Summer of Independence
Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me and I am not making any $$$ off of it. This world belongs to the talented JKR, I am just playing with it.
Chapter 10: OWL Results
The next week or so went by quickly as Harry settled back into his routine. He had written Hermione twice since her first letter and could tell that something was bothering her. He had talked with Dudley and Remus and they decided that he would visit her in person the morning the OWL results arrived. She had seemed more worried than normal about her grades, like something bad would happen to her if she didn't get perfect scores. Harry thought it was a shame there wasn't the wizarding equivalent of a psychologist so she could talk to someone about her over obsessive need to be perfect.
Ragnok had informed him that his results would be arriving a week before his birthday so he had Dudley move his motorcycle to the gym's parking lot the previous morning. He would sneak out under his cloak and then use the bike to drive to Hermione's house. He woke up at his usual early time and after a quick breakfast headed out. He wanted to be close to her house when the scores arrived as he wanted to see or at least hear her reaction. He was sure she would do excellent and knowing how important the scores were to her he wanted to be there.
He pulled onto her street right as he saw the two owls approaching. He parked the bike, waited for one of the birds to land on his arm so he could get his envelope and then donned his cloak so he could slip into the house and surprise her. He saw her sitting at the kitchen table looking terrified of the parchment in her hand. Before he had the chance to let her know he was there her father came into the room.
Dr. Granger walked over to where his daughter was sitting and upon seeing the parchment in her hand forcefully grabbed it from her. "I told you I didn't want to see you using any of this stupid parchment this summer. Use paper like a normal person." The man snapped at her and went to ball her results up.
In a trembling voice, one that Harry had never heard her use before, Hermione told her dad. "They are my exam results. They just arrived a minute ago." She then put her head down as if ashamed of the results as her father started to read through them.
"What is this crap?" He bellowed at her with narrowed eyes. "You didn't even get all O's! Not to mention that you were not the top score in two of your exams! Plus it says here that you didn't receive top marks in ANY exam for all students taking it. I told you that I expected better of you! How do you explain this filth?"
Harry watched in stunned horror as his best friend was belittled and verbally assaulted by her own father for being a failure and a disappointment. The insane man had the gall to say that Hermione wasn't smart enough and that her nearly perfect scores were not good enough. It quickly became clear to Harry why she had always obsessed about her grades. She was terrified of her father who expected perfection when it was not needed or even possible. He wanted her to be top in every class and had expected her scores to be top across all the students who took the exams. That means top scores out of every witch or wizard their age in the entire wizarding world.
"I knew you would be disappointed," she told her father through her tears that were streaming down her face. "I knew that Harry would beat my score in Defense as it comes naturally to him, and I told you that my astronomy exam was interrupted which I why I only received an Exceeds Expectations."
"And I explained that you needed to petition your government to be allowed to retake that exam." He growled at her as if she was stupid.
"I did," she said quietly. "But I would have had to retake every single exam offered, not just for the subjects that I take."
"So you would have had to take two extra exams! How difficult could it be for you to take an exam about normal life or to make things up about seeing your future in the stars! I never thought you were so pathetic," he sneered at her and Harry was too closely reminded of Snape.
"It's not that simple," she tried to explain. "There are 12 subjects that they test in that are not even offered at Hogwarts that I would have had to test in as well. Subjects such as languages, healing, flying and even the dark arts! I know nothing about those subjects and would have certainly failed them!" She cried in desperation.
"I knew sending you to that foolish school would rot your brain. I have more than made up my mind that you will give up that silly magic and come back to the real world where you were at least a decent student. How your pathetic mother talked me into letting you go to that crack pot school is beyond me. You are much too like your mother, some days I wonder if you are even my child!" He raged at her and it took everything in Harry's power to keep from hexing the man. Thinking back he realized that she rarely spoke of her life at home and now he knew why.
