March 19, 2017 (Word count: 9,310)

Disclaimer: I practically own none of these. My name is not J.K. Rowling hence I do not own the wonderful Harry Potter and his universe. I have sourced numerous names and details (characters, books, shop names, etc.) from the books, movies, Pottermore and even the Harry Potter Wikia. There are certain excerpts that I have lifted directly from the books (marked with an asterisk*). Numerous terms from other magical worlds have been borrowed and redefined to fit what I want.

Onwards.


CHAPTER THREE: DIAGON ALLEY

October 1990, England

*diiiiiing* *diiiiing*

The doorbell sounds loudly as Lily rings the Granger household. As she hears the lock slowly turning and the door creaks open, Lily mentally prepares herself for the barrage of questions she is likely to receive, as is what she usually faces when she visits the muggleborn households. Lucky for her, she herself is a muggleborn witch, hence she is highly prepared for most of the questions.

"Hello, good day! I'm Lily Potter, I am a professor at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'm looking for the Grangers. We sent them a letter earlier this month for their daughter. Am I at the correct house?" she introduces herself with a pleasant smile as the door fully opens.

"Oh hello Professor Potter, I'm Helen Granger, you're here to meet with Hermione? We saw your letter and we sent out our reply through that owl you sent but we weren't sure when you were planning to visit us. Anyway, please come in! Let me just call on Hermione. I think she might have been finishing up some work for her Calculus class," Helen replies while ushering Lily inside the house.

"I'm sorry, did I hear you correctly? I must have misheard you but I thought you said Calculus? From what I can recall, Calculus is a course taken by more advanced students and Hermione should be in middle school," Lily asks with her brows scrunched up in confusion. Although she never attended muggle school past middle school, Lily was quite sure that Calculus was beyond what a normal 11 year-old student would study.

"Yes, Professor, Hermione is currently taking up Calculus as she is a child genius. Has been recognized as such for years. I hope that won't be a problem should she choose to enter your school," Helen responds.

"Please, call me Lily, and no of course it wouldn't be a problem, Mrs. Granger. I was just surprised as we have a class called Arithmancy in Hogwarts which is very similar to the different Math subjects that muggles would study in school. However, that is only for NEWT Level students, and if Hermione is currently taking up Calculus, we may have to move her up for some levels in Hogwarts as well. I do hope you choose Hogwarts. Is Hermione looking to studying elsewhere or just continuing her muggle studies?" Lily hurriedly replies.

Lily knew that unlike those who were raised in magical households, particularly those with parents who previously attended Hogwarts themselves, most muggleborn witches and wizards tend to ask for other options outside of Hogwarts despite having sent an affirmative response to the acceptance letter. After all, it was common for muggles to look into various forms of schooling, why shouldn't they apply the same concept in magic school and look for other choices? With that in mind, Lily knew has to make sure that Hogwarts gets this obviously gifted child to join the incoming batch of first years.

'She might even end up in the same house as my Harry,' Lily briefly muses as she considers the woman next to her.

"Feel free to call me Helen, Lily. We were really more of wondering where Hogwarts is located exactly? If it's too far away, we were hoping to look into more magical schools which may be nearer to home. We really wouldn't want Hermione to be too far away from us," Helen replies. Although, of course Derek having attended the same school, they already knew where Hogwarts was located and that it was similar to a boarding school wherein nine months of the year, Hermione would have to stay in the school. Nonetheless, Helen insisted that she play the part of the typical parent who would have a lot of questions when presented one option. Besides, she wanted to have some sort of fun, after all.

"Yes, of course I understand that Helen. Is Mr. Granger in the house? It may be better if I explain everything to the both of you," Lily replies.

"Oh, Derek is out of the house with our son. I think he mentioned something about fixing the store actually. We have our own business you see, but it's mostly dealing with exports," Helen briefly explains. In truth, she knew that Derek was currently out of the country on a new mission. After agreeing to take in Hermione, they had agreed among themselves - his cousin included - that it would be better if Derek somewhat disappeared from the wizarding world. While it would be no problem for Helen to immerse herself solely in the muggle word, she knew that Derek would likely become restless in giving up a world he grew up in. As such, they compromised and as he resigned his position in the Ministry of Magic, he sought employment where discretion was held in the utmost importance. He then ended up working under the employ of Gringotts Wizarding Bank where the goblins did not care that he was disowned from his House. They also did not care that he specifically requested that he not work on accounts that deal with magical humans but rather preferred to work with other magical beings such as Werewolves, Veelas, Goblins, Vampires, and the like. "Hermione! Come down here for a moment please! Professor Lily from the Hogwarts School is here to discuss the letter you received last week!"

"Finally!" Hermione exclaims from her room. Quickly but quietly, Hermione sets aside her books on Calculus and grabs her acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While her memories have returned about her parents and among those memories included conversations about said school, she was far too young to have discussed other important items about the school.

"Good morning Professor!" Hermione greets Lily as she enters the room despite Lily having her back turned to her. As Lily slowly turns around to face Hermione, she takes the time to observe the young girl who she assumes she will one day meet in a Hogwarts classroom. Having fully faced her, Lily gets a strong feeling of familiarity but shrugs it off, thinking that it was perfectly normal for her to see a similarity in the young muggleborn - she has handled a lot of muggleborns after all. Lily stretches out her hand in greeting, "Nice to meet you, Hermione. I am Lily Potter, I teach the Elemental Magic class in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Your mother tells me that you have received the acceptance letter? I'm sure you have questions and I'm here to explain everything the best I can."

