Chapter 10: Grasping New Realities

When Remus came to pick up Harry from school, he found his young charge talking animatedly to his new little friend.

"You're telling fibs!" Hermione was gasping.

"No, really," Harry insisted. "The fireplace."

"Who do you think you are, Father Christmas?" Hermione demanded. "People don't travel in fireplaces, that's just silly. You'd burn right up."

"Well, it's not really fire."

"Harry, what tales are you telling Hermione?" Remus asked warningly.

"He says you travel in fireplaces," Hermione said stubbornly. "I told him he's being silly."

"Harry, not the fireplace story again," Remus sighed. "You ought to know better than to start talking about things like that. Apologize to Hermione for telling tales, and let's go home."

"No! I'm not telling tales, Remus, I'm not apologizing for not telling tales."

"Let's go," Remus ordered again, picking up Harry's bag from the ground. "Come on, in the car."

"But I'm not telling tales!"

"If you can't keep our magic a secret, Harry, then I'll have no choice but to take you out of school," Remus warned at dinner. Sighing, he reached over and cut Harry's meat into smaller pieces as he studied Harry's quizzical expression. "You know that you go to school with Muggles, bud. Hermione can't know about the magic we do here."

"Why not?" Harry asked. "Hermione's magic too. I seen her do it…"

"Harry…" Remus repeated warningly. "What have I told you about telling tales like that?"

"Why don't you believe me?" Harry demanded indignantly. "I told you. Hermione's just as magic as me."

With another exasperated sigh, Remus said, "Fine. When you get your Hogwarts owl, then you may tell Hermione you're a wizard. Until then – keep the magic here, please. Eat your dinner."

It was only a few minutes of amiable silence before a knock sounded at their front door. Frowning, Remus paused a moment to make sure he wasn't hearing things. The knock came again, more forceful this time, and Harry piped up helpfully, "I think somebody's at the door, Remus."

"Real genius, aren't you?" Remus said dryly, ruffling Harry's hair affectionately as he got to his feet and headed for the front door.

"You know what? Miss Anderson says if I stopped making mischief and I started working with my brain, I'd be really smart," Harry recounted cheerfully, sliding off his chair and following behind Remus. "It's not very fun, though, to not make mischief. And it's not like I try to make mischief, Remus, it just sort of happens…"

Remus barely restrained the snort of laughter on that comment. He opened the door, Harry still chattering away, to reveal Albus Dumbledore standing on the doorstep, a serious expression in his eyes. "Oh, hello, Professor."

"Who are you?" Harry asked immediately, poking his head out from behind Remus' legs. "Why are you all the way out here? People don't come out here ever."

"Harry," Remus rebuked softly. "Go back into the kitchen and finish eating. Let me talk to Professor Dumbledore alone for a moment."

"Professor?" Harry asked brightly. "Do I get to start Hogwarts, then?"

Dumbledore smiled slightly at Harry's question, replying, "No, Master Potter, not quite yet. Do you think I might be able to speak with Remus alone for a minute?"

"Go finish dinner, Harry," Remus repeated. "I'll be there in a bit."

Sighing impatiently, Harry stomped back into the kitchen, and Remus turned to Dumbledore again. "What did you need to see me about, Professor?"

"Have you seen the papers today?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

Remus nodded, biting at his lower lip. "Do they know who…?" He stopped, glancing back towards the kitchen, where the sounds of Harry's utensils banging against his plate were echoing. "It would be nice to have…" He stopped again, a lump developing in his throat. After a few minutes of silence, he finally said, "He still asks for them. He doesn't seem to understand that they're…"

"We don't know yet," Dumbledore replied in a murmur. "The Ministry is working around the clock to find out what the situation is, and soon. I thought I'd come see how you were handling the news. Or the lack thereof, as the case may be."

"Oh, I doubt the Ministry will tell me anything," Remus sighed. "They want something to happen to Harry, so that they can lynch me with cause." He paused, seeing the understanding in Dumbledore's eyes. "Why do you think we're out here and not with our own people?" With a slight smile, he added, "Harry's busy trying to find magical friends wherever he goes. He keeps insisting that his nursery friend is a witch."

"Perhaps she is," Dumbledore chuckled.

Remus rolled his eyes. "I think Harry just likes to blame his magic bursts on somebody else. I mean, really, the child of two dentists – a witch?" After a moment of appreciative silence, he continued. "I can't keep him hidden away forever. It's not healthy, and I can't do it for long – or often – now that he's in school."

