Title – First Signs
Rating – G/K
Disclaimer – I own none of this, it all belongs to Rowling. I just have the honor of using her creations in my story. No slash, sex or profanity.
A/N – Sorry about the delay, I got caught up in my other fics and kind of forgot to finish this one! My bad. All reviews, corrections, suggestions and questions are welcome! Read and enjoy!
First Signs
Hermione Granger
"Mummy can we go into the bookstore?"
Hermione gazed up at her mother with all the innocence and hope a six-year-old could muster. She smiled sweetly and leaned ever so slightly in the direction of the bookstore on the corner, tugging on her mother's hand. Tired of shopping for boring grown-up things, Hermione wanted to do something fun, mainly look at all the beautiful and wonderful books in her favorite bookstore. Not those silly children books, the ones with the happy puppies and bright pictures, but the grown-up books, the ones that held knowledge and important things to know.
Anna Granger looked down at her daughter and smiled wryly. Every time they ventured into this part of the city, her daughter would inevitably ask to go into the bookstore. One look into that honest face with its hopeful smile and Anna quickly gave in. She could deny nothing to her precocious 'Mione.
"Just for a few minutes Hermione. Daddy is waiting for us at the restaurant down the street. We mustn't be late for lunch."
Clapping her hands in glee, Hermione dashed forward, ignoring the calls of her mother and entered the bookstore with a happy little sigh.
The little bookstore on the corner was old, having been managed by the same family for many decades. It was fairly large however, and well stocked; it even had an upper level that housed the rare book and academic sections. Mrs. Hemmings, a kind old widow, currently manned the counter and smiled when Hermione walked in. The young girl and her parents were frequent customers and she always enjoyed the visits from the intelligent child.
"Hullo Ms. Granger. What are we looking for today?"
"I don't know yet Mrs. Hemmings. Is anybody up top?"
"Not today dear. Go right on up." The elderly woman replied and watched as the girl eagerly climbed the stairs to the upper level. Though there were some rare and expensive books upstairs, Mrs. Hemmings trusted Hermione to treat them with the care and respect she had for all books. The girl's mother entered a second later and the two women struck up a conversation about Hermione's impending third year in primary school.
Hermione was in heaven as she walked between the aisles of books. Biting one of her fingers in intense concentration, she scanned the titles and covers and frowned when none captured her attention. She had been able to read for a couple years now and read whatever she could get her hands on. Of course she did not understand some of the things she read about, but that did not stop her from prowling their house, searching for new books to devour.
Today Hermione passed through the classics section; she would read those after she had started school and was able to have conversations with her teachers about them. She ignored the astronomy and psychology sections and was skipping lightly through the history section when a particular book caught her eye.
Stopping, Hermione gazed up at the book sitting three tall shelves above her head and was barely able to make out the title, 'Great Britain, A History.' It sounded interesting and she was positive it would have plenty of facts to impress her teachers at school. The thick book had a blue binding and was absolutely prefect to curl up with on a warm summer day. Her mother would likely tell her she had plenty of books at home and would have to wait until her birthday for any new ones. Maybe, just maybe, she would be able to talk her mother into buying the book as an early birthday present.
She glanced around and could not find the stepladder the store assistants used to put books on the high shelves. Scowling now in frustration, she planted her hands on her hips and stared up at the book she wanted, wondering how she was going to be able to fetch it before her mother forced her to leave. She did not have enough time to hunt for the stepladder; knowing her luck it would be on the other side of the upper level and there was no way she would be able to drag it all the way over to her current location without adult help.
"Well this won't do at all." Hermione mumbled to herself and irritably brushed a loose strand of bushy brown hair out of her eyes. She thought about using some thick books to build a tower tall enough to reach, but dismissed that plan because she did not want to risk damaging the precious items. Then she thought about simply asking her mother to come up and fetch the book for her, but they were meeting her father for lunch in a few minutes and could not spend that much time in the bookstore.
While Hermione stood there, thinking about how to solve her height problem, an unusual thing happened. She was not consciously aware of it, but deep inside her the magic that was an integral part of many other men and women came alive and stretched its metaphorical wings for the first time. Warmth spread throughout the little girl's body as her newfound magical powers were used for the first time. Then they settled back down and waited to be summoned again.
