Madison Potter: After the War

Chapter 2: Australia

"Okay, Hermione, I got the room keys," I said as I walked over to Hermione, who was putting our bags on the hotel cart.

"I still can't believe that you played the Potter card to get us in this hotel," she said, giving me a pointed look.

"Hey, I mean if we're going to be in Australia, we might as well have a good experience," I shrugged. "And if staying at the Gold Coast Waterfront Luxury Suites is what we have to do, it's worth it."

Hermione rolled her eyes. Together we pushed the hotel cart to the elevator and I hit the number seven. Typical elevator music played and I winced. I glanced over at Hermione and she did as well.

After a few more moments of Hermione and I giggling like to school girls to one another about it, the elevator doors opened. We stepped out and pushed the cart to room 719.

I took one of the key cards out of my pocket and swiped it into the door. The light on the handle flashed green and I pushed open the door. I held the door open as Hermione pushed the cart in.

"Woah," I said, looking around the suite. It was beautiful. It had a nice pristine kitchenette, a sitting area with a TV in front of the couches, various images around the room, and the bathroom door was ajar. We made our way over to it and the bathroom had a bath tub the size of a Jacuzzi. The beds in the room that connected to the bathroom and the sitting area were all fluffed and separated by a nightstand that had a phone, a lamp and a digital clock on it.

The view itself was amazing. You could see the beach, the sun beating down on the sand, the waves pushing in on the shore line, clear and overall just perfect. The sun was high in the bright blue, cloudless sky.

"This is amazing! I brought a swimsuit—"

"Hermione, shouldn't we focus on finding your parents first?" I arched an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, of course. Now, I changed their names to Wendell and Monica Wilkins," she said, using her wand to levitate the bags off of the hotel cart before vanishing the cart.

"Did you keep them in the dentistry business?"

"Yes," she nodded, "and I've done my research about the dentistry places in Darwin."

"Okay, and do you know which one of them they might work at?"

"No. I also don't know if they're in Darwin. All I know is that my parents always talked about getting a vacation home in either Gold Coast, Rockhampton or Adelaide, so I made them choose one of those three. I think that we should start tomorrow... it took a lot of portkey stops to get here, and I just want to sit in the pool for a bit," Hermione said.

"Sounds good to me, just let me grab my swim suit."

"Accio swim suit!" I waved my wand. The swimsuit flew into my hands and I walked into the bathroom and changed.

My swimsuit was a deep blue two piece. I put it on and tied the string around my neck to hold my top piece up. I began to braid my hair from the top of my head, but then I realized that my hair went only a little below my chin. I had cut it before Hermione and I left; I really didn't want to deal with long hair, because I didn't know how long we would be here.

I stepped out of the bathroom and saw Hermione putting her hair in a braid. Her suit was almost identical to mine, the only difference being the color. Hers was purple.

"You ready?" I asked, putting flip flops on and grabbing a towel.

"Yeah."

Hermione and I apparated to the first floor by the vending machines before walking out to the pool. We put our towels on the nearest lawn chair and put our flip flops by the seat.

We waddled into the pool, expecting the water to be cold, but instead finding that the water was lukewarm instead. We sat down on one of the ledges inside of the pool so that from our torso and down was in the water.

"We didn't get to talk about it much back at home, but how's your love life going with Ron?" I giggled.

"It's going really well, actually. He and I are both really happy, and it's great. You know that spark you were telling me about?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Every time we kiss that spark is there. What about you and George?" She asked me.

I sighed.

"Uh-oh. Madison," Hermione gave me a pointed look, "What's going on?"

I shrugged. "He's just... after Remus and Tonks' funeral he became distant. But I also think he took offense to me telling you yes right away. I mean, I didn't talk to him about it like you and Ron did. I kind of just... decided without bringing it up to him. The thing is, I know he would be totally fine with me going, just you and I. I feel like..."

"You feel like what?" Hermione asked.

"I feel like... I feel like we're both regretting getting married the way we did. Like... George, he wanted to get married at the Burrow, and he wanted to dance with his mom and I couldn't give that to him. We wanted to get married right after he asked, and... I want to get married again. I think both of us do. Not the whole thing, because I had to lie about my age when we eloped."

