Hermione was shocked.
Staring at the piece of parchment in her hands.. Her eyes ran across the words over and over, and in the third time it finally registered. Could it really be?
No, it wasn't logical, this kind of stuff doesn't exist outside of fairy tales. But logical or not it was true that she was different. But not this much, surely...
"I don't believe you.." She said with narrow eyes
"Then let me show you" said the elderly man sitting across from her. He pulled out a long thin piece of wood, he swished it in the air and flicked it at the coffee table between them. And suddenly the whole table lifted off the floor! It hovered in midair for a few seconds then lowered to the ground.
Hermione's eyes were as wide as an owl's.
"How did you do that?!" She exclaimed but the man just chuckled.
"It's a trick." She said "there's wires or something holding it up!"
"Check for wires then" said the man still smiling.
She stood up and ran her hands across every inch of the table, but there were no wires...
" Show me more!" She ordered him
The man chuckled again, it seemed that he had gone through this over and over again...
He lifted his wand and waived it around in the air and suddenly everything in the living room lifted in the air and was orbiting around them. The ornaments on the shelves started tap dancing and the lights were flickering on and off. Then everything went pack to its place and stopped.
"You can learn it too." He said, his bright blue eyes looked into hers and she had the feeling of being x-rayed..
Then she made up her mind. Logical or not this elderly bearded blue eyed strange man was telling the truth.
She turned around to her parents and said to them
"I'm going." They smiled in reply,
Then the man stood up and clapped his hands together,
"Good" he said, "my name is Albus Dumbledore. We need to go to diagon alley to buy your school things. Don't worry about money I have some. Get your things together! You leave for school in a week. And Hogwarts welcomes you with open arms, lets go!" He said his blue eyes twinkling. They left the house and stood on the road..
"How do we get there?" He asked him, looking around for a car.
He smiled again and held out his arm and she held on, not sure what was gonna happen next..
He turned on the spot and with a swish of his emerald green cloak and her bushy brown hair they were both gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Good morning professor!" Said the bar man behind the counter "fancy seeing you here !"
"Good morning Tom, yes I have brought young miss hermione here to get her new things, she's off to Hogwarts this year for the first time." Replied Dumbledore
"First time? Wow there getting smaller and smaller, or maybe im just getting older.. You'll love Hogwarts little miss, everyone does."
"Ok we're off now to buy her things"
"Ok good luck in your first year!"
"Thanks" hermione said
They walked outside a back door and came into a little courtyard, which was empty. perhaps they went the wrong way?
Mr Dumbledore smiled at her
He tapped a brick on the wall with his wand and suddenly all the bricks were folding back to make way for a giant archway, revealing the most wonderful street hermione had ever seen.

There were many shops everywhere. Selling strange things like cauldrons, potion ingredients, wands and animals hermione had never seen. The street was full of people, and the whole place had a great feel to it.

"Books first." He said and hermiones eyes widened. She loved books, She hurried after him. They walked inside a large shop and it was the most wonderful sight. There was books everywhere! Piled high to the tall celing, books about anything and everything. Large books, small books, books with strange symbols and even books that bite ! Hermione was in heaven.

Needless to say, they left the shop an hour later and Mr Dumbledore was carrying 2 large bags full to the brim with books. And hermione was a lot happier
"What's next sir?" She asked
"Cauldron and potions ingredients" he replied, they entered the next shop and it was a lot different to the first, it was dark and the air was full of different smells, which hermione was guessing was coming from all the different ingredients and potions.
There was a boy at the counter with a lady who was presumed to be his mother, for they were both blonde and thin, and had very neat and combed hair. They both were wearing robes of emerald green and had the pure look of wealthiness. He turned around to leave and saw hermione and my Dumbledore and sneered, he had a pointed face and cold eyes... Something about him hermione didn't like. He walked past without another look and his mother nodded at Dumbledore and her eyes lingered in hermione for a second before she left with her son.

"Why were they looking at us?" Hermione said to Dumbledore
"Ah miss granger, those people out there are the malfoys. I used to teach miss Narcissa when she was at school, and that there is her son Draco. I am guessing that they are looking at us because I am with you, not your parents."
"But why is that a reason to look?"
"Well, you see the malfoys are part of a very big and rich family, a family of pure blood wizards, and for some reason their family has the delusion that they are a higher class then witches or wizards with non magic people in their family"
"Oh..."
"But that is not true, you little miss have just as much magic in you as young mr malfoy there, you have nothing to worry about, it is their problem they have such an idea in their heads."
Hermione felt a little better hearing those words."
After they left the potion shop they went and got Icecream.
Hermione was watching a round faced boy pleading with an elderly woman.
"Please gran, can I have him please!"
"No Neville, you won't be able to look after him."
"But I will I promise!"
"Ok but only because you are off to school soon, so I won't hear him croak half the night."
"Yay thanks gran!"
And he ran into a shop called the magical menagerie.
They finished their Icecream and went to get the one thing that hermione was so excited about. A wand
They entered the shop called ollivanders and met an elderly looking man behind the counter.
"Hello mr Dumbledore! What can I do for you today?" He said
" just getting miss granger here her wand"
"Ah I see" he said and clicked his fingers, just as a tape measure appeared. It measured hermione all over, even around her head, mr ollivander clicked his fingers again and it was gone.
He went through all the shelves and picked up a few boxes
And handed hermione a wand
"Give it a wave" he said
She did and it did nothing, he took the wand from her and gave another,
It wasn't til the fourth wand that something happend the wand began to feel very warm and hermione waved it. Canaries flew from the end and started fluttering around the room singing, They were beautiful.
Dumbledore clapped his hands
Eleven sickles and a knut please, he said and Dumbledore handed the money over.'
They left the shop and hermione felt great.
She was so happy she didn't even notice the red haired family she almost walked in to, she apologized to the red haired lady and they left to get hermiones school uniform

