Hermione dressed carefully that morning. Instead of her normal robes she picked out an ankle length wool circle skirt dyed so that it faded from white at the waistband to golden yellow at the bottom with an ankle length cotton slip for warmth and a white sweater over a matching golden yellow long sleeved shirt and an undershirt. She checked her loose bun to make sure it was secure and pinned a golden yellow snood over it, as the method of travel she intended to use had made her hair fall out of its style on more than one occasion. She slipped her feet into comfortable, worn in boots, grabbed her purse and waist length ocean blue knit cape. She tied a knit ocean blue bonnet over her hair and draped a matching scarf about her neck before putting on mittens. Hermione had checked and as while it was cold, it wasn't snowing where she was going she'd decided to forgo a coat-although there was one she kept in a magically expanded inner pocket in her purse along with basic survival supplies. A couple changes of clothing and Christmas gifts were already packed away in the purse, leaving her hands free.

The students would be leaving after breakfast for winter holidays and as soon as the train reached London that evening, Hermione would be on her way. It had taken a long time-far too long, part of her could not help but whisper-but Hermione had finally made a decision. She could only hope that her father would eventually forgive her for what she was about to do.

"Going to visit family?" she asked Neville, joining him in the Entrance Hall. The former Auror was currently apprenticed to Professor Sprout and would likely take her position once the woman retired.

"I am. Hannah's introducing me to her family."

"Oh. I hadn't realized you two were so serious."

He nodded. "I know we've only been dating for a couple months, but I love her. So… what are you doing for the holidays?"

"I'm heading to Bludhaven to visit my parents," she said. "Fifi is dating a necromancer and I want to make sure he's not going to use her as a human sacrifice or something."

Neville snorted. "I take it you're not the only member of your family that enjoys walking on the wild side."

"Nev, we live on the wild side." Hermione shrugged. "As a nice, law abiding citizen, I'm the black sheep of the family."

"Law abiding?"

"Oh hush. You know what I mean."

"I thought your parents are professional torturers."

"They're dentists, not professional torturers, and you know it," laughed Hermione. One of their classmates back in first year had thought that dentists were Muggle torturers and it had stuck. "Although please don't say anything about being paid to torture people in front of my cousins. It might give them ideas."

"Still trying to make it as thugs?"

"Nah. They read some comic book and decided that creating their own Thieves' Guild would be-and I quote-'awesome.'" (1)

"Your family is insane."

"You just figured that out now? So, how's your grandmother doing?"

"Gran's good. Still pressuring me about great grandchildren…"

They spoke quietly until the students were accounted for and safely loaded onto the train. Hermione said her goodbyes and got onto the train, settling in a nearly empty compartment. After the war, Headmistress McGonagall had declared that at least one professor rode the Hogwarts Express whenever it was transporting students for safety purposes. Hermione had volunteered to take both trips for the Christmas Holidays as she was leaving the school anyway.

She tucked away her winter wear and pulled out a ball of yarn and a set of double pointed knitting needles. Hermione had spent the better part of the past year knitting gifts for her various relatives-it gave her hands something to do in staff meetings and had somehow gotten her the position of head of the Hogwarts Sewing Circle her first year as a professor-and was currently working on a sock, to match the other sock she'd already made. By the time they reached Kings Cross, she'd been talking into giving an impromptu knitting lesson to several girls and finished the sock.

Hermione put her bonnet, cape, scarf, and mittens, all in matching ocean blue back on. She waited patiently until all the students had either left or been picked up before walking into the non-magical area of King's Cross. It didn't take her long to find a shady, out of the way area. She allowed her eyes and incisors to return to normal. She would not hide who she was, not now. After making sure that there were no Muggles nearby, she opened her connection to the shadows.

She allowed herself to become one with the shadows and then sped off, travelling from shadow to shadow at incredible speed. Travelling through shadows used less energy and was far easier and more comfortable to Hermione than either apparition or portkeys or floo. In a blink of the eye she was in Ireland, and then in the ocean. The waves themselves made shadows naturally and Hermione was able to navigate the Atlantic Ocean in a matter of minutes, reaching dry land quickly. Hermione paused long enough to find a sign which said what town she was in before heading south.

Hermione left the shadows long enough to leave the clothing, presents, and other miscellanea in her room in Bludhaven and put her purse back on before leaving. Everybody was either at work or school and she had no reason to stay. And if she stayed, Hermione knew she would loose her courage. Hermione slipped back into the shadows and headed north, following the coastline so that she did not become lost. Upon reaching Manhattan she left the shadows. The person she was searching for was in a bar a couple blocks away.

