Author's notes:

Standard disclaimer: It all belongs to JKR. Except where I might use some song lyrics which I will call out at the time and give proper credit. Thank you JKR for letting us play with your toys.

HARRY POTTER AND THE MUGGLE'S DAUGHTER

Building Alliances

Part II

HPHPHP

The Saturday after she had met Daniel, Hermione was in what was probably her favorite place in the world. The Library. She'd long since finished, A Tale of Two Cities, and was well through the discussions and essays for it. She supposed she could start, Dombey and Son, but it was Saturday and she wasn't going to feel guilty about indulging in her favorite pastime.

She loved books about magic and read absolutely anything she could find with wizards and witches and magical beasts. She'd read, The Hobbit, and, The Lord of the Rings, through enough times she knew them practically by heart. She even knew the Elven Language. She didn't know it, but she was well on her way to being as fluent in it as Tolkien had been. Still, for as much as she loved it, she wished she could find something where the hero, or rather the heroine, was a girl. It was sorely lacking in her mind and she thought that one day she might like to write a story with a female protagonist.

Of course she also thought about being a physicist or an Olympic Judoka like her father. Being a doctor like her mother might be fun as well, just not an oral surgeon. But a brain surgeon would be quite interesting. After all, there really wasn't anything more complicated in the universe than the human brain, was there? We'll quantum physics probably equaled it. And come to think of it nuclear medicine and molecular science probably did as well. There was just so much to choose from and it was all so very interesting.

Much more interesting than the rest of the kids her age, that was for certain. She was well aware of the differences between her and other children. Even at her school where all the students were advanced she was the anomaly. She was invariably the youngest in her various study groups, usually by at least two years. It unfortunately made for a sometimes-lonely existence. At least at her school, for the most part, she wasn't picked on very much. But the children on her street, they had long since made it known they didn't want the Posh-Little-Book-Worm hanging around with them. It was why, even in the library, she would take her books to a back corner in the psychology section. She didn't have to endure the snide remarks or cruel laughter directed her way there and the adults who frequented had long since grown used to her presence. She'd even had an interesting discussion with a university student once or twice. So she was rather startled and a bit fearful when someone approached her from behind and spoke her name.

"Hermione?"

She jumped and spun around. "Daniel!" she gasped

He backed up a step. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

"It's ok," she managed after a second or two, "It's just, you know, a library. I'm not used to people talking to me here."

Daniel frowned. "Well, they're usually quiet, but that doesn't mean people don't talk in them."

"People don't talk to me," she amended.

He shrugged. "Alright then. I'll leave you alone." He turned to go and was near the end of the row before she called after him.

"Daniel."

He turned back. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude."

He shrugged again. "It's ok. It's not like we're actually friends. I'm sure you've got loads and don't need another one anyway." He turned around and was gone in a blink.

Hermione stood there in the row staring after him. "But I don't have any friends," she whispered. Another few seconds passed before she raced after him. She spotted him speaking with a brown haired woman at a table. The woman nodded and began gathering her things. He helped her place them in a bag before positioning a walker she hadn't noticed at the end of the table for the woman to use. That caused Hermione to hesitate for another second, wondering what had happened that someone as young as her would need one. But then, she reasoned, there could be any number of reason she would have need of it. Daniel was heaving the bag to his shoulder when she snapped out of it and hurried over.

"I don't have any friends," she blurted.

Daniel turned back to her. "Sorry?"

She blushed. That had been brilliant. Give her a book, or an opponent to practice with or an adult any day of the week and she was perfectly fine, but one person her own age and she couldn't form a coherent sentence. "You said I probably have lots of friends. I don't. I don't have any friends; at least not any my own age."

Daniel glanced at the woman he was with. "Sounds like you maybe misunderstood her," she said.

He turned back to Hermione. "I don't have any friends either."

She smiled tentatively. "Maybe we could be each other's friend?"

He grinned. "That'd be brilliant."

The two of them stood there for a few moments, staring awkwardly at each other. The woman cleared her throat. "Oh, sorry," Daniel said. "This is my mum. Mum, this is Hermione. She's the one who beat me up Monday."

She offered her hand. "Pleased to meet you, Hermione. I'm Evanna."

