Not Today, Mordred, Not Today.
Harry looked at the prenup that came from the lawyer, nodding as he looked it over. "That's fair I think." He handed it to Ginny, watching her read it.
She frowned at one part. "Why won't I be Lady Potter?" she asked, looking confused as she stared at him.
"Because there's a no possession, no dark arts, no core magic changing exposure to dark magic clause in the family's titles," he said. "Which is why I won't be Lord Potter. I'll be Regent Potter once I have a child. No gender noted necessary as far as I know so it doesn't have to be a son."
"What?"
He sighed, getting up to get something and bringing it back. "The family history, Ginny. I suggested you read it months ago."
"So did Hermione, so?" she asked. He handed it over, staring at her. She sighed but did get into that book, noticing right away how the title was formed. What it was given for, what it was for, and the restrictions on it. "Oh." She looked up at him. "So we each can't hold the title."
"Nope. And talking with the ancient relatives, not their pictures but their ghosts that're floating around, they're not really happy that Lily managed to save me that way because it does leave it in limbo unless there's heirs. And if there's no heirs ever then that's a huge complication because then ...well, the Ministry falls in apparently or something according to one." He shrugged but stared at her. "So, no, neither of us get the title."
"Oh." She put the book down, staring at it, going over the other clauses. "That's a really weak cheating retribution."
He stared at her. "We've got to live on our salaries, Ginny. Only Lord Potter can get into the vaults. I have the rest of my trust vault and anything I earn. The same as you'd have to probably work for a bit too. Frankly the family's monies are in pretty weak shape because no one knew what they were doing so it didn't grow very fast. It's not a bad rate but it's a very baseline sitting there doing nothing rate.
"Once there's an heir I can become Regent Potter and take that over to fix some of it at least." He stared at her. "But we're not having kids in the first year. I'm highly against a first year birth because the first year of marriage is so problematic and we'll have a lot of stuff to work out. We have to learn how to live together first before we bring a third person into the house."
"Why didn't you tell me this?" she asked.
"Why do you think I told you to read the family history?" he asked back. "Just for names or something?"
"Well, yes."
He shook his head. "Nope. Not likely." She huffed. He stared at her. "I'm sorry but I can't undo that. Even being the only one left and it not being by choice, we're both stuck with that legality. It's the rules of the title itself. Which I can push to have it dissolved legally but it won't be restored later somehow and it'll apparently mean the ministry falls in for some reason according to great-great-grandmother."
He sat down, staring at her. "We're allowed to live in the family house as neither of us are dark. The wards knew we'd both been hit with dark curses and with dark artifacts with the possession stuff. It reported it automatically. Even if it wasn't all over the press."
"So I'm back to being poor again?" she asked.
"We're not poor but we're not wealthy. We'll have to live on our salaries." He stared at her. "I make a pretty decent one. You make an okay one. We'll be fine. We're not having more than three kids total so we won't end up trapped like your family did."
"So you can't touch anything? Not even the interest?"
"On my personal trust vault, yes. I've invested it for the last few years. Once I found out about that clause. Neville had me go ask about that and then I told him why and he groaned a lot. He agreed, the Ministry would fall in somehow if the Potter title was removed by law from the original standards for some reason.
"Doing that doesn't mean that we'd be allowed to gain back any of that property that's held in trust. If I never had a child I could adopt an heir somehow but otherwise, I'm rather going to be Regent Potter someday I believe."
She sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I wish you had told me this sooner, Harry."
"That's why I told you to read the book years ago."
"I thought it was so I could get used to family names and the like, or find out something about the family's house." She stared at him.
He shook his head, waving a hand around. "This is the family home. There's no Potter castle even if I hadn't had him in my forehead for years. If there's some mythical castle attached to it, then the kids will find it someday when it calls for them." He shrugged, staring at her.
She squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm feeling very sideswiped here." She stood up and went to get some water to drink then took the book with her to go home to her parents' house to talk to them. Hermione looked over as she came out of the floo. "Did you realize about his family history?"
"Yes. I read that book you're holding right after he found it thanks to the bank telling him," she admitted, shrugging and going back to doing the dishes by hand.
"Use the wand, Hermione," she complained.
"No thank you. I'd like them to be clean, Ginny. That way leaves little bits of food stuck on it. I found some last night." She stared at her. "How is Harry doing today?"
"I didn't find this out until that ridiculous prenup he demanded showed up from the lawyers."
Hermione nodded. "Prenups are protective. The same as marriage contracts are and for about the same reason. To protect each side from things going wrong and people out to make a quick buck with some sex attached." She got back to the dishes.
"My parents have one and I'm going to demand one with Ron if we keep going forward, which is in doubt at the moment." She shrugged, looking at her then back at the dishes. She finished up and put them in the strainer to drain after rinsing it off in the pan of rinse water. "There, actually clean. No little bits of food stuck on it." She cleaned her hands off and came out to stare at her. "It's protective."
"It might be but I'm still feeling swiped at."
She shrugged. "That's why we both suggested you read that book and I suggested you have talk with him about expectations. Did you think it was going to be all garden parties and nothing else? Even if that restriction wasn't in place, Harry would still be working all day. He can't just sit there and do nothing. He might join me in college next year if he finds he's not liking being an auror but that'll lead to a later career as well."
She grimaced. "I don't like it."
"Well, the two choices are to get over that feeling and sign it or break up. Because there's maybe a bit of room for negotiation but I doubt it. Even if you marry and then later divorce. And I'm pretty sure the prenup listed that as well."
"It did," she complained. Then huffed. Ron and her mother came in with the groceries.
"Oh, Ginny! Time to plan things for the wedding?" she asked happily. "Did you sign whatever?"
"No I did not because there's things I didn't know, Mum. Things like Harry can't take the family title due to what his mother did."
Ron looked at her, frowning a bit. "What?"
"The family history book, Ron," Hermione told him.
"Oh, that stuff." He shrugged. "Doesn't really matter to me anyway. Not like Hermione would have to deal with that."
She stared at him. "No, we are signing a prenup, Ron. I have things I have to guard thanks to my parents." She smirked a bit. "It'll be iron clad too, as my mother's was with my father. It'll lay out all circumstances that could happen and the response to it. Including a later divorce for any reason."
She looked at Ginny again. "If you don't want to sign it, don't sign it and break up with him. At least temporarily." She shrugged. "Harry might take you back if you change your mind later. Though I can't promise it. He'd feel a bit betrayed like you only went out with him for his future title."
"Well, no," she said, glaring at her. Hermione stared at her. "What?" she demanded.
"You're complaining about something he and I *both* told you to look at, Ginny. You didn't. He didn't blindside you. He suggested last year that you read that book. I suggested you read that book last year. Hell, Neville suggested you read the book earlier this year." She shrugged.
"We all tried to tell you that you had to talk to him about future expectations because it wasn't going to be a fairytale and I'm pretty sure I remember using those words exactly. Especially with the nightmares Harry has most nights. Sharing a tent with Harry meant that none of us got any sleep for days on end."
"Don't remind me," Ron complained. "What's this water for?"
"Doing the dishes properly so they were clean," Hermione told him. "That way I'm not picking little bits of prior meals off my plate. Like I did last night when you did the dishes." Molly groaned. She stared at Ginny again. "I like you as a friend, Ginny, but I'm Harry's friend first and foremost. We all told you to read the book, to have the talk about expectations, to get to know Harry as more than the guy who has manners he learned off a movie."
"I...." She sulked, crossing her arms over her chest. "I should have taken the advice but he still didn't tell me."
"Yes he did, he told you to read it for yourself and expected you to come ask him questions." She stared at her. "That's what he'd expect from any relationship partner that was going to be there for a long time in his life. Especially the future mother of his children as you'd have to raise them to live up to the ideals of the family's title." She took the book to open to a section and handed it back. "Your future kids have to live up to that ideal."
