A/N: Hey! Finally put this chapter to bed! Took me a while to work through this one because it sets up the rest of the story. I've been working on this story for almost 5 months now. I started this story on HPFF, so I'm catching up here.

You'll see that I don't use the fake names for Hermione's parents. There's a reason. Number one: I totally forgot when I wrote this initially that it was mentioned in DH just what Hermione changed here parents names too. Number two: Their names in canon are ridiculous. Number Three: I wanted to make the memory charm Hermione used make sense. The only one that has been introduced is Obliviate. That's not what she would use. She would use something that would either change or suppress the memories. And since she can't exactly practice, she would try and keep it as simple as possible.

Ok, enough explanations! On to the story!

Chapter 6: Meet the Parents, Part 1

The Granderson's were a loving, happily married couple of over 20 years. After meeting at college, they dated for over 2 years, were engaged for another year, and were finally married in the summer of 1977. Because it was the summer of their 20th wedding anniversary, they had decided to take a year or more off from their successful dentistry practice. They researched multiple places to go on vacation, settling on the city of Perth, Australia. The decision to go to Perth was made because of its temperamental climate, its relatively small population for a city, and its location on the west coast so that they could enjoy watching the sunset over the ocean.

It was, for all intent and purposes, the perfect vacation. The house they had rented for their vacation was on the beach, giving them to access the sun, sand, and the ocean 24 hours a day. Their escape from England allowed the couple to step back and reflect on their lives.

While they deeply loved each other, the one thing they thought that was missing from their lives was the presence of children. Early on in their marriage they tried to conceive, but ran into problems. The closest they came was in 1979, when there was a miscarriage. To this day, they remember what they would have named their child. Both of them grew up loving Shakespeare, and both of them agreed which was their favorite play: The Winter's Tale. They narrowed the list of potential baby names down to Hermione Jean if it was a girl or Leontes Jameson if it was a boy.

They had given up trying to have a child years ago, but decided to give it one more go while in Australia. They had yet to succeed, but neither Walter nor Rose Granderson really expected to have a baby in their early 40's. They were however enjoying what was equivalent to a second honeymoon.

It was now early June, and the weather was finally starting to cool down. But today was a nice, sunny day, and even in winter, it was warm enough to go to the beach. Walter and Rose were in their usual positions sunbathing, when they saw a young English couple that had been walking past them for the past few weeks in a small argument. The young couple looked nice enough, and looked like they enjoyed each other's company. They were always walking hand-in-hand and gazing at each other lovingly. But today they seemed to be in disagreement over something. They were trying to keep their little tiff to themselves, but were unable to keep from bursting the noiseless bubble that surrounded the Granderson's, who heard almost every word.

"You said we were going to do it today," the black-haired boy said. He was medium height, a shade under 6 feet tall, and slender.

"No, you said today. I don't recall agreeing," the young lady retorted. The girl had caught both Walter and Rose's attention since the young couple had moved into the place a few houses down from them. They would catch snippets of their conversations, but never heard them mention their names. She looked strikingly like Rose: uncontrollable brown hair, slight build, and long legs. They hadn't been up close enough to tell if they shared the same eye color, but Walter would bet on it, seeing as everything else seemed to fit.

"Oh come on Hermione, it's not going to be that bad."

Both Walter and Rose's heads snapped around to look at the two kids. They really hadn't been paying attention until now. How many people would name their little girl Hermione? And on top of that, she looked like a younger version of Rose.

"Honey, you know how I keep having those weird dreams?" Walter said to his wife.

"The ones I keep pestering you to tell me about but you never do? Those dreams dear?" Rose replied, never looking up from her book which she was currently reading.

"Yes... well... about them. I've been having them for a while now, you know? The reason I haven't told you about them is because... it's... difficult to describe..."

Rose finally set her book down and looked over to her left at her husband. "Walter, you know you can tell me. I'm a grown woman; I think I can handle listening to your dreams. It can't be any worse than hearing you ramble on about that blasted football team of yours."

"Ok. Well, I keep seeing her," he said, pointing to the young couple. "At least it looks like her, but younger. And the girl in my dreams... her name starts with an H. I never can hear her full name. But she looks like her, like she's our Hermione, but alive. It's so strange. I know that she's not, but... it's just too weird."

Rose Granderson had always been the down-to-Earth, practical person in the relationship with her husband. Books, truth and facts always ruled her world. There was no room for ghosts, spirits, or dead lovers talking through mediums. She knew her partner in life dabbled in that kind of stuff. He didn't necessarily believe it, but left open the possibility for that 'weird stuff' she always referred to it as.

