Chapter Four

Meet the Grangers

They arrived back at Elysian Fields around eight, where Ron gave Harry his gift: a wizard's chess set that had a magical partner. It appeared to be an old chess set of his family's that his mother or father had helped him charm.

"It's for playing alone if you ever have to go back to the Dursley's," Ron explained.

Hermione didn't look so good coming in, but insisted that it was just a headache and was fine for the rest of the evening. Mrs. Whitby brought them some of her cookies and milk and they sat around the living room fire until midnight talking about Quidditch and Haywick Park. They even leafed through Harry's family tree book and laughed at some of the funny names and were impressed by those they recognised. The amazing thing is that Hermione happened to find a moving picture of his mother's family.

"It's so strange," said Hermione, "Your mother must've had it taken, for she looks like she's in her teens."

The picture featured his mother, his sullen faced Aunt Petunia, and two people who must be Harry's grandparents. Aunt Petunia was sneering at the cameraman, while his mother and her parents were grinning broadly.

As they were going to their rooms to turn in, Fred and George emerged from their own room and followed Harry and Ron to theirs. As soon as the door closed, they handed Harry their gift.

"The Marauder's Map!" Harry said, gleefully taking the blank map. "How did you get it?"

"Well, Ron told us that Professor Moody, well, that he had taken it, so before the Final Task we snuck in and got it back," George beamed proudly.

"Does it work when you're away from Hogwarts?" Ron asked.

Fred shook his head. "No, we've tried. Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs made sure that if it ever fell into enemy hands, that it wouldn't work, since they would most likely be outside of Hogwarts."

Harry thanked the twins, who yawned 'no problem' in unison as they left for bed.

"I'm looking forward to this year more than I thought I would," Ron confessed.

"Yeah," said Harry, "me too."

Harry woke up around two-thirty when he heard a high pitched scream. He scrambled out of bed and put on his glasses, and Ron followed him as he ran out the door, to find everyone coming out of their own rooms.

"What's happening?" asked Ron.

"Someone screamed," said Mr. Whitby, running to the girls' room.

"We got that much," Ron mumbled as they followed him.

When they reached the doorway to Beverly's room, they saw a nervous looking Ginny in the corner, wringing her hands anxiously. Beverly and Mrs. Whitby were trying their best to calm Hermione, who seemed to be having a nervous breakdown.

"What happened?" Harry asked Ginny.

"She was muttering in her sleep about someone coming after her and then she just screamed," she looked over at Hermione with concern.

"Alright, boys, off to bed," said Mrs. Whitby, who had succeeded in calming Hermione to a slight shiver. "A little Sleeping Potion ought to remedy her."

The boys cast worried glances at Hermione, whom they had never seen so shaken, and then headed back to bed. Harry could identify with having nightmares, and hoped that hers didn't come true as his had.

The next day after breakfast, Harry and Ron asked Hermione about what happened.

"Oh, that was really embarrassing," she said, justifying the statement with a blush. "It was dreadfully horrifying, though. It was like that dream you have where the walls are pressing in from all sides, except in my dream the walls were men with masked faces. Then all I could remember is that I fell and they started attacking me with their wands," she shuddered. "It was terrible."

Harry and Ron glanced at each other, not knowing how to respond or what to say. Luckily, they were interrupted by Ginny, who was calling them downstairs to look at some strange puffballs.

"What are these things?" Harry asked, as Ron and Hermione joined Ginny in playing with the puffballs, which seemed to be moving.

"They're called Puffskeins, I read about them in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. They're supposed to be popular pets," Hermione explained.

"Yeah, I had one once," Ron told them.

"What happened to it?" Harry asked, kneeling down and playing with one of the custard-coloured fur balls.

"Fred used it for bludger practise."

Everyone winced.

"They don't mind being thrown about, though. What did he do to it?" Beverly asked.

"It wasn't pretty, you don't want to know," Ginny told her.

"So, I see you all have discovered the Puffskeins!" Mr. Whitby said, coming into the room. "Yes, since my retirement I breed them as sort of a little hobby. They usually go for about six Galleons apiece, but I'm sure I could give you a little friendly discount if any of you would like one."

Ginny lit up. "Really? You mean, we could have one?"

"Certainly. Choose any one that you'd like—oh, except for Frenchy, there. He's my favourite."

Harry didn't need a pet, since he had Hedwig, and Hermione still had Crookshanks, who he had seen stalking around the twins' room this morning. Ginny, however, who'd never had her own pet, ran into the living room to ask her parents if she could have one. After telling Fred and George about staying away from Ginny's Puffskein, they bought a rather small one which Mr. Whitby informed them was male (though how he figured that out was anyone's guess).

