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Final Year, Chapter 8 – The Greater Good

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – August 10 (Sunday)

Whew! It’s been a busy 10 days. We decided that we had to move as quickly as possible, before the Ministry fully implemented its plan. The disadvantage of that strategy was that not everyone is convinced of the gravity of the situation. Although they’re uneasy about the direction things are going, few are desperate enough to abandon their homes and flee.

We had our best success among the Gryffindors. We started with Dean Thomas, and then Colin and Dennis Creevy. They actually wanted to stay and help us fight, but we persuaded them that going with their families and keeping them safe should be their first priority. They made us promise to call them on the DA Galleons if there’s a major battle, and vowed to come and fight alongside us.

After we got through the Gryffindors, we moved on to the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. I never really noticed before, but there is a fairly consistent number of muggleborns in each year – between 6 and 8, which gives a maximum of 1/5 of the class. For our year it was 6, two each in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. And on average one or two of those students drops out, like Sally-Anne did in our year. This would seem to indicate that muggleborns make up 15 to 20 percent of the population of the wizarding world, at least here in Britain.

If the Ministry does intend to round them all up, where are they going to keep them all?

I really don’t want to think about one of the possible answers to that question, as it seems so completely barbaric. But it did happen in a perfectly civilized country like Germany when Hitler implemented his ‘Final Solution’ to the Jewish question.

The Hufflepuffs were reasonably receptive of our help, and all of them accepted the portkeys except for the Finch-Fletchleys. They simply refused to believe that something like that could happen to them, and poo-pooed our attempts to persuade them otherwise. Their business and social obligations made it impossible to just leave the country on such short notice, didn’t we know? I could tell that Justin was mortified that his parents used such a condescending tone toward a boy who is the wizarding equivalent of the Prince of Wales.

Ah yes, the British upper class. The muggle version of the purebloods. How ironic that in our world those same purebloods consider them to be lower than their own working class servants. If this turns out the way we believe, they will be in for a rude awakening. I only hope they survive the experience. Justin apologized profusely as we left, but told us he had to stay with his family, even if we were right. Harry assured him that we understood his desire to protect them. We all wished him good luck.

I have a bad feeling that we might never see Justin again.

The Ravenclaws were more difficult to persuade than the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. They needed to hear a convincing argument. Fortunately, I was ready with my evidence, culled from the reports in the Daily Prophet, and my analogy to the Nazis in Germany. Even so it was a hard sell.

We started with Terry Boot, since we knew him from the DA, and Kevin Entwhistle, the other muggleborn in our year, who was at least familiar with me from my Arithmency and Ancient Runes classes with him. Terry and his family considered our presentation thoughtfully, and then Terry informed them a bit more about everything Harry has done.

They were impressed that someone so famous was taking the time to visit with a class of people whom the wizarding world mostly looked down on. Harry pointed out that his mother was a muggleborn, as was I, his girlfriend (he almost slipped up by calling me his fiancée, but caught himself just in time), but that he was mostly doing it because it was the right thing to do. That impressed them even more. They not only took the portkey, but Terry offered to help us convince the other members of his house while his parents worked to put their affairs in order as best as they could before they had to leave.

With Terry’s help, we were able to make a stronger case with Kevin, and eventually prevailed upon him and his family to accept one of the portkeys. He also has a younger sister at Hogwarts, so we took care of two in one visit. Eventually we managed to get through to most of the muggleborns in that House.

Overall, of the 45 muggleborn students at Hogwarts last year, from 40 different families, we gave out 36 portkeys. Quite an accomplishment for a week and a half’s effort!

This week we’ll start working on older muggleborns. Tonks tells us they will probably be more difficult as we go up in age. For example, her muggleborn father has been living in the wizarding world for 40 years, and doesn’t really have much to do with the muggle world any more. So it’s hard for wizards and witches in his situation to consider the possibility that everything they’ve known for most of their lives could be taken away from them. Right. Just like the Jews who had been loyal Germans all their lives couldn’t believe that such a thing could be done to them.

