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Author: mcdowella Story: The Chimaera and the Hippogriff Rating: Young Teens Setting: Pre-DH Status: Completed Reviews: 3 Words: 45,280
Early the next day, Remus and Tonks arrived, and Mr Weasley, for once, didn't vanish off to work before everybody else was awake. Ron, Harry, and Ginny were declared too noticeable to go out, as the boy who lived and as bearers of the distinctive Weasley red hair, but Hermione went off with Remus and Tonks. They returned from the shopping expedition pushing Muggle supermarket trolleys filled to the brim with books from Flourish and Blotts. Ginny, Ron, and Harry's contribution was to carry them, book by book, to the library, where Hermione had already spell-o-taped labels to the shelves: Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Healing, Legal, and so on. Harry took a few books from Ron and carried them up to his room, simply replying, "Yes I'm sure," when Ron asked him if that was the plan. Most of these books seemed second-hand. On the other hand, with an air of some reluctance, Harry produced his old Potions book to join a pile of old copies of the Daily Prophet and most of the books that had been retained from the previous collection. This pile was headed 'Ron'. Hermione then disappeared, saying that she would be having lunch with her parents in Muggle London. After finishing their own lunch at 12, Grimmauld Place, Harry, Ginny, and Ron went up to the newly stocked library. Harry and Ginny pulled two chairs together beside a window and sat reading companionably. Ron was trying to work out why Hermione had put his name above a pile of outdated Prophets when he noticed that the top one bore the headline 'Death Eater Arrested'. He opened it to read the story - according to the Prophet - of Stan Shunpike's arrest. He was just looking through the other issues for more information, when he heard his mother. Mrs Weasley said "Ron! Could you come down please?” As he entered the kitchen Mrs Weasley said "Ron! Your hands are filthy! You can use the sink." Ron washed the traces of newsprint from his fingertips at the kitchen sink. Then Mrs Weasley straightened up his pullover. Ron was just about to ask her what was going on when she dashed off, and unearthed a copy of 'Recipes for Ladies Day' from almost the bottom of a large pile of books. She looked carefully through the index, and then opened it at a particular page. There she found a scrap of paper, not acting as a bookmark. She removed it, put the book aside, and then said, "I'll be back in a bit," before leaving the room. Ron tried to catch Mr Weasley’s eye, but he immediately took his glasses off and started polishing them. Mrs Weasley returned with Hermione and her parents. Mr Weasley shook hands with them without his usual exuberant enthusiasm about the Muggle world. "This is my youngest son, Ron," he said. "Pleased to see you, Ron," said Mrs Granger, "we've heard a lot about you". How was he supposed to respond to that? Ron looked at Hermione for clues, but she didn't seem to be helping him out of this one. She put down a couple of bright red carrier bags full of books and moved away from him. "Hello," Ron said lamely, and blushed. "Am I to understand that Hogwarts has been closed, Mr Weasley?" said Mr Granger, "as what we would call an anti-terrorist precaution?" "A bit like that," said Mr Weasley. "Unfortunately, to some of us, it's a bit more personal than that." "I'm sorry," said Mr Granger, "I don't mean to minimise your own injuries. But I still don’t understand why Hermione can’t just go away for a gap year or something, now Hogwarts is closed. For instance, one of her cousins is back-packing round Australia at the moment. She's a bit older than Hermione, of course, but we have relatives abroad she could stay with, or something." "Father!" said Hermione, "I can't just walk away from this. That would be…" Mr Weasley broke in. "I'm afraid that what I mean by personal," said Mr Weasley, "is that Hermione may herself be a target. She's of age in our world, now. She's known to be a close friend of Harry Potter, who has been attacked repeatedly. She is also becoming known as an outstandingly skilled witch. When she says she can't just walk away from this, it's a practical as well as an ethical decision." Mrs Granger swore and started to lunge towards Mr Weasley, who seemed to move casually, as if stretching his legs, but ended up on the other side of the kitchen table from her. Mr Granger reached out and grabbed Mrs Granger's arm. "She's safest here," said Mrs