Chapter 2: How to win people and influence friends
Given that she was several months pregnant and that two of her year-mates had been killed the day before, Lily Evans seemed remarkably energetic as she strode into the café where they'd agreed to meet later that day. Her eyes swept across the painfully chintzy room, and she grinned as she caught sight of Graham, who'd occupied a table in the corner; he was staring in consternation at the half-completed cryptic crossword on the back of the newspaper in front of him. As she walked over to his table and took a seat, he started in surprise.
"Lily! I'm sorry I didn't notice you – I tend to get a bit wrapped up in these bloody things. Thank you so much for coming here – do you want to make any checks?"
"Don't worry about it, Graham – and yes, if that's alright?" At his nod, she brought her wand out, and, surreptitiously, muttered a few charms under her breath (Graham caught some variant of a revelio charm, but everything else was new to him); seemingly satisfied, she leant over to examine his eyes for the slight glazing which characterised those under the Imperius. "What was the function of the spell we created at charms club in your seventh year?" She asked; his reply - "a charm to act as a short-term magical splint for broken bones." satisfied her, and she relaxed into her chair, sending him a slightly sheepish grin.
"I'm sorry about that, Graham. But I'm sure you can understand my caution; especially given, well, what happened yesterday. Need to do any of your own?"
"No, it's okay - I asked you to meet me, after all." He replied. "And I hadn't even thought about how strange this might seem after what happened to Ellis and Smithson yesterday; I know you were in their year, but did you know them from, uh, what you've been doing after Hogwarts?" He still wasn't sure how to broach the question of Lily's involvement, or lack thereof, with Dumbledore's organisation. Most muggleborns he knew of that had joined Dumbledore's cause effectively disappeared from sight, but – presumably in part because of her engagement to James Potter – she'd remained in the public eye to a degree. Lily looked away, and let out a sound that was somewhere between a chuckle and a sigh.
"Yes, I'd met them a few times after Hogwarts, so to speak; they grew up very quickly after they left, though we weren't really so close, even then. But what I meant is that Charlie and Phil were caught in quite similar circumstances to our meeting – they'd been contacted by someone pretending to represent a group of wizards interested in joining the cause against Voldemort, and, well, they were caught off guard." She sighed, but turned back to look at Graham with a small smile. "At least they went together; I can't imagine how either of them would have felt if they'd lost the other."
She paused for a few moments, and let Graham pour her a cup of tea; a few minutes passed as they exchanged pleasantries. Although the two of them had never been all that close, they'd become friends in the last years Graham had spent at Hogwarts. Muggleborns generally acquired a passing acquaintance with each other, particularly through the discreet explanations and support older students felt duty bound to provide to their younger counterparts; but Graham had only really got to know Lily when he joined Charms Club in sixth year, looking for somewhere to further his skills after Madam Pomfrey had, regretfully, informed him that she would no longer be able to instruct him in healing. Lily's brilliance at charms and Graham's newly acquired focus had made them a good match (one spurred on by joint resentment at the newly-imposed magical career restrictions); the two had retained a casual acquaintance in the years following Graham's departure from the Wizarding world.
Eventually, Lily steered the conversation back on-topic. "I'm sure my wedding arrangements aren't what you wanted to talk about, Graham – though I do hope you and Jessica will be able to come! So - what exactly is it that you were so excited by?"
"Well." He began, before stopping to think about how to approach his proposal. "Hypothetically speaking, what do you think would happen if He-who-must-not-be-named disappeared forever, right now – if Dumbledore won the war?".
Lily thought for a moment. "Well, I suppose that a lot of people would come out of hiding, and there'd be a magical law crackdown with a lot of people brought to account for what they'd done. And a repeal of a few laws? I'm sure that the statute forbidding muggleborns working as healers and in the ministry would be repealed, for one." She grinned at him. "And a lot of people would stop dying, of course."
