After much thought, Hermione transfigured some of their dress robes into a
set of sober but elegantly styled suits, dark blue and an oliveish brown,
but saved from severity by the fashionability of their cut, and by the
silver jewelry and soft blouses that she produced to go with them. She used
a charm to twine her hair into an elegant and controlled twist, and twined
Ginny's up as well. With makeup on, they were transformed into young
professional women, perhaps working in a bank or a law office...definitely
not sixth and seventh formers, though.
Ron was definitely impressed, and Harry dropped his fork when they came down to breakfast.
"Very nice," said Molly. "I presume the theory is that you don't look like someone who does anything less than seriously."
"Part of it," Ginny said. Her hair, braided up onto her head in a controlled style, made her look much older and emphasized the classic lean lines of her face and neck. "And there's the fact that her mother will be expecting us in jeans and muslin shirts. I want to be something so totally unexpected that she doesn't have time to figure out her footing."
"Well," her father said, "you look much older than you did when you came home from Hogwarts, I'll say. Very impressive job, Hermione, on both of you."
"Well, an owl will find us, or we will be at my mother's house. If we go anywhere else, I'll Floo you and tell you where it is we'll be staying," she said, draining her coffee and standing up. "Have you got our bag, Gin?"
"In my trouser pocket," she said, patting her right hip. "This business of being able to Reduce things is nice, you know..."
"I think so," said Hermione, with a smile. She hugged and kissed Molly and Arthur goodbye, and much to her surprise both Ron and Harry stood up and hugged her as well.
"Good luck," said Harry, and smiled.
"Thanks, you guys, " said Ginny, coming out of her own round of hugs. She watched as Hermione stepped into the fire, and gave the address with a firm voice, then followed suit.
* * *
Instead of Flooing to Hermione's parents' house, they instead went to the Leaky Cauldron, and thence to Diagon Alley, with a quick pause in the back to temporarily transfigure their outfits back into robes. There was more than enough gold in the vault the key opened to allow them to have enough pounds to do whatever they needed to do over the next few days, and Ginny admitted that her confidence went up knowing that they both had a fair amount of cash on them. They left the Leaky Cauldron, transformed their clothes into Muggle wear again, and stepped out into London, hailing a taxi to take them to St. Edward's Hospital.
"It's unlikely that mother will be at home, or at the hospital, " she said, relaxing into the backseat. "She'll probably be at the office covering his patients and hers too...she hates to have to cancel at all, and there've been quite a few they couldn't avoid, I'll bet. So we might as well go up to the hospital and see how my father's doing."
"Okay," said Ginny. "Do you have any plans for later on?"
"Well, I was thinking that after we see my father we'll know what's going on...the surgery's tomorrow morning, and so I'll want to be here then, but this afternoon and tonight...I don't know, there's things I'd like to do, but it all depends. I will definitely want to get lunch after we get out, though."
"Sounds like a plan," Ginny said. "Although...is there a word for what I want to do? I want to be able to say if I'm asked."
"You're planning to lead the treatments, right, not carry them out under someone else's orders?"
"Yes..."
"The word is doctor. And you would be 'looking at pre-med programs'," explained Hermione."If you were a Muggle you'd go to college and study to get into a medical school.
"Okay," said Ginny with a grin. "By the way, introduce me by my full name, it's a little more adult."
"Sure," said Hermione, with a grin.
When they reached the hospital, a quick inquiry at the front desk produced her father's room number, up on the fourth floor. Hermione had been worried how Ginny would deal with the elevator, but she reassured her that her father's fascination with Muggle solutions and technologies had resulted in regular "field trips" that had left her able to pass as a Muggle.
"Of course," she said, with a bit of a grin, "I do have my wand up my sleeve." They quirked grins at each other, and stepped out of the elevator.
After getting visitor's badges at the nurse's station, they followed her directions down to the third door on the left. It was ajar, and so Hermione tapped twice.
"Come in," said a tired male voice.
Despite the disadvantages of John Granger's position in a hospital gown and in bed, hooked up to various monitors, Ginny could at once see that he was a fairly striking man. Prematurely silver hair framed a face that held his daughter's caramel-dark eyes in a long, narrow frame, with a patrician nose and mouth that was reserved but full-lipped. A glance at his hands on the blankets showed that she had inherited his long fingers and narrow palms.
