"Teacher's pet," hissed a girl as Hermione passed.
"Bookworm," added a boy, a nasty grin on his face.
"Tattletale," said another girl, for that morning, Hermione had told on her for trying to copy homework.
"Shut up!" snapped Diana. "Leave Mia alone!"
"Yeah," seconded Emily angrily. "She's nice! And Agatha, you know copying other people's work is 'gainst the rules, so Mia had to tell the teacher."
"You know nothing, Four-eyes," retorted Agatha. "You've got an ugly scar on your forehead and ugly glasses."
Emily sighed loudly. When she started second grade, the school nurse had discovered that she needed glasses. After Aunt Petunia had bought them, several of the less kind students in school started calling Emily 'four-eyes', mainly because of her friendship with Hermione, who had been labeled 'teacher's pet' and was generally disliked.
"Em's glasses aren't ugly!" said Hermione angrily. While she rarely stood up for herself, she did so for her two best friends. She glared at Agatha, and suddenly there was a flash of light and the other students burst into laughter when they saw black marker circles around Agatha's eyes. Janice, Agatha's best friend, took out a mirror,
"What have you done?" shrieked Agatha when she saw her reflection. "You're a freak as well as being teacher's pet, Hermione Granger!"
Fortunately for her, the circles washed off, as she disappeared into the bathroom for several minutes and came back out without them. "I'm telling the teacher on you, Hermione!"
"For what?" asked Diana. "The black circles? Mia didn't touch you, so Mrs. Hargreaves can't punish her."
Agatha glared at her. "Well, someone made the black circles appear on my face! And when I find out who it was, I'm telling!"
Emily stifled a chuckle and said, "Come on, Di and Mia. Let's go see if we can go to the park. Mrs. Hargreaves didn't give us any homework today."
Aunt Petunia and Hermione's parents gave permission, so the three girls headed to the park, which was a five minute walk away from their street. To their surprise, a boy was at the swings where they liked to hang out.
He had dark blond hair, gray eyes, was dressed in a green sweater and black pants, and appeared to be around their age. However, none of the three girls had seen him before, not at school or anywhere else.
"Hello," said Hermione politely. "What's your name?"
"Alexander Carrow," replied the boy. "I'm eight. You can call me Alex. What's yours?"
"I'm Hermione Granger, Mia for short. These are my best friends Diana Evans and Emily Potter. Di and Em are cousins."
Alex's eyes widened and turned to look at Emily. "I've heard of you! You're famous! 'Cept with my family and their friends. They hate you."
"I'm famous?" asked Emily, puzzled. "What for? And why would your family hate me, Alex?"
"Don't you know 'bout the Dark Lord and how your parents died and everything, Em?"
"What Dark Lord? And Aunt Petunia told me that my parents died because a really evil person killed them and wanted to kill me, but wasn't able to."
"The evil person was the Dark Lord," answered Alex. "He's got a name, beginning with 'v', but my family and their friends call him the 'Dark Lord' or 'You-Know-Who'. I think they were his followers. Anyway, he killed your parents, then tried to kill you, but you stopped him. You beat him and that's why you're famous. All the good people like you."
"But I can't be famous!" protested Emily. "Or my teachers and the other students would have said something."
A look of understanding appeared on Alex's face. "Oh, you're living with Muggles! That's why you don't know. You're only famous in the wizarding world."
"Muggles?" asked Diana, puzzled.
"People that can't do magic," explained Alex.
"And what wizarding world?" demanded Hermione. "Magic's not real. Wizards like Merlin don't exist."
"Yes, they do, but Muggles don't know 'bout it," said Alex patiently. "'Cept for the Muggle prime minister and those that either marry a wtich or wizard or have relatives are one. Like your grandparents, Em. Your mother was a witch, even though her family was Muggle. She's what the wizarding world call 'Muggleborn'. The nice ones, that is. Mean ones like my family call them 'Mudbloods'. I don't like that."
"So I'm a witch?" asked Emily. "Does that mean I have to fly on a broom, wear black robes, have a black cat, and look ugly and have warts?"
"No!" exclaimed Alex. "Well, you'll have to wear black robes when you go to Hogwarts, 'cause that's the school uniform. Hogwarts is the school where witches and wizards go to learn magic in Britain. Other countries have different schools. And you should learn to fly on a broom, 'cause it's fun. But you don't need the cat or warts or look ugly. An owl's a better pet. They deliver letters."
"What about me and Mia?" asked Diana.
"Have you done anything strange?"
Diana frowned, then said, "I once made my blocks float to me. And when a boy teased me, I think I made his pants fall down without me touching them."
"Agatha had those black circles appear round her eyes earlier," said Hermione thoughtfully. "And there was the time when I ac'dent'ly broke Mum's favorite dish and it repaired itself."
"Then you're witches too, Mia and Di," said Alex. "But don't go telling everyone. Muggles aren't s'posed to know about magic 'cept the ones I told you about."
"Then why did you tell us, Alex?" asked Hermione. "You didn't know we were witches 'til after we told you 'bout the stuff we did."
"I forgot." Suddenly there was a loud pop and a tiny creature, with bat-like ears, large eyes almost the size of tennis balls, and dressed in a ragged pillowcase, appeared. "Master Alex!" he exclaimed in a high-pitched voice. "Master Carrow is looking for you! Farra is taking you home before Master Carrow finds out you is leaving the house."
Alex sighed. "Great, Father wants me. This is Farra, a house-elf. He works for my family. Come to the park tomorrow afternoon and I'll try to met you three again and tell you some more 'bout the wizarding world. Let's go, Farra. And don't tell Father or anyone else 'bout my being here and talking with these girls."
Farra nodded and grabbed Alex's hand. With a crack, the two disappeared.
The three girls exchanged looks and then went back to the Granger home to discuss what had happened in the park. While Alex seemed to be a nice boy, they weren't quite sure if they believed him about the wizarding world, though they had to admit that they'd done strange things that could only be magical in nature. Finally they spoke with Aunt Petunia when she returned from work. She confirmed what Alex had said and gave some details on deaths of Emily's parents.
Since Aunt Petunia wasn't the lying type, Emily believed her and Diana and Hermione did the same. They promised not to tell anyone else about it, and were given permission to spend time with Alex and learn more about the wizarding world. Aunt Petunia also said that she would speak with the Drs. Granger about it and inform them that Hermione seemed to be a witch.
Author's note: As you may have guessed, Alex is the son of Amycus Carrow. His mother died soon after he was born, though, and he's being brought up by his father and grandparents. He doesn't share their views on Muggles and Muggleborns, however, and likes to sneak out of the house with the help of Farra to play in the park. Whenever Alex goes to the park, he has Farra transfigure his robes into Muggle clothing.