Hermione Granger:

Hermione Granger was sitting quietly in the backseat of her father's Mercedes Benz–AMG as they lumbered through the stagnant traffic. Hermione was easily at the top of her class and would have been better served by a private primary school or personalised individual tuition. But Mr Granger who had been a former S.A.S soldier understood that people were forged by their circumstances. Of course, that had been before he was put on the reserve list. Afterwards, he studied dentistry and embraced civilian life. Hermione's new school had been a deliberate choice – it was supposed to be a learning experience for her. Hermione had been born with a predisposition for books and reading. But her social skills? They were as bad as a porcupine and she had not acclimatised to her new school, one bit. He was aware that Hermione would occasionally cry with the hardship of going to a run of the mill primary school. But it would be good for her, as long as nobody touched her.

Otherwise, he would fuck their shit up.

He had hoped that Hermione would at least make some friends. No progress with that had been observed whatsoever. As a former soldier, he knew that Hermione was different. He noticed that she could sometimes move objects with her mind. Initially, this observation terrified him, However, like any good soldier, information itself was a weapon - he put some feelers out and some old WW2 vets shared with him a S.A.S campfire legend.

The story went that a rookie allied unit had been ordered to investigate a small town in Germany. When they arrived, the townsfolk flat out stated that they were not interested in the war. Fearing deceit, the soldiers attempted to storm the village. After all, there could be enemy mortar emplacements, garrisoned soldiers or anything at all. That was the first mistake and the only mistake that they had needed to make that cold chilly evening. Everything went blank, and the S.A.S unit woke up in a basement, surprisingly next to Nazi soldiers. Everyone without exception could not move, despite no ropes being present. Also, all their weapons had been removed.

The captors were a third party.

The captors took out wooden sticks and proceeded to levitate the entire group of men. They carried all the soldiers to the edge of the woods, on the outskirts of the town. The captors then warned all the soldiers that they were being left with their memories, so that they could recount the tale to their superiors. There were many mysteries in the world, and they were to tread carefully – next time, they would kill first and ask questions later. They threw all the assorted weapons on the ground and changed them to rubber duckies. The soldiers were so frightened that they did not attack each other. Nazis and Allies, both ran for their lives. The Nazi soldiers, however, seemed to understand what they had encountered. One of the recruits, who had been acting informally as a translator had heard the term "Der Hexenmeister!" being uttered by the Germans.

Sorcerer.

Finally, for those who had held on to the rubber duckies, the innocuous toys had eventually reverted to their standard-issue weapons about four hours later.

William Granger after listening to this story reasoned if there was something supernatural out there, it would find him eventually. From there, he would take it one step at a time. From that day forward, he observed his daughter, hoping to obtain clarification on the matter. As he thought about the possibility of his daughter being something different, one sentiment flooded his body. Regardless of what she was, Hermione would always be his daughter first. Woe betide any that would seek to harm her.

Hermione quickly exited the car, and skipped off to school, with a spring in her step. She was going to find that special boy who was like her.

Hermione Granger had been blessed with a logical mind. She loved algorithms and mathematics. She began her favourite game of elimination. There was one unique characteristic that the boy possessed - he was the only student who wore glasses. As long as she could locate his glasses, she could locate him.

During morning assembly, she looked around at the other Year Five Classes. She soon concluded he wasn't in her year group. In between assembly and recess, she asked to use the washroom and took the longest route. She quickly scanned the Year Six students and she found nothing. She considered that she might find him during recess time? She waited and decided that she would slowly check the courtyard, piece by piece.

Hermione was unable to find the boy at recess time.

Harry had not come out for recess. Priya had kept Harry in as he began to tear through worksheets like it was nobody's business. It seemed that he just required a single worked example to acquire a concept. As long as he caught on, he ran wild with it, applying them appropriately. As Harry began to work through all the examples, the bushy-haired girl continued her search.

Hermione at the end of the recess period was disappointed. Little did she know that Harry's phoenix had taken an interest in her. Grace had found the search for her wizard entertaining as she realised that the bushy-haired girl wanted to meet Harry. Hermione continued her lunchtime search and realised that her target was in the year Four class, but he had not planned to leave his classroom. Naturally, this frustrated her immensely.

