A/N: Here's your next chapter. Enjoy!
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It was so very cold and so very dark. Everything around him was filled with anger and hatred. The him that was him felt so very scared and tried to pull away from the him that wasn't him, but it was no use. The him that wasn't him was so very alone and filled with so much pain that he couldn't stop it from grabbing the him that was him. Then the him that was him felt a tiny arm creep around him, and a voice came from outside the blackness: "Shh, Jamie. Shh, Jamie…"
Jamie slowly opened his eyes to the dark room to find his sister lying next to him. His big sister. The small night light glowed brightly behind her; the bad dream was over. Like always, Mimi had chased it away. He slowly uncurled from his little ball and his sister moved so they were lying next to each other holding hands.
"Same dream, Jamie?"
He nodded miserably at her. "Thanks, Mimi."
She smiled. "You know I'll always be here for you, right?" This earned her a small smile, and Jamie relaxed further. No matter how alone the him that wasn't him felt in the dream, it wasn't true. Mimi was his big sister and she was always there and always looking out for him.
Later the next morning, Valeria stepped into the children's bedroom to get them up for the day. Her 3-year-old son and her 4-year-old daughter had somehow ended up in the same bed again. She smiled at the cute picture they presented and experienced a fleeting wish that they would stay little forever. They'd likely grow out of it within the next year or so, but she could still wish, right?
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It was a bright and blustery Saturday afternoon. Bertram had been working that morning, but Valeria had spent the morning with the children at a nearby park, thankfully exhausting them. After a relaxed family lunch, the children settled down for a nap upstairs. Hermione, at age five, was starting to insist that she was too old for such things, but despite her protests, she would quickly fall asleep just like Jamie did. The two Grangers were happily curled up on the couch in the living sleepily watching a movie, when the sound of the doorbell interrupted their alone time.
Bertram opened the door to find two strangers standing on his front porch. One was a middle-aged female, while the other was in his late twenties. Both were dressed smartly, which left him with little idea about who they were or what they were doing ringing his doorbell. The lady stepped forward and asked, "Bertram Granger?" At his nod, she held out her hand. "I'm so sorry to disturb your Saturday, Mr. Granger. My name is Lucinda Goode, and this is my colleague, Nathan Peltzer. We'd like to talk to you and your wife about something very important. May we come in for a moment?" Bertram absently shook her hand and ushered both of them in.
By the time Bertram and the strangers had made it to the living room, Valeria had roused herself, managing to turn off the TV and straighten the pillows on the sofa they'd previously been lounging on. After a quick round of introductions, they all sat down and exchanged pleasantries before getting down to business.
The pair introduced themselves as government officials from the Australian Ministry of Magic and explained to the Grangers about the existence of the magical world. The Grangers feigned skepticism at first but dropped the act after the officials showed them a little bit of magic. The two bureaucrats seemed quite bored with the proceedings, and Bertram figured that made sense. They must have done this a thousand times, and his family probably wasn't even the first they visited today.
Bertram's musings were interrupted: "We have come to tell you all of this today because one of your children…" There was a pause as Mr. Pelzter passed Ms. Goode a piece of paper, "...Harry or Hermione is magical. One of them recently set off our magical sensors, and we were dispatched to introduce you into our world."
Bertram feigned surprise, but inwardly, he had been waiting for this day for a long time. Jamie and Hermione had both been having frequent, but minor, outbursts, and it was pretty sad that it had taken this long for them to show up. He supposed that the government must not invest very much in their sensors, but years of evening tea with Bathilda, who frequently complained about the lazy, penny-pinching behavior of the Australian Ministry of Magic, had lowered Bertram's expectations.
Bertram drifted back into the present as Ms. Goode was still talking. "If it's alright with you, we just have a few forms that you'll need to sign, and then we'll connect your fireplace to our magical transportation network and get started on some magical IDs for the two of you so you can both see and enter magical establishments. Once all the paperwork is handled, we'll head up to see the children, determine which one is magical, and then leave you with several pamphlets explaining anything we might have missed. Of course, if you have questions at a later date, there is a hotline you can call."
