Becoming

Padma and Theo were both quite pleased with the photo they had selected for the Prophet announcement. Padma had squealed in excitement, and even Theo had cracked a wide grin when they saw it Thursday morning.

“Oh Draco, you all look positively gorgeous,” Padma breathed. “Pregnancy suits her.”

“I told you,” Theo said, wrapping an arm around his wife and pressing a kiss to her temple. “She was practically glowing when I popped into her office the other day.” Theo flipped through the other photos Draco had brought over with a chuckle. “Oh, please tell me we can keep this one.” Theo brandished the photo of Scorpius running through the field with Hermione’s Patronus.

“You can have a copy of it,” Draco conceded.

“Damn right I get a gorgeous picture of my godson,” Padma broke in, snatching the photo from Theo.

“Enjoy it,” Draco quipped. “You might have to fight Ginny Potter for the godmother role with Sage.”

Padma scoffed. “Oh, I can take her. She might have that famous Bat Bogey hex of hers, but I was a Ravenclaw. I spent way more time in the restricted section than I should admit.”

Theo chuckled and tugged the photo of Scorpius, Hermione, and Penelope from the stack. “We’ll have to show this one to Raf. He’ll be jealous.”

“I’m sure Luna and Rolf would be open to doing a tour for the kids,” Draco mused.

“I’ve no doubt,” Padma said with a shrug. “Luna’s offered to bring in creatures for classes in the past, but I’ve never been able to sell it with the parents. I know their creatures are all friendly, or at the very least not dangerous, but somehow the parents never got behind letting a bunch of six year olds play with crabs that shoot fire.”

Draco sniggered at her blase tone as he collected the remaining photos. “Thanks again for doing this.”

“Of course, Draco,” Padma stated. She reached out to rest a hand on his jaw affectionately. “You never have to question our support.” She patted his face and turned away to finish cleaning up from breakfast.

“We’ll be breaking our press silence for this, mate,” Theo offered. “Parvati’s unlikely to let us get away without saying something, at any rate. It’s the least we can do after everything you’ve both done for us over the years.”

“Daph’s offered the same, if you have need of her,” Draco offered.

Theo nodded thoughtfully. “Might reach out to her to get something, just to be safe. Is she in town?”

“She’s at the estate with her parents for the season.”

Theo shuddered. “I’ll just send an owl. I don’t fancy seeing the elder Greengrasses again anytime soon.”

Theo had originally been betrothed to Daphne, with whom he had always enjoyed a close friendship. The contract had pre-dated the war, and with the death of Theo's father his freedom of choice had finally become an option. It hadn’t taken the two long after graduation to realise that friendship was all they shared, however, much to the chagrin of Daphne’s parents. Theo and Daphne had parted quite amicably, but the Greengrasses had taken it as a snub. When Theo had taken up with Padma, who wasn’t a pureblood by their standards, they had become quite rude to him and cut him out of their social gatherings for a number of years. Not that Theo had been perturbed by this, but he still preferred not to spend more time in their presence than necessary.

“Good plan,” Draco agreed. “She’s passing them a letter from me, explaining. We won’t be seeing them again till Christmas – aside from Pansy's wedding, but that will be so public – so hopefully they’ll have cooled down by then.”

“Yes, I’m quite sure they would have loved to see you as a miserable widower for the rest of your life,” Theo scoffed.

“Fate has other plans for me, I hope,” Draco murmured. “You can tell Parvati she can reach out to the Potters, too, if you’d like.”

“Oh? That went well then?”

Draco nodded. “Met with Ginny Potter last night.”

“To have been a fly on that wall,” Theo chuckled. Theo clapped him on the shoulder affectionately before heading off to his study for the day.

A missive arrived just as Draco was preparing lunch. The owl tapping at his window was immediately identifiable as Gertrude, Hermione’s tawny owl. Draco got up to let the haughty owl in through the kitchen window and took its proffered scroll before allowing it to continue on its nightly route. Inside the tightly bound parchment was the glossy-covered issue of the Quibbler. Draco scanned the missive quickly.

