Chapter 60

Ron pulled the duvet under his chin and rolled onto his side. They'd bought it only a few weeks ago, and despite the room being relatively warm, Ron found the weight of it at night was so comfortable he found he'd rather cast a cooling charm around himself than kick it off.

With his eyes still closed, he reached out his arm and then shuffled his body closer to Hermione's, burying his face into her tangle of hair that had spread out over her pillow — as well as part of his. "Morning," he said, his throat dry, his voice groggy from sleep.

Hermione shifted against him, but didn't say anything, and Ron tightened his hold on her, kissing what he thought was the back of her neck. He couldn't be sure, though, and he breathed in a whole heap of hair in his attempt.

Saturday was the day they allowed themselves to sleep in. Hermione, in particular, worked herself silly for five days that Ron had all but insisted that she get a decent amount of sleep on Saturdays. He liked doing exactly what he had just done — rolling over and holding her under the covers until they both properly woke and decided to get up for the day.

He yawned, his eyes briefly flickering open, but the light was too much to handle in that moment, so he closed them again and within moments had drifted back into a light sleep. It wasn't until he felt Hermione roll over in his arms that he bothered to open his eyes again.

She was looking at him, smiling. "Good morning," she said, sounding much too cheerful for someone who'd just woken up.

Ron moved his head so that he could kiss her, enjoying the feel of her lips on his. It was always a nice thing to wake up to and he made it his personal mission to always kiss her before he got out of bed. It started the day off right when he kissed her good morning.

He rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes, wiping the sleep from them. Hermione laid her head on his chest and sighed, content.

"This is nice," Ron said after a moment.

"You say that every week," Hermione mumbled.

"And do I ever lie?"

Hermione lifted her head and smiled. "Not about that, I suppose," and she kissed him lightly, before drawing him into a deeper kiss, where they stayed for a long time.

Ron really did like Saturdays the best. Lying in bed with Hermione all over him beat any boring work day, any day of the week.

When they finally broke away, Hermione said, "I'm going to have a shower," and she untangled herself from his arms.

"Can I join you?" Ron asked with a sly smile. It was a fruitless request, he knew she liked to use that time for herself, but he always tried.

She smiled and climbed off the bed. "I don't see why that would be a bad thing. Just let me use the bathroom first."

Ron sat up in the bed, grinning at her. He watched her receding figure enter the bathroom and was about to get out of bed when he was startled by a loud ringing from Hermione's side of the bed.

He swore, staring at the telephone that Hermione had insisted on buying a few months back. It was easier for her parents, apparently, to call rather than send an owl.

"Can you get that?" Hermione called from the bathroom.

"It's your parents!" Ron called back. They're the only ones we know who have use for a phone.

"Just answer it, Ron!" Hermione called back, sounding exasperated at his reluctance.

Staring apprehensively at the ringing contraption, Ron shuffled over to Hermione's side of the bed and picked up the telephone. He put it to his ear and said, "Hi, er, hello?"

"Oh, Ron." It was Jane, and she sounded just as uncertain about talking to him as he did. The only other time he'd answered the phone he'd accidentally shouted at her. He knew not to do that now.

"Hermione's in the shower," Ron said, saving his mother in law the pain of asking. He heard Hermione start the shower and felt a wave of disappointment.

"Oh, well, I was just calling to ask if the two of you could come around early this morning?"

Ron paused. Saturdays were usually their day alone, and her parents knew that. "Um —"

"It won't be for long," Jane pressed. "Something's just come up and I think it would be of great benefit if you came round. It's much too complicated to explain over the phone, but can we say about ten o'clock?"

Ron glanced at his watch on his wrist. It was nine now. He then looked uncertainly to the bathroom door.

"Ron?" Jane said.

Ron jumped. "Is… is everything okay?" He'd hate this phone call even more if he'd be forced into being the bearer of bad news regarding Hermione's family.

"Oh, everything's fine," Jane assured him. "It's just a matter of… your expertise, I think."

"You mean… magic?" Ron questioned, frowning.

"Yes," Jane said. "As I said, it's much too complicated over the phone, but if you can just let Hermione know that I'd really love for both of you to come, that would be great."

