CHAPTER7

In the car the three friends saw Mr. Weasley at the front seat beside the driver, who was a young man about 30. Hermione politely said "good afternoon" to Mr. Weasley

"Hermione, how are you? I am sorry that you have to stay in Leakey Cauldron all alone and Molly and me can't take you and Harry for the summer. We have some… problems at the house…Maybe Ron will tell you later… anyway Harry would be safer at his aunt and uncle's house."

"That's okay, Mr. Weasley, I'll be fine."

"Molly or I can be popping up in the pub from time to time if we'll have some Order or Ministry business in the Diagon Alley…"

"I'll be looking forward to seeing you, sir, thank you".

"Now, Hermione, can you tell me about those…what they're called….ah, yes….pomcuters…is that right?"

Ron and Harry were trying to stiffen their laughter while Hermione had that look on her face when she was in class and she knew the answer as usual.

"No, Mr. Weasley, it's C-O-M-P-uters not as you said and …bla bla bla …"

And she began to explain to Ron's dad what computers were like all the way to Leakey Cauldron.

After an hour or so the car stopped in front of the pub. Harry and Ron helped Hermione carry her things so she ended up carrying a small black back pack where she had her money, some make-up and a hairbrush. They all approached the bar stand.

"Hello, Tom," said Mr. Weasley, "we would like a room for the young lady here for the rest of the summer…"

"Certainly, Arthur, wait just a second, I'll check what room she can have…", said Tom and looked in his notebook, "Hm…well, there's only one room left, strange, we have so much tourists this summer…"

"So, what about this room, can she have it?" said Mr. Weasley.

"Of course", said Tom, "but it is one of the two best rooms in the hotel…"

"So it will be expensive?"

"Normally, it would but…because she is staying alone and it is not her faults that we don't have spare rooms she can stay there paying the same prize", said Tom merrily.

Hermione grinned. She will have a room for herself and she will be staying alone for a month without parents! It's not that she didn't like them; it was that she felt more grown up and able to take care of her self…That felt good! Of course she would be overjoyed if Harry and Ron stayed with her but that was not going to happen so she was taking the best from her situation.

Hermione gave the money to Tom and went to put her stuff and check out her room, leaving Mr. Weasley, Ron and Harry at the bar stand to wait for her. She was led there by a boy of about 12. They went to the 2nd floor and were going to the end of the corridor. Hermione saw that the last door in the corridor had a number 11 on it. That surprised her a bit. As far as she remembered she had the room number 12. And they were close to the dead end of the corridor. Hermione wanted to ask the boy if they were going the right way and stopped for a moment but the boy disappeared around the wall! She was really taken aback by that but she followed him. To her great surprise there was a corridor with two doors in front of each other. The door to the left of her had a golden number 12 on it. The boy opened the door, gave Hermione her key and left her in the room. She looked around. The room was amazing! It had a king-size bed, a desk, a wardrobe, two bedside tables, two chairs and a cosy armchair. All was decorated in purple, white and golden brown. But the main thing Hermione loved was the Jacuzzi bathtub! "This is going to be fun", she thought happily, "And I have so much nice books to read." And with that she left room number twelve to join her friends for some shopping.