Before Hogwarts

Summer 3 (age 10) part 1

Rick had told Harry and Hermione that they would spend the first week of summer vacation at home and then come to his house for the summer. The reason for this was so he could evaluate what Dumbledore did once summer arrived and Dumbledore had more time to interact with Harry, as Hogwarts would be out also. What Rick didn't tell was that Sirius was coming back to England for the summer and would be teaching the kids transfiguration while Remus taught charms, Rick would teach defense (with help from Sirius), and Lucy would handle potions and herbology.

Sirius arrived on Thursday before they were to pick Harry and Hermione up on Friday. Sirius said that Rick, Remus, Lucy and himself needed to talk as he had some news for them.

"I had the chance to speak with the Headmistress at Peak's School in America and she has offered to let Harry and Hermione enroll for their summer school session if they are interested. This session only runs for a month but the students get the equivalent of a year's credit. The only cost would be the transport from here to there. I wanted to get the opinion of the three of you before mentioning it to the kids, so what do you think?", Sirius asked with a smile.

The four talked this idea over for several minutes before it was decided to let the kids decide if they were interested, it would take some of the pressure off the others as far as being instructors. The next day Sirius picked Harry up, and had a few words with Vernon and Petunia, while Lucy picked Hermione up. The two kids were happy to see each other, and the adults, and were soon talking about school and their friends and such. It was after supper that Harry and Hermione were told about the summer school program that was available.

"Harry, Hermione, I have come across a special opportunity for the two of you. In the course of my job in the states I ran into the headmistress of the Peak's School. After I found and fixed a problem she had at school she offered to enroll the two of you for a special summer session. The session runs for 30 days, but you get a year's worth of credit. They don't only cover magical but non-magical education, you would be able to skip a year of non-magical school once the session was over. Also, if you wanted to you could test out of your first year of magical school afterwards.

Peak's School makes use of time compression so that 30 days would be 300 days worth of schooling and you would still have about 45 days to relax for the summer and to have fun. The four of us talked this over and decided that you two would have to make the decision since it takes time away from your fun and vacation. I'm sure you have questions and I will try to answer them, anything I can't we have to ask the headmistress. So, ask your questions", Sirius explained to both kids.

Hermione had the first question, "What's time compression?". Sirius explained that the session lasted 30 "regular" days, but those days were each 10 days long inside the school; and that while their minds and cores would be 300 days older their bodies would only age 30 days. Both kids had a few questions but Sirius was able to answer them to their satisfaction. The final thought was it wouldn't hurt to go check it out, Dan and Emma were to be invited for a weekend trip also.

The following weekend the group made the trip to the states and to the school. They were met at the airport by one of the instructors and guided to the school via portkey from a special room at the airport. Once at the school they were shown to the office of the headmistress, Alana Grimmore, and introductions were made. Alana appeared to be about the same age as the adults, mid-thirties to mid-forties, about 5' 7" tall with bright red hair and a not too bad body build.

"Well, now I 'm sure that there are several questions you have for me and I will try to answer them after the usual 'canned' speech that we use for all prospective students and parents. Peaks School of Mystical Application is only about 10 years old and we had already gotten a reputation as one of the best small schools in the states. Our students are divided into four groups or houses. Those houses are based on the four elementals, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. We decide your house by having you hold a wand that has been imbued by an elemental of each division, whichever wand had the strongest reaction shows to which house you belong. Our school accepts students starting at age six, but the magical instruction doesn't really start until age 10 or 11. The first few years are basic education only as required by the government for all children under the age of 16. When a child reaches the age of 10 we add the classes that will benefit them the most as far as magical control. At age 11 they start the real magical education, but we still require that they get their full non-magical education as well. We instruct in basic magical usage and also in some of the local Indian rituals. We have several electives courses such as introduction to wand and staff construction, construction and use of other focus items, and one of our most popular electives is spell crafting - but that is a junior and senior elective. We are privileged to have a member of the International Potion Master's Guild as our potion instructor so we can offer advanced potion instruction up to the Master's level.

The only area we are weak in right now is Defense as our primary instructor has retired and his replacement won't be available until September, but we hope to get a few people from the MBI to come in and do the classes this summer. As well as being the headmistress, I am also the transfiguration instructor, for the summer session, as I hold a Master certification from the ICW. Now as to your questions, please ask any that come to mind.", Alana explained with a smile.

