Chapter Three
Hermione gently shook Jack's shoulders to wake him up, he opened his eyes sleepily. "Jack I need to tell you something."
Hermione paused for a moment and Jack saw her serious expression.
"Is everything ok?" He asked her concerned.
She nodded.
"Um, well, this is going to sound bad, but I've been keeping something from you, and I have to tell you now, I should have told you before, but we can't really be engaged until you know everything about me." She said, knowing her speech and grammar were becoming muddled as she spoke fast and quietly.
Jack was now wide-awake.
"What is it Hermione?"
"Uh, have you ever believed in magic?" She asked him, cringing internally as she did so, this was so clichéd.
"Not really." Jack said with a bemused expression.
"You've never believed that witches and wizards existed?" Hermione asked, figuring she might as well stick with this approach now that she'd started. He shook his head.
"Oh. I was afraid of that. Um, well I never used to, but Jack…um, I'm a witch." She looked at him intently to gage his reaction. She was not prepared for him to laugh.
"You mean you do voodoo and read tarot cards?" He asked her with a grin.
"Ah, not exactly. Jack, there is a huge magical population all over the world, hidden from those without magical powers. I discovered I was a witch when I was ten years old, and I didn't go to boarding school in France. I went to a Wizarding boarding school called Hogwarts." She said. Now he just looked confused as if she was teasing him or telling him a story.
"I can tell you don't believe me. I guess I'm going to have to demonstrate this." She said uneasily.
"Now, try not to freak out ok?" She said cautiously, getting up from the bed and reaching into a drawer she pulled out her wand.
"Hermione why are you holding a twig?" Jack asked her, now sounding a little pissed off.
"Just watch ok?" She asked him.
"Lumos."
Light spread from the tip of her wand and Jack sat up straight.
"What the hell was that?"
"This a wand Jack. It enables me to perform certain kinds of magic. See?" She held the wand over her head and with a gentle flick she was no longer dressed in her robe but in jeans and a t-shirt and her usual long brown hair was now blonde and very short.
Jack's face seemed frozen in an expression of disbelief. Hermione quickly returned her appearance to normal so she wouldn't alarm him and sat beside him on the bed, her hand resting on her arm.
He looked up at her warily.
"You really can do magic…" He said slowly. She nodded.
"So, there are lots of people who do magic?" He asked softly, his eyes still looking startled.
Hermione nodded, worrying at how quiet and calm Jack was being about all this.
"You went to school to learn this stuff?"
"Yes, for seven years I studied Magical Arts, and now I work for the Ministry of Magic." She said, glad to get yet another secret off her chest.
"So, you don't work for MI5?" He asked.
Hermione blushed guiltily.
"No, It seemed like a good idea to say that at the time as it wouldn't lead to too many questions, but I do work for the Government, it's just the magical branch of the government, and I work with magical creatures." She said.
"Magical Creatures?" He asked.
"Ah, well that's a whole other story…animals which have magical powers, um, like Unicorns…" She said sheepishly, knowing this all sounded rather ridiculous.
"Unicorns exist?" He asked incredulously.
She nodded, understanding his apprehension; it was a lot to absorb at once.
They spent the next hour talking, Jack asking questions and Hermione patiently answering all of them, explaining what she had the power to do, and reassuring him that witches and wizards were no threat to Muggles.
"Do Harry and Ron know?" Jack asked, then paused and answered his own question. "Of course they do, you all went to school together…so they're wizards?" He asked. She nodded.
"What about your other friends? Are they all magical as well?" He asked anxiously.
She shook her head. "No, I do have a lot of magical friends from school and work, but I also have a lot of non-magical friends. You met Ginny, Ron's sister? She's a witch, all his family are magical."
"What about Harry's family?" Jack asked.
Hermione paused, realising that now was when she'd have to explain the hardest part.
"Harry doesn't have any family. But yes they were magical. His parents were murdered, his grandparents were already dead. His only living relatives are non-magical and disowned him the day he turned seventeen. His godfather, his legal guardian was also murdered." She said sadly, thinking of Sirius and how much she missed him.
"Murdered?" Jack asked in horror.
"Well, this is going to be tough to explain, but please don't be worried, it's all over now. The war ended over four years ago…"
"War?" Jack asked horrified.