A/N: per a strange twist of fate, I am not J.K. Rowling, thus I own nothing but my ideas. Thanks to Kaystar742 for her tireless efforts fixing my bad American English.
Hopefully I'll be able to publish a bit more regularly now that life is settling down.
23 Christmas with the Grangers
The pair walked off the express looking slightly disheveled and both having wide grins on their faces. Anne and George both saw it, but only Anne guessed why correctly. George was still in denial and figured they'd just been short of sleep last night and were happy to be home.
"Mum, Dad," Hermione yelled, running to hug her parents. As she moved from her mother to her father, Anne pulled Harry in for a hug as well.
"Come on, you get one too you know."
"Hmmppff," came Harry's reply as he was smothered in what he'd had to rename a Granger Hug.
"Sorry dear," Anne apologized, letting him up for air, "I'm just so excited to have the two of you home."
"It's only for a week Mum," Hermione reminded her.
"I know dear, but with you, well, the two of you now," she responded. "Off at school 10 months a year, I need all the time I can get with you."
"Plus with everything that's been going on," George put in as he held the door open for them to exit Kings Cross. "Any time with you is time well spent."
"How have your classes been?" Anne asked, knowing this would excite Hermione a bit.
"Oh, they're good I guess," Hermione said evasively.
"What's wrong?" George asked concerned.
"Nothing is wrong," Harry chuckled, opening the door to George's Landrover for his wife. "She's just worried that since she only studied for an extra three hours a day for her end of terms, she's going to get a T in everything."
"T?" Anne asked as George started the car.
"Troll," Harry explained. "It's the wizarding equivalent of failing because you have the equivalent brain power."
"And she thinks that studying for three hours isn't enough?"
"No, anything less than eight is apparently a guaranteed failure." Harry said solemnly, ignoring the elbow Hermione was trying to bury in his ribs.
"I'm not that bad," she defended herself. "Besides, you threatened to withhold cuddles! That's just evil."
"Honey," Anne sighed, "We love you dearly, but in this instance, Harry is the more believable of the two of you."
"Mum," Hermione whined with a grin.
"It's true dear," Anne confirmed. "Why, I remember you once studied so hard, and gave such in depth answers, the teacher took points away for being too detailed."
"She did not," Hermione was getting indignant.
"Well, she wanted to at least," Anne grinned as they got on the road. "And now that that is over, tell us how school really went."
"Well," Harry started, then sighed, "It's been both good and bad. Like we told you in our letters, the day we got back there was an incident, another student was cursed to attack us."
"McSomething," George said. "Yes, we remember."
"Well that sparked the house meeting, and our separate quarters," Hermione picked up the tale. "No one has questioned that yet. But an unintended side effect was while the low grade harassment stopped, it's created a rather large rift between us and the rest of our house."
"They're afraid to even speak to you now aren't they?" Anne sighed.
"Basically," Harry confirmed. "There are a couple that still do. Neville and the twins, actually, almost the entire quidditch team will at least say hi. Faye is coming around too."
"There are a few from other houses that will talk to us as well," Hermione added. "Luna, Cho, and Padma from Ravenclaw. Hannah, Susan, and Cedric from Hufflepuff."
"Yeah, the other champions have been great," Harry agreed.
"Speaking of," Anne took the opening and ran with it. "How did your surprise at the Yule Ball go?"
"It was great," Hermione told her cheerfully as Harry became bright red. "No one had a clue who Fleur and Viktor were going with until we walked in." Harry realized which Yule surprise was being discussed and his blush receded. Anne had already noted it though, and made a mental note to have a talk with her daughter. "And the opening dance was everything we hoped it would be."
"Oh Good, I'm glad your work paid off."
"It did," Harry interjected. "But my favorite part was when Neville left Fleur mid dance to cut in on Viktor and Luna."
"Oh?" Anne queried, "And what happened?"
"Well, after about four dances or so," Hermione began to tell the story, "Neville is dancing with Fleur for a slow song, and just stops. He pulls back, thanks her for the wonderful time and asks her if she'd mind if he finished the dance with Luna."
"At this point, everyone else had stopped dancing to watch," Harry added, "Which is exactly how they planned it."
"Right," Hermione confirmed, "so she pretends to be confused, he explains that while he's having a lovely time, his heart belongs to another, and she sadly agrees. He steps over to Viktor and Luna, who were dancing not five feet away, and asked Luna to dance with him."
"Viktor of course plays the gentleman, offering Luna the choice. She of course picked Neville."
"I do think they went a bit overboard afterwards though," Hermione commented.
