Frank Longbottom waves a hand over a magical device when it beeps, finding a familiar figure in his room.
"Draco? What are you doing?"
"I need to borrow a pair of socks Dad, I've got something in these new shoes that are wearing holes in mine and the others want to get together a pickup game of Quidditch with the Weasleys." Draco Longbottom, Frank's adopted son says, looking up at the mirror that shows his parents at their meeting.
"Take them in to be looked at." His mother orders.
"I'm dropping them off before we head to the pitch and I'm picking up more socks after the game. Yes Mum, I'll pick up more underwear then too. As you've told me often enough if they're not fit for the rag bag, they're not fit to wear."
"Good." Draco holds up a pair of socks and Frank nods, closing the connection. Draco comes out of their parents bedroom to find his brothers James, Harry, and Neville waiting on him along with their sisters Anna, Maria, Andrea, and Eleanor. Lily's too young to play quidditch but she hugs her older brothers and sisters before they head off, walking out of the floo and into Hogsmeade.
"Master Longbottom, is there a problem with the shoes?" The cobbler asks, seeing them put on the counter when his house elf calls him down from the second floor apartment.
"I'm afraid so Master Cobbler, my socks are getting holes in the same place in both shoes." He shows him one pair of the socks and he makes a tsk, tsk sound. "I'll check them out right away."
"Thank you Master Cobbler. I'll pick them up in a few hours after our game." Draco heads off outside, nodding at Professor McGonagall who's talking with a man, a woman, and a girl who looks to be around the oldest boys age before they head off. The parents turn to watch the brood.
"Eight of the Longbottom children, from their gear they're off to play a pickup game. Probably with the Weasley children, they're all Quidditch mad. The older Longbottom boys and the youngest Weasley boy will be starting Hogwarts this fall along with you Hermione."
"Are some of the boys adopted?" Hermione blurts out, squirming under her parents glares. "Sorry."
"Ahhh, you noticed the blond and black hair among the brown hair? Yes, Harry the boy with the messy black hair and the blond Draco are adopted. Their parents were lost in the . . .problems." Professor McGonagall's lips grow firm. The problems was the polite term for the war between the magical people and non-magical, caused by bigots and stupidity on both sides until cooler heads took their so-called leaders out of office and sent them to prison along with guerilla fighters on both sides. "Harry's parents were killed in the last days of the war while Draco's were tortured into insanity by strike squads." Hermione blanches. "Lady Longbottom is Harry's godmother, she immediately took him in since Harry's godfather is a mischevious rascal who's busy helping with the rebuilding. The younger boy James is named after Harry's father and they have a younger sister at home named for Harry's mother."
"Oh my god, that's Harry Potter?" Hermione squeals.
"Harry Longbottom." Professor McGonagall says firmly.
"I read all the books about how he stopped the war."
"He was fifteen months old, how would he have stopped a war?" Professor McGonagall rolls her eyes. "Those books are absolute twaddle, not a word of truth in any of them. They were written to make money for the authors, not because they were the truth."
"But he's the boy who lived!"
"Balderdash."
"But his parents were killed saving him!" Hermione bleats, horrified that the Professor is telling her something different than her precious books.
"Stuff and Nonsense, he was with his godmother because his parents had been called to the government for a meeting along with other people to talk about the peace accord. The non-magical world was losing the war and sent in a strike squad to kill everybody, including Minister of Magic Bones brother and his wife, leaving behind their daughter who's also starting school this year."
"But the books say .. ." Hermione bleats in the building they've walked into.
"We've told you before Hermione, not everything you read in books is the truth." Alexander Granger says. "History is written by the victors."
"And sometimes books are complete fabrications written to make money for the authors and no other reason. Lord Longbottom took the authors before the wizengamot and they were forced to apologize and pay damages for libel."
"But freedom of speech. . ." Hermione bleats again.
