The Grangers

"Heathgate Hampstead Garden Suburb Please."

Pandora Lovegood told the conductor Stan Shunpike of the Knight bus. She, Harry and Luna were on the way to the Grangers after being convinced by Harry to talk Hermione's parents and introduce them to the wizarding world. 

Harry and Luna had told her that Hermione had accidental magic so they were sure she was going to get a Hogwarts letter when she turns eleven. But Harry convinced her to talk the parents so they have a proper heads up and know exactly what they are walking into when they enter the wizarding world.

Pandora understood how much of a disadvantage muggle-born were in when they enter Hogwarts. Most Pureblood children receive some form of education but muggle-born usually enter blind and unaware of their wizarding culture. Since Luna was also quite adamant, she eventually gave in. Though she was quite confused how the two children even met Hermione but she never asked and simply trusted them.

 --oOoOoOo--

8 Heathgate Hampstead Hampstead Garden Suburb

*Knock!* *Knock!*

"Hermione can you get that?" 

"Sure mum!"

After the door opened, Hermione saw her two new friends and hugged them both.

"Good morning Hermione!" They both said hugging her back.

"This is my mother Pandora Lovegood." Luna told Hermione and then looked to her mum. "This is our friend Hermione Granger."

As the Grangers went to the front door they saw Hermione with two other children and an adult.

"Hello there. I'm Dr Dan Granger, this is my wife Dr Emma Granger. How do you do? Please, come in!"

"Thank you." Pandora replied as they all walked to the living room. Please, call me Pandora. And this is Luna and Harry."

"I suppose there's a lot we have to talk about. to begin with.."

Pandora cast a simple transfiguration on the extra chair that no one was using into a coat rack. This stunned the Grangers. They looked at Pandora, then to the coat rack. They inspected the coat rack and made sure they could physically touch it.

"W-what? H-how?" Dan Granger asked.

"Simply put, magic is real. If you're wondering why this isn't widely known, it's because there are laws in place keeping it a secret to avoid hostilities on both sides. While magic can be powerful individually, please keep in mind that magicals are so few compared no non magicals. In Britain we have roughly about 3,000 witches and wizards and non magicals number in millions. Think witch hunts and burning."

The Grangers took a few minutes to absorb this first. After a few sips of tea, they started asking questions.

"So why tell us? Why US and why NOW?" Emma asked.

"Because your daughter Hermione exhibited what we call accidental magic. To young witch and wizard children, it is fairly normal to exhibit accidental magic when they are facing high stress or emotional outbursts, even danger. I was told by these two that Hermione fell from a terrace by accident which triggered her own magic to save her."

"S-so she's a what, a witch?" Dan asked.

"Yes. And it is normal for witches and wizards in Britain to receive letters inviting them to attend a school of magic by their eleventh birthday. If you choose to, you can accept the invitation and send her to learn or if you reject it, our government would send personnel to remove your memories of magic if they cannot convince you."

"Memories?! Isn't that a bit harsh just for rejecting a school? Not to mention highly questionable morally speaking."

"Technically, they remove your memories and will keep doing so when bouts of accidental magic happen until your daughter's magic stabilizes enough to not trigger accidentally anymore. Like a massive cover up to prevent it from being widespread." Harry interjected.

"But why though? Can't they just leave us be if we don't send her to school? Shouldn't it be our right to decide?" Dan asked.

"Well aside from keeping magic secret due to our laws, there are also complications depending on how the family treats accidental magic. For overly religious families, they have a tendency to look at magic as if it were evil and may punish the children. While this might not sound too bad at first, you would have to consider the consequences." Pandora explained.

"For one, depending on how powerful the witch or wizard is, the accidental magic can range from mildly inconvenient to down right dangerous. Something simple as color change or small object levitations to something as bad as turning small objects into projectiles that could seriously harm other people."

"And when magical children are severely abused or punished due to their magic, sometimes their magic tries to seal itself in order for the child to survive. But because the magic is sealed, it can sometimes form into what we call are Obscurials. Simply put, their own magic becomes uncontrollable that they turn on itself and everything around it, usually causing nasty disasters and death. Long story short, It's better to learn to control magic than risk your own loved ones from accidental magic."

