Chapter 4

Witch

Hermione sat in her chair at the kitchen table, her legs swinging nervously, as she looked down at her hands in her lap. She had just told her parents about every odd occurrence she could remember, closing with her fall from the tree.

Her head snapped up when her dad cleared his throat. "Hermione, why don't you go up to your room while your mother and I talk?"

"Okay, Daddy," Hermione said as she stood and turned towards the stairs. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, but she held them in until she got to her room. She hated crying in front of people, even her parents.

Meow.

Hermione gasped. There was that tabby cat, laying on her bed as though it did it every day. It must have snuck in earlier! She didn't want to get into any more trouble, so she slowly approached it. It backed away from her. Hermione lunged at it with her arms stretched out in front of her, but it was much quicker than her. The cat was already out the door before Hermione pushed herself off the bed to run after it.

The tabby had stopped at the bottom of the stairs as though waiting for her.

"Stay there, kitty!" Hermione whispered as she slowly descended the stairs.

She wasn't surprised when the cat headed off toward the kitchen instead. "No, kitty!" Hermione sped up, hoping to catch it before her parents saw. She had gotten in so much trouble a few years ago for bringing home a different stray animal every week. Now was not the time to be in trouble on top of being crazy.

"I think Hermione needs to be checked out by a doctor," her dad said.

"John! There is no way I am going to subject our eleven year old daughter to a barrage of tests just for a few simple fantasies. She's a kid! I'd be concerned if she didn't have an imagination!" her mom screeched.

Hermione had stopped cold at their words and momentarily forgot about the cat.

"What the-?" exclaimed her dad. "What is this cat doing in here?"

Hermione ran to the door, her mouth open to apologize and to say she would throw it out immediately. Instead all that escaped was a gasp.

As soon as Hermione had passed over the threshold, the cat grew larger and became human shaped. It was a woman!

She had dark hair that was piled upon her head in a bun, glasses that rested at the tip of her nose, and she wore dark emerald robes and a pointed hat upon her head.

Her parents' chairs had both clattered to the ground in their haste to rush over to Hermione. They now stood protectively in front of her as she peeked around her dad to stare at the strange woman.

"Hello. Sorry to startle you, but transforming in front of the parents of a Muggle-born makes everything I say afterwards more believable. Why don't we sit with some tea and I will explain everything?"

As the woman spoke, her parents seemed to relax slightly. It didn't seem like she was going to kill them all or anything, so they abided her suggestion and they both frankly needed to sit down as their legs were still a little shaky. Mrs. Granger started to walk to the stove to heat up some water, but the strange woman said, "Don't worry about it dear, I'll take care of it." She waved a stick and suddenly there was a whole tea tray, complete with biscuits, on the table.

Hermione couldn't seem to move; her mom guided her to the table, sitting protectively between her daughter and this stranger.

After they had all gotten their tea, the woman spoke again, "I am Professor Minerva McGonagall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hermione's name has been down in our books since she was born." She looked directly at Hermione, "You made quite an impression that day, young lady. We believe your daughter's magic helped save you, Mrs. Granger. Of course she didn't realize what she was doing, she simply sensed danger and the magic took over. In fact, it has done that all her life."

"I don't know what you mean. I was with Joyce the entire time," Mr. Granger said.

"Yes, you were, and you saw everything. I am afraid, though, that a rookie Obliviator thought you were the Muggle doctor and blocked your mind of all memory of the magic you saw that night and replaced it with everything going normally. Would you like for me to unblock your memory?"

"I…well…yes."

"Very well," she pointed her stick at Mr. Granger, smirking as he cringed, and waved it as she said something in Latin.

"John? Are you okay?" asked Mrs. Granger as she reached across the table to touch his hand.

"I'm fine. Oh my God…there was so much blood." He looked at Hermione and reached across the table to touch her cheek, "Thank you, sweetie. I could've lost…oh my God."

Hermione's dad bent over the table, supporting his head with his hand. She knew her dad loved her and her mom, but she had never imagined the mere thought of losing them would shake him so. They were not the kind of family that shared feelings.