"Yes, I'm really glad you're here, Professor. I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask as the letter wasn't very informative," Hermione replies. "Well to be honest I have dozens of questions but I was hoping you'd give me an overview of the wizarding world as a whole and explain Hogwarts as well?"

"Well, to begin with, you should refer to our world as the magical world rather than the wizarding world since there are many other magical beings part of our world that are not human beings hence we don't call them witches or wizards," Lily responds with a slightly amused smile as her prediction of having to face dozens of questions from the muggleborn was on the spot. "Also, while in general we refer to magical human beings as witches or wizards, we actually have a system of ranking to determine the magical prowess of a person. There are seven levels in our ranking system. First off are the Muggles who do not exhibit any magical powers at all. These would be like your mother and father hence why you would be what we call a muggleborn."

"Actually, Professor, Aunt Helen isn't my mum. She's my aunt. So even if they are both muggles, I can do magic so I'm a witch, right? But where did I get my magic? And does that mean Marcus will not have magic like my aunt and uncle or will he be like me and be a muggleborn wizard?" Hermione cuts in through Lily's explanation.

"My apologies, Hermione, I wasn't aware that Helen is your aunt," Lily responds while deciding not to ask about the girl's biological parents. If Helen did not bring it up herself, as a muggleborn herself, Lily knew that likely Helen was the legal guardian of Hermione. As such, the young girl's biological parents were likely deceased and as next of kin, the Grangers likely took in the girl and raised her as their own. "And yes you are a magical being, a witch, if you will. Although as I said, there are ways to determine your magical prowess and rank you accordingly. So far, we do not really have an explanation how muggleborns gain their magic. Some speculate that likely if you can trace your roots back to the old generations, there are likely squibs in your family. Squibs are those who have magical parents but have very little to no magical capabilities. They are basically Muggles as well but they do have the ability to see and interact with magical items, destinations, and such. They cannot really do magic themselves, but they can feel or sense magic."

"Oh.. But will Marcus be a wizard too?" Hermione asks again. Since Hermione already remembered the truth about her biological parents and her supposed legal guardians, she was sure that Marcus was indeed a wizard. But of course Lily didn't know that so Hermione figured that she might as well see how Lily would answer her question.

"I'm sorry, who is Marcus again?" Lily asks but turns to address Helen with her question.

"He is my son. He's turning eight later this year actually," Helen replies with a smile thinking about her sweet Marcus.

"I see. And has he displayed any accidental magic? I would say that starting at seven years of age, most magical children would start displaying accidental magic," Lily says.

"Honestly, I'm not quite sure. Even with Hermione here, I never really noticed any strange occurrences that I would describe as accidental magic," Helen responds truthfully and not without a little bit of worry. Now that it was brought up, she had actually never really noticed that Hermione displayed any accidental magic. She wondered if it could do with their bloodline or the like. 'I may have to ask Derek about this," Helen silently muses to herself.

Meanwhile, Hermione thinks back to the things she has been able to do that never seemed to have a logical explanation. They were little things that she never gave much thought to. For example, as an athlete, she has taken to running around the neighborhood. There has a number of times that she would forget to refill her water bottle but during days that she was exceptionally thirsty, her water bottle always seemed to fill automatically, as if it were magic. Hermione decides not to speak up in front of Lily, instead perhaps she will bring it up with her aunt and uncle when they have the house to themselves.

"Okay then, it may simply be a case of you not noticing little things that Hermione did or that her magic chose not to manifest itself outwardly in the presence of others. There are many possible explanations for this and this is certainly not the first case wherein a muggleborn did not display any noticeable accidental magic. What's important is that Hogwarts recognized that Hermione is magical and thus was offered a place in the school," Lily replies calmly.

"Did you just say Hogwarts recognized Hermione? You mean the school itself?" Helens asks in slight disbelief and confusion.

"Ahh. I understand you may be a little confused Helen, but rest assured it was Hogwarts herself that recognized Hermione. You see, Hogwarts is somewhat sentient to an extent. The Four Founders infused their magic to Hogwarts Castle before they left us and one of the rooms that have come to existence is what we call the Registry Room. In this room you would find the Book of Admittance. It's a rather thick black book bound by dragon-hide where each magical child who has magical prowess is listed down by the Quill of Acceptance. Eventually, it based from this list that an acceptance letter is sent by the time they reach their 11th birth year," explains Lily. She waits for Helen to nod her understanding before she goes back to her explanation.

"Now as I mentioned, there are seven rankings and I've explained Muggles and Squibs. After Squibs are the Wizards or Witches. These are those who are able to do magic using a conduit, normally a wand and do charms, curses, transfiguration and the like. Imagine them as your standard magic user. They are then followed by Warlocks. If you notice at this point we are not gender specific. To be honest, I never quite found out why. But going back, Warlocks are ranked higher than Wizards and Witches as they are not only magically stronger but they tend to be more learned in certain aspects such as dueling and martial magic. Then after Warlocks are Sorcerers who are really both magically and physically strong. They take to magic easily and tend to do dual wield wands. And then we have the Druids. There are very few known Druids. Currently you have our Headmaster. If you noticed from your acceptance letter, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore is a Level 3, Druid. Druids are known to do wordless magic and some wandless magic as well. And finally the Mages. There are currently no known Mages. The last known Mages were Merlin and Morganna. From my understanding, Muggles are aware of both of them although I think they are considered as part of their myths and legends. Sadly, no one has been able to rise to a Mage status. You see, it's not just about training and practicing. You also have to have the innate talent or magical capability to reach a certain level. That's partly why there are conflicts about purity of blood and all be told, your magical ranking is not something you should advertise since although you may end up impressing others, it also exposes you to people possibly identifying your weakness. But let's not worry about that now. Are you both following me so far?" Lily finishes.

