A/N: My, my, my… it certainly has been a while and it probably wasn't even worth the wait… Oh well… maybe now people can get off my back about this…
Hermione's Story: Chapter 2
Hermione gaped in shock at what she saw. It truly was her dream come true! It was even more! She saw a wand shop, and magical pet shop, a robe shop and so much more! She quickly pulled out her list and scanned it. What did she want to buy first? It did not take her long to decide; Hermione wanted her wand.
Tom had started to say something when Hermione had started to walk to the wand shop. Walking half way there she realized it would be hard to make her purchase without money. She sheepishly turned back to her parents but they were too busy speaking with Tom to notice. He seemed to be explaining something to them. Hermione decided to listen so she could decide whether it was important or not.
"…the bank, which is over there," he pointed at the largest building in the centre of the square," should help you with your dilemma," Tom offered kindly to Hermione's confused looking parents. It clearly wasn't only her thinking that she'd need some money. When her parents started to walk off to the cream coloured building, she announced that she was going off to the wand shop and that they could me her there. She quickly made sure they knew where it was before she skipped off quickly before her parents could stop her.
She walked into the shop and was once again in awe. On the outside, this shop looked just as shabby as the Leaky Cauldron did, with it's solitary wand on a dusty, purple cushion in the window. She walked in cautiously and looked around for a moment when all of a sudden a short, greying man came out of the backroom.
"Good day," he said brusquely. "First year. Come along." He quickly led her to a counter where he had a small stack of slender boxes, each slightly dusty in turn.
"Which are is your wand arm?" the short man asked.
"My right? I write with my right hand that is…"
"Right arm…" he mumbled. "I'm going to have to measure you. It shan't take too long."
Hermione watched as he pulled out his own wand and pointed at a measuring tape. It floated towards her and started measuring her height.
The man then walked behind the counter and started pulling slender boxes off the shelves. "Do you like to read?" he asked Hermione all of a sudden.
"Well, yes. I like to read fantasy novels."
"Fantasy, you say? And what about food? Do you like French toast?"
"Umm… Yes I do. But what does that have to—"
"And what about purple hair elastics? Do you use those?"
"Yes. I do but what does that have to do with anything? And why am I being measured between my nostrils?"
"My you ask a lot of questions."
"So do you!"
"But I'm doing it to pair you up with your perfect wand. I know these wands better than anyone else could ever hope to. By asking questions I can save a lot of time to match you with your perfect wand rather than you trying every wand in the shop. I have it down to an art form. Now which would you prefer?"
"I guess I prefer less time."
"And there we have it. Here, try this wand. Nine and a half inches, holly with a unicorn tail hair core."
Hermione tentatively took the wand from the man's hand while she watched the measuring tape fold itself on the counter out of the corner of her eye. With a wand she could one day make a measuring tape fold as well! But of course who would ever get a wand just to fold a measuring tape? With a wand she would never have to do her chores again. She wouldn't have to write anymore stupid English assignments about stupid books or take up space in her geography notes to look like she did the work. With a wand she could charm the pen to do the work for her! But then again, if she went to Hogwarts, she wouldn't have to worry about English or geography anymore now would she? But wait… Weren't wands supposed to be black sticks with white on the tips?
In the corner of her otherwise occupied mind she heard the man tell her something.
"Sorry, what was that?" she asked quickly.
The man muttered something under his breath that involved the words 'kids' and 'never appreciate anything these days'. Hermione rolled her eyes when he looked away. "I said, give it a wave!"
"Give what a wave?"
"Your head. The wand of course!"
"Oh of course. I would know what to wave seeing as I've known this world existed for the past two days."
"Just wave the wand."
"Fine."
"Hermione!"
Hermione turned and saw her parents enter the shop together. They both looked just as excited as she felt. She saw the old man roll his eyes. She refrained from rolling her eyes herself at him.
"What's this store sell, sweet?" her father asked her.
"Wands!" she exclaimed. "I was just about to test this one when you came in." And with that she finally gave the wand a wave. A few blue sparks came out of the wand tip.
"Yet another perfect guess!" the graying man exclaimed loudly to himself.
"Right. And how much will that be?" Hermione asked him wanting to leave the store as soon as possible.
Her parents paid the eleven sickles and they turned to leave.
"Thank you Mr… I never did catch your name."
"I never gave it. I am Mr Ollivander. I'm not the owner of this shop though. I'm his cousin. He had other business today so I'm just filling in for him."
"I see. Well, thanks."
"Your welcome." Mr. Ollivander the cousin turned and went into the back room to polish wands or something. (A/N: I really like that double meaning. But maybe that's just my sick, perverted mind…)
Hermione turned to exit the shop with her parents and they made their way over to the book shop.
Flourish and Blotts was unlike any book store she or her parents had ever seen. Books were stacked anywhere and everywhere in no particular order throughout the shop. People milled about everywhere going though stacks piled so high and crookedly that only magic could have been keeping them upright.
"How am I supposed to find my school books in all of… of this?" she found herself asking her parents.
"Well… you could ask an employee," her father answered her.
"Can I help you find anything today, Sir?" a young store employee asked Mr Granger.
"Oh!" the man gaped.
"Yes, actually. I need all of the books on this list please," Hermione said to the young man handing him her school list.
"A first year, right?"
"Yes, that I am."
Within five minutes Hermione's arms were full of books. She quickly passed them off to her parents and she wandered off to look at leisure books. She spent fifteen minutes looking at one stack of comics that seemed to generally be about a popular "Marvin the Mad Muggle" and a few varied "Nelson the Norm". A few minutes later and two piles over, she came across a book called Hogwarts: A History. She carefully freed it from the overwhelming pile of books and flipped through it. 'How fascinating!' she thought to herself. 'The school must be very old. There must be so much to learn about it!'
She added that book to what she was already carrying and heard her parents calling her to leave. She hurriedly grabbed the top three books on a nearby stack to look at later. 'I'm going to learn as much as I possibly can about this world. This is a great way to do it.'
Hermione went over to the counter and her mother paid for all of the books.
"What else do you need, dear," her mother asked as they left the book shop.
"I need school robes."
"Those sound… different," her mother said. "You mean a uniform?"
"I suppose so. How am I supposed to know? Oh look! Madame Malkins (A/N: One 'k' or two… Hmmm…). That must be the place."
Hermione made her way over to the tailor's with her parents tagging along behind her.
A/N: And there's chapter two. Just one more chapter of shopping and then I'll send here off to the train! Stay tuned, and thanks for waiting for this chapter! Nine months is a tad too long to wait for a crappy chapter. I'll start working on the next chapter right after I finish cleaning my room. I only have two more days to finish cleaning it, so I'll start soon!
Ta!
The One and Only Zaria