Before Hogwarts
School 2 (age 8)
Hermione only got about three weeks to train before the school year started, in those three weeks she spent most of her time learning how to be more fit. Hermione now, like Harry, got up each day and went for a run, followed by at least an hour of focused exercise before breakfast. Hermione had one advantage over Harry in that her guardians supported her education, unlike the Dursleys did for Harry, and they had room in the back yard for a small building so Hermione could set up a potions lab. This had two advantages, first it allowed Lucy to come by 2-3 times a week and catch Hermione up on potions, and second the potions lessons carried over and Hermione became a better person in the kitchen - in fact Emma wasn't afraid to let Hermione cook now.
Before the lab was ever used, Rick had put strong wards on the building to protect it from intruders and to contain any mishaps. Also, this lab was up to date and used the latest equipment available from the states; there were places for four small caldrons to heat, or two large ones, at the same time, and Lucy had set it up with all the needed ingredients that a first year would need to brew potions as listed in the current potions text from Hogwarts. Hermione wasn't allowed in the lab unless Lucy was present, except on rare occasions when Lucy would call and tell her to prepare certain components for their next lesson.
Harry was back at #4 Privet Dr. and not real happy about it. His aunt even took the time to ask about his summer and to ask about his trip to the states when she heard about it, but she told Harry not to say much around Vernon. Dudley was surprised when Petunia didn't give Harry his old clothes for school and when he saw that Harry had new clothes and they were stylish. In fact there were several things that Dudley didn't like about Harry, except Harry was a much better cook than Petunia.
The first day of school for Harry was interesting in that all of his teachers seemed glad to see him back. Harry was placed in the front of the class where he had a good view of the teacher and anything written on the board behind the teacher's desk. It was at lunch that the first problem came up, an older boy objected to where Harry was sitting and how close Harry was to the older boy's current interest, female wise. The boy walked up behind Harry and popped him on the back of the head, then told Harry to find somewhere else to sit. This was normal, what wasn't normal was when a teacher escorted the boy from the area and to the headmaster's office. By the end of the first week it was well known that nobody had best bother Harry as he was well liked by the staff.
Hermione's first week was quiet, several kids still teased her and tried to pick on her but she ignored them. Then she crossed paths with one of the boys from the zoo one day and things went downhill rather quickly. The boy again pushed her down and started berating her about getting him in trouble at the zoo. He told her she didn't have her "little friend" to protect her now. When Hermione got up the boy went to push her down again and Hermione pushed back, HARD, and the boy went flying across the ground about 5 feet and landed on his rear. What nobody noticed, but Hermione did, was the faint glow that had surrounded her just as she pushed the boy - she had done accidental magic again.
It was the second week of school before Harry and Hermione were able to go to the house for the weekend with Rick and Lucy. Rick picked up Harry and Lucy got Hermione, the two kids spent the first hour together telling each other, and their hosts, about the first few weeks of school. When Harry heard about the boy pushing Hermione he said she should learn more self defense, or maybe trade schools and come to where Harry went. Hermione said she was finished with running away from problems so it was time to learn more self defense, and turned to look at Rick.
The next morning after their run Rick introduced Hermione to something besides Ti Chi, he started both kids on Karate. He explained that Karate wasn't about breaking boards like in the movies, it was about defending yourself from someone stronger or better armed. The first thing they both learned was how to stand to make it harder to move them around as they were more stable. Next they were shown some very basic ways to break simple holds like a choke hold, someone grabbing a hand or arm, or someone grabbing them from behind - this one Harry had already used. It soon became a contest between the kids to see who could beat the other in sparring matches.
After lunch it was time for potions, their first official potions lesson together, Lucy explained that she wanted Harry to show Hermione how to brew a simple potion to remove or treat boils; all Lucy was going to do was watch, if they made mistakes she would help clean them up, but the kids had to endure the mistakes for themselves to learn. Harry had done this potion several times, but Hermione had only done it once, so he explained what was needed, reading from the book, and helped Hermione gather the ingredients and prepare them. Harry stopped Hermione from making a mistake that could have resulted in the two of them getting boils instead of treating them. After they had finished Lucy gave them her grade of their work, they both had passed that potion and Harry got another pat on the back for preventing an accident.