"What are you going to name him, Ginny?" Beverly asked, and Ginny was quickly cut off by Ron.

"Now hold on, I think it's only fair that I get to name him."

"Where do you get off?" Ginny asked in astonishment.

"Well, you named my owl, so it's only fair that I get to name your Puffskein."

After a little arguing, Ginny relented, but asked that he make it a cute name.

Ron stared at the little creature for quite some time, then christened him—

"Fergie."

"After the Duchess of York?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"The what?" asked Ron. "Fergie—you know, like Mr. Whitby's name, but cutesied up."

Everyone laughed, but Ginny seemed happy with the name. It was due to this that Ron only turned a rather tame shade of red.

The next day Mr. Whitby asked the Weasleys if they would keep Beverly for the rest of the summer. He said that he would like them to give her guidance for her new school year, but George said that Mr. Whitby had received an owl late last night and he sounded somewhat alarmed.

"Wait a minute," Ron started, "how do you know Mr. Whitby got an owl last night?"

"Well, Fred and I were up—"

"—Because George was hogging the covers," Fred interrupted.

"—and Fred kicked me off. Anyway, as our room is next door to Mr. and Mrs. Whitby's, we heard the owl come in—"

"—And Mrs. Whitby yelp—"

"I believe that was Mr. Whitby—and heard him talking to her about leaving for a few weeks and getting Beverly out of the house."

"Is that all you heard?" asked Harry, after they appeared to be finished.

"Well, the previous events were followed by a rather nasty pillow fight, as Fred was getting cranky—"

"—And George was getting feathered—"

"—So anything else they might've said was muffled by our pillows."

It was two weeks before fall term began and everyone was back at the Burrow, including Beverly. One weekend Percy had arrived home very sick, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had to take him to the clinic at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Before they left, however, they dropped the whole lot off at Diagon Alley where they were to meet the Grangers. Harry had never really met Hermione's parents, since they were both Muggles, but had seen them before at Diagon Alley. He looked forward to meeting them mainly since they were Muggles, and they wouldn't stare at his scar and look at him in awe. Only witches and wizards would know of his involvement in Voldemort's downfall.

They met the Grangers at Gringotts, where they were in line exchanging their money. Hermione said hello to them, and then did her best at re-introducing everyone. When she said Harry's name, they just smiled and acknowledged him as Hermione's friend from school. It was very relieving.

Mr. Granger was a tall, thin man, with brown hair and a big smile. Mrs. Granger was tall and thin as well, with blonde hair and large blue eyes.

Mrs. Granger took the rest of the group to start their shopping while Mr. Granger waited for Harry as one of the goblins took him to his vault to retrieve his money. When he returned, they both headed to Flourish and Blotts, where everyone else was waiting.

"Hermione told me that you're on the 'quit it' team," Mr. Granger began, trying to start a friendly conversation. "Sounds fascinating."

"Yeah, I play Seeker for the house team," Harry confirmed, ignoring the fact that Mr. Granger said 'quit it' instead of Quidditch.

"I'm thinking about buying Hermione a broom for her birthday, and I was wondering if you could help me," he stated, looking around at the shops with interest. He had an eager gleam in his eye that reminded Harry of someone he knew.

"I think that's a great idea!" said Harry. "We need to go to Quality Quidditch Supplies, that's where they keep all the racing brooms."

Looking at the prices, Mr. Granger decided on a Cleansweep Seven. Harry thought Hermione should have a better broom, and talked him into buying a Nimbus 2000. They had it gift wrapped in a Bottomless Box the size of a small toaster so that it was easy to carry and she would be hard pressed to guess that a broom was inside.

They met the group at Flourish and Blotts, where everyone was already leaving, and Beverly handed him his books for next year.

"You can buy my Hogwarts robes," she said. "In order to pay me back."

At Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, Fred and George bought Ron and Ginny some new dress robes with the money Harry had given them last year, and Hermione and Beverly bought new robes for the Valentine's Ball as well.

Everyone headed to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour where they ate some beef sandwiches that Mrs. Granger had made, and afterwards bought themselves ice cream cones.

"Has Hermione told you?" Mrs. Granger asked the entire group once they finished their ice cream cones. "She's been named prefect."

She smiled and patted Hermione proudly on the shoulder, who seemed somewhat embarrassed.

"Prefect?" said George, lighting up. "So sad that we used all our prefect jokes on Percy!"

"Hermione the Prefect isn't as fun to say as Percy the Prefect," Fred continued.

"Why didn't you tell us, Hermione?" Ron asked.

"I guess I forgot," she said, turning red.

"She got her letter two weeks after the term ended. Keeps her badge in her pocket so it won't get dirty, she does."