"So we have no choice but to attend the school then? And this school is what Luna and Harry will be going to as well?" Emma asked.

"There are other options like going to other magic schools or hiring private tutors to be home schooled and simply take tests later on to acquire rights to carry a wand and practice magic so to speak. This is normally explained to you by a staff of the school when she gets her letter but we wanted to talk to you all in order for you to have a head start on understanding this."

"Which is probably one of the options that I'm considering after 1 or two years of trying out their magic school." Harry interjected again.

"Wait, what? You don't want to stay in Hogwarts Harry?" Pandora asked.

"Well..."

"Huh? why, what's wrong with the school? Hogwarts was it?" Asked Emma.

"There's actually a lot of problems." Harry sighed.

"I'm sure it's not THAT bad, I mean, me and my husband graduated from Hogwarts as well after all." Pandora defended.

"Well yes, but you're coming from a pureblood perspective. I'm sorry to say but... muggle-born are treated badly if not harshly. Sure I'm a half-blood, but that shouldn't matter. It should not matter what my lineage is at all. Plus it's not like the quality of education in Hogwarts is even good at all anyway." Harry explained. Then he looked at the Grangers to clarify. "Muggles are what they call normal or non-magical people. And people like Hermione who are born of non-magicals are commonly called muggle-born. It's not a very nice word I guess and it feels like a slur but for the sake of our conversation we'll use that for now."

"I suppose that's true that I'm coming from a pureblood perspective. But what do you mean about the quality of education? And does Sirius know about this?"

"I guess I forgot to give him and Remus a heads up. I should probably talk to them about this as well. But lets talk about the quality first. I looked up the statistics of Hogwarts graduates, employment records in the ministry and compared them to other countries.

When you are a witch or wizard from Britain trying to get jobs outside the country, most countries disregard some of the records for certain subjects like History, Potions and muggle studies. They would normally consider British as beginners in that area. An O or O+ from those subjects mean nothing to other countries if the school is Hogwarts. 

Records show that since Albus Dumbledore took his position as headmaster, the quality of education has dropped significantly in those subjects. For potions, it's most likely Snape's fault. That should have been solved now since his arrest. For History, they have a ghost teaching it who is stuck on a loop droning on about goblin rebellion. Muggle studies is a joke considering their professor hasn't been to muggle areas for a long time and the material is also a century behind. Then there's also the subjects and topics Dumbledore removed because he claims the material is too 'dark' such as rituals or more obscure knowledge.

And from what I can gather, muggle-born from Britain can't get any jobs higher than secretarial positions or those with menial work. The higher paying ones or positions unfortunately require purebloods."

"T-that's absurd!! How can such discrimination be allowed in this day and age?!" Dan asked.

Pandora meanwhile, was surprised since she did not really notice until someone actually pointed it out. But the more she thought about it, that was indeed the case. It just never affected them as much since they were indeed purebloods and their friends were the same. While James was an exception since he married a muggle-born, they didn't mind but they also did not consider her obstacles.

"The answer to that is quite unfortunate. Witches and Wizards are in fact rather lazy compared to muggles. They believe in the idea of 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Not many witch and wizards like to innovate or improve. If you entered magical communities here in Britain, the first thing you'd notice is that visually, they look like they are stuck in the 19th century while we are all on the 20th. In terms of fashion, furniture, daily living, while electricity can be excused as highly magical environments tend to have interference with it and modern devices, it does not excuse the lack of innovation or progress. 

Sure they know about modern cars and such for those who regularly travel in London but for things like Airplanes or Helicopters, those things still baffle them. In hindsight this would be fine considering it's an entirely different world with it's own culture and traditions but the lack of willingness to understand the rest of the world severely hinders their progress. You could say they are being left behind by the rest of the world." 

