The Atrium in the Ministry of Magic was all set up for the joint press conference between Lucius and Hermione, courtesy of Percy and Lavender's organisational skills. Percy and Lavender had ensured that plenty of press were there for the announcement, as well as leaving space for Ministry workers and the general public.
While Percy and Lavender were down in the Atrium making sure everything was running smoothly, Lucius and Hermione were up in his office preparing themselves. As usual Hermione was using her Dark Lady glamour charms and she had dressed in her trademark deep red.
"Are you ready?" Lucius asked, picking up his notes.
"Yes." Hermione nodded determinedly. "Let's go."
The pair travelled down to the Atrium in silence and when they arrived on the ground floor of the Ministry they made their way to the table that was set out at the front of the room. Upon seeing Lucius, Percy leapt into action and called for the room to be quiet. He then introduced the Minister for Magic, before standing off to the side of his boss.
"Thank you all for coming." Lucius addressed the crowds, noticing that most of the Order were present as his eyes swept across the room. "Today we're announcing big changes to our school systems. To begin I would like to introduce Miss Riddle, the owner of DL Holdings." Lucius gestured to Hermione, who smiled and inclined her head to the crowds. "Miss Riddle came to me with an idea that will change our education system so I think it's only right she explains what she's going to do."
"Thank you, Minister." Hermione smiled at Lucius as she took centre stage and he took a step backwards. "My idea is very simple and something I think should have been done a long time ago. I am currently building a school for young wizarding children to attend before they start at Hogwarts. Working together with the Ministry and Hogwarts, the school will become the perfect place for young witches and wizards to begin their magical education."
"Why do we need another school? Hogwarts is great." A voice called from the back of the room. Hermione couldn't quite see who had spoken but it sounded an awful lot like Ron.
"No-one is disputing Hogwarts is a fine magical school." Hermione replied. "But why should our youngsters have to wait until they're eleven to begin their education? If they start younger, they will have so much more potential to be great."
"Most children do have some form of education before Hogwarts." A reporter near the front of the room pointed out.
"Yes, they do." Hermione nodded. "But mainly from their parents or private tutors. Not all families have the time and the means to fully educate their young children. Many pureblood Witches and Wizards turn up at Hogwarts no more adept to magic than the muggleborns. That's just wrong. Magic is in our blood, we need to embrace it and nurture it in our young."
"And who could afford to send their kids to your school?" Another voice called from the back. This time Hermione was fairly certain it was Harry.
"I'm not charging anyone. I'm setting the school up and working with the Ministry to ensure it complements the curriculum at Hogwarts. I'm not making a profit out of the school, I just want to make the wizarding world a better place." Hermione answered. "My P.A has some brochures about the school, perhaps she could pass them around and people could take a look at what I have planned."
Hermione nodded to Lavender, who jumped into action handing out her brochures. Percy also grabbed a stack and helped Lavender hand them out, significantly increasing how quickly everyone got a brochure. Once the brochures had been handed out, Hermione watched as people flicked through the glossy pages.
"Will it be necessary for children to attend this school before Hogwarts?" One reporter asked as she flipped through the brochure.
"We're not going to force anyone to do anything, but it would be easier for the children." Lucius answered, moving so he was standing next to Hermione. "Within the next few years, when the school is up and running properly, we are going to completely overhaul the education system. At the minute a great deal of the students first year at Hogwarts is taken up with learning the basics of magic. With the help of Miss Riddle's school the children will already know the basics, enabling us to offer a more advanced course of magic from the beginning of a child's Hogwarts career."
"I have a few questions." Rita Skeeter announced, making her way to the front of the watching crowds. "How are you going to teach children basic magic without wands? Children don't get wands until they're about to start school, or are you changing that law as well?"
"No, that law will be remaining the same." Lucius replied. "Children will not be getting wands until they're about to start Hogwarts. What will be used in the new school will be training wands. These wands are very basic and will only be able to cast the very basic spells. It will be enough to help the children learn how to handle a wand as well as actually cast spells."
"And what about flying?" Another journalist questioned. "There's a couple of pages here dedicated to teaching the children how to fly, but they learn that in Hogwarts."
"Flying is a class taken in first year only, then it's dropped regardless of whether the student can fly or not." Hermione answered. "Those hours spent learning how to fly could be spent learning something useful if the children already know how to fly."
"What about Madam Hooch?" An angry voice from the back shouted. "You're kicking her out of a job if you stop flying lessons at Hogwarts."
"Actually Madam Hooch will be the flying instructor at the new school." Hermione replied with a smile.
"Until the changes to the system are fully implemented Madam Hooch will be working at both schools." Lucius explained. "Once flying lessons are stopped at Hogwarts, she'll concentrate solely on the younger children."
"It says here, the school will help promote peace and unity at Hogwarts." Rita said, once again drawing attention to herself. "How can your school do that? Everyone knows Hogwarts is riddled with house rivalries and will never be united."
