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°1991°
“It’s about a witch that falls in love with a vampire, and there are werewolves too! It’s amazing.”
“Thanks, Fardly,” said Kate with a smile, writing down the title on the blackboard. “Granger?”
“Well, I believe spending the summer reading about children’s fantasies such as sorcerers, unicorns and vampires would be a real waste of time, since these things don’t exist,” stated her brightest student with conviction. “I’d rather suggest trying out War and Peace. A light reading, I finished it in eight days.”
Kate made an effort to keep smiling, but in her heart she felt a deep sadness for that child grown up too fast. Kate knew very well how clever she was, of course, but… War and Peace? She really hadn’t seen that coming. She would have liked to spare Granger the minor humiliation she knew it was about to unfold, but it was too late, now: not putting her suggestion on the list would have been even worse.
She had no choice but to write War and Peace below Night in Transylvania, before turning again to address the class.
“Mitchell, what do you propose?”
“So, how many votes for Night in Transylvania? Five… ten… Castark, is that a raised hand? Then thirteen… fifteen… twenty-one!” She wrote down the number beside the title. “It seems you were very convincing, Fardly.”
Kate didn’t miss Granger’s annoyed scoff, sadly in contrast with the excited giggles of her classmates.
“Now, how many votes for War and Peace?”
Granger’s hand was the only one to shoot in the air. She held her head high and her lips pursed while the other students chuckled, and Kate knew it was better to let it go. She turned and wrote a solitary ‘one’ beside the title.
Not as solitary as her, she thought, feeling terribly helpless.
When the last bell of the year rang in the halls, her students screamed with joy and darted to the door, shoving each other in their haste to leave.
Kate was watching them, a nostalgic smile on her lips, when an abrupt sound startled her.
Granger was still in the classroom, intent on putting her homework planner away. When she finally found a suitable spot for it among the myriad of notebooks and books, Granger zipped her backpack, put it on and adjusted the straps that sawed her shoulders.
“Have a good summer, Mrs Stendeer.”
Granger had been as polite as always, but Kate hadn’t missed the coldness in her tone.
She sighed. “Thank you, Hermione.” She wanted to apologise for imposing that cheap reading, for not supporting her in her little crusade, for failing to make her fit in. She wanted to tell her there was nothing wrong with letting your imagination carry you away, that books were also made to dream and explore fictional worlds. Kate would have also liked to say that magic had/ to exist, because by now she had come to the conclusion that the odd things that kept happening to Jack couldn’t be anything else, as insane as it might have sounded. “Good summer to you too.”
Granger greeted her with a sharp nod, walking away without sparing her another glance.
There will be other chances, Kate told herself, unaware that she would never see that kid crossing that door again – unaware how much she would regret that lousy good summer.
°1998°
“It must be it!” exclaimed Jack, pointing at the barrier between platform nine and ten. He jumped with excitement, pulling Nick by his hand. “C’mon, Dad!”
Kate threw an apprehensive glance at her husband, feeling reassured upon seeing his serene smile.
“We’ll make it, don’t worry. We won’t be the first nor the last… what do they call people without magic?”
“Muggle!” said Jack without the shadow of a doubt.
“Well, we’re not going to be the first Muggles to get to platform nine and three-quarters, are we?”
Kate offered him a soft smile, picking up the owl’s cage. “I suppose not.”
“I’ll go with Dad and then I’ll come back for you and Nox, don’t worry!” said Jack, his hands clenched on the cart handle. “I’ll be here in a second!”
Kate was about to wish him luck when she heard a voice behind her.
“Er, excuse me… I, uh, accidentally heard what you were saying…”
Kate pulled Jack closer, looking with horror at a scrawny teenager with a mop of unruly black hair.
“You must have misheard us,” said Nick aggressively, getting in front of her and Jack.
