Published at 30th of November 2019 10:41 pm

Chapter 65: Dark side of the Magical World

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"Hello Dan." Harry said with a nod to Hermione's father who opened the door. Dan's eyebrows shot up in surprise upon seeing him which was to be expected as he had come to their house unannounced. "A belated Merry Christmas to you."

"Ahh… To you as well. Harry." Dan said but remained stooped in his place. Huh! His presence must have surprised the middle aged man more than he had thought.

"May I come in Dan?" he asked politely.

His words seemed to have woken Dan from whatever stupor he was in and the middle aged man spluttered a bit before saying "Come in. Come in. Of course." and moved aside to make way to him.

"Dan. Who is it?" Emma's voice came from inside another room, probably the kitchen as Harry noticed their home for the first time.

The walls were painted light yellow and gave a calming effect while the ground was covered with a soft red carpet with blue stripes.

The living room was lined with comfortable looking sofas along with a large shelf that was filled with family photos.

All in all, the house gave a warm and familial feeling that was absent in the Dursleys house back in 4 Privit Drive.

"It's Harry Emma." Dan shouted.

"Harry." A surprised voice came from the room upstairs. The sound of running footsteps was followed by the sight of Hermione who quickly climbed down the stairs before jumping at him and wrapping him up in an embrace.

"Oh Harry. I missed you so much."

Harry could see Dan's jaw dropping at the blatant show of affection and the slight smile on Emma's face who had come out of the kitchen to receive him.

"It was good to see you too." He said as he tightened his arms around her. Getting hugged by Hermione never got old. He leaned into her ears and whispered "My personal hug machine."

That got a sweet blush out of the girl but she continued to hug him for a moment longer before she let go.

"Happy belated Christmas Hermione. I hope you liked my gift." He said with a warm smile and Hermione's smile turned wider at that.

"Yes Harry it was beautiful. I absolutely loved it. Thank you." And with that she jumped in for another hug.

By now, Harry could see that Dan had regained his composer but had no idea what he should say to the boy who was so affectionately hugging his daughter in front of him. Emma on the other hand, had a mischievous glint in her eyes and seemed to be enjoying the situation.

"Yes Harry. The gift was quite beautiful." Emma said from behind Hermione "Though Dan seemed to have flown into a rage when he saw your gift until he read the note sent by you along with the instruction manual."

Dan looked a bit embarrassed at that while Hermione simply turned red.

"I'm sorry I forgot to send you gift as well Emma." He said as he realized that he should he done that as well. After all, impressing the parents of the girl you liked was common sense.

"Nonsense." Emma said with a smile "There's no need for you to spend any money on us old people."

Harry simply smiled back at her and didn't said anything as Hermione broke her hug.

"Did you liked my gift Harry. I'm sorry I couldn't buy you a better one. But I had no idea what you would have liked as a gift. And I couldn't buy you any books because…"

He stopped her with a 'calm down gesture' before she started with her tirade.

The girl had the habit of speaking incoherently when she was flustered. A habit that he found rather cute most of the times.

"I loved your gift Hermione. In fact, I'm just coming from one of the places suggested in that Book."

"Really?" Hermione asked with a surprised and hopeful expression.

"No." He replied in a deadpanned expression with and then smirked as he watched her expression changed into mock anger before she shook her head in exasperation.

"Harry. You really should go out more often." She said before her expression turned serious "And I asked you to come to my home for Christmas. Why didn't you?" she asked fiercely as she came to his face, demanding answers.

By now, Harry doubted that she had even forgotten about her parents who were just standing behind her. But he hadn't so he slowly backed away from her.

Dan didn't seemed like one of those Dads who went after his daughter's boyfriend with a gun but there was no harm in being cautious.

"You sent me a letter?" he asked.

She nodded then asked with in frustration "You… Don't tell me you forgot to read it?"

He rubbed his head in an embarrassed fashion because he really had forgotten to read any letters as he had his head deep down in research and hadn't found the time to go back to his room in 4 Privet Drive where Bitty deposited his letters.

"I might have forgotten it." He said slowly.

"Harryyy…." She said with some mock anger but then simply shook her head in fond exasparation "Well. Leave it be then. But it was really boring, what with all those cousins of mine. Come, let's go upstairs. There so much I want to talk with you about." She said and started pulling his upstairs, a sight that Emma found rather amusing if the slight quirk in her lips was any indication.

He held Hermione's hands and put a stop to her tirade with another hand on her lips "Quiet Hermione."

And she went silent.

This was a thing that had happened between them many times in the past. Times when Hermione would simply forget to care about what the other person is thinking about and simply continue to say whatever she ha in her mind.

All those time, he would put a finger on her lips and told her to calm down and focus on the other person's feeling and to check if the person was even paying attention to her before speaking anything else.

These gestures happened a lot in the first few weeks but they had been happening less as of late as her social interactions became better..

But she would sometimes still fly into her tirade so it was still up to him to put a stop to her.

"I'm here to talk with you Hermione. But I'm also here to talk with Dan and Emma." He said and both her parents raised an eyebrow at that.

"Oh…" Hermione managed to say before embarrassment took over and she simply hid her face with her hands.

And looked really adorable while doing so.

"Now. Is there anywhere we can talk Emma?" He asked her and she nodded her head before leading them to the living room.

"Would you like something Harry?" Emma asked as Dan, he and Hermione sat on the sofas.

"No thanks Emma. And… it would be better if you stay here to listen as well. This is important." He spoke with a mildly serious expression to imprint in their mind that he was not here to joke around this time. "In fact, why don't you take a seat and I'll ask Bitty to bring us refreshments and drink." He said and pointed to the sofa in front of him before he called out "Betty."

The house elf appeared with a pop in the middle of room.

