Hermione conjured a bluebell flame in a jar and handed it to Kevin, getting a thankful look in return.
"How is it that you've learned so many spells already? Where do you find the time?" asked Dean.
Hermione conjured a second bluebell flame jar and handed it to Justin. "Occlumency, mostly."
"What's that?"
Justin snorted. "It's this amazing awesome mind magic that most of our classmates learn before they come to school that lets them memorise everything really fast, learn really quickly, and stops mind readers knowing what colour your underwear is."
Sophie blushed.
Dean's eyes widened. "I need to learn that."
Kevin handed his jar to Sophie and took the next bluebell flame jar Hermione conjured with a thankful nod. "But it takes years to learn and they don't teach it here."
Dean eyed Hermione thoughtfully. "You knew you were a witch since only three years ago, right? It would still be useful to know it by our third year."
Sophie, Dean, Justin, and Kevin all looked at each other. Then they turned to her.
Hermione hesitated. In truth she knew that using Harry's secret teaching method, they could probably catch up to their peers in just two to four months, and be well beyond that in another three to six. But the magic wasn't her's to promise and she didn't know any other teaching method. It might even be Slytherin family magic. She conjured a final bluebell jar and handed it to Dean. "I can't promise anything, but I'll ask and have an answer by the start of next term." They all nodded.
"So," Sophie kicked her legs back and forth, holding the bluebell flame jar, and warming her hands. "What are we going to learn about today?"
Hermione took a piece of chalk and wrote on the board. 'LESSON THREE — SCHOOLS AND CHRISTMAS IN THE MAGICAL WORLD.' She turned back to the others with a swish of her fur-lined cloak. "We'll talk about the other wizarding schools in Britain, but since this is our last lesson before Christmas I thought we'd also cover some of the traditions wizards follow now and in the past."
They all nodded.
Portrait Elizabeth cleared her throat. "There are three other schools in Magical Britain. I didn't go to any of them, obviously, but I did serve on the board of St. Georges School of Magic in London. That one's the newest, and we call it 'the box' because it's just a large red-brick building, hidden from the muggles, near the docks."
Sophie put her bluebell flame aside and took out her ever present muggle notebook.
"Then there's 'The Cornwall Academy' or 'the windmill'. No prizes for guessing why it's called that."
Sophie put up her hand.
"Yes, Dear?"
"Wouldn't it be hard to fit a boarding school into a windmill?"
Elizabeth smiled. "Magic, Dear." "Oh." Sophie reddened.
"And finally, there's Madam Goose's Home for the Magically Gifted." Elizabeth sniffed. "We call that one 'the Shoe'."
Kevin tilted his head. "Why's it called that, then?"
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "I did say no prizes, young man."
Dean's eyes widened. "Seriously?"
Hermione turned away to write the final name on the black board. "To be fair, it is a very large shoe." She finished the final letter with a flourish and turned back to them. "I've seen pictures."
"Anyway," Elizabeth redirected their attention back to herself. "These other schools don't come close to Hogwarts. That's mostly by design. Most of the muggleborns and non-noble half-bloods go to them. You're all very lucky to be invited here. If you had to leave Hogwarts for whatever reason, you'd probably go to one of those other schools." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Unless you were expelled for breaking the International Statute of Secrecy of course, in which case you'd probably be mind-wiped and sent back to the muggle world with two dozen curses to block and drain your magic."
The four muggleborns nodded, slowly. It was far from the first positively medieval pronouncement they'd heard in the last few weeks.
They continued to discuss the three other schools — how they were founded, what they taught, and how it differed from the Hogwarts curriculum. Half the students in Britain and Ireland went to Hogwarts. The other half were split evenly among the box, the windmill, and the Shoe. Hermione finished by showing them a chart she'd drawn, mapping the upper echelons of the ministry of magic to the schools the officials attended — red for the castle (Hogwarts), blue for the windmill, yellow for the box, and green for the Shoe. The chart was a sea of red.
"And on that cheery note," Hermione said, smiling widely, "let's talk Christmas."
Justin shook his head and took out a blank sheet of parchment.
"First, it shouldn't be surprising that wizards don't actually celebrate Christmas—"
Kevin looked up from his own battered notebook, startled. "—We celebrate the winter solstice, which happens on the 21st or 22nd of December, and the winter festival, which takes place on the 23rd.
"But," Kevin looked confused. "But, the castle…"
"Oh, many of the traditions are similar. And Dumbledore calls it Christmas for some reason, but away from the castle, it's the winter festival, or just the festival."
"So, what different traditions are there?" asked Sophie.
Hermione smiled and thought back to a few weeks ago when Harry had invited her to the Greengrass's winter festival. "Well, the one I'm most looking forward to seeing is 'the hunt'." "The hunt?"
Portrait Elizabeth chuckled. "That's such a wizard thing. My husband used to love it. Although apparently young witches are into it these days too." She smiled at Hermione.
Hermione felt embarrassment creeping up the back of her neck. "I just thought it sounded really interesting."
"What is it?" tried Sophie again.
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