Chapter 6: Ramifications

With school out for the summer holidays Adeline and Archibald Granger usually found that they had less to worry about on a day to day basis, as far as their daughter was concerned. But this summer found them facing entirely different problems.

Normally their practice closed down for a week in early July for summer holidays. Hygienists and their families took trips to the countryside. The other dentist often took his second wife and her two sons to the villa in Tuscany that had luckily remained his in the divorce agreement. Addie and Archie were always politely asked what their plans were for holiday, and they always politely said that they needed to play things by ear. It was well known that their daughter was highly unusual, and any plans made could be, and often were, changed at the drop of a hat by the need for another test, or another specialist visit, or by the sheer nature of Hermione's intelligence, which made a holiday... well, anything but a holiday.

This summer promised to be no different in that respect, and when the dentists and hygienists bid one another farewell and wished each other happy summer travels, Addie and Archie both sighed, packed into their car, and headed home, where Hermione was under the care of a sitter. It was a formality, really, since Hermione had always been incredibly self-sufficient, but had of late proven to be too self-sufficient. The sitter served now as a precaution as well, hoping to prevent any more unplanned trips into London.

"Well. Nice to be out of the office," Archie said, as he put the key into the ignition. "Nice to have a week off."

"Quite," Addie replied. This had been the nature of their speech since ten days ago in Quincy Briar's office. Conversation was strained and polite, with commentary on the obvious from one spouse, and a terse, monosyllabic reply from the other.

"Nice not to have to rush to catch a plane or ferry."

"Very."

"Addie... what should we do?" he asked, reversing out of the parking space and maneuvering onto the main road.

"Well, it's a bit late to plan anything. Maybe a day trip to a museum."

"Well, yes, that would be nice," he said. "But I meant about... you know... going back to see that woman." He didn't have to mention the name of Violet Peekins for Addie to know about whom he was speaking.

"Archie, I thought we'd decided not to," she said, turning to stare out the window.

"We decided to do what would be best for Hermione." He downshifted and applied the brake as they approached a stoplight. "I just thought that maybe this may be it."

"Archie, you heard what she said about being a witch! I know Hermione's a bit... odd sometimes, but do you really want to keep filling her head with these notions?" She sighed, her breath fogging up a small area on the window.

"I know, but what if she's right? What if a place does exist beyond what we think, and into what we imagine?" He looked over at his wife and tentatively patted her shoulder.

"Not you, too."

"Well, not me, not yet, but–" The shriek of a horn interrupted him, and he looked up to see the traffic light had turned green. He hit the gas and clutch simultaneously and ground the gears. The car bucked and leapt into motion, and eventually smoothed itself out. "I'm just saying, Hermione's miserable. She'll go into Upper Sixth in September, and probably take her A-levels by November, and then what? She could take the A-levels now and get top marks and go to University but is it what's best for her?"

"Well, is filling her mind with New Age mysticism and witchcraft going to be any better?" Addie challenged, finally turning to face her husband.

"I don't know, and I don't think any of us will know until we go back to see the Peekins woman."

"So that's the decision then."

"I think it's for the best. We really have nothing to lose by it," he pointed out as they approached their home. "Besides, I think a day trip could do Hermione some good. She just sits in her room reading that huge book she brought back from London that time."

"What's it even about?" Addie asked, climbing out of the car and heading for the front door.

"Some history book. Scholarly, as usual."

Hermione, however, knew exactly what she was reading—no, not reading, mentally devouring! Hogwarts: A History turned out to be far more interesting than anything she'd ever before called interesting, from both a historical and anthropological standpoint, that was. Somehow learning about a school established over a millennium ago was far more fascinating than revolutions and Saxon tribes and Medieval Church corruption could ever be. It also seemed that Hogwarts predated, and what was more, survived even the Normand Conquest in 1066! Hermione found this of particular interest. The Normand French had effectively quashed Saxon life, taking over lands and holdings and establishing their language, politics, and religion over the conquered peoples. How had Hogwarts, an educational establishment, survived such a thorough and meticulous overthrow?

It was questions like these that kept her reading voraciously. With most textbooks she could skim down the pages, taking mental photographs and retaining the information, while at the same time comprehending it perfectly, but this book was different. She read in-depth, poring over each page, perusing paragraphs, and pausing to pontificate upon all of it. She couldn't explain why she believed this to be real, but she did. She was doing something she'd never done before: accepting something on faith alone, which made it even more clear to her that this was something she had to do. In fact, she'd never been more sure of anything in her short life.

And that was why, four days later, Hermione and her family found themselves once again standing outside of Violet Peekins's shop. Hermione clutched the heavy tome to her chest, as if treasuring the information it contained, or as if holding onto what she believed now to be some sort of destiny. Her mind swam with thoughts of ghosts and secret passages and ancient feuds, names like Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin: names she let roll around her mind, marveling at how noble and dignified they sounded, despite their alien and, currently obscure, meanings. Muggle Repelling Charms, Anti-Apparation Charms, Unplottable Charms, these too swam through her mind.

"You know," she said suddenly, one hand poised over the latch of the shop, "I feel alive again." She entered, leaving her confused parents to follow a few steps behind. It was true, no matter how strange her parents thought it was. For so long Hermione had been invigorated by learning and the absorption of knowledge; it was what kept her going. And then she'd hit a wall. She didn't know what to do, because it seemed her teachers had taught her all they knew, leaving her with a feeling of emptiness and disappointment. But here was a whole new world with new knowledge and new information, ready to open up to her...

"Ah, you came," tinkled Violet's voice, breaking through Hermione's newly happy thoughts. "I thought you might." She welcomed the Grangers in with open arms, sharing a secret grin with Hermione at the way her parents still seemed hesitant. "Again, I apologize for what happened at Quincy's, it seems ages ago, doesn't it?" She laughed lightly and waved it off with a flick of her hand. "But that's not important, what is important is that you all came!"