"Do you think that was such a good idea, Remus?" Dumbledore asked seriously. "A known wizarding child in a Muggle school? Especially a child as well-known as Harry?"

Remus sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It'll cause more questions to keep him at home, Professor. This is a small town. There's enough talk about the fact I'm a single man with guardianship of a small boy. If I start isolating him from the community, they will talk even louder. Besides, he needs socialization with children his own age. Do you see any of the wizarding playgroups letting me in?" He sent a wry smile in Dumbledore's direction, and then turned back to the kitchen when there came a loud crash.

Harry's small face appeared around the corner of the doorway. "I'm sorry, Remus. I accidentally dropped the dishes."

"I have to say, I am so glad Harry and Hermione are getting on so well together," Beverley beamed as they sat around a table inside the town café one stormy Saturday morning. Mark, Remus and Beverley were all sipping at strong black tea while Harry and Hermione were busy examining a new picture book that Hermione had gotten for her birthday. "It's nice to have her so happy in school. She hasn't had a good run of them lately."

"Why?" Remus asked, watching Hermione turn another page with a smile on her face. "She's so well-behaved. I can't imagine that her teachers wouldn't love her."

Mark sighed. "Well, I don't know that it's so much her actual behaviour… Strange things happen around Hermione when she gets bored or upset. Sometimes she does things and they can't be explained. Children who tease her end up trapped on the school roof. A teacher who was harsh with her nearly got struck by a bus that came out of nowhere. Toys that get confiscated end up in her school bag. You saw what happened with that boy's school bag their first day."

Remus' brow furrowed into a slight frown. Maybe Harry was on to something. "If we're going to be honest, Mark, I wouldn't be surprised if the bag was Harry's brilliant idea. He likes to cause mischief, that one."

"But you said…" Beverley started to say, when Mark interrupted her.

"Strange things happen around Harry, too, don't they? Things that can't be explained."

Remus laughed. "I get worried when strange things aren't happening around Harry." He looked over at them, debating whether to let them in on the secret. Give them reassurance that their daughter wasn't a sociopath, a psychopath or deranged. "Hermione is far from being the only child these sorts of things happen around, Beverley. They're not necessarily a bad thing – it just means she's different."

Mark watched Remus for a moment, his eyes betraying the suspicion he must've been feeling. "Can you explain what that 'different' might mean for her later on in life?" he finally asked, confirming Remus' initial thought.

Remus paused, thinking over his options and the possible consequences from the Ministry as quickly as he dared. "Well, what I can tell you is that her sort of 'different' will open up entirely new worlds for her," he finally said. "Unfortunately, I can't get much more specific with you right now, Mark. I wish that I could tell you everything, but some things you don't need to know quite yet."

The two men looked at each other for a long while, Beverley's gaze moving back and forth between them, until a shout of laughter from Hermione and Harry at the other end of the table interrupted them. When Remus finally laid eyes on them, it took him a moment to figure out why the two children had shouted: Hermione's picture book still lay open, but the once still pictures had begun to move, playing out an evidently silly scene from the story.

"What's going on down there?" Beverley called, getting to her feet.

Harry seemed to catch Remus' eye guiltily almost immediately, and quickly shut the book. "We were just reading a silly part, Mrs. Granger." He held the book closed, even though Hermione was frowning unhappily and trying to open it again. "That's all."

"Give me the book, Hermione Jean," Beverley said sternly. "What is so silly about that book? It's a book about birds." She reached over the children's heads and plucked the book up off the table. Flipping through the pages, she stopped on the page they had last been looking at and her breath seemed to catch in her throat. "Mark?"

Mark looked over at Remus once more before he got up and went to join Beverley.

Remus tried to resist the urge to groan and then cursed internally. After all of their talks at home about not doing magic outside the house…

Harry slithered out of his chair and climbed up onto Remus' lap. Wrapping his arms around Remus' neck, he whispered into his guardian's ear, "I just wanted to show Hermione what my books at home are like. I didn't mean to get us into trouble, Remus."

