Chapter 2
When Dan Granger got home he realised something was different, Hermione seemed excited and Jean looked a little shocked. "So how was your day? Did you do anything interesting?" he asked. "Well we got a visit from a teacher at a very exclusive boarding school that Mya has been accepted into and we went to get some ice-cream." Jean replied with a smile at their daughter. Dan grinned, "So our daughter has been accepted into a new school, is that a good enough reason to break the rule of only one ice-cream a month rule?" he joked. Jean laughed and Hermione grinned back at her dad.
"There's something else though, the school that Hermione has been accepted into is a school for witchcraft and wizardry." Jean said watching her husbands face very carefully at revealing this piece of news. Dan laughed thinking that Jean was still joking. "Dad, mum isn't joking. The letter that came at breakfast this morning was from my new school, I have magic daddy, real magic." Hermione said looking at her father, begging him to believe her. Dan just looked at his wife disbelievingly. "It's true honey. Hermione held a ball of fire in her hand like it was a cricket ball. It was scary and intriguing and the professor that came disappeared right out of our living room." Jean told her husband.
Dan had to sit down, the news that his daughter was a witch and could do real magic seemed surreal, like a dream. "Are you certain? If magic is real why isn't there more proof?" he asked, his voice quiet. "That's what I asked Dad. Apparently magic can't get caught on security cameras or any other type of camera is because magic makes technology go wonky, and people who see magic are Obliviated, whatever that means, so they can't tell other people about it." Hermione responded happily. "The professor is going to come back next week to answer our questions and take us to get Hermione's school supplies." Jean told her husband with a gentle smile.
The week between the professor's visits was as normal as it could be for the Granger family. Hermione wanted to play with the fire more and that meant she had to have supervision. She also started to prank her mother at dinner time by completely extinguishing the fire on the stovetop. She couldn't quite conjure any flames yet but she was getting quite good at extinguishing fires about the size of a small campfire. "HERMIONE JEAN! If you do not stop extinguishing the stove will I am trying to cook I will ground you and you won't be able to buy any extra books in Diagon Alley." Her mother shouted, her frustration showing in her voice. "Mum, I swear on all of my books that it wasn't me this time. I was reading a sad part in my book." Hermione replied. Jean sighed and relit the stove. "Mya come here please." She said softly. Hermione put a bookmark in to save her place in the story and walked over to her mother. "Mya, I'm sorry for yelling, but you have been doing exactly that every night for the past five days. Can you understand why I thought it was you?" Jean asked her daughter before pulling her into a hug. Hermione nodded into her mother's shoulder and wrapped her arms around her middle. "I understand mum. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to annoy you I swear." Hermione replied, her voice muffled.
Two days later the whole granger family was sitting in their living room, Jean was reading a James Bond novel, Dan was reading the newspaper and Hermione was reading a Nancy Drew story. They were disrupted from their reading by a knock on the front door. Hermione got up and opened the door. "Hello Professor, come in." she said, smiling at the older woman. "Hello Miss Granger. How are you today?" Minerva asked the young girl. "I'm alright professor. How long until we can go to Diagon Alley? I'm really very excited." Hermione replied. "As soon as your parents have finished asking their questions. It's very important that they understand what you'll be learning at school for the next seven years." McGonagall replied. Hermione nodded and led the teacher into the lounge room. "Hello professor, its nice to see you again. Would you like some tea, or biscuits?" Jean said to the older woman. "I'll have some biscuits please. Would you like to ask your questions first or would you like an overview of the curriculum at Hogwarts?" Minerva replied. Jean nodded and sent Hermione to get the biscuits. "Could we hear a quick overview of the subjects offered at Hogwarts please?" Dan asked. Minerva nodded, "well as your wife knows, my name is Minerva McGonagall and I am the deputy headmistress, I also teach Transfiguration. Transfiguration is the study of turning one thing into another, for example I could turn your coffee table into a pig. We start off small, matchstick into needles and the like. Then there is Charms, floating and colour changing are two of the most popular. We also have Potions, like your chemistry, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, Herbology, and from third year up we offer Divination, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures, and Ancient Runes. There are of course sub-classes that you can take like Ghoul Studies or Warding, but those are one term classes after O.W.L. year." Her overview finished Minerva reached forwards and grabbed a biscuit out of the pack that Hermione had brought over. A few minutes later both Granger parents seemed to have worked out their questions. "Are there math and English lessons at this school or will we need to hire tutors for Hermione during the holidays?" Jean asked. "Unfortunately, Hogwarts doesn't offer standard English or math lessons. All Magically raised students are home-schooled until they get to Hogwarts." Minerva replied. Dan nodded and marked that in his mind for later discussions with his wife. "How much will seven years of tuition cost for us?" Dan asked. "Tuition is free, you will only have to pay for the supplies and books each year." Minerva answered. Dan looked rather impressed at that. "I think that's all the questions we have for now. How do we get to this Dragon Alley?" Jean said getting up off the couch. "I have taken the liberty to have a portkey made. It will take us to the Leaky Cauldron, the gateway to Dragon Alley." Minerva replied pulling a silver paperweight out of the pocket of her robes. "Please touch the paperweight and don't let go. I don't want to leave anyone behind." Minerva said, once everyone was touching the paperweight she tapped it with her wand and they were off.
