Chapter 33

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Filius hurried into the bank at the end of the school day having been summoned by the head of his family to meet with the team of curse-breakers that had taken custody of Quirinus Quirrell that morning. He hoped that they'd been able to save his colleague's life and that the cost of doing so wouldn't be higher than Dumbledore was willing and able to pay to ensure the safety of the school.

"You were correct Filius, Quirinus Quirrell was possessed by the wizard known as Lord Voldemort. We were able to question him and the possessing spirit and determine the method he used to evade death when he was disembodied in 1981 and thankfully we were able to find and destroy all the horcruxes. I am permitted to inform you that Lord Voldemort is now irrevocably dead," Bugrak stated calmly.

"And Quirinus?" Filius asked.

"Also dead. We could not have saved him even if we wanted to, if it comforts you the possession was voluntary on his part so the man was irredeemable," Bugrak replied.

"Do I have permission to share this news with the headmaster and the other professors?" Filius requested.

"You do. In fact, Ragnok considers that the more widely known this information becomes the better it will be for us as a nation," Bugrak stated.

"You want it known that not only did He-Who-Scares-Everyone-So-Much-They-Cannot-Say-His-Name not only survived the night the Potter child is said to have vanquished him but has now been defeated by Gringotts? I don't think that people would believe it," Filius said hesitantly. "It will cause more panic than relief."

Bugrak nodded thoughtfully. "I'll leave it to your discretion who you think should be told but the professors already had suspicions about what was possessing the professor you portkeyed to us. They should be told the truth. Particularly Albus Dumbledore."

"Harry Potter didn't come to Hogwarts this year. Albus is very upset about it. Do you know anything about where he is?" Filius asked.

"He came into the bank accompanied by Albus Dumbledore and made a withdrawal from his trust vault to purchase his school supplies. His fees for Hogwarts this year were also transferred at that time as ordered by Dumbledore, though his parents seemed ambivalent about sending him to your school. If as you say he is not attending I will check with his account manager that the amount was refunded from the Hogwarts accounts," Bugrak said frowning.

"So he received a Hogwarts letter and was alive and well less than a month before classes began for the year," Filius said relieved. "Why were his parents ambivalent about sending him to Hogwarts? For that matter who were his parents? James and Lily Potter died in Godric's Hollow in 1981."

"An American or Canadian couple. From what was overheard they had concerns about the security at Hogwarts and were not impressed with Dumbledore's attempts to placate them," Bugrak reported.

"So, the boy might have gone to Ilvermorny," Filius said relieved.

-o0o-

Dear Harry
I'm glad that you've finally got a tutor for your new subjects. I hope that you can catch up. Are they qualified to teach you all the subjects?
Is he a good teacher?
Classes are so interesting. I think that 'manners, charm and deportment' and 'transformative literature' are my favourites, both those professors are internationally renowned masters in their fields and gifted teachers. Some of the other professors aren't so skilled our defence teacher has an awful stutter he's very hard to understand at times, and our history professor should actually be history he's dead boring, most people fall asleep in his class and he haunts their naps. Our Chemistry professor is also a master in his field but he isn't so good at passing along his information to beginners. I think he will be amazing to have in the senior years once we've acquired enough basic skills but he doesn't have the temperament for teaching.
What do you mean movements and incantations are a crutch?
I tried to do the ones I know well and can do easily the normal way without one or the other and they didn't work for me at all without both. They are both essential components of the task. The professors warn us that terrible things can happen when they're pronounced incorrectly. I wanted to ask someone else about it. Padma and Lavender told me that the Headmaster is the only person they know who doesn't need to use a tool to make it work.

Hermione

"Something upsetting you in Hermione's letter?" John asked.

"No just trying to decipher some of the things she reworded or was vague about to get the letter past the censors without breaking the statute of secrecy," Harry replied.

"Oh what did she say, maybe we can help," Rodney offered.

"Well she referred to two of her classes as 'manners, charm and deportment' and 'transformative literature' which I'm sure means Charms and Transfiguration, but she referred to her history teacher as should be part of history, dead boring, and haunting the naps of those who fall asleep in class. It sounds like she's trying to tell me that she's being taught by a ghost," Harry said.

"Are you sure she isn't, have you asked Hatcher whether ghosts are real?" John asked.

Harry looked shocked. "You think they could be?" he asked.

"If you think about it a lot of the other things that we thought were myths were real though perhaps not in the way we thought, quite a few of the mythological gods were actually Goa'uld pretending to be gods. Then there is the way that not everyone can see that flaming bird, or the pub you go through to get to Diagon Alley. Perhaps ghosts are real and you need magic to see them," Rodney said.