Hermione shook her hand. "Hermione Granger. It's a pleasure Mrs…"

Evanna laughed. "It's Lynch. But please call me Evanna."

"Erm, I don't think my parents will like that Mrs Lynch."

She laughed again. "Very well then. Mrs Lynch it is." She glanced at Daniel. "Would you like to stay and chat with your new friend for a while?"

He blushed. "Yes, please."

"Alright then." She maneuvered her walker back to the table and sat down. "You two run along then." She grabbed her bag from Daniel, fished her book back out and flipped it open.

"What are you reading?" Hermione asked.

She gave an exaggerated sigh. "Nothing you'd find too interesting, I'm afraid. It's a rather tedious text by an American Astronomer." She closed the book and showed Hermione the cover.

"Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters by Rubin Vera," Hermione read. "I studied her in a previous section at school. It's rather fascinating to think that we can't even see most of the matter in the universe."

Mrs Lynch blinked. "You studied her?"

"Oh yes, it was most enlightening."

Mrs Lynch grinned. "Pardon the pun," she said.

Hermione furrowed her brow, "Pardon…? Oh, Dark Matter, most enlightening. I get it. That is rather a bit of a pun, isn't it?"

"Quite," Mrs Lynch laughed. "Why don't you two run along and let me get back to my enlightening text on dark matter?"

"Oh, yes. Of course." Hermione turned to Daniel. "Erm, I usually sit over there," she pointed. "But we can stay with your mum if you like."

"Oh no," Mrs Lynch said, "you two don't need me hovering about. Run along for a while. I'll come find you when I'm ready to go."

"You shouldn't move about too much," Daniel said. "I'll come check on you in an hour."

Mrs Lynch waved him off. "Scat, before I decide to give you a good drubbing for Molly Coddling your mother."

"You'd have to catch me," Daniel retorted.

"Give me six months and say that again, Buster."

"Yeah, yeah," he retorted. "Shaking in my boots." She ignored him. He gave a false shiver. "Shivers and everything."

"You're being very rude to your new friend."

He rolled his eyes before focusing on her. "Where are we going?" he asked. "You just kind of waved that direction."

Near giddy with the idea that she might have made an actual friend, Hermione set off. "Back here," she answered. He quickly followed and she led him to her usual spot.

"Nice," he said, taking it in. The area had a few squashy chairs and was splashed with warm sun from the large windows.

"It's quite back here. The librarian chases the other kids out," she said

"But not you?"

"I'm quiet too."

She fidgeted as he gave her an appraising look. "You get picked on a lot, don't you?"

"I didn't say that."

He ticked his points off on his fingers. "You don't have any friends. You hide back here where the other kids aren't allowed. The adults let you stay, so you must come here pretty frequently. You aren't the only one who knows how to avoid getting picked on, Hermione. How come they don't like you? No, wait, don't answer. You're too smart, aren't you?"

"I am not," she retorted indignantly.

He snorted. "Yeah right. I'll bet there isn't another person under twenty within a hundred miles of here who even knows who Rubin Vera is. There's nothing wrong with being smart. If they can't deal with it, you're better off without them."

She stared at him owlishly. "How come you don't have any friends?"

He flopped down on a smallish couch – it was about as big as a love seat. "Well it's not cause I'm a genius," he said. She sat down on the other end of the couch. "I mean I'm pretty smart and can figure things out, but not like my mum. She's brilliant, I'm telling you."

"Then how come you don't have any friends?"

He shrugged. "Mostly cause of my aunt, uncle and cousin."

"What do they have to do with it?"

"Well, you saw my mum, right?"

Hermione nodded. "What about her?"

"Well when I was one, she and my dad were attacked. He was killed and she was hurt really bad. She was in a coma till about seven months ago. I was sent to live with my relatives. They didn't like me so they told everyone all these lies about me. Even though my cousin is the same age as me, he was a lot bigger and he used to beat me up all the time. He'd beat up anyone who tried to be friends with me too. They even told me my mum was dead. I didn't find out she wasn't till after she woke up and came to get me."

"That's horrible!"