He looked up, and whatever he'd been going to say died on his lips.
"Hello, Father," said Hermione, softly, and in an uncertain tone. Ginny held back, waiting.
"Hello," he said. "I'd get up, but...." he trailed off and waved a hand at all the monitors.
"Not a problem," she said, and took a couple steps forward.
He looked at her, and bit his lip, in a gesture Ginny recognized as Hermione's when emotion threatened to overcome her. "I...we...didn't handle things right," he said, painfully. "I never meant for you to leave. But your mother's temper...well..."
"I know," said Hermione.
"And then, you know, I've been doing a lot of thinking. Not much to do in here but think, the programs on the telly are crap," he added. "And...well, if you'll let me, I'd like to...try things again. I've been trying to talk to your mother about it, but she's stubborn. You know," he said with a sigh. "And I feel it's my fault, that you didn't feel you could just tell us...tell me...that this was...how you are, that you felt there was a need for the scene to smash through walls. Well, maybe so, with your mother, but I like to think...I hope...that I"m better than that."
He sighed. "Life's too short for that crap," he said. "I learned that this last week. So...can I get a hug from my daughter?"
As he spoke, Hermione had gone whiter and whiter, and had begun to bite her lip. He finished, and looked at her with a look of open and painful longing that made her sob once and throw herself into his arms, weeping.
"I'm sorry, father, I couldn't...."
"Shh, I know. I know," he soothed her. He raised his head, and saw Ginny standing back in the shadows by the door. "Hermione, do you have an introduction to make?"
She drew herself up and accepted the tissue he handed her from the box by the bed. "Um, yes, yes...."she said. She wiped her eyes and stepped back, taking Ginny's hand and drawing her into the light. "Father, this is my partner, Virginia Weasley. Ginny, this is my father, John Granger."
"Weasley..." he said. "Related to the one boy that she's been friends with for a while?"
"I'm his younger sister, sir," she said composedly, "one year younger than he and Ginny. I'm in the sixth form at Hogwarts, in the same house as Hermione and my brother."
"I see..." he said, studying her and making her grateful for the armor of clothing Hermione had provided for them. "So...what do you plan to do when you get out?"
"I'm doing some independent studies this next year with the school medical staff, and when I finish at Hogwarts I'm intending to go to college. Currently I'm looking at pre-med programs at different schools."
He nodded. "It seems one intelligent and talented young woman deserves another. When did you fall in love with my daughter?"
Much to her mortification, Ginny felt a blush rising in her cheeks, and said, "I think I was around fifteen. I spent a year trying hard to get over her, because she was dating guys and, well, I wasn't going to ruin our friendship by asking. But...it all worked out late last fall." Hermione glanced at her with a faint smile.
"And we've been together since," added Hermione.
"So....your parents still together?" he asked, mouth a trifle less tight.
"Yes, sir," she said. "Dad's head of Improper Use of Magic in the Ministry of Magic, and Mum's stayed home, although Hogwarts keeps trying to get her to come there and teach. I've got six brothers...Charlie's 26, and works with capturing and breeding rare dragons in Romania, Bill's 25, and a cursebreaker for Gringotts Bank in Egypt. Percy is 23, and works for the Ministy of Magic..he got married last year, the only one so far. The twins, Fred and George, are nineteen. They started a business selling magical joke items while they were still at Hogwarts, and moved it into its own premises this year, much to Mum's relief, since they moved out at the same time, and Ron's still at Hogwarts this year. He's planning to try to get on at the Ministry of Magic also, as an analyst."
Hermione's father's mouth was quirked in amusement, and, Hermione realized suddenly, He likes her. Oh, merciful God, he likes her! It'll be all right now. She felt a little weak with relief.
"Well, it's no wonder that your school'd like to hire your mother," he said, with laughter behind his words. "If she managed to raise that many boys on one income, she's one hell of a woman. I believe I'd like to meet her one day."
"Thank you, sir, I think she'd like to meet you too."
"If you're around for the long haul, you can call me John," he said, and Ginny smiled and blushed again.
"Well, my dad and mum always told us that when they walked into class the first day of their sixth year and sat next to each other that they knew this was the person they would marry and spend the rest of their lives with. And, well... I think I'm the same way," she said, smiling at Hermione.
