Back at the Granger house, with the two teens out of the way, Wendell hunted down Monica. She was going around the house with a small watering can and checking to see which plants needed watering, only to find they'd all been done.
With a sigh she thought, 'Dobby.'
"Hi love," he said.
"Dobby's watered and trimmed all the indoor plants," she half-heartedly complained.
"House elves are apparently quite handy," he smiled.
"And annoying when you're looking for something to do," she smiled back.
"How'd your talk with Hermione go, yesterday and this morning?" he asked.
"She's clueless," she sighed. "It's clear she loves him. But, she seems to think it's the sort of love one has for a little brother. I think she's wrong and she's lying to herself so she doesn't get hurt."
"And he thinks he sees her as a big sister," he added. "I even had to talk to him about considering his feelings for her so he can get over the problem of not recognising love those Dursley people beat into him."
"They're both clueless," she grumbled.
"Here I was, thinking I'd have to keep an eye on the pair of them just so they wouldn't go running off to find somewhere behind a closed door, and neither thinks like that," he said. "On one hand, I'm relieved. But, on the other, it's disappointing."
"She's fifteen, 'Dell," she frowned. "And he's fourteen. They should both be wanting to hump away at each other like rabbits!"
He blanched and said, "That's one image I really didn't want passing through my mind."
"I didn't say they should be doing it," she smiled. "I said they should be wanting to do it."
"Errph!" he shuddered.
She laughed a similar tinkling laugh to Hermione.
"You know how the wizarding world is about a century behind ours, right?" she asked.
"Sometimes it looks even further than that," he returned. "However, I understand what you're getting at."
"Well, during my talk with Hermione I found out that Harry's parents married right out of school. That means they were eighteen," she explained. "So did that Ronald boy's parents, so do a lot of magicals.
"For many in the magical world Hogwarts is a place parents can send their children so they can interact with other children and find their future spouses. She even told me there are some children that are betrothed in marriage contracts, similar to our nobility, before they even arrive at the school."
"That sounds..." he tried.
"Like about one to two centuries out of date; at least, socially?" she finished. "Yeah, it does. But, what did we just determine?"
"That they're one to two centuries behind our world," he nodded, seeing what his wife was getting at.
"Now, think of this," she continued. "If wizarding adults tend to marry soon after they finish school, and that age puts them at or about seventeen to eighteen years of age, how old did you say Hermione was again?"
With a start he breathed, "Bloody Hell!"
"Next issue," she said, moving on while her husband was trying to get his head around the idea his little princess could easily make him a grandfather within five years. "She told me their school doctor... medi-witch... was under some form of loyalty potions and compulsion charms.
"When I pushed her on those she told me about more. Love potions are a fact of life for witches and wizards. Soon after she got to the school back in 1991, the medi-witch warned all the girls about them and how to spot signs of it in themselves and those they were friends with. And, if they thought themselves or their friends were under one, to immediately bring it to her attention. And yet, she was discovered to have been under a similar one; and no one noticed a thing. We also now know Hermione was under a mild one back in 1991/92. That has me worried."
Wendell was deep in thought.
"Moving on," she said. "We both also know the wizarding world has two hierarchies. There is one based on blood status and one based on House status.
"The one based on blood status, starting at the top, goes pureblood, halfblood, muggleborn, squib and muggle. The one on House status goes Noble and Most Ancient, Noble and Ancient, Ancient, Elder, Minor, Magical, Unhoused and Disowned.
"There's a third but it's not as important compared to the first two. It goes Lord, Lady, Heir Apparent, Heir Presumptive, other Heir, Member and those who don't fit in any of those categories.
"As a muggleborn and Unhoused, Hermione sits right down the totem pole on both the first two; while Harry, as Lord of a Noble and Most Ancient House, even though he's also a halfblood, sits about as close to the top as it gets. There's only six people in their society that could be higher and they're all pureblood Lords. Sirius is one of those. And Hermione tells me another is currently a permanent resident in their hospital and is highly unlikely to ever recover. His son is a good friend of them both and is due to the inherit the title when he turns seventeen in a little under three years. That leaves four."
"So, what are you looking to achieve if you're telling me all this?" he asked.
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