Next was Harry's favorite activity, flying, it was time to teach Hermione how to fly. The first problem was the broom didn't want to respond to her, when she said "UP" the broom just lay there on the ground. Lucy said she would work with Hermione while Rick worked with Harry on precision. An hour later just as they were getting ready to return inside Hermione got off the ground for the first time, after a 10 minute flight she asked for more. Once back inside Lucy said it was time to review their homework and see if they needed any help with their schooling; Harry had a few questions, but Hermione was able to explain things so he understood. When Hermione asked her questions she was surprised that Harry was able to explain things to her. Lucy pointed out different teachers reached different students in different ways, both kids smiled and agreed that they needed to talk to each other more often about school work and only bring questions neither could answer to Rick or Lucy.
When Rick heard about the decision he said maybe they needed to get a separate phone line for Harry to use to talk with Hermione, one that Vernon couldn't control. The kids liked that idea as it would allow them to talk about school and other things more often. Lucy suggested that Rick get it done as soon as possible and to make sure Harry had the number to this house so he could call if needed, like Hermione had done once. They took a break for an hour so the kids could have some free time to unwind and be kids.
Just as they finished supper Rick asked if they wanted to watch a movie or do extra wand work for fun. Everyone end up in the training room shortly after Rick asked his question. They decided to work on prank spells and the kids were shown how to change the color of hair and clothes. Hermione was the first victim of Rick's charm, but Harry got him from behind. Lucy tried to get Harry but he ducked the spell and got her instead. The kids and the adults had fun, Harry was the only one to escape a change in hair color - he even gave Hermione rainbow hair. The only mishap was when Hermione did the clothes change and instead of turning Lucy's shirt purple she turned it sheer white just as Rick shot a water spell, Lucy was left with a wet sheer top that didn't hide much, Harry blushed and Rick laughed as Lucy tried to cover up. Later Lucy said she didn't know the color change charm could do that and it seemed that Hermione's spell was permanent, no matter what she tried Lucy could not change her top back or to any other color.
After their run the next morning their first lesson was with Remus, it was time to start learning transfiguration from someone who was really good at it. When he heard about the shirt incident from the night before he told Hermione that sounded very much like a transfiguration and not a charm, he was impressed. Remus suggested that Hermione not let that spell get known when they went to Hogwarts as some of the boys might use it on her or other girls as a prank. By the end of the lesson both Harry and Hermione had completed their assignment and turned a rat into a cup, without hair or tails, Hermione's was the most perfect but Remus said for a first time try both passed with flying colors.
The kids managed to get about two hours time to fly, Harry showed Hermione some of the moves and tactics he had learned from the seeker the previous year and she said she didn't think she would try most of them. Then Harry had an idea, he transfigured a rock into a ball and the two of them played catch on brooms. Neither noticed that Remus was watching or the surprised look on his face when he saw Harry do the transfiguration as if it was second nature to him. As Remus watched them play catch he noticed that Hermione would make a fair chaser with a little instruction and practice. Neither Harry or Hermione wanted the weekend to end, they were having too much fun together, but it had to end as the next day was a school day.
It took Rick almost a week to get Harry a phone installed, in fact once it was installed Rick had to charm the box outside so that Vernon nor Dudley could find it after Vernon disconnected the line several times to prevent Harry from using it. The first call Harry made was to Hermione to tell her his number and about Vernon and Dudley being hexed. The two of them talked to each other every day, and as a result both of their grades went up as they explained things to each other and helped each other.
One night Harry woke up in the middle of the night and something didn't feel right. He got up and looked out his window and saw someone crawling into the window of the house across the street. Harry knew that house was owned by a elderly couple with no kids living there. Suddenly Harry heard shouting coming from the house; Harry didn't think he just reacted and the next thing he knew he was outside that house and someone was running towards him. Harry reacted again and the man was knocked down by a flash of red light from Harry's hand. It was a second later when a house elf appeared by Harry and said Twinkie sent him to check on Harry. The elf took Harry's hand and "popped" him back to his bedroom, about that time the police pulled up and found the man Harry had knocked down, from what Harry could see the police were glad to find the man. Harry called Rick, but it was Lucy who answered, and explained what had happened; Lucy told Harry to stay in the house and she would see him later that day, he was to stay home from school also.
