Beautiful Darkness by EssTheDreamer
***Chapter Two***
Exploring Diagon Alley
Hermione had been walking along the path that she'd been on the day she had first met Draco. It had been 2 days since that fateful meeting, and she was waiting for him to come back. She wondered if being a wizard was a hard job, or if he just forgot. She hoped that he didn't, for Hermione finally had a sliver of hope that there was someone just like her, someone who wouldn't call her out for being a freak.
Mostly, she hoped it wasn't a prank, another one that the bullies pulled on her, like the time they made her believe they were her friends, only to bully her a few days later.
Just as she was going to head home, she knocked into another figure that just popped out of nowhere.
"We've really got to stop meeting like this," said Draco, catching Hermione from tumbling to the ground, which was drier than it was the last time they had met.
"You've really got to stop appearing out of nowhere like that," replied Hermione as she righted herself. "What if I wasn't here, but someone else was? How would you explain yourself?"
"Relax. I would just get rid of their memories with a simple obliviate spell, so no problem."
Just then, a thought occurred to Hermione as he said that. What if Draco came back only to get rid of her memories?
As if reading Hermione's thoughts, he said, "Don't worry, I promise I won't do that to you."
"Well, should we … get going, possibly?" she said, twisting a lock of hair around her finger and biting her lip, one of her many nervous habits.
"Right. Ok, so you see … you should grab onto my hand, we're going to do side-along Apparition, which is basically teleportation to you. I'll teach it to you, one day, just … let's get you a wand first. But, first … we may need to disguise you for a bit, just in case. Do you mind?"
Hermione shook her head, and Draco waved his wand over Hermione. The glamour felt like a cool shadow over her, and when she looked at her hand, gone was her peachy skin, and replaced with skin as dark as midnight, without a single ink blotch like Hermione's own hands had. She liked the color and the flawlessness, but she felt more like herself as Hermione, not … whoever this was meant to be.
"Um, do I look okay?" questioned Hermione
"No, you look like a hippogriff," joked Draco, to which Hermione swatted him with her hand, even though she had no idea what in the stars a hippogriff was.
"Do you have to glamour me?"
"No, if you want me to look crazy in front of everyone, talking to the air."
"It would be hilarious to see, probably, but you're right," amended Hermione. "Should we … go, now?"
Once again, Draco stuck his hand out to Hermione, and once again, she took Draco's hand, and closed her eyes.
"Why does it feel so horrid to travel like that?" said Hermione, feeling a bit queasy, and still holding Draco's hand, she put her hand up to her forehead.
"It always feels like that, for the first time. You'll get used to most of the sensations, though, so … don't worry too much," said Draco. He took a look at their joined hands, but he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he said, "Do you want some food to calm your stomach? It helped me when I first apparated"
"It should help, thank you. But. I … uh, don't have any wizarding money," said Hermione. She noticed their hands, clasped together, and blushing, she gingerly removed her hand.
Draco smirked at the blushing Hermione, and replied, "Don't worry, it's all on me."
Hermione shook her head. "No, it's okay, really! Is there some sort of an exchange program around here? I'm sure I'm not the only one with regular money needing to convert it into wizarding money," looking around the bustling shops in Diagon Alley.
Draco grabbed on to her arm to stop her movements. "Think of it as a welcoming gift into the wizarding world. Everything today, is on me."
"I couldn't possibly -"
"Hermione, it's okay. If you don't accept the gift, I won't show you how to get wizarding money from muggle money, either, and you'll need to depend on me forever."
"Fine, I get it. What does muggle stand for?"
"Uh, it stands for non-magical beings, or just someone without any idea of the magical world or any powers. Up until I found out who you really were, you were a muggle, " he said while dragging her into Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.
" I didn't think wizards would have ice-cream," said Hermione, eyeing the place. It was true, some of the things she read about in "Hogwarts: A History" were almost all older things, like quills instead of pens.
Snorting at the comment, Draco pulled her over to one of the booths and sat her down. "Do you want anything in particular?" Hermione shook her head, and Draco left to get ice-cream, leaving her to her thoughts.
Today's like a dream come true. I'm in the Diagon Alley, and now I know that there are other people like me! But, how long will this last?, worried Hermione.
She rubbed at her eyes, feeling a bit sleepy all of a sudden and waited for Draco to come back. The Parlor was quaint, but bright. The color theme was white and beige with red accents. There were three different booths with comfy red chairs, and there were also tables with circular red stools. From her vantage point, she could see tubs of different colored ice cream, as well as trays full of others, and some condiments. Today's special seemed to be "Dark Chocolate Lava with and Butterbeer Chocolate Chips," which to Hermione, a chocolate lover, it seemed like heaven.
Sooner or later, Draco reappeared with two goblets, both piled with three globes of chocolate each. "I don't know about you, but the special sounded delicious, so I got it. It's just dark chocolate with a special wizarding snack inside it."
