A Royal Appointment.

Upon arriving by apparition at the Sandringham Estate, Hermione and Kingsley were ushered in to a surprisingly un-ostentatious, but pleasant and comfortably furnished room and introduced to the King and Queen, who greeted them warmly and asked them to sit, indicating a comfy sofa.

The King smiled and said, "Do come in and please relax, we don't stand on too much ceremony whilst we're here at Sandringham, it's a very informal place compared to Windsor or that ghastly Buckingham Palace." The King pulled a face of theatricaly comic revulsion and went on, saying, "We all hate that bloody place and try to spend as little time there as we can, I'd knock the damn thing down if Government would let me! We love Sandringham though and try to get away here as often as possible in the good weather. Victoria Jane loves to ride out on the Estate here and has lots of friends she's made, amongst the local adults and village children, but she should be back soon"

The Queen smiled her agreement, then said, "We haven't told Victoria Jane very much about why you're coming here, we thought it best to leave it to you, after all you're the experts in such matters. I must confess the contents of the Ministry's letter requesting an appointment here was a bit of a shock to both of us. We had to get it confirmed by the Prime Minister that there even is such a thing as the Ministry of Magic. Our family's previous contacts with your officials being so far back that it had been forgotten, indeed given the prior situation that occurred it was probably deliberately hushed up."

Suddenly all eyes in the room turned towards the door as a very pretty young blond haired girl, Princess Victoria Jane Windsor, ran in saying, Mummy, Daddy, you should have seen Paddy jumping in the paddock today, he's getting really good."

Suddenly the young girl spotted the two strangers and said, "Ooh sorry, I forgot that Mummy told me visitors were coming today. She then confidently walked over to Hermione and Kingsley, holding out her hand to shake theirs and saying in a serious but friendly voice. "Hello, I'm Victoria Jane Windsor, and you are?"

They stood and shook the royal child's hand, introducing themselves and she smiled at them.

"She really reminds me of myself when I was that age, although not the hair of course." thought Hermione.

The Queen spoke up saying, "Victoria Jane, Mr Shacklebolt and Minister Weasley are here to talk about schooling options for you over the next few years, once the holidays end. You'll need to go to a senior school and I believe they both know of an ideal place you'll love."

Hermione smiled and said, That's right, may I call you Princess Victoria?

The girl smiled, appeared to seriously consider Hermione's request for a moment and then replied, "Yes, if you must, but I prefer simply Victoria Jane, it has a nicer sound to it and the Princess thing gets a bit boring after a while. In private that is, I know that 'formally' you have to use it, but I don't like it much."

"I can understand that Victoria Jane," Hermione replied, still smiling. "I once had a friend who couldn't stand her 'formal' name either and everybody just called her Tonks. It's the same with me, I'm called Hermione, but everybody calls me Minister Weasley. I even had to tell Kingsley here off for calling me Minister a couple of days ago, and he's known me since I was a schoolgirl not much older than you.

"You think you've got problems, Hermione?" Put in Kingsley, chuckling a little, "I had to put up with the whole Minister thing for over fifteen years. I'm glad I've got my identity back now."

"Anyway back to the main reason why we're here." Said Hermione steering the conversation back on track. Turning to the young Princess she said, "Victoria Jane, you may have noticed over the last few years that a few unusual things might have happened around you, particularly if you ever you get stressed or afraid. Have you ever noticed that anything a bit odd has happened?"

"Well," replied the girl, obviously thinking back, "There was that time a few weeks back when I fell off of Paddy when we were out hacking through the woods. He stumbled into a rabbit hole and I nearly rolled down a steep bank, but a bush cushioned my fall and stopped me. I could have sworn that bush wasn't there before I fell. And then there was the time when I slipped away from my security escort and climbed a tree in the grounds. A branch broke and instead of falling I just drifted down to the ground, as light as a feather, that was weird! Oh, and then there was another time, when I accidentally knocked over a very precious vase at Windsor Castle and it broke into a million pieces. I was really upset, although it was entirely an accident, but the next thing I knew all the pieces reformed and it went back together all by itself, good as new, I swear it did! I don't have a clue how it happened though."