"Alright," Ron said. "I can do that."

"Thank you, Ron."

There was silence between them, and for a moment Ron wondered if she'd hung up on him. He looked at the receiver, but there was no indication that she had. He put it back on his ear.

"Also, Ron, I'd just like to say that you're getting much more apt at using a phone."

Ron smiled despite himself. "Huh, yeah. I've learnt from last time."

"See you at ten, Ron," Jane said, and she sounded amused. Ron heard the phone go dead and he put it back in its place.

Something to do with magic, Ron thought as he got off the bed and made his way to the bathroom door. Crookshanks slinked at his legs, reminding him that he needed to be fed. Arwen, too, if she'd returned from delivering a letter overnight.

He opened the bathroom door and was met with a wave of steam.

"What did Mum or Dad want?" Hermione asked from the shower.

Ron didn't say anything for a moment. He closed the bathroom door behind him, leaving Crookshanks meowing at the door.

"Ron?" Hermione said, and she now sounded a little worried. Her head poked out from the shower door and Ron realised, most disappointedly, that he no longer had any desire of getting in with her.

"Your mum just wants us over at ten. It's something to do with our… expertise," Ron told her, repeating Jane's word from a moment ago.

"Our — magic?" Hermione asked, and Ron nodded.

"I'm just as confused as you are," he said. "But I suppose we better get ready. I'll go and feed the bloody cat so he stops hassling me, then when you're out, I'll get ready."

"I thought you were getting in with me?" Hermione said, her tone teasing.

"That was before I just had a conversation with your mother. Oddly, after talking to her, it doesn't feel right to do what I wanted to do with her daughter anymore."

Hermione smiled again and closed the shower door. "I'll be down in a few minutes," she said as Ron exited the bathroom and made his way into the hall, Crookshanks at his feet. He meowed up at Ron.

"Yeah, yeah," Ron grumbled, "you've just got to wait a few more moments."

Forty-five minutes later, when both of them were dressed and had eaten a quick breakfast, Hermione shifting nervously from foot to foot, they stood by the fireplace ready to leave.

"Will you stop fussing?" Ron demanded of her. "I told you — your mum said it was nothing to worry about."

"I just can't think of what she'd want from us in regards to magic," Hermione said.

"I don't know, maybe they have a Boggart in one of their rooms," Ron said. "Have you told her about Boggarts before?"

"No… I don't know. Maybe." Hermione stared thoughtfully into nothing.

"Come on," Ron said, tossing some Floo Powder into the fireplace. "The sooner we get there, the quicker you'll know. But I assure you, it's nothing to worry about."

"You said Mum sounded a bit edgy on the phone, though," Hermione persisted.

"Yeah, because she was talking to me. Last time I almost deafened her, remember?" Ron nudged her into the fireplace. "You go first so you can see for yourself that nothing's wrong.

Hermione obliged and vanished in a roar of green flames. When Ron arrived on the other side — stepping into the Grangers' living room — he was surprised to see that it wasn't just her parents there.

In a brief moment of panic, he thought he'd just appeared from a fireplace to a group of unsuspecting Muggles, but then he recognised them. They'd come to their wedding — it was Hermione's uncle Henry, his daughter Alice and her daughter Sophia.

"Hi," he said, a little uncomfortable as the three stared at him and Hermione in amazement. The young girl, especially, looked on, wide-eyed.

"Hi," Jane said, offering a warm smile. "Come and sit down, both of you. We need to have a chat."

Ron looked at Hermione, who was frowning. Ron had not had much interaction with Hermione's extended family before. The wedding had been the only time. As far as he knew, Jane rarely saw her brother or his three children, who were all gallivanting the world for work or pleasure. Seeing one of them here was a surprise to say the least.

"Mum," Hermione began, taking a seat on the offered sofa. Ron sat beside her. "What's going on?"

Jane only smiled and nodded towards her brother. "Henry, it might be best if you explain."

Everyone looked at Henry. He looked to be a few years older than Hermione's mother, and Ron vaguely remembered Hermione telling him that there was a five year age difference between them. "My uncle's the same age as Dad," she'd said once in an offhanded conversation.