Sighing, Remus tried to figure out what to say. How was he supposed to be harsh on a 3-year-old boy who, really, shouldn't have much – if any – control over what his magic did? If it had been Sirius and Jenny in this situation, Remus really wouldn't have had so much concern over Harry's blatant use of magic in public Muggle places. But it wasn't Sirius and Jenny – it was him, and he knew that the Ministry wasn't even halfway to being as understanding when it came to children in the custody of werewolves. He was still quite sure that the only reason he still had Harry was solely because they had been lying as low as they possibly could out here – he didn't go into London very often with Harry. They had remained largely outside wizarding society, so the Ministry didn't see the point in expending time and resources chasing after a werewolf who wasn't causing trouble.

But now, with a Muggle family involved, they would be as likely to brand Remus a threat to wizarding society and either jail or execute him as to say, "Oh, well, Harry's only 3 years old. I suppose he wasn't really in control of his actions."

Mark was just in the process of saying, "… What… the… hell?…" when Remus caught sight of a group of somebodies Apparating across the street.

"Oh, crap," Remus muttered under his breath. "The Ministry. Just what we need in Lee-on-the-Solent right now. Because the werewolf and two child wizards weren't enough." He rubbed Harry's back absently when his young charge let out a terrified whimper. "Calm down, Harry. They're not going to do anything to you and Hermione. You're too little to know what you're doing."

The bell above the café door rang out just then and Remus turned around despite every good lick of sense he had telling him not to do it. His heart pounding heavily in his chest, he had a moment of relief when he saw Dumbledore bringing up the rear of the group. Evidently, the Ministry had some sort of watch on Muggleborn children so that things didn't get out of hand before the letters went out.

"Mr. and Mrs. Granger?" spoke the witch at the head of the group as they stopped at their table. "Could we speak to you outside a moment?"

Harry didn't have as much trouble containing his terror until one of the other wizards looked over and his eyes widened. At the obvious recognition, Harry let out another horrified whimper and buried his face into Remus' shoulder. "Um, Mafalda?" the wizard said, tapping the forward witch on her shoulder.

"Who are you?" Beverley asked suspiciously. Remus supposed that the suspicion was only natural – even in decently-chosen Muggle attire, this group of witches and wizards look completely out of place in the little café. "How do you know who we are?"

"Mafalda, you might want to reconsider our course of action," the wizard who had spotted Harry and Remus said again.

"Geoffrey, when I want your opinion…" Mafalda started to say in exasperation as she turned towards them, then stopped in shock when she registered the other two people in the group. "Oh. Um… Well, that might explain a great deal."

"As I was trying to explain to you before we came, Mafalda," Dumbledore said patiently, his voice and eyes sparkling with amusement as he met gazes with Remus briefly, "the usual Ministry methods are not going to be terribly effective in this case." Stepping out of the group, he approached Remus and Harry with a smile. "Honestly, Remus, I really don't come out to see my future students quite so often as this," Dumbledore laughed.

Mark and Beverley both looked at Remus incredulously. "Do you know who these people are, Remus?" Mark asked warily.

Remus sighed and nodded when he saw no hint of worry in Dumbledore's gaze. "Yes, Mark. They're all right." He got to his feet and hoisted Harry up with him. "Shall we step outside for this discussion?" he asked Dumbledore quietly. "To be honest, I was just debating whether I should contact you."

Dumbledore laughed again. "Well, if I'm just as honest, Remus, I've been keeping an eye on the situation. It happens sometimes with the children that I need to 'give advance notice', if you can call it that." He turned to Mark and Beverley and smiled at them reassuringly. "It usually bodes quite well for the children when they do begin school. I find they're usually some of the brightest in the class."

"You're… a teacher?" Beverley asked sceptically.

"Headmaster," Dumbledore said. "The others who came with me are from our department of education. Now, Mr. and Mrs. Granger, do you mind if we step outside and I'll explain everything about what's been going on with Hermione?"

"Oh, an explanation would be really bloody nice right about now," Mark muttered, even as Beverley was gathering up their belongings and getting Hermione into her coat. "I'm just about ready to check myself into a mental institution."

"Well, fair warning," one of the other wizards said jovially, "you may still feel like checking yourself into a mental institution when our conversation's done. My family had some trouble adjusting to the new reality."

"Great," Mark muttered again, and followed the rest of the group out of the café. "This sounds promising…"

Remus barely bit back the laugh, and then turned to Dumbledore. "This is strictly about Hermione, right?" he murmured. "I'm not sure that I'm entirely ready for them to find out… everything. Do you understand what I mean?" He watched his former headmaster with slight trepidation. If Dumbledore said that things wouldn't be divulged, he could trust it. If anybody else said it… "I mean, they're working from a Muggle point of view, Professor. It's not much better than the traditional wizarding view, you know?"