"Maybe," Harry agreed, "but if they didn't Neville and Luna would be open to getting revenge from their fans for spurning them."
"But conjuring a cloud that rained rose petals over them as they danced the last dance?"
"Jealous honey?"
"Maybe a little," Hermione admitted with a blush. "But I'm happy how things turned out anyway."
"Good," Anne agreed, then grinned. "Anything else big happen at school?"
"Not really," Hermione evaded the implication. "School was actually fairly calm after the first task. We're currently working on how to survive the second."
"You know what it is?" George asked as he turned onto A23.
"We think so," Harry said. "There's a fair bit of interpretation, but given that the people organizing this seem more interested in drama and making it exciting, rather than the lives that are affected, we're fairly sure we know what's going to happen."
"That doesn't sound very reassuring," Anne said, sounding a bit fearful.
"It really isn't," Hermione agreed. "Especially since we're about ninety-nine percent sure I'll end up involved."
"We kind of guessed that one honey," George told her. "You got involved in the first task after all."
"She doesn't mean like that," Harry said morosely. "The second task is in the Black Lake, in February mind you, and the clues tell us that we'll have to, and I quote: 'find the life at stake'. Basically it boils down to we have an hour to find and rescue a hostage. The implications are grim if we don't, though there is debate among the champions whether they'd actually do the hostages harm."
"My word," Anne gasped as George tried hard to maintain the car in traffic. "That's barbaric."
"To wizards, that's entertainment" Hermione quipped, "But the really bad part is that one of the champions is part Veela. Veela and Merpeople are hostile races, in fact, her entering the village can be considered an act of war."
"And they haven't changed anything to accommodate this?"
"We passed a message on to Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said softly. "He has not responded yet."
"I see," Anne said, "and if he doesn't?"
"Then the 2nd week of January, we go negotiate for ourselves… somehow."
"Why somehow?"
"None of us speak Mermish," Harry explained. "Though Cedric is going to ask his dad for help. Apparently there is a Mermish translator at the Ministry, so Cedric is going to ask his father to contact him on Cedric's behalf and arrange a meeting."
"And Fleur is doing the same with the French Ministry," Hermione added. "Since they will only be providing translation services, they should be ok to help."
"So if you don't get a response, what is the plan?" George asked. "Head down early and negotiate?"
"Basically," Hermione confirmed. "If we can, we're trying to get an exemption for Fleur, a one-time pass kind of thing. As she is being forced to compete or lose her magic, they may agree. Or agree to allow the rest of us to release her hostage for her."
"Wait, her hostage…" Anne started, her mind catching up. "That's what you meant earlier about being involved, you expect to be taken as Harry's hostage."
"Can you think of anyone more likely?" Hermione sighed. "We are doing everything we can to prepare, including emergency options, but yes, I expect that I won't even be asked, just stunned and enchanted to not wake until I surface."
"And there's no way to stop this?" George asked. "Surely it's considered kidnapping at that point."
"That's why we also contacted Madam Bones and asked her and Susan to come over for tea tomorrow," Hermione informed her parents. "We're hoping that there's something that she can do to help."
Dinner that night was a muted affair, as the teens savored being home and the adults mulled over the information they had been given on the way home. Dinner itself was takeaway fish and chips, a treat for their first night back. Given the short night the night before, and long day they'd had already, it was an early night for all. Despite that, Harry and Hermione didn't go right to sleep, they stayed up a bit, talking some more.
"Are you really sure about this?" Harry asked, as they climbed into bed.
"Am I sure it's the right thing? Not a hundred percent, no," she admitted, "Am I sure I want to start experimenting, yes."
"But that's…"
"Harry, I'm still figuring things out too," she sighed as she snuggled into his arms, "But I know I enjoy sleeping with you," she blushed, "I mean like this."
"I know what you mean," he kissed her bare shoulder, "I like it too. Though getting used to you wearing less will take time. Seeing you, and feeling you, in a tank top and shorts, while not generally considered sexy, does weird things to me."
"Good things I hope."
"I think so, though it does inspire thoughts that need held in."
"Good," she sighed, "Now we just have to work on getting them to come out and play."
It was the next morning, after everyone was up, that the conversation resumed over breakfast.
"So let me make sure I've got this straight," George began, "not satisfied with sending Harry against a full grown, vicious dragon, the organizers are kidnapping my daughter, putting her at the bottom of a freezing lake in February surrounded by Merfolk, a giant squid, and who knows what else? And Harry has to rescue her within an hours' time?"
"Well," Hermione pondered, "I imagine Grindylows would definitely be present as well, and I doubt the giant squid will interfere, but yes daddy, that does sum it up nicely."
