They both stood there, blinking dazedly at their daughter and a young, handsome man. They both shook their head wildly and looked closer at their daughter. They did not remember her looking so tan and…more mature-looking. They placed their hand on their hand on their head from the shaking. They were in silence for a moment. Hermione couldn't hold her patience anymore. She broke the silence and asked hesitantly, "D-do you know who I am?"
Mrs. Granger wordlessly and quickly ran up to Hermione into a deep hug that could easily crush Mrs. Weasley. "Of course, I know who you are, Hermione," She cried as tears freely ran down her cheek when her daughter started hugging back. "You're my daughter…who's been gone for a year…and you're back!" Mr. Granger silently ran up to them a second later and enveloped them into a family hug after some more recovery time.
"You're back," he mumbled, "you're… oh, thank God, you're back!"
"We missed you so much!" Mrs. Granger squealed.
"That's not possible, mum," Hermione retorted, tears falling freely.
"I know, honey," she said, loosening the hug a bit, "but it feels right to say that, isn't it?"
Harry smiled at the reunion; he felt the same way when he saw his parents in the forest. Granted, they were not actually there, but their souls were, at least. It was another reason why he should try to find the Resurrection stone/ring. After a few seconds of tearful silences, he walked over to the patient and extracted the memories of the man getting knocked out. It should be on the forefront of his mind, since it was the last thing he saw. If he took too much memory, then he wouldn't know that his teeth were fixed.
Mr. Granger pulled back and looked at Hermione, taking the sight before him in. "My God, Hermione, what have you been doing all of this year, you look like a woman!" As an afterthought, he said, "And why did you send us to New Zealand?"
"We can answer that question, later, Dan." She said, staring at Hermione's neck, and the wonderful piece of jewelry that hung there. "Hermione…that must have cost at least a thousand pounds. Did you buy that yourself?"
Dan also looked at the fancy (and pricey) looking necklace. "Emma…that charm is a heart."
Emma's eyes widened and looked at the charm. Even the charm looked very expensive, and seemed to glow and float from her chest without the need of the sterling platinum chain. She slowly looked up at Harry, who was hovering their patient outside. She saw the lightning shaped scar on his forehead and knew from Hermione's many stories who he was, and she did remember seeing him once in Diagon Alley many years back. He still, at least, has the scruffy hair (and those horrible glasses).
She looked back down at Hermione and asked the silent question. Hermione smiled a smile that Emma had never seen so bright before. She nodded, gave a little squeal and hugged her even tighter, the tears not fading anytime soon. Mrs. Granger knew that her daughter always liked Harry, and if it weren't already, it was soon-to-be love. When Harry left the room to go into the waiting room, Dan pulled back, not noticing their exchange, and looked around. "Who was that bloke that was here a minute ago? I know he's a friend of yours. Have we met him?"
Hermione smirked, while Emma looked at him as though he was the daftest man in the world. "That was Harry, dear. Harry Potter. The boy that she has been talking about for six years in her letters and during the summers. The boy that she is currently dating." She finished with a smile.
But Dan blanched. Very quickly. "Dating? Without even telling us?"
"Well, you didn't know me at the time," Hermione calmly stated, "and it happened recently."
Emma returned to staring at the necklace in awe. "It's about time, you know. I knew it since first year. Dan said that it would be that Ronald fellow, even though we never really see his name in the letters, and when I do, it has to say, `Harry and Ron.' I'm so proud that you've finally got him, dear. I'm just sad that I didn't know who you were when you did. Now, before we meet Harry again, you have to tell us what happened all year!"
And so, Hermione explained. All from when they left the Burrow to when Harry defeated the Dark Lord. She even explained what happened to Neville's grandmother, so they would understand why she did this to them. She took out some unpleasant parts like her being put under the Cruciatis Curse by Bellatrix, or the kiss with Ron. She gauged their reactions. There were several horrified looks and gasps about several things, (such as breaking into the ministry) and Emma let out a small "Eep!" when she told them about their visit to Godric's Hollow. She finished with the rebounding curse of Voldemort. Before she removed their memories almost a year ago, she gave them full clearance over what she, Harry, and Ron has done over the past six years. Their first reaction was to, of course, remove her from the school, but she reminded them that not only that she was of age in both worlds, but she didn't plan on going back to the school. Eventually they gave in and went into hiding (without even knowing after the memories were removed).
