The girl walked down the crowded street in London. Her friend was by her side. The date was the twenty fourth of June, a painful day for the girl. It had been three years since her mother had been killed as she crossed the Millennium Bridge. Her emotions were running high and she barely kept a conversation up, but she liked the endless chatter her friend kept up in order to distract her. She loved her for that.

"Ooh, look at that one, it's nice isn't it…? I wouldn't have anywhere to wear it though! It wouldn't hurt to treat myself I guess… But I don't need it… and we walked passed it about ten seconds ago… Should I go back…? Nah, I'm sure I'll see something else I like…" She said animatedly.

"Can we stop for a quick drink?" Said the girl

"Uh… Sure, next bar we pass, promise!"

"I hope not, I can see the next bar, it's that… dirty place… It always gives me the creeps!"

"What place? I don't see any bars?" Her friend asked confusedly.

"Stop being an idiot! It's right there, "The Leaky Cauldron", let's go in and take a look, maybe it's not too bad?" The girl said unsure and walked through into the bar.

"Where did you go? Come back! Hermione!" The girl screamed. Heads turned to stare at the girl looking for her missing friend.

Hermione stood in the bar full of strange people and regretted walking in. Tom, the toothless barman, gave a greeting to Hermione but she wasn't listening. She let out a scream as she watched a shot of fire whisky float through the air over from one man to another. She attempted to leave but backed into the door and panicked. She fell to the ground as two men approached her to see if she was alright.

Suddenly a burst of light appeared and the two men were forced back. All at once, the magic that had been repressed for years, untrained and unmeasured, burst from her being, shattering glass and throwing the wizards and witches into the walls.

As the blast subsided Hermione fell to the floor and passed out.

Her emotions over her mother were bad enough, but the fear of seeing magic for the first time was too much and drove her over the edge.

She had been hospitalised before for hallucinations. She feared they may be returning, however if they were not that was equally, if not more, terrifying. She had once seen black figures floating across the sky, as had others, doctors had mostly put it down to mass hysteria, one person told another and suddenly they could see it too. It didn't really make sense, but anything to avoid having to believe in the supernatural.

She awoke lying on a table in the Leaky Cauldron. A woman stroked her hair and spoke softly.

"Some healers will be arriving soon, they'll look after you and take you to St Mungo's, then you can feel all better," She smiled down at her. Hermione whipped her head up.

"Take it easy!" The woman said slightly more harshly. Hermione was not about to let any of these crazy people take her anywhere.

"No!" She screamed. She shoved the woman to one side and took off running. Before anyone could stop her she opened the door and disappeared into the busy London street.

She heard her name being called in the distance and saw her friend looking panic stricken and crying. She ran over to her.

"Hermione? Where have you been! I was so worried!" Her friend pulled her into a hug. Ordinarily she would have been mad but on this day she knew Hermione needed her space. Hermione hugged back and tried to forget what had just happened but she knew it would haunt her to her dying day. She would tell no one, she would just be sent back to hospital and that thought scared her more than anything.

"I'm sorry Lenora, it won't happen again," Hermione whispered. Lenora had never been more curious however she did not press the issue out of respect. Hermione had never fallen apart more than when her mother died. She was graduating from school, early of course, and had already been accepted into Cambridge for law with a scholarship.

After her mother died she nearly gave up her scholarship because she didn't want to leave the house. Her father convinced her that she needed to go because her mother wouldn't want her to give up her dreams. So Hermione went but her grades were average for a long time before her brilliance was able to shine through her grief.

Every year she took the fifty minute journey to London to see the site of her mother's death. It was always hard but Hermione insisted it made her feel closer and helped her remember that her mother's death was something of dignity, not her fault and not her will, just an act of unpredictable nature. It made her feel better and worse at the same time.

So she sat, overlooking the place were once sat the Millennium Bridge. Her friend softly rubbed her back as she sat and cried. She stayed like that for a very long time. The sun set slowly and she knew it was time to leave.