AN: Characters will be a bit OOC. Also, I'm moving time-lines so in this Au she was born in 1992, not 1979. So there will be more modern technology and references. Also, Hermione will have Crookshanks in year 1, and while he will still be part Kneazle, he will part serval cat.
Hermione Granger always knew she was a little odd. Instead of making friends and playing during recess, she preferred to sit and read her books. She was always fascinated by the unknown and sought to consume all the knowledge she could get her hands on. Whether it was information on technology or the wild stories told in fiction, one could see Hermione reading it.
Her parents were a bit worried about their daughter, though. She made straight As and could recall anything at the drop of a hat, but there was not a single child around that would call her their friend. There weren't even any cousin's for her to play with since they were the only children on both sides of the family. Not to mention the strange things that happened around her.
As a baby, Hermione could seemingly fly things into her hands if she wanted it bad enough. It didn't happen quite as often once she was older but it didn't stop completely like they wanted. They didn't know why these things were happening around their child. Emma Granger suggested it might be a spirit that was attached to Hermione since birth while Dan looked for other means of explanation. Whatever the reason, though, both Grangers loved their daughter with all their heart and wouldn't change her for the world.
What the older Grangers didn't know was that Hermione knew about magic, real magic. She could sense the energy around her and took to meditation to getting a better feel of it. She often took walks in the nearby woods, telling her parents that she was going to read in nature to get a bit of fresh air, to meditation to the sounds of what was around. This enabled her to feel what she soon learned to be the 'thoughts' of the plants.
Well, it was more like an impression than actual thoughts, but this ability lead to her trying this with the nearby squirrels then foxes, cats, dogs, or whatever animal was close at the time. By the time she was 10, she became known as the animal bookworm in the neighborhood in lieu of animals flocking towards her when she was around. The other kids, while not liking the oddness that is Hermione Granger, would take their pets to her to see what was wrong with them or what they thought of them. It got to the point that it was getting in the way of her reading, so she started to charge £5 a person and made quite a bit of money she hid away from her parents. She didn't see the need to let them know about her ability to know the 'thought' of animals.
Of course she didn't ONLY like books and nature. She also loved anime and fashion, but not many people knew about it. Her school had a uniform to wear so she could never wear what she wanted, but at home, she had a whole closet full of different designs and styles ranging from goth to steampunk to Lolita even. As for anime, her current favorite show was one that aired in Japan when she was born called Sailor Moon.
The idea of fighting for love and justice called to her sense of self. Serena (Sailor Moon) was her favorite by far, but Ami (Sailor Mercury) was a close second seeing as they both had a love of learning. Hermione wanted to use her powers like Serena but didn't want to look like a nutcase, so she would often try to erase the ugly emotions from people's hearts instead. It took a while for this new skill to work out, but she learned that by focusing on the person near her, she could sense the darkness in them and will her magic to do something close to purifying it away. She heard less people complaining about others this way and the bullying problem in her school almost went away completely.
One day, when she and her mother went to London to pick up some things her parents needed for their work, Hermione felt a pull towards an odd little shop. Seeing as her mother was busy talking to someone, she snuck off and entered the place. A small bell rang out in the room that was filled with long thin boxes. It was a bit dusty, but her senses were telling her that there was magic everywhere. As she walked towards some of the boxes to get a better look, an older man came up from the back and to the counter.
"Welcome, little miss, to Gregorovitch Zauberstabe! Home of the finest wands in all of London! My name is Mykew Gregorovitch. How may I help you?"
"Wands? Like for casting magic?" Hermione asked as she approached the counter. Mykew looked a bit surprised, but soon nodded his head.
"You couldn't have come in here without being magical yourself, so I supposed you have yet to get your Hogwarts letter."
"Hogwarts?"
"Yes! The best school for witchcraft and wizardry in all of Europe. That's what my shop is for, to provide wands to the little witches and wizards that need one to use magic." Hermione frowned at that.
