No-one else had cared when Hermione Granger mysteriously disappeared at the end of primary school. To all outward appearances, Robert hadn’t cared either; it would have meant the end of all his friendships if he’d admitted to liking a nerd.

Yet there was something... unforgettable about her, he supposed. Despite the passing of more than ten years since he’d last seen her, he couldn’t chase her from his thoughts. In primary school he had nurtured nothing more than a secret crush for her. Yes, he had thought she was cute, but that was it.

It was after her disappearance that she dwelled more often in his thoughts – perhaps it was the mystery that now entangled her. In fact, during his second year of high school these thoughts had neared obsession. He had often told his parents he was studying at school and instead caught a bus to Granger Dentistry and snuck around for a sight of her. Her parents were still there, working as they always had, but he never saw any sign of her.

Over his high school years he had dated a few girls, but there had always been some sort of problem. Her hair wasn’t bushy enough, her eyes not brown enough, her hand not quick enough to fly up in class when a question was asked, her manner not bossy enough when it came to rules... what it all boiled down to was that none of the girls had been Hermione Granger.

As the train came to a halt and an automated voice announced his stop, Robert was thrown out of his thoughts. It harshly reminded him that he was on his way to meet his girlfriend, and thoughts of Hermione Granger were thrown out of his mind. His relationship with Mandy was going steadily, completely different to anything else he’d experienced, and he would not let a silly school obsession with a girl he didn’t even know get in the way.

He arrived at her apartment and sat down as she made them both a coffee.

“Here you go, Rob.�

“Thanks.� He smiled at her. Mandy Brocklehurst really was his perfect woman. Intelligent, yet not obnoxiously so, enthusiastic about, well, everything, spontaneous, laid back, great to talk to... and stunning as well. Her blonde locks curled gently and bounced whenever she was excited about something, her blue eyes usually sparkled with confidence... which, he suddenly realised, they were not now. In fact, Mandy was stuttering, her eyes nervous.

“... I’m sorry I kept it a secret for so long... but I really couldn’t tell you... the thing is, Rob, I’m a witch. I can do magic.�

He looked at her blankly.

Her eyes were pleading with him. “Well... it’s a long story... but I have a wand and I can do all sorts of spells... I went to a magic school...� she continued to babble. He was hardly able to pay attention as she explained about some school called Hogwarts, about the Ministry of Magic, about friends she had from this school, about all the different types of magic she could do.

Suffice it to say that he was completely bewildered.

“W-would you like to see some? Some magic, I mean?�

“Oh, umm, ok.�

She pulled out a finely carved stick and waved it gently in the air. Suddenly her cup of coffee was floating in mid air. She demonstrated a few other things, but his head was spinning too much too notice.

He looked back at Mandy, who had now finished performing magic. She was crying.

“Is-is everything okay between us, Rob? You know I wanted to tell you, please believe me, I really did, but the Statue of Secrecy...�

“Yeah. Everything’s okay.� He couldn’t think of anything else to say. After all, he wasn’t about to profess his undying love for her grandly or something... it was just too much to take in. He always needed time to think things through, he wasn’t spontaneous like...

Like Mandy.

And suddenly Robert didn’t care. He dashed around the table and pressed his lips to hers. What did it matter that she could do magic? She was still Mandy.

And he still loved her.

They spent the remainder of the afternoon talking. Truth be told, by the end Rob felt like his head might explode, and he couldn’t deny it, whenever she flicked her wand to perform some menial task it still unnerved him.

“... so that’s all the people in my house, Ravenclaw, but there’s still three other houses, Hufflepuff, Gry –�

“Sorry, Mandy, I’ve really got to go home now, Mum’s visiting... you’ll have to tell me about... Hifflepoff, was it, some other time.�

“Oh okay. Oh just before you leave, I almost forgot! Tomorrow night I’m going to a sort of five year reunion of my Hogwarts year, would you like to come? You can see that just ‘cos we do magic doesn’t make us all cracked,� she added with a lopsided smile.

He slid his mobile phone out of his pocket and checked his calendar briefly before affirming that he could go.

“You know, I’ve got so used to having this mobile phone... I do sometimes wonder how wizards get on without them,� she mused.

“You don’t use mobile phones?� he asked, startled enough to forget his urgent rush home.

