Opening Author's Notes
Whew! I was hoping I could finish this fairly quickly, and thankfully, it was done in reasonable time. A few things before we get started:
–One, this is going to be my last chapter here with no song in it.
–Two, this is a bit slower-paced and mainly focuses on Harry, Hermione and Co. learning more about Hamilton. This is mainly for the benefit of those who haven't studied US History as much, and I also felt like it would be good to show Dumbledore's Army reacting to the idea that an American Founding Father has made it into their midst somehow.
We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
–Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Granger Residence, Crawley, Sussex, England, UK
"Hermione! You look like you've had one of your epiphanies or discoveries – what happened?" Hermione's mother Helen asked as Hermione excitedly darted around, picking up a batch of books she had been reading over the summer.
"I have, Mum," Hermione said, almost breathlessly. "Remember that American transfer student I was talking about, Alex Schuyler? The one who we were wondering might be related to someone?"
"We remember. Do you have a lead on who he might be related to – or who he might be?" Hermione's father Julian inquired.
Hermione replied, still breathless, "Oh, yes."
"Is he a famous American?" Helen asked.
"Yes," Hermione replied.
"A famous American wizard?" Julian asked, clearly trying to narrow things down.
"No," Hermione said, shaking her head.
"Oh, a famous non-magical American, then?" Julian asked, grasping more of the answer.
"Even more shocking than that," Hermione replied. "I think he's someone who was instrumental in America's revolution against Britain. I think he's a descendant – maybe even a reincarnation – of Alexander Hamilton, the one you suggested I read about earlier this summer before we went on holiday!"
The Grangers' faces were awed but not skeptical. Helen remarked, "You sound like you came to this conclusion after something amazing happened today. What was it?"
Hermione nodded and gave them a summary of what had happened inside the Three Broomsticks and then outside on High Street, and as she saw the awed looks on her parents' faces, she added, "What got me thinking about it was him appearing to address Marietta as if she was Aaron Burr and him making a reference to King's College..."
"Which he did attend – though it doesn't even exist by that name anymore. It's Columbia now." Julian pointed out. They knew about it since a relative of the Grangers had gone to school there. "They renamed it after the Revolution."
"Of course," Hermione said, visibly trying to keep her swirling thoughts organized reasonably. She then added, in shock and almost anger at herself for almost missing it, "And...God, it's starting to make almost a frightening amount of sense. There's also his supposed last name – Schuyler! That was his wife's maiden name!"
"Don't blame yourself, pumpkin," Julian said. "Remember that it's not unusual to see how puzzle pieces fit together even if you have no idea how they do in the first place."
"Thanks, Dad," Hermione said gratefully, smiling at him.
"Anytime, dear. Are you going to tell Harry about this tonight?"
"Of course. Don't worry, I know there's no place for the bossy professor act tonight – this isn't something I'd expect the average Briton to know, never mind the average British witch or wizard," Hermione said with a self-deprecating but sincere smile. Seeing that, her parents beamed reassuringly to show they had faith in her.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Near Hogsmeade, Scotland, UK
Gryffindor Common Room, Gryffindor Tower
"Hermione! I get the feeling you know who Alex is – am I right?" Harry asked, quietly but excitedly as Hermione found him by himself near the fire.
"I really think I do, Harry," Hermione replied, with a lot of the excitement that had been coursing through her at her house as she took out the books she had picked up. "I know it's been a long time since you studied Muggle history, but do you remember anything about Alexander Hamilton?"
"No, I don't..." Harry confessed. "Is that bad?"
"Don't worry, I'm just trying to figure out where you were," Hermione said reassuringly. "Like I was telling my parents, so much of this involves things I wouldn't expect the average Briton to know, never mind the average British witch or wizard."
"Thanks, Hermione," Harry responded thankfully. "So is this going to involve a bit of an impromptu American history lesson?"
Hermione nodded, her smile growing. Seeing that, Harry asked, "Right, then. What does the brightest witch of our generation think should people know first and foremost about Alexander Hamilton?"
"Thanks, Harry. Well, to be honest, it's a fairly long list," Hermione replied. "By that, I mean a list as long as Dumbledore or Flamel might have."
"That is awful long, then," Harry said, "But do tell more!"
