49-London Tours

The first group to visit Muggle London with the Grangers included the Muggle Studies professor (of course), the astronomy professor, the headmaster, and his deputy. They all met at Grimmauld Place 12, where Sirius was waiting for them along with the Grangers.

Mr. Granger took a look at them and sighed. "Even before leaving the house, we have to change your clothing to not stand out in the crowds."

Mrs. Granger advised the women while Mr. Granger handled the men. Even Sirius, who thought he could blend nicely, had to do some changes.

The headmaster was quite sure that he had it right, until Mr. Granger started inspecting his clothing. He was surprised to find that the set of clothes acquired only forty years earlier was totally out of style. Mr. Granger explained. "While men fashions don't change as quickly as women's fashion, it still changes. Your clothes may still seem appropriate at a royal reception, where most men are expected to be very conservatively dressed, it would look out of place almost anywhere else. Some may even find it ridiculous."

Luckily, the Grangers anticipated the problem (well, mostly Hermione,) and had some fashion magazines for both genders ready, along with some pictures of how the average Londoners dressed. These helped the magical people to adjust their clothing and make it acceptable.

After finishing with the clothing, Mr. Granger explained about the rest of their plan. "We shall walk from here to the Underground station. It's basically a train that runs in tunnels under the city, so that neither buildings not roads pose any obstacle. Since it is deep under the city, we need to go down either by lift, usually reserved only for invalids or people who have problems riding the moving stairs, which are the common means of going down. Just make sure to stay stable when you step on or off the stairs. Once we arrive, I'll buy us tickets and we'll show you how to use them to go in and out. We shall then wait for the next train and ride it for a few stops to the shopping area we have in mind. If you don't understand something, ask me, my wife or Sirius, but please refrain from commenting loudly. It may attract attention that you don't want."

He then took a deep breath. "Please don't expect to learn everything during this relatively short visit. It's mainly intended for you to get acquainted with the muggle world. You'll need much longer to really understand. Even tourists from other places need a day or two to get accustomed to our way of life, that differs from other countries and even differs slightly from place to place, even if you only consider the large cities."

The Grangers led the group by foot to the Underground, where they rode to a station near one of the shopping areas. They visited a large bookshop, some for electronics, and a computer shop, checked some mobile phones, and did some clothes shopping, eventually ending with a visit to the cinema and a fast-food dinner. They returned to Grimmauld place by taxi and spent another hour discussing their experiences before apparating back to Hogwarts. Sirius took the Grangers home by a side-along apparition, the way he had brought them to his place much earlier.

\/\/\/

Hermione considered it a success, although it took the participants more than two days to come to terms with the experience. Even Sirius, who used to spend some time in muggle London, found that his knowledge was partial and inexact. The others seemed to feel quite overwhelmed.

Dumbledore asked to talk with the Potters a few days later.

"It looks like we've missed a lot about the Muggle World. We need to redesign our Muggle studies from scratch, so it seems, and we also need a serious update to our Astronomy classes." He then smiled at the teens. "Knowing you, I assume you already thought about this. Care to share?"

"While astronomy has advanced quite a bit, I don't think we need to change much about it, except for buying some more advanced telescopes," Harry said. "While muggle discoveries explain quite a lot about our solar system, at least, I'm not sure it changes much about the magical aspects of astronomy. It may be more important for those who intend to study it farther and gain mastery. That would mean nothing if they stay oblivious to the things muggle astronomers find. I also think that buying some modern astronomy books for the library would help. Maybe even subscribe to a few periodicals on the subject."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement. Harry's words were very logical.

Hermione took over. "As for Muggle Studies, I think we need someone who knows the muggle world well to be a teacher. No pureblood will do and most half-bloods won't do either. It must be either a muggle, a squib who lives like a muggle or a muggle-born who stays mostly in the muggle world. Anybody who lives mainly in the magical world may not be good enough for that. Once we find an appropriate teacher, we must let him or her define the curriculum, with our supervision."

"I also think that we should add some science and Math classes," Harry said. "Our graduates lack basic knowledge in these subjects, which makes them unsuitable for life in the muggle world. We can add them as electives for the remainder of the school year and make them mandatory the next one."

After visiting the electronics, computers, and telephone stores, Dumbledore knew this for a fact. Some of the explanations, that sounded like they were intended for young children, were still too complex for him to understand. He suspected it was due to his lack of any scientific knowledge and very rudimentary abilities at math.

"I'm not sure I can find the budget for these additional expenses," he said cautiously.

Harry shrugged. "We can finance the changes for the remainder of the school year. The next budget would have to account for these changes. Besides, with no Board of Governors to take money, it may prove sufficient."

They didn't need to fire the Muggle Studies professor. She gave her resignation a few days after the visit to London, stating that "I can't teach if I don't know enough to start with. I intend to spend the next few years in the Muggle World before contemplating teaching again."

