* Mail delivery *
She has taken a well-deserved day off work and decided to spend it by planning some of the things for the wedding. They had already written the guest list and picked out the venue, the date and the invitations. Now they had to send them and wait for them to RSVP. Since it was a Friday, Hermione thought it would be good to keep her 3-year-old daughter home from nursery school and do all the things together. That way, she thought, the little girl would feel involved in the whole process. So, as soon as breakfast was finished, Ron was off to work and Belle was clean and ready, mother and daughter left N°12 of Grimmauld Place and walked to the nearest apparition point. From there, they would go to the post office in Diagon Alley to deliver most of the invitations by owl. Belle was a curious little girl. She looked around and asked her mother all sorts of questions: why is that lady's robe blue? What does that man have in his hands? Can we have an owl like that boy? Why is that elf so tiny? Hermione couldn't help but smile at the little girl's curiosity and answered to her questions as truthful as possible. When they arrrived at the post office, Hermione sent all but three letters away. She looked at them for a while as Belle tugger her hand. Hermione looked at her and Belle smiled.
"Now what, mommy?" she asked. Hermione smiled.
"Now, we're visiting some friends." she said, and she took the little girl out of the building. They walked around the busy street, sorting witches and wizards who wanted to speak to Hermione, until they found an apparition spot. Then, with a loud pop! they disappeared. They landed in front of a big wooden door in a new street as a blonde woman open the door and went out of it.
"Hermione, dear! So lovely to see you!" she greeted the young girl. Hermione looked at the woman and smiled.
"It's lovely to see you too, madame Rosmerta." she greeted. Madame Rosmerta gave her a flashy smile.
"Merlin's beard! Is that your little girl? It can't be! Last time I saw her, she was a little baby." she said looking at the yound redhaired girl curled up in Hermione's arms. Hermione looked at her daughter lovingly and kissed her head.
"She just turned 3 this Spring." she answered.
"My goodness! Time does fly! Want to sit for a butterbeer? It's on the house." Madame Rosmerta said.
"It's very kind of you, but actually we have some things to do. Maybe another time, thank you." Hermione said. Then, she started walking through the main street still with her daughter in her hands. It wasn't long before they walked through a very familiar threshole and saw a familiar pumpkin patch. Hermione sighed and smiled. She put Belle down and took her hand and they walked together to the hut that was there. A big black dog went to meet them. Belle was ecstatic.
"Mommy, look! A doggy!" she exclaimed excited. Hermione kneeled to her and patted the dog on the head.
"This is Fang. Be gentle with him." she told her daughter as the little girl patted the dog's head. in that moment, a giant figure stood in front of them. Hermione looked up to him and smiled. She stood up and went to hug him.
"Hermione, hullo! It's so lovely to see you!" Hagrid said hugging her.
"I thought to bring a future Hogwarts student along for a visit." she said, grinning, as she moved aside, discovering her 3-year-old daughter kneeled down in front of the dog.
"My God! She does get bigger every time I see her." the giant exclaimed. "Hi, Belle!" he greeted. The little girl upped her head to him.
"Say hello to Hagrid, sweetheart. You remember Hagrid? He came for your birthday last time." Hermione encouraged her. Belle smiled at them and waved her little hand at Hagrid, then looked back at the dog. Hagrid took them inside and prepared some tea.
"So... what's bringing you here, Hermione?" Hagrid said as he gave Hermione a cup of tea and sat down opposite her. Hermione looked in her bag and took out and envelope. She then gave it to Hagrid with a big smile on her face. He took it in his big hands and opened it. He smiled as he read it.
"Ron and I would love it if you could be there with us. It won't be a big thing. Just the Weasleys and a couple of our good friends. We want it to be simple." she explained as the giant sniffed and wipped his tears with a big hankerchief. He looked at her in the eye and smiled.
"I wouldn't miss it for anything in the world." he exclaimed. She smiled and sipped her tea.
Next stop was inside the castle. Belle was marvelled with the place and asked her mother all kind of questions as they walked through the halls. They stopped in front of a door.
"H...Hos... Hospi...tal... Hospital!" Belle read. Hermione looked at her and smiled proudly.
"That's great, baby!" she praised. Belle smiled.
"What is a hospital, mommy?" the little girl asked.
"It's a place where people go when they feel sick or hurt." Hermione explained. Belle looked at her mom with a worried look on her face.
"Are you hurt, mommy?" she asked, her lip quivering. Hermione smiled and kneeled down to her.
