What a Vacation Can Do

Hermione got out of the back of the cab as the driver approached the trunk, popping it open and pulling her bags out. Hermione smiled at him and got the money out of her pocket to pay him. “Thank you.” She said as he dragged her bags over to the sidewalk for her.

“No, thank you.” He said with a smile, taking the money from her and returning back to his cab.

Hermione approached the sidewalk, and with her carry on over her shoulder, she grabbed her two bags and started to approach the house. She glanced up at it as she approached and it was no wonder why her parents had decided to move here. The house was beautiful. It was painted a light shade of yellow, the windows and shutters stood out from the house in a bright white, flower boxes; holding a rainbow of flowers lined the bottom of the windows giving it it’s homey touch, a white picket fence surrounded the yard that was covered in the brightest and healthiest looking grass Hermione had ever seen, and behind the beautiful house was a small lake; perfect for a swim in the summer.

Exhaling a deep breath, Hermione walked up the steps that led to the porch where two rocking chairs sat facing the street, and placed her bags down. Double checking her pockets to make sure she had her wand ready, she bit her lips together nervously and knocked on the door three times.

She waited nervously until she could hear somebody talking from the inside, and before she knew it, the front door opened. Before her stood one of the people she hadn’t seen in close to 2 years, and Hermione felt tears at the back of her eyes at the sight of her.

“Can I help you?” Her mom asked with a smile. Hermione smiled back, at a complete loss for words. “Are you okay, dear?”

Hermione cleared her throat before speaking. “Yes, I’m sorry.” She apologized quickly. “Would it be alright if I came in? I have something I need to speak with you about.”

Her mom looked at her with confusion printed all over her features. Hermione was about to speak again, but heard something that made her stop in her tracks. “Who is it?” Hermione’s father walked around the corner and approached the door, looking from Hermione to his wife, waiting for an answer.

“I’m afraid I don’t know who you are.” Her mom finally said, speaking in a soft and quiet voice.

“You don’t recognize me, but I can assure you that you know who I am. If I could just come in-“

“How do you know us?” Her dad asked quickly, now keen as to what was going on.

“Well….” Hermione laughed slightly, not sure where to go with this. “It’s actually a long story.” She watched her parents as they stared back at her, still waiting for the invitation to come inside, but it never came. “Are you sure I can’t come in? I would rather not have this conversation out in the open.”

“Just let her in dear. She looks harmless.” Her dad said, moving away from the door and ushering Hermione inside. Hermione followed with a smile as her father led her into their sitting room. The inside of the house was just as beautiful as the outside, and Hermione fell in love with the sitting room the second she walked in. Aside from the beautiful furniture and colors that made the room feel warm and lovable, there was a huge bay window that sat facing the seats with a perfect view of the small lake that sat behind the house.

Hermione smiled as she looked at it, and then turned to her parents quickly. “Would you like some tea, dear?” Hermione’s mom asked.

“Oh…. No. I’m fine thank you.” Hermione said with a smile, watching as her parents took a seat on the love seat.

“Very well.” Her mom said with a sigh. “Most of our guest don’t ever want tea. Most Australians find it rather strange that we offer tea when they’re coming into our house.”

“I can assure you I don’t find it strange.” Hermione said with a smile, taking a seat. It was the first time she ever actually got a good look at her parents, and she couldn’t help but see how happy they were. She also couldn’t help but feel somewhat broken hearted at the fact that her parents didn’t even recognize her their daughter. But she quickly told herself that was because of the spell and shook that thought from her head straight away, telling herself it would all be better once she performed the counter spell. “I’m actually not even Australian.”

“Ahh.” Her dad said with a smile. “You’re accent isn’t that strong, but it is still visible.” Hermione couldn’t help but notice that her father had picked up somewhat of a Australian accent, and that combined with his English sounded rather strange. “English?”

Hermione nodded. “Just like you.” Both of her parents stared at her with this comment. She looked at them carefully before speaking. “You really don’t recognize me?”