"But I can already use magic without a wand, why would I need one?" Mykew looked intrigued at this and asked her to explain, so she told him about her magic sense and how she can fly books towards herself.
"I haven't told anyone about this before since the other kids already think I'm odd, but my sense tells me you're a good man, if not a bit eccentric." Mykew let out a bellowing laugh at that and slapped his hand on the counter. He wiped a tear away from his eye and motioned for her to come a bit closer.
"You definitely seem like a smart one, so I'll let you get a wand now before you get your letter. Just be careful and not let anyone know about it. Wait right here." He went around the counter and started to pull some boxes and brought them back. He opened one and pulled out what seemed to be a stick. "Here, hold this and give it a wave."
Hermione took hold of the stick and felt the magic within. It was amazing but didn't feel right to her. She did as she was told, though, and waved it from side to side feeling something explode out the tip and the boxes on the shelf in front of her burst open violently. Mykew shook his head muttering 'nope' and handed her another one that was slightly darker in color. This went on for several different ones before he paused and told her to wait before heading to the back of the store.
She didn't know what he was doing, but it sounded like what bull in a China shop would to her. So many things crashed around and it took all her will power not venture back there to see if he was alright or not. It was about five minutes before he came back covered in dust and cobwebs, holding a wooden box dyed black with silver swirls.
"This wand is one that came into my possession many years ago, waiting for it's witch or wizard all this time. Usually a wand rots from the inside out if it never meets it's destined owner, but this one is of an unknown age and has yet to rot at all. Here, give this a wave." He slid the lid off to reveal a slender wand of alternating colors of dark and light reddish-brown. There was no handle attached but the design had what seemed to be a vine wrapping around the hilt and ended right around halfway down it. It was polished and gleamed in the bit of light that was allowed to enter the shop.
Hermione felt a pull towards this wand and slowly brought her handover to pick it up. The moment her fingers curled around the wood completely, she felt the magic around her swirl and twist in what was joy and excitement to her Sense. Mykew looked elated at this reaction and jumped for joy, belting out his happy laughter.
"YES! THIS IS THE ONE!"
Hermione barely heard him as she concentrated on the feeling of her magic intertwining with the wand in her hand. It was as though something had been missing from her without her even knowing and now she felt whole once more.
"This, young one, is a 11 ½ inch Snakewood wand with the core being made of the powdered horn of a magical snake with unprecedented power. It is a wand that will be fiercely protective of it's owner and will help get you soaring to the greatest of heights in terms of magical prowess. Not many can own wands like this since one needed to be a Parselmouth in order to bond with one."
"I'm sorry, a what? Parselmouth?" Hermione asked, curious about this new knowledge presented to her. Her mind was eager to absorb new information about this wand before her.
"It's a bloodline gift, usually in the older pure-blood families, where you are able to speak to and understand snakes. The last known speaker was one of the founders of Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin. Curious at how a muggle born girl, such as yourself, could be in possession of this ability. How curious."
"… I don't know if I can talk to snakes since I've never seen one, but I'm willing to try once I do." She said while tilting her head in thought. Throughout all of the animals she used her Sense on, a snake never came by. It might have been all the cats in the neighborhood, though, hunting them away. "How much will this cost? Seeing at how this is a shop I can assume this isn't for free." Mykew looked at her and hummed his approval.
"You sure are well spoken for one so young. But you are correct! If you can come back with your one of your parents they can pay for this right away. You just need to be holding their hand so they can enter if they have no magic of their own."
"There's no need for that, I have my own money." She pulled out her wallet and revealed it stuffed full of money and the random anime sticker. "How much will it be?"
"Here, let me help you with our type of money. Now some places in our world does not accept muggle money; they like to keep to the old ways. But most have accommodated for the incoming Muggleborns, but when you open a bank account at Gringotts your money will be converted into ours. We use 3 types of coins." He pulled 3 different coins from his pocket and placed them on the counter and picked the smallest one back up. "This bronze one is called a Knut. It is basically about £0.01. Next is this silver coin, called a Sickle. This is £.29 in your currency. Lastly we have the Galleon with this gold one. This is converted into £4.93. So with that in mind, how many sickles go into a galleon and how many knuts into a sickle?"
