What an interesting little idea. I've always wondered what it would be like to find out your daughter was a witch, and this is so close to what I thought ~ it's as though you were putting into words what I wanted to say! I really like the idea that it's from Mr Granger's point of view. Despite everything, Hermione will always be 'daddys little girl' and it seems only right that he'd be talking to other muggles and proud of his daughter's achievements.

Author's Response: The idea came to me before HBP - and that's were we see Dumbledore going off to London to talk to Tom Riddle. So it does seem that parents of Muggles do get a visit from Hogwarts first. I chose Mr Granger as the narrator to try and give some expression to the feeling of bafflement a parent might experience when they're told their daughter is a witch!

This was a very interesting story. I have often wondered about how Muggle-borns found out they were "special." I really enjoyed your take on it, especially since it is from Mr. Granger's point of view. The part about Mr. Granger not wanting to sit on the new chair yet was really funny. Keep up the good work.

Author's Response: How do you tell someone their daughter is a witch? It has to happen somehow ...

This was a very fun fic to read, nice approach! This line jumped out at me, given some the magic Hermione has done in canon: "On the other hand, that reassured me a bit. The idea of having a witch for a daughter - well, what might happen if she had a temper tantrum and did something nasty? Not that Hermione is given to temper tantrums, but even so ..." Very entertaining piece!

Author's Response: That's followed up a little more in 'The Birthday Party'. And Muggle parents might get a little worried about their children's powers, might they not?

This is a really neat idea. You go into alot of detail, which is really nice. This story addresses a lot of things I hadn't even thought of when writing a similar scene in one of my stories. There were alot of interesting twists that surprised me, especially McGonagall spontaneously doing magic without warning them and showing them pictures of the school without explaining about the school beforehand. I would have expected her to say something first, but who knows. However, I really, really liked the part when she hands the wand to Hermione and makes her wave it around. The part about Hermione's parents not being able to mention Hogwarts was a neat idea, too, but I do wonder why the Dursleys wouldn't have to abide by that as well. Or perhaps it's not an issue with them since they don't want anyone to know? There was only one thing that I felt was a significant problem though. You've set up this sort of frame with three paragraphs at the beginning of the story and three paragraphs at the end of the story. If you're going to do that, you really should at least tell us where they are and why in the first paragraph. It's very confusing. Also, you may want to put either the intro/conclusion or the main text in italics. This will visually distinguish the two time frames, and make it less confusing for the reader. Like I said, it's a really good idea. I just think it would come across more clearly with a few little tweaks here and there. =)

Author's Response: I set it up that way to avoid being a simple narration. The venue is, of course, Hermione's weddng, and fathers like to reminsce at times like that. Given that he's just met a fellow Muggle, what better to talk about than when they first discovered they had magical children? Why doesn't the Muggle world know more about the magical? becuase the Muggles 'in the know' can't talk about it to other Muggles. The Dursleys already know about magic from Lily, and Harry is Lily's son, so might well be magical too. On the other hand, they never do talk to other Mugles about their 'problem'. Maybe, even when Harry has gone to Hogwarts, they genuinely believe he's at St Brutus' when they talk to other Muggles - hence Harry's reputation locally. I hope the jump isn't too abrupt. I wanted the story to flow from the openeing conversation into the anecdote, and then, when that was finished, back to the conversation. Hope it wasn't too confusing! But thanks for the comments.

Author's Response: And apologies for the typos!

Very nice, I can see how Hermione memorized 'Hogwarts, A History'. Would have been nice to see her try her hand at magic though. We know she did - "I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me." I suppose the letter was in the package McGonagall left?

Author's Response: There's a slight snag - perhaps one might call this a Flint? Restriction of Use of Magic by UnderAge Wizards .. how did she try out the spells?