A/N: This story takes place during their 5th year of Hogwarts, and does not entirely stick to the past nor future storyline.
This is just a new fanfic I am trying out, so far from perfect. Reviews and constructive criticism are well appreciated.
Hermione felt someone nudge her shoulder, pulling her from her deep and peaceful sleep.
"Come on Hermione wake up, we're going to Diagon Alley today." The familiar voice of one of her best friends Harry said, as he carried on shaking her.
"Move out the way Harry, let me do it." Ron said. He took Harry's place stood next to the bed which Hermione had been sharing with his younger sister Ginny, and he bent down so close to her that his lips nearly touched her ear. "Just think of all that lovely parchment, and quills you won't be able to buy if you don't wake up soon, oh and not to forget all those brand new books that need reading." As soon as the words left Ron's mouth he was forced backwards and Hermione practically leaped out of bed.
"Knew that was gonna work." Ron chuckled, and nudged Harry with his shoulder and gave him a wink.
"Oh my god!" Hermione practically screamed as she looked at her watch, 11am, trust the summer holidays to mess up her sleeping habits this bad, but even on her laziest of days she would be busy out and about by now. "I cannot believe I slept in so late. What am I going to do, all the good quills will be gone by the time I get there?" She began panicking, and quickly riffled through the Hogwarts trunk which sat on one side of the small room located in the Burrow. She pulled out a pair of jeans and a simple red t-shirt.
"What are you both still doing here? Can you not see I am about to change, now shoo." Hermione said, she shoved both the boys towards the doorway, and waited for them to close the door before she began to get changed.
"Sleeping beauty finally up then 'ey." Fred laughed from the living room as he caught sight of Hermione entering the kitchen.
"Shut up Fred!" Molly Weasley said, and whacked her son around the head with the pillow she had been plumping up. "Don't you worry dear, a girl is allowed a lay in every now and again, I saved some breakfast for you, but if you want anything else I will always make it for you."
"It's ok Mrs Weasley this is more than fine, thank you." Hermione took a seat at the almost empty table, at the only place still set from dinner time. In front of her sat a bowl of porridge, as she dug her spoon into the delightful slop and put it in her mouth, she was slightly taken back by how warm it still was. Of course Mrs Weasley would of put a warming spell on it, it wasn't like her to allow food to go to ruins.
"Can we not leave now; we have waited hours for her to get up." Percy whined from where he sat in the living room reading todays edition of the Daily Prophet.
"Give her chance boy! She has only just woken." Molly Weasley said, sounding slightly irritated now, probably sick of the constant whining coming from her son.
"Well I have some very important things to pick up today, and you mother made me believe you would be leaving early enough for me to come with you, and still be able to fit in some of my ministry work today." Percy explained, unaware that nobody except Hermione was actually listening to his discreet ways of boasting about his very 'important' job. But Hermione found herself feeling anything but interest this morning, it was only last year that she had began to feel a slight hatred towards Percy after his attempts to stick up for the now deceased Mr Crouch's horrible display of behaviour towards his old house-elf Winky.
The moment Hermione shoved the last spoonful of porridge into her mouth; she was whooshed into the fireplace and engulfed by the green flames, within seconds she found herself in the familiar setting of The Three Broomsticks in Diagon Alley.
After school, Diagon Alley was her favourite place to be. It was always where she found herself on the last couple of days of August, and it marked her transition from the summer holidays in the Muggle world with her parents and the Weasley family, to going back to Hogwarts the place she now called her home. Though she must admit she loved spending her summer with her parents, especially after going through months at Hogwarts without seeing them, but since finding out the news she was a witch, things just hadn't been the same. They treated her no different, yet her relationship and bond with them both was becoming more and more non-existent. Even when she was at home, they seemed to spend all their days at the new dentist surgery they had opened together. She wanted to see more of them than a few minutes in the morning and an hour or so at night. She had even attempted to convince them to join her in Diagon Alley to shop for school supplies, and then wave her off as she boarded the train tomorrow, but they both used the usual excuse: work. It had occurred to her that maybe they weren't as keen as she initially believed on her being a witch, after all it was the unknown to them both, or maybe the realisation that she wouldn't be living the life of a future dentist and enter the family business, but to instead pursue a career in the wizarding world.
"Right come here all of you. Fred, George I said get back here." Molly Weasley demanded, when she too arrived through the fireplace after her children, Harry and Hermione. "We will all stick together to get the main things on the list, then you can wonder off to get whatever else you want. Ok?" Everyone nodded their head in unison and wondered off towards Flourish and Blotts to collect their books.
"Welcome, welcome, welcome." Greeted the elderly shopkeeper whose name remained a mystery to all. "Awww, Miss Hermione, I think I may have a book set aside which I'm sure you will enjoy." Hermione turned to look at Mrs Weasley who gave her a kind smile to tell her to go on.
"Don't worry Mione we'll get your school books for you." Harry said, as she followed the shop assistant.
"This way please, into the back. We shouldn't be too long, the day before Hogwarts starts is always the busiest day, I just don't understand why everyone waits till now." The shopkeeper muttered more to himself than Hermione. She followed him into the back of the shop and instantly found herself in heaven, more so than the front of the shop. From floor to ceiling the room was jammed full of books, even some with titles she had never heard of, which for her was a rare occurrence. "Here it is." The man said, and pulled the book from one of the tall towers. She stepped back, prepared to move quickly if the books fell, but he very quickly and swiftly pulled it from its place.
"The History of the Ministry, my dear." He handed her the book, and she ran her hand along the soft cover, with the title engraved onto the front cover. "I know how fond you are about learning the history of Hogwarts and considering the majority of young witches like you plan to go work for the ministry I assumed you would be interested."
"Thank you very much Sir. I definitely am. I have searched all the wizarding bookshops I can find for a book about the ministry, surprised I hadn't found one." She said.
"Arr, history of ministry has been classified information until recently. Nobody could write a book without being at risk of being arrested, and nobody wants to find a cell in Azkaban with the name on it for something as small as writing a book." The man explained. Hermione looked around at the other piles of books, searching for that one lost treasure.
"I'll be in the shop, you can keep looking dear." The man walked through the open doorway, and she could hear him serving a customer at the till.
As she carried on looking through the piles of books she came across one which only reached her hip, and on top was a book which appeared to have no title. She found herself instantly intrigued by the book. She picked it up, and felt the ageing smooth leather binding the book. She opened the pages, surprised to see them all blank, but that only caused her curiosity to increase.
She walked back into the shop with the book in hand and waited for the shopkeeper to finish serving.
"What book is this?" She asked, the shopkeeper took the book from her hand and instantly recognised it.
"I have been asking myself that same question over and over again, tried multiple spells but achieved nothing, as far as I can tell dear it's simply a normal notebook." He answered, and handed the book back to her, "Infact why don't you have it, never can have enough notebooks I believe, maybe it can be the start of your own novel."
"Thanks." She said. The shopkeeper rang up the price of her school books, which Molly carried over to her, The History of the Ministry, and put them all in a brown paper-bag along with Hermione's new notebook.
That night as she lay in the bed across from Ginny, she found herself unable to sleep; still she was intrigued by the notebook.
She rummaged through her trunk until she found it, hidden between her clothes. She ran her hand once again along the cover, and opened it up. The pages for a moment stayed stuck together, and once she pried them all apart, she placed the book up to her nose and inhaled, the smell that belonged to all old books filled her nose, and as she turned and saw the red hair of Ginny Weasley she knew what she would be using this notebook for.
Thank you for reading.