Chapter 1: Diagon Alley
Words: 2,981

It was several weeks into the summer and Hermione had not gotten a letter back from Harry yet. She had been corresponding with Ron, of course, and he hadn't heard anything either. This was beginning to worry both of them. She had been spending a great deal of her summer indoors, studying her old books and anxiously awaiting the owl that would be bringing her new school list along.

"Hermione!" she heard her mother call one morning. "There's an owl here for you!"

Hermione ran down the stairs and into the kitchen where her mother was. Sure enough, there was one of the school owls sitting on the table (Hermione had made her parents leave one of the windows open so an owl could get inside when it was time to get her school list.) She reached for it and grabbed the thick envelope. The owl ruffled its feathers and took off back through the window.

The letter began much like the one she had gotten last year, telling her to catch the Hogwarts Express on September first on Platform 9 3/4 at eleven o'clock am. Enclosed was her booklist, which did surprise her a little, as most of the books they would need for that year were written by one person.

SECOND YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk
Break With a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart
Gadding With Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart
Holidays With Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart
Travels With Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart
Voyages With Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart
Wanderings With Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart
Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart

She read the list again, still surprised that most of her books were by this Gildery Lockhart... I bet it's some super fan, she thought to herself. She then grabbed some paper and a pen and wrote to Ron. Now that the booklists were out, she was worried more than ever about Harry's lack of correspondence with both her and Ron. Something must be wrong. But the last letter she had gotten from Ron said that they were going to go "rescue" him, whatever that meant. It had also been delivered by their family owl, Errol, and he had crashed into the kitchen and made a huge mess when he arrived. Hermione wondered just how many more deliveries the owl had left in him.

Dear Ron and Harry if you're there,

I hope everything went all right and that Harry is okay and that you didn't do anything illegal to get him out, Ron, because that would get Harry into trouble, too. I've been really worried and if Harry is all right, will you please let me know at once, but perhaps it would be better if you used a different owl, because I think another delivery might finish your one off.

I'm very busy with schoolwork, of course, and we're going to London next Wednesday to buy my new books. Why don't we meet in Diagon Alley?

Let me know what's happening as soon as you can.

Love from,
Hermione

...

Being back in Diagon Alley felt amazing. Hermione hadn't even really realized just how much she missed the magical world she was part of, and was glad her parents were here to enjoy it with her. They seemed a bit overwhelmed by it all, but were excited for her nonetheless. Their first stop was Gringotts, to pick Hermione up some non-Muggle money, and as they exited and stood on the stone steps, Hermione caught sight of Harry.

"Harry! Harry! Over here!" she called, running down to meet him. He was with Hagrid and looked a little worse for the wear. His glasses were broken and he seemed to have soot all over himself. "What happened to your glasses? Hello, Hagrid - Oh, it's wonderful to see you two again - Are you coming into Gringotts, Harry?"

"As soon as I've found the Weasleys," Harry answered. Hermione was so relieved to know that the Muggles weren't going to keep Harry away from Hogwarts and that he was okay - she had been very worried when he hadn't written to her that summer and planned to ask him about it later.

"Yeh won't have long ter wait," Hagrid said. He was grinning and looking ahead of them. Hermione turned around in time to see Ron, Fred, George, Percy, and Mr. Weasley coming towards them.

"Harry..." Mr. Weasley was out of breath and mopped up his sweating forehead. "We hoped you'd only gone one grate too far... Molly's frantic - she's coming now - "

"Where did you come out?" Ron asked. Hermione was curious about that now, too. How did Harry get separated from the rest of the Weasleys in the first place?

"Knockturn Alley," Harry said. He didn't sound too excited, and Hermione could see why. Although she had never personally been through there, she had heard some stories and had seen the entrance. It didn't look like a very nice place.

"Excellent!" Fred and George said together.

"We've never been allowed in," Ron said.

"I should ruddy well think not," Hagrid growled. Hermione couldn't help but agree with Hagrid on this one.

Mrs. Weasley was now approaching them, running with her handbag swinging and Ginny barely holding onto her hand.

"Oh, Harry - oh, my dear - you could have been anywhere - " Mrs. Weasley reached into her bag and brought out a large clothes brush, which she then used to get all the soot off of Harry. "Knockturn Alley! If you hadn't found him, Hagrid!"

"Well, gotta be off," Hagrid said. "See yer at Hogwarts!"

