Disclaimer: All characters belong to J. K. Rowling. I am only borrowing her characters to make Harry live a better life.
The Grangers took a Saturday appointment to visit Dr. Savant. As previously discussed, Prof. McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey arrived at the Granger residence in the morning. They had come in separately as Madam Pomfrey was slightly delayed in the infirmary.
Poppy Pomfrey was wearing her idea of Muggle wear, but Mrs. Granger was quick to take her and Prof. McGonagall into her bedroom as her husband was trying to hold in his laughter because what she was wearing would have been in fashion fifty years ago.
While Prof. McGonagall was still better dressed than Madam Pomfrey, her attire too was a bit outdated.
Once the three ladies had disappeared into the master bedroom, Mr. Granger roared with laughter.
"What does Dr. Granger find so funny?" asked Prof. McGonagall in a huff.
"Your out-of-fashion non-magical attire, especially that of Madam Pomfrey," said Mrs. Granger, trying to suppress a grin.
"What? This is as per the Muggle Studies books…." Madam Pomfrey began, then stopped and pinched her nose and then continued, "Of course, those bloody books are outdated!"
"Sorry. What, according to you, would be the right clothes, then?" asked Prof. McGonagall looking between the two.
"Wait a sec," said Mrs. Granger who opened her walk-in closet and a few minutes later came out with two pantsuits. "These should fit you. The second one belongs to Dan's sister. He won't mind you temporarily borrowing it," she said.
"But these look like men's wear!" exclaimed Prof. McGonagall.
"No, office-going women wear them," said Mrs. Granger and showed them some of her magazines.
"Ok, then. Thank you and please call me Minerva from now on, Mrs. Granger," said Prof. McGonagall gratefully after seeing the cover photo of a similarly dressed woman.
"Call me, Poppy," said Madam Pomfrey just as easily, still perusing one of the magazines.
"Ok, Minerva and Poppy, then call me Emma. Now get changed. I will wait outside." said Mrs. Granger.
"Oh yes, sorry," said Poppy embarrassed at getting sidetracked, and quickly put down the magazine.
Mrs. Granger then went out and tried to give Dan a chiding look, but failed and ended up chuckling along with him.
The two witches soon came out. Considering that wizards and witches aged slowly, both Minerva and Poppy still looked to be in their early 40s and the Muggle attire suited them well.
Once they changed, the party went out to the garage and was soon on the way to the hospital where Dr. Savant worked during the day.
Even a small trip such as this was an eye-opener for Madam Pomfrey who spent most of her time either at Hogwarts during the academic year or at home, or at St. Mungo's during holidays.
Fifteen minutes after reaching the hospital, they were shown into his cabin.
An unassuming man, at first look, Dr. Savant hid a resourceful mind which they would learn of today.
"What brings you superior magical types to a Muggle hospital?" asked Dr. Savant emphasizing the word 'Muggle' in a derogatory way while trying to sound like a Pureblood ponce and then laughing at his own joke.
"I see you have not lost your sense of humor, Dr. Savant," said a smiling Minerva snorting at his attempt while remembering the affable man from her visit to his home more than twenty years ago.
Then, getting serious, she introduced the other two and came quickly to the point.
Madam Pomfrey then took over explaining the things with the aid of Emma and Dan while presenting the papers to him which he began to keenly read.
"I have just one worry, Dr. Savant and Prof. McGonagall," said Dr. Daniel Granger.
"One moment, and call me, Sam, everyone here does," said Dr. Savant absentmindedly while going through the papers while Prof. McGonagall shot Dan Granger a glance.
"Sure, Dr. Sav -, I mean, Sam, and call me Dan," said Mr. Granger smiling.
"Ok, tell me now, Dan, and just for your info, I have the subscription to the magical papers. So, I know about the recent happenings in that world," said Sam finally looking up.
"As you know that a piece of Voldemort's soul is attached to that scar of his. What if, while operating upon him, it fights back? We cannot have non-magical nurses or attendants present in the operating room. I am worried about the Statute as well as a risk to their lives," said Dan.
"You are right about the first, wrong about the second," said Dr. Savant with a look that said, 'I know something you don't.'
"Now don't go holding off on us, Sam, spit it out," said Minerva.
