Recommendation: This chapter's recommended fic is "Lunch at Maxine's" by apAiden. Hermione's mother has figured out that her daughter is in love with Harry… long before Hermione figures it out. So she takes Hermione out to lunch in order to get her to admit the truth.


Chapter 28 - Love and Sincerity

Sunday, January 24, 1995, Afternoon.

When Jasmine and Hermione sat down with Professor McGonagall, their afternoon tea started out with bad news. "Back when we first started meeting for tea, you brought up the question of the rules of the Triwizard Tournament. You said that you had asked the headmaster for a copy and that he hadn't given you one yet. Is that still true?"

"Yes," Jasmine answered. "We haven't asked again because we've been waiting to see if you'd be able to come up with anything."

Minerva nodded as she took a sip of tea. "I thought that might be the case. Unfortunately, I haven't had any luck. I've searched all through the special library room reserved for professors and staff, but there's no sign that a copy of the tournament rules was ever there. I even wrote to a friend who works at the ministry to see if she could find something on file, and she finally got back to me yesterday, saying that she's been unable to locate a copy."

"That's... really suspicious," Hermione said. "Why would the Headmaster go to such lengths to remove every copy? Unless there's something hugely significant in them that he's trying to hide?"

"What about the other champions?" Jasmine suddenly asked. "Shouldn't they have access to their own school's copies?"

"Of course!" Hermione said, brightening. "We can ask Viktor and Fleur — surely they must be able to get them, if they haven't already."

"Do you feel that you know them well enough to make such a request," Minerva asked with some skepticism.

"Absolutely, we've gotten quite close to them recently," Jasmine assured her. "In fact, we all…" She stopped there, and gave Hermione a questioning look. Her girlfriend looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded.

"Well," Jasmine continued, "all of us champions are very concerned about the second task. Specifically, we're concerned about what, or perhaps I should say who, will be taken from us." Her clear emphasis on the "who" was met with a very slightly raised eyebrow from Minerva, the only reaction she dared give. "None of us are happy about even the possibility of anyone else being put in danger, so we've decided to act collectively to protect anyone who seems to be a likely candidate to become a hostage."

Minerva didn't know what to say to that. Well, strictly speaking she probably couldn't say anything — the magic of the tournament prevented staff from helping their champions or interfering in the running of the tournament generally. However, she really wanted to know more and she also wanted to praise her students for taking such initiative in protecting innocent bystanders.

"I'm happy to hear that," she finally said, then added, "I mean, I'm happy to hear that you and the other champions are close enough that you make ask them about the rules, obviously." With a smile, she tried to communicate the fact that she was happy about far more than that, but no more could be said.

"Which reminds me," Jasmine said, "when we met recently with the other champions, Viktor brought up an issue that we need some advice on. As part of the discussion I ended up telling them about the basilisk and what happened in the Chamber of Secrets. Viktor told me that in most countries, anyone who kills a creature like that has the right to claim the corpse — even if the corpse is on private property like Hogwarts. He believes that there could be a lot of gold, potion ingredients, and magical items that I can get from that corpse."

Minerva paused in mid-sip, suddenly wondering herself why she'd never thought about this. "Now that you mention it, I think Mr. Krum might be right. I've never had to study the laws on the subject, but I think British laws are consistent with those of other nations when it comes to that sort of thing."

"I don't suppose you have any idea how much it would be worth, do you?" Hermione asked.

"Not really, no," Minerva answered. "It's not my field of expertise. But basilisks are very rare, so just about everything in them should be highly prized. It all comes down to how big it is and what sort of state it's in. It has been sitting down there for quite some time now. Do you remember the size, Miss Potter?"

"Well, to be honest I was busy running for my life most of the time," Jasmine replied uncomfortably, "and I was also a bit smaller back then. But my best guess is around 20 to 30 meters."

Minerva's mouth went dry. "Are you... are you certain?"

"As certain as I can be," Jasmine said. "The head seemed like it was almost as big as I was, and its mouth looked like it could have taken me in one bite, maybe two." Jasmine shuddered a bit, "For months afterwards, I had nightmares about exactly that happening."

