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Chapter 24: Afternoon Tea
When they got back to Hermione's apartment she explained that she needed his help dealing with Gringotts as she had not been in the Goblin Bank since she had done the spectacular exit with him on the back of a dragon.
"So how do the Goblins' treat you?" she inquired.
Harry explained that as one of the oldest account holders in the bank he had a bit of advantage as he made Draco Malfoy look like a poor church mouse. He had never told her how wealthy he was and she was shocked. Mean while he blushed.
Hermione explained that she needed to organise a wizarding world bank account so that she could get her pay and she had other cash she needed to invest, as she needed to generate an income since it was part of her inheritance from her parents. She would also have to clear out the house but she could not get into it and put it on the market.
Tinky knocked to let her know that she was coming in with the Tea trolley and just after welcoming the elf in the corridor buzzer buzzed for her it was Luna. Hermione left her rooms to the security door to collect her friend and bring her back to her rooms.
Tinky played mother and served tea for the four of them. The little elfess cheerfully sat with the three friends as they talked about old times and the life after the battle. Hermione was amazed at Luna who was doing her 7th year and basically running her family publishing company at the same time.
When they had decimated the sandwich and meat pastry tier of the silver afternoon tea stand the talk came round to the new idea that may be of interest to Luna and the family publishing business. Luna confirmed that she was already publishing the majority of the British peer reviewed journals and this was the family's bread and butter work while the Quibbler was her Daddy's vanity publishing project.
Hermione outlined some of the idea and that she potentially had one research and development investor in the form of Draco. The witch explained that she wanted to get a pilot working so that they could demonstrate the proof of concept and then get some potential investors in to talk to them about providing the research and development funding so that the school could develop the idea and bring it into a commercial joint venture enterprise.
Harry was very enthusiastic for the idea and said she should get on with doing the concept proof so they could have a meeting with the Twins this week and discuss the funding options. Apparently they were sharing the chair of the funding committee also they would want to visit sometime this week.
Hermione asked Tinky if she could get Remus, Tonks and Teddy if they were at home as she was sure that Harry would like to see his godson.
Tinky popped off and then back when she promptly explained that Remus said that he was a little busy at the moment but he was sure Teddy could come for a visit and he was on his way with the baby and a nappy bag.
Not very long after Tinky's return Remus was knocking on the door and Hermione answered. Seeing the look on his face she asked him if everything is all right. He quickly explained that Poppy had confirmed what she had suspected and Tonks was now doing a little meltdown. Hermione offered to keep Teddy overnight if that would help. He took the offer up gratefully as he had to cheer his wife up that being pregnant again with another baby so soon after the last baby was not that much of a disaster that she was currently spilling buckets of tears over.
Hermione's guests enjoyed a pleasant afternoon together playing with the small boy. Hermione slipped into her room and collected her baby pouch so he could sit on her chest and look out at the world while she wheeled herself to dinner. She suggested that Harry have dinner with Luna and some of their other friends.
She had her short robes on and wheeled herself and Teddy up to the main table after guiding Luna and Harry down the lift and into the great hall. Tinky had placed the high chair near her open space at the table so Teddy would have a seat and she would have a chance of eating her dinner without wearing it, as he was very grabby at the moment.
Tonight at dinner she was seated between Poppy and Pomona so Hermione had instant grandmothers on tap. When Poppy inquired why she had Teddy Hermione explained that it was her fault that his mother was not well this evening since she had sent her to see the mediwitch this morning. Poppy laughed and said there was a little more too it than that but if she was doing Aunty duty tonight she was the lucky one.
After dinner Hermione took Teddy back to her room and with Tinky's assistance she bathed him before laying him on her bed to give him a baby massage and the little lad relaxed and fell asleep for her just as she was putting him in his pyjamas. There was a buzz for her and Tinky answered to find that Harry had returned to look after Teddy while she had her student appointment. Tinky let him into the teachers' wing before proceeding to get the portacot out for Teddy so she could set it up in the guest bedroom. Harry put Teddy in the cot and tucked him in. Watching Harry with Teddy Hermione could see that there was a longing there for his own family he just had to find the right woman and hopefully Luna agreed that he was the right man for her. Well she had done her matchmaking for the week and it appeared that Harry had enjoyed his time with the blonde ethereal witch at dinner.
Hermione ducked back into her bedroom and changed out of her damp clothes as Teddy had like to splash in the bath and put her uniform back on again for the third time for the day and headed out to the Library and her appointment with Greg Goyle.
oOoOo
Greg Goyle saw Hermione enter into the library and he caught up with her before she reached her office. She could get quite a clip up when she wheeled, as he was a little breathless from chasing her. Hermione sent him to the social area and asked him to get her a latte. Stopping by her office Hermione picked up a yellow tinted letter office block and a ballpoint pen. Looking round in the social area they were the only ones there. She asked him to pick a comfortable couch and she transferred out of the wheelchair to sit next to him.
"So Greg why do you think Professor Snape wanted me to work with you?" she inquired.
