Hermione's Plan
Getting to Know the Grangers
By Chem Prof
Chapter 3, Getting to Know the Grangers
Harry’s eyes widened as he got his first look at the Grangers’ car. It was a Mercedes 600 sedan, the top of the line. Harry didn’t know much about cars, but it was obvious that this was a much nicer car than anything his Uncle Vernon had ever owned. Harry helped Dan load his and Hermione’s trunks in the boot of the car before joining Hermione in the back seat. Emma, who was quite taken with Hedwig, insisted on keeping the beautiful snowy owl in the front seat with her and Hermione held Crookshanks on her lap. Harry and Hermione took turns scratching the half kneazel behind the ears, which Crookshanks appeared to regard as the right and proper order of things.
Dan and Emma resumed their conversation with Harry while they navigated through the streets of London, and he quickly relaxed and began to open up even more with them, as they coaxed stories from him of his and Hermione’s adventures at Hogwarts by prompting him with items she had written in her letters home. They both found it amusing that Harry’s version of the stories tended to emphasize Hermione’s role more while Hermione’s original tales had focused on Harry’s exploits.
The relaxed feeling that Harry was enjoying came to an abrupt end when Dan suggested that Harry use Emma’s cell phone to call his aunt and uncle and tell them he was on his way. Dan and Emma shared a glance when they noted this, a glance that gradually changed to a look of alarm as they witnessed the conversation that ensued when Vernon answered the phone. They watched Harry cringe as they could hear Vernon loudly berating him for the inconvenience he was causing, even though he had spared them the trip to London to pick him up this year. They could also see the worried look on their daughter’s face and they recalled that she had told him that Harry’s home life was rather difficult.
As health care professionals, the Grangers were required to be alert to indications of child abuse in their patients, and Harry’s body language was exhibiting all the warning signs. They were both sickened by the change that had come over the friendly, well-mannered boy that their daughter thought so highly of, and eventually Dan had seen enough. After pulling over to the side of the street, he reached out and beckoned to Harry for the phone.
“Hello, Mr. Dursley? This is Dan Granger speaking. I’m sorry? I beg your pardon, but I’m not sure what you mean by freaks. No sir, I assure you that my wife and I are just as normal as you are.” Only Hermione heard Harry’s muttered, “a lot more normal” as he slumped back into his seat.
“I hope you don’t mind that we offered Harry a ride home from the train station. I thought it would be more convenient than him having to call you to come all the way into London to pick him up. Yes, it was no problem, we’re happy to do it.” The others in the car could see Dan force himself to hold his tongue when Vernon said something about how he should have left that worthless freak at the station.
“Look, the reason I wanted to speak to you is to see if it would be all right with you if my wife and I took Harry out to dinner before we brought him home.” Hermione perked up upon hearing this, and she noted happily that Harry did also. Apparently Vernon agreed with Dan’s suggestion (probably grumbling that it would be one less time he needed to feed the freak, Hermione thought) and the phone call was quickly concluded.
Dan turned to look at Harry. “Is that all right with you? I didn’t mean to be presumptuous.”
“No, that’s great Mr. Granger,” Harry quickly reassured him. “I’d love to go to dinner with you.”
Dan paused briefly before continuing. “I hope you don’t mind my saying so, but your uncle is one of the rudest men I’ve ever spoken with.”
Harry snorted. “Oh yeah, if it has anything to do with me. I suppose he can be perfectly polite to people he wants to get in good with. As far as he’s concerned, that would only be someone with money or power; that’s all he’s impressed by.” Looking around at his surroundings, Harry continued, “I bet this car would get his attention, though.”
Dan and Emma shared another glance. Emma’s university degree had been in psychology and she could figure out some of what was going on here. “Harry,” she asked, “would I be correct in assuming that the clothes you’re wearing aren’t necessarily by choice?”
Harry drew back a little, on the defensive, but then relaxed as Hermione’s hand sought out his to offer some reassurance. Everything he had observed so far about Hermione’s parents led him to believe that this question was out of concern for him, and was not intended to be unfeeling. “That’s correct Mrs. Granger. All my clothes are hand-me-downs from Dudley when he’s outgrown them or worn them out, and he’s … well, he’s the size of a small whale.” Harry’s attention was on Emma, so he didn’t notice the anger that was building up in Hermione as her eyes narrowed. “I guess these aren’t really suitable to wear to anyplace nice for dinner, are they?” His face fell as this realization struck him.
