Disclaimer: I don't own them. J.K. Rowling does. I only play with them!
3. Harrod's
Hermione made sure she was up early the next morning. She wanted to beat the first students to the lobby. Even if they had been quiet last night, they'd be rested now and she didn't trust a group of excited, impatient teenagers in the hotel lobby by themselves.
Snape was already there, no doubt for the same reason, sitting in one of the black leather chairs reading the morning paper. She looked at him, looked again, then chuckled. He had transfigured his clothing to be blue, dark blue. But it was so dark she would've thought it was a trick of the light if they hadn't had that conversation last night. She'd bet most people wouldn't notice if no one were to point it out.
As he heard her, he looked up and she stopped chuckling just in time.
"Morning, Severus," she said.
"Good morning, Miss Granger," he replied.
"It's… better," she said, indicating his clothes. Well, it was a step in the right direction, she couldn't expect miracles overnight.
Snape looked at her as if he tried to figure out if she was sincere or not. Fortunately, before he could say anything, the lift doors opened again and the first students spilled out into the lobby. Definitely well rested.
Ian High was in front, blue eyes gleaming and his blonde hair unruly as always, followed by his roommate Ricardo.
"You never guess what Ricardo did last night, he turned up the air conditioner and when we woke up this morning we were freezing! "
Hermione grinned but she also held up her hand, silencing them. This was a mistake Muggles sometimes made too, in a strange hotel, but she still threw a cautionary look towards the reception desk.
"We'll try to get some quiet tables in the breakfast room," she promised.
The two boys sat down and Ricardo also picked up a part of the paper.
"Look, football, baseball, all Muggle sports," he said. But at least he kept his voice down.
Remus and Sirius came down, yawning. Neither was a morning person, and Hermione was long glad they made it up, she wouldn't complain about how awake they seemed to be.
Fifteen minutes and almost as many loudly announced adventures later, everyone had arrived and Hermione led the way into one of the restaurants. There weren't many other guests and the room was large, so they did manage to get an entire corner to themselves. Hopefully, any other guests who'd be arriving would take a seat well away from the rowdy bunch.
Most students sat down and looked at their plate, waiting for something to happen.
"It's a buffet, stupid," Arty tactically reminded his roommate, dropping their room key on the table and walking over to the food.
Hermione grinned as Poul muttered "I knew that," and he and the other students got up again. She kept an eye on the line. She showed Lila how to use the juice dispenser, prevented Mary from burning herself when she put a slice of bread in the toaster, all without, she hoped, being too obvious about it. There were a lot of people running around, keeping an eye on the food and refilling empty serving platters. She caught herself wishing for the discretion of House Elves.
Suddenly there was a small clang, a yelp and a clatter. Jumping as well, Hermione turned to find Alicia Ladonna, one of the two Slytherins, who'd stood right next to the toaster, had started when Mary's bread had popped up and dropped her plate. She was staring at the toaster as if she expected a snake to crawl out of it, while the rest of the students, or at least those who hadn't made it to their seats yet, where doubled over with laughter.
Ramon fished the toast out of the toaster and, although he had to juggle it from hand to hand to prevent burning his fingers, advanced on Alicia. "Beware the killer toast!" he said in a low voice.
"Ramon, stop that, she can't help she started," Hermione called him back, trying to keep a straight face herself. That was the problem with her, she always had a hard time to keep from laughing when something weird happened. How did Snape manage to keep scowling all the time?
Speaking of Snape. "What is so funny here?" he asked as he came up to the buffet.
"I just dropped something, sir," Alicia replied. She was a Slytherin but she'd turned bright red and she didn't want to admit a toaster spooked her. Of course there was no keeping it secret when ten other students had seen, but Hermione didn't fault her for trying.
"Come on, those who have food get to the table, Alicia, get a new plate," Hermione said, dispersing the students. A lady from the hotel arrived with a dustpan and Hermione apologised to her.
