36 Chapter 36: July 4, 1976.

July 4, 1976.

Freyja and Gwen appeared on Red Flu at the Prince Mansion in New York.

"Wow, Gwen, did you know Severus lived in such a big house, it's like my father's mansion" commented Freyja surprised to see Severus' house.

"Well, I assumed that the Prince as an old family would have a mansion in Britain, but I didn't expect them to have one on Magic Five Avenue which is the most coveted area in New York."

"Gwen, Freyja, you arrived, you girls...wow you look gorgeous, your dresses are beautiful, I just dressed casually" greeted an embarrassed Hermione who saw the dazzling Gwen and Freyja in very elegant and beautiful dresses while she was in ordinary clothes.

"Oh, good morning Hermione, thank you for the compliment, and don't worry you look very beautiful like that too," said Gwen who was wearing a yellow dress with black decorations.

"Hermione!!!, you look lovely, nothing like common and comfortable clothes, if it wasn't for Gwen insisting that I wear this dress I would have worn the same as you," said Freyja who was wearing a white dress with green that made her look like a little angel.

"Thank you girls and Freyja, Gwen was right with insisting you wear that dress, it looks perfect on you."

"You saw Freyja, Hermione shares my thoughts, you are quite the princess like that, so pretty and pure," Gwen said making Freyja immediately embarrassed.

"This... and Severus?" said an embarrassed Freyja trying to change the topic of conversation.

"Ah yes, Severus, he'll be down in a few moments, he came back a few minutes ago from working out" replied Hermione.

"I see, it seems your dear cousin is the exception to the saying that women take longer than men" scoffed Gwen.

"I agree and the worst thing is that I told him he could exercise tomorrow, but no, he wanted to do it today anyway, Meril, yes he will be stubborn" complained Hermione.

"I let you two get to know each other alone for a few minutes and already you start badmouthing me, it certainly wasn't a good idea for you two to meet," said Severus approaching the group of three wearing black shirts along with black dress pants.

"Severus! Wow, you look..., different, but I like it!" commented Freyja thoughtfully as she saw him arrive dressed differently and without the typical black tunic that was elegant but always gave him a dark and gloomy touch, now he was completely different.

"Hey Prince, you look good, you should start wearing more of this kind of clothes and leave your black tunics, I assure you that many young witches will be very interested if you do that" commented Gwen approaching Severus and then whispering in his ear with a flirtatious voice "And maybe I will not be the exception".

Hermione was the only one who didn't say anything about how he dressed, but she did stare at him up and down in silence for quite a while.

"Thanks, but next to you ladies I'm just an extra, you look stunning"

"Careful with those words handsome, otherwise you might make someone fall in love with you" Gwen joked.

While Severus just looked at her and nodded his head, ignoring her jokes.

"You really mean it, I still feel it's just very awkward" Freyja commented innocently and tenderly not understanding Gwen's jokes, while for her the white dress she was wearing was just annoying.

"Oh, I'm very serious Freyja, you look as beautiful as an angel."

"That's not true because angels don't exist," Freyja said sticking her tongue out at her.

"Who knows, maybe they do and you are one" Severus joked making Freyja smile.

"This..., Hermione...everything alright?" asked Severus as he saw her lost in thought as to when he first met her.

"Eh?.... Oh yes, no, It's already 7:05 Severus, we're going to be late" complained Hermione disguising her embarrassment at being lost in thought.

"I see, my mistake, what do you say we get going?" asked Severus and then the three of them nodded.

As they left Prince Manor, the four could see a large number of wizards and witches of all ages celebrating the Bicentennial on the streets of Fifth Avenue Magica, many wearing tunics in the colors of the US flag.

On the houses and streets, you could see flags flying that were exact imitations of the first flag of the new nation in 1776.

It was only 7 a.m. but the celebration across the country was already showing signs of being huge, exuberant, and full of enthusiastic patriotism on the part of Americans.

The flags and this celebration will remind many Americans who are half-English of the living history that also belongs to them, though many barely understand it. It links the distant past of all of them.

The magical community in the USA organized many events across the country to celebrate their heritage;

Quidditch teams flew around on their broomsticks painting the skies with the colors of the flag, and other wizards and witches used their magic to entertain the younger ones with stories of those times.

There were also many places to taste ethnic foods and buy all kinds of magical products and objects from the bicentennial.

