If she looks to her left, Hermione will see the Weasley brothers yelling to each other and giving directions to local men on how to properly set up the biggest tent. If she looks to her right, she'll see Lavender bedecking her smaller tent with twinkling lights and incense.
If she looks forward, she'll see a vast grassy plain with a tiny toy town in the distance. Because she's seen this same view every day for the last year, she instead looks at the dust mites floating through the air above the wagon.
There's only six hours until showtime.
It should be made clear that Hermione never meant to run off and join the circus. It was simply the most logical option available at the time, given the situation. Should she marry local boy-wonder Cormac McLaggen, have few children, and live her life out in genteel boredom? Or should she beg the passing Cirque du Phenix to take her on, buying her time at the least and in the process ruining her for Cormac McLaggen forever?
That's a rhetorical question. If she had to muck out camel stalls for the rest of her natural life, it would be a better alternative than life as Mrs. McLaggen. (Not that there was anything horrifically wrong with Cormac, it was just that he would want her to be, well, a wife). And not to say that she was mucking out camel stalls, either. Hermione was known across the country as the Mysterious Madame Cassandra, a prophetess who could tell you your future and see your past.
Madame Cassandra was quite popular; Hermione saw hundreds of people a week who were desperate to know what the future held for them. Luckily, Hermione had always been excellent at problem solving and deduction, and knew how to bend the truth when needed. Unluckily, most people wanted answers to the same questions— does she love me? Will I ever see him again? Will it all be alright?— and so her answers became repetitive.
(The answers, by the way: yes (but you need to tell her), yes (at a time the universe decides is right), and yes (it all works out in the end).)
Ginny Weasley- of the Amazing Flying Weasleys- was an unexpected treasure to Hermione. The only girl in a family of seven brothers, she had only ever known the circus and as such was what Hermione's strict mother would have nicely called "eccentric". Her two oldest brothers were lion tamers, the twins were clowns, and her brother Ron breathed fire. Percy, who had the personality of wet cardboard, helped Dumbledore with the books.
Ginny was the only Weasley who actually "flew"; born seemingly without an ounce of fear, Ginny was balancing on the big top ropes as soon as she could walk. Now she balanced on the high wire, flipped in between trapeze platforms, and landed from the highest platform onto the back of horse. She did it all wearing a red silk corset and short set, spangled with gold beading, her red hair streaming behind her.
Hermione learned a lot from Ginny; how to ride a horse, how to coax the elephants into snuggling, and how to keep a secret. The biggest secret was that Ginny was in love with Blaise Zabini, the snake charmer. Even more remarkable was that they had managed a relationship under the watchful eyes of Ginny's brothers and parents. Hermione had sacrificed her spot in the tent she shared with her friend many times so she and her beau could get some privacy; granted, that meant she had to bunk with Theo the knife thrower, but he hardly ever snored.
As an added bonus, Theo served as a deterrent to anyone else who would like to court her. Tall and intense, he gave off a foreboding energy to anyone who came too close to Hermione, leaving her to read in peace. She had no idea why he joined the Cirque, as he clearly came from money and was educated, but part of the charm of the Cirque was that it didn't matter. He was a knife thrower, she was a prophetess.
(Ron swore up and down that Theo was probably a murderer on the run, but Hermione got the idea that he was just bored wherever he came from).
There was actual prophetess at the Cirque du Phenix, if you believed in that sort of thing. Lavender, which was her given name, purported herself as an actual psychic. Hermione was sure Dumbledore had seen something in her, otherwise why keep her on? Lavender was now in a smaller, hidden tent in the back where she sold charms and potions. As the show "witch", she had more privacy and much more exciting clientele. The irony that they would much rather have each others jobs was not lost on Hermione.
Lavender wore a black velvet gown, her hair pulled into a tight bun, with flared kohl around her eyes to lend an extra mystique. Hermione wore a sheer navy long sleeve gown, elaborately embroidered with gold constellations; it had a plunging neckline that taken her months to get used to and underneath she wore a long navy silk slip. She had been instructed to wear her curly hair down, and to use cosmetics to maker her eyes look wide, her cheeks flushed, her lips plump.
