~*~*~*~*~Chapter Three~*~*~*~*~*~
"Come on, think about it! No more homework, school, homework, teachers, or homework..." Cheering.
"It just won't work." Sigh.
"Come on, can't I be a little enthusiastic about an early summer vacation?" More cheering.
"Yes, but don't you think this is taking it a little too far?" More sighing.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
Helen Granger looked back at them wearily. Henry Granger just chuckled, amused. Harry had half-heartedly proposed to, accidentally, burn down the school, after making sure nobody was in it. Naturally, Hermione pointed out that they would just be sent to another school.
"Besides, how would you do it?"
"I don't know. I'll just do it."
"You mean like when you jumped to the top of the school roof?"
"But I didn't jump..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was normal school day. Kids shouting, teachers yelling, and eight-year- old Harry was eating lunch. Hermione was ill with the chicken pox, so, to her horror, she had to miss quite a few days of school. Harry was eating alone and thinking up of more pranks to play. Then he was confronted by the local bully.
"Uh oh, guess he didn't like the present I gave him." He had decided to get revenge for a little incident that involved him and a crying Hermione. The poor boy didn't know what hit him.
The bully towered over Harry. Harry had already gone through several excuses for scorching all his hair off, each crazier than the one before and had decided to do the most suitable thing to do in this kind of situation. He fled. If things had gone Harry's way, the bully would tire and Harry would continue eating his lunch in peace. Unfortunately, he had short legs; the other had long ones. Still, Harry did put up a pretty good chase. The bully was almost on him, when he suddenly disappeared, only to be found, later, on the school's roof.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Heelllloooo, anybody in there?" Hermione finally gave up trying to get Harry's attention. She pouted; boys were so infuriating. "So, Mom, what do you think the zoo is going to be like?"
Helen thought for a second. "I don't know, Hermione. I haven't been to it for a while, but I've heard that they added some new exhibits to the reptile house."
"The reptile house?"
"Oh, now you decided to grace us with you attention," Hermione glared at Harry.
Harry shot her an apologetic look. "Are there any snakes?"
"Why do like snakes so much?"
"I don't know. I just do."
Hermione started to roll her eyes at this, but stopped as she glanced out the window. "Hey, we're here!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Oh, look at the pretty bird. It's so colorful."
"Wow, are crocodiles supposed to grow that long?"
Harry tried in vain to stifle a yawn. The animals were interesting, but for some reason, he just had to see the snakes. Henry Ganger noticed the subtle yawn and decided to let him see the serpents.
Harry went straight to the largest snake in the place, but noticed that a rather annoying fat boy tapping the glass, trying to awaken the snake. He looked a little familiar, though. Before Harry could get a good look, the boy left, seemingly defeated. The boy and his family left just as the Grangers entered. Without further prompting Harry went over to see the boa constrictor from Brazil, dragging a protesting Hermione along with him. Harry looked at it with pity, while Hermione grimaced. Suddenly Harry looked up as if startled.
"'Mione, did you just hear that voice?"
"What voice, Harry? No one is around here. Maybe you're just imaging things, again."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are."
"I don't think I'm just imagining things 'Mione." Harry paused. "I-I thought I heard someone asked to help him of a... cage."
"A cage?" Disbelief.
"But I'm positive I wasn't hearing things." Silence.
Hermione carefully watched the rest of the people. The nearest was at least fifteen feet away. Her eyes suddenly rested on the boa. It had awakened was now staring at them
"Harry, I don't think that it was a person. I think that the voice you heard was the snake. I know it sounds insane, but try talking to it or concentrating really hard on the cage and see if the snake could get out. That would be cool." More Silence.
"'Mione has officially gone off the deep end," muttered Harry, but, nevertheless, concentrated on trying to communicate with the snake. To his surprise, it worked! After conversing a few minutes with the snake, he concentrated on fulfilling its request. Hermione let out a gasp of surprise as the glass front of the cage vanished. She quickly glanced the floor, but didn't find any sign of it. It was as if there never was any glass, or it just disappeared like magic.
"Cool," said Harry and Hermione in unison. As the snake slithered past the two children, Hermione thought of what Harry had just did, not the glass, how he had talked to the snake. She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard hissing. However, when she questioned Harry about this, he didn't know what she was talking about.
