Sucking in a deep breath, she let it hiss it out from between her teeth as she locked her emotions up tight, once more. Sparing a quick glance over at the clock face on the mantelpiece, she checked for both the time and if her eyes were as red as she thought they'd be. Thankfully, her eyes weren't that noticeably red, but it was crawling closer to lunchtime that she had expected. Any longer and she would likely be caught sneaking back in to the Potter Manor. She would have to wrap this up quickly.

Mercifully, the Grangers had yet to set up their dental practise, here in Britain, meaning that she didn't have to deal with closing that up and so on; the only thing she had to do in that regard, was send in their resignation letters. The last set of papers in the collection was a letter to the current matriarch of the family, Gertrude Granger, which briefly explained the sudden relocation, hinted at the revival of Jean Granger and implored the pair to meet to discuss this. Jean hoped it would be enough.

Much like she had done with Petunia, Jean resituated herself before she rennervated and confounded both of her parents in quick succession. But unlike that muggle woman, she had no need to disfigure either of them or stage an elaborate scene for someone else to find; only to ensure that both of their minds stayed in tact. Once both of her parents were thoroughly roused and confused, Jean fished out the selection papers needed to for each of them to sign. Divorce, guardianship and resignation letters were signed in quick succession; signing away their lives in Britain. Again, these she would send out to their respective authorities at a later date, one when she was less likely to start bawling over the papers. No sooner had the final line been signed and everything doublechecked for anything else, she sent them back to sleep with another gentle stunning spell.

Then came the next step of her plan, and arguably the most difficult, not in skill but in emotion, for she now had to modify her parents' memories once more. This time, instead of completely wiping her from her parents' minds, she had to invent two separate, but connecting stories. She had to wipe any memory of any inclinations of Hermione having magic or Lawerence mentioning/hinting at thus, from her mother's mind, whilst still leaving the possibility for magical inclination in her father's memories. She implanted a few suggestions into both of her parents that stated they had separated on amicable enough terms; with her mother moving to Australia to see out that dream of dentistry, or hers. Whilst both her father and his daughter were redirected to the Durish House, on the family land in Luxembourg. The estate had originally been in Auntie Jean's name and Jean had no problems about rehoming her younger self & her father there.

According to them, Lawerence had received a letter that was calling him home; one regaling the ailing health of a family member. Helen, who had made it no secret that she did not care for his family, had decided to move abroad to Australia. And little Hermione, who was already starting to show little spurts of accidental magic, went with her father to Luxembourg so that Helen—in her own words—didn't have to "…care for the devil child you saddled me with" In any case, the two had split and gone abroad; any other discrepancies in their memories, the mind would fill in on its own over the following days, which would make the implanted memories mesh almost flawlessly with the real ones.

As for Jean's relation to the Grangers, she would have to revive her long-dead aunt and integrate herself not only into the Granger's memories, but those that had known them as well. After much heeing and hawing, Jean had eventually come up with a story was both acceptable and plausible. Admittedly, it was influenced by the story she—little Hermione Granger—had been told about her mysterious aunt, all those years ago. But then agin, with the way some of her current discrepancies were turning out, Jean was starting to think that she was caught in a time loop and it horrified her. To think that she would do all of this—sacrifice everything she had & was—only to end up right back where she started.

In any case, the story went as thus: little Jean Granger was the surprise child, born to Henry & Agatha Granger, eighteen years after her father-turned-brother, Lawerence Granger, who had long-since moved out of the house and the country. One day, when she was nine-to-ten years old, her & her parents were caught in a terrible car crash whilst visiting their son in Britain. One that take that lives of ole Agatha Granger and little Jean Granger. This left stubborn Henry Granger to wither away in the skeletons of their old house which was stained by happier memories of days gone by and Lawerence Granger to muddle through his own grief. To everyone else, it was simply another holiday statistic hidden amongst the scores of others.

In either case, the little witch was taken from her family for an indiscernible amount of time, long enough that she became (briefly) acquainted with the "…funny rat man…" who directed her to the Potters, in the first place. It was not infallible, but it was plausible, which was all that she could really hope for. Which suited her just fine because if Hermione of this era, ever came to be friends with Harry & Ron under the same circumstances as before, there was a sliver of a chance that she would contact someone and Jean's plans would be unravelled. So, even though it meant that Hermione would never meet the Harry or Ron, or enjoy her time at the magical school in Scotland, at the very least she could grow up in a loving home with her father and attend a school that didn't have death threats hanging over her head every other year.

The hard part done, Jean fished out two empty trunks, each charmed with an Undetectable Extension Charm on them; one for Helen and the other for Lawerence & Hermione. With a quiet flick of her wand everything within the Granger residence began to pack itself away, shrinking down to fit its contents within the confines of each trunk like it was a scene out of The Sword in the Stone; even going so far as to shrink Lawerence's car down and pack it away.

