Before Hogwarts

Summer 3 (age 10) part 3

"School would be finished at the end of the week", Harry thought as he lay in the bed just before going to sleep. He had just thought of a question that he wanted to ask his Head of House about elementals, "What spells, if any, worked on elementals"? Harry had tried a few on his and none of them worked, in fact the only one that had any effect was the incendio on Firebeard and it made him stronger for a few minutes. Harry had also found that he could block both his elementals from his mind, but it made them weaker when he did this if he kept it up for more than a few minutes.

Finally the last day came, Harry, Hermione, Tom, and Terri enjoyed the last meal of the term together. They promised each other to keep in touch as Harry and Hermione didn't know if they would come back to Peaks or not. The Headmistress stood and made the end-of-term announcements, she then asked Harry to come forward. Once Harry was at the head table Alana said that it was expected for first year magical studies students to be able to cast some of their spells wandlessly, but that Harry had achieved casting 99% of the spells without a wand and had gone on to cast several higher level spells also.

Next Hermione was asked to come forward and it was announced that these two had not only the highest grades for their year but for the school as a whole, in that they had maintained an "E" in every subject - both magical and non-magical. Alana asked for a round of applause for the two students, and apologized for embarrassing them.

Rick and Sirius showed up around 10am and Harry and Hermione were ready to go, all they had to wait on was Lucy to finish packing. Remus would join them later as he had volunteered to stay and help with the rest of the students who hadn't left yet. Alana came by and spoke with Rick and Sirius to convey her thanks for having Harry and Hermione for the term, they had set a standard that the others would have to follow.

The group soon arrived at the house they would be using for the next two months until they returned to England. Rick said that they were scheduled to go to Disneyland the following Monday for three days and then Harry and the rest would get a chance to see some more of the USA that few foreign wizards got to see. The kids spent several hours telling Rick and Sirius about their schooling and what had happened. Rick and Sirius were surprised when first Harry then Hermione called their elementals to introduce them. Then Lucy asked Windermere to show herself and that was almost more than Rick and Sirius could take, after which Lucy explained how she had come to be bound to Windermere.

On Monday the whole "family" headed to Disneyland for the next three days. The group enjoyed both sides of the theme park, Sirius seemed to enjoy the magic side more as he didn't have to hide his wand and such from people. Harry and Hermione could now say they had swam in both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Harry and Hermione even used their elementals to go down deep to see different types of ocean life and to watch a pod of whales play.

Everyone was having a ball, the kids spent time flying while the adults spent time relaxing. Harry and Hermione also spent time doing extra studying their favorite subjects, they also got to meet a few of the local kids from magical families that lived close by. The Grangers showed up to visit for a few weeks and it was then that the adults got together to plan Harry's birthday surprise party.

Harry was introduced to baseball and the Americanized version of soccer, or football as it was called in England. Both kids even got invited to play soccer by the locals, magical and non-magical, just so they could show some of the differences between the two styles. The magical kids were just as fit as the non-magical kids as they were encouraged to do physical activities, unlike the magical kids back in England. The "family" even went camping, which Harry and Hermione enjoyed; Sirius just complained that it was inconvenient to not use magic.

On July 31st Harry was awaken early by Hermione and dragged to the kitchen for breakfast and a family celebration of Harry's birthday. The presents were many and varied, Hermione got Harry some books on Magical Defense plus a new soccer ball, Lucy gave Harry a picture of a fully setup potions lab and said it was waiting back home for him as he had progressed far enough to need it. After breakfast Harry was asked what he wanted to do for his birthday and the whole group went to the beach. This was the first time Dan and Emma got to see Hermione in her new swimwear, a modest two-piece in Lime Green (which didn't go well with Harry's Flame Red trunks).

Around 3pm Rick was summoned to the office for something and had to leave. It was only an hour later when everyone decided to return home to get cleaned up and go out to eat for supper. They had just gotten in the house when Lucy remembered that she had left something for Harry in the backyard and sent him out to get it, saying he would know it when he saw it. Just as Harry walked out the back door about thirty people jumped out and shouted "Happy Birthday Harry". There standing in the middle was Rick with a big grin on his face. The group was a mixture of local kids and some parents who had met Harry and Hermione over the past few weeks, and it was a mixture of both worlds - magical and non-magical.

There was cake and ice cream and party favors for everyone. Harry received many more gifts and had a real good party, in fact it was sad to see it end. The grand finale was a huge fireworks display that threatened to out do even Disneyland's, courtesy of Sirius and Remus. To Harry this was the best birthday he had ever had in all of his ten years. Harry was surprised when he found one more present on his bed that night, an envelope addressed to him. When he opened the envelope he found a card from Alana wishing him a happy birthday and a piece of parchment inviting him to attend a weekend workshop in wand and magical aids construction. At the bottom was a handwritten note saying Hermione was invited too.

