Disclaimer: JKR owns everything. I don't.
Author's Note: There will be a sequel to this story at some point. Or a second chapter. But this part is meant to be read as a oneshot.
Who's My Father?
"The entire school will be receiving the vaccination during classes tomorrow, starting with the first years and working up to the seventh years." Dumbledore paused for a moment to carefully look over the hall full of students. "I cannot stress the importance of the vaccination enough. It is crucial to the continual health of everyone in this school that we all receive the vaccine." He clapped his hands together sharply. "Enough of that, let us feast!"
At the Gryffindor table Hermione was not having a good night. She had her books open in front of her and only Dumbledore's speech about the vaccinations had managed to stir her out of her studying craze. Midterm exams were going to begin in just over three weeks and she was already stressing over the material.
"Uh!" Hermione slammed her quill down on to the study sheet she was making and then groaned again when the ink spilled all over her notes and food. "Why does this always happen when I don't want to deal with it?"
Ron and Harry exchanged confused looks.
"What happens Hermione? Did you lose some of your notes?" Harry ventured timidly after a moment. He'd seen Hermione when her notes went missing, and it was not a pretty sight.
Hermione started stacking her notes into piles, blowing on the ones that were still wet. "No, it's the vaccinations. My family and I don't believe in them and the muggle schools I went to all had to accept that. There's just a few forms that you have to fill out. But I never got anything like that when I started Hogwarts."
Ron shrugged, he didn't see what the big deal was. "The vaccination is made for wizards and witches Hermione. It'll keep you from getting the swine flu. Isn't that a good thing?"
Harry was starting to remember things from when he'd attended muggle school and how there had been some children who didn't received the vaccinations. "I think I remember that. There was one boy, he had a religious exemption from them."
Hermione nodded. "My parents have a ethical and moral exemption and so do I." She finished tidying up her notes and tucked them into her book bag. "I've got to talk to someone and explain. The exemption papers are in my trunk." She turned to Ron, "will they still be valid in the wizarding world?"
Ron shrugged again, he wasn't very good at remembering anything. Ministry laws about muggle papers wasn't even something he could remember hearing about, ever. "I don't know Hermione. Ask McGonagall, or Pomfrey."
"Fine." Hermione stood up and swung her book bag onto her shoulder. "I'm going back to Gryffindor. Don't forget to do your homework!" She reminded them before heading out of the great hall.
It took Hermione almost fifteen minutes to get the papers and leave Gryffindor tower. There had been more forms than she'd expected and there had even been a letter that her parents had written for her just in case vaccinations did come up.
But once Hermione her papers, she was a lot loss of what to do. Situations like this weren't covered in the rulebook and the problem could have been addressed by many of the adults at the school.
Hermione took to wandering in the general direction of the Hospital wing hoping that she might meet up with someone that could direct her to the right place. But she had no such luck and ended up in front of the Hospital wing ten minutes later.
There was also an issue with time. She'd walked out right near the beginning of dinner, forgetting that teachers were also people and needed to eat just as much as she did. So it was rather surprising to find the Hospital wing dark, save a few torches burning on the walls.
Hermione stepped into the Hospital wing and made her way back to the office. If Madame Pomfrey was in the area, she'd be in her office. At least Hermione was fairly certain that she wasn't going to be lurking in the shadows of the outer area like a vampire.
But the office was also empty. An enchanted stone on the large desk lighted it just enough to see and Hermione glanced around, hoping that someone would appear. It didn't seem like a good idea to have the Hospital wing so deserted, what if there was a real emergency?
"Miss Granger? What do you need?"
Hermione jumped at the voice and spun around. She'd never met Madame Pomfrey personally, Ron and Harry both had and she was fairly certain that the voice that had just spoken did not belong to Madame Pomfrey, or any woman for that matter.
"Professor Snape." Hermione turned around and noted that she had been right. The tall professor was standing in the doorway, his dark robes making it nearly impossible to see what was him and what was shadow. "I was looking for Madame Pomfrey. Or anyone that I could talk to about the vaccinations."
Snape didn't answer her question immediately. He walked into the office and set down the box he'd been carrying. It was filled with hundreds to tiny vials filled with a deep blue potion. After setting the box down and checking to make sure none of the vials had broken, Snape turned back to his student.
