Hermione
Friday, May 16, 1997
Hermione paced the sitting room of Grimmauld Place, nearly knocking a hideous vase over with the force of her stomps. The war is over. She thought, feeling the glorious sense of peace that she had missed for so long.
Unfortunately, apprehension crept its way in as well. She still had the task of tracking down her parents and restoring their memories. She flopped into one of the armchairs in the ridiculously massive room, and Crookshanks jumped into her lap, his fluffy orange tail twitching around. Finding them would be easy, Hermione and her friends had already found seven Horcruxes, for Merlin’s sake. She also didn’t doubt her ability to fix their memories, as she had successfully done much harder magic already.
It was what could happen after their minds were restored that terrified her. What if they were furious at her for removing their memories? What if they didn’t understand that she intended to protect them and hadn’t meant to violate their trust? How would she keep them from knowing all the danger she had put herself into? The fact that she had been kidnapped, tortured, and nearly died about a dozen times? That she-
“What’s up?”
She looked up, startled out of her spiral, and saw Ron standing in front of her.
“I’m just a little nervous about finding my parents, and seeing them again after they remember me.” She said, giving him a weak smile.
He knelt in front of the ugly leather armchair she was curled up in.
"They're your parents, Hermione. They love you, and they’d forgive you for anything.” He looked at her encouragingly and reached out to grasp her hand.
She sighed and smiled at him again. She was so glad to be with Ron. The two of them and Harry had been living in Grimmauld Place for two weeks, since the end of the war.
He hugged her, and just as they kissed, Harry and Ginny came bounding in, brooms in hand.
“Stop it with the snogging!” Harry declared, grinning.
“Yeah,” Ginny added, “There’s a million rooms in this place, find one!”
Ron rolled his eyes, but Hermione couldn’t help but laugh.
“You two should talk! “ She shot back, raising an eyebrow at them, remembering about a year before when she and Ron had stumbled in on them at the Burrow.
Harry and Ginny exchanged a sheepish glance, then Ginny and tactfully changed the subject.
“We set up the goalposts outside, come play a game! Fred and George are coming over too.” Ginny explained, and Hermione laughed at Ron as he ran upstairs to get his broom.
She heard the familiar crack of apparition, and then,
“What’s up, Granger?”
Twenty minutes later, she was watching an intense game of quidditch on the back lawn of Grimmauld Place. They were laughing and flying, and Hermione felt the familiar excitement she got from watching quidditch games at Hogwarts. Watching her friends made her feel much better. She loved them, and they loved her. And that made her know that everything was going to be alright.