-o0o-

Dear Hermione
Think about it. It doesn't make sense that you can't do anything without using both aspects. What about the things you used to do before you found out about the school and read about what they consider the proper way of doing things, can you still do them the way you used to? How can you suddenly need to use three things that you'd never heard about before, to accomplish the same task.

My new tutor is amazing, he said I can call him Hatcher, he's teaching some of our botanists and biologists the basics of his form of biochemistry, it works for some of them but not others.

The way Hatcher explained it to me is that the words and movements are a way of focusing on what you want to do. Adults don't need to use them, in fact that's one of the things you will learn in your final year to take away the words and then for familiar things or in a duel to take away most of the movements so you can cast more quickly and your opponent doesn't know what they're facing. So, neither are necessary they are just a learning tool. But why should you have to relearn what you could do before.

Likewise, the tool I bought in Ollivander's makes it easier to do things but with a little more effort I can still learn to do most things without it. Hatcher isn't sure if that makes me stronger than average or if I can do it because I didn't go to school where one of the first things they teach you is that you need to use the tools they give you. He says that there are some limitations on it, but that belief in yourself is a powerful component of casting, and doubt in your abilities becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. So believe in yourself Hermione, I believe you can do it.

If Hogwarts is trying to teach you that you can't do that, and has been so successful so quickly, then I'm glad I didn't go.

Sincerely

Harry

-o0o-

Harry Potter,

How can you say such things. I've tried and tried and a cannot do even the simplest thing without the tool they gave me. Even before I came to Hogwarts I couldn't control the things I did. When I became upset or angry enough or overwhelmed things just happened. They weren't always things I wanted and if they were they were things I didn't plan on happening.

I spoke to Neville about it. He disagrees with you too. He said that one of the reasons he's having so much trouble is that his tools are second hand and not made for him. I told him what Ollivander said to me and how I had to try multiple tools before I found one that produced the right results. He said that he wasn't surprised, but he isn't going to ask his Gran for new tools. He seems to think that his gifts aren't strong enough for it to matter but I wonder how much the tools he's using and his belief are affecting his results.

He's the only person here truly nice to me so I want to help him but I'm not sure how. He seems almost afraid of his grandmother, so I'm not sure that writing to her about it wouldn't make things at home worse for him.

Classes are interesting but it's too much work to write to you about them in detail. Our Biochemistry teacher continues to be very unpleasant and he singles Neville out for ridicule. Neville is afraid of him and that makes him more clumsy than normal in biochemistry which isn't good since you need to be so precise.

We've had people who look like they're from the bank roaming around the school but nobody has told us what they were here for. I hope they're not trying to close the school and put it in receivership. Maybe that was why Dumbledore was so desperate for you to attend, they need every student that they can get. Our class is much smaller than the higher year levels and there's been quite a few people grumbling about trying to transfer to wherever you're going to school.

Your friend

Hermione.

-o0o-

It had taken far longer than Albus had hoped for the investigations and trials for those in Azkaban without receiving a trial to begin, the investigative teams were hampered by the number of years that had passed since the alleged crimes were committed, and the shoddy investigations that were done at the time since the investigators had already been convinced they knew who had committed the crime. The only alternative was to hold the trial and offer the defendant questioning under Veritaserum, the innocent would surely accept if questioning was limited to only the crimes they were being tried for.

The first couple of trials went forward without incident, there had been enough evidence to convict the defendants and none of them had attempted to protest their innocence under veritaserum. There had been a push to have them exonerated for lack of due process but the laws under a war time footing had allowed for the incarceration of Death Eaters and they all bore the mark. Unsurprisingly, knowing that this time Veritaserum would be used to confirm the statement, none of them claimed to have received the mark unwillingly or while under the effects of the imperious curse and they were returned to Azkaban to serve out the remaining time on their sentences.

Then Sirius Black was brought into the courtroom and pleaded innocent on all charges. Even with the knowledge that he would be questioned under Veritaserum did not change his plea.

Under Veritaserum he denied being a supporter of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, denied being the Potter's secret keeper, denied betraying the Potter's location to You-Know-Who or the Death Eaters and denied casting the spell that blew up the street and killed Peter Pettigrew and 11 muggles. In fact, he claimed still under Veritaserum that Peter Pettigrew was the Potter's secret keeper and had escaped the explosion that he himself had caused by turning into his animagus form of a rat. Albus was relieved that he hadn't mentioned and nobody had thought to ask him who had cast the Fidelius Charm for the Potters. There was an uproar of protests but once it calmed down Sirius Black had been totally exonerated. The decision on how much he would be paid in compensation would wait until the trials finished and they discovered how many other innocent witches and wizards had been incarcerated during the war and forgotten without the trial they were entitled to.

