DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTER OR IDEA FROM HARRY POTTER!
There was a shuffle of footsteps. Hermione's eyes flew open. Where am I? Where is my wand? Harry? Ron? Then everything came back to her. Time traveling back to 1975, becoming a Gryffindor student as Hermione Rose. Hermione sat up and looked around. Luna was wearing a dark blue jean jumpsuit and some green radish earrings. She had her long wavy hair in a ponytail and was sitting on the edge of her bed, putting on her red, almost knee-high Converse All Stars. Hermione thought she looked a bit like a construction worker but had to admit that the seventies style fit her well. When she noticed that Hermione had woken up, she smiled. "Morning Mione." Hermione mumbled something while looking through her clothes, choosing a white fringed tank top and some black flare jeans. She then put on some black leather sandals and started fussing over her hair. Her hair was a wild mess of curls, but she had decided that this time she wasn't going to try and straighten it. Luna cleared her throat. "Er… Hermione. Just so you know; it's 7:30." Alarms went off in Hermione's head. She immediately went to Ginny's bed and wrenched the covers away. Ginny shivered but stubbornly continued to sleep. "I'll get the bucket." Luna said, happily resigning to help as Hermione opened the windows. When Luna came back with the bucket full to the brim with ice cold water, together the two heaved the bucket up and let the water splash down onto Ginny before hurrying to the opposite side of the room. A roar came from the bed as Ginny flailed around, trying to get at the person that had disturbed her slumber. "Ginny! Oh for heaven's sake, it's almost 7:40!" Ginny stopped halfway through her punch and started running around the room like Peeves on a sugar high. Hermione and Luna helped her as much as they could, but only after Ginny had apologized for hitting them.
By 7:45 Ginny was dressed in a light blue sleeveless turtleneck top, white shorts, knee-high lavender socks with snakeskin print heeled boots. "I know you like your fashion Gin, but don't you think you've overdone it this time?" asked Hermione, peering at the snakeskin boots. Ginny rolled her eyes. "It's. The. Seventies, Hermione. Anything and everything goes." And, grabbing three grey cloaks in case of rain, they ran down to the Great Hall. Ginny whimpered when she saw the golden honey covered pancakes, but resigned to grabbing two pieces of toast, and the three girls ran up to Dumbledore's office. He was standing outside of it, waiting. "Ah, good morning!" He smiled and turned to the Gargoyle. "Cauldron Cheesecake." The Gargoyle jumped aside, and the spiral stairs started moving upwards. The headmaster's office hadn't changed a bit. "Now, when you want to come back, say 'Dumbledore's office'. You should be back by nine pm, which is the curfew of this school," the girls nodded. "Thanks, Professor Dumbledore," Ginny said cheerfully and made her way to the fireplace. She took a pinch of floo powder and threw it into the fire, turning the flames an emerald green. She stepped inside. "See you guys there! Diagon Alley!" With a roar she disappeared up the chimney, followed quickly by Hermione.
Luna stepped towards the fireplace. She was about to throw a pinch of floo powder into the flames when something caught her eye. It was a pensive, currently showing the face of Tom Riddle. A Tom Riddle that was smiling. Ignoring the feelings that came over her, she quickly threw the floo powder in, and with a shout of "Diagon Alley" over the roar of the flames, she spun out of Hogwarts into a mix of fireplaces. The whirling stopped abruptly, and she almost lost her balance. She gracefully stepped over a sprawled Hermione. "Honestly, you should have gotten used to floo powder, 'Mione. We've been using it forever!" Hermione was about to reply that she was muggleborn, after all, and that floo powder was the next to worst kind of transportation after flying brooms, when she noticed a few people looking at them. "Well, Luna, I still don't like it. You know I haven't had a good experience with floo powder." Ginny giggled but helped Hermione get up. "Oh, yes, I remember that time when you sneezed and accidentally ended up in America with our second cousins!" The three walked towards the secret entrance to Diagon Alley, ignoring the whispers. Though they had joked around, they now transformed into a more somber trio, though Ginny seemed to be having a few difficulties due to the possibility of shopping at her fingertips.
As the wall disappeared around them, Ginny took control. "Right, we are going through every shop that I want to. And if we don't, I will make sure that even more embarrassing stories will be told, and not to any random passerby, either. I might just slip by Rita Skeeter." Luna smiled at the scene, but Hermione looked terrified. "Ok! Gin, do whatever you want. But there's one place we need to go first. Ginny looked annoyed. "And what's that?" Hermione giggled. "Well, Gringotts of course! I know how much you are going to buy, so you're going to need the money!"