And the Grangers, to his eternal amusement, squeaked in fear at her sudden appearance. Even Dan let out an unmanly squeak before he regained his composure.

"Please calm down everyone." He spoke in a calm and authoritative voice which had the intended purpose of calming them down.

"This is Bitty my House elf. You don't need to fear her." he said "Bitty. This is my friend Hermione. You already know her. And these are her parents, Dan and Emma Granger."

Hermione had remained composed because she already knew about them but Harry could tell that Dan and Emma were still a bit spooked out because of Bitty's sudden presence.

"Ahh… Hello." Emma said a bit awkwardly as she moved forward to inspect the unknown humanoid creature in front of her "I'm Emma. Emma Granger."

And now Harry knew where Hermione got her reckless courage from. At least when she was not being a stickler for the rules and worshiping the authority figures.

You would not think about it but the girl could could show a lot of courage when it was needed of her.

"Emma Grangy. I being Bitty. House elf of Master Harry Potter Sir." Bitty said courteously before turning to face him "Does Master Harry Potter be wanting something."

"Yes Bitty. Could you prepare some refreshments and some soft drinks for everyone here?" he asked politely and she gave a nod before vanishing into thin air.

Leaving an awkward silence behind in her wake.

"Harry. Who was that?" Emma asked curiously, breaking the silence.

"Could she come in and out of our house like that whenever she wants?" Dan asked his own question before he could reply to Emma's inquiry.

And what a good and reasonable question it was.

In fact, it was so logical and reasonable that most wizards and witches never ask that question throughout their entire lives.

Could a house elf simply come to your house whenever it wants?

"Yes." He said, answering Dan's question without giving any other explanation before turning to Emma "And she was Bitty. My house elf, servant, personal secretory, friend and magic sucking parasite." He said the last part only half seriously.

Considering how she used a lot of his magic whenever he gave her a large task to perform.

It gave perspective to the reason behind why young children where not allowed to bond with house elves.

If even someone as magically powerful as him could lose a large portion of his magic when his house elf is doing a large task then it would be even difficult for normal wizards and witches of his age to maintain the bond. In fact, they might even die from magical exhaustion if the house elves are not careful with their magic.

Though there must be some sort of barrier that stops the house elves from putting their masters in danger since he had never heard of anyone dying because of a house elf bond.

But there was no point in telling Dan too much as that would only cause the middle aged man more panic.

Frankly, he doubted that Dan would take it well if told the man that he could pop into Hermione's room anytime just as easily as the house elf had done once he'd seen her room.

No, the man would not take that well at all.

But he was not here to talk about house elves but something much more important.

With that thought, he reached for the spatial purse and pulled out a stack of news paper and put them on the table.

It had taken him a few hours to find these papers and a bit more time to copy them all but after copying thousands upon thousands of books from the room of requirement, this task didn't even phase him all that much.

"What's this Harry?" Hermione asked curiously as she eyed the newspapers dating well back to a few decades.

"The last time I met you Dan, Emma, I had the feeling that Professor Minverva might not have told you the darker secrets about the magical society" Dan snorted at that but his interest became even more apparent because of that "This… is a simple and short summary of the history of our world." He said as he pointed at the newspapers.

"A history that you should have known about before sending your daughter to the magical world."

In truth, the whole stack consisted of nothing but the duration before Voldemort's war started and the duration after his war ended and a lot of his followers still got away.

And then he went ahead and explained that bit of history among other things to the both of them.

How their society was still divided into the high class society controlled by purebloods and everyone else.

How the purebloods still ruled the whole system and most of the muggleborns either adapted to their new station after graduating or left the country in order to find some work in other magical society.

"Do you know what the harshest punishment the Lord of an ancient and noble house would suffer if he killed you two?" he asked after an hour long explanation.

Dan and Emma looked wary at that question and it looked like they were not very eager to know but he told them anyway.

"Three months of prison at most."

"What?" All the Grangers shouted at once before they went about how morally wrong and unfair it was but he cut them off as he continued "And that's taking into account the presence of your daughter. If you were simple muggles with no connection to the magical world then they would have simply buried the case and your death would be chalked up as mysterious disappearances in the non magical newspapers."

Now that simply made them look sick.

"You may not believe me but that's the truth. But you must also remember that a lot of the followers of Voldemort never went to prison for their crimes. And these were the same people who were seen killing countless muggles at one time or another."

And now all the color seemed to have drained out of their faces.

"I'm not telling you all these things in order to scare you Dan, Emma." He said sympathetically. "But it is imperative for you to know that the magical world is not as safe as it seems from the outside."

"Especially for me. Someone who killed the dark lord."

"In fact, if his followers ever found me in a dark alley, then they would not hesitate to butcher me." He explained "If you ever thought why I ever carried a handgun with me at all times even during my stay at Hogwarts, then that is your answer."

Dan swallowed his saliva at that "I… I think I, I think we both need a bit of time to think about all of

this." Dan said and stood up with Emma before they both left the room with shaky steps.

To know that they and their daughter were living in such a dangerous situation all this time must be shocking for them.

"Oh Harry. Is this all true?" Hermione asked worriedly while biting her lips and he wondered how she could look so adorable while worrying.

"I'm afraid you already know the answer to that question Mione." He said affectionately while pulling her in a one armed hug as she leaned into his chest.

It took a few minutes for Dan and Emma to return and see him holding her like that but they didn't say anything to that but simply sat down with a somber.

"Why did you tell us all these things Harry?" Dan asked as soon as he sat down and there was a bit of acquisition in his tone.

Hmm… perhaps he didn't take everything that Harry said with face value after all.

Smart of him.

"That is a good question Dan." He said as he sat up straighter "And there is a very good reason why I told you all these things today."

Then he went on to explain the reason behind why he had told them everything.

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