A/N: Thank you for reading. If you find any mistakes please tell me.

Thank you to the marvellous Aeterna Knight for beta reading this monstrosity. She will be checking chapters as she can so do not be surprised to hit unbeta'd mess.

Constructive Criticism is love. I hope you enjoy.


Edward Granger was a very typical English man. Like his father before him, he firmly believed that his home was his castle. The intrusion of his daughter Hermione brought chaos to his ordered life and home.

Even once she had finished disrupting her mother's practice she wasn't a normal child. From the day she started nursery Hermione disrupted his life atypically and unacceptably. Edward believed that children should be seen and not heard. He did not believe that every teacher Hermione had should find it necessary to call Lucy and him in to meet with them. He found it unacceptable that his daughter should be either incapable or unwilling to develop friendships with children her own age.

The only thing Edward felt could be said for the child was at least she was now quiet about her more offensive abnormalities. As an infant that disorder had broken her mother's heart and nerves. If those people hadn't been so secretive he would have got rid of the child back then when they gave her back.

The ginger truce that made life bearable at the Granger's was broken on 1st June. Breakfast was disturbed by a massive owl flying through their window and dropping a letter on Hermione's plate. The child immediately paled and began babbling apologies and promises at that she hadn't done anything freakish. Lucy left the table shaking.

"Well, open it. Let us find put what you've done this time." Edward ground out.

With shaking hands she pulled the letter open and quickly scanned the contents. "It's a summons to be examined. One of them will be here a 9 o'clock to collect me."

Edward breathed a sigh of relief when her adoption had fallen through one of those people had told them that she would examined at 10 or 11 and they would never have to see her again. "Go get dressed." Edward ordered cheerfully. The girl stared at him shocked to see such an attitude directed at her until he enforced the order with the back of his hand.

Hermione reached the top of the stairs holding a small bag of essentials she thought her father would let her take with her as the door bell rang. Edward Granger yanked the door open and scowled out at the motherly woman standing on the door step.

"Good morning, Mr Granger." The woman said in a warm tone. "I'm Madame Entwhistle. I'm here to take your daughter to her selection exam. It's-"

"We know what it's for." Edward growled. "You've excepted the brat into one of your schools. It doesn't matter which; the misbegotten runt's your responsibility now." He turned aside to bellow at Hermione letting her see Madame Entwhistle's shocked face. "Get! I want you out this house!"

Hermione ran down the stairs as fast as she dared but Edward didn't seem to think she was fast enough, grabbing her arm and throwing her bodily from the house. The door slammed behind her and Madame Entwhistle's white face looked down at her.

"Sorry, ma'am." Hermione apologised pulling herself to her feet and picking up the bag.

"Oh my-" Madame Entwhistle's discomfort showed despite her efforts and she quickly changed her sentence. "Look at the time. We're going to be late for your exam." She wrapped one strong hand tightly around Hermione's upper arm and pointed her wand at a brass button.

After a moment in a sickening multicoloured twister they were standing in front of an ornate Tudor building. Madame Entwhistle kept her grip of Hermione's arm and walked quickly through the building to a grand hall laid out as an exam room. Her heels clacked against the floorboards as she stalked through the room looking for Hermione's name. She came to abrupt stop and turned around. "Put your bag down under the table. I will come and take you to the Boarding House after your exam."

Hermione nodded sitting in the indicated chair and wondering what Madame Entwhistle had meant by the Boarding House. Madame Entwhistle left as quickly as she had entered without a backward glance.

Sighing to herself Hermione picked up the feathered quill on her desk, she boggled at the sight of it but noted the parchment of her previous correspondence with this world. In neat round letters she began filling her name, date of birth and parents out on each of the five bound parchment booklets on her desk.

It took a long time for the hall to fill and for stern women to come to the front to call order. One of the women picked up a pile of parchment scrolls with clacking heels she walked up and down the rows of desks placing two scrolls in on each desk as the other woman cleared her throat.