"Guess who I saw in Borgin and Burkes?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione as they walked up the Gringotts steps. He didn't want for them to guess. "Malfoy and his father."

"Did Lucius Malfoy buy anything?" Mr. Weasley's sharp voice came from behind them.

"No, he was selling - " Harry began. Mr. Weasley cut him off.

"So he's worried," Mr. Weasley's grin could be heard clearly in his voice. "Oh, I'd love to get Lucius Malfoy for something..."

"You be careful, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley warned him as they were greeted by a goblin at the bank door. "That family's trouble. Don't go biting off more than you can chew..."

"So you don't think I'm a match for Lucius Malfoy?" Mr. Weasley retorted, but was immediately distracted by Hermione's parents, who were standing rather awkwardly and waiting to be introduced. "But you're Muggles! We must have a drink! What's that you've got there? Oh, you're changing Muggle money. Molly, look!"

Hermione appreciated her parents for having patience with Mr. Weasley. She had told them all about Harry and Ron, and they seemed quite excited for her to have found friends. And Mr. Weasley was nice enough anyway, if a bit odd.

"Meet you back here," Ron said to Hermione as his family and Harry were whisked away by another goblin. Hermione waited with her parents for Ron, Harry, and the rest of the Weasleys to come back so they could continue their shopping. She was so excited to get her new Hogwarts things and start her second year! It felt like just yesterday that she had gotten her letter and onto the Hogwarts Express for the first time.

A little while later, they all returned and then went their separate ways. Percy went to get a new quill; Fred and George had spotted their friend, Lee Jordan, and had gone off with him; Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were going to get Ginny her robes; Mr. Weasley asked Hermione's parents to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink; Hermione, Ron, and Harry went off on the cobblestone path, just looking and refreshing their other school supply needs.

"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your schoolbooks," Mrs. Weasley said, "And not one step down Knocturn Alley!"

The three friends' first stop was at the ice cream shop, where Harry got himself, Ron, and Hermione each a strawberry and peanut butter ice cream to slurp on as they shopped. They found themselves in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies, where Ron was staring down some Chudley Cannon robes, until Hermione remembered that she needed new ink and parchment and dragged him and Harry next door. When they ventured over to Gambol and Japes (a wizarding joke shop) they found Fred, George, and Lee Jordan grabbing some Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks and when they moved on to another tiny shop full of miscellaneous supplies, they found Percy. He had his nose buried in a book called Prefects Who Gained Power.

"A study of Hogwarts prefects and their later careers," Ron read off the back of the book. "That sounds fascinating..."

"Go away," Percy said peevishly.

"'Course, he's very ambitious, Percy, he's got it all planned out... He wants to be Minister of Magic..." Ron mentioned to Harry and Hermione as they left the shop and began to make their way to Flourish and Blotts. Hermione wondered what it mentioned; she had given thought to becoming a prefect herself but didn't know how badly Ron and Harry would make fun of her for voicing this desire, so she had kept her mouth shut.

When they reached the bookshop, it was packed full of witches, wizards, and students. Hermione had never seen it so full before. A look at the upper windows answered Hermione's question of why it was so busy in big, bold letters.

GOLDEROY LOCKHART
will be signing copies of his autobiography
MAGICAL ME
today 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

This made Hermione more excited than she had already been.

"We can actually meet him!" She said happily. "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!"

A rather annoyed-looking wizard was at the door, attempting to create some order of the chaos. A second look told Hermione that the jostling crowd was mostly witches around Mrs. Weasley's age.

"Calmly, please, ladies... Don't push, there... mind the books, now..." the door wizard said as Hermione, Harry, and Ron squeezed inside. The first thing they all grabbed was The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 and then they joined Mr. and Mrs. Granger and the rest of the Weasleys in line.

"Oh, there you are, good..." Mrs. Weasley was patting her hair and looked rather pink in the face. "We'll be able to see him in a minute..."

As she spoke, Gilderoy Lockhart came into their view. He was sitting at a table that was surrounded by quite large pictures of his face, winking and flashing his dazzling white teeth at the crowd before him. The Lockhart sitting at the table wore robes of forget-me-not blue that Hermione couldn't help but notice matched his eyes and a pointy wizard's hat that was sitting on his head at an angle. There was a short, rather irritable wizard moving around and taking lots of photographs; Hermione frowned as the camera emitted puffs of purple smoke with every snap.

That can't be good for the books... Hermione thought to herself, eyeing the smoke.

