They all walked along, passing the neatly manicured yards of the lovely little houses they decorated, on the neat lovely little block that was her neighborhood. It was all very neat and lovely. The Floo would only take them so far. Hermione had ensured the family fireplace was closed from the Floo network. It was a move she had decided upon fourth year, once Voldemort had returned to power. She was excited. Today, all the most important people in her life would finally see what her world looked like. Her parents were waiting, the house was ready. It was time to bring a little muggle to the magic.
She walked up to a beautiful brown brickstone. Her face fell a bit. It hadn't always been this beautiful. When she had returned after the final battle, it was a ruined mess. Deatheaters had indeed come knocking, as she suspected. They tore her house apart looking for any clue or person that could lead them to her. It would seem that obliterating her memory from her parents had saved them…but the idea that they went a year without ever sharing a memory of her still hurt.
Hermione quickly scowled before plastering on a smile. It was ok now! They had gotten their memory back! They had forgiven her for using magic against them. The only unkind words they uttered to her was about how HORRIBLE the Ministry of Magic must have been, forcing a child to take matters into her own hands like that. Her father declared that he had a mind to turn the entire wizarding world over to MI-6.
Bastards can't even handle their own world, putting my Hermione through this despicable, prejudice, non-sense! They really want to fight muggles? We'll show 'em a thing or two! I say an RAF strike over Diagon Alley would make them think twice about their vile rubbish!
It took Hermione forever to calm them down, to remind them that it was WIZARDS that stopped the Deatheaters, that not all wizards were bad. It took some convincing, after all they had just gotten their memories back and found out their only daughter was almost murdered by wizards who only hated her because of her muggle roots, but in the end they were persuaded…but sometimes Hermione wondered how much they had really let go.
"Hermione!" A voice rang out from the front door.
"Hi mum." Hermione almost whispered.
Her mum, whether she heard her or not, ran to hug her only child. Hermione melted into her as if they were one person, which at one point, they were. Harry had always thought she was a pretty lady. Hermione had her nose, lips and bushy brown hair. Her eyes however, were green. For some reason, this enthralled Harry.
They stayed like that for a while before an abrupt, inappropriate, obvious cough rang from Sokka.
"Idiot." Katara sighed.
"Oh! How silly of me. Mum! These are my friends…well of course you know Harry…and RonandGinny." Hermione rushed out that last part. "But we also…"
"Wang Fire, nice to meet ya!" Sokka interrupted yet again.
Katara elbowed him in the ribs but continued. "It is so wonderful to meet you Mrs. Granger. I'm Sapphire Fire and this is Melone! I apologize for my brother…he gets a little…overly excited."
Mrs. Granger looked at them for a bit before bursting out into giggles. Team Avapotter looked a bit affronted.
"Forgive me. I just remembered something my Hermione told me... Wang, I have it on good authority that you are a man who likes his food?" Mrs. Granger said, smiling.
Harry had never REALLY met Mrs. Granger before but he never expected her to have a sense of humor. In fact, he expected her to be downright proper, full of tact and good manners…you know, like Hermione.
Sokka looked critically at her for a moment. "Yes…I have been known as an aficionado of sorts when it comes to…mouth delicacies."
Mrs. Granger looked at him amusedly. "Well, I've ALSO heard that you aren't from around Britain…Steak and Kidney Pie. Heard of it?"
"It sounds…horrifying." Sokka said, involuntarily scrunching his face.
Katara "involuntarily" slapped him. "HORRIFYINGLY DELICIOUS!" Katara yelled in a panic.
"Now now dear, no need for violence. I like an honest boy!" Mrs. Granger continued. "Wouldn't have married Mr. Granger if I didn't!" Her casual nature was really starting to freak Harry out, she was so different from the first time he had seen her, second year at Diagon Alley.
"Come, lunch is almost ready! I look forward to your assessment Mr…Fire. Nice to see you again Ginny!" Mrs. Granger turned around resolutely and strode towards the house.
"um…that's your mum?" Harry said. The entire gang sans Ginny seemed to look at Hermione in utter confusion.
"Oh that's her alright!" Ginny said excitedly before walking off after her. She turned quickly, effectively running sideways and yelled, "I GUESS THE APPLE FALLS FAR, FAR, FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR FROM THE TREE!"
Hermione wanted to throttle her.
They walked into Hermione's foyer, Hermione quickly left to follow her mother and Ginny. Ron's jaw dropped. It was beautiful, quaint, homey. There was a neat little living room complete with a telebishawn, comfortable looking azul leather couches and a fireplace, which was currently roaring. The room was decorated with pictures of the Grangers, some of which were moving, some were still, and a Christie's grandfather clock ticked away in a lovely little corner next to a window. Behind that, a cozy little dining room held a polished wood table covered in white linen, a cabinet of china, and even more pictures of the Grangers.
The house seemed to tell the story of their family, Harry was briefly brought back to the Black family tree at Grimmauld place. Right at the front door, there was a staircase leading to the upper floors and the hallway in front of him seemed to lead to a brightly lit kitchen, which was currently emanating the most wonderful smells. Harry briefly looked over to Sokka, whose eyes were glued to the kitchen.
Footsteps approached from the foyer stairs. A tall man with chestnut brown hair, neat black sweater vest, crisp white button up shirt, and khaki pants was descending. He reached the bottom of the stairs and his starkly brown eyes rested on Team Avapotter. Hermione's eyes.
"Hello. I'm Michael Granger. I believe you have already met my wife, Harmony. Nice to see you again Harry…Ronald." Mr. Granger looked at Ron with penetrating eyes and an arched eyebrow. Ron gulped conspicuously and quickly realized that Mr. Granger knew he was dating his daughter…or at least still thought it. He had never had the experience of meeting the parents.
Sokka leaned into Ron, "Why is Hermione's father giving you…murder eyes?" He whispered. Ron gulped again.
Mr. Granger stared at Ron a little longer before seemingly snapping out of it. He cleared his throat. "Well then. I suppose we should all adjourn to the living room, yes? Have a nice cuppa?" Mr. Granger patted Harry rigidly on the shoulder and Harry suddenly realized who Hermione got her mannerisms from.
Mr. Granger walked into the living room and took a seat in a large leather chair in front of the fireplace and across from the tele. It was clearly his seat. He smiled at everyone passing cups around and seemed like a perfectly nice guy…until it was time to hand Ron his cup. He thrusted the cup at Ron, scowling slightly. Then sat up completely straight in his seat, pressing his finger tips together, still staring at him.
Then his attention turned to Harry. "Harry! How have your studies been?" He said jovially.
"They're…er…fine, sir." Harry said, sneaking nervous glances at Ron, who sat stock still, looking dead ahead, ghost white, holding his cup of tea rigidly in the air on his saucer.
"Shouldn't be too difficult. My Hermione tells me you received excellent OWL marks. Plus, you saved the world…or something." He replied slowly, grabbing the remote and turning on the tele. Sokka yelped as the images flashed on the screen.
Team Avatar was terrified.
Mr. Granger seemed to notice because he quickly started to explain. "Yes…I know the wizarding world doesn't have much muggle technology…" There was a bitterness to his tone upon the word 'muggle' that was not missed by Harry. "In any case, it just shows images. For instance, this is a muggle game called 'Futbol'."
Harry jumped in. "Oh god, not Real Madrid. They are so over-rated."
Mr. Granger laughed calmly, nodding his head in agreement. "THAT is an outstanding assessment Harry."
"I…uh don't like 'em either." Ron murmured hopefully.
Mr. Granger became dead silent. "So…Ronald. How is school for you?"
"Well…"
"Are you prepared for NEWTS? Do you have a job offer after you leave? What are your long-term goals? How would you sustain an income with an expanding family? Will you be pursuing a collegial education or will you settle for a magical profession? Have you considered your educational, professional, and financial options? If so, cite specific examples. Do you have health insurance?" Mr. Granger rapidly fired off questions, coming to an abrupt and finite end. He sat, leaning forward in his chair, his hands clasped, staring into Ron's very soul.
Despite himself, Harry cut in. No one should have to endure that kind of grilling. "Did you see that goal?!" He yelled, hoping Liverpool had actually scored a goal.
"What?" Mr. Granger said, reluctantly turning his head to the TV. Harry looked at the TV as well and was horrified to see Aang sitting directly in front of the screen, tapping the tele screen with his finger.
