Sorry for the delay. We are in the process of moving to another state. Things will pick up more frequently as I finally get settled on the other side. Would love to hear from you!
Fred glanced at the huge stack off boxes filled with papers that were now cluttering up his living room. Kingsley hadn't taken the task lightly, that much was obvious. This was going to be more difficult than he originally thought. Whatever spell Hermione had put over her parents was strong. It was fairly impressive that two muggles could stay hidden from the Ministry of Magic as effectively as they had. He glanced over at her, smiling at the way her eyebrows furrowed and nose crunched up as she focused on the information in front of her. He wouldn't stop until they found them. He had to do that for her.
"George, what in Merlin's name are you wearing?" Hermione asked, startled by the interruption as he joined her and Fred.
"Fred said we are heading to Australia," he said. "I thought I should look the part."
"That does not mean you have to dress like Crocodile Dundee," she said, laughing at his tan vest and hat. "Oh, Merlin, Fred, he has a knife." Her eyes widened as she realized the massive weapon he was wielding. Even Fred had to admit that was probably not a good thing to be so haphazardly in his twin's possession.
"No, George," Hermione ordered as she quickly grabbed her wand and vanished the knife away. "We are going to find my parents, not crocodiles. And take that off, regular muggle clothes will do just fine."
"Oi, mate, she wants me to take my clothes off."
"That is not what I meant and you know it," said Hermione as a she whacked him upside the head with a pillow for good measure.
"Fredddiiieee...," he complained, "you know I like to dress up."
"Sorry, mate," said Fred. "We'll probably stand out just fine what with my dashing good looks and the hole in the side of your head."
"Fine," he said, removing the hat before sitting down, "but you two are no fun."
They rolled their eyes but smiled. "Anyway, I guess we better get started," she said. "Kingsley sent over all of his files. He didn't find my them, obviously, but maybe there is something here that will at least help us with a good starting place."
"Looks like we can certainly narrow down where not to look," said Fred as he flipped through pages. "He was definitely thorough."
George whistled under his breath. "You can say that again."
"He was definitely thorough," Fred repeated.
Hermione grimaced at his bad joke. "Well, yes, that is why I have nearly given up, you know."
She tried to keep her voice light, but he knew better. He leaned over and placed his arm around her. "Hey, this is a good thing, love. We won't be wasting time on what has already been ruled out."
She nodded, but didn't speak, continuing to pour through the papers in front of her.
Fred shared a worried glance with his twin, but grabbed a new stack himself, hoping something, anything, would stand out.
"It looks like Kings had managed to track them as far as Sydney when they seemed to go off the radar," he said. "I reckon we could start there."
"Why did he stop there though?" asked George. "There must have been a reason."
"From what I can tell," said Hermione softly, "the agents he had on the case deemed that they didn't want to be found."
"But that's nonsense," Fred shouted. "How can they know they don't want to be found? Their memories were erased. They don't know what they want."
"Maybe it really would be better to just let them continue living out their lives," Hermione said. "They seemed happy from the earlier things they found." Her eyes began to well up with tears and Fred instinctively reached out to her.
"That is not what that means," he assured her. "Look, we have to start somewhere and it looks like Sydney is there last known whereabouts, so that is where we go. We can leave tomorrow."
"Yeah, 'Mione," George agreed. "You can't just give up. The brightest witch of her age hasn't even started looking yet. Dare I say with the help of the magnificent, brilliant, handsome, studly Weasley twins you could never fail."
Fred was grateful to his twin for the small smile that that appeared on her face. Despite the over the top way of putting things, George was right. The three of them hadn't even started yet. They couldn't give up hope yet.
"Okay," she said. "We'll leave tomorrow, but I need the two of you to promise me a couple of things."
The twins nodded in agreement, just happy that she was willing to go. "Anything," they said.
"First, when I decide to call the whole thing off, you respect my wishes."
"But-" they began.
"I mean it, Fred. You have to promise."
Reluctantly, he nodded his head, followed by George. He didn't care about this stipulation at all, but he would do as she asked, so long as it was reasonable.
"Second," she said, "You have to promise me to keep up the jokes. I have a feeling I'm going to need them through all of this."
She laughed as they both pounced on her, showering her with hugs and kisses. "Anything for you love," said Fred.
"Your wish is our command," said George, grinning.
"And George," Hermione warned. "No knives."
"Fine," he said before whispering to Fred. "She didn't say anything about ropes."