You're My Density (Completed)

Chapter 13: Wrong Place, Wrong Time

His chuckle just deepened. "Hermione, my Gran is a member of the Wizengamot. Trust me, she won't be bothered by a few questions from a first year. I'm gonna be there tomorrow morning too, just to see my Gran though."

-oOoOo-

Minerva entered Dumbledore's office to see her friend nursing a glass of firewhisky. She had no way of knowing this was Augusta's second, the first one Albus supplied having already been downed.

"Surely your lesson couldn't have gone that badly?"

"I would like to think my lesson went well. As we had discussed, Minerva, I started with the Ministry and Wizengamot. Explaining the roles they played in our lives. As I mentioned, things were going well - until I asked if anyone had any questions…"

There was an audible groan from Minerva, she had a good idea what would have happened next. "Miss Granger?"

"Oh she was very polite. I doubt I've ever been taken apart so cordially. Neville had of course told me that she and Harry were his best friends. He also mentioned they were very smart, that was no overestimation. Miss Granger asked me about the blood status of departmental heads within the ministry. I of course told the truth, that every one of them was a pureblood. She then asked the same question about the Wizengamot. As you both know, the answer was again all pureblood. She then asked how that could be, since the percentage of purebloods in the British magical population was reckoned to be at best twenty percent. What could I say?"

Taking a sip of her drink, the shocked witch continued to relay how her carefully prepared lesson had crumbled to dust under this line of questioning. "Miss Granger then explained that she and her parents had met the ministry's expert on muggles. While they all thought Arthur Weasley was a very nice man, they assessed his knowledge of the subject to be comparable to that of a four year old muggle child. That was their top estimate too."

"That is rather unfortunate…"

"What was unfortunate, Albus, is that Miss Granger was just getting into her stride. Hogwarts didn't escape unscathed either, that girl had really done her homework. She knew Muggle Studies in Hogwarts is taught by a pureblood. Having checked the text books allocated for that course, Miss Granger claims they are all about a century out of date. She also claimed that a century in muggle time would see far greater changes than the same period in the wizarding world. The girl then rhymed off important items and events that the course ignored. The only two people in that classroom who didn't know what she was talking about was me and my grandson."

Minerva and Albus were getting ready to join Augusta in a tipple, this could be bad. Madam Longbottom then proved it was much worse than they thought.

"I was then asked why it was felt necessary they learn wizarding culture, when that very same culture ignored or looked down on theirs. Why should they support a system where an elite class they could never hope to join would basically rule over all of them? Why should they stay in a country where their circumstances of birth, rather than their abilities, predetermined what they would be able to achieve?"

With a deep felt sadness, Augusta told them what had really hurt. "My Neville was desperately looking toward me to refute those arguments, I could see the disappointment in his eyes. There simply wasn't anything I could say to defend the status quo. Miss Granger was almost apologetic while asking if I now understood why she and her intended were looking at other options. Harry then chipped in and said he hoped today wouldn't see me stopping Neville accompanying them, if they decided on another option than Hogwarts, since he was their best friend."