Now You See It, Now You Don't – Chapter Eight

A/N: Still don't own any of it. I can't remember if there was ever any mention of Hermione's parents' names so I just made them up :D Oh yeah, -laughs- , there are a lot of meaningful looks shared in this chapter, which gets rather repetitive but I thought they were necessary -shrugs-

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Paul Granger frowned slightly from the doorstep. "I think the more appropriate question is what are you doing back?" He said, not sounding angry, but Hermione still winced as though she'd done something wrong.

She exchanged a look with Draco, who just raised his eyebrows at her.

"I think this is a conversation best for indoors," Mr Granger said, standing aside to allow the teenagers in.

"Paul, who was it?" Hermione's mother's voice called from the kitchen.

"It was Hermione and a friend," Paul called back. He turned back to his daughter as he ushered them into the lounge. "We could hear you two arguing from the kitchen! Lover's tiff?" He chuckled as Hermione blushed.

Draco snorted at his comment and sat on the sofa, his back straight and hands clenched in his lap showing his discomfort.

"Hermione?" Anne Granger appeared in the doorway looking confused. "Hello, darling! This is a surprise!" She smiled and hugged her daughter. She suddenly frowned and released her. "Hermione, why are you home? Shouldn't you be at school?"

Hermione glanced at Draco again, wondering how her parents would react to what she was about to tell them. Mrs Granger saw them share an almost nervous look and glanced at her husband who was watching them all in apprehension.

"You're not in trouble are you, Hermione?" Mr Granger asked, his eyes flicking to Draco's for a split second before returning to Hermione.

"Oh, you haven't been expelled?" Mrs Granger wailed, her eyes wide.

"WHAT? I…no!" Hermione spluttered. Draco watched her, amused.

She took a deep breath and gestured to the two armchairs. "I haven't been expelled, but you might want to sit down for this." She herself sat next to Draco and looked at her parents expectantly.

Both adults raised their eyebrows at each other before sitting down. Mr Granger once again eyed Draco curiously but said nothing, waiting for Hermione's explanation.

"Er…" Hermione suddenly wasn't sure where to start. Should she give the details of what happened before her and Draco appeared here? "Okay…well, the reason I'm not at school is…school isn't there."

She saw her parents exchange yet another look and hastened to explain. "I mean, it was there, but it seems to have…disappeared."

"Hermione, are you feeling okay? You don't feel ill at all? Perhaps feverish?"

Hermione paused, confused. "No," she said slowly. "Why would I?"

"Your father and I drove by your school. I can assure you it is still there."

Hermione frowned and gave her mother an odd look. "You…drove past it?"

Mrs Granger nodded, still looking at her daughter in concern.

"But I thought you were going to Aunt Sue's?"

"We did,"

Hermione groaned, closing her eyes and massaging her temples. "But Aunt Sue lives in Kent!"

"We know, dear -"

"How can you have driven past Hogwarts then? It's in Scotland!"

"Hogwarts?" Her mother exclaimed. "What's that?"

Hermione blinked at her mother in disbelief. "Wh-what do you mean, 'what's Hogwarts'?" she stammered.

"Hermione, what is this all about?" Her father finally spoke, leaning forwards and resting his elbows on his knees. "We come home to find you here when you should be at school, you bring a," he paused and looked at Draco briefly. "a friend with you, then you start talking about your school having disappeared. Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

Hermione, still confused by her parents' ignorance of Hogwarts, nodded, barely registering the question she had just been asked.

"But then why are you here? Don't get us wrong, it's not that we're not pleased to see you," Draco rolled his eyes; trust Muggle parents to be overly-sappy. "It's just…if you're not ill, and you haven't been expelled or gotten into any kind of trouble, why have you come home already?"

"I told you-!" Hermione began, snapping out of her bewildered stupor.

"No Hermione, you started talking about your school disappearing, when it quite obviously hasn't! What's going on Hermione, it's not like you to lie." Mr Granger's voice had risen and Draco could tell he was starting to get angry. He sat up a bit straighter; this could be about to get interesting!

"Wh…I'm not lying! Hogwarts really has disappeared, and so has-"

"What is Hogwarts?" Mrs Granger exclaimed exasperatedly. "We've never heard of it!"

"You must have!" Hermione cried. She was beginning to sound hysterical and she could feel the tears welling in her eyes. This was most definitely not going the way she had planned. "It's my school! I've been there for five years!"

