Gift of Divinity

by computerneek

Chapter 6: The Hogwarts Express

When the Dursleys arrived at King’s Cross fairly early on September First, they had absolutely no difficulty getting onto the station. Each of the four of them walked through the barrier separately- then walked across the sparsely-occupied platform to the train, picked a car, and unloaded their luggage into an empty compartment. Interestingly, nobody seemed to be checking tickets- they’d even looked for them. There wasn’t a ticket inspector anywhere that even might check a ticket for Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Dudley and Hailey both took the same compartment and, after lots of goodbyes and assurances that they would be okay, the Dursleys had left to go home, and the two children had only to wait for the train to go to Hogwarts… while they threw on their robes. They’d already been dressed in the rest of the uniform before going to the station, so all they had to do was add the robe and hat on top.

---

Hermione was a bit of a different story. She hadn’t thought to ask, and McGonagall had forgotten to explain with all the excitement of her abnormal shopping trip, how she was supposed to get onto the platform.

And of course, she didn’t have an owl, so they hadn’t been able to send a letter to the school when she’d inspected her tickets a week prior.

She did, however, have a pet- even though she hadn’t bought one. The bird that had been born from the ashes from that box had turned out to be a female phoenix she had named Philomena, who was riding on her shoulder. For some reason, her touch seemed to have a similar strengthening effect as touching her wand, albeit not as strong, so her weight wasn’t a burden. It really was amazing how much Philomena had grown in just two short weeks.

“Uh…” She looked up at the platform signs. “Nine, ten. Nothing in between.” She sighed, looking around. “I… I don’t see anyone waiting for…”

“Me neither,” Dan muttered.

“Oooh,” Emma cooed. “That group there- no, there, with the red hair. They’ve got an owl.”

Hermione looked.

Sure enough, it was a family with bright red hair. They had a few trolleys with heavy trunks, and one of them had an owl in a cage.

Then Hermione spied the base of the mother’s wand sticking out of her pocket. “Yup. What’s your bet they’re also sending students?”

“Looks like that one’s going… first…?” Dan observed, indicating one of the boys that had just pushed his trolley straight towards the barrier between the stations, only to have a bunch of tourists pass by.

“Is it something with the barrier?” Hermione muttered.

Another one went… and this time, there were no backpacks to get in the way. He reached the barrier… and was quite suddenly nowhere.

“Got to be,” Emma said. “How about… How about we try going against that barrier, slowly?”

Hermione tilted her head. “Might as well try. Probably have a chance to see what they’re doing from closer up, too.”

So they made their way over. Two more boys vanished as they did so- then they reached the barrier. Her parents each set a hand on her shoulder as they approached the barrier. Dan actually got her arm just below her shoulder, since Philomena already had her shoulder.

“Just in case it’s like the Leaky Cauldron,” Hermione muttered- then, quite suddenly, the barrier wasn’t in front of them at all.

She let out a gasp. The platform was crowded with people- and a scarlet steam locomotive was parked at the station, wafting smoke over the crowd. As they walked closer to the train, Hermione picked out the words Hogwarts Express written on each of the cars and on the tender behind the locomotive. The clock over the wrought iron archway they’d just come through, with text on it reading ‘Platform Nine and Three Quarters’, informed her they had about ten minutes before it was going to leave.

So they walked up to the train, found an empty compartment… Maybe? For some reason, Hermione got a feeling that a certain occupied compartment would be a good idea as she walked by it, so she stopped, knocked, and poked her head inside. “Hello,” she greeted. Inside was a boy, a little bit bigger than her and fairly muscular-looking, and a pretty girl with long, flowing black hair. They were both already wearing their Hogwarts robes. “Mind if I join you two?” she asked.

The girl looked at her… then laughed. It didn’t feel like she was laughing at her, just that she found something really funny for some reason.

“Sure, no problem!” the boy decided. “Are you putting your trunk in here, or…?”

“Er- Yeah, if that’s okay?” She looked at the girl.

He looked at her. “Don’t worry about Hailey,” he told her, amusement in his eyes as well. “Weird stuff always happens around her, and sometimes she finds it funny.”

“Weird stuff?” Hermione asked.

He nodded. “She was just wondering aloud if we’d get to meet anyone on the train when you arrived.”

She paused. “... Oh. Okay. Great minds think alike, I guess? And, er, I’ve got my trunk at least this far, thank you… Dudley?” She’d spotted his nametag.

He nodded again. “Yup, and you’re welcome.” Then he turned to Hailey as Hermione left. “C’mon, Hailey, stop laughing.”

