Chapter 6

Hermione sighed as she rubbed her temples. She was sitting at the table of Harry's home, where she, Malfoy, and Ron seemingly had taken up temporary residence due to the children's sudden presence in their lives.

She knew her friend didn't mind their presence; growing up the way he did, he often had told her that he loved the idea of having a big family, much like his wife's had been. But he also knew there would be no way he could convince his wife to pop out that amount of children if he valued his safety and life.

They had yet to bring up again the future in which the children had been raised in, seeing how it had gone down last time. They had got the answers they required, but the price was the stability of the poor kids. Scorpius had insisted on spending all him time with either her or Malfoy, Hugo had begun to question where his mother was, to Ron's dismay, and even James, who had been so strong for all of it, had started to crack at the reality of the situation.

So they had decided to give it a break; let the children adapt slowly to the world in front of them . She had no idea if they would be staying here after everything was said and done, assuming they were successful of course. The future they had come from had long been destroyed, and the only other two possibilities involved the children going off into some unknown reality, or staying with them. Both of which had consequences that Hermione preferred not to think about.

In the meantime they settled for taking a step back from it all. The first thing to do would be to help the country heal after the magical discharge that happened a few days prior. While answers had been given to placate the public, there was still a massive surge of panic and confusion while they struggled to accept the Minister's soothing words. She wasn't sure she blamed them; if she didn't know herself the reason for all of it, she would have marched straight up to Kingsley and demanded an explanation.

After that, they would figure out where to go from there. They would need to figure out who was responsible for the future, and figure out why. It could be something simple, like a hunger for power and money, but it also could run so much deeper than that.

Then would come the task of putting a stop to it. Clearly it was going to be a large task that somehow been bestowed to them once more. She wasn't quite sure how she and her friends somehow always found themselves in this scenario, yet here they were again tasked with saving the wizarding and muggle worlds combined. Obviously doing so once in her lifetime was too little of an accomplishment.

She sighed again as she tried to concentrate on the patient's file in front of her. Her short lived break from work had ended and she had a consultation in a few hours that she needed to prep for. It was a person who had been injured in the earthquake, but was non-life threatening, so they had been placed lower in the queue of patients who needed to be treated. Apparently said patient had suffered from amnesia after a direct surge of power had flown through her and hadn't been grounded immediately, leaving her with the belief that she was currently a muggle.

Memory reversals could be tricky, but after her parents, she had picked up the odd trick or so when it came to the procedure, making the case fall straight into her lap.

"Not easy to get things done when there's so much around you to serve as a distraction, is there?" Ron asked her, knowingly as he slipped into the seat beside her at the table.

"I just don't know how I'm supposed to focus on anything right now," she said as she ran her fingers through her hair, then stopping as she rested her head into her hand.

"I know what you mean," he said comfortingly, "We're supposed to go back to work tomorrow and have a meeting with Kingsley about what we've learnt, but I can't imagine leaving the kids here all alone," he said voice breaking slightly, "Not after everything they've gone through, you know?"

"I do," she nodded, "They're so tiny; so young. It just makes me so mad, you know? We gave up our childhoods and fought a bloody war because we wanted the future generations to never have to experience this sort of pain or torture that we went through. But they're even younger than we are, and have seen so much worse pain. Harry never knew his parents, and while he carries that pain, he never saw them die at an age he could understand it. They were just not there. And both of us still have ours. But those children? In a way they've suffered far worse than we ever have."

A tear slipped down her face at that, and Harry who had just entered the room immediately gave her a concerned look and Ron relayed the concerns she just voiced to their friend.

"I know," Harry said, voice darkening. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders to bring her in closely. "I just wanted my children to have relatively normal lives, you know? I mean I know it's not going to be easy, but I wanted it to be carefree for them. Not this; never this."

Ron nodded, "I know, trust me, I know. A large part of me wants to obliviate them so they don't remember what they've gone through. But then whatever happened in their future will probably come to pass in ours as well. And we can't quite ignore it as much as I want to."

"Trouble always had a way of finding us," Harry said with a wry grin.

"That it did," Hermione said with a laugh.

"I swear though, if Hugo asks me about his mother once more, I don't know what I'll do," Ron said as he slumped down in his seat.

"How do you feel about that?" Harry asked with a smile, "Never thought you and Luna would end up together."

