Hermione leaned back in her chair and luxuriated in the warmth of the sun's rays. That was the best bit of coming to Australia, she thought. They had left England in the middle of winter but here in the Southern Hemisphere it was summer. True, that didn't always mean much here in Melbourne where the weather was notoriously fickle. "All four seasons in one day," was the phrase that she had heard repeated by countless Australians. They even managed to sound proud about the fact. Still, the weather today was absolutely lovely and she had just finished browsing in a wonderful bookstore in St. Kilda and was finishing up her outing at one of the many cake shops that lined Acland Street. Even Hermione, the child of two dentists, had not been able to resist trying one of the incredibly delicious looking slices of cake.
She still couldn't believe how differently the Australians did things. There was no hiding away in an alley only accessible through a dingy pub. No, here the wizards and witches lived right amidst the normal non-magical population. Even the bookshop, which had one of the best collections of magical books she had ever seen, had been an absolute revelation. Not only was it a magical bookshop but it was a magical bookshop that catered to muggles as well. Instead of hiding the whole store behind muggle repelling charms, as would have been the norm in England, here it was simply the books that were spelled. All the magical books would look like ordinary textbooks to any muggle that came across them. Particularly dense organic chemistry and quantum mechanics textbooks, according to her Mother, who had accompanied her.
Yes, she thought that she could come to love living here in Australia.
The only blemish on her otherwise rosy outlook was a little matter with her new school. It was a great school, filled with cheerful students and staff, and she had already made tentative friends with a couple of the students she had met so far. No, the only problem was that as soon as she told them she was transferring from Hogwarts, the very first thing the staff did was to sign her up for the Remedial Courses in both Defence and Potions.
No amount of begging and pleading would convince them otherwise. According to them any student from Hogwarts had to be trained up in the basics for Defence and Potions, no matter how good her grades were or how high her IQ might be.
She growled under her breath. She, Hermione Granger, was being forced to take remedial classes. The...the indignity...the sheer bloody outrageousness of that fact made her want to scream. Part of her wanted to go back to England just to kick Dumbledore in the...Well, let's just say that he would be walking funny for days after she was through with him.
Still, hopefully she could test out of the remedial classes after some time. She would never be able to live with herself if she didn't.
...
Sirius Black was a very happy man. The weather was truly wonderful, the sun was shining in a cloudless sky and the sea was that incredibly lovely shade of iridescent blue that you only found in these parts of the world. He had a utterly delicious Mojito in his hand and his beach chair, which he had just settled into, had a perfect view of a group of girls in bikinis that were playing a spirited game of volleyball. Life did not get much better than this.
He had just placed an order for another Mojito when the mirror in his pocket buzzed. He grinned widely to himself; it looked like things were, in fact, getting better. The little trap he had set at the Ministry before leaving England had just been triggered. Months ago, a large black dog had sneaked through the Ministry and made its way into the Hall of Prophecies. Sirius snorted as he remembered how ridiculously easy it had been. It was truly pathetic how incompetent the Ministry was at times. He pulled out his mirror and relaxed back into his chair. He really should order some popcorn, he thought. That should go perfectly with what he was about to see on his mirror. Whatever the outcome, it was sure to be entertaining.
....
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