Without their school housemates creating an unwelcome rivalry, the three visiting girls were quite nice. They first joined the boys and Hermione in playing some indoor games, as appropriate for the cold weather, but after a while, the children formed two groups. The boys and Susan were sitting together, talking mainly about offensive and defensive charms. The three other girls moved a bit farther and found a more interesting subject – boys.
"Neville seems to have gained some confidence since he became yours and Potter's friend," Daphne noted. "Are you helping him?"
Hermione shrugged. "Not much, really. I think he is quite smart and magically powerful. When we first met him, he didn't have a wand that fit him, so we helped him with a few bits of magic that don't need a wand. Once he found out he could do it, everything seemed to go the right way."
"You mean to tell me that you taught him wandless magic before even reaching Hogwarts?" Daphne sounded shocked.
Hermione understood her mistake immediately, but she couldn't take her words back. She still tried downplaying it. "Not really wandless magic; more like controlled accidental magic, like I've been using for years. Summoning books and stuff, you know..."
"Can you show us?" Hannah asked.
Hermione looked around, trying to find an appropriate object to summon. Finding a box of cards, previously used in a game, she pointed at it and it flew into her hand.
"Wow!" both other girls exclaimed. "You didn't even say any spell," Daphne noticed.
"I didn't yet know what spell could be used for that. Originally, I didn't even notice I was doing something unusual. Whenever I wanted a book, it just seemed to be nearby, so I could take it. As I grew up a little, I started understanding that it was too much of a coincidence to always find the wanted books near me."
Daphne looked appreciative. "That's not really accidental magic. You were controlling it quite nicely. How old were you then?"
"Not sure. Five or six, maybe."
Daphne just thought a bit. "Can you teach us? You say you taught Neville."
Hermione wasn't sure she was ready for the challenge. She didn't want to disclose her full knowledge, gained from the Potter library, yet she couldn't just refuse it. "Well... you need to concentrate on what you want to do and try to visualize it, just like Professor McGonagall teaches in transfiguration. Once you have that, let your magic do the work."
It didn't go too well, at first. Hermione explained some more and did a few more demonstrations before Daphne managed to make something move at all. Hannah, the more patient of the two, took a bit longer to absorb the explanations, but then both reached their goal in about the same time – grabbing an object from across the room wandlessly and soundlessly.
"Can Harry do the same?" Daphne asked.
"Yes. We teach each other whatever one of us learns on one's own. We've been friends since we met."
Hannah smiled. "You really seem to be very close to each other."
"How is Harry? He looks nice, but I don't really know him." Daphne asked.
"Interested in 'The Boy Who Lived'?" Hermione teased her.
"No! That's all rubbish! He couldn't possibly do much at age one. He may be a powerful wizard, but at that age, it was something else that helped him, probably something his parents did and his magic only enhanced," Daphne answered. "I think I want you as my friend, and I want to make sure he treats you right." She still blushed a bit, making Hermione think that Daphne had some other thoughts as well.
"Harry is nice, but I think Neville is nicer. I've known him since we were both toddlers," Hannah added, blushing a bit as well.
Daphne looked at the boys, who were talking at the other end of the room. "I think Harry is better looking. Still, this may change as we all grow up." Looking at Hermione, she added, "You've already started to change, and so has Susan. Hannah and I still look like little girls."
"I'm sure you'll both become gorgeous women. No need to rush anything. Don't forget I'm almost a year older – I'm already twelve."
The others just sighed. "You're probably right, but it's still frustrating to be ignored by some boys just because we have no tits yet," Daphne said.
"If that's all they are interested in, they should be of no interest to you," Hermione stated firmly. She then decided to turn to another subject. "Does any of you practice Occlumeny?"
Daphne answered, "Of course," at the same time that Hannah asked, "Why should we?"
Hermione chose to answer Hannah's question first. "I've noticed that the headmaster tried to read several students' minds. I'm not sure this is legal, although he may claim that he needs to do this for the safety of the students. I believe he tries this with every student he calls to his office."
"He didn't call me," Hannah said.
"He didn't call me either, yet I wonder how you and Harry, growing away from the magical world, even know about such things," Daphne stated. It wasn't exactly a question, but she clearly wanted some explanations.
Hermione wasn't sure she wanted to give those explanations. "I think you should ask Harry," she finally said.
Daphne didn't hesitate. "Come!" she said to the other girls as she marched purposefully to the other corner, where Harry, Neville, and Susan were still talking. "Potter, how come you know about Occlumency despite being raised by muggles?"
Harry looked surprised. It was not so much of the question as of the way it was asked by a Slytherin. They were never known to go straight to the point. He thought for a moment and then said, "I'll need your promise to keep this secret before I can tell you."