Graham nodded. "Well, that'd obviously be a good thing – and maybe you're right, and I could get a job in St. Mungo's after a bit of specialist training. The thing is – well, I've been thinking about this for a while now, actually. What do you think the odds are that things really would change after You-Know-Who? The muggleborn careers policy won Minchum the last election, and – at a time when muggleborns are less intrusive on wizarding life than they've ever been before, given that most of them, present company excepted, are in hiding or are dead – why do you think that the wizarding public would have an about face and decide that they've secretly always liked us?"
Lily made to answer him, but paused, consternation crossing her face. "Don't you think that there not being anyone to rival Dumbledore's influence would make a difference?" she asked; but Graham was already shaking his head.
"Not really, no. You-Know-Who's been in action for less than ten years; and in the thirty between the fall of Grindlewald and his rise, did Dumbledore being as powerful as he is really change the way people thought, or acted?" He sighed. "God knows he's had enough on his plate to deal with in that time. But I know enough about him – and I'm sure that you do – to say that he's not going to become a dictator, and he's not going to impose views on the wizarding public. And, as I said, this is me imagining what would happen if Voldemort just disappeared overnight, and he's not shown any signs of that so far."
Unsurprisingly, the grim image which Graham was setting out did not prove hugely pleasing to Lily, who had started to frown as she listened to him speak, and was looking distinctly uncomfortable by the time he'd finished.
"So, why exactly are we meeting, then?" she asked, a touch of irritation entering her voice. "I'm sure it's not because you wanted to unload your doom and gloom on me, although if it is, I have to say that I've plenty of ways to get my fair share of that already, and I'm not inclined to get down in the dumps thinking about another one."
"No, no – I'm sorry." he replied, "and that's definitely not the point of this. What I was building up to was: if you accept the idea that you're not going to be able to just "change the public's mind", at least not in the short term, what would the best way to transform society without of killing everyone you disagree with, or just plain don't like?" Lily laughed a little at that, and averted her eyes in thought for a few moments, before catching Graham in a thoughtful green stare.
"Well, I suppose, ultimately, you'd need a new Wizarding public. Convince some people to agree with you, and drown out the voices that don't with an influx of new supporters on your side, although how you'd manage that I've no idea. Some kind of magical union with Ireland, maybe? That said, even though they're not much different than Britain, I'm sure pigs would fly before any Minister risked his career getting into bed with another nation."
Graham nodded. He hadn't actually thought of anything like Lily's proposal before, although it would certainly have transformed the electorate; but he was sure that, even if by some miracle the magical community consented to it, the muggle ministries would kick up hell at any such jurisdictional shift; after the introduction of Irish home rule, the split of Ireland and Britain's ministries into two separate bodies had been carried out swiftly – a rare piece of muggle co-operation largely spurred on by conservative politicians in Britain by the fact that the Irish tended to have an inconveniently liberal approach to issues of blood.
"What if I told you that I'd found a way to do just that – to create thousands of new magic users on our side?" Lily's face froze, and she casually moved to edge her chair away from the table.
"You're not suggesting some kind of magical breeding program, are you? I mean, that's bad magic – really bad magic, as in the 'I should be talking to Dumbledore about this' sort. Not to mention that all of those Frankenstein experiments - homonculi, cross-breeds, golems – have never gone anywhere before." Although she'd not yet made to leave, she'd started to fidget with her bracelet, which, Graham realised, was probably a portkey she was preparing to activate – he rushed to reassure her.
"No, God no, nothing like that! I've never had the brains or the stomach to come up with that sort of thing, anyway – and magic's not really been my focus at all these past few years. No, what I was going to suggest was something that Muggles have come up with all on their own. Basically, when a man's infertile, or, I suppose, when you've got two women in a relationship, or a single mother, the muggles have come up with a way for men to donate their, uh, sperm so that a baby can be born. Nearly a thousand of them are being born every year in the UK, and I'd assume that's a number which is only going to go up when the muggle government properly endorses it like they've done in America."
Unsurprisingly, Lily was very quick to catch on, and she lit up in excitement.
