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Harry was in love. Every question that the teacher asked was a race between Harry, Hermione, and Dudley to answer. Harry was thrilled by the need for speed to get his hand in the air first. He was exhilarated by one upping Hermione on immersion days when they spoke French or German all day. He was enraptured to race to see who could finish the spelling tests or maths assignments quicker. The only thing she really failed at was martial arts and physical education but Harry guessed no one could be perfect and she was a girl, after all.

Hermione was annoyed. Every time she tried to be the first to answer a question, one of the Dursley boys would beat her to it or almost so. Every time she tried to show off the language skills her governess had put so much effort into teaching her, the Dursley boys would pipe up and show that they were already fluent. Every test and maths assignment that she tried to finish first, she'd be neck in with one of the Dursley boys to see who it would be. The only thing she couldn't compete with them in was martial arts, because she'd never taken lesons, and physical education, because she was afraid the balls would hit her.

The other children hated all three of them but none of the three cared. They were the only ones in the class according to them. No one else could come close to competing with them. The teacher didn't even try to teach them at the same pace, she just set those three off to the side with Remus Lupin to learn most days. Remus had taken to coming all day every day to school with Harry and Dudley. He felt he needed to in order to earn what he felt was an exorbitant salary left to him by Lily Potter. He intended to earn every penny of it. He spent all day at school with the boys then tutored them for an hour every day after school. They had activities almost every day of the week that Remus oversaw, as well. He usually got the boys home and finished with everything just a little before dinner time at 6pm.

The boys usually had football games, fencing or martial arts tournaments, or quidditch matches most Saturdays. They spent most Sundays with their papa, relaxing and resting as Sundays should be spent.

This meant they were ahead of all their peers except Hermione. The other five- and six-year-old children weren't even close to the level of these three. When Remus had proposed that he work with those three while Ms. Masefield worked with the other students, it was welcomed with open arms. Betsy had taken to coming to the school in the morning hours and helping out with the other students, so Ms. Masefield would still have some help. Remus was shocked to see that only three other parents came to help in the classroom at all. Only one of those parents had returned after the first month. It was shameful, though he understood the extra funding raised by parents buying their way out of their volunteer hours provided quite a bit of funding for the arts and sports.

Remus made lesson plans for Harry, Hermione, and Dudley that were based on each of their individual strengths and weaknesses. Once the lesson plans were made up for the semester, he got them approved first by Mrs. Masefield and then by Mr. Middleton, both of whom were more than glad to give the necessary special treatment to some of their prized students.

The rest of the school year passed in the same vein. Harry, Hermione, and Dudley grew as students in leaps and bounds under Remus' individual tutelage; they well surpassed their fellow peers at this point. The Hampstead School Board and Mr. Middleton was so impressed with the test scores of the three students, that they agreed to allow the situation to continue during the next school year, if Mr. Lupin was amenable to continuing on. Remus was more than glad to continue. It gave him great pride to think that these three might just finish their A-levels before they went to Hogwarts. It would be a huge boon to their futures if they could do so. They'd have to stay fresh with their skills, something he'd have to aid them in doing, but they might even be able to head straight to university after Hogwarts, like Lily dreamed. He thought it was just too bad that Hermione wouldn't be able to join them. Everything changed two months into their year 1 classes.

Harry, Hermione, and Dudley were in the same class again. It was just easier for the teachers and Remus that way. Remus came round the corner of the building to assist with playground monitoring, when he heard Hermione scream. Remus ran forward and saw that some mean little chit was prying Hermione's hands off of the monkey bars. She was quite high up so Remus could understand why she'd be scared. She could get hurt! He hurried forward to stop the little bully from hurting Hermione when Hemione suddenly swung in a full circle around the monkey bar to land on her bum on top. In the process, she kicked the little bully right in the chest and sent her flying. Remus rushed forward and caught her just in time, something that wouldn't have been possible without his werewolf enhanced reflexes.

He set the mean little girl down and gave her a stern talking to. He sent her inside to await his return to tell the teacher what happened. Remus went over to Hermione who was terrified and sobbing on top of the monkey bars.

"I… didn't… mean… to!" she cried as Remus helped her down from the tall piece of playground equipment.

"It's alright, little darling. Don't worry. You aren't in trouble," Remus said, looking around to see who else might have seen the incident. No one else was really around this area, the bully had chosen her place, if not her victim, well.

"Let's just head towards the classroom, alright. We'll get you cleaned up and ready to go out again in no time," Remus said, leading Hermione towards the classroom. No one was inside. Remus felt like he was doing something wrong when he double checked to make sure no one was around. The coast was clear so he went back to the little girl.

"Hermione, what happened out there, has anything like that ever happened before?" Remus asked, gently.

Hermione sniffed but didn't stop crying. She nodded her head, ashamed.

"No, no. It's nothing to be ashamed of. You didn't do anything wrong. That person who was bullying you was wrong. Could you try something for me?" Remus asked. Hermione nodded again but still didn't stop crying.

Remus took his wand out of the wand holster on his arm and showed it to the little girl.

"Just take this in your hand and give it a little swish, yeah?" he asked her. She slowed the tears as her curiosity was piqued. She took the wand in hand and gave it a good wave. Bright bronze and gold sparks shot out of the end. She gasped and dropped the wand on the floor. Remus picked it up and put it away.

"Let's have a chat later with the boys, yeah? I have something important to tell you but it can wait. Let's get you cleaned up. Then, I have to go see about your classmate," Remus said, taking the little girl to the sink and cleaning up her face.

He started to lead her out of the classroom when she suddenly stopped and looked at him, "That was magic, wasn't it?" she asked. Remus' eyes grew wide. He decided to tell her the truth.

"Yes, but we can't talk about it just yet, okay? Let's wait for the boys," Remus said.

"Are they magic, too?" Hermione asked, flabbergasted.

"Yes," Remus said with a twitching mustache.

"No wonder then! That's why we're all equally smart, we're equally magic!" Hermione said, like a great weight had been lifted off of her chest.

Remus shook his head at the seven-year-old logic but decided to agree, just to get her moving. "Maybe that's true. There are many things that make a person smart."

"That is very true," Hermione said. "Thank you, Mr. Lupin," she said with a little-girl-crush written all over her face.

"Yes, well, best be off with you. Get back outside now, until class starts," Remus said, ushering her out the door. He headed to the much less pleasant task awaiting him in the headmaster's office.

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