"Dumbledore stole that money, it's account fraud," he explained. "They're only waiting for us to make our case before they put the money back and collect on the debts. So I haven't paid for anything; if anything, I'm hurting Hogwarts with this. It's the only place I've ever had friends, the only place that's felt like home."
And as quickly as that all memory of the embarrassment from before was gone and Hermione was hugging him again. He didn't deserve those hugs or how good they made him feel. He did enjoy them though and as he buried his face in her hair and returned it she clung on like she was never going to let him go.
"Maybe Hogwarts deserves to be hurt a little, Harry," she said, finally pulling away from him.
"What do you mean?" he asked curiously. Hermione wanting to hurt Hogwarts was about as unthinkable as - well, as her exploding all over Professor McGonagall.
"Dumbledore's been in charge of Hogwarts for more than a generation," Hermione explained, "and the school - the entire wizarding world - has never once doubted his word on anything. You can't put someone in that kind of position and expect them never to take advantage of you, to never abuse that trust. He did, and that will teach all of them to be more skeptical in the future."
"I suppose," Harry said, knowing what Hermione said made sense. He still didn't like being the source of the problem though. 'You're not, ' he thought to himself, 'Dumbledore is. All you're doing is telling them about it. They can't get mad at that. '
"You're not worried the goblins will go after the students, are you?" she asked, looking like she was dancing on a knife's edge.
Harry thought for a moment. Barchoke said they weren't interested in going after Hagrid and if all of the students were as hard pressed as the Weasleys then everything he'd learned told him-
"No," he said finally. "They wouldn't go after people who couldn't pay. It'd be the school they'd go after."
"And Hogwarts would have more than enough money to pay what they owe," Hermione explained, calmly centered again. "It's over a thousand years old and one of the richest institutions in the country," she said with all the authority of a book. "The Board of Governors may not like having to pay, but they can. And you needn't worry about the Hopeful's either," she continued as she took his hands and gave them a squeeze.
"The school promised them a full tuition and in our world that would be as binding as any contract, as long as they behave," she said. "You may not end up paying for their schooling but you're still the reason they're going. Once the truth comes out though these people will feel horrible at benefiting this way and meeting them today will let them know you don't hold it against them."
"I guess you're right," he said. It was times like these that Harry was really glad she was around to talk to. None of that would've occurred to him at all, and he actually did feel better.
"Come on," she said, pulling him towards the door. "Let's meet some of these twenty-one kids of yours - and if you mention that again they may be the only kids you ever have," she was quick to add.
As she opened the door, the first thing Hermione noticed was that the meeting room that McGonagall reserved was much brighter than either the bar area or the room she'd slept in last night. If the entire place was like this then the Leaky Cauldron would be a much warmer and welcoming establishment. It was remarkable what proper lighting and wood stain could do for the décor.
The light itself came from a large pair of multi-panel windows looking down on Diagon Alley. Even here the gleaming white bank seemed to overshadow events, which only stiffened her resolve for a no-talking-about-work day today; Harry was anxious enough as it was.
Mr. Lichfield was there of course, deep in conversation with a young red-haired rock star of a man on the far side of the room who could only be Bill Weasley - the fact he was standing by two other red-heads, one of whom was Percy, was completely incidental. Percy's girlfriend was there as well, leading her to wonder if she was there as a Hopeful, a date, or both.
There were four lumbering elephants in the room as well and they were much closer than the Weasleys were. Pansy Parkinson stood with what looked to be half the Slytherin Quidditch team. When they looked over to see who'd just come in though she had to correct herself. All were Slytherins but there were only two Quidditch players, a pair of oafish Beaters she never bothered to learn the names of and another boy who looked to be in the same mold. It looked like things were really hit-and-miss when it came to Hopeful students; she didn't know what Harry would think of this.
"Oh, this is perfect," Pansy said to the other three. "When he gets here he'll probably throw her out of school." The other three goons looked on approvingly.
Lightning-fast connections sparked through her brain and suddenly everything made sense. Hermione couldn't hide the maddeningly excited grin as she led Harry past them and through the rest of the crowd, gripping his arm harder than she intended.
"This is the best day of my life!" she whispered to him as they approached the Weasleys.
"The enchantment has some of the details of a basic protection ward scheme," Lichfield said, gesturing to a parchment in Bill's hands with a triangularly cut corned beef sandwich. "I've never seen one as complex as this though, and there's an odd consanguineous sympathy I've never dealt with before."