Draco –

Luna sent along a copy of the issue before it goes out for distribution tomorrow. She did a great job of working in some of the questions we would have been asked by a standard-issue reporter without spending too much time on it, so I hope you’re happy with it. The photo she selected is quite adorable – page 17.

– Hermione

Draco shuffled through the magazine, flipping past articles on rare plants and adverts for Runespoor-related injury support groups. On page 17, he finally spotted Hermione’s face looking up at him.The first page of the interview had a large photo of Hermione that looked to have been taken several years prior. She had her arms flung around the neck of a juvenile unicorn, and the smile on her face was as blinding as its coat.

This week, the Quibbler’s own Luna Lovegood sat down with Hermione Granger, prominent solicitor, creature-rights activist, and Ministry critic. Many of our readers will remember Ms. Granger as the Muggle-born war hero who was instrumental in the defeat of Voldemort in 1998. In the last decade, however, Ms. Granger has risen in the public eye as a staunch supporter of werewolf rights, among many other causes.

LL: So, Hermione, what can you tell us about your latest project?

HG: That depends on which project you mean, I suppose. I always have several in the works.

LL: Many of our readers are quite invested in the court case you’ve brought against the Ministry’s Werewolf Registration Committee. Why did you get involved in the class-action suit?

HG: There was never any question that I’d be involved, frankly. One of the first things I tried to tackle whilst working at the ministry was the horrific treatment of people with lycanthropy in Britain. It’s positively shameful how behind we are in terms of equal treatment of people with creature heritage and characteristics. When I was approached to sign on to the suit, I agreed immediately.

LL: Tell us a bit more about your work at the Ministry.

HG: I spent two years in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and the state I found that department in was simply atrocious. The administrators there are glorified executioners, and the disregard they had for the magical creatures we are lucky to share this world with was absolutely unacceptable. My first week there, the department handed out fourteen execution orders on creatures that were, at most, mildly dangerous. To a one, every case involved a creature that was being mistreated and who lashed out at the perpetrator of their abuse. Rehabilitation was never considered. Being human doesn’t give us the right to decide the fate of other beings and magical creatures in that way when they're just reacting appropriately to their treatment.

LL: What changes were you trying to make?

HG: First and foremost, a review of the procedures for determining whether creatures were actually a danger. I wrote so many reports and proposals about due process and how the department was unethically refusing the creatures any representation, and their appeals process was a total farce. Not a single appeal that was filed during my tenure was actually heard.

LL: Those are pretty extreme circumstances.

HG: If the Ministry couldn’t profit from it, they tossed it aside. I can’t even begin to count how many requests I filed for exterminating intelligent creatures from their own native habitats so that a wizarding family could build a new property. A herd of centaur were driven off their historic lands so that the land could be razed and parcelled out. An entire pond of grindylow were executed by Ministry personnel because a wizard in Yorkshire wanted to set up a leisure boating area on the property. The Ministry made no effort to relocate the creatures, even though creature rights groups in Britain have been advocating for them to be considered endangered in their native lands.

LL: Why did you shift your focus to werewolves?

HG: The longer I was at the Ministry, the more roadblocks I met. Each suggestion or proposal I turned in was immediately dismissed. Sometimes they cited budgetary restrictions even when the proposal I made would actually free up Ministry personnel to focus on other tasks. They were so resistant to change that it felt like a losing battle. It became clear, before too long, that I’d have better luck working on proposals where the affected populations could lend their own voices to the fight, rather than get swept under the rug as a voiceless creature. The Ministry has its own designations of whether a magical entity is a beast or being, and while werewolves should be considered beings – because they are, in fact, human – the Ministry was leaning heavily on their transformations to classify them as beasts rather than beings. The Ministry felt that the fact that these people transformed into a beast for ten hours each month somehow negated their humanity. When I got too vocal about it, they transferred me and cut me off from the department. When I quit, they tried to put me under a gag order in exchange for a pension.

LL: The Ministry has argued that werewolves are dangerous mostly because of their numbers here in the British isles.