"So, you're saying that, if you found a way to replace their... samples, you'd be able to get hundreds of new wizards every year, raised outside the wizarding world's influence? I – well, I can't even imagine the changes that'd bring, especially once those children grew up!" Graham knew that this was the easy part of the conversation; now he needed to undercut what he'd just said.
"Well, the problem with it, really, is the extent of the violation we'd be committing by -" he was cut off in his tracks as Lily slapped her hands down onto the table in excitement.
"Seriously? To hell with violations, Graham. I know I don't like what you said about politics earlier, but I'm pretty sure that you're not wrong about it, either. Something really, properly radical needs to happen, whatever and whenever that'd be, for things to change." She took a sip of tea and grimaced a little at the temperature. "My whole childhood was a demonstration of the things that magic could give you, and, for my sister, what not having it could take away from you. Can you honestly say you know anyone with magic – even with the way that things are now – who'd want not to have it? I know that Charlie and Phil wouldn't have given it up, even if they'd known what was going to happen to them."
Graham's own younger brother had also been born without magic, and only his parents' determined efforts to quash any resentment had managed to partially smooth over the cracks that jealousy and separation had created after Graham had received his Hogwarts letter and his brother been told that he wouldn't be getting one of his own. The fact that Graham hadn't visited his parents for almost three years was significantly related to his own worries about rekindling that hurt; the explanation that he wanted them kept away from the war was a convenient (and partially truthful) excuse.
"Anyway," Lily continued, "unless you're planning on arguing against yourself, I'm on board – on the assumption that you wanted my help?" She laughed at the look of surprise on Graham's face – he'd clearly been expecting a tougher sell. "I want to change the world, Graham. James has never expected me to be a good little housewife, but I know the kind of career I want to have; and I know it's beyond my reach." Both of them sat in contemplative silence for a minute as they finished their tea; at length, Graham reached into the satchel he'd brought along with him, and withdrew a short list.
"Basically, Lily – oh, and before anything else, thank you so much – I'm pretty out of touch with charms and enchanting; or, at least, I've not really gone anywhere with them since I left Hogwarts – term breaks have given me a chance to keep my skills up, but I've really focused on healing and not much else." Graham had decided to study muggle medicine on the basis that, if he wasn't able to take up a career as a healer, he'd work as a doctor in the muggle world, and surreptitiously provide medical care with a carefully concealed magical component. "I've probably only thought of half the things we'll need to do to make this plan work, but a lot of those ideas – things like semi-permanent notice-me-nots to get around the muggles staffing sperm banks, ways to secretively maintain "stock", and so on – are just beyond what I'd be able to do on my own. More than that, though, I'd just appreciate having a mind like yours to look at this whole idea - poke holes in it, fill in other holes, that sort of thing."
He passed the list to Lily, who quickly skimmed it – not without raising her eyebrows at a couple of items - before putting it into a pocket; she sent Graham a grin.
"I'm sure that this is manageable with some research and time, and I'm very happy to have a think about potential problems and solutions! Besides -" she said, resting a hand on her swollen belly, "while this one's on the way, James would be happier if I stayed indoors 24/7 in any case – this'll give me something else to do with that extra time." Although it was difficult to see exactly how far along Lily was, she'd clearly been pregnant for several months, and, Graham suspected, she was increasingly being held back from doing tasks for Dumbledore – extra work would very likely serve as a welcome reprieve.
"Of course, I can imagine that James would be feeling protective of him – actually, is it a him or a her?" Although he suspected that magic could relatively easily determine the gender of an unborn baby, a spell or potion to do that had not, to the best of Graham's knowledge, yet been created – a somewhat surprising fact given the fact that some wizarding families still insisted on determining inheritance by strict primogeniture.
"Well, I asked James if he wanted me to get the muggle test to see – what's it called again?" ("An ultrasound scan." Graham supplied.) "but James said he was happy not knowing, and I was happy either way – so, I've no idea yet! Well, James is certain that it's going to be a boy, because Potter firstborns apparently tend to be, but I suppose we're just going to have to see on that front – I'm due in July or August, so a couple of months after our wedding."