Dragging her trunk into the train and down the passage to the compartment wasn’t easy; Philomena’s strength boost wasn’t nearly as strong as her wand’s. However, thanks to Philomena, she was able to do it without too much strain.

When she got back to the compartment, it was to find that Hailey had calmed down. “Hello again,” she told Hailey. “Done laughing?”

She giggled. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure.” She glanced at Hermione’s trunk. “Are you going to need help getting that into the rack?”

“Uh…” She looked up at the rack, and decided that showing off the impossible strength granted by her wand wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do; Philomena’s strength boost only made her comparable to people her own age… that were body-builders. “Yeah, I think so.”

Philomena trilled amusedly, but Hailey and Dudley got up to help.

As it turned out, Dudley was- exactly as he looked- pretty strong. Even he couldn’t lift her trunk on his own, though- but Hailey was also pretty strong. Not as strong Philomena’s boost made Hermione- but between the three of them, it took no time at all to get her trunk up into the luggage rack.

Then Hailey offered her hand. “Nice to meet you,” she said cheerfully. “I’m Hailey- Hailey Potter.”

“Hermione Granger,” she answered, and accepted the girl’s hand.

A familiar tingle shot through her body on contact with the girl’s skin. She flinched- she was working on working even that out- and blinked. But Hailey wasn’t her wand- why was she having a similar effect…?

“You okay?” Hailey asked worriedly, allowing their hands to separate.

“Uh- Yeah, just…” She trailed off, shook Dudley’s hand too- no tingle there- and looked between them. “Um, I still need to say goodbye to my parents.”

A whistle blew.

“Oh?” Hailey asked, glancing out the window. “Looks like we’re about to start moving, too.” She smiled back at her. “Go ahead, we can wait.”

---

No sooner had Hermione sat back down in the compartment, after the train had left the station, than Dudley stood up again. “Um, I need to use the bathroom, so if you want to get changed or something?” He raised an eyebrow politely to Hermione.

Hermione blinked, and looked at the door. “Oh. Um… Yeah. I’ll be locking the door, though- knock when you get back?”

He nodded. “Yup. Be back in a few!” He opened the door, stepped out, and closed it behind him.

Hermione reached up and locked the door, before standing on the seat to reach her trunk and pull her robes from it.

Hailey watched, with a smile on her face. “That’s a beautiful bird,” she observed. “What’s its name, if I may ask?”

Hermione looked, stepping back down to the floor with a full set of her robes. “Huh? Oh, you mean Philomena?” She smiled- and Philomena, sensing what she wanted to do, spread her wings to fly down to the seat. “She’s a phoenix,” Hermione told Hailey, shivering gently as she adjusted to her usual weakness, and started to change clothes. Philomena liked riding her shoulder so much she was almost rarely as weak as her body. “And… apparently left for me by some long-lost ancestor. But she’s a wonderful companion.”

Hailey smiled. “Phoenix tears have healing powers- and phoenixes themselves can carry immensely heavy loads and can travel by phoenix fire, aside from making extremely faithful pets,” she said. “On top of that, if they die, by lethal blow or simply the end of their six-year lifecycle, they burn up and are reborn from the ashes.” She sighed. “It’s only possible to kill a phoenix during the first week or so after they rejuvenate like that. After that point, they’ll just rejuvenate if you try- even if it’s the Killing Curse.”

“Travel by phoenix fire?” Hermione asked. “Like when she scared us all by appearing in the kitchen in a ball of flames?”

She nodded. “Yeah.” Then she paused. “And don’t ask me where I learned all that, I have no idea.” She shrugged. “When Dudley said weird things happen around me, he meant it. And sometimes, it’s just that I- or sometimes people around me- randomly just… know stuff. For example, I have no idea what a ‘house’ is at Hogwarts, but I know mine will be Gryffindor. Whatever that is.”

Hermione laughed, positioning her skirt just right and reaching for her shirt.

Then she stopped, her shirt in her hands. “House… Good question. They don’t have houses in the school, do they?”

Hailey shrugged. “I expect it’s a concept on the level of the House of Potter or House of Granger or whatever, just a little bit larger. Apparently, Slytherin is also one of them- a strange boy in Madam Malkin’s said that’s where he expected to be, because ‘all our family have been’.”

“Huh,” Hermione said, slipping her shirt on and slinging her robe around her shoulders. “I wonder how we find out which one we’re going to be in?”

