Chapter 2

You know when you've accepted something as normal, all right and generally correct and then it's like you've been smacked across the back of the head with a saucepan and you're staring the truth in the eye and you have no idea how you could have thought that what you believed before was true?

No? Oh, okay. Well, it happened to me about ten minutes ago. The crushing realisation that my parents thought of themselves as Wendell and Monica Granger as opposed to Wendell and Monica Wilkins, that is. I didn't actually get hit on the head by a pan, that would be silly.

The only excuse I can give is that I wanted so much to find Doctor and Doctor Granger and get them back into my life and back to their normal lives that I didn't even want to think about any complication that might get in the way.

Of course that doesn't explain why they did think themselves Doctor and Doctor Granger and not Doctor and Doctor Wilkins. I suppose the obvious answer is that I didn't complete the spell correctly, or did something afterwards that inadvertently reminded them they were in fact Grangers and not Wilkins.

I've already discussed how I feel about failure, so I won't go on about it again, for my sanity if nothing else. In the past ten minutes I've thought of numerous ways that the spell could have been partially broken to have Mum and Dad know their actual name and not their pretend name. The main one I've come up with is my packing their nameplates with their belongings that were shipped to Australia.

I did it without thinking. It was something that was related to work and I packed all that stuff for them. Obviously they would need their door nameplates so I packed them. It was probably the stress, probably contemplating that I was about to bewitch my parents without their consent, probably the fear coursing through me that I might not survive this war, probably wondering what would happen if we didn't complete our mission. Again, perfectly aware this is another failing – I should have focussed my mind before doing anything important - we'll pass over this one, too, shall we? Good.

All this pondering has brought me to the conclusion that the first partly damaged spell may have had side effects on the second memory modification spell. If it wasn't a perfect spell to reverse, then reversing it normally wouldn't work. Logically that was the correct answer, but Logic and Magic do not sit well together.

'There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!'

I frowned at him. 'Where have you been looking for me?'

He scuffed his shoe on the carpet and looked at the resulting fluff intently. 'In the lounge, kitchen, cloakroom.'

'So, just downstairs then,' I replied with a smirk.

He stuck his tongue out at me and perched next to me on the bed. We had arrived back at Mum and Dad's house half an hour after The Big Revelation and Ron had managed to preoccupy them with a brief run down on the final confrontation with Voldemort while I excused myself to the bathroom and just sat, breathing deeply, trying to keep calm while sitting on the floor. I must have looked a little pale, because Ron looked quite alarmed when we got back and didn't complain when I said I needed to be excused.

'How are they?'

'They're okay, I didn't go in to too much detail, just the basics. Harry died to save us, Harry didn't actually die, Voldemort died because the wand he was using actually had loyalty to Harry so wouldn't kill his master… you know, the basics.'

I had to laugh, those 'basics' were possibly the most complicated aspects of the whole journey.

'The most important question is how are you? I thought you were going to keel over when we got back.'

'I'm fine, just needed to calm down a bit and gain some composure. Oh and I had a bit of a dawning revelation as well.'

'What's that then?'

'They were Grangers.'

He frowned. 'Yes, Hermione, they're Grangers. As are you.'

'No, you don't understand. 'They should have been Wilkins, not Granger!'

'Oh! Yeah, I know, I thought that was a bit weird.'

'You realised they had the wrong surname?' I have to admit I shrieked at him.

'Well, yeah, I though you had changed everything, but then I kinda thought that because you were looking for Doctor and Doctor Granger then you must have made the spell… I dunno, maybe lapse a bit after a few weeks so you'd be able to find them when you came to look for them. I was going to ask you about it and ask why it had changed, but then we actually found them and I forgot.'

There wasn't much to say to that. I suppose it wasn't inconceivable that I had modified the spell so that they would remember something of what they were before, but I hadn't planned it that way, so I was still where I was before. I sighed heavily.

Ron put his arm around me at the sound.

'It doesn't matter though, does it? The spell worked and kept them safe, they had no idea who you were when you walked in or me, and, well, apart from the one tiny glitch of them thinking I'm their son, everything's fine.'

I turned towards him. 'One tiny glitch?' I repeated. 'I'd hardly call this tiny! I don't know how to fix it, or whether to just wait until they realise they have no memory of you before seeing you on the platform at the end of first year, or whether their memory is going to be messed up permanently. I just don't know what to do.'

Ron pulled me into a hug. 'We'll work it out and if we can't we'll just wait until we get home and get someone at St. Mungo's to look at them. I'll bet this is a really easy case to solve for them. There'll be no problem.'

