Time to celebrate! Thank you, Readers, for the one hundred favorites, one hundred reviews, and two hundred followers! I appreciate your support so much since this is my first ever attempt at writing fiction.
All rights belong to J.K. Rowling. Thanks to camnz.
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Muggle World
Hermione and Draco flooed to the Leaky Caldron with the children hand in hand and Gemmie in a Muggle baby wrap carrier. The Malfoys caught the tube and then the bus to the Granger home. Once upstairs, Hermione took all the luggage out of her extendable bag and helped the children unpack. While Draco set up the wards, Hermione checked to see if the internet worked on her laptop. Then she handed Draco a phone that she fished out of her extendable bag.
"What is this?" he asked.
"A new Muggle telephone," she replied. "We're featuring it in our next issue of Magical Parenting Today." Draco stiffened, but he refrained from comment.
"I want to show you how it works, Draco, because we'll need to be able to reach each other in case of an emergency. We don't have a floo, and the kids can't send a Patronus yet. This phone is amazing. Even the kids will be able to use it, so in that sense, it's better than magic for them."
Hidden in her words was the unspoken idea that in a crisis, she might not be available to use magic for the children.
Hermione demonstrated the phone to Draco. They phoned, texted, and Face-talked from one bedroom to another. Then they showed the children how to call and text. Hermione demonstrated the phone's access to the internet and asked him which film he wanted to watch. She began to play The Incredibles on the Smartphone. After a few minutes, she handed Draco the draft Anna had given her of Roy's article about the new Muggle phone.
"Read this," she ordered. "I think this will be very important for the Ministry to know."
"Are you going to submit it to the Department of Muggle Artifacts?"
"No, they are going to read about it in the next issue of Magical Parenting Today."
"And what does this little Muggle gadget have to do with parenting?"
"Just read. And play. Play with the phone, Draco. It is amazing. This could change the Wizarding world."
"I don't think the Ministry is going to be happy about this, Hermione." Draco responded grimly. Hermione held his hand and looked him in the eye.
"I know you don't like this, and I'm willing to step out my role as editor if you prefer, but I can't shut down the magazine yet. This Muggle technology isn't just a trend for Wizards to buy into; it's also a chance to demonstrate to the Wizarding world that the Muggles aren't inferior beings. They can do things wizards can't. Magical Parenting Today will be the first to break the story."
Draco swallowed. He loved his wife, didn't he? Yes, he did.
Just then Cassie came flying into the room, "Mummy! Mummy! Come see what I found in my room!" Hermione laughed and followed her upstairs, leaving Draco holding the Smartphone. In a minute, the phone beeped. He pressed a button to find a text message with a picture of his wife and five children upstairs waving from their new secret fort.
Adapting to the Muggle world wasn't an easy adjustment for the Malfoy family. Draco quite frankly hated it. Hermione did her best to smooth the transition, but even she had trouble. When the children wanted a play structure to climb in the backyard, Hermione couldn't magically make one appear. She had to call a Muggle to install one and pay them a tremendous sum to have it built quickly. When the groceries ran out, she didn't have a house elf to magically produce food. Transportation was most difficult, because while she could apparate to Diagon Alley, she couldn't apparate to a shop in the Muggle world, and she couldn't apparate anywhere with five children. There was no nearby floo to take the children places. They had to use the bus, cab, or tube. Scorpius couldn't fly his broomstick and wasn't very enthusiastic about riding a bike. She did attempt to get the children outside on an adventure every day, but it seemed that in spite of her efforts, they stayed home watching far too many films and reading far too many books. After two weeks in the Granger home, everyone wished to return home to the Manor!
Hermione spent quite a bit of time on her laptop researching Earthwatch. Looking down at the world from above was fascinating to her. It was like a view from a broomstick or an airplane. She zoomed in to the Granger home easily. She found Malfoy Manor, which surprised her. She checked Diagon Alley, but it was just a blurry small street. None of the internal expandable magic of Diagon Alley could be detected on Earthwatch. Number 12 Grimmauld Place was just a skinny sliver of a house, barely detectable. She found a blurry village that could be Hogsmeade, then searched around the area for Hogwarts. No one could locate Hogwarts, right? Wrong! There it was! She zoomed out to mountains, Scotland, the UK, Europe, the world. Then she zoomed in to Europe, the UK, Scotland, the mountains, and Hogwarts! This was a breach in Wizarding security that the Ministry needed to know about right away. It was a violation of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy that had been signed in 1689!
