Chapter 2
Rumbles of Discontent
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Office of the Headmistress
Minerva McGonagall was not having a good day. She had suddenly been deluged by owls from angry parents, either lambasting her for supposedly having blood purity views and deceiving parents and children into ruining their lives by giving up normality to become serfs under a racist system or telling her that they were pulling their children out of Hogwarts and the magical world. The latter were all muggleborn first years. Should these parents continue on this path, it would effectively cut the first year enrollment in half. There were also parents of the higher year students requesting transcripts so that they could transfer their children to magical schools outside of Britain. The schools they wanted the transcripts sent to all had one thing in common; they were in countries where lineage was not considered in the careers of graduates.
Minerva's problem was that since she was a pureblood, none of the muggleborn students trusted her enough to bring their concerns to her attention. She had, on this day, called on the smartest muggleborn student in the school in an attempt to slow the flow of students from her school. Hermione Granger was now sitting in her office having been informed of the 'brain drain' in the school. She had read the letters, those that had not already exploded and burnt up, and gotten a synopsis of those which had. She sat there wringing her hands nervously.
"Headmistress, I don't know what to tell you, other than I happen to agree with them. I myself have plans to leave the country following my graduation." At Minerva's protest, she continued. "Yes, I know that as part of Harry's so-called 'inner circle' that I could get any job I wanted, as a token 'mudblood' to show how accepting the Ministry is of us, but it would last until people forgot about Harry and our sacrifices. And that day will come, mark my words; the wizarding public here is very good about denying reality. At that time, I, and any other non- purebloods would be shuffled into some meaningless job to get us out of the public eye. We would still not have a voice in government, we would be doing the paying, but be left out of the playing."
"Now I am supposedly so close to Harry that the other muggleborn and half bloods do not trust me to give me information on their plans, and I have barely spoken to Harry or Neville since their advancement into the rarified air of the Noble's Dorm. I cannot really relate to the political games he and the others are playing since I will never be allowed to join them. Is it any wonder that non-purebloods want to leave this corrupt society? There is not a single professor in this school who is less than a pureblood, the last was Hagrid, and look how the government turned on him when the blood purists needed a scapegoat. Even the Muggle Studies teacher is a clueless pureblood who knows less about muggle society than the average six year old muggle child. The purebloods are taught that muggle firearms are limited to single shot muskets, they have no idea that muggles have weapons that could level London in less than five seconds and kill everyone in it, muggle or magical, and make the land uninhabitable for the next millennia. Muggles have traveled to the moon and sent unmanned probes out to the farthest reaches of the solar system. Oh, and I almost forgot Professor Snape, the half blood that Dumbledore kept around as a pet, blackmailing him to work for next to nothing. What has wizarding society in Britain done other than stagnate? If I decided, at this point, to remain in Britain, I would have thrown away the last five and a half years of my life to become nothing better than a scullery maid. Had I of known then what I know now, I would have left the whole lot of you to rot and gotten a real education that would prepare me for a career of my choice, not one decided by some inbred bigot whose only qualification happens to be that their parent's family tree does not fork! In America, those type of people are called 'rednecks' and 'trailer trash', most of them are poor and uneducated, here they are considered upper crust and run the country. Headmistress, can you look me in the eye and give me one good reason for any of the non-purebloods to stay in this country? Or for that matter, in this school? I have been belittled as a 'mudblood' ever since I came here by those not intelligent enough to carry my books, let alone my class load and grade average. I have earned the right to vote, to vote with my feet. The only reason I have not already transferred out is Harry, although now that he has become one of the pureblood princes, one of the oppressors, I have been rethinking that decision. I do know that any non-pureblood student who seeks my advice will be told to flee and not look back."
Minerva sat down heavily, a tear forming in one eye. She had no idea that, of all her students, Hermione Granger felt so strongly. Right now, the only thing keeping Hogwarts afloat was the tuition of the non-pureblood students. Not only were many of them paying higher tuition due to the old families having prepaid tuitions during times when the rates were lower, but the pureblood population would not support the payroll and upkeep expenses, let alone all of the other costs.
"Tell me, Miss Granger, when did you begin to feel this way? And why did you not come to me earlier?"
"No offense Professor," Hermione said a bit frostily. "But you are one of them. A pureblood. You deceived not only me, but all of the other mixed blood and muggleborns with that ridiculous 'career counseling' session. You knew as well as anyone that we would never qualify for most of the careers we chose, not because we could not qualify academically, but because our blood status would keep us from it. As horrible as she was, at least Umbitch was honest. She knew and tried to tell us what our position would be in British wizarding society, you fed us faerie tales. And with that background, you expect me to confide in you? I may be many things, Headmistress, but I am not stupid. Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to do." Not waiting for a dismissal, Hermione stood and left without a backward glance.
