Means to an End

In all their lives, Hermi and Morgan had never seen something as grand as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Well, thought Hermi, perhaps Neuschwanstein was grander, but it certainly wasn't magical!

For hours, the three wandered about the castle, the archaeologist and heiress drinking in every word Hermione spoke. It seemed like the girl was a walking history book the way she could recount every room, its use, and the life story of each portrait guarding that room.

"It's a shame," she said as they walked down a third floor corridor, "that the portraits and tapestries can't speak to you right now--they have some fascinating ideas about all sorts of things--but I'm sure you'll want to do further research once the castle is restored."

"Oh, yes!" cried Hermi. "I, for one, cannot wait to examine the texts in the library!"

"Nor can I," Morgan agreed. "Although, Hermi, I'm a little disappointed with this project."

She stared at him.

"Well, you hired an archaeologist," he continued in a mild tone. "But I didn't get to dig up one thing."

She slapped him in the arm. "I don't see why you're complaining," Hermi said, fighting a growing smile. "You're still getting paid for this--and I'm sure the Ministry will be eternally grateful."

"Not if it gets out that we know more than we're supposed to," Morgan replied soberly. Hermi blinked and then groaned piteously. Hermione shot them a puzzled look.

"Why?" she asked. "What have you found out? Besides the fact we're still alive, that is."

The two older people exchanged glances.

"Hermione, did you ever come into contact with any Ministry members while you were in school?" inquired Hermi.

"Unfortunately" was the brisk reply. "The Ministry in my time was a 'waste of magical talent', as Harry was fond of saying. The Minister, Cornelius Fudge, was a hypocritical idiot who nearly let Voldemort conquer us by his stupidity."

"Was Voldemort really all that bad?" asked Morgan. Hermione stared at him.

"'All that bad?' you ask?" she nearly screamed at him. "He murdered people simply because they weren't purebloods! He killed Muggles for fun because they had no idea that magic truly existed! How can you even begin to think he wasn't 'that bad'?"

"We have no public records of that time," Hermi interjected quietly, seeing Morgan's shocked expression. "Three quarters of the people in this time don't know he even existed--some people think Hogwarts is a myth."

Hermione was silent for a few moments. "I suppose," she began, a guilty edge in her voice, "that I overreacted a bit. I'm sorry, Morgan."

"It's okay," replied the man. "I'm sure, if this is the way you reacted, that it must've been hard for everyone else after Hogwarts disappeared to talk about it too."

"If I know the wizarding world, and I'd like to think I do, they didn't talk about it at all," said Hermione bitterly. "Besides, who would they have talked to? From what you've told me, the Ministry relocated the British wizarding community to mostly Muggle towns and cities. It's a wonder we've been able to flourish without anyone noticing."

"No one notices because there's nothing to notice," explained Hermi. "Ministry employees are paid in Muggle currency and work in Muggle buildings; Quidditch was banned in the earliest years after the Upheaval--what we termed your war with Voldemort--and Owl mail is forbidden without a permit which is near impossible to get. Diagon Alley was closed about fifty years ago, but it had been virtually abandoned for a century before that."

The student was horrified. "But how do children get their wands? And where do you buy books and potion supplies and all that?"

"An Ollivanders representative visits the home of the child and custom makes their wand right there," said Morgan. "As for books and the rest, well...catalogues have become the more popular way of ordering all of that. Flourish and Blotts is in London proper as a half-and-half bookstore, but the Ministry is, shall we say, encouraging the owners to close the wizarding part and let the catalogues take over."

"Now that we're talking about it," said Hermi softly, "I suppose this has been happening slowly for centuries."

"What's been going on?" inquired Hermione.

"Well, obviously the Ministry was working on something in between your wars with Voldemort in regards to Muggle relations," the older woman said. "I believe the Muggle studies course was relatively new at the end of the seventies and throughout the eighties, judging from some journals left by Molly Prewett Weasley. I know the Ministry generally tried to host large gatherings of wizards near Muggle sites so that those unused to interacting with Muggles had a chance to see how the other half lived."

"And then," continued Morgan, "presumably during the mid to late nineties, you had the second wave of Voldemort and his followers."

"And in 1998, Hogwarts, its students and faculty, and Voldemort all disappeared," murmured Hermione. "But what happened throughout the rest of 1998 and 1999 until 2000?"
Morgan and Hermi exchanged glances.

"No one really knows." Hermi shrugged. "All we know is that after 2000, there were no more wizards or witches living together in an exclusive community--even the old pureblood families, or what was left of them, were completely integrated into Muggle society. No move was made to recreate Hogwarts' environment but a seven-year curriculum was devised for home schooling."

"What about Muggle-borns?"

"They're offered private tutoring," said Morgan. "However, you must realize that this is only the case in England--schools like Beauxbatons and the Salem Institute in America are still active. Some of the wealthier magical families choose to send their children away, and this option recently became available to the Muggle-borns, though most decline."

"I see." Hermione was biting her lip, clearly mulling over the wave of information she had just received. After a few minutes of walking silently, Hermi had finally gathered enough courage to satiate the curiosity that had been welling up inside her for hours.

"Hermione," she began, "There's something I've been meaning to ask, but it may seem a little personal because of how close you were to my family."

"I wasn't in love with Ron, if that's what you wanted to know."

Hermi smiled. "No--it's about Fred and George."

The younger girl stopped walking and gave them both a strange look. "What about them?"

"Err--well, there was this series of seven books written around 2030 called Pranks written by Gred and Forge Prewett, and they were about these four students at a wizarding school called Pigtarts and they sort of chronicled their seven years of schooling...that's how we figured out how to use the Marauder's Map..."

Hermione smiled fondly. "Yes, memorializing the Marauders would be the sort of thing they'd do," she stated with satisfaction. "I suppose their joke shop was the initial reason for your family's current affluence; it's good to hear that they did so well for the Weasley name."

"Excuse me?" Hermi blinked. "Family records say that Fred and George both died in 1997!"

"Well, they're quite wrong then," replied Hermione, who began walking down the corridor away from the two others. "It was Bill who died in 1997, along with his wife Fleur."

A sharp thud made Hermione stop walking and glance behind her.

Morgan was kneeling frantically over Hermi, who had fainted dead away after hearing the young woman's statement.