Chapter 11 - THE Answer

"But why did you say no?"

Hannah knew Madam Pomfrey wasn't saying this just to be nosy but she had never even told Susan or Ernie about her family because she knew they wouldn't understand. Yet, was Madam Pomfrey muggle-born? She didn't know, but felt she could trust her anyway.

"My parents - they hate magic." And for the second time that day a simple question prompted a lengthy account.

It began when Hannah was eleven, living in North Berwick with her mother, father, two sisters and one brother, blissfully unaware of the existence of an alternate world to the one which occupied all her thoughts. Until she received the letter. At first, they had refused point blank to allow her to go. They had actually been quite rude to Professor Flitwick when he had showed up to explain everything. They had been taken by surprise when he appeared at their front door - tiny and beaming. He left almost in tears. Hannah had given up all hope of ever leaving her tiny village in Central Scotland to practise magic when a woman in a tartan dress visited them one night. The next day she was in Diagon Alley with the same woman, purchasing cauldron's and books and a wand.

She loved Hogwarts straight away and wished she could have spent Christmas there as well but her parents wouldn't hear of it. They had told everyone she was at a posh boarding school in London on a scholarship and that she weekly wrote to them telling them how much she missed North Berwick and her family (trying their best to keep a grip on a reality which was fleeing from them). So Hannah's holidays were filled with snide comments from her brother and sisters, pressure from her parents, and isolation from the world to which she belonged.

"I won't put Neville through that."

"Maybe…" suggested Madame Pomfrey gently "You should let him decide what he's willing to do for you?"

Hannah didn't say anything but she resolved that the next time she had a problem, she was going straight to the Hospital Wing for advice - either that or she would tell Neville what was bothering her before she blew the whole thing out of proportion again.

"So, are you going to tell me just how you managed to get blood all over your face when there are no cuts there?"

Hannah giggled and quipped that some mysteries are better left unsolved.