Chapter 35: A Lonely Trip to France

Leading me into the living room, Mum and Dad took the two chairs, leaving me to perch nervously and uncomfortably on the edge of the couch.

"Have you thought about what we talked about?" Dad asked, opening the discussion.

I nodded. "I have," I replied. "And you're completely within your rights to pull me out of Hogwarts."

I could tell that my parents were surprised by this. They'd surely been expecting resistance on that matter.

"If you want me to go to the Academy, I'll go," I continued.

I saw my parents smile at each other. My interview with the Academy was coming up, and I knew they'd been nervous that I might tank it on purpose and that they'd have to send me to a public school.

"But I'm not giving up magic," I declared then, surprising them.

"Hermione – " Dad started.

"Hear me out," I insisted, putting a hand up to stop him. "If you don't think Hogwarts is safe, that's fine. I won't go back. I'll stay here where you can keep an eye on me. But I'm a witch. I have the right to learn to use magic and you can't take that away from me."

"I thought there were rules about using magic outside of school," Mum frowned. "Professor McGonagall said – "

"Those rules are for students," I informed her. "If you pull me out of school, I don't have to follow their rules anymore."

After exchanging a few more letters with Professor McGonagall, I'd learned enough about the Ministry's tutoring program to feel confident that I could make a strong case to my parents for why they should send me back to Hogwarts.

"So you'd just be… doing magic?" Mum asked nervously. "Here in the house?"

I nodded. "The Ministry of Magic would provide me with a tutor," I explained. "He or she would come visit me here at home for my lessons. I'd be granted special permission to practice magic only within the confines of this house, as it would now be the building in which my magical learning would be taking place, much the same as Hogwarts used to be."

"A tutor?" Dad frowned. "How are you going to afford a tutor? You don't expect your mother and I to pay for that?"

I shook my head. "The muggle-born tutoring program is Ministry funded," I informed them. "It wouldn't cost you a cent."

"Well what if we simply don't allow this tutor inside the house?" Mum demanded.

I shrugged. "If you'd prefer, I can go to the Ministry a few times a week instead and receive my tutoring there. But of course, that would have to be during the day, so I'd be missing school to do it."

Mum and Dad exchanged a look and I could already tell that I was going to win. For all their talk of magic being dangerous and wanting to protect me from it, I knew that they were far more concerned with protecting themselves from it. They were scared of magic, because they didn't understand it. I'd struggled with them about it for a time, but now I was leaning into it, because it was the only way to make them see that me returning to Hogwarts was in their best interest too. It was the only way for them to stay as separated from my magical life as possible.

"Could you give your mother and I some time to discuss this?" Dad asked. His voice was steady, but I could see the panic in his face.

I returned to my room then, giving them the space, they needed to talk things out amongst themselves. In the meantime, I happily completed my herbology homework, looking forward to returning to the Hogwarts greenhouses and seeing Professor Sprout again in September.

It was awhile before Dad came knocking on my door. In fact, it was so late that if it hadn't been for my late lunch, I'd have been starving due to a lack of dinner. But I'd figured this might happen, so I'd eaten my fill before Mum and Dad had returned home.

"Your mother and I talked about it," Dad said stiffly, not entering my room. "We've decided that it's probably best all around if you simply return to Hogwarts. There's no need to complicate our lives any further."

Trying my best not to let my glee shine through, I nodded once.

"I'm glad we could come to an agreement," I replied.

As Dad shut the door, I allowed myself a moment to jump up and dance around the room in victory. I immediately penned a letter to Professor McGonagall to let her know that I would be returning to Hogwarts after all, and to thank her for her help.

Leaving the note on the edge of my desk to be mailed tomorrow, I ventured out of my room to see if Mum was planning any sort of dinner at all.

I found both my parents in their office, shuffling through papers in a manner that suggested that they were only pretending to be working.

"Hey Mum," I said, tentatively peeking inside. "Just wondering when dinner might be."

Without looking up, Mum answered me in a cold tone. "I'm not up to cooking tonight," she replied. "But you're more than welcome to make something for yourself."

I nodded and waited for either Mum or Dad to look over at me, but neither did. Finally, with the strange sense that something was wrong, I headed over to the kitchen to make myself a snack that would tide me over until breakfast.