"Don't sound so pleased," Addie said coldly. "We're here because we don't know what else to do about Hermione, and if this is a viable option we'll go with it."

Violet nodded politely and became serious. "Why don't you take a seat? There are some things I think we need to talk about and you need to understand, both about your daughter and about this opportunity she has." All three Grangers obeyed. "Now, some things Hermione and I have already discussed, and more things she's read about in that book she's carting about with her. Have you enjoyed it, dear?"

"Oh, immensely!" Hermione exclaimed, a familiar lively spark returning to her deep brown eyes. "There's just so much to learn, and so many questions I have—"

"Alright, alright, dear," Violet said, laughing and holding up her hand to stop Hermione. "I'm glad. Now. I've done some reading and research and spent time with Hermione, and I'm convinced of one thing: Hermione is what we call an Indigo Child." She said this solemnly and paused, as if waiting for some sort of recognition of the term, and some similar expression of awe on the Grangers' part. When the only reaction she received was a group of blank stares, she sighed. "It's very significant; it's just starting to be discussed in New Age circles, and may actually be helpful to those of us in the Muggle Relations end of business."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Archie finally said.

"I had my suspicions when I read her aura that first visit. It was dark blue—indigo—signifying her Ajna, or indigo chakra was very strong in her. It's the chakra that governs a person's understanding and perception of time. It's the Third Eye, metaphysically speaking."

"What does this have to do with our daughter?" Addie said, sounding exasperated. "Did you bring us here to fill us with a bunch of metaphysical, New Age-y mumbo-jumbo?"

"No. But knowing that her Indigo Chakra is so strong, combined with all of her other talents and abilities, make her status as an Indigo definite. Any doubts any one of us may have had about this were erased by the arrival of her Hogwarts letter. Hermione," she said, turning her attention to the girl, "why don't you tell your parents what you've been reading."

Hermione nodded. "Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by four great witches and wizards. They wanted to establish a school, an environment, where children from magic families would be able to safely pursue magical studies."

"But we're not a magical family."

"No," Hermione said regretfully. "I know that, but there are students who go there who have maybe just one magic parent and the ability was passed on to them, possibly genetically. And then there's the occasional student... well... like me," she finished. "Now, I don't know if I have any magical ability; I may or may not—"

"You do, if you got that letter," Violet interrupted, rolling her eyes in exaggerated mockery. "I thought you were intelligent, girl." She winked, and somehow that broke the tension.

"So you're telling us our daughter can do magic," Addie said, hunching in her chair.

"She will be able to, once she's had her training at Hogwarts," Violet said. "It's all part of the ramifications of being an Indigo Child. From what my colleagues, non-magical, that is, have told me, Indigo Children display a set of characteristics and abilities undocumented before. Now, in the Wizarding world, there have been documented cases of children of Muggle parents having magical abilities. Just the same, there are children of wizarding parents who are born without any magical abilities. We call them Squibs," she added. "But that's not important."

"Why, then, is Hermione so special if this... other world has documented other children like her?" Archie asked, mystified.

"Because she's not just an anomaly to that world," Violet said. "She's also an anomaly in this world. She's eleven with an exceptionally evolved sense of self. She's eleven and could handle University course work far better than students twice her age. She's eleven and hitting a peak that most people don't hit until they're around thrice her age. This world, the Muggle world, holds nothing for her," Violet said, a bit sadly.

"She's a genius! The world's wide open to her!" Addie said, obviously having taken offense to Violet's insinuations.

"Is it, though?" Violet challenged. "Hermione, tell your parents what you observe. Addie, Archie... listen to your daughter."

Hermione took a deep breath, at first nervous, but then opening up and spilling her feelings to her parents with relative ease. "...and I could always go to University after I leave Hogwarts," she finished. "Then I'd be the same age as other University students. I'm tired of standing out this way right now," she added. "I'd like to... well... be around kids my age and for once be on the same level as them. We'd all be learning the same magic at the same pace."

Addie and Archie looked at one another with desperation. "Hermione, there has to be another way, something else for you..."

Hermione shook her head resolutely. "No, this is it."

"If she doesn't go now, this year, she won't ever go at all," Violet added seriously. "They need to start their schooling at eleven. It's the way Hogwarts has always done it. You can't wait until next year. You got the letter this year, so this term is the year for her to go. She needs to send back an owl with her answer by the end of this month."

"That doesn't give us a lot of time to consider it, now that we're actually thinking it's a viable option," Archie said tersely.

"What's to consider, Da?" Hermione asked, sounding a bit desperate herself. "This is your answer. You and Mum are always wondering what to do with me."

"Yes, but we didn't mean send you away to wizard school!"

"I know, but... but..." she turned imploring dark eyes on her parents. "Think about it. Can you really handle another school year of conferences with teachers upset their eleven-year-old Upper Sixth Form student was cheeky, when she was just pointing out an error in their line of thinking?" She tried to smile knowingly, but felt her bottom lip trembling, threatening to betray her true sense of desperation. "For the first time in all of this I know what I want. The other stuff, accelerating through course work and stuff, I didn't mind it, but now I have a choice about my future."

Archie and Addie looked at one another, each feeling a sense of defeat growing. "Hermione... what if it turns out to be something entirely fake? A scam? You realize with the ramifications of this, this Indigo thing, there's also the idea this isn't what it seems, no matter what your book says," Addie pointed out. "It could be a very clever ruse by a very clever author."

"If you'll trust me," Violet interrupted gently, "I can show you that it's not. All you need to do is adjust your perceptions."

Hermione looked at her parents and shrugged. "Come on. What have we got to lose?"