Mr. Granger stared at him for a while before chuckling. "I'm sorry, I haven't met your other friends…"
Just then, Mrs. Granger entered the room, trailed by Hermione and Ginny. "Cakes!" She exclaimed, setting the tray down on the table, she brought a cake over to Mr. Granger. "I hope you've been behaving yourself." She said in a low, almost sultry voice. Mr. Granger smiled at her in a more than appreciative manner, his eyelids looking heavy, he licked his lips.
Hermione cringed. Were they….were they flirting with each other? They had never been like this before the war.
"I suppose that depends, what would be the consequences of my behavior, Mrs. Granger?" Mr. Granger replied, giving her a cocky smile.
"Dr. Granger." She replied authoritatively, his hands starting to touch her legs.
"THESE CAKES ARE GREAT! I LOVE THESE CAKES! HERE I AM IN THE ROOM WITH ALL THESE OTHER TEENAGERS, ENJOYING YOUR CAKES!" Hermione blurted out. What the hell was going on? They were being sooo…NOT parents right now. They were acting like teenagers!
Mrs. Granger looked at her husband a little longer before snapping up and looking at a room full of very uncomfortable looking kids. She cleared her throat. "Well! Lunch will be ready soon. Hermione tells me you all will be going to the cinema. Sounds lovely!"
"Right…mother may I speak with you?" Hermione said. Her cheeks blushed.
Mr. Granger watched his wife leave and sat entranced for a moment.
The room was horribly silent in his ignorance.
Suddenly, Mr. Granger sat up and looked around. Sokka was staring at him with his mouth wide open. Harry was fiddling with the couch threads. Ron sat, impossibly rigid, staring straight ahead. Aang went back to poking the TV, but his pokes were decidedly less childlike. Ginny and Katara were staring at each other, out of necessity. And Toph sat on the couch staring, obliviously, up at the ceiling, but the blush on her cheeks would indicate that she wasn't so oblivious at all.
Mr. Granger blushed. "So uh…what movie are you seeing?"
Harry stared directly at the ground. "Dunno yet."
Mr. Granger looked off at the window, clearly embarrassed, before an idea hit him. "You should see 'Saving Private Ryan', it's about World War 2." He said, turning to stare at Ron.
"What…sir?" Aang said, looking back at him. World war TWO? Was that the war Harry had talked about? He had had enough of war.
"World War 2. A muggle war. Good vs. Evil. My father fought in it." He looked over at Ron, who stared back at him with wide eyes. He continued, "Good vs. Evil is a universal but relative concept. World War 2 was one of the most devastating wars of all time…all muggle time…just a thought."
They all looked around at each other. A Muggle war movie? Harry would be lying if he said he wasn't sick of war. He was sick of the whole concept of war. Magical or muggle. He looked at Mr. Granger, there was something in his eyes. Something resolved.
"Um…I dunno." Harry muttered.
Mr. Granger rose from his chair and walked over to a bookcase, taking a picture off of it. He walked back over to the gang and set the picture on the coffee table. It was an old, non-moving, black and white picture of a soldier, an RAF pilot. "My father used to tell me stories of the Battle of Britain, of D-Day. He was there you know." Mr. Granger took a deep breath. "It is important to learn your history. Our shared history."
Aang looked ahead blankly. Our shared history. Visions of Roku and their trip together into their shared past ran before him. The beginning of the Fire Nation Invasion, one hundred years ago.
Mr. Granger continued. "He taught me it is always important to remember the bad times, so you never repeat it…so you can appreciate the good."
The room was stoically quiet.
Aang sat silent for a moment, occasionally flinching at the moving picture on the demon box that was called a 'tele'. "Saving Private Ryan? Yea, I think I'd like to see that." Aang said quietly. Harry looked at him in shock. Aang seemed to be deep in thought. Looking but not seeing.
Hermione paced the kitchen floor, her mother sat before her at the table tossing salads and sneaking nervous glances at her.
"Hermione please, you're making me dizzy. What's wrong dear?" Mrs. Granger said, setting down her tossing utensils.
Hermione opened her mouth, then quickly closed it. She turned abruptly and looked out the window, not sure how to broach this topic.
Mrs. Granger sighed. "Perhaps you'd like to talk about what happened in the living room?"
Hermione turned quickly and sucked in a shocked breath. Her mother had been quite different since returning home. At first, she was groggy but then she became increasingly…casual. Light hearted. She had always been a loving mother of course, but never this…relaxed.
Mrs. Granger rolled her eyes and stretched her arm out to Hermione. Hermione walked towards her with an embarrassed caution and sat across from her. The kitchen was so bright, it seemed almost comical that England picked today to not be rainy.
"Hermione…your father and I are adults. We have…adult needs…"
"No! Stop! I understand!" Hermione yelled, putting her face in her hands.
Mrs. Granger chuckled. "Relax dear, I'm just trying to have a conversation with you."
"I don't want to have this conversation…"Hermione groaned, slumping into her chair.
"Well then, why did you call me in here, Hermione?" Mrs. Granger replied, smiling ever so slightly and shifting back in her chair.
"Cuz…you know…your behavior…our guests." Hermione stammered not wanting to offend her.
Mrs. Granger chuckled again. "Hermione, you have always been my clever little girl…but do not forget, you come from me. I'm the original clever little girl." Mrs. Granger laughed abruptly before staring at her daughter with an expression that could only be described as love mixed with pride.
Hermione blushed. "What is going on? You and dad never used to act like this!"
"Are you sure about that?" Mrs. Granger said, crossing her arms knowingly.
"Yes!" Hermione bit her lip. "I…I just…I worry that my spell has…affected you." Hermione slumped even further down in her chair, cursing herself for using a play out of Clavicula's book. She had been worrying about this for a while now. Her parents were wonderful people but she knew Michael and Harmony Granger. They were acting slightly off. Had she hurt her parents? She was starting to feel like the monster epitome of Bellatrix herself. Even if what she did was to protect them…she had never meant to hurt them, to change them.
"Affected us? Goodness Hermione, is that school teaching you about the psychology discipline, in addition to your magical studies? I hope you enjoyed Freud…he was on enough drugs to kill a horse…" Mrs. Granger replied smirking.
"You know what I mean!" Hermione huffed back.
"Hermione love…no child likes to think of their parents as sexual."
"No! Stop!"
"Hermione, grow up. "
"Why? Because I'm noticing you're suddenly acting differently? Being able to notice discrepancies in behavior isn't the same as acting childish." Hermione lashed out.
Mrs. Granger looked at Hermione sternly. Hermione looked away at the window, eyes narrowed, arms crossed. Unyielding.
Mrs. Granger rubbed her eyes and sighed exhaustedly. "Hermione…I was hoping I never would have to explain this to you being that your father and I are…well , how we are now…."
She looked sheepishly at Hermione. "Your father and I…we had been…having problems, in the years before the…war."
Hermione looked at her mother bemusedly. "Problems?"
"It had nothing to do with you dear. It wasn't your fault at all." Mrs. Granger rushed on.
Hermione just stared at her.
Mrs. Granger got up from her chair and walked towards the sink, wringing the hand cloth attached to her apron.
"It was just…we had lost the spark dear. It wasn't like when we were young. Lord, when we were first married we used to sha….um….we were very affectionate."
Hermione wanted to hang herself.
"Anyway, eventually, life catches up with you. You start working, you have a family, you pay the bills, you settle into a routine." Mrs. Granger continued looking at the sink. "Love…relationships are work. You have to work at it."
"Ok…" Hermione said cautiously.
"Well, when you went off to school…we had a lot more alone time. We missed you terribly of course, but still it was…different. We started to fight all the time, started noticing all the little things that annoyed us about the other. We had spent so much time in our routines…we had forgotten how to be a couple. Once you were gone…we had to face ourselves…in the realest way possible."
Hermione was briefly brought back to Clarence Clavicula and their impromptu 'therapy' session. She scoffed. "So you're saying…having me…ruined your marriage?" Hermione looked as though she was about to explode.
"Gods, Hermione of course not!" Mrs. Granger turned to look at her, horrified by the bitterness in her daughter's voice. "You were and will always be the greatest thing that ever happened to me. To us. What I'm trying to say is…well, sometimes when there's so much going on around you…you forget how to be together, you forget how to be yourselves. " Mrs. Graner bit her lip. "Hermione, I know you torture yourself for what you did to protect us."
