The Granger Interview

Editor's note: I've occasionally toyed with the idea of what might have happened if the Harry Potter universe was real, or at least part of an alternate history.  I made some notes on the subject, but while I had put them aside for a bit, Jim wrote this, which I came across and has kindly let me reproduce it.  Defiantly ASB material.  

While the world tries to adjust to the stunning revelation that the Harry Potter books were actually not fiction at all, but the story of real events, there is now a tremendous demand to know more about the wizarding world. At the same time, large segments of the public still deny the existence of a whole parallel world to our own, "Muggle", world, and still others are saying that the magical world has been dominating and manipulating the fate of the world for centuries.

As anyone who has been on Earth lately knows, the Harry Potter books are the greatest phenomenon in publishing history. The proof these books were fact, not fiction, has reignited what seems to be an insatiable curiosity about anything to do with the magical world. Search parties are roaming the streets of London tapping every brick over every dustbin, looking for Diagon Alley; hiking expeditions crisscross the north of England and Scotland looking for Hogwarts Castle . None of it succeeds.

It hasn´t all been in vain. A few of the principals have made themselves known. The most prominent has been Hermione Granger, Harry´s close friend and one of the heroes of the war against the evil Lord Voldemort, so feared in the wizarding world he is usually referred to as "He Who Must Not Be Named", or "You Know Who". Miss Granger agreed to meet with our editors for an extended interview. These are excerpts from that interview.

Hermione Granger doesn´t make an impression the first few seconds you meet her; but in a few moments it becomes clear she´s not average. Confident without being cocky, serious, obviously highly intelligent, Miss Granger clearly took this interview seriously. She is attractive without being a knockout, with the kind of looks that you know will age gracefully someday. No one meeting her would guess that she is only eighteen years old. Dressed in a simple, tasteful "Muggle" suit, she met our editors over lunch in our offices.

Editors: Thank you for agreeing to talk to us, Miss Granger. Perhaps we should start with the question everyone wants to ask: How is Harry Potter?

Hermione Granger: Harry is all right, or at least as all right as he can be right now. I mean, he´s physically OK, and his spirits are good. He needs time to get over the ordeal he´s been through. Only us that know him can believe he got through it at all.

Ed: So what is he doing now? Where is he living?

HG: That I can´t tell you. Harry needs to be alone, he needs to be left alone, he´s got to heal. He was sick of fame long before now, and he couldn´t bear celebrating right now and thinking of all the friends he lost. The pain would be too much, don´t you see? It´s a great victory for both our societies, the magical and non-magical, but Harry paid too much of the price for it. He protected all of us and we´re going to protect him.

Ed: You´re very passionate about it, aren´t you?

HG: Of course! He had his youth taken away from him! He lost a friend when he was fourteen, and he lost a lot more since then! Sometimes I look at his face and he looks like he´s staring a thousand miles away. I don´t even know what he´s seeing sometimes, because he won´t even tell me. Please, can we talk about something else?

Ed: We understand. Can you tell us, then, why the wizard world chose to reveal itself now?

HG: The wizard world didn´t choose it, actually. The final battle against the Dark Lord was so huge, and so much happened, it couldn´t be hidden anymore. And when it was over, some wizards just couldn´t keep it to themselves. It was our greatest day, you see. I remember watching documentaries of the end of World War II at my parents´ house. It was even more than that for us. So the secret slipped at last. A lot of us wish it hadn´t.

Ed: Why not? Won´t it make life easier if you don´t have to hide?

HG: I doubt it. Already the bigots and the narrow minded fools this world is filled with are going around saying it was the wizards to blame for everything bad that happened in the world. They see us as a secret force running the world for our own benefit. They´ve just transferred their hate from one group to another, haven´t they? Next thing you know they´ll be saying we sacrifice Muggle babies for spells. It´s all gone on before. It´s what drove us into hiding in the first place.

Ed: How about your life? What about your own fame? You were there, you were part of it, weren´t you? Harry Potter might not have succeeded without you. What´s life going to be like for you?

HG: I really don´t want it, fame, I mean. I want to study more and I want to make the world better. I want to do more for all the magical creatures, get them better treatment. And I want to heal myself, too.

Ed: Is that possible, though? Can you get away from fame?

HG: In this world? For a witch like me, yes. There are spells - not spells that make us invisible, or make us look like someone else, not like Polyjuice Potion, which is a quite a job to make! No. There are spells, though, that just mean people who see us don´t notice our faces that well. People can see us, they can talk to us, but we´re that face you just can´t quite remember. My face has never been that public anyway. So I can at least walk down the street or get a cup of coffee.

Ed: So why did you make yourself public at all? We´ve read in the books that memories can be modified. Why didn´t all of you just do that?

