A Witch Awakens
by Professor Skrewt
Out of the Cauldron, Into the Fire
"Since we're right by The Leaky Cauldron, let's get some lunch before we go home," Mrs. Granger said. "I hope the food is not too strange."
"Great!" said Hermione. "I'm starved!"
Hermione led her mother through the archway into the courtyard onto which The Leaky Cauldron's door opened. Apparently the archway is always open going out of Diagon Alley but not into it, thought Hermione. They entered the pub, which was not very crowded. A toothless old man came up to them, introduced himself as Tom, said he was the proprietor, and showed them to a table. Harriet noticed the state of his teeth but did her best not to stare. Wizards need some good dentists, she thought.
"What would you ladies like to eat today?" Tom asked them. "We have our St. George's Day special: dragon steak and kidney pudding."
"I've never had dragon before," said Harriet. "What does it taste like, giant chicken?"
Tom grinned, his mouth toothless but his eyes friendly. "Why, yes, that about sums it up, don't it?"
"Hermione, what would you like? Pizza? Fish and chips?" asked her mother.
"Do you have fried calamari?" Hermione inquired of Tom.
"Of course," he answered. "One order of fried calamari and one dragon pudding, then?"
"That'll be fine," replied Harriet, "and water for each of us, if you don't mind."
As Tom turned and headed for the kitchen, Harriet asked Hermione, "Where have you had calamari?"
"Oh, at school one day last year. They try to give us an unusual food once a week. Didn't I tell you?" Hermione responded. "The Hogwarts lunch in Professor Dumbledore's memory didn't look very adventurous, but the kids sure had a lot of food to choose from."
In a few minutes Tom brought their food. Harriet found the dragon steak and kidney pudding tastier than she had feared, and Hermione enjoyed her calamari and even a taste of her mom's meal. Tom returned as they were finishing their lunch.
"Would you like a dessert?" he asked. "We have an excellent treacle tart."
"I feel like an ice cream sundae," said Hermione.
"Then you'll have to go to Florian Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. It's across Diagon Alley from Madam Malkin's," Tom informed them.
"That's excellent," said Harriet, "since I want to go back down Diagon Alley to visit some of the other shops."
After they had paid for their lunch and bidden Tom farewell, Hermione and her mother headed for their dessert. They soon reached the ice cream parlour and found seats inside next to the window. A pretty brunette waitress brought them menus that showed witches and wizards happily eating mounds of ice cream topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Each time they finished their serving, their dishes were magically refilled and they began eating again.
"Too bad Sisyphus didn't have to eat ice cream instead of pushing a huge boulder," mused Harriet.
"Who's Sisyphus?" asked Hermione.
"You mean you haven't read about Sisyphus?" teased her mother. Harriet then recounted the tale of the greedy and deceitful king of Corinth who was punished by the god Zeus to an eternity of pushing a boulder up a steep hill, only to have it roll back down each time he reached the top.
"Sometimes I feel like that about my homework," said Hermione. "I think I'll have just one scoop of cherry vanilla ice cream with chocolate fudge sauce and a cherry on top."
"And I'll have a nice lemon sherbet," replied Harriet.
Mother and daughter sat by the window, eating their delicious desserts and looking at the people walking up and down the alley. One man hurried past them in a lime green bowler hat, looking harried, and disappeared into Gringotts. They thought they saw the Hogwarts gamekeeper, but he soon turned down a side street and was lost to their view.
At last they had finished their treats, so they looked around for their waitress. The young woman saw them motioning to her and quickly came back to their table.
"Can you tell me a bit about the other shops in Diagon Alley, Miss?" asked Harriet.
"Sure thing, Mum," said the waitress.
The two women chatted for a little while. Harriet was particularly interested in the old junk shop at the end of the alley, since she thought it might have some antique furniture she had been looking for. Harriet paid the waitress and she and Hermione left the little shop.
"Let's go on down to that junk shop so I can look at their furniture," said Harriet. "They may have some antiques worth more in our world than in theirs."
"Aw, mum, that sounds really boring. I want to try out my with some potions from my book. Can't we go home now?"
"No, Hermione. I helped you get your cauldron, and now I just want to take a little more time to look at what I'm interested in," said her mother sternly.
"Oh, all right, then, but please hurry," Hermione replied.