"I think I'm the same way," the slender redhead said with a hint of embarassment, and smiled up at his only daughter, who smiled back at her. The love between them, for all that they weren't touching or making great avowals, fairly shone in the morning light. It was, John reflected, the first time he'd seen his daughter smile with that unforced joy since she started her schooling. She looked rested and happy, as though life was finally good and easy for her. Not for the first time, he had the thought that perhaps by keeping long office hours to bring in money, he'd missed something more important. This time, though, he didn't push it away.
And although he'd done his share of complaining about the freaks and the queers, this young woman Hermione had brought, dressed elegantly and simply in a really good suit, hair up, respectful and clearly ambitious and intelligent, wasn't strange. Actually, his daughter didn't look strange either. It was just that somewhere along the last few months, while she'd been gone, she'd grown up. Her hair was sleek in its twist, and her suit made her look like a young law clerk, or stockbroker. She reminded him very much of his beloved sister in her younger days. His mind was made up.
"So," he said to his daughter, watching her smile at him, "are you going to come back tonight when your mother's here?"
Her smile faded, and she shook her head. "I...had intended to do some shopping, while I was up to Town."
He knew perfectly well what was actually going on, but let her evade.
"But," she said, "I'll be here tomorrow, to see you before you go into surgery."
"All right," he said. "I'll tell your mother that."
"It'll be both of us," said her partner, looking at her sternly.
"Yes, all right, Ginny!" said Hermione, with a laugh.
"Well," said John Granger. "They'll come in any time and feed me what passes for lunch around here. You two run off and get your own, and do your shopping. I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"All right, father," Hermione said. "I...I love you." and she bent and kissed his cheek, and hugged him.
"It was good to meet you, John, " said Ginny, and accepted a hug as well. Her bright smile was the last thing he saw as they walked around the curtain, holding hands.
Alone in his room, John Granger sighed. At least, he reminded himself, I have a daughter again. It may have taken me nearly dying to teach me not to be a stubborn old fool, but I'm going to remember it, and I'm not going to let this happen again. And so he prepared to do the one thing he hated, the thing that struck fear into his heart.
He was going to put his foot down, and oppose his wife. And he would, as he always did, make sure that he would win. He watched the sun move across the wall, and plotted.
Ron was definitely impressed, and Harry dropped his fork when they came down to breakfast.
"Very nice," said Molly. "I presume the theory is that you don't look like someone who does anything less than seriously."
"Part of it," Ginny said. Her hair, braided up onto her head in a controlled style, made her look much older and emphasized the classic lean lines of her face and neck. "And there's the fact that her mother will be expecting us in jeans and muslin shirts. I want to be something so totally unexpected that she doesn't have time to figure out her footing."
"Well," her father said, "you look much older than you did when you came home from Hogwarts, I'll say. Very impressive job, Hermione, on both of you."
"Well, an owl will find us, or we will be at my mother's house. If we go anywhere else, I'll Floo you and tell you where it is we'll be staying," she said, draining her coffee and standing up. "Have you got our bag, Gin?"
"In my trouser pocket," she said, patting her right hip. "This business of being able to Reduce things is nice, you know..."
"I think so," said Hermione, with a smile. She hugged and kissed Molly and Arthur goodbye, and much to her surprise both Ron and Harry stood up and hugged her as well.
"Good luck," said Harry, and smiled.
"Thanks, you guys, " said Ginny, coming out of her own round of hugs. She watched as Hermione stepped into the fire, and gave the address with a firm voice, then followed suit.
* * *
Instead of Flooing to Hermione's parents' house, they instead went to the Leaky Cauldron, and thence to Diagon Alley, with a quick pause in the back to temporarily transfigure their outfits back into robes. There was more than enough gold in the vault the key opened to allow them to have enough pounds to do whatever they needed to do over the next few days, and Ginny admitted that her confidence went up knowing that they both had a fair amount of cash on them. They left the Leaky Cauldron, transformed their clothes into Muggle wear again, and stepped out into London, hailing a taxi to take them to St. Edward's Hospital.