McGonagall stared after her in shock. Although this conversation was held behind closed doors, she had no doubt that it would be spread throughout the castle in no time. Already there were portraits in the office, the subjects of which, were merrily rushing to other paintings to spread this juicy bit of gossip. The word would spread between the students and the classes would be more polarized than ever before. As much as she tried to treat the students equally, she was guilty in the fact that she never prepared her muggleborns and half bloods for the reality facing them when they left school. She had somehow believed the half bloods would have been prepared by their parents and she always hoped against hope that somehow wizarding society would change to embrace the muggleborns. She was a fool in this; she would receive letters from former muggleborn students telling about their great jobs, but ignoring the fact that those letters were never posted in Britain.
Minerva suddenly had a flash of inspiration; there was something she could do about it, something she never had the authority to do before. Sitting down at her desk, she took a piece of parchment and began to write.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Later that evening, Hermione was finishing up a particularly trying Charms essay, when she was approached by her more-or-less boyfriend, Terry Boot. He sat down across from her, not bothering to give her the usual hug and peck on the cheek. She looked at him quizzically.
"Hermione, I was approached by a group of students to ask you to come to a meeting. I can't really give you any information on it, but I would urge you to go and keep an open mind."
Hermione felt a thrill of anticipation. She grasped Terry's hands and gazed in his eyes. Dropping her voice, she asked, "Would this be a political meeting?"
Terry grinned. "Nice try, Hermione. Trust me, all of your questions will be answered." He leaned across the table and kissed her, effectively shutting her up.
"What time is the meeting?" she asked.
"How does now work for you?" Her answer to that was to roll up her parchment, put her books back in the return cart, and gather up her materials and place them in her rutsack.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" she kidded him.
Hand in hand, Terry led her on a winding route through the castle, up and down staircases and through different corridors. Every so often he would reach out and, flicking his finger, make a ringing sound on the breastplate of different suits of armour. There would be an echoing ring when he would do that. Finally, they ended up on what Hermione surmised as a sixth floor corridor outside of an unused classroom. Terry opened the door for her and she was shocked to see what must have been every other muggleborn and most of the mixed blood students of all years in the room. When she had entered, one by one the students stood and began clapping until the entire group was applauding her. Confused, she asked, "What is this all about?"
"What it is about, Miss Granger," said Justin, "is the brilliant way that you told off McGonagall today. One of the students overheard a couple of the portraits gossiping about it in a hallway and asked what they were speaking about. She got the whole story and came to me. I would like to formally invite you to join our little group. We call ourselves 'the Mudblood Rebellion'. Our purpose is to do nothing less than to turn Wizarding Britain on its bloody head!"
Hermione got a feral look on her face. "Tell me more."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Three hours later, Hermione had a whole new circle of friends and a whole new cause to espouse. House elf rights had given way to muggleborn rights; it was only fitting, the elves did not want freedom, would fight against it, but muggleborns yearned to be equals in society. Hermione was a natural born crusader, now she had a crusade worthy of her. It gave her a twinge of conscience to think of Harry and Ron as 'the enemy', but until they proved that they were allies, there could be no other way. This did not mean that she would stop working with Harry and the others to defeat Voldemort and company, after all, Snake Face was undoubtedly an enemy of all non-purebloods as well as any other decent witch or wizard. She would just have to compartmentalize her causes.
By the time they were finished with the meeting, she had charmed a membership parchment the same way that she had done the one for the DA, and had gotten together with Terry and a couple of other former Ravenclaws to place the unused classroom under the Fidelus Charm, with Justin as the Secret Keeper. This would keep the room off the Marauder's Map and any other instrument which might give them away. The last order of business was to make a timetable of events designed to put a shock into the power structure. Many of these things would have to be done with the approval and assistance of adult wizards, but they were doable. They would also need the help of certain purebloods to act behind the scenes. This was Hermione's job, to present their case to some pureblood wizards with authority, the major one being one Lord Harry Potter-Black-Hufflepuff. She steeled herself and headed toward the Owlery to send a message.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Harry had just finished a 'meeting' with his brides, Daphne and Jennifer, in reality a songfest that left him somewhat weak at the knees, when he was assaulted by his owl, Hedwig. He had not really had much time for her lately, so she had been more than willing to carry the message from Hermione just so that she could get her frustration out on Harry for his perceived abandonment. She landed on his shoulder and gave his ear a not-so-gentle nip, then landed on the table and stretched out her leg imperiously.