"Yes," both Grangers answers in the affirmative. "Is there anything else we should know?" Helen continues.

"Well, you should also know that within those seven rankings, well at least from wizards and up, you are still ranked into three levels before rising to the next rank. Also, eventually you'll come to realize that most magicals have certain specialties. These are ranked too but as you're only starting Hogwarts, there really is no need to worry about this yet," Lily replies smiling kindly down at Hermione. "For now we should proceed to Diagon Alley where we can get all your school items. Shall we?"

"Actually, Professor, I would also still like to know about other schools. In all honesty, I also received a letter from another school called Beauxbatons Academy of Magic," Hermione says. "It had a similar list of required items and I was wondering what the difference in curriculum is and where both schools are located."

With this, Lily momentarily remains speechless. While she had encountered multiple muggleborns enquiring about alternative schooling, she had never had one who was actually invited to attend another school beside Hogwarts. Blinking owlishly, Lily turns to address both Grangers, "Beauxbatons curriculum is very similar to Hogwarts actually as all magical schools' curriculums need to be approved by the International Federation of Schools. The difference in booklist is more because of the preference of the professors rather than a difference in curriculum. Was Hermione born in France perchance? Beauxbatons is actually located in France, people says somewhere in the Pyreness but the exact location has been highly protected by its students and faculty. Usually magical beings are listed down for schools based on a number of factors. It could be based on where they are born, their nationality, their parents alma mater, or even simply because magic chooses it to be so."

"Ahh. I could not be sure. I could check her birth certificate but to be frank I'm not too keen to sending Hermione off to France. But Hogwarts is where exactly?" Helen responds.

"Hogwarts is in Scotland and can be reached by train." Lily replies with a smile. "Are there other concerns?"

Truth be told, Hermione would have preferred going to Beauxbatons as she quite clearly remembers her childhood best friend, Fleur. But alas, she recalls the bedtime stories of her parents going to Hogwarts and that they were excited for her to attend the same school. Given this, Hermione shrugs in reply and turns to her aunt. "I don't have other questions for now, Aunt. How about you?"

Helen turns to Lily and says, "I don't have any pressing concerns at the moment other than to know where this Diagon Alley is and how do we get there?"

At this, Lily grins widely and takes out a small piece of ribbon from her pocket.


Charing Cross Road, London

"Ooof!" Hermione and Helen stumble slightly as the three ladies suddenly appear just off Charing Cross Road, London where a pub called the Leaky Cauldron was well known among British Magicals.

"Jesus that's useful! What's that again?" Helens asks Lily as she helps Hermione steady herself.

"We're here!" exclaims Lily happily pointing to the Leaky Cauldron. "We used a Portkey to get here and now we have to pass through the back side of Leaky Cauldron so we can enter the major shopping district here in Britain."

"Sorry, where exactly is here?" asks Helen while squinting at the direction where Lily was pointing at. As a muggle, she was aware that there may be items she cannot use and places she cannot see that only beings that are able to do magic can use and see. Looking towards where Lily was pointing, Helen could only see what appeared to be an abandoned building with old police lines that was likely placed there ages ago during a crime of some sort.

"Apologies Helen, I forgot to give you these. Here wear this," Lily apologizes as she hands a necklace with a single pendant to the other woman. "This is a charm that is meant to allow muggles to see places that are supposed to be hidden from muggles. It basically negates the anti-muggle wards placed in a location. The only other way for you to see warded locations would have been to maintain skin contact with a magical being."

Pushing the door to the bar open, Lily ushers both Grangers in and solidly shuts the door behind them. The Leaky Cauldron was nothing special and certainly not what one would describe as pleasing to the eye. Still it was quite popular and frequented by most magicals, and not just to get to Diagon Alley behind it.

By the bar stood the bartender called Tom. Tom was quite bald and would remind you of a toothless walrus if nothing else. Nonetheless, he was a pleasant enough host and nodded in greeting towards Lily and the Grangers. He was familiar and used to Lily coming by bringing muggleborns through his store by now. The three ladies nod back in greeting but doesn't waste time to dart across the pub to reach the backdoor entrance.

Upon exiting the dingy pub, Hermione found herself facing a rather tall brick wall. As she was about to ask if there was a door somewhere, she noted that Lily had already brought out her wand and was muttering under her breath.

"Let's see.. hmm.. three up.. two across.. Right, got that. Here we are Hermione!" Lily cheerfully calls out as she taps the wall three times with her wand. Seemingly tapping specific bricks above an ordinary trash can. As her wands taps the third brick, there was a slight shaking as the bricks were suddenly moving to form an entryway. In a matter of seconds, a large archway appeared where the wall was, large enough to let a truck go through. "Welcome to Diagon Alley, Hermione!"

