"Thank you Madam Bones. I wouldn't dare dream of hurting Susan, she means so much to me. I hope to be worthy of the trust you've placed in me." Harry gave a small bow, before saying a quick goodbye and making his way back to Hermione, Padma, and Luna.
"Oh! There's daddy. I should go. Thank you for making my first year so wonderful. I hope to become even closer to you all next year!" Luna gripped all three of them into a tight hug, before running off to a tall thin man with long white hair. Harry would have guessed he was Luna's father from a mile off, they looked so similar.
"Unfortunately, I have to part here as well." Padma said, as Parvati made her way to her. "Our agent from the ministry is there to guide us to our way home. I'll let you know what my parents say about us Harry. See you soon!" With that, the twins walked off towards a well dressed wizard, holding a small sign that said "Patil".
"Well, it's just us then, let's head through to the Muggle side." Hermione said, taking the lead and pushing her cart through the post that connected to the muggle side of King's Cross station.
Finding Hermione's parents was easy enough, David's t-shirt, which Hermione had told him was from a band called 'Grateful Dead', stood out amidst the people standing around in business suits. Near them was Andromeda, having a chat with Rose about something.
"There's my Queen of Sicily!" David said, crushing Hermione in a hug once the pair made their way to them. "Oh, I've missed you so much! Not seeing you over the holidays was torture! We barely get to see you any as it is, then we had to miss you during the holidays?"
"I am sorry daddy, but I didn't have a choice. The school was on lockdown." Hermione said, giving her father a bone crushing hug of her own.
"What was all of that about? They didn't tell us much about it." David said, finally releasing his daughter.
"Let's head out to the car, and we can talk about it there." Ted said, gesturing to the crowd around them. "Privileged information after all."
"You're right. Come on then, let's get these kiddos to the car." David said, picking up Hermione's trunk.
The trip to the car was uneventful, with Hermione standing between her parents and simply enjoying being with them again. She had really missed them, and hadn't even had a moment to see them since she left for Hogwarts in September. Harry at least had their day at the tournament to see Ted and Andromeda.
The Tonks and Grangers had rented a large van for the day, planning for Ted to drive everyone to Oxfordshire where dinner would be held at the Tonks' residence. Later that night, the Grangers were to take the van back to Bristol with them.
"Why are you guys not using the floo to get back to Oxfordshire?" Hermione asked, curious about the arrangement.
"Well, for starters, we and your parents have become rather good friends while you were away at school. Ted has been helping them understand the magical world a bit, having been in your shoes as a muggleborn. It's been nice for us to have other parents to talk about raising wizarding kids. We didn't really have any friends with kids when we had Nymphadora." Andromeda said, sitting in the passenger seat.
"Well, it's time for us to talk about what happened at the school this year. We were told what happened, but are also required to keep it confidential. We're only allowed to tell you because Hermione was directly affected." Ted said, looking in the rearview mirror.
"That… doesn't fill me with confidence about what happened. What on earth happened that requires that level of secrecy?" Rose asked, squirming in her seat a bit.
"For starters, a bit of background is needed on what Hogwarts means to the wizarding world. It's largely considered one of the safest places in the country. The staff there consists of many of the most capable wizards around, and therefore the general populace believes that any problems the school has they should handle it themselves." Ted started. "It was a shock to me as well, our daughter Nymphadora had gotten in some similar danger while she was in school, and it was everything I could do to not storm the place myself, but generally these situations are controlled very well by the staff."
"I see, I take it something dangerous happened at school this year then, why didn't you write home about it?" David asked to Hermione, before she could speak, Ted spoke up for her.
"At the start, it looked like little more than a particularly morbid prank. A vague message on a wall, and a petrified cat. Startling for sure, but mostly harmless. I remember similar things happening in the Secondary School my older cousin went to. From there though, she was in the middle of it, as people believed that Harry was the culprit for a while. It's no secret around the school how close the pair of them are." Ted continued.
"If that was the end of it, was it that dangerous for the students to return home?" Rose asked.
"The problem was that the next victim wasn't a cat. It was a student, a muggleborn one. The petrification at this point had also proven itself to be much longer lasting then what can typically be achieved by standard spells. Suspicion at this point was still on Harry, although we're all aware he wouldn't do such a thing. Hermione, Harry, and the rest of their club would eventually uncover the cause of the petrifications, a Basilisk." Ted said, and Andromeda shivered a bit in her seat.
"One of those six legged lizard things with a petrifying gaze? They're real?" David asked, and Andromeda looked confusedly back at him.
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T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.