Fond Farewells and Unexpected Surprises
Alex and Danielle, after being questioned for several hours, finally received permission to find a motel for the night so that they and the children could talk and get a good night's sleep. In an angry mood, due to the late arrival of members of the American Cabinet of Magic, Alex quickly ordered a couple of pizzas and the four of them began discussing what had happened earlier.
"I can't believe how slow the cabinet was in helping to gain control of this situation. The British ministry would have dealt with it a lot quicker," Alex said, with rage obvious in his voice. "Chris and Kylie shouldn't have been left standing around in the open like that. There could have been more of those thugs around."
Danielle was still visibly shaken up about everything they had lost. It was all she could do to keep from pulling both of the kids into a rib-crushing hug; she knew, however, that she needed to be strong and help to plan what they were going to do now. "Do you and Chris have relatives here in the States, Alex?"
"I have no idea if we have any living relatives left alive anywhere in the world, except for Chris's maternal grandmother. If I would have known that you were a witch, I could have told you why I left Britain to begin with, Danielle, but it would have been a violation of the secrecy laws the wizarding community has in place. I just hope you and Kylie didn't lose everything because of a situation from the past that involves my family."
"What do you mean, Alex?"
"Before I answer that, I need to ask you how much you know about a war taking place fifteen years ago involving a Dark wizard who calls himself Lord Voldemort."
"I know that when I was at Beauxbatons during that time most his activities were centered in England and Scotland. He was committing some very heinous acts and did not seem to care who was hurt in the crossfire. I heard quite a few of his victims were children."
"You're right about that. In fact, it is possible that one child who was a victim may have been my niece or nephew. My brother, James, and his wife, Lily, may very well have been, also. My brother and I found it necessary to take our immediate families and go into hiding, separately, ten years ago. To keep our family's enemies from tracking us down, we chose not to communicate with each other. Only one person in England ever knew Melissa and I had gotten married and that we expected Chris. I may be an uncle or I may be an only child now; I just don't know."
"So, because you became a target here and they came after us at the theater, you think they were after you and Chris."
"It does make a certain amount of sense, Danielle."
"How do you account for our house catching fire?"
"I think it was a major act of stupidity. They fired on the wrong house, at first."
An angry look flashed across Danielle's face for a moment, causing a single tear to run down Chris' face. When she saw that, Danielle immediately crossed the room and embraced the boy gently. "Chris, I'm not angry with you and your dad about this, so please don't cry. Despite what your dad just told me, this is not your fault or his. It will be all right. We just have to decide what we're going to do now."
Alex looked at Danielle for a moment, and then asked, "Have you ever considered returning to England?"
"Well, Kylie and I do have some family there. Why do you ask?"
"Because, if you're interested, I think I can get Kylie into Hogwarts as a student. I've already applied to have Chris admitted."
"Do you really believe you can accomplish that?"
"Well, the person who knew about Melissa and I being married is a professor there. I am almost positive that my
contact can arrange for Kylie's acceptance. So, what do you say?"
"What do you think, Kylie? Hogwarts has the best reputation of all the schools in Europe, including, much as I hate to admit it, Beauxbatons."
"I'd be at school with Chris?"
"You will, if Alex can arrange it."
"Sounds good to me. Let's do it."
Alex laughed at the pleased smile pasted on Kylie's face. "Alright, then. Tomorrow, we'll do some shopping to replace some of the things that were lost and I'll send off an owl post to my contact in England."
With that, the Grangers went back to their room and everybody settled in to their beds for a good night's sleep.
The following morning, the four of them met over breakfast to decide where they would be going shopping and exactly what they were going to purchase. Alex suggested that American-made wands would be a good idea for Chris and Kylie. Because the American wizarding community did not have a law restricting underage witches and wizards from the use of magic, wands in this country did not come with the spell that allows the ability to trace magic use.
"Alex, are you sure that's wise? I'm not sure that I want Kylie able to use magic any time she wants."
"Mother!"
"Danielle, I know you have concerns about whether she might misuse magic, but it might be better if she can defend herself without the Ministry of Magic sending owls ordering her to report for hearings every time it becomes necessary. Besides, despite the way I tease the two of them, they are fairly responsible kids."
"Well, at least I am, Mom." Kylie grinned at Chris, who now had a look of indignation on his face.
"Oh, you are so funny, Kylie, not." Then, he broke out with a grin of his own.
"Ok, ok, you three win. American wands it is. So, where are we going to get them?"
"Well, the three best choices are in Salem, Santa Fe and Roanoke Island, which is the closest." Alex looked thoughtfully at the two youngsters. "I think that just before the school year starts, we might want to get them a second wand each at Ollivanders. It would confuse the ministry by making them think the kids have one wand each that meets their requirements but would still give them another they could use for more covert reasons. It wouldn't hurt if the two of us do the same thing."
"Are these attacks likely to continue to occur, then?"
"I hope not, Danielle, but better safe than sorry."
"That's not as reassuring as I'd hoped for but ok, I guess we should be off for Roanoke Island."