Hermione reached out to comfort her friend while Minerva's hands trembled so much that she had to put her teacup down on the table before continuing. "My word, Miss Potter, I had no idea that it was so large. I assumed... well, something much smaller, though obviously still quite dangerous." Taking a deep breath to collect herself, she went on, "I wouldn't want to even guess at the value of such a creature. I doubt that a basilisk anywhere close to that size has been killed in many centuries."

"What would we have to do in order for Jasmine to collect on it?" Hermione asked.

"I suppose that if you did all the work yourself — and by work I mean taking apart the corpse and removing the pieces — then you could sell everything yourself to various stores and potions masters. That would be a lot of work, though, and you'd have to know what you were doing in order to do it properly. Let me ask around to see who can be trusted to take care of valuable corpses or dangerous creatures like that. I am acquainted with a person who could probably do it, but he's a muggle, and I don't know how easy it will be to get in contact with him, much less whether we could even get him into the castle."

"A muggle? Really?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"He's quite an unusual young man," Minerva replied with a private smile. "I'll let you know what I find out."

"Thank you," Jasmine said. "I had no idea that I might have any right to the corpse, or even that it might have value."

Minerva sighed and said, "That's something that the Headmaster probably should have told you, so it's one more thing we can add to the list." She sipped her tea before continuing, "I have a question for the two of you. How do you feel now after yesterday's practice session? You were using far more serious spells this time."

"I'm still feeling confident," Jasmine said, "though it's true those spells were hard to use. The Ossus Fragmen curse in particular was difficult."

"I have a question about that," Hermione cut in. "Why is Ossus Fragmen considered grey if it can only break bones while other curses that aren't grey can cause much greater injuries. I mean… I can hurt someone a lot more with a Confringo, but that isn't grey."

"That's a very good question, Miss Granger," Minerva responded, "and the answer cuts to the very heart of how and why spells are separated into dark and light. You remember Professor Flitwick's explanation of how you must frame your intent in order to properly cast that curse?" When both witches nodded, she continued, "Well, consider the fact that when you intend to break bones, you must necessarily envision a very specific type of injury and pain for a person to experience. Other spells only require a vague, generalized intent, and thus the harm they can cause is usually more limited or diffuse. Even if they happen to do greater harm, though, it isn't due to any specific intent on your part."

"So, it's like the unforgivables," Jasmine suggested. "In order to properly cast them, you have to want death, torture, or domination, and that's why they are dark: because wanting those things badly enough to cast those spells successfully is itself extremely dark. And being able to accurately visualize and desire that a person's bones be broken is darker than simply wanting a vague, general sort of harm?"

"Exactly," Minerva said. "I can't say that I approved of Alastor being allowed to teach you about the unforgivables in the manner he did, but I'm glad to see that you came away with the right lessons. The reason why the Ossus Fragmen curse is merely a little grey rather than truly dark is because broken bones don't usually qualify as very serious harm, as we discussed."

"I guess that makes sense," Hermione said thoughtfully. "Spells become darker if the only way they can cause someone harm is for you to consciously mean that harm to happen. I must admit that that I'm struggling with such spells. I can't deny that they may be useful or even necessary, but the need to intend and visualize harm like that is hard for me. And becoming the sort of person who can do such things easily is troubling."

"I quite understand, Miss Granger," Minerva said sympathetically. "There is a real difference between casting a spell which can cause harm as an effect of what it does regardless of your intent and casting a spell which causes harm because that is its sole purpose — because that is all it does or can do. Being able to visualize and intend such harm to another person, even minor harm, will change you. It won't make you evil, but it does make you a different sort of person. The fact that you were uncomfortable with visualizing for the bone breaking curse, even though it's still a grey spell, does you credit, Miss Granger."

"I suppose that helps explain why dark wizards and witches end up so evil," Jasmine offered. "In order to use the darker curses, they have to spend a lot of time thinking hard about and really wanting to cause all sorts of nasty harm to other people?"

"That's correct, Miss Potter," Minerva responded as she poured everyone some more tea. "Anyone who spends enough time wanting to cause entrails to be expelled, organs to rot or explode, blood to boil, and similar afflictions will not end up being a good person. On top of that, many of the curses require being able to desire not just the obvious physical effects, but also the pain and terror experienced by the victim."

Jasmine and Hermione shivered a little as they pondered that. "Even if someone casts such curses in the legitimate defense of another, thinking about and wanting those results ends up damaging a person's mind and morality in the long run in a way that thinking about and wanting broken bones, bruises, or cuts never will."