"Out of the way, there," he snapped at Ron, which made Hermione frown even more. "This is for the Daily Prophet - "

"Big deal," Ron retorted, rubbing his foot and glaring at the photographer.

Gilderoy Lockhart had heard the exchange and looked up. He saw Ron, and then his eyes fell on Harry. He leapt to his feet and shouted, "It can't be Harry Potter?"

Poor Harry, Hermione thought as his face turned red and he was yanked to the front of the crowd by Lockhart himself. The crowd began to applaud. The photographer began to snap away even more madly, now obscuring most of the Weasleys in the camera's purple smoke. After what seemed like a hundred pictures, Hermione saw Harry try to get away from Lockhart, only to be pulled back again as he threw his arm around Harry's shoulders.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said loudly, "what an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time! When young Harry stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography - which I will be happy to present him now, free of charge - he had no idea that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

The crowd began to cheer and clap even harder than before as Harry was presented with Lockhart's entire collection of books. He walked out of the limelight and back to the Weasleys, where Hermione watched him tip the books into Ginny's new cauldron, mouthing something to her that Hermione couldn't hear. Then came a voice that she heard quite clearly, and was not happy to hear again. She moved forward to grab her set of Lockhart's books and listened.

"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" It was Malfoy. "Famous Harry Potter, can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" Ginny piped up. Hermione was proud of her for saying something; she was right, Harry didn't like being the center of attention.

"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" Malfoy looked gleeful. Ginny went scarlet; Ron and Hermione fought their way through the crowd, their arms full of books.

"Oh, it's you," Ron said unpleasantly. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?"

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," Malfoy retorted. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those."

Ron turned as red as Ginny had and tipped his books into her cauldron too. Before he could jump on Malfoy, however, both Hermione and Harry grabbed the back of his jacket. Hermione was glad they had, too, because at that moment, Mr. Weasley had made his way over to them to see what was going on.

"Ron!" He said, now joined by Fred and George, "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here. Let's go outside."

"Well, well, well - Arthur Weasley." It was a voice that sounded similar to Malfoy's, but older and somehow more narcissistic.

"Lucius," Mr. Weasley answered coldly.

So this is Malfoy's father!

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear. All those raids... I hope they're paying you overtime?" He reached into Ginny's cauldron and pulled out a rather battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration. "Obviously not. Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Hermione was a little surprised to see Mr. Weasley turn an even darker red than Ron and Ginny.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," his voice was like ice when he spoke. Lucius Malfoy's eyes turned to Hermione's parents and she bristled.

"Clearly. The company you keep, Weasley... and I thought your family could sink no lower - "

But he couldn't finish; Mr. Weasley had launched himself at Mr. Malfoy and sent Ginny's cauldron flying; they both went tumbling into the bookshelf behind them. Too many spellbooks to count came falling down on top of the mens' heads as they grappled with each other; someone yelled, "Get him, Dad!" (it was either Fred or George, but Hermione couldn't tell in the chaos); Mrs. Weasley was screaming, "No, Arthur, no!"; the crowd moved out of the two mens' way, the assistant trying to break the fight up -

"Break it up, there, gents, break it up - "

It was Hagrid. He waded through the crowd and fallen books and separated Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy easily. Mr. Weasley's lip was bleeding and Mr. Malfoy had a black eye and was still holding Ginny's Transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with what Hermione could only describe as disgust and anger in them.

"Here, girl - take your book - it's the best your father can give you - " he freed himself from Hagrid's grip and pulled his son along with him out of the store. Hermione was not sorry in the least to see them go.

"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," Hagrid said, setting Mr. Weasley down. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that - no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter - bad blood, that's what it is - come on now - let's get outta here."

When they left, they found Hermione's parents shaking with fright and Mrs. Weasley in a towering rage.

"A fine example to set for your children... brawling in public... what Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought - "

"He was pleased," Fred said. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report - said it was all publicity - "

It was rather quiet as the group left and made their ways back home. Hermione and her parents left the Leaky Cauldron to head through the Muggle streets and home while the Weasleys and Harry went to the fireside to travel back by Floo Powder. Hermione, Harry, and Ron said their goodbyes and agreed to meet back up on the Hogwarts Express on the first; all of them were excited for their second year and couldn't wait to see what was in store. As Hermione walked away with her parents, she sincerely hoped that Harry's travel back to Ron's would go over better than his arrival...