"Herms... Is that really you?" asked Hermione's mother, breaking the silence that had settled upon the living room. 

The sudden sound had Hermione and Severus startled and looking unbelieving at the woman. 

"Mum. Do you remember me again?" asked Hermione with a hopeful expression. The middle-aged woman nodded and stood up to wrap her arms around her daughter with tears streaming down both women's faces. 

A few seconds later Hermione's father joined his wife and newly returned daughter. As the three were standing there embracing each other, Severus just sat there on the couch nearly as stoic as ever, fiddling with his fingers in his lap. 

He wasn't sure how this would affect their relationship or whatever it was that they had. They hadn't talked about that yet so he couldn't be sure.

After a while, Hermione broke the embrace thinking of how uncomfortable this could make him - so instead she sat down next to him again. As soon as everyone was seated again, her parents began bombarding her with questions. Questions such as "How long? When? What happened?" were among them. 

One question, in particular, Hermione had hated, knowing that it would come up. 

"Why?" 

Yes, why? Why did she do this? Why did she erase their memories and sent them to Australia? 

"Back then I didn't know what would happen. I knew that a war was coming in which I would have to fight. I didn't want to cause you pain should I get injured, which was most likely to happen, it was a war after all. Another reason, the main reason for me, was to save you. It was very likely that they were going to come for you as well. I didn't want to risk you two getting tortured and killed, so I did what I thought to be the right thing to do," Hermione explained, her voice growing smaller and smaller. 

Again, those treacherous tears were stinging her eyes threatening to fall. Cautiously Severus pulled her into his chest, murmuring things only she could hear, trying to soothe her.

After a while, she seemed to have calmed down again and her father spoke for the first time. 

"It is okay, Hermione. We know that you only did it to save us, and we're more than grateful for that. But we are more thankful for you returning our memories. We always felt that there was something very important missing in our lives." 

"You should be thanking Severus. He showed me the way to do it. I already tried but was just unsuccessful," said the young witch smiling at her companion. 

"Why don't you just introduce him to us?" asked her mother with an arched eyebrow that could compete with Severus'. 

"Mom, Dad, this is Severus, my partner. Sev, these are my parents, Jean and Peter Granger," said Hermione, blushing. 

"It's nice to meet you," said Severus shaking hands with both of them. 

Jean glanced at her watch and said: "I think I'll prepare something for dinner. Herms, could you lend me a hand?" asked the brown-haired muggle woman, already on her way into the kitchen. 

Hermione knew that her mother expected her to follow her, and so she did. Jean pulled various vegetables and some meat out of the fridge in the kitchen and placed everything on the countertop for Hermione and her to wash and cut.

"Now, you said that Severus is your partner. What kind of partner do you mean by that?" asked the mother. Hermione just blushed and answered:  "He is my friend, my boyfriend I assume, but he is not the man you introduce to your parents as your boyfriend. And we haven't even talked about what we are yet. It's too fresh." 

"Wasn't one of your professors' name Snape, too?" 

"Yes. Severus was my potions professor. After the war which ended roughly a year after I took your memories, I redid my last school year, and then I hid away in my flat in London. 

This year was the first time it did snow in London in years, so I decided to go on a walk. I slipped on an icy puddle, and he caught me. He didn't remember me, and I was just shocked to see him - after all, I thought that he had died. 

He did die in the final battle. I tried to reanimate him, successfully, but he fell into a deep coma. He was in a coma for more than a year and the medi- witch and I already lost our hopes, so I left everything behind. It was quite a shock to see him alive after 3 years, you know? Anyway, he invited me to have tea with him and then the flashbacks started. 

At first, he didn't remember anything from his former life. I helped him regain his memories, and somehow we grew closer. Over the course of these few days I fell in love with him," explained Hermione. 

In the meantime, the vegetables were prepared and Jean put them into a pan together with the meat. 

"I'm happy as long as you are happy. I see that you love him and the way he looks at you, I can tell that he is completely smitten with you, he outright adores you. The way he comforted you showed me everything I needed to see." 

Jean Granger walked over to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her. 

"Thank you, mum."

++++++

Back in the living room, the two men were sitting across each other, neither of them talking. 

After a few minutes of rather uncomfortable silence, Peter Granger stood, walked over to what must be his liquor cabinet, pulled out two whisky tumblers and a bottle of fine whisky. 

"You do drink whisky, don't you?" asked the brown-haired man. 

Severus just nodded and took the glass thankful. 

"Now, you and my daughter, eh?" he asked a bit sceptical. 

"Well, obviously yes. But before you start judging, hear me out. I absolutely love her and I would do anything for her. Should she find someone she loves more than me, I'd let her go. It would break my heart, but nevertheless, I'd let her go, so she could be happy." 

Hermione's father smiled warmly at his guest. "Now I know that you are the right man for her. Just remember two things: take care of her and never let her be alone in a room full of books for a longer period of time. When she was a little girl, she read through whole nights without getting any sleep. It even went so far that I took each and every book from her to get her to sleep. It wasn't healthy." 

Severus chuckled. He could vividly imagine her just doing so. 

"I think that won't be a problem. I myself am an avid reader, and she will have all hands full of work once her apprenticeship starts." 

Her father laughed and refilled both of their glasses; "Good to know." 

"Dinner is ready!" called the voice of Jean Granger from the kitchen. 

Only minutes later, they were sitting at the dining table eating and idly chatting away.

Later that evening, all four of them were back in the living room drinking a bottle of wine and still chatting about everything and anything. 

"Are you going to stay here or is there a chance that you come back to England?" asked Hermione. 

Her parents just looked at each other, not knowing what they wanted to do. After a while, her mother answered, albeit reluctantly. 

"I think that we just might come back to England. Australia is fine and all that, but it's not the same knowing that you belong somewhere else." 

Hermione's father nodded in agreement and Hermione and Severus smiled at them. 

"I think it's time for us to go back to Hogwarts, my love," said Severus, looking down at the woman nestled so comfortably into his arms. 

"I believe you're right. Would you activate the portkey?" answered a sleepy Hermione. 

He stood up and produced an old key from his pocket. With a small incantation and a flourish of his wand, the key gleamed silver for a few seconds before looking just as normal as before. 

"We have to leave in 10 minutes, Hermione," whispered the black-haired man. He stuck out his hand for her to take to help her up. 

"It's time for us to go back. It is so great to have you back in my life," said Hermione once she stood. 

They went to the parlour and put on their shoes. Hermione found herself in her mother's arms after she had her heels back on. 

"Come back soon, won't you? And don't let him go, he's a good man" whispered the older woman into the younger one's ear. Then she embraced Severus before he moved on to bidding Peter a goodbye, who pulled Severus aside. 

"Take good care of my little girl, won't you? She loves you more than her books and that has to say something," he winked and bid his daughter's friend goodbye. 

"Don't fear for her. I know she loves me and I love her. I will protect her and care for her with everything I can. I promise," said Severus solemnly, before returning to Hermione's side. 

The portkey activated, and he wrapped her into his arms. 

She was able to wave a quick goodbye before they got transported back to England.