Dudley Dursley and the Knights of Walpurgis

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

The sensation of walking through the shop window was horrible. Judith supposed it wasn't Mr. Malfoy's fault that he didn't know how it would feel to her; he didn't seem to have noticed it at all. And the reception area was truly mad; people with unnatural growths, children turned unnatural colours, one man who appeared to be halfway to becoming a teapot. She edged closer to Mr. Malfoy and asked, "Is this normal?"

"It's quite a bit busier than usual," he said with a frown. "But it's a school holiday; that might have something to do with it." He glanced at her and then turned and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You needn't worry; you're perfectly safe here. Most of the unusual changes just need to be reversed; that's why they're here."

"This won't happen to Matt?" she asked. Bad enough to have magic, but to have to endure one of these things . . .

Mr. Malfoy shrugged. "I can't promise, but it's certainly not usual. The staff at Hogwarts does their best to keep the hexing to a minimum, and they're very good at sorting the ones that still happen." Then he seemed to see the horrified look she knew she had on her face. "Look, Mrs. Mitchell, there will always be teasing and fights and such. We do keep it to as little as possible, but kids will be kids, yes?"

Judith knew that all too well, and that Matt was all too often the victim. Maybe if everyone was "weird" like him, it wouldn't be as bad.

As much as possible, she tried to ignore the people around her in the corridors and lifts. After several minutes that felt like days, Mr. Malfoy finally stopped at a room and said, "This is Matthew's. As I told you, our Head Auror, Harry Potter, will be there to talk with you both."

"And an Auror is?"

"The nearest equivalent is policeman," Mr. Malfoy answered. "They're much respected in our community, and Head Auror Potter is especially so."

"Because of his rank," Judith didn't quite ask.

That brought a rather wry smile to Mr. Malfoy's face. "The other way around, to be honest. He's my age and young for the post, but our community feels much safer with him there." He patted Judith's shoulder. "Don't worry. He's a good man, and the father of three himself. And here we are," he said as he opened the door.

There were two beds in the room. Matt was in one of them, looking pale, too thin, and rebellious. The other bed was empty, but there was a boy about Matt's age sitting in a chair putting on a pair of trainers and listening to a lecture from a woman that had to be his mother. Judith didn't really understand it, except that it involved "experimenting", "potions", and "those dreadful jokes". The woman looked up as Judith and Mr. Malfoy entered the room. Judith met her eyes and quailed before the glare she was given. "Come on, we need to leave," she said as she pulled her son from the chair. The boy waved to Matt as his mother dragged him from the room.

The only stranger still left in the room was a man in bright red robes. Wizard robes, she assumed, maybe even a uniform. He was tall and slender, with black hair and green eyes behind glasses. He looked more like a schoolteacher than a policeman, she thought. He held out his hand to her. "Good morning, Ms. Mitchell," he said as he shook her hand. "I'm Harry Potter, the Auror assigned to your son's case. Malfoy," he said as he shook the other man's hand. From the way Mr. Malfoy had described him, Judith had assumed he and the Auror were friends, but Auror Potter's voice was cool.

"Judith Mitchell," she said, hearing her voice shake. "Pleased to meet you." Finally, she was able to really focus on the important person in the room. "Mattie, I'm so, so sorry; I had no idea; I was wrong; you're such a good boy, please--" she couldn't say any more. All the tears she'd been holding back, first to find Matt and then with the joy of hearing he'd been found and the disapproval of the police for her when they'd told her he was being kept overnight in a "special" hospital and she wouldn't be able to see him until, well, now. She sat on the side of his bed and reached out a hand to his cheek. How had she missed how thin he'd become?

To her delight, Matt flung himself into her arms and just clung. For several minutes neither of them spoke, just sobbed in each other's arms. Finally, Matt pulled back and started wiping at his eyes. Judith saw him give the two men glances through his eyelashes, probably to see how much they disapproved of his breakdown.

They'd moved to the doorway and were talking quietly to each other, giving Judith and Matt their privacy, she assumed. When he saw Matt's glance, Auror Potter smiled and stepped forward, pulling a handkerchief from a pocket of his robes. "You're pretty tough," he said, "my Al would probably still be wailing. Of course, Ginny would still be yelling at him while sobbing herself, so no surprises there."

