It isn't the first time someone seems surprised that Hogwarts isn't more like a prison, and it upsets Hermione even as it makes her fairly proud to call Hogwarts her home away from home.
"We get an acceptance letter once we're old enough and can choose whether or not to attend. We're strongly encouraged to attend, of course, especially people like me, who come from non-magical families. Once there, visits from family or journeys outside the grounds are generally limited, but we do have organized trips into the neighboring village and holidays off. And after we graduate, we choose where we'd like to go and what we'd like to do with our lives. So long as we don't break any laws, there's no reason for anyone to tell us what to do."
Which is something she's taken for granted over the years, she now realizes. The idea that she'd been so concerned about Professor McGonagall making her work so hard for her high marks when there have been mages here who were more concerned about not getting their magic taken away entirely makes her feel sick to her stomach.
"May I sit in on the next meeting, then?" she asks absently, an arm around her middle as she honestly tries not to feel sick. "I can't promise that I won't have to be kept from speaking, but I'll at least try not to do so out of turn and won't otherwise make a fool of myself. I just don't understand how anyone could want things to go back to the way things had been here, if all that you say is true."
As for Tevinter, she shakes her head and remarks, "Revolutions aren't easy. But if it's a revolution in the right direction, it will happen eventually. Maybe someone from here will go back to Tevinter and evoke a positive change. It's a better possibility than waging a constant, outright war."
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"We get an acceptance letter once we're old enough and can choose whether or not to attend. We're strongly encouraged to attend, of course, especially people like me, who come from non-magical families. Once there, visits from family or journeys outside the grounds are generally limited, but we do have organized trips into the neighboring village and holidays off. And after we graduate, we choose where we'd like to go and what we'd like to do with our lives. So long as we don't break any laws, there's no reason for anyone to tell us what to do."
Which is something she's taken for granted over the years, she now realizes. The idea that she'd been so concerned about Professor McGonagall making her work so hard for her high marks when there have been mages here who were more concerned about not getting their magic taken away entirely makes her feel sick to her stomach.
"May I sit in on the next meeting, then?" she asks absently, an arm around her middle as she honestly tries not to feel sick. "I can't promise that I won't have to be kept from speaking, but I'll at least try not to do so out of turn and won't otherwise make a fool of myself. I just don't understand how anyone could want things to go back to the way things had been here, if all that you say is true."
As for Tevinter, she shakes her head and remarks, "Revolutions aren't easy. But if it's a revolution in the right direction, it will happen eventually. Maybe someone from here will go back to Tevinter and evoke a positive change. It's a better possibility than waging a constant, outright war."