We’ll see how it goes. According to the schedule Tonks obtained, the announcement about the muggleborns will be made tomorrow, and they’ll be given one week to turn themselves in. On the one hand, that should help us convince the people we talk to that things really are that serious. On the other hand, the Ministry is counting on the reaction among the rest of the wizarding public to be more subdued, given all that’s happened in the previous two weeks.

Immediately following the original announcement of the cease fire, or truce, with Voldemort, there was a lot of celebrating. I suppose I can’t blame people for being excited, with the terror that they’ve been living with for the past year seemingly being lifted. No longer having to worry that their homes might be attacked at any time would generate a huge sense of relief, I’ll admit.

It was in this context that the next announcement came, last week, about the Death Eaters being released. Of course the Ministry made it sound as if it wasn’t that bad. They were being ‘paroled’ with their agreement that they wouldn’t engage in any further illegal activity, and they were required to pay large fines. Also, they made certain to emphasize that they weren’t releasing anyone who’d actually been convicted of murder.

Furthermore, there was no amnesty offered to Death Eaters who were still at large, for any illegal activities that they had not yet been tried for. This means that Snape and Draco Malfoy, for example, are still on the wanted list, as is Bellatrix, who was the only one who escaped from the battle at the Department of Mysteries. But Lucius and his ilk are all free and clear. And I suspect that the Aurors will be instructed not to pursue the others too vigorously. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the charges against them were quietly dropped at some later date.

The whole thing makes me want to scream. Harry and Ron want to blow something up. That actually sounds more productive. I think we’ll set up some targets down in the basement and practice our blasting hexes.

Tonks reports that the Aurors (most of them anyway) are pretty disgusted. Many are considering resigning, and as their primary duty will now be rounding up muggleborns rather than going after Death Eaters, she believes that as many as half of the Auror Corps will actually go through with it. Remus thinks that’s been the plan all along. He predicts that in a week or two Umbridge will announce that there will be no need to replace those who have left, since the threat from the Death Eaters has been eliminated. (She’ll most likely dress it up in fancier language like the need to ‘reposition the Ministry’s resources to respond to other security concerns’. By that she’ll mean the primary mission of the DMLE will be to round up the muggleborns, werewolves, etc.) Unfortunately, and as infuriating as the idea is, I’m afraid I have to agree with him.

As for us, we’ll just keep on fighting and hope the British wizarding population eventually catches on to what’s going on. I only hope that happens before it’s too late.

Tomorrow is Ginny’s birthday. Ron is going to go to the Burrow for her party. I’d really like to go too, but I think I’d better not. There are too many people in the Ministry who know of my friendship with the Weasleys. (I’d like to think I could trust Percy not to give me away, but that’s by no means certain either.) So someone might get the idea to drop by unannounced to take me into custody. Harry’s undecided about whether he should go. I’ve convinced him that I’ll be fine here by myself, but he also pointed out that somebody like Umbridge, or a Voldemort sympathizer in the DMLE, would love to get their hands on him, and worry later about what the charges would be. Obstruction of justice, at the very least, and then resisting arrest, would do for starters.

…

In the evenings I’ve been reading the books about Dumbledore. At first we thought we should all read them, but I’m such a faster reader than Harry or Ron (not to mention just a touch more enthusiastic about it) that we decided that I’d read them and when I came to a passage that was interesting or useful, read it aloud. So Harry and Ron play chess and I interrupt them occasionally. They always gripe good-naturedly about it, but I know they realize how important this could be so I don’t let it bother me. Especially the way Harry takes the opportunity later after we’ve gone to bed to express his appreciation. I’m getting lots of great backrubs out of this!

“Check.” Ron looked up at the dismayed expression on Harry’s face and smirked. For his part, Harry tried to ignore the taunts of his chess pieces regarding his lack of skill at the game, and sighed at his hopeless position.

“Hermione, haven’t you got anything to read to us right now?” he moaned. “I’m not sure my ego can take any more of this.” Both boys looked over at where Hermione was curled up on the sofa with a book, and saw that she was watching them with an eager look on her face. Harry smiled at her while Ron groaned.

“As a matter of fact,” she began as Harry joined her on the sofa while Ron dragged himself away from the chess set and took his seat in the armchair facing them. “I’ve been waiting for you to finish. This chapter I’ve been reading is extraordinary. It puts a whole new light on the development of what Dumbledore believed in, his philosophy of wizarding life and wizards’ roles in the world. It’s entitled ‘The Greater Good’ .