Harry didn't go for his run that morning, Lucy had said to stay in the house and he did as told. It was during breakfast that he found out what had happened the nigh before, it was on the early morning news that a burglar had been caught at #3 privet Dr. early that morning when he was chased out of a house by the owner. The owner's wife was taken to the hospital after being struck by the burglar and was recovering from a blow to the head. The burglar had been found unconscious outside the house and was being held by the police as he had a history with them. Harry told Petunia what Lucy had said about staying home and she asked why. For some reason Harry didn't think he should tell about last night and just said Lucy needed to meet with him for something.
Lucy arrived around 8am, after Vernon had left, to speak with Harry, and Petunia. Harry explained again what had happened and Lucy asked him if he had taken his wand with him, when he said it was at her house she got a strange look on her face and told Harry he must have done a wandless stunning spell on the burglar and it sounded like he had apparated across the street and that was dangerous for someone his age. Harry said he wanted to check on the old folks across the street as they had always been nice to him, but they didn't get on with Petunia and her gossiping. Lucy told him to wait until after school let out so as not to raise suspicions.
Lucy spoke with Petunia and found that she was suspicious of Harry staying home from school. Lucy explained that Harry had seen what happened last night and she wanted to make sure he wasn't too effected by the violence he had seen. While Petunia was making tea for the two of them Lucy ran a quick scan on her, Lucy noted that the magic levels she had detected before were not changing. After the two enjoyed their tea Petunia asked if Harry doing okay in his studies with Rick and Lucy. Lucy found this strange but told her Harry was doing very well for his age and situation. Before she left, Lucy gave Harry a note saying he had been in for some tests so as to explain his missing school.
When Rick heard about Harry's adventure he wasn't too concerned until he found out it took a day and a half for the burglar to wake up after Harry stunned him, that was some stunner. When Harry called and told Hermione she told him to be more careful, but said he did the right thing trying to help the older couple. Harry told her that when he went to check on the old man he found out he hadn't eaten and didn't know how to cook much of anything so Harry cooked him a real meal instead of the old man eating cold cereal all the time until his wife got home.
Things settled down for both Harry and Hermione, once again Harry got to celebrate "Thanksgiving" with Rick and Lucy (this time Hermione was there too). Then it was time for Christmas, now this year Harry had been getting an allowance from Rick depending on his grades and how Harry did in his lessons (and neither Lucy, Rick, or Remus could find any problem with Harry's lessons) so he had some money to spend on presents this year. The first present he bought was for Hermione, with Lucy's help, a bright winter scarf in Hermione's favorite color. Harry got Rick, Lucy, Remus, and both adult Grangers presents. He also took a fresh batch of homemade cookies over to the older couple across the street, this surprised them very much and they were even more surprised when Harry offered to shovel their walkway and refused to accept payment - he said it was a Christmas present for them.
When Vernon saw Harry shoveling the walkway across the street he told Harry he could do theirs also, Harry said Dudley could do the Dursley's since the older couple didn't have anyone to help them. Vernon's face got very purple and he started spitting and sputtering, just as he was about to hit Harry a strange creature popped into being right in front of Vernon and pointed a finger at him, the next thing Vernon knew was when he hit the wall behind himself.
"You will not harm Mr. Harry Potter, if you raise a hand against him again you will be punished. I will be watching you sir", said the elf and he popped right out again. Harry didn't remember ever seeing that elf before and wondered where it had come from, or where it went.
Harry decided that it would be a very good idea to go to his room and close the door, and lock it - he hadn't felt the need to lock the door in some time. Harry sat on his bed and thought about the strange elf; that elf was dressed in an unusual fashion, it had been wearing nice clothes and not a uniform like Twinkie wore. Harry called Hermione to check with her to see if she was ready to go to Rick and Lucy's, come to find out nobody answered the Granger's phone.
The next morning Lucy showed up to get Harry for his two week holiday visit and was told by Petunia about the strange happenings the previous night. When Lucy asked Harry about the elf, Harry told her he thought that maybe either Rick or Lucy had sent the elf to watch over him. Lucy said that Twinkie, or one of her friends, checked on Harry every now and then but it didn't sound like any of the elves she had met. Lucy asked Petunia to remind Vernon of the conditions of the contract and the way Harry was to be treated. This time Lucy had not driven, she hated driving in the snow, so they just disappeared from the living room and appeared at the house where Harry found all of the Grangers, plus Remus, waiting.