Dumbledore smiled back at him. "Remus, it is far more than their jobs are worth to discuss anything but Hermione with her parents." He paused, gentle understanding passing through his eyes as Remus visibly relaxed. "I would, however, suggest, Remus, that you talk to them in the reasonably near future. With the right sort of grounding, Hermione and Harry could be the start of a whole new way of thinking for our world."

Remus sighed. "I know. They're just so small right now. I hate to put too much pressure on them, you know?"

The group stopped just around the corner in a small alleyway. "Well, I suppose that I'll get this conversation started," Mafalda said quietly. "Mr. and Mrs. Granger, my name is Mafalda Hopkirk. I'm in charge of the Office of Muggle Family Liaisons with the Department of Magical Education in the Ministry of Magic."

"You're say what now?" Mark exclaimed in disbelief.

Mafalda smiled slightly. "I'm a witch, Mr. Granger. So is your daughter." She paused and looked over at Remus, slight disgust in her eyes. Then she said, with only a minimal amount of stiffness, "Mr. Lupin, would you care to demonstrate?"

Remus raised an eyebrow at her. Did she really think he was that stupid? There was no way he was going to perform magic in front of Muggles, just so that Magical Law Enforcement could swoop in and arrest him. Like hell he was about to do that. She could damn well do the spell herself – she was authorized to be performing magic in front of Muggles. Hell, even Dumbledore could do it for that matter. Who in their right mind in the Ministry would arrest Dumbledore?

"Mmm, yes, I see your dilemma there, Remus," Dumbledore finally said after a few seconds of silence. "Well, since I am in some form connected to the Ministry, allow me." He withdrew his wand from his suit pocket and waved it without a word. Before Mark could even open his mouth to make a sarcastic comment, snow began to drift down through the air above them, though the streets around the corner remained just as empty as before.

Hermione shrieked in excitement. "Daddy, it's snowing!" she cried out, reaching out her hands to try and catch the tiny flakes as they fell.

"Indeed it is, Miss Granger," Dumbledore laughed.

"Wait, okay, back up a few steps there," Mark said in disbelief. "You're telling me that there's such a thing as magic in this world? That's absolutely preposterous." He pulled Hermione back towards him, as if attempting to shield her from the clear insanity in the air. "Remus, what is going on here?"

Remus sighed as he resettled Harry on his hip. "Mark, there's a separate society in this world where people with magical ability exist. Usually, most of us really don't venture out into this part of the world – the non-magic part, that is. But there's some children who are born with magical abilities to non-magic parents, like Hermione. Harry's mother was one as well. Others, like Harry, are born into our magical world."

"I… don't even…" Mark started to sputter, before Remus continued.

"Remember how you were telling me that unexplainable things happened around Hermione in her old schools?" Remus prompted. "Well, when children with magical ability are small and untrained, things like that tend to happen – even if they grow up in wizarding families. Things like that happen around Harry as well. In fact, I remember setting a plague of locusts on my brother's sport kit when I was 5 because I didn't like how much attention he was getting for it," he added. "That's where Professor Dumbledore's school comes in."

Dumbledore stepped forward at that point. "Mr. and Mrs. Granger, allow me to make a full introduction. My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I'm the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry here in Britain. My school is in charge of the magical education for every wizarding child between the ages of 11 and 17. Remus here was one of our prefects not so long ago, in fact." He smiled back at Remus, who rolled his eyes.

"It was further back than I care to remember, Professor Dumbledore," Remus replied. "Feels that way, at least."

"Ah, take from somebody who is truly old, Remus, it really wasn't that long ago."

"Okay, so let's say that what you're saying is true," Beverley said slowly, bringing both Dumbledore and Remus back to the conversation at hand. "What about primary school? Where do we send her for those years – you can't possibly be saying that children like this are completely unschooled when they go to secondary school?"

"Remus, do you care to answer that one?" Dumbledore offered. "Mafalda, I believe Remus and I can handle this, if you and your staff wish to head back to the Ministry. I believe Remus would quite appreciate it if you would file the necessary paperwork?"

Mafalda looked at them critically for a moment, before she finally answered, "That sounds good. Lupin, I'll file those awareness papers straightaway, then."

