Chapter 15: CH 14 Luring a Hermione with Magic
"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" said a voice sounded from behind them, the smug pretentiousness evident in the tone.
Alcor let out a sigh as he tilted his head to see the incoming nuisance.
Harry straightened up too, and found himself face-to-face with Draco Malfoy, who was wearing his usual sneer.
"Famous Harry Potter," said Malfoy. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."
"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" shouted Ginny. It was the first time she had spoken in front of Harry. She was glaring at Malfoy.
"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" drawled Malfoy. Ginny went scarlet as Ron and Hermione fought their way over, both clutching stacks of Lockhart's books.
"Oh, it's you," said Ron, looking at Malfoy as if he were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?"
"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," retorted Malfoy. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those."
Ron went as red as Ginny. He dropped his books into the cauldron, too, and started toward Malfoy, but Harry and Hermione grabbed the back of his jacket.
"Ron!" said Mr. Weasley, struggling over with Fred and George. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."
"Well, well, well — Arthur Weasley." It was Lucius Malfoy. He stood with his hand on Draco's shoulder, sneering in just the same way.
"Lucius," said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.
"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr. Malfoy. "All those raids . . . I hope they're paying you overtime?"
He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.
"Obviously not," Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"
Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny. "We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.
"Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Grangers and Birchwoods, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley . . . and I thought your family could sink no lower —"
There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; Mr. Weasley had thrown himself at Mr. Malfoy, knocking him backward into a bookshelf.
Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their heads; there was a yell of, "Get him, Dad!" from Fred or George; Mrs. Weasley was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!"; the crowd stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over; "Gentlemen, please — please!" cried the assistant, and then, louder than all — "Break it up, there, gents, break it up —" Hagrid was wading toward them through the sea of books.
In an instant he had pulled Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy apart. Mr. Weasley had a cut lip and Mr. Malfoy had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools.
He was still holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice. "Here, girl — take your book — it's the best your father can give you —" Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop.
"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," said Hagrid, almost lifting Mr. Weasley off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that — no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter — bad blood, that's what it is — come on now — let's get outta here."
The assistant looked as though he wanted to stop them leaving, but he barely came up to Hagrid's waist and seemed to think better of it.
They hurried up the street, the Grangers shaking with fright and Mrs. Weasley beside herself with fury. "A fine example to set for your children . . . brawling in public . . . what Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought —"
"He was pleased," said Fred. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report — said it was all publicity —"
The commotion lasted for a little while as people gossiped before calming down. Kane and Veronica calmed down the Grangers, who seemed shaken up by seeing such fight in public.
Alcor discreetly slipped a pouch of galleons to the book store's assistant, tipping him extra on top of what was needed for the books he bought, as a compensation for the mess that had been made. The assistant nodded in understanding and promised that he would take care of the clean up.
But it was a subdued group that headed back to the fireside in the Leaky Cauldron, where Harry, the Weasleys, and all their shopping group would be traveling back to the Burrow using Floo powder.
Alcor and the Birchwoods said good-bye to the Grangers and Weasleys. Grangers were leaving the pub for the Muggle street on the other side along with the Birchwoods. Veronica even made plans with Mrs. Granger to meet up once in a while to keep in touch about their respective charges.
Mr. Weasley got very excited on hearing that Grangers would be leaving by Bus and started to ask them how bus stops worked, but he stopped quickly at the look on Mrs. Weasley's face.
Finally, they all parted ways with a final round of goodbyes and left for their home.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Alcor spent the final few weeks before his first year at Hogwarts enjoying with his family. Astrid and he named their pets with suggestion from Kane and Veronica. Astrid named her owl Bullet since it was dark and small. Alcor named his owl Spectre as it was silent like a ghost when it flew.
Veronica decided to take the chance while Alcor was still here and invite Grangers over for a dinner party. She even suggested that Hermione could have fun reading from the huge book collection Alcor had, in case she didn't enjoy being in a party.
Hermione was extremely interested in that and Grangers came over for the party. The adults had fun socializing while Alcor took Hermione to his library. Astrid joined them there too, playing with her enchanted dolls and skateboard.
"So you made all this?"Hermione asked with a dumbfounded expression as she watched Astrid and her army of enchanted dolls playing a game Astrid made up.
"Well, I have always been gifted in magic, and I was able to learn all kinds of magical knowledge with ease. So I decided to use my time productively and this was the result." Alcor made an excuse to explain the situation before them.
"But.. But .. I read that Ministry of Magic keeps track of all magical activities. How did they not detect you?" Hermione asked in surprise.
"Oh that was even easier." Alcor said with a chuckle "See, in all the books you read, was there even one mention of any kid from magical family being caught for underage magic?"
Hermione thought hard before replying, "No. At least not when they are on break. The only under age magic pure blood wizards get caught for is if the do it in a public space."
"You see, there is a very simple reason behind that." Alcor said with a smile "The Ministry can't actually sense the location of under age magic. That is just a scam to fool Muggle-born wizards and witches."
"According to me, what they actually sense are activation of magic in non magical areas. For them its like seeing a lamp in absolute darkness. What they track is just the position of of our wands, and if it is the area of the activated magic then they determine it to be the work of the underage wizard." said Alcor.
"So if there is a wizard who activates the magic in the vicinity of the underage wizard and then escapes, it will still be the Underage wizard who gets implicated?" Hermione asked.
"Exactly." Alcor nodded, "For those in Wizarding families, their homes are already saturated with magic, or have multiple people performing magic in daily basis. So ministry ignores those place and any magic that is performed."
"So, here is the question I want you to ponder upon." Alcor told Hermione "If a Muggle-born performs magic in a magic saturated area, what do you think the result will be?"
Hermione was stunned by the question, before her eyes widened.
"You mean to say ---- here --- all this?" Hermione sputtered.
"Yup." Alcor smiled "Our entire Villa is warded and enchanted, giving it the same feel as a home of a magical family. If you like, you can try out a magic to check my claim."
Hermione hesitated at this, both wanting to confirm the claim, yet hesitant to in case Alcor was mistaken.
"Don't worry, if I am wrong and ministry employees come, then I will assume responsibility. I will say I was the one doing the magic." Alcor assured her.
After Alcor's assurance, Hermione felt more courageous and took out her wand. After thinking for sometime, she decided to use one of the most basic spells that could easily be explained as accidental magic if caught.
"Wingardium Leviosa!!" Hermione cast the spell on one of Astrid's toys, which started floating in air. Astrid was amused as always with magic and started clapping, which brought forth a wide grin on Hermione's face.
Following that, Alcor and Astrid enjoyed the rest of the evening by watching the one-woman-show Hermione performed, demonstrating every magic she had learnt after joining Hogwarts. She seemed to be making up for an entire summer of being without magic.
Before leaving with her parents at the end of the party, Hermione made sure that she got permission from Alcor and the Birchwoods for her to visit them whenever possible. Seeing that this was the perfect chance for him to cement his friendship with one of the Golden Trio, Alcor agreed.
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