Both of the younger witches started feeling very uncomfortable as they pondered that. "I'm not even sure how I'd go about visualizing such things," Jasmine said, after thinking about it.

"Well, that's another problem," Minerva responded. "Most people can't — not off the top of their heads — which is why learning such spells usually requires watching a master cast it over and over on some victim. Sometimes the target may be an animal or even a conjured animal, but usually the victim is a human, since that produces the best models for visualization. And then of course there is practicing the spells, something that is also usually done with human targets. In short, learning how to cast these spells will typically require first being an accessory to serious crimes, then committing those crimes yourself as you perfect your technique."

Now the young witches were looking positively green as they contemplated just how twisted a person had to become in order to learn how to be proficient with truly dark spells. Hermione, though, also felt a tiny bit better now that she understood that while some of these greyer spells would change her, they wouldn't necessarily damager her morality or character.

"I know it's getting late," Hermione said after a pause, "but I did have one more thing to ask about. What do you know about Imbolc?"

Minerva sat back in her chair upon hearing that question. "Imbolc? Well, that's not a topic I ever expected us to talk about. Our little village used to have Imbolc celebrations when I was very young, but they stopped not long before I reached my teens. Probably because of Ministry disapproval. I'm pretty sure we were among the last places to stop them, and I haven't really thought about our Imbolc celebrations in many, many years."

Leaning forward to pick up her tea again, she continued, "Imbolc comes from the Irish "I mbolg," which means roughly 'in the belly' and refers to how around this time of year the ewes are usually heavy with lambs and milk. It was originally an Irish Celtic festival that ended up spreading through magical societies across most of northern Europe in one form or another, though most kept its association with Brigid, the Irish goddess of fertility and spring."

After thinking about it for a moment, she went on, "It's rare to find the holiday being celebrated in Britain anymore, at least openly I guess, because Ministry policy is to treat most of the 'old ways' as dark, especially festivals like this that are associated in any way with sex. As far as I know, none of the old ways are explicitly condemned or illegal, but they have been driven underground — despite the fact that they are about life and magic, not about causing harm to others."

"So there's nothing left? Publicly, I mean?" Hermione asked. "Have all of the old traditions and practices been forced underground?"

"For the most part," Minerva answered. "There are a few public remnants of such rituals, though you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in a position of authority who'd admit to that. Ironically, many of those remnants are part of official Ministry ceremonies, like the installation of a new Minister or the opening of new sessions of the Wizengamot." Here she paused for a moment to consider while taking a sip of tea. "Come to think of it, I believe that what's left is all very much 'masculine' in its character, symbols, etc. The old rituals included both male and female roles, usually representing a god and a goddess, but what little remains in public has had the feminine aspects stripped away."

"Can we confide in you about something — something not covered by your earlier oath?" Hermione asked.

"Of course you can," Minerva said. "Even if not covered by the oath, I will keep your confidences... provided of course that it's not about something that's an imminent danger to yourselves or others in the school."

"Well," Jasmine said, still a bit hesitant, "we were invited to an Imbolc celebration by Fleur Delacour."

"Yes, she also said that it would be a female-only celebration that followed veela customs," Hermione added. "Do you know anything about that?"

Minerva raised her eyebrows in surprise, then answered, "As I said, such rituals typically involve both male and female roles engaged in at least a metaphorical representation of a sexual union. This is because sexual unions are considered sacred on such dates. It's the root of all life and an important connection to magic and life around us. Because of how wizards have come to dominate magical society, though, some witches developed female-only versions of the rituals that focus on the feminine aspects of nature, life, and magic. Since veela are all female, I guess I wouldn't expect them to do anything else."

Hermione nodded, making a mental note to study the Pureheart book to see what information it contained.

"Do you plan on going?" Minerva asked. "I imagine that it's quite an honor to be invited. I don't think they invite outsiders to any of their rituals or celebrations very often — especially British outsiders, considering how the British Ministry and public treat veela."

"We did say yes," Jasmine answered, squirming a bit at what she had just learned and now wondering what she had gotten herself into. "Though we'll need to arrange a way to get in and out of the castle. We can avoid being seen, but getting around the locked front doors might be tricky."

