Hermione Granger received a book from Albus Dumbledore upon his death. In the back of it was a letter that he knew only a muggleborn could decipher. In between a properly worded letter of encouragement, he gave her the precise locations and ownership of all of the order's safe houses. These were to be used "in the utmost time of need, when all other options have turned to dust." She thought he was merely giving them a safe place to regroup if Harry died or some other terrible thing happened.

Nothing could have prepared her for the reality he had set in motion when his estate had been bequeathed.

Late one evening, after recently moving from Grimmauld to another safehouse with Ron and Harry in order to hunt the horcruxes, there came a knock at the door. No one should have been able to ever find the house, so it was frightening. Gathering her courage as lady of the house, she crept to the door and opened it a crack, only to find Lucius Malfoy, standing on her front porch with his family and a horde of other known death eaters milling about nervously behind him. They all looked worn and unkempt.

"Be quick and tell me why I shouldn't simply kill you all. Be assured, I am quite capable of it within three wand flicks," she said with a sneer and her wand sticking out menacingly. Upon recognizing her, they all expressed some level of shock. Lucius gathered his wits speedily and answered her.

"I beg your pardon and your mercy to us as fugitives. We are here under the direction of a spell of Dumbledore's. He timed the spell to be released upon his death and the arrival of his bequeathment to my son, Draco." He pivoted back to display his son holding a brilliantly glowing object. Draco held up the small, golden pyramid at his father's cue. "On it was inscribed, 'Direction will come to you when you are ready to seek help from what you despise most of all.' The spell only worked when this golden pyramid was held by a person ready to turn from the Dark Lord. It brought us not to this house, but to you. He really did know how to be cryptic, didn't he, Miss Granger?" Lucius asked with a chuckle.

Narcissa stepped forward and pleaded, "We know you have no reason to trust us, but we are all willing to submit to questioning, even under veratiserum. We have no where else to go. We cannot follow that madman any longer. Please help us." Her hair was matted and dirty and her usually pristine face was gaunt and smeared with dirty tear tracks. There was something in her earnestness that made Hermione pause.

Hermione held out her hand, and all of their wands and second wands shot from their holsters and into her waiting bottomless bag at a silent, wandless spell. "Octavian," she called without moving her eyes from the potential danger.

"Yes, mistress?" A little gray house elf in a riotously colorful, hand-knit toga blinked into the space beside her and bowed.

"Please tell the boys that we have guests that I will not permit to be manhandled and that they need to retrieve five of the veratiserum bottles from my green cabinet. Then please prepare rooms for these families. I am sure they would all feel more comfortable if placed in slightly larger groupings than is customary, but we do what we can for hospitality, right Octavian? Settle each of the families together, at least for tonight. We'll make amendments to the bed roster as we go. And tell Fannie to pull together a hearty stew and enough crusty bread for everyone. The boys and I will take dinner with everyone in the great room after we have our interviews. Thank you." With that last instruction, the house elf bowed and then blinked out to get it all done.

"Alright, come in through the foyer to the music room on the left, please," she said with a flourish of her wand. "Mr. Malfoy, please stand here and make our introductions. He stepped to her side with his family huddled to his other side and introduced all fifty-two of the witches and wizards who entered.

Once all wizards and witches were in the music room, Hermione called Tilly to serve tea to the weary and worried bunch. Then the interviews began. One by one, the party was called back to talk with the boys, who had not yet made an appearance to the group. As each finished their interview, they were escorted by a house elf, back through the music room and into the public parlor across the hall.

Finally, two hours after they began, the last interview was completed and dinner was served.

Dinner was a quiet, informal affair at the magically-elongated wooden table. Hermione was mulling over the logistics of keeping so many death eaters all in one house. The former death eaters were mourning what they had lost, as they left with very little to their names and no way to keep themselves for more than a few days time. Finally, Hermione had a breakthrough, and with it she broke the deep silence that had settled around the diners.

"Tell me, Mr. Malfoy, do house elves serve a dwelling or a family line?"

"A family line, of course, Miss Granger."

"Forgive me Mr. Malfoy, there is nothing in my life that would have prepared me for such a supposition. I am merely attempting to gather enough information to formulate a successful game plan. You see, we have space enough for all of you, even when divided up more comfortably. However, my three house elves have a difficult time enough serving those we've already hidden and ourselves. We also do not have the means to support all of your needs."

"I see. That is a problem, then, Miss Granger," Lucius replied.

Draco interrupted with a sneer, "And she has a plan percolating already. Right, Granger?"

"Oi, let her finish," Ron chastized.

"Yeah Malfoy, I know that smirk. She's got a big idea on the tip of her tongue," Harry finally jumped in.

"Boys, be polite," Hermione said. Returning her attention to Mr. Maylfoy, she said, "would you please call your lead house elf?"

"Grimpy, please come here." To no one's surprise, a house elf popped in beside his master. "Grimpy, this is Miss Hermione Granger. She has a few instructions for you. Follow her instructions to the letter."

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. Grimpy, I have several instructions for you. First, I wish for you to pack up all the items your masters will need to live comfortably for the foreseeable future and bring it all here to be put away at their discretion. Assume anything you leave behind will be destroyed. Second, I wish you to gather all the family heirlooms and items your master will not wish to be destroyed when his defection is made known. Please deposit these in a place safe from danger but easily accessible to your master. Again, please assume that anything you do not take will be destroyed. Third, please gather the house elves under service to your master for further instruction on future duties and placement tomorrow morning. Do not allow any of you to be seen or caught by those currently occupying the Master's residences. Your safety is more important than the immediate removal of all items because you could get back in only as long as you survive. Your master will have additional instruction ready for you then. Thank you."

