Chapter 32
Everything was ready… Harry oversaw the last details with Dobby. The kitchen had everything under control. Now, all that was missing were the actual guests… And the women, of course, but Winky had come to inform them they were almost done.
So the gentlemen had come out in the Hall, waiting to watch their ladies come from the stairs. To Harry, this was a casual affair. He barely spent any attention at the way both Arthur's and Ron's faces lit up when they saw their wives come down fully dressed. He made the necessary polite compliments to Ginny, once she joined them, but was captivated when he saw the last two people arrive at the top of the stairs.
Hermione… She had on an elegant dress that still hid most of her body's beauty, but at least hinted at them… More so than her usual attire. Her hair was still up, but it wasn't the severe knot… Her hairdo, too, hinted at her wildness, though still showed perfect sensibility. He strongly felt the need to run up to her, and carry her back upstairs, indulging in the private pleasure of helping her shed off that marvellous fabric. He was so entranced; he didn't notice Molly's gaze directed at him…
He yearned for her to see him, but she wasn't looking his way. Jealously following her gaze, his eyes fell on their daughter.
It took him an eternity, which in reality was a mere moment, to realise he was staring at the wrong person. Redirecting his mind, he smiled broadly, proud of his little girl walking down with her chin up. She really was a little lady. Her hair had been done in much the same way as her mother's… her governess's had…
Fear struck Harry's heart when he saw the similarity in mother and daughter. Outwardly, his broad grin didn't leave his face, and to distract anyone who'd think about it he spoke up full of pride:
"You look beautiful, Lily!" Looking at the people surrounding him, "Doesn't she?"
To his relief, not everyone in the group was paying much attention at all to the last arrivals, and those who did just agreed respectfully with the master of the house.
Pushing Hermione out of his head, he went forth to take Lily's hand, kissing it with exaggerated reverence.
"My lady, if you please?"
***
With a slight pang in her heart, Hermione looked on when Harry ignored her, favouring his daughter to be gallant to. But this didn't last long when she reminded herself that she would not act weak, despite how she was dressed.
Mrs. Weasley had proved to be a woman hard to resist. She hadn't been angered by the servant's refusal to wear the expensive cloths…
*
"Dear Miss Granger, this tells me all there is to know. I suspected you were an honourable witch, and this only proves it to me more…"
Hermione sagged with relief. But this was shortly lived when the matron invited her to walk with her. Unsure where the matron would lead her, Hermione followed her out of the room, where Mrs. R. Weasley and Miss Ginevra were still fussing over Lily.
With a mysterious smile on her face, the matron hadn't meant for Hermione to win the argument about the dress: "But you will attend the Ball dressed properly. Now I know you fear the scandal, like any decent person would. But you needn't worry. If anything, it would cause even more of a stir if the guests found out there was a Muggleborn governess employed here, and she hadn't been present at the Ball!"
Hermione frowned, she couldn't make any sense of this: why would it cause uproar?
But the older witch smiled indulgently: "You must understand, my dear. Now I know you're Muggleborn, but to purebloods like myself, appearance is everything. Arthur, that is Mr. Weasley, my husband, you know, he comes from a rather peculiar lineage of politicians. You see there are some things that aren't commonly known. For example, Hogwarts: several ages ago, four wizards, all extremely adept at their own magic, founded the school. You've maybe heard of the four houses? But only one of them was against accepting Muggleborns as students. The three others were avid promoters of teaching witches and wizards born to Muggle families!"