"I don't…"
"Save it Hermione. I am your mother. You say MY behavior has changed? So has yours. You seem so…lost, angry." Mrs. Granger looked at her daughter and a great pain rose inside of her.
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Don't change the subject."
Mrs. Granger looked at Hermione and her sadness multiplied. She continued, "Well, you think you hurt us by erasing our memories, don't get me wrong forgetting the fact that you are mine…the thought is horrifying to me now, but in becoming the Wilkins…your father and I discovered each other again, we discovered ourselves again. We were like…a couple of kids. What you did was not only noble, but it helped us… but…I mean… you want to know why we act so differently, it's not because of anything YOU did per se. It was what WE did, it was what WE saw in each other again. Getting you back, well, that just makes everything perfect."
Hermione looked at her mother with an expressionless face. And closed her eyes.
Mrs. Granger rushed on, "I mean, your father isn't QUITE convinced that the wizarding world isn't pure evil but…you know how he is…once a soldier always a soldier…so…eh…I suppose he's different in that sense. But…I'll bring him around." She finished hopefully. "I just… I just wanted to alleviate your worries, to explain things. You didn't do anything wrong Hermione. You helped us. In MANY ways."
Hermione opened her eyes, looked her mother straight in the eye, got up and started to leave the kitchen.
"Hermione?" Mrs. Granger almost squeaked out. "Where are you going?"
"To the cinema."
"Do you…do you want to talk about it?"
"No."
Harmony Granger was left standing in her beautifully lit kitchen, in stark silence. She was one of the most clever women in England but this time she had mucked it all up tremendously. She had explained everything all wrong, had relayed all the information in the most sloppy way. Hermione couldn't see her point at all, couldn't see where Harmony REALLY wanted to go with that conversation. She was just a child. She sighed and plopped down at the kitchen table and looked out at the bright winter day, wishing for nothing more than the rain.
…
"Well, glad to see you all made it on time." Draco's snarky voice rang out in front of the Cinema. He didn't want to come to this, not after last night. The horror of last night. As if having to deal with the Drawing room wasn't bad enough, last night had to happen as well. But still, he needed to escape from the Manor. The cinema was a welcome distraction. Hell, the look on Zuko's face as he walked through London, in one of DRACO'S suits, seeing all the wonders of the muggle world brought an odd feeling of satisfaction to him. Zuko walked through the streets with a sense of fascination on his face that Draco had never seen before but was all too familiar with. They past an electroficity store on the way to the cinema and Zuko stared at it for almost ten minutes. Draco would have stopped him if he wasn't standing there just as equally dumfounded, it would seem his time in the muggle world did nothing to quell his fascination with it. Telebisons, telefawns, something called a flashing light…it was unbelievable. The intellect of muggles sometimes surprised him.
Zuko stared off. He didn't quite know where to look. Every time he looked one way, he saw something ridiculous, impossible. The Firenation had always been on the cutting edge of technology. Magic he could handle, magic was like bending…it just happened. But this? This was ten thousand times more advanced than any fire nation gadget that he had ever seen. He couldn't comprehend any of it. Was this the future of his people? Was this what the human mind could produce, given enough time?
"Whoa Zuko. Nice outfit." Katara said smirking.
Zuko looked at her blankly. Then blushed. When had they arrived at the 'cinema'? Whatever the hell that was. Draco had described it, but Zuko couldn't comprehend the ridiculousness of it all.
"Yes, I suppose you pull off the suit." Hermione said, staring a little too long. Ron turned blood red. Harry narrowed his eyes.
Zuko blushed harder and looked down at the ground. "Er…it's Draco's."
"You look nice, too, Draco." Katara said, also, staring a little too long. Aang grunted.
Draco gave them all a once over. Hermione had on a jumper, blue jeans and boots. They fit her nicely but he found himself reminiscent of her impossibly tight jeans from the world's most awkward fashion show in the Great Hall. Katara had clearly borrowed clothes from Hermione, although they were basically wearing the same thing, Hermione filled it out a bit better but that may have been because they were in two different stages of development. Toph was wearing a hooded jumper, loosely fitting jeans and trainers, did she get her clothes from Weasley? Not very girlish at all. Ron, Harry, and Sokka…well Draco didn't particularly care what they were wearing.
"You look ok." Draco said shortly to Hermione. But his eyes were trained on her as she rolled her eyes and walked into the cinema.
"So…we're really going to see 'Saving Private Ryan'?" Hermione said, she had been well educated on WW2 and didn't think it was the best idea to watch a movie about it.
"Yea, your dad seemed pretty…adamant about it." Harry said cautiously, he too, knew all about WW2. "It's just a movie…can't be that bad."
"What's a World War?" Sokka said, staring at the concession stand. His eyebrow arched at the little yellow things popping in a machine labeled "popcorn".
"It was a muggle war that lasted about 6 years. Every super power in the world was involved. See, we don't have just four nations, we have hundreds." Hermione started to the awestruck face of Katara.
Hermione continued, "Anyway, there were two sides. The bad guys: Germany, Italy and Japan, and the good guys: Britain, America, Russia, and France…for the most part. Germany was headed by this psychotic dictator that took over the government, Hitler. Hitler believed that everyone who wasn't German was inferior. He also had this insane belief about Jewish people."
"Jewish people?" Aang said, staring at the fun flashing lights and a cutout of a man in dorky glasses named 'Austin Powers'.
"Yea. It's a religion. Like a spiritual thing. He thought Jewish people were evil and he spent much of the war…murdering them." Hermione cringed a bit, not sure if she could continue, she did. "He killed something like six million people. Just because they were Jewish." Hermione finished.
The gang snapped around and looked at her. Harry looked at the Technicolor carpet.
"How…how do you kill 6 million people…in six years?" Katara asked quietly.
Harry looked at her uncomfortably. "It was organized, he owned the government after all. He called it 'The Final Solution'. First, he had them all register themselves as Jewish and made them wear stars. Then, he forced all Jewish people to live in 'ghettos'- he took their homes, forced them to live in sub-human accommodations… he thought it was their place." Harry gulped, the next part of the story he knew would be gruesome. "Then he built these giant camps, forced Jewish people to serve as slave laborers…but that wasn't the goal…see, the goal was…to kill them. He would suffocate them with gas. Every man, woman, and child. The point of the whole thing was to kill every Jewish person in Europe and, eventually, the world."
Draco looked horrified. "Like…like Voldemort started to do the muggle borns?" The similarities were uncanny. Hitler started with muggle registration—the muggle born registry—then imprisonment under false pretenses…it was their place to him. Eventually, it would be murder.
"Like the Firenation…" Sokka whispered to himself, but it wasn't to spite Zuko. Sokka was just realizing the extent to which the war could have gone. He was just realizing that no matter where you are, no matter what world you lived in, hate would always exist, and the consequences could be unspeakably evil. If not for people who would risk anything to stop it.
Hermione sighed. "Yes, I suppose. Luckily…he didn't make it that far." She said, answering Draco, who turned even paler at the parallel.
"Our shared history…" Ron muttered, he looked at Hermione, she stared off as if deep in thought and suddenly his heart was breaking for her, gods the things that would have happened if Voldemort hadn't been stopped.
"Um…anyway. There was a giant war. Mostly because Hitler was invading other countries. In the end, the good guys won." Harry wrapped up, it was inappropriate to end the conversation so deceptively succinctly, but he couldn't bear talking about it anymore. Even though he had been instrumental player in ending the violence, he couldn't bear the thought of having to REALLY contemplate the consequences if he hadn't. It was over. "So…popcorn's on me then…"
The gang started to walk slowly, Hermione hung back, staring at the poster for 'Saving Private Ryan'. Ron noticed immediately and walked up next to her. His heart pounded and his throat had an awful lump in it. What would he say?
"Are…are you ok?" Ron said quietly as the others queued up at the concession.
Hermione didn't reply but cocked her head ever so slightly to the side. "This isn't the end you know."
Ron eyes widened. What was she talking about? Their relationship? Weren't they just talking about war? Ron didn't know how to respond, did he want to get back together? Did he really believe things could go back to normal? Did he really believe she had left him in the first place? Was it appropriate to think about himself after such a traumatizing conversation?