Mrs. Granger laughed like most parents do when they are proud of their children. Hermione blushed even more furiously.

"Yes, you don't want a spot on that prefect badge," said Fred.

"Might look like more like 'perfect' than 'prefect,' which would be somewhat vain and assuming," George pointed out.

"Sounds like Percy must've been torn when he cleaned his badge, then," Fred responded, and they both laughed.

"Alright everyone, let's off to the Leaky Cauldron so we can brush our teeth," Mrs. Granger announced.

"Mum!" said Hermione in astonishment.

"They just ate all that ice cream, dear. You don't want them to get cavities, do you?"

Harry and Ron exchanged knowing grins. Both of Hermione's parents were Muggle dentists, who were very strict about dental care.

"Or can you just zap them away?" said Mr. Granger somewhat crossly, obviously not approving of using magic to fix your teeth, as Hermione had done with her large front teeth last year.

"No, I guess you can't," she replied, even though she probably knew three or four ways of making cavities disappear.

After everyone had a good brushing, flossing, and rinsing, they headed back to Apothecary to buy ingredients for Potions class. At the stationary store they bought all the quills, ink, and parchment they needed. Then the group left Diagon Alley headed for the Grangers' house, where they would spend the night and leave by Floo Powder the next morning.

When they arrived, Harry and Hermione were the only two not astonished by what they saw. Having both been raised by Muggles, they were accustomed to blenders, light switches, computers, and televisions as the others were not.

Hermione's house was a small yet roomy, since only she and her parents lived there. There was one guest room, but they didn't offer it to anyone because they were afraid they'd break a lamp accidentally or electrocute themselves.

Somehow Mrs. Granger managed to stop the twins from playing with the light switches in the bathroom, while Beverly and Ron were staring at the VCR, tapping the flap and giggling as it flapped open then closed.

Beverly and the Weasleys watched in astonishment as Mrs. Granger made dinner, all of them nearly falling to the floor as the toast popped out of the toaster. After dinner Mr. Granger set down four sleeping bags in the living room for the boys, and two extra in Hermione's room for Beverly and Ginny. The boys fought over who would get the blue sleeping bag, because the other three were obviously old ones of Hermione's with Strawberry Shortcake and Rainbow Brite on them. Ron tackled Harry, who had successfully grabbed the blue one, and snatched it from his grasp. He cried out victoriously, then he was attacked by Fred and George. Harry gave up and accepted the Rainbow Brite sleeping bag.

After everyone had changed into their pyjamas they gathered in the living room to watch The Wizard of Oz on the television.

Everyone laughed at the Muggle interpretation of magic, and Hermione seemed torn, having watched it before she found out she was a witch and had then found it entertaining.

After enjoying the delights of the Muggle world, everyone headed for bed. Harry couldn't help but laugh at Ron's face after he turned the lights off routinely.

"It's so weird that you're familiar with Muggle things. I sometimes forget that you grew up around eckeltricity and fellytones," he confessed.

Harry had the urge to correct him, but instead laughed it off and said goodnight.

At breakfast the next morning Mrs. Granger made everyone waffles and bacon. Ron stared at the waffle iron for a moment then went back to his waffles, shaking his head and muttering 'Muggles.'

Around ten o'clock, when everyone was packed and ready to go, Errol, the Weasleys' family owl arrived with a letter for Mr. and Mrs. Granger.

"Well," sighed Mr. Granger, after he and his wife finishing the letter. "It looks like you guys are staying with us until Wednesday morning."

Hermione practically dropped Ginny's trunk on her toe.

"W-what? What's wrong?"

Harry got the feeling that she didn't want them to interrupt her before-school studying.

"It says here that their brother Percy has some illness, and that he needs to be alone for the next few days."

"Is he okay?" asked Ginny nervously. She'd always been more sympathetic towards Percy than her brothers.

"Your mother says that he's fine; he just needs rest," Mrs. Granger smiled. "Would you mind writing back to your mother and saying that it's alright for you all to stay until Wednesday? I don't particularly care for these creatures," she said, backing away from the chair which Errol was perched on.

Ginny helped Mrs. Granger send a letter back to her mother while Mr. Granger helped everyone put their things back.

"Honey, since they're going to stay longer than planned, don't you think we should lend the guest room to the boys? I'll remove your mother's lamp."

Mrs. Granger eyed her husband then agreed, "All right, but I'm putting in the plastic plugs so they won't electrocute themselves."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Mum, they aren't that stupid."

Harry looked over at Fred and George, who often blew things up without the help of electricity.

"Hermione, I think it would be best if she did."

The next day at breakfast, Mrs. Granger entered the kitchen after collecting the mail from the letter box.

