"Always be like the sea, breaking against the rocks, always find the strength to begin again."

Jim Morrison

Ten months had passed since Remus and Hermione had set foot in Australia. They had rented a small apartment in a quiet Muggle neighborhood near the sea. Every day they dove and combed every square millimeter of coral. It was a painstaking job that would have made many people run away at the end of the first day of exploration, but the two friends had never missed a single day of research in ten months. They spent nearly ten hours a day. Rain, shine, heat wave, they always went there with the same hope and always came back with the same disappointment. The bubble spell proved to be very useful because they were unable to breathe underwater for ten hours. The more the months passed, the more desperate the two friends seemed. Each had taken one end of the barrier and was raking his part. They knew that one day, in theory, they would find themselves searching the same spot, but that moment seemed very far away.

Hermione saw that it was already half past six and so she decided to get out of the water. She dried herself off with a flick of her wand and headed for her car. It took her about twenty minutes to get to the local grocery store. She had to take care of the groceries for the week because they wouldn't have time to do any for the week ahead. It was going to be a busy week.

The next day, their muggle friends, whom they had met when they wanted to learn to swim, were coming to their apartment for dinner. Ella and Alex were two cousins who had both been raised by their grandmother, the young woman's parents had died in a car accident and the young man's parents were journalists and had preferred to travel the world rather than take care of their son and had therefore left it to the grandmother to raise him. The next day, they had an appointment with a wizard journalist who had gone to Europe to report on the situation. They were not very well informed about what was going on since they had no contact there. The following Saturday, they had another conference on coral. Even though they saw them every day, they wanted to learn more about what hiding places corals could inhabit.

When she finished shopping, she decided to go for a walk along the shore. It had been ages since she had been there, and although she spent most of her time in the sea, she loved to walk there. She noticed that a small bookstore had opened and Hermione Granger was still Hermione Granger, no matter what happened, she couldn't help but walk into the bookstore. She quietly browsed the shelves and flipped through some books.

"Monica, I found the book you were looking for" a stranger exclaimed as he took Hermione's arm.

The young woman froze when she heard the voice she knew so well. She slowly turned around and faced the man who had called out to her.

"Oh, excuse me, I thought you were my wife. You look a lot like her. Are you all right?" he interrupted when he saw Hermione's expression.

Her eyes were filled with tears and her lower lip was trembling beyond her control. She looked so fragile, so vulnerable, that at that moment it was impossible to imagine that she had spent more than ten hours in the water to find an unknown object. In an inaudible whisper she said the name "Dad". She was so overwhelmed that she seemed to break down on the spot.

"Hermione!"

She turned sharply, turning away from the man to whom she had once been the daughter. She knew that voice too, a feminine one, but was reassured to see that it was not her mother's. It was Ella's. She wondered how the young girl could have been able to do that. It was Ella's, who wondered how the young woman had ended up in this state.

"Let's go, you'll explain to me, she said to him in a soft voice, taking her carefully by the arm."

The man had remained motionless, not knowing what to do. A click was made when he heard the name of the young woman.

"Hermione? As in…"

"The Winter's Tale" she continued.

Hermione's heart broke when she heard her father say her name. She had to forget about them, she had left too many clues but it was impossible to do it right away, the bookstore was crowded. Ella pulled her by the arm and led her out of the store as Mrs. Wilkins, who had joined her husband, looked on in astonishment and wondered what could have happened to make her react like that.

Ella took Hermione back to her apartment. She didn't ask her any questions on the way home, preferring to give her time to process what had just happened rather than rush her. As they walked through the front door, Remus rushed up to them and asked what had happened. Ella shook her head and shrugged, indicating that she was as confused as he was.

"Hermione, what happened?"

Hermione slowly raised her head, her eyes were red, full of tears and she had such a desperate look on her face that Remus had never seen before. The witch hadn't felt this deep despair in her since Ron's death, which was almost two years ago.

"I... I saw my," she choked back a sob, "parents."

Remus didn't know what to say. Hermione had never told him about her parents and he had never asked her about them either.

"Your parents? But I thought they were dead?" Ella gasped, a look of utter incomprehension on her face.

"We have to obliviate about them, Rem', they know too much... They know too much. We have to obliviate them."

"Ella, can you please leave us alone" Remus asked, looking tense.

"But Remus, have you seen the state she's in? She's completely delirious. Her parents have suddenly come back to life, and obliviate? I don't even know what that means."

"Ella, come to dinner tomorrow night as planned, we'll explain everything."