She read it over, grimacing. "There's no way that's real! That's some fairytale crap, Hermione."
"That's the guy Harry is underneath things," Hermione told her. "Always has been. It runs in the family thankfully. Like the messy hair apparently." She shrugged, going to help Molly. "But that's the dictates of the family title. All titles come with weird clauses and things like that, Ginny. That's why we told you to read the book."
Ron rolled his eyes. "Not everyone wants to read, Hermione. Quit nagging."
She stared at him. "She got the prenup earlier and found out Harry doesn't have the title due to his curse scar."
"Oh, that shite," he said with a nod. "He can get that fixed."
"No he can't. They can't dissolve the title, Ron. Apparently the Ministry's charter depends on there being a Lord or Lady Potter. Or a Regent Potter once Harry has kids." She shrugged but smirked at him. "As soon as the bank noted the curse scar they named him Regent Potter because that meant he couldn't hold the title. And if they did dissolve it, all the family's things can be taken from them. Including the house that Harry's living in."
Ron looked confused, looking at his mother. Who shrugged. "What?"
"Go get the book from Ginny," she sighed with a hand wave. "It's in the seventh or eighth chapter, Ron." He went to do that with a huff of irritation but did find that out for himself then showed Ginny. Hermione shook her head, helping Molly put up the groceries. "We suggested they have the relationship expectation talk over a year ago," she told Molly. "And told her to read the book. Either one would've prevented her sulking today."
"Probably," she agreed. "Arthur's family had something like that ages ago." She shrugged. "They chose to marry for love and dissolve things."
"I'm not going to rob Harry of the the last few things he has of his parents, Mother," Ginny called. Molly huffed at that. She left to talk to Harry about all that. She did take the book with her to use it when he referenced something.
Hermione finished up and went home for the night, tired of being surrounded by his family for a while. Her mother gave her an odd look when she appeared. She waved a hand. "Driving me nuts," she muttered, getting a hug. "Do I..."
Her mother held her by the shoulders, staring at her. "No, you do not. You've had a lot of doubts." Hermione sighed but nodded. "He'd want you to put your career on hold for the kids to come first."
"Fat chance that'll happen," Hermione said. "I'm not removing the birth control implant." Her mother smiled at that. "Mum, I...."
"We've seen, dear. A lot. Your father doesn't want you to marry before you graduate college."
"No, I wouldn't want to either. My future has to come first for a bit to make sure we have a stable foundation to build from."
"Exactly." She nodded, staring at her. "The other problem that made you huff off?"
"Ginny didn't take the suggestions to read the family history of the Potters or to talk to Harry about future expectations of their life together."
"Ah." She nodded. "Your father had that talk with Ron, which is why he'd have you kidnaped if you even thought about marrying him before you finish college." She stared at her. "He'll be back soon. He had one last patient." Hermione sighed but nodded, going to think in her room.
She looked outside, staring at Ron. Who handed over Hermione's purse then left again quietly. She didn't dislike Ron, but she didn't want him to be her son-in-law either. Her husband had a worse opinion of him than she did but she could see why her daughter had taken up with Ron. She could also see the divorce in a few years when they were both miserable. She didn't want that for her only child.
***
Hermione called Harry. "You free tonight? I need to sulk to a beer."
He snickered. "What now?"
"I came home in a mood and Mum and I talked then Dad and I talked, and Dad wants me to dump Ron and Mum wants me to only casually date him until I graduate, which I'm not against as I'm not marrying before I graduate and he's really upset with that because he expected me to quit going to college to go to work."
"You're going to college to get a better job," he said. "Aren't you?" She nodded. "So you're messed up?"
"Slightly. I'm not sure yet of what I want."
He nodded. "Sure, bring some beers over, I'll pick up take away." She nodded, grinning and waving before hanging up. He looked up then shook his head. He had no idea why Hermione had gotten stuck on Ron. Was it a curse? They were good enough friends but that did not translate very well into dating apparently.
He got back to his paperwork for the recent arrests with a sigh. He hated paperwork. Maybe he would quit this and go join Hermione at college. There were a lot less exciting ways to be bored all day that paid him better. Including some finance classes he really should take to make himself able to handle the Potter things properly.
He got finished up for the day, with the obligatory handing in the paperwork and being stared at while it was gone over to make sure it was done correctly, stopped to get some pizza, and went home to find Hermione already on the couch with a beer halfway drunk and her sighing in misery. "You have a talk with him?"
"With Molly who thought I'd give up college too. I could just be a mom. No." She shook her head, taking a sip of her beer. "Probably not."
"No, not with your career goals," he told her. He handed her a few pieces on some paper plates and sat down with his own, taking his first beer of the night. "Is college actually fun?"
"That's sort of an opt-in thing," she admitted. "Do I go to the parties and the like? No, because I have sense." She looked at him. "Many don't have sense. They like to party. The rest of us want to get out of there with a decent grade average and go find a career." She took another sip. "Does this mean we're both single?"
"She's still thinking."
"Ah."
"Did you break up with him fully?"
"Not at the moment. Though my father threatened to have me kidnaped if I tried to marry before I graduated college."
"Your father might be able to pull it off," he offered.
"One of his clients might have an idea about that." She waved a hand in the air then went back to eating before she got too drunk. "I don't know what I'm doing, Harry."
"Me either. I don't think any of us do."
She hummed but nodded, taking a slow, careful sip of her beer. Then she put the bottle down on a coaster. Harry insisted on coaster use. She looked at him. "Want to go to singles events with me? We can wingman for each other."
He grinned. "I could probably try that, yeah." He nodded. "Still not sure which side of the coin it'll land on."
"With our luck it'll land on it's side." He laughed but nodded. She slouched down. "Also, did you see the paper they sent around today?"
"What paper?"
She handed hers over. "I don't think that's legal."
"No, it's not legal," he agreed, handing it back. "But how do we fight the corruption?"
She grimaced, finishing her beer. "I need to speak to someone very specific and someone's going to get very mad at me if I do." She looked at him. "If I end up in jail do send me books now and then if you can, Harry?"
He nodded. "Of course I would." He looked amused. "Why would you do that?"
"Because I need to speak to the grandmother that doesn't particularly like me." She got another beer to sip faster and finish her pizza.
"I always admired when you ended up finding a plan and going toward it," he joked with a grin. "It's like fourth year again."
She looked at him. "No, this war won't be as messy." She grimaced but did finish up, gave him a hug, and went home to her apartment to get into a trunk she never did. Of course, she found signs that someone had been in her apartment so she called the Metro PD. She could list what was missing.
That was seriously a breech and they were in deep trouble. Because her bank did have a 24 hour hotline for emergencies and she was on the phone with them when the police got there with an auror. "No, I did not request him as I'm pretty sure the person who did this theft was one of his." She let in the officers, slamming the door in the face of the auror.
She led them around to show them what she had found and what was missing. Including some heirloom jewelry. Which made the officers wince. But it'd come back to her. She did have magical anti-theft on it. She summoned it back, handing over the note that was on top of it and the letter that they had sent to her for daring to not get a degree they liked.
They took all the reports and went to file them. She was still missing something and summoned it back specifically. She stared at her hand then nodded. "Grandmother is not going to be happy with me," she muttered. "She hates it when I interrupt bridge day."
***
Hermione showed up at a club the next day, getting out of the cab. She paid for it and walked up to the door, seeing the sneering. "I'm Hermione Dastaria Granger-Proval. Is my grandmother here yet please? I need to speak to her urgently before I start a diplomatic war." The greeter had to let her in after checking her ID. She walked in and was escorted back to a garden room. "Dowager Proval," she said with a nod.
She looked at her. "Granddaughter. Very formal. Why?"
"I need a tiny bit of help to speak to someone specific about something important before I start a diplomatic war to save myself the aggravation of blowing up another government." She smiled, handing over that form and the others she had summoned about herself. "I need to speak to Douglas if I may and Mr. Questor," she finished quietly. "Please, Grandmother."
