CHAPTER 4: WINDOW SHOPPER
The next morning Hermione was first to wake up.
She looked around, it appeared that Harry and Sirius had both fallen asleep on the bed as well, except they looked like they had just fallen backwards from there sitting position.
"You guys awake?" she whispered, not wanting to wake them if they were asleep.
She got a small grunt from Sirius and a murmur from Harry, these two were obviously not morning people.
She lay in bed a while longer thinking about what they would do today. There was always the option of going to Diagon Alley, she knew for a fact that Ron and his family were going to be there.
"Hey Harry?" She asked, "What do you so we go to Diagon Alley today?"
"Can't we go tomorrow?" Harry whined.
"We could, but I thought that you might like to go today because Ron's going" she answered.
"They are? Ok then we'll go today, but for now..." Harry crawled until he was by her side and then laid down next to her, cuddling her close, "Sleep..."
"Harry you have to get up!"
"Not until Sirius does, and he never wakes up" Harry said.
Hermione laughed.
"Come on Sirius wake up!" Hermione said, shaking the man.
"It's not going to work Hermione..." Harry said, cuddling his pillow now that Hermione wasn't beside him.
"Please wake up Sirius!" Hermione said.
"Go away Prongs, I'm having a good dream and before you ask yes, it's about her" Sirius muttered, obviously half asleep still.
"Sirius wake up, it's Hermione!" Hermione shouted in his ear.
Sirius sat up so fast he nearly hit Hermione's head with his own.
"Much better" Hermione said, smiling at Harry who was in shock that Sirius woke up because someone spoke to him.
"So what are we doing today?" Sirius asked, rubbing his eyes.
"We're going shopping" Hermione replied with a smile on her face.
"Oh god no" Sirius said, lying back down.
"Hermione are you ready yet?" Harry yelled, banging on his bedroom door.
"Don't come in!" was the only reply he got.
Thirty two minutes and 5 seconds later (Harry timed it) Hermione appeared wearing quater-length jeans, a black boob-tube, red stilletos and a necklace made of large red beads (she was still wearing her locket of course).
"You ready?" she asked cheerfully.
"Are we ready? We were ready an hour ago!" Harry exclaimed.
"Hey you were the one that prevented me from getting up early, remember?" Hermione said, taking his hand and starting to walk down the stairs but finding it blocked by Dudley and his friends.
"And what can we do for you?" Dudley asked her.
"Well for starters you could get out of the way!" Harry snarled.
"We didn't ask you Potter, we asked her!" Piers said.
"Well I agree with Harry, get the fuck out of the way" Hermione said calmly.
"Quite the temper, I don't think you can handle her Potter" Dennis said.
"Well I'm sure I could handle her alot better then you dickheads" Harry retorted.
"What did you call us?" Dudley fumed.
"He called you dickheads" Hermione said as if she were teaching a little kid what 1+1 equaled.
"Shut-up whore" Malcolm snapped, obviously not as fond as her as the others were.
Before Hermione could so much as open her mouth to retort Malcolm was flat on his back with a dog on top of himsnarling inches from his face.
"Get your fucken dog off me Potter..." Malcolm said quietly, not wanting to make any sudden movements.
"Apologize to Hermione first" Harry said.
"I don't care for an apology" Hermione said, trying to push Sirius off Malcolm.
"Sir-Snuffles get off of him!" Herrmione yelled.
Sirius looked up at her and moved away from the boy.
"You, your bitch, and your dog will pay for that Potter" Malcolm hissed before walking off with the others.
"Well that was a bad start to the morning" Harry said calmly.
Hermione looked at him and glared.
"Next time don't just let Sirius have a go at him" Hermione said, "And Sirius, you should know better then that, remember you're in your dog form and we could get in trouble if you bit him"
"Hermione we wouldn't get in trouble, we'd be at Hogwarts way before they could even come near us, how would they find us?" Harry said.
"Oh that'd be even better, they'd think you were missing or on the run or something, you could just as easily risk them finding out about us" Hermione said.
"Besides the fact that that is over dramatic, we have memory charms" Harry said, trying to calm her down.
Hermione knew he was right, but she was allowed to worry, wasn't she?
Hermione's mood brightened alot when it was time to catch the bus.
She had come up with the idea of pretending that 'Snuffles' was Harry's seeing eye dog.
"Harry for god's sake remove your glasses" Hermione laughed.
"But..." Harry began.
"No buts! What's the point of wearing glasses if you're blind?"
"But I need them, I can't see without them"
Hermione nodded her head in agreement before turning to him and smiling, "Exactly" she said.
When the bus arrived they all entered, Hermione holding onto Harry's arm as if leading him.
