Family Feud { Dramione }

Chapter 1: Ferret

Jane Granger loved many things. The day her husband of 30 years presented her with a gift on their first anniversary, a handmade ceramic bowl which was wobbly on one side, it has never once left their mantelpiece. After two blissful years of marriage and her baby girl was introduced to the world, a day has not gone by without her fussing over the tiny troublemaker. When it was revealed that said troublemaker was a witch (which she couldn't believe at first but the professor did turn into a cat before leaving her doorstep), her adoration didn't waver. Even during what she considered as the ultimate test, modifying their memories and sending her and her husband to another continent, the initial betrayal that she felt was overshadowed by the longing she felt for her daughter.

Jane Granger loved the stranger things, too. The curious shine on her husband's eyes when looking at the moving photographs, the willowherb her daughter magicked to bloom all year long, the stack of books or pile of gifts which would appear out of the blue, and finally the preppy owl that seemed to know where she was at all times.

But if there's one thing that Jane Granger didn't like, and dare she say hated, it was the reunions her family held on the weekend after Christmas and before New Year's.

All day long there would be jabs about her bucktooth, or her husband's unruly hair, or the fact that they lived in a modest neighborhood. The worst one that she heard was a rape joke directed at her daughter, how no one would even dare. Jane clenched her fist so hard that bloody, half-crescent indents appeared on her palms. But her brave daughter stood up for herself and rendered their mouths shut.

Going back to the present, Jane took a deep breath to calm her head. She looked at the calendar before her and grimaced, praying for her daughter's sanity.

-

"I really don't understand what the fuss is all about," Hermione Granger's boyfriend said from his position on the couch. He huffed at the orange ball curling itself around his ankle but nevertheless extended his pale arms to pet it.

"They're despicable!" She protested, glaring intensely at the letter that her father had written. Attached to it was the invitation to the party, the elegant script concealed the mess that was sure to come. She can already imagine her mum's apologetic smile.

Hermione loved her parents. They had the kindest souls which, she liked to think, was passed down to her as well. Her little family lived a comfortable life in the suburbs of Hampstead Garden in northwest London. Growing up, she was exposed to the intellectual, artistic and literary wonders that the place had to offer. Her neighborhood also sheltered families from all walks of life and was brimming with varying cultures, principles and beliefs. That's why it had been a real shock for her to receive contempt for her muggleborn heritage. One of the more vocal ones was lounging about their shared apartment and prying Crookshanks off of his trouser leg.

"Honestly Malfoy, haven't I told you to pinch her ear when she does that?" Hermione admonished and upon seeing the glint in his eyes added, "lightly." He laughed and the sound of it made her heart flutter.

Immediately after the Second War, Hermione made the decision with Harry for the harrowing quest of rounding up the last of the escaped Death Eaters. She never thought it would take two long years to accomplish what she thought can be finished in mere months. The first year they spent traveling around the world for sightings and staging captures, the remaining was for the Wizengamot hearings that, as Aurors, they had to be present for.

A party was thrown on Level 2 of the Ministry at the last strike of the gavel, as Hermione would call it. The celebration was meant to be a dignified one, they were at the office after all. But it was the official end of the war for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Their uninhibited drinking was out of sheer relief and finally, finally it was done.