"Tomorrow night? But…"

Remus' icy stare dissuaded her from continuing, so she grabbed her purse, returned his gaze and stormed out the door. Remus returned to sit next to Hermione.

"Hermione, could you tell me what happened earlier?"

The young woman shook her head from side to side, she motioned for him to take his wand and observe for himself.

"Legilimens"

Remus saw Hermione enter the bookstore, saw her father call out to her, his eyes full of tears, Ella who took her in her arms and led her into the apartment. Remus was thrown from Hermione's head and slowly stood up. Hermione looked at him, her eyes were still red and her cheeks had tear streaks in them but she seemed to have calmed down.

"I don't think there's any need to obliviate your parents. You haven't told them anything very important. Ella and Alex are a different story."

"What are we going to tell them? That my parents have just forgotten me and that obliviate is a buzzword in the UK?"

"No, either we tell them everything or we obliviate them."

"All of it? They'll have a heart attack. We're wizards, the only ones fighting a black mage who's killing everyone like you. Oh yeah we're looking for something unknown because a book told us to."

"Well, maybe not everything. If there's no other way, we can obliviate them."

"NO!" she shouted. "I don't want to obliviate anyone again" Hermione continued more calmly. "I think we can tell them we're wizards, without going into details."

"They'll want details, Hermione. Any sensible person would want details. But you never know what might happen, Death Eaters might come and question them, although that's unlikely. What I mean is that when we leave, whether it's in ten days, ten months or ten years, we'll have to obliviate them. We will have to erase every single trace of our passage."

For the first time in ten months, neither Remus nor Hermione explored the Great Barrier Reef. After the events of the previous day, they had decided by mutual agreement to take a day off. They needed to think about how to approach the subject with their friends. They knew they would be hard to convince and they would have to explain a lot.

Ella and Alex arrived an hour early, but nobody cared. Judging by Alex's face, his cousin had told him everything. They greeted each other and Ella eagerly broached the subject.

"Why did you tell us your parents were dead?" she began, looking at Hermione. "What does it mean to forget? And what the hell else are you hiding from us?"

Hermione pulled her wand from her pocket and Remus did the same.

"What are you going to do with these pieces of wood?"

"These pieces of wood, as you say, are magic wands."

"Magic wands?" exclaimed Alex with a smile. "Are you going to make us believe that you are magicians?"

"No" Remus interrupted, "we're wizards."

Ella stopped her cousin, who was about to retort. With a stern look, she ordered the wizards to prove their claims.

"Coloravia"

Remus began by changing the color of Hermione's hair to bright pink, then made birds appear, and finally Hermione, with the help of Wingardium Leviosa, lifted the two cousins. Both had lost their smiles and stern looks to give way to an expression of fear. As soon as they were back on Earth, Ella got up and moved as far away from the two wizards as possible while Alex looked at them curiously.

"Come on Alex, let's go, we have to go to the police station."

"Ella, don't be silly, we just saw, they are much more powerful than us. And you still haven't told us what obliviate means."

"That's what's going to happen to you if your cousin doesn't calm down," Remus replied in a cold voice.

"To forget someone is to take away their memories. Not all their memories, but the ones that are, well, unwanted."

"You're not going to do that. Come on, Ella, tell them."

"We're going to have to obliviate you one day, Alex. For your safety."

"Our safety?" Ella asked.

"It's a little complicated to explain-"

"We have plenty of time."

"Well, all right. We are at war. Please don't interrupt me, it's hard enough to tell," Remus began. "Towards the end of the seventies, a black mage rose to power throughout the United Kingdom, these were very dark years for wizards and on the thirty-first of October 1981, a baby resisted the death spell this black mage cast on him and returned him in a near death state. Fifteen years later, this black mage returns, more powerful than ever and is determined to finish off this baby who is no longer a baby but still resists him. Two years later, one of the black mage's henchmen kills the principal of our school of magic and overthrows the Ministry of Magic. The Battle broke out in May 1998, we almost died that night. We met again about a year and a half later with Hermione. We are here because we have been given a mission."

"You have been in Australia for ten months and you still haven't finished your mission? And why is no one coming to help you, if this mission is so important?"

"Don't get upset Ella, it's actually quite simple, I don't think anyone can come and help. How many people died in this Battle? And that baby who resisted the spell of death, isn't it one of you? Probably you, Hermione, considering the dates Remus you're a little old. And I don't know if you're hiding or if you really have a mission?" exclaimed Alex, without pausing so much that he was out of breath at the end of his tirade.