Sirius was exonerated and transferred to St Mungo's for evaluation and treatment for the malnutrition and Dementor exposure. Albus frowned when his healer said that he wouldn't be able to leave hospital for several months. He protested that they were merely exchanging one prison for another but the healers replied that nobody before had been successfully rehabilitated after ten years in Azkaban and Sirius' best chance of living a normal life in the future was extensive physical and mind healing which should not be rushed. It wasn't until later that he realised that Sirius hadn't even asked about Harry, perhaps he really did need that mind healing.

-o0o-

Dear Harry

This is really annoying trying to have a serious discussion without saying what we're trying to talk about. It took me three drafts to write this letter. You're wrong I still can't do any of the things I did before finding out. Like I told you, I never did very many things accidentally and only when I was extremely upset or furious about something and then I couldn't control what happened. The only things I could control were help me reach my books and have enough light to read. I've tried to do them again and I cannot do them even with the tool without the motions and words, but when I spoke to Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick about it they said that it was normal. Accidental incidents do normally happen under extreme emotions, and if I was in such an emotional state again, I might have an incident but they get less likely once you start learning to use it purposefully.

I've been trying because you said you can do it. There's a boy here at school who's helping with that, though it's not his intention. Ron Weasley just makes me so angry sometimes it's a wonder I haven't exploded at him. He's so full of himself, bragging about how you visited him over the summer and are his best mate. He acts like you've told him where you are and sworn him to secrecy. He's so lazy with school and learning, and he's holding most of the rest of our class back. There's another boy also holding us back, I think that I've mentioned Neville Longbottom to you before, but I cannot be angry with Neville because he's trying so hard. I don't know why it just isn't working for him the way it does for the rest of us.

Neville said that the first time anything happened was last year when he fell and would've hurt himself badly. Before that he didn't think that he was going to be able to do it at all, and that he never managed it again. Still he doesn't seem very good at using the tools either, even when it looks and sounds like he's got the incantation and movements correct it doesn't seem to happen for him. I don't know why. He tried so hard, but it almost never seems to work until he gets frustrated.

Sincerely

Hermione

Dear Hermione

I agree that the level of security required can be difficult. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't think it was worth the effort now that you're at school and no doubt have a lot of other friends to talk to.

I never had to be upset to have what they call "accidental incidents" though they were much bigger and stronger and out of my control when I was upset or me or my family were in danger, in fact they happened often enough that I learned how to control them so I can still do the things I've always been able to do. Dad and Papa both said that the first things they saw me do when I wasn't upset never seemed to be that accidental, they were always what I wanted to happen and I've been using my gifts to my advantage since before I turned two. Learning to do new things without my tools is a bit more difficult but Hatcher encourages me to give it a good try first anyway.

He did explain to me that there are a lot of people like you who only had incidences when extremely angry or upset or to protect themselves from sudden danger like a reflex reaction and those people are more dependent on tools than I need to be. He said that is the reason that schools teach their students to use their tools but the advantage of one-on-one tutoring is that he doesn't have to teach me to do it the way everybody will be able to succeed, he can teach me to do without the tools as much as possible but he also said that eventually I will start to learn things that require too much energy to do without tools.

He did warn me that when that happens it might be harder for me to learn them because I'm not used to using precise motions. One advantage I do have is that many of the scientists on base speak at least some Latin and I have been learning it since the day I met you in the Alley. Papa's friend Daniel says my accent is terrible but he's going to work on it with me when he comes to visit next month.

Brewing is terrific fun. Several of the others have tried it too. Uncle Lorne is the best at it but it works well for Dad when he follows the instructions properly, but doesn't work much for Papa to Dad's amusement and Papa's disappointment. Ronon and Teyla can't do it at all.

Dr Parrish has set me aside a bed in the hydroponics lab to grow some simple things. We're trying to stick to the things that will help everybody at this stage, since most of the long term residents remember what it was like not to have regular access to medications before the current supply lines were established and nobody truly trusts that they couldn't be cut again. Hatcher says that it's enough for now but I'm going to need a private greenhouse with real dirt and fertiliser with the appropriate properties next year at the latest. Dad and Papa have plans for one in an unused lab once they get it cleared out of all this really old stuff.

Your friend

Harry

-o0o-

Dear Harry

I must admit that I'm disappointed with Hogwarts. I had such high hopes that I would make friends here, that it would be different from my old school but it's just the same. The girls I share a dorm with are polite enough, they're not mean but it's like we barely speak the same language, they're not interested in anything but makeup and boys and celebrity gossip.