"Hermione, here's another letter from Viktor. Such a nice boy."

Hermione's eyes bulged and she dropped her spoon. She leapt from the table and snatched the letter from her alarmed mother's hand.

"Er, thanks Mum," she said hurriedly, running upstairs.

"Viktor?" Ron said incredulously, dropping his bacon.

"Krum? Writing her through Muggle post?" Harry pondered aloud.

"You heard Hermione's mum, she doesn't like owls that much," said Ginny, who had obviously been listening.

"Butt out, Ginny."

She stuck her tongue out at Ron and then continued eating.

They had all finished their breakfast when Hermione arrived back in the kitchen, blushing furiously.

"Hermione, did Vicky write you a love letter?" Ron said tauntingly.

She glared at him.

"So, everyone, since it's Saturday, would you all like to go do something?" asked Mrs. Granger

Fred turned to her.

"Like what?"

"Well," said Mr. Granger, "What do you all usually do for fun?"

"Play Quidditch."

"Make things explode."

"Over and over and over again—"

"Play Exploding Snap."

"Eat sweets."

Mr. and Mrs. Granger stared blankly back at them.

"Well—I recognised the last one. Say, why don't we go bowling? We could make a day out of it, what do you say?" Mr. Granger asked, looking from face to face.

"What's bowling?" Beverly asked.

"Bowling, Dad?" Hermione moaned.

"Do we get to hit anything?" asked Fred and George in unison.

"Well, not directly."

"Yeah!" cried Fred, bowling another strike. He and George were winning by about thirty points, and Mr. Granger looked harassed.

"Well, you boys are pretty good," he admitted with a twitch, lifting his bowling ball.

Ron didn't seem to be having the best time. He still hadn't hit any pins, mainly because he thought that was the object of the game at first, and was now quite embarrassed.

"Is there anything else to do here?" he asked Hermione. "I mean, knocking pins over with a ball doesn't exactly tickle my fancy."

"They don't seem to mind," Beverly pointed out, and Harry looked over to see Fred and George jumping with glee as Mr. Granger failed to beat them at yet another game.

"Well, I think we're leaving," Harry said comfortingly to Ron, as Mr. Granger and the twins starting taking off their bowling shoes. Fred and George were trying to buy them from the manager—they wanted a souvenir from the Muggle world. Eventually they talked him into it, and he shook his head as he watched the group leave the alley.

One thing you'd expect in Hermione's house would be books—lots and lots of books—and there were. There were bookcases by the television, bookcases hidden in a closet, books stowed in the bathroom linen closet and yes, even books in the kitchen pantry. Harry saw Mrs. Granger consulting one to find a recipe for seasoned chicken, and she handed Hermione her third year spell book, which she had been looking for.

Soon the day came when Harry and everyone would have to leave the Granger home and return to the Burrow. They packed their things and waited in the living room, when they heard a knock on the door, and then the doorbell started ringing over and over again. Mr. Granger opened the door to find Mr. Weasley playing with the button.

"See Molly? Muggles use this button to trigger a bell, which rings throughout the house so that it can be heard. Oh, hello there Phillip," he said, addressing Mr. Granger.

"Hello Arthur. I trust your son is doing better?"

"Well, he will be once he's carried it out."

Mr. Weasley greeted everyone and headed to the fireplace.

"Has Hermione told you about Floo Powder, Phillip?"

"Yes, she has. I've already lit the fire for you."

"Good, wouldn't want to give you a shock," he replied with relief, most likely thinking back to the looks of horror on the Dursley's faces when he burst forth from their chimney.

"Mrs. Granger—" Mrs. Weasley began, as her husband administered the powder to the fire.

"You call me Diana," she told her warmly.

"Diana, thank you so much for taking care of the children. I hope the boys weren't too much trouble?" she asked, eyeing Fred and George, who were hugging Mr. Granger goodbye.

"Aside from the part where they tried to... in the bathroom..." she kept cutting off at the horrified look on Mrs. Weasley's face. "Er, they were all angels. Especially little Ginny," she added fondly, and Ginny chose that moment to hug her goodbye.

"So long, Mr. G.," the twins said in unison, slapping Mr. Granger on the shoulder.

"Mr. G?" Mr. Weasley repeated with amusement, though no one heard him.

"Goodbye boys. Good luck on the 'squid itch' tournament this year!" he shouted as they jumped into the fire.

"Bye Harry; bye Ron," Hermione called as they headed toward the fireplace. Then, quite reluctantly, she said "Bye Beverly."

"Bye, Hermione," she replied automatically.

And with that, the rest of the group leapt into the flames, one by one, after shouting, "The Burrow!"