Summary: Hermione returns to London after failing to restore her parent's memories. Feeling rather defeated, she finds herself living alone at Grimmauld Place, which has apparently been unoccupied for a long while based on the state of things. In an attempt to distract and exhaust herself, she gets to work cleaning and evicting the pests that have taken up residence.
A/N: This is my first time posting a multichapter fic! And I could NOT have done it without some serious help. Thank you to SnakegirlSprockett for your invaluable help with cleaning this whole thing up, for keeping my unhealthy obsession with ellipses in check, and for all of your amazingly helpful suggestions and gentle nudges in the right direction. I also need to thank Sevsnapelove09 for all of your help early on, offering great advice, support, and suggestions that really helped build up the *very rough* first draft of this bad boy (you were far too patient with me). With that said, all errors remaining are 100% my own!
And finally, to my bestie Hermione4Life23, thank you for listening to me ramble about my nonsense ideas and encouraging me to actually write them down.
*I should also note that I don't own any of the characters in this story and make no money from writing about them.
It never ceased to amaze Hermione how quickly things could change. One day, she was just an unusual, friendless child. Then suddenly she found out she was a witch bound for a wondrous secret world.
One day she is in hiding, avoiding being murdered and plotting the downfall of a madman. Then the madman is defeated and she has to try to figure out what normal life even looks like.
One day, she was researching like mad to try and remedy a choice she had made. Then she tried with all her might to fix what she had done. Only she failed and she found herself right back where she started. Disheartened and without resolution to her problem, forced to start back at square one all on her own.
After returning to Hogwarts for her 8th year (as many students had) to complete her education, Hermione requested residence for the summer, offering her assistance to Headmistress McGonagall in return. This gave her plenty of time for research.
After the summer, laden with all the knowledge on memory charm reversal that she had gathered from the Hogwarts Library, Hermione was ready to carry out her plans. She left England just in time to avoid the cooler seasons, in favour of going to Australia to try to retrieve her parents. Harry and Ron, having begun their Auror training not long after the school year had completed, were not able to accompany her.
For what felt like the first time, she embarked on an adventure all on her own.
She hadn't been expecting to have to come back to England so soon, but she had been unsuccessful in restoring her parents' memories in Australia. After a few weeks of trial, error, and immense frustration, followed by a few months travelling to prominent international wizarding communities in the hopes of finding an expert on memory charms, she was now back. Far earlier than expected and without her family. Well, without her blood family. Her found family was… also not there, but at least they would come back on their own accord eventually. And they would remember her.
Having just arrived at the Ministry's International Portkey Office, Hermione made a quick detour to say hello to Kingsley, who happily called for tea and got her up to date on everything she had missed. Hermione now knew she would be the only one residing at Grimmauld for the foreseeable future. Harry and Ron were still away at boot camp and then would be shadowing a superior for several more months, residing in training barracks until they were ready to go out into the field. The Weasley family had all moved into the rebuilt Burrow. All other Order members that had inhabited the house, now felt safe enough to use their own homes once more, now that all the rogue Death Eaters had been captured.
As she stood in the entryway, Hermione was hit with a sense of deja vu. Grimmauld Place, during its vacancy, had gone to pot again. In what felt like a short time for her, it had stagnated and reverted back to the grimy, overwhelming, and oppressive residence that she had once known it to be. Not only was there a thick layer of dust on everything and a musty, stale odour in the air, but she also soon noted many magical pests had re-established residency while the wizards were away.
She figured that none of the Order members had been there in the last year, at least not for anything more than a quick perusal of the library.
For now though, it was up to Hermione to make Number 12 Grimmauld Place livable once more… and safe-ish. As safe as a semi-sentient, hate infused, elitist building could be.
In the spirit of spring cleaning, Hermione got to work. Her goal being to start on the common areas and then work her way up. If nothing else, the task would help distract from her failure and give her something on which to focus.
While Harry had instructed Kreacher to treat Hermione as if she was a mistress of the house, to be both obeyed and respected, Hermione asked little of him. Particularly since, whenever she did, she was called a multitude of inventive and colourful derogatory names. But that was about as far as his helpfulness went. There was still plenty of dust and grime to scrub away.
Thankfully, Kreacher did some cleaning, if only to the kitchen, since he lived under the counters and didn't want vermin in his part of the house. But that and making the occasional tea was about the extent of his helpfulness, and from the way he grumbled about it, he thought that was already above and beyond the call of duty.
Things got far more exciting once you exited the kitchen though.
The entrance hall and parlour had some very temperamental and territorial doxies in all of the curtains. It took a full day to stupify and contain them all in a transfigured cage. Then a second day was needed to actually clean all of the surfaces and freshen up the sofas, chairs, rugs, and drapes. Plus a third to get the chimney free of soot… and bats. Those weren't particularly fun when they made it into the room, booping soot spots all over the freshly cleaned walls and upholstery.