"And this is entertainment to wizards?" Anne asked incredulously.
"Apparently," Harry sighed. "I just hope I get Hermione out safely."
"I hope we all get out safely," Hermione corrected, "all four champions and their hostages."
"I wonder," George began softly, "if you can identify who will likely be taken, could you place some kind of tracking spell on them?"
"It's possible, but how would we know who's being taken?" Hermione asked, then sighed at Harry's raised eyebrow. "Other than me of course."
"Well, it will probably be Cho for Cedric, unless he has a family member they can use." Harry pointed out. "As for Fleur and Viktor, we'd probably have to ask them."
"Even with two, we could try it," Hermione admitted. "But that's pretty advanced magic."
"It's a good thing we have three other champions to help us then isn't it?" Harry pointed out, then paused. "Hermione, have you noticed anything new lately with our bond?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, there have been a couple times, only a couple though, when we were separated for a bit for some reason, and I felt where you were. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, but I could tell. Like when I opened the door to the common room for you before you got there."
"I wondered how you did that, I figured you had some alert spell or something," Hermione mused. "But I think I know what you mean. In that same instance, I knew you were in the common room, not our quarters when I approached."
"I don't want to rely on it, but it may be the edge we need if we can hone it."
"I have a question," Anne cut in. "Speaking of your bond, will you be able to be separated long enough to compete?"
"Oh bollocks," Harry exclaimed. "We can barely get by for long enough to use the loo and shower apart."
"Language Harry," Hermione scolded him and looked back to her mum, "Yes, the bond will make this difficult. Even if I'm not the one chosen as his hostage, unless I go with him, it'll be an hour or more between contacts. Who knows how long it will be between when they take the hostages and the start of the task."
"I think we need to talk with Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomphrey about this, maybe even Madam Bones."
"Welcome back to our home," Anne greeted Madam Bones later that day.
"Thank you for having us," Amelia returned, as she and Susan entered the house.
"Hi Susan," Hermione greeted the redheaded girl with Madam Bones.
"Hi Hermione, Hi Harry," she returned shyly.
"Well come in, make yourselves at home." Anne guided them into the living room. Susan, stared, trying to figure out what half the things in the room were. She had spent very little time in the Muggle world growing up, much as her aunt may have desired otherwise. She knew some things, like how to dress to not arouse much suspicion, but not much more than that. She just never thought it was worth the effort. She wasn't a blood supremacist or a bigot or anything, she just never thought she would end up in the muggle world for any reason, nor did she think the muggle world had anything worth learning.
How wrong she'd been. She heard soft music coming from somewhere, but couldn't figure out where. Hermione's mom was able to turn the lights on with just a flick of a protrusion on the wall, how did she do that without magic? And it really didn't look that different from a magical home either.
"Uh, Hermione?" she asked quietly, as her aunt and the Grangers sat and began to talk. "How do you do all this without magic?"
"All what?" Hermione asked, not understanding the question.
"This," Susan said, waving her hand at the room. "Where is the music coming from? How do you turn on the lights without lighting candles or lamps? How do you keep it warm without a fire?"
"Well," Hermione grinned, "the music comes from a stereo, think a gramophone with many horns, only the gramophone can play many records, or even pull the music from the air."
"Like actually from the air?" Susan asked in awe, "Or like a wizarding wireless?"
"I'm not sure, but I'd guess like a wizarding wireless," Hermione continued, as she settled into the couch next to Harry. "As for the lights, we use electricity and light bulbs instead of lamps or candles."
"What's electricity?"
"Hmmmm," Hermione pondered, "Well, you know when you walk around on a carpet a lot, then you try to touch something and you get a shock?"
"Yeah…" Susan answered hesitantly, obviously not sure where this was going.
"Well, that shock is electricity, specifically static electricity. Think of it as kind of like stored magical power. It's like when you have two cups of water connected by a pipe with different levels, the water moves between them to make the levels the same, right? So electricity is like that but with power, electricity being high power, with me so far?"
"Maybe, keep going though."
"Ok, so if electricity is potential spell power, then think of a light bulb as an object with a lumos spell without power," Hermione started to lecture. "As we feed that potential spell power to the lumos spell, it powers the spell. By supplying or removing the potential power, we either 'cast' the lumos, or take the power away and the lumos dies."
"So by giving power to the… what was it? Light bulb?" Susan began, then continued at Hermione's nod, "So power to the light bulb is like casting Lumos, and removing the power is like casting Nox?"
"Yup,"
"And the thing on the wall,"
"A light switch," Harry supplied
"And the light switch, that gives or takes the power?"