"No, darling. Mommy's fine. I promise. We're just here to visit a friend. Ok?" she asked, holding her daughter. Belle nodded. Hermione stood up and they both entered the hospital wing where Madame Pomfrey was tending a Ravenclaw boy.
"Alright, Mister Newman. You can leave now." she told the boy, then she turned around and smiled.
"Miss Granger! It's good to see you!" she greeted. Hermione smiled.
"It's good to see you too, Madame Pomfrey. Remember Belle?" she asked looking at her daughter. Madame Pomfrey looked at the little girl.
"My goodness! She's gotten so big! Last time I saw her, she was beginning to walk." the woman said.
"I'm big now. I read." Belle stated and both women laughed.
"Smart like her mother. You're gonna be quite a star in here." Madame Pomfrey told her, winking an eye at her. Belle smiled.
"We won't stay long. We just came to give you this." Hermione said, handing the school nurse the same envelope she had given to Hagrid earlier. Madame Pomfrey took it and opened it. "We can't thank you enough for what you did for us, especially when Belle was born. We really hope you can make it." Hermione added later. Madame Pomfrey looked at her and smiled.
"It would be a pleasure." she said. Hermione smiled and off she and her daughter went to the East tower. Belle was marvelled with the moving stairs and the talking portraits. It was like being inside a story for her. They stopped before a big phoenix statue and Hermione said the code words. The statue moved, showing a staircase. Slowly, Hermione and Belle upsed them and got inside a big office full of portraits and books.
"professor McGonagall?" Hermione asked. A tall, sleder woman dressed in green walked to them. She looked at them surprised.
"Miss Granger! So lovely to see you!" she greeted.
"It's great to see you too, professor. Remember Belle?" Hermione asked. McGonagall looked at the little girl standing next to Hermione and smiled.
"She looked more like you everytime I see her, with Mister Weasley's hair, of course." she said, then she kneeled down in front of the little girl. "Hello, miss Weasley." she said
"It's Belle Granger-Weasley." the little girl corrected. McGonagall laughed a bit.
"I'm sorry, miss Granger-Weasley. It's a pleasure to see you again. Do you know who I am?" the woman asked. Belle nodded timidly.
"You're mommy's favourite teacher." she said as Hermione blushed. McGonagall smiled and got up. She and Hermione went to her desk as Belle sat down on the floor.
"You have a lovely young lady." McGonagall said. Hermione smiled.
"Thank you, professor." she said.
"Here are the notes you asked me for. Hope they are helpful." McGonagall said giving Hermione a big pile of papers. Hermione grabbed it and put it in her bag. Then, she took out a third envelope.
"Thank you. I'll let you know when I finish." she started. "I... actually... I'm here to give you this." she said, handing the envelope to the old woman. Professor McGonagall looked at it, inquisively, and took it. She started reading it and Hermione could see a small smiled.
"It'll mean a lot to Ronald and I if you could be there. You were amazing to us throughout our years of schooling and... it really would mean a lot to us to have you there." Hermione said. McGonagall was speechless. She was about to say something when they heard some swooshing and giggling from the other part of the room. They got up and went there. The picture really shocked McGonagall. Little Belle was standing in the middle of the room while all sorts of books were flying around her.
"Belle! What are you doing?" Hermione asked. the girl looked at her and the books fell to the floor. "Honey, you know you can't do that. Those aren't your books." she said sternly, then she looked at McGonagall. "I'm so sorry, professor. I'll put everything back in order." she said. She took out her wand and with a flick of it all the books started flying around and were back in their shelves. Hermione went to her daughter. "Now, appologize to Professor McGonagall for the mess you made." she ordered. McGonagall just looked at them, partly shocked, partly amazed. Belle went to her, head down. She looked deeply upset.
"I'm sorry, miss. I promise I won't do it when I study here." she said. McGonagall wanted to smile, but didn't. Instead, she kneeeled down to the little girl and looked at her.
"I just have one question: how did you do it?" she asked. Belle upped her head, surprised, and shrugged her shoulders.
"I liked the books and I wanted to see them, so they started flying around." Belle explained. McGonagall looked at Hermione.
"Is this her first...?" she started but Hermione shook her head.
"She was 3 months old when she first levitated her baby bottle from the kitchen to Ron's room. She does that often whether it's to get some attention of because she really wants something." Hermione explained. McGonagall looked back at the little girl and smiled.
"Well, there's no doubt she's going to he a remarkable student in a few years." she said. Belle smiled. Then, McGonagall looked at Hermione. "And I look forward to seeing you and mister Weasley getting married soon." she added. Hermione smiled. Everyone who truly mattered to her was going to be there for her big day and she couldn't be more thrilled about it.