Hermione laughed, surprised that he was able to get exactly what she wanted without even knowing. While she had no idea what "butterbeer" was, she was sure she would like it. After all, she's been liking everything about the wizarding world, including Draco himself, the thought which she banished immediately, scolding her thoughts.
"Thanks. Um, what's butterbeer?" She said, looking at the glass goblet of chocolate-filled goodness.
"It's like … muggle butterscotch in liquid form, kind of, but … just taste it," said Draco, digging in.
"So what's next on the agenda? Wands?" She asked, following Draco and putting a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. She nearly sighed in delight; the chocolate paired with the butterbeer was delicious, and she wondered what butterbeer taste on its own.
"No, I was thinking of getting some supplies for you, so I can teach you basic potion making. Also, star charts, and the like so that you're all caught up on the basic wizarding curriculum."
Hermione brightened, she wanted to learn more about wizarding culture, she was anxious to prove herself. "Wait! Is there some sort of a bookstore? I'm sure I can pick up some books and learn from those, as well."
"Of course. How about while I get everything, you just explore the bookstore? Don't leave the store, though. Diagon Alley may look small, but anyone can get lost." Most of all, Draco didn't want Hermione accidentally walking into Knockturn Alley or some other place that was dangerous or where she could get transported to different parts of the world, magical or muggle.
"Gotcha, Professor Malfoy," joked Hermione. In some ways Draco was acting like a professor, and this entire thing was like a class trip. If this is what wizarding schools felt like, Hermione would do anything to transfer away from her miserable private school where she was constantly bullied.
When she walked into the bookstore after being shown there by Draco, she felt as if she was in her own personal heaven. There were shelves upon shelves of books, old and new. Some had perfect, new bindings, while others had ragged, practically torn off ones. All in all, however, the almost-infinite collection of books gave Hermione a special kind of happiness.
First, she grabbed a cart. It was a magical cart, so it had practically no weight. She piled books on top of books, from magical maladies to alchemy to Tales of Beedle the Bard, anything that she could learn wizarding culture from. Most importantly, she got the new and updated versions of Hogwarts: A History and the Pureblood Directory, as they were the special books that led to her introduction of the wizarding world. She didn't care much for the Pureblood Directories, but it was special to her heart in that it was the first book she saw at the abandoned library, and the book that led to her getting Hogwarts: A History after checking out what was in the box.
She didn't see Draco anywhere around, so she braved up and head to the cashier, which was surprisingly empty in comparison to the sports shop, labeled "Quality Quidditch Supplies".
She placed her cart of books on the counter, which seemed to surprise the girl there, who looked at her weirdly, as if no one ever voluntarily bought so many books. "Um, I was wondering, could I, perhaps, use muggle money to purchase these? I, uh, forgot to exchange before coming here."
The girl smiled at her, before taking Hermione's money. "Oh, of course, I understand. I'm muggleborn, you know, and that used to be me all the time. I'd give this to you without any cost, but you've got a ton of books here. Tell ya what, I'll give ya half of these without any cost, and the other half in total is … lemme see, its been a while since I had to convert galleons and the like into muggle money. Half of this is 33 galleons, 3 sickles, and 4 knuts. So, I'll be takin' 100 pounds from ya. Yep, 100 pounds, and here's your change. Thanks for buying from here," said the girl, who had a toothy smile, that was so bright, it automated a bright smile from Hermione, too.
"Thank you!" said Hermione as the girl used her wand to package all the books into one tiny coin, labeled Flourish and Blotts. Hermione was glad she'd brought as much money as possible, she didn't want to have to depend on Draco for everything, and plus, now she knew she could just exchange straight at the cashier, as well.
"All you'll have to do when ya get home is just say "open" to the coin, this is a new thing we're tryin out, see if customers like this better. Enjoy your day!"
Saying goodbye to the kind girl, she left the store, even though Draco said not to. What could possibly go wrong, thought Hermione, putting the coin that held her new collection of books in her purse.
Of course, just as she walked out of the door, she collided with a bespectacled boy who was talking to a bright red head.
Of course, thought Hermione. Only I could just collide with some complete strangers my first day here.
AN: Hello, and yay for a new chapter!
For the bookstore girl, I tried to give her a sort of accent, as I like to believe that the wizarding community is full of different people from different cultures or dialects, so I hope I wrote the accent correctly.
This is more of a question to the readers than an actual AN, but what kind of Hermione do you prefer to see? A dark!Hermione, or light!Hermione (even though everyone is shades of grey)? I was planning on doing dark!Hermione, since I've been hinting at it in some lines, but I'd like to hear your thoughts! :D
Other than that, this is it, and thanks for reading!
Reviews are dark chocolate lava, follows are butterbeer and chocolate chips, and favorites are a date with Draco or Hermione at Florean Fortescue's! :D
(hahahahaha, the last one is killing me)