Daniel shrugged. "Yeah, well, they'll get theirs some day. Turns out my parents were super rich. My uncle complained all the time about how much it cost to keep me. My mum sent him a copy of my trust fund statement and told him she'd have given him ten times as much if he'd just treated me decently."

Hermione stared at him in shock. "Well that's rather a bit of comeuppance. Remind me not to make your mother angry."

Daniel grinned. "She's brilliant."

"I don't know," Daniel said some two hours later. "I mean he didn't do it in the end, did he? He was going to keep the ring. It only got destroyed because Gollum tried to steal it back and fell into the lava with it. In the end, the ring won."

"That's a pretty harsh condemnation for all the suffering Frodo endured just getting the ring there," Hermione said.

"I'm not saying he didn't do a lot. The ring would never have been destroyed if he hadn't carried it as far as he did. I just thought it was kind of a let down that at the very end, when it came time, he fell to the evil in the ring and it was just Gollum's bad luck that saved the world."

Hermione considered. "I suppose. It's an interesting argument, that's for certain. But you want him to be perfect. And no-one's perfect."

Daniel shook his head. "I don't want him to be perfect. It was already established in the story that he wasn't. It's just that if he is going to be held up as the ultimate hero, then I want him to have actually thrown the ring in the volcano himself, not decide to keep it and have it end up there on a fluke of luck."

Hermione was about to respond when Daniel's mum interrupted them. "Daniel—"

"Mum!" he cried shooting to his feet. "You shouldn't be walking around this much." He grabbed her bag from her.

She rolled her eyes. "He's worse than my own mother, I swear," she said.

Hermione smiled. "Well, I think he probably is pretty happy to be able to be with you instead of those horrible people and he's just worried about you."

Mrs Lynch blinked. "Wonderful, now I've got two of you telling me what to do." She focused on Daniel. "Loath as I am to admit it, I'm about done in, Love. John is on his way so you'll need to say goodbye for today and help your old mum to the car."

"Alright," Daniel agreed. He turned to Hermione. "I suppose I'll see you at practice?"

Hermione pulled a pen from her bag. "Give me your hand," she said. He did so and she quickly wrote her number on his palm.

When she was done, Daniel grabbed the pen and her hand and did the same. "I'll call you, tomorrow. Maybe we can arrange to meet here again."

"I'd like that," Hermione answered.

"Great." He shouldered his mum's bag. "I'll see you."

"See you," Hermione said and they were gone.

HPHPHP

Petunia Dursley was a happy woman. Finally, finally the house in Little Whinging had sold. They'd been able to purchase a new home in the little burb of Cristisim Park, in Kent and finally, finally, finally move out of Vernon's sister Marge's home. Another day of the woman's slobbering dogs dribbling drool on her prized pradas and she would have killed them for certain.

But that was all in the past now. Now she had a lovely new home that met all her needs. It came with a perfectly standard front and back garden. She had already scheduled workers to come do the plantings. There was an attractive two-car garage. Vernon had purchased an expensive new Volvo sedan for her. It was black, just like nearly every other sedan in the neighborhood and had been appropriately ohhed and awed over by her soon to be lady friends. She'd invited them all to a tea next week and was beside herself with excitement at the thought of them gushing over her new furnishings. Not a single chair in the home had come from privet drive. She would not be contaminating her new home with anything that might have been touched by that filthy creature thank you very much! No, her beautiful, three bedroom, two point five bath, living room, dining room, front parlour, granite counter-top kitchen with attached conservatory home was absolutely pristine.

She was very happy indeed.

Best of all, the filthy little brat her equally filthy sister had stuck her with was gone. The ungrateful little pile of trash had run off without so much as a by-your-leave for everything they'd done for him. She hadn't spared him a thought in months.

So it was, on July 30th that she completed her pre bed routine. Her precious Dudley was safely tucked in, no doubt dreaming of the lovely little friends he would make in the neighborhood. Vernon was, of course, already in bed. No doubt going over some file for work one last time while he waited for her. Smiling at herself in the mirror, she set her brush in the drawer just as she liked it. A place for everything and everything in its place was her motto and she strived to live exactly by it. She entered the bedroom and climbed in the bed where she gave Vernon a kiss on the cheek.

"Goodnight," she said and settled herself in. He grunted, gave his file a last look and set it aside. He then put out the light before turning back to kiss her forehead.

