Author's note: Hey! Thank you for reading & following & favouriting the story and special thanks to roni2010 and Eva'sDaughter for reviewing.

I know, I know, chances of Harry and Hermione attending the same school is rather slim, but hey, this is my story so bear with me. Also, I liked the idea how much it would change Hermione if she knew years before that she was a witch. So, she will be somewhat different and obviously that will affect the plot of the books as well. The Grangers got a pretty big role in this chapter, because I felt that they deserved the explanation at least. Note that the OCs in the Muggle school won't have any real role in the future.

Next chapter we will be back in the magical world filled with mysteries, but I felt the need of giving Harry some Muggle ties as well. We don't want him to turn into an ignorant pure-blood fanatic, do we?

– CHAPTER 7 –

Muggle school

Harry Potter never would have imagined that he would enjoy going to a Muggle primary school, but he did. First of all, he had to admit that there were things in the Muggle world he liked like their clothes. Muggle clothes were a lot more comfortable than any robes or cloaks. Also, paper, pen and pencil were easier to use than parchment and quills, even if the first days he did struggle with them. Also, he quite enjoyed playing the game football, though it was certainly not as spectacular or interesting as Quidditch. All in all, he was surprised to see that he quite liked his days in school especially being around so many people around his age – as before it was always just Neville and the younger Weasleys.

Not that he made any close friends, because his grandmother's and uncles' words always rang in his ears to be careful whenever he started talking to any of his classmates. Also, it would have been a bit hard to explain to any of them why they couldn't come to his house for a play date – the excuses of the house being in somewhere North Scotland and being full of magical stuff would have surprised the other children and their parents as well. Yes, his guardians probably choose this school randomly or at least he had no idea why exactly this school in the middle of nowhere (to him). The only thing he knew that a Squib with lots of cats, a Mrs Figg lived on the end of the streets and Remus and he used her Floo Network every morning and afternoon to transport between Scotland and England.

"You know, you are pressing that pencil a bit too much to the paper," the bossy voice of one of his classmates, Hermione Granger woke him from his musings. He simply nodded as a response and didn't even turn towards the girl who had bushy brown hair and wide brown eyes and currently missing front teeth. While she was a friendly girl, she absolutely always had to be right and she was a bit too much for most of their classmates. While he didn't want to make any close friends, because of the whole magical-Muggle problem, Hermione seemed unable to make friends, period.

"You are going to break the pencil," she continued not caring much that he wasn't paying any attention to her instructions. "Also, you write number four funnily, it's not straight enough. And is that a two there? It looks like a three," she pointed out even though she shouldn't have even watched his exercise book. The thing Harry has realizes about Hermione Granger in the last few months was that she didn't exactly care about things like that as long as she could tell anyone that they made a mistake and she knew better (which was rather strange as she was always going on and on about the importance of rules).

The teacher walked up to their desk at the same moment though and Miss West had different ideas than Hermione.

"Miss Granger, please don't disturb the work of Mr Potter," she told the girl right beside Harry. While he knew that his grandmother wouldn't have been happy with him at that moment, he couldn't keep himself from smiling slightly smugly. Hermione looked at the teacher with wide eyes on the other hand. Richie Taylor started laughing cruelly at the desk next to theirs pointing at Hermione who stiffened at the laughter and Harry noticed that a tear escaped her brown eyes.

At the same moment to Harry's biggest surprise Richie stopped laughing and when he looked at the boy who frequently made fun of Hermione's over-enthusiasm he noticed that he was opening and closing his mouth as if he was trying to form words and failing to do so.

"Mr Taylor, don't laugh, please," Miss West stated firmly, though by then Richie has already stopped. The class continued for a few minutes when Andy, the boy sitting right next to Richie interrupted Miss West.

"Excuse me Miss West, Richie wrote me a note. He can't speak," Andy even showed the teacher the piece of paper and when Miss West turned towards the aforementioned boy and asked if Andy was right, he nodded furiously and even started the whole mouth opening-closing thing again. Harry watched the scene with great interest, especially when Miss West left the classroom for a second only to ask another teacher to take Richie to the school doctor. While Harry knew well, that even Muggles could lose the ability to speak – he has caught a cold before – it reminded him very much of magic. When his grandma was frustrated with his Uncle Al she frequently silenced him only for his uncle to easily reverse the spell without even using his wand. However, while he didn't exactly like Richie he was nearly sure that it wasn't him who silenced him.

