear he heard you apparate in earlier" she said.

'Me too. Well, I better be going then" he said.

"I'll write to you" she said as she hugged him goodbye.

[[AN- My first go at HP FF. Cant say that I have a lot of time to write but I am keen to get this story out. I have the first 8 chapters planned out, just a matter of writing them. I fully intend on getting the next chapter out within the next few days. Review for ideas, suggestions, errors etc]]