DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the content referenced/quoted. Warning for minor swearing.

...

13. The Witch

The nights grow darker as summer approaches. A grey cloud is always looming over the country, threatening rain. Em heard last month that some unknown Death Eater made a cloud erupt with pints of muggle blood over Diagon Alley. The thought had made her sick.

Danders' bookshop, which had always seemed so full of life, was practically deserted these days. The shifts that had once filled her with wonder now dragged in, each tick of the clock behind her echoing in the silence.

The shop isn't silent, it never is. Not with the groaning of the coffee machines or the crinkling of old jazz Danders insists on playing on repeat. Still, the noise doesn't make the shifts any less lonely.

Which is why Em is so surprised when a witch wanders in twenty minutes before closing one night. The woman shakes out an umbrella, runs a hand through her mop of crazy curls at the door; little puddles form on the ground around her feet.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" The woman gushes, reaching a hand out to vanish the water before Em could speak.

She knows instantly this is a muggle-born. She rarely saw the full-bloods carry an umbrella, and if they did, they usually spent at least an hour explaining the history behind it to her before even taking a step further into the shop.

"Uhm, that's ok," Em says cautiously, "Is there something I could help you with?"

The woman looks up then, blinks at Em. Em stares back at the witch, even as her stomach tightens at the look in her eye.

"Uh, yes, yes, I'm looking for a very specific book on time magic."

Em stares at her, "Time magic?"

"Yes, a friend of mine told me this place would definitely have it in stock."

"Uh, well, it's not really our speciality," Em says, moving to heave out the giant catalogue from under Dander's counter. She loved to watch him use it, finding the correct page within seconds with a simple wave of his wand. It always took her much longer. "I suppose I could take a look though. What's the name of the author?"

"Redmond, Desmond Redmond."

"Let's see," Em mutters as she flicks through p's, q's and towards the r's. "Ran, Rashman, Rebus, Redman, Redmond. Here we go."

"Do you have it?"

Em flicks through the catalogue, before raising an eyebrow, "We have a number of time magic volumes from Redmond. Do you know what you're looking for specifically?"

"The Strands of Time, I believe."

"Ah yes, here it is," Em squints at the numbers, scrawls it across a sheet of paper. She slides it towards the witch. "You should find it here."

The witch nods her head with a smile, "Thank you, Ms Danders, I presume?"

Em laughs, "Ha, Danders wished he had family as cool as me. Withers, Emilia Withers."

The woman startles at her name, "Withers?"

"Ah, I see you must know my sister Cass," Em sighs. "She got all the magical talent in the family unfortunately."

"Yes, Cassandra, I guess you could say I have heard of her."

"No surprise there," Em grins, "Brightest witch of our age they call her! Although, I reckon Lily Evans rather has her beat on that front. Not that either of them would admit it."

"Yes."

The witch looks downcast, and for a moment, Em is worried she has offended her.

"Not that, you know, there aren't other powerful witches! I'm sure you are also a great witch, you know, judging by that, uh, wandless thing you did, uhm...I'm sorry I didn't quite catch your name?"

The witch hesitates, then holds out a hand to Em, "Jean, Hermione Jean."

Em clasps her hand tightly and shakes. "It's uh nice to meet you Hermione. Sorry if I offended you, my mouth, it just runs away from me sometimes."

Hermione laughs brightly, and the tension between the two seems to dissipate, "No offence was taken I can assure you. I was just surprised, I didn't expect to meet one of the Withers family here."

"You mean you didn't expect to meet the non-magical one."

"No, not at all!" Hermione shakes her head. "I just thought you were all based in London."

Em laughs, "Not for another year or so. Nice to know that Cass' relationship with St Mungos has gathered enough notoriety that even strangers know about her plans to become a healer."

Hermione turns red, looks away awkwardly.

Silence falls between them.

Then, "I suppose I better get to finding this book."

Emilia smiles and starts to usher Hermione towards the correct bookshelves. Within minutes, the book is procured, wrapped and paid for. Hermione turns to the door, and the thundering rain that continues to fall outside.

Then, she smiles and steps out of the shop. Emilia watches her go, until her slim figure is swallowed by the darkness and the thick haar that has settled on the cobblestone street.

...

A/N: oooohhh, intrigue.

EDITED: 03/02/21