July-August 1997
Hermione sat at the dining table in her childhood home while her mother, Kathleen, and father, Joseph, sat on the other side, their hands clasped together tightly. It took hours of talking, explaining, and reassuring, but Hermione finally convinced her parents to agree to her plan.
"And…and you're sure, that this Vold–Voldemort person will come after us?" Kathleen asked worriedly.
Hermione nodded. "Yes."
"I suppose we have no choice. We'll do it," Joe said with a firm nod. His face softened over-so-slightly. "I just wish you'd come with us."
Hermione gave him an apologetic smile. "I need to help Harry, dad, I told you that."
"I know, but you can't blame a father for trying one last time." His face turned serious once more. "You must promise me—promise us—that when this is all over, even…" he cleared his throat as he looked at his wife, who gave a small nod, before continuing. "Even if something happens to you, that someone will come and retrieve us and give us our memories back."
Hermione nodded as she reached over and placed her hand on top of theirs. "I promise."
"Will it hurt? When you do the charm?" her mother asked nervously.
Hermione shook her head. "No, not at all. From what I've been told, your brain goes kind of fuzzy and then when your head clears, everything seems normal again."
"You've done this before?" her father asked.
Hermione hesitated but eventually nodded. "Yes. I had to do it to someone very important to me." Her eyes filled with tears and she hastily swiped them away. "I'll explain when this is all over, I promise, but right now, we need to get started on everything for when I do the charm. I have to not only erase myself from your memories, but from the house as well."
Joe and Kathleen looked at each other once more then back at their daughter.
"Let's get to work then," her mother said with determination.
It took only a couple of days with the help of magic, but Hermione was able to erase herself from her home.
First, she altered all the photos in the house that contained her picture so that she wasn't in them anymore—not before duplicating them so she had what they originally looked like. Then, she went into her bedroom and took one last look around before she gathered all of her belongings. She shrunk everything down—her books, clothes, stuffed animals, posters, and trinkets—and placed them in a box. When the box was also shrunk, she put it inside her charmed beaded bag along with her old, pink leather suitcase that she filled with pictures of her and her parents that she didn't alter.
While Hermione worked on her room, her parents started to make arrangements about moving temporarily out of the country. Hermione suggested Australia because she knew they always wanted to go there. Plus, it would also be the last place Voldemort would have his Death Eaters look.
The dentist office her parents worked at seemed surprised about them relocating, but told them that they would have a spot open for them if they were ever to return.
With a bit more magic, Hermione was able to alter her parents passport IDs as well as their driver's license to a new name, to make it even harder for them to be found.
She helped them find a realtor that would work with them on finding a furnished place to rent in Australia. Finally, they bought their flight tickets and packed their bags with as much clothes as they could fit into them.
They had one last meal together as a family then, after tearful goodbyes with promises to come back to them, Hermione erased herself from her parents lives.
Joe and Kathleen Granger—now Wendell and Monica Wilkins—left for the airport the following morning while Hermione stayed at a nearby hotel. When the house was empty, she returned and sat in the quiet, trying to figure out what to do next.
She promised her parents that if anything were to happen to her that she would have someone retrieve them and give them their memories back, but she had yet to tell anyone what she had done.
Taking out her beaded bag, she pulled out her two-way journal and hoped that Daphne would check it soon.
I need to talk to you about something important. Can you meet me?
After she penned her message, she set her book aside and went to make herself a cuppa. When she returned, Daphne had already responded.
When and where?
They met in Muggle London, just a few blocks from the entrance of The Leaky Cauldron at a busy coffee shop. Hermione wasn't sure if she was being watched yet and didn't want to risk Daphne being seen with her, just in case.
The blonde witch slid into the seat across from her and put the sunglasses that were on her face to rest atop of her head. "Hey," she said. "Everything alright? Your message sounded urgent."
Hermione nodded. "It is. But, before I say anything more, I need to ask you an important question—and no matter the answer, I promise our friendship will remain intact."
Daphne frowned with curiosity as she nodded. "Of course, ask me anything."
Hermione glanced around before she leaned forward slightly and whispered. "What's your family's standing when it comes to You-Know-Who? Are you parents sympathizers? Is your father a…" she grimaced. "A Death Eater?"
Daphne shook her head quickly. "No, absolutely not. They stayed out of the first war and will do so again. They may be pureblood and follow a lot of the customs, but they'd never align themselves with a mad-man like that."
Hermione let out a soft sigh of relief. "That's wonderful, because I'm going to need your help with something and I don't want you or your family getting punished because of it."
Daphne reached over and squeezed Hermione's hand. "Whatever it is, I'll help."
Tears sprung from Hermione's eyes and she gave her friend a watery smile. "Alright. Let's go to my house where we can talk in private. It's not far from here, but we'll apparate in a few blocks, just in case."
When they got to her house, Hermione led her friend to her living room then went into the kitchen to prepare some tea.
When Hermione opened the cupboard, she saw an old coffee mug in the back that said "World's Best Dad!" on it.
She pulled it out of its spot and looked at it for a moment before she broke down in tears.
All the stress and emotion of the last few weeks came rushing forth and Hermione couldn't help but let the flood of tears pour out.
She crumpled to the floor, sobbing, and it was only a moment later when Daphne's arms wrapped around her shoulders in comfort.
"Shh," her friend said in a soothing voice. "It's alright. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's not that bad, and if it is, well, we'll fix it."
Hermione cried harder as she leaned into Daphne. "I erased their memories of me," she confessed.
"Who?"
"My parents," she said. "I–I erased myself from their memories in case someone came after them." She finally pulled back and looked at her friend. "Harry has a mission he needs to do and I'm going to help him. I didn't want Voldemort getting to my parents to get to me to get to Harry."
