Disclaimer: For my most brilliant disclaimer thingy [Thingy??? Come on now] (Shhhh) See chappie 1 :D

3: Knockturn Alley and the Bird of Prey

Reluctantly Hermione woke early the next morning not wanting to open her eyes she snuggled into the warm comfy wall behind her and to her shock it squeezed her back.

Opening her eyes Hermione realized how she well technically all three of them were sleeping, Hermione's back was snuggled deep into Ron's chest, his arm (Ron's) was wrapped securely over Hermione's stomach, Harry on the other hand lay on his belly half on his own bed and half on Hermione's, one of his knees was in between Hermione's legs.

She giggled to herself as she squirmed out from between the boys, pulling up the window shade she clapped her hands and spoke quite loudly

"Rise and shine sleepy heads to day is the day, say good by to the Hermione you used to know and hello to a brand new one." With that said she began to rummage through her bags for her hair brush and her wand.

Stepping out of bed and stretching with his arms almost touching the ceiling Ron suddenly herd giggles from the corner of the room

"Ron is that what you slept in?" Hermione said covering her mouth to try and stifle her laughter.

Ron still groggy looked down at what he was wearing which wasn't much a pair of orange silk boxers clung loosely to his waist. Ron's smoothly toned upper body wouldn't be concealed to easily behind any pajama tops anyway, and it was a good thing because he had quite a body. Realizing his lack of clothing he grabbed his sheet and wrapped it around his waist. Harry had begun to laugh until he realized that he wasn't wearing to much more, A white wife beater tried poorly to cover his chest muscles and a pair of blue cotton boxers with little brooms on them stretched over every curve of his lower body, Hermione glanced at him she began to blush furiously. Harry quickly realized that Hermione's eyes had shifted from Rom to himself and he too grabbed a sheet and flung it around his waist.

"He he, I think I'll leave you two to your devices" she said as she grabbed her hair brush and skipped into the bathroom.

"So what do you think of the Teddy* Hermione was wearing?" Ron said with a smirk
*A Teddy is an old fashioned Pj out fit, comes with panties covers and a long ummmm usually lace tank top that is almost like a really really mini dress.

Harry quietly laughed in response and shook his head.

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"Ok I left your parents a note saying that we had all ready left for Diagon Alley. They will think we are there but we will actually be in Knockturn Alley." Hermione rambled to the two still sleeping boys

"Hermione?" Harry asked "something is *yawn* different about you but *yawn* I can't put my finger on it"

"Yeah *yawn* I know what you mean" Ron said leaning heavily on Harry.

"Yes I'm sure you will figure it out sooner or later but for now into the fire place"

Standing between the two boys Hermione took a big hand full of Flow Powder and yelled "Flying Felons"

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"What ta 'ell!" said an oily looking man behind a creaking crumbling counter.

Quickly and before the green and yellow smoke cleared Hermione told the boys to look tough and be silent, "Let me do all the talking" she said slipping each of her arms into the elbows of the two boys and sauntering out of the smoke.

"Who ta 'ell are you and.wa do ya mean by comin in 'ere bi Fleeu Powder!" the man slurred past his decrepit yellow rotting teeth.

"Quiet" Hermione spat at the man. "Stay here" she barked at the two boys.

Harry and Ron noticed that from the moment they entered the store Hermione's aura had changed, she now sauntered seductively and she gave off an, I'm-better-then-you-and-I-always-will-be- kind of attitude almost like a Malfoy.

"Now," she began reaching the counter "I am looking for something" she ran her long manicured finger along the counter, collecting some dust on the tip she gave a disgusted undermining look at the man "something vicious, but faithful, fast, and a medium size something that can perch on my shoulder, I want it to be menacing, and smart and let me warn you if you try to cheat me my father will not only have your wand but your shop too." She finished looking over her shoulder at the man, who looked thunder struck.

"Oh yes yes of course" the man said hunching over and clasping his long pale bony hands together.

"I can't believe she is..our Hermione!" Harry whispered to Ron

"Yeah, It sure is a change" he said "I really didn't think she would go through with it!"

"Hey." she suddenly snapped turning on her heel and stalking back to the two of them "did I give you permission to talk? NO I did not, remember what my father said DO NOT step out of line again!" she finished poking Ron then Harry in the chest.