The next morning Harry showed the card and invite to Hermione and the rest of the "family". The date for the workshop was the second weekend in October, but he needed to reply by September 1st so the school could plan the event and know how many people were coming besides students. Harry asked if he and Hermione could attend and was told that they were sure they could arrange something, if the Grangers agreed to Hermione's going. Hermione said she would ask her parents as soon as they got up. Once the Grangers were up they had a few questions about the invitation, how much could the kids learn in just a weekend was the first one. That was answered by the fine print saying it would be a compressed weekend, the equivalent of three weeks in two days. The next question was how to handle the cost and transportation, Sirius answered by pulling out a letter from Alana saying this was to be a reward for Harry and Hermione's achievements during the summer session and that if needed Peaks would supply a portkey for the kids and one adult. Dan and Emma looked at each other and then said Hermione could attend.

The whole group packed up and left for England the following weekend, Dan and Emma needed to get back to their work. The kids needed to start getting ready for school, and Rick needed to start his new job as the US liaison to the English ministry; this was a new position mandated by the ICW to keep an eye on the English, several countries were asked to send a representative. The US, France, Japan, and Italy were the ones chosen to send their representatives. "This could get real interesting as we each report to our respective ICW representative as to what the English are doing, and not doing, in regards to the ICW requests for change.", Rick explained with a smile.

Rick told them he had met the woman from Italy and the man from Japan, both thought that the educational standards in England were outdated and needed changing. The woman from France had not been decided yet so nobody knew what to expect from that country. But education was only one of the areas that the ICW wanted reformed, they wanted a close watch on the wizengamot and ministry also.

The trip back to London was without incident and everyone was glad to be back in very familiar surroundings. Twinkie was ecstatic to see her "family" back and had a huge meal ready for them. Several of the other elves were heard to say welcome back also, it seemed that Rick and Lucy had hired a few more over the summer so Twinkie wouldn't have to do all the work herself, she was now the senior house elf of the household of Green.

It was a two weeks before school started when Harry asked the question of what to do about the schooling he had received in the states, he was now pasted the level he was scheduled to attend in public school - as was Hermione. Lucy said she would see what could be done the next day, but if worst came to worst then they would see about having home school for Harry and Hermione.

The next morning Lucy, armed with a copy of Harry's transcript, went to see the school administration. At first she was given the run-around, then she demanded to speak with the headmaster of the school. That turned out to be even more of a problem, the head was out sick and the assistant wasn't sure how to handle the request without having Harry test out of the classes. This wasn't acceptable to Lucy and she requested that the assistant head call the superintendent for instructions as to how to handle a non-English transcript. The superintendent's office said the transcript should have been submitted at least three months in advance to be considered. That was the last straw for Lucy, she told the assistant head that Harry would not be attending the school and would be home-schooled that year. When she left the school, Lucy went straight to see Emma and Hermione and told them what she had learned. Emma made a call to Hermione's school and got basically the same information, the transcript should have been submitted three months ago (before the classes were even completed) by the school itself. But, if she could get an official transcript they would evaluate it and then adjust Hermione's schedule by Christmas. Hermione was now listed as a home school student.

That night when Rick and Remus heard about the situation with the school they both agreed that home school was the way to go. Remus said he was certified by the London school system as a teacher and he could take care of the lessons. The only catch was he wasn't sure he could keep the two kids occupied and interested since he usually taught lower years. Also, with Harry and Hermione's advanced studies he wasn't sure he could keep up with the two, especially in math. Remus asked if it was too late to get Harry back in at Peaks; Harry was all for this except "What about Hermione?" was the question he asked.

Lucy said she would talk with Emma tomorrow and see what she thought about the idea, meanwhile Rick could talk with Alana to see if it was too late for the kids to return. Just as she finished the phone rang and it was Hermione, she had not received an answer when she called Harry and thought he might be there. Lucy took charge and told the kids they could talk later after she had spoken with Hermione's parents about the schooling. It was an hour later when Harry was called back to the phone to talk with Hermione. The only information either one had was wait and see what Rick found out.

A/N: Well, I seem to have left you hanging. What will Harry and Hermione do? Will they go back to Peaks or will they stay and let Remus try and teach them the "normal" school subjects? Please note I have changed the rating and pairings; it's now T and H/Hr

I really hate cliff hangers, but I have not made up my mind about the next school year yet. Maybe some of you readers would like to make your thoughts known to me in a review. Either way the next chapter will deal with the workshop mostly.

Please be kind and press the green button below and leave a review.