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[He considers for a long moment. Since they're on the subject, in a way...]

Favourite book?

[ She shakes her head - he might have taken her question but she's not even upset, moving to keep her hands on the dough as she speaks. ]

Hogwarts: A History. It talked about all the history of my school, all the magic that it used and all the things we needed to really understand it. It had a lot of good information that helped us make sure we didn't die, too.

[ Yes, dying at school. That happens. ]

Awfully practical. Your school sounds a bit unsafe, though.

It wasn't that bad. We just had a bad habit of getting ourselves into trouble. We found a three headed dog, a hidden chamber with the ghost of a Dark Lord, ventured into time travel, entered a contest that could have killed us...

[ She pauses, considering. ]

It was a normal school for everyone else.

A normal school full of wizards and witches. [Normal isn't desirable, so he's not certain why she's arguing the point.]

What kind of contest? Or should I save that for my next question.

Which was normal to me, when I started going there. [ Shaking her head, Hermione smiles. ]

It's not going to count as another question, don't worry. It was called the Triwizard Tournament and my best friend took part in it, taking on three challenges. For him it was a dragon, swimming for an hour underwater and a maze with dangerous creatures and spells.

[Turning around briefly to heat up the oven, he still lets out a short huff. Dragons. He hates dragons, ever since he was eaten by one.]

And that's considered an acceptable thing to do at school, is it.

Well, there were safety measures in place. It wasn't as dangerous as everyone thought, not at first.

[ This coming from a girl that was suspended underwater for more than an hour. ]

[Like guns and swords to kill the dragons, he would hope.]

Things didn't go to plan, I'm guessing.

Do they ever?

[ She pauses for a moment before she shakes her head. ]

Let's just say it ended up sparking the rest of the first war I fought in.

[He wonders at that. But his turn for asking questions is over. Taking the tray from Hermione, he turns to open the oven door and slide it inside.]

It shouldn't be too long. I believe it's your turn to ask.

Oh! Right, of course, let's see...

[ She moves out of his way before she turns her head up to look at him. ]

Your world - it has mutants, probably as many as their are witches and wizards in mine, right? What's that like? I mean - it must be incredible, for there to be so many.

[It's a more complicated question than she realises.]

I'm not certain how many there are. The number is growing all the time, but... until very recently, mutants weren't known to the world. There are thousands of us out there, and yet many may have no idea of what they are. Charles has a machine that lets him locate other mutants, so he likely has a better idea of how many are out there.

It's the same for witches and wizards. People without magic have no idea we exist, not really, and anyone without magical power can only know if they're related to someone who was born with it, like my parents.

[ Before she had completely wiped their memories and sent them to Australia, of course. ]

I could ask him when we're together next, once he's feeling a little less tired.

Are there no accidents where magic is exposed? [This is usually the danger with mutants. It comes second to Erik's own dramatic behaviour on the world stage, but it's still an important part of the puzzle. How their safety isn't assured.]

He'll be very enthusiastic, I'm sure.

There are, of course, but there's a department in the magical government that deals with those things. They sort the problem out and, if necessary, make sure the non-magical people don't remember what they saw. [ It's not a particularly ethical practice, but she can understand why it needs to happen. It's not comfortable, but it's the truth.

Fighting her smile, Hermione hums. ] He's earned a bit of a break from me, honestly. Our last talk was a little... Intense.

[So it's similar to what Charles does, wiping minds clean of incriminating information. It's a process that leaves a bad taste in his mouth, having been subjected to a less scrupulous telepath's ministrations before.] It would make sense that you have systems in place, if magic has been around for a long time. Mutants have only started to evolve in this century.

Well, you can talk about something that isn't intense. Like books.

Sometimes it's the only thing you can do to keep people safe. It's not right, and it's not okay, but... Sometimes you don't have any other choice. [ The way she says it probably lets on that there's more to it than she's said, but her eyes glance up to Erik and then away before she breathes out. ]

You say that like I wasn't best friends with a character from a book, Erik.

Other books.

We could. [ Hermione shakes her head, fighting her smile. ] I just like spending time with him. And you.

I'm certain a lot of that is to do with the scones in the oven.

Oh, yes. [ She smiles, almost wry. ] I only want to spend time with you thanks to the promise of food.

Just as I thought.

It's definitely a little more than that. [ She nudges him gently, fighting her grin. ] The tea doesn't hurt.

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