She looked that file over, staring at it oddly. "Which government is that?"
She sighed, sitting on the stool at her feet. "If I mention that I could end up jail as there's a statute of secrecy," she said, staring at her. "But have you talked to Mother recently?"
"No, you know she thinks I'm disappointed and I'm not, dear."
"I know, Grandmother. She was more reacting to her father's complaints that she wanted to make it on her own."
"I heard. I yelled at that idiot too." She sighed. "I may not be able to get the second named one." She stared at her.
"We'll need someone very like him who would already have the knowledge so I'm not breaking that international statute."
"Statute. So official law," one of the ones at the table quipped.
Hermione stared at her then smirked. "How do you get away with wearing that fabric in public?" she asked quietly in French. "I can't do that and they did train that out of us at Hogwarts." The woman stiffened, staring at her. She stared back.
"My son got it for me actually," she said in English, then nodded. "So that statute."
"Yes." She handed over that letter to her. "Did your son have that problem?"
She read it over then snorted. "Did you take out one?"
"No, I have an educational trust. I would not work for those people even if I had to. I'd destroy it from the inside to make it just and proper, and not a bigoted mess." She took it back, looking at her grandmother. "Please, Grandmother. I don't need to participate in a war this week. Especially as the college said they changed my major at their request. Though I did point out I did not request that and I was not changing my major."
Her grandmother stared at her. "That would make me burn a few favors."
"I could do something very flashy that would draw one but by then the fire department would get there first." She handed over something from her purse. "From the one that decided to loot my apartment last night."
She looked at that note. "On what?"
"My necklace."
"Oh, dear. Is it missing?"
"No, I had it specially retrieved," she said, staring at her. Then held up her hand. "And this I had to do it separately."
She touched that ring and nodded. "Your grandfather would be upset."
"Not really. I'm about to turn into him on a supremely grumpy day." She stared at her. "I'm about to go into a teenage girl fit and maybe cry a bit and we both know that's not the woman I am."
"No, it's not," she said, staring at her. "Got a bit lit last night, dear?"
"Up all night studying law." She smiled. "I found a delightful section on how illegal they're being. And a lawyer to help with that but I would need Douglas to help with that as well and that other one to help as this is going to become a diplomatic war." She smiled. "Though..." She looked down and shook her head, but smirked at her grandmother again, letting the former War Hermione show up more in her face. "They should expect that from me. I am Mr. Coraba's former student."
Her grandmother licked her lips. "He could find that one."
"He's out of the country."
"Oh. That's a pain in the arse," she muttered. "I'll try. Am I hosting you for dinner?"
"At least to sleep somewhere safely please. I did put things into the bank, warned them about the thefts and the bank that they were trying to do that through as they did try to access my accounts." She stared at her. "I've had really a whole lot of enough. And I'm about to break major international laws to fix it." She shrugged. "Can Douglas at least calm me down?"
"Gladly. Want a sherry, dear?"
"Oh, no thank you, Grandmother. I had a few beers last night with a friend while complaining about my boyfriend that Mother hates."
"Hates?" she asked, staring at her.
"Father said he'd have me kidnaped if I even thought about marrying him before I graduated."
"Yes, I would as well," she agreed dryly. "Is that the Ron boy he ranted about last month when we met?"
"Yes."
"Hmm." She nodded once. "That's interesting."
"Not a lot. Oh, if you see Justin Finch-Fletchly, tell him I said hello please." She smiled. "He'll probably freak out a bit but perhaps you'd like to mentor him to follow Angela or someone? He seemed interested in that sort of career."
"Was he a good friend in school?"
"Of Harry's mostly but yes. Sort of."
"Hmm. We'll see." She did pull out her phone to send two emails. She got a call back from one. She laughed. "I'll tell her you said that, Questor."
"If he's telling me to calm down, tell him no and I'm going back to the woman I was about three years ago," she said bluntly. "And gearing up right now to go fight another one."
"Another?" she demanded. "Did I hear about this?" She listened. "Did he hear about that?"
"He should have. How did he not hear about it?" She shrugged a bit. He said something and she hung up. "When can I speak to him?"
"In about thirty minutes. He said let him do his hair better." She dealt the next game of bridge and Hermione did get added to calm her down. "Did you learn to count cards in school?" she asked.
"Grandmother, we didn't have cards for poker. We barely had cards at all. We played Snap many too many times." She got back to it. "I really should find a way to run electricity up there too," she muttered. "I am that smart." She got into the bridge hand, calming herself down again with a sigh. Her grandmother got her a cup of tea, letting her fix it properly and sip calmly like she had been trained to do.
A youngish man in a nice suit walked in, staring at her. "What did you do three years ago?"
She took a sip and put the cup down. "I was right behind Harry, dear. Almost every single time but second year. There was rather a huge medical drama that year that included me." She stared at him then handed over the paper and the file. She smiled as she handed over that note from her jewelry case. "That's in the bank again and I did warn the bank. I'm going to go back to the old me."
He read that file over, then grimaced. "They're really dumb."
"Yes they are." She smiled and nodded. "Quite dumb." She saw someone slinking in and stared for a second then looked at her grandmother's friend again. "Do I want to violate international laws to talk to Douglas?"
"No," he admitted. "And I know why you would."
She smiled. "It's a judge or explosives right now to be perfectly honest."
"Yes. That's a good idea to talk to Douglas then." He walked off calling that in and got sworn at. He came back to stare at her. "My supervisor said you could be calmer. He taught you that when you were six."
She smiled. "It's nice that the father's best friend did try to teach me that but no, I cannot. Not at all. Not against the bigots." She smiled at him. "Nor will I ever be."
He winced. "He was afraid you'd say that."
"Hmm. I don't want to start a diplomatic war either. Do I? Really?" She smiled at the man slinking over. "Well, Mr. Norton." She held out a hand. "How are you today?"
"Why are you here, Granger?"
"This is my grandmother and I came to her to get her to lend me her legal team." She smiled. "Before I blow up someone who broke into my apartment last night."
"Oh." He winced. "Well.... how is that new major going to work out for you?"
"It won't be as that's not my choice."
"You have to...."
She held up a hand. "I do not have to do a single damn thing for them. Nor will I *ever* do a single damn thing for them," she said quietly but firmly, staring at him. "As I did not take out any scholarships or loans or anything else. I have a healthy educational trust."
"But ours is very expensive."
"The one I had planned on going to in Switzerland was six thousand more a year and I could've went there for three decades," she said dryly. "So no, it wasn't that expensive. Good schools are often expensive so I don't know how they justify their costs." She stared at him. "I've already retained a lawyer against them." She smiled. "You can warn them if you want."
"Potter won't help you."
"I warned him already so he can sit there with a beer and laugh, dear." She smirked. "I'm sure he will." The man looked scared at that. "So yes, however did you get in this club? It's exclusive."
"I belong here, have for decades."
"This is my grandmother," she said with a head nod at her then another smirk. "Dowager Proval."
He blinked at her then winced. "Oh." He nodded and backed off.
"Sorry but the only authority in my life is Grandmother, God, Queen, and Country. You do not fit into that, Mr. Norton. And trying to fit yourself on that list is rather...annoying we'll say."
He looked at her. "We could give you a nice job doing minor things so you could do whatever at home with the future husband."
"I'm not marrying him. We've broken up."
"That's an engagement ring you're wearing," he said smugly. She held it up and he flinched at that. "Oh, that's...."
"Mine. It came to me from Grandmother because Mother refused it." She shrugged with a grin. "So yes, I'm fairly certain that I'm not going to give in as you could not answer that simple little statement of mine correctly. Anyone else in here could." She waved a hand. "Now, do have a great day, shall you?" He stomped off to alert people that Granger wasn't who they thought. She looked at her grandmother then at Mr. Questor. "So...."
"The boss would want you to calm down."
