"Hey all. Had a nice holiday?" Harry waved as he, Ron, Hermione and Ginny approached a group of Muggle Born, Half Blood and a few Pure Blood witches and wizards from their group who'd all agreed to meet up in Hyde Park for an expedition into the Muggle World.
"Pleasant enough, Potter," Tracey Davis inclined her head towards him.
"All things considered it was nice. One can almost forget that a war is being fought around us..." Luna spoke wistfully.
"Speaking of said war, are you sure we will all be safe out here like this?" Ernie MacMillan asked concernedly, looking around as if he expected Death Eaters to suddenly Apparate around them and kill them all where they stood.
Everyone turned to look at Harry in unison.
"Then I hope you've all got your wands with you and are ready for a fight!" Harry shrugged.
Everyone's expressions turned incredulous.
"I always have my wand on me, ever since I first got it," Colin piped up and his brother, standing next to him, nodded in agreement. "but the fighting part I'm not so sure about..."
"Bollocks!" Ginny disagreed, turning to address Harry directly. "Colin is one of the best in our little club!"
"Okay, enough about that." Harry waved it off. "We're not here to fight. We're here to enjoy ourselves and show our non-Muggle fluent members a bit of what Muggles are really like. Dean here gave me the idea of a meet up in the Muggle world," Harry glanced at him. "but I decided to turn it into something else. Something more. After all, what do Lord Voldemort and his minions of evil hate more than Muggles?"
Tracey Davis chuckled. "A bit of defiance to their beliefs then! Learning more about the things... the people they hate so much! I love it!"
"Will there be time for you to show us any new spells that you learnt in Magix?" Padma Patil queried.
Harry looked back at Ron and Hermione.
"If we can think of somewhere safe enough and fairly secluded that would also be easy to enchant as necessary to repel Muggles..." Hermione mused aloud. "I'm curious to see more of these spells as well..."
Harry looked at them with a resigned expression, sighing.
"I wasn't prepared for this, but sure. Why not?" Harry shrugged. "If you can think of an appropriate place while we're out, I could make a portal to take us there."
"Alright then. Let's go, shall we?" Hermione said. "A little reminder: if you all decide to go off in groups, please have at least one... 'Muggle-fluent' person in your group. Just to prevent problems..."
They all nodded and made noises of agreement.
"We can all meet back here at three. I'll know then if I can show you some more spells then." Harry said.
"Alright then." he smiled at the group. "Let's go enjoy ourselves!"
"You know, I've forgotten how much fun being in the Muggle world could be." Hermione smiled as she sipped some orange juice in a pizza restaurant that she, Harry, Ron and some others of their broader group for the day had decided to try. "Plus, the food... Mum and Dad didn't eat out often and they weren't fans of junk food at all, but the few times I tried it... It was nice. I'm still not its biggest fan, but this is nice..."
"Pizza... This is amazing..." Luna looked in awe as she lifted up a particularly greasy slice and watched the cheese stretch up from the platter, until it finally popped free from it. "This place... the Muggles... they have so many wonderful things I never knew existed..."
"This is just a tiny part of it, you know." Harry reminded her. "There is so much more to it..."
"Now I can understand why Dad is so barmy about Muggles. If what we've seen today is just a small bit of it..." Ron spoke through mouthfuls of food, earning a disapproving look from Hermione.
Ginny nodded in agreement with her brother, although she too, looked dissatisfied with his table manners. "We'll not be as barmy about it as him, but it's certainly caught my interest..."
"I still feel rather uncomfortable amongst all this..." Neville gestured around him. "It's so much. It's so different. So... overwhelming. I never knew Muggles were capable of such things!"
"That's the same way I felt about the magical world at first." Hermione sympathised and Harry nodded in agreement.
"I think a lot of it... this bigotry, that is," Tracey stopped by at their table. "is due to a lack of understanding from both sides. Sure, Muggle-Borns aren't Muggles themselves, but they're coming from a place where they never knew of anything magical, no magical customs and etiquette, or anything of the sort. It's the same with Muggle raised usually, unless their Muggle relatives are aware of their magical heritage and are willing to talk with them about it. Lack of understanding equals lots of misunderstandings and clashes... Some witches and wizards fear the Muggles and Muggle-Borns because they can't understand them and what they do..."