Soon enough, the house was emptied of its belongings (save for the Congreve Cube which had tumbled to the bare floor) and Jean set about moving the occupants back into place. Sanji went first, returning her to home to her apartment block, only fifteen minutes away, under the pretence of feeling unwell. The witch was gone before her roommate had even crawled out of bed. Next was Helen, whom she knelt next to with a shoe in one hand and shrunken trunk in the other. Placing her mother's hand on the portkey, both mother & daughter disappeared across the hemispheres and reappeared in a small Melbourne apartment where Jean had already rented a place for her mother. And lastly there was Hermione & Lawerence, whom she portkeyed to Luxembourg via golf putter, where auntie Jean's estate—the Durish House—lay waiting.

It was later that afternoon before Jean finally left her family in their individual beds; her mother in Melbourne, her father & her younger self in Durish House. She quietly promised herself that she would check in on them to make sure that they were handling the lapses in memory and the moves okay. But for now, all she could do was stand on the edge of the street, pondering the idea of taking off into the horizon right there and then; to disappear amongst the throngs of muffles and begin her horcrux hunt before the Potters were none the wiser.

But—but—but they had plans! Jean argued with herself as she walked, kicking at the pebbles beneath her feet, Sirius was going to OFFICIALLY take me to Diagon Alley to get a blood test done and get a new wand. And Harry had been oh so excited to show me what they had been doing at kindergarten lately—something about a show? And—and she'd only JUST sent word to Granny Gertrude about our predicament, so I shouldn't jump the gun on that and—and Saoirse mentioned something about a school tradition that the students do…a party of some kind? So, I can't leave JUST yet, besides, wouldn't it make more sense to leave in the summer? When everyone was too stricken by heat to care about where you went?

Turning on her heel, Jean tried her best to believe that lie.

Dearest Granny Gertrude,

You may yet know me, but know this, I know you. I have always known you and now I must ask for your help. This might sound strange, but I am in grave danger—or more accurately, I WILL be in grave danger—thanks to what I am going to do. Because of this, I have sent Lawerence & Hermione back home, to live on the family estate in Durish House, to keep them safe and out of harm's way. You should know that tensions in the Isles are still heating up and people like Hermione & Lawerence are best kept as far away as possible.

It has come to my attention, that little Hermione may have an inclination towards the magical side of the family. As such, it would be impudent for her to know of that world BEFORE she comes of schooling age. Lawerence tells me that she is rather eager to learn, so that is something to look forward to. Also, should this blood war continue, I would prefer it if she—they—remained in Europe, and attend the schools there, just as the rest of the family does. It is not safe here and I fear what would happen should they ever come back. Let it be known that Helen is also safe and cared for, out of harm's way.

As for who I am, that is something best discussed in person, 'least somebody unfavourable were to read this letter in your stead. But let it be said that it may very well shock you. I don't mean to be mysterious or unforthcoming, but after going so long in this world, you learn quickly not to put all of your eggs into one basket. I hope you can understand.

If you find yourself curious about who I am, please owl me with a date & location for whence to meet so that we can further iron out the details. Know this, there are people here who are taking care of me, but there are also those would see me burn. I hope this impresses into you the importance of my secrecy; for those I care for and those who do not care for me. Please let me know at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

A concerned granddaughter.

P.S. you may want to keep a fire extinguisher on hand, for future reference.

11 February 1983
Potter Manor, John O'Groats

The sun was high in the sky by the time Jean had made it back to the Scottish Highlands, sneakily clambering back out of the Floo and trudged through the estate without much fanfare. Or so she thought. Lily and James whom had been sick with worry when no one had seen hair nor hide of her in several hours; especially when not even the house-elves could find her within the property lines. So when she came slinking back along the path from the Dower estate, dressed in her Girl Guide's uniform and dragging a rather sad-looking red wagon behind her, everything seemed to come crashing down all at once.

"There she is!" Lily exclaimed, relief clear in her tone.

James, who had been pacing a worried path in to the floor suddenly stopped and raced towards the window where his wife was all but pressed up against the glass. "How the hell did she get out?!"

"Well" The redhead licked her lips, "We did suspect that she knew how to apparate and apparently she's a time traveller, so knowing how to use the Floo's not that far out of the realm of possibility, is it?"

"Fine" James huffed, still clearly frazzled. "Then where the hell did she go?"

"Well, how the fuck am I s'posed to know that?" Lily snarked, hands on hips. "I've been with you this whole time or did you forget?"

"That's it! I'm putting Paddy on witch watch!"

"Oh, sure, real mature!" Lily brushed it off as Jean continued up the lawn and over to the main house. "She's clearly just been off selling cookies"

James immediately turned on his wife, a craze look in his eye. "That's just what she wants you to think!"

"Jim" Lily shuffled back a pace or two from the finger pointed in her face, "You sound crazy"

"Wha—!" He spluttered, caught off-guard by the deadpan accusation. "I do not!"

"Of course not, love"

"Don't patronise me!"