"Your family expresses itself loudly; who would ever have guessed?" Mr. Malfoy murmured. He gave the Auror's glare raised eyebrows and a mild, mocking smile. "So, what's next?"

The Auror had pulled a notepad from his pocket, looking more like a policeman every second, and made a note. "From everything I've heard from either of you, this whole mess started because of a mistranslated verse of the Bible--"

"Mistranslated!" Judith interrupted him. "It's in plain English!"

"Which isn't the original language it was written in," he said, his voice still mild. "It was first written in, er . . ." he shrugged. "I've forgotten. You were reading the King James translation, correct?"

"OK," the Auror said. "I've got one of the alternate translations of Exodus 22:18; that's the one that says, 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.' Another translation would be, 'Any woman using unnatural powers or secret arts is to be put to death.'" He looked up from his pad. "If you like, the pastor of the Hogsmeade Church would be happy to discuss any concerns you have with any passages in the Bible. As you can imagine, he has lots of experience with that."

"Why?" Judith asked. She felt as if a great burden were being lifted from her. If she assumed that magic was a God-given power, which was at least a possibility, then Matt was safe.

"Hogsmeade is the only wizarding town in England," Mr. Malfoy answered. "Everyone there is a wizard, including the pastor, although that doesn't sound Church of England to me."

"Presbyterian," Auror Potter answered. "It is Scotland. So, here we go. Matt, do you want to go home?"

"If I can eat," Matt said, his voice so small. Judith felt herself begin to cry again. How could she have been so blind?

"Is the fast over?" Potter asked Judith. His voice was harder now. Judith could hardly blame him. She nodded, unable to speak. "OK, then there's one more thing you have to agree to before you can take him home."

"What? Anything," she said, feeling desperate. It wasn't like she exactly blamed them, but she wouldn't do anything to hurt Matt. Intentionally, she thought as she struggled to stop crying.

"You have to sign this agreement that he will be starting at Hogwarts in September," the Auror said. He pulled a thick set of papers stapled together and held them out to her.

She took them and looked, but that was really all it was. An agreement that Matt would be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry beginning in September and that he would be provided healthy food whenever he was hungry. As she signed, she tried out a joke. "Well, at least now I have a reason not to buy junk food. This says healthy food."

Mr. Malfoy's bark of laughter sounded surprised; Auror Potter's amused. All of them stopped smiling when Matt said, "Sounds fine with me."

She handed the papers back to the Auror. He took them, glanced at them and nodded. "You'll be getting visits from Mr. Malfoy and myself, and probably at least one of the school's staff," he said. He was standing a little straighter and looked more formal. "We'd strongly recommend you try to make at least one of the outings Mr. Malfoy is planning."

Judith nodded. She'd expected to have some supervision; this was more than reasonable. "Oh, no," she said as something occurred to her. "We missed the tour; that would have been perfect. I just..." she trailed off.

The two exchanged a glance and Mr. Malfoy shrugged. "We may be able to arrange something a little less structured," he said, "without Asp demonstrating swordfights in the middle of lunch."

"Swordfights?" Matt asked, perking up. That time, all three adults exchanged a look and laughed.

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Dear Mrs. Potter,

I know you are aware of the difficulties some Muggleborn youngsters face when invited to attend Hogwarts, and how many of them are refused their right to attend. I am having a luncheon meeting this Sunday to discuss the situation and begin to develop some solutions to this difficult problem. Your knowledge of the difficulties is invaluable and crucial to developing any successful solution. I hope you will be able to attend.

Sincerely,

Astoria Malfoy

Ginny stared at the letter in horror. She was all for helping youngsters like poor Matthew Mitchell; fortunately, it sounded like a little education was all that was needed there. Harry had been able to set up an appointment between Mrs. Mitchell and the pastor in Hogsmeade; he thought that might be the end of her objections at that point. It read as if Mrs. Malfoy, however, had decided that the problem was epidemic. She threw some Floo powder into the fire and called for Hermione.

