Chapter-2 The Alley

"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus?" Zamara looked up at Hermione with such an incredulous look that she couldn't help but crack up.

As if time travel in itself wasn't such a ridiculous thing, Hermione now had the daughter of Father Time helping her along. If she were anyone else then this would have been the strangest day of her life. But she was Hermione Granger .

"Yes, that is the school motto." Hermione confirmed.

"You know I am tempted to write this off as some white people nonsense... but then I am forced to consider that maybe at some point in time in Scotland , children tickling sleeping dragons was a real problem" Zamara conceded.

Zamara reminded Hermione of Tonks with the easy going energy she projected and the humour that she was prone to inject in almost all conversations. They had spent almost 4 hours together now, Hermione slowly coming to terms with the fact that this stranger was going to accompany her on her adventure.

She did not exactly have a myriad of choices, she was still bedridden from the 'time lag' as Zamara called it.

"Why what was your school's motto?" Hermione asked

"It was something along the lines of 'live fast, die young'" Zamara waved her hands at a wide eyed Hermione to signal that she was joking. "It was 'service before self' actually."

"That's actually a pretty good school motto, where did you go to school? Did you even go to school? What's the education policy on the schooling of the children of deities...?" Hermione was a bit abashed when she realize that her know-it-all self had overtaken a little bit.

"I should've realized that you were a giant nerd... who else would travel back in time 20 years and then choose to go back to school" she chuckled "The answer to your question is in my name Hermione."

Zamara Azana-Krumwell

"OH MY GODRIC! KRUMWELL! YOU WENT TO THE KRUMWELL ACADEMY? WHERE IS IT? CAN YOU TELL ME-"

"Where it is? No, I'm sworn to secrecy... and as far as educating the children of deities is concerned, I wouldn't know either, I'm a deity child of the bastard variety..." she said with a pout.

"Oh I'm so sorry..." Hermione winced, uncomfortable family matters were not exactly her forté , she was suddenly reminded of the summer before her fourth year, when her muggle neighbours had gotten divorced and she had failed to offer any comfort to their distraught daughter.

"Hey it's not your fault that Daddy Clocks can't keep it in his pants." Zamara shrugged

"So... what you're saying is that Father Time impregnated a Krumwell?" Hermione inquired

"Umm nope, Father Time did the dirty with my mother, Afreen Azana, she ended up pregnant with me and had to move to America because 'single mother' does not go down well in the Indian Magic Conclaves, even if you belong to a rich ass family... She met my adoptive father, Elijah Krumwell in New-York and fell in love with him. The rest is history as they say."

There was a long pause while Hermione absorbed this information...

"Wait... so not only is your father, the god of time, your mother belongs to the Azana family, which is practically Indian Royalty and your adoptive father is a Krumwell?" Hermione was pretty sure her eyes were bulging out of their sockets.

Zamara was nodding with a sly grin on her face... "Yeah... I'm verrry rich."

That made Hermione laugh.

"Do you want to get some dinner?" Zamara asked

" Sure, what do you have in mind?" Hermione was starting to feel a little peckish

"Pizza?"

"Yes! Pizza sounds fantastic!"

"Okay great! HEY EZRA" Zamara yelled and Ezra appeared in a ball of flame once again.

"What do you need Mars?"

"We'd like some pizza, because we're starving and also we need you to pretend to be our father." Zamara told Ezra so casually, one would think she was asking for a cup of tea.

And to Ezra's credit, he didn't even blink before he nodded once and disappeared in a ball of flame presumably to get the pizza.

X-O-X-O-X

Hermione was terrified...

Ezra had arranged for Hermione and Zamara to go to Diagon Alley to get their school supplies today, which is the reason why she was sitting in a car outside of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Are you having second thoughts?" It was a little disconcerting looking at Zamara's de-aged face, even more disconcerting was the fact that she still managed to look stylish and confident... Hermione wasn't a vain person but it was deeply unfair that everything from her teeth to her hair was a disaster after the de-aging. Zamara however, still looked perfect.

Deeply Unfair.

"No I'm not... I do have an embarrassing favour to ask you." Hermione couldn't believe she was doing this.

"Umm... I'm helping you change destiny Hermione... What more could you possibly want?" Zamara's tone made it clear that she was joking, so Hermione gathered her courage and just blurted it out-

"Could you please alter my appearance a little bit?" Hermione hated the way these words sounded, her inner feminist was protesting with all her might.