Hermione began to summarize some of the things they already knew and added in some new information, from both books, about Dumbledore’s childhood. His family had indeed moved to Godric’s Hollow, both books agreed, his father had been imprisoned for attacking muggles when he was ten years old, and he’d gone off to Hogwarts leaving his mother, brother, and sister behind. And all agreed that he’d been a brilliant student, and won numerous academic and leadership awards.

“Now, here’s where the amazing part starts,” Hermione went on. “Did you know that BathildaBagshot also lived in Godric’s Hollow?”

“The author of our History of Magic textbook?” Harry asked by way of clarification. “Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing that name in the letter I found from my mum to Sirius, but I didn’t make the connection.”

“Yes, it’s the same person, and not only did she live there when your parents did, and still does in fact, but she also did back when Dumbledore lived there. And she was a friend of the Dumbledore family – one of his mother’s few friends according to the one book. But get this – she was also the aunt of Gellert Grindelwald!”

“ The Grindelwald?” Ron asked in amazement. “The dark lord Dumbledore defeated?” Hermione nodded.

Harry frowned. “OK, that’s an amazing coincidence but I don’t see how …”

“But I’m not finished yet,” Hermione interrupted. “He came to visit his aunt in Godric’s Hollow, and met Dumbledore, and they became friends!”

“They what!? You’re kidding!” Harry exclaimed as he moved closer to her and looked over her shoulder at the book lying open on her lap.

“I don’t believe it,” declared Ron, scowling as he folded his arms across his chest. “Does Doge say that or is it just in Diggle’s book?”

Hermione replied patiently, realizing that it was difficult for Ron to accept these negative characterizations about the man who he’d grown up being told was the greatest wizard alive.

“Both books say that he returned home after he finished at Hogwarts to take care of his sister when his mother died. Doge writes that the two of them had intended to take a Grand Tour – travel the world together for a year – which was common in those days, but that Dumbledore stayed home and he ended up making the trip by himself. So he doesn’t really know what happened at Godric’s Hollow that summer. Diggle, on the other hand, claims to have interviewed Bagshot extensively.”

“Doesn’t prove anything,” Ron insisted stubbornly. “How do we know that Bagshot even had anything to do with the Dumbledores?”

“But wasn’t your Aunt Muriel saying something similar at the wedding?” Hermione countered. “Didn’t she say her mother was a friend of Bagshot’s?” Hermione frowned in puzzlement for a moment. “Speaking of that, did you say Muriel was your great aunt? So she was your mother’s aunt? I mean, your mum is just a little older than my parents. In order for Muriel to have been around when this was going on she must be at least sixty years older than your mum.”

“Mum refers to her as Great Aunt Muriel,” Ron clarified. “There could be a couple of ‘greats’ in there, I dunno exactly.”

“So she really could be as old as Dumbledore then,” Hermione decided. “And she would have first hand knowledge of the events of that summer.”

Ron shook his head. “She was going on about the scandal of Dumbledore’s sister – Ariana was her name – and his mother’s death. That’s the sort of thing she’s interested in,” he revealed. “She was trying to say that his mum had her locked up and she tried to escape and killed her by accident. And she was also nattering about Dumbledore and his brother Aberforth getting into a fight during the funeral. Sleazy stuff like that. She didn’t say anything about Grindelwald.”

“That may be, but it does show that there were some odd things going on back then, and Doge conveniently glossed over all of it in his book,” Hermione argued. “And what your aunt says seems to confirm at least some of Diggle’s claims.”

Ron frowned, still not convinced, and Hermione continued. “So anyway, Grindelwald had just been expelled from Durmstrang and apparently he came to Britain to visit his aunt. She introduced him to Dumbledore, since she felt sorry for him, not having any friends his own age, and says the two of them hit it off immediately. They were practically inseparable that whole summer.”

Ron began to object again that there was no proof of that, but Hermione waved him off. “Ron, there’s a picture here of the two of them together! And the book has copies of some letters that Dumbledore wrote to Grindelwald, which his aunt must have saved!”

