August

Her parents find a new place for their practice. The place is a mess and needs to be repainted. She offers to do it with a switch of her wand but instead they invite Ron and her to help, the muggle way.

She laughs more during those two days that she has in a while.

It feels good.

Her parents notice her brighter mood and can't help but comment on it. She hugs them tightly after they do.

...

She begins to use magic a little more around them.

One morning she rushes to the kitchen after she hears her father curse loudly. Smoke fills the room as her mother opens a window to ventilate. Her father shakes an old paper and explains agitatedly that oil from the pan he was using to make eggs fell onto the burner.

"May I?" she then asks timidly, pulling her wand out.

"Su-sure," her father nods after a silent minute when she thought the kitchen floor was going to swallow her whole, thinking that maybe they weren't ready.

Once she's done clearing the smoke and cleaning the burner, she looks back at them shifting her weight on her feet.

But all nervous feeling vanishes when she only finds amazement in their eyes.

…

There is a small shift that happened that morning between her parents and her. It feels like taking a big breath after being underwater for too long.

Her chest burns as she realises her tilted world is slowly shifting back in place.

It's dizzying and magnificent.

They ask questions about magic, about what she can do and it often ends in little demonstrations. After all she only showed little of her abilities before.

She had been such a mess at Christmas her sixth year that it had taken her several days to figure it out and by the time she had, she hadn't had enough time to show them more than casting some bluebells flames around the house. Then she had come back for the summer and Dumbledore had died and the war had been much more real. She had needed to protect them. She hadn't been able to think of sharing mindless magic with them when all her thoughts were directed to find a way to protect them at all costs.

So now, a little over a year later, she does small tricks to show them - and to remind herself - that magic is fun, that it can be light, it can be easy.

That it's not all wars and death.

…

Molly and Arthur come over for dinner one night. Her parents can't go to the Burrow yet, it's still too much for them. But having her boyfriend's parents, the people who protected her while they were away, is important to them.

She hasn't seen her parents have such fun in a while.

She watches in awe her two worlds mend together.

She clings to Ron's hand with happy tears in her eyes and laughter bubbling in her chest.

…

She receives her Hogwarts letter, along with a note from McGonagall appointing her as Head Girl.

The badge, that she's wished so much to have a year ago, feels small in her hand.

Her parents tell her how proud of her they are, she doesn't even try to hide the happy tears in her eyes.

She heads to the Burrow to tell Ron. He's proud of her and tells her so as she shares her fears about handling the responsibilities it implies on top of her schoolwork. It hits her how much she needed Ron and Harry during her years at Hogwarts.

It will be hard to go back without them.

…

Despite their best efforts, they can't see each other as much as they want. And August is slipping away faster than both of them want.

Ron writes her a lot of letters. And the more she writes back, the more she finds herself thinking about their time in Australia.

She misses him, misses talking to him, touching him, sleeping with him…

She tells him so, hoping he'll read between the lines. She sure can read between the ones in his letters.

In his last one, he also almost mentions visiting Shell Cottage with his family the next day. She feels cold all over just thinking about going back and it saddens her. She writes back, asking if they could do something else instead.

She expects a letter back but instead he pops at her parent's house unannounced. Luckily her parents are gone to their practice and she lets him in, too happy to see him coming back safe and sound from his mission.

The next day, when she tells her parents she's going to the Burrow, they don't seem to mind and she bids them goodbye, promising to be home by midnight.

…

One day, she figures she has to fully explain everything that happened.

Her parents genuinely inquires more about Ron each day, and it's easy to answer them.

But when it comes to talking about everything they went through, she doesn't know where to start.

She realises that she needed her mind to process everything that happened to her before she could talk about it.

Processing meant riding through nightmares and talking with Ron. It also meant telling the Weasley's first. Because it's easier, because they understand better no matter how much it pains her to admit it.

It helped though. Having told Ron's parents. It prepared her somehow.

So one morning, she sits her parents down on the living room couch and begins to explain.

She uses her scars to tell them stories.

She starts with the one on her sternum that they've never seen that summer after her fifth year. How she came close to dying and how they are still unsure what curse hit her. She explains that Ron has scars too, from that same battle. Her parents stare at her in shock. "But, you were fifteen! Where were the adults? Your teachers?"

She answers their questions, explains again the rise of Voldemort like she did when she first found them in Australia. She also reminds them that Harry has been at the center of it all, ever since he was born.

She apologizes once more for lying to them all these years, that she couldn't turn her back on Harry and the Wizarding world, not when it felt so much like she belonged.

She grabs their hands as she talks about Dumbledore's death and how it set everything in motion. None of them were safe anymore.

She tries to explain why she couldn't find any other way to protect them. Her dad almost interrupts her but she wills him to let her finish. She's afraid she won't get to the extent of what happened to her if she lets them speak.

It may be the hardest conversation she's ever had with them.