Harry waited until the man left the room before cautiously approaching the huddled figure at the table who was sobbing her heart out. "Hermione," he said quietly as he laid his hand on her back. "It's Harry, shhh it's alright. Let's get you up to you room so you can be more comfortable." He told her as gently as he could. He was still under the cloak as he didn't want her father to see him. He couldn't tell if she even heard him as he led her out of the room and up the stairs, looking into each room until he found hers.
He picked her up and gently laid her on the bed before closing her door and placing silencing charms so her dad wouldn't hear him talking to her. He took off the cloak and went to sit next to the broken girl on the bed. It was hard to reconcile the strong, opinionated girl he knew from school to the sobbing, abused one on the bed. He kicked himself for never realizing there was an underlying problem with her obsessive study habits.
"Hermione," he said at normal volume this time once her sobs had quieted. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked not really knowing how to handle the situation.
"What are you doing here?" She asked quietly, still not having come to terms with the fact that her friend had heard everything that had just gone on. She had taken such great pains to keep it all a secret.
"I wanted to see your happy face when you realized how well you did on your OWLs." He told her with a sigh. "I knew how important they were to you and thought we could share the day together."
Hermione gave him a weak smile and threw herself into his arms, hugging him as if her life depended on it. Any doubts he had of her sincerity in their friendship vanished as he realized it didn't matter. She needed him now and he would be the friend for her that she was for him during the Triwizard Tournament. "Thank you," she said as she lay back down and tried to dry her tears on her pillowcase.
"Do you want to tell me now? You know I won't judge and that I would never repeat anything you don't want me to." He asked her.
She decided that she had been holding this secret long enough and that it was time to let it go. He had seen her father and his reactions with his own eyes so maybe he would understand. "My dad is strict," she began wondering how to even express how demanding and unreasonable her father was. "I can never do good enough to please him. Bringing home top marks is expected not praised. If I do any less than perfect then he is disappointed. He was livid when my Hogwarts letter came. He wanted me to become a great scientist or doctor, not a witch. Sometimes it's hard to believe we are related."
"What about your mum?" Harry asked hoping she had at least one loving parent.
"My mum is great," Hermione said with a true smile. "She tries to shield me from him most of the time but is not always successful. They have been together since they were little. It was almost like an arranged marriage but without the paperwork. They were pushed together by both of their families. My father was all for the match but I can see that look on my mum's face every now and then that tells me that she wanted something more. She was happy for me when I got my letter and she convinced my dad to let me go to Hogwarts."
"You are a great witch and a have a brilliant mind Hermione," Harry told her sincerely. "Don't ever let what your father says make you doubt that. You are the smartest student at Hogwarts. Besides nobody is perfect, it is not possible. I would use your father as a good example of that. If he was perfect he would find a way to encourage your grades without intimidation and fear."
The two talked for another hour about her life and her father's expectations and how it affected her. Harry just let her talk and would ask questions once in a while when he didn't understand. He was glad she was able to talk it all out, sometimes just talking about it made someone feel better.
They were startled a bit later when Hermione's mother came rushing into the room. She looked anxious to check on her daughter and startled to see Harry in the room. "Hermione dear I was just checking to see how you were doing? I head your father was not impressed with your scores and was worried about you. I came home as soon as I could." She told her daughter with a sad smile on her face. "Who is your friend?"
"This is Harry mum, my friend from school that I've told you about. He came over to surprise me this morning knowing that results were coming. He heard everything," She told her mother sadly. "He's been helping me talk about it."
Emily Granger was a beautiful woman. She had curly blonde hair, brown eyes and seemed very intelligent. In fact Hermione looked a lot like her. She was busy trying to determine why her daughter's friend looked so familiar when it finally dawned on her. "You look a lot like an old acquaintance of mine Harry." She told him with a smile and sat down on the other side of Hermione's bed. "I haven't seen him since I married Hermione's father." She said wistfully.
"I thought I had seen pictures of all your childhood friends?" Hermione asked curiously. She had always thought there was something her mother kept quiet about and wondered if this was it.
