Come, take my hand.

Let's undo the knots of the past.

From the night where the phantoms toss and turn,

Go further deeper as the day is closing

Ásgeir - In the Silence

Harry,

We've found a flat in Darwin - I've written down the address for you here, so be sure to write back when you get this. It's not bad. Very muggle. The furniture was hideous and I really hate the tile floors, but it's quite bright and open which I like. It feels bigger than it is. Still, it's nearly winter here and I'm ready to be back home in England.

I wish you were here with us.

Hermione's had a tough go of it. She wasn't able to break the memory charm she placed on them, so they still haven't remembered her. They're seeing a memory modification specialist to try to break down whatever the hell she did to their minds, but the healer said it could be weeks, if not months, before their memories are fully restored. Which means we'll probably be staying here at least until the end of summer. I know Hermione wants to go back to Hogwarts when it reopens, so I hope everything is settled by then.

Have you heard anything about the repairs yet? I know Kreature is helping the elves there, but have you heard about the volunteer work? Ginny was looking forward to helping out at midsummer, but I wanted to know if McGonagall had given you any additional information.

Speaking of Ginny, she says you aren't getting back together? What's going on between you two? Mum says she hasn't heard from you all week, either. Is that because of Ginny, too? You know my mum will forgive you - give her a firecall at least. She's worried. I may have to punch you when I get back for messing my sister around, though. You're still my best mate and all, but it's my duty as a big brother. Seriously, though, what happened? I thought you were really close?

What have you been up to since we've gone? I swear to God, if you spend all summer holed up at Grimmauld place, I will personally kick your skinny brown arse. I know you want to lay low, but you can't just sit by yourself in the dark like you do. You'll go mad. Go out drinking with Neville, or something. Have a little fun. Do tourist shite in London - I know you've always wanted to. You don't even have to go in to Diagon.

And write to us! I would have written to you when we arrived if I'd known you weren't going to be round the burrow. You don't have an excuse now. I expect a reply as soon as you get this!

Anyway, we've got to go - Apparently Hermione's parents had another kid since they've been here, and he's' turning 3 today. Mione is beside herself of course. I'm a bit nervous, too. I've no idea how to deal with little kids. Wish us luck!

Mione sends her love!

-Ron

Ron sealed his letter and set it on the kitchen table, reminding himself to take it to the post office in Darwin's wizarding district the next morning. Hermione was already waiting by the front door in her puffy down coat.

"Are you ready?" she asked him as he stood.

"Yeah, all done," he said as he shrugged on his own coat and followed his girlfriend out of the apartment.

They arrived at the Grangers' home to see the house surrounded by several other cars.

"Hello, Hermione! Ron," Winston greeted them cheerfully, gesturing them into the warmth of the house as he took the gift Hermione had purchased earlier that week.

The house was positively filled to the brim with children. Most of them were Hugo's own age; children from his nursery class, Ron remembered. Others were somewhat older, perhaps older siblings of the party goers. He even spotted a baby in a child car seat sat upon the dining table.

The grangers had clearly gone with a themed party for their young son; there were dinosaur shaped balloons and a "Happy Birthday" banner in the shape of one as well.

Ron had heard of dinosaurs of course, the Wizarding World wasn't completely ignorant of history, but the beasts were not a part of wizarding culture the way they clearly were for the muggles.

After all, wizards had living dragons. Who even cared about dead lizards?

Muggles, apparently.

Ron and Hermione followed her father through to the dining room where they took a seat amongst a few of the parents.

"Oh!" Simone exclaimed, flushing as she laughed nervously. "Everyone this is my- my niece, Hermione Granger, and her boyfriend Ronald Wesley. They're here visiting for the summer."

Ron grimaced a smile. "Weasley, actually," he corrected as he accepted handshakes and greetings from the assembled guests.

"Are you from England too, then?" asked a tanned man with a bushy blond beard and a thick accent.

Hermione nodded as she sat, face passive. "Yes, Ronald and I both attend school in Scotland, although I'm actually from Leeds and Ron here lives in Devon."

"You know, I visited London once," a small, thin woman contributed, her dun brown hair pulled up into a high ponytail. "Have you been? It's so lovely. I've definitely been meaning to go again."

"Yeah, my best mate just moved to London, actually," Ron explained as he filled a small, paper dinosaur cup with fruit punch, already ready to go home.

"Well! Must be pretty well off then, eh?" the blond man nudged Ron with an elbow and Ron held back a flinch. "What with boarding school and all. I can't imagine how expensive that'd be!"