Minerva raised an eyebrow. "I don't see how that should be a problem for you of all people, Miss Potter. I'm sure you'll find a way."


Sunday, January 24, 1995, Night.

Hermione discovered that D. Tempest Pureheart had quite a bit to say about important magical holidays, including Imbolc. Apparently, there were magical rituals in which it was common for sex to occur — even public sex! — but Imbolc wasn't one of them. It was, however, common afterwards: according to Pureheart, the ritual created a buildup of magical energy, some of which lingered on in the participants after the ritual was over, and with predictable effects.

Since the ritual and celebration honored sexual activity, even if indirectly, the energy and images tended to encourage sexual activity in participants. I guess you can't celebrate birth, spring, and milk production while ignoring the sexual activity that led up to all that, Hermione mused.

As Pureheart described it, this occurred whether the celebration was mixed gender, as was traditional, or same gender, like Pureheart herself participated in. Fertility and conception may have been part of the focus of Imbolc, but they weren't important for any ensuing sexual activity. What mattered was love and intimacy, as well as remembering how such activity connected wizards and witches to the rest of magic.

It's curious that a ritual that was once heterosexual could be modified to involve only witches, Hermione thought, and yet they seem to produce the same magical effects as those that follow the traditional format in using both masculine and feminine roles.

Suddenly, Hermione had an epiphany: The gender of those involved doesn't matter: all that matters is the sincerity and love of those participating! Sincerity and love… that's very similar to intent and will, the key elements of all magic, right? And maybe that's true for couples outside rituals like this, too!

Reading on, she saw that sexual activity in the wake of Imbolc celebrations was welcomed and even encouraged because followers of the old ways believed that it would be blessed by the goddesses being honored during the ritual.

This got Hermione to thinking about her relationship with Jasmine and whether Imbolc would be an auspicious time to take things to a new level. I'm not ready to go all the way, or whatever counts as all the way when two witches are involved, Hermione thought, but I think I'd like to move a bit further in what we do physically. If we're both already affected by the magical energy of the ritual, then that date would be a good time. And if there is any truth to the belief that such activity is somehow "blessed" on that date, even better!

Hermione's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts about what "going further" might mean, what her first time might be like, whether she should wear anything special, and so forth. She also considered the fact that she still hadn't figured out how to deal with having a romantic, physical relationship with a friend, and resolved to finally write to her parents. That was something she had hoped to avoid, but in the absence of any other source for advice, she realized she'd have to bite the bullet and ask them for help.


Tuesday, January 26, 1995, Afternoon.

That week in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Moody instructed the class on the use of the Jelly Legs Jinx, a spell meant to cause an opponent to go weak and wobbly in the legs. While everyone was incanting Locomotor Wibbly at their partners and laughing at the results, Jasmine and Hermione were thinking about how weak that spell was when compared to the more powerful curses and hexes which they had been practicing lately.

Making an opponent weak and wobbly wouldn't do a lot to stop them, and Jasmine started to wonder why anyone would bother with that when they could put an opponent down more decisively with a Reducto. When she mentioned it quietly to Hermione, she was reminded that they may not want to put an opponent down "decisively" all the time. More powerful spells came with a risk of serious injury, Hermione pointed out, and not every opponent was necessarily out to kill them.


Professor Moody — or more accurately, the man impersonating Professor Moody — kept at least one eye on the two girls throughout the entire lesson. Ever since he had kidnapped Alastor Moody and taken his place at Hogwarts, Barty Crouch Jr. had been observing Jasmine Potter very closely. He was tasked with making sure that when the time was right, the girl could be abducted for use in a dark ritual to bring back his master, Lord Voldemort.

The fake Professor Moody was in something of a conundrum, however. The Potter girl had been behaving a bit oddly in recent classes, and though he had finally figured out what was going on, he wasn't sure what to do about it. Both she and the mudblood Granger were whispering their spells, almost as if they were trying to be gentle about it. The fact that they were still successfully casting their spells suggested that both of them were more powerful than average. But how much more?

The Master had insisted that Barty stay undercover and not contact him except in the most dire of emergencies. This didn't seem to qualify as an emergency; it did, however, seem like something the Master would want to know about. If he sent a message, he risked being punished if his Lord didn't agree that the information was important; if he kept it to himself, he might pay dearly if his Lord later decided that this had been something he needed to know.