"Let me give you the short answer first then - my own team is staffed with Squib and Muggle-born doctors and nurses," said Dr. Savant and then leaned back to enjoy the look of shock on the witches' faces while the Grangers were pleasantly surprised.
"How-? Muggle-borns? Why would they want to work in the Muggle world when they have magic?" asked Prof. McGonagall still reeling.
Before Dr. Savant could reply, Mrs. Granger interjected, "You are asking this, Minerva? Knowing that no normal-born would easily get a job they deserve and any Squib would only get a menial job barely enough to scrape a living in this bigoted world of yours? Haven't we been discussing these very things in the past few days?"
She was looking at her in disbelief.
Prof. McGonagall looked down ashamed.
"You are still trying to imagine they are a part of a Utopian world, Minerva, in spite of knowing the truth. Get your head out of it," said Daniel Granger a bit sternly.
Clearing his throat to draw their attention, Dr. Savant spoke up, "After my daughter became a part of your world, I spent time cultivating contacts through her, getting to know other parents like me, and also learning more about your world. The things that we came to know, disgusted us." said Dr. Savant with his feelings evident on his face.
"Yes, well, it's on the way to being rectified," said Minerva, still feeling embarrassed.
Dr. Savant hummed with the expression that said, 'I will see it when I believe it.'
"But what bearing does it have here?" asked Poppy.
"I am getting there," said Dr. Savant gesturing for patience.
"When I came to know about the Squibs for the first time, I got in touch with one, and through him, others, not only adults but children who had been deliberately left on the streets to die by families who didn't want the public shame of giving birth to Squibs," he continued, horrifying the Grangers about the dark side of the magical world her own daughter was now a part of.
"I and some of the non-magical parents like me formed a charitable group of sorts, pooled our resources, and put those unfortunate kids in normal schools. We also ensured our own children's Muggle education during the summers. The Squib adults were taught things that we grew up knowing about. Then, the kids on returning from school would teach these adults all that they learned at school. These kids and even the adults went on to become doctors, teachers, scientists, engineers, etc, and are living decent, respectable lives now and have families. We later also had some Muggle-borns joining them in their education as they came to the same realization that my daughter did about the discrimination in your world. It's few of these people who are currently working with me in this very hospital as doctors and nurses." said Dr. Savant to his listeners.
"Not only that, the receptionist who took your appointment is a Squib. She belongs to the House of Nott, you know. Her name is Sylvia. Her family, at first, kept her under lock and key for nearly 15 years because apart from being a Squib, she was born with some health problems which were magically incurable but later they seem to have decided to dump her in the normal world to get rid of her. She was picked up by the police while wandering the Manchester streets at night and luckily one cop there had a son at Hogwarts. What she was talking about was nonsensical for those not in the know, but he understood. He was also in touch with our group and brought her to our attention. We had a cure for what you magical people didn't and once she was healed completely, we set her up to be educated in our world. She is here only part-time aiding me as she completes her in Food Technology and hopes to be placed in one of the global flavor houses like Givaudan or Doehler," said Dr. Savant impressing them with the level of involvement and benevolence of his group towards the neglected members of the magical community.
"Anyway, back to the topic," said he suddenly turning all business and consulting his diary. "Can you bring Mr. Potter on Tuesday at 11 am? The entire procedure should take less time than usual because instead of anesthesia, I believe Madam Pomfrey here can stun him."
"We have a spell called the Morpheus charm, which is a gentle way of putting a patient to sleep which Healers use," said Poppy.
"Better," said Sam lifting the papers related to Harry's scar. "Can I make a copy of these for my study? I assure you, I won't leave it lying around." Daniel Granger nodded.
Emma grinned and said, "Here's another impromptu non-magical studies lesson."
Sam went to the printer cum xerox machine in the corner connected to his computer and soon had copies.
Dr. Savant then showed them to the two witches, astounding them.
It was hilarious how they continued to be surprised by the littlest things which the non-magical people used in their everyday life.
The two colleagues then returned to Hogwarts while Emma and Dan stayed back claiming that they wanted to discuss things further. They actually wanted to get involved with Sam's group but didn't want to say so in front of the two witches.
