After the war, Hermione finds that she has drifted apart from Harry and Ron, as their lives head in different directions. As new opportunities come to her and she makes new friends, will the Golden Trio ever reconnect? Cedric lives. HG/CD.
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Disclaimer: Not mine, don't own it – I wish! Unfortunately, Harry Potter belongs to JKR and not to me; I'm just playing in her sandbox.
Author's Notes:
» Thank you to my beta, the wonderful StrongHermione, for all her help and support.
» This story is complete and in the process of being betaed; I'm hoping to update approximately every two weeks or so.
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Chapter 3
"Hello, you must be Hermione," the brown-haired woman said.
"Yes, that's right, Dr Wilkins, and this is my boyfriend, Cedric. I hope you don't mind my bringing him along."
"Of course not. You're both very welcome. Please come in."
Hermione and Cedric stepped into the house and Hermione slipped off her shoulder the capacious bag with the otter design¹ that had been her last gift from her parents before she had modified their memories and sent them off to Australia. She had kept it in storage for the past year, along with everything else she wanted to keep safe while on the run and, wanting the comfort of the sentimental value it held for her, she had made a special trip to the storage locker to retrieve it before coming to Australia with Cedric. Despite the trouble and turmoil the wizarding world was undergoing – or perhaps because of it – her parents had wanted to give her something that was not only useful but which would also remind her of the wonder and the good things she had experienced since entering the world of magic, and so she had chosen this bag that reminded her of her patronus and it never failed to make her smile whenever she looked at it.
"The video is in here," she said, "but we've been out sightseeing all day, so it's probably buried itself at the bottom of the bag by now."
"That's quite all right," her mother laughed. "Come on in and make yourselves comfortable while you dig it out." She showed them through to a spacious living room, which comfortably held a couple of couches, armchairs, some small tables and plenty of bookshelves packed tightly with books. "This is my husband, Wendell," she said as a curly-haired man put down the newspaper he was reading and stood to up greet his guests.
"Pleased to meet you, Sir." Cedric moved over to Hermione's father to shake his hand. Glancing at Hermione, he saw that she was beside her mother, wand in hand. With a nod to Hermione, he slipped his own wand out of his pocket and the pair of them quickly stunned her parents and gently lowered them to lie side-by-side on the floor. Hermione then cast the series of spells that would cancel the memory charms she had placed upon her parents. To make it harder for her parents' memories to be accessed by anyone other than herself, she had deliberately layered a sequence of spells upon her parents and the relevant counter-charms had to be cast in a precise order. She finished off by charming her parents into sleep, to give their minds a chance to process the changes she had made to their memories, and gently levitated them onto the couches.
"Now we wait," she sighed.
"How long will they sleep?" asked Cedric.
"For about an hour," she replied, chewing her lip nervously. "I hope that in the meantime we don't get visited by Aurors, wondering about magic taking place in a muggle residence."
"Unlikely. I imagine that they would probably already be here by now if they were going to come and check up on us."
Hermione nodded absently, not taking her eyes off her parents. Deciding that a cup of tea would help calm down his anxious girlfriend, Cedric went looking for the kitchen. "Erm, Hermione?" he called. "How do I make a cup of tea muggle-style?"
Hermione followed Cedric into the kitchen and saw him looking in bewilderment at the various gadgets and appliances. Giggling at his confusion, she filled and plugged in the kettle and then searched the kitchen for mugs, spoons and teabags. "What kind of tea would you like?" she asked, indicating several boxes stacked on a shelf.
"Mint, please," Cedric decided after perusing the selection.
"Mmm, that sounds good but I'd probably be better off with chamomile right now," she observed, taking out one mint and one chamomile teabag and putting them into mugs.
Cedric walked over to Hermione and took her in his arms. "You're doing fine," he reassured her.
