FLASHBACK, PART I

The Final Battle was over and the survivors were gathered in the Great Hall. Hermione was with Ron and Harry when Ginny came running over to them. "Ron! Lavender's alive! They've taken her to the Hospital Wing!" she cried.

Ron immediately ran off to the Hospital Wing, without so much as a backwards glance, and Hermione was left standing alone, wondering what had just happened. After she and Ron had kissed during the Final Battle, she had been sure that they were now a couple. Ron had certainly acted as though they were, up until Ginny had arrived. Looking towards Harry for reassurance, Hermione watched as Ginny placed one arm around Harry's waist and squirmed under his arm, until he placed it around her shoulder. Hermione watched stupefied as Ginny clearly staked her claim on Harry, making it clear with a fierce glare that Hermione was not wanted.

"Harry," the red-head whined, with a very unsubtle jerk of her head in Hermione's direction.

Harry looked sheepishly at Hermione and said, "Look, Hermione. You've been brilliant over the last few months, but I need to spend time with Ginny now. You'll give us some space, yeah?"

Before Hermione could reply, she heard Molly call "Children!" Looking round, Hermione saw the Weasleys gathered sombrely at the doors to the Great Hall. She numbly trailed along behind Harry and Ginny as they made their way to join the rest of the family, stopping short in shock when she saw the ferocious glare levelled her way by Ginny.

"Where have you children been?" scolded Molly. "Where's Ron?"

"He went to the Hospital Wing to see Lavender," Ginny replied.

"We'll ask Minerva to let him know we've gone home," Molly tutted. "Come along, Ginny, Harry. It's time to go home." Molly swept her family and Harry along in her wake, completely overlooking the girl standing a little bit back from the gathering of Weasleys as the red-headed matriarch fussed over the other two.

Noticing the smug smirk Ginny was sending her way, Hermione determinedly showed no emotion as she watched them all leave. When they were out of sight, Hermione turned back into the Great Hall and began helping with the dead and injured. The Great Hall gradually emptied as people were either taken to the Hospital Wing, St Mungo's, went home or were arrested. Eventually, when there was nothing else Hermione could do at that time, she trudged wearily up to the Hospital Wing herself, looking for Ron.

On entering the school infirmary, Hermione saw that it was calm. It seemed that most of the patients had already been discharged or else transferred to St Mungo's. Those few patients that were remaining were all in bed being tended to by the remaining members of the St Mungo's staff who had come to help out. Ron was sitting beside an unconscious Lavender, holding her hand tightly as he spoke quietly to her. Ron looked up as Hermione approached.

"What are you doing here?" he asked indifferently.

Feeling tears brimming in her eyes, Hermione blinked them away. "Did Professor McGonagall tell you that your family has all gone home?" she asked quietly, trying not to let Ron see how upset she was.

"No," Ron replied. "I'm staying here until Lavender's stable. Look, you'd better go. If Lavender wakes up, she won't be happy to see you here with me." With that, he turned his back to Hermione, shutting her out, as he began talking to Lavender again.

Hermione stared at Ron's back for a minute before shaking herself out of her daze. Looking around, she spotted the school Matron sitting at her desk making notes in a patient's file and made her way over to her.

"Madam Pomfrey," Hermione said softly, and the Mediwitch looked up at her. "Do you have a minute?" Hermione asked.

"What can I do for you, Miss Granger?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"We were captured by Snatchers while we were on the run and I was Crucioed by Bellatrix Lestrange. I'm still having spasms. I was wondering if you might have anything for Cruciatus damage?"

"Let me have a look at you," the Matron said, leading Hermione over to an empty bed. Hermione perched on the bed while Poppy Pomfrey ran a medical diagnostic on her. "Wait here," said Madam Pomfrey, disappearing into her store cupboard.

A minute later, Poppy returned with several potions vials in her hand and laid them on the bed. "Take this blue one now," she said, selecting one of the bottles of blue potion and handing it to Hermione. "That's for Cruciatus damage. Take one dose twice a day for three days. If you're still having spasms after that, you'll need to go to St Mungo's for more specialised treatment."

