Chapter 1
Ginny roared across the pitch like a charging lion, knocking two challengers hard into each other with vicious hip checks before faking out the keeper and sailing the quaffle through the left hoop with a lazy flip. Everything stopped as the quaffle was retrieved and the two opposing chasers righted themselves.
"What?" said Ginny, smirking a bit as she looked at her stunned teammates. "What?"
"Damn, Samurai, lighten up a little. This is only practice," said one of them as they pulled their helmet back around straight. "Save some of that for the game."
"Don't worry. I've still got plenty of 'that'," she laughed as she streaked off toward the other end of the pitch.
"I would hate to be her boyfriend," said the teammate to the other hip check damaged teammate.
"You know who her boyfriend is, don't you?"
"Yeah—Harry Potter," stated the first one. "Still wouldn't want to cross her at home. He's probably the only one who has a chance with her."
"I still don't think there is much doubt who is on top and has the best knickers in that relationship," the second one chuckled.
A whistle blew and the Harpie's practice ended a few minutes later. Ginny flew over to where Hermione was standing, watching the practice and reading a book. She hopped off her broom and gave Hermione a firm hug.
"Giving your teammates a bit of a rough time, are we?" said Hermione with a bit of a grin."
"They need it," replied Ginny. "Got to be ready for Falmouth. They play rough. Won't be any love in their hits. At least I put a bit of love in mine."
"Hermione laughed. "That is some tough-looking love, Gin."
Ginny laughed as well. "I guess love hurts, sometimes."
The two of them walked to the outside of the stadium and onto the sidewalk. It was a testament to the skills of the wizarding world that an entire quidditch stadium could be hidden so close to a muggle town without being detected.
They headed to a local restaurant where they could get a warm drink and some lunch. It specialized in soups and salads from fresh, local ingredients.
They sat down at a table to chat near the front window. They had become good friends in the years after the war. But their respective careers kept them apart more than they would like. Harry and Ron also being occupied with auror studies further complicated their social interactions. They treasured these chances to be together for small talk and decompression.
"I still have a closed practice in a bit," said Ginny, taking a spoon and stirring her soup. "No one is allowed in to watch. It should be over by 4:30. We can do things after that."
"That's fine," replied Hermione.
"What will you do until then?"
"I think I will wander through the muggle shops" replied Hermione, picking at her salad and sipping her cappuccino. "I can always find something interesting in them I used to love going shopping with my mom."
"Good. I'll join you for some shopping after the practice. You can show me around the muggle shops. I found a new place for dinner. You're going to love it. They have the freshest seafood. Right off the boats."
"Great. I am tired of Ministry food. The elves there are less than inspired. They make you really appreciate the crew we had back at Hogwarts."
They finished their all too quick lunch with a shared banoffee pie. "See you after practice. I will meet you here about 4:30," said Ginny as she picked up the check and got up to head back to the stadium.
"See you later," replied Hermione.
Hermione left a tip on the table and walked out of the restaurant. She looked around and decided to go toward the stores to the left. It promised to be a street filled with various shopping opportunities.
Hermione walked down the street while looking in the windows at all sorts of offerings such as purses, shoes, clothing, cookware, gadgets she had never seen before. Then she turned a corner and saw a sign that attracted her like a moth to a flame, a piece of iron to a magnet.
"BOOKS!" she exclaimed in her mind. She had found exactly the needed store destined to hold her interest until time for her to meet back up with Ginny.
"This is going to be fun," she thought as she entered the shop. She had not been in a muggle bookstore since before she left for her first year at Hogwarts. Her parents had taken her to the ones near her home as a child. She used to spend hours in them with her paper friends. This was truly exciting her on several levels.
As she walked past the counter, an elderly man seated behind it smiled and said "Hello" to her. This was like a return to her childhood.
Old memories were soon rushing to fill her mind. There was row after row of shelves filled with books calling to her eyes for attention. The air smelled of paper, ink and glue mixed with hot tea and scones from the counter on the other side of the shop. She was in love. It was all the same as she remembered it. It was so similar, yet so different from magical bookshops. A whiff of amortentia should smell so good.
Looking around, it was like time was standing still. Children were playing and looking at colorful books in the Kids Section. A group of young women were all holding copies of a new novel as the chatted about the previous stories by the author. A gaunt guy with a beard and beret was reading poetry to an enraptured girl with long, stringy, black hair and a body that was about ten pounds short of being skinny.
Walking toward the back of the shop, she suddenly noticed a small section in a part of an aisle. 'Magic Books' said a small, neatly-written sign. She imagined it was always there in bookshops, but that she had never visited a section of that name as a child. Now the prospect of inspecting what the muggle world deemed as magic was intriguing.
The first couple of books she selected featured a lot of card tricks. It relied on trick decks and sleight of hand. Then she looked at ones using a diversion to accomplish the trick. None of it was actually magic. She could do better than all of it with a simple swish and flick of her wand.
One book featured big stage tricks. you could learn to make yourself appear or disappear. You could conjure a lion or tiger. It even showed how to saw another person in half or make then levitate. It was still pretty silly compared to real magic.
Then she saw a slim, black book hiding between a pair of much gaudier volumes. It looked ancient from the outside, almost out of place amidst the others. Maybe it had something interesting in it.
She slid a finger in between the other books and tipped it outward so that she could pull it free. The title was simply four characters that looked like ancient runes. The author's name was Pompeius Dominum.
"What a strange looking book," she thought as she examined the book's unusual artwork and design. The feel of the cover was unlike anything she had ever felt on a muggle book. "This looks like it would be more at home in the library at Hogwarts, maybe even in the Restricted Section of the library."
This was clearly the most interesting book she had found in the section. Her curiosity was peaked. She opened the book only to discover that it was written in Latin. "Really," she thought, starting to close it when the words magically transformed into English. Welcome, Adventurer. Enjoy the wonders of"… she was then confronted with the same runes as the cover.
She dug into her Burberry and pulled out her copy of Spellman's Syllabary. The first one she found was the second rune. It was Othala or Odal. It gave an O sound and could represent riches or inheritance. Her second find was the first rune. It was Zaman, which represented a quest.
Raidho was her next find. It meant a journey or adventure with heroism and discovery. The last rune was Kenaz which was the torch of knowledge and enlightenment. All of them were listed in the obscure or uncommon section.
"We never studied any these in Ancient Runes class. Zaman Othala…It's the title of the book. I wonder what it all means? It is like it is saying you are going on a quest to find treasures or something. Zaman Othala Raidho Kenaz."
Everything suddenly got blurry, like when you apparate, then darkness swallowed. As she came back around, she felt dizzy, almost nauseated, like the time she had innocently consumed too much mead before she understood the effects of alcohol on the brain.
"What happened?" she thought, a bit of fear in her mind. "This isn't the bookstore. I'm outside. How did I get here? Where am I?"