Bertram and Valeria buckled down for an intense reading and signing session, but between the two of them, all of the necessary forms for one magic child were quickly dispatched, much to the relief of the guests. Soon enough, they were on their way up the staircase to the children's room. Upon seeing the children, Valeria smiled. Based on the large pile of pillows the children were sitting on, and the equally large stack of books next to them, a nap had not occurred. Rather, the evidence suggested that Hermione had spent much of the time reading to Jamie. When Bertram cleared his throat, the children both looked up guiltily, but their expressions turned to surprise when they noticed the visitors.
Valeria glared at her children reprovingly for a moment, "Jamie, Hermione, these two nice people just need to run a quick test on you both. We'll discuss your...misdemeanors later."
Jamie looked a little scared, but Hermione quickly voiced what was on their minds: "Mummie, will the test hurt?"
Ms. Goode, still bored, answered. "Not at all, my dear. You won't feel a thing. Now, come stand over here away from your brother. Nathan, be so kind as to test the boy for me."
Valeria and Bertram watched as the two pulled out their wands and started muttering under their breaths and flicking the sticks at and around the children. It wasn't long before both children started to glow. The spell completed, the wizard and the witch turned to look at each other, and then their eyes popped a little at the sight of the other glowing child.
Suddenly attentive, Ms. Goode turned back to the parents. "How extraordinary! It's unusual for muggles to have a magical child, but for you to then have the good fortune to adopt a second...it's unheard of!"
Trying to distract her from the rather unusual 'coincidence,' Bertram asked, "How can you tell one of our children is adopted?"
"Oh, it's not the spell, I assure you. One only has to look at the two of them to tell."
As he ushered the guests back downstairs to fill out the paperwork for a second magical child, Bertram tried to distract Ms. Goode with more questions: "Jamie and Hermione both glowed different colors. Should we be worried? Do the colors mean anything special?"
Ms. Goode shrugged. "Don't read too much into it. Every child I've tested glows slightly differently, and since they aren't related, they are even less likely to have a similar glow. Be that as it may, I think you might have been rather lucky. Harry was flickering quite a bit, which in my experience, is usually associated with more chaotic accidental magic. Fortunately, Hermione glowed rather steadily for someone her age, which likely tempered her brother's magic and prevented any major catastrophes."
Bertram continued to distract the officials with paperwork and questions while Valeria made the children straighten out the pillows and settle down for their nap properly while she tidied up the books. She picked up one of Jamie's favorite books about Dr. Doolittle and nearly dropped it again. The pictures in it were moving. She carefully put it down and opened another of the other books from the pile. The illustrations were moving in them as well, including a few books that had been borrowed from the library. She sighed; that explained why their visitors had finally shown up. Once they left, she'd need to talk to Bertram about getting new books for the library…
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Hermione returned from Good Shepherd Lutheran Primary, ran straight to her room, and locked the door. She had been so excited when she left for her first day of school, hopeful that she could make friends and have fun. It couldn't have been farther from the truth; Hermione had been relentlessly teased almost from the first moment she walked in the door. Her bushy hair and large front teeth had made her an irresistible target for the bullies in her class and it only got worse when the rest of the children discovered that she was quite the bookworm.
Thinking about the last few weeks, Hermione curled up on her bed and started silently crying into her pillow. The teasing had just worsened and worsened, and now there was a group of girls whose favorite bonding activity was making her life miserable. They followed her around, calling her names, putting bugs in her hair, tripping her in the library, and...and… just being downright foul excuses for human beings. She didn't know why, but none of the other girls would stand up for her either. Maybe they thought if they hung around her, they would also get bullied by her tormentors. The boys were no help either. Most of them either laughed or stayed away from her, not wanting to get 'girl cooties.'
Quite frankly, Hermione didn't know how she was going to survive the rest of the year at this rate. She wanted to ask her parents what to do, but they had been working late at their practice, and she hadn't had a chance to talk to either of them. Bathilda would occasionally check in to make sure that she and Jamie were eating and staying out of trouble, but she had started tutoring magical children for much of the day and wasn't constantly around.