That night hermione didn't sleep. She was up all night reading her new books. She couldn't believe what had happend that day, when a strange man came to her home and spent 3 hours talking in private to her parents, then came out and informed her that she was a witch, who had magical powers and was offered a place in a magic school called Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, a school which now hermione knew a lot about, but at the time it was completely new to her.
That night she didn't take her eyes off the book 'Hogwarts: a history' which told her a lot about her new school, apparently in the great hall where all the students ate, the ceiling was bewitched to look like the sky outside, and the staircases moved! There were 4 houses where students were sorted in to, they slept and took classes with their houses and they were Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Hermione wasn't sure which house she wanted to belong but she read that slytherin was made up of mostly pure bloods. So she didn't want to be in there. She also read that people in Ravenclaw were the smartest, so possibly that was her house?
She also read that to get there you took a train called the Hogwarts express, which left platform 9 and three quarters and to get on there you had to cross a barrier between platforms 9 and 10 at kings cross station. She was nervous ... What if she wasn't magic and she couldn't cross the barrier ?

Hermione ended up falling asleep while reading that night, and woke up in the morning still holding the book, she carefully put the book away and picked up another and went I to the kitchen for breakfast.

The book she brought down was The standard book of spells (grade 1) by Miranda goshawk

She skimmed through the contents page and turned to the section called simple spells and she read

These are the most simple spells known, they include things that can be used around the house or out a work

Reparo:
A simple spell used to mend things that are broken - note that some things can't be fixed with this spells these things include: wands, severely damaged broomsticks, and items that have been broken with certain magic.

Hermione took out her wand and looked around the house, she spotted a vase that had a crack in it, it was her mothers favorite, hermione had broken that vase last summer and had hot into a lot of trouble.

She stood up nervously and walked over to it, pointed her wand at it and said "Reparo!" The crack vanished. Hermione jumped back in surprise, perhaps he didn't expect it to happen.
The last few weeks of summer went by very slowly in hermiones anticipation. She very badly wanted to see the school that she had read so much about. She has now read all of Hogwarts a history, the standard book of spells and most of A beginners guide to transfiguration. So when the day finally came that hermione was to leave home hermione was up bright and early even before the sum came up.

She sat up in bed once her alarm clock went off, she turned it off and stretched, then she went and packed everything in the large trunk her parents had bought her. She sat all her books in there neatly, folded all her new uniform, and a few normal clothes as well, she put all the rest of stuff in her cauldron and stuffed it in and it all fitted. Hermione smiled at her work, then went to have breakfast. She had 2 pieces of toast and a large cup of orange juice. By the time her parents were up she was all ready to leave.
"Hurry up mum!" She whined
"Hermione dear you said the train doesn't leave til 11:00 it's only 8:00 we have enough time" her mum replied
"Oh" she said looking at her watch "you're right"
She went up stairs to see if there was anything else she needed to pack, she decided to take a photo of her and her parents, and a teddy bear her mum gave her last year.

And finally at 10:00 they packed everything in the car and left. It was a 45 minute drive to London, and hermione sat in the back seat smiling nervously the whole way.

Walking through the platforms Hermione was very nervous... What if it was a prank? What if she couldn't find the barrier... What if she didn't have enough magic to get through ? No that was nonsense, she told herself. I can do magic I have done magic! Be calm and relax.
She walked onto platform 9. Her knees were shaking.
"Ok Neville!" She heard a familiar voice, " just through here. Off you go young man, do you have Trevor?"
"Yes gran.." Said another familiar voice.
Hermione sighed in relief. It was the boy and lady from diagon alley. She was calmer now.
She followed the voices and found them. They were standing next to a brick wall in between the platforms.
Yes! She thought.
She turned to her parents. "This is it." She said
"Where ?" Her mum said.
"It's through that wall, non magic people cat get through though so ill have to say good buy here."
"We'll ok honey good luck in your study's! We love you" her said said kissing her I the cheek, she received a big hug from both of them and then walked towards the wall that Neville had already gone through.
She breathed in, closed her eyes and walked quickly towards the wall.
He kept walking... Waiting for it to happen... She opened her eyes to suprise! It worked.
There she was in front of a bright red, magnificent locomotive. Steam was spewing out all over the platform. And there were students everywhere. Holding owls and cats, and some even in school uniform already! She walked through the crowd pulling her trolley which carried her trunk. She wasnt sure how to get her trunk onto the train.. She was small and doubted that she could even carry it. She looked around nervously just as she heard a voice
"You need help with that?" Said an obviously Irish voice. It was a tall boy that looked much older then her. He had brown hair that was short.
"Thanks" she squeeked.
Once her things were on the train, she walked along to find a carriage that was empty. She found one that was around the middle of the train and sat down. A few minutes later the train started moving. Hermione couldn't hide her smile even if she wanted to. She was going to Hogwarts! A place only a few select people could go. She started wondering what the classes would be like. Hoping there was many things to learn. Hermione loved learning new things. She also hoped and wondered if she's have many friends.. She wasnt very popular in school... Actually she didn't really have many friends, she was that they called a bookworm. And got teased for it, aslo for the fact that her front teeth were larger then average. Something that she hated, she couldn't get it fixed because her parents were both dentists, and didn't want her to get anything done to her teeth that could harm them. She didn't even get to eat many sweets!
There was a knocking on the carriage door "Hello?" Said a voice.
It was Neville.
" have you seen my toad? I can't find him and my gran is going to kill me" he said a little sadly.
Hermione got up,
"No I haven't but I can help you look if you like?"
Neville smiled at that "ok thanks"
She got up and left the carriage