Chapter 2: A Most Auspicious Christmas Meeting

25 December, 1990

Vernon and Petunia relaxed and smiled as they drank their tea and watched the boys take turns playing Mario on the new Nintendo game system they'd gotten that morning for Christmas. Najash was resting on Harry's shoulder and hissing what Petunia assumed was advice into his ear while Dudley cheered him on. It didn't help, as Mario fell off a ledge and Harry handed the controller to Dudley while grumbling at the snake about 'shoulder-seat' drivers.

Petunia was quite shocked last year when Vernon decided that the little snake had proved he could behave and allowed Harry to bring it out in the house as long as there was no company coming. She had reached an understanding with it a while back herself, hard not to after it saves your life twice (she still shuddered every time she remembered that black viper flying at her face from the fig bush). She also couldn't ignore the fact that her garden did better with the brightly coloured serpent slithering among her plants; and she hadn't seen any kind of pest besides weeds since Harry took in the thing, though she hated how the snake sometimes hid among her roses. She could also definitely do without it getting any bigger, at almost two feet long it was approaching the limit of her ability to not scream when it startled her on her hands and knees out back.

"Petunia did you hear me?" Vernon asked, leaning over and tapping her shoulder from his chair.

"I'm sorry Vernon, I'm afraid I was just thinking."

"Anything I should be worried about?" He set his empty teacup on the table.

She glanced at him, he was starting to get a double chin again, "Hmm? Oh, no dear, just my garden, and that I think you need to start staying a little longer at the gym. What were you saying while I was distracted?" She smirked and took another sip of her tea only to discover it wasn't hot anymore.

"I got a call from the chief yesterday about that new series of drills the company is set to get started on. Apparently the representative for one of the biggest prospective clients got some kind of foreign illness just before Christmas Hols. Well the man standing in for him works with his wife at their practice together, and they asked the office if there was a representative for Grunning's that would be okay with them bringing their child with them. The contract is big enough that the department said 'fine'."

"Problem is, the chief lives alone and didn't want to try and find a way to entertain the girl on short notice, so I volunteered. I told the chief I had two well-mannered kids, so we wouldn't mind an extra child at dinner, and they could play games while we talked business." Petunia eyed him with a look that said, 'what's the catch?', "Unfortunately, they want to meet this friday, before the New Year."

"You want me to get this house ready to host a business guest three days after Christmas, no problem. But your sister and her mutt are coming over tomorrow and staying the night Vernon… The last time we needed to get most of the downstairs carpet shampooed." Petunia sighed resignedly and said, "I"ll get the boys to help me set up the garage for Ripper, don't give me that look… Marge will just have to accept that. Even she can appreciate how important a business call like this is can't she? If it's as important as you were saying before you might finally get a promotion if you finish this. We don't want the house smelling of dog."

Petunia still had issues with Marge. The woman hadn't taken to the corrected (non magical) version of Harry's parents very well since she felt it was just Petunia covering up for her 'useless sister', and the giant woman almost started a fight with both the boys when she insisted that James and Lily were drunks and Petunia was just hiding her family's shame.

Vernon stating that he'd been allowed to see "confidential documents" that proved the story beyond question had the woman leave the house red faced and sputtering two days before her planned vacation ended, bulldog in tow. She only came around for holidays now, Vernon insisted that she be welcomed during those times and Petunia was willing to give him his 'normal side of the family'.

"We shouldn't tear the boys from their new toys on Christmas Day, though. This is a time for fun." As she said this Dudley pulled out a box of Legos, meanwhile Harry was hissing at Najash while apparently reading the list of elements and chemicals in the high school chemistry set Santa had left him.

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

Harry could barely stand being around Aunt Marge. The overweight woman seemed to blame him for her not knowing that his parents were amazing people, and she took every opportunity to take it out on him. More than once during past visits her dog, Ripper, had bitten him and she'd played it off as the great beast being 'overly friendly'. When she had first jokingly told Vernon and Petunia a couple years ago that Ripper was trained to chase the local kids off her property back home she had to spend an hour explaining that the 'poor dearie' was just too 'emotional to be left alone', and 'of course he wouldn't attack my family in their own house' before they let her bring the dog again. While it was never directly addressed, Marge didn't really consider Harry to be her family.