Alex realized that he may have gone a bit too far when he saw the two friends on the verge of tears. They had been on the verge of tears the moment he started talking about the Great Battle.

"You are completely wrong Alex, the baby is not me but my best friend, my brother who lost his parents that night, who lost his life during the Great Battle like thousands of other people, and if we are alone for this mission, it is because all our friends are DEAD! You can't imagine what we went through. Seeing our friends die one by one, seeing those dead bodies in the middle of the school that welcomed me for six years. Seeing the bodies torn apart by dark magic spells. You have no idea what a quarter of what Rem' and I went through, so don't question my life."

Hermione had tears in her eyes and was shaking all over her body while Alex and Ella didn't know how to react.

"So, the people in the store, were they really your parents?"

"Ella! What a lack of tact! Of course it was her parents. They can take away people's memories!"

"What I mean is, before Alex interrupts me, why did you obliviate them?"

"Because my parents are muggles. Non-magical people, without magic. People like you."

"You're not going to forget about us, are you? We may have been a little rough with you, but we're still your friends, right? Besides, we could help you with your mission."

Remus sighed, he'd only known the cousins for ten months, but he knew they wouldn't be giving up on the case any time soon.

"It's dangerous Alex, but as I told you, you'll be forgotten, knowing us is deadly. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is. For the mission, I'm not the only one to decide."

He turned to his friend for advice. She was still in a bad way and Remus saw that she was in no condition to decide anything. He gave her a look that he hoped would be explicit enough for the two cousins to leave. Ella seemed to understand as she stood up and urged her cousin to do the same. They promised to check on the two friends the next day, they were very concerned about Hermione's condition, they hoped they hadn't been too abrupt with their friend. But at the same time, how could they have imagined what was waiting for them when they had passed the door of the apartment?

Remus was very worried. Hermione was always in such a bad mood when their 'old life' was mentioned. It didn't help that he had spoken directly about Harry. Since Ella and Alex had left, about two hours ago, she had been locked in her room, which was not a good sign at all. Remus took courage, he was a Gryffindor after all! He knocked on Hermione's door but only silence answered. He allowed himself to enter, the young woman warned of his entrance. He found her curled up in her bed, clutching something the size of a book. Remus didn't know if she had fallen asleep, but she certainly hadn't stopped crying. Remus sat on the edge of the bed and whispered Hermione's name. Hermione got up slowly. Her cheeks were furrowed with tears and she seemed to be in deep despair. Remus, though uncertain, opened his arms to her and Hermione rushed in. She began to sob again, but Remus could not say a word.

"I miss them so much Rem', so much."

"I miss them too, Mione, I miss them too."

And so they stayed all night, crying together. Remus slowly rocked Hermione until she fell asleep. And he repeated his actions with every nightmare his friend had. And he did it a lot. Much more than Remus imagined. The young woman barely slept at night and was so energetic in the morning when they were searching. He admired his friend very much. He was proud of her and what she had become, despite all the hardships she had to endure for her young age. A small voice whispered to him that he too had been through a lot, but who could he make proud? He shook his head to clear his dark thoughts and refocused on Hermione. He had to stay awake. It was his duty as a friend to watch over her.

The sun was beginning to shine in the Australian sky when Hermione awoke from her sleep. She was amazed to see the sun so high in the sky. Never since she arrived had she missed the dawn over the Coral Sea. But maybe she had fallen asleep, maybe it was dusk. No, the sun wasn't on this side of the world at night. Remus confirmed her fears by telling her that breakfast was being served.

"What time is it?"

"Good morning Remus, did you sleep well? Yes, I did, Hermione, thank you for your concern." Remus replied.

"That's right, day, so what time is it?"

"Hermione, it seems to me that you are a witch, so you can use your wand and cast a tempus. If you prefer to avoid magic, which is totally understandable, the muggles have created a wonderful invention called a clock. If you don't know how to tell time, I'm happy to tell you that it's 8:40 pm."

Hermione almost choked on her toast. She spat out all her crumbs and coughed so hard for two minutes that she had tears in her eyes.

"To what do I owe such an... overreaction?"

"Eight forty? But Remus, you're crazy, why didn't you wake me up before? Can you imagine the precious hours we're losing right now? Have you thought about the mission?"