She can't help but grin as she remembers the way he used to think that Luna was absolutely mental back at school. She did as well; after all there was no logic to any of her claims. But Luna was fiercely loyal, and she was a true friend to all of them.

"I-uh-well, it's a bit weird," Ron admitted slightly. "Considering how we just had our first date the other day."

Hermione hits him. Hard. "Why didn't you tell us that you went on a date with her?" She questioned. "And why not after you found about Hugo?"

He winces, and rightfully so, "It's a bit weird you know? Like I didn't tell you about the date because it was so new, and I didn't want to say anything until we had a bit more time together. But then all of a sudden you find out you're supposed to be with this person whom you've just started developing feelings for? Part of me wants to run for the hills."

She can understand that. She definitely understands that. But thankfully for her, she and Malfoy have already established that they want nothing, in a romantic capacity, to do with each other. So at least she didn't have that to worry about.

"So how did the date go?" Harry asked in amusement. Smug bastard.

"It was…nice?" Ron said, unsure. "I really liked it," he admitted in a low voice, and Hermione squeezed his arm encouraging him to continue. "I wanted to owl her later and ask her for a second date, but then well all of this happened…"

"And it scared you?" Hermione asked softly.

He nodded, "And I know if I do, I'd have to tell her about Hugo."

"You should tell her regardless, Mate," Harry gave his input. "He's her son too. Besides, you said you liked the date, so owl her back anyways. You obviously want to."

He nodded at that. "You're right. I do," he admitted, "I guess I just needed someone to give me a push." He stood up, and Hermione presumed he was going to go compose a letter to the future mother (or present, now?) of his child.

"He's still just as hopeless as he was back in school," Hermione shook her head as Harry bit back a laugh.

"Says the person who's solution to this is to claim that in this timeline that she will never, ever, end up with Draco Malfoy," Harry taunts her.

She scoffs, "Because it's true. Have you seen us? We're like water and oil."

"Right," Harry says sceptically.

She hears a child's laugh followed by a man's ring through the house, and she knows that it's Malfoy and Scorpius, even without being able to see the two of them. In the past few days, whenever he and Scorpius have been together, she's seen a paternal side to him that she'd never thought to be possible. Everything in his demeanour changed around the young boy, as a carefree side took over. He didn't need to show so much interest, yet somehow he settled into the role of a father naturally, and she was slightly envious.

"He's good with Scorpius," she admits, grudgingly. "I'll give him that much."

"He's a good guy," Harry states. "I clearly wouldn't have accepted the two of you in the future, if I didn't think so. He's changed a lot since school, Hermione. It wouldn't kill you to give him a chance."

"I've been perfectly decent to him!" she argued.

Harry have her a look, "Please, the two of you have been tolerant towards each other, and even that is pushing it."

Hermione grumbled slightly as she accepted his words. They had spoken over the past few days, but it was always awkward small talk, to in terms of Scorpius, instead of things of actual substance or relevance.

She sighed, "I can't help it, you know? Like you and Ginny already are so happy together, and even Ron is starting to having feelings for Luna. But Malfoy and I still barely see eye to eye."

"I know," he said, squeezing her hand gently. "Just don't push him completely out of the running just yet. I'm not saying you need to suddenly fall in love with him; that would be unrealistic of me to ask for you. But at least try and be his friend, for Scorpius' sake."

"I can do that," Hermione nodded.

"Have you met with the patient yet?" Hermione asked Mary as she held her clipboard toward her body as they walked to the room in which she was waiting.

"Not yet," Mary admitted. "It's just been a hectic few days here, you know? I mean I know I rarely get a break, but it's just been so much rushing around, trying to save as many people as possible."

She knew what her intern meant. During her own internship, she had worked under several other healers who had often had her running in circles trying to complete task which sometimes seemed impossible. At times it felt like they had unrealistic expectations of her, simply because of why she was and he role she had in the war. And it wasn't fair that they put her so much on a pedestal. But she never complained as she rose up to meet every challenge that had been placed on her.

As a mentor herself, she tried to be fair in her demands of her interns. But with that said, she had standards and she expected that they were met.

"Tell me what you got from the file," Hermione asked her intern as they paused outside the room.

