Hermione Jane (is looking for a new home) (awinterswitch) wrote in unforeseen_rpg, @ 2007-09-18 12:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | hermione |
Crookshanks is glad this is finally over.
Who: Hermione Granger and the former Mr. and Mrs. Wendell and Monica Wilkins
Where: a farmhouse near Varley, Western Australia
When: 23 May, early morning
What: Hermionegoes to reclaim the Wilkins.
Notes: Angst
Status: Complete
Hermione swung her bag about her shoulder and saddled up on her bicycle. She tried to think of the day she had altered her parents' memories; she couldn't remember the date, and for some reason that thought sent a pang of guilt through her chest. A tractor rattled to life somewhere some distance off, and she jumped at the sudden sound.
She did her best to push the surprise out of her mind and pushed off the ground, setting her feet in the pedals and beginning the ride. The grasses waved in a breeze she never felt, and the sunlight traveled so lightly over the waves, she hardly noticed the movement. The sound of her rubber tire treads over the asphalt created a rhythm that she filled in with the Weird Sisters' song from the Yule Ball. She blinked through her tears and smiled at the memory. After everything, there was hope. Mum and Da would be coming home.
She turned off the pavement and looked around; she would soon be at the tree she designated as her Apparition point. No one was around her now, so she was confident she would be alone for the Apparating. Already it seemed the air was trying to warm. Hermione still found it funny that it was growing colder as the land moved into summer. Only it wasn't summer here, now was it. Southern Hemisphere and all that.
The Tuckeroo tree loomed before her, and Hermione felt the first lump of nerves rise in the back of her throat. She hopped off the bicycle, stumbled a bit, grounded herself, and took a deep breath. Her white-knuckled grip on the bicycle handlebar only tightened as she concentrated on Apparating.
She had not realized how tightly she had closed her eyes until they did not open as easily as she expected. But she was there, beside the farmhouse where the sounds of early morning and breakfast came through the window.
"Mama, is there any more bacon?"
Da's voice. Hermione held her breath and slowly leaned the bicycle against the side of the house. She tred lightly up the stairs as quietly as possible and waited for a moment. "Oh, Wen, can't you get it yourself? Just a minute..." Mum's voice lilted teasingly, and Hermione panicked as footsteps came her direction. She looked around frantically, knowing the noise from Apparating would be too conspicuous now. Hermione looked up and right into the face of her mother, holding Crookshanks in her arms. Crookshanks meowed, unimpressed. "Oh, dear, did you ever find that woman?" Mum's expression betrayed the kindness in her voice; Hermione knew it was too early in the day to be at a stranger's home.
"No," Hermione voice came more confidently than she felt. "I wasn't really looking for her after all. I was looking for you. Can--" she hesitated but went on, "Can I come in for a moment?"
Mum hesitated herself, stared at Hermione's sweater, looked over her shoulder toward the warm kitchen, but slowly nodded. "I suppose for a minute." She backed away from the door, forgetting to let Crookshanks out, and calling back to her husband that they had a visitor.
"What in--" Da stood up as Hermione entered the kitchen, ready to defend house and hold if necessary. He sat down again when Crookshanks jumped out of Mum's arms and rubbed against Hermione's legs. She leaned down, so thankful for his recognition, and smiled, "Good morning, Crookshanks."
"How d'you know his name," Da snapped, and Hermione flushed at the tone she had never heard from him. "He's mine," she answered honestly.
Mum waved toward a chair in the corner for Hermione to sit, and she did. "I'm," Hermione began, suddenly feeling very foolish, "I'm your daughter." Mum and Da stared at her. Crookshanks began to purr. "You're Nick and Miranda Granger from Hereford, England. You're dentists." Da ran his tongue over his teeth at this. "I'm Hermione, and I'm a witch, and I've sent you here to be safe because I was doing some very dangerous work for the last year."
Mum stared. Da seemed to be working up a temper at the sheer nonsense. "Now see here--"
Without another thought, Hermione whipped out her wand and shouted over the accompanying crack, "Finite Oblivium!" Da fell silent instantly. Mum continued to stare. Crookshanks jumped into Da's lap and seemed to wait.
"Erma," her mother mumbled, and Hermione held her breath. Was that a mistake? Before Hermione could say her own name, she would stumbled over the first two syllables; Mum had called her that as long as Hermione remembered. Da brought her back to reality.
"Is he gone then." His voice shook as he spoke.
"Yes," Hermione nodded fervently, her voice breaking halfway through the word. "Yes, we've done it, Harry and Ron and me and everyone." She could feel the tears running down her cheeks, but her eyes had never stung with them. Where had those come from? Did it matter! She found herself frozen in the chair, her eyes cast down and not daring to hope. But suddenly they were around her, hugging and kissing and crying and fussing as if she'd come back from the dead. Her face hurt from smiling so hard, and she could barely see them through the tears. "I'm here to take you home," she breathed when the excitement had calmed. "Back to the house. The practice is still there, everything's ready..." She looked between them brightly, "Are you ready?"
But Mum was already in the other room, announcing in her serious voice that she was a year behind in fashionable shoes and tired of plain clothes. Da grinned for her and shook his head. "Good to see you, Mione," he crimped his lips at the greater meaning in the phrase. But a thought seemed to dawn on him, and he gave her a sly but exasperated look. "But I don't imagine you'll be coming home right yet, will you..."