Harry was on a roll. Pandora was feeling a bit heated but she understood since she and her family are more open and had more contact with muggles than most purebloods. She also took note that Harry wasn't saying this to insult their kind but instead is being respectful while pointing out his critiques. 

"Long story short, there's a lot of conveniences in magic like say transportation. They have something that is practically teleportation so why bother inventing cars and vehicles. So their society has progressed differently. But back to the discrimination, because of their own slow progress, even the ideas that most modern countries now embrace, they are still stuck in rather archaic societal norms from a muggle perspective. 

They have not yet evolved enough as a society to be more open and accepting to other cultures and ideas. Equality is still a new thing to them. Hence, muggle-born are heavily discriminated not just socially but legally speaking as well. And we haven't even gotten into the other magical beings, creatures and races yet."

Pandora's eyes were truly opened. These are points she and her family never really thought about properly as it never affected them. While Luna was also there listening, she was doing her best to try and keep up and look at it from Harry's point of view.

"So to summarize..." Harry was now looking at Pandora and Luna. "I do not intend to stay in the British Wizarding World. I want to try it for maybe a year. Possibly two if I really stretch it. But after that, I intend to get tutors or look into other countries magical schools.

Compared to other countries magical schools, we only have Hogwarts, which is unfortunately near the bottom of most international school rankings. Other countries who are more open to muggles have embraced progress in terms of technology and ideas. So not only is Britain being left behind as a society but also in terms of education as well. I was actually hoping to drag Luna with me on this plan if it's alright with you and Xenophilus."

Luna was slightly relived that she wasn't going to be left alone at Hogwarts and that she was being considered in his plans.

"And since the magical community might work against Hermione, it might be better for her as well to join us. After all, everything I have mentioned so far was about magical subjects alone. Unfortunately they don't teach muggle subjects so if you let Hermione go to Hogwarts, she will be locked in for the magical community and not be able to have muggle schooling knowledge. It means she won't be able to get jobs on the non-magical side."

This last statement made the Grangers reconsider more. After all, they knew their daughter was exceptionally bright and has the potential to go far in their world. If indeed they allowed Hermione to go to this magical school of theirs, she would not be getting normal education and would not be able to get work outside the magical communities.

"So what do you intend to do Harry? Have tutors after 2nd or maybe 3rd year onwards?" Pandora asked.

"Yes but not just that, I also intend to mix in normal subjects like Math, Science and other muggle subjects. Then take OWLs later on for the magical side and General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) for the muggle side. Though even if I choose other magical schools, I still intend to keep up with muggle education so we can if we choose, have proper certifications to work in or out of the magical communities."

"It does give you more options doesn't it? But what do you intend after school in the first place? You made it sound like you don't intend to go back to the British wizarding world after your education."

"Exactly. I don't want to remain in that world simply because the ones in power are those who have the biggest to gain when it comes to pureblood laws and ideas. If we want proper equality, either they all need to change their minds, which is highly unlikely, or they all need to be replaced. And since I don't intend to start a revolution or war or anything, I intend to leave instead."

"Huh...The boy-who-lived, leaving Britain. You do realize how big of a storm this is going to cause yes?" Pandora asked.

"Yeah. So I need to plan ahead."

The Grangers were all rather feeling disappointed at what they had heard about the magical world. On one hand, the idea of magic being real and going to a magic school was very exciting for Hermione but after hearing what she would face, it doesn't sound as enticing anymore.

But they regained hope after hearing the option of getting tutors or other country schools. The big selling point that made them look favorably on Harry's own plan was the idea of still continuing normal education so he would have a foot on both worlds. That was the best case scenario.

"Oh and by the way, I intend to warn the muggle-born in Hogwarts as well. I want to give them all the heads up so they all would know what they are getting into. I imagine if the muggle-born were actually told of this discrimination beforehand, Hogwarts would hardly have any muggle-born students left. After all, when professors invite muggle-born, they never say anything like that so students and muggle parents would be enticed. No one really warns them that they would not have good jobs after graduation. 

