Chapter Sixteen
Chocolate Frogs
You said, remember that life is
Not meant to be wasted
We can always be chasing the sun!
So fill up your lungs and just run
But always be chasing the sun!
(Chasing the Sun - Sara Bareilles)August 1st, 1971Despite the horror stories of getting splinched—including actually experiencing it
herself while on the run the past year—Hermione still preferred to travel by Apparition
over Floo or Portkey. While Harry and Ron each preferred the simplicity of using the Floo,
Sirius agreed with her on her favoured method of getting from place to place, though he
insisted that her reason for enjoying Apparition was simply because she had been the first
in her class to get her licence, and continuing to use the skill she had so quickly picked up
was a silent way of patting herself on the back without drawing attention or publicly
inflating her ego. She never argued with him over it.
Hermione's least favourite method of travel was Portkey.
It was a rough process that was never as instantaneous as Apparating, and she had
rarely ever been able to land squarely on her feet once she arrived at a destination. Still,
sometimes a Portkey was the fastest and most efficient way to travel, especially over long
distances.
Immediately after the war, she had obtained an International Portkey allowing her
to travel to Australia to see her mum and dad.
She told passing acquaintances that her parents now lived in Melbourne, eager to
start an early retirement. She told closer friends that she had altered their memories for
their own good. But those who knew her best had been told the truth: there was no coming
back from the in-depth way Hermione had Obliviated her parents. It was for their own
safety, she knew, but they were lost to her forever. Still, she had requested a Portkey and,
for eight hours, spent a day in Australia, tailing Wendell and Monica Wilkins just to make
sure they were happy. When she went home, she had immediately collapsed