"That's easy! Maths is one of my best subjects! There are 29 knuts in a sickle and 17 sickles in a galleon. Meaning there should be 493 knuts in a galleon!"
Mykew looked impressed at how fast she was able to get everything right, even throwing in another answer as well. He nodded his head and gave her another problem, wanting to see if she could convert I as well.
"All wands in my shop cost 7 galleons. How much would you have to pay in your muggle money in order to buy it?" Hermione tilted her head in thought for a second before answering.
"That would be £34.51, right?" Mykew slammed his hand on the counter and pointed at her.
"RIGHT! You're very smart for your age. I can see you doing quite well for yourself at Hogwarts."
"Thank you, sir! Here, the money for the wand. I'm afraid I don't have any change so you can keep any change left over." She handed him £40 and put her wallet away in her pocket. Mykew looked surprise at this since most muggles tend to either haggle the price or rush him to get their change back. He smiled and slid the galleon across the counter towards her.
"Here take this galleon as your change. It may not make up the full difference, but this way you can have a bit of our money before you get your letter. One more thing before you go, miss. A congratulations gift for going to Hogwarts and being such a wonderful customer. Don't try to refuse it," he replied when he saw the look on her face at the mention of a gift, "these don't cost much anyways so I usually give them away for free to the customers I like." He pulled something from under the counter and placed it next to the galleon.
"This is a wand holster for your arm. If you are wearing long sleeves it can be concealed and no one will know it is there. There are enchantments on it to prevent someone from summoning your wand to them and you can set a keyword so that it can slid into your hand. Just hold your wand to it and tell it what word you want. Once set, only your wand can change the keyword."
"Thank you so much, sir! I can't tell you how much this means to me!" Hermione said with tears in her eyes. While she didn't have any friends her age, the adults didn't pay much attention to her either. They weren't mean to her by any means, but they didn't give her nice words or praise either. Only her parents did.
"Another thing before you go, You cannot use your wand outside of Hogwarts or the school's train. There is a charm on all underage wands to make sure they are not used outside in front of muggles. If it is used then it will alert the wizarding authorities to come and investigate. So be careful!"
"I will! Thank you once again for letting me get my wand early. This has been a wonderful experience. I'll visit you again if we come back this way! Bye!" She waved at him and walked out the door and towards her mother, she had already strapped her wand onto her arm while he was explaining about not using it in this world, her long sleeve covering it up completely.
"Hermione! There you are! Do you know how worried I was when I looked down and you weren't there!?" Her mother scolded her as she ran and picked her up. "Where were you this whole time!?" Hermione made up an excuse about petting a cat that was across the street behind the Tardis. "Hermione dear, that's just a regular police call box, not Doctor Who's Tardis."
"He's not called Doctor Who, Mum! It's the Doctor!" She complained, her mother watched Doctor Who with her now and then but wasn't into it much.
"Yes, yes. Let's go home, young lady. You're grounded this weekend for roaming away from me while I was talking to someone. You know better than that."
Hermione grudgingly nodded her head and pouted on the way to the car. Secretly, thought, she was ecstatic to have a wand of her own now. Once she got her Hogwarts letter, she couldn't wait to learn more about magic and cast spells similar to the ones Sailor Moon did! But for now, she was content on just reading, meditating, and finding out what all she could do without her wand.
~! #$%^&*()_+
Months passed in a blink of an eye and before she knew it, it was her 11th birthday. Her parents had asked her what she wanted to do today, but nothing came to mind besides waiting on her letter to arrive. So in the end she just told them that she wanted to spend the day with them making her cake and watching movies. It was in the middle of an episode of Doctor Who where he was facing the Daliks once again when the doorbell rang out.
