Chapter Ten: The Best Parents in the Whole World
October 31st, 1989.
It was still early in the evening when Richard Granger sat down to watch the news when there was a knock on the front door. As his wife was making dinner, he took it upon himself to answer the door, when he opened the door he found a handsome man on his doorstep.
'Yes, can I help you?' Richard asked the man.
'Are you Richard Granger, father to Hermione Granger?' he asked back.
'Yes, I am, why?' replied Richard.
'My name is Lord Black, may I come inside to talk to you?' he asked.
Richard could not help being taken aback and invited the man into his house. Richard led him into the living room and invited him to take a seat before collecting his wife from the kitchen.
'My husband says you are here to talk to us about Hermione, Lord Black?' she said.
'Yes, I am, and please, call me Sirius,' he replied.
'Sirius, like the Dog Star?' asked Helen.
Sirius chuckled and said, 'That's what Hermione asked too, word for word! And yes, Sirius like the Dog Star, you see in my family it is tradition to be named after a star or a constellation, I even have a cousin called Nymphadora!'
'Oh my,' said Helen.
Sirius then cleared his throat and began to speak.
'My godson, his friends and I were in the area looking for Hermione, although we did not know her by name. You see we were looking for her for a reason. Look, there is no easy way of saying this but your daughter is a witch, she is magical, I know this because for the last few months my godson and his friends have been having dreams and visions about her. In these visions she is sad and lonely and almost always being picked on by the other children in her class at school. Hermione, too, has had the same visions as my godson and his friends; she sees one of them more clearly than the others, in her case, my godson's best friend, Ron.
'Now, why am I telling you this? I am telling you that since they met each other half an hour ago, the four of them have become fast friends. They have something in common, you see, they are sad in their own way. Harry, my godson, is sad because his parents favour his twin over him and so I took him away from a house where he was treated like he was second best. Ron and Ginny Weasley are sad because their mother favours Ginny to the point where Ron is ignored, and the two are so close that it makes Ginny sad that Ron is sad. The only difference between them all is that the girls will actually be missed.
'I have also offered Hermione the chance to learn and train in all the Magical Arts with a couple of friends of mine, and Hermione would like to go with them. The visions the four of them have been sharing about each other tells me that they are destined to become great friends and maybe more, but only time will tell. What Hermione and I would like is your permission and your blessing to take her to France to begin her training as soon as possible, preferably tonight.'
When Sirius had finished his monologue, Richard and Helen looked at one another for a moment before Richard said, 'Okay, er, don't take this the wrong way, but if you are magical, can we see some magic?'
'Of course,' said Sirius before he drew his wand and turned a cup into a plate before turning it back again.
'Wow, are you saying Hermione can do that, too?' asked Richard.
'Yes, when she learns how,' replied Sirius.
'You want her to go to France with you and the other three kids to train?' asked Helen.
'Yes, I do, and so does she, and I think Harry, Ron and Ginny have become very fond of her in the short time they have known her and vice versa,' said Sirius.
'In that case, may we come along too? I know we are not magical but we want to see Hermione happy with her new friends,' said Helen.
'I don't see why not, but I warn you we will be travelling by magical means – a Portkey – I'll explain later, so if you want to start packing, I'll take you to Hermione and you can meet my godson and his friends,' said Sirius.
Richard and Helen Granger packed a weeks' worth of luggage while Sirius collected some of the items Hermione had asked him to collect for her. He put them into a small bag with an Undetectable Extension Charm upon it before helping Richard and Helen with their packing using magic.
When they got to the house where Hermione was having fun with Ron, Harry and Ginny, they saw that she was really happy and content as she was being tickled by the other three. The Portkey took them all to France where Richard and Helen Granger stayed with their daughter for the rest of the week before going home to their dental practice, and for the next few years they would be Portkeyed to France every weekend to see Hermione learning and being happy with her new found friends.