Hermione felt lonely and isolated like no one cared for her, and it was all just too much. The bullies had followed her home today, taunting her the whole way. She wished Bedlam had walked home with her today. Thanks to the protective spells on his teeth and claws, he couldn't attack the girls, but at least she wouldn't have to walk back alone with their taunts ringing in her ears.
After a few moments of sobbing, Hermione heard a knock on the door, "Mimi?"
Hermione just buried herself deeper in her pillow "Go away, Jamie!"
"Are you crying?" She heard him jiggling at her door and was glad she locked it. Her nosy little brother would never leave her alone otherwise.
"I said go away!" Couldn't he tell that she just wanted to be left alone in her misery?
"But you're crying!" The jiggling at the door stopped momentarily, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Then, she heard a click, and her door creaked open. Jamie popped his head in, saw her, and before she could do more than think about yelling at him for breaking into her room, he ran up to her, and engulfed her in as big a hug as his tiny arms could manage. "I don't want you to cry, Mimi."
Hearing her brother's words, Hermione felt some of her loneliness fade away. Her brother did care for her, even if it seemed like no one else did. She hugged him back and managed to get her tears under control. "Thank you, Jamie." She squeezed him as hard as she could to show her appreciation.
Jamie started to squirm, and soon he rasped out, "Too tight, Mimi." She released him quickly, and they both giggled a little bit, finally bringing a tiny smile back onto her face. Jamie then sat down across from her on her bed, looked her in the eye, and asked, "Why were you crying, Mimi?"
Her smile quickly vanished, "There are these mean girls at school...they push me around in the halls, make fun of me in class, steal my books at recess, and today, they even followed me on my walk home. It's horrible, and I don't want to go back! I could just read the books to teach myself, I know I could!"
Jamie frowned, "Those...Those…" He scrunched his face up, frustrated that he didn't know any good swear words yet. Finally, he yelled, "Fat wombats!" Hermione couldn't help but giggle at the expression. Harry reached across the bed and took his sister's hand, "I wish I was there with you. I'd show those stinking wombats that no one messes with my sister!"
Hermione smiled and wished her brother was in her year so she could have at least one person supporting her. Alas, in the Northern Territory, Jamie wasn't old enough to start school until next year. Regardless, Hermione felt much better now. Whenever those bullies went after her, she'd just have to think of her brother calling them 'fat wombats.' That would make it easier to ignore their taunting, and if it got to be too much, well, she could always get a hug from Jamie, and that would make her feel better.
"I wish you were in my year too, Jamie, but I'll just have to tough it out alone until you're old enough next year."
"No way, Mimi. I'll help! I'll sneak out of the house and meet you at school every day. That way, you won't be alone when they follow you home!"
"Jamie! That's dangerous!" Hermione admonished, though she knew she would like the company, and really, it would be difficult for anyone to hurt Jamie if Bedlam came too, even if he was invisible.
Jamie crossed his arms and glared at her, "I don't care. I'm not letting them be mean to you." Hermione thought her brother looked adorable instead of intimidating, so instead of responding, she just hugged him again, her bad mood almost completely banished.
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"HERMIONE JANE GRANGER!" Valeria stormed out into the backyard with a piece of paper clutched tightly in her hand. Seven-year-old Hermione, who had been using a small tree branch to sword fight with her brother, froze at the yell and accidentally got bonked on the head by Jamie. Momentarily forgetting about her mother's presence, Hermione dropped her stick and tackled Jamie to the ground and sat on the boy before looking up innocently at her mother.
Valeria bore down on her daughter, "What is this report I have from your school about you hitting another student?! Again! I thought we had talked about this!"
Crossing her arms, Hermione turned her head away unrepentantly, "She deserved it, Mum! She took my book while I was reading at recess and threw it in the mud! Then she insulted Jamie and our friends by calling them stupid, icky boys!"