Meanwhile, during the lunch period, Priya gave Harry a historical primer on the Magical World. She explained the Wizarding World was kept secret and that there were measures that were in place to cover up the existence of Wizards - The International Statute of Secrecy. She also explained the persecution of witches and wizards in medieval times, the distinction between purebloods, muggle-born and half-blood witches/wizards, and the significance of Hogwarts. Finally was the 'Trace' which was a general enchantment that tagged magicals under the age of seventeen.

Harry was terrified when he heard that the Ministry of Magic monitored magical activity. He found it strange that magic was heavily punished if conducted in the public. He soon learned that he was different - generally magic required a wand but wandless magic was also possible. He listened carefully to the possible penalties and understood that staying quiet would allow him to avoid Albus Dumbledore. He then examined Priya's wand and he found it interesting that most other people needed a stick to do magic. He could perform magic by thinking about what he wanted to accomplish. Naturally, he wondered about how Grace did magical teleportation and he decided to ask:

"Can wizards and witches teleport? I can teleport. What kind of bird do you use to teleport?"

Priya's face took on the most incredulous look.

"The process is called apparition. We don't use birds though? Tell me more?"

"I have a big blue-white bird that came to me on Saturday. She saved my life. Her name is Grace, and she protects me. She looks like a very fancy parrot? Very pretty. She can create lightning bolts and she can carry me places. She is hanging out, in the tree outside. She helped me get to school yesterday for the first time. We appeared secretly in an old furniture storage room at the back of the school when no one was looking. Nobody has seen my bird except Petunia, Vernon and Dudley."

"I wonder if you found a magical familiar. Generally, most wizards have pets but I have heard stories about magical familiars. I want to see this bird - I have never heard about a bird that could do that. If you didn't believe you were special a minute ago, I can assure you. You have to be extra special now." A smile grew on her face, and Harry smiled back.

"Thanks? So, about my bird?" Harry replied, a bit unsure of how to accept the compliment but still rather curious.

"As for this teleportation business, as I said it is called apparition. Wizards need wands to accomplish this when you are inexperienced. As you get better with the process, it can become wandless. You think about a place and you can get there. I don't understand how it works. All I know is that the distance you can go is generally related to your magical power, and you can only go to a place you have visited before."

"That is so cool – so think about a place if you know it and you can get there?"

"Yes. I don't use it in the Muggle public though. Too risky. If your bird helps you to apparate, it has to be a special bird. I want to meet your bird at the end of class today if you don't mind?"

"Sure. Question Miss?"

"Yes?"

"The man who killed my parents, did he kill anyone else too? Or just my parents?"

Priya noted Harry's face became so sad. She suspected that the boy somehow already had a rough idea of what had happened. Perhaps he remembered the death of his mother? That was such a macabre reality for a child. She decided to be honest.

"He did. He terrified everyone. You may not believe this but you are a literal celebrity in the Wizarding world because when he attempted to kill you, the spell backfired and he died. This isn't how I would like to explain the entire thing. I plan to invite you to spend the weekend with my family and we can go over it slowly. You will probably have to sit down after I explain. It is not fair for you to hear this for the first time in my classroom."

"You are inviting me over?" exclaimed Harry as the little boy almost jumped to reach the roof. This little gesture helped to sort out her conflicted feelings – this was the right thing to do.

"Yes, I am. My parents want to meet you. Be warned, my mother will stuff you full of food. Ever had Indian food?" Harry shook his head in a classic nope movement, but Priya could see the excitement on his face.

"No. Vernon says he does not like 'immigrant food'. They are the wrong sort. He eats only steak and potatoes." Harry replied.

"Shame. Not to worry – it will be fun. You are a special person and I am trying my best to do everything secretly. Your mother Lilly Potter was regarded as the brightest witch of her age. She was a national icon for all wizarding muggleborns within magical England. I like how quickly you are progressing - I think you should keep up the good work, so you can give your mother up there, some competition."

Little did both of them know, Lilly and James who had spent a lot of time crying at the plight of their son beyond the Veil looked on and began to realise that things were changing. Lilly wiped her tears and prayed to any deity that would hear, for the safety and success of her only boy who had been going at it all alone. She prayed that this witch and her friend would lessen his pain. Lady Hecate who was quite aware of all the events whispered to herself…

"Just hold on buddy, I gotcha. Trust her Harry, she will help you. Hold on Lilly and James, help is coming, help is coming…he is a good boy, Harry will manage. Grace will take care of him…."

The classes resumed and Harry tore through the classwork with renewed vigour. Priya noticed that he would flip the pages quickly when he read. He could speed read and he seemed to be able to recall a lot of information accurately. Perhaps it had been wise to tell him about his mother.

