Chapter 1
"There is no way..." Hermione said, haltingly. She wanted to sound surer but she had to admit she also wanted to be proven wrong this once, even if it was by Ron.
"Yeah, mum read that one to me when I was five," he gestured to her copy of The Magician's Nephew. "There's twelve of them, right?"
Hermione almost wet herself in excitement but kept her eyebrows knitted, "NoooOooooo... there's only seven." She needed to goad him - in case it was true - the moment they got to Hogwarts he'd have to write to the Burrow and get Mr and Mrs Weasley to owl him the set, which of course Hermione would have to thoroughly analyze them for any hint of trickery or ghostwriting. Aaaand it would be win-win no matter what. If Ron couldn't produce the extra novels then Hermione would be right after all: CS Lewis would not be a wizard masquerading as a muggle author and there would be no improbable five further wizard-only Narnian adventures in existence.
"No, it's twelve! I'll prove it. Mum'll send 'em up soon as I ask her!"
"You do that," she challenged, looking him dead on. Just then her new darling, gorgeous fluffywuff Crookshanks let out a hiss and a growl and the cabin grew dreadfully frosty.
- - - - - - -
"Ugh. Let's never do that again," Hermione moaned as Madam Pomfrey looked over Harry.
"Too right, what a barmy first day, eh?" replied Ron.
"It's alright for you, you're bigger than me. Having that thing loom over me was probably the second worst thing after the troll," Hermione replied with an involuntary shudder.
"What about Fluffy?"
"Hmm, Fluffy may have been bigger but at least you could see his face... Faces?"
"Don't worry," Harry piped up, "You got us, shorty."
Hermione huffed and folded her arms. "It's simply not fair. You both got growth spurts and I'm still just the same. You're both making my neck hurt even though you're sitting down." Twiddling her thumbs, she frowned again as she realised in all the fuss Ron hadn't remembered he had a point to prove.
"Madam Pomfrey?"
"Yes, dear," replied the healer still casting over Harry.
"Have you ever heard of the muggle author, CS Lewis?" Hermione asked, ignoring Ron who was rolling his eyes.
"Oh, quite the wordsmith but he was wizard, not muggle. Unless you're talking about a different CS Lewis? Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe? The Blood of Jadis?"
"The what of Jadis?" spluttered Hermione just as Ron said, "Told you!"
- - - - - - -
Hermione was sitting in the library, painting a crazy picture to be sure but she couldn't help whispering "unbelievable" as she turned the pages. Ron had gloated as Hermione unwrapped the brown paper package dropped amongst their porridge and muffins that morning. Hermione had sniffed and said, "I will be reading these carefully in the library. I am sure these can't really be by CS Lewis as there is no reason why they wouldn't have also been published in the muggle world. I'll see you in potions." So here she was, exclaiming to herself, eyes as wide as saucers until Mandy Brocklehurst came past on her way to first period.
"Are you ok?" she asked as Hermione made a grunt. "You better pack up, or you'll be late."
Hermione looked up with a most perturbed expression. "I've been told CS Lewis is not just a muggle author, but a wizard one."
"Oh yeah," Mandy replied neatly stacking the additional CS Lewis's while Hermione rearranged her bag. "Dad was ever so surprised when it was mum's turn to read to me and she whipped out the eighth book."
"I'll bet," Hermione replied, feeling slightly jealous she hadn't grown up with one wizarding parent. "So who else don't I know about?" she asked as they walked out of the library together.
"Oh, Ravenclaw's got a wizard/muggle bookclub actually. They'll have a list. I'll get you one."
"Perfect! Thank you very much."
- - - - - - -
It was unsurprising to her that the majority of fantasy novelists were wizards. I guess its not really a stretch of the imagination to write about dragons, she had mused when perusing the list, wondering which author to tackle next. The initial passion for reading the novels that never made it to muggle publishing had waned in favour of revisiting books she knew well. Through the lens of having a magic author the stories flared with colour she'd never understood or paid much attention to before.
Tonight she had settled into bed to re-read Alice in Wonderland. Crookshanks was curled upon her shins with a lazy gaze and a light purr as she read aloud. He seemed to enjoy narration and Hermione was glad indeed for having bought him. He was much more companionable than either Ron or Harry and didn't smell of BO. Was there a switch for "teenage boy" because if so, they had well and truly flicked it on. Hermione was pleasantly surprised to find Crookshanks was not like a muggle cat. He seemed to appear and disappear, which might have something to do with why she'd decided to go with Alice in Wonderland tonight. At dinner, she'd feel him brush against her leg and after having pet him, he'd be gone. Going to class in the morning he'd trail behind, clinging close to the walls like the worst kind of spy before darting playfully ahead then disappear behind a statue. She even got a laugh one day in the greenhouse when Harry nudged her. Turning to the east, undulating hills of orange fur through the window indicated the great beast was sunning himself on one of the trestles leaned up against the side.
"Curiouser and curiouser!" read Hermione to Crookshanks, "Now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Goodbye, feet! *gasp* Crooky! They must've been actual potions!"
Crookshanks let out the biggest yawn and the bed trembled as he arched up for a stretch. Throwing the book to one side, Hermione ruffled the fur around the beasts broad neck and quizzed him, "Crooky, did our wizardy friend Lewis know there was a shrinking and growing potion or did he just make it up? It's so hard to tell now that I know he was magic. And if he's being factual, what do you think was in the cake? Was it made with the growth potion, or is there another ingredient that makes people grow? Hmm? Will you tell me? Is there magic flour for instance? Heh heh, is that self raising flour? Oh Crooks, you're as useful as Dinah is to Alice. Now don't look at me like that, I didn't mean it."
"So, Crooky, if these potions are actually real and I could make them that'd be dead useful don't you agree? Why, if I had a growing one on hand when we ran into Fluffy I could have gotten as big as Hagrid and just told him to sit down and roll over!"