This chapter is from Hermione's POV. Keep in mind that Dumbledore has been corrupted by the darkness, and he is trying to do the right thing for the wizarding world. He thinks this is all perfectly reasonable, and I don't think he's nearly as bad as in some stories.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter Universe and never will.

Hermione sat on the red, cozy couch, squished in between her parents. Normally, she'd have hated that, like any self-respecting eleven-year-old, but right now she was glad to have her parents for comfort. Because right in front of her was a witch. A strict-looking, glasses-wearing witch with a magic wand. A witch who could turn into a cat.

"Can I learn how to turn into a cat too?" Hermione asked curiously. She wasn't sure if she liked the sound of this "Wizarding World", but she did want to learn how to turn into a cat. That sounded very difficult, and Hermione was never one to turn down a challenge.

"It's rather difficult magic, but you might be able to learn it if you obtain an apprenticeship with an Animagus. Now I do believe that is all. I shall see you in a week to pick up your supplies." She handed Hermione an envelope with a red seal on it. Pressed into the red wax was a crest, presumably that of Hogwarts, with a lion, badger, snake, and raven on it. The professor turned to leave.

"Now wait a second!" Dan Granger, Hermione's father, said. "What makes you so certain that Hermione will attend your school? She's applied to quite a lot of them."

"Don't be ridiculous." Professor McGonagall scoffed. "Of course Miss Granger will receive her magical education at Hogwarts. Where else would she go? France?"

"Perhaps I don't want to learn magic at all." Hermione said, seeing what her father was getting at. "You said that your world is still rebuilding from a war, and that there's a lot of prejudice against so-called 'Muggleborns' like me. I'm sure being a witch is considered an extremely respectable profession, but I think that I want to be a scientist. Maybe work with computers." She started to get into fact-mode, her voice becoming bossy and her vocabulary peppered with words that she had looked up in a dictionary to sound important. "And yet your curriculum includes absolutely no English, no mathematics, and no scientific knowledge, even that based on magical theory. How exactly am I supposed to learn Physics if you don't teach it? I would be losing a lot of options." Hermione inwardly winced at her fact-mode outburst.

"Why would you want to waste your time with Muggle professions when there's magic?" Professor McGonagall looked confused. "You cannot ignore your destiny. You are a witch. You will learn magic."

"Actually, I think I can decide my destiny for myself, thank you very much." Hermione said, sounding a lot more confident than she felt. "And normal jobs are not a waste of time. My parents are dentists, and they help quite a lot of people."

"Nevertheless, you must learn to control your magic." Professor McGonagall explained. "All witches and wizards must be educated through their O.W.L.S."

"Your teachers are owls?" Hermione asked, squinting. "I thought they were the messengers..."

"No, the O.W.L.S. are examinations that you take in your fifth year." The teacher explained. "But magical owls do serve as swift messengers." It seemed that Professor McGonagall had a fact-mode of her own.

"I think I can learn to control my magic by myself. Your people are patronizing towards people like my parents. You're still rebuilding from a war that sounds like it may just start right up again. Your society is a mess, and your school has barely any students. I don't want to go to a school where everyone will hate me because of my parents." Hermione looked over at her mom and dad, who nodded. This was the hardest split-second decision of her life, but she made it. "I'm – I mean, I am – afraid I must respectfully decline your invitation."

"You don't seem to understand, Miss Granger." Professor McGonagall said sternly. "Your magic is a danger to yourself and others, and may destroy the International Statue of Secrecy. You simply must receive training, and Hogwarts is the only place that you can do so."

"If magic is so great, why don't you help everyone with it?" Hermione asked. "You could work with our scientists – I'm sure you could cure cancer in no time! You could make Muggles live years longer! You could end hunger, and give homes to the homeless! But no, you hide away, fighting amongst yourselves over jealously guarded secrets and artifacts. Magic doesn't sound so good now, does it?"

"Regardless of your opinion, you are required to receive your education." Professor McGonagall said.

"I seriously doubt that it takes five years to gain control of your magic." Hermione said.

"It only takes less than one, of course. Mainly it's just your wand bonding with you that gives you the control." Professor McGonagall explained.

"Well, then, all I need to do is have a wand bond with me. I'm sure I could learn to control the magic, and then forget about it forever. I want to work with computers and they don't work in Hogwarts. I simply cannot neglect five whole years of my education!" Hermione exclaimed.

Professor McGonagall took a deep breath. "According to Educational Decree Twenty-Four, all individuals with more than a trace of magic must be educated with at least 5 years of magical education at Hogwarts or an equivalent school of magic and receive at least 3 O.W.L.S. before they are allowed to terminate their education at Hogwarts. In other words, Miss Granger, you are legally required to go to Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, or Durmstrang for five years and pass three of our standard 5th year tests."