HG: It is true that there are a relatively high number of werewolves in Britain when considered as a proportion of the entire magical population. But we also have a proportionately lower population of vampires and veela and other beings compared to countries. The overall percentage of our population that is classed as a non-fully-human being is comparable to that of other countries on the continent.

LL: Why is there a higher proportion of werewolves here?

HG: In large part, it’s due to Britain’s historic treatment of werewolves. For example, the Belgian Ministry instituted an integration program for their lycanthropic populations back in the late 1700s. By the early 1900s, Belgium had a full suite of protections against discrimination in education, employment, and housing that allowed people with lycanthropy to live full, equal lives integrated into their communities, and lycanthropy has all but died out in many parts of the country because equal access to resources has greatly reduced the risk of spreading infection. Britain has maintained their discriminatory practices in education, employment, and housing since the late 15th century, with very little change. Therefore, the werewolves here in Britain are often in dire living situations. The formation of werewolf packs traces back to the 8th century here, but it is most often out of necessity that new werewolves join the existing packs across the country. They’ve already been denied basic human rights just by virtue of their transformations and in many cases have no choice if they want to maintain any sort of dignity. They’re people like you and me. They have allergies and birthdays and even sock drawers. But there’s a different social structure in the packs that allows for more equality between members. Respect that they don’t receive from the larger magical community here. They have support and understanding in the packs. The desperation and discrimination British werewolves face unfortunately can lead to retaliation in extreme cases, and that’s where you see notable, fanatical werewolves like Greyback turning large numbers of people in a short period of time and targeting vulnerable communities. Werewolves in packs often have less reliable access to Wolfsbane or safe spaces to transform, so they can be more dangerous to surrounding communities during the moon. Accidental bites happen most frequently with newer lycanthropes still learning control during their initial transformations.

LL: Are there a large number of packs in Britain?

HG: It’s estimated that there are at least a dozen packs across the isles, each with a minimum of four members. Some are much larger.

LL: Does the Ministry know how many werewolves are living in Britain?

HG: The Werewolf Registration Commission states that there are about 250 werewolves registered here as of the end of the war. However, when given a choice of registering with the Ministry or leaving for a pack, a significant percentage of new werewolves will choose to forgo registration because of the persecution that comes with it. I estimate that there are closer to 500 werewolves in Britain at this time.

LL: How many have signed on to the class action suit?

HG: We are representing five packs of varying sizes. We have over a hundred werewolves who have provided anonymous, verified testimony for this suit.

LL: How are you retaining their anonymity in the hearings?

HG: The current law permits for Veritaserum to be administered and the resulting testimony to be recorded with either physical recording equipment, similar to Muggle recordings, or through a verified memory projection. We have taken every precaution to protect identities when obtaining recorded or memory-based testimony. We also have written testimony from a large number of those who were too afraid of persecution to provide memories, but those were also obtained under Veritaserum.

LL: What is the goal of this suit, in short?

HG: We want to disband the Werewolf Registration Commission entirely and destroy all related records of current werewolves in Britain. This is the first step in service of a goal of total and just integration into the wider community.

LL: I understand that one of the public concerns with this goal is that the safety of children at Hogwarts will be compromised by having students who are werewolves.

HG: Werewolves who have not been administered Wolfsbane are a danger to others during their transformations, that much is accurate. However, it’s also dangerous to have several hundred young children with poorly controlled magical abilities housed in a single school. Other magical schools on the continent do not bar attendance of lycanthropes, and there is no justifiable reason for Hogwarts to do so as long as the proper precautions are taken, and I know for a fact that it is entirely possible. In fact, Hogwarts already has that infrastructure in place, and it has been tested. But the bigger question here is why we aren’t making Wolfsbane more accessible so that children – and adults – with lycanthropy do not present a threat to our communities at all? Lycanthropy is perfectly manageable with reliable access to the Wolfsbane, and there are a number of nonprofits on the continent that would serve as good models for us in that endeavour.

LL: Wouldn’t the registry then be helpful in distributing Wolfsbane?

