My most sincere apologies for the long wait. For four days I've been locked out of for no particular reason. Ah well. Here's another chapter! Thank you for the reviews! Important:does anyone know what kind of wand Hermione has?
Enjoy!
-The Author
It looked as if there wasn't a ceiling for Flourish and Blotts. It just went on forever. The bookshelves towered over Hermione's head – they must have been at least ten feet tall. In the distance, some people – witches? – were muttering.
"I prefer Chauncey to Lockhart, personally," said one.
"Oh, you would," sighed the other.
Mrs. Sedgwick and Hermione looked over her school list. The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, A History of Magic, Magical Theory, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, Magical Drafts and Where To Find Them, Fantastical Beasts and Where To Find Them, and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection.
"Goodness, that's a lot," said Mrs. Sedgwick. "Why, at Muggle school we hardly had to buy any."
"Let's split it in half," said Hermione. "You take four and I take four." She looked the list over, seeing which titles sounded the most interesting. She said, "I'll take the top half and you take the bottom."
That sounded like as good an idea as any. Hermione got to keep the list, and Mrs. Sedgwick wrote down the title and author names of her four books, and then set off towards the back of the store. "That's where they keep the Dark Arts books, probably."
Hermione had an instinct about bookstores; she turned left the first opportunity she could, and then took the third right, and found herself in the History aisle.
"Excellent," she said. Oh, yes, she would get to the other books eventually; but Hermione knew that she was going into a world she had never heard of. She needed books that would tell her everything she needed to know, and where better to start with than History?
The actual schoolbook was easy to find. It was by Bathilda Bagshot and was in the first bay of shelves. She walked among the books, and was disappointed to see they didn't have pictures on the front. In Muggle bookstores, there was such a trend, of putting good pictures on the cover, to catch the reader's eye. Witches seemed to demand more of the reader. She liked it.
Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century – that sounded important. Everyone would talk about those, wouldn't they? And she needn't be lost, ever, in a conversation. She took the book off the shelf and sat down with it in her lap – it was too heavy to keep in her little hands. She couldn't wait until she was older and stronger. She flipped through the book. It had pictures of people she didn't recognize, wearing styles that were only a little familiar to her. She flipped back to a picture of a smiling old witch, but to her surprise, the woman was gone.
She looked through other pictures, closer. All the subjects of the photos had moved since she had last seen them. That one had been holding up his wand heroically, but was now scratching his back with it. The handsome blonde man ("Gilderoy Lockhart") was actually waving his hand. The smiling old witch had returned, and was now rubbing her nose. The next picture surprised her. It was a whole family, a very happy family. They looked out of place amongst all the heroes in the books. The label underneath read "The Potter Family: Lily, Harry, and James." They seemed to be a very affectionate family, yes, but what was so great about them?
She read the article; we will paraphrase here. Lily and James Potter, sweethearts since their Hogwarts days, were members of the force fighting against You-Know-Who ("No, I don't," thought Hermione). They still had a happy home life, and their son, Harry, was born in July of 1986. In late October, 1987, You-Know-Who went to the Potter home and killed Lily and James (Hermione gasped – what about baby Harry?). You-Know-Who set his wand on Harry, and uttered the Unforgiveable Curse – but it was the Dark Lord himself who died. Somehow, a baby lived when hundreds of well-trained adults had died, and had saved the whole world. In closing, it simply noted that friends of the family had placed baby Harry with his Muggle relations, and was known the whole world over as The Boy Who Lived.
"Wow," said Hermione. How grand would that be! He probably didn't know that he was a wizard when he was growing up – how odd would it be, to not only find out that you're a wizard, but a famous wizard? And it had seemed so special to just be a witch! She looked down at the picture of the Potters, and noticed the dates listed. She did some math in her head, and realized that Harry was just her age now.
She would be in the same grade as a world-famous wizard! Wouldn't it be wonderful if they became friends?
And even more exciting, right across the aisle from her was a book entitled Hogwarts, A History. She made a small cry of glee and grabbed that book, too, and nearly fell over under the weight of all three books. She looked at the list in her hand. She still had three books left to go. She left the History aisle, and wished she could stay longer.