Harry leaned closer to look at Hermione’s evidence while Ron sat dumbfounded for a few seconds before moving to her other side to view it as well. They had no idea what Grindelwald looked like, so didn’t recognize the smiling blonde haired boy in the photograph, but could definitely see traces of the Headmaster in the hundred years younger version of himself that was the other teenage boy.

“Now, listen to some of the things he wrote in the letters,” Hermione instructed. “Wizard dominance is for the MUGGLES’ OWN GOOD … power gives us the right to rule, but also gives us responsibilities over the ruled … We must seize control FOR THE GREATER GOOD.”

She looked up at the two boys to gauge their reaction. “This is the basic theme of the letters – the use of power to control people, and make decisions for them for their own good. Hence the chapter title. What it looks like is two brilliant students, completely enamoured with their abilities, making grandiose plans for world domination,” she reasoned. “Possibly the sort of daydreaming lots of kids do, except one of them evidently decided to put the plan into action.”

“It does sound like him,” Harry agreed.

“Who? Dumbledore? No way!” Ron objected. “Look, you two have only been in the wizarding world for six years, so you maybe aren’t aware of everything he’s done. He can’t be anti-muggle. He’s always supported muggle issues, like my dad’s Muggle Protection Act, and he’s always spoken in favor of muggleborns. It’s always cost him politically, too. He could have easily been Minister if he hadn’t made so many enemies by being so insistent about respecting muggles’ rights. You read what they were writing after he died.”

Hermione was about to point out to Ron that his argument could be considered as a point in favor of what she’d concluded, rather than against it, when Harry spoke up again.

“No Ron, that’s not what I meant. I wasn’t talking about his attitude towards muggles. I meant the way he treated everyone . Like he was this all-wise, all-knowing father figure. He decided what was best for everyone – for the ‘greater good’ like Hermione said – then manipulated the people around him into doing things his way.”

Before Ron could disagree with this characterization, Harry continued. “Just think about all the stuff that happened to us over the years. You don’t think I was manipulated to do some, or maybe even all, of those things? Think about how the obstacles protecting the Stone played right into our abilities. Same thing with the basilisk and the Chamber. Or how about the way I ended up in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Maybe we didn’t realize it at the time, but what he did to Hermione last year kinda puts those events in a different light. And remember, he admitted to us that he had decided last summer that he needed to separate Hermione and me for my own good .”

This time Ron did not respond, but merely sat there shaking his head. As much as he might want to, he couldn’t deny that Harry’s claims made sense.

To give Ron a chance to consider Harry’s assertion more fully, and to keep Harry from getting too worked up about it, Hermione turned to another point. “I have to wonder about what happened after that summer,” she commented. “Obviously, they didn’t work together to act on this philosophy. What I think is that Grindelwald went on ahead on his own with the plan to take over the world, and set himself up as a dark lord. When Dumbledore, who had insisted that they were acting only for noble purposes and would not use more force than necessary, saw what his friend was really like he must have come to the realization of how easily his ideals could be subverted to evil. It must have been a terrible blow to his convictions. You know how people our age can be so certain that they are right about something.”

Hermione paused to share a look of chagrin with Harry as the full impact of this last comment hit home. Both of them had notable examples of being caught up in that particular youthful attitude. “I can see how he might have become quite disillusioned about the whole thing,” she finished quickly.

“But not so much that it changed his basic idea that he knew what was best for everyone,” Harry pointed out.

“Yes, perhaps it merely caused him to change his methods,” Hermione agreed. “Instead of forcing people to do what he wanted he used a more subtle approach to persuade them of the correctness of his views.”

Before Harry could get going again on Dumbledore’s techniques of manipulation, Ron broke in. “It would be nice if we could talk to him about all this and get his point of view,” he suggested. “Maybe go to Hogwarts and ask to speak with his portrait?”

Harry shook his head. “It wouldn’t do any good. Even when he was alive, he’d never give a straight answer about anything. I doubt if his portrait’s any better.”

“There’s another point of view that we’re missing entirely that might be useful here,” Hermione asserted.

“Whose?” Harry and Ron wondered simultaneously.