"Gladly, love," Hermione replied, smiling at that and seeing Harry's face light up when she said 'love'.
She opened one of the books and turned it so they could read together and then went to certain portions that she had picked out, and then said, "Alexander Hamilton was a soldier, scholar and politician who figured in both the American Revolution and the nascent United States. Among his accomplishments were fighting at Trenton – that's the battle after George Washington crossing the Delaware – and at Yorktown, which was the battle that effectively ended the War of Independence." (Author's Note – The War of Independence is one of the British names for the Revolutionary War.)
"Impressive already...but you said there was more, Hermione. Do explain," Harry said, nodding.
"Certainly," Hermione said. "He also figured prominently in the creation and defense of the United States Constitution and he was also the first American Secretary of the Treasury, which is their equivalent of Chancellor of the Exchequer. Take a look at this..."
She passed him a photograph that she had of the US $10 bill, and Harry saw Hamilton's face in the middle. Despite having little exposure to American history, Harry knew that being printed on a bill or treasury note took some doing, especially for a country like the United States.
He then asked, "Hermione, I've also been thinking of some of the things he referenced...who was Burr?"
"Aaron Burr was the American Vice President at one point and a contemporary and rival of Hamilton's. He was also the man who killed Hamilton in a duel," Hermione informed. "He was later tried for murder and even treason but acquitted. I won't spend a lot of time on him, but quite a bit of him struck me as not out of place in Slytherin."
"Well, I'll be..." Harry breathed. "What about King's College?"
"That's the school in New York where Hamilton went to university," Hermione replied. "It was renamed Columbia University after the Revolution, and that's its present-day name. That part we happen to know because we have a relative who studied there. It's part of America's Ivy League, which puts it on par with Oxford and Cambridge."
"I see. Thanks for explaining. One more thing I was wondering about, Hermione..." Harry inquired, before voicing his question, "Why is Alex...er...at least asking to be called Schuyler?"
"It's another name that would be dear to him," Hermione informed him. Her eyes then softened further at the human element of the story as she finished, "Eliza Schuyler was Hamilton's wife."
"I see..." Harry breathed, digesting that and imagining the gravity that Alex must have felt when he had asked to be known by that name.
He then had another question which had been brought on by some of the sordid tales that he had heard of in A History of Magic and in some of Professor Binns' classes about famous magicians. "Hermione, was Hamilton a faithful husband?"
"Actually, no, he wasn't," Hermione informed. "But Eliza chose to not talk about it because she didn't want to jeopardize his career. As a matter of fact, once he died, she spent most of her remaining days defending his legacy."
"My God," Harry said, stunned. He kept his eyes on Hermione and then added, "I'd say I could only imagine having a girlfriend or wife who was that loyal...but I know how it is thanks to you, Hermione. Hamilton must have been a lucky man."
Hermione at once felt a lump in her throat and her eyes shining. She threw her arms around him, and as he hugged her back, they lost themselves in their own little world for a few minutes, with the book they had been looking over still opened to Hamilton's contribution to the American financial system.
"I'll send owls to the others who we were discussing Alex with a short time ago, but let's stay like this for a little while, Harry," Hermione said contentedly, her eyes closed. "It can wait a few minutes."
"Now there's a sentence I don't hear all the time from you, Hermione..." Harry said with a laugh. "But I agree. Just a few minutes."
History of Magic Classroom
"An American revolutionary and Founding Father, eh?" Dean asked, looking up from one of the books. "I never could have seen that coming!"
Parvati, Padma and Justin nodded fervently at that and continued to pore over the other books. Ginny, Luna and Ron were unable to come because they were busy assisting newer Hogsmeade arrivals, but Justin, Parvati, Padma and Dean had been able to, and they had laid out their materials on Professor Binns' desk.
"Did either of you two know anything about Hamilton before today?" Hermione asked Dean and Justin, the two other Muggleborns who were there.
"I never talked about it, but I was actually visiting Virginia during summer holidays," Dean replied. "We visited a lot of historical areas, including Appomattox, Williamsburg, Mount Vernon and Norfolk. When we visited Yorktown, we heard what he had done during that battle."