"As you know this is an important day." The woman still at the front began. Her voice was shrill and rapid. "Today all muggle raised children from the England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales due to enter schooling in September of this year must sit their Basic Aptitude Tests.

"All of you sitting in this room already have a guaranteed place at your national school but the result of the tests you sit today will decide whether you will be one of the lucky few to get a place at either the prestigious Ogma Scoil na Draíochta agus Luibheanna, or Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." The woman said. "There are three exams, each of the exams will take three hours and are worth seven points, we will take breaks no longer than 15 minutes between papers to collect papers. At no point during the examination period are you permitted to speak. You will receive an owl on the 1st July with your individual and total BAT scores and into which school you have been placed."

The woman at the front waited until the other woman joined her before lifting a large brass hourglass. She said, "You have until the sand runs out to complete the scrolls entitled Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. We will then take a break of no more than 15 minutes before handing out the special pens you will need to complete you Genealogy paper. We will break again to collect your exams before beginning you General Knowledge paper. Does anyone have any questions?" The sound of nervous breathing echoed through the room but no one raised their hand. "Then we shall begin." And she turned the hour glass returning it to the table with a thump that made grains of sand tumble down.

It was a relief for Hermione to quiet her raging thoughts and worries about what would happen to her by losing herself in the papers.

The first paper, for despite the three separate booklets and two scrolls it clearly stated the it was one combined test of basic reading, writing and arithmetic, was no worse than her elven plus. The Arithmetic paper was easy with thankfully no need for the log tables she had started using this year and the reading was no worse than her eleven plus had been but the essay question for writing was unusual. 'What are the most important things the Ministry must consider when contacting Muggleborns? Make reference to the Statute of Secrecy and Muggleborn Protection Act' it asked.

Hermione raised her head and stared at the hourglass. The Statute of Secrecy was obviously a law that prevented wizards from revelling their magic but she doubted most of the people here would have even heard of the Muggleborn Protection Act let alone what it was, she only vaguely remembered mentions of it when her incidents of freakish behaviour called a member the Improper Use of Magic Office out and her parents tried yet again to give her back. A third of the sand remained in the hour glass, absently she doodled around the words 'exposure' and 'duty of care'. Shaking her head and dropping her eyes back to the parchment she began to quickly draft her argument.

With the first test done there was a pause for the papers to be collected, new parchment and the special quills placed on their desks. The pause wasn't silent filled with the clack of the women's shoes, fidgeting children and the soft clatter of scrolls being placed on desks.

When both women had returned to the front of the cavernous hall the same woman as before picked up the hourglass and turned it, "Begin." She said.

Opening the scroll Hermione looked at the neat boxes she was obviously supposed to fill in and wondered what the point of family tree was and how she was to spend three hours filling one out. Putting the point of quill on the parchment she began to fill in the first box find herself unable to continue with her name until she provided her middle name. As the boxes filled it became easier names of relatives she was sure she had never heard of flowing onto the scroll with no sense of the passage of time or thought for her cramping hand.

It was a surprise to be interrupted by a bell and one of the woman yelling, "Stop."

Quills clattered on to desks at her command and the two women stalked around the room one placing new booklets and scrolls on their desks, the other collecting the special scrolls and scrolls.

"Begin," the hourglass turned again and there was a rustle as booklets opened and scrolls unwound.

The last paper was in many ways the least strange of all, it was concerned with Merlin, unicorns and dragons. With some deductive and inductive logic Hermione felt she had correctly answered all the questions.

Her stomach was growling as the bell rang again and the women stalked the rows for a final time. Only when every paper and quill was collected did they let them leave the room.

Hermione was tired, hungry and her wrist cramped from writing so much with an unfamiliar implements without the distraction of exams she was worrying about what would happen to her again as she shivered, her too thin blouse no match for the bitterly cold wind now the sun had set, in the foyer waiting for Madame Entwhistle to stride up to her.