"War." Hermione continued.
Ron's heart fell into his shoe.
Hermione looked at him and her eyes were dull shade of brown. Her voice was monotone. "There will be another war…and another. Magical or muggle, we live in cycles of death. Everything dies. People…pasts…futures…relationships…everything."
Ron's heart fell out of his shoe.
Hermione looked at him a little longer then her eyes grew wide as if she had just come out of a trance. She shook her head slightly then walked off.
Ron stood in shock and a reality became finite that he had never REALLY considered until now. It was always in the back of his mind but he never really wanted to believe that it would one day be true.
Hermione had left him.
…
They all dragged themselves into a theatre, which was supposed to be a fun outing. But for some reason, it had turned into an obligation. How did Mr. Granger have this kind of power over them? Harry supposed he felt guilty for putting his daughter in danger. Aang seemed to be open to the idea but it was probably because he had no idea what to expect. The others just seemed to follow, most likely out of ignorance, except Hermione. Harry had no idea why she would want to do this. He had been hoping she would intervene at some point. Be the voice of reason. Make it ok if they skipped this movie. But she wasn't. She sat between Draco and Zuko. Harry had intentionally avoided sitting next to her, it was still weird between them and the last thing he needed was for the movie outing to devolve into something…more. Not in front of everyone, THAT would not go over well at all.
Nope, they were just going to the cinema. Harry didn't even know why he was stressing so much about it. It was just a movie after all. Just a movie.
Hermione sat in her chair. Everything was insane. Nothing was what it seemed. One minute, everything is fine, the next your mother is telling you she's sexually attracted to your father because they forgot you exist. She sighed.
"Breath through your nose, Granger." Draco said, chuckling at, what he called in his head, the dancing 'popcorn' monster on the screen.
"Shut it, Malfoy." Hermione groaned.
"What's up your frappucinno?" Draco replied, he looked sideways at her. She looked weird, not mad or sad, just weird.
"That…is not a saying." Hermione replied. "Gods Malfoy, your not as muggle savvy as you seem to think."
"What's a frappucinno?" Zuko asked, staring, horrified, at the dancing popcorn monster. Then there were dancing drink monsters and Zuko stared down at his cup, was it fizzy because it was alive?
"Nothing." Draco smirked. "So, what do you think of the cinema?" Draco had been to the cinema before and after a fair bit of screaming the first time, followed by being escorted out, he had gone maybe 3 times since and considered himself an expert.
"I…have no idea what's going on." Zuko replied, gripping his seat savagely to keep himself from yelling and/or attacking everything.
Sokka leaned forward with a giant smile on his face. "Look! My food is dancing! Right in front of us!" He pointed excitedly to his bucket of popcorn, then at the screen, and sat back vibrating with giggles.
"How old is Sokka?" Hermione asked.
"Eh…almost 18." Zuko said, still staring at the screen in terror.
"Outstanding." Hermione whispered, she sounded like Toph. Hermione's eyes widened.
"Oh Toph! I'm so sorry, how insensitive of me to bring you to a cinema!"
Toph laughed. "Let me guess, 'cinema' is something you watch?"
Hermione groaned.
"Don't worry about it. Judging from the sound…I think this will be interesting." Toph replied, propping her feet on the back of the chair in front of her and clasping her hands behind her head.
"So…what's up with you Hermione?" Draco started, feeling fairly uncomfortable with using her first name again, but just as he said it the movie started and the conversation abruptly ended. Draco squinted at the screen. Men in boats, a guy got sick. This wasn't interesting, it was gross.
Then a part of the boat opened and six people immediately died. Then people were drowning. Then people were exploding. Bullets went through peoples' heads. Blood was spattering and men were dropping without a sound.
Hermione's face flew into Draco's chest and Draco's head flew into Hermione's hair, their arms wrapped around each other. Mutual terror.
And suddenly 'just a movie' became very real.
…
Two hours later they walked out of the theatre.
Sokka stared straight forward. "The movie had just started…and someone's arm got blown off." He turned to Harry. "Harry. Do I look like a man who has ever seen a movie before?"
"No." Harry said bluntly, also staring ahead blankly.
"Then why…would you take me to…to…THAT. The screen was huge. The sound was so loud it hurt my ears. And…the….the…is that what muggles use to hurt each other?"
Harry just sighed. "Muggle war."
"How? How was that real? The movie? Did they really hurt all those people to make a movie?" Katara said, suddenly muggles seemed far more barbaric.
"No." Draco continued. "I thought that at first too…but it's not REAL. They call it 'special effects.'"
Draco looked warily at Hermione who just stared ahead blankly. They had spent most of the movie clinging to each other. His face flushed.
"Right…" Harry looked at Draco surprisedly. How much had he learned about muggles and their culture since the war? He turned his attention back to Team Avatar. "Don't you have like…" Harry thought for a minute, what did muggles do before the advent of movies? Right! "Don't you have plays in your world?"
"Yea, but they don't sound like that!" Toph said, trying to unplug her ears. The vibrations from the sound alone were indescribable.
"Well…think of it as…mega plays. Technology makes all the effects, none of it is real though." Harry continued.
"How…HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!" Sokka said, pulling out some popcorn he still had from SOMEWHERE on his person.
"Anything is possible with time." Hermione said suddenly and flatly. "Anything."
Ron walked along silently. His mind too full and empty to really be a part of any conversation.
Hermione sighed. "I think we should take the tube back to my parents. It's too late to head to the Burrow and after that last side arm apparation…well I don't want to do anymore apparations. "
Indeed, they had traveled to the theatre in teams. Harry and Aang, Ron and Sokka, Hermione with both Katara and Toph. The consensus had been that Hermione was the best at apparation and thus could handle it. They had all gotten there in one piece but the subsequent vomiting session that followed was vivid. Indeed, the Avatar gang decided that however they had gotten to this world it was NOT through apparation. In Sokka's words: "It was like flying through my tightest nightmare."
"I'm not going near that thing." Draco said. "We'll apparate to the mano…to the house."
"What's that mean?" Zuko asked. They had come by Floo and then by car. Zuko didn't find cars to be so bad. They had developed technology like it in the Firenation.
"Just…wait." Sokka said, sticking his tongue out in a disgusted manner. Zuko looked at him confusedly as he followed Draco to a nearby alley.
Hermione walked on, as if not noticing that the previous conversation even happened. The gang followed and soon came upon the steps to the underground.
"Sooo, we go IN that?" Sokka said, peeking his head around Harry.
Harry nodded as Hermione walked on. They had a fabulously pitiful time figuring out how the turnstile for the tube worked but that was nothing compared to the ride.
As the train zoomed into the station, both Ron AND Sokka shrieked, receiving several curious stares from awaiting passengers.
As the doors opened, Sokka neared it, then jumped into the train as he was trying to span cliffs. Ron inched in slowly, gripping the sides of the train, as if trying to keep the doors from closing in on him. Aang was standing in wonder in the middle of the train admiring the advertisements and shiny lights when the train took off and he fell flat on the floor. Hermione and Harry tried to direct them subtly on how to behave on the underground without eliciting attention. They failed.
"Come on guys…you've been on trains before…" Harry muttered.
"Not when they are underground and speeding like a cheetah mustang…" Sokka muttered. Ron laughed more out of fear than amusement.
Aang peered up. "Check it out. This sign says they can help you with your DUI case. What's that? Something about Dragons? You guys got any DUI problems?"
"Just…no." Harry said, dragging his hands down his face.
"Ok…well, just keep that in mind if you do." Aang replied amusedly.
Ron and Sokka sat clinging to the metal bars next to their seats. Several teenagers down from them sat giggling.
"Oi! Look at those tossers!" One kid said to another. They all chuckled before being abruptly thrown from their seats. They looked around in a dazed manner. Toph smirked at the ceiling, again sitting casually in her seat, arms behind her head.
Aang ran to help them up, falling twice as the train curved through the tunnel. "Hello there, fellow kids!"
They all looked at each other. "What?" One kid finally said.
"Where you from?" Aang asked excited. "I'm from Asia!"
"Uh…London…" The boy replied. Looking at his friends. "You sound like a yankee."
"Oh! Is that British slang! Hey, Sapphire! They say I'm a Yankee!"
"Oh God…" Hermione groaned.