"And a lot of their ideals do clash, I've noticed. Muggle society seems to be much more liberal than Wizarding, at least, here in Britain. I never got out much in the Muggle world and even I noticed this..." Harry shrugged.
Tracey left their table, then the others resumed their conversation.
"This would be a good thing to discuss at club meetings sometimes, you know. Trying to understand how the other side thinks so we can come up with ways to beat them..." Hermione mused.
"I'm not sure I want to venture into that dark place..." Neville shuddered, thinking of Bellatrix Lestrange.
Harry frowned briefly. "I see what you mean... Still... although most of them aren't exactly intelligent, knowing how they tick could help us..."
"Using Psychology against them! I like it!" Hermione sat up straighter, a twinkle in her eye that those who knew her well recognised and had learnt to fear occasionally.
"Oh no," said Ron, his pizza slice briefly forgotten. "now you've done it, Harry..."
"Given Hermione another research project..." Neville said.
"Which she will somehow find time to do, even with NEWT exams coming up..." Ginny added.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well excuse me for trying to find another way to give us an advantage..."
"Okay, Hermione. We get it. Research is your thing. We get it. Just like fighting Dark Lords is mine, investigating creatures which may or may not exist is Luna's thing, plants are Neville's thing and eating is Ron's thing." Harry glanced at Ron over the top of his glasses, setting off a peal of laughter at their table and causing Ron to
"So... what's my thing?" Ginny queried casually.
"Hexing people who piss you off?" Harry suggested casually.
Another round of laughter ensued and Ginny only smirked.
"Okay then... I don't know about you lot," Harry wiped his mouth with a napkin. "but I'm done here. Is there anything else you want to do before we leave?"
"No, we're fine..."
"Is that everyone here now?" Hermione looked around at the group as they gathered once again in Hyde Park.
They all made various noises in the affirmative.
"Okay, well I've done some thought about it and... I'll do it. I can show you a few things." Harry announced.
A bunch of cheers went up.
"Okay, children. Settle down..." Harry joked. "There's the area that the last Quidditch World Cup was hosted in. It's still owned by that same Muggle- I once checked out of curiosity. We could always go there and spend an hour or so talking about the new spells I learnt before we go our separate ways. I didn't plan anything, so... I won't have a whole lot of things to show you. I didn't even bring any of my spell books from that place with me..."
"We don't mind that Harry! Just show us lots of cool stuff!" Ron exclaimed loudly and the others (mostly guys) agreed with him.
Harry sighed. "Right. Hermione," Harry turned to the bookworm. "Is this area still properly warded against Muggles?"
"Indeed it is." Hermione answered.
"Great. Come with me and we'll go ahead and set up. Anyone else decent at warding and such? And is of age?"
Padma Patil and a boy that Harry vaguely recognised as a Slytherin who had been a year below him when he attended both raised their hands.
"Okay then. Portals are a bit too flashy sometimes and we don't know who exactly might be around when we get there, so..." Harry motioned for them to come closer to him.
He pulled out his wand and held it upright between his hands as he focused.
"Transportus."
He, Padma, Hermione and the Slytherin boy disappeared with no flashes, no bangs, no pops and no glows.
Stunning the group of witches and wizards they had left behind.
"What just happened?" Dean blinked.
Meanwhile, Harry, Hermione, Padma and the Slytherin boy appeared in the forest near to the former campgrounds, the latter three looking around, stunned.
"What was that spell?" Padma asked as she, Hermione and the other boy recovered from their amazement.
"That, ladies and gentleman," Harry twirled his wand between his fingers. "was one of the many kinds of transportation spells that I learnt of in Magix. I can now do that, portals and regular old Apparition, though my range is still somewhat limited with them."
"I would love to learn some of those..." Padma's eyes shone with excitement.
"In time, you will. If you want to and are able to." Harry shrugged. "I learnt them quickly enough and I'm no magical prodigy..."