She was the last person still there when Madame Entwhistle finally arrived. "I've arranged a place for you to stay." she said walking up to Hermione. "Take my hand and make sure you don't let go."

The moment Hermione took her cold clammy hand a crushing sensation enveloped her ripping the building from her site. When she could see again a worn Victorian terrace was in front of her. Madame Entwhistle marched up the stairs and knocked on the faded blue door.

The woman who opened it looked kind but firm. She ignored Madam Entwhistle to talk Hermione. "Hello Miss Granger. You are our first new resident of the year and will be staying the nursery until your eleventh birthday.

"The Ministry pays a stipend of 2 galleons a year to your guardian. I take 1 galleon board and hold your remaining galleon for you until you turn 15.

"You need to make that money stretch to school uniform and books as well as normal clothes." She took a look at Hermione's small backpack. "I bet you don't have a change if clothes in there."

"No, ma'am," Hermione said.

"My name is Mistress Mallory," She replied. "Come along we'll break into my emergency stash."

The hand that held Hermione's was warm and firm this time. She gently pulled her into a warm house. All the furniture was old but well cared for and clean. They went into an office with an amour in the corner. Mistress Mallory opened the door and pulled out second hand dresses. She held them against Hermione until she thought two would fit then started pulling out cardigans the same size and blouses.

With just two dresses, a blouse and two cardigans Hermione felt spoilt for choice and more cared for than she had ever been before. Satisfied Mistress Mallory lead her up to the top floor and a large attic room filled with beds and shelves. She pointed Hermione to one nestled under the sloping ceiling. "This will be your bed. You have to keep your area clean and do your assigned chores. Breakfast is at 7am, lunch at half twelve and dinner at 6pm. I don't allow fighting." She caught Hermione in a quick impersonal embrace. "I'll leave you to get unpacked.


Hermione quickly settled into the routine at Mistress Mallory's. She was the youngest border there and the only one without any magical education which immediately set her apart. Normally Miss Mallory explained borders came young and were snatched up by magical families or after their first year at school. The ostracisation only got worse when on 1st July her Hogwarts letter arrived.

That morning Mistress Mallory took her through the winding streets of Ottery St Catchpole to Edgecomb's Emporium to buy what they could of her Hogwarts supplies. The bulk of which Mistress Mallory explained would have to come from The Alleys.

Edgecomb's Emporium was located in an outbuilding of a chaotic farm yard; chickens ran freely under foot, an old collie lounged under a ramshackle cart on top of which two identical freckly red haired teenage boys lounged their worn robes draped over the sturdier looking wheel and trousers rolled up to their knees. The outhouse roof dipped alarmingly in the middle, the windows had no glass only wooden shutters open in the bright summers day. The building was packed to the rafters with what seemed to be disordered piles of everything and anything in between which there were three more red heads, one a plump middle aged woman who looked like the mother of the other four, and a waif like blonde.

"Hogwarts?" The woman asked Mistress Mallory.

"Yes, Hermione made it." Mistress Mallory replied. "Are your youngest two off this year ,Molly?"

"Yes, I'm so proud of them." Molly said. She caught the two children tight to her. "I'm Molly Weasley, we live over in the Burrow. These are my youngest boy Ron, our only girl Ginny and our neighbour Luna Lovegood. They'll be joining you at Hogwarts this year."

"Pleased to meet you ma'am" Hermione said politely. "I'm Hermione Granger."

"Why don't you four go outside with Fred and George until Mr Edgecomb comes back with the wands?" Mrs Weasley said.

Ron grabbed her hand and dragged her out before she could comment. "They'll be talking adult stuff and complaining about the cost of robes and things."

"Mistress Mallory is your guardian. It's her responsibility to worry about adult things for now." Luna said dreamily.

"They'll come and get us when Mr Edgecomb comes back." Ginny cut in.