It was a few months later, close to the Easter holiday that Harry once again thought that someone might be doing magic in his class. He explained the last case to his Uncle Remus who said to him that while Richie might have lost his voice to a simple illness (especially as he got it back only a few hours later), maybe it was him or there might be another magical child in the classroom even if the chances of that were small.

He asked his grandmother and his Uncle Albus to look through the names of his classmates in hope of finding the magical child, but not one of the surnames was familiar to either of them, so they concluded that if there was another magical child there than it had to be a Muggle-born or their surname must have come from a Muggle parent.

That Tuesday started like all the others. Harry was still working on his drawing when the Art class finished and Hermione Granger had a book in her hands as always. He wasn't paying much attention to her though, because the reason of why he was still working on the project was that he was rather conflicted. The task was to draw 'something magical' and he wasn't exactly sure how precise he should be when it came to the magical world.

At the exact same moment Jenny Smith was going around the classroom with her friends right behind her, all very loud and girly. Their hair colours varied from light blonde to dark brown and they weren't the exact height, but other than that they were hard to distinguish to Harry even though he has known them for months.

"Oh, Jenny, I can't believe it, it's going to be the best birthday party ever," one of her friends, Melly, he concluded, said rather loudly. He sighed with irritation losing focus for a second when he was working hard on a phoenix trying to imitate Fawkes' proud and beautifully colourful nature. He noticed that Hermione looked up as well.

"Yes, can you believe it? There will be a balloon modelling and face painting," one of the more distinguishable girls, Amy squealed. (Her voice was more high-pitched than any of the others' and her hair was so light blonde, it was nearly white.)

"Of course there will be," Jenny said as it was obvious. "My Daddy said that his Princess deserves everything." Harry lost focus entirely and leaned back knowing that until the girls quietened or went away he wouldn't be able to finish his drawing. He looked up and caught the baby blue eyes of Jenny.

"Oh, Harry, your invitation," she said with a wide smile and gave a pink envelope to him to his greatest surprise. He couldn't remember ever really talking to Jenny so he was a bit more than surprised to be invited.

"Thanks, Jenny," he said with a smile, after all she was kind to invite him. The girls behind Jenny giggled. The whole group turned around and left. He put down the envelope on his desk and turned back towards his project, but he caught sight of the red eyes of one Hermione Granger.

"Hey, is everything okay?" he asked with some concern not knowing what to do or say (as he was not used to crying girls, his grandma never really cried and Ginny certainly wasn't the type to shed tears – she had six older brothers after all). Hermione nodded while she wiped off her tears with her pullover.

"Ca-can I see the invitation?" she asked softly and he nodded while he passed the pink envelope to her not understanding entirely why she needed it. However, the moment she opened it she started crying again. Harry was about to ask exactly what was going on when Jenny appeared at their table seemingly out of nowhere. Hasn't she already left before?

"Oh, have I forgotten to invite you to my party?" she asked sweetly from Hermione who stopped crying at the exact same moment and she nodded with a small smile on her face which was tomato red – Harry just wasn't sure if it was from crying or from embarrassment. "You know I didn't forget, I simply didn't invite you," she said cruelly and she flashed a wide smile to Hermione who looked feverish at the revelation. Harry felt pity towards the girl instantly.

"Could I give my invitation to her, Jenny?" he asked softly. It wasn't like he wanted to go so much to a girl's Muggle birthday party – emphasis on girl. (One he didn't even know or like much, really.) Jenny looked at him for a moment and then she laughed loudly.

"No, your name is on it, isn't it?" she asked and pointed to the envelope which had HARRY on it with bold pink letters only to change at that moment to HERMIONE. Jenny let out a scream obviously not expecting that so Harry quickly realized that it wasn't some special Muggle envelope, so it must have been magic, he concluded. Hermione paled and raised the envelope with shaking hands.

