Chapter 1: The Unexpected Return
If it wasn't for her extreme need to be here, Hermione had planned on never setting foot in Diagon Alley again. After the war had ended Hermione had ousted herself from the magical community, finding the devastation left behind to difficult to cope with. She'd stepped out of King's Cross and out of everyone's lives 10 years ago. She set out to find her parents only to discover they'd died in a car crash; emotionally shattered, she completely isolated herself from the members of the Order, until the incident 3 months ago had forced her to rethink her decision. Cursing her new reliance on magic she entered the apothecary to buy the final ingredient for her potion, and then retraced her steps through the familiar street and out the Leaky Cauldron to Muggle London.
When she arrived back at her flat Hermione added the ingredient she'd just purchased to a cauldron that was out of sight in her bedroom, hoping it would be ready in time. Hermione then left the room to make herself a pot of green tea before curling up on the sofa with a book.
There was nothing on display in the flat that would suggest its owner was magical, in fact only the potion bubbling in the bedroom and the wand in its box in the bedside cabinet gave the game away. There was a powerful aura that radiated from Hermione, however no one in the area understood this was the reason for semi-regular power cuts or the occasional burst water main.
As Hermione was getting ready for bed a snowy owl flew in through the window and perched on the bedside cabinet hooting softly.
'Hello Hedwig,' she said giving the owl a friendly stroke. 'Is it that time of year already?'
Hermione left the room and came back with a handful of owl treats hoping Hedwig would eat them slowly, she knew Harry and Ginny lived on the outskirts of London and didn't want Hedwig's quicker return to alert them to the fact she was in the area. Sighing slightly, Hermione went into the sitting room to read the letter just in case Hedwig decided to peck her until she replied, a request that Harry had made in their 5th year. Hermione was surprised he hadn't tried that again.
After she'd disappeared Hermione received owls from all members of the order enquiring as to her whereabouts. As she never replied, the letters slowly decreased until she only received one letter from Harry, Ginny and Ron every year. After reading the letter Hermione threw it into the fire and returned to her room wiping her eyes, glad to see Hedwig had gone. As she got into bed Hermione thought about the letter, she was pleased Ginny and Harry had another baby as Lily sounded fabulous, but the letters made her miss them so much. She drifted off to sleep knowing it would be a restless night.
The next morning Hermione got ready to go into town and tried to forget the previous night. As she walked to her favourite bookstore she took deep calming breaths to control the magic which was threatening to burst out of her. She entered the store and began to browse; it was getting extremely difficult and now with the added pressure to maintain control things were getting worse.
Hermione's trip had gone rather well, however a bookshelf had disappeared only to re-appear in the store room. The shop keeper had decided he must have asked someone to move it. She was exhausted by the time she got home and was definitely not expecting an owl to be perched on the sofa waiting for her. Cautiously she approached it and noticed there was a ministry sealed letter in its beak, as she took the letter the owl hooted in a reassuring way before flying out the window. Hermione opened the letter and wasn't impressed by what she read.
Dear Miss Granger,
We have recently received news that in your area a witch or wizard has been causing power-cuts and similar Muggle related problems. We ask that you inform us of any information you may have on this matter as we fear it may be Muggle baiting.
Yours sincerely
Emily Perkins
Head of Muggle Relations
Hermione didn't like the fact the Ministry knew her whereabouts and seriously hoped nothing had got back to a Weasley or Harry. If it wasn't for the fact she needed the potion Hermione would have left London that instant, however she pulled on her cloak and headed to Diagon Alley.
An unfortunate problem with being in the Muggle world for so long was Hermione no longer had any wizard money left and therefore headed to Gringotts with the intention of changing enough money to buy the ingredients for a year's worth of potion ingredients. Hermione was completely shocked when she spotted Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes on her way to the bank, she was amazed that even during the day the shop seemed to light up the whole alley. On her way back from the bank Hermione went against her better judgement, performed a quick glamour to alter her appearance and entered the shop. It was extremely noisy with Hogwarts students everywhere and one of the twins was relishing every second of it. As Hermione viewed the latest products the other twin approached her, on closer inspection he appeared to be Fred.
'Why hello there I'm George, how may I help you?' He said gesturing to the shelves. 'Are you looking for yourself or a friend?'
Hermione wasn't surprised she'd got the twins confused but was startled by how intently he stared at her, as if he could see through her glamour.
'I'm just browsing thank-you.' She replied, then watched him race off to what appeared to be a small rain cloud in the corner of the shop which obviously wasn't supposed to be there.
Realising her mistake in entering the shop Hermione turned to leave and nearly collided with a young girl who had long silvery blond hair and a smattering of freckles across his nose. To her horror this girl was closely followed by a very familiar couple, both of whom looked slightly nervous.
'She will diztroy zis plaze ef we do not watch 'er.' Said Fleur, her French accent was as strong as ever.
'Let her have some fun.' Bill replied, 'Just hope she doesn't come home with any new tricks she's learnt from Fred and George.'
At this point Hermione left; worried her glamour may begin to fade, and hurried back down the street. By the time she'd reached the Leaky Cauldron she'd begun to return to her normal appearance and as she left the pub she breathed a sigh of relief knowing she hadn't been detected. If she had looked back she would have seen a man in patched tatty robes with a very confused look on his face.