At least this time the dog wouldn't be an issue, it always put Najash on edge while inside the house. Harry and Dudley had cleaned up the garage the night before, moving any tools or stray things off the floor that Ripper could have messed up and propping open the door to the back yard.

It didn't matter, Ripper got into the house from the garage entrance no less than three times the first day, always dirty from the access to the garden. Each time the dog spread dirt and mud around the house as it searched for Harry and tried to either bite him or knock him down. Each time Marge insisted that Harry hadn't paid enough attention on his way back in from putting out some water, and that Ripper was rightly punishing him for being unobservant.

She also spent an awful lot of effort bringing up how Christmas was a time for close families, that mothers and fathers and sons could spend good, quality time together into every conversation she could. Usually while giving Dudley another gift to unwrap. She only ever gave Harry a card with a ten pound note in it. He was able to soldier on by reminding himself repeatedly that she was only there for the one night.

When Harry went to bed that night, Najash noticed the bite marks, and the bruise where he'd been 'accidentally' knocked into the kitchen counter. It took fifteen minutes to convince the irate snake that it wouldn't do to strangle the mutt before Harry could go to (restless) sleep. Najash slept curled up under small, tasseled pillow that Harry had found in a secondhand store and placed on the bed by his own pillow, and Harry heard him hissing threats at canines as he dreamed.

Dudley found his Aunt Marge to be a little bit creepy. He understood, at least on some level, that it wasn't necessarily wrong for her to favor him over Harry like his parents wouldn't. After all, Harry wasn't actually related to Marge in any real way; and Dudley's parents had lied to her about Harry's parents. But that wasn't his fault at all, it was the Headmaster's for dumping Harry on their porch with no support and cutting mum off from magic (though Dudley couldn't tell Marge this), and definitely didn't earn Harry the kind of treatment his Aunt dealt to him.

Dudley was often at a loss because his parents tended to just accept it when she was around. His mum had told him that Marge was Vernon's 'island of normalcy' where all the 'strangeness' of magic disappears for a little while, and he needs that from time to time. Harry seemed to accept it with minimal griping, and any punishment he might have received because of her ended as soon as she left, so Dudley went along with it and played the spoiled nephew for his only living aunt. The third time Ripper got out into the house though, with the blame being put on Harry, Dudley began to get suspicious, and watched when his aunt put the dog back into the garage.

"Good boy Ripper, show that interloper that his bad blood isn't welcome in my family. Won't get many more chances with him going off to that boarding school next autumn. Useless son of a useless rich boy if I've ever seen one." Dudley was appalled. His aunt seemed to be training this dog to attack Harry, it even sought him out as soon as it came inside!. How had his parents not noticed this before? Were they oblivious, or letting it happen? There was nothing really that Dudley could do that night so he set his alarm clock for six forty-five, to make sure he got up around the same time Harry always did, the next morning and mentally prepared himself for tomorrow.

"Boy, go give Ripper his breakfast and water! I don't want us to have to wait for you to sit down for breakfast once Dudders comes down."

"Yes Aunt Marge." Harry showed his Aunt Petunia that the water was on the stove to boil and headed to the backyard. He had decided it would be easier to keep Ripper outside if he just didn't open the garage door at all, so he planned to go out to the garden and enter the garage from the back.

"Wait up," Dudley said quietly as Harry was letting himself out the back, "Let me do it. Ripper won't bite me."

"Marge will yell if she finds out I let you do a chore she told me to do. It'll be alright Dudley, she's leaving this afternoon."

"No, it's not alright. At least let me go with you, I'll hold Ripper and you put out his food."