Yes, that's exactly the sort of thing I meant Victoria Jane, Hermione replied and continued, saying, "But I can tell you exactly why those things happened to you. You're a witch! That's why your mother and father the King and Queen have asked myself and ex-Minister Shackelbolt to come here today, to explain things to you and make you an offer.

Victoria Jane looked stunned, saying, "I'm a witch? How can I be? They're just from stories, they're not real! Wizards, witches, fairy princesses, dragons, they're all storybook stuff for very young children. I prefer reading more factual, more grown-up stuff about animals and different places around the world."

Hermione smiled, thinking, "Yes, she is a lot like I was."

Hermione then replied to the young girl saying, "Well, I don't know about fairy princesses, but fairies are real and very pretty, even if not exactly like what the books say, dragons are real as well, they're very scary and fierce and a friend of mine once had to fight one, but don't worry, there are none in England. As to witches and wizards, well we're certainly real too."

And with that Hermione pulled out her wand from it's special pocket inside her smart jacket. Giving an enquiring look and getting back a nod of approval from the Queen she levitated a small table into the middle of the room and transfigured it into a tropical fish-tank on a stand, complete with fish swimming in it.

All three royals were astonished by this and took a few seconds to get over their surprise.

Eventually the King spoke, saying, "Oh my word! I thought I was prepared for this when I got the official Ministry letter making this appointment and explaining things. But to see it for myself, it's amazing, incredible, words can't prepare you. And you think our lovely Victoria Jane will be able to do this herself?"

"At Hogwarts School she'll be taught many useful things." Hermione replied. "Transfiguration is a basic witch's skill, but is one of the more complex disciplines. We start younger pupils off on far easier things, like changing matchsticks to needles. What I just did isn't taught until they are studying for their NEWT exams and not all witches become so skilled at it, even if I might seem less than modest for saying so myself."

Kingsley Shacklebolt nodded, adding. "Your Majesties, our Minister, Ms. Hermione Weasley here is a very skilled witch, very powerful and quite brilliant, if she doesn't mind me saying so. That's why she got voted in to take over as Minister in my place when I retired. But there is every chance that our young Princess here will become just as skilled and powerful. She's certainly bright enough and the accidental magic she has performed already even when , as yet, untutored indicates she has great ability.

"You think I could really learn to do that!" Victoria Jane said whilst her eyes were still fixed on the magical fish swimming happily around in their new tank.

"Certainly young lady", said a smiling Kingsley. Then added, "I think you can tell our young Princess all about Hogwarts now Hermione, and he beamed at the new Minister.

Hermione smiled and pulled a letter from her small bag, It's envelope was of a type familiar to all witches and wizards and it was addressed to the young Royal. Handing it to her she said, "This is a formal invitation to you, Princess Victoria Jane Windsor, offering you a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You have already more than demonstrated that you have the required level of magical ability. On behalf of Headmaster Longbottom and his staff I have been asked to visit you and explain what the school does and what will be expected of you as a pupil there."

"Excellent, let's all have a nice cup of tea, whilst you go through the details with Victoria Jane and ourselves." The Queen interjected, smiling and pushing a button to summon a footman.

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Later, after Victoria Jane and her parents had learned all about Hogwarts she and her mother and father all eagerly accepted the offer of a school place and they were then informed about the need to visit Diagon Alley to collect Victoria Jane's school things. It was agreed that Hermione herself would later escort the young Royal on her 'shopping trip'.

Victoria Jane then left the adult group, as she had invited a group of local friends from the estate village to come over to use the swimming pool facilities, and she needed to change from her riding gear to greet them.

Just as she left Victoria Jane stuck her head back around the door and asked, "Mummy, Daddy, is it alright if we keep the fish that Minister Hermione made, they're so beautiful.

"Of course we can darling, they're much prettier than that horrible old table we had before." The King said, indulgently. When she'd finally gone he smiled and said, "Actually the table was a genuine Chippendale, but as long as she's happy I don't care, and they really are pretty fish."

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