"That's my name on it," she said with awe, but Jenny ripped the envelope from her hands and tore the whole thing.

"I don't know what you did, but you won't come to my party," Jenny shrieked and stormed away with the parts of the invitation still in her hands which she dumped into the first bin she found. Harry and Hermione remained seated, none of them saying a word. He looked at her curiously. While he pitied her when Jenny didn't want to invite her, he didn't think that it was him who changed the name. He usually felt something when he did accidental magic – just like the last time when changed one of his teacher's wig blue when she blamed him for something Richie did. He felt the rush of magic in his veins, he felt power and he was extremely angry for being shouted at when he did not do anything wrong.

However, if it wasn't him, someone else had to be. Hermione seemed like the only logical explanation. He looked at the girl sitting right next to him and tried to decide if she could be the magical child he was looking for or not. He quickly realized that he wasn't even sure what he was looking for – he himself didn't look any different than the other children in the classroom and yet he knew that he was a wizard.

"What do your parents work?" he asked curiously, not that she would tell him they were a witch and a wizard respectively even if they were magical, but maybe he could get some information out of her. Hermione seemed rather surprised by the question and muttered something like "Dentists, work with teeth," under her breath.

The same day when he was sitting at the dining table waiting for the dinner, he turned towards his grandmother who was just setting the table.

"Auntie," he started knowing that calling him grandma or granny would earn him a lecture on how important it was to pretend not to be related to her. "How do you know who are Muggle-borns?" Her grandma put down another plate and looked at him with a curious expression.

"There is a magical quill and a book at Hogwarts which was created by the four founders with very complicated magic that writes down the name of every child in Great Britain and Ireland who performed accidental magic, therefore have the abilities to learn at the school," she explained and Harry brightened at that.

"Does that mean that if someone has already done magic then their name is in that book?" he asked carefully, not wanting to misunderstand his grandmother. Minerva nodded easily and Harry's smile widened.

"Aunt Minerva, could you check the book for me sometimes in the near future?" he asked softly and she stiffened.

"Harry, we both know that you are magical. If that last stunt with your poor teacher's wig didn't prove it, then a countless other events did," she stated firmly but he just shook his head.

"I know I am, Auntie. I know that the reason why everyone thinks my name is Henry is because I'm even a famous wizard, but I think that one of my classmates is a witch. Her name is Hermione Granger and she was placed next to me and I think she has performed accidental magic twice since we started school," he explained and her expression softened.

"Harry, if she is sitting right next to you, don't you think that you might be doing what you give her credit for?" she asked, but he just shook his head.

"Please, Aunt Min, just check it. I think it would be good for her to know if she was a witch, she doesn't really have many friends, she is a bit... different," he stated and she looked at him with her famous Professor McGonagall look.

"Why don't you befriend her, then?" she asked simply and he shifted his weight.

"Well, if she was a witch then it would be easier. You know how I'm always afraid of giving away the magical world," he used the card he knew would make his grandmother check that book. He wasn't surprised when she sighed and agreed to see if Hermione Granger really was a witch.

During the next dinner when he first saw his grandmother that day, (okay, only he was eating dinner as both his guardians has already eaten at Hogwarts) he asked the question which kept him alarmed the whole day.

"Did you check the book?" he asked rather curiously not caring that he received a look from his grandmother for trying to eat and talk at the same time. Uncle Al looked at him with clear amusement in his eyes.

"I did, Harry," she said easily with a small smile playing on her lips.

"And?" he asked trying to get the answer he wanted to hear so much.

"Well, let's just say that you have met another of your future classmates at Hogwarts," her smile widened and Harry jumped up from the table quickly earning a chuckle from both of his guardians.

"I knew it, I knew it," he said excitedly. He wasn't sure why as he already knew a few magical child and even future classmates such as Neville and Ron. Still, it made him quite proud of himself that he recognized Hermione's magic and it was somewhat different he guessed, because probably even Hermione herself didn't know about her abilities or future educational possibilities.