They skipped, arm in arm, towards the big white building that housed their money in addition to a few other things. Hermione felt goosebumps on her arms as she remembered the last time she had visited the bank. As they entered heads turned and whispers once again spread like wildfire. The girls, however, held their heads high and walked straight to an open desk. Hermione cleared her throat. "Excuse me," the Goblin peered at her. "We would like to go to the vaults of Hermione Rose, Luna Griffin, and Ginevra Black." The Goblin opened his hands. "And do you three have the keys to those vaults." Hermione's breath caught in her throat. How had she forgotten about the keys?! "Yes." Luna said from behind. She pulled out three golden intricate keys and held them out. The Goblin looked them over before giving them back. "That seems to be in order. Grullclaw!" An old goblin appeared. "Lead these three to vaults 731, 732, and 733." The goblin nodded and lead them down to where the carts were. The ride was almost as long as the ride to Bellatrix's vault had been. They passed through the enchanted waterfalls twice and the roar of a dragon sounded very near by the time they had stopped. When the goblin opened their vaults, Ginny tried to hide her awe as she took in the sight of the large amount of galleons. There was more money than the Weasleys had had in a lifetime.
When they had finally returned to the warm sunshine of Diagon Alley, Ginny burst. "Do you think I took too much?" Hermione and Luna giggled. "No," Hermione said. "We know that you are going to want to add to all of our wardrobes so we decided that those other handfuls are for the things you will beg us to buy." Ginny mumbled about stupidity and how "honestly she wasn't even going to do that" right when she saw Madam Malkins' shop. "Ok. deal. But that means that you must let me buy them! No arguments!" Hermione and Luna looked at each other nervously. It was obvious that Ginny had just gained the upper hand.
Ginny seized them and raced off to Madam Malkins. There were only a few people in the shop, none from Hogwarts. Great, thought Ginny. This meant that there wouldn't be too many problems. She then waited for Madam Malkins to finish with an old witch in a velvety purple robe before practically attacking her. "Right, we need three sets of Hogwarts school robes. We're in Gryffindor, so gloves and scarves would be nice too." Madam Malkins got to work immediately making no comment about who they were, though her eyes were full of sorrow and she sniffed several times while she was fastening black robes around Hermione's wrists.
When they were finished, they paid and set off to the next shop, which happened to be Amanuensis Quills. "Do we have to?" Ginny whined. "Yes," Hermione said determinedly. "Fine, in all the stores where only one person wants to go in, they have to pay for the things they choose for the others." Luna and Ginny grinned from ear to ear. "Deal," they said together. Hermione was soon enveloped in the smell of dusty wooden shelves. She bought a dozen normal quills and one special quill for each of them. For Ginny, she chose a nice swan feather quill with streaks of gold unicorn hair entwined by magic to look natural. Ginny squealed at the quill and promised loudly that she wouldn't break it again, which made a few people look around. For Luna, Hermione chose a quill with the feather of a griffin. Luna smiled at the irony and thanked Hermione. For herself, Hermione chose a Barred Owl feather quill. She also bought about two dozen bottles of refillable ink, which provoked Ginny to ask why they needed to buy so many if the bottles refilled automatically anyway.
When they left the shop, Ginny looked around and gasped. In front of them was a small and simple shop with bags that she had never noticed before. "Oh, Good." Hermione walked in without further delay. It felt like Christmas had come early for Ginny when she saw Hermione Granger-Rose walk into a shop with purses and bags without being forced to. When they came in Hermione had already chosen her bag. It was white leather with Rose gold clutches, and, at a flick of her wand, it could turn into a backpack sturdy enough to hold the entire library of Hogwarts. "Ginny, what do you think?" Ginny looked at the bag and at Hermione. "Who are you and what have you done with Hermione to make her choose the perfect bag for herself?!" Hermione sighed. "Gee, thanks, Gin." As Hermione waited for the other two to finish, she looked outside the window, and gaped. Rita Skeeter was running around Diagon Alley. She hid behind a rack, causing the cashier to raise an eyebrow. Luna, who had decided on a Navy canvas backpack with Silver stitches and gray fringes around the straps, walked over and nodded understandingly when she saw the bug-eyed reporter. Thankfully, she turned away just as Ginny screamed that she had found the bag of her dreams. The perfect sky-blue tote bag with gold clasps. It was the only one of its kind and cost about 52 galleons. "I mean, it's just perfect," she kept saying as she bought it. When they were about to leave, Ginny asked the cashier one last thing. "What is this place called?" the cashier grinned. "Like it?" Ginny nodded. "It's called the Queen's Beads." They thanked the cashier and walked outside. "Now," Hermione instructed, "Open your bags." She then cast an undetectable extension charm. "Let's get rid of these things. She pointed to the shopping bags containing their robes and quills. She sorted through everything and put each thing into the bag belonging to the right person. "There," she concluded. "You happy Ginny?" Ginny was swelling with pride. "Yes, you have finally done one right thing in this world! Now let's go!" and with that she hurried them on.