Severus, Hermione, Freyja, and Gwen arrived at 7:15 at Independence Hall in Philadelphia to see and hear in person the speech given by Muggle President Gerald Ford in celebration of the 200th Bicentennial on this July 4, 1976.

After a brief speech, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip of Great Britain made a symbolic appearance and presented a replica of the Liberty Bell, cast in the same foundry as the original, with the inscription, "To the people of the United States of America from the people of Great Britain July 4, 1976, LET FREEDOM SOUND."

And by 9:00 all present could see and hear the first burst of color pass overhead.

Severus' small group settled on their backs in one of the seats in the venue to admire the fireworks.

No doubt the celebration in the magical world would have been more interesting than the Muggle one, but most chose to watch the Muggle celebration.

After a while, everyone in the audience began to take a place to admire the Fourth of July.

Any other noise in the place was silenced by the crackling sounds of the fireworks that colored the entire sky.

It was quite hot.

It was one of the hottest Independence Days on record to be exact.

When the four of them were done watching the fireworks they decided to go to SWI, something Hermione was full of eager to see.

Just for today, the ships from Boston's magical harbor going to SWI would be leaving every 1 hour, apparently, the institution had made a large investment to bring a large number of magical ships to the harbor.

Severus' group boarded the ship that was sailing at 10:30.

From the ship, they could see in the distance in the skies above the institute a group of witches floating on their brooms doing acrobatics and pirouettes.

Arriving at the Salem Witch Institute, the four found a large crowd of wizards and witches strolling around the outside of the institute.

SWI had allowed access to its outside grounds to all wizards and witches and had even set up tents where they could shop and browse for whatever they wanted.

Some of them even seemed so excited looking for things among the tents that they seemed to be searching for some kind of treasure, it was as if they were on an adventurous treasure hunt.

There had also been organized events with activities of all kinds, for people of all ages, there were children riding brooms in some recreational and safe spaces, and babies pushed on magical brooms controlled by the witches of the institute to keep them amused or asleep.

By the time they landed, Hermione was already ecstatic and was asking questions from side to side, also giving explanations of everything she had read even though in many cases they were unnecessary explanations since Freyja, Gwen and Severus already knew those things, but they let her be happy.

"I told you she was a bit intense" Severus commented quietly to Freyja and Gwen as he watched Hermione go back and forth mentioning and explaining everything she saw.

"I think I owe you an apology Severus if you were right to warn us" commented Gwen jokingly but still a little nervous to see someone as talkative as Hermione.

"I think she's funny, it's like everything seems new to her, I share that feeling," said Freyja tenderly.

"Yes Freyja, but it's one thing to be amazed by everything and another to explain everything all the time" sighed Severus.

"Hey Severus, over here, the potions demonstration is about to start, you don't want to miss it" shouted Hermione who had already wandered quite far from the group because she was walking all over the institute.

Gwen and Freyja only smiled when they saw Severus' tired face.

"You know Prince, even though you're 16 sometimes I feel you have the soul of an old man" laughed Gwen.

"Don't be mean Gwen, he's just not used to these things, isn't he Severus?" said Freyja.

"You're right Freyja, you know, you really are an angel, if I had to come along with Gwen and Hermione I would probably have disappeared by now," said Severus drawing a smile from Freyja.

"This way, Severus; Hurry up!" turned to hear Hermione shout.

"Well, I'm off to see the exhibition before Hermione goes mad, I don't think it will interest either of them much, so I'll meet you in a bit."

"Don't make yourself a problem Prince, with Freyja we will be at one of the games that the institute organized, they seem to be quite fun, we will meet at this very spot in a few hours."

Severus just nodded and went to see the exhibit.

And despite not wanting to accept it, he knew he was just as excited or even more excited than Hermione to see all those ancient potions made by the Native Americans.

He was fascinated by the idea of seeing such unique potions and had even heard that there would be some potions on display that were no longer even know what the brewing was like due to the time that had passed since they were made.

Gwen and Freyja chuckled and shook their heads in amusement at Severus' obvious enthusiasm at going to see the potions display.

"I don't even know why he tries to disguise his enthusiasm, we already know he's a potions nut" laughed Gwen.

"I think it's just his way of taking things, no matter how enthusiastic he is about something he tries to look calm and collected" commented Freyja, making Gwen look at her with surprise when she heard the wise and accurate comment her innocent and tender friend had made.

When the show was over, Severus and Hermione went to the meeting point they had agreed upon with Gwen and Freyja.