"Thank you, Ms. Hopkirk," Remus replied quietly. "Beverley, most wizarding children do get their primary schooling, but it's either done at home or they go to a regular school in the community, just like Harry and Hermione are right now. It's when the children move up to secondary school that they begin their magical studies. Wizarding children don't have any sort of advantage over Muggleborn children in that respect. It's simply a matter of cultural knowledge." He paused. "And that sort of thing, I would be happy to show Hermione some of the most basic pieces of knowledge before she and Harry go to Hogwarts. The currency, the terminology, that sort of thing."

"I mean, all Mark and I ever wanted for Hermione was for her to excel wherever she's placed. Is there something we can do to sort of, put her ahead or something of the sort?" Beverley fussed. "I'd hate to think that she's going to start secondary school already somewhat behind…"

Remus laughed. "Beverley, are you listening to me? Harry and I already live that lifestyle. I can teach Hermione absolutely anything that she'll need to know before she starts if that's what you want. She can read Harry's books and learn wizarding tales. I can even take her on our errands the next time we go to London and she can see the shops and how we travel. Heck, Beverley, we can even go to the school train platform beforehand – actually, that might be a smart plan. It's a bit disconcerting to get onto Platform 9 ¾ the first time."

"Could we go visit Hogwarts then?" Harry asked eagerly, perking up as the mention of the Hogwarts Express evidently pierced his consciousness.

Remus and Dumbledore both laughed. "No, Harry. We cannot go visit Hogwarts ahead of time. It'll take away all the fun of your first trip there," Remus said. "Beverley, honestly, I would've offered it as soon as she'd gotten her letter anyway."

"Actually, Mrs. Granger," Dumbledore added, ruffling Harry's hair affectionately, "Hermione is already at a great advantage over the other Muggleborn children in their year. She has access to the wizarding world ahead of time if she would like it. It's not many Muggleborn children that have that opportunity."

Beverley relaxed slightly at those words. "Oh, well, then… that would be wonderful, Remus. I wouldn't mind learning a bit myself." She paused momentarily. "Oh… does this mean that Mark and I couldn't come with her to get her school things? See her off on the train?"

"Oh my Lord, Bev, Hermione hasn't even properly started primary yet and you're already fussing over her secondary plans?" Mark groaned finally.

Remus laughed again. It was just so typically Mark and Beverley, this entire conversation. "No, Beverley, I can bring you and Mark through with me. They don't make 11-year-olds go all by themselves just because they happen to come from non-magic families. It's just that you can't access wizarding locales unless you have a wizard in your company – Hermione, or Harry or I."

Beverley brightened considerably at that statement. "Lovely. I look forward to it."

Dumbledore cut in just then. "This does, however, need to stay confidential, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. There are laws against the general Muggle population knowing about our world. When Harry and Hermione go off to school, you'll need to tell friends and family something different. The Ministry of Magic only allows for immediate household relatives to have that knowledge in the first generation – even Hermione's grandparents will need to be told something else. It is my understanding that most parents tell their families and acquaintances that the children are attending a boarding school for the exceptionally gifted."

Remus nodded. "I think that's exactly what Lily's parents told everybody. It's not an outright lie, just a little vague. We can do some additional research later, Mark," he added when Mark's face wrinkled in a displeased frown. "Right down to a school name, if you'd rather have a specific for your family."

"Seems a bit cloak and dagger, doesn't it?" Mark said dully. "Her grandparents can't even see her anymore once she joins this school? And what about when Hermione grows up, has children of her own? We're not allowed to see her anymore?"

"No, no, Mark, it's not like that," Remus corrected. "There's absolutely nothing stopping Hermione from seeing the rest of your family. It's just that they can't know she's a witch. And of course you can still see her once she's grown. You'll know full well that her children are magical as well – they just make the laws this way so that there's still a certain level of secrecy to our magical world. In some ways, our community has never really outgrown the fear that sprung from the witch-hunting days." He paused. "And you know that there are still people in this world that simply cannot accept that anything different is acceptable."

He saw the approval in Dumbledore's eyes at the way he worded it. It was probably for the best not to mention that prejudices still existed in the wizarding community, especially against Muggleborn witches and wizards. Some things were best left for later years.

Mark nodded slowly. "Yes, yes, I suppose you're right." He sighed. "So… 11 is when she starts? The year she turns 11?"

"When she's 11 by September 1st, just like with school now," Remus corrected. "She and Harry will be starting Hogwarts together." He winced slightly as Harry grinned and shouted in his ear,

"I told you Hermione was magic too! You didn't believe me but I was right!"