"Some would say otherwise, Potter..." the Slytherin boy said. "You don't know me, so I'll introduce myself. I'm David Selwyn. 6th Year, Slytherin's prefect along with Flora Carrow for that year. Other details will become known in time, I'm sure."
Harry shook David's outstretched hand. "Good to meet you. I'm sure you're part of the 'Not All Slytherins Are Evil Campaign?"
"I am." David nodded. "I consider myself more of a neutral on the matter of Blood Status. I don't particularly care for Muggles and I don't really care for Muggle Borns, but they have their place in our world, especially Muggle Borns. Magic itself deemed them worthy of becoming a part of our world, after all..." the Slytherin boy shrugged.
"Right..." Harry wasn't quite sure of what to make of the younger male's words. There was something in there he didn't like, but at least he didn't seem to be an open supporter of Lord Voldemort...
"You lot get started on warding this place and I'll start bringing the rest of us over here..."
Harry waved his wand in a circle and the outline of a golden portal began to form as the other three began their own work.
"Okay then. That's all of us through? Great!" Harry glanced over the crowd, the last of which had just stepped through the golden portal.
Finding no one missing, he nodded and waved his wand, causing the portal to vanish.
"That, my fellow witches and wizards, was a portal. It's more commonly used to transport large amounts of people, cargo or vehicles through dimensions. It's also a much smoother ride, I find. Like stepping through the door of one room to find yourself in another. Simple as that."
"Was it hard to learn?" Lavender Brown asked.
"Somewhat." Harry shrugged. "I can make them without leaving anything behind or throwing myself off course, but my range is still somewhat limited, unless I have aid."
"Ah." Lavender nodded, as did several others.
"Okay then. You asked me to show you some spells from Magix and that's what I'll do. Show you." Harry emphasized the last part. "You can't practice them here. Many of you are still underage, plus it would be much better to have Madam Pomfrey on call should anything go wrong..."
Several winced at the thought.
"Let me give you a bit of back-story on the type of magic in Magix. The key difference over there: they're not so dependent on a focus instrument like a wand or a staff." Harry said. "To them, it's as if their bodies are their wands. Another thing; since everyone is magical to some degree in Magix, there's no need to hide their magic powers. No need for secrecy laws means that they can practice freely at home or in public if they wanted to- within reason, of course. Their magical training starts early. Almost as soon as they can walk or talk, they start doing magical exercises with their children. Some sort of semi-formal training usually starts at three or so- mostly teaching control to keep them from blowing up something- or someone in a temper tantrum." Harry chuckled.
Then he remembered his own 'Aunt Marge Incident' and he laughed even harder, drawing puzzled looks from those who were unaware of that incident.
"Okay, okay. Enough back-story. You came here to see some spells!" Harry exclaimed once he recovered from his laughing fit.
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny trekked into The Burrow later that afternoon after their day out, laughing and talking.
"That was honestly the most fun I've ever had in quite a bit..." Ginny admitted.
"It probably helped that a certain someone was looking at you as if he were interested, huh?" Hermione smiled knowingly at the younger girl.
"What? Who?" Ron was suddenly paying more attention to the conversation.
Meanwhile, Harry was tuning out, thinking of how the day had gone for him personally.
He'd quite enjoyed himself in the Muggle world.
Even though it had been rather cold as it was still the middle of winter, proper winter gear and a few heating charms had taken care of that matter.
Some of those Muggle things had come as completely new to him, thanks to the Durselys, but he was quickly getting over that.
Plus getting to know some of the students of Hogwarts that had been part of the DA and others that he'd never talked to before was actually quite nice. They'd mostly forgotten the 'Boy-Who-Lived' persona for once, something he didn't think they were capable of.
They were just ordinary teenage witches and wizards for the day and he loved it.
Then when he got to show them the spells he'd learnt... He felt like he was teaching them again and he enjoyed it.
Much more than he did fighting, anyway.
He'd helped introduce many of them to a world they'd never been to, the same world that Voldemort opposed and some opinions were already changing.
It was just a small step, but it was something.
In time, Voldemort would go down, but it wouldn't happen without something shifting within the minds of the general Wizarding public.