"I'd want me to calm down as well but I doubt it'll happen," she said dryly.
"Good point. I'll....." She smiled at him. "I'll help you talk to Douglas so he doesn't get shocked at all that." He went to talk to his boss then came back. "Granger, how often do you talk to your new ex?"
"Yesterday sometime was the last time and I told him it was seeming to not work out. I have no idea if he's figured that out or not. Though apparently my father did have a talk with him and tell him he didn't really approve of us being together."
He sighed. "He's hanging around your place."
"No, he can go home. I'm probably camping with Grandmother or at a hotel tonight for safety reasons."
"Good!" He left again to send someone to shoo that boy off. He was stubborn, and had fought in the same war, but no she was not going to marry Ron.
Hermione's father showed up to talk to him, staring at Ron. "Weasley." He flinched, looking at him. "My daughter's not home and it's rather creepy that you're waiting on her this way in the open. What are you doing?"
"We need to talk. She's said some really weird things and when I called Harry he said that she's upset about something. I have no idea what so I'm trying to figure out what she's upset about so I can straighten her out."
He sighed, moving closer. "Ron, you're not dating my daughter." Ron opened his mouth. "No. I will not allow it and Hermione knows that." He stared at him. "In fact she's went to talk to her grandmother today about how someone broke into her house, tried to change her college major against her will, and about how your people are trying to cause her all sorts of problems that's making her think of explosives."
He stared at him. "And I still do not want you dating my daughter. You're good, and a decent man, but you have nothing in common Ron. She's going to be in college for years because she wants to be. She's got a career she's looking forward to that she's not going to give up to have children. She's very much like her mother in that." He sighed, staring at him because the boy looked upset. "Ron, if she gets a job in the Islands or something would you be going with her?"
"Why would she do that? She's coming to work in the Ministry, that's what all the muggleborns do," he said, glancing around.
"No, she's not. She doesn't want to do that and that's up to her about her career."
"They're going to make her. They told Dad to get her used to Ministry rules."
"No." He shook his head. "Not Hermione, she's in college, Ron. She's got a career path that has nothing to do with government service unless somehow she gets picked as a lady in waiting for the future queen."
Ron looked confused again. "Why would they? Because she studies so much? Did they need a nanny?"
"No, Ron. My father is a relatively wealthy man." He looked horrified. "Hermione's mother's mother has a title, Ron. While I appreciate you two as friends, what you want, the simple wife like your mother is, isn't the woman that Hermione is. Which has nothing to do with the family but she's not going to sit at home and be a mother.
"She's not going to run a little shop, she's not going to work for your Ministry. She needs a spouse that'll stand beside her on their combined career paths to support each other on the bad days when the careers are a bitch." He stared at him.
"You want a simple, nice, easy, calm, homey life that's a great thing to many people. A lot of people still adore that and farming and all that stuff. Hermione's very urban though, and she won't ever be on a farm. Or growing things. Or being a stay at home mother. You guys are friends because you want opposite things in life."
"But their kind are supposed to...."
He held up a hand. "Ron, I've seen that letter and laughed myself sick while helping her pick a lawyer. They've broken so many international laws it's not funny." Ron winced. "That whole letter itself is a violation of law. Not to mention them breaking into her apartment and stealing from her."
"But she took out stuff for school."
"No, Ron, she didn't. We have an educational trust for her. She could stay in college for *decades* if she wanted. We didn't have to take out any bit of anything for her schooling and we never signed a paper saying we would or that would obligate her. We read everything we're handed to sign and while they tried to throw something in there we didn't sign that. Any of it. At all."
He stared at him. "You've now sent Hermione back to where she was her sixth year according to her. She mentioned three years ago as a time frame." Ron winced, but nodded once. "Also, you are not going to be dating even if she solves this issue without another war.
"You want vastly different things and it won't work. I'm saving you from the tired times and the upcoming divorce. I really am. It will not work out and neither of you need to have that sort of fallout in your lives. I don't want her bitter from it and I don't want you to suffer at all either as you're important and a friend to my little girl."
"We don't have that," he admitted quietly.
"Well, we do and she lives in both worlds, Ron. She really does." He patted him on the shoulder. "I know it's hard losing a dream girl like she is but you need and deserve someone who wants to share the life you want to live with you. Stay friends, please stay friends, but don't hope to go any farther. It won't work out and neither of you deserve that."
"Would you say that if I was rich?"
"Yes. I would. I don't want her with you or Harry, Ron. Friends are important but your spouse should have a similar goal in mind to your own life goals. What sort of career, what sort of lifestyle you want, all that. For that matter, her big sisters would probably kill you the first time they met you.
"One's really not all that nice to Hermione." He stared at him. "But she'd protect her from everything." He patted him again with a grin. "I'm saving you some misery here. Find someone who wants what you want in life to be your wife. It's all anyone could really hope for and I hope you do find one. You deserve a great wife."
"I guess." He sighed, walking off. "They're still going to get pushy."
"You're going to have to warn them, Ron. You're the only warning they're getting." He walked off to drive back to the dental practice again. His best friend was really not happy with all this but he knew why his daughter had went to him instead of her own father. His best friends could keep a leash on her before she destroyed *everything* in their world. Hopefully.
***
Ron stared at Harry. "Did you know Hermione had sisters?"
"Yeah. She said once that her mom is her dad's second wife. He had married before and she mentioned an ugly half sister and a mean half sister." He shrugged. "Not sure otherwise. She never mentions more than her parents are dentists. Which is an ingrained response trained into her probably to keep her from saying anything else about them."
Ron gaped at him. "Ron, something I noticed during the ball. You don't know how to do things at a ball unless you've been to a ball. Hermione was very comfortable dancing, she'd had lessons, and she was effortlessly charming on the floor to everyone. So she's had some experience. It's not like poor people go to balls."
He stared at him. "Dentists aren't a poorly paid career and she's mentioned plays and the like, and some charity work, which means her parents are fairly well off." Ron slumped but grimaced with a nod. "So I'm guessing that Hermione isn't intentionally saying something about them for some other reason. And looking them up in the paper, they do live in a pretty nice area of London."
"Oh." He grimaced. "He said he was trying to save me misery."
"He probably was. He appreciates us as her friends. Not as her boyfriends. He knows what we are to each other and how we backed each other up. But can we really marry and snuggle and all that stuff with her? Be the spouse she needs and let her be the one we need?"
"I mean, she could've went to work after the kids were in primary," Ron complained.
"No, Ron. That's not how it's done these days. Women work before marriage, after marriage, and after the kids come. We have daycares for those who have kids and need to work. Or want to work." He stared at him. "But I knew it wasn't going to end up in a marriage anyway because you've never even kissed her, Ron." He shrugged. "You avoided it."
"Eurgh," he complained, scrunching his face up.
"Ron, that's what engaged people do. They kiss, they hold hands, they cuddle on the couch, all that." Ron still looked grossed out. "You thinking that's horrible with Hermione means that you yourself knew she wasn't the right one for you."
"I guess," he complained. "Did you do that with Ginny?"
"No. Because I was pretty sure she wasn't going to stick around. Or else she would've wanted to know more about the family."
"Oh." He grimaced. "I..."
"Yeah, her family is important in her life and it's important in my life to the same degree. The same as Hermione's is to her and you'd have to get along with them, Ron. Could you?"
"Well...." He considered that. "I guess not."
Harry nodded. "Which figures, because you didn't want it to work out. You settled for the girl that was always there. She settled for the guy that was there and she could trust at her back. We're teammates, not lovers."
"Oh." He nodded with a grimace. "Still, she's going to get in trouble with the Ministry." Harry snorted, shaking his head as he started to laugh. "She will! They'll make her do that!"
"Ron. No. She's in the muggle world mostly. She's in muggle college. She made up years of missing classes to get in. She was never going to work for the ministry. No matter what they expected and if they had a single brain cell over there they would've realized that. The same as I'm realizing I'm not going to be there."