Hailey shrugged. “No idea. For all we know, it’s going to be… Oh, a hat that tells you where you belong.” She shrugged.

Hermione laughed. “Oh come on, that’d be silly.”

“Like mirrors that say hi, pictures that move, and sports played on cleaning tools aren’t silly?” Hailey asked, raising an eyebrow.

She let out another snort of laughter. “Oh, alright, if you put it that way,” she chuckled, unlocking the door as she topped off her outfit with her hat. Philomena quickly flew back up to her shoulder- and as she landed, she felt the strange strength flow through her once again. “What sports do they play on cleaning tools?”

“Quidditch,” Hailey answered. “Wizard’s sport. Played in the air… on broomsticks. Back in the day, they actually enchanted and used straw brooms- and when they landed, they took that same broom and swept the floor.”

Hermione blinked. “Oh! Is that why the shopping list said first years aren’t allowed their own brooms?”

She nodded. “It is. Modern brooms are very capable, and incredibly easy to kill yourself with.” She sighed. “They don’t want us flying until they can be sure we’re doing it right.” Then she scowled. “And I keep getting this weird feeling like I’m supposed to fly with wings, but I don’t have any, so…” She shrugged.

“Huh,” Hermione muttered.

Then there was a knock on the door- and when she opened it, Dudley was back.

---

No sooner had Hermione told Dudley what Philomena was than someone opened the compartment door without knocking.

Hermione noticed that Hailey immediately flicked her hair such that it landed right over her nametag, hiding it from view. She debated doing that herself- but decided that ‘Hermione Granger’ was a better name for her to be known by than something like ‘Phoenix-girl’.

After all, she didn’t have a name that was very similar to someone famous, such as Harry Potter… who Hailey’s name could easily be mistaken for.

It was a blonde-haired boy that looked remarkably like Dudley, though he carried himself differently and had two very thug-like boys behind him, looking like bodyguards.

“Good morning,” Hailey greeted him politely. “Have any trouble finding your minions?”

He snorted, then turned to the two minions. “Go back to our compartment,” he told them. “I’ll be fine.”

There was a moment of silence, before the two boys left, looking disappointed.

The remaining boy stepped just far enough into the compartment to close the door, and did so, behind him, before letting out a breath. “Do you mind if I join you?” he asked, looking around the room.

“Uh-!” Hermione began, looking at Hailey.

Hailey, meanwhile, was studying him intently.

The silence held for a couple seconds, during which Hermione’s eyes picked out his nametag- Draco Malfoy.

“Alright,” Hailey finally decided, slowly. “Go ahead. May I ask why?”

“Well…” As he sat down next to Hailey, he looked critically at both Hermione and Dudley… and seemed to decide that he could ignore them. He looked back at Hailey. “I… Remember that conversation we had in Madam Malkin’s?”

Hailey nodded. “I do.”

“Well…” He sighed. “I… I thought about what you said,” he told her. “About… About not wasting talent.” He looked at his knees. “It got me wondering- if talent like that can appear amongst the mud-er, muggleborn students, are purebloods actually all that much better than anyone else?”

There was a pause. Hermione shifted uncomfortably. They were if the muggleborn involved was her.

Finally, Draco sighed again. “The only answer I could find was ‘they are’... but no explanation, no reason, just ‘they are’. And that’s not enough.”

“If anyone, it’s actually the muggleborn that are better,” Hailey informed him calmly. “And not because of power or ability or whatever else- magically, muggleborn and purebloods are exactly the same. Either you’re a wizard, or you’re not.” She paused. “Well, give or take the usual individual variation, but you know what I mean.

“Instead, it’s because they have access to the muggle education system.” She sighed. “Arithmetic. Reading. Writing. History. Science.” She chuckled softly. “But no matter how useful the Scientific Method undoubtedly is when experimenting with new spells, the actual subject matter is largely unimportant for the comparison.

“Muggles have muggle history, wizards have wizard history. It shapes who we are, but you’ll probably never use it again in either case. Well… I get the feeling we’ll be doing a lot of research into wizarding history this year and next, but that’s the exception rather than the norm.

“Reading, writing… Wizards have books. Wizarding families teach their children to write. Often a lot better than muggle children these days, thanks to the advent of computers. But it’s still helpful, because what they’re learning isn’t how to read more accurately or faster or whatever- they’re learning critical thinking and analysis skills that can easily translate into spells.

“Arithmetic… Wizarding families teach their children to do basic math. And at the age that muggleborn go to Hogwarts, they haven’t learned much more than that in the muggle education system either- but what they have done is spent five or six years getting used to studying, calculating, and problem-solving.