"Goodnight, Darling," he said and settled in.

Petunia sighed happily and quietly drifted off. Perfectly safe, perfectly happy, perfectly unsuspecting till the softly glowing numbers on the clock set on Vernon's bedside table changed to 12:01 and the still of the night was shattered by breaking glass. She woke with a scream while Vernon bellowed. "What The Devil!"

"I know what you did," A female voice harshly hissed.

Petunia cowered in her bed, her eyes fixed on the softly glowing and ghostly form of her sister. "L–Lily," she whispered. The ghost faded away.

Lily turned with the soft knock on her door. "Well?" she asked.

Remus nodded. "It's done."

"And?"

"I wager a broken bureau mirror won't be the only mess they clean up tonight."

"Good," Lily answered. "Whip my son, they'll wish they were dead by the time I'm done with them."

"Are you sure you want to keep this up?"

"They're going to pay for what they did to my son, Remus."

Remus nodded slightly. "Fine. But just know there are lines I won't cross."

"Then I'll get Sirius to help me."

"Be careful, Lily," he answered and left.

Lily braced her hands on her bureau. Her emotions towards her sister and brother-in-law had been at RAGE ever since seeing the scars across Harry's back. She didn't doubt that if she still had her magic she would have done something equally horrific to them. Honestly they might not even still be alive. And then there was Dudley. Clearly he was a product of his upbringing. And she wondered if the damage being done to him was all that different than what was done to Harry. She was of half a mind to take him, have Remus wipe his memory and raise him as her own. It was the only way she could see to prevent him growing up a racist bastard. But what right did she have to do that? She was pulled from her dark thoughts by a voice from her doorway.

"Mum?"

Sighing, she turned to him. "How much did you hear?" He shrugged. She sighed again and held her arms out. He quickly crossed to her and she wrapped him tightly to her.

"Can I stay with you tonight?" he asked.

She kissed his crown. "Of course you can." She gave him a tug and pulled him to her bed. Very quickly they settled in place and she pulled the covers up over them.

"I'm really glad you woke up," he whispered.

Lily pulled him tight and kissed the back of his head. "I love you, Harry."

HPHPHP

August 5th found Harry (Daniel) sat next to Hermione in the back of his mum's car. His ninth birthday had been the previous Monday and they were on their way to Thorpe Park for the day to celebrate. To say Harry was excited would have been an understatement on par with saying it was strange a person could speak to snakes. And, as if it weren't enough that he was going to an amusement park with his best friend in the whole world to celebrate, he'd already been given a party on his actual birthday; with cake and ice cream and presents and everything else!

Hermione and her parents had come to celebrate with them then too. He'd received a beautifully illustrated set of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy from Hermione's parents. Her father had also presented him a yellow belt with three red tags, representing his promotion to the 5th Mon as a Judoka. Hermione was still four levels above him at 9th Mon, but she was almost a full year older than him and had been practicing since she was three. He'd been practicing for a bit more than 7 months!

Hermione had given him a chemistry set. Unfortunately, the gift hadn't lasted very long. They'd tried to make their own fireworks and by Wednesday evening had blown up the picnic table and most of the set. The rest had promptly been confiscated. Hermione had been sent home for the day and they'd not been allowed to see each other the next two days. They'd also both been banned from their Judo practices for those two days as well. Harry had been half afraid the trip to the amusement park was going to be taken away as well.

But he'd been given a choice instead. He could give up his day at the park with Hermione, or he could give up his brand new Nimbus 1500 and the promised flying lessons with Remus for a month. He'd been torn dreadfully by the choice between punishments. But his time with his aunt and uncle had taught him patience. So delayed gratification was not something he had terrible difficulty with. It stunk, but he'd suffered far worse. Besides, it wasn't like he wouldn't still get it. Once he realized that, it was a simple choice to agree to wait a month for his broom. He still got both and he grudgingly accepted he probably deserved the punishment anyway.

Of course he could have done without the early start today. Without traffic it was a two-hour drive to the park and this was England. There was always traffic. He'd been roused at six that morning so they could eat, pick Hermione up and be on the road by seven to make the gate opening. Hermione was currently cashed out on the other side of the car and he rather wished he had a camera. Her mouth was open and there was a bit of drool in the corner. Just then she jerked awake. He sniggered as she wiped at her mouth.