"You can renew your vows!"

"Hermione," I looked at her, my eyes wide, "you're a genius!"

"I've been told that," she smirked. "But asides from all of that, how are you two... doing in the physical department?"

I laughed and blushed, the hot Australian sun beating down on my face and shoulders.

"Well, to answer the very first question that you asked, there is that spark whenever George and I kiss— there still is. And as for the physical department... The last time we had sex was probably the night of May second. No, wait, we had a quickie in between the burial and the reception of Remus and Tonk's funeral."

"So like, three days ago?" Hermione asked me.

"Yes. But we did make out last night, I can tell you that," I blushed.

We giggled and continued on talking, gossiping and laughing as we went.

We had woken up early the next morning and began our search for Hermione's parents.

"Okay, perhaps we should start with going to the dentistry places first?" Hermione asked.

"That would make sense, yes," I dryly said.

Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled her bushy brown locks into a messy bun. She was wearing a plain green tank top that showed her tanning shoulders. Her blue jean shorts were going to cause some funny tan lines, and so were her flip flops.

I, on the other hand, was a completely different story. I was wearing a loose purple cut off tank top because my shoulders were burnt and anything being put on them hurt like hell. I had black sport shorts on and sneakers. I wore a black baseball hat with a cactus on it. While Hermione would have funny looking tan lines, I would be having funny looking burn lines.

"Which one first?" Hermione asked me.

I shrugged, squinting my green eyes at the paper that listed the dentist offices in the area.

"How about that one? The one that says Wilkins Dentistry?" I replied.

"Yes, that seems like a good one to try out," Hermione said.

"Great," I said, putting my sunglasses on and grabbing the bags with our stuff in it— the handy dandy extension charm works wonders— and locked the hotel room door and left with Hermione.

"Are we going to walk?" I asked once we got down to the lobby of the hotel.

"No, come on," Hermione whispered as she grabbed my arm and pulled me into the women's room. She pushed me into the handicap stall and turned on the spot.

Through the twists and turns, colors flashing by, I soon found myself hunched over and outside of a dentist office. My insides felt twisted and I was so nauseated that I was concerned that my breakfast would travel up my throat and into my mouth and then project itself into the world.

"Hermione," I said, my voice hoarse, "you know I don't like appearating!"

Hermione shrugged, a smirk on her face. "It would be the only way to get here quickly, and I knew that if I told you what the plan was you would protest against it. So, I didn't tell you and surprised you instead."

"Why do you have to be right all of the goddamn time?" I asked as I got up and straightened my hat and sunglasses.

"Because I'm Hermione Jean Granger, that's why," she smirked.

I rolled my eyes and looked at the building we were in front of.

The sign read "Wilkins Dentistry", with a little tooth all shiny and perfect at the end of it. The building was brick, and it had the type of atmosphere where it was an old building but newly remodeled.

I pushed open the door. A little bell rang, signifying new customers. Or, in our case, daughter and her daughter's best friend.

"Hermione," I whispered, halting in my tracks. I had realized something— something that Hermione didn't.

"What?" She asked, her brows furrowed.

"There's only one way to reverse the effects of the memory charm."

"Yes, there's a counter curse, I know that—"

"No, 'Mione," I interrupted her.

"There's a counter curse for everything!" She told me, her brown eyes frustrated.

"Hermione," I calmly said. "If there was a counter curse for everything, I would have had them back already! Sirius, Remus... my parents... I would have them all back already."

"But there's got to be something to reverse this! This isn't death, this is just a memory charm."

"Hermione," I looked her in the eyes, trying to get the message through her head.

"What?" She asked me, finally calming down.

"I've seen what happens when you try to break a memory charm. Harry and I haven't told you guys all of our dreams, you know—"

"—Madison, I told you to tell us your dreams!"

