Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Disbelieving in Gravity

Hermione Granger was, in one way, a very simple individual: She thought rationally. For many people – magical people even more so – this was everything but simple, and yet, even they found an acceptable way to describe her: She believed in well documented and accepted facts, but had problems accepting anything else.

One might think that being thrown into a world of magic, in itself a force which defies logic in many ways, would be difficult for such a girl. It wasn't. There were books, after all, and most of those books agreed on most of the "facts" of magic. Some didn't agree with everything, but even authors make mistakes. Everybody knew that. Even Hermione. And after all, the real facts were still documented in the majority of the books, and the teachers agreed with those.

What Hermione Granger failed to grasp was a detail so small, most would call it irrelevant: There was no proof. Never. In none of the many books she had read.

What everybody failed to grasp was the sheer stupidity of all those "well documented facts".

Then, something which should have been avoided at all costs... happened. Something which changed Hermione's life forever.

It was sometime in early September, 1995. Just a few days ago, the "golden trio" had taken the train to Hogwarts. They had not been the only ones to do so, of course, which might just be part of the problem, considering that this was how Harry Potter had met Luna Lovegood.

Hermione, too, had met the strange blonde girl in the year below them. That, however, wasn't really important, because Hermione, set in her ways as she was (or thought she was), didn't let Luna affect her – except maybe being a little bit annoyed by her. A bit more... ok, maybe she was extremely annoyed by the blonde. That still wasn't important compared to Harry's reaction.

Harry was fascinated.

Now, please, get your minds out of the gutter. Harry might have been of an age where the thinking duties were shared between his heads, often favouring the one which hadn't been thinking before, but with his personal history, love at first sight might just be a bit far-fetched. Lust at first sight, maybe, but Luna was a little too eccentric for that kind of fascination.

No, Harry was fascinated by Luna's mind. Whereas his friends – Hermione, Neville Longbottom and Ronald and Ginevra Weasley – were annoyed (Hermione), flustered (Neville), bored (Ron – it wasn't food or Quidditch, after all) or exasperated (Ginny) by most of Luna's comments, Harry listened, asked questions... and thought about her words.

When Hermione, accompanied by Ron, returned from the prefects' meeting, Harry and Luna were so absorbed in their conversation, they didn't notice the returned duo for a while. Until Hermione snapped.

"Harry, you don't actually believe what she's saying, don't you? The Quibbler is well known for its articles on non-existent creatures and improbable conspiracies!"

Both Harry and Luna simply looked at the bushy-haired girl. Then, calmly, as if to an upset child, Harry answered her.

"Hermione, what would you have said if somebody had told you, six years ago, that unicorns exist?"

"But... but that's... That's completely different! Unicorns are real!"

"Says who?"

Now, even Luna was stunned. She gently touched his arm. "I'm pretty sure I have seen one before, Harry."

Hermione nodded. "You have, too – remember first year?"

Harry, though, simply shrugged.

"So? I regularly wave a stick and see light where there was none before. I wave it again and there is a flame. Once more and one of the trunks up there is floating, or something disappears. What if Unicorns are nothing but an illusion?"

The other five in the compartment simply sat there, too stunned to speak.

"What you should understand by now is that magic isn't about facts. It's about faith. Faith in yourself and your ability to do something. Faith in magic's ability to do something. Faith in the fact that the rules of the universe are quite flexible when it comes to magic – even those laws which supposedly restrict the one force which, by its very definition, makes the impossible possible."

Pausing for a moment, but not waiting for an answer, he went on.

"I bet that, if I were to strongly object to the law of gravity, even disbelieve in it, my magic would ensure that gravity does not apply to me. Or that down is wherever my feet are. In fact, I'll make a bet. Within two weeks, I will convince myself that gravity pulls me in the direction where my feet are."

He looked directly at Hermione, his eyes showing determination.

"And if I manage it, you admit defeat. We are magical – reality changes with every breath we take, guided by our needs, our emotions, our beliefs. If Luna believes that these creatures are real, they are. Maybe not here. Maybe not in this world, or even this universe. But as long as somebody magical believes in them, they exist somewhere."

Hermione's life changed forever when, several days later, she woke up, went down to the common room and found Harry sitting on the ceiling in front of the stairs to the Gryffindor girls' dormitories.

This little thing up there is something like an introduction into the world of magic as I imagine it. It didn't come out quite as good as I hoped, but it introduces the principle of "Faith in magic". If I ever write a full story, this will be important. I might just introduce other principles in the form of similarly short pieces.

The important thing to remember is that each of these will only introduce one or two concepts. The characters, more than anything, will be different in the "real" story. If I write it, that is.