The teenagers laughed, but one was staring at Harry, hard.
"So! You're from Lawndawn?" Aang asked excitedly.
Then the teenager that was staring at Harry spoke amid giggles from his friend, "Actually, I'm from Surry."
Harry snapped his head at him.
The teen looked at him as well. "Hey…aren't you that Dursley kid?"
"Um…" Harry said.
"Yea…I've seen you around. They have this other kid too. Bloody tosser, used to pick on my little brother." The teen replied.
Harry became extremely uncomfortable. Gods, was he going to be blamed for his cousin?
"Yea…my brother said that he saw you once, takin' him to task for it." The teen said and suddenly he was smiling. "Would have done it myself, but I was at school. Bloody boarding schools…"
"Uh…" Harry had no idea what to say.
"I used to see your folks around, in the summer. Always taking your brother places, never saw you much though." The teen said.
"He's not my brother." Harry said, it would seem that he was more interested in making sure no one thought Dudley Dursley was his brother more than the fact that a random teen knew way more about him than he should.
"Um…What's your name?" Hermione asked.
"Max." The teen said back. "Look, sorry for laughin, and no offense but anyone who gives that Dursley kid shit is a friend of mine."
Harry didn't know how to react. He had never met ANYONE his age who knew him outside out Hogwarts. He looked at the kid, he was tallish with black hair and blue eyes, he was dressed casually enough, jeans, tee and trainers. He didn't look like trouble. "Uh…you're welcome."
Aang looked around for a moment. "Did we just become best friends?"
Max looked at him awkwardly. "Uh…is this another sibling of yours then?"
"He's a friend." Harry said.
"Well…if you and your…uh, friends are up to it, we're on our way to a party in Belgravia. You in?"
"Uh…" Harry replied again.
"Just a bunch of matriculators, our friend's parents went on holiday to France, thought we'd make the most of it, last year hurrah's you know? What secondary you go to?" Max asked.
"Uh, boarding school…like you. In Scotland." Harry said. What the hell was happening? Why did everything have to be abrupt! He was just supposed to be going to a movie.
"Scotland huh? Drag.…So what you up to here then?" Max replied, his friends were staring at Aang, who had his ear pressed to the wall of the train, and they were genuinely amused at his excitement over nothing.
"We just saw 'Saving Private Ryan." Hermione joined in, she had never really had a conversation with muggle kids her age. Such a simple thing kind of enthralled her. Was she cool?
"Oi. What's your name brown eyes?" Another friend piped up, he smiled seductively at Hermione. "I'm Vic, by the way."
"His name's Vic!" Aang announced excitedly. Vic smirked at him.
"God Vic. Reel it in." A female friend announced, long brown hair, brown eyes, chalky skin, not particularly interesting looking, but not ugly. "I'm Laura. Please excuse my weird friend here." She smiled wide.
Hermione laughed. "Only if you'll excuse mine." She looked at Aang who smiled almost creepily.
"I'm not weird, I'm special." Aang replied.
"Yea, you are." Toph snorted.
"Saving Private Ryan huh? Heard it was crazy. Most realistic war movie ever made." Max replied, leaning forward.
"Yea…it was something alright…" Ron replied, entering the conversation.
"Yea? I might go check it out." Max said, looking thoughtful. "My Grandfather was in it. Reckon it's good way to honor his memory. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge."
"Battle of the Bulge?" Ron muttered.
"Yea, among other places." Max smiled to the bemused face of Ron. "Well you know. Nazi's were trying one last ditch effort to break through the allied lines." Max said.
"But they were pushed back in the Ardens!" Hermione replied excitedly.
"Nazis…"Ron replied staring off at an advertisement that read 'Liposuction- Come in now for your free consultation'.
Max stared at him for a bit. "Well, don't sweat it. History isn't everyone's bag. What's your name?"
"Ron."
"So, Hermione. You got a boyfriend?" Vic chimed in.
"Um…sorry?" Hermione said.
"Nothing to be sorry for unless you got yourself a boyfriend…" Vic continued, winking.
"Oh my god, Vic! Stop!" Laura said, clearly annoyed.
"Where abouts are you headed?" Max continued.
Hermione looked up, she had completely lost track of what was happening. Very unlike her. "You know…I think we missed our stop actually." She looked at the gang apologetically.
"Ok, so then you can come to the party?" Max replied.
Vic cocked his head to the side. "I dunno, how old are some of you?" Vic inspected Aang and Toph closely, they looked like kids.
"Old enough. "Toph replied.
"I'm in!" Aang announced.
"Uh…"Harry started.
"Brilliant! Next stop party!" Max said as he rose from his seat, extending out an arm to Harry. Harry looked around not sure what to do.
Max smiled. "Come on, I gotta play a round of Beirut with the guy who told off that Dursley kid."
Harry looked at Max for a moment, then at the floor, then to Hermione, who shrugged in an unhelpful manner.
"What about Draco and Lee?" Katara chimed in. Team Avapotter looked around at each other.
"Are they blokes? I don't like competition…" Vic said, looking at Hermione and licking his lips. Harry was going to set him on fire.
"Um…patronus…" Hermione said absent-mindedly, trying to put as much distance between herself and Vic as was possible in a cramped train.
"Oi! Patrone? They've got tequila?! Tell 'em to come on! You can call them when we get there." Max chimed in. "Don't make me beg….er, I'm sorry what's your name again?"
"Harry…Harry Potter."
Max looked at him for a bit, then smiled. "So, Harry Potter, how about that game of Beirut?"
…
And so it was that Team Avapotter showed up at a rather grand estate in Belgravia. The posh driveway featured a number of shiny, expensive looking cars. The music could be heard slightly from the outside, and people were darting in and out.
"Looks pretty raucous, eh mate?" Max said, nudging Harry's shoulder.
Harry nodded. Harry had never been to a muggle party, ever. Most likely NO ONE on Team Avapotter had ever been to one either. Harry never really thought about it, but he always kind of prided himself as being the muggle culture expert of the group, even more than Hermione. But if he really thought about it, he never really got to experience much of muggle culture growing up with the Dursleys and as things got more dangerous for him, he started spending more and more time in the wizarding world. He had no IDEA how to behave in this situation.
"Whoa." Ron said, simply. He stared at the giant mansion, he'd never seen a residence so…impressive. Well, except for…Ron closed his eyes. Visions of a marble manor, a grand chandelier, a dirty cellar, and the deafening sounds of her screams screeched across his mind. His eyes shot open and Ron felt a brief flicker of panic as he laid eyes on the mansion again.
"What a lovely home." Katara chimed in. It was no palace at Ba Sing Se…but it could certainly rival the Be Fong estate. Ron's house had been a strange sight to behold and Hermione's house had been nice and subtle, but THIS house seemed so very unnecessary in it's stature. Katara had been walking on eggshells not trying to upset anyone since holidays began, hell, since she had gotten to this world. Now, she was in a strange place that not even her hosts had ever sojourned into. What was the protocol for this?
"Let's go!" Aang yelled excitedly, but as they neared the house, Aang saw some of the people that they were to encounter. They saw him coming as well and looked at him curiously. He was dressed like they were, with a black sweater, jeans, and kegs Harry gave him after some magical tailoring work by Hermione, but it wasn't the clothes they were looking at. Aang was young. Of course, he had been through tribulations in his life that thousands of grown adults over the years hadn't survived and in his own world people rarely thought of him as young in the sense of a naïve child. Here, however, he was just a 13 year old kid at a party for teens who were 16 and up. Apparently, in this world, there was an infinite amount of maturity between a 13 year old and a 16 year old. And these teens seemed to feel this way as they snickered at Aang's approach. Suddenly, Aang was self-conscious.
Toph, however, didn't care. Period. "Hey! This the party?" Toph yelled, startling some older girl and guy standing in the driveway chatting.
"Um…yes…I suppose." One of the teens replied, arching an eyebrow at this little girl who spoke so boldly with such a childlike voice.
"Good. Cuz I'm about to make this a Melone Lordaye exclusive." Toph said, striding past the teens. The girl looked affronted, but the guy with her looked shocked and then kind of impressed.
Max walked up to the bloke. "Hey, Sam. How's the party?"