"Alright Big D, just don't let him hurt you if he tries to go after me. God I can't wait for them to leave, Najash kept me up half the night." At Dudley's questioning look he continued, "He was apparently dreaming about strangling dogs…" Harry looked a little worried at his pet's overprotectiveness, "I kept waking up when he'd get louder in his sleep."

Dudley just laughed at him, "Sometimes I wish I had magic and could talk to snakes, but then you remind me it's not always great." He smiled and opened the door to the garage.

As soon as the door opened Ripper barked and moved to charge but paused, confused, when he saw Dudley standing in front of his target. The dog lowered his front and glared at Dudley, a low growl rumbling in his throat as he waited for Dudley to move so he could attack the threat. He was exceptionally surprised when, instead of moving aside, the boy knelt down and grabbed the old bulldog in a hug. Ripper could smell the boy restraining him. He smelled like his owner, like family, though not as much as the big man inside.

Harry went to walk around Dudley and fix up the dog's breakfast, but Ripper pulled against the boy to attack his cousin and Dudley said, "Wait." Ripper watched, teeth bared, as Dudley convinced Harry to slowly stoop down and hold out his hand for the dog to sniff. The dog growled and strained against the one holding him, but couldn't reach Harry. Not family the dog tried to stress to Dudley to no avail. Then Ripper smelled Harry and whined in confusion. Not family? But family of the one holding him? Ripper's growls stopped as he glared at Harry in confusion.

Then Dudley began scratching Ripper's back. Pack-leader never did something like that for Ripper, she would praise him and give him treats. But Dudley was on the floor of the garage with the old bulldog, who had now rolled over so that he could get his belly rubbed. When Harry joined the two on the floor and tentatively began scratching the dog's chest, Ripper's tongue fell out of his mouth and he broke into a big grin causing Harry to laugh and continue showering the pooch in affection with his cousin.

"What the devil is going on here? What are you doing to my poor Ripper? Get off him!" Marge had decided Harry must have been doing something to her dog and come to investigate, finding the door still locked from the inside further annoyed her. "Dudley, get away from there before you get hurt, you know poor Ripper has a little problem with your cousin. You shouldn't get between them dear."

Marge crossed the gap from the door to where the boys lay on the floor as she spoke, "And YOU!" she hissed at Harry, "I told you to feed my baby boy here and what do I find you doing? Rutting around like you're the animal!" She made to kick at Harry as he tried to get up, only to trip as Ripper growled at her and moved between her and the now cowering boy.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING MARGE?" Petunia's shouted angrily from the door to the kitchen as Vernon went to help his sister up.

"I told you I spent months training Ripper! I came in here to find that boy of yours trying to undo all my work training my prize winning dog with his freakishness, and leading poor little Dudders into temptation too! Like a snake in human clothes, the boy is! And don't think I don't remember the freakishness around that boy when he was younger! Doors rattling, lights flickering! Bringing that boy into your house turned it into a horror show for years!" Marge began ranting before she'd even finished standing back up.

"No mom!" Dudley shouted before the woman could get much further on her roll. The last time something had set her off this badly, Harry had been left crying upstairs and Vernon had escorted his sister to her car 'until she's back to her center'; and Dudley wasn't going to let things continue like this without confronting how Marge treated his cousin.

Ignoring all of Marge's comments about Harry's freakishness, Dudley pressed on, "She trains Ripper to be mean to Harry! I heard her last night, she was calling him a good boy for 'showing the interloper he doesn't belong'. I was just showing Ripper that Harry wasn't bad, so Ripper didn't need to bark at him and bite him. It wasn't hard, either, I had him smell Harry while I held him down and then he was okay with it." Dudley frowned and looked at his cousin, "I wish I'd done this sooner, Harry, you shouldn't have had to deal with this for so long."

Petunia glowered from the doorway at Vernon, "I told you a couple years ago that that dog was too aggressive towards Harry to be normal." She stressed the word. "Favoritism was one thing, but I won't accept actual persecution!"