"Oh, Merlin!, Severus! That was great, I had never seen those potions before, and some I hadn't even read about, it's amazing the variety and how old they are, to think that so many years ago they had already managed to do all that!" exclaimed Hermione as she plopped down on one of the seats there.

"Yes, it's really interesting the method of brewing and the ingredients that were used back then, to think that everything back then was magic without a wand, something very unique" Severus added as he nodded at Hermione's comment.

The two continued their conversation about the exhibition while waiting for Freyja and Gwen.

A few minutes later the two heard mention of their two companions at one of the events near where they were.

They both decided to go and see what was going on there.

The two arrived just in time to witness an event that had just started.

And at that event appeared to be Gwen and Freyja.

The master of ceremonies explained that the objective of this traditional game was to see who could answer the questions that would be given to each team the fastest and by getting each given question right they would be given the parts of a gigantic magical puzzle that they would be forming with their magic, the first one to get to complete it won.

To Severus' surprise, a crowd had gathered around the event; all cheering and chanting for their favorite.

Gwen and Freyja received a lot of support, which was to be expected due to the beauty of both, but several other competitors have their fans.

Apparently, some well-known figures were participating in the event, from quidditch players to well-known duelists.

When the event kicked off, Severus was surprised to hear Hermione loudly cheering her friends on, while he just watched and analyzed the competition.

Severus was competitive by nature, so when he watched a competition he couldn't help but think about the odds of each team.

Although in that case, he had no idea about the questions since they were all about USA history, both magical and Muggle.

But he did know that Freyja was a basket case just like him, so it was likely that Gwen would answer the questions while Freyja formed the giant puzzle with her magic.

At the end of the event, the winners were two well-known duelists from the USA.

Gwen and Freyja were only two puzzle pieces away from winning, but still, everyone congratulated each other and no one seemed upset with the results.

When the two-spotted Severus and Hermione in the crowd, they quickly went to their side to chat and go along for the ride with them.

"Did you see that We almost won!" said a happy Freyja who seemed more excited than the event winners themselves.

"Yes, we saw it Freyja, it was impressive, very well used that magic to put the puzzle together, I don't think I could have been faster" Severus congratulated her.

"I agree with Severus, impressive magic handling Freyja and you too Gwen, you seem to know USA history to the letter" complimented the two Hermione.

Freyja just nodded happily at the two.

"Thank you, Hermione, it seems some people do appreciate my knowledge, not like your dear cousin who doesn't seem impressed at all" replied Gwen jokingly.

"Yes, yes, congratulations Gwen, if I didn't say anything it's because I was already aware of your knowledge about your own country" replied Severus rolling his eyes.

You must understand Prince that we all like compliments, if you say something nice to someone and you don't say anything to me, it's obvious that I'll get jealous" Gwen joked again as she winked at him and kept walking, making Hermione look at her surprised by the flirtatious comment she made to Severus.

"Very well, I'll keep that in mind for the next one, my lady" Severus joked and kept walking as well to continue the tour, leaving a thinking Hermione behind.

"Hermione!" called Severus to her turning around when he saw that Hermione was not following them.

Hearing her name, Hermione snapped out of her thoughts and looked over her shoulder to meet Severus' confused gaze as he approached her.

"All right Hermione, that's the second time today you've been lost in thought, I thought we were past that stage" Severus scoffed.

"Mmmm, this... yeah, it's nothing, come on, they left us far behind if we don't hurry" replied Hermione who again had embarrassed herself by thinking unnecessary things.

"Okey..., after you lady," Severus said allowing her to pass in front of him in a gentlemanly and obviously joking manner.

"I didn't expect the Severus I knew to be such a gentleman" Hermione joked sticking her tongue out as she walked past him.

"I like to think I can always surprise people" Severus replied amused.

"And I'm beginning to think that you're not wrong to think that, you always manage to surprise me," said Hermione as she quickened her pace to catch up with Freyja and Gwen.

Severus just smiled and continued walking behind the group.

A few hours later, as it was getting dark, the four of them decided to end the day with dinner.

After dinner, Freyja and Gwen said their goodbyes and left together for Gwen's parents' house.

While Hermione and Severus went to Prince Manor in New York to rest.

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Well, this chapter was quite difficult for me, since I didn't know much about it.

But I hope I left a good impression of the 4th of July 1976.

It is a long chapter because I preferred not to cut the day in two chapters and do it all in one.

Greetings to all.