The lady gave her a meaningful look and a smile. "Kids." She didn't seem shocked, no doubt she'd had mishaps with rowdy groups of teenagers before.
If only you knew, Hermione thought.
Snape remained nearby until all the students had their food, and, with the lady from the hotel this close Hermione was glad for it. He just managed to prevent another spill when Xandra Rain kept pressing the button on the coffee dispenser instead of releasing it.
After breakfast they went to Harrod's. They still had more than an hour before the store would open, so Hermione decided to walk. They would be able to get an impression of the city as well. On the way back they'd take the tube, which was of course something they couldn't skip.
Walking through London was uneventful. They stopped to take pictures in many places, with the Muggle cameras Marian, Katryn and Remus had brought, but they didn't go in anywhere. The passers-by took no notice of them. They arrived at Harrod's shortly after it opened.
"Now I don't want any of you to go off on your own, but if you do get lost, be sure to meet here in front of the store at noon," Hermione told them all. She knew it would be difficult to keep track of the entire group, it was crowded and no doubt some of the kids would want to seek out different areas of the store.
The students whoop'd when they entered the store. Good thing Harrod's was considered a sight to see by the Muggles, too, so while they got a few frowns no one looked at them too strangely. Hermione wouldn't have known how to explain if they'd gone into a regular department store and have all their students act amazed.
They cruised the various floors for a while. The students didn't actually buy much, since of course they had little use for Muggle items. They did stock up on Muggle sweets.
After about an hour Hermione stopped again for a headcount. During this time, they'd stopped a hundred minor disasters. From Carter's loud exclamation the broomsticks wouldn't fly, to Ian's question (directed to the store personnel, which she had specifically told them *not* to do) where they kept the owls in the Pet's department, to Yolanda's quest for color-changing nail polish.
Sirius and Remus were grinning, appreciating the humour of the situation, although they were quick enough to stop anyone who was about to give them away. Snape looked exasperated, and was almost attracting more attention snapping at the students than the students did asking their questions. Most schools in the Muggle world were less strict with their students, nowadays. Hermione herself was satisfied they were still all there, but had to admit she was tiring quickly.
A loud discussion had broken out about where to go next. Most of the boys wanted to go to the Sport's department and the toys, Ian and Xandra wanted to go back to the pets, Alicia, Sirena, Yolanda and Katrin wanted to go to check out the accessories and make-up, and Nathan, Carter and Leroy wanted to go to Photography and get a camera for the rest of their trip.
"We can split up, each take a few of the students and meet at noon," Hermione suggested to her colleagues when it was plain the kids would not agree.
Sirius grinned. "I'll take the boys to Sports and Toys," he offered.
"Figures," Snape replied dryly.
"I'll go to the Pet's department, although I hate seeing them in those little cages," Remus put in.
Well, that meant she'd have to take the girls to the accessories, for she didn't see Snape go with them. She noticed Snape was already calling the boys and it irritated her, even if the arrangement made sense he could at least say something.
"I'll take the girls," she said pointedly. She made sure all those who did not have a particular preference also joined one of their groups, and then went on her way.
The girls swarmed all over the department, picking up and trying on hats, scarves and more.
Suddenly Sirena appeared with a huge, black hat with net and feathers. Together with her long, black hair it made her look like the mystery lady in an 80's movie.
"I want to get this one, think I can keep it on?" she asked.
"It looks great!" Alicia agreed with her friend.
"You can't wear that on the street," Hermione put in.
"Why not? It's a Muggle hat," Sirena pointed out.
Hermione sighed. "Yes, but no Muggle your age would wear that style. And certainly not with jeans."
Disappointed, Sirena took it off, but decided to buy it and have it wrapped anyway.
Katrin and Yolanda returned from the Perfumery in a cloud of fumes, having tried every tester they could get their hands on. Hermione coughed. Whew! She wished for the privacy to do magic against that, but there was little chance of that in the busy store.