She moves her fingers to the cut on her throat before lifting the bandage on her forearm. The scar has remained red against her pale skin. She still recalls how it felt when the knife cut through her skin.

Her father has his hands closed in tight fists, his knuckles white against the couch and her mother stares at her arm stoically, her body rigid.

"That happened in March," she murmurs before clearing her throat and continuing. She finds that the more she explains the events of Malfoy Manor, less heavy she feels. And it becomes slightly easier to then describe how they escaped and their stay at Shell Cottage before everything turned to hell and the Battle of Hogwarts happened.

When she's done, her parents have a few more questions before they hug her tight.

Hermione is exhausted but she feels lighter than she has in a long time. She doesn't have to lie to her parents about magic or what happened to her.

After that, she notices that they are less hard on her. Hopefully, they understand better.

Maybe they'll be okay.

….

When Ron shows up on her doorstep to take her to Diagon Alley to shop for her class furnitures, her parents seem more welcoming.

At first, it feels good to walk down the familiar street, despite that so many things changed, so many shops have been destroyed and different devantures have taken their places. The more she notices the difference, the more uncomfortable she feels.

It doesn't help that people stare at them more than she thought they would, despite Harry and Ginny's warning.

She wonders how long it'll last.

Bumping into Lavender turns out to be more pleasant than she would have thought. Though their conversation ends up touching her deeper than she anticipated and seeing the girl hide her scars, makes Hermione ponder if she should do the same despite what she told Lavender.

It's not that she's ashamed of her scars, far from it. She is afraid of all the questions they'll raise and if she is ready to answer them. Telling the Weasleys and her parents about it is one thing, walking around Hogwarts for everyone to read Mudblood marred on her arm is different.

Maybe that's why Lavender was hiding her scars, because she wasn't ready to face the questions, not because she was vain.

She thinks how lonely it's going to be with Ron and Harry by her side. She's gotten so used to having them around. She tells Ron so. He tries to reassure her, but in the end, she's afraid because they are the only ones who really understand their year away and without them around she'll be alone with her mind.

She is scared of all the memories it will bring, of the lives lost and the many times any of them almost died.

She doesn't tell Ron she's afraid to go back to Hogwarts.

…

Her parents accept the Weasleys invitation to have dinner at the Burrow the Sunday before she leaves for Hogwarts.

When they tell her, she holds them close, instantly nervous and excited.

They arrive after three longs hours of driving, she hears Ron warn everyone and suddenly all the Weasleys are outside the house and everyone hugs her all at once. Introductions are made and she can tell her parents are a little lost. Her dad does shake Harry's hand tightly though, and thanks him. Harry shifts on his feet as he shrugs, announcing humbly that he couldn't have done anything without Ron and her.

The weather is gloomy so they move inside the house. Her parents gaze at everything in wonder, inquiring about magical objects. The mood darkens for a few minutes as the Grangers ask about Mrs. Weasley's clock, before Molly shows her mum the self knitting needles and hush her towards the kitchen to show her a family recipe. Her mum has a deer caught in the headlights look that makes Hermione laughs, but the older woman doesn't seem apprehensive or afraid. When she turns around she catches her father patiently explaining Arthur the uses of the toaster, along with a promise to let him try theirs next time the Weasleys come over for dinner. Her parents take time to talk to Harry and Ron, both boys explain what they do every day and despite her fear for their safety, Hermione is proud of the work they do.

When they move to the dinner table, the conversation effortlessly shift to Ginny and Hermione's return to Hogwarts. She looks at her parents laugh at one of George's jokes and a quiet warmth she hasn't felt in a long time slips through her bones.

When dinner is done, the rain clouds that threatened to pour all evening are gone and they all move outside to enjoy the warm summer night. Bluebells flames are lit around the garden, and Hermione only detects a slight hint of apprehension in her parents eyes when the fireworks begin and an incandescent dragon head flies over them.

When her parents leave, leaving her at the Burrow until she heads back to Hogwarts on Tuesday, the tears cascade down her cheeks without warning when her father takes her in his arms. After spending the past three months together growing to understand one another and learning to talk, really talk, to each other again, it is hard to say goodbye.

"I'm glad you had the Weasleys all those years," her mum caresses her hair and doesn't try to hide the tears in her eyes. I'm sorry we couldn't be what you needed is what Hermione also hears.

"I'm glad I have you," she replies forcefully, staring at both her parents.

It's still a hard uneven line to walk between both worlds, but for the first time in years, Hermione doesn't have that dreadful feeling looming over her head telling her that she has to chose one over the other.

She feels peaceful for the first time in years.

…

A/N: This is the end of this particular fic, it was always intended to be Hermione's journey with her parents after Australia up to when she heads back to Hogwarts.
I'll be starting to post her 7th year soon hopefully. In the meantime you can read MsBinns's Ron's POV in her Reunited fic, she's ahead of me in the timeline so that gives you something to look forward to ;-)