Just then the doorbell rang, and Hermione leaped to her feet. She closed her laptop before nervously looking through the window. Silly, she thought as she opened the door. The wards would keep out Death Eaters or Pansy Parkinson or anyone else not permitted. Her visitors turned out to be Anna McGuire and Roy Thomas, so she lowered the wards and invited them in.
"We're ready! We're ready to show you the new issue!" Anna sang. "It feels like Christmas! We can't wait for you to see it!"
Hermione clapped her hands joyfully and led them to the kitchen. She fortunately had homemade cookies and milk to serve them.
"Cookies and milk. This is great." Roy munched enthusiastically.
"Where are the children today?" asked Anna.
"Upstairs in their secret fort," replied Hermione.
"Secret fort? Can we check it out?" Anna begged, and Roy looked interested as well.
"No, you can't. It's secret. Show me your masterpiece," commanded Astoria, and they complied.
The glossy magazine had Blaise, Cho, and their young son Damian on the cover. Hermione turned the page to see Astoria Malfoy listed as executive editor.
"We listed your name. Would you like us to change that?" Anna anxiously inquired.
Hermione smiled at her. "We'll see. I want Draco to make that decision."
The articles focused on a wide range of subjects from Ask Molly, Tips from St. Mungo's, Rules of Etiquette, Books Your Children Will Love, Latest Wizarding Toys, to Muggle Technology. She flipped first to Muggle Technology, apologetically skipping the articles on children's clothing and playroom furniture. Roy had designed a beautiful spread that not only featured the Smartphone, it showed Facetalking pictures moving as people pressed the buttons and chatted to each other. The article was divided up into sections: What's Trendy in the Muggle World, How Muggle Technology Benefits Wizarding Families, and Dangers of Muggle Technology. Hermione perused the article, impressed with her staff.
"This is brilliant. So eye-opening. I hope the Ministry sees this like we do."
Next Hermione stopped at the feature of the Zabini family. Jane had shot beautiful footage of the Zabinis flying an enchanted dragon kite. The colors were vivid, and the magical moving pictures showed the dragon kite zooming through the air. But then Blaise paused from dragon flying ... to answer his Smart phone? Unreal. Another picture showed the family cooking dinner together. What? No house elves? Hermione thought in admiration. Cho was shown at her computer conversing with family from China. Their son was showed whizzing through math problems using a colorful magical abacus. The final shot was a formal picture of the slender, dark-haired Zabini family, looking into the reader's eyes with grace and poise.
"Wow, Jane's photos are lovely," breathed Hermione. The feature was so much easier to enjoy when it wasn't her own family in the limelight. She turned the page to Rules of Etiquette by Cho Chang Zabini and gasped. She was shocked to see a photo of Narcissa Malfoy! Clearly, Cho had interviewed Narcissa on the finer details of functioning as an elite Pureblood society wife. Once Hermione got over her initial surprise, she found herself wanting to devour the article. There were likely important tips for her to learn here.
"I'm not sure how Draco will feel about this article," she mentioned calmly.
"We know," agreed Anna. "We thought you should see it as we envisioned it first. We can take Mrs. Malfoy out entirely without ruining the content. Her photo gives the interview more credibility, obviously."
"Brilliant work, both of you. Roy, I really like the layout. Let me read it more carefully before I give the go ahead. We may have to make some adjustments. Now, come over here. I want to show you what I just found on Earthwatch." Hermione opened her laptop and beckoned Roy to come closer. Then she zoomed in and out, landing on a fuzzy picture of Hogwarts.
"Muggles can find us," she announced solemnly. "Should we add this to your article or go directly to the Ministry?"
A huge bang at the front door interrupted their conversation before anyone could reply. Hermione jumped up, sped to the open door, and stopped in her tracks.
It was Pansy Parkinson.
Hermione backed up slowly into the kitchen to Anna and Roy.
"Anna, did you tell Gloria that we were meeting here?"
"No," Anna glanced at Roy with alarm. "What's going on?"
"It's an emergency!" Hermione whispered urgently. "Call Draco and tell him that Pansy Parkinson is here! Send him a text too. His number is on my phone on the table. I'll send a Patronus to Harry Potter. And I need the two of you upstairs to keep the children safe. Get your wands out!"
Before she confronted Pansy, she sent her Patronus to both Draco and Harry Potter, Pansy's here! Come quickly! Granger House!