"If you would sit down Harry then I could share some more information with you," she said in her usual teacher tone. He did what he was told to, because he was quite curious about what else she wanted to say and the dinner was quite delicious (as it was directly taken from Hogwarts and made by the legendary house-elves).

"Your uncle and I decided that it might do some good to young Miss Granger and especially to her parents if they were made aware of her abilities. Usually Muggle-borns are only told of their magic when they become old enough to attend Hogwarts, but as you most probably going to be her classmate until the end of primary school, it make sense. So, I've decided to speak with Mr and Mrs Granger," she explained and Harry nodded enthusiastically.

"If you would like, you could come with me when I talk to Miss Granger and her parents, it might help them a bit, but you must go with the usual story, being Henry McGonagall, understood?" she asked and he nodded with a serious expression, but he was rather excited. He always wanted to go with his grandmother when she introduced Muggle-borns to the magical world, but she has never let him before.

Minerva transfigured her clothes to Muggle ones, her travelling clock now looked like a coat instead, while Harry owned several pieces of Muggle clothing since he started primary school (and she was amused to find that even at home now he used those instead of the traditional wizarding ones). They were standing in the door of the Granger family and while she has informed parents of Muggle-borns about their children's abilities countless times before, with Harry right next to her, she couldn't help but be nervous a bit. She ringed and hoped that the Grangers were at home that Saturday. The house itself was a well-maintained one, a lot like all the other houses in the neighbourhood, but with the nice garden it had a homey feeling.

The door opened and a woman in her middle to late thirties opened it. While she has never met young Miss Granger before based on Harry's description the girl didn't take after her mother whose hair was a very dark shade of brown and had eyes similar to hers.

"Hello! Can I help you with anything?" she asked with a friendly smile. Minerva nodded and matched her expression.

"Hello. My name is Minerva McGonagall and this is my nephew here, Henry, though you might have heard about him as Harry. Harry is your daughter's classmate," she explained and Mrs Granger seemed surprised, but continued smiling when Harry politely greeted her.

"I didn't know that Hermione planned something for today," Mrs Granger stated honestly and Minerva shook her head.

"No, don't worry; your daughter didn't organize anything. However, I think we have much to talk about, but could we go in? It's not exactly a topic for outside," she suggested and Mrs Granger invited them in. With the prospect of tea Minerva and Harry were seated in the living-room. A bushy haired little girl stormed into the room with a pile of books in her arms only to stop when she noticed the guests.

"Hi Hermione," Harry greeted his classmate happily who looked at him with wide eyes.

"Hi Harry," she said eventually with a blush obviously embarrassed by the fact that her classmate and some stranger (a grown-up no less) were there.

"Hermione, this is my Aunt Minerva. Auntie, this is Hermione Granger," Harry introduced them to each other.

"Miss Granger, it's a pleasure to meet you," Minerva stated after the little girl greeted her somewhat shyly. As with every Muggle-born she has ever met Minerva tried to guess into which House the girl will be sorted. Based on what she has so far seen about her and been told through Harry, she guessed Ravenclaw, though as the girl was a lot younger than the Hogwarts age, so that might still easily change.

Mr Granger joined the party as well and the greetings and introductions happened and after both parents were in the room and tea was served Minerva turned towards the parents who were obviously surprised by the visit. She noted that Hermione took after her father with the same colouring, brown hair and eyes.

"I suppose we have never met, because Harry is usually goes to school with one of his uncles, mainly, because while I'm his guardian, I teach at a school myself," she started and by the looks she knew that the Grangers thought that this was just part of the introduction. "Harry a few days ago told me that your daughter tend to do special things." At that Hermione blushed and she muttered something under her breath. Mrs Granger looked at Minerva strangely.

"I'm not sure what you are talking about Mrs McGonagall," she stated and Minerva nodded.

"It's actually Miss, but I'm mostly used to the title Professor McGonagall. As I said I'm a teacher at a school and we teach children with special talent like your daughter's," she said and both parents looked at her with clear surprise now.

"Look, Miss... Professor McGonagall. I'm not sure what school you are from, but we already know that Hermione is academically rather talented and the teachers at school gave us quite some options if she keeps up the work," Mrs Granger said and Minerva just shook her head.