I nodded, purely because I needed to believe that I hadn't messed things up entirely, and that the mistakes I had made weren't irreparable. I pulled away from him and smiled. By habit, I reached up and kissed him and I couldn't help but smile as he kissed me back.

Then there were footsteps behind the door, a shout of 'Hermione, Ron!' and the door opened.

I really had to remember that Ron was my brother and that I really shouldn't be kissing him.

The sooner we got things sorted the better. I did not help to make the Wizarding World a better place to then be driven insane and not enjoy the freedom we had worked for. That and I really wanted to snog my boyfriend.

"It's Aloe Vera," my new mum told me as she worked the cooling gel into my shoulders, "I'm sure you have your fancy magical ways to help with the burn but I'd like to help if I can."

"It's okay," I smiled at her, "it's nice."

I knew why she wanted to help me. It was because she didn't remember me properly and she felt guilty. We had to get this fixed before we took them back to their real home because the first thing they'd both do would be to look for my baby pictures, any pictures, and maybe even think to check my room to see if it jogged any memories.

Only I don't have a room...and I think they'll notice that.

"I don't know how you burn like this," she said, as she examined my pink skin, "nobody in the family have ever been this fair skinned."

"Well, y'know," I forced a chuckle, "red hair, fair skin."

"We don't have red hair either, Sheila used to be strawberry blonde when she was a kid but it turned light brown by the time she hit puberty."

"Um, well...the gene can be...dormant I suppose. That's what you told me once." I figured the best way to stop a conversation like this was to make her think we'd already had it.

"Well that's true, I know two brunettes who have an auburn haired baby."

Relieved, I sat still and let her carry on.

"This couldn't be fixed at the hospital?" Her fingers were hovering over the scarring from my splinching accident.

"Huh? Oh, no. It was left too long. It wasn't safe for me to go to the hospital so Hermione fixed me up." I turned my head to grin at her. "She's really good like that, thought really fast."

She was smiling, sadly, and touched the tight scar tissue.

"It's such a shame though, your arms are just...why is it always your arms?"

"I ask myself that same question!" I laughed and so did she.

"So world weary aren't you?" She poked me in the back of the head. "So much like your father...to a tee!"

"Really?" I looked up at her, curiously. "What's he like? What else I mean."

The kitchen door closed and they both looked up and waited for somebody to appear but nobody did. Then they heard teacups clinking and turned their attention back to each other.

"Have you lost some memories too?" She asked me, with a frown.

"No, I just...I don't see a lot of similarities between me and him. I can see Hermione's a lot like him but I never thought we'd have anything in common."

"You never thought?"

"Well," I'd put my huge foot in it, "like you said, I'm a lot different."

"Your father loves you just as much as he does Hermione, fathers and daughters are always close like that, it doesn't mean he prefers her. Not at all."

"No, it's all right, he should like her better." I couldn't have them telling themselves the loved me like they loved her. It was just wrong.

"Don't say that! We don't have favourites in this family, Ron."

"No I didn't mean..."

"You don't ever talk about this to your father, it'll break his heart," she said to me, fiercely.

I nodded.

"Promise," she demanded.

"I promise."

The sound of a throat clearing made us jump and my new dad was standing in the doorway holding a tray with a teapot and four teacups set upon it.

"Tea?"

"Lovely," she said, I could tell she was hoping he hadn't heard what we had been talking about.

"How do you take it Ron?" He asked me, looking at me in a way that made me wonder if he was remembering things properly now.

"Two big sugars," I answered, still wondering if we just had to wait and their real memories and fake memories would separate like oil and vinegar.

He lifted both eyebrows and then turned to his wife.

"Come on now Ron," she said to me with a stern tone, "I know we didn't bring you up to take sugar in your tea."

"Oh, um..."

"Hogwarts spoil him with sweets," Hermione appeared just in time, "I keep telling him to lay off but they've given him such a sweet tooth."

"There'll be no teeth left if you go on like that," Mr Granger said, with parental authority.

"But magic can fix i-"

"No magic on teeth remember, Ron? " Hermione was giving me a significant look as she spoke, eyes wide, "we let mum and dad look after our teeth like we always have."

"What about when you shrunk yours?" I blurted, pointing at her front teeth, teeth that used to be a lot bigger.

"You told us you were overpowered by the school nurse and she made you have them shrunk!" Her father turned and looked at her with betrayal. "Does everybody in this family lie now?"

With that he stormed out.

"What?" Hermione asked as she wrung her hands.

"D'you think he heard you telling me not to say..." I began.

"No, it's that you ran off and left us without memories, that's what it is." She said as she ran after her husband.

"What was this you and my mother were talking about?" Hermione asked me, ready to blow up and blame me for something.