"Oh you know, same old stuck up pricks as always, I don't know how half these people found out about my party in the first place." Sam replied, staring off at 'Melone Lordaye' who had promptly left her friends behind and walked into the house like she owned the place. "Who the bloody hell was that?"
"Uh…friend of a friend." Max said, rubbing the back of his head. "Hope you don't mind, I brought some people."
Sam surveyed the group, his vision resting on Katara. He handed the girl he was with his drink then promptly left her standing there and grasped Katara's hand. "I'm Sam, welcome to my humble abode." He finished chuckling nervously, Katara just blinked at him.
"The name's Wang! Wang Fire! That's my sister Sapphire." Sokka said, taking Sam's hand from Katara and shaking it in a manly way.
Sam smiled wide at Wang then turned back to Katara, "So…your name is Sapphire…Fire?"
"Nice to meet you?" Katara replied.
"I'm Kuzon. Katara is my girlfriend. Yup. GIRLFRIEND." Aang said, staring daggers at Sam.
Sam quickly withdrew his gaze and chuckled. "Message received. Well, any friend of Max is a friend of mine. Max is a right good bloke, not like the rest of the stuffed shirts at our school. You all from Charterhouse as well? Can't say I've seen you around."
"Um…no, we go to school in Scotland." Hermione chimed in.
"Oh? Whereabouts? What's the name." Sam replied.
"Uh…Hog…garton. Hoggarton." Hermione replied before turning blood red.
"Never heard of it…"
"Oh? Well, not everyone can get into Hoggarton, my good man!" Sokka said in a faux aristocratic voice that would have been comical if it wasn't so pitiful. "I'll put in a good word with the…Queen."
Sam looked at Sokka for a bit. The gang started to sweat. Then Sam laughed hysterically. "Frankly, you wouldn't be the only one in this house that has rubbed shoulders with her majesty. Half of the nobility are in there: Blokes from Eton, birds from Roedean, the biggest snobs in the monarchy!"
Sokka laughed uncomfortably, he was just kidding about that Queen part, thinking about Ba Sing Se and Omashu. He knew from Muggle studies that England had a Queen but…seriously, these kids hung out with Queens?
"Yea, we have types like that at our school, we call 'em Slytherins." Ron grumbled, not in the mood for dealing with snobs. He was still reeling from the movie and Hermione's crytic speech about, what he thought, was their relationship.
"Slytherins?" Max replied. "Hmm. I like that. Slytherins."
Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron, honestly what an idiotic blabber mouth, as if Ron had never heard of the International Statute of Secrecy. They would have to be obliviated now, preferably before they entered the party. Discreetly, Hermione pulled out her wand and pointed it at them, their eyes went blank for a moment.
Sam blinked and looked around. " Uh…well, Frankly, you wouldn't be the only one in this house that has rubbed shoulders with her majesty. Half of the nobility are in there: Blokes from Eton, birds from Roedean, the biggest snobs in the monarchy!"
"Uh…you just sa-" Aang was cut off by Hermione.
"Shall we go inside? I need to make a quick phone call!" Hermione practically yelled, glaring at Ron, who in turn, glared back at her.
The girl holding Sam's drink chuckled.
"Something funny?" Ginny asked, jutting her hip out to the side.
"Well…it's just that- hmm, do you think you would really fit in here? I mean… school in Scotland?" The girl replied waspishly.
"Vivian!" Sam said in angered tones.
"Gods Sam, it's for their own good you know, our crowd can see…their types a mile away." Vivian replied crossing her arms a bit clumsily with her full hands. She was beautiful. Blond, leggy, endowed. And she knew it.
"I'm sorry, cup holders don't talk dear." Ginny replied, brushing past the girl and entering the house.
Hermione laughed despite herself and joined her, followed by the rest of Team Avapotter and muggle friends.
The party was full indeed, but not exactly raucous. The teens stood around chatting with each other with a kind of poise and properness that came off stuffy.
Ron chuckled. "Where's Malfoy when you need him?" Malfoy certainly knew how to hob nob with these types.
"I've sent a patronus. We'll just have to see if he shows up I suppose." Hermione muttered. Ron looked at her. She and Malfoy seemed to be…more causal with each other as of late. Ron had been noticing more and more. He certainly noticed in the movie theatre. He thought she was into Potter now. How much liberty was she taking with their break-up anyway? Ron scoffed. That was impossible, how could Hermione go for a bloke that treated her like shite for 7 years?
Their attention was turned to a medium sized group crowded around something. The gang approached the group cautiously and was surprised by what they encountered. Toph was sitting casually among the group, a glass of…something in her hand.
"Well, I've always found French wines to be more of an art than a drink. Proper wine paring is a skill of the most educated palates." Toph said, with an aristocratic air one must be bred with.
Harry's jaw dropped.
"WHAT is she talking about?" Ginny said, looking like she was about to explode.
Katara let out a low sound of realization. "Toph…is rich."
"What?" Ron chimed in.
Katara continued to stare off at Toph. "She's a genius…didn't Sam say most of the nobility were at his party?"
"Yea, so?" Ron inquired.
"So…she would know just how to handle a crowd like that." Katara continued mysteriously.
"…WHAT?" Ron whispered exasperatedly.
"In our world…next to Kings and Queens…Toph's… like… from the richest family on Earth. She's been taught proper society behavior since she was little. Sam said these people… what was it? 'Rub shoulders' with the queen. " Katara continued. "I mean, we're in a place with the super rich, super powerful. Toph is just manipulating the…social elements."
"So what?" Ron replied once again.
Katara chuckled. "Remember how much work you guys put in to convince people that we were magical…well the magical world isn't the ONLY place where people need convincing that people belong. Toph is doing the legwork."
"So…so then WHY does she act like…well, the way she acts?" Harry replied desperately.
"Toph was never into it. She must have sized up the crowd. I guess society behavior doesn't change no matter what world your in." Katara replied.
"Oh! Duchess Sapphire! Can you join me on the veranda? I wanted to discuss some fascinating literature with you." Toph said.
Harry had no idea how these people were buying this. Toph was wearing baggy clothes, not at all posh. She looked like a boy.
Toph practically glided to Katara, to a cavalcade of protests from spectators.
"What…" Katara whispered before being yanked away by Toph, Team Avapotter followed.
"GREAT party you dragged me to. Bunch of climbers…" Toph said, irritatedly.
"But…but how? What's going on?" Harry said.
"I came in and could tell right away what these people were about. All it takes is a few well placed questions, confidence, and some quick wit to have people like this eating out of your hands." Toph replied, blowing hair out of her face.
"Ok…no, not ok. I have NO idea what's going on." Harry replied desperately.
"Well, of course you don't Potter, you weren't bred for this." A voice said from behind.
And there, in all his haughty glory was Draco Malfoy with a sick looking Zuko standing behind him.
"I…really hate apparation." Zuko said quietly, pressing his lips together.
"Oh and you were bred for this?" Toph said to Draco, ignoring Zuko all together.
"Of course. Not just me. Zuko as well." Draco replied.
"Prove it then." Toph replied.
Draco looked around carefully. Smiling ever so slightly. "I'd say Prime minister stock. Look at how they hold their drinks. The material of the dress alone screams private education, posh, trained."
"No. Not prime minister. More like monarchy. Lords, nobility, Kings and Queens. See the straight backs? Lots of bowing and curtsying." Zuko interjected, trying to hold back his vomit.
"Not to mention how they drink their tea." Toph continued, smirking.
Draco and Zuko chuckled.
"What about their tea? What are you talking about?" Ron interjected in frustration.
"Weasley…there is a certain…WAY you carry yourself in high society. One can tell what you are by the way you behave. It's all about body language." Draco replied, waggling his eyebrows at Hermione, who rolled her eyes in return.
Harry glared at him. "So, what, you guys are, like, the snob patrol or something?"
Zuko sighed. "Potter." Damn it, he was still calling him Potter, "I'm a prince…Firelord. Toph is rich, Draco is definitely rich. We all were taught how to do this. I'm not saying we WANT to be like this. We just…know what to look for. We're not better than anyone, we just know the rules." Zuko hated saying it, admitting to it. He hated the fact that he was the son of Ozai and thus royalty. Still, he knew within five seconds who these people were. "Just follow our lead."
"Hey! We got tons of class. Indeed, we doth stride the worlds like a colossus!" Sokka replied, putting on his most pretentious and confusing airs.