"I see you got one, too," Hermione greeted her. "Have you actually spoken with her?"

"No, but Harry's been answering lots of questions from Malfoy." Ginny shrugged. "He hasn't been hearing any questions that really bother him, except for the comments about abuse. Malfoy said that Muggles abuse their children much more than wizards do; Harry was able to show him statistics that prove that wrong."

"More?" Hermione asked.

Ginny shook her head. "It's about the same, actually; it's just never publicized. But other than that, Malfoy's seemed pretty reasonable about the whole thing. He's visiting the Mitchells daily, probably will until school starts, but he took this whole thing very much to heart. Harry said he was really blaming himself for missing that there was a problem."

"I hope that's all this is," Hermione said. "But to quote the great Han Solo, 'I've got a very bad feeling about this.'"

"We'll go and hope that this is just an overreaction," Ginny agreed. "Did any of the others get one?"

"You're the first one I've spoken with," Hermione said. "You call Angelina, I'll call Fleur and Audrey."

"OK," Ginny said. "By the way, who's Han Solo?"

Friday, August 3, 2018

"We just don't seem to be able to get away from each other," Harry said, as he opened the Floo to the Malfoys. "Ginny wasn't sure if this was still on, with the lunch thing tomorrow."

Malfoy looked impatient. "They could be left alone for a couple of hours if it was necessary, but it's not. I should be home all day tomorrow, as will my father." When Harry grimaced, Malfoy sighed, "He likes your son but even if he didn't, there's no way he would let any harm come to a guest under his roof." Before Harry could argue that point, Malfoy said, "You weren't guests; you were prisoners. Very different thing. Asp will be a guest."

"And you have to call him that?" Harry asked, more for form than anything else. He wished he'd checked out the initials they'd given Al; he hated that nickname. Unfortunately, Al loved it.

"It is the name he prefers to be called," Malfoy said, clearly enjoying Harry's reaction to that. "I'm considering an outing to some Muggle historical sites tomorrow; do you have a problem with that?"

Harry shrugged. "Not as long as he's supervised. Al hasn't spent a lot of time in the Muggle world; he'd probably be fascinated. Al!" he called over his shoulder. "Aren't you ready yet?"

"Coming, Dad," Al said as he ran into the lounge, carrying his schoolbag. It was much fuller than it needed to be for two nights. "Just some school stuff," he said, "a couple of books and stuff. Can I go?"

Malfoy chuckled. "Come on through, Asp. Sunday afternoon, any particular time?"

Harry grinned. "Not really. I suspect you'll be ready pretty early."

Malfoy's smile was a bit gentler. "My father's not the only Malfoy adult who likes Asp." Al stepped into the fireplace and through to the Malfoy's. "Safe and sound," Malfoy said as he brushed ash from Al's shoulders. "Enjoy the peace and quiet."

"I still have two kids at home," Harry said. "I've forgotten what peace and quiet are."

Malfoy was laughing as he stepped out of the Floo.

Saturday, August 4, 2018

"Would everyone please find your seats and come to order?" Tori Malfoy called. "I'd like to get started." After a few minutes of milling around, everyone was seated. Tori looked around and smiled. "First, I'd like to thank everyone for such a great turn-out. I'm impressed and proud of my community." There was hearty applause over this while Hermione's stomach started churning. "For those of you who don't know the situation, one of this year's first years, a Muggleborn, was being mistreated because he's a wizard. Now, it was mostly a misunderstanding that's been addressed. He's fine and being treated well. However, it brought a potential problem to my husband's and my attention and we wanted to assure that no other child is caught in the same situation. Here's what I see as the problem: the Muggleborn children who are allowed to attend Hogwarts aren't the problem; we can keep an eye on them. It's the children who are prevented from attending; they're the ones who could be in terrible trouble that we don't even know about, that we can't stop. I don't have any solutions; this is to start the ball rolling."

Hermione stood and, to her relief, Tori beamed at her. "Please, Hermione, come up. I know you'll be crucial to any solutions we find."

