At the sight of what had to be Deputy Headmistress McGonagall on their very doorstep, Hermione felt extremely shaky, and even a bit nauseated. Which … gave her an idea.
I have nowadays got, she thought to herself, the nerve of a bank robber. Reflecting on what she'd done that day, she decided that wasn't a gross exaggeration. But now to prove it.
She rapidly considered what they could do to get out of this without anyone at Hogwarts twigging to Hermione's situation.
The dolls could stay in the boot. She gathered all her books and crammed them in her bookbag, then gently placed her wand in its side pocket,
She regarded her parents with the same seriousness she had at Gringotts and Olllivanders. "It's really important they not know about the curio shop, nor should they know we already acquainted ourselves with the magical world. Please, trust me on this."
Her parents nodded - certainly, they'd seen some rather frightening things that day, and clearly, Hermione knew what was going on better than they did. "But you will explain everything to us," Mr Granger stated.
"Fine, fine," said Hermione, waving that away. "Now, I need you to cover for me while I hide anything suspicious. Say I ate something that disagreed with me. Ask who she is. Stall, if need be. I only really need a few minutes."
With that, all three left the car. Just as Hermione got out, she added, "and be sure to put some tea on."
Professor McGonagall, who'd been waiting there for almost two hours (this was the last on her list, and she hated leaving a job undone), turned to face the Grangers. She saw Hermione run towards her with her hand over her mouth. Before she could blink, she felt the girl sweep past her. A few moments later, she heard a door slam behind her.
"Were you looking for someone?" Mr Granger inquired, walking towards the door.
"You are the parents of one … Hermione Granger, correct?" the woman responded, a bit shortly.
"May we inquire who is asking?" Mrs Granger riposted.
"I represent an institution that wishes to contact you and your daughter about things that must not be discussed on a doorstep," was the vague reply.
"Look," began Mr Granger, "If you're with one of the paranormal groups, that was all years ago, and no one made head nor tails of it, really."
"Para … normal?" said McGonagall.
"Well," said Mrs Granger, "in that outfit, you're not from a school. Hallowe'en's not for a couple of months, after all."
The woman was visibly controlling her temper, and Mr Granger figured they'd given Hermione enough time, so he unlocked the door and invited her in. Mrs Granger got herl seated on the sofa in the sitting room while Mr Granger put the kettle on and filled the pot with very fresh Darjeeling leaves.
Meanwhile, Hermione had been dashing about as if she was still doing her XBX exercises. She had briefly discussed with Genius what to do in a situation like this, which is why she wanted to make sure there was tea downstairs.
First, she bundled the dolls and placed them and her bookbag in the hamper in her wardrobe, under the clothes to be washed. She deliberately left the tea things out. Her notes were pushed to the very back of her desk drawer, and the seven books were packed where the dolls and tea set came from.
She heard her parents and McGonagall moving to the sitting room. "No, no!" she heard McGonagall saying, "That was accidental magic. A real poltergeist is never as nice as all that." Hermione had gone across the hall to the loo. She had a tinkle and gargled with mouthwash. She'd perspired a bit hiding things in her room, and she left herself sweaty and her hair dishevelled.
As Hermione descended the stairs, she saw McGonagall pointing her wand at an end table. She made a spiky circle around the table, and said, "Mensam mutatio ericius!" whereupon it turned into a hedgehog and slipped under the sofa.
Her parents expressed proper astonishment, but Hermione hurried into the sitting room, and they all heard her call out, "Again, please?"
The woman was, of course, put off by her manner, but she humoured Hermione. She noted with both approval and dismay the fierce attention the girl paid to every motion and syllable she used.
"Hermione! Manners!" Mrs Granger got out.
Hermione looked up and shook her head. "Oh, yes, and where are mine, indeed? Hello, there, I am Hermione Granger, I'm eleven today and am a sixth year at Jollidodue primary school. Whom do we have the honour of addressing?"
Professor McGonagall introduced herself again. She had a moment to look over the girl - indeed, it seemed she had been ill, so she wouldn't hold that against her. She was, however, a bit overwhelming.
"And can you reverse it as easily?" Hermione interrogated her. "Technically, more easily," was the reluctant reply, as McGonagall pointed at first one, then the other, made a small circle and a line straight across and recited "In formam rediit" twice. But the girl's next question almost made her rise up in shock. "Could I borrow your wand? I think I could do that."
Remembering the girl was uneducated in even the basics of the wizarding world, she denied her request and told her that lending wands was simply not done, any more than lending toothbrushes in the Muggle world. Then she had to explain the term and why it was not derogatory, like "Mug," for instance.