"Hmmph! Probably another one of his tricks." So she thought nothing more of the hissing and wondered if the glass was merely and optical illusion.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*Tap tap tap*
Hermione grunted as she burrowed her head deep under her pillow, well, as deep as you can get. She sighed; it had worked.
*Tap tap tap*
Or not.
She flung her pillow at the source of the tapping. It stopped. Sighing gratefully, Hermione resumed her interrupted sleep.
*Tap tap tap*
Abandoning all hopes of getting good rest, she rolled out of bed and gazed sleepily at her window. After seeing the sight that greeted her, she rubbed her eyes, examined the scene again, and promptly returned to her welcoming bed mumbling about the things lack of sleep does to eyes. Sleep.
*Tap tap tap*
Or not.
The defeated Hermione grumpily threw the window open only to have a disgruntled owl swoop in. The, now, wide awake Hermione noticed the owl drop a letter on her table. She took one look at what was written on it and screamed.
"HARRY!"
Well, that's one way to wake up your brother.
Harry burst into the room, expecting to see either: (a) Hermione being killed by a murderer, (b) Hermione being killed by a murderer, or (c) Hermione being killed by a murderer. He did not expect to find Hermione cowering under her bed and an owl perched on the window sill looking amused.
"Um, Hermione, what's wrong?" Disbelief.
"That!" Shriek.
"The letter?" More disbelief.
"Yes, the letter!" More shrieking.
"The letter?" Even more disbelief.
"Look at what it's addressed to!" Even more shrieking.
Ms. H. Granger Last Bedroom on the Second Floor 411 Pearl Lane London
Harry's eyes took in the address. He blinked.
"You have a stalker!"
At that statement, Hermione stopped shrieking and crawled out from under the bed.
"I don't have a stalker!" she pouted.
Ignoring her, Harry grabbed the letter and was about to shred it into tiny pieces when Hermione snatched it out of his hands.
"Hey," she exclaimed, "what were you doing?"
"I'm getting rid of it. Who knows what that mad man could have put in it. There may be a bomb."
"I don't have a stalker! And how would a person fit a bomb inside a letter?"
"How would I know?"
Hermione raised her eyebrow. "Can't I just see what's inside?"
"No."
"Please? I promise to throw it out the window if it starts ticking."
The forgotten owl let out a hoot of protest, but it went unnoticed by the two siblings.
"No."
"Please?"
"Fine!"
"Okay!"
Hermione finally ripped open the envelope and read the letter. After reading it, she reread it and reread it and reread it, and she probably would have read it again if Harry's patience had not finally snapped, and he grabbed the letter to see what was so fascinating about it.
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 Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of school supplies. Since you are a muggleborn I shall be coming to show you that magic is real and that this isn't a fake letter and where you will be getting your school supplies each school year on Saturday, July 15, at 1 o'clock. I hope that you shall be able to attend Hogwarts.
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress of Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Harry snorted; this was obviously some kind of prank. He couldn't see why Hermione was so shocked, unless...
"'Mione, you don't really believe there is a school of magic. This is probably a trick."
Hermione hesitated, "I don't know."
"You actually believe this crazy letter?" Harry's voice was full of disbelief.
"But, Harry, remember all those times when we pulled off those pranks that should have been impossible to accomplish? Maybe magic is real, and we actually used magic."
Harry snorted. "Right, and I'm the most famous person in the world. Besides, suppose the letter is real and there is magic, why didn't I get a letter? We did those pranks together."
"I don't know. We can ask, what's-her-name, McGonagall, when she gets here."
"You don't really think that someone is going to actually come here."
"Let's just show her the letter. According to the letter, the Professor should be arriving in about an hour."
They left the room, ignoring the poor, hungry, grumpy owl.
When Harry and Hermione showed Mrs. Granger the letter, she took the news quite well, even a little amused.
"I'll go call your father and have him come home to meet this professor. You can go if he says so," Mrs. Ganger said in a straight face and shooed them out of the kitchen. Harry suspected that she had burst into giggles when they were out of hearing.
~*~*~*~*~*~One Hour Later~*~*~*~*~*~
*dingdong*
"I'll get it," shouted Harry and Hermione together .
"Don't ru..." Mrs. Granger trailed off as she saw Harry and Hermione race to the door. When Mrs. Granger got to the door she was about to apologize to the professor when she saw that the professor, quite stern looking was Mrs. Granger's first thought, fainted on the floor. "Hermione, Go get your father to help me bring her to the couch. Harry, get an ice pack for her head. Oh dear, it will probably be swollen when she wakes up."