They were silent for a moment after she finished. Finally, Emma spoke. "So, when did you and Harry start dating?"
"On the plane ride here." She said. To make it sound a tiny bit romantic, she added, "First class."
Emma nodded approvingly while Dan mumbled something unintelligibly and they all headed out through the door to see Harry laying out on the couch, taking a quick kip. "Harry?" Hermione whispered in his ear, causing him to shiver a little and wake up. He slowly opened his eyes and grinned, "Yes, love?" causing Hermione to blush. He had never called her `love', before, and she quite liked the sound of it. "My parents want to meet you." He tensed for a moment before he quickly stood up and walked over to Dan and Emma with Hermione, not wanting to keep them waiting. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. I'm Harry Potter." He said a little hesitantly, shaking each of their hands.
"Harry, from all the stories Hermione told us, we know all about you." Emma said, making Hermione put down her head in embarrassment. Harry reddened a little. Emma stepped back to look at Harry up and down. "Well, the description fits," She said and continued in an airy voice, similarly to Trelawney's, whether she knew it or not. "Deep, emerald, mysterious eyes that you could easily drown in and never resurface; impossibly untidy raven hair that you want to keep combing all day to make it straight; and round glasses that brings out the kid in your mature appearance." Hermione kept waving to her mum back and forth with a shaking face as bright red as Harry's, signaling for her to stop. She didn't really say all of that. She thought it, but didn't say it. Emma noticed this the whole time, and looked away from Harry to her daughter when she was done. "Sorry, dear, but I have a year of embarrassment to make up," she said with a mischievous smile.
"Mum!" she yelled, now that the attention was all on her.
"Yes, dear," Emma said in a sickly sweet voice. "What, you don't miss your mother?"
"No, of course I miss you," she said frantically, "It's just I don't miss your embarrassing me!"
"Oh, well, that can't be helped," Emma waved dismissively. "At least I'm not like some parents. I don't listen to your kind of music, your father and I don't even try to wear your generation's clothes, and the only place we're seen with you is the Library, even though that's the only place you ever go during the summers. Hopefully, Harry can keep you out of there at least two days apart."
"I'll try, but I doubt I'll be successful," Harry said teasingly, rewarded with a light slap on the arm by his girlfriend.
After a few seconds of comfortable silence, Hermione turned to ask Harry if they could stay in New Zealand for a few more days. Harry said it was okay, as long as both of them didn't have to face the Weasley's. This got raised eyebrows from both parents.
"Who are the Weasleys?" Emma asked.
"Well, a year ago," Hermione cautiously started, "Harry broke up with Ginny, who he only dated for a couple of weeks, because of our Horcrux hunt. He didn't get back together with her, but we think she's okay with it, because she realized that she liked him for his titles and fame and money, and she was dating someone else during our year abroad. Her mum and dad are pretty upset, though." hoping they wouldn't ask anything to do with her affiliation with them. She was out of luck.
"There must have been something else, though, right?" Emma asked. "Surely that can't be the only reason if you're afraid of ?"
"Well…" Hermione started, knowing she was going to say this to her parents sooner or later. "Sadly enough, her older brother is Ron. He sort of fancied me for a while, but never showed it." Hermione heard Harry sigh, `Ever since fourth year.' "Well, he said that he liked me at the end, well, during the battle, and the day after, I told him nothing could come out of it. We've argued hundreds of times, and it would only lead to a lot more." Hermione saw, out of the corner of her eye, a smile light up on Harry's face when she didn't even mention her kissing Ron.
Emma and Dan nodded. "You did always call him an insufferable git and wished that he could be shorter so you could deck him." Dan said with a wispy look in his eyes. "Ah, the first sign of love from a bloke."