"Whoa, what's got into you?" he asked, rubbing his ear with one hand while reaching out with the other to take the scroll. Hedwig's answer was to glare at him, then turn away as if ignoring him. He read the request from Hermione to meet him in the Room of Requirement while absently scratching Hedwig in her ear area. He penned out a reply saying that he would be there in a half hour, then rolled up the parchment and asked Hedwig to take it back to Hermione. She glared at him a moment before stretching out her leg, gave him a lonely hoot, and prepared to take off.
"Hedwig, stay with Hermione so that I can see you a bit while we are in the ROR. I'll bring you a nice treat when I come." She gave a happy hoot, nipped his finger and flew out the owl door. Harry quickly grabbed a roll of parchment and a couple of quills and a bottle of ink in the event he needed to take notes, then conjured up a small cage. He went out into the hall, pointed his wand down the hall, and called out, "ACCIO MOUSE!" and caught a nice fat one sucked out of a mouse hole down the corridor. He knew Hedwig would appreciate that even more than a standard owl treat. She seemed pretty upset and he momentarily felt a bit guilty for ignoring her so long. He took the mouse and placed it into the cage, then headed toward the seventh floor.
Reaching the tapestry across from the Room of Requirements, he waited for Hermione and Hedwig to arrive. When they appeared, he let Hermione do the honors, curious to see what kind of things she would place in the room. When he went through the door, he saw that the room was empty other than a table and two chairs, lit by two candles. He could see that this session would be all business, no idle chit-chat. He showed Hedwig the mouse, and when he took it out of the cage, she launched off Hermione's shoulder. Harry took the mouse by the tail and tossed it into the air, where Hedwig snatched it and headed for a perch that she apparently requested from the room. Hermione shivered.
"I know in my mind that she is a predator, but it is easier to ignore it when she hunts outside the castle or when I feed her owl treats," she said.
"You do know that those owl treats are made of ground up mice and rats, didn't you?"
"Actually, I didn't, and I could have gone my whole life without knowing that," she said wryly. They sat down and Harry took out his parchment and quill.
"So Hermione, have you gotten any farther in separating Snape from his Dark Mark?" Harry asked.
"Yes, quite a bit actually. I will be presenting our findings at the next meeting. I called you here about something else though. Harry, I am not sure if I will be staying in Britain, especially once Voldemort is defeated."
"What? This is pretty sudden, what happened?"
"No one thing, Harry, there just is not any good reason to stay. I wouldn't have any sort of a decent career, and I have no more rights in Britain than a house elf."
"Now why would you think that? You are the smartest witch in your generation, and will be on the winning side when I put down Voldemort for good."
"Which would mean that I could be thrown a bone as one of Harry Potter's friends. As soon as the war was forgotten, and you know it would be, I would just be another mudblood, good for nothing but working in someone's shop, or opening up my own shop, renting from some old pureblood family, never able to really own anything or get ahead."
"Hermione, when Voldemort and his bunch are gone, those attitudes will change, the blood purity people will have lost their power."
"That's just the thing, their power is enshrined in law. If you are not a pureblood, you have no say in this society, no representation, no vote. You are a subject, not a citizen. You pay taxes, much higher taxes than the purebloods per capita, and that money goes to support the power structure and to keep the commoners oppressed. Stopping Voldemort might stop the killing, it does nothing else for non-purebloods. I would have been better off to have remained in the muggle world. I am now an alien in both worlds, unless I emigrate I will have no future. And I am not the only one."
"Does this have anything to do with that rumour about a spat between you and McGonagall? She sent me an owl wanting to meet me later about a matter of importance."
"Probably, but I'm not sure. I did have somewhat the same conversation with her earlier. She wanted to know why most of the first year muggleborns are withdrawing from school and the older years transferring to schools out of the country. I just gave her my honest opinion."
"Hermione, societal changes come slowly, what would you suggest I do? What would have to change in this country to reverse the trend?"
"Before I tell you, I want a Wizard's Oath that nothing I say will be repeated, unless you present it as your own idea."
"Don't you trust me?" Seeing her hard look, he sighed. "I had no idea it had come to this. I, Harry James Potter, also known as Lord Black and Lord Hufflepuff, vow to keep in confidence anything told to me by Hermione Granger unless I present it as my own idea." The magic swirled and Hermione accepted his oath. "Now, what is so important that you couldn't trust your first friend?"
