Chapter 4

"Riddle Manor, Little Hangleton

19 August, 9 am."

The parchment said nothing else, and promptly burst into flames once she read it.

Well, okay then.

Hermione started to list all kinds of ways she could go there, wherever there was.

The floo was out, she technically could apparate but she didn't have her licence nor did she know if the ministry would be able to track her unlicensed apparation.

The knightbus it is then.

On 19 August she woke up promptly at 7 am and started getting ready, too freaked out to eat anything.

She had no idea what to wear, did she even want to make a good impression?

She wondered about going all Muggle but then realised with his apparent love for his Muggle living Squib cousin, he clearly didn't care as he was supposed to.

Eventually, she settled on black skinny jeans, black leather ankle boots and a burgundy long sleeve shirt with a sweetheart neckline to show some Gryffondor pride. She added a black cloak on top, as it was still quite chilly.

At 8:30 am, she raised her wand for the Knightbus and promptly went on her way.

The ride was nausea-inducing and disorienting, but at least very quick. Hermione was soon on a dirt road, with no clear idea where to go from there. Little Hangleton was easy enough to find, Riddle Manor however had faded into obscurity decades ago and she barely had found a mention of it at the library.

At least she could use magic, what the ministry didn't know couldn't hurt it she thought.

Of course, she was supposed to be turning 16 years old next month, but her very liberal use of the time-turner her third year had aged her up, she wasn't sure by how much exactly, but knew next month she would be much closer to 18 than 16.

Therefore the trace didn't apply to her anymore and hadn't for a while.

Gathering her courage, she took out her wand and said "Point Me".

Tom was pacing, it wasn't even 9 yet but he was impatient, he had been waiting years technically to see her again.

He had no idea how it would go, she was clearly shocked and confused. He hoped he would explain and she would understand and accept him.

With 15 minutes to spare, he went downstairs to wait for her arrival, sitting in an armchair in the entryway, in a very calm and collected way.

The doorbell rang ominously. He stood up quickly and went to the door, then opened it calmly.

In front of Tom was Hermione Granger, his daughter, she was looking like a young woman, Tom thought she should look older than she should but didn't linger on that, she was dressed very nicely, with a cloak above Muggle clothing.

Hermione was still shocked, barely breathing, watching this man who barely looked a day over 40, with dark curly hair cut short, high cheekbones, and striking ice blue eyes.

The eyes were mesmerising and very unexpected.

Out of the blue she gasped "Red eyes, Harry said you had red eyes, no nose and snake-like features!"

Mortified she put her hand over her mouth.

Tom, who had been cataloguing his grown-up daughter features and wondering how she would look without the glamour was startled by her declaration and started laughing.

"Red eyes I could sort of get why, but snake like features? Really? I mean we are descending from Slytherin but even then it might be a step too far to become a snake." Tom smoothly replied, then added "Come in Hermione, it looks like there's a lot to discuss."

Hermione just dumbly followed Tom inside, to a sitting room not far from the front door, while she looked around in wonder at the forest green walls bustling with bookshelves and the antique furniture, Tom quietly called for Tilly to serve some tea.

Hermione was torn away from her gazing by the sudden appearance of an Elf and immediately started seething, which Tom noticed immediately and had sort of expected.

"You know, when I came back I informed myself about you as much as I could, your House, friends, interests, I was mostly very pleased with what I found but the S.P.E.W. debacle did not escape me either. I understand the mindset, I had similar thoughts when I met elves for the first time, but I need you to realise Elves are a symbiotic species, Hermione." Tom said, without looking up from pouring them a cup of tea each.

"Symbiotic?" Hermione asked simply. Tom looked up, nodded at the cup of tea, and Hermione sat down on the sofa in front of him. "Yes, symbiotic, without a bond with a witch or wizard, an elf will slowly die. They feed from the magic of their bonded family and need it to access their own, and live. A free elf would die a slow and rather painful death."

"I had no idea, but that does make so much more sense. I know why Harry wouldn't know that but I don't understand why Ron didn't tell me then! He made fun of the whole project but never took the time to explain, he grew up in the wizarding world so surely he would know!" Hermione exclaimed, rather bitterly.

"Ronald Weasley?" Tom asked, at her nod, he closed his eyes and inhaled slowly then continued "We have a lot of misinformation and lack of information to get through. Regarding this boy, and the Weasley family in general, why do you think they are called blood traitors?"

"Because they opposed you! They're purebloods but do not feel superior about it, and they aligned themselves with Professor Dumbledore against you." Hermione said very succinctly.

Tom gazed calmly at her, having expected that sort of answer already. He took a sip, then started his explanation "Yes, they did oppose me and became members of Dumbledore's order in the seventies. However, they were called blood traitors before that, before I was ever there. They are purebloods, but they do feel superior about it, not in the same way the Malfoys do I concede, but I am aware of Arthur Weasley so called fascination with anything Muggle." He paused, letting her take this in, and continued "It might seem harmless and sweet the way he talks about Muggle objects, but if you look below the surface level, his questions and knowledge of the Muggle world is quite condescending."

