Chapter 10: A History Lesson for Christmas
The Hogwarts express reached Kings Cross later than usual that day, due to the heavy snow blanketing huge amounts of Scotland with its beautiful, but as far as trains were concerned, detrimental whiteness.
"Harry, Hermione, please don't take it personally," Daphne implored the two of them with pleading eyes.
"Of course not," Hermione answered the clearly distraught girl. "It's just sad you can't introduce your friends to your parents because they believe in that nonsense," she exclaimed.
"They don't, not really. It will just take a little time and explaining for them to accept it. No one ever thought it possible for two Slytherins to become friends with a bunch of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, especially if two of these people were Harry Potter and a muggleborn," Tracey butted in as Daphne seemed unable to continue at the moment. "They will approve, though. Especially of Neville, Susan and Harry, all powerful old families, and Amelia Bones is head of DMLE, a good spot to be in to become the next Minister. Not that that's the reason we're your friends." The last remark was added with fearful shock on the dark-haired witch's face, obviously realizing how what she had just said could be interpreted.
"And nobody here thought so. If it gets your parents off our case, who are we to complain about it," Harry interceded the rant Hermione had seen coming.
"Very thoughtful of him," she mused proudly, lovingly.
As the doors opened, Tracey and Daphne quickly left the train to meet up with their respective families, Daphne being enthusiastically greeted by her sister Astoria. Harry and Hermione were led by Neville to the old, stern-looking woman they remembered from the last timeline. She was just as imposing as she remembered, and the attire that had seemed so laughable on Neville's boggart just seemed frightening on her. Especially the vulture on her hat.
"Gran, I would like you to meet my friends, Hermione Jean Granger and Harry James Potter, Heir to the Potter family. Harry, Hermione, my grandmother Augusta, Viscountess Longbottom," he introduced everyone, receiving a strange look from both Hermione and her boyfriend for the somewhat weird introduction.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, although I gather from your expressions you have not been properly schooled in etiquette. Not surprising for a muggleborn, but downright neglect for a future duke," the stern woman stated in her no-nonsense voice. Strangely, her comment about muggleborns did not irk Hermione, at least not much, as it was delivered so matter-of-factly, without even the barest hint of contempt. She knew muggles did not care much for some of the older customs of their own world, how could muggleborn be expected to know about those of the wizarding world? "If you are in agreement, we shall rectify that tremendous oversight over the holidays. Merlin knows Neville could use a refresher."
Behind his grandmother, Neville was giving his friends thumbs-up that were coupled with a most disconcerting smile.
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They were chauffeured to Longbottom manor in Suffolk by an excitable young house elf named Pappy and promptly given the tour by Neville.
The manor was in the style of old English manors, complete with a mote, drawbridge and even a wall. Most of the other former defensive elements had been forced to cede their places to amenities though, including a ballroom adjacent to the large hall in which the lord of the manor had held court in days yore. Furthermore, there were several guest rooms, a master suite, a family wing and the old barracks now housed a small duelling area, with a potion laboratory added in the dungeons under it.
Harry immediately liked the place, especially the medieval feel of the moat and drawbridge; he said he could nearly see people with bow and arrow, or shield and sword in hand bravely fighting off a band of roving bandits. Hermione was more interested in taking a good long look into the library, time permitting, but she would not be upset either way, because she had the feeling they would spend a lot of time here.
After dinner, again served by Pappy who was very excited to have people there to dote upon, Augusta, as she bid them to call her, started off with 'rectifying some oversights'.
"It seems you are both woefully uneducated in wizarding lore and customs, I shall try to give you the basics," the old lady started only to be interrupted by ruffling. Hermione returned to the table, feeling her face blush as she put down ink, parchment and quill. A satisfied nod from Augusta told her she was in no trouble. "British wizarding society is old, very old. We don't know where the roots lie, but our earliest written accounts are from the early 10th century, no doubt because somewhere around that time Hogwarts started hoarding knowledge, protecting it from the occasional bout of book burnings. Back in that time, before the witch hunts hit Britain and even earlier, before Christianization, having magic was often a way to great power. Unfortunately with great power often comes envy, and this is what led to the founding of Hogwarts. It was a way for magical children to be protected from the claws of the greedy, or sometimes downright abusive. When the whole of England became Christian, the situation did not exactly get better for young witches and wizards, especially the muggleborn. So when, back in 1066, William the Conqueror planned to invade Britain, the most powerful and influential of the magic families struck a deal with who they thought would be the future king of England."
Here, Augusta made a little pause, silence filling the room aside from Hermione's quill scratching on the parchment.
"That deal was the old and powerful wizarding families would keep all their hereditary titles and be granted self-governance. In return, they promised to fight the battlemages the Norwegian king, Harald Hardrada brought with him on his own attempted conquest of the isle. They did just that, I don't want to bore you with details…" Hermione felt a sting of annoyance at this, "…, and were granted what they had been promised. They just took the name of the Anglo-Saxon king's advisory body, the Witenagemot, and turned it into their own. Today, it is the Wizengamot," she finished her tale, which was only good, because it finally allowed Hermione to ask questions.
"Did I understand this correctly, the old wizards were living together with muggles, were even granted sovereignty by a muggle ruler and actively trying to integrate muggleborns into their society? What happened to that?" she asked, astonished how the pureblood doctrine could rise from this.
"Well, I assume you listened carefully while writing down notes. I'd ask you to think about why the old wizarding families would be interested to ingratiate themselves with the muggleborn of that time instead of just shunning them, like they do today. Believe me, even back then they distrusted first generation magicals," she countered the question with another question. Hermione munched it through her head, looking at it from all possible sites, until finally the proverbial light bulb went off. The fact that Harry's light bulb had obviously gone off earlier than hers surprised her just a little.