"Watch it you," she warned, "or I'll throw you in one of the pools."

"You wish," Harry retorted. He and the bushy haired, dark skinned girl had been fast friends from that first meeting in the library in May. And he'd advanced quickly with his skills as a Judoka, he'd even managed to throw her a few times during their practices, but she still drubbed him on a regular basis. It would probably be a year or more yet before he caught up to her. Of course another year's training for him would be another year for her as well. It might help too if he would grow a bit. She was still bigger than him.

"I know," she retorted loftily.

Harry stuck his tongue out at her. "At least I wasn't drooling in my sleep."

"There it is," Remus interrupted their banter.

"Where?" Harry asked. "Whoa," he gasped a second later when he got his first look at one of the many rollercoasters. It was absolutely huge, towering into the distant sky well above the treetops and various buildings surrounding the area.

"Oh my," Hermione croaked.

Harry glanced at her. "Are you telling me the girl who can beat up every boy in the village under thirteen is afraid of rollercoasters?"

"I am not!" she retorted heatedly.

Harry poked her. "Are too." She grabbed his hand and they quickly devolved into a wrestling match that eventually ended with him caught in a wristlock.

"Give?" she asked.

"Give," he agreed. She let him go and he retreated to his side of the back seat. "You're still scared."

"And you're going to be eating pavement the second we get out of this car."

"Scared," Harry retorted. "Shivers and everything." He gave a fake shudder.

"Next time I give you a chemistry set I'm going to fix something that turns your hair pink."

"NO MORE CHEMISTRY SETS!" Remus and Harry's mum cried from the front seat.

"Sorry, Mum. Sorry, Mrs Lynch," Harry and Hermione said at the same time. They fell silent, but kept shooting glances at each other, hardly able to control their laughter.

"Do we really have to go on this, Daniel?" Hermione asked.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her along to the queue. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"But I hate heights."

"Well why did you agree to come then?"

"Because you're my best friend and you asked me. Can't we go on that one?" she pointed to another ride called the Scrambler. It looked quite fun, the way it spun around in circles while flinging the various cars about, but Harry was dead set on the rollercoasters.

"Later," he said, relentlessly tugging her along.

"But that one stays close to the ground!"

"Come on, all you have to do is go on this one once and none of the rest of them will be scary anymore."

"Yeah, like that will happen," she retorted.

Bickering all the while they waited their turn in the queue and before they knew it they were at the front. "Come on!" Harry said, pulling her to the very front car.

"What? No! Absolutely not."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because it's the front! I'm not sitting in the very front."

"What difference does it make?"

"IT'S THE FRONT!"

"It's not any different. Besides, you're just going to close your eyes anyway."

"I AM NOT!"

"Sure you are." Just then the train sped into the platform and braked hard.

"THAT WAS BRILLIANT!" one of the two boys sitting in the seats they would soon occupy enthused. The chest bar released and he and his friend clambered out.

"Come on, the line's really short. Let's go again!" The two bolted out the exit, racing for the queue entry again. Half a dozen others, boys and girls, did the same. Everyone else was laughing and holding onto each other and bubbling over with excitement from the ride. The gate to the queue clicked and swung open, allowing the next set of riders to enter the train.

Hermione glared at him. "I'm going to kill you."

Harry pushed her onto the train and grabbed her hand when she tried to quickly jump out the other side. "Come on, you'll be mad at yourself if you chicken out."

She scowled at him but flopped into her seat. "I hate you," she grumbled as she hooked the lap belt.

"ARMS UP!" the ride operator intoned over the loudspeakers. Harry and Hermione raised their arms and the shoulder harness lowered.

"Ohhh," Hermione groaned.

Harry grabbed her hand. "You'll be fine."

"ENJOY YOUR RIDE!" There was a bang and a hiss as the brakes released and the train jerked forward.

"WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" Harry bellowed.

"DANIEL!" Hermione shrieked. Harry laughed. Very quickly the train wound around to the base of the first hill and with a solid thunk the chain drive latched on and the climb up began.