“Oh, no, you’ve got nothing to worry about,” said the boy with a sheepish smile, raising his hands in surrender. “I’m a wizard too,” he whispered. “I can walk your wife through the barrier, so your son won’t need to go back and forth.”
Kate looked at him with suspicion. He had striking green eyes and an odd scar on his forehead, but it was another detail that hit her. “Where’s your trunk, if you’re going to Hogwarts?”
“Oh, well, I’ve already finished, actually. I’m here to greet my friends. I promise you can trust me.” He seemed amused, somehow, as if he knew something she couldn’t grasp, and she didn’t like that feeling at all. She had been tricked by her own students too many times to fall for it again.
“Yes, that’s what they always say.” She waved a hand in a shoo gesture. “We can handle ourselves, thank you very much.”
The boy’s smile vanished. “Yes, of course. I’m sorry I bothered you.”
He walked away, going towards the barrier with faster and faster steps. When he reached the brick wall, Kate had barely the time to hold her breath before he vanished in a flick. It had seemed so easy that for a split second Kate regretted not accepting his help.
She clenched her fist on the cage handle while her son and husband pushed the cart towards the barrier, and when they were an inch from the crash she had to use all her self-control not to shriek, but an instant later they had vanished as well.
She waited for Jack to return with a certain impatience, tapping her foot on the ground and fidgeting with her grip on the cage. Her heart didn’t slow down even when her son reappeared into the station.
“Chill out, Mum, it’s a piece of cake!” he said enthusiastically, grabbing her hand and pulling forward. “And inside it’s amazing!”
Kate tightened her grip on the cage and ran behind Jack while Nox flapped and hooted indignantly. Every fiber of her being screamed when she was just a step from the wall, but she closed her eyes tightly and let her son guide her inside, ignoring her own instinct.
A second later she felt Jack’s hand holding her back and she slowed down, blinking.
Her mouth dropped in awe as she took in the sight. A marvelous scarlet locomotive – the Hogwarts Express – awaited on the rail, releasing white clouds of steam.
Even if the train seemed quite crowded already, the platform was still packed with kids, teens and parents dressed in the most disparate ways. There were people wearing jeans and others with long robes, there were wizards with purple cloaks and witches with pointed hats, and their chattering was mingled with the cries of owls and cats.
“It’s insane, isn’t it?”
She hadn’t even noticed that Nick was standing beside her until he had spoken, and she shook her head, overwhelmed. “It’s incredible…”
“Hello?” said Jack, waving his hands before them. “Are you just going to stand there like a lemon, or are you going to help me with my truck?”
Without waiting for an answer, he took the cage from Kate’s hands and rushed towards the train, leaving them with no other choice than to follow him with the cart.
When they got near the train door, they picked up the heavy trunk. Kate’s hand ached from the weight and the short metal handle that made her knuckles press uncomfortably against the wood, and after barely a couple of steps she had to put it down to rub her aching hand.
“Are you okay?” asked Nick without leaving his handle, so the trunk was still half-lifted.
Kate nodded silently and stood straighter, taking a deep breath. She counted to five, then she grabbed the handle again, this time with her left hand.
“Wait, it should be easier this way,” said a student with frizzy brown hair, tapping both handles with the tip of what Kate recognised as a wand.
“That’s crazy!” exclaimed Nick with wide eyes. “Crazy!”
Kate understood what was so crazy only when she picked up the trunk as well, and realised it was as light as a feather. She lifted it with ease and turned to thank the girl for the help.
She had just said thank you when the girl’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“Mrs Stendeer?”
Kate studied for a moment the young woman with an impeccable uniform and bushy hair, and when she finally recognised her she left the trunk drop to the ground, shocked.
“Granger?” she asked bewildered. “Hermione Granger?”
She beamed. “You remember me!”
“You’re… you’re a witch?” It felt strange saying that word out loud as it was normal – she wasn’t used to the fact that it didn’t have a negative connotation in the wizarding world.