Hermione was shocked, and couldn't help but listen with great interest. Indeed, she hadn't come upon a passage in 'Hogwarts, A History', which banned Muggleborns to come to Hogwarts. But she had just assumed it was an unspoken rule…
"Yes, Hogwarts was build to teach magical students, no matter their parentage. But four centuries back… Well, it had been in the making quite a while before that… And maybe that's where I should start. There was always a category of purebloods that looked down upon people born from other 'classes', and it was especially important to keep the magical 'blood' pure… Once Hogwarts started teaching Muggleborns, as well as purebloods, the advantage shifted. You see, before, the wizarding families could keep the knowledge, gathered since ages, to themselves, leaving Muggleborns to find their way with magic on their own. Now, though, Muggleborns had been raised with Muggle knowledge, as well as getting full access to magical schooling…"
"So you can look down your nose on Muggle 'knowledge' all you want, but there's no denying the ingenious things they create to fulfil their lack of magic. The success of a large number of Muggleborns in the wizarding world here in Great-Britain evoked the envy of a large part of the more unfortunate pureblood community. And the rich and powerful families only loved to play that to their advantage, since those Muggleborns did pose a threat to their beliefs: that they were inferior to purebloods. It all came to a boiling point when there was so-called proof that Muggleborns hadn't the same capacity for moral than purebloods. Well, there were huge debacles, but the Ministry was as corrupt as it is now, and the Muggleborns were banned from Hogwarts 'until further notice'"
"So that is how it started. Now it seems Blueboard is advancement, as well as allowing male Muggleborns whose families have enough money to pay the tuition, to Hogwarts. But in reality, it's an outrage… Hogwarts was meant to be the bastion of equality between all magical people, not the start of imbalance between purebloods and Muggleborns. Now back to my husband's family. One of the leading figures in politics that is responsible for the public acknowledgement of Muggle Inferiority - again, this is a poorly known fact - was called Fernadinius Noire. He had a daughter who disagreed with him passionately. She ran off and married an extremely poor wizard, who, despite being pureblood himself, was one of the few protesting alongside the Muggleborns… The first Weasley to make it into political history…"
"Him being pureblood was a blessing for them: because of that, there was nothing Noire could do to disown his only daughter, now a Weasley. That is essentially how the Weasley family became a part of 'high society'… So, you see, dear girl, every Weasley since has been fighting for equal rights for Muggleborns. It was Arthur's great-grandfather that passed the law that allowed for Blueboard to be built. The greatest problem however, is because of the prejudice and the unequal chances of schooling, that the Muggleborns have difficulty to prove their worth as much as any other magical person. But now I'm getting off-topic…"
"Now you understand, my dear Miss Granger. Our family history, Arthur still fighting politically, and even Harry's mother - she was a Muggleborn…The guests, even the more pureblood-minded ones, will simply expect the Muggleborn governess to be treated as an equal. If you show up in that sober robe, and if you disappear once the children are tucked in, it will cause not too kind critique to my husband's political standpoint. And don't worry about Harry's reputation; you'll just have to keep to my side… Now do not interpret this as only a political game. I do believe you would look magnificent in that dress, and who knows, you might find a nice suitor - forgive me: I'm a matchmaker at heart. I only meant to be upfront with my intentions: they are not purely because of some kind-heartedness from my part. Something tells me you would be even less inclined to wear that dress if it were just kindness? But I wish to look out for my husband's image, as well as my son's, because I do feel for Mr. Potter as my son…"
*
That had been the end of the story. There wasn't much Hermione could bring against it afterwards. She couldn't bring Mrs. and Mr. Weasley shame by refusing a kind gesture so adamantly.
***
Please, review?
***
Elyse: It's always a pleasure to be defended by my own readers. So thank you very much!
Wytil: Very interesting background you've got there, and thanks for sharing… But I fear you're still thinking too much like a Muggle… I'm sorry, I don't mean to offend you, but there simply is no question about armies in the Wizarding World, at least not my wizarding world… And Muggleborns just don't get chances… In my story Muggleborn witches are banned from Hogwarts, thus not having any chances of 'proper' education early on. And in their Muggle world, they have no other choice than to marry well or become an old maid… And Muggleborn wizards just don't get the same chances after Hogwarts in their professional life, nor do they get permission to marry the daughters of purebloods. Or at least, they rarely do. They're just socially not accepted in certain circles, and the Ministry is one of the first examples… Don't forget, Harry's father did marry a Muggleborn, and it was accepted in his family… It's just rare, and you have to battle mountains of prejudice to make it… But besides the ban on Muggleborn witches attending Hogwarts, there are very few other written laws discriminating them… Only very strong bigotry… I at least hope this chapter has brought you some more answers… As for Neville, he already moved to America: he was just an official observer for the new government there. You know: learn from the old homeland how to run things… But it's just official BS, the new American government will form his own basis, and in time, it will grow its own prejudices…