Chapter 2
Hermione woke up the next morning to an empty house. She went downstairs and fixed a breakfast of eggs and grits and got a glass of orange juice. She was so excited she practically inhaled her breakfast and hurried upstairs to get dressed. She didn't know what to do with her big bushy hair so she put it up in a bun. She picked out a bright blue tank top complimenting her chocolate brown eyes, a pair of her favorite white shorts and blue flip flops to match her shirt. She looked in the mirror satisfied with her outfit and hoped that she wouldn't look too out of place in Diagon Alley.
Before leaving she grabbed her Hogwarts letter that included a list of everything she would need for this school year. She made her way to the bookstore two blocks away. Once she got there she noticed a building that she hadn't seen before. The sign hung on the front door and said "The Leaky Cauldron." She ran inside and flew to the back of the pub. She went through a door that said "to Diagon Alley" and stopped abruptly when she realized that this room just looked like a storage closet. But this has to be it. Where is Diagon Alley? She sat down and began to cry. This was miserable. She was so excited to see this new place and now she couldn't even get there. Maybe there was a mistake. Maybe she wasn't a witch. The letter lied. She sat there and cried for what seemed like hours when in reality it was five minutes. Suddenly the bricks on the wall started moving. She screamed and jumped up from where she was sitting.
Soon all the bricks stopped moving and revealed a busy street with lots of buildings. She wiped her eyes and tried to stop crying. This was it! She thought. Diagon Alley! She was so fascinated by the new scenery that she didn't even see there was a boy in front of her and she took a few steps forward running right into him. "Oh my! I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there. Are you ok?" She asked worriedly seeing that she had knocked him down. She offered a hand to help pull him up. "I'm fine." Said the boy as he reached for her hand and stood to his feet.
This boy was like no one Hermione had ever seen before. He was young probably about her age. He had platinum blonde hair that was slicked back and these beautiful silvery blue eyes. But this was not what caught Hermione's eye first. He was wearing long black robes with emerald green embroidery around the neck. "You're dressed weird." She said not thinking that it might offend him. "As a matter of fact I'm not. You're dressed quite odd yourself." He said not missing a beat. She looked behind the boy and saw the street full of wizards dressed in similar clothing. She definitely would not fit in. "Oh dear. I tried so hard to dress normal and look at this. I still stick out like a sore thumb." She said as she began to cry again. The boy looked at her not sure what to do. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry! Please stop. I'm so sorry, - Er. I don't know your name." He said. "Hermione." She choked out. "I'm so sorry Hermione. Please don't cry."
She wiped her eyes and tried to regain her composure. "I'm Draco." He said. "Won't you let me buy you an ice cream? I feel terrible about making you cry." She agreed and he told her to walk with him to the ice cream shop in Diagon Alley. Hermione looked around in amazement. How could there be this whole street that no one could see. It was beautiful. "So this is Diagon Alley." She said softly. "What Hermione?" "Oh, I just said so this is Diagon Alley. It's wonderful!" She said excitedly. Draco looked at her. "Are you a muggle?" "A what?" She asked curiously not sure whether or not to be offended. "A muggle. It's what we call non-magic folk. Or are you a witch?" He asked.
"Oh I'm witch. I just received my Hogwarts letter yesterday." She said proudly pulling her letter out of her pocket. "I wanted to come to Diagon Alley to get school supplies and read up on Hogwarts. Is there a bookstore here?" She asked excited. "Yes there is. It's just down that way on the right. If you're a witch then how come you've never been to Diagon Alley?" "Well, my whole family is full of witches and wizards, but my parents-" She trailed off. She didn't know if she should tell him that her parents were what he called muggles. "My parents thought it would be good to grow up outside of the wizarding world. I only just found out I was a witch yesterday."
He pointed to a small shop on the left. "That's the ice cream shop." He held the door open for her and they walked in and sat down at a table. A young witch came and took their orders then left the two kids to talk. "So what is Hogwarts like? Is it pretty? Are there lots of things to do? What about the classes? Are they hard? I bet they will be considering I know less than everyone else about magic." Draco smiled at her. "I don't know. My father went there. He hated it. Too many mudbloods in his opinion. I'm not too excited about it. My family is Pureblood. We would never dream of marrying anyone less." He said proudly.
Hermione didn't say anything to this. The waitress brought them their ice cream and they ate in silence for awhile. Draco finished his first. "So you're here to buy all of your school supplies? Would you like some help? I've been here plenty of time and I bought my school supplies months ago." Hermione didn't know what to say. "Well, I could use a guide, but I don't have any money. My parents don't know that I'm here so I couldn't very well ask them for that much money. I only have a few pounds." Draco raised his eyebrows. "Pounds? We don't use pounds in the wizarding world." Hermione's heart dropped. "Oh, well then I guess I won't be getting everything I need today then will I." Draco thought for a minute and then said, "Yes you will. I'll take care of you." She looked at him confused. "But where will you get the money from?" "My parents are rich! I can buy your school supplies for you. It's the least I could do. I still feel awful for making you cry." He said.
Hermione never knew someone could be so nice or for someone so young to have that much money. "That's very sweet of you Draco, but you don't have to do that for me." He smiled. "I know I don't have to, but I want to. Father will never miss the money. It can't cost more than a few Galleons to get everything." Galleons. Curious name for currency. Hermione thought to herself. She finished her ice cream and Draco paid the waitress with some small coins of different colors. There were bronze and silver coins, but he slipped the gold ones back in his pocket. "Well, off we go then right?" He asked holding out his arm for her. She wrapped her arm around his and they left the ice cream shop. She already had a friend in the wizarding world! That was more than she could say for her old school. She couldn't be more excited to get away from that place. The sooner September 1 came the better. There were only 2 more weeks left anyways.