It was after supper when Lucy said she had called her own elf over to spend the holidays with her and she wanted to introduce him. She called Caesar and an elf appeared, shocking Dan and Emma even though they had met Twinkie before. As soon as Caesar appeared Harry recognized him as the elf who had stopped Vernon. Before Harry could say anything Caesar got an upset look on his face.
"Ms. Lucy, Caesar has been a bad elf. He allowed the uncle of Mr. Harry Potter to see him and attacked said uncle when he tried to assault Mr. Harry Potter. Caesar awaits his punishment", Caesar said quickly.
"Caesar, there will be no punishment. You acted to keep Harry safe and I am glad you were there to protect Harry. Now, this is Hermione Granger, her parents Dan and Emma Granger. Please help Twinkie to make them comfortable and to take care of them, including Harry", Lucy replied.
Harry knelt down and held his hand out towards Caesar and told him thanks for protecting him from Uncle Vernon. To everyone's surprise Caesar bowed very low towards Harry and replied, "It is my honor to help the great Harry Potter, sir. If Caesar can ever be of service Mr. Harry Potter has only to call for Caesar", and shook Harry's hand briefly then popped out.
Remus commented that was strange behavior for a house elf and Lucy said Caesar had always been very protective of her and her close friends. As far as Lucy was concerned Caesar was family and not a servant like the elves in England were treated. This seemed to be a sore subject for Lucy. Things calmed down and everyone went into the living room, the adults had coffee and the kids had hot chocolate. They all talked and Harry found out that Rick and Lucy had invited the Grangers to spend the holidays with them so they could see more of the magical world. Rick, Lucy, and Remus invited both adult Grangers to sit in on the classes with Harry and Hermione the next day so they could see what was going on, even if Emma had sat in on a few of Hermione's potion lessons before. The kids didn't look too happy about having classes during the holidays.
Dan and Emma didn't join Harry and Hermione for their early morning workout, but came down for breakfast. Both seemed surprised that the kids were already up and had been for an hour and a half. After breakfast the first class was Remus and transfiguration, they were making Christmas ornaments for the tree - now that was fun. Next Remus said they were going to combine charms so that some of the ornaments would produce sound and or move on their own, again the kids enjoyed the class as it was fun to watch the expressions on Dan and Emma's face as they did the charms.
Next was Rick and spell and wand work. Rick sat the Grangers by the wall and told them for their protection he was going to put a shield in front of them so they could see and hear but not be harmed by stray spells. Once the shield was up, Rick asked that Harry and Hermione give a demonstration of what they had learned and to explain to the Grangers what they were doing. Hermione was first and explained the stunning spell, 'Stupefy' and demonstrated it on one of the dummies, only to have the spell bounce back at her. Harry reacted and produced a shield in front of Hermione without thinking, the only problem was that shield redirected the spell on to Rick before he could react so he ended up stunned on the floor.
Dan asked why Hermione had a golden glow around her, Hermione explained that Harry had cast a shield to protect her from her own spell. Hermione went on to say that sometimes Harry's shields were very strong and they were usually golden in color if strong. Hermione tried to end the shield but couldn't, then she looked at Harry and started tapping her foot. Harry blushed and ended the shield, then cast 'Ennervate' on Rick to wake him up. Rick got up and told them that sometimes Harry's reaction was so quick and strong even he couldn't cancel Harry's shield. Then Rick laughed and told Dan and Emma that they saw how well Hermione could stun someone even with a redirected spell that had lost most of it's energy.
Rick then explained that it seemed that the most fun the two kids had was when they dueled each other. Dan asked if that wasn't dangerous and Rick said it could be but both kids were very careful and had not hurt each other yet, they might knock one another on their rears but they never injured each other. Rick had Harry and Hermione show some of the other spells they had learned. Dan asked if they had learned to hurt people, Harry answered by saying any spell could injure someone if need be, but the most powerful spell they knew was the blasting spell 'Reducto' which made the dummies explode and could break down walls or doors. Hermione went first and her spell knocked the dummy to pieces. Just as Harry was getting ready to do the spell, Rick asked that Harry cast his strongest shield in front of the Grangers and him and then do his strongest Reducto. Harry asked if Rick was serious about that request, Rick nodded.