Jumping up, Hermione yelled that she would get it as she ran over to the front door, her parents merely raised an eyebrow at each other and shook their heads. She grabbed the door handle and went to greet the mailman only to stop at the sight of an older woman wearing what appeared to be green velvet robes. She had a stern look on her face as she looked down at Hermione but smiled to show the kindness hidden beneath.
"Hello, dear, is your parents home?" She asked Hermione with a slight Scottish accent.
"Who's at the door, Winter?" Her mother ask as she came up behind her. "Oh? Hello, how may I help you?"
"I'm sorry, I appear to have the wrong address. I was looking for the home of Hermione Granger."
"No, you have the right house. May I ask what it is you needed from my daughter?" Her mother got a cold look on her face as the woman mentioned her daughter's name, and not her's or her husband's.
"May I please come in? I have news about a school that has accepted your daughter to attend." Emma motioned for the woman to follow her into the living room, making sure she was between the woman and Hermione the whole time.
"Dan, we have a guest, please turn off the tv." Emma asked him as they sat down, Hermione looked between her parents and the strangely dressed woman. She wondered if instead of a letter, she got an actual person to tell her about the magical world.
"Well, then, to start off, I am Minerva McGonagall. I teach at a one of the best schools in Europe and have come to give young Hermione an acceptance letter. May I ask where she is?"
"She's right here in front of you." Dan said confused. "We only have one child."
"Oh! I'm sorry, I believe I heard Mrs. Granger call her Winter while at the door."
"Yes, that is a nickname we gave since she was child. Her name came from Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale, so we call her Winter because of it." Emma explained.
"Well then, I believe this belongs to you, Ms. Winter." Minerva chuckled as she held out a slightly thick envelope with a red seal on the back. Hermione took the letter and looked at the front it. It read:
Ms. H. Granger
The Room in the Attic
14 Hempstead Garden Suburb,
Heathgate, London
'How did they know my room is in the attic?' Hermione thought to herself as she flipped it over to open the back. Her parents had renovated the whole attic so she could have a bigger room for all of her stuff, so her bedroom was almost as big as the whole house.
Taking a deep breath, she pulled out 2 thick pieces of paper. She marveled at the texture of it and realized that it was parchment paper. Something that hadn't been used since the 1800s! Hermione couldn't help but wonder how old fashioned the magical world was seeing this paper and how the professor was dressed. Shaking her head, she opened the first page stared at the green ink on the parchment.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Ms. Granger,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
"School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Is this some kind of joke?" Dan asked, his eyebrows forded together as he read the writing over his daughter's shoulder. "Magic is just lights and illusions and I don't want Hermione to grow up to be a magician. There are better jobs out in the world than that."
"Magic is more than just lights and illusions, Mr. Granger. It is real and I can prove it."
"I'd like to see you tr-" He was cut off when Minerva pulled out her wand and made a swishes towards their coffee table while saying something in another language. In an instant, they saw the dark wood of the table turn into a beautiful white wolf that sniffed the air. Emma let out a shriek while Dan jumped up to the back of the couch. Hermione just giggled as the wolf licked the hand she held out and let her pet it. It's fur was soft to the touch and cool instead of warm.
"It must be because it was a coffee table before." She murmured as she continued to pet the wolf.
"What was that?" Minerva asked as she observed the little girl. She seemed oddly at ease with the display of magic that had just happened as opposed to her parents.
"Oh, I was just thinking that the reason the wolf doesn't feel warm to the touch was because it used to be our coffee table. So it must not be truly alive." Hermione explained her reasoning to the thought that was spoke out loud. Minerva smiled at her and nodded her head.
"That's correct. This is something at Hogwarts that I teach called Transfiguration where you turn one thing into another. For example, I turned the coffee table into a wolf but the only reason it is acting like one is because I had that intention in mind when I was casting the spell. Otherwise it would only have stood there looking blankly at the wall."