Vernon looked at his sister, gaping like a fish as she turned newer and more interesting shades of red, and finally realized that the idea of normalcy he'd always tried to believe in for his family was a sham. They may not be magical, but normal wasn't breeding bulldogs and never leaving your home except on holidays. Normal wasn't teaching those dogs to specifically bite children, then sending the biggest one after your nephew. It shouldn't matter how strange that nephew is, he's still just a boy! Normal… wasn't just attacking anything you didn't understand.

Vernon Dursley, his wife, Dudley… Harry… they were normal. They were all different, got along differently, but they didn't persecute each other over it; and they didn't lash out at the things that made them different from each other. Petunia had opened his eyes in '81 to how accepting the odd and different could make life better. That was normal.

"Margery… I think it's time for you to go." Vernon said quietly, "Petunia is right. I can't excuse you training an animal to be aggressive towards my nephew, especially after we specifically asked you if your 'prize winning dog' would cause issues with our boys."

"The boy is a freak Vernon! Just like his useless parents!"

"ENOUGH!" Vernon shouted her down, "I don't care whether you believe the truth about his parents or not Margery. But none of that changes the fact that Harry is still my nephew, and that when we took him in he was an orphan. What kind of woman can you be that you can hate a boy who has lost his parents? No, Margery, you need to leave."

That night, while the boys were putting the garage back together, Vernon made the most depressing phone call he had had to make since telling his sister that their parents had died in the hospital years ago. The Animal Control officer assured him he'd be at Margery Dursley's house the next morning to investigate.

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

Ding, Dong, the doorbell rang shortly after five, prompting a mad dash up the stairs as Dudley still wasn't wearing the button-down shirt his mom had gotten out for him. Vernon's clients, apparently dentists, wanted to get started early just in case the meeting ran late since their daughter would be there. Petunia wasn't exactly sure what could possibly take so long in a negotiation about drills, but she could respect that there were parts of his job she just would never understand.

"Harry dear, make sure that the door to your room is closed and Najash is in there please. It wouldn't do to scare their daughter, poor Vernon has been fretting about this sale in private since Christmas Eve." Petunia smiled when Harry nodded and indicated he already had. He was wearing the green shirt she'd gotten him for Christmas that brought out his eyes, "Alright then, I'll go answer the door, please get the tea ready and join us in the family room when you're done."

"Yes Aunt Petunia."

"Yes, may I help you sir?" Petunia asked with a little uncertainty after she opened the front door, she was expecting a couple and their daughter, not just a man. Her fears were dispelled when she heard a woman's voice admonishing someone to hurry.

"Yes ma'am. You are Mrs. Petunia Dursley I presume? I'm sorry to startle you, I told my daughter to leave her books at home, but she managed to sneak one into the car. My wife is currently trying to tear her away from it."

"Oh, that's no problem at all, Doctor" Petunia said as the other two, both bushy, frizzy brunettes, began walking up the path from the driveway. I need to stop looking at others' hair like that, she thought to herself, at least until I can manage my own again.

Petunia's hair was a stringy mess that held no shape without magical help; she didn't even have her sister's vibrant colour, hers was a muted red that was basically brown. All she could do with it reliably was tie it into a simple ponytail to keep it out of the way. She never tried shortening it much, though, she always felt that that was the same as giving up.

Once the two ladies had gotten to the door Petunia showed them inside and to the family room, where she found Dudley frantically trying to figure out how to change the setting on the telly from his game back to the news. His shirt wasn't tucked in and Petunia could see from here that it was buttoned wrong, but at least he'd put the right one on. Sometimes she worried Dudley didn't care about his appearance enough.

"Mr. Dursley," the Doctor began, stepping forward to shake the large man's hand, "Thank you for welcoming my family into your home. This is my wife, Emma, and that is our daughter, Hermione. I am Daniel Granger, we spoke over the phone, it's a pleasure to finally meet you face to face." As he spoke he gestured to each member of his family, both smiling and saying 'hello' as he did.

