{Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour, Diagon Alley}
"Now there is a sight that can not be tolerated, kids with frowns on their faces, not in my shop." An aged voice spoke as two scoops of ice cream were placed in front of Hermione and me.
"Thank you, Mr. Fortescue," Susan quickly greeted, as both Hermione and I repeated after her.
"The first one is on the house." He grinned at us, his scruffy beard moving along with it as he patted his belly and walked away.
I looked down at the ice cream, grabbed the spoon that had come with it, and tasted it. It tasted like sweet-and-sour lime toffee, but the texture was like pudding. I looked down at it for a moment before I turned to Susan and asked, "So was there any reward money for vanquishing a Dark Lord?"
I tried to joke again. Susan's eyes flickered for a moment before she grinned. "I would have to ask my Aunt, and I thought of the perfect prank. I'll owl you her answer later." I shared her grin and nudged Hermione, who was still stuck thinking about Susan's words.
'Clearly, the dangers of Magic hadn't occurred to her yet. Clearly, wherever power was involved, there would be people who would want to take advantage of another, it's a basic rule of human psychology.'
"So what was growing up in the wizarding world like?" I asked, hoping to change the subject. Both Susan and Hannah looked confused for a moment before they began describing what a typical day in their life was like.
"Nothing much, really. I have so many teachers coming and going that it makes my head spin, only during the summers could we have a little more free time." She complained.
Her words about teachers and classes did the trick as Hermione perked up and asked a little anxiously, "What kind of stuff are you taught? Are we very far behind?"
"No, no, it's not entirely magic-related, though some people do start learning the basic preparation steps for various potion ingredients in this last year. It shouldn't make much of a difference. Our magical cores are not really mature enough to handle channeling any amount of mana, so muggleborns, although, might have some disadvantage at the beginning, it all evens out in just a couple of months." Susan explained patiently.
"And you would be quite right with that assessment, Miss Bones." Prof. McGonagall's voice called out from behind us as Susan and Hannah quickly exclaimed and greeted her.
"Muggle-borns are some of the brightest wizards and witches to walk out of Hogwarts. Your mother, Mr. Potter, was one of the brightest witches of her generation, and she was a Muggle-born." Prof. McGonagall nodded as she accepted Susan and Hannah's greetings as she finished making her point.
"Oh," I nodded toward Prof. McGonagall and tried to pretend like I was lost in thought. To be honest, I hadn't really thought that people would scrutinize me so much.
"Let's get going. Before we sign this agreement, I think we need to talk to your parents, Miss Granger." Prof. McGonagall addressed Hermione, who had a complicated look on her face.
'She is likely trying to figure out how to explain this situation to her parents and then convince them that going to Hogwarts instead of the university is the best option.' I thought.
'Yeah, good luck with that, hopefully Prof. McGonagall will help her.' I thought as I took a couple more bites of the ice cream before telling her I was done. Turning to Susan and Hannah, I greeted them goodbye, "It was lovely to meet you both. See you at Hogwarts?"
Getting an excited wave and a shy nod, I turned to Prof. McGonagall, who quickly grabbed onto my shoulder as we were sent hurtling through the space once again.
...
...
We arrived in the backyard of a typical English house. The grass was trimmed neatly, and some flowers were growing in the bushes. Hermione quickly got her stomach to stop clenching as she walked over and pulled out a key from under the mat. She quickly opened the door as she ushered us into the living room.
With that done, she disappeared into the house and arrived a few minutes later. "Dad is holding down the fort at the office, but Mom is going to be back soon. Would you guys like anything to drink?" She asked.
I shook my head and turned to Prof. McGonagall. Although my acting was bad, I still knew that it was the right time to ask Prof. McGonagall for clues.
"Professor," I asked, getting her attention, "Susan said something about how my parents died facing a dark lord, and that's why they knew who I was..." I hesitated toward the end and left it at that, trying to look like I was trying to get as much information as possible.
She sighed as she basically reiterated Susan's words, while Hermione sat beside me and gently rubbed my back as I listened to the story of that night once again. We heard a car screech outside, and soon after, the front door opened as a woman in a white shirt and pants, wearing a white lab coat, walked in.
"Hermione, how was your trip to the Magical world, dear? I hope everything went well," I heard her say as I looked at the middle-aged woman.
"Everything was fine, Mum. Come here, we need to talk about something." She said, pulling her toward us.
The next few minutes went by as Hermione tried very hard to paint a very rosy and exciting picture of the Wizarding world, before she painted the goblins as horrible creatures who were trying to take advantage of the Muggleborns to get them to sign a horrible contract in order to get a loan.
Then she pointed toward me as I waved my hand in greeting, and the proposal was pushed forward. With that said, Prof. McGonagall pushed out two contracts: one that I would sign, which would give Hogwarts the necessary permission to withdraw funds for Hermione's tuition from my vault. The other was a straightforward contract stating how much money the Grangers needed to give me in exchange for the galleons.
After all the explanations, Mrs. Granger still looked a bit conflicted, but she agreed to the deal, and Hermione excitedly leaped at her to hug her. I shared an amused look with Mrs. Granger. Granger, now a red-faced Hermione, signed her name across the two contracts while I did the same.
"Shall we get going, Mr. Potter?" Prof. McGonagall asked, and I nodded. She had already emptied out Hermione's supplies onto their living room table, and we politely declined Mrs. Granger's invitation to stay for dinner as we walked back to the backyard.
"Wait, Harry, what's your phone number? I can call you later to set up the money transfer as agreed." Hermione asked.
'Right, I kind of forgot about that... and I forgot to buy Hedwig in Diagon Alley.' I felt the urge to smack my forehead as I shook my head at her and replied, "I'll owl you later to explain."
I waved my hand goodbye as Prof. McGonagall's hand once again appeared on my shoulder, and we were whisked away.
'I would like to buy a broom, please. I can't really handle this apparition business.'
AN: I tried to cut this meeting short and not overexplain, to slow down the pace of the story no more than I needed to. Still, this story will forever be slow-paced, as Harry will now try several ways to gain LP and level up over the summer and explore magic, with Hermione being the main focus before Hogwarts starts.