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Chapter 10
It was the most strange feeling to be sucked through chimneys; something I'm sure not many vampires had done before. When I arrived at my destination, I stepped out of the fireplace into a dingy looking bar. I looked around and saw Bella, Edward, Nessie and Jacob standing off to the side getting strange looks. Behind me in the fireplace I had just
exited, walked Hermione.
"See, I told you he would be okay," she said, smiling at Bella.
"You did just that," Bella agreed, holding Edward's hand tightly.
"Mrs. Granger!" a voice exclaimed from across the room. Hermione grimaced, but quickly turned it into a bright smile and turned around to greet the older gentlemen.
"Mr. Tom, its so good to see you," she replied gracefully offering her hand out for him to shake. Instead, he gathered her up in a tight bear hug.
"It's so lovely to see you again so soon," he said, pulling back only because Hermione gently pushed him away. "What brings you back to the Leaky Cauldron today?"
"I'm taking my new friend to get the things she will need for Hogwarts this year," Hermione answered, smiling over at Nessie, who was barely paying attention to the exchange. She was too busy watching all of the magic around us, totally in awe of all of the objects moving by themselves.
"Really? What year is she in?" he asked. "I don't remember ever seeing her before."
"She's a transfer student," Hermione replied, with a voice of authority, daring the older man to question her again. Sheepishly the older man nodded.
"Well, that would explain it then. Welcome to England," the older man said, nodding at Nessie.
"Thank you, Sir," she smiled, dazzling the old man in a similar way that her father did to her mother.
"We must be going, Mr. Tom," Hermione said, leading the way to the back of the pub.
"You too, Ms. Granger," he called after us as we exited the building.
"Sorry about that," she said as we stepped out into a dirty back alley way.
"I don't think you asked for that to happen," Nessie replied.
"I think you took care of it rather well," I added, grinning at the memory of her no nonsense attitude. I kind of thought it was hot.
"Hermione's bad ass," Jacob teased, causing the young witch to grin.
"Thanks," she replied, turning slightly pink, causing her to look extremely adorable. Edward turned his head and grinned at me, having heard my assessments of Hermione and her beauty.
Shut up, Edward, I thought, looking away from the annoying mind reader.
Hermione was standing in front of the wall with her wand out, tapping a few of the bricks.
"What is she doing?" Jacob asked in a stage whisper.
"I'm opening the way for us to get to Diagon Alley," she replied, grinning as the brick wall started to move, revealing a whole other world behind it.
"Holy cow!" Nessie cried, laughing. "This is amazing!"
Hermione grinned. "I know. I thought that very same thing the first time that I saw the
wall move."
We walked onto the bustling streets, full of people in cloaks and hats. There were some younger people in jeans and t-shirts but for the most part they were dressed similar to how the professors at Hogwarts dressed. There were tons of families going in and out of shops,
their arms full of things for school.
"So, Hermione, where should we start first?" Bella asked, sounding slightly overwhelmed.
"Do you have wizarding money?" she asked.
"Yes. Carlisle gave us what he had left over from his trip here," Edward answered, pulling a back of coins out of his pocket, handing them over to her. "Will that be enough to get what we need today?"
Hermione's mouth gaped open as she looked in the bag. "Yes, you have more then enough. You could buy three houses with what you have in that bag." Edward grinned at whatever the young witch thought.
"We do well," he answered her unspoken question.
Once again, Hermione blushed. "I'm sorry for being rude. I forgot that you knew what I was thinking. You didn't have to answer the question. I'm sorry," she said again,
looking anywhere but at one of us.
"No need to apologize, 'Mione," Nessie said, hugging her new friend, not wanting her to be upset."We have more money then we know what to do with. See, now you know and
there's no reason for you to feel embarrassed. Now, where to first?"
Hermione laughed at my niece's antics and shrugged off her embarrassment. "Let's go to Madam Malkin's to get your robes so they will have time to adjust the robe while we shop for everything else."
"Sounds like a plan," Edward said as we all walked toward the robe shop.
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An hour later, we had gotten her fitted, had gotten her wand and all of the things she would need in a class called potions.
"We still need books," Bella announced, looking down at the list that Professor McGonagall had given her.
"The best place is Flourish and Blotts," Hermione replied, grinning widely. She lead the way to the two story building and opened the door gently, as if she were entering a place of worship.
"Wow," Jacob replied as we walked in. Every inch of shelf was covered in books of every shape and size. I thought that Carlisle and Edward had a lot of books but they had nothing compared to this book shop.
"I know," Hermione whispered, breathing deeply in, seemingly trying to take in all of the smells of the shop.
"There's a pretty big list of books here. Why don't we split the list in three and we can go in pairs. It will be quicker that way," Bella suggested.
"Sounds good," Edward agreed as his wife tore the list of books in three.
"I'm going with Nessie," Jacob called, sounding like a five year old.
"All right, Jake. Calm down," Nessie said, trying to calm him down, not wanting people to stare.
"I guess that leaves you and me," I smiled at Hermione, knowing that Edward and Bella were inseparable.
"I guess so," she replied shyly.
"Here are some coins. We'll meet back in the front of the shop in thirty minutes," Edward instructed before he and Bella walked off in one direction. Nessie and Jacob walked up the stairs, leaving Hermione and I alone standing in the middle of the room. Hermione looked down at the list that Bella had hand her and grinned.
"I know exactly where all of these are," she announced, leading the way down an aisle of books.
"You must come in here often if you know exactly where to find all of these," I observed as she handed me one of the books off of the list.
"Not as often as I would like. I love this store," she replied, smiling.
"What about it do you like so much?"
"The smell, the way everything is always where its always been. And the books...the books are the best. Anything you need to know about the wizarding world, you can find in these pages," Hermione said, gently stroking the spine of one of the books we passed. I smiled at the look of pure happiness that covered this young woman's face. I hadn't felt
the way she obviously felt in a very long time.
"I'm sure I've bored you to tears with ramblings of my obsession for books," she replied chuckling, obviously embarrassed.
"Actually, I can't cry," I teased, earning a genuine smile.
"You know what I mean. Ron always says if I showed him as much passion as I have for books, we would never have broken up," she replied, blushing furiously at the word passion.
"Ron's a tool," I blurted, not meaning to say it out loud. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"
Hermione laughed hysterically, holding her side as if she were in pain, causing me to join. We stood like that, trying to calm down for a good five minutes, before Hermione leaned against the nearest book shelf for support.
"Thank you for that Emmett," she said earnestly, touching my arm, causing a spark to ignite in me that hadn't been there in years. "I haven't laughed like that in a very, very long time. I haven't felt okay with everything in a while, either."
I looked down at the hand that still rested on my arm and smiled up at the beautiful girl who stood in front of me.
"Me either, Hermione. Me either."
So what did you think? I now have an amazing beta! Thanks Tannya for getting this back to me so quickly! :) Please tell me what you think about the chapter. If you don't review, I don't know what you think and I don't know if you want me to continue. :) Happy Reading.