"I wish we could have new wands." Ron gripped.

"I've read they work much better than second hand wands." Hermione added.

"But second hand wands don't cost 7 Galleons." Luna moaned plopping herself down on one cart.

"Edgecomb's has the best selection of second hand wands in Britain." One of the two older boys said draping himself over Hermione and Ron.

"Never fear." The other one said draping himself over Ginny and Luna. "You'll match a wand and be rivalling your brother in pranking."

"In you come, dears." Mrs Weasley yelled from the door triggering a stampede as Fred and George joined them.

Mr Edgecomb had laid out a spread of wands across the counter on warm supple leather. "Pick up each one in turn give it to me if it reacts. We'll chose the best match."

"Ron you're the oldest you go first." Mrs Weasley nodded to him.

He walked up to the table and gave the first wand a hesitant wave drooping slightly when nothing happened. It took five wands for one to react to him shooting light green sparks. "Ash and dragon heartstring not quite try again." Mr Edgecomb told him. Ron went through another six wands before picking up an elegantly twisted wand and causing flowers to rain down over Ginny, Luna and Hermione. "Ash and Coral, 13 inches. That's a very good match. Who's next?"

Mrs Weasley nodded at Ginny who giggled and ran up to the counter. The first wand she picked up caused a down pour of water. "I don't think we'll find a better match than that. Hazel and Kelpie Mane. Only seven inches good for a growing sprout. Next it's?"

Mistress Mallory pushed Hermione lightly forward. The first wand she touched set fire to Mr Edgecomb's beard, the second made a massive bang that made the piles of stuff rock and the third and fourth did nothing at all. "When were you born child?" Mr Edgecomb asked

"19th September 1980, sir." Hermione said worried. He hadn't needed to ask any questions for Ginny or Ron.

"By the Celtic calendar vine or bramble. Bramble wands are extremely rare but these are my vine wood wands." He pushed six wands forward. "Try those as you were." None of them were brilliant matches but nothing exploded when Hermione touched them. "This one seems to be the best I can do for you young lady." Mr Edgecomb said handing her a plain light wand. "10½ inches Vine wood with a Unicorn tail hair. If you come back next year with that wand in good condition I'll swap you for a better match. Last but definitely not least up you come Luna."

Luna stepped up last grasping the first wand firmly and seeming not to care at all when nothing happened. She blinked slightly when the third she picked up made a sound like a car back firing and quickly put it down. The fifth wand she picked up cast a stream of silver sparks and made her smile. "This one please."

"A good choice Miss Lovegood. That is 16 inches of Willow and Unicorn hair. Perfect for a moon child." Mr Edgecomb smiled and tucked Luna's wild curls behind her ear. "I think that's everyone. That will be a galleon for each wand. Please." Mrs Weasley handed over some robes as well before fishing out five gold galleons, three silver sickles and ten bronze knuts from her enormous hand bag.

Mistress Mallory passed over a galleon, 12 sickles and 13 knuts. "I'll be in tomorrow with the rest of my lot for their St James stuff."

Mrs Weasley said suddenly, "You four come here I'll teach you your first two charms. Hold your wands and then turn a tight circle around the top of your heads and slash down." She demonstrated with her own. "The incantation is esse elegans, Es-ay Le-gan" They copied her feeling their heads tingle looking around they could see their hair looked neat, clean and more controlled. "And the one you'll find more interesting needs a sharp poke," Mrs Weasley thrust her wand violently forward, "the incantation is Ffwrdd, Foo-rth. Try it on that rack" She turned them towards a rack of heavy winter cloaks that thumped satisfactorily against the wall when they copied her. "It's an easy knock back spell. If you ever need to get away from someone, cast it. Don't let me hear of you using it inappropriately."

Mrs Weasley smiled. "I'll pick you up on Monday, Hermione, to go to the Alleys. It was nice to meet you. "