"So why are you giving this to her for her birthday?" Hermione's father (whose name had been lost to the void) said as he rose his eyebrow, "You know she doesn't care much for video games."
"You mean you've never actually let her play a video game," Hermione's Uncle said, "Anyway look at her go, she's doing great!"
"Oh, it looks like I've died," Hermione said as she dropped the controller and looked at her mother, "Does this mean I'm done playing now?"
Hermione's father smirked as he watched the red plumber plummet to the bottom of the pit, "Man she's doing so well, isn't she?"
Hermione's uncle frowned, "Don't worry I still have a bunch of back up ideas," He said before he turned to Hermione, "Hey Hermione you like fictional books right?"
Hermione nodded.
"Do you like the ones with knights and dragons?"
"I think she's a little too old for those kinds of books," Hermione's mother said, "She's been reading War and Peace lately and-"
"Yeah that's nice, I don't really care," Hermione's uncle talked over Hermione's mother, "Anyway I got this game..."
Hermione and her mother groaned at the same time.
"...And I'm sure you'll like it, it's called Dragon Quest 4."
Hermione's uncle turned the system off, took the cartridge out of the game system, and placed the new game into the console.
Hermione's father wondered if he should've been concerned when the title music for the game began to play. He was then very concerned when Hermione began to play the game for more than an hour, which then stretched into two, which stretched into three...
Hermione's uncle smirked at Hermione's father, "So what was that about her not liking games?"
.
On July 30th, 1991, Minerva McGonagall knocked on the door of the home she was visiting for today, she'd gone through quite a bit of muggle homes and this last one was her final stop. The door opened up a crack and a man with disheveled hair opened the door.
"Yes, how can I help you?" the man said as he rubbed his eyes.
"Ah yes, I am a professor at Hogwarts, my name is Minerva McGonagall, I trust you got my letter?" McGonagall said.
The man nodded his head, "Yeah, uh about that could you maybe not send those letters, they make our daughter rather excited..."
"Well she should be excited," McGonagall said, "She's a witch after all!"
"Mage."
"Excuse me?" McGonagall rose an eyebrow.
"Hermione's been calling herself a mage, there's a difference apparently," The man said as he rested his head against the door, "Well since you're here, I guess you want to meet her?"
"Yes, that was the purpose of my visit..." McGonagall frowned as she noticed the man hadn't even reacted to the fact she had just called his daughter a witch, "You seem to be taking this...rather calmly."
"Oh, well we've known about magic for a while now," The man said in a matter of fact tone, "It wasn't that hard to get used to it."
The man ignored her shocked look and called out to his daughter, "Hey Hermione, there's a mage who wants to meet you!"
"Coming!" McGonagall heard a young girl's voice from inside the house, before she heard the sound of someone running down the stairs. Soon the young girl came into view, wearing a yellow dress, a silver belt, and a blue cape along with blue gloves and a pointy blue hat that rested on top of her head.
"Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm meeting another mage!" The girl shouted, "Oh, what level are you at right now?"
"Level?" McGonagll asked.
"Yeah, your level, I've been stuck at 11 for a while now, but I bet you're at level 60 or something!"
"She's been grinding the worms out back for about a year," Hermione's father chimed in, "You wouldn't believe the mess that's in our backyard now."
.
.
.
"So Professor McGonagall, what spells do you teach at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked as the two of them sat in the kitchen. Her father had trudged up the stairs to get some sleep, which left the two of them alone downstairs. "Do you teach how to shoot lightning? Or how to teleport? Or how to make explosions? Or-"
"One question at a time Ms. Granger," Professor McGonagall said. "Though I will say that we can teach you to do at least apparate."
"What's an apparate?" Hermione asked.
"It's what you muggles call as 'Teleportation'" Professor McGonagall said.
"Oh that seems cool, but you seriously can shoot lightning or cause explosions?"
"We know how cause explosions, but you won't learn that until your fourth year, and as for lightning..." Professor McGonagall trailed off, "Well, we don't particularly like to use that spell, it brings back some bad memories..."
"Really, what kind of bad memories?" Hermione asked.
It brings back memories of a megalomaniac that tried to wipe out your race, is what Professor McGonagall thought, but she didn't want to stress the young girl to the point where she decided not to go to Hogwarts, so she decided to lie instead.
"It's a very complex spell that causes more harm than good," Professor McGonagall said, "So we prefer to stay away from spells that are too much of a danger to be properly used."
Hermione frowned, "Oh I see..."
The girl fell silent after that, and Professor McGonagall cleared her throat.
"Well if you have no more questions, I will see you to-"
"Wait!" Hermione shouted as she interrupted Professor McGonagall, "I have a question, do you use wands or staves?"
Professor McGonagall rose an eyebrow, "We use wands," she said, "They help us concentrate our magic and-"
"Hold on a second Professor, I'll be right back!"
Professor McGonagall blinked in surprise as Hermione practically leapt out of her seat and charged up the stairs.
"Hey Dad!" Professor McGonagall heard Hermione shout, "Where'd you put my staff?!"
"It should be right next to that armlet of transmutation you found!" Professor McGonagall heard Hermione's father shout back. "If it isn't there it should be behind your bookshelf!"
"Okay, thanks Dad!"
What?"Oh I see that you're confused." Professor McGonagall heard a voice say behind her, and she turned to see that a woman holding groceries had unlocked the front door and had walked into the kitchen. "Don't worry I just gave up and accepted it after a while."
The woman then set the groceries down on the counter and turned to give Professor McGonagall a handshake, "I'm Hermione's mother, it's nice to meet you..."
"I'm Professor McGonagall," the professor said as she introduced herself, "I teach at Hogwarts, it's a school for witches and wizards."
"Oh I see." Hermione's mother seemed to be frozen on her face as she gripped Professor McGonagall's hand with a little more force than necessary, and pulled the old woman towards her, "Please help us!"
"W-what do you mean, are you in trouble?" Professor McGonagall said, "Is someone threatening you?"
"No it isn't that it's about Hermione-" Hermione's mother began to say, but she cut herself off as Hermione climbed back down the stairs, holding a large red staff with a red glass orb acting as the 'head' of the staff in her right hand, and a silver candle in her left.
"Oh hello mom," Hermione said as she looked curiously at her mother, "I thought you said you'd be gone for two hours, I really could've used your help during my grind session."
"Ah well you see..." Hermione's mother fidgeted on the spot, "I thought it would take me much longer to finish my work, but I'm here now so that has to make up for something, right?"
"...Well, whatever." Hermione said before she turned to Professor McGonagall, "Anyway this is what I wanted to show you."
Hermione then put the candle on the kitchen table, and pointed her staff at the candle. She closed her eyes, concentrated...and then fired a ball of fire from the tip of her wand at the candle, setting it on fire.
Professor McGonagall looked at Hermione, then the flaming candle that was quickly extinguished by the sprinklers on the roof, and then she looked at Hermione once again.
"Whoops, looks like I over did it a bit..." Hermione said as she rubbed the back of her neck.