Home is Where the Heart Lies || Harmione

Chapter 1.4

When Hermione's parents regain their memory, she breaks down completely.

They're in her parents' old house, cleaning things up and getting it ready for their return when Harry hears a crash. He runs to the living room only to find her sorting through broken shards of a photo frame that had held a picture of Mr Granger, Mrs Granger and seven-year-old Hermione.

"I was just going to return these photos to the wall and I must have made a mistake when levitating them—"

But her eyes are glassy, and her bottom lip is trembling, and Harry knows she wouldn't make a mistake like that.

"Hermione," He says softly. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I've wanted them to remember me for so long now, but now I'm terrified, Harry. What if they hate me for what I did? I lied to them, I broke their trust, I'm a terrible daughter—"

"Stop it!" Harry takes a hold of her shoulders, "You wanted them alive. We were teenagers in the middle of a war, making impossible choices that no one should have to make. Isn't that what you always tell me? Don't be so hard on yourself."

Harry has to spend hours reassuring her that it will be okay, that her parents will forgive her, that they'll see that she did it for them. But there is an unsettling, twisting feeling of guilt in the pit of his stomach as he remembers that—no, she did all of this for him. She gave up the life and family she knew, the possibility of ever knowing them again, to go with him.

Seventeen-year-old him was too much of an emotional mess to give that action the attention it deserved, but the more time passes, the more Harry is astounded at the gravity of all Hermione has done for him. All she has sacrificed to just stand beside him.

It humbles him and scares him and fills him with all these emotions that he has no idea what to do with. All he knows is that he's going to spend the rest of his days making sure that she is cared for and loved as fiercely as she has always loved him.

When Hermione finally meets her parents again, Harry is right there with her to offer support. What follows is a lot of hugs and crying, but the moment that sticks with him is when Mrs Granger takes one look at him and just knows:

"Harry Potter...we've heard so much about you."