They both shook their heads. “Are you going to tell us why you’re here?” Her mother asked kindly.

“Well, what I’m about to say might comes as a bit of a shock to you.” Hermione looked at her parents before inhaling a deep breath. She moved to the edge of her seat and finally spoke. “What if I told you that your names really weren’t Wendell and Monica Wilkins?”

Both of her parents started to laugh slightly, and it broke Hermione’s heart just a little bit more. “What are you getting at?” Her father asked, a small smile still plastered on his face.

“Are you aware you have a daughter?” Hermione asked, trying to ignore their small bits of laughter.

“If I had given birth I think I would have known about it.” Her mom said, her smile disappearing slightly.

“You wouldn’t remember.” Hermione said quickly. “Your memories been tampered with.”

“Our memories have been what…?”

“Tampered with. Your names are not Wendell and Monica Wilkins. They are Jean and Harold Granger.” Hermione said rather quickly.

“This is crazy.” Her father said suddenly very serious. “Why would you come into our home and make these false statements up?”

“They’re not false.” Hermione said suddenly standing up. “Those are your real names and that’s not all you don’t know.”

“What are-“

“You have a daughter as well.” Hermione stared at her parents, inhaling a deep breaths as they stared back at her. “I am your daughter. My name is Hermione Granger.”

“That is impossible.” Her father said softly, looking her up and down.

“No, it’s not!”

“I would like you to leave.” He said suddenly, standing up and pointing at the door.

“No! I can’t leave, not yet.” Hermione licked her lips, feeling tears coming to her eyes, before pulling her wand out of her pocket and pointing it at her parents. Her mother shrieked and jumped up from the couch, not knowing what was being pointed at her, and her father instinctively jumped in front of his wife. “Memoria Deleo Reproba!” Hermione yelled clearly.

A small spark erupted from her wand, but nothing more. She stared at her parents, waiting for them to recognize her and suddenly run into her arms, and she would be able to cry on their shoulders, telling them how much she missed them. She would be able to apologize and tell them that she was sorry it took her so long to come. She would be able to tell them that she was sorry it took The Ministry and The Order that long to sort everything out from the war before she could leave. She would be able to tell them all about her exciting and dangerous adventure that she went through with Harry and Ron. She would be able to tell them that everything was over and that they could be a family without having to worry about what would happen with Voldemort.

She would be able to tell them she loved them.

But as Hermione started at her parents, she didn’t get the warm feeling that she pictured when she dreamed of this moment so many times. It was the same cold feeling as before. The same cold feeling that her parents didn’t recognize her. To them, she was just a crazy person with busy, curly, brown hair who was standing in their sitting room and pointing a piece of wood at them, muttering silly Latin words.

Her father, his cheeks red with rage, stared at Hermione with anger. “Get out of my house!” He yelled suddenly.

Hermione, confused as to why the spell didn’t work, had no idea what to say. “But-“

“GET OUT!” Hermione, with tears now pouring down her eyes, just stood there. Her father suddenly took a step towards her, causing her to step back. “You have ten seconds to get off my property.” He said through his teeth. “I’m getting the phone and I’m calling the police. You better be out of this house by the time I have the phone in my hands.”

“No, please-.” Hermione reached her hand out to grab her father and stop him, but he pulled away quickly and was now practically sprinting towards the phone in the kitchen.

Hermione had no choice. She sprinted from the house as fast as she could. She grabbed her bags once she pushed her way through the front door and didn’t stop until she came to the corner of the street. She tossed her bags on the ground with force, taking her anger and sadness out on them, and bent over, putting her hands on her knees as she attempted to catch her breath. She didn’t stop the tears from running down her cheeks and hitting the sidewalk, and she pretended not to feel the pounding of her heart, not only from the adrenaline rush, but also from her broken heart that was now shattered to pieces.

The charm to remove the memory charm placed on her parents hadn’t worked. Her parents didn’t know that their names were Harold and Jean Granger and they didn’t know that they had a daughter.

And for the first time,… Hermione Granger didn’t know what to do.