When the professor was laid on the couch Mrs. Granger rounded on Harry and Hermione, "What did you do to her? You could have hurt the lady and she might not let you go to this school."
"We didn't do anything, honest. We just opened the door and when she saw us she fainted. I think that the lady fainted because she can't believe how messy Harry's hair is." "Hey, that's not nice 'Mione. I happen to like my hair. I think that she fainted when she saw how bushy your hair was."
"Children, quit arguing over petty things. There are more important things to worry about, like whether or not the professor hurt herself when she fell." Helen Granger reprimanded gently.
"I don't think she can, Aunt Helen. She's a witch, remember? She can probably just say weird words and be better again.
"So you do admit that there is magic!" Hermione shouted triumphantly.
Harry was saved the trouble of answering when he noticed Professor McGonagall stir slightly. "Look, she's waking up."
The professor was indeed awakening. Her eyes focused on Harry, or more exactly, his scar, and paled considerably and was about to faint again, but she was able to pull herself together. If you listened closely, you would be able to hear her muttering, "Oh, Merlin!" under her breath softly.
She transferred her attention to the confused Grangers. "Sorry about that. You must be the Grangers. I'm Professor McGonagall, headmistress of Hogwarts."
Helen was immediately sent into good-host mode. "Where are our manners? I'm Helen Granger and these are my children, Hermione and Harry. Welcome to our house. Would you like a cup of tea?"
Harry felt the professor's gaze on him as Helen mentioned his name. He met her eyes and watched as she, if possible, paled even further.
"I knew someone who looked almost exactly like you. Would you mind if I went and got the Headmaster? I'm sure he would be pleased to meet your family?" said the stern looking witch while directing the last part of her question towards Mr. Granger. "Sure" The professor came back soon with a man in long deep purple robes and a sweeping beard that was as white as snow with twinkling blue eyes behind his glasses. When the man spoke it startled Harry and Hermione because he seemed so old yet he spoke so kindly yet powerfully. Mr. Granger, would you mind telling me about Harry."
"Come on, think about it! No more homework, school, homework, teachers, or homework..." Cheering.
"It just won't work." Sigh.
"Come on, can't I be a little enthusiastic about an early summer vacation?" More cheering.
"Yes, but don't you think this is taking it a little too far?" More sighing.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
Helen Granger looked back at them wearily. Henry Granger just chuckled, amused. Harry had half-heartedly proposed to, accidentally, burn down the school, after making sure nobody was in it. Naturally, Hermione pointed out that they would just be sent to another school.
"Besides, how would you do it?"
"I don't know. I'll just do it."
"You mean like when you jumped to the top of the school roof?"
"But I didn't jump..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was normal school day. Kids shouting, teachers yelling, and eight-year- old Harry was eating lunch. Hermione was ill with the chicken pox, so, to her horror, she had to miss quite a few days of school. Harry was eating alone and thinking up of more pranks to play. Then he was confronted by the local bully.
"Uh oh, guess he didn't like the present I gave him." He had decided to get revenge for a little incident that involved him and a crying Hermione. The poor boy didn't know what hit him.
The bully towered over Harry. Harry had already gone through several excuses for scorching all his hair off, each crazier than the one before and had decided to do the most suitable thing to do in this kind of situation. He fled. If things had gone Harry's way, the bully would tire and Harry would continue eating his lunch in peace. Unfortunately, he had short legs; the other had long ones. Still, Harry did put up a pretty good chase. The bully was almost on him, when he suddenly disappeared, only to be found, later, on the school's roof.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Heelllloooo, anybody in there?" Hermione finally gave up trying to get Harry's attention. She pouted; boys were so infuriating. "So, Mom, what do you think the zoo is going to be like?"
Helen thought for a second. "I don't know, Hermione. I haven't been to it for a while, but I've heard that they added some new exhibits to the reptile house."
"The reptile house?"
"Oh, now you decided to grace us with you attention," Hermione glared at Harry.
Harry shot her an apologetic look. "Are there any snakes?"
"Why do like snakes so much?"
"I don't know. I just do."