"Bloodyhell." Dan whispered as he reached out to touch the wolf as well. Emma smacked him on the arm and told him to mind his language. "Come on, Em, you have to admit, this is pretty wicked." Emma smiled after a while and agreed. Soon all 3 Grangers were petting the table turned animal, who seemed to enjoy the attention quite a bit.
"Now that you all have seen that magic is real, can I expect to see Ms. Granger at Hogwarts next year?"
"Next year? I can't go this year?" Hermione asked, sadness creeping into her voice and expression as she stopped petting the wolf. "School has only just started so I'm sure I can catch up with the others."
"I'm sorry, my dear, but any student born after July has to wait until the school year to start. It's just how the rules are." Minerva replied, wanting the young girl to cheer up. "In other news, I can show you to Diagon Alley so that you can go there to get your school supplies. We can either go today or any other time that is available to you." Hermione quickly turned towards her parents and gave them her patented starry eyed kitten gaze.
"There's no need to pull out the big guns, Winter. We can go today since there wasn't really anything planned. At least this way we can get something amazing for your birthday at this alley." Hermione jumped with joy and soon they were ready to set off. "So where is this place and how do we get there?"
"It's on a street called Charing Cross Road, hidden to the muggle eye so that only those with magic can see it."
"Muggle?" Emma asked, curious about the new word.
"It's what we call those without magic. Hermione, here, is what is known as a Muggleborn, where a magical is born to two muggle parents."
"Fascinating. I can't wait to learn all about the grammar the magical world uses versus what we use. Kind of like how America has it's own grammar different from ours." Hermione mused as she stored the information away. Mr. Mykew only told her the word and she never thought to ask him herself what it meant.
"So how are we getting there? Our car or yours?" Dan asked as he glanced out the window to try and find which vehicle was hers.
"I don't own a muggle car myself. Usually I apparate when going somewhere. This means to instantly teleport from one place to another, dear." Minerva explained when she saw Hermione get that curious look on her face at another new word. "But for muggle families I have a portkey for us to use, which is an object that has been enchanted to bring people to a predetermined place. Now if everyone has what they need, please place your hand on this hoop and don't let go." The Granger Family grabbed onto the small hula hoop looking object and felt as though they were being hooked from behind their navel and pulled.
It didn't last very long but all 3 Grangers could agree that they never wanted to do anything like that again. Dan even looked a bit green from the experience, but soon felt better with an aspirin from his wife. Minerva soon lead them to Charing Cross Road form the alley they were in and told them to hold onto Hermione's hands until they went inside.
"Inside where?" Emma asked as they walked across the street, looking at all the different shops that were around them.
"Here. This is a pub called the Leaky Cauldron and has been a midway point between the muggle world and the magical for centuries. Please don't mind the patrons inside and follow me." They walked inside the pub and saw all kinds of people wearing things that could be from some of the medieval movies Hermione and Dan liked to watch. Only a few stared at them as they follow Minerva to the back and out the door into a small courtyard.
"Now watch carefully. If you ever want to come back here to shop some more, you need to use the wand you're going to get today and tap it onto these bricks in order." Minerva pulled out her own wand. "Remember, from the rubbish bin, 3 up and 2 across. Tap on this brick and then watch." She tapped the brick and stood back to see the awe on the granger's faces as the bricks started to move in on themselves to form an archway. Beyond the opening was a street filled with all kinds of shops and vendors selling all kinds of oddities. Emma swore she even saw what looked like dragon feet, but Minerva assured her that that would be impossible.
"The dragons are in reserves to prevent this type of thing from happening to the babies. It also prevents the older ones from terrorizing us as well." They didn't know to say to that so they just looked at their daughter and asked what kind of things she needed. Hermione pulled out the 2nd piece of parchment that was with her letter and showed it to them.
"I need 3 sets of black robes, a pointed hat, dragon hide gloves, and a black winter cloak with silver fastenings for clothing. As for my equipment, I need a pewter cauldron – size 2, glass or crystal phials, a telescope, and a set of brass scales. OH! I can an owl, cat, or toad o school as well! What about other animals?"