\/\/\/

Although they found an appropriate teacher for Muggle Studies, he didn't start teaching until after the winter vacation. Until then, he submitted his curriculum to reviews by the owners, who suggested several changes, and then the headmaster, who approved it. Other preparations were the planning on anew classroom, more appropriate for the subject. He then supervised the building and furnishing the new Muggle Studies classroom in a new building, erected on the edge of the Hogwarts property, as far from the concentration of magic as possible. The new building or "annex" as officially called, used no magic, having been built by muggle means only. Inside, it was like a modern Muggle house, with a classroom tucked in the middle. The only thing that worked on magic, although it was in a shed outside the building, was the electricity generator. Instead of using fuel and a motor to turn it, it was turned by permanent runes that fed on ambient magic. Hermione still frowned at it but considered it a concession she could accept, if only barely.

\/\/\/

A week after the first tour, the Grangers escorted several more teachers. Flitwick needed to use a few charms to look like a normal size man but enjoyed the visit very much. Unfortunately, Hagrid couldn't be shrunk to fit. He didn't mind it, though. He knew he couldn't fit too well in either world and felt content enough where he was, only seeking more knowledge about magical beasts.

Trelawney was a different ballgame. London was just too much for her. She just couldn't stand the sensory overload, fainting several times until she used a hidden corner in the bookshop to apparate back.

The Grangers gave Madam Pomfrey a very special treat. They invited her to come alone and took her, in addition to the other places, to a modern medical clinic, where Mr. Granger presented her as 'a visiting nurse who spent many years working with only minimal equipment'. The owner, an acquaintance of the dentist couples, was proud to show her all the modern equipment in his clinic and explain how it worked. Poppy was deeply impressed by the ingenuity and innovation in many of the instruments. Although Magic gave her an edge in many cases, she knew of no spells that could replicate some of the functions of these instruments. Just before they called it a day, the Grangers also took her to their dental clinic and explained about it. While most of it was irrelevant to magical people, it still impressed her and gave her a few ideas about better diagnostics of mouth and head problems.

\/\/\/

Trelawney asked to speak to the Potters a few weeks later. "I've spent a lot of my free time trying to find a way to teach what you've asked me for. I tried to find as many old prophecies as I could, ones that had already been fulfilled. I'm sorry to say that it looks like there's no way to find the right interpretation, except in hindsight. Even a few that seemed to have only one interpretation eventually turned to have a completely different one. I think I now understand it better. You see, a prophecy is not really telling about events that will happen or may happen. I think it's more like a warning or a call for attention. It's like turning the lights so you can better see a problem, but it's not telling you how or when to solve it or anything more particular." She sighed. "A seer doesn't really do much. A seer is merely a tool for Magic to send us cryptic warning and vague hints. We're not supposed to interpret the prophecy. We should interpret the events preceding and following it and try to understand what went wrong or may soon get wrong and try to fix it." Her face turned sombre. "I'm not sure that's something that can be taught. I certainly can't"

Neither Harry nor Hermione felt like Divination was something that needed to be taught, especially after their previous conversations with Trelawney. They had no problem accepting her resignation. Dumbledore didn't feel the same.

"Divination is quite important, the way I see it. I believe you should take it as one of your electives next year," he insisted.

"Did you take it when you were a student?" Hermione asked him.

Dumbledore sighed. "No. I'm sorry that I didn't see its importance then."

"It doesn't look like missing those lessons stopped you from achieving anything. "You've accomplished quite a lot, as far as we know," Harry said.

"Besides, Professor Trelawney told us that there was no use in learning that, in one of her honest moments. If one has the talent, learning won't help, and if one doesn't – it can't be taught. We asked her if she could teach how to interpret prophecies, based on ones that came to pass. She checked it and found out that there was no way to find which interpretation is right until after the prophecy is fulfilled. In that case, why waste pupils' time and school's money on something completely useless?"

The headmaster found it very difficult to contradict the teens. He felt that they too young to be told about the prophecy concerning Harry. Actually, based on what they said, he would be hard-pressed to convince them that it really referred to Harry, no matter what he personally believed. And then, they didn't seem to trust Trelawney very much, not that he could blame them. If he told them that she was the one to give the prophecy, they would dismiss it as a fraud. At the back of his mind, he had his own doubts about the authenticity of that prophecy, but they didn't really matter. What mattered was that it leaked to Voldemort (and he conveniently 'forgot' his part at letting it leak that way,) and the Dark Lord was adamant to prevent it from happening, practically making it a self-fulfilling prophecy. Yet he couldn't tell them this either, he believed.

He sighed deeply. "Well, if that's the way you feel, I can only regret I can't change your mind. You're the owners, after all, so I'll accept your decision."