Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me. They are by J. K. Rowling. I am not for profit.
Sitting in the drawing room of Malfoy Manor and reading The Daily Prophet while Narcissa had a cup of tea, Lucius Malfoy was chatting with his wife about the latest article titled "The Worst Punishments" by Rita Skeeter. Lucius was not a man who believed in gossip, the pink press had never been liked by any of the Malfoys, because they took away the objectivity of the news, they misrepresented the information too much and they never told the truth. Ultimately, they were of no value to any appreciative Slytherin. For years now, Lucius and Narcissa have had to put up with an article about Granger in The Daily Prophet, always on the front page, and they could bet, because they knew the girl somewhat, that all those articles were inventions.
After being seen, after so many years, in Diagon Alley and later in Knockturn, the journalists had once again reached their own conclusions, Granger was photographed every time she took a step in any direction, sometimes Lucius doubted that those photos were really hers.
Today the article was talking about her parents. How Granger had erased their memories in a valiant attempt to protect them from the Death Eaters. Narcisa laughed demurely. Lucius was looking at the newspaper, but he wasn't really reading it. Looking at his wife, he knew they were both thinking the same thing: Hermione Granger was no hero or savior, but cruel and ruthless. Not even a Slytherin would have done that.
Oblivating someone, erasing someone's memory, without their consent, was damaging that person's mind, probably irreversibly. It was tantamount to taking away their free will. And that was dark magic, because whatever benevolent spell used, if used with the intent to harm, was dark magic. She was also doing the Death Eaters a favor, because if Hermione's parents didn't know they were running or what or why they were running, they were easy prey and with the provided photos of the Dark Lord's spies, because everyone who had some contact with Harry Potter were objective as were their families, it would be too easy to recognize them, especially with Dolohov on the prowl, who, having been humiliated and defeated by a fifteen-year-old teenager, had taken the search and capture of Hermione Granger and her loved ones personally. In fact, they were on the verge of capturing them before they left the country, but Snape, sentimental old man that he was, had grown fond of Granger, finding a kindred mind among his vast student body. That had allowed the Grangers enough time to escape and reach Australia, although it was something Granger would never find out about.
Maybe Granger erased their memories in an act of rage, maybe her parents were too strict, overprotective, or made too many demands of her. Because Granger, despite being brilliant, was also a teenager at the time and to follow authority, even if it was her parents', from her point of view, was to oppress her, rather than stop and think if what they said made sense or it could benefit her in some way. But again what could you expect from Granger if even at eleven years old She had set a professor's robe on fire without caring if it would burn, just because her best friend had a hunch that Snape was the one trying to throw him off the broom but none of them had or could get evidence to prove it? This Lucius knew because Severus had confidentially told him after one of the Death Eater meetings during the war.
Sometimes the Death Eaters would come together to devise strategies, but no matter where or how many they went, the same name was always repeated: Hermione Granger. Many had their doubts about Potter, why he survived so many times; others thought that without Granger, Potter would die quickly and others, the most foolish, doubted Granger and did not consider her a threat.
Lucius had seen Hermione's parents in the bookstore when Draco was going to buy his sophomore year books. At that time it had struck him that Muggles got along so well with a wizard, even though that wizard was Mr. Weasley and the Weasleys never really interacted with Muggles, did not explain their customs or invite them to tournaments, Despite claiming to be Muggle lovers, the only ones they interacted with were Muggle-borns, that is, wizards. He had thought that Granger came from a loving home, because he could tell by the way the Grangers spoke, who were very proud that their daughter was a witch. Maybe it was all appearances, no one could really know what Granger was going through.
Knowing who the Grangers were, Lucius was tasked with creating a portrait of them to make it easier to recognize and capture them. And he did so as accurately as possible, although he had thought that the Order, which so loved Muggles and the Golden Trio, would have gone to the trouble of putting Granger's family into protective custody, in order to guarantee the loyalty of the girl. Because if that had happened to any of the Malfoys, in fact it happened to them but nobody talks about it because it does not matter, any of them would have sold everything including their soul and their life to protect their loved ones.
The Malfoys could be many things, but above all, they were loyal to the family. For them and for any Slytherin who cared, erasing the memory of a loved one was the equivalent of giving Amorteria or potion of love and rape, which for some reason remained legal, used mostly by insecure wizards and witches. There were only two wizards who had so little regard for the health of their loved ones, one was Grindelwald, the other The Dark Lord.
Not even the Gryffindors, not even Potter who had been through all sorts of hardships with the Dursleys, were so cruel to erase their families' memories "for the common good, to keep them safe." What Granger had done was like the manipulative Dumbledore and not a smart girl. Not even Muggle-borns who had fought in the war had done such a thing.
Granger could be intolerant and inflexible at times, and the insecurity she'd acquired over the years from Potter and her complex of being his mother had led her to Malfoy Manor, where a crazed Bellatrix had tortured her while an impassive Draco treated to save her in his own way, avoiding being noticed because his family could be punished for disobedience and treason. Granger's biggest flaw had always been that she was too influenced by her complexes and she forgot that there were more opinions and ways of seeing her life than hers. She would have been a lousy Slytherin because she focused too much on being self-sacrificing than her own ambitions. Granger was ruthless to those who did not think like her, she had shown it on several occasions, including not defending Trelawney from Umbridge because she did not like Divination class and saw Trelawney as a phony simply because it was one of the subjects that Granger hadn't been good at Hogwarts.
Narcissa sighed wearily. None of them could see that fascination they all seemed to have with Granger. She was not a dark witch because of her self-control and because Dumbledore had reconditioned her mind so that she believed that being selfless and fitting in with her group would end her anxiety and reinforce those maternal areas that she did not want. Rather, she was a spoiled girl unable to see things in any other way than her own, while the Slytherins weigh the benefits and consequences of their decisions, molding themselves with the circumstances and changing their minds if the situation requires and benefits, Instead of analyzing logically, Granger spent eight years letting herself be guided by emotions and doing what others wanted her to do. Granger was not the clever witch that everyone thought she was, but the puppet that Dumbledore, the Order, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had converted and molded as they pleased for Harry Potter, because she was given more facilities than the rest, like that Time Turner so that She could attend all the classes at once, but Barty Crouch Jr was never given one because Dumbledore said that was making things too easy for him, despite all that, Barty Crouch Jr managed to get all the subjects of his year with honors. However, Granger was allowed to go to the restricted section, to the forbidden forest, as if there were no rules for her, when Newt Scamander had been expelled for less than her. Where were Granger's parents when she was injured at Hogwarts? Didn't she tell her parents the truth of what had happened? Didn't the parents see that their daughter came home injured every year when she got home? Because if Granger had been her daughter, they would have taken action and made a fuss about the dangers that Hogwarts posed to students, where it was not the first time someone had died. Lucius showed up at Hogwarts when Draco was injured by a hippogriff. Did Dumbledore have something to do with it, just as he allowed the Dursleys' mistreatment of Potter, just as he allowed his godfather Sirius Black, innocent, to continue in Azkaban without telling anyone what he knew? With all the facilities that Granger had at Hogwarts, didn't She even occur why only she had them?
Lucius folded the newspaper and put it on the table. Perhaps he would one day meet Granger again, he hoped that she had changed from her and was more flexible, perhaps then he could ask her what had really happened with her parents. In the meantime, he would have to settle for asking Draco, who was the one who knew Granger best, whether or not the article was true.