Hermione couldn’t hold back any longer. “Harry, I don’t care how you’re dressed and neither do Mum and Dad!” She shot a glare at each of her parents, challenging them to disagree, and they both immediately shook their heads.
Emma quickly broke in before Hermione could get too carried away. “No dear, that’s not what I was getting at. It seems to me that keeping Harry dressed in shabby clothing is just a way that his family uses to make themselves feel superior to him. I think that a bit of shopping might be in order before we take Harry home.” She looked to her husband for confirmation of her idea, and received it. “Dan could use a sport coat to go with what he’s wearing, and I’m sure you could use a nice summer dress, since you’ve probably outgrown some of your old ones. And I certainly wouldn’t mind getting something new. What do you say, Harry, would you let us treat you to a nice shirt and a pair of slacks?” Harry hesitated. “Then we can all drop in on your relatives and perhaps let them know what a nice dinner we’re going to have.”
Hermione could tell that Harry was feeling guilty about her parents spending money on him, and broke in. “Remember what we agreed to Harry, about accepting things? Dad can help you pick out a nice outfit. This is something my parents want to do for you.”
Harry couldn’t find any fault with that logic, and before he knew it they had stopped at a shopping center along the motorway to Surrey. Harry and Dan went into a men’s clothing store, while Hermione and Emma browsed the selections of women’s stores. Hermione eventually selected a simple white sleeveless dress, with a V-neckline that was cut lower than anything she had previously owned. In fact, Emma had been correct that she had outgrown most of her old dresses – not in the sense that she had gotten much taller, but that her figure had filled out significantly in the last three years. The dress had an even deeper V-cut back, which precluded her wearing a bra with it, but it was of a stretch knit fabric that gave her enough support. It was longer than she would have liked, but it would do for now and she would be able to shorten it when she got home. The dress conformed snugly to her upper body before flaring at her hips to a full skirt. She was quite hopeful that Harry would like it.
When the four of them joined up in front of the stores the two teens were momentarily frozen speechless. Dan had helped Harry select a closely fitted dark green dress shirt and a light gray cotton-blend pair of trousers, which also fit perfectly. Hermione had never seen Harry in anything but baggy clothes or loose wizarding robes and it was a real eye-opener. She knew that Harry had grown up in recent years, but the broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, tight-bummed hunk in front of her made her knees go weak. For his part, Harry seemed to be having trouble taking his eyes off of Hermione’s torso.
Emma quickly bailed Harry out. “You know, I think that dress needs a necklace, don’t you Harry?” thereby giving him a reason for focusing on Hermione’s neckline. “Perhaps a locket or a pendant?” This reference caused Harry to involuntarily pull the locket he carried everywhere with him from his pocket and hold it out, staring at it with his mind a thousand miles away.
“Harry, is that …?” gasped Hermione, now also broken out of her trance. Harry suddenly realized what he was doing and nodded silently, staring at the golden trinket in his hand. “I … um… I really don’t think so,” Hermione managed, giving in to a small shudder. Even though it was a fake horcrux, it would be too creepy to wear it knowing what Harry and Dumbledore had gone through to get it. Harry, realizing her discomfort, quickly put the locket back into his pocket.
Emma wasn’t sure what the significance of this piece of jewelry was, but could tell that it was distressing to both of them. “It’s not the right color anyway. Silver looks much better on Hermione than gold,” she declared while moving them towards a jewelry counter.
Hermione found herself standing next to Harry perusing the displays when her eye was caught by a beautiful jade pendant on a silver chain. Harry, who had been watching her, quickly reached out and picked it up. “How about this?” he suggested. “Let me buy it for you.”
Hermione protested just as Harry had done previously, but eventually gave in when he argued that they were getting something nice for him, so he wanted to get something nice for her in return. She finally accepted when he allowed her to count it as an early birthday present. Dan quickly agreed to let Harry pay him for the pendant as soon as he could get some money exchanged.
The rest of the evening went by all too fast as far as Hermione was concerned. When they arrived in Surrey, they first stopped off at Privet Drive, ostensibly to drop off Hedwig and Harry’s trunk, but also to show off for the Dursleys. Vernon and Petunia couldn’t stop gaping from the moment the Mercedes pulled into their driveway, all the way through the introductions to the impeccably dressed Granger family by their nearly unrecognizable nephew, right up until the foursome’s airy waves as they set off to the most expensive restaurant in town, which Dan happened to mention the name of just in case they needed to get in touch. For his part Dudley never took his eyes off of Hermione, which eventually caused a glaring Harry to move to block his view, which in turn generated a satisfied smile from the young witch.