"Ok, there are three steps" Hermione said.
Harry nodded and walked up them.
The bus driver looked at them suspiciously.
"No dogs allowed" he said, pointing to a sign on the door then had a massive cross over the picture of a dog.
"Please sir, my friend needs him, he's blind" Hermione said.
The bus-driver sighed in annoyance, he obviously wasn't the emotional type, but Hermione knew that he had no choice in the matter of guide dogs.
"Fine, get on but keep it quiet!" he said.
"He's trained not to bark at just anything" Harry said.
The bus-driver nodded, motioning them find a seat, or in the bus-driver's mind 'Get in or get out.'
Hermione lead Harry to the very back of the bus and sat down with him, where-as Sirius had to lay down on the floor.
"How stupid can you get?" Harry sniggered.
"Don't snigger, he'll get suspicious" Hermione whispered.
"To be honest I don't think he could get any more suspicious then he already is" Harry said.
Herrmione smiled, something only Sirius could see due to the fact that Harry's glasses were still in Hermione's bag.
The bus ride took 20 minutes tops.
"Come on Harry we're there" Hermione said, standing up and taking his hand.
Harry stood as well and with Hermione and Sirius he found his way out of the bus...only stubbing his toe once.-(NEVER make Sirius lay down on the floor.)
"Good, now can I have my glasses back?" Harry asked.
"Sure" Hermione said handing them to him.
Putting them on Harry looked around.
"Um...'Mione..." Harry asked, tapping her shoulder.
"Mmm?"
"Would that happen to be the bus driver?"
Hermione turned around to see the bus driver, staring at the glasses Harry was now wearing with a livid look on his face.
"Run..." Hermione said.
Hermione, Harry and Sirius ran, hearing the angry shouts of the bus-driver.
At last they saw the leaky cauldron, and before the bus-driver had even turned the corner they ran inside.
Breathing deeply Harry burst out laughing.
Hermione smiled at him, and taking his hand in hers she started to walk towards diagon alley.
"Morning Tom" Harry said.
"Hello Mr. Potter and...Ms Granger!" Tom said cheerfully, looking at their entwined hands and making a mental note to tell some of his friends about 'The boy who lived's' new girlfriend.
Entering the stone courtyard Harry pulled out his wand.
"Ok, Two up, three across..." Harry said, tapping the correct bricks that allowed them to pass through into Diagon Alley.
As Harry stepped back the stone wall started to shift, slowly dispersing until the wall was gone and before them was a busy street full of witches and wizards which could only be Diagon alley.
They left the small courtyard and walked down the street, stopping every now and again to look in a shop window.
"Where do you think they are?" Harry asked.
"Not sure, butour best bet would be 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes', that way if they're not there maybe Fred and George could tell us where they are" Hermione said brightly.
"Good idea" Harry said, looking at her with a small smile creeping onto his face.
The three of them walked down the street, keeping an eye out for the colour red.
At last they stopped outside the joke shop owned by the Weasley twins.
"Doesn't look like they're in here" Hermione said as they entered the large shop.
"Oi Harry!" Harry looked up.
Fred was standing behind the counter motioning for Harry to come into the backroom.
"C'mon Hermione" Harry said, pulling Hermione away from lecturing some first years about how not to use skiving snackboxes.
They entered the backroom, curtains closing behind them, allowing Sirius to transform into his normal form without being seen.
"Hey Fred, George" Harry said, nodding to each of the twins.
"Ah, and may wehave the honours of introducing you to Ms. Hermione Granger" Sirius said, pushing Hermione so she stepped towards them a few steps.
"Ha ha" Hermione said.
Fred and George got up and circled her, "I got it!" George exclaimed, "She got a manicure!"
Hermione rolled her eyes at the two as she went and stood next to Harry.
"Nah seriously Hermione, what happened to your hair?" they asked.
"It felt the wrath of a heated, hair-curling wand" Hermione replied.
"Ah" they said.
"So how have you two been anyway?" Sirius asked them.
"Business has been good" Fred said.
Suddenly a faint giggling sound could be heard from the shop.
George let out a yelp and dived behind a box.
"Except for that" Fred said.
"Pgsmy Puffs?" Harry asked.
"Yup" Fred answered.
"Why don't you move them outside like you said you were going too?" Harry asked.
"Because that would be completely cruel!" Hermione exclaimed.
Fred ignored her, "We did, but the ministry of magic came around saying that it was cruel, you know, with the wind knocking them around and everything, and to think we thought they would have better things to do then tracking down living pink hair accessories, like preparing for a war!"
Fred, George, Sirius and Harry burst out laughing, while Hermione scowled at the fact that they were laughing at a sentence that had finished by saying something about the war.