HG: I believe the world - the whole world, I mean, not just the magical one - needs to understand what happened. The world was saved! It would have been destroyed by pure evil if it hadn´t been for Harry. Harry and others, of course, but if Harry had failed at the last, it would have ended for all of us. As for modifying memories, magic has its limits. There aren´t enough of us to modify everyone´s memory, and we would have had to tear such a hole out of time it would have been worse than the truth. So here we are.

Ed: So how did the books come to be written? And how did you select your author?

HG: I didn´t select the author, you know. Our biographer, who has a lot of magic friends, wanted to tell this story. She wanted young people to know about growing up different, and special. And she wanted them to know about good and evil, and how life isn´t simple, in a way they could relate to, and she thought a story like this was a great way to do it. She was right, wasn´t she?

Ed: Are the books accurate? I mean, did all those events and conversations really take place?

HG: She talked with all of us a long time, sometimes while these events were going on. Everything in those books, and the ones you haven´t seen yet, happened. All the conversations, even if they aren´t word-for-word, are true. She checked everything carefully. She even came to Hogwarts to research, and I don´t think a non-magical person was ever allowed to do that before! We didn´t think we could ever get her out! You should have seen her dancing with Professor Dumbledore!

Ed: Why hasn´t the whole story been released, then? Why are these books coming along only every year or so?

HG: I think it´s because she wants young people to think about these stories and learn the lessons of them. I think she wants her readers to grow up with these books, not read them all in a week or two and go on to the next craze. She´s serious about this.

Ed: And you won´t tell us what happened, either.

HG: That´s right. I promised only to talk about the things that have been revealed in the books so far. It´s hard, but I agree with our biographer that this history will have all the more effect if we take our time telling it.

Ed: But you´re writing a book yourself, aren´t you?

HG: Yes, but mine is going to be sort of an "official" history in several volumes, like all those Army histories about the World War you see in the British Museum. I hope that wizards and witches can use it for advanced studies in the history of wizardry and the defense against the dark arts. I´m getting support from both Hogwarts and Beauxbatons to give me the time to do it. I´ve thought about calling the set of volumes "Harry´s War: The Rebirth of the Dark Lord".

Ed: What else are you doing? Are you still an activist for house-elf rights?

HG: Yes, I am. People need a permission from the Ministry of Magic to employ house-elves now, and they can´t beat, kick or starve them anymore. The Department for the Regulation of Magical Creatures now is concerned with the house-elf´s welfare. They inspect now. I´m proud that I helped Professor Snape develop the truth potion that induces house-elves to reveal if they´ve been mistreated. They´d never say otherwise. I´m concerned with other magical creatures now, also. There is a lot more to be done.

Ed: You know these books have been controversial. Religious groups have objections to them because they promote what they consider "witchcraft" or "the occult".

HG: What rubbish. I suppose it goes back to what we were talking about before, about bigotry and prejudice. We don´t even use the word "witchcraft" in the wizarding world. What the Muggle world calls witchcraft is like trying to figure out something you´re looking at through a very dirty window. You can´t make it out, but you try. So some of the Muggle `witches´ are using half-formed bits of unrefined magic. As for religion, we have people of all faiths at Hogwarts. Some of the students are more religious, some less, pretty much like everybody else. Because magic isn´t a religion! It´s a talent and an art and a skill!

Ed: Can we return to your friendship with Harry for a moment? What was it that made you and Ron Weasley and Harry such a good team?

HG: We really compliment each other very well. I helped Harry think things out and helped him prepare himself when he needed it. I like to study, to research. Harry, though - he´s the man of action, isn´t he? He just knows what to do, and he does it, just by instinct or something. He stabbed that diary and destroyed the memory of Tom Riddle without even thinking about it. I never could have done it, I would have needed four books and two hours to come up with a strategy. And Ron? Ron is Harry´s bedrock. No one has ever had a more loyal and brave friend. Ron would wrestle Fang bare handed for Harry. That´s really special.

Ed: We suspect you really don´t want us to ask this, but we just can´t do this interview without asking: What about you and Harry? Is there romance? Millions of people want to know that answer.

HG: I guess I couldn´t expect to get through this without it, I suppose. I´ve never been closer to anyone than I am to Harry, but we´re not a couple. I don´t know why. Maybe it was because we always had a mission together, something outside ourselves driving us. We never had the time. And Harry lost so many friends and went through so much I think he might be afraid to have something more to lose. I´m not sure... I really don´t... I...

Ed: Would you like a minute or two, Miss Granger? We won´t use this, of course...

HG: No. Leave it in. I´ve got to say it. Yes, I love him, I know I do, but I don´t know in what way I love him. I don´t know if Harry will ever have anyone. He´s so alone. He never took anything for himself. He´s given up too much. Heroes pay a price, don´t they? It isn´t like the movies.

Ed: Miss Granger, we couldn´t end it better than that.

HG: Thank you.