“As a result, according to the section on student performance in Hogwarts: A History, muggleborn pick up new spells on average about six percent faster than half-bloods, which are about two percent faster than purebloods- and muggleborn grades are usually about ten percent ahead of half-bloods and purebloods, which are about the same as one another.” She sighed. “And of course, the advent of the computer in the muggle world is increasing the challenge presented to the common muggle child- which is, according to muggle research, resulting in a global increase in IQ scores- the world is getting smarter. That’s very recent, though, so there’s no wizarding research to match it or spot any effects in the wizarding world, so…” She shrugged.

“... So it’s entirely possible that muggleborn are smarter than purebloods,” he muttered.

“Well… Yes, I suppose,” Hailey shrugged. “If so, though, it’s not going to be a big enough difference for you to notice.” She chuckled. “As a matter of fact, we’ve got the entire spectrum of that represented in this compartment right now.”

He blinked. “Really?”

She nodded. “Yes. Take our friend Hermione, for example.” She gestured towards Hermione- who blushed at being called a friend so quickly. She’d never been able to make friends before- everyone was too intimidated by her grades. “Straight A student, always top of the class- I think she’s lost a total of six points, including extra credit, on the various grading scales across her entire education so far- quite impressive, and it’s got to break records somewhere.”

Hermione blushed furiously, and covered her face with her hands. Was Hailey trying to keep her from making new friends? How did she learn that?

… Probably her ‘weird stuff’ knowledge, when she thought about it.

“And on the other end of the spectrum, there’s me,” Dudley chimed in suddenly. “I’d probably have failed every other year if not for Hailey’s assistance.”

Hailey chuckled. “Yeah.”

Draco looked at Hailey. “You must also be…”

“Really smart? Not really,” she told him. “On my own, I’m closer to average. Some As, some Bs, some Cs. For some reason, though, whenever I study with someone rather than alone, both myself and whoever I’m studying with shoot up to straight-A students.” She shrugged. “Me and Dudley have been kinda, well, abusing that, so we’re both also straight-A students, despite not being smart enough individually. I wonder what does it?” She sighed. “Anyways, if I go take an IQ test… I get a perfect score, every time, no matter how hard they make it. No idea why, and I’m definitely not as smart as those numbers say I am, but…” She trailed off, and shrugged.

“And…” He looked around. “You’re all muggleborn? But then in Madam Malkin’s…?” he asked.

Hailey shook her head. “I’m pure-blood,” she told him. “My aunt and uncle took me in when my parents died. They’re muggles… or at least, they used to be. I wonder what happened to change that.”

“Huh,” Draco muttered, then sighed. “Whelp. A Malfoy has appearances to maintain, so I better go.”

“Yeah,” Hailey sighed. “Too bad we’ll be enemies for most of the year because of that. Anyways, I’m looking forward to next time, Silver! Er- Draco, sorry.”

He stared at her, having frozen in the middle of getting up, a mixture of fear and surprise on his face. “H-How did you- How did you know?” he gasped.

She looked down. “I didn’t. It just felt like the right thing to say. Usually, when that happens, it turns out to be true later- but…” She sighed. “No idea why.”

Draco slowly sat back down. “Is… Is anyone going to be interrupting us?” he asked.

“No,” Hailey answered promptly. “You locked the door, remember.”

Hermione looked… And the door was, indeed, locked.

Draco sighed. “Can… Can you promise- no, can all of you promise not to tell anyone what I’m about to tell you?”

All three of them nodded.

“We can promise,” Hailey vowed, with a hint of finality in her voice adding the unspoken ‘or else’.

Draco looked at her, and sighed, before looking at his knees. “It’s common knowledge amongst wizarding society that anyone that wishes to become the opposite sex is afflicted by a mental disease called transgenderism,” he muttered. “Nobody knows how it spreads, and the cure is to put them through a ton of therapy to help them accept what they are.” He put his hands on his knees, and sighed again. The silence drew on for a few seconds before he resumed.

“I caught it when I was six,” he muttered, very softly. “I never told anyone. I don’t want to go to that conversion therapy. Instead, I wonder- what if that desire was satisfied instead? What if I actually could become a girl? Would I want to turn back into a boy, or would I want to stay as a girl?” He sighed. “If I could, I can’t imagine any situation that would make me want to turn back… but it’s a disease, right? Actually changing sex wouldn’t cure it, would it?

