On Teenagers & Love

a story by anamatics

part three - the fog

Chapter Five - On Smiths and Stalking


Harry's birthday is a great success but it comes with some rather dire news. Professor Lupin, as well as Mr. Weasley and Bill have all told Harry more than he probably should know about the Order's activities. Hermione has pulled Ginny and Ron aside and told them both that it's probably for the best that they let Harry deal with his grief to a point. She doesn't think that Harry will run off and try to find Bellatrix LeStrange, but she honestly wouldn't put it past him.

"'e is filled wiz rage, non?" Fleur comments as Hermione and Ron share a long and meaningful glance some three days after Harry's birthday. "Il lui consomme…"she trails off then, a worried look drawing across her face as Harry leans in and speaks to Bill and Professor Lupin in a low voice on the other side of the Weasley's kitchen. Ollivander is gone from Diagon Alley, as is Florean Fortescue, the man who ran the ice cream shop there. There've been killings and the former head of Durmstrang is among the dead.

Hermione writes to Viktor and begs him to be careful, and Mrs. Weasley makes no protest when Fleur moves off the couch in the sitting room up to Ginny's room. Ginny has made them promise not to have sex or kiss or be gross, but Fleur is too tired most nights to do much other than cast an enlargement charm on the camp bed and curl up next to Hermione. She's doing too much, Hermione tells her, and Fleur just shakes her head and says that there is too much that needs to be done for her to let others pick up the slack.

The Sunday after Harry's birthday they prepare to go to Diagon Alley. Bill and Fleur aren't going, but Fleur's exchanged some of the money her parents had given Hermione at Gringotts and Bill's collected some funds for Harry as well. Apparently it's taking more than five or six hours at time for the public to get access to their gold. The goblins are tightening security, which explains why both Fleur and Bill look dead on their feet most of the time, casting security wards takes a lot out of any witch or wizard.

"We're going to stay here and have a peaceful day where absolutely nothing bad happens," Bill announces as Marietta joins them at the breakfast table. "Should be nice."

"I would zink so," Fleur sniffs, before leaning over to ask Marietta a question in quick French.

Ginny looks almost murderous as Mrs. Weasley pulls them outside to see one of the special Ministry cars waiting for them. Harry's apparently been given number one protection status by the Ministry, and they're apparently going to be met with more security when they arrive at the Leaky Cauldron.

When they arrive and find out that it's Hagrid who's going to be accompanying them, Hermione finds herself scowling a bit. She still hasn't really forgiven him for what had happened with his half-brother, or the Skrewts, or Norbert, or any of the other ridiculous, irresponsible things that he'd done that they'd had to help him get out of.

Diagon Alley, as well as the Leaky Cauldron itself, is a ghost town. Everywhere there are posters with information on the escaped Death Eaters as well as public notices about the general state of things and how best to protect against dark creatures. There are even people selling what look to be dark detectors and amulets that protect against dementors and other dark creatures. Hermione scoffs at the outrageous price that the wizened old witch is selling the amulets for and glances around. She has to find the master smith's shop while she's here, and she moves to nudge Ron to ask where it is. She's not sure if she can conceivably slip away to make her purchase when she notices that the shop is right next to Madam Malkin's and Hagrid is leading them in that direction.

"I'll just nip in here for a second," she says as Hagrid eyes the shop questioningly as Harry and Ron make to go into Madam Malkin's.

"Now see 'ere, Hermione," Hagrid begins, but she's smiling sweetly at him and backing into the shop without so much as a second word.

The store smells like silver polish and the air has the acidic taste of metal when Hermione takes a deep breath and heads towards the counter. All over the store there are little display cases with small, perfectly crafted pieces of wizarding jewelry.

Behind the counter a man is standing fiddling with a watch chain and a pair of pliers. He sets it down on the rag that's been laid across the glass display case he's using as a workspace and pushes up his magnifying spectacles when he sees Hermione approach. "Ah," he says in an accent that might have been Scottish, but Hermione had never been particularly good with placing people to begin with, "You're the lass that wrote about the veela ring."

"How did you know?" Hermione asks, a little taken aback.

The man taps his neck absently with his pliers and Hermione's fingers fly to where the necklace is visible at the collar of her jumper. "I got your ring ready," he says and bends to rummage for something under the counter. "Though I must say that you look a wee bit young for such a thing."

Hermione smiles tiredly at him. "I get that a lot," she says.