"While Harry mentioned that Miss Granger is quite intelligent I was actually talking about a rather different talent. Usually your family would only be informed when your child is eleven, but as Harry recognized the signs, I've came to the conclusion that it might do some good for both you and your daughter to know the truth rather sooner than later. Your daughter has magic," she said simply and both parents jumped up just as they usually did at that point. She looked curiously to Hermione who paled and was watching Harry with wide eyes.

"I must ask you not to say things like that. Hermione is already in school, I don't want her to have strange ideas about the world. We all know that magic doesn't exist," Mr Granger stated and Minerva slowly got up as well, but gestured to Harry that he should remain seated.

"No, Mr Granger. I'm perfectly well-informed and I must say that there is such a thing as magic, only those who don't posses it don't know about the magical world. Since the Middle Ages when non-magical people turned against the magical community, the wizarding world has been hidden from the non-magical which we call Muggle," she informed the parents who shared a look. "And before you think otherwise, I'm not crazy and what I have just told you is completely true. I'm a witch and my nephew is a wizard just as your daughter is a witch, the only difference that your daughter was born into a non-magical family, while both Harry and I had a magical family," she said simply.

"I would like to ask you to leave my house, Miss McGonagall," Mr Granger firmly said, but Minerva just shook her head. Instead she easily shifted into her animagus form, a tabby cat which earned the shrieks she thought it would and then she changed back into human.

"What you have just seen is example of transfiguration, the art of changing an object or person into something else, the subject I teach at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the future school of your daughter if you accept her abilities," she stated.

"That's-that's some type of trick," Mr Granger stated and Minerva had a small smile on her face.

"Really? Then what would you like to see? Levitating sofa? Tea pouring itself? Coffee table turned into a chicken? I'm capable of many things, Mr Granger," she stated simply and had her wand in her hand. Both Granger parents seemed shocked, but to her greatest surprise Hermione Granger was obviously braver than she gave her credit – maybe a future Lion? The young girl stepped closer to her.

"Could you really turn our coffee table into a chicken?" she asked curiously and Minerva smiled.

"Auntie Min can turn it into any animal you choose, Hermione," Harry said confidentially and Minerva raised her eyebrows.

"Proud of your aunt, Harry?" she asked with a smile and her grandson winked at her.

"Of course, Auntie," he agreed. "Though Uncle Albus might be even better than you," he said with a wide grin and she rolled her eyes knowing that Harry was just teasing her. She turned back towards Hermione who watched their exchanged curiously.

"Harry can do things like that too?" she asked curiously and Minerva laughed while Harry crossed his arms.

"Not yet. Just as you, he is still too young to learn magic, but yes, both of you will be capable one day," she stated. The Grangers seemed to wake up from their shock at the mention of their daughter changing their table into a bird, which Minerva easily done with a quick spell. It was a rather good work she praised herself as the chicken started running around the living-room looking exactly like it was supposed to. She easily reversed the spell and placed the table back where it stood (because her bird was pretty quick to escape). Hermione seemed to like her performance much, while her parents a little less.

"Only transfig, Auntie? What about charms?" Harry asked innocently, but she just shook her head with a smile on her face and focused on the rather lost parents of Hermione Granger.

"I know this is much to take in at once. As the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts I have been informing parents of Muggle-borns for years and trust me, your reaction is better than most parents'," she simply said. "Should we sit down and talk about the details? I'm sure you would like to know what this means for your daughter." The Grangers reluctantly nodded. Minerva poured the tea into cups just to give Harry the charms he wanted to see.

"So, your daughter was born with magic. While magic-users have been around as long as non-magical folk we don't study biology and heredity as much as you do, so I'm sorry to say that even now I can't say why it is possible of two non-magical, Muggle parents to have a magical child, a Muggle-born. If one of the parents have magic the chances of the child inheriting it is great, but even two magical people can have a non-magical child. So, it is quite complicated and rather unknown. Probably in your ancestry someone had magic and it has skipped a few generations until young Hermione received it," she explained and Hermione beamed at the end probably liking the fact that out of her entire family she was the only special one.