"Patient's name is Pansy Parkinson; seems to have suffered memory distortion as she was hit by a pulse of magic. Believes she is currently a muggle, despite traditional magical upbringing

Hermione's eyes widened slightly as she recomposed herself upon hearing the name of her patient. She hadn't seen the former Slytherin since school. But despite their history, she was a professional who would not deny anyone treatment simply because of their past.

It seemed that she was destined to treat several former classmates in the span of only a few days.

Hermione gave her intern a nod as she opened the door.

Parkinson looked up at her without a faintest glance of recognition, "Are you here to release me?" she asked.

"Not without helping you regain your memory first," Hermione said as she walked over so she could face her patient.

"I thought there was no cure, other than just time?" Parkinson said, with a hint of surprise.

"Well I just need to run a few diagnostic tests on you before we can come to that conclusion," Hermione said. It was going to be confusing to explain everything to her, but she had no other choice.

She gave a nod to Mary, who began to ask her a series of questions to serve as a distraction while Hermione pulled out her wand as she cast a series of spells which would help her determine whether the damage was long term or not.

From what she could tell, there were no signs of physical damage from what she could tell initially. She also could tell that the memories were still in here mind.

She took a step back for a moment as she began to cast a few of the basic memory restoration spells. Hermione looked up to see Pansy still answering the questions without so much as an indication that it had worked and that her memories had come back.

So it clearly was going to be a bit more difficult than that.

If the memories had been addled when the blast had coursed through her, then perhaps using a similar (albeit a lot less powerful) type of magic would help her push the memories out of the place where they were hidden and back to where they belonged.

She tried another spell which she had picked up over the years, and as she waited to see if it had worked, Mary gave her a negative nod.

She was starting to get slightly worried at this point. If she didn't come up with something, she would have to send Parkinson home while she lulled over the case later and tried to come up with a situation. And Merlin knew she didn't exactly have that much free time on her hands.

There was something else she knew she could try; a spell that was still in the early stages of development. Casting it would be risky, seeing as she had yet to test it on a subject. But as far as she knew, there were no negative outcomes that could result from it not working; just that the memories would fail to be restored.

So she silently began to cast the spell, and waited. To her both her surprise and relief, the spell cast a while light around Parkinson, as it began to take root in her.

"Granger?" Parkinson asked, a bit surprised, "What am I doing here?"

"Your memories were displaced as a result of the earthquake," Hermione said. "I'll leave you with my intern, Mary, who will run a few follow up procedures on you to check that everything has been restored now."

"Thank you," Parkinson said in a soft tone before Hermione left. She settled for giving the raven-haired woman a nod as she walked out the door.

Hermione stepped out into Diagon Alley as she took her much needed lunch break. She had flowed Harry a short while back to make sure that everything was still okay with the children, before taking some time off for herself.

In her busy state, she had forgotten to pack some food, like most days, so she decided to take a short walk over to a new sandwich shop that had opened up a year back.

As she placed her order and obtained her food, she ate silently at one of the tables by the window as she watched the stream of people pass by with their busy lives, and often speculated about the people she saw. It was interesting every now and then to try and figure out things about other people's lives, just as they did to her when she was in public.

She wiped her mouth on a napkin as she left the little shop, walking back to the hospital where she would need to see a new wave of patients who all were dependent on treatment.

Hermione wasn't quite paying attention as she bumped straight into someone, causing them both to shake slightly at the contact. She began apologising profusely as she looked up to see who she had nearly caused to topple over.

"Hermione?" she heard a semi-familiar voice ask, as she saw Oliver Wood standing in front of her. She had seen the famous Quidditch player on a few occasions since he had left school and joined Puddlemere United to play professionally.

"Oliver?" she asked, "What are you doing back in England? I thought you were still on tour?"

"I was, but then the earthquake struck, and I wanted to check in with my family for a few days," he said solemnly. "So how are things with you?"

"Good; extremely busy, but good," she said as he gave her a smile, causing her heart to flutter slightly. She had always thought the older man was attractive, even during school.

"I'm glad," he said softly, "I'm running slightly late, but we should catch up one of these days."

"I'd like that," she admitted, before the Quidditch player turned, and walked into the crowd of busy people.

A/N: So no Hermione and Draco conversation this chapter, but it'll happen soon, I promise! As usual, thank you so much for the great response and feedback! I love hearing from you guys, and your thoughts. See you next week!