"LET ME OFF!" Hermione cried.

Harry just kept laughing. "Holy cow, we're only half way up!"

"SHUT UP DANIEL!"

"I'm pretty sure I can see all the way back to Bourton," he continued to tease.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" There was another thunk from underneath the train as they neared the crest of the hill. "I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die," Hermione chanted as they slowly edged over the top.

"HANDS UP!" Harry shouted as they got their first look at the drop awaiting them.

Hermione clamped her hands on the shoulder harness. "Oh god. Oh god. Oh god." And then the rush began.

"WAHOOOOO!" Harry cried.

"AAAIIIEEEE!" Hermione shrieked.

Some sixty seconds, two loops, three corkscrews and a half dozen rollerhumps later the train braked to a halt in the boarding platform. "HA HA!" Harry cried. He looked over at Hermione, whose normally wild hair was now windblown beyond belief. The shoulder harness released. "Well?" he asked. She immediately started hitting him about the chest.

"You! Can't believe! Going to die! Scared! Why do I like you anyway!"

Harry just laughed and unbuckled his belt. "Wanna go again?"

She slowly began to smirk. "Race you," she cried, tearing her belt off and bolting for the exit.

"NO FAIR!" Harry cried and tore after her.

"OFFFHA!" Harry gasped. He'd noticed Hermione eyeing him evilly as they climbed on the Scrambler but hadn't been able to figure why. Of course payback for the first rollercoaster had to be coming, but he hadn't seen how it could happen on this particular ride so he hadn't worried about it too much. Now though, he knew what she'd been thinking and why she'd taken the inside of their car. Every time the ride spun around and flung the car to the end of its arm, she would slide across the seat and slam into him. "OFFFHA!" he gasped again. And the worst part was there was enough time between each swing for her to pull herself off him to the inside of the car before they reached the end of another rotation. "OFFFHA!" he gasped between his laughter. "OFFFHA!" A dozen or more times it went. He could barely breathe for laughing and every time he managed to get even the barest of breaths in, she slammed into him, knocking it out again. Eventually, the ride slowed and he was allowed to collapse in the corner holding his sides as he tried to get under control again. Hermione was plastered to his side laughing so hard she was hiccupping. The lap bar went up and they somehow managed to exit the ride where they drunkenly staggered around, banging into each other the whole way to the exit. Once past the gate, they stumbled into a small bit of grass where they collapsed next to each other giggling uncontrollably.

"That was bril!" Harry snickered.

"That'll teach you," she giggled.

"I thought you were going to knock my teeth out."

She snorted. "Would serve you right. They sat up, looked at each other and promptly broke into more giggles.

"Wanna go again?" Harry asked. Before he could move she had scrambled to her feet and was bolting to the queue. The ride had just emptied and the line was short enough that they were able to race right through and onto the last empty car.

"NO WAY! I GET THE INSIDE THIS TIME!"

Hermione clambered into the car and slid to the inside where she latched onto the edge of the seat. "FORGET IT!"

Harry threw himself into the empty spot and pulled the bar down. "You're gonna pay for that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"How?"

Harry waited for the ride to start and quickly slid down next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and grabbed the edge of the car. "Like this!"

"CHEATER!" Hermione pressed against him, trying to break his hold so they would slide to the outside and she could smash into him again. He managed to fight her off through the first few turns, but then the momentum of the ride, coupled with her fingers prying his free sent them crashing to outside again. "OFFFHA!" Harry gasped. She quickly tried to pull herself back so she could slam into him again and he followed, trying to hold her in place against the inside. Eventually they collapsed into such fits of laughter they were both just sliding around in the car banging into each other. Once more they staggered off at the end of the ride and collapsed onto the patch of grass.

"My sides hurt," Hermione groaned.

"Yours," Harry retorted.

"You've got boney elbows."

"You're the one slamming into me!"

"Serves you right."

"That might be the best ride in the park," Harry said.

"Good. Means no more rollercoasters."

"How about some games?"

Hermione sat up, grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. "Come on," she urged. Hand in hand they raced off through the park. "Opps, Sorry!" she cried as they danced around a mother pushing a pram. They dashed away, arriving at the games' area giggling and out of breath.

