When they eventually got back to Leadworth and pulled up outside Amy's exceptionally large house for a town so small and got out of the car. While Rory got Hermione's trunk out of the car, Hermione prepared herself for what was to come and thinking where to begin her story maybe when she got her letter? Halloween of first year? Would she even mention the danger? Her parents didn't know that's for sure. Hermione was brought out of her thoughts with Rory bringing her trunk up the stairs with Amy following behind.
After everything had been put away it was just Amy and Hermione left (Rory after helping out left to give the two some time to catch up) and they were sat down stairs when Hermione took a deep breath and looked at Amy closely "I have some things to tell you" She started uneasily "Will you keep an open mind?" she finished softly gazing in Amy's direction who nodded her head blankly. "Okay I'm a witch" she said bluntly.
Amy just stared at Hermione in shock expecting April fools even though it was June but Hermione was deadly serious and to prove it (It was the last day of term and the trace on her wand isn't reset until tomorrow) she knocked the nearby vase off the shelf and watched as it shattered, before Amy had time to sputter out any words, Hermione took out her wand and whispered "Reparo!" Amy could only watch in awe as the shattered pieces of the vase magically repaired and sat back on the shelf "Believe me now?" Hermione asked with a slight smirk on her face while Amy nodded faintly and silently asked her to continue.
"Well" Hermione said "I was brought up by Muggle's..."she started but was interrupted by Amy asking "What's a Muggle?"
"Oh, it's just a way of saying non magical person." Hermione finished, she felt like one of the Weasley twins. Satisfied with her answer Amy nodded at Hermione to continue.
"So as I was saying, I was brought up by Muggles. My parents were dentists as you know, both very normal people, so were quite shocked when they found out I was a witch."
"So how did you find out?"
"Oh right, well the school I go to, Hogwarts, they have your name down from birth if you're magical and they send out letters to witches and wizards on their 11th birthday."
Amy looked very skeptical at this point "So what, you get a letter and instantly believe you're a witch?"
Hermione laughed at the look on her cousins face "Oh no, since I was raised by Muggle's the Deputy Head, Professor McGonagall, came to my house with the letter. She let me read the letter and then explained about the school. We had to get her to prove she really was a witch first, of course."
"Oh that was hilarious..." she left in suspense for a couple of minutes "She turned the table into a pig!" Hermione gasped out as she started giggling uncontrollably, before she winced in pain that injury would be the death of her, noticing the wince Amy began "Are you alri-" she never got to finish before Hermione interrupted her "Later" She said clenching her teeth together to ignore the pain "That story will come later, I promise" she finished taking deep breaths and putting a smile on her face which Amy could tell was forced.
"So where were we?" Hermione started again, "Right the pig, So after that Professor McGonagall took us to Diagon alley, the wizarding worlds shopping centre in england, it was breathtaking, my favourite shop was Flourish And Blotts, the book store I think that day I brought 30 books and memorized all my subject books too" Hermione said sheepishly thinking how self righteous she sounded in her first year. "What subjects did you take?" Amy asked wanting to know everything while sounding like a school girl, Hermione laughed at the sheer joy on her cousins face "Well" she said going into 'lecture mode' as Harry and Ron called it, "The core subjects until OWL year are; Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Astronomy, Herbology and History of Magic and when you get to third year you can take either Arithmatacy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies but more on that later" Amy had a confused look on her face "No Maths, English or Science" she pondered "Weird" she finished
"Now here's were the story really starts, I'll do each year up to the present in parts then ill answer your questions okay?" Amy nodded her head and started listening attentively.
"It all starts Halloween of my first year, I was a bit of a know-it all and didn't have any friends at all until the day Ronald Weasley made me cry. We were in Charms class and Ron was getting the incantation wrong and me trying to make friends corrected him, except he didn't like the fact I was clever and called me a nightmare and said its no wonder I didn't have any friends. However what they didn't know was I was behind them and heard every word and before they could ridicule me even more I ran straight to the girls bathroom" Here Hermione paused and looked at Amy "Promise me you'll keep calm" she pleaded quietly, Amy adopted a worried expression and just nodded a feeling of foreboding settling in her stomach.
"So" she continued "I spent the whole of the afternoon missing classes crying in the girls bathroom and I missed the notice of a mountain troll being let into the school" Hermione paused to take a look at Amy who looked ready to faint but kept quiet all the same. "Harry and Ron had noticed that I was missing and came to warn me, unfortunately the troll had made its way into the girls bathroom, where I was."
Amy was ready to hyperventilate so Hermione ploughed on "I was just coming out of the cubicle when I saw the troll and screamed it kept lunging for me when Harry and Ron came through the door. Harry had jumped on its back while Ron, quite ironically, with the spell I tried to help him with and knocked it out with its own club rescuing me and thus the friendship had formed".
Hermione carried on for what felt like hours explaining the things Amy didn't understand like; Quidditch, Harry's fame and Voldemort himself. By the time Hermione got round to explaining her injury (In which Amy wasnt very happy) and what happened during her last week of school it had gotten dark outside and Hermione had gone to make some dinner.
Amy on the other hand, was pale white while thinking about everything Hermione had explained about her world it was dangerous yet she went back for her friends and her education, and Amy admired her younger cousin for that, even with how bad she was injured she still carried on no matter what and for that Amy had never been prouder.
When Hermione came back in, they ate dinner in silence, when that was over Amy beckoned Hermione over; "While my story isn't as exciting as yours, I'm going to tell you anyway. It all began when I was 7 years old, there was a huge crack in my wall. This is the story of the raggedy man and the blue box my imaginary friend"
Little did Amy know her imaginary friend was coming back and was not just going to change her life but Hermione's as well.
