29

The remaining days of the holidays passed by quick, and it was again time to head back to Hogwarts.

"Harry, how are you?" a slightly chubby Neville approached Harry as he was about to enter the wall at the station.

"Oh. Hi Neville, long time to see. What've been up to?" Harry asks as he phases through the platform pillar and arriving at a bustling platform.

"Nothing much. Just staying at home. I even took your suggestion and built Trevor his own terrarium in the break. He loves it." Neville proudly displays a glass box with layers of sand and pebbles, with a thin layer of water housing a brown toad.

"That's great. It seems you even did your research on the different terrains you could build." Harry observed the tank and commented.

"Yeah, it was quite hard to find suitable books in the bookstores in Diagon Alley. Had to head into the muggle libraries to find some, it was so confusing out there." Neville shivers slightly, remembering his adventure getting to the library using London's public transport.

"Good for you. Wait, why didn't you find any in Diagon alley. I thought you would find some in the pet store, hell, even the pet store owner would know how to build a terrarium." Harry asked, confused.

"About that, it turns out wizards mainly keep toads as test subjects. Many potions' masters buy toads to test their recipes. Not many keep toads as pets. I wonder why Great Uncle Algie gave me a toad as a gift." Neville replied, equally confused with his uncle.

"Forget about it. Its great that trevor's getting a good home. Now he wont run away every time you let your eyes wander around." Harry lightly chuckles at the embarrassed boy.

"Good morning, Harry. Neville." Hermione barges through the cabin door when she sees me sitting inside and just nods at Neville.

Ever since the troll incident, Hermione had turned a bit cold towards others. She had built up a false façade but it just barely hid her dislike for people in general.

However, ever since Harry started teaching Neville and Hermione together in the library, the two had gotten a bit closer.

Hermione no longer treated Neville like an eyesore who wanted to be with her for homework but saw him as a fellow student learning under Harry as well as a friend.

"How was your break?" Neville asked Hermione when she sat beside him, opposite me.

"Great. I went to meet my family with my parents. We went to the beach and all, it was wonderful. I wish there were moving picture cameras I could bring to school to show you guys." Hermione lamented.

"Don't you mean a video tape recorder?" Neville asked with a weird look on his face.

Snap. Snap.

Faster than lightning, both, Harry's and Hermione's head snapped to look at Neville incredulously.

"What are you guys looking at me like that for? I know what a video camera is, I spent a whole week in the muggle world. I saw a few things around." Neville shrunk back as he explained.

"Weird. Didn't take you to be the type to actively head into the muggle world." Hermione slowly shook her head and looked towards Harry.

"Guess what. My great grandmother was a witch. Amazing isn't it. I just found her diary in the attic last month. Turns out she went to Hogwarts as well. Isn't that just amazing." Hermione jumped excitedly as she recounted the story.

Turns out, her great grandmother was the last one of her family after Grindelwald attacked most of Europe. Her line dated back years, so much so, that the family had their own bloodline magic established.

The reason why Hermione was so smart and had perfect memory was not a coincidence, but because her ancestors were very accomplished potions masters and alchemists.

They relied on their advanced brains to prosper.

A notable figure from her family would be Hector Dagworth-Granger, the founder of Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers.

The reason Hermione didn't know about her background was because her great grandmother chose to hide from the war and marry a muggle.

With her burying the past, the next generation wasn't exposed to the magical side.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, both her children turned out to be non-magical, causing the once famous family to die out with her in 1982.

"In her diary, she mentioned so much of her life. She even wrote about a few members of the family that had their portraits hung in the castle. 2 members of the family even taught potions in the past." Hermione excitedly continued on with the story.

"That's great Hermione. Maybe you can connect with your ancestors and learn about your history from them. See where you came from." Neville listened with great attention.

"Yeah, that's the plan. I intend to scour the library for the Dagworth Granger family and squeeze out all my ancestors knowledge.

I have decided.

I will bring the Dagworth-Granger family back to great heights." Hermione passionately declared with burning eyes.

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