They exchanged quizzical looks at Hermione and watched as she mouthed
"Yes ma'am"

"YES MA'AM" Harry shouted looking straight again.

"Good," she said turning again to face the shop keeper "Now Mister ummm Mister," she snapped her fingers.

"Roach" he breathed giving her a gruesome smile that made his face even more hideous then he was before.

"Right, now where is this creature you wanted to show me?" she said swaggering past him.

"Tis vay, right tis vay" he scurried past her "Tis is 'Erosis Raven, tis perfect or a girl like you" he said pointing to a rather large black bird. Its bright green eyes darted back and forth and its head was hunched and it seemed skittish.

Hermione looked at the bird for merely a second before."Are you kidding me? What are you playing at here?" she scoffed at the man before heading down the aisle again.

"Wait what is that" she said quickening her pace

"Vat Miss" Roach said scurrying to keep up with her

"That you Idiot" she snapped at him pointing to the darkest corner of the filthy shop. A pare of flashing pale purple eyes had been watching her since she entered.

"Oh Miss you don't vant tat bird tis very dangerous very dangerous yes, yes" he pleaded with her.

But she did not listen to his pleas. Hermione walked straight up to the creature, it began to scream badly as she rounded on it.
"Quiet, right now" she screamed, staring it down. To not only her surprise the bird stopped screaming.

"Now" Hermione said not reviving her eyes from the birds "Tell me exactly what kind of bird of bird this is and if it has any magical qualities I should know about" she finished sharply.

"Yes, yes" Roach yelped as he scurried back to the withered counter

"Quickly now" Hermione spat at him, she had now begun to place her hand onto the top of the birds head. Seeing this Roach let out a small whimper, more in fear that if she got hurt he would lose his shop then he cared for her safety its self.

It's-a-a-It's-a" he stopped dead in his line of speech when Hermione appeared in front of him with a medium sized old withered and by the looks of it dyeing bird on her shoulder.

"As you were saying" she cooed to the bird more then the oily man in front of her.

"Oh my" Roach grumbled as shifted through some old parchments " It's a Hateshious Hawk, or the bird of the under world. It was said that this bird would perch at the mouth of the River of the Dead that flowed continuously in to Hade, at the first sign of trouble or fordoing the bird would set off and warn Hades the King of the Dead himself" he stammered putting down the parchment.

"I-I must warn you miss though that I would NOT buy this bird it's.its V-Very dangerous. Took one of my fingers off when I tried to train it!" sure enough the grotesque man held up his hand that ha but 4 gnarled white bony fingers.

"How much?" Hermione snarled leaning forward both hands on the counter so that the bird's beak was close enough to bite the pathetic mans nose.

The man quickly backed away grabbing a small dirty piece of parchment as he went.

"Ummm." he started scouring the paper "25 gallons 16 sickles and 3 knuts" Roach had suddenly found his voice.

"Oh really" Hermione scoffed with a hint of laughter in her voice "I'll pay you 13 galleons 7 sickles and 1 knut. and" she said with extra emphasis "you will throw in a nice new cage and" she said looking around "that nice new Handlers and Nutrition book." Hermione finished pointing to the very top shelves of behind the crumbling counter.

Hermione tossed some gold silver and bronze coins on the counter throwing a disgusted look to Roach. With out another word the tiny man grabbed greedily at the money stowing it somewhere in the depths of his cloak.
Hermione then looked at her new pet who seemed to receive an unspoken command and took flight. The ruffled bird landed softly on one of the more expensive cages in the store.

"Get that!" she snapped at Harry who trudged over to the cage and carried it back to where he previously stood.

The medium sized older still looking bird landed softly again on Hermiones shoulder, its small now bright flashing purple eyes surveying them all in turn.

Hermione had just received a thickly bound back dragon hide book. A large glimmering purple eye took up the entire cover.

"Good day to you" Hermione snapped walking towards Harry, Ron and the door.

"Miss." came the feeble voice of Roach again "Don't you want your Dragon Hide handlers glove?" he asked cowering behind his outstretched arm the glove dangling from his finger tips.

"Fine" Hermione snarled grabbing the glove then abruptly left the shop slamming the door behind Harry and Ron.

"Wow Herms, I didn't know you had it in ya!" Ron said in awe

"Yeah well. you know" she said holding her hand out for the bird to perch on

"Hermione look!!" Harry said dropping the heavy black iron cage and pointing to the bird.