Hermione honestly had no idea how to feel about Warrior's. It was full of superhero memorabilia, particularly those related to the Green Lanterns. Given her history, she was leery of capes and supervillains at the best of times. At the worst… there was a reason she'd left the Obliviators. Although at least it was a cape themed bar. She would have been sorely tempted to curse everybody in sight had it been supervillain themed, assuming she had even been able to talk herself into entering. (2)

Inside were a number of obviously metahuman and nonhuman patrons. Her scarlet eyes, fangs, and claws painted a delicate shade of champagne fit right in. Some, she faintly recognized from various non-magical tabloids and newspapers, although Hermione was unfamiliar enough with the various capes that she could not actually put names to faces. There were no supervillains within, she was sure. Otherwise there would probably have been a brawl. She glanced about finding the person she was looking for rather easily. He was seated with a faintly familiar blond man in an out of the way booth. Was the blond a cape or some sort? She supposed it would make sense. Hermione waved off the woman who greeted her.

"No thanks, I see the person I'm here to meet," said Hermione.

She slipped between the tables until she reached the appropriate booth. Hermione bit her lip nervously. "Good afternoon."

"Miss… you know, I never did get your name," said her grandfather, the older of the two men.

His dark hair peppered with gray and wrinkled face were much the same as they had been the last time they'd met. It had been over a decade and he looked the same now as he did then. That wasn't normal, but Hermione supposed it didn't matter. Nobody in this family really qualified as normal. She was a little surprised that he remembered her, given that she'd said perhaps two sentences to him.

"Hermione Granger," she said. Hermione took a deep breath. "I should have told you this the first time we met, however my courage failed me. I believe you've been searching for Jake Grant. I know where he is and what name he's using now."

Both the blond man and her grandfather gaped at her. Finally, her grandfather cleared his throat, "Sit down kid. You hungry?"

"I wouldn't mind a drink," she offered.

Hermione hadn't decided yet whether she was willing to eat with them or not. She'd met far too many of her mother's relatives to be willing to trust a family member for a meal. Then again, he didn't seem so bad, for a cape at least.

The blond stood, allowing Hermione to take the inside of the booth. Presumably so that she couldn't run away-although perhaps that was just her paranoia speaking. She took off her outerwear and purse tucking them in beside her. The man slid back into the seat, moving his drink out of her way.

"I'm Sandy Hawkins," said the blond. (3)

"Nice to meet you again, Mr. Hawkins."

"Please, call me Sandy.

"Then call me Hermione."

"How-how do you know Jake?" said Ted Grant, barely keeping hold of his patience. Hermione couldn't begrudge him his impatience and ill temper. She knew that her grandfather had been searching for her father desperately ever since he had been kidnapped nearly sixty years prior.

"In the past my mother had been known to make forgeries to supplement her income-particularly driver's licenses, birth certificates, marriage certificates, passports, and the like," explained Hermione. "She made his papers about thirty two years ago. I was born nine and a half months later."

"Now look here-"

"This isn't a scam," interrupted Hermione. "I have no issue with submitting to a DNA test if you want me to. My father and I have very little to do with each other even during the best of times, however he has never denied that I am his child." She looked down. "I doubt he'll ever forgive me for speaking to you, however you deserve to have the chance to speak to him before he dies for the final time."

"The final time?" said Sandy.

"Do you trust him?"

"With my life," said Ted.

"Good enough, I suppose." Hermione waited until the passing waitress had taken her order and left to answer Sandy's question. "He's died eight times already. His next death is his last."

Hermione pushed forward a piece of paper. "This is his current name and address, his safe houses and alternate aliases. Well, the ones I know, at least. He… he won't be happy to see you."

"Why?" said Ted, taking the piece of paper.

"My father only spoke about you to me once. He… well, he blames you for not rescuing him." Hermione shook his head. "He's angry… very angry with you."

(1) This is a reference to the Thieves Guild in Marvel Comics. How characters in the DC universe found out about it, I don't know.

(2) Warrior's was a bar in New York City somewhere run by Guy Gardner. Of course, this was back in the 90s, however I personally preferred Guy as Warrior to Guy as a Green Lantern as he is now (I think. I really need to catch up on what's going on).

(3) Sanderson "Sandy" Hawkins was originally Sandy the Golden Boy and the sidekick of the Sandman back in the 1940s and both were members of the original JSA. He spent a couple decades in suspended animation after becoming a sand monster only to be freed during an incident in the 1970s and then became human again-sort of. Anyway, currently, he supposedly was normal and human again for about five years before joining the newly reformed JSA after the death of the original Sandman. However, I feel something closer to a decade would have made more sense. In case you're wondering, the first time he and Hermione met was only a couple months after he got out of suspended animation.