"You mean you don't know," the large wizard mumbled thinking how can she not know cause Professor Snape had spoken to him about her becoming a study skills advisor and that she was here to help him with his work like Professor Snape used to do in the Slytherin dorms.
" Not really he gave me a list and said he would be talking to me later in the week as you have noticed it has been a little busy round here for the last couple of days" the Gryffindor witch explained.
"I am not good with book work," the glum looking wizard flatly stated.
"What do you mean Greg?" Hermione prompted in a nice friendly tone. Looking at her face Greg could see she wanted to help and was not being funny about the whole situation. One thing he had learnt over the years was how to read body language and pick when people were taking the mickey out of him just cause he did not seem to get the work like they did.
"I cant read for very long and I get head aches really easily. No matter how I try to remember stuff I can forget it just after I done it," he explained with his eyes down cast to the table.
"Has anyone ever talked to you about a thing called dyslexia," the friendly witch started to explain the nature of specific learning difficulties and how it did not mean the individual was thick but rather more likely that the individual was highly intelligent, as they had to work around their issues. They may be gifted in another area such as practical things like woodcraft. Talking to Greg she got most of the Klein Diagnostic Survey done and he was hitting all ticks to make the alarm bells ring.
Speaking to Greg, Hermione explained that the support she would give him would be confidential and it was up to him what was said about their sessions. Using wandless magic she cleaned up their coffees before she transferred back into the wheelchair and said, "Right we need to check on your headache issue. Lets go up to the infirmary and see Madam Pomfrey and get your eyes checked". Hermione was going to be his support buddy who assisted him addressing this diagnosis and later on working to find appropriate working strategies.
Poppy confirmed that when she had seen Greg this morning in his health screening there was not anything that they could see wrong with his eyes as he had 20/20 vision. This is where Hermione asked if they could get him to London for a specialist Muggle eye assessment for Meares Irlen Syndrome. Poppy had never heard of the condition. Hermione explained to Greg and the school matron how it was a light sensitivity issue and through the use of coloured lens they could help individuals. To prove her point that she suspected that she asked Poppy to listen to Greg's answer to her question before making any observations.
Holding a sheet of white paper with 9pt font serif typed text up she asked him to describe the text for her. He wasn't sure what she meant. "Just tell me what it looks like to you. Imagine I am blind and you have to describe a page of text. You can do as many descriptions as you want cause you have to explain the concept to me remember I have never seen a page of text before?"
Listening to his explanation Poppy leaned over his shoulder to check what he was saying was matching what she could see on the page. She raised her eyebrow at Hermione. He was talking about the text moving and the spaces between the words like rivers of light.
Using her wand Hermione duplicated the sheet before changing the new copy to ivory paper and a san serif font at 12 pt. Hermione then asked him to explain how the new sheet was different from the original sheet.
"Well for starters the text is evenly spaced and it does not jump as much" was his first description and Hermione thought she had hit the jackpot. "Right Poppy I want to get him tested in London at a specialist optician who is about 7 miles from Diagon Alley. I will organise an appointment as the earliest possible date for him and we may have to find a squib optician who is qualified to assess for Irlen filters cause I am sure Greg is not the only Robinson Crusoe we will see in the next couple of weeks.
Greg was a little doubtful that a tinted lens would make that much of a difference. Hermione promised if he would just get tested the test would see if he had this problem. If not that was one more issue they did not have to deal with.
"Just out of interest do you ever walk into a room and get unbalanced?" she inquired.
"Umm sometimes" the large quiet wizard replied.
"It would not happen to be more frequent on black and white checkerboard tiled floors" was her leading probe.
The boy paused and it was like Hermione could see the gears of his mind working overboard, with a slightly surprised hitch he replied "A lot of the time".
"Do you find that it can almost become like motion sickness?" inquired the lion maned witch.
"Yes I suppose that's one way of describing it," agreed the thoughtful young man remembering the time he was violently sick after having to escort his mother to a pure blood ball where the whole ballroom was decked out in black and white particularly with a checkerboard marble floor. After half an hour in the room he had to throw up in a pot plant, as he could not get out the room fast enough.
"Well when you get your timetable at breakfast let me know what it is and I will make the appointment in your free block if I can't I will get an appointment for next Saturday. I will take you to appointment and I am sure Madam Pomfrey would like to come to."
After sending Greg back to his dorm Hermione explained that she suspected that a high number of the students who were referred to her for tutorial support would be similar cases and there were a number of specific learning difficulty tests that they would need to find a squib specialist in so in the future they could block book their services and get all the testing done here in the school.
Coming back to her rooms she looked in on Harry and Teddy to find that both were asleep. Hermione lifted Teddy out of Harry's arms and checked his nappy. It was a little damp so she changed him not waking either male and then put Teddy back to bed in his portacot.
The tired witch and Tinky had a hot chocolate together talking about the new news and both of them were excited about another baby in the Lupin family and in the castle. It was good for the witch to wind down from her first one on one tutorial session. Hermione after doing her teeth took herself off to bed and she seemed to have a good night as she dropped off to sleep fairly easily.