Although Hermione could remember having gone to strange shops back when she was younger and staying at France, she could not remember having visited Diagon Alley before. Hence, she stared in awe at the large archway before taking a few steps forward to focus on the cobblestoned street which seemed to twist and turn to many directions. Peeking over her shoulder, Hermione noted that the archway was rapidly closing off hence cutting off her view of the Leaky Cauldron.

Looking to her left, Hermione saw what she thought was a whistling kettle that was whistling tunes she did not recognize along with a brass candle holder with what appears to be one of those electronic candle whose light was flickering on and off. 'Strange,' Hermione muses as she spots the sign over the shop which read Cranville Quincey's Magical Junkshop.

A little further down, Hermione could spot a stack of cauldrons displayed by the window of a shop with a sign over the doorway that says Potage's Cauldron Shop and in even smaller print, Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible. She briefly wondered how a cauldron could be collapsible but she figured her future professor would likely be able to explain it to her when the time comes. Meanwhile, towards her left, Hermione saw what appeared to be a pet shop of sorts but all she could see displayed in the windows were owls. Squinting at the small sign by the door, she read Eeloyps Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy.

"Hermione, c'mon now, we need to go straight ahead to the bank," Lily calls out from a few stores ahead. While Hermione has been busy looking at the shops closest to her, Lily and Helen had started walking down the path towards the bank.

Looking towards Lily and Helen, Hermione notices that they are walking towards the direction of a startlingly tall white building with bronze doors that loomed over the other shops in Diagon Alley. In great big bold golden letters (and to be honest she had the inkling that the sign might be made of actual gold), read the sign Gringgot's Wizarding Bank. Walking faster to catch up to Lily and Helen, Hermione decides that she will take the time to look at all the other shops after they've gone to the bank.

Upon reaching the bank, she notices what appears to be a guard standing by the great bronze doors. Standing roughly 4 feet tall, dressed in a uniform of scarlet and gold, and armed with what appears to be a spear, what Hermione found striking was that the guard did not appear to be human. The guard had pointed ears, a beard, quite long fingers and feet, and had rough skin which seemed to be an unusual shade of peach.

"Gringgot's is run by Goblins. They are mighty warriors and quite amazing with money, if nothing else. But I have to warn you that they can be ruthless. Sadly they are considered as magical creatures rather than the magical beings that they should be recognized as. They are sentient, much like us, and we trust our money with them! You'd think the Ministry would find this as reason enough to consider them as our equals," Lily explains quietly but not without passion to both Hermione and Helen.

Helen seems bothered upon hearing this, especially since she has not heard such complaints from Derek who has been working with the goblins for the past years. On the other hand, Hermione simply nods as she remembers stories that her mother has told her as a child and so she understands that there are still a lot of conflict in the magical world when it comes to rights and equality. Moving forward, they are met with yet another set of doors, albeit this one was smaller and made of silver. On the door, one could see engraved words that were hard to miss:

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn,

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there*.

"That seems to be quite ominous and harsh. What exactly do they have down there besides gold?" Helen asks.

"I'd reckon all sorts of dark creatures. At the very least a dragon," Lily replies nonchalantly. "Right then, let's go on inside."

Walking straight to one of the assistance desks, Lily proceeds to greet the goblin acting as a bank teller. "Greetings teller! We're to exchange some pounds to galleons and perhaps open up an account."

The goblin looks up to Lily, eyeing her critically. "And this account is for whom?"

"That would be for the Grangers behind me," Lily replies, maintaining her pleasant attitude towards the goblin as she simultaneously gestures towards and motions for Helen and Hermione to approach the teller.

The goblin teller looks up to see Helen and Hermione and with a tilt of his head says, "Indeed. Well human, money is personal business. I shall talk to the Grangers alone now," in obvious dismissal of Lily.

Although Lily thought this to be peculiar for a simple conversion transaction, she was also quite used to the strict demands of goblins when it comes to their money and so tilts her head in acknowledgement and turns to the Grangers. "I'll meet you both outside. I also have some matters to attend to while I'm here. I'm thinking in about half an hour or so?" Upon seeing Helen nod, Lily rushes out of the bank to attend to other important matters.

As Lily finally left, Helen turns to the teller and formally greets him, "Greetings Goblin Teller. May your gold flow freely as your enemies fall."

The goblin is startled but quick to reply, "And may your family thrive as your gold grows in number." The goblin takes a moment to observe the Grangers who he initially assumed to be a muggle and muggleborn who were both stepping foot in Gringgot's for the first time. "I am glad that some magical humans are still familiar with our greeting. I am Bank Teller Bogord. How may I help you today?"

"Good day, Bank Teller Bogord. I am Helen Granger, and beside me is my niece. I am not magical rather I am a muggle and my niece here is thought to be a muggleborn, but I assure you is not. Further, I believe you know of my husband as he works under the employ of your bank. You may know him from his legal name but his pseudo name is Derek Granger," Helen replies curtly.

"So Lady Granger, you are not here for conversion then? Distorter Granger has his own vault here and I assume you have the key and was given access?"

"While I do not need conversion of muggle money as I do have the key and access to my husband's vault, I would appreciate to know how the money conversion and system works, Bank Teller Bogord. Also, my niece's parents likely left her a trust vault, she would like to gain access to this. If I am not mistaken, blood may be drawn to prove her claim," replies Helen.