"Generally, an owl, cat, or toad is the standard, but if given approval any other animal is accepted as well. Do you have a pet you want to bring with you?"
"Not yet, but I would like one of my own one day. So, where to first? Is there a bookstore!?" Hermione's eye sparkled at the thought of a bookstore filled to the brim with magical books of all kinds.
"First, is to Ollivander's for your wand." Hermione felt the urge to tell her that she already had her wand, but kept quite about it since she wasn't supposed to have known about the magical world just yet. Luckily she left it in her room hidden away.
When they inside the shop, Hermione saw that it was similar to Mr. Mykew's shop since it was also full of boxes and dusty. An older man came out from behind a pillar of boxes and greeted them when they stepped inside.
"Welcome to Ollivander's, I see you are escorting a new Hogwart's student Minerva. Here for her wand?"
"Yes, Garrick, she's going to be attending next year, but is getting what she needs now."
"Right this way, Miss…"
"Hermione Granger, sir. Do you make all these wands yourself?"
"Yes, I do. It's been in my family to make wands since 382 B.C. and I'm proud to keep the tradition going strong! Now let's see which wand will be the wand today. Afterall, it's the wand that chooses the witch or wizard." He left for a minute and came back with several boxes. He opened one and held it out to her.
"Here, grab this and give it a flick." Hermione grabbed the wand and felt the magic in it push away from her hand. Doing as he said, she flicked the wand towards a wall and had a small crater appear on it. "Nope, not the one. Try…. This one instead."
Another negative feeling and flick later had a flower vase smashed to bits. Shaking his head, he handed her wand after wand with each one not working for her. Thinking for a bit, he wandered to the other side of the shop and grabbed a few more. He came back to the counter and went to open another boxes when Hermione stopped him.
"Sir, if you don't mind, could I try the wand in the box on the bottom of that stack?" She pointed towards a pillar of boxes in the middle of the store. There was a faint pulsing coming from one of the boxes at the bottom of it and she was sure that was meant to be hers. Once he pulled the wand out of it's box he handed I over to her and watched as it accepted her as it's owner.
Hermione felt it as the wand's magic danced with her own. It didn't feel quite as perfect as her other wand, but it did feel like it was home at last. Garrick Ollivander nodded his head in satisfaction before motioning them towards the other end of the counter.
"10 ¾ inch vine wood with a dragon heartstring core given willingly by a dying dragon that wanted it's power welded by a worthy individual. It only gave one and has proven stubborn when being handed to others. Truly a powerful wand for a powerful witch."
Hermione blushed at the compliment directed towards her and shuffled her feet together. Her parents lightly laughed at her shy nature when it came to compliments from strangers. Garrick told them it would be 7 galleon for the wand and Minerva smacked her forehead.
"I forgot to take them to the bank to convert their money!"
"It's quite alright, Professor, I take muggle currency as well. It will be £34.51."
"Wait! Is there something I can get to securely put my wand in? I don't feel right just keeping it in my pocket, I don't want it to snap before I can even use it!"
"Certainly, we have holsters to keep the wands in if you want. We have ones for the waist, legs, arms, and just under the shoulder and costs just a galleon more. Which one would you like?" Hermione chose another arm holster and attached it to her right arm with her new wand securely in place.
"What kind of enchantments does it have on it? I don't want someone to be able to steal it if they feel like it." Hermione asked with a frown, she couldn't feel any bit of magic on the holster, unlike the one she got from Mr. Mykew. "There are ones like that, right? Is it standard issue?"
"Holsters with enchantments on them are usually more expensive, Ms. Granger," Minerva replied, "A higher end holster that can stop a summoning spell or allows the caster to have their wand spring into their hand is around the price of an actual wand or more." She frowned even more and wondered why Mr. Mykew would give her such an expensive gift when he said it was cheap.