"Quite, I am Vernon Dursley, this here," Indicating Petunia, "is my devoted wife Petunia, and that's our boy on the floor figuring out how to fix the telly. Dudley, stand up for a moment and say 'hello' son." Dudley stood up and said hello as Harry came in and placed a tray with two pots of tea and seven cups on the table in front of the couch. Vernon continued introductions once Harry had straightened back up, "And this, here, is my nephew Ha-"

"Oh my god you're Harry Potter!" The girl shrieked as she stared at Harry, her eye darting back and forth from his scar to his glasses and back again.

"Now Hermione! You know you can't just inter-"

"But daddy, he's Harry Potter, he has to be! He has the scar… and his glasses look just like that picture of James Potter. I was just reading about him in Modern Magical History in the car! He's also in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts!" Hermione was practically vibrating in place she was so excited. How often do you read about someone and immediately meet that person in real life!? "Oh my-"

"Hermione! You know that professor lady said you can't talk abo-"

Daniel Granger stopped short, his hosts demeanor had completely changed. Petunia was ghostly pale as she backed up while holding Dudley's shoulder with a vice grip, and he noted that Vernon had somehow slid over to the fireplace and was surreptitiously reaching for a fire-poker. What the bloody hell, is this some kind of set-up? Are these 'magicals' going to kidnap her or something after all?

"I'm in a book?" Harry asked brightly, his back to his family's disturbing reactions. It was the first thing he had said since walking into the room, attracting all attention back to him as he unconsciously pushed his hair away, giving an even better view of his scar.

It's really him! Hermione began nodding excitedly.

"So… does that mean you're a witch?" Harry asked, Hermione kept nodding her head, her smile getting even bigger. Petunia glanced at Vernon and shook her head, Vernon stepped away from the fire-poker.

I'm talking to Harry Potter! Hermione thought giddily to herself.

"Hi, I'm Harry Potter, though…ha ha… I guess you already knew that." Harry chuckled as he held out his hand. Hermione took it mechanically but with the wrong hand, her head still nodding rapidly. Harry took pity on the girl and reached out with his other hand to stop her nodding, when he plopped it on top of her head she let out a squeak and blushed.

Dudley snorted at Hermione's reaction, and the tension broke. Dan and Emma chuckled as the two Dursleys held each other up laughing at poor Hermione as her face got redder and redder.

"I apologize if I had you worried, Dr. Granger." Vernon stepped forward, both hands in front of him and clearly empty, "As you can tell, Harry is somewhat famous in the magical world. Last we have heard, some of the lot that killed his parents are still at-large as well. We've been raising him here, away from all that, to protect him. Though he's excited to be going to Hogwarts next fall. If memory serves, your daughter is eleven, so does that mean she's already going?"

"Oh no, apparently you have to turn eleven before the school year starts, no exceptions. Our Hermione was born mid-September, so we just got a 'your daughter is a witch, you can't tell anyone about it, see you in half-a-year' meeting with a professor from the school, a 'Mcgonagall' woman." Dr. Granger chuckled again at the memory.

"The woman definitely looked the part," he continued, "robes like the wicked witch from Oz and turning into a cat to boot. We went to their magic shopping district in London before Christmas after asking where it was and let our girl buy some of her school books, as well as some books on magic history so we can learn about this world she's getting dragged into. Thankfully, when we mailed the school for suggestions on reference material they were happy to give us a list."

Petunia only heard one thing in the man's explanation, "You can go to Diagon Alley?" Her voice was shaky, it couldn't be true, it was too good to be true, seven months early? "You've been there yourselves, you know where it is?"

"Of course, um. Pardon my asking, but you… don't? I mean, you clearly know about magic and all… and I think remember that Harry Potter's mother was muggleborn like Hermione, so you must be her family. Did you never go with your sister?" Dan asked.

"Because the Headmaster is dumb and-" Harry had been talking quietly to Hermione, but was apparently paying enough attention to the adult's conversation to offer his two pence where it wasn't needed.