"As I stated magic is capable of lot of things what you, Muggles would say impossible. I myself grew up in a Muggle household, so I know what I'm talking about when I say that magical people tend to overstep the boundaries of physics about hundred times a day," she said and at that Hermione even straightened. The young girl obviously liked the sound of being able to do things others found impossible. Her parents on the other hand seemed a bit hesitant about that.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that changing a non-living object into a living one like you have just done with our table should be impossible," Mrs Granger offered shyly and Minerva nodded.

"And that was just one example. We levitate things, we can make objects with a spell explode; we change one thing to another. We also have countless magical creatures you would think only exist in fairy tales – fairies included. An entire magical world exists parallel to the Muggle world and as you can see the two fairly often meet. Harry recognized Hermione as a witch; because she did accidental magic which is uncontrolled magic usually caused by great emotions." At that Hermione blushed probably remembering what she has done exactly.

"So, there is obviously such a thing as magical teacher. Are there doctors, police officers, ministry workers, lawyers and all other things as well?" Mrs Granger asked curiously and Minerva nodded.

"Yes, as I said we practically have an entire society and not only in Great Britain, but everywhere else in the world, though the number of magical people compared to Muggles is quite low," she stated and at that Mr Granger smiled.

"So, our Hermione is special?" he asked and now Harry nodded.

"Yes, and magic is great. You will love it Hermione," Harry turned towards his classmate who nodded happily.

"What does being born with magic mean to our daughter?" Mrs Granger asked Minerva curiously.

"That in one way or another she must learn to control her magic. It's like energy in you which is building up. As children become older and older their magic is growing and maturing with them, so for example in the future accidental magic is going to be even more frequent. Actually, many don't even show the signs of magic until much later. However, if she doesn't learn to control it, it can be dangerous to her and others. So, that's why I recommend magical education to her, but as her parents you can always choose to send her to Muggle secondary school and teach her magic with a private tutor. It's fairly rarely done, mainly because most children once introduced to the magical world feel that they belong there – and they do. Also, the only difference is that if you have a magical education than you can get a magical job and career later on instead of a Muggle," she explained and the Grangers nodded.

"And the educational system? How does that work?" Mr Granger asked curiously.

"There are eleven long-established and prestigious magical schools in the world and a few smaller ones, though I wouldn't suggest them, because they are not well-regulated. So many countries don't have one. I'm proud to say that one of the best, if not the greatest of all is in Great Britain, more precisely in Scotland. Hogwarts was established about a thousand years ago. It's a boarding school in which young witches and wizards learn from the age of eleven until seventeen for seven years. We teach all the basic branches of magic, such as Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Potions and a variety of others electives included. At the end of their seventh year the students take some serious exams which will conclude their magical studies, though some jobs require further studying, for example aurors which are somewhere between secret agents and police officers learn for additional three years at the Auror Academy to where only a selected few with remarkable grades can get in," she explained and watched the young girl in awe. She obviously liked the idea of Hogwarts. Her parents seemed to accept already that their daughter was special, which was always a good sign, she mused.

"Would it be possible for us to get some books about the magical world and Hogwarts?" Mrs Granger asked curiously and Minerva nodded.

"How about on Monday Harry will give your daughter some books which I will transfigure to look like ordinary Muggle books, so no one will be the wiser? Also, if you have any question, don't hesitate. Harry goes to school every day with his Uncle Remus who is a wizard himself. He would be happy to help you with anything, I assure you," she said which made Harry grin. The Grangers nodded hesitantly.

"Also, if you don't mind then I'm sure that Harry would love to tell about the magical world to your daughter. Right, Harry?" she turned towards her grandson who nodded happily. Not that she was surprised, most probably that was the reason why he asked her to check Hermione's abilities – he wanted to tell everything about the magical world to someone who didn't know about it. She understood it in a way; she always found informing the Muggle-borns interesting. "Though, please try not to inform the entire Muggle world as well," she asked Harry who had a mischievous smile and winked at her.

"Don't worry, Auntie, I'm a good boy and I know the rules." Right, Harry and the rules – she already feared the time when he would attend Hogwarts.