"Don't worry, Winter, we can get you a better one later when you've learned more about your magic. For now why don't we get the items on your list and then head over to the book store?" That definitely helped to brighten her mood and soon enough they were almost done with their shopping. All that was left was the bookstore called Flourish and Blotts and then they would be going home. At least that was the plan until Hermione spotted a pet shop called Magical Menagerie and she promptly dragged her parents towards.
Once inside they discovered how cramped it was with all the cages stacked on top of one another. It smelled badly and they couldn't help but feel sorry for all the animals in there. The shop keeper barely greeted them when they had came in and allowed them to just wander about. Hermione looked at all of the different creatures they had locked up and even saw some normal ones like cats and rats.
"Why are owls part of the pets that can go to Hogwarts?" Dan asked as he stared at a snowy white owl that seemed to give him a look of distain.
"Owls are generally used to send letters and packages. Owl post is common in the magical world and Hogwarts has some school owls for the students without an owl of their own to use." Hermione was about to ask a question of her own when something bumped into her leg. Looking down she saw fairly big spotted cat that looked up at her and meowed. It stood up on it's hindlegs and stretched as she picked him up.
"Mum, Dad! Isn't he just the cutest kitty ever?" Hermione squealed as she cuddled with the cat purring loudly in her arms. "Can I get him? This could be my birthday present this year! Please!"
"I don't Hermione, having a pet is a big responsibility and it will be hard to take care of him at school."
"Actually, all the pets in here are magical in their own right. Magical animals are smarter than the ones in the muggle world and can care for themselves for the most part. You will still need to do your part though, Ms. Granger."
"Well, we might consider it, but you have to keep your grades up! I don't know what the grading system is at this school, but I want least a B average. Understand?"
"Yes, Dad! Come cutie, let's go check out some things we can get you."
"B average?" Minerva asked once Hermione walked away to look at the cat items.
"In our grading system it goes from A to F with the highest grade one can get is an A+ with the failing grade being an F. What about yours?"
"Ours is a bit different." She mused as she recalled the letters they used for their system at Hogwarts. "Our grades from highest to lowest is O for outstanding, E for exceeds expectations, A for acceptable, P for poor, D for dreadful, and T for troll. P and lower is failing, of course."
"Troll?"
"Nothing dumber than mountain troll."
Dan nodded his head like he understood and went to help the girls check out. When he got up to the counter, he heard the shop keeper telling Hermione and Emma that the cat's name was Crookshanks and was surprised to see him so calm since he didn't like anyone. They spent over £100 getting Hermione Crookshanks and the supplies needed, but it was well worth it to see he smiling so brightly. Once they had him in a carrier, they headed to the book store and bought all the volumes she needed for school plus a few more bought with her own money.
By the time the sun was starting to set, Minerva had the Granger family home safe and sound with a new family member running around the house. They had inquired about the breed of their new furry friend and was told he was part Kneazle and serval, meaning he was going to grow a bigger than he already was at around 14 inches while sitting.
She gave the family a wave and headed out to return to Hogwarts to put in the parchment work for Hermione's enrollment. Hermione and Crookshanks had gone up to her room while her parents stayed downstairs to sort out their thoughts on the day.
"We always knew something was different with Hermione as she grew up." Emma said as she handed her husband a glass of wine. "We just didn't know what exactly was different."
"True. I knew it had to be something, but at least I didn't think it was ghost that had attached itself to our daughter." Dan said with a chuckle, causing his wife to turn a bit pink. She smacked his arm before settling into his side. "Our little girl is a witch, Em. With as smart as she is, I can already she her making waves in her new world."
"Yes, I just hope she doesn't drift too far from us as she does. I want our little Winter to be able to tell us anything, no matter if we can understand it or not." Dan nodded his head and leaned it against his wife's as they stared into the fire they had going in the hearth. No one said anything in that comfortable silence until Dan suddenly perked up.
"That professor forgot to take us to the bank again!"
~! #$%^&*()_+
Meanwhile, somewhere in a big castle situated in Scotland, a cat sneezes.