"Harry, please. We don't know that." Petunia sighed, "When Harry was left with us, the Headmaster of Hogwarts placed some kind of magic shield on our house that would keep the magical world away. Unfortunately, he didn't ask ahead of time. We were cut off from the magical world even though we still did business there from time to time. I remember exactly where Diagon Alley is supposed to be, but even when I go with Harry I just can't find it."

She frowned as she looked down at Hermione Granger, I wonder if they know they're still holding hands? she thought idly, "I can only assume that the Headmaster's shields only kept out adult magical people, so your daughter wasn't stopped. Or it might have already fallen down, since he said it would when Harry went to Hogwarts. We haven't tried finding Diagon in about a year-and-a-half."

"Actually," Mrs. Granger interjected, "When we pulled onto your driveway she said she felt some kind of electric tingle that reminded her of walking into and out of stores in Diagon Alley. Not to sound rude, but she dismissed it because of how… ordinary everything here looks. So these 'shields' are probably still there and it's the first answer." Petunia nodded.

"Aunt Petunia, Mrs. Granger, can I take Hermione upstairs and show her the potions lab?" Harry asked before turning to his aunt, "When they went to Diagon Alley they looked around but they only went inside the bookstore."

Petunia glanced at Mrs. Granger, who gave her a meaningful look, Hermione bouncing up-and-down and silently pleading the whole time, before nodding and saying, "That's okay with me as long as your aunt is okay with it… and you leave the door open so I can hear you from down here."

Petunia chuckled at that, "Oh, Emma you wound me. I would have expected nothing less from either of my boys." With that she made a shoo-ing motion with her hands and the two magicals were off, hand-in-hand. "Dudley, maybe you should join them. Make sure they don't accidentally set the house on fire or something, hmm? You know your cousin does things when he gets excited. I expect miss Granger might have similar troubles when her emotions are high." Dudley nodded, as did Emma, "And remind them that dinner will be ready in forty-five minutes."

"We aren't going to play Scrabble tonight, are we." Dudley asked as he turned to go.

"Unless you want to lose to magical plant names again, I wouldn't think so." His mum joked back.

Vernon watched the scene with relief, he was truly worried he was about to have to fight these people to defend his family; and that would almost certainly get him fired from Grunning's as well, assuming he wasn't turned into a frog or lizard by dark wizards first. Then he remembered something everyone else had forgotten in the sudden stress and excitement!

"Boy, you warn her before you open that door! Don't go scaring that poor lass just minutes after you've met her!" Vernon's face flushed as he realized how disastrous that could be.

"Is there something we should be concerned about?" Mr. Granger asked, worried at Vernon's tone.

"Oh, the boy's got a pet snake," He tried placating the father, "he can talk to it. I didn't want the snake to startle her and get her to screaming. Especially with the misunderstanding we just had."

"Ah. Quite… it's… it's not venomous is it? I mean, I know he's a wizard but…damn this feels complicated.".

"No, its some American snake. Actually eats poisonous ones if you can believe it. It killed an adder that had gotten into Petunia's garden last summer and struck at her. Don't worry about asking questions like that here. We'll answer if we can, but as we said, we haven't had contact with that world for a little over nine years now. You aren't about to offend us by asking a question about that part of our lives."

"Well, I guess Hermione will need to adjust to magic life at some point, and from what I understand snakes are pretty important to magicals. I just can't remember the specifics."

"This one's saved my wife's life twice now. Once from that viper, and once when she was really sick. The thing showed Harry and I how to heal her with the last of her old potions things from before Harry lived with us, so I'd say it's pretty alright. Harry wants to be a healer like his mum, and he says the snake's for helping him at it."

Petunia smiled at her husband's easy acceptance of the snake. His sister's breakdown was still bothering him a little, and it heartened her to know her husband didn't seem to blame Harry in the slightest for Margery.