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Draco sighed as he took a seat. He shook his head slightly and watched as Pansy walked around the tiny, beat up shop. She looked around excitedly, gasping and letting out a little squeak at everything that caught her attention.

He rolled his eyes when Pansy came to a spiral staircase in the middle of the shop that led up to a second floor balcony, overlooking the first floor of the shop. She squealed louder than ever and Draco was surprised she wasn’t jumping up and down with excitement. He quickly turned his attention from Pansy to the lady who had been with them all morning, showing them the insides of all the shops until they found the perfect one for Pansy to turn into her own store.

“Oh, I just love this one!” Pansy exclaimed, turning around and giving the shop a good look. “It’s perfect.”

The lady smiled brightly and held her clipboard closer to her chest. “This is a popular one.” She said nodding at Draco and Pansy. “I’m surprised it hasn’t been purchased yet.”

Pansy suddenly looked worried and quickly turned to Draco. “What do you think about this one Draco?”

“I don’t know.” Draco said lazily, standing up and putting his hands inside of his pant pockets. “It’s tiny and really beat up, Pansy. Isn’t there any other ones you could show us that aren’t as beat up?” Draco asked, turning to the sales lady.

“This shop diffidently took a beating during the war, I have to agree with you one that. But I can assure you that before the war, this shop looked fantastic.” The lady smiled brightly and quickly checked her clip board. “But if you really wanted to see another-“

“We don’t want to see another one.” Pansy snapped suddenly. When the lady looked offended by Pansy’s interruptions, Pansy smiled her apology and then turned to Draco. “I really like this one, Draco.”

Draco sighed and looked around the room with a disgusted look on his face. “It’s falling apart Pansy and it’s really small.”

“It’s not small.” Pansy argued. “There’s two floors, so it’s actually really big. How many stores in Diagon Alley have two floors?” Draco smirked and opened his mouth to answer, but Pansy continued. “And it’s not falling apart that bad.” Pansy turned away from Draco and looked up at the shop. “Do we know how to do magic or not?”

“Pansy….”

“Draco, you have found something wrong with every other store we went to look at today.” Pansy said, moving closer to Draco.

“Not every store.”

Pansy shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. “You said the one by Twilfit and Tattings was a bad place for business.”

“Well, it was.”

“And how about the one by the second hand robe shop? What was your excuse for that place?”

“There were too many windows.” Draco said seriously. “The sunlight would have been awful and it would have been too hot to manage come summer time.”

“Right.” Pansy said, rolling her eyes. “And how about the ones by Ollivanders, Knockturn Alley, Magical Menagerie, the owl emporium, and Flourish and Blotts? What was wrong with them?” Draco stared at Pansy, refusing to answer. It was a rhetorical question anyway. “My point exactly. Nothing was wrong with them!”

“They all had great reasons for you not to buy them!” Draco yelled back.

“Come on, Draco!” Pansy sighed and then suddenly became very quiet. “I really like this one.” She was practically begging Draco with her eyes. “This one won’t be hard to fix up and it’ll look great once it is fixed. I promise.” Draco sighed and looked around at the shop. Pansy did have a point. It would look nice once it was fixed up and because it was smaller than the other ones, it would be cheaper.

He glanced down at Pansy and she looked up at him with a small, nervous smile on her face. “Alright.” He said. Pansy’s smile grew instantly and she quickly turned from Draco to the sales lady.

“We’ll take it!” She yelled excitedly, clasping her hands together.

The sale lady smiled brightly and pulled some papers out from her clip board. “Excellent! Now I’m just going to need some signatures from you Ms. Parkinson and then we can move on to the actual purchase of the shop.” Draco watched them both move over towards the counter of the shop where the sales lady laid out all the papers and Pansy grabbed a quill, signing where she was told.

Finally deciding that he wouldn’t be needed anymore, Draco said his goodbye quickly and then exited the shop. He knew it wouldn’t be long until Pansy roped him into helping her fix up the shop so she could get it ready for business as soon as possible, and he wanted to get as much time away from her as possible.