Hermione gladly stood in the comfort of his embrace until the kettle clicked off. Quickly adding the boiling water to their mugs, she headed back to the living room to keep an eye on her parents. Unable to relax, she sat anxiously fidgeting until Cedric put his mug down and moved over to her armchair. Bending down, he lifted her up out of the chair and sat down in it himself, placing Hermione on his lap. He cradled her in his arms and she clung to him gratefully. "Tell me about them," he requested, thinking that talking about her parents would help her. "What was it like growing up as a muggle?" They chatted desultorily until Hermione's parents began to stir. Hermione leaped off Cedric's lap, dashed over to them and helped them sit up. "Mum? Dad? Do you remember me?" she sobbed imploringly.
"Hermione? Oh, Hermione!" At that, Hermione threw herself crying into her mother's welcoming arms.
"I've missed you both so much, Mummy," she wailed. "I was so worried about you."
At that, Hermione's father shakily made his way over to his weeping wife and daughter and held them both tightly. "Oh, my precious girl. You're safe now? It's all over?"
"Yes, Sir. It's all over, bar the tidying up," Cedric replied, as Hermione was incoherent by this time. "The war is finished and the right side won. The Ministry and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement are in the process of tracking down the remaining Death Eaters who haven't yet been taken into custody. They're in hiding at the moment but they're not in a position to stir up trouble again. They're probably just focused on survival and staying free. The ones who are already in custody have been dosed with Veritaserum – that's a truth serum – and they're all singing like birds, so I'm sure the rest will all be rounded up soon."
John Granger looked up mutely at the young man standing before him and Cedric introduced himsef to the shaken older man.
"Cedric Diggory, Sir. I'm a friend of Hermione's. I apologise for intruding but she's had a hard time of it this past year and her friends and I didn't want her to be on her own while she looked for you, so I came with her."
"Thank you. I appreciate that," John croaked hoarsely.
Cedric backed off and let the Granger family reunite. They sat for a long time without talking, just clinging desperately to each other. Eventually Cedric cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to interrupt but I'm just going to apparate back to the hotel and get Hermione's things. I'll be back soon, then I'll leave you three alone to catch up."
"No," Hermione extricated herself from her parents' arms. "Why don't you go back to the hotel, pack up both our things and check us both out? Mum, Dad, can Cedric stay here with us? He came all the way to Australia just to give me moral support. We're not going to abandon him in a hotel, are we?"
"Of course not, sweetheart. You're very welcome to stay with us, Cedric."
Cedric nodded and then walked out the back to disapparate to the hotel. He arrived in their hotel room and quickly packed up all their belongings with a few flicks of his wand. He checked them out and then apparated back to Hermione's parents' home.
By the time he returned, the three Grangers had managed to pull themselves together somewhat. Although still slightly teary and shaky, they were all bustling around the kitchen preparing supper together. Being completely lost with regard to the devices and gadgets being used in the muggle kitchen, Cedric sat and watched, fascinated, as Hermione and her parents worked together like a well-rehearsed ballet in this, to him, alien environment. It was not long before a simple meal had been prepared and everyone was sitting round the table eating.
"I'm sorry. We've been terribly rude," Hermione's mother addressed Cedric. "Allow me to introduce ourselves. My name is Helen Granger and this is my husband, John. Here in Australia, we've been using the aliases Monica and Wendell Wilkins but when it's just us, here in private, please call us Helen and John, rather than Monica and Wendell. I believe Hermione said your name was Cedric?"
"Yes, that's right. Cedric Diggory, Ma'am. I was a few years ahead of Hermione in Hogwarts but we became friends at the end of her fourth year."
"Helen, please."
Cedric nodded in acquiescence.
John frowned for a moment. "Why does your name sound familiar, Cedric?"
"Cedric wrote those articles in The Quibbler that I showed you, Dad. The ones that persuaded you and Mum to go into hiding."
"Of course. I was very impressed with those articles, Cedric. Your analysis of the British wizarding community and how it needs to change was very insightful."
"Thank you, Sir. I grew up in the magical world and I love it, but its attitudes and the way it functions need to change drastically or else it's going to self-destruct. It's already on the verge of falling apart and without radical reform it won't survive the aftermath of the recent civil war."
"Are you a professional journalist, Cedric? And it's John."
