Chapter 63
"Hello, sweetheart," Hermione's dad said entering the kitchen. "Is everything okay?"
"Um, Mr. Weasley's here with me," Hermione said. "He has some things he wanted to talk to you about. Here, have some tea."
Her father reached out, taking a hold of the two cups Hermione noticed were potion free.
"Not those," she said urgently. "Sorry," she apologized when he looked at her in surprise. "I made those like Mrs. Weasley makes her tea. I had some while I was there and it grew on me. She said Mr. Weasley was the only one she knew who liked it that particular way," she said, saying the first thing that came to mind.
"Oh," Hermione's dad asked, obliging by reaching for the other two cups. "What's that?"
She wanted to kick herself as she was put on the spot. "Oh, um... its a magical thing, I can't really talk about it, sorry," she apologized.
"Ah, I see," her dad said as she picked up the two potion free cups and they headed for the living room. "More secrets."
"Secrets?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Yes, my daughter was just telling me that I was picking up the wrong tea cups," Hermione's father said as he handed one of the cups to his wife as he sat by her on the couch. "She said you like something magical in your tea?"
"My tea?" Mr. Weasley asked puzzled and peered into the cup Hermione handed him.
"Yes," Hermione said, "You know, like Mrs. Weasley makes just for you?"
"But I don't -" Mr. Weasley began, but Hermione cut him off.
"Gillywater!" she said urgently, giving him a meaningful look.
"Oh!" Mr. Weasley said. "Yes, Gillywater, of course! Never drink my tea without it."
"I had some when I was at the Weasley's house," Hermione said. "It was kind of strange, but I liked it, so I put some in mine, too."
"Yes," Mr. Weasley said, rather puzzled. "It does have an usual flavor..."
"Here, you are," Hermione said, and handed him the vial from her pocket. "Mrs. Weasley gave it to me before we left," she said and redirected her eyes toward her parents and back again, hoping Mr. Weasley got her message.
"You said it was magical?" Hermione's father asked. "What does it do exactly.
"Calming Draught?" Mr. Weasley muttered under his breath as he looked at the vial that Hermione had handed him and she redirected her gaze in her parent's direction and back again when he looked back at her.
"Excuse me?" Hermione's dad said. "I didn't catch that."
"Oh! Sorry about that," Mr. Weasley said and stuck the vial in his pocket. "It, uh, it calms my nerves, you see, I have a very stressful job, and it makes me have bouts of nervous tension and it helps me unwind after the day."
Mr. Granger looked at his wife and laughed. "Sounds like we could use that, huh, honey."
"Oh, so sorry," Mr. Weasley said. "Not really supposed to share it I'm afraid. "We haverulesagainst that sort of thing," he said giving Hermione a look that had her lowering her gaze quickly and going over to take a seat as she cleared her throat.
"So more secrets, huh?" Mr. Granger asked.
"Oh, well, some," Mr. Weasley said, "but I'm also here to share some of them with you."
"Really?" Mrs. Granger asked. "We've really wanted to learn more about this new world our daughter's in. We feel so out of step now."
"Well, I - I suppose I can understand how that must feel," Mr. Weasley said rubbing the back of his neck. "Not precisely mind, but I think I can understand."
"When Hermione didn't - fire call? - like she promised, I thought maybe something had happened," Mrs. Granger said. "I was beside myself with worry, I'm glad to know she's okay."
"About that," Mr. Weasley said. "Therewassomething that happen, and that's why I'm here... Now," he said, and Hermine could tell by his expression that he was wracking his brain. "Where to start?"
"Well," Mrs. Granger said. "Its usually best to start at the beginning."
"That's the problem," Hermione said. "The beginning happened around the time I was a year old..." she said, remembering what she'd read about Harry Potter. "That's an awful lot to go over..."
"Well, why don't you just go with the basics," her dad asked.
"Well, I supposed to start, I will have to tell you about... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Mr. Weasley said with a visible shudder.
"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Mr. and Mrs. Granger asked in near unison, looking confused.
"Who are you talking about?" Mrs. Granger asked.