Now here she was, listening intently to him talk about a girl on the beach who happened to look like her, and had the same name that the two of them would have given their daughter. He talked about her like he knew her, or knew something about this girl on the beach. But what freaked Rose out the most, was that she agreed with her husband. The girl did seem familiar. Perhaps it was just the uncanny resemblance, but it felt like more.

"You know Walter, it does feel like I know her, like I should walk over there and talk to her. I've felt like that every time I've seen the two of them. And the fact that her name is Hermione, she looks like me, plus your dreams, it's just too odd. What is going on?"

"I don't know dear, maybe we should talk to them? What could it hurt? They have English accents, plus it sounds like he's trying to convince her to go jump in the ocean, not that I blame her for not wanting to go in. It is wintertime. You want to go talk to them? Maybe it'll help get us over this... thing... we're going through. Maybe once we talk to them, we can move past this entire 'Hermione' thing?"

Rose pondered Walter's musings. It made sense. Perfect sense really. Afraid or unsure of something? Confront it head on, nip it in the bud as they say. It was a simple, direct solution. After a few seconds, she agreed.

"I think that's a great idea. At worst, we get over this little thing we're going through. At best? Maybe they're really nice kids and we have lunch with them. It can't go horribly, can it?"

"Perhaps a tad embarrassing, maybe awkward, but we've dealt with little buggers at work, this can't be any worse. And are you sure you're up for it? I know you haven't been feeling well the past couple days."

"Oh Walter, I'll be fine. It's mostly when I get up in the morning, nothing too bad though. I've got an idea about the kids, just follow my lead, oh wonderful husband of mine."

The married couple got up off their beach towels, and walked hand-in-hand towards the two youngsters. As they got closer, they could hear more of the conversation that had started this entire process.

Hermione was running her hands through her hair, her nerves readily apparent. "Harry, you know me. It's just... ugh... so many things could go wrong," she said, trying to stay calm about everything, but failing miserably. Both she and Harry didn't notice that two other people were approaching them.

"And I'll be right there with you. It'll be ok, really," Harry replied, reaching out his hand, gently grabbing Hermione's hand and squeezing it lovingly.

Walter stopped suddenly, causing Rose to look at him quizzically. He leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Rose, she said his name's Harry. I did hear that correctly, right?" Rose simply nodded. "I recognize that name; Harry, from my dreams. The girl was always going on and on about some kid named Harry. This is just getting way too weird."

"Do you still want to do this?"

"Better to find out than be left wondering, right?" Walter replied. She nodded, and they resumed walking towards Harry and Hermione.

Harry pulled Hermione into a light, comforting embrace. With his arms around her waist, she put her arms around his neck, and leaned her head against his chest. By pure luck, she looked the opposite way from which the Granderson's were approaching.

"Come on Hermione, let's do this. The sooner we do it, the sooner we get it over with," Harry said as he kissed the top of her head.

The Granderson's stopped within a few feet of the young couple, both smiling at Hermione's apparent fear of the ocean. "Well young lady," Rose spoke up, startling both Harry and Hermione, causing them to leap out of each others arms and stare at the intruders to their 'private' conversation. Rose chuckled at the two of them before continuing. "While there are many dangerous things in the ocean, and it is relatively cold this time of year, I think that young man you were holding on to seems quite protective of you. I don't think he'd let anything bite you while you ventured out there."

The looks of utter shock on the young man and woman's faces were quite a sight to see. If their eyes could have jumped out their sockets, they easily would have fallen out and rolled into the ocean. Rose and Walter chuckled at their response, and simply tried to calm the two of them down.

"Forgive us for intruding on your conversation, but we couldn't help but overhear it. And since we've seen you two walking on the beach and you sounded like you're from England, we decided to come over and introduce ourselves. I'm Rose Granderson, and this is my husband, Walter." Both husband and wife stuck out their hands, and were met with the same.

"I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger," the young woman replied, feeling oh so awkward at this moment in time, shaking the Rose's hand.

"And I'm Harry Potter, nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Grange... I mean Granderson. A pleasure. I'm guessing that you're also from England then?" Harry asked, knowing full well the answer.

"Indeed we are, Harry. We're here on an extended second honeymoon. It was our 20th anniversary last August, and we've taken the past year off. Are you two here celebrating anything special?" Walter inquired.

Hermione shook her head. "No, nothing special, just enjoying a well earned vacation. We've been through a lot the past couple years," she said, grabbing Harry's hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Listen, me and Harry were planning on barbecuing some steaks and I think it would be great if you'd like to come by our place and perhaps we can get to know each other better? It's just been the two of us and we'd love to have some company for dinner. How 'bout it?"

Walter and Rose looked at each other, and nodded at each other in silent agreement. "It sounds lovely. We haven't had much in the way of company while we've been here either," Rose answered. "How about we come on by at… say... four-ish?"