"I'll give you better than that," Daphne said, raising her wand. "I, Daphne Aurora Greengrass, swear on my magic to never disclose any secret divulged to me by Lord Potter unless he gives me his explicit permission to do so." A brief flash appeared around her wand, signifying the acceptance of the oath.
"Your promise would have been enough," Harry told her.
Daphne smiled nervously. "I know that most Gryffindor students don't trust any Slytherin. I wanted to assure you as much as possible that you can trust me. I understand that Hermione and Neville already know."
Harry smiled. "In a way, you act more like a Gryffindor than a Slytherin, you know."
"Well, the hat considered Gryffindor and Ravenclaw before deciding on Slytherin. Now tell!"
He smiled again. In a way, she was like Hermione – eager to know everything, and probably just as smart. "When I was about seven, I found that I could easily find books on whatever I was looking for. After a while, I found out these were coming from Potter Manor, where I've not yet visited. Later, I found that Dumbledore had done some things against my parents' expressed will. This made me study some ways to protect myself when I come to Hogwarts, and one of them was mind shields. As Hermione was my best friend by then, I made sure she did the same. After Dumbledore tried to scan my mind, I decided to help Neville build similar defences, and I'll help you all as well, if you want to."
"I already have some shields, although I'm not sure if they can stop the headmaster," Daphne said.
"Auntie made me study this as well. She tested my shields and said they are quite good for my age," Susan admitted.
Hannah shrugged. "I've never tried to. I was barely aware of mind shields until today. I still don't know why you want them."
"Let me tell you why. Every one of you may have some information which is either very private or potentially dangerous in the wrong hands. Do you want anybody to see the memory of you looking at the mirror after your shower, before putting any clothes on? Do you know a hidden emergency passage at your home or the code to the safe box in the study? Such information, if revealed to the wrong person, may cause you harm in one way or another. You may prevent this by protecting your mind from intrusion."
"Can you check our shields?" Daphne asked.
Harry shifted uncomfortably. "I had to learn some Legilimency for that. I'm not an experienced Legilimens, so I may miss something, but if you can stand my probing, you can probably stand most any attack. Do you want me to check yours?"
"Yes, please."
"Well, make sure to raise them and tell me when you're ready."
Daphne concentrated for a moment. "Now."
After a moment she frowned. "Don't you take your wand or something. I told you I'm ready."
"I don't need a wand, and your protection is not bad, but it still has some holes. That chocolate muffin you ate yesterday seemed delicious."
Daphne blushed. She wasn't sure what else he found in her mind, but she was not going to ask. It could only embarrass her some more.
Susan stepped forward. "I'm ready. Check me now!"
Harry smiled. "A bit stronger than Daphne's but too many holes. I like your new swimsuit, though."
Now Susan blushed too.
Harry turned serious. "I can help you reach the same level as Neville, and having heard my story, it looks like I should do it as soon as possible. How long do we have?" The question was directed at Neville.
"An hour until lunch and two more hours after it, before they are expected home," Neville answered.
"I think you can master it before going home. You still need to practice, though."
The rest of the girls' visit was spent on teaching and learning Occlumency. Harry was eventually satisfied that his new friends were able to protect their minds. He didn't want any of his abilities to leak to Dumbledore.
"You said Dumbledore disregarded your parents' will. What did he do?" Neville asked him after the girls left.
"They had a list of possible guardians for me and they explicitly forbade putting me with my aunt. You already know what he did."
"It wasn't so bad, it seems."
Harry grimaced. "It is alright now, but it used to be quite bad until I was six or seven. Even my aunt admitted it was a bad idea."
He then remembered another statement. "They also said that their secret keeper was Peter and not Sirius. I tried finding out about them but nobody would tell me or my aunt anything before I went to Hogwarts."
"We should ask my Gran. I'm sure she knows."
Lady Augusta was quite surprised when Harry repeated his story. "Are you sure? The story I've heard is that Sirius was the secret keeper, betraying your parents and that he killed Peter and some muggles before being caught. I believe he was sent to Azkaban."
"He was not the secret keeper, my parents' will is very clear about that. I don't know about the rest of the accusations, yet if it was Peter who betrayed my parents, then maybe Sirius acted out of revenge?"
The old lady seemed quite upset. "I'll have to check the records. It should have all come out during his trial, I believe, although I don't remember much of that period. I had some pressing personal problems at the time and they kept me occupied." She thought a bit longer. "I'll check it for you after the holidays and see what I can do."
\/\/\/
The next day was quite dreary. They spent most of it just talking and playing in the greenhouse, where it was warmest, but Hermione couldn't refrain from spending some time in the library as well, and Neville left her and Harry alone there, stating he needed to take care of some plants. When they left Longbottom Manor, late Sunday evening, they were all glad for the visit and hoped to spend some more time that way.