“Well… yes, I am. I’m attending my last year at Hogwarts. Who would have thought, right?” said Granger with amusement. “And I guess the kid that jumped in the train a moment ago is your son?”
Kate nodded, still feeling lightheaded. “Yeah, yeah, it’s him. Jack. Oh, and this is my husband Nicholas.”
“Nice to meet you,” said Nick.
Granger greeted him politely and Kate saw in her the child she had met years before. She was surprised, though, when Granger squeezed her shoulder in a reassuring gesture. “I’ll make sure Jack is fine, I promise, but I’m positive he won’t need my help anyway.”
“I… thank you… It’s a pleasure to see you like… like this, ” said Kate with a sheepish smile. She threw a glance at Nick, conflicted.
“I can get the trunk on the train on my own now, don’t worry,” he said with a nod. “See you in a bit.”
Granger understood, because she gestured at Kate to follow her and they took several steps back to clear the entrance.
“I thought you’d changed school to have a better teacher,” Kate blurted out.
“Oh...”
“One that didn’t force you to read Night in Transylvania... ”
“Oh my God, I can’t believe you still remember that!”
Kate nodded. It wasn’t easy to forget her failures, but now that she had come clean with Granger she felt quite relieved.
“I know I wasn’t a great teacher for you. I know th–”
“Here you are!” cut her off a tall boy with striking red hair. “I’ve been looking for you for ages!”
“Ron! You made it!” exclaimed Granger, standing on her tiptoes to throw her arm around his neck and give him a peck on the lips. She was beaming, and Kate felt her heart warming at the sight. It was lovely to see her so happy and smiley (for the record, she didn’t remember Granger having such beautiful teeth, but she was the daughter of two dentists, after all).
When they split apart, the boy took her hand and jerked his head toward the crowd at the platform. “Come with me. Harry is here too, he wants to say hi.”
“But I can’t, I have to help the first year kids to settle! Will you ask him to come by, please?”
“Nah, if I get too close to Harry by myself I’ll end up punching him, he’s been snogging Ginny since he arrived.”
“Ron, she’s his girlfriend!”
“And you’re mine,” he grinned. “C’mon, do you really need to stay here? Even Percy has never done something like this.”
“What do you mean by that?” she asked annoyed, frowning in a way that Kate found very familiar.
Apparently the redheaded boy found it familiar too, because his tone softened immediately.
“Well, I mean… you wouldn’t want to deprive the parents of the pleasure of helping their beloved children on their first day of school, would you?” he asked with a sheepish smirk. “After all, you’ve got the rest of the year to prove yourself to be the best Head Girl Hogwarts ever had, while us…” – the boy’s ears became bright red while he searched for the right words – “… well, we won’t spend much time together, and….”
His strategy seemed effective, because Granger’s annoyance morphed into a smile. She gave a gentle kiss to the boy, who seemed quite pleased.
Only when Kate coughed lightly was Granger reminded of her presence.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said, blushing. “Ron, this is one of my old Muggle teachers, Mrs Stendeer. She’s just found out her son is a wizard, he’s attending Hogwarts for the first time. And this is Ronald Weasley.”
“Her boyfriend,” he specified, as if there was any chance of misunderstanding. “I bet she was the first in her class at the Muggle school too!”
“The brightest student I’ve ever met,” Kate confirmed with a smile.
“We have something in common, then, because she’s also the brightest witch I’ve ever met. Too bad she’s terrible at Quidditch,” he added with a teasing tone.
Kate had no idea what he was speaking about, but she tried to mask her ignorance with an awkward chuckle and a lame attempt to change the topic. “You know, I’m very curious to know what you thought of Night in Transylvania, Hermione. ”
Ganger widened her eyes, embarrassed. “Well, er, to be honest… I’ve never found out. I’m afraid I set the book on fire by mistake with accidental magic…”
“You set fire to a book?” exclaimed the redheaded, bewildered.