"What about Beauxbatons?" Hermione asked.

"Do you speak French, Miss Granger?" She questioned.

"No, but I can learn. Anything sounds better than Hogwarts." Hermione was pretty sure she could learn, at least. It may take a year, but there were all these papers about being immersed in a language leading to an incredibly fast learning rate. She could always study English textbooks on her own and pretend she understood what the teacher was saying. Though when she thought about it, it was actually a lot harder than she had thought. She could figure something out though, she was sure. Or go to school in America. At least they spoke English there.

"I'm afraid that you would need express permission from both the Headmaster of Hogwarts and of Beauxbatons in order to transfer your attendance. As for Durmstrang, they do not accept Muggleborn students such as yourself." The Professor explained.

"This is stupid!" Hermione complained. "The Wizarding World government isn't my government!"

"Yes, Miss Granger, it is. You are legally required to attend Hogwarts. Once, you would have been able to move to France and attend Beauxbatons, but after the war there were so few students that the numbers were changed from 2 years of magical education to 5. You will attend Hogwarts on September 1st. You simply have no choice."

"Yes she does!" Dan Granger yelled. "I will not have you kidnap my daughter and indoctrinate her into your little cult against her will!"

"Come." Professor McGonagall commanded. "I see now that we must go to Diagon Alley sooner rather than later. Perhaps when you see what magic can do, you will be more enthusiastic."

"No." Hermione said, backing away.

"If you do not come with me now, I will have to use force. You have magic. You must be educated, for the sake of all those that died in the war. They fought for your rights, and they died for it. You will come with me now." Professor McGonagall said, tears forming in her eyes at the thought of the fallen and anger overtaking her mind. Hermione could only imagine what she was thinking as the Professor's face became ice cold with fury.

"No!" Hermione screamed. "Take it then! Take away my magic so that I won't have to come! Go on, make it go away! I want nothing to do with your world."

"I cannot, as you put it, take away your magic. It is part of you. You would die if you lost your magic." The Professor sighed. "Albus told me that you may be unwilling to come at first, and he told me that I was to bring the students at all costs. He authorized me to use whatever magic necessary. Do you understand? Either you will come, or I will use magic and bring you."

"I will not have you take Hermione!" Emma Granger, Hermione's mother, rushed at the Professor. "I won't let you! How dare you try to kidnap –" She crumpled to the ground at a wave of Professor McGonagall's wand.

"You killed my mother!" Hermione screamed, charging at Professor McGonagall and hitting an invisible forcefield.

"She's merely unconscious, and will wake up in a few hours." The witch said calmly, though Hermione could sense the rage beneath the surface. "Now grab ahold of my arm. Now." As if Hermione was going to walk up to the woman and willingly present herself for kidnapping.

"I won't let you do this to her!" Dan Granger shouted. "I won't –" He too fell to the ground, hit by a red beam of light.

Hermione screamed and ran up the stairs, pursued by the tired professor. "I won't let you do this! You can't!" The two witches faced each other in the upstairs hallway. Professor McGonagall raised her wand, but the red Stunner was knocked off course when a flurry of flying books smacked her in the head. Hermione was filled with a feeling of power as books from all over the house flew at Professor McGonagall. Of all the things she could channel her accidental magic through, of course it was books.

Hermione raced past the professor and down the stairs, towards the door –

– and she tripped –

– and she fell –

– and rolled –

– and something red –

– and it flew past her –

– and then darkness.


When Hermione woke up, she was in a clean-smelling room with beds neatly pushed up against the wall. The sheets were white, and beside her was a small table with a black clock. It looked kind of like a hospital. Where was she? What was going on?

"I see that you are awake." An old man said. Hermione squinted to adjust her vision and saw that he was wearing purple robes and a weird pointy hat. He had half-moon spectacles and twinkling blue eyes that made Hermione wonder what he knew that she didn't. Probably quite a lot, but those eyes looked as if they held all the secrets in the world. However, unlike his cheerful eyes, the rest of his face looked strained and worried, and his shoulders were hunched. This, Hermione concluded, was the Hogwarts Headmaster. The one who told Professor McGonagall to kidnap her if necessary. And he had been watching to see when she woke up. Creepy.

"Let me go home." Hermione demanded as soon as she had found her voice.

"I'm afraid you cannot return home, Miss Granger." The Headmaster said sadly. "You have shown that you are not to be trusted."

"Don't you know how wrong this is?" Hermione asked. "This is kidnapping! You could get in so much trouble for this!"

"First of all," the Headmaster explained, "this is perfectly legal."