"The school is like that because the students are separated at eleven and rarely mix with other students." Hermione answered. "It's automatic to mix with other children in your own house and make friends with them rather than anyone else. The setup of the school makes it very hard to get to know someone from another house, especially when you're settling into somewhere new."
"And how do you hope to change that?" Rita asked.
"My school isn't going to have houses, all children of the same age will be in class together. Therefore when they go to Hogwarts friendships will have already been established and even if friends are then placed in different houses upon their arrival, they would still have that earlier friendship to fall back on." Hermione answered. "Hopefully that way friendships will extend across the whole school and the house rivalry would be friendly, and not harmful and nasty as it is now."
"How would you know what things are like in school now?" Rita asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously as she studied The Dark Lady.
"You're forgetting Miss Skeeter, my son has just finished Hogwarts." Lucius interjected. "Draco has been a big help to Miss Riddle as she planned her school."
"Yes he has." Hermione agreed. "I've learnt a lot from Draco, and his experiences have been invaluable as I set about trying to make things better."
"I'm certainly impressed." A prominent journalist from The Daily Prophet remarked. "I have a young son, and I like the idea of him having a proper education before Hogwarts. When do you open?"
"Renovations are still underway, and I haven't completely sorted my staff." Hermione replied. "So I'm afraid, it won't be open in September. I am however hopeful of a New Year start. It may not be a full year of education, but it's a start."
"What happens to the children who don't go to this new school?" Rita questioned. "How are they supposed to keep up at Hogwarts?"
"Provisions will be provided for those children, but we're hoping not many need them." Lucius answered. "The hope is that parents take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to give their children an even better education. I know, I wish I'd been able to do this with my son. Luckily Draco had a mother who had the time and knowledge to educate him, but plenty of children don't have that. Hopefully this wonderful opportunity won't be missed by people."
"How do people know to enrol their children?" A woman near the front of the crowd asked. "Is there going to be a system like Hogwarts where they get letters?"
"There will be no letter system." Hermione answered. "My P.A has details on how to enrol your children and all the brochures have an address to write to get the relevant paperwork. Once the school is up and running there will also be an enrolment centre here at the Ministry. It is up to the individual parents to enrol their children, but I can guarantee you now that as long as the child has magical parents there will be a place for them at my school."
"Even squibs?" Rita questioned disbelievingly. "What's the point in giving them a magical education?"
"Because they have magic in their blood." Hermione answered, shooting Rita an unimpressed glare. According to Lucius, Rita had been unimpressed that she hadn't received the exclusive interview with The Dark Lady the previous year, and it looked as though she was still smarting and would not be a fan of Hermione's. "A lot of squibs might actually have magic if they had been taught properly at a young age. I know there are people born to magical parents, who just don't possess magic and no amount of teaching can help them do magic, but plenty of them might have traces of magic if only they'd been given the chance. Maybe if the wizarding world had spent their time and money researching and helping squibs, rather than embracing muggleborns, there might be less of them."
"I really think that's a topic for another day." Lucius cut in. He knew Hermione could rant for hours about muggleborns and squibs, but now wasn't the time for that particular debate, today was about her school.
"You're right, Minster." Hermione smiled. "Forgive me, I can get carried away when speaking about something that I feel strongly about."
"There's nothing wrong with being passionate." Lucius smirked at Hermione, before getting the press conference back on track.
He then spoke for a while about his proposed changes to Hogwarts, before ending the press conference. Instead of Lucius and Hermione slipping away after the press conference, they remained in the Atrium and chatted further to a few journalists.
Hermione was pleased with people's reaction towards her, and apart from a few unimpressed looks Rita Skeeter threw her way everyone was perfectly nice and polite to her. Several journalists expressed their approval of the idea and she sent a couple of them to book appointments in with Lavender so she could show them the school and explain her vision further.
As she wandered around the Atrium, Hermione spotted Harry and Ron skulking over beside the fires. At one point she thought Ron was going to approach her, but instead he made a beeline for Lavender. Out of the corner of her eye Hermione watched the couple, as they looked to be making up. Lavender had admitted that Ron hadn't taken the news about her job very well and that they'd had a big fight. Hermione had reassured Lavender that Ron would come round, and sure enough it looked as though she was right. Hermione did suspect that Ron would now be using Lavender as a way of getting information on her, but she knew any information Lavender did pass on would be worthless. Her business at DL Holdings wasn't anything to do with the Death Eaters, everything Lavender would be involved in would be completely legal and above board. Her P.A would have no need to know about the times when Hermione would have to use a bit of force and violence to get what she wanted.
A/N – I forgot to mention it yesterday, but this story has 48 chapters and an epilogue. Also, it was pretty clear in that chapter, my version of squibs are slightly different to the canon version. But that's the beauty of fan fiction, you change alter things to suit your own story. More about squibs, and Hermione's views on them, will feature later in the story.