Hermione nodded almost cheerfully. Then she shocked them all and pointed her finger at a now, again, end table and mimicked McGonagall's wand movements and intonation perfectly. The end table even transformed … sort of. It looked as if the half-table, half-hog was in pain, so Hermione begged McGonagall to reverse it.
While doing so, McGonagall reflected it wasn't a bad thing, having a new student experience firsthand how dangerous and unpredictable Transfiguration could be. But what an amazing talent! It was as if all the qualities of Lily Evans in her prime had been gifted the girl, then amplified.
Finally, she'd gotten the Grangers back on track, given Hermione her letter, and briefly discussed Hogwarts. Hermione was firmly in school mode, and she amused the professor by raising her hand. In the spirit of the gesture, the woman said, "Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Umm … so." They'd have to break her of that sloppy habit of speaking. "So, my poltergeist was actually accidental magic?" McGonagall nodded. "And, well, what was it? Charms or Transfiguration?"
"According to what your parents report, I would say it was a mixture of both."
"Is there a name for combining Charms and Transfiguration?"
"No," responded McGonagall, continuing, "though, technically, if it's Arithmantically balanced and the proper Runes inscribed, Charms and Transfiguration are combined when Enchanting is taking place."
"Right. And Enchanting just means permanent, magical change?"
"Not how we'd put it. And not quite accurate. But it will do."
"So has there been much accidental Enchanting, then?" Hermione asked, eagerly.
"In my years of experience? I would say none at all. Why do you ask, dear?"
"Can we show you something before you go, then?" With that, Hermione led them over to the teapot, which still had plenty in it. She then asked the professor to come up to her room.
"This is where I had tea with my dolls," Hermione said. Her mother almost said something at the word 'dolls,' but Hermione made a quick, sharp negative motion with her head. "The thing I want to show you is my cup. It fills with tea."
"It what?" exclaimed McGonagall.
"Watch, please." With that, Hermione sat down and the cup visibly filled with tea. Hermione held it up to the professor, who could tell it was the same tea she'd just been drinking downstairs. "It always comes from the pot downstairs. If there's no tea there, there's none here."
"Well, of course not, that's a Principal Exception to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. But do you mean to say you think this cup is …. Enchanted?"
"I do, now," said Hermione solemnly, nodding her head. "Before, my parents thought it was a remnant of the poltergeist doing it, but you say they don't help out like that."
McGonagall considered that. "Even if it is enchanted, the likeliest explanation is that a magical teacup was accidentally sold to a Muggle second-hand shop."
"But we bought it for her when she was much smaller," Mr Granger objected. "From a proper toy shop and all. It wasn't like this even when the toys and the books were flying around. It was later that the cup started filling up. And just hers - like it could tell the dolls didn't need any."
Mrs Granger nodded at everything her husband said. "Hermione was being bullied, and in despair at ever having any friends. She even said she wanted to stay home with her dolls. That's when it started."
McGonagall was sure an explanation other than accidental enchantment would present itself, eventually. Still, she was more than a bit unnerved. She hastily moved to wrap things up. The Grangers surprised her when they said they didn't need accompaniment to Diagon Alley, "just instructions."
"After all," said Mr Granger, "we've got what, almost a year to handle this? I'm not complaining, it was the same way at her regular school. It's hard luck on a child with a September birthday. Fortunately, we decided to accept one of the offers she got to advance two grades."
The Grangers asked if that happened at Hogwarts, and McGonagall said it didn't, to her knowledge. Hermione thanked Professor McGonagall sincerely before she left. As an aside, she asked what wizardry was like. She was visibly shocked when the professor told her that, except for a few rituals, wizardry and witchcraft were the exact same thing, arbitrarily divided by gender.
Afterwards, Mrs Granger asked "The dolls?" to which Hermione nodded and answered, "Yes, your eyes were fine, they did move around. It's just like the teacup, but it would bother the British magicians more than that would. Now they can't say I didn't tell them I can do Enchanting."
"Hermione … did someone at that shop … warn you in some way about that Hogwarts place? Is that why you're so cagey and so determined to misdirect them?" Mr Granger asked her.
"In a word … yes, Dad," Hermione said. She didn't reveal the full truth, but told them the "fantasy series" was a thinly veiled guide to the actual world of wizards and witches. In fact, she told them, they were the main books she would have to study immediately, because her involvement in that world was about to escalate, not waiting for the next school year to start.
The three exhausted Grangers looked at each other. "It's a good thing I cancelled our reservations when I saw we had a witch on our doorstep," Mr Granger said. They looked at each other and said "Takeaway!" simultaneously.
They spent the next few hours eating and watching Hermione open her remaining presents.