When they entered Eeylops Owl Emporium, Ginny immediately started fawning over a cute tawny, while Luna made herself comfortable with a snowy owl. "The tawny looks cuter!" Ginny protested. "But the snowy is a reminder of Hedwig!" Luna insisted. "How about we keep both," Hermione suggested, finally resigning to keep both happy. With that they bought the two owls, two cages, and about a dozen bags of owl treats. "Are you sure you can carry all these, madams?" the manager asked. Hermione smiled politely. "Oh, I'm sure we can manage." She raised her wand and cast a charm which made the bags look like they belonged in a doll house. She then picked them up and placed them in to her bag. The manager gaped at her. Meanwhile, Luna and Ginny had put the owls in their cages and had started dancing around the room. "What is it?" Hermione asked. "My tawny's a female and Luna's snowy is a male! They can have babies!" Ginny squealed. Hermione looked at Luna, who shrugged her shoulders resignedly, and sighed. "First off, Ginny it's our tawny and our snowy. And second, we haven't even named them and you're already thinking about them mating? You do know that different species of owls can't mate, right?" Ginny twirled around. "Well, I've already got a name for her and Luna has a name for him too." "Oh?" Hermione crossed her arms. "I get no say in this?" Luna and Ginny looked at each other and giggled. "No, because we have surprise for you. And it's better than finding out our owls' names!" Hermione stuck out her lower lip. "Fine. What is it? Please tell me. Please?" Ginny looked at Luna. "Do you think she deserves to know?" Luna nodded. "Ok. Hermione, guess who's waiting for you in the Magical Menagerie?" Hermione's eyes widened. It couldn't be.
It just couldn't be. Could it? She raced out of the shop and diagonally crossed the street, where she crashed into someone. He was muscular and had shaggy black hair. She didn't have time to look at him clearly, though. "Sorry!" she called over her shoulder. She didn't see the surprise on his face, nor did she see the surprise on his friends' faces. "Mate, birds are getting crazier every day," James remarked. Sirius Black smirked. "Yeah, I wonder why she was running. Oh, look - is that Evans?"
Ginny stormed out of the shop laughing as she saw Hermione run across the street and bump into none other than… Sirius Black. He had shaggy black hair and a flirtatious smile, which was heartwarming as they had very rarely seen him smile in the future after twelve years of Azkaban. And next to him was James Potter. He was the spitting image of Harry, except for his hazel eyes. Ginny grabbed Luna's arm. "Luna, lunalunalunaluna! It's Sirius and James! They're still alive! We're going to meet Harry's parents!" She did a small dance. Luna smiled. "I don't think Sirius had much to do with the conception of Harry, but we should probably check on Hermione before we ask them about their secret love affair." Ginny snapped out of her happy dance. "Oh, right. Let's go." They both ran a little further down the street, Ginny whining because they couldn't meet the Marauders. Luna sighed. "Ginny, we're going to meet them in school! Look at them. They look around our age." This caused Ginny to lapse into another dance.
When they finally entered the Magical Menagerie, they found Hermione already at the counter, excitedly holding a ball of ginger. The manager looked at her worriedly. "No one's ever wanted him." Hermione smiled, "Oh, but I think he's just perfect!" The manager sighed. "Alright, then. But we don't give refunds. If you buy him, he's yours." Hermione beamed. She paid for him and then held Crookshanks in her arms. "Oh, you're a good cat, aren't you Crookshanks?" Crookshanks, who had never been given this much attention or love by anyone, human or otherwise, was absolutely mystified and immediately decided that Hermione was the only person worth saving in this world of evil. Hermione placed the kitten in a wicker basket and gave him a treat. She turned to Ginny and Luna. "How did you know?" They smiled. "We saw him looking at you out of the shop window. Ginny recognized him as Crookshanks," Luna replied. Hermione hugged both of them. She smiled. "One thing though, how can we walk around Diagon Alley with two owls and a cat?" Ginny giggled, ignoring the question completely, and continued to dance. "What's with her?" Hermione asked Luna, resigned to figure out the answer to her previous question herself.