"But –"

"Think, Miss Granger. What would happen in the Muggle world if parents refused to send their children to school?" Hermione's face fell. "Exactly. The child would be taken by the government while the parents went under investigation. Besides, although you have the rights of a normal witch or wizard, your parents don't. They have no magic."

Hermione took a deep breath. "Fine then. Let me go back to my parents, and I'll come to your stupid school!"

"You are considered a flight risk, Miss Granger. If you follow the rules and listen to instructions, then you will be allowed to return home next summer.

"A flight risk? What is this, a prison? Actually," Hermione frowned, "it kind of is. Why, though?" She added softly. "Why can't you just let me go home? Please."

"No." Dumbledore said sternly. "I apologize, but I cannot."

"You – you apologize?" Hermione said incredulously. "You people are the ones who made these stupid rules!"

"Actually, no, I am not. That is the Wizengamot." Dumbledore explained.

"But you said you were the Chief Warlock of that!"

"I have one vote for my position, along with one vote for the House of Dumbledore. I do not control the Wizengamot in the slightest. Those are the heads of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses."

"Why doesn't someone tell them to go shut up and die?" Hermione asked furiously. She hadn't said anything like that ever before. She probably would have been cursing if she actually knew any curse words.

"Self-preservation, my dear." Hermione grimaced. How could he keep up with this grandfatherly act when he was imprisoning her in this place against her will? "It is difficult for anyone, no matter their parentage, to get a job or make their way in the magical world unless they are protected by a Noble and Most Ancient House."

Hermione wrinkled her nose. "So your government is controlled by a bunch of hereditary rulers who 'represent' everybody else. Unless your parents have titles and money, you need to suck up to people who do."

"There are some elected seats, but yes, the majority of the Wizengamot consists of wizarding Lords and Ladies, which is hereditary."

"So your world is controlled by the purebloods, most of which hate the Muggleborns. These purebloods make the laws. You're in ruins due to a war, and over half of your previous population is dead. The Wizarding World is horrible."

"All I can say," Professor Dumbledore said, "is that half of the Wizengamot consists of women, and the probability for the Minister of Magic to be male or female is about 50-50. Whichever family name is more powerful is taken by a married couple, and if they are of equal power, the name becomes hyphenated. It may become so anyway if a couple wishes."

"You're still stuck in the Medieval Age." Hermione said. "And you don't give Muggles any rights. There aren't by any chance still betrothal contracts, are there?" Dumbledore didn't answer. "That was supposed to be a joke."

"Well…the practice has died out among all but the noble houses." Dumbledore said.

"That's messed up." Hermione responded. "Can I please at least go to my parents to say goodbye?"

"No." Dumbledore said firmly. "You will remain in the Wizarding World until September 1st, when you will go to Platform 9 ¾ to take the train ride with the other students."

Hermione couldn't take it anymore. First a witch kidnaps her, telling her it's for her own good, and attacks her parents in the process. Then she learns that she has to stay in a broken world where she'll be discriminated against for five years. Now the Headmaster told her that she can't see her parents for another year, and only for a month even then, and she can't even say goodbye. "Please." Hermione pleaded. "They'll be so worried."

"No." Dumbledore said, his twinkling eyes turning stern and cold. At long last, he had stopped the benevolent act. "You will remain in the Wizarding World as I say, or you will suffer consequences!"

"You're evil!" Hermione ran at him, unsure of quite what she was doing, but her mind just filled with rage at the injustice of it all. She hit a forcefield around the wizard, which she pounded away at before slumping to the ground, crying. Something inside of her felt broken, but she wasn't sure what it is. It felt like everything, and she had a deep, bottomless hole in her chest. "Please…" she whispered, sobbing, "I, I, I…only w-want t-t-to say g-g-goodbye!"

Dumbledore sighed, the darkness vanishing from his eyes. "I will conjure a messenger. You may say a message to it, and it will travel to your parents. They will be able to respond. I will only do this once, do you understand." Hermione nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes and trying to breath. She couldn't do anything for now. Dumbledore and McGonagall had magic, and she didn't know how to use hers. For now, there was only one thing to do. She would try her best to learn magic, devote every waking moment to learning that and her muggle classes. She could keep learning math, science, and history, and she was so far ahead in her reading that five years without a class wouldn't make much of a difference. She would be ready to re-enter the Muggle world in five years. And maybe, she might just find a way to escape early. But she had to make it look like she wanted to do well. She would follow the rules to the letter and be a good student. No one would suspect that she would be mentally plotting to escape.

"I - I'm ready." Hermione said. "W-would I be able to s-send messages with owls to my parents during the y-year?"