"You've seen pictures of everyone your father and our family knew about," her mother told her with a sly smile. "You see your father and I went to separate colleges for our pre dentistry degrees. I went to a girls college to try and escape the hold my parents had over me and their desire to see me marry your father. I met a young man my sophomore year and we saw each other on and off for the rest of my undergraduate years. He was wonderful but mysterious and he was my way of rebelling against my parents. His name was Nigel and he introduced me to his friend Jimmy once or twice. You look like you could be Jimmy's son," Jane told Harry with a fond smile.
"I wonder what happened to them," she said with a far off look. "In the end I gave into my parents and I broke Nigel's heart. I think he would have married me in a second if I had ever been willing."
"When was the last time you saw him?" Hermione asked curiously as she had never heard about this part of her mother's life before. She couldn't help but think about what her life would have been like if her mum had been with Nigel rather than her father. Then she realized she wouldn't have been born and knew it couldn't be helped who her father was.
"The night before my wedding to your father," she told her sadly. "He tried one last time to talk me out of marrying him. He promised he could support me and that we could disappear into another world and never be found if I wanted. Some days I wish I had run away with him but then I wouldn't have you sweet pea and that makes it all worth while."
"That sounds very romantic mum," Hermione said with a smile. "I'm glad you told me finally. I like knowing this secret. You should look him up. Maybe he is still single," she said with a smile. "I'm almost 17 now so you don't have to worry too much about me and Grandma and Grandpa are dead, what keeps you here with him?"
"I promise I will leave him as soon as you graduate dear one," Her mother said while pulling her into a hug. "But until you are out of school he has too much control over you. Unless your grandparents left us a bunch of money I don't know about I can't afford to pay for your school and live on my own. I am sorry sweet but we will have to wait it out another year."
"Ok, we'll wait, but I still say you should look him up. What was his full name anyway?" Hermione asked with a mischievous smile.
"It was a funny name; his name was Nigel P. Grim. He would never tell me what the P stood for though," Her mother said with a laugh not noticing the startled look on Harry's face.
"What is it Harry? Do you recognize the name?" Hermione asked noticing the reaction her friend had to the name.
Harry was in shock and just nodded before pulling out his wallet and handing his fake ID to Hermione and the only photo he kept in there to her mother. Both women gasped at the same time and turned to look questioningly at him. "My ID when I'm in disguise is Jim Grim. The Jim as it is a shorter version of my father James' name and not as corny as Jimmy and Grim as that is the last name my godfather Sirius Black used when he went into the muggle world. He had a whole separate muggle identity as Nigel P Grim, with the P standing for Padfoot which was his animagi form."
"This is him," Jane said staring at the photo of Harry and Sirius that was taken the previous Christmas at Grimwald place. Remus had given it to him the first day they met as he knew how much it would mean to him. He had Dobby make a copy to frame and one for his album and then kept the original in his wallet at all times. "So he's a wizard? And he's your godfather?" She looked like something was tickling the edge of her conscious and then she placed her hand over her mouth and looked lovingly at her daughter as she began to cry. When Harry told her that yes he was a wizard she placed her head in her hands and cried harder.
"What is the matter mum?" Hermione asked her mother, worried about the strange reaction to seeing a picture of her old boyfriend.
Once she composed herself she turned to her daughter, sorrow written across her features. "Oh my baby I am so so so sorry," she said taking Hermione's hand in her own. "You have got to believe me when I say that I really thought you were his, that's why I've kept us here so long. But if Nigel was magical… then maybe…" She trailed off as if afraid to say the words but Harry had quickly understood and was realizing the potential impact.
"Then maybe what?" Hermione asked, not having put the pieces together as she was too worried about her mum.
"Then maybe there's a better reason you are a witch that anyone has thought," Harry filled in as he realized Mrs. Granger was too upset to voice the thought. "Maybe you are not a muggle born but actually a half-blood."
"You mean that Sirius could be my father?" Hermione asked pain evident in her eyes as she realized that even if it were true it was too late.