"Oh, um," Mr. Weasley said and rubbed the back of his neck. "This is going to be harder than I thought."
"He means," Hermione said, stepping in. "That there's a dark wizard, that's to say an evil wizard, whose name many fear to speak, so they call him He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who, occasionally they call him the Dark Lord."
"And how do you know about this dark wizard, Hermione?" her mother asked.
"From our history class," Hermione answered, not missing a beat.
"Okay, so it starts with this dark wizard," Mr. Granger said. "How so?"
"Well, he came to power and caused no end to problems, he tortured and murdered many people, not just wizards, but those of um..." Mr. Weasley trailed off uncertainly.
"The non magical," Hermione supplied helpfully.
"He rose to power, in 1970, attracting followers he called Death Eaters," Mr. Weasley said. "He was at the height of his power in 1981, and then the most incredible thing happened."
"What was that?" Mr. Granger asked, and Hermione could tell by their lack of enthusiasm that the calming draught was taking effect.
"You remember my friend, Harry, right?" Hermione asked.
"Yes," Mr. and Mrs. Granger.
"What about him, dear?" Mrs. Granger asked.
"Well, he's quite famous in the Wizarding world," Hermione said. "It was because of him - although no one really knows how - that the dark wizard was defeated."
"That's right," Mr. Weasley said. "He became known as The-Boy-Who-Lived, he was the only one to live when this wizard decided to kill someone. No one knows how it happened, we may never know."
"Anyway," Hermione said, redirecting the conversation. "His followers made an appearance at the Quidditch World Cup last night after the match."
"You were in danger, sweetheart?" her father asked, in alarm.
Hermione shifted uncomfortably, wondering if she'd been mistaken about the calming draught affecting them yet. "Well, not just me, everyone in attendance was."
"You have averybrave girl, here," Mr. Weasley said, stepping in. "Because of her, my family, all of them, made it out of there alive."
Mrs. Granger blinked. "How do you mean?"
"Well," Mr. Weasley said nervously, "through magic, many wizards can just disappear, vanish, and appear somewhere else. We call it apparating. The young aren't allowed to travel that way because it can be dangerous, so there's a lesson in later years at Hogwarts on how to do it, and a test that one must pass to get a license to use it for travel."
"You mean, like a driver's license?" Mr. Granger asked.
"Yes," Hermione answered when Mr. Weasley looked lost.
"My wife, Molly, who you met, stayed home because she doesn't like crowds, but my oldest three where there, along with our twins, Fred and George, our youngest son, Ron, and our daughter, Ginny. Your daughter, Hermione here, and Harry, were also with us. Only my oldest three can use this form of transportation, so the youngest were left on foot for a while. Harry got separated from them in the panic the Death Eaters created among the attendants of the event. He was found because of your daughter; she was able to direct my sons on where to go to get out, and she and Ron went back and looked for Harry. They were able to find him of course. Turns out the boy had been knocked out by those fleeing, and when he came to, those who were looking for the Death Eaters, to arrest them, thought that he was the one who called them," Mr. Weasley said.
"After Mr. Weasley arrived, to straightened things out with the other wizards who were trying to arrest us," Hermione said. "We went back and met up with Fred, George and Ginny, and their neighbors, Mr. Diggory and his son, Cedric, and we all headed back together."
"There was quite a walk," Mr. Weasley said, and Hermione was grateful he left it at that. "And Hermione fell asleep on the way back to our house. My son, Fred carried her and she slept in Ginny's room. I had to go back to work to help straighten out what happened at the match, and she was awake and having lunch when I got home. That's why she was unable to fire call you when she planned to."
"Well," Mr. Granger said. "This sure is a lot to take in."
"Mum, Dad?" Hermione asked, uncertainly as fear took hold of her that they were considering not allowing her to return to Hogwarts.
"Honey," Mrs. Granger said gently. "We're really happy that you weren't hurt, and that you were able to help your friends."
"Can I talk with Mr. Weasley a minute?" Hermione asked, her voice rising slightly as her panic grew.