Valeria sighed. Hermione had become quite headstrong over the past few years. She had found out several months into her first year that her daughter was being bullied at school and had tried to help, but it seemed that telling the school authorities didn't do much, and the parents of the children refused to believe any slander about 'their little angels.' She then tried to tell her daughter the age-old adage that all parents vainly tell their children: "If you just ignore them, then they'll go away." Hermione most certainly didn't like that and followed her brother's advice on the subject instead: "Just bully them back!" As a result, their daughter had developed some rather unfriendly tendencies, though actually hitting someone was still unusual.
By the time Jamie had arrived in her second year, Hermione had developed quite a reputation among her classmates, who now kept their distance, and Valeria knew this suited her daughter just fine. Hermione could quite happily spend most of her time alone reading books. Whenever she would get lonely, she would just hang out with Jamie and his friends, and Jamie made sure that his group always welcomed his sister whenever she wanted. Most of her classmates thought it was strange that she hung out with younger boys so often, but they had learned not to say anything. Occasionally one of the other children would need a 'reminder' to not bully the class bookworm, and that was likely at the root of this latest incident.
"We've been over this, dear. Responding like this doesn't solve anything. I don't want you to become a bully yourself." Especially since, in a few years, you're going to start learning magic, and then you'll be able to really hurt them… Valeria silently added in her head.
Jamie spoke up this time, "She isn't a bully, Mum! Mia only ever does anything if they start it, and it always gets them to leave her alone again for a while. That was over two weeks ago, and none of the fat wombats have bothered us since." Valeria winced, knowing that she didn't have a good reply.
"Just don't do it again, Hermione. That goes for you, too, Jamie."
"Yes, Mum." They both dutifully responded. Valeria knew that she hadn't really gotten through to them and that they would probably just do the same thing again the next time, but she didn't know what else to say. This had to stop before they were old enough to start learning magic.
"Good. And Hermione, your brother isn't a chair." Her daughter blushed and got up, pulling Jamie with her. They both laughed and dashed off, presumably to continue playing elsewhere.
Walking back into the kitchen by way of the back door, Valeria thought to herself that perhaps she should try enrolling Hermione in some kind of extra-curricular activity so that she could make some friends that weren't rowdy boys and burn off some of her apparently excess energy. Perhaps ballet or gymnastics would be a good fit. She'd talk with Bertram about it and see what was in the area. She'd also have to find something for Jamie, so he wouldn't feel left out. There might be something for him in one of those magic brochures they now got. From the looks of them, magical sports were almost always non-stop and high-action, which sounded perfect for Jamie. As an added bonus, it would keep them out of trouble for a few more hours in the afternoon.
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"Jamie! We've been over this! Santa's not real!"
"Yes, he is! He gave us presents last year! Who else would we have gotten us those flying toy dragons!? Mum and Dad don't even know where they came from!"
"It was probably just Uncle Albus trying to get us a few extra presents without Mum and Dad knowing. None of our friends from school got any extra presents, and if anything, you know we're the naughty ones."
Jamie and Hermione had been repeating this argument continuously for the past several weeks. It was the holiday season, and the children couldn't seem to agree on whether or not Santa was real. The elder Grangers were content to smile indulgently and let the children fight it out until Jamie succumbed to reality. Bathilda seemed to be content with waiting at first, but after the umpteenth time of hearing the same argument play out, she was getting fed up.
"THAT BE ENOUGH!" Bathilda yelled. Jamie and Hermione, hearing her obvious displeasure, immediately quieted. "Now, since you two can't seem to agreed, I will going to settle this argument. You two were going with me on a trip this weekend, and I doing not want to hear about this again until then. Dressing for cold weather on Saturday!" Harry and Hermione obediently nodded, and wondered why they should dress for cold weather in the middle of the balmy Australian summer.
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A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. :)
Next time, we get our first mini-adventure and start to really make progress towards the meat of the story. We're trying to balance moving forward toward the real action, getting everything set up so that it all makes sense, and making sure we keep things fun and don't get too boring. Let us know in a review if you think we're succeeding or what you think we're missing. :)