"What?!" Toph replied, almost laughing. "I'm telling you Sokka. Busboys. Stick to busboys."
"Whatever, I don't want to be stuck at some stuffy, snobby, hob-nobby party." Ron said.
"Yea, tell me about it." A voice said from behind.
The gang whirled around to see Max, Sam, Vic and Laura, looking a bit crestfallen.
"What?" Harry replied, squeaking like a mouse. How much did they hear?
Sam looked around his opulent mansion. From the marble stone work, to the vast veranda and floor to ceiling windows. The double doors that led to the largish ballroom and the winding stairs that led to the east wing. He was wealthy. Obscenely wealthy, and his obscene wealth came with a host of duties, rules, forced privileges, and consequences. He sighed. "My parties are dull." Sam said. "My family are rich aristocrats. I go to a school full of rich aristocrats. Everything is all about status and rules, everything has to be done just so. Just once…just once I wish I could have a real rager, not an obligation banquet." He chuckled. "My parents would just looooove that…"
Hermione looked at the boy with a dull throbbing sadness. "Im so sorry. We didn't mean to insult you. You lot seem like great people." Hermione replied, feeling ashamed of herself.
"It's not an insult." Sam said, chuckling. "I'm glad you're here actually. I'm so tired of these kinds of parties. I mean, my parents are away-" Sam looked bitter as he said it. "- I have these parties…and it's like being at school."
Harry understood. He understood that feeling of forced status. He knew full well what it was like to wish you could be a normal kid, to never see your parents- whether by force or choice. "What about Beirut? Why don't we pick up a game?"
"Beirut? Who told you we'd be playing Beirut?" Sam replied quizzically.
"Spirits, WHAT is Beirut?" Sokka whispered. Everyone ignored him.
Max stepped in. "Uh…sorry mate. Thought I'd suggest a go to you, these parties are just so…restricting sometimes. My mates go to public secondary, we play Beirut all the time when I'm home. Thought you might be into it." Max looked over at Vic and Laura.
Vic and Laura nodded bashfully, apparently, they were commoners.
Sam looked down at the floor. He seemed to be stalling a bit. "Well, Beirut is a beer game right? I haven't got any beer. I don't think you want to play Beirut with 40 year old scotch." Indeed, beer wasn't seen as a 'desirable' drink in his family. "Can't get any now."
Harry looked around at his friends. No doubt Team Avatar had no idea what beer was, at least not officially, and Team Potter just wanted to blend into the wall without revealing what they REALLY were.
"Er…I might be able to help you out with that." Harry chimed in.
"How?" Max replied.
"Just…leave it to me and Ron." Harry replied.
Ron looked at him in horror. Harry pulled him to the side. "Look, we'll apparate down to the Cauldron, pick up some cases of butter beer, and pop right back, whole thing shouldn't take more than ten minutes."
"But, why?" Ron whispered.
Harry looked down for a moment, trying to figure out how to put what he was thinking into words. "…I know how it feels to always be something you wished you weren't. The bloke looks like he needs a little fun and after that movie…I could use a little fun too."
Ron looked at Harry for a moment and he was brought back to their shared past. There had been many times when Harry looked tired. Not physically, just generally. Ron never really thought about the details of it, but it must have been pretty difficult to live the way Harry had for the last 18 years. No parents, an unwanted child, inexplicably famous, and forced to suddenly, constantly dodge death when his only crime was surviving. Of course, Ron shared that burden with Harry from the day he met him in that train car 8 years ago. Once he chose Harry, he chose struggle. Blood traitor. With the simple act of choosing a train car, his family became the biggest blood traitors of all time. Their deaths were just as demanded as Harry's. It was a fact that people rarely ever talked about and sometimes, he really hated that his family was such an afterthought in the grand scheme of contemporary magical history. Still, in the end, if he could change what train car he walked into that day, first year…it would still be the one with the 11 year old with the broken glasses, large crappy clothes, and awe stricken green eyes.
"Ok. Let's do it." Ron said simply.
Harry looked taken aback for a moment, he was expecting a fight, as was now customary between them. "Uh…ok. So…let's go?"
Ron stood to his full height, as of late he had taken to slouching, an unconscious act brought about by stress. He towered among the rest, Max and his friends found themselves staring at him with raised eyebrows.
"Be back in a few." Ron said and for the first time in a while, he smiled.
Harry and Ron walked off and Max swore he heard popping. He smiled.
….
Ten minutes later, Hermione became concerned. "How long does it take to pop to the Leaky Cauldron?" She whispered to Katara amongst a crowd of people who were being thoroughly entertained by Draco.
"Yea, I don't know what that is…" Katara mumbled, looking around.
Draco had become Mr. Popular among the little aristocrats. It was his crowd, after all. How he missed it terribly. Here, he wasn't a traitor. He wasn't a pure blood piece of scum. He was what he was born to be: special. Entitled. Almost regal. The girls laughed at his droll jokes, the blokes toasted at his declarations. He said all the right things and behaved the way one of status should. He didn't mind these muggles at all.
"So then I said, 'Where did you find these tea leaves? America?" Draco declared, and the crowd laughed haughtily. A rather stocky boy patted him on the back. It would seem Draco's forays into the muggle world after his banishment had taught him a few things and after a few well placed questions, he had deduced all he needed to know to impress the crowd without giving himself away. He was having fun. Imagine that, Draco Malfoy was having fun with muggles.
"Oh yes, those Americans." Ron said, coming up behind Draco.
Draco swung around. "Weasley!" Draco yelled before quickly recovering himself from his scare, putting on a face of regality. "Have you and Potter returned then?"
"It is so, Lord Malfoy." Ron bowed slightly and chuckled before walking off.
The gang followed, eventually meeting up with Max, Sam, and the rest who had congregated in the corner away from eager guests looking to suck up to Sam.
"This way." Sam whispered, they followed him down a hall to a room near what looked like the kitchens. Sam opened the double doors to reveal Harry standing in a dimly lit room examining a billards table.
Harry smiled goofily. "Got the butter….got some beer."
"What…is this place?" Sokka started, staring around. It seemed different from all the other rooms. There was a green table with holes and little numbered balls on it, a circular thing on the wall that seemed to have darts sticking out of it. Some bookcases, two leather sitting chairs and a leather sofa, a largish fireplace in the center wall, and various other doo dads.
"It's father's gaming room." Sam replied, looking around as if he was unimpressed. "He comes in here with his associates for brandy's and cigars and whatever the hell else."
Max saw the jaded look on his friend's face. He cleared his throat. " So! We'll set up on the billiards table!"
"Yes! The Beirut! Of which we will set up!" Sokka announced, he had no idea what Beirut or billiards was.
Harry grabbed the plastic cups that Hermione had created only moments ago as she figured this was not the kind of place that had plastic party cups.
"Teams!" Vic announced as Harry and Max set up. "Hey brown eyes, you want to have a go with me?"
Hermione scoffed. "My name is Hermione…and I would be more than happy to have a go against you."
"With…against… it all sounds good to me." Vic replied, waggling his eyebrows.
"Hermione, why don't you go with me." Harry said quickly, wanting more than anything to hex Vic's balls off.
"Fine. We got Brown eyes and…" Vic started.
"Harry." Max said, lining up the cups in pyramid formation.
"Right. Then how about Sam and…"
"Red?" Sam said, eyeing Ginny and smiling.
"Um..sure." Ginny said, turning blood red.
"What about you, Laura?" Vic said.
"I'll take the other red, thanks." Laura continued smiling at Ron.
Ron's ears felt like they were on fire. "Um ok…brilliant."
Vic looked momentarily shocked, then his eyes became slits a bit. "I'll take duchess then." And he walked over to Toph and draped his arm around her, glaring at Laura and Ron. Toph took half a stance as his hand rested on her shoulder, then blushed.
Eventually, they paired off. Draco and Zuko, Aang and Katara, Max and Sokka.
And the games began.
"You shoot the little white ball into the other team's cups. If you get it in, the other team has to drink." Max announced. "Whichever team sinks all six cups before the other, wins."
Vic and Toph took one side, Harry and Hermione took the other. Hermione shot first, she sunk it.
"Drink!" Harry yelled. Vic picked up the cup and drank it grandly.
Toph stepped up. She shot her ball and it sailed way over the cups and smacked Harry in the head. She snorted. "I'm not gonna be good at this am I?"