He grins at her, glasses perched like horns on top of his head, and surfaces with a small wooden box. It's intricately carved with an ouroboros and a series of runes that state what is probably supposed to be Hermione's intent in giving such a gift. Hermione finds herself almost wishing that it was phoenix on the box, rather than snake that is depicted. She knows that the ouroboros represents eternity to many wizards and she is not afraid of such a thing.

"It's eleven galleons for this," he explains, tapping the box with his wand and opening it to reveal the pale blue satin and the ring resting in a perfectly positioned space. "Standard care, protean charms and self-adjusting size," he winks at her, "as well as a congratulations for being a veela's promised one from this smith."

Hermione hands over the money with a grin and he closes the box and places it neatly into small bag that he hands over to Hermione along with a hand-written receipt. She thanks him profusely and ducks back out of the shop only to run smack dab into Harry and Ron. Ron presses a package into her hands and tells her to pay him back later as Harry hurriedly whispers that they've just seen Draco and Mrs. Malfoy.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Hermione whispers as she steers them toward the apothecary. "He's bound to have to get robes for school and Madam Malkin's is one of the best."

"I know," Ron whispers as Hermione buys two small bottles of dittany as well as the standard N.E.W.T. potions kit. She can't help but notice that both Harry and Ron do not buy any potions supplies, but she reasons that it's because Professor Snape is notorious for only taking students who received Outstanding on their O.W.L. Both Harry and Ron had received only E's. It's a shame, really, because she knows how much Harry had had his heart set on being an auror. "But don't you think it's odd that he's here on the very day that we're here?"

Hermione shrugs, "Not really, no." She isn't above believing in coincidences, at any rate.

They have made all their purchases but both Ron and Ginny insist on going to see Fred and George's shop before they leave Diagon Alley. It's loud and brightly colored, everything that Hermione usually associates with the twins, completely with taunting signs insulting everyone from Voldemort to the Minister for Magic and back. Hermione thinks that they have a death wish, as does Mrs. Weasley, but the more that Hermione peruses the shop, the more she realizes just how interesting and original the magic that Fred and George are using truly is. She's inspecting a display of daydream charms and is just complimenting them when Fred appears behind her wearing bright pink and tells her she can have one.

"What's happened to your eye?" Fred inquires.

"Your punching telescope," Hermione grumbles, mad that her eye, despite Mrs. Weasley's healing charms, still looks quite spectacularly bruised.

Fred flushes scarlet and plunges his hand into the pocket of his robes and hands her a jar of yellowy salve. "Just put that on the bruise," he explains. "We had to find a decent bruise remover; most of the products here are self-tested."

"It…" Hermione starts, sniffing the yellowy substance and desperately trying to remember if Fred or George was any good at potions while still at school. "It is safe, isn't it?"

"Course," Fred says, before he pulls Harry off to give him a tour of the shop. Hermione dabs the yellow stuff onto her eye and exhales as a pleasant, cool feeling overcomes the unpleasant throb of the bruise. She blinks at the salve and then shoves it into her bag with a thoughtful expression on her face. Already the bruise is feeling better.

Weasley's Wizard Weezes is every bit the joke shop that Hermione had expected it to be, and yet, in a far-off corner of the shop, Hermione finds herself inspecting a series of products that look like they have absolutely no place in a joke shop. There's instant darkness powder, a stand of cloaks that are charmed to work like a powerful shield charm, as well as gloves that do a similar task. Hermione's eyebrows are raised as she moves towards the front of the store once more. Who knew that Fred and George would have such good business sense?

Hermione thinks about her E in Defense and wonders if she is ever going to be good enough to protect Harry and Ron when the war inevitably comes. She can't protect anyone with such a poor score and so she collects five containers of the instant darkness powder and heads up to the counter to make her purchase. She's been almost unconsciously amassing supplies, she realizes as she puts them in her bag.

Harry and Ron are staring out the window, and Hermione catches a glimpse of Draco Malfoy all on his own, heading down the alley. "Musta ditched his mum," Ron mutters as Harry pulls his invisibility cloak from his bag. "Blimey," Ron adds when Harry pulls it over his shoulders, "You don't want to follow him do you?"

Cutting a hilarious picture, a head with no body attached, Harry nods, his expression grave. "He's up to something," Harry says insistently. "We should find out what it is."

Hermione doesn't think much about it before she ducks under the cloak with Harry and Ron. She's done her fair share of spectacularly stupid things recently, but somehow she doesn't think that following Draco Malfoy around Diagon Alley is all that dangerous.


AN: hahah oops, forgot I was releasing this slowly. my b yall.