The boys are worse, Weasley is a natural bully, he belittles everyone around him in an effort to make himself feel better about things. The others aren't mean and don't join in or encourage him but they don't try to stop him either. Seamus Finnegan is just juvenile and thoughtless, Dean is new to this world and hangs out mostly with Seamus or the other girls, Neville is sweet but extremely nervous and shy. None of them are interested in doing more than the bare minimum to pass their classes.

The older year's ignore us unless we're making too much noise or mess and then they step in and shut us up or try to send us outside, there are girls in the other houses I think that I could've been friends with if we were in the same house but they all keep to their own house groupings. Even the twins Padma and Parvati barely seem to speak to each other since they sorted into different houses.

I want to go home and get a tutor, I may not have had friends before but at least I had my parents and family. I wish you lived in England and we could share a tutor, I think it would be fun to learn with you.

Your friend

Hermione

-o0o-

Hermione huffed when the book she was trying to summon across the table twitched and refused to come.

"What are you trying to do?" Neville asked curiously.

"My friend who chose to get a private tutor rather than come to school said that I should still be able to the accidental magic I had control of before I got my wand without using it but it's just not working," Hermione said irritated.

"I don't know that I've ever heard it working like that. Accidental magic usually only happens in extreme situations. Perhaps is you were extremely upset you will have an episode but generally learning to use a wand helps your magic detach from your emotions so accidents don't happen," Neville replied.

"But I used to be able to summon books when I was in bed and make a small light to read without being upset and I can't do either of them today," Hermione grumbled. "Harry said that he's still doing magic without a wand and even learning new spells."

"Harry? Do you mean Harry Potter?" Neville asked quietly.

"Yes, I met him in Flourish and Blotts, he and his family were considering whether to send him to Hogwarts or the American school since his guardians are American and Canadian, they ended up choosing to hire a private tutor because he didn't want to leave home or give up his muggle education," Hermione said.

"Why didn't you say something?" Neville asked.

"Who would believe me with Ron the Mouth Weasley telling everyone that they were best mates?" Hermione asked.

"I would, what's he like?" Neville asked.

"Polite, loves to read loves mathematics and computers, he'd only just found out about the wizarding world though he said he'd been using magic without knowing what to call it for a long time. His dad is in the United States Air Force and his Papa is a scientist and engineer. He lives on a military base somewhere," Hermione said.

"His dad and his Papa? His father was killed when he was a baby," Neville asked.

"He's been adopted. His Dad is a cousin of some sort and his Papa is his Dad's husband," Hermione replied.

"They're good to him, his new parents?" Neville asked.

"Yes I think so, as far as I could tell from a single meeting. He loves them and respects their opinions and they let him call me on the phone even from America which is really expensive," Hermione said.

"My mother is his godmother, he would have come to live with us if she wasn't cursed," Neville said.

"Is your mum okay now?" Hermione asked.

"No, she'll probably never be alright, she lives at St Mungo's in the Long-term curse damage ward, she's been there since I was a baby, she doesn't speak and I don't think she knows who I am," Neville said softly.

"I'm sorry Neville," Hermione said shocked.

"It's okay, I live with my Gran and she's kind of strict but she loves me. If Harry's new parents weren't good to him she could probably campaign to get custody of him too," Neville replied.

"Well, I think that they are but I'm sure he'd like to hear from you if you'd like to write to him," Hermione said gently.

"I've written before and he's never replied," Neville said. "I'd guess that most of our class has probably written to him at least once or sent him birthday cards and stuff."

"I don't think he ever got any of that, he said he found out about the wizarding world in August this year. He lives a really long way away I have to write to my Mum and she scans it or types it out and sends it by email because he can't get post so he probably never got your letters," Hermione said.

"But the post owl still took them, and came back without them. They must have gone somewhere," Neville replied.

"Well how about you write him a letter and I'll send it to Mum to scan and send, like she does my letters," Hermione offered.

"She won't mind?" Neville hesitated.

"I'm sure she won't, it only takes a minute to scan a letter, like taking an electronic photograph," Hermione explained. "You won't be able to write anything you don't want my mum who is a muggle and the censors for the military base he lives on to see. I'll give you a list of the euphemisms Harry and I have worked out for magical words."

"All his mail is read by other people?" Neville asked shocked.

"Yes, Harry explained that all main going on or off a classified base is censored for certain key words or phrases, they don't actually read every word and they don't know the people whose letters they're reading," Hermione replied.

"That's weird, how many people live on the base?" Neville asked.

"I don't know but probably about a thousand or more," Hermione replied. She reached out her hand barely thinking about it and the book moved close enough for her to grab.