Basically, Hermione was the white witch and Lavender her darker counterpart. It did not endear Lavender to her very much.
With only three hours to show time, it was time to start getting ready. The crowds would start to come in another hour, and she was expected to mingle through them- to gaze imperiously out and touch a person that had been picked out ahead of time and have a "vision". Another Dumbledore trick- their ringleader was full of techniques to get people to really believe.
Still, even though she had been playing Cassandra for a year, she remained charmed by the magic of the circus. The lights, the smell of the candy vendors carts, the excitement of the crowd as Charlie and Bill pulled the lions and elephants out of their cages. Hermione still gasped when Ginny pretended to wobble on the hire wire, and marveled when Ron sent a plume of fire perilously close to the audience. When she had a slower night, she volunteered as the "audience member" and let Theo's knives graze her ear. She watched Blaise and Harry maneuver their snakes around terrified townspeople, and occasionally could be convinced to let Bessie the python wind around her arms like a stole.
Tonight the Cirque was stopped in the larger town of Diagon, promising a good sized crowd. The night was chilly for early September, with a sharp breeze punctuating the otherwise warm night.
"It's a full moon tonight", Lavender remarked from her mirror. "You ought to be busy".
"I hope so", Hermione replied cautiously. It was unlike Lavender to seek her out for conversation.
Lavender paused momentarily from applying dark purple lipstick. "I saw something in my tea leaves for you tonight. Something important will happen tonight".
"If you say so, Lavender."
Something important, Hermione repeated to herself as she made her way to her tent. She could see a few people lined up outside her velvet tent and put on her Cassandra persona; shoulders back, gliding walk, strong eye contact. She never put much stock in Lavender's predictions, but it was very unlike Lavender to seek her out for any reason, let alone a borderline friendly confidence. Perhaps it wasn't meant for her? Maybe something to do with the Cirque?
She was forced to put it out of her mind as the citizens of Diagon placed their coins in her jar and opened their souls. Hermione predicted two reunions of lost relatives (people carrying worn envelopes with far away addresses), four happy marriages (women who smiled with their eyes when discussing their sweethearts), a child within the year (a nudge to Lavenders tent), and a promise of adventure (a teenager who had left his luggage outside the tent flap).
Hermione was almost done for the night and was weighing going to bed or catching the elephant finale when her tent flap rustled. In walked a tall, pale man with hair so blond it was gleaming white in the lamp light. He looked older than her, but not by much, and from his clothes was clearly wealthy. Before she could get her standardized Cassandra greeting out, he sat down across from her and crossed his arms.
"You're the fortune teller?", he asked, frowning when she nodded in confirmation. "I don't believe that you can see the future".
Normally, Hermione would give a small speech about how she could see Mars was bright tonight, the planets had aligned to bring him here, and how a small part of him must believe if he was called to her tent. Something in his face, however, stopped her.
"Then I'm not sure what I can do for you", she said instead, smiling slightly.
"Tell me why you joined the circus", he demanded. Hermione jerked back, surprised at the question and the intensity with which he asked it.
"Well", she began tentatively, "I suppose it was just the best alternative at the time. I was in a situation I no longer desired to remain in, and the Cirque du Phenix happened to be in town. It was the logical choice".
"The logical choice", he repeated, laughing. "When has the circus ever been a logical choice? You're clearly educated… why this?"
"Freedom, I suppose", Hermione shrugged. "Where else could I just be? I can be my own person here."
"You were running", the man guessed, smirking.
"Don't you have something to run from?", Hermione asked sharply. "Otherwise why would you be here, in my tent, asking me to tell you that it will all be okay? Did you come to ask for permission?"
He looked supremely annoyed now. "What's your name? Not the Cassandra bit, if you please".
"Hermione. And yours?"
"Draco Malfoy", he said. "I'm supposed to inherit Diagon, basically".
"And you'd rather be a snake charmer", Hermione said, with a smile. She was good at reading people- she knew when someone had already made up their mind.
"Maybe a knife thrower", Draco allowed. "What time do you leave in the morning?"
Show time was in thirteen hours, she told him.
Author Note: Please be kind; this is the first thing I've written in a very long time. Constructive criticism welcome!