Hermione nodded, as she downed the potion. Poppy then pointed to the rest of the vials. "These are nutrient potions," the Matron explained. "You're badly malnourished, which is impacting on your ability to recover from the Cruciatus. You need to take these three times daily for two weeks, together with a meal. Once you've finished both courses of potions, either come back here to see me or else go to another Healer for an assessment to be sure you don't need anything further."

"Thank you," Hermione said, casting cushioning and unbreakable charms on the vials and tucking them into her beaded bag.

Leaving the Hospital Wing, Hermione wondered what to do next. Eventually, she made her way down to the kitchens. Entering, she spoke to one of the army of elves who were all bustling about busily. "Excuse me," she said. "If it's not too much trouble, would it be possible to have something to eat, please?" she asked.

The elf placed a bowl of soup in front of Hermione, who downed one of her nutrient potions and began to eat greedily. She could not remember the last time she had eaten, and had a feeling that it might have been days. As she ate, Minerva McGonagall entered the kitchen.

"Miss Granger," said the Professor in surprise. "I didn't know you were here."

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't have anywhere else to go. Molly only wanted the family back at the Burrow. Fred…"

"I understand," said Minerva hastily. Fred Weasley had been one of the casualties of the Battle. "Where is Mr Potter?"

"He was invited back to the Burrow. I wasn't," Hermione said quietly.

"I see. And what are your plans, Miss Granger?"

"I don't know. I haven't had a chance to think about it yet. Would you mind if I stayed long enough to have a shower and a few hours' sleep? Please?" she begged.

"I really shouldn't allow it. The damage the castle has sustained needs to be assessed so that it can be repaired, but all right," Minerva acquiesed.

"Thank you, Professor! I really appreciate it!" Hermione exclaimed gratefully. "I promise I'll stay out the way, and I'll leave just as soon as I've slept."

"Very well. Tell the Fat Lady I said she should grant you entry."

Hermione made her way up to Gryffindor Tower and spoke to the Fat Lady in the portrait guarding the entrance. Once inside, she made her way to the girls' dorms and had a very long shower, making liberal use of the soap and shampoo provided by the school, before collapsing into the nearest bed.

When she woke up, Hermione could not resist taking another shower before getting dressed again, revelling in the feeling of being clean. She had done her best while on the run but several months of living in a tent had left her feeling as though she would never be clean again. Finally feeling refreshed, Hermione then returned to the kitchens and begged the house elves for some sandwiches to take with her. These were promptly supplied and Hermione headed off to the Head's office, where she hoped to find Professor McGonagall. The gargoyle who normally guarded the entrance to the Head's office had been blasted off its pedestal during the Battle and had not yet been returned to its place. Hermione made her way up to the Head's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in," came Minerva's voice and Hermione stepped into the office.

"Miss Granger," Minerva said in surprise.

"I came to let you know I was leaving and to thank you for letting me stay a while," said Hermione, and the Acting Headmistress—she had not yet officially been appointed to the position—gave Hermione one of her thin-lipped smiles.

"That's quite all right, Miss Granger, but I'm afraid that now I really must ask you to leave."

"I understand. Thank you again, Professor." Hermione smiled at her former Head of House and made her way out of the school. Not having thought to ask if the wards had been reinstated yet, Hermione walked out of the school grounds before apparating home. Before her parents had moved to the United States, they sat down and asked Hermione some important questions.

.o.O.o.

"What about the house and our practice? Do you think they'll be attacked?" John Granger asked seriously.

Hermione bit her lip as she thought about this. "I think the practice will be all right," she said at last. "It isn't called Granger Dental Clinic or anything like that, so hopefully the Death Eaters won't be able to connect it to you." Hermione's parents had their clinic in a large medical centre that offered a number of services, from doctors and dentists, chiropodists and nutritionists, to various other NHS out-patient services. The Old Mill Medical Centre did not have individual practitioners' shingles hanging outside, which would offer the practice a degree of protection, since most Death Eaters knew very little, if anything, about the Muggle world and would therefore find it hard to find her parents' place of work if it was not made very obvious to them.