Hermione started to roll her eyes at this, but stopped as she glanced out the window. "Hey, we're here!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Oh, look at the pretty bird. It's so colorful."
"Wow, are crocodiles supposed to grow that long?"
Harry tried in vain to stifle a yawn. The animals were interesting, but for some reason, he just had to see the snakes. Henry Ganger noticed the subtle yawn and decided to let him see the serpents.
Harry went straight to the largest snake in the place, but noticed that a rather annoying fat boy tapping the glass, trying to awaken the snake. He looked a little familiar, though. Before Harry could get a good look, the boy left, seemingly defeated. The boy and his family left just as the Grangers entered. Without further prompting Harry went over to see the boa constrictor from Brazil, dragging a protesting Hermione along with him. Harry looked at it with pity, while Hermione grimaced. Suddenly Harry looked up as if startled.
"'Mione, did you just hear that voice?"
"What voice, Harry? No one is around here. Maybe you're just imaging things, again."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are."
"I don't think I'm just imagining things 'Mione." Harry paused. "I-I thought I heard someone asked to help him of a... cage."
"A cage?" Disbelief.
"But I'm positive I wasn't hearing things." Silence.
Hermione carefully watched the rest of the people. The nearest was at least fifteen feet away. Her eyes suddenly rested on the boa. It had awakened was now staring at them
"Harry, I don't think that it was a person. I think that the voice you heard was the snake. I know it sounds insane, but try talking to it or concentrating really hard on the cage and see if the snake could get out. That would be cool." More Silence.
"'Mione has officially gone off the deep end," muttered Harry, but, nevertheless, concentrated on trying to communicate with the snake. To his surprise, it worked! After conversing a few minutes with the snake, he concentrated on fulfilling its request. Hermione let out a gasp of surprise as the glass front of the cage vanished. She quickly glanced the floor, but didn't find any sign of it. It was as if there never was any glass, or it just disappeared like magic.
"Cool," said Harry and Hermione in unison. As the snake slithered past the two children, Hermione thought of what Harry had just did, not the glass, how he had talked to the snake. She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard hissing. However, when she questioned Harry about this, he didn't know what she was talking about.
"Hmmph! Probably another one of his tricks." So she thought nothing more of the hissing and wondered if the glass was merely and optical illusion.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*Tap tap tap*
Hermione grunted as she burrowed her head deep under her pillow, well, as deep as you can get. She sighed; it had worked.
*Tap tap tap*
Or not.
She flung her pillow at the source of the tapping. It stopped. Sighing gratefully, Hermione resumed her interrupted sleep.
*Tap tap tap*
Abandoning all hopes of getting good rest, she rolled out of bed and gazed sleepily at her window. After seeing the sight that greeted her, she rubbed her eyes, examined the scene again, and promptly returned to her welcoming bed mumbling about the things lack of sleep does to eyes. Sleep.
*Tap tap tap*
Or not.
The defeated Hermione grumpily threw the window open only to have a disgruntled owl swoop in. The, now, wide awake Hermione noticed the owl drop a letter on her table. She took one look at what was written on it and screamed.
"HARRY!"
Well, that's one way to wake up your brother.
Harry burst into the room, expecting to see either: (a) Hermione being killed by a murderer, (b) Hermione being killed by a murderer, or (c) Hermione being killed by a murderer. He did not expect to find Hermione cowering under her bed and an owl perched on the window sill looking amused.
"Um, Hermione, what's wrong?" Disbelief.
"That!" Shriek.
"The letter?" More disbelief.
"Yes, the letter!" More shrieking.
"The letter?" Even more disbelief.
"Look at what it's addressed to!" Even more shrieking.
Ms. H. Granger Last Bedroom on the Second Floor 411 Pearl Lane London
Harry's eyes took in the address. He blinked.
"You have a stalker!"
At that statement, Hermione stopped shrieking and crawled out from under the bed.
"I don't have a stalker!" she pouted.
Ignoring her, Harry grabbed the letter and was about to shred it into tiny pieces when Hermione snatched it out of his hands.
"Hey," she exclaimed, "what were you doing?"
"I'm getting rid of it. Who knows what that mad man could have put in it. There may be a bomb."
"I don't have a stalker! And how would a person fit a bomb inside a letter?"
"How would I know?"
Hermione raised her eyebrow. "Can't I just see what's inside?"
"No."
"Please? I promise to throw it out the window if it starts ticking."