He saw Hermione and Justin look at him with even more interest when he mentioned Yorktown and explained, "When he was put in charge of the assault on Redoubt #10, he actually suggested that the soldiers he had with him take the bullets out of their muskets in order to prevent a gunshot ruining their surprise attack – and it worked. He also made sure to treat the British prisoners they took with respect even though many of the men under his command wanted revenge."
"That wasn't in what I read, so I'm glad you brought that up, Dean," Hermione said, before turning to their Hufflepuff colleague. "Justin, you look like you've heard about him before – what had you heard?"
"My dad was telling me a little bit about him too," Justin said, nodding. "Even despite that, when he led the Federalists – one of the two original American political parties – he supported stronger relations with Britain. He reasoned that France was in turmoil after their own revolution, whereas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans stuck with the French."
"Although he helped Lafayette and his family with escaping France's Reign of Terror," Dean pointed out, making Hermione nod. "But I get what you're saying, Justin...even though it still is funny that the namesake or reincarnation of an American Founding Father who fought the way he did against Britain should find his way to Hogwarts at a time like this,
"It really is good that we've got a bunch of Muggleborns or half-bloods with some exposure to non-magical history," Harry said earnestly, "Because I'd have no clue how to investigate this myself."
"That's not true, Harry...but we are happy to make it easier," Hermione responded, patting him on the shoulder.
"That brings up the question, though...how do we bring this up with, say, Ron, Ginny and Luna and get them up to speed?" Dean asked.
They knew what he meant – they had to worry about how to inform their friends and classmates who had grown up in the magical world almost exclusively and were likely to have little to no knowledge of non-magical history. Hermione, though, was ready, saying, "That'll be a little difficult, but not impossible so long as we don't try to overload them with information. Let's all keep in mind – what we're finding out about Alex and his namesake aren't things that we can expect the average Briton, much less the average magical Briton, to know."
"We'll be all right. She had practice with me earlier tonight," Harry said with a grin. "I might have grown up with Muggles, but I had next to no exposure to this."
"We should have known!" Padma said with a growing smile. "And don't worry, Hermione – this has to be the most interesting bit of history we've learned in this classroom since Binns caved and told us about the Chamber of Secrets in our second year."
"No kidding! It definitely helps that we had what happened earlier to really pique our interest," Parvati said, poring over one of the books. "On that note, I really do need to read history more often."
"Oh, what did you find, Pav?" Padma asked.
"It's a bit more about Burr, Pad, but it ties back to Hamilton," Parvati said, before looking around at them and addressing them as a group. "When Burr was old, he married a wealthy New York widow named Eliza Jumel who was almost two decades younger than him, but four months later, she filed for divorce because she found out that he was losing her money considerably in land speculation. Guess who she got as her divorce lawyer?"
"I know it'll sound very unlike me, but I hadn't read that far yet, so I have no idea, Parvati," Hermione said with a smile. "Who was it?"
"Hamilton's son Alexander Jr.," Parvati revealed, with a grin that she and Lavender typically wore when discussing big gossip scoops. It was at that point that everyone else knew why she had remarked that she needed to read history more often.
"You're joking!" Hermione and Harry exclaimed together. Dean's, Justin's and Padma's eyes were also wide at the mention of this.
"No, I'm not," Parvati replied, her smile now broadening. She then added, "And it gets even better...the divorce was finalized the day Burr died."
"Bloody hell!" Harry shouted, unable to stop himself.
"Language, Harry..." Hermione chided slightly, though she was smiling. "Though that is incredible! Would you also be using that to convince Lavender to read history more often? It doesn't have to be a textbook, either. It can just be one of these."
"I'm ready to make my case," Parvati said sincerely. "You definitely don't find stuff like that in Witch Weekly or from Rita Skeeter before you caught and flipped her."
Closing Author's Notes
The next two chapters are going to feature increased tension, mainly due to the situation in Hogsmeade. I also know I said earlier that this is the last chapter without a song – what I didn't say yet is that each remaining chapter is going to include two songs. Here's another twist – one song that will be featured in both of the next two chapters is not from Hamilton, but from Harry Potter. I'll give you a hint: it's from the Prisoner of Azkaban film. So that's one Harry Potter song in the next chapter (and the one after) and a Hamilton song too – any guesses?