"You're an auror, Harry."
"Yes, and I'm going to take the academy classes offered in Italy's ICW academy to see if that's what I want. That way I'm well trained, I'm not just doing it off the top of my head, all that stuff. Because I'm not sure if I want to be an auror after all. It's doing a whole lot of paperwork after arresting drunk people." He shrugged. "I got talked into it really." Ron slumped again.
"The ICW academy is a good idea anyway. It's a lot of training and they'd know if I wanted to be there by how I did and how I focused on the training they'd give. They may have another field that I'd like more. If not, there's a great college attached and those credits would transfer."
"But that's in Italy."
"It's six months, Ron."
"Oh. What will Ginny do here?"
"Ron, I'm not with Ginny. We've broken up. She didn't like the constraints that the family's expectations put on her. I'm not going to make either of us miserable that way. We talked yesterday evening and agreed we're breaking up." He shrugged. "What she wants and what I want aren't aligned and it's a bad idea to make her try to squeeze into what my wife would need to be. Or to put up with me when I'm having constant nightmares. Ginny will find someone nice soon enough."
"Oh." He grimaced. "Was Mum upset?"
"I haven't talked to your mother in weeks, Ron." He gathered up things and looked at him. "I've got shift in about a half-hour. So gotta lock up." Ron nodded, heading to the twins' store to do a bit of busy work and think while stocking for them. Harry locked up and set his wards then went to work.
His boss stared at him. "Potter." Harry headed that way at his wave. "Your request to go to the ICW academy is denied."
"Did they say that? I haven't even put in my application yet."
"No, we're denying you going."
Harry put his badge on the table and walked off. "Sure. I get that. But that would've decided if I kept doing this job. So have a great life, Moody."
"What?" he demanded.
Harry looked back at him. "I'm sorry, was that a mistaken idea? The only one who decides if I go to training that I want to take is me. Not anyone here. At all. I care not a *bit* what anyone in this building thinks, Moody. You should've already realized that. For all I care it can fall in." He walked off again, feeling a lot better and lighter. He was happier. That was great. Maybe he'd quit having nightmares soon. This job had made them restart so leaving it might just help.
Moody had to call the Minister to let them know about this. He hated the asskissing part of this job but he was required to do it. Not that he blamed the kid, he would've done the same thing and it was why he had pushed Potter to go.
He got forwarded a report from the muggle police about one of them breaking into Granger's place and winced. That was not going to go over well. He didn't know much about the girl but he knew strength and she'd just start a war over it. She might even go dark.
He'd have to watch her for that. After making that file start he got a visit, a polite visit, from someone in the government of the UK who took the file and told him off for it. So yes, he realized now that the strength came from an old backbone. He might just retire to watch from the sidelines this time. Come back if she did go dark to clean up her mess and arrest her.
Not like he could trust Longbottom or Potter to handle her arrests. They'd feel mercy.
***
Hermione smiled at the counselor for her new college. "Hello, Hermione Granger." She shook his hand and sat in front of his desk. "What did you want to meet about?"
"Well, first, why did you switch that way?"
She looked around then at him. Nothing that showed he knew about magic. "Because people were trying to push their way into my life, my future career, and being a proper pain in my behind in ways that I do not find acceptable which made me hire a lawyer to deal with. And before you stereotype I do not mean a boyfriend. I meant a government agency."
He winced. "They tried to change my major on me. They tried to say that I was obligated to serve with them for my career as I had went to a school they had a hand in even though I privately paid. The lawyer is having a lot of fun I'm sure." She smiled. "So I switched to get out of there before I started a war."
"A war?" he asked with a grin.
"Yes, a war." She stared at him. "I had to help defend my school a few times over the years." He winced. "So yes, charming time there." She smiled. "Which does play into my future career actually. Though I've been thinking about it seriously since I was about nine."
"That's good to know." He looked at her file. "You have one very low grade in here. What happened with that? It's a basic class."
"I was not there. I spent six weeks in the hospital throwing up constantly thanks to someone trying to poison me." She grimaced. "That one, that was on a girl on the dorm floor's issues." She grimaced. "She admitted to it and went to jail for it. She didn't want people to be prettier or get better grades. Even though I was not part of her sorority push or her partying culture. We weren't even in the same major."
She shrugged. "She decided I'd be in her way and tried to remove me. Unfortunately the poisoning she gave me wasn't food poisoning. She had stolen something from another girl to put into my food and didn't realize it was a medicine for her cancer treatment. We found that out with the tox screen the ER ran on me. Which made me call the police and then my parents."
"Oh, dear. Is she in jail?"
"Mental health actually. She pled down to get mental help. Which she did need." She nodded a bit. "It wasn't intentional that she got me that hard. She did not realize that her meds had been incorporated into something that she could force herself to eat because she could not take shots. She was supremely phobic, even seeing a needle sent her into flashbacks and screaming in a corner."
"Oh. That's sad." He sighed. "So you got everything but that one class's work done?"
"No, I did manage to do the work. But I could not attend and that one did grade on attendance, even though I do have the mother of all medical excuses for it. I retook it last semester. Got ninetieth percentile because he still hates me."
"That's well above passing." He looked and found it, going over the other classes. "You've taken a lot of the mandatories."
"I had to self study. My boarding academy did some specialist things but not math and science. So I took the home schooling version to stay up to date. I figured I should take it while I still remembered it."
"That's not a bad idea." He nodded, making that note. "Why didn't they have math and science?"
She grimaced. "They didn't let us type papers."
"Oh. Why did you go there?"
"It was skill based and I needed the skill training, but ...." She sighed. "If I had to do it over I'd have went to the one in Switzerland I had planned on. In some ways it's the worst decision in my life. In others a very good one. That's one of those points where you might want to go back to change but I'm not sure if I would or not. Though if I did, and I knew then what I know now I would've stolen one of my friends to go with me."
"Boyfriend?"
"No. Friend." She smiled. "We backed each other up a few times."
"Oh. That sort of friend. Something like a gang and that school was judicial maybe?" She shook her head, handing over a sealed letter. He opened and read it then winced. "Oh. I'm barely aware of that side of us."
She smiled and nodded. "Which was why I hadn't planned on coming here originally but...." She shrugged. "I'm getting away from all that mess before I start a war." She smiled again. "You're conveniently taking applications for this year and have a good recommendation pipeline to my wanted master's college."
"Which is a reasonable thought to have." He made a few more notes then looked at her. "We do like our students to be socially active."
"I do not party," she admitted. "But my parents have done charity dental work for years. I helped with those events quite often. I helped tutor others in my primary years unofficially. I'm not against helping other students or doing charity work or volunteer work as long as it aligns with my values."
"That's good. We appreciate those. We do like our students to get out and do fun things though."
"I love doing fun things. Your movie event every year is one thing that really did attract me to you instead of studying under Dr. Youngling."
"We do like them most years. Our movie festival usually has some interesting things." He got back to her file. "Would those ones want you back?"
"Yes but I have lawyers." She stared at him. "Many, many lawyers as they're an international law firm and can tell them to sit down and stop it." She grinned. "It's very handy and why I chose them."
"That's good." He nodded. "Sometimes you have to fight injustice."
"Yes you do," she agreed, staring at him again.
"That defensive action...."
"People had attacked the school."
"Oh. Why?"
"Bigots are assholes to be blunt," she said dryly. "Very often."
"Oh, that sort. Got it." He nodded at that. He went back to her file. She was an exemplary student. "One of your teachers on your track is German and a lot of students have a problem with him."
She smiled. "My parents did have me learn a smattering of German, enough to read some signs if I needed to find my way around on holiday. We were usually in France but near there was the Rhine area which is mixed German and French so we went yearly. I can take a full semester of it if you think it'd help."
"I'm not sure if it would or not." He made that note as well. That was interesting. "What do your parents do?"