Hermione,

Egypt is brilliant! Fred and George really scared Ginny the other day with a skeleton, so Mum got really mad at them, but then Ginny was still scared, so she wasn't allowed in the last tomb, where the Muggle skeletons were mutated and had grown extra heads and things.

Did you get your Hogwarts letter? I got mine yesterday. Can you believe we get to go to Hogsmeade this year? Percy got Head Boy. Ever since he got his badge, he's been walking around talking like he's better than all the rest of us. Bill was definitely not this bad.

I don't think Errol can manage a trip with a big package. I'm sending him a sneakoscope and even that seems heavy for him. Maybe you could find a wizarding village in France and rent an owl?

Ron

So far, my family's trip to France had been… uncomfortable to say the least. Mum and Dad still barely made eye contact with me, and we'd barely spent any time together since arriving.

"Well I'm sure there are plenty of magical attractions you'll want to visit on your own," Dad had said on our first day. "Don't let your mother and I slow you down. We'll just do our own thing. You're old enough to find your way around."

That had been the most communication I'd had with my parents the whole trip. Any time I tried to talk to them, they'd invent an excuse and take off, leaving me on my own.

It wasn't that hard to find the French equivalent of Diagon Alley – Ruelle des Lumières. And from there, I was directed to dozens of other exciting wizarding sites.

Mum and Dad gave me my birthday money early, so that I could spend it in France, and I used some of it to buy some floo powder so that I could travel around the country and take in as much as I could.

And while I was disappointed that Mum and Dad were acting so coldly towards me recently, I also knew that it was partially my fault. I'd known what I was doing when I threatened them with a wizarding tutor. I'd known that they would be uncomfortable having an adult witch or wizard coming to their house to teach me magic three times a week. And I'd known that in making the case that I did, I'd be backing them into a corner and leaving them with only one option; letting me return to Hogwarts.

I just wished that I hadn't had to resort to those measures.

Dear Ron,

Hedwig showed up, so I sent Harry's birthday gift with her.

France is wonderful. I've re-written my entire History of Magic essay to include everything I've learned here. Mum and Dad aren't particularly enthusiastic about going to the wizarding sites, so I've mostly been exploring France on my own.

I decided not to tell them that the mass murderer that recently escaped prison is a wizard. Black is in the Muggle news as well as the wizarding papers, so I guess he's pretty dangerous, but Mum and Dad are already worried about the dangers of Hogwarts because I got petrified, so they don't need to know he's a wizard. Besides, it's not like he's going to show up at Hogwarts.

I'll be arriving home soon, when do you want to meet up in Diagon Alley? I still have to purchase my textbooks and replenish some supplies. I can't believe I'm leaving it so last minute this year. At this rate, I may not have enough time to read through all my textbooks before term starts.

Hermione

The second half of our trip to France passed much like the first half. Mum and Dad avoided me most of the time, so that by the time we returned home, we were barely on speaking terms.

Mum and Dad immediately went back to work, without so much as sparing me a glance, and I was left to begin to pack up my things for my third year at Hogwarts.

As much as I loved my parents, I was eager to get out of their house and back to the castle. Maybe some time apart was what we needed to repair things between us. They just needed some time and some space – and to realize that I was perfectly safe at Hogwarts, regardless of what had happened last year.

So when I received a reply from Ron, I was all too eager to agree to stay with him and his family at the Leaky Cauldron the last night of August.

Hermione,

Guess what!? Harry used magic and he blew up his aunt and then he ran away from home and apparently he ended up on the Knight Bus, I don't know how he managed that since he doesn't even know it exists, and then the MINISTER FOR MAGIC found him and didn't even punish him at all! Now he's staying at the Leaky Cauldron until school starts. Those Muggles must have been really horrible if he had to blow one up.

Dad's decided that we should stay at the Leaky Cauldron the night before we have to go to King's Cross so that we can take Harry, maybe you can stay too? We could meet up at the Leaky Cauldron on the 31st and then find Harry and get our books and stuff.

I'll see you there,

Ron

P.S. What do you think I would have to do to have the Minister personally see me to tell me I'm not getting in trouble? I wish I were famous.