DISCLAIMER: J.K. Rowling owns most of the characters and settings here—I own the rest.

Some characters that will appear in these upcoming chapters are my OCs from the original "Dark Redemption" trilogy. Eric Gundarsson is a New York Auror, originally from Minnesota. Lucinda Wilkes (formerly Avery) was Walden's long-time consort at the Dark Revels; later, she became Lucius Malfoy's lover, and part owner of his Connecticut estate. Inanna Moonwomon and Rhiannon Whitefeather are teachers at the Salem Witches' Institute, which is much like a community college. (Originally, it was the only American institution named by JKR—Ilvermorny wasn't a 'thing' until just before the Fantastic Beasts movie).

And yes, I realize the previous chapter was somewhat of a surprise. Sorry!

Feel free to leave a further review in the box at the end of the chapter...on with the show!

NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
Chapter 28 – Old Friends

The next morning, Hermione and Ginny, by mutual arrangement, continued their "witches' slumber party." Ginny sent an owl to her Mum, who was only too happy to keep James for another day (or two), and Harry obligingly left early for work after a very hurried breakfast. The two caught up on all gossip (except, of course, concerning the current situation), ate a lot of ice cream and other junk food, did manicures and pedicures, paged through old copies of Witch Weekly (carefully edited to not include Hermione) and played Exploding Snap.

After spending nearly an entire day at these low-stress pursuits, Hermione sent an owl to Heather and Melissa's house, and explained that Evan was, of course, welcome to come to America with her and that she planned to leave in three days directly from Grimmauld Place.

That evening, Harry joined Hermione and Ginny for dinner and several raucous games of both Gobstones and Exploding Snap; the later games were fueled by Firewhisky and got very heated. Neither Death Eaters nor the Ministry was discussed.

Hermione sorted through her things on the day prior to her departure, and decided to shrink down and store her off-season clothes and extra books up in the attic. She made sure to wrap the necklace Walden had given her in a velvet bag and put it at the very bottom of the trunk. That evening, Evan, Melissa, and Heather arrived. After a long, rather silent dinner, Evan broke the silence.

"Hermione, do you know why my dad is being mean? I don't understand. Is he a bad guy again?"

Hermione, who'd spent the better part of the past three days trying to figure out the answer to the exact same question, merely replied, quite uncharacteristically, "I don't know."

"Maybe he never stopped being a bad guy, Evan," Heather interjected. "He hasn't answered any of my owls."

"I hadn't even thought about trying to send him owls…or a Patronus," Hermione said, sounding rather defeated.

"Binkus says he doesn't know where he is, either," Melissa added. "Maybe it's just as well. He said he didn't want to go back to Azkaban….possibly they were going to send him there, and he's just, you know, skipped town."

After this last pronouncement, Harry, who'd said less than five words throughout dinner, stood up slowly and said, to nobody in particular, "I'm…er, going to pop over to the Burrow and pick up James."

"I'll go with you," Ginny said, as she stood up next to him. "Hermione, will you be all right on your own? You and Evan are welcome to come along."

"I want to stay here with Hermione!" Evan said, as he got up to hug Melissa and Heather.

About an hour after everyone had departed, Hermione said, "Would you like to go see a Muggle film?" Evan agreed enthusiastically, and thus "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" and copious amounts of buttered popcorn took their minds off things for a little while.

The next morning, Hermione (under Harry's Cloak), Ginny, and Evan proceeded to the Portkey Office at the Ministry. There was an area reserved for private international Portkeys, which Hermione had not noticed previously. After all the tearful goodbyes had concluded, Hermione and Evan were checked in by a functionary and strapped into two connecting seats that sat atop a carpeted dais.

"Be sure to send an owl when you get there!" Ginny said, as she waved them off.

When the Portkey landed in New York, a tall blonde wizard dressed in an outfit that Hermione recognized as American Auror robes stood in the doorway next to the Portkey official. He waited patiently until all the bureaucratic requirements had been met, and then introduced himself.

"Hello, Miss Granger, I'm Eric Gundarsson of the New York Auror Force." They shook hands. "And this has to be Evan," he said, reaching down to shake Evan's hand, as well. "I knew your mom, kid," he added.

"You did? What was she like? I want Hermione to be my mom now, but my dad is being a bad man again, so I came here, but I want to go back so I can go to Hogwarts in a few months. I want to be a Gryffindor! Did you go there? What House were you in?"

"No, I went to the Asgard School, it's in Minnesota, it's pretty small," Eric said. "We didn't have houses or anything like that. My parents wanted me to go there instead of Ilvermorny so I could be closer to home."

"Ilvermorny is the school here, right? My mom taught at a school but I think it was really small, too, and just for witches."