The forgotten owl let out a hoot of protest, but it went unnoticed by the two siblings.
"No."
"Please?"
"Fine!"
"Okay!"
Hermione finally ripped open the envelope and read the letter. After reading it, she reread it and reread it and reread it, and she probably would have read it again if Harry's patience had not finally snapped, and he grabbed the letter to see what was so fascinating about it.
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 Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of school supplies. Since you are a muggleborn I shall be coming to show you that magic is real and that this isn't a fake letter and where you will be getting your school supplies each school year on Saturday, July 15, at 1 o'clock. I hope that you shall be able to attend Hogwarts.
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress of Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Harry snorted; this was obviously some kind of prank. He couldn't see why Hermione was so shocked, unless...
"'Mione, you don't really believe there is a school of magic. This is probably a trick."
Hermione hesitated, "I don't know."
"You actually believe this crazy letter?" Harry's voice was full of disbelief.
"But, Harry, remember all those times when we pulled off those pranks that should have been impossible to accomplish? Maybe magic is real, and we actually used magic."
Harry snorted. "Right, and I'm the most famous person in the world. Besides, suppose the letter is real and there is magic, why didn't I get a letter? We did those pranks together."
"I don't know. We can ask, what's-her-name, McGonagall, when she gets here."
"You don't really think that someone is going to actually come here."
"Let's just show her the letter. According to the letter, the Professor should be arriving in about an hour."
They left the room, ignoring the poor, hungry, grumpy owl.
When Harry and Hermione showed Mrs. Granger the letter, she took the news quite well, even a little amused.
"I'll go call your father and have him come home to meet this professor. You can go if he says so," Mrs. Ganger said in a straight face and shooed them out of the kitchen. Harry suspected that she had burst into giggles when they were out of hearing.
~*~*~*~*~*~One Hour Later~*~*~*~*~*~
*dingdong*
"I'll get it," shouted Harry and Hermione together .
"Don't ru..." Mrs. Granger trailed off as she saw Harry and Hermione race to the door. When Mrs. Granger got to the door she was about to apologize to the professor when she saw that the professor, quite stern looking was Mrs. Granger's first thought, fainted on the floor. "Hermione, Go get your father to help me bring her to the couch. Harry, get an ice pack for her head. Oh dear, it will probably be swollen when she wakes up."
When the professor was laid on the couch Mrs. Granger rounded on Harry and Hermione, "What did you do to her? You could have hurt the lady and she might not let you go to this school."
"We didn't do anything, honest. We just opened the door and when she saw us she fainted. I think that the lady fainted because she can't believe how messy Harry's hair is." "Hey, that's not nice 'Mione. I happen to like my hair. I think that she fainted when she saw how bushy your hair was."
"Children, quit arguing over petty things. There are more important things to worry about, like whether or not the professor hurt herself when she fell." Helen Granger reprimanded gently.
"I don't think she can, Aunt Helen. She's a witch, remember? She can probably just say weird words and be better again.
"So you do admit that there is magic!" Hermione shouted triumphantly.
Harry was saved the trouble of answering when he noticed Professor McGonagall stir slightly. "Look, she's waking up."
The professor was indeed awakening. Her eyes focused on Harry, or more exactly, his scar, and paled considerably and was about to faint again, but she was able to pull herself together. If you listened closely, you would be able to hear her muttering, "Oh, Merlin!" under her breath softly.
She transferred her attention to the confused Grangers. "Sorry about that. You must be the Grangers. I'm Professor McGonagall, headmistress of Hogwarts."
Helen was immediately sent into good-host mode. "Where are our manners? I'm Helen Granger and these are my children, Hermione and Harry. Welcome to our house. Would you like a cup of tea?"
Harry felt the professor's gaze on him as Helen mentioned his name. He met her eyes and watched as she, if possible, paled even further.
"I knew someone who looked almost exactly like you. Would you mind if I went and got the Headmaster? I'm sure he would be pleased to meet your family?" said the stern looking witch while directing the last part of her question towards Mr. Granger. "Sure" The professor came back soon with a man in long deep purple robes and a sweeping beard that was as white as snow with twinkling blue eyes behind his glasses. When the man spoke it startled Harry and Hermione because he seemed so old yet he spoke so kindly yet powerfully. Mr. Granger, would you mind telling me about Harry."