At the restaurant, Hermione kept a close eye on Harry, subtly helping him out with everything. She was fairly certain that he had never been out to eat before in his life, and she could see the gratitude in his eyes for her not letting him embarrass himself. The dinner was fabulous, and their amiable conversation of before continued. She could see her parents gradually becoming more and more impressed with Harry. Unfortunately, all too soon as far as she was concerned, they were eventually back at Privet Drive, where she decided to walk Harry up to the front door.
“Good night, Harry. I had an incredible time. I’m so glad you could come out with us.”
“Me too, Hermione. It was unbelievable. Please thank your parents again for me.” He looked reluctantly at the door to the now dark house. “Will you be coming by tomorrow then?”
“Sure. Call me when you’re ready for me. Do you still have my number?” Harry nodded, and Hermione gathered up her courage, leaned forward, and kissed him on the cheek. “Okay, see you tomorrow.” With that, she spun around and hurried back to the car before her pounding heart caused her to pass out.
As Dan pulled out of the driveway, they all waved to Harry who was still standing, somewhat in a daze, on the front porch, then sat in silence for a bit as he headed back to the motorway to continue on home, Hermione absently stroking Crookshanks’ back. Eventually Dan quipped, “It’s been a while since I’ve been through this, but isn’t it supposed to be the guy who gives the girl a goodnight kiss on her porch, rather than the other way around?”
Hermione was glad it was dark in the car, so her parents couldn’t see her blush, and she could only manage the standard teen response. “Daaaaaad!” (A/N If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that from one of my daughters …)
-ooOoo-
Dan and Emma Granger were, to all appearances, a successful professional couple who lived in a well-to-do neighborhood, drove nice cars, and took long, expensive vacations when they could arrange the time off from their practice. They were faithful members of their local church, got on well with their neighbors, took a moderate interest in their local community, and kept up with the latest developments in their field. The only thing the least bit unusual about them was that they were practicing nudists, but they didn’t make a big deal out of it. They rarely visited a nudist club, but mostly confined their clothing free activities to their own home and the resorts they visited at warm weather locations. Other than that pastime, which wasn’t that unusual in Britain or in Europe in general, they were just a regular, normal pair of dentists living regular, normal lives – who just happened to have a daughter who was a witch.
This, of course, made them quite a bit different than their neighbors. Acquaintances who knew not to come into their back yard uninvited, and who didn’t mind having to wait while they threw on a robe before answering the door, could not be counted on to be so open-minded if they had learned about their daughter’s ‘gift’. And so they had been living with the secret for nearly seven years now, ever since the strange letter had arrived on their daughter’s eleventh birthday.
For the last several years though, it was becoming more and more obvious that it was a dangerous world that their daughter had become a part of, and somehow she was now caught up right in the thick of it. Most implausibly, she had been part of a group of school children that had captured some of the most dangerous magical terrorists in the country a year ago. They also knew that the reason their daughter was so deeply caught up in the danger in her world was her friendship with the boy they had just spent the afternoon and evening getting to know better. Of course, their natural instincts as parents were to get her as far away from him as possible, no matter that he was one of the finest young men they had ever met. They also realized, though, that they had no chance whatsoever of doing that. She had made it very clear, by both her words and actions, that she would follow him anywhere, and indeed, had already done so.
Thus their discussion, as they removed their clothing upon their return home, centered on how they could best aid these two teenage warriors, by any means possible. After some time spent reviewing all that they had learned this day, Emma went to talk to Hermione and ask her to join their discussion.
Hermione entered her room which she hadn’t seen for nearly six months, her mind spinning with everything that had happened that day, most particularly the latter part involving Harry Potter and her plan to win his heart. While she pondered, she began to disrobe, removing the white dress that had been such a success, quickly stripping down to her knickers. At this point she paused as she stood in front of her mirror, and gave herself a critical evaluation.
