Chapter 23

Another three days in hospital, fourth trip since June, being sick …sucks.

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Word count: 3,360 - more or less

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One Year and three months later - -

Hermione's POV

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Hermione apperated onto a deserted lane some five kilometers west of Hogsmeade, in northern Scotland - - looking around slowly; she smiled, having become quite adept in recent times at losing the freelance photojournalist that had followed her every step these last fifteen months. As the Chosen One's multi-year …traveling companion, former lover and closest female friend - the Wizarding media had only recently accepted the painful truth that the national hero and heroine were no longer romantically involved.

In spite of frequent public denials, whenever Harry had been photographed out on the town on the arm of the Wizarding world's equivalent of a super model - - the banner headline on the front page of the Daily Prophet the following morning always read; "POTTER CHEATS ON GRANGER" and if Harry came to visit her at Hogwarts while she was taking he seventh year of NEWTS education, the caption on the newspapers always proclaimed; "FAMOUS COUPLE RECONCILE."

Hermione had given up any hope of convincing anyone that she had been in love with Ron all along, for no-one believed her and the newspapers, magazines and radio bluntly refused to publicize the fact that she or Harry were connected in any way to the now infamous - 'Killer Weasley'.

The press had been a pain during her time at the Ministry right after the war - but even some of her fellow students had turned against her later-on while she attended Hogwarts for her 'missed' seventh year, sneaking cameras into school for candid photos in the hallways and classrooms. Candid photos of her chatting with a boy in the hall outside of class brought quick money - and instant charges of "GRANGER TRIES TO MAKE POTTER JEALOUSE" headlines in the newspapers.

Only the fact that she was appointed Head-girl for that year - prevented shower pictures of her from showing-up in the Wizarding tabloids. McGonagall had insisted on Hermione taking the post as an indicator of normalcy and an inducement for Muggleborn parents to send their children safely back to school. That the Head suite was also 'warded' against unauthorized entry and camera's provided the Head-Girl … her only refuge from the piranha-like media that had somehow come to infest Hogwarts - where even going to the bathroom outside of the Head-suite became a huge media event.

Hermione just wasn't prepared for how big a celebrity she had become …literally overnight. She was use to Harry having rabid fans – of Witch Weekly doing entire magazines on just his hair. The Skeeter article from fourth year had been Hermione's only previous brush with fame centered on her - and the coverage back then - paled in comparison with what she was getting now. When she had cropped her hair short - after the war, so she could focus on more important things – like revisiting… her hairstyle was instantly copied by thousands of witches – nationwide - within mere hours.

She received several marriage proposals daily from total strangers, requests for product endorsements by companies she had never heard of before, personal threats in anonymous letters suspected to be from pure-bloods sources - and notices of frivolous lawsuits… over war damages she had nothing to do with. Her life quickly became a mixture of blessings from well-wishers and legal pranks from solicitors – her daily mail was now so massive it had to be presorted by a clerk at the ministry and thinned out considerably before being forwarded by special messenger.

Her influence on the public - quickly obtained ridiculous levels - for example; - to prevent the domestic magical cosmetic industry from bankruptcy – At the desperate request of the UK chamber of commerce no less - - Hermione had to submit to monthly cosmetic make-overs …from the first of March onward – all published extensively in Witch Weekly magazine - - for when it had been discovered that she previously worn 'no' make-up …sales of cosmetics in Wizarding England had plunged to record lows.

Since the end of the civil-war …Harry and Hermione had become the Wizarding royal family to witches and wizards everywhere in Great Britain. What they wore and how they looked became of national importance. The poster children of the NEW magical U.K. - a half-blood and a Muggleborn who had gone through the entire war with hands free of innocent blood - - had become living symbols of the new blood status tolerance that the new Minister wasn't above exploiting …to advance his purge agenda. The odd thing about all this attention was that Hermione only had her-self to blame - for her current state of media scrutiny.

As the last battle had been in February - - Hermione had made the mistake of volunteering to assist the temporary Minister; Kingsley Shacklebolt - - in the expulsion of the Ministries DE sympathizers - - until Hogwarts reopened again in September… in exchange for the passage of her own magical creature bill of rights agenda. For a year and three months - Hermione agreed to forego the search for her parents in Australia … all in the name of the current governmental crises, the vacuum of leadership due to the large number of middle and high level officials either forced into retirement or indicted for war crimes.

Kingsley kept his end of the bargain and being an ex-Auror, instead of a professional politician – he had no qualms about using any means necessary – including the generous use of Veritaserum - to rid the Ministry of any Pure-blood bigots that still remained in place.

The belated discovery of Voldemort's records greatly simplified matters. For those books carefully listed bribes, willing sympathizers and contributors as compared to those who's cooperation came from blackmail or threats. So Legal attempts to stop the purge taking place - without the help of bribed judges, corrupted governmental officials or solicitors with DE sympathies - got nowhere fast! In fact - attempting to protest the purge at all - brought instant suspicion of holding DE sympathies.