"They're both dentists." She smiled her perfect smile. "Regular, not specialist dentists, but very good and enjoy working with older ladies especially."
"That's a great thing. Probably hear a lot of gossip."
"When I was young I used to go with them to the practice and squeal at the ladies and ask them all sorts of questions. It let me learn how to knit, crochet, can things, and they helped me learn to read."
"That is interesting." He smiled, making the note about her parents. He pulled over a form for that program, going over the mandatories. "You're missing a year one mandatory." She leaned over to look and pointed at something. "I'm not sure if that would count."
"That's an art appreciation." She leaned back again, sitting up properly.
"I was thinking the humanities."
"I figured I'd take them more clumped together. Is that not permissible?"
"It is." He nodded, noting on there what she had taken and how she had done. It did look good. He got her admitted with an email to someone and then handed the answering one to her.
She stared at it, taking a picture to send to the lawyers. Who sent back a note that it was handled, she was already admitted. She held that up with a smile. He groaned but nodded at the new email saying it was fixed and a computer glitch due to someone taking bribes in the office. So it was cleared up greatly for her. So yes, she could be admitted to their program.
***
Harry showed up at the campus to look around, running into Hermione, making her smile at him and kiss him on the cheek. "Is this a nice one?"
"It's very nice so far. I'll show you around." She led him around the campus, ending up at the administration building so he could get information packets, class schedules, and all that stuff. "Come study with me if you need to, Harry."
"Thanks, Hermione." He went in to talk to someone.
"We've seen many English students," the registrar said happily. "It's great we're being spread around."
Harry nodded. "A lot of the ones from my school ran into an interfering government agency that tried to take us in as unwilling drones." He grinned. "Thankfully I'm not into that."
"I can see that point. What sort?"
"They call themselves the Ministry." He stared at her. "Sounds like a bunch of bigoted cranks when they talked though."
"Ah." She sighed but nodded. "Yes, we've seen that in many countries." She got to work going over his experience. "Is that work credit bodyguarding?"
"Shopping area security. The most boring job with the most paperwork ever," he admitted dryly then grinned. "They tried to tell me I didn't need training so I walked off. I don't let people tell me what to do with my life. Especially for crap pay and a lot of very boring paperwork about drunken idiots."
She nodded. "I've had shop clerk jobs so about the same probably, Mr. Potter." She got back to it then got him signed up if he wanted her to. He agreed and signed up for a semester as an undecided student. That worked and he'd get to take normal classes again. It might be good to see what normal classes were like again.
***
Hermione was over a year into her new program when Harry showed up to get some help, so she sat down with him to help him with the algebra. Not her best area but she could help him muddle through it. He went back to his dorm up the street later, after getting a hug. Hermione sat down to work on her hair before bed, looking back as someone appeared in her room. She raised an eyebrow, then smirked. "Why, Mr. Krum, pleasure to see you again." She shifted in her chair to look at him. "Is there a reason you appeared here tonight?"
He stared at the paper in his hand then at her. He held it up. "I was playing tomorrow for a game in England. A reporter handed me that to sign."
She took the portkey to reset, handing it back. "Tell whoever sent you that they're morons. They're probably trying to distract me from suing the Ministry until it falls in."
He nodded once. "Why?" She handed over the file on all that. He skimmed the top sheet, wincing. "That's weird."
"It's wrong and illegal. I'm not like that." She took it back with a grin. "I called lawyers."
He chuckled. "I did like how feisty you were and yes, I was probably meant to be a distraction."
She shrugged. "You're a nice enough one. I'd offer you tea but I don't have any here. I haven't been to the store in days."
He nodded. "That makes sense. Have a good night."
"You as well and a good game." She smiled, letting him send himself off again. She made a note to the lawyer's email about that attempt and what had been on the portkey. What a cheezy thing to try to do.
Viktor appeared back at the stadium, staring at the frowning people. "If your intent was to make me go flirt with her, we are not that to each other and I am not the sort of man that would jump on the first pretty girl that appeared in front of him," he said dryly, putting the portkey into his bag since his coach had it.
"If you're trying to discredit me or her, I would stop. Neither of us would put up with that sort of thing and we are not nice people. I learned how from her." He smirked, walking off. "Am I past bed check, Coach?"
"No, not yet, Viktor. I'll escort you to the hotel." He looked at the idiot people then followed his player. "What was she doing?"
"Brushing her hair in a very nice nightgown but I am not that sort of man. I would treat her as I'd want my sister to be treated." He looked at him. "Was I a distraction?"
"I think they planned to discredit her by saying you two had sex."
"Why would that matter? I'm not married. I doubt she's married."
"They seemed to think she was engaged but there's been no notice in the papers and she would've gotten some." He grimaced. "I do not know why."
"She thought it might be something to distract her from suing the ministry for trying to force her to comply with their idiotic ideas that all munborn students should be required to work for them."
"Ah." He nodded. "What is she doing about that?"
"She hired lawyers." He smirked at his coach before they walked outside. "Their letter to the Ministry was on top and it was quite mean from an international firm that my mother coos at the evilness of." The coach winced at that. "Yes, that one."
He opened the door, wincing at the loud girls out there. "Really, must you be that loud? It's late," he complained. "I must sleep to be amazing tomorrow during the game, ladies. Please not tonight? I do not wish to give any false hopes." They pouted but let them get a ride to the hotel.
Someone's bad idea was derailed completely. Thankfully. He was not the sort that Hermione would adore. Though they did look amazing together. Plus she didn't like his sport so he couldn't date her. The fans would rip her apart. No one deserved that.
***
Hermione was called for testimony for the suit against the UK ministry, showing up dressed impeccably escorted by a lawyer so no one tried to grab her.
The auror on the desk stopped them. "Wand please."
Hermione let him scan it. "I'm not relinquishing it. Too many threats," she said with a smile. She walked past him, her wand going back into the holster. She looked at the lawyer. "So?"
"So," he agreed with a nod. They got onto the lift, going to the proper floor. "They're still stuck on the idea."
"That's because they're backwards," she said dryly.
"Good point. They definitely are and the ICW was not impressed."
"Neither was I." She smiled at him. "Thankfully I did make myself do the muggle classes to keep up. So many don't realize they'd need it and get trapped."
He nodded. "I can see why." They went into the courtroom and she sat down properly at the table he pointed at. He stood beside his boss, who was already there. The judge called them to order and she took a calming breath, staring at him.
"State your name for the record please," the judge said, sounding bored.
"I am Hermione Dastaria Jean Granger-Proval."
"You've married?" he asked.
"No, that's my birth name. I go by Granger, my father's name, for ease in the world." She stared at him. "My official UK paperwork is in my correct name."
"Oh, I see." He sighed, looking at the papers filed. "Did you sign anything for the school?"
"No. I was underage and my parents didn't sign anything at all. They were handed papers but handed them back without filling anything out."
"Did you take out a loan for your schooling?"
"No. Not in the least. I have a healthy educational trust. I didn't need to."
He frowned. "How did you do that?"
"My parents work at well paying jobs," she said dryly. "I could have attended for another decade and a half up there if I had wanted to at their cost. Though I don't see how they justify that cost. My original boarding school for those years would've been more expensive and exclusive but I decided to train that skill of mine." She shrugged, staring at him.
"Oh." He frowned. He looked at the papers, handing one over. "Is that your signature?"
She looked then shook her head. "No. That's a very bad forgery and very shaky." She handed it to the lawyer, who took pictures of it to save.
"What are you doing?" the judge demanded.
"They did not give over the evidence they were presenting as they should have so I'm taking a record of it for the later lawsuits that'll be brought because they broke the law by not handing it over in discovery." He handed it back with a smug look. "As the ICW did ask me to do if I found things they had that were not presented already."
"Why do they care?" he demanded.
