Disclaimer: I do not own any of J.K. Rowling's wonderful characters. They all came from her brilliant imagination, and I am not trying to steal or make money off of them.
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One of the things that Hermione loved about her parents was the fact that they never broke their word and always kept their promises. She hated it when parents said something but never followed through, or made a promise but took it back when it came time to act on it. The next Saturday, Hermione was buckled in her father's little blue car, her mother in the passenger seat, as they made their way down to London. Hermione was clutching the envelope that contained all the information that she needed; school supplies, how to get into Diagon Alley, how to make an exchange at Gringotts, and the currency system, among others. She was unbelievably excited, even if she did have to wait an hour for her dad to finish whatever business he had. To give herself something to do, she asked her mother to give her the road map of London in the glove box. She spent most of her time pouring over it; she'd quickly figured out exactly how to get to The Leaky Cauldron, even if reading in the car made her a little carsick.
"Darling, what if none of this is real? Don't set your heart on something that may not even exist, because if it doesn't you'll be sadly disappointed," her mother warned from the front seat.
"Don't worry, Mum. I have a really good feeling about this," Hermione replied firmly. "Why on earth would anyone go through this much trouble, into this much detail, just to play a practical joke on me? It exists, I just know it."
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After impatiently waiting within an extremely boring building for an hour, Hermione eagerly yanked her parents out into the streets and began to walk in the right direction. She had memorized every street, every corner, and every shortcut that led to The Leaky Cauldron. Luckily, the building her father had done business in wasn't terribly far away, so they had just decided to walk. Hermione was still clinging to her envelope full of information, as though she feared that a ferocious gust of wind would rip it right out of her hands.
Finally, they'd reached the street she was looking for. Almost ready to burst into a run with excitement, she looked back at her parents, who nodded patiently. Hermione looked both directions on her way down the road, waiting for just the right shop. Alternately, she glanced at the piece of parchment she had extracted from the envelope that gave exact directions of how to get into Diagon Alley, making sure she remembered the names precisely.
Very suddenly, she stopped.
"Here," she declared.
"Dear, there's only a bookshop and a record store, no 'Leaky Cauldron'," her father insisted.
"But it says it's here," Hermione said, scanning the parchment anxiously.
"We told you not to get your hopes up," Emily consoled her gently. "It's all just a hoax."
"No," said Hermione, her spirit deflating a little bit. "Here, it says that we have to wait a moment."
So they waited, her parents feeling like idiots as they stood in the middle of the walkway, staring at a brick wall. People bustled around them, arms loaded with shopping bags and beverage containers. Suddenly, Hermione lunged forward.
"Yes!" she shouted, and her parents exchanged a nervous glance as they watched her try to open the façade as if it were a door. But they looked back and – amazingly – Hermione was holding open a wooden door. Above it there was a sign reading "The Leaky Cauldron," which was swinging back and forth dangerously. Hermione was noiselessly gesturing for them to come, and after standing in shock for a minute, the moved toward their daughter.
"Hermione, can't anybody else – ˝
"No, Mum, only us." The three of them stood in the doorway for a moment, watching as people walked straight past the secret building, oblivious. Then Hermione tugged at her father's sleeve and they turned around, closing the door behind them. The Leaky Cauldron was a dark, dingy little bar. It would have seemed quite normal had its occupants not been wearing long robes in an assortment of colour, tables hadn't cleaned themselves up, and goblets hadn't refilled themselves. Hermione took it all in, transfixed by her first impression of real magic. As she looked around, she noticed an older man making his way toward them.
"Muggles?" he asked, looking down at Hermione.
"Erm…excuse me?" her father inquired, puzzled.
"Non-magical people, father," Hermione hissed, then replied to the other man," Yes, sir. And you must be Tom, according to the letter. How did you – ˝
"Got a lot of Muggle-born Hogwarts students, especially this time of year. It's easy to tell. Yes, my name is Tom. I'm the innkeeper as well as an assistant to new Muggle students. Dumbledore appointed me to get you on your way. So, first things first." Tom raised his eyebrow. "I must see your letter."
Hermione handed him the envelope and its contents. He looked through all of it, as though making sure it was genuine, then gave it back. "Right this way, please," he said, and briskly walked to the back of his shop. Hermione followed, her parents stumbling along dazedly behind her. He led them out a door, and there they found themselves facing – a brick wall.
"This is the entrance into Diagon Alley. You won't be able to open it yourself until you can properly use a wand, but for now I can help you get in and out. What did you say your name was?"
"I didn't," Hermione replied quickly. "My name is Hermione, and these zombies behind me that call themselves my parents are Dan and Emily."
Tom nodded at each of them in turn, them mumbled to himself as he pulled a thin piece of wood out of his robes. He tapped one of the bricks with it, and stood back to let them watch the bricks melt away into a gate. Hermione gasped; the city beyond the entrance was the most beautiful she had ever seen. She stepped forward and into the town, gazing around at all of it.
"Hermione," her mother said sharply, and Hermione turned to face her.
"Mum, look at it," Hermione replied in a hushed voice. "What are you waiting for?"
But her parents were still standing stock-still at the entrance, Tom looking on as though amused. "Don't worry," he chuckled, awkwardly patting Hermione's father's arm, "it takes a lot of folks to get used to the fact that a whole new world unfolds before their very eyes. But you'll get used to it." He bobbed back into the tavern, leaving Hermione and her parents standing on opposite sides of the gateway.
"Mum, Dad, let's go." Hermione reached for their hands and dragged them away; the brick wall melted back into play. Emily and Dan followed numbly on either side of her, staring at everything in sight.
Hermione lost interest in what her parents were doing soon enough. She was much too busy gazing through the windows of all the shops. They passed Eeylops Owl Emporium, which was filled with an assortment of owls that blinked and hooted dolefully at her as she passed. Flourish and Blotts was filled with every kind of book imaginable. Hermione eyed them hungrily, itchy to get her nose into all of them before she realized that she still need money. She reluctantly passed them by, looking forward to when she could return. They saw Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, which featured flavors of ice cream Hermione had never heard of before. Then there was Quality Quidditch Supplies, which sported flying broomsticks. Hermione made a note to herself to look up what exactly "Quidditch" was.
At this point, her frozen parents began to thaw. "How could we have never known about…all this?" her mother asked, awed. "How is it that a whole different world lies beyond our own, and we never even knew?"
"Mum, you can't tell a soul," Hermione pleaded. "No one can know where I've gone, no one can know that wizardry exists. No one can know that I'm…I'm a witch." There. She'd said it.
Emily sighed. "Very well. I've kept secrets before, and I can do it again.
Hermione's father smiled wryly. "So, where to first?"
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Author's Note: Yay! Two chapters in one week! Gotta admit you're proud of me. I'm planning on working on some fictions next…but if I got two chapters done in one week, maybe I'll be faster anyway. Hope you enjoyed it, and please, please, please review! Muchas gracias!