Henry looked a little out of place, his eyes darting from the fireplace where sooty footprints were still on the carpet, to Ron and Hermione, and then eventually down to his granddaughter.

It was that look that had Ron suddenly guessing what this might have been about, and with a quick look to Hermione, she seemed to be on the same track as him.

"Well, yesterday," Henry began. "Someone came to Alice and Sophia's door. A young man, maybe about your age, Hermione —"

"Was his name Neville by any chance?" Ron asked.

Henry looked surprised. "Well, yes, I do believe he said…" He shook his head. "You know him?"

"Good friend, good man," Ron said with a nod.

Hermione was staring at Sophia, who was looking slightly terrified.

"Well, anyway, he came to talk to Alice about Sophia. He said something about how she was on a list for… for Hogwarts… and, well, I'm glad Alice had some idea about Hogwarts already, because otherwise it would have been more of a shock."

"You mean to say, Sophia's a witch?" Hermione asked, sounding surprised.

"Apparently," Alice said, shrugging. "Sophia, she's just turned eleven, and I guess there's been some strange things happening around her, but I never thought of… perhaps I should have. But I remember things with you, Hermione, and it was nothing like that."

Hermione flushed, averting her gaze.

"We were wondering," Jane said, "if the two of you could help Alice and Sophia with things. You would know plenty more than I do — especially going to get all the stuff for her to start. It's been quite a shock, because no one else in the family has ever had this happen apart from you."

Henry nodded his agreement.

"Does that mean I can do magic?" Sophia asked softly, looking at Hermione.

"It means you'll learn," Hermione replied kindly. "They'll teach you how to control it, and a lot of other things as well."

Sophia nodded, the terror on her face lifting slightly.

"Like fly?"

"There's flying lessons, yeah," Ron said. "You can even be a Quidditch player."

Hermione nudged him — a warning to not overwhelm the poor girl with too much information.

"That's a long way away, though," he added hastily.

"I'll get us something to eat, and you can fill them in with as much as you can," Jane said, and she vanished into the kitchen.

After a moment of silence, Hermione said, "This is quite a shock. I never really thought it was possible."

"They do say Muggleborns come from a Squib somewhere in past generations," Ron said. "I guess that solves one question about your family tree, though."

"What's that?" Hermione asked.

"Well, the magic comes from your mum's side, doesn't it?"

Hermione was thoughtful for a moment. Of all the things Hermione had tried to educate herself on in the wizarding world over the years, her own family history was not one of them. She'd not seemed at all interested in discovering where the magic might have come from, accepting that it was just pure luck for her to have been born with it.

But it was well known that somewhere — usually many generations back — a Squib was most likely the cause of magic reawakening in a family line. A lot of the time it was just too hard to trace due to them being erased from pureblood lines out of embarrassment.

"I'd be curious to know who it is," Ron said. "Probably some great family."

Hermione brushed the thought aside and looked back at her uncle. "Is there anything you'd like to know?" she asked.

"I guess," Alice began, "just what it's like, exactly. What happens, how it works…"

"Well, on the first of September, you'll have to take Sophia to King's Cross Station in order for her to board the train. Hogwarts is in Scotland — in the mountains — and it's a big, old castle —"

"A castle?" Sophia asked, sounding amazed.

Hermione nodded, smiling. "Yes. And there's four Houses — Gryffindor, which Ron and I were both in, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. You're Sorted by a — well, you'll see when you get there."

"And the classes?" Henry pressed. "What kind of education happens there?"

"Charms, Potions, Defensive spells," Hermione said. "Also how to care for and use magical plants, magical creatures..."

"So no mathematics or anything like that?" Henry questioned.

"Um… no, not really," Hermione replied. "Not like you'd learn it at a Mug — at your current school."

"Yay!" Sophia said, and Ron laughed. "No more of that boring stuff. I get to do magic instead."

"And if we choose not to send her?" Alice then asked, and Sophia looked highly offended by the suggestion.

