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Chapter 15: Return to Hogwarts
The release from the hospital was a triumphant return to 12 Grimmauld Place for Hermione. The house had undergone some serious adaptation and remodelling now that the war was over. In the remodelling the coach house entrance had been changed into an underground car park entrance so that the occupants of the house could use modern vehicles easily. This entrance also had a wheelchair ramp entrance so Hermione could wheel herself in and out of the house when she liked without having to rely on assistance to enter the original magical entrance. The ramped entrance would also provide the building with a defined non-magical entrance way. At this entrance there was a Hippo mailbox that would be particularly useful for non-magical deliveries especially when Hermione had been ordering from Amazon again!
The two basement levels of the building had been extended using a goblin mining crew so that there were now three basement levels under the magical house. The lowest level the 3rd subbasement was used for underground car park garage and provided a central infrastructure point for the building. There had been a lot of technology added to update the building including an elevator. There was a special secure room in the infrastructure section that was suitable for Remus's transitions each month. It was set up with monitors so that family could be upstairs and do a simple check on him safely and unobtrusively.
The second subbasement level was a fitness suite that had all the modern conveniences in gymnasium equipment plus a lap pool, sauna and jacuzzi. It was also on this floor that there was a new high secure adapted potions lab. The thinking was that the lab needed to be well ventilated but also having it on this floor would make it difficult for unsupervised little people to be in the area. By having the pool and the lab on the same floor the security control for the area could easily be implemented for any future or current minor aged residents in the building. Both the pool and the lab would need the specialist ventilation system, which had been installed in the building.
The next subbasement floor was a mixture of public and private rooms. The original ballroom had been moved into this area from the ground floor. There had been some expansion of the room and there was some new features hidden behind the recycled original wall panels. In addition to the ballroom this floor had meeting rooms, offices and a children's playroom area. There was also a new house elf den area on this floor so that these members of the household had all that they would ever want.
Where the ballroom had been on the ground floor Harry had the majority of the space made into a self-contained three-bedroom wheelchair friendly apartment for Hermione. The apartment had all the bells and whistles and then some. There was a private entrance near the lift and Muggle entrance so that Hermione could have private visitors without being dependent on the rest of the house. There was a second entrance to the apartment that opened out onto the communal foyer and stairs area so that she would have access to the rest of the main living areas of the house such as the library, formal lounge, formal dinning room, the refurbished large family kitchen and the new open plan family sitting and dining room. The overgrown garden had been re-landscaped and there was a private patio for Hermione that opened off her lounge area. There was a large patio for summer entertaining off the open plan family sitting and dining room that led out to the rest of the garden which was now a wheelchair and child friendly design. The communal garden area had raised beds that both provided a scented garden but also an herb, fruit and vegetable garden for the large household.
The top floor of the building had been remodelled as a large five bedroomed apartment for the Lupins. There was much room for growth and extended family visits. The third floor had a number of guest suites with new ensuites. There was also a sitting room and kitchenette on that floor for guest use.
The second floor had another five bedroom apartment plus some additional private studies. This apartment was to be Harry's residence and in addition to the apartment there where a number of private studies for Harry, Remus and Tonks. The idea was that if they could segregate the workplace from the home areas there would be less bringing of work into the joint family spaces.
Hermione was overwhelmed when she was shown around the apartment Harry had created for her along with all the special adaptions that had been included. The lift went all the way through the building so Hermione could access the other floors easily. Doorways where appropriate had been widened so she would not knock her hands on the doorframe when she wheeled herself round.
They building designers and remodellers had really thought about her needs now and in the future. The whole remodelling of the building had created a light and comfortable large extended family home. In the main magical entrance way the Floo fireplace had been adapted so that Hermione could wheelchair floo from the house to other locations in the UK. She was always going to run into households that were not wheelchair accessible but apparently Kingsley had got onto the bandwagon to improve the accessibility of the magical world for disabled citizens.
Hogwarts rebuilding design had been updated for accessibility and the implementation of new technology. This included remodelling places like the Chamber of Secrets into new facilities for the school population. The rebuilding allowed a number of new developments including family apartments for staff, individual rooms for all students in the third year and above. In each of the individual house areas the common rooms were extended to make them larger and new facilities were implemented including a linked study hall, a ICT suite and kitchenette dinner. The school had a number of lifts put into place so that there was better accessibility for students with mobility difficulties.
Public buildings such as the Ministry of Magic and St Mungo's were being rapidly refurbished for accessibility and the implementation of modern non-magical technology. The technology was appropriately shielded against magic and where possible adapted so magic would work together with the device. Diagon Alley in the celebration of the new era had had a major refurbishment to bring it into the current century. As part of that refurbishment the Leaky Cauldron had a serious remodel. It now had a Muggle entrance that was wheelchair friendly along with disabled guest rooms. The internal layout and furnishings of the building was updated so there was only minimal segregation between the two worlds. No longer were goblins going to be forced to be served in a back bar room. If you were magical you could access the magical bar area, as there was to be no discrimination between the types of magical person being served.