“With that in mind… one of my life goals is to invent sex-changing magic… and find out if conversion therapy really is the only cure.” He leaned back in his seat. “Then of course, if I am able to make that magic, and am able to… become a girl, and if it does cure it… What would I go by?” He looked at Hailey. “Silver happens to be one of the names I’ve been considering,” he told her. “For some reason, hearing you use it so casually like that… It made me feel happy for the first time in years. Aside from wondering how you learned about it, of course.”

“Interesting,” Hailey mused. “It sounds somewhat similar to how I wanted to become a girl for the longest time.”

He blinked. “What-? How’d you-?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t. I found out that I had actually been a girl the whole time. I wonder what happened to make me think I was a boy for so long, though?”

He stared at her.

Hailey then smiled at him. “But you’re right, who knows.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll do what I can to help you make that spell,” she told him. “For Science.” She smiled and made a fist with her other hand, then removed her hand from Draco’s shoulder and leaned back herself. “I’m not sure why, but conversion therapy, and the whole part about it being a disease, just feel… wrong somehow.” She shrugged. “I hear Hogwarts has a brand-new research department this year,” she told him. “Perhaps they can help?”

“But- But!”

“Yeah, we won’t be able to tell them the actual reason for making that spell- I wonder what kind of reason we’ll have to come up with. But they might be able to help us make it.”

Author's Note:

So that happened.

Patreon, Discord.

It's at about this point (that is, when I'm publishing this chapter, not when I wrote it) that I realize that I actually expect Gift of Divinity to die a fairly quick death... after a short and probably comedic showing of a number of different new things. Conversely, The Girl who Didn't Just Live, which I originally expected to die a quick death, is looking like it's going to live longer than expected, while still being comedy-oriented.

This is probably because my muse seems to have burned out on 'normal' stuff for now, which is probably going to reduce Accidental Invasion to its first (hopefully short) hiatus in a long time... and might be because I've been struggling so much to make ends meet.

Comments

[Melody Song]

Aww, Draco, you need a hug!! Hailey, I shall happily explain to you exactly why that idea is wrong, all you need to do is ask me. But glad to see Draco's having an epiphany on muggleborns. And it's okay if your other stuff is going to take a while to update, burnouts are natural!

[Greenhorn]

Wow, this Hailey is much, much more powerful than Sybill. It's like her precognition power was always turn on, unlike Sybill's.

[Fetch]

Yeah... the muggleborns REALLY need to bring the Wizarding world up to speed with psychology.

[tkepner]

One reason for the spell is that many couples would . . . like to see things from the other's point of view?

[Pacific plus 12]

"What is this strange feeling?"
"Omniscience, young goddess".
"And shouldn't I know about it?"
"But where is the fun in that?"

[Adenbadens]

So Harry is Purple Smart, Hermione is Sunny Day, Draco is Bug Pony…

[keybounce]

So far, the only real problem has been:

1. Massive power level increase to the point of nearly mary-sue levels.
...
Actually, just that. Until now.

This train trip ... it feels like it completely destroys the characters.

Bringing Dudley along? Turning the Dursleys into squibs wizards? Giving Hermione a phoenix -- Celestia's phoenix? Massive god-level wand power? Oracle-level knowledge? Etc?

Then on top of that, muggle education (by the way, that bit needs proof reading -- it sounds like you are saying the muggle system is worse, but then you've also got numbers saying it's better), the whole discussion of transgenderism, the phoenix strength increase, the wand-enhanced super strength, seeing through Draco/Silver, etc. -- too much.

These characters read nothing like the canon characters.
This situation on the train, this conversation, feels forced.

Maybe let them change slowly over time? Don't turn a short meeting in the train into a massive info dump? Would 11 year old children with a massive case of family upbringing really speak like that?

[computerneek]

11300126
Yeah, that's probably why this story is already headed for an early grave.

[KittyrinnAiko]

11300305
Would Draco, a boy living in a wizard home, even know what transgender is or even know the word? Draco does not live in a society where that kind of information would be readily available. Just like how transgender was viewed back in the 1950tys, wizards would likely see it as a sickness of the mind. When I grew up in the 70tys it was nearly as bad and I wouldn't have dared to discuss telling anyone I was a girl inside. If anything, Draco's canon character type perfectly fits the archetype of someone who is overcompensating because they have to hide the true person inside.

[computerneek]

11321329
Yes. Might be why feminizing him felt so right...

Apparently, it's a common enough topic of conversation that he knows all about it.

[DawnPen264]

Philomena huh?
Looking forward to how that affects the rest of the story.