"No, it's not!" Hermione said incredulously. "It just means that Ron's mental." She finished quietly, "And I did deck him."
Harry shook his head with a smile as he walked to the middle of the room and felt for the still disillusioned broom. He found it and illusioned it. Hermione whispered in his ear and suggested that they leave and take them to the other room in their suite. Harry's smile faltered at that, since that meant her parents might find out about their sleeping arrangements. He brought down the Confundus shield and Hermione's parents were side-alonged with them to the hotel entrance.
"This is a nice inn!" Dan complimented. "This must've cost you a lot!"
"I'm good for it," Harry nervously said, still a little self-conscious about people knowing how much money he had.
"Come on, let's get to your room." Hermione said, walking over to Harry.
"Oh, we're not staying long." Dan said, silently wondering how much money Harry had to get a suite.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked as she took Harry's hand.
"We can't leave our patients." Emma said. "Hermione… I don't know how to say this, so I'm going to be blunt. I don't think we should return to London."
`That was certainly blunt', Harry thought.
"What?" Hermione half-screeched, snapping her head to her mother. "You're not leaving? What about me?"
"Aren't you considered as an adult in the magical world and ours?" Emma asked, dumbfounded.
"Well, yes… but-"
"And besides, honey," Dan continued, "From what you two just did to get us here, couldn't you just pop up on us any time?"
"Not really, I don't think we're able to apparate across the ocean…but we can use Portkeys…Ministry approved, of course…but even better, we could hook you up to the floo connection…and I remember your address…" Hermione kept muttering, trying to convince herself that maybe she can leave them there and they'll be happy.
"We're safer here than in London anyway," Emma smiled, knowing that she and Dan had already won, "and we get more money here. And besides, I've grown fond of the animals in New Zealand." She smiled. "Just think of it as…a vacation… with a job. And before you even ask," She quickly said when her daughter was about to speak, "we don't need any money. The look of our clinic is really a ploy, so no one could think we would have any money to rob. We are actually quite successful in our business."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. At first sight of the office, she thought that they really were on the borderline. They did have some good points about why they should stay in New Zealand, what with everything that happened. She could really think of it as a vacation…with a job. It wasn't comforting for her, but it was for them, at least.
"You could visit us as much as you want, darling." Dan said as he put one arm around her and hugged her. "We love you, and want to still see you a lot, but at the moment (and hopefully forever) we don't have any children to take care of."
"So your father and I get the rest of our lives off!" Emma exclaimed as she wrapped her arm around Dan and Hermione's shoulders. "Besides, it's not like you don't have anyone to take care of." Emma continued as she winked in Harry's direction. After a few moments of the reunited family hugging (which, by some coaxing, Harry joined), they started talking again. Hermione decided to keep quiet and watch her parents converse with Harry. He seemed nervous at first, but grew more and more comfortable talking. They knew not to ask any questions about his parents or guardians, or his childhood in general, so the questioning was a bit subdued, like Hogwarts (except the bad parts, which they knew). They already knew a lot about Harry, so they only asked him simple questions. `Have you ever tried contacts or less silly looking glasses? Who would want to hide those eyes?' `Have you ever tried to manage your hair?' Hermione smiled when relaxed face of Harry finally came out. He told them that he was definitely going to get new glasses, and that he'll try contacts. He said that his aunt always tried to cut his hair, but it kept growing back the next day.
"That's probably because it was against your will." Hermione pointed out. She was about to again say how powerful that magic was, but she knew that Harry was one of the most talented and powerful wizard in the world, and she had to get used to it.
"Well, I'll try getting my hair cut, since I really need to straighten it out," Harry said, mussing up his raven hair. "I don't think there's any conditioner for this."
"Don't worry, Harry," Emma said, amused, "I'm sure Hermione will comb it all day to straighten it for you."
"Mum, I never even said all of that! And as you can tell by my hair, I'm not very good at combing."