The Muggleborn's in exile came home from France to find murdered relatives - burned out homes and business. Theses angry people – many of whom were trained soldiers now - - were demanding quick justice and if the Ministry didn't provide it ASAP – there was a huge risk of personal vengeance being taken through vigilante action. In the face of this reprisal threat - Hermione Jean Granger- the most famous MUGGLEBORN Heroine in English Wizarding history and the close friend to Harry Potter - - - just by being a-part of the Shacklebolt Government - - prevented the wholesale slaughter of the remaining Pure-Bloods still alive.

It was in such matters that the voices of the heroes of the Battle of Hogwarts had extra weight. It was Hermione and Neville that stood-up and opposed public calls to close Slytherin house permanently. Gregory Goyle and Pansy Parkinson's standing with Potter and Granger in the final fight - offset those who thought that there was no such thing as a good snake. Pure bloods pointed to Neville, the Dumbledore's and the Weasley's as proof that not all purebloods were with the Death-Eater's.

With every judge in the Wizengamot either indicted or under suspicion, legal experts from across the English speaking Commonwealth were brought in temporarily to judge the judges. Canadian and Australian Wizarding judges and Aurors were in the short term, imported to pass judgment on the U.K law keepers for complicity in genocide.

Harry had joyfully disappeared into the relative refuge of the Auror academy and was therefore immune to the massive media attention that Hermione received. In fact the 'Chosen One' took particular delight in repeatedly let it be known - that Hermione spoke for him in all matters of public policy. To this day; Hermione had no trouble visualizing Harry laughing his arse-off at the thought of doubling Hermione's press attention.

And yet the trial by fire for England's number one celebrity Muggleborn was now slowly drawing to an end. With some of the highest NEWT marks on record under her belt - Hermione's days in the UK were numbered. For the last several months, in every interview with all branches of the media - - and in spite of job offers that most witches would die for - - including an assistant department head position with the International Magical Office of law. Hermione had made her intention after graduation painfully clear – she was going to find her parents.

As all attempts during the course of the last year by the Australian magical Government to discretely locate the Muggle's: Monica and Wendell Granger - - a.k.a. 'Wilkins' had repeatedly failed - -the only solution to finding them was to call on the hiding spell's caster. That Australian wizards hadn't found the Wilkins came as no great surprise to Hermione; for she had intended all along - to find them herself. As the sole secret-keeper to her specially modified combination of fidelius and memory charms - Hermione had always planned on being there in person, when her parent's memories were restored and to take the heat for what she'd done.

After two plus years of separation from her parents and fifteen solid months of being in the media spotlight while doing her duty to the Wizarding public, no-one inside the media or out begrudged her the right to spend a few months finding her family. The mistake the press made was in assuming that Hermione would come back to England right after finding her parents.

The biggest secret in the UK at that point - was how much Hermione now craved the joys of obscurity – she hungered for it with an unnaturally strong passion. She had learned the lesson of being celebrity – a lesson that Harry had always known and Ron had painfully discovered for himself during his fourth-year - the high cost of fame is losing all rights of privacy and living every day of her life in a media created glass house.

Hermione at heart was not an actress nor did she have any ambition to become a politician - so she had no desire to remain in the spotlight for the rest of her life. Non-stop unwanted fame, had weighed heavily on her soul for more than a year now - and she now craved an existence where she could sit in a restaurant without having to sign three dozen autographs - - before the appetizer was served.

The key to her escape was the hunt for her parents, and although she had resented deeply being left behind, the inescapable logic in Ron's farewell letter, at predicting her colossal fame and his infamy had proven correct at every point. Although Voldemort was still more hated and the entire DE moment vilified - - Ron Weasley and his prisoner executions during the war was a close third in public dislike. Only the fact that Ron had died setting the country free had somewhat muted - the editorial demands in the Daily Prophet for a post-mortem war-crimes trial for the resistance leader.

So Ron's death had solved a number of problems and this Hermione fully understood. She resented how the ungrateful public had turned on Ron … but there was nothing to be done about the ever changing and clearly fickle …mob-politic. Even Harry didn't know the truth about Ron, and considering his openly super-model hedonistic lifestyle of the last year, Abe's insistence in him not knowing - made more sense with every passing day. The innocent and kind-hearted Potter from Hermione's first year was gone forever, thanks to the bit of Riddle attitude that still lingered inside him - - his easy going nature replaced by a Draco-like narcissism that often exceeded its notorious Malfoy role-model.

Hermione had often read in the Daily Prophet accounts of his Academy rule-breaking excesses over the last year. Harry's nightly forays into the post-civil-war nightlife – of pub crawling in the company of an ever changing series of beautiful witches - - combined his frequent drunken bad-boy debauchery with well-publicized… public brawls. Harry in fact - - had time and again - knowingly broken the Auror Academy curfew rules with such an arrogant "so what" attitude of a stereotypical spoiled brat - that eventually had quickly soured beyond repair Hermione's already low option of him.

