This could either be tied with Because Why Not or as a stand-alone one-shot.

Weekly Prompt #3

Hermione Jean Granger was an exceptionally bright little girl. She was exceedingly intelligent and not just "for a child". No, her parents' friends, who were smart people, often commented how intelligent Hermione was. She considered herself a logical person and, as such, found that everything had logic to it. For example, she sorted her books by color because she was autistic (as was deemed by a neurologist). The reason why she got angry when she was hungry was because hunger caused a drop in blood sugar therefore creating a chemical imbalance which created different effects in different people. When she found a painting beautiful it was due to the way her mind perceived colors and the subject was something she could relate to. Oftentimes, the most beautiful things were the things that were symmetric. She had a strange satisfaction from seeing perfectly mirrored objects. Perfectly balanced. While most people relied on Pathos, Hermione preferred Logos. She wanted reasons, not just something that caused an emotional response.

Roger and Beatrice Granger were the type of parents who wanted to spend time with their daughter whenever they could. Even though Edgewood Academy was rather close to their house, they didn't want her to have to go home alone until she was at least old enough to use the microwave without worry of burning the house down.

This particular afternoon, Beatrice took Hermione to the park after school for tea and reading. It gave them a chance to enjoy the fresh air the large trees provided. With tourist season over, things weren't as crowded and they could enjoy their afternoon in peace. Typically they stayed until nearly dusk and then they would go home

"Hermy, would you like some piragua?" Beatrice asked, tipping her chin towards the shaved ice cart.

"Yes, please!" she said. She loved piragua.

"I'll be right back," said Mum. "Do not leave this blanket. Understand me?"

"Yes, Mummy," she said settling so that her feet were stretched out in front of her. "I'll be right here."

"Very good."

As her mother went to get the delicious treat, Hermione let her mind wander. She thought about the movies she saw recently, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as well as Sleeping Beauty. They had little animal friends at their beck-and-call just by singing a song. It sounded like a pretty neat power and Hermione wished that she could summon animals just by using her voice. Well… she sort of could. Her dog Pongo was as devoted to her as she was to him and he was so well-trained. She even had a special whistle for him so he could find her in a crowded dog park. Not that she wanted to be a princess. No, no, no. Parliament was where all the real power was.

Hermione tucked her bottom lip underneath her teeth and tried to whistle Once Upon a Dream but couldn't quite reach the high notes. She was the only kid at school who could whistle through their teeth but that was a novelty that only lasted about 15 minutes before the shrill, out of tune whistling got annoying. Clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, she switched over to Spoonful of Sugar from the movie Mary Poppins.

"Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down," she sang, "the medicine go do-own, medicine go down."

A raven swooped down and landed near her. Hermione stared at it for a long moment and the bird studied her with his beady eyes like the buttons on her Sunday cardigan.

"A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down," she continued. "In the most delightful way."

"Down," the Raven warbled. Whatever she expected a raven to sound like it was not this deep, wavering voice. "Down. Down. Down."

Hermione giggled and faced the raven.

"A robin feathering his nest has little time to rest while gathering is piles of twine and twig…"

To her delight, two robins flew down from their nest and landed near her, followed by a starling. They twittered and whistled at her and she whistled back. It was short-lived as a rat scurried out of a nearby hole and was promptly attacked by the raven. Several birds seemed to follow her reaction and swarmed out of the nearby tree.

With a shrill scream, Hermione jumped to her feet and ran straight to Beatrice, crashing into her with so much force she dropped the mamey piragua and it fell to the ground in a pile of orange slush.

"What's the matter, love?" Mum asked.

"I— it— the birds," she stammered. "They—"

It was just a trick, her mind decided. She wasn't really singing with them. They were just hoping for some leftover sandwich and children were easy targets to get food from. The raven just got tired of waiting and his attack scared the other birds. That didn't quite explain the robins or the starling…

"Oh, did you get attacked by a magpie?" Mum asked. "It's okay, Mimi. They're nasty little things. You didn't get bitten did you?"

"N-no. I— it— they— they were," she worked her jaw as she tried to figure out how to explain it.

"It's okay, love," Mum soothed her. "Find your words."

"I-" she looked down at the grass. "I made you spill."

"Oh, tsh," she waved her hand dismissively. "Accidents happen. Don't worry about it."

There wasn't much explanation for what Hermione experienced. A coincidence. That's all it was. Nothing supernatural happened there. Magic wasn't real. Oh, sure there could have been science in the past where ancient peoples could have deemed as magic for lack of a better word. Not to mention that magic could be science just not understood yet. Supernatural beings were on a different plane of existence, according to Mum, rather than being above or below them. Science wasn't even known as such until the 19th century (or was it 18th) and before then it was called Philosophy. Well, those scientists and mathematicians actually "discovered" their studies from scholars in the Middle East and certainly they had words for their careers. They just didn't get the proper credit according to Dad.

She considered writing to her friend about it but there wasn't any way she could explain it without sounding like a loony. Odd things happened sometimes. The explanations just weren't always here.