"Hermione! You did it!" Neville exclaimed in shock.

"I did, didn't I?" Hermione said in awe. "Harry was right! It is possible to learn to do wandless magic."

"Not just wandless magic, summoning objects isn't a first year spell," Neville said.

"I don't think I did summon it I just levitated it towards me. What is the difference?" Hermione asked.

Neville chose Lumos, the spell he'd found the easiest so far and tried to cast it with his quill instead of a wand. To his surprise it worked first try, the light was only about half as bright as his normal Lumos but it definitely worked for a few minutes before the quill began to smoulder. He dropped it on the table where Hermione quickly snatched up her books and poured a little of her bottle of water on it.

"I did it!" Neville whispered incredulously as if almost afraid to say it out loud.

"You did, Neville. Try to cast Lumos with my wand," Hermione said.

"I couldn't, it's incredibly rude to cast with someone else's wand. Even a lot of married couples wouldn't do it," Neville protested.

"But I'm giving you permission, for an experiment," Hermione said.

"Hermione you can't just use someone else's wand it's attuned to their magic so it won't work well unless it decides it likes my magic better but then it will stop working well for you," Neville tried to explain.

"Your wand isn't new, whose was it?" Hermione asked.

"It was my Dad's," Neville whispered sadly.

"I'm sorry Neville, does the attuned thing stop when the original owner dies?" Hermione asked.

"My Dad isn't dead, he lives with Mum in St Mungo's," Neville replied.

"Then could his wand still be attuned to him?" Hermione asked. "It doesn't seem to be very attuned to you if you can use a quill nearly as well as your wand."

"I don't know, Gran said it would work for me, that I didn't need my own wand, she thought I should be proud to use my father's wand and I am I just feel like I'm letting his wand down," Neville said confusedly.

"Neville, I think we should talk to Professor McGonagall or Professor Flitwick about whether you do need your own wand," Hermione suggested.

"I don't want to make Gran angry with me," Neville whispered.

Hermione wanted to yell that Neville should be angry with his Grandmother, but she realised that wouldn't help. "Neville I think that your Gran would want you to do as well as possible at school and if that means getting a new wand then I think you should get one. She shouldn't be angry to hear that you've got more magic than she thought, nor should she get upset that your dad's wand is still loyal to him."

"Okay Hermione, I'll talk to Professor McGonagall, Gran's more likely to listen to her, they were at school together," Neville agreed.

"That's good. As a child I use to cast a light spell on my finger tips," Hermione said casting the spell and watching her index fingernail light up slightly.

"Does it burn like with the quill?" Neville asked.

"No it doesn't hurt at all and it never scorched the book I was reading either. I could keep it going for nearly an hour before I came to school," Hermione replied.

Neville gave it a go and was rewarded with a very weak glow.

"You can do better than that, you need to believe in yourself more," Hermione encouraged.

Neville nodded and the glow increased until it was brighter than Hermione's fingernail.

Dear Harry,

I tried your advice and it did eventually work when I did it without thinking about it. It seems I have to have absolute confidence that it will work, or at least not to be questioning it at the time. My new friend Neville tried too and I'm ashamed to admit I really didn't expect it to work for him since he's been struggling so much in class but it did. He started by using his quill to cast the light spell on the end of it and it lit for a while until the quill started smouldering and then he managed to cast it on the end of his finger like I used to to read without my parents noticing at night. It turns out his grandmother insisted he use his father's wand which was not a good match for him at all. He's going to talk to one of the professors and get it sorted.

I think that Neville and I are starting to be friends, he is friendly with the other boys but doesn't spend a lot of time with them. He is nice to me, though he doesn't like to read for pleasure that much. His passion is Herbs and gardening. He's easily top of the class in that and he said he spends a lot of time in his family greenhouse at home.

Neville is going to write to you as well, I told him that I'd write and explain things so you're not surprised by the letter. His mum was your godmother, she and his dad were cursed when he was a toddler, about the same time your birth parents were killed. They're still in the hospital, Neville lives with his grandmother. Neville said he's tried to write to you before and he never received the letter back as undeliverable but you never wrote back to him so he's a bit hesitant about writing again.

I tried to tell him that you probably didn't get the letter but he didn't believe me. He said post owls always bring back letters that they can't deliver. He said that he expects it got lost in the piles of other mail, since lots of children were encouraged to write to 'The-Boy-Who-Lived' to thank you for saving them all, but I'm sure you didn't get any of those letters since you didn't know about their world at all before you got your school letter.

I swear to you Harry you better write back to Neville or I will Hex you silly next time I see you.

Sincerely

Hermione.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited or gave Kudos to this story for your support.