A/N: Written for Hogwarts Assignment 5 - Thanatology: task 4 - Write about something that starts sad and ends on a happy note.
Word count: 548
After the war, finding her parents was supposed to be the easy part. During long nights hiding in forests, Hermione had daydreamed about heading straight for Australia and finding her parents once Voldemort was gone. She'd recognized that reality wouldn't be as picture perfect as her dreams, but she hadn't expected to search for months with little to show for it. As the hardships of the war faded in her memory, the search for her parents felt even harder.
A sob broke free, and Ron was quick to gather her in his arms. They were in the middle of a busy street, but neither of them cared at that moment. It was the first time Hermione had let herself sink into despair and accept that she might never see her parents again.
"I think we should give up," she said between sobs. Ron squeezed her tighter. "We can't keep searching forever."
Ron rubbed her back and took his time to respond. "It might be good to go back and see everyone. Maybe rest a bit, yeah?" He said it as gently as he could manage, sounding almost scared to upset her further. That alone made Hermione cry harder. "But we can always come back after we rest. We'll feel better, and we'll find them then. Thanks to you, they're not in any danger. Whenever we do find them, they'll be perfectly fine."
Hermione nodded and pulled away. She rubbed at her eyes with the ends of her sleeves. Though she couldn't see herself, she knew she was a mess.
"It doesn't matter. We won't find them."
During the hunt for the horcruxes, she'd struggled to remain positive, but it hadn't been anything like this. After Voldemort was gone, everyone had been hopeful that things would return to normal. They were supposed to be happy, but she couldn't be. Not without finding her parents.
She was expecting Ron to keep insisting that they would find them. In a bizarre change from their time searching for horcruxes, he'd been nothing but positive since they'd arrived in Australia. Hermione hadn't mentioned it, but she was sure it was his way of trying to compensate for leaving her.
Hermione looked up at him and realized he was staring at someone in the distance.
"What?" Hermione asked with a frown.
"Hermione," Ron breathed, still not looking at her. He turned her around and pointed at someone standing on the street corner.
It was her father.
Hermione gasped. After months of searching, her father had appeared on the street when she was about to give up. It was too good to be true. At first she thought she was dreaming, but Ron's hand against her back was too solid to be a dream.
She took off for her father, not caring about the people she shoved out of the way.
When she reached him, he stared at her in puzzlement, unaware of why a random young woman would approach him. Hermione didn't try to explain. Her hand found her wand in her pocket, and she muttered the countercharm to the memory spell.
The change was instantaneous. Hermione saw the recognition in her father's eyes and surged forward. He tugged her to his chest, and Hermione wasn't sure either of them would ever let go.