"doesn't matter when they tried to claim everything they wrote was the truth and none of it was. If they'd said it was fiction there was nothing Lord Longbottom could have done, but they didn't because fiction wouldn't have made them as much money." Professor McGonagall sneers. "The only reason Harry was chosen as the boy who lived because his parents deaths happened so close to the war ending. It could have been Draco, it could have been Susan Bones, it could have been any of the other dozen children left orphaned by the attack. If you want to know the real story about the problems, there's better books to read. Including the history textbooks you'll be getting for your first year of classes."
"Is this a typical magical village?" Sandra Granger asks.
"Here in Europe yes, the americas and other countries don't sequester themselves like we do I'm afraid. One of the reasons the non-magical people thought they could take us out so easily, it's basically this village, two blocks in London and scattered homes. Take them out and you've taken out the backbone of the European wizarding community."
"Taking out two blocks in London might have hurt some people but it wouldn't have destroyed an entire community." Hermione snorts.
"WOULD YOU BE QUIET YOU STUPID GIRL!" Her mother turns on her. "I'm sorry Professor McGonagall, Hermione usually has better manners. She's being a spoiled little brat today for some reason. .. Probably because her oh so precious books have been proved to be utter rubbish." Her father also glares at her. Hermione settles down gracelessly. After a nice lunch they head up to the school, looking around the classrooms and the dorms.
"I don't know Professor McGonagall, I'm leaning towards putting Hermione in a day school where she can keep up with her non-magical classes." Alexander says.
"But Dad, I'd be taking classes with the boy who lived. . ." Hermione howls.
"And that is why you're going to another school young lady, we're tired of this boy who lived nonsense. You've been told it's utter nonsense time and time again but you're still blathering on about him." Sandra snorts. "I'm sorry Professor McGonagall but Hermione will not be attending Hogwarts this fall. Maybe another year when she's finally figured out the truth about the war."
Professor McGonagall nods. "While your daughter's grades are excellent I'm afraid she doesn't have the emotional maturity to be away from home this year. The other schools that have contacted you are excellent, we have no problems accepting students from them, and . .." Professor McGonagall quickly copies a list. "Here is a list of the first year books that the students would be picking up in Diagon Alley in a few weeks and .. ." She copies a second list. "What I'd recommend for your daughter to learn the truth about the problems. The British library has copies of the wizarding papers for the last fifty years on microfilm, she might also find the truth there."
"Thank you Professor McGonagall." Sandra says.
"But if I don't attend Hogwarts I can't meet and marry the boy who lived!" Hermione howls as she's drug away.
"What a silly young girl." Professor McGonagall shakes her head. "Her parents are brilliant and down to Earth, I don't know where she gets the boy who lived rot from." She puts Hermione's information in a file cabinet, if the girl doesn't straighten up there's always the younger children. The door opens and Alice Longbottom comes into the office, sitting behind the desk. "Is everything ready Minerva?"
"Yes, today was the last of the new magical students visits to the school and Hogsmeade. The parents of the Granger girl are putting her in one of the day schools, she's one of those little twits who have 'the boy who lived' stars in her eyes and refuses to see reality."
Alice sighs, rolling her eyes. "If you hadn't been at that meeting with Frank, I'd have liked to have had them meet you and maybe the kids, it would have either knocked that nonsense out of her head or made it worse."
Draco heads into the stores after the game, picking up socks and underwear before heading to the cobbler.
"Good afternoon Master Longbottom, I found the problem. There was a small piece of plastic in the shoes that was causing the problem. I pulled it and replaced the padding, if there's any more problems let me know." Draco smiles and joins his siblings heading to Madam Rosemarta's to floo back home.
"Were they fixed?" Frank asks when the floo turns colors and his kids start piling through.
"Yes, there was a piece of plastic poking through the padding. It wasn't big enough to feel but it was big enough to cause a hole in my socks. He removed them and replaced the padding." The house elves take the bags, tutting at the holes in the socks and taking them off to fix.
"Dad, have you ever thought that the House elves run the house, not us?" Draco asks.
"Frequently." Frank chuckles, putting a hand on his son's shoulder. "Now go get washed up for dinner, your Mum's due home in a bit."