"Hermione you aren't even born in this time, are you worried someone's gonna' recognise you?" Zamara asked, incredulous.

"No... I'm just being a little vain," Hermione admitted, blushing "It's just that, if I have to do school all over again, I'd prefer being a little more aesthetically... pleasant? I'd do it myself but... you seem like an expert"

Zamara had a knowing little smile on her face.

"Okay, here's the deal, you are already aesthetically pleasant Hermione, you have to know that... but I understand that school can be brutal and that life goes out of it's way to be hard on a smart girl, so I'm gonna' give you a little make-over, not because you need it," she cautioned "but because I've always wanted a little sister to play dress up with."

"I feel like I should remind you that you already have a little sister, she lives with your mother in New Jersey." Ezra interjected from the driver's seat.

"Shut up Ezra" Zamara shot back as she waved her hand over Hermione.

Hermione felt Zamara's magic wash over her in a warm, tingling manner, she eagerly turned to the rear view mirror to take in her new appearance and the first thing she noticed was the fact that she still looked very much like herself.

Zamara had smoothed her hair but they were still curly, just more luscious now, her teeth were reduced in size and her complexion seemed a little more healthier.

The most noticeable difference was her eyes... they matched Zamara's now. Ezra caught them in the mirror too and immediately changed his own eye color, which was a bright blue, to a deep brown so that he would match with the girls.

"Brilliant! Don't we make a lovely interracial family! Do you like your new look Hermione?"

"I love it!"

"Then let's go shopping!"

X-O-X-O-X

The Leaky Cauldron was the same in this time as it was in hers... In fact Tom the barkeep seemed older in this time than in hers.

"Wow... I only see about a dozen health code violations in this joint... can't think of a better place for children to pass through" Zamara said in a snide voice as she nudged Hermione to look at a very drunk hag who was having a very passionate conversation with a mop bucket.

Hermione chuckled and led her companions towards the entrance of the Alley. She discreetly tapped the brick with her wand and then handed it over to Ezra while they waited for the doorway to form. The plan was that Hermione would get a new wand so that no one gets suspicious.

The Alley itself surprised Hermione a bit with the ample brightness and cheer, it had not been restored to its proper resplendent glory back in her time.

Before nostalgia could take over and fill Hermione's mind with memories of the first time she had been here with her own parents, Ezra and Zamara had taken a hold of each of Hermione's hands and were now looking at her, expectantly.

"Right, robes first and then wands and then everything else, Flourish and Blotts last so that I can stay there till they close."

'Nerd" whispered Zamara as they set off for Madam Malkin's.

As fate would have it, there was already someone getting fitted for robes at Madam Malkin's and Hermione's heart almost stuttered to a stop when she laid eyes on a happy, healthy and very much alive, Sirius Black, who was eleven years old and positively bursting with mischief.

"Sorry for making you wait ladies, but Madam Malkin keeps coming up with excuses to keep touching me..." He said with a grin and a shrug, making Madam Malkin sniff in outrage and shoo him off of the fitting platform.

God he is so obnoxious... I missed him so much

Zamara chuckled as she took his place on the fitting platform.

"Hogwarts?" Sirius asked as he stood by the counter waiting for his robes to be finished and packed.

"No the other British magical school." Zamara replied sarcastically

"Oooh... I like you" Sirius grinned

"Thanks for the validation that I didn't ask for." She rolled her eyes at him

Sirius then turned to Hermione and asked "Is she always like this?"

"Pretty much" Hermione nodded

The shop attendant handed Sirius his package, he was about to head out of the shop when he turned back, offered a hand to Hermione and introduced himself,

"I'm Sirius Black"

"I'm Hermione Krumwell," she shook his hand and then motioned towards Zamara "that's my half-sister Zamara Azana-Krumwell"

Sirius was raised in a pureblood household so he clearly recognised the name Krumwell but he didn't have a very strong reaction to it, if you were to ignore the slight double-take and the wide eyes that is.

Well there's no turning back now Hermione... this is it.

"Umm... wow... okay... I will see you at Hogwarts then" with that and a short wave Sirius stumbled out of the shop.

"Well... we clearly made an impression on him" Zamara said to Hermione, all while completely ignoring a Madam Malkin who had heard the girls' name and was tripping over herself trying to fawn all over her new clients.

"Clearly" Hermione agreed, thinking once again about her previous life, where she wasn't royalty and Sirius Black was dead.