Hermione Down Under
Chapter 10 DEBATE
Hermione was stunned: not so much by her mother's anger, which she had expected, but the way it was expressed. In her experience, her mother rarely used coarse language, and had never directed it toward her daughter. But that was before she had spent a year suffering from memory problems and supporting herself with no sophisticated job skills. And whose fault was that? Hermione could think of no way to defend herself.
But Ron could. "Look, I know you're her parents, but I'm not going to stand and hear her insulted like that."
"I don't know you are," said Mum, "but this is a family matter."
"I'm Ron Weasley, and as far as I'm concerned, Hermione IS family."
"You're married?" Dad asked, sounding shocked.
"Uh, no."
"Sleeping together, more like it," said Mum. "Our daughter has turned into a whore."
"Darling, please calm down," urged her husband. "At least let's let Minnie explain things."
"I had to get your two out of the country," pleaded Hermione. She felt tears prick her eyes. This was going to be more difficult than she thought. "I was afraid the Death Eaters would target the families of rebels, and I was right. Luna was kidnapped to keep her father quiet. They tried to scare Neville by grabbing his grandmother, but she fought back—"
It turned out to be an unfortunate argument. Not only did Mum still look hostile, but Dad looked concerned with what he was hearing. "And what was the wizard government doing about all that?"
"The Death Eaters had taken over the Ministry."
"A government run by people who call themselves Death Eaters and target innocent people?" said Dad in horror. "Sounds like something out of Nazi Germany."
"It was." Neither wanted to remember the things they saw but both Ron and Hermione had to push away memories of all the things they saw.
"Darling," said Dad, turning to his wife, "Perhaps we shouldn't blame Minnie. She's been exposed to a corrosive environment for years. I only wish we had realized it at the time, we could have – "
"The whole wizarding world wasn't 'corrosive'," objected Ron angrily. "Lots of them fought against Voldemort. Some of them sacrificed their lives, including one of my brothers."
"I beg your pardon, then, I shouldn't have said corrosive," Dad said politely, seeming a little embarrassed at his comment. "But it definitely sounds like a situation that pushed people to extremes of behaviour. Including our Minnie. We should have gotten you out some time ago, but perhaps there's still an opportunity to make things right."
"What do you mean, make things right?" asked Hermione with a chill.
"You can rejoin the normal world, Minnie – the Muggle world, as you call it."
"But it's not necessary! The fight's over, Voldemort is dead. The wizards can live peaceful lives again."
"It's still not right," said Mum. "You have exorbitant power, Minnie, far too much for an adolescent to handle. A wave of a stick, and a Latin phrase, and you were able to warp our lives for a year. Personally, I'm willing to forgive you, as your father urges. But you shouldn't have all that power at your disposal – it's dangerous to everybody else."
"Fortunately there's a way around it," said Dad. "You need the wand to focus the power, don't you? If you just break your wand—"
"BREAK MY WAND!" repeated Hermione in horror. A broken wand was a wizard's ultimate nightmare. Hagrid's wand was broken after the Ministry mistakenly thought him responsible for the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Ron had nearly broken his wand in Year 2 and Harry during the camping trip; both boys were disproportionally devastated. "I can't." She shook her head.
"But if you just think about the possibilities, Minnie—"
"I HAVE been thinking about wizards and Muggles, for years!" protested Hermione. "I admit wizard society had flaws that made them vulnerable to Voldemort." It had taken years to get rid of the befuddled Fudge, and the Death Eaters had taken over the Ministry with shocking ease. "It's because they've been out of touch with Muggle society, since before the Enlightenment. Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, Franklin – none of them are part of the wizard's culture. Right, Ron?"
"Um, I don't know who any of those blokes were," admitted Ron reluctantly. Hermione hated putting Ron in the role of the Dumb Wizard, but she had a crucial point to make.
"It's crucial that Wizards learn from Muggles. I'm a Muggle-born, educated on both sides; and I've earned a lot of respect. I can help expose Wizards to Muggle ideas about running a modern society." Starting with the notion – two hundred years late – that it was wrong to hold intelligent beings as slaves, as wizards do to elves.
But Mum was shaking her head. "You're dreaming, Minnie. You're just seventeen—"
"Eighteen!"
"Sorry, I missed a year – and whose fault is that?"
Hermione winced, but she had to admit that shot was deserved.
"You've been flailing around trying to rescue us – and I do appreciate your loyalty," Mum admitted. "But doesn't it prove that you're scarcely mature enough to transform a society?"
"Somebody's coming!" warned Dad.
The quartet dodged into hiding as a couple of farmhands went into the shed and emerged with stacks of wool.
"I don't think we can keep standing here arguing, considering that you and Minnie are not supposed to even be in contact," Dad commented to his wife.
"No. We need to talk about our future. I think, now that we have got our skills back, we should be winding up our duties here. We'll give two weeks notice – the owners deserve that, for refraining from sacking me."
"Agreed."
"When we leave the station, you can come with us, Minnie – but only if you leave your wand behind!"
TO BE CONTINUED