"Wonderful, we'll have to run to the store to grab some more food, but we'll have everything ready for when you get there. We're staying just over there," Hermione said, pointing to the best-looking house on this particular stretch of the beach. "We'll be on the porch, so you should be able to find us pretty easily. We should get going if we're going to have everything ready by then. It's been great meeting you Mr. and Mrs. Granderson, looking forward to it!" Hermione said excitedly.

"We're looking forward to it as well, we'll be there around four or so. Nice meeting you as well Harry, Hermione. Bye," Rose said with a little wave as the young couple turned around and walked back to their place. Rose and Walter turned and walked back to their sunbathing spot. They laid back down, and resumed their unusual conversation from earlier.

"Well, that was certainly eye opening," Walter said, picking back up his newspaper that he'd been reading earlier. "She looks just like you love, got the same hair, same eyes, its kind of scary now that I think about it. And what about the boy? Kind of a gangly looking fellow, seems nice enough though," he said observantly.

"Now be nice Walter, he's a handsome young man and very polite, and it's quite obvious that they're smitten with each other. He has an odd look to him with that dark hair that looks like he's just rolled out of bed. And those eyes! My goodness, I think that the word 'piercing' is a bit of an understatement, don't you? When he looked me in the eye while shaking my hand, it was like those green eyes were looking into my soul."

"I know what you mean. He certainly acts older than he looks. Carries himself like a man who's been through a lot in his life. Reminds me a lot of the pictures of my father when he came back from The War. He looked so young, but his eyes told a different story. That's what Harry looks like. He can't be in the military though, he's too young."

"Whatever it is... I'm sure it's not pleasant for him to think about, nor something we should bring up. I can't imagine starting a conversation, 'Hey Harry, ever killed a man?' Kind of tacky if you ask me, especially considering they're inviting us to dinner." Rose replied thoughtfully.

After a few minutes, she began to get up. "Walter, I'm feeling a little queasy, I'm going to go take a nap. Wake me up at quarter after two, that way I'll have time to get ready to go."

"All right, enjoy your nap. I'll be in in a few minutes just in case you need anything."

Harry and Hermione walked quickly back towards their rented house with the big back porch. Both were living, breathing zombies; both were too stunned for words. Every plan, every scenario, every well-rehearsed discussion had just been completely blown out of the water. Nothing could have prepared them for the confrontation that had just occurred less than two minutes ago. It was staggering, preposterous, and absurd.

"Bloody hell," Harry exclaimed as they reached their porch. "What just happened?" Harry walked up the few stairs onto the porch, and found his favorite spot to lean against. His eyes sought out Hermione, who took up the spot next to him on his right, slumping against the fence as well.

Hermione folded her arms across her chest, and stared blankly at the house, not focusing on anything in particular. "I believe I just shook my mum and dads hand like we're total strangers and then invited them to dinner at our place," Hermione retorted breathlessly. "Well, on the bright side, we didn't have to have do the ice breaking, they did it for us." Hermione shook her head, still trying to absorb into her brain the incident that had just played out. "Wow... I can't believe that that just happened. I'm flabbergasted. You?"

"On the list of things I thought were likely to happen, I'd probably put this in the 'Admitting my undying love for Umbridge' and the 'My girlfriend was going to snog my best mate in the middle of battle' category."

Hermione turned and looked up at her boyfriend, her face contorted to show the utter confusion going on inside her head. "Hey! I didn't snog him! I kissed him on the cheek! Honestly Harry! Do you really think that I'd do that to you?" Hermione asked disbelievingly, her hands now on her hips, her jaw hanging.

Harry heard the hurt and pain in her voice. He quickly tried to explain what he meant. "Honestly Hermione? No, I know you wouldn't. But if someone didn't know that we were together, it would have looked like you fancied him. I don't want it sound like I was jealous or anything, because I know the truth. But I'll freely admit, it was a rather overt display for something like him figuring out that house elves are sentient beings. And it was pretty bad timing on your part too you know. I mean, in the middle of fighting for our lives?"

"Ok, ok, I get it. It's just that he finally seemed to get what I've been talking about with S-P-E-W all this time... well... now HELP I guess. I suppose it just surprised me, that's all," she replied, relieved that Harry didn't think that she would have kissed Ron, let alone any guy while involved with him.

Hermione stepped in front of him; softly placing her hands on his chest, looked him in the eye, and continued. "To be honest, I can't imagine kissing Ron now that I'm with you. Sure, for quite a while I dreamed what it would be like to kiss both of you. If you and I didn't get together, would Ron and I have tried to give it a shot?" Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe. Would we have been happy? I guess... I'm sure we could have made it work. But Ron and I at our best wouldn't be half of what I feel I have with you. Even when we have our disagreements, we talk it out. We don't scream at each other or insult each other. That's why I love you so much, you understand me better than anyone." When she finished, she reached up and caressed his cheek and kissed him lightly on the lips.