"It's unlikely that mother will be at home, or at the hospital, " she said, relaxing into the backseat. "She'll probably be at the office covering his patients and hers too...she hates to have to cancel at all, and there've been quite a few they couldn't avoid, I'll bet. So we might as well go up to the hospital and see how my father's doing."
"Okay," said Ginny. "Do you have any plans for later on?"
"Well, I was thinking that after we see my father we'll know what's going on...the surgery's tomorrow morning, and so I'll want to be here then, but this afternoon and tonight...I don't know, there's things I'd like to do, but it all depends. I will definitely want to get lunch after we get out, though."
"Sounds like a plan," Ginny said. "Although...is there a word for what I want to do? I want to be able to say if I'm asked."
"You're planning to lead the treatments, right, not carry them out under someone else's orders?"
"Yes..."
"The word is doctor. And you would be 'looking at pre-med programs'," explained Hermione."If you were a Muggle you'd go to college and study to get into a medical school.
"Okay," said Ginny with a grin. "By the way, introduce me by my full name, it's a little more adult."
"Sure," said Hermione, with a grin.
When they reached the hospital, a quick inquiry at the front desk produced her father's room number, up on the fourth floor. Hermione had been worried how Ginny would deal with the elevator, but she reassured her that her father's fascination with Muggle solutions and technologies had resulted in regular "field trips" that had left her able to pass as a Muggle.
"Of course," she said, with a bit of a grin, "I do have my wand up my sleeve." They quirked grins at each other, and stepped out of the elevator.
After getting visitor's badges at the nurse's station, they followed her directions down to the third door on the left. It was ajar, and so Hermione tapped twice.
"Come in," said a tired male voice.
Despite the disadvantages of John Granger's position in a hospital gown and in bed, hooked up to various monitors, Ginny could at once see that he was a fairly striking man. Prematurely silver hair framed a face that held his daughter's caramel-dark eyes in a long, narrow frame, with a patrician nose and mouth that was reserved but full-lipped. A glance at his hands on the blankets showed that she had inherited his long fingers and narrow palms.
He looked up, and whatever he'd been going to say died on his lips.
"Hello, Father," said Hermione, softly, and in an uncertain tone. Ginny held back, waiting.
"Hello," he said. "I'd get up, but...." he trailed off and waved a hand at all the monitors.
"Not a problem," she said, and took a couple steps forward.
He looked at her, and bit his lip, in a gesture Ginny recognized as Hermione's when emotion threatened to overcome her. "I...we...didn't handle things right," he said, painfully. "I never meant for you to leave. But your mother's temper...well..."
"I know," said Hermione.
"And then, you know, I've been doing a lot of thinking. Not much to do in here but think, the programs on the telly are crap," he added. "And...well, if you'll let me, I'd like to...try things again. I've been trying to talk to your mother about it, but she's stubborn. You know," he said with a sigh. "And I feel it's my fault, that you didn't feel you could just tell us...tell me...that this was...how you are, that you felt there was a need for the scene to smash through walls. Well, maybe so, with your mother, but I like to think...I hope...that I"m better than that."
He sighed. "Life's too short for that crap," he said. "I learned that this last week. So...can I get a hug from my daughter?"
As he spoke, Hermione had gone whiter and whiter, and had begun to bite her lip. He finished, and looked at her with a look of open and painful longing that made her sob once and throw herself into his arms, weeping.
"I'm sorry, father, I couldn't...."
"Shh, I know. I know," he soothed her. He raised his head, and saw Ginny standing back in the shadows by the door. "Hermione, do you have an introduction to make?"
She drew herself up and accepted the tissue he handed her from the box by the bed. "Um, yes, yes...."she said. She wiped her eyes and stepped back, taking Ginny's hand and drawing her into the light. "Father, this is my partner, Virginia Weasley. Ginny, this is my father, John Granger."
"Weasley..." he said. "Related to the one boy that she's been friends with for a while?"
"I'm his younger sister, sir," she said composedly, "one year younger than he and Ginny. I'm in the sixth form at Hogwarts, in the same house as Hermione and my brother."
"I see..." he said, studying her and making her grateful for the armor of clothing Hermione had provided for them. "So...what do you plan to do when you get out?"
"I'm doing some independent studies this next year with the school medical staff, and when I finish at Hogwarts I'm intending to go to college. Currently I'm looking at pre-med programs at different schools."