"That is all, Grimpy. Do as she says. Do not be seen or heard and report back at 8:30 am," Lucius reinforced the directives. Narcissa whimpered under her handkerchief as Draco patted her shoulder. Hermione noticed.

"Mrs. Malfoy, I understand that this is difficult for you. Please believe me when I say I understand what you are going through. My parents made a similar move that cost them their house, their client base, and all knowledge of their only daughter. Take heart that you have your husband and son with you. Harry, Ron, and I will do everything in our power to help make this temporary situation as painless as possible for you. Together, we will get through this." Draco now held his openly weeping mother and looked up at the unexpectedly strong and compassionate muggleborn with an expression of gratitude, frustration, and confusion. He hated confusion. "Your room is third floor up, second door on the right. Bathroom is at the far end of the hall. Please make yourselves comfortable. If you'd stay a moment longer, Mr. Malfoy, Harry needs to discuss a few matters with you, now that you are free of the potion." Harry led Lucius Malfoy back to the office to discuss the effect of having so many dark marks would have on the house.

Hermione asked all the family heads to request similar actions from their house elves, reminding them that they could rebuild if needed. All families were settled in the upper, unused rooms and the Golden Trio settled into a well-warded room in the hidden wing, taking turns at guarding through the night. Stress and fear ate at them all, even as they slept in between fitful dreams.

Over a breakfast of raisin oatmeal and fresh juice, Hermione's nerves snapped and she slammed her spoon down on the hardwood table and began in a raised voice as her magic bubbled over, "I don't see why purebloods ever felt they had to oppose muggleborns. You're all so interested in breeding, I would have thought your people would welcome the chance to save your children from the diseases that come from inbreeding, at the very least. Wouldn't the childhood integration of muggleborns be much more beneficial to purebloods than exclusion. I mean, if muggleborn children were adopted as distant relatives or godchildren, then their success would reflect honor to the adopted pureblood family instead of being a threat. And we'd come into Hogwarts knowing how to be wizards and witches outside of academia. We'd become bicultural, making us acceptable potential spouses and great resources for navigating the wider world. Wizard-kind would no longer be imprisoned in a gilded cage built by fear and hatred. I mean, witch hunts are a thing of the past in the muggle world.

"And personally, I cannot count the times I've wished some person who knew what I was going through would have had the foresight to take an interest at a younger age. The culture shock would have been much less and I wouldn't have had so many habits that you all find so distasteful." Hermione was so worked up that accidental magic radiated from her like blue waves of electricity. Harry, having seen this before, looked for a good point to jump in with a thoughtful question so she's come back to her senses. The rest of the crowd were at once in awe of her bubbling magical reserves, which were strong enough to buffet their own magical cores, and in deep fear, as most people who lost it this far couldn't be pulled back from the madness that accompanied a loss of magical control.

"Muggles have several instances where a child's development becomes the interest of adults outside of his or her nuclear family. For example, older men and women will occasionally adopt a child as a grandchild, unofficially, of course, and lavish their attentions and elderly wisdom upon said child, much like a real grandparent might do. Alternatively, there is a program called Big Brothers, Big Sisters. That program allows volunteers to be in a relationship much like that of a godparent. It instills values into the children that wouldn't have been there otherwise. Merlin! I wish you all had been even just a BIT more forward thinking! We wouldn't have had even a portion of the problem we do now..."

"Do many muggleborns have godparents already?" Harry asked calmly, trying to get her to calm down. In answer to a raised eyebrow from Lucius Malfoy, he whispered, "It only takes a smart question to bring her back down. No worries, mate, she's got this."

Derailed from her tirade, Hermione answered, "Eh... no, Harry. Not many muggle children outside of the Catholic church have godparents these days. I wonder, hmm. I wonder what it would take to get muggleborns identified early and given magical godparents so that they could be a benefit instead of a scarey unknown."

"Why?" Draco sneered at her, his confusion settling into anger that set him back to his habitual prejudice. Seeing where she was going with this Lucius answered with his honestly changed opinion.

"Why not, son? Did you not see evidence of her magical reserves? Surely, we are all wondering who will benefit from Miss Granger's hard work and potential. Which family will be raised in prestige, after all of this madness has passed, for being linked to such an intelligent and determined young woman through marriage? If she were a pureblood, she would already have had dozens of offers for alliance. Her in-laws will not really have had any input into her development, but they will certainly reap of the benefits. If she were to have been given godparents to help her decipher our world the way purebloods do, imagine what she would have already achieved! And she would have been able to link two families instead of being quietly shunted to a hidden corner of the family tree. There's much merit in her god-parenting suggestion, son."

"But father..."

"No son. If we'd had ties to the muggle world, we would not have been so destitute when we traitorously fled. We could have hidden in the multitudes instead of crawling, blindly led to our possible doom by that madman's trinket." Lucius was not one to be naysayed once he'd made his mind, and he'd done just that after finally meeting the famous Hermione Granger.

No one knew what had happened just then until much later, but that moment marked the turning point in the war and in wizarding society. It brought about a Golden Renaissance to the purebloods and an age of unparalleled acceptance to muggleborns.