Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 2: Hermione Granger and the Revenge of the Black Hand

28 June 1993
Amerigo Vespucci Airport
Florence, Italy

As the jet touched down smoothly, Hermione Granger smiled as she contemplated the wonders of Muggledom that most of her classmates could not imagine. Two and a half hours from London to Florence via Muggle conveyance! The only thing wizards had that would have been both faster and safer was an International Portkey which, according to Blaise, made most travelers violently ill in the aftermath. After two years at Hogwarts, the young witch was still continually amazed at the potential of magic, but she was still a Muggleborn at heart, and her magical knowledge only heightened her appreciation of what Muggles could achieve without such benefits. She'd mentioned to Lavender Brown that she and her parents be spending a few weeks this summer in Florence, and the other girl had actually asked how long it would take to travel by steamboat. Lavender (who was highly intelligent herself and well-versed on magical matters) had been aware of the existence of "planes" but seemed to think that Muggles were still limited to World War I era biplanes, and she was almost disbelieving when Hermione explained the entire concept of modern jets and the fact that every major city had an airport through which thousands of Muggles passed every day to travel the world.

Beside her, Dan and Emma Granger chatted amiably with each other, but there was a slight undercurrent of tension between them. The two dentists lived quite comfortably and were experienced travelers, and they had even been to Tuscany twice before, though this was the first time with their daughter in tow. However, this was the first time either of them would be staying in a magical home, and while Blaise reassured Hermione that the Countess Zabini's villa just outside Florence was "Muggle-friendly," she knew that this would be her parents' first real exposure to the lifestyle their only child had chosen to embrace. Indeed, the Grangers had already gotten an unpleasant exposure to the magical world after Hermione had spent two days the previous week in bed rather violently ill – the expected but still disagreeable side effect of drinking the Italian Language Potion. The girl was now completely fluent in Italian (with the mildly annoying exception of Italian words which did not come into usage until after 1932, the last time the potion had been updated), but her reaction to the Educational Potion was still rather alarming to the two medically-trained Muggles.

After disembarking, the Grangers made their way through customs and on to the baggage area where they quickly spotted the hulking form of Gunther Hagrid, the Countess's manservant and chauffeur, who was holding a cardboard sign that said "GRANGERS." Hermione had been somewhat surprised to learn from Blaise that Gunther was a cousin to Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts groundskeeper. Other than their unusual size and bulk, the two looked nothing alike. Though huge and imposing, Gunther was not nearly as big as his cousin, and where Hagrid was notable for his shaggy black mane of hair and his incredibly thick beard, Gunther had close-cropped red hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. Gunther never attended Hogwarts and apparently had no magic of his own, but his eyes gleamed with an intelligence and cunning that spoke of years spent learning from the School of Hard Knocks, especially when compared to the dreaminess Hermione found in the eyes of the gentle and somewhat naive half-giant.

Standing next to Gunther was her friend Blaise who smiled and waved as soon as he saw her. The boy was in casual yet stylish Muggle attire: a blue silk shirt and khaki trousers. As the Grangers drew near, he held out his arms in a welcoming gesture.

"Buongiorno! Welcome to Florence!" He then proffered his hand to Dan Granger who shook it firmly. When Emma offered hers, he took it and gave her a hand-kiss. Finally, he gave Hermione a warm hug. "If you'll come this way, we'll get your baggage and head for the car. We need to make a quick stop to register Hermione's wand with the Italian Ministry since she's underage, and then we'll head to the villa."

The ride to the Ministry offices was uneventful save for the surprise the Grangers registered when the Countess's vintage Bentley turned out to be bigger on the inside than the outside. On the way there, Blaise politely answered the Grangers' questions about magical and Muggle Florence. Though the Countess enjoyed what Muggles would describe as a jet-setting lifestyle, her villa in Tuscany was among her favorite homes and she spent a good portion of each year there. Indeed, since Blaise had started his magical education, he had spent the majority of his summers in Florence on account of Magical Italy's comparatively lax views on underage magic. Unlike Britain's blanket ban on all magic performed by minors, Italy simply placed a Charm on all wands held by minors which would prevent them from functioning at all if directly observed by any Muggles. The Italian Trace would also record all spells performed while the minor was in public. There was no danger of a Muggle directly witnessing underage magic, and any underage spells cast otherwise would be logged and evaluated to see if the spell either threatened the Statute of Secrecy or otherwise had been cast with malicious, reckless, or criminal intent.