What she saw was a body that had significantly matured from that of the twelve year old girl that had been rescued by two boys from a troll in a girls’ bathroom. She had a developed a decent pair of hips and a nice slender waist, and though she didn’t know it, a bum that guys would think was cute if they ever got a glimpse of it. Her breasts were of average size, which meant that, like most teenage girls, she thought they were too small. As she studied them, she wished, not for the first time, that she was curvy like Lavender. Her voluptuous blonde roommate certainly never had any trouble getting boys to notice her. Hermione did acknowledge, though, that she was bigger than Parvati or Ginny (Cho too, come to think of it), which meant that feature, at least, wouldn’t be an issue with Harry. Of course, those three girls were all very pretty, with beautiful long hair, and had no trouble attracting boys. Unfortunately these were definitely not Hermione’s strong points.
As she studied herself in the mirror, she decided she should shave her legs. (It had been fortunate that Harry’s eyes never got down that far this evening, and that her dress had been relatively long.) Shaving would be a relatively simple matter, as one of the benefits of sharing a dorm room with Lavender Brown was learning lots of personal care charms. Lavender had been horrified that Hermione didn’t shave her legs during the school year, but Hermione never saw the point, since her legs were always covered by the school robes.
As she used her wand to do the hair removal charm, Hermione reflected on being a child of nudists, adjusting to living in a dorm with two other girls. Due to her background, she had grown up without being the least bit self conscious about her body. In the Granger household it was perfectly normal to walk nude from the bathroom to the bedroom. While Parvati had come from a conservative Indian family, and had been shocked at this behavior, Lavender had definitely turned out to have some exhibitionistic tendencies. (Hermione recalled having to watch her play tonsil hockey in the middle of the common room with Ron and wondered, again not for the first time, just how much of Lavender’s charms Ron had been favored with. Now however, she found that she didn’t really care that much.)
Eventually, after hanging around with Lavender for six years, Parvati had loosened up enough so that she no longer dressed behind her bed hangings, and was comfortable enough to walk around in the dorm room in her underwear, or emerge from the bathroom in only a towel. Between that, and Lavender’s displays, and Hermione’s casual attitude toward nudity, the sixth year Gryffindor girls’ dorm was the stuff that adolescent male fantasies were made of.
As she finished up her legs, Hermione sighed as she reflected that things had been pretty tense in that dorm this year, with Lavender being jealous of Hermione’s relationship with Ron, blaming her for their breakup. Just like Cho the year before with Harry. How unfair, she grumbled in her mind; she got all of the blame but none of the benefits, since neither boy had moved on to her after the breakups that she allegedly caused.
Once her legs were done she decided that she should also trim her bikini area, since she would likely be wearing swimsuits this summer. Hermione recalled reading an article in one of her mum’s magazines last summer about something called a Brazilian bikini wax. It sounded rather painful and she was very glad that she could do this magically. She removed her knickers and was once again carefully performing the charm when her mum knocked and entered the room, while pulling on a robe, which she left hanging open in front.
“That looks like a pretty useful spell,” Emma commented. As was not uncommon for nudist women, she kept herself clean shaven.
“Sorry, Mum, it only works for witches,” Hermione smiled back over her shoulder, not the least bit concerned at her mother’s presence in the room, or the way either of them were attired. Emma grinned ruefully and watched her finish.
“You know, now that you can do magic at home, perhaps you can take on a bigger share of the chores,” Emma teased.
“Sure Mum,” Hermione agreed. “Definitely the cleaning, but you probably still don’t want me in the kitchen. Using magic will no doubt mean that I can just burn food that much faster.” Emma grimaced, but had to agree. They had finally given up trying to make a cook out of Hermione, now trusting her to do no more than boil water for tea.
Hermione finished and straightened up, regarding herself once again in the mirror with a wistful expression. Emma, guessing what was on her mind, came up behind her and put her hands on Hermione’s shoulders in understanding.
“Mum, how do you get a guy?”
“Harry this time?” They had had a similar conversation during the Christmas holidays regarding Hermione’s lack of success with Ron. Her daughter nodded glumly. “Well, I don’t think you should invite him over and jump naked into the pool with him.” As she had intended, that got a smile out of the girl. “I think you have to just do what you can to get him to notice you in that way, without going overboard or turning into someone you’re not.” Hermione nodded. She had gone down that path this year and wouldn’t do that again. “You want him to fall for you, not some fake version of you. In the long run that won’t work. But that doesn’t mean you can’t put your best side forward. That dress you wore tonight certainly got his attention. And it wouldn’t hurt to invite him over for a swim. With an appropriate swimsuit of course.”
“Appropriate?”