"What is it you need? I have the training and the position of second in command of the Hospital wing." Professor Snape flicked his wand to turn on the lights and sat down behind the desk. He turned ninety degrees on the twirly chair and opened a drawer in the filing cabinet marked Gryffindors.
Hermione craned her neck to see all the files in the drawer. Oliver Wood, Harry Potter and the Weasley twins all seemed to have the largest folders. Hermione was surprised to see that her folder only had a single piece of paper in it. And all that was on it was her birthday and name.
"So." Snape took out the paper and scanned it. The absence of information was not helpful. "Do you have any medical records from muggle doctors?"
Suddenly Hermione was glad that she'd gone to the trouble of bringing all her medical papers with her. "Yes Sir." It only took her a moment to find the correct papers and hand them over to her teacher. "Here Sir."
Hermione watched as the professor scanned her records quickly and then used a spell to transfer the information from one page to the other. The writing duplicated itself and wrote with type neatness on the frsh page. She reminded herself to never let Harry and Ron use it on her homework
"Miss Granger, do you understand the severity of H1N1?" Snape asked her, handing the medical records back. "The other vaccines you've been exempt from are for diseases that are no longer as wide spread and are now treatable with muggle medicine. Even wizards have not yet found a cure for H1N1."
Hermione nodded, his arguments were sound, she just didn't agree with them. "I know what I'm getting into Sir. H1N1 is a type of flu and if everyone else is vaccinated the chance of an epidemic occuring is very low. Isn't that what everyone is worried about? It's treatable and most people are going to be fine. You can die from getting the flu too."
Snape starred at her for a moment. "Very well Miss Granger. I trust that you have a exemption form of some kind?" He expected his student to, she never did anything half way.
"Yes Sir, here you are." Hermione fished out the muggle exemption form and the letter from her parents. "I wasn't sure if there was a form that I could have gotten from the Ministry. That's a muggle one."
"I can read Miss Granger, do not confuse me with your brain dead friends." Snape said with a scowl as he read over the form and letter.
Hermione tried to give him time to read everything, but she was impatient and awaited his verdict. It would determine so much about her coming years at Hogwarts. She really hoped that the school would be flexible, she really disliked fighting, especially about something at wasn't worth fighting about.
"Is it all right Professor Snape? I didn't think that the Ministry of Magic had required vaccinations." Hermione ventured after almost five minutes of waiting. "Do they?"
"Yes. Some of the more deadly diseases now have vaccinations. Usually the first years receive them at the beginning of the year." Snape looked up at Hermione. "You didn't and I don't believe you plan on changing that."
Hermione nodded. "I don't want to. And I'm fine, not in danger. If I was going to work as a healer I might get them, but not now."
Snape nodded. "You can be exempt from the vaccinations, and the H1N1 one as well."
"I thought I already was." Hermione pointed out the exemption form. "Does it not count because it's muggle?"
"No." Snape shook his head. "You have two guardians Miss Granger. Guardians in the muggle world, your parents, and guardians in the magical world. The Ministry won't except muggle signatures as binding on any type of paperwork. That's one of the reasons muggleborns have such a hard time."
Hermione nodded her understanding. "So I just need to find a magical guardian to sign the forms for me?"
"It's more than that." Snape paused, wondering how to explain the concept. "Whoever is or becomes your magical guardian would legally be your guardian, they would most likely change your appearance slightly to match theirs. You would have three legal parents."
Hermione could feel her fingers itching, she wished that she had paper to jot down some points. It was interesting to listen to the professor talk, she always learned so much in his classes.
"Your magical guardian would also be responsible for your safety, education and life in the magical world. They would be sent your marks, take charge of your Gringotts key and be in charge of making any important decisions, such as vaccinations exemption."
"All right." Hermione said, finally interrupting his lecture. "Do I have a magical guardian or do I need to get one?"
Snape handed her the record page the Hospital wing had on her. "Hogwarts provides every muggleborn student with a temporary magical guardian. However, they are only called in when serious issues arise. Failing classes, suspension and vaccinations exemptions."
Hermione looked over the paper. The first page was simple, all information on her, not surprising at all. She flipped over the page and looked down it. Near the bottom was the name of her magical guardian. "Sir?"
"What is it Miss Granger?"
Hermione looked at her professor in disbelief. "You're my magical guardian?"