"She will never learn how to control her magic," Ron said simply. "And it could be disastrous. Not everyone gets to go to Hogwarts — it's a selection, and some do miss out. The fact that she's been accepted means she is strong enough to warrant training up. I wouldn't say no to that."

Sophia beamed.

Alice and Henry both nodded.

"This is all just so surreal," Alice said. "I never thought I'd see the day —"

"It does take some getting used to," Robert, who'd sat silently until now, listening, said. "But you'll get used to it, I promise."

"The benefit of this," Hermione said, "is you can talk to us. Mum and Dad never had that, and they couldn't tell anyone, either. I assume Neville talked to you about what you can say and that?"

"Basically, we can't tell anyone," Alice said.

"It's an old rule, one we are looking to rewrite," Hermione said. "But for the time being…"

Henry shook his head. "I never expected this to happen." He looked down fondly at his granddaughter, a hint of pride in his eyes. "We can manage this, I think."

Sophia beamed.

Hermione smiled. "You'll be fine, Sophia. You'll make plenty of friends and learn so much. And once you finish, there will be so many opportunities as a witch. So many careers —"

Ron placed a hand over Hermione's, causing her to stop. She looked at him.

"Maybe let's just focus on her starting there?" he suggested.

"Right," Hermione said, turning faintly pink. Ron smiled. "Well, we can definitely help with getting all of your things from Diagon Alley whenever you have time. Ron and I both work during the week — Ron sometimes on the weekend — but a Saturday or Sunday would be good. Just let us know."

"Do I get a wand?" Sophia asked, and her eyes darted to their clothing, where she seemed to know Ron and Hermione kept theirs stashed away.

"You'll get your very own," Ron assured her. "No one else will have the same."

"Cool! And I get to fly?"

"If you want to play Quidditch," Hermione said, though she didn't sound enthused about that idea.

"I want to play!" Sophia said, almost instantaneously. "It sounds cool, flying on a broomstick."

"Is that safe?" Alice questioned, looking at Hermione.

Hermione hesitated. "Well… people have ended up injured from it before but no one's died in a very long time — and that's only been professionally."

Ron shook his head at her. "You don't introduce Quidditch to someone by letting them know no one's died 'in a very long time'." He looked back at Alice. "My sister plays professionally and nothing bad's happened to her. Quidditch is fine."

Alice didn't look convinced and Ron couldn't blame her after Hermione's introduction to the sport, but thankfully no one had any further questions about the subject.

"Oh, I really can't wait!" Sophia said. "Grandpa, can we go next weekend? Mum? I really want to go!"

"Next weekend should be fine," Alice said, still sounding unsure. "How do we get there?"

"We can show you on the day," Hermione promised. "It's a bit tricky, but will be easier with us to guide you. Just get her list for the day and we will show you where all the best places are."

Sophia beamed and stood up to hug Hermione. "Thank you!" she cried.

Later that morning, as Ron and Hermione returned home, Hermione couldn't seem to help but say, "I can't believe she's a witch."

"I keep telling you," Ron said, "Magic is hereditary. It doesn't just randomly appear. You really should look at your family tree. There's probably a name in there somewhere that is wizarding."

Hermione hesitated.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Well… I'm a little scared to do that," Hermione confessed.

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Because… what if I discover I'm related to… people like the Malfoys or something?"

Ron laughed. "All wizarding families are related somehow. You can't help that. And if you were, it would be very distant and they'd deny any connection, anyway. You'd come from a Squib and they've probably crossed them off their family tree long ago. Don't worry about it."

Hermione shook her head. "I don't think it really matters, anyway. I think I'm happy just knowing it comes from Mum. She'll be pleased to know that."

Ron smiled. "Alright, but if you ever change your mind, just ask. Mum would have a lot of information about all that stuff. The Ministry would, too. Who knows, maybe you're a long lost relative of Tom Riddle."

Hermione shook her head, but smiled. "I really hope that's not the case."

I hope you all enjoyed a little bit of Granger family time. Truthfully, I'm not sure how deep I'll go into exploring Hermione's family history - I really am not comfortable in addressing the possibility that Ron and Hermione might be related lol. So I think we might leave it a mystery for Hermione for the most part! But it's always something to consider, I think!