"Oh, we saw you bump into Sirius Black when you were running to rescue Crookshanks from the Magical Menagerie." Hermione eyes widened. "Sirius… Well… I forgot. Wait," her smile widened. "That must mean that Harry's parents are around here, or at least James is." She giggled as a sudden realization occurred to her. Luna looked at her. "Why are you giggling?" Hermione tried to control her disbelief. "In this past, I'm-I'm-I'm James's cousin! My mother and his father are brother and sister. I can't believe it!" Ginny simply gaped at her. "Wait! 'Mione, are you telling me that for the nine years that I've known you, you never thought to tell me that you are JAMES FREAKIN' POTTER'S COUSIN?" Hermione giggled at the way happiness came to Ginny's eyes. "You're going to be Harry's aunt!" Hermione snorted. "Please, Ginny. That makes me sound so old!" They laughed and started to walk out. Hermione stopped. "Wait. What if we were to transport these to a place that all the pets would like. Say… the Gryffindor Common Room!" she smiled as Luna and Ginny stared at her. "How did you connect the pathways? Hogwarts is supposed to be impenetrable." Hermione giggled. "Don't worry. McGonagall also gave me a sort of port key, but for objects. It can only be used today. So, let's bring our friends back home," she lifted a bag that looked like jelly beans, except that they were all neon. She placed one inside each cage. "Regressus Domus," the two owls, along with Crookshanks, disappeared.
Thankfully, everyone's attention was on the shouting outside. The girls looked up. The spitting image of Harry, James Potter was beaming at a girl. The girl was facing them, and, for a moment, she looked away in disgust. Her eyes caught all three girls' attention. They were green. In fact, they were the exact shade and shape of Harry's eyes. Lily Evans. Hermione leisurely walked out of the shop. "Let me have some fun with the fact that I'm his cousin. Please." Ginny and Luna grinned, and stood outside the shop as Hermione strolled up until she was right behind James. "C'mon Lily. Just go out with me!" Lily was about to reply when she noticed Hermione looking at her nails and smiling mischievously. Lily grinned, trusting that this stranger could help her. James took that as a good sign. He was about to say something when Hermione interrupted. "Honestly James, I'm pretty sure that Aunt Elizabeth would not like it if you forgot all about your favorite cousin." James spun around and tackled her. "Mione!" Several hundred memories of similar incidents crept into Hermione's mind. Hermione pointedly looked at Lily, who mouthed a "Thank you!" and snuck off to join Ginny and Luna, who immediately introduced themselves. James and Hermione, meanwhile, had started a tickling fight and were rolling all over the floor. "James, you're choking me." James grinned and sighed dramatically. "Ah, well, it always was my secret mission to kill you and wear your skin to become the second best-looking person in the family. But the problem would be that I wouldn't be the best-looking person anymore, me." Hermione snorted at this. "Yeah. Right, I remember how many beauty and hair products you always had in your room. How's that pimple concealer going? Oh, wait, sorry, I forgot you haven't gone through puberty yet." Laughter came from the small crowd that had now gathered around them. "Well, no. Sorry to burst your bubble, Mione, but I am well beyond the days of voice cracks!" Hermione laughed and then looked concerned at his face.
"James," she scolded. "Have you forgotten how to use Lagla's Amazing Wrinkle Concealer again? They're showing." James looked aghast and stood up. Hermione continued lying on the floor. She cleared her throat. "James," James turned around, panicked. "What? I don't have time to give you a hand, look at these wrinkles. Sirius, do they look alright? I can't believe I forgot the wrinkle concealer!" Sirius joined the act. "James, you look fine, honestly! But look at all MY BLEMISHES!" He threw himself on the street. James tackled Sirius and they tumbled through the streets, until Hermione harrumphed and called after James, "Hey, what about me?!" James grinned and looked at Sirius. Together they ran into her and picked her up, swinging her around and around. Hermione screamed.
