A/N: hey guys! Here is the next chapter, just to let you know this hasn't been read through by my editor yet so if you find any mistakes let me know and I shall change them. I hope you enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: STILL NOT MINE...

Mrs Granger had just had the strangest dream: she had moved to Australia, set up a floristry and didn't have a daughter, in fact, they weren't even known as Emily and Jasper Granger. It wasn't long until she started to feel uncomfortable on the hard, almost stone like bed upon she was lying. It wasn't until she moved and opened her eyes that she realised she was on the stone floor and surrounded by flowers.

She looked to her left at where her husband lay, clearly still unconscious, barely registering the low voices coming from the corner of the room. All the blinds had been closed, preventing outsiders from seeing in. As she sat up, Jasper moved beside her.

"Emily?" he was clearly as confused as she was. They both sensed a familiar presence in the room, but it still unnerved them. They both got up and moved towards the voices, feeling dizzy from whatever hit them. They could just make out a tall red headed boy, his arms holding…

"Hermione?" It seemed to hit her that her daughter was here, she suddenly felt like the hole in her heart had been filled, Mrs Granger had never realised how much she had missed her. Hermione hadn't run to her like she had expected, she stay encircled in the arms of the boy, Emily now knew was Ron. Hermione studied them, as if she was waiting for them to attack, it wasn't until she held out her arms that Hermione came to her and hugged her fiercely.

She could hear her daughter sobbing "sorry" over and over into chest while Ron watched, looking slightly uncomfortable. Mrs Granger was still unsure of where she was and it wasn't until Hermione had gone to her father before returning to Ron that she asked what was going on.

"Why don't we don't back to your house and I'll do my best to explain."

Hermione…

The walk back to her parent's house was awkward. Hermione made sure she stayed a few feet away from them in order to calm her nerves. Her initial breakdown was simply due to relief that her parents were alive and that her charm worked. But now all her old fears were beginning to return. She didn't take in any of the sights around her, she could have been walking in the middle of the road and she wouldn't have noticed. All she focused on was Ron's hand in hers and the thoughts sprinting through her mind.

She wasn't aware that they had stopped at the gate of a small house. Hermione took her time surveying her surroundings; her parent's house was in a small suburban estate, all the houses seem to match, each had a little front garden within the boundaries. The houses consisted of white wooden slates coving the brick work, the two upper slash windows matched perfectly with the lower floors, which were placed either side of the blue door.

They found themselves sitting in the small lounge, the silence getting unbearable but no one wanting to start the inevitable conversation. Eventually her father spoke:

"Is there any reason as to why we are in Australia?"

Hermione didn't answer straightaway. All the explanations she come up with over the last few weeks, seemed pathetic, they would never truly be enough for the two people who had brought her up. She had been fighting off her guilt since the day she had raised her wand to her parents, she told herself it was for their own good, for Harry's own good, for Ron's, For the Weasley's and her own. She spent her days trying to forget the war; she didn't even want to mention the word war. She always tried to keep her parents away from the Wizarding World, selfishly she saw it as her world, the one where she could be herself, the one where her life and the lives of the people she loved had been constant danger for half her life, but when she got back to the Muggle world, although she was never allowed to be her true self, she had her parents, the two people who loved her unconditionally, she had taught herself to try and appreciate her parents for all their faults, Harry had taught her that.

"I sent you here for protection" she said eventually. It wasn't good enough; she could see it in her parent's faces, so she waited.

"And what did we need protecting from? Why didn't we know who we are? Were? Or who you were? Are?" Hermione could understand her mother's confusion; she knew that once she had reversed the charm they would remember their life as Wendell and Monica.

"Do you remember when I told you all about Harry? The story of what happened when he was a baby." Both Jasper and Emily nodded so Hermione carried on.

"And do you remember the events I briefly told you that happened in my fourth year?" again they nodded, unsure of where the story was going and if Hermione was actually going to explain anything.

"Well, before Dumbledore died he managed to find a way to destroy Voldemort." Hermione felt Ron shift uncomfortably at the name, but he stayed quiet. "His, Voldemort's followers were growing, so we, Harry, Ron and I went to find this…this way to destroy him completely" Hermione was shaking, she feared that she had given to much away while not really explaining any information to her parents.

"I don't understand how that explains why we are in Australia with no idea of who we are...were." Jasper's tone left no room for discussion, he wanted answers, he wanted to know all the facts and he wasn't about to leave the room without them.

"I had told you too much, about Harry, even the little information you knew about Voldemort and his Death Eaters was dangerous." Her voice was pleading with them to understand.

"They all knew the three of us were close, and when we didn't turn up at school, they'd…" her sentence was cut short by her shouting father.

"You dropped out of school? How could…" just as Hermione was about talk another angry but controlled voice from Ron filled the room.

"Don't you think it will be easier for Hermione to explain if you were to be quiet and listen? After all you wanted answers. How do expect to get them by shouting at her?" if it was possible Jasper looked a little ashamed of his self, but remained silent. Hermione took a deep breathe and carried on.

"I had to leave school, they wouldn't have let me back in if I tried. Plus Harry needed me and Ron; we wanted to go with him. I placed a memory charm on you for your protection. The Death Eaters would have guessed that us, Harry, Ron and I were together when we didn't turn up at the platform on the September the first, they would have been after you, they would have tortured you and possibly killed you for information on Harry. And if I didn't survive the war then you wouldn't know any different, and wouldn't feel the pain of losing a child." She turned to look at Ron at her last sentence; he was looking straight ahead, with his stony expression that showed he had sunk into a black spot. She then looked at her parents to seem to be in a state of shock.

"I did it for your protection." She finally whispered.

Ron and Hermione finally left her parents after an early dinner. With Jasper and Emily needing to sort out their return home, they had paper work for their shop and house to fill out. Hermione had helped somewhat by magically gathering the bouquet her parents needed to arrange whilst they regaining their memories.

They had managed to book a hotel room in the small Wizarding area to the south of Port Philip. The moment she had arrived Hermione suddenly felt at ease, she was back where she belonged, and as much as she loved her parents she knew she could never fully return to the Muggle World. She found herself trying to read, but her mind seemed pre-occupied.

Ron was still in his black phase, she knew when we felt like this he would wonder off until he sorted his head out, she couldn't deny that it hurt her to feel he was still trapped in his simply because she was around and he had no where to escape from.

"Where's your head at right now?" she asked, he seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in and realise she was in the room.

"What?"

She moved to join him on the bed, she gestured for him to lay down and place his head in her lap while she stroked his hair.

"You've been too quiet, so I'm guessing your mind is elsewhere, so where is it, can I join you?"

"Do you remember the forest where Harry found the sword? The one with the pool in the middle of the trees." His breathe and nervousness seemed jolt like hers did. They had never broached the subject of his departure or return. Truth be told they had both said and done horrid things. Hermione distinctively remembered telling him, one night after his return that she would never forgive him and that the possibility of their relationship was over for good.

"That's where you go, when you wonder off?" It had surprised her, she was never truly sure of where he went but she hadn't expected that.

"There and sometimes the river in Whales, you know where I walk…" Ron couldn't quite bring himself to finish the sentence.

"Why? Why those places?"

"They make me remember what I did, who I was. The river in Whales, all I remember thinking about was my family; it helps me remember Fred while I'm punishing myself. I just don't want to forget about him, but it hurts to think..." the rest of the sentence was drowned out with his quiet sobs.

They laid there without moving for a while. Hermione crying along with him and long after Ron had drifted off to sleep, she carefully moved him onto his pillow before laying down staring at his now peaceful face before her eyelids became too heavy and she too fell asleep.