“No, we use owls or Patronuses instead.�

“Wha –? You use owls? How?�

“Don’t look so flabbergasted. It doesn’t suit your face. And remember you have to see your Mum? I’ll tell you next time, ‘kay?�

“Right, I’ll come over here tomorrow night?�

“Til then.�

~

Rob had to give it to them, despite what Mandy had told him about their old-fashioned ways, wizards did know how to throw a party. The music, though all written by wizards, was catchy and easy to dance to and everyone was dressed in a normal smart casual fashion, not robes, which Mandy said were their usual attire.

Right now he was it in the process of meeting Mandy’s closest friends: a big-eyed brunette named Lisa Turpin, a quiet boy whose manner exuded intelligence called Stephen Cornfoot, a bubbly small Chinese girl named Su Li who stood next to her taller and less talkative boyfriend, Kevin Entwhistle. He was trying to be involved in the conversation but he couldn’t really understand half of what was going on and was sick of asking Mandy to explain things every few seconds.

Just as he was about to ask Mandy to dance (about the only thing he could do in this room without being thoroughly confused), a witch moved to the front of the room and immediately the music was toned down. She prodded her neck with her wand and announced dinner as loudly as though she was speaking through a microphone. Rob was once again flabbergasted as two long tables appeared in the dance floor. No-one else in the room seemed to find this at all strange and Mandy had already grabbed his hand and was dragging him to a seat at one table. Kevin and Su had followed them and Rob soon found himself sitting down opposite a witch with flaming red hair whose chair had been pulled out for her by a black-haired man. A girl on the other side of the red-haired one immediately began conversation.

“It’s so good to see everyone... I can’t believe it’s five years since we left Hogwarts! The time really has flown... oh so sorry, I’m forgetting my manners, since we never had classes with you I don’t think I’ve ever introduced myself. I’m –�

“We all know who you are,� Su smiled and the other girl blushed bright red. Rob was once again perplexed, but no-one stopped to explain.

“So you guys are Su, Kevin, Mandy and...? Have I seen you before?� she asked him, having quickly regained her composure.

“My boyfriend, Rob,� Mandy supplemented.

“Pleased to meet you,� the girl smiled.

“Why do you know all their names when you’ve never had a conversation with them?� the redheaded wizard sitting on her right asked.

“It’s called manners, Ronald,� she replied in a tone that was strangely familiar to Rob, “and if you possessed any yourself, you would –�

“Okay, okay, spare me the lecture. Let’s just say your brilliant and you just know everything.�

The witch in front of Rob sniggered. “She’s got you so whipped, Ron.�

“Shut up Ginny. You can do the same to Harry.� At this remark, the witch called Ginny smirked at the black-haired man, presumably Harry.

By this stage Rob was completely confused. Considering Su’s earlier statement, it seemed the four people sitting opposite him were famous in the wizarding world, yet no-one spared a moment to explain to him who they were.

“So, Rob, which school did you go to? I have this bizarre feeling I’ve met you before, but I can’t think where. Perhaps you went to Beauxbatons?�

“No, Rob’s a Muggle,� Mandy said before Rob had a chance to ask what the hell Beauxbatons was.

“Well that’s fantastic! I’m so glad people are taking up the idea of tolerance between wizards and Muggles–�

“Hermione, he doesn’t need that lecture right now. From the look of complete bamboozlement on Rob’s face, I’d say he hasn’t met too many wizards before and is feeling quite confused.� His feeling of bamboozlement, as Ginny put it, had increased tenfold when he heard the name Hermione, and suddenly he understood why she looked so familiar.

He was sitting opposite Hermione Granger.

“Bamboozlement? What kind of word is that, Ginny?�

“One that aptly describes the look on your face most of the time, Ron. Anyway, Rob, it seems we haven’t introduced ourselves. I’m Ginny Potter, and this is my husband Harry. Over there is my idiotic brother Ron and his fiancée Hermione. And, well, the three of them are quite famous in the wizarding world... because they pretty much saved us all from a crazy murdering lunatic psychopath.�

“Now Ginny, you know we had loads of help, it wasn’t as simple as that...�

“Are you ever going to take credit for what you actually did?�

“Sorry guys, we’ve been awfully rude just talking about ourselves... so what sorts of jobs do you do?� Hermione asked, swiftly interrupting what could become an argument between Harry and Ginny.