"Simple Harry, there is going to be a bloodless revolution. Either we are made equals in this society, or we are all leaving it. The muggleborns and mixed bloods have prepared a manifesto of our demands, and in order to get anything done, we need your influence. We have been less than second class citizens for years and we are no longer willing to lay under the table with the dogs waiting for scraps. Those of us familiar with the muggle world are planning to present a whole new concept to this hidebound society, that of civil disobedience."
Harry looked at his friend in a whole new light. "I never would have figured you for a revolutionary. So, do have this manifesto of yours?"
Hermione reached in her bag and pulled out a scroll. She handed it to Harry and he unrolled it, laid it on the table and began to read:
The Mudblood Manifesto
We, the mixed-blood and muggleborn magical peoples of Britain, having suffered discrimination and prejudice throughout the ages, hereby state to the ruling powers that we have joined together to change wizarding society and bring it into a new age of fairness and equality. Our grievances are many, our demands are non-negotiable.
Our Grievances
We have no true representation in Government, Wizarding Britain is ruled by the wealthy Purebloods, for the wealthy Purebloods.
We are locked out of satisfying careers, not because of our abilities, but rather because of the built in prejudices of the Purebloods who oversee the accreditation panels.
We are also relegated to low paying Ministry jobs with no opportunities for real advancement due to those same prejudices by the Pureblood hiring policies.
We are taxed on our labours at much higher rates than the old Pureblood families who live on the wealth of their ancestors.
In order to compete in private business, we must pay excessive rent to the old pureblood families who own the prime commercial properties. We have no negotiation powers and current law prevents us from organizing or joining guilds for protection.
Only muggleborn and mixed bloods are subject to the underage restrictions on magic, their homes are monitored, whereas the homes of purebloods are not.
Our Demands
We demand equal representation in the Wizengamot by the creation of a House of Commons as a co-equal branch to the House of Lords with members elected by popular ballot of all peoples in Wizarding Britain.
We demand that the Accreditation Boards be reconfigured with a equal mix of mixed bloods, muggleborn, and Purebloods. In order to achieve this mix, applicants who have passed the standardized tests with high scores but have been rejected by the prejudices of the present boards will be certified in their career choices and appointed to the Boards. Granting of professional licenses shall be by two-thirds vote of the boards.
We demand that all Ministry jobs be opened to all people without regard to blood status and standardized tests be used for placement.
We demand that the position of Minister of Magic be decided by popular election by all citizens of Wizarding Britain.
We demand an equitable taxation system which evens the tax structures between investment income and earned income.
We demand the right to join and organize guilds for protection and representation.
We demand the right to negotiate rents and purchase commercial properties in prime commercial areas.
We demand that the underage restrictions on magic be evenly applied or abolished.
We reserve all non-violent means to achieve our demands, up to and including labour shutdowns, emigration, refusal to pay taxes, rents and fees. We also reserve the right to gather peacefully to demand redress for our grievances.
Harry looked up from the document. "You really are serious about this, aren't you?"
"As serious as an Unforgivable Curse. We mean to have equality and we will not be dissuaded with fancy words and empty promises. What we are asking from you is to support us in the Wizengamot, be our representative, argue our case. Don't get me wrong, the Wizengamot is not going to suddenly roll over and give up their inherited power, but this will at least bring it to their attention."
"That I can do. I just hope that this crusade won't open the door for Voldemort to come in and use his pureblood philosophy to tear this country apart."
"Harry, it is already torn apart, Voldemort is just one faction. Either Britain will change or we will change it, either by forming a separate society apart from the present ministry, or we will leave and let the purebloods breed themselves into extinction, then come back and pick up the pieces when purebloods are no longer a viable force. Apart from a few commoner families such as the Weasleys, purebloods are not even producing at replacement rates. Almost all families with more than one child are mixed blood or muggleborn. Out of the 20,000 or so magicals in this country, over half of them are non-purebloods. Should all of the non-purebloods who have emigrated due to prejudice return, the population would triple. We have the numbers and the talent, all we want is the recognition and equality."
Harry stood up. "Do you mind if I take this with me? I will need it to draft legislation for your crusade."
"Go ahead, there are about 10,000 copies being made as we speak. We will give you a chance to introduce your legislation before we go public with it." She stood and gave Harry a peck on the cheek. "Let me know."
"Will do."