Advising Chris to hold on to his arm tightly, while Danielle insisted that Kylie do the same with hers, the adults did a side-along apparition to a special section of Roanoke Island, North Carolina, which was set aside for use exclusively by members of the wizarding community. Once they arrived, they quickly made their way to the wand shop and stepped inside.
An extremely wizened old man walked up to them. "How may I help you?"
Alex replied, "We're looking to purchase wands for our children. I hope you can help us."
"Of course. If you would please step over here." He led them in the direction of several dusty shelves filled with long, thin boxes. He then gave Chris and Kylie appraising looks. "Has either of these children begun to exhibit any special talents which might make certain wand materials more appropriate for them?"
"I wasn't aware that certain materials helped with the use of natural abilities, sir," Alex replied.
"There are two schools of thought on the subject. I don't much hold with the idea myself but the owner of the store insists that we ask."
"That's a new one on me but, no, I don't believe they do."
"Very well. Ladies first, then." The clerk looked at Kylie, turned to the middle shelf and pulled down a box from the left side of it. "Have you ever used a wand before, young miss?"
"No, sir."
"In that case, just give it a little wave and see if it takes a liking to you."
Chris just smiled at the look of confusion on Kylie's face. "According to what dad tells me, the wand chooses the person who uses it, not the other way around."
"Be nice, Chris. She's probably never been in a wand shop before," Alex admonished.
Kylie chose to stick out her tongue at Chris as she waved the wand in the air. Suddenly, a cream pie appeared out of nowhere, which narrowly missed hitting Chris in the face. She laughed. "Does that happen often?"
"No, what usually happens when the wand decides it should belong to the person testing it out is a sort of magical light show. That particular result is one that I've never seen before in my life, which, as you can tell, has been quite a long one," the old man replied.
"It might have something to do with the mischievous mood you seem to have been in."
Danielle was looking slightly embarrassed by what had happened. "I'm so sorry for the mess," she said, as she looked at the now gooey shelves directly behind her daughter's best friend.
The store clerk just smiled, pulled out his own wand and cast a cleaning spell, leaving the shelves cleaner than when the four arrived. "So, young man, it's your turn now." He noticed the impudent look Chris was giving Kylie. "I mean to receive your new wand, not to get revenge," he said, though the corners of his mouth twitched, as if he were fighting the urge to grin. He moved to one of the shelves on the opposite wall, carefully turned his head from left to right, stopping to grab a box just to the right of center.
"Here you go. Try this one."
Much to Chris's dismay neither that wand nor the next three liked him the way Kylie's new wand liked hers but on the fifth try the result was the magical light show the clerk had referred to.
"Very well. The young man's wand is made of beech and has a griffin feather as its core. The young lady's is ash with the tail hair of a bicorn. The price will be ten galleons each, please."
Alex paid for the wands and they left the store very pleased with the results. "Where do we need to go next?"
"Clothing would be nice," said Danielle. "Is there a mall nearby?"
"I think there's one about ten blocks from here."
"Let's go."
Fifteen minutes later, they found themselves in one of the better clothing stores, where Danielle was having the time of her life. Alex, Chris and Kylie quickly purchased everything they felt they needed. Half an hour later, however, Mrs. Granger was still trying to decide which items to keep from an extremely large quantity of clothing she had removed from various shelves and racks and the others were quickly becoming impatient to leave.
"Dad, just how much money do we have with us?" Chris asked, in a much louder voice than was necessary, causing Danielle to her stick her tongue out at him, in much the same way her daughter had earlier. Chris just grinned impishly at her.
Sensing the impatience of those she had arrived with, Danielle quickly made her final selections. Ten minutes later, with everything paid for, they made their way out of the store. They walked half a block from the mall, ducked into an alley and apparated back to their hotel.
After agreeing to meet in the Granger's room in two hours to discuss what they needed to do prior to leaving for England, the four of them split up to give themselves the opportunity to clean up and put on fresh clothing.
After Chris and Alex had made themselves more presentable, they walked down the hallway to Kylie and Danielle's room and knocked on the door. Kylie opened the door and told them that her mom was still in the bathroom. She then knocked on the door and told her mom that they were in the room.
After five minutes, Danielle joined them. "So, what now?"
Alex quickly suggested that they spend the next few days purchasing any last items they felt that they wanted to take with them and to arrange for the forwarding of the insurance settlements through the Cabinet of Magic to their Gringotts accounts. He also suggested that they make a visit to the cemetery plots of Chris's mom and Kylie's dad.
By October 30, they finished the arrangements for the insurance, as well as all of the shopping, used magic to shrink their bags and decided to visit the cemetery that afternoon. They spent several hours saying farewell to the ones they loved and shedding tears for their loss. Then, they found an isolated section of the graveyard and apparated to the village of Hogsmeade, and checked into the Three Broomsticks for the night.
They arose late the following morning and had an early lunch. Afterwards, Alex suggested that they go to Hogwarts that evening in the hopes of attending the Halloween Night feast and offered to show them around the village as a way to spend the afternoon. They wiled away the hours in various stores, including Honeydukes, where each of them just had to sample the goods, and Zonko's, where Alex refused to buy anything for Chris until he knew he would not be on the receiving end of any of the jokes.