Draco didn't seem to need the list to see what all she needed. He had bought his back in June when he received his letter. They went to several different stores to get cauldrons, robes, a starter set for potions, and the thing Hermione was most excited for: a wand. They walked in the doors of Ollivander's and she saw an older man with white crazy hair who seemed to appear out of nowhere. He greeted them and then looked at them both. "Welcome back Mr. Malfoy. Who is your friend here?" Hermione wondered how they were already acquainted. "This is Hermione. She's going to be in the same year as me!" He said smiling. "She needs a want though. I already have mine as you know." Ollivander held out his hand to Hermione. "Hello Hermione. Are you excited about going to Hogwarts? Of course you are. It's a great school." She shook his hand and then asked. "I am indeed excited. I'm curious. How do I get a wand?" He ran back behind the counter and went down what seemed an endless row of boxes. He came back with two or three in hand. "The wand chooses the wizard Miss- what is your last name?" "Granger." She replied. "Ah yes. Miss Granger. You will simply take the wand and give it a wave. You'll know from there whether or not the wand has chosen you." He opened up the first box and handed her a 12 inch mahogany wand that contained a single unicorn tail hair. She waved it around and the papers strewn on his desk flew up in the air.
"Hm. This isn't it." He said and handed her another wand. "Let's see about this one." She waved it around again and the vase of flowers by the window fell to the ground and shattered. "Oh! Mr. Ollivander I'm so sorry. I keep ruining things in your shop." Hermione said near tears again. "Hermione calm down. This happens to everyone. Almost no gets their wand on the first try. I blasted out all the windows in this place before I found my wand." Draco assured her putting his arm around her to help comfort her. Ollivander came back with another wand. This one was 15 inches and contained a dragon scale and the single tear of a phoenix. Hermione waved it around and a soft golden glow appeared around her and nothing bad happened this time. "I believe Miss Granger you have found your new wand." Ollivander smiled at her and told her that it would be 60 Galleons. Draco immediately reached into his pocket and counted it out. That was more than what he had paid for his wand, but he wanted to help his new friend out.
They left the wand shop and Hermione had forgotten all about the time. "Oh my goodness!" She said as she looked at her watch. "My parents will be home from work soon and they don't know I'm here." Draco frowned. He didn't want to leave his new friend so soon. "Well I have one more stop that I'd like to make. Then I can take you home since you won't be able to carry all this on your own" She nodded and Draco led her to Eeylop's Owl Emporium. She walked in and could not believe how many owls there were of so many different sizes and colors. Draco looked around carefully at each owl before stopping at a medium sized gray owl with what seemed to be pale green eyes. He knew in an instant this was what he had come for. He bought the owl and as they left he told Hermione that it was hers. "I bought this for you, but on one condition." He paused. "You have to write to me from now until we leave for school. I'll write to you too." Hermione felt tears fill her eyes again, but this was because she was happy. "Yes of course Draco!" She threw her arms around him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She pulled back and her cheeks went slightly pink, embarrassed about how forward she had been. To her surprise Draco was still smiling and his cheeks too had turned a light shade of red.
They walked back towards the Leaky Cauldron and made their way towards Hermione's house. For once Hermione was the one who knew where she was going and Draco followed closely behind her. They received a few strange looks from passing adults. They didn't realize how weird it was that two young kids were walking around with cauldrons, owls and piles of parchment and quills. They reached Hermione's house and Draco helped her organize the things neatly in her room. She thanked him and gave him another hug. "My parents will be so mad at me for going off on my own, but I'm so glad that I did." He hugged her back and then looked at her with a new look. Not one he had needed all day. This look was of fear. "Your parents won't hurt you will they?" He was worried for his new friend. "No never! They will just scold me and tell me they are disappointed in me. They might take away my books for awhile, but they would never hurt me." She wondered why he asked such a question. Is that normal in the wizard world? If a child had been bad would their parents use magic on them to hurt them? If so that was just terrible! She didn't want to pry into Draco's life so she didn't ask just yet.
She said her goodbyes to Draco and as he was about to close the door she yelled, "WAIT!" Draco stopped. "What is your address? If I'm going to send you letters then I need to know your address." Draco laughed and told her, "You don't need one. Just write my name on the letter. Draco Malfoy. Your owl will make sure it gets to me." Hermione was excited. "Thanks again Draco for everything! I can't wait til we see each other again!" Hermione shut the door and ran to her room. She looked at all the things she had gotten that day and she never wanted to forget it.
Draco walked back to the Leaky Cauldron. He took his time because he was in no hurry to get home. He hoped that his father wasn't home yet. He was afraid of what he would say after he just ran off that morning. But then again he was glad he had left. If not he would have never made this new friend. She was sweet, kind and compassionate. He didn't want to leave her, but he knew that he had too or else his father's wrath would be ten times worse.
Hermione was just going downstairs to make afternoon tea for her parents because they would be home soon. As she got to the kitchen she heard a car door slam shut and keys jingling to unlock the door. She continued to make tea as if nothing had happened that day and hoped for the best when her parents saw all of the things in her room.
A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! I would really appreciate some reviews on my story thus far. I've only gotten one so far. ): I am still working on chapter three. I don't want to upload it until I get more reviews. (: Love you all! 3 -Brooklyn