"Now, Hermione won't be able to begin her studies until next September since the school year began on the first as it always does."

Hermione had almost forgotten the professor was there while wrapped up in a moment with her parents.

"So, I have to wait until next year?" Hermione didn't expect to feel so let down. It was not as though she had had any idea about Hogwarts just ten minutes prior. Now, all she could think about everything she didn't know about this other world and how much she wanted to learn.

"To go to school, yes."

Mrs. Granger spoke at this, "What makes you think we're going to let our daughter go off to some place we've never heard of to learn about magic? I mean, how absurd is that? Are there separate classes for pulling a rabbit out of one's hat and sawing people in half?"

Hermione sat lower in her chair, embarrassed by her mother's rudeness towards someone she found herself respecting more and more as time progressed.

Professor McGonagall laughed lightly, "Certainly not. I teach Transfiguration. I'll show you what we can do." And with a wave of her wand, one of the tea cups became a brightly colored bird which circled the table before settling on the professor's shoulder.

Mrs. Granger still was not impressed, "What use is that? Will Hermione learn anything useful at your school?"

"Hermione will learn to control her magic. As she grows older it will become more and more unmanageable if she doesn't. Many witches and wizards throughout our history have gone crazy from it. Some have even died as a direct result."

The Grangers were completely still. Mr. Granger spoke first. "We should let her go, Joyce. You didn't see what I saw…what the professor here just revealed to me. It wasn't some parlor trick…what Hermione can do…it can save lives."

The witch nodded, "This is true. We have Healers, which are like your doctors except instead of medicine, they use magic. I assure you that it takes just as many years of study to learn as being a Muggle doctor does. We also have our own government, stores, media, law enforcement, and yes even our own bad guys." As she said "bad guys," Professor McGonagall's eyes became weary. Hermione furrowed her brow.

"Now, you do have the option of not sending Hermione to Hogwarts. She will need a wand either way, though. If you choose not to send her to Hogwarts, we have measures in place now to provide a tutor to teach Hermione to control her magic."

Hermione's stomach lurched. She had to go to Hogwarts. She just had to! For the first time in her life, it felt like everything was falling into place. There was a place in this world where she belonged and where she could possibly make a difference. As incredible as it sounded, Hermione hadn't doubted for a moment that she was a witch once the professor had told them. It explained too much to be false; it was too true to be taken from her before she had the chance to have it.

Her mother glanced at her father, "We'll think about it."

Professor McGonagall nodded understandingly and rose from her chair. She waved her wand to clear the virtually untouched tea tray and with another wave, the bird vanished into thin air. Hermione's stomach was in a vice and she couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"No! You can't leave! You just can't!" Unexpected tears swelled in her eyes, but Hermione blinked and let them flow freely down her cheeks, unabashed in her determination. "I have to know everything! Where is Hogwarts? What does it look like? What kind of classes would I take? How many others are there like me? I need to know! I have to know!" Hermione broke off into sobs and her mother pulled her into an embrace.

"Is there anything that we could read to learn more about this school?" her mother asked.

"Yes, of course." She waved her wand and presented Hermione with a large book. "Take care of it; it's my personal copy," she said with a kind smile.

"Oh I will! I will!" Hermione exclaimed as she immediately began flipping through the pages, trying to read it all at once.

And there she sat, long after Professor McGonagall had made her exit, only looking up at the loud cracking sound it made. Her parents had to pry the book out of her hands and force her to her bath and bed. Once under her warm blankets, with her soft pillow beneath her head, Hermione fell asleep immediately. She dreamed of a castle that night and the people she imagined to be within it. They were all like her and she had never felt so alive as she did in that first dream of Hogwarts, the place where she belonged.

A/N: Sorry this took so freaking long to write. I wrote the first paragraph months ago, the middle part a couple of weeks ago and I just now finished it. It's partly because I got distracted by other things and partly because when I sat down to write it, I realized how hard this moment is to write. Not only did I have to figure out Hermione's reaction, but her parents' as well. I'm hoping the next chapter will flow more quickly out of my mind and onto the page.