“Something with both a top and a bottom. At least at first.” Hermione blushed brightly at this suggestion and Emma laughed, with Hermione eventually joining in. Emma gave her daughter a quick hug and then released her as Hermione reached for a robe. “Actually, the reason I came in here was to tell you that your father and I are going into the hot tub and wondered if you wanted to join us.”
Hermione considered for a moment. “Is the pool warm?”
“Yes, we made sure to have it ready for you. You’re always so pale when you come home from school we thought you might want to get as much sun as you can.” Hermione snickered. Northern Scotland was not the greatest place to work on a tan.
“Okay, then I’ll swim for a while to work off some energy and settle down a bit, then I’ll join you.”
The Grangers’ house was not quite large enough to be considered a mansion, but was impressive nonetheless. The drive led up to a large porch with a covered entryway, then continued around to the side of the house to a garage which was expansive enough to hold two cars and a boat. The front door to the home opened up to a grand, two story entryway dominated by a large circular stairway leading up to the bedrooms on the second floor. The front of the house had a large formal living room and dining room off of either side of the entryway, which were used primarily for entertaining business associates.
A set of double doors led to the rear of the house, which contained a kitchen equipped with all the latest culinary gadgets, along with a breakfast room, immediately behind the dining room, and an expansive family room behind the living room. This area was the part of the house that the Grangers actually lived in most of the time. The garage opened into the kitchen and beyond that was a laundry area. On the other side of the house, beyond the family room was an office used for their dentistry practice. The basement contained a well stocked wine cellar, an exercise area, and another fully finished and soundproofed space that had been intended as a recreation area for Hermione’s friends when she became a teenager, but now sat unused.
The upper floor contained a master bedroom suite and three other bedrooms. Hermione’s bedroom had its own bath, and the two guest bedrooms shared a bath. The rear of the house opened into an enclosed porch, reached from the family room, which contained a jacuzzi style hot tub. This porch led to a pool deck, which surrounded a heated pool that had a retractable covering, so that it could be used for more than half the year. The back yard was surrounded by a privacy hedge, and contained a beautiful assortment of trees and shrubs, as well as lovely flower gardens. In the far back was a tool shed, used primarily by the landscaping service. The landscaping service had been selected particularly for their discretion, having several nudist households on their client list, and only worked during times when the family was not using the pool.
Hermione followed her mother down the stairs, through the family room and out onto the porch, where her father was waiting for them, just finishing adjusting the hot tub and removing the cover. As her parents disrobed and entered the bubbling water, she continued out onto the pool deck, discarded her robe on a lounge chair, and dove into the pool.
Hermione swam in the pool for fifteen minutes, luxuriating in the feel of the warm water flowing over her nude body, a feeling she was unable to duplicate at Hogwarts. The prefect’s bath was close, but not quite large enough to swim in. While she swam she sorted through what she wanted to ask her parents. When she finally joined them in the hot tub, she was in for a pleasant surprise.
“Honey,” Dan began. “We’ve been talking about your situation with Harry, and we want to tell you that we are willing to do whatever we can to help you. But we’re not sure exactly what that might be. While we’d like to leave the country with you to keep you safe, we know that’s out of the question for you. Is there anything we can do?”
Hermione would have hugged them if it wouldn’t have been so awkward, sitting there nude in the hot tub, so settled for reaching out and squeezing each of their hands in gratitude. “Well, I do have an idea that I want you to be a part of. Do you remember me telling you about the time turner I used my third year?” They both nodded, eager to learn more. “I asked McGonagall if we could have another one to use to get us more time to train. If we can get one, we’ll need a place where we can repeat days over and over, without running into ourselves, someplace with a lot of different rooms. I wondered, if you are planning a holiday this summer, if …”
Dan and Emma realized where her thought process was going even before she finished the question. “A resort area,” they both chimed in. “With a long string of hotels, so that you could move along to a new one each time you repeated a day,” Emma continued.
“Actually, we have been planning on taking a holiday this year,” Dan added. “We tentatively scheduled the first two weeks of July. Let us look into some possibilities and we’ll see what we can come up with.” Hermione nodded, relieved that her idea had gone over so well, and settled back against the wall of the hot tub, letting the water come up to her neck.
Finally relaxed from the effects of the hot water, and after nearly falling asleep in the middle of a conversation, Hermione headed off to bed and the long day that had begun far away in a totally different world, in despair and dismay, ended with hope and anticipation.
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-
Author Notes:
Hmm, three chapters to get through the first day. Don’t worry, the pace will start to pick up.