The One Who Had the Clearest View

Chapter Two- Hating Britain

Disclaimer: Own nothing, am paid nothing, don't sue.

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Hating Britain

Britain. Oh how she hated the place. It had been five, long, glorious years since she'd turned her back on the place and she hadn't regretted it in the slightest to that day. In the five years since she'd jetted off from Heathrow airport smiling and with good prospects awaiting her she hadn't missed a single thing of the UK. Not even her parents. She knew it was awful and she had tried to miss them, really, she had, but she just didn't. Maybe only seeing them for a month (on average) a year for seven years, a week a year at Christmas for the four years she'd been in University and the hour since she'd landed since she was eleven had something to do with it. Her conversations with her family had always been repetitions of themselves, ever travelling in a boring and tedious circle, and filled with long, awkward pauses where nobody had anything to say; her letters had become shorter and shorter and, after her second year at Hogwarts, very few and far apart; she'd only bothered every few months in University and since moving to New York had only sent single paragraph emails when she remembered or family sent her one.

She'd been in Britain for only an hour but oh how she missed New York already. It was like a stomach ache. She had loved the place. Loved the noises, the smells, the people, her colleagues, her team at work, her office, her apartment, the beautiful view of the Manhattan skyline she'd had from her apartment. She'd loved the cabs, the busy streets, the newspaper stands and the strange and normal tenants in her apartment block. She'd loved the hustle and bustle of the underground, the mass crowds of the pedestrian crossings, the café/bar she and her friends met in almost every day, even the traffic but, above all, she'd just loved the energy of the place. Compared the all of that the depths of suburban middle class London she was now passing through Britain was stone-cold dead.

"We've missed you so much Hermione," her father told her for what was now the sixth time since he'd met her at the airport as they stopped at traffic lights in his Volkswagen Passat.

"And I've missed you too," she repeated for the sixth time half-heartedly. She'd tried to miss things but just hadn't. Hermione didn't feel bad about it though. How could she when there wasn't much to miss?

"I'm so glad to have you back," beamed Mathew Granger as they started moving again, stealing a glance at his 27 year old daughter fiddling with her cell phone in the passenger seat.

"Yes, dad, you told me," Hermione fought the urge to add 'five times already' to that last sentence.

"Everyone will be so pleased to see you," he continued.

"Yes, dad, you told me," again the urge was strong.

"It's been so long since we last saw you,"

"Five years," God did the repetition ever end? We're they rehearsing some sort of play?

Urgh, Britain was so ugly, Hermione thought, brushing her hair out of her face and turning to stare out of the window. Compared to New York it seemed so grey and so lifeless. Even in autumn and the depths of winter New York had seemed alive. She missed her friends already, longed for the warmth and cosiness of her apartment with its spectacular view, craved even a hint of a shadow of the life that was hers just hours ago. It was such a depressing reality that it would be a long time before she saw any of them again.

When Hermione had found out her office were sending her to London to help train up some of the new Aurora Higher recruits (more skilled and advanced versions of auroras. Like FBI to the NYPD) she had first refused, then threatened to resign, then protested, followed by grumbled and finally begged her boss not to give her the assignment. She didn't even care about the hugely increased pay check she'd be getting or the large and numerous increases her boss gave when trying to persuade her to go. Although she later admitted it was a nice extra. But of all the places they had to send her, why Britain? She wanted to go home, to New York. There were too many bad memories here.

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"Hermione!" her mother all but screamed as she ran out of the front door of the house to greet her.  Hermione turned around and was nearly knocked into the boot of the car with the bags she was trying to lift out (the neighbours were nosy so it was too risky to use her magic) as her mother drew her into a rib breaking hug. "I've missed you so much!"

"Me too!" she cried, remembering what Alana had told her to do if she still felt the same when she got to her parent house. 'If when you get there you don't feel anything or miss us lot even more,' she'd explained 'lie like your fucking middle-class  little English arse depends on it!'

"Let me look at you!" Anne took a step back, "Oh I like what you've done to your hair, and those jeans. Hermione," her face darkened suddenly, "you've lost weight, are you eating properly,"

"Yes, yes, I am, and mum; I'm still the same dress size and weight I was as when I left,"

"If you say so. Well, come on inside and tell me everything about New York!"

And so Hermione followed her mother inside the house she'd not seen for five years and spent the rest of her afternoon holding a repetitive conversation that moved in one long, boring and tedious circle, filled with long and awkward pauses, wishing she was at home, in New York, away from the bad memories threatening to creep into her mind.

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A/N: Sorry about the shitty ending, I wanted to tie this up here and couldn't think of how to do it decently.

Ta da! I decided to build on it!

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed!!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! That was such an ego boost! Massive thanks to pink-crane, mazy, ravn (I shall say no more about the stranger (for now!)), duckies, animegirl-mika (I may take you up on that offer of a beta reader soon if it still stands), fanficaholic137, Polegara, lyz slytherin, Katt, JCzPRiNCeSS, lunatic-gurl and michelle. Thanks also to anyone I may have missed. The next bit may not be up for a while because I have to go back to school for the new term soon. L

I don't really hate Britain, just my area of Wales.

Thanks again, peace to everyone! J

Beth