"Because your ministry has broken so many international laws it's about to be shut down." He stared at him. "The ICW president, President Reclunde, is most unhappy about this still being attempted. He's ordered an investigation." The judge winced at that. "My client had no intention of working in this building in any capacity. That's why she took the classes that muggle children take so she could go to a good college that didn't include magic."
"Why not?" he demanded.
Hermione stared at him, head tipped slightly to the right. "Do you really need to ask?" she demanded. "With the biased blood laws? With the pushing and the stealing and the attempted kidnaping that's happened? Why would I want to work for any of you? You let the last blood war happen by not stepping in and then punishing children for daring to be born.
"It's not like we pick who we're born to. I'm sure you didn't pick your parents." He glared. She stared back, sitting up straighter. "Not a single one of you scare me and really, it was lawyers or starting a war myself. Which did you prefer?"
The judge laughed. "You can't do that, Granger."
"Well, yes, I can." She smirked. "I can lead an uprising fairly easily. I've already gotten the poor ones trapped into that illegal slavery contract help from other countries' communities. I've been organizing to get them help now for over a year." She stared at him. Then smiled. "It's what people like me do." He looked horrified again. She smiled more brightly. "It's wrong to trap people that way and it's borderline human trafficking, which is against international law. I'm shocked it's still going on."
He spluttered. "You are nothing to us."
"Then prove it by leaving me alone," she quipped.
He glared. "I think you'll return to do as you must."
"No I'm not." She shook her head. "And you cannot force me to."
"We can annul your current marriage," he sneered.
"No, that's not going to happen. Though, not an issue I have. And really, if you did that, I'd call in UK agents." She stared at him. "My grandmother was one for years, a technical support person." The judge looked horrified. "If you come for me, I'm going to fight back. I've proven that repeatedly over the years.
"The only time I didn't there was a basilisk." She shrugged slightly then smiled again. "Anything else today since this court is clearly not ready to hear this case properly and by the law? As you've shown your own bias so grandly? Thank you so much for helping my lawsuit against your people."
The main lawyer covered up a smirk with a cough. "He really has helped us all, yes," he agreed with a nod. "It's a shame that they've proven they're not citizens of the law."
"Or of the ones who follow the actual UK laws," she said dryly. Then sighed. "Pity. I wonder if the Queen's been told yet."
The lawyer looked at her. "I have no idea. I know some of her agents have because they've been watching over our shoulder."
She nodded. "I ran into one that wanted to know why someone was sent to my dorm room to distract me. I nicely sent him back home almost immediately. I didn't have tea to serve him and I didn't want to be rude and keep him up."
"You are not anything that we'd worry about, Granger."
She cleared her throat. "That's Lady Proval actually. Thanks to my mother not wanting it." She smiled. The man looked horrified, rearing back, his whole face nearly going flat in his shocked look. She shrugged. "Not like it matters much to anyone these days."
She stood up. "Are we done?" she asked her lawyer, who nodded. "Then thank you for helping me today and I hope all of your future cases about this subject are less amusing than today was." She walked off with the lower level lawyer. Behind her that lawyer was giggling about that. "If they didn't learn to look up people that's not *my* fault they never learned to research or read anything in Hogwarts."
The lower lawyer was giggling too. "That was almost as bad as the bank's warriors."
She smiled. "A worthwhile role model in times like these." He nodded at that, escorting her back to campus before going to tell the higher ups what had happened. The main lawyer was partially detained until the ICW people showed up to get him free.
Later that day Hermione was in front of another judge, staring at him heaving a fit about her. "I did not sign that, Your Honor."
"I can prove you did!" he yelled.
"I can prove I didn't as I'm not in the habit of misspelling my middle name," she said dryly, staring at him. "My middle name is Jean, not Jane." He looked horrified. She nodded.
"Their forger is really horrible at it. He had the shakes with the way the lines wobble, mine's not that swoopy when I sign my name on legal documents or on anything as I learned better when I was younger to have a readable signature for legal things." She stared at him then smiled.
"Though I would like to know who their forgery supposed expert was so I could talk to them and educate them on how to properly copy things by practice. I learned that learning to write with a quill at Hogwarts. Which that's not one of those or a pen that anyone in my family would've used as that's a thick pointed fountain pen and my family tends toward gel writers for ease of movement because they have to fill out so many forms a day in the dental practice. My fountain pen had a medium tip, not that thick."
The judge looked at it then at her. "Quills?"
"Yes, they still demand the students use quills for classwork. I snuck in pens for note taking but yes, for anything handed in it's quills writing on parchment." She shrugged. "Not my choice. I would have liked a nice pen. It would've been a lot more readable."
"Can you prove they still do that?" The lawyer handed over a yearly shopping list for the first year student. "Oh, I do see quills listed" he admitted, grimacing some. "This year's?"
"Yes, Your Honor," the lower lawyer said. "I got it from a first year student who had thought he was going to go but this case made him change his mind and go out of country."
"I can see why." He frowned. "What do you want out of this, Miss Granger?"
"Well, first please use my actual legal name," she said. "Which is Hermione Dastaria Jean Granger-Proval. I went by the patriarchal surname for the wizarding world to not confuse anyone and for ease of movement."
He blinked a few times. "Was this filed in your actual name or the one you used there?"
"Actual," the lawyer said, handing that over. "With an 'officially known as' added." He looked at her. Then at the judge. "She didn't want anyone to assume she was her grandmother."
Hermione nodded. "I do love the old dear, even though my mother and she had some fights." She smiled a bit. "I asked for her help with my father to find the lawyers I hired." She waved a hand at them. "With someone who knew about the wizarding world to help her usual legal counsel so I did not break the statute of secrecy."
The judge stared at her. "That's good of you," he said dryly. "Why hire them?"
"They've got excellent ratings, are able to fight in many courts, including this one and England's, and can fix problems even if that Minister for Magic does try to move it to another colonial judiciary bench."
"Oh. That reason." He grimaced. "Do you think you're that smart, young lady?"
"Well, my IQ was measured last at 178," she admitted. "Nearly genius level." She stared at him. "I think I work hard for what I have, like my grades. I think I planned very well on how to get into college on my own. I had no intention of ever working for that corrupt, biased group of people up there.
"Frankly, they treat people like me like shit and at one point in time had us rounded up to be put into camps for daring to be born. I have no idea how that was *my* fault but apparently, according to them, I somehow managed to decide to be born with magic." She shrugged.
He cleared his throat. "They did what?"
"During the last blood war when their dark lord took over the Ministry? They never have removed the same laws that let them do that, or the laws that let them lock up any non-bloodlined witches, specifically witches, and all this was built on those same laws."
"Can you prove that?"
"Yes." She dug something out to hand over. "If your bailiff would print that, yes I can." She stared at the man. "Nearly got caught by them a few times actually while fighting against that dark lord." He slumped. The bailiff printed it and let her see it, picking out three to hand to him, the other two going to the lawyer.
The judge took them to look over. "Madam Umbridge was the Under Minister under Minister Fudge, Your Honor. That was her push and Fudge just gladly let the bigots in to do what bigots do. They didn't even have to nudge him to do that."
"Oh, hell," he muttered, reading them over. "They really did." He checked it against the laws that were being protested and nodded. "They are built on the same laws. Though older versions apparently?" he asked her.
"Some of them date to the seventies," she admitted. "Written by people like Umbridge then. Still on the books, they just built upon it and restated two of them. I'm guessing they didn't read their own law books."
"That's entirely possible when talking about Fudge's people." He groaned. "Hell!" He looked at her after his outburst. She looked calm. "Do I scare you?"
"No. I survived being attacked by Bellatrix Lestrange once. You don't scare me at all, Your Honor." He stared at her oddly. She took off her jacket and rolled up her shirt sleeve to show that word written into her arm. "She had me for a few hours. They managed to save me." She put her shirt sleeve back down then her jacket back on. "I'm going to have it covered up some day soon with a pretty little tattoo." She pulled her hair out of her collar. "So no, you don't scare me."