"Because a muggleborn was a threat to the power these people held as wizards. They were the way for the people who desired their power and wealth to get both, but if they managed to bind them to their houses, either through oath, friendship or marriage, it actually widened their powerbase," she concluded, receiving a happy nod in return.
"Exactly. As for the sovereignty being gifted by a muggle king, the purebloods simply chose to conveniently forget it. Common knowledge is an interesting thing, isn't it?"
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Their lesson concluded the tree children, for lack of a better word one could apply to Harry and Hermione, were sent to bed. The next day would be very taxing with an appointment at Gringotts topped off by Christmas shopping. Also, Hermione and Harry still had to find a way to break away from the other two and get wands not bearing the trace, seeing as they could not rescind their guardian's permission before they were adults.
Harry was shown into one of the guest bedrooms by Pappy, who then promptly left to show Hermione into the one across the hall. His room, or rather rooms, were very nice, decorated in soft earthy colours, the ensuite bathroom tiled in crisp white. Seeing as he was completely knackered from the day, the only things Harry did before collapsing into bed was brush his teeth (Hermione would get upset with him otherwise) and slip on his pyjamas.
However, now that he was actually lying comfortably, he just could not get his thoughts to quiet down sufficiently to let him sleep. He was having doubts and concerns, and like for so many, they were never stronger than the moment he tried to go to sleep. Harry was feeling immensely guilty for not getting his godfather out of Azkaban instantly; even though he knew he had no way to do so. He was feeling guilty for lying to his friends about who, or rather how old he really was. He knew perfectly well he was manipulating a whole lot of people, the same thing Dumbledore was doing in the old timeline and had been doing again now.
Not that Harry really blamed the old man, although he thought it would be easy to. He was just getting very, very old, that brought with it making more and more mistakes as time progresses. The only thing he really faulted Dumbledore for was never taking the time to build a worthy successor. And maybe not realizing the dangers of Tom Riddle when there had still been time. And for not doing anything about the Horcruxes as soon as he had only an inkling of an idea…
"Okay, maybe I do blame him for a lot of things. But his motivations are pure, and although his methods are deplorable, no one would fault him if it was working," he mused. That musing was cut short by the sound of the door opening.
"Can't sleep either," he heard Hermione's voice from the shadow that entered his bedroom.
"No. Hermione what are you…" he started as he felt her crawling into bed with him. He stiffened immediately; this was the first contact like this since…
"Harry, what is it?" he could hear the hurt in her voice, hurt at him pulling away from a cuddle it seemed she needed desperately. Hermione hurt was something that would always get Harry out of his stupor.
"Got nothing to do with you, sweetie. It's just... you know the last time I was like this with somebody…" Harry shrugged in the dark, knowing Hermione would be unable to see it. The gesture was more for him than for her anyway.
"Oh," she moaned dejectedly. "I can go if you want…"
"No, please stay. And you were right, I can't sleep. Just thinking about all the things we're doing, are planning to do. Like, should we have freed Sirius already, or aren't we being just as manipulative as Dumbledore?" he voiced some of his concerns.
This time, when Hermione cuddled into him, he did not pull back. Instead, he embraced her in a tight hug he knew they both needed desperately.
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It had been one of the best nights of sleep in Harry's memory, up until the alarm clock Hermione, ever sensible, had brought with her had gone off at 5:30 in the morning.
"What is that?" a severely sleep-ruffled and annoyed Harry lifted his head from behind Hermione's where he had been snuggling into the locks of her bushy hair. He saw the old mechanical clock ringing away on the nightstand and immediately deactivated it. It just wouldn't do to awake the whole house.
"Hermione, wake up." He shook his girlfriend gently, but her only reaction was to turn around and face him directly, resting her head on his chest.
"Hermione, as much as I enjoy this, I think you set that alarm for a reason, time to wake up," he insisted more forcefully, prompting her to open an eye and peer at him.
"Don't wanna, it's way too comfy here. You make an excellent pillow," she yawned, quickly followed by intensifying her cuddling of him.
He finally managed to get Hermione, who as it turned out had set the alarm to be safely tucked into her own bed when everybody else awoke, out of her sleepy state, which he was rather sorry for, for she was oh-so cute like this, and into her own bed.
They agreed to 'wake up' at half past six and meet in the sitting room for a little planning.
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At the appointed time, Hermione slowly walked towards their meeting point. She was rather flustered, as she was beginning to get worried Harry might be angry with her for just showing up in his room the night before. It had certainly hurt to feel him pull away from the cuddle she had needed so desperately, but she understood why. If even something as innocent and beautiful as a loving cuddle was marred with bad memories, that was even more reason to condemn such a thing as rape potions.
When she entered the room, most of her fears were swept away by Harry smiling at her, broadly so. However, he also looked quite apologetic.
"Hermione, I'm so sorry I pulled away from you yesterday, it was…" he started, but this time Hermione would not have his self-deprecation.
"No, Harry. You have nothing to be sorry for, the only one who has is me, I should not have showed up like this. It's just… I remembered some things from the old timeline and I desperately needed some warmth. Sorry for that."
Harry looked at her long and carefully. Finally, he stated with conviction, "Hermione, never apologize for needing a cuddle. Merlin knows we've seen enough to warrant that from time to time."
Not much planning was done before the rest of the house awoke.
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AN: Hello again,
Well, I seem to be as assiduous as a worker bee in getting out this stuff. Let me know what you think in your review (especially about the history lesson), each and every one is appreciated, even though I don't answer them. I'm guessing you'd rather I continue writing the story than answering reviews. As for questions asked in reviews about future plot, I will never ever answer those. Oops, spoiler alert.
Enjoy your day,
alexandertheII