Weasley, "that's why we're here; this place can be kept safer than our own house. We're under constant guard." "What have we done?" said Mr Granger, nearly shouting. "Six years ago we got a letter, opening a door to a world none of us suspected existed. It has injured our daughter twice now that we know of. Is it going to kill her?" "Harry was originally told his parents died in a car crash," said Mr Weasley, "I understand that's common enough to be a plausible story. Well, we don't die in car crashes, so Hermione is safe from that. In exchange, she has become entangled with the conflict that did kill Harry's parents, but we can do something about that. We're going to work as hard as we can to protect and prepare her for this. She'll get what we call Duelling lessons starting tomorrow. I give you my word; if she did what you propose, she'd be in much greater danger. Death Eaters specialise in grouping together to pick people off, one by one. An expert Wizard called Karkaroff tried something like what you suggest a year ago, but it didn’t work." "How's Mrs Brooke's daughter, Mother?" asked Hermione. "She's making very good progress, now," said Mrs Granger, cheering up slightly. "They're taking the plaster off next week, and she's mad keen to get back on that horse again. Of course, riding is her life; she'd never give it up... Oh!" "This is my life, and my world, now," said Hermione, "and even in your world, I'll be of age soon enough." Mrs Granger put her face in her hands. Mr Granger released her arm and hugged her. "Is there anything we can do?" said Mr Granger, "should I write to my MP?" "The Ministry of Magic have been talking to the Prime Minister," said Mr Weasley, "this affair is that important. I don't know of anybody who can help who isn't helping". The Grangers got a tour of the house, with the first port of call being the library. It was presented as evidence of resources for Hermione's preparation. Mrs Granger looked rather suspiciously down at Harry. She was a tall woman with a commanding presence; Harry backed away from her slightly, and she stopped giving him quite such a piercing stare. Mrs Weasley looked suspiciously at Harry as well; both Harry and Ginny seemed to have more colour in their cheeks than was normal, for two people who had simply been reading in a library. "So you're Harry Potter," said Mrs Granger, "how did you end up with people trying to kill you?" "Well," said Harry, his ears, which were already rather red, turning positively scarlet. "There was a prophecy. Voldemort heard about a part of it and tried to kill me just after I was born. He only succeeded in killing my parents, and putting himself out of commission, until about the time Hermione and I started Hogwarts. He's tried fairly regularly to finish the job since then." "Hold on," said Mrs Granger, "he tried to kill a baby because of a horoscope, or something?" "And Divination is a notoriously inexact science." Hermione chipped in. "Nobody really knows what the prophecy means anyway. Voldemort doesn't even know the full text. But he kills people just because they get in his way. He has to be stopped, Mum! He really must." Mrs Granger looked thoughtful, but decided not to pursue the subject in front of Harry, and they moved on. Hermione's room passed inspection, as well it should have. Not only was Hermione naturally tidy; she had been practicing some of Mrs Weasley's housekeeping spells to make it more comfortable and inviting than the bare walls and ceiling won from the house after a hard-fought struggle. Towards the end, Mr Weasley said, "We believe the cellars were used for Duelling practice by the previous owners. They're a bit bare at the moment, but the Duelling teacher will fit them out quickly enough." The Grangers stayed to tea, which cast a shadow over it. Remus and Tonks turned up again, to be introduced as 'Two of the people protecting us here.' Fortunately, with the new moon, Remus was looking quite well, for him. Perhaps Tonks was making him look after himself better, too. She kept her hair black and straight, and generally tried to act the part of 'Tonks does this sort of thing for the Ministry, for a living. We call them Aurors.' After dinner, Hermione bid her parents a rather tearful farewell, and Mr Weasley went with them to lead them back to the nearest Tube station. Hermione went straight up to bed after that, not even pausing to arrange the books from the carrier bags in the library, except for one, which she dashed back down for and took up with her to bed.
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