The bird had begun to shake violently on Hermiones arm. As it did its feathers around its beak had become a violent red, those feathers directly behind them had depend to an inky black. The soft feathers around its eyes had become stunning silver giving him an Egyptian look. The shiny black feathers flowed from behind the red ones down his back and chest, the brilliant silver feathers from around his eyes were scattered along thought the inky blackness of its body feathers they were also along the ends and length of each wing, like the frill of a dress. There was one deep purple feather on the now youthful, beautiful bird; it was the central, longest feather on the otherwise inky black tail.

"Yes well that is what I thought" Hermione remarked beginning to walk down the alley at a quickened pace as if nothing had even happened.

"What?!" Harry busted out shocked running to catch up with her.

"You know Herms," Ron began when they caught up with her "I really hate it when you don't tell us what you're talking about."

"Oh...ok sorry" she blushed " Right you see what that stupid little man.Roach was it, well what he did know about this beautiful bird, which was very little, was correct.

"The Hateshious Falcon, as it is not a Hawk, did guard the mouth of the river Styx, or The River of The Dead, that flowed continually into Hades. This bird was chosen because of it's ummm..unique qualities." And as if that was enough she moved the bird back to her shoulder.

"And those qualities are?" Ron said impatiently. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Oh.." She gave a shy smile "Ummm.. Ah, the Greek god of the under world, Hades chose this bird because of its speed, loyalty, keen eyesight, and intelligence. It was originally boring browns, whites, and grays, but Hades was unhappy with this, if it was to be a bird that would be under his name it would have to look magnificent to match the abilities it was bestowed."
"The Hateshious Falcon can change its appearance, as we have already seen. The birds were already an intelligent species but Hades decided that they needed to under stand what he was saying to them so that's,"

"Why he can understand you?" Ron interrupted

"Yes, Hades also granted them foresight, he also made them unbelievably fast, and ferociously loyal to only one master.

"So, then.I guess you could say.. The bird chose you?" Ron interrupted again

"Sure you could say that." Hermione shrugged looking at the falcon on her shoulder, "Along with the foresight the birds were granted the gift of reanimation." She continued

"Wow cool" Harry grunted struggling with the heavy cage "How?"
"Well you see that purple feather?" she said pointing to the creature's tail.
"Yeah" they chorused

"Well after the bird dies the feather will. um I guess you could say pulse-sate a white light, when the light stops pulse-sating and is a pure white light the feather will fall out and the bird will come back to life."

"Oh" Ron sounded a little disappointed "So it only works once?"
"No of course not" Hermione allowed herself a little laugh "The feather will grow back. Rather quickly I might add" she finished sounding rather like a textbook.

"So.if ya doon mind me..askin'" Harry said with some difficulty for his arms had become quite tired from hauling the cage around, "Why...why.did the bird...obey you..why did it..obey you.uh!....why did it chose you as its -er- master? Here Ron." he grunted handing Ron the cage.

"Oh well that is quite simple" Hermione began again "These birds can sense great power or strength of mind, I.I guess that I was the first person with either of those that showed any interest in him."

"And why did you.uh! ..It looked as if it was about to die right there on its perch?" Ron asked with some difficulty

"Hmmm I duno?" she said abruptly stopping 'I guess I was just drawn to it."
"So..what are you gunna name it?" Harry asked rubbing his arm
"Hu? I dunno" she said turning to look at a shop sign on her right, "either Nyx, which to the Greeks and Romans means night or Erebus which was the personification of darkness."
"Nyx sound cool because of his feathers...but why don't you ask him as e is so smart" Ron said as if he didn't think a bird could be smart.

"Ok so what will it be? Nyx" the bird let out a loud screech "or Erebus" he ruffled his feathers and turned away from her gaze.
"Wow that was amazing" Harry said

Ron stood with a stupidly stunned look on his face.

"Hermione?" Harry asked 'why have we stopped in front of Pins & Needles?"
"Oh well..this was a surprise" she said beginning to blush slightly "Wait here ill be right back" and with that she pulled open the door and dashed inside. Nyx perched on the door frame eyeing the two boys wearily.

"What do you think she is doing here?" Ron asked trying to peak trough the heavily dirt incrusted window.