"Oh, no, John. I had originally planned to follow my father into the Ministry of Magic but I've become rather disillusioned with the Ministry over the past few years. In fact, I've been unemployable since leaving Hogwarts due to my taking a stance against the government's at first passive and then supportive attitude towards the Dark side. The owner and editor of The Quibbler was willing to speak out against the recent regime and allowed me to write for his publication, however, they are a small paper and don't really need me full-time, even if I wanted to be a journalist. I'm not sure what I want to do now but I thought that perhaps I could take a bit of a holiday while I'm here and do some touring. It'll help me clear my head so that I can better consider my options. I'd also like to spend some time in the Australian magical community. They're not as hidebound, intolerant and antiquated as the British magical community and I may get inspiration from them, as I'm sure there are options available here that don't exist in Britain."
"That's a good idea," Hermione piped up, looking interested. "I desperately need a break from the British magical community and I thought this would be a good chance to reacquaint myself with my non-magical roots. The problem is that I don't have any muggle qualifications and with my muggle education having stopped at age 11, that limits my options in that world. Heck, I don't even have magical qualifications as I didn't get to sit my NEWTs because of the war. But if the Australian magical community is more liberal, then like Cedric, there may be options for me here. At the very least, perhaps I can sit my NEWTs or whatever the local equivalent is. That is, unless you're anxious to go straight back to Britain, Mum and Dad? If you go back, then I'm going with you. I know it's mostly been my doing but we've spent too much time apart since I started Hogwarts and I'm not yet ready to be apart from you again."
"No, sweetheart," replied Helen. "Whatever happens we won't be going back immediately. We'd have to sell up here first. Besides, your father and I have enjoyed living here, so if you find the Australian magical community to be more open and more to your taste, then I think we'd be happy to stay on, wouldn't we John? And doing some touring sounds like a wonderful idea, if you and Cedric don't mind us joining you?"
"I'd love that, Mum. Cedric? Will it be all right with you?"
"Of course it will, Kitten."
Helen raised an eyebrow upon hearing the pet name. She liked the little she had seen so far of this young man who was so supportive towards her daughter and she hoped that her husband felt the same way. "I guess John and I will have to talk about it later but this relationship has my vote. I think he could be good for Hermione," she mused.
"Cedric?" asked Hermione. "Do you think we should contact Kingsley Shacklebolt or Professor McGonagall for introductions to the magical community here? I'm sure that as Acting Minister, Kingsley can probably smooth the way for us a bit, and Professor McGonagall ought to be able to advise me about how I can officially complete my schooling."
Remembering the briefing he had received prior to leaving Britain from Kingsley and Bill Weasley regarding the demands that so many people, Minerva McGonagall included, seemed to be making on the young witch, Cedric resolved to leave Professor McGonagall out of the equation as much as possible. "The problem is that international magical travel has been restricted and the Australian Ministry won't be pleased to know we sneaked in by muggle means. I think we should do our touring first, Hermione, and in a few weeks' time the situation will hopefully have stabilised enough that we can officially admit to being here. We'll get in touch with Kingsley when we're ready to contact the Australian magical community and he'll vouch that we're not Death Eaters on the run. Once that's been settled, then we can decide what to do next. I think that making any sort of plans regarding your education can wait until we know if we're welcome to stay in Australia or if we're going to be sent straight back to Britain again when they find out we came here despite the restrictions on magical travel. If we're permitted to stay, then Bill probably has contacts through Gringotts who can help us further."
"I don't know," said Hermione glumly. "I'm not exactly the goblins' favourite person right now."
"No, you're really not," laughed Cedric. "But I understand that Bill is taking care of that. I gather that the goblins are grateful you removed that abomination from their premises but they're less happy about the rather spectacular way in which you three escaped from the bank. He says that if he can come up with an argument that will allow the goblins to save face, then they'll probably overlook the means by which you did it."
"And just what does he think the chances are that he'll manage to come up with an argument persuasive enough that the goblins will agree to relinquish any claims over the fact that Harry, Ron and I robbed the bank?
"You robbed a bank?" thundered John, shock and horror both showing on his face.