"You should have kept the shampoo that we bought you a couple years back." Emma said in a sing-song voice.
"It was a very rare shampoo, too." Dan commented.
They stopped at the door to the hotel room and opened it. Dan and Emma walked around the almost-house in awe. At first, they were looking around the suite, amazed by the size of the two rooms, but a little dismayed to see that only one room had luggage-around one bed.
"Hermione…Harry…" Emma said slowly, fidgeting a bit, "… are you two…?"
"No, mum, we're not doing anything." Hermione quickly confirmed, turning pink. "I'm waiting until marriage for that."
"Oh thank God," Both parents said at the same time as they gave a sigh of relief.
Dan tried to calm down and looked around a bit more, trying to forget the scene that seemed to drill its way into his head. His only daughter, sleeping in bed with the man she was in love with for quite a while. He was a bit skeptical-how could they not do anything together? But he then remembered that this was Hermione he was thinking about. Hermione always does what's safe and what's right. But then he remembered what she told them the adventures and dangers they did over the year. He shuddered a little.
He took Hermione's word for it that they weren't doing anything, but still felt uneasy about them sleeping in the same bed. He knew that Hermione was completely smitten with Harry, and that she didn't have long to wait for marriage if they were both in love with each other (which still uneased him). From the looks and beams they've given each other that he's seen so far, he knew it was only a matter of time. When Hermione walked to the kitchen to get something for everyone to eat out of the fridge, Dan and Emma walked up to Harry.
"We'll need to ask you some questions, Harry." Dan began politely. Harry hesitantly nodded.
"Starting off," Emma asked, "are you in love with my daughter?"
Harry answered immediately. "Yes ma'am, very."
Emma nodded, smiling, while Dan asked another question. "Are you a virgin?"
"Yes sir, I am." Harry answered.
"Are you planning on asking my daughter to marry you?" Emma asked.
"Yes, but when she's ready." Harry answered immediately and truthfully. He loved Hermione more than anything, and he definitely wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and was almost sure that she wanted the same, but only when she wanted to take that big step.
Emma and Dan beamed and grumbled, respectively, at that answer. Now Dan decided to give him a test (to give him a reason to hate Harry, of course). "Have you ever seen my daughter naked?"
Harry tried not to show any surprise, while his heart was trying to fight its way out of his chest. He didn't want to lie to them. He knew that the best way to own their trust is to tell the truth, even if they don't want to hear it. "Yes, but it was an accident." He replied, looking down at the ground, ready for the outburst. It didn't come.
Dan looked at Emma, a little more than angry that Hermione would be starkers in front of a boy, or anyone, for that matter. But when he heard the second part of his answer, he eased…a bit. Emma paled also, but when Harry was done she asked, "What do you mean?"
Harry sighed, relieved, and chanced to look back up at the Grangers. "She was about to take a shower when I was sleeping and she made a sound and…I woke up."
Emma nodded at this. He was honest with them, and he's still a virgin; that's all that matters. However, they had one more request.
"Show us your teeth." They said at he same time.
"What?" Harry asked, confused.
"Show us your teeth." Emma smiled. "We're dentists, dear. We can't let our daughter date a man with cavities, can we?"
"Well…" Harry started, afraid that he won't be with Hermione because of his dental records. "I've never been to a dentist before. But I don't think I've ever had cavities." He quickly added, seeing the shocked expressions. Both calmed down somewhat, and eventually, after saying that when they find his guardians, they were going to have a nice, long talk with them, they started checking his teeth.
He didn't have any cavities, which left them a little confused. What left them the most confused, however, was that Harry's teeth were very white. When asked how his teeth could be so pearly, he replied that he brushed his teeth for two minutes twice a day and used mouthwash. Mr. Granger said it should've taken much more than that, and that's when Hermione came back into the room.
"Much more than what?" She asked as she handed sandwiches to them.
"Dear, have you noticed how white Harry's teeth are?" Emma asked, stretching Harry's mouth so Hermione could see.
