Redemption II

Chapter 86

The carriage was a beautiful white stagecoach on the outside but the inside was much bigger. Two rooms, a sitting room with enough space for four people and another room with four single beds. Patriotic in its colors, the Minister for Magic of Australia had offered her own personal transportation as a way of keeping the tension between their two great nations down. It had been fitted with the best food Australia had to offer as well as a full potions cabinet. A healer had been offered to accompany them but had been declined.

Mr. Granger had been carefully levitated inside onto one of the beds with his astonished wife at his side. Hermione had taken her place beside her mother while Severus and Harry made themselves comfortable in the cabin. Shacklebolt had ensured the Minister that one Auror was more than enough to keep everything on course. That and he wanted to make Snape squirm, just a little, for having caused him so much trouble.

They had taken to the air without incident. Now four hours in, everyone was in various states of rest. Severus had his head down on his chest with his arms crossed while Harry had laid down completely on the bench and was happily snoring away. They hadn't said two words to the other choosing to look out the window or sit in pensive silence.

Inside the bedroom, Mrs. Granger held her daughter's head in her lap, her fingers lightly running through her tangled curls. The emotional roller coaster they had both been on had simultaneously invigorated them and exhausted them. Hermione had joined two of the beds into one, allowing her mother to stretch out beside her husband. Nothing about the world she was experiencing made any sense but her daughter had explained everything that she could. She had taken it as it was, but her heart was still worried. More and more memories were starting to fall back into place now. Bringing a whole new series of questions. Though her first and foremost priority was the safety of the two she loved most in this world.

Jean tilted her head down to look at Hermione's face, her fingers tracing over the faint lines that were starting to appear around her eyes. The marks of womanhood. Her heart told her it had been a long time—too long—since she'd held her. She didn't want to let her go now, especially in a world that made no sense. All this magic around her was more than she could possibly take in at once. She felt honored to share in the world that her daughter had become apart of but she was no fool, with every light there was a shadow.

"Hermione...?"

"Mmm?" Hermione hadn't realized how much she had missed her mother's hold, not until she had laid down against her, too exhausted to remain awake.

"Who is that man in the black coat?" Jean shifted slightly when Hermione turned her head from her stomach to look up at her with sleep-heavy eyes. She glanced over at Robert when he let out a soft sigh turning his head on his pillow.

"Black coat...?" Hermione's brain took excessively long to click into place, "Severus?"

"Stern face, glare that would turn any army around screaming for their mothers."

Hermione grinned ever so slightly bringing her hand up to rub at her eye, "Severus."

Jean's brow rose at the grin that was forming on her daughter's face and her mother's intuition kicked in. "Something I need to know, young lady?"

The grin straightened out quickly but the blush that took over was telling enough to a mother's eye. Still, his strict appearance worried her. "Is he kind to you?"