Mrs Granger looked at her husband with a mixed expression of confusion and frustration. Mr Granger cleared his throat and decided to change tactics. Clearly they were not getting very far, and he wanted this cleared up. He decided to finally find out who the mysterious boy was that his only daughter had been arguing with on the doorstep.

"Well…are you going to introduce us to this charming young man?" He spoke lightly, hoping Hermione wouldn't notice the poor attempt at changing the subject for the time being.

"Oh," Hermione looked at Draco who simply raised an eyebrow at her. "Mum, dad, this is Ma-Draco. Draco Malfoy."

Mr Granger smiled and leant forward in his seat to offer his hand to Draco. The blonde simply stared at it for a moment, but after a pleading look from Hermione he subtly rolled his eyes and shook the man's hand. "Thank you for your hospitality, sir." He said. Well, Mr Granger certainly hadn't had any choice in the matter, but Draco had been brought up to be polite to adults. So polite he would be. To a certain extent, anyway.

"Quite alright," Mr Granger taken aback at Draco's politeness but nevertheless smiled in return. He hadn't expected a boy who had thus far sat sullenly watching them to be so courteous. "And where did you meet my daughter?"

"He's a schoolmate," Hermione quickly explained. "He goes to Hogwarts too."

Her parents sighed. Obviously their daughter was still stuck on this 'Hogwarts' place.

"I don't know what this school is that you're talking about, or why you would think you have been there for five years, but you got into Queen Elizabeth's (¹), remember?" Her mother said.

"You were so pleased when you got the letter confirming it," Mr Granger said carefully.

Hermione's face fell and she looked from one parent to the other slowly. "Wh-what?" She whispered. "Queen Elizabeth's?" It had been the school she had planned on applying for once she left primary school. But, of course, once she had received her Hogwarts letter she hadn't given the other school a second thought.

Her mother nodded, while her father frowned slightly. "Where did you really meet Draco, Hermione? It can't have been at school,"

"But it was!"

"Hermione, you go to an all girls' school," Mrs Granger pointed out.

"But I don't, I-"

"She's telling the truth," Draco finally felt sorry for the Gryffindor. "We go to Hogwarts; it's a school for witchcraft and wizardry."

Hermione watched, dismayed, as both her parents simply gave Draco blank looks. What was going on, why did they have no idea what school she'd attended for the past few years? Realisation dawned on her and she sighed heavily.

"Hermione?" Her mother asked in concern.

Hermione turned to Draco. "It's the spell," She said lowly. "It's wiping everything magical from the world, so it stands to reason that it wipes peoples' memories of it," She watched as Draco suddenly caught on and he frowned, also looking dejected.

Mr Granger sighed and Hermione turned her attention back to him. "Hermione, this has been a very strange evening and to be honest, I'm quite tired, so what's say we try and sort out this problem tomorrow? That'll give you time to think about what you're really doing away from school during term time."

Although he wasn't actually accusing her of lying, Hermione was suddenly made to feel very small. She nodded and stood up. "Okay, Draco and I will go to bed." She saw her parents' eyes widen and Draco pulling a face and quickly continued, "Not together! I mean, he's been staying in the guest room."

Mr Granger nodded and Hermione hurried from the room. Draco stood and slowly followed her, mumbling a 'good night' to her parents. Just as he walked out of the door he heard Mr Granger speak to his wife quietly and paused to listen

"Don't know what she's playing at…maybe it's the boy's influence," There was a non-committal grunt from Mrs Granger. "A schoolmate…" Draco could picture Mr Granger shaking his head in amusement. "Most likely she was just embarrassed to introduce him to us…probably her boyfriend…"

Draco's jaw dropped and he stared at the door. Him…and Granger…dating?

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A/N: Yeah…not too sure that I like this chapter…somehow I don't think I conveyed the correct reactions from the Grangers upon finding their daughter not at school when she was meant to be, but c'est la vie.

Also…we all thought Draco had changed for the better since being forced to stay with Hermione, but apparently not. I didn't mean to turn him back into someone who would enjoy watching someone else get into trouble, but never mind!

(¹) yes this is a real school, I did some research lol. The full name is Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School…I just figured that had she never heard of Hogwarts, Hermione would probably be an all-girls' school type person :D