"Oh, Yeah. I forgot to tell you," James shouted over Hermione's screams. "Hermione meet Sirius Black. Sirius, this is my cousin Hermione Rose." Hermione laughed and smiled at Sirius, who grinned back cheekily and threw her a wink. Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed even harder. She was spun suddenly into the air and was caught by one of the two. She peered out with one eye. Sirius was grinning at her. "Sorry, love, I couldn't resist." They looked up to see the crowd cheering at the performance. Sirius let Hermione down and all three bowed, before Hermione ruffled up James' hair. He grinned before turning to look around. "Hey, where did Lily go?" He looked over to where Ginny, Luna, and Lily had been, but they were nowhere to be seen. Hermione started to sneak off when she felt an arm sling around her shoulder. "Where do you think you're going, love?" Hermione snorted and wrenched Sirius's arm off her shoulder. "First of all, I am not your 'love'. Second, why do you think that I'd tell you?" she practically sneered at him. For a moment she saw astonishment in Sirius's eyes. She was probably one of the first girls to look at him with such scorn. But he almost immediately changed his tactic. "Really, love? I'm intrigued. What is the great need for secrecy?" Hermione didn't want to barter, so she cut to the chase. "Just get back to James. I might see you at Hogwarts!" Sirius grinned. "I'm counting on it. What house?" Hermione rolled her eyes at his confidence. "Gryffindor, of course."
They both heard James shouting in the distance. In the moment that Sirius looked away, Hermione disappeared. She made her way around the group of people where Sirius and James were standing, and, when she saw them move in the opposite direction, she finally began a brisk walk to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. As she had predicted, Ginny, Luna, and Lily were sitting at a table, giggling and talking loudly. When they saw Hermione, they all applauded her as she bowed dramatically. "That was amazing!" Ginny exclaimed. "Yeah, it was," Lily agreed. "I'm Lily Evans, I'll be in the same year as you lot. Thanks, by the way, for giving me a chance to get away from Potter!" Hermione smiled. "Hermione Rose, pleasure to meet you. And, it's fine, really, I know how annoying he can be if he wants something." Lily was about to start ranting when Ginny interrupted slyly. "Mione, you and Sirius were having quite the time over there." Hermione snorted. "Please. He's as bad as James just in a different way! James has talked about you since year one at Hogwarts. He has relentlessly strived to get you to go out with him. And he does it in an annoying way." Lily nodded and Hermione continued. "Meanwhile, Sirius," she cringed slightly, "Is under the impression that every single female on the world can't resist him and is utterly in love with him. That's what makes Sirius annoying." They all laughed at her explanation, mainly because it sounded like she was a seven-year-old trying to explain to a biologist why things like Photosynthesis made sense. Hermione sat down, ordered an ice cream, and the four girls continued talking for close to an hour.
"Right," Hermione looked at her list of shops. "We need to go to Flourish and Blotts, the most amazing shop in Diagon Alley." Lily beamed at her, but Ginny groaned. "Fine. But Luna and I are going to Gambol and Japes' Wizarding Joke Shop." They agreed to meet back in two hours, as all of them knew that Lily and Hermione would take forever browsing and buying all the books they wanted. The two girls ran over to the bookshop, grinning. After they burst in, they immediately started sorting through which books to buy. Two hours and several surprised looks from other customers later—as Hermione kept stuffing all her new books into her bag without a single complaint about the weight or size of the books—the two girls strolled out of their beloved bookshop, only to come face to face with a tall teenage boy with scruffy hair and several scratch marks on his face. Lily smiled.
"Hello, Remus! We were just in here! Oh, by the way, this is Hermione Rose!" Hermione and Remus Lupin shook hands. "Pleasure, I heard James and Sirius talking about the scene earlier." Hermione groaned. The two laughed at her embarrassment. Then Hermione heard a bang, shouts, and laughter. She looked over Remus's shoulder. The thing Hermione had been dreading to see was jumping her way. Or, rather, two certain troublemakers. Sirius and James raced over to where Remus was still talking to Lily. To her surprise, Hermione saw Ginny chasing the two Marauders. Luna walked out of the joke shop casually, as if nothing was happening, but the gasps and laughs from the audience quite contradicted that fact.