It was mid week when Hermione drove Harry and Tonks across London to visit Diagon Alley to get her organized for school. It had been decided that this year she would sit her NEWTs with some other 8th Years like Pansy, Draco and other students who had their final year disrupted by the war in the last year.
Some students had chosen to only return through the distance and evening class school programs as they were required to support their families by working in the family owned business or other personal reasons.
As part of Draco's probation young death eater was required attend as a normal Hogwarts student and Pansy was not going to leave him on his lonesome so she was joining him as a standard boarding school student. Pansy and Draco were waiting for the Gryffindor duo and Tonks in the newly refurbished Leaky Cauldron to do the dreaded school shopping. As 8th Years they were required to have plain black generic robes and were required to wear smart office or business suits rather than school uniform and robes. The main shopping to be undertaken in Diagon Alley was for potions ingredients, robes and books.
Hermione felt very noticeable in her wheelchair but Draco and Pansy both agreed it was a lovely colour. Tonks was joined by another work colleague to help usher the boy who lived and the brightest witch of her age around the magical shopping district. Even though it was over three months since the defeat of Mouldyshorts it was understood that a sighting of Miss Granger who had been out the public eye since the battle would probably cause large crowds. Let alone the boy wonder factor as well so the group had planned to have a short sharp visit.
Unfortunately the visit was not as quick as they had hoped and Hermione was very self-conscious in her wheel chair particularly when the camera flashes started to go off. Madam Malkin measured Hermione up and promised to send her new robes onto Hogwarts for her. Hermione had two lengths of robes. A shorter robe set was selected for Hermione for when she was in the wheelchair and the standard length robe with three quarter length sleeves for when Hermione was using crutches.
Harry and Draco headed to Flourish and Blotts to collect four sets of 7th year texts while the girls were in Madam Makin's. While Draco was getting his school robes and Harry getting some formal robes the ladies of the party headed to the apothecary to acquire the necessary potions ingredients for school along as some additional ingredients Hermione wanted to restock in her personal supplies.
After doing the Diagon Alley shopping requirements the group of friends moved onto the Muggle Oxford Street area using Hermione's new Honda CRV and its blue badge to park close to where they were shopping. The Muggle based shopping consisted at new clothes for both the young men and women of the group to reflect their current life requirements. There was some definite shoe shopping by Hermione to reflect her new physical limitations and needs but that did not mean she did not like pretty shoes too.
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After the day out shopping Hermione drove everyone back to Grimmauld Place where the two Slytherin members of the outing were able to view Hermione's new apartment before enjoying an early dinner with the rest of the Lupins and Harry in the new refurbished central open plan living and dining area.
At 8pm the first of the guests for a wine and cheese night started to arrive. The guests included the Headmaster, all the existing Heads of House, the Weasley Twins, some former and current senior students from all houses and the new Minister of Magic. All the visitors were most impressed with the refurbishment especially those who had experienced it as the old dilapidated Black Manor and Order of Phoenix Headquarters. The party had spilled out into the garden entertainment area.
The Twins pulled Hermione off to one side advising that they needed to talk to her urgently. It appeared that they had been at the Burrow for dinner and were concerned about the attitude of their sister towards her as she was now getting blamed for a chronic lack of attention by the boy wonder. Apparently they were concerned enough to bring Tonks, Remus and Minerva into the conversation explaining that Ginny was very much like Ron in that they were both hot heads who shot their mouths off first and then thought about the consequences very much later if at all.
Looking at the concerned faces of the Twins and the matching looks of concern being viewed on his deputy and her house deputy, the Headmaster decided it was time he knew what the heck was going on. The Twins then explained that their sister was blaming Hermione for Harry's lack of interest in her. Additionally Ron was stirring up the hot temper of Ginny even further adding the fuel to her fire and she had made threats against Hermione talking about revenge.
It was at this point that Headmaster Snape decided to call his other Heads of House over and then went through the concerns about Ginny Weasley and the threats made to harm another student ie Hermione Granger. It was Filius Flitwick who went through the various options that was available for the protection of a student. None of the options made Tonks happy as she felt that there was still too much opportunity for Ginny to launch an attack.
Severus Snape decided that they would think on the matter and sent the rest of them off to mingle. Hermione was upset over the situation and when she could she moved from the public garden area to her private patio. Sitting in the shadows Severus found her and he quietly waited for her to acknowledge him. Hermione did not appear to know that he was there and it was in that lull that he started to observe her response to the situation. He was a little surprised when she spoke to him after being quiet for so long.
"I am tired of the fighting, the continual need to be better than my enemy or some misguided fool who thinks that I am a blot in their view of the world that they must belittle. I don't want to be a burden, so if you need me to I will withdraw for the year as you have enough issues in the rebuilding of the school," the disheartened young woman advised the Hogwarts' Headmaster