"It's called turning on or off, but yes," Hermione confirmed.
"Ok, and the heat? How do you heat so many rooms without fireplaces?" Susan looked around, "I know we heat with Runes, but you can't use those."
"Well, we could, if I wanted to, now that I am here," Hermione countered, "which we may look at someday. But basically, we have a heater in the basement that heats the air and then blows it into the rooms around the house. It has a part that senses the temperature and tells it when to start or stop heating the air based on how warm we tell it to keep the house."
"Incredible," Susan remarked in awe, "and all this without magic?"
"Non-magicals have actually done a lot of amazing things without magic," Harry entered the conversation. "Even some of the simplest things would amaze a wizard. Lined paper and pens come to mind."
"Planes," added Hermione, "cell phones, or even house phones."
"Computers."
"CD players."
"Television."
"Ok," Susan cut them off. "What are those things?"
"Well, lined paper is a piece of paper, like parchment but lighter weight and a standard size, with lines to guide and standardize the size of lettering to be written on it. Think about it. If me and Harry both write twelve inches of an essay, who wrote more?"
"You both wrote twelve inches, it'd be the same."
"No, because I write neater." Hermione looked over at Harry. "Sorry."
"Why? You're right, as always."
"Anyway, because I write neater and smaller, I'll have written more than Harry. By using lined paper, we'll have written much closer to the same amount. Plus it helps with neatness and legibility."
"Ok, what about the rest?"
"Well, pens are like quills, they write, but you don't need an inkwell, it has the ink already in it. Planes, well, you might not believe me but it's how Muggles fly. You can pack tens or even hundreds into the bigger ones. CDs are like records but much smaller and hold more. CD Players are what you use to play them. Computers I'm not sure how to explain. And television I can show you later but it's like a wizarding photo that keeps going and has sound."
Susan was starting to look a bit flustered at this point. As she reminded herself earlier, she didn't look down on Muggles, but these claims were incredible. And without magic. Given what she had seen so far in this house, she would have imagined Hermione's family was rather wealthy given the wonders in it, but then she reminded herself that she had seen dozens of houses like it down the street.
"Are you done trying to make my niece's head explode?" Madam Bones asked from across the room.
"Oh no, we weren't doing that," Harry said quickly, "if we were trying to do that we'd have told her about the moon landings or people living in space."
"Ok, now I know you're pulling my leg," Susan said confidently. "If you'd lie to me about that, how much of the rest was a lie too?"
Harry looked at Hermione, then over at the adults. Anne and George were looking at each other and trying not to laugh, while Amelia was merely shaking her head.
"Susan, they're not lying about any of it," Madam Bones confirmed. "Muggles really did travel to the moon, they did it something like twenty or thirty years ago too."
"Not you too Auntie," Susan moaned. "It's bad enough they are pulling my leg."
"Wait, I know." Hermione exclaimed, jumping up. "Come with me Susan, I'll show you my old school books. I think there's even a picture of the landings in them."
Once Hermione had drug the recalcitrant girl upstairs, Amelia reached into her pocket and withdrew a small envelope. "Harry, it's not the present I wanted to get you, that one unfortunately wasn't ready. I hope this is enough."
"Just getting Christmas presents is a gift, I'm sure whatever you got me will be wonderful," Harry responded, taking the envelope. Inside, he found a newspaper clipping. Pulling it out, he found it was from a Muggle newspaper. Curious, he searched it trying to figure out why he'd… His thoughts were cut off as he found the pertinent article. The Dursley's.
"Harry?" Hermione called, running back into the room, "What's the matter?"
Numbly, he held out the clipping. Moving over to him, she calmly took the clipping before sitting down and let him fold into her. Holding him, she started to read the article, a crime report.
Vernon Dursley (38), Petunia Dursley (37), and their son Dudley (14) of Little Whinging, Surry, were sentenced today on charges of Attempted Murder, Child Abuse, Child Endangerment, Bribery, tax Fraud, and several other charges. Because the case involves a minor, details are limited but sources report most are in relation to a relative who was reportedly systematically abused and neglected for over ten years while in their care. Final sentencing happened today in which the elder Dursley's were each sentenced to fifty years in a medium security facility while their son was remanded to a juvenile facility where he will remain until his eighteenth birthday. Once released, any further infractions of the law will result in all charges he is guilty of having their sentences applied as they are currently suspended, but not dismissed. This unusual circumstance was used due to the nature and extent of his involvement in his parent's crimes.
Susan looked confused as Harry cried tears of relief as he was held by Hermione and the rest of his family.