Prof. McGonagall called a meeting of Harry and Hermione and all the adults who were involved in the relevant discussions and informed them about their meeting and the schedule.
She later also held a meeting of the Headmaster, the Heads of Houses, the Board of Governors, and some key Ministry Dept Heads like Madam Griselda Marchbanks, Madam Bones, and a few others to tell them about Dr. Savant's group.
Madam Marchbanks then pulled out the scorecard of the last few years which she had arranged by blood status and showed how the half-bloods and normal-borns were turning out to be the best performers in school.
Hearing about it, how much the Ministry had failed the Squibs and normal-borns, and how much Dr. Savant and his group had done for these people was an eye-opener for them all.
The Ministry clearly had a lot more work to do considering that due to their own bigotry, they were losing out the best minds to either the non-magical world or to other countries with favorable working conditions.
Soon, the day of the operation arrived. Harry was of course, nervous. He was accompanied by Sirius, Hermione, Prof. McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, and the Headmaster and Croaker too. Prof. Dumbledore and the Head Unspeakable wanted to be present in the operation chamber in case of an attack by the soul remnant of Voldemort.
Most of the group had thankfully first portkeyed to the Granger home. Prof. Dumbledore's attire like Madam Pomfrey, was fifty years out of fashion and he was temporarily given a change of modern clothes. After that, Hermione's father, Dan Granger had fun taking him shopping after Dumbledore ensured that there was a glamour charm to make his very long hair and beard look short.
To go to the hospital, they took cabs this time due to the number of people present.
Sirius had brought his motorcycle though. He got it back from Hagrid who had taken good care of it in his absence. Harry would ride with him and they would follow the cabs to the hospital.
Soon, they were in the hospital and everyone assembled in one of the meeting rooms of the hospital with Dr. Savant's team. Some of the older normal-borns remembered Sirius and James from their school days and were happy to meet both Sirius and his famous godson. The Headmaster and his Deputy were miffed by the lack of similar warmth in their greetings by them.
Dr. Savant explained the procedure to the wizards and witches with an educational video of a past operation and then once they understood everything, they were all led to the operation room with Sirius, Hermione and Prof. McGonagall being asked to stay outside.
Outside the chamber, Sirius cast a Muggle Repelling Charm around them and a silencing ward.
The operation began after Madam Pomfrey cast the Morpheus charm on Harry but when Dr. Savant touched his scalpel to the scar, the soul piece tried to fully possess Harry and attack him. Harry's pupils had turned red. The assisting doctors with Croaker and Dumbledore's help had to restrain him.
As soon as the scar was excised, a cloud of black smoke came out of it in the form of Voldemort's head, letting out a piercing scream which was abruptly cut off, the mystery of which they learned later.
While Harry was recovering in a private ward, the Headmaster informed him what happened while he was magically sedated and then Harry told him haltingly that just when he felt excruciating pain, he thought about dying and became happy with the thought of finally reuniting with his parents.
That had the Headmaster unusually smiling and when others looked at him in confusion, disgust, or anger, he said, "Riddle and Harry are polar opposites. Riddle, so full of hate and fear of dying, could not stay in touch with someone so full of love and who did not fear death, which is why, when those thoughts passed through Harry's mind, it finished him off."
Croaker interjected, "Now that all other pieces of Voldemort have been dealt with, we can finally send his main fragment through the Veil."
Then turning to Dumbledore and looking at him meaningfully, he said, "I assume you want Harry to do the honors himself when he feels up to it but we cannot delay it by much even if he is detained in our most secure facility."
By unspoken decision, they had not mentioned the prophecy to anybody because they did not want Harry to be burdened by it, especially with how well things were in hand.
"Yes, that would be better. The sooner done, the quicker we can begin to bring about positive changes in our world. I would like Severus to be present when Harry sends Riddle through the Veil so that I can look at his Dark Mark after and verify that it is over. Until that Dark Mark exists, the Death Eaters and unmarked supporters will hold on to the hope that Voldemort will return one day and they will try to stop us at every turn to keep the conditions supportive of Voldemort's return. The vanishing of the Dark Mark will be a colossal blow to their morale."
They all agreed and called it a day, relieved that the end was in sight.