The pantry took a full day to clean as it was filled with expired foods that Kreacher had been hoarding for when 'Master' came home. Several items had started to grow, including some root vegetables, whose roots tried to reach out and follow her movements like vines of Devil's Snare and also breads (well, that's what she thought they were) that were covered in normal but very prominent and colourful fungi. When Hermione was halfway through clearing out the shelves she discovered two small imps that had made a nest. Thankfully, it looked like they had been continuously gorging on the old and rancid foods, effectively putting them in a food coma. They didn't even wake up until Hermione was levitating them into a small cage.
Desperately in need of a break and some company that wasn't Kreacher, Hermione popped out to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch with Ginny, followed by a trip to the market to stock the pantry with food that was actually edible. Organising and reshelving made for a relaxing change of pace.
With that accomplished, Hermione decided it was high time for her to get an owl of her own to save her from her daily trips to the Post Office. She had begun to rely on Headmistress McGonagall as a parental figure and they corresponded regularly, updating each other on their goals, gossip, and general goings on that might be interesting. She was excited to tell Minerva of the headway she had been making with the house and also wanted to put out feelers to see if any of the professors would be looking for an apprentice the next year. Though there was one professor in particular that she was hoping would be open to helping her towards a mastery. It was unlikely, but maybe he could be peer pressured into it by Minerva. Even that was a long shot though.
Hermione's trip to the Magical Menagerie was far quicker than she expected. Within moments of entering the shop, an exceptionally large owl with gorgeous coloration and prominent feather tufts towards the top of its head gave a loud hoot, startling her to turn slightly towards the noise. The creature caught her gaze, boring into her with dark, assessing eyes before tilting his head and making a noise that was a mix between a hum and a purr.
"Ahh, welcome Ms. Granger, it would seem that our fine, feathered friend here has his sights set on you. You aren't by any chance here for an owl are you?" asked the burly man behind the counter. The shopkeeper had always reminded her of a miniature Hagrid, or rather, a non-giant sized Hagrid. Gruff sounding, intimidatingly built, but without a doubt, a warm hearted and gentle soul.
"I am indeed, Mister Bunting. He is quite a magnificent bird," Hermione replied, wide eyed in awe of the intimidating, winged predator that had taken an interest in her.
"Well this gentleman is quite taken with you, it seems. I've certainly never seen him behave like that. He's a Eurasian eagle-owl. Fiercely loyal and reliable. He is very gentle though and has not had any trouble with the part kneazles that we sell, so I would imagine he would get along just fine with your furry friend. You couldn't ask for a better companion," the man explained amiably.
"He's perfect." Hermione smiled brightly at the man behind the counter. Uncertainly, she continued. "I've never had an owl before, so I suppose I'll also need supplies for him, if you please. I'll be needing some treats for Crooks too, I'm not one for divining the future, but I… foresee a bit of sibling rivalry. I'm sure a full belly will help with a smooth transition."
"Right away," said the man with a grin as he gathered perches and bowls and other necessary accoutrements. "Let's see, this all comes to 50 Galleons, but with the 'War Heroine Discount' that brings it to 25, if you please."
"Are you quite sure?" Hermione replied, grateful but uncertain." I'm quite able to pay."
"You, Miss Granger, are one of the reasons I'm even able to own this shop. You are quite deserving. I'd give it to you for free if I could, but I dare say the Missus would be rather cross." He responded with a charming smile and a wink before chuckling, "The crups won't feed themselves, as they say, and my witch is quick to point out just how many of them we care for."
"Well, thank you. That is very kind of you." Hermione said with a grateful smile as she paid for her new companion and shrunk down all of the supplies. Without prompting, her new owl flew right over and gently perched on her shoulder, prepared to go to his new home.
Hermione quickly set up a perch in the parlour back at Number 12 to allow her new friend to settle in. After some musing, Hermione settled on the name Zephyros*, which her new owl readily accepted as a suitable moniker.
Now that her errands were completed, Hermione was able to do a last scan of the ground floor to make sure everything was satisfactorily cleaned. After her once over, Hermione decided that she was content to clear the rest of the house at a more leisurely pace. Until more of the house was attended to, she decided it would be fine to sleep in the parlour near the roaring fire, particularly where she was the only one in residence and unlikely to have visitors.
Additional notes: Zephyros (Hermione's owl) is the Greek god of the west wind and spring.
Also this story is complete at 10 chapters (approximately 26K words). I may write a follow up and turn it into a series eventually. My muse moved on to a different plot bunny for now, but there may end up being more of this later.