"Now, we need another picture of her at the desk...maybe with a quill in her hand?" Skeeter suggested.
"I think that's enough," Hermione said with a hint of exasperation in her voice. "I've allowed your makeup person to cover me in this stuff," She indicated her face "and I've had at least a dozen pictures taken of me. I think we can call it well enough."
Sirius had returned over a half an hour previous and was currently smirking at Hermione as he was making snide comments to Harry. "And you," Hermione glared at Harry's godfather. "If you think it's so funny, then I think Ms. Skeeter might want to interview you next."
"That's an excellent idea," Rita's eyes lit up as she turned to Sirius and eyed him like a hunk of meat. "After you little speech today and the fact you're going to be awarded the Order of Merlin First Class; I think a nice background story would go over very well with my editor."
"I agree," Harry said. "Maybe a shot of him shirtless since he does consider himself a lady's man."
"Oh," Rita exclaimed as she looked hungrily at Sirius. "He does?"
"We are going to talk," Sirius yelled after the teens who, with smirks on their faces, strolled out of the Minister's office while Sirius was being pushed into a seat as the makeup person advanced on him.
...
"So this is that thing that's going to allow us to see your memories?" Richard Granger asked when Hermione pulled the heavy stone basin from the bag. "Doesn't look like much. In fact it resembles a fancy birdbath."
"It does look a bit like one doesn't it?" Hermione laughed. "But it is in fact a very very rare magical artifact called a Pensieve. Now where shall we begin?" The last part was addressed to Harry.
Harry shrugged. "The beginning? How about Hogwarts as we first saw it?"
"Sounds like an excellent starting spot," Hermione agreed. "I know my first letter tried to describe it, but it could never convey the experience," She lifted her wand to start to pull the memory, but Harry was already doing the same thing.
Richard and Jean Granger both gasped when the silvery substance started to come out of Harry's head. "What...what are you doing?" Jean asked.
"Oh..." Harry stopped in surprise. "Eh...guess we should have explained that part first," He finished wrapping the silver strands around his wand and put them in the Pensive. "This stuff is a memory or in this case, a copy of a memory. Now if we tap...here, here and here," When he finished touching the last rune with his wand an image appeared above the bowl. It showed a bunch of children following a very large man.
"Let me enlarge it," Hermione said and she quickly performed the same spell that had been used at the Ministry after the battle and during the courtroom proceedings. Now the Grangers could see the first years following a man over twice their size down a narrow path.
"That's Hagrid," Hermione explained as she pointed to him. "He's the half-giant we know. His mother was a full giant and his father was a wizard."
"Jus' round this bend here," The memory Hagrid said over his shoulder. At the bend the path opened onto Black Lake, and on the other side, overlooking the lake was Hogwarts.
"OOOOHH!" The kids all exclaimed as the castle appeared. Richard and Jean Granger imitated the sound as their own breath was taken away at the site of the castle perched high on the mountain with its many turrets and towers.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Hermione asked her parents but didn't receive an answer because both of them had inched closer to the image and was staring intently at it.
Hermione glanced at her husband and nodded. He tapped a rune and the image disappeared. "We have a lot to show you, but if you'd like to see anything again just let us know," She again looked at Harry, "What next?"
"I know," Harry said as he lifted his wand to his head again. "Matches to needles; our first day. I mean you were the only one..."
Hermione thought it was silly that she felt herself blush over a simple spell she'd had some success with in her first transfiguration class but she did. She also knew Harry was showing that memory for her and her parents. "I'll clean this one out," She murmured as she snatched the memory in the basin with her wand and put it in a small vial. She had conjured several of the vials to hold memories that her parents might wish to see again or that they needed to give to Madam Bones later.
Harry again deposited a memory in the bowl and soon a Hogwarts classroom emerged above the bowl. In the memory, McGonagall could be seen walking up and down the aisles of desks as students kept pointing their wands and muttering 'Mutacus'.
"You remember Professor McGonagall?" Hermione asked.
"We're not likely to forget her," Richard said causing Hermione to wince at both his tone and the fact that they had indeed forgotten McGonagall in the future. "You look so young," Her father said as he stared at the vision above the Pensieve. He felt a moment of sadness as he watched his little girl as she used to be.
"Our time is complete," The memory McGonagall said. "It appears that Miss Granger was the only one with any success today," She held up a small object as she nodded at the memory Hermione. "See how it has a point and is all silvery? I expect better results from the rest of you next class along with a two foot essay on the basics of transfigurations we covered earlier."
A snort could be heard from beside memory Harry. The focus of the memory turned to see a young Ron Weasley. "She's just trying to show off," He muttered.
"Sorry," Harry said to his wife. "I didn't realize I'd got that part."
"No matter," Hermione replied. "I noticed that you didn't agree with him."
"I did sometimes..." Harry admitted.
Hermione shrugged. "He was your friend."
"Can I see this troll thing now?" Richard asked.
"I was going to show us in our first flying lesson, but we can show you that if you wish," Hermione replied. Soon another enlarged image appeared over the basin. It was the inside of a loo stall and Hermione's sobs could easily be heard, but soon the sound of a door opening emerged followed by heavy, slow footsteps as well as something sliding across the floor.
"Who's there?" Memory Hermione called and was answered by a grunt and a roar. Then the bathroom door could be heard closing with a solid slam. Another grunt could be heard then a crash. Memory Hermione sniffed and then opened the loo door only to find herself facing a fully grown twelve foot mountain troll.
Both Grangers gasped in unison along with the memory Hermione. "THAT...that's the troll?" Richard asked as he pointed at the creature. "It...huge!" Though Harry had said twelve feet a few days earlier, words and pictures were two entirely different things when it comes to measuring danger. "It's got to be at least ten feet!"
Hermione tapped the rune that paused the image. "It's closer to twelve. I went back and measured a couple of days later. What you can't tell from this is just how bad it smelled."
"Twelve?" Richard murmured as he stared at the troll and then his eyes moves slowly toward Harry. "You actually fought that?"
"You'll see," Harry replied with a shrug as he tapped the continue rune.
....
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