"Anyway!" Hermione said loudly to shut them up, "We were looking for Ron, do you know where he is?"
"Yep" George said.
"He's at Madam Malkin's with Mum and Ginny" Fred said.
Hermione, Harry and Sirius (back in his animagus form) made their way to Madam Malkin's, Hermione with pgysmy puff since the twins had shoved it in her hands and refused to take it back.
They walked past the shop Hermione had got her beloved Crookshanks from.
Outside of it was a small girl who looked like her eyeswere glistening with tears.
"Hey" Hermione said, leaning down to the girl, "What's wrong?"
The girl looked up at Hermione.
"All my friends are in there getting pets" she sobbed.
"Why aren't you in there with them?"Hermione asked.
"Because I can't afford anything I don't need" The girl said, looking sadly into the store.
"You know what" Hermione said, "Here" She shoved the little Pgysmy Puff into the girls hand, "He's yours"
The girl shook her head and tried to give the Pgysmy Puff back to Hermione, "I can't" she said quietly and a little regretfully.
"Look, if you don't take him he'll be in danger of my cat eating him" Hermione said.
The little girl thought about this for a moment before looking at the pink fluff ball then back at Hermione, "Thank you" she murmured.
Hermione smiled at the girl before standing up and continuing to walk down the street.
"That was really nice of you Hermione" Harry said.
"Yeah well, I didn't want it" Hermione said.
"But still...Hey, that also reminds me, where is crookshanks?" Harry asked.
"He's back at home with mum and dad, he's starting to feel his age so I decided ages ago that I wouldn't bring him to Hogwarts this year" Hermione replied continuing to walk down the street.
They walked in silence for a bit, until Harry decided that something needed to be said.
"Ron won't be happy" Harry laughed.
"Why not?" Hermione asked.
"Because he's Ron, and Ron doesn't like shopping, unless you have forgotten" Harry teased.
"I haven't forgotten, it just...slipped my mind!" Hermione said in defence.
"Sounds like you forgot to me" Harry replied, walking into Madam Malkin's.
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but closed it with a smile.
"Harry dear it's nice to see you!" Molly Weasley said, hugging the boy.
"Nice you see you too" Harry said, gasping for air.
"Hey Mrs. Weasley" Hermione said.
"Hermione?" Molly said, immediatly letting go of Harry and drawing the young girl up into a hug.
Releasing Hermione Molly smiled as she looked over both Harry and Hermione.
"You two have grown so much over the holidays, although you both look a little skinny..." Molly said.
"Harry? HERMIONE?"
Ron had just come from a corner of the shop.
"Hey Ron" Harry greeted cheerfully.
"Hey" Hermione said, hugging one of her best friends.
"It's so good to see you, and you've grown so much taller" Hermione said.
"Same with you, except even 'bloody hell' won't sum up how much you've changed" Ron said.
Hermione laughed at his attempt at a compliment.
"Where's Ginny?" Hermione asked.
"Over at the counter" Ron said, his smile fading a little.
Hermione walked over to the red head at the dress covered counter.
"Hey" Hermione said, hugging her friend.
"Oh my god, Hermione?" Ginny squealed.
Hermione laughed as her friend hugged her again.
"It's felt like forever since I've seen you!" Ginny said.
"Yes, but things haven't changed" Hermione said, noticing all of the cloths on the counter.
"Yeah, I still have to choose one, don't think I'm so lucky that I could even afford two" Ginny said sadly.
"Cheer-up Gin, because that green dress over there would look great on you" Hermione said, laughing as Ginny rapidly picked it up and held in against herself asking Hermione if it looked ok.
"I think you should get it" Hermione said.
Ginny smiled at her friend.
Ginny picked up her bag and left Madam Malkin to put away all the dresses, by magic of course.
"You guys coming?" Ginny asked, starting to walk out of the shop.
"You mean we're leaving?" Ron said hopefully.
"Yes Ronald, we are leaving" Hermione said.
"Thank Go-" Ron began.
"No Ronald, we're not, Ginny and I'll be one second!" Hermione said, grabbing Ginny's arm and running back into the shop.
"What on Earth is it?" Ginny asked as they ran.
Hermione suddenly stopped at a cloths rack and took one of the dresses from it.
"This is it" Hermione said, smiling at her friend's reaction,"Oh my fucken god...It's...It's...perfect!"
A/n: Hey, sorri if I took 2 long 2 update, had heaps of tests to study for. Well, this wasn't the most exciting chapter but i liked it, i had alot of fun writing the bus scene. lol. anyways, review with any questions, or any 'oh my god i love ur story!''s or any advice. lol.