Intermission: Clearing up Confusion

A puzzled-looking Sirius Black spoke for many there when he raised his hand as if he were still at Hogwarts. In fairness, Hermione thought, he was only a couple of years out before time froze for him, poor thing.

"I thought Miss Granger's parents were called Ian and Jean," he began. Also, how were you buying Percy's rat from Ron after you'd already sent it to the Lovegoods, and they'd already sent Wormy along to the DMLE?"

"I told everyone at school that my name was Jean, not Jane," said Mrs Granger, a bit embarrassed. "And I went with that, going forward. It was close enough."

"I had no such excuse," added Mr Granger, "but, honestly, when your name is Victor-Marie Hugo Granger, unless you want yourself locked in your locker or your head pushed into the WC, you had better find a handle. I just told my mates, what I had of them, to call me 'Ian.' It was as good a name as any other."

"Normally, we're called Dr Granger," Mrs Granger said, "and when people are on a first-name basis, that's when we haul out 'Jean' and 'Ian.'"

"But our names did bring us together, so there's that. Otherwise, I think we'd still be burning with resentment at our parents," Mr Granger finished.

"The kids sent us two rats," explained Pandora. Her eyes were dancing with merriment. Hermione had seen what pranksters the Lovegoods were, so was unsurprised.

"They switched out Percy's rat and sent it to Luna. But the old rat they swapped in got sick, the pet shop said it was dying of old age, and when they were trying to figure out how to afford an owl, Harry mentioned that a friend of his, Luna, their neighbour, was good at healing rats, and a rat that had lived 10 years so far was a fascinating creature and she'd nurse it back to health and Harry would buy it from him for enough galleons to get a small owl. Since Percy had just given Ron the rat, that meant that he had enough to buy a Scops owl. Ginevra complained, so she got to say that it was partly her pet, too, and she jumped the gun and named it 'Pigidgeon,' much to Ron's chagrin. But Ron still has dibs on the owl, so, along with Erroll, the family owl, and Hermes, which they just got for Percy, Ron, and Ginny somewhat, now had Pig. It made a great deal of sense, given that Ginevra was going to be on her own for a year."

"So, that's how we ended up both switching and buying the rat," Hermione said. "I would have felt guilty depriving Ronald of a pet that he would have otherwise gotten, even though he was a disgusting Death Eater traitor sharing a bed with an eleven-year-old boy." Out of instinct, she looked at Harry. His expression was, to sum up, Now I remember why she said she wasn't skilled with people. 'Oh well,' she thought.

"It's improved Ginny's mood a lot," Luna Lovegood piped up. "Also, my parents pressed the Weasleys very hard to allow me to visit Ginevra and have her visit, until they gave in. Hermione told us all it was important not to let her become isolated and depressed this year."

Harry spoke up. "It's making a short story long, but the gist is, we managed to score points with Ronald Weasley over the rat and owl, and with Neville Longbottom over sneaking him in and out and getting him a new wand. And we helped Ginny. Which probably settled the raging Saving People spirit possessing my girlfriend."

Sirius smiled. Not only at his questions being answered but at Harry's last word. He looked over at Prongs. He looked so solid, so real and alive, even though he also gave Sirius the chills. James, too, looked pleased and proud. Surprisingly, when he looked over at Lily, she had the same expression. They can't be around for him, he realised. Only I and Hermione and anyone we enlist can. He was on her side from now on, that was a given.