No, he concluded, I'd better wait for now. There's plenty of time before she needs to be sent to the Master, and even if he does think this is important, it's unlikely there's anything he can or would do about it right now. I can wait until closer to the third task and make a final decision then.


Tuesday, January 26, 1995, Night.

Hermione Granger sat on her bed in front of a blank piece of parchment, wondering what exactly she should write. She knew in general terms what she needed to say, but how to put those ideas into words and what words to use was eluding her still. It's bad enough that I have to admit to dating at all, she complained to herself, but I'm also asking for advice when last summer I disdained advice on this topic as unimportant for my life!

"Well," she muttered, "might as well dive right in..."

Picking up and inking the quill, she proceeded to write: "Dear Mum and Dad, I know you're going to say 'I told you so,' so you might as well go ahead and get it out of your systems now. I've started dating someone here at Hogwarts. I never expected this to happen, and it came on somewhat suddenly, but I find that I'm really happy. Although everything is going well, I'm confused about one thing and would like your advice on it."

Hermione stopped for a minute and bit her bottom lip as she considered her next words, then continued: "The person I'm dating is already a friend. We see each other all the time. Having known each other for a while, we've seen each other's good sides and bad sides. Basically, we've had a very comfortable, platonic relationship. The problem is, I'm having trouble figuring out how to integrate a romantic relationship with that. I don't want to lose the friendship, but I can't figure out how to be platonic one minute and romantic the next. The two are mutually exclusive, aren't they? This is really bothering me and the conflict has been building in me, so I hope you'll write back quickly with at least a little advice. Love, Hermione."

Chewing absently on the end of her quill, Hermione scratched Crookshanks behind one of his ears while reading back over her letter to make sure she didn't slip up and use any gendered pronouns. I should probably write a longer letter, she considered, but I doubt I'd be able to do that and still easily avoid letting something slip. At least the fact that I'm anxious for advice will help cover why the letter is so short.

Her proofreading finished, she rolled up the parchment and set an alarm charm on her wand so she could wake up extra early and send the letter out with Hedwig. She'd have preferred to use a school owl so she could more easily keep this from Jasmine, but a school owl wouldn't wait for a reply while Hedwig would.

Fortunately, Jasmine didn't ask the next morning what her letter home was about, so she dodged a spell there.


Thursday, January 28, 1995, Afternoon.

Sirius stared at the faded posters of scantily-clad muggle women on the walls of his old bedroom as he lay back against the headboard and sipped his glass of firewhiskey. It might have been a bit early in the day for drinking, but he had just spent several hours looking through dark books for spells that his goddaughter could use, and after all of that he felt that he could really use a drink. Well, several drinks, considering that he was on his third already.

It had been almost two weeks since the meeting with his goddaughter and her best friend and a little over a week now since he'd first entered #12 Grimmauld Place, a house he'd declared when he was a teenager that he'd never set foot in again. The portrait of his mother had gloated when he first walked in, asking why he'd finally come crawling back. He ignored her, of course, so she'd taken to screaming to get him to pay attention to her.

The house was absolutely disgusting — it had finally come to truly reflect the darkness of those who had lived in it for so long. Sometimes he honestly wondered which was worse: Grimmauld Place or Azkaban. On the surface there shouldn't have been any comparison, but sometimes the darkness of his ancestors seemed to have been absorbed by the house, and it became almost as oppressive as his old prison cell.

If he didn't need to live in it now — and hopefully bring his goddaughter in at some point — he'd have left the place as it was as a monument to irony and inbred, pureblood stupidity. He had to make it habitable, though, while also finding time to get himself healthy again and do all the research he could for Jasmine. Any one of those would be formidable tasks; together, he sometimes wasn't sure he would be up to it.

Jasmine Dorea Potter... He remembered when he first held that little girl, not long after she'd been born. She had looked up at him, reached out to grab his hair, and cooed adorably. He fell in love with her in that instant; in the next, she peed all over him. James promptly took a picture and declared her to be a true Marauder. There were times he wanted to see James in her, but he knew that was simply the ache of the loss of his best friend talking.