"Which one first?" Harry asked.

"That one!" She pointed to a game where you tried to toss a ball into an old milk jug.

"Alright," Harry agreed. They ran over and quickly paid for three balls each. Even more quickly, Harry had tossed and missed with all three balls.

"Not very good at this, are you," Hermione teased.

"You try then." She positioned herself, took aim and flipped her first ball in a high arc. It went up and plopped right down in the milk jug. "Luck," Harry said.

"Nice throw, Luv," the operator congratulated her. "That's a small prize you win. Let's see if you can get another one."

Once again Hermione set herself up and repeated her high arcing throw. And for the second straight time the ball fell right in the jug. She shot him a triumphant look. "Not so lucky that time, was it?"

"Excellent throw there, Luv. That's a medium you've won. And chance you can make it the large?"

"Bet you can't," Harry said. She scowled at him and set up for her third throw. This time though the ball just caught the rim of the jug, and after rattling around bounced out. "HA!" Harry crowed.

"Bad luck there, Luv," the operator sympathized. "But you can buy another three balls and still try for a large yet if you like."

Hermione fished another pound from her pocket and plunked it down. "Yes please." The operator gave her another three balls and she set up. Her first ball missed again, but she got the second and third in and won a jumbo prize. "That one," she pointed to a massive stuffed unicorn that was nearly as tall as she was."

"How are we going to carry that around the rest of the day?" Harry asked.

"Don't worry about that, Luv," the operator said. She handed Hermione a ticket. "I'll send your unicorn up to the gates and they'll hold it there for you. Give them that ticket to collect it."

Hermione beamed at the girl. "Thank you."

The operator turned to Harry. "How about you, Luv, wanna give it another go?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I think I wanna try something else."

"Alright then. You two have fun."

"We will," Hermione said. She grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him to another game. "Come on, that one has dragons!" Harry laughed and allowed himself to be pulled along.

Close to an hour later, Harry had come to the conclusion Hermione was either very lucky, or very, very good at carnival games. They'd played ten different games and she'd managed to win at least a small prize at eight of them. Two of them she'd won larges at and like the first game, she'd won a jumbo at this last one. He'd begun paying very close attention to her method, trying to mimic it himself and managed to win a medium sized stuffed snake at the last game they'd played. This one though, the ring toss he hadn't come close with even one of his rings. Hermione though, had just missed on her first four, but then got her fifth to settle on the single, jumbo win bottle in the target area.

"How are you doing that," Harry demanded.

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. I've just always been really good at carnival games. I've won so many that I have to give a lot of my prizes to charity because they take up too much space in my room."

Harry nodded. He'd seen her room and the dozens of stuffed animals many times. He pulled another pound from his pocket and paid for five more rings. Handing them to Hermione, he said, "Show me how you do it."

"I told you. I don't know."

"Well just show me what you do."

"Ok." She positioned herself, took aim, closed her eyes and made a practice motion a few times before opening her eyes, taking a last breath and tossing the ring. It flew through the air, bounced over the jumbo win bottle, nearly settled into place and bounced off. "Drat!" she grumbled.

Harry frowned. "What are you thinking about when you close your eyes?"

"I'm just picturing as hard as I can what I want to happen. When I can see it clearly in my mind, then I throw it."

"Try again," Harry said. Once more she went through her routine. Again she was agonizingly close to winning only to have the ring fail to settle into place and fall onto the table with the rest of the losing tosses. "Keep going," Harry urged. She missed with her third throw as well, but her fourth one slipped around the bottle top, rattled about and settled into place.

"YES!" Hermione cried. She threw her arms around Harry and hugged him tightly before letting go and pointing to a giant chestnut brown pony. "That one, please." She was so excited she failed to notice Harry staring at her in bewilderment. "Oh, and I have one ring left!" She quickly set up, but her excitement must have been so much that it interfered with her throw and she had her first bad miss of the game. "Oh well," she said. "I guess I've already won two jumbos here. That's more than enough."

Harry pulled out another pound and set it on the counter. "Five more, please," he said. The operator handed them to him and Harry offered them to Hermione. "Win me the football," he said.

"The football?"