The British wizarding world needs muggle-born than they think or will ever care to admit. Can you imagine if they all left and only purebloods remain? Their society will likely collapse on itself after a few generations with all that inbreeding. With no new genetic material, more and more squibs will appear and they will loose magic."

"Squibs?" Emma asked.

"Non-magical people born from magical families. My guess is that all the mutations that come from inbreeding with no new genetic material comes out in the form of squibs. In the muggle world, inbreeding causes harmful genetic mutations. In the wizarding world, my theory is that it comes in the form of squibs. And as time progresses, these 'pureblood' families would eventually run out of new genetic material and would eventually die out. This can be observed in the form of more and more magical abilities being lost such as parseltongue, metamorphagus, mage sight and more. And the more drastic examples are squibs who loose magic altogether."

Pandora was stunned. It fits. More and more families are indeed losing magical abilities over generations. And as much as most families deny, the fact is that more and more squibs are appearing. The only reason this is not more widespread is because the squibs are generally shunned or discarded onto the muggle world.

Then she remembered Nymphadora Tonks. Her mother was a pureblood from the Black family which lost the metamorphagus gift over a few generations. And since Andromeda, Dora's mother, married a muggle-born wizard, new genetic material was introduced and the gift resurfaced with Dora.

Then and there, she finally realized that if this is true, it would mean that it was more beneficial for their family to introduce new genetic material to their family. Then she looked at Harry with a glint in her eye. Since Harry and Luna was close, wouldn't he be the best match for her little moon? 

'I wonder if Harry is open for a possible betrothal?' She thought to herself.

--oOoOoOo--

Giving Grangers WizTomes and Focus

After a few more hours of discussions regarding magic and the magical community, they decided to end there for now since it was a massive information dump.

They were still a few years away from getting their first Hogwarts letter anyway so they have a lot of time to plan and consider their steps. While Harry's talk about the real state of the wizarding world dampened their view a bit, it was still magic so it was worth still being excited over.

Harry gave the Grangers a WizTome and Focus each while explaining that it was and exclusive product for now. Pandora explained to them about Harry inventing these somehow which was still quite questionable considering his age. She also taught them how to access the older quibbler editions to get a small idea about the magical world.

"So this Focus is kind of like a mobile telephone?" Dan asked.

At this point, mobile phones weren't a thing yet so not many people have these just yet. They won't be around till late 1990's so this idea this early was quite surprising to the Grangers.

"Among other things but for now with the current version yes. Though the ones I gave you have an extra feature of showing labels on any magical object you may come across. For magicals, professionals learn to detect magical artifacts and such nearly instinctively. For students, we still need to learn how to detect them. But the Focus will help you if you come across them. This way, it could be an early warning system for you to be careful when touching them. More so when you don't know where it came from."

"This is incredible! And with the device itself being this small, we can take it anywhere and be able to call each other easily. Will you be selling this as a marketable product? This is brilliant!" Dan exclaimed.

"Eventually. For now it's limited to family and friends. Though the WizTome is intended for replacing newspapers on our side. I intend to launch it pretty soon. My Godfather is helping me with that."

 --oOoOoOo--

The talks ended and the three bid goodbye to the Grangers. 

Harry and Luna promised to visit Hermione often as well as promised the Grangers to invite them over some time as well. 

The Grangers had a lot of information to consider but at least they now know and understand a bit about what has been happening with Hermione. They were lucky enough that they met people who could explain this to them before they were officially introduced to that world face first.

They would then spend a few more hours considering the pro's and con's of going to normal school, magic school or Harry's plan. 

--oOoOoOo--

As for the three magicals, Pandora slapped Harry in the back of his head lightly.

"Next time, give me a heads up about your plans before you dump all of it while we're trying to introduce muggles to the magical world. That really caught me off guard!" She scolded.

"Right. Sorry." Harry just laughed it off with a shrug while Luna simply giggled at him.

"And you need to discuss this with Sirius before you make assumptions alright? You need to give him a heads up to get proper tutors or send possible application or enrollment forms for other schools. Not to mention ours for Luna's."

 --oOoOoOo--

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