"I don't know anymore," her mother said sadly. "Maybe we should speak with him; there could be an easy wizard way to decide."
Harry just sadly shook his head, tears in his eyes. Hermione gathered him into a hug and held him as he fought down the pain. He was dealing with Sirius' death but it still hurt to think he was gone forever. "He was killed at the end of the school year," Hermione told her mum quietly as she held her friend.
"So there is no way to know for sure then," her mother said trying to ignore the pain in her heart at knowing the only man she ever cared for was dead.
"There is a heritage ritual at Gringotts," Harry said softly. "It will tell you your genealogy. It will be required to be able to claim your inheritance if it's true."
"But Harry that's your money," Hermione said shaking her head.
"No, he specifically stated in his will that any confirmed child of his was to receive $250,000 Galleons. That means he wanted you to have it if you truly are his daughter." Harry told her with a sad smile. "The ritual is tiring but it doesn't hurt. Would you like me to have the goblins set it up?"
Hermione nodded yes and then tilted her head to the side and really looked at him for the first time since he arrived. She had been so wrapped up in her own emotions that she had failed to notice the amazing changes her friend had gone through. "Harry! You look great!" She exclaimed and looked sheepish as he laughed.
"Thanks for finally noticing that I'm not a scrawny kid anymore," he joked playfully. "There are a lot of things that have gone on since the end of the year. I promise to explain everything as long as you promise to keep an open mind and not to say anything to anyone unless I ok it."
"You know I don't like secrets Harry," she told him wondering what he was getting at. "Why don't you give me an idea of what it is about so I can determine if it is something I think needs to stay quiet?"
"I've been lied to my entire life Hermione. My parents' wills were never followed and I was never informed that I was the Head of a Noble and Ancient House. On top of that people that we know and trust have been steeling my money. I don't know who I can trust anymore Hermione and I really hope you will be one of the select few that I can." Harry told her and watched her reactions carefully to see if she had any knowledge of any of it.
"But Harry that's all highly illegal!" She screeched. "How do you expect me to keep quiet? You should be pressing charges!"
Harry just laughed with relief at her outrage on his behalf and could sense the sincerity behind her words. Hermione Granger had just joined the short list of trusted friends in his life. "Welcome aboard Hermione, now let me fill you in on everything that has gone on since you were in the hospital wing at the end of the year."
Hermione was in awe of her friend. She didn't think she could have done everything he had or coped with everything he had in the past few months. She was amazed with his ability to learn and adapt. She was jealous of his now almost photographic memory but glad that he was able to overcome everything so far. She was devastated to think that not only Professor Dumbledore but also the Weasley family were in on the manipulations of Harry's life. She had always had an almost reverent respect for Dumbledore but was now able to see without the rose-colored glasses.
She had promised to help him in any way possible and was glad to know that at least he hadn't been entirely alone. She had always liked Neville and was glad that Harry had him to turn to. She also was happy that Harry had Professor Lupin to help him. He had been their best DADA teacher and had known Harry's parents as well as Sirius. He would be the best to help Harry cope with their loss.
She had decided that placing a block on a child's magic was horrible and should be closely monitored and regulated. It was almost criminal for the school not to scan the students for such blocks and remove them. It was criminal for them to add blocks to a student without their and their guardians' consent. She knew it was against the law and the Hogwarts charter and if they needed any ammunition against the headmaster they had it in spades when it came not only to the blocks but to the embezzlement.
"Harry!" She exclaimed as they were eating lunch. Her father had gone to their dental practice so they could talk openly. "You never opened your scores! With everything that has been going on you never looked at them!"
"Ok, I will open them after you let me look at yours first," Harry said with a grin. "And you have to promise not to get mad if I beat any of your scores. Remember that I am not the same kid I was at the end of the year, these are the scores of the brand new Harry Potter."
"Promise!" She said with a laugh and handed him her parchment of scores.
OWL Results: Hermione Granger
Ancient Runes – Outstanding: Top of Class, 4th total overall score.