Sokka sat on the leather chair, looking around. Max strolled up to him.
"You look bored." Max said.
"Eh…not so great at waiting my turn." Sokka replied.
Max nodded appreciatively, then his eyes lit up. "Oi! Sam, don't you have the new Nintendo 64?"
Sam eyes bulged, he ran out of the room and returned sometime later with a dark grey box. He ran up to a wall and pressed a button. The wall descended.
"Ah!" Sokka yelped. "WHERE'S THE WALL GOING!"
Sam looked at him curiously, then smiled. "It's a cover for the tele." As Sam said it, an enormously large television revealed itself. He went around the back of it and went to work.
"Merlin…" Ron muttered. He'd never seen anything so incredulous.
"Ladies and Gents. Say hello to Mario 64!" Sam announced before grabbing the remote and pressing some buttons.
Sokka's eyes widened impossibly. There was a man moving around on the screen, turtle shells, some kind of squat little weird monsters… but they weren't like the people on the movie screens or the tele…"What…is…happening?"
Draco stumbled forward, looking horrified. Zuko followed cautiously. Sam picked up a controller and smirked at Sokka. "It's…a video game. You'd have to live on the North Pole not to know what that is. Mario 64 is the most popular game in the world right now."
"Well actually…" Sokka started when Hermione cut him off.
"SOKKA'S FROM AN INDIGENOUS TRIBE THAT DOESN'T HAVE THAT STUFF!" She blurted out.
Sam reeled back at her screaming before composing himself. "Eh…really?"
"Yes." Sokka squeaked out, not sure why Hermione was suddenly changing the backstory that he had JUST memorized.
"That sounds…not real." Max said.
"It's totally real!" Katara said, making it sound even less real.
"You sound like you're from the states…" Laura replied.
Suddenly, Vic became concerned. After all, they had just randomly met these people on the train. "Are you guys serial killers?" He half joked, but his face became decidedly more concerned as the idea started solidifying itself in his mind.
"What?!" Harry said, this story was spiraling out of control. He tried to come up with an excuse.
"We're joking! I know what it is!" Sokka said in a panic. "I've just…never seen one…up close before."
"Look!" Harry started. "Sokka's family aren't as…wealthy, as yours, ok? They can't afford that kind of stuff. We just made up the story so he wouldn't be embarrassed."
Vic scrunched his face. "That's the stupidest story I've ever heard…" He muttered.
Suddenly, Sam looked terribly guilty at the idea of making someone feel like they had to lie about who they were. "Oh…I'm so sorry."
"Why?" Sokka said, Hermione ribbed him.
"Er…I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable." Sam muttered.
"What? Eh… don't be sorry, I shouldn't have went along with the whole story to begin with. There's nothing wrong with not being rich." Sokka exclaimed, then he smirked. "You don't need to lie for me Hermione. I mean REALLY, an INDIGENOUS TRIBE? Come on, Hermione. If you feel the need to protect my feelings at LEAST be realistic."
Hermione sneered. How interesting that Sokka would use improvisation to cover up her gaffe when he was almost CONSTANTLY almost blowing their cover.
"Right! Exactly!" Sam exclaimed. He pressed the start button on the controller, trying to avoid talking about this situation.
"WAHOO!" Mario exclaimed and the gang's attention was brought back to the game.
"You control the characters! See?" Sam said, moving Mario around.
Hermione blew out a sigh of relief, she walked up to Harry. "Why is it that these people were so skeptical of our friends when everyone at Hogwarts just bought the story?"
"Because-" Harry started. "-here…we're not famous. People are more inclined not to question you when they think you've just saved the world." Harry smiled.
Others started to wander in the gaming room as the night wore on. Sokka started to gather quite a crowd as he played Mario. Ever Mr. Popularity.
"Get the mushroom! The mushroom!" One boy yelled, a cup of beer in his hand. It would seem that London's finest started to forget the rules for one night.
"I GOT THIS!" Sokka yelled as he scrambled the controller.
Zuko and Draco were dominating at the beer pong table, Zuko's skills as a warrior seemed to make his aim all the more precise. His Armani clad opponents groaned and laughed as they lost to him.
Katara, Ginny, Hermione, and a group of girls were all dancing to a song by an American muggle band called 'Backstreet Boys'.
The atmosphere became decidedly less stuffy, the nobility of England became a bit more common as they played the games, listened to the music, and learned the customs of the common world. The addition of Team Avapotter and their apparent immunity to social protocol rubbed off on everyone.
Harry and Max stood in the corner, watching the fun unfold.
"So…Harry Potter huh?" Max said, taking a drag from his cup.
Harry nodded, not really paying much attention.
"So…how are things at Hogwarts?" Max continued.
Harry snapped his head at Max, what had he just said?
Max smiled knowingly. "Squib. I'm a squib."
"Your…what?" Harry replied.
Max laughed. "Come on. You didn't think I would just be THAT friendly to someone I didn't know did you?"
"Er…I…I thought you…knew me from around Surry…" Harry replied, terrified.
"I do." Max said, looking at Ron who was staring at the video game, yelling obvious advice to Sokka as he learned to understand Mario 64. "But uh…even among squibs your pretty famous. My mum's a witch, dad's a muggle. I guess the magic wasn't inherited by my brother and I."
Harry turned red. "I'm …sorry?"
"Don't be. I didn't really know magic existed until I was much older." Max replied. "She decided to raise us as muggles when she figured out we weren't magical. I didn't even know you existed until that Voldemort guy came back when I was 13. My mum got real nervous, seeing as how we lived near you. She and my father decided to tell us then, to protect us."
Harry nodded, not sure what to say.
Max continued. "Yea, I guess Voldemort didn't like the non-magical too much. At any rate, I was in boarding school at the time. Not much of a threat to me, I suppose. My brother stayed at home and went to public primary and secondary. My mum pulled him out last year when, I guess, things in the magical world got dangerous for him. She refused to do magic, not wanting to bring any attention…not that she ever really did it to begin with, at least, not in front of us."
Harry was surprised the ease with which Max talked about Voldemort, but then again, Max had grown up outside the magical world. How much fear could you have for someone you didn't really know anything about?
"Still, would have been cool…to be a wizard." Max said, and his tone came off a little sad. "To have grown up in that world."
Harry found himself feeling terribly guilty. Max had the wizarding world hidden from him for most of his life, like every other muggle…and yet, he wasn't a muggle. It seemed kind of cruel that he had been born so ordinary when he came from something so extraordinary. He had to do something.
"Well…Hermione is throwing a party, for our wizard friends. You should come! You, Sam, Laura, Vic…you should all come!" Harry said, not really thinking about the ramifications of Max's friends coming to a wizarding party.
Max thought about it for him. "Yea but…don't you have to hide your wizarding from us regular folks?"
"Eh…" Harry started, not sure what to say, he couldn't uninvite Max's friends, but they couldn't know about magic either. "We'll uh…we'll do a muggle themed party, yea." Harry seemed to be planning HERMIONE'S party without including her in on the details. "Hermione is muggle born, her parents are both muggles, they should be good with that."
"That sounds like a lot of trouble." Max said.
"Not trouble, planning." Harry replied.
Max smiled. "Yea…I'll be there." Max was quiet for a moment. "You know…I hate that word. Muggle."
Harry scrunched his face. "Yea. I guess it is a pretty dumb word for a sub-set of people."
"The MAJORITY of people." Max replied. He smirked at Harry. "In this house, you're the muggle, not me."
Harry smirked back. "Oi! Hermione!"
Author's Note. Hey kids. Tons of things have been going on. Got a new job, moved, etc. I've been sitting on this chapter for a while. I find myself becoming uninterested with the story, I feel like it's getting boring. I dunno. The point of this chapter is to illustrate the muggle world to Team Avapotter. Added a couple of twists. Let me know what you think, I find myself adding easter eggs from a bunch of shows and stories to see if anyone notices, what's a story without a little fun. Anywho, I've written a random Scorpius/Rose fic, it's supposed to be a synopsis of a greater multi-chap story. I'll post that at some point. Large shout outs to Dark Lord Morthanian for checking up on me! As always shout outs to my beta kate and everyone that took the time to review. Peace, Love, and Hair grease my crazy fans, you put up with me so. Later Kids.