The two of them spent another few minutes talking about the baby – in particular, its name, which Lily was determined to ensure was relatively normal ("Sirius had a great-uncle called Betelgeuse. Can you imagine?") - while they finished what was left of the tea, and Lily worked her way through several pastries, evidently intent on taking advantage of the chance to eat as much as she wanted while pregnancy provided an excellent excuse. Eventually, Graham made his excuses, and went to pay up – ideas that could change the world aside, he was still a medical student, and there was still another week of work to suffer through before the end of the Hilary term and a much-needed five-week break.
"Shall we meet at mine in a week, then?" Lily asked Graham, joining him as he made his way to the exit. "And, actually, is it alright if I talk about this to James? I don't really like the idea of keeping secrets from him, especially with things on our side of the world as tense as they are, you know?" Graham had no issue with this, and –with a newly acquired glow that had as much to do with his excitement as with the cessation of his hangover – Graham walked with Lily around to the alley behind the café, where, once they were safely out of sight, they both disapparated with a pop – leaving no trace of having been there beyond the owner's confusion that her lights were still on after her fuse had blown.
The last week of Hilary term passed quickly enough for Graham, especially as his lab sessions ended on the Wednesday, leaving just a few tutorials to break up the packing – and parties – which always characterised the end of an Oxford term. Jessica had told him that she was going to stay with David for a couple of weeks before coming back to Oxford to look for a bit of part-time work before term started again; even if the new Thatcherite government hadn't yet cranked up tuition fees, money was still tight for her – lacking as she did the parental support and funding which Graham enjoyed.
Although he wasn't at all looking forward to the confrontation, Graham knew that failing to explain the fact that he was explicitly going to ignore Jessica's advice would only end up being more hurtful to her if he tried to hide the fact that he was doing so. As she packed on Friday, he walked into her room, which was a sight messier than he'd expected it to be. Jessica had never been a huge fan of fashion, and certainly hadn't paid a great deal of attention to her appearance when she was in school, happily bearing the ruddy complexion and muddy hair which nature had granted her on a figure which she'd only really grown into in her last year at Hogwarts – but, never having had a huge number of her own possessions before, she'd acquired a taste for clothing and a reluctance to throw anything away - a combination which led to the disaster zone which arrayed itself before Graham.
"Having fun there, Jess?" he grinned, "You do know that you've only got a single – muggle-appropriate – suitcase to take, right?"
"Yes, thank you, Graham – you're even more helpful than usual today, I see!" Jessica said through gritted teeth, as she retrieved one last piece of clothing and threw it onto the precarious pile she'd assembled on her bed. "Now, do you think that you can help me with this? I've never had the hand for detail that you do."
Jessica's own talents, in fact, had never lain particularly with wand work, although she'd been a dab hand at transfiguration – her friendship with Graham had granted her competency in charms and defence, and had given him a leg up in Arithmancy and Potions. Graham, after confirming that she just wanted to pack what was on her bed, was happy to oblige; with one sweep of his wand, he cleared Jessica's floor, focusing as he guided clothes to her cupboards and toiletries to her washbasin. With a harsher wave (and a muttered "Pack" - probably the best new charm of the past year, by his estimation) most of his former girlfriend's clothes forced their way into her suitcase – a slight tap to the top of the bag and a few moments of quiet casting expanded it just enough to fit everything in (and not enough to draw notice), before one final sharp slash of his wand zipped the travel-case shut.
Jessica beamed at him, before using her own wand to draw into existence an extendable handle for her bag (itself a highly fashionable product of her imagination). "Brilliant! Thank you so much – and you have got to teach me that spell you used for packing some time, that's way too useful for words." She winced as she tried to heft her bag, and Graham obligingly added a mild featherweight charm to the bag as he replied. "Well, it's an easy enough spell, though you need pretty clear visualisation for it to work out. But I was actually hoping I could talk to you for a bit, if that's okay?"