Finally, the time to make their way to Hogwarts arrived. The four made their way leisurely up the road to the front gates of the most well known school of magic in the wizarding world and quickly walked through.
As they approached the large double doors to the castle itself, the doors began to swing open. The four were surprised to see three people dressed in robes escorting what looked to be some sort of troll out of the main building.
One of the three noticed the newcomers. "Well, well, Alexander Potter." The speaker, a tall man with lank, greasy black hair and a hooked nose, began to sneer at Alex, who chose to grace the man in return with a look of disgust.
"Please tell me you are not an instructor here, Severus."
Before he could respond, one of the others moving the troll, a tall, rather severe-looking older woman stepped forward to greet Alex and his party. "Alexander, it has been too long since the last time you were here."
He quickly walked up the steps to embrace the woman. "Professor McGonagall, it's so good to see you again. How have you been?"
"I'm doing rather well, although, as you can see, we have had a bit of excitement here this evening. Perhaps it would be possible to talk in my office. What happened will be of interest to you. Please, come this way." She began walking briskly down the corridor, giving Alex and his companions little choice but to quickly follow.
After a couple of moments, they arrived at the professor's office, where she quickly invited them in and offered them places to sit. As she looked at Danielle and Kylie, her face clearly mirrored the curiosity running through her mind as to their identities. When she turned to look upon Chris, a slight smile appeared. "He does remind me a bit of his mother, rest her soul."
"I wish she was still here. We've both missed her terribly over the years since she died." Alex placed his hand on Chris's shoulder. I suppose, though, that I should explain why we have come to England earlier than I had planned. However, before I do that, let me introduce you to the ladies. Kylie and Danielle, this is Minerva McGonagall, Professor of Transfiguration and Deputy Headmistress here at Hogwarts. Professor, Danielle Granger and her daughter, Kylie."
The look of curiosity returned vigorously to the professor's face. "It seems to be a night for Potters and Grangers to be united. The mountain troll we escorted out this evening was knocked unconscious in an encounter with three first year students, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter."
"So I am an uncle," Alex stated, as he noticed that, for some reason, Danielle had turned slightly pale. "Danielle, what's wrong?"
"D-did you say Hermione? Geoffrey and Ariel Granger's only daughter, Hermione?"
Professor McGonagall glanced at her for a moment. "From the expression on your face and the knowledge you possess, I assume you are related to the young lady."
"Yes, she's my niece."
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Professor McGonagall arose from her chair, quickly crossed the room and opened it. "Albus. Please, come in."
As Professor McGonagall stepped aside, a tall man with a white beard hanging down to his waist stepped inside. "Severus advised me that you have visitors. Ah, Alexander, I am so glad to see you have finally returned to England."
"I'm glad to be back, professor, especially since Professor McGonagall was telling me a bit regarding the excitement that happened here earlier this evening. My nephew and two other first years managed to beat up a mountain troll, from what she tells us."
"Proof positive that he is his father's son." He turned to face his colleague. "Have you had time to tell him anything else, Minerva?"
"I'm afraid not, Albus. We had just begun to talk."
"In that case, perhaps you would allow me to fill Alexander in on the events that have occurred during his absence. While I do, you could take your grandson and these two lovely ladies to meet young Harry." As he suggested that, the corners of his mouth began to twitch from suppressed mirth.
"Just once, I'd like to put something past him," Professor McGonagall grumbled heatedly, as she led Chris, Kylie and Danielle from the room. "I cannot for the life of me figure out how he knew Alex had married my daughter, Melissa. I told no one."
Moments later, they found themselves outside of Gryffindor tower.
"Caput Draconis."
The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and Professor McGonagall led the three visitors into the Gryffindor common room, where the assembled members of her house were still eating dinner.
Suddenly, they found their ears assaulted by the sound of a shrill scream. "Aunt Danielle."
Danielle Granger was almost knocked to the floor as a young girl with bushy brown hair ran up and gave her a rather aggressive hug. "It's good to see you, too, Hermione, but if it's not too much to ask, I'd appreciate it if you could take it a little easier on my ribs." Then she returned the hug and gave her niece a smile.
Kylie also stepped forward to give Hermione a hug. "Hi, Hermione."
Hermione looked at her aunt and cousin for a moment. "I don't understand. How did the two of you get in to Hogwarts?"
Her two relatives quickly pulled out their wands and showed them to her.
"You're witches, too?"
Kylie nodded. "Chris's dad is going to see if he can get me admitted as a student here."
Professor McGonagall stepped forward. "I apologize for interrupting but perhaps it would be best for everybody to be properly introduced." She then motioned for a young boy with unruly black hair standing a few feet away to come over. "Students of Gryffindor House, I would like you to meet Danielle and Kylie Granger and Christopher Potter. Danielle and Kylie are the aunt and cousin of Hermione Granger," she then looked at Chris, "while Christopher is the cousin of this young man," she turned to look at the boy she had called over, "Harry Potter."