So absorbed in wondering how to reach that book Hermione did not notice anything was wrong until she glanced up and saw that she was now eyelevel with the book she wanted.
"Brilliant!" She exclaimed and reached out to take it off the shelf when she finally noticed her unusual predicament. Hermione blinked in confusion and gasped as she looked down and realized she was floating in midair.
Floating!
Shaking her legs and waving her arms frantically only made her float up toward the ceiling and she quickly stopped her movements. Hermione opened her mouth to scream for her mother and then shut it, as she knew how weird the situation was and did not want to draw unnecessary attention to herself. She took a deep breath and tried to think somewhat clearly.
Obviously someone, either herself or a person hiding close by, was making her levitate and a quick glance around the upper level of the bookstore disproved the second guess. So it was something she was doing that was causing her to float into the air. And if she had floated up, she could certainly float down. Hermione closed her eyes and silently tried to make her body go down. Nothing happened.
Struggling not to panic, Hermione reached out for the edge of the bookshelves, intending to pull herself down to the floor. Just as her fingers grazed the edge there was a gasp from behind her and a surprised voice exclaimed,
"Hermione!"
Hermione whipped her head around and stared over at her mother. Her mother stared back, with wide eyes and one hand covering her gaping mouth. For a long moment they stared at each other before Anna hastily looked back downstairs to make sure Mrs. Hemmings had not heard or seen them. Finally she forced herself into motion, concern for her daughter overriding her unease and shock.
"Help me, Mummy! I don't know how this happened! I just wanted a book, but it was on the top shelf and then I was floating -" Hermione said desperately, trying to drift over to her mother and blinking away the tears that threatened to fall.
"Shh, 'Mione! I'm here, don't worry. We'll figure something out." Anna replied quietly and hurried over to Hermione, gently tugging on her legs to bring her down. They struggled for a few minutes to bring Hermione back onto the floor, but their efforts were in vain.
Just when they were about to give up and call for help the magical force that was levitating the young girl abruptly let go and Hermione fell into her mother's arms with a soft cry. Mother and daughter clung to each other, not understanding what had just happened, but simply happy things had ended as they did. Eventually Anna looked down and asked,
"Do you know what happened Hermione?"
"No. I was standing there wondering how to get a book that was on the top shelf and when I looked down I was floating. I didn't mean to, it just happened."
"It's all right sweetheart." Her mother answered and stroked her back, murmuring soothing nonsense. She lowered Hermione to the floor and said, "Let's go tell Daddy what happened, he will understand."
Hermione nodded and followed her mother downstairs, where they gave Mrs. Hemmings some excuse about not feeling well and hurried out of the bookstore. They walked in silence and Hermione noticed her mother was glancing around nervously, as if she was afraid the same magical phenomenon would happen in public. Both Grangers knew a life-changing event had occurred and until their questions were answered it was safer to keep their secret within the family.
The final member of the Granger family appeared when they rounded a corner and approached a fairly busy restaurant. Michael Granger smiled and waved as they walked up, but his smile faded as his wife took him by the arm and led him over to quiet alley where they could talk privately.
Hermione waited as her mother explained what had happened. Her father's face cycled through confusion, disbelief, surprise and then acceptance. She smiled shyly when her father finally turned to stare worriedly down at her. Then she was swept up into a comforting hug and felt completely safe in his strong arms.
"I'm scared Daddy." She whispered in his ear.
"Me too pumpkin." Her father whispered back and kissed the top of her head, "But your mum and I will take care of you. We'll protect and love you no matter what."
Hermione sighed happily; her mind was already pondering the meanings and consequences of her apparent magical ability. Although she did not feel any different, physically or mentally, she knew there was something waiting inside her - waiting for the right moment to show its power again. She did not really understand it, and therefore could not decide if it was good or bad, but she would trust her parents and hope that in time everything would be made clear.
For young Hermione wanted to know more about her strange powers and hoped that they would show again very soon. As her father carried her home she looked fondly in the direction of the bookstore and thought,
'I wonder if they have any books on magic.'
TBC
Next Up – Tom Riddle
Thanks to everyone who reviewed!