Hermione reminded herself that the Malfoys were politicians whatever else they were and smiled as she walked up. While she was walking, Tori said, "The first person we're going to hear from is Hermione Weasley, a name I'm sure you all know well. Before her marriage she was Hermione Granger, and she's Muggleborn herself, so I'm sure she has a very good grasp of the problem." Hermione had reached the front by then. Tori led a little round of applause and sat down, giving Hermione the podium.

"Thank you, Tori, and all of the rest of you," Hermione said, with her "professional" smile on her face. "First, I do want to say that I think the case you're speaking of was handled as well as possible. Certainly bringing in the Aurors as quickly as he did was the best thing your husband could have done." Tori's smile softened a little.

Hermione was glad she'd been able to say that; the rest of this was likely to annoy people. "As far as the rest of it goes, I honestly think you're creating a problem where one doesn't exist. Now," she continued as several of the women began whispering angrily to one another, "I don't say it's a bad idea to contact those children who decline their Hogwarts letters again; things change and people have second thoughts. That would catch most of the children Tori and all of us are concerned about. But it's not a large problem." She glanced down at the notes she'd made from her research. "From a quarter to a third of every year at Hogwarts is Muggleborn. Of those children, every year from one to four decline their invitations. The reasons given are that the school isn't known, that magic isn't believed in or isn't important, that the school will cost the family too much, and that the family has other plans for the child."

Looking up, she continued, "From my own personal experience, that first one's a big problem. It's finally being addressed; this year for the first time there was a tour of Hogwarts for the Muggleborn families and, with the one exception, all of the acceptance letters had been received within a week. Mr. Malfoy, who is the Hogwarts Muggleborn Liaison, is to be commended for his work, because that tour had a lot to do with that result." She stopped for the applause; he really did deserve it. "When my parents heard about it, they were talking about how they wished there had been something like that when I got my letter. It was very hard for them to send me to a school they'd never seen nor heard of. If I hadn't attended Hogwarts, it would not have been because my parents didn't want the best for me; it would have been because they did."

Pausing again to let the whispers die down, Hermione reminded herself of what she wanted to accomplish. "An additional contact to the families that decline, right before the school year and at the end of the first year, might not be a bad idea. I don't think we'll find much in the way of abuse, but I suspect that many of those would attend Hogwarts in the end. I also think that, if we continue such things as the tour, there will be even fewer who decline." She looked around the room and tried to make eye contact with as many of the women there as she knew. "Thank you." She stepped down and walked back to her seat.

She'd barely left the podium when Tori stood up again and said, "Thank you, Mrs. Weasley. That puts matters into perspective." She led another spattering of applause as Hermione got back to her seat. When she was seated, Ginny leaned over and murmured, "That was a good idea, to throw in the compliment to Malfoy. She puffed up like a peacock."

"He deserves it," Hermione murmured back. "They should have been doing that for years."

The next woman to go up reminded Hermione of Pansy Parkinson; Tori introduced her as Violet Norman. "It sounds to me like one good idea would be to pair each of the Muggleborns of a year with a wizarding family; someone they can go to with their questions. I just don't . . . " She trailed off for a moment, and then asked, "How do you send correspondence to a Muggle? They don't use owls and they don't use Floos, but they must have something."

When no one else answered, Hermione stood up. "They do use post, and once they've received that first letter, our owls won't be such a surprise. As for the Floo, they have a device they call a telephone which I think are vastly superior to the Floos for communication, if not for travel." She had pulled her mobile from her purse before she'd stood up; now, she held it up. "No ash to deal with." That got a laugh.

Mrs. Norman smiled. "Well, that makes it all easier." She paused for a moment. "Why don't we use these telephones? They sound ever so much better."

Hermione laughed. "Unfortunately, magic and electronics don't mix well. I can only use this when I'm not in a wizarding location."

"Thank you, dear," Mrs. Norman said. "If there's a wizarding family paired with these people, we can keep an eye on things and make sure the children are safe and everything is done properly."

To Hermione's exasperation, that was the way things went. No matter how often she and the other Muggleborn women present made the point that, although one child had been endangered, he had been the exception and not the rule, the others seemed determined to see a problem. After over an hour of this, Hermione was shocked when Molly Weasley stood up after a Muggleborn woman had tried to make the same points.