Suddenly a blood curtailing scream came from somewhere in the depths of the shop.
"That sounded like Hermione?!!!" Harry yelled moving quickly towards the door, not quick enough though because Nyx had already laded on the beer handle preventing his entry.

"MOVE..MOVE HERMIONE NEEDS US!!!" Ron yelled waving his arms wildly.

"Come on!" Harry stomped angrily
"Come on you bird... Hey where is it going?" Ron said as the bird took flight over their head.

"Oot ary yoo luking at?" a familiar voice came from behind them.
"Hermione?!, what's the matter?!!" Harry said turning around and grabbing her by the shoulders.

"No-fing" she said squirming out of his grasp

"Then why do you sound like that?...and..and why did you scream?!" Ron said as if she was with holding something.

Hermione rolled her eyes and took out her wand; pointing it at her mouth she mumbled a simple spell.
"Better?" she asked
"Yeah" Harry said simply
"I sounded like that my tongue was swollen." Hermione said matter-o- factly "but I use a simple spell that Madam Promphy used on one of you black eyes Ron so it's ok now."
"Ok...but why was your tongue swollen?" Ron asked again affected very little at what Hermione had just said.
"Oh" Hermione gasped sticking out her tongue, a small steal rod with a black polished ball on the top was sticking through the center of her blood red tongue. "Just phase 2 of "The Plan"." She said looking towards the sky and letting out a long whistle that attracted looks from other in the alley.

Shortly after the whistle Nyx appeared upon Ron's shoulder as if out of know where.

"Ok, time for phase 3" she said running the steal shaft between her teeth and moving towards the end of the alley.

The trio walked to the end of the alley and turned right, made a quick left, and another right.

"Spindle Way?" Harry said quizzically

"Yeah ill..ill just be a second" and giggling she went into the shop

The boys sat down on the opposite curb facing the shop to wait for her.
"What do you think this place is?" Harry asked surveying the windows Ron simply shrugged in response, Nyx unhappy with his perches movement went to Harry shoulder. As if answering Harry's question three large bags appeared in front of them, filled to capacity with clothing, shoes, makeup, an odd wooden hair brush, and
"Underwear?!" Ron gasped holding up a pair of white lace panties

"Do you mind?!!" Hermione snapped at him the door swinging closed behind her

Harry had to grab the panties from him because he was staring jaw dropped at the new Hermione in front of him. There she was the sun playing on her face hands on her hips and frowning.
Black leather spiked heal boots tied up to her knees, a super red and gold pleated mini (that looked remarkable like her school uniform) left a gap a good 7 inches from the top of her boots to the bottom hem if the mini skirt, a tight white button up shirt fit snugly about her. She left the first few buttons open so you could see with no trouble her ample cleavage and a bit of a black lace bra. (Which you could see faintly through her shirt anyway) A long black cloak hung open off her shoulders and swept the ground as she walked towards the jaw dropped boys.

"So wada ya think?" she said giving a twirl

Ron made an odd noise in the back of his throat and Harry managed to get out a "Wow"

"Oh good that is what I was looking for" she said reaching into one of the bags and retrieving the wooden brush

"Ok ready for phase 4" she said more to herself then Harry and Ron but.

"Yup" Ron said standing up a little to quickly Harry followed his lead

Hermione the brush to her head took a deep breath and pulled down.
"Oh man!" Harry began his eyes widening
"What the Hell?!" Ron cut in Hermione moved the brush back to the top of her head and pulled it through again.
Behind every stroke the brush Hermione dark puffy cinnamon hair became straight shiny and smooth, also thick black streaks seemingly put there by the brush accented her hair perfectly.

"Ok" she said throwing the brush back into the bag it came from "What do you think of the new Hermione?" she said holding out her arms and turning around.

"Nice" Harry said shaking his head in approval
"I like it!" Ron followed

"Good I'm glad do you think it will work on him?" she asked looking concerned
"Absolutely" the said in unison "All right she said picking up her bags "Now to Diagon Alley and school supplies!"

A/N: Just wanted to say that I [we] We were SORRY for the wait for this chapter, AND that the last chapter was sooo unbelievably short I [we] We are really really sorry WE! Didn't realize when we wrote it that is was sooo short. Oh well I promise that the next few chapter will be more like this one I hope you enjoyed it!!!!!