Harry cast his strongest shield in front of the others and turned towards the dummies. Harry took a deep breath and cast the spell. The dummy disappeared into dust, the wall had a hole about a foot across in it, and the whole house shook. It was only a matter of seconds before both Lucy and Remus were there to see what was wrong and to try and help. Remus came in the door and ran into Harry's shield and bounced back. Lucy came in saw the shield and stopped before hitting it. Harry was lying on the floor with a very bright golden glow around himself. The shield was finally dismissed by Rick, Lucy, and Remus together. But none of them could do anything about the shield around Harry until Hermione asked if they could try again but let her help. The four of them, plus Twinkie and Caesar, together were finally able to end Harry's self protection shield.
Lucy quickly started diagnostic spells on Harry and determined that Harry's core was very low. Somewhere in an old manor two rubies lit up making a total of three red rubies shining brightly, and a very scared elf went running away shouting "Gustus!", he failed to notice that the name Harry James Potter now glowed on a tapestry before fading back out. In a castle in Northern Scotland two rubies glowed on a sword briefly and went unnoticed. In an underground building in London several people noticed a very large surge of magical energy but couldn't tell where it came from, that surge was followed shortly by another surge that couldn't be backtracked.
Lucy had Harry levitated to his room and placed in bed in a matter of minutes. Remus was asking what happened to Harry and Rick told him.
"I was a fool and asked Harry to show his strongest Reducto to the Grangers. He must have put an enormous amount of his energy into that spell, the dummy was reduced to dust, the spell burned through my strongest wards and left a hole in the wall, and shook the whole house. I knew Harry was going to be a strong wizard but that display was way beyond anything I imagined. There is no way an eight year old could have a shield so strong the three of us couldn't breach it. Remus what have I done?", was Rick's reply.
Upstairs Lucy was spelling potions into Harry's system to stabilize his core and vital signs. Hermione was crying and Dan and Emma were shocked beyond belief at what they had seen Harry do. It took an hour before Lucy was satisfied with Harry's condition and went looking for Rick, after asking Twinkie and Caesar to keep watch on Harry for her. Lucy found Rick and was told the same thing as Remus about what had happened.
"I told you to strengthen those wards, what if the ministry was able to backtrack that surge of energy? They may be knocking at the door very soon", Lucy exclaimed.
There was no knock at the door, and by morning Harry was awake, weak, and hungry. Lucy was notified of Harry waking up and his request for food, she allowed clear liquids only at first. It wasn't long before Hermione was by Harry's bed and checking him herself, after all he was her best friend - maybe her only friend. By Christmas Day Harry was back on his feet and was awaken by Hermione to open presents and go down for a Christmas breakfast. Hermione again hugged Harry, and again Harry blushed brightly, when she opened her present from Harry. Everyone was happy with their presents and the kids weren't too excited that school would start back soon.
The holidays finally came to an end and it was back to school for Harry and Hermione, but both were looking forward to the next holiday, Easter. The second week after Christmas was when midterm grades came out. Harry and Hermione were both at the top of their year in their schools, and were tied in all of London for their year. The every other weekend with Rick and Lucy continued, but Harry was never asked to do a full power Reducto, or any other spell at full power, again. In fact both Rick and Remus kept Harry's magic to a low level for fear that Lucy would kill them if Harry got hurt again, and they had noticed that Hermione was very protective of Harry and she was quite powerful herself.
One of the major changes after Christmas was that Hermione started doing more exercise and drug her parents along with her on morning runs and on the weekends she was home insisted they join her in her exercise regiment. Hermione also insisted on taking more advanced subjects as private study, she was learning advanced math, science, and basic chemistry. She even convinced Harry to study the same things and it was driving Rick and Lucy up the wall as Remus didn't know much about muggle subjects as he called them, and Rick and Lucy were rusty on those subjects.
It was during the Easter holiday that Harry asked about more of his mom and dad's friends, especially one Sirius Black. These questions bothered Remus as he was still unsure if Sirius was guilty or not of betraying James and Lily and killing Peter Pettigrew and all those people. But Remus answered the questions as best he could, and Rick even told a few stories of his time with Harry's parents. It was during this time that Rick decided that it was time to do something about Sirius' situation, it was time to "spring" the old dog.
A/N: Well here is chapter 7 and this ends the school year for Harry and Hermione basically. I know, I seemed to rush through the year but I want to get to the summer and find out what Rick does about Sirius. Don't expect to see much of Caesar, he will show up from time to time but not often as he is back in the USA taking care of Lucy's interests.
Please be kind and press the green button below and leave a review.