The truth was, there was so much of her mother in her it was scary. She had inherited enough of the Potter bone structure to keep her from being Lily's twin, but with that auburn hair and those green eyes, it was easy to forget sometimes that she wasn't Lily Evans — and Sirius had caught himself on more than one occasion nearly calling her Lily.

Sirius took another large drink as he thought about how he'd failed her when he went running off after Peter, and he vowed that he'd never fail her again. No matter what else happened, she'd be his first priority.

He'd already found some good books on the mind arts, so those two witches would be able to start learning Occlumency and Legilimency. He'd also found a little bit on mail redirection spells — he'd probably research more about that next as a break from all the dark arts books he'd been going through.

Merlin, he thought, I'd forgotten just how dark some of the magic my family had dabbled in could be! It's a good thing that I'm screening it because I wouldn't want any young witches to see some of this, never mind my goddaughter. I wonder if that's what happened to Bellatrix? She was terribly curious and smart as a young girl, rather like Hermione. Reading some of these books might have been what pushed her down the wrong road... which means I have even more reason to be careful about what I show them. I'm glad I've been able to pull out a few spells that look useful and aren't too dark, but it's taken a lot of work to find them.

Last would be research on tracking and monitoring charms, something Hermione had requested in a letter she'd sent by owl last week. He knew that would probably be the easiest task, but he hadn't started that project yet.

Maybe I'll do that tomorrow, he thought, if I get enough done on the mail redirection spells today. Well, providing I get to them again today. But there is way too much darkness running through my head right now. The firewhiskey probably isn't helping me much, either, but it's not like I have anything else in this blasted house to raise my spirits.

Heh, spirits, he thought as he looked blearily into his glass. I have a bit more than a week before our next meeting, so I still have plenty of time... "Cheers!" he said aloud to nobody in particular and took another drink.


Thursday, January 28, 1995, Evening.

When the Hufflepuffs showed up for their fourth study session with the three Gryffindors, they brought with them an unexpected guest: Padma Patil of Ravenclaw. The three Gryffindors looked at her with curiosity, though there was also some coolness from Jasmine and Hermione. Not only were they fully aware of the accusations they'd heard from so many Ravenclaws, but they had trouble looking at her and not seeing her twin sister, Parvati.

"I hope you don't mind," Susan explained, fidgeting a bit, "but Padma overheard Hannah and me talking about this, and she asked if she could come along..."

"I won't stay if you don't want me to," Padma spoke up, "but I at least wanted to come this time and apologize for how I've behaved in recent months."

Jasmine and Hermione looked at each other briefly, then looked back at Padma. Jasmine raised an eyebrow but otherwise offered no encouragement.

Padma looked a little unsure in the face of such a reception, but she steeled herself and forged ahead. "When most in Ravenclaw concluded that you must have cheated, I believed their arguments and went along with them. We in Ravenclaw like to pride ourselves in being logical and smart, but I've discovered, much to my chagrin, that Ravenclaws operate on the basis of prejudice and assumptions as much as anyone else. The fact that my sister believed it as well didn't help — I may not have known you, but I figured she did and so gave her opinion a lot of weight."

When Jasmine snorted at that, Padma grimaced. "Yeah, I've since come to realize that she doesn't know you as well as I assumed. Over the Christmas hols, I was subjected to her rants more than usual, and I started to notice that some things just weren't adding up. I concluded that I had never looked very closely at the 'evidence' others were citing to convict you with."

Padma looked back and forth between Jasmine and Hermione, hoping for some positive sign but not getting it. Nevertheless, she pressed on. "Anyway, I did what a Ravenclaw is supposed to do: look at the evidence and think hard about what it means. When I did that, I was horrified to realize that there really wasn't any evidence against you. There also wasn't any hard evidence in your favor, either. This meant that the absolute worst conclusion that a perfectly fair, neutral person should have reached was 'I don't know.' But since you insisted that you were innocent, and since you have no history of doing similar things, a fair person should have taken you at your word. So that's when I…"

"Wait," Jasmine said, holding up one hand. "You actually thought all that out?"

"Well, sure," Padma said, surprised. "How else would I arrive at a conclusion?"

"It's a Ravenclaw thing," Neville stage-whispered.