"I'm sorry to change subjects on you, but I'm sure that at the very least the two of you should be talking about drills and dentistry in some capacity." Petunia stepped into the conversation, "So, if everyone agrees, could we split in two? Emma, I'd love to talk with you about Diagon, and the magical world as far as I remember it. If you've only been into the book store then I could likely answer some questions about how us normal people deal with the magical world, but Vernon needs to be able to report to his boss that this meeting is… 'productive'..."

Emma Granger frowned, she and Dan did everything business-related together. But this was a chance to make a connection with someone that potentially had a foot in both their world and this new one that Hermione had found herself a part of.

"I think that would be for the best Petunia. Dan? Can I leave you and Mr. Dursley to this?" Normally Emma hated relegating to her husband, she considered herself the better with finances as well. But the Dursley family seemed like a more traditional bunch, the man worked and the woman watched the house and kids.

"Of course dear, we'll be right here if you need us. That wonderful smell coming from the kitchen will keep us to task until dinner."

As soon as she had closed the kitchen door behind her Emma turned and asked, "Something was nagging me when you were talking about how the Headmaster had left Harry with you. You said he put up those shields without asking you… did he ask you about Harry?"

Petunia had hoped to ease into that question, "He did not. But I am so thankful that Harry has been in our lives. Forgetting that he literally saved my life when I accidentally poisoned myself a couple years ago, Harry has brought nothing but joy to this house… That being said," Petunia scrunched up her face, "Dumbledore left a note with Harry when he left him on our doorstep. Vernon seems to think that Dumbledore resented Harry for winning the war."

At Emma's blank looks she elaborated, "Harry is famous because ten years ago the magical world was at the height of a civil war. Halloween 1981 the leader of the rebel army attacked my sister and her husband in their home. Both of them died, but apparently so did the monster that killed them. Only Harry survived, and the newspaper from the next night, the last bit of news I was able to get from that world by the way, was calling Harry the savior of the magical world for 'vanquishing You-Know-Who at only one year old'. They had even given him a moniker designed to mock the dead dark lord's, they called him The-Boy-Who-Lived."

"You-Know-Who?"

"The rebel leader in the war. The newspaper never printed his real name, always some stupid hyphenated moniker like that one. I remember my sister mentioning him while she was still going to school. It was something french that ended in 'Mort'. I couldn't remember anything else, so that's what we call him in this house. Not some overly-spooky media-made moniker."

"It seems like you have a rather interesting family history" Emma Granger said with a bemused smile.

"... Yes… and you have no idea how good it feels to be able to talk about it with someone!" Petunia replied.

"Well, I'd love to hear anything you have to say about the magical world. My trip to Diagon Alley wasn't the best experience. It seemed like half the people we met were cordial, but treated us like children, and the other half didn't think we deserved to be in the same space as them." Emma's smile died as she remembered how some of the people they'd encountered in the Alley seemed to treat them as diseased or something.

"Then it sounds like Harry's parents killing Mort didn't actually cause their side to win the civil war." Petunia replied with distaste in her mouth.

"Oh? Do tell…"

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

Hermione Granger had spent her entire life being made fun of for being 'too smart.' When she was in primary school she'd just been ignored by the other kids, who were more interested in playing and goofing off than reading. But now that she was in secondary, it was becoming much more harsh and pronounced, and she was sent home crying half a dozen times before her eleventh birthday.

That birthday Hermione learned that she wasn't just different, she was special. A woman came to her family's home and told her that she was magical, a witch. Next year, she'd leave these mean bullies behind and she'd get to learn magic with other people like her. She was sure it would be better if she just made it through this one last year.

The following Christmas, her parents surprised her with a trip to the magical shopping district, Diagon Alley. She was only allowed to go into the bookstore Professor Mcgonagall had recommended, Flourish and Blott's, but Hermione had never considered that a punishment and wasn't about to start now. She had picked out all the textbooks that were on the current year's list of required reading; and her parents had grabbed a few books on magical history, mostly modern history.