HG: Not in practice in the way the registry works here. The Ministry, frankly, is an impediment to gaining access to Wolfsbane as a normal citizen with lycanthropy. The werewolf community has every reason not to trust them as those records have historically been abused by people with anti-werewolf agendas, so why would anyone sign up for it willingly, despite a potential benefit? We need to completely remove the Ministry from the oversight.

LL: What would you suggest?

HG: An apolitical programme that distributes the potion at little to no cost. There are a number of programmes on the continent we can look to for a model. In particular, we have France's Lycanthrope Outreach, which runs off an endowment and fundraising to source and produce Wolfsbane in enough volume to distribute for free amongst over two hundred people across the country. Their foundation's Potions Master recently released the rights to her patent on the solution that not only strengthens the Wolfsbane, but stabilises it enough to allow for it to be kept in cold storage for an additional two months. It's revolutionary, and they've shared it with research departments and organisations across the globe because it's the ethical thing to do. They've done all of this without relying on a public registry that damns their citizens to a life of denigration and discrimination. Even though we have a larger population of werewolves here, Britain has a lot to learn from our peers abroad. I have no doubt we would be able to successfully set up similar foundations.

LL: What other projects do you have on the horizon?

HG: I’m working with advocates on some proposed legislation for informing Muggle-born children about their magical abilities earlier in life. Frankly, the way the Trace system currently works, children as young as seven could be identified. With luck, this will give Muggle-born children an opportunity to attend a primary school in the magical world and navigate the community a little easier before being isolated at Hogwarts.

LL: Do you consider Hogwarts isolating?

HG: As a Muggle-born myself, absolutely. When I was eleven, I was visited by the current Hogwarts Headmistress, who informed my parents and myself about my abilities and the magical world that existed within Britain. Even though my own birthday falls in September – I was the oldest in my year – I didn’t get that visit until a couple of months before I actually needed to leave to attend Hogwarts, when most others would have received their letter on their eleventh birthday. While my parents were able to accompany me on my first trip to Diagon Alley, that was only a couple of weeks before I left for Hogwarts, and it was overwhelming for all of us. Owl mail also confuses many Muggles, as I’m sure you can understand, and Hogwarts did not have a way for me to send mail through the Muggle postal service. So I could only communicate with them a couple of times each term, realistically. And then to be dropped into a community of adolescents with magic and be one of very few Muggle-born students in my year – well, it’s understandably overwhelming. You spent most of your time with your house. You slept in separate dormitories with the same people for seven years. You ate at a table with your housemates. You attended classes with, at most, one other house at a time. Hogwarts also doesn’t permit students to visit Hogsmeade until third year, so it’s a very small community that you have exposure to in the walls of Hogwarts. It has admittedly gotten more open amongst the houses in the past few years, but it can still be incredibly lonely.

LL: As a Muggle-born attending Hogwarts in the 90s, you came up against some significant pushback.

HG: Yes, unfortunately. Pureblood supremacy had a strong foothold at Hogwarts, in part, I believe, because of a lack of exposure to Muggle culture and Muggle-born kids. It’s an unfortunate aspect of being human that we fear that which we do not know. Hogwarts, and the Ministry at large, could do much more to protect and enrich the lives of all magical children. That’s why this proposed legislation is so important.

LL: Speaking of magical children, I see you have some news to share.

HG: Indeed. I am expecting a child in the new year. We’re quite excited.

LL: Who’s we?

HG: Draco Malfoy and I reconnected through some mutual friends earlier this year. We are very much looking forward to taking this next step together. His young son is also quite excited to be a big brother.

LL: Historically, the Malfoys have been a very prominent and militant pureblood family. They have a history of siding with the Ministry against creature rights, as well. How does that legacy impact your lives moving forward?

HG: Draco is not his parents. We are all our own people and are not beholden to older generations. Draco and I were both children during the years of Voldemort’s return, as many forget, and far too many of us were faced with impossible decisions and have more regrets than we should. We were fighting in a literal war, as unprepared and manipulated teenagers. I think you’ll find that most people will do reprehensible things if it means securing their own safety or that of a loved one – I myself had to make some terrible decisions for the safety of my parents, and I regretted my actions for many years. Draco is no different. He had to make an impossible choice at a time when no teenager should have been forced to do so. After that, it was just a matter of doing what he had to do to survive. We both had to. In many ways, what Draco had to do was even tougher than what I had to do, and what he experienced at the hands of others was much more traumatic. That has a way of changing people, as I’m sure you can understand. And Draco has come out the other side as a genuinely good person.