The first question was from Hermione and she wanted more information on the "time compression" during the summer session. Alana went into very detailed information, but made it very understandable even to Dan and Emma. Harry asked if they had a Quidditch team during the summer; but Alana said they only had inter-house teams, but sometimes they carried over to the regular season team that played other schools. During the summer anyone could tryout, except first years as they usually didn't have the broom skills to play well and be safe. Harry looked disappointed at this situation, as did Hermione.

The group talked for about an hour with Alana before she told them that the kids would have to take several tests to see where they stood academically both in non-magic and magical education so their classes could be adjusted to fit them. Alana explained that first year magical students were encouraged to learn wandless magic as it was the most common since they had been doing that since birth. After all, wasn't that just "accidental" magic? Alana went to a shelf and returned with a wooden box that when opened revealed four wands laying on velvet.

"These are the sorting wands, I ask that each child pick one that appeals to them and give it a wave. They then see if the wand responds to them, if not then they choose another one until they have tried all four and shown which elemental they are closest. Hermione, ladies first", Alana said.

Hermione followed the instructions and held her hand over each wand to see which caught her attention. The first wand that "called" to her had what appeared to be a drop of water on it. When she picked it up it felt cool and moist; when she waved it nothing happened. The next wand she chose had a flame on it, this one produced a small flame when waved; next the one with several wavy lines on it, it produced a whirlwind that scattered all the papers in Alana's office. The last wand had a small piece of rock embedded in the handle and it produced no reaction when waved.

"Well done Hermione, it would appear that you are more attuned to the elemental air, with slight attunement to fire", Alana told Hermione.

Next Harry tried the wands, the first one he chose was fire. He waved the wand and a small being made up of fire appeared and bowed towards him then disappeared. Next, after being told to go on, he picked up the one with the water drop and got a room full of fog. Next, the one with the wavy lines produced a small whirlwind that hovered just in front of him. The last wand, the one with the rock in the handle, produced several flowering plants that made the room smell like springtime.

"Amazing, I've never seen one so young produce a fire elemental, not to mention the small air elemental also. Harry you are very much attuned to fire, but you seem to have an affinity for all the elementals. I have heard of only one other who had a connection to all four and that was Merlin. History tells us that his primary was air, but he could use the other three on occasion. Harry I am very impressed with your talents and look forward to having you as a student here", Alana expressed with happiness and wonderment.

Sirius, who had been quiet all this time, finally spoke and said he might know where Alana could find an instructor for Defense. When questioned Sirius suggested that Remus would be excellent at that position. Remus of course said that wouldn't be a good idea and Sirius knew why. Alana asked if she and Remus could talk privately for a few minutes and had an elf show the rest to the great hall for the evening meal. When Alana and Remus joined them a short while later, Remus was smiling and so was Alana.

"Well, I had a hard time doing it but Sirius was correct in his suggestion of Remus as Defense instructor and he has agreed to do it if Harry and Hermione are students during the summer session. So, what do you two have to say; does Remus have a job for the summer or not?", Alana asked Harry and Hermione.

The two kids looked at each other and then each looked at their adults, the Grangers just nodded their heads and Hermione grinned. Rick, Lucy, and Sirius turned to Remus and asked if he had his lessons planned yet since he would be responsible for two very smart kids. After the meal, Alana arranged for quarters for the group and said that classes started the following Monday, as today was Friday, and they needed to get the materials the kids would need for classes. Alana told them that when they went to get the school robes to tell them that Harry was in Fire and Hermione was in Air and the shop would get them fixed up correctly (that way nobody would have to transfigure the robes later to the correct house.)

The next two days were spent getting Harry and Hermione their supplies, robes, paper and pens, and whatever else they needed. Of course Sirius kept at Remus about his private talk with Alana and the fact they both were smiling when they joined the rest. Remus just took it and never said much about it, just that Alana had overcome his objections.

A/N: Well, sorry for the wait for this chapter but I needed to get everything straightened out in my head here. Before any of you ask, NO Harry will not be all powerful - he will just have an edge in some things :)

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