A comfortable conversation ensued. In fact, Rob really found he enjoyed these people. They were willing to share about their own lives in a way that people rarely seemed to. He had a long conversation with Harry about mobile phones and heard briefly about his and Ginny’s wedding. The one time he asked about how they had saved the wizarding world, however, a shadow flitted through Harry’s eyes and he immediately asked another question.

Harry had smiled knowingly when Rob nearly shot through the roof as food magically appeared on his plate.

“I know what it’s like... I didn’t know about magic ‘til I was eleven. Occasionally it still takes me by surprise...�

This was not a comforting thought. If Harry had known about magic for more than ten years and still didn’t know everything about it, what chance did Rob have in just over twenty-four hours?

As quickly as they had appeared, the tables suddenly vanished and the music picked up tempo for more dancing. Rob suddenly found himself saying a hurried good-bye to these people who had so freely opened up their lives to him, a total stranger.

This was swept from his mind as he danced energetically with Mandy and met more of her classmates. The time ticked by well past midnight, and finally around one in the morning the group seemed ready to disperse.

Rob was grabbing one last round of a delicious wizarding drink called Butterbeer (he’d definitely have to come to more wizard parties for that!) for Mandy and her friends when he ran into Hermione Granger again. He nodded at her and made to hurry away, eager to avoid an awkward situation.

“Wait! I remember who you are! You’re Robert Henson, we went to primary school together!�

“Yeah, that’s me, and you’re Hermione Granger.�

“You remember me?�

Rob was thankful that the sporadic disco lighting hid the blush creeping up his cheeks.

“Well... sort of.�

“Oh well anyway, I wanted to thank you for talking to Harry so much... it means a lot to him. People in our world, well, they only care about his heroism. They don’t give a damn about him. They don’t know what he went through... what we all went through...� her eyes glazed over, and Rob knew she was far away from him now.

“I don’t know what I’d do without him. Ron, I mean. He acts like a git half the time, but underneath there’s just this amazing person. I really don’t know where I’d be without him.�

Her eyes were becoming red and puffy and her make-up streaked down her face.

“Oh!� she exclaimed, suddenly realising what she’d just said. “I’m so sorry for just blabbing like that... it’s just, well, somehow maybe you’d understand better, because you don’t know what happened.�

“It’s okay, you don’t need to get so flustered.� She blushed.

“Well you and Mandy will have to come around some time, and we can tell you the whole story. Only if you’d like, of course.�

“We’d love to.�

~

Rob turned in his pew, following everyone else’s motions, to catch a glimpse of the bride as she entered through the grand doors. Her hair was elegantly piled on her head, not at all resembling its usual bushy self, and her white strapless bodice fitted her frame perfectly and fanned out elegantly into a train. She was followed down the aisle by two gorgeous girls clad in a deep green which miraculously suited both the redhead and the blonde. The redhead was obviously Ginny Potter, and the blonde a strange girl named Luna, whom Rob had only met once.

Gradually they made their way down the aisle, towards a smiling Ron who was surrounded by Harry and his brother George. Looking up at Ron’s broad grin, Rob remembered a conversation months ago which had cleared him of any confusion he felt about Hermione. After all, becoming friends with the girl who had occupied his thoughts for more than half his life hadn’t been easy for him...

Hermione had been running around doing about five things at once for the wedding, which she was determined would be in “traditional Muggle style�. Ron had been looking more and more tired and annoyed at all the planning, and Hermione, ever perceptive, had slowly asked him if he minded all her planning.

“Look, Hermione, if it’s what you want, that’s fine. I don’t care if we get married right now here in the Burrow or at your elaborate ceremony, I just want to marry you and I want you to be happy, okay?� he had replied. Hermione had never looked happier.

And in this small mundane moment, Rob had finally got it: even in a world where neither Ron nor Mandy existed, he and Hermione could never be together because they were just too similar. They would stress each other into oblivion. They could understand each other, perhaps, and be friends, but nothing more. Ron was just perfect for Hermione, he could see it now whenever they smiled at each other. And Mandy, she was just perfect for him.

So as Hermione and Ron finally became RonandHermione, Rob understood that he would never think of Hermione as more than a friend again. And why would he, when Mandy was sitting next to him dressed in an irresistible mauve number and that gorgeous smile of her, which meant everything to him?