"I'm very well, thank you. Of course I have, Hermione. What do you think I've been doing for months? I think about the bloody mission every day. We haven't done a pose in ten months, Hermione! And excuse me for thinking you need to rest after the night you had. So yes, I'm sure it's not the first time, but you woke up ten times last night. Ten times! So yeah, we're not going to go to sea for two days in a row, but it's not like it's going to change anything at this point."

Remus stopped his tirade and slumped back in his chair. Hermione didn't know what to say. She regretted her words, all she could think about was the mission while Remus had stayed up all night watching over her.

"I'm sorry Rem', I'm being selfish, I'm only thinking about the mission when I should be thanking you for watching over me and calming me down after my nightmares."

"That's normal Hermione, that's what friends do."

Alex and Ella had resisted the temptation to rush to Hermione and Remus' house as soon as they woke up, so they walked around in circles all morning and couldn't stand it any longer so they went to visit them in the early afternoon. After the usual hugs and kisses, and to their great surprise, Remus spoke first.

"We've been thinking about this a lot, and we've agreed to explain our mission to you so that you can help us carry it out. However," he continued, before his friends could get too excited, "we will not tell you everything and you will not help us with everything."

"We will obliviate you when we have completed the mission" said Hermione.

"All right, when do we start?"

Remus and Hermione sighed together. Had they done the right thing by asking their friends for help? Hermione went to her room, whispered some formulas to access the book The Jewels of Time, it was well protected anyway, it was Hermione Granger who had hidden it. Not to protect it from the mangemorts, there was only a tiny chance that they would come to Australia, she hid it from the eyes of muggles. If their apartment was robbed, although that was unlikely, at least she was reassured that the book was safe. She returned to the living room, opened it and spilled a little blood on the first few pages.

"What's that red liquid?"

"It's blood."

"How did you get it?" Ella asked in a white voice.

"Oh, well, I killed the owner. What? Don't ask questions if you're not ready to know the answer."

"Hermione! How tactless, you sound like Sir-"

The end of his sentence died in his throat and Hermione deliberately did not retort. She fixed her gaze on the two cousins who had a complexion like Mont Blanc.

"But we told you we were at war, you don't think we were fighting with foam swords, do you? Yes?" she said in front of their bewildered look. "Well, we're not going to argue about it, now you know. If you prefer to leave, which is understandable, I won't stop you. Remus, you said that our life was dangerous. They had killed my friends. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, as the muggles say."

"The riddle has come up, so maybe we can take care of it, right?" Remus interrupted, anxious to change the subject as soon as possible."

The cousins leaned over the book and read the riddle in a low voice.

« The union of the world's greatest living animal and time has created the Jewel of Nature, the Jewel of Nature has created the Jewel of Time. Find it near its parent, where kangaroos are king. This is phase one. »

"What does that mean?"

"It means that for the last ten months, we have been searching relentlessly for this Jewel of Time in the Great Barrier Reef."

"And you haven't found anything?"

"Thinks Alex! If they had found something, do you really think they would be telling us all this? And then the Great Barrier Reef, it's huge."

"Three hundred and forty-eight thousand seven hundred square kilometers" Hermione specified.

"Well, it's not won, fortunately we're going to help you to search, exclaimed Alex."

"No, Alex, we don't know what's in that jewel. Not the slightest idea. It would be much too dangerous. You are going to inquire about this barrier, did people spot something strange, if yes where? You are going to question as many people as possible. All the specialists, the tourists that you find, as many testimonies as possible about what happens underwater."

A few weeks had passed since Alex and Ella had discovered the wizarding world. The four friends had been working tirelessly on their task, but their efforts were in vain. There had been no improvements or findings since the cousins had joined Hermione and Remus.

That day, Hermione allowed herself to get out of the water half an hour early, she was tired and it was better for everyone if she didn't drown. The place where she had done her digging was only a twenty minute walk from her apartment, so she decided to walk home. In this month of May, the air was mild, although winter was approaching, it was still twenty-five degrees. She continued to walk along the pier when she stopped dead in her tracks. The place was full of people, there were two ambulances and a helicopter. She began to run out of air, all this commotion reminded her too much of the battle.

"Move aside, miss, you're in the way."

Hermione was so distraught that she didn't pick up on the "miss" that she hated so much. She was being jostled by several people when she heard someone call out to her.

"Hermione!"

It was Ella. Happy to see a familiar face in all the commotion, she rushed towards her.

"Hermione" she began. How did you know?

"Knew what?"

The young woman blanched furiously, seeing her friend's bewildered look.

"Don't you know?"

"Know what, Ella?"

"Oh Hermione, it's Remus…"

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