Thankfully, Hermione rescued him. "We're all scholarship students, actually, the three of us. Our friend inherited some money, and his house, but none of us really come from wealthy backgrounds. My parents were dentists," she said, glancing at her parents who flinched.

"Were?" asked the brunette woman, a look of exaggerated sympathy on her face.

"Ah, the dental hospital they worked at went under a few years ago, so they've taken something of a hiatus from dentistry for now. They're perfectly well," Hermione lied reassuringly.

"Oh! That's such a relief! I was worried," the woman reached over and patted Hermione's pink, sweater clad arm. "D'you have any siblings?"

Hermione smiled stiffly. "A little brother about Hugo's age, actually."

"Wonderful! And what about you, Ryan?"

"Ron," he and Hermione corrected together, a twinge of irritation flaring under Ron's skin. "My parents had seven children and I was number six. Five boys, then me, then our sister, Ginny. Actually, my brother Fred just…" he swallowed hard, voice sticking as he blinked rapidly.

"His brother was just killed last month. It's been a tough time for his family. All of us, really."

"Oh, my God," the brunette woman gasped, the others muttering similar exclamations of sympathy. "I'm so sorry!"

"Yeah, it's been tough."

The table descended into awkward silence.

"Well, uhm, tell us, what are your plans for when you graduate?"

Hermione inhaled sharply. "I'm thinking of going into either politics or law," she explained and Ron sighed as the tension drained from the room.

"I've already been given an offer to go into the uh," shit, muggles didn't have aurors, did they?

"The police force," Hermione finished for him. "It's quite impressive. Several of us at school were approached and offered positions with the Ministry of Defense Police and Ron here intends on taking them up on their offer."

"Yeah, me and my mate Harry both have been looking forward to joining for a while now."

"How interesting! That must be some school you go to! Your parents must be so proud!"

Hermione gave a wobbly smile. "I hope so."

When they arrived back at the flat Hermione collapsed onto the sofa, head in her hands.

"That wasn't so bad," Ron said tentatively, large hand rubbing her upper back.

Hermione laughed hollowly, voice wet. "I didn't think about how I would feel watching them with him. He's their son!"

"You're still their daughter."

"No, I'm not!" she screamed, throwing one of the cushions across the room. She stood and began to pace, hands in her hair. "I'm not their daughter anymore. They don't even know me! They have a child who they love and a - a fucking stranger trying to upend their whole lives - again!"

Ron flinched at the uncharacteristic swearing. "You just need to give them more time," he reassured but Hermione just shook her head.

"What if they remember and they still don't forgive me? What if they never do? It's well within their rights to just… write me off. I'm an adult now and they have a young son and… They can just start over. They have just started over, and the longer we stay here the more I feel like maybe we shouldn't ruin what they have. Maybe I should just leave them in peace. They have a good life here. Why should I come and ruin it again?"

Ron approached her carefully, wrapping his arms loosely around her shoulders to pull her into his chest. He stroked her hair as she sobbed. "Either way, they deserve to get their true memories back. They agree that no matter what, they need to know the truth about their lives. Whatever happens after that, we can handle. If it takes them some time to forgive you, you can work on it. Give them that time. They'll come around. They already are! They wouldn't have invited you to Hugo's birthday if they didn't want a chance to get to know you better."

Hermione snorted an ugly sound. "Did you see how uncomfortable they looked when I mentioned my 'parents'? They introduced me as their niece. Just some random, estranged teenager visiting for the summer. I'm no one to them."

Ron huffed a sigh. "Well, what did you expect them to say to those people? 'Oh this is our daughter. She's been living on her own back in England for several years, but we're not actually terrible parents, we actually have no memories of her or our lives before we moved to Australia.' That wouldn't have gone over well. They are trying, Hermione. They're doing their best. They're seeing the healer, they came over for brunch, they invited us to your brother's birthday party. They're letting you into their lives. I know you're… jealous of Hugo. I know that. And I know I can't come close to understanding what it must feel like to know that your parents basically replaced you, but you have to remember that they didn't know you were out there. They just knew that there was something missing in their lives - you - and they tried to fill that void the only way they could. It's not a sleight against you, it's a reminder that even when they didn't know you they still missed you. They lost a child and somewhere deep down, they remembered that much."

Hermione sniffled, looking up at Ron with a blotchy, wet face, and red eyes. "You know, you're surprisingly wise at times."

Ron smiled crookedly at her, brushing a lock of hair behind her ears. "I like to think so. You can be the intelligent one and I can be the wise one, how's that?"