Her parents weren't as thrilled as she was, but Hermione was sure that it was just because they couldn't feel it. She had known all her life that something was missing from her, and she just couldn't figure it out. She felt it a bit whenever strange thing happened around her, like spilled drinks sliding off of homework without damaging them, or books that she was looking for springing off of shelves at her. She'd thought she could find it by studying and reading science books, but she understood now. It was magic that her life was lacking, and that wouldn't be the case for much longer.

She was currently reading Modern Magical History, learning about the magical war that ended nine years ago on Halloween. It was hard to really believe the story the way the book presented it, how does a one year old, even a wizard, defeat the most powerful dark lord in history without leaving a trace? That's silly. One thing both this book and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, which she'd already finished, agreed on was that Harry Potter's mother was the smartest witch in living memory. She'd invented spells while she was still in school for crying out loud! Hermione was pretty sure that Mrs. Potter had created a spell to protect her son, and that was what saved Harry, or maybe Mr. Potter had weakened You-Know-Who enough that he messed up his spell. It just made more sense than a baby killing an evil, adult wizard.

Her mother waited on her to finish the chapter she was reading when they arrived at the Dursleys' house. Apparently both books also agreed that Chief Warlock and Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, had rescued Harry from the ruins of his home and placed him somewhere safe until he was ready for Hogwarts. Since I didn't get to go this year, does that mean we might be in the same class?

Hermione said 'Hello' to the family when she was supposed to, and smiled politely. The boy reminded her a lot of some of the worse bullies back in school, so she had to fight to keep a smile on her face when 'Dudley' was introduced. By the time the second boy had set the tea tray down on the counter she was ready to tune out the entire night, it was becoming harder for her to care about the 'regular' world when she was supposed to be getting ready to enter the 'magical' one.

Then, the messy black-haired boy looked up and she couldn't help herself as she shrieked, "Oh my god, you're Harry Potter!"

Hermione Granger was completely in a daze, Harry said some things to her, and she responded (she hoped accurately, or at least with an answer relevant to the question). When his hand dropped down on her head she realized she'd been nodding rapidly (and stupidly) for almost thirty seconds and let out a rather embarrassing 'squeak.' Her blush continued to deepen as she tried to go over just what exactly she'd said to Harry Potter. While the adults began to diffuse the situation that seemed to have almost happened Hermione spoke her first conscious words to Harry Potter.

"I'msorryifyouhearthisalotbutyourmumismyHero!" Hermione whispered rapidly, unable to speak louder, and thoroughly frightened that if she slowed down she'd clam up, she did her best to speak more intelligibly, "The only store we went in at the magic alley was the bookstore, and almost all the books said she was brilliant! IhopeIcanbelikeher!" She winced as she finished her statement, worried that she might have offended the boy still holding her hand.

"She's my Hero too." he returned reverently, "I have some of her books and stuff, do you want to see?"

Hermione's glowing smile was all the answer he needed.

"What did your uncle mean, 'warn me'?" Hermione asked as they reached the top of the stairs.

"Yeah dude, that could've been super awkward." Dudley said, rushing up behind them.

"OH! Sorry Hermione, I have a potions set that my aunt used before Dumbledore shut us out of the magical world in my room… But… I also have my pet in there…"

"Okaaaaay…" the girl prompted.

"He's a snake." At Hermione's shocked look he continued, "He's not dangerous or anything, and he likes my mum too. He said he'd help me become a healer like she wanted to be. He's even saved my Aunt Petunia twice now."

Hermione frowned, "Okay, but can you like… make sure he's on the other side of the room when I first walk in. Give me a chance to get used to him?" Harry smiled and went into the room to do exactly that, calling for the two to come in once he had Najash wrapped around his wrist. Hermione counted the seconds, realizing for the first time that Harry had been holding her hand since she'd first given it to him downstairs.

"Our parents definitely saw that by the way." Dudley muttered as he walked by Hermione, her eyes still locked on the hand Harry had just released.