“Grindelwald’s.”

“Isn’t he dead?” Ron asked in surprise. “Dumbledore defeated him. I always thought that meant he killed him.”

“No, he’s still alive, but imprisoned,” Hermione responded. “Given the way we’ve seen Dumbledore act these past few years, I don’t think he believes in killing anyone, no matter what they’ve done. Voldemort might be an exception,” she added to Harry.

“Yeah, but I’m the one who has to kill him ,” Harry replied with a touch of bitterness. “So Dumbledore’s hands would still have been clean.”

“In any case, I think we might be able to learn more about this from Grindelwald, if we can get him to talk to us,” Hermione continued hastily. “I did some research on him after my trip to Durmstrang last spring. He’s been held in a magical prison in Germany all these years. Since our search for Horcruxes could very well take us to the continent, we could stop and see him along the way.” Neither of the two boys could find any fault with that suggestion, so one more item was added to their already full slate.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – August 11

Harry and I were right not to go to the Burrow today. Ron came back after his visit to report that Percy had shown up with a DMLE ‘escort’. The man claimed that he had evidence that they were harboring a fugitive, and demanded to be allowed to search the place. Mr. Weasley objected, but he was told point blank that he was risking his job if he didn’t cooperate, and that the DMLE already had an extensive file on him detailing his subversive activities. Since I wasn’t there anyway, and there was no evidence that I had been, he stepped back and allowed the search.

When the Ministry official came up empty, Ginny innocently asked who they were looking for. He snapped that they knew very well who, and that if they knew what was good for them they’d tell him where I was. Mrs. Weasley then stepped up and said that they hadn’t seen me for nearly a month, and as far as they knew I was out of the country.

As Ron was finishing the story I remembered that Crookshanks was still there at the Burrow! But Ron already knew what I was thinking when he saw the alarmed expression on my face, and told me that Crookshanks had hidden in the garden in one of the gnome holes while the DMLE was there. He is such a smart cat!

Along the same lines, the wards on my parents’ house were tripped today. We managed to restrain ourselves from going to investigate until we were sure that whoever it was had left. Then Harry and I apparated there, but stayed under his invisibility cloak. There wasn’t any damage done to the house, and no Dark Mark, so we’re pretty sure it was the DMLE again.

With any luck they’re persuaded that I’m no longer in Britain. We left plenty of evidence in the house – the electric and the water have been shut off, and it’s obvious that no one is living there. If they talked to any of the neighbors, they were all aware that my parents took off on holiday and intended to be abroad for a year. They intentionally didn’t leave any contact information, though, and didn’t tell anyone exactly where they were going.

The announcement about muggleborns being taken into protective custody was in the Daily Prophet this morning, but the paper made no editorial comment on it one way or the other. As I feared, a large portion of the wizarding public just doesn’t seem to care. Even though that’s what I expected, it still hurts.

All in all, it was a pretty upsetting day. One of those days where it seems like the world is against you. Harry was great about comforting me. He’s had plenty of days like this, so he knew just how I felt. And it was nice to let him console me for a change, since I so often do that for him. I really like the relationship we have. It’s a true partnership.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – August 12

Finally a bit of good news, if you looked at it the right way. As we had hoped, the announcement yesterday has really lit a fire under the muggleborns we contacted today. Persuading them that the Ministry is serious and that they need to flee the country is much easier than it was last week.

We also discovered that we aren’t the only ones working on this problem; Fred and George have been spreading the word as well, among some of the recently graduated students. It started with Alicia Spinnet, the former chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team, who’s one of their best friends. I hadn’t even known she was a muggleborn until she joined the DA during our fifth year, even though she was in my own House. Some muggleborns at Hogwarts are like that – they try to hide their non-wizarding heritage from all but their closest friends. I can understand their reasoning, with all the taunts I was subjected to. But we got to know each other better during the DA meetings, and we compared notes about our experiences.

At any rate, Fred and George, along with Lee Jordan, have been visiting their muggleborn classmates and those a year or two above them, telling about the family they encountered on their way back from France, whose mother was separated from them. Everyone knows the Weasley twins, and when they’re serious about something people sit up and take note. So that story was even more effective coming from them.

