Chapter Four: The Girl
Unfortunately with three kids missing, the wizarding world was in uproar. This meant that their time laying low in the muggle world was considerably longer. Also, Sirius was still visiting Potter Manor on a regular basis. He had to in order to keep suspicion away from him; after all, if he disappeared then everyone would think he was behind it all. So, for a whole month, the wizarding world searched and searched for the three of them extensively until it finally sunk in that it was hopeless. Sirius eventually told James and Lily that with Harry missing, his visits would be less frequent and they understood. Harry was all Sirius had in his life.
It was now Halloween and Sirius had somehow managed to find the girl. Ron's visions of her had helped. He had seen the name of her school and Sirius had somehow tracked it down, and so off they went. The school was located in the county of Kent, and luckily for them it was a school that had a name that was unique. It was a Tuesday morning and so they waited for the girl outside of the school gates until she arrived. Ron was the one doing all the watching because he was the only one who had seen her face.
'That's her!' he shouted when a girl with lots of bushy brown hair and large front teeth was dropped off by a rather pretty woman who could only be the girl's mother. Luckily the car had been charmed with a Muggle-Repelling Charm and an Invisibility Charm, so Ron opened his window to hear their conversation.
'Are you sure you'll be all right walking home on your own?' asked her mother.
'Yes, Mum, I'll be fine, I'm not a child,' replied the girl.
Ron couldn't help snorting as he listened to them.
'All right, sweetheart, I'll see you tonight, I love you,' said her mother.
'Yes, Mum, you will, and I love you too,' replied the girl before giving her mother one last hug and going into the school.
'So now we wait,' said Ron.
The wait was long and very boring but eventually the girl re-emerged and began walking home and so they followed. As they did they passed a nice looking play park and eventually the girl went into her house.
Then twenty minutes later she came back out and began walking to the park they had passed on the way. The girl was carrying a book and she sat on a bench and began to read.
Harry, Ron and Ginny got out of the car and went into the park and watched her as she read oblivious to them and the other kids too.
'Well, well, well, if it isn't Hermione Stranger? And look, she's reading again!' said a boy with a face like a rat as his companions laughed. The rat-faced boy then grabbed the book from out of Hermione's hands.
'Give that back!' she cried.
'Hmm, no!' said the boy.
Hermione made a grab for the book but the boy threw it to one of his friends and he started to hold it high above her head and teased her too.
'Piggy in the middle?' he grunted.
'More like beaver in the middle!' the rat-faced boy said laughing.
The second boy then threw the book back to the rat-faced boy who caught it and Hermione, who was now crying, ran to try and get the book back in vain.
Ron had seen enough and moved toward them and said, 'OI, Rat-boy, give her back her book!'
They all turned around to see Ron, Harry and Ginny walking toward them, what they didn't see was Hermione's eyes as they went wide.
Ron then simply punched the rat-faced boy on the nose and took back the book. Then the other boy moved towards Ron, but Ginny kicked him hard in the shins, the others who were gathered around walked away.
Ron then walked over to Hermione and handed her the book.
'Thank you,' she said shyly.
'You're welcome, I'm Ron, Ron Weasley, and you are?'
'Hermione Granger,' she replied.
'That's a nice name,' Ron said kindly, before introducing Ginny and Harry.
Hermione blushed at being complimented and said, 'Thank you, nice to meet you all.'
There was no easy way around telling her anything so they had decided beforehand to be blunt.
'Hermione, do you believe in magic?' asked Ron.
'If I say yes, are you going to tease me?' she replied.
'No, we won't tease you,' said Ginny.
'Then yes, I do, why?' said Hermione.
'Because magic is real,' said Ron.
'It is?' asked Hermione.
'Yeah, but we can't show you any. But, have you ever made anything happen when you were scared or angry?' said Ron. 'Something you couldn't explain.'
Hermione's eyes went wide again and she nodded.
'Well, Hermione, er, don't be offended when I say you're a witch,' said Ron.
'A witch, me?' she said going pale.
'Yeah, but don't worry, we're magical too. Harry and I are wizards and Ginny is a witch too.'
'Really?' she asked.
'Yes, really, I promise,' said Ron.
'That explains everything … why I don't fit in … the strange things that happen around me … the dreams …' said Hermione.
'Dreams?' asked Harry.
'Yes, well, I think they are, but they can't be … because the people in them are right in front of me,' said Hermione.
'They are visions, Hermione; the three of us have had them too, of each other. Which of us have you seen more clearly?'
'You, Ron, you're the one who I see more clearly than the others … but I do see Harry and Ginny, but they're a bit blurry … and all three of you are as sad as me …'
'Hermione,' began Harry, 'we'd like you to come with us. You see, my godfather has found somewhere for us to train to prepare us for the magical world, but there's a catch. We need to leave right now, this second, which means you can't go home to your parents and tell them.'
'I can't just leave my parents with nothing!'
'You'll be able to write to them, unlike Ron and me, we know you'll actually be missed,' said Harry. 'I promise.'
Hermione looked at the three children she had been having visions about for months and then said, 'All right, let's go!'
When they got to Sirius' car and got inside, Ron introduced Hermione to Sirius.
'Are you going to be training us, Mr Black?' she asked.
Sirius smiled and said, 'First of all, please don't call me Mr Black, it makes me feel old, so please, it's Sirius, Siri, or Padfoot, okay?'
'Okay, Sirius, like the Dog Star, right?'
'Yeah, the same as the Dog Star, and no, I won't be training you,' replied Sirius.
'Who will be?' asked Hermione.
Sirius then drove the car away from Kent and said, 'First we have to go to France.'
'Really?' said Hermione, 'I've just started to teach myself French! But who is in France?'
Sirius then turned into a cul-de-sac before switching on the Invisibility Charm and selecting the Flying Gear and lifting off before saying, 'Have you ever heard of Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel?'