FORTUNE AND FAMILY

Disclaimer: This is a non-profit tribute to the works of JK Rowling who created and, together with her publishers and licensees, owns the characters and settings elaborated herein.

A/N: Spoilers to OotP, not HBP-compatible. Thanks to all my reviewers and my previewers, Bellegeste and Cecelle. (If you're waiting for a "Dreams" update, sorry, but I've been sick all week and my brain refused to do anything creative.)

Dear Severus,

Thanks for making my birthday dinner so special by your presence. My parents very much enjoyed your company and I have to say I did too. They've always been a bit dubious about the wizarding world. Not my presence in it, because they knew that was where I belonged, but I know it grieved them because it seemed so anti-scientific. My parents are the most tolerant of people and they brought me up to be tolerant too (and I've tried to be, even in the days when Draco used to call me Mudblood, though I can't say I succeeded with Pansy or Millicent), but the idea of a world of – as they saw it – illogic was completely foreign to them.

Now, thanks to your explanations, they see it as not illogic, but merely different logic, that is logic that's based on different first principles, and not anti-scientific but differently scientific. It always was, of course, but I could never get them to see that.

Thanks also for bringing my friends along. I'm sure it wasn't what you wanted – you've never been inclined to fraternise with students, even when one was me – so I appreciated it all the more. I was a bit worried about Luna sitting next to Draco, though I suppose Ginny might have been worse as she's less forgiving than her dad about his family and his past animosity, but they got on better than I expected. He didn't seem to mind her talking about his lost eye and his lost fortune and even his lost family. I've always avoided those subjects, but he talked and smiled with Luna and sometimes the smile almost looked unforced.

I love your present. Did you go into the Muggle world for it or mail order it somehow? I know it didn't come from Flourish and Blotts. After working there all summer, I have a pretty good idea what stock they carry and ballet isn't included. Did you charm it yourself? It suddenly occurred to me that, for all your sneers about 'foolish wand-waving', I really know very little about your magical abilities other than Potions and Defence. Are you as brilliant at everything else as you are at those?

Sincerely,

Hermione

PS The first reviews of Giselle are out and they're favourable. Are you up for it? Ballet performances can be horrendously expensive, but there are cheap seats way up in the back.

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Miss Granger,

There is no need for thanks. Your parents are pleasant companions and you yourself no less so and I was pleased to see Draco so recovered. I am not unfamiliar with the Muggle world, though I rarely shop there. In this case, it seemed necessary. The charmwork was quite easy and I admit to skill at 'foolish wand-waving'. I doubt I should find ballet a congenial entertainment, but the delight of your company outweighs other considerations. You must know that my evenings are not my own, so shall we say next month?

Snape