Harry looked down at his lovely girlfriend in disbelief. "Woah, I didn't mean to bring all that on, but I appreciate your honesty nonetheless. I can't say that I disagree with a single word you said. You know that if you cared for Ron more than me, no matter how deeply in love I was with you, I would have gladly stood aside to make you happy. That's the most important thing for me: your happiness," Harry said as he pulled Hermione into a tight embrace.

She snaked her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. His hands were rubbing up and down her back. Her small, petite hands were running through his untidy hair, messing it up even more so than usual. Eventually, they broke apart due to lack of oxygen. A large smile appeared on Hermione's face as his words replayed themselves in her head.

"Yet another reason why you're the most incredible man in the entire world, Boy-Who-Conquered or not. I'm the luckiest girl on this planet, you know that?" she said lovingly as she lightly rubbed her nose against his; a sweet, intimate Eskimo kiss, before he leaned over and captured her lips with his once more.

After he pulled back from her, just enough so that he could speak, pressing his forehead against hers and gazed happily into her eyes. "As much as I'd love to scoop you up into my arms, carry you inside and have my way with you, we have guests due over in a little while. And last I checked, we don't exactly have the necessary supplies for what he have planned."

Hermione's eyes were filled with both mirth and disappointment as she groaned loudly. "I thought I was the practical, responsible, get-things-done-now person in this relationship? Not the impulsive, put-things-off-for-a-nice-snogging-session one?" she said as she sighed. "At least I know I'm a positive influence on you. I guess you should get going, and I'll start taking care of stuff around here. You do know what we need right?" Harry nodded. "Good, now get your cute arse in gear mister." They both smiled, shared a quick kiss, and Harry headed off to the store to grab to extra things needed for their impromptu barbecue with the Grangers/Grandersons.

With steaks devoured, salads savored, and wine relished, the four-person barbecue was winding down. After about three hours, the Granderson's had really taken a liking to the young couple that had invited them to lunch. They felt like old friends when talking with them, despite their differences in age.

Five minutes after seven o'clock, Harry and Hermione looked at each other and nodded. "Walter, Rose, would you please excuse us for just a moment? There's something we want to show you," Hermione said.

"No problem deary, take your time," Rose replied.

Both Harry and Hermione got up off of their love seat in the living room and went to their bedroom. Each stored their clothes in separate bedrooms, but they insisted on sharing a bed. Ever since the night they entered into a romantic relationship, they discovered that they both slept more peacefully and were much more rested when they slept in the same bed.

They decided that because of this discovery, their physical intimacy should be rather limited, and they decided to take things rather slow in that department. While they were with Ron, this wasn't much of a problem. But since coming to Perth, it was becoming harder and harder not to let themselves give into that sort of thing.

They walked into their bedroom, and went to their respective sides of the bed, where on each nightstand laid their wands. Both knew what was about to happen. The moment of truth was staring them in the face: hoping, praying, daring them to do so.

Harry looked across the bed at Hermione, and their eyes met. The pain and suffering that had once occupied her pupils had dissipated. A steely resolve showed through, a determination to get this done as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

"Are you ready for this?" Harry asked.

Hermione took a deep breath, and replied, "As I'll ever be."

They walked to the door leading out of the bedroom, and wrapped their arms around each other. It had nothing to do with their relationship, it was simply a hug to show support for each other; that they would be there for each other no matter what happened when they stepped back into the living room. After a quick kiss, they separated, and headed back into the living room.

Harry walked in front of Walter, who was sitting in Harry's recliner, and Hermione stepped in front of Rose, who was sitting on the left side of the couch. Both Harry and Hermione had their wands in their hands, and had fake smiles plastered to their faces.

"Walter, Rose, we'd like to apologize in advance. We're sorry. On three 'Mione... One..."

The Granderson's eyes went wide with shock seeing two sticks in the hands of their hosts. Panic set it, but neither of them moved, frozen in fear.

"Two..."

What scared Rose and Walter the most, however, were the looks on the kids holding them at stick-point. They looked nearly as distressed as they were.

"Three..."

"Petrificus Totalus! Stupify!"

And the world went black.

A/N: Ok, the temptation to stop it right here and leave it as a cliffhanger was too tempting. But, I promise part 2 will be posted in a few days. I won't make you wait for weeks, sitting on edge.

And if you're wondering why I chose the name Granderson, it's a mixed name. Granger and Anderson. The canon name can go drown in the lake for all I care.