"She did," Eric replied. "Miss Granger, if you don't mind, I was going to take you all to Salem right now. You can get something to eat—there's a pretty good restaurant, with an inn next door. I thought you might want to stay there tonight instead of….er, your other accommodations."

"I'm hungry!" said Evan.

"And I'm fairly tired and hungry," Hermione said, as she stared down at her feet. "That sounds like a good plan."

The Cloudy Crystal was located in the historic downtown area of Salem; much like the Leaky Cauldron, it appeared to be an abandoned storefront to Muggles. Inside, the bustling pub resembled the scrubbed-up restaurant on Knockturn Alley outside which Ron had pitched his hissy fit.

The waitress, Cerridwen, brought menus and glasses of water and looked oddly at Evan, almost as if she might have recognized him, and Hermione was reminded once again how small the wizarding community truly was. When Evan left the table for a bathroom break, she turned to Eric. "Auror Gundarsson, did Evan's mother used to come here? And did, er, did…his father, as well?"

"Call me Eric, if you would. Yes, Rowan owned a shop in town called the Flying Witch and she came here a lot…and yeah, Macnair came here, at least once that I know of." He grimaced. "I'm sorry. I know things have changed and all that, and I know the story about how he sent his kids to safety, but I'm no fan of Evan's father, I wasn't back then and I'm not now."

"Well, to be truthful," Hermione said, just before she took a sip of water, "I'm not a fan of him at the moment, either. I feel as if something is going on that I'm not privy to, but…well, he was just so callous and cold at the Ministry…." She paused. "I'm sorry. I haven't been able to talk to anyone except Ginny about what happened, and you probably don't want to hear it."

"If you want my honest opinion, I think once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater. Sorry to put it bluntly. And Malfoy—well, he did contact the Auror Force properly, and I've seen his house when we did our search—it's luxurious, as you would expect…" He paused and flipped through the menu. "I'm just going to get the Double Merlin Burger like I always do, not sure why I'm bothering—but you should try the lobster roll, Rowan always liked that-"

"That sounds good," Hermione said. "I suspect Evan would want a single Merlin Burger if they have that—although I don't know, he does take after his father, he might want the Double…"

"Just get him the single to start," Eric said. "I want to get you two fed and over to the Annex before it gets too late." Cerridwen had appeared as if by magic, order pad in hand. "Oh, and a mead for the lady," Eric added, after he had placed the order. "Trust me, you'll like it. Local brewery."

Evan kept Eric busy by asking him all about his Auror responsibilities, adding "Cool!" and "Awesome!" at appropriate points in the conversation, so Hermione was able to enjoy her sandwich and mead in relative peace. Eric and Evan finished their meals quickly when conversation wound down, and Hermione realized, with a start, that they were both silent with empty plates, and she'd been staring off into space thinking of nothing in particular, which was pleasant.

"Come on, I'd better get you both checked in, looks like Portkey Lag has caught up to you….I've paid the bill, and I've already paid the bill over there. I'll meet you for breakfast tomorrow morning, but for now, I can just Side-Along Apparate us, if you don't mind."

"Ms. Wilkes, I'd like you to meet Hermione Granger," Eric said. He looked completely uncomfortable standing on the porch at Malfoy's Connecticut estate. The place was Unplottable, which had caused the ride over in the NYAF car to be a rather bumpy one, as the vehicle doggedly attempted to navigate through the wards surrounding the place. Evan, predictably, had pronounced the entire experience to be "Super Cool"; Hermione had surreptitiously popped several of the anti-nausea pills she'd purchased for the Australian journey.

Ms. Wilkes glided over, gave a very polite nod, shook Hermione's hand, and said "Charmed," with no trace of sarcasm. She then turned to Evan. "And you must be Evan. You look quite a bit like your father," she added.

"My dad is being a bad wizard again," Evan said, with a frown. "That's why we're here, but I'm going to go back to Scotland so I can go to Hogwarts."

"Of course you are," Ms. Wilkes said. "May I show you to your rooms?"

"For the last time, Avery," Walden said, "I doona want to talk about her. It's over and done. Thought I could get something out of it but I couldna. I agree with Yaxley, the trials were a joke, let's get on with it."

"But, I was hoping to hear a little more about what it was like for you and the Mudblood," Avery wheedled. "You know."

"No' much different than with any other witch, but I doona want to be saddled with that for the rest of me life," Walden said, as he tossed down another shot of whisky and slammed the glass onto the bar. "So where is he?"

"He'll be here soon," Avery said, as he glanced around at the other bar patrons. "I like this place because of all the female Muggles. What do you think?"

"Doona care," Walden said, signaling the barman for another shot. "All I care about is talkin' to Yaxley."