Saturday, November 7, 1994 - Morning
Saturday dawned with grey skies, pouring rain and gusting winds. Hermione woke with a start. She had slept in; it was after 9. She was in her own bed at home. The night terrors had not come. She was not going to go mad today.
Yesterday her parents had taken her to the family doctor. She had referred Hermione to a psychiatrist. Hermione was a mess. She jumped at the slightest noise. Crying fits alternated with unresponsive staring at nothing. Jean Granger had stayed home with her daughter trying to find out what was wrong. Hermione could not explain anything. She uttered disjointed sentences containing the names Athena and Apollo. Each night since that awful meeting at the wizard’s ministry, Hermione had woken at odd times screaming and shouting words like “NO HECATE” and “I WILL NOT GO BACK”. Mostly it was something like “POTTER IS AN EVIL CREEP” and “KEEP HIM AWAY FROM ME”.
On Friday night, there was nothing. Hermione slept without a murmur.
The letters requesting a transfer to Ilvermorny had been sent to Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmaster at Hogwarts, and Ilvermorny itself. Ilvermorny was represented by an office of the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA). The Ministry of Magic, Department of International Magical Cooperation had provided the contact details for the MACUSA office in London. All that had been done on Monday before Hermione’s great unravelling had progressed too far.
Saturday was spent watching cartoons on the Granger’s TV. Sunday was spent watching old videos of musicals and movies. Hermione had stopped shaking. She was responding to normal conversation again.
An owl arrived with a parchment for Hermione. The owl was Hedwig. It was from Potter. Hermione took the parchment outside and set fire to it.
Hermione had not noticed that the light feeling of something tied around her neck had disappeared sometime on Friday. She remained convinced that the vassalage claimed for Potter over her, and the others, was fraudulent. She was deeply indignant that the Hogwarts Headmaster, and teachers, and the Ministry of Magic had sat back and allowed the fraud to be perpetrated. She would never go back to Hogwarts. She would leave Magical Britain and never return.
On Thursday, a letter arrived at the Granger house by the regular post. It was from Ilvermorny. Hermione had been invited to attend an interview at Ilvermorny to assess where she should be placed in the school program. She had been accepted. The Grangers placed their businesses in the hands of a business broker. They listed their house for sale with a real estate agent.
Two airline tickets to Boston, Massachusetts were booked for Hermione and her mother. Her father would follow them when the businesses and the house had been sold. The MACUSA office in London made all of the legal blockages to the Grangers moving permanently to the USA go away in a day. They wanted Hermione Granger to move to Ilvermorny.
As the days of packing and preparation progressed, Hermione felt a fixed resolution develop in her mind. She had regained her sanity. The Granger family had devoted themselves to removing outdated religious notions such as deities who intervened in the lives of mortals. The idea that some god could create a vassalage bond which a mortal could not resist was revolting and unacceptable. That five-day long attack intended to drive her mad had been sent by some wizard using dark mind magic, probably advanced compulsion spells or a potion.
She had been completely fooled by Potter himself. The broody moody act of helplessness was false. He was the tool of these hidden dark wizards. The first-year encounter with Voldemort had only been witnessed by Potter. The second-year Chamber of Secrets contest over Ginny Weasley had only been witnessed by Potter. How much of the third-year rescue mission for Sirius Black had been genuine?
Potter complained about the pain in his scar. Was it an involuntary link to Voldemort? Was there some other connection?
Magical Britain would have to deal with whatever he had done. She was out of it now. She would not be another helpless victim. What about all her friends? The Weasleys had been so keen to have Harry Potter in their family group. Was she included because of her silly devotion to the Potter cause? She hadn’t heard anything from them. Was a connection to her too embarrassing now?
Hermione decided to write letters to Molly and Ginny. They most likely would continue to ignore her. She wrote short notes to them both asking for information about what they were going to do. The Night Bus took her to Diagon Alley, a post owl delivered her notes. Three days later there was no reply.
Hermione and Jean Granger left for the States.
--ooOOoo--
“Why did you pick her Athena?” Hera was genuinely puzzled.
“Up until now, she was completely loyal to Harry. Nearly the only one in his whole life who supported him. Sure! There was that broomstick incident last Christmas, but with the information that they had at the time, she was right. Harry was being silly not to be cautious.” Athena was sad.
“So, what happened?”
Athena took a deep breath and raised her hand as if addressing an audience. “Liberty! Equality! Fraternity! Something that doesn’t happen in the Wizarding World. Her parents raised her to passionately embrace modern political ideals. Her fundamental beliefs overruled her love for Harry. For her, vassalage was slavery. It symbolized everything she objected to in the Wizarding World.”
“So, she is happy to play politics while she leaves Harry to rot. She knows it wasn’t his choice.” Hera was getting grumpy.
Athena was sad again. “She can’t accept it. Her rational mind will not accept Gods intervening in mortal life like we did. That modern political education she got at her mother’s knee is blocking us out. She has convinced herself that the edicts were all faked by Harry.”
“Isn’t she going to get a nasty shock one day, not today, not tomorrow, but one day, definitely.” Hera was determined.
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