Daphne only winced slightly at the name. "What does Harry have to do? Is that why you needed to talk to me? Do you need me to help in some way?"
Hermione shook her head and looked at her friend apologetically. "I can't say what the mission is. We're not telling anyone in case people get captured for information and there's no way I'm going to put you in that position, even if your parents aren't sided with him."
"Then what do you need my help with?" Daphne asked curiously.
"When this is all over, if, for some reason, I cannot retrieve my parents and lift the memory charm, I'm going to need you to do it."
Daphne clasped her hand with Hermione's. "Of course! But, if you Obliviated them, I don't think—"
"I didn't Obliviate them," Hermione said with a shake of her head. "Draco and I, we found a spell in an old journal that we think belonged to an ancestor of Mnemone Radford, the witch who invented the Memory charm."
"What? No way! That's amazing!" Daphne said.
Hermione nodded. "Yes, it took a while to figure out what to do and perfect it, but we figured out a way to hide and lock away memories and they can only be released again with a code word or phrase that we made up."
"Okay, that sounds amazing, and I want to hear more about this, but do you think we can go back to the sofa? My legs are starting to hurt sitting on the tiled floor of your kitchen."
Hermione chuckled as he wiped away one last tear. "Yes, let's go get comfortable and I'll tell you everything that I can."
After explaining everything—including the part where she erased herself from Draco's memories as well—Hermione finally handed Daphne a letter.
"What's this?" she asked.
"That is the location and the phrase you need to say to unlock my parents memories. Don't read it yet, only if you need to."
Daphne nodded and stuck in her pocket. "I promise to keep it safe. Can I ask you a question though?"
Hermione nodded.
"If something does happen to you, what about Draco? Is his phrase in the envelope too?"
Hermione bit her lip as tears started to swell again. "No. I think it would be better for him if he didn't remember anything about me."
Daphne looked sadly at her friend, but thankfully, didn't argue.
Hermione let out a tired sigh. "You should probably head home. I don't need your family wondering where you're at."
Daphne waved her friend off. "I told them I was at a friend's house. Besides, if they get worried, they'll send Trixie to find me."
"Trixie?"
"My personal house elf—Don't look at me like that! They're treated very well and we give them days off."
Hermione smiled. "I'm glad to hear it. I actually have to head out as well though. I owled Ron a few days ago and told him I'd be at his house by the end of the day today."
Daphne pulled Hermione in for a hug. "You keep safe, alright?"
"I will, promise."
Daphne pulled back and looked sternly at her friend. "I want you to message me at least once a day. If I don't hear from you for three days in a row, I'm coming to find you."
Hermione gave her friend a weary smile. "I promise to send something at least once a day, but I don't think you should go looking for me. It might be dangerous, not to mention I've been brushing up on my protection and hiding spells so that we can't be found."
Daphne sat in thought before she took off her charm bracelet that she wore. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but, these aren't just any charms. They're actual charms."
Hermione's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, they're charmed to be portkeys in a way, but instead of going to a specific place, they go to a specific person. They're used for emergencies."
"Oh!" she peered at the charm bracelet again. "That's brilliant!"
"I want to use one for you. This way, if you need me, I can activate it and I'll be with you within seconds."
"Oh Daph, you don't need to do that—"
"I know I don't need to, but I want to. You're my friend, one of my best ones, and I don't want anything to happen to you."
Hermione's eyes prickled with tears once more as she hugged Daphne again. "Thank you, Daph." She pulled back as she wiped a tear away. "So how does this work?"
"I'll need a drop of your blood, to put on the actual charm. I think the book one will be the one I assign to you," she said with a smile.
Daphne placed the bracelet on the coffee table. Then, she took Hermione's hand and used her wand to prick her finger, eliciting a small drop of blood to form at the incision.
She held her finger over the book charm and when it dripped onto it, it sizzled then absorbed into the small silver charm.
Hermione looked up at Daphne. "Wow. You'll have to tell me how that works one day."
Daphne put her bracelet back on. "Of course. Anything for my best friend."
They hugged again then Daphne apparated back to her family.
With one last look around her childhood home, Hermione put a stasis on the house, locked it up, then went to The Burrow for the remainder of the summer.
Hermione made sure to check in with Daphne daily, telling her all about the upcoming wedding of Bill and Fleur. She inquired about Draco, to see if Daphne had heard anything about him or his family, but her friend hadn't—other than his father escaping Azkaban with the help of the Dementors.
Her coin, which she still kept in her pocket, had yet to warm with a message from Draco, which she chose to believe meant her memory charm held up. She only hoped he was doing well considering who was residing in his house.
She knew that something was coming; she could feel it within her soul that something bad was about to happen.
During the weeks leading up to the wedding, Hermione managed to pack her beaded bag with supplies she thought they would need—an old tent she found in the Weasley's shed which was already furnished with blankets, pillows, and cooking supplies. She smuggled clothes out of Harry's trunk and Ron's wardrobe, just a few things here and there so Molly wouldn't notice. She read up on her charms book, making sure she knew all sorts of protection and hiding spells. She even nicked a book from Molly's collection about what foods were edible in the wild.
When the time came, Hermione knew she would be ready.
She just didn't realize how soon that time would actually come.
A/N: Only two more flashback chapters to go then we're back in the present!
Also, major kudos to Tapestries who figured out the numbers in Draco and Hermione's code words last chapter meant something! M-A-G-I-C and D-R-A-C-O. I give you virtual brownie points since I can't give a real prize lol
Until next week! xoxoHufflepuffMommy