LL: And how has Draco Malfoy approached this new challenge to his family’s legacy? Your child will be the first documented non-pureblood child to be born into the Malfoy line in centuries, if ever. Not to mention, the Malfoys are widely known for only ever having a single male heir each generation.

HG: If anyone has been paying attention to Draco’s actions over the past decade, they’ll find that he has been challenging his family’s legacy long before he and I got together. If anyone thinks he still holds to that pureblood-superiority nonsense, they haven’t taken a moment to even question their own biases. Draco has been determined for many years to turn his family name into something his son can be proud of, and it’s quite obvious to anyone who looks. Our children will be proud of him for the work he has done.

LL: His foundation has been making headlines recently.

HG: As it should. What Draco’s doing with that division of Malfoy Corp is commendable. He has funded a number of projects over the last few years that the wizarding world is quite reliant on, whether they realise it or not. They fund several operating funds, both for Hogwarts and for the Nottingham primary school. Also two scholarships for the magical college at Oxford, including one that is exclusive to Muggle-born students. They set up the endowment that now pays for the full operating costs of the Janus Thickey ward at St. Mungo’s. That ward not only works with patients suffering the effects of prolonged use of curses like the Cruciatus, but they’re now also branching out into therapeutic services – mind-Healing and talk therapy to help those who have post-traumatic responses to the war and other terrible things. Malfoy Corp. also funded the construction of the children’s home for those who were orphaned by the war, and are one of the primary donors to the new Scottish dragon reserve that will be opening in the new year. That’s not to mention all the grants they make available to applicants. Draco single-handedly oversees the distribution of funds from the philanthropy division, in an effort to use his family’s legacy to better the world our children will grow up in.

LL: You seem quite proud of him.

HG: I am. The Malfoy name is something to be proud of when it is being used for the betterment of all, not just the select few. The work he has done over the years is quite remarkable. I am quite happy to have found someone whose passions and hopes for our community and family complement my own. I couldn’t ask for a better partner on this journey.

LL: Will there be another wedding to add to the season’s calendars?

HG: Draco and I have no plans to marry at this time. The thing I’m most looking forward to this season will be our victory against the Werewolf Registration Commission next month.

LL: Our readers undoubtedly share that hope. For the good of all creatures, we thank you for your time, Ms. Granger.

HG: It’s always a pleasure to speak with the Quibbler. With luck, our community will be stronger and more just for all magical entities on the other side of this suit.

Draco was absolutely floored by the piece he was reading. Hermione had always proven to be one of the most passionate people he knew, and the interview left no doubt. His heart clenched as he re-read her defence of him, and he felt a lump in his throat.

The lump only hardened further as he looked at the accompanying pictures. The images scattered throughout the article shared similar stories as the initial unicorn photo: a photo of Hermione sitting on a panel with a centaur, hag, and a cohort of goblins; another of her cradling a baby dragon while the dragon-keeper Weasley stood next to her grinning; Hermione exiting the Wizengamot court with her head held high, formal barrister robes flowing behind her and fist raised in victory; Hermione holding a crate full of potions vials, labelled “Wolfsbane” as she handed it across to an unseen person.

And then the picture Luna had selected for their “announcement.” It was one Draco didn’t fully recall, but was of them together – Scorpius was in his arms, and Hermione was tucked into his side with one of her hands on top of her beautifully distended belly. The short loop that played out in the photo showed Scorpius screwing up his face as Hermione reached her other hand up to tap his nose. Scorpius and Hermione both dissolved into giggles as Draco shook his head in the background. Draco could see his own eyes were crinkled in amusement as he looked over at Hermione with raw emotion on his face.

Draco’s heart skipped another beat as he watched the look play across his face again. There was no way to mistake the sheer adoration that played on his printed features. What had he gotten himself into? And how did he get so lucky?