Bank Teller Bogord brings out three coins and places it in front of him. "One golden galleon is made of seventeen silver sickles. One silver sickle is made of twenty-nine bronze knuts," he explains as he points to each type of coin. "Also, 50 pounds equals to one galleon. Now for your Young Lady Granger's trust vault, please follow me to the Inheritance Room to check if she has a claim to any of the vaults."

Having gotten a purse full of galleons and proving her lineage, Hermione happily exits Gringgot's with Helen. Together they head for Lily who was sitting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour a few shops outside of Gringgot's. Upon reaching her, Hermione notes that there is a small boy sitting next to Lily who appeared to be more or less her age eating a large ice cream cone.

"Hello! How did you do in there? I hope the goblins didn't give you a hard time?" Lily asks in slight worry. She knew that goblins can be quite intense and intimidating, especially if it's the first you interact with them.

"No need to worry, Lily, we're fine and we got money right here," Helen reassures Lilly and pat her purse to further indicate that they were able to get money from Gringgot's. "Now who is this strapping young lad?"

The boy looks up upon hearing the query and smiles shyly at two ladies. As Lily gently prods the young boy, he proceeds to stand up and greet them, "Hello, ma'am. I'm Harry! It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Harry here is my son. I hope you don't mind that he will be joining us for the rest of the trip. My husband came by and dropped him off with me since there was an emergency he needed to attend to," Lily says.

Helen waves off Lily's concern and chuckles at the young boy's shy greeting, "Hello there Harry. I'm Helen and this here is my niece, Hermione."

"Hello Harry, nice to meet you," Hermione says as she extends her hand to Harry. "I'm going to Hogwarts next September. How about you?"

"Oh, me too! Are you here to get your school supplies? Isn't it a little early? Are you even 11 yet?" Harry shoots of questions rapidly, seemingly losing his shyness quickly upon hearing about Hogwarts.

"Yes, I got my letter last month. Apparently I missed the cut-off mark since my birthday is on September 19, so I'm off by a few weeks. I'm told I would be one of the older ones in our batch. How about you? When will you get your letter?" Hermione replies and asks her own questions.

"I'm turning 11 next July!" Harry replies excitedly. "I can't wait to turn 11 and get my own wand! I'm hoping my mum lets me get my own broomstick though since I really want to start training to join the Quidditch team. I'm sure my dad would support me but my mum worries."

"Quidditch?"

"Oh yeah, you're a muggleborn, right? Sorry forgot you don't have that. It's one of the wizarding sports we have! You have three types of balls - the Quaffle, two Bludgers and the Golden Snitch. It's all exciting but you should read Quidditch Through the Ages so that you can get a detailed explanation. Mum is calling for us so I can't really explain it now." Harry says in apology.

"C'mon you two! We need to get going!"

"Coming mum! C'mon Hermione we should catch up to them!" Harry laughs as he runs after his mother with Hermione not far behind him.

"So you got all your books then?"

"Yes, Aunt Helen. I've gotten all eight required books and I hope you don't mind but I grabbed Quidditch Through the Ages, Hogwarts: A History, and Curses and Counter-Curses as well."

"That's no problem, Hermione. I knew you would grab a few extra books, as you always do," Helen replies with amusement to her niece. While Hermione would always be a little bookworm, Helen was glad that her niece seemed to still hold an interest in sports, evidenced by the Quidditch book the young girl was clutching among her school books. Taking a look at the list of books and equipment sent by Hogwarts, Helen notes that Hermione has already gotten everything she needed except for her uniform, wand, and possibly a pet. "So shall we get your robes next, then?"

"It's this way, Helen," Lily leads them down the cobblestoned path towards a rather large store named Madam Milkin's Robes for All Occasions. The store was not overly large in the inside but was spacious enough to accommodate the racks of robes that were on display. The robes were of various cuts and colors and some even looked to be randomly changing colors. Madam Milkin was a stout woman who seemed nice enough and was quick with her work. After measuring Hermione for her work clothes and cloak, she proceeded to try out some of the hats and gloves.


Half an hour later, the foursome was strolling down the street once again and this time heading to what Harry called the second-most exciting store ("Of course getting your wand for the first time is all sorts of exciting but Quality Quidditch Supplies will always be the best, Hermione!").

A seemingly abandoned store with single wand on display by the window, a sign hung by the door stating that they were at Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. And as if to make sure you really were aware where you are, gold letters spelling out Ollivander's were written across the door.

"Actually, Helen, getting your first wand is sort of a sacred passage for all witches and wizards. See the wands chooses its wielder and often it is only done with the wand maker and the potential wand wielder in the room. It's best we let Hermione do this alone. About seven galleons is enough to cover the cost for a brand new wand," Lily gently explains. "And you also already know this Harry James so don't you dare start complaining now."

Helen nods her consent and hands the entire purse to her niece. "Go ahead, Hermione. We'll be waiting for you outside. Take your time though."

Hermione hears the ringing of a small bell upon entering the shop, although looking up she can't find a bell attached to the door. Shrugging it off as another daily magical occurrence, Hermione proceeds to the counter where she hovers slightly before calling out with an uncertain, "Hello?"

"Ah hello, deary, how can I help you? Here for your first wand, I assume?" an elderly looking man says as he comes out from the back room.

"Yes, sir. My name's Hermione Granger and my Aunt Helen and Professor Lily are both waiting outside. Lily said that I should do this on my own."