Mary had come along with their group as well and was now wearing bright, rainbow colored sunglasses. Not quite unobtrusive but no worse than when Muggles wore them.
With some difficulty, she gathered everyone and they went to the entrance where they'd come in. Waiting inside the store and cautioning the students, who started to look around again, not to wander off too far, she scanned the store for the others. Remus returned with his students, fortunately no one had purchased any animals. She'd forgotten to remind them the hotel might not like it if they brought any in.
"Alicia, behind you! Boo!" someone called out suddenly.
Hermione turned to look. A toaster hovered in mid-air, right next to the Slytherin girl.
Alicia yelped, then quickly turned red again and tried to pretend she hadn't started.
Cursing, Hermione pulled her wand out of her belt. Keeping it hidden as much as possible, she hovered the toaster over to the nearest shelf and put it down next to a stack of shawls. It'd only taken a moment, but she already noticed three people staring at them.
"Mr Andelsson, that's thirty points off, and detention," she hissed, spotting the tall Hufflepuff. "Are you out of your mind?"
"That, I saw..," some Muggle woman was stammering.
"I'm sorry we startled you, Madam," Remus told her. "We're here with a group of students for an illusionists convention, but they know better than to use their tricks to pull pranks on people."
The woman looked at him for a moment. "I'd say!" she said indignantly, then sniffed and briskly walked off. The other two passers-by who had witnessed the incident also seemed to take Remus' explanation at face value.
"And another twenty points off for sneaking away. We looked all over the place for you," Snape said coldly as he approached, the rest of his group in tow. "An illusionists convention?"
Remus shrugged. "It worked."
"I'm sorry," Carter Andelsson said quietly, not so boisterous now.
"I should think so," Hermione told him shortly. That was a lot of points, with Snape's added to hers, but she didn't feel one bit sorry for the boy. Damn, doing magic in Harrod's? She just hoped no one had seen the toaster floating through the store, where was the small appliances department anyhow? Sighing, she gave her thanks to Remus and then, fortunately, she spotted Sirius with the rest of the students.
A/N:
Jana B: Thank you! I think part of the fun of a challenge is trying to do both, getting the requirements in and still writing a good story, but it can be hard. Fortunately, this one has a number of phrases and situations to pick from. The addy for the Whispers version is
Darklady, Raquelos: Thank you!
Arysta: Sorry, Snape isn't going to catch anyone in the halls, that'd be far too easy. Those who're sneaking out are gonna get a lot further before being found ::grin::
Whisper: Yes, you got it, here's 5 points!
Redone: No, it's not a dustbin, sorry. I won't focus a lot on Sirius and Remus, but they're gonna get a few good lines. And yes, they're all reasonably competent in the Muggle world. I'm not sure where they picked it up but I don't think it would be in character for Hermione to take anyone along who's likely to get into bigger trouble than the students themselves.
SaltyJ15: Patience, I'll get there! ;) You're almost correct but not quite!
Spunkz: I'm sorry, I don't get the reference to the pink potato, but thanks for the review!
Rosmerta: Almost, but not quite! Snape will be impressed by some of the things in the museum, but I doubt he'll show it :P
Liesel: Sorry, no laundry drop! And yes, I know I'm not canon. No offence to JKR, but I think it's pretty unbelievable such wizards as Mr. Weasley would be working in a department dealing with Muggle artefacts and yet say 'eckeltricity'. I'm trying to give some credit to Hogwarts as a school and Hermione's predecessor as a teacher. The students are lacking plenty practical experience to get themselves in trouble, but they know the basics!
Usagisnape: also almost correct!
Jessicat1982: Thank you! And no, it's not an ironing board, but you're close!
Woodward: almost again!
Hermia LaFaye: You got it, five points for you too!
Kazza: Thank you! Sorry, not a luggage rack.
Serendipity: Thank you! You're close!
All, it was a trouser press, I guess that was more difficult to guess than I thought, only a few of you got it! Okay, one point for everyone who took a guess, too : )