"Nothing, just something I said about not wanting them to... Hermione, they're trying to convince themselves they love me like they love you and I can't let them do that."

She relaxed and crossed the room to wrap her arms around me.

"Until we work out what we're going to do, just let them. We just have to let them and hope they aren't angry when they remember everything clearly."

"She thought I was saying your dad liked you better than me. That's what she made me promise never to say."

She looked up at me and smiled.

That's when her parents started bellowing at each other at the top of the stairs.

It's something you never want to hear. Ever. And I've only heard it a coupe of times, but as I stumbled towards the door, both wanting to get closer to the noise of my parents arguing but trying not to run out and let them know I'm listening in, one thought has to go through my mind: What the hell are they arguing about?

I feel Ron stand next to me and he leans forwards to try and hear a bit better.

'You told me it had never got past flirting and a chaste peck on the cheek when he reassigned to a different area!'

I frowned, not having a clue what Dad was shouting about.

'I'm not even going to dignify that sentence with a response! I told you at the time your ridiculous jealousy was based on nothing but your imagination but you wouldn't listen! Even now, Iyears/I later your accusing me of having an affair just because his hair is red! How many times do we have to have this conversation?'

A shiver ran through me. Dad thought that Mum had had an affair and the result had been Ron. Oh, Merlin above!

'I don't remember having this conversation, do you?' Guilt swamped me yet again that all this had happened. 'I could have had this conversation fifty times over and I would still stand here not having a clue!'

'I don't care if you don't remember it! How many times have I told you that you were my first and my only?'

I glanced up at Ron and he had scrunched up his nose, obviously not wanting to have heard what he just had.

'He's got red hair and a fair complexion! No one in either of our families have red hair! But I know someone who does though.'

'Don't you dare accuse me of having an affair with Ashley!'

'Who's Ashely?' Ron whispered.

I shrugged, I had never heard the name before. Maybe there was a reason.

'Hermione, why can't we just change the colour of my hair? Surely it's better than this? I hate listening to them argue, I don't know how you're being so calm!'

'Believe me, Ron, I'm anything but calm.'

I couldn't help it, my lower lip started to wobble and tears stung my eyes.

'Hey, come here,' Ron said quietly. He gathered me in his arms and I buried my head into his shoulder.

'It'll be okay, it will, we just have to get them back home, or get someone out here to sort them out.'

I nodded, thankful that there was some way out of this even if it wasn't going to get any better in the immediate future.

'Seriously, though, I could just change the colour of my hair, it would solve the problem.'

I took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

'Except they'd realise you'd changed it, I can't modify their memories again, Merlin knows what damage it would do. I think we just need to get them out of here and back home as soon as possible.'

'Whatever you want.'

Whatever I want. My life back to normal would be a start. Is that a lot to ask?

"I heard the two of you, you know?" Hermione's dad was shouting. "Don't tell your father, it'll break his heart. You made the boy promise to keep your dirty secret."

"That wasn't-"

"Find out did he? While putting us into hiding he found out he was hiding a step-father and not a father?"

"I have only had sex with you, you great oaf, though right now I wonder why I ever wanted to!"

Hermione was practically tearing her hair out and I couldn't let this cock up split up her family. I did what the twins always used to do to defuse mum's temper.

Distraction techniques learned from the best.

I stormed up the stairs and flung the door open. I tried to remember something Percy had said to mum and dad before he'd walked out on the family.

"See this is why I left home and stayed at Hogwarts for all these years!" I shouted as I waggled my finger. "There's a reason you don't remember much of me because I was invisible to you. I was never here!"

They both blinked at me, startled.

"Why would I come home to have him treating me like some red-haired stepchild?" I pointed at the beetroot faced man standing before me. "This is why I said he liked Hermione better, because he does. He doesn't care about proof or facts, Mrs...Mum, all he wants is a reason to like Hermione better."

"We've done this to you before?" Hermione's mother said, looking devastated. "Oh my poor...come here."

My new mum cuddled me and was shaking all over. I looked at Hermione's dad and the door creaked as Hermione stepped inside.

"Daddy, you need to calm down and stop making Ron feel like he doesn't belong in this family. It's not an affair or magic or anything else. He just looks different. He just likes sugar in his tea."

"But she said," he pointed at his wife, "I heard you saying to him that he was just like his father. He's nothing like me so who were you talking about?"

"Your bloody tempers, you stupid man...stupid men!" She looked at me for that last bit. "No more fighting. You're moving back home with us. There's no school to hide in anymore. We'll be a family again."

I looked to Hermione, she seemed relieved that her family wasn't crumbling. Unfortunately I'd just made it harder to extricate myself from it once we got back home.