They’re also supplying some of their WWW products to each of the families they contact, which can be used as distractions when the DMLE arrives, in order to buy them time to escape. When we ran into them we made a mutually profitable trade – they took some of our portkeys and we stocked up on their diversionary pranks.

I know we don’t have enough portkeys for all the muggleborns in the country, but we should be able to hand out all the ones we have by the end of the week. Everyone else will have to make do on their own. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best we can do. (Now that’s something that I would never have written five years ago! If something wasn’t perfect, it was simply unacceptable for me. Fortunately, I’ve gained a bit of perspective since then.)

Later –

We heard from Dean. He and his family are now safe in France. He contacted Harry through their DA coins, which Cho and Luna had modified last year to send text messages. That really was a brilliant piece of magic.

Although limited to phrases of only a few words each, he managed to communicate that he was the first one to arrive at the Delacour’s, and that they were made to feel very welcome. His mum is a domestic worker, so they didn’t have as much trouble pulling up roots and leaving as many other families would have. He shrank all of his family’s possessions and managed to get them all into his Hogwarts trunk. I imagine it was quite the treat for his mum and sisters to see him do magic, as this is the first summer that he’s been of age. Of course it would have been a more of a treat under better circumstances.

M. Delacour is going to hire his mum to help out around the estate, and act as an intermediary for the other muggle families that will be arriving. That sounds like a win-win situation. Dean again said he wanted to come back here and help us, but Harry told him there really wasn’t anything he could do right now, so there was no sense taking the risk.

A little while later we received a similar message from Colin. He, Dennis, and their mother and father showed up in France a few hours after Dean did.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – August 13

Some news about the locket today. Or rather, news about where it isn’t . One of Mundungus Fletcher’s primary contacts for fencing the things he stole was the barman of the Hog’s Head Tavern. Tonks knows him well, as she spent a lot of time in that bar while she was on duty at Hogwarts last year. He told her that Mundungus never tried to sell him anything like that locket. So maybe he still has it?

There was another curious aspect to this story. She referred to the barman as Aberforth. That’s right. When we asked her about it she confirmed that he’s Dumbledore’s brother Aberforth! So when we had that meeting in the Hog’s Head to organize the DA, Dumbledore would have known about it immediately! I wonder how many other sources of information like this he had. I bet he knew a lot more about what was going on than we suspected.

…

The wolfsbane potion is coming along pretty well. I think I’ll have an acceptable potion ready by this weekend. The full moon is on Monday, so it will be just in time. Remus was quite touched, and told me he really appreciated it. I could also see in Harry’s eyes how proud he was of me. I got a great hug out of it.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – August 15

I do not believe this! Honestly, what other bad news can we get this week? No, mustn’t tempt fate by thinking like that. Nobody died. But this is so revolting, so maddening. It just makes me sick!

Umbridge has just been named as the Headmistress of Hogwarts for this year! Unbelievable.

In hindsight I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. She seems to be the golden girl of the Ministry right now – the one they put in the high profile positions where they need someone who unquestioningly toes the party line. Another muggle term that would be appropriate here is ‘hatchet man’.

And the comments that the foul toad made in her interview especially set me off. She started by bragging about her work in reforming the DMLE and changing its focus to deal with the newly discovered threats to proper wizarding society. Then she explained that her work at Hogwarts two years ago remained unfinished, and that she intended to remedy that.

What really took the cake was when she asserted that her efforts during the past few months were all leading toward the same fundamental goal – the elimination of all muggle influence in the wizarding world. That her recent oversight of the implementation of the muggle control legislation was essential to her plans for Hogwarts.

You see, muggleborn witches and wizards are not fit to be educated with normal students. And now, with the policies of the new, more enlightened Ministry, they will be receiving their training elsewhere. In other words, while they’re in custody. I wonder if there will be any magical training for them at all, or it the entire thing is all a farce.

The targets in the basement really took a beating from me today.

…

Tomorrow we will be going to see Luna and her dad, hoping to learn more about that mysterious symbol that has been popping up so often. Even if nothing useful comes of it, it will be nice to see Luna. I expect that she will do or say something unusual and amusing that will take our minds off these other concerns.

-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-