When they reached the end of Diagon Alley and her mother was about to go into the junk shop, Hermione said, "Mum, may I please wait outside?"
"Fine, but don't go wandering off. Stay where I can see you," Harriet responded.
Mrs. Granger disappeared inside the shop. Hermione stood alone, holding her cauldron first in one hand and then in the other. Then she saw Eric, the boy who had been cheering St. George that morning, coming toward her.
"Hi, Hermione!" he said. "Did you get your cauldron?"
"Yes, this is it," she replied.
"May I see?" Eric asked.
"It's the same cauldron all the first-years get. I've already bought lots of books, a potion kit, some gloves, and a wand that I really like, but they're all at home, except for my wand. It's made of vine wood with a dragon heartstring core," Hermione told him. "Here, have a look," she said, about to get out her wand.
As Hermione searched for her wand inside her jacket, a couple of older boys came running toward the end of the alley where they were standing. When the boys saw Hermione and Eric, they came to a halt.
"What have you got there, fur head?" the stockier of the two boys asked Hermione.
"I'll have a look," said the taller, skinnier boy, and he grabbed Hermione's cauldron and danced away from her.
"Give me back my cauldron!" screamed Hermione in a panic.
"Come and get it!" yelled the boys, who bolted up the alley.
Eric ran after them, and Hermione, forgetting her mother's instructions, followed him as fast as she could run. The boys turned into a side street and disappeared for a moment. They had gone down Knockturn Alley. Eric continued to run after the boys.
"No, Eric! That's Knockturn Alley!" she shouted. "We're not supposed to go down there."
"But they have your cauldron!" answered Eric, who kept running.
Hermione, afraid for her friend, ran after Eric and on into Knockturn Alley. The two of them quickly spotted the their two antagonists, who were still holding Hermione's cauldron.
"Relashio!" yelled Hermione, pointing her wand at the hand of the taller boy.
"Ouch!" he cried, and dropped the cauldron. Fearing what other spells the young girl might know, he and his friend ran into one of the shops that lined the alley.
Hermione and Eric hurried forward, and Hermione picked up her cauldron.
"You were amazing!" said Eric. "Where did you learn that spell?"
"I read about it yesterday in The Standard Book of Spells," she informed him. "I'm just glad it worked. I was scared that they would steal my cauldron and my mum would be angry with me. Oh — I just remembered that she told me to wait outside that junk shop, not to mention stay out of Knockturn Alley! Why did you run in here, Eric? The cauldron wasn't worth it."
"I didn't want you to lose it, Hermione." Eric said quietly. "I live around here. I feel like your host, you know. Responsible for you."
"Oh, that's sweet of you, Eric," said Hermione, her scolding temper giving way to an appreciation of Eric's concern for her. "I just don't want you or me to get into trouble."
The two kids ran back toward Diagon Alley. When they had reached it and turned left toward the junk shop, Hermione could see her mother looking frantically around for her and calling her name.
"Mum, I'm over here! Two boys grabbed my cauldron, so Eric and I had to follow them. I did a spell that made them drop it and run away."
"Hermione was terrific, Mrs. Granger," said Eric. "You should have seen and heard those big kids scream and drop the cauldron. They won't be bragging about that to their friends."
"Oh, Hermione, I was so worried when I looked outside and you were gone. I would rather lose a cauldron than you," Mrs. Granger said. "Next time, just let the scoundrels go. Don't chase after them. Who knows what they might have done to you? Remember, the magical world is new to us. I didn't even know how to get help."
"All right, Mum," Hermione promised, "I won't go chasing after trouble again."
Eric accompanied Hermione and her mother back to The Leaky Cauldron, where they all said their goodbyes.
"See you, Hermione," said Eric, smiling.
"See you, Eric. Thanks for helping me get my cauldron back," Hermione replied.
"You didn't need any help — it was great, the way you knew so quickly just what spell to use and how to work it. I bet you'll be top of our class at Hogwarts."
Hermione smiled at Eric, a slight flush on her cheeks. Then she and her mother left him and headed back through the pub to their car.
"At least you didn't run off all alone," Harriet told Hermione as they drove home. "Eric seems like a nice boy. It's good to know that you'll have a friend at Hogwarts."
"Yes," agreed Hermione. "One is a lot better than zero."