Landing in the Leaky Cauldron was a rather difficult thing, the hooking sensation behind the navels was a strange one that disoriented the three Grangers. "This way everyone. We must get to Gringotts to exchange your currency." Minerva said ushering the disoriented family through the pub and out into the back alley. Once they were all there she tapped a brick with her wand and the wall turned into an archway. The sight of Diagon alley was breathtaking and strange. Hermione looked around as they walked, an apothecary window caught her eye, the potions ingredients and herbs all looked interesting. Then she turned her head and saw the bookstore, Florish and Blots. They had a sign out the front advertising a sale on potions books and pamphlets. "Here we are, Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Come along, we should get in before the afternoon rush." Professor McGonagall said herding Hermione and her parents in ahead of her. Inside the bank was beautiful, ivory marble pillars and mosaic ceilings depicting dragons guarding hoards of treasures made Hermione wish she had a camera. Then she saw the bankers, "Professor, who are they?" she asked quietly, gesturing to the creatures behind the tills. "Those, Miss Granger, are goblins. They do all the banking here." The professor replied as they walked to a free teller. "Hello, I have a new muggleborn and her family. They would like to open a vault and convert some currency." The professor said to the goblin behind the till. He looked down and nodded before calling something out in another language. "Go down to Sharpcla'aw, he will help you." He said, pointing to another desk with another goblin behind it.
Opening the vault didn't take much time, with a 1 galleon surcharge for the vault, Dan had brought £300 to be converted and form that they got 60g 4s and 2k. "Will that be enough for everything professor?" Jean asked as they walked out of the bank. McGonagall nodded, "It should be more than enough. What do you want to get first, your wand or your robes?" she directed her question towards Hermione. "My wand please, I'm very excited to see how you pick one." Hermione replied. McGonagall nodded and directed the family towards Ollivanders.
Inside the store was rather dim, with only a couple of gas lamps to light the store. When Mr. Ollivander came out Hermione gasped quietly. He had the strangest eyes she'd ever seen, bright silver and sharp. "Hello, what's your name?" he asked looking at Hermione. "This is Hermione Granger, she'll be coming to Hogwarts this year and is in need of a wand." McGonagall answered for her. "Ahh, let's see then, stick out your wand arm then." Mr Ollivander said. "Well I'm right handed if that's what you mean." Hermione replied and he nodded. Holding out her arm she watched as a tape measure sprang to life and started measuring her arm, once it had finished that it starred doing other odd measurements as Mr. Ollivander started pulling wand boxes off shelves. Once it had finished its odd measuring the tape flew back to the desk and became inanimate again. Mr. Ollivander handed her a wand, "Try this, Holly and Unicorn hair." He said. Hermione nodded and gave the wand a wave. It exploded a vase and Mr. Ollivander shook his head. "Not that one then, try this one, Birch and Dragon Heartstring." Hermione waved it and several of the wand boxes few off their shelves. "No? Well try this, Vine and Dragon Heartstring." He said handing her another wand. As soon as it came into contact with her skin Hermione knew this was the one. It seemed to vibrate happily, laughing she waved it and a jet of flame coloured light shot out. Mr. Ollivander seemed happy with that. "I've had that wand for almost 40 years Miss Granger, you are a very special witch. I believe we can expect great things from you. That'll be 5g for the wand and case." Ollivander said. Dan handed him the galleons and they walked out of the shop.
The rest of Hermione's shopping was fairly uneventful until they got to the bookstore. A family of redheads were looking around the potions section. "Hermione why don't you go and find three books that you'd like to read for fun and your mother and I will find your text books." Dan said to his daughter. She nodded and walked over to the potions section. Hermione looked over the advanced potions books. "Oi Fred, do you reckon we should look up some advanced recipes? We could get one over on Lee when we see him next." A loud voice brought Hermione away from the titles and she looked over to see one of the red-haired children talking to another who looked like his twin. "Sure thing George, this way." One of them said and they both walked over to the section that Hermione was in. She turned back around and started looking at Potions in the Real World. It was interesting to know that you could brew a potion during the summer without a wand. Hermione turned around, shutting her book and going to walk out of the potions section but instead of walking out of the aisle of shelves she walked into one of the red headed boys.
Hey, here's chapter two.
Next chapter is the completion of the school shopping and an extra meeting at the burrow.
Obviously I'm not JKR, I'm not even British. Any mistakes are mine because I don't have a beta. Thanks for reading guys.