To kick Harry Potter out of the Auror Academy was political suicide for the magical government that did it. Untouchable and knowing this about himself - Harry took full advantage of his special status. There is a certain public-appeal to a famous bad-boy persona, cinema stars take advantage of their Fame to get away with murder - every day - and as long as the Wizarding public was more amused at Harry's Pub exploits than annoyed …the Chosen One would get away with almost everything.

For a while – especially right after the war – Hermione had made excuses for Harry's Slytherin-like misbehavior, but her tolerance for his 'fascination with himself' had quickly worn thin. She had even tried to feel sympathy for him when Ginny had point-blank refused to dump her boyfriend in France for the sake of the Chosen-One – right after the Battle of Hogwarts. But his lack of grace upon hearing the news that she had "moved-on" after their breakup - and the things he had called Ginny, were both untrue in regards to her virtue - and downright vulgar.

In fact …the youngest Weasley had done rather well for herself in the months following the last Battle. Deliberately finishing her magical education in France instead of returning to Hogwarts - she managed to stay close to a certain Jamie Campbell-Bower; another transplanted English Muggleborn wizard - attending post graduate instruction at the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic in the art of Arithmancy while Ginny was attending her NEWTS year.

If the society pages of the Quibbler were to be believed; the young 'couple' was a-part of the Muggleborn volunteers' that reinforced the resistance fighters defending Hogwarts during the last battle. Now eighteen year old …Ms. Weasley who was to join the Holyhead Harpies in the fall as a chaser - the first of her family to play professional Quidditch - - and the twenty-two year old Jamie; now a professional Arithmancer with the French Ministry of Magic - were allegedly acording to rumor - - engaged to be married, sometime during the upcoming summer. Hermione sent several notes of congratulation to the future Mrs. Bower, all of which were regretfully - returned unopened.

Hermione was quick in taking the hint - - and now sure she wouldn't be getting an invitation to Ginny's wedding - for as Abe had correctly predicted the Weasley doormat had indeed been irreversibly withdrawn for both Harry and Hermione. Ginny had once been a close friend but considering what she and Harry had done to the Weasley's individually and as a family, the total shunning they were now experiencing was in Hermione's view fully justified.

Arthur had been pleasant and polite when speaking to her on matters of public interest while Hermione had worked at the Ministry. But with Molly's disowning attitude about Ron becoming even stronger after Harry started calling Ginny in public – "the Weasley whore" – relations with even the most tolerant Weasley turned were bound to become strained. Losing all contact with Ginny was going to be a source of deep regret for Ron – his father too, but there was no changing Mrs. Weasley's mind.

With no other friends to speak-of …except for those seeking to leach off of Hermione's unwanted fame - there were no emotional ties to any individual in England …save for one - which Hermione couldn't live without.

Aberforth Dumbledore had been the anchor for her sanity during the last year and a-half, the only true friend that she had anymore, the go-between and procurer of the far too infrequent - - romantic rendezvous trysts with her very dead (officially) former fiancée ...who had to seek into his homeland under a glamour just to spend some time with his randy ladylove.

It had been Abe that had arranged for Tweaky to act as post carrier for the couple's daily letters – and only when she was alone in her flat or the head suite. It had been Abe who had rented for the love-birds ...that remote and Fidelius Charmed cottage on the southwestern coast of Wales during the rare Hogwarts holidays. Those stolen moments with Ron had been the only thing that had kept Hermione going during their otherwise long separations. She still had a long road ahead in regaining his total trust, but every hour they shared in bed together made the light at the end of the tunnel slightly brighter.

She stopped again for what seemed like the thousandth time, doing a quick spell with the wand she had gotten/inherited from the dead Ron, to check to see if she was being followed. The scan proved her free of unwanted followers and being so close now to Abe's unplottable cottage, Hermione felt safe enough to bring to a long awaited conclusion - her own three month old glamor.

Looking down - as she canceled the spell - she then saw with a growing smile of delight her abdomen slowly expand outward into the natural size for a pudding-club bulge. An unexpected gift from Christmas, - - well perhaps unexpected wasn't the right term? She could have ended this - three months ago, when she discovered that she was with child. But to Hermione this baby wasn't a problem, to the former Miss Granger this child was instead a source of indescribable joy.

Reaching up to her neck Hermione removed the silver chain that only she could see. Dangling from it were two very special rings, which for the first time since December saw the light of day. Slipping them onto the proper finger thrilled Hermione down to her core. "Hurrah - NO MORE HIDING," she thought to herself. She was a married woman, a pregnant and secretly married woman, and she was about to leave England for the rest of her life to live openly with her adoring husband. Under an assumed name, of course, but that was a small price to pay for the man she loved. Together they would find her parents before settling down to an obscure life of teaching Ancient Runes to a bunch of young - New Zealand witches and wizards.

At long last Hermione journey from betrayal and war was over - and she was going HOME.

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AN: Not finished yet,

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