He nodded. "It seems one intelligent and talented young woman deserves another. When did you fall in love with my daughter?"
Much to her mortification, Ginny felt a blush rising in her cheeks, and said, "I think I was around fifteen. I spent a year trying hard to get over her, because she was dating guys and, well, I wasn't going to ruin our friendship by asking. But...it all worked out late last fall." Hermione glanced at her with a faint smile.
"And we've been together since," added Hermione.
"So....your parents still together?" he asked, mouth a trifle less tight.
"Yes, sir," she said. "Dad's head of Improper Use of Magic in the Ministry of Magic, and Mum's stayed home, although Hogwarts keeps trying to get her to come there and teach. I've got six brothers...Charlie's 26, and works with capturing and breeding rare dragons in Romania, Bill's 25, and a cursebreaker for Gringotts Bank in Egypt. Percy is 23, and works for the Ministy of Magic..he got married last year, the only one so far. The twins, Fred and George, are nineteen. They started a business selling magical joke items while they were still at Hogwarts, and moved it into its own premises this year, much to Mum's relief, since they moved out at the same time, and Ron's still at Hogwarts this year. He's planning to try to get on at the Ministry of Magic also, as an analyst."
Hermione's father's mouth was quirked in amusement, and, Hermione realized suddenly, He likes her. Oh, merciful God, he likes her! It'll be all right now. She felt a little weak with relief.
"Well, it's no wonder that your school'd like to hire your mother," he said, with laughter behind his words. "If she managed to raise that many boys on one income, she's one hell of a woman. I believe I'd like to meet her one day."
"Thank you, sir, I think she'd like to meet you too."
"If you're around for the long haul, you can call me John," he said, and Ginny smiled and blushed again.
"Well, my dad and mum always told us that when they walked into class the first day of their sixth year and sat next to each other that they knew this was the person they would marry and spend the rest of their lives with. And, well... I think I'm the same way," she said, smiling at Hermione.
"I think I'm the same way," the slender redhead said with a hint of embarassment, and smiled up at his only daughter, who smiled back at her. The love between them, for all that they weren't touching or making great avowals, fairly shone in the morning light. It was, John reflected, the first time he'd seen his daughter smile with that unforced joy since she started her schooling. She looked rested and happy, as though life was finally good and easy for her. Not for the first time, he had the thought that perhaps by keeping long office hours to bring in money, he'd missed something more important. This time, though, he didn't push it away.
And although he'd done his share of complaining about the freaks and the queers, this young woman Hermione had brought, dressed elegantly and simply in a really good suit, hair up, respectful and clearly ambitious and intelligent, wasn't strange. Actually, his daughter didn't look strange either. It was just that somewhere along the last few months, while she'd been gone, she'd grown up. Her hair was sleek in its twist, and her suit made her look like a young law clerk, or stockbroker. She reminded him very much of his beloved sister in her younger days. His mind was made up.
"So," he said to his daughter, watching her smile at him, "are you going to come back tonight when your mother's here?"
Her smile faded, and she shook her head. "I...had intended to do some shopping, while I was up to Town."
He knew perfectly well what was actually going on, but let her evade.
"But," she said, "I'll be here tomorrow, to see you before you go into surgery."
"All right," he said. "I'll tell your mother that."
"It'll be both of us," said her partner, looking at her sternly.
"Yes, all right, Ginny!" said Hermione, with a laugh.
"Well," said John Granger. "They'll come in any time and feed me what passes for lunch around here. You two run off and get your own, and do your shopping. I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"All right, father," Hermione said. "I...I love you." and she bent and kissed his cheek, and hugged him.
"It was good to meet you, John, " said Ginny, and accepted a hug as well. Her bright smile was the last thing he saw as they walked around the curtain, holding hands.
Alone in his room, John Granger sighed. At least, he reminded himself, I have a daughter again. It may have taken me nearly dying to teach me not to be a stubborn old fool, but I'm going to remember it, and I'm not going to let this happen again. And so he prepared to do the one thing he hated, the thing that struck fear into his heart.
He was going to put his foot down, and oppose his wife. And he would, as he always did, make sure that he would win. He watched the sun move across the wall, and plotted.