The elderly man nods in the affirmative and continues to introduce himself, "I'm Ollivander, the owner of this humble shop. I made every single one of these wands," indicated to a large part of the room. "And these other ones were made by my father and his father before him. Now let's see which one of these are yours, okay? Please stretch out your wand arm for me?"

"Sorry, my wand arm?"

"This would be your dominant hand my dear. Likely your hand which you use to write with."

"Oh. Well, sir, I happen to be an ambidextrous."

"Why that's splendid, my girl! Here, here. Try this one then," Ollivander says as he plucks a box out of the shelf and thrusts the wand towards her. "Twelve inches, unicorn tail hair, cedar, fairly stiff. Give it a wave!"

Not without some skepticism on how the wand maker decided that this specific wand might fit her, Hermione gave the wand a quick wave.

And nothing happened.

Just as she was about to wave it again, Ollivander snaps it away from her with a light chuckle. "I guess not that one, Ms. Granger. How about this one? Ten inches, unicorn tail hair, cherry, this is nice and supple."

"No? Perhaps this is better, twelve and three-quarter inches, willow, dragon heartstring."

"Hmm. No, no, that doesn't seem quite right, now does it?"

Having reached a dozen boxes of wands, in the past half hour, Hermione was starting to feel restless and wondering that maybe she would not be getting her wand today. 'Will he ask me to come back instead?" she silently wonders to herself. Sitting down, she notes as Ollivander was going through yet another shelf, with seemingly no known method as to how he was deciding which wand to offer her to try. 'Lily did say this is sort of sacred a rite of passage and Aunt Helen said to take my time, so I suppose I'll be staying here until I get a wand. Any wand, if I'm lucky. Maybe if my parents were here, this would be faster.."

"Aha! Here you go, Ms Granger. I think this might just do fine with you," Ollivander suddenly exclaims as he emerges from one of the shelves and hands her yet another wand. "Dragon heartstring core, vine, ten and three-quarter inches long, flexible. Give it a swish."

As Hermione gave it a swift flick, the wand produced a multitude of golden sparks and she could not help but feel the warmth in her hand. She smiled and turned to Ollivander who was smiling as well. "I think this is it."

"Splendid, Ms Granger! I knew we just had to be a little patient. Although it is peculiar that this wand did not make itself known earlier than now," says Ollivander.

"How so, Mr. Ollivander?" asks Hermione.

"Well, I suppose that sometimes these things take time for as we always say, the wand chooses you and not the other way around. But vine wood usually are more sensitive in identifying their prospective matches. But never mind that, Ms. Granger. What's important is that the wand did choose you. Now, would you like me to wrap this up for you? Do you need anything else? The wand will be seven galleons, Ms Granger," replies Ollivander.

Just as Hermione was about to inquire about other products that Oliivander may have, a dusty and rather torn up box in one of the shelves caught her attention. The box itself was nothing of note, but the fact that it seemed to be slightly vibrating gave it the appearance of restlessness, much like herself a few moments ago. Looking over her shoulder, Ollivander was stowing away the other boxes of wands she tried earlier. Hence, she shrugs and silently heads over to the shelf with the restless box. As she was finally within reach of the shelf, the box suddenly flew straight to her and with quick reflexes, she caught the box with a soft "Ohh."

Upon hearing her soft exclamation, Ollivander turns towards her and sees the box in her hand. "Goodness dear, please do not randomly pluck out the wands as some can be very temperamental if they want to be," he softly chides the young girl. As he reaches out to take the box back from her, the box suddenly bursts open and the wand vibrates noticeably, as if excited. His eyes widening slightly in surprise upon seeing the wand inside and that it appears to actually have chosen to present itself to the young girl, he looks up to the girl and says in quiet reverence, "My apologies, Ms. Granger. It seems that the wand wanted you. Please go ahead and take it."

Still a little surprised herself, Hermione grasps the wand with her left hand and once again feels warmth encompassing her as the wand shone brightly, filling the room with light.

"Fifteen inches, aspen and ebony, thunderbird and thestral hair. This was one of the last specialty wands created by my father, Gervaise Ollivander, before he passed. Aspen is thought to be partial to dueling and martial magic. It is a wand for revolutionaries Ms Granger. And Ebony is ideal for combative magic and transfiguration, it is highly suitable for those that hold strong to their beliefs. Your other wand, has vine wood which seeks those who search for a greater purpose in life and often has visions beyond the ordinary. That alone, even without considering your wand cores tells me that you are destined for greatness, Ms. Granger. A difficult path for one so young. But I wish you the best, young one. It is best, Ms Granger, that you do not disclose your possession of two wands, as it is not common among magicals, much less an 11 year-old girl to possess more than one wands, much less a wand as powerful as yours. That will be fourteen galleons for both wands. Though you may consider some wand holsters as well. They range from fifteen sickles each to about two galleons each depending on what type you prefer."

Exiting Olivander's with her two wands and two holsters - one pair which was stealthily hidden along her left arm as she preferred to present her right arm as her dominant side, Hermione spots her Aunt and the others once again sitting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour as it seems that Harry was able to charm his way to another scoop of ice cream. As she headed towards their direction a loud blast suddenly throws her off balance. Swiftly regaining her balance, she looks around to see numerous people in long flowing black robes with white masks covering their faces firing off spells in all directions.