Arithmacy – Outstanding: Top of Class, 7th total overall score.
Astronomy – Exceeds Expectations: This exam was not completed as the practical portion of the exam was interrupted. Written portion: Outstanding, Practical portion: Acceptable (74 completed).
Care of Magical Creatures – Outstanding: Top of Class, 9th total overall score.
Charms – Outstanding: Top of Class, 2nd total overall score.
Defense Against the Dark Arts – Outstanding: 2nd in Class, 3rd total overall score.
Herbologry – Outstanding: 2nd in Class, 5th total overall score.
History of Magic – Outstanding: Top of Class, 2nd total overall score.
Potions – Outstanding: Top of Class, 6th total overall score.
Transfiguration – Outstanding: Top of Class, 3rd total overall score.
OWL Results: Harry Potter
Note: Original exam score in parentheses after actual grade.
Ancient Runes – Outstanding: Highest overall score, highest score ever recorded.
Arithmacy – Outstanding: Highest overall score.
Astronomy – Outstanding (Acceptable): 2nd highest overall score.
Care of Magical Creatures – Outstanding (Exceeds Expectations): Highest overall score, 2nd highest score ever recorded.
Charms – Outstanding (Acceptable): Highest overall score.
Dark Arts – Outstanding: Highest overall score, 2nd highest score ever recorded.
Defense Against the Dark Arts – Outstanding (Outstanding, Top of Class): Highest overall score, highest score ever recorded.
Divination – Outstanding (Poor): 2nd highest overall score.
Dueling – Outstanding: Highest overall score, 3rd highest score ever recorded.
Fine Arts – Outstanding: 4th highest overall score.
Flying – Outstanding: Highest overall score.
Healing & First Aid – Outstanding: Highest overall score.
Herbologry – Outstanding (Acceptable): 2nd highest overall score.
History of Magic – Outstanding (Poor): Highest overall score, 7th highest score ever recorded.
Human Languages – Outstanding: 2nd highest overall score.
Magical Craftsmanship – Outstanding: 2nd highest overall score.
Muggle Studies – Outstanding: Highest overall score.
Non-Human Languages – Outstanding: Highest overall score, 2nd highest score ever recorded.
Physical Education – Outstanding: 2nd highest overall score.
Politics & Law – Outstanding: Highest overall score, 9th highest score ever recorded.
Potions – Outstanding (Acceptable): 2nd highest overall score.
Teaching – Outstanding: 3rd highest overall score.
Transfiguration – Outstanding (Exceeds Expectations): Highest overall score, 4th highest score ever recorded.
Warding – Outstanding: Highest overall score, highest score ever recorded.
Harry read through his scores for the third time trying to comprehend just how great he did. Sure he had thought the exams were easy but he had never expected to get straight O's as well as such high scores. He knew that the results were public record and that tomorrow there would be an article in the Daily Prophet for sure.
Seeing that Harry seemed to be in shock, Hermione gently took the parchment from him. She read it through 4 times to make sure she was reading it correctly. Her best friend was now officially the smartest wizard around! He had aced EVERY OWL offered by the ministry of magic and he had only been seriously studying for under 6 months counting his time delays. She was highly impressed and handed his results to her mum to read as he was still staring blankly trying to make sense of his newfound brilliance.
"So, do you think they'll rename you as the Brain-who-Lived now?" She asked him not able to hold in her giggle at the idea. It broke him out of his daze and the two laughed and tried to imagine what it would do to his public image.
"Can you imagine the look on Snape's face when he realizes that I have an O in Potions!" Harry said and they continued to laugh and enjoy each other's company for the rest of the afternoon. Harry promised to take her shopping with him and Dudley before school and that he would go with her once he set up the appointment for her heritage test at Gringotts. For now they pretend all was the same and not let on that they suspected she could be a Black. It would be a hard adjustment on both Hermione and her mum if it was true, but it would also be a blessing as they could escape her father. They would stay in touch the muggle way to keep the Order from interfering.