"The house is more of a problem," Hermione continued. "Can you afford to stand its loss?"

John and Helen Granger exchanged a look. "You think if we sell the house, the new owners will be at risk in our place?" Helen asked cautiously.

Hermione nodded. "Definitely. The only question is, would they be tortured and killed or killed straight off? It depends if the Death Eaters are after information or not."

"Well, we can't put the new owners at risk, so we won't be selling up then," said John decisively. "Is there anything you can do to protect the house, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded slowly, deep in thought. "There is but…"

"But what, Hermione?" Helen prodded gently when her voice trailed off.

"There's a protection called the Fidelius Charm. The knowledge of the location of a Fidelius-protected building is limited to one person, known as the Secret Keeper. Only the Secret Keeper can divulge the location. It would certainly protect the house, but if the Death Eaters came and couldn't find our home, there's a large chance they'd just blast away at the neighbours' homes in anger instead."

"We stand the loss then," John declared staunchly and Helen nodded in agreement. John made a face, "I don't like to think this way since it's probably somewhat fraudulent under the circumstances, but hopefully the insurance would cover us."

"Wouldn't we need a caretaker in that case?" asked Helen, with a worried expression.

"I don't think so," replied John after a moment. "Not if we have good security, which we already do."

"We'd have to contract someone to take care of the garden at least," Helen countered. "Otherwise the insurance company would probably say we were advertising the fact that we were away."

"A gardener who comes for a few hours a week during the day shouldn't be at risk," Hermione considered. "I think the Death Eaters are more likely to attack at night than in the daytime. It causes more fear when people are attacked at night, and there's less chance the targets will be away from home when the Death Eaters come. People work; they aren't always home during the day."

John and Helen decided to take a chance on the house being destroyed. They packed what they wanted to take with them, and everything else was put into long-term storage before they headed off to the States. The Grangers gave notice to their partners in the medical centre that they were selling their practice and brought in locums to provide cover until a sale would be completed; fortunately this did not take long, since the medical centre was a desired location in which to have a practice, as the shared ownership reduced overheads significantly.

.o.O.o.

As she had nowhere else to go at this time, Hermione decided to head for home and see if the house was still standing. To her dismay, but not to her surprise, the house looked like there had been a massive explosion.

"Hermione! Is that you?" exclaimed her neighbour, who came bustling out the house at the sight of the bushy-haired girl staring forlornly at the wrecked house. "I wanted to contact your parents after the explosion—we knew they were overseas, of course, but I didn't know where."

"They've been travelling, Mrs Pritchard," Hermione replied with a weak smile. This was not true, but it was the story John and Helen had put about to explain why they would not be leaving a forwarding address. "I just came by to check on the house—I wasn't planning on staying—I'll let them know."

"My dear girl, what have you been doing to yourself?" exclaimed Mrs Pritchard as she looked more closely at the emaciated and battle-weary girl she had known since she was a chubby toddler.

"It's a long story, and one I'm afraid I don't have time to tell right now, Mrs Pritchard," said Hermione ruefully. She chatted for a few more minutes with her neighbour before politely excusing herself and making a show of walking away to the nearest bus stop, which was a couple of streets over. On the way, Hermione ducked into a small stand of trees and, after checking there was no one else around to see her, apparated away to Diagon Alley. Hermione did not know if she would feel safer staying at the Leaky Cauldron or in the Muggle world, but one thing she did know was that she wanted to buy a new wand. Her original wand had been taken from her during the war, and she had since been using Bellatrix Lestrange's wand, which Ron had managed to grab upon their escape from captivity at Malfoy Manor. Unfortunately, because Hermione had not won the wand herself, and because her magic was so incompatible with that of Bellatrix, the wand did not work well for her. The wand did not like Hermione and, knowing who the previous owner had been, Hermione was not at all fond of it either.