Now a bit flustered at having her presentation derailed, Padma tried to continue. "Well, to make a long story short, I obviously wasn't being fair or reasonable. No one was, in fact, and once the injustice of it all hit me, I got really upset. You didn't deserve that. And I feel horrible that I was part of it. So I just wanted to say that I was wrong. I don't expect instant forgiveness, but perhaps if we get to know each other and work together, then I can repair some of the damage I've done?"

Jasmine sighed. "It will take time to forgive, but you're one of the very few to ever apologize at all, so thanks for that, at least." Glancing at Hermione for confirmation, she added, "We're willing to try starting over, just like we did with Susan and Hannah."

When Padma smiled at that, Jasmine did as well. Sticking out her hand, she said, "Hi, I'm Jasmine Potter. No titles, no fame, just Jasmine." Padma didn't hesitate to take the proffered hand and introduce herself in return. This was followed by everyone else doing the same in an attempt to wipe the slate clean, figuratively speaking, before sitting down to work.


The group's study session ended a bit early so they could spend a little more time getting to know Padma.

"Do you like being in Ravenclaw?" Jasmine asked.

"It's OK," Padma answered. "Until this latest issue I was happy as a Ravenclaw. There's certainly less overt bigotry there."

"Bigotry?" Hermione asked.

"Sure, muggleborn aren't the only ones who are looked down on by purebloods in Britain," Padma said. "Did you ever notice that there tends to be more non-whites in Ravenclaw and Gryffindor than in Hufflepuff and Slytherin?"

"I've never thought about it, but I guess you're right," Hannah said slowly, trying to think about the faces at the different tables.

Padma shrugged. "It's not like I get spit on or anything. It's more subtle than that, but it's obvious when you know what to look for. It's annoying, though, that purebloods in Britain think they're something special if they can trace their lineage back a thousand years to the founders of Hogwarts, but my family can trace their magical heritage back over three thousand years — yet we're the ones considered inferior here!"

It was clear to everyone else that Padma was more than merely "annoyed" by how she was sometimes treated, but it was also clear that she was trying hard not to let it get to her.

"The advantage of Ravenclaw is that the others are supposed to judge you based on merit and performance," Padma continued. "That's why it's appealing to someone like me. It's also why I'm so disappointed in my house right now. It's… it's depressing to learn that they aren't living up to the ideals I thought they were. I mean, what does that say about what they really think of me?"

Susan reached out and put a hand on Padma's shoulder, trying to offer a bit of comfort to the disillusioned Ravenclaw.

"Are you worried about what your housemates will think about you studying with us?" Hermione asked.

"Not really," Padma said. "Most seem to think you cheated and the negativity stems from that — Ravenclaw is very much against cheating of any sort. Paradoxically, those who think you cheated also have a bit of grudging respect for you for having succeeded at it because it was clearly tough to do. Instead of using that fact to conclude that you didn't do it, they assume that you must be more powerful or smarter than they realized."

Jasmine rolled her eyes in exasperation at that, and Padma added, "Yeah, I know. I'm embarrassed now that I used to have similar thoughts. Anyway, you're not hated like you seem to have always been in Slytherin..."

"That's mostly just anti-Gryffindor prejudice," Neville interjected. "Well, that and the fact that so many of their families supported You-Know-Who in some fashion. The tournament mainly just gives them something to focus on."

"Yeah, I can see that," Padma responded. "And in Hufflepuff it's mostly been resentment because of Jasmine also being a champion; but now that I think about it, it's been less obvious recently."

"Yeah, Cedric yelled at our house," Hannah said. "It's made a difference. It used to be that we'd hear snide comments about Jasmine and Hermione all the time" — here she shot the Gryffindors an apologetic look — "but that seemed to stop shortly after what Cedric did."

Padma smiled. "That's good to hear."

"I thought that the Ravenclaw students all had pretty set study groups already," Hermione said. "Won't our meetings interfere with that?"

"Yes," Padma admitted, "but I think it's worth it. I should confess that I had another motive for wanting to come here. When I came to the realization that Ravenclaws weren't as logical and smart as I imagined and that I, too, was just following the collective 'wisdom' of the group, I decided that I needed to branch out and get other, outside viewpoints. What better way to do that than with a group like this?"

Padma's smile was infectious as the others came to understand that the group they had formed wasn't just about getting to know one another, but also about getting to know other perspectives and viewpoints as well. A group like this, they realized, would benefit them in far more ways than with their essays and revising.