"Of course. You will just be unable to see them in person, or talk to them live." Dumbledore explained. That made things easier. They could send her textbooks. She gathered her thoughts, and prepared herself for sending the message. Dumbledore was watching, and she had to make it sound a certain way. "Remember, though. If you attempt to sneak out to the castle to visit them, there will be consequences."

"Like – like what?" Hermione asked defiantly. Seriously? You are a horrible actor. You're trying to seem like a good, obedient student, and then you just have to challenge the person in charge, don't you?

"We have spells in the Wizarding World that can affect the mind. Nearly all of them are illegal. However, there are two that you can use on muggles: the Confundus Charm, and Oblivation." That sounded ominous. "Wizards cannot simply use them whenever they please, but I have a permit from the ministry to use the Oblivation Charm to remove Muggle's memories of magic for the safety of the Statue of Secrecy. This includes things that I cannot separate from the magic. If you follow all of the rules, there is no issue with allowing you visit your parents once a year and send letters back and forth. If it poses a threat to your education, however, I may not be able to separate memories of magic from memories of you. Do you understand?" Hermione nodded fearfully. If Dumbledore went that far, there would be no way that Hermione could return to the Muggle world.

Dumbledore waved his wand, and a silvery phoenix sprung out of it, woven from strands of light. It seemed to emit joy, calming Hermione down and making her feel that everything would be alright. Suddenly, she felt a whole lot more peaceful, although she couldn't help wondering if this was the only reason why Dumbledore was allowing her to do this. "This is called a Patronus. It can be used as a defense against several dark creatures, and can carry messages. Patroni are difficult to cast, but worth the effort. One cannot tamper with their messages. Tell it what you wish for it to tell your parents."

Hermione took a deep breath and began. "I know you're probably frantic with worry right now, but I'm okay. Professor McGonagall took me to Hogwarts, and the Headmaster is letting me contact you. He says I have to stay here until the end of the school year, when I can see you for a month. I – I really miss you already, but I'll be fine. No one's hurt me, and magic does seem really useful even though I would prefer to just be a scientist."

"We can send each other letters," she continued, "since the school has owls to carry them. Electronics don't work here, so I can't use a computer or anything like that, but I can still study Math, History, and Science here without the experiments for after fifth year. I'm going to work hard on magic so that I can control it and the Headmaster will let me leave. Tell Grandma happy birthday for me, since I can't go to visit her. Please don't worry about me. And don't try to find and rescue me. There's nothing we can do about magic, they're really powerful. They have a spell that they can use to erase your memories. Please don't make them do that, they really will if they think they have to."

"I know I'm trapped here, but it's a nice place to be trapped, I guess. From where I'm sitting, I can see a lake out the window, and the school is in an ancient castle. I'll try to make some friends, since I know you would want that. I'm – I'm sorry that you're losing your daughter to magic, but I'll be able to come back for good after my fifth year if I work hard enough. Five years sure seems like a lot, but I'll be busy. It'll fly by."

"I – I love you. Goodbye." Hermione said, tears running down her cheeks. The phoenix flew out the window at an incredible speed. A minute later, the phoenix flew back in and replied in her mother's voice.

"We love you, sweetie. You're right, when we woke up we were panicking. We nearly called the police. It's horrible that they took you away from us, but we trust you when you say there's nothing we or you can do, and it's horrifying that they can remove memories. You should set up some sort of signal like in the movies in case you lose your memory."

"We can still scarcely believe that magic is real, but I think by this point it's rather obvious. We miss you already, and we wish that you could come home for Christmas. The Wizarding World seems like a wreck, but it is possible that you may grow to love it as it begins to improve." Not a chance. "If you do, don't feel like you're betraying us. It's your life, and your future. Try to enjoy yourself. You can't spend five years being sad. Make friends, even if they don't respect Muggles. Even Professor McGonagall doesn't, and she's the one they chose to talk to us."

"Of course," Dan Granger interrupted, "you asked us for textbooks while you said goodbye. We wholeheartedly support your plan to continue with your normal education, and we'll be sure to send you your books. We'll also give you some money for school supplies, as if you're going to be forced to stay in the Wizarding World we might as well make it as easy for you as possible. Buy some books with the extra."

"Dan, how could you talk about schoolwork at a time like this?" Emma asked.

"It will make her feel better. Give her something to think about." Dan said. Hermione let out a sob.

"We love you, so, so much." Emma said quietly. "More than…"

"More than there are stars in the sky." Hermione finished in unison with her mother. She reached out to touch the glowing, silvery phoenix with wonder in her eyes, but just as she touched it the beautiful bird dissolved into a thousand silvery droplets of light, droplets that looked like the silver stars in the sky. "No –" Hermione whispered. "Come back!" But the phoenix with the voices of her parents and the glow of the stars was gone.