"Yes, but not for money. We took one artefact that had been stored there and if we hadn't taken it, we'd have lost the war. It had been imbued with very, very dark magic, which was keeping Voldemort, the leader of the Dark side, alive artificially. That needed to be destroyed so that he could be defeated."
"Hermione's right, John, and the goblins know it. The goblins just need to agree terms with Harry, Hermione and Ron to settle the issue. However, as the three of them would never have succeeded in robbing the bank without the help of one of Gringotts' own, the goblins aren't exactly negotiating from a position of unassailable strength. They're being intransigent partly because that's what goblins do – they really don't like witches and wizards – and partly because they're embarrassed, since the entire wizarding community is aware of what happened. They had a reputation of being impregnable and now that reputation has been destroyed. That's mostly Hermione's doing, I'm afraid."
"Let me get this straight: you robbed a bank and then announced to the world that you'd done so? I'm surprised you're not in gaol."
"We didn't exactly announce it," Hermione mumbled abashedly.
Cedric snorted. "No, they just escaped from the bank on the back of a dragon that they liberated from the goblins, destroying half the bank in the process. It was Hermione's idea, I understand. Your daughter has style!"
"You robbed a bank and escaped on the back of a dragon that you also stole?" exclaimed John, with a look of reluctant admiration.
"The conditions that dragon was living in were appalling!" snapped Hermione. "We did a good thing by freeing it."
"Wh… what?" stuttered Helen, stunned by these revelations.
Hermione sighed. "I need to tell you about everything that happened after I modified your memories but it's probably better if I tell the story in chronological order or I might miss something important. You'll have to wait until near the end of the story to hear about your daughter becoming a bank robber, Dad" she teased.
"And that won't be tonight," Helen interjected. "It's getting late and we're all exhausted. Judging by how gaunt you are, Hermione, you need a good night's sleep and plenty of hearty meals. It's the weekend tomorrow; you'll be able to take as long as you need to tell your story. Come along, Hermione and Cedric. Let me show you to your rooms."
With that, Helen shepherded the two youngsters off to bed and returned downstairs to clear up. "Thank God Hermione survived," she said to her husband, "but she looks dreadful. We should probably arrange a doctor's appointment for her to have a checkup."
"I think you should hold off on that," he replied. "Let's wait until we know what happened to her. She may just need rest and some good meals."
"John…"
"I know, but how do we explain how she got into that state?"
Helen sighed. "Do you ever wish we'd turned Professor McGonagall away the day she arrived on our doorstep to tell us that our daughter was a witch?"
"Oh, all the time," he laughed, taking his wife in his arms. "But if we had, we'd probably all be dead now. It wouldn't have saved us from that maniac and his followers and we wouldn't have even known why we were being killed. We wouldn't have stood a chance against them."
"I know," she whispered, laying her head on her husband's chest.
"It's all right now, Helen," he tried to reassure her. "Hermione survived, we survived and we have our family back together again. I don't know about you, but I'm quite happy to stay here in Australia, far away from the British magical community. Even if it is with the name Wendell!"
At that, Helen laughed. "Let's find out what happened in Britain while we've been here. After that, we can make plans for the future, whether they be here or there. There's no rush to sort out our names; that's a minor detail, all things considered."
John nodded in agreement as they headed off to bed. As they passed the door to Hermione's room, Helen gently reached out and pushed it open. She stood in the doorway for a few minutes, just watching her precious daughter sleep. John came up behind her and circled his arms around her waist as she leaned back into him and tears slid silently down her face. "She's safe now, Helen," he whispered in her ear, "and she'll still be here in the morning." Helen nodded mutely and allowed her husband to lead her away to bed.
Once she was curled up in her husband's arms, Helen asked John, "What do you think of Cedric?"
"You noticed that too, hmm?" he asked wryly. "Hermione likes him, doesn't she?"
"Mmm hmm. He likes her, too. He seems like a fine, young man."
"He does. I realise we barely know him but I like him and I wouldn't mind at all if Hermione ended up with him."
"Me either," Helen agreed before closing her eyes and falling asleep.
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¹ Go to zazzle dot co dot uk and search for otter messenger bags. There's a number of gorgeous ones.