She laughed, "Sounds good to me."

Turning serious again, Ron cupped her face in his hands. "You're incredible, Hermione. Truly, amazing. You're kind, you're strong… You're so much more than just the swot I thought you were when we were eleven. Harry and I both never would have survived the last seven years without you, literally, and we know it. Your parents will remember that soon, too, and if they don't they'll find out. I know they aren't going to just write you off. I know it, because how could they? If they got to know you even a little bit, they'd know how amazing you are and exactly what they'd be missing out on not to have you in their lives."

Tears spilled over onto her flushed cheeks as she reached up and pulled him down, standing up on tip-toes to press her lips to his. The kiss tasted of salt but she didn't care and it seemed neither did he because he kissed back just as passionately.

Suddenly desperate, Hermione kicked out of her shoes and shucked her jeans down her legs, pulling Ron back over to the couch. "Fuck me," she demanded, needing the connection more than anything at that moment.

Ron sucked in a breath, nodding. "Shit. Yeah, yeah, whatever you need, Mione. Whatever you want. I'll take care of you. Just let me-" he cut himself off pulling his steel blue henley over his head. He got tangled in his jeans, trying to pull them off before his shoes but Hermione only laughed fondly, pulling her own sweater off, leaving her in nothing but a practical white, embroidered bra she'd bought at Tesco.

She flushed in pleasure as Ron's eyes raked down her body, clearly appreciative, and that was exactly what she needed right now.

Eagerly he climbed up onto the couch and she spread her legs to let him settle between them. Tenderly, Ron kissed her again. His tongue moved against hers slowly, not the rushed desperation she expected, but she soon relaxed into his ministrations. He rewarded her with a long finger sliding down between her labia and she shivered, opening herself wider.

He slid his fingers through the slick dripping from her, taking it back up as he circled her clit with firm strokes.

"Ron!" she gasped, throwing her head back and Ron bent his head down to kiss up her throat, still keeping his unhurried pace.

He rubbed her clit patiently as he peppered soft kisses all over her skin, darting up to her lips every so often. Hermione rocked her hips, humping his hand. Ron grinned against her mouth before pressing one last quick kiss to her lip then ducking down to bury his face between her thighs.

The position looked wildly uncomfortable, but Ron didn't seem to mind as he replaced his fingers with his lips, sucking and tonguing her clit.

"Oh, fuck!" she screamed, fisting her hand in his fine copper hair. She pushed his face into her, throwing one leg off the couch entirely to give her some leverage. Ron lifted her remaining leg up over his shoulder as he got comfortable on his stomach, the fingers of his other hand slipping inside her with hardly any resistance, she was so wet.

With his two fingers he fucked her rapidly, just the way she liked it and she revelled in the friction even as his fingers hit that spot inside her. The extra stimulation ratcheted her up even higher and she arched all the way off the couch as she screamed, coming.

Ron's fingers didn't let up, even as rose onto his knees, wiping his face with the back of his hand. He drew out her orgasm long enough that she hadn't stopped coming when he replaced his fingers with his long prick.

She let out a long groan as he filled her, loving the feeling as he took his own pleasure. He pistoned his hips hard and fast, clearly already close himself, and Hermione just enjoyed the sensation.

He didn't take long. He was entirely too keyed up to have it be anything other than a desperate sprint to the finish line, but Hermione didn't mind. She'd gotten what she wanted and she was enjoying herself even now.

With a gasp, Ron pulled out, stroking himself as he came on her stomach. Lazily, Hermione cast a wandles evanesco to clean herself up, then reached up to pull Ron down on top of her heedless of his weight.

Ron lay panting into her neck for a moment before rearranging himself against the side of the sofa, pulling her against him to snuggle more comfortably. "Do you feel any better?" he asked, nuzzling her shoulder with his long, freckled nose.

Hermione sighed in faux exasperation. "Yes, yes, your penis solved all my problems."

"Hey, you asked for it!"

She smiled and pet his sweaty hair. "I did. That was exactly what I wanted. Thank you."

"Well," he squirmed against her side, throwing a leg over hers, "I aim to please. Turn on the telly-vision?"

Accioing the remote of the secondhand television she'd bought earlier that week, she clicked it on and set it to a mindless sitcom, neither of them bothering to put their clothes back on. Instead, Hermione reached for the blanket she'd knitted on the road with Harry, and covered it over their bodies, settling in with her boyfriend, feeling calmer than she had in days.