Harry pointed to a real football up on the shelf. Underneath there was a sign that said,

Five straight Jumbos, Wins

Genuine game used ball from 1986 World Cup.

Signed by Diego Maradona.

"Daniel, that's impossible," She protested. "It's been there three years already and no-one's won it."

Harry shrugged. "What's the worst that can happen?"

She shook her head. "Fine. It is only a pound to try."

"Right," Harry agreed. She took the rings from him and set herself up. She took longer this time and once again, just before she threw the ring, Harry saw a bluish glow form around the ring in her hand. He didn't even need to look to know she'd managed to get the first ring on the bottle.

"That's a right lucky young lady you got there, Mate," the operator said. He fished the ring off the bottle. "That's another jumbo at least."

Hermione grinned. "Well at least he can have something then."

"She's really good," Harry said, "been winning games all afternoon."

"Well she's breaking the bank here. Glad it doesn't come out of my check."

"Go on, Hermione," Harry said. He didn't care about the ball in the least. He was more interested in the fact that he wouldn't be leaving his best friend behind when he turned eleven and left for Hogwarts. Now he just had to figure out how to tell her.

"And again!" the operator cried. "Come on folks! Haven't seen nothing like it before. She's already won four jumbos and has two in a row." Hermione glowered at the man.

Harry stepped to her and whispered in her ear. "Just like practice. You, the ring, the bottle, nothing else matters."

"Right," she agreed. She shook herself and set her feet. Harry very easily recognized the state she settled in. Calm, cool, collected. He'd seen it dozens of times just before she beat the stuffing out of him.

"And that's three!" the operator cried.

Hermione didn't react at all. Harry spotted Remus and his mum in the crowd. He edged behind Hermione and made eye contact with them. Holding up his hand, he mouthed, "Watch her hand."

"FOUR!" the operator cried. Remus raised a brow and gently pushed his way through the crowd, somehow making his way to Harry's side without upsetting anyone in the process.

Harry stepped behind Hermione and whispered to her again. "Picture it. Just like the last one." She nodded. "Got it?" She nodded again and tossed the ring.

"FIVE! I don't believe it!"

"YES!" Hermione turned around and threw her arms around his neck. "I did it!"

"That was brilliant!" Harry cried.

The crowd around them congratulated her excitedly, and a lot of them wanted to see the ball she had won, but very quickly they seemed to lose interest and disperse. Harry was fairly certain Remus had something to do with that. "Well, well, you're quite the little game shark, aren't you, Hermione," he said.

She blushed. "I don't know how I did it."

"A fair bit of luck, I imagine," Mum said, joining them.

"Not luck at all, Mum," Harry protested.

"Oh, I know there's some skill involved, but my goodness, five in a row?"

"Yes," Remus said, "Well you two seem to be having a good time?"

"It's been brilliant, Mrs Lynch," Hermione said. "Thank you so much for inviting me. You too, Mr. Lynch."

"Nonsense," Mum said. "We're thrilled Daniel has made such a wonderful friend as yourself."

"She's great," Harry agreed. "The best."

"She most certainly is," Mum agreed. "Are you two wanting to stick around a while yet?"

Harry exchanged glances with Hermione. "Can we?" he asked.

"How about some dinner with us, then you two can have another few hours on the rides before we head for home."

"Ok. Alright," Harry and Hermione agreed quickly.

HPHPHP

Author's notes: So obviously a lot is happening.

More to do with names:

Daniel is the name Harry uses to hide in the Muggle world. Obviously meant to honor Daniel Radcliffe.

Evanna Lynch for Lily was chosen to honor Evanna Lynch and her portrayal of Luna Lovegood in the films. I also thought Evanna was a good choice for Lily because of the tie to her maiden name of Lily Evans.

John Lynch for Remus as he poses as Lily's brother.

Revenge:

I've particularly enjoyed Lily's revenge on her sister. The question will be just how far she will go.

I actually know nothing at all of Judo and have had to look google things as best I can.

And I hope everyone liked how Harry discovered Hermione was a witch.

Last, for anyone looking for an interesting story, head on over to Nifty Niffler's page and check out The Beast Within and Unity in Diversity! Actually, check out all her stuff. There are some really great reads there if you've not yet found your way to her page.