Hermione wanted to protest, automatically, but stayed quiet, thinking of her interactions with the Weasley Patriarch.

Taking her silence for her tacit agreement to continue, Tom added "Think of it this way, when he says muggles are so very clever for inventing electricity, while mispronouncing it, they're very clever for muggles because clearly they can't do better or know better. When Arthur Weasley compliments Muggle inventions or objects, he phrases it the same way you would clap for a monkey performing a trick in a zoo. You would think that's such a clever trick, for a monkey.

The Weasley family are called blood traitors because they adhere to the pureblood dogma while publicly rejecting it at the same time.

Albus is very much the same way, although he isn't a pureblood, he enjoys the same privileges and while he presents a very grandfatherly persona, he very much has the same prejudices a Malfoy does, he's simply much more subtle about it.

Blood traitors enjoy their pureblood, or adjacent, privileges, while rejecting centuries old wizarding traditions. The term is a misnomer really, they're not traitors to their so-called pure blood, they're traitors to centuries of history, traditions and culture."

As an afterthought, Tom continued "From the little I've learned about the way the young Ronald Weasley behaves, he didn't say anything about the real relationship elves have with their bonded family, because to him it's obvious and therefore irrelevant, and the way I've heard he behaves with you... To him it was a funny monkey getting agitated about something, and since he has the maturity of a street rat, he thought it fun to mock you, instead of helping you.

You know, I've been collecting all the information I can since I've come back, and I've heard of his behaviour this past year, regarding the Yule Ball." Tom looked directly at her with a pointed look and continued "He might have asked you because he thought you were a good option, or as a friend, it doesn't really matter either way, because for as much as they appear with no prejudices, a date to the Ball or casual improper fun would be the extent, he would never see you as a real option. For all the Weasley family claims to be accepting of muggleborns, they're still a fully pureblood family, they would never marry anyone less."

Hermione sat back, shocked. She had never considered it that way, but looking back shone a light on things in a very ugly way.

"What about Molly Weasley? She's clearly setting up her youngest daughter with Harry, a half blood, their children would be half bloods as well." Hermione replied, grasping at straws, trying to keep a semblance of control of this conversation that was slowly unraveling her worldview even more.

Tom smirked, "Well, Harry Potter may be a half blood, but he's also the heir of the Potter fortune and the Boy who Lived, which is likely seen as an acceptable trade off. Besides, with his muggleborn mother, the Potter line isn't pure anymore, and Ginny would be marrying into it, leaving the Weasley pure anyway, so the loss isn't great for them but they would have much more to gain from the alliance."

That made sense to Hermione, a little too much if she was honest. However, even if it was completely true, it didn't change what happened during the war, or what she thought happened she added drily inside her head, nor did it change the torment blood prejudice brought her at Hogwarts.

So she went in for her real question, even though she knew now she wasn't a muggleborn, she was still treated like one anyway, "What of muggleborns? I understand the whole blood traitors thing and the issues they raise, but what about muggleborns being called mudblood? I was 12 the first time." She added.

Tom's face hardened and his mouth drew in a tight line. He thought about it for a few minutes, and decided to be honest "The term comes from the founding of Hogwarts but lost its meaning overtime, back then it was very much about the danger of muggleborns and their association with the Church who wanted to burn down witches. It was a reaction to a very real fear. It lost its meaning and became solely about blood purity, which is also really pointless as muggleborns are descending from Squibs cast out to the Muggle world by their pureblood families.

Still, similarly to Blood Traitors, it's also used because muggleborns tend to not follow the wizarding traditions, know its history and so on. Which is fair in a way, but also a deeply flawed reasoning.

Muggleborns are thrown into the wizarding world at 11 and told to swim or drown, no help to assimilate. Of course they don't know or follow the traditions! They need to be brought in earlier and educated."

"That's what I've been saying for years!" Hermione exclaimed, "I knew nothing but was expected to be aware of minute cultural differences and was made fun of or insulted when I didn't. But the knowledge isn't neatly written down in a book somewhere and the ones with it didn't feel the need to explain anything!"

"Yes Hermione, you get it.

Bringing Muggle raised children in early and educating them has been the main goal of my campaign when I started in the 70', the whole thing was very much lost in translation as you can clearly see." Tom replied with a pointed look.

"Why? Why would they oppose that? It would solve so many issues, protect the statue of secrecy and assimilate muggleborns so they don't stand out!" Hermione exclaimed in reply.

Tom took his time, looked at her considering for a while and then said "Because they didn't want the muggleborns to be part of the world. I said earlier Albus hides his prejudices better, but he still has them, he doesn't want better assimilation, he wants muggleborns as third class citizens, clearly marked as different and lower than."

While Hermione sat down, slumped on the sofa, she thought about everything he said and how it made the wizarding world make so much more sense.

While his daughter was clearly having an existential crisis, Tom sat back, waiting patiently for the shock to wear off.

"More tea?" He asked evenly.