Apparently, Dumbledore's arrangements had included the boy being clueless about his family.

School was now over and both teacher and her newfound ward were waiting for the school compound to become empty. Priya had loved Care of Magical Creatures with Professor Kettleburn and she was excited to find out if he had discovered a new type of magical bird. When enough of the students left, they both headed off to the discarded furniture area of the school.

Meanwhile, Grace had seen the bushy-haired girl walking off to the back of the school. Bossy-Bushy-Hair-Girl was very persistent. Grace decided that she would humour her, but not before a practical joke was played first. When Harry signalled Grace to go to her usual spot, Grace flew down, expecting to find the girl waiting for her partner-of-heart. As soon as Grace turned the corner, she charged up her magical core and flew straight into the girl. Hermione could only scream "EEEeeeepppppppp" as Grace lightning-apparated poor Hermione across the cricket pitch to a small changing room that was located in the pavilion stands. Grace quickly returned via lightning apparition to her usual spot and was greeted ten seconds later, not only by Harry but by the dusky-eyed black-hair princess. Meanwhile, Hermione's small feet would take her at least three minutes to get back to the spot.

Priya started to laugh loudly, and Harry felt embarrassed. When she realised that Harry felt uncomfortable, she rubbed his back gently and began to explain:

"Well, my life is such a ruckus now. This bird is a phoenix. The only other phoenix I have ever seen was Dumbledore's phoenix. I saw him twice in my entire seven years at Hogwarts. Yours is so beautiful though. Sleek and way longer feathers."

Grace swooned so loudly as if she accepted the compliment. Oh yes, Grace loved this woman.

"I don't know the name of Dumbledore's phoenix. He looks as if the orange and red crayon assaulted a weird looking chicken if I remember correctly, and then woke up to a bad hair day. Or a feather day actually."

Harry howled with laughter. Priya then stretched out her hand and wondered if the Phoenix would mind being petted. No, she did not - Grace loved the attention. Grace decided this woman was important to the partner-of-her-heart, so she committed her magical signature to memory, just in case she needed to find her. Grace who liked jokes thought to herself, ''Bossy-Bushy-Hair-Girl-be-here…..now."

Suddenly a voice from behind them yelled in a nonstop fashion, "Hello my name is Hermione Granger and I saw your bird disappear you yesterday but is okay I won't say anything in fact I think I am like you I can pull books down from the shelf with my mind and sometimes I can change other people's hair colour and what kind of bird is that it is so pretty aren't you the new Year Four teacher and what are both of you doing here whose bird is it and oh…what is going on with me am I like you, I think I am like you?"

Priya began to rub her temples with her fingers. Harry moved forward and looked at Hermione. His eyes glowed slightly and he suddenly smiled.

"Miss, she is like me, I can feel her magic. It isn't strong like mine, but it is there. She is lonely and wants to be my friend, I think? She doesn't have friends because she is different. I know what that feels like" Harry said softly.

Hermione hung her head. That evaluation was spot on the money, but Hermione nevertheless felt embarrassed. She could tell that the boy was probing her when he looked at her. After he stopped looking, the feeling went away. Priya sat down and wondered what to do. A child had seen magic and this was a violation of the statute. However, Harry claimed that she was magical and surely, he was sensitive to its presence? He had a damned phoenix, after all just hanging out at the back of her workplace, rather casually. Harry went forward and he outstretched his hand. With the biggest smile, he said "My name is Harry Potter and don't bother to ask to become my friend, because the answer is already yes."

Hermione beamed a smile that was so bright that her perfectly white teeth almost looked like fluorescent light bulbs.

"As for what all of us are – we are wizards and witches. We have magic and belong to a hidden world. And there are reasons why that is so, I think. I just learned I was magical three days ago. And I can sense you have it too."

Harry turned to Priya. "Maybe we can invite her family on Saturday?"

A male voice boomed "Sure. William Granger, Hermione's father. Nice to meet everyone? Oh, what an absolute unit of a bird. Hermione, do you think I would not notice you running off when you missed your pickup time? I used to track terrorists in the army, and you think I would not find you?"

Priya smiled. Maybe this was a good thing? She had no confirmation that the girl was a witch. But Harry could do things with magic she had never seen and already was a phoenix owner.

"Might as well run with it?" she thought. Saturday's dinner was going to be interesting.