Petrificus Totalus!

Reducto! Reducto!

Confringo!

Impedimenta!

Reducto! Bombarda!

Making sure to stay out of the ongoing battle. Hermione takes a full sweep to take in the various people present in the alley. She notices two older women who were just exiting the store next door. One of the women was rather tall and had light brown curly hair and had the air of kindness around her. On the other hand, the woman next to her, although seemingly older than the other woman given the way she carried herself, looked remarkably well with her long ebony locks and lean stature. Catching the eye of the dark-haired woman, Hermione offers a brief smile unsurely.

As quickly as the moment came, the moment passed as the two women entered the fray, snapping their own spells towards the group of masked attackers.

Stupefy!

Incarcerous!

Stupefy! Stupefy! Petrificus Totalus!

Protego! Diffindo!

Interestingly enough, the dark-haired woman appeared to soon be firing off spells in rapid succession, wordlessly. Hermione could only watch in awe as the implication of this dawns on her.

Suddenly though, the same woman calls out in a loud voice "Expecto Patronum!" And a silvery cat shoots out from her wand and struts away, seemingly in search of something. A few minutes after the silvery cat bounded off, numerous pops could be heard coupled with the shouts of "Law Enforcement! Cease!"

After their arrival, in a short period of time, the battle ceased as some of the white masked attackers were bound and taken into custody but sadly, most got away. 'What a useful way to get away,' Hermione muses as she takes into consideration how most of the attackers just popped away. Seeing that the battle seemed truly over and other people were now coming out once again, Hermione walks out to the open street in search of her Aunt and the others. Upon reaching them, she catches the end of what appeared to be a serious conversation between her Aunt and Lily.

"…I assure you Helen, we have a lot of Magical Law Enforcers who are meant to protect everyone from these attacks. I admit we have a rising number of so-called magical gangs who are the perpetrators of such attacks but Hermione will be at Hogwarts, easily safer than even the Ministry of Magic."

"Oh Hermione, thank goodness you're safe! Did you get your wand, sweetie?" Helen asks her niece upon spotting her.

"Yes, Aunt. It took some time but I saw the beginning of the attack out here. I stayed over there for cover," Hermione responds while pointing out a corner near the wand maker's store.

"Minerva! Andy! I didn't know you were going to be here!" Lily suddenly calls out to the women. "I saw you exit one of the shops earlier, were you shopping? This is certainly a pleasant surprise, although I suppose circumstances could have been better," Lily gestures briefly towards the mess that was currently being fixed by not only the Law Enforcers but the shopkeepers as well.

"Hello, Lily," Andromeda greets Lily with a hug as Minerva smiles at her warmly in greeting.

"I have Harry here with me and this here is Helen and Hermione Granger," Lily introduces the two Grangers as she notices that Hermione has once again joined their party.

"Nice to meet you Minerva and Andy," Helen says in reply.

"Hello. It's nice to make your acquaintance, ma'am," Hermione smiles at both women, albeit a little sadly if one was to take careful note.

"Hermione here just got her Hogwarts letter last month and we are picking up her supplies. In fact, she just got her wand! You did get your wand, right Hermione?" Lily asks but without waiting for the young girl's reply, she continues on. "Andy and Minerva here are part-time professors at Hogwarts, so you might end up taking their class one day. Andy teaches Magical Art but this is for 6th and 7th years only. Same with Minerva who teaches Metamorphosis as well as Conjuration and Untransfiguration. Oh, and if you end up joining one of the clubs, they might also end up as your mentor or something similar. You would be lucky to train under anyone of them of course. Andromeda Tonks and Minerva McGonagall are brilliant! Actually, Minerva works in the Ministry of Magic Law Enforcement and I'm sure you're higher than a Senior Auror. What are you now, a Hit Wizard? An Unspeakable? Or maybe even a Battle Warrior?"

"Hush you. We musn't speak of such things out in the open. But definitely higher than a Senior Auror, Lily. Must you ask?" Minerva replies with a slight smirk. "Regardless, we really must be going Andy. We have been delayed enough as it is. Remember that Nymphadora is coming home for dinner today."

"Oh shoot, I forgot! Thank Merlin you reminded me, Min. C'mon let's go! It was really nice meeting you both," Andromeda says her goodbyes as she rushes outside mumbling about what to prepare for dinner.

Minerva chuckles lowly at Andy's antics and she turns to the others. "It was truly a pleasant surprise to run into all of you here despite those Death Eaters causing mayhem once again. I hope we meet again soon." Minerva then reaches out to shake hands with Helen and Hermione and as she takes Hermione's hand, she leans over slightly and whispers, "And I'm sure your momma would be proud of you getting your first wand, my dear."

Leaning back, Minerva turns and strides away but not before calling over her shoulder, "And be sure to visit the Magical Menagerie, Hermione. I'm sure you'll find a lovely pet there!"

Making sure to keep her smile small, Hermione calls out in reply, "We'll make sure to drop by there, ma'am. It was nice meeting you, have a nice day!" Turning around, she grins up to Lily and Helen. "Can we go please?"


The first thing that Hermione noticed upon entering Magical Menagerie was that it was eerily quiet for a pet shop and had no lingering smell like what she was used to in muggle pet shops. Intrigued but happy that the shop wasn't loud and had no unpleasant smell, Hermione proceeded to take note of the various animals. Meanwhile, Lily and Helen go straight for the counter while Harry joined Hermione in examining the different creatures.