He nodded once. "I can see why." He sighed. "What are these....quills she's mentioning?"
"She had family heirloom blood quills. As noted by a few of my fellow students' treatment she had them write lines and it took it out of their skin in blood and flesh." He grimaced. "She was absolutely delightful as a human being," Hermione finished blandly. "May she rest in peace."
The judge looked at her. "You?"
"No. Pity but no."
"Oh." He went back to the evidence. It was clear what she had signed, it was readable, in good penmanship, the lines were firmly inked, she hadn't misspelled her name though at one point she may have. He held one up. "Did you sign that one?"
She looked then shook her head. "No. That was a teacher signing it. One of my ones from primary. I had a magical accident due to some bullying. I was unconscious because I had panicked and sent myself into a hyperventilating fit that knocked me out from the lack of air."
"Oh." He grimaced, setting that aside. "How old were you?"
"I think that was fourth form, Your Honor. If I remember right. If it's a different one I'm not sure. I only know that form is one that the aurors fill out for accidental magic as I had to see it two other times. Both from saving myself from something. Once from a car crash, making it bounce off me and the other from a dog that got sicced on me by some sick idiot on my parents' former street who hated dentists."
He grimaced. "Why?"
"He needed mental health work and got it very fast."
He nodded. "I've seen that happen." He went back over the other forms, sorting them out. So many did not look like hers used as an example of her handwriting. Almost none of them looked like hers. He stared at one. "Is that yours?" He let her hold it to look at.
She stared then nodded. "Yes. I had to sign a report about a theft. I used the simplified version and my initials so as to not confuse people. I was not the only one who signed that and if you had glasses you'd see the 'dash-Proval' after it in hidden ink." She handed it back after exposing that.
"Oh, I see." He nodded once, going over that event then the other forms. "No, nothing in here would obligate you." He frowned at her. "How did we get to this?"
"I got very mad when they broke into my apartment, stole some family jewelry, stole my bank things to try to get into it, and then changed my college major on me without my consent." He winced. "So I went to my grandmother to keep me from starting a war."
"Could you?" he asked.
"I can make inspirational speeches. I helped set up groups to help the ones still trapped there if they needed it." He winced. "I've helped new students hear that it may not be in their best interests to go there. If I had to I could probably find a way to make explosives, I did learn how in chemistry classes." She smiled for a second.
"They trap us by not giving us the classes we'd be getting in the muggle world that'd be required to pass the test to go to college. Which means we're not really fit to go to any job in the muggle world outside the military. Which then traps them in a no-win situation of stuck in the magical world as a third class citizen or stuck in the muggle world without any skills, job prospects, and a dim future."
"You took the muggle classes?" She nodded. "How? An extra year?"
"No. I took the home schooling classes."
"Oh." He grimaced. "That's probably hard to do?"
"Somewhat but not like we had other things to do as there were almost no clubs, no electricity for things that might be fun for downtime, and nothing to do but study, read, and play snap really unless you were part of the drunken party circuit that I did not take part in."
He grimaced. "Mine had that same party circuit, young lady. We had electricity."
"We had to bring the suit, Your Honor, because it's fortunate that she was able to escape the trap they were setting up for her, but many haven't," the head lawyer said, standing up a bit wobbly. Hermione steadied him. "Thank you," he said quietly. She nodded, letting his arm go.
"It's unlawful for them to steal from her because she's from non-bloodlined people so therefore shouldn't have nice things. Or money in her accounts. They shouldn't be trying to trap her into a marriage or a career she doesn't want or need. They shouldn't be lying about any of this.
"They've broken their own laws, plus the ICW charter laws that they agreed to. They've broken the mundane UK laws as well. By any rights, their government is a rogue government and illegally meeting. Even now they're trying to get things back into their own hands and failing hard."
"Some wizards, who were aurors, tried to attack my grandmother in her house and managed to find her grandson, who is an agent," Hermione admitted. "I'm sure they were not pleased and guns do work on wizards from what she told me. I sent him flowers in apology for this spilling into his world as he had no idea about any of this."
"So they exposed it to an agent," the judge said. She nodded. "That's dumb."
She wouldn't say 'maybe they had graduated hogwarts too' about them. That was mean. "I'm fairly certain when he had to report that attack, it exposed it to more than one agent, who may or may not have known already. Because an agent would have to report to his superiors and I have no idea how pervasive the knowledge is in the UK agent groups, official and otherwise."
"You're saying they fractured the statute severely?" he asked.
She nodded. "Most likely, Your Honor. That was their choice to go on that sort of action and that had consequences that aren't healthy for the community at large either."
He shook his head. "That's great. Who's in charge of the aurors?"
"I'm told Alastair Moody is, Your Honor, but I do not know who ordered that raid. I was told they were all younger, about my own age, maybe a bit older."
"That agent's supervisor, or someone saying he was anyway, came to our offices to see what prompted such an action," the head lawyer said. "He was not amused and swore up and down that the role playing freaks would not like to know what should happen to them."
Hermione looked at him. "Dark hair with hair plugs to make it look fuller, middle age, bronzed looking, really shiny because he's got an oil problem?" she guessed. "Slight paunch starting but he's trying to hide it via tailoring. Slight limp on the right foot? Marble and rosewood cane?"
He nodded slowly. "No, he knew. He knows my father." She looked at the judge again. "He tried to get me to calm down but he did know. I'm not aware of why but when my father was complaining about the 'special school' he went 'oh, Hogwarts, that figures with your little girl'." She grimaced.
"I think he might be my godfather actually but again not sure. Dad never told me but the way he jokes he said someday he might have to take custody of me to raise me as a better little girl. For which I kicked him on the leg and broke it so he now limps because I made him fall down a flight of stairs."
The judge just nodded, making note of that. "With the kick?"
"Yes. We were at the top of a staircase when he joked that and I got mad when my mother got mad so kicked him, which physics made him fall backwards down that long flight of marble stairs." She nodded a bit again.
He shook his head. "Very weird." She shrugged. "How do you know what he does?"
"Barely and a tiny bit. He asked me about the camps they had us in."
"Oh. That reason. So the UK government knew about some of that?"
"Do you think you could share a country with a major spying superpower and them not realize it? They probably hired more than one magical person. I would've as soon as I found out."
"That's a good point. I hadn't thought of that. I would have too as soon as I found out." He grimaced. "Why are you seeming like the reasonable one here against a government?"
"Because I'm right," she admitted. "I'm fighting for my own safety and the safety of others like me. When governments get caught doing the wrong things people like me step up and yell about it until it's fixed and/or stopped. I should sound more reasonable against idiotic ideas and bigotry. I'd be ashamed of myself if I wasn't more reasonable than that standard."
"That's a good reason." He grimaced, looking at the lawyers, who were grinning at him. "Are you going to law school?"
"Psychology."
"Oh. Interesting."
"I want to help people heal. That's one way that's often overlooked and is a necessity. With my experiences I can help a wider range of people."
"Good idea." He nodded. "Fine." He banged his gavel. "The UK government is being remanded into a full jury trial of their legality of their situation based on this incident." The lawyer smiled at that. "Do have fun watching your backs."
She nodded. "As always because dark lords make people paranoid. This isn't any worse than that paranoia."
He nodded. "That could happen." He let them leave together. Then he went to his office to groan about all that. He was very glad he didn't have to hear arguments on a case from her some day.
She was the monster they hadn't intended to make.
***
Story notes:
One day, while writing Extraordinary League of Assholes Goes To Hogwarts, I bunnied myself greatly. So I started that one as well. Ten pages in, I had the sudden thought of I should have started this younger. So I did but kept the first one. I wrote them at the same time. Literally. I'd do ten pages in one, get the next scene in the other. Go write that. Back and forth for two very long stories. They are AU's of each other, not in the same universe. So I will post them together as a series.
Chapter notes:
If you swear at Merlin like God, wouldn't you swear at Mordred like Satan? Made sense to me.