Chapter Text
Leaning over the set dinner table, Mr. Granger eagerly snatched the letter from the claws of the tawny owl. Mrs. Granger winced at the feathers drifting into the roast that was fresh from the oven, but once her husband had pulled open the sealed envelope, she snatched it from his hands and began to read it aloud.
Dear Mum and Dad,
These first days at school have been the most amazing of my life! I apologize for taking so long to write, but things have just been so busy that I’ve only now found the time to learn the ins and outs of the postal system!
A few days ago, I was sorted into Gryffindor (home of the brave and chivalrous), and I’ve made a friend!
Remember that boy I told you about this summer, Harry Potter? Well for the first few days of classes, he was able to do the spells okay, but no matter how I corrected him, he would insist that he was fine and keep doing them a little wrong! And yet outside of class, I keep catching him doing things that aren’t brought up in our books. I checked in the library, and some of the spells he was doing aren’t taught until we have taken our O.W.L.s! I asked him about it, but he said he doesn’t do extra reading. But I know he must, or else how would he know so many things we haven’t been taught yet! So I brought this up with Professor McGonagall (my Head of House and Transfiguration Professor), who told me that she would keep a close eye on him.
As it turns out, Harry was faking being worse at magic than he is! I can’t imagine why, but everyone at school is talking about it. Apparently Professor Snape complained about him in front of some of the Slytherins? (I can’t believe such a horrid man is Harry’s Head of House. It just isn’t fair! Everyone else is so nice here. Why can’t he just leave Harry alone!) I know it’s wrong to gossip, but I can’t let a tragedy like this go unchecked, and Professor Snape isn’t going to help!
I consulted my Introduction to Psychology book (please thank grandma again for me!) and have concluded that he was hiding his giftedness to try to fit in. He must have been bullied in the past for his talents! Or maybe he didn’t have friends at his last school? As it turns out, he was raised in the Muggle (or non-magical) world just like me, and so maybe he had trouble with his specialness too.
I know that you taught me never to hide my talents and that a true friend would appreciate me for who I am, but I don’t think his family is very nice. At the very least, no one has ever taught him that it’s okay to be himself. So I’ve decided to be his friend, and when I told him all this, he laughed and agreed!
So now I have a friend, and I’m doing amazingly in my classes. And Harry is helping me do even better!
I don’t know how he learned all of this so quickly, but I appreciate his help.
I promise I will keep my grades up! He might be doing better than me in classes right now, but I still intend to be top of the class.
Love,
Hermione
Mrs. Granger set the letter down on her placemat, her expression a mixture of pride and concern.
"Well," she said, handing her pre-written response to the owl. "It sounds like she’s found a kindred spirit. Thank God. I knew that going to Hogwarts would help her find people with her same kind of giftedness, but I was worried she might be behind socially."
"A 'tragedy,' she calls it," Mrs. Granger noted, her eyes scanning the letter again. "She’s only eleven and she’s already trying to stage an intervention for the boy. I suppose we should have seen that coming when she insisted on bringing the DSM-III along with her schoolbooks."
"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Mr. Granger gestured with his fork. "The boy is an orphan, raised by 'Muggles,' and clearly something has happened to him if he feels the need to camouflage his intelligence."
"I’m just glad she’s not the one hiding," Mrs. Granger said softly. "If this Harry Potter is helping her 'do even better' in a school for magic, he must be quite the little scholar. I worry though what exactly she means by a family that isn’t ‘very nice.’"
"Well," her husband smiled. "he’s in good hands now. We’ll just have to invite him as much as possible this summer. Maybe we should have his relatives over for dinner too? Get a sense for them. There’s a chance they were just overwhelmed by such a powerful boy. Hermione caused enough trouble in spite of her best efforts. Maybe his family will be more understanding now that they understand him a little better."
They returned to their roast, satisfied that their daughter had made her very first friend and found a place where she belonged.