"You know, most first years get an owl, Hermione," Harry points out. "That's why most just go to Eeloyps Owl Emporium in the other side of Diagon Alley. I've actually personally been asking my mum to get me the snowy white owl in display for ages."

Looking up from a cage full of Pygmy Puffs, Hermione turns to observe a Giant Orange Snail and a Giant Purple Toad before giving her attention to the young boy. "Well, Harry, if I had wanted an owl, I would have gone there, now wouldn't I?"

"Yes well, you do realize first years are only technically allowed to bring an owl, cat or toad right?" Harry persists.

Of course, I am! I read the letter, Harry," Hermione retorts in slight indignation. "But it also said that Ministry-registered familiars are allowed and didn't you hear Professor Minerva earlier? She said to get a pet from here."

"I'm sure she meant it as a suggestion, Hermione. You're still allowed to look at Eeloyps. But anyway, what about a cat huh? They have a Black Cat, a Siamese Cat, a White Cat, a Tabby Cat… oooh maybe you want a Kneazle or maybe a Niffler?" Harry excitedly points out to each pet in suggestion.

Hermione takes a look at said suggestions but does not find any of the pets interesting. 'I wonder if I should actually go to Eeloyps instead? But she said to find a pet here. I'm sure I can find one that I like here,' thinks Hermione.

"Look Hermione! Here's a Puffskein and a Fire Crab!"

Ignoring the excitable young boy, Hermione takes her time to brows the different cages and glass cases until she happens upon a small cage in the corner. As she peeks in, bright eyes meet her gaze. A small leopard-like cub was sitting in the furthest corner of the cage. It was yellow with black spots and had a short fluffy tail, evidence of its youth.

For a moment Hermione is captivated by the small creature and she stares intently at it.

"Oh hey you found a Nundu! Be careful those are highly dangerous creatures. They're rated as XXXXX Beasts by the Ministry! What's it doing here in a pet shop?" Harry suddenly exclaims next to her. "Muuuum! Look what Hermione found!"

"Oh goodness. What's a Nundu cub doing here? Step back Harry, Hermione, the breath of a Nundu is highly toxic!"

"He was saved from some poachers, ma'am. We're not actually selling him as we are set to release him to the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures so that they can find him an appropriate home. I'm not sure if you're familiar with this but despite being an XXXXX Beast, Nundus have become quite rare in the magical world and so are supposed to be generally left alone. As it is, there's just been a bit of a hang up so we haven't gotten to release his forms to the Ministry," replies the shopkeeper. "Hmm, he seems quite taken with you though, doesn't he? He's very very young. We estimated him to be only a month old, hence why were even able to keep him here for as long as we have."

As the others turn to observe the Nundu cub, they notice that he has approached the bar and was softly sniffing the hand of Hermione from a breadth away as the young girl reached out in the hopes of petting the cub.

"Nundus are not friendly, even as a cub. He might have found a special connection with you or maybe he is meant to be your familiar?" Lily observes.

"That can be easily found out, ma'am. If you allow me?" the shopkeeper asks. While normally owner-familiar bonds are recognized upon touch, Nundus were said to be very temperamental when touched, even as young cubs. It wouldn't do to have a young girl mauled by a Nundu cub in his shop hence the shopkeeper decided to do the standard spells to reveal the familiar bond. "Well, it seems they do have the familiar bond. Interesting, there are very few cases wherein Nundus form a familiar bond with a magical being. Now, since you apparently have the familiar bond with him I suppose we won't be releasing him to the Ministry after all. You won't have to pay for him since he was never really for sale to begin with. You really must have a strong connection with magical creatures in general though. The shop is awfully quiet now that I think about it. Anyway, you may want to buy him some food and other items. Also, you'll have to be the one to go to the Ministry and register him as your familiar and do please let me write a letter quickly to explain the circumstances and so that they know I have legally released possession of the cub to you."

"Oh how wonderful!" Hermione exclaims happily. "Does this mean I can touch him now?"

"Yes, go ahead young lady. You are meant to be a pair after all," the shopkeeper responds in slight amusement.

"Aunt Helen, Lily, Harry look! He's so nice isn't he? I shall call him Crookshanks!"

"Well c'mon then. We need to get Crookshanks some food and we better head to the Ministry before they close up," Lily replies as she and Helen follows the shopkeeper to get some much needed pet supplies.

"Wow Hermione. No wonder you wanted to come here. You really don't want an owl, toad or cat didn't you?" Harry laughs as he watches Hermione stroke Crookshanks. Admittedly, Crookshanks looked very adorable but growing up in the magical world and knowing that said cub was classified as an XXXXX Beast was enough to give Harry some second thought in approaching Hermione's familiar. 'I think I'll give him some time to get used to Hermione and humans in general first.'

"Hermione! Harry! We need to go now!"

Smiling softly to herself for a productive day, Hermione hums softly in happiness as she follows Lily, Helen, and Harry out the shop to go to the Ministry. She wonders how next September will be like once she finally enters Hogwarts. It's almost a year away though so Hermione knew she had a lot of time to read up on what to expect. Happily, Hermione thinks that perhaps she should read Hogwarts: A History first but then shrugs off the thought and decides, 'I should probably read Quidditch Through the Ages first so I can discuss it with Harry.'