The one where they meet the Smartest Witch of their Generation.
“Come on lad!! Your aim is just like storm troopers!" I exclaimed watching Harry throw darts.
“I take that as a compliment! It’s like Obi-wan said, only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise!” he replied, throwing another one but missing the mark badly. Proving my last point
“Yeah they are as precise as you potter!”
“You say that but I don't see you in the lead Fall!” Dear God, his confidence has skyrocketed in past two years
“Are you sure about that?” my mom asked, finally coming forward to take her turn. How the hell is she in lead? She’s a potion mistress!!
“I mean small Fall” harry quickly corrected himself
“You’re goddamn right,” And with that, she threw her darts and got a perfect bullseye with every single throw. “and there! I won!!”
“Wow, ladies and gentlemen, two kids beaten by an adult! How will we ever get over this shame”
“Stop whining, I swear you got your father’s penchant for crying.” she threw behind her as she started making her way towards the kitchen.
Ignoring that last comment I turned towards Harry and saw him collecting all the darts and putting them back in their box.
It still surprises me sometimes that this is the same scrawny kid we brought home two years ago, he is a far cry from the boy described in the books. This kid is more healthy, confident, sharp and studious, and he’s making leaps in his magical studies, doing magic way above his level which even surprised Albus. He’s still wearing his signature round frames but instead of his messy black hair, he’s now sporting glamoured dark red hair. Harry takes a lot more after his mother than his father, maybe it is because he is growing up with the stories of his mother’s adventures, instead of the marauders as my mother was her friend but never had a lot of interactions with the boys.
“So what do you wanna do now?” I asked him despite knowing what his answer was going to be.
“We can always go out and play.” he said with a small smile while looking out of the window “The weather is also good today” and with that he gave me a quick look and started making his way towards the main door.
“Well, then what are we waiting for?” I said with a smile.
Reaching the park we started doing laps around and just tried to generally amuse ourselves however we can, which was pretty easy as Harry is both very creative and frighteningly competitive with me and gets very intense sometimes.
“You really need to be more regular if this is the result of a few minutes of running” I commented with a small chuckle
“Don’t worry I’ll get there, not all of us have ancient magic you know”
“Whatever–” Whatever I was about to say was interrupted when I felt some sort of magic around us.
‘Mage?’
Some sort of magic in that direction mage pointed out when I looked towards a big tree, but I was having a little problem concentrating.
“Cass? What’s wrong?” harry asked noticing the expression on my face
“There’s some kind of magic there” I told him subtly pointing out the general direction to him while dragging him away from the place
“Should we call Professor Dumbledore?” he asked getting serious
“What, you think I can't handle it?” I joked while still keeping my eyes on the tree
“It doesn't matter if you can or cannot, but we should still inform an adult” He said forcefully while grabbing my arm to get my attention
“You’re right, go back and tell Mom about this, tell her to come here.” I said turning towards him and pushing him towards the exit of the park.
“I’m not leaving you here!”
‘Bloody stupid Gryffindor!!’ I quickly pulled him close to me by grabbing his arm and looked him in the eyes a little intensely. “You’re not leaving me, I’m staying. There’s a difference, now go” he left after a few seconds but his expressions made it clear that he was not happy.
‘What do you guys think it is’ I asked mage and chat turning back to look for the source of the magic.
The way you’re having problems keeping your focus on that tree I'd say it’s a notice-me-not charm but I don't think it is very strong. Finite incantatem will reveal whatever it is.
I slowly did as mage said and suddenly a girl appeared sitting with her back on the tree with a bag and a few books lying next to her. The girl in question was sitting with a book in her lap and had wild bushy hair, which indicates just one thing.
Holy shit! Is that Hermione??
‘The hair and amount of books certainly point to that.’
Looks like she accidentally cast a notice-me-not charm around her
Let’s go and talk to her chat said with excited voice
I slowly walked towards her so that I wouldn't scare her.
“Hey there” I greeted her with a friendly smile
“Hello” she responded shyly looking up from her book. I moved a bit closer and crouched down next to her to get a better look at the book she was reading.
“This is secondary level science” I said astonished. I knew that she was studious, but this is something else.
“Yes” she said, a little guarded as if I would make fun of her or I'd say something mean. Which would be my reaction if I was a 5 year old kid, but to me this is nothing but impressive.
“Impressive, very nice” shame there was no Paul Allen around.
“Thanks” she returned with a small smile.
“But why are you out here, alone?” I asked, looking around for her parents but I didn't find anyone.
“My mom and dad are busy right now and the weather was nice so I came here to read for a bit.”
“Hmm, can’t argue with that logic. By the way Cassius Fall” I finally introduced myself, offering her my hand which she shook without any hesitation. “Hermione Granger, nice to meet you”
“Hey Cass” I turned and saw my mom approaching us with her hand in her pocket where she keeps her wand, looking around for danger of any kind. I stood up and introduced both of them
“Mom, this is Hermione, Hermione granger. Hermione, this is my mother” Which got a raised eyebrow as I’ve told my family about Hermione before.
“Hello ma’am” she said quickly, shutting down the book and standing up.
“Hello Hermione, what are you guys doing here?” my mother asked me with a pointed look.
“Oh, nothing I just saw her reading and came up to say hi” I replied easily, which gave her the answer she was looking for. “Really well that's good”
“Where’s Harry?” I asked to keep up appearances
“Oh he went home for some water, I’ll send him back.” my mother said, turning and giving us a small smile as she walked back to home.
“Thanks, mom” I called and started talking to Hermione about the topics she was reading about. Soon Harry joined us and after a quick introduction we just sat and talked about general stuff, and soon I noticed it was evening so we got ready to leave and started making our way home and after Hermione went into her house Harry turned to me.
“So what was that magical energy that scared you so much?” he asked as soon as Hermione went in.
“It didn’t scare me, but it was her. She cast a notice-me-not charm around her.” I told him as we walked towards our home.
“She’s a witch?” he asked surprised
“Yup, and she doesn’t even know about it”
“So it was accidental?”
“Like I always tell you, magic is intent-based. She didn’t want to be disturbed so her magic did the rest”
“So are you going to tell her?” that is the million dollar question, do I out right tell her this or do wait for some sort of accidental magic?? Choices-choices
“In time,” I replied, deciding on the second option. Let things run their natural course, no need to flail around when I don't need to.