Kate was as surprised as he was, but she hadn’t time to make any comment about it.
“Harry!”
Kate’s heart missed a beat when she recognised the boy that waved in response. He was holding the hand of a beautiful girl whose hair was the same shade as Granger’s boyfriend.
“Fantastic, the giant squid finally detached from my sister!”
The redheaded girl – the boy’s sister, apparently – rolled her eyes. Granger, on the other hand, glared at her boyfriend and then walked towards the boy with black hair, hugging him tight. She has changed so much, thought Kate, almost moved. Now she’s in love, she has friends.
An instant later the green eyes of the lean boy met hers and Kate swallowed, forcing herself to smile.
And not even half an hour ago I told one of them to get lost. Well done!
While Granger and the other friends came back, many heads turned towards them. They had to be particularly prominent students at this school, assumed Kate.
“This is our best friend, Harry Potter, and this is Ron’s sister, Ginny,” said Granger when they were all together again. “And this is Mrs Stendeer, an old teacher of mine.”
The redheaded girl smiled warmly. “Nice to meet you.”
“Er… Hello… I’m glad that your son managed to walk you here without problems,” said Harry Potter, sheepish.
“You already know each other?” asked Granger with surprise.
“Well, I…”
“We’ve met before getting into platform nine and three-quarters,” explained Potter. “I offered her my help to cross the barrier, but her son insisted on accompanying her himself.”
Kate felt deeply grateful for that small lie. “It was very kind of you to offer, anyway,” she said with a smile.
“Thank you, Mrs Stendeer.”
“Wait a minute, don’t tell me she’s the Muggle that took you for a crazy maniac!” exclaimed the redheaded boy, delighted.
Kate flushed, but nodded guiltily.
“Er, well, it was just a misunderstanding.”
The redhead girl eyed at them with suspicion. “What are you –”
“You know, now I like you even more, Mrs Stendeer,” said her brother with glee, taking Kate aback. “I’d have paid to see Harry’s face after being rejected! He’s gotten so full of himself since he saved the world,” he added with a smirk.
His sister laughed and even Granger chuckled with amusement, but Kate was perplexed.
“Saved the world?” she asked. “Is it some kind of joke among the stud–”
“Mum!”
Kate turned toward the train and saw Jack jumping down with a radiant smile, followed by Nick. She reached them right away.
“You’ve no idea how packed the train is, Mum!” said Jack with excitement. “It took an eternity to Neal and me to find a free compartment!”
“Who’s Neal?”
Nick gave her an amused grin. “His new best friend.”
“He’s a first year too! He comes from a family of wizards and he knows so much stuff! Did you know that last year there was a huge battle, at Hogwarts? There were giants!”
“Jack, you shouldn’t believe everything they say,” admonished Kate. She had been right to fear that kids grown up with wizards were going to make fun of him, and only in that moment she realised how lucky she had been to meet Granger. “By the way, do you see that girl with bushy hair? She’s been my student before Hogwarts, and she’s Head Girl, so you can go to her if you have any question. I bet she’ll tell you there wasn’t any battle in the school.”
Jack opened his mouth to counteract, but Nick cut him off.
“It’s that boy again!” he hissed.
“Oh, no, he’s actually quite nice,” Kate admitted. “He’s a close friend of Granger.”
“You said Granger, Mum?”
“Yes, Hermione Granger, my old student. Why?”
“Why?” yelled Jack, drawing Granger and her friends’ attention. “Mum, she’s Harry Potter’s best friend, the one that defeated You-Know-Who in the Battle of Hogwarts! Neal says she’s the best witch there is! And her boyfriend is Ron Weasley, Harry Potter’s other best friend, and his sister Ginny Weasley was at Hogwarts when…”
While Jack kept talking, Kate turned astonished toward the four guys, and their sheepish smiles said more than thousands words.
After all, thought Kate, this Neal might not be such a terrible friend.