"Sure, of course." she replied, beckoning him to join her on the edge of the bed. "Is everything alright, Gray?"
"Yeah, everything's fine with me, Jess – nothing to worry about. No, I actually want to talk about the idea I had last week – when we were drinking after you told me about Ellis and Smithson, I mean."
Jessica scoffed. "Oh, you mean the idea for robbing the sperm bank that you've been working on all week? You know, the one that I told you was a terrible one, and also the one which you've literally been scribbling about on pieces of paper which you should really just vanish or leave in your room?" The combination of Graham's eyes almost falling out of their sockets and his rising blush was an odd one, and Jessica couldn't help but giggle at it before sobering a little. "Gray, I'm not dumb enough to miss that level of blatancy, though I'm glad that you're telling me in person – but, in honesty, I've done a little bit of thinking of my own over the past few days. We've been talking about it, David and I, and I think – well, obviously he's not telling me exactly when – but I think he's going to ask me to marry him in a few months, and I think I'm going to say yes." She waved away Graham's delight and congratulations, though she couldn't stop the smile which colonised her face.
"I know, I know, very exciting news and all the rest, and you are not to tell anybody else. The point is, though, that I thought about what I said before – about having kids for the cause. And the thing is, my kids will be muggleborns if they have magic, and they'll go through something like we did. And, well," she sighed, "maybe it's selfish, and maybe it's an unfair thing to ask of families who aren't expecting a magical child. But I want my children to have as many allies as they possibly can have when they grow up, and to be able to look forward to a world where they won't be outcasts – and this is the fastest way I can think of for that to happen. Especially if they end up with bloody Hopkins as a surname."
Graham laughed along with her, having happily nodded as she made her way through the conclusions he'd planned on drawing her to. "So, not planning on following matrimonial tradition and renouncing your 'Handsworth', then?", he grinned, though Jessica rolled her eyes at him. "I mean, putting aside the fact that Hopkins is a name which will never touch mine, I'd want to keep my name to remember my parents, anyway. But I am very excited for everything to start – we're going to talk to his parents about arranging things while I'm staying at his."
She trailed off, and stared at the wall, somewhat despondent – leaving Graham to put words to the unspoken follow-up. "What about the magic talk? I know it's a horrible thing to think about, but it does need to be thought about; it can't be a sword of Damocles over your head forever." Jessica nodded, casting her eyes down to her hands. "I think I'm going to tell him at the end of next term. It'll be a long time before any date we set, and give him time to reconsider things over the summer, I suppose. Will you help me when the time comes?"
"Of course!" Graham nodded, slinging an arm around her shoulders to give her a quick hug. "And, more to the point, if things do go wrong, I'll just Obliviate him and we'll try again until they don't. It'll be a breeze!" They both laughed, and Jessica hugged him back, before getting to her feet and casting a glance around her room in case she'd missed anything. "Well, setting aside our plans to violate muggle protection laws, I think I'd better be off – I'm meeting David and his parents at Brasenose, and they'll give us both a lift from there." Graham escorted her to the door, where she gave him another hug. "Have a great few weeks, Gray – and don't do anything too insane while I'm gone, okay? I much prefer you when you're being a helpful little house elf for witches who can't pack their own bags, you know." She turned to open the door, and was halfway out before turning back to mention that she'd "call from the Hopkins' phone when I get the chance, and tell you the number in case it's ever needed, okay?" - then she was gone, disappearing into the rarity of a sunny March morning in Oxford, leaving Graham profoundly relieved to have skipped an argument he'd been dreading.
Going back to the living room, Graham spent a moment establishing a magical fire in his hearth before drawing a small packet of Floo powder from his pocket to make what must have been his first trip by floo since he'd left Hogwarts. Taking a moment to prepare a clear enunciation, he tossed a pinch of powder into the fire, and, with a crisply spoken "Godric's Hollow!" he was whisked away to explain to Lily why it was a brilliant idea for her husband to break a great number of laws and put his life at risk.