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry... but in our forth year, Barty Crouch Senior casted the memory charm on Bertha Jorkins. Voldemort and Pettigrew had to break the charm to get information about the location of Crouch's son. They got the information, alright— they broke the charm—"

"So we can break it! It's possible!" Hermione cut me off.

"Hermione, they broke the spell by torturing her. She was never the same— they tortured her, 'Mione. Do you know what this entails?"

"Yes, I do," she said, her voice shaking. "But I'm not going to torture them. I'm going to do anything but that."

"I know," I smiled.

"Hello! I'm Dr. Monica Wilkins. Are you here to set up an appointment?"

I whipped my head around, my hat nearly falling off as I did so. My eyes landed on a woman who was probably in her mid to late 40s who wore a white lab coat with Dr. Wilkins engraved into it in black. Her hair was brown and curly, like Hermione's, but it was up to her shoulders. Her eyes were a deep blue, and they seemed to be glossy— as if she was clouded by something that may or may not be a memory charm. The only difference I saw between her and Hermione was the eye color and the age.

"No, uhm, we're here to talk to you and your husband," I said.

"Wendell! Some people are here to talk to you and I!" Hermione's mom yelled.

A tall and lankier man came out from behind the front desk, fixing his white lab coat as he did so. He smoothed the area where Dr. Wendell Wilkins was etched.

The only thing he and Hermione had in common was their eyes— both a deep brown. His head was full of salt and pepper colored hair. If I didn't recognize his eyes in Hermione, then I wouldn't have guessed that the two were related. He, like his wife, had a glossy glaze in his eyes.

"Hello, how can we help you two today? Are you setting up an appointment?" He asked, grinning at us.

"No, uhm actually, we're here to talk to you both about something else," I said, wringing my hands.

"I'm your daughter," Hermione blurted out.

"Excuse me?" Monica asked, taken aback.

"I'm your daughter. My name is Hermione Jean Granger, and I had to obliviate you two so you would be safe, and not targeted by Lord Voldemort."

Wendell gave a concerned look at the two of us.

"Are you girls alright? Do you need to use the telephone to call somebody?"

Hermione furrowed her brows.

"No! I'm your daughter! Don't you remember me?" She asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm afraid not. I don't know anybody with the last name Granger, I'm sorry," Monica said.

"Hermione, are you going to do it?" I asked her, my eyes darting to her.

"I can't Madison, I need you to do it," she pleaded with me, her voice shaking and tears still running down her cheeks.

"Okay," I said.

I pulled my wand out of my pocket and aimed it at the picture of the two dentists on their wedding day.

"Incendio!" I cried out. The picture burst into flames and it crinkled up.

"THAT'S OUR WEDDING PICTURE! HOW DARE YOU—"

"Incendio!" I pointed my wand at the certificates of excellence in dentistry on the wall. Those burst into flames.

"Incendio!" I cried out, and the sleeve of Wendell's coat caught on fire.

I let it sit for a second or two before I said, "Aguamenti!"

The fire was put out and Wendell's sleeve was wet.

The glazed look in his eyes disappeared and he looked over at Hermione, his eyes wide.

"Hermione?" He asked, his voice small and confused.

"Dad!" She cried and hugged him tightly.

I did the same thing to Monica's coat, setting it on fire and then putting it out. The glaze in her eyes disappeared just like her husband's did. She grabbed Hermione's arm and squeezed her.

"Hermione, you came back. Is it done?" she asked, murmuring into her hair.

Hermione nodded. The three of them hugged for so long that I took a seat on one of the chairs in the waiting room.

"How on Earth did you break that charm?" Mrs. Granger asked her daughter once they stopped their group hug.

"I didn't break it," Hermione said, wiping her eyes. "Madison did."

"Yes, sorry about setting both of you on fire by the way. It was kind of the only way I could actually get you to remember her," I said, wincing.

"It's no worry dear— you brought our Hermione back to us, and that's all that counts," Mrs. Granger told me, a motherly smile on her face.

"Well, 'Mione, I'm going to head back to Engoand... let you spend time with your parents before you return. I'll see you soon," I told her before I spun on my foot.

The last thing I heard was her protests of getting me to stay.