"Yes, I know." Hermione said as she stuffed a sandwich in the in the stretched mouth of Harry's, causing the older couple to snigger. "I still wonder how he does it, but the reason is probably the same as how his hair grows back."
Harry bit the sandwich and pulled it out of his mouth, chewing. "That explains a lot. But I've seen a lot of other wizards and witches with bad teeth."
Emma grinned. "I'm guessing that since you're so good with magic, you can do pretty much anything just by thinking it."
Harry nodded interestingly and thought to try it out. If there was one physical appearance that he would like to change…
He closed his eyes and focused with all of his strength on one thing. `Make it disappear…make it disappear…make it-'
Hermione's gasp interrupted Harry's thoughts. He quickly opened his eyes to see what happened. Hermione's hand was over her mouth, her eyes widened, focused on his face. Dan and Emma stared at Harry's face also, dumbfounded. Harry was wondering why they were looking at him like that, until he realized what they were looking at. Hermione was the first to speak.
"Harry…your scar…" She quickly pulled her wand out and tried to conjure a mirror, but at the shock of the moment, conjured a square of glass. Snapping out of the trance, she transfigured it into a mirror and handed it to Harry. Harry slowly took it and looked at his forehead. His scar was slowly fading away, and the grin slowly grew on his face. The scar wasn't completely gone, but it was good enough to not be seen for people to point at it and whisper. Hermione ran up and hugged him.
"Why didn't I think of that before? I've always wanted the scar to disappear!" Harry said enthusiastically as they pulled back.
"It was a curse scar, Harry. But it's not anymore!" She said, giving his hand a squeeze. By this time, Dan (grudgingly) and Emma walked up to them and hugged Harry. Hermione told them all about Harry's scar since the end of first year, and were just as happy as Hermione was.
"You look much better without the scar being completely visible, dear." Emma commented. "Although I shouldn't approve of my daughter with a man that has tattoo, I'll make an exception."
They talked for a few more minutes, and Dan and Emma decided that they should be going back; they never put the closing sign on the door, but luckily, Harry locked it. They bid Harry and Hermione farewell and a promise to come back the next day for a day out.
"You okay, love?" Harry asked her as they left.
"Yeah, I'm okay," she said, wiping a few tears from her eyes as she spoke. "It's just… I know it's been like I was just going to school and coming back, but there were so many times that I almost thought…"
"That you were never gonna see them again?" Harry asked, understanding. Hermione silently nodded. "That's how I always felt, but in a different sense."
"What do you mean, Harry?" She asked, her tears forgotten for the moment.
"Well, you know how many times I almost died in the past, right?" Ignoring her teary snort/sniffle, he continued. "Well, almost every time I almost died, I thought I would be able to see my parents again. And every time I am close to death and then come out alive, I get disappointed. I mean, back then, I had nothing to live for, and everyone that loved me died. I thought you fancied Ron, and I knew Ron fancied you, so you guys would comfort each other if I er, you know, died."
Before Harry knew it, he was tackled to the ground by a now openly sobbing Hermione, clinging desperately onto him. He didn't even realize that she was getting louder when he was talking. "I'm sorry, `Mione, I don't think that anymore, honest!"
"It was my fault, Harry!" she sobbed into his chest. He actually wanted to die! Of course, no one could blame him, seeing as how he was raised. But the thought of someone you love actually wanting to kill yourself...was just too much for her.
"It was not your fault!" Harry said sternly to her. "You did nothing wrong."
"That's right-I did nothing."
"No," Harry said with a sigh. He knew it was pointless. She would continue to cry, and all he could do was hold her. He would broach this subject later, but for now…she needed comfort.
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Author's Note: And it is with a heavy heart that I must go on a quick Hiatus. Sorry, but the few chapters that I have written after this were on the crappy side, so I deleted them (they were beyond repair) and start over from 12 up, but not before I finish `Deathly Hallows: Take Two'.
I have also updated my Profile a little. Check it out when you get the chance.
Thanks for the reviews, and I hope I see more!
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