Hermione saw Sirius looking at her with a glint in his eyes. But Hermione had something different in mind. "Colloshoo," she whispered flicking her wand ever so slightly. Just as Sirius and James had slowed down, thinking they had escaped, they found their feet planted all too firmly to the ground. They looked terrified as Ginny stormed towards them. Hermione then whispered, "Finite Incantatem," and Ginny continued to walk thunderously towards them. The boys, not having realized that they could move again, stood completely still in fright. Remus tapped Hermione's shoulder. "And who may that be?" Hermione smiled. "Oh, that's my close friend, Ginny Black." Remus nodded and they turned back to where Ginny was now twirling her wand. "Come on, cousin! Can't think of any spell?" Sirius said scornfully. Apparently, he was under the impression that she was one of those pureblood maniacs of his family. Ginny smiled evilly. She flicked her wand gracefully. Shouts came from James and Sirius as her nonverbal Bat Bogey hex caused snot to shoot out of them.
Ginny turned around, and, seeing Remus behind Hermione, blushed slightly. Hermione and Luna exchanged looks. This was interesting. As Ginny and Luna made their way over to where Hermione, Lily, and Remus were standing, Hermione waved her wand again. Two wands came whizzing towards them. Hermione caught them and handed them to Remus. "There," she smiled, "Your choice." Ginny looked at Hermione, feigning a look of betrayal. "Seriously, you give them to him, not me?" Lily turned to Ginny. "So, what actually happened?" Ginny sighed. "Well, we had just finished buying about a hundred dung bombs, right?" Remus's eyebrows shot up at this but Ginny, ignoring him, continued. "And then, suddenly, those two dunderheads think it's funny to cause about fifty of them to explode." Remus and Lily looked concerned. "Are you alright?" Ginny waved her hand impatiently. "Yeah, the thing is, then, when I whip around to punch them in the face, they're just gone!" Ginny saw Remus shuffling slightly. She smiled a bit. He knew about the cloak, then. "And then all of a sudden, I feel someone poke me on the head, and then I see them running like hell!" They all laughed.
Remus spoke up. "We haven't been introduced yet. Remus Lupin." He held out a hand. Ginny shook it. "Ginny Black, and that's Luna Griffin." Lily cleared her throat. "How about we go to the Leaky Cauldron and get some lunch?" Everyone smiled, but Remus sighed. "I should probably take care of those two." Sirius and James were still flapping around, continuing to attract a lot of attention. Lily smiled. "Then at least give us a head start?" Remus chuckled and nodded. "See you guys then!" He headed towards the two Marauders while the four girls headed off towards the Leaky Cauldron.
After lunch, Ginny dragged them to 'Madam Pimpernelle's Beautifying Potions' and managed to convince both Lily and Hermione to buy a few potions, although, as had been previously decided, she was the one actually doing the buying. As they walked past 'Ollivanders,' Hermione noted that it couldn't hurt to get a second pair of wands, as back ups. She decided to go back over the next few days when she was alone with Luna and Ginny. When they finally arrived at 'Quality Quidditch Supplies,' Ginny stormed right in, immediately buying just about everything in her eyesight. "Come on, Hermione, just one pair of gloves. Admit it! You like flying!" Hermione had to agree that, during her sixth year, she had been secretly learning how to fly, although she still lacked interest in the game of Quidditch itself. After spoiling Ginny, Hermione and Lily insisted on going to 'Slug & Jiggers Apothecary' as they weren't "just here to buy unnecessary objects, but to actually buy supplies for the school year". Finally, when they had finished restocking on potion ingredients, Hermione, Luna, and Ginny said goodbye to Lily, who thanked them again for saving her from James and for making this shopping experience considerably better. On their way back to the Leaky Cauldron, they felt several stares and heard whispers spreading around them like wildfire, once again. Hermione thought she saw a stray dog padding away from her but was unsure; it was getting dark and the stalls and peddlers were starting to close up along the street.
The Leaky Cauldron was filled with people laughing and talking. Hermione smiled but faltered when the room fell almost completely silent. The trio walked over to the fireplace. A middle-aged, short man approached them. "Missus Rose, Griffin, Black, I am so sorry for your loss! Your family is dearly missed." Luna stepped up, because Hermione was looking a bit too awkward. "Thank you for your condolences," She smiled sadly. "It is after all difficult to live every moment remembering-" Her breath hitched. The man nodded morosely. "If you ever need anything, anything at all. Name's Dedalus Diggle." Luna smiled, "Thank you." She then stepped back and, without another word, took a bit of floo powder and threw it into the fireplace. "Dumbledore's office!" Stepping in to the green flames, she vanished with a roar, her friends following in her footsteps.
And there you go! This chapter was, I admit, much longer than the other ones. I would hope to be able to write all chapters as long as this, and more interesting, but, let's face it, that probably won't happen! Please review and thank you, as always, for reading.
-GoldenClockwork