"My daughter-in-law, Hermione, is absolutely right when she says that most Muggleborn children are as safe, loved and well-cared for as our children are. That includes the ones that aren't sent to Hogwarts; I know how terribly difficult it is to send your child to someplace unknown; Hermione's parents have expressed exactly that for years. It was such a relief to them when we met the first time and they could really ask questions. I agree that pairing families together is a good idea; we saw ourselves how much more comfortable they were when they knew what was happening where Hermione was." She smiled at the table where her daughter and four daughters-in-law were sitting. "However, I've also seen the other side of it. The first time I saw Harry Potter, he was all alone at King's Cross, where he'd never been before, too small and thin for his age, in clothes that were too big for him. Now, his situation is complicated, but I don't believe he's the only Muggleborn who was mistreated for years before they even hear of Hogwarts because they're 'different'. If I can do anything to prevent any other child suffering that way, I'll do it."

As Hermione listened to the whispers, she remembered how her mother had always fussed after picking Hermione up at King's Cross. She'd gone as far as lodging a complaint, but Dumbledore had found out and had stopped it and then explained to Hermione's parents why he had to stay where he was. But that story would just alarm the other women more; that even Muggles found his treatment something to try to stop would confirm everything they were thinking, even if those Muggles had a witch for a daughter themselves.

She finally decided she was just going to have to be blunt about her concerns. Once she'd made way back to the front, she looked out at this group of women who just wanted to keep children safe. "Look, I know you're all wondering why I'm trying to rein this in. Even as a child, I felt much the same about Harry growing up. His circumstances were even more unusual than the boy who started all of this; I hope it never happens again." She waited for the inevitable whispers, agreeing with her this time, died down. "What concerns me, no, what scares me to death, is that this goes from 'helping Muggleborn children in trouble' to 'Muggles hurt their wizard children' to 'Muggles hurt their children' to 'Muggles are evil'. I just want to make sure we stay focused. Please, let's remember that, first of all, we're all human beings and most of us want to keep all of the children safe and sound."

As she stepped down, Tori looked at her, a strange expression on her face. "That wouldn't really happen, would it?"

"It has," Hermione answered. "Over and over and over again."

The meeting broke up shortly after that, with women signing up for different committees. Hermione signed herself up for each one; if she couldn't stop them, maybe she could keep this from snowballing out of control.

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Sent from Malfoy Manor at ten in the morning.

Dear Daphne,

My parents have been discussing one of the boys in your year who was being mistreated by accident. (Sorry, I didn't get the details, and they won't discuss it when they know I'm listening.) There were some things they kept saying that bothered me. Do your parents feed you? Are they angry that you're a witch? Was there a problem with your attending Hogwarts? What's all this about the Dursleys and your cousin Harry?

Yours sincerely,

Scorpius Malfoy

Sent from the Dursleys' home in Little Whinging at seven in the evening.

Dear Scorpius,

Huh? My parents are OK; the worst they've ever done is take my computer away. For a whole weekend! Because I didn't do my stupid maths homework! (Because it was stupid!) They're thrilled I'm a witch and excited about Hogwarts.

There is something weird about Gran and Gramps and Uncle Harry, but Mum says she doesn't know the whole story and Daddy won't talk about it. Not really.

Mum just got the letter last night that your Dad's scheduled a shopping trip for all the students in our year at Diagon Alley next weekend. I can't wait. There was also something about a Quidditch match. Mum's not sure we'll do that; I don't think she wants me to get interested. I won't want to play cause I don't like heights, but Mum says "better safe than sorry". Does your Mum say annoying things like that too?

It's sweet of you to worry, but you're being silly. Mum says boys are.

Yours sincerely,

Daphne Dursley

Scorpius looked at Daphne's answer as he got ready for bed. She didn't sound at all upset, but there were still some things to worry about. What was a computer, and what did losing it for a weekend mean? And not wanting Daphne to get interested in Quidditch? He decided he'd show the letter to his father in the morning. He'd know what to do.