Writing School Challenge:

School: Beauxbatons

Technique: commas—use a comma before any coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet) that links two independent clauses; use a comma after a dependent clause that starts a sentence; use a comma when attributing quotes.

Prompt: [Plot Point] - Racial discrimination

Year: 1

Word count: 875

The Muggle-born Rights Act

Paperwork. So much paperwork.

Stacks of folders crowded Kingsley's desk, and many more waited patiently in neatly labelled boxes lining the office walls. It seemed that all the Minister for Magic ever did was paperwork, which was unfortunate given how much Kingsley hated it.

He was easing his way towards retirement, he reminded himself—hanging up his Auror robes, staying out of the field… He just hadn't realised how much sitting around and reading this new lifestyle would entail.

A knock sounded against the wide double doors, and Kingsley held back a groan. If that was another box of files, he would announce his early retirement on the spot.

"Come in," he said, his voice ringing out loudly between the office's seven walls.

The door swung open, and in stepped Hermione Granger. Her Ministry robes were freshly pressed, not a fold nor wrinkle to be seen, and her polished shoes squeaked against the marble floor. Only her hair besmirched her pristine appearance as wayward strands escaped the tight plait she had trapped them in.

"Hermione," Kingsley said with a warm smile as he tried to remember if they had a meeting. He wasn't generally one for forgetting appointments, but with the amount of information muddling his brain at the moment, he wouldn't put it past himself. "What can I do for you."

Hermione took one of the cushioned seats in front of Kingsley's cluttered desk and folded her hands atop her lap. "There's a matter I would like to discuss with you. I know you're busy and that there's a proper procedure to follow, but this is something that should have been done a long time ago, and now—after the war… It shouldn't be put off any longer. I need to know that this project has your support."

Her bright eyes pinned him to his chair, daring him to oppose her and whatever plan she had in mind. But beneath the steel in her gaze, her voice shook, and her hands trembled.

Six months since Hermione had joined the Ministry, and she was already taking it by storm. Her position in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures limited her ambitions, though—there was only so much she could change from there, no matter how quickly she climbed the departmental hierarchy, and she was beginning to realise it.

"What project would that be?" asked Kingsley.

"One regarding Muggle-borns," she said. "I believe the way that Muggle-borns are integrated into wizarding society can be improved."

He furrowed his thick eyebrows. "How do you mean?"

Shifting in her seat, she dropped her gaze from his and smoothed out the fabric on her lap. "I used to be close to my family—my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins… When I was a child, we would all get together a few times a month. Then my Hogwarts letter came, and I only saw my family during the holidays, just like every other Hogwarts student. But unlike the half-bloods and pure-bloods, when I did see my family, I couldn't tell them anything. I had to lie to them."

She looked up and caught his eye, holding steady, the tremble in her voice and hands fading away.

"Even my parents, who know I'm a witch, don't know half of what has happened to me because they wouldn't understand. I couldn't tell them that I was attacked by a mountain troll or petrified by a Basilisk because I imagined that they would overreact, and those are minor events compared to what followed. When Professor McGonagall handed me my Hogwarts letter, I was told that I would get to learn magic, but I was not told that I would have to give up my family to do so. It isn't fair, and it has to stop."

Kingsley leaned back in his high-backed chair, sinking into the deep purple upholstery as he considered the matter laid out before him.

One wizarding class that had suffered more than any other over the past few years was that of Muggle-borns. They were the outsiders—the individuals with no strong family ties within the wizarding community. To some, that made them easy targets. Pariahs. Now, if Muggle-borns were, on top of that, informally excommunicated from Muggle society, that meant that not only were they unable to find a place within the community they were all but forced into as children, but they were also separated from their family, made to lie to and alienate themselves from their primary support system.

"What do you suggest we do?"

"I have a few ideas," said Hermione. "Annual meetings for all Muggle-borns and their parents to get together and exchange stories and advice, parent-teacher evenings to keep them up to date on what's happening at Hogwarts, the possibility for students to take the Knight Bus and go home on weekends… A Muggle-born would need to be in charge of the project, of course, and Professor McGonagall would also be involved, but a small effort here could make a big difference in the long-run."

As Hermione carried on explaining her thoughts and ideas, Kingsley listened intently, all the while knowing that his retirement would have to wait a few years. He needed a successor, after all, and perhaps he had just found one.