It's not easy to explain, but . . .

Chapter 1

"Don't I know it; he's glued to the telly every time he's over at Hermione and my house!" Ron agreed.

"I'd still take the books, though, to cross reference," suggested Emma to Hermione. "The screenwriter, with Jo's approval, skipped LOTs of stuff from the books and moved some events around, and left some characters out entirely, but she made sure all of the important things were included.  But I could use a highlighter to mark key scenes in the books so you could find the  details if anyone needed more information."

"Excellent!" Ron asked. "What's a highlighter?"

That put Rupert, Dan and Tom into fits of laughter, as Emma turned to Hermione. "So, he's like that in real life, too?"

"Yeah, pretty much." They both shook their heads.

"Have you seen the movies?" asked Tom

"Actually, no . . . I haven't, have you two?"  Harry turned to Hermione and Ron.

"We've watched the first three; that's when I started wishing we'd known then what we know now, so to speak.  It was bizarre watching you, Emma, being me." Hermione smiled at the other young woman.  "I've been wondering how they made everything look so real . . . slightly off on some things, but amazingly correct on others."

"Computer graphics and special effects, which got more and more complex as the films went on, because of evolving software programs  . . . . and CGI . . . " Emma realized by the blank looks on Harry and Ron's faces that she'd lost them early on in her explanation.  Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she looked over at Dan & grinned.  "Do you have the WB Wizard's Collection?"

"Of course, it's right over there." Dan pointed to a bookcase in the far corner. "In the cupboard at the bottom, why?"

"I can't think of a better way to show our friends here, what it took to make their world real. Then they might understand why we're not so freaked out by their being here." Emma rose and walked over to the cabinet and opened the door to retrieve a large red box, which she put on the coffee table."

"Speak for yourself, Emma, I haven't come face to face with Draco, yet," snorted Tom.

"Don't worry, he's good with this, especially if it saves his family from ruin," replied Harry.

"I thought the Malfoys managed to stay out of Azkaban after the war?" Tom looked perplexed.

"They did . . .  however . . . Voldemort and the Death Eaters living at Malfoy Manor had seriously drained, almost emptied, if truth be told, the family vaults of most of their available funds and the Wizarding World was very slow in accepting Lucius back into any of the business dealing he'd had before the war.  They recovered some of their social standing but without the luxury and glitz of the old days . . . still, Draco's come out of it better off than if he'd just followed Daddy into the family 'business', so to speak.  Works for the Ministry, now, in the Department of Mysteries, believe it or not."

"NOT!" yelped Tom, making everyone jump. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!  Him in THAT department!!???!!! Are you all insane!" he yelled.

"Relax, Tom, we don't know the circumstances or what, exactly, his job involves . . . he could be head custodian for the Department of Mysteries, for all we know!"  Rupert teased, effectively stopping Tom's rant in its tracks.  With that picture in mind, smiles and chuckles spread around the room. As chance would have it, the doorbell rang again.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Clean, himself! Ron announced, as he led Draco into the living room, to raucous laughter from all of the group. 

Draco turned to Ron and raised an eyebrow.  "Okay, Weasley, now what?"